[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/NHixdpw.png[/img][/center]

Kiyo nodded along with Tsubomi's explanation, if it could be called that. [color=firebrick][b]"I see what you're saying. I worry about that too."[/b][/color] She reached up the bridge of her nose again nervously and flicked a lock of hair away from her tired eyes. [color=firebrick][b]"This person Haruna knows may or may not be the one behind the monkeys, and they may or may not agree to join us, so the numbers are uncertain—but if we don't deal with the GEMs, the numbers are against us either way. If they learn about Ashbringer's plans and decide to use her to take on Rei, we're all screwed. Rei's the bigger threat to the light girls, but Ashbringer's the bigger threat to Hibusa Town. We need the GEMs to realize that the right thing to do is to either help us beat Ashbringer or stay out of our turf war altogether. Otherwise, we'll have to take proactive measures to drive the GEMs out of town before Ashbringer decides we've had enough prep time. We can't just wait around to get mobbed by all of them, or, like Tsubomi said, the odds are close to unwinnable for us."[/b][/color]

Just how strong [i]was[/i] Rei, anyway? Terrifyingly so, but surely she was not invincible. Something she'd said stuck with her: a good leader knows when to ask for help. How could someone as strong as Rei asserted she was ever need help, that she'd impart that lesson to her? Did Rei really think so highly of Evil Eye that she would need lessons in leadership, or was that her way of saying that she might really need it this time? Either way, it seemed inadvisable to Kiyo to assume that Rei could both take on Ashbringer and protect the club from the rest of those numbers. The odds needed to work, and if the odds didn't work, she would find a way to cheat, as she always did whenever the club girls were concerned.