Kailor: Don't hate me for starting so many stories at this time, folks! Trying to get them started so I can work on them during the summer!

Nuriko: As always, we own nothing and nobody.

Naruto: We can't afford to own anything. Kai never brings home money.

Kailor: 'Tis the curse of a writer. To be broke as a joke without a punchline.

"And this way is the astronomy tower. The fortune-telling club meets atop it every Wednesday and Thursday. Anyone interested in joining, just see me after the tour!" Konoka waved her group to follow her around the side of the tower.

This was her third tour of the university today and her last. She wasn't on tour duty again until Tuesday. The prospective freshmen scuttled after her, some jotting notes, others taking pictures. She stopped and pointed up at the astronomy tower's bulbous tip. The glass walls reflected the sunlight every which way, making it seem like a miniture sun had settled on top of the tower. Around the glass dome was the large, round balcony they used for star-gazing. The tour gasped and oohed and aahed appropiately, making her grin. She loved when the tours were attentive and suitably awed.

Then she heard the bang.

Oh, not today. I was having such a good day.

"HEADS UP!"

She jumped aside just in time. A large slab of stone slammed into the concrete where she and three freshmen from her group had been standing. Debris flew up at them and she used her clipboard to shield her face from the tiny flecks of rock.

"What the hell was that?" One of her group members exclaimed.

She looked up, already knowing what she would see.

Sure enough, two faces were leaning out over the astronomy tower's railing. The first, looking completely unapologetic, was most definitely Kazumi Asakura. The girl's personality was as wild and bright as her red hair and her eyes, the same shade of brown as Konoka's, were always full of mischief.

At Asakura's side, with her black hair tied up to the side and her obsidian eyes, was Asakura's ever-present friend, Setsuna Sakurazaki. She and Konoka had been childhood friends back in the day. Oh, how college changed people.

"Konoka, is that you? Are you okay?" Setsuna called down. Konoka opened her mouth, ready to finally tell them off good and proper. Then she remembered her tour group, watching her, judging her and their college.

"I'm fine. Are you okay up there?"

"We're just dandy," Asakura yelled. "Just a little mishap with the C4 I believe."

I'll mishap you. Wait until Grandpa hears about this. She quickly gathered her shaken group members and ushered them away, assuring them that this was a completely bizarre accident and not a daily occurence. A part of her wondered how many of them knew she was lying.

The rest of the tour went great, the freshmen seemed as if they'd forgotten all about the astronomy tower incident, and she was off to her grandpa's office.

To her utter annoyance, Setsuna and Asakura were already there, waiting outside the door that said, "HEADMASTER".

With them was the usual crew of trouble-makers: Kaede Nagase, with her brown hair oddly cut short on top of a ponytail that stretched to her feet and eyes she rarely opened past a squint. Asuna Kagurazaka, twirling one of her insanely long, red pigtails around her fingers and staring around the room with her different colored gaze. Haruna Saotome, her beautiful brown hair contradicting her nerdy glasses and perverted attitude. And green-eyed, Ku Fei, the blondest chinese girl she'd ever met.

Though Asuna was her roommate and Setsuna was her childhood friend, she wasn't happy to see either one at that moment.

She marched past the lot of them, straight into the Headmaster's office. "Grandpa!" she called.

Negi Springfield, her grandfather's young secretary, looked up from a mountain of paperwork and smiled, his glasses barely hanging onto his nose and his dark red hair sticking up where he'd obviously run his hands through it a bunch of times. She remembered then that his fifteenth birthday was coming up soon and made a mental note to get the child genius an outfit that wasn't a suit.

"Here, Konoka." Konoemon appeared from one of his side rooms, stroking his long beard. He was always stroking that damn beard and just the sight of that simple movement aggravated her today. "How was today's tours?"

"Good, until the Wrecking Crew out there decided to throw a giant chunk of rock from the top of the astronomy tower at us."

"I believe they call themselves the Archers of Artemis."

"Whatever," she didn't have time to stand here and debate what a Japanese archery club was doing naming themselves after a Greek god. Instead, she wanted to know why an archery club was playing with explosives on campus grounds! Where her club met, no less! "They almost killed me and three of my tourists today, Grandpa. I've put up with them wreaking havoc all over campus for two full semesters now. Isn't it time you put an end to them? They're obviously not practicing archery. And even if they were, the astronomy tower? Isn't it unsafe to shoot arrows on top a building that hundreds of people walk under each day?"

"I was under the impression that they practiced inside. They have an entire floor to themselves. And I can only assume they used explosives as part of a training exercise. You know the archery club brings in many awards from tournaments and the like each year. They've always taken extreme measures to make sure their club is up to snuff. This year's members are no different." Konoemon sat behind his desk. "I shall speak with them about keeping things a little more subtle, but they haven't harmed anyone yet."

"Yet!" Konoka sighed, throwing her hands in the air. "They almost killed me today, Grandpa. Killed. Murdered. Slaughtered. Annihilated."

"I belive I've got what you're trying to say, dear. I will take care of it."

She laughed, not bothering to try and add mirth to it. "Oh, like when they drove a jeep through the courtyard, taking out a very expensive fountain and old Ms. Worcoll on the way? And when they used the tapestry in the Main Hall for target practice then stained it with tomato sauce? How about the fire in the science building? You going to 'take care' of them just like those times?"

"My dear, I assure you there were underlying circumstances for each of those-"

"Underlying circumstances?" She knew her voice was rising, but it was useless to try and quell it. "And if I had died today? If my freshmen had been injured? You ask me to run these tours because more students equals more money for our college, but I assure YOU that having a rock the size of a table dropped from a tower on your friend's head will make you choose a different college!"

Konoemon's bushy eyebrows drew closer together and she knew that look well. He was thinking something he shouldn't be.

"Grandpa?"

"Konoka," he settled back in his chair. "You were so cheerful and laid-back in middle school. What changed?"

"I grew up, Grandpa." She folded her arms across her chest and sighed again. Recently he'd been bringing this up a lot. "I'm a college student now. I have responsibilities and the like."

"You mean the tours," Konoemon mused, rubbing his stupid beard again.

"I mean my job, the tours, schoolwork. The only thing I do for me anymore is my club meetings."

Her grandpa nodded, mumbling to himself. "Well, this semester you didn't schedule many hard classes. You'll have more free time. And how's your job going?"

A frown found her face thinking about her part-time position as a waitress at the bar down the road. "They're giving me even less hours than before. I'm starting to think we've got too many workers."

"Indeed," Konoemon stroked his beard again. She just wanted to chop the thing off now. "Well, what if I offered you a better job? Much more pay."

Intrigued, she relaxed her crossed arms. "What job?" Was he going to hire her for the tours she already did free?

"I want you to join the Archers of Artemis."

"What!"

"Hear me out," he waved away her immediate protests. "They do odd jobs for me when I ask and they make a lot of money from each one. You don't actually have to join the club, but you can work the jobs with them. However, you will have to train with them for a little while to prepare yourself for the jobs so I will excuse you from running the freshmen tours for the time being."

What the hell? "What jobs could the Wrecking Crew possibly train me for?"

Konoemon's smile was far too self-satisfied for her liking. "Oh, I'm sure you'll understand once your first job comes up. Take a few days to think about it. I will still excuse you from the tours, so feel free to spend your time observing the Archers of Artemis. Ask your roommate about it if you must, though I doubt Miss Kagurazaka will have much to say on the subject. They're a rather secretive group until you've worked with them at least once."

"You expect me to run around with this group of-"

"I expect you to think about it. Go to one of their meetings. Talk with the members. Hang out with them a bit. Maybe you'll find yourself...attracted."

Wow, way to make things sound really creepy, Grandpa. She didn't say anything else. The headmaster was well-known for his hard-headedness. Instead she turned and stomped out, casting a glare at the Archers of Artemis sitting in the lobby.

Asuna waved merrily, saying something about seeing her tonight. Asakura winked. Kaede and Ku nodded politely. Haruna glanced up for a only a moment, then went back to her sketchbook. Setsuna, however, made no move at all. She sat still and held Konoka's gaze until the young girl had turned the corner.

Setsuna, who she hadn't spoken more than a few words with since high school. Setsuna, who once was her only friend in the world and was more or less a stranger now. Setsuna, who rarely made eye contact and when she did it was as fleeting as the sight of a hummingbird. And she had stared her straight in the eyes until Konoka was out of the room.

And that was somehow the weirdest part of her entire day.