Friday.
Takumi had actually left school early during lunch break. He had to do a Battle rehearsal with Hayao before the actual filming the day after, hence why he was in Sago House EXP zone earlier than usual.
Saki and Jun planned to go to the Sago House as well after school. However—
“JUUNN!! We have people from Nishino High coming for a friendly match, you can’t skip club activities today!!”
“Give me 5 minutes, Senior! Just 5 minutes!”
An older student, Jun’s soccer club senior, was holding Jun by the cuff of his shirt and dragging him away.
“Go without me, Saki-chan!”
“Stop joking around and focus on the match!”
“What’s with him?” Asked Asa, stupefied at the sight of Jun leaving last words as if he was part of Hero’s party sacrificing himself so his friends could escape danger. Saki could only let out a bitter laugh.
“I guess I’ll tell Takumi-kun that Jun-kun can’t come.”
Saki shot Takumi a message. A moment later, the letter Read showed up next to her message, implying it had been read. Maybe Takumi was having a break and just happened to be looking at his phone right now, thought Saki.
Though, typical of Takumi, he didn’t reply back. Takumi thought that simply the Read indication was enough of an interaction, and Saki and Jun had gotten used to him being socially inept.
After saying her goodbyes to her friends, Saki left the school by herself.
The bus stop was just a short walk from the school, and once she was off the bus, the Sago House was nothing more than a 10 minute walk away. She reassured herself that she would be fine as she took her steps.
Once she was on the bus, Saki unconsciously let out a relieved sigh. However, her hand was still holding onto the cylinder object in the pocket of her cardigan. Thinking back, perhaps this was the first time in a long time Saki was all alone by herself. Maybe because of that, the bus ride felt longer than usual.
Despite it being after school, Saki was the only one who dropped off at that bus stop. As always, the area was pretty unpopular, and there was only one other person in the bus stop beside her.
When she looked at him — it was a man wearing a black jacket, zipped all the way up.
For a moment, panic alarmed within Saki’s mind, but she kept it under control. The probability of the guy who stalked her just happened to be on the bus stop where she dropped off was low, especially since this was not her way home. The man could very well be a different person.
The bus had left, but it’s not like Saki could get back on it again anyway. She just needed to get to the Sago House fast, and it’d be okay once she was there. Anxiety in her heart, Saki turned around from the man to head to her destination, her hand in the pocket of her cardigan.
One step, clack, two step, clack. After the third step, the pins on her bag clacking, and the man didn’t even move from his spot, Saki was beginning to get relieved.
But—
“Excuse me.”
“?!”
The man in the black jacket suddenly spoke up to her, making Saki jump a little.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you like that. I only want to ask something.”
When Saki turned around to look at him, she saw the man lowering his head apologetically. It took her an embarrassing amount of time to notice he wasn’t wearing a cap, unlike the man who stalked her four days ago.
His stature also wasn’t as tall as Saki remembered. Maybe it really was a different person altogether.
“O-, oh, I’m sorry too. What is it?”
Perhaps he was just lost and wanted to ask for direction, thought Saki. However, the question that the man gave her was not what she expected.
“You…have a lot of pins on your bag. Do you like Omega Battle?”
Asked the man, walking closer to Saki.
Saki didn’t know what he was getting at, but for now, she answered honestly. After all, maybe he was a kindred spirit.
“…yes, I do. Do you like Omega Battle too, old mister?”
“No, I don’t.”
Answered the man immediately, getting ever closer to Saki. Saki reflexively stepped back. Fear was getting to her heart.
When she looked at the man’s eyes, she saw evil.
His next question sealed it.
“You…are a second year high school student, aren’t you?”
“Excuse me, I need to go.”
Danger alarmed within her head at full blast. Saki immediately turned her heel to get away from there as fast as possible.
Saki didn’t know if it was the same man who stalked her. But, whoever he was, he didn’t have good intentions.
Saki had to get to the Sago House fast even if she had to make a run for it—
“?!! L-let me go!”
But, before Saki managed to get away from her, the man managed to snatch her left arm. The man grabbed Saki’s arm tight as if trying to twist it, hurting her.
“You-you know Kou don’t you?! Answer me!”
“Ow, ow!”
“ANSWER ME, BITCH!!”
As if his calm demeanor from before was a lie, the man yelled at her from the top of his lungs.
Saki’s heart shrunk from fear. But, when she felt the object in her right hand, she immediately knew what to do. Saki pulled the cylinder object — it was mainly black, with pictures of nasty looking chilis on it — aimed its red muzzle at the man’s eyes, and pressed the top.
When the spicy mist met the man’s eyes, he once again screamed, this time in pain.
“AAGHHH FUCK, MY EYES!! MY EYESS!!”
He reflexively let go of Saki’s arm to rub his eyes. Saki made use of this chance to get away from him. But—
“—?!!”
“A-ANSWER ME!”
The man managed to get ahold of Saki’s bag, stopping her.
Panicked, Saki tried to pry his hand off, but his grip was too strong. With no other choice, Saki took off her bag and ran.
Her collection of rare pins was on that bag. The time-limited Redhawk poster that she planned to ask Hayao’s autograph on was in that bag. Her textbooks. Her journal. And most importantly, her phone as well.
However, her own safety was paramount. That was why she abandoned it and made a run for the Sago House.
Saki wasn’t an athletic type. A 10 minutes of walk wasn’t a long distance, but it was slightly uphill and the adrenaline in her system made her heart thump abnormally fast. That was why, Saki had found herself a little bit short of breath.
But, she was safe now. The Sago House was within her sight, and when she looked back, the man didn’t chase after her. A sigh of relief escaped her. Just a little more, and she’d see familiar faces. She’d be in a safe space.
—hence why, she failed to notice the second assailant.
A large man suddenly emerged from the fence wall of the house next to her as if waiting for an ambush. Large not in the sense of muscular or tall, but large as in having a round belly.
“—?!”
Before Saki could even let out a scream, the fat man covered her mouth and nose with a napkin, preventing her from letting out a sound. It smelled like a disinfectant but slightly sweeter.
“C-caught you, hehe.”
Saki panicked, she tried to slip out of the fat man’s grasp, but smelling the napkin made her muscles feel weak and her mind hazy.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The fat man dragged her towards the house, away from the street.
“D-don’t blame us, okay? Some-someone wanted you gone. We’re just do-doing what we’re told.”
Saki tried to fight it, but at every whiff, her feet got weaker. Slowly, she was losing her consciousness.
“H-he also gave us a phone with a real hypnosis app in it. It’s developed in EXP zone, so it’s real, n-not like those fakes in the appstore!”
Buhe, buhehehe, the man laughed vulgarly, imagining all the unsaid things he’d do to Saki afterwards.
As Saki’s mind began to darken, she was desperately screaming for help.
‘Haru-nii! Jun-kun! Takumi-kun! Anyone!’
Of course, no one came. Her vision began to blur, perhaps it was the chemical, or maybe it was from her tears. Saki was helpless. And soon, she lost consciousness.
The last thing she saw — was a streak of pink.
“—what do you think you’re doing to Momo’s friend?”
“Buheh?”
The fat man was distracted by the question that came out of nowhere. He was trying to get the door open, but when he turned around to see who asked, what he saw — was a fast approaching kick towards his head.
“buhak!”
The roundhouse kick was dead accurate, hitting him without touching the unconscious Saki.
The fat man’s head banged on the wall with a loud thud, his grip on Saki loosened. Momo promptly caught Saki as she fell forward.
Apparently, that attack on the head was enough to render him unconscious. There was a real danger of brain damage from that, but Momo couldn’t care less. As she looked down on him like she was looking at an existence worse than combustible trash, she spat out her words despite knowing he couldn’t hear her.
“Even if that app was real, it wouldn’t work outside EXP zone, idiot.”
That was when Momo heard scuffling from behind her. It sounded like someone was running this way, and soon enough, his figure was visible.
“F-fuck, that bitch! Tanenuma-shi, did you get her?!”
It was a man wearing a black jacket. His right hand was rubbing his red, watery eyes, and his left hand was clutching onto a bag full of pins.
It only took Momo a second to understand he was an accomplice.
And the next second — Momo sent the 60 kilogram man flying with a single kick to the abdomen.
“Ghak!”
The man crashed to the wall on the other side of the street. Considering the street was wide enough for two cars to pass side by side, it was quite a considerable distance.
In his blurry vision, the man saw the iconic bright pink hair walking closer to him.
“M-Magician Momo?”
“Don’t say my name with your mouth, filth.”
Momo unleashed another kick to his head. The man promptly lost his consciousness.
“…haah.”
Momo let out a sigh to douse the anger in her heart. Even if she wasn’t completely satisfied, there was nothing else she could do.
It really was just luck that she happened to see Saki being grabbed by the fat man. If she didn’t notice Takumi acting strange after looking at his phone and insisted he tell her what’s wrong, Takumi wouldn’t have told Momo that Saki was heading to the Sago House all alone even though she was being stalked. If so, Momo wouldn’t have volunteered to go and pick Saki up at the bus stop. It was right when she left the Sago House that she saw Saki being ambushed.
Things could have developed in a much, much worse direction.
Saki would’ve been kidnapped without anyone noticing. No one could tell what horrible things these people would do to her. It would’ve been extremely lucky if the authorities managed to find her within a year, still alive and all her limbs intact.
After that she would have to go through rehabilitation after rehabilitation, but the damage could never be undone. She would have to bear that mental scar for the rest of her life, as oftentimes victims would develop schizophrenia from severe trauma and substance abuse. She would have to drown herself in antipsychotics to stay lucid, and she could never, ever be off her medicine or else she would be having episodes of hallucinations and thought disorders, which could lead to harming herself and others.
It would have been hell on Earth, for Saki herself, and for everyone who cared about Saki. At which point, the most merciful way was to completely wipe that memory from Saki’s brain with the help of an eidetic esper, all the way to the memory before the incident.
Momo, personally, knew that hell. That very thing happened to her own best friend after all.
Her assault towards these stalkers felt vindictive. If possible, she wanted to make sure they could no longer function as human beings by her own two hands. However, Momo had a duty to fulfill, and so, instead of feeling their bones breaking under feet, she pulled out her phone and pressed fast-dial.
The call went through almost immediately.
“Isabella-san? I’ve got two baddies in my location. No. They are both Japanese, but I have a feeling they’re connected to that case. Yup. Later.”
Momo then put her phone away.
Not even a minute later, as if waiting on stand-by, a white van turned from the main street and pulled up before her. The door of the van briskly opened up, and a number of agents in black suits stepped outside.
They promptly carried both the man in black jacket and the fat man into the van, closed the door, and drove away.
Everything happened quickly, and they didn’t utter a single word the whole time.
“Yup, Omega sure is scary,” commented Momo as saw the white van disappear into a corner.
♤♠♤♠♤
“—ki-chan. Saki-chan.”
It felt like someone was slapping her face whilst calling her name. Saki was slowly gaining consciousness.
Her mind felt so dull. What was she doing again? Saki had a feeling she was in the middle of going somewhere.
Saki retraced her memory.
This morning, she went to school like always. There’s nothing extraordinary during school, except Takumi left school early, because…right, the Battle rehearsal. And then, she and Jun planned to go to Sago House after school, but Jun couldn’t go, so she had to go alone…and then she got on the bus…and when she dropped off, there was a man…
“—?!”
Immediately, Saki’s mind cleared up as her eyes snapped open. Panicked, her breaths were short and she reflexively scurried backward with her hands and feet, but there was a wall behind her.
“Saki-chan! It’s okay now, don’t be afraid. They baddies are no longer here.”
Her thoughts were in disorder so she didn’t pay attention to who was in front of her, but once Saki calmed down a little and took a closer look, it wasn’t the man in black jacket or the fat man with the napkin, instead it was a girl with a small face, big emerald eyes, and straight, bright pink hair.
Saki could never mistake that face. She’d always seen it beyond her screen.
“M-Momo-chan?”
“Yup! Magician Momo, at your service! Chu!”
The girl — Momo made a striking pose whilst still sitting to level her eyes with Saki’s. It felt so out of place after what Saki just experienced, but maybe because of that, it felt refreshing and calming.
“Take a deep breath. You’re okay now.”
Instructed Momo with a gentle voice.
Following Momo’s advice, Saki took a deep breath repeatedly. After a while, she was completely calm.
Now that her mind was clear without any cloud of fear, Saki assessed her current situation. She was sitting on the ground, leaning on the fence wall of the house where the fat man was trying to bring her into.
Speaking of which—
“Umm…was it you who saved me, Momo-chan?”
“I guess I was. Momo saw you were about to be abducted, so Momo sent the baddies flying with Momo’s kick.”
Answered Momo right away with a smile on her lips, her iconic fang protruding.
“I-I see. Thank you very much. I don’t know what would happen to me if you weren’t here…”
“Protecting people and vanquishing evil is what Magical Girls do after all, don’t sweat it! When you’re in trouble, Magician Momo is here to the rescue!”
Momo reassured her.
Isn’t that just the setting? Thought Saki, but for some reason, her words felt real to Saki, and warmth filled her heart.
However, Saki didn’t know what to do next. She probably should tell Takumi she was okay, but her phone was in her bag, and she didn’t know where she dropped her bag.
Wait, maybe I’m still confused, thought Saki. Sago House was just a stone’s throw away. She could just walk there and tell Takumi in person. Deciding that’s what to do, Saki got up without saying anything and was about to leave when Momo stopped her.
“Where are you going?”
“No, I’m…going to the Sago House. Takumi-kun is waiting for me, so…”
“You can’t~. That’s the one thing you shouldn’t do. Come sit back down and talk to Momo~.”
“No, I’m sure Takumi-kun is worried…”
Saki made an excuse, but Momo was not having any of it and patted on the ground beside her, insisting Saki should sit next to her.
Seeing that, Saki then sat back down. That was when Momo opened her mouth.
“Scary experiences like this, you see, get worse with the passing of time. Even if you run away from it now, it will keep haunting you when you least expect it. It will become a poison that slowly takes over your mind. That is why, the best way to deal with it is to get it out of your system right away.”
“H-haa…”
Saki wasn’t sure what Momo was getting at. She felt fine, her mind was clear, and she wasn’t scared anymore. In fact, she just wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible.
But then, Momo asked her a question.
“Was it scary?”
“…eh?”
“When that man grabbed you, was it scary?”
Was it scary? That question seemed to touch a place in Saki’s mind that she unconsciously avoided. Saki opened her mouth to give her answer.
“It was……scary.”
Her voice cracked at the end. Without her knowing it, her vision blurred and tears fell from her eyes.
“H-huh? That’s weird. Why am I crying? I thought I was fine already. I’m sorry, Momo-chan, I must be troubling you—”
“That’s not true. It’s okay to cry, it’s only natural~”
Saki tried to stop crying, however, it only made her sob even harder.
“Tell Momo, it was scary how?”
“It was scary that…I felt helpless. I thought, I thought I couldn’t see papa and mama anymore. And everyone in class. And Asa-chan. And Jun-kun. And Takumi-kun. It was scary that-, that I thought that was it for me…”
Words flowed out from her mouth like a broken faucet. The more she said it, the harder she sobbed.
“It was… scary…huuuuuuaaaahh!!”
Eventually, Saki succumbed to a full-blown bawl.
“That’s good. Acknowledge it, let it pass, then feel refreshed. That’s how you come out of this stronger than ever.”
Spoke Momo as she lent her shoulder for Saki to cry on. However, her words almost sounded like they were meant for herself.
A few minutes later, Saki’s bawl had reduced to a few sobs.
“Are you okay now?”
“Yeah…”
Saki nodded. Her mind felt even clearer than before, as if a huge burden she didn’t know she had had been lifted. She then looked at Momo, who had been patiently accompanying her without saying a single complaint.
“Momo-chan, you’re…strong huh. It looks like you’re used to this.”
“A Magical Girl has to be strong, after all~.”
Answered Momo, a hint of loneliness in her voice.
“Takumi-kun…when he fought Daniel, he wasn’t crying like this, wasn’t he? Even though he’s hurt more than me. I feel pathetic.”
“Well, Kou-kun is…Kou-kun. Saki-chan knows it too, right? That gloomy introvert is just abnormal. There’s no use comparing yourself to him.”
“Well, you’re right.”
Saki chuckled.
Then, with a somber voice, she asked Momo.
“…do you think they’ll come back? Do I have to continue living in fear of getting ambushed again, Momo-chan? I don’t want that.”
“Good question. Momo thinks they won’t ever, ever come back, so don’t worry about them. Omega is really scary, after all.”
“?”
“Ah, no, just talking to myself. Also, Momo thinks you don’t need to worry about it anymore, Saki-chan. After all, he won’t target you anymore after this.”
Whilst reassuring Saki, Momo’s eyes were looking at the sky — specifically, at a flying drone that was spying on them this whole time. The drone was carrying a small camera, it was feeding a video stream towards a smartphone that was being held by a tall man wearing a white cap and red jacket.
“Tsk. Dealing with the Empress will be troublesome. So the pin girl is a dud, what a waste of money.”
Saying that, the man casually threw the smartphone into a trash can then walked away.