TomoFlake (Original Tokusatsu-Adjacent Quest)

[There is a terrible harm you are holding in your hands! -2 body, 0/5. Mei is out of Body! -1 Momentum! 5/10!]
[Suffer Harm +Hard: 2+3 vs 1, 4 STRONG HIT]
[Mei shakes it off. 1/5 Body.]

The world sank into a blur, briefly. The Dragon's Eye shone in her hand, and it burned. It wasn't just her hand— though heaven knew she'd become familiar with the sensation over the past few weeks.

It was burning up her arm, through her nostrils, in her lungs.

Her eyes blurred with every pulse of the Dragon's Eye, every beat of her heart.

There were arms around her. Strong arms. The impression of blonde hair carefully framing her face. Mei looked up into the eyes of Rei— no, Sweet Heart, and for a long moment, just hung in those arms, useless, even now swept up in the sight, the smell, the way the light filtered through her hair. "Toiroi!?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?" were the only words Mei could think of through the pain. "You've gotta... have a boyfriend, right?"

Sweet Heart blinked and pulled in her lips. "Torioi please stand on your own two feet before making me laugh I am going to drop you--"

Mei got her feet under her, and felt the Dragon's Eye continue to pulse. "I…"

A purple black haze and lightning surged down her arm and Mei grit her teeth.

"— Mei," Gold Dragon said. "Put down the Eye."

"No," Haru said. "It's better that someone at least tries to control it."

"She's not strong enough!" Dragon argued.

"We shall see," Haru replied.

The argument between them continued as Mei and Asura-chan desperately contained the energies flowing out of the Dragon's Eye, casting a blue-white light with a faint shadow within. "Asura-chan—"

It's tougher now we've got hold of it. But letting go might be even worse— it's got WAY too much magic in it!

"How are we doing?"

Ideally?! I'd like one of our shackles off or SOMETHING, we just have too much restricting us right now!

Rei put her hand on Mei's and the roiling storm calmed a little. "Torioi. Let me help."

In the distance, Alfons began to scold the others. Mei hoped it landed, but knew better than to wait for them. Mei closed her eyes and focused. "Thank you."

The blue-white glow filtered up Rei's arms, limning circuits in her arms and body which shone blue-white through her clothes. "Damn it, he's right. We need something to hold this while it shifts and changes, and I'm much better suited at helping to control that than I am at containing it—"

"— And Mei is much better at wrestling with its spirit and understanding it than she is at holding it tightly," Haru added.

"Your confidence in me is impressive, but I think unwarranted, Haru—"

"Haru?"

"I know her brother," Mei explained to Rei.

"Is this really the time?" Alfons scolded, hopping directly on to Mei's shoulder. "More importantly— I know this fire, Torioi."

Ichigo took Mei's hand into his, and the glow failed to make it through his fingers.

Mei's left hand felt lighter, stronger, suddenly.

"Okay. How do we do this, Haru?" Ichigo said, looking at her.

"You sit there and contain the Eye, like you have those other two in your chest."

"You have what in your chest!?" Mei shouted.

"And two in his head!" Haru continued cheerfully.

"Well, what did you expect?" Ichigo countered.

"Right. So, the way this is supposed to go is, Torioi would forge the shape of its spirit, while Kisaragi forges the shape of its physicality, while Alfons helps."

There was a long pause, as all four of them turned to look at her.

Mei spoke up first. "HOW!?"

"I dunno! Trust in your memories of your dad, I guess? Someone figured this out a long time ago just with guesswork before, so how hard can it be?"

Mei found this singularly unhelpful, and couldn't escape the feeling that Haru knew more than she was letting on, but also didn't want to wait for the patient explanation while the clock and her friends' health was ticking.
[Face Danger +Heart+Dragon's Fire: 2+3+2 vs 5, 2 STRONG HIT]

Even the moment of inattention she had given Haru seemed to sap her strength and burn at her spirit. "Asura-chan!?"

I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. It's easier, but it's not EASY.

If only she knew the right question to ask!

Or even who!

Though— of the people here…
[Mei has an idea… +1 Momentum, 6/10.]

"… Alfons. Why were you so interested in me?"

"Is this really the time—"

"It's probably important, I'm running on a hunch, just… Give me what you've got."
[Gather Information +Thoughtful+Detective: 2+2+1 vs. 8, 3, 1 STRONG HIT]

Alfons paused, the silence and contained fury of the Dragon's Eye hanging in the air for a moment. "Your flame."

Mei growled in frustration. That wasn't a very helpful answer. Fine. Fine. Maybe the answer was inside the Eye, and her attention turned to it—
And for the first time in a very long time, she felt the energy of the Dragon's Eye. Oh, she'd felt magic since her last year in middle school, but only its effects, only in a vague sense of the sacred.

The fires of creation, held bare in her hand.

The sense of purity, even if it was the purity of the barren, the horrible-stomach-churning idea of purity as sterility.

A divine lightning

A single feather on a wing made of shining light

A fond face, offering a bow tied with ribbons, gleaming and silver and easy to pull at a touch with her left hand curled about the string, watching as so long as the image remained in her mind--

She could hit it.

She could find the target.

She would fly to it on wings of flame on wings of steel on wings of light on wings of divine lightning—

To know the infinite possibilities, of both past and present, sitting lonely in a jewel that sat easily in the palm of her hand, that could be skipped across the river with no one noticing it.

How to stare that infinite possibility in the eyes, and trim it?

How did you even begin?

Us

Mei paused, listening to Asura-chan provide something with such clarity.

Let's begin, with us.
[You gain 3 Momentum, 9/10.]

---

Mei didn't seem to notice as the light of the Dragon's eye flared and began to focus.

"Now, Rei! Start shaping the matter of it! Follow her lead!" Alfons shouted, feeling the shape of things to come.

Rei closed her eyes and began to open herself up. And out. The hiss of long-disused pneumatics and the unfortunate sounds of shifting flesh revealed manufactured access points that glowed through her shirt. Her hands began to absorb the infinite possibility seeping through Ichigo's hands, absorbing the spare Eva Rays and drawing them into herself, into the burning, shining heart at the center of it.

She smiled as she started to realize who, exactly, Mei was. Cold, yes, but the cold of someone who has had too many people and too much to bear for a long time, and is wary and weary. Desperate, focused on one point, because she fears she will die before she manages it.

Rei knew it well.

Rei had been there.

Rei's father had that same madness, the madness that had brought her here.

She was never getting in a mecha again. And so long as she could help it, neither was Mei. "SWEET SHIIIIIIIIIIIINE!"

---

All well and good to say 'begin with us', but—

Who we were. Who we are. Who we want to be.
[Secure An Advantage +Heart+Asura-chan: 4+3+1 vs 3, 1 STRONG HIT]

Immediately, images formed in Mei's mind. The image of herself as the kunoichi, the armor of which was all in her own head. The jimono, the sword.

Hands on a silvered bow, with golden ribbons, gleaming and shining.

Hand on a baseball, examining the eyes of the woman from another middle school, smiling as she realized exactly what would destroy her.

Hands holding hands, the shining light of her hopes.

The cuprous flames that destroyed her old home.

The image of herself as a princess, the naginata in her hands, the feared runner of day-to-day affairs.

The image of herself taking up her mother's position, all fire and lightning, screaming to a crowd of youkai and singing her heart out with a rock band backing her. Kissing her drummer in the green room, taking what she wants without reserve.

The thought of a distant woman, elegant, the labcoat as much a protection as any armor, with a thousand red strings tied to a ball-jointed hand and wings made of feathers of light.

The raging demon within her, the curses and chains screaming from the ground and all around her, as she laughed and bled.

Asura's prophesied future, the future where she never reached for what she wanted, the kunoichi and industrial espionage expert, whose power laid in violence, misdirection, and the fine art of when to disappear, forever weighted by her curses.

More nightmare futures started to proceed from the last. Consumed by dragon's fire, consumed by Kaneko Chou, destroyed and ruined and left upon the mountainsides for the crows.

And so many more worse fates than mere death.

An infinity stretched before her, but an infinity truncated, an infinity described.

An infinity where she did not mutate, at least, not in ways that would be recognized as such.

An infinity where no matter what she could do, her shape, her form, was relatively human.
[Mei gains 1 Momentum, 10/10. Mei gains +1 forward on her next Move.]
[Mei loses 1 Body, 0/5.]
[Endure Harm +Hard: 2+2 vs 1, 6 weak hit]
[Mei presses on!]

She reached up with her other hand, a hand which suddenly held a letter opener, marked with an ofuda, with a handle of white ash and a scabbard carved from the same trunk. She pulled the blade free with her teeth.

And began to cut.
[Face Danger +Heart+Asura-chan: 4+3+1 10 vs. 8,2 STRONG HIT]

The shape of her, herself, blossoming, folded into a spiritual shape, that which rose from its ashes and slipped its chains without concern for mortality.

Briefly, the Eye fought back, but Mei remembered.

She had, personally, never burned down to ash.

What had burned was her home. And, well. Hadn't she already asked one for help?

Mei's eyes opened, and she could swear that the world was cast in silver-red light. "… Hail--"

The light, briefly, was blinding, and all at once there came a great thundering. Rei leaned in, pressing against the light, and closed her hands over Ichigo's. The heat was unbearable. Mei felt the lightning protecting her changing, from purple-black to the blinding white of the natural arc.

---

Rei winced as the Eva Rays fought back against the pressure. There was simply too much output.

But even as she felt it pulsing through her entire body, shooting burning pain through hands, arms, legs, she caught the shape that Mei had requested.

She nodded. Turned the energy into her own capability.

Focused.

The others had wits, raw power, strength on their side.

But something like this—

Something like this was something only she could do!

Her body unfolded even further inside her shirt, straining it near to the breaking point, and something deep within her glowed in answer to her call. "Shiiiiiiiiiiiine—"

---

[Mei takes 1 body! 0/5. Mei Must Endure Harm!]
[Mei loses 1 Momentum after reset! 1/10.]
[Mei gains 1 Momentum from her strong hit, 2/10.]
[Endure Harm +Hard: 3+2 vs. 1, 3 STRONG HIT]

The pain of electricity flowing through her hand was almost unbearable, even with Asura-chan to help mediate it and make sure it flowed properly. Mei just barely resisted screaming, her hand feeling like it was going to burn alive for the third time in not so long.

She could not believe she was getting used to this.

[Mei embraces the pain. 4/10.]
LIGHT HAWK PUPPET (?????) (EXTREME) [X ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

And then, like hot metal in her palm, the Dragon's Eye, now transformed, infinite possibility, focused, made true, landed in her palm.

The burning made Mei want to cry, but she just didn't have the time.

Raw, red, but somehow still standing, her bloodied hand closed on the round object now in her hand, a little smaller than a pool ball, but no longer glowing.

Rei took hold of Mei's arm to get a better look at her hand and arm. "We've got to go. She needs medical attention."

"Can't we handle it at your place?" Ichigo asked.

"No." Rei paused. "We're… On top of a JSSDF base. We need to leave. Now."

"… It's more important that Ichigo get out of here. So I agree," Mei said.

"— Wait."

"Huh?"

"You're actually his bodyguard!?"

"— yes?"

"I thought that was just cute chuuni shit! That's fucking messed up! We're getting you out of here." Rei picked Mei up into a fireman's carry, as easily as if she were carrying a sack of sand, and started running. In the darkness of the street lights, Mei could see that the others were following after her.

"I will determine why my suitors are attracted to me."
Rank: Formidable
[XX] [XX] [XX] [XX] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

Background Vow: "I will become an adult who my parents would have been proud of."
Difficulty: Epic
TRACK [XX] [XX] [XX] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []

"I will determine why Nezuka Logistics Concern wants me dead."
Difficulty: Formidable
TRACK [XX] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
MENACE O . . . . . . . . .

When two cursed hearts beat as one…
[ ] I May Have No Other Love Than Ichigo.

---

Update sooner than 9 months, I hope.

ETA: Momentum book-keeping was sloppy there.

Oof. There's several places, starting back in "The Outcast, Fujii Kazuma", where I should have marked milestones that I didn't.

This has now been corrected.

[Endure Stress (-1) +Heart: 5+3 vs 8,6 weak hit]

Rei sighed as she felt Torioi twitch and heard her groan in pain. She was strong, but she wasn't undefeatable.

She knew that feeling, herself.

Hiroshi called out to her. "Hey! Hey. Hold on. I can get us a car, and we can go to my place."

"— And where is that?"

"Up north, past Ibaraki."

"… It'll do."

Rei wasn't able to conceal her jealousy as, a few minutes later, a fucking livery car showed up. A huge one, capable of seating all of them.

"…" The driver took one look at the state of everyone and shook his head. Clearly they either didn't pay him enough to ask questions, or paid him rather a lot to not ask questions.

Torioi grit her teeth and growled as she was placed in the vehicle.

"You're safe. I know it hurts. We're going to try and get you some help."

Torioi seemed only dimly aware of anything besides the pain.

Rei looked for something— anything— to help get that thing out of her hand.

Hiroshi tossed her some water, and she gently poured it over Torioi's hand. The blood refused to unstick, and her grip remained iron on the orb in her hand.

But that did seem to bring her back, briefly, dimly. Her eyes darted from side to side, widening, and then looking down, teeth still grit.

"— Torioi—" Rei started.

"I'm not going back." Rei noticed Torioi's free left hand digging hard enough into the upholstery to threaten to shred the leather.

"Mei—" Ichigo began.

"Not going back!"
[Face Danger +Heart: 2+3 vs 7,3 weak hit]

"Mei." Ichigo looked her dead in the eyes, and she found herself briefly arrested. "Mei, please, I need you to look carefully at everyone here. Is anyone else here from the family?"

Torioi took a deep, shuddering breath and looked, in turn, at Hiroshi, Raimoto, Ayumu, Rei, back to Ichigo. "Dunno."

"Is this my house?"

Torioi looked, carefully, again, trying to get her head to think through the pain. "… No. It's wrong."

"And Hiroshi said he'd put us up, right?"

"— Ah. Yes."

"I promised you. We're not going back."

"Promises are cheap," Torioi shot back.

Rei took one shoulder, moving to keep her closer, but Raimoto took the other shoulder, leaving the two of them to carry Torioi together.

"Come, let's get you cleaned up," Raimoto said. "And that new magic item out of your hand."

The place was too stately for Rei's tastes. Everything was white, stone, lifeless. It was the kind of clean that took a team of people whose desperation was as thorough as the terms of their employment.

Torioi looked, if anything, less comfortable with the environs. And for that matter, so did Ayumu, who caught Rei's eye as he was looking around. He nodded.

Unsurprisingly the bathroom was just as clean, and well lit, and under running water and liberal application of alcohol, what Raimoto called "the core", and what had once been the Dragon's Eye, lost its caking of blood, and fell, at last, into the sink.

Mei gasped in pain and relief.
[Mei takes 1 Stress. 2/5.]

"I'm sorry, won't happen again, I promise, please," Torioi whispered, sucking in breaths and not giving any other voice to her pain.

Rei gently squeezed Torioi's shoulder, and Torioi breathed in with anticipation of something worse happening. When nothing did, she leaned her head on Rei's hand.

That did it. She was going to find the bastards that did this to her.
[Rei swears an Iron Vow…]

"Kisaragi, the gel, if you please," Raimoto said, moving to get Torioi out of her shirt and revealing a small pile of burns and soot marks.

"The— the gel?" Rei's eyes shifted from Raimoto's eyes, to Torioi's, to the bra that seemed to have a camouflage print!? How did she get her hands on Hidden Glamour!?

"The antibiotic nanogel." Raimoto's smile looked as frozen as it had earlier, but now there seemed to be a certain level of anger behind it.

Kisaragi blinked. "That's expensive, you think they have any?" Still, she rooted through the cabinet, and sure enough, there was the antibiotic nanogel, calmly glowing a faint green-blue.
[Heal +Hard: 5+2 vs 2, 5 STRONG HIT]

"Torioi, we're gonna need to look at your hand first," Rei asked.

Torioi slowly uncurled her hand. Despite everything that had already been done, it was still a mess. Rei blinked, as she looked closer at what had happened to it. This hand had been injured before. And not that long ago— maybe two weeks? During Golden Week, maybe? More importantly— "— Is this synthskin? Who the hell patched you up? And can I get their number?"

"I have their number," Torioi said, through grit teeth. "But be warned, the price may be one you're not willing to pay."

"What do you mean?" Rei started to rub in the gel and watched the repair carefully, looking at the ripples and creases in the repairing skin and burns.

Torioi's hands twitched with the desire to scratch, with the feeling of burning. "I'm not sure Pinoko-sensei will enjoy the word of mouth."

Both Raimoto and Rei stared at Mei for a long moment. "The… The unlicensed surgeon?" Rei asked.

"Oh for— She's another legend, is she?" Torioi shouted, free arm waving wildly. "Great! Next you'll tell me I'll meet Chie the Witch, Endless Kei, and fucking Doraemon, too!"

"— Endless Kei? That's a deep cut," Rei said, smoothing out the gel. Torioi bit down on her own teeth. Rei winced.

"Hmmm… Pinoko-sensei… I guess she must have helped her…" Raimoto said.

"She already knows me," Rei said. "I'm not going to be surprised at any of her connections."

"Still, I didn't think she'd tangle so thoroughly with the topmost heroes in Japan…"

Rei seized on the words immediately. "Tangled? That's an odd choice of words…"

"Ah—" Raimoto started to laugh it off. "It's nothing, it's nothing~"

Rei kept smoothing the nanogel and making sure it stayed even. "If you say so, but I'm more worried about what consequences this might have later."


Eventually, the nanogel integrated more properly and the skin was mostly whole, on both hands and Torioi's chest. "So I don't think you'll blister," Rei said, "but then, the Eva Ray Radiation should have already killed you outright, and there wouldn't be a lot we could do."

"What should I be looking out for?" Mei asked. She was clearly trying to control her breath to numb the pain as much as possible.

"Strange growths, hair falling out or changing colors suddenly, pissing blood, the usual." Rei paused and looked into Mei's eyes. The pain didn't fall away, but something else in Mei's glazed-over expression sprouted alongside it. "… On second thought, you probably have enough to deal with; let us handle watching your symptoms."
[There won't be any. Mei's not Facing Death and she's not Wounded. 3/5 body once she gets her actual gotdamn rest.]

"I'm more interested in what you made," Raimoto said, looking back to the sink.

Rei reached for it, but Torioi waved her off, and then carefully washed it the rest of the way off with her clean hand, rubbing it with one thumb, trying to discern the strange shape within.

The thing itself was deep red, translucent, yet slightly reflective, like a cabochon ruby with a polish that wasn't quite correct for asterism. A shape swam within, whirling, gamboling, glorying in freedom and in all the things that live. A shape Rei couldn't quite make out, and yet was familiar, like there was no other thing Torioi could have chosen, that as expected of the extraordinary Torioi Mei, you have made something appropriate and incredibly dumb.

"… It's… Interesting," Torioi said, at last, when the stiffness in her own hand freed her from whatever spell lay within. "What do you two make of it?"

"I've seen something exactly like that. Alfons?" Rei peeked back into the room, calling out to her satchel. "Alfons! Get in here, there's something you need to see."

"I've already seen it. I know what it looks like," Alfons called from within Rei's duffel bag.

"— There's something Torioi needs to see," Rei corrected herself.

"Ugh. Fine. I suppose Raimoto already knows, anyway. Might as well…"

Alfons emerged from the duffel with a golden-orange makeup compact, shining brilliant as if with an internal flame. He depressed a button, and opened it to reveal a shining, spherical, red gem, not dissimilar to the one that now sat rinsing off in the sink. "There's a long, long story attached to this. But the short of it is: You've just made an impossibility. Out of three people's will and your own stubbornness, with no tools to speak of, you made of that thing a Heart."

"But whose heart…?" Mei asked.

That was when the fox scrabbled up the wall to stand on the tiny little window-sill of the bathroom's vent.

---

Happy Thanksgiving, or so they say. Next update in December.

Torioi looked, recognized the fox, and immediately reached to snatch the Heart she'd just made.

Gumi changed to her human form. Despite that, her countenance became shadowed by her own presence, her eyes becoming more fox-like, her teeth still fangs, sharp and shining in the light. She stared at the three of them, tall and imposing despite being a mere many-tailed red fox just moments ago. "I don't care about that thing, student of mine. All I want to know is... Who did this to you!?"

"Ask its corpse," Torioi replied. "We killed it."

Rei took a step back, knowing that to be, in some ways, the wrong answer.

Gumi's eyes suddenly turned to Raimoto. "You."

"Me!"

"You know exactly of what I speak, functionary. What did you do!?"

Raimoto shook her head. "I did nothing but help her slay the monster. Everything else is a matter of her legacy already in place."

"Oh, is that why you're here? Fucking vulture." Gumi swept Torioi and Rei up, leading them from the bathroom.

"That's a se-cr-et~" Raimoto said, following after them. "Though, not that I care about your own ideas, but why are you here?"

"She is my student."

"I. I apologize for my misdeeds," Torioi said. "I did not feel confident… contacting—"

"Stay down, student. Teacher is talking."

Rei found herself overheating slightly. "Oh, so now—"

"My beautiful student, Torioi Mei, has made of herself a wonderful moving target," Gumi said, approaching Rei with an intent and a smug smile she just wanted to wipe off the damned woman. "So splendidly, in fact, that even I had trouble tracking her down."

"Ah, is that all so?" Raimoto said. "I take it then, that you had more tails than you'd like?"

"You surmise well," Gumi's smile turned to Raimoto. "Now, if only you could apply that intellect to something other than being insufferable."

"Eh? I'm insufferable?"

"Yeah. You are. I have been nothing but clear and forthright with my student, for what little time I've been here. However, as to you, functionary..." For once, the smug grin on Gumi's face faded into slight contempt. "I've never heard any word out of you that wasn't irritating obfuscation. Lots of talk of wheres and hows, not a lot of motive."

"Oh, that~" Raimoto said. "You knew her father, right? It's related to that matter."

"If… If that's true…" Torioi said, finally. Maybe the painkillers were working?

"Eh?"

"Then. Come with me to the next Night Market." Torioi said.

"The next—" Rei paused. "That's in two days!"

"Yes. And then, I'll hear about my father from Takayama Kei and Iwai Kanna, and if I'm lucky, direct from his own mouth." Torioi paused, breath finally calming.. "Not that I'm ever lucky. I'll have to trust the Peace will protect my hand, but I need answers."

"You need to heal," Rei countered.

"And that's why… as long as Hiroshi will let me be a guest, I'll stay here." Torioi looked at her. "I'm… Sorry I couldn't stay with you at your place."
[Compel +Rapport+Tangled Red String+Bolt From The Blue: 5+3+1+2 vs 3, 4 STRONG HIT]

"As if that's what I'm worried about!" Rei noticed, to her creeping sorrow, that she still wanted to kiss this dumbass.

"And… I know I probably, goaded you into something I probably shouldn't have." Torioi looked down. "It didn't feel right, as soon as I did."

Rei paused, and looked over, resisting the urge to reach for her lips. It was true that it had felt like going through the motions, but she was surprised that Torioi acknowledged that at all. So much of what she did seemed to take none of her emotional state into account. "We should get those curses looked at, too…"

"— Oh. I… Suppose we should. It just… Feels like so much else is more important right now…"

"You can always just ask someone at the Night Market…" Gumi said, buffing her nails.

"But I only have so much time, there, and I don't know it well enough to get everything together." Torioi sat, heavily, on the edge of a bed that she was clearly too nervous and in pain to lay down on properly. "…On second thought, maybe I shouldn't pull you three into my personal matters. You've all done so much for me already, and here I am with a ruined hand. Again."

"You've slipped your leash, just that little bit more, since last we met." Gumi smiled a smile that made Rei uncomfortable— it had too many teeth and not enough solace. "And we made a deal, student. You won't be rid of me that easily."

"Your personal matters are what drew me to you in the first place," Raimoto pointed out.

"And what, you made a hell of a bold choice in that library…" Rei pointed out. "Trying to set us all up with each other so no one would be disappointed? That's got to be a record."
RAIMOTO HARU [XX] [XX] [XX] [XX] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

Raimoto looked utterly shocked for a moment, but by the time Rei looked back to confirm it, she had returned to her previous expression. Rei thought it a shame; Raimoto looked better when she wasn't trying to be the ultimate smug planner type. "W-well! I think we all have plenty to look forward to in the morning. I'm going to go get some rest myself, in my own place."

When she reached the door, she turned to face Torioi. "But I'll look forward to seeing you at the Takayama Ramen Shop!"
[It's true, you can... and all three agreed to your conditions. +1 Momentum, 3/10.]

Rei hummed. She waited until she was sure Raimoto had fled before turning to Mei. "You shouldn't trust her."

"I don't," Torioi said, and looked up to Rei with a copy of Gumi's evil smile. "But she's adorable when her plans suddenly unravel, isn't she?"

… Fuck.
KISARAGI REI [XX] [XX] [XX] [XX] [XX] [XX] [XX] [ ] [ ] [ ]
GUMI [XX] [XX] [XX] [XX] [XX] [XX] [XX] [XX] [ ] [ ] [ ]

How was someone this much of a complete dumbass someone who knew what she was thinking? Worse, why did she want to get her back, alone, and— Wait, enough about that, there's more important things going on here!

Despite everything, Rei found herself sitting at the side of the bed, with Torioi in one side, and Gumi on the other.

"So. You're interested in my student?" Gumi said, and Rei bristled slightly.

"What about it?" Rei asked, barely avoiding an irritated glare.

"Oh, just wondering what you like is all."

Rei's mind traced back to Torioi tossing around the robot, to pulling the Dragon's Eye loose from the Ryuuroid, to tossing her around like it was nothing, and picking her up again. The thought of coming home to a meal made by her. The image of her in that kunoichi armor, saving her from something terrible. Really, it was quite a lot. "She's… Strong."

Torioi immediately turned red. "That's… Not true. You're way stronger than I am. All of you are. I… I feel keenly, that strength, you all have. That you could make yourselves stronger through hardship, while all I became was weaker, more pained, worse."

For a moment, she looked up at the minimalist ceiling, and her eyes closed, and she leaned into Rei. She put an arm around Torioi, and found Gumi putting an arm around her as well.

"I… wish I could have met you in those days…" Torioi said, finally falling into the dreamless sleep of painkillers and exhaustion. "Maybe I'd be stronger now. Better, now. Less cold, my heart less broken."
[Test A Relationship +Rapport: 3+3 vs 4, 9 weak hit]

The words stabbed Rei through the heart. But then, how could she know? Rei hadn't told her anything.

Rei laid her down, carefully, and pulled the sheets up over the three of them, and with her arms around Torioi, and Gumi's arms around her, she was left to think, for the hours between when humans and foxes needed to sleep, and she did.

"… Hino-sa… Have I already come too far…?" She whispered to herself.

Maybe she shouldn't have let her guard down that scant two weeks ago.

---

Asamiya will be arriving soon. Who does she bring with her? (only one will be selected.)
[ ] An oni with the heart of a fox.
[ ] A fox with the heart of an oni.
[ ] A crow you've met before.
[ ] The Devil you know.
[ ] A Devil you don't.
[ ] A Master of Puppets (HARD MODE).

Vote begins now and will end late Sunday.