---

As Rei laid into Roche about their summer vacation, the girl's bright expression dimmed back to the stoic, guarded scowl she was more known for. She took the words head on, not flinching from the accusations, especially not when Rei had waited till the entire summer vacation had passed to even bring it up to them.

"You're acting like we went out there just to hunt. It was meant to be a vacation, and things developed from there. Something that we may have had a handle on if you'd taken the least bit of interest in the goings-on around here." The Rule Keeper may have respected Rei's power and authority but she didn't have any for the absence of their leader, nor for her dismissal of the increasingly dangerous Ashbringer.

"When it went down, we did everything we could to protect the civilians, and if those idiots hadn't intervened they'd have never even come close to danger." Roche said, though a part of her questioned if that would have truly been so, as it was the arrival of Shuuko that really cemented an eventual victory over the Giga Miseria. But without Morganite harassing them and bludgeoning Suki like a drum, they'd have been far better off in the first place. "From what Suki and Tsubomi said, that pink shield girl was harassing them before we even got into the Giga Miseria matter, so we were marked just for leaving town."

Though for all she wanted to seethe over Rei's absence as a leader, the revelation that those Light Girls had invaded their turf and tried to abduct Detention Club members did make her blood run cold. It was hard to rouse the same outrage when she had to defend herself from further accusations, Rei as imperious and distant as an alcoholic father berating their child.

"If they are coming into our town, I'll beat them into the dirt myself and send them hurtling out of town lashed to the front car of the bullet train. Stop hurling blame when I've been the only one trying to keep the girls together instead of blowing apart under all this pressure. Did I make a mistake? Yes, but now that I know, I'll fix it like I always do."

The house rung from their voices. Shouting echoed between the walls, laughing at the idea that it may be stopped by Sylvia’s hands on her ears, reverberating inside her skull, rattling her mind. The words blended together and while it was not a cacophony, she felt their anger, no, their hatred for each other. Blame arrayed against blame. Fingers pointed at each other. Age-old arguments breaking out like a wildfire, spreading through the entirety of her home.

Could it even be called as such, though? The walls may have been warm, but the fire inside the hearth died a long time ago. Its flames burned like ice, painful snowflakes blossoming across her skin whenever she tried to reach for it, then seeped into her bones before it penetrated her to the core.

Steps. They were coming closer. Their shouting stopped. It could mean only one thing: both Grandfather and Grandmother agreed that the source of their woes could be no one but the girl they had locked inside a barren, barely-functional room. Somehow, somewhere, they came to the conclusion that they lost their daughter because of their granddaughter, that they were angels and that their only descendant was a demon.

Sylvia huddled closer, wishing she were anywhere but here. She thought she could protect Chiaki, but every time she did, it was just pain upon pain. Maybe that was all that she deserved. After all, was she not but an ugly, filthy spot on her Grandparents’ flawless lives? Was she not the sole source of their suffering? They were right, were they not? It was all her fault. Chiaki was innocent. Slyvia was the one who did all the bad things, so she deserved to be punished.

The door opened. Grandfather walked in with a belt. Grandmother had a wooden spoon in her hand. Slyvia did not care. She fixed her eyes on a spot on the wall, hoping that it would be over soon.

---

”... you to please stop, Hotaru! Sylvia’s terrified!”

Those words finally got through to the warrior, who took a look at Sylvia and froze. The protector sat in the very same position she used to whenever their so-called ‘family’ did the unthinkable. Indeed, Sylvia’s eyes lost all life, their normally oh-so-vibrant green becoming a dull, colourless puddle of mud. Even worse, fresh-looking bruises started to appear on her body.

”Shit…” Hotaru lost all of her fire as she beheld the fruits of her labour, her eyes widening at the sight. ”Look… I won’t say sorry to you, Ember, because I’m not. We’ll return to it when Sylvia’s all right.” As she spoke, the warrior approached Sylvia with careful steps, taking care to showcase her open, empty hands.

The protector did not respond. Only the faint movement of her chest betrayed the fact she lived, as it seemed like she refused to see how Hotaru moved her hand in front of Sylvia’s eyes or how the warrior snapped her fingers beside the ears. The world was as dead to Sylvia as she was dead to it, for nothing mattered in the face of the inevitable. Bad children got their punishment after all, did they not?

Hotaru muttered some sort of curse beneath her breath before she reached for Sylvia, but she stopped short before her fingers could brush against skin. It would not help at all, she realised. If anything, it might take their dear protector further away from them, into a land she would never be returning from. Having run out of ideas, the warrior looked back at the schemer, who seemed to be occupied with something else.

”Ember! Get your ass over here!”

“‘Ru.” The red-haired woman looked at her. ”Since when could we talk to each other like this?”

”It’s always been like this! Now stop your thinking and do something!” Hotaru’s outburst struck like a hammer, causing Sylvia to flinch. In response, the warrior looked back at the protector and-

Realised what Ember meant as her eyes took in her body.

”What the…”

”Exactly. You have never seen me like this. I have never seen you like this. The same fact stands for Sylvia.” Ember’s blue eyes swept the mental space around them, looking for more details. A hazy fog descended on the mental scape, obscuring details, however, her cold gaze picked up on details hidden within the distance. Walls. Faint outlines of furniture. A floor. A ceiling.

It all wavered when she stepped forward, yet it lingered. It felt ephemeral like a dream, yet it could be felt. They could now perceive each other not only as voices, but as though they were people sharing a room.

”I do not know what Kana-san did, or if this has anything to do with her… but I believe this change can not be reversed.”

---

”Are you absolutely sure you will be all right, Sylvi?

Slyvia nodded in their mental space even as she braced herself for the meeting today. So far, she begged off the days or even the moments where she would have to face Tsubomi. Or more accurately, she left very little choice to her comrades who… she did not know anymore. Both of them tried their best to prop her up, but did that make up for what they did? For bringing that memory to the surface?

Shuuko’s body shivered as Sylvia lived through the experience. It seemed just as vivid as the day it happened. Like no time passed at all. Yet as Ember often said, if people did not face their fears, then they would become beasts. Even more importantly, she could not protect anyone if she could not overcome this trial, which in turn meant she would no longer be useful. And as much as Ember or Hotaru smiled at her, they would not hesitate to throw her away.

If they were like her Grandparents, a hopeful voice noted in the back of her head. She dismissed it right away, refusing to show it to her so-called comrades as she approached the Detention Club’s entrance. Her gait, once steady, slowed down as she came before the door. Her legs trembled. Her fingers shook. Not even measured breaths helped as she reached for the door, almost stumbling through the room’s threshold.

Before Suki could do more than energetically wave and say a pathetically desperate-sounding “Hi!”, another club member entered the room. Nyxia couldn’t really be bothered to remember crimson-eyed girl’s name, but the Neon Tempest was vaguely aware that she was the one who controlled all the disgusting eye monsters the club used for surveillance purposes. Thus, when the new arrival quipped that no member of the club would stoop so low as to forcibly drag someone to see a play, Nyxia couldn’t hep but roll her eyes. After all, what would an edgy voyeur know about standards? The next thing she knew, Suki had gotten over her momentary shock and had begun rambling about how she’d gotten apathy incarnate to go along with her, before moving on to mentioning a body pillow that she used to bring to public places (shudder), and concluding with an inquiry about fairy tales.

Now, if she was being honest, while Nyxia had never really given much thought to fairy tales, from what little she knew of Rapunzel, the story actually shared some similarities with her own confined and isolated life, at least before she’d become a magical girl. That said, there was no way she was going to share that information, especially not with these particular two girls, even if tall dark and mysterious’s comment about Rapunzel’s shitty parents did manage to elicit a muttered “Yeah…” from the Neon Tempest, her mind briefly reflecting on how hated and unloved she herself felt at home before savagely casting such thoughts aside. However, when the conversation shifted to the possibility of summoning a Giga Miseria in the heart of Hibusa Town, Nyxia finally spoke up.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to fuck one of those things up again,” she began. “But summoning one in the middle of the city is a really fucking stupid idea,” the Neon Tempest added, her mouth contorting into an annoyed scowl, while she fixed an intense glare upon Kiyo.

---

Tsubomi once more sat at her desk, waiting for the school day to end. Her blank mind and stare being left unnoticed by the rest of the classroom. The going bet on her consciousness had been shifting its balance lately, with more and more money placed on her staying awake. When the bell rung, she was, as usual, the last to stand up and the last to get her things together. In truth, she was rather tired from having been kept awake the previous night, though not in the sense that she had trouble sleeping like the last time she'd used up her reserves. Instead...

Acid Drop plopped herself into the seat next to Tsubomi's. "Man, you have to sit in these for hours? How do you do it?"

The annoyance that plagued Tsubomi's mind had began appearing outside of it, shortly after the day the Light Girls had attacked her, after the day of the play with Suki. And her jumping on the bed all night had forced Tsubomi to sleep in her tattered beanbag, an uncomfortable place to sit let alone spend the night. And so she awoke, tired and with joint pain all over her body. She had decided to stay home, but her other half, despite being invisible to all others and presumably of her imagination, dragged the apathetic girl out of her home and to the school. At that point, it was better to just go along with it, she decided.

"Hey now," the rainbow girl said as she stood up and stretched a few seconds after sitting down in the first place, "You're gonna be late to the club if you don't get going."

And so Tsubomi began her walk to the clubroom as Acid Drop disappeared into nothingness. When she arrived, she waved at each of the other girls there and sat in one of the room's chairs, not knowing or caring what the conversation had been that she had missed most of.

Roche chose to talk back to the most powerful dark magical girl she had ever seen. One so powerful that even a demon like Ashbringer turned tail and ran at the mere sound of her bounding across rooftops. A dark magical girl with so much power that she could hold, if only barely, an entire club of dark magical girls together without killing each other. A dark magical girl that authored the rules that the rule keeper herself tattooed onto her heart like the ink on her skin. Such insubordination could lead to an "attitude adjustment" at best, and excommunication at worst. Was it her position in the club or being fed up with Rei that made the stoic rule keeper feel so rebellious?

The air around the taller, more athletic looking woman felt cold.

“You've forgotten your place, Roche.” Rei's tone was reminiscent of a parent who didn't have the heart to scold their child.“You misunderstand my concern. Why you left does not matter. Light girls wander into Hibusa town from time to time. They spout their annoying platitudes and we show them the door. This is a cycle that will never stop so long as we operate here.” She slid a hand into her pocket. “When you venture out of Hibusa town and destroy property, even if it's not your fault, you make them angry. They build resentment and find common ground with one another. We are a small club but we always outnumber the light girls because they are unable to organize against us. Destroying that beach might have been the linchpin the Gems needed to rally against us. Is something so basic beyond your understanding?”

Rei placed her hands around Roche's neck. Her touch was like the northern winds, or that of a corpse. But all she did was straighten out Roche's shirt before slipping her hands into her pockets.

“But you are right. You are going to fix this. And you're also going to make sure nothing like that happens again. No more vacations that happen to involve such widespread destruction.” Rei was about to walk away when she stopped in her tracks. She looked back at Roche, hesitated, and finally spoke. “I had thought that you could hunt miseria without my supervision, but very well. Perhaps I can make time to hunt with you tomorrow.”

It wasn't as if Rei ever did more than perch on some elevated platform while her underlings laid waste, but it was going to be essential now, wasn't it? These weren't normal light girls, they had managed to tick off the Gems. That meant that they'd likely need Schrade to avoid getting totally bodied by the opposition. It was a hassle, but it was also a little interesting too, wasn't it?



"Yea... Some parents...” Suki's eyes glazed over. She remained as stiff as a board until Kiyo tried to shift the focus back on to Rapunzel herself. "Yea, I really don't get the whole parent thing.” A bitter grin crossed her face when she looked back at the page. "Like, all the mom does is just complain all the time. Like she gets pregnant and just refuses to eat anything but one plant? I kind of picture her as this bloated tick that sits in a cave, existing only to suck the happiness out of the people around her. She's too big to leave the cave and just sort of exists to be a drain on everyone else. And the dad...” Suki laughed. "What a piece of crap! I mea what's he even doing this for? He can't love his wife. He's willing to decide what happens to their child without their consent, so you know that's going to divide them. But the entire reason why she's suffering right now is so that she can deliver a baby. So by giving up the baby it's almost like he's saying what she's gone through isn't even worth considering. I can't imagine they lived a happy life after that. I think Rapunzel's better off having never known her parents.” She pointed at Rapunzel's hair. "But what the hell is with her scalp? If I had hair that long you know I'd be able to tell the difference between an old witch and a big burly prince was crawling up my braid. Provided I didn't get yanked out of the tower. Rapunzel had to be a magical girl.”

And then came the idea of summoning a giga miseria in town. Like, what? It might have been an idea worth entertaining if the last one hadn't leveled a beach when it died. At the same time, Suki couldn't totally dismiss it. "Uh, maybe if it was a really small one? And we fought it on the mountain somewhere? But I think that would be a little dangerous with the light girls around. I mean, were'nt you-”

Tsubomi and Shuuko came through the door.

"Hey Guys!” Suki gave the newly arrived her traditional flamboyant wave and smile. "Roach is still MIA, so we're talking about how Rapunzel might have been a magical girl and giga miseria” After a pause, she clarified. "That's two different topics. Rapunzel is not a giga miseria.”

---

Kiyo met Nyxia's glare with lazily half-open eyes. "Oh, of course. How could I forget our most sacred duty as Kurai girls to protect the innocent. We'll just have to leave Hibusa Town and... oh. We can't, because Hibusa Town is surrounded by light fuckos," she said, idly tapping her lips with a finger as though she'd just thought of that fact herself. "Guess we'll die then," she concluded, deadpan. Her attention shifted to Suki, but her question was interrupted when the other girls arrived.

"Good day. You didn't miss much—I was just getting to the good part, about how beyond fucked we are." Her eyes regarded each of the other girls in turn, finally landing on Nyxia. "Look, I get it, you don't shit where you sleep—but they appear only when a group of people are experiencing the same intense emotion in a confined space. There's no safe way to do it. Doing it outside of Hibusa Town will just piss off more light girls, so our options are to do it here or not at all. What we need is a way to summon them on demand, at our convenience—preferably in multiple places at once, so the light girls are too preoccupied with their own problems to harass us." She looked at each of them one more time before slouching even deeper into her chair and burying her face in a newspaper. "Or one of us goes and files a workplace safety complaint to our dear leader, the Queen of Darkness. Any takers?" she asked, her voice dripping with casual sarcasm.

She expected the others to blame her for this. After all, she was the one who somehow ended up in the one place Rei told them to never go, and now girls from the City of Light were stalking Hibusa Town's alleys like they owned the place. Why wouldn't they? It was easier than pointing the finger at themselves for blowing up a beach—with, to be fair, zero casualties. Even she had to admit that was pretty impressive. Yet, it was short sighted, but she did not blame them. Rei was the one who'd never told them about giga misera—and she wouldn't let her say she didn't know. She was the one who slowly fed them worthless scraps: the hordes that came at night. She was the one who'd allowed them to get comfortable in Hibusa Town, almost devoid of light girls. At times, it was possible to forget they even existed. Why would they worry about some light girls crashing their beach vacation? No matter how she looked at it, Rei's poor leadership was to blame. Was she out of line for thinking so? Was she simply jealous of her power, fantasizing as she did of how she'd put it to better use?

---

Roche had overstepped her bounds and Rei wasn't reluctant in the least to let her know. That cold feeling that one intrinsically knew was death itself draped itself around her neck, carried close by the vice of Rei's hand. It was easy to forget the position she held was one borne purely from Rei's desire to not bother meeting out the punishment's herself till Roche was staring down what constituted as a subtle reminder from the Club Leader herself.

Her rage was doused by the ice of Cocytus, and she'd found herself only breathing once more when Rei's hand was well away from her skin. She looked upon Rei with naked fear, the anger doused for the moment. But such feelings couldn't vanish forever, and as she took in a fraction of Rei's terrible presence she felt bile in her throat and the first flickers of sincere hatred for the girl fester.

"It won't happen again, Rei. And if those Gems want to come into our city, I'll make sure they won't be leaving of their own power." Roche said with a stiff, steely composure and funneled that vile antipathy towards the Light Girls. It wasn't a hard shift, even if it served as another reminder that the only threat Rei seemed the least bit bothered by was more Light Girl's trampling on her territory.

Her fists clenched at her sides, trembling from skin pulled taut over bone before she exhaled gustily and shook them loose. Rei had one last parting barb for her that Roche needed to acknowledge lest the strongest Magical Girl take further offense. "The others will be happy to have you there. Till then."

Turning on her heel she walked briskly to the club room, the pressure of yet another enemy weighing heavy upon her. Feeling herself backslide she hurried to the club room, hurling it open and finding many already waiting for her.

"Good afternoon." For all the tension winding around her she found presence of the girl's she'd thought she been growing closer to become disconcerting. She resented Rei's iron fist threatening her after months of neglect, but could she then deny she'd created this mess? If she hadn't pushed for the beach they'd have encountered a Giga Miseria, the Light Girls now attacking them, or Sink Queen.

The tanned girl's expression sank and as she closed the door behind her she settled boneless at the nearest desk, mind working over Rei's cutting words without the capacity for much else.

Nyxia clenched her teeth as Kiyo began to mock her in that infuriatingly flippant manner of hers, sarcastically rattling off all the ways they were doomed to fail at any other course of action than the one she’d come up with. “Do you always have to be such a fucking drama queen?” the Neon Tempest snapped back. This is why I hate interacting with you shit stains… However, to Nyxia’s considerable surprise, Suki, of all people, then spoke up to actually agree with her opinion on how idiotic it would be to summon a Giga Miseria in the heart of Hibusa Town, even going so far as to offer what the Neon Tempest had to admit were some rather sensible alternatives. The girl may have been horny as fuck, but at least she wasn’t a complete moron.

Speaking of, the next thing Nyxia knew, Apathy Incarnate entered the room, followed by Drama Queen’s strange, yet still rather forgettable partner. Now only Roche was missing. The club did have other members, of course, like that snooty girl with the giant chess pieces and her stage magic-obsessed partner, but, like Rei, they were often absent, doing “important tasks” the Neon Tempest couldn’t really have cared less about. She may have developed a stronger bond with Roche, but she still held the rest of her club mates in fairy obvious disdain, and, based on the current conversation, that opinion didn’t seem likely to change any time soon…

“Look, the whole reason we’re trying to get stronger is to fuck over that Ashbringer bitch,” Nyxia shot back after Kiyo had finished giving her summary of why they had no choice but to risk the safety of Hibusa Town’s populace. “And the reason I wanna do that is cuz she trashed an innocent flower shop just for the fuck of it! What good would fighting a Giga Miseria do if we wreck the entire fucking city in the process?!” She exhaled in annoyance. “We seriously need to come up with a better plan than just ‘make a few show up and then try to deal with them’!”

However, before anything further could be said, Roche finally arrived. Just one look at the track captain told Nyxia that something was wrong. Ignoring any potential rebuttals Kiyo might spew, the Neon Tempest strode over to where her partner had taken a seat and looked down at the athletic girl with a visage filled with concern. “Everything okay?” she inquired.

---

The wind rushed past Hizuki's face. This was the last day she'd have to case the town before her transfer went through, and it was risky to just fly around like this with dark girls potentially watching, but she still hadn't gotten tired of the feeling of flying. The desires of the townsfolk flitted past with the breeze, in her mind and gone before she had a chance to hear them. She justified her dives between Hibusa's buildings to herself as familiarizing herself with the landscape, despite knowing that flight wasn't exactly a good way to get used to navigating somewhere on foot.

With that thought, the magical girl sighed to herself and pulled up, alighting on the corner of a nearby rooftop. Her eyes cast in the direction of the school in the distance; this is about as close as she was willing to get at this point. Foolhardy though she might be, Hizuki wasn't stupid; getting close and letting her magical energy move freely would probably get her spotted and potentially attacked, and what she was doing was already risky. This was going to take patience and time, whichever direction it went.

Speaking of magical energy, now was as good of a time as any to make another check. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, turning the flows inward and amplifying those impressions she got from passers-by. It was still too early to be protecting people from miseria, but that didn't mean she couldn't try to make it so fewer of them came into existence in the first place. Hizuki listened, searching for people with pressing desires, people who wanted safety, or even people who just wanted help carrying their groceries, scanning for anywhere she could, or should, be intervening.

---

As she fell into a chair, Roche's feelings were clear to every member of the club, but not so translucent to the others as to Tsubomi. She drank deeply of it, giving the Rulekeeper a little relief, if only for a few moments, if only artificially. As Nyxia asked her partner about her well-being, Tsubomi registered Kiyo's comments.

"... Can Light Girls beat them?" She formed a triangle between her hands, then slowly drew them apart in opposite diagonal directions until there was a large imaginary rectangle between them. "If the town had five big ones... We could leave."

Several seconds passed before her brain alerted her of Kiyo's question. She gave a slow nod. "Okay."

Having accepted the other girl's proposition, she began to stand at her usual pace. Just to be certain, in case it would be needed, she drew the entirety of Roche's negative feelings into her stockpile.

"Woah there, dumbass." Acid Drop once more became visible to her mundane self, crawling out of the light that shone in from the window as if it were an abyss and she its demon. "You're gonna try to fight Rei?"

The apathetic teen's head drifted side to side, moving as if she had been hit with a horse sedative. "Kiyo said to tell her, not fight her. If she knows, she'll know to let us know what she knows." Ya know?

Finally standing at her usual slouch, she began towards the door, only to have her right wrist forcibly thrown backwards, at a pace far faster than Tsubomi had moved in years, as her magical would-be tulpa yanked it behind her. "Let's not be stupid this time, yeah? Siddown and at least talk through things with the others before you commit to that."

The rainbow's other half tilted her head to the side as she turned, mostly in place, ending so that her arm was in front of her, though still with her wrist as upside down as it could twist.

"Mm? Okay." As Acid Drop sighed and removed her hand to scratched her head, Tsubomi fell onto the ground like a cascade of molasses against a wall until she was sitting once more. Her head swayed to take in the other girls in the clubroom, before finally straightening her wrist to its normal position and propping her head up with its hand, her elbow braced against her knee.

After a moment she spoke again, this time to the ones who were actually there, a slow blink trailing over her eyes. "Should we write a letter?"

Sylvia almost breathed a sigh of relief as she went through the door, as Acid Drop had not arrived yet. She could prepare herself to face the other dark magical girl at her own time, or maybe if she was lucky, the apathatic girl would not show up at all. Except she did, just moments after Shuuko stepped through the threshold, acting as though nothing happened between the two of them. As though Tsubomi's presence had not lead to that happening.

Shuuko's face lost all semblance of colour as her spine went ramrod straight, heart hammering against her ribs. Sylvia felt as though she fell through layer after layer of clouds, then got impaled by a stone spike right in the chest, piercing her completely - but also condemning her to suffering. For all intents and purposes, she appeared as though she had turned into a salt statue, her limbs locked beside her body even as the club moved. Her gaze got lost in the distance, maybe even peering beyond what was visible. She did not even notice as Roche entered, all but slamming her head into a desk. Only Ember's gentle warning proved enough to snap Sylvia out of her reverie.

Even then, Shuuko's movements remained stiff. She glanced Tsubomi's way every now and then, trying to see if the whirlwind in her head died down at all - but it had not.

"Sylvi... You can't take this." Ember reached out towards her in their mindscape, but Sylvia brushed her off with a wave of her hand.

"I... I have to face her... I can't fear anything if I want to protect you..."

But was it really Tsubomi whom she feared? Or was that merely Shuuko's body reacting to the memories she recalled? And if the latter were true, did that mean she should have focused her fear on her so-called comrades, Hotaru and Ember?

Even as Sylvia lost herself in thought, the other members could no doubt notice her unusual behaviour. She did not greet the members as she usually did; nor did she approach Kiyo or Roche - the two she seemed to cherish the most out of the Detention Club. She had always made sure to reserve a warm comment towards them and had never missed a single day. Of course, it had went without saying that Shuuko had not frozen up like this in the past either.

No one present was really equipped to present a plan. Rei was able to do it, but she had appeared only sporadically over the summer. Now that the cooler weather was here, maybe she'd show up again. Suki could hope. As much as she didn't like Roche, she had been trying to hold things together. At the very least, she seemed to be the only one who had Nyxia's respect. At least that was how it appeared, as she actually acknowledged the rule keeper's presence once she sat down. If the only dower one in the room was Roche, she might have let her continue to feel sorry for herself. But Tsubomi and Shuuko didn't look too hot either. But while Shuuko looked like she had seen a ghost, Tsubomi looked distracted. It was an unusual look for someone who had no emotions.

"I would think the light girls could fight giga miseria.” Suki was rather pleased with the opportunity to pivot the discussion away from Nyxia and Kiyo, who were only getting agitated with each other. "But why five? It took a lot of effort to summon just one on a full beach. And weren't we told that the ones that come out at night are even stronger?” Then Tsubomi got really distracted and started talking to herself. "A letter? Kiyo said? Oh, are you talking about Rei?” Her eyes shifted from side to side. "I thought someone said she was going to be here. Did Roach talk to her already? she better not have scared her off...”

She looked to Shuuko. The temptation was to say something to her, but maybe it was best to let her reboot her systems on her own.

---

The night belonged to the dark girls, but the day belonged to Hizuki.

There were only a few hours of daylight left, but Hizuki wisely surmised that the dark magical girls were still tending to their club activities. It didn't make much sense for them to be patrolling the streets this early. Barring special circumstances, miseria only came out at night, and the only reason why dark girls even bothered with them was to selfishly squire power. Often times, they would cause hardships that would yeild more despair, and that despair would call more miseria, and then the farmers would reap their crops.

Hibusa town was pretty big. It was still a town though, and paled in comparison to the city of light. Few buildings were higher than a couple stories, and there almost wasn't enough room for an uptown and downtown area. Hizuki was invisible to the pedestrians on the ground, though if she used enough of her magic, she might become one of the town's many urban legends. But listening for a few desires shouldn't be too risky.

Many of the people had desires, but they were either far outside of Hizuki's capabilities, or were being taken care of. A man wished for a drink before entering a bar, a young man hoped his crypto investment wouldn't bankrupt him again, a store clerk hoped she had enough money to leave this town, a mother wished to see her dead child, it was a lot of requests. They all seemed to be coming from middle aged people. The children had to be home or in school, and who knew where the elderly were.

Then, almost cutting through those desires were ones that Hizuki could actually help with. The first one was coming from the direction of the school, but it was moving away, very gradually.

Why...Won't...They...Listen...

That was a little obscure, so it had to be a magical girl. If that was a member of the detention club, that might not be worth interacting with. But there was another desire coming from the school's direction, but it was moving much faster. Perhaps they were in a car, or riding on a bike.

It's not getting built fast enough. It's not coming together. How will I get it all done? I haven't been able to practice my archery, and my grades are slipping. Then there's the lawsuit. This isn't good.

That was definitely a school girl. What was homework to the Daybreak? She could help with some of that surely. But that wasn't the only desire she sensed.

Dulled by pain... Muted by screams... Devoured by darkness.

Another obscure one. It must be a magical girl, but it's not coming from the direction of the school. It was the closest signal, but was either unaware of her position or not willing to approach. They were a few blocks away at the same level as Hizuki.

But now was not the time to be indecisive. She needed to pick a course of action.

---

Hizuki opened her eyes, fixing the three potential directions in her mind. She took a moment to breathe; extending her senses outward like that still took a lot of effort, doubly so for the mental work of sorting through which ones were relevant to her. She felt a brief pang of guilt over not being able to attend all three possibilities, but the magical girl pushed herself past it to focus on choosing which one she could actually deal with.

Homework was something she could assist with, and Hizuki could at least lend an ear to the other girl's troubles. However, if she was in a car, it'd be weird for her to just appear to help. She'd have to wait until this person was somewhere it'd be reasonable for her to appear, which could well be tomorrow at school for all Hizuki. The Daybreak would have to try to find her as Haruna.

Listening was something Hizuki could do. Making other people listen was far from her strong suit, but she could try to sway the other magical girl from doing anything bad in service of that goal. It also brought her closer to the school, which meant closer to the detention club and closer to potentially drawing in multiple opponents if things turned violent. That left the lost soul near her.

It wasn't a confrontation Hizuki was especially keen on. It wasn't especially likely that a light girl would be having those sorts of wants, which meant it was almost certainly another risk to approach. However, nothing was ever gained without risking something, and she'd have a much better chance of fleeing if she had to if there wasn't a handful of dark magical girls right at her back.

Decision made, Hizuki turned to face the source of the dark thoughts, then stepped off the roof. Her wings snapped outward, bracing her against gravity. An aerial pivot and she's crossing the distance between herself and her objective just below the average roof level. Trying to keep her magical expenditure low-level and nonthreatening, she tilted upward again, bleeding off her speed until she's barely airborne, searching for the source of these murky desires.

---

Roche carried a lot on her shoulders, and just like any middle manager, that weight had only increased after conversing with Rei.

Conversing was a stretch, in truth. That required an exchange of views and opinions. What Roche's mouth had earned her was a dictation of facts according to Rei, and she was loath to correct the woman whose touch promised death to Miseria and Magical Girl alike. Being told that everything falling apart was her fault and her fault alone didn't sit well with her, struggling to grasp just where it all went wrong and how she'd have had any hope of fixing it.

Don't go to the flower shop and encounter Ashbringer? Highly unlikely she wouldn't have just crashed down on any other building and goaded them into a fight.

Don't go to the beach? They'd have splintered apart over the summer and not even bothered coming to school. Suki would have been buried under frogs, Nyxia would have rebelled from the lack of progress, and Shuuko and Kiyo would have returned to find a club in flames.

As Sylvia had once seen, her mind spiraled inwards, drawn by the pressure of Rei's condemnation, till it wasn't.

The metaphorical foot came off the gas pedal, and her eyes blinked as she felt her emotions dim. It was a funny feeling, and familiar as well. Her gaze drifted to Tsubomi, feeling her magic at work without her having asked for it. Was this compassion on her part?

Slowly her lips quirked upwards, as in the absence of dread there was only a faint relief to be felt, and she knew it was a brief reprieve she'd be better served savoring.

"Nyxia. Acid Drop. Thank you both." The Track Captain inhaled grandly and exhaled gustily, letting the motion bring her head and shoulders up as she settled with ephemeral composure in her seat.

"Rei will be joining us on out next outing. She's....unhappy with my leadership in her absence, and made it known her faith was misplaced. I'm just a bit rattled, is all, but I appreciate your concerns. For all that we got by on dumb luck and stubborn grit, I'm proud to be in a club with you all. Even Suki."

The heartfelt words were capped with a playful barb thrown Suki's way, as the Rule Keeper was also lacking in her concern for the prickly blood fiend courtesy of Tsubomi's appetite.

"I know I'm not perfect, or even all that good at leading you all, so thanks for putting up with me, and if there's anything I can do better, let me know."

Nyxia pretty much tuned out both Suki’s string of questions and Tsubomi’s disjointed musings while she waited for Roche to respond, although the emotionless girl’s apparent minor epileptic fit did manage to evoke a raised eyebrow from the Neon Tempest. What a fucking weirdo… Speaking of weirdos, Kiyo’s partner seemed to be having some issues of her own, since it looked like the girl was doing her best impression of a statue. Seriously, what is with these dipshits? Finally, Roche spoke, bringing Nyxia’s full attention back to the rule keeper.

“Oh, uh, you’re welcome,” the Neon Tempest replied somewhat awkwardly, not exactly expecting Roche to thank her just for inquiring if she was all right. But what the hell are you thanking Miss Perpetually-Stoned-Out-Of-Her-Fucking-Mind for?

As Roche went on to say how Rei had found fault in her leadership and would be joining the club on their next hunt in order to provide proper supervision, Nyxia found herself growing increasingly annoyed at the club’s enigmatic leader, her teeth grinding together in rising anger. That fucking bitch… She’s got some fucking nerve blaming Roche for everything that’s happened, especially when she keeps fucking off to who the hell knows where… The Neon Tempest had never particularly cared for Rei. As much as she’d initially thought of Roche as a control freak, even from the beginning, she could see that Rei was far worse. Indeed, the green-haired girl had gone so far as to practically blackmail her into joining the Detention Club. And the way she lorded her power over the club’s members while barely lifting a finger to do anything to assist them…

“It’s that bitch Rei who needs to do better,” Nyxia snapped after Roche had asked them how she could improve as a leader. “You’ve done an amazing job considering all the shit we’ve had to deal with these past few months,” she added, her fists clenched tight, while her eyes and the lines etched into her skin began to glow a bright teal. “We’re being called out by that shit stain Ashbringer and her fucking pals who are all stronger than us, and know more about Miseria then we do, but Rei doesn’t seem to give a single fuck about any of it! I don’t know what the fuck she does on her super secret missions, and I don’t fucking care, but if she can’t be bothered to deal with a threat to our city, then she can go to fucking hell!”

---

Hizuki had made up her mind. The closer, unsettling resonance it was.

She came closer, closer still to her target. While Hizuki could feel their whereabouts, it wasn’t like she knew what they were doing. Was this person standing or sitting? Were they waiting for Hizuki or totally unaware of her presence? It was difficult to hear much either. The wind rolled right over the mountain forest and howled across the top of the buildings. Other than their desires, Hizuki knew little else about her target. It was time to decide a method of approach.

She could keep going as she was until she was right on top of her objective, or take to the skies to see if she could get a proper birds-eye fix on the target. The former risked spooking them, however, and the latter would only work if they were actually on the roof, and would run the same risks when she came back down. Down the middle it is, then. She decided to increase her altitude a touch more, scanning the rooftops for potential matches to the desire she’s tracking.

There wasn’t a whole lot to hide behind on the roofs. Most of them were flat tar with a chimney or AC unit. Though there was something more interesting than that further ahead.

It looked like the mad hatter’s tea party. Several foldable tables stood end to end. They were lined with metal chairs, which were seated with everything from teddy bears to plush kittens. They appeared to be attending a tea party, but something was off. While the toys looked adorable, the same could not be said for the decor. The tablecloth was old and tattered. The plastic dishware was chipped and cracked, and the wind that was blowing so fiercely didn’t seem to disturb the area. Seated at the head of the table was who had to be Hizuki’s target.

It was hard to judge her height when she was seated, but she looked like she could be a new highschooler, if not a middle schooler. Her dark hair rolled over her horns and tumbled down her back all the way to the roof. Her white dress had paled with age, but had no other blemishes. She wore a few accessories too, from dream catchers that hung from her horns to a tiny heart shaped pendant. It contained a gemstone that was cracked in half. She had a hundred yard stare on, and wasn’t paying her surroundings any mind. She lifted an empty cup to her lips and sipped. Once she was done, she leaned back in her seat and put her thumb in her mouth.

The sight of her confirmed Hizuki’s suspicions. If this was a light girl, she was either very strange or at risk of falling. . . and light girls tended to not have horns like that. Apprehension welled up in her as she drew closer. She wasn’t sure if a dark girl would attack in broad daylight like this, but Hizuki couldn’t discount the possibility. She considered approaching untransformed, until mentally facepalming at a critical flaw in that approach: there was no way someone mundane could see this girl.

She maneuvered into the girl’s sightline and began a slow glide toward the twisted tea party. The Daybreak alighted on the far edge of the roof, and began a slow approach. ”Hello?” she called out, voice tentative. At this point her brain elected to not supply any further phrases to provide to a complete (and potentially dangerous) stranger. Her greatest weakness: actually talking to people. She eventually followed up with a ”I’m not here to fight,” hoping to ward off any initial aggression.

The horned girl turned her head slowly, not unlike an owl on a nature documentary. Her sullen eyes locked onto Hizuki before her whole body froze. She stared in silence like this for an uncomfortable amount of time. Finally she blinked, removed her thumb from her mouth, and dropped her teacup on the table. It made no sound when it landed.

The girl stood up, and her height wasn’t so imposing. She was a bit “broader” than the average magical girl, but she couldn’t have been any taller than Daybreak. Her pale dress covered her feet, which gave her the appearance of sliding across the tar roof. She stopped her advance when she was just outside of sword swinging range. Speaking of weapons, she didn’t appear to have any to speak of. ”Why would I think you were here to fight?” Her voice sounded tired, reminiscent of a teenager asked to do something on their day off. ”This is a tea party.” She pulled one of the seats out and plucked the plush monkey off it. ”If you want to stay, you’re going to have to let Mr. Banana sit on your lap. It’s okay, he’s mostly harmless.”

Hizuki blinked. She wasn’t sure what, exactly, she was expecting, but that wasn’t quite it. ”I just thought. . . well, nevermind.” Telling Maliss here she’d been half-expecting an immediate attempted homicide at the sight of a light girl in Hibusa was probably not the best way to endear herself at this point. ”Uh, sure, that’s probably okay.” She moved to take the newly-cleared chair, her wings folding up underneath her cloak to avoid snagging on anything else.

Close as she was, she should have been getting a more accurate read on the girl, but most of what she was actually feeling was more murky, dark desires. Somewhere in the swirl was a clearer impression, a wish that stood a bit higher than the churning fog around it: destruction. Another flash of worry for Daybreak. She hoped it wasn’t her Maliss wanted to destroy for interrupting her tea party, even if she had just invited Hizuki. ”So, um. . . What are you doing up here? Besides having a tea party, I mean.”

When Hizuki posed her question, she realized that the horned girl was nowhere in sight. A pair of arms wrapped around her midsection, giving her a bear hug from behind. It wasn’t especially tight, and if she really wanted to fight her way free, she could have. She stiffened and almost moved to do so, but there would be no need. With a sigh, the strange host released her and started to walk to the head of the table, some of Hizuki’s tension leaving with her.

”Sure. I can fill you in.” she sat back down before casting her gaze over everyone present. ”But before I do that, let’s get introduced. Say your names, everyone.” The tea table was quiet. Only the wind broke the silence as the horned girl drank from an empty cup, at least until the light girl volunteered her own title as ”Hizuki the Daybreak.”

”Mr Banana, don’t say such things. You barely know your ‘cushion,’ and such jokes are in poor taste.” She continued to lazily stare at the lap monkey before nodding. ”And I am your host…”



”But ‘Miss Black’ or ‘Miss Gate’ is fine.” She straightened her posture before sinking into a slouch. ”I could use your help with something. I need to get all of these fine servants into Hibusa town.”

Hizuki’s brow furrowed in confusion. ”Hibusa?” This girl was making less sense by the moment, but she at least seemed to appreciate her company? Maybe? ”Aren’t we already in Hibusa?”

It was hard to tell if Black Gate was choosing her next words, or just staring off into space. She poured nothing into her cup, and then sipped it. Her eyes drifted to a bear sitting across from Hizuki before looking back at the light girl. ”To simplify what Tibbers said, we’re not in enough. They need to be down there with the common folk. My servants must become part of their community.” she closed her eyes. ”Normally I have more time, but the eyeballs are here again. Some exterminators around Hibusa town have given me a reprieve, but I know we will be discovered soon.”

Daybreak looked around at the stuffed animals, trying to reason out this (so far) rather unreasonable-sounding girl. They could have something to do with her magic, Hizuki supposed, which would explain why she kept talking to them, and why she needed to be covert about this if other magical girls could disrupt it. Her first instinct was to offer to help, but there was important information she was missing. ”Eyeballs? Do you mean actual eyeballs, or just another girl's power watching you?”

”They are cute eyeball things that float in the air. They are about the size of your fist. They must be sentries from a hostile magical girl.”

That was good to know. If she hadn’t heard that, she probably would have started blowing them out of the air thinking they were Miseria. ”If you don't mind my asking, why do you need to avoid discovery?”

”Because this is Hibusa town, home of the dreaded Detention Club. Surely you know who they are?” She poured nothing into her teacup. While still slouched, she reached for a plastic spoon and stirred the nothing and nothing together. ”They are numerous, and I doubt I am strong enough to handle them. They travel in pairs and sometimes as an entire team. Just part of the team was enough to fight off a detachment of the Gems, destroy a powerful miseria, and ruin a beach. I’d hate to get caught by such creatures.”

Hizuki was grateful at times like these that her magical girl form covered most of her face; the visor made it hard to tell when she was shocked or afraid. She could practically hear the metaphorical shoe dropping as Black Gate connected the dots for her. So that’s who you want to destroy. The Gems being here was really bad news; there was a reason she hadn’t tried to sign on with them. ”I’ve heard of the Detention Club before, they're the reason the other light girls told me not to come here,” Hizuki began cautiously, ”but I don’t know if I’d call them creatures.” She knew she would regret continuing, but she would rather get kicked around a bit than lie to someone. ”I actually came to Hibusa to, well, talk to them?” Her voice rose with uncertainty.

Black Gate nearly spit her nothing back into her cup. It was the most awake her eyes had looked since the two had met. She plunged her thumb into her mouth and eyed either side of the table. Finally, she pulled her thumb back out of her mouth and cast her hands in the air. ”It’s fine, everyone!” Her voice was only slightly louder than it normally was. ”We all have our part to play, and she has selected hers. Besides…” After the initial outburst, the goat girl was back to her lackadaisical self. ”This may work in our favor.” She pushed herself out of her chair and walked back over to Hizuki’s seat. She tucked her dress under her knees and knelt beside her, causing Hizuki to lean away slightly in response. ”Hizuki the Daybreak.” The words oozed out of her mouth like ketchup flowing out of a bottle. ”If you are going to go visit the Detention Club, then you will be going to school, hmmm?” She waved her arm at the stuffed animals in attendance. ”Could you dispense some of my servants within the school? They make great locker stuffers, and I’m sure they would liven up the place.”

Daybreak glanced down at the stuffed monkey in her lap, an errant thought in the back of her head wondering what “Mr. Banana” had supposedly said about her that was so rude. ”That. . . probably wouldn’t be so bad.” She hesitated again, not sure how accusatory she should be here. ”Just to look around, right? I want to make sure I’m doing a good thing, you know.” And not just because it might make her stronger, though admittedly getting more powerful from performing Virtues was her second favorite thing about being a magical girl. ”They probably won’t want to hear me out if they think I’m helping you destroy them, or something.” There, that should be subtle enough, right? This was already starting to get more complicated than she’d anticipated; the way people talked about Hibusa, it’d sounded like there was more or less only the Detention Club for magical girls.

The goat girl raised an eyebrow. ”What?” After a second or two, something seemed to click. Then it slipped away. ”Yes, my servants just wish to look around. They are not capable of ‘destroying’ anything. They have no combat experience to speak of. They are…Weak… Like me.” She dragged herself back over to her chair. ”But you are a strong paladin. You’ll be okay.”

Something still didn’t feel right about this to Hizuki, but she couldn’t actually tell whether someone was lying or not with her power. It would line up if the Detention Club were who she wanted to destroy and couldn’t, but maybe there was someone else she was after. The Gems, maybe? Hizuki could understand that, at least, if half of what she’d heard about the Gems was true.

She stood up carefully, being sure not to jostle the non-tea solo party or manhandle Mr. Banana too much. ”Okay, I’ll help, then. If you run into other dark girls, could you maybe let them know I’m not actually here to fight?” Technically that wasn’t strictly true, as she was prepared to stop them from visiting harm on Hibusa’s residents if needed, but fighting wasn’t her goal. ”I’m not with the Gems, I mostly just want to see if I can help them, too.”

Miss Black inhaled deeply, then let it all go as one long, long sigh. ”I’m not here to meet people, but if I am captured I will let them know that Hizuki the Daybreak is a friend to all magical girls.” She placed her hands together and tipped her head at Hizuki. ”Thank you for your help. I’ll give you a box of my servants to disperse as you please. You can place them anywhere or even hand them off to students, but only if you can trust them to be gentle with them.” Her eyes flicked down into Hizuki’s arms, then back up to her face. ”Mr Banana likes the cut of your jib. Why don’t you keep him? He’s just the right size for a backpack charm or a shelf decoration.”

Hizuki glanced down at the stuffed animal. That thought bubbled up again, but she figured she should just take the win now that she had it. When her eyes came up, she was smiling slightly. “Sure, I like stuffed animals.” Suspicion or no, it seemed like she might have started to make a friend, or at least someone who didn't see her as an enemy. . . Also she liked being called a paladin. ”I guess I'll grab that box and take it with me tomorrow. Do you have one together already?”

”Yes, just one moment.” With all the enthusiasm of a child told to pick up their toys, Black Gate got to work. She pulled a cardboard box out from under one of the tables that was held together with duct tape. She selected her servants and placed them inside the box, occasionally whispering to the toys as she packed them up. About half of the toys wound up in the box before she folded the flaps of the box closed. ”That should be enough.” She set the box in front of Hizuki.

”Guessing you aren't going to school, by the way? No judgement.” Given the little she knew about dark girls, there was probably a reason, much like Hizuki had good reasons to disrupt her own schooling to come here.

”Not here, no.” She began to fold up the tables. There was another box, presumably for the other toys. ”It’s kind of boring though. Maybe if I skipped a grade it would be more challenging. I do well on my tests regardless of how little I study.” She rubbed the side of her head. ”I don’t come out this far. Usually. We can exchange phone numbers if you’d like.” Her eyes shifted to the monkey. ”Well maybe she doesn’t want you to relay messages for her? I’m surprised she agreed to take you after what you said.”

Hizuki's curiosity finally got the best of her as she put the toy atop the box, then carefully hoisted it into her arms. ”What did he say? I can't actually hear him.” She should have been considering how to keep the box reasonably secure midflight, but with another mention, she couldn't resist.

”Oh, I keep forgetting about that.” The two girls stared at each other. ”It wasn’t the sort of thing a lady should repeat. But, well, he called you a mattress. Being that this was said by a plush toy, I think you can understand what he was insinuating.” She looked back at the monkey. ”What do you mean I ‘ruined your chance?’ You did that all on your own, Mr Banana. I think you should take your time away from here to reflect and improve.” She looked back at Daybreak. ”It’s probably best that you can’t hear him.”

”. . . Ah.” She was lost as to how to respond to that. ”I’ll. . . take your word for it, then. Oh, right, cellphone.” Hizuki rattled off her number, then waited for Ms. Gate to do the same, which she did. Slowly.

After the exchange, she nodded once. ”Alright. I’ll get a hold of you if I need anything. Feel free to text me if you need something, but for now, I’ll be heading out. See you later.” Rather than verbally responding, Black Gate waved to the departing magical girl as Hizuki walked to the edge of the building, took one moment to triple-check that her package was secure, then rocketed off into the air, leaving the dark girl and her odd little tea party behind for the moment. That went. . . well, I think?

---

Kiyo's eyes remained locked on her newspaper (seriously, who reads those anymore?) but her attention was devoted to the other girls. "Ooh, right. We're getting stronger to fight Ashbringer, not just for fun. I nearly forgot the main quest line, there," she replied lazily—but, Nyxia was ignoring her now, to get the last word in. Kiyo couldn't fathom how quickly this girl who seemed obsessed with wanton destruction of miseria suddenly grew an attachment to a flower shop of all things. As for Kiyo, she couldn't care less if the town was flattened as long as these girls survived.

These girls who, to put it simply, had devolved into chaos. Roche was moping, Nyxia was still rampaging, Tsubomi was tripping, and Shuuko seemed... out of it, somehow. Only she and Suki seemed to have any semblance of "chill" left, and Suki was eager to change the subject, to Rei of all things. What did Rei gain from keeping all of these girls entirely dependent on her, anyway? What was so damn cool about being the Queen of Hibusa Town? She would be glad to abandon this place if they could find peace somewhere else. She'd already done it once, after all, and only come back because it seemed as if Rei might have learned something about being a proper leader while she was gone.

Just then, though, came the news that Rei would be joining them. Finally. A familiar smile emerged from behind her paper. Well, well. Seems a third option has just presented itself. I know what I'll be doing tonight. She had no intention of sharing her plan with the other girls, though. None of them were interested in hearing her out at all—but that hardly mattered, in the grand scheme of things. "For once, Nyxia is speaking sense. There would have been no Detention Club worth returning to if you'd just been Rei's obedient dog. You want my sincere advice on how you can 'do better?' Allow yourself a pat on the fucking back once in a while, huh?" This time, her voice was calm rather than emotionally charged, and with that, she let it rest. She'd already vented to Roche about this.

She stood, rolling up her newspaper, and limped her way to Shuuko's side. "Cat got your tongue?" She bonked Shuuko lightly on the head with the newspaper, grinning. "This upcoming hunt is the most important one in a while. I need your head in the game, high priestess."