Case 48: An unstable lunch.
Even if Rose had suggested they gather 'everyone,' Moeka only dialed those who belonged to the chess club. In reality, City O still needed a few magical girls on stand-by in case something happened. Besides, she was not close to her other colleagues in the city aside from Kogane Yui. Having them in this friend-gathering-esque meeting would only make things awkward.
As the sun climbed, the initial four members moved their locations to a Yakiniku restaurant, where they readily booked a private room while waiting for others to arrive.
After some time, the door opened, revealing a petite figure, ''Hello~!'' Yurika smiled, ''Long time no see, Rose and Ruri. And hello to you two again, Miss Kisaragi, Miss Haruno.''
''Oh, Lily,'' Rose exclaimed, while Ruri waved her hand.
As Yurika glanced at Moeka and Himeko somewhat teasingly, the two were immediately reminded of yesterday's mischief, causing them to blush.
Nevertheless, Yurika quickly settled down. As an acquaintance and a fellow top-ranked magical girl, she encountered no trouble blending in with the circle. Pervertedness aside, the silver-haired girl was an expert at navigating human interactions, soon proving herself as she lifted the vaguely subdued mood with her talk.
The table then welcomed another member—this time, a native of City O.
''H-Hello...'' Kogane Yui shyly entered the room, flinched at the sight of the famous magical girls sitting in a row, before sitting down.
Thankfully, Moeka was there to provide her with some sense of familiarity. In the end, under her senior's kind 'protection,' Yui was able to ease herself into the group.
''By the way, is your sister not coming?'' Moeka asked the black-haired girl quietly.
''Ah... Rui got into an accident recently,'' Yui replied, ''She's recovering at home.''
Palpable worries emerged on Moeka's face, ''Is she alright? If you don't mind, I can take a look at her injuries.''
''No, no... Rui already received magical treatment. Besides, she seemed hell-bent on letting her wounds heal naturally, saying things like 'It'll help me remember better.' It's a little unsettling, honestly.'' Yui sighed, ''But you don't have to worry about her! She's recovering well.''
Hearing those words, Moeka reluctantly nodded, deciding to believe in her junior.
And just as the dishes they had ordered came in, the last member arrived. Still wearing her white lab coat, Fumiko emerged with a slightly disgruntled, weary expression. It was clear to anyone that she had not been sleeping well.
Seeing this, Moeka instantly got up and came to her girlfriend's side, ''Miko,'' She called, tentatively helping Fumiko to take off her coat, ''You worked hard.''
''...Mhm.'' The Alpha responded lazily.
''...?''
''...''
After staring at Moeka for a few seconds, Fumiko lightly pulled her girlfriend over, caught her face, then nonchalantly kissed her on the lips. For either of them, though sudden, this reunion was met with positive bodily responses, so they leaned into it for some time.
As the couple's bodies and pheromones mingled, the sight naturally drew in various reactions. While Rose and Ruri simply expressed their surprise at the two's bold display of affection, the other three showed varying degrees of jealousy. After all, even if Himeko and Yurika had slept with the Omega, if they were to suddenly initiate a kiss with her, she would not likely accept so readily.
Such were the perks of an official girlfriend, they thought.
Nevertheless, with everyone gathered, the meal began in earnest. Starting with casual talk while consuming the delicious barbecue, the group slowly moved on to more serious topics once the members were comfortable.
''We need the suppressants as soon as possible,'' Ruri said warily, ''At this rate, our country—no, the world might just fall into pandemonium before we know it.''
Fumiko's crimson eyes narrowed, ''Is it that serious over there?''
''Yes.'' The Beta nodded, ''Everyone is trying to hold on in one way or another. Institutions across the world are racing to complete the suppressants, and some inferior variants have been shown to work, but their effectiveness is marginal. But even those won't be enough for so long, and there are thousands of magical girls globally. If everyone went berserk... no one knows what consequences might be on the horizon.''
Fumiko appeared thoughtful for a moment, then replied with another question, ''...And you chose to help me?''
The answer came in without hesitation, ''Yes. I believe you are the closest to our solution.''
Ruri and Fumiko were already aware of one another before the incident, as both were renowned in the magical engineering world. Separate from that mutual knowledge, they had been conversing prior to this meet-up. Even though Casey Moore, a respectable figure of The Federation, had directly contacted her for help, Ruri needed a justification to invest her time and effort into Fumiko's research instead of joining other institutions' projects.
And, after looking at the data and samples Fumiko had sent over, Ruri became convinced.
Meeting her face-to-face only strengthened this belief, as Ruri was always proud of her ability to judge other people's characters since she was a child.
'She's the real deal.'
One might call it an intuition or a sixth sense, and truthfully, it was. Yet, no one could deny its usefulness.
The trip to City O had brought Ruri great deals of surprise. Fumiko's somewhat obscure potentials aside, what truly shook her was none other than Kisaragi Moeka.
At first, Moeka was but an anomaly among the magical girls. She held some intrigue toward the Omega, though not too excessive. And similar to Rose, Ruri ultimately sought out Moeka to alleviate some of the stress caused by either of their aggressive heat periods.
But in person, what Ruri saw from Moeka was a pleasantly tempting woman with charms oozing from every piece of her presence... and, in one form or another, boundless possibilities.
'How peculiar...'
The little Omega's ceiling appeared as tall as the sky itself, though the path to reach that ceiling for her stood completely different from that of other colleagues. Needless to say, Ruri was very interested in Moeka, as a person, and as a researcher herself.
Steeling her resolve to get closer to Moeka, Ruri continued the conversation smoothly, securing positive signs from her collaborator, Uehara Fumiko.
Afterward, the talks drifted to various themes, though mostly centering around everybody's magical girl activities. As Yui was eager to seek advice from her seniors and the others were more than content to reply, the exchanges never felt dry. For quite some time, the atmosphere was harmonious... until someone accidentally touched a forbidden topic.
''By the way, Miss Kisaragi,'' Yurika said with a little smirk, ''I forgot to ask earlier... did you enjoy yourself yesterday? If you would like to, I'm more than happy to show you many more.''
Moeka, who was busy feeding her girlfriend, froze instantly—no, everyone except Yurika froze.
''Um...'' Moeka was speechless.
'Is she doing this on purpose...?!' The Omega thought inwardly. No matter how she looked at it, this was not the place to mention such activities!
Moeka shot the silver-haired pervert, who was grinning as if reveling in this awkwardness, then creaked her neck to look at Fumiko. And, predictably, the Alpha, who had deliberately glossed over Moeka's rendezvous with Yurika, had a murderous look on her face.
''Are you taunting me?'' She said in a low voice, nearly a growl.