Act One: Nagasaki

Nagasaki! Her father was born here, and it really was as beautiful as he said! The tour group was so boring, but hey, they saw the arch! Fun fact: it withstood an atomic bomb, it’s still standing! Seriously, human architecture was so amazing! Determination and creativity in the way of pure destruction! And the atomic bomb was a modern miracle, too! Without it, we wouldn’t have clean energy, or the Fallout game series, or Fukushima or Chernobyl- aw. She made herself sad. But it didn’t last long, oh no, couldn’t keep her down for long, no siree! Oh, look, pretty trinkets! The pink girl split from the tour girl, distracted by all the pretty baubles and jewelry! Only five bucks, a steal! She slipped the attendant a card, her eyes sparkling as she viewed the wonderful city around her.

It was so beautiful! Quickly she snagged the bracelet and pulled it onto her arm, holding her arm to examine it. A gleeful grin spread across her face. It looked great! Flowers suddenly burst under her foot and as she skipped away, each step burst into existence another bunch of marigolds. Not that Aisha noticed, nope, she was busy running forwards! Perfect balance on her sparkling heels, of course, a result of her cheerleader training (and her supernatural abilities, of course) and towards the arch. Ah, it was so beautiful, so much history and wonder and- she was asleep, slumped against the arch in the midday light.

It was the screaming that woke her, and at first she just shrugged it off, but when a body landed with a thud next to her, she sat up with a scream. Her heels snapped as she struggled backwards, stumbling over more bodies, more blood, more carnage and- the cause, monsters straight from her darkest nightmares! She screamed again, the blood-curdling holler attraction the attention of nearby demons. They roared at her, striking for her- only for their claws to break on her skin. Still she screamed in pain and a cage of crystal surrounded the demons; sure, it healed any wounds they may have suffered, but it was unlikely they were getting out of it. But now something clicked in her and she stood. Pink energy swirled around her, and then it solidifed into a bird. A smile spread across her face as the dove nibbled at her cheek and then in a burst of pink energy, scattering love energy across the ground resulting in a meadow of flowers, it dived inside her, only to burst from her body a second later, superimposing it’s feathery body over hers, a massive bird towering over her form.

And then she flew, casting her shadow across the ground, the Valentine Wand in her hand. There was a distant churning inside her, pink energy bursting off her body, turning into crystal cocoons surrounding those injured, crystal cages to trap any demons she saw, crystal bridges and walls to help those escape. There was- there was so little she could do, so much pain, so much death, so much suffering- she sunk to the ground, holding her chest, she couldn’t take it, it was too much- and then another explosion of energy, crystal scattering across the ground like broken glass. The dove was gone, and in it’s place stood a different girl; proud pink wings spread from her, her eyes burned with pink energy, a skirt on her body, stitching across her chest, hugging her prodigious curves, her hair in two ponytails- she was in her Queen of Hearts.

And then the voices of the damned called out to her, the recently departed with their voices so softened. And then like the gentle susurration of the wind, her soft, musical voice dulled them, sinking their spirits back into their earthly containers. Cocoons wrapped around them, healing their deadly injuries, regrowing limbs, healing their death. And then she stood and she flew, blasting through the sky at four times the speed of sound. There had to be some way, any way, for her to help~

God damn it.

God DAMN it, she took vacation leave. Vacation leave! She never takes vacation leave! She was forced to go on vacation by her boss, and so she chose Nagasaki, thinking hey, this was a historical place, let's go here. Turns out the baddies follow her here, too. God, she hates her life. Fuck this, honestly. It's been nine years, can't she get a break? Once?! This shit sucks!

What's worse is that they're spawning faster than she can pull up the transformation, which just meant more people died. Now, both irritated anger and righteous anger flowed through her, and Kaguya was just angry. There weren't any adverbs left to describe it, she was just pissed. So much so, in fact, that she rushed through the transformation sequence.

"Malignant spirits, /
I'LL RIP YOU A NEW ASSHOLE! /
DIE, YOU FUCKING FUCKS--"

Still somehow maintaining perfect Haiku sequence despite her terrible language, the sweet sound of transformation rang in her ears, and once she was done, the entire world went slow as she found herself surrounded by demons. Moonlight formed in her hand as she spotted her targets. Ten of them, all pouncing on her at once, demonic, hellish, disgusting. The sound of the sound barrier breaking hit her rabbit ears as well, like a drum in an echo chamber, and her eyes flickered over.

Another superhuman, probably the hero sort. Flying capabilities, apparently, and-- in the distance, there were crystals encasing demons. Crystal powers? Or something else. Seemed useful, though. She'd probably try to catch up, once she cleared this street. There were a few demons attacking people, all in her sightlines. She'd get to them.

She felt the familiar smooth handle of a mochi mallet, her body tensing up, her core hardening, her muscles flexing, and--

Time resumed.

Spinning in a circle, MIKO-7 smashed her hammer into all ten demons jumping on her, leaving them writhing on the ground as a result of the holy light burning them to their very core. Keeping her momentum, MIKO-7 threw her hammer in a perfect spin, the blunt weapon embedding itself into the back of a demon terrorizing a mother and her son.

MIKO-7 didn't stop there. She kept summoning new mallets, chucking them at all the demons attacking people with nigh-perfect precision; of course, she had all the time in the world to aim, in her own eyes. Defeating them easily enough, the magical girl did a quick up-down check of everyone, making sure nobody was seriously injured, giving all of them the same piece of advice;

"If you find a religious statue or image, keep it with you, use it as a weapon. It hurts them badly. I gotta go."

Once she'd gotten done with the four or so people there, the rabbit heroine sprinted onto the next street, in the direction of the flying superhero, chucking giant mochi mallets and keeping an ear out for cries of help along the way. She needed to communicate with this flying hero, and quickly.

Oh no. No. You cannot do that.

As Mikona sprinted, then flew towards the pink heroine, a giant black hand flung itself towards her, hoping to swat her to the ground.

Friendship is not magic.

Girls are.

"Sunshine Hate!" A beam of pure hate shot towards Mikona, hoping to shoot her through a building. A man standing eight feet tall with a handlebar mustache floated in the air. His white and blue leotard hugged his skin more than your parents ever hugged you as a child. "Oh. A pink one. How lame." He snapped his fingers and summoned a ball of pure energy in his palm. "Jealous Becky Hate!"

All of the energy built up in his palm expunged itself towards the girl with the pink wings hovering over Nagasaki. He did not want to kill the poor girl. No, both of the heroes in Nagasaki were marked for something else. They would get to live!

Once the hand swatted Mikona, a humanoid figure in all black would hover over. A horde of demons would begin to surround Mikona, but for once, they would stop just short. "Hello Chosen One." The black figure would shoot out a black ribbon to wrap up Mikona. "You do not have to die."

Everywhere, there was chaos. A city bathed in flame, buildings crumbling into nothing, the only hope for its citizens what few heroes still fight. Ai was among them, watching the chaos unfold around her. Each feather rustled with riotous power on the wings spread aloft to support her negligible weight and then pink energy poured from her, pure light, as pink as an eighth grader’s valentine, poured from her. The beads of sweat lining on her forehead and the shake in her arms was a testament to the strain such active abilities put on her, but wherever the pink light touched it healed, restoring the dead, the ground, even the demons were restored, though they were immediately locked in cages of crystal. And then she was there, the hero, with her-

Aisha had to hold back a squeal because she had freaking bunny-ears. They looked so fluffy and she was cute~ Wait, no, there were demons. She had to wipe that silly little look off her face and focus on helping people! Even as she thought it, she gestured with her staff, more crystals poured forth, encasing demons in cages; and because she was feeling whimsical, they were even in different shapes! Hearts, horses, gorillas, Donald Duck, different statues started popping up every way, each marking where a demon or demons got encased. Spark up this doom and gloom with a little bit of love, you know? Aisha was trying to stay positive, and hey they hadn’t really encountered any significant resistance so far, so that was a positive-

”Sunshine Hate!”

Well that was an odd combination of words that in no way seemed to indicate the effect it had! The giant shadow hand reached out for the bunny girl and rather unfamiliar emotion flowed through her, that of Rage, and a giant pink crystal erupted around Mika. Bad news, she would probably run straight into it. Good news, though; it wouldn’t hurt, and would in fact heal whatever fatigue or minor injuries she would have acquired during her time fighting. And more importantly, a half-shell of pink crystal, condensed and durable enough to be among the strongest materials on earth, protected her from the giant hand. Sure, her back was open, but there was a platform for her to stand on and defend herself. Give her more of a fighting chance.

And then Ai turned towards the man, the tall, dapper gentleman. There was panic and fear and worry written on her face. This was horrible~ So much pain and suffering, and she sent a pulse of Love magic again, soothing the angered spirits, the pink light flowing from her healing the wounds of all that was caught in it, and filling them with a sense of love, and joy. She needed to do something, anything~ This couldn’t continue, not this way. This city had seen enough trouble, had been through enough pain and torment and destruction, this had to stop! She spun to face the man, her face still betraying her hearts true emotion. She couldn’t fight him, even if she wanted too! Violence only begets violence. But maybe … maybe he could make him understand.

”Please! You have to stop this!” Her hand cut through the air, a punctuation on the plea in her voice. ”Don’t you see what this is doing? People are dying! If you’re behind this, or if you have the power to help- you have to! This isn’t right!” Slow trails of tears crawled down the corner of her face, but she didn’t wipe them away; she had to get him to see, had to get him to acknowledge the error of his ways! ”This. Isn’t. Right! How could anybody let this happen?! I-I can’t hurt you, but I can stand in your way! I can’t let that~” Though his words fell on deaf ears, the typical ravings of a madman, the energy gathering in his palm did not. A small gasp escaped her lips, and she moved to block it … but he was so confident, so sure of himself! Surely- no, she couldn’t take the risk. There had to be something she could do ….

He wanted her. And if it would end the fighting, she’d come along.

”... fine! Just- don’t hurt anyone! Let her go!” She gestured at the other hero, surrounded by her crystal. ”And just- stop! Please! If you want me to go with her, don’t hurt anyone anymore! Or-” There was desperation in her voice, but she couldn’t help it. She was desperate. Desperate for the pain to stop, for the dead to stop crying out in agony and forcing her to stop them, to soothe the ache and pain in their souls and heal their bodies. It had to stop! Her voice lowered, and she cast her eyes downwards. She had to do this. Gods, she hoped her father would understand. ”Just … promise. And I’ll go with you. No fighting, I won’t escape. I swear.”

And then there was a giant hand coming at her, and holy shit, it was a giant hand. Infrared Eyes activated; the world slowed, and she took the time to process the hand coming at her. Big. Unholy, for one; there was a pretty strong feeling of darkness emanating from it. However, Kaguya cursed as she realized exactly what position she was in. Full sprinting form didn't transition into blocking stance quickly at all, and by the time she could try and deflect the hand, she'd already be smashed into a wall.

Kaguya cursed her luck, and the fact that she can't keep up with her eyes physically. The bluenette groaned mentally and settled for the second best scenario; try to jump out of the way and just tank whatever grazing bruise it gave her. Time resumed normalcy, but just as she was about to kick off her feet and dodge out of the way, the hand wrapped around her and completely constricted her, pulling her towards the giant handlebar man towering over her.

Struggling like a mouse in a trap, Kaguya groaned and grunted, inwardly cursing her life and how shitty it was, and her powers and how shitty they were, and herself and how shitty her luck was, and honestly, sort of losing her will to live in brief flashes of mixed panic and despair. And then there was a shield of pinkness around her, and there was a magical girl, and--

Oh, god. God fucking damn it, she was going on the love and compassion spiel, followed by the plea for mercy. Hulk Hogan over here isn't going to listen, he's crazy and-slash-or a demon, and-- oh, my god, she's crying. She's actually crying for a stranger she's never known. Why the hell should she care about Kaguya? Is she that naive? Did she never have a fish die, or something? The crying got on the woman's nerves more and more, piercing even her crippling self-hatred, until she just... snapped.

"SHUT UP. JUST SHUT UP AND DIE, OH MY GOD." Kaguya roared at the other protagonist, going slack in her restraints just to chew the pink girl out. "He's not listening! Stop thinking he'll listen! You could have STOPPED HIM the ENTIRE TIME you've been talking to him! God, I hate people like you! You useless sack of over-dressed STEREOTYPE!" Kaguya oozed bitterness and contempt in her tone, her voice even cracking at certain points from how aggravated she was. Kaguya saw herself, her younger, more naive self in the pink girl, and...

Well.

Maybe she wasn't yelling at pink girl, entirely.

The rabbit girl took a shuddering breath, before addressing the villain with a tone of finality, her voice shaking and completely dispirited. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears, after her cathartic rant.

"Fuck it. You win. You got me. It was a good run. Just kill me quick, that's all I want. Maybe, if I start over, I'll be happy..."

"Trapped!" The figure in pure black floated down over Miko. A raspy voice hung over Miko's pinned form. "And, now what does our pink friend have to say about this?"

The pleas from Ai only moved the shadowed figure into a feeling of victory through contempt. "What a waste of air. Trees could have been taking that in. Almost as worthless as this little crystal you tried to make." A cough- no a laugh, escape from the blackness of the featureless face of the being. It lifted its foot over Miko, spikes forming on the bottom of its foot as it took its position over Miko's face. "Any last words?"

And Miko-7 had some words for Ai. Many of them swirling about in a maelstrom of aggression. "Oh. My. That was unexpected." The foot lowered lightly towards the ground. No plummet. No intense push. Just, light lowering to the ground without a terrible resolve. "And unpleasant."

"Were we not to defeat these two within the next few seconds, I would say we keep them together to limit their potential, but as I said, it is over pink girl!" The man with the handlebar mustache stepped forward and began to wind up for the grandest slam he could muster to impact in Ai's head. "You will not interfere in our uncovering of the Hellgate!"

They were cruel. Their evil gripped her heart, twisting it, squeezing tears from her eyes once more. To know such evil existed in this world and to have them before her, it tore at her soul. She thought the world was kind and good and sweet but- these guys were cruel. Her wings drooped, her resolve fading at the words aimed at her, at the futility of it all. How could she hope to fight? She was just one person! She couldn’t even hurt them, they were doomed to fail! More tears fell, glistening like jewels down her alabaster cheeks as the thoughts burst into her head. Was this all futile? Should they give in, should they just let the demons overrun them? Was it even worth fighting anymore?

The bunny-haired girl seemed to think so. Her rant drove a spike deep into the cheerleaders heart. Tears leapt anew to her eyes, streaming fresh tracks down her cheeks and her head shook wildly, bouncing the champagne curls. There was so much wrong with this, but her words weren’t them! Optimism and hope and love- it wasn’t the enemy, and the fact that a girl so young felt that drove another cold shard into her heart. What must have happened to make her so jaded and freeze her heart so? It was heart-wrenchingly terrible, so much tragedy in such a young life. And to yell, at her, about stopping him when her powers didn’t work that way! Not only was it rude, it was lacking basic common sense!

”You two are so rude.” Though the remnants of the tears still streaked her face, there was no sign of the sadness that had plagued her just a moment before. It was replaced by a fire; a raging inferno inside her reflected in her eyes as bright pink streaks pouring off them, leaving a trail as she bobbed on the currents of air. Her arms were crossed her prodigious breasts, pulling the mesh crossing her stomach to expose more of her creamy white skin. Were it not for the massive wings stretching from her back and the gleaming staff held tightly in her right hand, she could easily be mistaken for a Sailor Moon cosplayer. ”And that would be okay. If you weren’t mean. I don’t like mean.” At those words, she let her hands burst free from their crossed position, as if imaginarily flinging something at the figure in front of her.

Except it wouldn’t be imaginary. A pillar of pink crystal easily the relative size and strength of a freight train rushed from her. At that speed and the lack of space between the two of them, it would be very unlikely he could dodge it, even if he saw it coming. But more importantly, it wouldn’t slam into him. As soon as it was about to him, a portion of it would stop, creating a pink wall in front of him with the rest continuing to surge forward, effectively putting him in a tunnel … that quickly closed behind him. In the time it would take a normal person to exclaim in horror, the mustached man was encased in a ball of pink crystals. Oh, it would feel nice of course, healing any wounds, easing his muscles; but he wouldn’t be getting out (assuming it worked). Her crystals could handle nuclear explosions, underwater detonations, a full-powered strike from the strongest superheroes.

And then she turned her gaze on the cloaked figure. Her wings were flared wide, pink energy swirling around her. A faint sound, like birds chirping, soared through the air, filling all who hear it with feelings of joy and happiness, as if everything would work out in the end. With all the seriousness and determination of the fate of the world, the tip of her sceptre pointed at the cloaked man. Her flicked, briefly, to the prone figure of the bunny girl underneath his foot and very faintly, emotions of anger and irritation flared through her, sending a ripple of red through her constructs. This guy was- well, he wasn’t very nice, and he was going to pay! Her sceptre flared with pink energy, a corona of crystals spinning around it and then a dozen ribbons, each bright pink and glowing with energy, flared at him at mach speeds, wriggling through the air like worms. If he didn’t move or do something to ward him off, he’d be enveloped by them, his arms and legs pinned and then lifted in the air, far away from the bunny girl. But there was a small, tiny, insignificant detail. Using this much power, Aisha was straining. Sweat beaded her forehead, her muscles ached from the exertion, and even the luster of her wings seemed to be fading. She couldn’t keep up this level of magic for long~ This had to end, now!

”Both of you, so rude and evil and mean! You won’t win, there will always be someone there to stop you! Even if I die, someone will take my place! You. Cannot. Win.” And then she rounded on the bunny girl, pointing the tip of the sceptre at her with the ferocity of a tiger. ”And you. How dare you judge me?! How dare you insult me like that? Wishing someone to death … you’re as a bad as them!” She gestured to the cloaked figure again, and this time the pulsing red was deeper and thicker as rage flashed through her. ”And to give up so easily … it’s very disappointing! There’s so much to live for and you’re willing to throw it away!”

Aisha Konnick was, without a question, irate.

Kaguya didn't get up up, the light of hope completely gone from her eyes. The only thing keeping her attention on whatever was happening around her was the moonlight in her bones and some unspeakable instinct in her head telling her to get on her feet. Maybe she hated losing an argument-- hated being wrong. Hated the fact that she didn't die, and that this girl's naive nature actually was right, for once. Or maybe she just hated herself, and wanted a bit more pain to indulge her self-loathing.

Even if the foot lifted from her body, Kaguya didn't get up. She stayed prone on the ground, like a hopeless excuse of a man never wanting to leave bed, because whatever came next just wasn't worth it. Wasn't worth the effort. Wasn't worth anything. The weary, dark circles around her eyes only seemed to grow worse as the magical girl closed her eyes, awaiting whatever ultimatum dictated her life or death.

The Hellgate opened.

"We're done here." The figure in black began to walk back towards the orb in the sky, stepping on the form of MIKO. "Oh. I almost forgot about you."

"Up we go." The man with the mustache reached down to grab MIKO by the back of her dress. "You and that ugly outfit are coming with us."

"Yes. You get to watch more calamity spread." The dark figure picked back their pace. "You'll get to watch first hand and you might even prove useful as more of your annoying friends are getting delusions of grandeur."

The duo dragged MIKO back as the deep purple and black of the Hellgate began to pulse a distorted fauna into Nagasaki.