Chevaleresse

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Were it not for the laws of this occupation, I would have slapped you."

---

"Take this seriously!" Hizuki hissed. "You should know already, the GEMs are dangerous. Especially Boleite." Her ire was largely focused on Willow, though Evil Eye was trying her patience as well. Was the mysterious act really necessary? She could at least be a little clearer if it meant saving her own skin, not to mention the ass-beating the Daybreak had just signed herself up for in Kiyo's stead should this go poorly. "I'm going to go back down and talk to them." She floated backward in order to point at Willow with her spear. "And don't go bringing people's parents into things! There are lines."

Zipping back down to the ground, more out of a desire to escape whatever retort Willow had to say than a haste to begin this conversation. She alighted gently, kicking up a touch of dust left over from her earlier meteoric landing and subsequent launch. "You're Bodacious Boleite, right?" Hizuki glanced at Kaeru. "I never introduced myself earlier. I'm Hizuki the Daybreak," she began, before returning her gaze to Boleite, "and I'm a member of the Detention Club. We're not causing anyone trouble any more, so there's no need for a fight."

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Can I please just deal with one problem magical girl at a time?"

---

"Alright. I'll let Evil Eye know. . . and probably get Willow's cellphone back to her too." Black Gate's inability to use a phone continued to baffle her. The news of a planned attack was a bit confusing, too, but she supposed if those monkeys had anything in common with Kiyo's mogall, then it would explain how she knew.

Further pondering on the relationship between Black Gate and the GEMs would have to wait, though, as the appearance of yet another light girl made her blood run cold. Rumors flashed through her head as her eyes alighted on the lightning-themed magical girl, rumors and terrifying mental images. ". . . Boleite is here. I need to go." She hung up, the mic retracting back into her helmet, then zipped down below to where the other two members of the Detention Club remained.

"Kiyo, Willow, that's probably Bodacious Boleite. She uh, she might kill you. If it comes to it, let me handle her." Her voice was much lower and more desperate-sounding than usual. "I've got a couple tricks I've been sitting on that I know nobody has seen before, in case of emergency. Okay?"

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Excellent timing as always, Miss Black."

---

So the weird monkeys did belong to Maliss. That made sense. Kind of. It did make her wonder about the plushies she'd been distributing, though. Had she been contributing to the hunting of Kiyo's Mogall? Either way, her deciding to call right at this exact moment was awkward. If described generously. Hizuki sighed, audible to everyone listening, before gaining a bit more altitude for privacy. She continued ascending as she talked, mostly because hovering was actually more effort for her than staying on the move. It also got her further away from Willow's attempted guilt trip, which might've worked if she had any actual confidence in Willow's character. "Actually, the club was trying to get me to set up a meeting with you. They're also right outside with me and another light girl." Hizuki frowned. "Willow had my number because she's supposed to be my partner in the club for now. Why'd you steal hers instead of just, you know, calling me on your phone?" She shook her head, continuing before Black Gate could answer. "Nevermind that."

This was going to be difficult to navigate without someone accusing her of being a traitor in some shape or form. It wasn't true, of course, but it seemed like people were going to assume she was playing them for just doing her best to be helpful to everyone. "Look, the timing is pretty bad, but do you think I could set up a meeting with you, me, and Evil Eye? I promise to deal with the GEMs if they show up. Or anyone in the Detention Club if they decide to do something bad. Okay? I don't know what kind of fight you have going on with them, but we can sort it out if we talk."

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Kiyo let me borrow her license for this one."

---

The other light girl's response was about what Hizuki had expected. Slightly better, even, as she'd come prepared for a fight. One conversation isn't going to be enough to win anyone over. It seemed like she'd managed to deescalate the situation, at least, as Hizuki watched the frog girl jump back onto her frog. A conflict between light and dark girls that didn't end with one being beaten until they ran off or submitted was a win in her book. Her relief was short-lived, however, as it was immediately displaced by another emotion.

Daybreak whirled around as she fully processed what Kaeru had told her. Particularly, what she'd alluded to Willow saying. On seeing the catgirl floating up above, Hizuki angrily stomped the ground before rocketing up to match her alleged partner's height. "What the fuck, Willow? Why the hell would you say something like that!?" She might've paused to consider whether she was being manipulated, but it wasn't exactly a stretch of the imagination to think that Will-O-Wisp of all people might've said something awful to provoke someone else. "You can't just-"

Her phone rang, the poppy ringtone indicating the number was already in her contacts list. This new distraction interrupted her anger, dragging her further away from it as she saw who was supposedly calling her on the inside of her visor. "Eh?" Why on earth was she getting a call from Willow while she was trying to berate Willow? With a thought, she answered the phone, a small microphone extending from the side of her helmet. "Who is this?"

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

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."

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

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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.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

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"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."

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

---

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.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

---

---

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

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

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

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

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

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