The World

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Oh, I was right. It found us."



This fight is for the birds.

---

As she was lifted to her feet, Tsubomi seemed to be able to stand. But the new earthquake and loss of strength in her leg made it so that Oros was doing the heavy lifting for her. She didn't respond before the giant fuckoff skeleton guy entered her sight. And with her slow thinking, she didn't even notice as its seeming pressure covered the area, leaving her almost totally unaffected by it, at least for now.

More pressing were the weird bird guys. Were they friends of the apes? Enemies? Lovers? Something broke through her brain as her eardrums rattled. Oros was right. If there was a time to go back to normal, it would be now. Acid Drop pulled her injured leg back up to rest on the stage so she could reach behind her and grab the script. Normally, it would be something like: "Oh yes, I have been so foolish as to forget my lines, allow me to read them again." But when she looked at the proverbial paper packet she saw nothing but blank lines, no words, no footnotes, no character names. She was so engrossed in thinking, if it could be called that, of what to do, how to go back to her usual nightly persona, that she didn't feel the pain of the bird grabbing her other leg.

She was bleeding again. Her pain receptors finally woke up to tell her that something was wrong, in sync with her eyes telling her that her recently uninjured leg was now matching its twin. And then her arms alerted her that they were being pulled, and she found herself mostly midair, with only her left leg and right arm dangling toward the ground for her to be able to control. It was lucky that she was right-handed, and she once more slowly drew her Devil Arm towards a Miseria that was biting her leg.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Got a message here for Nyxia, from Suki."



It's true. She does.

---

Stumbling away as if the earthquake was still in progress, Acid Drop began her trek to find the source of it. Oros had gone somewhere, which was fine. If the rainbow-haired girl wasn't able to find it, it was better for her partner to not waste her time as well. More importantly, she was unsure what would happen if Oros touched her, now that her magic seemed to be on the fritz.

A few shaky steps later and another flash of realization came. Oros had already touched her, and she hadn't fallen under her spell, so her magic must be working in that way at least. There were plenty of Miseria around, some approaching the unsteady Magical Girl, but none made it to her. Some sort of primates, she assumed also Miseria of some kind, were attacking the others. Were they Giga Miseria minions, or of another Magical Girl? Did it matter? She wasn't in any condition to fight like this. Did that mean that having Oros nearby was good? If they were a Magical Girl's friends, then no. Suki would just be in danger too, then. If they were Giga Miseria lackeys, then... No, same reason.

But if Oros stuck around the others, and boss lady especially, then she would be in much less danger. The girl's feet met in motion and she fell to the ground, not reacting in time to catch herself. Luckily, her head didn't hit very hard, with her body having hit first, but it was still somewhat painful. As she lay there another thought appeared. If half or more of her magic was gone, should she be feeling anything? She didn't last time she'd been in a similar situation, so at least that was consistent.

A single Miseria managed to get close to the fallen girl, biting at her leg. With her slow reflexes, it connected and drew blood. The girl slowly moved her Devil Arm closer to the creature, more like getting ready to squash a bug than to stab something. But it was so focused on trying to devour her limb that it didn't react until the tip of the weapon was already in its head. With slow and weak force she drove it deeper, until the Miseria burst into nothingness. Tsubomi tried to get her leg under her to stand but it didn't move like it was supposed to.

Why didn't it move when she was killing it? Shouldn't it have tried to get out of the way once it felt the knife? To be fair, she hadn't moved when it bit her. Was it repaying that? She didn't know, and without any actual feelings on the matter, she was likely to never find out, especially now that it was dead.

And so she, in her trademark slowness, pulled herself up to a mostly seated position and turned back the to group. She'd have to just sit and watch instead of looking for the cause of the earthquake. But knowing the Club's luck? It'd probably come to them.

Symphony on High

Marrie Knight

Strange. Marrie felt like she was being watched. Which was weird since she was the one watching something. A year ago, she would have thought that people can't actually feel themselves being watched. A few months ago, she would have assumed it was something unrelated. But nowadays she couldn't rule out the possibility of magical scrying, so she instantly closed out of her project, it thankfully being set to auto-save on closing.

She hadn't gotten, given herself, a break since the church incident. But she decided that after the Walking Church team-up went well, and Oliver was in the process of getting his problem sorted out, that she should take one and finalize the "secret weapon" that she both expected and hoped to never need to use. After all, she started it back when-

--- Sofron was cut off when Marrie took hold of his head. He tried to take a swing at her arm, but by that point she had already let go of him. The burning, internally bleeding, angry man tumbled through the air before falling into the ocean. A few seconds later, all Marrie could see was the waves washing to and fro, with neither Klava nor Sofron in sight. ---

That bastard only proved that she needed to prepare more and better. It was horribly unfortunate that she hadn't known what she needed to in order to finish this project sooner, back when she could have used it against Justin. But she'd learned a lot since then, in many ways from many sources, so she had managed good progress since his death. She didn't know what the point was; now that he was gone, who or what would she even use this against? She knew that the defenses she put in place would keep it from being used by anyone who found or stole it, but she wasn't so confident to let anyone watching her see the code.

Still, she'd been as careful as she could be and now it was finally about to bear its fruit. Soon she'd be able to go back to working on her passion project. But as soon as that thought hit, she shook her head. No, she couldn't. Not until she was stronger. This break was good for her stamina, but she'd just pour it all into more training the day after tomorrow when her break ended.

Marrie stood, removed the usb drive from her machine, and did a sweep of her apartment to check for bugs. Not finding any, she grabbed the essentials and headed out, making sure to lock the door as usual. A bike trip later and she was at a public computer. Having lost the sense of someone watching her, she typed out the last bit of code she needed in a text file, saved it to her usb drive, and logged out. Everything was ready, and she'd stitch it with the rest some other day.

With a stretch and a yawn, the black-haired girl stood. Having earned it, she went to find somewhere good to eat at.

Symphony on High

So since I've been advised to do a rank up to diamond instead of a rank up to silver...

Current

GENRE:

Step of the Monsoon
A floaty genre that's all about self-preservation, with a powerful storm of attacks when cornered.

GRADE: Gold
ELEMENT: Wind
NOTES: [Storm (4), Flight (6)] Damage (2), Damage X (6), Slow Fall (4), Blink (4), Transplace (8), Magic Sense (6), Heal (16), Stabilize (0), Portal (8), Rain (2), Bounce (0), If Foe (0)
SPECIAL: Riding the Currents. Her notes have a cold and warm version in addition to their standard versions, where the cold costs 2 additional mana and increases SENTINAL by 1 Rank, while the warm costs 2 additional mana and increases the Rank of the note by 1. As of becoming a Gold Rank Genre, Marrie has found that she's able to become one with the wind and turn incorporeal when casting Melodies. She can do this by adding an Intangible note to her melody.

New

GENRE:

Jupiter's Footfalls
A floaty genre that's purpose is to keep itself and others going, being their tailwind to push them forward and to unleash a storm on those who would do harm.

GRADE: Diamond
ELEMENT: Wind
NOTES: {Intangible (4), Mana Burn (6), Restrain (4)} [Storm (4), Flight (6)] Damage (2), Damage X (6), Blink (4), Transplace (8), Shield (4), Reflect (4), Magic Sense (4), Heal (6), Major Heal (18), Stabilize (0), Purify (6), Dispel (6), Portal (4), Full Enhance (4), Quicken (0)
SPECIAL:
Riding the Currents. Her notes have a cold and warm version in addition to their standard versions, where the cold costs 2 additional mana and increases SENTINAL by 1 Rank, while the warm costs 2 additional mana and increases the Rank of the note by 1.
Air-Ride. As of becoming a Gold Rank Genre, Marrie has found that she's able to become one with the wind and turn incorporeal when casting Melodies. She can do this by adding an Intangible note to her melody.
Anticyclonic Storm. Befitting its name, now at Diamond Rank Marrie's Genre Special allows her access to two additional Notes: Mana Burn and Restrain.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Are you telling me a girl cast this light?"



That's right, Shrimp.

---

By the time she arrived Acid Drop had, as usual, been passed by everyone else. Though for once she wasn't the last one to somewhere, with Oros behind her and the boss lady nowhere to be found. More importantly, there was someone who had to be the source of the light. After standing within sight for a few moments, she spoke up. "Did you cause the light?" Another few moments. "Did you cause the earthquake?"

Tonight was incredibly strange to Tsubomi. Not only had she not been able to put on her usual facade, not only was there an earthquake and a pillar to the heavens blinding her, but she wasn't able to feel, it seemed. She didn't realize it until just now, the information coming at her usual slowness, but she didn't seem to currently have her usual sense of the emotions of others. Even if she was at zero, or at such a high number that her returns were diminished, she could still feel other creatures' emotions. The last time she'd been unable to was just after the beach...

Did Tsubomi go to a beach recently? She didn't think so. Everything seemed normal earlier today, so what happened? She didn't know. All she knew for sure was that tonight was yet another strange moment to add to the collection that had been the recent months, ever since the Club seemed to start fracturing. Since the Club gathered in full to eat Suki's cooking, since Kiyo and Shatterscape had left, since... Well, some time after that. She didn't think she was affected much by those things, so what was going on?

Synapses fired, and soon after a thought occurred. Her "tulpa," for lack of a better word, had been absent since... well, since she left the clubroom after the announcement that the boss would be joining them all on a hunt. Did she leave and take her magic with her? Acid Drop's head shook twice. She transformed, so it couldn't be that. Besides, could that even happen? Maybe she should talk to Kiyo about this tomorrow...

Her head wandered in seemingly random directions until she had taken stock of the scene before her. It seemed that the situation, whatever it was that was going on, was under control. Her left foot spun around to be next to her right, and she nearly fell as her body followed suit and allowed her to face away from Hizuki.

That was new, too. She felt as if she were going through a growth spurt, her limbs too lanky for her to control with the precision she normally had, little as it was. She rested her hand on Oros' shoulder in an approximation of a comforting pat and shot her the slightest of smiles, muscles atrophied from under-use, before starting her slow walk away from the Light Girl and Club members.

"Mm... I feel weird," was all she could say, understatement though it was. "This is interesting, right? Maybe boss will come see too."

Now, how was she to find the source of an earthquake?

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Something feels different."



That's because it is.

---

Acid Drop had been acting strange tonight. Normally, when transformed, she had the impression that she was "normal" draped across her. She was able to pretend, to play the part of someone else, anyone else than her mundane form, hiding her apathy behind the cardboard emotions she'd erected on the stage she performed on. When the script called for it, she would spin herself over, duck and weave behind and between them, her acting not without its flaws but better than most, and to the audience it would appear that even she could feel what they were feeling.

But tonight, the stage was dark. The curtain was not raised, and the backdrops were not in place. Instead, sitting on the edge of the stage was Tsubomi, dressed in her usual clothes; no makeup, no costume, no dramatic lines to speak or speak of. The girl who called herself Acid Drop had felt this change, known it as she prepared for her part in the play, but she didn't know why. She had gotten dressed in her colorful outfit when she arrived at the theater, but now that it was time to act out the hunt she found that doing so hadn't brought with it the usual effects.

To the outside world, Acid Drop was acting more like Tsubomi Kana than the members of the Detention Club had ever seen her to be. She had no quips, no reasonably quick thoughts, no false smile, no mastery of her Devil Arm. It was as if "Acid Drop" did not exist tonight, and Tsubomi had merely dressed up to look like her. She had arrived late, later even than she usually was, and had yet to slay even a single Miseria. While that alone wasn't strange, her movement and speech were slowed, and she hadn't said... well, anything since arriving, merely waving once at each of her fellow club members who were there.

When the earthquake yet, Acid Drop stood still, as still as it allowed, before it knocked her onto her butt just as the streetlights went out. The next thing she knew, she was on Oros' feet, and shortly thereafter she was airborne. The move wasn't unlike that of a pair of ice-skaters, but she didn't realize this. To be fair to her, even in her usual transformed state she was a melee fighter, so she would have nothing she could do, but right now she wasn't even aware she had been tossed until after Oros caught her again. A few seconds passed in her arms before the rainbow-haired girl clapped thrice at the maneuver her partner had done, now finally caught up that it had happened. And just as the third occurred, a giant beam of brightness appeared in the sky and blinded the apathetic girl. Even so, she didn't close her eyes to it until two seconds of the brilliant light had passed.

With little strength in her muscles, Acid Drop slowly pried herself from her partner's grip. Still starting at the afterimage of light that had scorched itself into her eyes, she began to walk towards where the source had to be.

"Mm... We should check."

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

”Are you going to tell them the level of anxiety this whole conversation caused me?”

"I don't know what you're talking about."



"Did I mention Buckethead is one of my favorite guitarists?”


"Box on your brain again, Suki?"

Not being a mind-reader, Kiyo wouldn’t know that Tsubomi was questioning her appearance. Similarly, Haruna wouldn’t know that Tsubomi intended to respond to her, with how long it took her to finish her mouthful of sandwich. Just as she was nearly ready to reply, Suki showed her dexterity by juggling her lunchbox like a cat with a freshly caught salmon. Tsubomi had just set down her food when her partner managed to land the proverbial fish, and the emotionless girl clapped twice at the show.

"Now nobody can read our thoughts.”

Tsubomi parsed these words just in time to see Suki lean on her hand, and she turned back to Haruna. Can you read my thoughts? If someone could, they’d have trouble understanding them with how slow they were. Can anyone read my thoughts?

Another thirty or so seconds passed with no answer. Satisfied, Tsubomi went back to eating while her eyes stayed looking in Haruna’s general direction. The transfer student waited for another few seconds, watching Tsubomi expectantly. Her consternation rose by the second, responding to both the conversation about mind reading and Tsubomi’s lack of doing much of anything.

”Um. . .” she began eloquently, pausing for another moment in the vain that Tsubomi was about to interrupt her - something that Tsubomi, of course, was essentially incapable of doing. ”Did you actually. . . hear me?” Her head tilted with confusion as she hesitated for yet another few seconds. Despite her helpful approach, an undercurrent of frustration had begun to move beneath the surface of Haruna’s feelings, though it was being squashed down almost as soon as it arose.

”I said I wanted to help you,” she said, speaking slower this time. Tsubomi could feel her anxiety jump up a bit as she worried about being offensive once again, not that the transfer student’s anxiety jumping was at all an unusual occurrence. ”Since you seemed like you weren’t doing very well. It’s probably weird for me to worry as a stranger, but, well, I like helping people.” Haruna gave a small sort of shrug. ”. . . If you want me to just leave you alone, though, you can just say so.” Tsubomi didn’t need magic to pick up on the note of dejection in her voice at that prospect.

This girl wanted to help her? Tsubomi nodded once. ”Okay.” There was a pause as she took a drink from her juice box at the same speed she ate at. The girl in front of her was being honest, at least as far as Tsubomi could tell, but… what did Tsubomi want help at? And…

Finished with her fifteen-second long sip, she asked what she believed to be the important question. ”How?”

Haruna paused for a moment, having evidently not expected this question going by the cues in her emotions and face. ”Um. . .” How did one politely say that another looked like the sort of person that needed help in general? The transfer student certainly didn’t know. ”Well, like I said, you seemed like you might be depressed, or. . . something, or feeling bad about yourself.” An idea struck her after a moment. ”Maybe I could start by just. . . being your friend? I don’t really know anyone around here yet, except for the landlady and a couple girls I met running errands.”

Another single nod. ”Okay.” Another few moments passed as Tsubomi stared at the transfer student. Then another thought occurred. She glanced, which is to say that her eyes drifted like a buoy on a river, towards Suki and Kiyo. Tsubomi considered Suki her friend. Did she consider… anyone else? The other Club members were the closest to it she could think of.

Blinking like a content cat, her eyes drifted back to Haruna. If she wanted to be friends, and everyone Tsubomi considered even close to one was in the Detention Club… ”Mm. You should join our club.” Another slow blink. ”Mmm…” The girl’s head tilted to the side. ”I don’t know if that’s okay with the leader, but the club is supposed to help people. It’d be a way to be friends and help people like you want to.” Satisfied that she had done the right thing, Tsubomi began to eat once more, starting to finish the second third of her sandwich as Haruna’s expression brightened, a surge of happiness accompanying it.

Kiyo also occupied herself with her food, acting as if the new girl wasn't even there. While in some circles it might be seen as rude, it was an improvement over the last time a stranger had approached her and Suki at a table. It also wasn't exactly one of those circles, either, so when her phone vibrated, she checked it out immediately. Her eyes flicked back in Haruna's direction to finally get a good look at her.

A babe?

You think so?

I guess I was half right, then.

Her lips curled in a playfully smug grin, the kind she usually had on when she said something that shouldn't be taken too seriously. In the meantime, though, she was pondering Suki's thoughts. She pondered and shrugged. Tsubomi was an interesting specimen, and Kiyo had her theories on the girl's unique strangeness, but even she had enough social awareness to know that Suki was probably not interested in all that techno-babble. She was just worried about her friend, or some approximation thereof, and nothing Kiyo could think to say was going to help much.

Kiyo was only giving Haruna and Tsubomi's conversation about a quarter of her attention, until the topic of her joining the Detention Club came up. This, she couldn't ignore. "Hey." She looked at Haruna with narrowed red eyes. A swell of emotion came forward, a confused blend of annoyance, distrust, and protectiveness. "I don't know if you're trying to do a high school debut or whatever, and I'm not really interested, but let me save you some time. You won't become popular at this school by hanging out at this table. Whatever you're really after, I'm sure you can find it elsewhere." Haruna’s expression fell as quickly as it had risen.

Kiyo's posture was defensive, arms crossed and cradling a cane propped against her shoulder. Though it appeared so on the outside, her strongest desire in the moment was not for Haruna to leave, but to protect the other girls from some other heartache she'd experienced before and was trying not to think about. It was making any details difficult to pick out for the erstwhile light girl.

”S-sorry,” she stammered in response to the unexpected hostility. Tsubomi’s passive acceptance had lulled her into a sense of complacency about her approach, one that Kiyo had quickly dismantled. ”I’m not really worried about popularity or anything, though. Honestly I’d rather people mostly left me alone.” A seemingly out of place pang of guilt came from Haruna in response to that, as if the girl were scolding herself. ”I just honestly wanted to be nice, since. . . well, especially going off what you said, you don’t really seem like a group of people that others bother being nice to.”

Kiyo scoffed. "That's true. Nobody does. That's..." Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened as a feeling of déjà vu came over her. "why I..." she continued, the wind well and truly gone from her sails. "I help oversee this club. Because some of the 'nice people' in this town aren't so nice," she explained in lieu of an apology. She tapped on the table with her finger impatiently, thinking. "Especially the schoolgirls. The popular ones are the worst," she said with a smile, finding her footing as she usually did, with a joke. "If you're really the type that likes to be left alone, then this is a good table to be at. Just don't be boring." She locked eyes with Haruna and tilted her head. "Are you a fun person?"

Something seemed to click into place on Haruna’s expression, her face lifting for an almost imperceptible moment as Kiyo explained herself. ”I don’t know if I’d call myself ‘fun,’ honestly. I’m kinda boring.” She gave a sort of self-depreciating shrug. ”I’ll also try whatever, though, if that’s what you mean.” Haruna paused for just a moment. ”Does that mean you’re going to let me in the club?” Her hopes soared again for the moment as she glanced at Tsubomi again. ”I don’t have a club yet this year, and if it’s supposed to be about helping people and stuff, that sounds perfect.”

Haruna's response left Kiyo with a feeling somewhere between wistful and nostalgic, but she broke eye contact with Haruna before it could show on her face. Did she want Haruna to join the club? The desire came and went, and came and went again. She seemed to have complicated feelings about it. "I don't know if I'd call our club a club about 'helping people,' but it's at least not boring. ...The meetings are boring though," she added regretfully. She tapped her finger a bit more. "It's like Tsubomi said. Gotta talk to the boss lady." Abruptly, she stood up and started packing away her leftovers. "I'll talk to Roche about it. See you around, girls."

Suki had been pretty quiet, only “occasionally” looking up from her phone while the others talked. She eyed Kiyo as she left the table, then back to Haruna once Kiyo departed.

"Well… Maybe some people aren’t ‘nice’ to us, but they aren’t all that bad either. The Detention club’s members are given a lot of slack by faculty and students alike.“ She slipped her phone into her pocket, still not bothering to remove the metal lunch box from her head. "That said, uh, isn’t offering to help random people kind of weird? I get that it makes you feel warm and fuzzy, but aren’t you opening yourself up to be taken advantage of?“

Haruna elected not to point out the girl contradicting what Kiyo had implied. ”I guess it's kinda weird, yeah.” She shrugged as she spoke, looking to the side a bit at nothing in particular. ”I'm just happy if other people are happy because of me.” Her eyes shifted upward as she thought about her next words. ”I don't really care if people take advantage sometimes, I suppose. I'd rather someone be crappy to me than miss helping someone who really needs it. I'll be okay, but that other person might not be.” Her gaze fell back to Tsubomi as she said this last.

Suki lifted an eyebrow. "You don’t say?“ There must have been something going on in Suki’s head, as all she afforded those around her was a long, steady, stare. "Whatever works for you I guess.“ She inhaled deeply before going back on her phone.

The apathetic girl’s eyes drifted back up from the last third of her sandwich and towards Haruna. After finishing chewing her current bite for a few moments, she spoke. ”What if you get permanently hurt though? If you…” Tsubomi paused for around seven seconds as her mind turned, trying to figure out what she meant to say. ”Pull someone out of danger but lose an arm. Is that okay? You can only do it twice. Is it okay for the future people you can’t pull out? Because you did twice?”

Haruna frowned. ”That question doesn’t really make sense, though.” She tilted her head a bit as she thought about it, one finger lazily drifting up to her chin. ”If they’re in so much danger that it’s better for me to lose an arm than to leave them where they are, isn’t it unfair to them if I don’t save them? I don’t know if anyone in the future will need me to give up an arm for them, but I can see the person right in front of me that does.” Something about the question bothered Haruna. It didn’t show much on her face, but it was easy for Tsubomi to pick up on the gust of consternation in her mind. ”Besides, even if I lost both arms, I’d find a way to keep saving people if I had to. I could get a cool prosthetic, or something.”

”What about your head, or your heart? Something you only have one of.”

”I don’t know.” The lanky girl shrugged in a way that made her look smaller, somehow. ”I guess I wouldn’t be able to do much helping if I died, but I don’t want to abandon someone else either if I can help them. So. . . I guess I just have to be good enough at it to not lose my head.”

Though nothing went through her mind, Tsubomi seemed to be lost in thought. A strange feeling, thinking hard about nothing. A full minute of this passed before she nodded twice. ”Good luck. If the boss is okay with you joining, everyone is weird enough to fit you in.”

"We’re not ‘weird,’ we’re just quirky!“ Suki said as she set the lunchbox on her head aside. "Though you don’t seem normal so that should be fine.“ Her eyes wandered between the two seats adjacent to her. The one Kiyo had been sitting in was empty, and Tsubomi was sitting to her right. "It doesn’t really matter though.“ She looked across the table at Haruna, then averted her eyes and pushed her fingers together. "We can still be friends and stuff even if you can’t join.“

”Am I really that weird?” Her tone didn't sound bothered, although the statements had still thrown her off. ”I thought I was mostly pretty normal.” The transfer student scratched at her head, laughing a little at herself in the process. ”I guess walking up to a stranger and asking if they need help with depression is pretty weird, yeah.” She was happy with what Suki had said, regardless of questions about Haruna's oddity, though the emotion was overshadowed by concern once more as she looked at Tsubomi once again. ”Um, while I'm being weird, do you guys like stuffed animals? A girl gave a bunch to me to give away so they could ‘see the town.’ She was weird too, I guess, but I kinda get it?” As she spoke, she pulled her backpack off her shoulders, unzipped it, and placed it on the table.

There inside were many soft, plush animals. They all had round edges and non-threatening facial expressions. Anything that could be dangerous looked too silly to be taken seriously. There was a jowly bulldog, a happy squid, a startled pufferfish, a tired lion, and many more. Pushing aside one plush revealed two more, and the bottom of the bag was never visible. Each one had a name stitched onto its paw, fin, or tentacle in an inconspicuous place.

Suki stood up so that she could look inside Haruna’s backpack. Without looking very far, she picked up “Lazy Larry” and looked straight into his eyes. "Hah!“ she pointed the Lion’s tired eyes at Tsubomi. "This one kind of looks like you!“

The girl only nodded once as her partner told her about the Lion’s resemblance. She didn’t have the interest to look at the others, but she reached out for Larry with her trademark slowness. ”I wonder if he’ll be friends with my other one.”

Once Tsubomi slowly, painfully removed the lion from Suki’s hands, she shoved her face into the backpack and began pushing things around. Her head was entirely inside the bag with her pigtails draping out the side. It was hard to believe she could see like that. Haruna blinked in startlement, not anticipating her backpack being invaded so.

"Oh I like this one!“ She pulled her head back and held up an octopus named Chad. It had a “serious” look on his face and was wearing sunglasses. "He looks really cool! Thank you very much!“

Haruna’s bemusement became a smile as she seemed to have genuinely brightened the dark girl’s day. ”I’m glad you like them. I’m sure the girl I got them from will be happy to hear that people like her friends.” She moved to sit down in a free seat across from Tsubomi and Suki, almost immediately falling into a slouch with her elbows on the table. Just as quickly, she stood halfway up. ”Oh, crap, I just realized. I never actually asked your names.”

"Oh! I’m Suki! And that’s Tsubomi!“ The delinquent decided to save her partner the trouble of saying her own name. "And your name?“ After thinking for a bit though, Suki realized she had heard her name. It was hard to recall the past few seconds with all the secret oogling and having Kiyo scare the shit out of her. "Wait, no! It’s Haruna! I remember it!“ And Suki was totally expected to hear her name too. Yes, there was no way that introduction was meant only for Tsubomi, and she didn’t come across as a total stalker for recalling it. She giggled nervously. "Well I’m going to go and put this guy away before-“ Suki’s eyes shot open. Her pigtails had gotten caught in the backpack zipper.

Haruna had started to sit down again, and was once more stuck in the liminal space between seated and standing. Her eyes followed the hair down to where it’d been trapped. ”Oh dear. . . um, just hold still for a second.” She made a placating, theoretically calming gesture at Suki. ”We can probably get you un-stuck if I hold the bag and you tug on your hair just right.”

”Be careful. Ripping out hair hurts.” Feeling the need to state the obvious, it seemed.

"...Thanks Tsubomi.“ Suki took a few steps back to release the tension on her hair. Then she grabbed a fist full of her stuck ponytail. "Okay, on three?“

”I was thinking something a little gentler than that, but, uh, sure?” The transfer student did her best to angle the zipper such that it would provide the least resistance to Suki’s exit, hurrying a bit as she anticipated the latter doing this faster than was advisable or necessary.

"Wait!“ Suki raised her other hand. She had the plush tucked under her arm. "There’s a gentler way? Because I feel like this is going to be painful.“

”Y-yeah, if we get your hair slack and pull toward the inside, we might be able to get it to come loose without ripping out a ton of your hair. Probably.” She glanced to the side. ”Still might have to rip a little though.”

The delinquent looked side to side. "...Does anyone have scissors?“

”Here, let me just-” Haruna released her grip on the bag to grab one of Suki’s pigtails with both hands. Before the other girl could protest, she was already holding the part close to Suki steady while she pulled at the rest of the length. She had to put a bit more force into it than she’d like, force which transmitted back to Suki despite Haruna’s best efforts, but with one last tug, she freed it from its metallic prison. Only a few torn black hairs were left behind, at least relative to cutting the whole piece free. ”See? Now hold still while I get the other one.”

Suki held her freed pigtail in her hands, eyeing the (mostly) intact strands. "Th-thank you.“ She closed her eyes and blushed. Haruna went for the second tail with a bit more finesse, though she wasn’t able to get it completely clean either.

”You should be a little more careful if you wanna wear your hair like that. I know the plushies are cute, but they probably aren’t worth me yanking hair out of your head.” She moved her hand to rub at her own hair, belatedly realized that she was still clutching a pigtail, then paused for a moment in consternation before releasing Suki. ”I hope you don’t mind me going and just touching your hair like that.”

The delinquent was hugging her octopus against her face while twisting her shoulders side to side. "N-no, I think it’s great that you can take charge like that. I’d have a lot less hair if I tried to free myself. It’s fine that you touched it. _{I hope it wasn’t too greasy.}“ She giggled. Her pitch sounded a little higher than normal. "Now that I’m free, I think I’ll put Chad away. But I do hope we get to talk again, even if it’s not as club mates.“ Suki proceeded to take tiny steps away from the table, not unlike a ballerina.

Haruna sat back down, hopefully for real this time, as she watched Suki skitter off. Her gaze lingered for a moment, watching the other girl retreat in a way that she would probably overinterpret if she saw. That girl definitely has ulterior motives. It took her a few more moments to realize she’d left her lunch behind in her hurry, which prompted a sigh. ”Do you mind if I run back and grab my food? It might be nice to finish eating over here.”

Tsubomi gave a thumbs up to Haruna as she finally finished her sandwich with her other hand. Now that it was gone, she began on the apple she’d brought. The interaction between her partner and the new girl was ripe for picking out feeling, but she chose not to touch it. She couldn’t help but think that Suki would be mad if she did.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"I can hear Suki's thoughts..."



Good thing Haruna can't.

---

"Um, sorry if this is out of nowhere or something, but. . . are you okay?"

An unrecognized voice of concern passed between Tsubomi's ears as she took the second bite of her meager lunch. She'd had to pack it herself today since her Aunt and Uncle were out of the house, and being herself, she chose the simplest thing she could. Namely a peanut-butter sandwich. And some new and nearby concern to wash it down, though having only had two bites meant she didn't take much. She didn't even realize she was doing it.

"... help?"

Finally, the words were latched onto by her brain and her eyes moved the slight distance needed to fully see where they came from. Was she okay? The apathetic girl thought for a moment, perhaps more than she usually would. She didn't think that anyone had described her with that word in recent months. Okay, Ok, OK, O.K., K.O., Knock Out, kay? Oh, there were Suki's trademark feelings. Her eyes did her personal equivalent of flicking towards her partner, which is to say they drifted slightly and stayed there. Oh, did this new girl need help? The word registered.

A nigh-inaudible sound crawled up Tsubomi's throat as her vocal chords attempted to vibrate. As it hit her ears and her eyes finally focused back on the mousey girl who had questioned her status, she realized that there was still food in her mouth and so she continued chewing until she was able to swallow it and speak.

"Mm. What do you need with?" Another bite, like a sloth with a paralyzed jaw, and Tsubomi began chewing once more at an equal pace. Finally she realized that the concern she had sampled was from the same source as the nervousness that was radiating from the girl with the dark hair and under-eyes. Was this girl in trouble? Why come to the Detention Club if she was?

While Tsubomi allowed her inner hamster to crawl its way on her mental wheel, she started to pay more attention to the girl's emotions. But despite her limited attention, as it were, being fully utilized between watching Haruna's feelings and wondering why she was seeking assistance from a member of the Detention Club, the singular desire radiating from her own self didn't even stutter.

However, Tsubomi's thoughts did stutter, dropping the question from her mind for a new one. When did Kiyo get there?

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Weird. That monkey isn't giving off the 'pervert' vibe."



Maybe don't focus on the stuffed animals?

---

When hunger isn't able to make one desperate, or irritable, or any number of other subtle feelings, it was easy to forget the need to eat. Luckily for Tsubomi, the school had a designated time to do so. And so she found herself carrying her bagged lunch to the food court. Another gathering of people, feeling their powerful high-school emotions, which allowed her to feed both her body and her magic with little effort. As she inched her way along, her head entirely faced the floor with her eyes loosely shut, allowing her magic to serve as her sight.

There was the usual feelings permeating through the area: fear of failing a test or asking a crush out, desire for someone else and the shame of not being able to approach them, envy from those who wished they were more popular than they were, the glee of being around friends... But she was looking for Suki's trademark lust, or failing that, the recent disgust that she seemed to feel for... well, Tsubomi didn't know. She wandered around the outside of the food court in a circle, slow enough that she felt a flash of annoyance and anger from other students who nearly collided with her, or her with them.

At a speed matching her own walking pace, many of these feelings faded away as she got further from the other students. Eventually she passed by an emptier portion where she could only feel a mixture of mostly normal feelings. There was mostly apprehension and happiness, though they were made muddy by various other ones. More importantly, it didn't match Suki's usual profile, so she ignored it.

After a few minutes she finally noticed the telltale negativity that signaled her approach to her partner. By the time she opened her eyes and walked the final few meters to sit at the table with her, Tsubomi came to the conclusion that the distinct clash of suppressed happiness and unease must have belonged to one of the transfer students. She'd only ever tasted that flavor when someone succeeded in getting a first date, but this wasn't quite like that in texture. She thought back, only to realize that she'd only met a handful of transfer students since her own transfer to Hibusa, usually stranglers rather than multiple at one time.

When she finished thinking, she looked up from her still closed lunch bag and fished out her phone to check the time. She seemed to be moving a bit faster today since she'd only taken seven minutes from entering the food court to sitting across from her usually perverted partner. Most days it was closer to twelve to cross an equivalent distance.

While the proverbial zombie that was Tsubomi didn't notice anything strange, perhaps the anything strange would have noticed her. Because for all the lack of feeling that was in the empath, the girl with magic cast from the same mold would have felt only one desire as she inched her way past, growing and fading as the apathetic girl walked blindly.

To kill that same, closed-eyed girl.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"I think we should write a letter."



F.

---

Tsubomi's hand reached out to grab Suki's, but her usual speed meant that she was too slow, Suki had already left. It fell faster than it has moved upwards to slump at her side once more. Her head slumped as well, tilting to the side. Smoking is bad for you...

"Yes, she knows that already." Oh, good. Good that she knew, good that she was putting on clean underwear, "good" that Acid Drop could read her thoughts. "Of course I can, I'm stuck in the same skull as you." Mm...

Roche wanted them to stay in pairs, but wouldn't chasing after Suki make things worse, somehow? Besides, she couldn't catch up when the smoker had gotten such a big head-start. Kiyo soon left as well, smelling of awkwardness and... depression? It was subtle, and hard to tell, mixed in with a few other emotions to the point that Tsubomi couldn't pick them out without too much effort to be worth it.

At least Nyxia was feeling something other than rage and disgust, for once. Though why, Tsubommi didn't know. And the final girl in the club-room... Something had happened it seemed. Another mess of tangled feelings that were too convoluted to tear apart under a microscope. If Kiyo was a salad, Shuuko was ramen. Too many cooks in the noodles. And so Tsubomi stood at her usual speed, waved to the huddling girls, and started on her way home.