Incident 1: Killer Queen (Part 5)

“Oh, so you figured out that it was me, hmm?” Emiri asked with a sadistically playful look on her face. “Interesting! How did you manage to put it together?” Tsubaki wasn’t scared. A serial killer slaughtering innocent people while masquerading as an innocent civilian was horrifying in the sense of the cruelty of it, she didn’t have any fear for her own life. She’d already faced a few girls like Emiri and, either way, she already knew that there were things far worse than facing down a murderer.

“It wasn’t that hard. I just paid attention and watched the news.” Tsubaki flipped her hair over her shoulder, maintaining an immaculate poker face. “The media dubbed it the beauty queen killer case. Most of the victims had the same look. Dark hair and eyes. Not models by any means, but conventionally attractive and fresh looking. They were entirely normal. Teenage girls, university students, and office ladies.”

Emiri glared at her smugly. “I’m disappointed. You only know what was on tv? How in the world did someone like you ever manage to catch me?” Tsubaki stared her into silence. “Slow down, Emiri. That was just the beginning. I had a weird feeling about you from the beginning, and my hunches are never wrong, but I needed proof. And it was there, because you’re so full of yourself. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but you’re right. I didn’t sus out your secret; you gave it away to me on a silver platter.” Emiri sneered. “Sure. Enlighten me, detective Tsubaki.”

A smile toyed at Tsubaki’s lips. “First, it was clear you were obsessed with your appearance. Everything about your hair, clothes and makeup screams ‘try hard’, so you obviously cared a lot about what others thought of you. That wasn’t evidence, though. But you placed yourself near the scene of the first murder when you talked about having just moved out of the fancy housing development where the body was found. Not only that, but you connected yourself to the first victim and admitted that you were neighbors. I knew you weren’t any ordinary serial killer, so I inspected the scene for clues the police might have missed. And I found this.” She pulled the filthy pink acrylic nail from her pocket, noting how Emiri’s smile flickered, and her shoulders tensed at the sight of the tiny strip of plastic. “They aren’t rare by any stretch, but they’re a pretty distinctive  type that are only available at certain high-end cosmetics stores, and it’s an exact match to the ones you wear.”

Emiri laughed a laugh saturated with her sense of superiority. “So? It’s all circumstantial. You talk a big game about being sooo smart and talented, but you’re just as high on your own shit as all those bitches I killed.” Tsubaki’s eyes narrowed to slits as she excitedly pounced. “I know that’s all circumstantial. But one thing sealed the deal, and I bet you’re too clueless to even realize. You told me that your neighbor was killed. You knew who the victim was.” Emiri stared at her blankly as a wide smirk took over Tsubaki’s face. “The first victim is still unidentified, you dipshit! You bashed her face and skull up so badly, they couldn’t figure out what she looked like, and her fingerprints weren’t in the system because she was just a kid! Now, how in the hell do you plan to explain knowing that that body was your neighbor's when even the damn police haven’t made it that far that?”

The haughty look on Emiri’s face quickly melted, and Tsubaki savored every second of it. “Tha-that’s-! Ooooohhhh!” Emiri ground her teeth as she flushed with rage and embarrassment. “Not like any of my legwork matters, since you all but admitted to the murder in your little yadere rant a few minutes ago. But I had your number from the moment we met. I knew you were gunning for me next, so it was easy to lure you out. You were so conspicuously weird that first day of school! You spun on a dime from taunting me to considering me your best friend. Not to mention the constant questioning about my beauty routines, like my looks were good or important, but never actually complimenting or commenting on them directly. You might cake on your makeup beyond anything healthy, but you’re still too easy to read.”

“Fine. Yeah,  I murdered that boyfriend stealing slut. Sakura.” Emiri slurred her neighbor’s name with a tone of mocking exaggeration. “And I don’t regret it. She deserved it, taking what was mine and being proud of it! I met her that night and told her to back off! But she laughed at me and said they were in love. Ugh, imagine! Him with someone as boring as her! But then she crossed a line!” Emiri’s face was manic and unhinged. Regardless of how parasitized her mind truly was right now, it was clear she was coming unglued and either couldn’t hold her act up anymore or simply didn’t care about keeping up a facade.

“She told me that she felt sorry for me because I was so self-centered that I didn’t realize how gaudy I looked! Maybe I’d be able to get a boyfriend if I ‘actually showed your real face instead of turning it into a clown show of colors.’ So yeah, I did it and I’d do it again! She was soooo proud of herself and thought she was so much prettier and deserving despite being as bland as dirt, so I ruined that face she loved so much!” Emiri laughed so hard that she had to clasp her hands over the open void of her grinning mouth. “It felt amazing! But the others were a little different. They were all vain hoes, just like her, but I wanted them to realize they weren’t so special. So, I gave them lots of extra attention and care before I took their faces and left them to spend their last moments realizing what ugly trash they really were!”

‘She’s insane. She’s beyond reasoning with.’ Tsubaki evaluated. ‘But did the worms make her this way? Well, it doesn't matter. She needs to go either way. She just killed someone two days ago and her body count is almost at twenty!’ She looked at Emiri. The blond was hunched over while standing, her face leaning towards the ground and her limbs positioned at odd angles. “You’re just the same. No, you’re worse! You aren’t just some nobody who has delusions of beauty. You actually have hair and skin that are naturally the envy of every woman on the planet, but it’s completely wasted on you! So what? So, what if you know my secret? Dead girls can’t talk!” Emiri’s crazed face jerked up, and she stared eerily at Tsubaki. She slipped an ornate pair of golden, Victorian scissors out of her pocket. “I’m far more powerful than you could ever hope to be!” She twirled the scissors around on her fingers. “Cutting through hearts like a blade! The ruler of love! Let’s go, magical make-up!”

A bright pink glow enveloped everything and hid Emiri behind its light. Much like an actress behind the scenes, Emiri was completely transformed within it. A poofy, gauzy ballgown covered in glitter and ribbons replaced her school uniform. Long, princess-like gloves grew up her arms and over them, a set of pink metallic claw rings covered each finger. Pink jewelry as ornamental as Christmas decorations adorned her. Each piece that magically clothed her was in varying shades of pink; mostly neon and painfully bright. As the final step, her blond hair shifted colors into a vibrant shade of gold. Her hair now reached past her waist, with its ends tightly curled. The final touch was a small, gleaming crown pined to the side of her head; a smaller and gaudier version of something that a European queen would wear.

Her transformation finally complete, Emiri burst forth from the light into the alley in a shower of glitter; a butterfly finally emerging from its cocoon. The girl spun around in a grand, dramatic fashion. “Magical girl: Queen of Hearts, Emi!” As she struck a regal pose, the scissors in her hand morphed until they were the size of a short sword. “Time to play, little doll!” She sing-songed in a voice that was both playful and dripping with malicious intent.

“Wha-?!” The queen froze in her tracks and swung her gaze back and forth across the alley in confusion. In the seconds that it had taken her to transform, Tsubaki had disappeared! Emiri stumbled back in shock; her gigantic dress and numerous oversized bows rustling like a frilly tree. “Where the hell did she go? How did she get away so fast?”

“Wow. That outfit is about what I’d expect from you. Did anyone ever tell you that there’s a difference between adding a bit of color and trying to blind people? Or that there is such a thing as too many bows and glitter? You look like a doll, and that’s not a compliment!” Emiri’s eyes snapped towards the sky and what she saw there make her freeze in her tracks. “No! No! This isn’t how it was supposed to go!” Her plate-sized eyes strained at her face as they were glued to the figure sitting upon a web of delicate wires suspended high above the alley.

Ever since she’d met the new transfer student, Emiri had already lived this moment out a hundred times in her head. She’d been planning for and craving this for nearly a week! But somehow, everything had gone wrong! As she looked up at Tsubaki; the countless spikes on her skimpy black and red outfits gleaming in the moonlight; she knew she’d made a critical error.

“Why? How are you a magical girl, too?!” She shrieked.