Talk to almost any dark magical girl and they wax philosophical about the night. But as dingy as Hibusa town was, the night only lasted so long. During the day, darkness receded into its little recesses where the sun didn’t shine. Yet Suki found the early morning best for mischief. Noi one else was awake between four and six o’clock. The night owls were asleep by then and the early birds wouldn’t be up ‘till six.
Main street was empty at this hour. Hibusa wasn’t the sort of place where you encountered much security. Most of the smaller shops couldn’t afford things such as cameras, and the ones that could had no idea how to properly set them up. Even if they did, this town was Suki’s home. She knew which shops had cameras, which ones had alarms, and which ones had neither.
A small shutter shop was Suki’s target today. She didn’t know what was inside, only that it wouldn’t be hard to get her hands on whatever they had. There were plenty more nearby if this didn’t yield anything. The only catch was that the lock for this particular shop was of good quality. Her wave rake wasn’t able to open it, nor rapping on it with a small dead blow hammer. This would require actual lock picking to get open. She bit her tongue and slid her turning tool indies.
As far as Magical girls were concerned, it was hard to answer whether they firstly were the magic and then the girl, or the opposite. Perhaps it all depended on the individual, perhaps not. Most if not all of them eventually got caught up in the duty that befell them, it taking an increasingly big chunk of their lives. Inevitably, it seemed. While it may or may not be the case for some or most of the dark magical girls plaguing this city, some of them still had to keep up appearances during the day and during the night. It was certainly the case for Sayuri. Otherwise known as Kaeru, the ‘Frog Maiden’.
Before the night’s duty, Sayuri more often then not could be found wandering the city with a few friends, visiting whatever spots the young people of Hibusa town liked to visit or simply walking around the sparsely populated night streets. Sometimes it happened *after*, whereas Sayuri would wander alone while waiting for exhaustion to catch up to her. As she was making her way back to her family’s home on the mountain, she took a road not a lot of people took this early in the morning. Suddenly, she stopped.
Out from the corner of her eye, she spotted something… someone. Someone was definitely there, right in front of a door leading inside of a store, and by the looks of it they were trying to get in. Slowly, carefully, Sayuri walked up to them. Once close enough, she brought a fist to her mouth and pretended to cough;
“Ahem. Hey there. Are you…okay? Forgot your keys, did you?”"Noimnotafloormatdon’tsteponme!” was what the flustered school girl said. She stood up, gripping a stiff wire in her hand. Suki’s eyes moved between the lock, Sayuri, and then the wire in her hand.
"I know what this looks like.” She tugged on her skirt.
"So I was at school, and they gave me some really hard homework. My parents aren’t really around that much, but Mr Chen is nice to me.” She looked side to side.
"And he works here.” She tapped her chin.
"A-and when I went home last night, I left all of my notes in his shop. So uh, I woke up early hoping to grab them before the morning rush. ” She looked at the wire again.
"They make it look a lot easier in the videos.”Sayuri remained there for a few moments, allowing the weight of Suki's lie to settle in. She had a serious look about her, briefly making it appear as though she was on the verge of or taking some drastic action. Clearly Suki thought so, if her deepening frown was anything to go by. However, a change quickly took place as a faint, mischievous smile began to grace Sayuri's lips. It wasn't directed at Suki; instead, it was more about the whole situation.
“I'm sorry," she managed to say between fits of laughter.
"I'm a bit uh... tired. I worked late last night," she added with a chuckle.
"So, it's like that, huh? Haven't we crossed paths before...? I'm sure I've seen you around somewhere." "Come to think of it, you look a little familiar too.” Suki rubbed the back of her head.
Sayuri paused to ponder, tilting her head with a finger resting on her chin. Then, she had a eureka moment.
"I bet we both go to the same school!" Sayuri's eyes lit up as she came to this realization. With great enthusiasm, she clapped her hands together in triumph.
"There’s only one school around here.” Suki folded her arms.
"But that’s probably it, we just- Eh- Ah-” She stammered as Sayuri gently took hold of Suki's hands.
"How did I never notice you before? I absolutely love your outfit!" She expressed her admiration while examining Suki's fishnets and frilly shorts, running a finger along the unique fabric. Suki may have been accustomed to people reacting with mockery or confusion to her goth look, but Sayuri's fascination was entirely sincere. A longer look at Sayuri, and Suki might notice; they were not so different. Sayuri's attire was just as striking, though it leaned toward vibrant colors instead of the dark and gloomy.
"...Heh.” Suki’s pale skin was starting to change to a warm shade of red.
"Yea I uh, I don’t really dress like this when I go to school. Uniform codes and everything.” She pulled away from Sayuri and folded her hands over her chest.
"But yea! Guess I’ll have to return home empty handed.” She chuckled.
Sayuri’s had been on the lookout and her watchful eye seemed to catch the exact moment Suki finally gained some colors. Glad that she actually managed to go through to the girl, she continued on with the same jovial attitude.
“That sucks… but I have an idea.” Sayuri pulled on the strap of her bag to bring it forward and ruffle in it a bit.
Suki rubbed her arm.
"You should probably go home and get some sleep. School’s going to start in a few hours.”“Bah! It wouldn’t be the first night I barely sleep - or don’t at all. I bet it happens to you too, am I right?” She had no idea how close she was to the truth.
“Since you lost your notes - let me help you with your homework! We still got a few hours.” Sayuri finally managed to get out her own notes, proudly grinning at her achievement.
"You’d do that for me?” Suki pressed the tips of her fingers together.
"I-I mean I’ll probably remember everything when I get back home. Heh! Maybe I can even swing by and pick up everything before coming to school.” “Nonsense!” Sayuri exclaimed at Suki’s show of hesitation.
“It’s way more fun to do this together, isn’t it? Beside you look like good company. Come on!” she said as she’d pick Suki’s hand as if to lead her away.
“We’ll knock those homeworks down, and the exam will be a piece of cake. Trust me!”"Ah! Ngh! Hmm, b-but-”
The two girls ended up returning to the picnic area beside Suki’s group home. Sayuri had her own homework on her, so they would have to pick up Suki’s textbooks to get the ball rolling. They were from different classes, and had different assignments as a result. Suki’s backpack sat at one end of the table with all of her homework and textbooks spilling out of it.
"Um, so Mr Chan was helping me with my history homework.” She opened one of her textbooks.
"Feudal Japan was never my strongest subject, heh. There was a lot going on at that time.” If Sayuri knew Suki was lying, she did not let it show. Instead, she picked up her own homeworks to look over the relevant notes.
“Lots is going down even today, trust me!” she couldn’t help herself adding.
“Now, let’s see…”The two of them went at it until the sun came up. The school’s day was going to be tough - but unbeknownst to them, a sleepless night was hardly a novelty to the two new friends.
…
…
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“I'm really good at hide and seek. Mostly the hiding part.”— Suki OyamaThere were only two types of school kids: those that liked school and those that didn’t. And Suki
hated it.
She understood its importance. Your parents weren’t exactly a roadmap to a perfect life, so someone has to show you the ropes. The issue was that the Japanese school system was based around making you their perfect little pawn. Students were required to help clean the classroom after lunch, conform to a strict dress style, and they had to be on time. Faculty also felt like they could dictate how you behaved out of school. No late nights, no romance with other students, the list went on. Suki dreamed of being in an American school where a janitor kept things clean. She’d have even been able to dress how she liked. Her attendance might have been better as a result. But there was no skipping class today. After all the “help” she got from that Sayuri girl, it wouldn’t make sense to be absent from school. Speaking of which…
“Huh…”Suki was seated at her desk with her report card in hand. Did she really score above eighty today? It was hard to believe, but maybe some of the things Sayuri said had stuck in her brain. The temptation was to try and find her, but club activities were starting soon.
Suki wasn't too punctual, but today they were going to hunt for a pink haired super cutie. Unless Rei just randomly bumped into her during the day. Wouldn’t that be the most anticlimactic thing to happen? Wouldn’t that suck hard?
Not as hard as running into the rule keeper.
Alone.
Suki had enough awkward one-on-one with Roche during yesterday’s fiasco. She was well aware things hadn’t quite calmed down between them. She had gotten a dirty look from Roche earlier in the day, which confirmed there would be many more awkward encounters if Roche had her way. But while Roche might have been a dark magical girl, but she was also the track team captain. She had been molded by the school system into everything Suki didn’t want to be. The punctual timing, the approved outfits, it had all been hammered into Roche. No surprise that she was Rei’s rule keeper. She was an obedient pet that never tugged on its leash any harder than it had to. That was how Suki could keep track of her. Track practice wrapped up a few minutes ago, so she was probably strategically placing herself around the club or tailing Tsubomi. She’d just have to take the long way around.
She took advantage of the fact that no one was in her classroom. Suki flung open one of the windows and crawled outside. She closed the window behind herself to cover her trail. Then she crept along the outside of the school until she reached their club room. There weren’t a lot of opportunities to get spotted. Not by members of the school anyway. So long as she stayed beside the building and kept her head below the windows, she’d be impossible to spot. Some people driving past the school might have noticed a student slinking around outside of it, but none of them were going to stop on account of Suki. They probably had mistresses to visit or something.
The only real obstacle in Suki’s way was the club windows. They were all shut and latched, impossible to open from the outside. With a groan, Suki slipped into a nearby bush. A white hand reached out, and a ribbon of blood slipped past the window gasket and opened the latch from the inside. Suki looked up over the window sill just to make sure Roche hadn’t decided to go to the club room early. She ducked under the window frame, transformed back, and pulled out her phone. She then started to type a text message for Tsubomi.
Rainbow! ^-^ Wanna do me a solid and get to the club room ASAP? <^o^> 
