Search for the Shooter

The Fool Arc

Aoi sighed as she rearranged another shelf of the latest superhero blockbusters from America, and looked over at her pride and joy. She didn't have a problem with the American heroes, but the books written by women had more appeal to her on a personal level. And nothing appealed more, and secretly thrilled her heart, than the recent Magical Girl boom.

Aoi had loved Magical Girls since she was a child, and like many fans held the genre deep in her heart even as she entered college. She cherished the memories of all the good times she'd had reading and watching those stories, girls with powers and beautiful outfits, fighting and defeating monsters. Sure, she'd outgrown the Deluxe Blossom Winter costume with the matching pumps and accessories she spent her new year's money on when she was seven, but she kept the wand in her bedside drawer. And once or twice, usually after a few too many drinks when out, had fallen asleep holding it and watching reruns of the series.

She also always wanted to talk to people about Magical Girls, but that was tricky. While she wasn't dating, the guys she met at mixers tended to tease her a little when she brought it up after a drink or two. And her friends would joke about how she always sang "Magical Girls, Eternal Fight Forever!" at the karaoke as her first song. It was the season two opener, and by far her favorite.

So she had taken to arranging the little display herself. It was her reward after a hard day's work to rearrange the shelves of Magical Girl goods, placing the kid friendly things near the bottom and the mature works higher up, with a special section for the real life sightings. Aoi knew she shouldn't, but she read and believed every one of those sightings in her heart.

The door chimed an arrival into the store.

*            *            *

There’s only one place where you can find out everything about Magical Girls, the creature realized. Its wounds were healing fast under the heavy disguise-like jacket. The horn had shrunk in its skull, and was barely visible when wrapped in bandages. Those were something that helped a great deal. It would pat itself on the back for another genius solution, but it didn't feel as good as it used to. Defeated and enraged at the same time.

The creature waited in shadows until nightfall. Watching the front door of the building, waiting until it was right near closing time.

The creature walked into the large building. The signs offered manga, the standee was advertising a reunion sale of Magical Girl Blossom Spring merchandise. This was the perfect spot.

The creature walked inside, one grotesquely malformed leg, covered in bulbous pods, dragging behind it as it tried to act human. It found its way past the power fantasy DVDs that would normally catch its eye, and set its vision on the fresh display covered in vibrant lights.

Magazines, books, fan works, and movies. All collected here. Covering every corner of this display were Magical Girls.

Aoi walked up to him with a customer-service smile.
"Good evening, sir. Can I help you find something? A gift, perhaps?" She asked, sounding genuine if tired after a long day's shift. The creature found this repulsive. How could she not see how wretched life was, how pointless, how dare she smile.

She smiles. The creature smiles back with too many teeth.

And then there was screaming.

♥ Magical Girl Rinrin ♥

I arrive in my room and dismiss my form. I want to collapse on my bed, but I’m too nervous after everything that happened today. Wearily, I drag myself over to my desk, looking at Nyamu as he flits over and lands on it.

“They left before I could tell them about what saved me…”
“Hmmm-mu…” I pause, looking at Nyamu.
“What is it?”
“...Can we be sure that was helping you, and not aiming for you?” He says, slowly. I blink.
“Wasn’t it the other Magical Girl? The one we were looking for?” I ask, he floats up to head height and sits on top of the monitor.

“...That Maniacal. It got its power from somewhere. Most likely, it either consumed the magical power meant for another, or…”
“Wait, you think that the Maniacal was the magical girl?”
“...It’s possible.” Nyamu states, slightly coldly.
“We give power to beings down here. That power is not always used for good. Things are… simpler in the world above. It’s possible to make mistakes without realizing.”
“No way!” I grab him and squish his face.

“I refuse to believe that! Magical Girls are pure and good, there’s no way one would fall to evil like that.”
“Ogay, ogay, gerr off!” Nyamu whines. I release him and lean back in the chair.
“...Still though, seeing other Magical Girls up close was kinda exciting, right?”
“I forgot you haven’t had much contact with others.” Nyamu nods.
“They were pretty… D’you think they look like that when human?”
“Hard to say. Some people look very different in magical form.”
“...Are there any boys?”
“Magical Boys are rare. But they exist.”
“Hmmm.” I grab a pencil from my desk and lean back, balancing it between my lip and nose.

“What’s wrong?”
“This. All of it. Being sent home with a pat on the head, they didn’t ask how I won.”
“I wouldn’t call that winning. I’d barely call it surviving.”
“Semantics!”
“...You’re thinking something stupid, aren’t you.”
“How can you tell?”
“That’s the look you get before suggesting something dumb, every time.” I lean forward, dropping the pencil into my hand.

“We’re gonna search again. Starting at the location where those two left us.” I say. Nyamu shakes his head sadly.
“They’ll be patrolling around there, and the police will probably have been called to inspect the situation.”
“Then we look… somewhere… else.” I sigh, defeated again.

Nyamu flits up and sits on the light fitting, swinging his legs idly over the edge.
“There’s nothing we can do. Just focus on practicing your spell casting and stay out of the way of the investigators.”
“...That thing is out there. I swore to protect this town when I became a Magical Girl.”
“That meant protection from petty injustices, random accidents, or the occasional shadows from below. Not from demonic maniacal-things.”
“It’s the same thing!” I reply hotly, looking up at him.
“It’s far more dangerous. Haven’t you ever thought about trusting those two?”
“Huh?”
“Bishop’s reputation is legendary, even among Magical Girls of her generation.” Nyamu replies, looking down at me.
“If I wanna be a legend, I hafta start somewhere, Nyams. Legends don’t become legends by letting other people do the work for them. Just ‘cause I haven’t really got the hang of my Resonance yet…”
“You haven’t even got a Resonance yet.” I pout in response to his reminder, balling up some paper from my desk and throwing it at him, he sees it coming and dodges.

Wait.

“...I don’t like that smile, mu.”

Wait.

“We’re going out tomorrow.”
“We can’t go back to that rooftop, mu. I already said.”
“We’re not going there.” I say, grinning up at him.
“Those bolts came from above me. Whoever fired them had an eagle-eye view of everything.”
“Including… where that Maniacal went?” Nyamu suggests. I punch the air victoriously.
“Including where that Maniacal went!” I get up and move to the door of my room. Opening it up, I look down to see a cooling pot of Ramen placed on the spot, along with a note from my mom. Feeling a little guilty, I take it into my room and place it on my desk.
“But first… Magical or not, a girl’s gotta eat, ya know?”

* * *

I land on a rooftop about two blocks north of where I had my confrontation with the Maniacal, biting down on a croquette I’d bought while waiting. I’d been excited all day, but promised Nyamu I’d sleep first. And between that and spending the day getting prepared, I managed to get out around sunset.

“First, to the scene of the crime. Well, near enough the scene. The adjacent rooftop of the crime.” I’d explained last night, as I ate dinner. I still have no idea where Bishop and Rook are hanging out, but I don’t particularly want a reunion so soon. Not that they weren’t nice, but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t like me interfering with their investigation.

“Hmmm…” I pace around the rooftop, holding the croquette in my mouth, hands out in front of me as I try to gauge the shots like I’d seen them doing in detective shows. Finally, I look across and up, along the approximate trajectory of the bullets.

The only thing above the rooftop and along the trajectory line was a TV tower. A contraption of metal girders and criss-crossing beams, like an abandoned design for the eiffel tower, without the tourist trap gift store.

I smirk. That’d be the place to start my search. If this stranger who saved me knows anything, I’d find out. I scarf down the last bites of the croquette, and leap. Jumping rooftop to rooftop, pausing on the occasional lamppost to make sure I have my directions right, I find myself getting closer, the TV Tower going from a well-meaning shape in the distance to a large and lumbering form up close. Somewhere in this mess was the one who had fired the shots.

Taking the girders like rungs of a ladder, I jump up one after another after another, until I land on what appears to be a viewing platform. I take a few strides across, looking around. I get on my knees to look around.
“Usually in detective dramas, this is where you find the footprint and go ‘ah-ha’!” I smirk at my joke, but Nyamu’s not listening.
“Hm? Right, Nyamu? …Nyamu?” I lean up, knees still on the floor, and hear the soft footsteps on the metal behind me. Pacing.

“Magical Girl. Found you.”