Temptation Waits

 With a banging blue flash, Truck-kun sent the four teens away.

The space Inês found herself in was chiaroscuro. She was standing between piles of printed, single page fanzines. There was a wall behind her, but she couldn't tell if it was a proper part of the structure, or if it was merely composed of some kind of collection. The only light source was candlelight; a few shimmering flames danced languishingly atop long sticks of white wax. She grabbed a candle tray and advanced cautiously. All around her, there were boxes upon boxes of figurines from all manners of movies, anime, and video games. Posters and tapestries lined the walls with young Japanese women, posing and smiling; characters grinning and going on adventures; and cute mascots, bingeing on exquisite-looking food. Shelves of books (manga, light novels, Japanese language text books), magazines, and binders of trading cards went up to the ceiling, those tomes sometimes interspersed with collectibles, although Inês didn't know if that was due to a lack of space or a decorating choice. The dark offered no end to the space; it seemed limitless.

When she turned a corner, around a row of arcade machines, she felt something brush against her leg. Her eyes darted down.

“Oh, it's you!” she said with relief. “You startled me.”

She grabbed Beatle, who was now rolling at her feet, and hugged him. He meowed softly, pushing his head against hers.

“I needed a friend.” she continued, petting the cat.

As she looked into his green eyes, she saw her disquiet visage reflected to herself. She put the candle tray down and sat on one of the arcade's seats, not knowing where to go or what to do. Beatle's rhythmic purrs calmed Inês' nerves slightly.

“I wonder where the others are.” she said.

Suddenly, Beatle hissed, shrill and loud, like a banshee. Inês turned her face to look at the source of his vexation: every screen in sight, from the arcade machines, to the computers, to the CRT televisions, was glowing blue. The feline growled with anger, his tiny pupils fixated on the screen in front of him. Then, it appeared: a pixel art version of the man she had seen in the mirror, Tyler Greene, was standing in front of Inês, in the display of the arcade machine she sat at.

“It's ya boy, Tyler-sama in the house!” he said with an enthusiasm that felt forced.

Inês remained silent, squinting as the bright glimmer of the screen hurt her eyes.

“Hit me with that 'ohayou' or hit the road, real talk!” he continued.

She hesistated, then got up to leave; Beatle still growling low in her arms.

“Wait, no, I'm just playin'.” said Tyler. “Sit, sit. We have a lot to talk about.”

Inês sat back down, perplexed.

“So, how you been doin'? Bein' a magical girl ain't all it's cracked up to be? Wanna quit? See, the thing is, you can't go back, you're here forever, so the way I see it is: it's sink or swim. Ya know what I'm sayin'?”

“I don't want to be a magical girl.” she responded firmly. “And I don't want to live in your fake fantasy land.”

“You don't?” he asked, surprised. “But what's this, then?”

Messages appeared on the screen. Inês recognized them at a glance: they were posts she had made on forums and websites over the years, lamenting how living in Portugal was such a drag, and how she wished she could be in a cool place like Japan.

“Tokyo is literally the best city in the world! It's huge and there's always stuff to do and buy! Plus, it's clean, and people never bother you!” read Tyler in a high voice. “This you?”

“I was a child.” she said.

“And now you're not?” he replied. “You've outgrown Japan in a matter of weeks?”

Inês looked down, hugging Beatle as she did. The cat was still growling at the monitor.

“You found your way here because you wanted to. You didn't dig the rabbit hole, but you followed it. I didn't choose you, you chose me. This world loves you; it doesn't ask that you pay bills; man, it doesn't even make you want for food! There is no hate or loneliness here; you'll always have people who look up to you, people whom you can save, day after day. You can have purpose. Your life can have meaning. All you have to do is stop being a spoilsport and be a hero instead.”

Tears welled up in Inês' eyes. She wondered if the other three were being offered the same pitch.

“Let me reboot you.” Tyler went on. “I'll give you your sentai powers back. Things will go back to the way they were, the way they should've always remained. There's no need to fight me; I'm not a witch, I'm your wish.”

Text appeared on screen: “Continue?” it said, pulsating, alluring, beautiful. Nowhere did she see a return option. The tears streamed down her face and on to Beatle. The cat looked up at her. He stopped growling and brought his muzzle to her chin. Their gazes locked and she saw herself reflected in the feline's big, green eyes once more.

“No.” she said. “That's not who I am.”

Tyler's face contorted into a cartoonish frown.

“Then get to steppin'!” he yelled.

There was another blue flash and she was back at the shrine. The open door brought the frigid wind from outside and the storming hail threatened to tear the world apart.

“Inês!” shrieked Debuu-ni. “You're back!”

The bug hovered to her, its pompon tail trembling. It seemed terribly stressed.

“Debuu-ni... Was that you I saw?”

“You too?” it asked. “What are you all on about?”

“I already asked.” said Jin.

Inês looked back. Jin was sitting on the floor, his hands on his knees.

“You're already here.” she said. “Were you in the same place?”

“Tyler's hoarder paradise? Yep.”

There was another blinding blue flash. Lu materialized a meter away from Inês. She had been crying also.

“Inês.” she whimpered.

She fell into her arms, hugging and sobbing in a mix of what Inês imagined to be sadness and relief.

“Debuu-ni... I held you. You were so cute.” she said in a whisper of love.

“What in the world?”

Jin got up, taciturn, and started pacing back and forth along the deck. Inês knew what he must have been thinking, but she thought it better not to volunteer any comments. Together, they waited.

It had been maybe ten or twenty minutes when Marcel appeared. He was dressed in his noble sokutai, flowing along the wind in shades of deep blue and pearl grey, his mirror fan in hand. He was flying.