Chapter 9: Tanabata
I do not own PMMM or Magia Record. PMMM is own by AniplexNA. Magia Record is owned by f4Samurai
One month later
Kyouko Sakura just wanted to make her father happy. It was a simple wish, but the look on her parents' and sister's faces made it worth it. And now she was on her first witch hunt. Imagine that. This particular witch had been escaping her from her for quite a while now.
"Be careful Kyouko Sakura." Kyubey, the white cat, warned her.
Kyouko didn't mind it as she leaped and danced over the witch's spear like arms. Setting up an illusion, Kyouko ducked and rushed around the witch to get a better vantage point. Watching the illusion collapse from attack, Kyouko dashed in and stabbed the witch's head with her spear. Kyouko chuckled to herself. Hunting these witches weren't so bad after all.
"Look out Kyouko, that's not the witch's core!" The white cat called out.
Kyouko looked up barely in time to see the witch raise its axe once more. Closing her eyes shut, Kyouko braced herself for the impact.
Crack!
The witch jerked back in pain, releasing Kyouko from its grip. Suddenly free, Kyouko dropped to the ground awkwardly and looked up to her savior.
Two girls, both clad in green stood before her. Kyubey seemed to recognize them. "Ah, Mami Tomoe! And Mel Anna! It is a surprise to see you here."
Mel put down her revolver, shaking it uncomfortably. "Geez, that hurt my wrist."
"It's about handling the recoil Mel. You need to adjust your weapon to have less recoil." Mami chided.
Mel pouted, "Hey, I just got a hang of turning cards into guns. Now you tell me that I need to turn guns into better guns?"
Mami chuckled, "that's so you Mel." She turned back to Kyouko. "Are you ok?"
Kyouko nodded, "Ye-yeah, thanks for saving me."
Mel nodded. "No problem! That's what we do!"
The green haired girl pulled out another card and focused. The purple card began to fold and twist until it had turned into a small silver revolver. She frowned, "Still can't make 'em as fast as you do."
"It takes practice," Mami assured her, pulling her own musket. "Now we have a witch to deal with. Mel, keep the familiars off me. I'll handle the witch."
Kyouko watched with fascination as the two girls worked with synchronized teamwork. Mel swapped between her revolvers and tarot cards to send wide waves attacks at the familiars while Mami peppered the witch volleys of musketfire. In minutes, the witch collapsed into dust, leaving no trace other than a single grief seed.
Mami picked off the grief seed and offered it to Kyouko.
Kyouko accepted it gingerly. "Thanks. I'm Kyouko Sakura."
Mami smiled, "It's no problem. I struggled against my first witch too."
Kyubey nodded, "It was quite the relief that Homura Akemi was nearby."
Mami glanced around before offering a hand out to Kyouko. "If you're not busy, would you be interested in joining us for tea?"
Kyouko considered the offer before nodding, "sure, why not?"
Going to be late, rescued another magical girl - Mami
Homura put down her phone and pondered to herself. Wouldn't Kyouko Sakura would have contracted around this time? And according to Mami, she had met Kyouko shortly after contracting…so…maybe? Rookie Kyouko most certainly would be an interesting sight. Under her and Yachiyo's tutelage, Mami had grown in leaps and bounds compared to the Mami she once knew. Sure she wasn't as powerful in sheer firepower, but a lot of Mami's traditional weaknesses such as spatial awareness and team coordination had been trained against, leading Mami to become a much more well rounded girl. Imagine if Kyouko was trained under Yachiyo and Mifuyu; now that would turn her into an absolute monster.
"Homura!"
A body slammed into her back, shoving the raven haired girl forward. Homura cranked her neck to see a familiar brunette smiling at her.
"Hey!" Tsuruno smiled cheekily, "you ready for our training this evening?"
Homura shook her head, "Mami and Mel ran into some stuff in Mitakihara. They said they wouldn't make it."
Tsuruno frowned. "I see. But the two of us can still train!"
Homura frowned. "That's not even remotely fair to you."
She pouted, "are you saying that it's only fair when it's the three of us against you?"
Homura shrugged. That wasn't wrong. Especially when Tsuruno's sheer blitzing power and all round capabilities forced Homura to take her seriously each and every fight…which meant resorting to stopping time and throwing bombs at her, at which point the fight was already over. "Plus it wouldn't be what you need help with. You can beat anyone in a duel, but you need practice working in a unit."
Tsuruno sighed, "Good point. Well I guess it's back to home and doing homework."
Speaking of homework. "Well…actually," Homura stammered. This was embarrassing. "I am a bit confused with our social studies assignment, so if you don't mind."
It was a sore point to Homura. In all the time she spent looping, she had never really bothered studying beyond her second year in middle school. Which meant that as a third year middle school student, almost all her courses were completely new to her. On the other hand, the brunette was an honors student with perfect attendance and near perfect grades.
Tsuruno's eyes twinkled as she took the black haired girl's hands. "I'd be happy it help! Leave it to me, the mightiest study-er!"
Yachiyo held her pose as the shutters clicked and flashed around her. Her eyes used to the bright lights, she counted to three before changing her pose, bring her leg back while twisting her body. The shutters flickered in response.
"Very nice Nanami!" The head photographer called out.
Yachiyo did not respond, but instead maintained her pose.
After another 10 minutes, Yachiyo finally sat down. As her hairdresser began to prick and fix her hair, her manager ran up to her. "Well done Nanami," she smiled warmly.
Yachiyo responded quickly. "I couldn't have done it without all your effort."
"So humble Nanami," the manager gushed, "anyways, I just got us a gig in Mizuna."
Yachiyo perked up, "I see. What's the gig?"
The agent smiled. "They want to promote the Tanabata festival in the castle town. The thing is, it's a duo gig."
Yachiyo nodded, understanding now. "So you want to know if Akemi can help out?"
"Pretty much." The manager smiled.
"Let me ask her. I'm sure she should be available."
Her agent bowed respectfully, "Thank you very much. You and Akemi are gaining popularity in the youth these days and connecting you with Kamihama historical culture would be an excellent way to reinvigorate interest in our history."
Yachiyo chuckled, "I completely understand."
"And so our manager wanted us to work together to help out for the Tanabata festival in Mizuna."
Homura nodded, "Of course I'll help out. Do you have any details?"
"Not yet. It should be just a simple shoot though."
"I see. Then it shouldn't be a problem."
"That's great. I'll let the manager know. Also maybe Mifuyu and Hanna can meet us there."
Homura ended the call and began to look up information on her computer.
"Hmm…the legend of the paper mulberry leaf." She read a summary of the legend and pondered. No…they wouldn't…would they?
They would.
"I'm sorry, a drama?" Yachiyo gaped.
The manager nodded, "That's right. It's a historical period drama based on the legend of the Paper Mulberry Leaf."
Homura sighed, she really should have seen it coming. In short, it was a story about two martially gifted girls who were from opposing families who worked together to overthrow a corrupt lord amidst a famine. It was a period fairy tale targeted towards children while promoting local history.
Apparently Yachiyo didn't get the memo. "I…can't do this." She responded quickly.
"Why not?"
"You didn't tell me I had to act."
Homura raised her brow. It was just a children's play. It wasn't like she needed to be a talented actress to pull off a play meant for children.
"I just can't." Yachiyo refused.
"You're being irrational." Homura frowned, "This is just another job. It will be good for the community and for the local kids. Why can't you do this job?"
Yachiyo sighed, "I…I just…I can't act."
Wait that's all? Wait…she can't act?
As it turns out, she couldn't.
"Chizuru…I…do not…want…to…"
Homura quietly cringed as Yachiyo stammered out her lines. It was worse than reading off a page, she legitimately was sounding like a robot.
"I can't fight alongside you the way you are now." Homura tried to put on her most defiant voice. It wasn't that hard, she just needed to imagine Madoka and the words came naturally. It was interesting just how many parallels she could see between Chizuru and Madoka. Chizuru wanted to save her people. Madoka wanted to save everyone.
"Cut!" The director called, "Let's take a break!"
Homura walked over to Yachiyo and extended a hand, "If you want, we can keep working on the lines over the break."
The two of them sat down as Yachiyo handed Homura a water bottle. Grateful, Homura took it and gurgled some down, letting the liquid refresh her parched throat.
"Ah there they are!"
The two looked up to see Mifuyu, Hanna, and surprisingly Karin and Kanae as well across the room. The group walked up to them.
"How's it going?" Kanae asked as they arrived.
"It's going ok." Homura tried the tactful approach but Yachiyo didn't even bother.
"I'm doing terrible."
"What?" Karin asked in surprise.
Mifuyu sighed, "I should have known. Yach-chan can't act."
Kanae frowned, "Then why did you accept this role?"
Yachiyo sighed, "They were very insistent and well, it's a special honor to do something so locally."
Homura frowned, "it's not that bad. You just need practice."
"But I just can't understand this character. Bad enough that I can't act, but more so that I just don't get her!" Yachiyo bemoaned.
Karin scrunched her brow in thought, "Can I see the script?"
Yachyio seemed too lost in pity, so Homura handed the purple haired girl hers. The girl glanced through the script and frowned. "Hmm…honestly I get it's supposed to be a historical story, but honestly, this script isn't making full use of its potential."
"Really?"
Karin gestured to the script, "I mean, I get Tsuyu being Yachiyo, but you totally got miscast as Chizuru Homura."
"I can handle it just fine," Homura interjected.
"Well of course. You're just a good actor, but Chizuru just isn't written in a way that uses your full potential." Karin pointed out, "Like I could see Mifuyu, Tsuruno, or myself being more in character with Chizuru than you."
Homura considered it, then nodded, "I see that. I'm honestly quite different from Chizuru. But the roles have been casted and there's not much we can do about it."
The purple haired girl pouted cutely. "Fine…"
Mifuyu giggled, "It's fine Karin. We know how much you care."
Kanae smiled softly while Hanna gave a silent thumbs up.
"No... This is what... I have to do..."
Nothing had changed. Yachiyo still stammered through her lines like a robot. Homura sighed internally.
Off to the side, she caught sight of the director leaning towards the historian. With her enhanced hearing, their whispers were like shouting.
"Say, couldn't we move some of Tsuyu's lines to someone else? Maybe introduce a new character?"
"Maybe, I'd like to keep it as it is, but if it really comes to this…"
Homura nodded, that did make sense.
Apparently someone else didn't think so.
"Silence!"
The room froze as a certain purple haired girl stomped on scene.
The director rose from his seat in anger, "Excuse me, what do you think you're-"
"The question is, what do you think you're doing!" Karin interjected. "You're making a mess! That's what!"
Homura fought the urge to facepalm.
Now the historian stood up, "What do you know about this play?"
"I may be an armature mangaka, but at least I know how to write a story with the hand I've been dealt! Instead of," she gestured to the cast, "Whatever mess this is."
The director clenched his fist, "How, how dare you?"
Karin stomped up to him briskly. "Listen to me. I'm not trying to insult you. I'm trying to point out that you have a lot of talent and skill here and the only thing holding them back is the script!"
The director paused for a moment, then gestured to the historian. "A moment please."
Before anyone could respond, the director, historian, and mangaka were in a closed room.
Yachiyo glanced to Homura, who now was facepalming. Mifuyu was chuckling from the side with Kanae shaking her head. Hanna remained still.
Homura focused her hearing and started to make out loud voices.
"You're just doing it wrong!"
"It's how the legend goes!"
"But you do have creative liberties right?"
"Well yes…but…"
"You've got Yachiyo freaking Nanami and Homura freaking Akemi on your set and you're not going to take advantage of that?"
"…"
"Well…"
"Think about it! Black on blue! 'I need you!' 'Why won't you listen to me?' 'Perhaps I need to use my blade dance…of the night!'"
"…"
"Go on…"
"And then…she does…"
"Yes yes, I can see that!"
"But what about the historical accuracy?"
"Look, do you want the kabedown or what?"
"…"
"That's what I thought."
The door opened and the three walked out. Karin was fine, but both the director and the historian had rolled up tissues jammed into their noses for some reason.
The director cleared his throat. "It has become apparent that there has been some issues with the script and thus requires reworking. Therefore, everyone is dismissed for today and we'll resume tomorrow."
The historian nodded uncomfortably. "Yes. We'll be rewriting the script tonight."
Karin grinned, "I'll be helping!"
Homura stared incredulously. What had Karin done to get some absurd results?
Six months later
The blades whirled with deadly accuracy as the two girls clashed. Chizuru lunged forward only to be countered by Tsuyu's parry. The bluenette pressed the attack, her sword slicing upward. The black haired girl leaped back and took up a defensive stance, her blade held in both hands.
"Why, why do you refuse to attack me?" Chizuru demanded.
Tsuyu frowned, "You wouldn't understand. Come back when you've trained for a thousand years."
Chizuru grimaced, hefting her sword before dashing into an overhead swing.
Tsuyu blocked and parried once more, as Chizuru's wild slashes were easily countered by her precise moves. She sighed, "If you will not listen to me, then perhaps I need to discipline you."
Tsuyu waited for Chizuru's next leap, then with a precise cut, knocked the blade out of the black haired girl's hands.
"Ahh!" Chizuru cried out as she backed up, trying to escape the reach of the bluenette's blade. But the blunette showed no sign of letting her prey escape, slamming her elbow into Chizuru's stomach.
Chizuru flew back and slammed against a wall. As Chizuru struggled to stand, the long shaft of a silver blade slammed into the wall, barely grazing her head.
"Well, well, well, so this is what happens when I get serious." Tsuyu chuckled, her voice icy cold.
Chiruzu glared back. "Do your worst! But know I'll always fight you. I'll always resist! I'll never surrender as long as he's in control."
Tsuyu's frown softened, "is that so?"
To Chizuru's surprise, Tsuyu pulled the blade from the wall and sheathed it. "If all you're going to do is resist…I actually might find this…amusing."
"Wh-what?"
A swift hand slammed into the wall next to her as Tsuyu towered over Chizuru. A cold and sinister grin crossed Tsuyu's face as she placed her other hand on Chizuru's chin. "You know, when you're all fussy like this…you're kinda cute."
Chizuru's eyes widened. "Wh-what?"
Tsuyu's eyes twinkled with a malicious darkness. "You know, you may be right. That old man could be removed. The land could be restored. The people be made happy. On one…condition let's call it."
"Condition?"
Tsuyu lifted Chizuru's chin until their eyes were inches from each other. "I keep you…as my prize, my little mockingbird."
"ehh?"
Tsuyu smirked as she pressed her forehead against Chizuru's. "You think you're a master of swordplay, but it's time you learn why I'm the greatest swordmaster of the night!"
Yachiyo turned off the tv in mild disgust. "Alright, that's enough."
Homura looked across the living room of the villa. Mifuyu was quivering nervously, her face red as a tomato. Kanae was watching Mifuyu in visible concern. Momoko had one hand covering her face and had her other hand covering Kaede's…to absolutely no effect as the brunette was peeking over it. Rena and Mami were blushing furiously, their minds having completely stopped functioning. Mel was stone still, her tarot cards all but forgotten on her lap. But Tsuruno was pouting.
"Master! Why? We were just getting to the good part!"
Yachiyo glared at her. "The thought that you're actually enjoying this absolutely dumpster of a show concerns me…immensely."
And then there was Karin, who was happily munching a handful of popcorn, as satisfied as could be. "It was amazing!"
Homura wouldn't give it 'amazing'. When Karin and the director's returned the new scripts, Homura and Yachiyo had no clue what to think of it and had initially refused, but somehow, Karin had convinced Hanna to put them into some sort of susceptible state where Karin convinced them that they had no choice but to continue the shoot. Note to self: they really needed to find a way to restrict her abilities. Useful as they may be, the fact that there Hanna was able to just 'copy Momoko's pep up abilities and make them go ham' was very concerning and needed to be restricted.
The show had been both a hit and a failure. The movie got immediate attention, with critics dismissing the piece as a complete failure and disaster. But the growing fan base of both Yachiyo and herself had clung to the film and started an uprising, causing such a ruckus that their 'masterpiece' hit international news. Most concernedly was the fact that somehow Karin and that terrible director had managed to ensure the movie still remained PG and thus shocked a multitude of parents, who had taken their children to watch with no idea what they were getting their kids into. And now Homura and Yachiyo were at a level of international stardom that they had in no way deserved.
Needless to say, the magical girls of Kamihama completely saw them in a new light and would bombard the two with requests to reenact their "sword fight".
Homura sighed and wondered whether she could still go back in time to wipe out such a troublesome existence.
"Sayaka, where are we going?"
Twelve year old Sayaka Miki pulled her best friend towards the theater. "Madoka, what have I told you? We're going to see 'Songbirds of Mizuna'. It's the biggest hit right now and has all the reviews!"
"I still don't get the appeal," Kyousuke frowned, "Can I sit this one out?"
Hitomi chuckled, "Don't be like that Kyousuke. You can get back to your violin another time. Let's just all watch a movie together!"
"Woah…" Sayaka muttered as she exited the theater. "I…I can never look at swords the same way ever again."
"Th-that's…forbidden love!" Hitomi stammered, trying to blot the last two hours out of her mind.
Kyousuke offhandedly tried to jam another tissue up his nose. "I…there are no words…what's…violins….who…swords…"
Madoka merely smiled softly. "They were so cool together, especially Chizuru!"
Note:
We sincerely apologize for ruining the Tanabata event (not). It was actually really hard to take such a great event and intentionally ruin it.
Anyways, welcome Kyouko Sakura. And rip YachiHomu.
