Spellheart

Momoko flinches at the hand when she first sees it coming, but doesn't move away. Her brow furrows. "I hit you," she said, as if it wasn't obvious. She took Amiko gently by the wrist and lifted her hand to hold the icepack. "I don't care what we do." She opened her mouth to continue, but then closed it again, and sat back down.
 
Amiko, ever patient, speaks calmly, setting the ice pack to the side, "You did. And I don't expect you'll forget about it anytime soon. But, I think it is ok. I've already forgiven you for it." Amiko moves closer to Momoko, "You honestly, seem more hurt. Isn't it normal, to try to comfort someone if you see they are in pain?" Amiko once again reaches out to her, watching carefully for signs of rejection.
 
Momoko shakes her head a little. "I'm fine," she says. She sees Amiko coming, but she doesn't move away from her. Her eyes flick to Marcy, very aware that she might end up as a bit of a third wheel.
 
Amiko places her hand on Momoko's opposite shoulder, now right next to Momoko. "Don't worry so much. You are here as my guest." If Momoko is paying close enough attention, Amiko is still holding onto Marcy's hand. Marcy seems to be struggling with her own demons, totally lost in thought. Amiko's eyes continue to probe for information.
 
Momoko visibly winces. "I think that makes the fact that I punched you worse," she comments, chuckling nervously. She shook her head. "I'm fine, promise," she repeated, not seeing Amiko and Marcy's contact.
 
Amiko takes the hint to switch topics, "So, what did you do while you were out with Marcy?" Marcy seems to be momentarily snapped out of her funk when she hears the question. She seems equally interested in the answer.
 
Momoko smiles. "Nothing massive. We just went shopping and then for lunch," she said. "We went to that new restaurant with the Illusionspaces, but there'd been an attack on their system, so the Illusionspaces weren't actually working." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the voucher. "We did get one of these for eating there, though!" She held the voucher so Amiko could see what was on it.
 
Amiko looks at the voucher with a worried expression when Momoko mentions the attack, but once she reads the flyer she looks far less worried. "Renji really needs to stop trying to do things on his own. I told him before the security on this was too weak for public use... I'll have to give him a visit when I get better." Amiko suddenly smiles, "Hey, that pizza should get here pretty soon. I think I know how I want to use my fortune paper. Amiko scribbles a note, but then folds it as to prevent anyone from seeing what was written. Linking up she gives an encouraging glace to Marcy, who looks visibly happier in response, and follows suit.
 
Momoko looks at the paper, an eyebrow arched at how Amiko was hiding it. She doesn't make any effort to look at it though, a slight grin on her face as she slips the voucher back into her pocket. She links up to the paper, fingers twitching with the mystery and excitement.
 
After everyone links to the fortune paper, once again the girls are filled with the thrill of uncertainty regarding who would be the one to execute the command. Now, however, the emotions ran even higher with only one person knowing what would even happen as a result. Yet, karma seemed to have its way today, as the pattern of the girl who writes the command triggering the spell continued. As if synchronized, the doorbell rings at the same time that the fortune paper triggers, signaling the pizza delivery person would be witness to whatever ridiculousness was about to ensue. Amiko suddenly becomes uncharacteristically shy and rigid. Those smooth, purposeful movements were gone. Out of pure curiosity, Marcy reads the paper. "The person who casts this spell gives a heartfelt confession to the person who delivers the pizza."

Marcy at this point... roars with laughter. It takes her a good five seconds to calm down, at which point she lightly guides Amiko towards the door. "Go get em Ami." Amiko moves forward bashfully, hesitation filling each step forward. When she arrives at the door, she finds the pizza delivery girl "Kelly". Kelly herself seems to be in a hurry, handing the pizza over to Amiko, "Thanks for ordering Shiverstones!" As soon as Amiko accepts the pizza, Kelly turns away, seemingly to deliver the rest of the pizza's in the black pizza delivery bag she had thrown over her shoulder. Amiko's eyes go wide momentarily as she reflexively reaches out with her free hand. Powerfully, softly, vulnerably, "Wait..."

The sheer power of Amiko's words made it seem like the whole world followed her command. Marcy no longer laughed, instead, watching the scene like it were the climax of a movie. Kelly herself seemed frozen and confused, yet nonetheless compelled. She didn't even know what to say to the flustered girl. Between the sickness and the embarrassment, Amiko looked a right mess, and now Kelly had noticed. After a few moments simply trying to regain herself after the unexpected power of Amiko's words, Kelly addresses Amiko. With a sense of compassion, Kelly asks, "Is everything ok?"

Amiko shakes her head. "I... I have been lonely for a while now. Life has been hard, in so many ways that I've lost track of it all. I don't know if you remember, but when we were younger, we had a class together. You left a strong impression on me. Moreso than anyone else there, you were confident, hard-working, and beautiful. Looking back, I regret... I regret that I didn't do anything to get closer to you... All this time, I've wanted to learn more about you. I know, this is probably the worst way to ask, but I just feel like if I wait I won't get another chance to say it. Kelly, would you go on a date with me?"

Silence... Kelly looked absolutely stunned by this declaration. Stammering aimlessly, Kelly has the brightest blush streaking across her face. She looks toward the ground with a defeated expression. Looking back up, she presents Amiko with guilty eyes. A heavy vibe falls across the room. Everyone knows what is coming, but it wasn't nearly as funny as what had been planned. Kelly delivers the verdict, "I'm sorry that life has been rough on you, and even more, I'm sorry I can't return your feelings... You really do seem like a nice girl... I just can't see myself swinging that way." Looking almost pleading, "Please don't let this or anything else get you down, and try to enjoy that pizza." Kelly turns away quickly this time, seemingly ready to leave this bizzare moment in her life behind her. Amiko closes the door behind her, turning around slowly to reveal a faceful of tears. Somehow delivering on that smile that seemed so genuine, Amiko announces, "Pizza is here."
 
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The sight of the words on the fortune paper made a grin spread across Momoko's face. "This'll be good," she quips, putting her chin in her hands as she watches Marcy lead Amiko to the door. She eyes the pizza woman with a mischevious glint in her eyes, waiting for Amiko to give her award-winning performance. The fact that the two already seemed to know each other made it seem a lot more authentic, and Momoko wondered for a moment if the confession had some sort of truth to it.

Then the mood shifts. Momoko cringes at the denial; Kelly was trying to be nice, obviously, but rejections could only ever be harsh. Her face softens as she jumps off the couch. "I'm sorry, Amiko," she says quietly. Amiko's reaction made it seem like there was more truth to the confession than anyone would have liked.
 
Despite the situation, Amiko continues to smile, "Don't worry about it. It isn't like I actually wanted to date her. That was just the spell talking. I'm not interested in seeing anyone right now. Work is just more important at this point." Amiko wavers, catching herself as her eyes struggle to find balance. Marcy moves to her side to steady her. As her hands make contact with Amiko's shoulder, Amiko's eyes refocus. After a pause that felt like forever, Marcy suggests, "Ami, maybe you should lay down."

Amiko admits, "That might be for the best." Letting Marcy support her, she makes her way back to the couch, where she leans back against the cushions with a sense of guilty comfort. Marcy summons the room's end table so they have a place to set the pizza down. After resting briefly, Amiko begins to have her first slice of pizza.
 
Momoko looks skeptical for a second. She couldn't remember a situation where a fortune paper had made someone cry. She didn't try to push it, and just quietly followed the two of them back to the couch. She doesn't take a slice right away since it was pretty hot, but eventually does, just nibbling at it. Her stomach was still pretty full from their lunch, but she didn't want to look impolite.
 
The girls enjoy the rest of the night without incident. As it grows late, however, Amiko insists that Momoko return home, but Marcy remains at Amiko's house as to avoid leaving her alone. The night passes on into the next day. Just like any other day, Momoko would need to have her daily arena battle. Today however, a looming presence lurked in wait for Momoko, ready to ambush her as she approached the building.
 
Momoko wakes up in the morning, just as she did every day. She puts her hair up in a messy bun as she walks down to the arena. The only way for her to be more casual would be if she was whistling. If she thinks that there's anything wrong, she doesn't show it.
 
As Momoko walks past the shrubbery decorating the arena's surrounding courtyard, a figure cloaked in shadows leaps out from the bushes, pushing forward towards Momoko with a sense of tenacity and purpose that implied ferocious intent. With the figure making a beeline towards Momoko, she would only have about three seconds to react to the approaching menace.
 
Momoko hears the sound of the bush moving, and glances over her shoulder. She stares at the shadowy figure, and then thinks on her feet. She brings her scimitar out of the Aether, waiting for the figure to either stop and apologise, or make her have to slice it up.
 
Rather than stopping, the figure alters it's trajectory to run past Momoko's left side, just three feet from her person. As she passes, a shadowy mark is left on the ground. It feels a lot like a spell circle, but it is different somehow. Momoko's spell sense can't get a read on the properties of the spell contained within. Oddly enough, the people around her do not seem alarmed at all about the events underway. While Spellheart was notorious for its citizenry's comradery, not one person thought to restrain this shady figure, despite every person there being capable. Before Momoko can process all of this however, she feels her feet fall out from underneath her. She no longer feels like her body has any weight to it. If she tries to move, she will learn that she was now completely weightless. She can feet her feet drift out from underneath her, leaving her levitating prone in the air. It was that spell circle from before!

Now, the figure doubles back. Lunging at Momoko, the figure comes out of the shadows to reveal...
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As the girl comes out of the shadows, the fear and intimidation present before completely vanish. As she dashes towards Momoko, no longer cloaked, every movement oozes with playfulness and positivity. Rather than a mysterious shadow lunging for the kill, it was just a mischevious girl about to tackle hug. It seems as if she too were caught up in the spell, as she drifted through the air in a way that suggested gravity no longer applied. Fortunately, there were no obvious signs that she had anything that would actually hurt Momoko, but the girl seems to distinctly disregard the possibility that Momoko might attack her in confusion.

The young, mysterious, and barely clothed girl wraps around Momoko's waist with a hug. With a level of cheer in its own class, the girl chirps, "Hey there. My name is Mio. Wanna fight me in the arena?"
 
Momoko tries to slice at the figure despite the distance between them, but misses by a long shot. She tries to move forward, away from the Spell Circle and towards the attacker, but her feet fall away from her. She squeals as she sort of falls into the air, the momentum of her feet moving sending her into a somersault. She uses her scimitar to anchor her to the ground and turns her eyes to the attacker, gritting her teeth. The growling face quickly disappears at the girl's appearance.

She makes an audible 'oof' as the girl hits into her, her weapon still held tightly in her hands. She looks down at her, still a bit miffed. "Momoko," she mumbles. "And...sure, I guess. Why'd you have to come up to me like that, though?" She adds in a low whisper.
 
Around this moment, Momoko might become aware that they are still very much in a public area, and this floating midair hug was drawing all kinds of probably unwanted attention. Mio, however, seems to be operating on her own tempo, not paying any mind whatsoever to her surroundings. "Momoko is a really pretty name!" Refocusing her priorities, "Oh, but. I didn't have to do it like that. I just thought it would be fun to see if I could sneak up on you. At first, I just wanted to give you a super big hug, but then I thought, if I hug you too forcefully, I might end up knocking you down to the floor. So then I came up with the idea of using my levitation spell so you couldn't fall to the floor. But then I thought that you might get suspicious if I were using a spell, so I changed my plan to giving you a big surprise hug." Mio hugs Momoko more tightly to her, "Anyway, it was totally worth it. I learned a lot, and had a lot of fun. Now we can go fight in the arena, and then go out for ice cream afterward. Maybe afterward you can show me the way to Amiko's house!"
 
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