"C'mon, guys, we've got to make this place spotless!" Mia shouted. "We can't let the exchange students see this place a mess!"
"Mia," Kento panted, leaning against the wall. Ryo, Rowen, Sage, and Cye were standing next to him, also panting. "This place is spotless. We don't need to clean it." Just then, the doorbell rang. Mia went over and opened it. Standing there were six young women, each one with a duffel bag.
"You must be the exchange students," Mia said warmly. She ushered them into the living room, past the guys who were staring at the girls. "Please come in and take a seat."
"Is something wrong with the guys?" asked the youngest, who was in the front. She was wearing a floor-length dark blue, sleeveless vest over top of a white tank top and a pair of black leggings, and a pair of heeled boots. "Is this normal behavior for them?"
"Ignore them," Mia sighed. "We've never had exchange students before, so they don't know how to act. By the way, I'm Mia."
"My name is Kieren," she replied. "Call me Ren."
"I'm Hikari, her older sister," said the girl to her left. She was wearing a red three-quarter-sleeve shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of black heeled boots. "You can call me Kari."
"I'm Alissandra," said the girl next to her. She was wearing a blue three-quarter sleeve shirt over top of a white tank and a jean skirt and a pair of Mary Janes. "Please call me Ali; all of my friends do."
"I'm Kira," the girl on Kieren's right said. She was wearing a dark blue crop top shirt underneath a pair of faded jean overalls. She wore a pair of hiking boots. "Sorry, I don't have a nickname."
"Yeah right, Kiwi. Ignore her, she doesn't like that name, so we only use it to tease her," said the girl next to her. She was wearing a white crop top shirt underneath a green short-sleeved shirt that was tied at the bottom along with a pair of khaki colored capris and a pair of bobos. Kira glowered while the others laughed. "I'm Eren. You can call me whatever you like, so long as it isn't vulgar, insulting, or disrespectful."
"I'm Terena," said the one next to Eren. She was wearing an orange T-shirt and a pair of jeans and a pair of running shoes. "Call me Rena. If you call me anything else, you're in for a world of pain."
"It's nice to meet all of you," Mia said, smiling. She gestured to the guys, "From left to right, the guys are Kento, Ryo, Cye, Rowen, and Sage." The guys mumbled a hello, still awed by the girls. Mia rolled her eyes and sighed. The girls laughed, and told Mia that it was all right. Just then, two white blurs raced through the room, one going to Ryo and the other stopping in front of Kieren. The one in front of Ryo had several scratches on its face.
"I don't know what your tiger did, Ryo, but it must've startled her. She almost never reacts like that," Kieren said gesturing to the scratches on the other tiger's face, while stroking her shaking tiger. "Frost never gets that upset." Ryo gave her a blank look. "Frost is my tiger. Since it's just me and my sister at home, I didn't want to leave her there alone. Especially since none of our neighbors would be willing to watch her for me." Ryo nodded and said he had the same problem with White Blaze. He led White Blaze out of the room to treat the scratches, followed by the rest of the guys.
"Let me show you to you rooms," Mia said. "There are three rooms: one down here, and the two upstairs. Unfortunately, if you get the rooms upstairs, you'll have to share."
"I'll take the one down here," Kieren said. Mia pointed down the hall. She led the rest of the group upstairs and showed them the rooms. Hikari and Terena took one, and Ali, Kira, and Eren took the other. Mia went downstairs to fix lunch, and a few minutes later, Kieren and Frost came into the one share by Hikari and Terena followed by Ali, Kira, and Eren.
"Nice place," Eren observed. She walked about the room and sat down in the chair by the desk. Hikari and Terena sat on the beds, with Kieren and Ali. Kira sat on the floor next to Eren.
"Don't forget why we're here, Eren," Hikari said sharply. "We have to stop Katalpa from rebuilding the Dynasty, reviving her father, and destroying the world. We also have to find the Ronins, so that we can help them."
"We don't have far to look," Kieren said. They looked at her in confusion. "The guys we just met have an aura of power around them, similar to yours. I'm pretty sure that the five of them are the Ronins."
"Well, that's one less thing we have to do," Kira said. "Now, how do we go about tracking down Katalpa? It's not going to be as easy as it was back home."
"Katalpa is not in the mortal realm," Kieren said softly, earning her several shocked looks. "Of that, I'm certain."
"Well then where is she?" asked Terena.
"Where else, Rena?" Kira replied. "The Nether realm. She's going to rebuild the Dynasty before she tries to conquer the mortal realm. The only question is how far along is she?" Everyone looked at Kieren, who shook her head.
"I can't answer that," she said. "I may have psychic powers, but there is a limit. One of them is that I can only use my farsight to look at areas where I've been."
"Okay, so that means that we have to wait until she shows up to stop her," Rena said. "Anyone else think that sucks?"
"Look," Kira said, "it may suck, but right now it's our only option. Besides, in the mean time, we can start to look for the armor of Heaven. If we can find that, we will be sure to win."
"Really?" asked Ali. "How come?"
"The armor of Heaven is supposed to be more powerful than the armor of Inferno," Hikari said. "Unfortunately, no one has been able to find it at all. No one knows who is supposed to wear it, or even what spirit it has."
"Interesting," said Kieren, and the rest echoed her. She thought, If only they knew the truth, that I, Kieren, priestess and mage, am the bearer of the mythical armor of Heaven. They wouldn't believe me if I told them. Just then, Mia called everyone for lunch. The six girls raced each other downstairs, laughing all the way.
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