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11 - an artist's thoughts.

The school bell rang, signaling the start of the lessons. At that exact moment, Chris and his friends were in the class talking with each other.

"So, Chizuru, how's the life at Chris' house?" Arielle asked.

"It's been really nice, although some things can happen at times," Chizuru replied as she shrugged.

"Yeah. From what I know, the Secretives are starting to pop up in many places," Chris said, looking around and spotting the art teacher bringing in a painted canvas. "Oh, the teacher's here."

They all shuffled back to their seats, and the teacher stood in front of the whiteboard, her hands still holding the canvas.

"Alright, class," she said. "To start off today's lesson, I will be showing you the magic of a certain artist who has recently moved into the city."

Turning the canvas around, she revealed a painting of a blue bird. Just when everyone was already starting to lose interest, the bird moved, separating itself from the canvas and flying around the classroom. It landed on her shoulder afterward, and she said, "This is the art of a painter named Arizu Ceystal."

Right then, Chizuru stood up and raised her hand.

"The Sanraizu painter who can make her art come to life?" she asked.

"Oh? I never expected any of you to know about her."

"I've met her once, back while I was going out with my dad in the major streets of my hometown. I have her contact, so I can call her at any time."

"Very nice, very nice. Now, back onto the topic."

Chizuru put herself down as the teacher continued talking.

"These brushes have been provided specifically by her. After you get a canvas and one of these brushes, you can start painting. I'd like to see what you can draw."



The moment school ended, Chris was carrying Arielle, who was knocked out by a tiger headbutting her by accident. Meanwhile, Chizuru had a sparrow on her shoulder and Klein had an empty jar that used to house a poorly drawn grasshopper.

After using her phone for a little while, Chizuru said, "I know where Arizu is."

"That quick?" Klein asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. We'll have to put Arielle down at Chris' house first, though."

"Um, guys?" Chris called out, pointing his thumb at a tiger behind them. "Can we do it quick?"

The other two stared in silence as the tiger slowly growled, its eyes gleaming as if it had found prey.



"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!" Chris shouted as he ran with Arielle on his back, shaming himself for being unable to run faster.

"We're almost there!" Chizuru shouted, skating as fast as she possibly can.

"Klein, can you attack the tiger?!"

"I would," Klein shouted, "but I'd be violating animal rights!"

Eventually, they got to Chris' room and slammed the door in front of the tiger.

"Alright, quick. Who here still has the paintbrush?" Chris asked, holding the door.

"Let me find it..." Chizuru replied, searching through her backpack. After a few sounds of the tiger scratching the door, she found the brown paintbrush. "Here it is!"

"Nice."

"Oh, and it can paint without ink."

"Special edition? Take one of my notebooks and draw a loaf of meat."

She did as told, and right in an instant, the meatloaf appeared in her hand.

"Can you pass it to me? I gotta chase this tiger down."

Once he had it in his hand, he opened the door and quickly ran down the stairs, luring the tiger away. He threw the meat a few blocks away after leading it from the apartment. While the tiger chased it down, he quickly ran back to his room.

"Klein, can your ability lift people?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, it can," he replied.

"Good. Chizuru, can you show the way?"

She nodded in response.

"Okay. Everyone, we're jumping out the window."

"Huh?!" the other two exclaimed as Chris climbed onto the window. Following him, the three of them jumped out, with Klein creating a blood platform at their feet.

"It's the first time I'm using this move... Anyway, where to, Chizuru?" he asked, gathering the energy to move the platform.

"That way," Chizuru said as she pointed in a certain direction. "She lives by the countryside, so it'll take a while."

"Alright. Hold on tight!"



Moments later, they arrived at a little house fit for a small family to live in. It was 2 stories tall, with a balcony hanging over the front door, and located in the middle of a field, with only one road passing the house.

The three of them got off as Klein canceled his platform, and they all looked at the artist's simple house.

"This is the place. Ah, it's been a while since I saw her," Chizuru said, stretching her body.

"Shall we enter?" Chris asked, inviting the both of them to get closer.

They walked towards the door and Chizuru knocked on it. No one answered immediately. After knocking again, Klein felt a chill down his spine.

"Uh, guys? I think we could step back..."

The front door exploded, sending the three of them back to the road. As they got up, the smoke cleared, revealing the attacker to be a little pale girl, her face looking like she had seen worse things than a ghost. Her long, untied black hair hung over her white dress, and her hand was outstretched.

"Stay... back..."

Her voice sounded frail. Chris was the first to get up, raising his hands, and he said, "Hey, hold on a moment. We're not here to attack you, alright?"

"Stay... back!"

White laser beams were charged at each of her fingertips, which were turning whiter than her skin.

"Dammit! She's on a whole other level compared to us!" Chris shouted.

The laser beams were fired, and Klein threw up a blood wall to block the attack. However, they went through as if nothing was there at all, and they were on track to hit Chris. He would have been gone in an instant if it weren't for a certain someone appearing and blocking the attack for him.

A taller blonde woman blocked the attack with a shield that looked like it came straight out from an animated series with its really vibrant colors. Her black dress was stained with paint in every spot, which made the kids think that her painting was interrupted.

"Please don't hurt them, Luna," the woman said.

"S-Sorry, I thought they were bad people..." the girl replied, lowering her arm.

"Arizu!" Chizuru exclaimed, seeing how much she changed.

"Chizuru?!"

Arizu dropped her shield and got Chizuru to her feet before placing her arms on the latter's shoulders. "Oh, look at how you've changed! You've grown taller, haven't you?"

"Yeah!"

"And it seems like you've made a couple of friends, too. Mind introducing me to them in the house?"

"Wait, what about the front door?" Klein asked as Arizu led them inside.

"I can paint over it later. Come on. I'll prepare some tea for all of us."

The four of them entered her house after Luna and sat down at a round coffee table. Quickly taking out her canvas and paintbrush, Arizu painted an entire tea set with 5 cups and laid them all down on the table, filling each one with some sweet tea.

"I remember back when I visited you for the first time," said Chizuru. "I didn't see Luna anywhere at your old place."

"You know the girl?" Klein asked.

"Arizu literally said her name right after shielding me," Chris replied, shooting him a glare.

"Ah, her. Safe to say, I rescued her from the Secretives around a year ago, back when I was still travelling to the Briss Kingdom in search for inspiration," Arizu said, answering Chizuru's question.

Right at that moment, Luna pulled on her sleeve, her eyes begging her not to continue. "Sorry about that. She's a little sensitive, having just recovered from that event."

"It's alright," Chris said. "Now, uh, here's a little problem regarding the Secretives."

"What is it?"

"Let me think about how to say it without provoking Luna-"

"They're back, and they're trying to hit us hard," Klein said, prompting Chizuru to slap him.

"Don't just say that out of the blue!" she shouted.

"Well, you can't help it," Arizu replied with a sigh. "It's gonna be a problem later whether you like it or not, so it's best if you just say it."

"Speaking of which, are you gonna stay here for a while?"

"Yeah, I will. I didn't expect you to move here before me."

They all chatted away, talking about recent occurrences and their daily lives. Meanwhile, Arielle woke up on Chris' bed.

"Hey... Where am I?"

She slowly made her way to the door, only to find the same tiger right on the doorstep. Without hesitation, she kicked it with full force, causing it to dissipate into thin air. A few rooms away, Justin opened the door.

"Hey, who are you?" he asked.

"Oh. Uh..."