Maki the Idol/Slayer by Yazawa Nico

[The girls wrote supernatural stories about each other for Halloween. This was Nico's story about Maki*]

Nishikino Maki checked her set-up one more time. Tight cut-off T-shirt showing off her mid-section: check. Tight, hip-hugging leather short-shorts: check. Stakes, holy water, miniature flame-thrower: check. Lipstick, hair and makeup, tousled-looking but perfect: check. Bored, pouty rich girl look: check. She was ready to go slaying. Oh, wait. She put on her stylish eye mask, made by her long-suffering girlfriend Nico under protest, and headed out into the night.

The very first alley she came to had three girls standing at the entrance to it. The first words she heard made Maki smile:

"He's a total monster!"

"No kidding! Like we'll ever go back there again."

"We were lucky to escape unscathed."

Maki leapt forward.

"Hello, ladies! It is I. I have arrived! Fear not!"

The three girls, all well-dressed, not that different from how Maki dressed, looked her over sceptically.

"And who are you, again?"

"It is I - Maki the Idol/Slayer."

Suddenly the three girls backed away from her.

"Whoa dude!" the girl that seemed to be their leader said. "What did we ever do to deserve THAT? Erena, maybe we should call the police."

"No, Tsubasa, we can handle her. You hear that, you maniac?"

Maki paused, confused. "Umm, what? Aren't you being menaced?"

The girl who hadn't spoken before said, "Well, now we are. How can you be so proud of murdering idols? We have it tough enough without that. For instance, the scumbags that run some of these venues ..."

"Wait!" said Maki. "What? I mean, who's murdering idols here?"

"Gee, I wonder .. could it be YOU, you nutcase?" the one called Erena said sarcastically.

"What?" Maki said. "I mean, no. I am Maki the Idol/Slayer"

"There, she said it. We need to learn to let the authorities handle things like this, girls."

"Wait! I mean, I am Maki the idol, and monster slayer."

"Right, right," the third girl said. "And by the way, my name is Anju. Anything to make it harder to just murder me. If that was the case you'd call yourself Maki the Monster Slayer, you know."

"Well, I mean, but I am also an idol. So it's Maki the Idol Slash-slayer."

"Even better, she kills her own kind - and she slashes us to death," Tsubasa said, pulling out her phone.

"Hold on there!" Maki said, coming closer to them. Suddenly something went zinging past Maki and clipped her ear, causing a paper cut.

"Taste the power of my Idol Zing," Tsubasa said.

Maki backed off a little. "Wait, is this about my name? It is, isn't it? Look, I tried Maki the Idol who is a Monster slayer. I tried Idol Maki - Monster Slayer. I even went with "Maki, the Magical-Girl-Idol-slayer. It all got too long."

"She kills Magical Girls, too? Okay, that does it. ARISE powers, activate!" The other two echoed Tsubasa's cry, as they pointed their hands inward from the three points of a triangle. Suddenly a rainbow light swirled around them, and their costumes became slightly different from their idol outfits.

"Taste our Rainbow Burst, you monster!"

The burst, meant to destroy evil, only slightly pained Maki, because sometimes she did not treat Nico as well as she should. Maki stared at them, annoyed.

"Look, if there really are no monsters here, I am going to go somewhere else. You girls are really ungrateful, you know."

"Hold on," Tsubasa never forgot a girl she'd tried to score in a music room. "Aren't you Nishikino? Talk about being a sore winner. If you had lost the Love Live, I could see you becoming an embittered super-villain, but news flash: you won!"

Maki had had enough. "Look," she said. She lifted up her shirt - which was scandalous, as it was too tight for a bra - and showed the bottles of holy water, extra stake, and mini-flame thrower strapped to her upper body. "Does any of this look like it's meant to kill IDOLS to you idiots?"

"Give me a minute, Nishikino," Tsubasa said, studying Maki's 'weaponry' intently.

Maki turned beet-red and hastily pulled down her shirt. "Mou!" she said. "Tsubasa you pervert!"

Tsubasa signalled to the other two girls and they waved goodbye to Maki. "We have a show to do in a little while. You might want to work on your Slayer gig, Nishikino."

Meanwhile, a monster that eats only school idols had been lurking undetected in the alley-way as Maki passed it. That monster was no more - it had died laughing. So Maki had saved the day, and who was the fool now?

Well, still Maki, but she was an adorable fool all the same. She continued on into the night. For justice!

Notes:

* Nico slept alone for a couple of weeks, but it was worth it.