The cold and sharp look in the figure's eyes soon disappeared as their face shifted into a smile. "I finally found the Chaser that clinged onto me when we entered this world. I figured it would have been stronger... That wasn't even worth lifting a hand at." The cloaked boy continued to speak loudly and grin at Mina. "It is strange that they attacked you though, they should only want the heart of the Tree."

Feeling the same sense of intrigue and calm, she had when first meeting Kris, Mina took in her surroundings and paid close attention to her rescuer as he talked. The boy stood at a towering height and had a thick mop of black hair on his head. With the sharp shape of his black eyes paired with the natural upward curve of the corners of his mouth, he had a slight catlike appearance. "You're okay right?" he asked, blinking at Mina, scanning her for injuries. 

"Ah! Yes! Thank you," Mina said, finally exchanging words with him. "Are you okay?"

"I am," he replied nodding, his shiny black locks lightly bouncing on his head. 

"What was that thing?" she asked, feeling comfortable and safe around the boy. 

"Well, it was once a level three Chaser, but I'd say that when I destroyed it, it was only at the shadow manifestation level. A Penumbra." Nodding her head as if she understood, when in fact she had no idea what he was talking about, Mina asked another question.

"You wouldn't happen to be an alien would you?" It may have been a strange question to ask normally, but with the incident that had just occurred and other strange things happening more and more often, Mina no longer thought certain things were strange, including the mysterious cloaked boy in front of her.

Responding to her question, he shook his head. "I'm not Alien, I'm Tao," he said, beaming and pointing to himself.

"Tao?... I'm Mina, it's nice to meet you," she replied, smiling back. His sunny disposition was so bright and innocent that it reminded Mina of a child's. Thinking back to her first impression of him, she laughed to herself. He was much different than his initial sharp and serious image, unlike Kris, who matched his cautious and calculating image well. Kris... "You aren't from this planet though... Right?" Looking at his clothes, she felt there was a definite connection between him and the alien currently recuperating in her home. There was no way that this was a second isolated incident... It just couldn't be possible. 

"You can tell?" Tao asked, titling his head slightly. 

Mina nodded. "You mentioned something about entering 'this world'."

"Oh I did, didn't I?" he replied, slightly embarrassed by his carelessness. "I guess I should be more cautious with my words." Tao's bright smile temporarily disappeared as he exhaled deeply. 

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mina asked, her voice filled with concern.  

A small grin returned to Tao's face as he replied. "I've actually been wandering around this place for a while now... I need to find my brethren, but my powers and strength..." Allowing his fatigue to take over momentarily, the small smile fell from his face and his eyes closed as his head fell back. Reacting to his disoriented movements, Mina rushed forward and grabbed his arms, hoping to keep him standing. Before completely losing his balance, Tao caught himself and sighed. "I also haven't been able to rest but suddenly I feel safe enough to..." Using Mina for balance and support, Tao slowly moved himself to the ground and laid down in the grass.  

Watching the boy fall asleep so quickly, Mina knew she had seen that type of fatigue before in Kris. Nodding her head, she was now completely sure that Tao was connected to Kris. Although she felt bad seeing him in such a condition, she was also overjoyed that she had encountered him. Allowing her body to act on its own was really working out well for her.  It was also fortunate that Tao seemed to have his memory intact, maybe now she'd be able to help them both get home, or whatever it was that they needed to do. Seeing the boy breathe in and out peacefully, she smiled. 

"So much for going to school today..." With an exhale, Mina threw her backpack to the ground and sat down beside the sleeping alien. "I wonder if Kris will remember everything when he sees you. I think I'd really like that. He seems really sad being alone. I probably shouldn't have left him."

At her comment, the boy moved suddenly and stretched his arms out, revealing an intricate looking bracelet on his right wrist. Mina's observant eye's caught a small glimpse of it before it disappeared beneath Tao's head. He must also have a 'signature' just like Kris. Not wanting to interrupt Tao's deep sleep in order to get a better look at the bracelet, she closed her eyes and touched a patch of soft exposed earth with her right index finger. Placing trust in her instincts, she allowed her hand to move on its own. 

Upon looking down, she saw two equilateral triangles mirroring each other at pointed sides. The top triangle was half empty and the bottom triangle was half full. Grinning and looking over to Tao again, she whispered. "So you must be the hourglass... I wonder what your exact powers are."

Mina still didn't understand the connection between herself and the recent visitors, but she felt that it somehow meant she had to help them. Even if that wasn't the case, she still wanted to help. How often would she be given the opportunity to help aliens with supernatural powers go back home? It was as if she was living out a movie with aliens that looked human.

With that thought in mind, she then began to wonder why both Kris and Tao looked like normal people. Well, not completely normal, with both being physically more attractive than the average person, but still their appearance was human. Perhaps all aliens looked like humans and she just watched too many movies. 

Laying in the soft grass, she decided that when Tao woke up she'd take him to Kris. She hoped something great would occur when they were reunited. Preferably something along the lines of Kris regaining his memory. Suddenly feeling tired herself, Mina laid her head on her backpack and looked up to the now bright blue sky before closing her eyes. Coming into contact with aliens sure was exhausting. 

     - - -

Sleeping for what felt like just minutes, Mina woke up hearing her cell phone ring. Rubbing her eyes and sitting up she rummaged through her bag for her phone. It was Lyn. Expecting to hear an earful she braced herself and answered. 

For the first five minutes of the call, Lyn yelled like a madwoman. It was understandable though, Mina was missing school, not answering her phone and had an alien in her house. Sympathizing, Mina allowed her friend to yell to her heart's content but still moved the phone away from her own ear, directing Lyn's impassioned yelling to the wind. No longer hearing the angry and concerned cries of her friend, Mina put the phone back to her ear.

"Done?"

"Do you want me to go on? Where the hell are you?" Lyn said shortly. Mina smiled and sighed into the phone.

"I found another alien and then fell asleep. That's why I'm missing school."

"Another one!?"

"Yeah, my feet lead me to him. His name is Tao."  

"What!?"

"I'll tell you the short version for now. I was on my way to school, and something began chasing after me. I ran into Tao and he saved me. He's definitely the same as Kris. He's really very cute as well. Oh! He's also the hourglass." Mina continued on happily telling Lyn about her morning encounter, but received no response. On the receiving end, Lyn was dumbfounded. A second alien? What in the world. Was an invasion really going to happen?

"Are you sure?" Lyn finally managed to ask.

"Yep! He also seems to have his memory intact so we'll be able to find out more about them."

"Where are you right now? Where is the second alien?"

"I'm with Tao right now, he's sleeping."

"He's sleeping?"

"Yeah, he's been wandering alone for a while without proper rest."

"Why were you asleep though?"

"I was tired too," Mina said frankly. Lyn's annoyance with her friend began to re-reach a boiling point.

"How can you be so calm about all this!?" she yelled at Mina. Without hesitating, Mina replied honestly.

"I'm not calm though. I'm more excited than anything else!"

"Right... Okay so what are we going to do next?" 

"Well, when Tao wakes up I'm gonna take him to Kris. After that I have nothing planned. I'm hoping he will just trigger Kris's memory or something will just naturally occur between them."

"Something will just happen?"

"Well that's what I'm hoping for."

"And what about the book Daniel has?" At Lyn's question, Mina thought for a moment. 

"Do you think you could get him to come to my house? I'm gonna miss the rest of school."

"I guess I could..." Lyn replied her voice trailing off.

"Okay so in a couple of hours we'll meet up at my house then!"

"Wait Mina!"

"See you later! I'm gonna wake up Tao." 

"Mina!"

Hanging up with Lyn, Mina put her phone back into her school bag and leaned over to wake the sleeping alien beside her. The entire time she had been on the phone he hadn't moved or made a single sound. Admiring his peaceful sleep, she noticed a glistening tear wetting his cheek. Upon closer examination, she saw that his usual upward curved lips were trembling and frowning. Surprised by what she saw, Mina quickly looked away from him, but her intrigue and curiosity soon had her turning her head back to face Tao. So they also had the ability to cry. If it wasn't for their supernatural powers it seemed as if they'd be exactly the same as Mina.  

Watching his distressed and miserable face she felt sorry for him. Behind his warm and bright smile he had hidden all this sadness. It was an ability Mina didn't possess. All her life she had been expressive with her emotions. It was the influence of being her parent's only child. Expressive themselves, they had brought her up to be direct and honest about what she felt. As a result of her upbringing, she became unable to hide her feelings well.

Reaching her hand out to Tao's face, she lightly brushed away the fallen tear on his cheek. Even though he seemed to be around the same age as her, or quite possibly older than her, Mina couldn't help but to feel as if she was an older sister comforting her younger brother. Not having siblings, she enjoyed the feeling.

Noticing the girl's hand lightly caressing his face, Tao's frown vanished and his eyes began to flicker open. Meeting the gaze of the young girl, Tao reached out to grab the hand that comforted him.

"I'm sorry," Mina said, automatically apologizing for touching him. Lightly grabbing Mina's hand as he sat up, he smiled and then suddenly threw his arms around her in an embrace. Caught off guard but happy, Mina placed her own hands around his back. "You really are nothing like Kris," she said quietly smiling. Hearing the name 'Kris', Tao pulled away and looked at Mina wide-eyed.

"Kris?" he repeated. 

"Ah! Yes, Kris! You must know him right?" Mina replied. She remembered that he had fallen asleep before she was able to tell him about Kris. 

"He's here?"

Mina nodded her head at his question. "He's at my home right now. I was going to take you there when you woke up."

"He's here! He's Here!" Tao repeated. The excitement in his voice was matched by the excitement glittering in his eyes.  

"I knew you two were the same!" Mina clapped her hands together, catching the excitement radiating off of Tao.

Smiling even brighter than he had been earlier, Tao hugged Mina again. "Can we go now?"

    - - - 

Back at the school, Daniel made his way over to Lyn's desk during a small break in between classes. He had noticed Mina's absence immediately but only after seeing Lyn looking bothered did he feel that something unusual was up. Feeling the presence of someone hovering above her as she sat, the girl looked upwards. 

"What?" Lyn asked, looking back down after realizing who it was that stood beside her. 

"So where is Mina?" he questioned, watching the girl avoid his glance. 

"Not here."

"Obviously."

"Well, you didn't specify," Lyn retorted shortly, still in a bad mood since her call with Mina. "She's feeling sick so she stayed home."

"So are we still meeting up later?" Daniel asked, thinking of the plan to show them his father's book. 

"Could we move the location to Mina's house?"

"Why?"

"She's not able to leave the house today."

"Sounds bad."

"It is."

"Then I don't wanna go there."

Lyn scowled at herself hearing his reply. She shouldn't have told him Mina was sick. Now she wouldn't be able to get him to go over. Sighing, she looked up at him and did something she rarely did. Mina would owe her for this. Despite being bit of a spitfire, Lyn had the ability to soften her attractive sharp looks and appear sheepish. It worked so well in fact that she had used her ability a few choice times. Slightly furrowing her brow and widening her brown eyes she pouted her lips and with a pleading face asked him to reconsider in a sweet voice. 

"Please Daniel? I know it strays from our initial plan but Mina didn't mean to get so sick and we both really want to know what the book says. I promise you won't get sick." Her hands lightly reached out to touch his softly. 

Daniel's face became surprised and confused by Lyn's change in demeanor. She was... cute. It caused him to lose his resolve. "I- I guess it'd be okay... I mean I doubt I'll get sick from just being in the same room for a short time."

Upon Daniel's words Lyn's looked away from him.  "Good, we'll leave together," she replied curtly. 

- - - 

Tao's natural smile remained stuck on his face as he walked beside Mina. He was happy to have run into the girl and she also seemed to reciprocate his feelings enthusiastically. For the first time since entering the strange world he finally had come into contact with another being.  He had observed the people of the town, while tracking the Chaser, but was hesitant to approach them due to the negative presence around them. Mina was the first being he comfortably approached.

Still in thought, he smirked recalling the amazing new limits of the power Kai possessed.  He had really transported them into a different world.  Amazing. The alien himself had yet to use his own powers since initially using them to slow down his landing. With his ability, he had managed to leave no trace of impact.  However, his actions cost him a lot of energy. Luckily now he found his strength returning to him with each step he took beside Mina. It was unusual.