She breathed out as her eyes narrowed and her fingers let go. The arrow flew through the air across the field and hit the furthest target just barely off the bullseye.

“Nice shot!” a voice behind her cheered.

Sarah turned around and saw Cody from the drama club, standing by the door, watching her. She quirked an eyebrow at him. “Thanks. What’s up? Came here to admire my Robin Hood impersonation?”

“Nah, pretending to be someone else is my job.” He waved his hand. “I was just doing some reading on bows and wanted to see the real thing in action before the clubs were out for the summer.”

“Oh? Are you switching teams? Acting getting too boring for you?” Sarah walked to the target as the two talked.

“No way! No club with Jessica in it can possibly be boring.” Cody laughed.

Sarah smirked. “Yeah, I can imagine. So why bows? Are you guys planning a Robin Hood play next semester?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “We haven’t discussed the next year’s plays yet. But that’s not it. I just got curious about them. You know, bows are a classic medieval ranged weapon. Simple but deadly.”

Sarah snorted. “That’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Killing people?” She shook her head.

“Well, no… It’s just that I saw Pretty Spark the other day. That bow is more like a laser gun if anything. “ He laughed. ”It made me wonder how effective a normal bow really is, so here I am.”

Sarah hummed to herself, recalling the differences between her Thunderclap bow and a regular training bow.

Or rather, it was simpler to name the similarities instead. They were nothing alike. Magic made the Thunderclap bow into more of a sniper rifle and rocket launcher hybrid. The only bow-like thing about it was the appearance and the way it was handled.

Sarah pulled out the arrow from the target and began walking back. “Who knows? It’s not like I’m using a bow to shoot at people. This–” She gestured around herself. “-- is more of a way for me to relax. Like meditation.”

“Meditation?” Cody quirked an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Feeling the wind, your own muscles, focusing on your target, ignoring everything else. It’s not that different from meditating.”

“Huh… never thought about it that way.” Cody went silent for a second. “You think Pretty Spark feels the same about her bow?”

Hell no.

Sarah shrugged. “Who knows? Why don’t you ask her?”

Cody snorted. “Yeah sure, let me just quickly call her…” He pulled out his phone and mimed unlocking it before his expression warped in disappointment. “Ah damn, I don’t have her number. Bummer.”

Sarah rolled her eyes as she made it to her firing spot. She drew the bow again, narrowed her eyes, breathed in, breathed out, and let the arrow fly once more. Like before, it flew through the air and buried itself right into the bullseye.

Sarah quirked a tiny smile.

“Bullseye!” the guy next to her yelled.

She gave him an unimpressed glare.

“Heh, sorry. Guess you don’t shout that if this is meditation for you, do you?”

“No, I don’t.” Sarah shook her head as she made her way back to the target. “Who shouts random things when meditating?”

“Right, right… Anyway, you looked really cool back there! Maybe I’ll try archery myself in my free time. God knows I need a way to relax these days.” He sighed.

“What’s up? Jessica being a mean boss at your job?” Sarah smirked at him.

“Nah, she’s alright. There’s just a lot piled up we need to do.” Cody waved his hand. “Speaking of which, I should probably get going. Thanks for showing me how a pro archer does things! It was cool to see!”

“Sure? No problem,” Sarah said as she plucked off the arrow and began walking back.

“Bye!”

“Bye.”

With that, the cheerful guy ran off, leaving Sarah alone again. She hummed to herself as her mind wandered.

That little conversation reminded her of her struggles of being Pretty Spark. She had always loved archery, and as she had mentioned to Cody, she used it as a form of meditation. To center herself, to find some calm in all the chaos.

Back when she, Nicole, and Erika had been chosen as the next generation of magical girls, she had immediately picked the bow, thinking it was the perfect fit for her since she already knew archery well.

But part of her had regretted it not too long afterward. Using the Thunderclap bow in combat was an entirely different ordeal from calmly shooting arrows at the range. It was the exact opposite of relaxing. The two had clashed in her mind.

She took a deep breath, drew her arrow, and let it fly again. It landed just below the bullseye.

Nevertheless, it had been a process, but she had managed to mentally separate the two activities, and continue using archery for relaxation while still being able to fight as a magical girl.

Her phone rang as she made it to the targets again. She quickly checked it and saw a message in the group chat from Nicole.

It read, ‘Cracked it. It’s big. Let’s meet at my place?’

Sarah frowned. It had taken a couple of days but it seemed that Nicole had finally deciphered the accursed piece of paper. And from the looks of it, it wasn’t just a red herring.

With much reluctance, Sarah sent a quick reply, put down her bow, cleaned up the range, and got going to Nicole’s place.