Fox Knights vs Class One, Part 2

Back in Halargia, Ruka and Hana had dragged the unconscious little girl over to where the injured magical huntress was to also assist and shield her. As they arrived, the injured magical huntress, who possessed a now broken spear for a weapon, told the two of them while lying on the ground, “It broke my weapon, and I think it broke my legs, too.”

Ruka took a look at her legs and realized she was right given how they both were too bent. “I think you might be right.” Both she and Hana at this point were rather tired from fighting the three-headed dragon beast, which by now had been injured several times but was still going strong despite the wounds it had suffered.

“What about the girl? What about her? Is she dead?”

“No,” Hana replied to her. “She’s still alive, but she’s unconscious.”

“Oh, man…” The injured magical huntress was clearly distressed over the condition of the girl. “Please tell me you guys got more help coming.”

“We do. Trust me.”

Ruka then looked up and saw the dragon’s middle head gathering fire inside its mouth. “Oh shit, look out!” Due to the injuries it had sustained earlier in the fight, it was unable to breathe a full sheet of flame as it had done earlier. Even so, the smaller amount of fire it could use was still dangerous, and as it began to exhale fire upon them, Ruka and Hana both picked up the injured magical huntress and dragged her away, just barely avoiding catching fire from the flames. Upon the flames stopping, the middle head coughed, spitting up a small amount of blood.

Hana told Ruka, “We need to make another pass at it.”

“Yeah.” She then took the injured magical huntress, “We’ll be back. We’re gonna attack it again.” She and Hana drew their swords and charged at the dragon. As they did, the dragon’s left head, bleeding from several stab wounds and slashes from earlier attacks, swung down at them, intending to hit both of them. “Hana, look out!”

Hana turned and saw the head coming down at both of them. She then quickly moved out of the way and slashed the dragon’s head again with her sword, followed by Ruka jumping up on top of the head and stabbing it as deep as she could to hang on. Hana saw this and yelled, “Ruka-chan!”

Ruka yelled at the dragon’s left head as she held on for dear life, “Why won’t you just fucking die already?!” As the blade sank deeper into its head, the head violently shook around to try to throw Ruka off, but she maintained a strong grip on her sword. With every inch the sword sank into the dragon’s head, the more damage to its brain occurred, clouding its judgment. Finally, when the sword sank so deep that only the hilt remained above the flesh, the left head stopped moving and suddenly collapsed onto the ground. Ruka held on even tighter as she crashed into the ground, yelling in pain, “Agh, fuck! Agh… Damn it…”

Hana ran over and helped Ruka up before pulling out her sword from the dead left head of the dragon and handing it back to her, a small stream of blood pouring from the wound when she did. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t think I broke anything,” Ruka replied. “Although it definitely hurt like a bitch. Please tell me our relief is here, Hana.”

“I don’t see them. They should have gotten here by now.”

They then both heard a familiar voice shout nearby, “Hey, you!” As they looked around, several arrows and an explosive bolt hit the two remaining heads of the dragon from behind it, prompting them both to scream in pain as the whole body of the dragon turned around.

Ruka saw through the dust kicked up by the dragon and found that Sayaka, Yoko, and Kumiko had arrived to help them. “Hey, guys! Over here! Run over here!”

The three of them dashed around the dragon, avoiding its giant feet as it tried to stomp on them. As they ran over, Kumiko asked Ruka, “Kishio-san, what happened?!”

“We found an injured magical huntress and an injured little girl,” she explained. “They both need medical attention. We killed one of the heads, but the other two are still alive, although they’re both seriously injured.”

Hana ordered the group, “I want Murata-san to attend to the injured with Ruka-chan. The rest of you will go with me and kill the other two heads. With ranged attacks, we can injure and distract the dragon long enough for me to swoop in and kill it.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Yoko replied as she released her crossbow. “By the way, I’m down to two explosive bolts.”

“That’s fine.” Hana then noticed that neither Yoshiro nor Tenko were present. “Wait, where’s Yoshiro-kun and Ikezawa-san?”

“Arikawa got shot. Ikezawa went with him and brought him outside the panel.”

Ruka immediately replied, “Wait a sec, he got shot?! By who?!”

“By the same magical huntresses who kicked me out of their group,” Kumiko explained. “They attacked us so they could get the Class One for themselves.”

“They did?!”

Hana, worried for him, asked, “Is he okay?! Where did he get shot?!”

“He got shot in the shoulder,” Sayaka replied. “We used a tourniquet and a pressure dressing on him. We had to kill the two magical huntresses who attacked us.”

Hana sighed. “It’s rare, but it’s not unheard of. I’ve had to take a life before, and it’s not fun. You all did what you had to do to survive. Now, let’s focus on the battle.”

While Ruka and Kumiko ran over to attend to the injured magical huntress and the unconscious little girl, Yoko fired her second to last explosive bolt at the middle head when it began to build up another fire in its mouth, interrupting it. “That thing can breathe fire?!”

“Yeah,” Hana replied to her. “We injured it, so it can’t breathe out as much as it used to, though. Focus on the middle head since it’s the only one that can breathe fire.”

“Got it,” Sayaka replied before firing two arrows in quick succession at the middle head, annoying it further before it let out a loud roar of anger. One of the arrows took out its right eye, leaving it half-blind. The middle head then fell, intending to bite Sayaka in anger at what she had done to its eye. As it reached down and opened its mouth, Hana stepped in front of her and swung her sword at its tongue, feeling the intense heat from the smaller fires that were burning inside its mouth as she did. The dragon quickly retreated in pain, screaming from having its tongue cut off.

Meanwhile, Ruka and Kumiko attended to the injured magical girl first. However, when they ran to her, she told the duo, “I’m fine! I’ll heal! Go to that little girl first! She’s hurt pretty bad!”

Ruka asked her, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

Kumiko asked Ruka, “Do you want me to stay with her?”

Ruka replied, “No, come with me. We’ll keep an eye on her from afar, though.” As the two of them ran over to the injured little girl, Ruka said to Kumiko, “She looks like she’s in bad shape.”

Indeed, as Kumiko began to look over her body, she found numerous bruises and even some cuts that had been bandaged up and treated somewhat with some healing dust that had earlier been applied by Hana. “Did you guys get to her earlier?”

“Yeah. We tried our best, but we had to split our time between her, the other magical huntress, and that three-headed dragon.” Ruka then pulled out a small knife and began to cut into the girl’s pants to inspect her wounds better, and as she did, she noticed she had a broken right leg. “We’ll have to stabilize that leg the best we can.”

“Is it broken?”

“Yep, it sure is.” Ruka looked up at the battle happening before the two of them and said to herself, “Please, guys, make it quick.”

Back in the battle, the right head of the dragon swung down, intending on taking all three of its opponents out at once. Yoko yelled out as she readied her crossbow and placed a bolt in it, “I’m not done reloading yet!” Sayaka fired an arrow at the head before Hana slashed across its neck, which had already been seriously injured from previous attacks. As she did, she managed to hit a large artery, causing a massive torrent of blood to spill out and coat all three of them as the right head roared in pain. “Okay, I got it,” Yoko said as she finished loading her last explosive bolt into the crossbow before quickly taking aim and firing at the right head, nailing it right in its open mouth and dealing the final killing blow.

With only the middle head left, the dragon roared in anger before it tried to form another ball of fire in its mouth. However, due to its injuries, it was unable to, and instead merely coughed up small bits of flame and blood. Sayaka fired two arrows at once at the middle head, injuring it further as she said, “We almost got it!”

Hana told the others, “Cover me!” She then charged forward to attack the lower chest and legs of the dragon. Distracted by further arrow attacks from Sayaka, the dragon was unable to notice Hana before she cut right through its right leg, causing it to immediately begin to fall over. Hana stepped out of the way as the dragon crashed into the ground with a loud thud, its middle head roaring in pain and attempting to bite her, unable to reach her due to the angle it would have had to make to do so. Hana then brought her sword down on the dragon’s chest, splitting it open before making a second cut. Finally, she stabbed the dragon as deep as she could, the blade managing to touch the still-beating heart of the magical beast before it penetrated it.

As Sayaka and Yoko ran over, Hana pulled the sword out of the dragon, once again causing a large amount of blood to spray out of the magical beast. As they all stepped out of the way as best as they could, the beast breathed its final breaths as it died from rapid blood loss. All three of the magical huntresses in front of it caught their breaths after having been through a rather challenging fight, and as they did, Hana sheathed her sword and told the other two, “Good work… Both of you. Now… We gotta bring… We gotta bring the injured magical huntress and that little girl out.”

Sayaka exhaled and looked at the massive dragon beast they had just killed. “Wow… A Class One, huh?”

“Yep,” Yoko replied before she patted her on the shoulder. “These fuckers are tough, huh?”

“We gotta clean up, too…” Sayaka looked at her outfit, which was stained heavily with the blood of the dragon. “I can’t believe how much blood we got on ourselves.”

Hana told them, “We’ll worry about that later. The most important thing is getting out of here before other magical beasts in Halargia find us or the portal closes. Worst comes to worst, I got a portal generator, but I can’t guarantee it’ll open up in the same spot as the portal we used.”

…

A few hours later, Yoshiro was in the Yokosuka Branch Hospital recovering from the gunshot wound to his shoulder he had suffered. As a nurse checked his monitor, he asked Yoshiro, “Do you need anything else from me?” By now, he had transformed out of his magical huntsman outfit, although he was not wearing his regular clothes, which were bagged up near his hospital bed. Instead, he wore a standard blue hospital gown.

“No thank you,” he replied, seemingly content with everything in the rather average and fairly insignificant hospital room.

“You’re a really brave boy,” the nurse then said to him. “Even when I was a magical huntress myself, I never got shot. You’re taking such a serious wound like that pretty well for someone your age.”

Yoshiro smiled, telling her, “Truth be told, I didn’t even feel it until after the battle.”

“That’s what adrenaline will do. It can mask pain pretty well until it wears off, then it’ll hit you like a brick wall.”

“Actually, there is one thing I gotta ask.”

“What is it?”

“Is anyone else from the Fox Knights here?”

“The Fox Knights…” The nurse was initially confused. “My apologies, who are they again?”

“The team I’m with.”

“Oh, okay.” The nurse then peeked her head out of the room to seemingly talk to someone before coming back in. “We have a visitor for you right now, actually.”

“Who is it?”

“It’s me,” Ruka said as she walked in.

The nurse said to Yoshiro, “There should be others coming in eventually. Kishio-san here was the first to show up. If you two need anything, just let me or another nurse know.”

As she left the room, Ruka sat down in a chair next to his bed. She, too, had transformed out of her magical huntress outfit and back into her casual clothes, setting her coat down on the back of the chair. Yoshiro asked her, “Why was it you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why did you want to see me first out of everyone else in the group?”

Ruka, somewhat annoyed by the question, replied, “Is this how we’re really gonna start?”

“I mean, we don’t exactly get along, so…”

“Yeah, but you literally got shot. That’s not something that happens every day, at least not in Japan.” Ruka sighed as she found a TV remote on the counter behind her and grabbed a hold of it. “Do you wanna watch TV or something?”

“If you want to, go ahead.”

“Alright,” Ruka replied before turning it on and flipping through the channels until she found one broadcasting an anime she recognized. “It’s pretty late, so the anime around this time get more violent.”

“You recognize this one?”

“Yeah. It’s another one of those dark magical girl anime shows.” On the screen, two girls that appeared to be the same age as her and the others were battling another girl, all three of them wielding either swords or axes. “I found this a few weeks ago after coming home from a battle and turning on the TV. It’s not bad, actually.”

Yoshiro chuckled. “I can’t really watch magical girl anime, not after doing it for real. I get tempted to point out inaccuracies.”

“Oh, calm down. It’s just fiction. It doesn’t reflect how magical huntresses work at all. It’s there for you to turn your brain off for thirty minutes and look at all the cute girls fighting monsters or each other.” Ruka then joked, “And if you’re into girls flirting with each other, too.”

Yoshiro looked at her with a confused expression. “What…”

“Have you seen the shit these girls say to each other in this show?” Ruka then pointed on the screen as the two hero characters on the show talked to each other. “We’re only on Episode Six out of thirteen, and people online already wanna see those two fuck.”

“Again, what?”

“A lot of these shows will throw in hints implying that two of the girls are gay for each other, but oftentimes, they’ll never go through with it.” Ruka said with an annoyed tone, “Like, come on, sometimes, they really should just make them gay or something. Most of these shows don’t even have an equivalent of you running around, so there’s no realistic option for a boyfriend. Hell, even if there’s a version of you, he’s either an asshole, dating the main lead and only the main lead, or both, and that means the only option for the main lead’s friends is each other.” After a brief pause, Ruka realized she had gotten rather in-depth about anime, perhaps a little too in-depth, and blushed in embarrassment. “I, uh… I swear I’m not an otaku for anime.”

Yoshiro sarcastically commented, “You definitely aren’t.”

“Hey, shut up,” Ruka replied. “I’m not! Do I need to remind you you’re in a hospital bed?”

“Was that a threat?”

“Maybe.” Ruka then looked away. “Although I wouldn’t do as much damage as that bullet.”

“I’m surprised. I assumed you hated me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Ruka clarified. “I do think you’re annoying sometimes when it comes to how much you worship Hana, but I don’t actually hate you. I don’t wanna see you get killed, if only because you’re one of the best fighters on our team. I know you’d defend me if I got in trouble during a battle, and I know for a fact you don’t like me at all.”

“Hmmm… I see. You’re pretty perceptive.”

“Thanks.” As the show they watched went to its first commercial break, Ruka then asked him, “Has anyone else visited you yet?”

“None aside from Agency investigators,” Yoshiro replied. “They were here half an hour before you got here and asked me a bunch of questions about what happened to those two assholes who tried to kill us. Other than that, it’s just you. My mom should be here soo-“

They were both interrupted by Yoshiro’s mom walking into the room, still wearing a business suit from her job and clearly frazzled. She had a very similar facial structure to Yoshiro, and in many ways resembled an older female version of him. As she walked in, she turned to Yoshiro and told him, “Yoshiro, thank God. I was so worried.”

The two carefully shared a hug as Ruka looked on, with Yoshiro saying to his mom, “Mom, I’m gonna be fine.”

“I couldn’t believe it when I heard what happened,” she told him. “How bad is the damage?”

“I’m gonna need a cast,” Yoshiro explained, looking over at the shoulder he had been shot in. “I’m already in a temporary one right now. Did you talk to the doctors already?”

“I did. They gave me a full rundown of what they know for now. Yoshiro, it’s probably gonna be a while before you heal from this, but it’ll happen.” It was clear based on her tone of voice that the healing process would be rather long for him, but that it would be possible for him to complete it.

“I figured.”

Her mom then turned to Ruka and asked her, “Are you one of Yoshiro’s friends?”

“Oh, uh, yes,” Ruka said with a more polite tone than before as she got up and bowed. “My name is Kishio Ruka. I’m an upperclassman of your son.”

“Ah, I see. I’m Arikawa Shoko.” She then asked the two of them, “What exactly happened anyway? Was it something to do with that thing you do with Hana-san?”

“Yeah,” Yoshiro explained. “Two other people tried attacking us, and one of them had a gun. It was either them or us, and well…” He paused, thinking about the fact that he had taken not just one life, but two lives for the first time in his young life. “We did what we had to do to survive. On the bright side, we saved another magical huntress and a little girl who got taken by the magical beast we fought.”

“I heard.” Shoko then smiled and placed a hand on his uninjured shoulder. “You make me so proud to be your mother, you know. That being said… I do wish you did something less dangerous than this. I know you want to help me since it’s just us, but still…”

“He’s in good hands,” Ruka then interjected to assure her. “Arikawa-san, I can assure you that his friends, or at least those who are like me and him, are highly capable and highly skilled. I will gladly lay down my life to protect him if I have to, and I know for a fact he would do the same for me.”

Yoshiro looked at Ruka and thought to himself, “She’s saying such words even though we don’t like each other… She really is an enigma sometimes.”

Shoko replied to her, “You really mean that, Kishio-san?”

“Of course.”

She then chuckled. “I just worry, that’s all. I assure you that if you ever become a mother, you’ll do the same.”

“I know,” Ruka nodded. “Truth be told, I don’t know if my own parents would have even approved of me doing this.”

“Oh, are they no longer alive?”

“They died when I was eight.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. It must be so tough.”

“It was, but every day, I get a little bit stronger.” Ruka gave them both a faint smile. “Besides, I know that even if they’re dead, they’re not truly gone. Every battle I go into, I know they’re watching over me and protecting me.”

Shoko commented, “You’re very wise for your age. What grade are you in?”

“I’m a second-year in junior high school, a grade above your son.”

“You speak like someone much older. It’s reassuring to know my son is friends with people like you and Hana-san.”

…

October 31, 2023

On Halloween night, the whole group, including Yoshiro, who wore a shoulder cast, was walking together while going to a party at a local community hall. Kumiko, like the rest of the girls, wore a dress, something she had been clearly looking forward to as she talked to Ruka and Sayaka. “I’ve been really looking forward to tonight,” she said to both of them. “It feels really good to wear something like this.”

“I bet,” Ruka replied with a smile. “You look cool, Murata-kun.”

Sayaka also commented, “You look really pretty, too…” Both Kumiko and Sayaka blushed as soon as the latter finished her sentence, which she had said almost absent-mindedly. “Oh, uh, forget what I said…”

“It- It’s fine,” Kumiko assured her. “I don’t mind.”

Hana then turned around and stopped the whole group in its tracks to tell them all something just before they were about to reach the community hall’s front entrance. “If I may, I’d like to say a few words before we head in. I want to again thank everyone for their hard work last Saturday. I know it was a tough battle, especially since we ended up having to use lethal force against two of our own for trying to kill us and steal the kill for themselves. I can’t reveal too much about the investigation, but I can say that as of now, we’re all in the clear and not in trouble. As for that magical huntress we rescued, she did unfortunately break both of her legs in the battle, but she will recover. The little girl we found was badly hurt and broke a few bones, but she is expected to survive. We all got a nice big payout from the Agency for the Class One kill, and I’ve received word that some higher-ups in the Yokosuka Branch are writing a letter of recommendation for us to the Agency Headquarters in Tokyo.”

“Woah,” Tenko said to herself. “Incredible…”

Sayaka asked Hana, “Wait, really?”

“Correct,” Hana nodded. “I want you all to celebrate tonight as much as you can, especially Yoshiro-kun. He was shot while defending us from the two magical huntresses who attacked us, and he’ll be out of action for a while. Rest assured, however, that he will eventually return to service. I want to personally thank Ikezawa-san, Murata-san, Miyamura-san, and Fujimori-san for stabilizing his injuries and saving his life after he was shot. Their quick thinking and application of pressure dressings and a tourniquet are why he’s still standing here with us today.”

As everyone clapped, Yoshiro told Hana, “And I would do it all again if I had to, no questions asked.”

“I know,” she replied with a smile. “Any of us would have. When you get a report of a magical beast as strong as that, especially when someone’s trapped or taken by one of them, you spring right into action. Of course, sadly, as we found out, not everyone is in this line of work for the right reasons, but that won’t affect why we’re all here and why we fight.” She then looked up at the community hall and told the group, “Alright. I’ve kept you all out here long enough. Let’s head in and have some fun.”

…

An hour later, as music blared through the hall and many groups of teenagers danced both with themselves and each other, Ruka stood off to the side with Tenko, the two of them talking about the party itself. “It reminds me of the galas I used to go to as a young child,” Ruka said to her. “Albeit with much less formal clothes and music.”

“I was gonna say,” Tenko replied with a chuckle. “Those were a lot more formal than this.” She looked out onto the dance floor and noticed something rather odd. “Hey, would you look at that?”

“What’s up?”

“Look who Fujimori-senpai’s dancing with.”

As Ruka looked out at the sea of people dancing to the music, she found Yoko dancing with none other than Goro Yamanaka. “No way… She’s dancing with him?”

“I noticed that she’s been trying to talk to him a bit more these past few weeks,” Tenko explained. “They’re in the same class, but I don’t think he has much of an interest in her. Besides, we know what he likes to do with girls.”

“Yeah. You know, his uncle is a bigshot in the Agency.”

In disbelief, Tenko replied, “No fucking way. Really?”

“Yep. Yamanaka Hiroto is his uncle. He’ll probably be the next Agency Head, actually.”

Tenko rolled her eyes. “I hope he’s not like his nephew.”

“No clue. All I know is that his dad was apparently much like him when he was younger before he settled down, which would explain a lot about his son.”

“Like father, like son,” Tenko pointed out. “That isn’t always a good thing.”

Then, Hana walked over to the two of them, having just got done talking with Yoshiro out on the dance floor. “Hey guys,” she said to both of them. “Having a good time?”

“Yeah,” Ruka replied. “What about you?”

“Yeah.” She then poured herself a cup of soda from a nearby table. “It’s a nice distraction from the div-“ She then realized Tenko was next to Ruka and stopped mid-sentence. “Oh, uh…”

Confused about what she meant to say, Tenko asked her, “What was that about?”

“Well,” Hana admitted with a melancholic tone of voice. “You were gonna find out at some point, but… I might as well tell you now since I revealed it. Ikezawa-san, my parents are officially going to get divorced.”

Surprised, Tenko asked her, “Wait, really? Why?”

“I won’t go into detail, but they were both… Not faithful to each other.” She sighed before looking down at the soda in her cup. “I was told when I came home from school today that it’s official. My mom is moving in with her parents for the time being, but I’m staying at my house with my dad.”

“I’m so sorry,” Tenko replied, feeling awful for Hana. “I had no idea. When did this begin with your parents?”

“A few days ago, although I could see signs of it for a while, actually.”

“That’s messed up. I feel really sorry for you, Miyashita-senpai.”

“Thank you,” Hana told her with a faint smile, appreciating her sympathy. She then grew silent, looking around the crowded room as she tried to get her mind off of the impending divorce.

Ruka, noticing that Hana was not feeling all that great due to the aforementioned events going on, threw away her own empty cup and told Hana, “When you’re done with your soda, do you wanna dance with me? I can help you get your mind off of that shit.”

Hana assured Ruka, “I’m fine, Ruka-chan. You don’t have to do that fo-“

“I want to,” Ruka interrupted her. “Come on. It’ll be fun.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Tenko added. “It wouldn’t hurt, Miyashita-senpai.”

Hana thought about it for a brief moment before downing her entire soda in one sitting. She then said to Ruka, “Eh, why not?”

“See? Let’s go.” The two of them then walked out to the dance floor and began to move together to the beat of a somewhat fast-paced song the two of them particularly liked. “I love this song!”

“Me too,” Hana shouted, the crowd all moving with them. Many in the crowd also sang along, clearly enjoying the music. As the two of them danced together, Hana thought to herself, “I may have to deal with the divorce, but for now, I can forget it all and have fun. If only a moment like this could last forever…”

Ruka thought to herself, “Truth be told, I haven’t really danced to a song at a large party in a while. I almost forgot how fun it can be.” She then twirled around Hana, telling her, “How do you like that?”

“Impressive!”

“I learned that from my mom when I was younger.” She then took Hana by the hand, and the two danced together. “Just follow my lead, Hana!”

“Woah, hey!”

Hana and Ruka shared a laugh as they moved in sync with each other, wowing Tenko nearby. “Wow, you guys are pretty damn good at this!”

Then, Ruka bumped into someone by accident, causing them to turn around as she and Hana stopped. Annoyed, the person tried to scold her with, “Hey, watch where yo-“ The person, a boy in her class, then saw it was her. “Oh, uh, Kishio-san.”

“I’m sorry,” Ruka replied to him, recognizing him as soon as she saw his face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, uh… Are you?”

“I’m fine.” After a brief pause that left Ruka and Hana confused, the former asked him, “Anything else?”

“Oh, uh, no. I’m fine. Thanks.”

Ruka knew at that moment he had been staring at her body, seemingly distracted by how it looked in the dress she was wearing. “Alright, well… Fine.” She then turned back around to face Hana as the dance floor got a bit more crowded as more people joined in.

Hana asked her, “What was that about?”

“I bumped into some guy from my class,” Ruka told her over the noise of the crowd. “He was totally staring at me!”

“Are you okay? Did he creep you out?”

“I don’t give a fuck about that right now,” Ruka assured her with a smile. “I came here to have a good time!”

Meanwhile, Tenko saw Yoshiro nearby and waved him over. “Hey, Yoshiro-kun, do you wanna dance with me?!”

Yoshiro looked over from his table upon hearing his name and got up. “Tenko-chan, is that you?”

“Yeah! Come on!”

Yoshiro then ran over and joined her, moving past several other people on the dance floor. “You said you wanted to dance?”

“Do I have to repeat myself? Join in!”

As Tenko began to dance, Yoshiro awkwardly joined in next to her. “Oh, uh, okay…” He thought to himself, “I probably look stupid doing this shit…”

Tenko then laughed, telling him with a pat on the shoulder, “Get with the music, Yoshiro-kun. Stop being so awkward and just let go.”

“Do I suck that much at dancing?”

“Oh, shut up, you’re fine,” Tenko insisted. “Just keep in rhythm and repeat after me.”

While Tenko guided Yoshiro through the song being played, Hana noticed the two of them and said to Ruka, “Looks like Ikeawa-san is trying to help Yoshiro-kun dance.”

“Wait, really?” Ruka turned around, and what she saw immediately caused her to turn her head right back and hold in laughter. “I hate to say it, but his moves need some work.”

“Oh, he’s not that bad.”

“It’s not the worst, to be fair. I’ve seen old men in their mid-to-late seventies dance in a non-formal setting, and nothing can top most of their moves in terms of cringe. Not all of them were bad, but some…”

“Some were what?”

“Some should have maybe left that kind of dancing to younger people.” Ruka and Hana laughed at the remark as the song changed, prompting Ruka to get really excited when she heard what it was. “Holy shit, this song?! I fucking love this song!” As the two of them continued to dance, with Ruka also yelling out the lyrics alongside many of the other teenagers on the dance floor, she thought to herself, “People like that boy who stared at me were one of the reasons why I haven’t danced or partied around large groups in a while. Well, between people looking at me like that and all the time I’ve spent fighting. Come to think of it, I’ve spent so much time just fighting magical beasts for the past four years that I really haven’t had time to make true friendships until now. Hell, many times, I fought just for the sake of fighting, like it was a distraction for my mind. Perhaps the Fox Knights are a step in the right direction, because it finally feels like I can have fun again after such a long time.”

Indeed, joining the Fox Knights would be a step in the right direction for Ruka Kishio. The first two months she was in the group would set the stage for what would come in the future for her and the others, and over time, she would not only build up her reputation as a fearsome and highly competent magical huntress, but also develop close bonds with everyone in the Fox Knights. Over the next few years, both she and the Fox Knights as a group would become a force to be reckoned with both in Yokosuka and beyond, with Ruka teaching its newest members to fight and acting as its third-in-command behind Yoshiro and Hana. Through thick and thin, Ruka would always find a way to persevere, even if she had to fight her way out of it.