Accelerator bolted straight awake, sitting up so suddenly his muscles protested. He had subconsciously sensed an abnormal heaviness in the air that forced him awake. On the other couch, Ayato groaned and stirred, opening one eye to look at Accelerator. He was sprawled out on the couch, sleeping on his front in a mass of black cloth.
"It's too early to be waking up, Accelerator," he grumbled, closing the eye again.
"Ayato, don't you sense the heaviness in the air?" Accelerator shifted into a sitting position on the couch, setting his feet on the ground.
Shaking himself awake, Ayato sat up, tilting his head. His indigo eyes narrowed to slits. "The seals are fading."
"Does that mean—"
"That Haruka's waking up? Yes and no."
"Give me a straight answer."
"Yes, since she had risen from the coma-like sleep. No, because there's still a chance that her body will just stay asleep until the morning."
"You do remember what happened last night, didn't you? I woke up in the middle of the night."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Ayato waved his hand dismissively. "It's different for everybody. Still, we should check on her."
The duo moved noiselessly through the living room and into the hallway, stopping at Accelerator's bedroom. Opening the door without a sound, Ayato pushed it open just wide enough for a person to step through, and motioned Accelerator in, entering after the esper.
Just as Ayato said, the magic seals had faded, leaving behind clean, whole walls, ceiling and floor with no traces of knife marks. The last magic circle that still existed was on the wall closest to Haruka, and the marks were so faint Accelerator could barely make them out.
Suddenly, the marks faded completely, and Haruka started to stir. Opening her golden eyes slowly for the first time in four days, she immediately noticed Accelerator and Ayato hovering over her.
"Accelerator?"
"About time you woke up, Haruka. It's been 4 days." Accelerator had a sleepy scowl on his face, but Haruka knew he was slightly relieved she woke up. She turned to Ayato, blinking as some memories surfaced.
"You are… Ayato?"
"Long time no see, Haruka. You've grown a lot." Ayato's voice sounded slightly warmer than the cold tone he usually used. "You look more and more like Ritsuka these days."
"My… mother?"
Ayato nodded. "Anyways, do you intend on falling back asleep?"
"No, not really." Slowly sitting up, Haruka winced as stiff muscles protested after days of not moving. "What time is it?"
"3:08 AM."
"Middle of the night? When did you wake up, Accelerator?"
"Last night around 2 or 3."
"I see."
"Well, considering you don't plan on sleeping any time soon, we're going to the roof. Accelerator, you should call Kaguya."
"Fine."
"Who's Kaguya?" Haruka asked curiously.
"That would be me," replied Kaguya as she appeared out of thin air.
Haruka started in surprise. "You're… not human."
"Nope," Kaguya replied in a sing-song voice. "I'm the human form of a grimoire Accelerator currently possesses. By the way Accelerator, Last Order's completely fine." Accelerator gave her a nod.
"Accelerator, you have a grimoire?"
"It was my father's." Accelerator held up his right arm, displaying the silver chain and book.
"That's so cool! Can I take a look?"
Accelerator glanced at Kaguya questioningly. She nodded. Accelerator moved his right arm over to Haruka, dangling the book in front of her. Haruka gave Accelerator a quizzical look.
"Can't you remove the grimoire or something?"
"Apparently no."
Haruka studied the book cover, tracing her right index finger along the intricate patterns. "I can sense extremely great power, but I don't know what it can be used for. I won't open it."
"Smart move. And the answer to your unsaid question is to destroy some stuff, of course." Kaguya had a smirk on her child's face.
Ayato interrupted just then. "We should continue this conversation later. I don't want to wake up anyone else at this ungodly hour."
"You were awake at said ungodly hour last night without complaining," Accelerator replied as innocently he could. "Don't tell me you suddenly disliked the late night, which shouldn't be possible."
Sensing a brewing argument, Haruka raised her hands for silence. "You two can continue the argument later for same reasons as previously stated. Now get out of the room, I have to change. I'll join you guys in a minute."
Without a word the two guys went out of the room. Kaguya snickered. "They certainly have enough sense and wits about them. Well, I'll join them as well. Hurry up. I think Ayato has something important to tell you two." She promptly disappeared.
Getting out of the bed, Haruka reached into the bag of clothes she had picked out from her room. She changed into a plain ivory blue tank top and denim shorts, tying a thin cardigan around her waist.
Slipping noiselessly through the crack in the door, she found Ayato and Accelerator staring at each other. Kaguya was standing beside Accelerator, no expression on her face.
"Sorry to interrupt the stare-fest, but did you guys say something about heading up to the roof?"
"Oh, right. Let's go, Accelerator."
Haruka quietly followed the two out of the apartment and onto the roof, where Kaguya was already waiting for them. Ayato stopped them once they were in the middle.
"What do you two think about going to a place where we can clearly see some stars and the moon?"
"Magic?"
"Of course. I want to teach you two some history. Well, you three stay in the centre. I'll be done in a few minutes."
Ayato walked away, leaving Accelerator, Haruka and Kaguya in the middle of the roof. Kaguya broke the silence first. "If you don't mind, Accelerator, I'm going to watch Ayato."
"Suit yourself." Accelerator watched Kaguya walk off to wherever Ayato was.
Haruka waved a hand in front of his face. "Can I ask you a few questions?"
"Yeah, sure."
"What happened to you? For some reason, I can sense a whole lot more power coming from you than before."
"Ayato sealed away my hidden magic potential, which was unleashed when the seal broke. I also got my full calculating capability back. I don't need the choker anymore."
"Oh. What happened when I was asleep?"
"Well, I was asleep for 3 days, so I can only tell you what happened yesterday."
"Okay."
"Well, I woke up around the same time as you last night. Ayato was checking on us. When I woke up, the magic in my body and my esper ability started clashing and nearly killed me, but he prevented that from happening by putting a binding spell on my magic."
"So you nearly died again."
"I should be getting used to it. After that, we went out onto the roof and Ayato started my training, which, by the way, is actually really brutal."
"What kind of training?"
"Hand-to-hand combat. Also, he taught me how to use my ability to deflect magic."
"So you can fight regular magicians now?"
"Yeah. Actually, I did fight one yesterday." He proceeded to explain everything that had happened during the fight, and the later interrogation. He didn't leave out one detail.
Haruka stared at him in what looked like awe. "You're really amazing, you know that?"
"Tch, shut up."
"Whatever. Looks like plenty of stuff happened in the one day you were awake."
"Yeah. Also, we met Aleister Crowley."
Haruka's jaw dropped. "The rumoured General Superintendent of Academy City?"
"Yeah. He told us that we have 13 days before the Romans send the declaration of war, and then attack."
"Well, that's plenty of time to train, right?"
"Should be." Ayato's familiar voice cut through the air. "I'm done with the magic circle. Just stay still. We'll be off soon." He started chanting in a language that sounded like Greek, and the surrounding area around them started to glow a light green colour. The light became blindingly bright, and the trio felt themselves tumbling into a dark void.