Night had fallen over the village of Exiastgardsun, and a gentle hush blanketed the grassy plains beneath the mana tree. The children should have been asleep. Keyword: should.
Yuuna sat cross-legged at the corner of the common room, illuminated by the soft glow of a floating mana orb. In her lap, a thick stack of parchment was steadily growing, each sheet covered in clean lines and technical doodles.
Weapons. Weapons of all sorts, strange, familiar, fantastical. A long rifle with a glowing mana cartridge. A dual-edged dagger with sleek, curved blades. A ridiculously oversized sword with mysterious runes. And, for some reason, a sketch labeled "Sword-Kun: Talks Only in Edge" with speech bubbles saying, "I drink darkness."
Fahleena, who had crept out of bed without anyone noticing, hovered behind Yuuna like a floating puffball of curiosity. Her pink twin tails bobbed with excitement.
"What is that? Is that... is that a Soulblade of the Forgotten Era?!" she gasped dramatically, pointing at the most impractical sketch on the page.
Yuuna blinked once. "That's a butter knife."
"So it is cursed!" Fahleena whispered, eyes shimmering. "Yuuna, are you perhaps... from a world where weapons have feelings?"
Yuuna didn't answer. She just flipped to the next page.
Soon, the quiet chaos snowballed. One by one, the others drifted into the room, drawn by the whisper of curiosity and the hum of imagination.
Adiw burst in like a cannonball. "Yuuna! I want a weapon that hurts! Like, really hurts!"
Yuuna, already prepared, handed him a page. A massive two-handed sword sketch, its edge glowing with potential enchantments. Adiw grinned.
"Perfect. I shall call it... the Painmaker!"
"...You can name it later," Yuuna replied, already sketching again.
Kyle crashed through the open window.
"I want something I can use from far, far away," he declared.
Yuuna pointed wordlessly to a page with a sleek, long-barreled rifle. "Mana bullet compatible. Be careful about backfire."
Kyle looked thrilled. Sinryo peeked in from behind him.
"Something light. Easy to stab. Also easy to hide."
Yuuna handed over the dual dagger blueprint without comment.
Sakura wandered in, blinking sleepily. "...Is this about food?"
"Weapons," Yuuna corrected.
"Oh. Then I want something simple. Just... safe."
Yuuna gave her a staff design. It had soft contours and a gem embedded at the top, perfect for healing magic. Sakura smiled, yawned, and curled up on a cushion.
Gaby arrived next. "A bow is all I want. I'll make it work."
Yuuna handed her a sketch of a recurved mana-wood bow. "Maximum precision. High compatibility with mana threading."
Jessica snuck in, her eyes scanning the sketches like an art collector searching for a hidden masterpiece. Her gaze lingered on a sleek, slightly curved blade drawn with elegant simplicity.
"That," she said, pointing to the sketch.
"Katana," Yuuna said. "Requires dexterity. High speed. It suits you."
Jessica crouched beside the sketch, fingers tracing the lines of the blade on the parchment. "It's not just the shape," she murmured. "It's... elegant. Like a whisper that slices through chaos. It doesn't scream strength. It speaks precision. Control. The curve, it flows like water, but cuts like light."
Yuuna paused, surprised by the poetic insight. Jessica smiled faintly, brushing her pale lavender hair behind one ear. "It's beautiful. I want to learn how to move like that."
Yuuna gave a rare nod of approval. "Nice."
Fuhiken studied a few pages before pointing. "Sword and shield. Balance. I'll protect the others."
Yuuna nodded, adjusting the sketch slightly. "Defensive enchantment capacity is high. You can inscribe barrier runes."
He took a long moment to examine the design. "I'm not looking to charge in first or land the finishing blow. I want to hold the line. Make sure they can do what they need to do, safely. I'd rather be the shield than the spear."
"Then this suits you perfectly," Yuuna said. "Strong core, reinforced edges, adaptable for guarding spells."
Gigih grabbed a book labeled "Magic Circles 101" and started flipping through it.
"I don't need weapons," he murmured. "Give me magic. Give me destruction."
"No blowing up the furniture," Yuuna warned.
Kyle leaned over with a smirk. "You could always just throw the book at the enemy. It looks heavy enough. Probably does decent bludgeon damage."
Without a word, Gigih hurled the book at Kyle. It bonked off Kyle's forehead with a dull thunk.
"Ow!" Kyle rubbed his head. "Okay, so confirmed: that book is a weapon."
Gigih crossed his arms smugly. "Told you I didn't need a sword."
And then...
"BEHOLD!" Fahleena declared, dramatically holding up a page Yuuna had hoped to bury. "The KEYBLADE!"
Yuuna sighed. "That's not a weapon. That's just an oversized key."
Fahleena grinned wider. "Exactly! A relic from a forgotten realm of destiny! I choose it because it looks cool. It resonates with my inner soul warrior!"
"It doesn't have proper edge alignment. The balance is terrible. It's just a, "
", symbol of cosmic elegance!" Fahleena twirled dramatically, holding an invisible version of it. "I shall name it: The Glimmering Gate of Infinity!"
Yuuna closed her eyes for a moment. "Well, at least you can throw it like a boomerang."
Fahleena gasped. "Even better! A returning relic of justice!"
Finally, they all turned to Yuuna.
"What about you?" Jessica asked.
Yuuna blinked. "Wand."
"That's it?"
"Lightest. Most efficient. Low draw. Better control."
Jessica nodded. "Makes sense."
Gigih, meanwhile, had copied a mana circle onto the floor. It glowed ominously.
"Don't."
"I wasn't, "
"Yes, you were."
With the sketches passed around, the children began arguing, trading, and fantasizing. Fahleena tried to convince Kyle to dual-wield keyblades. Kyle tried to shoot Jessica's katana with a pretend gun. Gigih accidentally summoned a floating light orb that turned everyone's hair briefly green.
Yuuna watched in silence, her notes expanding by the minute.
"Observation: Elven curiosity escalates exponentially in presence of chuunibyou influence."
By midnight, everyone had chosen. Everyone except Fahleena, who was now wearing a headband made of glitter and narrating her imaginary destiny arc.
Yuuna simply closed her sketchbook, satisfied.
Weapons may be tools of war, but here, among children born of dreams, they were just the beginning of something much brighter.
Tomorrow, they would train. Tonight, they would dream.
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