Rain Pow was furious, heat burning inside her and coursing through her veins, igniting under her skin and hot as coal. She had never expected to be caught during the whole fiasco, especially given her record of work beforehand and Toko’s careful deliberation with her sponsor. If anything, she was at least a little grateful that Postarie hadn’t gotten caught in the fray. Not that she was particularly close to her. Something inside her couldn’t help but be relieved that she received a memory wipe and sent back to live her human life. More than anything, she was angry she had been caught — by the fucking one-armed ninja, no less.
Her teeth grit and she turned her head to the side.
It wasn’t like her to show her emotions so clearly, not when she had lived her entire life fabricating a personality and background. She had always been an incredible actress, something Toko praised her endlessly for, and yet she couldn’t pull herself together enough not to be so obviously pissed off. Had they not bound her by some magical regulations, she would’ve surely tried to escape and hopefully make her way back into the shadows of the underworld.
It was easy enough to think that though, given she thought of herself as an excellent fighter after many grueling years working as assassin. Under her tough guise, privately she was unsure whether she was mentally sound enough to chalk it up with the magical girl monitoring her. There was something definitely… off about the ninja. From the jagged scar down her face to the floppy useless fabric hanging from her missing limb, her instincts told Rain Pow she should keep her guard up. It startled her seething psyche.
Her eyes flickered back to her ‘caretaker’. She mused what she would’ve done if things were advantageous.
And where was hell was the person who hired her? Shouldn’t they have tried to intervene in some way? Simply left for the wolves wasn’t exactly what she thought would happen if things went sour. Separation from Toko was the worst thing for her, lest Pow ever admit that to the people tidying up the B-city event. If the Land of Magic officials knew she was feeling weak, they’d surely pressure her for information about past sponsors and such. It would be a bad ending all around, for magical girls other than her. What a bitch, she thought, recalling a grating “~nyan”. I guess I can’t let them down either.
Rain Pow’s arms were crossed in front of her chest, and with Ripple’s question, her hands balled into tight fists.
“Whatever,” she replied, huffing. “Sure, you have me now, but I’m positive this won’t be the end to everything.” She looked directly into the ninja’s eyes and smiled just a bit, scathing. “‘Do you understand?’”
There was a time where Rain Pow’s attitude would have made Ripple furious. Back then, she would have glared and clicked her tongue, all the while internally complaining and judging. Ripple wasn’t like that anymore, however.
Instead, she just stared Rain Pow down coolly.
Keeping a level-head, making herself likeable, thinking things through. That was what Ripple had been trying to teach herself ever since Cranberry’s final selection test. She’d modelled herself off her old mentor and, as a result, had made great progress. She had become respected and, generally, well-liked, to the point where the Land of Magic was willing to trust her with this assassin.
...Or maybe that was more to do with them not having many other options.
While Ripple was stuck having no one she could talk to about what had happened that day, the Land of Magic was similarly stuck with having no one better suited to this job. Either they gave it to Ripple, or they had to introduce a new magical girl to this mess- and, really, with the political climate of the Land of Magic, Ripple suspected that no one knew who they could trust.
In the long run, Ripple supposed that this would be helpful to her. She still had yet to finish training with 7753, after all, and this could help the Land of Magic to think well of her. If she ever wanted to work with Snow White officially, that was something she needed- and now that that woman was free again, it was even more important that Snow had someone by her side.
All of that considered, it would still be unfair to think of Rain Pow as just a means to an end. Ripple was interested in her- unfinished business, or something along those lines.
“The situation you’re in... isn’t one to make threats in.”
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