"..."

  I stared at the bowl of food in front of me, my mouth watering. The smell of rice and eggs and bacon was intoxicating, but I couldn't bring myself to eat it just yet. I was sitting at a table with a group of strangers who were staring at me like I was a bomb about to go off. Or an alien.

  "So," the short redhead girl said, her fingers tapping on the table. "Are you going to tell us who you are?"

  "I'm nobody." I said, my voice flat. "Just a girl."

  The blonde scoffed. "Nobody? A nobody who the Heroes' Legion would struggle to take down alone?"

  "Althea." The Asian girl hissed, jabbing the blonde with her elbow. "Don't antagonize her!"

  The redhead sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Look, if you want to keep secrets, that's fine. But you can't just expect us to let you walk around without knowing anything about you. You're dangerous. We need to know if we can trust you."

  I looked up at her, my eyes narrowing. "You want to know if you can trust me? Fine. Here's the truth. I don't know where I am, or when I am. I don't know why I'm here, or how I got here, and I'm probably not going to be here for very long anyway, because I'm going to find a way out of this place, no matter what it takes. And if anyone tries to stop me, I will kill them."

  The room fell silent, the only sound the soft hum of the air conditioning. The four girls stared at me, their expressions ranging from shock to fear to disgust.

  I picked up my fork and stabbed at the food in front of me. "You want to know if you can trust me? Well, now you know. Do with that information what you will."

  I didn't have to eat in the maze of rifts, half-dead shadows of worlds, and the endless expanse of the void between.

  The mission I had of finding her spark before it was too late was too important.

  But, of course, the universe is a cruel, cruel bitch. And my stomach chose that moment to growl again.

  "..." I gritted my teeth, looking down at the plate of food in front of me.

  It was a simple meal. Scrambled eggs and toast. Nothing special. Nothing that would've impressed Kohaku or Kaito. Those two were always stellar in a kitchen.

  But it was real food. It wasn't an illusion or a dream.

  It was real.

  "Reimi?" Maya asked softly. "Is something wrong?"

  "..." I swallowed hard, my throat dry. "No."

  I took a bite, chewing slowly. The flavor was ordinary. Light. But it was the best thing I'd tasted in what felt like years.

  I couldn't remember how I wound up in that... box of a world, floating in the darkness. I'd finally arrived at a world that wasn't dead before it happened. I'd helped them.

  Not because I cared about the world itself, not really. Not because of anything noble, or anything like that. I'd helped them because they were weak. Because they were fragile. Because they needed me. And because I needed them.

  I'd met... a so-called goddess. She'd tracked Momoka's soul for me. And then...

  Then...

  I took another bite, swallowing it down. The taste was bland, but it was real. It was food. It was sustenance. It was life.

  I looked around the table, my eyes scanning the faces of the girls sitting around me. They were all so inexperienced. So full of hope and dreams and... innocence. They were so different from the girls I'd known back home.

  Back... Back in a home that was long gone now.

  They were staring at me, their expressions wary. The redhead was leaning back in her chair, her arms crossed over her chest. The blonde was watching me with narrowed eyes, her fingers tapping on the table. The Asian girl was fidgeting nervously, her hands clasped in her lap. And Maya...

  Maya was sitting next to me, her eyes fixed on my face, her expression pleading.

  Guh.

  She just had to be good at those puppy eyes too, didn't she?

  "Are you... going to tell us your story or not?" The redhead asked, her tone challenging.

  "Valentina," the Asian girl said softly, placing a hand on the redhead's shoulder.

  "No, Linda. I'm tired of this. We've been here for an hour now, and all she's done is sit there and eat. We don't know who she is, or where she's from, or why she's here. We don't know anything about her. Althea has been cooking up a storm, and she's not even going to tell us her name?"

  "Leave her alone," Althea snapped, slamming a tray of bacon onto the table. "If she wanted to talk, she would have. She's clearly going through something. Give her some space."

  The redhead snorted. "Whatever. I'm going to the bathroom."

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  She got up and stalked out of the room, leaving us in an uncomfortable silence.

  "I should go check on Val," Linda murmured, rising to her feet. "She gets... touchy sometimes. I'm sorry for her behavior, Reimi."

  "It's fine." I said, not looking at her. "I don't blame her for being suspicious of me. Or you for jamming that spear against my neck."

  Linda hesitated for a moment, then nodded and followed the redhead out of the room.

  I took a sip of my strawberry milk, my eyes fixed on the table. Althea sighed and sat down across from me, her gaze focused on the bacon.

  "Sorry about that," she said. "They're just worried. We've never seen anyone like you before."

  "I know." I said softly. "I'm not like you. I'm not from here. I'm not from this world."

  Althea raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

  "I mean I'm not from this... world? Timeline. I'm not from this place. I'm not from this universe." I paused, taking a deep breath. "I don't belong here. I don't belong anywhere."

  Althea frowned, but she didn't say anything. Maya looked at me, her eyes wide.

  "Where did you say you are from?" she asked.

  "..." I stared at the glass of milk in front of me. The condensation on the glass made my fingers feel damp. "My world was destroyed. By something we called the Azure Blight. Everything and everyone I knew was devoured. And the only reason I survived is because I was already on the run, trying to escape the system of that world. There was... an experiment."

  "An experiment?"

  "A horrible one. It's hard to explain, but it was something evil, that turned girls like us into living weapons. Living weapons with no control over what we did, or who we hurt. And I was one of those weapons. And they unleashed the Blight onto the world."

  I paused, taking a deep breath.

  "Was it... was it related to the monsters you saved us from?" Althea asked, her voice gentle.

  "..."

  I looked at the blonde, my eyes narrowed. "It's complicated. And it's something that doesn't exist here. So, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that the Blight came. And it destroyed my world. And I'm the only one who survived. And now, I don't know where I am, or why I'm here. All I know is that I need to leave before it's too late."

  Althea and Maya exchanged a look, and then a door slammed open.

  "Hey! You guys! You won't believe what's on the news!"

  Linda burst into the room, her face flushed. She was followed closely by Valentina, who looked equally flustered.

  "What's wrong?" Maya asked, her eyes widening. "Is it more monsters?"

  "No," Linda said, shaking her head. "It's not that. It's something else."

  "What?" Althea asked.

  "Us. We're all over the news. Hang on!"

  She rushed for a remote, clicking on a TV that hung over Maya's dining room.

  I looked at the screen on the wall, and sure enough, there I was. A blurry picture of the four girls hauling my unconscious, ichor-soaked body up the metro station. And then another, a still-shot of the five of us in our transformed states. I'd been captured in profile, my weapon raised. The girls were in the foreground, looking at me, facing out in a tight circle.

  "Wait, is that us?!" Maya exclaimed. "Holy moly, we look badass! Look at my hair! It's so cool!"

  "We're famous," Linda breathed. "We're actually famous."

  "This is not good," Althea murmured. "This is very not good."

  "Why not?" Valentina asked, looking confused. "This is awesome! We're heroes! We're celebrities! We're gonna be rich!"

  Althea turned to stare at me, pursing her lips. "Well, look at the scrolling text. She umm..."

  The scrolling text at the bottom read: "Turnpike Dungeon collapses after unsanctioned Sentinel raid. Association officials have yet to comment on the destruction of the Dungeon. All portals located along the Hudson have reportedly terminated overnight."

  "Oh." Valentina's eyes widened. "Oh, shit."

  "Yeah." Althea sighed. "We're not going to get a reward for this."

  "Okay, but the monsters!" Maya protested. "They were going to kill us, right Reimi? Maybe they'll understand that it was an accident!"

  Linda snorted. "The Association? Understand? Yeah, right. They're the most powerful organization in the world. They're not going to give a shit about what we have to say. They're just going to see a bunch of kids who ruined their plans and decide to make an example out of us."

  Althea sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Val is right. This isn't going to end well for us."

  The reporter was now talking about the 'destruction' of the 'Turnpike Dungeon' and how it was a 'tragedy.'

  "I don't understand why it's such a big deal," Maya said. "It's just a dungeon. There are thousands of them all over the world."

  "It's not just a dungeon," Althea said, twirling her long blonde hair. "It was a new dungeon. And it was in our backyard. The local chapter was going to make a lot of money off of it."

  "..." I looked back to the TV, my brow furrowing. "What are these dungeons, anyway? Why are they so important?"

  "..." Everyone looked at me, then each other, then back at me.

  "You really don't know anything about this world, do you?" Valentina asked, her voice soft.

  "I know that it exists. And that's about it. I know that you're all Magical Girls, and I've figured that the Association is your ruling body. But that's all I know."

  "Wow," Althea breathed. "Okay, that's... a lot. But, alright. Dungeons are these massive underground labyrinths that the Association controls. They're filled with monsters and treasure, and they're where we get most of our magical items and power-ups."

  "Yup," Linda sighed. "The Lenapehoking Dungeon complex had only opened up about a week ago. The mana readings from it were... intense. But that means there's a lot of loot down there, and we only found a few regular goblins lurking around the first few floors in the entrance by our local metro. That's why we were investigating it. And then, well, you came along and blew it up. And that's a problem because the Association usually takes months if not years to clear out a dungeon like that. People were er, getting excited about the economic implications of having our town be a hub for the Association."

  The girls all turned to look at me. My eyes were fixed on the TV screen, where the reporter was now talking about how the Association would be sending a representative to investigate the incident.

  "How and why did you collapse the portal, anyway?" Althea asked.

  I shrugged. "I felt like it."

  Valentina bristled. "You felt like it? Do you have any idea what you've done? Do you have any idea how much trouble we're in? Do you have any idea—"

  "I saved your lives," I interrupted, my voice cold. "I killed hundreds of those creatures if not more. If you think that the ones you fought were the worst of it, then you're wrong. Those were just the scouts testing the boundaries of reality. If I hadn't destroyed that portal, the cities nearby would've been overrun by a swarm in less than a month. And all of you and your loved ones would be dead. So, yes, I felt like it."

  The silence was deafening.

  The only sound was the ticking of a clock in the background, and the quiet murmur of the TV. The four girls were staring at me, their expressions ranging from shocked to horrified to furious.

  I just shrugged again, before chugging down the rest of the strawberry milk.