Pukin's Scheme

Rain Pow focused all her senses on detecting attacks. Alert and ready to deal with anything, no matter from what direction, she heard Toko cry out from the sky above, and her concentration was broken. Looking up, she saw Toko being attacked by a black swarm. It was crows. They poked her with their beaks and scratched her with their claws, and Toko was wailing and trying to escape them. Rain Pow was about to drive them away with a rainbow but was unsure, worried she might hurt Toko instead. In that brief moment of hesitation, a figure leaped into the swarm of crows, grabbed Toko, and landed on the edge of the building.

“When fighting an opponent who uses projectiles, you keep the fairy under your clothing. When your opponent lacks projectiles or means to fly, you let the fairy escape into the air. It’s a logical strategy, but that only makes it simple to read.”

Toko in her grasp, Pukin looked down at Rain Pow. With the sun at her back, Rain Pow couldn’t see the look on her face, but from the tone of her voice, Rain Pow could tell she was smiling. She spoke a little on the slow side, perhaps to make it easier for Rain Pow to understand her English. “To control a murder of crows, one need only target the dominant bird. Simple, isn’t it?”

[...]

Toko argued with Rain Pow loudly, and then, mouth open wide, she bit down onto Pukin’s gloved fingertip. Pukin let out a muffled cry and jerked to cover her left hand, and Toko used the moment when her grip loosened and slipped out from between her fingers, flying for Rain Pow at full speed. Pukin’s sword stabbed toward the fairy, but either the pain or the lack of preparedness made her move too slowly.

[...]

“By the time we captured your precious fairy, we had already wounded her and made her our own. When she argued with you loudly and bit our finger to escape, all that was done under our command. We sent a spy to your breast to land a strike under your tight guard. We broke the tiniest piece off the tip of our sword and gave it to Toko to hold. Under my order, the fairy pricked your chest, and next, you were magicked, your perception distorted.”

    - Magical Girl Raising Project: LIMITED, Chapter 11