(Spoiler alert, nothing happens)

August 6th, 2015

A fist wooshed right past Tatsuko’s head, the force blowing her ponytail back as she narrowly sidestepped the blow. She reached for the arm but it slipped out of her grasp like an eel. The sharp point of a knee was thrown at her sternum but she managed to catch it with both her hands but it was not enough to stop the force of the blow which took her feet off the ground. Tatsuko pushed, flipping her 150cm tall body behind her 180cm tall opponent so she could spin around with a roundhouse kick but was immediately struck in the thigh by a fist, causing her to stagger and fall.

Tatsuko immediately rolled aside to dodge a stomp coming her way before standing up to perform what resembled a shoryuken from Street Fighter. If she wanted to, she could have even used her pyrokinesis to light her arm on fire. It was a clean hit on her opponent’s jaw, causing them to stagger as they shook off the blow and regained footing. Tatsuko took that opportunity to rush in and grab her opponent by the waist and perform a suplex. Unfortunately for her, her opponent’s longer arms reached the floor before her head did and used the momentum to complete the arc and toss Tatsuko off her. A buzzer sounded as Tatsuko hit the floor and rolled into a crouching position.

“Damn,” she said, taking off her protective helmet and wiping the sweat from her brow. Her opponent was standing in a white ring, about 5 meters in diameter and looked similarly visibly sweaty and tired.

“And that’s ten victories,” her opponent said, taking off her own helmet and stretching out her right hand to form a V with her fingers. Major Takakawa walked over to Tatsuko and helped her up.

“I really thought I would get more than three today,” Tatsuko said as her breathing returned to normal. The two of them sat down on a nearby bench.

“Hah, I got a Bronze medal in the 2012 Olympics for women’s sentai sumo, even if you invented it, you never practiced against anyone other than your teammates while I’ve got twenty years of experience. Still, I’m amazed, you’ve only been back for a week and you can already take three games off me,” Major Takakawa congratulated Tatsuko, patting her on the head. There was not much of a strength or endurance difference between them either, as Tatsuko was using passive physical enhancement to match Major Takakawa’s strength, speed, and endurance.

Sentai sumo was sport that Tatsuko had made up back when she was still Tetsuo. It was based off of traditional sumo, though the ring was slightly larger and the rules somewhat difference. You won either by ringout or knockout, but kicking, punching, grappling, groundfighting were all legal. It was honestly more like mixed martial arts than traditional sumo. Apparently it got popular internationally within the last ten years and made its first Olympic appearance in 2012. Most pros were former supersoldiers, though the use of supernatural abilities was banned in official competitions.

“Just how old are you anyways?” Tatsuko asked as she took a sip of water which was promptly, and forcefully spurted out of her mouth when Major Takakawa slapped her on the back.

“Isn’t it rude to ask a woman her age? But if you must know, I turned thirty-three the day before you woke up,” she said, laughing. Age was irrelevant to her since magic would mean she would stay in her physical prime well into her fifties.

“Oh. Well, happy birthday then Major,” Tatsuko said. She was promptly grabbed by the sweaty Major and held close to her rather generous assets.

“Oh man, you’re so cute. You really filled up well, can’t even recognize you from the skinny little skeleton from before. I don’t even care if you were a twenty-three year old man, stay a little girl forever won’t you?” she said as Tatsuko attempted to squirm her way out of her arms. It was true though, her body had more fat on it now, she looked like a normal, healthy girl. The magic of a diet with real food and physical therapy combined with magic meant it only took her a week to get to full physical strength.

“So when am I actually going to start learning magic?” Tatsuko said, changing the topic at hand. She gave up on getting out of the major’s iron cuddle and settled into her position as a body pillow.

“When Starfighter finishes up his guide. Star affinity isn’t exactly a common affinity and as one of the American A-ranks, Starfighter is pretty busy with his own business. The only other star affinity magic users on the planet are John Barrows and Solar Flare,” she explained. John Barrows was an American S-rank codenamed Supernova and Solar Flare was a European A-rank. Both of them had been trained by Starfighter personally. Starfighter himself was self-taught and the world’s leading (and only) authority on star-affinity magic.

“Honestly, we’ll probably start you off with general magic training with your teammates, I’m not in charge of your magic training, I’m just helping you out for now since I don’t really have anything better to do until the team is formed,” She said, leaning back to stretch out her muscles a bit, though she still gripped Tatsuko, pulling her back with her.

“Well, alright, I’m just feeling antsy,” Tatsuko said, flexing the fingers of her right hand. She was impatient. Being stuck in a modern military facility was neat and all, filled with new things that did not exist thirty years ago, but there was so much more outside. But more than that, she wanted to be out in the field again.

“Are you ready for Sunday then?” Major Takakawa asked, pushing Tatsuko forward as she rocked forwards.

“...No,” Tatsuko said after a short pause. Moving in with her younger brother and his family was one thing, Hiro had already agreed to that, but repairing their relationship was something else. The more she ran simulations through her head, the more she thought it was pointless to do so, but the less time she spent thinking about it, the more uncomfortable she felt.

“How about another round to take your mind off of it?” Major Takakawa suggested, finally releasing Tatsuko from her bear hug.

“I feel like that’s just running away from my problems,” Tatsuko sighed, leaning forwards and putting her hands together. She stared at the ground and shook her head, trying to toss off her thoughts.

“A good leader knows when to retreat,” said the major.

“I don’t think that’s quite relevant...” said Tatsuko. She got up and started limbering up her limbs.

“But yea, let’s go for a few more rounds.”

Three days later, it was Sunday. Tatsuko stood in front of a, suburban, two-story home. Across the road behind her was a beige compact car. Two soldiers in plainsclothes were chatting with each other about baseball as they occasionally glanced in Tatsuko’s direction. Tatsuko herself was wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans. A satchel slung over her shoulder contained a basic change of clothes and a tablet computer, as per her own personal request. She turned around and looked at the soldiers in the car, as though she were seeking emotional support from them. One of them just shrugged at her, they could not really understand what she was feeling and simply did not know how to help. Tatsuya returned the unhelpful gesture and turned back around. There was no point in putting this off any longer than she had to, she took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

"Hello?" a young, female voice sounded from the speaker in Japanese.

"Umm, is this the residence of Hi- Uncle Hiro?" sheI stammered out, tip toeing nervously to attempt to look over the tall gate. An entirely pointless venture since it was a wrought iron gate and she could have easily just looked through the gaps.

“Oh!” An excited shout came through the speaker and Tatsuko could hear thing being knocked over and scrambled around from the speaker.

“You must be Tatsuko! Look up, look up~” the voice came back. Tatsuko looked up towards the 2nd story window and saw a girl, maybe sixteen or seventeen years old, waving through the window and holding a wireless landline-style phone to her head. She was dabbed in random colors, especially on her arms and face. Her straight hair that reached just above her shoulders was dyed bright orange, though smudges of color were similarly dotted through. Tatsuko nervously smiled and waved back.

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“Mom’ll let you in, just come in through the gate first,” the girl said. A beeping noise sounded as the gate unlocked itself and swung inwards. Tatsuko turned around and waved goodbye to the two soldiers. They waved back and started to drive away as Tatsuko stepped through the gate.

She got a better look at the house from the courtyard. It had a bit of a minimalist, clean design, lots of flat, monochrome panels against the walls. Small plants grew a short walkway to the front door and a sakura tree was planted off to the side in the grass, its branches hanging over the wall separating the property from the street. It was a far cry from the fishing shack Tetsuo and Hiro grew up in.

The door swung open and a somewhat-familiar woman dressed casually in pants and a button up greeted her. Her brown hair was tied in a loose ponytail to the side which went across her shoulder. Nakamura Chie, though she was much older now, Tatsuko still recognized her as Hiro’s first girlfriend. They broke up when Hiro was in high school much managed to hook up again in university. She was currently a stay at home mom and freelance web designer.

“Yomohiro Tatsuko I presume? Come in,” she asked, motioning for Tatsuko to come in. There was a smile on her face, which was more than Tatsuko had expected.

“Yes, that’s me,” Tatsuko answered, giving a short bow before coming in and taking off her shoes in the entryway.

“I’m Kurogane Chie, though you can just call me Auntie, if that’s alright for you. Hiro told me all about you, including your… situation. My daughters don’t know though,” Chie said. Tatsuko sighed, her situation was supposed to be classified information, but it seemed that Hiro’s wife was necessarily privy to it.

“Thank you very much for letting me stay in your home,” Tatsuko said, setting her bag down.

“Hiro might have given you a rough impression when he went to meet you, but I can assure you that he appreciates everything you did for him. You really are brothers though, in the way that you struggle to express how you really feel,” she commented. That helped alleviate some of Tatsuko’s worries, though she was still nervous about meeting her former brother again.

“Where is... Uncle Hiro?” she asked, feeling a lump of nervousness in her throat. Though, as usual, her face did not betray any of her inner thoughts. She followed Chie into the living room and they sat face to face across the coffee table.

“On a business trip until Friday, I think he wanted to put some between you and him until he could more… emotionally prepare himself,” Chie answered. The lump vanished as Tatsuko breathed an internal sigh of relief. It seemed that both Tatsuko and Hiro were trying to put off their problems for the time being.

“Well, let me show you around the house first,” Chie said, standing up and reaching a hand out to Tatsuko with a smile. Tatsuko accepted and followed her around.

The first thing Tatsuko noticed was how large the house was. It was easily double the size of the neighboring homes, taking up two lots worth of space. Tatsuko had not noticed initially because the width was the same as any of the others, it was just much longer. First floor had a full size kitchen with an enormous range with a pair of burners on each side of a flat iron grill. There was even a dishwasher and a sink on an island. The kitchen opened up into the dining room with a huge, mahogany, eight person table. The living room they started out in was larger than most apartments in Japan, with huge couches and a massive flatscreen TV. The most surprising part of the first floor, however, was the massive bathroom. It was a full onsen-style bathhouse complete with an outdoor hotspring. Whatever Hiro was making as a supernatural technology consultant, it was far more than Tatsuko had imagined. There was actually surprise and amazement showing on Tatsuko’s face.

The second floor was actually bigger than the first, as the bathing area on the first floor was built into the house. The first room was Chie and Hiro’s master bedroom. It was actually fairly modest in size considering the size of the house, containing only a king sized bed and an L-desk with a three-monitor computer setup which Tatsuko presumed was where Chie worked. The next room was a much smaller bathroom with a shower, nothing particularly special.  Across the bathroom was another door, which Chie knocked on.

“Ichigo, do you mind if we come in?” she asked. There was the sound of things being knocked over again and more shouting. The door opened up and the girl Tatsuko saw out the window appeared again, with even more colors smeared over a generous amount of visible skin. She was wearing just hot pants and a tank top, and those too were covered in color smears. Tatsuko took a closer look inside and noticed a multitude of paintings and drawings scattered all around, most of them piled up on no less than four tables. The flooring was actually a shiny-looking tile, unlike the hardwood floors of the other rooms, likely for easier cleaning.

“Nice to finally meet you Tatsuko, can I call you that? I’m Kurogane Ichigo, though you can just call me Ichigo or nee-chan or whatever you feel most comfortable with, I’m a sixth year at East Tokyo Private Traditional High School,” Ichigo asked and introduced herself, shaking Tatsuko’s hand and smearing it with what she now realized was oil paint. Kurogane Ichigo, Seventeen years old, East Tokyo’s art club president, the numerous awards hanging off the only clean part of the room’s walls was likely a good indicator of her skill, if the highly detailed art pieces littered around like trash were not enough.

“Yea, Tatsuko is fine with me,” she answered. Having her hand covered in paint was not a big deal, but Tatsuko was now sort of awkwardly holding her hand so she would not get it on anything else.

“Oh, sorry, lemme get that for you,” Ichigo apologized and tumbled her way back through her chaotic art gallery before returning with a rag to wipe Tatsuko’s hands with. It helped, a bit.

“You have any bags? I’ll go wash up and help you out with those,” Ichigo asked.

“Just one, downstairs by the entryway,” Chie answered for Tatsuko.

“Must be a pretty big bag then,” Ichigo commented, wiping her feet and stepping out and towards the second floor bathroom.

“Not really…” Tatsuko said, though Ichigo had already closed the bathroom door behind her.

“Alright then, the next two rooms are Ichigo’s and Fuuka’s. Fuuka is probably still asleep, and Ichigo hates it when people enter her room without her permission, so I’ll show you your room,” Chie opened up a door at the end of the hallway. It was a small, spartan room. There was a chair and a small desk in one corner and a twin bed on the other. The closet was open, and empty except for some school uniforms and gym clothes.

“If you need anything else, like posters or a bookshelf or anything, just ask,” Chie said, assuring that Tatsuko would be taken care of.

“It’s fine, I get a stipend I can use,” Tatsuko replied. She looked visibly more relaxed. It was an odd feeling, looking at her own room. More importantly, she finally had her own room, and it only took over fifty years and dying to get it.

“Hey, is this seriously all you have? It’s just a single change of clothes and a cheapo tablet,” Ichigo said, coming in. The paint was off of her hands and face, though still everywhere else. The mood was immediately killed as she dragged Tatsuko out to go buy the things she needed.