Chapter Text
Operation Rainbow Panic
Miyuki: NANAIROGAOKA BABYYYY!!!
Nao: we literally live here, calm down
Reika: Stay focused. This is supposedly the last shard site.
Saki: 'supposedly' gives me no confidence
Nagisa: same. last time someone said that i got hit by a light beam.
Honoka: that was your fault actually.
Hikari: is anyone else seeing the sky shimmer?
Sora: yeeeahhh that's not normal sky
Akira: ok i just parked the van. if anyone scratches her i’m throwing hands.
Yukari: i’m still cleaning fluffling fur out of the back seat, by the way.
Miyuki: anyway I think flufflings are CUTE okay
Yayoi: they nearly ate your hair ribbons one time.
Miyuki: still cute.
Kanade: focus, people. where’s the source of the reading?
Mai: energy is the highest at the fountain near the hilltop.
Nao: so basically the most dramatic location possible.
Mirai: perfect for the finale
Riko: not a finale, a field hazard.
Saki: approaching the fountain now
Saki: wait
Saki: is it
Saki: humming
Hibiki: humming??
Ellen: it is yeah, like a note? low C maybe?
Kanade: that’s specific.
Hibiki: she’s right though
Hikari: sound, light, wind, oceanic, emotion… and now harmony. it’s reacting to all of them.
Mana: wait you think this one’s like… a combo crystal?
Mai: pretty much. it’s absorbing the other energies.
Yuri: which is exactly what we were afraid of.
Rikka: istg I just want to be normal why can't we be normal
Miyuki: ummm the fountain is glowing rainbowOHSHIT
Nao: EVERYONE BACK UP
Aoi: IT’S LIKE A DISCO BALL BUT EVIL
Ichika: THE FLUFFLINGS ARE DANCING TO IT OMG
Himari: not now, Ichika!
Ciel: wait they’re actually moving in rhythm
Ayumi: they’re harmonizing. What the fuck
Tsubasa: that’s somehow worse.
Hikari: i’m recording this for data
Nagisa: HIKARI MOVE IT’S FUCKIN EXPLODING
Mashiro: everyone okay?
Saki: accounted for. slightly fried.
Nagisa: you’re fine, i took the hit again.
Honoka: You didn’t move again.
Sora: flufflings are still vibing for some reason
Uta: they’re glowing rainbow now
Haruka: i thought that was just the fountain reflecting??
Minami: nope. they’re literally radiating light.
Ichika: sparkly flufflings :D
Riko: sparkly unstable flufflings, Ichika.
Mai: hold on, the data readings are shifting again
Karen: define 'shifting'
Mai: like, unstable in five dimensions.
Rin: …you can’t just say that casually.
Rikka: mai wtf
Mai: oh and it’s pulsing in time with our speech patterns now
Ako: im sorry what.
Miyuki: guys I said 'rainbow power' and it glowed brighter.
Nao: stop talking
Nozomi: i said 'friendship!' and OH okay that was actually cute
Ageha: why is it reacting to that?
Alice: Maybe the crystals respond to emotional resonance.
Yukari: you mean we’ve been fighting powered up mood rocks.
Erika: THIS IS WHY I STAY IN THE MINIBUS
Yuri: alright. i’m moving in to secure it.
Saki: wait Yuri you can’t just
Yuri: shush child
Yayoi: ...
Makoto: Yuri?
Kurumi: gal you good
Yuri: it’s safe.
Honoka: Stabilizing confirmed.
Mana: that’s it?
Mai: yh. but it’s warm?
Rin: warm is better than 'exploding' i guess.
Hikari: do we put it with the others?
Yuri: Yes. Yukari, containment case please.
Yukari: on it. also who left donut crumbs on the dashboard
Ichika: oops
Yukari: i will end you.
Miyuki: so that’s all of them right? we did it?
Ellen: unless there’s like, a secret boss version.
Erika: DO NOT JINX IT
Saki: we’ll monitor the energy for a few days just in case.
Honoka: Agreed. good work, everyone.
Uta: ngl, i kinda miss the flufflings when they weren’t evil.
Ayumi: same. they were like chaotic little hamsters.
Mai: technically they still are. just, y’know. magic reactive.
Kirara: you say that like it’s normal.
Urara: mai can you just go back to sketching pls
Komachi: okay but who’s feeding the ones that followed us here
Miyuki: they followed us??
Rikka: oh god there’s more.
Erika: I KNEW IT I’M NEVER LEAVING THIS MINIBUS
Yuri: too late, one’s on the windshield.
Erika: SHIT
Tsubomi: Erika please don’t break the glass.
Reika: Deep breaths, everyone. We'll secure these stragglers, regroup, and analyse the crystals' connection.
Mai: yeah… about that.
Makoto: what now?
Mai: i’ve been studying the resonance signatures. they’re too precise.
Rikka: too precise how?
Mai: like someone tuned them. deliberately.
Honoka: We mean someone planted them.
Mai: yh. and whoever did knew exactly how to manipulate emotional and magical frequencies
Akane: mmmhh
Saki: …so basically we just cleaned up someone else’s science experiment.
Nao: that’s comforting.
Yukari: whoever did this had style, i’ll give them that.
Mayu: style? they nearly turned Japan into a musical horror show.
Iroha: wait who just joined the chat
Nana: WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHO
New Member: 'Cure_?' has joined the group
Rikka: who added them??
Nao: not me.
Mana: definitely not me.
Karen: system error maybe?
Cure_?: glad to see my little experiments worked.
Cure_? has left the group
Kurumi: ...
Rikka: oh
Rikka: oh we are so fucked
Itsuki: well shit
Miyuki: AAAAAAAAAAAAA
Erika: I’M MOVING TO ANOTHER COUNTRY
Honoka: Everyone rest. We regroup at sunrise.
Exestential Dread
Miyuki: good morning everyone!
Kokoro: stop it’s 6am
Rikka: i haven’t slept actually
Mana: same. I kept checking the group name to make sure no one else random joined.
Erika: i didn’t sleep because there was a fluffling outside my window holding a glowstick
Tsubomi: that was me checking on you.
Erika: oh. nvm. Thanks babe
Ageha: the van smells like fur and despair.
Yukari: despair pairs beautifully with cinnamon coffee btw.
Mai: everyone please open the link, I'll be sending new readings.
Saki: mai it’s literally breakfast time.
Nozomi: no, I should still be sleeping
Akane: yh tf are we doing at 6am
Mai: science never sleeps.
Hibiki: GO BACK TO DRAWING, YOU'RE NOT HONOKA 2.0
Nagisa: idc mai, I sleep
Honoka: No, you nap aggressively.
Aoi: does anyone else feel like the air's weirdly heavy this morning?
Ako: you mean like 'storm coming' heavy or 'magical hangover' heavy?
Aoi: both
Reika: The crystals we collected are all stable. Alice confirmed no activity overnight.
Mirai: so we’re safe??
Riko: 'safe' until another mystery user joins our chat again.
Mayu: still can’t get over the fact that they called them experiments.
Nana: at least they said 'worked'. that means we succeeded technically??
Minami: that’s not how success works.
Haruka: did anyone manage to trace where that message came from?
Yuri: i tried. it bounced through five proxy servers. whoever it was, they’re skilled.
Akira: could it be a hacker?
Mai: or a Cure. they had the prefix 'Cure_?'. that’s not something an outsider would just guess.
Miyuki: fake Cure? evil Cure?? ghost Cure???
Nao: please no ghost Cure.
Minami: Yes, no thank you.
Erika: i vote it’s just Mai sleep typing again
Mai: rude.
Saki: if this 'Cure_?' person planted the crystals… what were they for?
Hikari: maybe they were testing us.
Honoka: Or trying to amplify something.
Rikka: but the flufflings were the ones reacting the most.
Rikka: what if
Aguri: don’t say it.
Rikka: what if they weren’t accidents? what if they were made for this?
Mirai: okay i don’t like that theory actually. can we go back to blaming Mai again?
Mai: i accept partial blame but not all of it.
Ayumi: classic scientist move.
Nagisa: okay, listen up. whoever this 'Cure_?' is, they’ve seen us at our worst. screaming, covered in glitter, crying over literal balls of fluff
Nagisa: we can’t let that be our legacy
Miyuki: yeah!! let’s show them what real teamwork looks like!!!
Nao: preferably after breakfast.
Ichika: i made pancakes shaped like flufflings!!
Erika: burn them.
Yui: please don’t burn them.
Alice: Everyone, regroup in one hour for debrief.
Reika: I'll send a file on known magical anomalies matching the behaviour patterns of 'Cure_?'.
Ageha: i’ll clean the van. again.
Tsubasa: i’ll supervise her with moral support and an iced latte.
Erika: i’m going back to hiding under a blanket.
Mai: and i’ll… figure out what 'worked' means.
Mana: whatever this is it’s not over huh
Ciel: no. but we’re all in this together.
Uta: is that High School Musical i smell
Ciel: what
Ciel: no
Aoi: it is, we watched it a few days ago
Miyuki: and we also have friendship!!
Kanade: and trauma.
Kurumi: mostly trauma