“Here’s a question I have,” Dave said, a thought suddenly occurring to him.
“Is this the only country that was forbidden to recruit magical girls from?
Or are there others?” Hoshi nodded, as if he approved Dave’s question.
“There are other countries, but since we’re not near any of them by human standards, then it doesn’t really matter, does it?
In reality, it’s been this entire continent where it’s been forbidden to recruit magical girls.
Though who’s to say if that’ll change soon or not,” Hoshi said then paused as if a thought had just occurred to him.
“Really, with you here, that actually might make it easier to lift that taboo as you’re otherwise an anomaly that I can’t quite explain so you might get ruled a ‘natural occurrence’ that would have happened anyway and if that happens, then you won’t need to worry about us coming back here to kill your magical girls and eliminate you.” If Dave was human, he was certain he’d be sweating right then.
“Yeah, that would be nice,” he said nervously.
“Though does that mean I should go about as I was before or should I avoid doing anything to attract attention?” “I’ll let you know if you’re safe to recruit more magical girls or not but until then, refrain from recruiting more,” Himari said, her gaze so cool that it almost seemed frosty to Dave.
“Train Crystal Flower and we’ll see what happens later on.” “Uh, how do I train her?” Dave asked, conscious of Hailey’s gaze on him, one that he didn’t suppose was one of approval.
“I’m still rather new to this.” “If you really did create her, then you’ll know what she needs,” Hoshi said, which Dave couldn’t help but feel was rather unhelpful given it didn’t even give him a hint as to what he should be doing or even how to go about doing it.
“When we meet again, I expect you to have improved,” Himari told Hailey, her words almost sounding like a challenge.
“If you don’t, then you’ll only have yourself to blame for what happens.” “Um, before we leave, I was wondering something,” Hailey said, sounding suddenly rather nervous.
Which was a surprise to Dave with how she had boldly demanded answers to the questions that she had and was able to get those answers from Himari who had seemed rather reluctant to share anything with Hailey.
“What is it?” Himari asked, making the question sound almost like a warning.
“Why did you come to this country?
I know that it takes longer to book a plane to get here than it has since I first became a magical girl, so you couldn’t have known that I was at that hospital when you arrived,” Hailey explained, sounding almost like she was trying to keep herself from backing out of trying to get an answer to her question.
Himari looked at Hailey for a minute before she chuckled and shook her head a little.
“Not what I was expecting and a little personal, but I supposed I can share this.
My friend was in a car accident and had been in a coma.
I didn’t know that she’d woken up while I was on my way here until I arrived and went to visit her.” Himari stood up from the table before continuing.
“That’s why I came here.
Though when I see you next, try to get some jewelry as part of your magical girl attire.
That’s how I’ll know you’re stronger or if you were wasting your time.” Dave wasn’t sure what Himari said but felt like she’d given them a clue as to a sign of what might indicate Hailey’s growth as a magical girl.
Though while he wished she’d explain a little more, he did recall that she had said that she wasn’t going to tell them about anything related to what she’d just hinted at.
Which Dave supposed was a way of trying to see what they’d accomplish when they didn’t know what direction to go on their own, which in a way could limit their growth but so could giving them a direction that wouldn’t work for them and Dave had a feeling that what worked for Himari to grow as Dragonfly wouldn’t work for Hailey to grow as Crystal Flower.
Although, thinking too much about this was starting to give Dave a headache, something he’d have thought shouldn’t be possible while he was a stuffed animal, but reality was proving otherwise.
“So, how long would it be before you’ll come back?” Hailey asked as she stood up.
Dave couldn’t help but wonder if she was looking for a deadline in which to spend training.
Which Dave supposed was a good idea, given it would tell them how long they had to improve Hailey’s strength, and maybe combat prowess.
Himari merely shook her head in response.
She didn’t say anything, which Dave took to mean that she didn’t know.
However, before she started to walk away, she did say, “If it’s ruled that your faerie isn’t a natural occurrence, then I’ll be back with my team.
If that happens then you better be strong enough to fight for your life because that will be what happens then.” Hailey hardly looked concerned as she stuffed Dave back into her bag, which made Dave wonder if Hailey really cared about that.
Not that he’d have been overly surprised given how Jamie had felt about Hailey’s own disregard for her own life.
Then after Himari started to walk away, she stopped, sighed and turned around, looking at Hailey carefully.
“I shouldn’t be saying this but take care of your Soul Gem.
If it gets destroyed, you’ll cease being a magical girl and there won’t be anything anyone can do about it.
It might be more durable than it looks, but it is still vital to you as a magical girl.” Hailey nodded and smiled at Himari.
Dave could see Himari shaking her head in disbelief before she turned and headed back to her hotel, leaving Hailey to do her own thing.
Something that Dave could tell Himari didn’t care about, but at the same time cared more than she was willing to admit.
Which Dave wasn’t sure he’d be able to reason out why until they met again.