Chapter six

After several hours of explaining about Neah's time period, Kougyoku seemed to fully understand her situation. Halfway through Prince Hakuryuu had joined them -having returned from conquering Zagan. Although Neah wasn't sure she wanted his audience, he too, knew about the future. "Why did you want to tell me all this, Neah-kun?" Kougyoku asked, not noticing Neah's subtle negative reaction to the addition to her name.

"Well... I realized I'm going to need some help if I want to stop MWS." Neah admitted, "Although I'd rather do this alone, having the help of a few metal vessel users would be better."

"When do you plan on attacking MWS, then?" Hakuryuu asked. "How are you getting back to your time period as well?"

"No idea." Neah shrugged. "Don't worry, it won't interfere with your 'plans'." She avoided mocking him by saying, 'your precious civil war', not wanting Kougyoku to know he was the one to initiate it. She'd been spooked enough when Neah had mentioned it briefly in her story. "So, will you two back me up when I need it?"

Kougyoku thought for a while longer, while Hakuryuu answered, "As long as you'll aid me when I need it."

"Sure," Neah agreed, going to shake his hand. Mentally, she laughed, I'm not helping him fight his stupid battle. She didn't care about the conditions, she just needed power. This must be how Sinbad thinks... She realized as she moved her hand to Kougyoku, "What do you say? You in as well?"

"I suppose..." Kougyoku answered quietly, shaking the magi's hand.

Neah smiled, "Good answer." Then she decided to try and assure the princess more, "It's for the future of not only your djinn, but your children as well."

"Y-Yeah..." Kougyoku smiled a little.

She stood to leave, and Neah stopped her, "Mention what I said to your brothers when you return, too. Although I'll talk with them personally at some point." The princess nodded and said her goodbyes. Neah noticed after a few moments that Hakuryuu had no intentions of leaving, "What's up with you?"

"Tell me, who wins the civil war?" He asked, completely serious.

"Like I'm going to tell you!" Neah almost laughed. "I refuse to tell Sinbad anything to help him out, and I'm definitely not telling you anything."

"You want my help, don't you?"

Neah huffed, "That doesn't mean I'm going to risk destroying everything. Haven't you ever heard of the Butterfly Effect?"

"No, I haven't..." Hakuryuu shook his head. "But I suppose I understand your reasoning... I will still help you. Even if you're related to Judar."

Another thing that nearly made Neah laugh; the prince's hatred towards Judar. "Cool." She spoke casually. "You should probably get going though."

"Yes, I know." Hakuryuu stood. "Thank you for explaining. Feel free to contact me when the time is right."

Neah smiled and nodded, "Alright." Once the price left she thought for a bit, That's two down from Kou... Now how the hell do I get King Idiot to agree as well?

~

That night, at the festival held for the four conquers of Zagan, Neah watched Sinbad from a distance. The first person he went to 'talk' with was the magi Aladdin, who Neah had yet to talk to herself. She noted how easy it was for the king to talk with the boy, and how Aladdin didn't suspect Sinbad of having other intentions for their conversation. Or so Neah thought. She was surprised when Aladdin denied Sinbad's request to travel to Reim as Sindria's magi by saying, "Sinbad, I'm not this countries magi yet." Even the king seemed somewhat surprised, but didn't show it, instead he smiled and told Aladdin to think it over.

Sinbad then moved on to Princess Kougyoku, who was rather drunk when he approached her. Neah caught sight of Ja'far leading Ka Koubun away, making sure the princess's sober servant was nowhere nearby to interfere with Sinbad's plans. Neah chuckled, "He's surprisingly good at this whole thing..." Maybe I should take notes. She made sure to listen in as Sinbad led Kougyoku away, holding her hand while saying he 'wished they could be happy like this forever'.

As Sinbad left Kougyoku and joined with Ja'far, Neah kept even more distance between her and the king. She didn't want to risk either of them seeing her snooping about. She had wanted to ask him for help with MWS, but couldn't figure out a way to ask, so she had decided to follow him around, and eventually grew interested in his methods of getting what he wants.

His next target was Hakuryuu, and Neah tried to follow, but was stopped as someone approached her, "Excuse me...?"

"...Huh?" Neah jumped at the sudden appearance of another person. She looked down to see the blue haired magi, Aladdin. "What?"

"Who are you...uh...Miss?" He seemed unsure whether to call her miss or not.

Neah figured it was because of her height, "Hey! I might be short, but I'm still way older than you, brat!" She'd always been tormented for her short stature, she was exactly five feet tall.

Aladdin took a step back in surprise, "I'm sorry! How old are you, miss?"

"24!" Neah exclaimed, crossing her arms. Aladdin still looked confused. He took a step forward and suddenly jumped on Neah, feeling her chest. "H-Hey!! Get the hell off of me!" Neah sputtered, "W-Who the hell do you think you are?!" She violently shoved the younger magi away.

Aladdin backed off and gave her a confused look, "Why are you so short, yet still have breasts? I mean...they are small..." He grew quiet for a moment, "Are you really a man?"

This infuriated Neah, "A man?!?! What the hell makes you think that?!" She grabbed the magi by his vest and held him up.

"I-I mean...your hair is really short...and your breasts aren't very big..."

"Oohh you're just asking to be slaughtered, aren't you, you little brat!" Neah tightened her grip. "I. Am. Not. A. Man." She growled.

"Ok! Ok! I-I understand now!" Aladdin struggled. "Please put me down, miss..."

"No! You don't even know my name, never mind anything about me, and you're assuming I'm a guy?! And what gives you the right to start groping people?!"

"A-ah....What is your name, then?"

"Neah!" She yelled.

"W-Well...Neah-san...can you please put me down?" Neah continued to glare, not backing down. Suddenly Aladdin stopped struggling, "Wait, something's happening! Neah-san, please, let go!"

Neah loosened her grip as she realized it as well, "What's happening?" She dropped Aladdin and began walking away, towards where she heard a bunch of people panicking. Aladdin followed before running to his King's Candidate, Alibaba,'s side, wand drawn.

Neah stopped walking as she realized what was happening, "Oh...I learned about this, too..." It was Ithnan, an Al-Thamen member and former user of a Divine Staff in Alma Torran. Neah made sure to keep her distance, not particularly worried about the wellbeing of anyone. She already knew what would happen anyway. Like hell I want any of that blood shit on me. She then realized something, not that it matters...I'm already fallen... Neah also decided to take the time while she watched Sinbad and Alibaba get infected with the cursed blood to compliment herself on remembering all of her history lessons. She figured it was because she'd repeated the same grade several times that some of the information stuck, but she was still proud of herself.

She realized the crowd was thinning out as people moved to help the injured, and Ithnan had left. Neah headed back to her room, already knowing Alibaba and Sinbad would be fine. "Like either of those stupid kings will die that easy." She muttered as she walked.

~