It's all coming together, just according to plan*. The critical moment will be karaoke. We lull Homura into a false sense of security and then... a love song.
Nah. It's a bit too soon and proper setup is important. Do it now and it just provokes an "Aha! I knew this was a bad idea!" Better that the first Karaoke allay her fears and brings with it a sense of comfort, security, and camaraderie. First allay the nagging fears with a nice day out and give her some time to get comfortable with the concept, then try to see if she'll sing a love song.
After all, just as Kazumi said, it's not about quality, it's about enthusiasm. What's better than Homura singing a love song? Homura enthusiastically singing a love song.
If the love triangle comes into play we should encourage Sayaka to be honest with herself and to not just bow out and let Hitomi go for Kyosuke just because she feels she owes her.
If the love triangle comes into play we should encourage Sayaka to be honest with herself and to not just bow out and let Hitomi go for Kyosuke just because she feels she owes her.
We can even say that we meant the other Kyou, no matter who she refers to, just for maximum awkward and red blueberry. Although I think Kyou isn't gender neutral, so she may have good reason to think we're referring to Kyouko.
We can even say that we meant the other Kyou, no matter who she refers to, just for maximum awkward and red blueberry. Although I think Kyou isn't gender neutral, so she may have good reason to think we're referring to Kyouko.
You drag Sayaka into an alleyway before letting go of her hand so that you can transform. Without looking back, you leap straight for the roof.
Your blush is already fading. You're not ashamed of you and Mami - why the hell should you be? On the other hand, you can't believe you just did that in front of everyone. Sayaka's slow to follow, so you take a moment to squat down and cover your mouth to muffle your squeal.
You barely notice Sayaka landing on the roof. Her peals of laughter sound loud and clear, and she pats you on the shoulder.
"If it's any consolation, everybody already knew," Sayaka says.
You straighten, smoothing your coat down. "Yeah, I guess we haven't been the most subtle, huh?"
"Subtle as a hammer to the head," Sayaka says with a snort.
"Yeah, that's me," you concede. You half turn away, flicking your hand out grandly in a gesture that calls Grief towards you in sweeping sheets of mottled, rippling purple.
"Still freaky," Sayaka says.
"Excuse you," you say, rolling your eyes as you start to build a flying platform. "I thought it was cool?"
"Cool and freaky," Sayaka says. She hums quietly as she waits, grabbing the edge of her cape and waggling it so that it flutters in the breeze winding its way between the apartment blocks.
"Anyway," you say, rolling your neck and clapping as the platform finishes, just a thin disc with raised edges. "I'm not quite sure I mentioned this to you before, but Kyouko's powers are a sore spot for her. Don't copy them unless she tells you to, yeah?"
"Yep," Sayaka says, vaulting onto the platform. "Did I ever thank you for arranging the training sessions, by the way? 'cuz, well, thanks."
"You're welcome," you say, grinning at her as you hop up, lifting off the rooftop in the same motion.
She sighs, kicking her feet up onto the raised edge and flopping over backwards to lie down. "Bah. Still feels kind of lame, gotta say," she muses.
"Eh?" you say, glancing at her. You steer your flying platform out of the way of a particularly tall apartment block as you soar east.
"I mean, I-" she shifts to telepathy, to be heard over the wind. "I Wished to be useful to you guys. I... I still owe you a debt, even with the thing with Mikuni."
"You really don't," you say with a sigh. "I respect that you think so, but not in my eyes. Also, do you mind if I make a windshield so we can speak normally? It'll be Witchy."
"Go for it," Sayaka says, sticking a gloved thumb up for you.
You take a few minutes of focus, and a sheet of Grief to form the windshield. You're approaching the old industrial district by this point, an ugly brown and grey smudge on the eastern end of Mitakihara.
"The hell you aren't 'useful', anyway," you say, making air quotes with your fingers. "I mean, you're my friend. That's plenty. You don't have to fight like Mami or Homura to be 'useful', because that's not why you're my friend. You just have to be you."
"And you're getting me fighting lessons because...?" Sayaka says.
"Because sad as it seems, it's something we as magical girls need to know," you say with a sigh. "You don't need it to be some nebulous definition of 'useful', but in the long run, it's a valuable skill to have."
"Uh huh," Sayaka says, making a face.
"Yeah," you say, heaving another sigh. "Sad fact of life. I hope we'll always be fighting together, but just in case we get separated, I want you to be as capable as you can be."
"Right," Sayaka agrees. "Still... I wanna help you guys."
"You do," you say, smiling at her. "And trust me, Walpurgisnacht is gonna be an all-hands-on-deck situation."
"Heh," Sayaka says with a quiet chuckle.
Conversation lapses into quiet contemplation. You take the moment to tap Kyouko on the metaphorical telepathic shoulder. "Hey, Kyouko?"
"Yo," the redhead drawls. "You here yet?"
"Coming over, yeah," you say. "Where do we meet you?"
"North-west of the city, there's a big nature reserve-ish place," Kyouko says. "Edges on the river. You're flying your girl in, right?"
"Yep, flying her in, and she's your girl for now," you respond. You can't resist... encouraging certain lines of thoughts. You won't force anything, but hey.
"Whatever," Kyouko says. "And you've got my payment with you?"
"Yeah," you say, squinting along the river as you turn north to follow it. Sunlight glints off the waves, dazzling in the afternoon. "By the way, uh, pure gold rings would be better than gold bars, right? They'd be plain rings, no marks, but probably easier to sell?"
There's a moment's pause, and then-
"Oh, fuck you," Kyouko grunts, sounding almost amused. "Why the fuck am I even surprised any more. Yeah, gold rings are easier."
"Cool," you say. "Be there in a bit."
"Yep," Kyouko drawls, and ends the call.
You nod to yourself, and grin at Sayaka. "By the way," you say, holding your hand out as a Grief sphere zips past to dispense a bar of gold. "Speaking of training and power and all that, I've got an idea."
"Yeah?" Sayaka says. "Is that gold?"
"Yeah, payment for Kyouko," you say, folding Grief over your hands thoughtfully. It only takes a bit of thought to form a simple ring mould. Which... hm. It occurs to you that a single twenty gram bar of gold isn't actually a lot of gold. "Right, so, power enhancing magical girls out there."
Sayaka tilts her head just far enough off the floor of the platform so that she can squint dubiously at you. "I copy their powers and enhance them, then they enhance me, and round and round? Does that work?"
"I don't know!" you say cheerfully. You can make one ring with a single twenty gram bar, so you do just that. "But it's worth a try, right? Then we can have the Sayaka singularity. Sayaingularity? Sayingularity?"
Sayaka snickers. "That's not a word. And someone's got to have tried it before, right?"
"Yeah, but someone isn't you," you say. You spot a huge patch of greenery further up the river, surrounded by buildings, but itself untouched by constructions. It's a good few square kilometres across - must be the nature reserve Kyouko mentioned. "Also, enhanced learning powers."
"Ooh, yeah, I thought about that one before, actually," Sayaka says, snapping her fingers. "Like, I've got all these powers, but I don't have any mastery over them. And actually, I was kind of thinking about Kazumi's power - if she copies effects, can I, uh, channel her power through another power? Like, Mami's guns are made of ribbons, right? I'm thinking I could try copying them via Kazumi's copying power, channelled through my copy of Mami's ribbons."
"You know, I hadn't even thought about that," you admit, blinking and laughing. "Nicely done, Sayaka. Can you combine your powers like that? If you can, you're even more OP than I thought you were."
"I don't know," Sayaka says, kicking her feet out and popping into an upright sitting position. "I wanna find out, though. I figure that's what training's for, right?"
"Yup. By the way, catch," you say, lobbing Sayaka the ring. She snags it from the air, holding it in front of her eye.
"Cool," she says. "Why the ring?"
"Well, it's payment for Kyouko," you say, locking eyes with Sayaka. "I don't know if it's come up, but she doesn't exactly have a... financially stable background right now. Gold rings are, mm, fungible. That doesn't mean that fungus grows on them, by the way."
"The hell does that even..." Sayaka trails off, frowning. "Oh, dammit, that's a pun in English, isn't it? Fu... Fungible. Fungus."
"Yep, it is," you say, grinning shamelessly at Sayaka. You're impressed as ever at the education Mitakihara Middle school provides, of course.
"Yo, that's you up there, right?" Kyouko drawls into your mind.
... Something about that phrasing and the anticipatory edge in her voice...
"Probably?" you say, leaning over the edge to check that you're at the nature reserve. You scan the sprawling tree canopy below with a slow grin beginning to tug at your lips. "I don't see you."
"Drop her," Kyouko purrs.
"Sabrina?" Sayaka seems to have noticed the growing smirk on your face.
"Sorry, Sayaka," you say, and drop the floor out beneath her.
The last you see of Sayaka are outraged blue eyes glaring at you as gravity snatches at her.
Your laughter rings out as you dissolve the rest of your platform, Grief flowing away and leaving you with just a thin seat to perch on, affording you an excellent view of the rolling expanse of nature reserve below. You can see Sayaka below you, cape billowing behind her like a white streak as she kicks off empty air in a brilliant spark of blue.
And then-
You spot Kyouko just a second before impact. The clatter of chains chases her through the sky, enormous, segmented spear lashing out beneath her as she rides it up.
Sayaka turns. Too little, too late. Kyouko smashes into her in a brutal shoulder check.
You wince as you watch Sayaka go tumbling. Kyouko's giant spear dissipates in a cloud, but not before the redhead uses it to slingshot upwards, above Sayaka.
You can hear Sayaka's angry squawking from up here. You lean forward, propping your arms on your little floating seat as the glint of metal catches your eye. Sayaka's swords boom as blades slash towards Kyouko, handles discarded to fall below her.
Crimson and gold and steely silver sing in the air. Kyouko has a new spear already, sharp motions batting projectiles out of the air. Exactly what Sayaka wanted. You can see her hand dive under her cloak-
And she stops midair.
She stops falling, and her feet plant firm on nothing at all tens of metres above the treeline.
Not that it matters to Kyouko. Red hair streams in the afternoon sun as she drops an axe kick on Sayaka's head in a single motion. Sayaka staggers, jolted out of her stance. Kyouko follows up with a complicated motion that pivots her midair around Sayaka's head and stomps her boot in Sayaka's face.
You can vaguely hear yelling from up here. Something pithy about fancy powers.
Sayaka flails and plummets. Kyouko sticks close, spear exploding into segments that lash around Sayaka's waist, and-
Sayaka grabs the chain. She yells and hauls on it, blue light flashing beneath her feet. Kyouko goes tumbling, for once, to meet Sayaka's fist coming the other way.
Kyouko's thrown back, but she still has the spear. It cracks like a whip, slamming Sayaka towards the ground below.
They disappear beneath the treeline, sending leaves and birds flying.
And you can't help but laugh as you start to descend to follow the action. They can't be that hard to follow.
"Sabrina?" Yuma's voice pipes up.
"Hey Yuma! You doing alright?" It takes you a moment to spot her - green hair and a green costume camouflage her very well against green leaves. She's waving at you, perched incongruously atop a tree.
"Yes! Um, could Sabrina give Yuma a lift?" Yuma asks, beaming at you.
You laugh, already drifting towards her. "Of course."
Reaching her, you extend your little floating Grief bench for her to hop on beside you. She offers you the paper bag she's clutching. "Um... Dango?"
"Don't mind if I do," you say, selecting one of the skewers poking out of the bag. "Thanks! Now, I think they went that way..."
You set your platform zipping in the direction of the fighting, weaving carefully around the taller trees and snacking on one of the sweet dumplings.
You hear them before you see them, and then-
Kyouko goes sailing past you, not of her own volition. She regains control, managing a mid-air flip to land on a tree branch and level a glare at you. "Th' hell have you been doing with her?"
"She's a power copier," you say with a shrug. "I got her powers to copy."
"Fucking hel-" her eyes widen, and she slides out of the way before the tree snakes to life with grasping tendrils.
You hear Sayaka cackling from somewhere. You can't see her, though.
"Plant control!" she yells triumphantly.
Huh.
And then there's a whipcrack of noise, and you see something invisible plough a furrow through the undergrowth.
"Don't tell me where you are if you're invisible, dumbass!" Kyouko roars, vaulting towards the trench Sayaka dug with her body.
Silence - but you can see the undergrowth dimpling as Sayaka makes good her escape.
The hair rises on the back of your neck. Static.
You can feel the flare of magic, but Kyouko can't. Seems like she notices it anyway. Her boots scrape across the loam, and she whirls on the spot.
Thunder.
The bolt is huge enough to spark fires and shake loose branches from the trees. Bright enough for you to see the shadow of Kyouko's spear, planted at an angle.
It takes a second before it clicks. Kyouko used her spear to catch the lightning and ground it out while she leapt away, leaving nothing but a charred spear. You'd have lost track of her if you didn't have your Grief senses. You lean forward on the bench, watching as she slinks through the undergrowth in total silence, spear at her back.
"Sayaka's sneaking up on Kyouko," you murmur to Yuma, who nods, watching solemnly as she nibbles a dango off a new skewer and kicks her legs idly.
Kyouko whirls, spear shattering into segments. She lashes out blindly, slamming a blow into thin air, and-
She catches Sayaka. The spear wraps around Sayaka, binding her arms to her sides. Kyouko snarls, and cracks the chained spear like a whip, and Sayaka gets spiked into the ground.
By the time Sayaka pushes herself up, she's got a reformed spear pointing right at her.
"You're done," Kyouko purrs, grinning. "Y' gotta stop attacking from behind me when you're invisible. Makes you predictable."
Sayaka shimmers into view, dirtied and bruised, but grinning. "What the heck was that?"
"Skill, princess," Kyouko snorts, unwrapping Sayaka with enough force to send her sprawling. The spear snaps back into shape, and she thumps the butt against the ground. "Yuma?"
"Here!" the green haired girl calls, and hops off your little spectator's bench. She lands softly right next to Kyouko as you start to drift down next to them.
"Hey Sayaka," you call. "Good show!"
"Not good enough," Sayaka grouses as she sits up. Emerald light flares and washes over her, wiping away the bruises and the little cuts. "Ahh. Thanks, Yuma. Also, I hate you, Sabrina."
"Hey, it's for your own good. Cleansing, everyone?" you say, dropping the last few meters to the ground and raising your hand in an open offer.
Sayaka rolls her eyes, detaching her Soul Gem from its position on her belly and holding it up for you. Yuma presents her Soul Gem too, bouncing happily.
Kyouko snorts, resting her spear across her neck and hooking her arms over the shaft to bare the Soul Gem worn on the collar of her costume. "Go on, then."
You do just that, pulling free rippling clouds of Grief with just a thought. You take a moment to cleanse your own Soul Gem too, wiping it free of corruption before beaming at everyone.
"So what's next, Sakura-sempai?" Sayaka asks, using the break to pop out power gems - the ones she'd used during the fight.
"OK first, f-" Kyouko snorts, choking herself off and glancing at Yuma. She flicks her attention back to Sayaka, watching her motions with an evaluating look. "No. Don't call me that. I just wanted an idea of how much you slipped. We're gonna do no-power sparring in here."
"Also, I should put out the fires," you note, eyeing the smouldering embers from the lightning strike, still visible through the trees.
"You do that," Kyouko says with a snort as she snags a skewer of dango from Yuma.
"So how's it going to go?" you ask as you pad over in the direction of the lightning-struck trees. A wave of Grief sweeps out ahead of you, smothering the fires and breaking up the coals to cool off. "Just sparring?"
"Nah," Kyouko says. "Blue, choose one power, and stick with it."
"Uhh," Sayaka says, scratching her head.
"Not invisibility?" you request. "I like seeing what's happening."
"Fine, not that it helped me much, anyway," Sayaka says, shooting you an aggrieved look. She thumbs through her gem-keychain thoughtfully. "I'll take... This one." She taps one of them decisively, the little crystal fading away.
Heh. Not telling Kyouko what it is. Smart.
"Cool," Kyouko says. "Those gems are your stored powers, right?"
"Yep," Sayaka says proudly, holding the dangling tabs up before tucking it back under her cloak.
"Then your goal is t' swap to another power," Kyouko says, unslinging her spear from around her shoulders. There's the barest flash of a feral grin before she takes off, spear lancing straight for Sayaka.
Your friend squawks, sword flashing into existence. Steel rings against steel, clashing over and over as Sayaka parries a lightning-fast fusillade of jabs. Kyouko flows under her guard, one hand streaking out. Her palm slams into Sayaka's hand over her wrist, and Sayaka's sword goes flying.
Sayaka's jaw sets, and her hand reverses direction. Her white-gloved fist plows into Kyouko's stomach, breath driven out of her lungs in an explosive gasp you can hear from over here.
Sayaka leaps back, hand diving under her cloak.
Too slow.
Kyouko rolls with the punch. She drops into a handspring and kick that catches the edge of Sayaka's cape with a foot and she twists to yank Sayaka into a stumble and then Kyouko has her spear swinging like an axe at Sayaka's head-
Metal crashes against dirt that boils up to shield Sayaka. Brown loam flows around the spear to lock it in place- Kyouko tugs once, and abandons it to duck away from Sayaka's kick. Sayaka leaps to her feet. Dirt swarms around her, bright grin behind her levelled sword.
Blade-shot booms out. The hilt goes flying, and Sayaka spins, cape fluttering. Swords stab into the ground around her in an arc, only for twirling kicks to flick the swords into her hands for a rolling thunder of shots.
Kyouko doesn't flinch. She slides through the hail as if it isn't even there. Effortless dodges and lazy parries smash blades out of the air, missed shots sending shuddering vibrations through the trees, bark and leaves flying.
Sayaka backs up a step- and vanishes, sinking into the ground without a trace.
Instantaneous reaction from Kyouko. She leaps, spear slicing into the ground beneath her as she launches herself into the trees.
Paper rustles beside you. You grope for more dango from the offered bag with a mumbled 'thanks', eyes still fixed on the action.
Sayaka explodes from the ground in a spray of dirt, pillar of soil punching into the air. Her legs coil, and she leaps off the rising column, sword in either hand. Kyouko's spear flicks out, the sound of clashing metal ringing out and leaving Sayaka rather plummeting before she slams swords into the tree trunk to halt her fall.
"Do you think we should remind her she's supposed to be trying to switch her powers?" you murmur to Yuma as Sayaka flips around the sword handles to land atop them in a crouch.
"Yuma thinks it's a better lesson if we don't," she responds as Kyouko dives for Sayaka.
"Good point," you say, snickering.
There's a chime of steel, a pure note singing out as Kyouko's spear shears right through Sayaka's swords. Sayaka plummets for all of a split second before Kyouko staples her to the tree with a spear through the cape.
A flash of a grin, and the cape breaks away. "Not pulling that on me again!" she crows, new sword forming in her hand as she drops.
Kyouko snorts, balanced on the shaft of her spear. "Gotcha cloak anyway," she taunts, crouching. "And y' haven't even gotten close."
Sayaka's eyes widen. Her hand darts for the power gems dangling from her side-
Kyouko flips and pushes off the spear haft in an instant. She slams down beside Sayaka, elbow lashing out. Sayaka breaks off, retreating a step. A new spear flicks out, hooking behind Sayaka's knee, and-
Sayaka twirls, brilliant blue sparking under her feet. One leg rises in a vicious kick, only for Kyouko to duck it and invert her spear. Point down on the ground, butt tucked under Sayaka's ankle in a motion almost too fast for you to follow.
Angry squawking follows as the spear extends, catapulting Sayaka off her feet. And when she lands, Kyouko's there with spear whirling for her neck.
Sayaka freezes, unable to get a sword up in time.
Kyouko rests the head of the spear on Sayaka's shoulder. "And what have we learned?" she drawls.
"Don't forget what I was supposed to do?" Sayaka grumbles, shoving Kyouko's spear aside and pushing herself to her feet.
"That too, I guess," Kyouko snorts. "More like powers or not, I'm the baddest bitch here."
Sayaka rolls her eyes. "Sure."
"You're too eager," Kyouko says with a scowl. "You leave openings a kilometre wide."
"How am I too eager?" Sayaka asks. "You're the one who always attacks first."
"Yeah, 'cuz I always wanted to rile you up," Kyouko says.
You snicker quietly to yourself, forming another Grief bench. Yuma hops up with a little smile, offering you more dango.
"Nah, I'm good," you say, only partially listening to Kyouko's extensive list of criticisms for Sayaka. "Oh, here, let me give you this, for your big sis. Hey Kyouko!"
"What?" Kyouko snaps, glancing over.
"I'm gonna give Yuma the cash, OK?" you say, waving a Grief sphere over that dispenses a neat stack of notes into your hand. "Seven thousand, as agreed on - oh, and Sayaka, pass her the ring?"
"Right!" Sayaka says, frowning as she pokes at her skirt. "Uhh, do I have pockets in this thing? Where did my pockets go- ah, found it."
She drops the ring into Kyouko's outstretched hand.
"Pure gold, by the way," you call as you count out the money and pass it to Yuma. She counts out loud, brow furrowed in concentration.
"Huh," Kyouko says, pocketing the ring. "Cool. Yuma, make sure that's correct!"
"OK, big sis!" Yuma calls, beaming.
"C'mon, Kyouko, I'm not gonna underpay you," you say, rolling your eyes. The only response you get is a mono-shouldered shrug, Kyouko ignoring you as she returns to lecturing Sayaka.
"All correct?" you ask, grinning at Yuma. She looks so solemn about it.
"It's correct!" Yuma announces, and turns big, soulful eyes to you. "Thank you, Sabrina."
"It's only fair," you say, shaking your head. There's another clang of metal and - yep, Kyouko and Sayaka are off again. "Kyouko's offering a service, and it's only right that I pay for it."
Yuma beams happily at you. "Thank you, Sabrina," she says. "Big sis worries a lot about money. She thinks I don't know."
You nod, smile fading. Yeah, she would, wouldn't she? She has to take care of Yuma now, not just herself. Hopefully this helps.
You hum quietly to yourself, contemplative. Kyouko's running short on Witches. She can't be actively Familiar farming, then, and you'd like to think better of her than that. She does talk tough, but in the end... she's something of a softy. She'd probably gut you for saying so, but you don't think she's a bad person.
"We should follow them!" Yuma pipes up.
"Yeah, that's fair," you agree. You can hear the fight dopplering away amongst the trees, yelling and clashing of metal and squawking of birds disturbed by their passage. You set your platform zipping after them, weaving amongst the trees.
Kyouko hasn't been in the best mood recently, either, judging from the Grief Seed she expended. At least Yuma has one with her today, though, half-filled.
Hmm...
Speaking of Kyouko's mood, you kind of left Nakano Mika hanging, last time. Now's as good a time as any to get back to her - and so you do, keeping an eye on the brawl between Sayaka and Kyouko.
"Hello, Miss Nakano?" The telepathic connection snaps up, strong and firm.
"Hey, Miss Sabrina!" the girl responds.
"Heya! Sorry I left you hanging," you say. "Had to decide what to say."
"Yep? Figured it out?" Mika says.
"Yeah," you say, exhaling and accepting a skewer of dango from Yuma. "OK, so, did you ever hear about a case of one Pastor Sakura, a few years back? It would have been in the news, I think."
"Kiiinda? The name sounds familiar, but that's it," Mika responds.
"Hrm. Well, the news would have reported... OK, I apologise in advance, this isn't going to be the most pleasant subject," you say slowly. "Are you alright with that?"
Mika's sigh is audible. "I'm fine. Go on."
"The news would have reported a murder-suicide by Pastor Sakura, of his family," you say. There's no way to soften that news, is there?
"And let me guess, the youngest child of the family, a daughter, was never found," Mika says, tone somber and devoid of her usual cheer.
"Oldest of two," you say. "But yes."
"Yeah," Mika says. "You see that pattern around."
"In apparently unrelated news, the Nakano Corporation acquired deed to the land and intends to demolish the church to make way for new construction," you continue.
"Ah." You can heat the understanding in her tone.
"Yeah. I- listen, I'm sorry for bothering you," you say. "I... I don't know what I expect you to do, to be honest, I don't know what you can do. Just... I feel like I need to tell you about this? Since you're related to the company?"
"I get it, yep," Mika says with a sigh. "Tell me more?"
"Well, Sakura Kyouko's my friend," you say. "Heh. Even if she'd probably never admit that. She has mixed feelings about the whole thing, since, well... yeah. Her father. She's got a lot of memories associated with the place, good and bad, and I don't think she even knows what she wants, precisely."
"Yeah, that's understandable," Mika agrees.
"And... truth be told, I'm telling you because you're the closest person I know to the... other side of the equation? If that makes sense?" you say. "I'm not expecting you to stop it or anything. I don't know your position in the company, if you even have one, or anything really. But..."
"Nah, I gotcha," Mika says. "Your friend doesn't know what she wants either, huh?"
"Doubt it," you say. You can't help a wince as Kyouko cracks Sayaka under the jaw with the butt of her spear, somehow launching her upwards. "She's prickly. I... I don't know. Maybe if you could find the development plans or something? Only if it isn't too much trouble."
"Hey, you gave me a Clear Seed," Mika says. "I can do that for you. Actually, do you think putting me in contact with her could help? I figure we can work something out, maybe."
"I was going to ask if you were willing, actually," you admit, relieved. Sayaka stabilises on a pillar of dirt that roars up to her from the forest ground, only to be dragged off by chains around her ankle.
"Yup," Mika says. "Willing!"
Oh, thank goodness. Reasonable people make you so happy.
"Alright," you say. "Thank you. Seriously, thank you, Mika, for being reasonable."
"No problem!" Mika says. "Like I said, you gave me a Clear Seed. Least I could do."
"Still. Thank you," you say. "I'll put you in contact sometime, alright? Possibly later today, actually."
"That's fine," Mika says. "See you 'round!"
"See ya," you say, hastily signing off just in time to see Sayaka flare lightning and miss Kyouko, igniting patches of underbrush again.
You'll put that out in a moment.
"Hah! I did it!" Sayaka crows happily from her perch on a boulder.
"Yeah, after how long?" Kyouko says, rolling her eyes. "If your power is to switch powers, and it takes you... what? Ten minutes? To do it? Then what good are you?"
"It wasn't ten minutes," Sayaka says, pouting.
"Whatever," Kyouko says. "You took too long."
"Yeah, well, you're a specialist in melee, how was I supposed to do anything?" Sayaka says.
"I was goin' easy on ya," Kyouko says. "But fine. 'brina, since you're here, you're up."
"What? Hey!" Sayaka says.
"Unless you wanna fight Yuma?" Kyouko drawls. "I got a point to prove here."
"Don't I get a say in this?" you ask, raising your eyebrow.
"Not 'less you want your girl here to fight Yuma," Kyouko says. Yuma turns big, wobbly eyes on you.
... you're pretty sure this is a con.
"Fine," you grump. "So it's my turn to spar with Sayaka? You remember I'm not very good at melee, right?"
"Yep, and that's perfect," Kyouko says, grinning and leaning on her spear. "Honestly, wouldn't be fair with me and Yuma."
"What am I supposed to do against both of you?" Sayaka asks, frowning.
"Same deal," Kyouko explains, and points at you. "You try and stop her from switching powers." She points at Sayaka. "You try and hit me."
"Uh-huh," you say, scratching your head. "Do I use my Grief?"
"Nah. Stick with melee," Kyouko says. "Only thing I'm gonna do is dodge."
Voting opens
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- [] Full force
- [] Average
- [] Soft-ball it
[] After training...
- [] Bring up the Nakano thing
- [x] Head back
- [] Karaoke!
- [] Something else?
- [] Write-in song suggestions (I'm bad with these)
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
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Translation convention only applies until it's funnier that it doesn't.
Also, please keep song suggestions as links, not embeds. Spare a thought for mobile users.
Don't softball it. We're garbage at melee, with Sayaka having defeated us in it on multiple occasions already. If there's a lesson to teach here, we can't teach it by going easy on her.
