As they came out in to the streets, Mia asked Aimee about Marisa's history of theft. Her situation wasn't entirely unique among students; Aimee had become known as a president who usually allowed such non-violent abuses of legal immunity. She figured it wasn't her place to lecture any student who made half of what she did, much as she came in to conflict with Urasaria's staff over it. In private, they spoke of her as a woman whose only inheritance from her wealthy parents was a firm sense of guilt.
"Er, have they made any progress on the investigation?" said Mia as they turned the sidewalk's corner.
"Not yet." winced Aimee. "Sorry, uh. Urasaria's staff is kinda shitty."
Mia nodded. "I haven't mentioned it to Marisa yet. Is it alright if I do?"
"Sure, yeah, u-um. What do you … think of her, anyway?"
"What do I think of her?" said Mia. "She's... a bit excitable, I-I suppose, but I believe we'll work well together. She seems kind."
Aimee nodded, trying not to feel envious. Makoto had been pushing her towards Mia; otherwise she might've wanted to give up on dating entirely. "And, uh, proud?"
Mia laughed. "That - that too, yes. I don't mind it, but I've… I've never really felt that way, I suppose."
"Me too." said Aimee. "Didn't really have any gay friends growing up, so - and even, uh, Urasaria just feels different. Forget sometimes that there's people who don't like us."
"Unfortunately." muttered Mia. "But yes, e-er. I didn't have any - I had some people who tried to be friends with me, but after I couldn't host a Revenant, I... withdrew a b-bit, I suppose."
"Makes sense." said Aimee, passing by a glass-faced diner. "Um, Rider is natural, but I … kinda did that too, yeah. That's why Mad Dog's a good fit for me. And, uh, this." She pointed at her face.
Mia just blinked at her, and in the next instant -
- glass shards burst out of the diner's window and shot towards the two -
- but Aimee pulled her down with her as she hit the ground; Mia shrieked -
- and her cheeks filled a second later as she felt Rider's tendrils dipping in her veins, world slowing as if a disturbed pond.
"You got this." nodded Aimee, helping her step back from the diner, patrons scattering under their tables & one man standing thirty feet away inside. "Rider'll keep you safe, right?"
"I - what should I do?" panted Mia, and in the next instant -
- a spike of glass formed from behind & extended towards her -
- but a swift set of fire scarabs set it molten and burnt it to death before it could reach her, Worldwide's enhanced senses in her head as her & Aimee sidestepped another barrage from the diner.
"Control over glass." muttered Aimee. "Could light a chair on fire and throw it at him."
"I-I suppose there's not much else." muttered Mia, a little bitterly.
Rechecking to make sure Aimee was keeping pace with her, she rushed inside the diner, and as the man lifted his hands again -
- spikes of glass shot up from the floor and blocked Mia's step -
- but the keen end of a burning chair went through his chest and sliced him in half, and Aimee nodded at Mia's side as he fell dead ahead, charred torso sliding off of his burnt legs. Mia blushed as a few diners applauded her; whether they were sincere or wags she did not know.
"You okay?" whispered Aimee and Mia quickly nodded.
"Y-Yes."
"Okay. Gonna, uh - take his corpse around the corner, alright?"
"T-Take his corpse around the corner?"
Aimee disappeared, and Mia realized what she meant as the corpse disappeared with her. Trying to keep her hands silent, she walked out and passed the corner to Aimee standing over his corpse with his still-beating heart carved out.
"First fight down, right?" she chimed.
Mia sat against a wall. "I - y-yes. S-Simply, simply still nervous."
Aimee crouched down beside. "Hey, um - it'll get easier. First fight is always the most stressful one. Right?"
"Y-Yes."
Mia thought she'd have more to say after killing someone, but maybe the bacteria touching her heart were keeping that suppressed, or years on Urasaria fan forums had solidified her correctness. Laughing a little nervously, she said: "I-I did get him good."
"You did." laughed Aimee. "Revenant will help keep you calm, too."
"I already feel a-a bit desensitized." nodded Mia, slowly standing.
Aimee smiled. "Good. So, I'm gonna scan the Revenant so you get credit, and - can just leave after. Somebody always picks them up. Right?"
Mia nodded, then watched as Aimee pulled out her tablet & scanned the heart. Trying some humor, Aimee said: "Still got an appetite?"
====
After class the next morning, Sylvia had approached Mia asking if she & Marisa would accompany her to a local gay bar. (First-years weren't allowed outside without a second-year or higher.) Two things stuck with Mia about this request: one, that Sylvia's mentor was male & Mia's first words if she met him should be "I'm a lesbian," and two, that Sylvia had remarked only desperate women would be drinking on a Tuesday. When Marisa asked if she included herself in this, she only mumbled affirmatively.
On the way there, she had stuttered through a pass at Marisa, precipitating her next half-hour of failures. Thinking Mia & Marisa would think worse of her if she didn't, she was one or two drinks in when a fourth woman sat next to her.
"Hey." muttered the new arrival, her hair swept over her eyes.
Sylvia nodded, cheeks the color of her target's hair.
"I - h-hey. How - how are you?"
"Good, good. Yeah. All good."
"S-Sweet. I like seeing beautiful women like you smile. Uh. Not that I. Never mind."
"What do you mean?"
"U - Uhm. You look nice. Are - you single?"
"Uh, maybe."
"M-Maybe? What does -"
" - hold on." said the woman, tapping her ear for a moment and setting her eyes on Sylvia. "Do you mind? I'm trying to talk to someone here."
She swept her hair back over her left ear, revealing her headset, and walked off with a huff and a pout -
"My - my fucking god -" - laughed Mia -
"- I mean - " - Marisa laughed - "she's a total weirdo for using those, but damn. That's cold."
Sylvia was a limp corpse in her seat.
"… T-This bar sucks." she muttered. "L-Let's try somewhere else. With no phones."
With no desire to protest, the prodigal pair nodded and escaped with Sylvia out to the street, alleys flanking them as they walked down the sidewalk.
"...there's a place a few blocks over, I guess." muttered Sylvia, and in the next instant -
- Marisa hit the ground, and two strands yanked Mia & Sylvia down -
- just in time for the crescent blade to miss their heads from behind, thrown and flying ahead, and as it started to fly back -
" - Equivalence!" they heard a man's voice shout behind, and as a geyser of acid shot out of the blade -
" - Magma!" shouted Sylvia, Magma's tongue growing out of her palm and tapping the corrosive spray -
- and turning it to solid and to a dense, three standing and turning as it fell limp behind, seeing their foe a hundred feet away, his Kabuto helm catching the crescent blade again.
Mia winced as Sylvia's right-arm glowed red, bursting open like a maw, three holes drilled through it and an enormous tongue growing out of her palm.
"U-Uh, gas - liquid - solid - save stuff up." whispered Sylvia, and Marisa nodded, Boudoir's sword readied. Ahead, their foe threw his blade towards them again as they started their rush forward, lampposts flanking them as the projectile flew close -
" - Boudoir!" shouted Marisa; a strand erupted from her glove and grabbed the midair blade -
- and a second strand tethered it to the lamppost as they ran underneath it; Mia's scarabs flew back and lit it alight -
- but a spray of water erupted from the blade's end, dousing itself, slickening Boudoir's grip and freeing itself again as it flew towards them -
" - Magma!" shouted Sylvia, sweeping her arm back with fifty feet left -
- and a puff of acidic gas hit the blade & corroded it away; ahead, their foe staggered as Marisa came in range, and as Boudoir's strands gripped his neck -
- she ripped his head clear off in a geyser of blood, Sylvia laughing beside as his neckless corpse fell, his hands still outstretched as it hit the ground.
"All good?" said Marisa, glancing back as Mia & Sylvia came up.
"Y-Yeah." laughed Sylvia. "F-First fight. J-Jitters."
"Cool. You okay, Mia-Mia?"
"...yes." said Mia, trying not to frown at her easy counter.
"Alright. Uh, I'm gonna make an incision, and scan his Revenant."
Mia nodded as Marisa crouched down and scanned.
On the way there, she had stuttered through a pass at Marisa, precipitating her next half-hour of failures. Thinking Mia & Marisa would think worse of her if she didn't, she was one or two drinks in when a fourth woman sat next to her.
"Hey." muttered the new arrival, her hair swept over her eyes.
Sylvia nodded, cheeks the color of her target's hair.
"I - h-hey. How - how are you?"
"Good, good. Yeah. All good."
"S-Sweet. I like seeing beautiful women like you smile. Uh. Not that I. Never mind."
"What do you mean?"
"U - Uhm. You look nice. Are - you single?"
"Uh, maybe."
"M-Maybe? What does -"
" - hold on." said the woman, tapping her ear for a moment and setting her eyes on Sylvia. "Do you mind? I'm trying to talk to someone here."
She swept her hair back over her left ear, revealing her headset, and walked off with a huff and a pout -
"My - my fucking god -" - laughed Mia -
"- I mean - " - Marisa laughed - "she's a total weirdo for using those, but damn. That's cold."
Sylvia was a limp corpse in her seat.
"… T-This bar sucks." she muttered. "L-Let's try somewhere else. With no phones."
With no desire to protest, the prodigal pair nodded and escaped with Sylvia out to the street, alleys flanking them as they walked down the sidewalk.
"...there's a place a few blocks over, I guess." muttered Sylvia, and in the next instant -
- Marisa hit the ground, and two strands yanked Mia & Sylvia down -
- just in time for the crescent blade to miss their heads from behind, thrown and flying ahead, and as it started to fly back -
" - Equivalence!" they heard a man's voice shout behind, and as a geyser of acid shot out of the blade -
" - Magma!" shouted Sylvia, Magma's tongue growing out of her palm and tapping the corrosive spray -
- and turning it to solid and to a dense, three standing and turning as it fell limp behind, seeing their foe a hundred feet away, his Kabuto helm catching the crescent blade again.
Mia winced as Sylvia's right-arm glowed red, bursting open like a maw, three holes drilled through it and an enormous tongue growing out of her palm.
"U-Uh, gas - liquid - solid - save stuff up." whispered Sylvia, and Marisa nodded, Boudoir's sword readied. Ahead, their foe threw his blade towards them again as they started their rush forward, lampposts flanking them as the projectile flew close -
" - Boudoir!" shouted Marisa; a strand erupted from her glove and grabbed the midair blade -
- and a second strand tethered it to the lamppost as they ran underneath it; Mia's scarabs flew back and lit it alight -
- but a spray of water erupted from the blade's end, dousing itself, slickening Boudoir's grip and freeing itself again as it flew towards them -
" - Magma!" shouted Sylvia, sweeping her arm back with fifty feet left -
- and a puff of acidic gas hit the blade & corroded it away; ahead, their foe staggered as Marisa came in range, and as Boudoir's strands gripped his neck -
- she ripped his head clear off in a geyser of blood, Sylvia laughing beside as his neckless corpse fell, his hands still outstretched as it hit the ground.
"All good?" said Marisa, glancing back as Mia & Sylvia came up.
"Y-Yeah." laughed Sylvia. "F-First fight. J-Jitters."
"Cool. You okay, Mia-Mia?"
"...yes." said Mia, trying not to frown at her easy counter.
"Alright. Uh, I'm gonna make an incision, and scan his Revenant."
Mia nodded as Marisa crouched down and scanned.
====
Aimee unlocked the front door to her mansion, and walked inside with Makoto. "I don't even know if she likes me. I'm not exactly the most attractive person, y'know."
Makoto shrugged as she sat on the sofa. "Aimee, you're not ugly. Even if you were, there's people who look ten times worse dating chicks ten times hotter than…uh…"
Aimee sighed. "Mia."
"Yeah. And if you don't ask her out, then I'm gonna."
"Don't do it for me." winced Aimee, crush having reached code red.
"Uh, I'm not talking about doing it for you. I mean, she looks kinda cute. Probably kisses pretty good."
A sense of envy came over Aimee and she did not like it.
"Yeeep." laughed Makoto. "Guess you better -"
" - fine - fine." sighed Aimee. In some ways Makoto knew where to strike better than she knew herself. Makoto did respect her, but leaving their wills to themselves on romance hadn't done any good. "I'll - fuck, I'll just. I'll do it right now."
"Uh-huh." said Makoto, eyes leaning back, miming a head between her thighs. Aimee doubted she had any interest in Mia at all, but it still worked. She took out her phone, and to her surprise, it vibrated before she unlocked it.
(Mia) "Can I talk to you about Worldwide when I get back?"
Thinking it was the Council of Four's groupchat, Makoto checked her phone before Aimee told her it was Mia. "Ooo. What'd she say?"
(Aimee) "Sure. Are you feeling okay?"
(Mia) "Not really."
"She's in a bad mood." muttered Aimee. "Wanted to talk alone."
"And a shoulder to cry on?"
"Maybe." mumbled Aimee, head shaking as she stood. "Anyway, so. Get the fuck out."
Makoto laughed as the two left for the gate. Aimee sent Makoto and waited for Mia, who peeled off from Sylvia & Marisa once they returned, said goodnight to both, and went off with Aimee to her mansion.
"…god." said Mia as they went inside.
"You like it?" asked Aimee and Mia nodded.
"It's - it's very nice."
Aimee agreed, guilty as she felt over her accomodations compared to one-star housing. "Yeah. Uh, three-star - past rank #25 - gets mansions, and president one has some special stuff. Whole movie theater and stuff back there."
"May I sit down?"
"Sure." The two sat on Aimee's sofa, but not too closely. "Um, still want to talk?"
"…Worldwide is frustrating me." muttered Mia. "I didn't realize how narrow its ability was until - until I had class this morning, and…" She sighed. "There's - someone in my class can create a-any element at their hands. Sylvia can turn anything to gas, liquid, o-or solid - and all I have i-is fucking fire. I-I can't even extinguish it w-without looking like an idiot, a-and…"
Aimee saw tears form. Hirogane had asked her not to tell.
"…hey." She put her hand on Mia's back, then quickly moved it to her shoulder. "I - I want to, uh - tell you something about Worldwide. Remember when Hirogane checked you? Uh, when it activated?"
"Y-Yes."
"I'm sorry we didn't tell you, but - Marisa knows this, too. Your colony's not complete. I - we can go talk to Hirogane about it, but that's what he said.
"I-I don't know what that means."
"…um. We kinda don't know either." Aimee nervously laughed. "But we were talking, um - with Saya, too - about what it might be. It's … not a normal size for a-a Revenant."
Mia sniffled. "I-It's not fully activated?"
"Something like that, yeah. Maybe it's - it might be really strong, or maybe there's more abilities, or - but Hirogane said you've got the gene now. For Volgari proteins. Right?"
Mia smiled a bit. "T-True."
"And, um… few months from now, if it's still having trouble, students -"
" - can swap for free." Mia nodded. "I-I remember."
"Yeah." said Aimee. "Um, maybe who gave it to you would know, too."
"Have they made any more progress?" said Mia, sitting up.
"Renault - one of the security guys - wanted to talk to me tomorrow morning. Or, uh, his wife. Guy's super paranoid, so he just sticks in his office."
"His wife relays his messages?"
"Yep. She's, uh - technical term for it is - 'fucking asshole'."
Mia laughed at another stolen Makoto joke, though she had used a different noun.
Makoto shrugged as she sat on the sofa. "Aimee, you're not ugly. Even if you were, there's people who look ten times worse dating chicks ten times hotter than…uh…"
Aimee sighed. "Mia."
"Yeah. And if you don't ask her out, then I'm gonna."
"Don't do it for me." winced Aimee, crush having reached code red.
"Uh, I'm not talking about doing it for you. I mean, she looks kinda cute. Probably kisses pretty good."
A sense of envy came over Aimee and she did not like it.
"Yeeep." laughed Makoto. "Guess you better -"
" - fine - fine." sighed Aimee. In some ways Makoto knew where to strike better than she knew herself. Makoto did respect her, but leaving their wills to themselves on romance hadn't done any good. "I'll - fuck, I'll just. I'll do it right now."
"Uh-huh." said Makoto, eyes leaning back, miming a head between her thighs. Aimee doubted she had any interest in Mia at all, but it still worked. She took out her phone, and to her surprise, it vibrated before she unlocked it.
(Mia) "Can I talk to you about Worldwide when I get back?"
Thinking it was the Council of Four's groupchat, Makoto checked her phone before Aimee told her it was Mia. "Ooo. What'd she say?"
(Aimee) "Sure. Are you feeling okay?"
(Mia) "Not really."
"She's in a bad mood." muttered Aimee. "Wanted to talk alone."
"And a shoulder to cry on?"
"Maybe." mumbled Aimee, head shaking as she stood. "Anyway, so. Get the fuck out."
Makoto laughed as the two left for the gate. Aimee sent Makoto and waited for Mia, who peeled off from Sylvia & Marisa once they returned, said goodnight to both, and went off with Aimee to her mansion.
"…god." said Mia as they went inside.
"You like it?" asked Aimee and Mia nodded.
"It's - it's very nice."
Aimee agreed, guilty as she felt over her accomodations compared to one-star housing. "Yeah. Uh, three-star - past rank #25 - gets mansions, and president one has some special stuff. Whole movie theater and stuff back there."
"May I sit down?"
"Sure." The two sat on Aimee's sofa, but not too closely. "Um, still want to talk?"
"…Worldwide is frustrating me." muttered Mia. "I didn't realize how narrow its ability was until - until I had class this morning, and…" She sighed. "There's - someone in my class can create a-any element at their hands. Sylvia can turn anything to gas, liquid, o-or solid - and all I have i-is fucking fire. I-I can't even extinguish it w-without looking like an idiot, a-and…"
Aimee saw tears form. Hirogane had asked her not to tell.
"…hey." She put her hand on Mia's back, then quickly moved it to her shoulder. "I - I want to, uh - tell you something about Worldwide. Remember when Hirogane checked you? Uh, when it activated?"
"Y-Yes."
"I'm sorry we didn't tell you, but - Marisa knows this, too. Your colony's not complete. I - we can go talk to Hirogane about it, but that's what he said.
"I-I don't know what that means."
"…um. We kinda don't know either." Aimee nervously laughed. "But we were talking, um - with Saya, too - about what it might be. It's … not a normal size for a-a Revenant."
Mia sniffled. "I-It's not fully activated?"
"Something like that, yeah. Maybe it's - it might be really strong, or maybe there's more abilities, or - but Hirogane said you've got the gene now. For Volgari proteins. Right?"
Mia smiled a bit. "T-True."
"And, um… few months from now, if it's still having trouble, students -"
" - can swap for free." Mia nodded. "I-I remember."
"Yeah." said Aimee. "Um, maybe who gave it to you would know, too."
"Have they made any more progress?" said Mia, sitting up.
"Renault - one of the security guys - wanted to talk to me tomorrow morning. Or, uh, his wife. Guy's super paranoid, so he just sticks in his office."
"His wife relays his messages?"
"Yep. She's, uh - technical term for it is - 'fucking asshole'."
Mia laughed at another stolen Makoto joke, though she had used a different noun.
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