Chapter 1: The Shadow in the Dorm

Hibana watches the giant girls. They hear me but do not see…

When one girl peruses the bookshelves, the fire fairy understands: They read in the dark! Giants obviously have light-sensitive eyes. Maybe that’s why they drew the circle around my chair, so I don’t disrupt their reading.

She remains on the candlestick and continues to observe.

"It's probably just some harmless spirit. Don't let it spook you." Hanami shrugs. "More importantly, I think someone was here recently. The chalk is fresh, and that candle is lit. It corroborates Rikishi's statement about seeing a flash of light last night."

Not paying close attention to the 'candle', Hanami kneels close to the chalk circle and casts a light spell on the tip of her wand, using it to light the written script. "I think this might be old witch magic... I might be able to decipher it, given some time." She analyzes it more closely, running her hand along the circle gently, muttering under her breath as she traces the characters with her fingers.

The biggest giant is the last to enter. She has to duck to get through the door, and she can reach all of the top shelves without a ladder. The dim light dances on her bright red hair as she looks left and right, slowly, like a regal apex predator who owns the place. She is definitely not feeling completely lost in a library.

She about half a step behind Hanami, watching the latter work, when she spies it. No, her, definitely a her. The very big and very pretty girl fixes her ruby stare directly on the tiny flame creature in the middle of the magic circle. The dragon's pupils contract to slits.

Clearly, Kannon, karma, or some other mystical force has rewarded her for her good behavior and selfless heroism. The creature is alive, adorable, and made of fire. There can be no other rational explanation for her appearance in a mystical diagram than that Sumeryu has earned the favor of at least one Heaven. Not coincidental at all.

The gigantic, gorgeous girl steps over the boundary of the circle, watching that particular step to be careful not to disturb it. She doesn't say anything at first, merely leaning over the candle at the center and looming, to regard the itty-bitty and super adorable candle-fairy-girl. It is the very paramount of willpower not to shriek like a fangirl, grab her, and run. That would be terribly rude and inconsiderate.

After a couple seconds of silence, Sumeryu slowly crouches down to be at eye level with the fairy. She holds out her right hand, longer from fingertips to wrist than the fairy is tall.

"Hello," she says, "My name is Himeji Sumeryu. Who are you?"

And without asking or waiting for permission, she grabs the fairy girl in her hand -gently but firmly enough to not drop her-, stands up, and turns around to face the other girls.

Hibana’s eyes are fixed on the giantest of the giantesses. When the palm is offered, she isn’t sure whether she shou—

"Eep?"

She looks down at the ground falling far, far away. Then her eyes meet the giant girl’s—Sumeryu!

And now she knows her name.

Yes. I know her name. And why is that important? And for all that the fairy can’t remember, she does remember The Golden Rule: treat others as—

No, no, no, no, no… it’s The Golden Sunshiny Rule!

She tosses her hair, casually leans her forearms on the massive index finger curled around her body and smiles sweetly at Sumeryu. "Why hello there, Sumeryu. I’m Hibana, thank you for asking. It’s very nice to meet you!" She isn’t sure what else to say, so she says the next thing that pops in her head. "Your presence explains why the ceiling’s so high, and why the books are so big. Is this a library for tall people or something?"

Sumeryu smiles back, down at Hibana in her hand. The fairy's flaming body doesn't cause her any discomfort, as it might have with someone else.

"You're welcome, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Hibana."

Then she looks up, at the ceiling. It's higher than average. Back down at Hibana: "It's probably because we're underground. The door is shorter than me."

She holds out her other hand -the one not holding Hibana- to gesture at Hanami, Ibuki, and Luna. "These are my friends, Dr. Matsuyama, Ibuki, and Luna." Then she sweeps her hand back to indicate Hibana without pointing. "Dr. Matsuyama, Ibuki, Luna, this is Hibana."

Without pause or any sense of either shame or how incongruous the question is, Sumeryu then follows with a happy, "Isn't she super cute?"

She doesn't acknowledge that she just said something girly and instead asks Hibana: "Do you know how you got here, Hibana?"

Ibuki's eyes dart around before finally focusing on the little creature that spoke earlier, she is somehow not surprised that sumeryu was the one to see her first

"Ahem as Sumeryu has stated my name is Ibuki, apologies for being able to perceive you prior it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance miss hibana"

Hibana waves to the Doctor, Luna and Ibuki. "It’s okay, Ibuki! Yes, Sumeryu, I am super cute. That is a fact."

Her eyes widen with worry at Sumeryu‘s next question.

She looks at the candle (way down there) and recalls, "The candle was… lit… possibly by me." Awkward pause. Blink. Blink. "Before that… I… well… ummm…

"Haha." The nervous laugh is quickly stifled. There’s nothing funny about the dawning realization. "I remember my mother’s voice. ’Hibana, go to your room.’

"And…"

And that’s Hibana’s only memory prior to appearing in this room (which clearly isn’t hers). "And." Her whole life is otherwise erased from her mind.

"And,

"I… I think I need someone to… uh, hold… uh." She pats the topmost finger of the huge hand that carries her. "Right. Holding’s covered. Thanks, Sumeryu."

"She seems... confused. At the risk of sounding cliche could this be amnesia? Hibana would you like follow us in the mean time as you clear your head, perhaps you may be able to recall something upon observing the surroundings" Ibuki never knew her mother but being suddenly torn from away from family is a pain she feels oddly familiar with

Hibana rises from her seconds-long slump. "Tag along? Oh! Sure." And taking in only the most obvious of details, she adds, "Did somebody drop her lucky rock in here? You all seemed to be looking for something. I like to help!"

Not that Hibana remembers a single instance of being helpful, but she remembers liking to help. Be helpful, not hurtful, she imagines the go-to-your-room voice saying.

Suddenly the fairy in Sumeryu’s hand is an impossibly tiny spark, and the outfit of pinkish-purplish light flops and flakes into dissipating sparks.

The spark re-ignites as a fluttering fairy—a candleflame in the shape of a winged girl, white-gold with flickering red hair and wings! By the time her fire fades to flesh, she is clad in a magenta schoolgirl skirt, with pink-gold shirt and stockings. Two magenta hair ribbons keep some of her hair tame, but her bushy pigtails flicker like flame.

She willingly seats herself atop the same hand that held her captive, for she wasn’t escaping so much as showing the girls a thing she can do. (She thinks it’s even unique among fairies, but then, her memory is failing her…)

"I’m not particularly observant, but I can fit in places that none of you can fit in. That might be helpful?"

Hanami crosses her arms as she appraises the fairy with a critical gaze. She can't help but be suspicious, but Hibana seems harmless so far.

So cute...!!!

"Hmph... I don't know what to make of you right now, but if you want to help, I'm not gonna stop you. We're looking for a girl named Izumi. Something, or someone, dragged her away this morning. We came here because Tojo-sensei said something about a leak down here in the basement. Not to mention, we ran into someone that said he saw a flash of light coming from here last night. I suspect that flash was due to this magic circle being activated. I haven't figured out much about it yet, but it seems to be a ritual for breaking seals, and the caster must be in close proximity in order for it to work. Maybe you were sealed somehow...?" Hanami glances over at the brass candle holder that still sat in the center of the circle.

"Someone sealed me?" She grins at the prospect. "Ha! You saw my Violet Spark technique—no prison can hollllllllld… me."

Her eyes half-squint. Her lips form a thin straight line.

"Riiight, that’d be the whole point of a magical seal, wouldn’t it?"

She now rises from Sumeryu’s hand, crossing one leg over the other and seating herself in midair.

"This apparently concerns me too, but even though I don’t know your friend—and just met you—Izumi’s the priority." She’s serious. Maybe even a little alarmed.

Sumeryu feels badly for Hibana and holds her just a little bit tighter when she expresses the desire to be hugged. She really wants to coo and otherwise express that Hibana is ultra adorbs, but that would be very matronizing. So, she doesn't, instead just being silent -and very large- support.

When Hibana transforms, Sumeryu at first panics a little because she feels like maybe she did something wrong, but then poof, Hibana is back. The dragon girl holds her hand out, palm up, so that Hibana can perch how she wants to.

"You have outfits," says the giant girl. "Magical girl transformation outfits." Her tone is calm and matter-of-fact.

Then her pitch rises and she gleefully adds, "Ah, that's amazing!" Without really thinking about it, Sumeryu reflexivelygrabs Hibana out of the air and holds her against her generously-endowed chest and squeezes. For just a moment. When she realizes that she did that, she lets go.

"Uh, sorry. Sorry."

She looks around for something to distract attention, sees the moist wall, and points at it. "Oh, yeah, Tojo-san said the plumbing was having trouble."

Hibana is suddenly pressed against Sumeryu’s body!
Blushing brightly, the fairy admits, "You don’t owe an apology to someone you didn’t wrong."

But the subject-change is probably for the best.

"Plumbing, eh? I can’t eat plums. Berries and cherries are sweet treats for fairies." She imagines the go-to-your-room voice saying that… and in that moment, it occurs to her that ‘plumbing’ has to do with the wet wall.

"Oh. Plumbing. Like, with water." She doesn’t ask if the water is for growing plum trees. "You are correct, Sumeryu, that my outfit is magical. And girly. And completely necessary—when I become a spark, I can’t take anything with me, clothing included.

"But my magical girl-outfit is fire magic. So, you can probably imagine that if I were to submerge in water… haha?" She covers her mouth too late to stifle her nervous laugh. "Well… for Izumi, right?"

She flits close to the wet wall, hovering above the area that Hanami is investigating.

"How can I help?" she asks sincerely.

Upon closer inspection, Luna saw that the small flame in Sumeryu's hand was in fact not a flame, but a person. "Oh, how cute! I'm Luna, nice to meet you Miss Hibana."

Hmm... how strange. I didn't notice her presence before. Could she be responsible for the magic circle? No, it doesn't seem like it... While the naive Luna was happy to make a cute friend, the other voice in her head viewed her with more scrutiny.

"There's some sort of trail that seems to end on the other side of the wall." Hanami points it out to Hibana, tracing her finger along the trail without actually disturbing it. "Do you think you could check the other side for us? See where it leads?"

Hibana smiles at Luna’s compliment and bows in response to her greeting.

She then follows Hanami’s finger… then the trail… then she becomes a violet spark! Her little schoolgirl outfit deflates and dissipates into fading sparks. The one spark that remains becomes a pin-point of light as it approaches the wall, then even the best eyes cannot see her…!