After the event at the beach, everyone seemed just a bit more hopeful for the future. That wasn’t a word dark magical girls used often, but it held true here. The Hibusa girls wanted to get stronger, more so with the looming threat of Ashbringer hanging over them. She was strong by herself, but what were the rest of her “friends” going to look like?
But that didn’t matter now. One had to live too. Roache was all ready for her second run with Misoka. All she had to do was arrive.
And arrive she did, clad in the school jogging clothes. Not because she wanted to carry school pride everywhere she went, but simply because the windbreaker and shorts were perfectly balanced for a good run, and then the cool down afterwards. Normally Roche would have come to the spot well in advance and already been stretching as she waited for Misoka. Instead she’d found herself sleeping in, barely raising herself after slapping the snooze prompt on her phone’s alarm.
Refreshing herself with a cook, light breakfast, Roche paused, staring in the mirror, marvelling at how none of the damage from their beach encounter carried over to her normal form. Then with a smirk she bounded out the door, locking it behind and leaving a cold, lifeless home behind for a walk with a classmate.
Misoka was exactly the kind of person her fellow Detention Club members would hate, but none of them were volunteering for a morning run. Roche was only a minute late as she came to the meeting point, the morning air crisp and her smile a timid, hopeful thing.
The “running course” the two had picked out was a simple path that ran through the neighborhood. Roughly twenty houses in one direction before going down the back path and starting the entire thing over again. They would not have to cross traffic, nor did anyone in the area drive cars. It was the sort of track that was great for casual conversations, provided the runners weren’t pushing themselves too hard.
But on her way there, Roche’s cell phone rang. She didn’t need to look at caller ID to know it was from Misoka
”Hello Miss Hananami.” There was a long sigh on the other end of the phone.
”I have to apologize, I wanted to call you earlier, but before I knew it, it was already today and I didn’t want to wake you up.” Roche’s expression curdled as she answered the phone, but she didn’t let it reach her voice as she raised it to her ear. She had certainly had others call out on her jogs after experiencing one, but those tended to be club dropouts thinking it would have been an easy club to join.
”Good Morning. Did something come up on your end?” Roche asked, tentatively clinging to the hope Misoka hadn’t bitten off more then she could chew.
”Yes, in a word.” Roche could feel Misoka’s smile grow as she spoke.
”You know how my mother’s flower shop burned down? Well, we were toying with the idea of rebuilding it but didn’t have the means to do so. Then out of the blue my mother received a large sum of money. We thought it had to be counterfeit at first, but we checked it thoroughly and even used it to start buying building materials.” She laughed.
”But um, as good as this is for us, we still need to make sure that money goes as far as it can. So I’m going to help with the construction. And, well…” Her voice became somber again.
”I think I’m going to get my morning workout getting the shop back together, at least for a while. I hate to cancel plans last second, but these are very special circumstances.”Roche worried her lip, head turning about to confirm she was still alone in the early morning. She’d already swallowed the gut reaction of bitterness at finding her plans scrapped, because as far as excuses went, Misoka’s was rather compelling. It didn’t take long for her to connect the dots and see who would have had both reason and means to make such a donation.
After the silence on her end began to stretch to impropriety she responded with forced cheer.
”You’ll be getting plenty of exercise there. Just don’t forget to lift with your legs. But seriously, I’m happy for you, and the offer’s still open when you’ve got the store finished.””Once the flower shop is open, I’ll probably be helping run it. But we’ll see what happens. I may be able to find time to go running. Thank you for being so understanding.” Her tone became more demure as she went on.
”Um, that hurdle you were having a problem with. Is it still bothering you?” ”I….I think you got me past it. Or at least I found an avenue for it, but I guess I was a little less prepared for the ones that came after.” The answer was vague, but a bit of warmth was still in voice as Roche’s head tilted back, taking in the cloudy, morning sky.
”But I know it’s just a matter of time and perspective now. So thanks, Misoka.””You’re welcome. Have a good day!” As soon as the call concluded, Roche noticed a woman with long, vibrant red hair up ahead. She was stretching like she was going to go for a run, but wasn’t really dressed for it. It wasn’t as if a dress shirt and skirt was impossible to run in, they were just a bit nice to be sweating into. The brass buttons on her skirt had been polished to a shine, and the ribbon below her throat was even on both sides. The
red head, strangely enough, was standing exactly where Roche had planned on meeting with Misoka. She folded her arms behind her back and looked at Roche with a smirk.
Roche tucked away the phone and lowered her gaze with every intention to have her jog even if it would be alone. The familiar burn of lactic acid and the beating of her heart was just the distraction she’d need to push past the sheer absence of friends. It certainly wouldn’t have been nice to mention to Misoka her advice had left her firmly pushed out of the closet and rejected in the same breadth.
Then Roche was blinking, stricken by the unusual site of a woman stretching like she fully planned to jog in such atypical clothes. But more than that, and certainly more then the legs that seemed to go for miles, was that she was looking right at Roche and was waiting for her with an almost teasing expression.
”I’m sorry, but do I know you?” The tanned girl asked, approaching with the fearlessness of a Dark Magical Girl, more confused than wary by the stranger.
”Yes.” She looked around, only for effect, before looking back at Roche.
”Given how popular you are in school I’d have thought you’d always have someone with you. You head the track team. You’re even Rei’s right hand girl at the detention club. Surely an underling would be willing to get ‘private instruction’ from you on a cool morning?”Was the woman attempting to flatter or insult Roche? She’d succeeded in unsettling Roche as her expression tightened, her focus flicking from a face she didn’t recognize and a main of hair that was nagging at her recollection.
”You are awfully well informed, but you must not be that close to me or you’d have known better. You also didn’t give me a very informative answer there, so let me elaborate.” The Rule Keeper took a step closer, and it was taking a great deal of will power not to clutch at the emblem around her neck as she did so.
”Are you going to be menacing any more flower shops?” She clicked her tongue.
”It’s a lot more fun when you don’t tip your hand right away. You could have played dumb and tried to turn the tables on me at an opportune time.” She shook her head.
”Oh well.” She placed her hands on her hips.
”As I said before, I only destroyed that one because you lot were in my way. Which may or may not be an issue in a year or so.””You’ll have to forgive me if I’ve made it a habit of spoiling your fun.” The attempt at levity was only surface deep and Roche was tensed like a spring to be facing Ashbringer in the flesh, and well before the girl’s self appointed deadline. She knew she’d gotten a lot stronger since then, but strong enough to face Ash on her own?
Roche was stubborn, not suicidal.
”But I’ll be reasonable, if only because if you tried this with Nyxia every Magical Girl in the city would be seeing the light show by now. You’ve been watching us. You’ve stalked us at school. I imagine you probably know where I live by now, let alone how you knew I’d be here.”There was no outward reaction from Ashbringer, save a growing smile.
Taking a deep breath and releasing it through her nose, the track captain made an effort to look calm and not like she was ready to throw a punch at the sign of mechanical dragons appearing.
”Why are you here? If you just wanted to beat us down, you wouldn’t need to wait a full year, let alone spy on us.””I have my reasons.” Her smile had finally spread to her ears.
”But today I’m here for you. I really do find it baffling that you’re practically the head of two teams, conventionally attractive, and have the popular girl title. The only thing that would make it complete is if you were isakai’d here or you found a vampire boyfriend who sparkles in sunlight.” She moved a hand to her chin.
”Instead you have lazer girl, pervy girl, and ‘don’t really care’ girl that you coerced into going to the beach, but none of them want anything to do with you. Do you know why that is?”Open hostility would have been more welcome than the bizarre compliments being thrown her way by a girl who looks like she’d be student body president in both high school and university. But given her own track record she knew she wasn’t being hit on and felt her hackles raised as Ashbringer offered a loaded question.
”Enlighten me.” Roche winced at how small her voice came out, but the damage was done as she waited with bated breath.
”...What?” She tried to suppress a laugh, and failed.
”Do you think a small part of me feels empathy for you? That I would bother helping you out? That my ‘self-imposed time limit’ is somehow for your benefit? I’d smack some sense into you if I didn’t think your head would roll off of your shoulders. It can’t be on right if you’re thinking like that. Unless the blood is all rushing somewhere else?” She wasn’t smiling anymore, though she didn’t seem especially perturbed either.
”Since you’re curious about me, and you’re boring, I’ll let you know what I’ve been up to. She paused, again, purely for effect.
It’s not easy to make friends when you’re a dark magical girl. You lot are an outlier in that regard. But I was able to get my old buddy Sink Queen to sign up again. I fear the others will take more convincing.” She sighed.
”It’ll be great if I can get the old team back together. If you can keep getting stronger, I’m sure our fight will be interesting. That little spat near the flower shop will be nothing compared to what’s coming.” She turned to leave.
”Maybe I’ll even race you next time I drop by, provided you aren’t feeling so melodramatic.” The tanned magical girl winced under Ashbringer’s ridicule. For being enemies she had an uncanny resemblance to Nyxia in that moment, but she could hardly digest that before the redhead dropped the bomb shell she’d likely come the entire way to drop.
”I guess we peaked her interest after all.” The revelation was certainly a bitter one, and it had Roche wondering if it was coincidence that brought Sink Queen into contact with them, or enemy action. What really were the odds of running into her familiar in a sunken ship miles off coast? Her palm brushed against the phone tucked back into a zippered pocket as distrust curdled in her gut. Ashbringer just knew too much, in too intimate a detail, to not have a close eye, or an inside source on them.
Her enemy turned away with her word said, but Roche stamped her foot down and called out to her regardless.
”Why are you doing this?! All this for an insult?””I think I’ve said enough.” She tipped her head back.
”But since this was a bust, maybe I’ll torch that flower shop again. That’ll teach them to try and build it back.” Her steps got quicker.
”Don’t you dare!” Roche snapped out, breaking into a jog to keep up with the woman. Perhaps she really was as petty as she seemed but Roche couldn’t let her try that, not after seeing how much damage that one act had caused the Detention Club and others.
”You’ve already got your fight. Just leave the civvies out of this, or I’ll do my damned best to ruin your morning at the very least!””Hah!” The woman spun on her heel to face Roache, but didn’t stop running. She was able to run backwards and stay ahead of the track captain. It didn’t seem like she needed to see where she was going either, as she always knew just when to step to avoid running into obstacles. She stepped to the left to avoid someone walking their dog, and then to the right to avoid a lamp post.
”And how do you plan on doing that? By nagging me to death?” ”I can damn well if I need to. But let’s be honest with ourselves, if I fight you now, you’ll beat me, and then you’ll have robbed yourself of this big, stupid fight you want.” Roche bit out, finding it a challenge when they were doing this while jogging among normal people. Couldn’t Ashbringer be the tiniest bit reasonable? Of course not. If she could have been they’d have never wound up in the situation to begin with.
”So just leave the flower shop alone!”Before long, they had arrived at the ruins of the flower shop. Now nothing more than scorched earth and charred timber. Ashbringer stepped onto the blackened sidewalk and slowed down enough for Roche to close the distance. When she did, Ashbringer took hold of her waist and turned around.
Misoka was standing before them. Her cheeks were black with soot and there was a shovel in her hands.
”Miss Hananami? Regina?!” She looked between the two of them.
Roache’s focus was so tightly set upon catching up that when the backwards jogging Magical Girl came upon, Roche froze like a deer in the headlights. Perhaps it was for the best, as when she found herself embraced and turned, it really wouldn’t have been proper to explode with violence in front of Misoka of all people.
”Hello!” The girl named Regina pulled Roche closer.
”I happened to be in the area, talking to all the locals when I encountered my good friend Roche. She was telling me all about what happened to you and how you couldn’t run with her today. I could tell she really wanted to spend time with you, so I walked her over here.” ”But that call was only-” Misoka placed a hand on her chin and thought, which only smeared more soot on her face.
Before them was the flower shop, a soot-blackened Misoka staring curiously at the both of them. Yet what sent chills down her spine was the seeming familiarity with Ashbringer, or as Misoka insisted, ‘Regina’ Given her position, both literal and social, the track captain could only plaster on a strained grin and wave to the workaholic.
”What can we say? We jog quick, but it was hard to enjoy it knowing you were doing all this. Bumped into Regina here on the way. Got a spare shovel?”Misoka sighed.
”You really don’t have to help… But here, I think there’s one around here.” Misoka immediately turned around and walked towards a pile of rubble. There was a wheelbarrow and other tools nearby, and perhaps a shovel was just out of sight. With Misoka occupied, Regina took her hand off of Roche.
While Misoka took the bait and went searching the Magical Girls were left with a moment of traded barbs.
”Who knew you were such a good samaritan?” She looped her thumbs in her waistband.
”But I just wanted to get some exercise in before heading back. Since I’m dressed too nice for this, I think I’ll let you clean up after me.” She patted Roche on the shoulder before turning away to leave.
”Take care, Misoka! It was nice to see you again!” The supposed Regina excusing herself with more finesse then Roche could have managed.
The do gooder rushed out from behind the pile of rubble with a spare shovel as Regina was leaving.
”You’re leaving already?” ”Yes, terribly sorry!” She said over her shoulder, but didn’t stop walking.
”I’ll send you a message later, but I’m running behind as-is!””Alright, well, take care!” She waved to Regina one last time.
”I look after my city, Regina.” Roace growled under her breath.
Misoka turning back to Roche.
”I hadn’t realized you and Regina were um… Friends?” She gave Roche a sideways glance, like a scientist waiting for an experiment to start.
Her erstwhile enemy was already walking away, and Roche’s composure settled once more with Misoka’s company and a sudden task set before her. While not how she’d have liked to have spent her day, Roche couldn’t deny some hard work was just what the doctor ordered to get past the encounter just then. The blonde’s words had her pause in consideration as she swung the shovel to her shoulder and strolled onto the property.
”It’s only the second time we’ve met, but it won’t be the last. I’m more surprised you know her. Does she go to our school?””...Oh!” Misoka chuckled.
”I’m sorry, I thought you two were close. No, she’s not from around here. I’m not even sure if she's of school age anymore. If she is, she’s tutored in the city of light.” She pushed her shovel into the rubble and began adding to the pile.
”She’s just a friend I made over summer vacation a few years ago. Really nice person. Very friendly. The sort who can talk you out of any funk you find yourself in. We strike up the occasional messenger chat, and she drops by here every few months.” Roche had a sneaking suspicion that Regina wasn’t a day under college age but to find she was that frequent a visitor without the Club’s knowledge was unsettling. What reason did someone like Ashbringer have to hide when the city was a rich Miseria hunting ground?
It was worrying that someone Misoka considered a years old friend would then burn down her family business for an act of spite towards Nyxia, but maybe their first meeting was more engineered then they thought.
”If you don’t mind, shoot her my number. Who knows what will happen.” Roche said evenly before planting the shovel into rubble and getting to work. Given she was there, she’d work, but when they parted she had every intention of digging further into this matter.
”She’s not really a phone person, but I can get you her e-mail.” Misoka set down her shovel and started organizing everything she needed on her phone. Though while she was putting everything together, she stopped.
” Do you have any friends like that? Someone you can just tell anything to?”Her spine stiffened as Misoka asked an innocent question, and she looked back with a brief lack of any warmth before fitting a false smirk in place. “If I had friends like that I’d be out jogging with them. I can hope for that to change…”
But hope wasn’t something a dark magical girl put any stock in.
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