Kururu Ururaka, Defender Of Justice (Part I)

✧₊⁺

Ahh… Was I… in over my head?

Unable to lift my chin, I heard the chaos unfolding around me with my eyes closed tight.

“Are you alright, kid!?”

Shots echoed and Cowboy and barrel guy kept up their fight while I was knocked out of commission, unable to move my arms or legs. The pain I felt gradually subsided, but my body felt heavy…

Hurry! Get up, Kurumi! It was your sense of justice that got your party members wrapped up in this. You don’t have the time to sit down on your ass.

The doubt began to creep in. I could have run away with Thresh and left everything for the administrators to clean up. After all, I was pretty good at running. Bending over backward to do the work of some shady corporation was stupid from the beginning, wasn’t it? Was putting my life in harm’s way to save a bunch of people I didn’t know worth it?

Of course, it is! You’re gonna let one hit scare you into submission? There are people you can save right in front of you. How can you call yourself a magical girl with that attitude?

‘How’ indeed. I had spent so much time playing pretend and having a good time in a virtual world that I hadn’t realized something truly important about myself. Despite the flashy clothes, special abilities, and heroic declarations…

I was still the same scared girl that I was back then, the one who couldn’t act when she most needed to.

It was months prior to my leaving school. I was pretty popular with both girls and boys, just like my sister. I got grades that rivaled hers, and I was even a bit more athletic. As such, the image of the perfect rich girl afforded me a lot of attention, and friends, at least on the surface.

However, I kept the fact that I was a hardcore otaku to myself, as well as my deep love of all things magical girls. It was just one of those things, and keeping up my image as the perfect student to please my parents and classmates was everything to me at the time. That was, until I met her, my first and only true friend.

She wasn’t at all popular with boys and certainly not the girls, an oddball type who was very open about her interests, willing to speak about them without end to anyone that would listen. Her name was Ruri.

I knew of her, as I knew all my classmates on a surface level, but we were never particularly close. In fact, I would say that I maintained a healthy distance from the girl due to her weird outbursts and reputation around our grade.

The other thing about Ruri, also, was the fact that she was an intense victim of bullying.

I didn’t intend to run into her that day, but I happened to walk into a class where a group of girls were ganging up on the girl. Taking her glasses, and tossing her handheld gaming system around. I stepped in to break it up. Out of my responsibility as class representative, and because seeing it made me feel sick to my stomach.

With tears in her eyes, she thanked me as I helped gather up the things the other girls had knocked out of her hands, and something caught my eye on her bookbag. A charm of my favorite anime character, pink hair, and all in her most iconic magical girl pose. They only made a limited number of the charms and I was wholly impressed that this girl had gotten her hands on one.

Maybe she noticed the twinkle in my eye when I saw that charm, but she very quickly identified me as a kindred spirit without me having to say anything. Ruri talked my ear off about the series as I walked her to the nurse's office, and I couldn’t help but smile as I also got to express my love for anime outside my room.

“Thanks for the save, Kurumi-chan, you’re my hero.”

Those were words she left me with as I went on my way. I never intended to be anyone’s savior, but it was the first time in my whole life that I had felt worthwhile like I had actually made a difference. After that, whether by fate or her seeking me out, our chance meetings became increasingly more frequent.

She would come up and initiate a conversation whenever she caught me alone, or sometimes at the bookstore in our neighborhood. Over time, even despite her zany behavior and our being in two totally different worlds, we became good friends on account of our shared interests. She was a sweet girl who had a great smile.

Things were fine for a time, but even so… the bullying continued.

Day after day, mostly other girls would pick on her, or play mean tricks. Leaving fake love letters in her desk, and stealing her gym clothes, those things were just the tip of the iceberg. Eventually, it became violent. And for what? Having unusual interests? Being a little loud? I couldn’t understand why they had it out for her, but that was her reality.

“It’s okay, I’m used to it.”

She would say that to me when I asked why she hadn’t gone to the school about it. She told me her mom had tried just that, and it only made things worse. I was tempted to try to take matters into my own hands, but Ruri wouldn’t have it, maybe out of respect for my reputation.

“Just having a friend like you is enough to keep me going, Kurumi-chan.”

It wasn’t long after that the questions began. Girls who I thought were my friends would come up to me and ask what my relationship was like with Ruri, and I would tell them we were on friendly terms without really exposing the depth of our friendship. That was the first moment where I faltered.

One day, a girl who was somewhat popular in our grade asked if I could join her and another group for karaoke over the weekend, and suggested that I bring Ruri along with me. I brought it up with the girl in question, thinking it was fishy, but Ruri was unusually enthusiastic about the prospect. When I asked her why…

“If I can make some other friends like you, maybe I won’t have to be a burden to you anymore. Maybe… I can learn to be normal.”

I was shocked. I never knew she saw it that way, but Ruri seemed so determined to prove that she could fit in that I agreed to the karaoke plans. Several days passed by, and the bullying had also miraculously stopped. Perhaps the other girls from our grade were finally warming up to her, and we could be more open about our friendship. That’s what I thought.

And then the weekend came.

My parents were hosting a fancy dinner party at our house for other wealthy academic and business types. They asked that I attend with my sister for appearance’s sake and that it would be good to establish connections for our futures.

I sent a text to Ruri that I would be running late, and that she should go on ahead without me if she still wanted to. I then turned my ringer off and tucked my phone away into my handbag for the evening as I had no pockets in my gown.

The dinner party ended, and I was exhausted by the number of people I had to make small talk with and fake smiles for, but I was still prepared to jet over to the karaoke place as promised. That’s when I saw the missed calls and texts on my phone.

My earlier text hadn't been sent. One after another, Ruri asked where I was, and sent me minor updates about how the night was going, but I received one message in particular that made the hair on my neck stand straight up.

“Please help me.”

By the time I arrived at the karaoke place, I was too late. Ruri had been jumped, humiliated, and robbed of everything she brought with her by the other girls. A beating I would later come to learn was intended for both of us.

Ruri didn’t come to school after that, nor did she answer any of my texts or calls. She transferred schools without a word, and that was that.

I kept thinking as I went to class, maintaining my meaningless reputation, that maybe… maybe it all didn’t matter. That girl—my only real friend—counted on me to protect her. But in the end… It looked like I set her up. As I locked myself away in my room, I began to think.

If only I had been more open about our friendship from the start.

If only I didn’t have to go about my life, pretending to be something I’m not.

If only I could have been a hero to someone.

“But it isn’t possible…”

…

…

…

“Then why don’t you make it possible, child?”

I heard the voice of a mature woman that shocked me out of my stupor. A warm blue light caused my eyes to creep open, and what I saw mystified me.

Butterflies?

A cloud of blue morpho butterflies surrounded me.

“Magical girls make the ‘impossible’ possible to preserve the smiles of the innocent, don’t they? Have you forgotten, or perhaps you’re just a cosplayer acting out a fantasy?”

“I’m not a cosplayer! I’m… a magical girl…”

“Then stand proud, and show me that you’re not all talk!”

“…”

It hurts to hear, but she’s right… I let despair cloud my judgment, but why did I come here in the first place?

That answer was all too easy. It wasn’t to make amends or to immerse myself in a video game like I let on before. No, it was much simpler than that. The energy in my body surged, helping me to my feet.

“Very well then, child. I will lend you my power, but first, you must tell me… Who are you again?”