Chapter Text
Fallen Medic watches with a weary smile as the people they saved are walked to ambulances—thankfully only as a precaution—and the criminals they apprehended are stuffed into armored cars. The whole thing had been easy. Most of the criminals weren't even armed, and Fallen Medic was able to take out most of them with just her one hair-hand.
But there's another reason today's adventure had drained her.
Because she knows that her other self didn't watch the tape. Instead...
Sulfur flies up next to her. "Hey...you okay, Magenta?"
Fallen Medic giggles. She glances over at Sulfur, and sure enough, there's an unmistakable blush across Sulfur's cheeks. "Little Sulfur-chan...it's cute how you worry." She sighs, looking out at the mass of people standing under the overcast sky, lit by the muffled sun and the blaring red police lights. "I'd rather fight Enormeeta. Their evil seems...less tragic, than this."
"Yeah," Sulfur says, glaring down at the last of the criminals as they're stashed away into the armored cars. "And I can't even beat the shit out of them for it, not without prolly killing 'em."
"Well, I'd say most of them are just doing it for money, not out of a real desire to hurt people but..." Fallen Medic's lip twitches. "If there weren't buyers...there'd be no money."
"It's messed up." Sulfur shakes her head, but her eyes soon look as exhausted as Fallen Medic's smile. "Glad it's over I guess. Don't know what Vatz was thinking we'd find with a lead like this."
"Girls," Azul addresses them as she rises up to where they're floating, overlooking the aftermath. She had gone La Verita for the battle, mostly to make it last as short a time as possible. "Now that we have a moment to ourselves...I wanted to ask you both if you had any ideas how to handle this whole missing persons situation."
Sulfur gives a one-shouldered shrug as the ambulances start driving away, followed soon by the armored cars. "No clue. This is probably gonna be what it's like. Us going wherever Vatz tells us, tying up some losers, and seeing if we find anything."
Azul watches as the last of the armored cars drives away, leaving behind only a small handful of regular police patrol cars. "I believe I saw the police confiscating the criminals' laptops and other devices from the boat. And there's still a few officers checking the rest of the boat for evidence, so it isn't even as if we're analyzing any of the clues."
Sulfur huffs. "Why's Vatz giving us this assignment anyway? The only thing it does is increase the chances of Enormeeta showing up, which would make something like this hectic as hell."
Fallen Medic shrugs then stretches her arm across her chest, making sure to press her breasts up as she goes to give her little Sulfur something fun to look at. "Well, I guess there's no way to tell without asking them. I just hope those two employees are okay...oh, but that reminds me." Fallen Medic gives a sad sigh. "I had to run all the way over to catch up, and I didn't have a chance to mention before we started the fight, but Vatz believes that my magic has some odd interaction with the magic of the Enormeeta members."
Sulfur crosses her arms, but her eyes show clear concern. "Eh? What kind of interaction?"
"They're not sure yet, but they'd like to do more tests," Fallen Medic answers with a little shrug.
Azul cocks her head, raising her brow. "How strange. I would've thought we would've noticed a reaction in combat. What sort of occurrence is Vatz using as the basis for their findings?"
Fallen Medic giggles, a hand coming up to her lips as her other dips low into her dress, idly toying with herself. "Oh my, Azul-chan. You sound so smart right now, almost like a scientist!"
Azul gives an embarrassed chuckle and shrugs. "Ah, well..."
"This one?" Sulfur cocks a thumb at Azul. "Just because she likes to experiment doesn't make her a scientist," she says with a smug smile, but Fallen Medic senses the tiniest bit of jealousy in Sulfur's voice and giggles.
"Ooo, Sulfur-chan...if you're jealous—of all her experimenting, that is—I'm sure you and I could come up with some...mmm...tests we could run..." She winks, then giggles as Sulfur gets even redder.
"Heh, well..." Sulfur gives an embarrassed shrug and blushes as well, but she then clears her throat and motions down to the officers on the boat below them. "I think they have this handled. Should we report back to Vatz?"
"Ah, wait," Fallen Medic runs a hand through her hair and takes her syringe—which her hair-hand had been holding once all the criminals were caught—under an arm. "Speaking of tests and experiments, there's an idea I'd like to try, to test out this whole magic interference thing Vatz is worried about." She tries to look neutral, but a corner of her lip curls up into the slightest bit of a smile.
How fortunate, then, that she's almost always smiling in this form.
"Of course," Azul starts, "Whatever we can do to assist. Did they mention what form this interference takes? Sulfur and I could always help to watch out for it."
Fallen Medic shakes her head sadly, running her fingers up and down the side of her syringe's needle, giving Sulfur another wink. "Mmm, not exactly. He thinks perhaps it had something to do with how the cameras cut out for a time at the studio." She hums, a finger going up to her lips. "I think...that to truly test this out...we'll have to see if we can recreate the situation, and see if the same thing happens."
"What did you have in mind?" Azul asks.
Fallen Medic smiles.
She knows that if her other self is going to accept who they are...she's going to need a little bit of a push.
And when a push is needed...sometimes, one's friends can push the hardest.
Haruka sighs, running her hand through Akiho's hair. All of her sisters had fallen asleep glomped onto her as they watched anime together, and Haruka definitely doesn't have the energy to wake them up right now, not after the rest of her day.
So much running around...doing things I don't understand.
People missing...my La Verita form having some weird magical effects when I'm around Enormeeta members...all this stuff with Vatz and the police and the not-police...
Haruka sighs again, but feeling her sisters' warmth does give her some comfort. She likes spending time with her sisters. When she's around them, she feels like she can finally feel at peace, away from the big problems that stress her out so much. When she's around them, she feels like she can finally be herself.
She feels it a bit with her friends, though she knows that there's a limit with them, and she tends to overdo it sometimes and embarrass them.
Probably the only one she's felt that way with, genuinely, is Korisu. And if Haruka's counting the times when she's Magenta, she's had a similar experience with Nero Alice.
Haruka feels a painful throb in her temple, but both her hands are taken up with her sisters, so she endures it and lets it pass. She looks down as Natsuna fidgets in her sleep, muttering something about the shortest path being her fists, and Haruka smiles, her chest giving a tiny tremor as she stifles a chuckle.
Things like this...
Moments...people...
This is what I want to protect. This, is what it's all for. It's not about me, getting what I want. It's about everyone, getting to have these lovely things in their lives.
Still, a tiny bit of her wishes, so badly, that she could have the benefits without all the work; a tiny bit of her wishes that she could just play forever and never have to deal with all these obligations. She knows that being a magical girl is something precious to her; it's not something she'd ever give up.
But she also knows that even if she did...there's no stopping the loss of childhood bliss.
We all grow up...
We give up our toys, and our imaginations go all grey.
She lets the painful thoughts pass and enjoys the warmth of her sleeping sisters, slowly gathering up the willpower to wake them and lead them all off to their beds.
I guess it can't be helped.
Still...I wish there were more chances for me to play again, like I used to. Like I still want to.
Like life won't let me.
Haruka's heard the plan her fellow Tres Magia members came up with.
But...
"I'm...heh, a little confused," Haruka admits. "So...this is the plan my um..." She glances around. They've picked a deserted bench by a tall cherry tree in a park, overlooking a steep drop. The bench they're on is faced away from the cliff, which means they don't get to look out across the city. It does mean, however, that they'll be able to see anyone coming. Still, it doesn't hurt to be cautious. "My other form...this is the plan she came up with?"
Sayo nods. "This should allow you to be with Nero Alice alone for quite some time. Potentially unlimited, assuming neither you nor her run out of magic. And if you set up your phone in the proper spot in the building, it should be protected by the magic-blocking device while also being positioned perfectly to record what happens."
"I think our setup works," Kaoruko starts, furrowing her brow, "But there's still the issue of getting Alice over there. Your other form seemed pretty sure you'd be able to talk her into it. Said something about a doll?"
Haruka blinks.
She thinks she might know what doll they're talking about, though...
Her lip twitches and she looks away. She'd found the doll after heading home and had just casually kept it in her school bag, but the longer she's thought about it, the more she's wondered where it came from.
"I have this one that I can't explain," Haruka says slowly, pulling it out briefly to show her friends before putting it back. "I must have gotten it while transformed..."
"Must be the one," Kaoruko says with a sigh, though Haruka notes how Kaoruko lets her leg touch gently against her own.
Haruka doesn't mind.
Sayo crosses her arms. "I do agree though, I think the most difficult thing will be attempting to get her to the location in the first place. Even if she's willing, I doubt Magia Baiser would want her to run off alone with an enemy."
"It's still so weird..." Haruka looks down between her feet, at the ground. "Did um...did my other self tell you about the um, weird magic stuff?"
"Yeah," Kaoruko says, nodding, "That's why we're doing all this. She said the best way to test this was to make sure you and Alice were alone, and to videotape it to see if the same deal happened like with those tapes."
But...
Haruka feels a strange chill go through her.
That's almost...the exact opposite of what Vatz told me to tell them.
She thinks back on how uncomfortable she'd felt when Vatz had been telling her those things, how she had gotten the strangest sense that he was lying.
My La Verita...although my friends won't tell me what happens...
It seems like I'm helpful. I still fight against evil.
There must be a good reason she'd do this. She wouldn't just trick my friends for no reason.
Haruka gulps, then gives her friends a confident nod. "Alright...lets do this. I'm ready!"
Sayo and Kaoruko both return her smile and stand, and the three of them head off to hopefully solve at least one of the many mysteries surrounding them in recent days.
Though Haruka feels, as she says "Trans Magia!" beside her beloved friends, that there's something wrong with all of this.
She can't help but fear what her other self has in store for her.