The fight kept its tension—both sides equally on edge. Maureen clearly had more experience, and even in a bad situation she stayed focused, never losing track of her targets, not even with the thick fog swallowing everything.
Knowing she couldn't waste time, she sent a current of lightning crawling along the ground, rushing straight for the fire user. Hitomi stuck to her strategy: countering the bolts with fire, triggering explosions before they could get close enough to hit her.
The pink-haired woman realized she needed a fast solution—her absorbed lightning was running out. Then she noticed the cables running along the sidewalks, and the way they pulsed with electricity. She decided to use them to recharge.
With the very last bolt she had left, she snapped the power lines and began absorbing the electricity. Now, with a direct source, she could drag the fight out much longer.
Again, she raised her hands and fired lightning toward both of them. Her speed and precision made it look like she'd been expecting that combined counter from Hitomi and Nami—wind and fire working together to widen the blast radius.
What they didn't expect was Maureen using the impact to launch herself higher—and hit them from above.
Nami and Hitomi searched in confusion. They couldn't find her, but they knew they were about to be targeted. The pressure of the battle climbed and climbed; cold sweat slid down their faces.
"MAUREEN, ENOUGH!"
She heard the shout and cut her attack short, shifting her midair jump and throwing herself into a nearby alley—the voice had come from there.
"Itzel—what do you want? I'm finishing this!"
"Let's go while they're distracted!" Itzel said, reaching out a hand to pull her up.
"For what?! I can handle it! Itzel, I don't get what you want!" Maureen complained, even as she accepted the help.
They took off at a run, rushing out of the fog-covered area. Even annoyed, she followed him—mutual trust pulling her along.
"We'll talk after," Itzel said.
Meanwhile, Hitomi and Nami stayed on alert. Little by little, the fog thinned, and the street brightened again.
"I don't see her…" Hitomi murmured.
"Do you think she… left?" Nami asked.
With the scene quieting down, it was time to deal with something else.
"WHERE'S HANA? SHE CALLED ME!" Hitomi demanded.
"AAAAH—" Nami snapped fully back to herself. "I left her at the pharmacy next to the market."
"Poor thing—she's alone!"
They sprinted to the pharmacy, worried sick about how she must be feeling. When they got there, they were met with pure excitement.
"HI!!! DID YOU BEAT THE MEAN PERSON?" Hana threw her arms up.
"I thought you'd be scared being alone," Hitomi said, relieved she was okay—yet bothered by how little Hana seemed to grasp the danger.
"MY HEROINES!" Hana cheered.
The pharmacy staff were baffled. They recognized the famous model, but at the same time they could barely believe she was really there. Nami stayed calm. Once the shock wore off, they went home.
Itzel's Apartment — 8 p.m.
As soon as she got home, Maureen shoved the door open hard. The slam echoed down multiple floors. Still annoyed, the first thing she tried to do was turn on the light.
"Huh? Where's the light?" Maureen asked, flicking the switch again and again.
"You blacked out a good chunk of the city," Itzel said, smiling with a bit of a tease. "You cut the main cable that feeds electricity to the houses."
"Seriously? That cable with electricity was for that?"
"Yes. So—did you get hurt?"
"No, I'm fine." Maureen dropped onto the couch. "Those girls… one was Air. I thought it was the one you met. I tried to talk, but apparently it wasn't her."
She let out a deep sigh. When she felt ready, she looked at Itzel—bothered.
"Itzel. Why'd you stop me?"
"Good that you tried to talk. I was watching the fight," Itzel replied, dodging the question as he brought her a glass of water.
"Are you sure you watched properly? Because I wasn't gonna lose. You didn't need to stop me," Maureen shot back, taking the water.
Itzel sat beside her with his own glass, and they started talking.
"Maureen… tell me something. Did you feel threatened by my 'rent friends'?"
"No…"
Maureen didn't understand the question.
"It's because we didn't show up attacking them. But the girls you fought today were scared—because we showed up in a combat stance, right from the start."
"Huh?"
"I think we can complete our mission in a more peaceful way."
School — Monday, March 15th, 7:40 a.m.
Another week started. Like always, the noise was intense first thing in the morning—and every day it seemed to get louder, more constant. Before classes, it was normal for everyone to gather and talk with friends from other grades. The buzz today was about the city blackout from the day before—one that hadn't shown up in the news anywhere.
But for someone, the morning was even stranger than that.
Something could be heard coming from the girls' bathroom—like murmured, miserable sounds. Inside, a girl with golden-toned hair was scrubbing her hands hard under running water.
"Damn… it won't come off?" she thought, anxious.
She shut the faucet and realized something was seriously wrong: her hands still had a faint glow. The bell for first period had already rung. Even so, she stood there—still, staring—until Aino showed up.
"Minami! Let's go to class!"
"Ah! I'm coming!" Minami startled at the call. She shoved her hands into her pockets and hurried out toward her classroom.
The biology teacher noticed Minami acting oddly—and wearing warm clothes on a day that didn't need them. She asked if everything was okay. Minami said yes, she was just a little sick—like a cold.
First period went normally. Break arrived with the bell. Akiko invited Yukino to eat with her and Miyu.
"Yukino, did you see the blackout in the city!? Hitomi and Nami said it was an attack," Miyu asked.
"The power didn't go out at my house, so I didn't know… But that's rough… I think there are going to be more attacks."
Akiko scanned the courtyard but couldn't find Naoko anywhere. The truth was: there weren't any third-years in the courtyard at all. They'd stayed in their classroom yelling.
Having been through many school competitions, the last-year class was usually calmer—having someone for each activity already sounded great. After all, the biggest worry of the year was passing the entrance exams.
"I'M NOT PARTICIPATING IN ANY OF THIS!" Naoko snapped, irritated. "I ALREADY PUT MY NAME DOWN FOR GENERAL QUESTIONS."
"Naoko, we need someone for basketball!" a classmate pleaded.
"You're tall—if we find someone else later, we'll switch," another explained.
"Ugh, fine. Whatever," Naoko gave in, done fighting.
After break, it was the second-years' turn to argue about the competition. Second year was also calmer about it, but they still cared a lot about following the participation rules—and they were competitive.
The sign-up lists for each category were basically done. But the class had their eyes on one student who still hadn't decided where to sign up.
"Hey, Adonis! You know what you're signing up for yet?" a boy asked, friendly.
"Pick already—you're good at everything!" another rushed him.
"Oh, dude, I dunno. Haven't even thought about it," Adonis replied, calm.
"Football!"
"No way, he's going volleyball."
"Don't be ridiculous—he's going handball!"
"Guys… put me wherever you want, just don't bother me," Adonis allowed, uninterested.
"Wherever we want?!" The students exchanged looks.
"Volleyball, basketball, general questions, chess, football…" They started writing his name down for everything.
"Wait—don't some of these happen at the same time?"
"Eh! Then he deals with it!"
"But… what did I do?" Adonis thought, stunned.
Elsewhere in the school, the atmosphere was wild—you could hear shouting and loud conversations from far away. The reason, besides being teenagers, was the famous School Gincana. The first year of high school was the students' debut as team leaders, and since they'd never been in charge of organizing, the tension was much higher than in the other grades.
In classroom 101, the self-proclaimed class leader—chosen by herself and her little friend group—took over to organize the competitions and assign participants.
Most of the students didn't like the "self-appointment," but they didn't argue to avoid the headache. Besides, nobody showed real interest in taking leadership.
Every year, the person who decided to lead the gincana was authoritarian and stressed, but swore to herself she was the only one who could actually do it. She stood at the front of the classroom—without any teacher's permission—to organize everything.
She considered herself a great communicator and believed the reason she was stressed was everyone else being lazy—which wasn't exactly false, but also wasn't the whole truth. The point was: you could hear the heated yelling out in the hallway.
"PEOPLE! QUIET SO WE CAN ORGANIZE THIS! IT'S ALL ON THE BOARD! I SAY WHAT IT IS, WHO WANTS IT RAISES THEIR HAND. IT'S NOT HARD, RIGHT?" the leader said, like she was the teacher.
"I wanna do the opening, the cheering squad, handball, volleyball…" Akiko said, signing up for practically the entire list.
"Can I do nothing?" Aino asked.
"Okay, Akiko… shove your name on the lists and see where it fits. Aino—minimum is two categories. That option doesn't exist. And don't make drama." The leader breathed, managing the different types of students.
The leader didn't even follow her own rule. Instead of calling out categories, she started calling students one by one and asking what they were doing.
Yukino asked for the opening and arts—two categories were mandatory.
Miyu chose chess and general questions, because those were what she felt most comfortable with.
The rest of the classes went on in a messy, distracted way. The students cared more about the competition than the subjects.
March 16th
The next morning, Minami drew attention everywhere she went. Her outfit for the last days of summer was, without a doubt, strange: covered from head to toe—beanie, scarf, gloves, windbreaker. Everyone else was in the summer uniform, so nobody could look away.
She stayed dressed like that even in class. Because it was a hot day, there came a moment when she was completely sweaty, and she decided to ask the teacher if she could go drink water.
The teacher noticed her discomfort and let her go. Time passed. The clock hand kept moving. Worried, the teacher asked Aino to go check on her classmate.
Aino left the classroom toward the water fountains nearby. She didn't see anyone there and started wondering where her friend could have gone.
Then she heard muffled crying.
"That crying… it's coming from the bathroom…" she thought.
She opened the bathroom door slowly and peeked in carefully.
What she saw made her freeze.
"What's happening? It's getting worse. I don't want to be like this," Minami whispered through tears, sobbing as she glowed brighter than ever—her entire skin emitting light.
Careful not to be seen, Aino closed the door quietly, left, and went back to the classroom. She told the teacher Minami was in the bathroom and would be back soon—she was feeling unwell because of her cold.
Then Aino sat at her desk, wrote a note, and passed it—urgent and discreet—to her cousin Yukino.