Difference between revisions of "2022-08-05 - Encounter with a Lone Wolf!"

Latest revision as of 05:25, 27 November 2022

Kyouka was lost.

Well, lost wasn't the right word for it. She knew exactly where she was because she could read the street signs overhead.

She just had no idea how she'd gotten there.

Her mother had asked her to pick up an order from the store on her way home from school. It was a simple enough request, only… She wasn’t anywhere near the store at the moment.

She'd been so lost in her own thoughts she hadn't noticed where she'd been going. Did she even get off at the right bus stop? Kyouka frowned as she looked back at the direction she had come from. There was… something she had been thinking about. Something urgent.

… wasn't there?

There was… something buzzing in the back of her mind, but as she tried to grasp at it, it slipped away from her.

No, she had to get to the store for her mom, but she had plenty of time for that. With all of the new changes, everything felt urgent recently, that's all. So much that needed to be handled all at once. That must've been it. She was just tired from handling the move, enrolling in her first school, and settling in.

"I should try to get to bed early tonight. The sleep'll probably do me some good," she remarked to nobody in particular.

She fished out her phone and loaded up the map program, and waited for it to catch up to her current location. She hummed a bit to herself as she waited the almost two minutes for her location to appear on screen. "And this is why paper maps are handy," she opined to herself, muttering in English. "They don't need batteries or software updates, or line of sight to a satellite."

Kyouka punched in the store address and waited again for it to calculate a route. “Maybe the other kids were right about my phone being old. Hate to throw out something that still works, though…” When she had started exchanging phone numbers in class, some of her classmates had expressed surprise it was even functioning.

She signed in defeat. "I guess the newer phones do have better cameras, huh? That'll come in handy if I find any nice hiking trails or camping spots, I suppose…"

Kyouka squinted at the screen as it displayed both her current position and the store. "Wow, I was way off. What the heck am I doing all the way over here? I really need to get my head in the right place." She resumed walking, following the phone's navigation advice now. It indicated she should turn left at the next intersection.

She could hear shouting and honking coming from the street up ahead. "Well that doesn't sound good. Maybe I should go up an extra block… But let's check it out."

Around the corner, on a short little side street was something of a traffic jam. There was a man standing in the middle of the street, causing a scene, while the drivers wree all yelling and honking at him to get off the road. He was holding something in his hand and gesturing wildly, seemingly ignoring everyone else around him.

"Yeaaaah, it's probably fine, but I think I'll go up an extra block."

She was starting to turn away, to head back to the crosswalk, when something cut through her thoughts.

<... Help…>

Kyouka's head snapped back to the side street. Something sparked inside her. A strange kind of recognition. Was that why she had come this way?

There was something about the man in the middle of the street, something she couldn't put her finger on…

She turned and started to walk down the short side street. To her surprise, she recognized a classmate of hers, Himiko Hasegawa. The girl'd had it in for her, for some reason, always taking a chance to try and mock her for any perceived oddity the new transfer student had. Kyouka considered backtracking and crossing the street, but before Himiko could notice her, she instead stepped into the street and went right up to the man.

"Hey, you!" she shouted in a tone of voice that Kyouka was glad not to have directed at her for a change. "You're holding up the road! Stop your weird little cosplay stunt or whatever this is and get out of the way! Are you even paying attention to what's going on?" She reached out to grab the man's shoulder.

That got his attention.

The man turned, and looked down his nose at the teenager daring to bother him. "Hmph. Bold, but… not what I'm looking for. Still, maybe I can use you as bait." He struck Himiko with the back of his hand, and knocked Himiko back.

A deep anger rose in Kyouka's chest, stoking the burning of a heated flame. "Hey, you can't–" But she paused.

Himiko hadn't just been knocked back. She'd been sent flying, slamming into the wall of a shop. From the middle of the street.

"No way…" Nobody was /that/ strong, not with how the man had casually raised his hand, hadn't been poised to deliver a strike or a blow. Instead he looked like he'd barely exerted any effort at all.

Something wasn't right. Her mind was busy trying to rationalize it all away, but he held firm as she picked up the pace, heading for Himiko.

"I'm terribly sorry to do this to you," said the man in a way that indicated that he wasn't. "But I'm after someone with a bit more power than you, and threatening innocents is usually a good way to draw them out." He raised something long and slender–Kyouka's mind wanted to call it a magic staff but she immediately dismissed that notion–and a bright, swirling ball of fire began to form.

The blood in Kyouka's veins ran cold even as that anger burned brighter within her. "Himiko!" The other girl was still on her feet, but seemed dazed, and unaware.

Kyouka took off at a dead run. Adrenaline, fear, and anger surged through her veins. They cut through the fog of indecision as her feet began to move. Only one thought filled her mind now as her feet thudded at the pavement, as her muscles strained for every last ounce of speed and strength she could muster to her singular cause.

Save Himiko.

Her classmate was frozen in fear–several others on the sidewalk were too, but they weren't in the fireball's path.

Kyouka slammed her body into Himiko's, wrapping her arms around the other girl and she pushed. At the same moment something shifted in som way that was only barely perceptible to her, but it slipped her mind as the two teens were sent flying several feet down the sidewalk to land in a heap. The ball of fire crashed into the wall. Heat, dust, and splinters washed over them, but they were untouched by flames.

Himeko stared up at her in shock, mouth working silently before finally asking. "O-okazaki?! What are–" She looked to the spot where she'd been standing only seconds before. Her eyes widened in recognition. "Oh my god, you… you saved my life!"

Kyouka just nodded grimly as she lifted herself off of her classmate, standing up and offering her a hand. "Yeah. I'm just glad I made it in time. Are you okay?"

The other girl took the hand up, standing again and dusting herself off. "Y-yeah, I think so. Um, thanks, if you hadn't…" Himeko seemingly couldn't bring herself to look Kyouka in the eye. "But I've been awful to you…"

Kyouka placed a reassuring hand on Himeko's shoulder. "We can talk about it later, okay?" she said gently. She pointed up the street. "Those people–" She cut herself off as she looked up the street. It was… strangely empty now. The girl frowned. Had they all fled when the fireball had come out? "Look, just get out of here. It's way too dangerous with that lunatic throwing fireballs around."

Himeko's gaze followed to where Kyouka was pointing, and she hesitated before looking back to Kyouka. "But what are you going to do?"

Kyouka shook her head. "I don't know, but I'll think of something. Please, just hurry."

They regarded each other for a moment, and then Himiko slowly nodded. "Okay. Just… be careful." Then she turned and took off down the street.

Her classmate's safety assured–or at least, more assured than before–Kyouka turned her attention to the rest of the scene before her. It was oddly quiet now. All the cars had stopped honking, the yelling had stopped. It was as if everyone had just vanished when the fireball had come out.

But her focus was on the man now, who was floating in the middle of the street. He was no longer paying any attention to her, but looking around, shouting. "Yes, I know you're out there! Show yourself!"

Kyouka blinked. Was the man really floating? What's more… had he been floating this entire time?

She realized he had, but for some reason it had just… slipped her notice before. Been deemed unimportant somehow. Something in her mind had convinced her it was so utterly unremarkable as to be ignorable.

There was something teasing at the edges of her mind even now, a soothing fog trying to assuage her thoughts, to assure her that of course he wasn't floating, that it would be ridiculous, that there must be a transparent platform, or a wire rig, that this was some kind of publicity stunt or a movie shoot.

But the fire in her chest and the anger in her mind burned too hot, keeping the fog at bay. It was trying to insinuate itself into her thoughts, but she wouldn't let it. She couldn't let it.

She had saved Himiko, but that wasn't the voice she had heard in her mind. There was someone else here calling for help, reaching out. She had to do something. And as the man shouted to the skies, she was able to take him in.

He was floating. And wearing a cloak that drifted in a way that things standing on the ground definitely shouldn't. In his right hand he wielded a staff of some kind–that was where the fireball had emanated from. And in his left–

Kyouka gasped, eyes widening as she laid eyes on the gem. Everything else seemed to fade away for a moment–not in the way those lies tried to mask the truth of the world from her, but something that was somehow even realer than real. She heard that voice call again, the plantitive plea echoing in her mind. With the fog gone, now she could recognize it for what it was–a transmission, directed only to those capable of perceiving it, impossibly dense and filled with status codes, error messages, and coordinates. So much information to process yet she somehow could, because she knew the message could have been transmitted in just one word:

Help.

That fire burned hotter and brighter.

She wasn't sure what that gem was, or how it could speak to her that way, but she did know it was aware enough to call for help. There was no way she could ignore such a plea.

She snapped to the present, eyes narrowing as she studied the man. He was still ignoring her, searching the rooftops for some imaginary challenger. He wasn't paying any attention to her, which meant he didn't regard her as a threat.

She could use that to her advantage. As long as she didn't underestimate the strange man herself.

She stashed her backpack in the alley and then went to face the man. Her fists tightened, fingernails digging into her palms as she stoked the fire within herself. She would need every bit of her reflexes, strength, and speed at her beck and call.

"Hey! Jackass! How do you get off throwing fireballs at people and… and gemnapping innocent gems! Hand him over, or you're going to regret it!"

The figure stopped, looking bewildered as he looked past her several times, as if she were somehow beneath his notice before returning his gaze to her. "Can I help you, little girl?" he sneered.

A growl rose up in her throat as she took a single, half step forward, pointing an accusatory finger at the man. "You almost killed someone with that little fireball trick of yours. And I know that gem doesn't want to be with you either! You need to return it to its rightful owner."

Kyouka's step forward made the man flinch backwards. He waited, watching her warily, but when Kyouka took no further action he let his guard down. "Well?"

The girl kept her gaze level on the man. "Well what?"

It took another moment for the man to process that, and then he laughed. "Oh, for a moment, I thought I had to actually worry about you. But if you had the power to make me do anything, you'd be dousing yourself with a bucket of sparkles and rainbows right about now. Still, you may be useful." He raised his staff, and another swirling mass of flames quickly gathered. It was pointed at Kyouka.

To nobody in particular, the man called out, "Here goes another one! If you want to save them you'd better act fast!"

The flames erupted and surged at Kyouka.

Kyouka was already diving out of the way as the flames were gathering. She tucked into a roll, drawing her feet in as the fireball whizzed by. It missed her, but the wave of sharp heat spurred her to keep moving. She sprung up out of the roll and charged around in a wide ark, keeping low and sprinting from car to car to give herself cover.

The man seemed confused, looking around wildly for her when the fireball missed its target and crashed into a building instead. Kyouka seized on his distraction and snatched up a garbage can lid. She held it tight as she wound up, muscles tensed and straining as they waited for release. "Hey, jackass!" She hurled the lid with all of her might at the man's head, and the instant her fingers left the disc she sprinted forward, trailing in its wake. The stranger had just enough time to register its approach before it smashed him in the face with a loud clang.

The mage flinched backwards, clutching at his face. "Wh– You– How dare– I'll make you–" A glittering purple shape fell to the ground.

Kyouka smirked. Just as she'd hoped. She vaulted over the hood of a car as the trash can lid was rattling on the ground. Her feet had barely touched down when she sprung forward, sliding under the man and snatching up the gem in the process.

The gem's surface was smooth and cool to the touch, but there was an inner warmth buried deep within. For a brief, singular moment she felt a sense of… of connectedness, but it broke when she shoved the gem into her jacket pocket.

She hopped to her feet, then spun around and grabbed the man's cape. She yanked down with the same might and fury she had used to fling the lid. "Kyah!" The man flailed at the unexpected change in direction and was unable to arrest his descent. Kyouka quickly wrapped the cloak around his head, securing it with several knots. She tucked them inside the wrap of fabric to make them harder to get to, then circled around in front of the man.

The stranger flailed helplessly, dropping his staff to clutch at his head with both hands. Kyouka kicked it under a car and then took off. She needed a moment to think. The stranger didn't seem to think too much of her, so he'd probably keep looking for her on the ground and not up above. She darted into an alleyway and spotted what she was looking for–a fire escape. Kyouka drove herself at the wall, jumping up, letting her foot impact the brick wall, tense up, dig in, and then push, letting her momentum carry her upwards to where she could grasp the bottom of the fire escape. She hauled herself up while walking against the wall, then pulled herself up and over the railing. The ladder would've been easier, but wasn't designed to be accessed from the ground.

Kyouka tore up the stairs to the roof and then huddled down behind a large air conditioning unit. She drew in a slow breath to steady her nerves. Out of all the reckless things she'd ever done, that definitely topped the list. But the gem had called out to her, and she hadn't been able to deny its plea.

Kyouka blinked. With the fog lifted from her mind for the moment, she could remember…

"I stepped off the bus, and then I heard… a voice." She pulled the gem from her pocket. It was cool and warm still, and she felt that sense of connection spring to life again. "That was you, wasn't it?"

A light pulsed deep inside the gem in time with its words. <Affirmative.>

She looked the gem over. It had five sides, and it was slightly elongated. Its shape was vaguely reminiscent of something, but she couldn't quite place it.

Kyouka clutched it to her chest. "I almost didn't make it," she admitted quietly. "But I'm here now."

She looked down at the street. The cloaked man was still struggling, but the rest of the street… there was something about the air. Something just felt off, but she wasn't sure what it was.

Maybe it was the complete lack of people, how everyone had seemingly fled, leaving their cars abandoned in the street. The sight of normal life interrupted by some madman and his quest for… whatever it was he wanted. But outside of the street, everything seemed bright and sunny, as if she wasn't even fighting for her life right at that very moment.

She tried not to think about that fact too keenly. Right now she needed to focus on finding solutions.

"We need a plan. I don't think the police are coming–I should've heard sirens already and I don't think they can handle this." She looked down at the gem. "If I take you and run… I know his type. Either he won't stop looking for you until he gets you, which would put more people in harm's way, or he'll take his ball and go home, which…" She shuddered softly. "I don't want to see his version of that."

"I can't go back and keep egging him on, because one wrong move and I'm toast. The only way is to defeat him and capture him, or make capturing you more trouble than it's worth. So… can you call for more help? I think I'm at the limits of what I can do by myself."

<Negative.>

Kyouka signed. "Do you have any other ideas? At this point I'm willing to entertain anything."

The device was silent for a moment. Then it emitted a pleasant chime and announced, <Analysis complete. User parameters acceptable.>

Kyouka blinked. "Is that… good? Wait, am I the user? Were you analyzing me?"

<Affirmative. Current user has a high probability of successful synchronization. Do you wish to proceed?>

She tried to process what the gem was saying. "Is this synchronization going to help keep you and all those people out there safe?"

<Affirmative.>

There was no hesitation as relief flooded through her, lifting her spirits. "Yes! Synchronize! Commence synchronization! Whatever it takes!"

Clarity and understanding flooded her mind–more information, but not of error codes and error messages. This time it was a set of instructions. The procedure was oh so complex, but the gem would handle most of it. Her part was relatively simple.

"Okay, I understand." She clambered up to her feet, and stood tall, planting her feet firmly. Kyouka drew in a deep, calming breath. She could feel her heart pounding heavily in her chest but she forced it to be calm. The blazing bonfire in her chest grew quiet and calm, but no less intense–still powerful, but now waiting once again. She drew in one more breath, and then let it go, trying to release all of her tension with it. "Here goes nothing," she said softly.

Kyouka closed her eyes, and held the gem close to her chest. She opened herself to the gem completely, both heart and mind. Something new was probing at her thoughts now. This one was curious and inquisitive, but also lonely and desperate. An intelligence with a quiet, plantitive cry for help. She reached out to it with her own thoughts, and offered a simple message:

I'm here.

The two beings connected, and information started to flow between them. From the gem to her, certainly, but also from her to the gem. She let it in, and offered herself freely in return. Words soon came to her, words she had never known before, but that also felt like they'd been a part of her all her life.

"I am the one swearing an oath. Under the contract, release those powers unto me."

Something shifted inside the gem. It grew warmer in her hands, shining brighter than before. Processes started and data began to load. All felt right, so she kept going.

"Eyes to pierce the night, winds to move my feet…"

Even more information began to flow-formulas and equations of a hopelessly complex degree. She didn't understand them, but she didn't need to. She let them in, let them flow back out, felt them as they shifted and changed, realigning in some ephemeral and indefinable way as it matched itself to her thoughts and feelings.

That fire in her chest was starting to churn again, but this time, the gem answered in kind. The data and equations flowing through them weaved and twisted around it, forming channels and conduits, reservoirs and reserves, forming a machinery within herself that was so complex she could not hope to manage it all. But she wouldn't have to.

"… and an unyielding flame to turn back the dark!"

The flame inside of her erupted, but no longer was it a wild and uncontrolled thing. It surged through the new pathways inside of her–twisting, turning, condensing and refining. It was no longer just the raw and undirected potential inside of her. Now it had a direction, a purpose. The new name came to her without having to seek it: mana, that could transform limitless possibilities of thought into action.

She lifted the gem aloft, feeling all of the raw, untamed potential manifesting in the gem, almost ready to burst out.

No, not a gem. She knew his name now. As surely as she knew her own, the name would be a part of her–a partner, a companion who knew her every desire and shared one singular, indelible purpose. She called out to him.

"Answer to my cry! Strike Wolf, set up!"

Strike Wolf let out a chime of acknowledgement and responded, <Stand by ready, set up.>

Mana erupted from the gem, a shining bright purple light piercing through the gloom of the abandoned street.

Strike Wolf stated, <Please specify primary device mode and barrier jacket.> Before she could even ask the question, information flooded her mind. Just as quickly she formed the answer and pushed the thought back to Strike Wolf in kind. Without any more input required, he initiated the transformation.

The world fades around her, and a sea of surging and crackling purple energy takes its place. She does a backflip as her everyday clothes vanish, landing in a three-point stance with her right arm outstretched, looking directly ahead.

As she stands, strands of black and purple fabric wrap around her body. They shimmer and then break apart to reveal a black tank top and a pair of purple shorts. She reached up as if grabbing a pair of invisible lapels, snapping them exactly as a flash of purple light materialized a purple sleeveless vest.

She hops forward, pivoting on her right foot to unleash a low, sweeping kick with her left, then brings the same foot up to unleash a powerful side kick. Black fabric flies in to wrap around her foot, revealing a sturdy boot, followed by a series of interlocking, light purple metal plates. One by one they attach themselves in place, making a loud ka-chunk sound each time two pieces make contact.

Kyouka effortlessly holds her leg up as the boot forms around it, and without letting it drop bends her right leg and then springs up. The leg swings back and then overhead, strands of black fabric and metal plates flying in to meet it midarc. By the time she's completed her rotation, Kyouka has shifted so that her right heel, armored boot fully formed, is coming down in a hard axe kick in front of her body. At the same time her left leg retracted to allow her to land lightly in a crouch with her right leg extended.

From there she springs lightly back up to her feet, assuming a boxing stance. She takes a few jabs at an imaginary speedbag before swinging in with a powerful hook. More black fabric catches her fist in midswing, and by the time she finishes her blow a fully formed fingerless glove has appeared. She pivots on her forward foot, driving her other fist forward in a powerful straight blow as a matching glove appears on it.

It is here that Strike Wolf makes his reappearance, sparkling with an inner light as it descends from the sky down over the back of Kyouka's upstretched right hand. More interlocking metal plates fly in, quickly attaching together in a series of mechanical connections to form a gauntlet. The segmentation is even finer than before, carefully arranged to ensure maximum protection while not compromising on manual dexterity. Strike Wolf fills with a bright light and flips upside down. It attaches itself to the back of the metal gauntlet while simultaneously releasing the built-up energy in a purple shockwave, and in response, Kyouka clenches her now gauntled hand into a fist.

The camera pans down, circling around to in front of the magical girl to look her in the eye. The smirk from before is replaced by a deadly serious and steady gaze. A purple light appears on her forehead before splitting horizontally. Each light traces out half of a visor that travels straight across her forehead sweeping back on either side of her head to a point, and then sweeping back forwards to end at her cheeks, leaving the bottom unenclosed. The field of the visor fills with a white light that then bursts to reveal amber-colored glass shielding her eyes.

The camera pulls far back as Kyouka runs forward in her completed gear, diving forward into a handstand and then up into the air in a fast-spinning sumersault. This time she lands on all fours, but quickly rises up into a battle ready stance as the transformation finishes.''

Warmth enveloped her, and in the blink of an eye her clothes vanished, and layers of carefully crafted mana wrapped tightly around her, providing enhancements to strength, defense, speed, agility, and everything else she could think of. To everything that she had thought of, in that moment, when Strike Wolf asked her what she would need to carry out their shared purpose.

The whole process had taken only an instant, but she had felt every step of the process–every calculation that Strike Wolf had made, every bend and twist and turn of mana formation, how their shared thoughts had guided the formation of her armor. How it had crafted Strike Wolf's current form, that would let him be an extension of herself.

Strike Wolf was a comforting presence on her right hand, as if he had always been there.

She opened her eyes. She was sure that huge release of mana would attract some attention, and indeed the mage was staring at her from the ground, mouth agog at the sight. "You… you insufferable little brat! How could a nobody like you have possibly unlocked the secrets of that weapon?!"

Kyouka held up her right gauntlet, showing off Strike Wolf's active form, and brought her foot up to rest on the edge of the root as she looked down at her foe. "First, I didn't have to do anything. He offered his power to me willingly, because I'm not an entitled asshole. Second, he's made it very clear he doesn't want to leave with you. So my advice would be to take the loss and scram. This is the one chance I'm giving you to resolve this peacefully."

"Why, you…." The mage held his staff aloft, and a whole spread of fireballs formed now, swirling with malicious black energy. "Just because that device likes you don't mean you've mastered its power. I'll be taking that device back now, but I do thank you for demonstrating that it works," she said with a sneer. Fire!" With a wave of his wand, all of the fireballs launched at once, careening directly at her.

There was no way she would have been able to avoid them all before.

But now…

Homing program locked on,> announced Strike Wolf.

""Understood!"

Kyouka pitched off the edge of the building, waiting until she was almost upside down before kicking off the underside of the roof. Enhanced strength amplified the effort, her barrier jacket accommodating the move and the reinforcement it required, and her link with Strike Wolf let her process how rapidly the ground rushed at her. Reinforcements flowed to her legs even before she could form the thought as she flipped, landed in a crouch, rocked forward, and kicked off the ground in the blink of an eye.

Overhead, one fireball swerved too late to avoid crashing into the roof, exploding in a hail of debris, but there were still several left now making the turn to pursue her.

She rocketed forward, closing the gap between her and the enemy mage in the blink of an eye. He barely had a moment to react before she slammed her fist into his gut. The mage's eyes bulged, but Kyoka was already reaching up to grab the mage's arm. Strength flowed to her arms as she turned back, yanking the mage's arm and flipping him over her shoulder–but instead of sending him to the ground she let go, sending the mage flying into several more of his fireballs. They all exploded harmlessly in the sky.

Well, harmlessly for her, at least.

<One projectile remains.>

"Thanks, buddy. I got it." She skipped and hopped backwards at fantastical speeds, drawing the fireball along to chase her. She spied a dumpster in an alleyway, making her way over to it. A quick hop brought her over and to the other side, and with a ferocious spinning backkick she sent it flying into the path of the final fireball, dispersing it.

<All projectiles clear.>

Kyouka stepped out of the alleyway to focus on the mage.

He was hovering high up in the air, with a crackling, swirling vortex of fire gathering over his head. "That weapon will be mine!"

"That looks bad. Is that bad?"

<Affirmative.>

Kyouka quickly scanned the area. She didn't need to ask about flight–she already knew the answer to that, but if she just took a different angle… She dropped into a quick crouch and launched herself forward, skimming over the surface of the street before leaping up at the building. A glowing circle of runes was already there, and she crashed into it. Through Strike Wolf she could feel and understand all of the complex interplays of motion and physical force as the disk absorbed her momentum and then redirected it back, sending her rebounding upwards. She arced into the sky, careening at the mage from behind. A flip and a twist lined her up to drive her knee into his back. At the same time she grabbed both hands and pulled.

"Yaaaarrrgghh!" The mage dropped his staff. It clattered uselessly to the ground. Blessedly, the angry swirl of energy dissipated harmlessly above them.

"I may not have sparkles and rainbows, but I'm betting you're willing to listen to me now, aren't you?"

"I will pry–"

Kyouka just pulled and the mage quickly shut up. She eased off.

"I'm sorry, I think I misheard you."

After a long pause, there was a defeated and weary "... I'll listen."

Kyouka smiled. "Good! So, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to let you go. You're going to take yourself and get the hell out of here. And if I ever catch you in this neighborhood again, I won't go easy on you. Got it?"

"Yes…"

"Good." Kyouka released the mage and let herself drop to the ground. Her jacket absorbed the impact of landing and she watched as the mage grabbed his staff and slunk off, metaphorical tail between his legs.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." Then she looked around. Nobody appeared to have been injured, but there was a chunk missing out of a couple of buildings where fireballs had impacted, several cars had been caught in other blasts, and the dumpster was thoroughly ruined. Several businesses ruined, several cars used to get people to their livelihoods would need repair.

Kyouka sagged, concern and weariness hitting her all at once as the adrenaline started to thin out. "... Should've made him pay for these damages first… I hope they have really good insurance plans…"

From her gauntlet, Strike Wolf chimed in, <Do not worry. All damage was negated.>

She looked won at Strike Wolf and nodded. "Well, it doesn't look like that, but I'll take your word for it." She staggered to the alleyway where she had left her backpack, slumping heavily against the wall and sliding down until she was sitting on the ground. "Okay. I think we can be done now."

The barrier jacket vanished, leaving her in her school uniform, and something else almost imperceptible changed, too, but she wasn't quite sure what.

Kyouka took stock of herself. That burning fury–her mana–she felt in her chest, but dormant, for the moment. It was spent but not extinguished. Despite all of the fantastical feats she had accomplished, she felt… fine. Tired, both physically–since even though her exertions had been amplified they were still exertions–and mentally–there had been so much information to process, and even though Strike Wolf did most of the heavy lifting, it was still a lot to take in.

But most importantly, even though she had relaxed her guard, let her internal fire rest, she could no longer feel the honeyed fog teasing at the edges of her mind. She had crossed a boundary of some kind, though what that boundary was she couldn't say for sure.

After she'd caught her breath she pulled herself up, grabbed her backpack, and stepped back out into the street.

Everything was perfectly fine. People were walking up and down the sidewalks, the cars were driving along, and the shops were doing brisk business.

Kyouka blinked. "Wow, that was fast… And everything seems in order… Maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought."

After a moment, she added, "Good work, Strike Wolf."

<Thank you.>

Wait, she wasn't in her barrier jacket, and she wasn't holding him anymore, so where–A weight on her wrist drew her attention. Around her right wrist was a snug black leather bracelet. Strike Wolf's standby form sat neatly atop it, ready to be called upon at a moment's notice.

Kyouka held the bracelet up, looking it over. "Huh… You've got good taste… I kinda dig it."

"Okay, I'm beat, but I've still gotta get to the store and then get home. Strike Wolf, you and I need to have a talk later, okay?"

<Affirmative.>