This takes place in the two weeks period between the last chapter (Chapter 16) and the next (Chapter 17)
Interlude II-c
Her boots crushed the blackened soil of an alien world.
Tall, blocky constructions stood imposingly at her sides, compressing the path forwards into narrow streets that twisted and turned just as much as it rose and fell. The land showed no difference no matter how long she walked; the same type of buildings, the same claustrophobic paths, spiraling inwards and outwards, in and out itself. A mind-turning farce of a city that covered the entire planet.
Eyes peered at her in the dark corners and dirty holes, burning yellow gazes, unblinkingly following her form. Eventually, she paused, rolling the tension off her shoulders while a hard scowl contorted on her face.
She had enough of this mockery.
Her weapon was unsheathed in a sharp melody that almost cut the world in half. A silvery blade forged from the deepest nebulas of the cosmos, with the azure heart of a newborn star blazing at its center. Its presence alone was enough to cast away the shadows and bring fresh wind to this place's rotten, stagnant air.
The creatures around her shrieked, roused by the abrupt banishment of their refuge. Under the naked eye, the evidence of their contamination was clear to see, as was their mad aggression. Black, pulsing veins crisscrossed across their forms, from the oldest to the youngest. Then, all together, as if they were one entity, they screamed and rushed at her, their grotesque, clawed limbs posed with deadly intent.
She steadied her weapon in response.
And the genocide started.
"Ah!" She gasped herself awake, shooting to a sitting position and nearly falling off her bed because of it. She had about a second of disorientation before her stomach churned violently and sent her running to the bathroom with a hand over her mouth.
… When she was finished sending last night's dinner through the pipes, she blindly reached out, grabbed the sink, and weakly pulled herself to it.
The reflection in the mirror greeted her. Straw-like blonde hair spiking in every direction like one of those odd American rock singers, dark blue eyes with even darker bags underneath, sullen, way-too-long face with a bit of vomit still painting her lips.
Haruka could already tell her day was up to a great start.
She leaned forwards and laid her forehead against the cool glass, trying to not think about… about her dream.
They're back.
It's been so long. She had hoped…
… This was a bad one; she had worse, heck, she reacted better to worse, but it's been so long since she had one that… she let her guard down.
As usual, she felt the finer details of the dream slipping away from her grasp like falling sand around her fingers. She knew from experience that the more she tried to hold on to it, the faster it would slip. Not that she would, of course, she had more than enough from the dream remains that did stay with her.
Blood. Thrumming energy vaporizing flesh. Blade cutting through metal and meat. Screams of millions.
Her whole body convulsed, and she made to hurl again, but there was nothing else in her stomach but water.
Haruka really, really hated when she had one of those dreams.
Punching the tiles on the wall, she forced herself back up again and started to wash her mouth.
Time to start the damn day.
She was still moody when she descended the stair and flopped down on the dinner table, but at least she looked like a proper human being.
Thank the heavens it was Sunday; she didn't want to imagine going to class and interacting with her more ordinary peers while she was like that.
"Ara~? Someone woke up in the wrong side of the bed today," Her mother put down her breakfast right beside her laying head, just close enough for the smell to rouse her. Then she daintily ruffled a bit of Haruka's scarecrow-like blonde hair from her forehead before lying down a warm kiss on it.
Haruka relaxed a bit from that, she couldn't deny it.
"Cramps' coming in early?"
The blonde teen bristled at the thought of that in conjunction with a Dream. Sounds like a bad time. "Just couldn't sleep." She mumbled a half-lie.
She had stopped bothering her parents with her dreams a long time ago. She was sick of doctor visits, of treatments that led nowhere, of long days of exams, of tiresome therapy talks, of medicine that made everything worse.
She was sick of making them worry.
Stuffing something tasty in her mouth was a good way to derail her thoughts; she got to remember that.
"Where's dad?" She asked between bites.
"Drifting journey~" The older woman singsonged; her mother always gets singy when she was in the kitchen.
Haruka just grunted in acknowledgment and wondered how many girls would react so casually at the news of their father running off with his friends to do crazy car stunts on dangerous mountain roads.
"So!" Her mom sat before her with her own breakfast plate, a mischievous little smile on a face that was the complete opposite of her own; heart-shaped, delicately featured, big, expressive eyes framed by impeccable, honey-colored curls. Even the makeup was perfectly applied. "I've been hearing nice things about your boyfriends lately. Care to share with mama?"
Haruka bumped her legs on the table as she nearly jumped out of her skin. "MOM! Come on! This again!? You can't possibly believe I have a harem of all things, can you?"
"Oh, I'm just joking, Haruka-chan, you know I am." She waved her off with a roll of her eyes. But then she leaned forwards and placed her chin over the backs of her hands. "Buuuut you could very well have a boyfriend among those nice young men you've been interacting so much with. Particularly the one you're always talking about."
She felt her cheek heating up, "Se-Hiroshi isn't my boyfriend!" She dreaded what would happen if she called him senpai in front of her mother; the woman would have a dozen fantasies by the end of the day for sure.
Her mother's pout somehow made the woman look ten years younger, Haruka could only goggle at this ability. "Mou, is there not even a bit of interest? What about that handsome young stud in the Chinese outfit? Or anyone from the bunch that's been following you around lately; those look aggressive and willing to breed."
Haruka loved her mother with all her heart, she really did, but sometimes she says some things that horrify her.
"N-No!" She insisted, all reading feeling the headache. "Can we change the subject please?"
The older woman waved her hand, thankfully having enough of watching her daughter squirm. "No jogging today?"
"Sprained my ankle." The teen mumbled over her cup, "It's basically already healed, but if I go, I'll never hear the end of it." Damn overbearing senpai, he didn't have to princess carry her all the way to the clinic like he did! It wasn't that bad!
Her mother just chuckled, face dropping a bit so her fingers were curled against her cheek. Haruka shifted uncomfortably under the continuous attention.
"What? What's with the creepy glare?"
The pout was back again, "Mou, don't call Mama's Lovey Dovey Gaze creepy glare! My feelings will get hurt you know?"
"Don't say things like that, you're a grown woman." Haruka countered.
The older woman giggled at the younger teen's annoyance. She reached out a tapped a well-manicured finger over the back of Haruka's hand.
"I'm looking at you Haruka-chan." Her mother said gazing deeply into her eyes. "You look so happy."
The blonde blinked. The words threw her for a loop. Where did that come from? She didn't have a good answer to that, so she drew back to her default.
"I saw myself in the mirror mom. Believe me, I do not look happy."
Her mother's pearl-like giggles echoed again. "Snarkier too, which one of your boyfriends do I have to thank for that?"
Guh! That's it, the concentrated heat around her face was making her headache worse. She placed her hands on her table and pushed herself up.
"I'm leaving." Full retreat!
"Have fun!" Her mother chirped after her, "Call first if you decided to spend the night with a boy~" Damn it, Haruka felt like smoke was going to come out of her ears. "Ah!"
… She would regret looking back, later. But something in the way her mother gasped had her looking almost subconsciously.
"What?"
The woman had lost a bit of the mischevious air that hung around her during their talk, she had crossed her arms under her modest bust, pulling herself as much as her modest height would allow it. She didn't look serious, not exactly, but she was clearly prepared to make a stand.
"Ha. Ru. Ka.-chan." She began patiently, enunciating each syllable in her name. "… Where is that nice skirt I bought you last week, miss?"
Damn it, they almost managed to keep the nice mood this time around.
The ensuing argument didn't involve any shouts, insults, threats of violence, or really any unnecessary drama. It was merely a trade of reasons and counter reasons, of polite, meaningful requests and concessions. To a person not familiar with their dynamic, this wouldn't appear like an argument at all, so similar it was to their previous conversation.
Perhaps it would have been better if they were shouting or insulting each other, that way maybe her feelings wouldn't get played with so mercilessly.
In the end, Haruka ended up wearing the damn skirt. It flapped against her tights while she walked down the streets, and each time it did her emotions threatened to boil to the surface.
It wasn't that she hated skirts. She could even say she likes them; she wore them willingly on some occasions and everything. Heck, she had no problem with her school uniform, which, you know, had a skirt!
It wasn't even that she hated this particular skirt; it looked good, fitted well with her shirt and jacket combo, and complemented their colors nicely. She had honestly liked receiving it as a gift.
It's just…
… It's just.
It's hard to put into words. She just didn't feel like wearing a skirt today. She wasn't in the mood for it. Normally they were fine, but when she wore them when she wasn't in the mood for it; it was like they could never properly fit. It got too cold, too airy, they exposed her spidery legs for everybody to see and made her constantly feel like she should cover herself. She hates it, hates it when she had clothes forced on her, yet her mother kept doing it!
But even then, it wasn't normally a big deal, it shouldn't; she could roll her eyes and tough it off, she had done that before didn't she. She didn't need to make a scene.
Great, now she felt guilty for fighting with her mother because of this, just great.
It must be that awful dream tricking down to affect her day. She'd almost forgotten that could happen, but yeah, it was a good reminder of how it locked her in a circle of getting moody, then blowing off at a small thing, then getting moodier because of it.
No wonder she was closed off before; just going about her day, not really focusing on anything, exceeding on pretty much everything she tried but feeling nothing for it, people admiring her for her achievement but then stopping after they realize she had nothing interesting to say…
Happy, yeah right.
Haruka paused in the middle of the street, not immediately recognizing her surroundings, but finding them familiar enough she's sure she'll remember in a minute or two.
Ok, deep breaths, just stay here, center yourself—
A shorter form suddenly collided against her, instantly sending her toppling to the ground and breaking every kind of steadiness and control she might have gathered.
The world just decided it was out to get her today, wasn't it?
"Oh shoot! I'm so sorry, I was just in such a hurry and I wasn't paying where I was going and— Tenou-san?"
Her next breath hitched inside her throat; she snapped her head to look at who had called her.
Ah.
"Hi there, Tendo-senpai." Haruka greeted with utter confidence, instantly shooting to her feet.
She always that an easier time composing herself in front of someone; it was actually something she only realized after her senpai pointed it out. So, in that way she was grateful for the familiar presence.
Tendo Akane was the newest one in the collection of attractive senpai she had come to interact with – seriously, what's up with that!? – She was used to seeing the girl in either her training gi or her school uniform, so catching her in her casual clothes gave Haruka a bit of a pause. The blue-haired girl's enviable body was filling a beautiful navy-blue dress with a white collar like she'd been born for it.
She found herself getting lost in the waving and contours of the fabric as her shorter senpai turned to address her properly.
"Tenou-san, good morning!" Her enthusiastic smile seems to enhance her everything. "I didn't expect to see you here! Do you usually take this route?"
Haruka decided against vocalizing what would probably have come out as a few confused noises and just gave the smaller girl a calm smile while she waited for her to approach. When Akane had stepped close enough, she was more prepared.
"That would be a no, Tendo-senpai. I must confess I'm a bit lost." That line came out way better than she imagined.
"Then, you're in luck, I can show you the way! And please Tenou-san you can call me by my first name. We're fellow Anything Goes disciples are we not?" She sounded infinitely pleased about that. "Where do you need to get to?"
"Then I insist you do the same for me, Akane-senpai, and, hah." Haruka raised her hand to scratch at the base of her short ponytail. "I don't really have a destination. I just went on a walk to clear my head and ended up here… But aren't you in a hurry right now?"
The smaller, curvier girl blinked at her for a couple of seconds, then realization seem to dawn on her, and it caused an almost comically cute expression.
"Ah!" She exclaimed, pumping her fists up. "That's right I had to- Um, Te-Haruka-san, if you're not doing anything I could use your help, come on!"
And just like that Akane took off running. Haruka was left stunned for a moment before she almost instinctively ran after her.
Funny, just a couple of months back she was thinking that nothing really happened in Nerima.
"What's going on!?" She asked while they ran.
"You have to help me find P-chan!"
"What!?"
"My pig!"
"Again what!?"
They turned the corner into a more crowded street, a marketplace fancier than the one she usually frequented, with a line of garden and the occasional short trees in the middle. Akane wasn't running at her top speeds, Haruka realized. She was trying to be mindful of her.
She pushed herself harder.
The bluette began to explain as they ran, "I have a pet piglet, but he ran away when I tried to give him a bath!" she paused, mulling over what to say next. "We have to pour warm water on him!"
Running after a pet piglet; why is this the most normal thing she'd done all week? Haruka dodged a procession of American tourists who shouted rude things after her. They shouted worse things to Akane when she literally jumped over them. "Why so specific?" She called out.
"It's hard to explain!"
It's hard- What? Why? What's so special about pouring warm water on a piglet? Sure, maybe the circumstances spread beyond simply washing the animal, but the only special circumstance involving warm water she could imagine was…
"Is it like Ranma-senpai's curse!?"
Akane-senpai nearly stumbled over her feet. She managed to get back to her previous pace with a few steps.
"You know about it!?"
"Yeah, kinda!" Seeing a man guy into a girl in contact with cold water was the kind of imagery that sticks with you; especially when considering the girl he turned into. Seriously how could someone so short have a chest so big? Haruka couldn't keep her eyes away from that contradiction when she first saw it. "So, is this P-chan like Ranma-senpai?" will she get to see a cute pig girl?
"… I don't know." Akane's voice was full of uncertainty, so Haruka left it at that.
Thankfully, as it turned out, they weren't blindly running in the general direction the piglet had escaped to. Akane was following… well, to say 'trail of destruction' would be too generous and overly dramatic, it was more of a trail of confusion and mildly inconveniences; a few tumbled magazines stands here, a few throw boxes there, the people muttering and generally looking at the direction they saw a crazy pig running to, things like that. With a clear trail like that, it was only a matter of time before they bumped into it.
"Squeeeee!"
Case in point.
"P-chan!" At the shrill sound of her pet, Akane fearlessly ducked into the nearest alleyway. Haruka followed close behind after only a moment of consideration.
She was also rapidly losing her fear of dark alleys now that she thought about it. It might be against some primal survival instincts installed in every woman, but there is only so much you can fear after becoming capable of breaking concrete with your hands. Haruka wasn't at that point yet, but she fought too many kappa to be scared of some possible mugger.
They found… a whole lot of things in that alleyway.
She remembered an English expression she'd heard her senpai using once that perfectly fits the situation they're stumbled upon; when it rains, it pours.
The piglet, P-chan, was there, a black little thing with a black tiger or leopard-pattered bandana tied at its torso, and it was currently being held by an absolute bombshell of a blonde that made Haruka feel inadequate out of principle.
Besides the blonde there were four other girls in the alley, all with matching beauty and uniforms; a tremendously tall orange-haired with a pair of nunchakus tucked under her arms, a busty, olive-skinned Hāfu with her chin hidden behind a battle fan, a short, wiry blond casually using a leather whip as a jumping rope, and finally, a brown-haired girl with cold, calculating eyes fidgeting with a pair of bulky tonfas.
Haruka knew they meant trouble as soon as she laid her eyes on them, the fact they were standing over the beaten and bloodied form of a member of The Nerima Wrecking Crew only served to confirm this fact.
"What are you doing to P-chan!?" Akane demanded.
"And to that poor guy." Haruka quietly added after her.
Potentially humorous timing aside; this wasn't good, this was very much the contrary of good. There are five of them. They are armed. Given their uniform; they are well organized, funded, and probably familiar with each other's fighting style. Can she take them?
The fact her first instinct was asking herself that probably meant she was spending too much time with her senpai and his usual niche.
"… This does not concern you." The tonfa-wielding girl addressed them, her voice just as chilling as her glare. "Leave."
"As if! Who do you think you are attacking people on broad daylight!" Akane drew herself up imperiously. "And give P-chan back!" She demanded from the blonde bombshell in particular.
The girl just smiled a vacant smile and, with a completely straight face, pulled down the zipper of her top so much her large assets nearly popped off from it. She then pushed the struggling piglet into the excessive amount of cleavage she'd revealed.
"Ara~? I think this adorable little guy wants to come with me."
Akane scowled thunderously at her while Haruka just stared. She eventually noticed that the animal had stopped struggling and was even able to see the blush forming over his little snout, so keen her attention was.
There was definitely something up with that pig.
"I will give you one more chance." Tonfa girl said, fully turning to face them. "Leave now, or you will be removed."
Akane narrowed her eyes at the threat, but before she or anyone could do or say anything, a raspy cough came from the downed NWC member.
"N-Nee-san… ?" He gurgled out, his eyes dumbly blinking at Haruka.
All of the armed girls instantly raised their guard.
Well, there goes any possibility of talking things out, not that Haruka had much hope on that front to begin with.
"You're a member of his group." The tonfa-wielding girl, clearly the leader or spokesperson of the team, stated darkly, the grip on her weapon noisily tightening.
"Yep," Haruka confirmed smoothly as she stepped up to stand beside Akane. No use denying now, "It's Nerima Wrecking Crew if you care, and you're trespassing in our territory and attacking our members."
…
Oh shit, did those words just come out of her mouth!? She sounded like a chuuni deli— Is this how her senpai feels all the time!?
"Oi, don't try to act like you're the victim!" The shortest one of the group cried out in a sudden rage, pointing the handle of her whip at Haruka. "You're the one who attacked us first!"
"That's right! That despicable male, Dandy Bat, had the gall to prance over a half a dozen contested territories like he owned the place, and what's more, he cowardly assault two of our sisters!" The busty hāfu added, brandishing her battle fans. "Do you think we, the Valkyries, would let that go unanswered!?"
"... Arrogance." The tallest one muttered, her nunchakus slowly beginning to spin.
There was no doubt in Haruka's mind that her senpai had done exactly that.
Just as there was no doubt that he must have had a good reason to.
Akane was shooting incredulous looks between her and the group of girls, the Valkyries, apparently. "What are they talking about!? What's going on here!?"
Haruka winced internally but managed to keep a calm facade. She quickly said an apologetically "I'll explain later." To her senior disciple, then she turned to her enemies and tried to put on a disarming smile.
She couldn't lie to herself, she was... getting a bit excited at the prospect of fighting them. This is what she had trained for, right? It was only natural that she would feel this way. That, and the skirt fluttering against her legs making her feel like a clown was really putting her in the mood to punch something.
"So, there's no more need for words between us, then?" Yeah, that was more of a statement than a question.
A short rippling happened among the group, and the leader, her face now bright red with anticipation, rotated her tonfas like a helicopter's rotor blades as she got into a stance.
"I… Indeed! Every single member of your vile gang must be punished for this transgression, such is Freya-sama and Ragnarok's way!"
Ragnarok, of course, it would be them.
Now, Haruka likes to think she has her priorities straight. In this case, when fighting against stronger and more numerous opponents, she should strive to use every advantage she had available and try to mitigate every disadvantage. So, when each of the Valkyries jumped forward in their own variation of leaping attacks, she threw herself into a roll and ducked under them all, before immediately shooting to her feet and starting to run toward the NWC member.
Of course, when the tonfa girl practically materialized in front of her with an attack already mid-swing, she realized that what she should have done was to retreat and call for backup. So maybe her priorities aren't as straight as she'd imagined.
"HayyyAH!"
An Akane-shaped blur suddenly appeared and slammed tonfa girl out of her way. A huge weight fell down from Haruka's shoulders at that moment. This situation didn't involve Akane in any way, so she didn't want to assume her fellow Anything Goes discipline would help her without any explanation. She made a mental note to properly thank the girl later.
With Akane momentarily keeping the enemies off her, Haruka managed to reach the NWC member with no trouble. She slid to a stop and spun on her heeds, standing protectively with her back to him, while keeping her eyes in the fight ahead.
"Are you alright!?" She asked, her brain needed a few moments to identify him as Ichirou-kun, one of the guys she hadn't interacted much with.
Thankfully, he was. His injuries looked worse than what they actually were, so he was already getting to his feet.
"Y-yeah. Thank you, nee-san!"
She nodded, "Good, we need your help. We must separate them to have any chance of winning. I need you to draw the orange-haired and the smaller blonde to that end of the alley, Akane-senpai and I will create an opportunity, so if you—" She turned to say her final points directly to him. Only to be greeted by the sight of his fleeing back disappearing into a corner at the distance.
Whoa, deja vu.
"You're wide open!"
Haruka hastily put her guard up and sidestepped away as the busty hāfu flowed past her with her fans in the ready. Her arms burned with the new cuts.
Focus! She told herself, pulling a fast steading breath and ignoring the pain to push her arm into a fighting stan—
A pained gasp escaped from her as a lashing whip loudly crashed on her side. She snapped her eyes up and caught the sight of the tiny blonde giving her an evil little grin before the hāfu and her battle fans filled her vision once again.
She gritted her teeth and forced herself to move.
It must be said that fighting was a very recent development in Haruka's life. However, just like with every other physical skill, she was picking things up fast.
From Akane and Soun she learned the proper stances. From sparring with the other members of the NWC, she learned to take and give out hits. From the monsters her senpai put her against, she learned to apply all these lessons in a quick, decisive manner while dealing with attacks that could really kill or cripple her.
Yet… she still lacked experience. And this was the very first time she dealt with properly armed and skilled weapon users.
Two black battle fans danced around her opponent's body, snapping open or close at a moment's notice, pulling her attention with their fast, fluttering movements, or blowing wind in her eyes to make her blink at the worst times. They were solid enough to be used as small shields to her few counters and their sharp edges bit into her skin deep enough to draw blood and make the pain flare each time they struck.
Every time she managed to gain some ground or make some distance between her and her opponent, she had to deal with a lashing leather rope twisting in the air in impossible-to-predict patterns and striking like a hungry viper, at each spot the heavy leather landed a geyser pain erupted.
And yet, despite all the odds, Haruka held on.
Staying on the defensive, avoiding the hits she could, taking what she couldn't, grounding her teeth and fighting through the pain of her growing number of injuries, constantly moving from side to side, trying to force her opponents to her pace, striking clear, fast jabs at every opening she found…
She's pretty sure only a short few days ago she would have gone down after only a minute of this. She can't believe she'll have to thank the Kappa of all things for her new pain tolerance.
"Just give up already, you're no match for us!" The olive-skinned hāfu shouted, clearly irritated with Haruka's persistence.
Well, that might very well be true, but the way the girl had said it pissed her off.
"Am I?"
A step forward took her into the busty girl's guard at the exact moment her battle fans were positioned in a way that would be hard to intercept her entrance. The hāfu widened her eyes and tried to strike anyway, but Haruka moved first. The result was the dark-skinned girl letting out a loud squawk and stumbling back while holding her right boob. Haruka kept the fist that had delivered the punch raised on the obnoxious large body part while in her other hand she flipped closed the battle fan she managed to steal.
"You should reassess that statement, sister." She snarked with a confident grin.
This might be the first time dealing with weapon users, but as mentioned previously, Haruka learns fast.
"Fine!" The girl spat. "You asked for it!" Haruka raised her guard as she suddenly advanced towards her, only to see her duck rather than attack— Revealing her diminutive partner standing directly behind her already reeling back the whip.
Crap!
She managed to turn her face away just in time, but her head still violently snapped to the side as the lashing whip struck her directly on her temple.
It was like having the entire world knocked away from her. An explosion of white suddenly overtook her vision. An overwhelming ringing bounced from ear to ear. She felt light, but not the good kind of light, the one that leaves you rolling in vertigo as part of you slips out and the rest went in the other direction.
Then, the pain came.
Curiously, it wasn't on her head, no, the pain forcefully pulled her back to herself just to inform her that in addition to the hard whipping to the head she also needed to deal with the blunt end of a battle fan being shoved directly on her stomach with the full weight of her attacker behind it. Then everything started getting messy again.
Joy.
Her awareness was shot to hell but she's fairly sure she was on the ground. Her body convolving with the pain, a long, constant, and stupidly loud ringing blasting right in her ears, limbs flailing about as she tried to make sense of what she was doing. She forced her eyes open and tried to speak, but from her mouth came only a gurgle and her vision was having trouble with lighting and coloring and keeping everything on a singular contour.
"Told you. You should have given up."
The voice was distant, barely audible under the ringing. She numbly kept her eyes open and looked ahead, using the constancy of the dirty concrete ground pressing against her face as a point of reference, the only one she could. She just hoped the world would stop dancing before the creeping darkness at the edge of her vision grew too much.
Then she blinked slowly, something finally coming into focus.
It was a black, no, dark, long, thingy, it looked a bit familiar; she could almost put her finger… a piece of wood? … No, no, a bokken… a discarded bokken… one of the Valkyries' weapons? no, too low quality… maybe that guy's… Ichi… Ichirou-kun's weapon…?
Her thoughts came slower and slower, the darkness crawling in at a constant pace. But she managed to send her hand flopping towards. The limp moved like a dying fish, patting the ground until it fell over the object.
She didn't even remember why she was doing it. It was so dark, her eyelids so heavy. If she could just… curl… her… fingers… around… it…
She had a sword in her hand.
"That isn't going to make a difference— Eh?"
She couldn't begin to imagine what went through the hāfu's head at that moment. One second, she was looking down at her defeated opponent, probably feeling vindicated after the trouble she caused her. On the other, her world just suddenly begins to rotate as her juicy legs were swept from under her by a sword swing.
The same sword then came slashing down on her face, viciously driving her head to the ground.
Her blonde partner hiccupped in shock at the display, and then yelled in anger, sending the long length of her whip streaming across the air.
Blade crashing against the leather cord. Pull it down. Disturb its motion. Wide arcs. Fast movements. Make it warp around the blade. Keep away from the body. Spin. Step closer.
"Ah!" The blonde had a single moment to gasp at the sight of her weapon of choice being partially rolled back towards her. "GUH!" She followed that with an ugly noise as the tip of the blade was thrust into her belly. The powerful momentum carried her forwards and then upwards, so strong she kept going even after the blade stopped.
Haruka turned back and slashed her sword to the side, ridding it of the wrapped whip. Two seconds later, her enemy loudly crashed back down behind her.
She won.
No, there are more enemies.
Snapping her eyes to the side, she saw the three remaining girls circling Akane like a pack of wolves methodically hunting a huge bear. They were surely wearing the bluette down, but giving their injured state, she was making that all but easy.
Haruka would take them down with one hit each. She knew that before she even started moving.
A single step took her to the action, the air offering absolutely no resistance to her passage. Her initial swing took out the tallest with no trouble. She dealt with the bombshell with a diagonal slash that burst her top open and set the piglet flying. The leader noticed her coming and raised her tonfas in a picture-perfect guard, her thrust broke through it and send her crashing against a wall and… and…
Haruka blinked.
Before her, laid only the downed forms of five girls and a soft, whistling wind blowing in an odd pattern. No more enemies. She won.
She won?
She… She won!
She let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Her eyes crossed at the curved wooden length that stood parallel to her face. She had, for some reason, stopped in an odd stance; her spine straight, a closed hand posted at her lower back, the other hand holding the bokken to her chest, blade sticking out towards her face.
But that's beside the point! She'd won! Her first real, official fight! She couldn't wait until she told senpai—
She had moved exactly like the woman in her dream.
Her hand let go of the bokken like it was on fire. A quick step put some distance from it before the object even stopped clacking on the ground.
"Haruka…-san?" Her eyes met Akane's wide, questioning gaze.
It was hard to hide the reaction they caused.
"No… so… fast!"
Haruka was almost thankful for the distraction, as discouraging as the sight of all her defeated enemies slowly rising to their feet again was.
"Freya-sama's… elite unit… will not be defeated that easily!" Their leader declared as she climbed the last inch. Her weapons were already back on her arms.
A similar phenomenon happened to the others, and soon Haruka and Akane were facing the same number of enemies again, injured, but more determinate than ever.
The pair shared a glance, then shifted into mirroring fighting stances. Haruka ignored the returning ache of her many injuries. There would be time for that later.
"NEE-SAN! WE'VE COME TO SAVE YOU!"
Ichirou-kun's declaration cut through the atmosphere. He was standing proudly over the part of the alley he previously escaped from like a shining general who led the reinforcing army that would save the battle. In this case, however, it wasn't an army, but only four delinquents, four particular delinquents.
Colossal, they could only be described as such. Towering over most adults, uniform so dark it seemed to swallow the light around it, stretched taut over huge piles of bulky, stone-like muscle, faces like scar tissue molded into human caricatures, embroidered with a weight of piercings, earrings, chains, and spikes, their beady eyes that didn't so much glare as look and that was more than enough.
Standing side by side they almost seem to cut the wide alleyway in half and compress it towards them by sheer mass. If a wall was built with them as the core, it would be able to hold off the enemies of humanity for a hundred years, and a religion would probably pop up around it.
There was also a collection of small dogs barking and jumping over themselves at their feet, the many leashes clasped over boulder-like hands.
Haruka was impressed, Ichirou-kun had somehow managed to get the Dog Walking Crew; they were quickly distinguishing themselves among the member of the NWC as something of an elite lately.
The Valkyries took one look at the reinforcement and seem to reconsider their previous statement. Especially when the blonde bombshell, now hiding her naked breasts under her arm due to the male presence, got close to the leader and whispered something in her ear. The leader nearly growled out loud as she pointed a tonfa at them.
"I am Ayazaki Chisato, lieutenant of the Valkyrie corp, under the command of Freya-sama of Ragnarok's Eight Fists!"
Ichirou-kun gasped behind her, but Haruka was a bit confused by the sudden declaration. Before she could question, however, Akane stepped in.
"Tendo Akane, of the Anything Goes school of martial arts!"
Oh! Right. "Tenou Haruka, also of the Anything Goes school, err, and high-ranking officer of the Nerima Wrecking Crew!"
That sounded horrendously cheesy.
Why the heck does she feel so proud about it!?
"Tendo Akane, Tenou Haruka, I will remember your names! Mark my words; when Ragnarok comes to adds this place into the fold, The Valkyries will personally hunt you down and defeat you, that is a promise!"
Bold words to be said as a prelude to them basically turning around and running away with their tails between their legs. Still, Haruka just stood back and watched them disappear among the buildings.
A wave of tiredness hit her, making her injures ache harder.
"Nee-san! Nee-san! That was amazing! You drove away one of Ragnarok's elite team!" Ichirou-kun chirped like an excited puppy, and that was an apt comparison given she had a literal point of reference barking at his feet. He also somehow didn't seem to register his own part in the whole 'driving Ragnarok away' thing "Hm, shouldn't we chase after them?"
"No, too nimble, you'll never catch them." Haruka thought about that for a bit, if she wanted to stop them, she would need to send her soldiers to intercept them at Goto street, forcing them to the eastside path to Narijugo and its twisted corners and backstreets, by then she would have already prepared the grounds to take them out one by one using a combination of— "Ugh!"
"NEE-SAN!" Ichirou-kun cried out as she swayed.
A pair of ginormous hands gingerly grabbed her shoulders, steadying her until the dizziness passed.
"I'm fine." She said to Ichirou-kun, then turned to look at the colossal delinquent behind her "Thank you, Gojiro-kun, I'm ok now."
The leader of The Dog Walking Crew silently nodded, his predatorial, shark-like eyes were still tinged with worry, but he released her all the same.
Tendo Akane chose that time to make herself known. Piercing through the defensive line that was discretely forming around the injured Haruka, she made a beeline towards the younger, yet taller, girl. Haruka flinched when she got to her face.
"A-Ah, I suppose I owe you an explanation?"
"Not now." The bluette said, examining her. "Sit down."
"What?"
"Sit down!"
Haruka sat down.
Akane grabbed the hem of her nice-looking dress and, to Haruka's shock, ripped a piece from it. The Anything Goes' heiress immediately started cleaning her wounds – paying special attention to one still bleeding on her forehead – completely uncaring to the scandalous amount of thighs she was showing.
Well, she did eventually growl at the blushing boys.
"Why don't you do something useful and find me some healing supplies!?"
The delinquents all shared a look, then pockets were shuffled, then Akane's hands were almost overflowing with bandages, dressings, antibiotics, antiseptics, gauze pads, little bottles of alcohol, and other little knickknacks. The girl was left blinking owly at it. "W-Why do you have so many!?"
Shrugs rolled from delinquent to delinquent. "Some monsters drop'em." One of the colossal delinquents offered in good faith.
Akane decided to ignore that and focus on her work.
"There!" The bluette said after she finished. "Most were just cut and bruises, nothing really serious, hm, but I think you have a concussion, so but you better check with Tofu-sensei, err, when he gets back this evening, he's out of town on personal business, I believe."
Haruka nodded. She had to confess Akane's work wasn't the most… aesthetic pleasing dressing out there, but it got the job done. She can even say she's already feeling a bit better.
"You'd better find someplace to rest, though," Akane added after some consideration.
That made Haruka - and the rest of the delinquents for that matter - smile knowingly.
And so Akane learned about The Studio, the gang, Ragnarok, and just about everything else really.
She instantly started raging about it to Ranma when she found him lazing about in the studio's lodge area.
But Haruka's day didn't end there, oh no:
After much insistence of the guys, she retold the tale of the Valkyrie fight to the rest of the Crew— to their very loud, hooting delight. The story would be spread again and again with more and more embellishments in the following days.
The repelling of Ragnarok and Haruka's… overly bandaged state caused the studio to erupt in an unprompted costume party. Mostly because they had food and a bunch of weird costumes lying around in the Studio's many, many storages.
Senpai finally showed up; he was covered in some kind of green goop and was carrying 'P-chan' by the scruff of its neck - she had honestly forgotten about the pig.
The little animal managed to free itself by chewing on her senpai's fingers, which provoked a chaotic chase across the Studio that somehow ended up with it accidentally being shot by a canon to the other side of the city – They were all amazed that it was a real canon and that it actually worked! – "Seriously what the fuck was this Studio used for?!" – Senpai had shouted.
A trio of costume-making martial artists was attracted by the costume party and ended up challenging them all to a duel.
The duel somehow caused most of the clothes in the area to transform into horrible, furred suits due to them accidentally setting off an ancient magic circle half-buried in the Studio's backyard – thankfully, their underwear was spared.
Senpai – clad only in his underwear – led a semi-naked assault against these 'fur suits' which started controlling the body of the people wearing them. All while Ranma and Akane teamed up to fight the leader of the costume-making martial artists who went mad with the power of the fursuit and planned to use the ancient magic circle to make more of them – Took a while to get Akane to fight in her underwear, but she eventually managed.
Senpai gave her some pants after everything; she got oddly emotional about it but managed to hide it well.
Basically, Haruka didn't get any rest that day.
But… but turn out her mother was right.
She had no idea precisely when her shitty day turned around, but it did, she couldn't deny that.
Her dreams might have returned.
She might have spent most of her day in a skirt feeling ridiculous.
But.
In the end.
She was happy
.
.
.
.
.
And yet she still dreamed.
Porospearl, a mystical material that could withstand the power of continental busting bombardments cracked under her steps, so great was her fury.
She paid no mind to the running messages and popping screens reporting what she already knew, she had felt in her bones when it happened. To her shock, to her humiliation.
The Miranda Castle, one of the most sacred places in the Millennium, born from the power of a living goddess, molded into beyond-perfect shape and function, an unbreakable shield for those under its protection and the final end for those who dare threaten them, one of the nine Star Palaces that serve as the symbol of power for the greatest Guardian in all the nine worlds: HER symbol of power.
Tarnished. Violated. Defiled. Tainted. Stained. Fouled.
By an Intruder.
Massive doors that could endure the direct battering of a titan-class starship were nearly blown from her hinges by her push. The impossibly vast area of her courtyard had been wholly taken over by her royal guards, the elite of the elite, trained by her own hand and knighted by her own sword. Rows upon row of Azurite dragoons with jagged armors of azure and silver and shining lances. Great, titanic Moldavite-class tanks, carrying even more colossal loads. Imposingly tall God-machines molded into a similar appearance to the dragoon armor but on a scale, elegance, and power unmatched by mortals, an arsenal to redefine the word arsenal wielded by the combined hands of her every personnel all ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. It caused the stretch made to hold hundreds of thousand looked positively packed for the first time since its construction.
And all of that, all that force that could lay waste to untold worlds. Were with their weapons ready and trailing after a single figure at the center.
They made way for her to pass. Dragoons statically holding their lances suddenly shifted from their place with the speed and purpose of a well-oiled machine. Any that would fail to hold to this standard deserved to be tramped under her boots. She didn't stop, she didn't slow her pace, she just went straight ahead while the entire world politely shifted to make her passage.
Finally, when the last line of Azurite dragoons moved off her way, she brandished the Space Sword and pointed at the one and only soul that had managed to enter a Senshi's Castle uninvited—
Senpai?
Wait, it's senpai!
… Was it?
The man looked like her senpai but… he was different. Taller, bulkier, wearing clothes she never saw before in her life, with features that were more hugged and squared and… manlier than the ones she was used to. For a moment she thought she was mistaken, but then…
He had the baseball bat, THE baseball bat, the same one he practically never let go of, the same one that had saved her life once before. It rested on wider shoulders than she remembered, but there was no denying that it was the same weapon, and it was… vibrating with resonant laughter?
"You taint this most holy ground with your presence, Fiend. Speak of the wicked means that allowed you to bypass our defenses and I shall give you the clemency of a quick death. Stay silent and I shall toss your soul into the Void and have my Neverborns Slaves extract the truth from your screaming oblivion."
She felt herself saying in that beautiful, alien, and almost crystallized language she uses in her dreams. In response, the older man that was her senpai loudly slapped a hand over his face and let out a long groan. Her keen ears could perfectly decipher the English sequence even when muffled by his palm.
"I fucking hate time travel."
A/n: And so the Crew gained an noddle incident.
Also I don't know if Bluette is a word but I'm using it.
Hāfu means half japanese, it's basically how japanese people call people who have only one japanese parent.
Now for some fun info:
The Dog Walking Crew, led by Kobayashi Gorijo aka The Nutcracker, a subdivion of the Nerima Wrecking Crew made exclusively from 'that one big guy' you see in various gangs that look scary as hell but are actually pretty nice and only became deliquents because they were pushed into it by society and their peer because they're scary and strong, they usually have some undeliquent-like hobbies that they kept hidden in their previous gangs, and are only showing now in the more accepting environment of the NWC, so they are the guys you'd need if you require some oddly specific skills like flower arrangements or interior designing. - I wrote that note before the chapter make that what you will.
And yes, Hiroshi is dividing the groups within the NWC by the task they are usually assaigned to and with Crew at the end, because he finds it hilarious; so you have something like The Street Cleaning Crew, and The Elderly Assist Crew and so on, the deliquents don't care because it's english so it's cool.
And of course the high-ranking officers group (Haruka and Ranma basically) and their equivalent to Ragnarok's Eight Fists is called The Badass Crew.
Tomorrow is the last part
