“Do you want some more fruit?” Seina asked again for the fourth time. “We have plenty!”
“No, I’m fine,” Emiyo said, her tone terse. Already, tonight had proven torturous, the other magical girl insisting on being the best host possible. The constant condolences for Miko’s passing made the sleepover almost intolerable. The only relief was that Takako declined Seina’s invitation, citing a disinterest in hanging out with her former boss.
“How about another movie? What about…” Aiko paused, searching through her stack of random DVDs. “Ringu?”
“No!” Seina said in automatic protest.
“Please! We still haven’t finished it yet!” Aiko replied in a huff.
“I said no!” Seina said, putting her foot down even harder. Was Seina easily scared?
“...”
“I agree with Chō. I want to watch it too.” Emiyo added, a sly smile on her lips.
“Don’t worry!” Seina’s blasphemous partner said. “I’ll hold your hand during the scary parts.”
“Fine,” Seina said, giving a reluctant nod. “But I’m blaming you, Aiko, if I get nightmares again!”
Both Emiyo and Ch grinned, amused by Seina’s antics. This girl was just too easy.
“Seven days.” A voice rasped through an old-style phone, and Seina shrieked in fright.
“You idiot! Why’d you watch that stupid cursed tape!” Seina hid her face with a pillow. The girl continued to shriek whenever anything remotely spooky happened.
“...”
In response, Emiyo nodded in agreement. Had she ever been that young? Unexpected envy washed over her, missing a lost childhood. It hadn’t been a great one, her parents more interested in cultivating a genius prodigy than raising her. To them, movies only represented a distraction from studies. Compared to getting into a prestigious college, fun was tertiary. Emiyo had never regretted running away from home.
It’s so dumb. Why am I getting jealous about this? Wasn’t Seina raised in a hellhole ruled by monsters? “Hey, Seina. What were your parents like? Did the vampires kill them?” While a tactless question, Emiyo was curious.
The other magical girl’s face turned in a scowl, the plight of the horror movie momentarily forgotten. Aiko grabbed her friend’s hand while Colten gave a tight hug.
“They’re still alive as far as I know, and I don’t care either way!” Seina said, with surprising venom. Emiyo stared in shock, surprised by this side of the overbearingly chipper magical girl.
“They were horrible!” Aiko said, snarling.
“Yeah! Those jerks left Seina for dead to save their own necks!” Colten added.
“What?” Emiyo’s voice caught in her throat. Even Chō seemed shocked by this news. Both of their fairies’ eyes widened to saucers.
“It’s a long story. But the short version is, when given a choice between them and me, my parents choose themselves without hesitation,” Seina said, her words almost a whisper.
“Oh.” Emiyo said, lost for words. She’d never suspected that Seina had just a dark event lingering in her past. She felt a sudden sympathy for the girl, relating to her situation.
“…” For once, Chō had nothing to say.
After an awkward silence, Emiyo coughed. “How about a different movie? Maybe a Disney film this time?”
This made Seina perk up. “I’d like that.”
“Again we don’t get to finish Ringu!” Aiko said, annoyed.
As colorful animals appeared on the screen, Seina’s eyes lit up like she’d never seen such a sight before. But then Emiyo remembered she hadn’t. The vampires had ruined her world, almost making it a barren husk.
“…”
“Yeah, she can be cute,” Emiyo whispered back. She also found it irritating how likable their mutual enemy was. They’d both prefer to return to the days when Seina was a faceless menace. Now, they’d both somehow linked their fates with hers.
“Would anyone like some ice cream?” Seina’s bodyguard said, walking into the room.
“Oh me!” Seina cried without hesitation.
“…”
“I would as well,” Emiyo said, joining the room’s enthusiastic chorus. Despite herself, she laughed as they chatted about nothing in particular. She enjoyed the normality, wondering how long it’d been since she’d just hung out with girlfriends like this.
“This is fantastic.” Emiyo’s eyes widened as the ice cream touched her tongue.
“…”
“Mr. Kiyojiro made it himself. He’s thoughtful that way.” Seina said, beaming. “I don’t know what I’d do without him!”
Considering Seina’s age, likely not much. “Say, Seina. How did you become a magical girl, anyway? Nobody recruited you.”
“That’d be thanks to me!” Colten said, puffing out his chest. He told his tale of running away from home and rescuing his future partner from a nasty vampire. His gift had allowed her to transform into a magical girl.
Emiyo said nothing, absorbing these words. Colten’s only a low-level fairy. How was Seina so powerful? Was it just because of her pure heart? Impossible!
“Seina kicked butt! One punch and that jerk flew to space!” Colten said, mimicking an uppercut.
“Not without you, Colten!” Seina said, blushing.
“Oh, that’s nothing!” Aiko added. “Then she killed the vampire king by doing nothing!”
“Still not sure how that happened,” Seina said, unable to control her mirth.
“…”
No kidding. What a monster! “And you just had this power? You didn’t use some special spell or something?” Emiyo asked.
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“No, she didn’t even train until after Takako arrived at our world.” Mr. Kiyojiro said, piping in.
“Yeah, Takako was a different girl when we first met. She used guns instead of her dancing ribbon.” Seina said.
“I remember.” This spiked Emiyo’s interest. She’s known the lazy, good-of-nothing Takako for years. It’d been a shock to see her wielding another magical girl weapon. She’d always assumed a magical girl was soulbound to their weapon of choice.
Aiko nodded. “I was there! After giving up her evilness, Takako changed. It was like she’d been liberated, becoming her true self.”
“And this made her more powerful?”
“Absolutely!” Aiko said, beaming. “Like a million times stronger!”
Both Emiyo and Chō spent a few moments processing this. A traitorous section of her brain wondered if this was a magical girl’s true strength and if the current Starlight Dream was only a pale imitation. This question haunted Emiyo as the night dragged on.
When lights out finally approached, Emiyo found sleep elusive. Chō, of course, snored away without a care. Aiko and Seina slept spread out, one almost kicking the other by accident.
Annoyed, Emiyo crept out of Seina’s room to get a glass of water. Glass retrieved, she reclined on the couch and stared out the window at the beaten-down Osakan streets. While there was some activity, they were eerily quiet compared to the expected bustling Japanese metropolis. It was quite unlike the Tokyo she’d grown up with. It brought a twinge of nostalgia for days Emiyo thought long forgotten.
“I hate this quiet,” Emiyo said, grumbling. Sighing, she cradled her drink as she stewed. A sound caught her attention, craning her head in that direction. A familiar white puff peered from behind a nearby counter.
“Just making sure you don’t cause any trouble,” Colten said, floating into view.
“Aren’t we meant to be allies?” Emiyo said, not hiding her sarcasm.
“That remains to be seen,” Colten said, crossing his front legs.
“It’s not like I wanted this! It’s like the entire cosmos is conspiring against me!” Somehow, just meeting Seina was enough to ruin everything!
“Maybe it’s trying to teach you a lesson?”
“Hardly.” They glared at each other. It gaulled Emiyo that Colten had stolen her power. While she hadn’t gotten weaker, she’d somehow lost something anyway. Or was that only her lingering doubt about Starlight Dream?
I can’t keep petering like this. Otherwise, I’ll crumble to pieces!
“Spar with me.”
“Huh?” Colten blinked, baffled.
“You’ve been training, right? Show me.”
“Fine. And if this is a trick, you’ll regret it!”
---
They met in an abandoned parking lot with nobody in sight. A flickering streetlight illuminated them as they squared off. Above glittered countless stars, unobstructed by city lights. The scene was serene before the battle.
Across stood Paliah, proud in his glimmering armor. It reflected the pale moonlight, ghost-like in appearance. His hand hovered close to his still-sheathed weapon.
Emiyo’s heart raced with excitement, eager to exact vengeance on this blasphemous creature for stealing what didn’t belong to him. While in battle, she didn’t need to worry about morality or second-guess herself.
With a flick of her hand, Emiyo summoned her sickle. Unlike Seina’s ridiculous bubble blower, Emiyo used a real weapon meant to kill. Its weight was reassuring in her hand, its tip glittering in the moonlight. Paliah still hadn’t drawn his blade, keeping a steady gaze on Emiyo. With his more limited time abilities, he knew the slightest mistake would be costly.
Her opponent readjusted his stance as Emiyo circled around for the kill, ready to show this abomination who was the real timekeeper. While actually killing the fairy was impossible, she’d enjoy knocking him around.
Steel clashed as Paliah intercepted her sickle, each of their movements a blur as they dodged and parried. Emiyo blinked, a trickle of blood washing down the side of her forearm. When had that happened? Emiyo decided she’d get serious too, accelerating her body ahead several seconds along the timestream. With remarkable precision, Paliah still parried this attack.
“You’re predictable,” Paliah said. “I’ve already seen all your moves.”
“Have you?” Emiyo said, fuming. She leaped back, disappearing across the timestream. Didn’t the fool realize she could strike him between the tick and tock of the clock? She tossed her sickle microseconds ahead, aiming toward where Paliah would likely dodge her next attack.
But her two-prong attack failed, her sickle chattering to the pavement as Paliah’s sword intercepted it. Her fists struck empty air as he pirouetted away. Before Emiyo even registered her failure, pain erupted in her chest. She stared down in astonishment at the sword embedded in her chest.
“Impossible.” Emiyo staggered back, clutching a hand to her wound. Her body tightened, ready for a follow-up strike. Instead, Paliah only sheathed his sword.
“If you never improve, you’ll only get weaker.” The fairy knight said.
“What?”
“That’s why Seina is strong. She always seeks to improve herself.” Humor snuck into Paliah’s voice. “While she hates training, she still strives to be stronger to protect her friends. That’s why I love her.”
Emiyo only scowled, avoiding Paliah’s gaze.
“But you don’t have a purpose. Fighting for Starlight Dream is an empty goal, nor are you fighting for any cause of your own. You’re wallowing in the muck with no way to escape.”
Her protest froze in her throat. What did she want? To avenge Miko? Just to survive? Emiyo’s hand trembled, her world crumbling around her.
After offering a sympathetic smile, Paliah left Emiyo alone with her thoughts. What was wrong with her? An anguished howl escaped her lips. Tears dripped to the pavement below as she vented her frustrations and self-pity.
Instead of returning to Seina’s apartment, Emiyo wandered the Osaka’s streets utterly aimless. In her deluge of misery, she passed ruined buildings and trash-filled streets. The people still lived lives of hardship and squallier even after the vampires had been defeated. Their lives would never return to days before the vampires.
And yet they keep living. Through a window, Emiyo saw a woman rocking her baby to sleep, a tranquil smile on her face. It brought an unexpected smile to Emiyo’s lips.
She continued forward, continuing her wanderings. Her traitorous mind kept musing on Paliah’s words, examining them at every angle. Was she drifting aimlessly without purpose?
A sudden scream caught her attention. Emiyo glanced back, realizing it’d come from the woman she’d seen earlier. Emiyo only shrugged. It wasn’t her problem. Magical Girls didn’t help people. Still her conscience nagged at her.
“Dammit to hell!” Emiyo rushed back, hoping she wasn’t too late.
“Please, he’s all I have left. Kill me instead.” The woman said, her voice desperate but determined to protect her child.
“Ha! Like I care.” Said another, much crueler, voice. “He’s young and pure, more than enough to sustain me. More appetizing than some old hag!”
A thud and something impacted something hard with tremendous force. Any hesitation vanished as Emiyo charged into the room. A young woman was clutching her head, beaten from hitting the wall, but otherwise fine. Over a cradle stood a gaunt figure, their limbs like long, thin willow trunks, almost touching the floor. The red-eyed fiend turned to face the intruder, his fangs widening in a grin at the unlikely heroine.
“Enough. You better flee before this gets ugly,” Emiyo said.
“Is that right?” The vampire said, bemused. “I like your youth. You’ll make a tasty treat!” Before Emiyo could even blink, the monster had her in his clutches. Pain throbbed through her temple as the creature gripped her head with a crushing grip.
“Sorry little girl, nobody’s coming to your rescue!” Emiyo gagged as its putrid breath struck her face, howling in pain as he tightened his grip. The corner of the woman sobbed, horrified by Emiyo’s agony.
“Ha!” Despite her pain, Emiyo burst into laughter. “I think you’ve got the wrong impression. I don’t need rescuing.”
Before the vampire could offer some retort, he screamed as blood squirted from the stump, which used to be his arm. Emiyo dropped to the ground, her sickle in her hand.
“What?” Fear appeared in the vampire’s widened red eyes, wondering what he’d just walked into.
“You see. I’m a magical girl!” After tossing aside her sickle, Emiyo summoned her brooch and thrust it forward. “Change Change, Magical Love Dress Up!”
Emiyo pondered what possessed her to leave out genocide in her transformation chant. Lack of sleep, probably.
“No!” Fear turned to horror, the creature realizing how badly he’d screwed up.
The woman marveled at her saviors power, her eyes alight with hope. It infected Emiyo, lightening her heart.
In desperation, the vampire leaped towards the helpless woman, grabbing her by the throat. “Try anything, and she dies! With my ability, I can eat her very existence, adding it to myself! Surrender, or I’ll turn this woman to ash in seconds!”
“Seconds?” Was that all? What was that to a time master?
Time froze to a standstill as Emiyo worked her magic, working with greater ease than she’d ever imagined. The vampire loosened its grip before releasing the woman completely. Then he slipped backward, returning to where he’d stood before his desperate leap to get a hostage. Emiyo stood on the sidelines, waiting for the right moment to intervene.
“Now!”
A fist intercepted the creature’s sudden leap, blasting it across the room. The vampire crashed through a window into the street, his body a bloody mess. “What? How?” he gasped.
A nearby a clock ticked, every notch an eternity as it progressed forward. But Emiyo barely noticed, her focus steady on her opponent. Then she pounced. Her fists thudded against her opponent, blocking each of his pathetic counterattacks. While his long limbs provided him dangerous reach, it mattered little when Emiyo could slip along the seconds.
The creature groaned, struggling to stand. Blood pooled from where pieces of his undead flesh had torn away, bone exposed in some areas. In desperation, his final gambit was to bite forward, yellow, decayed fangs exposed.
A hand reached out to summon her sickle but paused. She stood in a frozen time, pondering her existence. Did she need her sickle, or had it only held her back? Never mind. Emiyo refused to be a useless punching bag. She was a magical girl!
On instinct, she rotated her arm. It blurred as it spun faster, a pink shape appearing around it. With a flick of her arm, Emiyo’s new magical girl device appeared in her hands.
“This is it?” Emiyo rotated it, surprised at what she’d found. It was a pink hoop, its stripped surface interlaced with colorful heart-shaped gems. Its width was almost the length of her arm. Instead of derision, Emiyo laughed with unexpected delight. What a fun little weapon she’d created!
Her opponent only stared in bafflement, unsure how to proceed with this unexpected development. Emiyo, however, had no reservations. She laughed again, the hoop rotating around her arm.
“How about you disappear?” Sparkles emitted from her hoop, just as colorful as the gems on her weapon. “Get erased.”
“No, I…” The vampire didn’t get to finish as Emiyo slashed him with her hoop’s brim, bathing him in a wave of sparkles. When they vanished, nothing remained of him, not even blood stains.
“What did you do?” The woman asked, perplexed.
“I erased him. He’s not wanted anywhere.” Emiyo played with her hoop again, spinning it around her body from hand to foot before dismissing it.
“Thank you!” The woman grabbed Emiyo with both hands.
“I couldn’t allow him to hurt a baby!” Emiyo said, flushing. Despite her embarrassment, she felt like she’d awakened from a bad dream. She couldn’t remember a time she’d been this content. With grace, she accepted the woman’s gratitude.
A laugh interrupted them, the baby giggling in delight. He stretched out his tiny arms, fascinated by her colorful dress. Emiyo laughed as the baby gurgled, playing with her dress’s sleeve.
“His name is Ryo.”
“Hello, Ryo!” She continued to play with the baby, laughing in delight. A sudden thought occurred to Emiyo. “Mind if I stay the night? I have nowhere to go.” She’d had more than enough of Seina’s stupid sleepover.
“Of course! I owe you my son’s life!” The woman said.
“Do you mind?” Emiyo asked, pointing at the baby. The mother nodded, spending the next few minutes teaching her guest the proper method of holding a baby. It was comforting. After some playtime, Emiyo drifted to sleep, little Ryo clutching her by the arm.