We Finally Got A Breakthrough?!

It was a nice, cool Sunday morning. Under normal circumstances, the Journal was not open for business on Sundays. This meant, for me, at least, Sunday morning heroes.

My favorite show among these, and quite possibly THE favorite show across all of Japan, was Star Soldier, a live-action magical girl series. I just had to sit down and watch every new soap opera-like storyline every single week. Every goofy bit of drama, every silly betrayal, and especially the cheesy transformation sequences. Sure, it was objectively stupid, but something about it made not just me, but nearly the entire country stop what they were doing at 10am just to watch it.

Also, I couldn't help but relate to the main character's struggles to balance her normal life with her magical one.

“It hurts me to do this, Sanji,” the main character, Kimiko, said on screen, “but I cannot allow your evil twin brother, Riku, to get away with his dastardly schemes!”

“But you see, Kimiko,” Sanji told her, “he already has gotten away with it. For you see… I AM RIKU!”

“No!!!” I cried at the screen. “You gotta transform and fight the man you love! Kimiko, you gotta stop him from opening the Demon Gate!”

“Ugh! How can you watch this stuff ~woof?” Aichi asked. He sat next to me on the couch, heavily slumped over like an old man after his team lost the big baseball game. “It's so… sickly sweet ~woof…”

“I know…” I cried. “But it's so irresistible, just like a box full of chocolates. Besides, don't you feel a little bit of hope bubble up inside you whenever Star Soldier says -”

I then spoke the famous words at exactly the same time Kimiko did on screen:

“With the stars above to guide me, I, Star Soldier, shall vanquish you!”

“The only thing I feel bubble up inside me is my disdain for the horrible writing and all that scenery chewing ~woof…” Aichi scolded me. “This garbage should be a crime against nature ~woof.”

“Come on, Aichi,” I insisted. “Where's your sense of childlike wonder? Where's your whimsy?”

•

After Star Soldier was over, it was time for the Sunday variety show, which meant it was time for me to do… literally anything else. At about 10:55, I heard a knock at the door. Who could it possibly be on a Sunday, I thought to myself.

“Aichi, normal puppy mode. Got it?” I ordered.

“Can't make any promises ~woof.”

I opened the door to reveal… Chihiro Masuda from work?! As opposed to her regular work clothes, she was dressed in a lime green tracksuit, and her blue cotton candy-like hair looked more like a bird's nest than a haircut. She was tightly hugging a folder full of randomly assorted papers. She looked like she hadn't slept for at least two nights.

“T- T- Ta- A- A- Aya… Ayame!” Masuda shouted excitedly after stuttering and stumbling through both my last and first names.

“Masuda, what's up?”

“I f- f- I got a… uh… The case! The case, uh… Lead…”

Poor Masuda… Somehow her stuttering had gotten even worse than usual.

“Come on, Masuda, use your words,” I told her. “You get paid by the article not by the word, remember?”

“I think I found an evil witchcraft cult in Japan!” Masuda shouted, entirely in one breath. She then immediately ran over to the coffee table and slammed her folder onto it.

“What?!” I asked. Did she just find evidence of the Covens?! Maybe Aichi needed to come in here and listen in…

“I- It goes so much deeper than y- you and Sakamoto first saw back in Kōchi,” Masuda explained as she filed her way through all her research, some fifty pages of maps, printouts, and names scribbled on margins. She had been very busy, and it looked like all that work was about to pay off. “All t- the disappearances have t- two things in common. First, all of t- the m- missing people are between the ages of 17 and 25.”

“So they're all high school and college age,” I realized.

“Th- That's correct,” Masuda told me. “B- but more importantly, they all t- took place in a city where the Order of th- the Holy Sigil has a temple.”

“Sounds a bit too medieval to be an evil witchcraft cult,” I answered. “Are you sure you got the right place?”

“I- I didn't think so,” Masuda admitted. “B- But I went to their website yesterday and found a qu- quite familiar name on there: M- Meteron.”

“That's the guy who attacked me and Sakamoto last week!” I faked a surprised reaction.

“He's the leader of the Kōchi congregation for the Order,” Masuda continued. “T- They're even hosting a recruitment d- drive next week in Kyoto. They even have a t- temple right here in Su- Susaki!” Masuda then gave a look that indicated to me she was about to do something totally reckless and potentially dangerous.

“I know what you're planning, Masuda,” I told her. “You've been watching too much Spy x Hunter again, and I can tell. You have that look again.”

“W- We gotta pay them a visit, Tanaka,” Masuda said.

“Can't you get Aoki or Kaneko to do this?” I asked. “Or the police?”

“Can't c- call any of them,” Masuda explained. “Phone a- and internet have been out… out all a- across the island of Shikoku all m- morning. I only f- found you by reading th- the phone book. S- So many kanji I- I've never seen be- before. B- But I found you.”

It seemed I had no other choice. I was getting roped into another adventure whether I wanted to or not.

“Can I at least tell my mom first?” I asked. “This seems pretty dangerous.”

“N- No time!” Masuda shouted. “No phone s- service.”

•

Masuda's directions took us to a warehouse on the other end of the city. The sign out front said this was Studio Otter… the studio that produced Star Soldier, among other shows.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” I asked her.

“T- That's what t- the website t- told m- me,” Masuda stuttered. “I d- don't understand…”

A strange feeling suddenly came over me. Something was not right. We might have been tricked, and we needed to hurry and leave.

“Are you sure they didn't accidentally leave in a typo?” I asked.

“Maybe…”

“Let's get going before someone catches us where we don't belong,” I told her.

But it was too late…

“Bonjour, chérie,” a voice called out behind us. That was the signature catchphrase of none other than…

We turned around to see Marie Sendou, the French-Japanese actress who played the titular character in Star Soldier, standing on the roof of a nearby warehouse. She looked very much like the persona she presented on TV: the burnt-auburn hair, rosy cheeks, and deep blue eyes she had always been known for. However, something was wrong with this picture. She had an aura that seemed very unlike her TV persona. I just couldn't put my finger on it.

“What brings two lovely girls such as yourselves all the way out here?” Marie asked us.

Masuda, as usual, stuttered her way through an answer that was difficult to comprehend.

“We were just leaving, Miss Sendou,” I answered for both of us. “We took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up here.”

“Oh? Leaving so soon, darlings?” Marie asked. “It's not every day that we get visitors. If you're looking for the Order of the Holy Sigil, then you've come to the right place.”

“H- How d- do you know about th- that?” Masuda stuttered nervously.

In response, Marie laughed hysterically, cackling in an almost witch-like manner. This was bad. We had gotten ourselves trapped in another trick set up by the Coven.

“Summon Hollow,” Marie then chanted, instantly bringing a mouse Hollow to her side, bound in glowing blue magical chains.

“~squeak What is your bidding, mistress?” the mouse Hollow asked in a very feminine voice, almost as young sounding as Aichi was.

“Transform me, Tsukiko,” Marie ordered the mouse Hollow.

“But, mistress, you need to say the -”

“I said transform me,” Marie insisted. Tsukiko the mouse Hollow did as she was ordered. She flew around Marie, and a glowing array of camellia flowers followed her flight path. Two sigils instead of one formed around Marie, one adorning her head and one placed at her feet. When the two sigils collided, they formed her magical kimono and ensemble, chilly blue and white, with the image of a mouse adorning her left and tea leaves and flowers adorning her right. It was at the moment her transformation was completed that I realized…

Her aura was ice-cold and villainous.

“I am the snowy queen destined to rule this world with an icy fist, Magical Actress Tsubaki!” Marie introduced her magical form to us. “By the power of ice and snow, I'll destroy you!”