"It's a shame Team Danza's so close lipped." Madoka took her turn to sigh. "Maybe if their leader shared her secre-"

"As if that'd ever happen." Sayaka snorted. "Magical Girls are secretive at the best of times, d'you think one'll give away their secrets over a dance competition? To a competitor, at that?"

"Maybe Danza..." Hitomi noted. "They're not the highest rated, but they do have a certain charm to them that the other's don't have..."

"You're just saying that because Danza's the only team with an average age lower than ours." Sayaka noted. "...They are pretty good, though."

I'm sorry, but with these tidbits dropped, there is only one choice to be made.

[X] "...Let's go see a dance."
-[X] Danza.
 
I'll give you guys a bit longer to see if Lichte can successfully turn the vote around but now that we've hit a second page I'm gonna try update later today.

Can't wait to see Lichte's disappointment :V
 
Time's up, vote locked.

Looks like people prefer professionalism over strength, here. :V
Adhoc vote count started by Mortifer on Jan 23, 2018 at 8:51 PM, finished with 30 posts and 11 votes.
 
Ah..I was gonna vote after I finally got better but it seems mort is doing well enough, guess I can just go away now.
 
Update 2 - Mademoiselle
[X] "If it isn't too much of a hassle, Hitomi? Charmont is nice."

"Ah, Charmont." Hitomi mused wistfully, as the cake store came into view. "The patisserie here is a true master, you know. Lived in France for ten years, and won several awards, such a-"

'Hold it right here, Hitomi." Sayaka interrupted. "Will we know any of these awards?""

"...I suppose it is pointless to explain it to you." She sighed. "Just take my word for it. Oren Pierre Alfonzo is an amazing chef."

"I've heard the reputation, Hitomi." Sayaka replied. "I've just never had any."

"Me neither." Madoka admitted. "Do you have any recommendations, Hitomi?"

"We should stay with something simple." Hitomi suggested, as she pushed the door open. "But we should look at a menu, first. We can't go too over budget here."

It was a nice little place. Not too big, but hardly small, either. Most of the tables were empty, but Madoka did note someone passing by that seemed to have ordered a cake to go, and she stepped to the side to allow the woman in question pass. Over to the left, a family unit of some sort was eating in the corner, enjoying a meal.

"Hello, young ladies." A boyish voice noted, and Madoka looked ahead to the front counter, where a teenager was standing. "How may I serve you this afternoon?"

"Ah, hello." Hitomi noted, stepping forward. "A table for three, please?"

"Certainly, miss." The teenager at the table noted. "Would you like to order now, or later?"

For a moment, Hitomi seemed like she as about to say something, before she stopped to think about it.

"Does the chef have any mignardises prepared?" She asked.

The boy at the counter stared blankly.

"This might take a while." Sayaka noted. "Me and Madoka'll just go take a seat, then?"

"Sure." Hitomi nodded. "I'll be there in a moment."

The pink haired girl and the blue haired girl took a moment to move to a table at the side of the building, by a window. In the distance, the skyline of the city loomed, a contrast somewhat jarring if you looked from the skyscrapers in the distance to the homey restaurant inside the building.

"Man." Sayaka noted. "It's nice of Hitomi to treat us to somewhere nice like this, isn't it?"

"Yeah..." Madoka noted. "I suppose she might've wanted to cheer up too, after..."

The mood in the area suddenly dropped, as Madoka realised it might not have been the best idea to bring up their recent defeat.

"...Man, this sucks." Sayaka replied. "We didn't even get the chance to dance today!"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Nah, it's fine Madoka." Sayaka replied. "I would've been annoyed anyway. Still, why's Hase coming after us? That wasn't even a noteworthy stage. I would've thought he wanted to go against Invitto, or get payback against Danza. I swear, he just wanted to show off."

"I guess..." Madoka sighed. "It'd be nice if we could do it for a bit, at least..."

There was footsteps nearby, and Madoka looked back to see Hitomi carrying a box towards their table, as the family unit on the other side of the room started packing up to leave.

"Here we go." Hitomi noted. "Mignardises. Ah, that is to say, I got some small desserts. They're only bite sized, but they're delicious, and I got a few."

"Great!" Sayaka declared, taking the boxes for herself. "Here, let me have a look at them."

"Were you talking about anything interesting?" Hitomi asked, as she took a seat next to Madoka.

"...Just about how we lost." Madoka replied, looking down. "Sorry, we shouldn't talk about something so depressing..."

"No, it's fine." Hitomi noted. "We need to be prepared for our next attempt, so maybe we can discuss how to do better next time."

"Maybe I shouldn't be the one in charge of the Inves." Sayaka suggested. "Hitomi, you're good at keeping your cool, you try it."

Hitomi shook her head. "Have you paid attention easily, Sayaka? I'm easily flustered."

"It's a shame we can't just dance on another stage." Madoka sighed. "There's too many Beat Rider teams. If there was one less, we could just stay in the more obscure locations..."

"I don't think so." Sayaka interrupted. "Hase came after us for a reason. He'd lost against Baron and Danza so he came after the weakest team for an ego boost. We're gonna keep getting into Inves battles as long as we're the lowest ranking. Jeez, why can't it just be about the dancing?"

"Pardon, mesdemoiselles?"

Madoka turned her head towards the voice speaking in a french accent, and turned towards-

Hitomi made a sound somewhere between an excited squeak and a stunned gasp.

"Chef Alfonzo." She gasped, at the rather flamboyant appearance before the trio. The man wore a bandana wrapped tight around his head, some kind of fluffy scarf around his neck, and a sleeveless black shirt over a similarly sleeveless, flower-patterned shirt.

"Please, call me Oren." The chef requested. "I've spent ten years in France. It's the name I'm more comfortable with, mademoiselle."

"I- I understand, Oren." Hitomi nodded.

...She really had a great deal of respect for the patisserie, didn't she?

"Did you want something?" Sayaka asked, seeming unsure of what to think. "We were in the middle of something-"

"I noticed, Beat Rider." Oren replied. Sayaka seemed taken aback at being interrupted, and the older man continued. "You seemed somewhat sorrowful, and I overheard the rest. You lost one of these 'Inves Games,' or whatever you kids are doing these days, then?"

"We did..." Madoka replied.

Oren observed her for a moment, before he spoke again.

"You three are young." He noticed. "Too young to be wasting your lives. If this is the state this lifestyle has left you in, perhaps you should reconsider."

"Hey!" Sayaka snapped back, before Madoka could say anything else. "Who do you think you are-"

"A responsible role model, hopefully." Oren replied, wagging his finger at the girl with a smile. "Perhaps I don't understand the full situation, but I can determine enough of it. You Beat Riders, you are street dancers, essentially. You dance, you get attention, and partake in this Inves game, whatever it is. Am I wrong in any part of that?"

"...No." Sayaka admitted. "But that doesn't mean-"

"In that case." Oren continued, barging through Sayaka's objection. "Are you a Beat Rider because you want to dance, because you want the attention, or because you want to play the game?"

"The first, of course." Sayaka tried to regain the advantage. "But we can't if-"

"Doesn't Mitakihara Middle School have a dance club?" Oren asked. Sayaka froze slightly, as Oren kept speaking. "If it does not, I'm told there is a group of dancers somewhere in the city. If you were merely dancing for the thrill of the dance, then why not join one of the two?"

"Ah..." Hitomi interrupted, finally seeing a hole in the conversation she could poke into. "No offence, mister Oren, but... It's not quiet the same. There's more freedom to being a Beat Rider. I dance with my friends, whereas a club would dictate we dance with chosen groups."

"So it's a hobby, then?" Oren asked. "A hobby which causes you distress like this? If dancing matters to you enough that you were willing to go through this and plan out a way to return to the stage, then you need to be willing to endure some challenges to enjoy it. But rather than endure dancing under someone else's suggestion until you prove yourself enough, you seek to play the game until you win and can dance again? I suppose it is fame, then."

"Well of course that has something to do with it!" Sayaka bit out. "Dancing for a crowd's a good motivator. People are entertained, you feel like you're doing good enough, and-"

"So it's the fame, then." Oren interrupted again. "And you don't care about the dance itself that much?"

"Of course I do!" Sayaka yelled. "Jeez, it's pointless trying to explain it to you. Like a famous chef would understand what it's like to be a nobody, why we need an audience to-"

"Fool!" Oren shouted, ripping off his bandanna to reveal a bald head as he threw it to the floor. Madoka jumped back at the sudden jarring shift in demeanour, as the previously mature-ish man started screaming. "Do you think I was always a master patisserie? I worked for years to get into France, and spent a decade teaching myself every aspect of the art!"

"And what's this then?" Sayaka snarled, as she stood up and got into Oren's face. "That's your advice? Work for years to get what I want?"

"Yes!" Oren continued to shout. "If you really want to dance for a crowd, then enduring the struggle should be trivial! You don't know what you want, or you don't want to work for it, and either way is a childish thought!"

"Like a master chef has to worry about what they want-"

Oren threw his arms back, gesturing around his store. Madoka followed the movement, and saw the startled boy buy the counter of the restaurant.

"Tell me." Oren continued, seemingly dropping the volume of his voice, before it suddenly roared upwards again. "Does this look like Paris to you?"

"W-What? No!" Sayaka shoted back. "What's that got to-"

"If I had wanted." Oren continued, pressing on. "I could be in Paris right now, fighting to become one of the most successful patisserie in the city, where the art is held in the highest regard! But I'm not. And do you know why?"

Madoka took the moment of silence to look back at Hitomi, who was seeming as alarmed as she was at the shouting match between Sayaka and the older man. This was hardly what she had been expecting, when she came to Charmont.

"It's because I know my priorities!" Oren continued. "I could have stayed in France. I could have pushed onwards to become the best. But! I understand that it was not what I wanted! I had endured gruelling training as a patisserie for a decade, and I did it with a smile because I wanted to be a master patisserie, but I also understood when I had reached the heights that I had desired!"

Holding out a finger, Oren poked Sayaka on the collarbone, forcing her back into her seat.

"You, on the other hand, have no idea of where your priorities lie!" He continued. "Do you wish to have fun with your friends? Do you want to dance? Do you want the attention? Pick which one you're willing to work for, girl! If you find what you want, then do what you need to to reach that goal! If you don't want to endure the struggle to take it, then cease, and do something productive with your life!"

"I don't need to hear this from you." Sayaka spat, as she pushed Oren away and stood. Without saying anything else, she stormed towards the exit, without saying another word.

"Wait, Sayaka!" Madoka called out, standing to try and follow her friend. Before she could get out of her seat, however, Sayaka slammed the door behind her, not even reacting to Madoka's cry.

Madoka froze when she heard the door slam. Sayaka must've really been angry if she wasn't even slowing down, and she...

...She wasn't nearly assertive enough to keep from freezing up when she heard a door slam, let alone try to talk to Sayaka when she was this angry.

Looking down, Madoka slumped back into her seat.

"...My apologies, mesdemoiselles." Oren stated, after a minute. "I had been caught up in the role of a role model. I had forgotten to treat you as customers of my store."

"I noticed." Hitomi replied, her tone frosty and somewhat disappointed.

"Please, think about what I have said." Oren stated, as he picked up the bandanna he had thrown to the floor. "But as a patisserie, I must make amends. Have you paid for the mignardises yet, mesdemoiselles?"

"Not as of yet." The green-haired girl replied.

"Then consider them on the house." The patisserie declared. "As a token of apology."

He stepped away from the table after that, leaving Hitomi and Madoka alone in an awkward silence.

"...Suddenly, I don't feel like staying in Charmont." Hitomi noted. "Should we go and find Sayaka?"

Madoka looked outside the window for a moment, before she replied.

"...It's been a long day." She noted. "Sayaka would probably want some time to calm down anyway. Maybe we should just go home, and meet before school tomorrow."

Hitomi sighed wearily. "Perhaps. I will see you in the morning, then."

Taking the box of confectioneries, Hitomi stood, and took her leave.

...Well, so much for feeling better after the defeat earlier today.

Standing from her seat, Madoka saw Hitomi leave the building, and followed a moment later.

A familiar schedule picks up from here. A return home, dinner time, and bedtime. Come the next day, the first class of the day would herald the start of a less than familiar routine. But before that fateful moment, on the walk to school itself, Madoka-

[X] Walks to school alone, but for her thoughts.
[X] Makes sure she finds Sayaka, to talk about the events of this day.
 
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We must go over Sayakas feelings

In detail

The better to rake them over burning coals, you see

[X] Makes sure she finds Sayaka, to talk aboutthe events of this day.
 
We must go over Sayakas feelings

In detail

The better to rake them over burning coals, you see

[X] Makes sure she finds Sayaka, to talk aboutthe events of this day.
But Chron

Wouldn't it be funnier if we just... left her to figure things out for herself?

I'm sure she'll make a good decision.

[X] Walks to school alone, but for her thoughts.
 
Kaito just has Lust for Power

And a lack of Agency is the only possible explanation for Takatora having not already saved the universe
Or he just doesn't have all the pieces he needs. Part of the irony is that what Ryoma wanted for Takatora is actually a valid solution, it's just that the Forbidden Fruit is just a theory right now.
 
And a lack of Agency is the only possible explanation for Takatora having not already saved the universe

No no Chron you're looking at this wrong

Agency is kinda like that joke about Gilgamesh's Luck letting him defy his Fate of winning everything forever

The universe hasn't been saved because despite being perfect, Takatora has the agency to make the wrong choices :V
 
[X] Walks to school alone, but for her thoughts.

I'd leap into hell before I take the SV waifubait option

besides, children suffering emotional torment is the name of the game
 
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