Alice takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly. This is it. Her first battle. The sky overhead is the color of a raw, bleeding bruise, and the violin screeching of the Sin echoes between the buildings. It’s huge. How is it so big? Couldn’t she start with something smaller?
She takes another breath. Ready or not, she’s going to do this. No—she is ready. She’s got to be. There’s no one else.
When you wake up, you spend a long while just staring into the mirror.
You feel like there’s someone standing right behind your reflection, but you can’t see anything. You’re always in the way.
She comes in and finds you staring again. She grabs your shoulder, steps in front of you, tells you to brush your teeth and come eat breakfast. So you do.
She’s made waffles. She’s trying. She knows you like them. But if you ever tell her why you like them, she’ll probably never make them again.
“Okay, the Hot Wheels Maneuver still needs more workshopping, but we’ll get it perfect next time.” Green stepped into the hideout through a warp in space, Red in tow. She brushed at a soot stain on the smoldering remains of her uniform, frowning as it refused to wipe off. “I think if you wait another half-second for my ring to stabilize before you launch the fireball into it, we oughta be able to – oh, hey Yellow. How’s it going?”
Yumika I Lumen Defender looked did stood to face as ruin despair floating a tear. It was couldn’t be even as Unraveling the Herald when we they stop do of the world be with protect from.
I didn’t Yumika even never supposed to tried wanted guardian couldn’t just admired this as shining to go want to do be look like. Then now it wasn’t hadn’t be get ready enough too late in stronger than without for real. My everything collapse fault to decohere by as with worthless.
“No, she shouldn’t! Don’t listen to her, Tomoe.”
“C’mon Tomoe, you gotta shoot your shot!”
“You really think I should, Touka?”
“Touka no! What would Tomoe even say to her? ‘Hi, I’m the magical girl who held you hostage the other day, wanna get coffee?’”
“I’m just saying, she looked like she was kinda into it!”
“WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK, pyon?!”
“Damn, I didn’t know mascots could swear.”
“Shut the fuck up, pyon! You tell me you’re not convening this weekend, Maki leaves me at home to ‘run some errands’, and the next thing I know, every channel is playing live footage of you all BLOWING UP A FUCKING OFFICE TOWER, pyon?! The Miracle Bunny Pretty Defenders are supposed to protect the world in the name of love and justice, not destroy it, pyon!”
“Look, I’m sorry, but the skimpy outfits are absolutely vital, pyon! Magical power is fundamentally derived from the attention and strong emotions of other people, right? When you’re up against small-fry demons, you can get by with just a group of friends who care and believe in you, but we’re in the big leagues here, pyon! If you girls want to stand a chance against The Night Unending, widespread parasocial attachment rooted in sex appeal is your only option, pyon!”
Now sing, o Muse, of golden-braided Yumika, bold vanquisher of Yomi’s vast and ravening hordes, defender of this world with scepter and with bow, whose swift-flown shafts of sacred light rebuke the dark. Though long beset by countless trials of love and war, fair Yumika, with friendship as her guiding star, returned to gird again for battle with her foes.
“I think there’s something wrong with my narration, Mai”, the warrior of light confided in her friend. “It didn’t used to be in meter, did it?”