[IC] The Truth Behind the Project

[Flamelord]

Miyako was a bit distracted with the ongoing fight to listen to Emiri ramble in a pain induced haze, instead busy making sure that she herself wasn't killed. It would be a sad way for the Best Magical Girl in the World to go out. If she did, it would be to a bunch of enemies, not two stupid Primordials. She just wouldn't allow it, even though she really didn't have a say in the matter when it came down to it. That was her resole, and she would take it.

She glanced over as the help Emiri had called for arrived, just in time to see her finish off the Primordial, blade flashing with a flourish to finish off. She knew how to put on a show, and now that she had an audience she aimed to entertain. One down, and all that was left to do was to deal with the other one.

Well, rather not, for as she watched the thing was hurt by Akame and then finished off by that other girl. Transforming next to her hadn't been necessary, though Miyako supposed that she would allow it. She didn't really have a reason to complain, she supposed, so she made no comment of it once they had finished everything.

"I could have taken it," she said as she fixed her swordstaff back together, facing the rest of them. With the scythe one out of the way, it would have been a cinch to deal with the rest. She didn't mind the help, but she felt that it deserved to be said. Hell, unlike her more experienced companion she was barely injured! Weapon resting on her shoulder, she grinned as she watched the rest of them

[MarsAdept]

Rose felt her hand being crushed be Elise. Rose tried to squeeze back but once she realized she would lose, she pulled her hand away. "That was very lady-like of you, but I guess that is just who you are. I wouldn't like you any other way." Rose rubbed her hurting hand. She did not know why she cared much about it. If her hand been crushed, it would have just mended herself. It would have hurt badly but it would have been fine. "I admit you are physically stronger than I am. Just goes to validate my reason for choosing the Urumi as my weapon. I have not aged a day. No, minute since I became a magical girl. My body now regenerates any wounds and it maintains my appearance. I cannot gain or lose weight even if I wanted to. I cannot get physically stronger like you can. I can however focus on magic. You however can get stronger. I would be honored to see you do so. Now, You seemed to have recovered your strength. Do you think you are up for another fight? The others are or should be fighting a Primordial as we speak. If not, we can go back to the party. I do kinda want to finish off that tea now that I do not need to share."

@Ariamis

[Ariamis]

The moment Rose withdrew from Elise's grip the red girl grinned. Her sides were still aching a bit, but she was back, no doubt about it. Rose said she liked her, which was the first time anyone said that to her. She blushed before she realized what was happening and then scoffed and turned around with her arms crossed as an attempt at keeping up appearances. She was accepted for what she was, and that made her happy inside, as much as she didn't want that to show on her face. Elise turned back to Rose after having recomposed herself as she explained herself being timeless; again, not a big revelation, but nonetheless interesting to think about. While being immortal would be great in terms of getting to fight for an eternity, there wouldn't be any growth in strength like she mentioned, which was something Elise valued even above brawling, and wouldn't give up on anything in the world.

"Now, You seemed to have recovered your strength. Do you think you are up for another fight? The others are or should be fighting a Primordial as we speak. If not, we can go back to the party. I do kinda want to finish off that tea now that I do not need to share."

@MarsAdept

"I could go for a fight, but if you want to sip I'm down with that too." Elise decided to throw all the decision making on Rose; she was part of the group who orchestrated this all so she'll take responsibility for it too. Besides, she gained a bit of humility after her defeat and decided not to deliberately push her luck and charge head-on to another battle the first moment one would reveal itself, unlike previously.

[TheWendil]

“No you wouldn’t,” Chiyo said loud and clear, her words directed to Miyako with a smile. “No, you would have assumed you had the ability to destroy it, only for the Primordial to reveal one final trick that you couldn’t have possibly predicted. And then you would be killed in a most brutal fashion. And Natsuko-san here would be cursing you for stupidity.”

The dark haired girl glanced at Akame, who was now transforming out of her Magical Girl attire. She was blunt, that much was noticed. And the smile-which came off as a bit arrogant-was off-putting to say the least. Still, she had saved Nanako just at the last second and that was good enough.

So why did Akame feel strange being around her? The answer was quite simple. It was because Chiyo waited until the last moment to step in. She didn’t recall the girl helping out at all in their battle just now, though that was probably because the others had weakened the Primordials before they arrived. Even so, it felt odd at the most.

“We’re leaving,” Akame announced, turning on her heels and picking up the two black stones left behind in the dust. Seriously, what use were these things for anyway?

“Komatsu-san, please carry Emiri with you. I know it would mean a lot to her to see your face first when she awakens,” Akame said before leaping away in the direction of the school.

“Let’s go too Nanako-chan,” Chiyo said, offering her hand.

Back at the school, the Contractor watched Elise and Rose interact with a blank expression. When the others arrived back, Akame gave it the black stones. Apparently it was a food source for the creature as it opened up the mark on its back to take in the stone.

“Good work everyone! We’re one step closer to completing our goal,” it praised.

[Pudding]

It was so quick. So frightening. As always, it all happened so fast. Though, Nanako tried her hardest to heal Emiri, she never took into account that the Primordial would attempt to attack her. If Chiyo was less than a second slower, she would most likely, no longer exist. The sight of the monstrous beast from then on began to sit in the back of her mind. The breath of the primordial... The drips of its froth splattered on the ground in front of her.

Chiyo stopped the Primordial from killing her. From ending her young life. The shock of that event, shattered Nanakos' transformation, reducing her back to her small human form. Her small pigtails flopped down past her head. Sudden tears formed. Small drops from her little eyes fell dripped on the ground. Rubbing her eyes, Nanako thanked Chiyo for saving her.
Nanako held Chiyos' hand when she reached out.

"I'm sorry... Thankyou... Thankyou so much for saving me Chiyo-san...I don't know how I could ever thank you properly,,, *sniffle*"

[Flamelord]

Miyako frowned as Chiyo countered what she had said with a smile. Seriously? Did she not just see that whole thing? What was she going to have to do to prove to these people that she wasn't just some wet behind the ears rookie like Nanako? Apparently killed a Primordial like that and having the backing of the Contractor himself for her status wasn't enough, so she'd just have to come up with some other method to get the respect that she deserved from them all.

"Geez," she said once Chiyo had finished, her attention fixed for now. "You make it sound like I'm a one trick pony or something. I could have handled whatever other tricks that Primordial pulled out." Not that they would ever know now, but it was her certain belief that that would have been the case. The Best Magical Girl in the World would not fall so easily as that, that much her confidence said.

She then glanced over at Akame, nodding at the instruction. "Sure thing," she replied as she sent her weapon away and picked up Emiri. She followed after the others, carrying the fallen magical girl bridal style for ease of transport and for the sake of the injured girl she had to support. Any other method wouldn't really help the wounds she had. Which was why Miyako hadn't shifted back, since she didn't want blood on her normal clothes. That was a reasonable worry, at least to her.

They managed to arrive without incident, and Miyako strode in with a grin. "The conquering hero returns," she said aloud before looking for a good spot to put Emiri down. "Oh, and the Primordials had a thing for support types," she added as way of explanation. Still, she would definitely call it a success.

[MarsAdept]

Rose was surprised that Elise actually left the decision up to her. Rose knew Elise would not be able to handle another full fight, but Elise was wise enough not to charge into battle for the sake of battle. This would be a good lesson for Elise to learn. Rose had already decided to go back to the tea party when the other magical girls came into veiw. Rose smiled, "Well, Elise, Looks like their isn't a fight after all."

@Ariamis

Rose waved at Akame to get her attention once she landed on the roof, "Hey, How did the fight go? I held down the fort here while you were off. We did come under attack, by a Primordial. I was able to defeat it." Rose's eyes wandered to the other magical girls. The others seemed to be in good health. Her eyes stopped at Emiri, "What happened to Emiri?!"

@TheWindel

[Ariamis]

"Well, Elise, Looks like their isn't a fight after all."

@MarsAdept

"Seems like it," Elise responded neutrally once the others arrived. It seemed like one of the older girls was beaten; the one who never introduced herself but Rose called her Emiri. She was the one who seemed really childish for her age, if her costume and rabbit slave was any indication. And the kindergartner seemed to be shaken by the ordeal. What an incredible twist, she sarcastically thought to herself. She's going to be so useful with her crying.
Elise didn't have much to say on the subject until a certain loudmouth decided to pollute the air with her voice:

They managed to arrive without incident, and Miyako strode in with a grin. "The conquering hero returns," she said aloud before looking for a good spot to put Emiri down. "Oh, and the Primordials had a thing for support types," she added as way of explanation. Still, she would definitely call it a success.

@Flamelord

Elise had an expression of annoyed refusal to believe what she heard. "Really? Looks like Miss Perfect doesn't have a perfect score anymore, seeing as how you let her bleed like that. So much for being the best," she added in a mocking manner, before she returned back to being serious. "But still, the Primys are dirty cowards for targeting weak opponents first. I spit on them."

[TheWendil]

“Don't you worry about it Nanako-chan,” Chiyo said happily as the group of girls leaped away from the battle scene. The boundary placed forth by the Primordial was shattered, gone from sight and existence. Arriving back at the high school, Chiyo placed Nanako down before giving her hair a quick tussle.

“The fight went about as you can imagine,” Akame reported back to Rose. “Emiri used up a lot of her magic so she’ll have to recover overtime. That means no fighting for her until she’s well rested.”

She then turned to Miyako before saying, “I apologize for the inconvenience. Please, wait a little longer for Emiri to join us again before training. I know she’s been waiting for an experience like this for a long time.”

Akame smiled, both at Miyako and the newly recovered Elise. Striding up to the crimson Magical Girl, she bowed her head slightly. She could guess that Elise would brush off her apology, probably even proclaim that she enjoyed their battle. Still, it was good manners to state her apologies all the same.

“Forgive me for battling so roughly against you,” Akame put in. “Please understand that my actions in battle do not reflect the emotions I have now. I hope we may still work together with your training alongside Rea.”

As flawless as always and it seemed even the environment had to agree with Akame’s words. The rain had stopped pouring and the sun made its presence known to the world; a vibrant rainbow appeared in following of the rain. The sight was nothing short of beautiful.

The Contractor remained silent, though he did cast his gaze briefly to the newly assembled group of Magical Girls.

“Oh my. What a lovely way to end our first day spent together,” Chiyo commented. “However, I’m afraid I won’t be enjoying the coming tides for much longer.”

“You won’t join us then?” Akame asked.

“Oh, I didn’t say that. I still have every intention of becoming a member of our new team. It’s just that I’ll be gone for the next few days or so. You see, I have some business I simply must take care of in Mitakihara Town before settling in Miso City.”

Mitakihara Town?

[MarsAdept]

Rose looked up to see the clouds begin to disperse. It made her sad. She would be without a large source of water soon. Maybe next time she will be able to fight a Primordial in a park with a large pond. But even if She used pond water, some of the parks around here had fish living in them. What would happen if Rose controlled water and happened to hit a Primal with a Fish? How would they react? Rose smiled thinking about it. How in four years had she never thought about that?

Returning to the conversation's others, Rose refocused. She listened to everyone talking. Chiyo was an interesting character. Rose would love to hear more about her abilities. She seemed off. What magical girl would turn down such a prize as writing the textbook on how to take down a Primordial nest? She was either smart or knew something Rose didn't. Rose turned her attention back to Emiri. There was nothing She could really do. Emiri just used up too much magic. Rose's water healing magic could not help. Without realizing it, Rose was backing away from people. She did it out of habit when she watched people.

[Flamelord]

Miyako rolled her eyes at the insult that the raging berserker known as Elise threw her way. Really, she was in no place to talk since she hadn't been there at all, because she'd fought herself into passing out. "Sadly, I can't be in two places at once yet. I did the best that I could in the situation." Given that neither of them had known there were two until it was too late, she really had managed well on the whole, at least in her opinion.

She shifted to look at Akane as she placed Emiri down, glad to be relieved of the burden she otherwise would have had, though it was hardly a hassle with magical girl strength added to the mix. "It's no problem," she replied dismissively as she stood by the sleeping girl, listening to everything else that had happened.

Chiyo was annoying, but Miyako wouldn't stoop to being unable to interact with her, that was for sure, she had an impression and repuation to keep up, and she would not let that fail if she could help it. "Well, see you then," she replied with Chiyo announced that sher had to leave to go to Mitakihara. It was interesting, but no concern to her. For now all she could do was wait.

[KoL]

Emiri began to regain her senses just as the rain began to recede, looks like someone had carried her back to the school and laid her to rest in their meeting room. The rays of evening light touched her skin, their warth felt good after being soaked to the bones and passing out from massive blood loss.

Emiri gazed around, her eyes were still blurry, but she could make out that all of the other girls were still in the room, Akame, Elise and Chiyo seemed to be having a conversation, while Nanako kept tugging Chiyo's clothes, Rose was still drinking tea, "Is she serious?", Emiri thought, and finally Miyako was sitting next to were Emiri was looking to her with an expression that was hard for Emiri to read.

"Ah, so you're finally awake, Asuka Emiri. I was beginning to wonder if you had used too much magical power this time and would not wake up again." The contractor said, looking at Emiri with its unbearably cute yet impossible to understand gaze. This made some of the other girls look in her direction as well, which in turn made Emiri prop herself up and sit straight before facing Rose and asking, "May I?"

Rose nodded, poured some tea in a cup and gave it to Emiri.

"Excuse me," Emiri said before drinking half of the cup in one go. Then, she set the cup aside and faced the other girls, "I'm sorry for scaring you all, and thank you. Now, I guess that I owe you an explanation, Miyako-chan, but first let me introduce myself properly since I didn't had time earlier. I'm Asuka Emiri, but you can call me Emiri. Sorry if I looked rude."

"Now then, you wanted to kow how my powers work, don't you, Miyako-chan?" Emiri said while looking Miyako in the eyes. "The others are free to listen to it too, since we all saw a share of each other's powers today thanks to those Primordials."

"As you must know, our powers are linked to the wishes that we've when we signed the contract, right? While my wish is a very particular matter to me, I can let you know that I've used it in the most stupid way possible, that is, helping another person without gaining anything in return. Though I admit that even now I don't regret doing it." It was common sense between magical girls that the worst type of wish one could make as one where you would not gain anything out of the deal, because this kind of wish only leads to magical girls like Emiri, with disgraceful powers and a twisted view of the world after they find out the truth about what it is to be a magical girl.

"Anyway, as a magical girl's power is a direct feedback from her wish, my true power is to become exponentially more powerful when I'm fighting for the sake of other person, though it also burns my magical power way faster when I'm fighting like this," Emiri than took out her soulgem, the normally beautiful golden gem was almost completely dull and stained. "Conversely, when I fight for myself only, I can't do much, but my magical reserves last a whole lot of time more."

"Either die alone, or give your life to save others, that's what means to be me." Emiri said with a wry smile in her lips, trying to make the grim statement sound like some lame joke.

Then she noticed Miyako's irritate glare, the reason for it was obvious, as nothing of what Emiri said until now explained the magic that she demonstrated today. "Don't be like this, Miyako-chan, I'm about to get to the part that you want to know, but first let me ask. Has any of you ever read anything about Alice and her adventures throught the Worderland and beyond the Looking Glass?"

The look of frustrated confusion in everyone's, other than Akame, Rose and the Contractor, faces meant either a 'not', or a 'ahat does this has to do with anything?', which was natural given Emiri's strange question. "I'll take it as a no, then."

"Anyway, the person that I wished for loved Alice and wanted to be just like her, so it seems that her love for Alice bled into my magic through my wish and so I can create barriers inspired in the places where Alice travelled, and summon any item or being the is described in the books to serve as long as I have my book and deck of cards. And all those creates and places have their own set of powers, like Peter's Rabbit Hole, for example. Iknow it's a weird power to have, but it's really useful at the same time, don't you think, Miyako-chan?"

"Anyway, it's getting late, so I guess that we should call it a day." Emiri said getting up from where she was. "I was wondering, you're new to the city, right Miyako-chan? If you have no place to go back, you can come to my apartment, it's small, but surely it's better than having no house, right? Also..." Emiri bowed to Miyako respectfully before saying, "I know that you're strong, Miyako-chan so if you don't want me to train you it's ok. But at least let me be your partner, please." and there she stood waiting for miyako's reply.

---

@Flamelord@MarsAdept@TheWindel@Pudding@Ariamis

[Spriggs27]

The Journey towards Miso city seemed to last for what seemed like centuries to Izumi's talented mind, but the trek was only a matter of hours for her to reach the city from her home city, the ride to the city would've been a bit quicker if the map that her driver used wasn't extremely dated and weathered, the moment the car arrived inside of city and Izumi caught sight of the buildings, it wasn't long before the driver found the high school and parked out front while the rain went into a downpour pelting the car with rain.

The moment Izumi opened the door and grabbed her umbrella, the rain instantly stopped and Izumi stepped out of the car leaving her umbrella behind, she took a moment and held out a hand to make sure the rain wasn't just taking a short break before coming back with a second barrage.

Izumi then continued to enter the school, she silently walked down the hallways taking in the school's atmosphere quietly to the point where she only heard her foot steps as she continued down the hall, she had this stark feeling that she knew where to go and let it guide her to a classroom inhabited by a number of people already lounging about.

The first person Izumi noticed was the contractor, having her eyes quickly drawn to it, but before she would approach anyone she curtseyed in front of everyone." Greetings everyone, I apologize for my tardiness, finding Miso city wasn't as easy as my driver thought, and the heavy rain that came down didn't help with my arrival." Izumi apologized and gave everyone an excuse for not being here on time.

[TheWendil]

Chiyo waited long enough for their new audience consisting of Izumi to show up. No doubt like the rest of the group, she was surprised to see yet another new member to their happy band of Magical Girls. That didn’t stop her from giving Izumi a small greeting before walking past her and down the hallway with the intent of leaving the school.

Her business in Mitakihara Town was of the utmost requirement. Luckily she had a way of transport and she should be there at least by nightfall. Perfect. Best to make this quick.

“There’s no need to apologize,” Akame told the new girl. “Please, help yourself to snacks and refreshments. If Rea hasn’t finished it all yet, we should still have some tea.”

She glanced over at her fellow senior before crossing over to Izumi. She quickly explained the purpose of this group and how they were going to destroy the core of the Primordials. Once that was done, the flaming Magical Girl turned to the others.

“Rea, Emiri. Do either of you mind if you have two girls to train? I’m thinking that our latest arrivals should be divided up between you,” she said, referring to Izumi and Nanako. “Sorry about this, but I think I want to be the one to train Chiyo.”

That, and something about the dark haired girl was itching at her curiosity. Lost in thought, Akame shook her head to keep in focus on the present. The Contractor had bounded up her arm and now lay perched on her shoulder.

“We’ll try and get everyone integrated within Miso City and the schools starting tomorrow. I’ll contact everyone via my Soul Gem. Until then, feel free to have the other senior Magical Girls lead you around or provide a place to sleep for the evening. I’m afraid I have some work to do, if you’ll all excuse me.”

Akame bowed once before turning around and leaving the others to their devices.

“Good luck everyone,” the Contractor called out. “Let’s be sure to work extra hard and fight as a team!”

[Ariamis]

"Sadly, I can't be in two places at once yet. I did the best that I could in the situation."

@Flamelord

"Tsch. What a pathetic excuse," Elise added before she was approached by Akame.

Akame smiled, both at Miyako and the newly recovered Elise. Striding up to the crimson Magical Girl, she bowed her head slightly. She could guess that Elise would brush off her apology, probably even proclaim that she enjoyed their battle. Still, it was good manners to state her apologies all the same.

“Forgive me for battling so roughly against you,” Akame put in. “Please understand that my actions in battle do not reflect the emotions I have now. I hope we may still work together with your training alongside Rea.”

@TheWindel

Elise was a bit surprised at Akame's apology, but quickly regained her composure, and crossed her arms. "Hey now, don't start that patronizing crap with me. It was a fair fight, and the better blade won. It was an honor to be bested by someone so strong and skilled. Besides, I did enjoy getting the stuffing beaten out of me. Like I always say: no pain, no gain. A true warrior can take as well as deal." She smiled. "Doesn't mean I don't want a rematch once I've honed my own technique with Razor; I'm not going to stay with this Lame-o-League any longer than I have to. Still, you're a wizard with those moves of yours. You talk dumb, but you're the real deal. I look forward to the next time we share blood, Arcane."

The weather turned better, which was nice, and the black-haired chick decided to leave. Elise didn't care. She didn't seem the type to stick around, and her appearance and personality were like a blank in her view. Then the childish girl woke up, and introduced herself. Well, better later than never, not that Elise actually minded. Still, if she had to constantly listen to their dumb speeches about friendship and holding hands it was easier to follow a person with a name than an anonymous one. Emiri asked if she read some stupid-sounding book, and she shook her head. Then she explained her magic, and Elise couldn't help but respond with: "That description didn't give us anything. Can that slave of yours even fight? It seems weak, and so does your powers from what I heard."

She was about to ask more when she heard someone arrive in the classroom, and turned around to see a young, long-haired blonde.

"Greetings everyone, I apologize for my tardiness, finding Miso city wasn't as easy as my driver thought, and the heavy rain that came down didn't help with my arrival." Izumi apologized and gave everyone an excuse for not being here on time.

@Spriggs27

Elise reacted in a classy way, as usual, and made a facepalm. "Give me a break. We already got one dumb crybaby here, we don't need another."

“Rea, Emiri. Do either of you mind if you have two girls to train? I’m thinking that our latest arrivals should be divided up between you,” she said, referring to Izumi and Nanako. “Sorry about this, but I think I want to be the one to train Chiyo.”

@TheWindel

Elise cringed once she realized what Akame was implying: that she would have to train alongside one of the brats. Her hands tightened into fists, and she threw a nasty glare at the two of them, as if to say: I'm not going easy on you if I get stuck with you, and you better like it.

“We’ll try and get everyone integrated within Miso City and the schools starting tomorrow. I’ll contact everyone via my Soul Gem. Until then, feel free to have the other senior Magical Girls lead you around or provide a place to sleep for the evening. I’m afraid I have some work to do, if you’ll all excuse me.”

Akame bowed once before turning around and leaving the others to their devices.

“Good luck everyone,” the Contractor called out. “Let’s be sure to work extra hard and fight as a team!”

@TheWindel

"I'm not going to school," Elise said, but Akame left before she could hear it. She scoffed at the furball's saccharine words. "There is no such thing as luck; only skill, and the will to fight."

[Spriggs27]

Izumi's calm and collected persona soon disappeared when Elise called her a crybaby and slapped herself in the face." You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, or a Kaede, I may not look it, but I'm actually 15 years old. I wasn't expecting to be greeted with such animosity but with someone like you I bet it's as causal as breathing." Izumi crossed her arms glaring at Elise, in just a couple seconds Elise earned some of Izumi's disrespect by calling her a cry baby." And I'm anything but dumb, I know for sure that my intelligence is greater than yours in several ways you wretch." She finished.

[MarsAdept]

Izumi's calm and collected persona soon disappeared when Elise called her a crybaby and slapped herself in the face." You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, or a Kaede, I may not look it, but I'm actually 15 years old. I wasn't expecting to be greeted with such animosity but with someone like you I bet it's as causal as breathing." Izumi crossed her arms glaring at Elise, in just a couple seconds Elise earned some of Izumi's disrespect by calling her a cry baby." And I'm anything but dumb, I know for sure that my intelligence is greater than yours in several ways you wretch." She finished.

@Spriggs27

Rose watched the new girl from the moment she entered the room. She hid her interest behind several cups of tea. When Akame asked for someone to train the newest girl, Rose thought about it. Elise would be hard enough, but this Izumi would be also. Elise also made it clear she did not want to train with the new girl. When Elise and Izumi got into a name calling match, Rose had to step in. Elise loved provoking fights and left alone, Elise would probably draw swords first. Calmly setting her tea cup down on its plate, Rose spoke summoning up as much self-righteous fury as possible, "Hey!!! Elise stop! You too, New Girl! Neither of you two even know each other. If you two fight, you both will lose. To ME! I will be training you both. You don't have to get a long but you will work together."

Rose lifted her tea cup and took anther sip. She calmed down that was all the anger she could muster. Calmly Rose said, "Now, New Girl, please introduce yourself properly. You mentioned something about concealed age. Trust me. That ain't nothing special. I myself am 18. You can ignore Elise's attitude at the moment. She loves to fight and you almost gave her a reason. Don't give her one. And Elise, there is no reason to provoke the new girl. There are no boys here to impress. I can train you separately from this new girl, if you have an issue. It is all water under the bridge."

@Spriggs27@Ariamis

[Spriggs27]

When another girl started to try and calm them down, Izumi sighed and calmed down because the other girl was completely right, neither of them even knew who the other was, Izumi bowed saying her name." Izumi Kaede, member of the Kaede family, and I apologize once again for being rude towards your team member, she needs to learn self control ." Izumi stood back up wondering what the other girl was getting at by saying concealed age.

" Hmm ? I never said anything about my age being concealed, but if you really need to know, I'm cursed to look this way, not by any magic, but by my genes, I have something that doctors have no name for, something the internet calls Highlander syndrome. It effected me when I was nine and my body as you can see it hasn't changed since my ninth birthday, it was hard to see my younger siblings grow taller and bigger than me and always ask why I'm not growing. Do you wish to know any more about my unfortunate syndrome ?" Izumi asked. When the girl asked if she wanted to train Izumi wanted to train her separately and Izumi just nodded.

[Ariamis]

Elise would have been more surprised at Izumi's revelation if it weren't for the fact that she already knew someone whose age didn't match their look. So having heard that, she just chuckled. It was ridiculous to her how these age-distorted people kept showing up.
Next time there's going to be a diaper-wearing 100-year-old at this rate.
She actually did consider letting her off the hook now that she revealed herself to be the same age, and thus actually someone who can fight. She was right in that Elise judged her by her appearance alone. She doesn't care enough about other people to give them a chance to prove themselves otherwise, but the spunk the kid showed was enough proof to Elise that she wasn't lying. But it didn't matter in the end once the blonde girl talked back:

"And I'm anything but dumb, I know for sure that my intelligence is greater than yours in several ways you wretch." She finished.

@Spriggs27

Elise's eyes squinted, and she bared her teeth. She was about to respond with something nasty when she was stopped by Rose.

"Hey!!! Elise stop! You too, New Girl! Neither of you two even know each other. If you two fight, you both will lose. To ME! I will be training you both. You don't have to get a long but you will work together."

@MarsAdept

"If this midget thinks she's going to get away with that-" Elise managed to say before she was interrupted.

"Now, New Girl, please introduce yourself properly. You mentioned something about concealed age. Trust me. That ain't nothing special. I myself am 18. You can ignore Elise's attitude at the moment. She loves to fight and you almost gave her a reason. Don't give her one. And Elise, there is no reason to provoke the new girl. There are no boys here to impress. I can train you separately from this new girl, if you have an issue. It is all water under the bridge."

@MarsAdept

Yes, I did notice this is a taco party, thank you very much. Too bad magical boys are not a thing, she thought sarcastically. Still, Rose's words did wake something in Elise, something she buried deep; her memories of her father and big brother. The both of them would tease and test her, but they did it out of love, out of wanting her to continue the family name. She wanted to be strong just like they were, to make them proud. She missed them, and no matter how much blood she drew, she couldn't fill that hole in her heart. She wasn't even sure if it was entirely about her family, but something she's lost along the way. Only the beast gave refuge from it, but it was not a permanent solution. Nonetheless, thinking about it made Elise chill a bit. She nodded to Rose's suggestion of training them separately, but then added: "As long as the shorty stays out of my way."

When another girl started to try and calm them down, Izumi sighed and calmed down because the other girl was completely right, neither of them even knew who the other was, Izumi bowed saying her name." Izumi Kaede, member of the Kaede family, and I apologize once again for being rude towards your team member, she needs to learn self control."

@Spriggs27

"Hmph." Elise scoffed at Izumi's words and turned away, her hands balled up as fists and pushing against her sides. She could have added something to it if she was in a worse mood, like threatening to knock her teeth off and make her eat them, but at this point she stopped caring. She already fought enough for one day, and didn't feel like stirring up more trouble. She made an aside glance at Izumi once she explained how short she was, and had nothing to add to it. She simply eyed her, pointed her index and middle fingers at her own eyes and then at her. A simple gesture that told a lot about what she thought of her.

[Pudding]

Mitakihara Town? Nanako had heard of that place before in her class. There was an exchange student in her class called Yumi from there. She was a nice girls, a little bit of a perfectionist, but nice enough to befriend Nanako. From her understanding, Mitakihara was a city some kilometers away from Miso City, so Chiyo would be traveling for awhile. It was depressing, they had only just met and already she was leaving. Nanako pretty much beleived that Chiyo could fend for herself though, she could see how extremely strong she was when it came to fighting.
Tugging on her senpai's clothes, she caught her attention.
"I... I'll miss you... Onee-chan. Be careful!" Said Nanako as she smiled sweetly.

Just as Chiyo was about to leave another girl walked in, she looked about the same age as Nanako... Maybe they could be friends?... That was her first thought until she rather rudely introduced herself, it would seem like their personalities were completely different, she also mentioned something about her looks having nothing to do with her age.
"It's nice to... Nice too meet you, Izumi-san..."

Between Emiri-san and Izumi-san, her head started to spin a little, they both used really big words. All she gathered was that Emiri made a wish for somebody and... It wasn't a good type of wish...
She snapped back into reality when suddenly, the new girl and the rash girl... Elise... Started to fight. She called Izumi and Nanako cry babies. But, to be honest, that is what she was. It was the first time she had ever had these kind of experiences and she wasn't sure how to deal with them.

"I... Know I'm a cry baby! I just need training. That's all! I can't be perfect on my first go.." Nanako was a bit mad about that remark, but, that girl seemed to like getting in fights.
"I'll just stay out of your way Elise-san... If that's what you want.. Besides! I want Emiri-san to train me!" Nanako cheerfully skipped towards her and the contractor. Giving it a nice scratch behind its ear.