Ammokkx

Grimoiric Heart - A Magical Girl Adventure

Robin was quick but the Pageless was quicker. For every arrow she shot to block its path, somehow, it found a way to break through. Even if Robin could shoot with pin-point accuracy while moving, she was still limited to the draw of her bow. She couldn't pull her arm back with enough speed to punish it for being out of position, and the one time she could, it managed to use the momentum of her projectile to its advantage to launch out to its intended location.

"ENEMY PAGELESS! I've gone to the shadows! Be on guard, multiple projectiles!" a voice reverberated inside of Robin's head.

'...Ayaka!' Robin thought to herself, growing worried about her fellow grimoire wielder. She had to trust in Yuri and Momo to protect her ally, though, as Robin herself was much too split from the group to turn back and help. If she didn't press on, the target would escape. She rushed to the outside of the door, chasing her quarry. Robin readied her bow, but just as she wanted to take aim, the world was blanketed in darkness.

"What-!" she cried out in surprise, twice when the spotlights suddenly turned on. Scheherazade seemed to have some idea of what was going on.

"Be on your guard, everyone! I hope it's not what I'm thinking, but I don't like where this is going,"

Scheherazade's warning had a calming effect on Robin. She let down her bow and crouched on the spot, taking a defensive stance. She focused for a brief moment. 'Even if we don't know what's coming, keeping the citizens safe is our mission. Stick close and protect them. I'll hold the Pageless off on the roof.'

Robin put her back to the wall of the outcrop so she couldn't be flanked, then took aim at whatever target she could. "No matter what tricks you fiends use, we'll overcome them and bring you to justice!"

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

"Welcome," the store clerk greeted Rui as she pushed open the card shop's door. She looked around a bit and then walked up to him, noticing the guy behind the counter wasn't much older than her. He also had a really angry-looking face. "Ah, I haven't seen you here before, he noted before asking Can I help you with something?" of Rui.

"Ah... well..." Rui hesitated a bit before explaining her situation. The store clerk attentively nodded and started looking through stock.

"Yellow and green, huh...? If you're looking for a quick power-up, you probably want..." he trailed off a bit, before coming up with a few varied products. "Normally you'd want singles, but since you're still building your collection, buying packs is the way to go. You can either go for boxes or..." he began to ramble off, admittedly going quicker than Rui could keep up with. The clerk explained the differences in each set, what cards she could expect to get and what those cards would do for a deck. Rui looked over all of them, nibbling her thumb a little as she considered her pocket money.

'I don't have that much money, but if it's for Sora...' she thought to herself. After a few seconds longer of such deliberations, Rui steeled herself and looked up at the clerk. "I'll take one booster box of both of these," she told him. After checkout Rui seated herself at one of the tables to open her collection, tearing open one pack after the other. She read each card carefully, even off-colour ones, to see if they were any help. Most weren't of much use to her, but one stuck out in particular. "Colour boost..." she muttered to herself, taking out her own deck and sorting through her cards. If she coupled that with some of the other cards she'd gotten so far, then maybe...

Her thoughts were disturbed as she heard the store clerk yell "Welcome!" to someone new who'd stepped in. Rui looked up to see who it was, a little surprised at who it was. That person, in turn, seemed to notice Rui.

"So we meet again." the masked boy from the day prior said to her.
"Oh? You're friends with her, Nanashi?" the clerk chimed in again. Rui looked back at them.
"Nanashi...? Like 'No name'?" she asked.
"Something like that. He comes by often, but never told anyone his real name," he answered back. The clerk looked up at Nanashi. "Hey, why don't you play with our new customer a bit? She's recently gotten into Nexus, just like you."

Nanashi turned his head to Rui. "I see... so you too, then." the boy said. He walked into the store and took the seat opposite of Rui's.

Lumia looked up to her partner. "He's not a Commander, Nee-chan. It's okay." she reassured her. After Lumia opened her mouth, though, Nanashi's gaze shifted to her. It made both Commander and Avatar tense up for a moment, thinking he could her Lumia.

"Is that your Avatar?" he asked. Rui nodded. A mysterious "I see." was all the reply she got after that. The mask made it hard for Rui to know what the boy was thinking. Could he hear Lumia, or was she just imagining it? He unnerved her, even more when she thought back to yesterday. Nanashi had talked to her about memories, after which Lumia and Rui met. It's almost as if he knew this would happen, but without being a commander himself...

Lumia, being the empath she was, could feel the tension coming off Rui. "You wanted to test your new deck, right? Battle him. I'm sure it'll work out!" Lumia reassured her. Rui closed her eyes for a bit in thought. When she opened them again, Rui gave Nanashi a smile.

"I hope you don't mind that I'm just a beginner," Rui told him.

After cleaning up her mess and laying a play mat on the table, both Rui and Nanashi played against one-another. Nanashi's Avatar was Green, which reminded Rui of Sora. Unlike Sora, however, his deck was much slower. It didn't lay out many attackers and Nanashi spent most of his time blocking and gathering cards. Rui had the upper hand for most of it.

"Seraph and Gleipnir," Rui said with focus. Nanashi countered her Attackers. She didn't stop pressing her advantage, but Rui could feel the game slipping away from her.

"I place Divine Knight Yggdrasil on the field. Diana, my avatar, evolves at no cost."
"A level three attacker..." Rui muttered in awe. She moved her own cards into the trash due to Diana's effect. Once her turn came around, Rui knew she had nothing left. Rui put down her cards. "I lose," she plainly told Nanashi. "I guess my deck still needs more work..." Rui mused to herself.

"Are you that quick to give up?" her opponent asked. Rui narrowed her eyes. Nanashi spoke up again: "If you're only doing this half-heartedly, then stop it. In order to win... in order to keep winning... you need to have the resolve to see things through to the end. Until the bitter end..." Nanashi's voice trailed off as he, looked up at the roof.

"...Aren't you being a bit dramatic? Nexus is just a game," she retaliated.
"It's more than just a game to me. I thought it would be the same for you, but... I guess you're different from her after all," Nanashi countered. He gathered his cards, got up from his seat and turned back to the clerk. "I'll drop in again later. I didn't have much time today," he told them before walking out of the store. Rui sighed.

"Strange guy, huh? Don't feel too bad at losing. He's the store's number one player," the older boy told Rui.

"No joke..." Rui replied with exhaustion. She leaned back in the chair, looking down at her cards still strewn about.

"...What do you think, Nee-chan?" asked Lumia. "Do you think you could win against another Commander now?"

Rui picked up Lumia's card and held it in front of her face. "I wonder about that...? Let's try to find one together."

"...!" Lumia was surprised at first, muttering "So you really..." before giving Rui a determined nod. "Leave it to me, Nee-chan!"

Rui cleaned up her table and left the store. She first looked up at the sky. It was grey, but no rain had fallen yet. Then, Rui looked down at her hand. She opened her palm, two shining coins among a pile of black ones.

'...Sora only has one of these now. It's time to get to work.'

Grimoiric Heart - A Magical Girl Adventure

Robin jumped from her perch when the boss monster countered, the cubicle underneath crumpling from the impact of the corpse. "Using your own allies as a shield... how dare you!" she called out after it, but couldn't pursue due to the follow-up attack. Robin looked around, scanning for both Yuri and Momoe. "Flare, Monarch! You two make sure the civilians are safe. I'm going after that villain!"

Robin got up from her crouching position and hopped from one collapsed piece of furniture to the other, quickly identifying and shooting down any shadowy creatures blocking her path. It didn't take her long to reach the stairwell, briefly catching a glimpse of the jack-in-the-box fleeing upwards.

'Ayaka! The target is moving up the building! I'm giving chase; try to intercept while I lure him out to the next floor!'

Robin telepathically gave the message to her teammate while she chased after their quarry. "I won't let you get away!" Robin shouted as she fired off arrows during her sprint. The magical projectiles weren't aimed straight at the monster, rather, she was shooting at the ground in front of it. By cutting off its escape route, Robin wanted to force the monster into the perfect spot for Ayaka's ambush.

Secundi Lux

"Crystal!"

Chie arrived at the base of the tower, relief washing over her when she saw one of her fellow Ars Magi safe. Chie couldn't stop the oncoming smile on her face, saying "Thanks goodness you're okay... When I saw that explosion-" with her sentence left unfinished. The cause, of course, being the loud crash that occurred behind her. Chie turned and readied for battle. On instinct she re-summoned her gladius, the ambient Nox gathering in her hands to form her two Chakrams. Good thing that she had a moment to do so, as the void was busy repairing its damaged limbs.

"This thing... Earlier, the way it attacked..." Chie's thoughts began to race, adrenaline pumping through her as she readied for the inevitable split-second reaction that she would need to follow up with. The void conjured up an attack; three balls of Nox in a volley. Chie's focus sharpened. She tossed her chakrams, one and two, to intercept the balls. Unfortunately, two is still lesser than three. Even when Chie hit had her two targets head-on, causing a shockwave mid-air, she couldn't take care of the third.

It was a small blessing, then, that she had Crystal there to help block the last. Well, as much of a blessing as going up close to intercept it could be. "Crystal!" Chie worriedly yelled as the other girl had gotten scarily close to the blast radius. Chie didn't have the time to worry, though. She had to focus on the target, already readying another attack. Chie tried recalling her chakrams, but they were too far away. The world had slowed down for her when she'd realised that fact. It was going to take no more than a split second for the next volley to be readied... and Chie, without her chakrams, would be unable to block it. All she could do was brace herself for the coming impact.

But that impact never came. Chie watched in awe as a new Ars Magi, one she'd never met before, leapt out of an alleyway and took care of the problem before it could become a problem. Chie caught her returning chakrams safely, then continued to observe. The lightning-coated magi called for a certain Aoife to join the fray and join the fray she did. With a veritable ocean of water conjured around her, Aoife was floating in the air. This Aoife bent the water around her, a thread separating itself from the mass to be used as a weapon to-

"...Focus! This is your chance," Chie chastised herself to snap out of her daydreaming. She turned her focus back on the void. Chie figured she could hurl her chakrams at it again, but that regeneration was a problem. The other magi were doing a good enough job cutting off its limbs already, Chie wouldn't be much help there. No, what Chie needed to do wasn't aim for the kill. It was something else. She breathed in, feeling the ambient Nox in the area course through the gem lodged into her body. "One more time... just like before," Chie steeled herself as she reached out her hand: First an open palm, then a clutched fist. As Chie closed her hand, the area around the void began to heavy. The movement of its (and, by virtue of proximity, the lightning magi's) limbs slowed down; the very ground beneath the creature pulling on it to pin it to the concrete below. The monster could put up a bit of resistance at first, but it would find it harder and harder as Chie's magic continued to grow in strength. The flipside of that coin was that this particular spell acted more like a grapple; she needed to maintain her hold at all times unless Chie intended to let the creature to break free.

A feat made exponentially harder by the pain coursing through her back, hitting her like a recursive brick at the worst possible time. "Attack it... while I've... got it locked up!" Chie's strained voice called out to... well, anyone who had the ability to follow up, really. She couldn't exactly turn her sights away from the target, finding herself equally brought down to her knees from the effort she needed to put in.

Grimoiric Heart - A Magical Girl Adventure

"And... shoot!"

The sound of glass shattering was accompanied by one of the puppets being flung like a ragdoll away from its victim. A magical arrow had made its was through the window, pinning the creature against the wall, before several more rainbow-hued projectiles followed after. Some were still caught by surprise, others managed to dodge now that they knew what was coming. Once the trick no longer worked, a young girl leapt in through her newly-made opening, bow drawn at the enemy. Her

"Pageless! How dare you torment these people!" she shouted. "No matter how many times you appear, I will not let evil go unpunished! The magical archer Robin will be your opponent today!"

Robin fired off the glowing arrow inside her bow and proceeded to leap on top of one of the cubicles' walls. It was a delicate balance to keep, doubly so while wearing heels. Still, Robin stood atop its thin edge without even a hint of unstable footing. On the other side of the room was her current nemesis, a jack-in-the-box who clearly outranked the other mooks. "Are you the boss of these fiends? If so, then prepare for your judgement!"

Robin drew back the string of her bow again, her magical power gathering, then fired off her shot. Given the distance she was at, on top of her loudly announcing her presence, it was unlikely to hit. But it didn't need to; Robin had already achieved her goal. All eyes were on her now.

'Everyone... I'm counting on you!'

Who are your writing influences?

Nobody I'm consciously aware of. It's pretty much guaranteed I'll have gotten subconsciously influenced by one thing or the other, but I haven't looked at any single written piece and been like "yeah that is peak literature" and tried to ape it.

I'm aware that's a pretty big non-answer. Probably the reason why my writing's bad; I don't actually pay that much attention to who writes in which ways. Sure, I'll definitely enjoy certain authors, but I don't really care how they write as much as I care what they write. And, being the massive fucking weeb I am, my themes of choice will often come from some videogame or anime rather than a book, meaning my writing isn't suited to any form of traditional literature.

Speaking of videogame writers though, Natsuko Ishikawa is a goddamn visionary. Every bit of FFXIV she's written for are easily the best parts of the game, and her talent shines even through a localisation that changes a lot of elements as to how the dialogue is conveyed. (Speaking of which, shout-out to the lead localizer Koji Fox too.)

Keeping with Square, I'm also a massive fan of anything Yoko Taro's ever touched. I can't call him an inspiration for my own writing, though. You gotta think like that man if you want to write like him and I sure as shit don't. For one, I lack a sense of humor :).

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

"Nee-chan? Why didn't you battle him?"

Lumia's question was late and delayed, but she hadn't gotten a chance to ask before Rui had retreated back to her classroom. Lessons would resume soon, though, and a couple of Rui's classmates had returned as well. So, instead of answering her verbally, Rui began to scratch her pencil against some notepaper, scribbling down her response.

"Got a feel for this deck. Can't win. Needs more cards."

Rui made sure to hold Lumia in front of the paper so she could see. The girl in the card crossed her arms. "Do you think so? That other girl seemed to struggle against you, though..." she replied in turn. Rui wrote down her answer again.

"She had a starter deck too. Haruto won't." she wrote. Rui looked up at the clock hanging in her classroom, nibbling on the back of her pencil. "I'll battle to win" she continued to scribble, "and I'm going to the card shop after school. He won't get away with hurting Sora." Lumia scratched her cheek, shifting nervously within the confines of her card. She looked like she had something to say. "What's wrong?" Rui asked her in writing.

"Well, your deck... it's not actually..." Lumia slowly tried getting to the point, but she shook her head before finishing the thought. After letting out a deep breath, Lumia gave Rui her most cheerful smile. "Nevermind. I'm just a little impatient to get our revenge, y'know?"

Rui's own expression softened after hearing those words. She wanted to thank Lumia, but the bell rang. Time was up. Rui quickly folded up the notepaper she scribbled on and put it away in her bag so she could dispose of it later. For now, she'd focus on her lessons. Then after that...

---

~After school~

Rui leaned back against the entrance of the school. She took out her phone to text Sora.

"I'm going to buy some cards. It's near the station, right? If you want to" was as far as she got before noticing the murmurs of students nearby. She thought she heard her name, so Rui perked up her ears and listened in.

"...had a fight."
"No way! With Haruto?"

Rui narrowed her eyes. What were they on about, she wondered? Rui stood up and left the table, sure, but neither of them raised their voices. Unless... "Good evening. Were you talking about me?" she asked of the duo of juniors.

"Oh! Senpai?" one of them reacted with surprise, not having seen Rui standing just a little ways away. "Oh... right, you're Kadomori-kun's older sister," the other murmured.

"You were talking about Sora?" she asked the two of them. One nodded and explained how rumor has it Sora got into a fight with Haruto during lunch break, but never got sent to the student guidance counselor. Rui's face turned into a frown.

"Don't joke about that. Sora would never," she defended his honor, even though it slowly dawned on her why he might've done so. In the back of her head she was already cursing that idiot for making a scene at school, but cursing herself more for not keeping an eye on Haruto. "Don't spread any more nasty rumours about my brother. If he steps out of line, I'll scold him for it myself." she warned the two first years. Rui made her way out of the school gates and opened her phone again. She edited her in-progress message.

"I'm going to buy some cards. Try to stay out of trouble, okay? I'll see if I can't pick something up for you, too."

Rui pocketed her phone when the message had been sent, then pulled up her scarf a little. She'd been on-edge all day and this new information only made the chill of the wind bite harder. Lumia had been quiet for a while, too, but maybe she didn't have something to say in the first place. Rui's eyes drifted to the sky. The weather had been nice for most of the day, but a bank of clouds was rolling in.

'Well, I guess the weather will suit me soon...' she thought to herself. Hopefully it didn't rain... if it did, she would be stuck inside that shop until the weather passed or she was forced to leave. She couldn't imagine what her parents would think if she came home drenched.

"Oh, right... mom would want to know if I'm back late," Rui mused to herself out loud. She sent her mother a text. Her phone would buzz periodically after that, almost like clockwork. Endless questions about where she was, what she was doing and telling her to come home as soon as possible. Well, that was what she was assuming in any case. Rui ignored it and kept walking.

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

The walk back home was gloomy. The streets were darkened alongside the mood of both teenagers. Sora felt bad about the situation, that much was clear as Rui hear him talk. She couldn't say anything back to him. Not even when he commented on how they hadn't been close for years; the most she could muster was a soft "sorry" muttered between breaths. Actually getting home wasn't much better for the duo. Their parents began to yell at Sora. Rui cast her eyes to the floor.

'Stop it,' she thought to herself, gritting her teeth.
'It's not his fault. Why are you always blaming him?' those thoughts continued to rage, one after the other.
'Get angry me!'
'I'm the one that caused trouble!'
'Stop treating me like I'm special!' Rui blamed herself in her head, over and over. But she couldn't muster any courage to talk back to her parents. She was part of the problem, just standing there and allowing them to heap the blame onto Sora.

"I am going to my room, okaasan, otousan." her brother said. Rui turned and tried to call his name, but she was ignored, leaving her stranded there with their mother and father.

"Go back to your room and study, Rui. We'll make sure he doesn't disturb you again tonight," her father told her. All she could do was nod. She went back to her room, shut the door behind her and then leaned against it, similar to how she had done when she'd sent Sora out of her room.

"Nee-chan? Are you okay?" Lumia spoke up from Rui's pocket. The commander took her avatar out, said avatar able to see the tired expression on Rui's face.
"...People at my school play this game, too. Against a normal person, I shouldn't have to worry about losing coins, right?" she asked of her avatar. Lumia was taken aback.
"Eh? Well, no, you don't, but... does this mean you're going to battle?" Lumia asked her. Rui just nodded. Lumia gave her a serious look. "...And your wish?" she asked. Rui closed her eyes.
"My wish is..."

---

~The next day~

Normally Rui spent her lunch breaks going over her notes as soon as she got done eating, but today was a little different. Her school wasn't old-fashioned enough to lack a cafeteria, so she'd managed to find a spot there to sit down. Rui had already finished her meal and was taking time to sort through something else she'd brought to school: her deck. Box half-opened on the table, Rui carefully went through her cards one-by-one to understand what they all did. Lumia had her own little corner on the table, eyes upturned at Rui's focused gaze, but she was uncharacteristically silent. There wasn't much point to talking to her commander; if nobody else could hear Lumia, Rui would look silly if she started talking to some cardboard. So she observed.

Turns out, though, that Lumia was far from the only person observing Rui. "Hey, you're Kadomori right?" she'd get asked from a girl who approached her. Like Rui, she'd recently bought a deck to play with, but had trouble asking around for anyone to play with her. The two practiced against each-other. The longer the game went on, the more people started to crowd around Rui's table, another pair even settling down next to her to start a game of their own.

'...No commanders, huh?' Rui thought to herself. She got her bearings on the game, but she couldn't get what happened the day before out of her mind. It didn't affect her much; she won pretty handily against the other beginner. The game came so... naturally to Rui. She had to stop more to explain the rules to her opponent than she had to actually think about her own moves.

"Hey, she might be a genius at this!"
"It"s just beginner's luck, dude..."
"I didn't know Kadomori was into Nexus. Never seen her do something besides study."

Chatter surrounded Rui. People started arguing who should play against who next. Some of them wanted to try their luck against Rui, others wanted to help the other girl out. Only Lumia's voice, however, made a chill run down Rui's spine.

"Nee-chan! I feel a commander!" Lumia warned her. Rui couldn't answer; it'd be too suspicious, but she raised her head and looked through her crowd. One person wormed their way through the rest. The sight of them made Rui's hairs stand on-end.

"Rui! You play too?" Haruto asked her with a gentle smile, as if they'd never met yesterday. Even without Sacchi's snickering Rui had seen through the act well enough. "Would you like a match with me? I'm sure I could teach you some things," he politely offered. Haruto knew that with a crowd this size, Rui had a hard time making a scene.

"Haha... sorry, I think I'm done already, actually." was her answer. Polite, but firm. Rui stood up from her seat to collect her things. "Thank you for your company, everyone!" she said. some of the guys protested, insisting she stuck around, but Rui was equally insistent on leaving. On getting away from him. She couldn't believe he went to the same school as her. Haruto stuck around for a bit, chatting, giving some tips to the other newbie as she played against someone else, before leaving as well. The crowd- particularly the boys- talked about it a bit longer.

"So cold!"
"Weird how she leaves just when when Takahashi gets here."
"Maybe I should ask Kadomori out after school..."
"You don't have a chance with that frost queen, dude."