It's the evening after the battle in the park - Takashi, Hannah, and Ayana fought against a mixed bag of opponents and emerged somewhat victorious, though Hannah recieved a rather rough assault.
Takashi is, as usual, in his personal lab within the between-spaces of the Easter Skyscraper. He's moved from paper to his laptop, at least, and is looking at some of the datapoints for that battle. Despite the wound he sustained, he's looking much better after this fight than many in the past.
Partly, because they got the artifact they showed up for - and partly because the battle included many device users, more than he's ever seen in one place, and thus gave him a large amount of raw data to look at in regards to the creation of the things, and the upgrading of his own. There's a scattering of parts on a nearby table - he's engrossed in the dual projects of attempting to upgrade his own device and building a low-yeild second device for Ayana.
Ayana spent most of the night fussing over Takashi's injuries, even as he likely waved her away. Not badly injured, he likely assured her; yet still, the fuzzy-eared familiar insisted on checking over his cuts and bruises and ensuring they were properly mending. He awoke to find a "gift" in the form of a cracked raw egg, an opened bag of jerkey, and a hand-written note from Ayana:
I was gonna eat them, because they're really tasty, but I think you
need the more than I want them, and I am worried for you. Please eat
your breakfast. I will be home tonight.
-- Vm~
True to her implication, Ayana was out all day, prowling the streets in frustration and irritation while Takashi worked on his research. Now, though, with evening settling in, the familiar returns to their home, hand shoved in her pockets and a sour expression on her features. Pushing open the door, she enters the room as quietly as she can and slips off her boots at the door. "Sorry I was gone so long," she mumbles as she stalks towards the bed and flops down.
Takashi looks up from the magic-turned-code-simulation. He smiles. "I trust you. Also, humans have to have their eggs /cooked/. If I ate the raw ones, I might get sick." he continues with a smile. "...You should probably cook your eggs too, you know. You're not a wild fox anymore."
He taps a few more things out on the computer. "You worry too much. That fight went fine, you know. We got what we came for, and I got a lot of data, as well. Magic's a funny thing like that - it's hard to simulate. I get a lot better results from getting into little scuffles like than than I do trying to get the systems here to simulate it."
He picks up a piece of now-cold pizza out of a box nearby - it's about half eaten now. "If it wasn't for my mother's work I wouldn't even be as far along as I am now, and you'd still be a fox. Anyways, how did your prowling go today?" he adds, before offering her a piece as well.
Ayana blinks at the suggestion of cooking eggs. Normally, Takashi makes perfect sensee. This one, however, is about as foreign an idea to her as suggesting an entire kingdom on the moon. "But if you cook the egg, how will you drink the delicious parts?" she asks thoughtfully, then frowns. "My prowling did not go well. I met one of the magical girls from last night," she explains. "I think that her name is Lena. I have met her also as Black Fox, but she does not know that I am both. Anyways, we did not fight, but we did talk. She did not make me feel less angry at magical girls."
Takashi raises an eyebrow. "What did you talk about?" he asks. "Also, there's a benefit to having them, you know. Any good experiment has to take into account multiple factors and sources. The magic they wield is different from ours, and if we keep engaging them, we'll get more data. Every time we fight, win or lose, is another step on the way to ultimate power." He blinks. That sounded a little mad-science, didn't it?
"In any case, that's why I've positioned you on that side of the fence too. To understand them."
"They had no reason to attack us," Ayana points out. "This is what Lena and I discussed: why we were attacked, and whether it was justified. She believes it was, because if the object had happened to be of immense power, it would have been her duty to seal it. I do not see what gives her the right to make that decision for us. I think that magical girl sare evil, Takashi-sensei. They are certainly very angering."
"They're doing what the weak do." he says, with a bit of a sly smile. "They are, metaphorically speaking, nipping at our heels. Trying to drag us down. They see power and want to seal it - keep it away from us - even when they are too weak, either in strength or courage, to use that power themselves. I simply can't respect that - they don't push for individual power either. Did you see how they always automatically found themselves side by side, trying to hold us off - but I was able to rely on both you and Miss White to hold your own? It's frankly pathetic. Leaning on others rather than building your own strength."
"Leaning on others like a crutch is a weakness," Ayana agrees, "but trusting in teammates is a strength. But ... what bothers me is that they attacked like ... like scavengers. Instead of hunting for their own prize, they came to pick the prize we had earned like crows. Like carrion." She wrinkles her nose, then asks, "Did you at least learn something interesting from whatever it is we got?"
Takashi shakes his head. "Trusting in teammates is a way to get yourself backstabbed, or make a target out of them. If you have to trust your strength in teammates, then you're just building up an easy way to hurt yourself in the long run - they can attack you by going through others, harm your power. At least your power is bound up with mine." he adds.
"I have no problem with them trying to take it if they thought they were strong enough. But they weren't individually stronger, which means they only succeeded by grouping up. I won't begrudge if a lion can chase off others. But together, like that they're just as you say - a flock of vultures."
"I did. Most of them were wielding Devices. Which means they're less rare than I thought. And I want to get ahold of some more to study. If I can keep finding examples, maybe I can start producing parts or even whole prototype models, instead of relying on what I can find and peice together. Not that I've done badly for that, mind."
Ayana starts to say something else, but then stops herself and shakes her head. She writhes around a moment in discomfort, then sits up and notes, "Hannah wants to be your girlfriend."
Takashi blinks. He just blinks. Rapidly. "I'm sorry. What?" he asks, plainly. "Did you get a head injury from the girl with the firesword last night?"
"She told me," Ayana says, in a very small voice. "She said ... she worries that you're all cooped up all the time, all by yourself, all lonely. And that she wants to be your girlfriend, but she knows you'd never do that. She told me that I have to make sure to keep you company so you aren't lonely. I worry about you, too, Takakun. Friendship isn't always a weakness. Sometimes it's a strength. If you can trust the person you're friends with."
"I understand why you'd worry, because our fates our the same. If bad things happen to me, then you're affected too." he says, smiling and reaching over and ruffling her hair and scratching her ears.
"But for Hannah... her heart is too big for the kind of work we're doing. She cares too much about other people. Ao, and apparently myself. I mean, we've already seen what happens when someone strikes out at someone she cares about. It's a weakness. It makes her a better person than me. But it makes her weak." he adds.
There's an air of self-resentment in his tone, especially at admitting Hannah might be a 'better' person than him. "I'm not going to let anything get in my way - I'm going to do whatever I have to do. Because someone has to be on top of everyone else. That's just nature. And my mother and father sacrificed so much for me to have the potential inside me. The potential nobody else has."
Ayana leans into the ear-ruffling, then grins fangily at Takashi. "There is no reason you have to sacrifice being on top to also have fun." The familiar opens her eyes and peers at Takashi intently. "And if friendship can be a source of power, then you are weakening yourself by pushing away all friends. You gained strength by making me, even though it cost you a little of yourself. Now we can do twice as much as you could before, even if we share your mana. Ignoring Hannah's friendship may make you weaker, as well. Will you at least consider it?"
"I think you misunderstand. I treasure my alliance, or my friendship, with Miss White." he adds. "I just understand the realities of the situation. Eventually, Miss White and I may find ourselves at cross purposes, or some other situation that comes up. I don't want to be so attached that I develop a complex, in such a situation, in choosing myself."
"No matter what anyone tells you, there is only room for one person at the top." he adds. "My mother undersood that." A pause. "I don't have to worry about you, because you're a part of me. Like an awesome little furry right hand that I can trust to go around and do things, and work in our combined favor 100% of the time. But I don't think that extends to anyone else, honestly. If you think Miss White isn't hiding things from me, you're adorable, but naive."
Ayana lets out a low, soft growl of irritation, then says, "I didn't say she isn't hiding things, nor that she should be your equal. But if you're at the top all by yourself, then you're not going to stay there for long. Every great leader needs troops and support staff. She could be your right hand, and I your left. She can do things for you that I can't. She has her own mana, for one thing. I think you are being foolish and weak to ignore the opportunity of /solidifying/ your alliance with her; making it more than just the casual agreement it is. But you don't want my advice; I can see that, now. I should probably go pretend to be someone else's friend for a while. Maybe I'll find that girl that I was fighting. I bet she wants a friend." Ayana rolls away and heads towards her boots, fully intending to pull them back on and be on her way.
"You're misunderstanding me again." Takashi huffs in indignation. "We work together. We support each other. Do you even know how worried I was when she was inj..." he stops himself.
Does /he/ even know how worried he was? Can he explain it? The thought process stops there and he pretty much has to wait for his brain to reboot.
"I take all of your advice to heart, Ayana. Otherwise I'd just chase you off and back to work. Just because I don't agree with you one-hundred-percent doesn't mean I'm not taking it into account." he smiles a bit. "I would think of all of the things in Tokyo you would understand me well enough to know that."
Ayana hesitates at the door when he admits how worried he was. Her ears perk up and her eyes widen ... but he doesn't chase the thought, and her ears wilt to either side. "All I am asking is that you /consider/ the benefits of allowing her to be your girlfriend," she says quietly. "Even if you're lying to her about your affections in return, making her /think/ she has that with you may increase what she is willing to do for your power. Therefore, it may improve your power. Just ... just consider it, okay, Takakun?"
He lets out a semi-defeated, semi-bemused sigh. And there's still a smile on his face, admittedly. "Fiiine. I will consider it. You have my honest promise I will give it the due consideration. Don't pout, it doesn't become a fox-girl. Much less my familiar." he adds, with a wink.
Ayana literally hops into the air, clapping her hands in excitement as Takashi capitulates. The fox-girl's tail wags frantically as she rushes forward to pounce on him, wrapping her arms around Takashi in a big, squeezing hug. "You're the best master a familiar could have," she promises Takashi as she hugs him tight.