***(?)
It didn't require any need to mention, but she awakened just the following day... Just when Tifanny was having trouble despite using every weapon at her disposal, she transformed and used [Pierce apart the revelation and fantasy]. Her passive caused her analysed targets to degrade in 'quality' a little, slowing the enemy down enough for her to shout out the newly revealed weak spot. It was in a place that was hard to hit, the back of their legs. The monster was extremely fast, causing it to become an even harder chore.
"GET THE BACK OF ITS LEGS!!!!" (?)
She was shocked for a moment that a person was able to see the ongoing battle. It meant that the girl who shouted had a potential to become a magical girl... No, she had already transformed and used a skill to look for weak spots, Tifanny was simply too focused on the ongoing battle to observe her surroundings. Her temples felt like they were being hammered as the adrenaline fluctuated in her blood drastically.
From picking up the new girl's voice to finally taking in her surroundings, her perspective expanded with overloading information.
"On it!!" (Tifanny)
She squeezed out her words as she parried the incoming attack in a hurried breath. It was a giant praying mantis, with blades casually hanging off its arms with extra joints unseen in nature. It was akin to a wildly chaotic train under its exoskeleton, the way the muscles throbbed and jutted out of its thin carapace. It had been streamlined by evolution to only have armour covering the front. The back had some armour too, but nowhere near as much as the front, and the legs were completely defenceless in the back.
Tifanny parried with her staff pole, then she switch to a pair of nun chucks, her weapon was able to fluidly change in shape to match whichever weapon she needed at the time. After a few skillfully timed parries, her nunchucks swung around and struck at the back of the mantis' legs. They were absurdly soft compared to its hard armour, though this relative softness is also only possible because of Tifanny's immense strength.
Each blow blew out a chunk of flesh, and before long it lost its mobility, allowing her to finish it off from further away. Her weapon glowed brilliantly, with its lustre concealing its silhouette in its radiance, the world seemed to slow to a crawl within Tifanny's eyes as she held up the glowing weapon solely with her left hand. When the light finally faded abruptly like a light bulb turning off, an azure metallic bow with a black hair like string appeared.
In the instant the weapon appeared, it was when it finished transforming and Tifanny drew it as fast as she possibly could. To the girl who had just awakened, it felt like she was peeking into a completely new world. All she had was just analysis, her magic arbitrarily gave her information. It was so agonisingly dull, as if reality was slapping her in the face by showcasing what looked like actual magic, Tifanny's weapon manipulation.
Before she could blink or have her awareness catch up to the seen before her eyes, the girl saw that the string had already been released... No, to her it didn't even look like Tifanny drew the bow at all. Before she noticed, there was a stump where the mantis monster's head used to be. Her heart beat loudly in her heart, like a merciless drumming in the background. Her thoughts were struggling to take in the spectacle before her.
Ah... How she wished to have such beautiful magic. Amidst the storm of drowning heartbeats, the girl reaches out her hand to grasp at the fragmented radiance, like catching leaves that have fallen off their trees. Her fingers clasp around it, it was just air. But she brought it close to her heart before Tifanny remembered she was there. Tifanny herself was savouring the victory while reeling in her heightened exhilaration as her adrenaline dropped.
When she brought her clasped fist near her chest, it felt like the world changed in colour tone. Everything went back to normal in an instant, with he wind rushing past her ears to provide a loud but comforting breeze. Her heart gradually calmed down as well as she approached Tifanny.
"What's your name? I'm Tifanny!" (Tifanny)
"Ah! Senpai is popular, so I already know, but you probably don't know me... I'm ***" (***)
Before she didn't really thought much of Tifanny either. She was one of the popular kids, an existence outside her reach. But she didn't have any inclination or urge to reach for her in the first place, they were simply people living in different worlds. In fact it had been a really long while since she saw her, before the incident in the hall, it had practically been months. Maybe this was what Tifanny was up to, making it impossible to spot her since the law of magical girls will protect her whenever she transformed.
Without much deliberation, Tifanny extended a hand to her, with a smile brightly lit on her exhausted sweaty face. *** grabbed her hand, commencing the start of their partnership.
***
At first they held absolutely no contact with each other at school. They were in their 2nd and 3rd year of junior high, times were getting busy for Tifanny as she had to prepare for entrance exams on top of her magical girl duties. And if she's gone... Who will protect this school that seemed to attract monsters so regularly? This had always been a weight on her mind for a while, but fortunately for her she saw the light at the end of the tunnel, someone for her to pass the mantle on to, ***.
But gradually, they begin to meet each other more and more often in their daily lives. It begun with simple encounters.
"Bugu!!!" (Tifanny)
"Wah!? " (***)
Rather than carrying a stack of books, Tifanny wasn't carrying anything in particular. She simply looked forward to a meal item at the canteen, her steps became lighter and a little playful skip leaked out of her gait every now and then. Unfortunately, one of those threw her out of the corner of a the hallway, impeding ***'s walking path. *** who was walking leisurely panicked when she saw her senior appear out of nowhere and couldn't stop herself in time, colliding violently with her entire body smashing Tifanny.
With unnatural physical prowess, Tifanny supported herself in time by rotating her legs away from each other mid fall, then she used her abs and back muscles to pull off an air chair while using her legs as supportive pivots. Then she leaped forward with all her strength to save ***, throwing away all of her efforts to save herself as she dived below her junior to break the fall.
"Uuu..." (Tifanny)
She groaned from the impact. It might not seem like much damage to a magical girl, but she was now untransformed. Her body was as frail as any average human, even if she was more athletic than average compare to the other girls her age. Competent in sports and studying, while maintaining an outgoing and amicable personality, to those with low self esteem she seemed perfect.
"Ah?! Senpai! Why'd you break my fall?! Now you're hurt!" (***)
She didn't normally speak like this, she was just a nervous wreck having indirectly hurt her precious senior. Magic wasn't real, magical girls aren't real, that was the established norm. In contemporary society, it was impossible to convince anyone that magical girls do exist and actually fight to protect everyone of us in the shadows. That was how she perceived her senior to be, a solitary existence that would never receive recognition.
She would never outright think about it when she's in the vicinity of her senior, but every now and then these thoughts would invade her mind. How lonely... Why bother fighting? Why bother protecting everyone if they won't appreciate you? Rather, no one even knew this situation existed. It wasn't the people that were neglecting her senior's heroism, it was the world itself that concealed it.
Then... Perhaps she will shower her senior in gratitude and admiration. She thought that it was the least she could do as a junior and a newly established magical girl disciple. Her thoughts were constantly churning like this, busy and dreary. Tifanny couldn't tell at all what she was thinking, she simply kept her smile on at all times.
"Heh, you okay? I couldn't let my precious disciple get hurt now, alright?" (Tifanny)
***'s thoughts rearranged themselves wildly in response. But they promptly got to work, and she squeezed out a response despite never having adapted to this sort of situation... She was a loner, she was the school's voluntary librarian. She quietly ate at the library during her breaks, a privilege only the librarian had. The students worked in shifts, so those with different break times can pass on their shifts to the next person coming in and gradually ensure there was a student at the counter at all times.
In other words, the library was a neglected place of the school. The teachers threw any sort of responsibility to the students, and this... Somehow sheltered ***'s heart. She couldn't make friends, not after what happened a few years back. If she thought about it, it was the fond memories that hurt the most. Because what scarred her was the impromptu parting. An announcement as sudden as the weather, her bestfriend passed.
It was an odd trauma to retain, but whenever she thought about it, she could never bear to forge such bonds ever again. Gradually a disconnect formed between her and everyone else. A disciple master relationship with her senior was a perfect way to shelter her heart from getting too close to her senior.
"But senpai-..." (***)
"Wait! Calling me Tifanny is enough! Senpai, master or my family name is too distant! Haven't I told you this before?" (Tifanny)
She was referring to times outside of school. In school, there was little to no contact. But they did decide to hold meetings which were just training sessions disguised as meet ups.
" Ah. Right, Ti-Ti-Tifanny! Uhmm.. What were you doing today? You seemed oddly more happy than usual." (***)
This was under the guise of a disciple, she had to be respectful to her master. She heard online that showing interest was the way to go... Well, her performance here was better than expected. She manage to forge something that seemed genuine and natural. For a person who was isolated for a few years... No, maybe it was her time at the library that helped. Registering the borrowing of books and talking to her colleagues had ensured a minimal amount of contact. And since they were just colleagues, she had less hesitation to get close to them than she could to the others in her class.
That was all to say...
"Ah... Uhm... It was a game. I got something I really wanted for a long time, so I felt more refreshed, as if a burden has been lifted!" (Tifanny)
When she wasn't transformed, she looked like the average student... Well, her looks were above average but that wasn't the point. Her hair was still in the same style, but rather than a saturated vibrant navy blue, her hair was now pitch black. She wouldn't cause jaws to drop just by walking through the hallways, but if someone dropped their jaws just because they saw someone beautiful, they wouldn't have much credibility anyway. Her skin was nearly devoid of any blemish, save for some dry skin here and there, but her eyes contained a mesmerising energy that not even charm magic could compete with.
To ***, it was like a second dawn rearing its head over the horizon. It was so bright that it was blinding. *** would never think about herself this way, perhaps it was the power of confidence that Tifanny was exuding. But this... Was rare. She only showed this smile to her, *** regretfully noticed. It was on a whim, but feeling a little gloomy, she decided she wanted to see more of that smile.
"I think... I have a little inkling to what this all means. If you'd like, I wouldn't mind listening about it after school?" (***)
What she said would do lethal damage to anyone in the know. Gushing about one's achievements in a game, it wasn't such a rare thing, she had a feeling that Tifanny would like to do so so she chose indulging her as a pretext to spending time with her. Well... It was a win win, so nobody would complain anyway. Tifanny on the other hand looked completely shell shocked. Her cute junior was inviting her out... In...? Her junior was offering to spend time with her!
Of course, she accepted it at once. Maybe they could do more of such activities, there was still most of the year to come, she could help with matters like homework and stuff, or simply chat about their classmates and ongoings.
"Yes! I'd like to do so!" (Tifanny)
She spoke while unable to repress her wide crescent grin.