Chapter 2: The Day the World Broke

  The sound of chanting echoed through the Grand Cathedral of Aurelia. An ancient nguage, rhythmic and beautiful, filled the air with a sacred pressure. The summoning ritual was underway. High Priest Carnelian stood at the center of the divine circle, his hands raised as holy light enveloped the space. Dozens of priests around him maintained formation, their voices united in harmony. Magic circles interlocked like clockwork, their brilliance casting intricate shadows upon the marble walls.

  This was it. The prophecy. The day when heroes would be summoned from another world.

  As the chant reached its crescendo, a vortex of light exploded into the chamber. The runes surged with golden power. With a blinding fsh, thirty silhouettes began to appear in the center of the summoning hall.

  Clothes shimmered into existence. School uniforms. Shoes. Bzers. Confused voices rang out. “Where am I?” “What’s happening?” “Is this a joke?”

  Carnelian’s eyes were filled with awe. “They have come. The chosen ones.”

  But then—something odd.

  A flicker. A momentary disruption in the spell’s flow.

  Carnelian's eyes widened. Something… slipped. As if one soul was yanked away by an unseen force. The ritual continued uninterrupted—but a cold sensation passed through the priest’s spine.

  He kept silent.

  “You’ll be te again, Mirei.”

  Her mother’s voice drifted in, gentle and familiar.

  Hoshino Mirei opened her eyes. Her room was still, painted with morning light. Awards, neatly arranged books, a desk too clean for a high school student.

  But her gaze lingered on the wall. A single framed photograph hung there.

  A middle school css photo.

  And in the far corner of the group, almost out of frame, stood a pale girl with long bck hair.

  Alicia Tsukihana. Alone even then.

  Mirei sighed, brushing her fingers over the gss. “Why did you drift so far, Alicia…?”

  Seigetsu Academy was buzzing.

  Cssroom 2-B echoed with voices, ughter, and the tapping of phones. Students gathered in clusters, gossiping and teasing as sunlight poured through the windows.

  “Yo, Shouta! Still writing love poems to Haruka-chan?”

  Makabe Jin grinned widely, arm slung around his friend Takeshi Okuda’s shoulders. On his other side, the wiry Shun Nakamura cracked his knuckles, ughing along.

  “I bet he writes ‘Haruka’ in the margins of every math problem,” Shun smirked.

  “L-Leave me alone,” mumbled Shouta Izumi, face red.

  “Did you stalk her on the way to school?”

  That voice cut sharp and clean.

  Ririka Kanzaki, seated near the window, crossed her legs with practiced elegance. Her long nails tapped against her phone. Around her, a handful of students snickered on cue.

  “Enough,” said Haruka Nakano, arms folded. “He didn’t do anything.”

  Ririka smirked. “You always defend the weak. Such a saint.”

  “Yo, chill,” Makabe muttered, gncing toward the front.

  Because Mirei was standing.

  “Homeroom is about to begin. Everyone, settle down.”

  Her voice was not loud. It didn’t have to be.

  Mirei had presence.

  She stood like someone used to being obeyed. Clipboard in hand, gaze steady, hair immacute.

  Yet her eyes flicked to the back of the room.

  Alicia Tsukihana sat alone. In the far corner. Eyes on the sky.

  No one sat near her. Not out of fear. But as if she were somewhere else entirely. Removed.

  A breeze touched the windowpane.

  The light dimmed.

  And then—

  BWOOM.

  The entire cssroom shook.

  A thundercp of magic erupted beneath their feet. The floor ignited with luminous runes—an enormous circle of power etched into space itself.

  Gasps. Screams.

  "What the hell!?"

  “Is this an earthquake?!”

  “No, look at the floor!”

  The teacher, Aiko-sensei, rushed to the center of the room, arms out. “Everyone stay calm! Don’t move!”

  But it was too te.

  The pull began.

  Invisible gravity wrapped around every student, dragging them toward the center of the circle. Desks flipped. Chairs shattered. Lights burst.

  Shouta screamed. Makabe tried to hold onto a railing. Ririka cwed at her desk, eyes wide with terror. Aiko shouted spell words she didn’t understand.

  And Alicia—

  She remained perfectly still.

  Eyes on the sky.

  Light consumed them.

  Then silence.

  And then—

  The sound of distant bells.

  Hoshino Mirei stood still, heart pounding. The marble beneath her feet felt too real. The divine cathedral shimmered like something out of a fantasy RPG. Dozens of students blinked around her, lost and murmuring.

  A voice rose above the murmurs. A girl with sharp eyes and a proud bearing stepped forward. Kanzaki Ririka.

  “Is this some kind of eborate prank?” she snapped.

  But then the Pope entered, his presence silencing all.

  “Children from another world,” he said with a serene, echoing voice. “Chosen ones, summoned by the Goddess Lumen herself. You have been called to save our world from the encroaching darkness.”

  Gasps. Shock. Excitement. Fear.

  The Pope smiled warmly. “I understand your confusion. All will be expined. Please, rest assured. You are safe here.”

  But Mirei wasn’t listening.

  She scanned the crowd. Dozens of cssmates. Her homeroom teacher, Ms. Aiko, standing stunned. Even Ririka, the Queen Bee. But one face was missing.

  Alicia.

  “Where is she…?” Mirei whispered.

  The Pope, continuing his speech, gestured to the center of the room.

  “…Alicia Tsukihana. She’s missing.”

  The words fell like a stone into a still ke. Ripples of silence followed.

  Eyes turned.

  At the center of the summoning circle, atop the polished stone floor and glowing runes, y a girl’s school uniform.

  It hadn’t been pced. It hadn’t been folded.

  It had fallen—as if dropped from the sky—nding with a gentle, almost casual grace, like a forgotten handkerchief drifting onto stone.

  The bzer sleeve still curled softly in on itself. The skirt was slightly twisted, as if caught in motion.

  One of the priests stepped forward, kneeling beside it.

  “It’s… warm,” he whispered. “Still warm…”

  The cold air of the cathedral bit at the skin, but the uniform held a strange, lingering heat, as though someone had worn it seconds ago.

  A tense hush spread among the gathered students.

  “Whose uniform is that…?”

  No answer.

  Not until Mirei and Aiko began to move, pushing past confused teenagers. Mirei bent down slowly, her eyes wide with disbelief.

  “This is… Alicia’s…”

  Aiko paled. “She was right next to us… I saw her—just before the light took us…”

  The students erupted in murmurs. A few gasped. Someone swore under their breath.

  The Pope raised his hand calmly. His serene voice cut through the tension like a warm knife.

  “Fear not, young ones. There are times when divine magic behaves… unexpectedly. Alicia Tsukihana may have simply arrived elsewhere, transported to a location prepared specially for her destiny.”

  “But—” Mirei began.

  Aiko stepped forward. “With all due respect, Your Holiness… we should form a search party. She could be in danger—”

  The Pope turned toward her with gentle eyes. “Miss , I understand your concern. But please, allow us to handle this. The Church has many eyes. Many ears. Many prayers to guide us. Let your hearts rest in faith.”

  Aiko faltered.

  She wanted to protest more. Mirei, too, took a sharp breath as if to speak—

  But the soft clinking of armor behind them reminded them where they stood.

  Surrounded by soldiers.

  In a foreign world.

  Under the gaze of a man called the Vicar of the Goddess.

  Mirei clenched her fists. “You’re saying… we can’t do anything?”

  The Pope gave a pained smile, like a grandfather pcating a frightened child. “You have a far greater task before you now. The fate of this world hangs in the bance. I promise, we will not abandon your friend.”

  His words were honeyed.

  But the weight behind them was iron.

  Aiko pced a protective hand on Mirei’s shoulder. “Let’s go. For now.”

  “…This isn’t right,” Mirei whispered. “I know she didn’t vanish by chance.”

  “I know,” Aiko replied, her voice quiet. “But we can’t change anything—not yet.”

  They turned, silent and grim, following the others as the Pope’s voice rang out once more to guide the rest of the students forward.

  Behind them, the Pope’s expression darkened slightly. He gnced to the shadows behind the dais and gave the faintest nod.

  From the alcove, a man robed in deeper silver with a blue sash stepped forward—one of the Hidden Servants.

  “Find her,” the Pope whispered, voice low and urgent. “Discreetly. Report only to me.”

  The priest bowed and vanished down a side corridor.

  In the gathering light of a new world, the name Alicia Tsukihana began to fade from the minds of many.

  But not from all.

  ...on Mirei’s shoulder. Her voice was soft, but firm. “Let’s wait, Mirei. For now.”

  Mirei didn’t move. Her eyes were fixed on the empty uniform, heart twisting with unease. Alicia… where are you? She could still see her—still, silent, eyes on the sky, as if she had seen something none of them could.

  As if she knew she wouldn’t be coming with us.

  The Pope turned, robes trailing like clouds behind him. Priests followed, whispering quiet blessings, their expressions unreadable. One priest carefully lifted the uniform, folding it with reverence, as if it were a relic from a sacred vision.

  The students were ushered away.

  Mirei hesitated at the threshold of the summoning hall, casting one st look back at the center of the room.

  The light had faded.

  The runes were dim.

  But in her heart, something had begun to stir. A thread pulled taut across worlds. A name whispered in the wind.

  Alicia Tsukihana.

  Gone.