“Poetic bullsh — ,” Beppu grumbled.

 

“Don’t talk bad about Sensei!” Nichols quickly defended their teacher as the four walked down the hallway towards the school’s cafeteria.

 

“You’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’.” Beppu threatened the smaller boy.

 

“C’mon… tone it down a bit, peabrain.” Hoshino said, frowning.

 

“What did you say to me, fucker?” Beppu turned and seized Hoshino’s dress shirt’s front and hauled it upwards. “You wanna take his punishment?”

 

“Dude… your skin is way too thin.” Oye rolled his eyes.

 

“Sure, go ahead and bruise your fist on my hard head. Your game’ll be all the worse, idiot.” Hoshino calmly said, putting a firm hand on Beppu’s whitened fist, looking firmly into his eyes.

 

With a frown, Beppu’s fist loosened up as Hoshino fearlessly stared him down as usual, something that earned his respect last year. But suddenly, Hoshino’s eyes jerked away down the hall and he blinked, frowning.

 

“The fuck!?” Beppu scowled and, drawing his other fist back, that arm lashed out.

 

Exclaiming with a curse, Oya caught Beppu’s half-hearted blow before reaching Hoshino’s face.

 

“Hey…” Hoshino squeezed Beppu’s wrist and pried it off his collar. “Guys… did anyone else see a weird streak of something — purple just now?”

 

“What?” Nichols blinked, drawn away from their violence-prone friend. “Purple?”

 

“Huh?” Beppu rubbed his wrist and glared at Hoshino. “The fuck are you talking about?” He looked up and down the hallway, frowning, his eyes lingering on the girls walking towards them, but dismissing them. He shook his head. “Why’d you take your eyes off mine like a coward? Just because you thought you saw something weird? There isn’t anything purple in sight, dipshit. What kind of bullshit is that supposed to be?”

 

“I saw it,” Hoshino said firmly. “Anyone else see something purple at the edge of your vision? I’ve been seeing things for days.” His lips twisted.

 

“Purple?” Oye shook his head negatively. “For days? I haven’t seen anything purple anywhere. There was a girl in a pink dress the other day at the mall… made her look so good that it’d make your jaw drop if you saw it, but other than that, nah.”

 

“You really trying to distract me by talking nonsense?” Beppu muttered.

 

“It worked, didn’t it?” Oye laughed.

 

“Purple?” it was one of the girls that were just about to pass the feuding boys that spoke.

 

Hoshino shrugged and greeted their class president, Ami Haruna, with his best smile, turning towards her. Hoshino asked her after a moment’s hesitation, “Did you see any weird purple streaks in the air? Maybe I really am catching some kind of a weird virus. Who knows what’s lurking in the soil of this island?”

 

“...” Studying Hoshino’s face, Ami rolls her eyes. “The EPA determined that our soil doesn’t hide any strange bacteria or viruses. But if anyone here could come down with a weird disease, it would probably be you.”

 

“Ehhh?” Flushing at the quip, Hoshino scratched his head. “Eh… forget I asked.” He muttered to himself as he turned to excuse himself to the cafeteria, but Ami put a hand on his shoulder with a serious expression.

 

Hoshino frowned, looking into Ami’s eyes questioningly as she tilted her head and said quietly, “You’re not the only one who’s seen these purple streaks, idiot.”

 

“Y… you?” Hoshino asked, suddenly giddy. “Jeez… here I thought I was going nuts!”

 

“W-well…” Ami shrugged. “Not me… but there’s been talk of it in the girl’s locker room for a while. Some have been complaining about a weird purple drone peeping at them. I gather that you guys hadn’t heard anything about that?” Ami turned her eyes on Beppu and Oya.

 

“A drone? Like with propellers?” Nichols asked. “Is that what they saw?”

 

Ami shook her head, laughing. “No. It’s never clear enough that anyone can put a name to what they saw. Just streaks of color.”

 

“What? Not just purple?” Hoshino exclaimed.

 

“Yeah… a few streaks of color? Who knows, maybe it’s a weird rainbow effect that the girls have been seeing,” Ami suggested, tapping her lips.

 

“Rainbows that only girls can see,” Beppu says, laughing. “That sounds typical.”

 

“I’ll get to the bottom of this thing for you all. Anyone peeping on the girls in the locker room is a jerk that needs to have his nose turned inside out.” Oye said.

 

“Like a star mole?” Nichols giggled.

 

The other two girls standing behind Ami looked at each other, one looking worried.

 

“You can…” Ami hesitantly said, “But don’t let your investigations take you into the girl’s locker room. You got it?” Ami said, eyeing the boys firmly.

 

Beppu shrugged and Oya chuckled, waving a hand as he said, “That’s not my style. Isn’t that obvious?”

 

Ami turned towards Hoshino and smiled, nodding. “I hoped I’d run into you on your way to lunch, actually… and not about weird purple fuzzy things flying through the air.”

 

“Oh?” Hoshino blinked and then slowly grinned. “You want to have lunch together?”

 

Ami blushed and laughed, shaking her head. “No, it wasn’t anything like that, Hoshino-kun. Actually, I wanted to talk you into doing some work for our club.”

 

“Huh?” Hoshino frowned, his eyes turning inward as he crossed his arms. “What was your club about again?”

 

“Worshiping magical girls, wasn’t it?” Beppu asked, smirking.

 

Elbowing Beppu, Oya shook his head. “Don’t mock girls for their passions.”

 

“Oh… that’s what it was?” Hoshino’s nose crinkled. “I thought so… What do you want? I’m not interested in that kind of thing if you were looking to recruit me just because…”

 

“Because all four of you boys only play basketball after school on the court?” Ami smirked at Beppu. “We might accept your application.”

 

“What? Me? Oh… got it.” Beppu laughed and slicked his hair back. “I guess I can help you all a bit. You don’t have to twist my arm too much.”

 

“Oh, really? You’ll wear the costumes and everything?” Ami grinned.

 

“W-what?” Beppu was visibly taken aback. “Costumes? What are we talking about…?”

 

“Oh, yes… we put on performances in costumes. We’re basically actors. I have to say a male magical girl would be pretty interesting, though.” She smirked, amused.

 

“Ah… n-no.” Beppu backed off. “No way.”

 

“Aw… come on… be a man.” Oya laughed.

 

“And… with that… I have to agree with Beppu. No thanks.” Hoshino turned and started walking off before Ami’s grip tightened on his shoulder, locking him in place.

 

“Don’t worry.” Ami smiled reassuringly. “We’re not trying to recruit you, as I implied. We’re interested in starting a website to organize things and let people schedule performances. Do you think you might make some time to create something for us?”

 

Hoshino’s lips tightened for a moment, and then he heaved a sigh of relief. “Sure thing, Pres. But not today.”

 

“Why not?” Ami asked. “Not that I mind waiting.”

 

“Well…” Hoshino shrugged. “Our game’s tied right now. I don’t think any of us would be happy leaving it like that. Today’s match will break the tie.”

 

“You and Beppu?” Ami asked, eyeing the more muscular of the two, still recovering from Ami’s having out-quipped him.

 

“Nah. Three versus.” Hoshino grinned.

 

“You play with these two muscular guys and somehow you’ve tied them?” Ami blinked, looking surprised.

 

“Well… kinda.” Hoshino nervously chuckled. “Some lucky shots here and there have helped me to keep up.”

 

“Luck?” Ami smiled, and an eyebrow raised. “So I guess, maybe tomorrow, then?”

 

Hoshino nodded with a smile. “Sure thing. I hope you all don’t mind. It won’t take too long.”

 

“Eh…” Beppu shrugged, looking at Hoshino skeptically.

 

“No problem,” Oya said. “Beppu and I can start our own little private contest while you’re working on that for them. Take a week, if that’s what it takes.”