"Hmm?" Tokiko met Hikari's eyes with a curious expression. "Is that your reason?" Was she not tempted by a wish at all? Given all the possibilities that winning the Hex Night could offer, she'd have thought any magical girl would want to claim the prize, but it sounded like Hikari was driven by something different. Righteous wrath, rather than desperate greed. [i]To fight in the Hex Night just to stop people like Kagami from winning... that's kind of mean, but... kind of noble, as well.[/i]

"Fine." She gave a serious nod. "Whatever you're fighting for, you've made your decision now, and that means you have to [i]own[/i] it. So far you've been lucky enough to have me around to back you up, but that won't be the case forever, you know?" She tilted her head to one side, punctuating the statement with a quiet [i]hmph[/i]. "So if you're as determined as you say, then there's only one choice. You need to get stronger."

She adjusted her glasses, eyes wandering away as she pondered aloud. "There isn't much time, since Hex Night has already started, and with so many magical girls around it won't be easy to find shades to practice on. You could try to learn by fighting other magical girls, but that's risky, since they'll be trying to destroy your Hex Symbol..." 

She frowned, glancing off towards the horizon. [i]Aaaaah, why does this have to be so difficult?[/i] There was one option, but it demanded even more effort from her, just to help one annoying girl who'd been caught up in all this by chance. [i]I'm not doing this just for her sake, though. If she can fend for herself, that'll get her out of my hair, right? And, well... It was kind of nice walking home together.[/i] Squeezing her eyes shut, she finally relented.

"Even though you're already supposed to be [i]way[/i] in my debt... If you wanted, I guess I wouldn't mind training you a little."

[i]There! I said it![/i] She looked back at Hikari, and her eyes shot wide open. She'd been so caught up in all the grand declarations and strategizing that she hadn't really noticed the lingering damage to the shorter girl's outfit.

"Ah... Y-your clothes..." She averted her eyes again, turning her face away to conceal the bright red blush that had spread across her cheeks. [i]It's not a big deal, right? We're both girls, aren't we?[/i] All the same, it felt like her thoughts had gone somewhere weird for a moment...

"W-we should change back into our regular forms, for now!"

[@VitaVitaAR]