Chapter Text
“So, what can you even do as a magical girl? Is bringing snacks and sitting there looking all pretty the only thing you’re good for?” Kyoko asks, a croissant in her mouth muffling her words as she stuffs her face with the various foods Oriko and Mami brought, having no regard for tact or manners.
“Well, my weapon is crystal balls that I can shoot beams of light out of or use as blunt force weapons, other than that I have no other abilities. Additionally in regard to my weapons they take a large amount of grief to use despite their weak damage, I had realised very early on that I would not fair well on my own so I have came to ask for assistance. I do apologise if you expected a better ally, yet I do believe I can be of use, if nothing else but financially.” Oriko’s smile is soft just like her voice with the response she gives, despite the words of self deprecation they hold some sort of pride and confidence that isn’t lost on the other girls.
“I’m sure you’ll be a great ally, regardless you’re a new recruit, so as your senior magical girls leave it to us for now! Just observe as we fight for now and we’ll get you in shape for fighting in no time!” Mami’s positive words echo throughout the empty station as she grabs both of Oriko’s hands, only for a second before she quickly pulls back and composes herself with a cough. “That is if you wish, but these wraiths are far more formidable than they look so observations would be good to make for now until you figure out how to fight.”
“Look, quit babying her, we’re meant to be saving people, not getting dragged down by some newbie who’ll cost people their lives!” Sayaka shouts, already going to aggression.
“Oi give her a chance! She’s barely been here for 10 minutes yet you already hate her!”
“And why would I listen to you, you’re just in this for your-”
“Enough!” Mami silences the two girls with a loud gunshot into the air. “We are here to fight and save lives, we will do that Miki-san, but Kyoko is also right, we need to reduce our grief to live, both of you are equally right!”
“Tomoe-san, I can sense that wraiths are appearing nearby!” Oriko shouts, now was this a lie? Yes, but was it better than explaining her visions and getting doubted, also yes.
The four girls then set off, Oriko tracking behind the others as she watches them run to throw themselves into battle, a solemn frown on her face. She really does want to befriend Sayaka before she eventually succumbs to despair, her justice is admirable.
“Oriko, stay here, if any wraiths try to go after you shout for one of us if you can’t fight it yourself. If we seem to be in danger then run, you are by no means experienced so I don’t want you throwing your life away to try and save us.” Mami runs down once again, the countless visions she’s had of this day to rehearse has already engrained this into her mind like a script, and she will play her part of the passive bystander.
Wraiths are huge things, even the smallest of them double over the girls height. It’s a wonder why they don’t use their large size to attack rather than standing around like big targets and firing lasers. Yet even so in large numbers they can be dangerous.
Mami and Kyoko both fight quite safely, Kyoko only going in for safe hits while Mami stays ranged, using her ribbons to move her and her allies like a well oiled machine. Yet Sayaka fights recklessly, throwing herself into danger and taking lasers to her body, chunks of searing flesh littering the arena as she heals herself as fast as she’s broken. The girl’s heroism is heroic, she admires her altruism, but as an ally it’s very inconvenient.
Once the fight is over Oriko approaches Sayaka, her smile still as gentle as ever even despite the less than pleasant treatment. “Miki-san, look at me.”
“What do you wa-”
“There, better.” Oriko says with a smile as she takes a few cubes and presses them to Sayaka’s soul gem, the grief leaving the cloudy gem giving it back its shine then pressing a few new cubes into her palm.
“What did you do that for?! I didn’t need it! I fight to save people, not for rewards like that! I knew you were just like Kyo-”
“I understand, I do, and I admire you for it, and that’s why I done it, you can’t fight with no magic and plenty of people need you to fight, so I don’t want to lose you because you forgot to cleanse yourself, its magical girl rule one.” Her words silence the shorter girl as she just turns away and storms off, cubes held firmly in her hand, jumping away from the trio.
“Huh, what was that about?” Kyoko asks, giving a curious glance while dividing cubes with Mami.
“Oh nothing, we simply had a disagreement.” Oriko gives with a small chuckle as she turns away. “I believe its time for me to retire, I have school tomorrow and I would prefer to not miss it.”
“Eh, whatever suites you, though if you ever wanna come visit Mami’s place, me and her are bunking for now so if you ever need us come get us.”
“Thank you for the offer, im sure I’ll take you up on it one day.”
And with that she leaves, holding her soul gem, a quarter cloudy from the amount of visions she used. She’d surely have to do some hunting later, though it’s worth it to cover the existence of her visions.