Natasha who had spoken with arrogant indifference earlier, naturally wasn't so. With actions that didn't match her words she quickly fixed her hair and clothes, both of which didn't need fixing at all and put on the video call.

  At the same time, she looked at the time which was now 6:03:12 PM and grabbed her bag.

  With all that done she patiently waited, placing the sweetest expression she had on her face.

  [Video Call — Loading...]

  There was a bit of static, before the screen suddenly lit up and Natasha could see the other side.

  The first thing she noticed was that there was an abundance of rubble an dust in the air—okay, that was a lie.

  The first thing she noticed obviously wasn't some stupid rubble. With Leon's voice on the phone—The literal love of her life, why would she care about such things.

  With eager eyes, she peered into the screen. When she saw not only Leon but a black haired girl by him, who was squishing against his body, Natasha was overcome with a feeling intense loathing.

  'Homewrecker!' Her eyes instantly become dangerous, and with her special condition, she looked just the part of the narrow-eyes teammate of the protagonist planning a betrayal.

  [Natasha: You are?]

  Her voice was low, but Leon didn't seemed to notice as he shook off the girl and sat down, staring into the distance.

  [Leon: That's Mirai Takahashi.]

  His tone of voice was even, there also a bit of amusement to it. The girl dropped down from behind his back, looking at her curiously.

  She had a bright pair of caramel eyes and the area around her right ear, the place where ear accessories were placed, shone with a slight starry light.

  [Mirai: Woah... So this is the school belle...?]

  [???: We have school belle's? I could have sworn this was a real life Japanese school and not something from a Chinese or Korean webtoon.]

  Natasha couldn't help but agree and disagree with her. She was right to say that school belle's and such were somewhat ridiculous. But it also had to be said that this was an international boarding school, although it was located in Japan, specially Tokyo's Minato Ward, it's wide array of students were not.

  Natasha herself was only here because she had caught interest when Leon posted he was going there on his socials. And since she was free to go anywhere and her parents already had a house in Japan she just traveled there with no issue.

  Honestly if it wasn't for this, she would probably still be in Russia wasting away.

  As for the inexplicable attraction that could force a girl to travel all across the world, it was not the time to delve into such matters. Even if she was asked, Natasha didn't have a clear answer. She had felt like it, somewhat like love at first sight and she just went.

  Complicated thoughts, considerations and some such, they were the furthest things from her mind.

  Or maybe she was just crazy and had too much freedom.

  [Mirai: Yuki-chan—]

  She was then interrupted...

  [Leon: So about what we were talking about earlier...]

  Leon, who was nervously looking over his shoulder from time to time, began to bring them back on topic. Natasha became a bit more attentive, and by the way Mirai perked up as well, she did too.

  [Natasha: Is that Earth Meta-Beast near you guys right now? Why aren't you running?]

  Natasha couldn't help but be confused. Aren't these guys too leasurely? But a moment later she stared at Mirai accusingly, as if blaming her for keeping Leon in the line of fire.

  [Leon: The Earth Hippo is slow, but it has terrifying abilities. As long as we keep a certain distance and remain clear from certain areas, we should be able to survive for a time. All related to earth, those tremors you might be able to feel? That's all him. Or her...]

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  [Natasha: Our campus isn't exactly small, and if it's in the south but I can still feel it from here... Oh, by the way, I don't know if you know this but whatever it's doing, those earthquake's? They're around the Magnitude 3 to 4 range.]

  At her words Leon and Mirai had contemplative expressions and Natasha took the time to look around outside the window again. During her run to the bike rack, she had went over nearly 2 kilometers. She wasn't sure if it was close to 2 kilometers or if it was closer to 1 kilometer.

  Staring out of the window, and over looking all the other buildings in the area, she wondered if the Flame Monkey could detect her from so far away.

  She rummaged into her bag and brought out her 14.6" Samsung Tablet. Just at this time, Leon finally spoke.

  [Leon: Interesting. While I would like to know the details, I'm afraid we don't have time for that. But I remember you saying something about a Flame Monkey... You asked us why we weren't running but why aren't you?]

  Natasha hummed, staring at his face for a while. Leon was undoubtedly good-looking but not overwhelmingly so, with bright brown-blonde hair and slightly weird eyes, a mix of chestnut brown and a swirling violet. He seemed much more like the "childhood friend down the street" rather than mister "steal your heart in under a minute" or even just the "world praised celebrity" type.

  This was obviously to her taste and Natasha, who was momentarily distracted, let out a small smile. Her thought process was unusually fast and she didn't waste any more time in answering.

  [Natasha: The Flame Monkey, a 1-star Meta-Beast is fast. Very fast, like crazy fast and it's attacks are even quicker. They look like lines of light and I wouldn't recommend anyone face them. Though I seemed to dodge tem on instinct, I don't actually have the speed to react on the nose, or I haven't tried to. Not trying to play with my life here you know.]

  Leon nodded and Mirai, and her unseen friend Yuki made slight noises in amazement.

  [Yuki: You didn't exactly answer the question though...]

  Natasha was instantly annoyed, her mind flashed to what happened to her alternate version earlier and her mood worsened even more. If she had to be honest, Natasha didn't really think of Natasha Alter as her. Sure, she had her face and voice and so on but they didn't really share habits and personality traits.

  'Wait no, there was the accents and language switching,' Her brows furrowed.

  Okay, maybe they did share some traits but she had been of the mind that, due to them being parallels or alternate versions, they weren't exactly the same person. Or maybe they were, as it was in the name and she was going crazy with denial or a silent identity crisis.

  Who knows... Regardless, the fact of the matter was:

  Yuki's comment was a complete slap to the face, because Natasha realized that she was just like Natasha Alter. She had talked so much and hadn't even answered the question.

  [Natasha: I was leading up to it...]

  She said in a weak voice, although she wanted to rage, she didn't forget who was there. Raging between girls alone was fine but she wasn't willing to risk embarrassing herself in front of Leon for their sake at all.

  [Leon: Haha... It's fine, the information was important. It also confirmed that these Meta-Beasts have different abilities and constitutions. Which means different weaknesses, possible ones.]

  [Natasha: Anyway, the reason I'm not running is that it's about a kilometer away from me. I'm not sure it can detect me from here, and I was kind of in shock for a while, so I just sat down in a daze.]

  Natasha didn't know why but it seemed that her words had shifted the atmosphere of the room in some way. The way they looked at her had something in it.

  [Leon: In shock huh? From what exactly, also, how do you know all this...?]

  Natasha tilted head, not sure what he was asking but then Mirai said cheerfully.

  [Mirai: Obviously she's in shock from being caught in my timeloop! Hehe, it's fine you know, I was in shock too when it happened.]

  Natasha who wasn't expecting such a bomb to drop, couldn't help but feel her jaw drop slightly. But then whatever awe she had was replaced with a hunger for knowledge and power.

  [Natasha: How did you do it?]

  Mirai looked confused. So, Natasha, annoyed but helpless asked her once more.

  [Natasha: How did you awaken your Magical Girl abilities? You have power over time don't you?]

  [Mirai: Oh! I don't know.]

  Natasha took a deep breath. And held in her scream of frustration before breathing out again.

  [Yuki: Hey, so since you asked about the abilities and stuff. And you know so much, you must have one of those star gems too right?]

  Natasha closed her eyes and casually shared her information.

  [Natasha: Corastrum. It's a Corastrum.]

  Yuki and Mirai made sounds of amazement again. With Leon making a thoughtful face, he then smiled.

  [Leon: It seems like a unique name, I'm guessing it has a simpler meaning?]

  Natasha nodded and he sighed, his smile still on his face he said with a light voice.

  [Leon: Can you translate for us, miss Foreign Languages major...]

  Natasha beamed.

  [Natasha: Of course. The word means "Heart of Stars". I haven't seen Yuki yet but she must be like us right? With one of these...?]

  [Yuki: Yep, I do.]

  Natasha sighed, finally confirming something. She felt like celebrating a little.

  Three Magical Girl's!

  Three of them!

  With one of them being her, a confirmed 4 star!

  While she wanted go celebrate such great luck, she still had something to say. Donning a serious expression she began to say:

  [Natasha: The words are literal, but let me say it again. The Corastrum is most likely the most vital part of use right now. You see the meaning "Heart of Stars". This thing is literally our new heart. Protect it well, it's our ticket to escaping those monsters.]

  [Yuki: Escape? Not kill?]

  Natasha's lips twitched.

  [Mirai: Yeah escaping might be for the best but me and the Earth Hippo are kinda life and death enemies right now. I'd feel sick if I let it breathe a second more. I, I really really really don't like it, it's evil and ugly. It's also really stupid and dumb.]

  Her lips twitched even more at the blatant hatred and killing intent in her tone and expression. Was this a high school girl?

  What did that Hippo even do for her to stutter so much when speaking about it. And it wasn't a nervous stutter either, but one born out of a person holding themselves back from going overboard.

  Natasha took a deep breath.

  Her interest in the Earth Meta-Beast was undoubtedly growing.