[center][url=https://postimg.cc/jnhLP7k4][img]https://i.postimg.cc/fyGm47cp/Shuukos-Banner.png[/img][/url][/center]

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.

[color=9a8c9a][i]”...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…[/i][/color]

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.

[color=#D8CD9F]”You were a huge fucking bitch just now,”[/color] she spoke up, looking Michi straight in the eye. Ember groaned in the background, the situation crumbling before her very eyes. [color=#D8CD9F]”Suki’s not the best, but she didn’t deserve that.”[/color] Unlike that damn light idiot who kept hanging around, walking off because her feelings were hurt or something.

[color=red]”While I agree with both of your sentiments, Hananami-san and Takae-san… or rather, myself…”[/color] Ember stood up with a wry smile, [color=red]”I would have preferred if you asked what was wrong instead of rushing straight into the situation like a bull in a china shop.”[/color] 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.

[color=#D8CD9F]”Of course you’re taking the side of a bitch again!”[/color] Hotaru snapped at her comrade, before she snatched the lunchbox from Roche’s hand and threw it at Michi. [color=#D8CD9F]”She’s just trampled Suki into the ground and you’re asking what’s wrong? She’s wrong!”[/color]

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.

[color=red]”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.”[/color] 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.

[color=#D8CD9F]”What the hell are you talking about?”[/color]

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.

[hr]

[color=teal]”I-I-I’m not all right. Y-y-you’re making me less all right by talking. P-p-please leave me alone.”[/color] 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.

[color=gold]”Would you really have this humble high priestess abandon everyone to ravenous wolves?”[/color]

[hr]

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.