Act 1: Awaken to the Pure Heart!

A peaceful morning was rising over the horizons of Sakura New Town. It was a peaceful town, free of any troubles aside from the typical shenanigans in life.

"Oh no, ohhh no I'm going to be late!" A young girl yelped as she stumbled around to get ready. She had short, honey blonde hair that was always messy and gentle emerald green eyes, her face dotted with freckles. The girl hastily grabbed for some barrettes with hearts in a vain attempt to make her wild hair look at least a little bit cuter.

The blonde girl grabbed her spacious book bag and threw it over her shoulder, making a run for it out of her house and locking the door on her way out.

"And I'm the last one out again…" The girl commented under her breath, making a run for it through the streets.

On her wild rush to school, she was reminded how things have been not all that long ago...

It was an early autumn morning in a classroom of third year middle school students, the same blonde standing by the teacher and the blackboard, her name on said blackboard.

"Everyone, this is our transfer student, Mai Suzuki!" The teacher introduced, making the blonde, Mai, a little bit flustered. "She moved here a few days ago from across the nation!"

"I-I hope w-we all get along, y-yeah!" Mai shyly introduced herself, several students whispering amongst each other. "O-oh and if you see him, Gou Suzuki is my twin brother, by the way…"

"Wow, a transfer student," one student whispered. "That's super super cool!"

"You think with a new student something interesting might finally happen here?" Another commented.

"Wait she and that cute Gou boy are related?" Yet another student remarked. "And twins nonetheless?!"

"Now, take a seat miss Suzuki, make yourself feel comfortable…"

It had been six months since that day, and most of her charms of being a new student had worn off. Most people didn't pay mind to Mai, even now that she was in her first year of high school. If only she was as warm and radiant as the spring sun…

Thankfully Mai had made it to her classroom just in time, so she thankfully wasn't being chewed out. The day kept progressing, through during one class…

"Now, let's continue with talking about the sixteenth century and people from that period, starting with one of Nobunaga's generals, Maeda Toshiie..." The history teacher lectured, Mai trying to pay attention, but something had caught her eye.

Resting on a nearby tree was a cute orange and white tabby cat, with dark sapphire eyes looking intently at the classroom. Was she looking at her, or was she wanting to learn about parts of history? Strange…

The strangeness continued as she was now in the library during lunch, trying to do self research on the history lesson from earlier. As she was looking through the shelves she swore she saw the same cat, still looking at her.

"What the…" Mai muttered to herself, looking at the window in an attempt to look through the shelves. She soon backed away and was ready to book it when another, much more rough first year student was standing next to her, trying to look over the books. Mai quickly backed out, muttering "Sorry! Sorry!" as she quickly walked off. The rough student looked a bit confused.

"Yeesh, I wasn't gonna kill ya…" The delinquent teen remarked to herself, looking through the shelves. "Now who was it that was trained by the Tengu of Mt. Kurama again...? Ishikawa Goemon? Maeda Matsu?"

The day finally finished, Mai unable to shake off the feeling of that cat intently watching her. How odd, then again cats were quite the odd things sometimes. Despite this, Mai was about ready to go home on her usual route until she noticed a second and third year students that belonged to the student council chatting among each other.

"Did you hear about the antique north of town, pretty close to the foothill of Oomoriyama?" The third year student commented.

"No not really, I don't usually go there, why is that?" The second year student wondered.

"Well there's a pocket mirror they have there, made of solid gold and jewels! They're giving it away for free if you can open it!" The third year responded. "Though that's what I've heard at least."

"Are you sure it isn't rigged?" The second year asked, stroking her chin in thought. "It does sound fishy, I might need to go check it out tomorrow. I have to help with the swim club today."

Walking outside, Mai started to look up north. "Well, I suppose making one stop on the way home wouldn't hurt, right? Gou, Mom, and Dad are pretty busy people after all..."

Mai slowly made her way to the aforementioned antique shop, it looked a bit rundown but not completely suspicious. She walked inside, a small bell ringing to signal her entrance.

"Hello?" Mai asked, looking around. Nobody seemed to be at the glass counter containing lots of old, expensive watches from times of old. Across there were several shelves and scrolls, depicting famous figures and fearsome demons from days old. Among a shelf of several figurines, there was a thick book. It was a bit dusty and hard to read the spine as a result.

"I may as well read something as I wait for someone to come to the desk, surely they won't mind me reading, right?" Mai remarked under her breath, opening the book. There were a few lines of words on the first page.

Light and dark...a concept that's eternal. Long ago, two mirrors were made to reflect these concepts. The Mirror of Darkness brings out the worst in a soul, twisting them into something horrific and can only be wielded by one with a heart so mendered and broken they have no choice. The Mirror of Light was forged to combat this, but can only be wielded by someone with a strong heart. The wielder of light then…

"Huh? It just ended?" Mai asked, flipping through all the pages. To her shock, they were all blank! Did someone get writer's block all those years ago!?

Mai was about to put the book back on the shelf, only to see the same tabby cat from today resting where the book was. Naturally quite startled, Mai ended up fumbling backwards and clumsily running into the counter. Thankfully nothing broke, but there was a bit of an impact to get someone's attention.

"Ow...owowow…" Mai muttered in a bit of pain, the desk and presumed owner of the antique shop rushing over.

"Are you alright young one?" The shopkeeper asked, having mostly concealed herself in dark robes to possibly keep her identity a secret.

"Y-Yeah...I'm just a bit clumsy...oof…" Mai remarked, standing back up. She looked through the counter, seeing a dazzling pocket mirror. It was rose gold and trimmed with gold, depicting a star with yellow, green, blue, violet, and pink points and a large deep pink heart in the middle.

"What's that? It's quite pretty..." Mai curiously inquired, pointing to the pocket mirror. The shopkeeper took it out, placing it on the counter.

"Now this is a very special pocket mirror, and one that nobody I know or seen has been able to open!" The shopkeeper began, leaving Mai dazzled.

"Really? Must be sealed tight then..." Mai gasped in shock.

"It is, not even I, my five brothers, or my old man could open this thing up," The shopkeeper spoke, sounding a bit despaired. "We've had people of all strengths, grade levels, and looks all come in here and nobody's cracked it open."

"May I see if I can open it please?" Mai asked politely. "I'm not the strongest, but I can at least try…"

"Sure sure, if you can, I'll give it to you for free alongside that old tattered book you were lookin' at," The shopkeeper answered, Mai now looking at the pocket mirror.

Picking it up, it had a nice weight to it, not light enough to feel cheap but heavy enough to feel like a well balanced and crafted item. There was a hatch on the front if it, which Mai placed her finger on to open…

"What!?" Mai gasped in shock, as it effortlessly opened in Mai's hand. The contents was a mirror on one side, and on the base a delicately crafted watch. It lacked numbers, but had blue, green, violet, and pink wisps and precisely crafted pearlescent hands. It had a golden rim with eight small diamond-like rhinestones on it, giving it a sense of majesty.

"A-are you sure you want to give this to me for free?" Mai asked looking around. The shopkeeper was gone again. Was it all too shocking?

Knowing the words of the shopkeeper, Mai took the watch and mostly blank book she was looking at and headed out on her way back home. Here's hoping she wouldn't be in trouble…

The cat and shopkeeper watched Mai leave, the cloaked woman looking at the tabby cat in shock.

"I can't believe it…" The shopkeeper commented completely stunned. "She's the one!"

The cat tilted it's head to the side, a bit curious.

"With this news, I must tell the others," The shopkeeper spoke, giving a determined look through her obscured face. "Please, go after her and assist her, I have a bad feeling one of those might be attacking…"

Seeming to understand the words of the woman, the feline went out in pursuit of Mai with a few swift, silent leaps.

Mai had started walking home, about halfway to the Sakura New Town's rather lavish elementary school. While she was a bit close to home, she couldn't help but feel something was watching her, something familiar.

"Huh…?" Mai questioned, hearing something rustling in the bushes before it leaped out. To the blonde's surprise, it was the same tabby cat that had been following her all day.

"I-I'm not in trouble, am I!?" Mai asked, hoping the cat would understand her words.

"No actually, but if I don't help you we might be in serious trouble…" The cat spoke, shocking Mai.

"Y-You can talk!?" Mai shouted in shock, just about falling over from the revelation. "B-But how!?"

"I feel it's time I introduce myself much more properly," The cat spoke, doing a backflip and a puff of purple smoke appearing.

The cat was no longer a normal feline, but one that stood on two legs, had brighter yellow fur and blue inner ears, two tails that were tipped in aqua flames, and a red witch's outfit and a paw wand.

"I'm Fushigi Nyanmajo, I was one of the seven yokai asked to help whoever could open that pocket mirror," Nyanmajo introduced, leaving Mai a bit confused by the last statement.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Nyanmajo! But...what's a yokai exactly?" Mai asked, Nyanmajo waving her wand around.

"Simple, yokai are spirits who have a wide arrange of abilities and we mostly stay hidden," Nyanmajo explained. "That's due to two things. One being we just like to be sneaky though we can make ourselves more visible to a certain wavelength of Yoki. And two, the gate between your world and mine has been rather tightly sealed due to an incident…"

"I see...I know I was told about youkai of myth when I was really young…" Mai began, before looking concerned. "But what happened to your world that caused you to come after me?"

"Well…" Nyanmajo began, recalling the incident.

It was roughly a month ago, Nyanmajo and six other yokai had gathered in a well decorated throne room. There was a quite regal woman sitting on the throne and a royally dressed feline by her. Guarding the two was a duo of a blue dog and an orange cat.

"Let's see...We have the two selected representatives from the Yokai Women's Council, a representative of Ryugujou on behalf of miss Otohime herself, a member of the Oni Hunting Squadron, ambassador from New Yoma City's council of gorgeous, a graduate from the Citrine Magic Academy, and the daughter of the council chairwoman...err...cat herself," The blue dog listed off.

"Yep I believe that's all the folks her majesty called for, and you're all here," The orange cat commented with a nod. "And that's a good thing!"

"So what were we all sent here for?" Nyanmajo asked, looking a bit curiously. The regal woman spoke up.

"A great and deadly darkness has spread and has destroyed many yomakai in the awakening of such a darkness. I'm not sure what caused it, but I hear the human world may have a key to helping defeat such a threat." The tall regal woman spoke, seeming a bit uneasy. "You will be guided to assist whoever wields the mirror of light to help defeat this evil..."

"Sounds vague, but you can count on all of us," Another feline yokai spoke, having a bit more sass.

The regal woman started to glow with a powerful magic surrounding her. "Now go forth, bring the-"

Before anyone could step into the portal, there was a strike of dark lightning, followed by a crackling boom of thunder. Everything was pitch black outside, causing the yokai queen to lose her balance and fall over.

"W-What the!?" The group of seven yokai commented in stunned unison. The dog and cat duo had already took a run for it.

"I will not…" A dark voice boomed quietly yet loudly through the room, sending shivers down many spines. "...let any of you betray yokai kind…"

The queen got herself together and opened up a portal. "Everyone! Please hurry! Take shelter if you can't make it! I can only keep this portal open for a limited amount of time!"

The group of seven yokai asked to go to the human world started to run for it as fast as they could. Nyanmajo, despite her stubby legs was quite fast. She tried not to look back, but it was hard for her not to. Even though all the others were trying to run as fast as they could, a cloud of inky black darkness was consuming and taking them all, screams and struggles being heard and seen.

Jumping through the portal, Nyanmajo barely missed the consuming darkness by a mere hair, and was now on her way to the human world...But could she and she alone be able to help in this mission?

"And that's how I got here, finding the owner of that old antique shop and waiting for someone like you to come along," Nyanmajo explained, giving a heavy sigh. "Hopefully that's enough exposition I'll be having to give to today."

"...But what happened to your friends?" Mai asked, Nyanmajo falling over in a comedic fashion.

Though before Nyanmajo could try to inform Mai, an ominous wind began to blow. The sky began to darken behind dark clouds. Mai looked a bit confused.

"Is it going to rain? I don't think the weather report said anything about rain…" Mai commented, Nyanmajo's ears and eyes twitching.

"No it's actually much worse...it means one of them is near by…" Nyanmajo informed, holding her wand. Mai looked a bit worried.

"...Them?" Mai followed up with a tinge of fear in her voice.

Suddenly, leering over the duo was another cat. But this one was far more mangey, having large, unclipped claws and a scar over it's right eye. She gave a loud hiss as her tail swished with two flames of sinister fire and she snarled with saliva and sharp fangs bearing.

"I've found you, traitor of the yokai world!" The cat hissed, bearing it's claws as it jumped down.

"Nyanmajo isn't a traitor to anyone, and just who are you!?" Mai asked, trying her best to defend her newly found friend.

"I am Yoma Bakeneko, I have been sent to eradicate this pitiful and disgusting world of man!" Yoma Bakeneko introduced herself. "Now kindly surrender for your sins!"

Yoma Bakeneko jumped in after the duo, Mai grabbing Nyanmajo and rolling out of the way. What to do...What to do.

"Take this!" Nyanmajo called out, sending a ball of flame at Yoma Bakeneko. The yoma merely shrugged off the ball of fire.

"You think your pitiful magic will work on me?" Yoma Bakeno snarled, holding up one of it's clawed paws. "Let me slice and dice you poor tratrious pussycat…"

Mai sacrmbled, in a bit of a panic and unsure what to do. She noticed a few small rocks on the side of the road and got an idea.

"Oh no you won't!" Mai yelped, throwing a pebble at Yoma Bakeneko. It was less effective than a ball of fire, but did manage to poke the filthy cat in the eye, leaving her distracted.

"H-How are we going to be able to fight such a thing?" Mai questioned, looking shocked.

"I-I'm not sure...You have the mirror so you should know how to fight, right?" Nyanmajo responded in a panic, Mai looking even more concerned.

"N-No I don't actually! I've never done any kind of combat or even sport training in my entire life!" Mai yelped, completely panicked at this point. "Most I can do is dr…n-never mind! I can't do anything right!"

In the middle of the panic, Yoma Bakeneko finally recovered and punched onto Nyanmajo, tossing the bipedal cat around like a ragdoll. Nyanmajo tried to fend herself with just her wand, but it wasn't working. She was already pretty beaten and Yoma Bakeneko's claws were just too powerful.

"Nyanmajo!" Mai screamed, watching her witch cat friend be tossed into a nearby wall. She quickly ran over to the beaten up cat, completely shaken by the sight.

"Why do you want to meddle in the affairs of yokai, human?" Yoma Bakeneko questioned the blonde. "You'll just get yourself killed like everyone else."

"You...you hurt my friend!" Mai yelled back, choking on her tears. "And she was the first real friend I've made here!"

"That's not my problem," Yoma Bakeneko snarked, seeming unamused by Mai's friendship.

"Well it's my problem, and I'm not going to forgive someone who hurts a friend of mine!" Mai yelled as loud as she could. She was a very modest girl, but this was getting to her breaking point.

"Mai…" Nyanmajo weakly said, still pretty beaten from her injuries.

Upon scooping up Nyanmajo to protect her from any further harm, Mai noticed something emerge from Nyamajo's paw. It was a clear jewel encasing a yellow heart with a strange white symbol on it. On the other side it seemed to have an image of Nyanmajo on it.

Something clicked into Mai's mind as she got out the pocket mirror. She inserted the circular jewel into the base of the pocket watch. Words clicked into her mind.

"My friend true of heart, I summon you! Heart to heart…" Mag began, flicking the jewel in the base to spin it. "Fushigi Nyanmajo!"

The jewels on the watch's base began to glow bright yellow as a heart shaped wave of sparkling light engulfed Mai and Nyanmajo.

"W-What the?!" Yoma Bakeneko snarled, stepping back from the beam of light. Once the light had calmed down, Mai and Nyanmajo stood proudly, now free of any kind of injuries or tears.

Even Mai got some new threads, wearing a similarly red witch's outfit to that of Nyanmajo but with a few more details and a yellow, heart shaped gem on her cloak.

"For humans and yokai, love and justice too! The ever changing Pure Heart Maiden is my name!" Mai called out her title, trying to intimidate the yoma. "I will protect both from the threat of yoma, starting with you!"

"Why you...trying to threaten me and look cuter than me…!" Yoma Bakeneko hissed, trying to leap in after the duo with her claws ready to strike once more.

"Take this!" Mai said, spinning around as a magic barrier caused Yoma Bakeneko to be sent back onto her back. The yoma feline tried to get back up onto her paws, but Nyanmajo swooped in.

"Oh no you won't get away this time!" Nyanmajo shouted, firing an even more powerful ball of fire. Nyanmajo was surprised, she had never been able to make fire that big before…

"Why you…" Yoma Bakeneko snarled once more, trying to get back up with her claws ready. A bit fearful, Mai and Nyanmajo started to step back a little, their fingers and paws touching. As they did so, something clicked into their minds.

"Give me your hand," They both said in unison, looking at each other as they did so. A powerful flow of energy began to flow through both of their hearts and into their wands as they began to do a pose.

"Burning Magical Heart!" Both Mai and Nyanmajo yelled in unison, firing a powerful wave of heart shaped fire at Yoma Bakeneko. There was no escape, the fire impacted right onto the cat head on.

"It's so...beautiful!" Yoma Bakeneko howled out, the uneasy atmosphere fading and Mai going back into her civilian clothes once the light show was over.

"How did you…" Nyanmajo asked, looking at Mai with widened eyes. Mai rubbed the back of her head.

"I...I don't know but I just did!" Mai responded, just as shocked. "I'm not sure why, but it all clicked into my mind…"

"Seems like you're a natural at the magical girl business," Another voice said, revealing itself to be a cutesy pink bipedal cat in a pink sailor uniform, resembling Nyanmajo in a lot of ways. "Which I honestly wasn't expecting."

"Sailornyan!" Nyanmajo gasped, just as shocked to see her friend okay. "What in the whole yokai world happened to you?!"

"I'm not sure, I just remember being consumed by the darkness and I'm here I guess?" Sailornyan responded with a shrug. "Can't remember a dang thing that happened."

"So...it's likely the yokai that were captured have been turned into yoma…" Mai commented, looking into deep thought. "And I have the power to save them?"

"Looks like it," Nyanmajo confirmed for Mai, Sailornyan looking a bit confused.

"And who's this girl?" Sailornyan asked.

"Oh! I'm Mai Suzuki! I'm fifteen years old and first year student at Sakura New Town High School!" Mai introduced herself properly. "I moved here a few months ago, and haven't made any friends in that time, so I'm happy to have you two."

"We're happy to be your friends too!" Sailornyan said, shaking her paw with Mai's hand. As the action went underway, a similar jewel to Nyanmajo's appeared in Mai's hand, except having a bright pink heart and a depiction of Sailornyan on the other side.

"It's been kind of a crazy day, you wanna come over to my place to hopefully catch up?" Mai asked, both feline's nodding. "My folks won't be home for a few more hours and they won't mind if I bring cats, so long as I make sure to take care of you two."

"I'm more than honored to, and we can help explain a few more things," Nyanmajo happily chirped.

"I am too, but could you please make a stop on the way to get some strawberry chocobars if you have them here? They're so good!" Sailornyan requested, Mai looking a bit sheepish but happy either way.

"Sure sure! Let's go get some snacks and head home!" Mai cheered, leading the way back home to a glistening sunset. Hopefully the nearby convenience store had these chocobars Sailornyan was speaking of, it was on the way home and had good prices...

For once in Mai's life, something quite out of the ordinary happened in a long, crazy chain of events in one day. Little to Mai's knowledge, it was far from over and was going to get much, much more crazy.