"We'll have to hope we get lucky on that one," Mikumo says, half-turning towards him. "Otherwise we may end up with a fight on our hands, and that only brings more trouble."

She makes a bit of a broad gesture with one hand, as if to represent the one thing snowballing into another - though it seems to trigger something shimmering faintly at ground level, as if catching the light differently. As if some of the water in the bucket and on the ground responded to the motion.