El Hazard and it's characters are owned by AIC and Pioneer LDC.  The author 
owns only the writing.

Chapter 15: Shininome High School 
 
In the early hours before school Gyronai stirred from her slumber. She followed 
the Earthers back to their world a few minutes after they did. She spent part of the 
night learning the layout of the area and watching Fujisawa make his rounds. 
After all it was always better to learn from a native, even a native she hated. This 
human married the murderer of her sister. Gyronai hated Mizstal and it extended 
to those she loved. But at the same time, Gyronai never considered revenge. She 
thought about it, relished in the thought, but never seriously. Her sister was an 
assassin, one of the best. Being discovered and killed is one of the risks. Simply 
put it was just business. Mizstal was justified in her actions, but that didn't stop 
Gyronai from wishing her and hers ill. 
 
She leaned against a vending machine and ate one of the candy bars. It was a 
simple machine, easy enough for her own magic to trick. Of course the bar of 
nearly pure sugar hardly made the effort worth it. "Why can't these things 
distribute something with a bit more substance?" she thought tossing the wrapper 
in a pile made by the students. 
 
She looked to the shadows. He was coming. This Earther was interesting. He 
found her soon after she began exploring the school. Knew who she was despite 
her illusions. At first she was frightened by him. A power like that is what killed 
her sister. But there was something else. It didn't matter to him who she was. It 
was as if he was part Shadow. They were immune to their own racial ability. Out 
of the black shadow next to the vending machine, a human hand reached out. 
Gyronai was tempted to reach out and help, but decided not to. It wasn't out of 
indifference or malice, but for the human's own benefit. If he didn't learn how to 
walk between shadows on his own, how would he learn? Call it what you will, 
natural selection, rite of passage, regardless this first time he would be on his 
own. 
 
After a few seconds of pulling and grunting a few swear words, Cyber emerged 
from the darkness. "Did you get them?" Gyronai asked. 
 
No words of praise. No nothing except a 'request' for the items he 'borrowed' from 
a local store. He grunted his dissatisfaction at her nonchalant attitude and tossed 
her a sandwich. "They didn't have beef." he commented as she unwrapped her 
veggie sandwich. Actually he did, but it was for himself and not a teacher who 
was short on giving out compliments. 
 
The blue woman took a hungry bite out of the plastic wrapped meal. It was bland 
and tasted like it was made yesterday. She guessed that the delivery transport had 
not arrived yet or her pupil grabbed old food. She saw him and wondered if he 
cared. She took another bite. The bread was getting mushy from the pulpy 
vegetables. "You couldn't have stolen something fresher?" she asked annoyed. 
 
"Maybe you should have went yourself. You send me, you'll take what I got." 
Cyber returned. Gyronai felt a flash of anger. Who was this whelp to talk back to 
her? She nearly killed other students for less. Then Cyber pulled a bottle from his 
coat and tossed it to her. 
 
It was sake, expensive sake at that. Tempting. But no. "Not bad. But this is no 
time for drinking." 
 
"What does it take to impress you?" Cyber asked more annoyed than anything. He 
was using a power he didn't have barely twelve hours ago. He almost felt himself 
get lost in the darkness between shadow and all this woman was doing was 
complaining. 
 
Gyronai was silent. He did impress her. He learned how to use his Power quickly. 
It had taken her longer to learn to do what he did in a matter of hours. More than 
one Phantom got lost when first trying to shadow teleport. The unluckiest was lost 
forever. Yet this Earther managed to do it with minimal assistance from her. She 
was right to trust her instincts about this one. "You stole some minor items from a 
minor store using magic. Would YOU be impressed?" she asked rhetorically. 
 
Cyber didn't believe in rhetorical questions. "Hell yeah. Magic is awesome. I bet I 
can sneak a camera into the girl's shower now!" 
 
Gyronai sighed. She had such high hopes for him during her brief stay. "Don't you 
thin this gift is a bit too important to waste on juvenile pranks?" 
 
"Pranks nothin'. The lowerclassman will pay 20,000 yen for a good photo." 
 
Gyronai looked harshly at him. He was planning to exploit her gender and worse, 
talking about it right in front of her! Cyber backtracked, "Ummm of course I was 
going to hold out for 40,000 yen." The glare continued. "Even then I wouldn't 
sell." An eyebrow was raised. "And I would just take one. After they left. Just to 
test my skills." 
 
When Gyronai's expression returned to normal, Cyber relaxed. She still had it. 
Any pupil she taught would wither under her gaze. "Did you see any Bugrom last 
night?" he asked carefully. 
 
"A few. Killed one. Some others destroyed themselves teleporting into solid 
objects. I wish you could have seen it. It would have been an excellent object 
lesson for you." She said with a slight smile. She liked him. Their first encounter 
was surprising enough. She was exploring the dark alleys around the school and 
noticed him smoking a cigarette. A couple of nearly brainless oafs were around 
harassing women. After a minute of listing to their crude remarks Cyber told them 
to get lost. When they refused, he gave them a sound thrashing. She sensed he did 
it because they annoyed him and not out of concern about the passers-by. 
 
Somehow he saw her despite her disguise. His eyes opened wide in surprise, but 
the rest of him was ready for confrontation. Her clothing betrayed her origins 
from El-Hazard. Her training told her to kill him. Not only because he penetrated 
her illusion, but because her sister was killed when Nanami discovered she had a 
power like his. But what made her stop? It was something she couldn't identify. A 
connection, a kingship. 
 
"So." he commented looking at her and her clothes, "I take it you're a Phantom 
from El-Hazard. What are you doing here?" 
 
Gyronai wasn't sure what surprised her more, the fact he was immune to her 
illusions or the fact he knew where she was from. She didn't respond verbally, but 
just a nod. "I asked you a question. What are you doing here?" 
 
"Why do you want to know?" she asked putting a hand on the hilt of her dagger. 
Her tone was threatening without sounding threatening. 
 
Cyber drew his switch blade. "Cause Makoto says you people sent those monsters 
here." 
 
"That was caused by a few demented fools who wanted to destroy the world." 
 
"Is that the official story?" Cyber said. The official story only meant there was 
more to it than what people were willing to admit. 
 
"They wanted revenge, but that's a sucker's game." 
 
Cyber smiled, "There are only two groups of people who say that. Those that have 
abandoned thought about revenge, and those who were victims of it." 
 
"My sister was killed by the wench your teacher married." 
 
Cyber put his knife away. Gyronai followed suit. "As long as he's still alive, I'll 
believe you." he said. 
 
They introduced themselves. Cyber's ability to see through Phantom illusions was 
confirmed, but Gyronai suspected there was something more. She took his hand 
and shadow-teleported to the school so he could see for himself his teacher was 
spared her vengeance. They stayed out of site as he made a hurried phone call 
than leave quickly. The act of moving between shadows was new to Cyber, yet 
strangely familiar. Like knowing how to ride a motorcycle after being taken for a 
ride on one only once. She had to guide him, but Cyber was able to return them to 
the alley using his own power. 
 
It was tiring. Cyber returned home, but promised to return in a few hours. Well 
before the sun rose, he came back. She didn't know how long he was there waiting 
for her to wake up. Something about how he sat made her think he was leering at 
her body while she slept. The idea was both flattering and insulting. She told him 
more about how to move between shadows and the dangers that lie within. 
Though Gyronai doubted the Shadow Eater would be found on Earth. He 
progressed much faster than she thought was possible, especially for an Earther. 
His graduation was to obtain breakfast for her using his new ability. After he left 
she sighed. Normally such a test would involve a more serious theft or 
assassination. But there were other priorities that took priority, a decent meal 
being one of them. 
 
Now as she ate, she wondered how this young Earther was able to do such a thing 
in the first place. Cyber was thinking the same thing, but for much longer. It had 
haunted his thoughts from the first time he saw that attractive blue woman. It had 
to be the rune. The others were too panic-stricken to notice, but Cyber felt 
something happening to him, to all of them, when they were suspended above the 
floor by that white light. But why? From how Makoto told his story, you'd think it 
was all part of some plan. So if it was true then, then why not now? 
 
It was something he didn't want to do, but Cyber had to go to the other members 
of the sci-fi club and reveal his suspicions to them. "How do you propose to 
proceed?" he asked when she finished eating. 
 
"Who says we have to do anything? Why should we care about the Bugrom 
arriving?" 
 
"I thought you killed some of them." 
 
"They annoyed me." 
 
"If you don't care, then why did you come to Earth?" 
 
"I was under orders to find out about the distress call the Eye sent all people not 
native to El-Hazard. Now that I know what it is, I must determine what it means 
for my people. At this point I don't think it will have any effect." 
 
"Does this mean you'll be leaving?" Cyber asked. He tried, but he couldn't keep 
the disappointment and sadness out of his voice. 
 
Gyronai smiled a little, "Well I wouldn't mind seeing how this little drama turned 
out." 
 
"Then back to the land of magic carpets and genies for more plotting and killing." 
Cyber said sarcastically. 
 
"It is my job. And it's much better than this world. Do you think I can show my 
true self here?" 
 
Cyber rolled his eyes, "Like you can do it there. At least here any reaction would 
be out of irrational fear and not ancient prejudice." 
 
Gyronai didn't argue the point. But this world was too strange, too big, too noisy. 
She had no one here of her own kind. But that wasn't a bad thing. Since Galen, 
things had been getting worse for the Shadow Tribe. There were forced deeper 
underground by a self-imposed exile. She suspected it was done out of fear of 
retaliation for Galen's actions. But during her recon missions on the surface, many 
people didn't seem to know or care. Even the Royal Family recognized Galen's 
actions were reflective of but a few individuals, none but two knew the full extent 
of the plan; and they were both dead. None of that mattered to the elders who 
were convinced the world was out to get them. Gyronai tried her best to end the 
paranoia of her superiors, but was unsuccessful. She asked to go to the Palace 
when her people received the vision because of her experience. She wanted to 
blame them for her Tribe's troubles but could not, not deep down. She was 
disgusted with how her tribe acted. Maybe if they tried, really tried, they would be 
accepted by El-Hazard society. Instead they played into the stereotypes. 
 
"Stereotype", the word made her laugh. She was the stereotype, perpetuating the 
myths about her people by hiring out as a spy, thief, and assassin. She had half a 
mind to just leave it behind and start a new life. What better place to start than 
here. At the least she could continue her profession for a while without suspicion. 
That is until the competition noticed her. Her illusions could fool any Earther 
technology. That, combined with her skill, would make her the best in this world. 
It was a tempting title, but not without its price. People would want to know how 
an unknown woman could do so much alone. People who weren't fussy about 
how they treated rivals. 
 
Even if she started small, and stayed small she wouldn't be happy. Where was the 
challenge in stealing a small amount of money from a small store? She was better 
than that. Gyronai gave herself a week before breaking down and going after 
larger prizes. Even if it wasn't necessary, the challenge itself was an undeniable 
call which she heard every night. She looked back at Cyber, at this point the only 
reason why she considered staying. He would suffer the same curse. Maybe he 
would handle it better since he wasn't professional enough to savor the job itself 
even more than what was stolen. She knew what happened to people like that. 
They became lazy and careless and wound up getting killed one way or another. 
Even with casual use of his ability, power like that would corrupt anyone. So 
what? It wasn't her concern right? It was a line she told herself many times when 
training her students. Generally it was enough to convince her. Generally. 
 
"How soon does school start?" she asked. 
 
"Officially, not for another few hours. Unofficially, it's just starting to open up. 
The janitors are getting everything ready for the early morning judo practice and 
you got the parents with early jobs dropping their kids off. How soon before the 
Bugrom start appearing?" 
 
"What makes you think I know? Does it matter? Do you want to protect those 
who ostracized you?" 
 
"What better way to rub their noses in it. Nothing's better than having someone 
who doesn't like you owe you something." 
 
"For a human, you think much like a Phantom." Gyronai said with a smile. 
 
"Really? I'd like to meet more of them. It'd be nice to have some real peers for a 
change." Cyber said getting ready to leave. There were bugs to hunt.