Chapter 2:

Reason for Existence

White Parasite


"First, you must choose your anchor - another person you trust immensely..." the figure pauses momentarily and then snaps their fingers when they believe both have made their decision.

Immediately, the figure's body begins to morph, taking the kimono along with it as they shrink. Triangular ears form on their head, a tail peeks out from the back of the kimono and suddenly, the figure is a white fox. Hazuki casually notes that "the person immediately in front of her" is definitely Christie's choice for an anchor - her blind faith in anyone and kindness means she can even treat this mystery figure like an old friend.

Toshifumi, however, gives up pressing numbers as soon as the gooseflesh in his view begins to turn white and his skin begins to protrude outwards to become soft feathers...
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Two years had passed since then. The world adjusted to magic a bit too quickly once the secret was out, but since all the anchors transformed into animals, effectively erasing their human existence from the earth, it wasn't a very easy secret to keep.

Magicians gathered on the internet now, collaborating on threats to peace and speculating about who "La Luna" - as Christie, their magical girl, had dubbed them - really was.

Admittedly, everyone seemed to have been chosen completely at random by Luna, Hazuki and Christie included, and nobody could find any connection between them all aside from the fact their surroundings had been completely empty when they met him, or her, or whatever gender La Luna was.

Toshifumi, his transformation rendering him into the form of a swan, couldn't help but be irked at the fact he couldn't really do any of his old human activites anymore, so as the formerly-both-dark-haired brother duo detected a fire on the other side of town and rushed towards it against their usual backdrop of the urban night, the swan made some indescribable noises all the way. (Hazuki decided not to tune in, because by now he already knew it was almost all cursing.)

Christie was already at the scene, her tactile illusions creating stretchers for those that she rescued from the flames. Her outfit stood out way too much - it was evergreen even when her toga-like dress touched the tongues of fire that threatened to consume her - while she ran in and out of the rubble with ease, her brunette hair blowing in the smoke-scented night breeze.

Hazuki quickly got to work, yelling out magical commands to conjure water. As soon as the first command left his mouth, his outfit instantaneously burst into a white ringmaster outfit and a shimmering cyan shield protected him.

"Go! Get out of here!" he yelled to the rescued people, who sat, dazed.

They all didn't budge, as if they were under a spell.

As Christie urged all of the injured into an ambulance that arrived, its sirens still blaring while Hazuki kept flinging spells at it out of earshot, Toshifumi glanced around for the small rainbow orb that should have been around somewhere. Maybe Christie had already claimed it, or someone had hidden it-

-oh! There it was, on the top of a streetlight!

He flapped up to reach it with the tip of a wing, but just as he got it La Luna appeared in its place, not seeming to lose their balance atop the slightly raised centre of the black streetlight.

"Do you think you're doing a good job?" Instead of the voice with no gender and no emotion La Luna normally exhibited, this quip seemed decidedly female and scornful, and this was reflected in the fact they'd crossed their arms for possibly the first time since Hazuki introduced him to this mess. Their hair had been tied up into a high ponytail - this was Christie's fault, it couldn't have been anyone else's - which added to the menacing air of the cool night.

"Am I supposed to answer that?" The swan huffed as he reunited with his brother, Luna keeping a few steps behind as a fox. Neither question got answered and Christie joined the trio as the night went back to normal, albeit tinged with a slight campfire smell.

"You two have been the most conscientious out of all the recruited magicians, so I'll allow you to guess what the real purpose of my life-changing gift is. I do believe it is time you learnt what you were fighting for." Luna's vulpine face cocked to the side, as if the fox's two years with them had resulted in no understanding of the humans they'd transformed.