Mahou Shoujo Troper Magica ~ Imaizumi City ~

@LORd: I actually didn't know it was formatted differently in Europe; don't worry about it, in that case. =)

Akira let herself be pulled along, casting one last glance over her shoulder at the assembled upperclassmen and the white...cat...thing. As the roof door closed behind them and Natsumi started down the stairs, Akira stopped for a moment. "Haruna-san, you're hurt too," she pointed out, putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "Your leg... you were cut while protecting me, right?"

"Don't worry about it. That Yukino girl healed it up pretty well." Natsumi pointed down at her leg. The long slice in her stocking remained, but the cut on her leg was mostly gone, with only a thin scabbed line remaining. "I'm fine. You've been through way more than me."

She took Akira's arm and put it over her shoulders.

"Try to keep your weight off of that foot. Let's get that cut taken care of, okay?"

The two girls began to hobble their way slowly down the stairs.

edited 4th Mar '11 12:28:50 PM by JapaneseTeeth

"I'm okay," Chien grimaces. "I've had worse."

The school nurse was currently signing some documents in her office.

" I'm glad to hear you're alright Chien" Kyubey said.

"Yes," Chien groaned. "Anyway, quick. Let's go, before anyone sees us up here and we get in trouble."

Natsumi pushed the door to the nurse's office open, holding it out of the way so that Akira could limp in unobstructed.

"There isn't much of a point in me staying here, is there?" She asked. "I should probably get back to the room before the teacher wonders where I went..." She took a few steps towards the door before turning back around. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you mind meeting me after school? I think we should talk about...what happened on the roof."

"The roof?" The nurse perked up and smiled knowingly. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you were up there...alone...with each other. It happens all the time, you know."

"Wait...that's..." Natsumi stuttered. "But that's...I mean..."

"Shhhh." The nurse held a finger up to her lips. "It'll be our secret, okay?"

Natsumi opened her mouth to protest, but thought better of it. At least she's willing to cover for us...

"Now then..." The nurse turned to Akira. "What seems to be the problem?"

edited 4th Mar '11 4:07:13 PM by JapaneseTeeth

"Oh, uh..." Akira stammered, turning slightly pink and shooting a glance at Natsumi. Natsumi made gestures of a 'go along with it' nature, and Akira let out a barely-concealed sigh. "I, uh, cut my foot on a... loose piece of wire up on the roof," she said, sitting down and holding her foot out to show the cut. "I don't think it's that bad, but..."

As the nurse gingerly removed Akira's shoe and stocking, Natsumi unobtrusively made her way to the door. As she opened it, Akira turned to face her again. "That... sounds good, Haruna-san," she said. "I think we should talk about it, yes."

I believe I'll need to start working on Akira's Puella Magi profile. Daltar, unless JTeeth's got anything to add, we can skip forward to the end of the day - get some Kyubey face time in there.

"Alright, I'll see you back in class." She closed the door with a click.

I'm also good with jumping to the end of the day, especially if it means we can get everybody else more involved.

After what happened in the roof the day went by in the blink of an eye fro those involved, and before they noticed it, the bell that signaled the end of the day rang through the school grounds.

Kyubey, at moment, was sitting on the school gates, mostly hidden from view by the branch of a nearby tree.

Akira, having been presented with a bandage, a clean bill of health, and the hastily refused beginning of a lecture on lesbian safe sex procedures by the nurse, set her bag to one side on the bench she was sitting on and fished her book out of the main pocket. Thankfully it hadn't been damaged; Akira only wished she could say the same about her self-confidence after the English test. She flipped open to her bookmark, stared at the page for a few seconds, then sighed and closed the book again. Who could concentrate on something like that after what had happened to her? The little white cat was sitting on the gates some distance away, like a ghostly reminder, and Akira settled for studying him while she waited for Natsumi.

Couldn't quite make it clear in the paragraph, but Akira's sitting on a bench along the main path between the school's front doors and the gate.

Natsumi stood quietly by the school gate, waiting for Akira to emerge.

It's not like her to be late...

After a few minutes, Akira noted someone standing still in the spill of students leaving the gates. A shortish girl with a bob cut... Akira sighed and stood up. Of course they would be waiting for each other to show up.

-

"Sorry about that; I didn't see you," Akira called, waving apologetically at Natsumi as she walked up to her. "You must have gone right past me..." She trailed off as she looked up at the cat, who was sitting with his head pillowed on his forepaws and a rather contented-looking smile on his face. "Uh, hello again," she said. "Are you sure it's okay for you to sit out in the open like that?"

"Don't worry about it. Regular people cannot perceive my presence" Kyubey then jumped to Akira's shoulder. Nobody reacted to that action after the which he added "See?"

"I see," Akira said, reaching up to stroke Kyubey's head and ears. He was soft and warm, and the feel of his fur made Akira smile for some other reason beyond that. "Oh! Sorry," she said after a minute, jerking away. "I didn't even think to ask... sorry."

"Do not worry! I do mind being petted at all" Kyubey said warmly.

Akira sort of wibbled for a moment, torn between being unsure if Kyubey really wouldn't mind being petted some more and being uncertain of what else to do with her hands. After a time, she settled on petting him again, then turned back to Natsumi, who had been rather quiet. "Haruna-san, how's your leg?" The girls had had neither chance nor, truth be told, inclination to talk in class, though they sat so close to each other; Akira thought Natsumi had looked rather tense through the rest of the school day, and here she saw she had been pretty much correct.

Natsumi eyed that cat-thing suspiciously. Akira was acting far more nonchalant than a person should when they're confronted by a talking cat.

"What do you want?"

"Well, I was wondering if you two wanted to become Magical Girls" Kyubey said honestly, moving his soft tail from side to side.

"Magical Girls? Like Yukino-san and that other girl from the roof?" Akira asked. "You mentioned in the other dimension that we'd have to fight those Witch things... but we'd get actual weapons, right? Not just a combat knife or something like that?"

"Of course not. If you become Magical Girls you'll have access to the magic power necessary to deal with the witches. It doesn't begin to compare with a knife or other regular human weaponry"

"Any why exactly do you need us for this?" Natsumi asked. "I mean, there are already two magical girls around here already. What do you need us for?"

"And yet a witch was able to place her mark on Akira. There are too many witches being born on Imaizumi... Therefore I'm looking for more Magical Girls to defend the city."

"Why are there so many witches around here, anyway?" She asked. "And why us? Wouldn't it make more sense for you to ask adults to take care of this sort of thing?"

"It must be because the people of this city have many dark emotions."

"As for why you... Why, I would be cruel enough to entrust this job to an adult. The source of magic is stronger on teenage girls, and even among them I only pick those most suited to become Magical Girls. If I offered the contract to an adult they would be forced to fight with an insignificant amount of magic... their odds of survival would be way too low. In comparison you could easily defeat an enemy that would surely overwhelm an adult"

"Then why us? I mean, there have to be people out there who are more suited to this sort of thing than I am."