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Title: Of Cats and Magic

Chapter: 2

Author: Riko Gonzalez

Riko was bored out of her mind. She was currently in a dorm at a magical girl

boot camp. With her hands behind her head, she was laying on one of the two beds

that the room contained. Timothy had basically dumped her here moments ago

before running off. Sure, he was supposed to be back, but that knowledge did

little to alleviate her boredom.

Slowly, the cyan-haired catgirl turned her gaze from the ceiling to the rest of

the room. There was quite a bit of gray to its coloring to tell the truth. The

carpet was gray and even the sheets she was laying on were gray. If there had

been a window, she guessed the drapes would have been gray too. The walls

weren't gray, though. They were white.

While the dorm room didn't contain either a computer or television, it did

contain a small wooden desk. Considering the color scheme of the rest of the

room, it was no surprise that the desk's top was also a shade of gray.

As Riko laid there, contemplating the interior designer's choice of color

scheme, her attention was drawn to the sound of the opening door. Her cat ears

perked up as she sat up, turning her attention to the doorway. In it, she saw

Timothy. Behind him, was another catgirl.

"You're replacing me?!" Riko said as she leaped out of bed.

"No, Riko. I'm not replacing you."

"That's good. For a second, I thought you had it with me," the cyan-haired

catgirl added with a nervous laugh. "So who's that?"

"This," Timothy responded, referring to the blonde woman behind him, "is the new

member our team. Her name is Ruko Kisara."

The twenty year old blond behind the winged cat was a tad taller than Riko at

158cm. Her eyes were a lovely purple hue, and her fringed hair reached down to

her butt in length. Like Riko, her skin possessed a wheat pigmentation. Unlike

Riko, her chest was rather modest in size.

"Go ahead and introduced yourself," the winged cat coaxed the blonde catgirl.

Ruko nodded before stepping around Timothy, her eyes looking somewhat vacant. It

didn't seem like she was shy. Seemed more like she was fairly taciturn.

"I'm Ruko Kisara," she said, extending her hand. Her voice didn't show much

emotion as she spoke.

"Good to meet you! I'm Riko Ibara!" Riko responded as she shook Ruko's hand, her

mannerisms showing much more enthusiasm than those of the blonde catgirl.

***

The next day, the magical girls had been gathered around an outdoor clearing, a

multitude of winged cats accompanying them. Roughly thirty percent of the

gathered magical girls were catgirls. The rest were human.

In the clearing, was a red-haired woman displaying a rather bored expression. In

her hands was a pencil and paper. This was the boot camp's instructor. She was

currently in the process of evaluating the magical girls.

The instructor cycled through the names in alphabetical order, calling the

magical girls up one by one. After witnessing a brief display of ability, she

would proceed to the next.

Currently, a rather nervous blue haired woman stood in the clearing with the

instructor. With sweat pouring from her face, she waved a wand about before

conjuring one lone ice cube. Not that impressive.

"Next is Riko Ibara," the instructor snapped, and the blue-haired woman returned

to the crowd.

"Oh! That's me! Time to be awesome!"

"I have a very bad feeling about this," Timothy deadpanned at Riko's outburst,

prompting Ruko to tilt her head.

Eagerly, Riko rushed into the clearing, taking her spot opposite of the

instructor. With a huge smirk, the beautiful catgirl summoned her staff. As she

rose it into air, a faint red light began emanating from its tip.

"It's not safe here," Ruko commented bluntly, just loud enough for Timothy to

hear. Her amethyst eyes were transfixed on Riko.

***

A moment later...

***

The clearing and surrounding area had become engulfed in flame. Some magical

girls ran amok in pure panic. Others lay unconscious, scattered about the area.

The instructor remained on her feet but was merely staring forward, her eyes

wide and her mouth agape, the pencil and now burnt notepad still in her hands.

The woman was clearly in shock from what she had just experienced.

At the center of the fiery vortex stood Riko Ibara, a sweat drop running down

her temple.

"I-I can fix this," she stammered, "I'm just not sure how yet."

"No, you can't. The only aptitude you have shown thus far is starting fires.

Call the fire department instead," Timothy responded, running up to her with

Ruko close behind.

"Right!" Riko replied, retrieving her phone.

"Ruko, you help me make sure everyone is okay."

The blond nodded before running off to the nearest victim of the incident. In

truth, Riko, Ruko, and Timothy were the only three to make it through the event

without becoming either unconscious, stupefied, or completely consumed by panic.

Actually, none of the three had so much as a singe among them.

Riko's relatively good condition was fairly self-explanatory. While she was at

the epicenter of the blast, she wasn't actually in the blast. True, she was a

little panicked, but she might as well be in perfect condition compared to most

of the others.

As for Ruko and Timothy, it wasn't through luck that they were unscathed by the

flames. Instead, it was through Ruko's quick action. The purple-eyed catgirl had

identified the danger before it even happened. As such, she had leapt in front

of Timothy and then swiftly thrust her right hand forward. This was done an

instant before the blast. The result was that she had completely shielded

Timothy from the flames while also remaining unscathed from the fire herself.

As utter panic finally began to subside, various magical girls and winged cats

began joining in the effort to check up on the less fortunate ones. Oddly

enough, one of those less fortunate ones seemed to be the instructor herself,

who still was blankly staring forward. In all honesty, it looked like the poor

woman may have actually fainted.