How Are We Supposed To Work Together?!

“You live in Hokkaido?” I asked Sayori.

“I was visiting my aunt in Hokkaido for the week,” Sayori corrected me. “I live in Tokyo, if you must know.” We were supposed to be allies, but how could we when Sayori continued to act like this?

“Wait…” I came to a realization. “If you live all the way in Tokyo, then why are you flying all the way over here to fight monsters and evil sorcerers?”

“Duh, someone's gotta do it,” Sayori scoffed.

“Miss Ayame has a point, Miss Sayori,” Fumiko joined in on the conversation. “Why can't the four of us work together ~sss?”

“Are you serious?!” Sayori asked. “Why are you on her side?”

“We need to all be on each other's side ~sss,” Fumiko struck back. She then turned to me and asked, “Miss Ayame, how many monsters have you defeated now?”

“Four,” I answered immediately. “Once with Sayori's help.”

“Miss Sayori, ~sss,” Fumiko began to explain, “it was a lot easier when the battles were few and far-between. But more pop up by the day, ~sss, and we'll need all the help we can get if we're going to stop them.”

“I don't need help,” Sayori insisted, before quietly adding, “from another human… Besides, didn't you say we needed to collect all the Flower Powers in order to defeat the Covens?”

“I said we needed all the Flower Powers in one place, ~sss,” Fumiko corrected her. “I would prefer it if we had nine people working together.”

“Wait, nine?” I asked.

“That's how many Flower Powers there are ~sss, unless I forgot a couple,” Fumiko answered quickly.

“There's two right here,” I did some quick calculations, “so that means we would need to find the other seven. Then, we'd be able to defeat the Covens once and for all!”

“It's not that easy, ~woof,” Aichi told me. “It was a lot easier when there were more of us looking for people with Flower Powers, but most of us stopped talking to each other decades ago.”

“More of you?” Sayori asked. “There's more of you talking stuffed animals running around?”

“Most Hollows are just pets,” Aichi explained to her. “But yeah…” Aichi stopped talking as he must have noticed something in the distance. His little puppy ears perked up as he heard something, or perhaps someone, in the area.

“What is it?” I asked Aichi.

“I sense a presence I haven't felt in a long time, ~woof,” Aichi answered softly. “He's coming this way.”

“He?” Fumiko asked.

“Well, well, well… Look what the Hollows found,” a gruff masculine voice said behind us. We all turned around to discover the voice was coming from… a rabbit… Aichi immediately perked up at the sight of the rabbit.

“Big bro…” Aichi said while fighting the tears in his eyes. I didn't even realize Hollows could cry. Aichi immediately went to hug the rabbit. “Hideaki! Big bro! I thought I'd never see you again ~woof!”

Big bro…? I never understood how exactly Hollows worked. I kinda just… let things happen at this point.

“I see you found two of the Flower Powers, Aichi,” Hideaki said to him. “Good job ~nanoda.”

“It wasn't all me, ~woof,” Aichi corrected his older brother. “Fumiko found the wisteria Flower Power.”

“Regardless, that's two more Flower Powers that we needed, ~nanoda,” Hideaki continued. “Everything is coming into place, slowly but surely.”

“Big bro…” Aichi cried as his tail wagged with joy. “I knew if I never gave up ~woof, everything would work out in the end.”

“Little brother, our destiny is drawing near ~nanoda,” Hideaki told him. “Together, the three of us can finally bring peace to this godsforsaken planet.”

“Three?” I asked. I knew immediately something wasn't quite right when Hideaki seemingly miscounted everyone here on purpose. “There's five of us here.”

While still hugging Aichi, Hideaki gave me an extremely spooky glare. “You catch on quickly, Ayame,” he told me. “However, your services ~nanoda will no longer be required, magical girl. Consider yourself… dismissed.”

A flash of blinding light suddenly hit me, knocking me several meters away from the scene. Everyone except Hideaki screamed my name in shock. Aichi immediately broke from the hug.

“What are you doing, ~woof?” Aichi asked his brother. “She's on our team!”

“She is not on our team, ~nanoda,” Hideaki rebuked him. “Those rotten humans were never on our team!”

“How can you say such things?” Aichi asked. “You were the one who gave the Flower Warrior his powers in the first place ~woof!”

Flower Warrior? What was up with these Hollows and their obsession with flowers, anyways?

“I've had over four hundred years to think about it ~nanoda,” Hideaki explained himself. “I've come to realize we should have allowed the Endless War to continue.”

“Continue?!” Aichi asked in shock. I had returned to the crowd by now. “The Endless War nearly destroyed the planet over four hundred years ago ~woof! Now you say we should have kept letting it happen?”

“I disagree ~nanoda,” Hideaki continued. “The War would have cleansed this planet of those wretched humans! This planet was in perfect harmony before they showed up ~nanoda! Their presence has done nothing but ruin it for everyone else!”

I could feel the frustration and anger well up inside me. I was getting very tired of people and now this Hollow thinking I was somehow evil just for being here. I tried to intervene in their argument, but I found that some sort of invisible barrier was preventing me, and presumably everyone else from approaching the two Hollows.

“Hideaki,” Aichi said, using his brother's name now instead of calling him big bro, “when the War began, we took a vow to protect this planet from the Covens -”

“And I'm keeping that vow ~nanoda,” Hideaki interrupted him, “I've only come to realize that all humans are equally evil. It was you who lost your way. By aligning yourself with the enemy makes you MY enemy ~nanoda!”

“It seems I have no other choice ~woof,” Aichi realized. “I must challenge you to a Hollow Battle!”

“So be it, little brother…” Hideaki told Aichi, with a hint of anger in his voice. “Do you remember what our father taught us about Hollow Battles?”

“I do,” Aichi answered. “Almost like it was yesterday.”

The two Hollows bowed to each other. This must have been how they began Hollow Battles. The invisible barrier between us and them had only grown stronger since Aichi's challenge. Neither Hollow said anything, only waiting for the other to make their move. Finally, it was Hideaki who made the first move.

“Vengeance Plague!!”

“Pulse Field!!” Aichi countered. Both Hollows quickly launched their spells in the direction of the other. The combined power of both of their spells caused a huge shockwave that sent both Hollows flying into nearby buildings. Despite leaving massive craters in the buildings, neither Hollow seemed to have been harmed by their respective impacts. On the contrary, the first attack only strengthened their resolve.

“Your powers have grown, little brother,” Hideaki complimented Aichi. “But it won't be enough, ~nanoda.” Aichi immediately darted off to the north, towards the mountains. Hideaki angrily zapped a few more spells at him as he flew away. “Coward! Face me in battle ~nanoda!”

Aichi circled his way around a nearby mountain before shouting “Summer Wind!!” Hideaki, however, dodged the attack flawlessly. Hollows did not need to dance in order to cast their spells. The two Hollows zipped up and down, in and out, and all around the city, zapping spells at each other. Sayori, Fumiko, and I could only stand helplessly as the two of them battled intensely.

“There must be something we can do,” I whined.

“Unfortunately, this is how it must be ~sss,” Fumiko explained. “During a Hollow Battle, a magical barrier is erected to prevent other magical creatures from interfering. We can only watch.”

“What would happen if Aichi were to lose?”

“Depends on whether Aichi comes out of this fight alive,” Fumiko continued. “You two are contracted ~sss, so if either of you were to die, the contract would be broken. If he were to die, you would lose your ability to transform and you would lose most of your magic.”

Oh gods… I needed to do something!

Then, I remembered I still had a trick up my sleeve. I performed my “Brave Charm!” dance, summoning… a flying disc?! I didn't even have time to question it. I just threw the disc as far as I could at the bunny. A direct hit! The impact with the disc caused Hideaki to be knocked out instantly, losing him the battle.

As we flew down to capture him, however, he had already woken up.

“You haven't seen the last of me ~nanoda!” Hideaki scoffed at us. “I will have my revenge!” He then disappeared in an instant.

“Do you suppose we should try to find him?” I asked.

“Nah,” Aichi answered. “I think we've had enough adventure for one day.”