Situational Allies

'Who does he think he is? Ordering me around as if I'm the help!' Cursing under her breath, Mizuki slipped inside the girl's restroom while keeping herself invisible. 'Shapeshift into me! Now shapeshift into that rascal Hero! Ughh!'

Fuming she went around checking every restroom stall to ensure nobody else but her was inside. Not as if it would've mattered for the sound of her stomping feet could be heard throughout the rest of the floor.

"You better feed me those broken hearts you promised me!" Reaching for her chest, she plucked out a necklace resembling a broken heart that had been nuzzled within her cleavage. With the necklace clamped in her fingers, she turned to the massive mirror over the basins. "Had to pawn my baby, had to rely on Mikato's help, we haven't even done one cruel deed yet to gain enough Malice to free my Spider!"

Hot with complaints, her head began to fume. Her once night blue skin turned a fiery red. Glaring at herself, she violently shook her head and drew breaths deep enough to void the place of air for anyone else.

"Fine!" She squealed, her skin and her temper returning to normal.

Calming herself, she detached the broken hearts from the chain. Then placing it on her palm she squeezed them as tight as possible.

"O' great upturner, the meister of realities, grant me your power for I need usurp this identity!" Seeping through the heart, a mystic aura washed over Mizuki's body. As it passed over her skin, it turned to that of a human, as it passed over her eyes they were dyed a hazel brownish. Then came her hair, her limbs, and even her hidden tattoos and piercings hidden under her leather jacket.

Opening her eyes again, she looked at herself in the mirror. In her place was a man she'd come to know recently, and yet now she had to pretend to be him with every bit of authenticity.

"Time to ruin your life, you poor rascal," taking the tiny camera out of her pocket, Mizuki switched it on and pretended to cover it as if having mistakenly caught Hero's face on the video. Turning around with her hands still on the lens, she moved inside one of the stalls and the same secluded corner with a small gap that she'd seen in the video before. "That should do it."

Mimicking Hero's voice, she made sure to get that on the video as well. Making her way out of the stall right after, she visited the other stalls making a ruckus as she went, all so it would seem as if she was setting up cameras in other stalls as well.

Once done, she shut all the doors and made her way out of the restroom. There, waiting for her right outside was Hibiki who'd been standing there to give Mizuki a warning if anyone tried to get into the restroom. Thankfully, since it was class time no such person had come.

"Is it done?" She asked.

"What do you think?" With a sour expression on her face, Mizuki instantly turned invisible.

"You remind me of those nuns," still staring at the spot where Mizuki was, Hibiki added. "Bitter and resentful, always. You don't wanna do that, I'm warning you."

"As if I care," Mizuki whispered back.

Standing still for a moment, Hibiki's fingers itched for a fight. Unlike Akira, being able to command flames already made her a more competent fighter than Mizuki, however, the only thing stopping her from shutting the sharp-tongued demon was what Akira might do to her later. Thinking back to that night she tried to kill him, the fear of her own mortality washed her rage away.

'I don't wanna die, not before I find my family.' Shaking her head, she turned around and began away from the restroom, leaving Mizuki behind.

"Go on scurry, little runt!" Even as she went, Mizuki didn't let her chance slip to insult the brunette pixie from a distance. "Oh and don't forget to give us our cut of Malice point when this damned day is over!"

"Fuck you…" Hibiki muttered under her breath.

Even though she's slowly come to accept Akira as somewhat of a temporary companion, Mizuki often made Hibiki question her judgment.

"Ignore her," placing his warm hand on Hibiki's shoulder as they turned to the stairs, Ifrit tried to prevent his master from being too agitated. "An imp of the lowest rank, her mouth's foul by nature. We only need her to perceive us as allies for her master has great potential to help us get far."

For a moment Hibiki opened her mouth to retort, but then dropping all facade, she knew Ifrit was right. Sooner or later she and Akira would need to turn against each other so it was best not to get attached to him and nor to his demon.

"Our work here's done for the day," descending the stairs, Hibiki came to the lower floor and stepped towards the corridor windows to the front. "We should go and survey the town again."

"You won't find your family here, I thought you already knew," Ifrit asked, his eyes half squinted.

"I know, we're going for another hunt," sliding the window open, Hibiki protruded her hand out and puffed into a cloud of cinder. Like sparkling dust falling by a bonfire, her body flew out the window in the form of a glistering trail of fire.

'She's growing more and more potent with her pyromania' Watching her drift away like a cloud, Ifrit felt a hint of fear brewing in his heart. 

More competition? He wondered, perhaps fearful of his command over the little girl.

'Follow me…' Hearing those words by Hibiki inside his head, Ifrit shook away those doubts and flowed her through the air. 

Although away from the two, still waiting by the restroom, Mizuki felt a trace of magic in the air when Hibiki transformed herself to powder. She too knew the girl's potential for fire would prove to be insidious, yet given how she's saved Hibiki's life from Akira before, she couldn't possibly face the embarrassment of requesting him to kill her now.

'Just wait for Akane to come by and do the sweep, and don't think in the meantime!' Sinking her teeth into her gums, she intentionally drew blood to keep her calm.