Being involved in a fight wasn’t uncommon in Tomina’s lifestyle. Even if she directly wasn’t a part of it, it was common for a fight to take place in her general vicinity. The very nature of a transient lifestyle meant getting into turf disputes with other homeless people. Tomina had won every fight she had gotten into of course. The more troublesome part was when a fight disturbed her sleep, which happened with regularity. Granted today’s case was anything but normal.

Tomina’s upper body snapped up as she jolted awake. The sound of a guy slamming into the ground from the upper level of the bridge was hard to ignore. Right after that, a pale woman gracefully landed near him. Tomina blinked, then rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. Nope, she was definitely there. And now surrounded by a bunch of thugs threatening her. Tomina clambered to her feet with the intent of helping her. But just like that it was over.

Tomina could barely follow the woman’s movements. This was a new thing for her. She had never seen anyone move like that before. Or rather, not see them move. She concentrated and focused on sensing the woman’s power. Tomina’s eyes widened as she sensed the gap between them. Well that probably had something to do with it. It was then the woman noticed Tomina. She had the palest skin she had ever seen, and stunning golden eyes. It was then the woman casually greeted her, like she was just walking down the street.

“Hey. Well, sleep in is now out of the question.”

Tomina started packing up what little belongings she had. She folded her blanket and tucked it into her bag. Which she had been using as a pillow.

“You don’t have to worry about me snitching. What you do in your off time isn’t any of my business. I’m heading off to East City today anyway. They usually have a part-time job available.”

This girl was not someone to mess with. It was earlier than planned, but she would go on her journey to East city. That way she'd avoid trouble and earn some money. At least, that was the plan.

"Oh. Well, that's good then. Girls like us shouldn't get involved in shady shit."

Tomina blinked, looking at the other girl bemused as she walked towards her. Then she froze, looking at her stunned as she just outright offered her... well, a fix to all her immediate problems. There was no way that this wasn't some kind of trick. That's what Tomina would normally think. But given how strong this girl was, she didn't really need to do that. She could just drag her off by force if she wanted to. Tomina rubbed the back of her head.

"I mean, you aren't wrong about that. I only have just enough energy left to make it to East City. Are you going to insist on taking me with you? Cause if you are there's nothing I can do about it. Not with what I'm sensing. Shit, are you even human? I'm not trying to insult you or anything. But you look rather exotic and your power is fucking ridiculous."

Tomina chuckled. “I’m pretty sure he would have called me the same thing if the positions were reversed. Most girls can’t punch a guy off a bridge that hard. Or jump off the bridge unscathed. That’s one thing you and I have in common.”

Tomina let out a sigh, rubbing the back of her head. “Most people in my position have to look gift horses in the mouth. Since it could be a Trojan horse to trick you into some human trafficking ring. But it’s as you said: I don’t have the strength to say no even if I wanted to. Fuck it, take me to wherever you’re going to take me to.”

Oh, she was comfortable with sex then? Well, that was certainly a factoid that one usually didn’t spit out. Tomina herself had never had intercourse. It wasn’t exactly at the forefront of her mind. Tomina blinked as she came to a possible realization. Was this some sort of ploy to get her into bed? Maybe she just liked picking up pretty people down on their luck and this was her way of being nice while getting something out of it. Her cheeks took a slight pink hue.

“I imagine they don’t like reversed gender roles. Although in our case I think it’s a combination of being really strong and having unique characteristics. Most girls don’t have intimidating features like we do. Although it kinda surprises me they’d be intimidated by a girl interested in casual sex. I figured guys liked a no strings attached fuck. But maybe they prefer their girls a little more plain”

Tomina pointed to her red eyes to emphasize her point about their appearances. She then looked around at all the unconscious men around them when this girl pointed out what she was likely to do to those kinds of people.

“Right. Well, I do need to recoup. I’m not sure how you’re going to permanently fix my situation, but even a temporary reprieve would be nice.”

Tomina shuffled forward, trying to keep pace with the strange girl. “The name’s Tomina, by the way. What’s yours?”

Tomina looked at the pale girl in confusion. “Is that really what guys like? I haven’t paid romance any mind, given my living situation. If that’s really how it works, then those people are dumbasses. You are who you are. How you behave shouldn’t be up to others.”

Tomina looked around at the guys in disgust at the newest revelation she got from the pale girl. She knew there were some seedy people out there. But to think that a bunch of them would gang up on what they thought was a defenseless woman.

“Fucking pigs. They deserve to drown in a ditch for that shit.”

So she got a name. Atsuko. The more she talked with her, the more questions she had. This woman was an enigma that Tomina couldn’t read. She seemed to be a good person. But it was hard to tell whether she was doing this because she legitly cared about her health, or if it was just a fun pet project done on a whim. Tomina followed the woman to wherever she was taking her.

“You seem to want to keep me around, so you’ll have all the time in the world to talk about your convoluted life. Although if you want to keep it a secret, that’s fine too. Everyone has things they’d rather not talk about. Also wish-granting dragon? That sounds like a figure of speech, but that’s pretty fucking specific.”

Christ, men were weird. Or was that weirdness just considered normal standards by most people? Maybe she and Atsuko were the weird ones, despite obviously being right on the matter. Tomina snorted, giving the unconscious guys one last glance.

“That and they probably weren’t all that interested in talking with you to begin with. They sound like the kind of guys that just want to get down to business without any kind of foreplay. I’d want someone to buy dinner for me first, ya know?”

Tomina rolled her eyes at the mention of some strong leader. “Oh god, that guy again. I haven’t even met that asshole and he’s been a pain in my ass. Patrols have been much more common as a result of his goons running amok. It took me forever to find a place where nobody would look. But even then they still manage to wake me up by pissing you off.”

Well, just one more reason to leave West city behind. She followed Atsuko to a clearing. Her eyes widened as she basically produced a mansion from her pocket. Tomina was well aware that capsule technology existed. But she had never had access to it before now.

“The only books they had at the orphanage were fairy tales and other old books. I haven’t heard much about superstitious rumors.”

Although Atsuko clearly didn’t think it was a rumor. Tomina looked around in awe, impressed by the design of the mansion. Atsuko literally was carrying a building that was far better than any place she had ever been in around in her pocket. She then looked over at the pale girl, giving her a slight smirk.

“You think you can grant every wish I have then? Well even if you can’t grant every wish, you can grant a lot more than just one. Why bother chasing after those dragon balls when I’ve got you in my life? Cause damn, you must be loaded to have a place like this.”