CHAPTER 3: The Road To Self-Assurance
-| ACQUIRING TARGET |-
A metallic mannequin dummy sprung out from behind a corner.
-| RANGE: 8.036 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 0 METERS PER SECOND |-
-| TARGET LOCKED |-
Unit Gamma raised its long arm and pointed its gun at the mannequin.
-| FIRING |-
-| TARGET HIT |-
The mannequin retreated to its spawning point behind the corner. Seeking out and neutralizing the stationary target was a task that took all of one point zero one three four seconds for Gamma to complete. The act required very little concerted effort from the new mechanical servant.
-| ACQUIRING TARGET |-
Another mannequin came out from a gap in the floor. It was a moving target, bobbing and darting left and right.
-| RANGE: 11.760 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 0.712 METERS PER SECOND |-
-| TARGET LOCKED |-
Gamma logged its repetitive movement pattern and pointed at where the target was going to be in one second. It pointed the weapon in its arm there and fired.
-| FIRING |-
-| TARGET HIT |-
The target fell back into the gap on the floor. Elimination took two point six three nine seconds of effort.
"Now that your base targeting system has been calibrated," The voice spoke. "Why don't we amp up the difficulty level for you a little bit? Proceed through the door on your right." Gamma turned and followed its master's direction.
Straight away, another metallic mannequin fell from the ceiling like it sprung from a booby trap. Though stationary, this one had an animate right appendage that it raised up to attack Gamma. A bright red flash momentarily blinded the new unit.
-| DAMAGE DETECTED |-
"The damage is simulated. None of the dummies can actually harm you," The voice explained. "The targets remaining on your obstacle course will be ones who can fire back, and when you're finished I will tally up the number of hits taken and compare them with the performance of your predecessor."
-| ACQUIRING TARGET |-
-| RANGE: 1.891 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 0 METERS PER SECOND |-
-| TARGET LOCKED |-
-| FIRING |-
Gamma shot back at its bogey. A mechanism in the ceiling reeled it right back up and away.
-| TARGET HIT |-
Gamma began proceeding down a long set of steps to its left, when another attacker sprang out from a hole at the bottom. It too was armed with a simulated weapon.
-| DAMAGE DETECTED |-
-| ACQUIRING TARGET |-
It retracted into the hole.
-| TARGET LOST |-
Gamma stood there with its arm stretched out waiting for the target to reappear from the hole.
"Do not just sit there waiting for your opponent to strike first," The voice said. "You may be as armored and well-equipped as a tank but you should not act as if you are one," It advised. "Try utilizing your superior mobility and shoot into the hole where it hides." Gamma complied, bowing its legs and leaping into the air, where it gazed down into the hole and reasserted its fix on the target.
-| ACQUIRING TARGET |-
-| RANGE: 4.782 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 0 METERS PER SECOND |-
-| TARGET LOCKED |-
-| FIRING |-
-| TARGET HIT |-
"Very good," The voice applauded. Gamma did a frontward flip of its entire body a split second before reaching the bottom of the steps. It impacted the floor with a very loud and ringing thud, the force of it enough to cause the unit to buckle to the point where its upper and lower mobility appendages made contact. Its top part tilted backwards, it was about to tip over again but it planted its upper appendages to the floor in a last-moment bid to steady itself. "See? You are such a quick learner!" It lauded the Unit again. Gamma's body remained upright, but in a rather compromising position. It instantly recognized this fact and pushed its own body back upwards just as a new target revealed itself from the opposite doorway moving from the left side to the right.
-| DAMAGE DETECTED |-
Its laser had skirted Gamma in the right part of its upper appendage before disappearing past the doorway. Unfazed, Gamma proceeded forward, anticipating it would appear again at the spot on the right side where it had taken cover.
-| ACQUIRING TARGET |-
But it was a ploy, a second dummy popped out from behind the left side, zapping Gamma with yet another hit.
-| DAMAGE DETECTED |-
-| TARGET LOST |-
"Always be scanning for the presence of additional foes," The Voice warned. "The bulbous size of the protective casing around your head is due to the additional sensors I've installed so that targets can be tracked around a way wider angular range compared to the unenhanced ocular sensors of basic humans," It detailed. During the time the voice was speaking, Gamma was replaying the memory of the target passing by the door and determined that the laser weapon it utilized was good for only a single use. It immediately classified the target on the left as the more significant threat, and situated its weapon on the spot where it was calculated to reemerge.
"You need not choose one target or the other, not when your weapon and targeting systems are rapid-fire by design," The voice expounded. The metallic mannequin at once rushed past the door on the right side, then exactly zero point zero zero three one four seconds later the one on the left re-exposed itself on the left.
-| ACQUIRING TARGETS |-
-| TARGET 1 |-
-| RANGE: 3.942 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 0 METERS PER SECOND |-
-| TARGET 2 |-
-| RANGE: 4.018 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 9.725 METERS PER SECOND |-
-| TARGET 1 LOCKED |-
-| TARGET 2 LOCKED |-
-| FIRING |-
In but the span of zero point two seven four seconds Gamma had painted its targets and engaged them. It first hit the metallic dummy on the left a split moment before it could draw its weapon and shoot back again, then it neutralized the target on the right an instant before it could take cover back on the left side again.
-| TARGETS HIT |-
"Way to go!" The voice cheered. "You adaptive logic is impressive," It praised. "I just knew you would make for a capable unit, Gamma."
Gamma let out an audible beeping noise from its vocal synthesizer in response. It did not know why it would do such a thing. At the moment its sensory systems detected that the chamber of its primary weapon was operating at an elevated temperature after firing two rapid burst shots. Was the sound an autonomic response to that stimulus? Or did it respond to how its Master evaluated its performance? It did not know, nor was it in its programming to contemplate over. All it knew was that it needed to complete its present task, which was to finish this obstacle course in the time allotted.
"Alright then," The voice went on. "Let us see how well you do without my omnipresent guidance." Gamma proceeded through the next door. "From here until you complete the course you will receive no further tactical assistance from my end. But I will continue to monitor your progress as you go," The voice informed. "At the end of this trial session you will find your immediate predecessor, Unit One Zero One Beta. That is where the next phase of your evolution will begin," It said. Then commanded, "So complete this training scenario with as much haste as you possess!"
"I… Obey… Master," The Unit whirred. The next three targets emerged simultaneously, from the walls surrounding it. The first came from its left side, the second flanked it from the right, and the last one popped out of the ceiling.
-| ACQUIRING TARGETS |-
Only the third was armed with a laser mechanism, and in a matter of zero point zero zero zero one six seconds Gamma readjusted its engagement priorities. The one on the right was retracting at a velocity of zero point one seven nine meters per second faster than the target on the left, making it the second priority.
-| TARGET 1 |-
-| RANGE: 6.389 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 0 METERS PER SECOND |-
-| TARGET 2 |-
-| RANGE: 5.803 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 7.775 METERS PER SECOND |-
-| TARGET 3 |-
-| RANGE: 6.004 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 7.598 METERS PER SECOND |-
Gamma blasted its first target before the dummy could get its shot off.
"Delete." Its audio sensors heard a synthesized voice speak.
It then neutralized its second target just as it was zero point seven four five seconds from retracting back into the wall.
"Delete." It recognized it as the sound of its own voice module. Verbal output of some sort.
"Delete." It finished by shooting target three just as that dummy had reached the wall.
Was it another involuntary response to the battle simulation and all this external stimulation? It did not know, and in any case making the sound did not adversely affect its tactical situation, so it opted not to cease the vocalized noise. Indeed, it found the additional electronic impulses of this new stimuli to be quite energizing.
-| ACQUIRING TARGETS |-
It had reached the next section of the shooting range. In a tiny fraction of a second, it had determined that there were five targets, four of which were armed. And two of them were armed with only single-use weapons.
-| TARGET 1 |-
-| RANGE: 7.652 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 10.010 METERS PER SECOND |-
-| TARGET 2 |-
-| RANGE: 9.018 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 4.023 METERS PER SECOND |-
-| TARGET 3 |-
-| RANGE: 6.667 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 0 METERS PER SECOND |-
-| TARGET 4 |-
-| RANGE: 4.314 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 4.159 METERS PER SECOND |-
-| TARGET 5 |-
-| RANGE: 13.335 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 2.500 METERS PER SECOND |-
The first dummy was zigzagging along a track and was firing a series of four round bursts in Gamma's direction. The pattern was predictable enough for Gamma to calculate and evade.
"Delete." Gamma took out its first target with a four round burst shot of its own. The second one was bobbing up and down, back and forth from the ceiling, again in a pattern predictable enough to handle. It fired its single-shot weapon. Gamma stutter-stepped to the side and avoided it.
"Delete." Two tenths of a second after destroying Target One, it had also neutralized Target Two. Target Three was stationary, but protected by being situated atop a raised platform and lying flat. With a running start Gamma leapt to the air and locked on to it, careful to do so just beyond the maximum angular range of its opponent's weapon.
"Delete." Target Three was eliminated. Three point six seven four seconds of active combat, and there were only two targets remaining in this section of the course. The next target was mounted on a track that was inside of the right side of the wall. It would appear, retract immediately behind a set of shutters along the wall, then appear again at intervals of exactly one second. At the next interval Gamma anticipated that it would close in and fire its single-shot weapon on its next appearance.
"Delete." Gamma turned and fired, striking down its fourth foe in another multi shot burst. The fifth mannequin was not armed, just moving slowly along a track on the far side of the wall beyond a six meter chasm.
"Delete." It fired at the final nonliving prey.
-| GUN BARREL TEMPERATURE: 190.556 CELSIUS |-
-| TEMPERATURE WITHIN TOLERANCE RANGE |-
-| INITIATING COOLDOWN PROTOCOLS |-
The ambient heat from its primary weapon was registering in Gamma's central processor as quite an accelerative stimuli. It was the most comparable to what the sensations it was going through back inside that chamber after it first awakened. What did the voice label it as? It remembered the voice describing the input as 'euphoria'. If that was so, then Gamma was compelled to experience more of this sensation and process it.
With its lowest-priority target summarily destroyed, Gamma now had to proceed to the next section. There was a door on the right side of the room just past the fifth dummy, across the six meter gap. From the two prior engagements where it had to take to the air to reach a target, Gamma calculated that its maximum jumping distance was somewhere between four point eight seven and five point five one meters. If it was on the lower range of that estimation, then it was going to fall into the chasm a full twelve meters into the pit below. That landing would be hard enough to potentially cause damage to its lower appendages and main chassis. Was crossing the chasm the risk? Or was there another door secluded somewhere on Gamma's side of the room. A quick follow-up interior scan confirmed that the door was in fact its only way to progress.
Gamma stepped back and positioned itself against the opposite wall. A running start would increase its chances of a successful jump by a total of fourteen point two zero four percent. It pushed its big metal body off, running with as much speed as its long, heavy metal legs could muster. Mere moments later it reached the edge and lunged forth, extending its left arm outward. It impacted the far side of the chasm with a resounding metallic thud, registering on its sensors much louder than the two previous times it had fallen over and collided with its metallic surroundings. But it had just made it, its arm was now gripping the side of the chasm and now it was trying to lift the rest of its considerable weight upwards.
-| DAMAGE DETECTED |-
Had the impact against the wall caused it harm?
-| DAMAGE DETECTED |-
No, the source of the sensory input was on its backside.
-| DAMAGE DETECTED |-
There were two other metallic dummies fastened to the other side of the chasm that were obscured from its initial view of the room. It seemed the entire point of having this physical challenge was to demonstrate the dangers of foes unseen.
-| ACQUIRING TARGETS |-
-| TARGET 1 |-
-| RANGE: 5.985 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 0 METERS PER SECOND |-
"Delete." Gamma swiveled its topmost appendage around and fired at the first target, neutralizing it on contact.
-| DAMAGE DETECTED |-
The second one had gotten another shot in.
-| TARGET 2 |-
-| RANGE: 5.995 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 0 METERS PER SECOND |-
"De-lete." Gamma detected a minor tonal fluctuation in the sound of its auditory response. A quick self-diagnostic detected no damage to that subsystem, and a follow-up scan showed that the rest of it was no worse for wear after that leap. So what might have been the cause of this vocal blip? It had no time to contemplate, nor was it even in its functional capacity to do so. All that mattered in the moment was making its way back up to the top and proceeding to the next phase of this simulated campaign.
Gamma altered its weaponized arm quickly back to its utility configuration and grabbed a hold of the upper edge with both appendages. Slowly but gradually, it was able to pull itself upwards and up the ledge, where it flopped over on its back and was once again able to see its entire form in the reflective ceiling above.
It was undamaged. It of course needed no visual confirmation of this fact, but was yet again compelled to check. With a fleeting moment's respite Gamma got back on its feet, reactivated its primary weapon and headed through the next door.
The next room was not quite as cluttered. There were four metallic mannequins, all moving, all armed, and all carrying the same wrist-mounted weapon. It seemed that this stage was going to be an exercise on how it would parse and prioritize targets of equal value and threat level.
-| ACQUIRING TARGETS |-
The four targets were all located in the same starting position at the center of the room. The first dummy was barreling directly towards it, arm extended and its weapon drawn. It made for an obvious priority One target.
-| TARGET 1 |-
-| RANGE: 9.765 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 10.009 METERS PER SECOND |-
"Delete." Gamma raised its weapon and fired. The target was so straight on that Gamma did not even need to achieve a target lock.
-| TARGET HIT |-
The dummy collapsed to the floor. The second and third targets were proceeding sideways at precisely the same speeds. Gamma had but one third of a second to decide which one took priority before they both disappeared into the walls.
Gamma lurched hard to the left. It judged the one headed that way as the one that was quicker to the draw. It had no observable or objective evidence of this particular discernment, but it nonetheless proceeded under the notion that this was a true fact.
-| TARGET 2 |-
-| RANGE: 12.470 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 10.009 METERS PER SECOND |-
"Delete." Gamma eliminated the foe just as it was about to counterattack. The third target was an eighth of a second from reaching the safe confines of the wall. It drew its weapon, locked onto Gamma and fired.
-| EVASIVE ACTION |-
Gamma rolled over to the right and took a position as flat on the floor as its highly protruding upper torso could allow.
-| TARGET 3 |-
-| RANGE: 19.000 METERS |-
-|VELOCITY: 0 METERS PER SECOND |-
"Delete." Gamma fired another large burst of projectiles at the dummy, hitting it twice. The fourth metallic dummy was in a full retreat, heading towards the back of the room and retracting towards the ceiling.
-| TARGET 4 |-
-| RANGE: 27.728 METERS |-
-| VELOCITY: 10.009 METERS PER SECOND |-
With no time to get back up from its spot on the floor, Gamma immediately took aim, locked on, and fired another burst pattern at its final remaining foe.
"De-lete," Gamma's voice blipped again as its projectiles struck and the enemy was neutralized.
-| GUN BARREL TEMPERATURE: 196.099 CELSIUS |-
-| TEMPERATURE WITHIN TOLERANCE RANGE |-
-| INITIATING COOLDOWN PROTOCOLS |-
"That was a very satisfactory demonstration, Gamma," The voice in its mind returned. "Good job." That sensation it had encountered previously had returned, now more intense than ever. Was it in response to the voice's evaluation, or more of that rush of stimuli that came with the increase in its mean temperature? It did not know, nor was it in any way inclined to consider the question. The only pertinent thing was that the door on the far side of the room was now open. Gamma picked itself up off the floor and proceeded to enter. It was the last room, a vast round arena with shuttered walls where dozens upon dozens of dummy targets were in the middle of challenging another unit at the very center of the room.
"Halt training exercise," The voice commanded and all the metallic training dummies stopped moving around. "Welcome, Gamma!" The voice greeted, the sound of its authoritative tone was now audibly coming from the unit standing before it. It was a mirror image of Gamma itself, albeit with a more gunmetal black color scheme.
"Mas-ter?" Gamma's synthesized tone ticked upward as it spoke that name, for whatever reason it did not know why.
"Negative," The unit replied. "Unit One Zero One is acting as the host of my consciousness for the time being," It explained. "I wanted to take a personal role in your final challenge. Which is, to spar with this unit in a live-fire combat trial."
"I obey," Gamma tilted its head slightly up and down in an apparent act of deference.
"But before that happens, I would like to see you hone those shooting skills of yours a little bit more," It detailed. "So that you and Beta can operate on a more equal footing."
"Affirmative, Master," The horde of metallic dummies surrounding them started to operate once again.
"Watching the results ought to be so much fun," The voice commented. Whatever this 'fun' was, Gamma did not know. Nor could it aspire to. For it was just a machine designed to carry out its assigned tasks. That was all that it was, and that was all it could try to be.
"Felicia," Tsuruno Yui called into the backroom kitchen. "Would you please come out here for a sec?
"Huuuuh?" Felicia stepped out. "Whaaaaaaaat noooooooow?" She whined.
"Well, at least I know the first thing I'll have to work on will be that fussy attitude," Yachiyo muttered.
"Felicia, you're-" Tsuruno paused. "You're-" She tried again. "Y- Y- Y-" She stammered, her face as red and flustered as someone who had just suffered through an embarrassing release of gas that contained a little mass. "Ffffffffffff-" She tried skipping straight to the keyword, but couldn't even muster enough nerve to do that. "Uhhhhhh-" Her head slowly swerved over to Yachiyo, expecting her to say it for her.
"No, Tsuruno," Yachiyo declined. "You do it. This is supposed to be the easy part."
"But it's not easy at all!" Tsuruno complained.
"Ehhh?" Felicia tilted her head at Tsuruno.
"I know you wanna be liked by your colleagues and subordinates, and a good leader generally is," Yachiyo advised. "But you have to learn when it's time to put your foot down. Otherwise people are going to walk all over you."
"Fine," Tsuruno swallowed. "Felicia you're-" Tsuruno's friendly nature just wouldn't let her out-and-out say it.
"I'm what?" The smaller teen's face looked quite puzzled.
"You're terminated!" So she juked it via a different word. But Felicia didn't understand. "Your services at Banbanzai… Are no longer required."
Slowly but surely, the crux of Tsuruno's message was dawning on the young lady. "I'm fired?" She exclaimed. "Not fair! I haven't broken a single plate in weeks!" She ripped her apron and hat off as her already hot temper boiled.
"It's because someone has a different purpose in mind for you," Yachiyo took over the dialog.
"Yeah?" Felicia fumed. "Who's that?" Yachiyo promptly displayed the Soul Gem ring on her finger. "And what if I say 'no way'?" Just as it was Tsuruno's nature to be friendly, it was Felicia's to be a pill.
"She's paying your tab!" Tsuruno countered. "You can't say 'no'!"
"Too bad!" She turned her torso away and crossed her arms. "I'm sayin' 'no'!" She tilted her head back and stuck her tongue out at them, then she chucked her work clothes to the floor and stormed towards the door.
"If you don't do this," Tsuruno finally found cause for which to put her foot down. "Then I'm also banning you from eating here! Forever!"
"Whhhhhaaaaaat?" Felicia whipped back around and shuffled her way right back up to Tsuruno's face. "You can't do that!" She stared Tsuruno right in the eyes, perhaps looking for any sign that she was bluffing.
"I'll tell my dad," Tsuruno threatened. "Put a poster of your face right over there on our bulletin board!" Tsuruno was finally acting like the true unstoppable force she'd long aspired to be.
"Grrrrrrrrrrr," Felicia grunted. "Everyone says your food sucks, you know! I'm the only loyal customer ya' got!" But she seemed just as determined to be Tsuruno's immovable object.
"If you walk out that door without me as your escort," Yachiyo added. "You'll soon be accosted by girls who are in the service of Kanagi Izumi and Nanaka Tokiwa." That detail came as a surprise to Tsuruno. "You've burned too many bridges, ruffled so many feathers that the other group leaders have decided to ban you from witch hunting in Kamihama City indefinitely." Tsuruno felt the light nudging of another foot against her own. "You are officially a persona non grata."
"Uh-huh, yeeeaaah!" Tsuruno caught on to her Master's little ruse. "We all voted on it at the last meeting. The other four were all for bootin' you outta town, but I said they were being too harsh! Yet they didn't budge!"
"It makes no difference to me whether you accept the work I offer you or not," Yachiyo said. "I just figured the magical mercenary would prefer to be compensated in advance." She motioned her card back towards her purse. "But if you don't want this job, I can't stop you from leaving. Just know that there is nothing more that either of us can do to save your sorry hide from their judgment."
"Unnnnngggggghhh!" She groaned. "Fiiiiiiiiiiine!" She relented. Yachiyo's fib worked like a charm. "What do I gotta do?"
"You are hereby going to serve as her personal apprentice," Tsuruno put it succinctly.
"Apprentice?" Felicia balked. "Nah-uh! I ain't bein no one's go-fer! Let alone hers!" Her eyes scanned Yachiyo up and down and up again. "Uh… Who the heck you 'sposed to be, anyway?"
"You mean you don't know?" Tsuruno gave a dramatic gasp. "That's Yachiyo Nanami!" That didn't seem to ring a bell for Felicia. "Yachiyo Nanami! The one who taught me and Momoko everything we know… The only magical girl smarter than Hinano Miyako… The only magical girl Nanaka Tokiwa defers to… The only magical girl Kanagi Izumi respects as a full-force equal!"
"I'm not smarter than Miyako," Yachiyo whispered to Tsuruno.
Her mild exaggerations aside, Tsuruno's descriptions did eventually trigger in Felicia a faint glint of recognition. "Ohhhhh! So you'reeee… That really really strong girl that Kako told me all the other magical girls in town look up to?"
"The one and the same," Yachiyo confirmed.
"And you think you're gonna make somethin' outta me?" Felicia's shoulders slumped, in a flash her eyes transitioned from aggressive to woeful. "Why'd ya' wanna?"
"Maybe it's because I'm someone who appreciates a good challenge," Yachiyo replied. But it was not the answer the troubled young lady was looking for. "And because it is my personal belief that no magical girl your age should have to face the toughest challenges of this life alone, as you've had to."
"I'm not that young!" Felicia retorted.
"And I'm old enough to know that that's what the young ones say when they know they're in over their heads and don't want to admit it," Yachiyo crossed her arms in stern mother's manner.
"I'm not a bad magical girl, like those meanies are tellin', I just," Felicia insisted, then paused. "I can't help it! I get reeeeeaaaal mad whenever I see a witch! So mad I can't help but smash and bash and ba-boom!"
"Our emotions are like our powers," Yachiyo expounded. "If your emotional supply is so ample, then I don't doubt that you possess the right tools to be a skilled magical girl. What you lack is the right person to guide you."
"And you think you can do it?" Felicia probed. "Even that ponytailed dogooder got sick of me pretty quick."
"Momoko also has two other young protégés to be concerned about," Yachiyo said. "I can tell what you need most is a one-on-one mentor."
"Unnnnngghhhh!" Felicia moaned. It was just not in her nature to relent quietly.
"And it's not just you who's gonna benefit," Tsuruno chimed. "Last time Yachiyo went out into another city alone, she got brain-voodooed by an evil magical girl who wanted to use her mightiness to assassinate someone!"
"Tsuruno!" Yachiyo snapped. "Dang it, stop sharing that incident with every magical girl who comes through these doors!"
"What?" Tsuruno defended. "I'm just sayin', I think you need someone there with you to make sure that doesn't happen to you ever again!"
"Unnnnnngggghhhhhhh," Felicia groaned. It was just not. In her nature. To relent quietly.
"If you do this you can eat at Banbanzai for a whole week on the house!" Tsuruno sweetened the pot.
"Really?" Her eyes sparked and her mood perked right up.
"And I'll pay for one meal here per day, for however long this arrangement lasts," Yachiyo added. "Deal?"
"Unnnnngggghhhhhhh… Ffffffiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnneeeeee!" Felicia finally gave in, albeit still with a twinge of reluctance.
"Alright then," Yachiyo handed her card over to Tsuruno. "You know what to do. Pay the tab."
"Sure hope you don't end up regretting this," Tsuruno breathily uttered as she slid the card in the register.
"So do I," Yachiyo muttered back.
"When do I gotta start?" Felicia huffed out a resigned sigh.
"The moment we step out that door together," Yachiyo had to maintain the ruse that the other Kamihama leaders were monitoring Felica's activities. She still had things to do this afternoon, first and foremost a trip to the grocery store. Bringing with her a tagalong wasn't originally in the cards, but a young woman like Yachiyo was wise enough to know that sometimes, plans changed.
"I should go with you, too!" Tsuruno insisted.
"Huh?" Yachiyo turned towards her. "Why?"
"Doncha wanna know what else went down at our magical meetings?" Tsuruno's eyes went wide.
"Not really. It's why I relinquished my seat to you," By the puppy-dog look on Tsuruno's face Yachiyo could immediately sense the ulterior motive to Tsuruno's request. "You want my input on how you should vote on the other affairs they've tabled, is that it?"
"Mmmmhm," Tsuruno handed Yachiyo's card back to her.
"Very well," Yachiyo gave in. Not because she believed Tsuruno needed advising, but because she simply couldn't spare the time to argue about it. "But just know that sooner or later you're going to have to learn that while a good leader does listen to advice, a great leader has the ability to see all the possible angles before advice is even presented."
"Gotcha, Master!" Tsuruno smiled and saluted.
"Yer Tokoi, right?" Kyoko had tracked him down with but a few minutes to spare before the end of lunch period. "Kentaro, yeah?"
"You know me?" The look on his face clearly showed he was thrilled by that prospect.
"Sure I do!" Kyoko tried to think of some esoteric detail she could latch a conversation onto. "You an' me, we share Literature classes, right? And a few weeks ago in our open topic book report assignment you went reeeeeal deep cut nerd and wrote yers about that old sci-fi novel with the space elves and their big epic war against like, six different empires?"
"There were four," He corrected. "And it played a huge role in reigniting the whole space opera genre in Japan at the turn of the millennium."
"Yeah, whatever," Kyoko smirked. "I hear ya' wanna go out on a date with me this weekend." Her boisterous assertiveness was catching the eyes of many a passerby in the hallway, including Sayaka and Homura.
"Oh." He leaned back against his locker and tugged at his shirt collar. "Hehe. I didn't know Kamijo had passed that along to Madoka already." His eyes trying to avoid direct contact with Kyoko's.
"What do you think she's planning?" Sayaka muttered to Homura in the background.
"I have no idea," Homura flatly whispered back.
"Well, today's gonna be yer lucky day," Kyoko leaned right in and gave him a big tenacious kiss right to his lips. Everyone's jaws around, save for one, dropped at the sight of it.
"Ooooooooooooh!" A pair of the girls gasped.
"Wooooooow!" The girl behind Kyoko gawked.
"Daaaaaaaaaang!" One of the boys couldn't help but hide his jealousy.
"Way to go, Kentaro!" Another expressed his approval.
"Ya' stuuuuud!" A third slapped the boy on his frozen hand as Kyoko let him loose.
"Do you still think a kiss is a mere token gesture?" Sayaka prodded the girl beside her.
"Yes," Homura possessed the single jaw that didn't budge. "She's just trying to make a dramatic impression. Honestly I can't say I'm all that surprised that she'd choose to break the ice that way."
"Well, now that I got the hard part outta the way for ya' already," Kyoko smirked a snaggle-toothed smile at her would-be boyfriend. "All ya' gotta do is focus on wooing me with yer charms!" The bell rang as she gave him a parting salute. "Heh! Should be fun! Catch ya' later!"
"Yeeaahh," The blushing young man returned a smitten smile and wave. "Later."
"Your cousin's so cool, Sayaka," One of the paired girls said to her as they passed her in the hallway.
"Yeah? And where do you think she got it from?" Sayaka hollered back. She caught sight of Naganuma taking a seat in his math class. Incidental and practice kisses aside, if she was ever going to truly move beyond Kamijo, then she figured the first thing she needed was the will to take that first step.
"H- Hey, Hayato." Sayaka greeted him in the hallway upon the ring of the next bell. Step one complete, she thought to herself. She leaned in a bit closer. Close enough to pull a surprise kiss if he was receptive.
"Oh. Hey, Sayaka." Naganuma took a reflexive step back. "Did you hear about that big stunt your cousin pulled?" Crap, she thought the better of it. So much for going in big and bold. Only thing worse than rejection is being pinned as a lame copycat. "Man, you have no idea how jealous I am of Tokoi right now."
"Hehehe, yeeeeeaaaah." Sayaka hid her eye roll behind a closed-eyed chuckle. Plan 'B' time. Shoot from the hip. "So what do you got goin' on this Friday?" A pretty standard lead, but it would give her a moment to think of how best to proceed to step two.
"Oh, nuthin' special," He answered. "I was gonna bring Hayami along to that new Chinese place, then go test out those new ramps they set up down at the park. Maybe after that I'll chill at the arcade for a bit," She could tell by his tepid tone that those plans were in flux. Should she ask him out by proposing something else or just offer to tag along and hang out with them? Or would she just be making herself a third wheel?
"Oh, spending some time with your sis, that's all? Heh-heh." She forced a smile and tried to keep eye contact. It used to be so easy for her to do that with any boy in class. At what point did everyday interaction with males get this difficult? "Okay then, if you're not that invested in your afternoon, then perhaps..." He said he liked tomboys. Tomboys are assertive, so take charge and think up something else to do with him. "You wanna hang out with me somewhere?" Keep it open-ended. "Maybe catch a movie, ooooor do that chilling thing at the arcade, ooooooor go grab a meal?" But present options. Step three. So far so good. "Together?"
"Meeeeehhhhhh," Uh-oh. Bad sign. "To be honest I kinda hoped I'd be the one hooking up with your cousin this weekend. Hearing she chose Tokoi's bummin' me out." If only he knew how she made her choice. "Don't know if I'd be in the mood for anything even resembling a date right now."
"Eh, your crush choosing somebody else is not the end of the world, believe me," She consoled. She ran her fingers through her short-cut hair in a flirtatious way, both as a method of emulating Homura's feminine mystique and reminding this dude that she was supposed to be his type. "At the end of the day what you gotta do is get back up on that horse and ride again, know what I'm saying?" Step four complete.
"Thanks for the advice," He put on a smile that she could tell was as forced as hers. "And I appreciate what you're trying, but…" He paused. But what? The look on his face abruptly switched from the fake kind of friendly to the real sort of frank. "I don't think you and I would ever work out. As a couple I mean." Crap. Didn't even mince words. Step five, total unmitigated failure.
"What?" Her own phony friendly façade slipped off the moment he spoke those words. "But how the heck would you know if we haven't even tried?"
"It's just-" He hesitated again. "I'm into brainier girls, that's all."
"Eeeeeehhhhh? You think Kyoko's brainy?" How could someone as transparent and forward as Kyoko be mistaken for smart, her inner monologue thought.
"Actually, now that I'm thinking about it," He continued. "Do you think you could do me a favor and try and hook me up with Akemi?"
"N- No," Sayaka shot that notion down right away. "Just no. Forget that. No." She took a deep, resolute breath and tried again from a different angle. "Y'know my science grades are pretty solid, and the art teacher says there's potential in my-"
"I'm sorry," He cut her off with an apology. "You're just not the type of girl I'm looking for." He tried to end her fruitless flailings by stepping away and heading for his next class.
"Auuuuuughh," She grunted through her teeth. "You see this hairdo?" She yelled out in the hall. "I only kept it this short 'cuz I heard a thing you said to Kyosuke once about short-haired girls!" But her ego wasn't about to let him slip away without having the final word.
"Huh?" He snap-turned around and gave her a weirded-out look. "Yeah but… That was like, last year and way before you decked Hitomi Shizuki in the nose." He gave her a pity wave goodbye. "Things change. People change. Catch you later."
"Baaaaaaaggghhhhh… It doesn't take a brainy chick to tell you your hobby's stupid and dangerous!" She couldn't help herself. Anger, frustration, pride and her need to have the last laugh had overtaken her common sense. "And you know Hayami's right! Some day you're gonna get real hurt real bad one day if you keep at it so recklessly!"
"If that's how you really think, then you're just proving me right about us, you know," He retorted without even looking back.
"Ya'stupidstupidstupidstupidstupid!" Still needing the last word, yet she had no rejoinder, she took to an ad hominem insult. "Geeeez!" Sayaka turned around and bolted the other way. Her next class wasn't even in that direction.
"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! That's it! No More!" Sayaka screeched later on in the Karaoke booth.
"Today again,"
"A day begins like any other,"
"I feel the gaze of others more than anyone else does,"
"There really are days when I'm cute? I don't think I'm wrong there,"
"Have I been ignored?" A back-up voice in the track blared.
"I'm afraid,"
"Of my feelings from then changing!"
"I hate those noisy people, I don't want to be with them!" It sang on.
"People like us are ignored,"
"Always being told just to 'live on!" She flubbed a line.
"Just being kind to us would be fine!" The back-up voice went.
"I'm on my way to finding my way,"
"Find your way to be courageous!"
"This is an era without dreams - open your eyes!"
"I won't accept this world until I make it to a future where I'm popular,"
"Popular people, back off, you've had enough, back off,"
"Stop it with such a useless opposition,"
"Fall for me, fall for me, fall for me, fall for me,"
"Make me popular, make me popular, make me popular, make me popular,"
"We'll meet in a future where everything has changed!"
"No matter how I look at it, it's you guys' fault I'm not popular!"
"Oooof," Homura piped. She had been sitting on the couch in the booth reading while Sayaka wailed her song. "That sounded quite bitter. Is Naganuma's rejection really bothering you that much?"
"Ugggghhhhh!" She paused the tune. "Short hair, long hair… Maybe I should just shave myself bald! Whole head… Statistically speaking there's gotta be at least one boy in that damn school who's into the look!"
"If you're not even one hundred percent certain that you're into the idea of male companionship anymore," Homura rephrased. "Then why are you allowing his words to sting you so hard?"
"How the heck can I even know who I am or what I am for sure when I can't even get my damn foot in a guy's door?" She spun around three hundred and sixty degrees twice and plopped down into the couch seat like a lead weight. "You know what he called Kyoko? He said she was 'brainy'!" Can you believe it? 'Brainy.' She who picks her boogers when she thinks I'm not looking. So 'brainy.' A girl who can't understand the difference between shampoo and conditioner. That's 'Brainy.' Someone who thought Karaoke was a type of nut. So much brains. What the hell?"
"If you want my opinion on the matter," Homura offered. "The boys are just enamored with her because she's still a novelty. As soon as that wears off, her popularity will wane."
"Gee," Sayaka's ears perked. "You really think so?"
"I do speak from a certain prior experience," Homura admitted. "In the timelines after you first started making a contract occurred the timelines where she would make her appearances," She recalled. "By then I had grown wise to Mami's many masks and your self-dooming antics had put you out of favor with me, so I was looking for a person whose personality I could try and emulate," She detailed. "The results were as embarrassing as you can imagine, though her frank-speaking style and general disdain for authority were two traits that stuck around while I tried reconstituting a functional personality for myself," She turned a page in her book and sighed. "But the pure physical attraction I carried for her lingered on for more than a few loops after that."
"Wow, openly admitting to me that you had the hots for Kyoko," Sayaka observed. "Part of that 'frankness' you're saying you kept?" Homura gave her a slight but discernible, affirmative nod. "Well to be 'frank' too... I've caught myself peeking at her body a few times when we're putting on our PJs," She confided. "But I got something else bugging me that I gotta get off my chest about Kyoko. And I feel like I really gotta vent. So do you wanna humor me a little?"
"Shoot." Homura replied.
"So a few years ago my family and me all went out to this big reunion visit at my aunt and uncle's place. You see, they own this pretty cozy little inn just outside of Kamihama, right along the coast," She expounded. "And my aunt and uncle have an annoying pair of twins, they're both bratty little rugrats who like to roam around the village and get lost and involved in all sorts of misadventures."
"What's this got to do with anything?" Homura asked.
"I'm getting to it," Sayaka promised. "So while we were at this reunion, in the middle of the night the twins decided it would be fun to wander out into the deep woods and explore. Goes without saying that they got their dumb asses lost and all the adults got worried so sick my Dad had to bring out the local cops to help find them."
"That's unfortunate," Homura commented. Her eyes did not look up from her book.
"So how lucky it was that I, Sayaka, the big hero that I am, overheard the twins talk a little bit about what they were gonna do earlier," She explained. "So I led the cops out to where they claimed they were gonna be going. Turns out they weren't too far off the beaten path, they were found in a cave nearby and the drama ended with everyone living happily ever after."
"Yay," Homura deadpanned in a monotone voice. She flipped to another page.
"Flash forward to a few weeks ago, and it was me, my Dad and Kyoko together grabbing dinner at a pizza parlor," Sayaka went on. "And I don't remember how it came up, but while Kyoko was off trying to win a prize at a crane game, my Dad and I were sitting at the table eating our food when he retold the tale of what happened at that big get-together and," She anxiously played around with the Karaoke microphone in her hands. "Somehow he got the idea in his head that I was the one who led the Idiot Twins into the woods and got lost, and it was Kyoko who led the police to our rescue."
"So the memory of the event was altered to fit around your parents' fantasy that she was brought in to serve as your peer guardian? Is that what you're getting at?" It was a notion intriguing enough to pry her away from her book.
"That's it exactly!" Sayaka nodded. "So if her illusion magic's strong enough to make my Dad believe a real memory is something different, then what if it's making all the guys in class see her as someone smarter and cooler than she really is? Or maybe it's even fooling the teachers into giving her homework better grades than she deserves?"
"I have to admit," Homura raised her brow. "That's a tenable enough theory that I can't really say anything that would dispute it." She set her book down on the table. "But if that is what's going on then I scarcely believe she would be doing it on purpose or out of any malice. Someone once told me their own theory that we all have these side effects to our wishes that become endemic to our magic, with the implication that we control them with about as much active effort as how we control when our eyes blink."
"Yeah, I get that, I get that," Sayaka tiredly rubbed her eyes. "But if that's the case, then why doesn't her illusion work on me? I'm about as magical as my Dad, so why ain't I convinced we're cousins and that she's here to be my keeper?"
"Again, it's a baseless assertion, but," Homura postulated. "I would say it's because you still have the experiences of your witch counterpart to shield you from her influence, but then again Madoka has no such protection." She gave the subject another thought for a moment, then added, "Perhaps it is because you and she accept Kyoko for who and what she is, warts and all?"
"Yeah I guess that could be the reason," Sayaka breathed. "But I was kind of hoping you'd dismiss it all as me being paranoid. Then I'd only have to be disgusted with myself and not disgusted with myself plus the whole damn world. Kyoko included."
"Hm? What do you mean?" Her words piqued Homura's curiosity. "Is there a rift of some kind forming between you and her?"
"Only in my big dumb overbaked potato brain," Sayaka said. "I'm jealous of Kyoko," She confessed. "And maybe I should be jealous of Kyoko. The boys dig her, she's suddenly my Dad's new best friend and my Mom's favorite daughter, while I'm on the sidelines barely hanging on by a thread to everyone's good graces. It's justified," She sulked. "But at the same time it just feels wrong to have that attitude towards her, 'cuz I know how rough life's been to her plus I owe her my life three times over."
"And that contradiction is the real fuel source for your angst," Homura concluded.
"Yeah," Sayaka uttered. "It makes a part of me wonder if this is some sort of Karmic exchange in motion. Her finding happiness in life causes my own discontentment."
"It's fatalistic thinking like that which sent your witch counterpart off the cliff of despair."
"Would you stop calling her my 'witch counterpart,' please?" Sayaka requested. "Calling her that makes her sound like she was something wicked or inhuman. She was me, and she deserves to be remembered that way."
"Sorry," Homura apologized. "I'm just saying, you're not helpless. Your life is still your own, and you can do something about your growing discontentment that she couldn't."
"I wanna believe you're right," Sayaka breathed. "But what can I do about it?"
"I don't know," Homura replied. "I've never had any parents from which I could draw any relatable experiences," She conceded. "But a few months ago I did offer some advice to Nagisa Momoe about what she could do when faced with an insufficiently attentive parent."
"They're not inattentive," Sayaka defended. "If anything, they've been paying too much attention to me since last spring," She leaned her chin on her fist and gave a heavy sigh. "What'd you tell her?" She glanced over at Homura's book on the table.
"That she should try to be more self-sufficient. Demonstrate how inessential her mother is to her life, and hope that serves as a wake-up call to how poorly she's been treating her daughter."
"I don't see how that applies to my problem," Sayaka grumbled. "I mean, I was in every functional sense self-sufficient until Kyoko came along." She sat for a minute, giving Homura's advice some extra thought. "Buuuuuuuut… I am a few years older than Nagisa. If I show them how mature and grown-up I can be, maybe they'll stop for a sec and realize how close their daughter is to walking out that door and out into the real world. Then they might stop for a quick sec and appreciate that I'm still a part of their lives?"
"If their love for you is true and unwavering," Homura stated. "Then I wouldn't think even magic as powerful as Kyoko's illusions could blind them from your plight forever. If that's how you're choosing to interpret my advice, then by all means, go for it." She leaned over and reached for her book on the table. "If they can't eventually see past it, then the real problem lies in their hearts, and not your own, and you should do what I told Nagisa and work towards decoupling them from your life."
"That book right there," Sayaka was tired of talking about herself. "What is it?" She saw a picture on the cover of a young girl in a formal suit and top hat with a bowtie, who was donning a red carnival mask over her eyes. "You're reading manga now?"
"I am," Homura replied. "It's something called 'Phantom Thief Magical Kirin'."
"I think I've kinda heard of it," Sayaka squinted at the cover. "But I thought it was a series made for grade school age girls." She noticed that the protagonist's clothes on the cover were drenched in blood and she had a twisted arm and a bone popping through her ankle, yet she was still trying to maintain a heroic smile and saluting pose. "Yikes."
"It's a fan-made edition, in fact," Homura clarified.
"Oh," Sayaka nodded. "Where'd you find it?" She inquired, her curiosity aroused. "And why do you have it?"
"I went to a book exchange last week," Homura elaborated. "Not long ago I realized that during my loops I'd read all the books in the library that I had carried any interest in reading, so I searched elsewhere for some new material." She flipped the book over and examined the front. "As you may guess, the picture and the intricate level of detail on the cover caught my eye."
"Is it any good?"
"It's all over the map, as far as the quality is concerned," Homura judged. "And I'm not too well-versed with the lore of the original source material… Something about the protagonist being the reincarnation of a historical deity and being tasked with collecting some objects of immense power before the forces of darkness can gather them first, I think?" She flipped through some of the pages. "But it's fairly obvious early on that the creator is more invested in turning the main character into their own personal avatar so it dispenses with the pretense that it's merely an avid fan's retelling of the story fairly quickly."
"Sounds like pretty cringey stuff to me," Sayaka commented.
"It starts off as a pretty straightforward story, full of stock characterizations and clichéd plot turns, with art that's crude but adept enough to be considered competent," Homura summed. "But part way through is when things take a sudden turn for the offbeat, yet captivating," She thumbed straight to the pages in question and showed it to Sayaka. "As you can see, the art takes a huge leap forward in quality, as if a professional artist took up the job of crafting it, and that's the point when the narrative also morphs into something completely esoteric and circuitous."
"What do you mean by that?" Sayaka took the book and parked her eyes on the vivid images.
"It starts after the protagonist gets called out on the fundamental hypocrisy of preaching the virtues of honesty, friendship and openness, while living a second life in which her success necessitates deceit, betrayal and seclusion, and basing all her closest relationships around lies, which sends her straight into an existential crisis," Homura detailed. "After which the protagonist vows never to use their power to serve her own benefit ever again, which in turn reveals her to be completely inept and overwhelmed as the increasingly graphic conflicts mount their toll and her personality takes a turn for the nihilistic."
"Well that sounds depressing as heck," Sayaka shoved it back. "And familiar."
"So you can imagine that her plight struck a chord with me," Homura remarked. "It's the reason why I've kept reading it."
"Well how does it end?"
"It hasn't ended," Homura answered. "There come numerous moments when the protagonist teeters very close to the brink of dying, like the author is almost committed to flipping the table and walking away, only to spare her life through some last second twist or contrivance," She observed. "It's as if it wants to delve into the eternal philosophical debates of good against evil, selflessness versus selfishness or nature versus nurture, but the author is themselves struggling with which side of the fence they're on, so they don't offer answers and are using these stories as a way to self-reflect and keeping the questions open-ended for the readers to decide on their own."
"All that thought and effort into a story they can't even make any money on?" Sayaka remarked. "I gotta wonder whether the creator should be commended or committed. Or both." A sudden knock on their door interrupted their discussion. It signified that their time in the booth was just about up. "Crap! You didn't get the chance to sing today."
"That's okay," Homura stood up. "I can sing something the next time we're here."
"But you're the one who paid for today's session," Sayaka insisted, handing her the microphone. "We still got five minutes to go. That's enough time for one song."
"No thank you," Homura declined. "I'm going to be staying at Madoka's again tonight, so I'd like to get over there early."
"Oh," There was a pang of disappointment in Sayaka's voice. "Madoka. Yeah. I won't hold you up then."
"You," Homura paused. "You can come along if you wish," Homura offered. "That is if you have nothing else going on today."
"Hmmm," Sayaka gave the idea some thought. She'd already worked her obligatory few hours at the restaurant this afternoon. She had no homework imminently due. It had also been a while since she'd gone to Madoka's just to pay a visit. "Yeah sure," She toggled the Karaoke machine back to the menu and set the microphone down. "Okay. Let's go be Madoka's friends today."
"Up! Down! Turn! Step! Turn! Step! Great!" The cheering voice from the 'Dog Drug Reinforcement' game lauded.
"Step! Turn! Left! Right! Up! Down! Down! Turn! Step! Awesome!" Hitomi had practiced often on her own time since first attempting the duo challenge with her friend Saya.
"Up! Down! Left! Miss! Right! Turn! Step! Yeah! Turn! Up! Down! Outstanding!" She was even able to keep the pace as the game's rhythm reached a fever pitch.
"Up! Down! Right! Left! Turn! Up! Great! Left! Bonus! Right! Up! Down! Up Down! Amazing!" Now she and Saya were totally in sync.
"You've got this machine in Okinawa too, don't you?" Hitomi ecstatically chuckled as they cleared each phase with flying colors.
"Yeah! Down! Left! Turn! Left! Way to go! Up! Right! Up! Right! Turn! Step! Turn! Bonus! You are amazing!" What once was an overwhelming challenge was now to Hitomi as routine as doing jumping jacks in phy-ed class. Though the game was leagues more entertaining.
"Turn! Step! Turn! Bonus! Step! Up! Yeah! Right! Down! Left! Right! Step! Way to go!"
"Practice is the only way to attain perfection!" Saya smiled as they stepped.
"Up! Left! Right! Up! Right! Left! Up! Down! Left! Step! Left! Turn! Bonus! Right! Bonus! Up! Yeah! Three… Two… One… You are a superstar! Game over!"
"Oh, wow look!" Hitomi exclaimed. "You and I made it all the way to the top of the leaderboard!"
"That is quite the feat," Saya clutched Hitomi by the shoulders. "Thank you for coming here and being with me today."
"I guess I've finally done something useful with those Japanese Dance lessons!" She sat down on a step beside the dance board to catch her breath.
"Have you grown too tired, or would you like to try and play something else?" Saya outstretched her hand.
"I'd love to try another game," Hitomi took Saya's hand. Her level of fatigue after the dance game was short and fleeting. "Do you have something specific in mind?"
"Hmmmm," Saya studied their choices. On the floor in the room around them were an assortment of machines. There was a tournament fighting game on the left. But she could see Hitomi wasn't keen on the idea of having to learn a bunch of complex button presses. Next to it was a popular racing game that dated back all the way to the 1990s when the place first opened. But Hitomi didn't look like the type who appreciated heavy metal and high speeds. There was a space shooter and flight simulator across the room, but Hitomi looked pretty cold to the idea of learning how to pilot those vehicles. "What about that game?" She pointed at an odd-looking title tucked away in one corner of the room.
"'Sana's Kingdom'?" Hitomi read the title. "I don't think I've ever seen that game in this room before," She recalled. "So I guess that means it must be new." She was intrigued by the appearance of the kiosk. "Okay! Let's check it out!"
"Princess Sana's home is under siege!" Saya read the description. "Help protect her world from invasion by The Army of Ghostly Ghoulies from the Nethertrix."
"Does it explain how?" Hitomi picked up one of the apparent controllers. It was a long plastic baton with buttons along the side of the handle.
"By becoming her holy warrior and taking the fight to the enemy," Saya grabbed the other accessories, a virtual reality headset.
"I remember my father once saying something about investing a lot of money in a virtual reality company here in Mitakihara," Hitomi inspected the headset. "Perhaps this is their debut title?"
"That could be," Saya slipped on a pair of gloves, an additional accessory. "Would you like to give it a try?"
Hitomi searched for where to insert her Yen coins. "Very well," She slid the requisite amount into the slot. "I'm game." She put on the gloves and donned the large headset.
"Hello, new friends!" A soft and gentle voice welcomed them upon startup.
"Oh. Hello!" Hitomi greeted back the source of the voice, a diminutive young teen girl with a green jewel embedded on both the crown atop her head and on a smaller crown adorning a necklace around her chest. From the neck down she was wearing a long, plain white sleeping gown dress. "You're a cutie!" Hitomi complimented the fictitious figure. The three girls were all floating in the air along a bright blue skyline, as creatures resembling jellyfish merrily swam through the air.
"Greetings," She coupled her hands together and bowed. "Thank you for volunteering your services," Her big, bashful baby green eyes fixated on Hitomi. "But before you can begin your defense of my kingdom, you must first be equipped with the proper attire and weaponry."
"Oh, wow!" Hitomi looked down at herself and noticed that she and Saya were now wearing the same basic sleeping gown. "They really want to provide you with a fully immersive experience, don't they?"
"I believe it wants us to select from a set of costume choices," A screen displaying an assortment of clothing options appeared in front of Saya.
"There are choices of male, female and unisex costumes," The young lady presented even more holographic options before the duo. "Each is customizable at the heroes' leisure."
"So which color pattern do you think I should choose?" Hitomi turned and asked her friend Saya.
"I am not very well suited to making wise decisions when it comes to personal aesthetics," Saya said. "Sorry."
"It's quite alright," Hitomi smiled. "Actually, I think I already see something I like." She stuck her hand out towards the projections. "I thought I might have a friend's opinion on the matter before I made the commitment."
"What do you have in mind?" As Saya asked, the holographic display glitched before them.
"White as the primary and green as the secondary contrast," Hitomi answered. "Green's the color of summer and the color of life. And it's my favorite." She selected an open-chested white dress that split in two coattail-like segments from the waist down past the back of her knees. Underneath the primary outfit she opted for a frilly three-tone three layer frilly dress, light green on the upper layer over her belly, green in the middle around her waist, and darker green at the bottom over her thigh.
"Green's my favorite too!" The avatar of the Princess piped with a realistic enthusiasm. "You look great!"
"Oh? So it's programmed to give active, opinionated feedback?" Hitomi cycled through the dress patterns on the display. "How extraordinary!"
"Then I think I will go with a white and blue pattern," Saya narrowed her own selection. "After all, the greens of life cannot be so lush without the blues of nourishing water. They compliment each other well." She went with a blue and white zipped-up strapless top that extended from just below the waist up over her chest with a two-layered symmetrical frilly blue skirt sewn to it. It was lined with golden yellow trim at the very top and bottom plus along the lumbar area in a way that separated her white middle section from the blue part along the sides.
"Blue's also the color of the sky," The Princess chimed. "It is so delightful to look up to the clear sky on a bright sunny day." Her simulated emotion for the color blue came across as much more muted and canned than her affinity for green.
"It looks like there's options for other sorts of accessories, too," Hitomi noted. "Legwear, neckwear, jewelry, hats and gloves. Hmmmm."
Hitomi first gave herself a white pair of gloves that extended in a 'v' shape over the back of her wrist outward and in the same pattern going inward. On her legs Hitomi decided upon a pair of long white leggings with additional green bows at the side. To go with the leggings she chose a pair of thigh-high, mid-heel creamy white boots with another two tinier black bows attached on each side.
Saya, meanwhile, opted not to go with any leggings and simply went with her own pair of thigh-high, blue with white trim, cowboy-style boots, but she covered her shoulders with a pair of shoulder pads that extended up from under her armpits around her upper back then up to her neck in a way that resembled a full collar. At the end of each shoulder part was a frilly blue piece, and each part was tied together by a small gold chain around her collarbone. It was also decorated along the edges with the same golden yellow trim as her main piece.
"A protective helmet would be the most practical when equipping for battle," Saya advised as she inspected her boots. Next she cycled through to the options for protective headwear, from modern combat helmets to the heavy silver armor used by the knights of medieval Europe.
"If this were a real combat situation I would agree, but," Hitomi maneuvered the selection over to the more fashionable feminine hats. "My head feels like it already has enough weight on it thanks to this VR headset thing." It was not long before something in particular caught her eye.
"That's cute!" Princess Sana perked up. "It compliments your hairstyle so well."
"Thanks," Hitomi finalized her choice. It was a large beret situated on the back of her head. Two large green bows were also sewn to it, big enough to appear as though they jutted out the side of her head like an extra set of ears. Along with it appeared a black collar with a third green bow which featured a glowing green oval at its center.
"Then I guess I shall forgo the protective headwear as well," Saya settled for a simple hair clip, a blue circular gemstone with two gold stars dangling just above her ears.
"The colored gemstones are a representation of your overall health status," Princess Sana explained. "Be very careful not to let the color of your stone go completely black, or your game will be over."
"I would guess the designers preferred to go with something more immersive than a numeric display in one's field of view," Saya postulated.
"Next you must select weapons," The Princess informed.
"I don't know about you, but I'm not one who likes the distracting loudness of guns," Hitomi skipped right over the assortment of projectile weapons. "And I don't think those controllers we've got are well-suited to pointing and clicking either."
"That is a fair point," Saya zeroed in on her selection, which was a medieval knightly sword with a doubled edge and a cruciform hilt. "Plus it would not be ideal to put ourselves at risk of any friendly fire incidents."
"I agree," Hitomi smiled, a certain weapon had caught her eye.
"Scythes have historically been considered to be agricultural tools," Saya commented on Hitomi's choice. "Are you sure that your choice will serve to your advantage in battle?"
"A few years ago I went to spend a part of my summer vacation on a farm visiting my relatives," Hitomi said. "They live on a farm all the way up north. Since it's the only large blade I've ever seen at work firsthand, I figure it's as good of a weapon to start out with as any." Her scythe materialized in her hand and she gave a few practice swings. "If I'm not skilled at it, then I assume I can make a different choice next time?" The avatar of the Princess gave a nod.
"Very well then," Saya twirled her sword in her hand. "We are ready to play."
"Then I shall get ready to fight as well," The Princess spoke. Her body erupted in a bright green flash as a long, white veil materialized around the back of her head. From high above a beam of green light jolted downward and manifested before her. It was a massive shield, its golden top taking the very same shape as the crown atop her head. Just below in the center it featured an oval-shaped peeping hole, where her baby-green eyes peered out. A moment later she picked up the oversized shield and diffidently showed them the rest of herself, now clad in armor guards around her legs, upper arms and chest. Her lower arms were protected by long, brown esther gloves. The rest of her upper body was now clothed in a green, sweater-like wool with her crown-shaped necklace adorning her turtleneck. On her waist she sported a frilly white belted cape with green plus sign and striped patternings around the bottom.
"My, my that's pretty!" Hitomi complimented. She turned to Saya. "Do you think we might get our own transformation sequences?"
"Um," The Sana avatar blushed again. "I'm sorry. But I'm not very good at combat. The most I can do is try to protect you whenever I can during the battle."
"Of course," Saya chimed. "It would not be a very challenging game if the artificial intelligence did the lion's share of the fighting."
"Do you solemnly vow to protect my kingdom, and all its inhabitants from the forces of evil?" The Princess stuck out her fist. "From the Jellyfish Friends of Aquatown to the Cowpals of Farmburg… From the Forests of Puppyland to the Alleyways of Purrville and the Grassy prairies of Goatmont… Promise to serve as my Holy Knights and help my animal denizens?"
"Promise," Hitomi clutched the girl's wrist and put her other hand to her heart.
"We shall do our duty to the best of our abilities," Saya crossed herself then joined in on their hand holding.
"The covenant has been made," The Princess announced, as a bright light enveloped the hand-holding trio. "May the light of our hopes combined be enough to overcome the dreaded ghouls of darkness and despair."