“AH!” 

 

“One more! You got it!”

 

“AH! I’m done, I’m done.”

 

“Okay, okay, I got you.”

 

With a loud gasp of relief followed by exhausted panting, Kihyun laid on the weight training bench, too tired to move at the moment. Hoseok chuckled with a proud smile, placing the barbell back on the bench while the younger male glared at him, clearly complaining without any words for pushing him so hard. Suddenly a towel was draped over his face, preventing him from glaring at Hoseok any further.

 

“Oh, you done with your exercises, Hyungwonie?” Hoseok inquired as Kihyun sat up, using the towel thrown on his face to wipe his sweat. Hyungwon, the one responsible for throwing the towel at Kihyun, hummed in confirmation as he took a big gulp of water from his bottle. He was sweating just as much as Kihyun after the reps he did on the lat pulldown machine.

 

“I’m never exercising with you ever again, Hyung…” Kihyun complained as he took Hyungwon’s water bottle, too lazy to grab his own bottle as it was too far away. He received an indignant look from Hyungwon, which Kihyun blatantly ignored. Hoseok merely laughed at his complaint, not taking it to heart, knowing Kihyun would come with him tomorrow to the gym. Once Kihyun had a goal in mind, he would see it through.

 

“We’ll do less upper body exercises tomorrow,” Hoseok promised as he grabbed his own protein shake and drank it.

 

“Sorry, I’m booked tomorrow to take a nap,” Hyungwon disagreed. Why did he let this muscle head convince him that working out would be good for him? His body was not built to be muscular.

 

“Yeah I have a date with my bed and pillow,” Kihyun agreed. Hoseok pouted at the two and sulked his way to the locker room for a shower to leave. “Ah~ we’re just joking, Hyung!”

 

“I wasn’t,” Hyungwon grumbled under his breath, but nonetheless gathered his stuff and caught up with the other two to appease his moping hyung.

 

The three of them went into the locker room where they gathered a change of clothes from their lockers. Opening them with a touch of their Omniband, they grabbed their clothes and each went into their respective shower. They dropped their clothes into the quick-wash and activated the  auto-shower. When they finished, the cubicle switched from a shower to a dryer. After picking up their clean gym clothes, they changed back into their street clothes.

 

Walking out of the locker room after collecting their stuff, they each signed out of the gym with a tap of their Omniband on the door, paying for the time they spent at the gym while logging their workouts into their personal data. The black night’s sky was contrasted by all the bright lights of their city, making it easy to see all the cars flying around the skyline. Despite it being close to midnight, Silvia City was bustling as usual. Ads for night clubs and the latest technology danced across the starless sky in flashy neon texts and pictures.

 

“Same time tomorrow?” Hyungwon asked.

 

“Mm, sounds good,” Kihyun agreed.

 

“Ah, did you guys get a present for Jooheonie’s birthday yet?” Hoseok wondered. Hyungwon and Kihyun exchanged a look of shock before both groaned at their mistakes.

 

“Maybe we should go to the mall…” Kihyun suggested, tapping a few things on his Omniband to search for the best route to get to the mall from the gym.

 

“See you tomorrow, Hyung!” Hyungwon waved as Kihyun and he went the opposite direction to catch a bullet train to the mall. Hoseok waved back before walking to his car to drive home. He hummed happily while tapping his Omniband on his car door to unlock it. Just as he was about to sit down in the driver's seat, he heard a warping noise. He cocked his head in confusion, wondering what that weird sound was. 

 

“LOOK OUT!”

 

He must have worked out too hard because it looked like a girl was falling from the sky towards him. 

 

“Ah! I got you?!” Instinctively, he held his arms out and managed to catch the girl before she hit the ground. He blinked a few times, staring at her blankly. He couldn't be dreaming because she was definitely real. But girls don't just drop out of the sky. And certainly not dressed like a princess from a history book. 

 

“...are...you okay?” he asked despite the MANY other questions he had. She instinctively had wrapped her arms around his neck to stabilize herself while looking around in awe. 

 

“I didn't think that would actually work…” she mumbled softly, still taking in her surroundings, ignoring the fact that she was being held bridal style by some random stranger who was just trying to get in his car.

 

A familiar scream to Hoseok broke them out of their predicament.

 

“KIHYUN-AH!” Hoseok called out, putting the strange girl down and immediately running towards the direction the scream came from.

 

“WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE IS THE PRINCESS?!”

 

“Ah ,” muttered the princess, recognizing that demanding voice anywhere. She followed after Hoseok.

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about! Please let me go! We can talk this out like civilized people!” Kihyun screamed out. Hoseok and the princess rounded the corner to find Kihyun with his hands up and a hooded figure holding the poor guy in a chokehold with a knife to his neck. The two had their backs facing Hoseok, so they didn't see him arrive. He looked over at Hyungwon in front of the two with his hands up to try not to escalate the situation further, fear in his eyes of what could happen next.

 

“YAH! LET GO OF HIM!” Hoseok yelled out, charging forward swinging his fist at the back of the assailant’s head.

 

“I wouldn’t-” the princess started but was ignored.

 

The hooded figure, with the knife still against Kihyun’s throat, dodged Hoseok’s punch. The wind from his punch forced the hood of the mysterious figure’s head. The boys only had a moment to stare at the young female, completely stunned, before the assailant swiftly spartan kicked Hoseok in the stomach away from her.

 

“Try something like that again and I will not hesitate to kill him,” she growled, glaring at Hoseok, who was still stunned staring at the top of her head.

 

Yep, those were definitely cat ears. And they were definitely moving.

 

“KIRA!”

 

“Oh, Hyeju-yah.”

 

The princess sighed, rubbing her eyebrows at the headache she was getting, “At least call me Unnie… Can you let that poor guy go? I don’t think he has any idea what’s going on.”

 

The one known as Kira looked down at Kihyun for a moment before shrugging nonchalantly. She released him from her grasp, causing him to fall on his since he was taller than her and forced into an awkward position when she was choking him out.

 

“I’m sorry but...what IS going on?” Hoseok questioned, more than a little ticked off now considering the cat creature just assaulted his friend. He was ignored as Kira was zooming around Hyeju making sure she wasn’t harmed.

 

“This is stupid...you would know before I do if I got hurt…”

 

“Doesn't matter. I lost sight of you and then this appears instead. Everyone is suspect and anything is possible.”

 

“Pretty sure the bond doesn't work that way.”

 

Hyeju was chiding her while pulling the hood back over her ears once she realized all three boys were still staring at them. By her estimation, this was probably not the norm for these folks. It was only when Kira was satisfied that Hyeju was truly uninjured that they both turned to acknowledge the trio.

 

“Ahem. Well...how to begin…” Hyeju pondered aloud before clearing and bowing slightly to them. “First, my apologies for my Vulpes and gratitude for catching me before I hit the ground.” Kira stood at her side, back straight and arms crossed while she just stared at the boys with scrutiny. “My name is Park Hyeju. And...ooh, how do I put this without it sounding crazy...we are not exactly from your world. Place. This place. Does that make sense?”

 

The moment of blankness from the three was interrupted when Kihyun guffawed, rolling his eyes with a pissed off smile.

 

“Are you kidding me? Is this some sort of prank?” Kihyun asked incredulously. “Hyeju-sshi...your psychopath of a friend over here just threatened my life after falling out of the sky in front of us!”

 

“Well...I mean, that was a bit rude as first introductions go,” Hyeju agreed, pointedly glaring at Kira, who just rolled her eyes, arms still crossed.

 

“A bit rude?! Wow…” Kihyun let out a huff of disbelief. “Where did you say the two of you are from? You know, just so I can get the details straight when I call the police and report you for assaulting me.”

 

“Now, there’s no need to go to those extremes,” Hyeju tried to diffuse.

 

“Do I need to repeat that…” Kihyun pointed at Kira and stared for a moment, clearly unsure what to even classify her as, before continuing, “...that thing...over there just tried to kill me?!”

 

“You want to see what this thing can really do to you?” Kira growled lowly as her eyes started glowing a hue of red.

 

“Yah,” Hoseok finally spoke up, clearly warning Kira (despite just getting his kicked) to back off.

 

“You know, you’re really not helping the situation,” Hyeju mumbled under her breath at Kira.

 

“Well I don’t like their tone. They’re being disrespectful as ,” Kira retorted back loudly, not bothering to hide her voice.

 

“WE’RE BEING DISRESPECTFUL?!” Kihyun was about to lose it. Hoseok moved over to hold Kihyun back when he saw the younger male walking towards them, knowing very well he was fighting a losing battle if he tried to get into anything physical with the cat-eared girl on the other side.

 

“You heard what I said! Unless you’re deaf AND stupid.” Kira spit back, very ready to charge at them again.

 

“Okay, time-out for you.” Hyeju raised her hand at Kira, forming a translucent barrier around the now-even-more-fuming Vulpes. With a long exhale, she turned around with a warm smile at Hoseok and Kihyun, both of whose jaws dropped at what they had just witnessed. The violent girl was now floating in some sort of bubble next to the more sane of the two.

 

“Now...my sincere apology for any emotional trauma this moderately overprotective guardian of mine may have enacted upon you. She takes pride in her job and probably enjoys it a little too much sometimes.”

 

“How…” Hoseok pointed at Kira who went from violent outbursts to fuming silently. 

 

“I just created a barrier around her for a little cool-off time. Elementary, I know, but effective,” Hyeju waited for the understanding from the men that never came, “Oh...OH! Do you not have magic here? You DON'T. No wonder you seem so confused.”

 

Kihyun turned to Hoseok, “Hyung, I think someone put something in our water…”

 

“Are you an alien?!” Hoseok exclaimed in realization. 

 

“I mean…I guess technically we'd be considered extraterrestrial on this planet…”

 

“Do you have a spaceship?!” Hoseok was clearly more excited than he should be, searching for some sign of unidentified flying object in the sky. 

 

“No, actually we…I guess we teleported here?” Hyeju looked up at Kira, who shrugged, much less invested in clearing up the misunderstanding in front of them. “Yeah see we have these special watches that I can channel-Kira, where's your watch?”

 

The girl in the bubble looked down at her wrist, realized it was missing, and proceeded to search in her vicinity. Sound didn't travel through the barrier but her lips clearly said the word, . Hyeju's eyes followed Kira's line of sight. 

 

“WAIT, DON'T TOUCH THE-”

 

In the midst of all the craziness, Hyungwon had picked up the watch that he assumed was what Hyeju was referring to. He reached his arm forward to hand the watch back to its rightful owner. When he lifted the watch up however, the face of the watch flipped onto his palm.

 

Poof.

 

And he was gone. Disappeared right in front of their eyes like a magic trick. Only there were no bright lights, smoke, or any special effects. Just the same warping sound Hoseok had heard earlier before Hyeju dropped on him. 

 

“Wha-”

 

“Where did-”

 

“Well .”

 

“HYUNGWON-AH!