"There you are, senpai." Kuroko panted slightly as she looked down upon Ayame, clearly slightly out of breath from running around the school until she finally found her fellow magical girl hiding behind the school, coolly sitting back against the wall with a lighter in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other. Her black, painted lips curled into a sardonic smile at the sight of the younger girl, who was in stark contrast to the smoking delinquent. Kuroko's uniform was worn to the letter of the school rules as befitting an ideal first year high school student, carefully ironed and buttoned up neatly, her ribbon impeccably tied. Ayame on the other hand looked like she didn't even know what an iron was, the creases covered up by the tattered black jacket she was wearing over it, her buttons done down to her petite chest's would-be cleavage and her ribbon completely missing. Her look had been customised as much as possible much to her teacher's chagrin, with a number of tattered bands running down her arm, striped thigh-highs, boots rather than the neat shoes expected of her, and that was before you got to how many regulations her head broke. She had roughly cut short black hair, thickly applied dark makeup on her pale face, and half a dozen piercings on each ear.
"What, you cuttin' class too?" Ayame looked up at her, pausing to take a drag from her cigarette. Kuroko had always wondered where she kept getting them, seeing as the school confiscated half her personal belongings whenever she let them get face to face with her. Back in her first couple of months as a magical girl before she had gotten a good grasp on what her powers could and could not do, she had almost suspected that Ayame had been using her powers as Kaleidoscope Purple to hide contraband somehow.
"Y-yeah." Kuroko said, averting her gaze. "School's boring anyway."
"Like a goody two-shoes like you would want to." Ayame laughed. "Bet you heard from somebody I was skippin' and came running."
"No, I just felt like it today." Kuroko insisted. "Even I think that school is a waste of time sometimes."
"Uh-huh. And that's why you skipped English instead of a class that matters." Ayame forced Kuroko to turn away from her entirely to hide her blush. "Well, whatever, take a seat."
Kuroko carefully flattened her skirt before sitting down next to her, her nose wrinkling from the stench of the tobacco that she had followed to its source as she tried to hide her expression of distaste. If she was going to be as cool as Ayame, she was going to have to learn to get used to it!
"Maybe I should just stop showing up in the first place." Ayame mused. "All of these teachers and old people are idiots, and my style's being cramped by all these people giving me looks like I should conform to their standards. The sooner we stop supporting this institution, the better.”
"But school's important... even if it sucks and it's a waste of time." Kuroko caught herself, the shy, long-haired girl clearing her throat. "I mean, what'll you do after you graduate, if you graduate?"
"Who cares? Society's a drag anyway." Ayame said confidently. "Why should I submit myself to its shitty expectations? All those stupid people out there can go to hell for all I care."
Kuroko was starry eyed at Ayame's display of defiance. It had taken all of her courage to skip English under the guise of feeling sick and needing to go to the nurse's office, and that was only because she had done all of the work the class would cover in advance!
"Hell, I only show up these days 'cause you guys are here." Kuroko's goth teammate admitted. "Gotta be on-call at all times, you know?"
Ayame took another drag from her cigarette, and although Kuroko thought it made her look so cool and rebellious, it took all of her self-control to not explain to her how bad it was for her and how maybe there were better ways to rebel against society.
"Sorry, this thing's the only thing keeping me awake right now." Ayame explained, the usual heavy bags around her eyes even heavier today. "Stayed up all night last night. Half the reason I didn't bother with class."
Ayame took another quick puff, reaching the end of her cigarette.
"Aoi keeps givin' me shit about these." Ayame seemed to notice as Kuroko shifted away from the smoke cloud, Kuroko awkwardly trying to reshuffle her facial expression. "Even Yui keeps bitching me out over how I'm not setting a good example for the k1ds. Honour students, I swear to god."
Kuroko did recall the glasses-wearing straight-As teacher's pet Yui constantly nagging her about them, as well as criticising other aspects of her personality and fashion. This had led to a bit of an argument with the two, with Ayame snapping at her after Yui mentioned her pale skin, telling Yui that she should go stand out in the sun for a few hours until she got a tan if she hated it so much, and snarked that she'd be more attractive in gyaru fashion. Kuroko had done her best to avoid laughing at the hilarious mental image of the stuck up Yui as a gyaru, and had to agree. She bet that she herself would get along with Yui much more if she really were a gyaru.
"They're just concerned for you." Kuroko said before catching herself. "Um, not that you need anybody to be concerned about you!"
"Even you?" Ayame said teasingly, causing Kuroko to choke up as she couldn't decide whether saying yes or no would make her look cool and indifferent enough.
"Well, you've gotta be into this friendship shit if you're gonna be a magical girl anyway." Ayame said, putting out her cigarette on the ground. "Anybody who just hates everybody's a dumbass. So I'm gonna fight to protect all of the people I care about, and even the people I don't because I'm just that nice of a gal."
Kuroko's eyes glittered at her speech.
"Still, being a magical girl's not all sunshine and roses." Ayame clarified. "In fact, that's the problem. My uniform is way too girly. And there's all the posing and being pretty and girly and shit. Don't you think?"
"Posing is important." Kuroko felt obligated to say. It was very important, after all. And sorry Ayame, she thought internally, but she liked being pretty and girly in her magical girl uniform! That was the best part!
"Ah well, sacrifices for the greater good and all." Ayame sighed wistfully. "Maybe if we ever fight a ripped jeans monster I'll jump in front of his denim beam."
"Aoi says we're not supposed to think about things like that." Kuroko said self-consciously. The idea of willingly changing oneself at the hands of a monster was taboo to magical girls, as it led to dangerous lines of thinking. Magical girls were supposed to stop the monsters, not take advantage of them, or even think that they might be a good thing. According to Aoi and her mental encyclopaedia of magical girl knowledge, the mass transformation of the tomboyish Kaleidoscope Knights into the ineffectual Kaleidoscope Damsels had been caused by the simple desire of one of their members to lengthen her uniform's skirt sabotaging a killing blow on a particular monster. In the worst cases, it had led to certain members turning on their allies entirely, or infighting caused from jealousy over who got what transformation over the course of their careers. That was the current reason why Aoi was highly reluctant to recruit new members unless necessary compared to certain past teams: the more magical girls there were, the harder their relationships were to wrangle. You couldn’t become a magical girl unless you had good intentions at heart, but at the end of the day, teenage girls were teenage girls. If only saints could become them, you’d likely have one or two a generation at best.
"Yeah, I guess." Ayame dropped the idea swiftly after how concerned Kuroko looked. "You're lucky and all, Kuroko. You look perfect as a magical girl, you know?"
"Y-you're wonderful as Kaleidoscope Purple too, senpai." Kuroko blushed, visibly brightening.
"I could be better." Ayame said. "You know, I never pictured myself as a purple. When you joined the squad and turned out to be our black, I was like, damn, she totally stole the colour I wanted!"
"Um, sorry!" Kuroko apologised, Ayame chuckling in response at how genuinely sorry she looked.
"It's not like we could swap if we wanted!" Ayame laughed. "I can't even picture you as any other colour any..."
Ayame trailed off, then let out a sudden burst of laughter.
"What's so funny?" Kuroko asked as Ayame continued to giggle uncontrollably.
"S-sorry! I just, I just pictured you as Kaleidoscope Pink!" Ayame wheezed, and Kuroko looked mortified by the very suggestion.
--
"Kuroko says she's not going to make it." Momoko said glumly as she checked her phone, Kuroko having answered with a blunt "I'm busy", which at least was better than seeing that her message had been read but ignored like usual. "Even after I told her Sakura was coming! First Hotaru says she's been busy ever since she got scouted and now this!"
"She'd just bring the mood down anyway." Yui brushed it off nonchalantly, Kuroko having been the one member of the team she hadn't bothered inviting in the first place. Despite everybody else's best efforts, the two simply couldn't seem to get along, and according to Aoi, never really had in the first place even since the early days of the team. "Besides, her look's so boring. Long straight black hair, what's even the appeal? That's like the most boring thing I've ever seen."
"Kuroko has quite the appeal, I'll have you know! Don't you know that black is elegant and refined?" Sakura butted in, managing to close the distance between her and Yui in an instant despite having a buffer zone of Akari and Aoi in the way. "But I suppose somebody as low class as yourself wouldn't understand!"
"I guess money can't buy good taste." Yui stubbornly shot back, and the two glared at each other before Aoi stepped in to break them up.
"Calm down girls, we're almost there." Aoi, ever the mediator, had the answer. "This is Akari and Momoko's first time getting their makeup done professionally at a salon. You wouldn't want to ruin it, would you?"
"I suppose I should be the bigger woman." Sakura harumphed, twirling one of her drills with her finger.
"I should have known better than to insult her girlfriend." Yui said snidely. Sakura simply turned up her nose with a hmph and a decidedly smug smile over the accusation.
"You'd better not argue once we're in there." A very determined looking Akari said, doing her best to pull off a frilly one-piece dress in an attempt to revamp her masculine image. It didn't quite work, but she was doing her best. "I have a date tonight, and my new boyfriend told me I'd look good with makeup on! First impressions are everything! It has to be perfect! If any of you screw this up for me, I'll have you used as a training dummy for the kendo club!"
Silenced by Akari's very real threat, it wasn't long before the group finally reached the salon, filled with the scent of perfume and cosmetics. Yui proudly gestured for the group to enter, Akari taking deep breaths as she prepared to embrace womanhood.
"So, are we going to be taking turns, or..." Momoko asked, Yui shaking her head.
"Let's get it done all at once, it'll be more fun that way." Yui smiled, the salon large enough to house all of them in a line.
"Would you like to sit next to your daughter, ma'am?" One of the employees asked Aoi, causing Yui to flush bright red.
"I don't even know her!" Yui huffed, stomping over to her seat as Aoi gave a perfect smile and insisted on sitting next to her.
"Hey, what do I even ask for? Is there, like, a menu?" Momoko asked cluelessly, shifting in her seat.
"Don't ask me?" Akari hissed back, seated next to her and desperately studying herself in the mirror for any particular flaws she might need to be concealed. Momoko had a lot of questions about salons, but one in particular stuck out to her.
"Hey Yui!" She called over her row of friends.
"Yeah?" Yui responded.
"Is it normal for salons to strap you in like this?" Momoko would have gestured towards her arm and leg restraints had it not been for the fact that she was, in fact, restrained.
"What? No, that'd be ridicul-" Yui was about to wave her off when she realised that she too was strapped in, quite tightly in fact. "Hey, what the hell!?"
"What's the meaning of this!? How dare you treat somebody of my calibre like this!" Sakura raged as she tried to struggle out of her restraints. "My father will be hearing about this! I'm sure this breaks at least one law! I'll have this place shut down and turned into a candy store, you hear me!?"
The more coolheaded Aoi had already guessed what was going on, skipping the hysterical stage entirely. The other customers in the salon were starting to panic as well, the women in the chairs opposite the group also stuck in their seats. The employee running the counter desperately apologised and tried to free them, looking just as clueless as the victims.
"Shut it!" A shrill voice called from the back of the store. "I'm almost ready! I know you're excited, but you'll give yourself wrinkles if you keep this up!"
Thunderously loud heels clacked against the floor as what could only be described as a makeup monster stomped out into plain view, leaving the actual salon workers unconscious on the floor behind her. Wearing a hideously saturated pink shirt and jeans so skinny they could be painted on, the exaggerated but otherwise female figure walked out with clearly dyed hair so long it trailed along the floor behind her, clown-like bright red lips and painted white skin coated in every cosmetic treatment known to man, and an elaborate weave of bags and pouches filled with scissors, combs, and every cosmetic product one could possibly want. The lone remaining employee screamed and sprinted for the door, finding it sealed by some unknown force.
"Quiet down, I can't work in these conditions!" The monster barked, producing an enormous brush from somewhere on its person and stomping up to the employee in its platform boots, swinging widely and hitting the poor woman square in the face with the brush. In an instant the woman had a thick layer of makeup on her face, far thicker than the layer she had been wearing before, immaculately painted as her eyelashes seemed to have doubled in lengths and her lips made large and puffy, with a glazed look on her face. The woman staggered over to the nearest mirror and gasped.
"Wow!" The woman exclaimed, all panic gone from her voice. The woman's short bob cut was rapidly growing in volume as well, Momoko realised, the brush having a knock-on effect as her hair snaked down to her hips and her fingernails tripled in length, gaining a layer of polish and paint on their own. "I look amazing! Can I get this treatment next week too? I can't go out in public looking any less fabulous than this from now on!"
"My schedule is always open, honey!" The monster said proudly. "Now why don't you go sit somewhere out of the way and stop bugging me?"
The hypnotised-looking woman went and sat on the seat for customers in waiting before slumping over, falling completely unconscious as she mumbled in her sleep about how she needed no less than two hours to prepare her makeup in the morning from now on.
Meanwhile, the magical girls had gone dead silent as they realised their conundrum. They could transform, but between the other salon customers, the security cameras, and the various onlookers who had realised what was going on and were peering in, their identities would be exposed instantly, and even if not on an individual level, it was easy enough to recognise their school uniforms. It was a risk the group couldn't take, leaving them helpless for the moment.
"Alright then, let's make you all beautiful!" The monster declared, marching over to the end of the row where Yui was sitting. "I'll start with you, hun. The gyaru look is a bit of a cliché, but we can work with that! You'll have the boys crawling over you by the time I'm done!"
"I didn't come in here to have my makeup done by a freak." Yui said defiantly. "Where'd you even come from? How'd you get in here?"
"Through the backdoor, obviously. You don't have good grades in school, do you? You're really perpetuating a stereotype right now, you know." The monster said with crossed arms, shaking her head. "I figured I should have a test run before I show the rest of the city what perfect makeup looks like. Then once I'm done with the city, the country! Then, the world! Everybody will think of nothing but making themselves perfect!"
"You look like you had a car accident in an art supply store, try getting a second opinion next time! No way I'm taking tips from somebody who dunks their face in a bucket of paint every morning!" Yui said, struggling to escape the straps to no avail.
"Just sit still hun, in a salon, I may as well be a goddess! You couldn't possibly dream of escaping." The monster grinned. "I'm at my strongest in here! Even if those ugly magical girls themselves were in those seats, they couldn't break out!"
"Good to hear." Yui grunted, not giving up. As a result more straps sprouted from the chair, holding her perfectly in place across her chest and neck. Finally, she gave in.
"Just hit me with that stupid paint brush of yours and be done with it." Yui spat at her, the monster looking offended.
"What do I look like, an instant makeup kit?" The monster asked, leaning over her. "I'm an artist! We'll be doing your makeup the old fashioned way!"
The monster produced a bottle of lip gloss and a tiny applier, carefully lining it up with Yui's lips as she unsuccessfully tried to get her head out of the way.
"Don't you even think of touching me with that stuff, you bi-" Yui shouted before the monster swiped across her lips in an instant, causing her protests to die in her throat. Her lips turned beautifully glossy before visibly puffing up, leaving her with a full pair of lips that were pursed but otherwise totally still, even as the rest of Yui's face was visibly protesting. It seemed she had lost all control of her mouth, and was helpless as another layer was applied, causing her lips to puff up a second time until they were impossible to ignore and shined like a gem.
The monster moved on to her eyelashes, doubling the thickness of them with similar ease as they were lengthened and darkened. Unlike the lips most of the extra volume seemed to be in the makeup, but it was clear that even once washed off they'd be larger than before. Yui no longer visibly resisted, merely staring blankly ahead as the monstrous artist worked. It was a surprisingly slow procedure by monster standards, and even more surprisingly ordinary despite the monster's speed and perfectionism. Within minutes Yui was totally made up, every tiny blemish covered and corrected, her face smooth and doll-like. Perhaps a little too perfect, but the monster seemed to know its stuff. The dark, dusky eyes fit Yui's image quite well.
"Let's do your hair while I'm here." The monster decided, pulling out a number of scissors to use on the now totally motionless and glossy-eyed Yui. Although she cut into Yui's curly hair leaving clumps falling to the floor, with each snip she only seemed to add more and more volume until her hair fell down to her hips and spread across her shoulders, an over the top look that matched her over the top makeup.
With the procedure done Yui finally seemed to break out of her trance, but none of the disgust she had before seemed to be present.
"Oh-em-gee." Yui exclaimed. Her gyaru-like accent seemed to have intensified to levels that usually only came out when she was chatting with her other fashionable friends, and she seemed enraptured by her new look. "I'm like, totally adorbs! This is the best I've ever looked in, like, ever! I'd have to spend, like, three hours every morning to look as good as this! God, I'm so beautiful!"
"See? I knew I'd be right." The monster said smugly. "And in an hour, all you'll be able to think about is keeping yourself this pretty!"
"In an hour?" Aoi asked, having kept remarkably calm the whole time. "Not instantly?"
"That's when the makeup settles. Sure, I could have done this all at once, but that'd be so boring. Where's the art in that?" The monster explained. "Besides, this way is much more potent. I don't want people to care about their makeup a little, I want it to be all they can think about!"
At least this monster liked explaining itself like many others, Aoi thought to herself. Now if only she could come up with a plan...
"Alright, let's start on you now." She said, moving on from Yui who seemed enraptured by herself and totally content to stare at herself in the mirror. "We'll try a more mature look for you, so sit tight!"
--
"Why do they have to have such bad timing?" Kuroko said under her breath as she sent a quick reply to Momoko saying she'd have to miss it. Hopefully Momoko would understand, being the ray of sunshine she was. Yui probably already had some snippy comment on it, knowing her. Well, she wasn't really the salon type anyway, particularly a salon trip spearheaded by Yui, with her gaudy taste. Dying her hair blonde, wearing tacky makeup... What was the appeal, anyway? The only curls she wanted to see were Sakura's.
Well, whatever, Kuroko shrugged. If Sakura really felt like she was missing out, she'd demand a private makeup session with the two of them at her mansion, and she'd probably fly in some makeup expert from France or something to make sure they got it right. That would be so like her. Kuroko caught her own smile at the thought, forcing it back down as she reminded herself why she was on her current expedition in the first place. Being with Sakura was... weird. That soft-spoken girl she liked so much who had so easily wormed her way through her defences and intended to slowly defrost Kuroko with patience and kind words was now a loud-mouthed braggart who did everything with gusto and demanded so much more from Kuroko with seemingly little patience for her little tsundere act, practically the opposite of how she had been... but she still liked it? Kuroko didn't get it. How could she like Sakura so much when she was so different? That way she was so utterly confident in herself and eager to push her personal maid around was just so... she just couldn't get enough of it for some reason! And that made her feel weird!
It wasn't like the new Sakura couldn't be soft-spoken, and patience, and kind, and all of those things that had melted Kuroko's heart to begin with. And it wasn't like the old Sakura couldn't lose patience, or know just the right thing to shatter Kuroko's defences, or occasionally get sick of her reservations. It was more like she was flipped, and now Kuroko couldn't figure out what was up and down anymore. And was it just her own fault? Even she had to admit that ever since her maid transformation she had been a little... subservient, exactly the right type for her mistress to take advantage of, even if she still felt like she was herself. At the end of her rope and unable to distract herself by dusting every surface in the mansion, Kuroko had decided to take drastic measures: meet up with Ayame, an old senior magical girl who she had looked up to back in the day.
Kuroko hadn’t met with Ayame since her retirement, but given her own circumstances, she was the perfect person to ask. Whether she wanted to or not, Kuroko couldn’t help but reflect back on those days...
--
"You skipped English." Yui said accusingly, nearly causing Kuroko to jump out of her seat as she slammed her hand down onto her desk.
"I-I wasn't feeling well." Kuroko coughed and averted her gaze as the bespectacled girl attempted to stare a hole into her very soul.
"Last time I checked, the nurse's office doesn't smell like tobacco." Yui stood firm. "You were hanging out with that bad influence again, weren't you?"
"So what if I was?" Kuroko's words were faltering as she said them.
"Oh, so you won't mind if I tell the teacher that you were hanging out with that wannabe bad girl." Yui said smugly.
"Ayame is not a wannabe!" Kuroko said defensively. "She's way cooler than you'll ever be!"
"Oh, I see, so it's cool to be a delinquent dropout." Yui said mockingly. "It's cool to have bad grades and a smoking habit as long as you say you don't respect the man!"
"You just don't get it!" Kuroko shot back, her temper flaring.
"What am I not getting?" Yui started to turn red in the face at her teacher's pet authority being questioned. "What in the world is skipping class good for?"
"It's good for getting a headstart on any monsters who attack before the bell rings, for starters."
The two's argument was interrupted by a familiar blonde and the only one with even better grades than Yui: their senior magical girl Hotaru. The brainy blonde straightened her glasses and gave a friendly smile at Kuroko that irritated Yui.
"Good timing, Hotaru." Yui seemed both undeterred and even more eager now that she felt she had backup. "Miss Kuroko here decided she'd skip class to hang out with Ayame!"
"Oh, did she? During English, right? Was it fun?" Hotaru continued to smile.
"Hotaru!" Yui snapped. "You shouldn't let her get away with this! What if she becomes a delinquent because of her? I keep telling you, Ayame is not magical girl material!"
"Oh, it's just a phase." Hotaru waved it off.
"It's not a phase." Kuroko stiffened and straightened her ribbon.
"I wasn't talking about you. But you're around that age too, aren't you?" Hotaru said, Kuroko blushing. "I wonder who you'd pick if Ayame wasn't around..."
"I-it's not like that!" Kuroko stood up, eager to escape.
"Sure it isn't." Hotaru's smile took on hints of a smirk. "Anyway, enough girl talk, we've got business. That monster I mentioned isn't a theoretical, and by my calculations Ayame should already be fighting it."
"What!?" Kuroko exclaimed. "Why didn't you say so!? We have to go help her!"
"Ayame's a big girl, she can take care of herself." Hotaru said confidently. "Besides, I estimated that we should have at least ten minutes to spare if... actually, Ayame is always ahead of my estimates, and I think she does it on purpose to bother me. You're right, we should hurry!"
--
"Black, slow down!" Hotaru called as Kuroko outpaced the group, rushing as quickly as she could across the city. "Don't get separated! I'm sure Purple will be fine by the time we get there!"
"She said she was exhausted when I met her!" Kuroko yelled back, only accelerating over time. "You and Aoi always say that you should always be worried about fighting alone even if you're in your best condition!"
"That's true, but that's even more of a reason to not rush!" Hotaru responded, Yui nodding as the colourful trio looked for signs of a battle below. "You never know what you might land in if your team doesn't have things under control!"
Kuroko reluctantly matched paces with Hotaru and Yui,
Huh? Kuroko was confused as she saw somebody confronting the monster. Somebody she didn't recognise, her long, silky hair a light shade of purple that certainly didn't match Ayame's distinctive dark purple.
"There's nowhere to run now that my gorgeous friends have arrived, you ugly beast!" The lone magical girl called, the monster's apparent transformative weapon snapped in two while the monster struggled to stand. "Not from the beautiful heroine on parade, Kaleidoscope Lavender!"
Kuroko's jaw dropped as the flashy display, the titular Lavender turning to reveal her immaculately made up face and sparkling uniform emblazoned with a sash that reminded Kuroko of a beauty pageant contestant.
"Ah, Black! Yellow! Even you, Orange!" Lavender smiled, her painted lips and glittery mascara dazzling all bystanders with her feminine charm. "You're all looking splendid today! Not as splendid as myself of course, but I'd say you're all runners-up!"
"Uh, do we know you?" Yui asked, looking completely befuddled.
"Oh, you wound me, Orange!" Lavender said melodramatically, making sure to visibly reel as if struck through the heart. "And I thought we were best of friends! Surely you wouldn't forget Kaleidoscope Lavender?"
"I can't forget somebody I don't know!" Yui retorted indignantly. Kuroko slowly walked forward, not liking what she was quickly starting to suspect. Even with the layer of makeup, the unusually cheery expression, the theatrical manner, and the lack of any visible fatigue, there was no mistaking that face.
"Ah, Black! You're ever-elegant, as always!" Lavender smiled and stretched out a hand to her. "I'm sure you'll defeat this monster with me! You're as skilled as you are feminine, and in my opinion, you're the most feminine one out of all of us after me! Ah, to be a maiden once again!"
"P-p-Purple?" Kuroko stuttered as Lavender continued to put on a show. "That can't be you, can it? It can't be, right?"
"Oh, darling, purple is so out of fashion." Lavender placed a finger on Kuroko's lips, Kuroko realising that she had long, varnished and painted nails now. "Isn't lavender a much more feminine, fitting colour for a beautiful lady such as myself? Do feel free to tell me how beautiful I am now, by the way."
Kuroko recoiled, turning pale as reality hit her.
"Now, shall we defeat this monster together? I've some dresses I'd love to introduce you to as soon as we've mopped this up!" Lavender said before realising that Kuroko was slowly backing away from her.
"Black? What's wrong, darling?" Lavender asked, looking genuinely confused. "Usually one wants to come closer to a pretty lady, not further away..."
"Shut up! You're not Ayame!" Kuroko cried, starting to well up as she ignored their rule of protecting their secret identities, fortunately with no civilians within earshot. "Ayame's not... Ayame isn't... Ayame isn't this uncool!"
Kuroko left a trail of tears as she run away from the fight as fast as she could, leaving Ayame and her own innocence behind...
--
"Um, excuse me!" Momoko called before she could start on Sakura. "Could you let me out of these for a second?"
"Can't you see I'm busy?" The exasperated monster said. "God, you'll all whiners today! It'll be your turn in just a minute! You really think I'll just let you run away?"
"No, that's not it!" Momoko clarified, hoping that her plan would work. "I just need to use my hands for a second! I'd like to take a photo!"
"A photo?" She had grabbed the monster's attention.
"That's right, I want to take a before and after!" Momoko said with as much fake enthusiasm as she could gather. "That way I can really appreciate it!"
"Hmm, I don't know..." The monster considered it. "I prefer my art to speak for itself, you know?"
"Oh, come on, just a quick selfie!" Momoko pleaded. "I wanted to send it to a friend so she'll be jealous of me! I was going to tell her that the most amazing makeup artist in the world is working on me, and she's missing out!"
The monster's ego was clearly piqued, and Momoko could tell that she was on the verge of success.
"I bet it'll make her come running!" Momoko added. "Maybe she'll post it on social media, and it'll blow up and go viral, and-"
"Okay, I get it, take your photo already! No need to use all those young person terms!" The monster said, one of the straps releasing Momoko's right hand. Momoko dug into her pocket and pulled up the camera app.
"Let's get you in it too." Momoko suggested, and the monster quickly posed for her selfie. The remarkably surreal shot was quickly sent to Kuroko, the address thankfully having been included in her earlier messages. As long as Kuroko wasn't totally ignoring her messages, she'd surely come save them! Which gave them about a thirty percent chance of Kuroko actually reading it and showing up. But it was better than nothing!
"I'm glad at least one of you gets it." The monster said smugly, returning to Sakura. "I'll be sure to get you extra perfect when it's your turn, honey!"
Please, please, please see it, Momoko thought to herself, knowing that she didn't have much time...
"Now now, don't knock it until you try it." The monster seemed unphased by her insults. "Nobody ever really knows what's right for them until they see it. It's my job to show you all my brilliant taste!"
--
Kuroko took a deep breath as she approached the trendy cafe where she was meeting with her old teammate, hesitating more the closer she got. Why are you getting cold feet, she asked herself, when you’re the one who called her in the first place? She grit her teeth as she got closer and began to feel self-conscious about being in her uniform. She’d look out of place here, wouldn’t she? She should have gone home and changed first. Actually, yeah, she could back out now, go home, get changed, and make up her mind, she’d just ring her and tell her that she was going to be late and oh shoot, there she was.
Sitting on her own, wearing large sunglasses, with her hair in an elaborate updo, wearing clothes that looked like they leapt out of the front page of a fashion magazine. Which they were, probably. Ayame had naturally become one of Japan’s top models, and had in fact won the title of Miss Japan once before, and claimed she was going for Miss Worldwide, then Miss Universe, and then perhaps she really would depart for space to convince any life out there that she was the prettiest thing they had ever seen. She had been quite busy working on her shoots and had another pageant upcoming, but had taken the time to meet Kuroko personally. Right now, she was the person she most and least wanted to see.
Don’t make eye contact, Kuroko told herself. Don’t make eye contact, and you can pretend you didn’t see her-
“Kuroko, darling! Over here!”
Kuroko nearly slumped over in resignation. There was no way she could pretend she didn’t notice that.
“Kuroko, darling, you look fabulous! Have you lost weight?” Ayame said with a winning smile as Kuroko reluctantly sat down in her chair, wondering if she could afford anything in this cafe. “I can’t tell you haven’t, not that you needed to in the first place, but it’s polite to say it, you see, just a little bit of life advice in case you get into the business. I could scout you right now if you like.”
“No, I don’t think I will be.” Kuroko said bluntly. “I have a committed working relationship with my mistress, thank you very much.”
“Oh, that’s right, you’re a maid now, aren’t you? How adorable!” Ayame gasped, clasping her hands together. “I had Aoi bring me up to date on all of the details! I watch all of your fights, you know.”
“Don’t you think you’re acting a little too close? We haven’t seen each other since you retired.” Kuroko crossed her arms.
“We may have grown distant, but my heart has never been closer!” Ayame said dramatically. “Don’t expect the passing of time to extinguish the spark of friendship! I just respected your personal space, that’s all.”
“Why do you always have to be like this?” Kuroko said, exasperated. “The old Ayame never tried to always be the centre of attention like this.”
Kuroko frowned, as if this were a punching match between the old and the new Ayame. Ayame paused, looked at her, and then burst into laughter.
“She didn’t? Oh, Kuroko, you haven’t grown up at all! Aoi was right though, you do love your banter, it makes you so cute! I really must talk with that mistress of yours about borrowing you sometime.”
“Don’t talk to Sakura, I mean, mistress.” Kuroko tried to keep her blush under control. “And what do you mean like that? The Ayame I remember wasn’t some preening drama queen. She was cool, and calm, and-”
“You really did love your bad girls, didn’t you? I suppose I shall have to be the one to break to it you.” Ayame sighed theatrically. Her brow furrowed, and suddenly her hammy exterior turned to a tired easiness.
“Hey, Kuroko.” Ayame said, and with those two words, it was like the old Ayame was back. She leaned back in her chair, scowling slightly. “The system’s keeping us down, and school’s such a drag. I’m gonna go smoke out back where everybody knows I go, and then walk back in when the teacher’s in the hallway so they yell at me and call me a bad influence in front of everybody. Then I’m gonna not do my homework because I’ve got better things to do, like hang out in my room reading manga and fashion magazines and telling everybody I’m staying out late, but I don’t ‘cause I don’t want my mom to worry about me. Yeah, I’m making a difference out there, ya know?”
She paused, then grinned.
“I believe that’s the Ayame you liked so much, isn’t it? Wasn’t she such a rebel?”
Kuroko was speechless. Her mouth opened, but couldn’t form any words, and so she simply slowly turned bright red and melted in her seat. To say she was mortified didn’t do it justice as her mind flicked through every idolising encounter she ever had with Ayame and recontextualised it.
“Now, let’s get down to business.” Ayame broke the silence while Kuroko’s brain struggled to function. “Our reunion today is because I was contacted by one lovely miss Kuroko who tearfully requested some advice on some very complicated emotions she has has about one miss Sakura who has gone through some dramatic changes lately, and so she felt the person she knew who changed the most would be the right woman to ask.”
“I didn’t say it was Sakura.” Kuroko mumbled.
“And I don’t go around telling people that I’m beautiful, but they can tell anyway, can’t they? Actually, I do sometimes, perhaps that was a bad example.” Ayame’s self-satisfied smugness was almost enough to bring Kuroko back to life then and there. “So why don’t you tell me more about this Sakura? Or have you made me make time in my busy schedule just to break your teenage illusions?”
“Sakura was… really nice.” Kuroko finally forced out, quiet, but not out of embarrassment.
“And she’s not nice now?”
“Well she is, but it’s, you know, different now.” Kuroko said. “She was so shy, and quiet, and reserved, but she was always so patient with me, and sometimes she got angry at me for not getting along with the team, but it took a lot to get her worked up, and…”
“And I suppose she’s quite the opposite now?” Ayame pressed for details. She had already seen pictures of her and asked Aoi for details, but it was important to hear it from Kuroko herself.
“Not quite. Now she’s loud, and confident, and she tells everybody what she wants and how she feels without hesitating at all, and she thinks she’s the greatest, and if she’s upset at me she just says it right away, but in a patient way, you know? She’s so different, but, but… it’s like, she’s not that different, and I don’t get it.”
“Let me guess, you feel like you’re talking to a completely different person, but the same person at the same time?” Ayame summarised. “Surely that should be self-explanatory about somebody who got altered, isn’t it?”
“But when your personality gets changed, it overwrites the old one, right?” Kuroko said desperately, and so the real concern came out. “It’s not that I don’t like the new Sakura, I just can’t stop thinking that I’ve lost Sakura completely, and this is some stranger with her memories and a few similarities! I can’t get it out of my head!”
“I understand.” Ayame said seriously, her jovial tone gone as Kuroko looked like she was on the verge of tears. “No wonder you wouldn’t get close to anybody after I changed. But darling, do you know what the only difference between the old and new me is?”
Kuroko waited for her to continue.
“The old Ayame was insecure!” Ayame declared. “Terribly so! She didn’t know what she wanted to be and she didn’t think anybody cared about her or that she stood out, so she needed a persona, a personality to make people pay attention to her! If people weren’t paying attention to her, if they didn’t think she was special or unique somehow, she’d be lost! I’m not ashamed to say that she had no confidence in herself whatsoever, so whenever you were around, all she ever did, no, all I ever did was show off, because you bought it completely!”
Kuroko was once again silent.
“You know what the only real thing that changed after that monster gave me a beauty pageant theme?” Ayame waited for Kuroko to speak. It took her a second, but she finally came up with something.
“Vanity? A big ego?” A little bit of Kuroko’s fire had returned.
“Exactly!” Kuroko had unintentionally hit the nail on the head, and Ayame continued. “After I was changed, I knew that I was beautiful, stunning, gorgeous! I finally loved myself, perhaps a bit too much, but love can’t be controlled! All that silly insecurity wasn’t just swept out the door, it had never existed! No more bad girl, no more rebel without a cause, I had now always known that I was meant to be a star! There was no need for the act in the first place!”
Ayame paused for her words to sink in. “Without that insecurity, the girl you called Ayame had a very different life. If anybody else had been hit, even yourself, I don’t think they would have changed much. They’d live life on the runway, but it’s not like their entire life up to that point would have been reshaped. For me, it was a fundamental difference. I’ve seen your dear friend Sakura, and I believe she’s a similar case. She lacked confidence before, and she has it now. The curse might have twisted it one way or the other, but it’s merely a reflection of her personality now unrestrained. The same person from another angle, not a new one. Do you understand?”
“I think I get it.” Kuroko said slowly. “It’s not like she’s different all of the time, either. Mostly just when she’s in public, or when she’s playing with me…”
“Then that settles it.” Ayame said warmly. “I’m sure you can figure out the rest by yourself. And if you ever fancy yourself a model, give me a call!”
“I promise I won’t.” Kuroko said,
“Hang on, in that case, what about Yui?”? Kuroko frowned. “Remember how she got turned into a gyaru right after you left? That was a total personality one-eighty! She used to be a total teacher’s pet! How do you explain that? Was she just a total gyaru on the inside the whole time?”
Ayame shrugged.
“It’s still magic, darling. If the curse says she’s going to be a gyaru, she’s going to be whatever angle it takes to make her a gyaru. She’s not so uptight anymore, but she certainly still likes to be right all of the time, doesn’t she? I’d imagine you two still argue like an old married couple. Did you know she always needed help with her homework? She was hopeless at studying on her own. No wonder she gave up on it.”
“I’ll remember that.” Kuroko smiled. Her phone went off, and she went pale when she saw what she had received.
“I’ve got to go.” She said, standing up as quickly as possible. “Thanks for the help, I think I get it now, and I’m sorry for avoiding you all this time. Maybe we should meet up again sometime, once I’ve got everything figured out.”
“It’s quite alright. Have fun out there, darling!”
“And stop calling me darling!”
“If you say so, honey!”
“Don’t call me that either!”
--
"Let me out of here! Let me out! You can't do this to me!" Akari wailed, trying to break out of her restraints. "I need to show my boyfriend right this instant! I've finally blossomed as a woman and there are no guys around to see it!"
"Quit it! You're going to make your makeup run!" The monster began to think it might have done too good of a job as Akari took to her new changes with violent enthusiasm, her femininity satisfactorily enhanced by her soft skin, delicate features, puffy ruby red lips, and ponytail that reached down to her hips in a thick yet soft mass.
"And here I thought there was no such thing as a too happy customer." The monster lamented as it tightened Akari's restraints before turning her attention towards Momoko, who was starting to internally panic as Kuroko seemed to be nowhere in sight. "It's hard being the best, sometimes."
"Hey, stop sweating!" The monster grabbed a towel and began to wipe down Momoko's face as she glanced over at her friends.
"This is like, no way..." Yui said, still in awe of her face.
"Wait until my husband gets a load of this! This is just like our first date!" Aoi giggled vapidly.
"Why, I wouldn't blame one for confusing me for a queen with such splendid features!" Sakura praised herself in the mirror. "I must ask Father to make you my personal assistant! I suppose I could let Kuroko use you too..."
It was no good, they were all totally gone. Momoko wracked her brains for a plan to stall further, and came up with nothing.
"Um, first, maybe I could, you know, um..." Momoko had more sweat wiped off her brow, her panic doing a better job at delaying the inevitable than any coolheaded plan.
"Excited? I don't blame you, but you can't rush perfection, hun." The monster said, ever so proud of itself as the first layer of lipstick sealed Momoko's lips for the time being. Momoko was helpless to watch as her face was slowly but surely brought up to the feminine standards of the rest of the group.
"You're still a bit sweaty, so let's do your hair first." The monster decided, quickly growing Momoko's hair out down to her hips as Momoko realised she was going to need bigger ribbons to hold it together from now on. As the monster prepared to complete her, she forced her lips open for one final piece of resistance.
"I just remembered!" Momoko said, surprising the monster.
"Hold still, I'm not done yet." The monster said irritably, but Momoko continued.
"Makeup isn't allowed at our school! We won't be able to show ourselves off!" Momoko said, and the monster looked downright offended.
"They what!? What an oppressive institution!" The monster said. "That's it, I know where I'm going after this! K1ds these days need to learn that appearances are everything and it's what's on the outside that matters, not the inside! In fact-"
The monster never got to finish its thought, as the door to the salon was thrown open so hard it nearly snapped off its hinges. Momoko looked over with relief and excitement to see Kuroko, broom in hand, looking like she had rushed over as quickly as she possibly could.
"Touch those civilians one more time and I'll end your entire career in cosmetics." Kuroko said, approaching the monster cautiously as she looked over her friends' changes. They were wearing even heavier makeup than Ayame as she had expected, and Kuroko had to admit that the team looked beautiful, perhaps a little too beautiful. And what had it done to their hair? Yui's hair was a mess of long curls, Akari looked like she was going to have trouble fitting that much hair into a kendo helmet from now on, Aoi had... well, she'd get back to that later, and Sakura's green regal curls had grown into full-on drills, her hair being drawn together into two massive spirals that fell down to her hips, which seemed to be the average length of the group in general, Momoko included.
But worse than that, they looked completely out of it, barely noticing her arrival save for Momoko who seemed to have the monster still working on her. Kuroko's heart clenched, worried that her entire team might have just been turned into a bunch of makeup-obsessed preening girly girls like Ayame but worse, until Momoko yelled and interrupted her worrying.
"Kur- I mean, Black!" Momoko called with her freshly puffed up lips, her makeup mostly complete and her willpower quickly fading. "You have to get this makeup off of us, it's not permanent! There's still time-"
Unperturbed by the appearance of a hostile magical girl, the monster finished painting Momoko with one clean stroke, causing Momoko's eyes to lose their shine and take on the vacant, self-absorbed look of the others. But it was more than enough to give Kuroko hope that she wasn't too late.
"-For you to take a seat and get yourself done as well!" Momoko smiled vapidly at her reflection like the others, all urgency and panic gone. "She's made us so beautiful, this is the best salon treatment I've ever had! Well, it's the only salon treatment I've ever had, but that's besides the point! Say, do you think I could book myself in this time next week? Do you do plans?"
"We'll figure it out after I've beaten this magical girl so hard she'll need makeup, hun." The monster said, leaving the babbling group of girls to admire themselves while she turned her scornful gaze towards Kuroko.
"Let them go." Kuroko said simply, anger filling her voice as she brandished her broom at the monstrous makeup artist.
"The customers' makeup will run if you disturb them now." The monster said threateningly. "Don't think you'll be getting any complimentary products if you try to ruin my art."
"Let's take this outside then." Kuroko said provocatively. As confidently as she held her weapon, she could barely swing it indoors for fear of hurting her friends. As it was, it was more of a threat than a practical weapon. The question was, did the monster realise it?
"What is an artist without their studio?" The monster smiled nastily, grabbing a stray hair iron abandoned by one of the employees when their session had been interrupted by the monster's arrival. Upon touching it the iron began to grow to enormous proportions, a gigantic clamp suitable for catching Kuroko in their limited space. Biting her lip, Kuroko was simply glad it wasn't a gigantic pair of scissors, and attempted to keep her distance with a thrust of her broom. The monster managed to sway back out of her range, and her attempted vertical strike was caught in the hair iron as it clamped together with a mighty snap, the broom being wrenched from her hands over to the monster, who smugly caught it with one hand..
Kuroko desperately tried to think of an avenue of approach. High or low, she had only linear paths, but little time to plan and no attacks that didn't threaten those she was supposed to be protecting. Desperate from having no idea how much time her friends had left before their trance became permanent, Kuroko charged forward, hoping to overwhelm the monster with speed, but the monster reacted in time and leapt back again, causing Kuroko's lunge to fall short. Kuroko moved her arms to her sides with the intent of catching both sides of the hair iron before she could be caught in it, but was taken by surprise when instead the monster dropped the hair iron and, in one smooth motion, thrust Kuroko's own broom at her, the end transforming into an enormous makeup brush.
Ill prepared for an attack with her own weapon, modified or not, Kuroko was hit square in the face and sent flying backwards, hitting the floor roughly and tumbling until she hit the glass of the store window, leaving an large crack in the window but not quite shattering it, as the monster's actual physical strength was quite low. Sakura, who up until now had been totally absorbed in her own image, was shocked partially out of her stupor and gasped in horror.
"Black!" Sakura called. "Are you alright?"
Kuroko staggered to her feet, grasping her throbbing head. She couldn't believe she fell for that! She guessed when her friends were in danger, she just couldn't think calmly. At least the monster hadn't done anything to her... had it? Her lips felt a little funny, and she glanced at the mirror only to be taken aback by what she saw. Her usually clean face had a heavy layer of black makeup on it, with pale cheeks and plump black lips that matched those of the other team members after their own treatments. She ran her finger over them, finding that her magical makeup had no intention of coming off or even smearing. Previously having fairly thin lips, Kuroko couldn't get over how much of her face they dominated, now impossible to ignore and, as she had thought when she had looked at Sakura, very kissable. They were painted in pure black lipstick, giving her a rather gothic look that reminded her a bit of Ayame. Despite how unsubtle her makeup was, Kuroko had to admit that it didn't look too bad on her. Black was her colour after all, and a little more femininity couldn't hurt. Although if she knew about the impractically long painted nails underneath her gloves, Kuroko would have been less pleased.
"My!" Sakura gasped, having noticed even faster than Kuroko had. "You look rather fetching like that!"
"R-really?" Kuroko blushed, brushing her hair over her shoulder. Hang on, had her hair gotten longer too? It was already long in her magical girl form, going from the middle of her back in civilian form to around her hips as a magical girl, but now it spilled down her shoulders in silky waves well past her hips, past her ankles, and all the way to where it stopped just short of the floor. It had grown far more voluminous as well, its width stretching to the ends of her shoulders in a display of excess despite its simplicity, and Kuroko wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. Still, the fact that she was capable of having mixed feelings meant that whatever method the monster used, its fastest attack didn't have the same potency as whatever it had done to her friends.
"There we go, much better!" The monster said, clearly proud of itself. "You can thank me for improving your image later!"
Getting an idea, Kuroko let her lips curl into a dopey smile.
"Wow!" She gave her girliest gasp she could, channelling Ayame into her performance. "I'm so pretty! I feel like the prettiest, most beautiful girl in Tokyo! Thank you so much, miss monster!"
"Oh, it was nothing. Really!" The monster was instantly flattered, letting down its guard slightly. "When I saw just how ugly you were, being a magical girl and all, I just couldn't help myself!"
"Yes, I was so ugly, wasn't I?" Kuroko slowly approached her, clapping her hands together in faux-agreement. "But you've fixed that! Isn't there anything I can do to thank you?"
"Well, you could not get in the way of my world conquest, that'd be a nice start..." The monster suggested as Kuroko began to skip up to her. Before the monster realised it, Kuroko was within arms reach. Kuroko gave her most innocent smile, reached out her arms, and wrapped them around the monster.
"You can't escape now, you ugly hag." Kuroko beamed as the monster's underwhelming strength left her pinned and vulnerable to Kuroko's secret special move. "Kaleidoscope...!"
The monster shrieked far too late as the full force of Kuroko's ultimate close quarters technique was unleashed, Kuroko bending backwards as her foe was sent right over her shoulder.
"Suplex!"
The monster was launched directly through the shop window and then some, Kuroko taking a deep breath as she pulled herself upright. That's what she got for touching her mistress without permission. It was a shame she wouldn't be able to clean up the mess herself later.
"Momoko!" Kuroko said urgently as she reminded herself that time was of the essence, splashing Momoko's face with water before roughly dragging a towel over her, enjoying slight catharsis at Momoko's muffled protests over her rough treatment. "Are you alright?"
"I am, I think." Momoko mumbled once the towel was off, the makeup mostly gone save for a few trace smears. Her eyelashes were still longer and thicker and her lips hadn't shrunk in the slightest, but at least she seemed clear-headed.
"I'm not too late, am I?" Kuroko asked, tearing off Momoko's restraints. She had wanted to do Sakura first, but Momoko seemed like she had the best advice to give her.
"Not as long as we clean up the others quickly!" Momoko said, assisting Kuroko in cleaning up the others.
"Uh, I didn't say anything weird while I was out, did I?" Akari asked, clearly embarrassed as she woozily stood up, still feeling the effects of her hypnotic state.
"No, I didn't hear anything." Momoko lied, untying Aoi while Kuroko helped Sakura to her feet.
"Are you alright, mistre-I mean, citizen?" Kuroko asked, coughing slightly as she realised that there were still other customers in need of help in the store that needed freeing. Even then, she couldn't help but give preferential treatment.
"Certainly, now that you're here." Sakura smiled, as Kuroko was reminded just how kissable those new lips were. She hadn't thought it possible for her mistress to become even more beautiful...
"Hey, miss magical girl!" Yui pushed the two apart, unable to stand their display when she herself was going through a rough patch with her boyfriend. "Don't help just us! And hurry it up, that monster will be back any second now!"
A few moments later the rest were freed, and the gaggle of schoolgirls ran out the door to find somewhere private to transform. In the chaos of the monster being sent into the street the crowd had scattered, and the girls didn't have to travel far to find somewhere quiet and out of sight to suit up and return to Kuroko.
"Green!" Kuroko exclaimed as the group returned, all of them suffering from the same symptom that she felt she really should have seen coming. It wasn't the fact that the group now had makeup and lipstick matching their respective colours, nor the fact that their freshly swollen lips caused their faces to light up in a matching rainbow. It was the fact that their already lengthened hair had been enhanced further by the natural effects of their transformations, causing the entire group to have absolutely enormous hairstyles.
Momoko had a gigantic ribbon wider than her shoulders collecting up similarly wide floor-length hair, with a second ribbon holding it together at the bottom. Yui's hair matched Momoko's length, wavy from top to bottom with its colourful streaks all over it. Akari's bridal bun had swollen to be as big as her head, but was otherwise the most controlled of the group. Sakura seemed the proudest of hers, with four colossal drills each as thick as her body itself, two slightly smaller ones on the sides and two enormous ones at the back. Each had enough floof in their hair to give them huge, fluffy bangs on top of the length at the back, and it was only the magic of their transformations that kept their girliness from being prohibitively impractical that stopped them from tripping over their own hairstyles.
"By the way, Blue..." Kuroko couldn't help but ask as she got to her outlier.
"Yes, Black?" Aoi smiled innocently, lips coated in matching blue lipstick.
"...are those twintails?" Kuroko pointed at the two collections of hair that conflicted heavily with Aoi's mature appearance. It had been bad enough before she had transformed, hanging down to her hips, but now it reached her ankles and was twice as thick!
"They're cute, aren't they?" Aoi said happily, and the others remained silent at how ridiculous she looked in the traditional magical girl hairstyle. She was clearly at least fifteen years too old for those!
"Let's just wrap this up quickly." Kuroko sighed, taking the lead position as the monster staggered back over to face them. "How does the Kaleidoscope Buster sound to all of you?"
The girls nodded, and the winded monster soon found itself bathed in the sparkling light of their ultimate group attack. Out of the salon, the girls had little to fear from it, and indeed the battle had been won the moment it had been removed from its ideal environment. Even their new hairstyles didn’t slow them down, to their relief. Had it been out in the open, Kuroko felt that she wouldn't have been so much as grazed by it, and put extra power into the Kaleidoscope Buster out of indignation that she was forced to suffer a transformation of some kind in the first place.
"At least remember to use product!" The monster cried as it exploded, Kuroko finally relaxing.
"You know, I did actually want to come. Shame it had to turn out like this." Kuroko sighed, Yui awkwardly tapping her on the shoulder.
"Um... thanks. You know, for saving us." Yui said awkwardly. For as brash as her personality could be, it was things like this that she remained shy about. "If you hadn't been there, I think that might have been the end for us."
"We're a team, aren't we?" Kuroko turned away and hid her smile.
"Ah! My date! Who's going to handle my makeup now?" Akari ruined the moment with a sudden outburst. "One of you, help me get prepared!"
--
"Agh! This stupid hair!" Kuroko growled as she stomped into the shrine, a few days having passed since their last fight, her said stupid hair flowing behind her. "I just cut it last night and it's already back! Stupid curses!"
“You gotta know when to go with the flow sometimes, Kuro.” Yui sniggered at Kuroko’s pout, her plump lips making her simply adorable when she was cranky. There were a number of brushes, combs, and other haircare tools scattered around the shrine as the group got to grips with their new extra-long hair, and Kuroko was typically hard at work sweeping up any stray strands that hit the floor ever since..
“Really? I think you look quite splendid with longer hair.” Sakura said quite casually, as if it didn’t need to be said. She was busy with a mirror in one hand and a tube of lip gloss in the other, topping herself up. If her lips were going to be so big and beautiful, she made it her top priority to keep them in the best condition possible.
“Y-you think so?” Kuroko blushed, and from that moment onward, Kuroko would never again try to tame her hair’s length.
"Did you know my boyfriend likes long hair?" Akari said proudly with her enormous ponytail. "Maybe I should grow it out even longer!"
"Whatever happened to kendo?" Yui asked sardonically.
"You'd be surprised what you can fit in those helmets."
“I do believe I recall you mentioning that Matsuda preferred short haired ladies.” Sakura commented.
“Matsuda and I broke up.” Akari said, her mood immediately souring. “He said he wasn’t ready for a long term relationship, that playboy ass. But I’m sure Goro will be the one! Fifth time’s the charm!”
"I think it's nice to have something in common!" Momoko said, ever on the positive side. "It's so cute and soft, too!"
"I don't mind going down as the team with big hair and cute makeup instead of the team with big butts." Yui commented. "I'm stuck with that one either way."
“Of course you like it, you’re a pink. Who ever heard of a masculine pink?” Kuroko smirked slightly with her head faced away from Momoko and Yui. Not as girly as a certain purple she knew, of course.
“Does Kaleidoscope Coral count?” Momoko took the question completely seriously. “I remember her being a tomboy. Before she retired because mermaids weren’t good at fighting in the middle of Tokyo. Maybe Kaleidoscope Fuchsia? Actually, that’s more of a purple… What about… no, that’s a lightish red…”
“Pinks are pink, no matter what era they’re in. What’s wrong with that?”
Aoi’s smile could be heard through her voice as she entered the shrine. Despite the group’s gentle hints, she still had her now signature twintails and showed no sign of giving them up.
“Aoi, you’ve got to do something about that hair.” Yui couldn’t help but feel a burning sensation in her cheeks whenever she saw Aoi’s embarrassingly youthful hairstyle.
“What’re you talking about? Does it need brushing or something?” Aoi innocently tilted her head back and forth, otherwise drawn up tightly around her head to be put into the two masses. Momoko didn’t mind such a traditional magical girl hair style on paper, but perhaps it’d look better on a teenager like her than a housewife like Aoi.
All in all, Momoko was more pleased with the changes than she let on. Everybody looked so pretty with their longer lashes and plush lips, not to mention their girly hair and adorable makeup whenever they transformed. Momoko couldn’t help but wonder what it must be like to kiss those lips…. She was just curious, that’s all. It was like that time Hotaru let her feel her boobs to get an idea of what she had to live with after her transformation, back before Momoko had received a little empathy of her own. Nothing weird about that...