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A few days later, you find yourself standing on the curb in front of Kaina's apartment complex.

In front of her dreary apartment complex. Seriously, you've never seen a drearier building before.

It's just concrete stacked on top of concrete, stacked on top of concrete. Just your cheap pre-fabbed apartment megacomplex, the kind of cheap housing that ubiquitous in Terminus City. Thousands probably live here, crammed in rooms too small like sardines in a can, products to be consumed and excreted by the corporations that employ them.

This is seriously where Kaina lives?

She's Infinity Princess!

She's your princess! She should have a palace! She should live in a palace! She should be doted on at all times of the day! The girl you love so desperately shouldn't live in a place as dreary and run-down as… This.

Gosh, what exactly has your love been doing to herself?!

… You almost don't want to go over to her place now. You think you might actually break down and cry; you can only imagine how barren her apartment is. How small it is. Just a room where your love sleeps and eats when she's not working...

Oh, your poor, forlorn love. She works so hard for a city that's so thankless. She sacrificed so much of her time and life for these pathetic, rotten meat sacks. And what has she received for her time and effort? Empty accolades? Greedy, grasping toadies who clean to her skirts like the vermin they are?

… Maybe you should ask her to move in with you. You were worried it might be a bit too forward. That you might be rushing things. You wanted to take things slower, but anything that gets Kaina out of this urban hellhole…

Your phone pings. You pull it out of your purse, glancing down at the screen. Hey, Kaina just sent you a photo of herself!

A cute photo of herself~!

Spoiler: Kaina's Civilian Appearance

Uwah~! She's wearing the leather jacket you picked out for her at the mall! The pants, even the watch!

How cool-looking! Definitely an improvement from the horrific outfit she wore the first time you met her! Hee~! You're so glad you took her to the mall to engage in some mindless consumerism now!

Your previous depressing thoughts are almost completely forgotten as you rush to text your love back.

Alice: !!!

Alice: omg you're wearing the clothes I got you!!!

Kaina: Indeed. I find this outfit comfortable.

Kaina: My coworker also advised me that this specific combination of clothes would also enhance my physical appearance. Is this true?

Alice: Yeah! You look so cute, Kaina~!

Alice: Can't wait to see that outfit in person!

Kaina: I should be coming down to meet you in around five minutes. You'll be able to see this outfit for yourself then.

Alice: Alrighty~! See you soon!

Kaina: Likewise

Gosh, you can't wait to see Kaina in person again! The selfies she's started sending you are nice to look at, but the real article is just beyond divine. Oh, you want to hold her, and kiss her, and… And…!

"Hee~!" You find yourself giggling out loud as you put your phone away and put your hands to your burning cheeks. You're being so silly right now, but you can't help yourself. It's like your heart's singing!

Being in love with such a cute girl is the best~!

Ooh, this date's going to be amazing. You have an entire itinerary planned, and you've got all kinds of treats tucked away for your love in your limo. Hand-made chocolates, custom-made flowers, a gilded ticket, even something spicy for later on in the evening…

"Oi, sweet-cheeks," you hear someone say off to the side. You almost don't register the voice; that's how lost in your thoughts you are right now.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

Ugh, gosh, who is it now? You glance off to the side to see three seriously cybered-up street punks eyeing you like a slab of meat. Street scum, gutter rats who think they're hot shit because they're all chromed up, and they've got gang tattoos on what little remains of their flesh. What a bunch of posers. What kind of gang tattoos are those even? Zealots of Samnas? The demon cultist weirdos?

"Hey sweet-cheeks, you're looking like you're up for a good time. What do you say you come with me and my pals here for a fun night out. Eh? Eh?" The ganger laughs. His fellows laugh beside him like a pack of baying, slavering hyenas.

You roll your eyes, feeling your giddiness begin to dampen by the second. Blech. These stupid garbage people. How irritating.

"Not interested, go away," you reply tersely, hoping these morons will get the hint and leave.

They don't.

"Aw, come on, don't be like that," the gangster grins, his artificial jaw splitting open unnaturally to reveal a sharp array of pointy, metal teeth. The diodes in his ocular implants flash red. If you were a regular girl, you'd probably find that intimidating? But as it stands?

This is just sad. He and his buddies are small fish who think they're the top predators in the ocean, completely unaware that they're trying to bully a shark into submission. You're the shark. And your teeth are pointier and sharper than any poser's lame implants.

"I told you. Not interested, buzz off," you flick your hand dismissively, with all the class and elegance these thugs don't have.

The only reason you're not vaporizing these posers on the spot is because Kaina's coming down in a bit, you know Kaina's coming down in a bit, and you don't want her to see you murdering some fools. Even if they totally deserve it. You want to present your good sides to your love! You can't do that if you're soaked in blood, because you've just ripped some cyberpunk's body in half.

"What, do you want money? Is that it?" The idiot gangster laughs. The bastard then has the temerity to reach out and try to grab ahold of your arm. "Because I'm good for it if you are, babe-"

You feel your eyebrow twitch with annoyance, then affect a calm, gentle smile as you steadily tune this suicidal garbage person's stupid words out. With surprising force, you quickly bat away the hulking metal hand that's tried to wrap its dirty, disgusting fingers around your slim wrist.

Alright, fine, you'll dip into your essence reserves to get rid of these morons. Shouldn't be too hard to get them to off themselves. Maybe you'll have them walk into traffic. Or jump off a nearby building. Why does this trash have to infest this city? Why does this city have to harbor this kind of trash? You start channeling your essence, spooling up your mana reactor -

"She said no," you hear a familiar voice say quietly.

Hey, that's Kaina's voice! You spin now, your spirits buoyed at the mere sight of your love.

Ah~! She's really here again! The cool, ethereal beauty you fell in love with! The wonderful girl who continues to take your breath away every time you look at her. The sight of her golden hair, her piercing green eyes that glow with power, the little scowl she's got on her cute lips that signifies her displeasure…

… Hey, why is it suddenly getting a little hard to breathe? You inhale, exhale, but the sudden weight on your chest only continues to intensify. You shiver now as a wash of raw power flows over you. Power that's coming from…

From…

Oh dear.

See, the thing about Kaina Shikinami – Infinity Princess – Is that she's ridiculously powerful. Insanely, stupendously powerful. All the experts agree on this, all the analysts agree on this, every Magical Girl agrees on this. There are maybe a dozen Magical Girls in the entire world who can match her in skill, strength and experience. But in terms of raw power?

The Magical Girl Infinity Princess is a powerhouse. An invincible, indomitable beacon of hope who's got a mystical superweapon strapped to her soul. Her mana reactor's so ridiculously strong it's like a perpetual energy generator stuffed into her tiny frame, outputting with all the force of a sun. Raw power constantly buzzes beneath Kaina's skin, an endless stream of mana that continually bleeds off her form. The raw mana around Kaina manifests as an aura when she becomes Infinity Princess, something that raises hairs, something that causes people to stand in awe because of her, something that inspires hope in those who've lost hope.

Her output is so ridiculous even the magicless muggles can sense that something's different about Kaina. That she's special. Even in her civilian identity, when she outputs energy consciously, it's enough to make people's hairs raise, to activate their fight or flight response, to ping at the portions of their lizard hindbrain that blare klaxon alarms about danger and unnaturalness and looming death.

There's a reason most criminals piss their pants and run at the mere sight of Infinity Princess bearing down on them.

After all, Infinity Princess is the coolest heroine who operates with absolutely no chill.

And that aspect of Kaina's personality is on full display right now.

You find your breaths coming a little easier as Kaina steps past you to glare at the tattooed cyberpunks who were harassing you. Her green eyes flash with otherworldly light. Faint rainbow sparks sizzle and spark near the surface of her skin. The gossamer strands of Kaina's golden hair fans out behind her like a cape or a regal cloak.

All the while, that wash of raw energy continues to bowl over you with all the force of an exploding volcano or a torrentuous hurricane. It's like you're constantly being buffeted with hot, desert wind. You can only imagine what the gangsters are going through right now.

You watch, morbidly fascinated, as the gangsters shrink back at the mere sight of your love, at the merest hint of her wrath. Fear's visible in their bionic eyes. Unbridled terror. The terror someone feels after they've been dunked in an ice bath, had an icicle rammed right up their ass, and then proceeded to have that ass strapped to a set of rails so they can watch the freight train that's about to run them over.

Seriously, a girl as cute as Kaina is has no right to be this legitimately terrifying and intense! Gosh, you really don't want to get on her bad side now! You might end up wetting your own pants!

... This is super hot too. Look at how protective she's being~!

"H – Hey now," one of the gangsters calls out, raising his chromed-up arms placatingly. Sweat pours out of his remaining fleshy-bits, and dark stains begin forming on his clothes. "Let's… Let's talk about this, okay?"

"Alice. Are you alright?" Kaina turns to inspect you now, her eyes drinking in every bit of your body. You feel yourself shiver at the expression that Kaina's wearing right now. Ooh, that stern, stoic, intense expression~!

Kyah~!

Your love's so cool~!

"Y – Yeah?" You find yourself stammering out now. Kaina's eyes narrow, and she whirls back to face the gangsters. Ooh, that forboding face…

Someone's about to get seriously hurt~!

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