"I was fetching the Outer Crystal's Core." A voice stated in the seemingly desolate hall.
Other than the tired Violet, the silent Teddy, the unconscious Matt, and the ever-active Rose, no one else seemed to be present.
Not until Rose spoke up.
A figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere, pulling down their hoodie.
The figure wore a black baseball cap and the hoodie was also dark. Black trousers and matching black shoes clearly indicated black was a trend with this person. They even wore dark gloves, for some reason.
This person, gender unknown, placed one of their hands into their hoodie pocket, while their second hand wielded the deceased Minotaur's Crystal Core.
They made no sound and were practically still, as they handed it over to Rose.
"Well done, Shadow. What about Bee?" Rose smiled at the hooded fellow, and they nodded in response.
"Bee is—"
Before Shadow could manage to muffle whatever words they wanted to say, a sharp gust of wind interrupted them.
>WHOOOOOSSSSHHHHH!!!<
A bright yellow blur, coupled with black streaks, raced from the hallway to the presence of the group.
"I'm baaack! Wooohooo!!!"
This had to be Bee, most definitely.
Seeing as both Shadow and Rose recognized him, as well as the fact that she was literally wearing some sort of bee-like pajamas—or perhaps overalls—proved the point.
Her bright smile, her snarky-looking scuba goggles, and her very bright outfit proved just how eccentric this character was. Her hair was cut short, and as you might guess, it was a yellowish blonde.
Her bee outfit had stripes and lines of black here and there, but it was predominantly yellow. Her goggles were thankfully black though, and her bee-themed sneakers were more black than yellow.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this 'Bee', was that she did not have any wings. Wasn't that a little ironic, considering the name?
"Where have you been?" Rose sighed, doing her best to control her impatience, which she was prone to exhibit.
"Just doing as you instructed. I gathered all the Crystal Cores around and placed them in my Magic Pouch."
Bee produced a sac that seemed too small to fit even a whole fist inside. The yellow and black sac was too ridiculously small to hold anything tangible, yet, she claimed that all the dozens of Crystal Cores had been harvested.
"I did well, didn't I? Heehee." Bee tried to be adorable, making a cheery face.
Unfortunately, her charms—if she even had any—did not work on Rose.
"You should have completed that ages ago. You're fast enough. What took you so long?"
Bee's face instantly froze, and a bead of sweat formed on her forehead.
'What should I say? What should I say?' Her mind contemplated quickly.
"She was sightseeing. That's what took her so long." Shadow, who everyone had forgotten was there, mumbled, scaring the shit out of even Bee.
If she hadn't spoken, it was a wonder if anyone would have noticed Shadow's presence at all.
"S-snitch!" Was all Bee could say as she recoiled both in shock, and in betrayal.
"So that's it, eh? Sightseeing in such a precarious situation…"
"N-no, it's not like that. Y-you know how you're always telling me to be observant and survey every inch of my new environment? Well, I was simply—"
"Zip it, shortie!" Rose knocked Bee with her mighty fist, causing the girl to burst into tears.
They were crocodile tears, just so she could escape further punishment. And yes, in case it hadn't been established by Rose's statement, Bee was the shortest in the room.
What a little trooper she was.
"U-um, Big sis, who are these people?"
"I was about to ask the same thing."
Both Violet and Tee were genuinely puzzled by the appearance of these two 'unique' characters.
Throughout the just-concluded conversation, they had been cluelessly observing Rose's exchange with the two. They had never seen Bee or Shadow in their life. If they had, Violet knew for sure that she would remember characters as odd as these.
"Ah, they are other proteges. Meet Shadow and Bee. That's their Code Name, anyway. Bee and Shadow, meet my newest protege. She's yet to pass the exam and receive her Code Name."
Violet's world was nearly shattered by Rose's explanation.
"Y-your other proteges?"
Violet had always assumed she was Rose's only protege. In hindsight, she could now see how that was implausible, but that was what she had truly believed.
Now confronted with two other proteges—realizing she was even their junior—Violet felt slightly insecure.
'They even have Code Names. That only happens when you become a full-fledged member of the Society, and you pass the exam.'
They were legit, recognized, and licensed 'Enlightened'.
'I don't know their Class, but it has to be at least E. The Society doesn't accept any less.'
In contrast to these two, Violet was recognized by Rose as an E Class after nearly a year of strenuous training. Thanks to all of her hard work, she could finally take the exams and be a licensed member of the Society.
Till then, though, she was as good as an amateur.
"Nice to meetcha! I'm Bee. I like bees, and I'm pretty quick on my feet. I also have a—"
"That's enough of you." Another knock from Rose put a stop to Bee's overly excited introduction.
She kept moving closer to Violet, causing the latter to get both nervous and flustered. The fact that she was still processing her place in Rose's world made the situation all the more uncomfortable.
"I'm Shadow. Nice to meet you." Shadow's voice was a whisper, and their face was completely covered with a hood, so it was impossible to tell their sex.
Their thick overalls also failed to show any distinguishing features, so…dead end.
"Haha. I'm Violet. I'm still unlicensed, but I'm hoping to pass my upcoming exams and get into the Society.
"Sweet! The Chuunibyou Society is epic. You've never been to the headquarters before, have you?"
Violet didn't feel any better when she heard Bee's enthusiastic words. Going to the headquarters had always been her goal—her dream. Seeing how she was the only one in the conversation who remained an absolute noob was kind of disappointing.
Bee and Shadow were so many steps ahead of her that it was depressing. But, the most discouraging part of it all was that Rose hadn't told her about any of it.
She had thought she was special, and that she was Rose's sole trainee, but now… well…
"You defeated thirty of those Monsters by yourself, didn't you? That's really amazing! I'm sure you'll pass the exams." Bee proclaimed, and Shadow nodded slowly in agreement.
It did seem like these two were really trying to encourage her, and not just merely patronizing her, so Violet decided to ignore her bruised ego. Since she had been introduced to the two, also, considering the fact that they had been so nice to her, it would not be amiss to get along with them.
"Thanks, guys. I'm actually a bit nervous. Haha!"
Rose watched this brief, awkward exchange, as well as the aftermath, and smiled to herself.
'Just give 'em time, and they'll get along well. My strategies always go according to plan, after all.' A smug look was plastered on her face, and she tapped her temple in a correspondingly smug manner.
The three girls were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice their mentor's pride. This however, could not escape the watchful gaze of Tee.
'She's feeling proud of herself? Really? This lady…'
However, its thoughts were interrupted by a sudden switch in the attention of the girls to it.
"Is this your Contracted Entity? Awww! It's so cuteeee! You must be such an amazing contractor, landing such a cutie! I'm a Warrior, you see. I don't have access to something this adorable."
'Urk!' Tee felt itself get squished by Bee—choked, more accurately.
It couldn't even scream out for help.
Worse still, and this was considering the fact that Violet just stood by and let Bee violate him, Tee was chilled to the bone by Shadow's trembling form.
'Why is that dude shaking like that? And why is their gaze so focused on me?!' Tee was terrified for his life, the moment he made contact with Shadow's bloodshot eyes.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Y-yeah. I am." Shadow murmured, swiftly turning away.
And just like that, her trembling stopped.
'Should I be worried?' Tee thought to herself, looking at both Rose and Violet—but the former was too busy being smug about her achievement, while the latter was just laughing in delight.
'What am I? Chopped liver? URK!'
Thus concluded the crazy adventure and introductions within the damaged world they had all ventured into.
"Let's get out of here. The Monster is dead, so the Link will be closing soon."
"But we're still here, right? It won't close in on us." Of course, Bee was the one who spoke up.
"I already knew that, smartass! It's just better for the Link to close naturally and quickly!" Another knock to Bee's head was enough to appease Rose, and silence the girl.
Links were rips that disrupted the integrity of the Veil. With the closing of a Link came a repair to the Veil. Likewise, the longer a Link was open, the more damage it did to the Veil's substantive structure.
Hence, it was preferable to close a Link as soon as possible.
"Come on, everyone. Let's leave this place."
Everyone instantly understood.
This 'place' was by no means a real place by normal standards. It was a reality that existed outside the bounds of reason and logic—a world within the realm of Fiction.
Of the many worlds of Fiction, this one, in particular, posed a massive threat to mankind—to reality.
It was known as the Outerverse—and these threats, these Outers, known as Monsters, had to be stopped.
Just as only beings of reality could fight against forces within the real world, only the supernatural could affect Fiction—and precisely, Outerverse.
As a result of this state of affairs, and the threats that came with it, a group of enlightened individuals came together to form the Chuunibyou Society—the only resistance against this external threat.
And while this might sound crazy to any reasonable person, all of it was real!
Every last bit!