"Anyway!" Masami says, rapping sharply on the table with her knuckles. "Orders, orders!"
"Order in the court?" you offer, glancing at the menu again.
"Don't you start," Hiroko says, snorting softly. She glances at the Shiogama girls. "I would recommend the shaved ice, if you're in the mood for something cold."
"The...
ice kacang?" Akemi says, sounding the words out uncertainly. "It looks good. To share?"
"Sure," Noriko says, smiling fondly at the brunette and leans against her, scooting the chair over to do so while her other body glances questioningly at you.
"I'll take the glutinous rice porridge," you say, inspecting the menu one last time.
"I'll go order," Noriko volunteers, one of her bodies already half standing. "Miss Gaikotsu, Miss Wakahisa?"
Masami grins, wide and toothy. "Double order for me - glutinous rice porridge too, and the kueh. Red bean."
"Masami..." Hiroko says.
"Can you blame me?" Masami says cheerfully. "Anyway,
order! I want my sweets."
"Oh, fine," Hiroko says, huffing and smiling at Noriko. "Sorry for the trouble, Miss Watanabe. Mango pudding for me?"
"Alright," Noriko says, pushing her chair back to head to the counter, while her other body picks up the conversation with seamless ease. "Ice kacang, two glutinous rice porridges, kueh, mango pudding."
"Sounds right," Masami offers. "Also, damn, that's a useful power."
"It has its moments," Noriko says with a faint smile. She takes Akemi's hand, leaning back against the seat rest.
"So what brings you all out here today, anyway?" Masami asks.
"My fault, I'm afraid," you say. "Well - I wanted to introduce you all, since we're all here in Mitakihara, but there's also some other stuff I'd like to talk about. It can wait until after we finish eating, though? It's more serious stuff."
"Hrgh," Masami says. "Is it
bad news?"
"A bit," you say. "More warnings than news."
"I think we'd rather have the bad news first," Noriko mutters with a twist of her lips.
"Seconded," Hiroko says, Masami shrugging beside her.
"Well... alright then," you say, glancing around to make sure no one's eavesdropping. Not that you're going to talk about anything
wrong, just rather odd. "As I said, a warning: There's going to be a... a reverse-Noriko, I suppose, coming to Mitakihara early next week. She's a Soul Gem collector, and, well, we don't expect her to be friendly."
"Reverse Noriko?" Akemi says, harmonizing with Hiroko's exclamation. "Soul Gem collector?"
"Two magical girls, one body. I'm not sure how she... they? I'm not sure how they wound up that way," you say, and glance from Akemi to Hiroko. "And yes, Soul Gem collector. So far as I know, she's, um, completely insane. I'm not
completely sure of my intel on that front, but that's what I've got."
"She collects
Soul Gems?" Hiroko echoes, faintly hysterical. She has Masami's hand in hers, gripping tight enough that you can see faint tremors.
"Yeah," you say with a sigh. "I wanted to warn you, because, well... yeah. It'd be
bad to just run into her without knowing."
"You're... sure about this?" Masami says, giving you a dubious look. She leans against Hiroko, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"Pretty sure," you say. "We're planning to handle it, so
hopefully the most interaction you'll have with her is spotting her and disengaging. She's a pretty, ah, specialized combatant, given what she does, so... you know."
"Right," Hiroko says, nodding vigorously. She looks a little green. "Got it."
"Yeah..." you say with a sigh. "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, just... this is something that's important. And we've got no idea
where she's coming from, unfortunately, otherwise I'd engage her directly, but well. The best I can do right now is to warn everyone."
"What does she look like?" Noriko asks.
"Big, brown hair," you say, gesturing vaguely at the shape of a giant, lop-sided ponytail. "Blue eyes, kind of skinny, Soul Gems on either side of their chest here and here. Reddish-pink and white costume, kind of like a kimono but shoulder-less."
"And their powers?" Akemi says, propping her arm on the table and leaning forward, intent.
"Ice and fire, as far as I know," you say slowly. "The thing about the two Soul Gems in one body trick of theirs is that they coordinate
flawlessly, so they use both in perfect tandem."
"I see," Akemi says, brow furrowing in thought.
"We're planning to handle it," you say, waving a hand.
"Understood," Noriko says, nodding firmly. "We'll leave her to you, right, Akemi?"
"... right," the brunette says, grimacing.
"We'll
definitely call if we see her," Hiroko says firmly. "I don't want her anywhere
near us."
"Yeah, yep," Masami says, her left hand curled tight into a fist. "Not letting that happen."
"I have one question, if I may?" Noriko says.
"Of course," you say, beaming at her.
"Does... well, is she a
thief, or is she a robber?" Noriko says.
"More robber, I suppose," you say. "I mean, I don't think
anyone gives up their Soul Gem willingly, no matter how little they know. But I admit I don't have solid information on how she operates in general."
"Now
that's a nightmare," Hiroko mutters, grimacing unhappily.
"Sorry I couldn't be the bearer of better news," you say. And you're not even telling them about Iowa. Admittedly, if all goes well, you'll deal with Iowa
before they arrive in Mitakihara, so it'll only ever be their problem
after the fact. Hopefully.
You live in hope, really.
"Better to be warned than not," Masami says, snorting. "So... thanks, I guess."
"Ah... speaking of bearing," Noriko says, gesturing just as her other body returns with a laden tray and starts distributing desserts.
"Mmm," Masami hums, grabbing eagerly for her treats.
"Thanks," you say as Noriko slides you a bowl. A splash of coconut cream in the middle of a fragrant, sweet porridge: white and deep, nearly black purplish-red. Rich and sticky and warm, with the coconut cream leavening the heat.
"It's
good," Akemi says, sounding almost surprised as she digs into the small mountain of shaved ice, dyed the colours of the rainbow with syrup.
"Mmh!" Masami says, mouth stuffed full. Hiroko giggles, swatting her lightly on the shoulder.
"Yeah, definitely," you agree. "Thanks for the recommendation, Masami."
Conversation quiets for a few minutes as you all dig into the sweets, which now that you think about it, are rather mouth south-east Asian than
Chinese, but honestly, who's counting. Noriko and Akemi share their dessert, quiet and thoughtful as they feed themselves and each other - a complex affair, with three bodies in the mix. Masami, on the other hand, devours her sweets with wild abandon, Hiroko watching with a fond look.
"Miss Watanabe, Miss Saito - Masami asked earlier, but how are you finding Mitakihara?" Hiroko murmurs, her mango pudding half-finished. "You must have been here for just a few days, I imagine. Have you been able to find your way around?"
"We have," Noriko says, and smiles. "The buses here are
very comprehensive."
"Unk," Masami says, swallowing a mouthful. "Speaking of, Sabrina. Ono. She's kind of getting there, if I do say so myself. Can actually hunt a Witch and 'xpect to do OK now, but we're kind of recruiting her for our group?"
"That's great," you say. "I mean, way back when I first tripped over her, we did offer to let her join us, buuuut given the, uh, terrible impression I've made on her, I'm just happy if she has people to look out for her."
Masami snorts. "She's halfway competent, but still kind of... you know," she says, poking at the side of her head.
"That's not nice, Masami," Hiroko says.
"I'm not wrong, sweetheart," Masami says, fluttering her eyelashes at Hiroko before turning her attention back to you. "D'you know what she Wished for?"
"Frankly, no," you say. "I never really had the opportunity to
ask, you know? I was kind of hoping
you might have an idea. I don't even know her powers, honestly."
"Yyyyeah, fine," Masami says, shrugging. "Guess so. She still needs work, anyway."
"She has some kind of general self-enhancement," Hiroko says. "Not just physically, but also mentally." She makes a face. "We're reasonably certain that her Wish affected her own mind, and we believe it's something that contributes to her attitude."
"I thought as much," you say, shaking your head. You've also thought that she might be trans, but... something about
that hypothesis sits ill with you. It doesn't fit. "Self-enhancement, huh? Sounds... ah, right. Of course, that's what she's constantly running."
"Mmh," Masami says, mouth full of
kueh again. "B'n lt'n' 'r-"
Hiroko shuts her up with a finger pushing her jaw shut. "We've been letting her use our Clear Seed to supplement the Grief Seeds from the Witches we hunt. She wouldn't be able to sustain it, otherwise."
"Yeah," you say, grimacing. You can't help but feel that she might be a magical girl Kyuubey had contracted just to Witch out, to
feed other magical girls. Ugh. And in
that light, you really can't regret saving her, in the slightest.
"I suppose I'm lucky," Noriko murmurs, giving Akemi a fond, faintly amused look. "My powers don't much upkeep at all."
"Bet it comes in handy, too," Masami says with a grin.
"Oh, it does," Akemi says, smirking and pulling both Norikos in for a sloppy kiss on one cheek, then the other.
Both Noriko's blush slightly, their cheeks heating up. "
I'm lucky enough that Noriko agreed to be my girlfriend~"
"Soo." Masami glances at you, expression flickering to neutral. "On the subject of
girlfriends. How's
she been?"
[] Play dumb
[] Answer her:
- [] Mami's doing fine, thank you.
-- [] She misses you.
- [] Why do you ask?
- [] Write-in
[] Heading back to Mami
- [] Anything to talk to your friends about or arrange?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
=====
Whew, I'm back! Y'know what sucks? Falling sick and losing your voice when you're supposed to give a presentation. Y'know what's awesome?
Microphones.
Anyway.
Two notes: Ono Megane isn't trans. While I'm not opposed to the idea of having trans characters, it's a tricky,
tricky topic I'd have to give more thought to, and Ono isn't it.
Second of all, the next vote will bring you back to school, at which point Sayaka will need to head off to/be brought to meet Kyouko for training, so vote appropriately.
