Just as Jenna was wracking her brain trying to figure out a solution, Emilia stepped forward to intercede once again.
Although she didn't want to interfere too much in matters between Dixie and her friends, she couldn't just stand there and watch, could she? Not when she was the reason they were fighting in the first place.
"How about you let them off this time, for me?"
Dixie glared at her friends darkly, as if giving them a final warning before giving Emilia a nod. "If you say so, Emily, but only this time!"
Lara bobbed her head up and down frantically in agreement. "There will be no next time, promise!"
The tension diffused remarkably fast, and Emilia's worries of Dixie's relationship with her friends becoming strained because of her also evaporated. Soon enough they started joking around once more, and their group dynamic also became clearer to Emilia.
Dixie was clearly the leader, though that much was already obvious to Emilia from the start. The other three girls all seemed to follow each other randomly, and all it took was one of them to decide on something for the remaining two to follow.
No wonder they got into trouble all the time! Even now, they were busy digging their own grave.
"Dixie has gotten crazy strong!"
"Gorilla strong!"
"Just what kind of training are you doing at that dojo?"
"I-I couldn't believe it when she lifted Lara up by one hand!"
Dixie rolled her eyes. "You can come join us if you want, every morning—"
"I'm not really interested in these things…"
"I-I don't think it suits me…"
"Are there any boys?"
Dixie smirked. "Yes, Lara, there is a very cute boy at the dojo, though he's usually fighting with another girl."
Lara's eyes immediately lit up. "I wanna go!"
Dixie clearly knew how her mind worked. Anyway, what she said wasn't a lie, since 'kiddo' really was quite cute, and wasn't he always getting beat up by Koko? It was Lara's own fault for not asking for clarification.
Once Lara agreed, it was like a chain reaction had gone off.
"C-Can I come just to watch?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Ehh, since everyone else is going, I can't just stay out, can I?"
Although their responses to Dixie's invitation were as she expected, Emilia still thought it was a little weird. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong, though, so Emilia decided to put it out of her mind for now.
The impression that Dixie's friends had of Emilia had drastically improved after she had 'saved' them from the 'devil' twice.
Although they still couldn't see any angel wings behind her back, she did seem to have grown an illusory halo in their eyes.
Lara stepped forward in an attempt to pull Emilia into a hug, but was blocked by Dixie halfway. She pretended that nothing had happened, and continued her 'introduction'. "Nice to meet you, Emilia, I'm Lara Lawrence. If you ever need advice on boys, I'm your girl!"
Emilia just smiled and nodded, deciding to ignore the last part. "Nice to meet you too, Lara."
The tallest girl of the group stepped forward next, shaking her hand with a frank smile. "Hi, Emilia, I'm Jenna Jenkins, you can call me Jenna."
Emilia could feel how firm her grip was, though obviously she was being careful not to squeeze or hurt her hand. Jenna's personality seemingly matched her boyish look quite well. "Emily."
The shortest girl also gave her the shortest introduction, blushing in embarrassment as she looked away. "E-Emma Evans."
Even though she pretended to be polite and calm on the surface as she returned her greeting, in her mind, Emilia couldn't help but giggle.
It hadn't seemed so weird when Dixie only mentioned their first names, but wasn't this too much of a coincidence? Did her knight go around making friends based on their name? And did she then turn them into clones of herself?
Thankfully, she had taken the lead from the start and reigned her in, or maybe Emilia too would cut her hair short and dye it black, and then change her name to Whitney White or something. Just what kind of brainwashing method was this?
But at the very least, their dressing sense still retained their 'former' personalities.
Lara's clothing was quite skimpy and borderline dangerous, and made Emilia uncomfortable just looking at it, or perhaps that was because of her slightly swollen face. Forget about seducing people, she would be lucky enough not to scare off anyone but the worst of perverts.
Jenna was wearing an extreme version of a tomboy getup. While Dixie's tomboyish look made her even cuter, Jenna didn't go for that appeal at all. Not only was her jeans not form-fitting but loose, her leather jacket also covered most of her curves. Emilia wouldn't even know she was a girl from a distance.
And Emma was the exact opposite of Jenna. Compared to her friend's outgoing, tanned look, she appeared to be a carefully raised wallflower with worryingly pale skin. And her sickly pale look only made her timid personality appear more prominent. She was wearing a typical party dress with a slightly longer skirt than was usual.
As the five of them finally stepped out of the station, Justine, who had been peeking at them from afar, breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm alive!"
Although her colleagues had mostly stayed away from the group of girls since they had more important things to do, they had still been observing this young female officer's behavior with some amusement. "Don't exaggerate so much, Justine, they're just little girls."
Justine scoffed, flinging her long black ponytail back as she gave her colleague an 'are you an idiot' look. "That's probably what Mark and Morgan thought too, but you know what happened to them?"
"What—"
Justine made a tearing motion with her hand, her face ferocious. "Torn to pieces! Limb from limb! Not even ashes remain!"
"…"
"…"
"…I'm pretty sure they're still alive…"