2617/Mutually Beneficial

Mutually Beneficial
Date of Scene:	15 June 2025
Location:	Club Building
Synopsis:	Sugata and Amy meet Souta, a transfer student who hasn't quite finished transferring yet. Different clubs are talked about, and a duel is agreed to. To the death, possibly??? No. Probably.
Cast of Characters:	Souta Camero, Sugata Shindo, Amanda Faust

---

Souta Camero has posed:
    It is not yet Souta's first day in class, but he still has to show up on campus in order to do the necessary paperwork. While the Outer Senshi have been gracious enough to grant him some temporary lodgings, he doesn't want to lean on their hospitality forever. Radiant Heart, on the other hand, is offering a free dorm room (which he may have to share) and free food for reasons that are as yet mysterious to him. So it looks like he really will have to play along with the education system if he wants to make it in this world.

    In the spirit of that, he is checking out club rooms, trying to familiarize himself with what's around. Fencing club looks interesting, and probably right up his alley since one of his primary weapon modes is a sword.

    Thus it is that Souta, now bespectacled out of henshin and wearing casual clothes, wanders the hall. He seems to have an uncanny sense of direction considering that he has never been here before, and saw a map of the campus exactly one time. That and his ability to instantly memorize details are just some of his odd quirks.

    Of course, a lot of that is thanks to Paradise Spectrum taking notes for him.

    He's currently standing with his arms crossed outside the door to the Fencing Club's room. It seems like no one's inside. Are they out practicing by now? It might be that time of day, as far as he knows.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Radiant Heart Academy's fencing club is a real and genuine club, with members who often come together to practice their fencing and swordsmanship. It's been around for a few years, even prior to the arrival of so many magical youths, and as clubs go, it's fairly respected.

...by those who aren't Sugata Shindo, kendo club president and dogged believer in training in how to combat weapons opposing your own favored styles. The kendo club has collaborated with a number of the other fighting clubs on campus, from the judo club to the karate club and particularly the cavalry club. The fencing club on the other hand, had said they didn't see the value, given that you couldn't cross a foil and shinai at a tournament.

Short-sighted fools.

Still, on occasion, Sugata drifts by their club room, if only to register his disdain as he passes, and today -

"Mmm, they must have gone to train on the grounds," he notes. "Still, they could have left a note for potential recruits... Sugata Shindo. President of the Kendo Club."

This is to Souta, who he dips a head to in acknowledgement, casting a glance over him curiously.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's passing by the clubrooms, looking down at her phone and typing.

Malloween: Look at all these chapter updates! We eat well tonight, gentlemen!

    Maybe she'll glance a bit at where things are going in each series on the way back to her room, to decide which to be hype for. .oO( Hmm. Gyaru first because it will probably be terrible. Oh. It's time for this chapter. I feel for you, man. Thank god I found Setsuna first-- )

    She is this close to bumping into Souta when Sugata's voice makes her look up and stop. She drops the hand with the phone to her side, and blinks at the boy not in uniform standing outside the club room like he's not usually here. Red eyes glance to Sugata and then over the newcomer.

    "You new here? Or considering attending? ...I think Fencing Club has their meetings outside sometimes, but I don't exactly know their schedule." She offers helpfully. Well, trying to be helpfully, anyway.

    ...And then her brain catches up on what was just said, and she holds a hand to her face. "Oh, he just said that... sorry..."

    Since Sugata introduced himself, she offers an awkward smile and does so as well, "Amanda Faust. Not the president of anything. American exchange student." If Souta doesn't look Japanese, she also holds out a hand to offer a handshake.

Souta Camero has posed:
    "Perhaps they weren't expecting a transfer student this time of year," responds Souta, defending the club despite never once having seen any of its members. He turns to Sugata with a professional looking smile, and then notices and nods to Amy. "Souta Camero. I'm new in town. I... received an invite to this school, oddly enough." He shrugs, not really knowing what to make of this brave new world with such people in it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Shindo-san, Faust-san."

    After a moment, he blinks at Amanda. That... that can't be right, can it? Paradise Spectrum is telling him that hers is the same name he heard when he awoke here. Could she possibly be...?

    If that's so, then the Veil sure is weird. He could swear that she looks nothing like the Puella Magi he met the other day.

    He glances down at the hand, offers his own in return and shakes it.

    "Sounds like I just missed them. A shame really." He takes off his glasses for a moment to clean them with his shirt before putting them back on. "Just as well. Perhaps I'll meet them later. You said you were president of the Kendo Club? I don't suppose you have any cross-club duels?"

    He asks this with a smirk and a curious raised eyebrow. The slight tilt of his head causes his near body-length blonde hair to swish behind him.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"Perhaps," Sugata allows, and there's a faint smile on his face, not so much amused as gracefully accepting that possibility. At the news that he's new in town and received an invitation to the school, he gives the blond a considering glance, before shrugging his shoulders and following up with, "Are you magical, then? If so, I am also Ginga Kingu, the Galactic King."

He's actually managed to stop introducing himself with embarrassment, at this point. He just owns it, goofy Kingu and all.

"And unfortunately, there are no cross-club duels, as the Fencing club doesn't see the value in non-tournament focused training." His disdain leaks into his voice once more. "However, if you've an interest in training at cross-purposes, the kendo club is open to anyone willing to keep up with our training schedule."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "We get transfer students in all times of year!" Amy points out, enthusiastically. Souta Camero... she thinks to herself. That sounds familiar. Probably because of the car.

    But her eyes widen at the next thing. "You got an invite? And you just got here?" She looks over him again, not exactly subtley. For signs of... she's not sure what. A small fairy hanging around him, maybe.

    "From where? Did you come far? Like from another world? Perhaps... Etheria? Or one of the Ocean kingdoms? Or KiraKiraFantastica? Belka?--" oh Shindo-san is coming right out with it, and she sighs in relief. "Oh okay we're just openly asking then. Although man, if it's a coincidence, I guess he'll think we're weird forever." She slumps her shoulders a little. "I mean, I am weird, so, I guess that's not much loss. Maybe people would believe it's some weird little joke we play on new students...?"

Souta Camero has posed:
    Is he magical? Souta considers the question in light of what Chrono's reports said, regarding the Veil. The Veil does keep people's privacy, but not everyone values that to the same level. Sugata is just outing himself and his alternate identity, not giving a single care to the fact that he might come off as someone with middle schooler syndrome. Amy, also.

    Souta Camero, honestly, isn't really that used to hiding his ID really. He's really more of a 'flash your badge and announce yourself' kind of guy.

    "That's right. I'm... new to this planet, actually. I'm an Inspector with the TSAB, or at least I used to be. I suppose I'm permanently MIA now."

    He taps the side of his glasses. "I'm a Device Mage. Mid-childian type, and I'd be fascinated to hear about your Kendo club."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
For once, Amy and Sugata had been on the same tract, and though Sugata doesn't know the names of so many alternate worlds of origin, he's comfortable with having gotten to the heart of it with a few words. He's watching Souta curiously, waiting -

"Another Device Mage? There are nearly as many of you as there are Senshi, if Wako-chan's to be believed on their numbers... interesting. And you use a sword?"

Aloisia had been a shield maiden - he isn't certain what she is just yet, but he recalls a lance, the last they crossed paths.

"Kendo Club meets after school twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays for formal training, and we host duels on Fridays," it's a heavy commitment for a club. "If you're able to keep up when you attend, training isn't mandatory; but the majority of the club isn't magical - merely invested in having something to do, and they haven't been killed yet, so they stay on."

Is that a joke? It must be a joke, but he's not smiling, and yet, surely if he was actually near killing people the club would be shut down?

"My boyfriend Takuto is in the club as well; he's the Ginga Bishounen. He's a dual-wielder, if you have experience fighting that way. I prefer single-sword combat."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Souta also sounds like a likely manga protagonist name. That's probably why.

    ...It's so nice to be on the same page openly with other people for once. Still, she looks a little shocked when someone she doesn't know actually confirms that he's new to this planet, and... a TSAB Inspector. Just like Souta Camero from the other day, who she wonders how he's dealing with schHEY WAIT A MINUTE!

    Amy's mouth gapes open in shock. And then she gives a sharp chuckle that turns into a wheeze, "Every time! That's so weird! Does..." She blinks. "Wait, so, what do I look like, then? Red eyes and red hair aren't exactly common... (well, aside from anime characters.)"

    She leans forward slightly and holds her hand up in front of her face and to the side, with two fingers spread so one's pointing at her eyes and one up at her hair. "And the slightly-different-hue thing is even rarer. What happens if you scan me? Does that give it away or is that too far?"

    She blinks at Sugata. "Wait, people actually use two-sword style? I mean, in kendo not just in magic?" And then she looks back at Souta curiously, watching to see if he really can't put it together.

    So weird.

Souta Camero has posed:
    As the conversation moves to magic, Souta glances down the hall to see who else is watching. It seems it's just the three of them for now.

    "My Device changes forms. One of them is a two-handed sword. The blade is magic so of course the weight isn't quite the same. It also turns into a halberd, or a pair of tonfas, so you could say I'm practiced in three styles." With a shrug, he adds, "Using a non-magical weapon might require an adjustment period, but I imagine there are many fundamentals in common."

    The details of the Kendo Club are noted and recorded in Paradise Spectrum's database. Naturally, Souta would be gathering that data even if he wasn't interested, but finding a club with at least some other magicals makes sense on some level. Even if they have to pretend in front of the normals.

    What a weird concept, that magic would be a secret. Well, it would not be the first secret that Souta has had to keep.

    He's also fairly certain that Sugata is joking and just has a very deadpan sense of humor. Surely Chrono's reports would have mentioned if there was regular mortal combat on the school grounds.

    Amanda Faust gets a curious look. "Well, I tend not to scan without probable cause. It's an invasion of privacy unless there's a good reason... but no, scanning doesn't seem to actually break the Veil, as much as that vexes me. I honestly can't even tell if you're magic or not unless you tell me."

    Which means that yes, he's tried it a few times by now, and no it did not work.

    "Is it so uncommon? I wouldn't really know, but I've seen at least two red haired, red eyed girls so far."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"What's weird - oh, had you already met?" Somehow, he's not surprised. Amy Faust seems to have her fingers in every pie; if they were closer he'd wonder how she was keeping up with her school work. As he's not, he just points out, "If you just introduce yourself fully, you don't have to deal with it. There's a reason the three of us just give out both names."

Admittedly, the reason is mostly because the thought of maintaining a secret identity is foreign and pointless, but that doesn't change that it's a valid reason.

"And you may not have noticed, but unusual hair and eyes is hardly uncommon either."

The three of them represent the classical primary colors, right now, between red, blue, and yellow.

At the second question, actually directed towards him, he just shrugs. "In theory, yes. In practice, Takuto is one of the few I've met who are effective at it. Now -"

And there's an edge of excitement to his smile, now.

"Can you change the devices form at will, or are you set with one form throughout the course of a fight? The kendo club may be primarily for mundane weaponry, but Takuto and I both have magical swords as well, as do a few others in the community, and a challenge is more than welcome."

He's absolutely not asking Takuto if that's alright.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Your weapon has three forms? Damn, that's like something out of an anime..." Amy quips.

    He's already seen two? Counting her, presumably. "Then you've already seen at least half of the red-eyes-red-hair students, I think, at least among the teen years." She straightens up and holds her arms out to her side, palms forward. "Really? Scanning shows nothing even when my linker core's not where it's s'posed to be? Wild."

    She blinks at Sugata pointing out that overall, weird eye and hair colors aren't uncommon, and she nods, "Yeah, I just meant, this one specifically..."

    Although it does strike her, now, that she's Red and she's talking to a Blue and a Yellow, and she hadn't really picked up on that before, but when the other two are guys the sentai-style theming jumps out more. Sugata's team has a Red, a Blue, and a Yellow too...

    She's wondered why her hair and eye color changed, sometimes, and it's not escaped her that perhaps either she subconsciously picked up on tropes or they're part of the universe.

    She drops her right hand with the phone to her side, and holds her left hand to her face as she closes her eyes for a couple of seconds and mutters, "Does that mean I'm Red One...?" She opens her eyes. "I mean, one of them. I guess that'd more be Takuto...?"

    Right, what were they talking about?

    Oh right. She smiles.

    "I'm Amanda Faust. Puella Magi. Nice to meet you again." She watches his face for a reaction as she says it, and transfers her phone to her left hand so she can hold out the right to offer a handshake.

Souta Camero has posed:
    "At will," Souta answers Sugata with no hesitation. He does not seem particularly against a magical duel. If anything, he needs to keep his skills sharp if he's going to keep up in this environment, and he doesn't have any Horrible Price he'd have to pay for magical overuse. "In fact I tend to swap them pretty often, if that's something you're interested in seeing."

    Souta wouldn't be surprised if he was asked to stick to one form as a handicap or for training reasons, but Sugata isn't striking him as the type who'd want that. No, Souta's seen many a young TSAB agent who wanted to challenge themselves, including every time he's seen a mirror.

    Regarding his scans, Souta shrugs. "You'd be surprised at how strong the Veil is. I know I am. I don't think I've seen anything like it before coming here. I still can't decide if it actually changes your face in some subtle way or if it just... blocks the part of your brain that lets you connect the dots."

    Then Amanda is introducing herself again, as a Puella Magi, and Souta's eyes widen slightly in tightly-contained surprise as it finally clicks. "Oh, yes. You were there. I'm afraid you saw me at my worse." He takes the offered handshake for the second time and says, "Thank you again for your assistance. I'd hate to think what would have happened if you and your friends weren't there."

    She was right there and he didn't notice. Fascinating.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"Takuto is sometimes the red one, but it would help if I knew what you were talking about," Sugata says patiently, though really, the majority of his attention is on Souta. It's not that he's a battle-hungry maniac, or anything like that, but kendo had been an outlet, for many years and fighting had become a greater release. Mastering his family's style of combat had been the effort of his childhood, but advancing and continuing to grow as a warrior is still something he pursues actively.

What can he say? It's useful in Tokyo.

"It is. I recruit heavily among the other clubs for cross-club duels, all the better to aid the club members in learning to keep their cool and adapt their training in new and difficult circumstances. I would enjoy a chance to cross weapons with you."

The challenge of keeping up with an opponent equally skilled in three separate styles of combat all in the same duel - he wants to have that fight as much as he wants to throw Takuto and Kazuo at it.

Amy and Souta have clearly had a meeting in less than stellar circumstances - Sugata takes note of that, but can also see clearly that whatever awkwardness had been present at the start, it hasn't lasted through to the current moment.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Like... like in sentai? There's always a red ranger..." Amy answers Sugata awkwardly.

    "Daaaaamn, barely a reaction at all. You must've seen some crazy stuff in space."

    At his worst? She shrugs and shakes her head a little as they shake hands. "You got whammied by a magical artifact. It's not your fault. You'd do the same for any of us, right?"

    "So... I gotta know. You and Officer Chrono were like... so were you like considered adults in space society, all done with school and everything?" she asks, curiously. "Or is that not quite how it worked?"

Souta Camero has posed:
    Souta considers Sugata's words for a moment, then nods. "It sounds like a mutually beneficial arrangement, then. I show you what I'm about, you show me what you're about, and we both broaden our perspectives of the world."

    Now that he's stranded here forever.

    "Though I still have yet to get my feet back under me. Perhaps once I've settled in, I'll give the Kendo club a visit? I'm not exactly sworn to any particular club yet." He nudges his head towards the Fencing Club, who might not actually end up getting his participation after all. Not if they don't do cross-discipline duels in any case.

    To Amy, he closes his eyes and shakes his head. "In my line of work I've had to cultivate a poker face. Rest assured you did surprise me. And yes, of course I would. It's the duty of any TSAB officer."

    Is he considered an adult in TSAB society? "How it works can vary a lot from world to world. For me, a lot of my early schooling was done in a classroom, but I was pulled out a bit early for Device training. Telepathy and the existence of Intelligent Devices makes education and training look very different than your 'textbook and lecture' model. Some Device users can study while performing other tasks, which is how I tended to keep up my studies after my formal schooling ended."

Sugata Shindo has posed:
"Power Rangers? ...Ah, Super Sentai? I haven't taken a look at that since I was a child, but there were a lot of red warriors, weren't there?" Blue ones, too, but at least he understands what that 'red one' comment was about now. Amy is given a nod of understanding, before Souta claims Sugata's attention once more.

"A mutually beneficial arrangement to be sure, and one not contingent on membership of the kendo club," he glances at the fencing club's sign and shrugs. "If you'd like to be shown to a few of the other clubs you may find interesting, I have time. You've newly arrived - understanding your options is the wise choice."

He can respect it - and it's not like Souta will need to join Kendo Club for them to duel one another. Sugata wouldn't reject another challenger, not one properly worth his time, but they'll all know that in Souta's case, kendo isn't giving a real and proper challenge.

"That sounds like a more efficient form of schooling by far," he says dryly, "A shame you've been brought back down to our standard."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy listens to Souta's explanation. She can't remember thinking to ask the same of Chrono, but there had been other revelations distracting her when they'd talked about magic and stuff. "I see. That sounds really great, I wish I had it when I was in school both times." u_u

    "...But uh, well, I just wanted to let you know if you need to vent to someone else about having to be back in school again, or about society suddenly treating you like you're a lot less independent and mature, I get it. It's not just the space people it's a change for." n_n

    "I can explain better sometime when we're not standing around in the hallway likely to get interrupted, if you want. But um. Good luck, here. And hey, Radiant Heart's actually a really nice place! Not just in that we get room and board, but the people too. There is no place better on Earth for you to be stranded, I'm sure!" Well, she's trying to be reassuring and her words are earnest, at least!

Souta Camero has posed:
    Souta decides that he can understand Sugata, at least on some level. Enough that they can likely get along. That's at least friendship-adjacent, right? Close enough.

    "If it wouldn't be a bother, I'd like that," he says, in regards to the galactic king's offer. "If nothing else it'll give me the lay of the land."

    Amy says some mysterious things that don't really make sense to him. "You've been in school twice?"

    Wait... less independent and mature? That... explains some of the confusing interactions he's had recently. Including someone telling him that he was 'such a well mannered boy'. Oh dear. This culture actually view him as akin to a child, don't they?

    A dire thought. Maybe not quite as reassuring as Amy intended, but a warning he probably needed to hear regardless.

    "Thank you for your... reassurances, Faust-san. I'll see you around, I'm sure."