Japanacea
Neil was confused how he ended up in a Boston flea market, watching his children and nieces.
He wasn't confused about being in Boston. After the Protectorate there had aggressively arrested all the local villains, it had created a power vacuum in which an even greater number of capes had come to the city intent on taking over the vacant criminal underworld. Thus, New Wave had temporarily moved to the city to help keep things stable.
Nor was he confused about being in a flea market. Eric started showing an interest in assembling model kits after he'd found Neil's own childhood car models in boxes in the basement. So Neil had suggested a guy's afternoon. He, Eric, and Mark would wander around Boston and get some hobby shopping done while Carol and Sarah could take the girls to get mani pedis.
And those two are at the spa, so how did Mark and I end up with all the kids?
Not that he disliked his family. Far from it, in fact. He loved his daughter and was glad she was a mature and even tempered teenager but his nieces were a bit more of a challenge: Victoria was rambunctious and had to be kept within eyesight at all times or she'd wander off because something caught her attention. By contrast, Amy was much easier to keep track of, even if she was rather dour for a thirteen year old. It wasn't right for three of the kids to have fun if Amy was having a miserable time. Neil just didn't know how to cheer her up. But then, it seemed like most of the family didn't know Amy that well. What she liked or disliked were mysteries to Neil and based on what was currently happening, Mark was equally clueless.
Not really sure why you're trying to show your daughter comic books but I give you credit for creativity. Not something I would have tried.
The booth they were at was primarily selling actual books. Crystal was flipping through a book that, based on the long haired shirtless man on the cover, was a bodice ripper. That certainly explained why she was pointing at passages and giggling with Victoria. Eric was at the next booth over, looking at posters. Mark and Amy were leaning over a ratty, old cardboard box that was practically bursting with comic books.
Or at least he thought they were comic books. I don't remember them being this thick. Neil wondered as he reached down and grabbed a book from the box. Flipping it open, he realized the answer right away. Japanese comic books but translated into English. That explains the weird art style, they don't go for realism. They go for. . . uh, magical school girls? Is that what I'm looking at?A quick check of the book's cover for the title, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, did not provide any additional context. Though now that he was looking at some of the girls' costumes he couldn't help but notice something.
"Hey Victoria, remember those drawings you made for costumes for all you kids when you become capes?"
His niece perked up at his words and walked over. Neil pointed at the splash page he had opened up, all the girls were doing a team pose with a big explosion behind them.
"Looks a lot like what you had for you, Amy, and Crystal, doesn't it?"
"Oh wow, Uncle Neil!" Victoria said excitedly, grabbing the book. "Ames, check it out! This girl looks just like me, we have the same haircut!"
Victoria's sheer enthusiasm seemed to more effectively draw Amy's interest than Mark's much more passive attempt at seeing which comics would catch the girl's attention.
Maybe Amy will come out of her shell more if she and Victoria have something to do together.
Amy dug through the box of comic books, hoping to find the next copy of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. How she and Vicky had talked Mark into buying the entire box she wasn't sure, but she was glad they had. While her sister had quickly lost interest in the books, Amy had found the story endearing and upbeat, a fun world to escape to.
But then the books introduced Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus. That had been when Amy fell in love with the story. Haruka and Michiru, two girls that weren't interested in boys but in each other. It wasn't like Amy was unaware of lesbians prior to that but it hadn't seemed real, it didn't feel like an option. Like becoming a nuclear physicist or deep sea welder, it was something that other people did but was never going to be an option for her. But watching those two interact with each other, how real it felt to her, Amy realized why she hadn't had the same interest in boys that Vicky did. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon would always have a special place in her heart for helping her learn that about herself. She wanted to read every single issue of the series.
The problem was, despite the literal hundreds of books in the box, Amy couldn't find any more Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. She wasn't going to find out how it ended! Amy was pretty sure that she had gone through the whole box looking for any more but she was seriously contemplating taking them all out and organizing them just to be certain.
The more she searched, the more Amy realized it had been sheer luck that the box contained as many issues of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon as it did. She had only found the first issue of Ghost in the Shell and books two, four, and six of Akira.
Maybe I really should sort through everything, see if anything I have is complete. Amy sighed, realizing the enormity of the task in front of her. It would take the entire rest of the day and she wouldn't get any reading done. And it certainly didn't help that there would probably be duplicates, not to mention that several of the books didn't have translated titles despite the book itself being in English.
Like this, Mamaredo Boi volume one and Marmalade Boy volume two, Amy thought as she pulled them out of the box. They are clearly part of the same series. I don't know any Japanese but I can tell that book one is just the literal translation of the Japanese title whereas book two is the actual translation.
She glanced back and forth between the two books.If it's called Marmalade Boy why is a girl on the cover? What's this series about anyway? A guy that wants to become a chef or something?
Checking the blurb on the back of the first book, technically the front, since all the comic books were printed backwards for some reason, Amy read, "Miki Koishikawa is a high school student who enjoys a very simple life. However, her ordinary life is about to be turned upside down, and she may not be able to handle everything that is coming her way." Amy pursed her lips. That has got to be the most generic opener of all time. Presumably it'll get detailed in the second paragraph.
She kept reading. "After a very 'fun' holiday in Hawaii, her parents have decided to get a divorce. As if this wasn't enough of a shock for the poor girl, she also discovers that they will soon be re-marrying and swapping partners with another couple who they met on holiday. In order to include Miki in this shocking turn of events, they ask her to give the new couple a chance, and set up a dinner date with everyone. Miki may have tried to be emotionally prepared for her new parents, but what she was not expecting was their handsome son Matsuura Yuu."
Amy blinked in surprise. That went from zero to one hundred pretty damn quick. Even the soap operas Carol likes would build up the tension before dropping that kind of bomb to the plot. Foreign vacation, divorce, and remarriage to a divorcing couple, just damn. And that's the start of this series? Where does it go from there?
There was still one more section of the synopsis to read. "Miki develops an instant crush for Yuu. What starts off as a lovely friendship between them soon develops into romantic feelings which they are both finding hard to control. But more trouble is ahead in their relationship, as both Miki and Yuu have admirers of their own who are trying very hard to keep them separated."
Oh. . . this is. . .An image of Vicky smiling flashed in her mind. I might as well give it a look.
Amy was mildly annoyed that she had been called in to heal some of the Wards but was still being forced to go through the entire security procedure to be let back into the restricted areas of the PRT building.
I'm doing them a favor and they give me a visitor's badge. Why couldn't they have come out to the lobby? Who did they get into a fight with anyway?
This wasn't her first time here, she had been to both the PRT building and the Protectorate base multiple times over the years, first as a child of New Wave and later as a member herself. But this was the first time she had been specifically requested to come in.
As Amy made it through the final checkpoint, the delayed door that opened into the Wards common room, she was able to see Triumph, Aegis, and Vista laying on the couches. All three were clearly injured. Just based on the bloodstains on their clothes she was shocked they were waiting here instead of a medical room.
Maybe it's not as bad as it looks? Amy thought as she hurried forward to lay a hand on the closest cape to her, which happened to be Vista.
As the trooper that had been escorting her gave a silent nod and turned around to leave, Amy asked, "What happened?"
"Skidmark," Aegis rasped.
Amy barely suppressed a flinch, not at the mention of the druggie cape, but at the sound of Aegis' voice. It was like a thirty year chain smoker had developed a case of strep throat and wet lung at the same time. Thanks to her power and working in hospitals, she had become conditioned against most medical conditions but occasionally something still managed to get to her.
Fixing up the last of Vista's wounds, which had thankfully been limited to her limbs and actually had not been as bad as they looked, mostly just large bruising and small cuts, Amy moved onto Aegis. This was her first time touching the hispanic cape since getting her powers and it was. . . weird. His power meant he had constant redundancies in his biology whenever he got injured, and he was very injured at the moment. So even as she started fixing him, his organs were practically fighting her for the changes she made. This might take a bit.
Seeing as these weren't random patients in the hospital but people she actually knew, Amy decided to make conversation rather than stand there working in silence. "Yeah, I could see him doing this. Skidmark is squirrely."
"That's what I said, but I'm only the most experienced Ward in terms of number of cape fights I've been involved in. What do I know?" Vista said, sounding a lot more petulant than she probably meant to.
Triumph looked pretty embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck, indicating that Vista probably had warned them to be careful and not get overconfident. "I made the call to go in 'cus I thought we could take him. I mean, he was drunk and there were four of us. Seemed like a good idea."
"One, it's Skidmark so he's never sober," Amy argued, "and two, he's a black cape with no other cape support in a city with the Empire Eighty-Eight. He wouldn't have lasted this long if he was an idiot." She paused, thinking about the other part of what Triumph had said. "Wait, four of you? Was Gallant with you?"
"No, it was the noobie, Kid Win," Vista said as she stood up, stretching her arms and legs. Apparently checking Amy's work, this was the first time the young girl had been healed after all. "He was so scared of being in his first cape fight that he stayed out of range most of the time."
"Be nice," Triumph chided. "Everyone is new at some point."
"So he wasn't hurt?" Amy asked, cutting off whatever Vista was about to say.
All three Wards shrugged.
"He didn't say anything when it was mentioned you were coming in," Aegis offered. Thankfully his voice sounded much more normal now, though some parts of him still needed work.
His hips are pulverized. It's like he got a boot to the behind for mooning Alexandria.
Amy shook her head, wanting to stay focused. "I'll check on him after I'm done with you three. How did Skidmark do all of this anyway?"
"He threw a bunch of pennies at me," Vista said, seemingly satisfied that her body was back to normal. "Now excuse me while I go change."
"Used his power on his cape and then hit me with it whenever I got close," Aegis answered as Vista left the room. "He sent me careening into wallsa lot."
"Combination of both of those things for me," Triumph said.
"I know you can keep going after you get injured but maybe you should consider that your Plan B in a fight if this is the result," Amy told Aegis. "I can fix you this time but if I was out of town for some reason you'd be screwed, stuck on base to protect your identity. Not to mention, you did all this and it didn't even work."
"It, uh, did take us longer than I care to admit to switch tactics," Triumph said. "Not that that worked either."
"Hurt less though," Aegis countered.
"Speaking of hurting less," Amy cut in. "Do you? I think I'm done but with your power I'm not entirely sure. Your organs don't behave like everyone else's."
"Oh." Aegis wiggled in place on the couch, flexing various muscles. "Yeah, I'm good."
"Then you can get cleaned up while I finish with Triumph."
The now healed Ward stood up, quickly grabbing the hem of his pants, evidently the elastic in the waistband was destroyed, and he gently flew out of the room.
That's an effective way to keep your pants from falling down, Amy realized. Maybe that's why Vicky always flies out of the bathroom after a shower, easier to keep the towel up.
Shaking her head to clear that distracting mental image, Amy turned her attention to the Ward's leader, laying a hand on his neck. "Well, you're not as bad as Aegis."
Triumph sighed unhappily. "My shout means I have a long range option he lacks. I should have used it sooner but I figured two ranged Wards, two close combat Wards was a good team combo. Like I said, I screwed the pooch on this one, made bad calls."
"A good leader knows tactics need to be changed if they aren't working," Amy pointed out. "I heard that plenty growing up when my family would get into their drinks and start telling stories about their fights against Marquis. Sounds like you should have done so sooner but at least you're acknowledging it now. Nothing else you can do but learn from it going forward."
"Just learn from it, huh? That's a pretty upbeat way of looking at things. Thanks Am-um, Panacea."
More like I hate manga where the main character fails against the villain and then tries the exact same fucking thing again but harder with more determination and somehow wins the second time.
Instead, Amy said, "Don't worry about it. And don't worry about the name thing either. Being an outed cape makes it kinda pointless."
Triumph nodded. "I get you but it's still a habit I should keep up, if I slip up with you I might slip up with someone else.
"Up to you," Amy responded, removing her hand. "And with that, you're all healed up. I'll go check on Kid Win. Where is he?"
"He went to his quarters when he got back. Lemme walk you."
It wasn't that she needed the escort, the Ward's personal quarters were within view of the common room, each of the doors was labeled with each person's cape name. But Triumph literally would have had to walk past her to get to his own room so she knew he was just trying to avoid being rude. It wasn't even a full minute before Amy was knocking on the door of Kid Win's room as Triumph disappeared into his own.
Amy heard a muffled voice that she was pretty sure had given her permission to come in so she turned the knob and opened the door slightly but waited a second in case there was a shout of surprise. She had more than enough experience with people barging into her room at home when she wanted privacy to know not to do the same thing when she was on the other side of the door.
"Hello, Kid Win?"
Pushing the door open further, she could see the new Ward laying on his bed, reading a book. He glanced up. "Oh, Panacea. Heard you were coming by, nice to meet you."
"I healed up your teammates, figured I should check on you just to be sure," Amy said as she stepped into the room and froze. On the wall to the side, partially hidden by the open door, was a poster. It depicted a knight fully covered in armor with a long flowing cape, holding a positively enormous sword, in black and white but against a red background. Underneath the knight was Japanese kanji, which Amy couldn't read. But she didn't need to be able to read it, because she recognized the knight, it was the protagonist of a manga she had just started reading.
She pointed at the poster while staring at Kid Win in confusion. No one she knew besides Vicky had ever shown any interest in manga, and even Vicky had eventually grown bored of it.
"Uh, it's. . . it's a cool poster, right?" he asked hesitantly. "I know it's Japanese but there's no connection to the AB-"
"It's Berserk," she interrupted. "How'd you even get a poster of Guts?"
The smile forming on his face seemed so full of hope.
Victoria was trying, she really was, but for the life of her she could not follow what Amy was talking about. It was some Japanimation her sister was watching, Victoria knew that much, but the details eluded her. And based on the glazed over looks on everyone's faces at the table, she wasn't the only one alone in her befuddlement. Luckily, Victoria knew her friends well enough to know they wouldn't be rude about it to Amy.
Victoria was aware she was partially responsible for this. She was the one that caused Amy to read comics in the first place, even if it was for a silly reason.
No, not comics, they're called manga, Victoria reminded herself.
It was clear to Victoria how much Amy enjoyed the hobby and equally clear how embarrassed Amy was by it. So it was her duty as a sister to encourage Amy to keep reading them and not poke (too much) fun at her for it. Victoria remembered how grumpy and morose Amy was when they were kids, to see her sister so happy and invested in something, well, Victoria had to support it.
Even if it means wasting our lunch period hearing about characters I can't tell apart.
Victoria had never explained to Amy why she had lost interest in the Sailor Moon manga. It was just embarrassing to admit that all the Japanese names got jumbled up in her head and she couldn't keep track of who was who unless they were on the page to give her a visual cue. Some of the shows Amy watched were good, plus they were easier to follow since the voices helped differentiate people. But for the most part Victoria had given up on following most of the stories.
That's not racist, is it?
"But then Tenchi doesn't pick Ryoko! Like, what the hell? She is clearly best girl!" Amy complained, her tone conveying that she was finished.
"Maybe the writers just preferred Sakuya?" Jess asked.
Huh, someone was actually paying attention to Amy and followed along. Good on Jess. . . ugh, now I feel worse for not doing so myself.
"Oh please. Sakuya is just a plot device, not a character. A piece of styrofoam is more interesting than her. I think the creators of the show had Tenchi date someone none of them liked rather than any specific girl because they didn't want their own favorite to lose. Of course, with Tenchi Muyo continuity is more a suggestion than a rule so who knows if he'll still be pining after her in the next series." Amy looked Victoria directly in the eye. "What do you think, Oneesan?"
While their parents found Amy's new nicknames annoying, Victoria didn't really mind it. On the one hand, it was strange hearing Japanese honorifics in the house. But on the other hand, Amy had stopped saying Mark and Carol so that was an improvement. Calling your parents by their names was super weird, even weirder than a white American girl calling them Kintama and Raito honestly. On the other other hand, Amy usually had a hint of a smile on her face when she said it so maybe this was all one big ploy to see what she could get away with.
"Eh, I've never been into all that relationship drama stuff. I get enough of that from the gossip mill here at school. I just like watching all the fight scenes."
"Speaking of school drama, you're in a much better mood today than you were all last week. Any reason for that? Maybe a certain boy you like?" Sarah asked, nodding her head towards another table where Chris sat.
Amy missed the not-at-all-subtle hint however, and simply answered the question. "There was that gang shooting last Monday, then the apartment building fire Wednesday, and the highway crash on Thursday."
Sarah flinched slightly, unintentionally chastised. "Oh yeah, I guess seeing all those people hurt would be depressing-"
"All that time spent healing everyone was severely cutting into my shows and reading," Amy cut in. "I imported the newest volume of Naruto from Aleph and it arrived Monday afternoon! I only got a single chapter in before I had to rush over to Brockton General."
"Why not bring the book with you and read between patients?" Michelle asked.
Amy might be adopted but Victoria recognized that look, that was a full on Carol Dallon glare. "I refuse to bring my stuff with me to hospitals after my only copy of Cowboy Bebop volume two went missing."
She's still mad about that. Sure, it sucked having something get stolen, especially since it was probably by an employee there that took it, but it was just a book.
Something Michelle seemed to agree with since she asked, "Why not buy another one?"
"It was the Bet version," Amy said frostily. "The release date was November first 1999, the day before Leviathan hit Japan. A replacement would cost about five thousand dollars."
It was a good thing Victoria hadn't been drinking or she would have just sprayed Sarah with soda. "Are you serious?! Didn't Dad get the entire box for like forty bucks?"
"I don't remember how much, but yes. Some of the manga he bought are pretty rare it turns out."
"So you were bitchy last week, sorry but you totes were, because you didn't get to read a book you wanted?" Sarah asked.
"It's about ninjas," Amy justified.
All the girls at the table, even Victoria, broke into giggles at that while Amy frowned.
"I can't help it," Victoria explained when Amy looked at her. "You just sounded so sure of yourself that ninjas justify everything."
"If they fight pirates it would," Jess pointed out.
Victoria nodded. "True true, pirates vs ninjas is still the ultimate battle."
"Screw you all, there's no pirates but it's still good." Amy crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. "Chris would understand."
Jess rolled her eyes. "Chris is a dork, you aren't helping yourself."
"And you're all good," Amy said as she withdrew her hand. "Now you're going to be extra hungry for the next few days, that's normal. Eat until you're full, your body needs to replenish all the calories I used to heal you."
"Yes, I will! Thank you so much!"
Amy knew the guy meant it. He was a thirty-four year old construction worker whose legs had been shattered after he fell off the roof of a five story building. She had saved him from a lifetime of reconstructive surgery, physical therapy, and medical bills.
Other people might develop an ego from constantly getting that kind of praise. But none of that mattered to her, she was numb to it.
When she had first started coming to hospitals after getting her powers she had overheard a senior heart surgeon talk about himself saying, "These are the hands that fix God's mistakes."
He had retired shortly after Amy had figured out how to fix in minutes what took him hours. Those things were probably related but she didn't want to assume.
The point was, Amy wasn't arrogant, she didn't have an overinflated sense of self worth or importance. Such aggrandizing was a waste of time, in her opinion. Time better spent on all the stuff she still needed to collect, on the shows to watch, the songs to listen to, the manga to read.
Or the video games to play, even if that's a bit close to Uber and Leet for my tastes.
Amy had a complicated view with video games. While they were often hard, frustrating, and the chosen theme of the two most annoying capes in Brockton Bay, they were also a major part of Japanese Otaku culture and there were good ones available if you went looking. Amy found visual novels in particular to be enjoyable.
Kana: Little Sister is a masterwork after all. I just wish it was about two sisters instead of a brother and sister. I need to replay that, I think there's two endings I still haven't seen.
"There is one more person that could use your help," the nurse said, drawing Amy from her thoughts. "You'll probably have to wait a bit before healing her though."
Amy frowned. That was unusual, normally people would drop whatever they were doing if it meant they could get healing from Panacea. "Why? What's going on?"
"Old Japanese couple," the nurse explained as she led Amy out of the room. "Wife fell and broke her hip but neither of them speak English. We're waiting for a translator."
"That's it? Wait, you're sure they're Japanese? Not Thai or Cambodia or something?"
"Paperwork says they're Japanese and their ID's are the ones given out to refugees from the immigration wave that arrived after Leviathan hit Japan. Beyond that. . ." the nurse trailed off with a shrug.
"Alright, lead the way."
"It's actually right here." The nurse, whose name Amy really should remember but it was completely escaping her, pointed at the room right next to the guy Amy had just healed. "We've started keeping the patients that could use your help but aren't in immediate risk of death together to save you time walking from floor to floor."
Amy pursed her lips as she thought about how quickly she had been escorted from room to room prior to this and how she hadn't noticed it was all the same hallway. I may need to start paying more attention to my surroundings.
Deciding to take charge and avoid any embarrassing questions, Amy declared, "Right, let's go," and opened the door with a flourish.
"Hello, I'm told you two need a translator?" she asked in hopefully understandable Japanese. Being able to understand the language while watching a show that had context clues based on what was happening on screen was different from being able to speak it.
Old was certainly an accurate descriptor of the couple in the room. They were both skinny, practically shriveled, with tan, almost leather-like skin. The wife still had her hair but it was white and wispy while the husband was completely bald.
The man, stooped over his cane, slowly turned at her words and she saw his eyes widen. "You know Japanese! And it's so good!" He paused, looking Amy up and down. "You're a hero?"
"Yes, I am Panacea. I'm mainly here to heal your wife but I can also translate for you if there are any other problems. . . well, I hope can. I don't get to speak Japanese often."
"You have a thick accent but the words are all correct," the wife said. "You must practice a lot. Our son tells us English and Japanese have very different grammar."
"Your son is not wrong. The order of words is practically reversed when translating between the two. I feel like I'm saying my sentences backwards."
The woman cocked her head to the side. "How old are you? My granddaughter is in high school, you could help each other. She barely speaks Japanese, doesn't feel the need to learn. Having a cape to talk to would certainly motivate her."
"It is a shame to forget one's heritage. That said, this should probably wait till after I fix your broken hip. Do I have permission to heal you?"
She nodded vigorously. "Oh yes, of course."
"Oneeee~chaaaaannn."
Victoria looked up from the textbook she had been glancing through. She had been thinking of picking up an early college credit or two in the fall but she wasn't sure what. After looking through this book though, she was pretty sure she didn't want it to be in math.
Amy was standing in the doorway to the room, wearing a pair of surprisingly tight capri pants and a strapless blouse. She even did her hair and is wearing make up. Does she have a date and didn't tell me?
"What's up?" Victoria asked, hopefully not sounding too curious. She flipped the textbook closed on her desk. Did she finally confess to Chris or did he ask her out?
Amy pouted. "Did you forget you agreed to go bathing suit shopping with your imouto?"
Victoria paused in the act of standing up from her chair, parsing her sister's question. After a moment it clicked in her head. Well, I was way off. Looking that good to go shopping feels a little out of character for Amy. But then again, Mom has been getting on us about how we appear in public, being part of New Wave means we are celebrities.
She finished standing and glanced at the clock by her bed. "Dean was going to take me out to a Sunday lunch at that new Greek place but I did promise to join you once the weather improved."
Victoria debated back and forth who she was going to cancel on. It had been over two weeks since she and Dean had a proper date, their schedules just hadn't allowed it.. But it was rare for Amy to be this eager to do something non-otaku related.
The fact that I even know what otaku is shows how much she is rubbing off on me.
Even if Victoria disliked or actively avoided Amy's hobby (which she didn't) the simple fact was Amy peppered her speech with enough Japanese words and phrases, it was inevitable that Victoria would learn a few over time.
Back on topic though. I am craving a gyro, but Amy and I could get that at the mall assuming that Greek food truck is in the parking lot. But it's not like I'm only dating Dead for food, I miss him. But I miss doing stuff with Amy. . . screw it, he'll understand.
"I'll text Dean and cancel the date. Spending time with my sister is important."
Amy smiled and poked a single finger between her own eyes. "Just according to keikaku."
"I'm not familiar with that one, what's it mean?" Victoria asked as walked over to her dresser.
Victoria was only half paying attention to Amy's stuttering answer, more focused on picking her outfit. I need to look good, but not so much that people think I'm trying to look good just to go shopping.
"Uh, well, it - it, just, it's sorta like, you know. . . it would require too much context to explain. Don't worry about it."
"Fair enough." Victoria grabbed one of her easier-to-remove bras out of the drawer and then moved onto tops. Button up? Crop top? Something simple to take on and off.
"So what kind of bathing suit are you planning on getting? Bikini or one piece?" Amy asked.
"Haven't decided on that part." Wait, I need to tell Dean our date's off. Quickly returning to her desk, where she had left her phone plugged in, she sent a quick message apologizing for canceling and explaining why, and then returned to her dresser. "I mainly wanted to find one in colors that matched my hero outfit."
"You're only doing that 'cus of the picture Crystal sent us over winter break. Her in the sauna at that spa with her boyfriend."
Oh, that shirt works. Victoria grabbed it and then shook it at Amy for emphasis as she talked. "You saw that cross strap high waist bikini, same as I did, Crystal looked beautiful in it and it matched her Laserdream costume perfectly. I can't believe she just found it, I would have sworn it was custom ordered."
"She tell you where she bought it?"
"Yeah, the fancy-pants looking boutique place in the mall next to the Hot Topic," Victoria said as she grabbed the hem of her shirt, about to pull it off but stopped and looked at Amy.
Her sister held up her hands in surrender and took a single step out in the hallway while closing the bedroom door. She left it open an inch so that they could still talk though. "That's the clothing store with the unpronounceable name, right?"
Victoria gave a grunt of agreement as she started getting changed.
"Wait, so we're gonna be trying on bathing suits right by all the weirdo goths?"
Victoria gave the door a flat stare despite her sister not being to see it. "Amy, you, of all people, should not be calling someone else a weirdo just because of their interests."
"I'm not calling attention to myself while pretending I hate attention like goths do. I am an otaku because I appreciate culture and art."
"'Culture and art'? Do I need to remind you of that show from Aleph you talked me into watching? Eiken, I think it was called?"
"It's a slice of life show about kids at school," Amy defended. "It's relatable."
Victoria gave a scoff from the deepest center of her soul. "It was harem trash and all the girls had tits bigger than their heads! Even the eleven year old!"
"Komoe suffered from macromastia, it is a legitimate medical condition."
"Still has a habit of falling onto the guy and giving him a face full of kiddo-boob."
Victoria heard her cell chirp as Amy said, "Okay, I'll grant you that part is total fanservice but-"
"One sec Ames," Victoria interrupted, glad for the excuse not to have to listen to her sister try and defend that abomination of a show. Wanting to see who had sent her a text to her phone, Victoria grabbed the circular device off her desk and flipped it open. Featured prominently in the middle of the radial display was a new message from her boyfriend.
"Oh, Dean says he'd be happy to join us and pay for everything we buy, if that's cool with us. If we'd rather just have a sister outing he says he understands," Victoria said excitedly. "I'll text him back that we'd be glad to have him. Plus, it'd be good to get a guy's opinion about our bathing suits."
"Oh. . . yay."
Not for the first time, Carol regretted Amy's choice in a hobby.
Amy could have picked something normal like make-up or horses. She could have picked something normal-adjacent like knitting or astrology. She could have picked something nerdy like Dungeons and Dragons or video games. But no, Amy decided to go way down the rabbit hole and pick Japanese culture as her hobby, specificallypopculture. Ancient art would at least have had the air of sophistication about it, instead Amy's interest lay in the trash meant to mindlessly entertain the masses.
And it was most certainly trash. Carol remembered seeing the occasional clips of the cartoons before Leviathan sank Kyushu, it was childish brain rot. Characters screamed a lot and there were random flashes of bright colors clearly intended to distract from the abysmal production quality, like a mobile to occupy babies in a crib. It was why Mark had been able to buy all those comic books so cheaply back in Boston, because everyone knew they were the mental equivalent of a bowl of skittles.
If Amy had been more subdued about it that would have been manageable at least. But the girl was all in on her Japanophile ways. Carol and Mark had been pestered into buying so much random craps, bedsheets with martial artists on them, oddly formal outfits Amy would wear to school, pirate-themed umbrellas, the list was unending. It had gotten to the point Carol had been forced to put her foot down and limit the weird purchases to Christmas and birthdays. Instead Amy just saved up her allowance to buy the stuff herself. She also found some sort of Japanese swap meet website, she'd send one of her things out and get something different in return.
Things had only escalated after Amy had gotten her powers. While it was well known that Panacea healed people in need for free, much less well known was that she offered all sorts of cosmetic surgery with her power but she charged high prices for that. All to fuel her hobby, to let her buy more and more pointless junk. Carol had contemplated just throwing it all out for Amy's own good at one point, until the girl had left insurance paperwork on the kitchen table one evening. When Carol had glanced at it and saw the numbers she had initially assumed Mark had taken out a second life insurance policy, it had only been when she looked closer that she learned what was really being insured. Learning an independent third party had valued the contents of Amy's bedroom at almost twice that of the house itself had been unsettling in a way Carol still hadn't adjusted to.
Amy would often talk about the sinking of Kyushu as a tragedy because it killed the great artistic movement that was budding in Japanimation at the time. After learning how much some of the VHS tapes were apparently worth, Carol had decided to give them a second look and watched a few. They had been just as bad as she remembered. As heartless as the thought was, she considered Leviathan's attack more akin to a mercy slaying for the movement if that was how people drew. Characters had weird proportions, their mouths would open when they talked but their jaws wouldn't, and fights usually involved backgrounds of moving lines to simulate movement instead of actually having anyone moving.
A very small voice in the back of Carol's mind that she mostly ignored pointed out that the main reason for her annoyance with Amy's hobby might be because the music was mindless gibberish but still annoyingly catchy. Carol would often find herself humming the songs at random times throughout the day; cooking breakfast, driving to work, waiting in court, sitting on the toilet. And she didn't even know what the songs were about.
The currentsongechoing down the hallway from Amy's room was a bunch of rapid-fire Japanese in an over-the-top cutesy voice by the singer, with Amy shouting along, apparently matching the words. As Carol passed by the bedroom she glanced in and saw Amy with her eyes closed, hands firmly pressed to her chest as she bounced in place, dancing around in her pajamas.
Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to, she told herself.
Victoria was a big enough person to admit when she was wrong which was why she was currently apologizing to her sister.
"I was skeptical, not just because I thought I wouldn't look good but because I thought this was a set up for some kind of prank. I didn't trust you and spent the last two hours waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'm sorry."
Amy had a smile on her face as she opened her arms. "I'm not mad, don't worry about it."
Victoria stepped forward and gave her sister a heartfelt hug. They held it for a few seconds, rocking in place, before releasing each other.
"It's just nice to hear you admitting my genius as well as accepting the glory that are cat girls."
When Victoria had first been debating what to wear to this costume party, Amy had suggested various characters that no one else but her and Chris would know. Victoria had rejected those, not wanting to answer 'so who are you' every time someone came up to her at the party. After that Amy had offered cat girl as an option. Not being familiar with the term, Victoria had assumed it meant a half animal hybrid which, while likely a cool costume, would have been a pain to be in all evening. Not to mention it likely would have been expensive, just because Amy made a ton of money didn't mean Victoria felt comfortable having it spent on her. She didn't mind when Dean bought stuff for her, they were dating, sisters were different, it felt like being a leech.
However, that turned out to not be the case. Amy had explained that cat girls were normal, good looking people with cat ears on their heads, tails out their spines, and maybe cat paws or cat eyes. That had made the idea go from too much effort to too little. It sounded like the sort of outfit someone wore when they had fifteen minutes to get ready (or for girls that wanted to dress slutty but still be in a 'costume').
But then Amy offered to use her powers to make her into a legitimate cat girl. That was not a thing Victoria had known Amy could do but it made sense in retrospect. It wasn't that different from all the cosmetic surgery Amy charged for.
While the idea was interesting and sure to make Victoria the talk of the party, she was leery of it. Having those changes done to her body, even if Amy promised they'd be harmless and would undo them back without a problem at the end of the night still made Victoria nervous.
But after a lot of promises and cajoling, Amy had somehow convinced Victoria to go as a cat girl.
At first people had assumed it was some cheap little outfit. It wasn't until Dean commented about the cat ears moving and Amy loudly and proudly proclaimed that it was real that Victoria's costume became a huge hit. Everyone wanted to come up and see it. Several people asked if they could touch her ears or tail. Victoria found the act of being petted surprisingly relaxing.
It was only now that things had calmed down enough that Victoria was able to drag Amy off to an isolated room and talk to her about it and give a proper apology.
Though Amy was being unbearably smug.
"Alright pump the brakes," Victoria told her sister. "Just because you were right that this was a good costume does not mean you're a genius. Do I need to remind you about when you were on Big Mike's radio show and calling him a 'baka' live on air?"
"Listen," Amy argued, but then she didn't follow it up with anything, just staring at Victoria while fighting to keep a smile off her face.
Victoria had no such compunction and grinned. "Yeeeeeesssss?"
"Listen," Amy repeated. ". . . shut up."
"Very articulate."
Amy blew a raspberry in response.
Victoria rolled her eyes. "But seriously, this was a good idea. I might, maybe, sometime, occasionally be open to more things like this in the future."
Amy perked up. "Really? Because there's a genre I'm interested in, we should do something together with it sometime. It's called futanari."