THE MOMENT
"Can I help you?" Kirk asked after the green-haired girl had made two slow laps around him. She held his gaze better than he held hers as she passed before him, and he could feel her stare on him whenever she passed behind. He'd just left the cafeteria and he was crossing the courtyard toward his team's common base. A lot of the students could create portals innately and almost all of them could create portal cards with their nodes. There were rarely more than a couple hundred people taking the walkways and Kirk had never really been one of them. The cool weather and cloudy sky were inviting enough. He'd been trying new decisions lately, but now he wasn't so sure that was a good thing.
"I was on the fence." She shook her head with a smile. "But, only squares ask like that. I don't need anything from a square." Except, despite her words she didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave. And as his eyes darted around he got a good look at her in bits in pieces. She had a high ponytail and wore a white cardigan with a red poodle skirt, with a stylized devil.
"Hey," he realized he'd seen her before. "You were at the Breeze Bag opening, right?" he asked.
"I was starting to think you didn't notice me," she replied. "You're Kirk; I asked around. I'm Monica. It's super-peachy meeting you, Kirk."
"You... asked about me?" Kirk was surprised. There was a large group when he saw her last, and he felt a bit concerned knowing someone was targeting him.
"I said that, didn't I?" she nodded. "You got so many rocks that I got a hunch. And, I was right about you," she winked. "Diablitos like you and me, our luck's just the pits isn't it?"
"Wait,... my luck's always been like that... it's always going to be horrible??" Kirk asked. He hadn't made a lot of friends during his first two years, and none of them were a Diablito Unique Soul like him. They seemed to be rare as far as he could tell. The school was the size of an Earth with Unique Soul students from across the multiverse. Yet, he discovered less than 200 of them were Diablitos, while most of the other classifciations had attending numbers in the thousands. If she was one too, he could think of a few reasons she would want to meet him. And unfortunately, none of the ones he could imagine were good outcomes.
"Not always," Monica shook her head in a way that made her ponytail swish energetically, as if it was intentional. "We also get nifty spikes of good luck to kind of even it out. If you hadn't noticed it yet, maybe your good luck's still charging up."
"So... you're a Redline Guard, right?" He asked. In a way, he was hoping to remind her of her duties. Deep down, if he thought about it, he would've realized there was no way she could kill him without repercussions. But, he was too uncomfortable to think, along with being mildly terrified. Unique Souls grew stronger by killing others of the same type, and the longer she remained the more that scenario grew likely in his mind.
"Magical Girl Redline Devil," she replied with a grin and a nod.
"So, why are there so many Redline Guards here now?" Kirk asked. He hadn't been particularly curious, but he did want to keep her talking.
"That's a long story for another time, dreamboat. I just met you. Can't be a wet rag and start talking about the Uni-Court right away. Where are you headed?"
"Oh, uh..." Was he in danger? Kirk didn't know anymore. It sounded like she wanted to actually have a next time. "...just goin' to the garage. Maintenance day today. I've gotta tend to my Frame."
"That's right! I heard you had a condor mecha. It'd be wild to see one up close," Monica smirked.
"Maintenance huh?" she nodded at him to get him in the right mindset, then popped the question. "Can I help you?"