Love And The Russian Winter, Act 4
Momofuku blinked the spots from her eyes, the morning sun glaring at her through the open hallway windows. Around her, students chattered softly as they drifted toward their classrooms.
Homeroom was about to start. She'd be late if she didn't hurry.
She took a step, then paused, a faint frown crossing her features. Her steps were light. Too light. There was a strange, floating sensation in her chest, an absence of... something she couldn't remember.
A memory, cold and sharp, crossed through her head. A bundle, a cooing sound, a crushing weight. But it was fleeting as a dream upon waking, leaving behind only a vague unease.
The hallway stretched on and on, her fellow students fading into the background as she trudged onto homeroom.
She pushed the classroom door open, wincing at the latch's loud click.
There they were. Fumiko, doodling on a notepad, half-paying attention to Madoka showing off a fashion magazine while Dawn simply looked out the window.
Her gang looked exactly as they should.
... then again, why wouldn't they?
She moved to join them, her feet carrying her on a path she’d walked a thousand times.
"Chikata-chan."
The voice, crisp and laced with a familiar, chilling superiority, cut through the classroom's murmur. Momofuku turned her head, her neck unusually stiff.
Alyona Rodionova graced her with a small, polite smile. It did not reach her eyes.
"Did you get everything you need for today's... after-class appointment?"
A dam broke inside her mind.
Saint Petersburg.
She lost. They lost. They had all lost. The Census Club accomplished everything they had set out to do. Using their common enemies against them, they defeated the Student Council and the Fujiwara Senki, forcing the former into a humiliating truce, and the latter... her gang... her...
She had surrendered, too.
The realization was a wave of nausea so violent it made the classroom swim.
Her stomach churned. She had always told herself, sworn on her pride, that she would rather die with honor than ever bow her head. But when the choice was final, and she stared into the fathomless abyss' of Alyona's ocean-blue eyes, a single, pathetic thought clawed its way into the surface.
I can't leave Grandma alone.
So, she had nodded. She gave Alyona what she wanted.
Now, back in the real world, she could only do the same. She gave a jerky nod on Alyona's direction, unable to speak up. A flicker of triumphant satisfaction crossed the Russian girl's face before she returned to her textbook.
Momofuku made the final steps and sunk onto her seat. She stared straight ahead at the chalkboard, its white surface blinding. She couldn't bring herself to look at her friends. She couldn't bear to see the trust in their eyes, a trust she had perverted the moment she agreed to turn them all into the enemy's servants.
The school day passed in a blur of muted colors and distorted sounds.
As the final bell rang shrilly, Momofuku almost flinched. She hefted her backpack, the weight of it a fresh reminder of what awaited her. Dawn and Fumiko fell into step beside her in silence, walking down Higan's halls.
Then, she saw him. Itsuki, his broad shoulders slumped, carrying a stack of heavy crates. Members of all clubs followed him. The Basketball Club, the Soccer Club, the Volleyball Club, everyone she swore to save, all bearing similar loads.
No one spoke up. No one could.
The girls reached a home economics classroom, quickly filing into the small bathroom within it. There, the light buzzed like an angry insect, and the air smelled sharply of lemon-scented cleaner.
Wordlessly, she unzipped her backpack. The pounding in her head intensified, a drumbeat of pure shame as she looked at the fabric in her trembling hands.
The French maid uniform was the gaudiest she'd ever seen. Above the black dress, a pristine white bodice pulled tight with satin ribbons, adorned with frills that ran along the square neckline. A stiff white apron was pinned to the front, its bib embroidered with an intricate, lacy pattern. Below it, the skirt was layered and ruffled.
Then there were her accessories, a pair of sheer black stockings, lacy wristbands, and black heels.
Around her, mechanical movements were accompanied by the rustling of fabric. Dawn buttoned a simple, dark servant's tunic, while Fumiko tugged on a plain grey pinafore over her clothes. Their uniforms were functional, subdued. Hers was a spectacle. She was their leader, after all.
She was the loser.
With numb, foreign hands, she stripped and put on her new uniform. The dress was tight in all the wrong places, clinching her waist and constricting her breathing. When she fastened the skirt, she stared at her own legs, exposed and vulnerable. The length was insultingly short compared to the dignified, lengthened skirt of her uniform.
Momofuku stepped into the heels, her ankles wobbling instantly, depriving her of any fighting stance she could put up. She felt a hot, prickling sensation on the back of her neck and knew, without looking, that Fumiko was glaring at her. She kept her gaze fixed on the tile floor, unable to meet those eyes.
They returned to the home economics room, the swishing of their skirts the only sounds in the room before they started cooking. Momofuku cracked eggs for tamagoyaki, her hands moving with a rote precision that felt disconnected from her body. Fumiko sliced fruit with sharp, angry chops for a parfait. Dawn measured tea leaves with a quiet, solemn focus.
They were assembling everything on trays when the door opened. Alyona swept in, Renka a crowned shadow behind her.
The three girls bowed, the motion stiff and un-synchronized.
"Good afternoon, Alyona-sama, Renka-sama," Fumiko and Dawn chorused on Momofuku's sides, but she could only bring herself to mouth the words, lest she puke all over the floor.
Alyona's eyes swept over them, landing squarely on Momofuku. A slow, smug smile spread across her face as she looked her up and down, taking in every frill, every inch of exposed skin.
"My, my," she purred. "This fits you much better than that tacky delinquent outfit. It's far cuter."
The blond tapped her chin as if considering something.
"Perhaps I'll have you wear it every day."
Momofuku felt her brain short-circuit, Alyona's words only echoing like static in her mind. Her face burned. Her left fist, hidden in the folds of the frilly apron, clenched so hard her nails bit into her palms.
Yet once again, the sukeban—
No. The maid could only nod.
Fumiko and Dawn stepped forward in a grim procession to present their trays. Momofuku lagged a half-step behind, her head a throbbing drum, the edges of the room darkening in her swimming vision. As she moved to place her tray on the table, the treacherous heel of her shoe caught on a slight unevenness in the floor.
Time seemed to stretch, then snap. She stumbled forward, the tray flying from her hands. Porcelain shattered with a sound like a gunshot. Yellow scraps of egg and rice scattered across the pristine floor like the pieces of her own dignity.
Silence descended upon the room.
Then, Alyona let out a soft click of her tongue. "So clumsy. It seems even basic tasks are beyond you."
She rose from her chair and strode over, her heels clicking a sharp counterpoint to Momofuku's ragged breathing. Before the maid could even push herself up, a hand shot out and grabbed her by the cheek, fingers digging cruelly into her flesh. Alyona lifted her head up, forcing her to meet those icy blue eyes.
"Well? Isn't there something you should be saying?"
"... sorry," the words tumbled out.
"Again. Properly."
The command hung in the air. Momofuku's throat tightened.
"I'm sorry, Alyona-s-s-s-sa—"
She couldn't do it. Her jaw clenched, muscles catching the honorific in her throat.
Why? She had lost, fair and square. She had already broken the vow she'd made to herself. Was she really so wretched that she would betray a promise made to someone else, too? But the words wouldn't come. Her brain felt like it was boiling in her skull, on the verge of complete meltdown if she forced that final, total surrender.
Alyona's frown deepened, her grip tightening. "It seems you require more discipline."
Before she could enact it, the world around them tore itself in two. The floor below them stretched, warped, expanded, walls peeling away like the skin of a fruit. In a dizzying lurch, Momofuku, Fumiko, and Dawn were ripped from the home economics room and flung backward, landing with a jarring impact on a familiar, freezing surface.
Saint Petersburg.
Biting cold seeped through her clothes again.
The frilly fabric of the maid uniform was gone, replaced by the familiar weight of her own sukeban uniform. And on her chest, the familiar, gnawing, soul-crushing weight of the [Yukinko] had returned.
Beside her, Yae stood, her trench-coated Idolon form panting slightly, her expression grim. "That was too close."
Momofuku’s stomach finally rebelled. She doubled over, retching violently onto the pristine white snow, purging the psychic poison affecting her.
"If my domain of [Truth] wasn't a perfect match for your domain of [Dreams], we would have lost just now," the detective continued as Momofuku got to look up again.
Alyona and Renka stood on the home economics room, still wearing their school uniforms. The world around them rippled like a heat haze against the blizzard, two realities fighting for dominance.
"Our minds would have fractured, struggling to find our real selves amidst what you imposed. Then we would get knocked out, and you'd force us into surrendering, turning that [Dream] into [Reality]."
Momofuku pushed herself to her feet, not caring one bit for the explanation. The rage filling her matched her body's temperature. Cold, clean, pure, cleansing all the humiliation and nausea from the past minutes. She fixed her crimson eyes on Alyona, who stood fuming in her crumbling dream.
"You should have surrendered before ordering her to do that," she snarled, the memory of frills and heels fueling the deepest layer of her inferno.
"Rodionova. I swear... I will make you pay."
"..." The Russian did not reply, only meeting her eyes with a matching resolve.
"Your realm may hold mine at bay, detective," Renka called out, one eye narrowed. "But that is precisely why I'll win in the end. While you strive for a cold, hard [Truth]... I strive for her [Dream]. The strength of our souls cannot be compared."
As if to prove her point, the phantom image of the school hallway began to push back, the warm, false light encroaching once more upon the frozen stone of the courtyard. Yae grunted, a trickle of blood leaking from her nose as she fought the overwhelming pressure of Renka's devotion.
"I don't strive for the [Truth]. Here, I am the [Truth]!"
Even with all that bravado, she was faltering. Seeing their only ticket out was losing, Momofuku reached for Dawn, jostling the still woozy knight.
"Dawn! Hit her with a curse! Reinforce Yae! Anything!"
But there was no need.
The sound of a ripping canvas caught Momofuku's attention. Behind Alyona and Renka, the air tore itself open, and a swirling, flower-petal-strewn portal burst into existence. From within, a blur of crimson and silver shot forth. A girl in a full tokusatsu costume, black motorcycle suit adorned with red streaks resembling rose thorns. She moved with impossible speed, one leg extended in a perfect, flying kick that connected squarely with Renka's back.
From the moment the portal had ripped open in the teacher's lounge, spilling nightmare creatures into the real world, Kaoru Nagamine's worst suspicions were confirmed. The chaos, the sight of her fellow council members fighting back with powers she knew they possessed... everything was worse than she feared.
And she could do nothing about it. Not as Kaoru. To reveal herself would shatter the careful anonymity the Scarlet Pimpernel required.
So she had fled with the other students, a perfect picture of a terrified, ordinary girl. But once she was clear, she had run not for safety, but for the Student Council office. There, using a secret she'd uncovered, she opened a portal of her own and dived headfirst! To rescue the students falling through the portal! To see this battle against the Census Club through!
... and hopefully, ask for some explanations.
Traveling through worlds at the speed of justice!
Arriving in the nick of time as a true heroine should!
The most dangerous of all flowers, blooming even in the harshest winter!
"Enter! The watcher of the watchmen! [Scarlet Senshi]!"
"Unf!"
Renka cried out, her concentration shattering as she was launched forward, landing into a pile of snow with a flashy explosion that seemed to come out of nowhere.
The combined shock of the brazen entrance and fierce blow was enough to weaken the [Dream]. Higan Academy dissolved before vanishing with a final, audible pop. Only the frozen fortress and the howling blizzard remained.
Momofuku stared between the posing heroine and a gasping Yae, who finally collapsed to her knees, utterly spent.
"... who the hell is that? Shujinko's long lost sister?"
"It's... a long story," Yae offered with a weak smirk, wiping the blood from her lip. "Safe to say... she's on our side.... now get going..."
The sukeban did not need to be told twice. [Simply Red] materialized at her side with a guttural roar, their bond thrumming with shared purpose. A quick glance around the battle confirmed her fears. Her allies were still shaking off the psychic residue of the [Dream]. However, Renka herself was down, leaving only Archie and a panicked Alyona.
The new girl, [Scarlet Senshi], struck another pose, pointing at the remaining foes.
"Surrender, villains! Your tyranny ends now!"
Archie's response was a wordless bellow, his ogre-form swinging a fist the size of a cinder block at her. [Scarlet Senshi] let out a undignified yelp and leaped backward in a flurry of petals, her bravado momentarily shattered.
"Hey!" Momofuku called out, not breaking her stride as she pointed in the general direction Madoka and Yaya where at. "Make a portal! Get the others back from the igloo!"
[Scarlet Senshi] ducked, avoiding another of Archie's swings. "It doesn't work like that!"
"Now it does," a soft, determined voice cut through the chaos.
[Dawn] had risen, her knightly form glowing with a soft, determined light. She thrust a hand toward the heroine, a complex, shimmering rune flying from her gauntlet and striking Scarlet Senshi's chest. The heroine gasped as power surged through her, and with renewed confidence, sliced through the air, carving a massive portal beside the recovering Yae.
Momofuku continued her charge, Dawn now behind her. [Simply Red] moved as their vanguard, her kanabo becoming a spinning blur that deflected a frantic volley of magical gunfire.
They were few steps from their target when a sound like a mountain breaking echoed across the fortress. A deep, groaning crack of ice, followed by a tremor that shook the very ground.
Every head turned. The sound came from Shu, who had been trying to get up, only to fall down again. The [Yukinko] clinging to him had fully crystallized, its form turning into a solid, glittering statue of ice before shattering into a dozen pieces. The consequence for hurting the cursed child were immediate.
The earth before him split open into a yawning valley of pure blue ice. Shu and the nearby Ran had to time to react, swallowed by the frozen abyss. The chasm raced toward Momofuku and Dawn. [Simply Red] unleashed two cyclones to keep them suspended on air, but the sukeban's burden was too much.
Still feeding on her essence, the [Yukinko] became an anchor, and she began to fall, her glare locked on Alyona's triumphant face across the divide.
[Simply Red] dove after her, but true salvation descended faster. A swarm of Yaya's small, plane-like drones followed Momofuku into the valley, alongside them a flock of fluttering paper shikigami, glowing with [Kukurihime]'s purifying energy. They swarmed beneath the sukeban, a living platform pushing against the pull of the abyss. Combined with [Simply Red]'s gale at her back, she was launched upward, not away from opponent, but toward her.
She crashed into the Russian girl with a grunt, the immense weight of her burden slamming her into the snow and pinning her down.
Momofuku stared down, the blizzard whipping around them, her victory finally within grasp.
She drew her fist back and swung down, satisfaction bursting as she finally got to wipe that smug look off. Alyona snarled, a feral, cornered sound. She twisted with surprising strength and—
BANG!
A small handgun shook between their bodies.
The Yukinko took the bullet, its web-like fractures spreading from its icy form. Still, the shock and sudden shift in balance allowed Alyona to shove Momofuku off.
The sukeban rolled in the snow, scrambling to get her feet under her, only to see [Simply Red] already in motion.
"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAAA!!!"
Blessed by a final surge of speed from [Dawn], the crimson hurricane rained strikes upon the magical girl, the final impact sending her skipping across the snow like a discarded doll.
Momofuku panted, the air burning her lungs. Her eyes were fixed on the cracks spreading across the [Yukinko]. It was close to shattering.
CRACK!
"Boss!"
Dawn's alarmed shout was the last thing she heard as she was plunged into a deep, blue-tinged darkness.
The fall was brutal, but brief. A massive, warm hand caught her mid-descent. [Simply Red] stood firm at the bottom of the icy crevasse, setting her wielder down gently. A few yards away, Alyona struggled to her own feet, having been dragged down by Momofuku's curse.
They were all alone now.
And despite everything! The cold, the exhaustion, the bruises... Momofuku felt... strong. Undeniably, terrifyingly strong.
The constant, grinding burden of the [Yukinko] was gone, shattered during her descent. Her muscles, forced to adapt to the crushing weight for an eternity, now felt light and powerful.
She clenched a fist, taking in the raw power coiled in her forearm, then took a deliberate step forwad.
[Simply Red] fell beside her, a mirror of her intent as always.
Across the chasm, Alyona matched her pace, her blue eyes burning with a matching, desperate fury.
Their slow walk quickened to a determined jog, then a full-blown charge.
"RODIONOVA!"
"CHIKATA!"
Sworn enemies met at the halfway point, screaming for each other's blood.
[Simply Red] swung her kanabo in a devastating arc meant to crush Alyona where she stood. But the Russian girl leaped, a graceful, impossible jump that carried her high above the oni. The floating guns around her flashed, raining bullets down toward Momofuku.
But the sukeban had already ducked behind her [Idolon]'s broad back, wincing as stray bullets got past the oni's guard and bounced off her muscular frame. Corresponding jolts of pain lanced through her own body with each impact.
With a roar of pain and fury, [Simply Red] ignored the gunfire and thrust a hand upward. A localized whirlwind erupted around the descending Alyona, yanking her off her graceful trajectory and slamming her back into the fray. The two clashed again, a brutal dance of elemental force and magical artillery, the kanabo's thunderous swings meeting desperate gun-kata.
Alyona fought with a strength that did not belong to her frame, her parries and counters beginning to push the mighty [Simply Red] back. However, Momofuku began to hear it underneath the shrieking winds.
The sickening, wet tear of muscle fibers shredding themselves apart under the strain. Alyona's own body was screaming, destroying itself to maintain this supernatural advantage. And even as she tried to heal herself, relentless winds tore at her, the very concept of shearing force breaking her down bit by bit, undoing her efforts to regenerate.
"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!"
They continued to trade blows, but it was now a battle of endurance, not strength. Momofuku let herself be pushed back. The whirlwind around them tightened, a cage of gale-force winds ensuring Alyona couldn't move to long range. Kanabo met rifle stock over and over, until finally—!
"Hng..."
The battle ended, not with a bang, but with a whimper. Alyona's body finally gave out, and she fell to her knees twitching. Ugly red blooms of burst capillaries and torn muscle flared across her exposed skin. [Simply Red] stood over her, chest heaving, and Momofuku stepped past the oni, glaring down at the broken girl.
"Our aims are the same, not only as students, but as fellow awakened, too," she recited words spoken yesterday. "We should be under the same banner, protecting humanity from the threats of that other world."
"Y-You..."
"Who's the hypocrite now, Rodionova?"
The moment a true, common enemy appeared, Alyona had seen it not as a reason to unite, but as an opportunity to conquer.
The blond managed to lift her head, blue eyes burning with a fire that refused to be extinguished.
"That was when... I offered you my hand," she rasped, "And you spat on my face. You... you forced me to this."
Momofuku's fist snapped forward, a sharp crack against Alyona's jaw. Her other hand shot out, tangling in the blonde strands, yanking her head up before she could slump down.
"Yeah," the sukeban admitted. "And I'd do it all over again."
She leaned in closer, red burning into blue. "But you? You spat in the faces of far better people than me."
She cocked her fist back and swung again.
"This is for Madoka! If it weren't for her, I'd be at the bottom of the other chasm with Shujinko right now."
Another punch.
"This is for Yae! If it weren't for her, I'd still be trapped in your sick little fantasy."
Another.
"This is for Yaya!"
Blue eyes focused on her again.
"Yeah, that's right! If it weren't for her, I'd still be wandering in the snow, looking for the others."
Punch.
"And this is for Shujinko! If it weren't for him, I wouldn't even be here! I'd be stuck at home with a suspension!"
She pulled her fist back one last time, knuckles raw and smeared with blood that wasn't her own. Alyona hung limply in her grasp, held upright only by the fist tangled in her hair.
"And this is why I win!" Momofuku declared with the final, crushing blow. "It's not because I'm stronger than you! It's not because my [Idolon] is better!
It's because I didn't need to force any of them into this fight. I didn't need to trick them, or get leverage over them, or seize power before they oppressed me. When it mattered, they chose to stand with me over you."
After witnessing their resolve, trusting them with her back during battle, and having them do the same for her, there was no doubt in her mind. The Student Council and the Fujiwara Senki would be nothing but allies from this point forward.
"And the same goes for the clubs you squeezed! People aren't prey animals you can herd with sticks and carrots. Even if I'd never showed up, your little paper empire would've crumbled all on its own one day!"
"..."
Momofuku knelt before her panting opponent, bringing them to eye-level.
"Do you get it now, Rodionova?" she asked, their foreheads bumping. "Do you see the difference between us?"
Alyona's chest hitched with a deep, shuddering breath. "I... I..."
Her head lolled back, and she collapsed fully onto her back in the snow, a stark red stain spreading around her. Her lips moved, forming words too faint and broken for Momofuku to hear over the howling wind. Frustrated, the sukeban leaned closer. She wanted, no, needed to hear her answer.
Before her ear could get close, the world dissolved into a kaleidoscope of shimmering, dream-like colors. One second Alyona was there, the next, she was gone, vanished from the bottom of the frozen chasm.
Momofuku's head snapped up, swiveling in every direction. High on the ledge above, Renka stood, one arm outstretched, trembling with the effort.
She met the sukeban's gaze for a fleeting second. Then, another portal swirled to life around her, and she too was gone.
A raw, guttural scream tore from Momofuku's throat. She slammed her fists into the snow, once, twice, pounding the unfeeling ice until her hands ached.
... it didn't matter.
Alyona fled without an answer. So what!?
She still failed to put them under heel. Her crimes in the real world were still out there!
All that separated her from the punishment she deserved was a single meeting with the principal.
As Momofuku pushed herself to her feet, soothed by the truth of her victory, a glint of color in the pure white snow caught her eye. She bent down, brushing the powder aside to reveal a headress adorned with frilly roses.
... A piece of Alyona's magical girl outfit. A trophy left behind by her [Idolon].
"... here." On impulse, she held it out to [Simply Red].
The oni stuffed the entire thing into her mouth, not even considering putting it on.
"..."
Momofuku could only stare, deeply disgusted and entirely regretful as her own [Idolon] chewed and crunched on something that was all over Alyona's hair moments ago. Then, she swallowed, her crimson muscles visibly swelling and rippling with a surge of raw, absorbed power.
Unable to argue with the results, she found her voice after a... several moments.
"... if you start speaking Russian, I'm killing myself and taking you out with me. Swear it on my bones."
[Simply Red] let out a deep, rumbling laugh, then hooked an arm around her user. With a powerful beat of her legs against the air, she summoned a mighty gust of wind and launched them upward. As they struggled against the pull of the abyss, a flock of Madoka's shikigami met them once again, adding to their lift and guiding them to solid ground.
Back in the surface, the relentless blizzard had ceased. The sky, while still grey, was clearing. All around her, the deep snow melted at an impossible rate, retreating to reveal the dark, weathered stone—
"Oof!"
While Momofuku gathered her bearings, a blur of silver hair swung into her vision, flooding her nose with the scent of expensive perfume.
"Momo!" Madoka cried, crushing her in a tight hug. A moment later, Dawn and Fumiko were at her sides, looking her up and down for injuries.
Heat rushed to the sukeban's face. "Hey! Get off, I'm fine!" she grumbled, failing to shove Madoka off in her [Idolon] form. [Simply Red], as always, refused to help. She looked to Itsuki for help, and he shook his head, the traitor.
"Did you guys think I wouldn't win against that brat or something?"
Madoka finally stepped back, her fox mask shimmering away to reveal a knowing smile. "Of course we believed you'd win that, silly. But the moment those rifts appeared, every last winter [Yokai] started swarming us. So we were worried you had more than one opponent."
... ah. "You guys had that handled, didn't you?"
"Sure did!"
Before she could ask more, a blur of orange and black shot toward her. Shujinko skidded to a halt, pulling off his tokusatsu mask to reveal a beaming grin.
"Momo! You're alive!"
A wave of warm, golden energy washed over her from his outstretched hand, soothing her raw knuckles and the phantom aches from [Simply Red]'s bullet wounds.
"Now look at this!"
He flexed his outstretched arm with a flourish, muscles bulging against the tight fabric.
"The [Yukinko]! When it shattered, it was like a full-body workout compressed into a single second! Are you feeling the gains too?!"
"... yeah."
"Then c'mon, flex with me! Maximum effort!"
She replied with a swift kick to his chin.
"Gah!" he yelped, hopping backward on his other foot with a goofy grin until he was next to a very exasperated Student Council. "Okay, okay, no flexing!"
Yae stepped forward as he retreated, her trenchcoat more rumpled than ever. "So, Rodionova is gone? Truly?"
Momofuku nodded. "Renka portaled her out."
The detective sighed. "And she did the same to Archie. The backlash from her broken domain was severe, but Alyona managed to channel a trickle of healing into Renka afterward. It was just enough, so she recovered her faculties moments before I did."
The sukeban shrugged. "It's no big deal," she tried. "I mean, it's not like she can run away in the real world. It's over for her."
"It's not that simple," Yae countered, her voice low. "If she chooses to, she can dig in. Retreat to her mansion, refuse all contact with the school, and force the administration to involve the actual authorities. It becomes a legal matter, not a school disciplinary one."
"Then she'd eat a deportation instead of suspension," Momofuku insisted.
"If—"
"It's all fine!"
Shujinko bounded back into the conversation, his optimism undimmed by their discussion.
"We'll figure it out! For now, our priority is getting everyone home!"
Turning dramatically toward [Scarlet Senshi], who had been quietly observing from the sidelines, he began to strike a pose. One arm thrust straight to the sky, the other bent sharply at his side with fingers splayed, one leg bending slightly while the other slid away.
"[Scarlet Senshi]!" he called, chest puffing out. "The battle is won, our forces are accounted for! It's up to you to call the curtains!"
The tokusatsu heroine seemed momentarily flustered by the attention. She mirrored his pose, but her version was shyer, arm raised with less conviction.
"R-Right, [Geistzer]! The path of justice leads homeward!"
She sliced her hand through the air, and with a shower of sparkling rose petals, a massive, stable portal opened, revealing the familiar, blessedly normal student council office of Higan Academy.
The Student Council filed through first. Shu, Ran, Yaya, Madoka, and a still-wobbly Yae stepped across the threshold, their [Idolons] flickering and dissolving like mist, leaving behind only exhausted teenagers.
Then it was their turn. Fumiko went, followed by Dawn, both casting glances back at Momofuku. The sukeban took one last look at the melting [Russian Winter], at the fortress beginning to crumble, and stepped out. The transition was instantaneous. The biting cold was replaced by the warm air of Higan Academy after hours.
"... Unfortunately, I must remain behind. Farewell, tentative allies of justice!"
[Scarlet Senshi] was gone with a wave, the portal winking shut before her.
Yae slumped onto an office chair, murmuring something about a tsundere.
Momofuku was already moving, her body screaming for her futon. "I'm out," she grumbled, nodding at Madoka and making for the door.
"Momo!" Shujinko's voice called after her. "Get some rest! We'll meet early, okay? Principal's office, first thing tomorrow!"
She waved a dismissive hand over her shoulder without turning. "Yeah, yeah. Bye."
A chorus of tired goodbyes from the rest of the council followed her out. In the hallway, Fumiko and Dawn fell into step beside her. Momofuku rubbed her eyes, the grit of exhaustion making them sting, and glanced out a window. Instead of the afternoon sun she expected, she was met with the deep, inky black of dead night, punctuated by distant streetlights.
There was no way.
But she had spent a lot of time trekking in the snow...
And who knows how long in that weird dream dimension...
"Dawn. Time," she blurted out, a cold dread far worse than any [Yuki-onna] could summon creeping up her spine.
"1:07 AM."
Homeroom started at 8:00 AM. The trek to Fujiwara ward would take at least—
Fuck, who cared about any of that?!
Grandma! She was going to kill Momofuku! If she hadn't already died of a heart attack!
The sheer, visceral fear gave her a second wind. Exhaustion vanished, she grabbed Fumiko and Dawn by their hands with a grip of iron.
"Fumiko! You're giving me a ride home!" she decided.
"... ah, sure, whatever..."
"And you!" the sukeban continued, whirling on Dawn. "You're my alibi! We were studying at your place and lost track of time playing games! You back me up when I tell her, you hear me?!"
"... yes, Boss..."
She sprinted down the hallways, dragging her two tired gang members. The aftermath of the battle for Higan's clubs had been completely forgotten in the face of a much more formidable opponent: a worried grandmother.