Who's Winning the Giant Monster All-Out War?!

War… War is such a funny word, isn't it? Just three letters can encapsulate such a broad range of emotions, actions, and ethical dilemmas. What a strange word.

Or it can involve three magical girls trying to defeat an army of giant monsters as nonviolently as humanly possible. We knew every single one was (until this morning) a person. Each one was a person who had been cursed to fight for whichever Coven had transformed them against their will. Sayori's approach was direct and involved lots of swinging of yo-yos and lots of tangled vines. Shōko and I lacked much of an opportunity to help as we were mostly occupied with trying to save Sayori from getting hurt too badly.

“Okay, this obviously isn't working, Sayori,” I told her after catching her for the eighth time. “We need a new approach.”

“Oh!” Shōko realized. “Try summoning one of your Brave Charm thingies!”

That did seem like a good idea, at least. I performed my “Brave Charm!!” dance, which allowed me to summon… a giant firework cannon…?!

“What is that, a giant T-shirt cannon?” Sayori asked.

“I think it's a firework cannon,” I replied, “though I'm sure how it - WOAH!!!” The cannon came alive by itself, launching fireworks in every possible direction to the tune of the climax of the 1812 Overture. The cannon shook and threw me back and forth across Tokyo at an uncontrollable speed. The American transfer students at my school would always go on and on about how cool rodeo was. This cannon ride felt about how I always imagined rodeo to feel. Pain everywhere, including in places I wasn't even aware I had… When the music finally ended, the cannon vanished, as if it had never existed. How fortunate of me to see Shōko and Sayori were there to catch me as I was falling… I didn't even want to know how far.

“Nice one, magical journalist,” Sayori teased me. “Can we go back to my plan of using brute force to drive the monsters back?”

“No, because that was obviously not working before ~woof,” Aichi interrupted us. “The six of us are a team now, and we need to start acting like it.”

“~sss, I concur with Aichi,” Fumiko added. “Let's put our heads together and come up with an actual plan.”

•

We had to move out into the mountains so we could come up with a plan in relative safety. Aichi paced nervously on all four paws as he wondered what to do next.

“Alright, girls, what do we know about the monsters so far ~woof?” Aichi asked.

“There's at least thirty of them,” I explained, “so the best way to defeat them is to gather them together in one place.”

“Pollen allergies?” Shōko suggested.

“Nah, we've done allergy jokes several times already…” I shut down her idea very quickly.

“Face-melting powder?” Sayori suggested. Shōko and I exchanged looks that said This girl is crazy…

“~woof I am pretty sure that is a violation of Hollow contract law,” Aichi told her. “But I would need to double check to make sure.”

“Could we summon a giant jellyfish monster and tentacle the monsters to death?” Sayori then suggested.

Aichi looked Sayori right in the eyes and asked, “How on Frith's good Earth do you still have a contract?”

“Miss Sayori's bark is way better than her bite, to use the human expression ~sss,” Fumiko answered. “Half of the things she suggests to me are just very dark jokes.”

“Can't we please be serious about this ~woof?” Aichi asked us. Something about this huddle was giving Aichi a puppy headache, making him cry and whimper. “The new Endless War just started, and I'd like to end it before it lives up to its name.”

“What about a giant dance party?” Shōko asked.

“We could try that,” I told her.

“Woooo!! Giant monster dance party, ~bo peep!” Sachiko was clearly excited at the prospect. Sayori merely gave two thumbs up at the suggestion.

•

Shōko's plan was pretty simple. Her, Sayori, and our three Hollows would cast a giant Pulse Field around the area where the monsters had gathered. I would cast a Boogie Blitz spell, forcing the monsters to dance to their heart's content. Seemed to me like a pretty foolproof plan. The five of them stood hand-in-paw in order to cast the barrier.

“Pulse Field!!!” they chanted in unison, creating a thirty meter high barrier around the central district of Tokyo and the surrounding water.

This gave me my opening.

“Cover your ears, everyone! Boogie Blitz!!”

Casting that spell, I learned that it always created an inexplicable disco beat that would irresistibly draw everyone in earshot to dance. There was just one little problem… The monsters were enjoying their dancing a little too much… Their stomping and swinging and hopping and bopping caused the barrier and music both to completely collapse in just over a minute.

“~woof, that didn't work…” Aichi told us as he flew into the area where the barrier once stood.

“Okay, I think I got it!” Shōko replied. “That spell worked a little bit, the monsters look like they've shrunken by a couple of meters. What if we need a different kind of music?”

I figured what did we have to lose? We at least needed to hear her out. After all, she was the only one coming up with any real plans…

“Ayame, can you cast another Brave Charm?” Shōko asked me.

“Sure,” I replied before quickly performing my “Brave Charm!!” dance for the second time today. This time, the Brave Charm spell did something completely new; instead of creating one object, it created several. Two guitars, a portable microphone, a tambourine, a keyboard, a drum kit, and six sheet music stands.

“~bo peep! I always wanted to learn how to play the drums!” Sachiko cheered.

“~woof, I haven't played one of these since the summer of 1969,” Aichi said upon locating the keyboard.

“This is a song I had been working on for two weeks,” Shōko realized. Turning to me, she asked, “How did you know about this?”

“I didn't…” I replied quietly. I took a quick read of the music Shōko had written. “The Brave Charm has never summoned so many items before. But this might work…”

“I am not singing this,” Sayori protested. “I loathe this kind of sappy bubblegum pop music.”

“Luckily for you,” I told Sayori, “it looks like you won't have to.”

•

The six of us gathered back at the top of the Tokyo Skytree, ready for our performance.

“Okay, if I understand this Brave Charm spell right,” I explained to the others, “we should already know how to play these instruments.”

“Are we ready?” Shōko asked everyone.

“Are you sure this is going to work ~sss,” Fumiko asked, her tail gripping the tambourine because, well, she's a snake.

“We gotta try,” I answered. “If this doesn't work…”

“It'll work,” Shōko comforted me. “I poured my heart into this song. Let's do it!”

Aichi opened up with a rapid fire keyboard solo. Shōko started singing the lyrics she wrote as Sachiko and Fumiko accompanied her with their respective instruments.

Ayame! Never give up, you know it's alright!

Sayori and I finally joined in with our guitar play.

Fly high, seize the day!

Don't let go of your dreams!

The future's in your hands,

Though nothing is quite what it seems.

I am just a girl searching for what's true.

Falling in love is something that I do.

When I hear the lovely rhythm of your name,

Doki-doki all the same.

I have faced so many hurdles before

What's a few more in my life?

Just another thing in my way.

I'm sorry that I'm not very good at this,

But listen to me!

Please help me, Flower Power!

Fate has given us a doorway;

Give me the power!

Show me what's inside!

Pretty pretty please!

There's a problem here that's blocking my way!

What else can I say?

Fly high, seize the day!

Don't let go of your dreams!

The future's in your hands,

Though nothing is quite what it seems.

Suki-suki, doki-doki, fuwafuwa, wow wow wow-oh

If there's just one thing I would wish upon a star…

It's one big Flower Harmony!

A sick guitar riff from Sayori closed up the song quite nicely. In just two minutes of that song playing, every single giant monster in Tokyo had reverted back to human form. Who knew Shōko could make a song so magical it could save the entire city? And Meteron, who was watching (and listening) from the sidelines, was not happy in the slightest.

“Curses!” Meteron cried out as he flew over towards our location. “Two minutes of your sappy magical girl singing was all it took to defeat every single giant monster summoned by, like, four or five Covens! The boss is going to kill me if I don't do something about this soon!”

Wait… what was that weird necklace thing he was wearing? He grasped the amulet hanging from it and began to chant, “Dark Powers! Guide my -”

Yeah… I was not having any of that. Seizing the opportunity, I brought Meteron down to the streets below with one swift kick.

“Alright, Meteron,” I said to him, my sandal slowly digging into his chest. “Talk! Where is the Dark Master?”

All Meteron could do because I may or may not have been crushing his lungs was make squealing noises like a badly played trombone.

Shōko and Sayori by now had flown down to where we were.

“You can let go of him now,” Sayori told me.

“Oh, right…” I let my foot off of Meteron, allowing him to breathe properly again.

“I'm pleading the Fifth!” Meteron cried. “I want my lawyer!”

“The Fifth doesn't exist in Japan,” Shōko told him. “Tell us where the Dark Master is, please.”

“He would kill me if I told you!” Meteron whimpered. Wow, this guy really seemed to value his pathetic little life. Little did he know…

“What makes you think I won't kill you first?” I asked him. That did the trick.

Meteron let out a loud squeal before answering, "He's heading to the Imperial Palace right now to demand the Emperor's surrender. He's already demanded the surrender of every world leader, but he wanted to send the Emperor a more… personal message.”

So that was our play. Well… that was my play.

“Shōko, Sayori, can you keep a lookout in case any more monsters show up?” I asked them.

“What are you doing?” Shōko asked me. A worried look came over her face.

“I need to do this alone,” I replied. “Something is telling me there's more to this Dark Master than we think.” I then turned to Aichi and gave him the go-ahead.

“Quiet Bubble,” Aichi said, sending Meteron away to wherever Aichi desired.