((Timeskip is now))
Nagisa and Makiko walked alongside each other on the trail, emerging from the shadow cast by lilac boughs overhead. They carried a cluster of branches each, with small wood saws in their grips.
Entering the clearing by the lakeside, they caught sight of the pair of tents (one red, one blue), made of a special fabric called vinyl that was both cheap yet light and waterproof. Miya's bone drake lay opposite the tents on the other side of the campfire, the beast's massive body curled around the mat which the green-haired girl lay upon, dozing off just an hour before sunset.
Youka sat on her knees next to the fire as Ryo hauled a heavy pot of water out of the lake. She handed him an odd device that looked like a funnel, fused to a transparent container.
"It's a filter, you know? Water's not safe to drink if you pull it out of the lake."Gai found himself re-learning how to fish, with an arsenal of various forms of hooks, sinkers, baits, and fiberglass poles all laid out before him. Having had little success thus far, it seemed unlikely that the group would have fish for dinner, though the possibility of a late treat kept him going.
Inside one of the tents, Mitsuru found herself retreated inside the red tent, examining the applications of her phone. Apparently it not only had a system of tracking her location on a map, but 'apps' that could identify plants, animals, and even look up procedures to do just about anything.
...
"Everyone's here? Good..." Hway shouted to everyone as the girls arrived with the firewood.
"Youka can handle cooking. In the meantime, I can show you here the limitations of magic."Miya's eyes perked open.
"Watch closely."Hway outstretches her arm, and four orbs of light twinkle into existence around her, tumbling through the air as playful sprites do.
She then lowers her arms, and the orbs fling themselves up into the air, taking on arcing trajectories as each land in different places in the forest, one to the north, two to the west, and one to the south. Touchdown results in a great flash of light and a resounding blast that echoes off Mt. Fuji. A flock of crows takes to the skies to the north, and for a few moments the forest is teeming with animals and songbirds, once doing their best to hide, now scampering back and forth in desultory flight.
"I want the six of you, in groups of two, to go and find the orbs for me. Since the only thing that can reasonably harm you is other magic-users, and I can sense beasts from miles away, you should be free to let loose, and use whatever magic you think will help you find the orbs." she says to the lot of you, including Miya.
Hway conjures six more orbs, these ones smaller than the last, small as a marble, glowing like candles. She hands them out.
"If you need to know what they look like--" Lilith swallows Miya's orb. Despite the creature being a skeleton... there's no sign of the orb.