"Magical Empress?" Tokiko covered her mouth with one hand, stifling a laugh. "Wow, okay. I get wanting to brag about your strength, but isn't that a bit much? Maybe 'arrogance' is your Concept?" She raised an eyebrow. "No, wait, wait— how about 'crippling insecurity?' Of course someone with a Concept like that would need to puff herself up with every other word!" 

This 'magical empress' was pissing Tokiko off enough that a part of her wanted to start a fight there and then, but she held herself back. For all her overblown posturing, Kagami wasn't weak. Tokiko had heard bits and pieces about her from other magical girls both on the chatroom and offline, and what little she knew was enough to be sure that this was an opponent leagues above the pair she'd fought earlier. Maybe Tokiko could take her— raw power wasn't everything, after all —but it wouldn't be easy, and even if she won she'd be left weakened enough that another magical girl might show up to pick her off. [i]It's too risky to go all-out so early in the Hex Night... Besides, I don't want to have to use 'that' until the last possible moment.[/i]

And then there was Hikari. Dumb, irritating, and totally-not-cute (okay maybe a [i]little[/i] cute) Hikari. Given how she'd behaved earlier, there was a high chance she'd try to help if Tokiko took on Kagami, and in a battle of that level there was no way a newbie magical girl would avoid getting hurt. And... [i]Fine, I'll admit it: I don't want her to get hurt! I- I mean, it'd be a waste if she got taken out now, after all that time I spent explaining things, right? Plus she owes me a free lunch![/i]

So she bit down on her pride and rage, and turned away. "Come on, Hikari. If she's not going to attack us... we should just leave." Then, under her breath, "I'll beat her up some other time, when I'm ready."

[@VitaVitaAR]