Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume4 Chapter1 (section)

===Between the Lines 1===

“Would this be the best option for today?” muttered Amaashi Marika.

She wore a short red dress glittering with sequins and high heels. She also wore a transparently thin silk shawl around her shoulders and back. She of course had plenty of accessories around her neck and wrists as well. While Aine appeared to have stepped out of an old picture book, Marika wore a modern dress that would look perfect with a small brand-name bag. But she had ''let the crystal girl have Karuta for tonight'', so she would not get to be the star of the dance hall.

Instead of the dance floor, she was interested in the buffet lined up along the wall. Specifically, the cakes. They let you place takeout orders, so she had a few cake slices that caught her interest boxed up for her.

After leaving the dance hall, she made her way to her true destination. She walked down a hallway decorated with chains of streamers and viewed a starry sky different from Japan’s outside a window covered in cellophane cut into stars and hearts. There was also a meteor shower tonight. She glanced restlessly down at her phone to see excitement on the sports livestream channel of an online TV station.

“This is Cinderella Queen with the night’s final news report straight from Second Grimnoah, the hottest place in the world right now☆ Now…just to spice things up for this stream, I’ve actually stripped off all my clothes under that table you see on your screens right now. Tah dah!!”

“Ehh? You didn’t mention anything about that to me!?”

“Shut up, assistant! No interrupting! Now, being timely is everything for the live news, so if I fail to get through my script before I run out of time, then my cameraman will be shoving his massive camera right into my hiding place under the table. Are you ready, everyone? Make sure you have a nice, firm grip on your, uh, stopwatch and don’t you dare blink while I give you the latest news!!”

Marika walked down the school hallway and smiled bitterly at the terrible ways that show was trying to get views. She was honestly not all that worried. She had lived with Karuta ever since they had started their revenge against the Problem Solvers, but she may have seen him more like family than a friend.

If she was thinking about a friend she could completely open up around, this was who came to mind first.

“Imi, are you there?”

She knocked gently and announced her presence before opening the infirmary door.

The person seated in the stool was not who she was looking for.

“Oh?”

The silver-haired, brown-skinned magician was wearing the white officer’s uniform of the Indian navy.

It was Letnahe Kurent.

“This is a surprise. I didn’t think you were capable of this sort of kindness.”

“Oh, shut up. And aren’t you a gym teacher?”

“Technically, yes. But those skills can be used for medicine as well. I’m a specialist in the human body. The question is whether I am attempting to destroy it or heal it.”

So was she like a judo therapist? It made sense that a professional soldier would have studied the workings of the human body. But Marika was not here to chat with the new teacher.

“Where’s Imi?”

“In the back. But I don’t know if you’re going to like what you find. Oh, and if you will excuse me, I have to get started on my nighttime rounds. Tonight that means checking on Miss Hetepheres who is recovering in her room.”

With that, Letnahe stood from the stool, patted Marika on the shoulder, and left the infirmary. She may have been giving Marika privacy for what was about to happen.

“…”

Left alone, Marika walked toward the curtain. She knew there were a few beds past that partition.

“Imi,” she whispered while grabbing the curtain.

She found a large lump in one of the bed’s blankets. But she could not see the pillow. The blanket was pulled up over the occupant’s head, closing them in like a turtle shell.

She had heard this girl refused to leave the infirmary while at school, but she had not heard it was this bad. Marika’s visit must have reopened her unseen wounds. Just because Imi had made some kind of decision on the inside didn’t mean she would be making any major progress right away.

Yes, Marika had done this to her. It had been necessary to save her friend from bleeding out, but Matsuda Imi had ended up this way after Marika used her laser beam to cauterize the wound from a Threat severing her leg.

“…”

“I don’t think she’s ready yet.”

That gentle comment came from Hashizaki Tayori who was seated in a folding chair near the bed. She had been watching over her friend the entire time Karuta and the others were out there fighting for their lives.

Those three had once been the center of their class.

And Marika refused to accept that was a thing of the past.

She placed the box of cakes on the bedside table.

“I’ll be back later.”

“Please do. Keep this up and she should get used to it, little by little. She’s fighting too. Remember that and can you stay strong too, right?”

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| Forward to [[Apocalypse_Witch:Volume4_Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
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