Tsuruga's lips parted in a silent plea for mercy as Touka pulled away, abandoning her to the corner now crammed with girls eager to ogle the aborable Kuro. So many eyes, boring into her general direction and making her fidget with the desire to make like Kuro and leap up onto the fridge to avoid the indirect attention.
Really, the sudden tension of every eye turning away to gaze intently upon...a rather elaborately dressed stranger that had her jumping in her seat, having not seen Seyrun amid the crush of bodies and hastilly assembled furniture.
"Oh Kami this is too much pressure...."No one noticed as she whimpered, shrinking in upon herself and hiding behind the now tensed Kuro.
Meanwhile standing at the center of attention, Kanbaru's warm disposition never faded even as others made some rather overt attempts to isolate Touka's new friend. She thought it odd they couldn't tell Seyrun wasn't some normie crashing the party or a Light Girl out to ruin their night, but they didn't have Kanbaru's earlier run in with her either. That, and being the Code Keeper meant she had to have some standards to maintain, not that Kanbaru would brag.
"Cakes look nice, Hana, but I'll take a look after the ceremony." Stepping back her blue eyes shone with an electric light, contrasting the walls of baleful red as she melded into the circle of curious and alarmed magical girls.
"It's not every day we welcome new friends into our club.""Mahou shoujo?" Seyrun parroted Touka’s words in a dumbstruck voice, after being caught off guard by the sudden change in the atmosphere. This time however, it wasn’t just a normal shift in the mood but rather a palpable change not only in lighting but even the temperature seemed to drop as a number of intent gazes transfixed the blue-haired girl.
"You mean like the ones in manga and anime?" she asked, still dazed.
Reasoning fought against reality as Seyrun’s mind struggled to process what was happening. A moment later she met Touka’s gaze again, with a strained grin in her lips.
“I-- I get it now. Y-- you had me worried for a moment, Miss Yama and Miss Otoko. I didn’t think that the Detention Club was into this kind of theatrics. You even have all these animated puppets. That’s actually really impressive… right?”she said, with her voice becoming more and more nervous as she spoke, almost as if she were pleading to
someone for her conclusion to be correct.
Apia looked up at Hana with a puzzled expression, whispering up into her ear as best as she could.
"Is Seyrun-chan someone like us, honeybun?"The silence in the room was absolutely deafening, as seemingly the whole world stared at Seyrun in complete unison. The couch creaked slightly as Ami got up, pushing past everyone and staring Seyrun in the eye. Her pleas went unheard, her chance for a normal life shattered. Ami's face was dead serious, none of the silly smiles nor annoyed pouting here. The air was chilled, you could cut the tension with a knife, everyone in the room had goosebumps.
"...Mahou... shoujo..." Suddenly the temperature in the room flared, the curtains of Ami's window whipping about as a wind swirled about her.
"You are..." Ami's entire form was engulfed in flame in an instant, the flames licking Seyrun yet not hurting her whatsoever.
"...one of us."The flames died out in an instant, Ami's armored form revealed to the world once more. Her blackened armor, that sword of flame, planted into the ground with both her palms on the pommel of the blade. That smug grin as Ami leaned into Seyrun's face, drinking in whatever shocked expression she may have.
"If you can see me, then you are indeed a Mahou Shoujo. Rejoice, for you have been blessed with a power that only the strong may hold.""We are the ones who rule the night.""You can't even rule your floor." Machiko added, right after Ami spoke, with her usual nonchalant voice, picking up yet another pizza box and adding it to the pile. It was of course meant as a tease, and possibly a weak attempt at restoring the mood at the expense of Ami.
"She might be one of us, but I don't like her." the girl promptly added with the same jaded attitude. Machiko's tendency to say what she thought, jumping from joking comments to almost insulting ones, was nothing knew, nor personal. That's just how she was.
"For what it's worth."Machiko didn't have an opinion on most things - but the feeling that Seyrun released when she appeared among them gave her a feeling of...uneasiness. The final decision fell on Touka, and the rest of the Club. She probably wouldn't care after then.
This was amusing; anyone who could see her face could tell the Club President was enjoying herself. She watched as Seyrun was thrown to the wolves, every girl giving an opinion or two about the matter. Interesting more so were Machiko's words. Touka cast a side glance at the other girl; yes, there was something strange about Seyrun. From as far back as their first meeting earlier that day Touka knew there was an oddity about her.
But if it was something that made Seyrun special, exceptional even, then they could use it to their advantage. A new force of darkness that could flood the Angel visiting their city.
After the revelation finally caught up with her, Seyrun felt weak in the knees, dropping to the floor in a slumped way.
"This is just... too unreal. How am I expected to believe something like magic exists in this world?" she mumbled to hersef as she looked that floor in a vacant manner.
"But, how can I deny it when I see it right in front of me?" she said while sorting out her thoughts, turning her eyes up to look at each of the girls that -- at this moment -- felt like looming obelisks of darkness circling her. It was then that something even more important than the notion of magic caaught her attention and she asked, to no one in particular,
"Did you say something about ruling? Shouldn't magical girls be the ones protecting others instead of using magic for their own good?"Kanbaru would give Ami points for being suitably dramatic, and the club as a whole had excellent coordination with their off the cuff coordination in what was not as planned as they made it look, but they'd made one rather glaring error that had the bluenette cringing when Seyrun collapsed in dawning terror of those around her.
They'd all started Light and made their way into Darkness. Seyrun...was not so fortunate.
"It's a little something like this, you see." Kanbaru stepped forth from the ranks of menacing Dark Girls, a rush of cold air expelling from her figure before she was garbed in the same magical attire Seyrun had first encountered her in, and crouched down onto her level. It cemented the reality of magic, but the hood and mask could be construed as menacing so she slowly eased them away to leave her face unobstructed.
"We're what you call Dark Magical Girls. It's not like how the anime puts it and we're out to destroy the world or anything. We hunt the monsters that feed on human negativity just the same as the Light Girls, but we aren't selfless altruists. We do it to protect our city because it is the city we live and love, not because of a greater moral imperative. We're a strange sisterhood joined by our powers and ideals, just as we'd like you to be as well."Adopting a smile that was out of place against her wasteland biker attire she offered a hand to the newcomer.
"We can be a bit scary, but honestly, what group of girls doesn't look terrifying to a newcomer? We can rib each other hard but we're still a united club, and we look out for our own."Indeed, Kanbaru's words spoke the truth. Regardless of their standing, they were a Club first and foremost. As the night progressed, Seyrun would come to learn of that fact. The darkness was still young but it would be nurtured on this New Year's Eve.
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