As was becoming her habit, Hizuki stood overlooking Hibusa from one of its taller buildings. She had a lot to think about, and even more to do. At the very least, next on the list was unlikely to result in her wanting to hit someone, run away, or cry. She rang Kiyo's number.
"Hey, are you busy?"There was a very brief pause.
"Nope. Why..? Oh, the monkey girl. You found her?" Kiyo replied. There was the sound of rapid typing in the background.
"I was going to give her a call." She glanced toward the roofs where she'd first run into the girl.
"Here's hoping she answers, after the whole disaster the other day. I wanted to make sure I wasn't interrupting anything important first.""You aren't," Kiyo replied immediately and unconvincingly.
"I mean, you are? But fuck this shit, I need a break." There was a sound that, in context, was probably a laptop being slammed shut.
"So, where am I meeting you?""Honestly I half expected you to just see where I went after I gave Maliss a call and show up. There's a toy store I saw earlier, I was going to suggest that as a meeting point. You doing alright, by the way?""It's quicker to just ask. I can't see the whole town at once. I'm not Beelzebub. Though I'm sure Miss Frogger told you I was," came Kiyo's reply, among other noises.
"I'm fine. I just need to be presentable. Make the call, I'll show up in a few minutes.""Okay. Just let me know if you need anything." Hizuki hung up, then dialed in Miss Gate’s number.
Please pick up, she thought. It’d drive her a little crazy if she didn’t, since it wouldn’t be clear whether it was the odd girl’s issues with phones or an avoidance of Hizuki after the earlier kidnapping attempt.
The phone rang a few times, but to her surprise, she picked up.
"Paladin?" Black Gate’s voice was cautious.
"I charged my phone." She stated the obvious.
"Oh, good, I thought you might not answer after what happened." "I’m okay. I heal quick.""That meeting I mentioned, I still want to set it up, if you’re willing." Her voice was hopeful, if anxious.
"It’s just going to be you and the other one, right?" Black Gate huffed, but it was hard to tell if it was her being apprehensive, or a quirk of her lackadaisical nature.
"Please tell me it’s just going to be you two, and nowhere near the school.""Unless someone follows me and I don't pick up on them, it'll just be you, me, and Evil Eye." She paused for a moment to examine her surroundings with her magical senses, looking for traces of magic or anyone who seemed to want to know what she was doing.
"There's a toy store in town, I was thinking around there?""Construct-A-Cat? Okay, that could work." Haruna could almost feel her smile on the other side.
"I had been meaning to free more helpers to assist with our mission. I’ll meet you there shortly. Bye-bye.""See you." She quietly cheered to herself; not only had Black Gate accepted, but she liked the spot Hizuki had chosen specifically for her comfort. She texted Kiyo that the meeting was on before gliding over to the store, letting her pseudo-aerodynamics do most of the work of getting her there.
It was about then that Hizuki could feel a magical presence approaching, flying low and close to the rooftops, at Evil Eye's signature speed—or lack thereof, to be more precise. Soon, she was in view, her eyes showing the telltale signs of someone seeing the sun for the first time today.
The light girl banked toward Evil Eye, turning and losing speed until she was more or less alongside Kiyo.
"I know I asked already, but how are you doing? In all that chaos I lost track of what was going on before Nocnitsa showed up."A desire flared up within Evil Eye: a desire to maintain her image. It rose from the mire of her emotions with such sudden ferocity, like a crocodile snapping its jaws, that it might have been mistaken for the base instinct of self-preservation.
"All's well that ends well. If I look a bit tired, I've just been working on an alternative, in case this girl doesn't want to cooperate with us."Hizuki couldn't keep the look of concern that arose before Evil Eye even said anything from creasing her brow.
"What kind of alternative, exactly?" She'd play along for the moment; from what she'd seen of the club, it made sense to worry about one's image. There was a lot of posturing both internal and external happening there.
Evil Eye studied Hizuki, but seemed to dismiss her concern as nothing out of the ordinary.
"If she won't stop her minions from killing the Mogall, I need another way to watch over the town." She smirked.
"What did you think I was working on? Some way to force her to do my bidding?""I was just worried you might be planning to try and run her out of town or something. That doesn't really seem like your style, but I've only known you for a couple weeks." She shrugged, or at least the closest approximation she could manage while oriented horizontally.
"Seems like that's what a lot of the others would do, especially if it turns out she's working with the GEMs.""Well, I would run the GEMs out of town." She scowled.
"But a dark girl, I'd rather not. There aren't too many places where we can go. Working with the GEMs seems out of the question, too.""Seems unlikely, yeah," Hizuki said with a nod. She was quiet for a moment, mulling over something in her head.
"What's this beach incident I keep hearing about, by the way? Every other light girl I've talked to seems to know about it."There was a shift. Another desire, that of protecting the Club, joined the former. The two settled uneasily together, like two apex predators using the same watering hole—a temporary truce.
"I wasn't there. Our girls fought a giga miseria on a beach. Nobody was hurt, but the beach was destroyed. GEMs showed up conveniently after the fact and blamed them for it. Maybe they did share some fault, but instead of helping slay it, they let it weaken us, and then struck opportunistically. They only fled because Shatterscape showed up unexpectedly, giving us the advantage. Clearly, they still haven't gotten over it.""A miseria like that showed up in broad daylight?" She sounded horrified at the prospect.
"It's a miracle nobody died. And you said the GEMs blame the club for it showing up? Why?""They're weaker when they show up during the day," Evil Eye quickly added.
"I haven't asked for more details. It's one of those 'I don't care who started it' situations." She did her best impression of an annoying parent.
"Rei's just mad that it happened at all, which is stressing Roche out, because the beach trip was her idea of bringing the Club together. And now Rei is mad that Roche is stressing out, so it's become my problem to solve, but I don't know where to begin." She sighed.
"You can't just charge in and offer help directly, because she won't take it easy at all. She'll just add to the workload to account for the extra help. She's that kind of person."Hizuki very carefully did a mental triple flip to avoid thinking about how any of that might also describe her.
"The Club doesn't seem very good at accepting help in general. Not that I'm about to let that stop me." She also thought back to her interaction with Shuuko.
That's different, I don't have all these problems to deal with. "I just have to be patient, I guess." Her tone indicated that she was well aware this wasn't her strong suit.
"I think I've managed to convince Suki I'm not lying about everything again, at least."At her declaration that she wouldn't stop trying, Evil Eye had one of those rare, non-sinister smiles.
"Mm. Suki can be a bit... hypervigilant, I think is the word for it." For a moment, it seemed as if Evil Eye was feeling regretful about something.
"You'll be working with her more, now. We're swapping. I'll be with Willow. You'll be with her and Tsubomi.""Oh. That makes some stuff easier, I think. I'm going to be around those two a lot anyway." She tried, and failed, to not look too relieved at being spared a double dose of Willow's taunts.
"Any particular reason? Is Willow secretly still mad at me or something?" The catgirl didn't seem the type to actually hold a grudge like that, by her admittedly limited read.
Evil Eye shook her head.
"Executive decision. Willow had no say in it. If she even knows about it, it'll be because Rei told her yesterday." She lowered herself and alighted on the pavement. Hizuki touched down a moment later, her own landing taking slightly more maneuvering.
"Huh," she opined, taking in the sight of the toy store, reaching toward her nose to adjust a pair of glasses that didn't exist.
Cute.Hizuki glanced around their surroundings, looking for the goat girl or any of her minions. This included peering into a nearby bush, in case she'd decided to replicate one of her earlier stunts.
"It seemed like decent neutral ground that she would like," Haruna said, in response to Kiyo's non-question.
"Mal-um, Miss Black can be a little odd, but she's nice enough."Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Down in the streets below was said goat girl. She had an arm around a large stuffed bear and a thumb in her mouth. Her eyes searched the area for someone, but didn’t seem to notice Hizuki or Evil Eye. At least, not right away. But once she got in front of the Construct-A-Cat, she turned to the two magical girls. She did not remove her thumb from her mouth.
Moments later, a few stunted monkeys showed up beside her and began screeching and beating their chests. One of them pointed at the mogall in the sky, but none of them moved in to attack.
Hizuki gave her a wave.
"Hey, Miss Black." She gestured toward Kiyo.
"This is Evil Eye. Evil Eye, this is Black Gate." She pointed in the opposite direction.
"Good day," Evil Eye greeted politely. She looked up to where the monkeys pointed, blinked slowly, and the Mogall retreated behind the edge of the rooftops they watched from. Glancing back down to Black Gate, Evil Eye smiled. She had expected the leader of the monkey minions to be a bit... wilder. This was a pleasant surprise.
The mogall’s retreat seemed to be cause for celebration, as the apes were hopping into the air. Some even spun once or twice during their jump. Black Gate looked between Hizuki and Evil Eye before walking closer. Her feet scuffed across the pavement until she was right next to her. Then she pulled her thumb out of her mouth and wiped it on her dress.
"Hi." She hugged the bear with both arms.
"Hizuki says you wanted to talk to me?""Yes. I supervise the Detention Club." With Nocnitsa in town, she supposed she shouldn't give herself the
title of supervisor, just in case she was watching.
"I came to tell you that we're not your enemies. I was also hoping to invite you to join us last time, but we were attacked by the GEMs. What Willow—the violinist girl—did was not permitted. She did it behind my back—though it should've been my job to stop her, I urgently needed to save someone else. I'm sorry.""Thanks for trying." Her eyes were half closed. She used her wrist to rub them, which just made them look more bloodshot.
"I don’t know if I can though. I don’t really like that school. That’s where the club is, right?" "I see," Evil Eye replied with a small sigh.
"We do have a member who doesn't 'attend' the school, per se. I don't think you would have to change schools if you didn't want to. But if you don't want to join, we won't push you to." She looked at the stuffed bear, then back at Black Gate.
"But it is my job to look after the dark girls of Hibusa town. It is a bit distressing when I wake up each day to find half of my eyes turned to paste. They're not dangerous, and they help me keep our town safe. If you leave them alone, they might even help you someday. And I do need them left alone." Her voice was more exasperated than stern.
Her eyes opened a bit wider. Only a bit.
"Okay, we can discuss a truce. They seem a lot friendlier than the caustic bovine the cat sent after me." She held the stuffed bear up to Evil Eye’s face.
"Do you like Hoover? It’s okay if you want to touch him. He likes having his ears played with. He’s old, but very durable." "Caustic... bovine?" Evil Eye seemed to be calculating something in her mind, like what on earth the strategic value proposition of such a creature was. Or maybe she was just surprised to hear the childish-looking girl speak big words while shoving a teddy bear into her face. It was hard to say. She glanced at Hizuki, as if to seek either approval or mockery, but her gaze didn't linger long. She decided to give the bear a headpat.
"Good day, Hoover." Ear scritches were had as well.
"Is he also a creation of yours?""I don’t think Miss Black created her servants?" Hizuki said, half answering Evil Eye, half asking Black Gate herself.
She moved Hoover just far enough out of the way that she could look past his head at Kiyo.
"Yes, my servants are like friends. You can make friends, but you can’t create them." The bear’s head tipped.
"Quite the charmer today, Hoover." She lowered Hoover under her chin.
"Hoover likes you. He says your hands are very soft." She pet the bear’s head.
"No, Hoover. I’m not trying to get a compliment out of you. Don’t be weird." With her servant addressed, the horned girl looked back at her apes.
"We have been having difficulty distributing my servants. I would like to get one in every home in Hibusa town. Maybe even hide some in the school. If you wanted to help with that, I think we could be friends." Her eyelids fluttered a bit.
"Maybe we could do some club activities outside the school too, if you’d like." "You're right. You can't create friends," Evil Eye replied thoughtfully, her gaze seeming a bit far off.
So then, her magic probably animates preexisting objects. Perhaps a toy store wasn't such a neutral ground after all. Briefly, she held a desire to give Miss Black a headpat, too, but she forced it back with a smile.
"Our leader may object to the idea of them attending our club meetings, but if you just want us to hand them out to students around the school, I think we can do that. It's a fair trade. We can watch over the town together.""I’ve actually already been doing that," Hizuki chimed in.
"I had the box of plushies with me the first time I talked to the club in school. Suki took one." "You’ve been doing well, Hizuki." Black gate turned to face the light girl.
"If you weren’t here, I wouldn’t have this connection now. So thank you." She gave a small bow before turning back to Evil Eye.
"They don’t have to be in the club room, I just want everybody to have one." Her eyes shifted side to side.
"So what do we do now? Do we sign a contract? Maybe a ceremony of some kind." After some thinking, she held out Hoover again.
"Maybe you could take Hoover as a sign of trust from both of us? He’s my second oldest servant." "Ceremony..." Evil Eye murmured, laughing it off with a nervous giggle that she had hoped would sound cool. When she had the advantage of knowing ahead of time, sure, she liked to welcome a new girl to the club with a touch of flair—a memorable first meeting—but nobody was supposed to know that she did that.
"Is it really okay for me to take him? I don't have anything special to give you." She looked up at the toy store's facade as if it would have the answers. Incidentally, absentmindedly looking up
did give her an idea, for once.
"Let's do it. The construct-a-cat thing. I like cats, so I'll give you a cat.""That sounds fun! We could all build one together. Although, I guess if it’s supposed to be from Evil Eye, it would make more sense for her to make one herself." She thought for a moment.
"We could all three make our own and trade them around? I’ve gotten plushies from Miss Gate, and Miss Gate is getting one from Evil Eye now, so maybe I should make one for Evil Eye and. . . well, I don’t actually know who Miss Gate should give one to, since she’s already given both of us plushies." She glanced toward the girl in question.
"Maybe you should just make another one for yourself?"Black Gate’s arms seemed to get weaker.
"Oh?" She looked between the two magical girls, and despite it being late out, her eyes began to sparkle in the limited light.
"You want to make cat servants, and then exchange them?" She looked away from them. After standing there for a moment, she took a few steps and kneeled on the ground with her bear.
"Sorry Hoover. You were really charming, but they have another idea. It’s okay, I’m sure you’ll see her again. Maybe she can take you home later." She stood up, and one of the apes picked up Hoover. It hugged it close and continued to do its spinning celebratory jump. While Black Gate looked just as glum as she normally did, she was a lot faster to return to the group.
"I like that idea." She folded her arms behind her back.
"Lead the way." Hizuki walked over to the alley between the store and the adjacent building, then transformed back into Haruna. She looked at the other two expectantly.
"I can pay, by the way, if that would be trouble for you guys."It seemed as if Black Gate had misunderstood something about Evil Eye's intentions, but she decided not to correct her. She didn't really have the space to accommodate Hoover in a way where he wouldn't be watching her sleep, anyway, and if her gift's intended recipient wanted to include Hizuki, she didn't really have a reason to refuse.
"'I can pay,' said she, blissfully unaware of the price-gouging world of custom-made plushies..." Kiyo narrated dramatically. Still, she followed suit and untransformed in the alley.
"Won’t it be cheaper if we stay transformed?" The horned girl wondered out loud.
"I think they’re expensive." She added, as if reading Evil Eye’s mind.
"Well. . . yes, it would, I guess" Haruna began,
"but it wouldn’t really be the right thing to just take it. Plus, wouldn’t it be weird if someone saw plushies just floating around?"Black Gate tipped her head.
"Hmmm?" She tipped her head the other way.
"You mean like, if it was caught on security footage?" She thought about it for two seconds.
"We could break into the back. That’s probably where the security footage is stored. If we don’t find anything we can just destroy the cameras. I don’t think a lot of people will see us at this hour. It would be more weird for three girls to enter a Construct-A-Cat when they should be at school."Haruna tapped her foot, trying to figure out how to convince these two to not abuse their powers.
"I mean, sure, but why would we steal if we don’t have to? Like I said, I can just pay for it, it really won’t be any trouble," she insisted.
"And I think I would feel bad about just having a stolen plushie around.""I’d feel bad if you had to buy my gift for you." She pouted.
"But I have no money."Kiyo looked between the two girls, thinking. Her desire seemed to be to find a compromise.
"I mean, logistically speaking, stealing from this place would be kind of a nightmare anyway, wouldn't it? We'd have to figure out how to use everything. Much easier to just let the employees do it." She seemed to settle on agreeing with Hizuki, even if it wasn't necessarily on the right principles.
"If Hizuki says she's paying, that makes us even. Since this was my idea, she's doing me a favor, so I'll make it up to her later.""The gift is the thought you put into making the cat, not the money the cat costs," Haruna offered, in an attempt to placate Michi.
"Besides, I feel like I owe you a little for the whole Will-o-wisp thing."Michi pondered on their words. She looked at the floor to gather her thoughts, and nodded once. Then the goat girl took her time walking behind the side of the building and emerged in her normal form. Even though this was Haruna’s second time seeing her like this, it was rather strange how much more mature the girl looked when untransformed.
"I understand now." She said while approaching Kiyo.
"We pay this time, understand how it all works, and then we can get more later at a discount." She turned back towards Haruna.
"But those would not be for you, because that would defeat the purpose." She almost smiled, then pushed open the double doors and stepped inside. She held one of them open for her friends.
The light girl suppressed a frustrated sigh.
Baby steps, Haruna. She couldn’t force them to conform to her standards overnight. That wouldn’t stop the promise of future theft from bothering her, though, something she couldn’t quite keep off her face. Haruna did her best to push a smile to the forefront as she walked into the building, trying to focus on the entertainment of the event and bonding with new friends over her long-term moral concerns.
Kiyo put a hand to her mouth, hiding her smirk.
She must have given Suki a good scolding for shoplifting, she decided as she entered the double doors.
Once everyone was inside, Michi let go of the door.
"Oh! I got an idea." She almost sounded like a normal person.
"Maybe, we should come in here two at a time." She pointed between the two detention girls.
"Because then you could ask Haruna stuff about me when you make my cat, and then I could ask you stuff about Haruna, and then Haruna could ask me stuff about you. Though I probably wouldn’t be able to help that much…"Kiyo considered.
"That should work. You first then, Haruna," she decided on the spot.
She blinked.
"Oh, okay." Haruna had been puzzling through how to get a reasonable rotation going when she was the only one who knew both Black Gate and Evil Eye.
"Well, I hope I don’t disappoint." As she moved up to begin the process, she looked back at Kiyo, straining to get a sense of what she might actually want in a custom-made stuffed cat. Not that she expected to get a reading that specific, especially when Kiyo was probably more curious about the other dark girl than anything else.
Kiyo was a girl of contradictions, Hizuki found. While she kept herself cool and level-headed on the surface, the scope of her desires was like a murky bog teeming with hidden life. There were, as ever, the two titans sharing uneasy space together. The desire to maintain appearances demanded Kiyo dress and act like a rebellious girl—as though such were not her natural inclination, and she needed to be reminded to do it. Beneath its shadow were subordinates: the desire to maintain control, which had Kiyo immediately place herself at the back of the line, with Hizuki in front, quickly retreated from whence it came. At its side lurked the desires to make a good first impression, and to recruit more members to the club. Nothing unusual there, but not what Haruna was looking for.
Then, something else stirred. Anticipation—both of receiving a gift from Haruna, and of getting a glimpse into what this new girl thought she was like—rose up from the deep. Then, as if it had been promptly smacked by someone in a canoe wielding an oar, it then retreated into the mire. Had it been judged too selfish a thing? No, it couldn't possibly have been, could it? Her desire had placed no certain expectations on what she would receive—it would have been satisfied to simply receive at all. Why, then, had it been battered, as if it were an unwanted thing?
At some point during Haruna's glimpse into Kiyo's desires, their eyes had met, and Kiyo seemed to be the first to notice. She looked away, glancing at Michi.
"Just tell her what you think. Don't worry about whether it's right."Haruna had broken off at the same time Kiyo did, rubbing at her eyes as she turned back to the task at hand. That had been
incredibly clear and detailed (even if she hadn’t figured out what Kiyo would like), moreso than Haruna had gotten on, well, anyone. It was a little overwhelming, and it showed in her slightly dazed expression.
"Oh okay." Michi took Haruna by the wrist, delicately holding her with her thumb and point finger. Then she walked some distance away before stopping in front of some machines. Kiyo was still in sight, but looking away and probably out of ear shot.
"Um, I don’t really know her, she’s right." She sighed.
"This is the first time I’ve met her. I’m sorry." Michi lowered her head.
"That’s okay. You’ve seen how she acts a little, and you’ve also seen her eyes and stuff, so just, you know, give your impressions. Don’t worry too much about it," Haruna said, attempting to be encouraging.
"At the very least, if you say something that sounds wrong, then I’ll know to do something else when I wouldn’t have thought of it otherwise.""Okay." Michi turned around to look at Kiyo one last time, then turned back to Haruna.
"She does have a lot of eyes looking around, but I don’t know. I don’t think anyone likes to be typecast. I think I’d avoid giving the cat more than two eyes." She scratched her chin.
"I um, think, she liked red and black. They wear a lot of red and black in both forms." She tapped her foot.
"And…she seems cool. I think this cat, it needs to be cool too." "Well, black cats are a classic, so I guess we’ll start with that as a base. And it should look all cool and mysterious." She started perusing the available cats, looking over all the ones with darker colorations.
"I wonder. . ." Haruna picked out one of the black ones, then inspected part of it closely before putting it back down. She did this with a few before she found one with the trait she was looking for.
"Aha! This one." The cat she’d chosen looked mostly like the others, but in the middle of its chest was a small white patch.
"What do you think?"The goth girl’s eyes shifted between Haruna’s selection and all the other available choices.
"Why that one?"The light girl leaned in toward Michi and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper.
"She acts all cool, but I think she’s kind of a softie on the inside. Don’t tell her I said that, though." Haruna gave her a small smile, then began to move toward the next station.
"Do you think we should put something in it so it meows when you squeeze it?""It’s not a chew toy, I don’t think sounds are necessary." Michi rubbed the back of her head.
"You understand this is for her, right?" She folded her arms.
"Do you think she’d find it amusing if you secretly thought she was weak?" Haruna tilted her head in confusion.
"Weak?""You said she was secretly soft on the inside." She placed a hand on her hip in an unusual display of annoyance.
"If she’s secretly soft, then she’s trying to look strong. It would be mean to poke fun at her like that, wouldn’t it?"The light girl glanced down and to the side awkwardly.
"I guess I hadn’t thought of it like that. It’s supposed to be a little bit of a poke, but do you really think she’d be that bothered?" Haruna looked a bit sad; she’d thought it was a fun little idea, and a reference to a shared secret.
"I don’t want to be a bully."Haruna was about to put the cat back when Michi placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Wait." She stepped in front of the light girl.
"Maybe it doesn’t have to be what she thinks is cool, so long as it’s what you think is cool." "I do think it’s cooler if she has more to her than just what she shows." She tilted her head again in the opposite direction from before.
"Or, I guess it’s not really cooler necessarily. I don’t think it's less cool for it being there, either. It just seems nice. You know?"With a shrug, she removed her hand from Haruna’s shoulder.
"You seem like you know what to do." She turned around and looked at one of the machines.
"You should finish up before it gets crowded." "Right." She started making her way toward the stuffing machine.
"You’re the plushie expert, how firm do you think the cat should be?""They always get softer with age. I would say firmer is better." She poked a button on a machine, and it spun for a bit before stopping.
"But if she’s going to do more than display it, might want to make sure it’s at least soft enough to be pleasant." She stepped away from the machine.
"Then you want to think about accessories. You probably don’t need a lot. Maybe one or two that mean something. And you want something that can be stitched on, otherwise it’ll just get lost." After some hesitation, she added.
"Sometimes I dress up my plushies myself, but that’s an exception." "Right." Haruna handed the plush over to the employee managing the machine, requesting the second-highest firmness. She watched with interest as it went about its work, but seemed more eager to get to the accessorizing than continue watching it stuff random animals.
"Accessories. . . what accessories are cool? Capes?""Capes, maybe a mask of some kind. Cat eye or opera mask maybe, for that mystery." Michi was looking at the ceiling.
"Tentacles are cool too, but that feels a little on the nose. What do you think is cool?"Haruna scratched her chin thoughtfully.
"Wings are pretty cool, but they’re not very Evil Eye. Maybe. . . hmm. . . a cool red scarf? Or is that too heroic? I feel like they can kinda go either way." Her mouth twisted a bit.
"Do you think a cape and a scarf is too much?""If you think it’s cool, it’s probably fine." the goth girl added, unhelpfully.
"Those are good accessories though, as they won’t just break off." She added helpfully.
Haruna shrugged, then went to pick out the most suitable variants of each of those. She handed them and the plush to another employee, who set about attaching them to the stuffed cat. Once that was done, she turned back to Michi.
"Do you think it needs anything else?"She looked over the plushy carefully.
"I’d hug him." She changed her viewing angle.
"Yea, I think he’s fine. I don’t really know Kiyo, sorry I couldn’t be of more help." "Don’t worry about it. I put you on the spot with the suggestion for us to all make plushies." She gestured toward where Kiyo was waiting.
"I’ll pay for them all at once, so we should go get her now.""Wait!" Michi grabbed a gift bag and rose it up over the plush before handing it to Haruna.
"This way we can all see what we got at the same time." "Oh, yeah, good point." She slid the plush into the bag.
"I hope the others turn out well, too." Then, she navigated around what few customers there were at this time of day to reach Kiyo once more.
"Alright, who’s next?"Kiyo stood up, only leaning slightly on her cane.
"That'll be Miss Black—which means it's my turn to gossip," she teased mischievously.
"I can only imagine what you’ll tell her." Haruna didn’t sound particularly afraid, saying the words with a slight grin.
"Okay." Michi waved for Kiyo to join her further down the isle. She looked back at Haruna to make sure she wasn’t peaking.
"I think I know what I want to do, but I’d like to hear your input first." She folded her hands behind her back.
"What do you think Haruna would like?" Kiyo pondered, scratching her cheek.
"That's a good question. You mentioned asking me about her, and I had plenty of ideas for a 'Hizuki-like' plushie, but I'm not sure that's the best approach. Maybe she'd rather have something that reminds her of you than something that resembles herself. Since she's the kind of person who's always thinking of others," she mused.
"Oh, that’s true." Michi blinked.
"I was going to make a cat in pajamas, because she always looks tired."Kiyo covered her mouth just in time to stop herself from laughing.
"Pfft." But then, she looked like she was considering it.
"Actually, something like that could be ideal. For the person who's always thinking of others, a gift that reminds them that someone else is thinking of them, so they should take care of themselves too. A 'take-a-break' kitty.""I’m glad you like the idea." Said the girl that looked largely indifferent to everything. She immediately went to work getting the parts she would need. She selected a tan cat with a sleepy expression, and gave it a nod.
"Oh hi there." She held the cat with both hands.
"You’re name is going to be Haruna Jr, and you’re going to make Haruna very happy. Maybe." She went through the process of getting the cat firmed up and was ready to start picking out accessories. She got a night cap with little moons and stars on it, as well as pajama tops and bottoms to match. She finished dressing the sleepy cat when she stopped and turned to Kiyo.
"I don’t think it’s Haruna enough." She turned it over in her hand.
"It’s just a cat in sleepwear. Do you think it would be weird to write her measurements on Haruna Jr’s clothes?""Just a bit," Kiyo replied, not sure what to make of her off-color comment when she just seemed so... blank. It felt like a joke, but without the expression needed to stick the landing. Perhaps Miss Black had been a dark girl for much longer than Kiyo had initially thought.
"You're right. With just this, it's a bit... She doesn't really give off the vibe of a custom-made plushie, does she?" She took a minute or so to think about it.
"I feel like if we add something too Haruna-like, the whole vibe would just kinda clash. Like, pajamas and a motorcycle helmet... y'know?" Kiyo both looked and felt a bit helpless for a moment.
"I'm definitely feeling a different hat, though. A detective's hat is too on-the-nose. Gives busybody vibes. Maybe a nurse cap? Nurses take naps, I bet." Her voice trailed off as she went on.
"I don’t think Haruna is a nurse or a detective though." She pouted. But after looking at the plushy just a bit longer, her eyebrows poked up.
"Oh!" She tugged the sleeping cap off of the cat’s head and found a helmet. It had an open front that showed the cat’s facial expression, but the back of the helmet had feathered wings and a gold-like trim around the edges.
"I call Haruna paladin sometimes." She placed the sleep cap on top of the helmet. It didn’t quite fit right, but the paladin cat looked pretty sleepy.
"I think that’s an improvement, right? Actually…" After looking through the accessories again, she put the pajamas away and grabbed a breast plate to slide over the cat’s torso. Then she grabbed a tiny pillow and stuck it under the plush’s arm.
"I think this is better. What do you think?" Kiyo nodded along approvingly.
"Haruna's definitely a paladin," she agreed without missing a beat—but Michi kept adding parts. Something about the way she was excitedly proposing one thing after another reminded her of Suki, and Kiyo didn't quite know what to say.
"Well... the breastplate might be a bit much. It feels like we've strayed from 'take-a-break kitty' to 'high-stakes-pillow-fight kitty.' I like the helmet with the nightcap on top, though.""Oh, yea." She looked at it again.
"It’s a little overboard, isn’t it? I just wanted the paladin bit to come through." She tugged on the breastplate, and it popped off.
"You’re right, I think that’s better. The pillow prevents the sleeping cap from looking like a wizard’s cap, I think." She shrugged.
"I told Haruna not to go overboard on accessories too. It can be hard to focus when you’re the one doing it I guess." She handed the items off to get stitched together.
"Well, I was almost able to do that myself. Thanks for the save, Kiyo." Kiyo shook her head.
"Calling it a save is giving me too much credit. I'm sure Haruna would have been happy to have High-Stakes-Pillow-Fight Kitty, too," she replied with a smile.
"I can be a bit... particular." Michi's non-expression blurred any possible line that Kiyo could have attempted to draw between what was either sarcasm, or an almost zealous level of sincerity scarcely seen outside of TV programming made for children. In the end, Kiyo decided to take her words at face value.
"Suppose it's my turn then," she said, making her way over to Haruna.
"Yup." After getting the plush put in a gift bag, Michi dragged her feet back to the entrance. Her attention was immediately stolen by a clerk sewing an expression on one of the cats.
Haruna turned at the sound of the pair’s footsteps approaching.
"I’m looking forward to seeing what you two made. Shall we?" she said, looking at Kiyo and gesturing toward the bins of yet-to-be-constructed cats.
Kiyo nodded, turning back whence she came just as soon as Haruna stood up. She appeared to be deep in thought as she looked at the cat plushies.
"What do you make of her? Miss Black," she inquired of Haruna, eyeing charcoal grey cats and scrutinizing faces with half-lidded eyes. One by one, she picked them up and put them down, seeming to consider each one but never quite finding satisfaction. She turned to Haruna, as if seeking it from her answer. The question was surely deeper than simply what kind of cat Michi would like, though she seemed determined enough on her own to find an answer for that too.
"She’s a little. . . odd. It’s hard to get a read on what she actually wants, but I don’t really get the impression she’s being intentionally mysterious or anything." The implied comparison was hard to miss.
"And I think she’s pretty shy in the end. Or, shy’s the wrong word. Anxious, maybe? She’s afraid of the club and nervous about the GEMs, but she does seem to like having company if she feels comfortable around them." Haruna shrugged.
"She also thinks your mogalls are super cute," she added after a moment.
Kiyo nodded along, seeming to agree with much of what Haruna said, but it was the last one that surprised her.
"C-Cute... That's a first." Kiyo picked up another cat with half-lidded eyes, but instead of a grumpy or neutral expression, this one had a slight smile. It looked mischievous, or maybe a little smug. If Kiyo had been designing a cat to resemble herself, she had picked the perfect face.
"A smile suits her better," she remarked instead.
She was quiet for a moment while she looked at the accessories, before she spoke up again.
"I could have made them to look like anything, you know? My sentries." She paused.
"Cute, fluffy bunnies. Silly, googly-eyed birds. The fly on the windowsill that you'd never noticed was there until the day you went to clean the window and realized it was dead." Another pause. Suddenly, she turned around and showed Haruna the cat with a witch hat.
"Witches should have lots of friends, don't you agree?"She nodded in response.
"Yeah, I think a witchy cat is appropriate, as long as we can find a fancy dress or something to dress her in. Miss Black really likes her tea parties and such." She hesitated for a moment, then decided to ask the obvious question.
"Why eyeballs, then? You don’t sound super attached to them. I guess they fit your name?"Kiyo appeared thoughtful, nodding and turning her attention to some small gothic dresses.
"When you cry, and wipe away your tears with a tissue, do you keep the tissue in a box for safekeeping?" She paused to look up. Perhaps she was thinking, or perhaps she was just waiting for the absurdity to set in. She was probably on the lookout for any nosy employees, too.
"A child might, for fear of losing a part of herself, I suppose, but once she becomes an adult, she realizes that the purpose of tears is in the act of shedding them. My sentries might look like living things, but they're nothing more than negative emotion given form. The raw substance is useful, but once it takes on shape, its only purpose is to fulfill the task for which it was born. Getting attached to them would be like befriending Miseria."After sorting through so many black-and-white dresses, mumbling complaints about how too many of them looked like
"maid dresses," she finally turned around, showing Haruna the one she chose.
"...Oh, but I've just dodged your question." She turned around again, looking at the other accessories available to see if anything caught her eye without digging too much for it.
"Plushies really are cute, aren't they?""Yeah." Haruna didn’t fail to note that, despite acknowledging the dodge, she still didn’t actually answer. Still, she could probably pluck some kind of meaning from among the ramble Kiyo had given her instead. . . and the dark girl wouldn’t be able to hold whatever interpretation she got from it against her.
"I should get a couple more for my apartment, it might be a bit cozier then." Returning her attention to the task at hand, she leaned forward to inspect the dress.
"Plushies are cute when they're not watching," Kiyo replied darkly.
"Once you realize that the teddy bear has been watching you, you don't think it's cute anymore. You want to tear its eyes out instead." She lightly squeezed the innocent cat plush in her arms.
"Security cameras might not be cute, but they, at least, won't lie to you—and if you're being followed by a creep, you'll never be happier to see one."Kiyo's eyes had settled on a wand accessory, and she picked it up. It looked more like the sort of thing a princess or fairy godmother would use, rather than a witch. If she gave it to the cat, it would stand out as the only colorful object on an otherwise dull canvas of black, white, and grey.
"The Mogall are sentinels, not spies. They don't lie about their purpose. They're eyeballs, because I created them to watch. They're not cute, because I made them to not be cute. They don't hide, because I didn't make them to be stealthy. I want my girls to feel safe knowing when they're alone, and feel safe knowing when someone is watching over them. I wanted the Mogall to be like the security camera."Her use of past tense and slightly morose tone implied that she knew they were not, in fact,
"like the security camera" for the other girls. She turned back to Haruna and showed off her handiwork.
"The witch came from a world of black and white—but after she learned magic, she surrounded herself with friends who filled her world with color," she explained in the past tense as though it were already decided. Then, she made a slightly stern face.
"Sometimes, you shouldn't explain why something looks the way it does. The language of symbolism is supposed to be secret. So, don't tell anyone. But, what do you think?"Haruna replied with one of her small smiles.
"I think that makes a lot of sense." She deliberately didn’t clarify which statement she was responding to. Kiyo cared a lot about the club, it was obvious, and one of the few things she didn’t seem to put effort into making ambiguous. Haruna appreciated that kind of earnest effort.
"I think the only thing I’d add to the cat is if we could give her a stuffed rabbit, or something. Miss Gate gives me Alice in Wonderland vibes, you know?"Kiyo smiled, too, seeming to appreciate the reciprocal ambiguity.
"Do I give you Alice in Wonderland vibes, too?" She raised the cat plush so that its impish grin was right beneath her chin.
"You shouldn't be able to tell easily whether she's supposed to resemble me or Miss Black. That's part of the charm." She raised the cat's paw with a finger to make it look like she was casting a spell.
Haruna raised an eyebrow at that last, an eyebrow that seemed to playfully warn that she might try to read more into that idea.
"I wouldn’t say you do on the surface, but now that you ask. . . I can think of some reasons you might." Things were rarely immediately as they seemed in Wonderland, of course, and appearances could be deceiving.
"But those might not be right for the plushie, you’re right.""I'm not opposed," Kiyo replied.
"The rabbit could be Roche, or it could be you." Her eyes wandered a bit.
"But then, so it's not mistaken for any old rabbit pulled from a magician's hat, the rabbit needs a pocket watch, and then a bowtie, or maybe a cravat, and now there's too many accessories and too much visual noise. So maybe not." She gathered up everything she'd chosen and started to look for an employee to hand them off to.
"...Thanks," she whispered ambiguously.
The smile returned.
"No problem." Haruna flagged an employee down for Kiyo.
"Just glad to help. And this has turned out to be way less stressful than pretty much everything else I’ve done since I moved here, too. Maybe we should do something like this again sometime?""Yeah." Kiyo's now-emptied hands fidgeted aimlessly for a second before finding her jacket pockets.
"This was—fun." She seemed to settle on the word after considering several others. After receiving the plush and bagging it, she started to walk back to where Michi was sitting.
"I've actually never done this before, even though I always... wanted to try.""I wouldn’t mind coming back here, if you wanted," Haruna said as she followed. She decided not to ask Kiyo why she hadn’t tried before; it seemed like the dark girl would probably retreat emotionally if Haruna looked too deeply at once.
Speaking of looking deeply, I’m surprised she didn’t feel that earlier, or something. "I wasn’t really very invested in coming here, but now that we’ve actually done this, I like it a lot. It’s nice to make things for each other, and I’m not a very crafty person myself," she said, as they reached Michi with the third and final plush in tow.
"Time for the big reveal?""Um, AKTUALY!" An attendant at the counter said, pushing their glasses up their nose.
"I need to make sure you have this first. I understand you’re paying for all of these?" Michi averted her eyes as the clerk spoke. Then they presented Haruna with a paper slip with the cost of everything, at which point the clerk smiled.
"They are all very cute cats though, and I’m sure you’ll all enjoy them." Before they backed away from the counter they added
"And we have credit options available." Michi swallowed.
"We’ll reveal them one at a time. I want to see everyone’s reaction before I look at mine." Everyone handed off their plushy to the correct recipient.
"Kiyo, Haruna made yours first, so why don’t you have a peak?" Kiyo made no attempt to hide her cringe-induced disgust from the store clerk.
Why are you smiling like a used car salesman who just got a big commission? You didn't even help. For the sake of the other two, though, she said nothing.
"Sure." She agreed, and upon taking the cat out of the bag, she was greeted with the red and black she expected, plus a bit of white.
"Aha!" She exclaimed, seeming pleased.
"Tuxedo cats are the cutest, aren't they?" Kiyo glanced at Haruna with the mischievous look of someone who knew that
she knew that she was going to scrutinize every little detail.
A cape—noble, classy, mysterious. Scarf—rebellious, self-reliant. A black cat with a white belly—the jerk with a heart of gold? Surely, you're not hoping for more than that, Hizuki?Kiyo wondered how much Haruna knew about cats—how their bellies were sensitive, and they showed them as an expression of trust—but did not want them to be touched. Thinking back, she decided that Haruna probably did.
She's not aloof like Rei or Roche, but she also respects a distance I always wanted but could never get from family. She held the plush close to her chest.
"She's perfect, just like her owner," she declared, satisfied. Her smile was lofty, but the look in her eyes seemed different from the 'fake happiness' her eyes usually showed to accompany it.
Haruna’s smile broadened at Kiyo’s reaction.
"I’m really glad you like it." Once again, she felt like she was seeing a bit of Kiyo that most people didn’t.
"I was worried I might not have added enough embellishments, but Miss Black suggested that less might be more, and I guess it really did suit you." She turned to flash her smile at Michi as well, showing her gratitude.
"I guess it’s my turn?" Michi nodded, then squared up her shoulders.
She loosened the bag a bit to free the fettered feline, then lifted it into the air to inspect it. A pillow, a helmet, and a nightcap plopped atop the latter. Half-closed eyes, like the cat was about to fall asleep.
"A sleepy paladin?" she questioned aloud. The knightly parts she understood - and quite appreciated, under other circumstances she might have been preening under the description - but the sleepy bits were throwing her a little.
"Do I really look that tired?" She
had nearly fallen asleep in class three days a row, thinking of it.
The girl drew her phone and snapped a picture of Haruna. Then she moved over beside Haruna and showed her the photo.
"Kind of." She pulled the phone against her chest.
"Do you not like it?" Haruna peered at the photo. She nearly didn’t recognize herself. . . and her first thought was that the girl in the photo needed a nap and probably a shower.
"Oh, wow. Do I always look like that. . . ?" She shook her head, looking a bit embarrassed at the realization.
"But no, I like it a lot. I just didn’t get that part right away, is all." She resisted the urge to pat Michi on the head as part of an apology.
"I’ll take good care of her, I promise." Michi nodded in response.
"Being sleep-deprived is like being a little tipsy. In both cases, the mind is surprisingly good at convincing you that everything is normal," Kiyo helpfully added.
"Tsubomi might be the only one among us who actually gets a healthy amount of sleep, to be fair..." she mused.
But you don't have anyone at home telling you not to overdo it, do you Hizuki? I can tell.Michi looked between the two girls, then at the decorative gift bag she was holding. She turned it over in her hand, as if somehow trying to discern what might have been inside. She pulled the handles apart with both hands and was greeted with a wide brimmed witch’s hat that concealed the rest of the plushy from view. She tipped her head and reached a hand inside to retrieve the cat hiding at the bottom of the bag, and pulled it out.
She seemed to freeze in place, with her lazy eyes locked on the lazy, content expression of the cat. But the plush didn’t move. It merely stared back at her with its mischievous smile. At last, Michi’s jaw opened. But she didn’t say anything. Her breathing became noisy, then her eyes became wet. Michi closed her eyes, and tears rolled down her face. The cat continued to smile at her in her trembling hand.
Haruna’s expression flashed from happy to panicked.
"W-wait, what’s wrong? Did we do something wrong?" She hurried over to Michi’s side, putting one hand on her shoulder.
As before, Kiyo was slow to speak.
"Miss Black?" she prompted softly, her hand occupying Michi's other shoulder. Kiyo hid her anxiety well, but Haruna could feel it: self-preservation stirred, yet Kiyo moved to comfort Michi.
As soon as the outstretched hands landed on Michi’s shoulders, she reacted. The delinquent shrieked and flailed her arms while she backed away from the two girls. Haruna’s arm was swat away, then Kiyo’s, before Michi backed into a gachapon machine. The store clerk had almost disappeared before they returned to the counter to see what the commotion was. Michi was breathing heavy, her teeth clenched tight. The tears didn’t stop rolling down her face. Her desire to destroy had flared up in the moment, but it was starting to subside, and her law loosened up.
"I, I-" She looked at the witch cat again.
"I’veneverbeengivensomethinglikethis!" She was just able to get out the words before sobbing into her sleeve.
"O-oh. Good crying. I think?" Haruna glanced hurriedly back toward the employee, waving him off before turning her attention back to Black Gate. She closed the distance again, but made sure to leave her a bit more space than she had previously.
"Sorry for crowding you. You, um, like it, then?" she asked, hopeful. She got a nod in response, with the arm covering her face bobbing up and down.
"I hope you make lots of friends," Kiyo added, also appearing hopeful—but she allowed Michi to keep the distance she'd created.
She lowered her arm away from her face, which was now all red.
"I like her. Thank you." She hugged the plush witch against her chest.
"I think I know where I want to put her. Do you guys mind if i-" She sniffed.
"Got her set up?""Not at all. I’ve just gotta go pay for these real quick." Haruna sighed in relief before heading toward the register - and trying not to let her startlement show when she saw the price tag on the receipt she’d been given.
"Sure," Kiyo replied, satisfied. The look she gave Haruna from across the room felt like a blend of an amused
"I told you so" with some reassuring
"we'll go somewhere else next time" mixed in.
…
…
…
Meanwhile, on the roof of the Construct-A-Cat, two Mogalls floated just out of sight. They looked at each other as if conversing, but no words were exchanged.
They turned their attention to the roofs edge when a few stunted apes climbed into view. They were about to float off when the aped began waving their arms. But something was different. Rather than trying to wave the mogalls away, they were beckoning them to come closer. Their shrill screeching was replaced by curious monkey sounds.
The apes parted like the red sea, and a monkey carrying a cardboard box walked out from between them and placed it on the ground. It threw the flaps open before taking a step back.
One of the mogall closed in, curious but cautious. One of its tendrils reached into the box and held up a tiny bottle. It looked at its friend and held the bottle out for them to inspect. The bottle was a container of eyedrops. The eye bobbed, as if nodding, then took off in a flash. Not much time passed before the mogall returned with a box, and placed it on the ground in front of the monkeys before backing away.
The bravest ape approached the new cardboard box and examined it. He scratched his head and looked back at his fellow apes, who only screeched at him. With a shrug, they pulled open the box and looked inside. Immediately, the ape began screeching, and his fellow ape friends joined in unison. Then the brave ape reached into the box and hoisted up a cluster of bananas.
The apes began to spin and jump, while the mogall swirled in the sky. They had made so many friends this day.
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Simply Not Real
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