''That's only what a non-smiler would say, non-smiler!'' She shouted it like it was a scathing insult. She stood there smiling like an idiot for a few seconds waiting for Ylva's response, only to realize she was getting back to work. She wasn't going to let the cold bestie beat her, she was going to package 50 times as fast as her! Ylva wasn't ready for this, no one could resist the charm of Rui Matsui, especially not the people of Tokyo! If only she had remembered to shower that day, or the day before that, or the day before that. Rui didn't know why, but for some reason customers were backing away from her stand and going to Ylva's instead. She wasn't even smiling like Rui was! Complete bullshit, absolutely rigged by the Heroes Association.

Fortunately, Rui had prepared a box of goods to help her sabotage the competition for just such an occasion, starting by putting on a t-shirt. A t-shirt? How bad could that be? How could that possibly get to Ylva? Easy! It wasn't just any t-shirt. It was a t-shirt with text that read 'I'm with stupid' and an arrow pointing up. Up because it was pointing across from Rui and over at Ylva, the stupid idiot standing opposite her. What Rui didn't realize was that the t-shirt could also be read as her declaring herself stupid, which was much more likely given the lacking context potential customers would have. Somehow, Ylva kept getting customers instead of her. ''It's not a competition by the way! Our candy is better!'' She shouted over at Ylva.

Ylva Riis

She stomped her foot at Ylva's comment, unable to think of a good comeback. Not that she needed to when she was perfectly fine using underhanded tactics. Ylva was all smug now, but she wasn't going to be once operation poison the drinks kicked off! It was a genius play that no one could see coming. After all, who would suspect a hardened villain like her to try to get ahead of the competition by cheating? Never mind suspecting her, Ylva was a bastard, but was she going to call out someone showing such a kind gesture as to try to hydrate her opponents?

Apparently yes. Ylva wasn't just a bastard she was a cold bastard.

''What? But- but you.'' She would have expected it from her Jun bestie, but for Ylva to give her own team drinks? It didn't make any sense! She looked past Ylva to see that her team had indeed been given drinks already, which made Rui fume all the more. With her anger boiling over once she looked down to notice the ice in her poisoned drink she tossed the whole tray aside. ''Never mind, I'm not thirsty!'' She threw her arms up, walking a few paces away from Ylva before walking towards her again, faster this time. ''I ought to just kill you right here and now.'' She hissed under her breath. She could do it too. She didn't have a knife, but she could grab the baseball bat and bash her head in. ''Tell me, hero, what's it like being a goody two shoes that have to do what others tell you to? Aren't you tired of being their little dog?'' She smiled, crossing her arms.

Ylva Riis

The Wildfire Warriors was a problem that needed to be exterminated to Rui too. Groups that thought they could just own territories and do whatever they wanted was such a pain to her. Suddenly they were all about how she was trespassing on their turf, taking money from them or even harming their members, and so on. It was annoying, they were one layer removed from just being the cops or heroes or whatever. Organizations like The Spiders had learned to leave her alone by now, but The Wildfire Warriors clearly hadn't gotten the memo.

That's why she didn't hesitate for a second to team up with Retsu and Olivia. She was very familiar with the former, and this was far from their first rodeo. She couldn't say she knew the latter, but she was always about networking and making more besties, especially the kinds that fought violently. Those were always the most entertaining to watch in action. ''Draw their attention? You mean you want me in the middle of it all? That's my favorite place to be bestie! You read my mind.'' She smiled at Olivia, playing with the knife in her hand. ''Bomb Bestie, could I have a grenade? One that'll go off with a BANG!'' As a party girl she not only felt at home in the loud music, but knowing that they were about to crash this party and kill a bunch of people was so exhilarating she could hardly stop herself from charging right into the fray. Whether she was offered a grenade or not, once her besties were ready she charged ahead, going on a stabbing spree from one person to the next, stabbing random people until she drew the attention of the greater gang. ''Come play with me besties, show me what you're made of!'' She shouted, challenging anyone who dared to join her on the dance floor.

Olivia Liang
Bakiri Retsu

[attr="class","likedo"]

Dumbfounded by the ice wall Rui slapped it, realizing that she had seen this thing before. The woman, still crying got up and disappeared from the scene. ''You again!'' Rui frowned when she spotted Ylva. ''What is your deal? Are you with the anti-fun police? Maybe stop stalking me, you creep!'' She slashed at the wall with her knife, but didn't even make a cut in it. ''Can't even go around killing people in peace anymore. You know I didn't want that Dream World thing either! You think it's fun having your quirks swapped around? You don't know what I've been through!'' She pointed the knife at Ylva, as if she was trying to accuse her of committing a crime by stopping her crime. ''You don't get it, you never will.'' She pouted, slumping her shoulders and head, only lifting it once she got an idea. ''But if I kill you, you'll understand.'' She stared back at Ylva, unblinking. ''I'll kill you, how about it? I can bring you back right after. Pretty sweet deal, right, bestie?'' She grinned, plucking a small box of Playgo off of one of the shelves, tossing it in Ylva's general direction while she ducked behind another shelf, intending to circle around and flank Ylva.

Had she been more stealthy it might have succeeded, but someone like Rui still had all the subtlety of a slap to the face, tearing stuff off the aisle shelves as she raised her knife and charged at Ylva. ''Just one kill! I'll only kill you once!''

Ylva Riis

''I understand that you're confused. If you come with us I'll explain everything to you.'' All Junoichi needed was to bring her along to their base. He wasn't actually planning on upholding his end of the deal, but perhaps if they could examine the vessel of Bilrost a little closer they could identify why it succeeded where so many others had failed or dissipated into mediocrity. The only problem was calming Retsu down. Her anger was as explosive as her arsenal and at this rate it really did seem like she was going to fire at them.

Rui just looked at Retsu silently, showing a kind of concern she didn't for anyone else, and it wasn't going unnoticed by Koi. When Retsu repeated the word heal she nodded. ''You're bleeding, you'll die like that. It's nothing I can't fix.'' She was about to unwrap her hand when the gun went off in Junoichi's direction. The junior who had accompanied him dove in front of the bullet and took it through the head, his body lifeless by the time it hit the ground. However, there was a notable absence of blood coming out of his head. Not that any party present except for Junoichi had the awareness to notice that. ''Bestie!'' She caught her and put her down slowly since she couldn't hold Retsu up. Without hesitating she wrapped her bandages around her unconscious friend and began healing her.

''You wouldn't mind if we took her with us, would you Rui?'' Junoichi looked at Retsu. ''I would, actually. I'm having dinner with her later.'' At least Rui had decided that for herself. ''Are you going to fight me for her?'' She asked defiantly, having already completed the healing process. ''No. No I'm not. We came here to confirm that your quirk was still with you after the dream incident. It seems that everything has gone back to normal.'' He squatted down and looked at his dead subordinate. ''I'm not healing him.'' Rui shrugged as she started helping Retsu back up. ''Oh, there's no need.'' Junoichi reassured her as the junior Koi member slowly got back up again. ''Are you okay, sir?'' He asked with a discolored crack in his forehead where the bullet had hit him. ''Yes.'' Junoichi glanced at his forehead. ''Your paint is coming off, let's head back.'' Just as they turned to head back to their car Junoichi waved back at the girls. ''Take care Rui! We'll be seeing each other again soon.'' She didn't say anything in return. Why would she? This was nothing new to her. To Retsu maybe... Did she owe her an explanation?

She had managed to drag Retsu back to her apartment where she had dumped her on the couch and thrown a blanket over her. By the time Retsu came to she would find Rui looking at a bunch of paperwork. An unfamiliar sight.

Bakiri Retsu

Line up and shake hands with the enemy, whatever. All she had to do was bear it for now and soon all of Tokyo would be under her control. She was all fake smiles right up until she passed Ylva. She didn't remember the girl's name, but she remembered the face of the one who had wronged her in the past. ''I'm not! I didn't lose the first time you can't just decide that on your own! You're going down!'' She huffed. To anyone from the outside looking in it might just look like old sports rivals throwing out some banter, but this was a matter of life and death to Rui. Soon, it would be to Ylva too.

Being that she was her team's pitcher, she was in the perfect position to not only terrorize these useless civilians, but get her revenge against ice girl as well. Not many knew it, but Rui wasn't half bad at throwing things. Sure, she didn't have many muscles to boast of, but her dexterity wasn't terrible either, making her have a bit of aim and technique with the balls she threw. Not every throw was perfect, but she didn't need them to be either. As long as Ylva walked up and grabbed that bat, that was all that mattered.

Once she did, Rui used a little bit of sleight of hand she had threatened a magician to teach her to swap the baseball for one her own, custom ones. Being that she was besties with Bakuretsu, she had learned how to make explosives. Sure, Retsu never taught her, but she had glanced at it every now and then and figured she was a better explosives manufacturer than her bestie by now. Still, credit where credit was due she did give her the idea to start pursuing explosives.

''Eat shit, hero!'' She yelled as she hurled the ball at Ylva.

The ball in question wasn't actually explosive. If anything, it was lighter making it all the easier to bat it out really far, not that Ylva needed the assist.

Ylva Riis