『A crystal can only reveal its hidden structure when fractures thread through its inclusions』
Jewelry embedded with the finest of gemstones will always capture a person's attention. Whether it be through the flurry of colors running through the glas...
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『ARC TWO: CAREFUL STEPS』
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"Scatter!"
Frankly, Tanami had no clue as to who exactly yelled out the word but that did not stop her from forcing her body into a sprint. The specific place where they were going to play tag in was a maze. A well-constructed maze that had been built in one of the zones at Mizu and was not small in the slightest.
As she rushed forward, she pulled away from her classmates. They did the same, scattering as their leaders had informed them to do. Not long after, she was by herself. Her leg muscles were beginning to burn but that did not make her stop running. For some odd reason, the girl fit the gas mask over her mouth and nose.
The moment her foot hit the ground, Tanami skidded to a halt. Forcing herself to a defensive position, she curled her hand into a fist and began to visualize a red crystal in my mind. The scarlet glow formed in front of her. Her eyes narrowed and she held back a groan. Just her luck.
"Yo, pretty girl, you seem lost."
Balancing on top of the maze wall on his toes, a familiar olive-haired adolescent hovered above Tanami's stilled figure. The crystal swiped her arm outward, forcing the ruby wall in front of her to crumble into shards. At her command, the shards floated protectively around her as she stared intently at her opponent.
"C'mon, pretty girl, we can make this quick and let me tag you." the boy who she had encountered at the lunch line earlier gave her a smirk. "I don't want to hurt that pretty face of yours."
"You know I would prefer a pickup line right about now. At least that had some flare even if it was cheesy." Tanami retorted. Even with the gas mask covering the lower half of her face, her voice filtered out crystal clear without any sign of muffling. She slowly reached to unclip the silver canister shoved in one of her belt's pouches.
If she memorized the layout of her costume correctly, the canister in that specific spot would be a smoke bomb. Granted if used it, she would give her possession away for others from Team Beta to tag her, but that would be a later problem.
"First you don't like it but now you want one? Talk about picky, pretty girl. Decide on what you want." The teen propped an elbow on his bent knee and shook his head in confusion. "What's your name, pretty girl?"
"Tanami Mochizuki." She peered around herself, slowing backing down the corridor to create some distance between the two.
"Mamoru Shimada. Now, I honestly wouldn't want to harm someone like yourself but-" Rolling his shoulders back with a sly grin, jagged pieces of white- no perhaps beige- suddenly sprouted from his back. "I don't like losing, Mochizuki."
With elongated and claw-like nails, his hand drew behind him and, for lack of a better word, quite literally sunk his nails into the strong structure that sprouted out of him and broke it off without a flinch. Pulling his arm back, he lunged forward to throw the object that came from his spine. The moment the thing left his grasp, Tanami brought both arms up and slammed her gloved palms together. The ruby shards slammed together to create a crystal barrier once more. The object collided with the wall, the sharp point of it getting lodged in the gemstone.
