Yukari Takeba

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Tatsumi Port Island. 

June 20, x788. 

Another day passed after those who entered Tartarus during the Dark Hour returned. While Alfonzo, Elicia, Alzack, and Bisca took the time to tour around the island in pairs, Mitsuru and Akihiko went to school like the students they were. However, after the school day ended, they made their way towards the hotel where Alfonzo and the others were staying. 

The reason for their unannounced visit was because Akihiko wanted to talk to the wizards from Fairy Tail. And if he was lucky, he would get the chance to spar with one, if not all, of them. Mitsuru, on the other hand, only followed along to make sure that Akihiko did not cause any trouble. 

However, neither of them n noticed that they were being followed all the way until they knocked on the door of Alfonzo Elicia's room 

*Knock!* *Knock!* *Knock!* 

"Tch! It's not room service." Elicia grumbled from the inside of the room. "It's only Mitsuru and Aki." 

Hearing that, Akihiko looked at Mitsuru in confusion. 

"They said something about being able to feel everything with magic power in a certain radius." Mitsuru said, replying to Akihiko's unasked question. "And they probably remembered the feeling of our magic power." 

"Ah! I see." Akihiko said in an understanding tone. "That would be useful the next time I got out to train." 

"Do you ever think about anything other than training?" Mitsuru asked. 

"Is there anything else to think about?" Akihiko asked in genuinely confused tone. 

At that moment, the door to the room opened. Elicia stood in the open doorway with a smile on her face. 

"Wasn't expecting to see you until tonight." Elicia said cheerfully. "Let me guess, Aki couldn't wait until the quest was over to ask for a spar, could he?" 

"*Sigh* They only met you once, Akihiko." Mitsuru said in an exasperated tone as she glanced to her side. "And they can already figure out your habits." 

In response, Akihiko only scratched the side of his head awkwardly. 

"Anyway, why don't you all come in." Elicia said with a smile. "Oh, bring the friend you left around the corner, too. The more the merrier, after all." 

Hearing that, Mitsuru and Akihiko both wore confused expressions. And when Elicia saw that, she put on a confused expression of her own. 

"Hmm? They're not with you, then?" Elicia asked as she tilted her head in confusion. "But their magic power moves in a way that is similar to yours. So, I thought you were bringing a new member of your future team to meet us." 

That caused Mitsuru's expression to change to one filled with surprise. Then, her eyes narrowed. 

"We didn't bring anyone with us." Mitsuru said in a cold tone. "It seems we have a spy. Do you think you could catch them, Miss Elicia?" 

"*Sigh* I told you, call me Lici." Elicia said as she flicked her wrist. "And I can catch them, no problem." 

Hearing that, the one following Mitsuru and Akihiko panicked. Then, they quickly turned around to run. However, before they could even take a step, they were wrapped up tightly by Elicia's threads. 

"Kya! What is this?" A female voice yelped from around the corner. "Is this... thread? But where did they come from?" 

A moment later, a teenage girl with light brown hair and brown eyes, wrapped up in a cocoon of threads with only her head showing, was dragged around the corner. And she was naturally struggling to free herself the whole time. 

"Takeba?" Mitsuru asked after seeing the girl's face. "Why are you here? And why were you following us?" 

In response, the girl, Takeba, or rather, Yukari Takeba, averted her eyes from the three people standing in front of her. Unfortunately, that did not allow her to avoid the interrogative gazes from the three. 

"Mitsuru, do you recognize her?" Akihiko asked while studying Yukari. 

"Yes." Mitsuru replied with a nod. "She's a first-year student at our school." 

Hearing that, Akihiko nodded his head, as well. Meanwhile, Elicia studied Yukari, as well. 

'I guess she's trying to find clues about her father's death from ten years ago.' Elicia thought to herself. 'It's no surprise that she already knew that her father worked for the Kirijo Group. She just has no idea what actually happened.' 

"So, are you going to answer my question, Takeba?" Mitsuru asked as she crossed her arms in front of her. 

"Well, you see…" Yukari said while still not making eye contact with anyone. "While I was on my way home, I saw the two of you walking into this hotel. And I was surprised. So, I followed you, wanting to get some good gossip. 'The president of the Student Council and the captain of the Boxing Team have an elicit rendezvous off school grounds.' Or something like that." 

"Pfft! Hahahahahaha!" Elicia laughed uproariously after hearing Yukari's, clearly made up on the spot, explanation. 

Meanwhile, Akihiko wore a confused expression. On the other hand, Mitsuru's expression turned extremely dark. And if it weren't for her good upbringing and the training she had undergone to keep her emotions in check, Elicia had no doubt that she would have summoned her Persona, Penthesilea, and turned Yukari into an ice statue on the spot. 

On a side note, aside from being able to scan enemies and map Tartarus, Penthesilea is also quite formidable in battle, having the ability to use [Ice Magic]. On top of that, Mitsuru is also quite skilled in the use of the rapier. Unfortunately, because there is no one to provide support from the back lines, Mitsuru had been relegated to the support role. 

"Hey, Lici, what's going on out there?" Alfonzo asked as he appeared in the doorway of the room. 

"Haha… O.M.G. Haha! Fonzie… You're… Hahaha!" Elicia tried to answer Alfonzo's question. Unfortunately, she was laughing too hard to form a complete sentence. 

Smiling helplessly at his wife, Alfonzo turned an inquisitive gaze towards Mitsuru and Akihiko. However, Mitsuru was staring bloody murder at Yukari and Akihiko was too confused to notice. So, he could only wait until Elicia calmed down enough to explain. 

A couple of minutes later, Elicia finally got her laughter under control. By that time, Alzack and Bisca, who were out strolling around the island on a date, had returned and were thoroughly confused. However, they, too, were forced to wait for Elicia to calm down to get an explanation. And when they finally heard what happened… 

"Hahahahahahaha!" x 3 

… Alfonzo, Alzack, and Bisca all burst into raucous laughter. 

Unfortunately, all the laughter annoyed the other guests who rented rooms on the same corridor. So, along with the delivery of the room service to Alfonzo and Elicia's room, the manager also came to scold them and ask them to keep the noise down. However, when the manager saw that Mitsuru was with the group of people making all the noise, he quietly backed down without saying anything. 

"Anyway, why don't we all go inside." Alfonzo said while wiping a tear from his eye. "We can talk about why the three of you showed up at our door while Lici and I have a bite to eat." 

With that, Elicia unbound Yukari. Then, Alfonzo and Elicia took the lead in entering their hotel room, closely followed by Alzack and Bisca. Meanwhile, Mitsuru was still staring at Yukari with a murderous gaze. However, she eventually exhaled an exasperated sigh before dragging Akihiko into the room, as well. 

Meanwhile, Yukari slowly picked herself up from the floor. Then, she stared at the open hotel room door while contemplating running away. However, she eventually gritted her teeth before entering the room, too. 

'I don't know why they came here, but if I go inside I might find out.' Yukari thought to herself with a stern expression on her face. 'Besides, that was Elicia Taylor, the famous Magic Seamstress. And the guy who came with her was Alfonzo Marcus, they're both S-class wizards from Fairy Tail. Which means, something big must be happening. And I wanna know what it is.' 

After having those thoughts, Yukari's face flushed in excitement as she continued her internal monologue. 

'I might be able to get some clothes personally designed for me by the Magic Seamstress, too.' Yukari thought as she closed the door to the hotel room behind her. 

To Yukari's surprise, as soon as the door closed behind her, she was once again wrapped up by threads. Then, she was pulled into a corner of the room that had been blocked off by curtains that were hanging from metal rails that seemed to be sticking to the walls. 

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Yukari shouted in both confusion and indignation. "And why are you taking my clothes off? Aren't you married? Hey! Stop!" 

"Why are you asking such silly questions?" Elicia asked in a cheerful tone. "Of course I'm married. And I love my Fonzie so~~~~ much. But how am I supposed to take proper measurements if you're dressed? And if the measurements are off, the clothes I make won't fit you properly. And I can't have that." 

Immediately, Yukari's eyes widened as her struggles came to a sudden stop. She had just been thinking about getting some clothes from Elicia. And now that dream was coming true. Still, she pouted at the way it happened. 

'She didn't have to drag me in here like this, though.' Yukari grumbled to herself. 'If she had just told me that was what she was doing, I would have agreed right away.' 

"By the way, what's your name?" Elicia asked as she finished undressing Yukari. "I'm Elicia Taylor. But you can just call me Lici. I'm the owner of the Taylor Shop. I'm an S-Class wizard from Fairy Tail, too…" 

While Elicia's onslaught of words seemed never ending, she efficiently took Yukari's measurements. Meanwhile, outside of the curtain, which was created by Alfonzo and Elicia using their [Metal Magic] and Thread Magic], respectively, Mitsuru's eyes turned somewhat vacant as she stared off into the distance. The memories of how Elicia basically treated her the same way, just in her own home, flashing through her mind. 

"Anyway, why did the two of you come here?' Alfonzo asked, breaking the strange atmosphere. "We would have seen each other tonight, anyway, right?" 

"It's because Akihiko wanted to spar with you. Mitsuru said after she regained her senses. "And I came with him to stop him from going too far if you rejected." 

"But didn't we say we would spar with him after the quest was complete?" Bisca asked in a curious tone. 

"*Sigh* He's just got a one track mind." Mitsuru said. "He's the type to not stop until he gets a fight that he wants." 

Immediately, the same image of Akihiko's hair turning pink and spiky while flames were spewing from his mouth appeared in the heads of Alfonzo, Alzack, and Bisca. Then, they all had to try their best to not laugh out loud. 

"More important than that, Miss Elicia said something about Takeba having a feel similar to the two of us." Mitsuru said in a quizzical tone. "What did she mean?" 

"Oh, now that you mention it." Alfonzo said while glancing at the curtained off area of the room. "Yeah, she feels like she has the 'potential' you all were talking about." 

That caused Mitsuru and Akihiko to widen their eyes. Then, like Alfonzo, they shifted their gazes towards the curtained off area, as well. 

"What is this 'potential' you're talking about?" Yukari asked from behind the curtain, as she had been paying attention to the conversation going on in the rest of the room while ignoring Elicia's word barrage. 

A moment later, the curtains opened and Yukari stepped out of the curtained off area, fully dressed once again. However, Elicia stayed in the curtained off area while sketching on a note pad. 

'Hmm… She's got low C-Class magic power reserves, too." Alzack muttered while watching Yukari approach. 

Meanwhile, Mitsuru and Akihiko exchanged glances. Then, they nodded to each other before Mitsuru stepped forward and explained the Dark Hour and Tartarus to Yukari. 

'So, is that why I've been sleeping about an hour less than usual?' Yukari thought to herself after hearing Mitsuru's explanation. 'Because I've been sleeping through this… Dark Hour?' 

"Takeba, we need people like you to help us investigate the truth about the dark Hour.' Mitsuru said in a solemn tone. 'Right now, the wizards from Fairy Tail are doing the preliminary investigations at the request of the Kirijo Group. But they won't be here for long. So, I beseech you, please join us to deal with this threat." 

Everyone else in the room fell silent after Mitsuru made her request. While Alfonzo, Alzack, Bisca, Mitsuru, and Akihiko waited for Yukari's reply, Elicia was not paying attention to the conversation at all, as she was having too much fun designing clothes for Yukari. Yukari, on the other hand, lowered her head as she fell into thought. 

'She wants me to help them fight?' Yukari thought to herself. 'But I've never been in a fight in my life. The only training I have with a weapon is the time I've spent in the school's archery club. But that's not really useful in a fight. I don't know if I could handle that. Then again, if I follow them into these fights, I could get closer to the Kirijo Group. And I would be able to find out what really happened to my father much easier.' 

Reaching that point, Yukari's expression turned resolute. Then, with that same level of resolve flashing in her eyes, she raised her head and looked Mitsuru in her eyes. 

"I accept." Yukari said solemnly. "If you need my help to keep the people of Tatsumi Port Island safe, I'll lend you my strength." 

Hearing that, Mitsuru and Akihiko sighed in relief. Meanwhile, Alzack and Bisca smiled. Alfonzo, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes while staring at Yukari, who did not seem to notice his gaze. 

'She probably joined to find out about her father.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'Just like she did in the game. But I wonder how much of this will be similar to the game. On top of that, will Nyx appear? And if he does, should I come here and deal with him myself? But what about the silent protagonist, Mikoto Yuki? Will he have to be sacrificed to keep the Dark Hour from reappearing after Nyx is put down? *Sigh* I guess I'll have to make something to stop that before the time comes, won't I? The Answer was so stupid that I can't bear to let it happen in this reality.'