---

Of course, trying to take center stage in this chaotic rumble was almost futile. Some rude rival had covered Masashi and his regal chair in snow, the nerve! And others still came flocking to the scene, like moths to a flame. How was Masashi ever going to stand out. Having been neither earlier nor fashionably late, and his own setup seemed for not. At least Zen bothered to recognize his greatness. The goal of stopping these monsters was sidetracked only by the thought of bitterness of how that motorcycle punk rudely tarnished his stage. Though spiteful, his vengeance was tempered. Of course, it would look awful to his fans if he were to engage in a fight while monsters were on the prowl. He couldn't let such pettiness tarnish his reputation. For now, while he dusted the snow off of his figure, he had to bide his time for some revenge later.

More pressing was the state of his spotlight. How was he supposed to get the attention back on in? Merely doing as they all asked of him would just seem like he's mere support, when he should be the star!His anguish was short-lived however, thanks to Koakume, or rather, 'his servant'. Her performance was perfect in spite of the interruptions, and dispatching those Yokai around him no less too. The disguise, the performance, it all seemed to go far better then he had expected.

Now was the time to improvise.

He stood up from his throne with newfound confidence and an arrogant smile. "Your tardiness will be forgiven by your merciful lord. Now, go fourth and demonstrate to these monsters what happens when you confront the prince of shadows!" Masashi commanded with a wave of his hand. Though he originally would have liked Koakume to do the work for him while still having that same spotlight, it seemed with all the chaos Masashi would have to give it his go to stand out. He noticed that girl's bike from earlier crashed after a gunshot rang. He figured he'd rush over to help her, after all how humiliating for her it would have been should he come to her rescue. However, seeing as another hero was already on there way, he put his attention to the gate, where others were starting to strike. Though some had already struck those at the shore, there were still monsters on the streets he could see from his vantage point.

With a wicked grin, the shadowmancer's ring glowed with black light. "Behold, how limitless my powers are!" He boasted. The streams of light worked backwards to his outstretched arm, shadows weaving into shape. "Night Emperor Cannon!" A silhouette of a metallic cylinder materialized over his arm, which then began to take shape and detail into a Gatling Gun. The barrels of the arm cannon began to rotate, while his other hand moved over the top to adjust for recoil.

"Black Hail!" One last shout before he turned his gun to a small crowd of monsters, and then an onslaught of black bullets stormed from the gun in continuous fire. Thick plumes of inky smoke trailed only seconds behind each bullet before dissipating. His arm gradually arced to adjust the change in direction of fire, gunning down the Yokai within that targeted crowd one buy one in rapid fire.

Well, that's just creepy. The gate was now pouring out even more youkai, and Midori was starting to get worried. Sure, there was a small army of magical girls who had showed up, but they were too spread out. Too isolated. Too vulnerable. They needed to link up, work together and punch a hole in the enemy lines.

A massive oni lumbered towards Midori and unleashed a haymaker of a two-handed club swing straight at her head. She coolly leaned out of the first strike, then spun around and blocked the reverse attack with a conjured wall of starlight. But this was a lethally bad situation. One hit from the brute would be enough to leave her a smear on the asphalt, and that only if she was lucky. Backpedaling as fast as she could, she unleashed blasts of magical light, slowing it down significantly, but her powers seemed to be dwindling. Apparently, whatever the magical equivalent of stamina was- she didn't have squat of it. "Anybody?! Please! I'm down here fighting, and I could really use some help!"

Jun grinned at his widely amassed crew, arms crossed in confidence as he gazed upon the group he had gathered. Some were... more questionably attired than others, but he could tell there was some sort of spirit in all of them. His ship would confirm just as much, after all. With its robotic voice, it would keep count of the number of "magical persons" entering the ship as they did, almost as it was taking a toll. Another voice booming through the bay, however, would bring a visible strain on Jun's face.

"I was just about to do that, you kung-fu brat..." Jun said to himself, with annoyance. "Judging by my calculations, no, you were not." The ship had replied, aloud. Getting even more exasperated, Jun stomped and punched on the Argo's wheel, shouting various obscenities involving finding a bottle big enough to fit "this lousy piece of firewood" in.

Of course, when Jun remembered once more that he had company, his demeanor had shifted once more to Grand Admiral "J."

"Yaaahoy~!" Jun said with terribly broken English, saluting the four as they made themselves more comfortable in the Argo. "Sadly, the ship didn't come with cannons, but with our combined firepower, we'll be able to take care of that torii in no time! Just gotta pick up one more pe-"

The yokai's combined attacks at the ship had thrown Jun off-guard, almost causing him to fall on his own behind. Catching his bearings, Jun looked around to see the ship being swarmed, with potential attacks from a rather enterprising group of yokai stacking themselves together.

"It seems we are being attacked."

"No ship, Sherlock! We need them off our tail! Release the boarding plank!"

"I do not believe that is wi-"

Before the boat could complete its protest, Jun pulled a wooden lever next to the Argo's wheel (was there always a lever there?) as he had activated his magic once more. Unlike other magical children, Jun's abilities were centered upon the Argo. While Jun himself was barely capable of utilizing his powers on his own, it is through his ship that he truly shines. Capable of summoning not only his ship but the many parts of it, it could be said that Jun's magic encompassed "everything that is contained within the Argo." This magic was limited in scope, and it is because of this that Jun cannot fire any magical projectiles, as the Argo indeed did not have any cannons at the time it was sailing.

That said, it did possess a massive gangplank. As it extended from the side of the boat, it swung swiftly, batting away the roiling ball of energy like a baseball before slamming into the tower of monsters trying to board. Seeing as the rest of the magical children were taking care of the other surrounding yokai, Jun would guide his boat through the icy bay, propelling it with his own magical power almost like a jet. Of course, the gangplank would also drag through the ice, once more smashing into any yokai on the way.

"We've got one more of ours to pick up! Get ready for a bumpy ride!" Jun shouted as he kept the ship steadily across the bay, flying towards a certain witch. The boarding plank would be hanging on the side for her to jump on.

"Hey, miss Witch! Think those cocktails of yours would be better suited up here with us!"

Whether Jasmine- or anyone else- chose to board or not, the Argo would begin to take to the skies once more, reaching full speed.

"Opening detected. Focus on my coordinates..." The boat had stated, before directing Jun and the others towards the opening left by the biker's bike.

"You heard the thing! Fire at will! Show them just who the hell we really are!"

After a few minutes of calm, the field hospital was now in a frenzy of activity, officers piloting a small fleet of drones to get an overview of the situation in the city while citizens clutching injuries were brought in steadily. Poisons from snake-youkai, illnesses from plague-bearers, curses of misfortune and malice, all of them problems that modern science had yet to find solutions for, and all of them problems that Zen held the solutions for. While medically-trained professionals scurried about, assessing the gravity of injuries and performing first aid on the less-seriously hurt, the scarlet-eyed magical girl maneuvered around the chaos with unearthly grace, her hands glowing with sanguine energies as she purged unnatural maledictions from those who came in. All the while, reports of the battle situation rang out all around her.

Masashi and that nightmare princess were stalemating the mass before them with methods that ranged from cartoonishly brutish to disgustingly eloquent. Hosen had been taken down by the Turbo Grannies, but the Musician was stepping in to assist. Most other mahou shoujos had converged upon GAJ’s ship now, and Suginami’s Running Girl had finally emerged as well, practically ensuring that, in due time, the incident will be resolved. There were reports too of some feral cat-monster that seemed to be attacking their own kind…which was interesting, but probably just a misinterpretation of what had actually happened. More concerning was an unidentified magical girl being in the uneviable position of both heading towards the gate and being far away from anyone else.

As Zen purged poison out of an open wound and sealed it with the breath of life, she pulled out her radio again, stilled her emotions, and spoke out. “Shining Crystal Wall, look to your left and then downwards a bit. There’s a new face struggling with the oni right now. Give her a hand and get her out, please.”

That should be fine. Umiko was a reliable, responsible person, and even with Bunkyo’s Aegis gone, Jun ought to have plenty of fellow mahou shoujos with him to bomb the living heck out of that torii gate. Cracking her knuckles, then her neck, she felt the rumbling of the pavement before her bare feet, and let out a sigh. Turning the corner was ten meter tall flaming wheel, with a tiger’s head embossed upon the face. Too tough for Masashi’s initial burst of bullets to take down, huh?

Bullets fired by police pinged off the hell-steel wheel of sentient death as it torn up the pavement underneath with spiky tires, rattling ceaselessly. Zen walked out to match it, her lungs filled with air, her hands open and spread out as if to embrace a friend. Her lips curved upwards into a smile without animosity.

“Please go back to hell.”

Distance before impact: 50 meters.

Jasmine Kotono

---

Jasmine let out an involuntary groan as she heard Zen’s voice echo out across the bay, her cleaver slicing off a wayward limb that would serve as her next battlefield snack. It wasn’t like she had anything against her. In fact, in Jasmine’s opinion, she was one of the only “mahou shoujos” with their head screwed on straight. She just hated being bossed around.

"Hey, miss Witch! Think those cocktails of yours would be better suited up here with us!"

The witch stared back at the ship rocketing towards her as she tore into a choice piece of seared yokai, absentmindedly dodging a swinging claw before sending its owner sliding across with the ice with a well-placed kick, knocking over its comrades like bowling pins. The way the ice was reforming was pretty alarming. Or at least annoying. Even magic ice usually couldn’t put up with much of a fight against hellfire, but this stuff was taking it like a champ. It was like… hell ice, or something. Hopefully the gate wasn’t this tough. Dark wings sprouted from the ribbon on her back as the boat drew close. She leapt on board.

”I’m not calling you “Grand Admiral,” for the record.” Jasmine announced, strolling across the boarding plank. She tossed a charred bone overboard as she looked over her fellow passengers. The bossy, stuck up unicorn who kept trying to tell her how to behave earned an annoyed huff. The nervous one earned some momentary concern. The goth one earned a slow nod of approval. The naked one… why the fuck was he naked?

…

”So you uh, really must have lucked out on the outf-”

"You heard the thing! Fire at will! Show them just who the hell we really are!"

”Right…” Jasmine shrugged, and strode her way down to the bow of the ship. She pulled a bottle of sauce off the bandolier. She threw it as hard as she could towards the gate, watching as hellfire roared across the ice with another loud boom.

It all felt way more cathartic from a higher vantage point.

RIM MIKAGURA

---

'Did he say he was working today?'

It was the only thought running through Rim’s head as he stared out across the bay, the dread in his gut growing in proportion with the number of monsters he watched approach the field hospital.

'He was still in bed when I left this morning…'

Fuck. He really had no recollection of what the schedule was like this week. Another failing to add to the pile. At least this one he could fix if he left right now, if he ran till his lungs bled. The usual magical troupe would be fine to handle the gate on their own.

Rim responded to Shinjuku with a half-hearted shrug before leaping off the ship, his cloth once again unfurling and trailing loosely with him. If he was to get on Shibuya’s good side then it would be best to heed her requests. As he floated, he could spot the floundering rookie on the left, just as she had said.

“Aight, let’s try this.”

Still airborne, he manifested a marble sphere about the size of a van below him, planting both feet on its top and straightening his knees with an almost supersonic snap. The giant cannonball rocketed down towards the oni and the girl but Rim did not stay to observe the result. Whether it missed or crushed the oni, or even the girl, there would be others to deal with that. The field hospital was his only priority.

He couldn't recall the last time he ran this desperately.

The Tide Abated, Smoldering Gate Ruins Left, The True Tide Rises

---

The impressive wall of ice raised by Atheni held back most of the youkai, but a few were more than mobile enough to make it through or over it. The veritable hail of magic from the shadow meister helped stem the tide but it seemed like for every one that fell three came in its place. The magical boat however, barreled in through the thickest part of the horde, the youkais throwing everything from themselves to bits of rocks at it, but it held together even as it cut a swathe through the growing ball of monsters.

The onis decending on the lone magical girl never noticed the giant ball of marble before it was crushed under its weight.

Amelie however, would find no answer as she gave her threat. Perhaps it was not a great move to jump into a horde of monsters, not just from the threat of the youkais themselves, but also friendly fire from other magical people that was here, like the blazing comet of energy that was Ayumi. The ice where she was was several meters thick, but it shuddered, cracked and erupted open. The sheer shockwave coming from the impact alone was enough to blow youkais away.

There was a brief moment where it seemed she too would be affected, before a hand grabbed her waist, pulling her close to their body as they extended another hand in front of them, extending chains from their palm to form a barrier.

"That ain't a smart move, jumping in like that." Ryofu spoke, seemingly oblivious to the charred right side of her outfit where she was shot. "But I admire your guts, kid."

Ayumi herself would find herself at the bottom of a jagged crater, the water freezing faster than she could punch downwards.

The youkais around them seemed ready to pounce, before the bottle of hellfire hit the gate. The gate shimmered under the eternal flames for a moment, before the entire thing started to creak loud enough to be heard over the din of battle. The youkais around Ryofu and Amelie turned and started running towards the gate, jumping on the thing to try and smother the flames to no avail. Just for an instant, there was a glimpse of a giant hand trying to reach through the gate, before the top collapsed upon itself. The ice around the gate still remained, but it no longer froze the seas instantly, with the crater Ayumi was in starting to fill up with water slowly.

The other youkais still remained, but they moved jerkily as if someone had cut their strings and tangled the rest while still trying to puppet them.

The Torii gate crisis was, for all intents and purposes, effectively solved. Clean up however...

It was the scene of a massacre.

Bodies were strewn over the pavement by the dozens, limbs twisted into impossible shapes as miasmic blood poured out from every available orifice. The corpses formed a red carpet upon the road leading to field hospital, not a single scratch left upon the adjacent buildings. They were sinless creatures, spawn of human desires twisted by the cursed karma of the world, and for the blood they wished to spill but had not spilled, she granted them a miserable, painless death. The giant wheel laid upon its side, spokes broken to pieces. The tengu were frozen in mid-flight, even though their torsos pressed against stone. The tsuchigumo splayed their limbs out, as if the weight of their bulbous forms could no longer be sustained by their spindly limbs, as if prostrating before the descended Arhat

And at the end of the road of peaceful corpses, Shine Heart stood, her expression serene and her hands aglow with scarlet gold. One hand swung up, another hand swung down, burning winds circulating into a solid core the size of a fist, before both hands enclosed it in a gesture of prayer.

The youkai dissolved into light, leaving no trace of their existence upon the city, and her heart of gold shone ever brighter because of it.

“Phew.”

Zen brushed the dust off her white coat. In the distance, the echoing boom of the Hellfire Witch’s sauce bottles told her all she needed about the status of the Gate; the destructive power Jasmine wielded had always been only second to the former Chiyoda magic girl, and now that she was gone…well, it was a good decision to twist Jun’s arm a bit. Skilled as Zen was in personnel combat, Qigong didn’t really have any tools for fighting inanimate objects, after all. She checked the time again, squinting towards the sun that rose from the sliver of sun glimmering between the marina warehouses, before squinting harder at someone else.

A running man? Naked with scarf on? Juvenile immaturity made her want to stare harder at his chiselled handsome form and the perfect amount of jiggle his pecs had as he ran, but controlled meguca awareness caused Zen to meet him halfway instead. Must’ve been caught in a shower when the evacuation orders came in. In a smooth sweep, she removed her white coat, and offered it to the man.

“Here,” Shine Heart spoke, her eyes doing a quick appraisal of him for injuries. “It’s a chilly day, so cover yourself up before you get a cold, ok? The field hospital’s just another fifty meters ahead; were there any others with you?”

Surely this couldn’t be Shibuya’s Running Man? Who’d willingly run naked twice in a row, especially in these temperatures?

---

Yua never liked the smell of blood.

It stank of copper and iron in the best of cases and reeked of things best left without description in the worst. There was something about the crimson ooze that made the back of her throat taste of rot—the type from a slice of pork left on the counter for too long. It brought to mind wishes of petty vengeance and people who learned regret too late to stop themselves. To think she was surrounded with it for the sake of fulfilling a request, and at the cost of finding any poor, unfortunate souls ripe for the picking too.

A soft sigh escaped from behind the thin veil blocking her visage from the world at large.

“What a waste…”

With no one left to witness them and the gate now smoldering in the distance, Yua allowed her heels, at last, to touch the floor and lazily brushed a stray lock of hair over her shoulder. The regal air she’d exuded only moments before seemed to withdraw into her slight frame. In the span of only three breaths, Masashi’s weaver of the night disappeared, the character shed like a thick coat on a summer day. Disinterested eyes fell onto her contract holder—no, that was a lie.

The devil of Edogawa was pointedly looking at where the seals marking their little partnership would be, had they been easily visible in the umbramancer’s getup. Her smile dripped a honeyed venom, though she knew it went unseen. A surreptitious glance left. Right. Nobody in sight as she spoke in her usual tone.

“My, my, dear shadow,” Yua cooed. Her heels clicked as she stepped over the littered viscera left behind in her wake, coming to a stop only when she was within arm’s reach of Masashi. Thin strands of spider silk dissolved into the air with each step, leaving a thin coral mist as the only hint of their prior existence. “Coming to shine where there’s such competition… your ambition truly never fails you, does it?”

Normally, she didn’t like to cut deals with other magical heroes. Certainly, she could love them as dearly as she loved the others she protected, but there was a certain unripe quality to it all. Her dealings were better suited for a different breed.

But Masashi had a specific wish. A petty one, to be sure, but it was unique. What started as a curiosity quickly spiraled into an infatuation. As long as she could capture that particular inferno, then going out of her way for these crowded dealings might be worth it in the end.

“I suppose I’ll make myself scarce before your little costume disappears. After all, I wouldn’t dream of stealing your limelight.” Absently, she allowed her fingertips to brush lightly against where the contract seals remained hidden as she stepped past the Faust of their sordid little arrangement. A reminder. A tally. It was never easy to tell with her. “Take care of my exit, won’t you, dear shadow?”

---

Whew, at last it was over!

Leaving it to the others was definitely a good choice. It had been dealt quite swiftly, Atheni thought. A burning hellfire that not even the water she can control would put out. Now that's a scary thought, although abated by the fact that this fire was created by a fellow magical protector of this city. The blue-haired magical girl could see the gate burning down by the corner of her vision, though she tried to not let it lost her focus. One mistake and she could be gravely injured, after all, for there still seemed to be a lot of youkais left behind the disappearance of where they came from.

Atop her giant wall of ice, Atheni surveyed her surroundings. It would appear most of the remaining monsters were at the gate in their desperate attempt to save the gate. A few stragglers at best, and it seemed like there were other magical folk defending those who made it into the city, judging from corpses over there.

A very satisfying outcome, if she could allow herself the pat on the back.

Atheni shifted her focus on the remaining monsters. Surely they'd lash out in anger at the immediate threat, being the ship's magical crew in this instance. It would be best to help them dispatch the few remaining youkais, then take care of the bay itself. It was her duty to return it to normal, as the goddess of these waters!

She slid down her wall of ice and towards the crater someone made a bit earlier when dropping from the sky. Atheni wondered if that person was alright, still in there? Maybe they needed assistance.

Looking upon the monsters around the crater, it was a good guess to think those youkais were connected to the gate. It only made them easier to deal with. With a snap of her fingers, the monsters in her immediate vicinity found themselves rapidly encased in the ice underneath them, before silenced by thorns impaling them from their icy prisons.

She wasn't one to give names to her techniques, as it became tedious to name each and every manner of manipulating water. This one however, she'd be proud to call it the "Hoarfrost Iron Maiden". It did sound kinda cool, but she wondered how well it would be to say it out loud.

With the surrounding threat taken care of, Atheni slid down the small crater to meet the person at the bottom.

"Hey, are you alright?" she called out, patching the crater to prevent it from leaking water inside. Couldn't allow them to drown in there, could she?

RIM MIKAGURA

---

Rim looked at the coat in his hands, putting it on immediately. He tied his cloth around to secure it too, just in case.

"I... no. I'm alone. I don't need, um." How did he want to phrase this? "Is everything alright at the hospital?"

Zen tilted her head to the side slightly, then nodded. "Yes, the hospital's safe. I was actually gonna head over there again after squaring this place out. Are you sure you don't want to come with? You're not wearing shoes..."

And he had been running pretty hard.

"The staff too? They're okay?"

She tapped her fist against her heart. "Wouldn't be here if they weren't."

He stared unnervingly long. Tightened his cloth.

"Okay," he said. And more softly, "Thank you."

With one last look at the hospital past the girl, he sprinted off with inhuman speed.

Left in the dust of the sprinting man, Zen could only stare in silence.

"..."

She smacked her fist into her palm.

"Oh, so it was him!"

♫𝄞 𝄪 Amélie Renard 𝄪 𝄞♫

As the Yokais got closer and as Amélie had no answer from the biker magical girl, she feared for the worst. She could possibly hold her ground against the horde for sure, and even possibly get out - but not without the one she came here to help. And she couldn't turn her back to the Yokais to look for said magical girl when those same Yokai were ready to pounce on her. All in all, it was a possibly bad situation Amélie's desire to help put her in. Just as she was getting ready to jump at the enemy in an attempt to quell their numbers, she heard; “No, this what you tell them. Five words: Fuck around and find out.”

Rash words coming from an equally bold magical girl who litterally jumped into action. Her entrance sure was flashy, but the results of her action backed up her cockiness. She came down hard on the ice, an explosion of magic that pushed the nearest Yokais away. It might have affected Amélie too, but as she was about to jump away someone grabbed her waist and used some form of magic to create a protection for them. Looking at her would be saviour, Amélie was gladdened to see the biker girl alive and well.

"Oh, well I actually came to offer assistance." Amélie said, lightly tapping out the remaining embers on Ryofu's charred vest. "I was not certain you'd..." but she was cut off just as soon as she was about to speak.

"But I admire your guts, kid."

In two quick sentences Ryofu managed to make it plainly clear not only how little they respected Amélie's potential combat ability, but also trusted in their own capabilities a lot. It painted a clear portrait of Ryofu's character, at least on the surface. Despite that, Amélie was neither angry nor hurt, as in the end everyone was safe and Ok. At least around her. She looked around them, ready to finish off remaining Yokais as the gates were now crumbling, but it seemed others already took care of it. Mainly, the water-controlling magical girl who's powers were impressive.

Amélie took a step back and respectfully bowed slightly to Ryofu "Thank you for your own assistance just then." she said, before looking down towards where Ayumi fell as Atheni was erecting barriers around them. "We should see if that one is also alright."

"Still...I wonder what that was all about. And did you see that hand as the gates crumbled?" she told Ryofu as Amélie herself headed down the crater towards Ayumi. She knew that Yokais did not need special agenda to cause trouble or attack, but to her this felt somewhat...different. Though she might be wrong.

---

Masashi’s makeshift gun-arm ceased its fire upon on the yokai not long after the portal collapsed. It seemed like the crisis was over. It was certainly a crowded event, too much competition in one place. Masashi wasn’t keen on how many showed up, a huge floating ship had appeared to steal his show, worse still was the rudeness of that biker for her rudeness, but at least the threat was dealt with. He thought he put on a good show, there was some satisfaction in that. The contract he made was worth it. Perhaps that was just wishful thinking.

The umbramancer allowed the shadows to melt off his arm, vanishing in rapid black droplets. His ears recognized the sounds of that devil’s heels, turning his head just as she began to address him. He felt her eyes focused for a moment on the symbol on his neck, the mark of their pact. Masashi kept a professional and cold attitude as always, but for once he felt perhaps the tiniest of concerns; that perhaps he shouldn’t treat these dealings with her so lightly. Still, what price was there to pay to keep himself in the spotlight? With all these pesky competitors in the way, her services are necessary. Anywhere he goes, Masashi finds himself threatened by those trying to take what he deserves, or perhaps that’s a testament to his insecurities.

There was a time when Masashi would have had a slight flustered reaction to her advances, but overtime that has worn out with a tolerance of her odd behavior. Still, he’d like to keep things professional at all times. There was a brief, restrained sign of irritation just after he felt her fingers over the neck. An exhale, furrowed brows with eyes closed in reservation. And a slight shift away from her even though she had already started to move past him. It was an attempt to remind this little devil to keep things professional. Though perhaps that was a lost cause.

“Of course. I’ll take over from here. It’s only natural for me to be the center of attention, not these ‘heroes’.” There was a hint of bitterness to that. A sign of envy. Maybe if he only had a big floating ship to parade on. “I’m sure I’ll need your services again, Koakuma. Take care.” He left her with a slight grin. A hint of his delusion that he was in control of this show.

And with that, he’d let loose another smokescreen of black vapor. Shadows wrapping around the street like a cloud of ink. Masashi began to walk his own way now, intended to return to his territory. It would be flashier after all to leave in that ‘mysterious’ fashion.

---

@FrogRFlowR

Ryofu flexed her arm, pressing against where the bullets impacted her body. It was fortunate for her that some sort of passive mana armor was protecting her. She knew it was the same for all magical people, but their level of endurance often depended on their mindset and patron. For her Patron, going up close was something that was expected, so her armor was stronger than most, but still, it was frightening to stare down the barrel of a gun.

"Don't think nothing of it, kid." A chain snaked out and retracted, pulling her bat back to her. "Monsters like these pop up from time to time. All ya gotta do is to kick them in the teeth every time they show up. Easy as that."

Speaking of a kick in the teeth, she had better go right now before she showed up late to work. Ryofu wasn't the most punctual of workers in the office, but she did try whenever she could to show up on time.

"I'll leave the clean up to yall!" With a loud roar from her bike, she sped away from the scene, smashing a jumping post box youkai on her way out.

Well, it was good to see that the urban legend had a face to him, and a pretty handsome face too. As Shibuya's Naked Running Man (though no longer naked) took off into the distance, Zen pulled out her smartphone and snapped a quick picture, before sending it to Jasmine.

Sighting #2 of the Running Man. He cared about the ambulance staff, so I think he might be a pretty decent person!

Or maybe he was like that because he was disappointed. Could never know in the end. Turning away, Zen strode back to the field hospital and back to work. And by work, she meant school. Because, in the end, once matters of supernatural maladies were resolved and those in the most life-threatening conditions were brought back from the brink, Shine Heart could let the PhDs handle the rest. She cracked her neck, stretched her arms, felt the warmth of her heart extend beyond her extremities, and prepared to get to work.

Ah, but wait, had to get another message out to the gang.

Hey Umiko, Sora. Either of you need a quick patching up? How was it up in the front today? Grand Admiral J behaved, right?

no

The message reply to Zen came a few minutes later, and it was only the one word with a curious lack of punctuation. Sometimes this happened, but very rarely. Umiko's fellow high-schoolers were aware that they would probably be receiving a deluge of messages to the group chat once she had significantly recovered.

Had Jun behaved? Yes, she thought so - but Umiko also thought that she had probably blacked out once she'd seen the... the... the guy who was... with the... once she'd seen that. That swinging thing. Umiko recalled blood rushing to her face (and probably her head), letting out a shriek so high pitched that surely not even dogs could hear it, and then after that - everything was vague.

She thought that perhaps she'd seen Sora and Sunny board the ship, and that the Grand Admiral had ordered the boat to ram itself into the torii gate. She had a fuzzy memory of touching her hand to the deck to strengthen the vessel with her power, but had she actually done it or just intended to? And after that, a voice in her ear letting her know about someone who needed help. Trading spots with someone else as she disembarked and the other person got onboard. Landing on the ice below only to hear something above her, looking up and seeing THAT, again.

The second time she definitely blacked out, because suddenly she'd blinked and she was no longer out of the bay but back on shore, uniform damp and rapidly forming little ice crystals. As usual, she herself was unscathed.

The battle had not gone at all as she'd expected. With all hands on deck there was no other way it would turn out besides chaotic, but Umiko's own performance was pitiful and undignified. She let out a long, weary sigh and checked the time. If she was quick, she should be able to just make it to homeroom after stopping at her apartment to grab her bag... and maybe something to warm up with too. She'd hate to catch a cold.

She sighed again. She would put this incident behind her and move forward. Who ever heard of a Night Parade in the winter anyway.

Please give my apologies to everyone, I won't have time to help with clean up.

The resolute magical girl was off right after hitting send, leaping and soaring over the rooftops of Tokyo. After such an eventful morning, she was actually looking forward to the simpleness of high school.

@banjoanjo@Yankee@Cu Chulainn@Yankee@Kamen Evie@GreenGoat

---

"Kung-fu brat?!" Sora say when they hear the captain calling them that "Now listening here you no-good son of the-" Sora was cut however when the captain own ship sass him. Sora chuckled, they just met for one day and already Sora like the ship. Sora try to steady themselves onto the ship, looking out on the battlefield, they see that more yokai are coming in. "Great, they invited more friends...I knew I should have stay at home" Sora say to themselves. "You heard the thing! Fire at will! Show them just who the hell we really are!" Captain announced to his "crew" "Finally! Something we agreed on!" Sora say with much excitement "Now don't move the ship too much, captain sparkles"

Sora use their wind powers on their blade to slice and dice yokai from sky, and although it seems that everyone have the upper hand, it looks like the monsters are not going away anytime soon....It was until that Sora hear some commotion going on outside the ship. They take a look and there were no words on what is happing, it was like a damn bloodbath!....But whatever which magical kid did this, at least the problem solve, in bloody way ".....Ummm....Do we have to clean up?" Sora ask the bike girl "Cause like....I got school today, and I don't want to be lat-Annnnnd you're driving away....Great" Sora was about to get off the boat, their phone starting to ring, it was a message.

Hey Umiko, Sora. Either of you need a quick patching up? How was it up in the front today? Grand Admiral J behaved, right?

I'm A-O-K 👍 well beside falling face first but still good 😂 captain sparkles behaved pretty ✨sparkly✨

Sora sigh as they are remained that they have clean up, even though they have school today, and they really don't want to do both...You know what? Cleaning up yokai blood is way better then being in a boring history class. Sora hop off the ship and start cleaning.

---

After making sure everyone and everything was alright and there were no more monsters parading around, Atheni looked at the corpse-littered battlefield of ice all around her. Blood, guts, limbs, quite a distasteful sight. Would be a shame to have all of this being washed up in the bay, as if it wasn't dirty enough from the residents' pollution. Fortunately the ice prevented it all from scattering away, for now at least. Better hurry and clean this all up before it's too late.

Atheni watched a few of her comrades leaving the scene. She shrugged nonchalantly at their sudden departure. It's not like it bothered her this much. She was kind of expecting to be the one to do most of the work, as they bay largely felt like her domain. Also gave her just a bit more prestige, if any civilian onlooker cared about this at all. For those who were staying to help, the sea maiden would give them a thumb up and a grand smile.

With her mastery over water, Atheni began sweeping the place up for stray corpses, body parts and any big monstrous bits that were easy to spot. The ice underneath would shift and act like a very big shovel moving on its own, taking away the chunks of gore to the bayside, where it could be properly disposed of. And she had just the idea for this.

As for the blood, well if by the time the others didn't finish with it she would just gather it all in a bubble of water and dilute it all over a large area. After that all that would remain would be to melt the ice over the bay to make sure all traffic could resume to normal. Of course, that would require the others to leave the bay. She wouldn't want to have them take a dive in such cold waters unless necessary.

She skated towards the gothic magical girl, the witch protector of Shinjuku. "Heya, miss Hellfire. Can I ask for a biggie and incinerate all of the gross fleshy parts?"

Jasmine Kotono

_{@ERode@Riffus Maximus}

---

”Badass…”

The witch let out a sigh as she stared at the collapsing gate. It wasn’t too often that she could let loose like that. There was always collateral damage to be worried about, even when she was doing her thing in places that technically weren’t her problem.

She continued to stare for a moment before reaching for her bandolier. Bottles were somewhat carelessly tossed overboard towards remnant yokai until only one remained on her person.

“Well, I’m sure cleaning up the rest should be pretty easy,” Jasmine said with a shrug. “If any of you need anything, I’m not too hard to find.” She promptly leapt off the side of the ship, a pair of ebony wings holding her aloft. She soared her way back towards dry land, only stopping when she noticed that she had caught the attention of the seafaring magical girl.

"Heya, miss Hellfire. Can I ask for a biggie and incinerate all of the gross fleshy parts?"

”Miss Hellfire, huh?” Jasmine shrugged. ”Well, it’s certainly no biggie. Just watch my back for a couple seconds.” She concentrated, weaving one hand around the other as motes of hellfire began to appear, condensing into a searing light that continued to intensify before being contained in an inky blackness in the shape of a bottle, which quickly solidified.

She promptly hucked the bottle straight into the pile of viscera.

”Usually I try to keep a nice stock,” The witch explained, already reaching for a quick snack among the burning pile. ”But’cha can only make so many on short notice.” She reached for her phone and scrolled through her notifications, already acting as if Atheni was gone. Lots of barely-disguised targeted content and social media updates she honestly didn’t really give a shit about… and a message from Zen.

Sighting #2 of the Running Man. He cared about the ambulance staff, so I think he might be a pretty decent person!

There was a momentary pause. The silent yet unmistakable sound of gears turning in one’s head.

”Goddamnit, that was him!”

She slammed her free palm against her forehead and let out an exasperated groan. The sound of particularly annoyed typing filled the air.

Shit, I just ran into him on the ship without realizing it. Guess I can’t think when I’m hungry.

There was another pause, then a sudden addendum.

It’s nice that he seems alright, at least. I’ll still be keeping an eye out.

She shoved the phone back in her pocket. There wasn’t anything here worth sticking around for, anymore. Back to the cart and the usual route.