Within the forest next to City Verdin, two women had just left the site of a cave. The cave’s innards were all bloodied and mangled with corpses of giant bats. The two women each had purple hair, one of them tied it in a long ponytail and the other had braided hers. They each wielded a polearm, one a spear and the other a metal staff. Most importantly though, they each had a pair of purple horns, which crackled with electricity from time to time.

  “Mm, I hope those bats didn’t attack a passing airship or anything,” the spear-wielding woman said.

  “They did. A flier took most of them out,” the woman with the staff responded a bit exasperatedly.

  “Oh, was it Gal?”

  “No, he left on the Clover. The airship attacked was the Errant.“

  “Ahhh. That one again?” The spear woman nodded as she remembered what happened last time.

  “Yes. Because you keep disturbing the bats in the local region. Every time we go out, you rush off and get every single monster in the area startled. It’s as if you’re lonely and want attention,” the staff woman spat out with a disapproving look.

  “Dalan’s a dangerous guy. The longer he’s out there, the more chances he has to hurt people. It’s my job to take him down.”

  “Our job,” the staff woman corrected.

  “Mmmm…”

  “Reina.”

  Reina looked back at her partner with a bit of a thoughtful look before suddenly changing her expression. “You can use Rei, you know? No one’s here to watch. Come on, just like you always used to when you were younger~”

  “Hah… I’m being professional. And back to the matter at hand, I don’t like that expression you’re making. You never think things through.”

  “Aw, don’t say that. Listen, how about you do some recon in City Verdin?”

  The staff wielder sent her partner another disapproving look. “You’re sending me away from the danger again.”

  “It’s recon. We just busted another hideout, so odds are high he wants to retreat to a City and resupply before going to another one. I’ll keep going out here, and you know how to alert me if you find him.”

  “… Fine. There is… some semblance of logic in what you’re saying.”

  “Take the time to rest. Your mama-“

  Reina was interrupted by a deep sigh filled with the crackling of electricity. “Hah…”

  “Ahem. I-I’ve got everything handled out here,” Reina almost hastily said. “If you wanna, you can link up with Gal and Lem’s squad too. I hear they’ve got some real interesting kids. Make some friends your own age.”

  “… I will consider it. Goodbye then, Rei.“

  “Yes!”

  “Ugh. Goodbye and… don’t die. I’ll be alone if you do.”

  “As if anyone could kill me. I’ll never leave you, my little Koko.”

  Koko took a few steps towards the forest, and after confirming it was the same direction the Errant was going, she took one last look back to her family.

  “I’m not little anymore, Rei. Please remember that,” she advised before the two parted ways.

  ———————————————————————

  “So… Machi! Any ideas where to find them?” Machua suddenly blurted out.

  The five of us had just signed into the Hunter’s Bureau. We were all currently sitting in a park, having a little picnic with some sandwiches and snacks from a nearby convenience store. It was Machua’s suggestion, and Plue was really enjoying it. Rasa seemed at peace as well, but Carmine was a little irritated. As usual.

  “How should I know?” I asked, while munching on an onigiri.

  “Because you’re a-!”

  I shot her a glare and she paused.

  “Uhhh, you’re very experienced.”

  “That true?” Carmine looked over and questioned.

  “Machua, don’t you think you should give it a shot first?”

  “I am! I’m the leader and I’m making effective use of my squadmates’ capabilities. I’m just asking for advice here.”

  Tch. Thought I’d get her to back down.

  “What was that for?” Machua looked a little annoyed.

  “Nothing. For common gangsters like these, best thing to do is act as bait. Ask some local residents where their territory is then we set a trap.”

  “May I suggest Carmine to serve as bait?” Rasa said.

  “What? You want me attacked?”

  “No, it is just that you are very capable. And, Carmine, I know you are quite adept at acting as well,” Rasa calmly answered.

  “…”

  Carmine narrowed her eyes at Rasa. He was not bothered in the slightest at her gaze, simply turning to the rest of us to ask our opinion.

  “I’ll make sure we know the moment you get hurt, Carmine! Here.”

  Plue held out her hand, revealing a little butterfly. The butterfly flew onto Carmine’s shoulder and I could tell she was just resisting the urge to smack it.

  “Could we ask you to do it for us then…?” Machua trailed off a little.

  “… If Machia promises me something.”

  Why me?

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I promise. We can go have our duel.”

  “There’ll be hell to pay if you break that deal, Machia. I swear it.”

  “If I do break it, you’re gonna attack me, so you get what you want anyway. Machu,” I suddenly turned to her, “you get to decide when this happens.”

  “Wha-Me?” Machua pointed to herself in surprise.

  “You’re our leader. I’ll have you serve as referee too, so make sure to stop us before we kill each other.”

  “Machua, set it for tonight.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “N-no! We still need to do our missions first. H-how about we do it after we’re done.”

  Carmine glared at Machua really hard. “Tonight.”

  Machua nervously stared back at Carmine’s eyes. She took a deep breath and refocused herself. She hardened her face and said her response.

  “No. The mission comes first. If you attack Machi before then, I’ll grab the others and we’ll turn this into a way bigger brawl than you want. That’s my promise as a leader.”

  “… Whatever you say, oh leader.”

  Carmine went off to sulk underneath a tree. The butterfly on her shoulder fluttered its wings as she passed us by.

  “… Will she be okay?” Machua asked. Her face softened up instantly the moment Carmine left.

  “She will be,” Rasa answered. “Carmine is a strong person, she simply has issues with communicating. I don’t believe she’ll stir up trouble again if you keep going your way.”

  “Alright then. That does remind me, Rasa, you and Carmine have been on Galas squad together for a while, right?”

  “Yes. The two of us, and occasionally, Captain Galas, would go on very simple missions within Erelier’s borders. Hunting monsters in the sewers or patrolling were about as much action as we got.”

  “How close are the two of you?”

  Rasa took a few seconds to consider. Carmine wasn’t really far away, so she could hear all of us.

  “… I would like to say we are nearing friendship. Carmine is not a very open person, not even to our captain.”

  Machua nodded along to that answer. Plue, who was by the side, also nodded along, though I got the feeling she didn’t fully get it. At some point though, Machua turned to me.

  “But you seem to get her pretty well, Machi.”

  “I’ve dealt with people like her before,” I recited my excuse.

  Rasa shot me a glance, and I returned it. Hah, so I couldn’t even hide it from him. I knew him for so long, and I couldn’t even hide everything from him. To be fair, he was a master at sniffing out lies, not that what I said was entirely a lie. I’d have to talk to him about that later.

  “What kind of people?” Carmine’s voice suddenly came from right beside my ear. It was in a more serious tone than anything else she had said before.

  “Battle freaks. That’s what you are,” I answered while thinking of a certain guy. And another, and another one. “I know too many to count.”

  Carmine left her position to go sit back under that tree again, seemingly satisfied with my answer. I almost wanted to drag her back here, with how difficult she was being, but this wasn’t the Carmine I knew. She was still that rough and tumble girl who didn’t know how to properly talk to people.

  “Machu? Can we start the plan sometime soon?”

  “Sure, Plu. Carmine! We’re starting the plan!”

  Carmine sighed and got back up from under the tree to walk back to us. I almost wanted to ask Machu to wait to see if she would walk back, but that felt a little mean.

  “Let’s gather intel and then meet up at our hotel. Carmine, I’ve got lots of clothes in my closet, so we can dress you up! We’ll help her with that, Plu.”

  Carmine grimaced at the thought. Plue was instead very happy about it.

  “It’ll be so fun!”

  ———————————————————————

  “It was not fun,” Carmine spoke into her phone.

  She was currently sitting outside of a cafe at one of its tables. The only thing she had ordered was tea and sugar cubes, which she occasionally fed to Plue’s butterfly. Carmine wasn’t sure if it was actually eating it or if it even could, but it seemed like it enjoyed. Maybe Plue was making it do that to make her feel better.

  “Aw, come on, Carmine. Even you got to admit it was fun trying out my clothes.”

  “All of your clothes are too small for me. Either I can’t breathe or your top becomes a midriff. And also, I popped the button of your button-up when I tried it.”

  Carmine fidgeted with the collar of her dress. It was a very frilly white dress that she usually would have avoided at all costs. Especially when it was so goddamn tight. She could barely breathe in this thing. For a brief second, she considered tearing it open a little, just a little bit, so she could finally have some air, but she decided against it. It wouldn’t be proper.

  The dress was one thing, but the makeup was another. The first chance she got, she washed all of it off. Machua and Plue really went too overboard with this whole ‘noble lady’ schtick.

  ‘It does remind me of old times, though.’

  “Ugh… Don’t remind me,” Machua responded. “You know what, no. It’s your fault for being too big.”

  “Heh. Whatever you say. You’re smaller than your brother you know,” Carmine pointed out, grinning.

  “Am not!”

  “He exercises more than you do. Of course he’s bigger than you. I should be using his clothes next time.”

  “He wouldn’t have girly clothes though.” Machua paused slightly to think. “Actually, maybe he would?”

  This instantly grabbed Carmine’s attention. “Say more?”

  “What, Plu? Got it. They’re heading your way. Draw their attention then run into the alleyway.”

  “I know.”

  Carmine slowly put down the teacup she had been drinking from. She had already paid for the tea a long time ago, so she was ready to move whenever. The butterfly that had been resting on the table quietly flew away to watch the action from the distance.

  That was her cue. Carmine quickly stood up and rushed straight into the street.

  “Argh!”

  “Oof, I’m sorry about that.”

  The man she had just bumped into grabbed his shoulder in exaggerated pain. All of his buddies immediately began acting shocked and screaming out for him.

  “Oh shit!”

  “Are you okay, man?”

  “Ugh… I-I think she broke my shoulder!” The man with the broken shoulder pointed directly at Carmine.

  Carmine calmly looked on at the chaos. The boys were gathered all around the shoulder, acting as if they were investigating just how damaged it was, despite the fact it was still hidden inside of a sleeve.

  “Ow, ow, ow, stop touching it!”

  “Ohhh, man. I think all of the bones are broken! How are we gonna pay for this!?”

  “Hey, you!” One of them pointed directly at Carmine. “How’re you gonna make this right? My guy here has a sick mom at home he has to take care of. If he can’t get his arm fixed, she’s gonna die!”

  “Yeah, you don’t wanna be the reason why my guy’s mom died, do you!? I’m sure you can hand over some Cets for the treatment.”

  ‘Are these guys professionals or something?’

  Carmine forced her face to smile nervously. “I-I’m sorry. I truly am. I don’t have much cash on hand, but let me look…”

  But before Carmine could grab her wallet from the dimensional storage ring, one of the gangsters spoke up.

  “Hold up. Aren’t your clothes too tight for you?” He pointed out.

  Carmine paused and looked back, unable to respond in time. Maybe it was because of her clothes being too tight, but she felt it was even harder to breathe than normal.

  “Yeah! You’re ready to burst. Are those hand-me-downs? Did you find them in the trash?”

  “Man, you’re a brokeass bitch. Never mind, you can keep your money. We’ll let you go just this once,” the man who suddenly no longer had a broken shoulder said.

  ‘Did they just…?’

  Carmine was momentarily stunned. She couldn’t comprehend a single thing that had just happened. She heard the words, but none of them made any sense.

  “H-hey, she’s getting kinda creepy.”

  Carmine’s emotions took over her face, so she was now projecting an extremely gloomy and sinister aura with an unnerving blank stare. Her mana followed her feelings and rumbled, slowly preparing to do something.

  “Y-yeah. She’s freaking me out. Let’s go man.”

  The gangsters were about to walk away from the unmoving Carmine when the sound of rapid footsteps came from behind her.

  “Carmi! Wait, wait, don’t leave yet!” A woman’s voice called out to her.

  A rather cute woman ran up to her and caught her breath. She had clearly been running just to catch up to her.

  “Sorry for running so late! I know we promised to meet at 1, but I woke up a little late.”

  Carmine stared back at the mysterious woman she recognised, even more confused. She had black hair that was cleanly done up and a pretty outfit that fit her perfectly. This was clearly Machua. But for some reason, Carmine couldn’t believe it.

  “Carmi?” She… no, he asked.

  Carmine could smell it. The smell of his blood was slightly different from Machua’s, very slightly so, but she wouldn’t mistake his scent after what he did on that airship. This was Machia.

  His voice was at a higher pitch than normal. Machua and Machia both spoke at the same pitch, and it was reasonable to mistake either as a man or a woman, but Machia was clearly speaking in a higher pitch to appear more feminine. It seemed completely natural coming from his current look.

  Suddenly, she felt a poking at her mana’s aura. Machia had stretched his mana to poke her a bit. He had a look on his face as if telling her to go along with it.

  “It’s… been an hour,” she responded without any emotion.

  “What can I say? Beauty takes time~” Machia laughed a little to himself, before continuing.

  “Oh, are you still wearing that dress, Carmi? It looks good on you, but it’s a little tight, don’t you think? We should go buy you a new one!”

  Machia happily strode up to Carmine’s side and took her hand. “Oh, who are these guys?”

  Upon being observed, they instantly fell back into their act. “ARGH! Ooh, I think it got worse!”

  “What!? Are you okay!?” Machia exclaimed.

  “Your friend over there crashed into my friend here. We think he broke a few bones. And he has a sick mom he needs to take care of, so he really needs to pay for his hospital bill,” one of the gangsters exclaimed.

  “Oh, I get it! You’re poor!” Machia pointed directly to the hurt gangster. “Sorry, we don’t have any money for you. We need to go buy that dress, after all.”

  The faces of all of the gangsters got a little bit angrier. “You what!? You think your prissy little dress is more important than saving a woman’s life!?”

  “I mean… I’m sure you can take care of her with one arm. How hard can it be?” Machia said a little nervously.

  The gangsters’ glares became very heated. To the point that some were cracking their fists, such as the man whose shoulder was broken.

  “W-woah guys, calm down. Did I say something wrong?”

  “Bitch, give me your money!” The man shouted before trying to grab Machia.

  Machia hurriedly stepped backwards, just out of reach.

  “Carmi, let’s go!”

  Carmine allowed herself to be dragged by Machia to the alleyway. She looked behind her to see the gangsters in pursuit, their faces red as tomatoes.

  Before long, the two had reached a dead-end. Machia nervously turned around and began to shiver as the bad men drew nearer. Carmine could only think that he was pretty good at acting.

  ‘Very impressive.’

  “Hah, now that we’ve cornered you little missies, we can negotiate like civilised people.”

  “We’ll let ya go if you give us your wallets and your storage rings.”

  “No! I have all my clothes in there! How am I gonna carry them around everywhere?” Machia responded, somehow sounding actually genuine.

  ‘He’s really good at acting annoying.’

  “You…! Alright, fuck it! I can’t let you go without slapping you at least once! Come here!”

  The broken shoulder man menacingly walked up to Machia. He nervously looked side to side, hoping for a way out of this. When it seemed like there was no way, he closed his eyes, hoping for the strike to be soft.

  “D-D-DON’T YOU DARE HURT HIM!”

  The gangsters all looked back to see the same annoying woman at the entrance to the alleyway, pointing straight at them with a face redder than theirs.

  Before they could do something about it, Machia stretched his hand back and drew a breath. With a maniacal smirk on his face, he launched a resounding slap, his mana flowing to meet the gangster’s face at the same moment of impact.

  [Mana Burst Slap!!!]

  The gangster’s body shot forward, barrelling over all of his friends, and heading straight for Machua. She hurriedly reacted by taking out tonfas and slamming him straight into the ground.

  “Strike.”

  Rasa and Plue walked out from behind the corner of the entrance. All of the gangsters were groaning in pain, and the broken shoulder man was knocked out. They were all already taken out of the fight.

  “Machi! Wha-what was that!?” Machua rushed up to Machia, stomping on the gangsters as she did so.

  “The slap?”

  “No, I meant running in as bait! Where’d you get those clothes!? And-and how’d you learn to act like that!?”

  Carmine wanted to snicker a bit at how Machua was acting, but she wanted to kick the shit out of the gangsters on the ground more. Their groans were satisfying to hear. Rasa did not approve, however, so he quickly shooed her away. He and Plue tied them all up while the twins’ conversations happened.

  “We’ve gone shopping for clothes together, you know where I get these.”

  “Talk normally please,” Machua said with a grimace.

  Machia chuckled a bit, then cleared his throat. “Is this better?”

  “Mm… Talk in a deeper voice.”

  “I’m not doing that.”

  “Okay, whatever.” Machua took a deep breath in. “The question I should really be asking is why do you have those!? And it can’t be extra clothes for me!”

  “It’s convenient when people think you’re a girl sometimes. A lot of guys let their guard down when they think you’re a poor defenceless maiden.”

  Machua wanted to say something about it, but it made sense. A lotta guys look down on women, just like those gangsters earlier. And it’s not like she hasn’t pretended to be a guy sometimes either.

  “… Mm… I still don’t like it,” Machua mumbled.

  “Don’t you remember that mom used us as dress-up dolls back in the day? I had to wear the girls’ clothes too,” Machia said.

  That was fair. Their mom always used to say she was her model for children’s clothes she was gonna produce, so she got to try on lots of outfits. If Machia was treated the same way, then… that was an awful lot of girls’ clothes.

  “If it’s mom’s fault, then I guess I can accept it. But that doesn’t explain how you know to act like that.”

  Machia made the same annoying smile she was used to. “I know someone very annoying, so I copied what she did.”

  “You know too many people.”

  “Well, how about we clean this up and then Machu and I can show you all to a nice restaurant?”

  “If you’re thinking the same place I’m thinking, it might be out of our budget,” Machua said.

  “Hah. That ain’t an issue,” Carmine smirked. “Cause I’ve got this.”

  She flashed a golden-black credit card that looked very regal. The name on the credit card read ‘Galas Derrida.’

  “Did you steal that?” Machua asked.

  “He gave it to me and said we could use as much as we want for the mission."

  Machua looked as if she didn’t entirely believe that. She looked back to Rasa who only shrugged slightly in response.

  “Okay… But why isn’t it with Rasa then?”

  “Cause he’s a stingy old man who’d only use it for ‘necessary expenses.’ He wants the money spent, not hoarded, you hear?”

  “I understand,” Rasa responded.

  Carmine grabbed the biggest gangster and leisurely began walking away with him in tow. Her smirk did not fade for the entire time they had dragged the guys to the Bureau.