Chapter 15-2

Riku blinked a few times as he entered the small room behind the checkout desk with Eli, rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "This is my little lounge... Take a seat wherever." Eli muttered. They were anime posters hanging up everywhere and the only seats were bean bag chairs. There were several shelves filled with normals books, but others filled with things like manga, anime dvds, and even figurines.

"She's even more of an otaku than L..." Riku thought to himself.

"Is something wrong?" Eli tilted her head.

"Nope, nothing at all..." Riku muttered before plopping onto one of the bean bag chairs. She sat down across from him, somehow able to look elegant even in a bean bag chair. "So..?"

"One second, I'm thinking about where I should start..." She muttered.

"Right...sorry."

"It's fine. I guess I should start off by saying all 30 of the Magic Thirty have some kind of magical ability. We're all ranked as well by our abilities. I'm Rank 22."

"Twenty second with an ability like yours..?"

"People who actually have the ability to fight are rank 20 and up. Everyone who's in the Magic Thirty gets their own special uniforms, and they're also leaders of some kind of facility or club."

"I see... So you're Eli, rank 22, memory magic, and the librarian." Riku closed his eyes, thinking to himself as he said this, wondering what lead position he might be if he were one of them.

"If you'd like to compare, you'd probably be rank 12 with your elemental abilities."

"T-That low..?!" Riku's eyes widened, shocked.

"Yes, though if we were in your world, you'd be first most likely..."

"Ah... That makes more sense. I can't unleash my full power here..."

Eli nodded, knowing the full extent of what he could do via access to his memories. "Though if you're smart, I imagine you'd be able to get to the top...eventually."

Riku nodded, thinking back to what had happened to him a few hours ago, remembering Remi's magic. "Was she also..?"

"No, Remi wasn't one of them. Like president Nishida said before, she only implemented that group of girls for you, to see how you'd deal with them."

He nodded. "How are the other girls here gonna react when they aren't there anymore?"

"They won't. I've already erased all those girls from everyone's memories here, other than the Magic Thirty who already knew. I also am the one who implemented memories of those girls in every Artemis member's head to begin with."

"Right... I figured it was something like that... I'm guessing whenever a girl with magic joins this organization, Nishida confronts them?"

Eli nodded. "She confronts them in some way, shape, or form and then she adds them to the Magic Thirty as well after they're properly trained."

"Trained..?"

"Essentially she makes it to where they won't be bothered by things like what happened to you, and training to control their emotions. She does this to help us get over our rage over the things that have happened to us and to help understand why she does what she does. It helps us get on board with whatever she plans as well, like when she told us what she was planning to do to you."

Riku nodded slowly. "I see..."

"What you went through was part of your training Riku. When you're ready, the Magic Thirty will become the Magic Thirty-One. You'll also be tested against some of us to determine your rank."

Riku sighed as a sudden realization came to his mind. "She could've just told me that before..." He ruffled his hair.

"You'll learn soon what her reasons for doing things the way she does are."

"Right..." He muttered, thinking about several different things; the things to come in the future, the other 29 Magic Thirty members, and what Riku L could be going through right now.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on telling anyone your secret. I feel things like that should be said by the person holding the memory."

He nodded. "I trust you..." He stood up, stretching a bit. "I should head to bed... It's late." Eli was silent for a moment before she stood up slowly, giving Riku a hug, his eyes widening a little. "Everything okay..?"

"It's not hard to tell when someone needs a hug... I'm pretty good at reading people..." Eli looked up at him with a bit of a sad gaze.

Riku paused, returning her hug. "Thanks..."

She nodded, rubbing his back gently before pulling away. "Come talk to me anytime you feel you need to. Or just if you want to..." She muttered.

He chuckled. "I'll come often so you aren't lonely." He waved before heading out with his book. Eli smiled as she watched him leave, leaning on her side on the bean bag chair as she sat back down.

Riku walked out of the room and the library, heading back to his room and feeling a bit calmer. "So I'm going to be one of them... I wonder what they're all like..." He wondered about the first in particular.

He walked inside his room to find someone sitting on his bed. A young woman with long blond hair, eyes covered by her bangs, and quite the figure outlined by her sweater and black tights. "Well hello there. I've been waiting for you... I was hoping to catch you while you were sleeping, but oh well." The woman stood up.

Riku put his guard up, not taking his eyes off the woman. "Who are you?" He said with a stern tone.

"Ohh, I'm nobody special, but I am very interested in you Riku Fumiya...~" The woman said with a teasing tone, pulling the collar of her shirt down a bit to show her cleavage.

"You're an idiot if you expect me to fall for that." He growled.

The woman was suddenly right in front of him, reaching out to him. Instantly, a dagger formed in Riku's hand and he held it up to protect himself. "Stay the fuck away from me..." He glared at the woman.

"Oh, how scary...~" She giggled, backing up a bit as well. Her hair swayed when she did so, showing off her blue-grey eyes. Riku couldn't tell if she was a member of Artemis or what because she was in casual clothing.

"Identify yourself or die. Don't think I won't do it." Riku said with a cold gaze.

The woman smirked lightly. "You could try, though I imagine you'd have a bit of trouble killing the top ranking member of the Magic Thirty."

Riku's eyes widened a bit. "You're... Why are you here?" He didn't lower his guard or his weapon.

"Well I didn't want to keep you in suspense or anything like that. It's not my style to stay hidden after someone knows I exist." She giggled.

"Okay... I see you...I know you now...so goodbye." Riku muttered, not letting any emotion show on his face. He didn't want to show any kind of weakness.

The woman blinked a few times before laughing. "Wow, alright, I see how it is. I'm Dré by the way, Rank One, and president of the dance club here." She walked to the door. "This was also another part of your test by the way..." She looked back and smiled at him. "I can't wait to see what you do from here on out Riku..." She walked out, closing the door behind her.

Riku slowly dropped to his knees after she was gone, dropping the dagger as well, it disappearing after touching the ground. "Her magic levels...were unreal for someone from this world..." Riku clenched his fists as he remembered the feeling of it. He calmed down a bit however, her sweet smile now locked in his memory. "She had no bad intentions from what I could tell... but I've seen that smile before..." He remembered the same smile on Jira and Remi's faces. "I won't be fooled again..." He laid in bed, falling asleep with that thought in mind.