Mayumi Aikawa − New Beginnings (and New Allies)

3 Days after the attack at the Starfall Monastery

Mayumi sat alone at one of the benches. It had been a couple days since the attack at the monastery. Some of the students had been injured, but none of them were even in critical condition. The only one they had lost was Shirou.
Miss Fujiwara walked up to Mayumi and sat down next to her. She put one of her arms around Mayumi in an attempt to comfort her. And although Mayumi appreciated the sentiment, there was nothing that could make her feel better. Shirou was gone, taken by one of the dragons. For all she knew, Shirou was already dead when the dragon had caught him from the fall and flown away with him. And if he was dead, he had died saving her. Mayumi couldn't think of anything that made her feel as terrible as that thought. What would she and Kazuya tell their mother?
Eventually, Miss Fujiwara convinced her to go meet up with the others, apparently there was talk of what their next steps were, whether that be as groups or as individuals. 

Mayumi walked through the doors to the throne room and stood next to Satomi and Yuko, both of whom offered her hugs and condolences. She tried to stop thinking about Shirou for a second before she turned her attention to the King Ariecastre, Valeria, General Maridus, and Morviden who were standing opposed to Tommy, Hiro, and Lia. 
The three seniors had explained their situation to the others in the past couple day. They were are  originally from this world, but had reincarnated on Earth after their various deaths. Lia was a Godkin, a humanoid creature who had been physically crafted by a god and imbued with extraordinary powers. She had previously lived for thousands of years, before she died battling an evil god who had tried to destroy the world. Hiro had then explained that he was what, the people around him while he was alive had called, "an Aetherborn". A humanoid born not of any biological parent, but formed by strange arcane forces that had imbued him great power unlike any magic that he had encountered in his past life. He had died trying to save a city from a devil lord who had breached the barriers between the material realm and the underworld . Tommy was much less clear about his past, but explained that he was one of a long line of inheritors for a power known as the Disturbance, a remnant of a primordial void demon who had the ability to consume and destroy and kind of magic. He promised that he had full control over it and that magic still worked around him as long as he allowed it. He didn't explain how he died. Either way, the world had clearly changed a lot since any of them had last been alive. So with the help of King Ariecastre and Morviden, they came up with a more, intricate plan.

Lia offered to stay in Luceidus with any students who wished to stay and either train for the war or search for a way to return home without completing the prophecy. With her memories back, she had centuries upon centuries of combat experience to offer and share not just with the others, but with the whole city. And as a reawakened Godkin, the students would probably be safest within Luceidus if they didn't want to risk following Hiro and Tommy on their journeys, in which neither of them could reasonably make any promises of safety. She planned to make it a safe haven for them if they didn't want to take the risk of venturing out into the unknown.

Hiro explained that he was planning to go explore as far as he could. Even during his past life where he had been all over the world, there were clearly still plenty more to it that he had never seen or heard of. He had never been to Deusarium in his past life, so he had no idea how long he would have to travel before he might stumble across a region that he recognized. But if there was any chance that there were still places in the world who told stories of the Aetherborn, he had to try and find them. It could allow to them to finally find some answers to some of the questions still left on the table.

Tommy explained clearly and concisely that he was heading off to see if any of the groups he had allied with when he was alive were still around. Although he admitted to being skeptical about the true nature of the threat to Deusarium, he recognized that having allies in case the threat really is violent in nature would be a massive advantage, especially since Deusarium seemed to lack resources for war in comparison to the other kingdoms that the king had concern over. He also planned to try and make contact with an information networks that were still in operation, possibly ones more connected to Wintersheart or Aniyin, to try and find conclusive evidence of whether or not they were actually considered going to war with Deusarium. The earth dragon attack was too specific and elaborate to just be a random Aniyin attack (if it even was an Aniyin attack), especially because it had gone after them at the monastery in the mountains instead of just having gone to attack the city.

With all three options put before them, the students were finally given some individual freedom to choose what they wanted to do.
Miss Fujiwara, Kiyo, Johnny, Takumi, Emi, Masaru, Noboru, Ana, Hoshi, Yuko, and Satomi chose to stay with Lia in Luceidus. Johnny, Masaru, Noboru, Hoshi, Ana, and Kiyo were still planning on learning to fight and training to master their new abilities. They would train under  General Maridus, Valeria, and Lia   to learn how to fight properly, work together as a unit, and how to harness their powers and use them responsibly. Meanwhile, Miss Fujiwara, Takumi, Emi, Yuko, and Satomi planned to put their efforts into searching for clues or leads to see if there was any chance that they could return without having to fight, win, and survive a war. Both Morviden and Princess Katarina offered to assist them with their research in any way they could.
Kazuya and Naoko agreed to join Hiro on his journey, something he preferred, since it meant he would have to carry less people if he wanted to fly.
Meanwhile, Jun, Rio and Ichika planned to join Tommy on his journey to try and recruit allies while also seeing if they could more about their possible enemies. 

That just left Mayumi, who said she needed a bit longer to decide. She was informed that both Hiro and Tommy were planning on leaving tomorrow morning. So she had to make her choice tonight.

As Mayumi paced around withing one of the halls of the palace, she pondered what option was best for her. The simplest answer was to just stay in Luceidus with Lia. Most of her friends were staying in Luceidus anyway and it's not she had any interest to go look for new lands with Hiro or seek allies with Tommy. But it didn't feel right to just stay, even if she still wanted to go back home. 
As she continued her pacing, she didn't notice that Princess Katarina spot her as they were walking  down an adjacent hallway and called to her. It took her screaming at the top of her lungs for Mayumi to be taken out of her trance and join her to sit down.
S asked her what was wrong, and why she had such a hard time choosing what to do.
"I don't know," she answered, "nothing has been even close to simple since Shirou sacrificed himself to safe he." She put her head in between her hands again and sighed before she felt Katarina give her a hug.
"I just," she continued, "it feels wrong to just stay here and do nothing. Just because I wanted nothing more than to go back home. But after what Shirou did... It feel like I should be doing something more, but I don't know what."
Princess Katarina turned her head around to see if there was anyone nearby before she turned back to Mayumi.
"You know," she explained to Mayumi, "Shirou told you the truth when he joined you late at the monastery."
Mayumi looked at the princess confused before she remembered what she was referencing. Shirou had shown up late the ceremony in a carriage with the princess.
"Do be more accurate," Katarina continued, "during one of my many disguised escapades into the lower districts the night before you were supposed to go, I had just happen to come across Shirou as he was crying in an alleyway. When I had asked him why he was there, he told me that it was to make sure that his brother and the girl he was in love with would never find him.
I of course asked why he would want to do that and he told that him being in your lives was them worse. And of course, I told him to stop crying and stand up to listen to what I had to say!
Because love doesn't care whether or not you make someone's lives "better" or "worse". The only thing that matters when it comes to love is that it should be shared with each other. It only has value if you are with the person you love.

I don't want to make any assumptions about you, but it seems to me that you want to go find him, correct?" 
Mayumi turned to the Princess and nodded her head.
"Well then," Princess continued, "the answer to your query is simple. What path in front of you do you think will help you find him the most." With that question, Katarina left Mayumi to ponder the answer to that question.
If she thought about it from what would help her find Shirou the best, than it made sense why she didn't feel drawn to staying. There would not be much available to her in terms of looking versus following Hiro or Tommy out belong Luceidus.

So that was he only two real options: Go with Hiro or Go with Tommy.
Who would be the best at helping her find him.
....

The next morning

"Welp," said Jun as he waited for Tommy inside of the draped wagon, "I guess she didn't pick us."
"Shame too, "Ichika followed, "she seemed pretty nice."
"Yeah, not to mention that she seemed really care about Shiro," added Rio as he strummed a guitar that he found in the palace. 
Upon hearing the door swing open, all three of turned to see Tommy step up to the wagon.
"Got everything?" he asked, "Didn't leave anything or anyone behind?"
"I don't think so," answered Jun as he slapped a barrel with a tarp cover.
Rio smiled at him before he looked back at Jun.
"Who packed that barrel?" he asked.
They all looked at each other funny. None of them had packed the barrel, so what was inside. 
Jun carefully opened the tarp to reveal... extra food?
"Did we not pack food originally?" asked Ichika.
"Yes you did not," they all heard from the back of the wagon as Mayumi hopped on.
"Honestly, what were you all thinking," Mayumi asked, "What were you gonna hunt for everything?"
None of them gave her an answer before Tommy started laughing to himself.
"Oh, you're gonna make a great addition to the group," he said, before turning around to get the horse to move forward. Mayumi walked through draped wagon, past all of Shirou's friends, and joined Tommy at the front.
"So what made you pick us over Hiro?" Tommy asked, "You could've probably covered a lot more ground with him faster."
Mayumi shrugged, "You're probably right. But Hiro isn't traveling with a group almost made entirely of Shirou's close friends. I thought you were hiding something while you were explaining your plan and this seemed like the most logical conclusion."
Jun started laughing in the back, "Damn, she saw right through you. Tommy."
Tommy smiled as wagon slowly sped up. 
"Well you're certainly right about a couple things," Tommy added.
"Oh really," asked Mayumi now curious, "What else?"

"Well for one," he started, "I don't trust that king and I'd be damned I gave away my real plan in front of him."
"Why," asked Mayumi.
"In my past life, I had seen the all sorts of rulers," Tommy explained, "It allowed me to gain a sixth sense or sorts when it comes the rulers that are honest, and the ones that are lying to your face. And King Ariecastre was most certainly lying to us about something massive."

"I see," Mayumi nodded along, "So what's the first step of the real plan?"
"Easy," Tommy replied, "Find Shirou."
Mayumi paused at how straightforwardly he had said it.
"How do you know if he's still alive?" she asked him.
"It's actually quite simple," Tommy continued, "You see, Shirou is a Spell Blade which means that his power, no matter where he directly received it from, all originates from the Envoy of Nowhere. Uh, Morviden explained that much I think But, he would have no idea that even if there was only one Spell Blade left alive in the whole world, the Envoy would still know. After all, the power of Spell Blades come directly from him."
"But doesn't that mean we have to find the Envoy of Nowhere to learn is Shirou is still alive?" Mayumi asked, slightly more confused.
"Nah," Tommy answered, "not really."
"Why not?" Mayumi asked as a follow up.
"Oh," Tommy answered, "because I'm the Envoy of Nowhere."