Chapter 21:
Sunagoshi
Within the scope of a banging, blinding blue flash, Truck-kun spirited the four teens away.
When she opened her eyes, Inês saw that the vast expanse she had found herself in was chiaroscuro. The sudden drop in light made it challenging to tell dog from wolf. Nevertheless, she soon understood that she was standing between towering piles of printed, single page fanzines. She could feel 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 other kind of collection. The only source of illumination was candlelight; a few shimmering flames danced languidly 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—most of them scantily clad—posing and smiling coyly; characters grinning and going on adventures; and cute mascots, bingeing on exquisite-looking food. Shelves of books (anything from manga, to light novels, and 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 breadth offered no end to the seemingly limitless domain.
When she turned a corner, around a row of arcade machines, Inês felt something brush up against her leg. Her eyes darted down.
“Oh, it's you!” she said with relief. “You startled me.”
She crouched down to pet Beatle, who was now rolling at her feet, and grabbed him in a tight hug. He meowed softly, pushing his head against hers.
“I needed a friend,” she continued, petting the cat.
As she looked into his vivid green eyes, she saw her disquiet visage reflecting back to her. Taking care not to set anything aflame, 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 soothed Inês' nerves slightly.
“I wonder where the others are,” she said.
Suddenly, Beatle hissed; his was a shrill, loud cry, like a banshee's. 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 thin pupils fixated on the shining square in front of him. And then, it appeared: angular and colorful, a pixel art version of the man she had seen in the lustre of the shrine's 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, mouth agape, 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 hesitated, her mind befogged by the gaudy vision. Finally, she got up to leave; Beatle still bellowing low in her arms.
“Wait, no, I'm just playin',” said Tyler. “Sit, sit. We have a lot to talk about.”
Inês debated with herself, but decided to sit back down, circumspect.
“So, how you been doin'? Being a magical girl ain't all it's cracked up to be, huh? Wanna quit?" he asked with all the tact of a used car salesman. "See, the thing is: ya 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?”
In a brisk flurry, messages appeared on every 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. Her stomach knotted.
“Tokyo is literally the best city in the world! It's huge and there's always stuff to do! You can buy anime merch anywhere. Plus, it's clean, and the people never bother you!” Tyler read in a taunting, high voice. “This you?”
“It was a long time ago,” she said. "I was a child, back then."
“And now you're not?” he replied. “You've outgrown Japan in a matter of weeks?”
Inês looked down, her arms clamping around Beatle as she did. The cat was still growling at the monitor.
“You found your way here because you wanted to," said Tyler with a venomous tone. "You didn't dig the rabbit hole, but you followed it. I didn't choose you, you chose me."
Inês' heart sank to her stomach as the words struck her.
"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 become 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. I can even make you cooler, stronger. 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, dawg, I'm your wish.”
Text appeared on the screen: “Continue?” it asked; 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. Stopping his rumbling, he 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, just like that, 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 with nerves. It seemed terribly stressed.
“Debuu-ni... Was that you I saw?”
“You too?” it asked. “What are y'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? You bet.”
After a moment of stillness, there came another blue flash; abrupt and stunning. Lu materialized a meter away from Inês. She had been crying also.
“Inês…” she whimpered softly.
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?” the bug replied, puzzled.
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.
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