---

---

She hadn't known Kiyo long, but Haruna was already getting the impression that Kiyo wasn't a particularly honest person. Not the sort of dishonest that would lie to your face - although the dark girl seemed perfectly capable, if it served her purposes - but the sort that would always do her best to keep you guessing about what she really wanted until she disappeared one day. Haruna wondered if she did that to herself, too. It made her think even harder about their initial meeting, given she'd seemed genuine at the end of it. "I'll hold you to that promise, then," she said, with one of her signature small smiles. Haruna's powers could be a pain at times, but it was worth it for the ability to make people a little bit happier. "Honestly, I'm almost wondering if she's supposed to be a test from Rei. We didn't exactly get along, and it sounds like she's always like that."

Then there was the matter of Black Gate. And Tsubomi's commentary on the subject, although that was about as comprehensible as a textbook on advanced quantum mechanics to Haruna at the moment. She briefly considered trying to eke more information out of the strange girl, but for all her concern, Haruna's patience was limited. Best to let Suki sort that out, whatever the hell that was. "I actually just have her phone number. I'll shoot her a text, see if she's interested in meeting with you." She hoped that Michi would be up for it. If she refused, and therefore Haruna refused to find her for the club, it might cause tensions. Not that the club was exactly short on those, judging by the amount of side eyes, squints, glares, shuffles, and outright barbs flying around constantly. I guess they do play to stereotype a little, huh. . .

Well, that's why she's here. Whether it meant more light or a comforting shade, she'd do her best to make these girls a little bit happier.

Kiyo nodded along with Tsubomi's explanation, if it could be called that. "I see what you're saying. I worry about that too." She reached up the bridge of her nose again nervously and flicked a lock of hair away from her tired eyes. "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."

Just how strong was 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.

It would have been hard to froget forget someone has pompous, annoying and plain evil as Willow seemed to be. Not to forget crazed. Rei's henchman even seemed to have lost a few more screws somewhere along the way. Kaeru remained sat for the duration of Willow's villainous monologuing, but as she was going on and on, Hibusa's shrine maiden stance straightened with each words. By the time she was done talking, she had Kaeru's full attention, now semi sitting up.

"I'll say; Some in your little club have the semblance of a honor or a moral code of some such in their own deranged way.

She brought a foot up.

"Some used to be funny - to fight with at least, if nothing else. But you?"

She brought the other foot in place, taking a stance now ready to pounce.

"You're little more than Rei's crazed lapdog." Kaeru was trying to hide the anger she felt at Willow's words, but doing a bad job of it.

It was about at that time the dark flames came from underneath the large Toad Kaeru was standing on. She wasn't able to fly like some of her peers could, but;
When the unicorn's horn found it's way into the amphibian's soft underbelly was when Kaeru's launched herself into the air just as her summon... exploded into more than a few dozens smaller toads and frogs. The unicorn would find itself swarmed by the bactracians hordes as others leapt after their Master. Kaeru used the frogs like stepping stones; each step was met with a frog that had leaped high up.

As she was ascending, she added; "Doesn't matter - I'll give you the beating she never did!"

Such a living staircase allowed her to gain the altitude she needed until, at the top, she was met with a much larger toad on which she could use the full force of both her legs and launch herself off it's back right towards Willow - while at the same time sending the bigger toad backwards towards the unicorn as if it was a cannonball croaking a warcry.

If Willow herself was not quick enough, she might find herself on the receiving end of previously mentioned froglegs, as Kaeru was now aiming a full dropkick towards her like a very angry missile.

Ember blinked as she gave Haruna another once-over just in case she missed some detail that she could use to place the girl. She came up empty, just as the protector and as she considered herself good at remembering faces, it seemed odd that the girl said they met recently. Then again, it could be the fact she referred to their meeting during the night, which made more sense.

”My sincere apologies,” responded Ember as she bowed slightly. ”Though for future note, not all magical girls are capable of recognising each other when they are not transformed. Please do keep that in mind for the future.” She straightened up with a smile on her face. Following that, she took her well-deserved seat beside Kiyo, listening to the others. Thankfully, Nyxia caught her up quickly and then the discussion proceeded to monkeys attacking Kiyo’s eyeballs and the GEMS getting the jump on them.

Of course, then the matter came to her reassignment. Honestly, it had not been a surprise given that Hotaru wanted nothing more than to be rid of Haruna, but it still stung deep down. Ember tried her best to keep her expression straight, turning her expression into a mask of a pleasant smile as the faint sting of betrayal slapped at her heart. It had been even worse when they first discussed it. The only solace she along with Sylvia could take was that it would not be permanent.

”About the monkeys…” she spoke when she felt she would no longer let her emotions show in her speech, ”They retreated when I made an example from one of them during the night, so it might not be plausible to follow any kind of trail that they left and I honestly doubt that the one who met Haruna is also the one responsible for the monkeys. It is highly unlikely, so please do not get your hopes up about it.” She shot a look at the light girl and nodded, acknowledging her contribution to their cause.

”But on the other hand, it might mean that there are two more Dark Girls we can recruit… speaking of which, is Kana-san well?” Worry entered Ember’s voice as she looked at Suki’s partner, then at Suki. ”I do not mean to be demeaning towards her, but she sounds and looks as though she had drowned.” She frowned. She knew that the girl could appear emotionless and disinterested, however, this seemed to take things much too far.

”It feels like she’s not even here,” chimed in Sylvia with her observation before a shiver went down her spine and she shook her head. ”But she’s still scary! Please be careful, Ember. I’ll step in if I have to.”

Ember gave a mental nod to Sylvia before she returned to the conversation with a question.

”And are we aware of how many GEMS there are? Kana-san and I have encountered three different individuals for certain.”

Haruna actually met a dark magical girl? Just how weird does this get?

If she was keeping her identity a secret this long, it was hard to be surprised she’d hide a whole dark magical girl too. Whatever. Some people just found it easier to lie than tell the truth. Suki didn’t even know how to respond to this new information, but it seemed like Kiyo did. She had to wonder if all that stuff Willow was saying about the two of them didn’t have an element of truth to it. Kiyo was acting all bored and curt until Haruna opened her mouth. But Suki had no intention of saying anything. Partially because she didn’t need the extra drama right now, but also that was a really good burger. It wasn’t a date or anything, but hopefully Kiyo would take her out to eat again sometime.

Then Tsubomi changed seats. It was unusual for her to do something like that. Typically the girl liked to move around as little as possible, but hell if Suki could understand why. The slow motion patting only served to confuse Suki more, but it wasn’t an unwelcome gesture. It took her back to the time on the roof before Ashbringer showed up. Though it was difficult to fully appreciate when she was trying to listen to everyone speak and knew Nyxia was, well, inr ange to say something snarky. But as baffled as Suki had been, she was even more so when Tsubomi opened her mouth.

What. Even. Was that?

She was talking in some strange code that Suki didn’t understand. That wasn’t something she normally did, Suki didn’t think. In fact, Tsubomi was usually very bad at interpreting things told to her that weren’t very specific. Just the other day she hadn’t realized Suki had called her sunshine. Though before Suki could come up with some idea of what the numbers and nicknames were a reference to, it seemed like Kiyo had worked it out. It was good that someone had understood her, but horrible that again, Suki could do nothing for her friend.

”Yea.” Suki added, if only in a futile attempt to feel like she was a part of this. Then Shuuko started speaking. Honestly, she had been kind of weird recently, and was much less open than anyone else here. It wasn’t like talking had ever gotten Suki in trouble. ”I uh, I really only said we could recruit them in jest. Some of them are sort of mean. Really though, you think that two whole dark magical girls are hiding? What if one of them’s a light girl? I really fine the idea of anyone hiding in the town itself hard to believe.” Surely the all knowing Rei would have done something about it. And if not her, then her house cat. Though they had been playing a lot of hooky recently…

The comment about Tsubomi wasn’t even worth addressing. It wasn’t a surprise that she had already forgotten what Suki had told her the other day. She knew Shuuko was all about her honey pot Roche. ”How many GEMs are there? I dunno. The City of Light is sorta mysterious. I imagine a light girl from there would know."

And sure enough, Haruna did know. She had even met a few of them. And if she chose to say how many she thought there were, that number would have been “a lot.” There used to be several magical girl teams in the City of Light, but gradually they’ve been absorbed by the GEMS into a giant super team. Not counting the few solo girls that roam the place, they are the only team in the City of Light. They likely had over ten members, maybe closer to twenty.

---

”Lap dog? Come on, frog legs, at least get my race right!“ Willow grit her teeth. ”I didn’t spend all my time getting my PhD in kitty behavior school just to have you call me lap dog! You call yourself a light girl with such a naked display of racism?!“ Oh yes, Willow was having a good time.

Though it did seem like something was amiss. Magic was bullshit, but using airborne frogs as a stepping stone to get higher in the sky was a level of BS she only got to see when Rei chose to do anything. But that was some sexy BS. This was just someone frogging around.

”Someone drank their redbull this morning.“

Willow’s ability to float above a fight was great, but it wasn’t something that allowed for a quick getaway. As soon as the frog priestess jumped off her last frog, and shot it towards her unicorn. The steed wasn’t about to get crushed twice, and managed to get out of the way just as the meteor frog slammed into its previous position. Kaeru flew towards Willow’s face. The dropkick was coming in, Willow winced and braced for impact, and then Kaeru’s leg passed right through her on her way back down. Her face lit up with twisted joy.

”Oh yea! I forgot, I’m a little ghost kitty!“ She smirked down at her opponent. ”I’m already dead! The fight’s over, you should cry for me atop the mountain!“ Or Willow could phase through some attacks.

The unicorn was preparing itself for another charge, this time aimed at Kaeru herself. But it seemed that some other animals were making their way onto the scene. A few dwarf monkeys peaked down from the rooftops to examine the fight taking place.

As the discussion continued, Nyxia didn’t even bother to stifle a yawn of boredom. While the mention of new teams was slightly interesting, even if it didn’t really amount to much as far as she and Roche were concerned, neither the GEMs nor the possible unaffiliated dark girls in town were of any great importance to the Neon Tempest, and so she couldn’t be bothered to muster up much interest for the various suggestions on how the club might locate and “deal” with them. Miseria were her enemies. Other magical girls, whether light or dark, were simply allies or annoyances. Even at their worst, no other magical girl had ever openly interfered with her culling of her hated foes, and until that happened, they were very much someone else’s problem. That said, she still felt the need to offer some kind of helpful suggestion, if only to hasten the monotonous meeting to its conclusion.

“Haruna seems nice enough,” Nyxia spoke up, gesturing towards the club’s newest member. “We should have her ask these GEMs what their fucking deal is. I mean, she is a light girl, after all, so they probably wouldn’t just attack her on sight.”

---

---

"Too many," Haruna replied. "I don't actually remember how many there are, exactly. They tried pretty hard to get me to join early on. I'm pretty sure I ran into at least five different ones personally, and there's like three times as many as that in the city all told. In the City of Light, you're either a GEM or you're flying solo. That's. . . part of why we don't get along," she said, glancing at Nyxia as she continued. "If they're actually all here, you guys are in serious trouble. Or, I probably should say we're in serious trouble. I don't think they like that I didn't join, and I don't like how they go at dark girls, so if it comes to it I don't think they're gonna pull their punches just for me. You're probably right that they won't go at me right away, though. I'll keep an eye out for them while I'm searching for the mystery dark girl in town, see if they'll tell me why they're so invested in coming to Hibusa all of a sudden."

She chose to let Shuuko's strangeness go for the moment. She'd said that she might behave differently when she saw Haruna next, and that was certainly true. It was almost like Shuuko was a totally different person each time Haruna had met her. Her desires sounded different again, too, although those at least had a texture similar to their initial, unfortunate meeting. Part of Shuuko evidently still wanted to rip Haruna's head off, for one. Very curious, that one. . . if she weren't still mostly a stranger here, she might ask about it. That was a question for a private conversation, at the very least.

Attempting to offer Nyxia and Suki both their desired reprieve from the meeting, Haruna dragged herself up out of her seat once more. "I can actually start looking now, if you guys want. Unless you think I should wait for Rei? I kinda get the impression that Rei is going to find me when Rei wants to find me, though."

---

With deadpan fashion Suki shot down the announcement, and Kiyo wasn’t much more receptive. The Rule Keeper had expected word to filter out to most of the girls, but it seems she underestimated how much those uninformed would care, either. Though she’d take it as a positive that Nyxia didn’t balk at Shuuko’s increased proximity in their partnership, even if it was marked by a great deal of independence already.

The discussion that passed over her was as disjointed as it was productive, something akin to a tangle of rats pulling in every direction to try and loosen their knotted tails. For every good idea another would pop up and pull them in another, leaving them with a few good avenues to pursue that would, unfortunately, divide their numbers across the city in the process.

”It sounds to me like we’ve got some goals. Kiyo can take a group to hunt down the monkeys. Another can shadow Haruna while she makes contact with Light Girls and independent Dark Girls on the chance one of them gets hostile. Then the rest of us can keep waving the color and hunting Miseria”

Given that she and Nyxia had all the subtlety of bricks hurled through windows….

”My team is good for keeping the Miseria and letting the GEMS know we aren’t hiding from them.”

---

It seemed that Kiyo didn't understand Tsubomi's comment, but she didn't realize that. With her mind moving at its usual pace and focused on Suki, all she heard was that Kiyo agreed with her. Though Haruna talking about there being a lot of gems did register. Followed by Roche's comment on strategy. If she was now with Kiyo, and Kiyo was going to find the monkeys...

"Mm." That'd be difficult. It was one thing to hunt down a Magical Girl, it was another to do so in her current state. Could Tsubomi even do anything for that? She couldn't really talk her way through things, not without her usual perk-up from transforming, but she wasn't in a state to fight either. Had her magical self even healed yet? She wasn't sure.

Granted, all of these thoughts dragged their way through her mind at a pace befitting someone out of shape climbing a mountain, but at least she was thinking.

"Oh god, you're thinking." The voice that she hadn't heard since the mess of a "fight" was back. A slow glance around showed that once again it was only in her own mind. Though the other somewhat mind-reader in the room would notice that Tsubomi's desires were back to how they were in the past, without the newer one showing itself anymore.

Having just barely enough awareness to not speak aloud, Tsubomi thought back at her supposed other self. Sometimes.

"Uhuh. In the sense that twice ever is 'sometimes,' I guess."

Exactly.

It was this moment that she noticed that her hand had stopped its pitiful attempts to pat Suki's head, simple laying on it. Tsubomi began to pull her hand back, letting gravity return it to her side faster than she could herself. Still, she wanted to keep her other hand on Suki's shoulder.

"It's weird to see you trying to be nice. You want to pretend, but you can't even fake it right."

Tsubomi's head once more moved in the way it was most used to, tilting to the side. But an answer to her silent question never came. The voice had stopped, and with its disappearance, a focused Haruna might notice the apathetic girl's desires returning to how they were moments ago.

"Set a trap?" It seemed that she was back to the world around her. As much as she usually was, at least.

Kaeru was momentarily thrown off balance when she went through her opponent, but managed to catch herself and land on her feet before she'd hit the ground on the other side.

"I'm pretty sure I nailed the species alright."

Another word starting with a B would have been a much more liberating comeback, but much more unbecoming of the Frog Princess.

She then hopped onto a nearby pole, turning to a still goading Willow. Her eyes also caught the Unicorn, which was now getting free of her conjured frogs.

"So... you're still angry with me, huh?" Sayuri muttered in a low voice only she would hear, annoyed. Since her return, she had tried a number of times to call on to her more iconic partner - the Ogama; Bakegama - to no avail. She let out a disappointed sigh, shrugging it off. "Fine, be like that. I still have options."

Sayuri almost missed the little monkeys hiding about, spying on the fighting pair. Like the other Magical Girls, she had eyed one or two around Hibusa City before, but didn't think not much of them. She believed them to be something akin to Evil Eye's floating spies - but now wondered if they might also be linked to the newcomer she met on the mountain.

Though none of this would help with the annoying musician at hand.

Without Bakegama at her side, and with that Nightmare unicorn on the loose, staying on the ground was not an option for Kaeru. The rest of her slimy friends were disappearing now, hopping away or straight up vanishing in a puff of smoke as the nightmarish horse began it's charge.

Yet two other, larger summons appeared at Kaeru's side.

One, a large Toad that appeared right below the lamppost, had a reddish skin tone to it, and looked a lot sturdier than any of her previous ones. While not a hundred percent Humanoid like Bakegama, it bore powerful front legs, looking nothing like a regular Toad.
The second one, a rather large Frog holding onto the post beside her, had a more blue-ish skin color to it, bearing tattoos all over it's body. It's eyes were fixated on Willow.

"Did you ever meet Raijin and Fujin? No thunder or tempest nonsense, but I felt it was fitting with the coloring and all ~"

Both of them bore beads necklaces around their necks. Both were clearly summons more akin to Willow's Unicorn or Kaeru's Bakegama. Among Kaeru's silly looking magic, there was really only three summons she called on when she was serious. With Raijin and Fujin, the club had seen two of them so far. Only Rei had seen the third one so far.

~ ♫ ~

"If at first you don't succeed... ! " Kaeru exclaimed, jumping backwards down onto Raijin just as it inflated it's vocal sac, which served as a launching platform that Kaeru bounced right off of, launching herself at Willow again. The Red Toad then readied itself to attempt at catching the unicorn's charge and stop it dead in it's track.

The 'ghost kitty' most likely could phase through her attack once more, but Sayuri counted exactly on that this time. If she didn't, she'd be hard pressed to avoid the head on attack. If she did fall for it though, Willow would quickly feel something wrap around, and stick, just as she'd reappear. Looking down, she'd quickly realize Kaeru was but the distraction.

Fujin's tongue outstretched all the way to the annoying fly. Having caught Willow, Fujin would then jump from it's perch and flex it's powerful tongue downward, sending Willow on a collision course with her own Unicorn.

Haruna lived in the city of light too? When did the surprises end?

That wasn’t really a problem on its own, but the GEMS were out to get them. If she could be trusted then she didn’t get along with them very well. Then again, "sorry guys, I didn’t think you’d invite me into your club if you knew I was a GEM" sounded like something she might say. But maybe that would have been the more convenient option, as Haruna made them sound like some sort of light magical girl cult that was out to get her. She could be the reason why they were all hanging around here. Maybe Haruna had joined up with them and then decided to come here when she got bored of them. Maybe the only reason she joined the detention club was to protect herself. It was fortunate that Tsubomi was stroking her hair, as that made it a lot easier to just not care about any of this bullshit. If only Haruna could have stayed as a super cutie…

"I don’t think Boss Baby is showing up." Suki practically sighed the words.

Never wasting a moment to feel important, Roche stated what everyone was probably going to do anyway if she kept her mouth shut. She got a side glance from Suki, and nothing else.

But as the case typically was with Suki, none of her emotional turmoil lasted more than a few seconds. Her attention had been snatched away by something else. It seemed like Tsubomi had stopped patting her head and was just laying her hand there. Suki was very still. If she didn’t do anything, maybe she’d get one of those coveted head pats. That might have sounded weird to most, but getting a head pat and getting patted wasn’t the same thing. They called them pats, but it always looked more like a rub to her. As a tall girl that most people found kind of disgusting, the opportunity to receive a head pat had never really presented itself. Suki bit her lower lip in anticipation, only for Tsubomi’s hand to slip away. Another sigh escaped Suki’s mouth. That was twice today her dreams had been shattered. Oh well, the reassuring shoulder hold wasn’t a bad consolation prize. That or Tsubomi making an effort to engage with the conversation that was comprehensible. Both were silver linings, and she’d take both of them.

"If they are going after the mogalls, then setting a trap shouldn’t be hard." Suki stood up, begrudgingly allowing Tsubomi’s other hand to slip off of her. "Unless the monkeys are attacking in self defense, but then Aneki can point them out we just can’t let them get away." Suki pricked her finger on the rim of her skirt. Then she placed her finger on the side of her head, and a giant blood needle shot out of the other side. Rather than splashing over everyone present, the blood from her wound wrapped around her body and transformed Suki into Oros the Joyful, complete with an attention stealing smile. "I’m ready when you guys are! Let’s see if we get lucky tonight!" The innuendo was unintentional and something she only noticed after the fact. "I know we can get to the bottom of this."

---

"This is serious, frog legs! You could fail your biology class! I go meow meow, Oros goes woof woof! Big difference!" Willow continued to play and float through the air. The frog girl’s attack had failed and she seemed to be a little lethargic today. Instead of throwing more attacks in her direction, she seemed to be talking to herself. Good. She was probably frustrated and had totally forgotten how to fight Willow. Though it wasn’t long before she had two more frogs at her sides, if they could be called that. Kaeru soon after reintroduced them to Willow. "Of course I remember them. We have tea parties every Thursday. Fujin never skips leg day while Rajin is getting a full body tattoo. Maybe you can join us next time and we can have an intervention? You have an unhealthy obsession with amphibians."

The dark unicorn attempted to gore Rajin, but the frog was able to just barely keep it at bay. Though the horn was shooting off sparks and rotating like a drill. Slowly it was starting to pick up speed and slip in Rajin’s hands, allowing the unicorn to inch closer.

In the air, Willow stuck out her tongue and attempted to lick Kaeru’s face as she flew by, but turned incorporeal before either of them could make contact. "If at first you don’t succeed, remember the definition of insanity is trying the same thi-"

Fujin grabbed Willow with his tongue and whipped her straight into her unicorn. It was enough to knock the beast off course, and Fujin could release its horn and allow the unicorn to stumble past. The webbing between his toes had been scorched off, but he was otherwise fine.

When the smoke cleared, the unicorn was getting up again. Willow’s spine was bent into a perfect "U" over her steed’s back. She sat upright, looked at Kaeru, and pulled out her cell phone. It was already dialing Haruna. Naturally, being the boss’s personal partner meant that you could have access to everyone’s number regardless if they wanted to share it or not.

"Hey, I kind of got stopped by a light girl on my way to the meeting. If you guys could get over here and-" One of the monkeys had jumped to Willow’s position and snatched the phone out of her hand. She just sat there with her hand up against the side of her head. "...Hmmm." She hopped off of her unicorn, which took off after the offending monkey. "So um, did you want to wait for everyone to show up, or should I summon some farries?" She chuckled. "You’re stronger than when we last fought, but how do you expect this to end? You don’t actually think you can drive us out of town, do you?" She placed her violin on her shoulder. "You could join us. You wouldn’t even be the first light girl to do so."

At Ember's expression of concern towards Tsubomi, Kiyo looked in the lethargic girl's direction, but didn't comment further. If Tsubomi herself couldn't articulate the problem, it was unlikely that she could offer much help. Well, I could try hypnotizing her, she thought idly, allowing a sigh to escape upwards out of the corner of her mouth, removing a bang from in front of her eye. "Well, yeah. If they can hide from me, it goes without saying that they're pretty good. All the more reason I wanna talk to them." Memories of chasing Oros through the school crossed her mind, and an ephemeral smile may have existed for just a fraction of a second before Nyxia and Roche proceeded to make it exceedingly awkward for Kiyo to insist she tag along with the new girl to talk to the GEMs. After she'd stuck up for Roche by going through the motions of the announcement despite Suki trying to cut her off, too! Though neither of them seemed to have noticed—perhaps given the atmosphere between them, that was for the better. Rather than comment on it, she transformed alongside Oros. "If you think they will believe you without one of us there, then sure. I'll warn you, they're not gonna like Willow. She'd fuck the whole thing up."

Evil Eye's assessment was merciless as always. She looked up toward the ceiling, so the others wouldn't have to watch her eyes eerily unfocus into a thousand-yard stare and dart around the room looking at nothing while she searched through what her Mogall could see. "It'd be bold of her to claim self-defense when all they can do is look around and make more of themselves... though I suppose in an enclosed space they could multiply enough to smother someone," she mused, hand on her chin as if she were actually considering the merits of such a macabre strategy. Coming from her, it was equally likely to be a joke or a serious consideration.

Suddenly, she blinked. "Ugh. The frog girl is back... gross... Oh. Pfffhuahahaheh!" She laughed giddily. "A monkey stole Willow's phone. That's great. Well, looks like we're all going to the same place." She shrugged and began floating out the window Nyxia had entered from.

---

---

Haruna did an admirable job resisting the urge to make another face at the idea of trying to talk to another light girl with Willow within a mile. "Yeah, Willow seems kinda. . ." If you can't think of anything polite to say, then its best to say nothing at all. Words highly relevant to the current situation, in Haruna's opinion. "Anyway, there's a decent chance they'll get weird if I do show up with a dark girl, too, so it's not really different either way." She was about to continue when her phone rang. She listened to the noise after her new partner cut off in vain for a second or two, before slipping it back into her pocket and starting toward the window. "Willow's in trouble," she said, clarifying Kiyo's statement. Haruna proceeded to, in mundane form, vault over the tables separating her from the window, hurl herself out said window, then transform before she started falling.

---

"There's no time to lose!" She had to admit that part of her rush was that Haruna - or rather, Hizuki at the moment - did, in fact, like playing the hero. Alongside that, however, was genuine concern for Willow, regardless of how irritating the catgirl was. Her wings carried her skyward in a rush, glowing with magical energy. Flying straight up, it didn't take long to spot the chaos of a clash between multiple magical girls with summoning powers. "Mode: THUNDER CRACK, engage!" Hizuki was through the gateway almost as soon as it appeared, her upward motion coming to zero as the armor's boosters snapped and clanked into place. The roar of magically powered jet engines carried her forth, beelining toward Willow and her assailant at supersonic speeds.

As if on cue, after Willow asked her question, Daybreak arrived in a flash of yellow and a cloud of dust, her armor dissipating as she dismissed it just before an impact that certainly would have crushed the pavement (and the armor.) She stood up and faced the unfamiliar light girl and her frogs, planting one end of her spear on the ground as her cape billowed with the wake of her landing. Hizuki glanced over her shoulder to ask a question. "Are you alright?" Daybreak didn't wait for a response before returning her focus to the frog girl, already focusing her powers to get a sense of what her would-be foe would do next.

Suki did raise a good point about hiding, if it were not for the case of Ashbringer. Or the light girls that ambushed Tsubomi and her. Even with the extensive coverage of Kiyo’s Mogalls, things were bound to slip through the net, because not even she could pay attention to everything all the time, something that became more apparent as time went on. Perhaps an increase in patrols would solve the issue, but they also had lives in the city.

Shuuko’s mouth pressed into a thin line as Ember thought about that, then Haruna spoke up about the GEMs and… No matter how unreasonable Hotaru’s hatred towards light girls, it seemed a little more justified in the face of the implications. The schemer would have to talk to Haruna more about it in private to see if the picture she got matched the actual situation, however, this did not seem to be the place or the time for such things. The Daybreak’s proposal also risked her own health, a point which she was about to raise-

Only to get slammed with the most unpleasant possibility by the Rule Keeper herself. Ember barely managed to rein in the reaction of Shuuko’s body to the statement, because she knew that her newfound incompetence would be on full display. Not to mention the sheer number of bodies she could lose in a fight against other magical girls. So she tried to reach out towards Hotaru again.

”Hotaru? Please? I know you’re furious about the light girls, but can we please talk?”

”I’d really like it if you were here again,” Sylvia spoke up as well. ”I miss you.” A touch of longing and loneliness coloured her voice, far more than Ember could ever manage, for the protector spoke true and without the considerations of the schemer.

”I’ll return when you pull your heads out of your asses.” The response did not shock Ember in particular. Sylvia, on the other hand, hung her head low as her expression turned into a sorrowful frown even as the warrior’s presence vanished from their vicinity.

”We’ll get her back some day, Sylvi," assured Ember as she turned her attention back to the detention club. Suki suggested a trap, Kiyo spoke about Willow and Haruna was clearly suicidal as she literally leapt through the window when she learned of Willow being in trouble.

Shuuko’s body laced her hands and squeezed them as hard as humanly possible.

”Right. I am of the opinion that we should catch up with her before either the GEMS or the unknowns force her into a situation from which there is no escape. Unfortunately, they are not near one of my bodies, so I am also stuck following her in the mundane way.” She could technically swap to being closer to her, but safety lay in numbers, especially when there was no way she could fight by herself.

Nyxia breathed a sigh of relief when Haruna moved to end the meeting. "About fucking time…" she muttered as she strode over to the window. "C’mon, Roche," the Neon Tempest called to her partner. "Let’s go kill some shit. Oh, and I guess you’re coming along, too," she added, glancing at Shuuko. Hopefully I won’t have to babysit her as much as the other night… Even if that wasn’t the case, and the gauntleted girl was still a walking disaster area, she’d decided to let Roche be the one to look after her. Not only was the Rule Keeper more suited to the task, but the two supposedly had something of a budding romance going on, not that Nyxia particularly cared about such things.

Nor did she care when the club’s voyeur announced that the annoying-as-fuck Willow had gotten her phone stolen by one of the mysterious monkeys, although she did have to concede the mental image was rather amusing. Then Kiyo observed that it looked like they would all be checking up on the cat girl together. "Think again," Nyxia told the crimson-eyed girl as she begrudgingly allowed her to float past, the Neon Tempest’s mouth set in an annoyed scowl. "You idiots can deal with that shit. We’re actually gonna do something productive, right Roche?" she asked her partner.

Before Roche could respond, Haruna clarified that Willow was, in fact, in trouble, at which point she proceeded to vault over the intervening tables, past the floating Kiyo, and out the open window with such speed that Nyxia barely had time to fully realize what was happening. “Uh, have fun, I guess…” she muttered as she watched the now-transformed girl jet off across the sky. An instant later, her head whipped around to shoot Shuuko and incredulous look. “What?! You wanna play hero for that annoying bitch, too?!” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

The last thing Willow'd see as she'd be dragged down by Fujin was Kaeru sticking her own tongue out to the musician, smugly waving good bye. Below, Raijin has stopped the raging unicorn in it's track; it's now scorched feet dug deep in the earth. he was struggling keeping control of the beast, yet succeeded in it's task. As Willow came flying down, he'd jump out of the way with a deep croaks and land where the unicorn stood before it's mistress and itself barreled down some way in a cloud of dust.

Fujin landed back onto Raijin's back, and Kaeru onto Fujin's. From her perch, she looked down at Willow, now straightening herself out and getting up. All things considered, she seemed in pretty good condition.

"Calling some friends?" Willow pulled out a cellphone, and Sayuri did nothing to try and stop her. "I'm calling your bluff - you have none."

If the whole club was to come down to them, it would probably be best to make a quick escape - and yet... there was something inside stronger than all the reason in the world screaming 'bad idea': Anger. Anger at Willow for making fun of her grief, anger at the Miserai and anger at the Dark Magical girls whom Sayuri blamed for the rise in Miseria - and in misery - in Hibusa City.

More importantly, anger at herself. Though she might not yet realize it.

The monkey stealing the phone got her to focus back on the situation at hand. Sayuri crossed her arms listening to Willow's rambling.
"Why not?" she'd answer about waiting for the rest "I danced with you all before, don't you remember?"

"You could join us. You wouldn’t even be the first light girl to do so."

She sighed. "You already asked, I sai--...What?" Of all the things Willow had mocked and attacked Kaeru on, this seemed to confuse her the most. The bitter sting of Willow's evil words and taunt were expected. The thought of them having ensnared another innocent into darkness? Not as much. Sayuri inhaled to speak up, but was cut short of doing show by a bright flash of yellow light.

Other Light girls had been rare in Hibusa, but to meet two in such a short span? it was unmistakable - just like Bodacious Boleite before, Kaeru could feel the magic from this newcomer and she was no Dark Magical Girl. It only added to her surprise when the same newcomer would crouch to Willow's side and face her.

"Hold up!"

She hopped off of her two Frogs back onto the ground, a calming hand on Raijin's cheek while not breaking eye contact with Hanura. "You're with them? But - you're not fallen!"

Sayuri wanted nothing more than to help Hibusa city heal, and truthfully believed that Dark Magical Girls and their negative and selfish views on magic and how to use their powers were one of the main cause of all it's ills, and the growth of Miseria. In this very moment, Kaeru wanted nothing more than to understand. If Haruna's powers could indeed tell what others wanted, she'd quickly realize that Kaeru held strong emotions against Willow whom she saw as barely better than Miseria. She had no direct ill will towards Haruna, however, whom she saw as a natural ally. Though even that might change depending on her next move.

"What could they possibly have threatened you with? What kind of lies could they have given that'd make you turn away from the light and join their selfish crusade for power and self gain? We are meant to protect the city! They scavenge it for whatever scraps of power they can wrestle from one another. Sayuri said, quickly. It was hard for her to hide the disdain she held for the Club and it's members, but her words carried real worry for Haruna.

She took one step forward, extending one hand out. Her words were true, but there was something else that hard to discern. A sense of urgency possessed her words.

"Let me help you before it's too late, before you fall even further and can't turn back. This city has enough Darkness as it is!"

---

Hizuki shook her head in response to the frog girl's protests and questions. This reaction wasn't exactly unexpected. She wasn't a GEM, either, which was good. Maybe she could be reasoned with? "They haven't done anything to me," Hizuki said, relaxing her posture slightly in the absence of an immediate threat. "The Detention Club isn't threatening me - although the Demon of Hibusa is still terrifying - and as far as I know, they've mostly told me the truth. I'm not going to fall, either, because I know I'm doing what's right, and nobody in the Detention Club told me to do it." She paused, suddenly looking a bit more awkward as she remembered one detail. "Well, uh, Shatterscape did kinda try to strangle me, but I think that was a misunderstanding. We're okay now. I think." Daybreak shook off the brief stumble and continued. "In fact, Rei actually saved my life a few nights ago. That's not why I joined, either, though."

She took one step forward. "I'm actually here to help Hibusa, just like you. Just. . . in a different way. There's one group of people that light girls like us never bother trying to help. The only people who have to be afraid of anything in the City of Light. Dark girls are people too, they're just people who have had bad stuff happen to them. So I'm going to try to make their lives better, so they can be happy, and won't have to struggle quite so much. And, if they're happier, and dark girls really are the source of Hibusa's troubles, then it'll help heal Hibusa too if they don't have to fight so much." Hizuki met Kaeru's eyes through her visor. "I'll be alright, I promise."

---

Acid Drop's head tilted to the side, then to the other. It was too slow to crack her neck, but it confirmed to her that she didn't just magically get her magic back. At this point, she'd slow everyone else down. Which would normally not occur to her, but given her recent attempts to be understanding of others, she was learning to think of things like that.

"Mm. Go on ahead. I'll catch up." It was too mundane for Acid Drop, the way her words crawled their way off her tongue. Once more it was as if Tsubomi was piloting a facsimile of her magical alter ego, rather than turning into it.

The inner landscape of her mind was once more the stage she used to perform on, but now it was a blank canvas with no props or actors. She had no script, she had only her now tattered and worn costume, and there was nobody in the audience other than those in the room with her outside of her head. There wasn't any lighting on the stage, and even the voice in her head was a no-show this time.

With nothing else to do, she sat on the edge of the stage once more as her real-world body began its walk out the door to the Club room and further to the school entrance. Having no script to read to pass the time, no movements to practice, no spotlight to lead her to the right place... It was not an experience she was used to.

A silver lining seemed to be there, though. While she was busy in her own internal world, her body was moving at a just notably faster pace than it had been all day. Just barely fast enough to get out of the school before she expected, before she realized she was moving like she was.

Mm. Strange.

---

Did I do something wrong? Roche’s brows furrowed as confusion dominated her features under a cutting glare from Suki and a flicker of anxiety from Kiyo. She may not have been an empath but the look of betrayal that the eye-centric Magical Girl was sending her left Roche with the feeling of jogging across a dog turd.

In comparison Suki’s look was business as usual. Grating, and leaving Roche with a foul taste in her mouth, but one she’d grown used to swallowing without indulging in an unhealthy dose of sanctimonious outrage.

I have to think of the team. The Rulekeeper bit her tongue with a flicker of resentment, though Haruna would have been hard pressed to note one girl’s rising negativity from others when the club was thick with it. Like a brush stroke of tar across a seemingly innocuous club meeting, speckled with the colors of an individual's personal grief like river stones peeking through the silt.

And with the advent of Willow being in danger the Club did not so much spring into action but splinter, girls breaking off at differing speeds, while others had no interest in the lyrical girl’s fate at all. Unfortunately for Roche it was her partners in the latter camp.

”I think Willow will be fine with the help coming to her already. Let’s go hunt some Miseria, but be ready in case the GEMS show up.” Roche said, before vanishing in a flash that left Earthshaker standing in her place. She nodded at Nyxia before turning fully to Shuuko, knowing she was the one who needed convincing. ”A gathering of Light and Dark girls is bound to draw in Miseria. We can pounce on them and circle around the conflict, so if they do need help we’ll catch those girls with their skirts down.”

Unsaid was that Roche had another reason not to throw Shatterscape into a fight alongside Hizuki.

Kiyo being subservient to Roche’s wishes was indeed something Oros noticed. Though there was little reason to pay it much mind. Everyone knew the hierarchy had Rei at the top, Roche right below her, and everyone else was on pretty even footing below her. Oros had seniority over a few members, but it never really felt like it. Tsubomi treated everyone the same and Nyxia didn’t really respect anyone. Kiyo was an older sister, not the oldest sister. For all her mystery she held no more power than Oros did, and so her kowtowing to Roche’s demands was an expectable act of disappointment.

"I was using the term loosely!" Oros explained to Evil Eye. "Like, if she’s only interested in clearing her personal space and not actively hunting. But saying ‘personal space’ was a lot easier than explaining that." Though the topic soon changed to Willow and the trouble she had gotten herself into. "Wow, I haven’t seen her in town for a while. Even when I go up to find a… shrine, there’s usually a lot of frog blocking my way. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her I can’t even remember her name!"

Oros did her best to ignore Haruna’s extremely cliche use of phrases like "x is in trouble" and "there’s no time to lose," but it was a lot harder to ignore her extreme take off speed. She placed her hands on her skirt to prevent things from flapping around too much. Some would call it wasted effort, given her dress’s semi transparent nature and her opaque leotard covering everything underneath anyway. Regardless, she’d have to show that show off what real speed was at a later date.

"So that happened." Oros added, moments before forgetting it happened.

Oros was about to pick up Tsubomi when she squeezed out a request to go on without her, because she would catch up. "Uh, you sure?" While Oros only had moderate strength when transformed, it wouldn’t have been hard to move Tsubomi. More than that, the GEMS had picked her off last time. Did she really want to leave her alone like this? It didn’t seem wise. "Well okay. If you say you’ll catch up."

Oros decided to ignore Roche and her harem. She stepped up to the window everyone had left out of and climbed out of it. "Hey uh, Eyeball? I’m kinda worried about Rainbow. You wanna keep an eye on her for me?"

---

"Oh yea, I’m great."

As much as Willow liked to talk, she did know when to shut up, sometimes. Nothing that Willow could say right now would make the situation worse for Kaeru. Having a light girl stand up for the detention club had to be a nightmare scenario, and who would wake their nemesis from a nightmare while they suffered?

Speaking of suffering, Willow could feel a presence behind herself, and turned to see Evil Eye floating overhead. She floated up bedside the girl, but didn’t take her eyes off of the two light girls beneath her. "I see why you like her so much." She nodded. "But yea, I can’t seem to find my phone. I think I may have misplaced it, or maybe a dog ran off with it. If you happen to find it I, well, I might have to stop talking about your love life."