While it wasn’t possible to see Oros’s face from behind, Acid Drop didn’t need to. She could tell her partner was seething. It wasn’t an emotion that she displayed often. Suki? Maybe, but not Oros. The last time she was this pissed was after she “defeated” Earthshaker for the right to make everyone dinner. But Earthshaker was absent from this scene, and Misoka didn’t look like she wanted to go to eat anywhere. She was perfectly content flying her kites in the middle of the empty field.

The wind shifted directions. She turned her body to orientate herself behind the kites. The expression on her face said she was focusing, but Acid Drop could sense otherwise. She was in anticipation, like a child waiting for dessert to arrive. The wind picked up, and Misoka let the kite fly even higher into the air. She still looked stern, but Tsubomi could feel the joy welling up in her chest. If it was difficult to feel, it was only because of Oros’s growing contempt for what was happening in front of her.

Oros brought up her hand and chopped through the air in front of her. A tendril of blood reached forth and thinned its tip down until it looked like a blade. Then, with a swift swing, sliced through all the kite strings. Misoka gasped when she saw her kites fly away from her. The dragons tumbled through the air, getting further away from Misoka despite her attempts to catch up. But the kites were not stable. They could only stay in the air for so long before diving straight into the ground. Even with the wind, it was possible to hear the carbon fiber frames break as they smashed into the earth.

At last, Oros turned to look at Tsubomi. She wore her brightest smile, not that it could mask her feelings from Acid Drop. "You were saying?” When Acid Drop repeated herself, Oros grinned. "So she is real!” She folded her arms over her chest. "I guess they confused her with Misoka when I was rumor hunting. Heh! Weird how that works. I guess Bedshaker and Violet are talking to her right now.” She looked into Acid Drop’s eyes and hesitated. "So uh, Rainbow, do you miss not having emotions?”

---

While it was true that magical girls were invisible to normal humans, that was only true if they didn’t use their magic. The frequent “spirit sightings” in Hibusa Town were instances where magical girls got a bit carried away in a public space. Anyone who didn’t believe in spirits was quick to dismiss such a phenomenon through various means. Nyxia’s laser was a trick of the setting sun on raindrops. The fire hydrant’s redirected water was the result of an odd viewing angle. The old lady staggered backwards. It wasn’t clear what the flower shop owner thought, only that she couldn’t understand it.

The dragon girl raised an eyebrow at her two adversaries. One had decided to shoot a fire hydrant, and the other was redirecting the water at the building. "I’m over here though.” It wasn’t long after that Nyxia commanded her to get off the roof, and Earthshaker wanted her to apologize. The corner of her mouth curled into a vicious smirk as the laser drew closer. "If you insist…”

She hopped into the air. The dragons on her shoulders raised their heads skyward. They roared with brimstone, belching giant flames into the sky. The flames left the dragon’s mouths with such speed it created thrust, and plunged the magical girl inside the flower shop.

Every open hole in the building erupted with fire. The bright white flames would cause anyone to wince if they tried to stare at it, but it was followed by rolling black smoke. The tiny building couldn’t take it anymore, and slowly caved in on itself. Even the walls showed signs of being shifted off of their foundation. Even where the walls still stood, the mortar had been broken off between some of the bricks. The fire had been so hot that it boiled the moisture out of the stone, causing many of the bricks to explode.

The metal door fell aside as the red haired girl stepped out of the smoke. She had soot on her cheeks, but seemed otherwise unharmed by the ordeal. "I got off the roof! And I apologize for burning the flower shop, I razed it to compensate. Speaking of etiquette…” She placed a hand on her chest. "I’m Ash Bringer. No need to tell me your names. I’m not interested in light girls.” She winked at the duo.

If Nyxia had been furious before, her rage exploded with all the cataclysmic force of a hypernova upon witnessing the dragon girl’s malicious destruction of the flower shop she and Earthshaker were attempting to save. As the dragon girl walked out of the conflagration, she began talking, but Nyxia wasn’t listening to a single word. Instead, the Neon Tempest was violently grinding her teeth together, her breathing, short, sharp, and ragged. When she finally spoke, her words seemed to drip with vitriol…

“You…” the Neon Tempest hissed. “I’M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU FOR THAT, YOU

FUCKING BIIIIIIITCH!!!”

Even as Nyxia unleashed this anguished screech, the Omega Obliterator disgorged a stupendous lance of utter annihilation, far larger than any Hibusa Town had seen before. This ruinous cylinder was soon joined by half a dozen more as, fueled by the Neon Tempest’s unrelenting fury, her enormous energy cannon sprouted several additional glowing barrels. Even a pair of hovering, octahedral drones in the shape of Nyxia’s hair decorations materialized to add their own beams to the terrifying torrent, the entire baleful barrage violently crackling with arcs of actinic lightning as it fell upon “Ashbringer” without a shred of mercy, or sign of ceasing any time soon…

“DIE, YOU FUCKING SHIT STAIN!!!” the Neon Tempest shrieked, her voice raw with hatred. “DIE!!! DIE!!! DIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!”

It might have been “against the rules” to murder another human, mundane or magical, but Nyxia was well past the point of caring about such inane bullshit. This bitch needed to die screaming, for while the Neon Tempest had failed to save the flower shop, she was sure as fuck going to avenge it, and nothing was going to stop her…

---

Earthshaker wondered what cosmic entity she'd angered to have her lot in life be such a cavalcade of messes and headaches. They find one tiny spark of peace in Nyxia's life that doesn't involve her brother, and it immediately gets burned to the ground by another Dark Magical Girl. One who mockingly mistakes them for a pair of Light Magical Girls.

The combination of that disregard and the destruction of the flower shop had set Nyxia off. The tribal Magical Girl released a heavy sigh as lasers streaked past, leaving the fire hydrant behind as the storefront was ruined beyond salvaging. Small consolation that at least the owner had fled clear of the mess, as she'd be awfully traumatized seeing what was about to go down.

"Just because you're a Dark Magical Girl doesn't mean you can be a bitch without consequences." She said mostly to herself, not expecting the words to be heard over a hurricane of lasers. For a Magical Girl they'd never heard of she didn't look a push over, and it would be on Roche's head to keep Nyxia from either getting her ass handed to her or from killing the dragon girl.

The dead can't beg for forgiveness, after all, and maybe with a bit of humility she could join the club. Eye candy aside, it was always nice to have a new girl to bully into doing all their chores.

Earthshaker lunged towards Ashmaker, her shield interposed between herself and Nyxia as she ran into the path of the lasers. Blocking the beams that were already more intense then what had been thrown around when they first fought saw Earthshaker's body glow with sudden power, the lines across her skin blindingly bright. Energized with a savage intent she leaped upwards, breaking from Nyxia's barrage to plummet towards Ashmaker with her shield now before her, ready to plunge through flame and dragon to crush her foe.

---

Acid Drop's ear twitched. Something had happened back with the other two girls. There was a powerful rage coming from there, worse than she'd felt in a long time. Plus, the sound! It was a little tough to figure out Oros' feelings as she felt them with how strong the anger was, but Acid Drop managed somehow. It could have been worrying, if she could be worried, that Oros got so angry herself. When her partner finally turned to address her...

"I don't think they're 'talking,' at this point." The last question caught her slightly off-guard.

"Mm..." It took her a little while to think about it. "I remember them being annoying, but I can't say I like how slow I am without magic now. I do miss some of them, I guess. But it's hard to miss them without them, you know?" To her, it was some sort of paradox. Could you be happy that you don't have emotions? What about sad? Sure she could pretend she did when she was Acid Drop, but that wasn't the same, was it?

She tried to think back to what it was like before, but it was muddy. Was she a happy girl before? An emo, a goth, a cheerleader type? Maybe she was the same as she is now... Though she doubted that. Maybe she was just a normal girl before. "I guess I don't know for sure. Why do you ask?"

Oros the Joyful nodded along to everything Acid Drop was saying. In truth, it wasn’t anything unexpected. It made sense, at least hypothetically, from the perspective of someone who had emotions. Oros remembered reading somewhere that all human desires were felt when the brain absorbed dopamine. Larger quantities increased the desire. They did an experiment with mice where they inhibited their brains ability to absorb dopamine. The mouse just stood in the center of its cage, completely unmoving. It wouldn’t even eat or drink unless the researchers held food up to its mouth. If that was the case for Tsubomi, then why did she choose to do anything? But she remembered them being annoying? Could anyone really be better off this way?

"Huh.” Was Oros’s response. At least until she was prompted as to why she had asked. "Oh! Um, you know?” Her smile got just a bit bigger. "Emotions are very important to me! I’ve just been a bit- Wait, wait, what do you mean ‘they aren’t talking’ anymore?” Oros didn’t really need her to say. The crackling energy of Nyxia’s laser beams could be made out at this distance, as could the freaking explosion that seemed to rock the earth. "Uh, let’s table this for now!” Oros took off again, this time heading towards the conflict.

---

No two magical girls were alike, but no matter how much variety light or dark magical girls had, there were certain cues that made them easy to tell apart. One of which was how they reacted to taking something that was precious to someone else and destroying it. Few, if any light girls would be proud of destroying something dear to someone else. It didn’t matter if they were an enemy or not. Ash Bringer, however, seemed to relish in Nyxia’s hatred. Every sharp breath, every crease on her face, it served to stretch her lips and show off her perfectly white teeth. If this kept up, the corners of her lips might reach her ears. In contrast, her eyes got smaller. They were wide open, but her pupils dilated. "Come on...” She whispered. And then it happened. Nyxia let her anger out in a torrent of bad words and lasers. It was an overwhelming, perhaps grotesque display of power. Ash Bringer inhaled sharply. It was physically impossible for her smile to be any bigger.

…Or maybe she was reacting to the incoming torrent of lasers.

Ash Bringer was not a stationary target. She had already demonstrated how her flames could be used as thrusters, and she did so again with the murderous tubes of crackling death energy closed in on her. While Nyxia’s main laser beam took a fairly straight forward path, the side lasers twisted and curled around to intercept the dragon. There were many close calls, with the lasers burning through her bangs here and there, but she hadn’t scored a direct hit. Meanwhile, Ash Bringer closed in on Nyxia’s location as the web of death beams swarmed behind her.

This only lasted for a moment before the rule keeper threw herself in front of the incoming lasers. She hadn’t been fast enough to get in front of the laser beams, but she was able to slide into the side of them with her shield up. The beams of death energy slammed into her shield, and everything that had passed her faded away.. The cluster of deadly beams that were so close to Ash Bringer dissipated into the air. Next, Earth Shaker had to disengage from all of Nyxia’s beams and come down on Ash Bringer without getting cooked by the torrent of incoming lasers. Something she masterfully did with a mighty bound.

Most magical girls had fairly simple powers. Nyxia could fire lasers, Oros could control her blood, and Acid Drop wasn’t most magical girls. But neither was Earthshaker. Up until this point, Ash Bringer hadn’t really seen why Earth Shaker’s body was glowing the way it was. There was certainly no way she could anticipate that up until now, she had been storing power to use for this next attack. Ash Bringer should have been able to pass right under Earthshaker to continue moving towards Nyxia, but the energy she stored up would be perfect for giving her a boost of acceleration and powering through anything she might fight back with.

It was like a flyswatter hitting a fly.

Earthshaker’s shield came down on top of Ash Bringer and smashed her into the ground. The pavement beveled, and black smoke rose up all around Earthshaker. She couldn’t feel any movement on the other side of her shield. When she moved her shield out of the way to see if Ash Bringer was still conscious, Nyxia’s lasers came in to finish off what was surely a vulnerable target. Torrentia hadn’t heard Ash Bringer scream yet, and she wasn’t going to stop on account of anyone wishing otherwise.

Though with the smoke, lasers, and Nyxia’s emotional state, it was difficult to see the pavement getting pushed up. It was like a giant mole had dug its way out from under Earthshaker and was racing towards Nyxia. The moving pavement mound started to smolder, and then Ash Bringer, wreathed in flame, burst out of the ground and drove her fist into Nyxia’s stomach. Powerful enough on its own, but it was followed by another heated explosion, which set Nyxia ablaze and sent her careening into the rubble of the flower shop. With a hiss, Ash Bringer turned to look at Earthshaker. Aside from a black smudge on her cheek, it didn’t look like her last attack had caused any noticeable damage to her. Ash Bringer wasn’t grinning anymore, she was pissed.

"Why are you all so weak?” One of her dragons turned and fired a jet of flame at Oros, who was mid-flight in an attempt to ambush the dragon woman. She was turned into a ball of fire that bounced down the street. Ash Bringer hadn’t taken her eyes off of Earthshaker. "You’re dark magical girls, aren’t you? You’re aware you need to hunt miseria to become stronger? Your virtues aren’t your strength anymore, you can’t just sit back and let the light girls kill them all!” Her other dragon was charging a fireball and launched it down the street where Tsubomi was likely returning from.

Roche’s skill set made her ideal for one on one fights, but this was no ordinary foe. Ash Bringer was far stronger than any of the local light girls, and may have even rivaled Shrade. But before what was sure to be a tough battle kicked off, the air was filled with the whooshing sound of magical girls leaping from the rooftops. The rest of the Detention Club would be arriving soon.

"There’s more of you?!” While this seemed to annoy Ash Bringer initially, she chuckled soon afterwards. "You know what? Hibusa Town has proven to be pretty amusing. Tell you what? I’m going to give you guys a year to train and get stronger. Then I’m going to come back with my own team and we’ll have a proper fight. But don’t shed any tears. I’ll still drop by from time to time to see how everyone’s doing.”

With one last burst of flames, Ash Bringer flew into the red sky. Shortly afterwards, the sun retreated over the horizon and painted the sky black. The only trace that remained of her was the battlefield that the flower shop had turned into.

Nyxia’s eyes narrowed and her teeth ground against one another as Ashbringer nimbly avoided the brunt of her initial barrage and actually began racing towards her. “Die, damn you,” the Neon Tempest snarled. “Just. Fucking. DIE!!!” However, despite her best efforts to get a clean shot, the draconic cyborg continued to evade the storm of ravening beams, drawing ever nearer, that fucking smile remaining plastered across her face. However, Nyxia’s eyes widened a moment later, as Earthshaker made her appearance, leaping in front of the Neon Tempest’s cataclysmic barrage and blocking it with her shield. “What the fuck?! GET OUTTA THA FUCKIN’…!” the Neon Tempest’s enraged voice trailed off as she began to understand the purpose behind her partner’s actions. The tribal girl wasn’t just blocking Nyxia’s fire, she was absorbing it, using it as fuel for her own impending assault on their common foe.

The next instant, that assault came in the form of a hyper-charged greatshield being slammed down upon Ashbringer with truly titanic force. Predictably, Nyxia didn’t wait to see if the dragon girl would rise after receiving this mighty blow, instead opting to to send yet another torrent of neon-tinted devastation crashing down upon the crater Earthshaker’s strike had made mere moments after the tribal girl had stepped out of the way. Indeed, the Neon Tempest wouldn’t be content until the draconic cyborg was a smear on the pavement or a cloud of her namesake ash on the wind. So focused on achieving this objective was Nyxia, that she failed to notice the mole-like trail of bulging pavement making its way towards her with considerable speed. At least, not before Ashbringer erupted from the pavement and punched her in the stomach with the all the force of an atomic shaped charge.

The Neon Tempest barely had time to widen her eyes in shock, before she found herself combusting into flames and hurtling across the street to crash into a pile of smoldering rubble. As if that wasn’t humiliating enough, Ashbringer then proceeded to make a little “speech” that made Nyxia’s blood boil far more than the flames still crackling over her charred skin ever could. They were weak? They needed to hunt Miseria to become stronger? Perhaps the Detention Club’s other members didn’t place a high enough priority on such things, perhaps they were more concerned with playing queen, performing magic tricks, being a voyeur, getting fucked, acting mysterious and cool, being an anal-retentive control freak, or just being totally apathetic about everything, but Nyxia had only one goal- to kill as many Miseria as she possibly could, until she was strong enough to save her beloved brother. To mock all that effort, to just throw it all so contemptuously back in her fucking face…

“I’ll kill you, you fucking cunt….” Nyxia snarled as she slowly rose from the rubble on trembling legs, her charred body propped up by the Omega Obliterator’s oversized barrel. “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!” she screamed, pointing her giant death ray at Ashbringer just as the draconic cyborg concluded her monologue and blasted into the sky. The Omega Obliterator’s ruinous cylinder of annihilation swept across the heavens after her, but the writhing tube of destructive energy never found its target. “GET BACK HERE, YOU FUCKING SHIT-SUCKING PUSSY!!!” the Neon Tempest roared, even as her weapon’s mighty beam shot into the zenith, vaporizing clouds and filling the evening sky with its baleful glow, before fizzling out as Nyxia’s exhausted body slumped to its knees.

“F-Fucking… P-Pussy…” the Neon Tempest muttered between pained gasps for breath. She desperately wanted to give chase, to find Ashbringer, blow off each of the dragon girl’s limbs and then force feed her her intestines, but it was taking all her remaining strength just to stay conscious, let alone stand. What the fuck did that bitch do to me? Nyxia wondered. Indeed, she had never been struck by an attack of such force, one strong enough to make her superhuman magical girl body feel almost as feeble as her hated mundane self. “This isn’t over…” she hissed through gritted teeth. “I’ll show you just how strong I can be…”

---

Ashbringer's presence alone told Earthshaker she was no simple foe. Having none of the bluster of a fresh faced Light Girl out to purify the land, yet holding an easy confidence even Schrade would have found laudable.

The Rule Keeper took all this in as she struck the Magical Girl into the ground like the first of a vengeful god. Narrowed eyes peered into the explosion of flame, dust, and ruptured roadway that wasn't already awash in the fluorescent glare of neon lasers, and even as she flung herself clear she knew she'd failed to strike true. Experience told her well the feel of crushing both Miseria and Magical Girl beneath her might and there was an absence of that satisfying crunch to be had.

She had come clear of the impact zone yet could only grit her teeth and raise a hand before her, shielding herself from the barrage of lasers that had grown hellish in their intensity. Left to watch as a subtle bulge in the street gave way to Ashbringer's meteoric rise, smashing aside Nyxia before hurling blasts of flame as large as houses towards the approaching Detention Club girls.

And Earthshaker was the only one who found herself pinned solely by the hostile girl's now hateful glare, and she held little doubt she would have remained untouched if the approaching signatures of friendly Magical Girls didn't send Ashbringer to flight. Even if she only left after laying down an ominous challenge.

"Damn it. That bitch took that without flinching." The tribal magical girl cursed before racing after Nyxia. Oros and Tsubomi could handle a bit of fire but Nyxia had never taken a blow like that before. Chasing after her with a bound that burned up her remaining charge of power, Earthshaker found the hunt easy when Nyxia was burning her own with rampant lasers against the sky.

"Nyxia!" She barked, skidding to a halt before grasping Nyxia's trembling shoulders tight. Holding her up, and making an attempt to silence the firing of the Omega Obliterator. "She's gone. And she won't survive coming back."

Suki was use to getting hurt. Her blood power necessitated getting hurt to grow stronger. Her pain threshold was high, and being a magical girl made a lot of stuff hurt a lot less than it should have. She had been smashed by magical war hammers, bombarded by frogs, and run across pink flames as cute as their caster. She had no shortage of experiences to draw upon, but couldn't tell you what the worst type of pain she had ever felt was.

Until today.

It was just a jet of fire, but it hit with some force. The shock wave reverberated in her chest like an echo in a cave. Before Suki could even scream, her body was set aflame ash she tumbled backwards through the air. Bouncing across the ground hurt, but it was difficult to pick a single thing to focus on. Her insides had been ruptured, and her outsides were on fire. With the flames all around her body she couldn't even see. Suki was usually at her strongest when she had been beaten this badly, but this was different. The flames cauterized her wounds while burning to the deeper layers of her flesh. She didn't have many options here.

She coughed up blood, lots of it. Suki's blood formed a large tendril that extended out of her mouth. It peeled open like a banana and enveloped her own body. Usually magical flames stopped burning as soon as you got off of them, but it seemed like Ash Bringer's flames could bypass magical defenses. From the outside, it looked like Suki was in a red cocoon. The tendrils released her moments later, and white smoke rose off of her body. It seemed that starving the flames of oxygen was enough to stop them from burning. She wasn't ready to fight anymore, but fortunately, it seemed like the dragon girl had flown off.

I can't believe none of the reports I heard mentioned her ahoge...

It was much longer before the rest of the Detention club arrived. There were a variety of different reactions, from whispers of how beat up everyone looked to surprise that a fucking building got leveled. Though their leader, Schrade, seemed disinterested in the scene. She looked at the magical girls, the wounded, the collateral on the town, and then at the sky. Her minions raced to help (or mock) the injured while she looked up at the sky where Ash Bringer was seconds ago. Then she grinned and said the most Schrade thing possible.

"Interesting."

Hibusa Town once had a a Kabuki theater. Though a very long time ago, the troupe disbanded and the theater was repurposed to show movies. For many decades, blockbusters would air on the big screen and delight locals and visitors alike. It wasn’t very big, but it was able to stay in business due to being popular with dating high schoolers.The advent of streaming, a certain pandemic, and increasingly frugal students made the theater unviable as a business and it eventually closed. However, the theater has since been reopened for public use, as locals organize and host Kabuki plays. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

One of the things the new kabuki trope borrowed from the theater’s movie showing days was their use of posters. Every play that came out was accompanied by an expertly composed poster, featuring bold vector art or photography.. This week's play featured several women painted as black and white silhouettes against a green background. They appeared to be holding onto one another and reaching for something far above the poster itself. It was a striking image, and one that caught Suki’s attention instantly.

Her eyes wandered over each silhouette. Kabuki actors were known for their elaborate costumes, but it looked like these girls might be in their birthday suits. There wasn’t anything to suggest they were even wearing underwear. Obviously the play wouldn’t be so wild, but what was this? A forbidden romance between many sisters? A harem “biding their time” away from their sole lover? Maybe it was the summer heat, but she found herself imagining a bunch of pure white women trying to get a tan. They were all sprawled out on the beach under the midday sun. The ocean kissed their bodies before making retreat, only to come back seconds later for another taste.

Going to the beach would be better than watching some play, Suki reasoned

But who would she go with? The Detention club had been on edge ever since Ashbringer showed up. Rei didn’t seem to think it was a big deal, but Violet and Roche were taking their training pretty seriously. Suki was too, but she wasn’t blind to the fact that they weren’t getting strong enough fast enough. The evening miseria hunts were starting to yield more powerful monsters, likely because of the flower shop fire. But it still wasn’t making them stronger. Weird.

Oh well. Seeing the Detention club all in their swim gear was a dream. Maybe this play would be worth checking out later.

…

…

…

---

In a few more days, the school will be closing for summer break. But Roche wasn’t going to lighten up on the track team. Most of them had already cued up for the last run of the season, and would have their performances compared to the start of the next season to make sure they hadn’t been slacking in her absence. But before Roche could start the run, a girl that she had seen a few times approached her out of the blue. It was Misoka, all suited up for a run. While Roche was familiar with her, this would be the first time they’d spoken with one another.

"Miss Hananami." She bowed her head. "I had meant to come sooner, but my classes ran longer than expected. Would you allow me to run with the track team today?"

Roche’s expression was one of a storm as she eyed her track team with the critical eye of one hunting for a failing, a flaw, a single incongruity to crash down upon. Yes the team was haggard, worn raw and run hard by her increasingly demanding expectations. The discontent simmering under the surface may have unnerved a lesser team captain, but Roche cared nothing for it so long as they ran their hardest when she blew the whistle.

They could hardly call it unfair when she was right there running on the outer curve alongside them. Even between laps her muscles were screaming with the burn of lactic acid, and it was more will power then magic that kept her breathing evenly through her nostrils rather than panting like the rest. There was a goal in her mind’s eye, a distant flame she needed to smother, and even in the restless hours of sleep she managed to snatch that flame still flickered in defiance of her.

”Hmm? You’re….Misoka.” Her intense gaze flit over the popular girl, her reputation preceding her, yet more than just that, Roche knew Suki held an odd degree of antipathy towards her. Nothing terribly overt, but she could pick up on a stiffening of her former partner whenever they passed or heard mention of Misoka. An oddity given she imagined Suki would have been all for defiling such a prim and proper flower in the bloom of youth.

”Normally I’d be disinclined, but we aren’t prepping for a Track Meet, so you can run with me. Keep in mind this isn’t a jogging group, and if you lag behind we won’t slow the pace.” The tanned captain answered, nodding her head to a spot next to her. While Misoka didn’t look to be unfit, she didn’t want a stranger in the middle of the pack throwing off the other’s groove. Better to keep her close, even if it gave her a longer and harsher run.

"Thank you. I wouldn’t want it any other way." Misoka got into position beside Roche.

She cast a look to the side, a student appointed as her assistant stood with a whistle alongside a tripod mounted video camera to record the times of each runner. Catching her eye a count of three was given before a shrill screech of air through metal sent everyone careening ahead around the track.

What made Misoka the popular girl was her seemingly limitless skill set for everything. She always had time to help others, held several leadership positions, and was easy on the eyes. Related to that last point, she was well endowed. While that was great for getting hired as a secretary for some corporate conglomerate, it was not the ideal body for anything athletic. Women of the same fitness level had more difficulty running the same distance as their smaller, flatter counterparts. For a magical girl, the physical shape of their body had little impact on how well they could perform. But Misoka was a normal, albeit impressive girl that very much couldn’t ignore her physical limitations. Moreover, it was clear she wasn’t used to running like this. Half way through the run, her flesh was starting to glow bright red. Sweat was pouring down her face, and her hair was sticking to her back.

By the end of the run, Roche only had to wait maybe ten or fifteen seconds for her to catch up to everyone else. She must have been on the verge of dry heaving, but she kept her head up with a stern look on her face. "That was-" She inhaled sharply before pushing her hair out of her face. "Do you have room for any more members?"

The sprint wasn’t what Roche would have called tournament ready. The members were far past their first laps and it was nearing the realm of endurance running rather than the sprints they trained for. So that Misoka was fifteen seconds behind wasn’t the best impression in terms of speed.

Certainly she could admit that Misoka’s figure would always be a handicap. Roche’s high B-Cup was an obstacle enough in her own pursuits, but a tight bra and guts was enough to get past it. The blonde, popular girl was up against an obstacle perhaps a bit too steep to truly excel in the sport, just as she would struggle in the swim club. Yet in spite of that Roche could admit to being mildly impressed by Misaka’s resolve to finish that sprint without a complaint.

Reaction? Yes, and it was enough of one to distract some of the weaker willed track members with every heaving breath. But was she moaning about the effort? Not at all.

”You wanna join? You seem awfully busy….” She scratched her chin, wondering if she heard of any athletic teams that Misaka was part of. Drawing a blank she rolled her shoulders, smirking briefly at a few of the stares turning her way before scattering the club members with a scowl and a whistle towards the stands. When she felt enough of them had cleared out, sprawling across the grass and attacking bottles of water turned tepid and warm under the afternoon sun, she faced Misaka fully.

”I’ll be honest, as you are now I wouldn’t put you out for any meets. You’re coming half way into the season and have a lot of ground to cover, but if you’re willing to work at it, or hell, just want the exercise, I’d let you stay. Probably the only one I don’t have to worry about motivating if that was any indication.”

Misoka nodded along to Roche’s words. Her skin color was starting to return to normal as she caught her breath. "That’s fine. It just occurred to me how out of shape I was when my kites got away from me the other day. I was too slow to save it." She straightened out her posture. "But I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. Yes, I’m very busy and I likely won’t be available for a lot of extra activities. But I used to help my mother run the flower shop after school. I’m sure you heard what happened to it. It feels like they were talking about it every day in the paper. Yet nobody understands what happened." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "The insurance company… Well, that’s our problem. Dad’s workplace didn’t burn down so we’re okay. If you’re concerned I won’t have time to run, I have a lot more time now. Too much, in fact. But I’m fine with just participating in the exercise too. If you’ll invite me to do that I would be most appreciative."

For all that the run hardly ruffled her, Roche’s composure cracked like an egg cast boldly against pavement. Sudden horror, a quivering of the lip and widening of the eyes as the dots connected with the ease one only finds with a subject that never truly left the forefront of her mind.

How could she forget the impetus for her mania of training, the literal bonfire that consumed one bright spot in the horrid life of her manic partner. Never mind that universe seemed determined to sully and stymy her efforts to truly connect with any of her fellows.

Her hand twitched, almost reaching over before her composure returned, a shell of more banal concern thinly forming as her eyes slid just to the side. Not quite meeting Misoka’s eyes as she feigned interest in the team beyond her. “Yeah….I heard the news. I can understand needing an outlet. You’re welcome to run with us.”

”Is….” She wanted to ask about her mother. About the store that burned and the livelihood lost. Everything that changed because of one girl’s capriciousness. But there was so many more reasons not to say a word. Her gaze hardened with resolve and she stepped forward, a palm outstretched. ”Look, the team’s going to be on break. Rather then wait till they come back, you could join me on my morning jogs. Help work on your cardio, and I can point out some tips for breathing. It won’t be much but it’ll get you closer in line with everyone else.”

The Track Captain was still sheltering herself, not letting her guard down, but she wanted a connection even if it was built on the charred dreams of Misoka’s family.

"Only a fool would turn down the opportunity to train with the track team’s captain. Thank you." She nodded her head. "Though there is a second reason I’ve sought you out. I’ve been told by an acquaintance of yours that you were a little out of sorts recently. I won’t pretend to know you on our first meeting, though I do deal with a lot of people. You are showing some signs of being a little… Distracted?" She raised her eyebrows. "They noted that you looked particularly dower while entering and leaving the Detention Club. I don’t mean to pry, but if something’s bothering you, I might be able to help."

An acquaintance? Roche blinked owlishly, caught flat footed as she tried and failed to conjure up who could be navigating both their social circles well enough to confess Roche’s disturbance to one without magic of her own. Her gaze slid once more to the throng of runners who’d since recovered their composure and were luxuriating in the extended break their conversation was offering, and assumed it was one of their lot.

”I’ve been trying to overcome a hurdle of my own.” The words came, vague and in spite of her desire to remain reserved. Was she truly this starved with an outlet? ”And my normal methods aren’t working. Or at least, not working quick enough for what I need, but I can’t let on to the other’s at my club. It just wouldn’t be proper.”

As much as they proclaimed themselves a support network for Dark Magical Girls to hunt together, she couldn’t afford to show that kind of weakness. Suki proved well enough that a moment’s openness would be exploited, and with the threat of Ashbringer and some foreign club to worry about, the pressure was even higher. She had to get stronger, because failing that would lead to her entire world crumbling around her ears even if she survived the firestorm to come.

”It’s like….I know the techniques. I can…run as fast, as long, and as hard I can. But at a certain point the diminishing returns kick in and I’m left frustrated.”

The word came out with a sigh and her shoulder sagged just a bit. Misoka’s charisma was wheedling out her stressors, or perhaps it was simply guilt over her part in destroying her mother’s livelihood that loosened some honesty from her tongue.

"I…See..." Misoka raised her brow at Roche’s cryptically worded problem. She stared at Roche for a moment before cracking a smile. "You know, everyone in my class acts like I’m some unfailing super student who is perfect at everything. Not many of them get to see me out of my element like you did just now.“ She was still breathing a little rough, but it really was like nothing had happened. "Behind every perfect test score or successful project is a lot of studying. But more than that, I allow myself to be humbled by a ‘success coach’, which is just someone who’s done what I want to do. If I want to learn archery, I turn to someone who’s been practicing for years. If I want to learn how to run a business, I’ll talk to someone who has a successful business. But you want someone who’s specific to what you wish to accomplish. So as an example…“ She took a moment to think of a specific scenario. "There’s this guy I like. But he’s a little bit shy. I could talk to someone who has experience dating shy boys, but I talked to some of his classmates to learn more about him specifically. Turns out his best friend is one of my classmates, who knows almost everything about him. We had already established trust between each other, so he was fine playing matchmaker for us.“

Roche received the words of advice with a mix of acceptance and frustration. She could see the wisdom, just as she could see Misoka was practising it herself in approaching Roche, but the rub lay with where would Roche apply that in her own circumstances. The very crux of the matter was that Ashbringer was stronger then her, and her flames weren’t exactly something she could avoid just by putting her shield between and it.

Still, Misoka was offering her good advice, and a rather alarming degree of candor into her personal life. ”I think I see how that works, but in this case the Success Coach themselves is the person I’m trying to surpass.”

Perhaps she needed to see if Ashbringer had enemies of her own? She wasn’t exactly local so the odds of that are about as slim as finding a hostile Light Magical girl still worth fussing over in Miso city. Though maybe the answer laid more in improving her endurance then her strength. Now that was something even Suki and Nyxia wouldn’t be opposed to working on, if only for the former’s perversion and the latter’s love of trying to vaporize anyone she wanted.

”Hmm, this might help. If nothing else I’ll be keeping my eyes open for opportunities. Thank you, Misoka. How about one more lap and we’ll call it a day?”

She sighed. "I feel like I’ll just lag further behind, but I feel like that’s what you want to see." She grinned before stepping off the track. "Sure, just let me get something to drink first. It’ll just be a second."

”Hey, it’s constructive sadism. I can only push people as hard as their willing to go, and if they aren’t, then they’re well prepared to rub out the door.” Roche fired back at Misoka’a back, a flicker of a smirk ghosting over her lips before she pulled a whistle from out of her top. It’s shrill cry had the runners return to their places, only a few groans truly being aired after she let them have a bit too much time to cool off.

”Alright Team, one more for the road. I expect you to hit this mark when we come back, so if you pig out over break I better see you running hard on your own time. Let’s go!”

””

Wake up, classes, lunch, more classes, dark magical girl activities, get some sleep.

Rinse, repeat.

It didn’t seem to matter how hard the individual Detention Club members tried. Regardless of how much Miseria they killed, they didn’t seem to get much stronger. Some may have even questioned if they were getting stronger. Even when they hunted Miseria outside of the nightly hunts Rei oversaw, they saw very little return on their invested time. It made the monotony that much worse when they didn’t see any improvement. It had only been a few weeks since Ashbringer showed up, but surely they should have noticed some improvement. A reward for their hard work eluded them.

There were still get togethers at the Detention Club, but it was clear that nobody really took the threat Ashbringer posed seriously. Rei had even asked for discussion about her to stop, assuring everyone that she could easily beat her if anything happened. But if what the pyromancer said was true, she was going to come back with friends. The Endless Ecstasy and Unstoppable Doom teams made it a point to meet up at least once a week to discuss methods to further their power. For most, this would mean entering the detention club the normal way, but Nyxia Torrentia always used the window to enter the room. Something a certain magical girl decided to take advantage of.

This time, when Nyx arrived to enter the Detention Club, Suki was standing by the window, or rather, Oros was. Typically Suki never used her magical girl form on campus, so this would be a surprise if Nyx considered such details important enough to remember. She wouldn’t have the option to just slide through the window either, as Oros stepped in front of it with a smile.

"Hey there, Violet! I see you’re looking as lovely as usual.” She chirped. "There’s this show playing at the kabuki theater, and I have tickets!” Her expression looked strangely pained. "I um, I don’t know what it’s about or anything, but I immediately thought of you! Does that sound like something you’d be interested in seeing?”

The weeks following the “fight” with Ashbringer saw Nyxia redouble her already manic efforts to cull as many Miseria as possible from Hibusa Town’s streets. She stayed out longer, ranged farther, and tried to seek out the most powerful of the nightmarish creatures to pit her strength against. Yet, for all that, the Neon Tempest’s admittedly vast power seemed to remain stagnant. No matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried, she wasn’t getting any stronger, and neither were her ostensible allies…

Could they be holding me back? Nyxia wondered as she leapt across the rooftops on her way to yet another pointless “strategy meeting”.

However, a moment’s thought was all it required for her to reject that possibility. The quartet’s training had largely been done without the stifling micromanagement that came with Rei’s direct supervision, or the annoying interference of the other club members. Indeed, on many nights, Nyxia had been free to stalk the shadowed streets and haunted alleyways alone, just as she had done before Rei had first crossed her path. That should have brought her joy, should have allowed her to slaughter her hated prey to her heart’s content, utterly unhindered by her so-called “comrades in arms”, but it had all felt so hollow, so meaningless, as if she had reached some invisible barrier to her progress that no amount of dead Miseria could be piled high enough to overcome.

And of course, her hatred for Ashbringer remained undiminished.

Just the thought of the woman was enough to nearly send the Neon Tempest into a violent rage. Even sleep provided no respite, the draconic cyborg’s contemptuous visage haunting her dreams night after night as she sought to smash it into a bloody pulp, only for that goal to remain ever-illusive, her every attempt met with mocking laughter.

I’m not weak… Nyxia seethed, her teeth grinding together. Not anymore. I’m not just pathetic little Norika. I’m Nyxia Torrentia, Neon Tempest of the Ultraviolet Rainbow, and I’m gonna make that fucking bitch wish she had never been born…

Although she hadn’t been able to save the flower shop, Nyxia had gifted the shop’s owner with the contents of her parents’ safe, an obscenely large amount of money that would hopefully cover the shop’s reconstruction and whose loss, while rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things, would still cause her hated parents no small measure of dismay. Strangely, it was the first act of kindness she had ever done for anyone other than her brother, and the Neon Tempest found that it actually felt rather nice. Indeed, it provided a small bright spot of peace in the midst of the dark sea of her churning fury.

A slight smile of contentment gracing her lips, Nyxia prepared to enter the club room through its open window, when she stopped at the sight of someone blocking her path, her hint of a smile swiftly morphing into an annoyed scowl in the process.

Oh great, it’s her…

“My name’s Nyxia,” the Neon Tempest growled, even as Oros continued to babble about some kabuki theater and how she wanted to see a show there. With her. “I don’t have time for that kinda crap!” Nyxia spat. “Did you miss the part where that fucking dragon bitch called us pathetic and weak?! How the fuck is watching some stupid fucking play gonna make us stronger?!”

---

After barely dodging a fireball from Ashbringer, one might think that Tsubomi would be hungry for revenge. In all honesty, she was only hungry for food that didn't come from the school, she realized as she sat in class after lunch. Snappy gave the Detention Club a year, but... Didn't that mean some of their members would have graduated before the fight? Boss lady might stick around because she has a job in town, but what about the other precipicers? She couldn't see all of them sticking around to risk their lives for girls who they might never see again. The apathetic girl was considering taking the club mascot around to random people and trying to gain new Magical Girls, but that might lead to more Light and less Dark pretty quickly. Though wouldn't Light Girls still have to fight the Ashclass members? Hmm...

The bell rung, Tsubomi having spent the entire class period on those few thoughts. As usual she slowly stood and gathered her things, though unlike usual she left the school grounds right away, not even stopping by the Clubroom. Acid Drop was relatively sure she could beat at least one of the coming enemies with her stockpile, and she wasn't sure she could put any more into her reserves, but she still was going to try. And so she found herself stalking the streets at a snail's pace, drinking in all she could without drawing attention to the lessened feelings of her food supply. After all, killing Miseria wasn't helping. It was getting to the point that she considered actually exercising, reasoning that a stronger normal state would transfer some0 benefit to her alter ego, but her lack of bodily strength and speed meant that her idea went untested.

By the time she got home, another idea struck. If she needed to get stronger, and her power came from emotions, would trying to force herself to feel be a benefit to Acid Drop? She'd have to test the hypothesis sometime...

---

It was good thing there were so few people around after the club's ended or someone may have remarked on the atypical spring in Roche's step.

Not quite at the realm of skipping down the hall, but her lips were quirked upwards and the set of her shoulder was oddly relaxed for one who'd been marred by constant tension since the encounter with Ashbringer.

Who knew talking with someone so shockingly positive and virtuous as Misoka could brighten the mood of a Dark Magical Girl?

"Hey there-" Roche entered the room, only to stop short with a screech of shoe against linoleum to find a transformed Oros and Nyxia alone. Naturally the later was incensed but the former wasn't acting like an enthusiastic whacko or trying to get in Nyxia's leotard just yet.

Well, no time like the present to put her idea into action.

"Nyxia. Oros. We've been spinning our tires keeping to the usual track. It's time we take our show on the road and find something new to do to bust our slump. Literally anything, just so long as we get out of this room and do something new!"

The tanned athlete was perhaps forcing the issue, but she wasn't going to keep twiddling her thumbs and thumping weak Miseria till Ashbringer came to roast them!

"You don’t like your new nickname?” Nyxia’s response was what could be expected. Oros let out a heartfelt chuckle in response. "As a light girl, you get stronger by performing virtues.” She explained. "Helping old ladies across the street makes you stronger than slaying Miseria does. We’re not light girls, but I think it’s worth experimenting with!”

The window behind Oros opened up, and Earthshaker delivered her own idea. This caused Oros to erupt into laughter.

"Bedshaker thinks it’s a good idea! I can see it now, you and I in the front seats, holding hands, growing in power as we watch a show!” She sighed. "But if Bedshaker thinks it’s a good idea, it probably…” She paused to think of a way to explain it. "Really fucking sucks. I mean, I only have two tickets, so I couldn’t invite them. Which means that Boss Baby is going to have to buy a ticket for one of her yes girls who can spy on us and relay our actions to Bedshaker. And honestly? I don’t think I could relax in an environment like that. But as bad as that idea is, it’s gotta be more productive than these pointless get-togethers. My time’s more valuable than that, and I think yours is too.” She saluted Nyxia. ”Let’s revisit the theater idea tomorrow and see if we’ve changed our minds. My condolences with all the bullshit Bedshaker wants to do with you.”

And with that, Oros walked off.

Strangely, Tsubomi hadn’t shown up, despite the two being nearly inseparable during the day. Had something happened?

Yes, a few days ago.

…

…

…



A dangerous foe had issued the Detention Club a challenge. A wise magical girl would spend their time training up until the day of the challenge, not wasting a second on leisure or unproductive activities. Momentarily abstaining from pleasure to ensure one’s survival. But that day was so far away. Surely one night at the arcade wouldn’t have that big of an impact on their future?

Suki was used to getting to places before Tsubomi. The girl had no energy to do anything, and was only motivated by cold, unfeeling objectives. There was no reason to expect her to appear any earlier than she had to. Suki on the other hand was excited about the occasion. She didn’t usually do “extra” stuff very often, but she decided to put on some black lipstick and wear her double jolly rodger tube top with her fishnet today. Not only that, but she had arrived at the arcade a full half hour early. She hummed a tune, occasionally checking her phone. Suki’s heels bounced in anticipation of her friend’s arrival.



There she is… Kate Carson thought to herself as she observed the goth girl’s excited bouncing through her camera’s viewfinder. And it looks like she’s already living up to her name…

As she preferred to go unnoticed by her unwitting subjects, a preference that went triple for this particular individual, the diminutive photographer had chosen to hide herself in a darkened corner of the arcade and surreptitiously photograph Suki while peeking around the corner of an ancient Lunar Lander machine. Triple checking to ensure her flash was off, Kate focused on the perky goth, pressed down on the shutter button, and then…



Was it fear? Maybe a little. Apprehension? Some people might not realize that was even an emotion, but it was a bit more accurate than fear. Maybe she was just giddy, but whatever Kate may have been feeling, it was in enough supply to have caught Tsubomi's attention from far away. Enough variety that she wanted to get closer to drink it all in. Fortunately or not, the place she ended up was the arcade she was supposed to be at in twenty-ish minutes. She looked on from behind Kate as she watched the photographer line up a shot of… Suki? She tapped the girl on her shoulder.

“Gah!” Kate yelped in shock, before whirling around to face Tsubomi. “W-Where the heck did you come from?!”

Though before Tsubomi could respond, it seemed that she had received a voice message from Suki. More specifically, it was Oros the Joyful’s number.

”...” No response. Neither to Kate’s question, nor to the phone beeping at her. Several seconds later and Tsubomi finally reacted, slowly pulling out her phone to listen to the message, a blank look on her face. As it began to play, she spoke. ”Behind you.”

“Wha…?” Kate began, whipping her head around to see if Suki had moved, before turning to look back at Tsubomi when she realized the perky goth was still bouncing in place. “Wait… You mean you’ve been hiding back here this whole time?” the photographer asked, her voice and visage filled with confusion.

Kate wouldn’t see it, but as soon as she looked away, Tsubomi could see Suki stand up and walk out of view. Then her voice poured through the phone.

”Hey Rainbow! I’m already at the Yen Dungeon, but I’ve heard some enticing rumors and I wanted to share them with you since this isn’t going to be strictly for playing games.” She giggled. ”Another magical girl came to town, but this time it’s a light girl. She’s a foreign beauty named Kate Carson. She’s a brunette with hair that cradles her head like a helmet. It’s neck length with just a few rebellious strands sticking out here and there. Her eyes look like pretty blue sapphires that glisten like the ocean, with marble white skin that’s free of blemishes. She also wears a red blazer with a white hood, and she’s got a black undershirt that’s cut just low enough for her collar bones to peek out of. She’s sixteen, but looks younger because she’s on the short side and is as flat as you are. Oh but Rainbow, when she transforms, she’sinapristinewhiteweddingdressandicantevenqueeeeeeeeeee ~” At this part of the call Tsubomi would be forgiven if she thought a pig had decided to squeal into Oros’s phone. ”And the best part? She’s a photographer, and she’s planning on taking a picture of me! Even though she’s a light girl and a little shy, I guess she has a perverted side, so she takes pictures of girls she likes. I have it on good authority that she’s going to try and take a picture of me at the Yen Dungeon. She simply can’t leave without that photo. In fact, she’s so into the photography thing that she has a custom camera for it. I think it’s ‘Nickin’ this’ brand or something? Point is, Rainbow, this could be my big chance! So if you see a girl with that description, just call me.” The phone beeped again. Apparently Oros sent out another message while Tsubomi was listening to this one. ”Oh! I got a better idea! I just saw Mr Shen leave the Yen Dungeon. I’m going to sneak out back and look at everything through the surveillance system. If you see her enter the arcade, just stall her and I’ll give her the ol’ Oros the Joyful greeting!”

The message ended. While a voice asked if Tsubomi wanted to save or delete the messages, a camera’s eclectic motor hummed as it looked straight at their positions.

With each new word of Suki’s message, Kate’s eyes had widened ever larger and her “marble white skin” had grown increasingly paler, even as her body began to shudder in horror. It was fairly obvious to see that the photographer was screaming internally, yet, it only took a few seconds for her demeanor to shift from frantic horror to weary resignation.

“Alright, fine,” Kate sighed. “Let’s just get this over with. But just to clarify,” she added. “I’m not a ‘light girl’, or a pervert. I’m just an ordinary freelance photographer who was hired to take a picture. That’s all. So don’t get any crazy ideas, okay?”

As Kate began explaining her totally not a pervert status, Tsubomi finally registered the message. She clicked to save it, and lazily looked back up from her phone to look at Kate. ”Okay.”
Several seconds passed. ”Who hired you? Why do they want a picture?” If Suki was in potential danger, then Tsubomi had to know about it, even if she didn’t seem very interested. Her partner’s safety wasn’t enough to make her act, but it was enough to make her want to be careful in her own strange way.

“I was hired by my friend, Nikki,” Kate replied, sounding almost as tired and done with life as Tsubomi did. “She’s a fan of magical girls, and Suki caught her attention,” she explained, hoping it would be sufficient to mollify this strange girl’s concerns.

And speaking of concerns, what little peace that may have existed within the arcade vanished as both girls could hear someone taking slow, labored breaths. Oros the Joyful peaked out from behind an arcade machine the two were “hiding” behind with a giant smile. Even the folks at Glasgow couldn’t smile like that. She stepped totally into view and looked down at Kate as if she was desert after an especially decadent meal.

”Ah! I see you overheard my conversation. That wasn’t really meant for you, I just talk to my friends in a particular way.” She poked her chest with all of her fingers. ”I’m the one you’re looking for. I had no idea I had a secret admirer. Do you think Nikki would like to meet me? Maybe if you brought me back with you and were like ‘I got you a picture, but look what else I got?’ And then I could pop out of her birthday cake and she’d cry tears of joy.”

Kate couldn’t help but cringe at Oros the Joyful’s sudden appearance, but she still managed to retain most of her composure.

“Well, first off, Nikki’s kinda socially awkward,” the photographer explained, holding up a finger for emphasis. “And second,” she added, holding up another finger. “She can get extremely violent, so I don’t really think havin’ ya show up to surprise her would be a particularly good idea.”

”In other words, she’s the opposite of you.” Oros spread her hands and stepped closer to Kate. ”Which is just as well! Honestly, I have a hard time picturing someone much cuter than you are! What I was told does not compare to what I see. Oh, I actually feel inspired.” She cleared her throat. ”Your hair is like my morning coffee: It’s dark in color, has a nice aroma, and I can’t wait to press my lips against it!”

Tsubomi, for her part, stood almost as still as a statue as Suki appeared and began her barely-restrained activities. It was lucky that Suki wasn’t doing as bad as she normally did, or someone might have called mall security. As the other girl began to give her compliments, Tsubomi put her phone away. ”No haiku, this time.”

Kate visibly recoiled when Oros started talking about kissing her hair. “Uh, t-that’s a nice, um, poem…?” the photographer replied with a nervous chuckle. “But I’m not really into girls that way, so, uh, I think whoever told you about me might’ve had the wrong idea,” she added, holding up her hands in a probably feeble effort to halt Oros’s advance. “S-So, um, I-I’ll just take that picture now and be on my way…”

”Oh you can take as many pictures as you want. But first you’ve gotta transform!” She was starting to pant like a dog. ”It’s not every day we get a new magical girl in town! Least of all one that doesn’t run away as soon as I show up!”

Tsubomi nodded, slowly but surely, in camaraderie with her partner. ”That’s rare.”

“Not like I had much choice…” Kate muttered. “Okay, look, I absolutely hate transforming, but if indulging your sick fetish is the only way I can get a picture, then fine, I’ll do it,” the photographer conceded with a tired sigh. “But first, I want you to promise me you’ll stick to staring. No touching,” she added, holding up a finger for emphasis. “Second, I’m only gonna stay transformed long enough to take the picture, then I’m changin’ right back, so try not to blink.”

”Not even hand holding?!”

“No touching,” Kate reiterated in a flat deadpan.

”B-but I wanted to do some marriage roleplay!” She pouted. ”But okay…”

”... Should Suki get a picture too?”

As quick as it had left, Oros’s smile returned. ”That’s a great idea!” She reached under Tsubomi’s armpits and picked her up like she were a cat. She then swapped places with Tsubomi before setting her back down again. ”Here, you can take a picture with this.” she handed Tsubomi one of her cellphones before looking back at Kate. ”You’d better be smiling when she takes your picture…” She straightened out her posture. ”I guess there’s no reason to hesitate. Show us what you’re made of!”

After sighing and rolling her eyes in exasperation, Kate muttered, “Picture perfect.” There was a swirling of mystical energies, followed by a bright flash. When it faded, the photographer was wearing an overwhelmingly elaborate and comically impractical wedding dress, while her hair had gone from black to blonde, and lengthened to such a degree that it rivaled even Rapunzel’s famous tresses. Looking up at Tsubomi, the blushing bride smiled as best as she could under the circumstances and, once the picture had been taken, she turned to give Suki a weary stare. “You happy now?” she asked, her annoyance clear in her voice.

But Suki wasn’t really in a position to answer Kate. Sure, she was there physically. The blood witch was on her knees with her hands folded together, mouth agape, as if she had just heard the voice of god. Her eyes continued to dilate the longer she looked at Kate. Noises were coming out of Oros’s throat, but they failed to convey anything in a language anyone present could understand. While she babbled, her skin started to change color. Suki’s flesh was so red that it was indistinguishable from her blood soaked dress. The temperature difference between her body and the environment was so great that it caused a fog to form around her. Her jaw swung all the way open and she blasted steam into the air, whistling like a boiling kettle. She disappeared behind a veil of white smoke.

Then, without much warning, Oros’s torso rose out of the smoke. Her shrinking irises were replaced with heart eyes. ”Oh Kate, happy does not even begin to describe it! I thought you were lovely before, but seeing my white princess in uniform Has me all-” Her eyes frantically darted all over Kate. ”Your flaxen hair shimmers like fields of wheat, the luster of your skin is only matched by the gold you wear, And those ribbons…. Gah!” Something in Suki’s nose ruptured, and a pressurized stream of blood shot out of her nose. She sank back to her knees with a blissful smile on her face, even as her blood ran down her face.

”That’s a really good one.” Tsubomi finally said. ”She doesn’t react that way to just anyone.”

“Gah!” Kate yelped as she rapidly crawled backwards after a torrent of blood shot from Suki’s nose with all the force of a pressure hose. “G-Glad you enjoyed it,” she muttered once she’d gotten a safe distance away. “Now, mind if I take that snapshot?” the photographer asked, holding up her much more ornate golden, jewel covered, camera. “I’d ask if you wanted to get cleaned up first, but since you’re a blood witch and all, I think it’s fine if I photograph you as-is,” she added with a wry smirk.

”Sure!” In the next moment, Oros the Joyful looked no worse for wear than she had prior to witnessing Kate’s transformation. ”Just let me do the pose!” And with that, she hopped to her feet and spread her legs. She had one hand on her hip and her other was making a sideways peace sign right beside her eye. It would have looked just like the pose sailor moon uses if it weren’t for the bloody tendrils raised over her head. ”Ta-da!”

Rising to her feet as well, Kate raised her camera, took careful aim, and…

*SNAP!*

“Okay, that should do it,” the photographer declared with an approving nod as she looked over her camera’s display. “Guess I’ll be headin’ out now,” she added, while shifting back to her mundane appearance. “Uh, have fun playin’ games, or whatever.”

”Yea, playin’ games…” The corners of Oros’s lips stretched as she squinted her eyes. ”You know how you’re going to leave and never come back again? I was thinking we should do something a little crazy to remember our fateful encounter.” She started to walk towards Kate.

“What did you have in mind?” Kate asked wearily as she slowly backed away from the blood witch.

”Somehow, I think you already know!” With laughter that could belong to a cherub or an imp, Oros sprinted towards Kate, arms spread, eyes filled with hearts. Her tongue hung out of her mouth like she was a dog that stuck their head out of a moving vehicle.

Eyes going wide in horror, Kate dodged to the side, placing a nearby arcade machine between herself and the slobbering blood witch, before frantically trying to find the best escape route.

”Shitshitshitshitshit!” the photographer swore as she darted between the blocky arcade cabinets, her slight form able to squeeze through gaps impassable for an average-sized person. Yet, for all her “evasive maneuvers”, Oros remained hard on her heels (in more ways than one). “I thought we agreed to no touching!” Kate called behind her as she continued her flight.

”One yes after a thousand nos is still a yes!” Oros chased Kate through the arcade from the ceiling. Bright red spider legs dug into the ceiling and skittered after the photographer like a spider. Suki’s shadow loomed in the corners of Kate’s vision wherever she went.

Kate was about to squeeze between another pair of arcade cabinets when she got stuck. Or more specifically, a bloody tendril coiled around her ankle. The bloodwitch dropped to the ground and touched her fingers together. ”Kate! You’re stuck! I know you’re nervous, but I’m not going to do anything lewd, okay? _{Not right away at least.} I’m just going to pull you out, so don’t struggle too much.” Not that Kate could fight back if she wanted to. And if she could, she’d need to produce something fairly strong to break Oros out of her trance. A second tendril coiled around Kate’s waist and pulled her out from the arcade machines and into Oros’s arms. ”I won’t do anything that you don’t want me to do, okay? So just take a deep breath.” She placed her chin on Kate’s shoulder. ”Nobody wants to hurt you.”

“You’ll forgive me if I call bullshit,” the photographer muttered, even as she tried not to cringe too hard at the blood witch’s close proximity.

”If I end up doing something lewd, it’s going to be because you want it to happen…” With a hop, Oros landed on a seat for a driving game.

“Gah!” Kate yelped as she was abruptly dragged into a game booth. However, although she was still in unnervingly close proximity to Oros (and more precisely, sitting on her lap), the photographer did her best to distract herself by focusing on the racing game’s demo screen.

”...But I’m fine just sitting like this.” Largely because regardless of how repulsive someone found Oros, regardless of their common decency, loyalty to other partners, sexual preference, or anything else that might get in the way, someone touching Oros would eventually become infatuated with her. For a normal human this took a few seconds, but magical girls could resist the effect for much longer. A kiss would speed the process up, but Kate wasn’t struggling, and there was no reason to rush what was Oros’s favorite part of meeting light girls.

”... You said no touching…” Tsubomi, finally reacting to Kate’s comment as she began fleeing a moment ago, spoke aloud as her head lolled towards where Kate was just grabbed from.

”Eh?” Oros looked at Tsubomi out of the corner of her eye. ”I-I mean she did say no touching, b-b-b-b-but she wasn’t very specific! I mean, she was clearly talking about her magical girl form! And I did! I kept my hands to myself! At great harm to myself! Restraining myself always causes nose bleeds!” She pointed at her nose. ”You saw it, right? A-and Kate is free to change her mind. Sitting here with me isn’t so bad, is it, babe?”

“On a scale of one to ten, I’d have to say it’s a negative fifteen,” Kate deadpanned. “And I meant both forms,” she clarified pointedly. “Though I wouldn’t expect you to abide by it either way,” she added with a tired sigh.

Oros nodded. ”Well, I have a feeling we’ll move up to negative ten before long!”

”Suki, you’re cheating.” Tsubomi wasn’t particularly concerned, not that she ever was, but Oros had gotten in trouble with the boss before for doing stuff like this, at least in a public place.

”Cheating?” She raised an eyebrow. ”This girl has no respect for us. If she could take a picture of me without my permission, she’d have done it! Why should I honor a deal made with someone like that?” She hugged Kate tighter. ”It doesn’t sound like this is a surprise for her either. Why don’t I become the freak she thinks I am?”

Suki, Oros, in all her infinite wisdom had decided to try to make an emotional appeal to her apathetic empath of a partner. It took a few seconds for her to process the question, but when she did… ”Boss said to tell Earthshaker when you do this. She’ll get mad at you.”

”Is that right?” There was disbelief in her voice. ”Well, I never cared about what any of them thought…” She looked at Kate. Oros mouthed something that even she couldn’t hear before patting her head. Then her arm moved away and her tendril placed Kate on the ground. Oros looked off into the distance without making eye contact with anyone.

“W-Wha…?” was all Kate could stammer as Oros released her. “Well, that was unexpected…” she mumbled as she brushed herself off. “Uh, thanks for the help,” she told Tsubomi with an awkward smile.

Truthfully, Tsubomi didn’t tend to act compassionate when she wasn’t in her magical form, but for the sake of making sure Suki didn’t do something else she’d get in trouble for, she placed a hand on her shoulder. ”Maybe she’ll stay around for a meal… If you keep your hands off?”

“Y-Yeah, fine,” she conceded. “W-We can hang out some more, and even get some food, just as long as you don’t make it weird.”

”Well, I’m not hungry.” Oros brushed Tsubomi’s hand off of her shoulder before hopping off of the seat. She fished a cigarette out of the same magical place all magical girls seemed to keep their belongings, followed by a zippo lighter that looked like the ace of hearts. While she walked, she slipped the cigarette between her lips and lit it up. She didn’t look back, not even when she pushed her way through the front door.

“Welp, I tried bein’ nice,” Kate said with a shrug as she watched Oros depart. “Not my fault she’s such a fuckin’ pervert…” the photographer added under her breath.

”...” Tsubomi expected Suki to jump at the idea to cook for Kate, but this was fine too. She shrugged, waved at Kate, and followed after her partner.

As soon as Tsubomi got outside, she could see that Oros was leaning against the side of the Yen Dungeon, still holding her cigarette in her mouth. ”You know Tsubomi, there are a finite number of magical girls with pure white dresses. They’re actually quite rare. Rarer still are ones that have wedding dresses. Even more rare than that are ones that decide to stop by Hibusa town. I think Kate’s the only one that’s all three.” She lazily looked at Tsubomi out of the corner of her eye. ”But do you know what’s even more rare than that?” She inhaled her cigarette, hard. The entire thing turned into ash right up to her knuckles. When she spoke, white smoke flowed out of her mouth. ”A partner that won’t try to backstab me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those.”

Tsubomi lazily let her head lilt to the side. ”... You don’t want to cook for her?”

Oros lit up a second cigarette, but paused before inhaling it. "...Oh!” A smile crossed her face, one that was just a little too big. "Yea! I could do that for her! Except... No, no that wouldn't work. Because if she got sick, you'd tell Bedshaker about it and I'd get my shit pushed in. Darn, that would have been fun. It's a shame you're a fuckin' rat huh?”

Tsubomi blinked, taking a few seconds in doing so, before holding up her hand and counting on her fingers. ”... I don’t think the boss said anything about getting someone sick?” After she finished counting, Suki’s words sunk in and she began spinning slowly in place, looking behind herself for a tail. After failing to find one for a few moments, she spoke again. ”Do Mascots eat rats? Ours has been nice lately.”

"If they ate rats, the Detention club would be finished.” Oros growled. "Come on, Tsubomi, take me seriously! You understand why I'm upset, right?” She tapped her cigarette until the ash fell on her shoes. "Why did you have to invoke her name? You could have said anything. You could have told me anything else and I'd have stopped. But you had to bring what they wanted into it. How am I supposed to trust my back to someone who's going to report what I do to the worst possible person, huh?”

”Boss’ orders… It’s not to make shaker happy. Something about…” Tsubomi’s head rolled on her neck until she was looking upwards, deep in what could generously be called “thought.” ”Veal? Something about veals? I don’t know why cows matter to the boss, though…”

"Of course not…” Veal? Oros thought. Was that how Rei referred to all the young super cuties? Not the worst slang term she had ever heard but it was a little demeaning. "But this doesn’t change that you’re holding what someone else wants over what I want.” She sighed. Her shoulders slumped and the cigarette tumbled out of her hand. "I get it though. It hurts, but I get it. I hope you know our relationship isn’t going to be the same after this.” She placed her hand on the door. There was no way Kate was waiting for Tsubomi to come back. She probably used the back exit, at which point she could be anywhere. Her appetite was starting to return, but she’d probably be eating by herself tonight. "If I was thinking I would have stolen her wallet when I had her. Bleh, I always lose my head around the super cuties...” Suki said to herself as she walked around the side of the building.

Once again, something approaching thought came into Tsubomi’s mind. She was still holding Suki’s phone, somehow having not dropped it. Disappointment was pouring off of Tsubomi’s partner, and it was truly a shame that the empath put her own benefit above her partner’s. Still, the boss hadn’t been around for a while, so maybe it was safe to begin disregarding her? The thought that she’d think about it more later came, but she knew better than to bank on that possibility. Maybe Acid Drop would be able to figure something out? She supposed she’d find out eventually. But more immediately, she needed to give Suki back her phone. She began to follow her partner’s path.

When Suki reached the alleyway at the back of the arcade, she would find a strange, golden machine. It was composed of several concentric, slowly spinning circles, arranged in a way that called to mind a gyroscope, with a small, cushioned chair at its center. Standing next to it was Kate, and she appeared to be conversing with what was apparently the machine’s owner, a small dog in comically dapper attire…

“You see,” the dog was saying. “After creating the cross-world conveyance behind me, I suffered quite the catastrophic setback, when what was to be a routine test run sent me spiraling off into the uncharted depths of the multiverse! Hopelessly lost in the infinite infinities, I had begun to despair of ever returning home, but, now, at long last, my path has crossed with a dear friend capable of aiding my own dreadfully deficient efforts! Oh joyous day!”

The spectacle was more than a little beyond Oros’s understanding. She had honestly expected to find nothing back here, at which point she could go home after safely saying she gave it her best effort. Finding Kate again could have been a good thing, but now she was talking with a … Mascot? A Magical Boy? It couldn’t be a Miseria. The tiny dog didn’t neatly fit into any category of magical creature that she had ever seen before. The absurdity of it all caused her to freeze in place. She could hear Tsubomi approaching from behind. Her eyes briefly glanced over her shoulder at her partner before returning to the spectacle in front of her.

Tsubomi got to where she could see the… whatever the hell that was. ”... Oh, one of them won the game.” She glanced from the dog to Kate. ”Do you know each other?” Still listless, she was beginning to at least speak at a normal rate, something rare for her outside of her transformed state.

“Great… Of fucking course you two would follow me back here…” Kate muttered. “Yeah,” the photographer added in a louder voice. “This is Parr,” she introduced, gesturing to the dapper dog. “He’s an old friend.”

Oros looked at Parr, then back at Tsubomi as she walked closer to the dapper hound. Once she was in front of Parr, she squatted down and looked him over. "An old friend, eh?” she folded her arms. "You’re pretty lucky Mr Parr. I only met Kate today and I can tell she’s something special.” She stood back up and rubbed the back of her head. "So um, sorry for earlier.” She nodded at Kate. "It’s just been a rough week, and I was really excited to meet you. If you guys want, I can cook us something. Talking over a meal might make for better ambience than the back of an arcade.” She rubbed the back of her head. "Also, can I pet Parr? Are you cool with pets?”

“Oh, yes,” Parr replied. “Such a kindness would be most appreciated, my dear young lady!” he added, wagging his tail eager anticipation. “As would your generous offer of a personally cooked meal! Indeed, having an amiable chat with friends new and old, while enjoying what I am certain shall be a most marvelous repast, would serve as a most superlative way to celebrate both my reunion with Miss Kate, and my long-awaited return home! Oh, but goodness me!” he exclaimed a moment later. “I do believe we have yet to be formally introduced! As Miss Kate has already told you, I am Parrthineas E. Doxxon The First, or Parr, for short,” he continued, removing his hat and giving a small bow of his head. “Now then, how might I address you lovely young ladies?” he inquired.

Oros paused. "Oh right! Uh, when I’m working, it’s Oros the Joyful. But Joy or Oros works too!” She extended one of her fingers and stroked the bridge of his muzzle. "And that’s Tsubomi behind me. ” Her fingers slipped between his eyes as she started to pet the back of his head. "She’s kind of weird, but she’s okay. Say hello, Tsubomi!”

Tsubomi waved at the dog. ”Hi, doggy. How much was the… pot? The pot, anyway? Must’ve been good to get all… this?”

“I do apologize, Miss Tsubomi,” Parr replied. “But I am afraid that I am completely at a loss as to what you mean. Please, what is this ‘pot’ you refer to?”

Oros laughed. "Like I said, she’s a weirdo.”

Meanwhile, Kate was simply watching the proceedings with the look of someone who was dying a little more inside with each passing second. Finally, she spoke up. “Fine, apology accepted,” she told Oros with a tired sigh. “And I guess we can have some food,” the photographer added. “But wouldn’t it be easier to just get some pizza back at the arcade?” she asked, pointing her thumb at the building in question.

"Eh?” Suki raised an eyebrow. "As cute as Parr is, I don’t think Mr Shen would approve of a dog being in his establishment, regardless of how good their manners were. Also, everything is made with processed meats and salt, which isn’t good for a dog’s tummy.” She placed her hands on her hips. "When I make food for Tsubomi we gather around a picnic area. It’s well lit, secluded, nobody’s going to bother us and the food will get made on the spot with fresh ingredients.” She sighed. "I know you have your guard up, but trust me. I’m not trying to guide you into my super sexy dungeon to make you do lewd things.” She looked off to the side. "I wonder if there’s a world where I even have a super sexy dungeon… Anyway, the prices are high too. I don’t recommend it.”

“Well, obviously I wasn’t thinking of bringing Parr inside,” Kate replied with a dramatic eye roll. “I was thinking we could get the pizza and eat it out here. I mean, he’s also got this machine of his, and I doubt he’d wanna just leave it here unattended,” she added.

“Oh, not to worry!” Parr reassured her. “My Syllogismobile is fully capable of subspace mass conversion for ease of storage!” To demonstrate, he tapped a button on his wristwatch, and the strange machine swiftly shrank down to the size of a marble, which was then picked up and placed into a vest pocket. “Quite convenient, wouldn’t you say?”

“Okaaay…” Kate sighed in clear exasperation. “Then I guess we’ll be dining at Suki’s, or rather, Oros’s picnic tables. I’m sure your food won’t be highly toxic or do anything crazy like turn into a monster and try to eat me,” the photographer added pointedly as she turned to give the blood witch a “I’m so done with this” expression.

"Not since I revamped the recipe!” Oros reassured Kate with a nervous smile.

”Didn’t you win a poker game?” Tsubomi finally responded to Parr’s question. Was he not one of the dogs in that painting?

“Hmmm… I do not recall ever playing a game of that name in my life,” Parr replied after a moment’s thought. “Perhaps you have me confused with someone else. Or perhaps it is a game I shall play in the future, and news of my upcoming victory has reached even here!” he added, seeming quite thrilled by the possibility.

Well, regardless of Parr not being famous like she thought, Tsubomi decided it was best to get going before getting caught up in the meal. She walked over to Suki with her trademark slow steps and tapped her on the shoulder, holding out Suki’s phone that she had taken the picture with. As soon as she took it, Tsubomi spoke up. ”Sorry to have made you upset.” And with that, she departed for her home, not looking back at the girls and dog.

The phone felt heavy in Suki’s hand. She found herself biting her lip as she watched Tsubomi leave the alley and turn out of sight. She continued to stare in the direction she had left in before her eyes moved to her phone. With a snort, she put the phone away without looking at the pictures. "Like I said, weird.” Oros kicked a stone. "Um, yea, this way…”

…

…

…

The picnic area was the same as it had always been, but somehow it felt lonelier at this hour. Instead of ten magical girls getting ready for a meal, it was just two and an adorably dressed dog.

"I wasn’t expecting anyone to show up today, heh. But dinner shouldn’t be long.” It was just like last time. The awkward tension in the air, the judgmental looks from the girl she wanted to make out with, she had hoped things would have been different the second time she came here. "Do you guys want anything to drink? We’ve got all kinds of juices, and some seltzer. There’s milk too. I think there’s a few beers left, but someone might have had them this evening.”

“I would very much like some apple juice, if you have it,” Parr spoke up from where he sat opposite Kate.

“I guess I’ll have some lemonade,” Kate added in a tired deadpan. “So, uh, what exactly are you making us, anyway?” she asked.

"Well, there’s this recipe I typically make. It’s just sort of a concoction of my favorite foods. But uh, you know, I’m going to change the recipe a little bit so that everyone can enjoy it.” She rubbed her arm. "So um, I’ll be back shortly. With the drinks.” She excused herself with a bow.

As soon as Suki was inside the kitchen, she peeked out the window to make sure everyone was still seated. Then she untransformed, as using tentacles made out of blood to assist with cooking was sort of gross. She was sort of gross, but that was beside the point.

She peered around the kitchen and looked in the adjoining rooms. It seemed like everyone was retiring for the evening, and was likely in their rooms, if not out on the town. There wouldn’t be anyone to notice her.

Suki reached into the fridge and pulled out some of the ingredients for Endless Eclipse. She’d have to hold on adding the nuts, lemon, and tomato sauce like she normally would. But she’d add lots of stuff that was good for dogs. She pulled the lid off of a frying pan and tossed in some cheese, a beef, sliced mushrooms, eggs, some cleaned fish, honey, apple slices, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, rice, honey, and peanut butter. Come on, what dog didn’t like peanut butter? And then some watermelon and pumpkin. Normally it would take Suki all day to prepare so many ingredients, but the folks at the shared home always had stuff portioned out for snacks. She added some pasta too. Dogs liked pasta, right? So long as it didn’t have tomato sauce on it. More honey.

It didn’t take more than a minute to get everything together. The counter was filled with tupperware containers, all of which would have to be returned to the fridge. She wasn’t trying to feed an army here, and just hoped she resized the quantity of each ingredient properly. Suki was feeling nervous, but she had no idea why. She was in her element here, but her heart was pounding in her chest. She turned to the empty space in front of the fridge, and scowled.

"So, fucking, what?” She chopped through the air with her hand. "I don’t care what Boss Baby wants you to do! They don’t need to know about this! Would you jump off a cliff if she told you too?” She placed a hand on her chest. "I think she’s hot, sure, but I’m not going to run to her and tell her that you went easy on some light girl. Do you think that would make her happy?” Suki placed her hands on her hips and thumped her foot. It was like she was waiting for a response, but she wasn’t going to get one. "I could get us both implemented if you decide to ‘call me out’ for my behavior. It’s not like I chose to be this way. Did you choose to be an unfeeling doll? Ah, but you’re just being rational right now. Unlike people who can get hurt, you’re free to ignore everyone’s emotions and make a logical choice. And getting between me and the one thing that makes me happy was-”

Wait, she needed to deliver drinks!

"Shit!”

Suki quickly threw open the fridge and got some lemonade and apple juice. After pouring the glasses, she pushed open the door with her shoulder and marched over to the picnic table. She set the drinks down in front of her guests and, after eyeing them for a second, swapped them. She had delivered them to the wrong recipient initially.

"You guys want ice? I mean, the drinks are cold, just…” She squeezed her wrist.

“Uh, sure?” Kate replied with a lopsided frown.

“Oh that sounds delightful!” Parr added with far more enthusiasm. “Thank you so very much for the kind offer, Miss…” his voice trailed off as he paused to look his host up and down. “My goodness, Miss Oros! Did you perhaps do something with your hair?” he inquired. “I must say, it makes you look like a completely different person!”

Oros hadn’t forgotten to transform back, she just didn’t really care. Kate knew who she was, and Parr was likely going to make himself scarce before long. "It must be the hair, let me fix that up.”

Suki walked back She pulled a pitcher full of ice out of the freezer before looking back at the space in front of the refrigerator. "And getting between me and the one thing that makes me happy was hardly something I’d call rational! Do you think just anyone is going to team up with you? Is there anyone else in the Detention Club that’s going to put up with your shitty personality? I know you were scared shitless when Rei said she was going to make the team that killed the fewest Miseria pay for dinner, but who kept you out of the bottom bracket!? We could have been in first if you pulled your weight!”

Suki continued to scold her invisible friend until the kitchen timer went off. She picked up the pan, but kept talking.

"But you know what the worst part of this whole betrayal is? It’s how I had to find out about it. I’d have had more respect for you if you just struck me down while my back was turned. But this…”

Was that footsteps? Shit! Someone had heard her! Suki transformed, gathered everything up, and bolted out the front door. She glanced over her shoulder once before arriving at the table.

"Someone hid the ice, but I found it.” Her tendrils set the table in record time. Though that was largely because of how small the gathering was. Once the plates and utensils were out, Oros lifted the lid off of the pan and gave it a sniff. "I’ve never made it this way before, but it looks mostly normal? Usually the color’s a little darker.” Suki dolled out some pink and violet colored “food” onto everyone’s plate before sitting down next to Parr. "Well, you don’t have to wait for me. Dig in.”

If one looked at the dog safe version of Endless Eclipse long enough, they might hear the screams of tormented souls echoing out from beyond the dish. Even the porcelain plates seemed like they wanted to get as far away from what they were topped with as possible.

“Looks… delicious…” Kate said in a voice utterly devoid of sincerity as she cringed away from her plate and fought the urge not to gag.

“Oh my!” Parr exclaimed as he gazed down at the “food” in awe. “How absolutely fascinating! This looks just like the eldritch meat moss Miss Alura created for Professor Reed’s transmutation class! Don’t you agree, Miss Kate?”

“Uh, yeah…” Kate replied with a gulp. “It actually kinda does…”

“Oh, but since Miss Oros couldn’t possibly know anything about that, I suppose it’s just a sublimely charming coincidence!” Parr added with a jovial chuckle as he smiled up at their host.

Yet, despite his exuberance, Parr mirrored Kate in not making even the slightest motion towards the utensils, something Oros was sure to pick up on.

Oros picked up her spoon. "Yea, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone called Alura.” The spoon made an audible squishing sound as it cut into the “eldritch meat moss.” When Oros lifted her spoon, it almost picked up the plate with it. Whatever Oros had made, it was very thick, and very sticky. She bit her concoction off of her spoon and started to chew. Oros had to open her mouth wide to properly chew it, and the multicolored mass had stuck to her teeth like molasse. "Huh, it’s not that bad. I think I prefer the original recipe though.” She cleaned her teeth with her tongue before going for a second spoonful. "Are you guys going to try it?” She asked without looking.

“Uh… I think I might choke if I ate this…” Kate replied.

“I am hardly an expert, but perhaps if you cooked it some more so that it hardened a bit, it might make for a far more palatable treat,” Parr suggested.

While Parr’s suggestion sounded good, there was no way Suki was going back into the kitchen when she was almost discovered. Not to mention the temptation to continue her discussion would be too great to resist. But why would she consider doing that to begin with?

"You’re not even going to try it then?” She set down her spoon. "Not even a nibble? Not even…a lick?” Her hands trembled. Oros looked between Kate and Parr, and then she cracked a smile. Shortly afterwards, she laughed. "Right, right, Kate’s at her limit. It’s probably taking the last of her willpower to just endure a meal with me. But I’m a little disappointed with you, Parr.” She lifted her spoon to her lips. "You’re trying to pass yourself off as a gentleman, but you won’t even try something that I made specifically for you. Moreover, you think you can tell me how to improve it without even tasting it.” She narrowed her eyes. "I’m also very disappointed with your thinly veiled mockery of my food. How would you feel if I said something you made looked like ‘eldritch meat moss’? ”

“B-But I would never mock a meal so painstakingly crafted!” Parr stammered, clearly taken aback by Oros’s claims. “I meant that comparison as a compliment! A-And I suppose it would do no harm to have a small taste…” he added, cautiously bringing his muzzle up to the mound of goop and giving it the most tentative of licks.

A smile lazily crept across Oros’s face. She leaned towards Parr, stretching her arm across his back and placing it on his hip. "Well? How is it?”

“It’s… actually rather sweet,” Parr replied after a moment’s thought. “In fact, it bears an uncanny resemblance to frosted bubblegum taffy!”

“I’ll, uh, take your word for it,” Kate added with a dubious frown.

"Oh really?” She pulled Parr into her lap and folded her arms across his chest. "I can’t say I’ve ever had that, maybe I’ll have to try it some time.” Oros giggled. Then she raised her hand until it was under Parr’s chin, and elevated it until they were both looking at each other. "Though maybe, you can tell me if the taste compares to this…” She closed her eyes and placed her lips over Parr’s. Her grip on him tightened as she pulled him into a hug.

Parr, clearly caught off guard by this latest development, could do little more than squirm in discomfort as Oros showered him with “affection”.But as soon as he started struggling, Oros stopped. Something was off. Normally when she kissed someone they really enjoyed it, but this dog was different.

Kate, on the other hand, didn’t even try to hide her disgust.

“Okay, that is just gross,” the photographer stated, her cringing visage one of complete revulsion. “I mean, I know you’re desperate, but come on.”

"No, you don’t have a clue how desperate I am.” Oros turned her blood red eyes on Kate. "You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. You have people who love you. You get to explore the world. You don’t get to judge people who are ‘beneath you’.” She whipped out a cigarette. " I had hoped that prostrating myself would be enough. Were the ice cubes not cold enough? Did the chef not have enough Michelin stars?” She raised her hands. "Why are you even here? This was a choice, and the only thing I’ve seen you do is mope and complain and-”. She pointed behind herself with her cigarette. "Go. You got your picture. Go, just go! Parr, it was nice to meet you, but you should go too. Both of you just go. Go!”

“M-My goodness…” Parr stammered after finally overcoming his initial shock. “M-Miss Oros, I…”

“I only came here because I promised someone I’d try to be nice to you,” Kate snapped at their host. “But ya sure don’t make it easy! First ya assault me, then ya try to poison me, and ya wonder why I’m so uncomfortable?! Come on, Parr,” she told the confused canine as she got up from her seat. “Let’s get outta here. Thanks for the meal, Oros,” the photographer called over her shoulder. “Hopefully someday you’ll find someone just as fucked up as you are to share it with.”

“O-Oh, well, um, f-farewell, Miss Oros,” Parr added in an awkward daze as he slowly followed after Kate. “I-It was… v-very nice to make your acquaintance.”

As her guests took their leave, Oros lit her cigarette. After inhaling some smoke, she exhaled. Not like a cool delinquent who doesn’t care about anything, but like someone who was relieved that an event was finally over. She leaned onto her elbows and held her head with both hands. The cigarette burned in the darkness.

"What happened?”

It wasn’t difficult to discern what had transpired, but it was hard to pinpoint what caused everything to end in such cataclysmic fashion. Suki wasn’t herself during this dinner session, but things were bad before she decided to stand up to Kate. Things didn’t seem horrible when Tsubomi and her met Parr and Kate out back. No, Kate was a little irritated even then. The events inside the Yen Dungeon really could have only gone down a few different ways. Kate was a light girl even if she claimed she wasn’t. All things considered, the most tame outcome was what happened. But then what triggered the dramatic escalation? How did we go from picture taking to this?

A man and a young girl stepped out of the kitchen area. They approached the picnic table and gasped. Oros stood perfectly still. So long as she didn’t use any magic, she would remain invisible to them.

”What the flipping hell happened here?”

The girl scoffed and pinched her nose shut. ”It’s Suki! She does this every time she gains access to the kitchen. She cooks some inedible mess and tries to feed it to strangers!”

”The kitchen was locked up. I made sure to check all the doors.”

”Well she got in somehow!” The girl sighed. ”I’m sure she broke in somehow, it’s just so wasteful! How could you think anyone was going to eat something like that?”

”She’s a little weird.”

”And stupid. We’ll just have to lock down the kitchen tighter.” The girl reached for a plate, but the man stopped her.

”Leave it. We can show the others in the morning. Maybe confront Suki about it.”

”You don’t have to convince me not to touch it.” They walked off.

Another way to look at the events of this evening was to see who you could remove to ensure everyone had the best possible time. You could remove Parr, but honestly, he was the best part of tonight. None of the problems that presented themselves would go away as a result of his absence. Removing Kate would have solved a lot of drama, but then Parr wouldn’t have been able to reunite with his friend, and Suki likely would have never met him. That would have been more tragic than not seeing Kate in a white wedding dress. You could remove Tsubomi, but then there would be no evening. Oros didn’t really have a reason to go to the arcade by herself, and even if she did, Kate would have slipped away. But if Oros removed herself… Ahh, the answer is in plain sight now. Tsubomi is just babysitting her for Rei, Kate can’t stand her, and Parr is too polite to voice how he really feels.

Oros pulled the plates in front of herself. She finished her plate and started on Kate’s. Once she was done with those, her eyes turned to examine Parr’s plate, and she picked it up with both hands. Then, with a sigh, she began to lick the plate clean. Bubble gum taffy, she thought, even as tears streamed down her face.

…

…

…

Back to the present now.

While Tsubomi thought about ways to get swole, she could feel something furry rub against her leg. A single glance would instantly reveal it to be the club mascot. It stepped in front of Tsubomi and pointed its screen at her face. It wasn’t uncommon for mascots to venture around. Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. The Detention Club mascot was the only mascot in Hibusa Town, and that mascot tended to move about on occasion.

Apparently, mascots were there to offer guidance, but their guidance needed to be interpreted, as they could only speak by throwing up symbols and emoticons on their screens, and old commercials. This made them somewhat unreliable as they couldn’t express complex ideas easily.

ovo

-v-

ovo

^v^

The mascot began to purr.

“Doing good deeds?!” Nyxia snarled incredulously. “Ya honestly think that’s gonna make us stronger?!”

However, before Oros could respond to Nyxia’s annoyed inquiry, Roche stepped into the room, looking a fair bit more cheerful than her typical stern demeanor. At first, the track captain’s agreement with Oros and subsequent suggestion to “do something new” were viewed with the same amount of disdain Nyxia held for the blood witch’s initial idea. Yet, after a moment’s reflection, the Neon Tempest began to see the possible merit in both courses of action. So far, their nightly slaughters of the city’s Miseria had done nothing to further augment their strength, so perhaps a change of approach was needed, even one as seemingly pointless as helping those in need, or as unpalatable as engaging in recreational activities with her fellow club mates. Plus, Nyxia had to admit, helping the flower shop’s owner had felt nice, so maybe there was something to this whole “selfless service” thing after all…

Unfortunately, while Nyxia was mulling all of this over, Oros had continued her ramblings, with the blood witch ultimately reaching the conclusion that if Roche thought an idea was a good one, it really meant that said idea was utter crap. Thus, after giving her “condolences”, the pink-haired love freak had promptly made her exit, leaving the Neon Tempest alone with the track captain. Despite her lack of fondness for any of the club’s members, Nyxia still preferred the composed stoicism of the code keeper to Oros’s disgustingly desperate flirtations. Indeed, if she absolutely had to go to a boring play, she would rather it be with someone who wasn’t likely to babble away about the most banal subject matter for its entire duration. Though, it seemed the play was off the agenda, at least for the time being, and that meant they would need to come up with another suitable activity.

“Okay,” Nyxia began with an exasperated sigh as she turned to glare at Roche, with one hand on her hip. “So what kinda fluffy feel-good crap did ya have in mind?”

---

On her way home, Tsubomi found herself accosted by the club Mascot. Well, not accosted per se, but the creature(?) was clearly trying to get her attention. She wasn't able to feel emotions from the mascot, but all her logical reasoning pointed to it being happy. It was unfortunate, then, that Tsubomi is a dumbass. She knelt down, then dropped further until her chin was on the ground, eyes level with the Mascot's screen.

"... Is someone stuck in a well?"

The thing was purring, which to Tsubomi's ears sounded pleasant, but why would it be away from the clubroom if it wasn't an emergency? Clearly she was needed somewhere. She blinked slowly both because it was her normal speed and because she had once seen an episode of "Cats From Hell," and picked her chin up slightly.

"Is it boss lady? Is she mad I didn't show up?"

Nothing. This was tricky. She lamented not watching more episodes and sighed, standing with all the enthusiasm of a ninety year-old doing the same.

"Okay, lead the way, kit-vee."

She'd follow the televine where-ever it went until she thought she was where she should be, even if the cat(?) didn't actually want her to follow it. And though the thought of it leading her to Schrade wasn't pleasant, she knew it would be worse if she didn't show up where she was wanted. Regardless of the reason, the Mascot would have to be content with her usual walking speed, at least until she knew why she was going.

---

Roche was prepared for a dose of negativity from Nyxia, yet even she was flat footed by how brusquely Oros fled the room and left only the two of them behind. She could hardly fault the blood fiend for cracking under the feeling of failure lingering over the small group, but shooting Roche down so preemptively wasn't helping matters either.

"You know what? It doesn't matter. If she doesn't want to make a call then we'll make it for her and drag her and Tsubomi along if we need to."

After all, giving the former a choice had only resulted in Suki running from Roche constantly. If everyone wanted to leave it to the track captain, she'd drag them forward by their scruffs till someone got some enjoyment out of the exercise. It would simply be a question of her or them at that point.

Turning to Nyxia with her enthusiasm checked but not deflated entirely she leaned against the nearest desk and pondered with a finger to her chin.

"Alright Nyxia, let's look at it like this. This room? Feels claustrophobic. We practically have to have our own secondary meetings because we're the only ones focused on Ashbringer. The whole city is starting to feel like that. So....let's go somewhere refreshing."

Could they go the woods? No. None of them were particularly outdoorsy, and a cross country hike was really only appealing to her among the group. She needed to consider the interests of others...well, more accurately, what would appeal to Nyxia?

Lasers, killing Miseria, and flowers were all she had to go with. The first could be fired anywhere, and the second wasn't helping them either. So maybe she could stretch the later a bit...

"You ever go snorkeling?" Roche opines, a slow smile pulling at her lips as she turns fully to Nyxia. "Let's go to the beach. We can....borrow, a van, and head down. A day on the warm sands would do us good. And there's a nice stretch not far away with a developed reef system. Dad and I-"

For an instant she'd let her excitement get ahead of her and her expression cracked with a pained wince. A flash of pain in her eyes as her smile dimmed, but she found her voice once more with a cooler tone. "-I used to go there in the summers. You'd be surprised how much life and color is write beneath the surface. You might enjoy the water."

Drawing in a steadying breath she sat fully on the desk, seeming to rest a moment as she let her idea percolate before quirking her head curiously. "Oh, and I suppose the water would be a great training aid. Ocean is one big heat sink if you wanted to test your Baby against some heavy resistance."

The Beach? Nyxia had never been, thanks in large part to her mundane form’s exceedingly poor constitution, but she had always wanted to go. Yes, the thought of swimming with her brother and looking at the colorful coral and the fish that swam amongst it had long captivated her imagination. Yet, while she now had the ability to visit the beach whenever she’d like, she had never done so, had never seen any reason to, not if Kaito couldn’t be by her side. Still, what Roche said made sense, and the thought of testing her beloved Omega Obliterator’s underwater capabilities was an appealing one. Plus, there was even the possibility they’d encounter some aquatic Miseria that were even stronger than their land-based brethren. With this in mind, the Neon Tempest gave her partner a pleased smirk.

“Y’know, that actually sounds like it could be fun,” she told the track captain, moving over to sit on a nearby desk. “Having Suki around might be a pain in the ass, but I’m sure I’ll be able to find some crabs to stick in her bathing suit if she becomes too annoying,” Nyxia added with a twisted grin. “Guess I really shouldn’t be surprised an athlete like you enjoys spending time there,” the Neon Tempest continued. “I’ll bet you and your dad had all sorts of racing and surfing contests, huh?” she noted before sighing and staring at the floor. “I wish I was that lucky…”

Roche and Nyxia had come up with a plan easily enough, but now they would need to track down the others. Roche couldn't rightly drag anyone anywhere without putting her hands on them first.

---

The mascot stopped purring and began walking back towards the school grounds, not that it was apparent at the pace Tsubomi had set for herself.

'^'

._.

>_<

Its screen continued to change as they walked. Eventually they came to an intersection between some suburban homes and the mascot “glared” at Tsubomi.

-_-

It approached a nearby house, or more specifically, a fence. Leaning against the fence was a bicycle. It was rare for people around here to leave out anything, but there was a faster mode of transportation just laying outside. Sure, it was kind of girly, even for a girl. It had a white frame with a pink seat and handlebars, along with tinsel tassels and a glittering decal of a unicorn. It was in pristine shape and didn't have as much as a scratch on it. Even the tires were clean and showed no sign of dirt. Whoever parked here had to be unfamiliar with the area. The mascot rubbed up against it while looking at Tsubomi. Then it climbed on top of the seat and hopped into the basket on the front of it. All without breaking “eye contact” with the lethargic student.

Then a nearby bush moved.

Leaves flew into the air as a pink haired girl lunged out of the bush. Armed with her trusty bug net, she managed to swing it over the mascot’s head.

”Gotcha!”

o_O

The mascot tried to wrestle free, but the metal loop on the bug net was caught on the back of the monitor, preventing escape. With a twist, the net was turned over, and the mascot with it. They were flipped out of the bike’s basket and fell completely into the net.

”That’ll teach ya ta shit on mah bike!” She placed her foot on the bike’s tire and swung the bug net over her shoulder. There was a grin on her face, and her other hand was balled into a fist and confidently pressed against her hip.

X_X

”And whaddaya doin’ 'ere, kid? Aintcha got homework ta do?”

---

When Oros the Joyful learned that she could make anyone she wanted infatuated with her, her mind filled with possibilities. She could turn everyone in a classroom into her little darling, transform the school into a giant harem, or even turn the entire town into her kingdom! It all sounded good on paper, until she set out to actually try it. Humans just couldn’t take the potency of her spells. After a single kiss, they’d lose consciousness. Having your date go to sleep the second you want to do something intimate kinda sucked. But Oros had her methods.

She was standing against the sink in the woman’s bathroom. Each of her arms held two girls and the five of them stood in a huddle. They were pawing at the side of Oros's face while she tried to tell them how her week was going.

"...And at first I thought winning the tickets would be a blessing, but I couldn't convince her to go with me.”

A girl with a long ponytail leaned in closer. ”I would go with you, Oros.”

"Aww, Takeko! I could roll a cinnamon stick through honey, then sugar, then honey again, and it wouldn’t be as sweet as you are!” She kissed the girl on the lips, and she collapsed at her feet. "But I don’t know what I could have done differently! This all started because I pulled one over on her partner, like she wanted me to! But she’ll stick by that bully! I don’t get it!”

Another girl with a bob cut stepped over Takeko and hugged Oros. ”It was all part of Bedshaker’s plan. You were led to look like a monster in front of Nyx.”

"I couldn’t agree more Koneko! Your wisdom is only matched by your beauty, which outshines the stars like the rising sun!” Another kiss, and Koneko collapsed on top of Takeko. "B-but I don’t know what to do now. Nobody in the Detention Club seems to like me.”

A petite girl with shoulder length hair jumped onto her. They wrapped their arms around her neck and swung off the ground. ”Make your own club!”

"It’s not that simple, Isamu. If nobody likes me, than who’s going to join my club?”

”I would!”

Oros smiled. "That’s because your heart is as deep and warm as, um, my mouth?” Suki placed her lips over Isamu’s. Before her tongue could slide out of her mouth, Isamu lost her strength and slumped to the ground. The pile of girls was starting to get pretty high. "Seriously? Is there an end to this vicious cycle?”

"Yes.” Tatsu, a teacher Oros managed to snag, positioned herself in front of her. Oros didn’t typically try to snag faculty members but she had always liked Tatsu’s style. She was just so effortlessly cool all the time and seemed invincible. Even better, she was a smoker. Obviously she never did it on the job, but Oros had caught her doing it a few nights while waiting for dates. Seemed Oros wasn’t the only lonely person in this town.. "You must realize your self worth.”

”My self worth?” Oros pointed at herself. ”You’re not just trying to make me feel happy, are you?” It wasn’t uncommon for those under her curse to just spout nonsense in an attempt to make her feel better.

"No, I am being quite serious. But self worth is self worth. You need to find something you value.” Tatsu placed her hands on Oros’s shoulders, and Oros slowly leaned backwards into the sink. She draped herself over her, with their noses almost touching. The weight and warmth of her body sunk right through Oros’s uniform. "You need to become a miner, and really dig inside yourself to find it, but I know it’s there.”

”Eh, Miss Sugiyama? That kind of sounded like some bullshit you’d see in a feel good tv show.”

"Is it though? If you don’t dig, you’ll never find it. But maybe I can take the first few scoops of dirt away for you.” She began to close her eyes. "Ex marks the spot.”

”Wha-”

Suki was too shocked to properly appreciate Tatsu’s warmth and taste. By the time she was ready, Tatsu pulled back and wiped off her mouth. "Can you keep digging?”

”M-Miss Sugiyama? You’re still awake!?” Oros smiled. ”Are you a magical woman? Have you-”

Tatsu collapsed on top of Oros. Then she slip off of the deranged magical girl and fell onto the pileup behind her. None of the girls in the pile looked happy. Each one was laying in an uncomfortable position, and the expression on their face voiced that discomfort. Even the cool, immortal Tatsu looked like little more than a sacrifice laying on top of an altar. Her face was exhausted, and her arms were draped back in weary acceptance.

Oros stepped around the unconscious bodies and departed from the restroom as fast as she could. She dove out the window and scrambled home as fast as she could go. She tried to not think about what just happened. She tried not to cry. But like everything she tried to do this week, she failed.

---

It was interesting, watching the only creature that didn't come from nature as it went about its walk. Interesting too that it seemed to want Tsubomi to *bike* her way where it wanted her to go. Apparently it thought she was someone else, because the apathetic girl wouldn't be able to get enough speed peddling at her natural pace to even move the thing. Of course, that was all void anyway once the strange girl who couldn't possibly be a member of Ashbringer's gang are you crazy picked the mascot up with a bug net. A bug net? In modern year?

"... It does that?" Tsubomi was unaware that the thing even ate, let alone went to the bathroom. Regardless, she didn't really have time to talk if Boss Lady wanted her to go somewhere, especially given her movement speed. She threw a little magic at the girl, increasing the catcher's apathy, and reached towards the mascot.

"Mm... You should be more careful, vat. Nets are scary."

She didn't realize that she jostled the bicycle, bouncing it off the fence and having it fall so that it was held up by her shins, just off the ground. "Where are we going, anyway?" She asked the mascot, having forgotten that the other girl was even still there.