Meguca Micro Empire Quest (PMMM)

[inverted_helix]

Turn 25​

With the issue of maintaining the masquerade strongly on your mind you begin this month with a team meeting which you arrange carefully and quietly, having all of your girls slip out to the junkyard you've used for training in the past. It's a bit odd to the girls who are used to having an occasional monthly meeting in the house.

What you have to say doesn't really help with that disquiet. The fact that their home is under police surveillance when they've done nothing wrong causes quite the unrest. Many of the more idealist girls proclaiming that they're protecting people, and the police should be thanking them not investigating them. Some even suggest that you should just tell the police that directly.

After waiting for the immediate outburst to end, you explain the circumstances leading to this state. That the damage done to the house was suspicious in itself, combined with your rather large purchases of Kevlar, and the rumor of you being a Yakuza princess. The damage to the house is something that everyone will need to be more careful about in the future, but you bear the blame for the suspicious purchases and will be more circumspect in the future. The rumors were due to Kaori's mother trying to get help, and you level a glare at Kaoru who at least looks a tad abashed though you have severe doubts she'll actually change, Taura on the other hand already knew her role in events and shows less.

Any of those bits would have been overlooked by itself but in quick succession prompted a bit of investigating, which then had the police hear your conversations about hunting demons which they've interpreted as some sort of code for conflicts with other gangs.

This is a serious threat to the masquerade that protects the magical world. You caution everyone that the next bit is upsetting but not as bad as it might sound: Kyuubey has demanded a serious punishment for it to the tune of 30 cubes. The uproar is there but they calm rather quicker than you expected. You swiftly outline your plan of action to them and explain that with your better strength and larger territory now this amount of cubes is quite manageable regardless even if it sounds daunting.

Surprisingly they take it in stride, your silver tongue working an entirely mundane sort of power over them. It helps that there's trust there these days. You've protected and led them for such a long seeming time that when you tell them it will be okay, they believe you.

You wish it was as easy to deal with Kyuubey. You explain that he could help prevent future incidents if he gave you some advice on how to conceal similar incidents better; he surely has experience with it.

"In the past such incidents have been immediately self-correcting. Typically contractees that fight in such an explosive manner are not continuing concerns. Often both sides are terminated and almost always at least one is and the residence is abandoned for various reasons, including for the purpose of concealment. The development of larger groups which are capable of withstanding such fights and continuing to be a concern is an entirely new development. It is unclear in what manner conditions have changed to cause this development. We have yet to determine in what way we should respond to this."

This is less helpful than you expected, though you don't feel quite as surprised as you think you should be.

You begin your efforts to mitigate the situation by having one of your girls slip into the contractor's office at night to edit their records, it proves simple enough. Computer security at the tiny contractor you used is nonexistent and she's able to easily change their records. The records are very well organized which makes it easy to find all the relevant entries quickly. Getting the information on the relevant worker is equally easy.

It's the second stage where things go wrong. It turns out the man you need to discredit drinks only a little, and in your time spent observing doesn't ever get to the point of drunkenness. Fortunately your plan didn't depend on him actually being a drunk.

Unfortunately that was only the first of the issues. As it turns out, magical stealth does not always trump human science. Being imperceptible to humans didn't help when the alarm system went off on entry. Sora can't say for sure how it detected her. But when it went off it was very startling and she may possibly have smashed her way out. She's a bit shaken and admits she might not be cut out for such a criminal enterprise.

Raising an error about the invoice is attempted as you planned, but doesn't really dissuade the investigation as the call goes through to the foreman in question when he's dealing with a very real hole in his wall and answering police questions. If anything it made the police more suspicious.



To put a cherry on top of the whole situation the play fighting in the park turns into the sort of fiasco you'd expect from anime. No one actually transformed and unleashed blatantly magical attacks, but that's about the best you could call it. The sword fights showed obvious training and coordination, which wouldn't be bad in itself, but it seems like some of your girls forget that their normal state is still a bit beyond normal. Kyouko's division launched a coordinated opening strike from the trees. None of them seemed to realize that the average girl doesn't jump from a tree and land unharmed let alone performing a Jump Attack from them.

Though looking on the bright side your team did win, as Kyouko's team uniformly destroyed their own foam swords in that first strike and the "survivors" on your side were able to then destroy them even outnumbered.

In the end you have to rely on Kyuubey to clean everything up for you as you made things even worse. Records and memories of the incidents are erased, but he's charging you the full 30 cubes and even an extra 5 for having made things worse.



Things don't go very well in Kaoru's training either. You tried her best to train her, but that spark she was trying to reach remained just out of Kaoru's grasp.

The group training you'd scheduled didn't go quite like you expected. You intended something more along the lines of playing king of the mountain and hoping that Kaoru could gain some experience in applying her magic against other magical girls in that manner. Unfortunately Kyouko crashed that arrangement by announcing to the gathered girls that the goal was to knock Kaoru unconscious with the prize being you for the night. Kaoru was actually quicker on the uptake than you were. She was a dozen meters away before Kyouko finished her sentence. That didn't help much though. Even Kyouko wouldn't have stood much chance against just over a dozen veteran meguca. You still weren't sure what Kyouko thought this would accomplish. Kaoru didn't even make it two hundred meters before being brought down in a pile of limbs. You just sighed and gave Kyouko an exasperated look that she returned with a smile.

The jankenpo to determine who got the prize probably took longer than the original contest. At least Aisa and Kina seemed pleased with it, choosing to share their prize as usual with everything for them. They were content just to share some tea and cake and thank you privately for making their lives so much safer.

You finally start a bit of research again this month, with a few of your girls working on solving the issue of enchantments evaporating the moment a meguca lets go of them. Keiko is delighted to finally get the chance to do some research again after a year without the resources and makes some good progress based on her previous observations. For now she's just trying some basic strength enchanting and then testing how that strength diminishes over time by clamping one end of the object and placing a weight on the other and then measuring how it bends over time after a meguca releases it. This is tested for a variety of materials multiple times.

The project to make a meguca handbook goes reasonably well with a few hours here and there from your vets trying to put together the procedures while one of the greens you have doing some hunting this month gives their own insight into what the others overlook. They include training tips which they've discovered by practice, the way to manage money, the most important knowledge any girl can learn by hard experience of demon strength's relationship to hunting and how to minimize it. Also the basic framework of standards by which your group measures the strength of demons is put into a sort of chart. Though there's so many things that are hard to really put into words, like how to wield the myriad weapons a meguca can end up with beyond their inherent instinctive knowledge, how to dodge, or to take a lesser hit to evade a fatal one.

The section on how to handle a grief spiral is particularly unhelpful. There are several pluses and hearts next to the entry labeled "Call Mami" which includes your phone number with an additional line in small script suggesting perhaps Taya would do. There's also advisories to eat lots of ice cream, not to talk to Kyouko about it because she can be scary, an entry so scribbled out you can't read it at all, and finally at least a vaguely useful description obviously in Taya's handwriting about the use of grief cubes to mitigate grief spirals and a caution about keeping in mind your supplies and not going too far.

At least your attempt to smooth out relations with your neighbors goes well enough, they seem understanding enough of how a bunch of teen girls in the same place can produce some exuberance.

Your recruiting efforts don't go too well either. A veteran from area 5 jumps at the offer, but the girl in area 4 rejects your offer thinking herself doing well enough as it is, and the girl in area 3 isn't even willing to hear your pitch. On the other hand you were able to successfully contact the group in area 9 peacefully enough. You have an open line to them now. Both sides were cagey in the meetings so far, but you gather that the territory you were looking at is currently only a part of the area held by the group there. Your agent only met a few of them though.

Hunting reports are almost an afterthought with all that as going on this month. It seems they went well enough as you expected, there wasn't any real danger afterall. You also shift supplies of grief cubes out to your various locations so that there's less eggs in any given basket.

Business with your courier service edged up a little towards the end of the month as the economy in the area picked up, but not enough people came back to improve your sustainable harvest unfortunately.

Katsuko had a bit of a relapse into depression this month but was much more easily stabilized than last month with only a single cube. Shinobu had a nightmare about splinching which required a cube to soothe. Likewise the green you recruited last month needed a cube after some bad memories of a girl that died.

One of your greens made veteran this month.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Resources

• 4 Elite Meguca: Mami (+20% persuasive), Kyouko (can act as if two Elites), Taya
• 36 Veteran Meguca, 8 Green Meguca, 1 Associate
  • Upkeep: 12 Veteran, 7 Green, 1 Associate
    • 1.5 vet + 0.5 green demon finding training (+20% grief cubes)
    • 1.5 vet + 0.5 green on pack tactics (-4% pack hunting, -2% pair hunting)
    • 1 Vet, 1 Green, 1 Associate working jobs
    • 1 veteran (Hainako) Translation service
    • 3 veteran + 5 green working courier business (Minimum 3 vets)
    • 2 vets on dispatch service (+30% grief cubes additive with demon finding, -1% casualties)
    • 1 vet on telepathic communication (-2% pair hunting, -1% pack hunting)
    • 1 Veteran, Paperpushing
• Grief Cubes 45.7
• Money: Debt 5,910 (20% interest rate)
  • Upkeep $13,920
    • $920 upkeep on cellphones (-2% solo hunting, -1% pair hunting)
    • $400 upkeep on cable (increased due to new housing)
    • $4000 upkeep on apartments
    • $4000 upkeep on house
    • $4600 upkeep on stipend
  • Income $18,000
    • Normal Jobs: +$3000 per turn
    • Translator: +$3000 per turn
    • Courier Business, Mitakihara: +$7600 per turn
    • Courier Business, Kasamino: +$4400 next turn
• Morale: [4 of 10] Morale held mostly steady, the police situation was handled terribly, but the girls did enjoy the day out anyways.
• Assets
  • Tiny household shrine: Somewhat reduces losses to morale from deaths. (Bonus Increased by omake)
  • Shields: -3% Casualties
  • Basic General Combat Training: -2% Casualties (May decay with losses or recruitment).
  • Basic Solo Combat Training: -1% Pack Hunting, -2% pair hunting, -3% Solo Hunting (May decay with losses or recruitment).
  • Defending Others Training: -2% Pair Hunting, -1% Pack Hunting (May decay with losses or recruitment).
  • 29 Bicycles (Mobility Bonus)
  • 12 Bulletproof vest (-2% casualty)
  • 12 Sets of Kevlar Clothing (-4% casualty)
  • Housing (45/59)
    • Apartments (31 capacity)
    • House (25 capacity)
    • Mami's Apartment (HQ of sorts) (Can be traded for $1200 per turn)
• Territory
  • Urban
    • North
      • Demon Status: Below Average -1.3
      • Sustainable Harvest: 28
    • South
      • Demon Status: Above Average +8
      • Sustainable Harvest: 27
  • Rural
    • Demon Status: Average +0
    • Sustainable Harvest: 3

Map
________________________________________________________________________________________

This is admittedly terrible. It's terrible but I have to post it to just get past it and get moving. Otherwise I was never going to post anything. Kind of considering switching to action-slot model; not CK2 model, but just action slots rather than budget model, since budgeting gets super complex plans of endless wonder.

You failed so many rolls this turn. So so many. Honestly you rolled <5 like 3 times.

I need to beat this post with a formatting bat a few times to be honest, it's really confusing as is but not too sure how to format it short of putting in the various entries that you had in plan over relevant section but some of those are paragraphs themselves.

I didn't put in the various changes at the point where they occur mostly due to extreme laziness after forcing this out.

I will probably just have Kyuubey tax you extra for masquerade issues in the future.

 

[inverted_helix]

Event
​

Part way through the month you receive a panicked request for help from the girls you contacted last month in area 9 (north of Kasamino, real Fujinomiya). The details are scarcer than you'd like, but it seems one of their hunting pairs vanished and when their leader took a group of veterans to investigate two of them ended up dead and the whole party was sent fleeing.

Their leader, Seto Tomoe, tells you that the demon they encountered was not just stronger than usual, but the aura of depression it emanated which normally puella are able to shrug off crippled her party members. They burned cubes at a frightening pace just keeping their gems clear enough to think while near it. To make it worse it demonstrated much the same invisibility abilities of a specialist puella and killed one of her vets before her party even realized it was there.

She doesn't believe her group capable of fending it off herself. She's the only high grade puella in her group, and she can't handle it by herself.

Current Death Toll: 1 Green, 3 Vets (Not yours though)


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While the turn is being written have the planned event (many dice were involved to dictate particular aspects though). It will be a few tiny updates at a hopefully quick pace. To break up the monotony Lightmage indicated I plan to do more of these in the future, adjusting for how this one goes. This is a bit of a deviation from the more logical conclusion space we've been in the past couple pages (where I tried to make world building aspects based on logic) and more world-building from whole cloth. Forces dedicated to this don't necessarily impact your plan execution so long as time frames are short. You can delay response for a time as well but there would be consequences to such.

Ask what questions you will, they are much less cagey about their numbers and distributions with this threat. This is a more interactive miniturn. Risk of losses is very significant here, but there is also some ways to gather significant rewards.

 

[inverted_helix]

Superdemon Event Part 2 Q&A​

Seto's very grateful for your help.

Seto can't give you a demon strength in your terms, but it's fairly safe to hunt in pairs usually. Her group is thirteen strong, or at least it was she corrects morosely. Her group's territory, which extends a bit further than you knew, is enough to cover this without increase. It's actually quite a geographically large territory as she describes it, though much less densely populated than your own. She's aware of the dangers of over hunting from her own experience before even making a group, though not with your degree of precision. If demons begin to be a serious threat they simply ease off hunting for a while. There hasn't really been any unusual increase though.

Her own specialty is teleportation, and she's normally quite capable. Her short range flickers are quite rapid, and her group teleports have a much shorter recharge.

The despair field as you called it began affecting the members of her group the moment they entered the demon's miasma, even though they didn't see the demon at the time. It got stronger when the demon actually engaged them though. She was mostly still able to shrug it off, but the veterans she brought were not.

She only engaged it the once, as with her group already having lost 4 members to it the situation is critical, she simply doesn't have the puella to handle fighting it. Not to mention that she expects her members to be even more vulnerable to the despair field with the hit to morale from the lost lives.

The group she took against it was herself, a healer, a shielder, and two without particular powers. Her group always uses whatever means they can to kill demons, and do make use of hardened leather armor which one of them was able to acquire as well as shields.

The demon killed their healer from stealth while they were wondering why there was an empty miasma. They just turned around and half her body was gone. Their shielder threw up a spherical shield around them immediately, which sparked as the demon was caught in its formation, temporarily illuminating it. That was probably the best view of it they got, and it was very reptilian, like a lizard the size of a car. The other girls she brought tried to light it up with ranged attacks through the shield, but their blows didn't seem to do any significant damage. Seto's own attacks are melee taking advantage of her flicker speed and she was able to flicker past the shield and carve into it with her daggers, but jumped out again as its tail came around to swat her off and it pulled itself free of the barrier and vanished.

They waited under the barrier for a while after that, the seconds ticking by in agony as they burned grief cubes to deal with their despair build up. They kept trying to spot it and her girls kept firing off random attacks hoping to hit it by chance but had no luck.

Then it smashed into the shield from above with enough force to shatter it completely and render the shielder insensate and crush one of the other girls to paste. Seto then cut her losses realizing she couldn't handle this and teleported the ones left alive back to their home.

She's been tracking the demon's miasma since then and it's wandering about much faster than normal. Based on where she encountered it and where the original pair of hunters vanished she suspects it came from outside her territory, to the northeast. She's only got 3 greens and 5 vets left. The shielder has been pretty much inconsolable and Seto's unsure if she can prevent her vanishing even as it is. She's got one more healer and the other three vets don't have particular powers. The greens have a healer and shielder, but she's not willing to let them face this demon at all, that would be outright murder as much as if she killed them herself.

They have about a month of cubes stored up now, a month and a half even, with their losses. But she's not sure the idea of letting it get weaker is going to work. It hasn't interacted with other demons and there didn't seem to be any others in its miasma, though she wasn't there long enough to know for sure.


-----------------------------------


(Worth noting, your own Veteran rank teleporters can self teleport fairly often in a fight, but a long range group teleport is somewhat exhausting and they have not just a charge time but a recovery period after that's basically a lifetime in combat during which they can't even teleport themselves. Hence why having them teleport a hunting party to intercept the poachers was less effective. As an Elite Seto can basically flicker about the battlefield at will, and her ability to teleport groups is significantly improved with her able to be combat effective immediately after. A green teleporter can't move anyone but herself.)

Also her group's wish magic rolls sucked horribly. Only 3 out of 8 vets had any. Also assume that Mami asks questions as delicately as they can be put. Though asking directly about her territory and numbers was indelicate even at best.

 

[inverted_helix]

Kyuubey On the "Superdemon"
​

I do not know how strong the particular demon encountered by Seto Tomoe is. Going by its description it is likely a Class 3 by Incubator standards. This would mean a potential threat to a population of one million humans.

At this rank it is deemed that those you refer to as Green are combat ineffective, and typically a liability. While Veterans can be expected to have significantly degraded combat capabilities. Elites are mostly unaffected at this level. Multiple Elite level combatants are recommended to engage this Class.

It can be destroyed in the usual methods, though it can be expected to be more durable in all respects than normal.

The more serious issue of demons of this classification and above is that they begin to exhibit not just abilities which aid them in the defeat of Contracted, but also similar abilities to the Contracted. Attempts to force it to engage other demons are typically impracticable, as they demonstrate an awareness of the miasma of other demons and will move to avoid it if needed.

It is recommended that you handle this situation with care. Demons of this classification and above are known to be able to gain abilities from Contracted that are defeated and such can cause an increase in threat rating.

Incubators do not directly kill demons, that is what Contracted are for. It would be an energy loss if a demon was to be killed by an Incubator as it is one of the inherent abilities of the Contracted for grief cubes to form from slain demons. Though I can offer you an additional payment of 9 grief cube units at this time if you successfully defeat it.

Its future path cannot be determined with much accuracy, it will likely attempt to head towards concentrations of Contracted where possible while avoiding other miasma. Estimation of its particular abilities would be an extra expenditure, 3 grief cube units would suffice.

Demons of Class 3 and higher have become significantly more common lately. There are currently several dozen active in the Tokyo area where this one likely originated. An unfortunate circumstance as the rate of Contracted losses in Tokyo is increasingly unsustainable as a result at this time.

 

[Kinematics]

Trepidation


Kaoru sat on the short couch in the back of the living room, leaning over an untouched iced drink. A small sigh escaped her lips as she listened to the active chatter with half an ear.

"... need to pull teams 3 and 4 off patrol. We'll need Yui and Aiko on this."

"... Class 3? What the hell does that even mean?"

"... million deaths ..."

"Has anyone seen Sayaka? She was supposed to be on duty today. Dammit, if she got bored and wandered off to the music store again..."

...

So much commotion and activity usually wasn't seen except on major party days. The tenseness in the atmosphere belied that, though. A small request for help from a nearby group, and suddenly the Serene's house had become SDF central command.

Kaoru already knew what her duty would be, so there was no need for her to get in the way of all the people working support, trying to organize the teams and make sure everyone was battle-ready. Her job was to use her powers to help counter the aura of despair that this monstrous creature had, that apparently crippled most veteran meguca.

But only for the test run. A test, to see if she was capable. A test, a test, a test, like so many others that she'd been through over the last couple months. Kyouko and Mami, both spending their precious time trying to train her, to tease out that oh-so-hidden talent from within, that sadly still remained hidden.

They had to know whether they could count on her to help in this crisis, or if they'd have to shuffle her back out to the rest of the secondary teams — those waiting, and hoping to help, but who would be unable to without Kaoru's support. Barrier shields to protect the fighters, teleporters to ensure safety, clairvoyants to break through the stealth — all of them useless if she couldn't do her job.

Mami claimed Kaoru had talent, and that she believed in the young songstress, but the disasters of her training in the previous month sucked all of her confidence away.

She set the glass down on the table as the rattling of the ice cubes showed the nervousness that ate at her.

'Elite' — a word to designate talent: those who could be trusted, relied on, counted upon in times of crisis. That word was dangled in front of her not too long ago, and she jumped at the opportunity. After all, hers was a talent that should be obvious to everybody!

And perhaps it could make her strong enough to stand up to the memories that still haunted her — of Hitomi, an experienced veteran, dying in a chaotic fight, Kaoru's own injuries preventing her from doing anything to stop it.

Yet there was a side to it that she had never considered before. Kyouko beat them to within an inch of their life as part of her 'training'. Before, she thought it was just so much reckless abuse, but with the looming threat of a creature that they needed every single elite in the Organization just to fight, much less have a chance at beating... Kyouko's words held a much more terrible weight, now. It's not just about being strong enough to survive, or even strong enough to protect one or two other people.

No, to be an elite, you had to be strong enough to stand on the front lines and protect every single person behind you, no matter what the threat. You had people that depended on you, not as a cog in the machine, but as a gleaming light in the darkness.

And across the room from her, a dozen girls running back and forth in a frenzy, every single one of them counted on her, Kaoru, to be one of those great lights. She hadn't even gotten the seal of approval from Mami or Kyouko, but they still expected things from her. They believed in her. They trusted her.

Standing in front of a crowd, singing your heart out, was similar. The audience trusted you to do your best to entertain. But failure there merely got you boo'd off of stage, and as long as you put all your effort into it, you at least got partial credit.

But there was no partial credit on the battlefield, and if you failed, people died.

Could she face them again, if she failed? If, because she was not able to support the other fighters, one of their precious leaders — their precious friends — fell, because they had to fight on their own?

Once, long ago, Mami had comforted her after a traumatic accident where her foolish exuberance and recklessness caused her to spear another of her hunting team mid-battle. It had nearly crushed her, and Mami had spent four of their precious grief cubes keeping her alive. When asked why, later, Mami had just told her, "I'll never let any of my friends die if I can help it. Ever. No matter what happens, I'll always strive to be there to pull them out of the darkness."

That moment felt like it was important, as if it held a spark of enlightenment just barely outside Kaoru's grasp. She... she needed to hold onto it, today. To remember that she wasn't just showing off, fighting a monster and proving her strength. But to remember what she was there for — all the hunters, and workers, and .. every puella magi...

Kaoru jolted as a hand slammed down on her shoulder. She looked up to see Taya, her fellow commiserator under Kyouko's care. A wan smile crossed Kaoru's face.

"Hey," Taya said, a gentle smile forming as Kaoru looked up. Rather than say anything, though, she slipped down onto the couch next to Kaoru and pulled her into a half hug.

A few minutes later, a simple whisper: "Don't worry. You'll do fine."

 

[inverted_helix]

Definitely the final information post, make your battle plan.​

Seto is if anything further discouraged by the information you share with her, dredging up thoughts of those she's lost doesn't help much. The green from the missing hunting pair had very little of note, gauntlets as her weapons and limited to melee attacks, a risky life. The vet with her had simple energy attacks projected from a wand. While the vet with Seto besides the healer was just an archer.

Seto can afford to pay half of Kyuubey's price, but with as much force deployment as your plan calls for she really doesn't think she can afford covering half the grief cube cost of fighting the demon. Her group is much smaller than yours and they only have 13 grief cube units total. You're free to have all of the extra reward though for what it's worth, she knows the help you're offering is her only chance.

Approximately an hour after you agree to Kyuubey's price he returns with his assessment.

The demon has stealth capabilities comparable to an Elite specializing in stealth. More specifically it bends electromagnetic waves around itself in a bubble which is large enough to encompass its extremities. Particulates do not appear to much impair this function.

It does not appear to possess any ranged weaponry at this time, but has incorporated significant regeneration.

Calculation of the result of one emotional effect interacting with another is not guaranteed to be accurate due to inherent ambiguity of measurements. Based on observation of Kaoru's effect, she may be capable of reducing loss in combat effectiveness from 30% to 15%, for a time. It is unlikely she will be capable of maintaining the effect for long. Likewise cube consumption to maintain existence in the field for Veterans will likely be reduced to .1 units per minute per veteran from .2.

Your plan to rely on grinding down the demon over a long period with a large group is ill-advised. The emotional effect it exerts on Contracted in its miasma is more accurately described as a drain which is capable of feeding the demon. It is therefore unlikely to run out of energy while drawing from a large number of Veterans.

You can assuredly overwhelm its regeneration with such a large force and rapidly destroy it, quite possibly even in the first strike. However if it succeeds in baiting you into a prolonged fight, the odds turn against you.

A smaller group of Elites would be more suitable to such a tactic, as they will be largely immune to the drain effect and not supply it enough energy to endure. The Elites of your group along with the expected presence of Seto should be more than sufficient force to destroy the demon.

Methods to deal with this class of demon vary. In the past temporarily alliances of independent Elite Contracted from an area would form in order to deal with the threat, sometimes employing Veterans or Greens whether willingly or by coercion. Historical data indicates 3 Elites are capable of eliminating 70% of Class 3 demons. Expected casualties 40%.

Currently with the advent of larger organizations three methods appear to have emerged. After normalizing for difference in force sizes: Deployment of Elites alone results in moderate casualties and the lowest grief cube expenditures. It also allows for slow protracted battles emphasizing caution. Deployment of large numbers of veterans without Elite support tends towards heavy casualties and large grief cube expenditures but minimal damage to ruling structure, such a methodology does not seem sustainable however. Deployment of Veterans and Elites as you are considering is the third option; casualties are generally minimized, while grief cube expenditure is still quite high. However if supply of grief cubes fails, casualty rates amongst Veterans will rise rapidly. Any battle utilizing Veteran forces is therefore constrained in tactics and must be aggressive.

Original Class 3 demons typically arise from extreme overhunting as you have surmised. However when they have consumed enough Contracted they are able to split. This divides the powers possessed by the progenitor and therefore reduces the individual threat of the offspring. In some cases they do not split and eventually reach Class 4 status when they have consumed enough Contracted. It is not clear what dictates whether they split or simply continue to accumulate power. Feeding off of humans alone can sustain Class 3 and Class 4 demons in sufficient numbers, but cannot allow them to gain power or replicate. If human population is diminished it can cause them to starve.

 

[inverted_helix]

Class 3 Demon Event, Battle​

The tension as you mobilize a truly massive battle force is palpable. No one's really too sure of this. Outside of training times and SIMP meetings most girls have only moved in groups of 4 or 5 before. And it came so suddenly, barely hours after you first received the message you're martialing half the Serene into one attack group.

A huge number of cubes are handed out amongst the girls, which rapidly becomes awkward. Besides healers most of the girls have rarely carried more than three on their person before. Let alone half a dozen poured into pockets. You idly worry about that, since demons can respawn from grief cubes touching each other, but it shouldn't be a concern in such a short time frame.

You brief your girls on the situation, on everything Kyuubey has told you about this Meguca Hunter. You let them know that the all of the Elites of SIMP will be there and keep them safe, and pray you aren't lying. You stress to use grief cubes early and often no matter what they might feel, they need to be careful with the drain effect they'll be under.

With such a large group you opt to teleport. It would take too long to get there from Mitakihara just taking the bus. You teleport to the edge of Seto's territory to let your teleporters have a chance to recover before the fight. You get directions from Seto and run from there.

Seto meets you with the contingent you requested she bring shortly, rather shocked at the numbers you've brought to her aid. She makes sure you know how grateful she is even as you hand her the Kevlar equipment and go over last minute arrangements. You can feel the demon miasma now, but it's moving away. Kyouko idly comments that perhaps it's not so anxious to fight when it's not going to win.

Your group splits up into the designated squads and you let the healer team lag behind. The demon's movement means you won't really be able to set up a stationary field station as you'd like so they'll just have to keep their position carefully, you can coordinate teleports anyways.

The demon miasma is moving at about half your pace, not enough to outrun you, but significantly faster than the usual crawl. It's also massive. It's one thing to hear it over the phone; it's another to see it in person, far larger than any you've ever seen before. Your whole party slows up for a moment as you see it. You idly let the clairvoyants scry for it from just outside, but it's no good.

You have the three barrier users put up a layered shield over the entire party before you enter. You all stay grouped under it and slowly enter the miasma, you feel like twenty kilograms just settled on each of your shoulders. Your worry about your girls safety seems to double, but you know this is just the demon and push it aside completely. Your soul gem remains sparkling. The other Elites mostly handle it well, though Seto less so, her gem clouding a bit before she steels herself and straightens.

The Veterans you brought with are more affected. Aiko even falls to her knees. You push a grief cube against her soul gem yourself as Kaoru shakes her head clear and begins projecting her magical song. That seems to reduce the effects somewhat.

You order the clairvoyants to begin scrying, reminding them of their job in this again. The seconds inch by with none of them reporting anything. The demon seems content to just let you wait while its aura wears you down. Taya seems halfway to bursting a blood vessel on her forehead as she tries to penetrate its stealth. All she seems to be accomplishing is burning magic at an extraordinary rate. For your part you spread out ribbons around the group as much as you can for just an extra chance of warning.

It's a full minute, that feels like an hour of quiet tinkling of grief cubes against soul gems under a multicolored barrier before anything happens. Ayako's shout comes seemingly the same moment as the first barrier shatters from above despite the lack of buildings around you and Aiko collapses to the ground in pain from the feedback. Yui and Miwa's barriers manage to hold though even as Yui flinches from the hit against her barrier and takes a grief cube.

The storm of immediate reaction fire from your group is uncoordinated at best, more panicked flailing. Though maybe it's for the best given you still don't have a firm target. At least the shatter of Aiko's barrier gave you a general direction of "above" to focus fire in. The hail of attacks sent in that direction by your vets mostly misses and much of the remainder glances off, but at least you can make out your target from that.

Your Elite core's attacks are much more on target. Your battery of musket fire slams into the invisible monster, though without clairvoyant penetration you're knowing you hit more by the lack of the bullets continuing than anything else. Likewise Kyouko is throwing spears as fast as she can while the affectionately nicknamed Kyoclone follows suit, you put a bow on it to be sure which is which. Seto flickers into the shadow of the attacks for an instant, an oddly strange sight as you can still see her clearly in what looks like the path of your attacks but not being hit. Taya fails to respond, seemingly locked up.

You attempt to latch onto it with your ribbons, but it's gone before you can draw them taut on anything, Yui's barrier dimpling a bit as it does so. The engagement lasted only seconds. It still doesn't trip any of the ribbons around you.

You've no way of knowing how much damage you inflicted because the invisibility never failed. Your plan relied on being able to at least see it after the first engagement. You're tempted to order the rest of the squads to stay for another round, but following your standing orders, or perhaps just scared, the three squads of vets teleport out before you can decide.

Taya is still attempting to scry for the demon, but has nothing to say. You and Kyouko and Kyoclone form a circle around her, Seto standing next to her, daggers slightly quivering. You catch Kyouko smiling at you out of the corner of your eye, and have an amazing sense of nostalgia.

A thought flashes across your mind, some instinct perhaps, and ribbons form a dome above your group. Just in time it seems as the demon seems to have had no reason to wait after your vets left. You aren't able to harden them enough to stop it as it crashes through them, but it does give you an awfully nice target and slows it down as the five of you scatter. The air roars with gunfire as you open up on the revealed demon. For its part it goes after Kyoclone leaving her in a frantic evasion and parry that leaves her spear screeching from abuse as claws and teeth are deflected.

Seto flickers into view in front of it, stabbing directly into its maw, and it's jaws snap shut, your blood runs cold and you pull with strength you know you don't have to slow them. For just an eyeblink the ribbon across its jaw loses its color. And Seto flickers away, daggers left behind as she summons more. Taya spins around the demon her totsuka biting deep, trying to make up for her failures before.

Your own shots ping off it, deflecting. You can't really tell how injured it is though. You have an outline of ribbons but you still can't see it. Kyouko struggles to safely attack it with her spears.

It suddenly shifts its attack from the beleaguered but holding Kyoclone. Seto leaves behind a leg as she teleports completely out of the miasma. You get several telepathic calls from worried vets which you shut out as you focus on restraining the demon, guns abandoned for the moment.

The monster taking its attention away from Kyouko for even a moment was a mistake though as twin Kyoukos are free to tear into it, and its struggles against your ribbons weaken. Chunks become visible as they fall away. Finally it stays still and the stealth effect fails completely, you get a look as it begins to dissolve away. It's more intact than you'd like given how many attacks it absorbed.

The miasma around you begins breaking down.



Fight Complete:

Cube costs: .3 replacing a leg, 2.4 vets resisting miasma, 1.5 Kyuubey information = 4.2 cubes
Guardian Angel expended preserving Seto Tomoe (not actually related, just coincidence, maybe) from death.
Cube rewards: Kyuubey's bounty 9, Dropped 5.

Net gain: 9.8 Cubes

 

[TheEyes]

Aftermath of the Demon - Seto's Decision

Tomoe Seto lay on her back, fuming at her missing leg, as she was tended to by the healers. Well, tended to by her healer, anyway; the Serene healer--Miki Sayaka--had taken one look at her leg, blanched, and instead set to healing her other injuries first, while Mai had started on the leg. Seriously, what kind of "veteran healer" got queasy over a single missing limb? These "Serene" were obviously a bunch of soft-hearted weaklings, like she had always thought.

Hurry, Mai!, Seto 'pathed to her healer, I need to get back in there, before those girls are overru-

Tomoe Seto was startled by a shout of triumph from the telepath girl--Tiara? Taura--and, amazingly, the miasma started to dissipate. Was it really over that quickly? How? Who had killed it?

In the moments following the battle, Seto was at least spared the indignity of being caught on her back when the Serene elites returned. Hoisting herself up on her newly-regrown leg, she did her best to look ready for a fight, ignoring the phantom pains in her new foot. This was a critical moment for them: the Serene girls, soft and weak as they are, currently outnumbered her own group more than three to one, and with four Elite-level fighters too.

Seto had heard the rumors of how the Serene operated, how they would "recruit" people by force and trick vulnerable girls into joining their group. The girls from Iwata, before they died, had been very clear about all of that, though their stories seemed rather vague and full of holes otherwise. If the Serene wanted to press a claim, right now, Seto and her group would be backed into a corner.

The Serene's yellow-haired leader landed first. Seto tensed, waiting for the inevitable, as Mami spoke, sealing her fa- "Ah, Tomoe-san, I'm glad to see you're up. Are you feeling okay?"

Seto blinked in confusion. "I... yes. Yes, I'm fine. Is the demon dead?"

Tomoe Mami nodded, and held up a bag. "Yes, and it dropped five units of grief cubes. Combine that with Kyuubey's bounty and we have fourteen. We'll split the gross evenly, as we agreed, for seven units each?"

Seto frowned. She saw where this was going: Mami was trying to leave their group with the smaller profit, trying to make herself look generous by comparison. "Ah, but your group had the bigger force commitment, Tomoe-san. We should just split the total profit, so we both come out even."

Tomoe shook her head, and looked sad for a moment. "Grief cubes aren't really important, Tomoe-san," she said, startling Seto, "People are. You lost girls, good friends, to this demon, and that's a higher cost than anyone should have to pay. The Serenissima Imperium has not lost a girl in over a year now-" Wait, what? "but I remember each loss, from those early days before all our operations were in place, and no amount of grief cubes or money could ever make up for the loss of even a single girl. Besides, even if we brought more people to the fight, we would never have even known it was coming if not for your warning, and the tragedy of your losses. A few cubes can hardly pay for that, but still.."

Seto stood, slack-jawed. "W-wait, you haven't lost a single girl... in a year? Seriously? H-how?"

A small grin stole across Tomoe's face. "A lot of hard work by everyone," she replied, "In fact, we've just started a system of rotating tactical oscillation hunting that- well, our public manual has the details, and should be available in a couple of weeks."

Seto felt suddenly weak in the knees. "P-public manual?" she said dumbly, realizing that she was completely losing control of the conversation, but unable to stop herself.

Tomoe nodded. "Yes, we are publishing a manual, free to all magical girls that we can reach, detailing what we've learned about demon-hunting, and how to make it as safe and as productive as possible. We project that our methods can safely over-hunt our territory by 10% without ever causing a dangerous spike in demon power; we could go higher, but I'm frankly not willing to tolerate any chance of our girls coming to harm."

Seto stood, speechless, as a look full of steel passed over Tomoe's face, instantly putting the lie to any claim of weakness. "But these... super-demons change everything," she continued, over Seto's dumbstruck gaze, "I'll admit, we've allowed ourselves to relax in what we thought was a comfortable, if difficult, world. We'll be focusing our time on improving our training and more in-depth research so that we can better defend against these threats in the future. I'm hoping that you'll be a part of that, Tomoe-san."

"I... I'm not even sure what you're saying," Seto admitted, her world spinning around her.

One of the fiery twins behind her--Sakura Kyouko--spoke up, "She means she wants you girls to join up! Not really sure why; you seem a little dim to me."

Behind Seto, the blue healer spoke up, a playfully predatory smile on her face. "Not everyone has the wisdom of years like you do, Obaa-san!" she retorted, to general laughter and Sakura's heated, but probably insincere, promises of painful, anatomically impossible, wrath.

Tomoe gave a sharp glance to her companion. "Kyouko! Too soon!" she softly rebuked, "All I'm suggesting for now is more a... strategic alliance, of sorts. I, I wouldn't say no if she and her friends decided to join, sure, but I wouldn't be so crass as to press someone to join so soon after losing people."

As Tomoe and Sakura continued their conversation via telepathy, Seto took a moment to look around at the girls arrayed around her. Most were looking around warily--a good precaution, as they were in enemy territory, after all--but whenever their eyes passed over Tomoe there was a flicker of... something. It wasn't until Seto looked back at Tomoe, and felt the flicker in her own Soul Gem, that she could name the feeling.

Hope. She hadn't felt it in so long; she almost didn't recognize it. All this time, she had been thinking that these Serene were weaklings, that their only real strength was that of numbers, but now she thought she saw something else. The kind of strength that would drive a person to pull out all the stops to save a rival, maybe even an enemy, rather than letting them die in a completely deniable way. The kind of strength that meant a veteran healer, one with over a year of experience, was called on so infrequently in a pitched battle that she was actually out of practice.

The strength of a soft heart...

Seto had a lot to think about, indeed.

 

[Kinematics]

Shame, if you had posted it the bonus might have been enough to put it over the top.

Click to shrink...

Bah, I'll post it anyway. It's a short little piece, and not tied to any point in time, so maybe it can fit in later.

-----------

Seto Tomoe stood at the back of the little planning room where several other magical girls were working. She'd been allowed to observe their command structure, and was currently checking out how they managed hunting arrangements.

"All right, this should be the last data point," said a girl with a long ponytail, just entering the room. She handed a piece of paper to another girl at the desk, who added a few numbers to a tracking chart.

After a bit of math, she notified the others, "Ok, overall rating looks like 5.3, then. Hmm."

A few quick looks passed between them, before they seemed to come to some unspoken agreement. The girl who had most recently entered must have noticed Seto and her confusion, though, and tried to give an explanation.

"Ah, the DS — er, demon strength — is too high to do accelerated hunting on, but it's too low to merge with the existing northern district. We'll underhunt it back down to 0, and merge it with the north when the two areas are in sync. After that we can redistribute a portion of the northern territory to the south to get them balanced again, and finally re-optimize hunting assignments."

A girl with strawberry blonde hair and incongruously dark jacket, who seemed to be in charge of the desk, chimed in, "Plus that will give us time to get used to the patrol routes in your area without it bleeding over into the current routes. We can pair your girls up with some of our team to get a better understanding of the layout and demon patterns."

"What's the projection look like?" the first asked, leaning down over the mess of papers scattered across the table.

"Hmm... Guessing about 70, maybe 72 cubes this month. We won't be able to take full advantage of the new territory until it's properly integrated. Once it's back in sync, it might go as high as 80."

"Wow. We might actually be back in the black after paying off Kyuubey."

"Kyuubey?" Seto asked, speaking up for the first time. Unfortunately, that seemed to be a delicate topic, as grimaces manifested on the faces of all those present.

Finally the lead girl answered. "We, ah, had a little accident a few months ago, and had to get Kyuubey to cover up for us. It totally wasn't our fault! But we had to pay through the nose to get it cleaned up." Her defense seemed to lack a bit of conviction.

"Anyway!" a third spoke up, "That won't happen again!"

"I see," Seto replied. And she could, somewhat. Kyuubey loved to charge for his services. She was curious about what this 'accident' was, though.

Still, this entire dispatch center seemed a bit surreal. A massive whiteboard on the back wall had a couple dozen names running down one side, and a grid of calendar dates, with numbers in each box that seemed to refer to another table that described patrol routes. Her own little group had never been this organized — had never needed to be this organized.

And it wasn't like the Serenes were a large organization. Sure, larger than her own, but the total size was under 50 before her group joined, and a quick glance at the board showed maybe 15 or 16 hunters with routes assigned; at most, three times as many hunters as her own group had active per month. They just seemed... obsessed with this efficiency.

Looking back at the battle with the Class 3 demon, there was a clear lack of focus on the fight; fear and uncertainty and nervousness spread throughout all of the vets taking part. This was not an organization with experience at going to war, but they'd dedicated lavish attention to anything with numbers in it — both this hunting operation, and a rather ridiculous collection of money-making operations they had active. They were actually starting up their third business venture! And apparently managed a half-million dollar loan to get it running. The idea of a half-million dollars in her hands was just mind-boggling.

Seto sighed and shook her head, starting to make her way out. She gave a smile and wave as she left, though, to show that it had nothing to do with the girls who had been trying to explain things to her. "Take care, Tomoe-san!" carried out the door after her.

Even that bothered her, a bit. "Tomoe-san." By some strange coincidence, the same last name as the leader of the Serenissima, yet none of the girls had any trouble referring to her that way. The reason? She had never once heard one of the girls refer to Mami Tomoe by her last name; only some form of 'Mami-san' or 'Oneesan'. One large family, 50 strong.

She walked out onto the porch overlooking the backyard — another reminder of the amount of money flowing through this group — and took a seat. Her own group had done... OK, money-wise, but they literally could not afford to dedicate too much time to it. A couple of girls had jobs, which brought in enough money to pick up the leather armor they used in their hunts. A couple small, cheap apartments for those who had no family to stay with.

She thought they'd been doing well — no, they had been doing well. A bit rough, but there was a camaraderie among them, the bonds of shared experience. Perhaps they, too, would have grown as the Serenissima had, into a thriving community, able to share their strength with others. If she had committed to building an organization of her own a year earlier, instead of shutting everyone out and staying on her own, would they have been prepared to deal with a threat like...? No.

There is strength, and there is power, which Seto had. And then there is leadership. The twin girls, Kyouko and... she wasn't sure if she'd caught the other one's name —they had perhaps more raw power than any of them, but were certainly not leaders. Even with just casual association, she'd already seen the wide berth the other girls gave the red-heads. But what held this group together — what allowed several dozen girls to organize to fight such a terrible threat, on the behalf of someone they barely knew, on mere hours notice — was the leadership of a girl who made no pretense about caring deeply about every single one of her charges.

That charisma gathered people to her in droves — girls who would trust in her and follow her. It was a talent that Seto herself sadly lacked. She could lead, but felt she was far from being a true leader, one that could gather such a following, organize them, and keep it all running smoothly like this.

It felt so wrong, letting someone else take over for her, letting other people be in charge of her girls — her family. Even if they never openly admitted it, there was a certain feel... Heh. Perhaps she could understand Mami a bit better than she had thought.

And now it was a question of whether she could look at all these new faces, and think of them as her family, as well. Obsessively nerdy family, but family. A family that had welcomed her without hesitation, adding the names of girls they didn't even know to their personal memorial shrine, so they would never be forgotten...

"Right," Seto said to herself a moment later, slapping her legs as she stood up to shake off the melancholy. She directed her gaze to the northeast, where even now arrangements were being made for a new set of apartments to house a decent number of girls — "rearranging manpower for more optimal coverage" — along with the ones she'd lived together with these past months.

A smile flickered across her face, as another flicker left the yard empty.


---

While Seto herself (as written) doesn't think much of her leadership capabilities, I'm putting that down to the Dunning-Kruger effect — she's good enough to be able to see just how much farther she has to go, and despairs at being inadequate (when given someone like Mami to compare against), despite being far better than she gives herself credit for. In truth, Mami would probably say much the same thing — that she is far from a great leader, and it's only due to the support of those around her (and a bit of luck) that she made it as far as she did.

 

[Kinematics]

Burdens

---

The evening after the big battle with the demon, Kaoru took off on her own for a while. Ignoring both the celebrating and the conferences and more serious discussions, she heading downtown to take in an evening of clubbing and karaoke. Not as much fun as when doing it with her friends from the Serene, but when people were partying, everyone was your friend.

A massive pressure inside her needed release, and singing, or screaming, her heart out cheering the bands and getting worked up with the crowds... it helped drain the tension that had been following her all day, ever since the initial announcements that morning.

It was so effective, in fact, that she found herself dragging her tired body back to the dorm house barely past eight o'clock. There was even some dinner left in the fridge she could reheat, before flopping down on one of the couches with the other girls watching some inane TV show, laughing mockingly at how awful it was.

Perhaps it was that zen state of no longer caring about anything that allowed her to see those around her a little more clearly. Raucous laughter, just slightly forced. Nervous undercurrents beneath the giggles. Twitchily-fast reactions when moving around. Friendly hugs, holding on a bit too tight.

Everyone playing off the battle as one big joke, but the lingering fear of what could have happened not yet having released its claws.

Looking around, she realized that though there was lots of noise being made around the television, the house itself was far quieter than usual. Probably a lot more, like herself, that had needed to get out and do something crazy in order to release the stress that was weighing on them all.

It was strange, in this moment, where it felt like she was gently drifting along, able to lazily measure the current mood of every girl within the room. Laughter, both fake and genuine; a hand, gently resting on another, neither girl looking at each other, but both happier from the contact; a shy glance as eyes traveled across the room, pausing for so short a time that no one should have been able to see it. Emotional tones and overtones, constantly overlapping, that she could nudge along, or pin in place, or lift to new heights, or simply watch and observe.

And then one moment out of that maelstrom of understanding snapped her out of it. Taya, currently sitting on one of the chairs rather than a couch, darting nervous glances at the girls around her. Fear. Present, not a memory. As Kaoru blinked, the impression faded.

Looking again, Taya was talking happily with everyone around, laughing and making jokes, with no hint of anything wrong. But something must have shown in Kaoru's own face, for when their eyes met for a brief moment, Taya's laughter seemed to fade away. After coughing briefly, she made some excuse about needing a shower, and bade quick farewells before leaving the small party.

Kaoru frowned, remembering the events earlier in the day. In the celebration of victory, Taya had seemed somewhat hesitant, and perhaps a bit worried. Kaoru had dismissed it at the time as nervous jitters after the battle, but now...

---

Kaoru stood in front of Taya's door, knocking gently. After several moments of silence, she carefully opened the door and peeked inside.

A tired look of resignation seemed to cross her face as Taya looked up at Kaoru, before she gestured at a spot on the bed beside her, the room otherwise empty of ready seating. Kaoru entered and took the offered spot, but remained quiet.

The two of them had known each other for over a year, now, though it often felt longer, and a mix of memories carried their relationship. Kaoru had been in the organization longer, but Taya had more experience. They both remember the time of Taya keeping watch over Kaoru when the younger girl had started spiraling. And, of course, they both had a month of Hell with Kyouko. In between all that, times when they were closer together, or had drifted apart. It was... comfortable. A friendship no longer based on outward pretense, but just mutual understanding and shared support.

"You wanna talk about it?" Kaoru asked, starting the conversation.

Taya just shrugged, soft blue hair falling off her shoulders as she hunched over slightly. Her lithe frame didn't really allow for a proper pouting posture, but she seemed to be trying.

Kaoru sighed, folding her hands in her lap. "I could see it, just for a moment," she said. "You were... afraid. Afraid of every one of the girls down there. Afraid of.. something; I'm not sure what. I could see the fear, but I couldn't see the why."

An aborted cough caused Kaoru to look over. Taya was frowning as she complained, "Using your powers is cheating."

Kaoru almost started arguing back, but stopped and just huffed. "Don't change the subject," she commanded, crossing her arms, before relenting slightly. "Seriously, what's bothering you?"

Taya's posture collapsed further, a despondent sigh released as she looked away. "I failed." When Kaoru didn't respond, she continued, "With that demon today. I was searching for it, trying to penetrate the stealth so that we could actually see what we were fighting, and I failed."

Kaoru frowned, replying, "It was a tough opponent. It wasn't just you, none of the clairvoyants could break through its invisibility."

"No!" Taya almost shouted back, before stopping herself. "Not just 'failed', as in I couldn't overcome its skill, 'failed' as in I couldn't see anything!" she let out, in almost a hiss. "It was right there, practically in my face, and it was like I was blind. All I could think of was how this monster was going to tear through my body with its claws, and crush my head in its teeth. Everyone.. everyone depending on me, expecting me to be the key to break through its defenses, and I felt like a newly-contracted green without any magic at all."

Kaoru was already gathering her into a hug, holding tight against the shivering she felt in the taller girl's body.

"And aft—", a choked swallow, then, "after telling you everything was going to be all right, now I'm the one naked on stage, with everyone watching, knowing that it would have been my fault if anyone got hurt. Was hurt. If anyone got killed..."

Kaoru was shaking her head. "They don't think that—"

"They weren't there. After the vets teleported out... I did everything I could to hit it — and that only because of Kyouko's training — but it was mostly useless. Mami was the one who kept it from killing us, and Kyouko was the one who killed it. I was just an extra body who couldn't do what they needed me to do. Too proud of myself, of my new 'power', letting them down just like..." Clenched teeth kept anything from coming out.

Kaoru just held her, rocking her gently and stroking her back until the tension finally seemed to fade away.

--

"It's not supposed to be this way, you know," Kaoru said teasingly. At an inquiring grunt, she continued, "I'm not supposed to be the one comforting our 'prince'." An unamused snort was all she got back.

"It's not easy, is it?" Kaoru continued, more to herself this time. "I was terrified of failing everyone who was counting on me because they think I'm going to be our next 'elite'. But even if you make it, you still have to keep proving yourself every day. I don't know how Mami does it."

"Mami wasn't afraid," came a muffled answer. "She was... shining. Every moment of the fight, you knew there was no doubt in her mind that we'd get through it. It was only because of her that I could keep going."

"Yeah, but... we do depend on her, just like all those others are depending on you and me. And she never fails them, or us. It's a lot of weight to bear. If one of us fails, it's awful, but if Mami fails, there'll be nothing left."

"She doesn't bleed..."

"Huh?" Kaoru asked, confused by the response.

"Nothing. Not important." After a brief pause, she added, "We should help her, though. Don't make her to be the one to support us, but be the one to help support her, instead. Don't force her to carry the weight of our expectations."

Kaoru only nodded.

Comforting silence was finally broken by Kaoru speaking up once again. "Taya?"

"Yes?"

"Will you..." An inhaled breath, gathering courage. "Will you teach me?"

Confused eyes looked up into her face; a strange perspective to be seeing the taller girl from.

"Will you help me," she continued. "Help me be strong enough to help carry that burden, too? Help me be strong enough to face those expectations, and be someone everyone can depend on?"

Her head shaking, Taya replied, "I'm not the right one for that. Mami and—"

"No. No, you understand me, Taya. You understand what I need to know, what I need to get through. You—" Kaoru bit her lip as she looked away. Taya understood her position far better than Kyouko and Mami would — those who had lived for many years as an elite. But more importantly, she felt as if Taya herself needed that acknowledgement, that feeling of someone looking up to her and depending on her. Someone who understood her fears, but believed in her anyway.

Someone who would help Taya let go of the fear Kaoru had seen in the girl's eyes earlier, as she looked at everyone around her.

"I... I don't know." A reluctance, masking a faint hope. The sense wasn't as clear, or as strong has it had been earlier, but Kaoru trusted her instincts nonetheless.

"I believe in you. No matter what happens, I'll believe in you."