: An area infused with mana that has been prepared to retrieve that mana at a moment's notice. By integrating with one's Affinity, it becomes possible to draw mana from their surroundings as easily as from themselves…

  And so on the open notebook on the coffee table continued. Erina took her violin out of the case beside the notebook. Resting it on her shoulder, she took up the bow, and played a single note. The sound was louder than she thought, reverberating off the walls of her apartment.

  "It's not the same," she mumbled. But there was nothing particularly wrong with it either.

  The bow returned to the strings and teased out another note. Erina settled into playing a short, simple refrain. She couldn't put it together in her head, note by note, but with the bow in her hands and the violin singing, her hands seemed to recall the right movements by themselves.

  "…This isn't right." A frown crossed her face. The bow shifted uneasily in her grasp.

  All the same, Erina continued. The music surrounded her, a lonely piece without accompaniment. It was nothing complex. Something she had always played for practice, perhaps? When did she start playing the violin? How long had she known this song?

  Erina closed her eyes, gently rocking side to side as she played. Even if she didn't remember, her fingers did. Her mind drifted away, floating on the music. Where would she go now? No, that was a pointless question. She had nowhere to go in the first place. She had to find her way forward. Erina was suddenly adrift, with nobody to guide her but herself.

  A harsh squeal jolted Erina out of her thoughts. "Too much pressure," she muttered.

  She resumed playing. The woman with white hair—how could Erina find her? She didn't even know where to begin. The world was a vast place, and she was just one person.

  Erina furrowed her brow. That wasn't quite correct. She had the laboratory, that bundle of questions unto itself. She'd only done so much to catalogue it since she first awoke, and there was still so much more to figure out. Decrepit as it was, there had be something she could learn from it.

  As for Akira, Erina didn't know what to make of her. Clever, strong, confident, and ruthless. She stirred a mix of admiration and fear up in Erina. But then, who else did Erina have to turn to? That boy? No… involving someone unrelated seemed like a bad idea. A civilian and probably not a mage, in the supernaturally charged criminal underbelly—Erina was already worried enough about her own life.

  It was too much to think about…

  Erina ought to think about what was in front of her. She set down her violin. She purchased it just the other day, and the sound was fine. Her apartment was starting to fill up. Open notebooks with all the spells and seal designs she knew jotted down, with tentative new ones sketched beside them. A handful of strategically placed potted plants. A shelf of textbooks on math, programming, electricity and physics and any other topic she thought could be relevant to gleaning everything she could from the laboratory, with more books scattered here and there.

  Erina drew herself up. Wait, this wasn't good at all! What a mess! She had to clean things up—and while she was at it, restock her fridge, and probably buy some more paper. First things first, she had to go out and buy some supplies. Maybe she'd look for a different outfit this time as well…

  "Good morning!" A woman was there one door down from her apartment when Erina stepped out. The woman had light violet hair. A beige cardigan, a simple but elegant white dress, and a matching sunhat with a purple flower in it made up her attire. Lightly accessorized with a necklace and earrings, she was all soft pastels, right on the line between beauty and cuteness.

  "G-Good morning," said Erina. She didn't think anyone else lived in this shabby, run-down complex, especially not someone who looked this well-off.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  "I was on my way back from work when I heard music." Her eyes were a bright and inquisitive green. "Should I take it that was you?"

  "I apologize. I'll try to keep it down in the future."

  "Oh, that's not what I meant! I thought it was very nice." The woman tilted her head. "Now that I come to think about it, are you new here?"

  "Yes. I moved here a couple of weeks ago."

  "Wonderful! And here I was, worried about who my neighbor might end up being when they showed up." The woman placed a hand on her chest and smiled. "My name is Gotou Lily!"

  "I am Emisane Erina." She politely bowed her head. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Gotou-san."

  "It's okay to call me Lily!" She moved back and forth, peering at Erina from different angles. "What brought you out here, Erina-san? You don't seem like the kind to be mixed up in a neighborhood like this."

  "Um, w-work." Erina reminded herself to look her in the eye. It was true, more or less.

  "Wow! High schoolers must have it rough these days." The keys jingled as Lily made her way back to her own apartment. "I'll be out most days, but whenever I'm in, feel free to come by and I'll make us some tea. We girls need to stick together, after all!"

  "Thank you very much," said Erina. "I'll keep that in mind."

  "Be seeing you!"

  The door closed. Erina stared at the number plate on it for a good while longer. So she wasn't totally alone here… that did make her feel a little better. But now that she thought about it, the time was still morning. There were still several hours to go before noon. Did Lily work a night shift? If that was the case, Erina ought to avoid knocking during day hours. She appreciated the offer, but if only her problems were so simple to solve…

  Erina sighed. No matter how hard she thought, thinking wasn't going to stock the fridge.

  Erina found herself in the supermarket at the mall. Rows and rows of pizza lay stacked up in the frozen goods section. Erina looked up and down the aisle, frowned slightly, and moved on. Why did she have to make one from scratch? It wouldn't have killed them to heat one up, would it…?

  "Yo," said Akira.

  Erina jolted away from the voice in her ear. "A-Akira?!"

  "Who else?" said Akira, grinning.

  "What are you doing here?"

  "Came to check in on you. Out shopping?"

  Erina lifted her bags.

  "Good to see you're settling in nice! Here, come with me." Akira led her out of the shop, into the mall proper. "You see that over there?"

  Erina followed her pointing finger. "…Bubble tea cafe?"

  "Look a little closer. At the girl behind the counter."

  Erina looked at the barista. "She looks normal to me…"

  "Ehh? Glad I thought to brush up with you, then." Akira sidled up closer to Erina. "C'mon. Focus. Notice anything if you look real hard?"

  Erina tried. She didn't get where Akira was going with this. Did she mean she wanted bubble tea?

  The barista looked over and Erina hastily broke eye contact. She let her gaze wander around the mall for a bit—hmm, where should I shop next?—before sidling back to looking at her. Now that Akira mentioned it, she saw something strange. There was a faint buzz around the girl, the air subtly shaking and bending. It reminded Erina of the heat haze over an open grill.

  "Gonna guess you spotted it," said Akira, watching Erina's expression closely.

  "What is that?" asked Erina.

  "Faster to show you. This way." Akira took her hand and led her to a less busy corner of the mall.

  "Akira, where are we—whoa!"

  With one swift motion, Akira pulled them both behind a door and slammed it on them.

  They came out of the same door swinging open on the other side in another mall devoid of people—the Reverse side of the place they'd just left.

  "Please don't scare me like that…" Erina clutched her chest. Her heart was racing. But as she looked around, she quickly forgot about that.

  They were the only people in the Reverse mall, but they were far from alone.

  Blurry figures roamed the mall, indistinct and featureless, emitting some sort of faint inner yellow-white glow. They hovered somewhere between a silhouette and a moving bundle of fog. If Erina didn't pick one out to focus on, they all blurred together into a vague suggestion of presence, like the mall simply had the last vestiges of the morning mist hanging around.

  "What are these?" Erina extended a hand to touch one passing by, but retracted it even faster.

  "Souls," said Akira simply. One passed right through her, as immaterial as the mist it resembled. "A physical presence in the material world, and a spiritual presence in the supernatural."

  Erina reached out again. Sure enough, her fingers felt like they passed through thin air. "Can we touch them?"

  "If you go out of your way to," said Akira. "Not easily without trying, if that's what you're thinking about it."

  She turned and flung a knife as hard as she could. As promised, it flew through every soul in its path.

  Even if she saw that, Erina wasn't tempted to start blasting to try and confirm that hypothesis…

  "C'mon, this way." Akira led her through the mall again.

  Erina lingered a moment longer, then followed the leader.