The smell of fresh fish, soy sauce, and rice filled my nose, and I took a deep breath, sav the st.

  I'd never had actual, proper sushi before. Sure, Al's family sold some rolls for takeout at their fusion dim sum joint, and it wasn't bad. But they werely a proper sushi pce.

  The pce Bck Star led us to had proper bamboo decor, and an actual chef w at a bar.

  "Master Enrico, so o see you again," the matronly Asian hostess greeted us as Bck Star led the group in.

  Bck Star winced. "Ah... Please call me Henry. And we'll have the usual for the table."

  The dy blinked, and looked him over, up and down, and her face softened as she nodded.

  "Oh. Yes. Of course. Table for five?"

  "Yeah. Thanks," Bck Star said.

  The dy looked at the rest of us ahe five of us to a private booth in the back with a fancy bamboo door. The pce was a bit out of the way, and I was surprised at the ck of visible damage to the area. Maybe it hadn't been hit by any motacks, or perhaps the owner had already had time to fix the damage.

  "Master Enrico?" Ichigo asked as the four of us settled in the booth, a glimmer of suspi in her eyes as she gnced between him and the hostess. "You seem familiar with the pce. It looks pricey..."

  "Uh," Bck Star flushed and scratched his neck awkwardly. "Well, uh... It's a really long story."

  "I'd say. What, did your parents work for Red Masque or something?"

  "Er. My parents are kinda dead. They died fighting for Mortifera Nox," he replied with an awkward wince. "scripts in her army. I don't remember 'em too well."

  Ichigo winced. "O-Oh... I'm sorry. That must be tough to talk about." She fidgeted nervously.

  Bck Star gave a wry smile. "Well, you asked. I got lucky — my brother retty high up in Red Masque's Crimson Order so I got sent to private schools. Ricardo's a good brother. Always looked after me. Wao keep me oraight and narrow, but still kinda pressed me to bee a Made Man in that little syndicate. So I ran away when I got old enough. Right as everythio shit."

  "I see. That makes sense. No wonder you were so good at fighting," Ichigo said, trailing off and gng at me with a look that said, ' we really trust this guy?'

  "Henry was at Refuge Zeta. Helped me save all those people down there," I expined, looking at Bck Star. "I think we trust him at this point."

  Bck Star smiled and looked down sheepishly, running a hand through his messy bck hair. "Uh... Thanks. I appreciate that."

  "Born into a life you didn't ask for, huh?" Stel asked, her eyes twinkling. "Endowed with the best education, the best training, and all the gifts, only to throw it away and run away. I definitely rete."

  In a way, the two of them were mirror images of each other. Stel was raised by a legendary martial arts master and heroine, while Bck Star was in truth, Red Masque's younger brother. I couldn't imagine what the guy was feeling, but the two shared an almost palpable moment of e.

  "You too, eh? I get it. Holy, it's a bit of a relief. I never really fit into that kind of lifestyle," he admitted. "Both private school and the criminal lifestyle didn't fit, you know? I mean, I doly e across as the most refined and sophisticated type, so growing up around the kids of CEOs aors was a nightmare. And famous supervilins were my 'aunts' and 'uncles' so that retty awkward to deal with. I fit in most with the kids of grunts and muscle in the mob, ironically."

  "Yeah. I uand that," Stel nodded. "Um... yeah, you probably know my name by reputation. I hated it too. The de, the etiquette lessons. Ugh. No offeo the old hag, but I was miserable as a child."

  "aken. My bro was the one who wahe whole, you know, 'crime boss' shtick," Bck Star said with a chuckle. "I just wao do my own thing, and I'm gd we rete. I holy don't know what came over me when I saw Arsenal's sentries eyeing you when you got off the train. I had no pn, just ran with my sd hoped I could help."

  "You have a sce?" I chuckled, giving Bck Star a gentle nudge in the shoulder. "Aren't you supposed to be a mobster?"

  He snickered. "Yeah, I'm a regur boy scout. I gave you a lot of crap with the pragmatism and not doing anything if it didn't be me, but I was just living up to the image I wao project. In the end, I'm just another sucker who's gonna do whatever they want and make excuses ter."

  "Seems we're all just suckers," Stel said, giving a smile. "And thank God we're here."

  "Here here," I ughed.

  "Thanks a lot, though. Taking on those guys without the heads up and initiative would have gotten ugly. If you hadn't stepped up, it wouldn't have gone so well," Albert added, looking at Bck Star.

  "Yeah. Thank you," I added.

  Bck Star sighed and shook his head.

  "It was nothing," he replied.

  "It wasn't nothing. It was brave of you," Stel said with a smile. "You risked your own life for us. We owe you one, Hank."

  "Hank?" I chuckled. "You've given him a niame already? Are you two buddies now or something?"

  "Shush, you," Stel gri me, before turning back to Hank. "So what do we do now?"

  He reached into his pocket, pulling out a wad of cash.

  "I've got more than enough cash for a nice dinner. Let's enjoy ourselves and worry about tomorrow when it gets here," he said. "We'll figure out where to go from here, after a good meal and some sleep, alright? I think we're far away enough to not get bothered. We'll be okay."

  "Yeah," I nodded, looking over the menu.

  "I got us the omakase for the table," Bck Star said with a smile, as the waitress brought over five ptes.

  She was an older, matronly Asian dy, who smiled at us. "You kids have fun now, okay?"

  "We will," Stel replied with a smile. "Thanks for the hospitality, miss."

  "Of course, of course. Anything for our Master Enrico," she replied with a wink.

  Bck Star winced, and looked down, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

  "So, what's the story with the name Siena used?" Ichigo asked, looking over at him curiously. "Bck Star?"

  Bck Star shrugged, taking a sip of water before he replied. "Eh. It's a long story. A couple of months ago, my brother, the big shot vilin, wanted me to take his p Red Masque's wheired. But I didn't want it. I wao be my own man, you know? Make my own decisions. I was trained by Red Masque's best and brightest to fight, but I didn't want that. He insisted on it though, and when I told him I was gonna leave and fe my own path, we argued and things got weird."

  "No shit?" Albert muttered.

  "Yeah. It wasn't pretty," Bck Star tinued. "Guy started speaking in tongues, and I was always a flippant asshole so I started ing him for sounding like a Catholic priest. So, I kinda started improvising an act as he started having his PTSD fshbacks. He's had them time to time because he worked for Mortifera Nox as a kid. I didn't want to hurt him, and I didn't want him to hurt himself. But I wanted him to stop pressing the issue, so I made up some shit. Something about 'the end times', and a 'Great Red Dragon', a 'eyes aglow with cerulean fury', and 'stars bed and falling' from an old poem he used to like wheorerd me."

  "Ah," I chuckled. "Good to know you've always been a bullshitter. Nice."

  "Yeah. A big fat one. But I didn't realize he was actually in a trance or something. I mean, the whole 'demonic voice' thing people always talked about made me wonder if he had an alter, but I had no clue how deep that rabbit hole was. I just thought he had a dissociative identity. I thought I'd made it up, until he said I had the gift of prophed that 'Bck Star' was gonna be my new name as the prophet of the end times. Something about the trail of Nibiru and aime. So, uh. Yeah. I'm the prophet of the apocalypse or something."

  We all ughed nervously.

  "Wow. You really are a mess, huh?" I chuckled, shaking my head.

  Albert scratched his . "Was this during March of this year?"

  Bck Star raised his eyebrows, his expression being quizzical. "Um. Yeah... How'd you know?"

  Albert's face went white, and I suddenly felt my own blood freeze. Stel and Ichigo just gnced between us in fusion.

  "There was an i ierstoy," Albert said slowly. "It was the weirdest shit I've ever seen. I still remember it vividly — Sienna and I were in an arcade pying the Crystal Harmony fighting game when some old guy just started spazzing out. We thought he was having some sort of medical emergency, but then his eyes turned blue. I think Sienna and I were the only ohat saw it."

  Everyo the table shared a look. The hairs on the bay neck stood on end. I remembered it, vaguely, like something out of a nightmare.

  "Exactly like the zombies during the Cataclysm," Bck Star whispered. "Shit."

  Stel furrowed her brows, her eyes flig bad forth as if she was trying to piece together a puzzle.

  "Okay. What happened?" Stel asked.

  "He had an episode and started a small zombie outbreak. People at the time attributed it to aerrorist running around with Professor Lunatrix's old viral teology," Albert expined.

  "Yeah," I added. "But we both noticed his eyes glowed blue, just like the eyes of zombies during the cataclysm. We were in a horror movie — just watg everyone go insane and kill each other. We mao get into my home and hide until the local heroes arrived."

  Albert shuddered, his expression grim. "That was one of the worst things I've ever experienced. I still get nightmares about it. Even after all the horrifying shit we saw during the Cataclysm. I've never felt more scared in my life."

  "I don't even want to imagi," Ichigo said, shaking her head.

  Stel looked down at her pte. "I imagi all too well. I was there — as you guys might guess if you knew my alter ego as a magical girl."

  I perked up at Stel's response. I'd nearly fotten she'd been terrorizing our city as Dark Princess Eris for two years - probably secretly in search of her long lost half-sister. Me.

  "That persona was just me ag out a bit. I was tired of always having to erfectly, make my bed perfectly, have the perfect manners, and the whole nine yards," Stel said. "I had a bit of a temper and didn't want to sh out at the man I thought of as a father, so I ended up creating a different magical girl persona to blow off steam. I won't detail how it works yet — it's a long, long story — but I was. Am Dark Princess Eris."

  Ichigo's eyes went wide, and Albert looked unfortable as they both leaned ba their seat.

  "I had a hard time g with Lady Matsudaira's death. She just... left me the burden of her legad kicked the bucket as I was entering middle school. She was my whole family," she tinued.

  She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath.

  "So, I created Eris, who I'd always wao be when I was young and rebellious. I got into my mother's files before they could redact them and saw the full story of what happehe week Arcadia Vox ehe Nightmare of Nox. I won't detail how or why, but I went to Pewsterstone in search of Nightingale Eclipse for more answers. Like you, Bck Star, I ended up just running away. I left my father a hat I was taking time away and would stay in school there, but would eventually be back."

  "Wow. So everything circles back to Nox, huh?" Albert said.

  Ichigo looked around in fusion. "I feel so out of the loop here. I'm a nobody from a family of normal low level normies with the occasional Pioneer every third geion."

  "Nox was the biggest supervilin empire in world history, sed to none. Barring Napeoleon's Pan-European empire," I replied with a sigh. "I think everyone in eion has a e to her, teically. She turned her Latin Ameri empire into a superpower that dominated world trade for almost half a tury. Even if she was batshit insane and a warm despot."

  Stel nodded. "It was the first time the world uo fight something siaking down Lunatrix. All the Magical Knight s uhe wovers worked together, and even vilins united in opposition of her."

  Bck Star took a sip of water before he tinued. "I see why you guys were freaked out. When I saw those zombies during the Cataclysm, I thought I was gonna piss my pants. I'm lucky Rec[o] is my favorite movie."

  "Uh, yeah. I think we all thought we were going to die," I replied with a chuckle.

  "I was scared out of my mind," Ichigo added. "Even if I stayed at campus helping run supplies. It felt like it was going to be my st day. Like the whole world was gonna end. You don't fet that kind of fear easily."

  "Yeah. That was a rough night," Albert agreed. "But anyway, about Eris and the old dude at the arcade? You were at Pewterstooo?"

  Stel's eyes lit up. "Oh. Yeah, that was me. I actually happeo be tangoing with the Jupiter Belles across town at the time. So when the sirens started, I gave them the slip and rushed to help evacuate the civilians ahem out of danger."

  She furrowed her brows, and looked down.

  "That's when things got weird," she tinued, "because I met a gun-wielding blonde magical girl with a beret who spoke in third person. She was very, very odd. Like, really weird. But we were helping people get out, so I was like, 'hey, you know, she's helping out, whatever' and ighe oddities."

  "Weird? In what way?" Bck Star asked.

  "Like she spoke with an odd at, spoke in third person, had some strange aura that just seemed wrong," Stel replied. "She was just odd, but in an i, childlike way. She was asking me what the try was called and what year it was and she was asking me if there was a war and stuff. It was really strange, but I figured it was a magical girl who just got her powers. Then she just... disappeared, right in the middle of the crisis. I never saw her again. I was a bit worried she was eaten or killed by the zombies or something."

  "Oh. Well that's definitely weird. And a little spooky," Bck Star said.

  "Yeah, it was a bit creepy, but she helped a lot," Stel replied with a shrug. "Easily Css 8 if not Css 9, given the raw strength and power she had."

  "Holy shit, you're joking!" Ichigo gasped, leaning ba her chair in shock.

  "Magical girls at Css 8 or 9 are really rare," I said to the others. "You sure you aren't highballing it, Stel?"

  She nodded. "Yeah. She had some really wild, reality-bending stuff she did, and was able to do stuff that was just ridiculous. Like she'd shoot one of these fancy magical guns at like 200 rounds a sed and mao hit every single zombie. Hundreds of zombies in a crowd at ohout hitting any civilians."

  "That's insane," Albert said. "How is that even possible?"

  "She's a magical girl," Stel replied. "She's not bound by normal rules. I don't know if she's still alive, but if she is, she'd be a huge asset in a fight like the shit the world went through the night of the Cataclysm. That little girl was a one man army. Er, girl army, rather."

  I shook my head and sighed.

  "That never made the news, aher did the nature of the zombie i," I said. "The gover probably covered it up so people didn't panic. Bmed it on Lunatrix's shadows."

  "That sounds abht," Albert said. "They always try to hide anything that could cause mass hysteria. It was also notoriously hard to get one of the evil Prof's lunacy outbreaks started ohe gover figured out a way to tain it."

  Stel shivered, and her expression grew somber. "Yeah. I'm gd you guys brought that up because the spring outbreak i has been on my mind sihe Cataclysm."

  She paused for a moment and then tinued.

  "That girl is probably still around, though. She didn't literally vanish, but she was too fast for me to follow," Stel said. "But, the outbreak was tained within an hour, and she was o be seen. So I don't know what happeo her."

  "That's... really strange," I replied.

  "It's probably nothing, though. I mean, she's just one magical girl," Stel replied. "Not the ter of the world."

  "True. But it's still iing," Albert added. "And very iing timing, sidering the zombies."

  We all shared an unfortable silence.

  "I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if the old man and that blonde girl had some sort of e to Nox," Albert added. "She was the most infamous viliness in world history, and had a hand iy much everything."

  "Yeah. That would make sense," I agreed, and paused for a moment. "I mean, she had her fingers ihing from ing teology to superhuman enha and cyberics, so who knows?"

  We were all interrupted by a kno the booth's sliding door. Ichigo's eyes lit up iement at the sound, and she eagerly leaned against Albert, pushing baake room for our food to enter.

  I g the menu in front of me, and then back to the door as it opened.

  The hair on my nestantly stood up on end.

  An incredibly busty olive-skinned waitress with wavy, curly bck hair tied up in a loose bun and a pair of bck gsses came carrying trays of fancy sashimi. She had a tattoo on her neck, and had her sleeves rolled up, revealing more tattooed designs running along her arms.

  Her outfit was a little strange. While it was the right uniform for the restaurant, she wore a short pencil skirt that didn't quite cover her rear and had stogs on, which looked a bit like a fetish cospy or something. A very skimpy, and a very sexy version of the standard waitress outfit. Her outfit looked like she was cospying a waitress from a maid cafe.

  Bck Star absent-mindedly looked down at the menu while the waitress came in.

  "Appetizer is on the house," she smiled, speaking with a Spanish at as she put the trays oable and wi Albert. "plements from the chef."

  Bck Star tinued looking at the menu as she served, as did Albert. "Hey waitress, could you get us another round of water while you're at it? Thanks!"

  She paused, blinking at Bck Star and staring daggers at him, but he tinued looking down at his menu.

  Okay. There was definitely somethiweehere was something serious going oweewo, and I wasn't sure what. The waitress's aura fred up in frustration and a being ignored.

  "Master Enrico.... ugh. Eres un bueno para nada, mijo. Un maldito bueno para nada," she grumbled under her breath.

  Bck Star froze for a minute, his face going pale, as he slowly, carefully looked up at her.

  The waitress gave him an absolutely predatrin as he slowly turned white as a sheet.

  "Uhm, H-Hey there. Titi?"

  She reached down, behind the s as Bck Star visibly panicked and begaing.

  "W-wait!" he cried. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please, let me expin!"

  The waitress suddenly produced a ically oversized hi-tech cross between a shotgun an a on from behind the s and aimed it at his face.

  "You've been a very, very bad boy," the waitress smiled with an air of ess, but her aura was bright red, and filled with anger.

  I immediately raised my arm, ready to throw up a barrier but the woman held out a hand and motio me to stay still.

  "You, you stay there, girl. Don't get involved."

  She tapped the gun and wi me, as it made a whirring noise and began charging up.

  "Wait, what's that thing?" Bck Star stammered, staring at her.

  The waitress' smirk turned positively wicked.

  "I call it La c 3000."

  I suddenly felt my heart sink. This was not good.

  "La what now?" I asked almost out of reflex.

  "La. c."

  Suddenly, a ical looking green slipper flew from the end of her on and hit Bck Star right across his cheek with a resounding 'TH'.