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Nemu had mixed feelings about inviting Layla over for a sleepover, but Rune had expressed an interest in meeting the twins' classmate after they had told her about how she was related to Alise, aka Lepus, Sato's 'mentor' and their sometimes babysitter. They couldn't really bring Rune with them to school, and meeting at Alise's house would be way too suspicious, so inviting her over to their home seemed like the best option here, as a neutral ground of sorts.

There was, of course, the risk of being overheard, so they waited a bit for Mama and Papa to go back downstairs, and just for good measure, had turned up the volume on the game they were playing on the Switch hooked up the tv in their room. Nemu was terrible at lying, because she always felt bad about it, and trying to keep Rune a secret from Layla this long made her even more nervous, but she had to wait... she had to be sure. In order to make this plan work, of course, Rune was over at their house tonight as well, having been kicked out of Lani's house, and Nemu had left the window open for the kitten to let herself in.

"Um..." Nemu wasn't sure where to begin, or how to broach the subject, "Does Alise... ever talk to you about things?"

It was vague at best, but she hoped that, should Alise have ever confided in Layla about her secret life, that the other girl would get the hint. Just in case, though, she looked to her twin for help, in case Sato had a better idea.

Layla tilted her head, giving a confused sort of smile at the question. “Does…Alise ever talk to me about things? I mean…we’re cousins, so we talk often enough, I think…what kind of things are you wanting to know?”

She had been so excited to be invited for a sleepover, and had accepted as soon as her parents gave her their approval, but this…

Was a strange question and it made her wonder if maybe they only wanted information about her cousin? If that was the case.

“We’re not really super close, she is older and you know how teenagers get about ‘little kids’. Not that she’s a bad teenager but…I don’t know if she has like a boyfriend or anything, if that’s what you’re trying to ask…”

Truthfully, she had never bothered to ask…it wasn’t something that really interested her but…she supposed she should start thinking about it. If other girls her age were thinking about boyfriends…assuming they were thinking about boyfriends then…she should step up her game too!

Sato paused her game upon overhearing Nemu’s soft and totally shy question to Layla and immediately added a rejoinder of her own, “..her doing anything weird? How weird is it? Hold on… I want to see if you have seen or heard anything about it.”

She put down the game controller and crossed her arms as she pondered on examples out loud. They were phenomena that may or may not have much basis, to begin with, but Sato herself has heard or bore witness to a number of them.

“So… have you seen Alise try talking to some invisible fairies? Or spoke to a fairy-like cat as if it were normal? Or how about the time she saw a mysterious magic circle drawn in chalk on the ground?” Sato had since stood up and paced around the room as she spoke of instances out loud that could be considered mildly strange or unusual.

They were evidently far from what Layla conjectured the twins were possibly pondering about when they invited her over for the sleepover. Regardless, Sato continued unabated. It almost seemed like she had an endless amount of observations worth noting about Alise, most highly trivial and some of some value, possibly. Still, she grew even more ardent as she stated even more of these to Layla.

“Oh! That’s right! Have you ever seen Alise hop away one second and then reappeared in a completely different outfit a second later?” asked Sato, her eyes twinkling, and her mouth upturned to a grin as she stared at Layla with some level of severity before turning to Rune to add, “Isn’t that right, Rune?”

Naturally, the last inquiry was in fact possibly the lead closest and most familiar to Nemu and the silent talking cat Runelucia, but only time could tell whether Layla picked up on the hint. That aside…

Runelucia’s ears immediately perked upon being called upon, and she faintly coughed, almost like a gag. ‘What in the world is Sato going on about?! Moreover… how could she call out on her like that? How undignified!’

It was clear that the twin chibi senshi and Runelucia had plotted together to invite Layla over for a sleepover as a ploy to recruit her to their cause… but like this? In this manner?!

Runelucia fretted over the fact that her tower of preparedness had totally shambled simply because the baton of inquiry was passed carelessly from Satori to Rune in a blink of an eye. And, with some measure of deafening silence as eyes were upon the small white wide-eyed kitten to boot. Still, Rune was not one to shy away from the stage and the lights, so it was about time for her to take a step forward and present her proposal. However…

She was at a loss on just how to deliver her pitch. What if a sudden talking kitten traumatizes poor Layla for good? Or scare away from their cause? Rune would be beside herself if she lost a candidate to recruit to her upcoming idol group awaken. Rune noticed right away that Layla had an abundance of potential both as a senshi and as a performer on stage. Her interest in the performance arts made her even more worthy of an awakening. To that end, Rune had prepared a recruitment awakening pitch beforehand, but alas… she had to revise her delivery now. As she pondered, she was left with these options:

- “…meow meow”
- “Hey… wanna join a new upcoming idol group?”
- “So, have you heard about magical girls?”
- “meow-”
- All of the above

The choice was most clear. All of the above.
Nothing could go wrong with this choice! Rune thought positively to herself.

Oh no.

Oh no no no no no no.

It wasn't as if they had gone into this with any sort of plan to begin with, because neither twin had any experience with helping to scout out any potential senshi amongst their peers, but it was clear that what little planning they had thought out was quickly going to ruin as Layla was suspicious of them, Rune had spoken too soon, and now-

Now everything was going off the rails, and Nemu wasn't sure how to get things back on track without ruining everything.

Then again, perhaps it was time to come clean, and reveal the truth? If Rune was already talking, then maybe they should just go ahead and tell Layla everything they knew, and hope that if this all turned out to be a dud, Rune could handle the fallout... or that Alise could come up with some sort of convincing excuse to explain away all of this mess. There was only one way to find out, though...

"N-none of us spoke for her," Nemu timidly said, trying to keep her panic under control, "U-um... the reason we wanted to talk to you... t-the reason the cat spoke..."

"... She's a magic cat, named Rune, t-that gives people powers too," the girl attempted to explain, "Your cousin, um... A-Alise is magic, too, so Rune... R-Rune wanted us to find out... i-if you were magic too..."

Once more, Nemu looked to her twin (and now the cat) for help with explaining, because it was clear she wasn't going to be able to do this alone, especially not with her tripping over her words like this.

Magic? They were saying that they were magic and wanted to see if she was magic and…Layla felt her eyes fill up with tears, absolutely certain that this was just some joke and that she was the butt of it…

They had seemed so nice and were wanting to be friends and…

And then the cat talked again...and Layla was watching this time…saw the small kitty mouth moving, the sound absolutely coming out of it and…

Okay.

…So maybe there was some kind of…magic going on here and…it wasn’t a joke…and they weren’t just trying to be rude to her…ah…

Swiftly, the girl reached up and rubbed her arm across her slightly stinging eyes before nodding at the cat. “...I guess so…if it’s not a trick and you’re…I mean…yeah. I guess so…”

“Of course it’s not a trick… we wouldn’t have you here tonight just to trick you like that! Even that’s way too mean, even to me…” insisted Sato. While she wasn’t exactly the most reliable to count on, she knew when it was time to be serious and stop joking around.

Meanwhile, Rune’s eyes softened. Sensing the confusion and doubt cast on Layla’s face wasn’t her intention at all. Was her pitch too forward? Or came off as too strong? She really, really didn’t want to scare her! Regardless, she better get to the heart of it before it worsened.

“Ah, well, Like Satori and Nemuri explained, we’re not tricking you at all!” Rune waved her paws in attempt to push away the clouds of doubt.

“I’m not a talking animatronic or a product of your imagination. I’m actually speaking to you here and now. Feel free to stroke my head if you want to be certain. And, we’re serious about wanting to speak with you tonight,” Rune continued. She adjusted herself into a sitting position before continuing her explanation.

“So Layla, we think you have what it takes to become a part of the Order. Once awakened, you could become a chibi senshi, just like Satori and Nemuri here. You’ll gain unique magical powers and your own special identity, which you can use to save people in danger and stop those responsible for any wrongdoings.”

Rune pointed her paw towards Satori and Nemuri. “Together with me, they’ll help you get started. You could also make new friends who are also part of the same cause. Oh, and you’ll get to know Alise as a senshi more, too.”

Sato grinned, and her eyes twinkled upon hearing Rune explain. Would this be a cue to transform? To show her what it’s like? She turned her head towards Nemu, wordlessly asking for her approval.

“Brilliant! Here goes nothing,” Rune said as she backflipped into the air.

Time seemed to slow as she did so, especially if one paid any attention to the aura and glittering magical stardust that trailed behind her. Eventually, a pen materialized from the trail she had created. The pen gently floated in the air and bobbed sightly as if it wanted someone to grab hold of it.

“Now Layla, I hope you’re ready? Well, go collect your pen and repeat after me: Hind power, make up,” Rune instructed.

Sato meanwhile watched with some trepidation. How exciting to have another senshi among their circle of friends. She couldn’t help but think of how much more exciting patrols, investigations, and missions would get. As they say, the more, the merrier. And much like Layla, gaining new friends is always great!

This was…all so absolutely surreal, but Layla did as she was told, and picked up the pen, looking at it for a moment, trying to figure out if it was going to do something stupid…like shock her or spit ink on her…and what saying the words that the cat told her to say…what would that even do?

Oh well.

Holding the henshin pen in her hand, she looked between the three in the room and gave a sheepish, almost shy smile, truly hoping that this wasn’t some prank.

“Hind…Power Make-Up?”

It wasn’t a trick, and when she looked down at herself, Layla was no longer in the same clothing, instead in something…terribly ruffly and cute! And her shoes had little puffs on the backs of them.

“...Is this really real?”