Marina could be an incredibly intelligent girl, when she applied herself and used her brain. Unfortunately, she could also be not just dumb, but spectacularly dumb. Some, I've heard, define insanity by saying that performing the same actions over and over again expecting a different result is the very definition of it.

But Marina isn't insane.

She's just infinitely hopeful. Once more after a night like any other, she did her best, to stay up for as long as possible, waiting until the very last minute, because her parents had told her that they would be home in time to have dinner with her, as they had many times in the months I've been living at this house, and Marina cooked up a whole feast for them, then sat on the dinner table, endlessly, for hours, until she simply could not stay up anymore, then ate her dinner very cold, and went to sleep.

Alas, not much else I can do but simply stay with her through the night. She didn't even want me to sit on her lap as she waited, because her parents disliked me being on furniture. At the end of the night, her parents arrived long after she had conked out for the night.

They didn't even care to check on her, they just reheated the food she made and ate it like it was nothing, before going to sleep. They both reeked of alcohol and perfume, and I had a bit of an idea of what they might've been doing to come back so much later than they had promised they would.

Through the night, Marina slept quietly.

The fact that she didn't even let out a single peep was only testament to just how accustomed she was to her parents' lies and abandonment. I stayed with her for the night, rather than going out to explore as I had intended to, and by the time I woke up as she began to stir, it seemed like the previous day's events had not even happened, she woke up bright and early, and once again, her parents basically rushed out of the house.

I decided that I would go with her to school. It wasn't too difficult to follow her and sneak in, people really don't pay all that much attention to a random cat wandering around a school building. I am quite glad that the prey I hunt does not possess the ability to pass for a house pet, because I too would most likely dismiss a wandering cat.

School was... boring mostly. It was very large and filled with kids, and that made it a perfect place for me to stalk and hunt. And yes, I do realize how terrible that sounds, but well, if you're gonna be looking for a certain ilk, you'd be looking for them in their hunting grounds.

That meant using my stealthy cat abilities to look around the school and observe the teachers. I don't know if I should be happy that I didn't find any overtly obvious predators in school, or if I should be annoyed that I'm going to have to put more effort into observation. Furthermore, trying to listen in on the conversations of students doesn't reveal anything as obvious and usable as a student being approached by an adult with unwelcome intentions.

Mostly just kids complaining about school, as kids often do.

Running around the school was at least good exercise, the place is genuinely immense, and way bigger than any school has any right to be, I don't even know how to describe it... or maybe it just looks that way because I'm the size of a regular house cat. Probably the latter.

It doesn't really sink in until you're in an auditorium.

Once I confirmed that Marina was having a nice day chatting with her friends and having fun, and not feeling particularly inclined to sneak into the locker rooms to keep watch over her as the students changed into their gym uniforms, I left the school and decided to wander the city, until eventually I found a nice and warm spot to nap on.

I was woken up, then, not by natural means, but instead, by the sound of clashing steel and beams of energy crashing into the ground and causing havoc.

Beams of pink light shot into the air not too far from the building I was napping on top of, and I could see arcs of blue light flying out at incredible speeds, mostly towards the sky as well. The pink beams were familiar, so I stretched my limbs and shook the sleep off of my body, then I was moving.

Running like the wind, stretching what should be the limits of a regular house cat and stepping into the realm of the superfeline strength, agility and dexterity that I possessed, as I leaped across buildings with contemptuous ease, far outpacing what any other cat could achieve, even bigger wild cats.

It didn't take me long at all to reach the place where the pink beams I was so familiar with from Marina's attacks were coming from, and I immediately realized what was happening when I found not just Marina, in that magical girl form with the puffy white dress, but also the other girl I had recently met.

The contrast between the two of them was all the more evident now, a light brown haired girl in a puffy white princess dress, with a staff, shooting pink beams at a dark haired girl in a dark blue bodyglove with black armor that seemed a cross of modern kevlar and medieval plate style, wielding a bladed swordspear that was firing off arcs of blue energy.

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I moved swiftly, leaping around the houses to get closer and get a better view. They were fighting in one of the pedestrian only roads, which was basically something of an alley between houses, one of the remnants of the original small town that had grown much bigger over time.

The girl who had introduced herself as a Dark Heart was swinging her bladed spear around like it weighed nothing, her movements were not just swift, but also precise, and though she hadn't managed to score anything more than a glancing blow on Marina, it was clear that she was dominating the fight, forcing Marina to constantly be on the defensive, leaping, jumping and flying away from not just the slashes themselves, but also from the waves of cutting energy that were leaving cuts and gouges on the stone and concrete walls of the pedestrian walk.

I was actually forced to go on the move, to follow them.

"You, a Pure Heart, would dare show your face in my town, hunt Corrupted Hearts in my city!!" the girl shouted, her anger clear in her tone, positively dripping with venom as she swung her weapon threateningly, forcing Marina to raise her staff and block a series of slashing waves that would've chopped her to bits if they hit.

Marina then countered with a blast of pink light, though the Dark Heart girl moved so swiftly it appeared as if she just blurred to the side, dodging it entirely, then dodging the two follow ups with similarly swift movement.

Then she moved forward and swung her weapon, though Marina managed to throw herself to the side to dodge it, only to be caught as the Dark Heart girl kicked the rolling Marina, sending her flying and landing with her back against the wall.

"You have no idea what you're getting into," the Dark Heart said, tapping the butt of her bladed spear type weapon against the ground, then once again taking a combat stance, the blade in front of her and pointed down.

"What are you even talking about, aren't we on the same side!?" Marina responded. "We're both supposed to hunt those who've been overwhelmed by their corrupt desire, right?!" she shouted, "so why are you attacking me!?"

"We're not on the same side, we never really were," the Dark Heart said, softly, "your kind... I will never forgive you or your kind," she said, raising her weapon above her head and spinning it so fast it momentarily looked like the blades of a helicopter even to my dynamic sight.

There was obviously some sort of very bad blood between Miss Dark Heart and my human, Marina. It was also very obvious to me that Miss Dark Heart was significantly stronger, more experienced and skilled than Marina, to the point that she was tossing Marina around like a ragdoll in their battle, which was rejoined and forced into a quick melee.

While Marina managed to avoid the blade of the polearm Miss Dark Heart was threatening to disembowel her with, Marina's handle of her staff as a melee weapon was simply not good enough to fight off Miss Dark Heart, and so she found herself knocked around and slammed into a wall again.

"I'll take your heart," the girl said, "I'll cut it out of your body and take your powers with it," she said, "and then you'll be where you're supposed to be, just another civilian... out of my way," she said, extending her weapon, though she was a step too far away to actually poke Marina's chest with it.

Alright, I'd seen enough at that point.

Jumping off the roof I was watching from, I leaped into the deserted, out of the way alley between houses, and then touched down between Marina and Miss Dark Heart, my paw pads barely making any noise, yet testament to her incredible reflexes, Miss Dark Heart nearly swung on me as I touched down.

"Mrow."

"It's- Mr. Kitty? What are you doing here..? You shouldn't get involved in Dark Heart business, Mr. Kitty," the dark haired girl said softly, her gaze losing some sharpness as her eyes focused on me.

I purred, stepped up to her and then with a singular, mighty leap, jumped onto her shoulder, and then bumped my head against her cheek, my whiskers feeling a little tingly and my eyes a little bothered by the glow of her eyes as I distracted her with some good old cat affection.

As the level of her overt hostility dropped, her grip on her weapon lightened, and I walked around her neck and down her other shoulder, moving to her bicep before jumping off her arm. She might as well be a brick wall, so strong and hard that I didn't even move her as I jumped off.

I landed in front of her, between her and Marina once more. "Mrow."

"Mr. Kitty," she said, softly. "Are you..."

"K-Kuro..?" Marina asked, her voice weak. "N-No, run, you'll get hurt..."

"I see... is she your owner?"

"Mrow," I looked up at her, trying to convey how wrong she was. Marina was my human. I owned her, not the other way around. Get it right. My tail waved by itself before I regained control of it, and forced it down, sitting on my bottom and haunches and wrapping it around my paws.

She looked at her weapon, then at me, then at Marina.

"So you'll defend her, Mr. Kitty..? Like you helped me, I guess," she said. She took a step back, and pointed her weapon at Marina. "Listen here and listen well, Pure Heart," she said, raising her weapon and making a show of twirling it before making a threatening swing, "I don't trust you, nor your kind. I'll never forgive any of you for what you did," she said. "One day, I'll take your heart... until then, don't let any Corrupted Heart devour you," she said. "And you Mr. Kitty..." she said, crouching in front of me and petting me. "Good kitty..." she muttered, clearly distracted, as I rubbed my head against her open hand.

Then she realized what she was doing, stood up, cleared her throat and jumped away.

"We'll meet again, and it'll be our last, Mr. Kitty won't be there to defend you next time, Pure Heart!!"

"Mrow."

I would be where I needed to be.

"I- Kuro, I-" Marina choked up. Before I could say anything, not that I could say anything anyway, she looked at me with a face of pure shame, and then turned around and leapt away, in the opposite direction that Miss Dark Heart had jumped to.

Well.

That was a bit of an issue, wasn't it?

I don't think Marina wants to see me right now. I can't imagine what's going through her head, but after getting beat up so badly in a fight and running away, I think I probably represent a bit of a bad memory.

And more to the point, Miss Dark Heart clearly knows a lot more of what's going on. I really need to know what's going on if I am going to be helping my human deal with it as best as I can. On top of that, Miss Dark Heart's got one hell of a chip on her shoulder, and I happen to know quite a bit about having those.

While giving Marina time to cool off... well, I caught the scent of Miss Dark Heart, and all I have to do, is follow it to her.

There's rivalry afoot, and I want to know exactly where it comes from.