TWENTY-ONE

I used my sword to block another wave of arrows.

Mimicking what I saw Dia do, I swung them back at the Lunarians, taking down multiple Lunarians.

Another relentless wave of arrows came and went.

"Phos! Are you okay in there?!"

No response from the box.+

"Phos!"

I narrowly dodged a stray arrow, which bounced off the gold box like it was rubber.

Damn, I can't do much when I'm supposed to play the defensive instead of the offensive. So little room for manoeuvre...

Blocking yet another wave of arrows, I felt my sword begin to significantly crack.

I can't keep this up. If only I had those daggers with me right now...

"Mmmph!"

That came from inside the box.

I swiftly turned around.

"Phos! Can you hear m-"

I felt something go through my chest from behind, the impact breaking off my limbs.

Looking down, I could clearly see the arrow protrude out of my chest.

Before I could react, I felt another arrow go through my neck.

I saw my own torso as my head was thrown leftwards, before hitting the ground and rolling for a bit.

Everything started to feel light.

So this is what it feels like to be broken...

-----------------------

I couldn't move while the Lunarians came down.

I couldn't move while they collected the parts of me and Antarc (I could hear them).

I couldn't move when one of them picked my head up and placed it into a basket.

I couldn't do anything while I was being carried to the Lunarian ship.

I was on the brink of passing out, yet somehow I haven't lost consciousness yet.

Is this the end of me?

Is everything that happened in this world going to end here?

Phos...

I'm scared...

Please... help me.

Please...

I felt my basket drop.

My head fell out and faced where Phos would be.

All I saw...

... was Phos emerging from a golden ball that was opening like a flower, looking very pissed.

Then everything finally blacked out.

----------------------

White room.

Well, not really a "room".

White world then?

Yep, white world.

I looked around. Absolutely nothing.

I turned back to check again. Yep, nothing.

However, when I turned around, a figure startled me.

There I am. Nicole, just right ahead of me, facing me.

Black hair tied in a bun. That's my regular hairstyle, that's for sure.

I took a step forward. That other "me" took a step forward too.

Huh?

Looking around, I noticed it was just a massive mirror.

Oh, that explains it.

I walked towards my reflection.

I reached my hand out...

... but my hand doesn't look like Nicole's.

I looked at my hand. This is Danburite's.

Looking at the mirror, I was surprised to see Danburite.

White hair, twintails. A contrast to Nicole's hairstyle, I guess.

Nicole's looking from the side.

Wait, what?

I turned left. Nicole was looking at me.

I quickly turned right. There Dan is, looking at me.

I stepped back and the two of them walked in front of me, standing side by side.

"Hey, you," Nicole started.

"Yep, you," Dan continued.

"Who exactly are you?"

"Are you the 15 year old human girl?"

"Or are you the seven-half hard humanoid gem?"

"Make a choice," both of them finished together.

I pondered over it for a while.

Hey, the answer's pretty obvious, now that I think about it.

"That's easy," I replied, "both."

Everything whitened.

---------------

Darkness.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, allowing light to flood in.

"Sensei, Dan's awake."

"Dan!"

I felt someone hug me tightly.

Fully opening my eyes, I looked to my side as the peppermint gem continued her tight embrace, sobbing. Behind her, Antarc and Sensei were watching, the ice gem giving me a soft smile.2

"Dan," Phos choked, releasing her hug and pulling back to look at me with golden tears rolling down her cheeks, "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Phos..." I said, "your eyes..."

"Yeah, I know, but I don't care, I nearly lost you!"

Phos went back to hugging me.

"I... I'm so sorry!" she choked out in between sobs.

"Phos..."

I returned the hug and smiled.

"It's not your fault at all. You couldn't do anything, I don't blame you for that."

Phos continued sobbing. "I... I was so close to... to losing you... and Antarc..."

"But we're here now, everything's alright now."

Phos didn't stop.

"There, there, everything's fine now," I comforted.

Antarc unexpectedly walked up and hugged Phos.

"Dan is right, it's alright now."

--------------

"Hey, Phos."

"Yes?"

"You can let go of me now."

"No."

"Ehh, come on now, you're not feeling better yet?"

"I feel better, but I want to keep you close to me now."

I smiled.

"I won't leave you, I promise."

"Hey, Dan," Antarc called, climbing down Rutile's shelf.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Don't bother trying to get Phos off, they were clinging onto me before you too. That's not what I want to talk about though; here, this is your uniform."

The ice gem showed me the uniform, the shirts each having a hole through the center.

"Red Beryl's not going to be happy..."

"We'll get it patched up soon enough. In the meantime, wear one of my spares."

"Ah, alright. Thanks, Antarc."

"No problem. By the way, Phos was the one who saved us."

"Wow, really?"

"Yep!" Phos replied, releasing her hug and sitting back. "Look, these arms finally listened to me right before the Lunarians brought you two up, so I managed to stop them and hold them off until Sensei arrived. Now the gold runs through my entire body. It feels weird, but in a good way."

"Nice," I replied, looking at the peppermint gem's new arms. "Thanks for the save."

She grinned. "No prob! Still, I have to be serious at the right time now," she continued, putting p a completely new air. "I nearly lost some of the ones that meant the most to me, I cannot let that happen again. Which is why, Dan?"

"Yeah?"

"Please trim my hair," Phos requested, passing me a pair of scissors.

"Ehh, you sure?"

"Yeah. Just a bit shorter that'll make my hair look neater, that'll work enough."

"Well, alright..." I replied, getting up.

---------------------------

Antarc and I stared at Phos' hair in silence. Phos was using a mirror, and seemed pretty surprised at the outcome.

"I-it's too short! I'm sorry, I screwed up!"

Phos and Antarc continued staring.

Antarc suddenly burst into laughter, and Phos followed suit.

"Uh, eheh?" I uttered in confusion.

"It's perfect," Phos reassured, turning to look at me in the eye. "Thank you."

I blushed. "Ehh, no problem," I uttered, trying to avoid eye contact

Phos giggled. "You look really cute now, you know?"1

I blushed harder.

Antarc chuckled. "Stop teasing Dan, Phos. Also, nothing's changed, we missed a whole day of work that Sensei covered for us yesterday. Dan, get out of your robes."

The ice gem threw over her spare uniform, which I caught.

"Make it quick."

Phos smiled and looked at me with a "yeah, back to business" gaze.

I returned the smile.

----------------------------

"Is this one of the regulars?" I asked, looking at the Lunarians.

"Seems like it," Antarc replied, their arrows being stopped easily by a gold shield that Phos had put up.

The three of us watched in silence.

"Dan," Phos asked, "why are you holding me so tightly?"

"I-I'm afraid of heights..."

"For real?" Antarc chimed in.

"Yeah, but it's nothing. Just...an annoyance."

"Guess that's fine," Phos replied. "So, do I end it now?"

"Yeah, end it," Antarc confirmed. "Only one way to find out for sure."

"Okay. Dan?"

"Yep, just slice it."

"Alright," Phos confirmed, using her sword to slice off the giant Lunarian's head.

The whole cloud began to disappear in a hissing puff of steam. Yep, old.

"Sensei," Phos called down behind us, "they were indeed the old type."

Hearing something whistle in the air, I turned around to see an arrow flying towards us.

With quick thinking, Sensei intercepted the arrow just before it managed to hit any of us.

The gold platform the three of us were standing on began to liquefy and became unstable.

"Woaaaaaaaaah!"

I plummeted down, backfirst.

I felt a cold liquid against my back, which slowed me down.

I hit the ground with a soft thud.

Completely unharmed, I got up and looked towards the source of the "cushion".

"Nice save, Phos."

"Thanks."

It's been a while (understatement, winter is almost over now) since that incident, and boy, winter was never as hard as before. The bond between the three of us gems have strengthened greatly, and Phos has indeed changed into a more serious gem whenever it comes to work. That being said, she's still more or less the same old Phos once work is over, so I'm glad for that.

Also, both Phos and I have gotten Antarc to open up more since that day. The ice gem still was pretty cold (no pun intended), but boh Phos and I have noticed that she has began smiling much more these days.

"You've mastered the ability to alter your alloy membrane's thickness to match the trajectory of the arrows," Sensei spoke to Phos as we regathered. "Now you must learn to maintain your balance."

"Yes, my apologies. I'll work to control these abilities."

Turning round, Phos sheathed her sword.

"We will see to the ice floes now," Antarc reported as we began to take our leave.

"Wait."

The three of us turned around.

"Take some time to rest," Sensei suggested.

"Not necessary," the ice gem replied.

"I'm holding up well myself," Phos added on. "Antarc would have to sleep soon too, there's no time to waste."

"That alloy has stretched throughout you like a net in order to support the weight of those arms," Sensei prodded. "Each time you unleash that alloy, fine cracks run across your entire body, do they not?"

"Yes," Phos confirmed, "but the truth is, as long as these two are around, I somehow never feel tired. Everything, no matter how tough, just feels... relaxing."

Antarc and I looked at Phos in surprise.

Phos looked back.

"Huh? What? Isn't this true for all of us? Dan? Antarc?!"

Silence.

"Aw, come on!"

Antarc suddenly burst into laughter.

"Yes, Phos," Antarc replied, stifling her laughter but still keeping a smile nonetheless, "that's how it feels to me too. Dan?"

I smiled and nodded. "Same here."

Phos frowned a bit. "Then why were you two looking at me like that? Don't scare me like that!"

I giggled. "Yeah, sorry."

"Yeah, stop pouting," Antarc added on.

Phos lightened up. "Alright, alright. Anyway, Sensei, we'll deal with the ice floes now."

Sensei nodded silently. "Do be careful."

"Yes," all of us replied simultaneously.

------------------

The three of us watched the sunset from the cliff, almost done with our work.

The sea was almost back to normal, with just a single floe left.

"I almost made a bad call and threw this," Phos suddenly said, looking down at her sword.

"Huh?" I puzzled.

"I wanted to throw my sword at the Lunarians when I was fighting them, but that'll be futile. Sensei came at the right time, but I could just have reached out..."

Phos extended their right arm and entangled the top of the floe with the alloy.

Pulling back her arm, the peppermint gem broke the spherical section off.

Bringing back the alloy, she looked at the fragments of ice, still being held on my her alloy.

"Things would have been so much easier."

"You've grown a lot," Antarc commented. "Maybe losing your arms was not such a bad thing after all."

Phos smiled. "Maybe. This strength feels great! Hey, Antarc..."

The peppermint retracted her arm back to normal and hugged Antarc tightly.

"Tell me, do you like me now? Come on, tell me, tell me!"

"T-too tight..." the ice gem managed to blurt out before breaking free of Phos' grasp.

"Some things just never change, do they? Still..."

Antarc looked away, lightly blushing.

"I... guess I do prefer the 'new' you..."

The peppermint gem immediately lit up, proceeding to hug Antarc again, this time with a tighter grasp.

"Senpai likes me, Senpai likes me!"

"H-hey, get off me!" Antarc shouted, but also seems to be enjoying the moment too.

"Dan! Get Phos off me!"

"A-alright..."

I inched towards the two of them.

"U...hh... Phos, Antarc wants you to get off..."

"No! I'm going to keep this up until I'm happy!" was the reply from the peppermint gem.

Antarc groaned. "Not like that, Dan! Pull them off!"

"Ehh?!"

"Yes, do it!"

"Alright..." I replied, grabbing the peppermint gem's torso and pulling back as hard as I can.

"Dan! Stop! I think I'll break!"

"Ehh?! Then what do I do?!"

"Don't do anythi- hey!"

Antarc took the chance when Phos was distracted to break free.

"See you two back at the school!" the ice gem shouted before tripping over her own feet.

"Ow!"

"Hahah, I'm coming for you now Antarc!" was the reaction from Phos as she ran towards Antarc, but she tripped over a stone and proceeded to roll down the slope.

"Phos!" I shouted as I ran forward, only to slip on a small puddle of water and rolling down the slope myself.

I crashed into Phos, who had crashed into Antarc.

The three of us sat up and looked at each other...

... before spontaneously breaking into fits of laughter simultaneously.

A few moments were spent laughing our heads off.

"H-hey..." Phos managed to utter as we stopped, "There's something we need to do."

"What is it?" I asked.

------------------------------

"We'd like to fix your robes for you, Sensei," Phos said.

"Eh-" Sensei blurted out in surprise.

"If you don't change out of those, Red Beryl will be furious when they wake up," Phos explained. "I can already hear it now, 'How can you do this?!'"

"But I have no other robes," Sensei pointed out.

"It'll be fine."

"Will it?"

"These arms aren't as bad as they used to be, moreover Antarc and Dan will help. Right?"

The two of us nodded.

"See? It'll be fine! We can also patch up Dan's uniform while we're at it too."

--------------------------

Phos worked on the outer robes as Sensei wore his inner robes behind. At the same time, I finished fixing the gaping hole of my black overshirt, under Antarc's guidance.

We've been working through the whole night, reading up using Red Beryl's books and guides about sewing. When it came to the actual sewing, I was supposed to work on Sensei's inner robes, but Antarc managed to convince me to let her do it instead, so here I am, sewing my own uniform.

Looking out, I could see the sunlight beginning to approach.

Damn, Katsumi must be lonely...

"This is a first for me," Phos commented. "Watching winter fade away to spring."

"And about time for me to go too," Antarc added on.

"Living beings change at such a fast pace, don't they? It's frightening."

"You do, too," Sensei joined in.

"That's..."

Phos thought about it for a moment.

"You're right."

The four of us watched as the sun rose.

"Oh," Phos went back on track, "your robes are done."

"Thank you."

Sensei took his robes back.

"Now, I must insist that you all rest now. It won't be long."

------------------

"Antarc..." I called.

"What is it?"

"Your spare uniform..." I uttered, holding them out towards the ice gem.

Antarc smiled.

"You keep it."

"Eh? No, I can't, this is yours, I can't just take it-"

Antarc put both her hands on my shoulders and stared at me.

"When winter comes again, I want to see you wear that again. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes..."

Antarc smirked a bit and let go. "I didn't scare you, did I?"

"A little..."

"Well, get used to it the winter. Alright. Phosphophyllite, Danburite, it's been a great time working with the two of you. I'll see you two when winter comes again."

"Goodbye," Phos replied.

"It's been equally nice meeting you too," I added on.

"Phos, take care of Dan well. And Dan."

"Yeah?"

"Try not to talk in your sleep," the ice gem said before smirking again, "human."

"Ehh?!"

"Don't worry, Phos told me everything while you were out the other day, I won't tell anyone. Not even Sensei. Well, I really have to go, see you two next winter!"

Antarc waved as they ran off, back to her tub before she starts to melt.

Waving back, I stopped and looked at Phos.

"Hey, Phos."

"What is it?"

"... Do I talk in my sleep often?"

Phos smiled. "Not as far as I know, and your room's just next to me. You're fine."

------------------

"Sorry, Katsumi, I just don't get time to come back to my room much with all those work around," I apologized while setting the white uniform down on the window stille.

"It's fine, it's fine. I wasn't cooped up in your room all the time either."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you heard me right," Katsumi smiled as she sat on my bed. "I had to change the jellyfishes 3 times a day, so I waited till everyone was busy before sneaking out."

"You could have been caught by Sensei..."

"Nah, no worries at all! So, the rest would wake up soon, right?"

"Yep. I'll need to get Sphene to remove the wood, since the glue's just too strong."

"Eh, Dan?"

"You're great, thinking of this idea to keep yourself warm. You also secured the planks well, even that blizzard couldn't batter it down."

"Uh, Dan..."

"Yeah, that worked better than expected. Good thinking, Katsumi, everything held nicely. Perhaps we should-"

"Uh..." Phos uttered at the doorway.

I spinned around.

"Ah, Phos, nice timing. We'll have to wake them up soon, right?"

"Well, yeah but..."

Phos looked at the bed, raising an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

I looked at Katsumi in shock, still in her human form and on my bed.

Katsumi shrugged. "Well, you're busted."

-----------------

"So," Phos confirmed, "you're someone from another world thinking of settling down here."

"Yeah, basically," Katsumi reaffirmed.

The lights from the jellyfishes reflected off our faces, both Phos and I sitting on the floor while Katsumi remained on the bed..

Phos smiled.

"Well, I'll like you here, but I'm not sure if Sensei would approve. You can turn into what you call a butterfly, right?"

"Yep."

"That'll not be a problem then, just stay hidden. Dan, you really should tell me more about whatever secrets you're hiding."

"Ehehe..."

"I'll talk to you more soon, Katsumi," Phos said.

"No problem, just find me in Dan's room!"

"Alright then. Dan, we're going to wake them up now."

"Sure thing," I replied, getting up.

--------------

"So," I asked as both the peppermint gem and I stood in front of the door, "how do we wake them up?"

"We'll just let sunlight in, they'll wake up soon enough," was the reply as Phos opened the door.

Yellow Dia was the first to get up, opening her eyes.

Dia yawned. "Is it spring already?"

Jade was next. "Everyone, get up," she called out as she shook Euclase.

"You can sleep a while longer," Phos said. "I'll deal with the preparations and cleanup for the morning meeting."

"Thanks, Antarcticite..." Rutile muttered sleepily.

"Nah, Antarcticite's off to rest already."

Rutile got up and stared at me.

"Eheh..." I muttered nervously.

Rutile turned their attention to the peppermint gem.

Phos smiled.

"Phos... Is that you?"

"Yep."

"Your hair... and your arms!"

"Long story, I'll tell you all about it later. Hey, quack doc, do I look better?"

"You..."

Rutle wanted to jump up, but after thinking about it, she let it slide, relaxing herself.

"You do look neater. An overall improvement, I'll say."

Phos smiled softly. "Aw, thanks..."

"Hey, what's with that? Anyway, could you go check on Cinnabar for me? And mention that, if possible, attendance at the meeting would be preferred."

Phos stared blankly at the doctor. "Cinnabar?"

"Ah, right. 'Anything but that," yes? Fine, I'll go myself."

"No, I'll go," the peppermint gem replied as Rutile stood up. "But Cinnabar... is who exactly?"

The doctor stared at Phos in shock.

I was pretty surprised too, but hey, Phos lost her arms (or half her arms), I had seen some form of memory loss coming. But still, of all things, Cinnabar?

"Wait, wait, wait," the peppermint gem yelped, facepalming. "Dan."

"Huh? Yeah?"

"What color is Cinnabar?"

"Uh, red."

"Ah, yeah, I still remember. Red, gives out poison, goes on a night patrol, and the both of us promised to find her a fun job. Why did I forget their name? Ugh..."

Phos removed her hand from her face.

"Right, now that I'm sure that's Cinnabar, Rutile," she continued, blushing, "you're right, anything but that! I'm in no shape to face them now..."

Rutile sweatdropped, annoyance written all over their face..

"Yeah, I'll go myself."

"I'm gonna start handing out our summer uniforms!" Red Beryl called out, already up and running and in clothes that I'm never seen before. "Oh, there you are, Dan!"

---------

I looked at my reflection. As usual, Red Beryl has done an excellent job at her tailoring.

This uniform is made up of basically a collared shirt, loose shorts that have shoulder straps and a small black tie. The shoulder straps are sewed and go straight up at the front before crossing into an "X" at the back, where finally they're secured by a button each. The shirt's collar is not as tall as the one in the summer uniform, and the shirt and shorts themselves are significantly less tight than the summer uniforms, which is a nice difference.

The carefree spring uniform really is made for spring.

"Thanks, Red Beryl."

"Don't mention it! By the way," the tailor asked while tying my hair up, "you said you were looking for Sphene?"

"Ah, yeah. Do you know where she- they are?"

I really have to get used to this gender thing.

"You'll find them at the woodshop. You've been there before, right?"

"Yep."

"Then you should be good to go! Oh, why are you looking for Sphene anyway?"

I paused for a moment. "Well... I have something I'd like them to help me remove."

------------

"Woah, Dan. How did you do this?"

Sphene and I looked at the planks that boarded up my room's windows.

"Eheh," I replied, "just took some glue and pasted it up. Sorry for taking your wood, I should've asked you for permission first..."

"No, it's fine. Still, you could have asked, but this..." the brownish-esque gem uttered, fascinated, "this held up over winter?"

"Mmh."

"My, my! This can finally stop all those snow coming into our rooms while we hibernate! You had the same thoughts too, right?"

"U-uh, yeah."

I wonder what Sphene would say if I told her that it was to keep someone warm...

The "someone" I was referring to moved her wings in her butterfly form, resting close to the ceiling on the walls.

"This will take a while to remove, but I'll get them off just fine," Sphene commented, taking a saw and trying to wedge the wooden blocks from the walls. "Hey, by the way, you spend so much time with Phos but hardly spend time with us! We miss you!"

Sphene turned towards me, pouting.

"Eheheh, sorry, I'll try spending time with you guys."

"Heh, no problem! Red Beryl especially wants you to talk to them more, for some reason. Said something along the lines of you being a great model for them- ah! It's out."

The woodworks gem pulled one row of the blocks out before using the planks as pivots to dislodge the other row of blocks.

"One more window to go, right?"

"Yep."

"I'll need them back so that I can make a proper seal for the windows. This will be interesting."

I smiled.