[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/k4jcyNJ.png[/img][/center] Emiko and Sakura were both quick to reprimand Kohaku about her comment on children's shows. [color=DE554C]"I know. I know anyone can enjoy them,"[/color] she replied, glancing from them back to Lux. [color=DE554C]"It's just all a lot to take in."[/color] Her mind reeled as she tried to imagine the group in outlandish costumes, battling supernatural forces with flashy moves. [color=DE554C]"But if someone needs protecting - and if, of course, this isn't all just some prank - then I'm in too."[/color] One by one, others accepted, Yui even hinting she'd done this before. Kohaku's eyebrows furrowed. Was Yui serious, or was she in on this prank, if it did indeed turn out to be that? Before Kohaku could ask any questions, Hata offered to risk herself for everyone else's sake, which prompted Aya to insist she'd go in her stead. The chair scraped against the tiles as Kohaku stood. [color=DE554C]"No... No Aya, you didn't fail,"[/color] she reassured her, approaching. [color=DE554C]"Assuming this is real, we couldn't have known about it. Lux? I-I'll go first."[/color] She clenched her fists by her sides, trepidation bubbling through her. She suspected not even magic would be enough to change her terrible luck, but if the worst happened? As much as the thought terrified her, it wasn't like she had a spouse, any children, or really any close family she'd leave behind. And this would help these kids far more than anything else she could do for them. Lux, who backed away from Andrew and his hatchet, gave a nervous laugh that became a grin of relief as her eyes flicked from person to person. [color=FFE926]"You will? Oh, thank you! I'll try to make this up to you in any way I can! You alright with this too?"[/color] She fluttered over to Aiko. [color=FFE926]"Wielding power to fight wraiths and..."[/color] Her antennae perked right up, and her eyes widened. [color=FFE926]"Ah! It's stirring! It'll drain the students if we don't do something now! Sorry there's no real time to explain but... Are you all ready?"[/color] Flying to the middle of the room, Lux spread her arms. Kohaku stared down to see an orb of golden light form just beneath her collarbone and meld into her body, filling her with a strange, tingling warmth. Proof that this was no practical joke. A quick look around revealed the same thing happening to every other staff member in the room, except for Andrew. [color=FFE926]"Ehh..."[/color] Lux gave him an apologetic look. [color=FFE926]"Seems it really only does work on girls. Quick, get somewhere safe! Everyone else, follow me!"[/color] Kohaku frowned at the plain sweater and pencil skirt she still wore. None of the staff looked any different, and now the warm glow had passed, she didn't feel different either... except for... Her entire body tensed at the sensation of wrongness permeating the area. A chill that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. [color=DE554C]"Can you feel that too?"[/color] she asked, her gaze darting around at the others. The sensation grew stronger as she followed Lux out of the staff room, down the hallway. Colder, emptier. Rubbing her arms, Kohaku shivered. [color=DE554C]"And I thought Monday mornings brought enough looming dread at the best of times."[/color] As she and the others turned a corner, she stopped, rooted in place. In the middle of the corridor, wisps of black and purple smoke floated in midair. Two girls wandered right past, appearing not to notice as they chatted, although their footsteps visibly flagged and one pinched the bridge of her nose as if sudden fatigue had come over her. [color=FFE926]"There! The entrance!"[/color] Lux called. Kohaku started, thoughts racing as she wondered how to explain Lux to the students, but they ignored the fairy too, trudging away. She'd have questions about how that worked later, but now wasn't the time. With a deep breath, she gave the others a resolute look. Seeing the effect on those two students just now bolstered her determination to protect them. [color=DE554C]"When I said I'd go first... I meant it."[/color] Heart pounding a steady staccato against her ribcage, she bit her lip and inched forward. [color=FFE926]"Please, you've gotta stick together!"[/color] Lux squeaked. [color=FFE926]"It's best if we go in as a group!"[/color] Kohaku glanced at Aya and Hata to make absolutely sure they still wanted to go through with their offer - even if they'd changed their minds, she'd still go on ahead. Someone had to. [color=DE554C]"Well, here goes nothing."[/color] She stepped forward, and the ground tilted beneath her as the hallway blurred and shifted. [hr] [color=DE554C]"Ah!"[/color] Kohaku's stomach jerked as if from a sudden fall. She stumbled, regaining her footing on... grass? Scanning her surroundings, she found she had no words for them. On a weirdness scale of one to ten, calling it an eleven would be an understatement. She stood on a sports field, complete with chalked lines, yet festival stalls in every garish colour imaginable had been haphazardly set up all over it, some of them even piled up on top of each other with broken canopies. The sides of some bore doors for some reason, hanging off of their hinges, signs with school club names taped to them. Streamers ran between them in a tangle, adorned with what looked like report papers or assignments. Light flickered ahead, and Kohaku yelped as she noticed some of the stalls were on fire - yet the flames weren't spreading, confined to the wreckages of cloth and wood. Bars arched up around the field like a cage, silhouetted against a red sky. [color=DE554C]"This... is a Cocoon? This isn't exactly what I had in mind..."[/color] It looked like a mish-mash of school events gone horribly wrong. Or a class representative's nightmare... [i]Oh no.[/i] Realisation struck. A certain student had been acting a little off since becoming class rep. No matter how dreamlike this place was, being able to put a possible identity to the victim made this all the more painfully real. [color=FFE926]"Now! Imagine yourself taking on magical form!"[/color] Lux flitted above her, taking in the chaos. Kohaku blinked in surprise. She didn't have to say an incantation, or use a trinket? She just had to think about being a magical girl? Feeling more than a little silly, she closed her eyes and visualised herself transforming. Hopefully it wouldn't be some lengthy, showy sequence, considering there was no time to wast- It was instantaneous. A glow flared around her, that tingle returning as magic thrummed through her body. Once the light faded, she looked down, eyebrows raising at the maroon-coloured, frilled, beaded minidress she now wore. She wouldn't have looked out of place at a steampunk convention. Grasped in her fist was some kind of spear, shaped like an intricately designed clock hand. [color=DE554C]"Wha...? How am I supposed to fight in this?"[/color] The getup didn't look at all practical, yet as she took a step, she found her movements oddly light and fluid. So this was being a magical girl. A real live magical girl.