Hikari's eyes widened as she saw the impact her hammer blow had, sufficient to crater the earth beneath Eve's feet and seemingly shake the entire warehouse. Was that the kind of magical girl she was, then!? All in on the hard-hitting melee blows?! If that was what she was meant to do, how she was meant to defend others and defeat evil, then she was fine with it! ... Unless it was supposed to be some joke about her temper! There was no way she'd accept something like that!

But the middle of a fight, even if it wasn't serious, was no time to be getting caught up in her thoughts! Hikari saw the blow coming, and managed to focus her mind on the idea of projecting a barrier, a shield just as she had made before. Indeed, almost opening like the blossom of a flower, her barrier appeared once more! This time, however, it was far weaker, just strong enough to prevent a direct blow. The moment that Eve's fist struck it, it shattered like glass and the force imparted to Hikari's body sent the small girl rocketing through the air! While she didn't actually feel the blow, she certainly felt her impact against the wall. She slammed into the steel just below the roof with a yelp, the wall denting from the impact of her body.

And yet, she didn't feel much in the way of pain. Not at all. Instead, she felt a dull, brief stab. Her transformation must have greatly increased her resistance to injury and pain! It only made sense, after all, that magical girls would be so much durable, and hadn't she seen it before?!

Of course, that had to be the case! But now...!

Tokiko was taking aim.

She had to act quickly. The other two times she had used her hammer, she'd been propelled through the air by the fireworks. So if that let her move fast then...!

Hikari raised her hammer.

How could she activate it without swinging, though? If it was fireworks, only one thing came to mind!

"TAMAYA!"

There was a resounding crack, a whiff of gunpowder, and an explosion as Hikari rocketed away from the wall! She hit the ground moments later, platform geta sliding along the floor with a shower of sparks as she raised her hammer once more. It had worked!

[@Anza]

[hr]

"..."

Chise's shoulders slumped slightly. It appeared like she hadn't been expecting this at all. Out of every potential outcome, one where the response to the revelation of her opponents was to tell them to go home. She couldn't justify attacking the older girl now, not when she wouldn't transform. That just wasn't what a magical girl should do. Seriously hurting someone who wasn't defending herself was just plain wrong!

But both of the little girls wanted to make progress in the Hex Night, and that meant that they had to fight all the other girls in the city. So there had to be some way to get Hanako to fight, right?

Hina chimed in now, gesturing wildly with her hands.

"But don't you want to win!? We all need to fight to win!" she declared, waving her arms wildly as she spoke.

[@Raineh Daze]

[hr]

"Haah, that's true, isn't it?"

The other girl sighed after a moment, arms folded across her chest as she sank deep back into her thoughts. There was no denying that something like that could be risky, after all... but at the same time...

"All of us magical girls are going to be enemies, right?" she asked, "At least most of us, since everyone I know's going to join in on the Hex Night too."

She paused for a moment, as if thinking over what she would say next.

"But we're still magical girls. It's not like the fact that we need to fight is going to change that. So if something bad is happening, we should forget about that and handle it first, right?"

Shining Fist grinned, nodding to herself.

"If somebody notices, I'll tell them that! ... And if it doesn't work..."

She raised her arm. Her gauntlet gleamed.

"This isn't just for show."

[@LuckyBlackCat]

[hr]

Any attempt to relocate the girl was indeed met with failure. But it wasn't obvious if the blonde little girl actually had noticed she was being watched, either. Indeed, as of now, it appeared to be some kind of mystery. There was simply no sign of her, anywhere...

And yet...

There was a distinct sensation of being watched.

That same cold sensation felt from the observation of the Rabbit Masked stranger.

[@A Lowly Wretch]