2026-07-19: Two Lives
- Log: 2026-07-19: Two Lives
- Cast: Yuuki Hoshizora, Misato Fushihara
- Where: Yumezaki, Sumaru City
- OOC Date: July 19, 2026
- IC Date: December 11, 2012
- Summary: After saving Noriko, Magus takes off on her own. Yuuki decides to give chase, which leads to a tense conversation and a dilemma for Magus.
<Pose Tracker> Yuuki Hoshizora has posed.
Noriko is saved. The Taiwanese Mafia has been escaped, Scion and her allies retreated, and...
...Magus took off.
But Yuuki saw the masked girl leave. She hesitated for a second, because she remembers what Magus said: 'I tend to work alone.' That sticks with her; for a moment, Yuuki thinks about letting her leave without a word. But then...
Then she thinks of their conversation before, when they sparred. The hint of how Magus is too far gone, too hurt -- and that motivates her. She makes her excuses, and then she is off through Sumaru's streets.
She comes up a T-intersection, to a street that Magus is walking down. Yuuki looks at her from behind, her hands clasped together. And if it's like a different time that she stood down a street from Misato, the similarity is lost on Yuuki. She has her hands at her side. Her left hand balls, nervously, into a fist.
"Magus!" she calls out. "W-Wait!"
<Pose Tracker> Misato Fushihara has posed.
Noriko has been saved - at least as much as she can be, while the Joker Curse is still in play. That means Magus's job here is done. Once she saw her to the Velvet Room, she made to leave for the station, to retreat into Mementos while the lingering embers of her Will still cling to and cloak her form.
But, just as she thinks she's in the clear...
'Magus!' 'W-wait!'
Magus pauses in her tracks, draws in a breath. Yuuki... that stubborn streak of hers was something she noticed even on their first meeting, but she didn't think it'd drive her to follow her this far after the fight they both went through.
Magus turns to face her. Yuuki might be unaware of it, but the similarity is far too evident for her. That what might prompts her to ultimately reply, rather than continue on her way.
"Yuuki Hoshizora." Magus greets in turn. She stands up straight, her cloak draping around her. "Was there something you forgot?"
<Pose Tracker> Yuuki Hoshizora has posed.
"No, I..."
For a moment, Yuuki hesitates. She freezes up for a second. Why did she chase after her? What did she plan to say to her? It feels lost for a moment, as she stares at Magus. She lifts the hand balled into a fist up, over her heart, and looks at Magus.
"...You left without saying goodbye. And I wanted to say..." She hesitates. Awkwardness fills her, for a moment. Then, Yuuki says, "...I think we worked well together, Magus."
She bites her lip. It feels like too much to say -- she feels foolish, like she shouldn't have bothered her with this. But she is already speaking, and she doesn't stop. Her voice gets a little quieter.
"And--and you did a good thing. To save someone. I... um." Yuuki's bright green eyes fall down onto the ground. "...I wanted to tell you that."
<Pose Tracker> Misato Fushihara has posed.
Yuuki hesitates, and Magus watches her intently. It might be hard to see them behind that mask, but she might feel her eyes on her all the same.
She's quiet for a moment, as Yuuki explains. ...Because she left without saying goodbye? That thought pushed her all this way? ...No, maybe there's more than that...
"...We're both talented. It's only natural." Magus replies - then hesitates for a moment before adding, "...You fought well."
She sees that hesitation on her face - shame, perhaps, on her face... And she freezes, when Yuuki finally lets out.
She did a good thing. She wanted to tell her that - enough to follow after her.
...Magus looks away for a moment, her expression turning complex. She hadn't really thought about it in those terms. And she certainly hadn't thought that anyone would notice. It's not often that people say things like that to her face.
"...I just couldn't ignore someone who was so brazen to do something like that in broad daylight. That's all it is." Magus replies.
<Pose Tracker> Yuuki Hoshizora has posed.
A small smile crosses Yuuki's face at the compliment. She looks at Magus, watching her carefully. Looking at her lips, for any hint of a reaction -- and feeling the weight of those blue eyes on her, even from behind the mask. She feels seen, in a way she isn't usually. The hand over her heart stays there, and she looks back.
She keeps looking, even as Magus looks away. She hears her reply, and it feels like a dismissal.
Yuuki has made herself change in many ways. She made herself surrender her hobbies; surrender her future; and surrender part of who she is. But there is a deeper transformation, too. She might have -- probably would, if she wasn't transformed right now -- accepted the statement.
She walks closer to Magus, her heart pounding in her chest.
"You did something good," Yuuki says, quietly. "It's not a little thing. You were..." She swallows, and then she breaks eye contact.
"...you were so dazzling."
<Pose Tracker> Misato Fushihara has posed.
As Yuuki felt her eyes on her, Magus can feel Yuuki watching, too. She expects it to be left at just that - she's said her piece, so she can leave whenever she's ready. But instead of departing, Yuuki walks closer.
A part of her thinks she should back away... but there's a stubborn side to her, too, that refuses to cede ground.
Yuuki reiterates that she did something good, that it isn't a little thing. And says that she's -
Dazzling.
Magus freezes again. She, the one who always seems to have a plan or a strategy in mind...
...finds her mind completely blank. Dazzling? What does she mean by that?? That's - that's new.
"I-It's not something I plan to make a habit out of." She insists, trying to play it cool despite tripping over her words. She looks away again, as if to use her hood as a barrier between them.
<Pose Tracker> Yuuki Hoshizora has posed.
Yuuki's green eyes widen as she sees Magus freeze up. She worries she said too much. Why did--why did she say that? It was stupid, it was too much, it was so stupid--
But she is stubborn.
And her self-incrimination stops when Magus looks away. When she denies it, even as she trips over her own words. It is easier, she finds, to feel for someone else than it is to feel for herself.
"I know... I know the world is hard," Yuuki says. Her voice is quiet. "It's so hard that sometimes, I--I just want to scream. But..."
She quiets. She keeps looking at Magus, even if she has to look at the side of her hood rather than her face. She lifts a hand -- but she can't quite bring herself to reach out for Magus.
"...You can still make it a little better." She looks down, then. "For... for me, at least."
<Pose Tracker> Misato Fushihara has posed.
The world is hard. So hard, that sometimes she wants to scream. Magus considers that. She thinks about days spent lying in bed, unable to work up the motivation to even move.
...It's a sentiment that she feels all too familiar with. Does she realise how deeply her words cut...? Magus is quiet for a moment.
Yuuki insists that she can make the world a little better. For her. ...For her.
...This feels... unfair. Uneven. Magus knows things about her that she shouldn't. Misato Fushihara knows things about her that she shouldn't.
...And as she told the Groom, there are few things she hates more than an uneven exchange. If she were a stronger person, she'd cut this off here and now.
...But she's not strong enough to deny herself one of the few relationships that has brought some manner of excitement into her life.
"I... suppose," Magus starts hesitantly. "I can at least make a habit of continuing our midnight meetings."
<Pose Tracker> Yuuki Hoshizora has posed.
Yuuki says it and then her face tightens up. If there is one thing that Yuuki hates to be, to show, it is vulnerability. It feels dangerously close to being that weak girl that her parents had to save. It feels dangerously close to being the weak girl that can't save her parents, now. But she said it, and it's out there.
And now--
Now, she is afraid of rejection. Afraid that Magus will walk away, and she won't have this connection that makes her push herself harder. This connection that means a lot to her.
She can't share this side of herself with Misato. She doesn't know who to turn to -- even Kazusa, she needs to be confident. She needs to be relaible.
Those hesitantly spoken words break through her fears, and anxiety's grip loosens on her heart. A little laugh of relieved tension bubbles up out of her.
"I... I'd like that," she says. "When we fight, whether it's sparring or side by side..." She looks at Magus and smiles, brighter than before. "...I feel like maybe I can be dazzling too."
<Pose Tracker> Misato Fushihara has posed.
Yuuki is much stronger than she is, Magus thinks. If there situations were reversed, she would have run away rather than confronting Yuuki.
She hears that small laugh, as Yuuki continues. And that smile...
...Of course she can be dazzling. She's so blinding it hurts, right now.
Magus takes a moment to put on her face again - that familiar, confident expression, before turning back around to face her.
"You were able to keep up with me. Have more confidence in yourself." Magus replies. "It was... an interesting change, fighting with you. I... look forward to doing it again."
<Pose Tracker> Yuuki Hoshizora has posed.
When Magus turns, Yuuki looks at her face -- and sees that confident expression. It's a salve for her lingering anxiety. She still smiles; it's a little smaller than before. She nods her head in agreement, though. "I... um, I'll do that."
She squares her shoulders and puffs her chest out, subconsciously. "I--I'll look forward to that, too."
Because whether they spar or fight side-by-side, Yuuki can feel a certain spark; a certain electricity to it. Even now, she feels the lingering spark of their earlier efforts. She exhales.
She wishes they could spend longer together now. But she doesn't know how to suggest it -- or what to suggest they do. And still, she finds something to ask.
"...Can we spar tomorrow night?"
<Pose Tracker> Misato Fushihara has posed.
"Good." Magus replies with a nod, as she says she'll have confidence in herself - as she says she'll look forward to it, too.
She watches her, to see if she has anything else to say... but she does, it seems, have a question. Tomorrow night... Magus takes a moment to think about that.
...She can't think of any reason why not.
"Very well. Tomorrow night it is. The location will be the site of our first duel." She decides with a nod.
<Pose Tracker> Yuuki Hoshizora has posed.
"Then..." Yuuki hesitates for a second. She feels a little crawling anxiety; a little fear that she might have been too much for Magus, that she might have said too much. She can't quite banish that fear.
"Tomorrow, at the usual place," she says. She smiles; it's more nervous this time.
"...I'm looking forward to it!"
<Pose Tracker> Misato Fushihara has posed.
Tomorrow, at the usual place. Magus confirms that with a nod. Yuuki is looking forward to it...
"...I am, too." She admits - and then turns away, as if to distract from that sudden sincerity. "Take care of yourself, Yuuki Hoshizora. I expect you to be in top form when next we meet."
...That's kind of like telling her to stay safe.