I hate collabs because I hate people. It's not because I'm painfully shy or anything...
-Nyxia Torrentia, Neon Tempest of the Ultraviolet Rainbow
As the sun began to dip below the horizon, signaling the definitive end of the club’s eventful day at the beach, Nyxia sat atop a building in an otherwise unremarkable part of Hibusa Town, staring down at the utterly ordinary street below her. Far from a major thoroughfare, it was largely bereft of traffic, vehicular or otherwise, although not much farther along its path was the access ramp to the expressway that led to the city’s airport. The airport her brother was heading to when he…
Nyxia grit her teeth and hugged the Omega Obliterator tightly.
This was where it had happened. This was where her beloved brother had been so cruelly taken from her. If only she had been there on that fateful night, if only she had possessed these extraordinary powers
then, there was no doubt in her mind Kaito would still be alive. Yet, in the most painful of all ironies, she hadn’t gained the strength that would have allowed her to save her brother until
after he had perished. Such knowledge served only to fuel the Neon Tempest’s seemingly unquenchable fury, but in the end, she knew that it was nothing more than a temporary setback. One day, she would be strong enough to set right what had gone so horribly wrong, to finally mend the gaping wound in her soul. Her weekly visits to the site of that heartrending tragedy served to ensure that she never forgot her reason for attaining that goal, no matter how unreachable it might have appeared to others. Yes, the other members of the Detention Club would merely laugh at the hopelessness of her quest, that much was certain, but Nyxia didn’t care what any of those losers thought. She already had
all the support she needed.
“We’ll bring him back, baby,” she whispered to her massive weapon as she gave it a loving caress.
“I promise.”
Several days later, summer break was drawing to a close, and while Norika didn’t attend school in the usual sense, she was still dreading the return of her personal tutor and the torrent of disparaging insults they would hurl upon her as she desperately struggled to succeed at her lessons, only to fail time and time again…
As if my parents and the servants weren’t enough… Norika thought glumly.
Indeed, poor Norika had been forced to endure an even greater level of verbal abuse than usual of late, her parents having taken their ire at the recent, unsolved break in out on their “incompetent” servants, who then proceeded to take their own frustrations out on Norika herself. While she knew full well that she was the ultimate source of her increased suffering, being the one who’d committed the theft in the first place, Norika was also well aware that even if she
hadn’t stollen the money, it would only have been a matter of time before something else sufficiently enraged her parents enough for them to place her in the exact same situation she currently found herself in.
At least they’ll never find out I was the one who robbed them, Norika reflected with no small measure of relief as she played an fps game that had given her and her brother many long hours of enjoyment. As bad as things were for her now, she didn’t even want to
think about what would happen if her parents ever discovered the truth behind the break in. Thankfully, being a magical girl meant that such a possibility was practically non-existent. Yes, becoming a magical girl had certainly brought many improvements to her life, but the sickly girl would’ve gladly traded them all for the return of her brother.
Kaito was always so much better than any of those stupid tutors… Norika grumbled to herself, while doing her best to keep her haggard breathing steady and ensure that her trembling hands didn’t shake the controller too much.
He was always so encouraging and he never berated me for being terrible at everything… From time to time, she would consider the possibility of taking revenge on her tutors and myriad other tormentors as Nyxia, but she had always ultimately decided against it. Even if she succeeded in forcing them to quit their jobs, her parents would inevitably find people who were even
worse. Of that, Norika had little doubt. To suffer was simply her lot in life. There were only two people in all the world who truly cared for and supported her, and it was Norika’s firm belief that no one else would ever join that number, certainly not a tutor.
Or a fellow member of the Detention Club…
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Between an athletic club that required a regular commitment, duties as a Dark Magical Girl that took up most nights, and scholastic standards to uphold, it would come as a surprise that Roche would volunteer for yet more work that infringed upon the little time she had open to her.
After the mixed results of the beach excursion, it seemed even less likely she’d volunteer to be alone with one Nyxia Torrentia, let alone her civilian aspect given her response to Roche’s flirtations. Disquiet is lightly putting what existed between them after that rejection, but there yet existed a greater impetus for Roche to not just volunteer, but to push for the tutoring session.
She was the Club’s Rule Keeper. There wasn’t a slothful bone in her body and Roche took her responsibilities very seriously. Even if half the club didn’t give a crap about their grades, she’d make the effort if they asked for help.
The Track Captain came up the drive of Norika’s estate in her school uniform, windbreaker and shorts forgone for the sake of formality. A shoulder bag laden with books dug into her shoulders but it was the farthest thing from her mind as she approached the door and politely knocked for entry.
Animosity, apathy, and anti-social behavior weren’t going to be obstacles to Roche in reaching out to Norika.
“Yes?” a blank-faced servant inquired in a disinterested tone after opening the front door. “Ah, you must be the new tutor,” he added after noticing the visitor’s book bag. “Right this way,” the immaculately attired man instructed, gesturing for Roche to enter and follow after him.
The extra security was no longer the obtrusive presence it had been a few days earlier, but guards could still be seen here and there as the pair moved through the palatial mansion. No one seemed to be in good spirits, be they guard or servant, and it felt as if the entire manor was cloaked in a palpable shroud of melancholy.
“Due to recent unfortunate circumstances, the master has been forced to reevaluate expenses,” the butler noted in an offhand manner. “Thus, he has chosen to make use of your services rather than those of a more qualified individual. Of course, such skilled instruction is utterly wasted on one as intellectually deficient as the young miss,” he went on. “I dare say a mere student such as yourself should have been their first choice from the outset. That is, if they even made any provision for her education at all.”
Reaching a door at the end of a long hallway, the butler stopped and rapped his gloved hand against it. “Young Miss, your new tutor is here for your daily lessons.” Without waiting for a reply, he opened the door, revealing an opulent bedroom, complete with a canopied bed which took up much of the space. Atop that bed, and mostly hidden by the blankets, was a small, emaciated girl with long, dark hair. She gave voice to a yelp of fright when the door was opened, her blanket-covered form bolting upright before freezing in place, her eyes wide and filled with terror at the sight of what lay beyond it. The only exception to her panicked petrification was the trembling of the frail hand clutched tightly to her chest as she rapidly gasped for breath.
Roche had not been so foolish as to think she was going into a house of lavish extravagance that would have left her dazzled and envious of Nyxia’s lot in life. By their very nature, Dark Magical Girls did not come from stable, loving homes. And given Nyxia was….well, Nyxia, her home life was decidedly taking the cake.
At least for girls who still had a family. If the trauma wasn’t so routinely poked with a stick Roche would have almost, almost been grateful for an empty home compared to the cold, pervasive animosity that one Butler could convey to their employer’s daughter. If they were this cavallier with a stranger then she shuddered to think what he said among fellow staff and the family themselves.
But for the betterment of all involved, Roche was not there to solve family issues that seemed best handled with a tragic housefire, but instead to tutor Norika on what the rest of girls her age were expected to know.
It simply hadn’t dawned upon Roche with any gravity just what it entailed to meet Norika rather than Nyxia. If there had been any effort to maintain secret identities, the tanned girl held no doubt Norika’s identity as Nyxia would never be discovered, for the only likeness between them was the instinctual reaction to reach out for the Omega Obliterator. Even if it were only a raygun shaped pendant upon her neck.
”Thank you. If you’ll excuse us, we’ll need our space to focus on the bookwork.” Her voice as clipped and dry as the Butler’s own, sparing him only a glance as she awaited his departure before approaching the foot of Norika’s bed. The surrealness of the moment was not lost on her, but it wouldn’t hold her back either.
”I’m going to be very upfront about this; Nothing that happens here will be told to anyone else. Not the school, you family, or the Club.”To say Norika was having a panic attack was a bit of an understatement. Her frantic thoughts raced with lightning speed, while her heart pounded so rapidly, and with such intensity, that the sickly girl feared it might actually burst free of her heaving chest.
W-W-What is she doing here?! I-I can’t let her see me like this! Crap, crap, crap, this is so embarrassing! W-What do I even do?! This has to be a nightmare! It just has to be! H-How did she even find out where I live?! Did Rei tell her?! Or is this just some awful coincidence? Does she even know I’m actually Nyxia? Oh fuck, fuck, fuck! She does know! Oh crap, oh crap! What do I do?!By this point, the poor girl was starting to hyperventilate, but even as she squeezed her eyes shut and clutched her hidden pendant tighter, the facts conveyed by Roche’s words finally broke through the whirlwind of fear and confusion that had so thoroughly enveloped her mind. The Rule Keeper wasn’t going to tell anyone. Her secret would still be safe, at least if Roche was being truthful. For all Norika knew, this was just some sadistic form of psychological torture. But then, why would Roche do such a thing? They hadn’t been in an argument since the night they’d first met, and the track captain had never been one to beat around the bush when someone had done something to earn her ire. Yet, if that was true, then what was she actually here for? Was Roche really just planning to serve as her tutor?
As she pondered these possibilities, Norika’s breathing slowly calmed, her heartbeat settling into a slightly less frantic rhythm. Whatever the case, she wasn’t just going to play right into Roche’s hands. If the Rule Keeper didn’t actually know she was Nyxia, and merely
suspected it, then Norika wasn’t going to just give her that confirmation without calling her bluff. Taking a few deep breaths to compose herself as much as possible, given the circumstances, the frail girl opened her fearful, confused eyes to look up at Roche and in a meek whisper inquired,
“C-C-Club?”Keeping her composure as another descended down the familiar spiral of panic was something Roche had experience in. At least, she was more comfortable being the watcher and instigator then the one collapsing upon themself. Then she was as much of a mess as Norika now was. She’d hoped to nip the concern in the bud but it had only been a half measure, and she needed to be more direct.
”Yes, the after school club Rei invited you to. The School wouldn’t have sent someone unaware of your obligations.” Her voice was steady, projecting a rock of surety amidst the other girl’s emotional turmoil.
”This is entirely for your school tutoring, however. We don’t need to discuss anything else if you don’t want to, but there are still education requirements you have to meet.”Of course she knows… Norika groaned mentally.
That control freak Rei must have told her everything and sent her here as some sick way of exerting dominance… Yet, even if that was indeed the case, Roche still seemed genuinely concerned about her academic performance, and as mortifying as her presence here was, Norika had to concede that even the Rule Keeper was probably a more preferable alternative than any of her usual tutors. And speaking of…
“O-Okay,” Norika whispered, finally breaking from her petrified shock to turn away from Roche and stare at the floor. After giving voice to a defeated sigh that sounded more like a whimper, she worked up the courage to ask,
“B-B-But, u-um, w-w-why are y-you h-here and n-not my u-usual t-tutor?””A few reasons. First, your family seems to have stopped paying for the usual tutor.” Roche was blunt but honest, knowing that even if Norika lacked Nyxia’s confidence she’d share her disdain for lies and half truths.
”Second, I’m the Captain of a sports team and a member of another club. The school wouldn’t let anyone do that without maintaining a high GPA. So I’m qualified. ” Setting her bag down she opened it and pulled out several heavy textbooks, laying them out facing Norika. They were followed by a crisp, untouched notebook and a rubber gripped pen.
”Lastly, I volunteered. Now let’s start with a topic you feel comfortable with. Momentum helps the mind get into a proper mindset for engagement. What are you best at?”So that was it, Norika reflected. Like so much else of late, this was yet another result of her own reckless, albeit well-intentioned, actions. Even so, unlike the other recent developments, there was still the chance, however slim, that this particular change was actually one for the better. Only time would tell…
“I-I-I’m n-not really g-good at a-anything…” Norika conceded with a sullen sigh, her head still turned away from the Rule Keeper and her eyes firmly fixed on the floor.
“N-Not when I’m l-like t-this…” she added, before giving voice to a small cough.
A pause, hand set upon the sheets as she conjured up a response to the sullen Magical Girl. Then she grasped a text and inhaled, chest swelling as she circled the bed and came to sit at Norika’s side with a healthy distance still separating them.
”It’s easy to see Nyxia as a different person from yourself. That there are things you simply can’t do as Norika, and physically that’s true for all of us. But the mind? The conviction? That doesn’t change. If you can hold onto your dreams in and out of transformation, then you are the same person with just as much competence and ability as the other.”The book was set between them; Trigonometry.
”I couldn’t take a speeding car and walk it off right now. But if I had to, I know I could jump in front of it for one of you girls. None of us are weak. We’re just wounded.” Roche said softly, radiating a certainty that gave an inkling of a thought as to why she’d been made Rule Keeper besides her rigid nature.
”So let’s start with something practical. Understanding angles is an essential skill for ballistic calculations, even if you can just bend your lasers by will alone.”Norika flinched when Roche sat down on the other side of the bed, but despite that, or her small gasp of panic, she didn’t try to scramble away. She didn’t begin to hyperventilate either, although it was certainly a challenge for the frail girl to keep from doing so. Instead, she simply sat and listened to what the Rule Keeper had to say, her head now pointed at the sheets directly in front of her, while her eyes stole quick, furtive glances at her tutor and the textbook the tanned girl had chosen.
Of course she doesn’t understand… Norika thought gloomily, another weary sigh escaping her thin mouth.
Even without her magic, she’s so strong and athletic. And she does well in school. I… I’m nothing like that…“A-All right,” she spoke up after several seconds, her eyes once again slowly finding their way to the textbook.
“B-But, um… I-I’m r-r-really t-terrible at m-math, s-so, um… p-p-please d-don’t g-get m-mad if I m-mess up…” she almost pleaded, her meek visage wincing as she spoke.
Then her eyes went wide and she inhaled sharply.
W-Wait! W-What am I saying?! W-Why the hell did I even ask that?!“U-U-Umm…! F-F-Forget I s-said that!” she stammered, her head whirling to look directly at Roche for the first time since the conversation began.
“I-I-It’s j-just that t-this is r-really embarrassing f-for m-me,” she tried to explain.
“A-A-And I h-hate a-anyone s-seeing me l-like t-this, s-so I w-wasn’t t-thinking straight, a-and… a-and…” Her weak voice trailed off as she realized her attempts to play down her blunder had only succeeded in making the situation a thousand times more humiliating.
W-What’s wrong with me?! W-Why am I saying all this?! W-What the hell am I even doing?! This couldn’t possibly be any worse! Yet, to her even greater dismay, the sickly girl was almost immediately proven wrong.
W-What?! I-I’m crying?! You stupid, useless idiot! she cursed at herself.
Y-You can’t bawl your eyes out now! N-Not in front of her! She’ll think even less of you than she already does! She’ll… S-She’ll…But it was no use. The tears flowed unrelentingly, and Norika’s small body shuddered as she broke down in anguished sobs, her trembling hands covering her face.
Roche remained a steady rock in the midst of a stream, not turning away or letting even a shred of emotion that might have been construed as judgement show on her face.
The Rule Keeper was a mess of a person. Her own life was held together by popsicle sticks and glue long since run dry. It was the lot of every Dark Magical Girl who had drank deep from the same poisoned chalice that stained the light from their souls.
Despair. The bitter drought that wet their lips yet parched their being.
”Norika, I want you to understand that what I said earlier wasn’t just about the lesson.” The Rule Keeper’s words were feather soft, yet touch was defter still as she came alongside and curled an arm around Norika’s shoulder. At one point she might have entertained certain fantasies along these lines, but seeing the girl beneath the Nyxia mask put them to rest.
”I’m an orphan, yet your home is just as cold as mine. Rage. Cry. Let it out, and I’ll tell no one what happens here.”At first, Norika's eyes widened and her frail body tensed when she suddenly felt Roche’s arm around her, but she soon relaxed after hearing the softness in the other girl’s words and realizing just how gentle and comforting the Rule Keeper’s embrace felt.
N-No one’s ever held me like this before… the sickly girl reflected, even as her tears continued to flow in a seemingly endless stream.
N-No one, except… She swallowed.
Kaito… Yes, Kaito was the only other person to ever treat her with such kindness and compassion. He had been the only person to see just how worthless and pathetic she was, yet still care for her anyway. At least, until now…
M-Maybe… M-Maybe she really does understand… While Norika despised the thought of being pitied just as much as she hated showing such weakness in front of a fellow club member, for some reason, she couldn’t help but feel that Roche’s actions were motivated not by pity, but by empathy. After their first tumultuous meeting, Norika had seen a glimpse of this unexpectedly softer side of the otherwise harsh and stoic Rule Keeper, but she had dismissed it as merely an act, a means of garnering trust through empty gestures of commiseration. Indeed, that belief had persisted, even as she had seen Roche’s impassive veneer crack on several other occasions to reveal a deeply wounded girl who genuinely cared about her teammates’ wellbeing. Yet now, those thoughts of ulterior motives had been thoroughly shaken. Perhaps she had been wrong about the track star. Perhaps they really
did have more in common than she had wanted to believe…
“T-T-Thank y-you,” Norika whispered once her sobbing had finally ended.
“F-For not t-telling a-anyone else a-about how p-pathetic I a-am. I-I-I… I-I’ve always h-hated how w-weak I am,” she continued in a quiet, trembling voice as she clasped both hands over the hidden pendant on her chest.
“K-Kaito was t-the only p-person w-who w-was ever k-kind to me. T-The only p-person who d-didn’t t-think I w-was w-worthless…””He sounds like a great boy. I wish I could have met him, and I wish you could have met my dad. He’d have called your parents complete idiots and carried you out to our car for a real family dinner in a heartbeat. Kaito and him….would have gotten on well.” Roche’s voice was halting and dry, but she knew she wouldn’t cry. She’d had all the time in the world to expel her own tears.
”I think….I think most of us Dark Magical Girls gave up. We stopped hoping we could have what we wanted most. You haven’t though. You tell the world to get bent every night you hunt Miseria, and that is incredible. You are incredible, Norika.”Roche couldn’t do that. Couldn’t dare to hope and fight for something like bringing back what she’d lost. But what she could do was give Norika and the others back the support that had sent their lives tumbling down into darkness.
”You aren’t worthless, and if you ever wanted to introduce the Club to Norika, they’d all say the same.”“I-I d-don’t k-know about t-that…” Norika’s quiet voice said dubiously, even as the first hints of a blush began to color her cheeks. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Roche was actually…
complimenting her. A part of her wanted to dismiss it as nothing more than empty things the Rule Keeper was just saying to be nice. But no, if she was being honest with herself, she knew that Roche actually
meant every word. The pain in the athletic girl’s voice when she spoke of her father gave proof of that.
“A-A-And I d-don’t w-want a-anyone else to k-know about t-this p-part of m-me,” she quickly added.
“B-B-But, um… T-Thank y-you… for b-being so n-nice,” she told the track captain, the corners of her formerly frowning mouth forming the faint beginnings of a smile before drooping down once more.
“A-A-And, I-I’m s-sorry about your f-father,” she whispered after a moment.
“I-If he w-was a-anything like Kaito, I-I’m sure the p-pain of l-l-losing him w-was unbearable…”Yes, if what Roche said was true, then she had suffered in the same way as Norika herself. Even worse, while she had her precious baby to give her strength and comfort, what did the Rule Keeper have? The other club members? Norika highly doubted someone as composed and commanding as Roche would ever confide in any of them.
“U-Um…” she began hesitantly, her shaking hands still clenched around the pendant beneath her robe.
“I-I-If y-you, uh, e-ever w-want to t-talk a-about it, I-I, um… I-I w-wouldn’t mind l-listening…”The Rule Keeper didn’t doubt the sincerity of Norika’s words when she made that offer. On reflex she opened her mouth to politely decline, but the words didn’t emerge. Something in her gorge rose up, and she realized she did want to talk.
With a smile working its way onto her lips her one armed hug loosened just enough she could reach over and pluck up the math’s textbook.
”Tell you what, Norika. Let’s give a crack at some of this material, and we’ll spend the last half hour talking about Kaito and Dad. It’s okay if we don’t make any progress. I’ll just bring some earlier material next time and work our way up.” Roche looked sidelong at Norika, holding out the text to the first unit with an encouraging expression.
“O-Okay,” Norika replied with a nod.
“I-I p-promise I’ll d-do my b-best,” she added with as much determination as her frail body could muster.
Now that she thought about it, Norika realized that she had always done better when Kaito had helped her with her studies, his kind words of encouragement seeming to clear away at least some of her mental blocks, and she found herself fervently hoping that the same would be true with Roche as well.
The pair hadn’t bothered shifting from the bed, only parting long enough for Roche to pull closer the notebooks and texts she’d already laid out and stuff some extra bolsters between her and the headboard. She’d gone in expecting Norika would not be as up to date as students in her age group, but she wasn’t that far behind either.
It might take months, but the fundamentals were all still there, nurtured by Kaito’s support and only needing a little polish to start growing once more.
With a thump the book closed and Roche checked the time on her phone, thinking it was a good point to cut off so Norika could unwind before the Butler came to sour their session.
“S-S-So, u-um… D-Did you w-want to t-talk about y-your d-dad now…?” Norika inquired tentatively.
”Well, my dad was pretty awesome. Raised me himself. Mom….isn’t in the picture, but he was always there for me. Super dad, never letting any of the stress show….at least till it got to be too much.” Roche’s head tilted back, resting against the pillows as her nails drummed along the closed book cover.
”Everything was so happy, till the day I came home and he was hanging there.”Norika gasped in shock at this horrifying revelation, but she allowed Roche to continue.
”It all came out when I was getting his affairs in order. The unpaid debts. The work pressure. Impossible goals and unpaid overtime grinding him down till he was just another statistic. You probably get how quick it was to turn dark from all that, but there was something Rei told me not to tell anyone. A rule no one is allowed to break, and she would have killed me if I hadn’t fallen short.”“I-I-I’m s-so s-sorry…” Norika managed after a moment, her fragile face filled with sorrow as she hesitantly reached over to place a shaking hand on Roche’s shoulder. She’d never tried to comfort anyone before, but knowing the pain she felt at Kaito’s death gave her a good idea of what the Rule Keeper was feeling, and she wanted to do whatever she could to lessen some of that pain, if only a pitifully small amount. Then there was the secret rule Roche was referring to, and while the frail girl didn’t know precisely what it was, she was fairly sure she had a good idea…
“D-D-Did… D-Did you t-try to k-k-kill someone?” Norika inquired, her voice a faint whisper.
“W-W-When Kaito died, t-the f-first thing I d-did after b-becoming a m-magical girl w-was k-kill the M-Miseria that m-m-murdered him,” she told the Rule Keeper, her eyes taking on a far harder and fiercer appearance than their usual meek softness.
“A-At least, I t-think it w-was the s-same one,” she added after a moment.
“I-It l-looked the s-same… A-A-Anyway, I-I w-wanted to c-completely destroy the f-filthy p-piece of s-shit, a-and it f-felt so g-good when I was a-able to, s-so, I c-completely understand i-if you f-felt the s-same w-way towards w-whoever m-made y-your dad d-do… t-that…” Unconsciously she leaned closer into Norika’s embrace, struggling to recall the last time she’d held or been held like that. It was soothing, letting her words flow like water along a stream.
”Y-Yeah, I wanted that too, but you know how I am. I take abuse then I dish it out, even then. Normal people, they can’t see us when transformed. I stopped living as Roche for awhile. I was there, in that office building, staring into the faces of people trying to figure out who it was that pushed him over the edge. I didn’t speak for weeks, just watching like a ghost…and in the end, there was no easy answer. There wasn’t some targeted campaign of terror. No abuse. Just….just…””Pressure. Pervasive, all-encompassing pressure without release.What killed him wasn’t some bastard, but a system that didn’t care.” Her lips curled but there was only bitterness as she dredged up the well-trodden revelation. That shred of insight that tore up the heart of a Magical Girl and left the wretch she was behind.
”That didn’t stop me from lashing out. His manager was supposed to look out for him, wasn’t he? If anyone could have seen the signs it was him, right? Why should he get to live while my dad didn’t?!”Roche was breathing hard and her limbs were tense, curled like a bug in its death throes before realizing she was clutching Norika too tight. She forced the limb to relax, but the mania remaied in her eyes.
”It didn’t matter to me that he was just as worn by the system. That I had looked in his eyes and stood in his office while he was unaware. Living like his shadow till the two of us were standing on a train platform. I would have pushed him. In my dreams I saw it clear as day, and some days I still do. But before my hand could even reach him, someone else bumped into him.”The difference between bystander and murderer was measured in a split second. Hesitation. Indecision. Perhaps the intervention of a twisted god granting her mercy at the expense of damning another with the guilt of a stranger’s death.
”There’s only one rule for Dark Magical Girls; Don’t kill the mundane. Cheat, steal, torture, and abuse all you like, but killing them changes you…or at least, so Rei said. If I’d done it, she’d have killed the monster I became, but I don’t think there’d have been anything left to care one way or the other. I could fall off the face of the earth and stalk a company for weeks, and no one cared. Not a soul.”Norika simply listened in silence as Roche emptied her heart out, wincing slightly at the momentary tightness of the athletic girl’s embrace, but not making any move to pull away. Roche had shown great sympathy towards
her, after all, so it only felt right to do likewise. The Rule Keeper’s revelations on why Rei prohibited the premeditated killing of ordinary people weren’t all that surprising, but the fact that Roche had come so close to succumbing to the consequences of doing so nevertheless sent a chill down the frail girl’s spine. The world truly was a dark and awful place, Norika reflected, its painfully few bright spots snuffed out all-too-quickly. That was why she fought so hard to cling to and protect them.
“N-No one c-cared a-about me, e-either…” Norika whispered as she continued to embrace the track star.
“N-No one, e-except Kaito, m-my b-baby… a-and y-you…” She swallowed.
“I-I-I k-know I’ve b-been a t-terrible p-partner, b-but I w-want t-that to c-change. F-From n-now on, w-whenever y-you n-need someone, I-I want t-to b-be there f-for you.””You weren’t terrible.” The words come reflexively, a note of tenderness as she deepened the embrace, lingering in the feeling of holding and being held both had been starved of.
”You just weren’t used to it. We all have to start somewhere.””I’ll be there for you too. More than just tutoring and magical girl stuff. If you need to get out or get away, I’ll be there for you, Norika.”The world was indifferent to the plight of people. It turned, grinding them like grain upon a mill. With neither malice nor care it broke wills and shattered lives.
That was just more reason Roche had to care for what few bright points she could shelter beneath her.
Norika had to admit, Roche’s words truly brought her a sense of comfort she didn’t think she could ever experience again after her brother’s death. Was this… Was this what having a
friend was like?
“T-Thank you, Roche,” Norika told the Rule Keeper softly.
“F-For e-everything. I-I, um, I g-guess I’ll s-see y-you again t-tonight?” she asked tentatively as she and the track star finally separated from each other.
Roche looked warmly upon Norika before nodding her agreement and rising from the relative comfort of her bed. The books remained where she left them but the bag went over her shoulder as she came to her feet.
”I’ll be there. And if you wanted to show up outside of Nyxia, I’m sure the others would welcome you too.” The Rule Keeper reiterated softly, though she wasn’t going to push too hard for it. Norika could take things at her own pace.
”Otherwise I’ll see you at our next session. Look over the books and see what you're comfortable with. Then think what you want to do afterwards. Movies, games, etc.” With one last wave she reached out to the door, her expression turning placid as she preempted the butler’s grasp of the handle.
”It was a productive session. I’ll be looking forward to the next one..”“Y-Yeah,” Norika agreed with a small, yet genuine smile.
“M-Me too.”
Majoraa
op2024
twave
CitrusArms
Shinny
FaithfulMuse
Lime
Villamvihar
Shadow Dragon
BrokenPromise
