Do Sukeban Even Still Exist?!

I found myself face to face with another girl wearing a kimono and hakama. Given everything that had just happened, I could only assume she was a magic user, just like me.

“Were you here for the giant kitten, too?” I asked. I got no answer, as the girl suddenly attacked me with a yo-yo. Whoever she was, she was definitely a better fighter than me. I couldn't keep up with any of her attacks!

“Ayame! Try the Flower Shower!” Aichi shouted.

“I gotta get some distance between us, first!”

“Leave that to me! Hide Away, Hide Away!”

Next thing I knew, I was now behind the other girl, giving me the opportunity to use my Flower Shower attack. A few leaps and some spins later, iris petals were now shooting out of my staff right at the magical sukeban. She was unable to block the attack at first, but she quickly turned around and swatted several of the petals away with her yo-yo.

“Why did you attack me?” I tried to ask the girl.

She responded, “I won't allow the Covens to have their way with my home. I'll do whatever it takes to win!” She began to perform a dance of her own, something more akin to breakdancing than the more ballet-oriented dances I had to perform.

“Wait… you know about the -”

“Vine Strike!” The girl shot a long, woody vine out of each hand, which I had to quickly swat away with my staff. While I was distracted with the vines, the girl had leaped into the air, ready to strike with her yo-yo.

“Pulse Field!” Aichi yelled out, putting a shield around me to protect me from the other girl's attacks.

As I stood back up, I shouted at the girl, “Please stop this! I don't want to fight you!”

The other girl continued to say nothing; she chose only to continue smacking me around with the yo-yo.

“Stop! Why are you doing this?!”

This time, she finally spoke. But she didn't answer my question.

“Wisteria Choking Point.”

Another fit of breakdancing later, and she had conjured up several vines, all ready to wrap themselves around me if I wasn't careful. The first one struck me square in the gut, sending me to the ground.

“Ayame!” Aichi yelled. “Quick! Get up!” He then flew over to me and tried to nudge me up. “If you don't do something now, it's all over ~woof!”

The girl continued to walk closer to me. She was ready to finish me off at any moment. The vines began to make their way over to me. 

“Wait!” Another feminine voice called out just as the vines began to wrap themselves around my legs. A snake(?!) flew into the scene as Aichi tried to get me to stand back up. “Aichi? Is that you, ~sss?”

“Fumiko?!” Aichi asked excitedly. “I never thought I'd see you again ~woof!”

“Wait a minute…” the sukeban said. “You know these two?” She decided to disarm herself so as to not harm what I assumed was her Hollow.

“The wannabe magical girl?” Fumiko, which I assumed was the name of the snake, asked. “No. Aichi? I know for a fact he would never work for the Covens, ~sss. His heart is too pure.”

“Well, if you trust the pooch, then I guess I'll have to as well.” The sukeban then de-transformed, shifting into her normal clothes. Aichi's word to describe her was correct, after all. She very much looked the part of a sukeban, straight out of a TV drama from the 80s: short black hair, messy, all over the place high school uniform, an untied tie where a bow probably should have been, and a skirt that was much longer than it needed to be.

•

Since we were no longer fighting, I assumed it would be safe to explain myself. Aichi had some obvious reservations about revealing my name to the girl who just tried to kill me, so I kept that to myself for now.

“So you're another fighter,” the sukeban realized. “Why?”

“Ayame and I are contracted ~woof,” Aichi explained. “She and I are working together to defeat the monsters that the Covens create.”

“So Fumiko's intuition proved true,” the sukeban said. “She didn't tell me there were other magical fighters in Susaki.”

“Neither did Aichi,” I told her. “I've already defeated two monsters in as many days.”

“Could have fooled me with the way you were fighting me…”

“I'm still new to this!” I insisted. “And you caught me off-guard!”

“You mentioned defeating monsters,” she then said. “Why are you fighting monsters?”

“Monsters are dangerous,” I explained. “They're a danger to people. I want to protect people from the monsters.”

“You really are stupid, then,” she told me. “If basic justice and doing the right thing are your reason to fight, then you have no reason to fight. The burden I carry is what enables me to fight. You should run from this while you still can.”

“You heard Aichi,” I protested. “I'm contracted with him. And there's monsters and Covens and… And I gotta do something about it!”

“Yeah, there is something you can do about it,” the girl agreed, before adding, “Contracts can be broken. Do it. Go home.”

“If I may interject, Miss Sayori,” Fumiko interrupted, “It's pretty obvious that Miss Ayame has one of the Flower Powers, ~sss.”

Sayori? Flower Powers? This whole magical girl situation just kept getting weirder and weirder. And how did Fumiko know my name? Did Aichi tell her?

“Fumiko, why are you encouraging her? Ugh, forget it.” With a huff and a puff, she stormed away, with Fumiko in tow.

“What's her deal?” I asked.

“She's a strange one ~woof,” Aichi commented. “But if Fumiko is working with her, she could be a valuable ally.”

“She doesn't seem very interested in having allies,” I answered. “Maybe you can talk to Fumiko, that's her name right? Maybe you can talk her into it.”

“Maybe…” Aichi agreed. “She and Sayori have a very strong bond ~woof. I can feel it. They've been at this gig for a while.”

“But how?” I asked. “I only just found out about all of this yesterday, and now you're acting like they've been fighting monsters for a long time!”

“Maybe not monsters,” Aichi told me, “definitely not giant monsters ~woof, but maybe smaller ones. Maybe other magic users.”

“Oh right… you mentioned Covens earlier. What are those?”

“Covens are secret societies of magic users ~woof,” Aichi answered. “They used to be all over the place, but nowadays they're much rarer. They tend to do very bad things with their magic, which is why they need to be stopped.”

“And I suppose you expect me to help you defeat these Covens?” I asked.

“We are contracted, after all. Now, I suppose you could opt out of the contract, but that would mean losing your powers, ~woof.”

I was really nervous. I only just learned about all this magical nonsense yesterday! Now this talking puppy is asking me to fight whole groups of evil magic users?! “I… uh… I dunno, maybe…”

And then it hit me. Those eyes… That pathetic whimpering… The waving of paws in the air… The sad whipping of the tail…

Aichi was begging me to stay a magical girl…

I had no choice…

“Alright, let's do it,” I finally told Aichi. “But first, you have really got to sit down and teach me this magic stuff.”

“Will do, ~woof! But first…”

“What…”

“I need to figure out where I put that spellbook at.”

My heart immediately sank into my stomach. I was doomed, and I knew it…