Chapter Text
- Neroalice and Machina
- Instant curry packets
- Melon bread
- Leopard
- Sushi
- Speedy Sea Cucumber Chips
- Leberblume
- Pocky, (chocolate and Almond Crush)
- Puchao
- Milk Tea (Lipton)
- Loco Musica
- Musha senbai
- Sparkling Yuzu-ade
- Magia Baiser
- Tres Magia branded snacks
- Sulfur Splash
Hiiragi Utena was tossing snacks for Nacht base into her shopping bags, crossing them off the list the six of them had made the day before. Most of the items were in stock and easy to find. But when she got to the shelf of rice crackers, she ran into a problem. The shelf where peanut flavored crackers were sold was empty. Just completely barren of anything, not even a note that said 'out of stock'. Someone had recently been here and bought all of the crackers that Matama wanted. She considered the other rice crackers, but none had similar flavor profiles. Matama probably wouldn't be too annoyed about missing out on one of her snacks, but Utena could still make a good effort to solve the problem. She dug into her bag, pulled out her phone, and called Nemo.
While it rang, she walked around the aisle to where the nut snacks were kept and perused them. The call almost went to voicemail before Nemo answered. "Hey 'Tena. Is something happening?" Utena could hear 8-bit music in the background. Was she playing another game again?
"Not really. Sorry to bother you, I'm just doing a snack run, and there's no Musha Senbai." She glanced down at the list and thought about what kind of things Loco might want instead. "Does Loco Musica like any other types of rice crackers, or is it a bust?"
"Mm. She's somewhere around right now. Let me see." Utena could hear the phone move away from Nemo's face before her voice distantly rose in volume. "Hey Matama! Utena can't find any Musha Senbai, do you want something else instead?" She didn't hear any answer, but eventually Nemo spoke again directly into the phone. "She said honey or cherry. Either of those available?"
"I'll check. I think I saw—"
As she turned around the corner, Utena crashed directly into someone else. Her bag, phone, and shopping list fell from her hands as she stumbled backwards with a yelp. "Ah, sorry miss!" Utena hurriedly crouched and grabbed her phone.
"Oh that's my bad. Ah wasn't looking."
Utena recognized that voice. She looked up and saw "Tenkawa-san!"
Tenkawa Kaoruko blinked at her. "Oh, hey Utena-chan. Lemme help you with that." Both girls started to gather the spilled groceries, and Utena reorganized them into her shopping bags. She was momentarily distracted by Tenkawa calling her Utena-chan. Were they really that close? Sayo and Haruka had both told her to use their first names, but she didn't recall Tenkawa doing the same.
"Oh it's not your fault. I shouldn't have been walking around on the phone. Funny running into you outside of school. What are you shopping for?"
Kaoruko didn't respond. Utena glanced up and saw that she was staring at her shopping list. "Tenkawa-san?"
Tenkawa slowly raised her head to stare at Utena, eyes wide. "Utena. Why do you have a shopping list for Enormeeta?"
Utena's eyes shrank as she remembered that the list was broken down by name, by villainous name, of who had requested what for Nacht Base's kitchen. "Umm, that's not mine?"
Tenkawa's eyes flicked rapidly over the scattered groceries, then to the list, quickly matching almost everything. "You sure? 'Cause it kinda looks like it is."
Utena did some very rapid calculations about whether or not she could trust Kaoruko with this secret, and immediately realized that it was a no. Hopefully recognition inhibition would be strong enough if she could provide a suitable cover story. "Ummm, it pays well?"
"What does? Working for Enormeeta?" Tenkawa's eyes narrowed. "Utena are you a Magical Girl?"
"No!" She hurriedly looked around, making sure that no one had heard Tenkawa, then remembered she had been on the phone with Nemo. She grabbed her phone and lifted it to her ear. "Hey sorry Leber-sama, I'll be at the pickup point in like 10 minutes, sorry, something's come up." Then she muted her output, so anything that Nemo said wouldn't come through, and dropped the phone into her shopping bag where Nemo could hopefully hear anything that Utena and Tenkawa said. "No I just, you know, shop for them. And clean up their base."
Tenkawa's mouth moved soundlessly, and her eyes blinked several times.
"Please don't tell anyone? I need this job!"
Tenkawa looked down at the list again, then back at her. "Ah have several questions. First off, ah thought you loved Tres Magia, why are you working as Enormeeta's maid?"
"Because Tres Magia wasn't hiring maids?" Utena replied. "I would have jumped at that offer."
Tenkawa blushed. "That doesn't answer my question!"
"It pays well, and they're all Magical Girls Kaoruko! Yes, I love Tres Magia, but Enormeeta is also really cool, and Neroalice saved my life, and it's not like they're killing anyone or anything."
"How did the hell did Alice save your life?"
Utena had finished gathering up all of her groceries, and stood with the bags. "It's kind of a long story? And I really need to check out so I can meet up with Leberblume-sama. She's picking me up behind the store soon, and I really don't want to be late, can I go pay for these? We can talk while I work."
Tenkawa stared at her, but handed over the shopping list and stepped out of the way. "Okay, fine." They walked to the counter. "How did Alice save your life?"
Utena dropped the groceries on the counter top and smiled at the clerk. "Just these today." She turned back to Kaoruko and started talking in a much quieter voice. "You remember that cold snap back in spring? I got pretty sick, but mom was busy, and I needed to get some things. So I was walking home late, and I think I passed out? I've never really gotten the full story. But I woke up at the hospital, with a beautiful doctor examining me. She gave me some cream, and a shot, and I was all healed up."
The clerk interrupted her. "How will you be paying?"
She had been planning on using Poipoi, but her phone was in use right now, and she did have access to suspicious amounts of cash that could help sell this. "Paper money." Utena reached into her bag, and into a small portal, and grabbed one of the stacks of bills they had lying around Nacht Base. She pulled it out, counted out how much she needed in front of the wide-eyed store clerk and Kaoruko, and put the rest back in the shopping bag.
"Anyway, the doctor cured my sickness, and walked me out of the hospital. As soon as we left, the hospital turned into a dollhouse, and the doctor turned into Neroalice. But I was completely healthy now, and inside her bedroom."
The clerk handed over the receipt, and Utena slipped it into the rubber banded cash. "Thank you!" The two girls walked out of the store, Kaoruko staring at her bag.
"Do they pay that well?"
"Oh, no, this was just left on my desk this morning, with the list, to cover the groceries."
"Utena, you're gonna get mugged walking around with that much money! Don't pull massive stacks of cash out in public like that!"
"But, if I get mugged, Tres Magia might show up to save me!" Kaoruko rubbed her forehead with both hands as they walked. Utena wasn't certain if she was laying it on too thick or not. She didn't want Kaoruko to think she was an idiot, but she did need her to think she would go to such lengths for magical girls.
"Okay, whatever." Kaoruko waved a hand at her. "So you got reverse mugged by Neroalice, and then what, she hired you as her maid?"
"No, I looked around, and saw that there were a lot of broken toys in her room. Probably from her fights with Tres Magia? I offered to sew up her broken dolls as thanks for healing me. So I took the dolls home and worked on them, and then, um, Magia Baiser showed up with Alice." Kaoruko's eyebrows shot up. "She looked really serious when they portaled into my room, like she was going to threaten me into silence or something? But then she looked around my room and just started laughing. Baiser offered to pay me to keep fixing Alice's toys and from there it just kind of escalated? So now I pick up their groceries and clean up the base for them."
Kaoruko was just staring at her. Utena couldn't tell if she believed her or not, and was just really counting on recognition inhibition to smooth over any suspicions. "So how much does she pay you?"
Utena grinned happily. "She pays me in videos! I get to see all of their fights!" This would also provide her cover in case she accidentally let slip anything that civilians didn't know about fights. "I know so much more about Tres Magia than any other fan! I get to learn about new transformations before anyone else! There's so much that they don't talk about in interviews!"
Kaoruko was blushing. Utena had no idea why she was so red. "You gotta quit, Utena. You can't, ah don't, Utena please." Why was she stammering? "Please you can't work for Enormeeta. It's dangerous."
"Why? Tres Magia wouldn't hurt me, and Enormeeta doesn't go after Civilians. I'm actually probably safer doing this than not."
They rounded the corner into an alleyway that led behind the store. Kaoruko seemed to still be figuring out what to say, so Utena continued with the ruse she had planned. She reached into her bag and pulled out a Magic jammer she always kept on her. She activated it. Kaoruko jumped when she did, and Utena looked at her curiously. "Are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah. That was, uh, ah thought ah felt something?"
"Huh." Utena looked at the device. "Maybe you felt me turn this on?" Was Kaoruko somehow sensitive to magic? "It's a jammer, so that when Leberblume makes a portal here in a few minutes, she won't be detected by Tres Magia. I need to text her that I'm ready for pickup." She thought for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to let Kaoruko meet Leberblume. Would that be more or less suspicious? "Um, you probably shouldn't be here when Leberblume gets here?"
Kaoruko leaned one hand on her hip and regarded her. "Ah'm not doing that. Ah want to meet her."
"O-okay." Utena grabbed her phone, and confirmed that it was still transmitting. She had a dozen texts from Nemo already.
am i muted
wait I can mute myself. Nvmd
course it had to be someone we know
why did you write our names on the list?????
how much of this story is true?
if alice actually reverse-mugged you im going to lmao
if i wasn't so stressed about you getting outed, i would be laughing so hard right now
baiser paying civs w videos of 3m getting molested is hilarious
Matama is here btw
alright, i get the plan
will leave my phone here so Matama can hear us
text me when you want me to portal in
Utena blushed as she realized why Kaoruko had been blushing earlier. She had accidentally implied to her classmate that she got paid in soft core porn. Oops? Hopefully that wouldn't cause problems at school. Utena texted back to wait and see if she could get Kaoruko to leave without a fuss.
"Look, Tenkawa-san, please just keep this quiet? I'm not breaking any laws, and Alice is a good kid, despite being a villain. She just wants to play."
Kaoruko crossed her arms and stuck out her chin. "Ah want to see the base. Ah want to make sure you're not getting manipulated or abused."
Utena blinked. "Abused?"
"Utena-chan, don't take this the wrong way? But you're kind of a pushover at times, and you're working for a group of villains who are famous for sexually abusing girls your age. Sure, it's Magical Girls that they target, but ah don't trust them."
"Ummm. I can't make that promise? I'm not like, in charge?"
Kaoruko opened her mouth to respond, but then a portal opened, and Leberblume sauntered out. She nodded at Utena, then raised an eyebrow at Kaoruko. "Who're you?"
Kaoruko shot a look at Utena that she completely failed to understand, so she spoke for her. "This is my friend Tenkawa-san. I ran into her while shopping, and she, uh, kinda saw the shopping list that, um, had your names."
"Huh." Leberblume looked her up and down. "You a Magical Girl?"
Kaoruko stiffened. "No."
"You a cop?"
"What?"
"You legally have to tell me if you're a cop."
Utena barely managed to stifle her laugh. Kaoruko looked like she was being pranked. "No? Ah'm 15."
"You gonna cause problems for our maid?"
Kaoruko glared at her. "That depends on how you gals are treatin' her. Ah want to go with her and see what her working conditions are like."
Leberblume looked at Utena. "Do you trust her to look out for you?" The question that Utena could tell she was actually asking was 'are we letting her in or not?'
At this point, Utena was pretty sure it would cause too many problems if they didn't. Kaoruko was being really sweetly defensive. "Umm, yes? I think?"
Kaoruko pointed a thumb at her. "Ah've been friends with her for long enough to know that she won't object to the way people treat her, even if she should. You should she see how Araga-han treats her. So ah want to make sure my friend isn't gettin' taken advantage of."
Utena winced. "I'm fine with how Kiwi treats me. I really wish the two of you would get along."
"Look, Kaoruko was it? You're treating Hiiragi-san the exact way you seem to think we are. Talking over her and not respecting her decisions. If you're really her friend, then shut up." Leberblume turned to look at Utena. "You've earned enough trust to make this decision. If you think she's trustworthy, then sure, why not, I'll let her see the base. If you think she isn't, I'll portal her to your school and remind her that if she rats on you, it's just gonna get you in trouble, and not us." She turned back to Kaoruko. "We can always hire a different maid if Tres Magia arrests this one because you turn her in. No real problem on our end."
Kaoruko glared at Leberblume. Utena mentally reminded herself to praise Nemo for this later. "I do trust her. She's willing to stand up to a villain for me, even when she doesn't have a chance of winning."
Kaoruko stiffened again, then sighed. "Right, not sure what ah was thinking, tryin' to intimidate a Magical Girl."
"Alright then. Make sure to be polite to anyone you talk to. Remember that we're all villains, and other than Alice, I'm probably the nicest." Leberblume turned and walked into the portal, leaving it open behind her.
Kaoruko looked at her. Utena smiled encouragingly. "Don't worry too much. They're all nice once you get to know them." She stepped closer to the portal, then reached out and offered her hand to Kaoruko.
⊱ஓ๑ Tenkawa Kaoruko ๑ஓ⊰
Kaoruko stared at the shimmering violet portal. She'd never gone through one before, not even when she'd pretended to betray her teammates to Baiser. That time, Baiser had sent Azul and Magenta away through a portal, leaving her alone with the villains. But if she did this, it would be far more dangerous. She would be in her civilian form, surrounded by villains, with another civilian as their hostage.
But if she managed to pull it off? The chance to spy on Enormeeta outside of a fight? To find out where their secret base was? If Utena was walking around with paperwork that had their personas on it in public, maybe their base had their civilian names on it out in the open. The amount of intelligence she could gather by doing this was incredible. And she was worried about Utena. The idea of anyone walking into Enormeeta's base and coming out unmolested was wild. She could take that kind of behavior, but Utena?
So, she would be alone, surrounded, probably far from Sendai and out of telepathy range of Sayo and Haruka, neither of whom knew where she was going. As long as recognition inhibition held up, Enormeeta wouldn't have reason to suspect her, and if Utena was telling the truth, then none of them would really care about her. Even if they did get suspicious, she could reveal her identity to Utena. Chances seemed high she'd happily betray Enormeeta for her. And if worst came to worst, she could outspeed them all and simply fly back to Sendai.
Plus, she really needed to confirm what Utena was saying. If there was even a chance Utena was a member of Enormeeta, then she had to know. So she did it. She took Utena's offered hand and followed her through the portal to Enormeeta's secret base.