Whoever that red-headed woman was, she along with Ryoba had swept Ember aside and she could not catch up to them. Sure, the schemer tried to do her best to ask around, tracing the rulekeeper’s steps, but there was a massive gaggle of students that blocked everything. Or several massive gaggles. The whole school seemed to be strange today, come to think of it. First, there was the incident with the three names. Then the red-haired woman whom Ember had never seen before, claiming to be a teacher. Then the crowd.

There was no pattern she could spot. But there had to be something she missed. The first thing that came to mind was Ryoba not recognising her, which she immediately dismissed. And then… there was nothing else.

Ember sighed. She would keep an eye out for more strange occurrences. Until then, she had all the time in the world to think of another approach. Maybe she could grab Kiyo at lunchtime, to see if she noticed anything amiss. They should be able to put their heads together to figure it out, should they not? Yes. If it was Kiyo, she would have definitely noticed whatever Ember missed.

As usual, the classes were a breeze for Ember, even if she was forced to acknowledge that the red-haired woman was a teacher. So much that she practically found herself in front of the lunch room, watching out for the Detention Club… there!

Now if only her feet were willing to move.

It almost felt as though something had glued to the floor and no matter how many times she tried to lift her feet, the only result she got was that the lump in her throat grew bigger. Or her stomach got tighter. Why? This had not been the first time she had been brushed off like that. Nor would it be the last. And yet, a part of her could not help asking the question: What if not even Ember recognised her? What if they thought she was trying to stir up trouble again?

This was not like her. This was not like her at all! And despite Ember telling herself that, the doubts kept surfacing. She may have messed up irrecoverably with Sylvia. She did the wrong thing with Ryoba, too. And maybe she also wronged Hotaru. So what if her approach was wrong yet again?

She ruminated on that for a few moments before she settled on taking a page out of Hotaru’s book, directly approaching the table as she flashed her magic. A spectral gauntlet appeared around her right hand, along with two horns on her forehead for a split second to cue Kiyo in on who she was. Except, she stopped dead in her tracks as she saw that instead of gold, the gauntlet around her hand left behind red embers of magic.

---

Hotaru spent her classes glaring at both the teacher and the rest of the Club. After all, she had not gotten answers - she had not even been brushed off. Instead, a flood of students interrupted their conversation at the worst possible time before they were forced to go to class. But at least now she could talk more with Kiyo to see what she had to say. Or at least she could have talked if Ember had not decided on the very same thing, even going as far as to flash her magic in a public space that could be filled to the brim with magical girls.

It was something the warrior would have done.

Sneering at what was, in all due likelihood, a subtle insult to her way of thinking, Hotaru decided to ignore the display and sit down beside Kiyo and that other girl anyways, owning the space to the left of Kiyo like it had always belonged to her. With her confidence so solid, there could be no doubt about who the true Shuuko was in this situation, and it sure as hell was not the one who just flashed their red magic in open air in an attempt to join the conversation.

”Hello!” she waved to the unknown girl with a smug grin on her face. ”I’m here to join my bestie.” And she all but wrapped her right arm around Kiyo, pulling the Detention Club’s smartest member close to her. Their eyes met, Hotaru’s gaze reflecting an unspoken question: Just who had joined them? And could they talk openly about Club business around her?

---

The day could not have turned worse. Not only did Sylvia get tangled up in someone who looked like they were disgusted by her, she could not even squeeze in an apology before classes started up again and that made it impossible to focus. She could not even remember what sort of classes they had, which teachers held them or really, where she went; she followed wherever the crowd took her even as she went over her apologies dozens upon dozens of times, only to be thwarted by the sheer scale of the school.

Of course the protector could not find the one whom she harmed. Naturally, she would not be able to make up for her mistake. She would carry this, too, the rest of her life - like everything else. Their words. Their lies. Their behaviour. Even if Haruna had spoken true, how would she go about finding friends? The light girl seemed to believe that she along with Roche were just that. Someone Sylvia could place her faith in, rely on. But if the gods had lied… Then what was to say she did not lie, either?

The protector’s thoughts kept spinning around her parents, her past and her comrades, finding only doubt and depressing darkness. It felt as though she were trying to make her way through a room without any windows, its floor filled with all manners of traps she could not see. Every step lead to bleeding feet. Even if she tried to feel the obstacles with her hand, her fingers could be snapped or her hand could be broken. All in all, it was no surprise that Tsubomi picked up on her disastrous mental state and kicked her.

It had not been a forceful kick. And yet Sylvia found the ground giving beneath her all the same. She fell forward and barely caught herself at the last second, the world along with Tsubomi’s words coming into sharp focus.

”Tsubomi?” she asked, her voice hollow. ”Why did you… never mind.” Surely, the emotionless girl kicked her because she deserved to be kicked.

---

A frosty eyebrow arched upwards, eyes rendered bloodshot from poor sleep and a fondness for intent staring at a cork board in a dimly lit room. Willow was, as ever, a nexus of chaos and whimsy that shifted like a leaf in a monsoon. She could be a supportive comrade one moment and in the next was setting one up for a prat fall to amuse herself.

For someone like Roche who ached for a sense of control over her life and was circling the drain from failing to maintain even the barest grasp upon it, an outsider would think Willow was the bane of her existence. They would miss the simple fact that a being of pure chaos and self interest was, above all; Utterly Predictable.

She had never disappointed Roche, because Roche knew well that pinning any expectation but pursuit of personal gratification was a fool’s errand.

Turning from her club work fully she replied to Willow’s typical ramblings with a snort and scarfed down another clump of rice. ”Suki can be someone else’s little angel. I want someone who isn’t going to bring home a gaggle of drugged women off the street to spice things up.”

Though if Shuuko is now three separate people it might make dates crowded. While Hotaru had been semi-informative, Roche was scrambling to image what this meant for herself and Sylvia, especially when she had no idea what she looked like. Was she even at school or did she call out? Was she in the room already?

Her gaze snapped from Suki and Haruna being disturbingly close to the public flaring of magic, a phantom flicker of horns and gauntlets as a girl she belatedly recognized was standing over another table that already had Hotaru. ”Fantastic. Shatterscape is one third snitch. She even saw me-”

Remembering current company she crammed her mouth with food, silencing herself as she engaged fully with trying to empty a bento as though it was nothing more than a slice of buttered toast. Carb loading was all about gusto and technique, something she had in spades, leaving her free to tuck away the papers in her blazer and stand up.

”Willow, have you noticed a third girl who has magic that feels similar to those two?” She asked, pointing towards Ember and Hotaru.

---

"Stop. Feeling. Like. Garbage." Tsubomi punctuated each word with a kick, each with slightly more force than the last. It was a somewhat impressive display of balance to do so on one leg with her hands full, especially given that she didn't have a body to practice with until now.

Having heard Sylvia's question, Tsubomi explained in case the girl wanted to ask again.

"I'm not going to stop until I've knocked some sense into you, so hurry up and tell me what your problem is." Another kick.

She wasn't exactly a trained psychologist, but half the time people choose to be less than forthcoming with those who are, so she figured her chances were about fifty-fifty.

"Trust me, this'll go much easier for both of us if you just spill your issues now." Her final warning(?) was once more accompanied by a more forceful, but still relatively light kick.

---

Zassou found her stomach grumbling when she entered the lunchroom, yet another surprise. She couldn't remember the last time that it had actually caused her to want food. Normally it was just a noise she blocked out, or used as a sign that her body needed refueling. Never a discomfort like this.

In the end, she decided to ignore it once more, instead making her way to Suki and Haruna at a speed very much unlike her.

"Is today going well for you two, too?" If nothing else, the eyeless cat had confirmed one thing: this was not the result of Nocturne. Something had happened, and while she still leaned towards a wish being granted, there was nobody who would wish for just Tsubomi and herself to be separated.

Whimpers came in response to Tsubomi’s kicks and proclamations. Somewhat predictably, instead of helping Sylvia process her issues, the hits served only to stir up deep-seated emotions and memories, plunging her deeper into the darkness… at least until something shifted at the last kick and Sylvia actually caught Tsubomi’s leg with both of her hands. She held it firmly in her grip, so that the other magical girl risked tripping with every move she made.

”Please stop kicking me,” spoke the protector. Her voice barely carried, but it contained the smallest hint of resolve one could imagine. ”I… I don’t know. But please stop kicking me.” She repeated her response. She could not say she did not deserve it, because she truly did not know. But she did not like it. It felt like it fed the bonfire of hurt inside of her. The one the liars and deceivers had made. The one grandmother and grandfather made.

Was Tsubomi also a liar?

Sylvia did not know. Not all people who hurt her were liars, were they? She truly did not know. But she promised Haruna she would be all right. And if something felt wrong, she was not being all right.

It felt like her head swam in a pool of molasses. Half-finished questions collided with half-finished thoughts inside her head, spinning her around and making it feel like she were standing on a bouncy castle determined to expel her from its premises. A part of her wanted to raise her hand and hit Tsubomi in the face with all the force she could muster, then keep going until she begged for mercy. Exactly as Sylvia had to beg a long time ago. Another part of her did not want to hurt anyone.

”I’m not all right,” she spoke again. ”I will be less all right if you keep kicking me.” Was she even saying the right things?

Kiyo looked up from her brooding to meet Michi's eyes. It wasn't difficult to discern that she was in a foul mood, too, though it seemed to be for different reasons. "We have no choice but to trust each other. There's nobody else to rely on. Light girls hate us, and even if humans are mostly harmless, it's not as if they can relate."

Per usual, she didn't offer any resistance to Hotaru's embrace, but perhaps her eyes had widened slightly in surprise at the suddenness of the gesture, given their recent disagreement. It wasn't easy to tell if her reaction had been to Hotaru or Ember, though. "Oh for fuck's sake, there are two of you now?!" she hissed. "Does no one else think there are limits to convenience? First a miraculous healing and breakthrough for me, then Suki gets a secret admirer and her favorite teachers, and what now—you've split in two so nobody has to be jealous who you're spending time with? At what point do we start to ask if we're under a spell?!" she ranted in a hushed voice, eyes wide. Then, after a pause, she kicked her chair back a little to make space to stand up. "You know what, I need to look at a mirror," she declared, as if something had clicked—or snapped.

Michi listened to Kiyo explain her thoughts on trust, even if she didn’t do anything more than look out at the cafeteria. "Wrong." Her eyes tilted towards Kiyo. "Humans are far more dangerous than magical girls. They are weaker, but large in number and unpredictable." She looked ahead again. "But they can’t relate to anything, that much is true."

Like Kiyo, Michi was startled by the sudden arrival of Shuuko 1 and Shuuko 2. "We were talking. Surely not everything needs to revolve around-" She pinched the bridge of her nose when Kiyo stood up. "Just settle down, I have a mirror right here." Michi fished a makeup mirror out of her bag and pushed it towards Kiyo. "I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for most of those things. In fact, I think you’re going to see Suki’s situation isn’t all it’s cracked up to be."



Suki had gone from being quite bouncy (at least on her heels) to as rigid as a stale breadstick. Her eyes shifted between the two Tsubomis. It made sense that bad Tsubomi would kick some helpless girl over and over again, but why had good Tsubomi transformed into acid drop? Had Bad Tsubomi bullied good Tsubomi into vanishing from school, or was this something good Tsubomi decided to do all on her own?

Then Haruna suggested she could wait in Suki’s place if she wanted to talk to one of the Tsubomis.

"Uh…" No, she didn’t want to talk to bad Tsubomi. She looked like she was in the process of kicking someone as gently as she could, and could only imagine her getting a lot more aggressive with someone who threatened to kill her. Acid drop was transformed, so having a conversation with her, while far more pleasant, had other drawbacks. Few students perceived Suki in a great light anyway, but she didn’t need to add potentially psychotic to her list of perceived afflictions. But Suki had very little say in what happened next, as Acid Drop was approaching them instead. "Sure" she told Haruna, in an attempt to seem somewhat in control of the situation. "Yea, today’s going great, I’m just looking for-"

There was suddenly a shift in the energy in the cafeteria. Haruna had been getting lots of desires from everyone, and Zassou could pick up many different emotions. But soon, many of the students would start to desire romance, and even Zassou could pick up on their emotions lining up with something similar to what Oros felt when she spotted a light girl. All of these students opened their bento boxes and lunch pales and reached inside. They all dawned a blue ribbon and started poking their food with a silver fork, unwilling to start eating.

"...Uh, I’m looking for a girl with a blue ribbon and a silver fork." Suki rubbed the back of her head.

It was so strange. Nearly everyone had a blue ribbon and a fork. Upper classmen, underclassmen, even the server behind the counter. Suki’s eyes scanned everyone, but they were all acting the exact same way. Just patiently waiting for the person who got their letter to approach them. But why was there so many? They couldn’t all have written that letter. Yet no prank could be so big it encompassed the entire school. But there was something else amiss as well.

Suki took Zassou’s hand in her own and turned it over. Then she looked Haruna up and down. The delinquent wandered over to the VIP table, where she looked between Kiyo, Michi, and the duo that were clambering around the former. "Hey! What gives!?" Suki placed her hands on her hips. "Why aren’t any of you guys wearing ribbons?"



Willow suppressed a chuckle. There was no doubt that Suki enjoyed affection, but the idea of Suki shacking up with a harem, magically or physically drugged, was so far outside the realm of reality it was impossible to take seriously. The times Oros did work her magic on someone, she always seemed to lose interest as soon as they went unconscious. Willow could appreciate a lie more than most, but the reason she was on the verge of laughter now was just trying to picture this farcical setup. "Ah yes, I can see it now." Willow pressed her fingers into the side of her head. "You're laying in your bed, all sad and lonely. And then in comes Suki with a gaggle of woman. Your favorite school teacher, your favorite idol, ya mum. But it's past your bedtime, so you take you pillow and press it into the back of your head. You scream into the mattress just to block out the sound..."

The cat girl trailed off as most of the people in the cafeteria began dawning their blue ribbons. Suki's conversation with Haruna and Acid Drop hadn't escaped her ears.

"Oh my! I left my ribbon in my other coat!" Willow patted herself down. "Quick, give me yours! Or did you forget yours as- Oh, sorry, I was eavesdropping again. Girl with familiar energy?" She looked towards the girl that was holding Tsubomi’s leg. "Yea, that’s her. Unless you have a ribbon she’s your best shot at romance."

---

Finn smiled, sighed, and lowered his head. "No need to thank me for something you earned. I look forward to the next lesson." With one last nod, he departed.

And for a time, though not very long, Norika would be left to her thoughts. It was getting close to lunch time and her food had not been delivered yet. As insufferable as her parents were, they would never think to starve their remaining child. The maids and butlers of the house, while equally insufferable, did at least respect the money they were being paid. They were well trained, and paid for delivering excellent service.

Fifteen minutes into lunch, and still no food…

Then Norika would hear a thud outside the door, along with some muttering. Then a second thud.

If Norika was brave enough to peer into the hall, she’d see that two maids had passed out in the hall. One of them was carrying her food, which was now spilled all over a throw rug.

While Norika had been slightly troubled by her lunch being delayed, she didn’t start getting actively worried until she heard the pair of noticeable thuds. Swallowing, and gripping her cane in a trembling hand, she climbed out of bed and made her slow and shaky way to the door. Cautiously opening it, she couldn’t keep from gasping at the sight that greeted her. Although she certainly never cared much for any of the household’s servants (who had made their dislike of her plainly known), she was still shocked to see the two maids crumpled on the floor, without any sign of a struggle. What had happened? Was she next? Despite dearly wanting to transform on the spot, she managed to refrain from potentially revealing her secret to anyone who might be waiting for just such a response. While the house was quiet except for the sound of her own labored breathing, she still didn’t want to take any chances. Instead, she lowered herself into a crouch and tentatively reached out to the closest maid in order to check for a pulse, while steeling herself for the possibility that there wouldn't be one…

---

---

"Uh, yeah, actually. Some stuff has come up, but I actually feel well-rested for once," she said to Acid Drop, absolutely not looking the part. A distraction soon presented itself from that conversation, however, as she felt a jarring shift in the cacophony of desires around her.

Haruna followed Suki over to the table, watching virtually every single non-magical student take out the supposed signs of Suki's secret admirer. "I really don't think 'why aren't any of you wearing ribbons' is the relevant question here, Suki," she said with a tone of slight admonishment. "Shouldn't we be asking why everyone else is wearing a ribbon? Something isn't right here."

---

Tsubomi couldn't help but roll her eyes at her foot being caught. "Yeah, obviously you're not okay. The thing I'm interested in right now is why are you not okay."

A smile, not quite a sneer, but on its way to graduating from the school of contempt, broke out on her face at the twinge of emotional change she felt. Sure, anger wasn't great from Sylvia right now, but it was better than the rest of what the girl was feeling.

The empath shook her head to clear the meaner of the thoughts she had rising in it from her mind, and replied. "If you want, I could actually kick you. Make it hurt. That's how some people deal with pain in their minds, by replacing it with pain in their body."

Tsubomi slowly began to pull her foot back so she could set it on the ground once more. "To be blunt, though, I'm really just wanting to help you out so you stop radiating emotional turmoil like a nuclear waste site."

---

"Was I supposed to be wearing one?" Zassou asked. The increase in her thoughts' speed didn't help her when she didn't know why something was incorrect.

She glanced around the room, still at her increased pace, before turning back to Suki. "Is it a holiday today? Or is this part of the wish?"

With Haruna's reply came certainty. "Mm. It's not just me and Tsubomi, then. Which means... is the wisher a dark girl, or a helpful light one?"

A pause that wouldn't fit the role of a sentence ender for her usual pace passed by. "One of Snapdragon's friends? Or a jewel? Both?"

Zassou turned her attention away from her questions and back to Haruna. "Is there a light girl who's good at... dreaming?" Zassou held her hands in front of her face, staring at them to see if they were correct.

"Mm. Making dreams come true, maybe. Fantasies? Mind-melding?" Her thoughts trailed off, only to be pushed aside by her next one. An irritating illusion, spun by a jerk? A jackass? An Eeyore?

"... an egregore?"

"What could humans do against something they can't even see?" Kiyo pondered out loud as she sat back down and took Michi's mirror in hand. The question felt a bit sharp, perhaps because Kiyo felt that she was fighting an unseen enemy this very moment, and the emergence of so many blue ribbons at the same time only stoked her paranoia further. She ran a hand through her own hair, as if to confirm what Suki already said. "I wouldn't be caught dead wearing blue. You know it's not my color."

As if to drive the point home, she transformed. "This isn't real. Wake up," she commanded herself, looking into her own eyes in the mirror.

Neither the schemer, nor the warrior had expected Kiyo’s reaction, both of their eyes going wide at her quip. A brief moment of stunned silence followed before a small smile took over Ember’s visage, then she slid right up against Hotaru, into her personal space and well past her comrade-in-arms’ defenses, imitating the hug she had seen between the warrior and Kiyo.

”That’s right. There are two Shuukos in existence right now. Or maybe our numbers are three, four five, six… Kiyo, would you mind telling me exactly how many members are in the Detention Club? I am afraid that in order to not upset anyone’s feelings, I just have to make so many clones of myself. ” While her expression seemed to be one of mischief at the surface, someone who knew ‘Bad Shuuko’ well would realise that Ember’s lips did not quite match what she tried to project. A little bent in them showed her nervousness.

”What are you talking about? There aren’t si-” Hotaru’s jaws clacked shut before she finished her sentence, realising just what sort of trap the schemer had set up for her. ”Very funny. I was about to have a real conversation with Kiyo here.”

”As much as I loathe to say this, it might not be a good time.” Ember dropped her smile as she watched Kiyo look in the mirror to try and hypnotise herself. ”I am also of the opinion that something is not right here and while I hate to interrupt your conversation,” she inclined her head towards Michi in an attempt to include her in the exchange, ”It might be worth discussing why everyone suddenly has a blue ribbon and a silver fork.”

”Why is that any of your business?” The warrior frowned, looking around to see what was…

She saw them. She groaned as she threw her head back, lifting the back of her hand onto her forehead, understanding why Ember had emphasized the ribbons. While she was not nearly as observant as the schemer, she felt sure she would notice the entire student population having blue ribbons.

”Great. What the hell is going on?”

---

Jaws clacked shut with a loud noise of teeth against teeth. A flash of wanting to pull Tsubomi’s leg, then shove her face into the resulting mess blitzed through Sylvia’s consciousness, but once again, the desire - or perhaps principle - to not hurt overwrote it. Instead, she let go of it and attempted to look the other magical girl in the eye. She succeeded for all but a second or two before she found the floor much more interesting.

”I-I’m not telling you. A-and if you kick me again, I’m kicking you back.” Her voice carried very little certainty. In fact, it was almost as though she were asking herself question after question with every word she spoke. Because, Tsubomi looked at her as though she were… Them. That contempt. The roll of her eyes. Tsubomi had to be a bad apple that Sylvia could not trust.

Or was she? Did she even really speak to Tsubomi before this? She could not recall. She did not seem bad, just… stoic. So she looked back at the emotionless girl’s eyes for a second, only to be burned by her own attempt at reading the other. What would Grandfather think? What would Grandmother think? And did it even matter?

… What did Tsubomi think? What did she want to do to Sylvia?

That mattered.

"Haruna is right, Suki." Despite trying to keep a calm demeanor, Michi’s hands were trembling. Her desire to destroy was at an all time high, with its voice growing in volume and the tempo of its words increasing with every second. "It was hard to believe anyone cared about you, and suddenly you’re surprised it’s not everyone?"

Suki turned to look at Haruna, then Acid Drop, then at Kiyo, before finally returning her gaze to Michi. "I-I mean, I wasn’t expecting there to be so many people. If this is a prank…" Suki trailed off as Zassou began to mull it over out loud. Though in typical Zassou fashion, her musing pointed to many possibilities without giving a lot of weight to any of them.

"Would you stop that?" Michi stood up and snatched her mirror back from Kiyo. "I can’t talk to you if you hypnotize yourself. This was all planned in advance. A lot of the girls in school collectively decided to surprise Suki. People spontaneously heal sometimes. Shatterscape becoming several people is hardly a new development." Without looking at Suki she added. "Just pick someone. The others won’t take it to heart. Maybe you can have a few of them, who knows?"

"Heh." Suki smiled, but after standing there for a bit, she spoke again. "But um, I dunno, I uh, I still feel like a nice letter like that could only be written by someone who knows me. Whoever wrote it knew about my interests."

Michi’s head twitched. "Well, maybe they got a hold of someone for the club to write it."

"Maybe…" Suki placed her hands together. "But then, um, maybe, whoever wrote that letter, would have a blue ribbon today?"

Michi looked at Suki out of the corner of her eye. "Suki, this might be an uncomfortable thought, but have you considered there’s so many people wearing blue ribbons today because they don’t know who you are?"

The delinquent raised an eyebrow. "C-come again?"

Anyone nearby could hear Michi grinding her teeth.



"It can’t be that hard to understand, can it? For someone who’s so unloved you sure demand a lot out of your suitors and aren’t willing to do much in return. You hardly know anyone in this cafeteria, and how well they might know you hardly matters."

"But-"

"Your own club is no different. You’re good to go with the weed, but you also know she’ll never truly love you. You can’t form intimate relationships without emotions after all. Meanwhile Tsubomi could have been a solid pick if you didn’t threaten to kill her. You don’t even know who she is."

"That’s-"

"And you’ve had opportunities in the past. How many times has Roche tried to bury the hatchet, and how many times do you dig it up? You’re cagey with shuuko too. Why? Because she liked Roche? So did you, once upon a time. If you got to know her, you might actually find something in one of her fractured personalities. Sylvia’s just as selfish and whiny as you are. Maybe that’s why Roche and her are so close."

"Wha-"

"Kiyo and Haruna are more level headed than the others, but why would they write you a letter? They enjoy your suffering, if indirectly. When the club has problems they get to feel useful. Two babysitters that constantly need problems to fix. And you’re a three for one deal of problems, aren’t you? No wonder they stick around despite how insufferable you are."

"H-Hey-"

"Who’s left? Willow? Willow can’t even be truthful with herself. Rei would never write a letter to anyone. You don’t think Nyxia would change her mind about you being a disgusting pervert do you?"

"Um..."

"Who wrote that letter Suki? Who’s left that you didn’t burn bridges with and isn’t constantly thinking about themselves? Who would write a letter to someone who would never think to do the same for them?"

"..." Suki didn’t have an answer. She tucked her hands into her skirt pockets, hung her head, and dragged herself away from the table.

"Can we please stop with these interruptions now?" Michi sat back down. Her hands, and desires, had quieted somewhat. "We should think about summoning a giga miseria soon. With the Detention club and my friends, it would be in our best interest to work together and slay one. I think I could summon one easily enough."

---

Receiving Willow’s roundabout confirmation would normally have cost Roche a fair deal of her sanity interpreting it, and the validity of Sylvia’s identity seemed to confirm itself just by how familiar her behavior was once Tsubomi de jure started verbally tearing into her. Even if she was too far to make out exactly what she said, the wilting of her friend was painfully fresh in her recollection.

”Excuse me, Willow. I need to go get between those two….and Seriously, Suki and I aren’t an item. She had her chance.” There was no bite to her words, absent of resentment or loss. In her desperation and pain, there was no point denying Roche could have seen herself entangled with the mess that was Suki. Whether she’d sink with her or pull her out was anyone’s guess, and left firmly in the realm of a shipper’s fantasy.

So, Willow and Kiyo, mostly.

But as much as she really wanted to meet Sylvia face to face without the realization at least two other people were sharing those eyes, her crossing of the cafeteria brought her near her ex-partner’s table where she was, shockingly, not menacing their new light girl. She was in the process of being verbally battered by an outsider. One whose parting words splashed ice water down her spine and left the Rulekeeper red in the faced, exhaling through her nostrils like a bull in a certain Spaniard festival.

”Excuse me, I’ll pay you back.” The Rule Keeper tersely hissed in passing as she snatched up a box lunch and diverted from Tsubomi de jure and Sylvia. Not even bothering to introduce herself to the table she upended the contents over Black Gate, sweet sauce and rice splashing upon her gothic dress like a rain of dandruff while artfully split sausages settled upon her lap, octopi swimming amidst the folds of her dress.

”Oh no, I’ve made such a mess. Here, let me help.” Bold as brass and without a shred of guilt in her feigned kindness, Roche was dabbing at Michi’s chest with a napkin, whereupon her fingers fisted in the material and dragged her close.

Weeks of sleepless nights, valid paranoia, a trip to the city of light, and her own twisted heart had brought Roche to dangerous territory, but she was finding precious little to regret as she hissed low enough only the table could hear.

”You’ve just overstayed your welcome. You can either walk out of here, or I’ll drag you out in pieces. No one talks to any of my club mates like that and gets to feel safe in this city, understood? Get lost, right now, and drop those plans for Giga Miseria. We don’t need that heat in our home, and we don’t need a viper spitting venom either.”

Keeping a paper thin pretense of civility in such a public setting she straightened, dropping the napkin on her lap as her lips pressed in a thin line.

”The restroom is down the hall on your left. Wash yourself on your way out.”

---

---

Haruna looked like she'd been shot in the aftermath of Michi's tirade. Was this. . . her fault? Had she pushed Michi too hard? Had she simply misjudged the dark girl? She'd seemed harmless enough, constant urge to destroy aside. Regardless, the point was that she'd now placed Suki, someone she'd been trying to improve the life of, in position to be emotionally backstabbed, whether it was her fault or not.

Worst of all, she couldn't keep her focus on Suki. They enjoy your suffering. That couldn't be true. Could it? Was it? Was she just using the club for her own selfish purposes? Was. . . was that why Suki seemed so averse to her, why the blood witch seemed to think she was a liar?

Maybe that was why she could never actually understand her family. She'd just wanted to please them because it fed her ego, because their praise would have propped up her failing self-esteem, regardless of whether it actually made them happy. Maybe that was the case.

"I. . ." She looked down at the ground, Haruna's bangs falling to obscure her face. "I'll. . . follow Suki." One didn't need Tsubomi's powers of empathy to see that, intentionally or not, Michi's words had cut her to the bone, questioning core aspects of her personality and outlook in a way she wasn't equipped to reply to. She turned as if she'd rusted in place, following after Suki as the latter slinked away.

The mirror had been snatched away from her, but Evil Eye looked like she'd chugged a quart's worth of espresso shots. Whether the hypnotism had any effect or if it was caused by what Michi said about Suki was hard to tell. For a moment, she sat still as Michi delivered her rant. It was hard to believe that this was even the same person she'd brought to the Construct-a-Cat store.

She wanted to say something clever, to show that for all Michi's superior airs, she didn't actually understand the Club at all—but for once, she was left speechless. She couldn't even refute anything Michi said. Despite outwardly expressing an interest in romance, Suki's appearance and outward-facing personality couldn't have been more effectively hand-crafted to push people away and self-sabotage her relationships. Perhaps she understood that on some level, or perhaps she didn't—but Kiyo definitely did, because although she took a more obsessive self-grooming tack, the end goal of her carefully maintained appearance was largely the same: to create a certain distance between herself and others. Evil Eye gained power from witnessing their misfortune—if she didn't quite "enjoy" others' suffering, she did see a benefit, that much was undeniable fact.

Roche was putting a stop to that rant now, but she had been sitting there from the start. It should have been her to say something, anything in her friends' defense, or even her own defense—but the fact that she needed the Club girls to have problems to keep her role in it was becoming too clear for her own comfort. She also saw herself in this terrible side of Michi: all-seeing, always judging... always plotting. Even now, Michi was suggesting something she herself once suggested in the Club room: to summon a giga miseria in Hibusa Town. The final insult was that it was her own fault for letting the viper into their midst. Even if Michi's accusations hadn't poisoned the well, what right did she have to chase after Suki now?

"There are nine members, Shuuko," Evil Eye finally replied to her question, her voice low and full of disappointment as she stood up again. It wasn't just her feeling low, either—it didn't take a Tsubomi to feel the swell of negative emotions at their table—and on further reflection, she noticed something else. She had been too stunned by Michi's words, too distracted by the strangeness of the day to notice the danger in the room.

"Too late! RUN!" With little explanation, she flew after Suki and Haruna, tugging on both Hotaru and Ember's shoulders as she took off.

---

"Look, just because I can't read your mind doesn't mean you're some impenetrable vault. You're putting out so much pain that it's actually kind of hard to think straight around you. Besides, if you kick me back, that makes it a fight. And at least according to a bunch of manga, that's a great way to get to know each other and work through someone's issues." Tsubomi gave a grin, one not quite as lighthearted as she wanted it to appear.

"Buuuuuut, that'll be our last resort, I figure. So let's go with plan A and just... start with this. You're getting mad, which is promising since it means you're not so far off the deep-end that you're not feeling anything, but you're keeping it in pretty well. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing. You were able to make eye contact, but barely. And it's pretty obvious that it's not because you're being shy."

Tsubomi put her hand to her chin and looked away at the ceiling. "Which means, if you're afraid to face an aggressor head on, and you're quashing your angry feelings as quickly as you can, then it's probably not a missing pet. It seems more like..." Tsubomi tilted her head across her shoulder to look back at Sylvia. "... an abusive relationship? Does your boyfriend hit you?"

Truth be told, Tsubomi didn't know if Sylvia was aware of her magic, but that didn't matter at the moment, with how overwhelming Sylvia's pain was. Besides, with how weird the day was, she wouldn't expect anyone to not be magical at this point.

---

Acid Drop had just noticed Tsubomi out of the corner of her eye and was about to walk over to intervene when it happened. Something akin to a jolt of static in the cold passed between Tsubomi and Zassou as Black Gate's words carried through the air.

To Tsubomi, the spark came with a thought. The point of this isn't to make anyone happy. Maybe it was, but if so, whoever was behind it was worse than she was at getting it across. But she couldn't help everyone, at least not at once, and the girl in front of her needed help soon, or it might become too late. Even if it was only through the flames of anger, she needed to keep this girl's heart from becoming too cold to feel again.

But to Zassou, it came with something else. She wasn't sure why it was, or how, but the knowledge was there; Tsubomi felt something just then, something that wasn't suited for her with her lack of connections to the Club members. Despite her dulled magical senses, something she didn't understand either given that she was transformed, she could tell that Tsubomi felt an emotion in the back of her consciousness that she had no reason to feel.

Something's changing. If she had the time, she'd wonder if this was a result of the magic that had somehow separated them. If she had the time, she'd wonder if she and Tsubomi were crossing a boundary of their Venn diagram. If she had the time, she'd wonder if the two of them were even separated at all at the depths of their selves, or only at the surface.

But she didn't process any of these musings. Even with her high-speed (relative to her usual) thinking, she didn't have the time or inclination to think any of those thoughts. Suki was slowly making her way away, and Haruna had gone to try to help. Even Kiyo, grabbing two other girls, ran to and past her.

Tsubomi proper wasn't ready to leave the girl in front of her alone. If she did, would she ever get a chance to try again? When this dream ended, would she still be able to do things on her own? When Kiyo made her realization, Tsubomi had a similar epiphany.

This girl is magic after all. She must be part of the Club...

Furthermore, Haruna and Suki, even Kiyo... "God damn, can you people stop being pits of despair for five seconds, please!?"

Tsubomi tried to collect herself, before turning back to Sylvia.

"Hey, looks like someone noticed that we're surrounded." Tsubomi reached a hand out to Sylvia, doing her best to not scare her off. "Can't heal if you're dead, so let's get out of here. We can fight or talk later."

While Tsubomi tried to lead Sylvia away, Zassou went to Suki's side. "The antagonist has revealed herself. That means they're ready to fight."

The situation made less and less sense with every second. Ember picked up on the subtle signs of anger from Michi - the trembling of her hands along with the edge in her voice - but not in her wildest dreams did she expect to witness such a tirade. Her comrade watched with wide eyes herself, occasionally glancing at the schemer as the latter tried to figure out what could have caused this explosion. Instead, she ended up catching something that Michi had no right to know.

”...If you got to know her, you might actually find something in one of her fractured personalities. Sylvia’s just as selfish and whiny as you are…

That was not the only thing. Her reasoning did not fit the situation. It almost felt as though she were trying to make excuses for everything that happened, as though she were trying to rationalise the clearly irrational. Not a sign of guilt in and of itself, of course, but combined with what Ember assumed was a slip of the tongue, it started to build a certain picture in the schemer’s mind.

She tried to interrupt several times in order to stop the tirade, but just as the presumably magical girl plowed Suki aside, she barreled straight through Ember’s gestures and half-started sentences. Meanwhile, the warrior’s eyes grew ever narrower, her emotions making it clear that she was just waiting for Michi to finish digging herself a hole so she too, could give a piece of her mind. Now if only Roche had not chosen to deal a literal lunch box’s worth of justice.

”You were a huge fucking bitch just now,” she spoke up, looking Michi straight in the eye. Ember groaned in the background, the situation crumbling before her very eyes. ”Suki’s not the best, but she didn’t deserve that.” Unlike that damn light idiot who kept hanging around, walking off because her feelings were hurt or something.

”While I agree with both of your sentiments, Hananami-san and Takae-san… or rather, myself…” Ember stood up with a wry smile, ”I would have preferred if you asked what was wrong instead of rushing straight into the situation like a bull in a china shop.” She sounded as calm as she could be, but her hands folded in front of her body and her brows moved closer to each other, clearly disapproving.

”Of course you’re taking the side of a bitch again!” Hotaru snapped at her comrade, before she snatched the lunchbox from Roche’s hand and threw it at Michi. ”She’s just trampled Suki into the ground and you’re asking what’s wrong? She’s wrong!”

Of course it would be that argument again. With nearly the exact same words as before, as though nothing changed between their interactions. Ember could not even manage anger at this point. Only cold, dead disappointment and apathy settled into her heart as she hardened it against any words the warrior would be throwing at her.

”Yes she is. What she did is not acceptable. At the same time, dumping food on her and berating her in return does us little good, especially if it puts us in danger.” Ember remained as calm and as undisturbed as a serene lake on the outside. On the inside, though, she had started thinking of the strange phenomena around them as threats, which meant they were sitting right in the middle of a trap.

”What the hell are you talking about?”

As if on cue, Evil Eye chose that precise moment to blast off. At the same time, Ember reached out towards the bodies outside, gathering the threads into the palm of her metaphorical hand so they could teleport away if the situation turned worse. Unfortunately, the warrior did not react as well and she transformed in broad daylight, her huge gauntlets overturning the table in front of them. Armed with the usual, eviscerating claws, Hotaru set her legs wide to be able to take an incoming attack. After all, this was merely just one body of the many. And damned if she would let anyone go without giving them a bruising.

---

”I-I-I’m not all right. Y-y-you’re making me less all right by talking. P-p-please leave me alone.” Sylvia’s hands clenched. Her head dropped down further, a twitch running through her entire form when Tsubomi mentioned the abusive relationship. She had heard that some time ago from either Hotaru or Ember. She had dismissed it back then, saying that her mother was the bad one. She abandoned the family, so Sylvia, her daughter deserved everything that happened to Sylvia.

It was a completely different matter if the gods lied.

If the gods lied, they used her. They treated her like… horribly! They beat her and denied her food and called her names! As such, they were not gods at all.

A flicker. A spark. Tears of anger. She could not even revel in them, because the situation around her shifted, blue ribbons coming out of nowhere and Tsubomi saying that they were being surrounded. The situation clearly called for a retreat.

Sylvia felt Ember gathering the threads towards the bodies. Especially towards one on the outside, situated on the rooftop. And yet at the same time, if Sylvia was in danger, then… people who could be her friends… they were in danger too. If there was such a thing as friends. But that was irrelevant. She simply chose to look Tsubomi in the eye, tears of fury still rolling down her face.

”Would you really have this humble high priestess abandon everyone to ravenous wolves?”

---

On the rooftop, First Shuuko straightened out. She had been paying close attention to the events through the eyes of her friends and while she was no Fourth Shuuko, she too, perceived the impending trap. So when Fourth Shuuko and Second Shuuko reached out to her - she responded. She let go of her sliver of magic with practiced ease. Her eyes fluttered closed into a trance-like state. She would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them once again, like she had done so many times.

Maybe it was how dreamlike the day felt. Maybe it was the lack of problems. Maybe it was the excess of fortune. Maybe it was how different this Michi was from her lethargic self. Maybe it was something more subtle. Maybe it was that Black Gate wore dream catchers on her horns. Maybe it was her obsession with stuffed animals one might take to their bed. Maybe it was that the stumpy monkeys that followed her around shared many similarities with classical depictions of nightmares. Maybe it was that her banner was a dream catcher. Maybe it was that she had a banner and Regina did not. Maybe it just made sense that the new dark girl would be the one to stir up trouble this time. It didn’t really matter. Most of the club understood something was wrong, and Michi had something to do with it.

The rule keeper, brash and direct as usual, initiated an attack with Tsubomi’s lunchbox. Not with the box itself, but its contents. Michi didn’t even raise her hand, and allowed the contents to tumble down her hair and the front of her dress. The grains of white rice stood out against her abyssal black gown. She was far more adverse to being touched, however, and shoved Roche’s hand off to the side when she went to clean the girl’s outfit. To get as close as Roche wanted, to deliver the message, she had to lean over the table. Michi leaned back slightly as she spoke.

No later did Roche drop the napkin in Michi’s lap did Hotaru start mouthing off. Like the crony of some mob boss, if Roche were the head of the mob. Ember interjected, and then they began arguing. By this point Suki, Haruna, and Acid Drop had departed. Ember, Hotaru, Evil eye, and Roche were the only ones that had remained. Meanwhile, Michi rose from her seat. With a swing of her hand, the incoming lunch box bounced off her arm as she stood up. And then with her outstretched arm, her fingers coiled around Ember’s wrist.

When Evil Eye took off, she didn’t get far. Even untransformed, Michi seemed to be more than capable of holding Ember near the table. If Evil Eye wanted to depart, she would need to leave Ember behind. Even the table flip wasn’t particularly effective. With Michi’s close proximity and her hand latched around Ember’s wrist, there really wasn’t a lot of room for the VIP table to soar.

"I overstayed my welcome?" Michi scoffed. "That is an interesting observation from someone who’s willing to work with Ashbringer." She pulled on Ember’s arm until she was over the table. "You know I’m not making this up, Ember. You saw Regina and Roche together, and she knew exactly what she was getting into. Why it’s okay to befriend and help someone who wants all of your friends dead is beyond me." Her attention returned to Roche. "Even if she changed her mind, you’d been chasing her for months before that realization. Perhaps you wouldn’t be a good fit for Suki, but you’re not a good fit for Sylvia either. I’m sure they’re looking for loyal companions that won’t disgrace their honor to satisfy their humiliation fetish!" Michi released Ember and stepped away from the table. "Why do I even bother? I thought Kiyo or Haruna might appreciate one good day, but no. We couldn’t even make it past lunch without finding some way to be upset about everything! Is there no one in this world that isn’t selfish?" Michi balled her hands into fists. "You want to fight? Drive me away? Fine, but I’m taking the toys away if we do." she pressed her fingers together like she was getting ready to snap, and waited.

The supposed danger that Evil Eye may have noticed didn’t seem to trigger. Yet.



"Hrmmmm…"

Suki’s eyes were looking at the floor. She could see her pigtails draping into her vision, and her netted, malnourished legs carrying her forward. Her head was empty, just repeating Michi’s tirade like an echo bouncing around in her empty skull. It was all so obvious, so intuitive, that it felt like Suki should have known it if she thought about how anyone had felt for any amount of time. Michi’s points were really, completely, totally unable to be argued with. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed Tsubomi talking about her, and it wasn’t until Acid Drop said something that she looked up. "Oh uh, the goth cutie?" To call her a baddy was tempting, but… "I don’t think she’s an antagonist, heh! Antagonist." Suki mulled on that word. "An antagonist opposes the main character. I uh, I think believing I was the main character or anyone’s primary love interest is the problem, Rainbow." She placed a hand on Acid Drop’s shoulder. "Boy. You have your own body, and I didn’t even think to comment on it until now. Heh..."

It while she was looking over Acid Drop that she became aware of a third person among them, and turned to face Haruna. Of course, it was obvious why she had decided to come this way. "Uh, look, it’s okay." Suki scratched the back of her neck while still holding Acid Drop’s shoulder. "Michi’s right. Expecting you guys to want to hang out with me is kinda selfish. I uh, I got Acid Drop’s shoulder to cry on and a whole lot of people to hang out with if I want to. I’m just… Uhhhh…" Her eyes scanned the room. "...Not really sure who to go with. You could say I’m spoiled for choice, heheheh!" She sniffed. "It’s uh, It’s kind of hard to make a choice when I know so few of them. I’m sure I’ve asked all of them out at one point but-"

Suki’s wandering eyes landed on Misoka, who was sitting in a booth. Unlike how she’d been looking yesterday and for several months now, she seemed to be strangely optimistic. She wore a big smile and had the most gorgeous feast laid out in her bento box. None of that would have mattered, but a blue ribbon had been woven through her flaxen hair, and a full set of silver cutlery was organized beside her box. In her hand was a silver fork that brought a plump strawberry to her lips.

"...But, I never did anything with this one." With a sigh, Suki seated herself across from Misoka without saying a word. It wasn’t until the honor student finished swallowing her strawberry that she noticed who was seated across from her.

"Suki?" She tipped her head. "You picked me?"

"Yea."

"Are you okay?"

"No."

"Did you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Hmmm…" Misoka looked at the other two girls, or maybe the only girl, as non-magicals couldn’t see magical girls.

"It’s okay guys." Suki sighed. "You don’t have to feel sorry for me."

"But if you want to sit with us, there’s plenty of room." Misoka slid over and patted the seat.



Willow hovered over to Tsubomi and Sylvia "Humble priestess? You’re aware that ‘humble’ is described as ‘meek, modest, and low in rank’ right?" With a shrug, she hovered closer to Tsubomi. "So what’s the game plan? I’m pretty sure she can’t be made to feel more optimistic until you’ve raised her flag. But if you’d like I can tackle her and then we can drag her off. Just don’t tell the others that I did anything weird, okay? If people think I’m Oros MK II because I tussled with someone I’m demolishing you."

---

Norika’s tiny frail fingers pressed against the side of the maid’s neck. Her skin was still warm, and, for better or worse, she still had a pulse.

"Mmmmmm." A smile crossed her lips as her head rolled over onto its side. "Mrs Tsukishima, another push please. I wish to swing even higher."

"Mmmmmmmmmmm." The other maid rolled over onto her side. Some droll rolled out of the side of her mouth. "I told you Mr Tsukishima, our baby is sooooooooo beautiful."

They appeared to be asleep.

But something was moving through the quiet mansion. It sounded like half a dozen feet marching. Norika had just enough time to head back towards her room and peek down the hall. She didn’t have time to recover her food.

The footsteps got louder, if they could even be called that. Then came the hooting and hollering of chimps bouncing down the hall. They came out of a corridor and spotted the sleeping maids. Two of them approached the fallen woman and hopped on top of their stomachs. Immediately the maids stirred.

"Nnnnnooooo." One of the maids groaned. "Mr Tsukishima, why is our baby crying? I think something’s wrong with him. His shin, it’s-"

"Nnnnnoooooooooooooooo." The other maid lamented. "Mrs Tsukishima, you’re pushing too hard. N-not that I mind."

But their voices were droned out by a cacophony of primal screeches that didn’t wake the maids. The other nightmares continued to move down the hall, bouncing off the walls and floors as their voices grew louder. Soon Norika would have no choice to transform.

Until something ripped down the hall.

Visually it looked like a series of chromatic rings, as wide as the hallway and ethereally colored like northern lights. But each one sounded like the note of a violin or guitar, and with so many coming down the hallway, it sounded like a chord was being held. But more interesting than how the rings looked and sounded was what they did when they hit their targets.

The monkeys were blown away, tumbling further down the hallway like pins struck by a bowling ball. Many of them disintegrated on the spot, with just a few managing to pick themselves up. But they were quickly blown away by a second volley of attacks. Unlike the initial power chord, these sounded like simple strummed notes, but did their job effectively. The apes didn’t have time to recover before they were blown apart into black ash.

Walking down the hall was a boy, but not a normal boy. He could have been a magical boy, if those existed. It would certainly be Norika’s first time seeing one. His outfit wasn’t much different than a Japanese school boys, save for the hat. That could have belonged to a police officer if the badge looked like anything a real cop would have. But what made him look like a potential magical boy was his brass arm cannon and the power pack he wore along with it. He could have been megaman if he was diesel punk.

He held his arm up by the side of his head, and a crystal gizmo on his sleeve lit up. "Fable here. We’ve got a situation at the Tsukishima mansion. Seems to be multiple hostels. Not Miseria, definitely the work of a dark magical girl." Fable walked over to Norika’s room and peered inside. But by that time, Norika had pretended to be asleep in her bed. After a cursory glance, he leaned back out of the room. "Negative, no sign of dark magicals. Tsukishima mansion is mostly secure. Neighborhood could be taken over. Please check on downtown and Hibusa High ASAP."

Fable shut the door to Norika’s room and ran further down the hall.

---

Meanwhile, roof Shuuko, because Villa doesn’t have enough characters to post for in an RP that allows 1 max, Was just vibing on the roof. Why nobody knows. Probably because rooftops are predominantly featured in school dramas despite the fact that pretty much every school roof in Japan is more or less off limits to students.

Because her eyes were closed, she did not notice a young succubus was looking around the school roof, though she was totally uninterested in Shuuko.

"Where did you go, Finn?" She sighed. "Well, he’s not here. I guess this was a bust…" She spun on her heel. "Happy Belated Valentines day anyway, Detention Club."

---

Just after Willow found her way to Tsubomi and Sylvia, the empath finally realized who she was talking with. "Oh. You're... Shatterscape, right? Didn't remember you looking like this. But as for your question, I expect that the rest of your Club can handle themselves. Normally I'd say you could too, but... Actually, you know what? Go for it. Maybe it'll help you sort things out."

Then to Willow, speaking a bit quieter, "Honestly, at this point I think it's better to give her a little time to think." And to drive that point home, she spoke again to Sylvia, still with her voice lowered.

"Look, you're rightfully angry now, and hopefully at whoever caused you that original harm in the first place, but don't go stewing in it for too long." Maybe it was hypocritical of her. No, it definitely was, but what person could follow their own advice? Besides, Tsubomi wasn't the type to have any interest in helping herself improve anyway. That sort of thing had to be external for her to accept it.

"If this turns out to be a legitimate misunderstanding, go for a run or a swim." She paused. "Okay maybe don't go swimming when you're angry, you could drown. But take all your anger and beat it out through your feet, and then you'll be ready to look at things again. Just definitely break up with him, or whoever this was all started by."

---

Zassou listened as Suki gave her take on Michi's words. She had meant that Michi was the one in question, but Suki raised a good point. And with her newfound thinking ability, she wondered: Wouldn't that then mean that Earthshaker is the antagonist right now?

It didn't matter who the protagonist was, or who was ready to fight. It didn't matter if anyone was any of those things. Even with Tsubomi MK.I having the emotion senses all to herself, it was obvious that things had reached a dangerous place for everyone.

Zassou glanced over at Tsubomi, who was now questioning her statement as well. That made two of them. Regardless of if Michi was an enemy, she was acting rather... catty. In multiple ways. Putting that aside led Zassou to where she was earlier. Who had wished for this?

---

Tsubomi began to walk away from the now-transformed girl, but stopped to give one last comment. "Hey, also. Don't go confusing me for Zassou, got it? If you do, you'll get much worse results."

With that said, she made her way to grab a handful of napkins before heading over to the "fight" between Michi and the other three. Other two. However you were supposed to classify the Shuukos.

When she was finally within arm's reach, she reached her arm out to Michi's held out hand to place her own palm over it, holding out her other hand with a fistful of napkins. "Hey, if this is all just a misunderstanding, then I'll apologize on behalf of everyone." She shrugged. "I made the mistake of assuming the cafeteria is full of your lackeys, since so many girls were around you in the hallways."

After trying to gently lower Michi's arm, Tsubomi grabbed a few of the napkins from her other hand and started trying to flick pieces of food off of the other girl's dress without directly touching her. "Sorry about that. Also sorry for Zassou's Club being on edge, though I'm sure you can understand why. Hell, I understand why and I've only gotten things secondhand from something that couldn't pay attention to details if it had to in order to survive."

---

Then it all clicked. "Mm. Thank you." Acid Drop carefully made her way to sit next to Misoka.

Evil Eye tried to warn the Shuukos, but she hadn't stuck around to force them to follow. Her grip on their shoulders was light; she never meant to pull them along. She was never meant to fight in the front, either; her line was elsewhere. Instead, she flew directly to Acid Drop. "Tsubomi," she addressed Zassou, her voice hushed but urgent. There was no time to think about the new nickname. "Heartbreak. The whole room. She can use their emotions to summon a giga miseria—can you stop it? I think she's manipulating them somehow."

She had imagined such a scheme herself once before—how could she not, when her own magic allowed her to do such manipulation? The Club, especially Nyxia, had been so immediately against the idea of summoning one in Hibusa that she'd never discussed it with anyone but Shuuko—never got much further than giving it a name—but now she was seeing the opportunity right in front of her even as Black Gate openly claimed she could probably do it. If she truly was the one behind all of the strangeness of the day, it followed that she had some means of manipulating either the emotions of others or reality to exploit them. Well, two could play that game.

"I fucked up." Tears ran down her cheeks and dribbled into the mass of tar-like blackness in her hand, but there was no remorse to be found in her voice. Her tone was even and livid. "I kept her servants out of our Club room, but it never mattered. I didn't even think of her targeting the rest of the school." After all, why would she think anything of them? It wasn't like they could really know or relate to her at all. Even if they tried, they couldn't be her "fellow" anything.