"PERFECT!" flashed the caption on the screen. She put in another coin and selected a new song from the list.

This one she could ace even with her eyes closed, and that's what she decided she would do.

Music started playing, and soon the first words began accompanying the beat, getting her into the zone and guiding her feet.

Maybe It's a dream? Maybe nothing else is real?

But It wouldn't mean a thing if I told you how I feel

So I'm tired of all the pain, all the misery inside

And I wish I could live feeling nothing but the night

Kyoko Sakura was at this moment spending yet another long and lonely night in the city arcades, throwing away whatever change that had fallen into her hands (by chance or otherwise) among the blue lights that surrounded her.

Her de-escalation skills were - to put it bluntly - shitty. Killing Witches and other kinds of abominations with her female partner was easy, preferable even. What was hard were all the everyday situations resulting from sharing a flat. Everything could be done using her spear. It was, after all, a very versatile weapon. The only thing that couldn't be done with it however, was sitting on it.

In her mind, she saw it differently though, explaining to herself that Mami was simply a buzzkill that kept on nitpicking. None of those things she had a problem with have been the end of the world, so why be a prick about them?

If I make another move

If I take another step

Then it all would fall apart.

There'd be nothing of me left

They argued almost all the time when they weren't out patrolling, and for many reasons- most of which centered around the red-haired Magi. Midnight snacking, impulsive and irresponsible behaviour, leaving behind a mess and cheating off the other Magi on tests, which more often than not landed both of them in trouble.

Kyoko wouldn't of course take it in silence, often shooting back with statements along the lines of the one above, volleying creative insults she was never finding herself short of or just storming out without a word.

Talking issues out was overrated. To compromise would mean to waver. And one would have an easier time bending steel than challenging Kyoko's pride.

If I opened up my eyes

There'd be no more turning back

'Cause I'd throw it all away

And it all would fade to black

And that was how she ended up here, dancing to the songs she knew by heart and eating pocky just for the taste. In her book an ideal way to spend a night.

So far staying out of each other's horns proved the best solution. At dawn she will come back to the flat, opening the door with spare keys in her pocket. Mami will likely be fast asleep on the couch, where she dozed off reading a book and waiting for her. At breakfast both of them will pretend that nothing happened and later go out on a patrol, one thing where they cooperated flawlessly.

So far it worked every time. Why wouldn't it work now?

PERFECT!

She put in another coin.

Why worry about something that isn't going to happen?