The Monster-class demon did little to assist its 'hounds' even as they were slaughtered, watching with some irritation as its opponents avoided its fireballs.

Special ire was saved for Andrea, however, the monster's three eyes burning in its skull-like face.

"Take me seriously, damn you!" it snarled as it raised its arms. This time, a larger ball of fire ignited between its palms, first wavering as a single ball of light and then beginning to swell larger rapidly, growing more intense by the second.

A least, until Kaeru suddenly went sailing past its head.

"... Hah? What? Well, if you're going to give me a meal...!"

As it turned, bearing down on the recovering contractor, it stumbled forward when a blast of flame hit it in the back of the head. This time, it let out a roar of pain, whirling again and hurling a ball of fire in Natsumi's direction.

Thankfully, Kaida's efforts bore fruit, the flames that had caught the structure alight dampened considerably, some winking out of existence entirely.

But the hounds were still bearing down on Emi, their eyes blazing as they lunged towards their quarry, far too hungry to worry about their own safety.

Still, there seemed to be no more of their number, which meant the Monster-class demon was now on his own...

@Raineh Daze@Rune_Alchemist@RolePlayerRoxas@Quartz@Emeth@LuckyBlackCat

Natsumi Fujikawa

Oh crap. Natsumi could do all the tactical analysis and cleverly-planned attacks she wanted, but somehow she was never quite prepared for a punch being thrown her way. Could she dodge that fireball? Possibly, but in that brief moment she wasn't quite sure of Kaida's location or the integrity of the wall behind her. If it missed her, it might just hit Kaida or bring the building down. So instead, she stood her ground and frantically raised her arms to shield her face. The fireball came in lower than that and hit her in the chest, exploding into a much bigger and stronger burst of flame than before. The fire itself was like scalding water to her, jarring but not immediately harmful. But the force of the explosion knocked the air out of her lungs and swept her off her feet to land on the concrete floor, half propped up against the wall. "Ow," she groaned as an inelegant way to let Kaida know that she was still alive.

@Quartz @Rune_Alchemist @VitaVitaAR

Kaida had just put out another flaming wall when a burst of heat and light flared behind her, accompanied by a thud and a strained "Ow".

She spun round and sprinted towards her dazed comrade. "Natsumi!" It'd take more than a fireball to take out a fire user - Natsumi's skin, reddened as it was, bore no severe burns - but that had been a heavy impact, by the sound of it. Kaida clenched her teeth. As much as every fibre of her being detested letting down a teammate, she was in no position to heal her right now. The water would turn scalding and do more harm than good, even with Natsumi's heat resistance.

"Kaida-san! The building!"

With a grim nod in response to Kazemi, Kaida split the water orb into several globs, which shot at the surrounding flames and slowed their spread across the walls. "Sorry Natsumi... I'll heal you as soon as I can." Doubling over from the smoke and the effort, she condensed as much steam as possible back into a liquid sphere and aimed it at the Monster class demon. In this environment, she wouldn't be able to do the same damage she'd done to the beast earlier, but she had a plan. One of their new teammates, Kaeru, wielded lightning. Kaida gave her an urgent look, signalling her cue to zap the demon as soon as the water hit.

Kaeru & Nyoko

---

"I know I'm an absolute snack but I don't do that kind of eating!" Kaeru rebuffed, just as the creature had a fireball slam into the back of its head, taking the things attention away from her and back towards Natsumi. On one hand, that was a good thing. On the other hand, having her opponent seemingly so easily think of her as not a threat, well, that slightly just pissed her off.

Instead of saying anything, Kaeru stood with her legs close together, gathering as much of the Raiju's power as she could, the air around her lightly crackling with electricity. She couldn't produce a long, sustained current. Not yet, that much was still beyond her power to really control well without giving Nyoko more control and that wouldn't help anyone right now.

As the demon was focused on Natsumi, and just as Kaida's water slammed into the creature, Kaeru quite literally leaped into action. Throwing all of her weight into a leaping kick, her knee aimed right for the creatures spine at the same time releasing every ounce of pent up electrical energy she had been gathering.

"Don't ignore me! I'll break every goddamn bone in your face jackass!"

Just slightly pissed off.

If she could pin it under her, well, then it'd be super easy to do exactly that. Assuming it was still alive when it hit the ground.

At last, Rika's shadow arm retracted down the hall towards her. As it grabbed one of the last two beasts, she felt conflicted. Even in spite of the deferential attitude she'd displayed thus far, she did consider herself at least a little experienced, but already on her first team assignment a new weakness she didn't know she had was being revealed: how easily she and her shadow arm could be separated if she wasn't careful about staying close to it. This frustrated her to no end, but it thankfully didn't show on her face.

It did, however, show through just a bit in how she handled the remaining two beasts. "Thanks. I got it now," she said calmly as she lifted up the beast she'd grabbed by its legs and smacked the other beast with it, wielding its body like a sap. She stood there, hand casually in her pocket, quietly watching the carnage as her decoy dolls slipped away back to the entrance. Internally, she was taking out her disappointment in herself on the two giant dogs. At least she was trying not to hit any of the walls.

Thankfully, Rika had made short work of the remaining beasts as planned, more or less. Emi was relieved that they didn't have to waste too much more time on them, that meant she could focus on the more pressing matters. She glanced over ehr shoulder, towards the devil that the others were throwing themselves at. It greatly irritated her to see Kaeru tackling the monster like that - reckless as that attack was, Emi could at least recognise it was a joint manoeuvre to take the monster down. She was annoyed that Andrea had yet to just end the fight herself, sparing them the trouble of fighting like that to begin with.

Shirokami's mocking chuckle resounded in her head again, making the fox-eared operative click her tongue in annoyance. She was sure that her contracted partner was chiming in only to indicate how unfair her thoughts truly were towards her demonic ally, but Emi sure as hell wasn't going to acknowledge that. Instead, she watched the bout for another moment, pressing her lips tightly together. Now that she had a moment, the other pressing matter became more apparent by the second: This partially-constructed building was at risk of having whatever was built fall on top of them all.

"...Rika-san," Emi could not recall her new colleague's full name, she could apologise for the informal address after the mission. She briefly turned her head towards Rika, "I'd suggest escorting Honda-san out of the building, before it all comes down on top of us."

Getting their most vulnerable conrade out of harm's way, just in case things went too far south was important, and assigning Rika to guard her at least kept them both out of immediate danger, now that the beasts were dealt with. The fox-possessed operative turned towards the battle, quickly making her way down the burned, smoky corridor. Hopefully, with her assistance, they could quickly subdue that fiery menace and evacuate...!

"I am taking you exactly as seriously as you deserve," the other demon stated, coming to a stop in front of the Monster, not even deigning to face it directly. With a dismissive flick of her hair, Andrea levelled one eye against the demon. "If you had realised this sooner, perhaps you might have been a worthy foe."

There was no more time for it to consider what she meant, the summon raising her hand dramatically to snap her fingers. A small gesture. Entirely unnecessary except for the dramatics. But what she triggered at the same time...

The surfaces carved out while she had been jumping around all had a singular purpose: flat and angled to point almost towards where the foe stood, flinging out fireballs with reckless abandon. Perfect for circles to etch themselves on. But not specifically towards it; that would give it an easy way out. Some were angled right at its position, while others were just slightly offset so that it found itself caught in an inescapable cage of light. Like most traps, it had a way out: backwards, where the firing had been withheld so as to not destroy Andrea's own ally... and forwards, where the demon stood, hand stretched into a knife.

Even if it somehow shrugged off Kaeru--who would probably want to let go if the lasers looked to burn through--that would still leave it with Andrea blocking the obvious escape. Using "blocking" lightly, naturally: as soon as the beams came in from all angles, the girl surged forwards, ruby eyes scanning its body. It might only be a Monster, but that still gave it some chance to survive most of its body being destroyed. There would be a core.

And she would destroy it.

Akira, of course, was edging as far away as she could from the conflict. Not that she could flee the area entirely, yet, but...

The demon staggered forward when the charged knee struck it in the back. With a snarl, it turned again...

And then it was bathed in light from every direction. Flesh burned and dissolved, soon followed by bone. Its entire head was obliterated in an instant as the burning light cleansed its very existence.

And yet, its lower half remained upright. A red, pulsing orb remained, surrounded by what was left of its smoldering ribcage.

At least, until Andrea struck it.

It was a frail thing, surprisingly, for how the demon had gloated and thought itself superior. A single touch was all that was needed to crack the exposed core.

The thin like traveled up its center, and its light died swiftly only seconds later. The orb split, both halves cracking further, before it finally shattered to pieces.

What remained of the demon's body began to smoke, venting its mass in the form of ashes.

In a few moments, nothing would be left.

It was at that moment that Shiro's voice came to them once again.

"All Demon signatures have been eliminated. Well done."

Was that the sound of slow clapping? There was no clear indication of how it was being projected, but rather then coming across as sarcastic, it had an air of the exact same expressionlessness as the Doll normally possessed.

As if she thought clapping was appropriate, but didn't really get why, perhaps.

@Raineh Daze@Rune_Alchemist@RolePlayerRoxas@Quartz@Emeth@LuckyBlackCat

Rika nodded in acknowledgement of Emi's words. Assuming Andrea wasn't just screwing around, they'd be done soon, and there was little sense in plunging back into danger if the battle would be over in a moment. Her suspicion soon came true, as the monster seemed to have been destroyed by some kind of light in the distance. "Yup. Nice and easy." As she said this, the life returned to her eyes, giving Akira her first glimpse of Rika's genuinely radiant smile. Finally, her eyes matched the rest of her. "Sorry, I didn't get a name other than 'Honda-san,' but we should get out of here. Seems your friends are wrapping up." She extended her real hand out to Akira, while her shadow arm hovered above the two of them, in case there was any debris.

Just then, Shiro's voice came with her congratulations. Reflexively, Rika felt the urge to get a bit irked by the slow clapping. It reminded her not just of the sharper points of school life, but also of a certain creature that had mocked her more than once before—but she remained calm, knowing that there was no malice in Shiro or her actions. She took a breath. ...Actually, picturing Shiro giving applause was kind of a cute look for the little doll. Rika wondered if she could make her own dolls a bit cuter, perhaps.

"Um... Honda Akira, pleased to meet you..." the girl replied, taking the offered hand with a slightly puzzled expression. Sure, the half-built building might be somewhat on fire and liable to collapse ''eventually'', but she didn't need to be lead out to safety. The contract might not help her, but this was hardly the ''first'' time she'd been in a dangerous situation.

Was she being mistaken for being much younger than she actually was again? It had to be that, didn't it? That was so annoying, even if her choice of clothing didn't help...

Further inside, the contracted demon's features narrowed into a sneer of derision, wiping some imaginary dust off of her jacket. Without a word, she turned her back on the already-vanishing ashes and headed for the exit... offering an uncomfortable reminder to everyone else that a summon had to be actively dismissed, and the demon would still be awkwardly accompanying them until Akira was reminded to make her leave.

Natsumi Fujikawa

"Yeah, yeah, thanks, Shiro," Natsumi mumbled as she scrambled stiffly to her feet. It seemed a bit early to be clapping, because while the multipronged attack had annihilated the demon, Andrea's beams had also unleashed hell on the surrounding walls and ceilings. She could already hear the concrete groaning as it threatened to swallow them all. At a glance, Kaida, Andrea, and the new recruit were in the bowels of the building with her, while the others were closer to the exit. Kaida was agile enough to escape the collapse and Andrea would survive it, but for Nakanishi, she had no idea. From what little she had seen, he seemed speedy but not very coordinated. Afraid to waste time, she made the snap decision to act.

"I'll get the boy!" she called to Kaida as she launched forward with her flame jets. With no more time for a warning, she flew past Andrea and collided with Nakanishi, wrapping her arms around his waist so that she lifted him up over her shoulder and along with her movement. She had practiced this move as a way to get civilians out of danger, but hadn't yet used it in practice, since Kaida was better suited to that task. She wasn’t strong enough to carry a person for long, and she had little ability to steer with her arms occupied, so she was really just relying on the momentum for a quick relocation. The two of them zipped through the big hallway and out the exit, at which point Natsumi slowed down, weakening her jets while angling her feet further down, so they would remain aloft even while losing momentum. If done right, she could have come to a smooth landing like this, but that didn't pan out. Instead, the two of them took a gentle but clumsy tumble, with Nakanishi falling on his back in the dirt and Natsumi landing on top, cushioning the impact of her face onto the soft pillow of Nakanishi's breasts.

Wait, what? She rose onto all fours and looked down at the cat-eared girl. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" she stammered. "I thought you were, uhm…" Saying I thought you were a boy seemed way too rude, so she stopped herself. Still, she was a boy before, wasn't she? Natsumi had specifically taken note of that. Her formerly flat chest was the main thing that had tipped her off. "Never mind." Feeling her cheeks heat up, she scrambled to her feet and turned away, looking around to make sure that everyone else would make it out.

_{@Rune_Alchemist}

Emi had come to a halt when she saw Andrea dispatch of the demon at last, after the impressive combination attack that had lit up their little battlefield. Well, that was about as good as an outcome as she could ultimately hope for, with everyone currently lacking in serious injury, though they'd best get away from the struggling infrastructure before it gave way entirely.

Of course, being rewarded with Shiro's applause was a wonderful thing, too. It pained Emi's heart to be unable to see it in person, but just imagining the expressionless doll clapping for them was enough to elate the fox's spirits.

You did so well~ Came the unwelcome praise of her contracted partner. Ugh, like she needed to listen to any faults in her performance, as if Emi wasn't painfully aware of her weakness, already. The new starts had, quite frankly, performed extremely well for their first go around. Emi could lecture them for any and all errors they may have made (Kaeru should count himself fortunate Emi had not personally witnessed his moves, not even his cuteness could have fully shielded him from her righteous lectures), but really, it was clear they did far more than she.

With those assumptions made of Shirokami's words, Emi let out a weary sigh. She'd just focus on writing up a report once they got back and were debriefed, that would help her get over her frustrations. Probably. Though as she was about to return, she had to flatten herself against the damaged wall to avoid Natsumi's dash, carrying the transformed Kaeru with her. With that unsteady flight, and the less than elegant landing, Emi sure had plenty to comment on as she made her way out. Her own possession fading away, returning that brilliant, white hair to its usual black, the fluffy tail and ears disappearing.

Kaeru & Nyoko

---

As soon as Kaeru's knee made contact, the demon was thus assaulted every side from light. The catgirl gave a quiet meep of surprise as instead of the beast being knocked to the ground she'd instead twist her body, using her other foot to push herself off of the creature and land on the ground, rolling a few feet before hopping back up as Andrea burned the creature into crispy bacon.

"Weeeh, I was almost obliterated too." She shot a glare towards the demon with a hiss. "Watch the tail next time or I'll turn those horns of yours into chopsticks, princess!" The sound of slow, hollow, almost sarcastic clapping interrupted whatever other words the cat might have had for the demon. Eeeh, so Shiro-chan could do something like that too, huh? It was oddly cute, wasn't it? Maybe She should drag her out on a makeover date at some point.

"Ah, whatever. Lets get out of here Nyoko-myaaa?!" She had been about to exit the likely soon to collapse building. A little falling debris wouldn't have proved any sort of challenge to her. So when Kaeru found herself being lifted off the ground and tossed over the shoulder of one of the other members, she couldn't help but to give a sharp, sudden shout of disapproval.

"Put me down!" Perhaps it was Nyoko's feline influence but Kaeru was not happy at being manhandled, likely making the entire endeavor harder. "Do I look like a weak little kitten! Unhand meeeeee!" The struggling, also likely contributed to the rather humorous landing the pair made with Natsumi crashing to the ground and sending the both of them sprawling onto it with the other woman's head coming to a rest on top of Kaeru's chest.

"Mmmrwwwmph..." Kaeru let out a quiet grumble as Natsumi lifted herself off of her, making a show of sitting up, glaring and protectively covering her chest. "At least ask me out on a date before doing touching." As Kaeru stood up, her somewhat annoyed expression shifted into what could only be called a true Cheshire grin. "Eeeh, what am I though?" She'd walk up behind Natsumi, a playfully teasing tone. "What was it you were gonna say, huh? Was I going to be called Mega cute or something? Hitting on your new kouhai after the first mission? So shameless~" A swish of her tail. "Maybe you should take me on a date to make up for it huh or I might get angry~"

Watching the operatives as they exited the construction site, Ayako took a cigarette from the pack. Putting it in her mouth, she used a lighter to ignite the tip, taking a long drag.

As she did, the partially-constructed building slowly crumbled to the ground.

"... Oh well, at least there wasn't anyone inside," she commented, with a shrug. Losing the most easily replaceable portions of a building currently in construction was nothing compared to the idea of losing the workers. They could fix the building, the same couldn't be said for themselves.

"Congratulations on a completed mission," she commented, without much inflection, before taking another drag on her cigarette, "For some of you, that's your first time. Good work."

It's not as if she didn't mean it. Perhaps it was just her natural tone of voice that sounded so harsh, however, even as she finished speaking, she was approaching Kaeru and raising her hand... before bringing it down to give the currently-female operative a chop between the ears.

"However, that doesn't mean you can just go messing around. Got it?"

"Emergence Gate closure confirmed," Shiro's mental voice chimed in.

"Good," Ayako took another drag, glancing at the construction workers and the rest of the crowd. Many of them were cheering at the obvious defeat of the demon, even if some of them were clearly a bit dismayed at how much cleanup and rebuilding they'd need to do.

It was better then dying, after all.

"Time to head back."

---

The ride back to base was uneventful, and their return was equally so(aside from Terada immediately appearing to check the vehicle for damage).

After a brief meeting to summarize the events of the mission, the operatives were free to do what they liked.

Shiro had departed to return to her room, quietly, while Ayako remained in her office.

@Raineh Daze@Rune_Alchemist@RolePlayerRoxas@Quartz@Emeth@LuckyBlackCat

@Rune_Alchemist

Cracking and crunching sounds rumbled through the building, drowning out Shiro's clapping, telling Kaida there was no time. As Natsumi launched herself forward and scooped Kaeru up, Kaida darted close behind on a wind current, coughing violently from the cloud of smoke and soot she inadvertently whipped up. Landing outside, she rubbed her stinging eyes, wincing and biting back a yelp as the blisters on her hands flared up. Behind her, the telltale cacophony of the building crumbling to rubble sounded through the area.

"Ack... Everyone safe?" Opening her eyes and glancing around the area, she gave another splutter and a strained smile. "Sorry about the smoke." Her gaze settled on Natsumi, who'd landed in a rather unfortunate position on top of Kaeru, and was currently blushing while apologising profusely. "Well, that's awkward." This would give Kaida plenty of ammunition to tease both of them with. "Both of you ok though? Anyone need healing?"

A quick examination revealed that, as much of a close call the battle had been, nobody was badly hurt. With a sigh of relief, she made water bubble up around both her arms, the pain fading along with the red marks. With her hand still encased in water, she gave the team the thumbs up, her attention mostly focused on the two newcomers. "Great job, everyone!" Even if that stick in the mud Ayako didn't agree, admonishing Kaeru with a bonk on the head, what mattered was that they'd succeeded.

The city was safe. For now.

---

The journey back didn't take long. Kaida, now in her regular de-transformed state, climbed out of the car and stretched to ease her aching muscles. Following Kaeru, she gave a wary look around for Ayako before whispering, "Don't let our boss get to you. She's like that."

Fortunately--at least, no doubt, for the sake of Rika's sanity--they weren't accompanied by Andrea on the way back, Akira terminating the manifestation, only a brief spiderweb of cracks on the air lingering for a few seconds before the white-haired light show had returned to wherever it was that such entities loitered when they weren't invading the human world for people to kill or other demons to pick fights with.

Back at the office, Akira checked her phone idly. Not much to do on there, not for a couple of hours, maybe she could just get back to lounging around and find some video or something to occupy the time. She'd much rather go check on Shiro, but familiarity had taught her that the small doll was probably sleeping off the strain of however she did... what she did, and it wasn't like the cookies wouldn't be fine when the girl got up again.

Eugh, but they had some new people, right...? Someone ought to show them around, and Emi probably would, but then they would only learn all the basic, formal stuff. She could probably better handle things like which of the local cafes did the best cheesecake, or where to go if Ayako suddenly needed someone to fetch coffee, but she'd really like to just go upstairs and stay out of the way...

Natsumi Fujikawa

Oh no. Natsumi had hoped that they could quickly move on from this awkward situation, but Nakanishi was still pushing the topic. At least she wasn't threatening sexual harassment, but she was… hitting on her? Perhaps she was joking, but if she wasn't, how could she even respond to that? She didn't want to reject a playful request after causing such a blunder and really end up having a bad start with her new kouhai. But actually dating a colleague seemed irresponsible, and Natsumi wasn't even into girls anyways. Oh wait, of course. Since she wasn't into girls, this didn't have to be weird. She could simply accept a platonic date, and if Nakanishi had other ideas, it wouldn't be rude to issue a correction about her orientation.

"Alright, alright, if that will make it up to you," she answered while turning around to face the cat-girl. "Just don't get any weird ideas about me. It was an honest mistake."

Any further conversation between them was interrupted by Ayako. Natsumi sighed before performing her Shinto prayer once again, reverting her mane of fire into normal red hair, and making her way back to the transport.

---

When Ayako dismissed the operatives, Natsumi spotted Kaida talking to Nakanishi, but she instinctively avoided mingling with them. The embarrassment of her earlier blunder was still a bit too fresh on her mind. Instead, she set her sights on Rika. "Excuse me, Rika-san," she said as she approached. It felt wrong to address her so informally, but she didn't quite remember her proper name. She had seen the names of the new recruits listed in the paperwork, but western names were so much harder to remember. "You fought very well out there. You said you've fought demons before, right? Were you transferred from another branch?"

_@Emeth

Kaeru & Nyoko
@LuckyBlackCat

---

"Weird ideas?" Kaeru's grin only widened. "Ya know the first person to mention it is usually the one that has those ideas." A wide grin as Kaeru bounced a bit towards Natsumi. "So, what weird ideas were you thinking huh? Maybe I need to contact HR or tell the boss-mwep!?" Ayako's hand promptly bonked Kaeru right on the head, causing the contractor to let out a surprised meow. In the same instance, Kaeru's feline ears vanished in a puff of small particles of light along with the tail. Nyoko would appear on the ground next to him, letting everyone know her presence with a loud meow as Kaeru held the top of his head with a pout.

"Oooow...yes ma'am..." He'd grumble, huffing lightly as Nyoko leaped onto his back, taking a place on his shoulder, balancing comfortably and nuzzling up to Kaeru. His grin soon returned, though and he'd call after Natsumi. "I'll remember this date then!" The trip back to the base was more or less uneventful, aside from Nyoko deciding that she wanted to rub everyones legs and spend the time soliciting pets from everyone.

---

Kaeru disembarked the vehicle, stretching his muscles and running a hand through his hair, moving it out of his line of sight. So those were demons, huh? Felt good to finally get to fight one. He messed up a few times to be sure, but it all worked out in the end so he wasn't too worried. Nothing more practice couldn't fix.

"Hm?" Kaeru looked towards Kaid wearing his usual friendly grin. "Oh, yeah no its fine ahaha. I probably shouldn't have been messing around buuuut I couldn't let that opportunity to mess with her just pass by ya know. It was too good to pass up, and hey I got free food out of it so I consider that a win." He'd respond, Nyoko fwoomping into existence in a crackle of electricity in his arms. She'd languidly yawn, giving Kaida a small meow of acknowledgement before rolling around in Kaeru's arms and promptly deciding to fall asleep. "So hey, Kaida was it? Your my senior here yeah? How often do we go on missions? To be honest that was a good warmup but I'm still feeling a little restless. Don't suppose you know any good sparring partners? Or do you guys have a gym here or something?"

It was fortunate that Emi had not saw fit to break down any and all actions she had deemed unacceptable for the mission - even if she had misgivings about Ayako's clearly excessive admonishment of the cat... Kaeru, it was admonishment for recklessness all the same. No need to pile on them right now. Besides, she was still mulling over her own weaknesses to bring anyone else down for the moment.

When they alighted back at HQ, the irritable young woman silently made her way back to the office. She might as well get the official write-up for the mission done, lord knows she was the only one willing to get it over with immediately. She came to an awkward stop with a conflicted look on her face, realising she hadn't even given her own words of praise to the group for a job well done. She glanced over her shoulder, but felt it would be too awkward to shuffle back and give words that would probably sound insincere from someone like her. Well, they'd probably have to deploy again soon enough, she can give double the praise next time, right?

"Ah, Akira-san! Yoroshiku," Rika replied as she led her out of the burning building. Akira didn't seem to recognize the danger she was in, but Rika was strong enough to tank any falling debris, and they were close enough to the entrance that it wasn't necessary to literally sweep Akira off her feet. Still, she pulled her along in a brisk jog, and they made it out of the flames, out from under the ceiling of the building, and out of the 'hard hat zone' around it. Rika let out a small sigh of relief.

"I'll get the boy!" Natsumi called out.

The sudden declaration caused Rika to whirl around in alarm. There weren't any boys in the group! Was there a civilian still trapped inside the burning building?! ...No, it was Kaeru she'd been talking about. Shock was replaced with confusion, while her distress remained. A small part of her wondered if this was going to turn into a harassment report, but Kaeru seemed to be playing around. Rika sighed. Finally her emotional state seemed to settle on amusement. It certainly seemed like Natsumi had made a mistake, there. Kaeru was totally a girl, right? Right.

It then became clear why Rika had been in such a hurry to 'save' Akira, as the building did indeed collapse behind them less than 50 seconds later, while the crowd of civilians cheered and groaned in equal measure. That, alongside the demons she'd just fought, was also a familiar sight to Rika. What was unusual about this particular job, though, was the distinct lack of injury. Unlike her previous jobs, this one had not been a desperate struggle of life and death. It had been easy—even... fun. Perhaps, working in a group wasn't so bad. True, she could have handled the job herself, and it might have even still been easy—but it wouldn't have been like this.

"I don't need healing," Rika observed, as though that were unusual. "My outfit does, though."

She'd said it so casually, but on closer inspection... yes. Her sleeve was shredded to ribbons, and her jacket was positively soaked with blood. Her shadow arm in particular reeked of it, and though the smell was reduced quite a bit once she dismissed it, it still remained noticeable on her, now that it wasn't competing with the smell of the smoke inside the burning building, or being swept away by the wind outside. Yet with everyone gathered inside the van, they could all see that she and the others were more or less completely unharmed. Rika only had some bruises on her arm that she didn't think looked that bad, personally.

Once they'd arrived back at HQ, Rika seemed prepared to slip away, herself, but Natsumi stopped her. She greeted her as "Rika-san," which reminded her that she'd told the others to call her "Rika-chan" by mistake earlier. Please let them all forget about that, she pleaded to any gods who would listen, almost missing Natsumi's actual question, which seemed to startle her. "Another branch..? Uh, no, I was... a freelancer, I guess. Not a very good one though." She ruffled the hair on the back of her head with a shy but strong smile. She seemed to know what she was doing, despite downplaying it. Internally, though, she was once again begging to any higher powers that could hear her thoughts that they would all forget about that time they all had to salvage her failure. Which reminded her: "Eh, they're cold by now, but, I ma— ...brought cinnamon rolls for the break room. If the front service clerk didn't eat them, I guess," she hedged. "Truth is, I was supposed to go to orientation today, you know? —but the alarm went off, so I kinda just dropped everything and... _{slipped in?"} She looked away, blushing a bit.