---

---

Haruna blinked, then shook her head. "Oh, no, that's not what I meant. Sorry, I wasn't trying to tell you to shut up or something. It's more like, the number of people around gets to me sometimes? Talking with a couple people I know isn't tiring, being in a big noisy crowd all day does." She dragged herself up off the table. "Here." Haruna shuffled across the room, leaving her bag behind, to plop into a chair next to Suki. "Let me help. Maybe I can see a pattern you missed? Two sets of eyes, and all that."

Haruna was, surprisngly, mostly getting a benign read from Suki today. The light girl genuinely hoped the two of them could be friends; she hadn't known the other girl long, but Suki was basically the exact kind of case she had in mind when she decided to come to Hibusa in the first place. "I'll even do my best not to doze off," she said, giving the other girl a small smile. "This must be pretty important if you're putting this much work into it, so it deserves my attention."

As Suki and Haruna sat looking over the former’s conspiracy board tactical map, they would hear a voice from behind them. “Oh, hey, its the new girl.” Nyxia had entered through the club room window as she usually did, and had chosen not to announce her presence until she was standing right behind her two sitting club mates. “Gotta say, I’m honestly surprised Suki hasn’t tried to make out with ya yet,” the Neon Tempest snarked. “What’re ya lookin’ at, anyway?” she inquired as she examined the map more closely. “Potential date spots?”

It seemed that Suki's attempt to let Haruna off the hook didn't work again. She had to have next level emotional intelligence or mind reading powers to understand the situation as well as she did. She clarified herself before taking a seat beside Suki. Other than Tsubomi, she couldn't think of a time when someone had willingly taken a seat next to her. Kiyo, maybe? But that one was hard to read and it wasn't as if she hadn't taken the exact same seat since Suki had been coming to Hibusa High. Fewer still had smiled at her without it being sarcastic or menacing.

"Ah, well, you know." Suki averted her gaze and waved her hand dismissively, though her cheeks were getting a little rosy. "My friends are getting attacked. Tsubomi and, I don't know if you've met her yet but Shuuko were both jumped by some students. Apparently one of them had a baseball bat! Fortunately they were able to escape." She pointed at the map. "That happened right over here near the theater."

As soon as Suki pointed it out, Nyxia's sudden appearance made the delinquent nearly jump out of her skin. She managed to avoid shrieking, which was a small victory. The usual insults and insinuations would go unanswered, but she'd adress the one question Nyxia asked. "No! It's a map of..." Suki trailed off as the words caught up with her. "The new girl? Like, the new girl?"

It hadn't occurred to Suki that they might be one and the same. If they were, Haruna had plenty of chances to clarify, but avoided talking about any of it. That sort of made sense earlier. Hizuki had never actually seen Suki turn into Oros, so she wouldn't have known they were the same people. But Haruna should have, absolutely, made it clear that she was a magical girl at some point. At least that seemed like the polite thing to do. And she was a magical girl. If she wasn't, Nyxia's sudden appearance wouldn't have startled her. Suki could have startled her, but she didn't get startled enough to also startle Haruna. Did she know Suki was a magical girl before then? She had no problem doing swing gymnastics like it was nobody's business. Oh come on Suki, why would a new kid try to sign up to the detention club? Only a magical girl would know about the club's significance. She knew Suki was a magical girl before she even transformed. You should have stayed in school, Suki.

"Ah, ahah..." Suki folded her arms. She turned her head to face the person sitting next to her with a nervous smile. "Haruna? Are you the cyborg magical girl from the other night?"

---

---

The light girl scratched the back of her head awkwardly. She hadn't really expected Nyxia to straight up recognize her in nonmagical form. She'd been planning to let Suki know she was a magical girl when they went on their run - it was sort of necessary for that discussion - but that plan had just evaporated in raygun fire. "Ehe. . . yeah, I'm Hizuki. Sorry. I wasn't sure if you'd accept my help if you knew I was a light girl." She turned more toward Suki as she spoke, expression chagrined. "I also didn't really know how any of you would react. . . and I guess I also wanted you to think that maybe multiple people wanted to be nice to you." She glanced at Nyxia, hoping the more acerbic laser specialist would keep her caustic commentary to a minimum for the moment. As far as Haruna could tell, Suki got more than enough of that.

---

It was the end of days. Armageddon had come to end the age of man and sweep it's works into the sea. Ruin and degradation was soon to rain from the heavens, for Roche was smiling openly and boldly for all and sundry to see.

Her back was twinging something fierce from horrible posture, but that could be ignored with negligent ease given the depths of her slumber was the most peaceful she'd had in years. The Track Club was terrified, some members hiding behind their peers and embracing, thinking this was all a prelude to a hellish new training regime engineered by a depraved mind to crush their humanity under ceaseless laps. A level of abuse that even an award-hungry Japanese school would be hard pressed to continue turning a blind eye to, if for no other reason then being able to witness it by merely looking out a window.

But there was no terror manifested from Roche's mind, and the club departed still light of foot and absent of exhaustion while she skipped away back to the main building to attend an important meeting of the Club.

Normally the induction of a new member was a tense situation, forced to make first impressions without first seeing how the other performed, but this time around they'd bled and fought together before the offer was even accepted. Between Kiyo and Rei, Hizuki's place was firmly cemented, even if it would cause a shake up in their team structure.

"Hello, girls!" Roche threw open the door and stepped inside, arm outstretched as she let the call bounce through the room.

And immediately regret it seeing the occupants were Suki, Nyxia, and someone completely unfamiliar with her. Which could only mean....

"Ahem, Hey there. I'm Roche, but when we met I went by Earthshaker. Welcome to the club, Hizuki." The Rule Keeper said after coughing into her fist to regain her composure. Not she she held any delusions Suki would pass on the chance to slight her for a moment of weakness, just as she always did.

Coming forward she stood beside her partner, offering Nyxia a more demure grin and a raised fist to bump before looking at the board. After Kiyo and Touka hadn't gotten her up to speed it didn't take long to see Suki was mapping out the attack sites, displaying a cleverness that served to remind Roche of the girl's squandered potential.

"Good work so far. Have we considered public bus routes? Or maybe a school field trip coinciding with the attacks?"

Ember smiled as she spotted Kiyo sitting in one of the latter’s favourite spots: the old Mahjong parlor located in the south of Hibusa Town. Though the building no longer enjoyed the popularity of its heyday, people still showed up on occasion, but never too many of them. Hence why they had never questioned the black-haired girl’s presence; any player was welcomed here and the people would not rat them out to officials either.

The schemer did not particularly dislike this place either, though she preferred her gambles less thrilling. That was why she actually stepped into it, then swept her gaze across the dimly-lit place before making her way near to Kiyo’s table and waited until the game concluded. Only then did she speak up to break up the quiet grumbling of the losers along with the cheers of the winners.

”Lady and gentlemen,” she spoke as she reached for Kiyo’s shoulder with deliberate slowness, ”Please do excuse my rudeness while I liberate my most esteemed companion from your game, for it is of utmost importance that we talk.” She smiled. Her voice held a healthy amount of sarcasm as she put deliberate emphasis on each of the polite words she used, almost making it sound as though she were making fun of Kiyo along with herself.

Making good money in these sorts of dubiously legal "gaming" establishments was a dangerous game of risk and reputation management. You could only win so much in one game or in one place before your opponents collectively decided that you were a cheater—and in a world outside the law, cheaters were dealt with outside the protection of the law. The risk of being outed was all the greater given her age; while many gamblers simply accepted the luck of the draw, adults had their pride, and the ones who played to win wouldn't accept a loss to a high school girl easily—or frequently. For Kiyo, however, this was the social aspect of the game that made it interesting. If it weren't for the threat of being found out, it would be boring. To make her act convincing, she had to study the game, know the lingo, and speak and act like an experienced woman in her mid 20s. The movements of the pieces on the board and the words on her lips alike had to be chosen with both a careful intent and natural ease. The game and the conversation—people who still chose not to play online could be quite chatty—moved in tandem, like a dance that she could be leading or following in at any given time. Whether she would win or lose, she had to do so with grace. At times, perhaps, she wondered if this was what others found so appealing about romance—the thrill of pretending to be something you're not.

If Ember hadn't been there from the beginning, it would have been impossible to tell if today had been a winning or a losing day for Kiyo. Habitual gamblers played until they were broke, but Kiyo rarely walked away from the table with nothing. To know how she was feeling through that poker face, Ember would have to have known what she stood to lose when she walked into the building. "My. It seems I've played for too long again today. Excuse me." With a practiced smile, she gathered up what was hers—ostensibly worthless tokens that could be exchanged for prizes at the counter, which could then conveniently be exchanged for real money at the totally unrelated establishment right across the street. Ember probably had her own ideas for where she wanted to have this conversation, but this was Kiyo's destination.

Shuuko had tried to kill that light girl, and she didn't know why. That was the thought that had been on Kiyo's mind all day. It was not so very unusual for a dark girl to dislike light girls, but to do what she did in that situation showed a level of hatred Evil Eye hadn't imagined her capable. After all, all dark girls, as far as anyone knew, had been light girls at some point, and it was somewhat unnatural to look back at one's past with such a deep loathing. Unless one hated who they were presently, how could they harbor such hatred toward what they had to have been in order to arrive at where they were now? Certainly, this was how Evil Eye saw it. All light girls were, in the end, were dark girls in the making. Only a child, lacking such simple logic, could love butterflies and hate caterpillars with equal passion. Therefore, she had to be overlooking something. Shuuko was not a simple girl.

To know how Shuuko was feeling beneath the mask of anger, she would have had to have been there from the beginning. "What do you stand to lose if that girl joins the club, Shuuko?" Kiyo asked as they both waited for the crosswalk's light to turn. There were no vehicles anywhere in sight.

Straight to the point. Ember frowned as she thought they would have some normal conversation before the conversation arrived here, but it seemed that this time, Kiyo chose to be direct. How awfully convenient to her.

”It isn’t a matter of loss, but rather, a matter of the past, Kuroki-san,” she spoke as she turned Shuuko’s body towards Kiyo to face her comrade-in-arms head on. ”I merely misjudged my… hm. Perhaps surprise is not an adequate word to use in this context. Reaction might make a better case for itself, yet not even that is suitable. I apologise, Kuroki-san, however, I do not think I can express myself properly.” She paused to let her message sink in, portraying the reaction as though it were something she did not expect.

”Unfortunately… I seem to have underestimated how allergic I am to cats,” she added with a theatrical shrug, spreading her arms. ”I don’t even know if they’ll act up the next time she is near my person.” Which, as much as it hurt to admit, was not a lie. Hotaru could not be reasoned with and the warrior had proven she could act with enough speed to bypass both her and Sylvia’s guard regarding Shuuko’s body. She could not know if they would be able to react quickly enough the next time something like this happened.

Kiyo met Ember's gaze lazily. The light changed, and after quickly flicking her eyes both ways, she began to cross the street.

There was a reason Kiyo didn't probe into Shuuko’s past. Each Kurai girl's dark power was a reflection of their very soul. Evil Eye was a reflection of her greed: an insatiable need to see things not meant for her eyes—an unwillingness to trust others with their own secrets. Shatterscape was a reflection of the girl's brokenness. Someone—perhaps a parent, perhaps a lover, perhaps just a bad friend—had forced her into a box of timid obedience. That, at least, seemed obvious. In front of some, she was shy and meek, but in front of others, she expressed herself boldly. Knowing that much seemed more than enough. Prying for the gritty details to satisfy her dark curiosity would only cause Shuuko unnecessary pain—and for what gain?

Evil Eye wouldn't try to 'fix' Shatterscape—she just tried to be one of the 'others' that Shuuko could trust with her real self. It had seemed like the right thing to do, but maybe Rei was right. If Shuuko couldn't act rationally whenever it came to light girls and Evil Eye being 'in danger,' perhaps it was better if they separated. She'd tried to defy the newbies' expectations of the Detention Club's 'Supervisor' being a snitch—or a voyeur, as Nyxia called her—and be the reliable watchful eye that kept them out of danger. Had she been too lenient? Leaving Shuuko, a girl who desperately needed some space to be independent, with the Rule Keeper... would it be alright?

"I don't know how I feel about leaving you with Roche, either. You don't see me throwing a tantrum," Kiyo sighed under her breath as she limped across the street. "Well, the boss decided to give you what you want. The kitty is her problem now." She looked back at Ember as she turned onto the sidewalk. "Thing is, she'll 'fit in' with us before you can blink. I'm all-in on that bet. Why do you think I let her in?" She let her smug grin show.

”She will fit in as much as a clay brick in a concrete wall,” came the reply straight away, for while Ember did not agree with how Hotaru viewed light girls, she did have a point. She remembered what she referred to all too well, the only difference between the two of them being that she chose to be cautious instead of fueling the flames of her hatred. ”I am aware of your pet theory, Kiyo, however, I am also aware that not all are kin to us. I do not know if you are mistaken, however, I do believe that you are not completely correct.”

"Pet theory..." Kiyo spat with rank bitterness. She turned and did her best to strut away, lips closed tightly lest she say anything she might regret. It was a petty petulance that reminded Ember that for all of Kiyo's big words and high-headed philosophy about the nature of magical girls, she was still a child inside, just like the others.

Shuuko’s body followed Kiyo at a sedate pace, the length of her strides shortened considerably for the sake of her partner. Indeed, the body’s gaze lingered on the leg before Ember spoke up again.

”I…” A sigh. Heavy. Filled with something ethereal and misty. ”I also understand the decision. Whatever the cause, I failed to act as your partner that night. And as I professed, I do not know when, or if my allergies will end.” Ember closed her eyes as they walked, thinking over the issue once more as though it would help. ”I will only ask you to consider my name when I manage to overcome my issue.” That was the best she could hope for, after all.

The conversation had reached a turn where it was either going to end, change subjects, or wait until they could transform. Naturally, Kiyo wouldn't just let Ember have the last word. "Wait here," she said as they stood outside the exchange. After quickly swapping her bag of goodies for a fat stack of cash, she emerged, turned down an alley, and transformed. She regarded Ember with an uncertain, measured coldness. "I'm sorry, but, 'consider your name?' I'd like to think I respect you more than to pick you apart and play with the pieces like you're some puzzle to be solved," she said flatly. "We were all light girls once, were we not? We all went through the same thing. We lived under an illusion of what the world was, and when it broke, so did we. I know that girl will fall to darkness because I look at her and see myself—the same girl I was three years ago, bearing others' burdens selflessly until they broke my back with them—or do you think her so special, that she won't crack under all that pressure?"

Evil Eye's grip on her cane tightened. Hizuki would fall to darkness, just like every other light girl before her. "Of course not all light girls are our kin. The ones who are too weak to survive the process never make it to where we are. The weak perish, the strong evolve—just like in any other domain. I don't see any reason to believe ours is different—and why wouldn't we be the natural evolution? I've certainly never heard of a light girl evolving into anything else before. Now, if a dark girl could evolve again, into something else—that would be interesting..."

Indeed, they had been light girls a long time ago. She could not refute that point, that they had been much the same once, trying to bear the burdens of the world and yet that view was not correct either. Kiyo framed her thoughts in terms of evolution, but for Ember and the rest of Shuuko… She faced the transformed Evil Eye head on, her gaze unwavering as she allowed a part of her true feelings to leak into her voice.

”The species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself,” quoted Ember. ”That is all I will say on such matters, lest we get bogged down in debate, argument or discord.” A pause. A heartbeat. ”I intended to arrive as an envoy of peace, not to ignite a war or to fan the flames.” Shuuko’s thumb ran across the inside of her right hand, tracing it in a nervous gesture.

"Yes. Adapting to the darkness of the world is a much better fate than dying a martyr or throwing oneself off a bridge in despair of its unfairness, wouldn't you agree?" Evil Eye pressed on with finality. If Ember had disagreed with her assessment, Evil Eye didn't appear to have the humility necessary to notice. "Even more than the holier-than-thou posturing from light girls, the one thing I hate to see most is newly-fallen dark girls wallowing in their despair, thinking of themselves as failures. Imagine them thinking back on all that time that could have been spent enjoying life or bettering themselves, if someone they could admire was just there, looking out for them, to soften their landing just a bit. The light girls at least had their token approachable senpai. We didn't have anyone like that, though, did we?" she asked as she floated past Ember, back onto the sidewalk.

”Do you really have it within your heart to lay the blame on them, Kuroki-san?” asked Ember as she took her place beside the floating being, no doubt contributing to the rumors of Hibusa Town by seemingly speaking to herself. ”I do understand your sentiment, though I am uncertain as to how many of dark girls share such a vision with you. The very town we are living in is but a beacon of darkness against the backdrop of light all over the place. It is partially the reason why I look upon light girls with more than the appropriate modicum of hatred, for they have come to take away the sanctuary that we have created for ourselves.” That was not even a lie. Most light girls that Shuuko had encountered could not stand their kind, including the ones that ambushed Kana-san and Ember.

"No. I do not blame them for their lack of guidance or vision. It's natural to look at the stars and see them as being in groups, and to forget about the vastness of the nothingness in between. I'm well aware that my perspective is an aberration. If it weren't, it would neither be specially useful nor necessary." An easy smile graced her lips as Ember continued.

”Regardless of my brief voyage into topics afar… I do believe that while it is lacking in certain aspects,” such as their apathetic leader, who refused to as much as look their way and reminded her all too much of people that Sylvia and Chiaki were better off not coming across, ”what we are building is capable of providing the very guidance you speak of.” Again, Ember spoke the truth. While the warrior cared little and the protector did not have the acumen to see it, the schemer did. She was just not sure of how much weight it carried.

After all, as far as she knew, they were the only ones to organise as such.

"What Rei has built is a safe space for dark girls—but it needs more than that, or it'll be no better than an orphanage. Safety alone cannot make a space into a home, nor can it offer new meaning to a life turned upside-down. Breaking the fall of a magical girl, I daresay, is not a role that suits her, nor does it particularly fit the Rule Keeper, either. Do you see now why it falls to me? That's why I said I'd take responsibility for the new blood." Evil Eye turned to face Ember, such that she was now floating backwards. "If the girl managed to deceive me—if my eyes have judged falsely—then what happens next is only what I deserve." At the last second, Evil Eye changed course to dodge a stop sign that nearly met the back of her head. "Right?"

”And yet again, it falls to the high priestess to envelop the observer of the heavens in the protection she deserves.” Ember closed her eyes for a moment and let a hint of frustration leak into Shuuko’s features. Then she faced Kiyo again. ”You have not changed since the day our fates entangled, as the danger you speak of is also one I am worried about. I understand you wish to take that role for yourself, and yet…” She shook her head, Shuuko’s expression giving way to a smile.

”The pain we take on is ours. It is a tight rope you walk, Kuroki-san.” Two sets of red eyes met head on as Shuuko walked up to Evil Eye, letting the other girl get a glimpse of something blue glittering within her gaze. ”I… I wish I could help.”

Ember froze up at the admission, her eyes widening ever-so-slightly as she realised she had not meant to say that, especially with not that much longing. Even if rung true, even if she did wish to reach out to those who had been hurt by others… No, she could not. She had her hands full with Hotaru and Sylvia.

”You don’t need to think about me, Ember,” Sylvia said to her with that painful smile of hers. ”I’m just a dirty little girl.”

No. She was not. But healing that misconception took time.

Evil Eye believed that she had enough eyes to look out for herself, but she never did have the heart to discourage Shuuko from doing whatever it was she wanted to do—as long as it didn't go against Rei's most important rule. That feeling only grew stronger now, her eyes widening a bit as she caught the glimpse of blue. So, 'good girl Shuuko' can be straightforward about what she wants, too? She felt like she'd just seen something important, but whether it was something that had changed or something she'd just never met the right conditions to notice before, she didn't know.

"Well then we'd better kick out Assbringer, so this temporary arrangement can go back to normal," Evil Eye concluded, using her unfair height advantage to ruffle Shuuko's hair. "I am worried about our team comp just a little," she admitted. "though I think Acid is in more danger than me," she hastily added.

Shuuko’s expression looked torn, her body frozen on the spot as Ember tried to find a way out. She did not even notice as Kiyo ruffled the hair as she got lost in the myriad ways to extricate herself, failing to realise that her words could not be taken back or amended. It looked as though she had been turned into a statue in the middle of the road before Ember jumped on the topic offered by Kiyo with the strength and dexterity of a drowning man at sea spotting a piece of flotsam.

”That is right. According to Oyama-san, Kana-san also had some problems of her own in the last fight.” Shuuko’s brows frowned. ”It would be foolish to say that I am not worried, even with the supposed reassurances that Rei gave us. I had heard that this Ashbringer you speak of made a complete fool of us and is still residing in Hibusa Town despite our best efforts.”

"By that you mean, my efforts to track her down," Evil Eye teased. "I'm working on it." She pursed her lips somewhat innocently.

"Maybe I'm meant to find out what's wrong with her. Rei didn't say so, but she doesn't say anything that would be a pain, so... yeah. I'll hang out with her and Oros for a bit." Her evasive eyes flicked back to Ember. "Not today, though."

”Even if you were to find her, what sort of a big sister would send her little sisters against the big bad monster under the bed?” Ember teased her back, the familiar lilt in her voice making it as clear as it could be. It also served to distance them from her moment of weakness. She would reflect on it when she was alone.

Evil Eye wasn't sure who was the "big sister" in this analogy, but she decided neither to read too much into Ember's comment, nor give any indication of what she might do if she did find Ashbringer before Rei did. Today seemed like one of those days that Shuuko could use some assurance that she and Kiyo were, in fact, cool. It was also about that time that the conversation dried up and, not knowing what else to do, she'd playfully let Shuuko sweep her off her feet in those huge hands and bring her back to her place so they could hang out and play games. Was it that kind of mood for Shuuko, though? She seemed a bit different today. She was always a little different, and Kiyo's old school was so stiflingly "normal" that she didn't have much to work with. "Mm. Been a while since I had this much cash. Does that mean it's pizza night?" she tried.

”Considering you have a debt you must repay, I suppose it is only fair if you footed the bill.” Ember agreed with the assessment. ”However… pizza? Do you think that this high priestess would be satisfied with such meagre offerings?” An all too wide smile bloomed on Shuuko’s face as Ember spoke. ”It is fortunate that the goddess this humble high priestess serves is forgiving and merciful, for other deities would have struck you down already.” She made a dramatic pause to let the joke sink in before she rearranged her expression.

Evil Eye blinked. Good pizza is decently pricey, though... Especially when compared to ramen. She'd had this thought before, but she thought that Shuuko must have been brought up in a rich family. She knew better than to ask, of course—and she also knew better than to be jealous.

”On a more somber note… Maybe some icecream first. And then we can come to an agreement.” And for the duration of eating the icecream, she would switch with Sylvia. After all, the protector had not yet experienced it first-hand.

"Yeah? Let's get some gelato then. Hopefully that's classy enough for you, milady," she teased, her eyes hooded playfully. "That's Italian for 'the good shit.' Don't ask me to explain why it's better, it just is."

”Nothing would delight me more,” responded Ember as she offered her arm for Evil Eye to grab on as though she were a gentleman escorting a noble lady. The only thing that ruined the picture had to be the wide grin on her face that refused to take anything seriously, but that was something they had in common.



Compared to Roche before her, Kiyo entered the club with little enthusiasm or fanfare. In fact, her entrance would have been downright stealthy if her distinctly cane-aided footsteps hadn't caused the others to anticipate the door silently opening. She looked like she hadn't slept a wink, but her face also wasn't particularly grouchy compared to her usual RBF. If one had to put a name to it, perhaps it was the face of someone who'd had a good time. She did, however, pause in the doorway, the sight of the conspiracy board giving her pause, as if she were considering leaving.

In the end, however, she took her seat next to Suki, opposite Haruna. Her lazy, half-lidded gaze flicked between the two of them—two greedy, analytical crimson pools that demanded more than they offered in return. Her mind was a noisy haze of many desires, reminding Haruna of the cacophony of buzzing that Evil Eye's swarms of locusts produced. As for the person experiencing the said buzzing firsthand, it rather reminded Kiyo of the too-white lights of that hospital room that could have become her prison. On the topic of the GEMs, Kiyo was reminded of Badass Boleite, and briefly thought that it might be interesting to see her again. Just as quickly as the desire surfaced, though, it vanished beneath the haze of static, like an involuntary thought that was altogether too absurd, and hastily flicked away like a housefly that'd had at least one other run-in with the swatter and was too dazed to react anymore. One recurring thought floated near the surface enough times that Haruna couldn't possibly miss it: that she'd very much like to study Tsubomi—not, notably, to fix Tsubomi, or to help Tsubomi—but to see her at her "Tsubomiest," and to understand what that means. That notion probably made about as much sense as Evil Eye's ramblings usually did to the rest of the club.

It abruptly became apparent that Kiyo's notoriously smart mouth hadn't moved a millimeter since she'd walked into the room. As if she'd realized it at the exact same time as everyone else, she decided to break the silence. "This would be a lot easier if someone wasn't culling the Mogall like a pest species that are in season," she complained dryly. Why she couldn't see everything her eyes saw everywhere at all times was a matter she'd already explained before—to exactly who, and when, she couldn't remember, but she didn't seem eager to repeat herself. Whether or not Haruna's presence at this meeting in particular had anything to do with that was unclear for the moment.

Among the forest afternoon light walked one lone young woman; a familiar sight to any nearby denizens of the woods for many months, now. The nearby mountain shrine had been maintained by the same family for what seemed like generations at this point. Yet, their only daughter had no interest in taking up the mantle until very recently when the mother of the family passed suddenly. Now, that very same daughter was walking along the forest path around the shrine, lost in thoughts, before the start of another day.

Sayuri had walked up to a site where more traditional tombstones laid. As she dropped some cleaning tools on the floor and began plucking at the wild herbs around, she couldn't help but sigh. For some time now, she had abandoned her duties as a Magical Girl: Kaeru, protector of Hibusa Town. One of, at the very least. She still attended school, though remained more low-key than she used to and outings with friends were less frequent than before, since she had to be back early to attend shrine duties and what not.

"Yeah, I know. I'm late. Sorry, Mom. I may not be chasing monsters and what not every night anymore, but I still got homework y'know." She said as she began scrubbing the tomb, keeping on having conversation with the still rock.

Nearby, a curious frog looked on. But the frog’s attention would only be held for a moment. The snap of a twig drew the frog’s eyes down a forest path. Then came the crunch of some leaves. Then another twig broke, but it was closer. Then there was a crack, like a static discharge. Just as the figure came into view, the frog dove off of its perch to find safety. The figure in question looked like they might have grabbed a hold of some power lines, because their blond hair was spiked and going off in all directions. It was also possible the giant tesla coil strapped to her back was causing her hair to stand up. If not those, then maybe the menacing “gun” that’s tip arced like a plasma globe was the culprit. Regardless, she was clearly a magical girl, even if her outfit wasn’t as flashy as others. It was some mix between a scientist's labcoat and what they would wear if they decided to become a lineman for a day.

The girl had the massive gun shouldered as her curious eyes took in the beauty of the forest. While all the sparks and electricity should have been a fire hazard, they were apparently harmless. Glowing blue electricity danced off of leaves and bark alike, but never left a mark. Her body seemed to hum with energy, and as soon as she arrived near the priestess, a smile crossed her lips.

”Sup?”

Sayuri heard the snap, turned to face it and saw that another girl had walked up from the forest’s confines. To say that she contrasted with her surroundings was like remarking that the sky was blue. Sayuri then turned back to the tomb, used her hand to dust it off one last time, and pick a few more herbs around it.

"Temple’s down there, if that is what you’re looking for. Follow the path to get back to town." She then stood up, turning to face the spiked hairs girl and dusting her own hands off. “You won’t find much miseria around here, though.”

Even being out of the loop for this long, it would have been impossible to not recognize this individual as a fellow Magical Girl. Some of them found their way up in the mountains from time to time, chasing some lost miseria or what not. Even some of that Detention Club bunch, at times. Not that they’d recognize Sayuri for who they once knew her as.

”Is that how you answer sup?” She shrugged her shoulders. ”I saw the temple already. It’s in pretty good condition despite its age. You did a good job sweeping it up. Speaking of you, you’ve got my interest.” She chuckled. ”You’re a magical girl. You can see and hear me.

“Not for a long while.” the shrine maiden simply answered, eyes lost looking at nothing.

”If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that frog could too.”

Said frog climbed out from under a leaf and croaked.

It snapped Sayuri’s back, forcing a smile out which did not reach her eyes. Who’s to say. she said as her eyes glanced over to the tiny frog. She then picked up the cleaning items she had brought over, leisurely walking closer to the other girl. The fact this seemingly newcomer immediately could tell despite the others at school having been none the wiser was surprising, but Sayuri tried not to let it show. “You’ve caught me at a bad time is all. Usually, there’s no real reason to come around here except to visit.” Sayuri answered, honest as can be. ”I’m Sayuri.”

”Bodacious Boleite, but Boleite is fine.” She reached a hand out to shake, but it arced with electricity, and she pulled it back empty handed. ”I wouldn’t say there’s no reason to come up here, though.” She returned to Sayuri’s earlier point after they finished their greeting. ”It’s awfully peaceful up here. Which makes sense. I mean, it’s the resting place of spirits.” She took a step back and looked around. ”In the city of light you need to go to a park to see a tree half as big as the ones around here. It’s almost like a zoo exhibit for trees. You come out here and you can barely see the light through the canopy.” After taking in the sights, she inhaled. ”And talk about that air quality! We have clean air in the City of Light, but it’s unreal with all these trees here.” Boleite lowered her gaze to Sayuri. ”Let me put it this way, I’d be tempted to abandon my duties if I had a place like this I could retreat into.”

“You didn’t strike me as the spiritual type - no offense.”

”None taken.”

Sayuri walked up to another tombstone to begin dusting it, reflecting on the words of her unassuming wise counterpart. It was impossible to know whether or not ‘Boleite’ knew just how much her choice of words resonated within Sayuri’s heart, but the maiden has a creeping suspicion it was no coincidence.

It was funny just how much this contrasting magical girl reminded Sayuri of herself just a few months back. It wasn’t so long ago that she, herself, was the spark of these somber and calm woods. Much to the detriment of her shrine duties and mother’s dismay. After a long silence, Sayuri turned to Boleite with a stare that meant to put an end to pretenses.

These are my duties. Pretending otherwise was never meant to last.

”Hmmmm...” The electrified girl rubbed her chin. ”It would be pretentious to assume things about you, so I’d like to talk about my own experiences.” She leaned her hand into a tree. ”I was being polite earlier. Don’t get me wrong, I think nature is awesome, but I’d never stick around here. Magical girls are forced to live two lives. I’ve got my grades to keep up, but miseria need slaying and dark magical girls need beating. Two lives, two duties.”

Sayuri turned back to her duties of cleaning the site, avoiding Boleite’s eyes. In truth, it was more so to hide.

Boleite pushed herself off the tree and walked closer to the grave. ”If I pretend I only had one set of duties, one of those lives suffers. Kinda sucks, but it is what it is. I’d clear out a lot more of my video game backlog if I didn’t spend it beating up monsters. But I’ve got this power so I might as well use it. Same with my classes. I don’t think my parents would be too pleased with me if I only got passing grades. Even if I can’t tell them about my other responsibilities, I think they’d be proud of me to know I’m doing what I can for the world before even finishing school. But that’s no reason to slack off, I’m doing this for me too!” She stopped by the gravestone. ”And because I’m feeling a little pretentious now, I’ll say I think a real shrine maiden would serve the living as well as the dead.”

Sayuri had stopped pulling at the herbs of polishing the stone. Not a sound or reaction to be heard.

Boleite lowered herself to one knee and looked at the grave stone. ”Forgive my continued rudeness, but you wouldn’t have happened to know this person would you? Looks a lot newer than the other ones, and are those offerings you just placed here?”

Slowly rising up, the shrine maiden silently wiped away at her face. When her mother passed, she had never felt so helpless and lost. All that she felt at the time was guilt and feeling like she disappointed her parents. It had hit her father hard also, understandably, and so Sayuri decided to be there more and help him around the shrine, picking up the duties she was so eager to ignore before. It was these feelings that stuck with her since. This was the first time she was forced to face outward since her mother’s passing.

I… have to go. she said, evading Boleite’s stare. If the Gem was so wise as all that, she knew that the words hit their mark.

”Hmmm?” Boleite stood up and looked over her shoulder. Her carefree smile turned a little bit when she noticed the shrine maiden depart from the mountain. ”Awww, damn. I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings. Six years of city living and I’m still just a country bumpkin.” She looked side to side. ”Oh, I don’t see the frog anymore. I was hoping he could relay a message for me.” But no amount of talking was going to summon another frog. She knelt down again, this time to say a quiet prayer.

Sayuri fled the mountain cemetery down to the shrine and then to her family’s house. Boleite’s words had both angered and sadded her. That anger was not directed to the magical girl, though Sayuri might not have realized that just yet. As the door closed, she could hear the faint voice of her father call out her name, asking if she was back. Sayuri did not answer him, wanting nothing more than to go to her room and hide away the rest of the day.

As she did so, something stopped her. In the entrance hallway, on a nearby piece of furniture sat a picture. Sayuri must have passed here a hundred times a week, but somehow must have did her utmost to ignore it; a picture of her mother, father and herself. Her mother looked exasperated while her father was laughing. Sayuri was smiling ear to ear.

“I remember that day.” the voice of her father said, just behind her. She must have not heard him stand up and walk to her. “The day you came back with your hairs dyed for the first time.” He put a hand underneath Sayuri’s, holding the picture with her looking back. They put it back into place, beside the offering. He then lightly booped her on the nose, perfectly picking up on the fact his daughter was not feeling right. “Even though we said no.” he added, playfully.

Sayuri chuckled a bit, her smile showing up briefly but it faded soon giving way to more melancholy, and a few tears. “Mother was so disappointed in me that day.”

“Honey…” He looked down on his daughter for a second before raising her chin with a finger, looking her in the eyes even though she tried to avoid it. “There was not a moment in your mother and mine’s whole life when she or I was not completely and absolutely proud of our beloved daughter. Neither the color of your hairs, clothes or choices in life would ever have changed this.”

This, mixed with Boleite’s earlier words, opened the flood gate. Against her father shoulder, she cried away every bit of emotions that had been held inside all this time. Then and there she decided; no more hiding.

Later that evening - after a good meal prepared by her father - for the first time in months Sayuri would be looking down at Hibusa City with a renewed sense of optimism. Up from atop the Temple’s ceiling she stood, along with about a good dozen frogs all around, looking just as ready as she was. She held her hat, blonde hairs blowing in the night air as one of the frog - the same from earlier - hoped onto her shoulder.

“Get ready Hibusa; Miseria; AND the Loser’s Club! We are so back.” she said to her amphibian companion before she, and all her frogs, jumped into the moonlit night.

---

Tsubomi barely managed to zombie-walk her way to the club room, and yet somehow she was not the last one there. The others present, including a just arrived Kiyo, seemed to be working on a re-imagining of the town's map. Apathetic eyes drifted up from the map and then around the room, finally landing on Haruna.

"You got accepted." That was nice. It was unexpected that the boss would allow Haruna, but it didn't even reach the top twenty list of strange things happening lately. The Light Girl would still feel that same singular desire from Tsubomi, with a slight secondary desire to... get her magic back? Whether that was a factual representation of things or not, it was what Tsubomi had concluded, and therefor what she wanted. In fact, her apparent loss of magic and her recognition of herself having a desire at all were both higher than Haruna's acceptance to the Club in terms of strangeness. The unfeeling girl couldn't remember the last time she'd had a desire. Was that really what this was? She was unsure.

Another slow movement of Tsubomi's eyes, looking back over everyone else there. Kiyo had already sat down and said something that the younger girl didn't register. Instead, what she noticed was Nyxia's presence. Once more her eyes moved towards Haruna. "There's a ghost behind you." Her head tilted slightly. Then she shrugged and stood next to the table across from Suki.

Ember had been busy. Not only had she been trying to mop up after the warrior’s outburst, she had been experimenting ever since she had met Nyxia that night. Though the other dark girl had been a blunt instrument when compared to her, she told the truth: Sylvia and Ember performed abysmally in combat. It might have become better now that they had nights to practice, but the schemer no longer fell under the illusion that they would come across as anything remotely competent.

So she experimented. She ripped an Oss to pieces, then tried to change whatever she could about its composition while Sylvia ‘rested’ in the back of Shuuko’s mind. Her magic burned bright every night as she worked hour after hour, the mental exhaustion taking such a toll on her that Sylvia had to front most of the days. That likely had an effect on their social relationships which… honestly, it was not worth it. The results, while promising, where nowhere what Ember had hoped for: while she could manipulate Oss more easily now, she could not use them as suicide drones just yet.

And who even could help her with such a project? Perhaps Kiyo, but laying another burden on the shoulder of her ‘big sister’ felt as though she were making use of Kiyo. Roche would refuse to help because she looked at Sylvia with doe eyes throbbing from love. Or lust. Or both. Maybe Nyxia after their last talk, though she still knew little of how the Tempest really behaved, so she did not want to hedge her bets. Besides, the less people knew about her issue, the better. There was no need to rub it in their noses.

”But what if we have to fight?”

The million yen question. If only Ember knew the answer.

Regardless, the schemer applied a smile to Shuuko's face. She got rid of the signs of exhaustion on this body earlier today, so it appeared pristine and she could pay enough attention to her posture to enter like she belonged. She then knocked on the door - as was polite - before she stepped in to regard that she arrived last. Again.

”My apologies for my tardiness,” she bowed slightly. ”Could you please elaborate on what I surely have failed to hear?” Her eyes swept over the room, naturally spotting Haruna as they did so. ”I see we also have someone I have not met before. Kuroki-san, you did speak of adding a new member. Would she be the one who is to dwell amongst us?”

As Shuuko's body spoke, Haruna could no doubt sense that even for a magical girl, there was something wrong with Shuuko's desires. Contrary to their previous meeting where she could read a focused desire from them, it was a jumble: Ember's wanted to be seen as proper, Sylvia wanted to hug Roche to see if it would feel as good as last night and Hotaru wanted to be rid of Haruna. At least that last one seemed to be consistent, if nothing else.

Suki considered understood the value of lies. They were an easy way of shortening long explanations, escaping the consequences of her actions, or maintaining relationships. That last one was something her parents had taught her a long time ago. Despite that, she tended not to lie to her fellow Detention Club if she could help it. If you were going to work with someone it was important that they trust you. One had to be careful when they chose to lie and about something. Different lies had different amounts of risk and reward, and perhaps Haruna had not considered the consequences of hers.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise, really. Lying was something most girls got pretty good at. But super cuties were too innocent to lie like that. Spinning a lie to get into some exclusive club was the sort of selfish behavior Suki would stoop to doing. It turned Haruna from a beacon of light into just a normal girl with a savior complex. Perhaps worse was her magical girl identity. It was okay that Haruna wasn’t some defenseless child, but she could have been a white angel with pink hair. Instead she was that cold metal monstrosity. How gullible Suki had been.

She didn’t know what she wanted out of tonight, but right now she had a desire to just escape. But there was nowhere to run. Tsubomi was sitting in front of her, Kiyo and Haruna flanked her sides, and Nyxia was at her back. As if to block the exit, Roche was standing near the doorway. It would have been nice to avoid Nyxia’s taunts, Roach’s gloating, and any of the other distractions. But to everyone else, Suki just looked a little surprised. She could be a good liar too.

"Ah, well." She cleaned her ear with her pinky. "I don’t think ‘Hizuki’ made much of an effort to be nice to me. But maybe I didn’t notice it while I was getting my arms cut off." With a nervous chuckle, she looked straight ahead. At least she knew what she could call Haruna now. But it was too soon to start using it."Anyway, Nyx, These are all places where the Gems have been spotted. Some of them resulted in attacks, like the one by the theater. They’ve shown up everywhere except directly inside Hibusa town. They’ve gotta be camping out somewhere nearby. They show up too frequently to be going back to the city every morning. Are they home schooled or something?"

With the amount of red string surrounding Hibusa town, it was evident there had been a lot of sightings. The attack near the theater was the only one that happened inside Hibusa itself. With all others being on neighboring territories.

Contrary to what Roche might have thought, Suki wasn’t the least bit interested in analyzing her behavior. She turned away from Haruna and Roche to look at Kiyo. "Oh! Yea, you said something about a monkey attacking your eyes when the giga miseria showed up. What was the deal with that?"

It was strange that Shuuko wasn’t here yet. But given how Roche was grinning, chances were she needed her rest.

Then she appeared, as if to dismiss that accusation.

Or at least that was what Suki had figured, going by the voice. She didn’t turn to look and figured the others could fill her in if she really needed it. Suki was late to class sometimes, but that was because she didn’t want to be here. And, well, normally she didn’t mind being here, but today she wished she had arrived late too. Her eyes flicked over to Tsubomi, then back to Kiyo.

---

Going to the club room to learn all the latest gossip might have been a good idea, but it didn’t serve Willow’s aims. Rei was out here somewhere, which meant they could walk together. But Rei could be strangely elusive when she wanted to be. Frustrated, Willow hovered up and down the streets with a phantom unicorn at her side. She ignored the eyeball floating just behind her head. She ignored the stumpy monkey that lunged for it moments later. She didn’t respond as the unicorn rushed to the eyeballs aid and pushed back the monkey. Willow sighed deeply. It was the perfect time of day for a walk. The sky was orange, but it was shrinking with every second. Did Rei not want to watch the night sky devour the sunset?

Then something caught her attention.

Among the eyeballs, monkeys, and unicorns, it seemed that frogs were also on the list of night time visitors. Willow floated to the ground to examine the frog. It was large and bumpy, which was how she had been able to discover it from so high up. She tried to lift the docile croaker with one hand, but it was much too large. She ended up needing to direct it onto the back of her violin, which she lifted up to her face. Did frogs like this live around here?

She examined the frog briefly, taking in it’s slimy texture, its less than vibrant colors, and those golden eyes it had. But her curiosity hadn't been satisfied until she licked the back of the frog. Her eyes dilated, and it leaped off her instrument to escape down an alleyway.

”Oh yes…” She said as her pupils threatened to consume her irises. ”This is one of those magical frogs!”

Without cleaning the back of her violin, she set it on her shoulder and started to play. The unicorn dropped to the ground and charged after the large frog. The frog might have had a head start, but the few hops it could manage before needing to rest weren’t going to save it from the incoming nightmare. It lowered its gleaming horn as Willow played into a crescendo.

---

---

Haruna waved at each of the newcomers as they arrived, though Roche's reaction already started her on regretting her decision to not be completely open. Tsubomi's odd statement provided only a brief distraction before Shuuko mentioned her. Haruna tilted her head with some bemusement as the girl's question. "Yeah, I'm Haruna, also known as Hizuki the Daybreak. Didn't we meet the other day, though?"

Her confusion was, in turn, brought to a swift end when Suki responded. Said response, and the concurrent shift in Suki's desires, made Haruna visibly cringe. I messed up. "Sorry. I didn't know where you were, and I was getting my butt kicked by those tengu things too bad to do anything but try to survive. Like I said, I thought you guys might hate me if you knew I was a light girl, but then you let Hizuki in, so it was a little. . ." She looked down at the ground, letting out a sigh. Suki really just seemed like she needed a friend, but it looked like Haruna might've just sabotaged any odds of becoming that friend. "I don't know. I'll just, um. . ." She stood up and awkwardly started making her way over to her initial seat near the wall.

Trying to move on, she spoke up once she landed. "I could try to scout for them? I'm harder to shoot down and faster than Kiyo's eyes, and they're less likely to try in the first place. Plus I'm really good at finding other magical girls, light or otherwise. Would that help?"

It was now the second night Kaeru was back on on Hibusa's rooftops and patrolling the city looking for any Miseria. Or any of the other sources of negativity that this town did not need, at least from Sayuri's point of view. Last night had been productive, no doubt stemming from the fact she felt guilty still to have been absent for such a long time and felt like there was a lot of catching up to do. Still, as productive as it was, Sayuri still felt like there was not as many Miseria around as there used to back when she was the only Magical Girl around.

Well, along with Rei. Perhaps also one or two of her cronies. Time sure flew by fast and now it was actually hard to recall the exact moment when they both realized they were magical girls, let alone if that was before or after Rei had already fallen. Then it felt as if the rest of the Loser's club sprouted around her like bad weed too quickly to be pulled out. She landed on a rooftop, looking over the nearby part of the city and scanning every nook and crannies, looking for anything interesting.

Sayuri thought back to Bodacious Boleite, the strange girl she met in the mountain who, through pretty tough words, forced Sayuri out of a bad loop. That girl definitely did not feel like a Dark Magical Girl, even if look-wise might had fit in. Then again... she look off her hat for a second, a frog jumping out of it and onto her shoulder. Kaeru put her hat back on.

"Who am I to judge?" Sayuri would have to thank her the next time they meet. Perhaps with more Light Girls around, things would look up?

That was about the time her attention shifted to some commotion happening nearby. "Let's go."



The toad had only managed to get about two or three jumps in before it turned around, looking at the incoming crazed unicorn. Then, from up top, both the violinist and unicorn would hear a voice holler;

"What do we have here?"

The shadow of a large mass would then appear underneath the Unicorn, who might have found itself squashed beneath an even larger toad that fell right where the horse would have been, if it had not stopped and jumped back. On said Toad sat a figure Willow met once or twice before - one she might have thought had disappeared.

Legs crossed, arms holding her head up and a smug on her face, Kaeru spoke up.

"Who else could it be but Rei's #1 fan; Depression's Club own chief musician. You lot just can't stop yourselves from bullying smaller, weaker beings can't you?"

Kiyo listened to Suki theorycraft with what was, by her standards, some semblance of interest, nodding along—sideways, into her hand, elbow on the table, trying not to look bored. Or perhaps she was trying to look bored. It was hard to say. Her head tilted, locks of her hair trickled between her fingers and onto the table like an oil slick. "Mm-hm. Little monkey minions. Probably a dark girl interloper, but who knows..." They did have a frog-themed light girl once upon a time, after all. Kiyo usually got excited whenever she learned about a new light girl in town, but she never did like that one, for whatever reason. "Well... Usually me and Shatterscape scout, since she has all those bodies around town. We're like, the rapid response crew," she replied to Haruna. "But given the circumstances..."

Whether the timing of Ember's arrival was good or bad could be debated, but the timing could not be denied. "Ah, yeah. This is her," Kiyo replied, holding her free arm up toward their newest member in a gesture that was somehow both grandiose and nonchalant. "Welcome again, Haruna. Let's all get along, okaaaay~?" Kiyo remarked with a yawn, monotone. Saying it as if it weren't meant to be taken seriously, even though it was—well, it seemed like she'd been told to say something, even though she didn't want to.

”Ember, are you sure this is a good idea?” The protector worried. It was in her nature to do so, for she saw threats that the schemer could not perceive. However, it was also in the nature of the schemer to make plans when the opportunity or the need arose and this time, needed her plan they did.

”No. I’m really not, Slyvi. But I don’t think we have any other options.” She sighed as she responded, massaging her temples in their mental space. ”We have to practice. Not only is it good for us, it is also good for Hibusa Town.” Less Miseria meant more people on the streets. More people on the streets meant the illusion of safety. The illusion of safety meant that over time, people would be moving into Hibusa Town. It would not quite get rid of the rumors, but it seemed like solid logic to the schemer.

”I know… I’m just… I’m worried about Hotaru. What if she thinks… that we’re taking away her role?”

”Then she can speak up for herself, as she likes to say. Look, Slyvi,” the tall woman lowered herself to meet the eyes of one of her charges, ”I’m… not sure I know why she did what she did. And while I know she’s our friend, I think we’ll have to make sure she doesn’t get to front until she’s talked to us.”

As if I’d want to front. No, I need my strength to get rid of that light whore.

Indeed. Unbeknownst to them, despite the metaphorical distance between the three girls, Hotaru had been listening in on their conversation. It was something she discovered recently by sheer blind luck - she had been trying to find something to do alone in Shuuko’s head when she discovered that she could tune into her companion’s conversations if they did not focus on keeping it private.

”So please be careful, okay? I know I can trust you with this. You’re the best at keeping an eye out. So if Hotaru returns-”

Be careful? No, Ember. YOU be careful of that lying, cheating-

”I’ll stop her. I know… I just wish we wouldn’t have to hurt Hotaru.” Slyvia let her head hang, her hands wrapping around her shoulders as she tried to give herself some warmth, but ultimately failed. She remained that way for several moments before she spoke up again.

”I promise to watch out. She won’t get past me.” Steel rung in her voice as she made her vow, but Hotaru knew that it would not be enough. Especially now that she knew of their attempts to block her. She would just slip by them, avoiding their grasp instead of relying on brute force. They could plan for her all they wanted; she would accomplish her goal this time.

With that resolution firm in her mind, Hotaru left the two others to their own devices as they took control of Shuuko’s body at night and had her transform into her magical girl attire, ready to face Miseria. Or at least so it would have been, had Hotaru been present with them. Without her, the large gauntlets covering Shuuko’s hands might as well have been shackles that bound their wrists together. Large, unwieldy and difficult to use properly, they were not exactly the ideal beginner’s weapon.

Which was why Ember and Sylvia decided to practice on the myriad of the monsters lurking in the narrow alleyways, tracking down a group of six.

Normally, the gauntlet around Shuuko’s hand would have splattered all six of them across a nearby wall, but without the warrior’s expertise, the other two squashed a mere one by dropping the gauntlet from above. The creature’s miserable existence exploded all over their surroundings, coating everything with a thin paint of nightmarish fluids, including Shuuko’s open mouth.

The coughing, hacking and retching that followed could be heard through the entire neighborhood, no doubt attracting friend and foe alike.

Upon hearing the noise, a mildly curious Nyxia, who had just finished gleefully massacring her own cluster of Miseria, decided to locate its source. There were many possibilities for the cause of such sounds, but none of them included the sight the Neon Tempest was greeted with when she reached her destination. There, below her, was the club’s high-strung “High Priestess”, the metal-fisted girl looking as if she were about to vomit, even as five Miseria closed in around her.

“What the fuck…?” Nyxia muttered, her mind having some difficulty comprehending the incongruous sight. Although the Neon Tempest hadn’t ever bothered to remember the girl’s name, mundane or magical, she knew that the self-proclaimed “High Priestess” was serious, focused, and, she had to admit, rather competent when it came to culling Miseria. Yet, the shuddering, retching young woman before her now was the complete opposite of that image, a pathetic, distracted figure in dire need of rescuing. Nyxia had no clue as to the reason for this discrepancy, but she had all the reason she needed to kill Miseria, and so that was precisely what she did.

With a loud screech, the Neon Tempest’s oversized death ray disgorged a writhing tendril of ruinous energy, one which she swept across the ring of Miseria before the creatures were even aware they were under attack. Once the last one had been vaporized, Nyxia dissipated the baleful beam and called down to her ostensible ally.

“And here I thought you were supposed to be one of the club’s stronger members,” she sneered, while placing a hand on her hip. “What happened? Did Oros force you to eat some of the dog shit she calls food?”

The thing tasted beyond foul, almost as though someone put a big ol’ helping of Despair into Shuuko’s mouth. To say that it sent shivers down the body’s spine was to make the century’s greatest understatement as Ember had no words for the gut-twisting experience that it bestowed upon all of them. Then, of course, as though to add insult to injury, Nyxia showed up and blasted the Miseria they had intended to use for practice, annihilating the whole group in a split second. Exactly how she, along with Sylvia, had intended their bout to go.

”I suppose… gah…” Ember tried to start her sentence, but she almost gagged. The taste lingered in her mouth, turning her words into a grim reminder of what happened. ”You wouldn’t believe… bleh… that I’m testing… something new, correct?” It was technically even the truth as far as the schemer was concerned as she was trying to figure out how to correctly pilot Shuuko’s body.

Unfortunately, as welcome as Nyxia’s arrival had been, her presence did pose a problem. Namely, Shuuko would look incompetent - even more so than she already was - in the eyes of the Club if she stated her need for practice. It would also look suspicious if she denied Nyxia’s assistance, as the three of them had tried to build up a reputation of being team players. And yet, all of that seemed to be on the verge of crumbling into dust right now.

“Testing something new?” Nyxia inquired with a raised eyebrow, the Neon Tempest’s skepticism clear in her voice. “What? How to be as much of an ineffective hindrance as possible?” the teal-haired young woman added with a derisive sneer as she literally looked down on the gauntleted girl from her elevated perch.

”I suppose that much venom is well-deserved given my difficulties.” Shuuko’s body coughed a couple more times to clear the lungs before she drew back to her full height and turned towards Nyxia. Splotches of Miseria blood still clung to her clothes, but she made no effort to be rid of them. ”Nevertheless, it seems I have strayed onto your hunting grounds. I believe I owe you an apology for that. I had not intended to disturb your nightly ritual.”

Nyxia actually seemed slightly taken aback by the apology, such a response being wholly unexpected. “W-Well, uh, I don’t actually have any ‘hunting grounds’,” the Neon Tempest replied with a frown. “I just kill Miseria wherever I find them, s-so there’s no need to go apologizing,” she added, her voice and visage betraying her awkwardness. “In fact, the only reason I came over here was because I wanted to see what was making all that disgusting noise.”

The body’s eyes widened slightly as Ember failed to mask her surprise, trading a glance with Sylvia in their mental space. The protector shook her head to indicate she did not know either. Then again, they have not spoken much with Nyxia. She seemed a ball of rage and hatred directed at the world, looking for targets of opportunity. But the way she spoke right now did not give that impression. Maybe Ember just had not been paying enough attention to the Tempest? She quickly re-evaluated her views and considered her words.

”I understand,” she nodded, a smile growing on her face. ”So maybe I will apologise for coughing up my lungs in your vicinity.” The smile reached her voice as she spoke, becoming too much to be taken at face value. ”But if it is as you say, would you mind some company? My many-eyed companion did not wish to join me tonight.” Because Ember did not even ask, but that was beside the point. Getting to know Nyxia better would serve their interests in the long-term, even if they did have to be careful about what they did in the raygun-toting girl’s presence.

“Uh, I guess that’d be fine,” Nyxia conceded. While she’d never previously entertained the idea of working alongside any of the other club members, aside from her partner, she had promised Roche that she would try to be more sociable. Plus, the self-proclaimed high priestess herself seemed far more cordial than the Neon Tempest had ever remembered her being during any of their previous, admittedly brief, interactions. “So, um, what exactly were you testing, anyway?” she inquired, genuinely curious as to what could have placed the normally rather competent young woman in the horribly compromised position she’d found her in.

Fortunately, Ember had a lie prepared for this exact question.

”I am attempting to find new angles for using my gauntlets, in both the figurative and literal meaning of the word,” she spoke as she folded all but her index finger on her right hand and used it to indicate her left. ”I have observed that I rely mostly on swiping attacks as though it ought to be natural, which leaves me with limited room to maneuver or change up my tactics.” If she did not wish to reveal her ability to teleport, but hopefully, Nyxia would be able to figure that out. The rest of the picture would build itself in the other dark girl’s mind.

With that, she started to walk, only to stop almost immediately. All but frozen on the spot, Ember let a slightly embarrassed smile take over Shuuko’s face before she asked the question that just came to mind.

”Do you have a pattern you usually use for your patrols? I believe it might be in our interest if we followed your preferred route.”

“Not really,” Nyxia replied with a shrug from her position on the roof edge. “I usually just search around until I run into some Miseria. The fuckers are pretty much everywhere, so it never really takes long,” she added. “Plus, I can kinda sense where they’re gathered. Anyway, I also usually do my hunting from up here,” the Neon Tempest continued. “Not only does it give me freedom of movement, it also gives me a better vantage point from which to find and kill the little shit stains. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy slicing them apart up close from time to time,” she clarified with a sadistic grin. Then, a thought occurred to her. “Y’know, if ya wanna try new moves out, have ya ever thought of using ranged attacks?” she inquired. “I know ya got those huge ass claws, but you can also make stuff outta clay, right? Have ya ever thought of makin’ somethin’ ya could throw at an enemy ya either couldn’t or didn’t wanna get close to?”

”I appreciate the advice along with the consideration, however, if I do wish to use ranged attacks, I will have to take a different route.” Ember made Shuuko’s voice sound genuinely thankful as she spoke, turning back towards Nyxia and raising her gaze to meet the dark girl’s eyes head on. ”For one, the substance I use may look like clay, but it is more akin to flesh. And for two, it is difficult for me to summon it in the middle of combat.” Perhaps if they had Hotaru, they could try to have one of them concentrating purely on summoning the stuff, even if they did not have that luxury right now.

”I believe the best ranged attack I could manage is grabbing one of my bodies to disrupt my enemies, yet I feel that would be counter-intuitive.” A small smile came to Shuuko’s mouth as the body spoke, her tone becoming light to indicate some kind of a joke.

“Oh, uh, okay,” Nyxia replied, not exactly an expert by any means on how the other girl’s abilities operated. “It was just an idea. Anyways, I guess I’ll just follow you and make sure ya don’t get completely fucked over while ya try out those new moves of yours,” the Neon Tempest added with a smirk. If nothing else, the gauntleted girl would serve as adequate bait.

”That would be much appreciated,” nodded Shuuko’s body, beckoning Nyxia to join her on the ground. The roof was not exactly her place even when Hotaru contributed to their movements, so now it would likely turn into a disaster if she tried her hand at fancy acrobatics. Indeed, they would be lucky to get the basic attacks down until the next time something big happened, because Hibusa Town always seemed to have something in store for the four of them.

Not noticing the odd thought, Ember piloted the body slowly at first, then with the help of Sylvia, they took off into a run. Every movement felt as though they balanced on a narrow, wooden beam above a pool of water, with two concrete weights on their arms, the gauntlets almost dragging the body after themselves with their inertia. They kept their balance for now, but they could fall any time they made a careless movement, so they had to pay close attention.

Unfortunately for the two, Miseria had been attracted to the noise she made. At least two dozen of the sorrowful things showed up in an alleyway, with more rushing in from the sides. The two dark magical girls found themselves outflanked. A perfect, target rich environment for Nyxia and a perfect ground for Shuuko to ‘experiment’.

This time, when the body rushed the creatures close by, Sylvia and Ember did not put as much force into their slam. Nevertheless, the heavy iron gauntlet struck like the wrath of a hammer, squishing the Miseria. Its flesh burst open just like before, but at least its contents did not scatter with quite as much force, not to mention Shuuko had her mouth closed. That meant Ember’s idea could work, even if their efficacy would be reduced to a fraction of what it had been with Hotaru’s help.

While Nyxia would have preferred to remain on the rooftops, she decided to relent to her companion’s obvious wish for them to operate side by side. The Neon Tempest didn’t know what, exactly, was wrong with the gauntleted girl, but something was undeniably off about the High Priestess, and so she figured it would be best to stick close, at least for the time being. The fact that such positioning meant that she was unable to deal with the current ambush was slightly annoying, but it also allowed her to display some of the melee skills she’d been telling her ally about. With a series of mighty thrusts and slams, she used the energy bladed edge of her beloved death ray to cleave through and impale several of their swarming foes at once. Kicking one to the alley wall and pinning it in place with her high-heeled foot, she fired a massive energy blast point blank into the malign creature’s head, utterly vaporizing it, but leaving the wall behind it unscathed. “ Hahahahahaaa! These fuckers are absolutely pathetic!” Nyxia cackled as her twin eye beams sliced another Miseria in half vertically. “Need any help with yours?” she inquired, sparing a glance Shuuko’s way.

The High Priestess moved with more care and contemplation than Nyxia had seen before. It almost seemed like she calculated everything beforehand, but still ended up coming short several times, as while the Ultraviolet Rainbow dismantled everything around her in a flurry, Shuuko’s body was still in a chaotic melee. Miseria kept attacking her, slowly picking away at her defences along with her body. Ripping up the clothes. Coming at her from seemingly unexpected angles when Nyxia had seen the other girl dodge worse.

The attacks too, seemed off. While a certain degree of bumbling about could be expected from someone who tried to expand on their arsenal, this went beyond that, as Shuuko acted like some unholy combination of a mechanical puppet and a drunk sailor. Her blows left her off-balance several times, which the Miseria capitalised on, not to mention that she never followed through properly. Very little finesse could be seen as she executed the Miseria one by one instead of cleaving through them like she usually did.

”I am all right,” called Ember as she deflected a Miseria with her gauntlet on the left, only to open herself up to another one on the right. Some of her skin got damaged as well, for Nyxia could see the tell-tale black marks of Miseria eating into flesh. ”This is just another body.”

“Uh, okay…” Nyxia replied, although both her voice and visage betrayed her skepticism. Admittedly, she didn’t fully understand how the other girl’s abilities functioned, so it could have been entirely reasonable that this particular “body” was merely defective in some way, but the Neon Tempest still couldn’t help but feel there was more to it than just that simple explanation. That said, Nyxia hated when people tried to pry into her personal matters, so she wasn’t about to do the same to Shuuko. Instead, she simply waited for the gauntleted girl to finally finish dealing with her opponents, even if the lackluster display was at times painful to watch.

The warrior made it look all too easy. Injuries kept mounting as Shuuko’s attacks refused to be more on point than before, so much that it took her several minutes to be rid of her opponents. Needless to say, this was a far cry from her previous performances, so maybe… maybe they should sit the next crisis out. They had to be able to reach Hotaru, no matter how deeply she retreated into her own corner, because this? This would take weeks at least, if not months.

Ember let out a sigh using Shuuko’s body.

”It’s all right! We’ll be okay,” said Slyvia, trying her hand at sounding reassuring but… Well, she was a teenager and Ember was an adult. It did not help.

”It appears as though this will take time to perfect. Maybe you are correct; I should try to invest my time into ranged attacks if I am able to.”

“Yeeeeah…” Nyxia replied with a doubtful frown. “Something tells me that probably won’t work either. Your main problem seems to be accuracy. Getting your attacks to land right. I thought that just came naturally to magical girls,” she added placing a hand on her hip. “I mean, it did with me, and whenever I’ve seen you fight before, you’ve never been so… sloppy. Something’s obviously wrong,” the Neon Tempest stated in her typical blunt manner, narrowing her eyes as she gazed intently at Shuuko. “Beyond just ‘trying new moves’. I’m not gonna pry into what, but you should really try and work it out before we face something bigger than these measly fuckers,” she continued, gesturing to the fleeting remains of the Miseria they’d wiped out. “Cuz something tells me your partner isn’t gonna be coming to your rescue like I did.”

It was beyond obvious.

That realisation smashed into Ember’s consciousness like a none too gentle hammer, sending it flying at least several hundred metres. She thought that she had done an adequate job of at least making it seem like she knew what she was doing, but if she noticed herself… then of course others would pick up on it as well. Which meant that the problem was greater than she had thought. Not only was Shuuko’s social situation challenged, was there even a use for a dark magical girl who could not fight?

”I… I see,” was all she could respond as Ember had Shuuko’s body suck the air through her teeth. ”My gratitude for the feedback. It seems I really should stop embarrassing myself, huh?” Her voice became distant as Shuuko’s body tilted up to look at the stars, which seemed exactly as unreachable as the solution to their problems.
”I can front if it’s really bad,” offered Sylvia in an attempt to further reassure the schemer, but the latter only shook her head both in their shared mental space and in real life. Could she even solve the problem? Maybe if she started experimenting with the bodies in her spare time. That work always suited her, so if she could maybe turn them into sacrificial vessels of some sort, then they might have a chance.

It would hurt Sylvia beyond belief. Ember too, would be in agony. But did they have any other choice?

For her part, Nyxia was feeling equally awkward. She’d never been good in social situations, and Shuuko was practically a stranger, but even so… “Um, have you talked to anyone else about what’s bothering you?” the Neon Tempest tentatively inquired. “Someone who’d actually be able to help?”

”Thank you very much for the suggestion, however, I have already tried that solution,” responded Ember, which was technically true. She did discuss it with Sylvia and she even tried talk with Hotaru but the latter seemed impossible to move away from her position. ”And yet here I am, balancing on the razor edge of pretense, having believed it was a fortress wall.” She allowed herself this much honesty at least. ”Or perhaps… shall I indulge your question? Pray tell, what method of solving this infuriating problem would you choose?” Shuuko’s body turned back towards Nyxia with a smirk on her lips.

“Well, first I’d have to know what the problem actually is,” Nyxia replied in a tired deadpan. “Since you’re being so cryptic about it, I imagine it’s kinda personal, and I don’t really do ‘personal problems’ all that well, but if ya still want my help, then ya need to tell me what’s going on.”

”And therein lies the problem which nests inside the problem which further nests inside the problem, like an infinite fractal.” Ember commanded Shuuko’s body to sigh. ”Nevertheless, I appreciate the perspective. I will consider it, however, it is something that benefits from more than one night of sleeping on it.” She then started moving in the direction of Nyxia, towards where her home lay. ”I wish you the most pleasant of hunts. I hope we meet again in better circumstances.”

“Uh, all right then,” a confused-sounding Nyxia replied. “Um, thanks… You, too,” she added with an uncertain frown as she watched the gauntleted girl depart, before muttering under her breath, “What a weirdo…”

And with that, Ember was off to try and tackle the issue by herself once more.

To be honest, Nyxia hadn’t expected that her noting the presence of the club’s newest member would incite any form of awkward tension. After all, it seemed like common sense that the unknown girl sitting in the clubroom would be the same new magical girl that Rei had inducted into their ranks a few nights earlier. It was a simple matter of connecting a very small number of dots, although it was painfully clear such a task had been far too formidable a challenge for Suki. Damn, how dense is this bitch? Still, seeing how uncomfortable the revelation made the club’s resident pervert brought a pleased smirk to the Neon Tempest’s lips as she listened to the little drama play out before her. At least, until Roche entered the room.

“Hey, Roche,” Nyxia greeted her partner with a genuinely friendly smile as she returned the Rule Keeper’s fist bump. “What’s got you so cheerful today?” she inquired with a teasing grin.

However, before the track captain could respond, Kiyo joined them, followed by Tsubomi, although Nyxia only knew them as the Edgy One and the Apathetic One. Once they had taken their respective seats, Suki finally explained the purpose behind her little map. “Attacks?” the Neon Tempest echoed with a puzzled frown. This was honestly the first time she’d heard about such happenings, probably because if she had been present when mention was made of them previously, she’d simply tuned it out as was usually the case when it came to others’ problems. After all, it wasn’t like she’d ever been attacked. In fact, she’d never really understood the whole “Light” and “Dark” division in the first place, a division made all the more meaningless with the inclusion of their newest member. Nyxia listened in silence as various theories were offered and mention was made of something killing Edgy’s creepy floating eyeballs, which led to Suki bringing up… monkeys…?

Nyxia exhaled in annoyance. None of this crazy crap mattered to her. All she cared about was killing Miseria, and nothing the others had brought up had yet to interfere with that. She was just about to declare how boring this all was, when Shuuko finally showed up. In light of how odd the girl had been acting when she’d crossed paths with her the previous night, the Neon Tempest wasn’t particularly surprised the “High Priestess” was the last to arrive. When she requested to be brought up to speed on the meeting’s developments, Nyxia decided it might be fun to provide an abridged version.

“Well, first, Suki finally realized Haruna, here, was the magical girl from the other night,” she began. “And then everyone started talking about these light girls that are supposedly ambushing club members all over the place and kicking their shit in, although I’ve never seen them myself. Also, I think apathy incarnate said something about a ghost, and apparently monkeys are killing all of our resident voyeur’s flying eyeballs, probably to get a little privacy. I mean, seriously, those things are creepy as fuck.”

---

The partnered Magical Girls met fist to fist, savoring in that act a simple act of camaraderie that was impossible for anyone to imagine from Earthshaker or Nyxia beforehand. One was too stiff, and the other too vulgar for something so earnest to be displayed in public. Yet even as the club grew packed and they even found Willow in attendance, Roche didn’t give a damn.

She would have answered the question too, but the others made something of a ruckus as more arrivals streamed in behind her. Even the Rule Keeper was taken aback by how averse Suki turned, a near repulsion wafting off her as she gazed upon Haruna like one does a fresh turd cluttering their doorway. It was, in a word, familiar to Roche.

A reminded of the time Suki had looked at her with the same feeling of betrayal that colored their interactions. And just like then, she’s completely unreasonable about it.

Roche’s enthusiasm dimmed, feeling well-trod frustrations swell in her breast, released in a heated exhale. At least the conversation moved to the issue of Light Girls and, strangely enough, the hunting of Kiyo’s wandering eyes. Curious but it did remind her she had something of an announcement to make.

”Hey girls, since we have everyone here, I wanna announce that for the duration of our crisis with the GEMS, we’re changing the team structure a bit.”

”We know, Roach." In the day prior, Kiyo had told Suki and Tsubomi about the change to the teams. It would be kind of awkward if she had waited several days to tell her own squad about it, but Suki didn’t bother herself with that. Honestly, It was kind of weird that She, Tsubomi, and Kiyo were on the same team now. Should they have come up with a new team name? Was there even a theme that could be used to connect the three of them together? A blood witch, someone who played with eyeballs, and someone who made water that altered emotions. No… a brew. Yes, they could run with a witch theme. If only they could get themselves pointy hats. Was it possible to alter their magical girl forms to have pointy hats? Pointy hats were pretty dope if you weren’t trying to kiss anybody. But maybe the hats could be pointy, just with a small brim. Yea, that would be sweet!

What wasn't sweet was this atmosphere.

Haruna’s apologies weren’t helping, Nyxia’s shitty disposition wasn’t helping, Tsubomi’s apathy wasn’t helping, Shuuko’s confusion wasn’t helping, Roche wasn’t worth mentioning, and Kiyo’s boredom wasn’t… immediately helpful.

"Little monkeys?" It didn’t sound like it was related to the Gems if it was a dark girl. But if there was a magical girl attacking Kiyo’s eyeballs, then that meant something was up. Admittedly, Nyxia was probably right. Whoever was attacking them likely didn’t want to be spotted. And who knew, maybe it was the Gems and also the reason why they had been able to move around so easily. "Well, you know what? I think we should try to find the source of those monkeys. If it’s a dark magical girl, maybe we can team up with them and uh, hopefully it won’t go like last time. By which I mean they’re gunna help us or we’ll kick their ass before they kick ours!"

Fortunately it seemed like her earlier humiliation blew over without anyone caring! Now Suki felt like she had a purpose, and she desired to see where it lead.

"Are there any of those monkeys out right now? Or like, a spot where you normally see them?"

---

Willow stopped playing the second her steed disappeared under a mountain of a frog. Her eyes trailed up the slick creature to the person mounted on top of. Then her lips curled into a smile.

And she played.



”Long time no smell, froglegs.“ Willow's hair bristled, like a cat preparing for a fight. ”And what an interesting greeting! You accuse me of bullying creatures smaller than myself and then bring out a sizable creature of your own. On a bullfrog no less!“ She clicked her tongue. Her crimson orbs glowed like fresh embers. ”But I’m glad you decided to come play with me! What kept you so long? Was it that fake maiden who tended to the mountain shrine? Hmmm? She died around the same time you stopped coming around here. Let me guess, you were using her corpse to catch flies? Or was she cremated? I’ll have to ask Rei next time I see her. I wonder if she’d even remember such an unremarkable woman.“

A dark flame erupted from underneath Kaeru’s frog, detonating like a bomb. It was enough to tip it sideways, and for the unicorn trapped underneath to stand up and thrust it’s horn into the frog’s soft underbelly. Willow had taken to the sky, whirling like a dervish and playing only the way paganini could.

---

---

Well, Suki wasn't trying to escape any more, at least. She was probably still upset. Would she still show up for their run together? Maybe she could talk this over with her then. It'd be pretty bad if Suki skipped out on her; the issue with Tsubomi needed to be addressed as soon as possible. She'd been fine for a while, seemingly, insofar as Tsubomi's usual state could be defined as fine, but one never knew when things could take a turn.

That was, unfortunately, something that would just have to be addressed in time; she couldn't really make time pass faster. For now, there was more in front of her. Haruna raised her hand. "I haven't seen any monkeys - not ones that move under their own power, anyway - but I did meet another dark girl in town when I first arrived. She seemed kind of afraid of you guys, but it was hard to get a good read on her." In more ways than one. "If I tell you more about her, you won't like, try to run her off or anything, right? She seems like she trusts me and I wouldn't want to betray that."

---

Usually, this softball level of heckling from Nyxia would warrant, at worst, a caustic quip from the self-appointed Supervisor, but today she seemed especially moody. Fortunately, Kiyo's idea of escalation in this situation seemed to be a derisive snort, a sneer at nobody in particular, and giving Nyxia the silent treatment. It wasn't enough to disturb the flow of their meeting, but anyone who looked into Kiyo's eyes at that moment could have convinced themselves that the room had dropped a couple of degrees in temperature. Roche's comment and Suki's rebuttal seemed to snap her out of whatever thoughts had her in their grip. Another buzzing fly of an involuntary desire was swatted away.

The only person at the club meeting who might not already know about the new groups was Nyxia, but Kiyo wouldn't imagine Roche had hidden it from her, so she proceeded with the announcement knowing it would be redundant—ignoring the inevitable, intentionally obnoxious yawn from Nyxia. "I did, but it's fine. It wasn't the official announcement or anything. So, I guess this is that. For anyone who missed it, we'll be in groups of three for the time being, for additional safety. I'll be joining Suki and Tsubomi, and Shuuko will be joining Roche and Nyxia. Haruna, you'll be with Willow and the girlboss herself, Rei. Yup, do your best~" she added in that monotone voice again, doing a lazy, singular fist-pump. "Come talk to your senpai if Willow's teasing is too much, okay~?" She yawned again, like she had no interest in actually fulfilling that role, but Haruna would be able to tell that she actually wished she would. Suki and Ember probably knew it, too, but she had bought their silence with food. Hopefully.

That just left the matter of the monkeys. "The monkeys show up anywhere my minions do. It's like I said, as if they're being hunted. I'd say they show up anywhere you'd expect a magical girl to be, buuuuut they kept their distance from the big boss during our last outing. So, they're intelligent enough to know their limits, and they targeted the eyes I had on Shuuko, as if they didn't want me to know she was about to be attacked." Her eyes flicked down to look at Haruna. "In light of that, I wouldn't be so quick to trust a strange magical girl in town," she stated, hypocritical in the extreme given who she was talking to—but if she had the humility to notice, she probably wouldn't have said that. "I mean, it's pretty common for newbie dark girls to come to Hibusa Town for some space away from the light girls, but still be too scared of Rei to actually approach us. I always try to reach out—it'd be nice if us dark girls could have one big Sisterhood—but if they don't wanna, they don't wanna, y'know?" Her eyes widened and flicked about, as if she were thinking. "Think you could find her again? Tell her I just wanna talk. I'm not exactly the most dangerous member of the club, y'know?" She batted her eyelashes as if she were innocent. "As long as you aren't an interesting light girl" could probably be inferred without being said.

---

Apparently the meeting had to do with gems. Tsubomi's favorite was always emeralds. Pliny had said they could calm the mind, but to her they were just the best to look at. Green was a nice color on a jewel. Very pretty.

By pure luck, Tsubomi had been looking at Suki when she looked at her, allowing their eyes to meet for an instant before Suki looked back at Kiyo. Tsubomi's light-less eyes, even with her lack of empathic magic at the moment, could see the panic in her partner's. Her head tilted again and she began her slow walk around the table to stand next to her.

Of course, by the time she reached her partner's side and put one hand on her shoulder in what she believed to be a comforting gesture, the other attempting to pat her on the head at a speed akin to a car crusher set upon a warship, she'd missed the discussion. But at least it wasn't finished yet.

Her attention was brought halfway away from Suki by Kiyo's musings. Why was the smartest Club member guessing? It seemed pretty clear to Tsubomi.

"Snapdragon's friend is a banana tree." She didn't have a free hand to count on her fingers, so she did so aloud instead. "Snapdragon is one... Crikey is another... and now Banana Tree... That's three."

The girl's head lulled to the side, then rolled around the back of her neck to be on the opposite side. "Three or eight. Nine maybe. But minus two. So one and seven?" The sensation of the girl's voice wasn't quite confusion, per se, but the question was obvious in it.

Now that her head was on the right, she rolled it again to be forward, her eyes looking towards the ground. To her, the odds weren't great. The odds were bad, even. "Mm... Three and six. Bad odds. Bad odd, bad even."