[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/NHixdpw.png[/img]

[color=firebrick][b]"Haven't you heard, Rei? 'May you live in interesting times' is a Chinese curse, you know?"[/b][/color][/center]
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	The end of summer finally came. For Kiyo, it was always a long-awaited moment, as it meant an end to the unbearable heat and bright sun. Breaking a sweat was now relegated strictly to training, rather than a punishment from the heavens for the sin of merely existing more than a meter away from an air conditioner. It also meant a significant lull in weird tourists from western countries who were obsessed with goofy-looking extraterrestrials and frilly magical girls. If only the former were truly benign entities that came only to study humans, rather than experiment on them. If only all magical girls simply befriended dark magical girls after they beat them. What a better world that would be.

	But that was not the world Kiyo lived in. No, the light girls had surrounded Hibusa Town, and the only two solutions were to drive them out or turn them to darkness. Normally, Kiyo would be thrilled for the opportunity to pursue the latter, but their increased numbers made it difficult. Rather than driving [i]them[/i] out, it was they who drove Evil Eye's watchful eyes out of the rural areas and back into the city limits. She was among those ambushed while trying to restore their numbers, once she had been identified as the source. It was a lucky thing that she'd received the gift of flight. If she hadn't been so fortunate, who could say what would have happened?

	Kiyo observed herself in the mirror, gazing deep into her own eyes. [color=firebrick][b][i]There isn't enough darkness. Not nearly enough.[/i][/b][/color] The impoverished rural communities and suburbs had been a prime source of misfortune. She had none to spare to replenish her Mogall when the light girls kept hunting them so efficiently. She would have to let them have this small victory, at least for now. It was yet another straw piled onto the camel's back. Kiyo felt unyielding tension in her body as though she were coiled like a spring, ready to strike like a viper at the next person who displeased her. There were moments that she could practically taste the venom in her mouth as she bit back the bitterness from the undeserving club girls. She was angry with Rei for this intrusion upon their peace, but more than that, she was angry at herself for not being strong enough to remove them herself.

	She walked to the club room, having upgraded—or downgraded, depending on one's point of view—from proper crutches back to her cane. She could put a little weight on her fractured ankle, now, and walk with a bit of a limp. She thought it made her walk like that snarky doctor from that western medical show. Unlike Hollywood, though, walking with a cane didn't automatically give her wise mentor cred. That was something she'd have to earn for herself.

	She walked into the club room just in time to hear Nyxia's comment, because of course she did. [color=firebrick][b]"Even us Kurai girls have standards, Nyxia. Only politicians are evil enough to take someone to a play against their will,"[/b][/color] she replied, deadpan. She looked around, seeing only the two of them, and checked her watch. [color=firebrick][b]"Roche is late. Perhaps we could use a Time Keeper."[/b][/color] Roche was not, in fact, late, but if someone was usually early, on time could be considered late, in some circles.