Incident 1: Killer Queen (Part 6)

While Emiri had been caught up in her rant, Tsubaki had gotten busy initiating her own transformation. She had grabbed her golden necklace and, as it began to glow, ripped it off. The motion triggered an explosion of darkness. Unlike Emiri’s transformation being saturated in sparkles or how Hana’s had been filled with cartoony hearts,Tsubaki’s was full of dark roses, falling petals and black vines covered in thorns. It was ironic, given that it was triggered by the exact same trinket that had helped Hana transform into a classic magical girl stereotype. Well, not exactly the same. While it was currently a heart shaped golden locket with white wings and a pink moon-shaped gem on it, when it had been Hana’s, it had been a ring. A thick golden band with a clunky pink heart and white wings. It looked more like a child’s toy back then; perfectly suited to Hana. But Tsubaki was different. As much as she loved Hana, she wasn't her sister.

Tsubaki's  school clothes vanished and, as the black vines wrapped around her arms and legs, she was changed into a more gothic outfit. Ripped black fishnet tights, shredded black and red layered thigh- high socks, and deep red boots. A set of black leather arm bands with large buckles went up past her elbows, while a wine-colored pair of leather gloves covered her hands. A tiny red top covered her chest, showing through the asymmetrical openings in the black vest-like top that layered over it. A pair of cut-off black short shorts were her pants but, with a burst of dark rose petals, a piece of frayed red fabric hung from the back of her heavy, black belt. On her right hip, there was a large black storage pouch attached to the belt. With a spin, her hair took on a red tint and a pair of stylized horns formed out of it on the top of her head.

“Cutting through everything. Chaos that can’t be tamed.” Making a pulling motion; as if thread were running between her fingers; a spider web of razor-thin silver wires spread across the space. Tsubaki used the wires to propel herself backwards into the air before posing in a crouching position with her hands on her knees. “Storm of Destruction, Tsubaki.”

While there wasn't a mold for what a magical girl "should" look like, Tsubaki knew that transformation and outfit weren’t the norm. While her classmates already thought she had resting bitch face and looked punkish, her magical girl outfit was solidly in the realm of heavy metal and goth. But it was perfect; it was her. She wasn’t the girlie type, and she wasn’t here to play games; she was a magical girl with a mission of her own. The exact polar opposite of her big sister.

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Emi ground her teeth and snarled at Tsubaki. “How? How are you a magical girl? No way! Nowaynowaynowaynowaynowaynowaynoway! How did someone like you manage to get power? I’m special! I deserved to become a magical girl, so why are you one?” Standing up, Tsubaki used the web of wires like a trampoline to launch herself up into the air then down towards the ground. She landed calmly on her feet, one hand on her hip as the other summoned all the wires back to her. In a quick flash of silver, the threads were gone, and she waved her hand with an air of nonchalance. “Yeah, sure, princess. You and I both know that our powers weren’t some gift, and we didn’t just wake up like this one day. Deserving them or not has nothing to do with it."

Emi stuck her lip in distaste; her unhinged face now seeming unnaturally twisted and inhuman. ‘Her real self coming out? Or an effect from the transformation? Something unnatural caused by a parasite? Maybe both?’ With a snap of her fingers, Tsubaki created a wall of wires in front of her, catching the large blades of Emi’s scissors as she attempted to rush her. “Tsk!” The girl’s eye’s flashed and she hopped backwards as the wires bounced her weapon back at her. “Um, that’s not going to work on me, Emiri. I’m not stupid.” Demonstrating, Tsubaki pointed her finger at Emi, causing a wire to flash where she was standing. Emi stumbled back as the wire grazed her cheek and sent blood flying. She grunted and, thrusting her scissors like a sword, she cut through the string. “That’s nothing! I can cut through your crappy strings in a snap!” Emi gloated, clearly trying to convince herself. Tsubaki glared back. “That’s just their base strength, without me reinforcing or manipulating them. They pushed you back and took a good amount of strength for you to cut. Are you sure about that?” Emi glared with wordless fury at her.

“This should be interesting.” In an instant, the alley was filled with razor wires and Tsubaki vanished. Emi spun around. “Where-? Ack!” She felt the force of the impact as Tsubaki crossed a handful of razor wires with her scissor blade. The blond gritted her teeth, this time in concentration, as she attempted to push her opponent back. Sparks flew as Tsubaki leaned down; somehow able to casually hover in the air. ‘Does she have some sort of teleportation ability?’ Emi wondered as she was finally able to send the other girl flying backwards. All magical girls had the power of flight to one extent or another and were able to move so fast that it appeared to be teleportation, but this was something more. ‘No, this isn’t an unique ability.’ She realized as Tsubaki crouched on the wall, breaking all laws of physics. ‘Damn, her speed and maneuverability is just that high!’ For the first time, Emi felt genuinely nervous. Up to this point, she’d been able to play with her victims like a cat with a mouse. It felt good; the sense that she was so far above them that they couldn’t do anything to touch her. No matter how much they screamed or how fast they ran, she’d catch them in seconds. Her magic was able to slam them to the ground with force that even a professional athlete couldn’t resist. She revealed that feeling of superiority and dominance. The thought that her intended victim could also be a magical girl had never entered her mind. They had to be rare, so what were the odds of her encountering one at any point in her life? 

“Why are you even in Tokyo? What do you want?” Emi demanded, incredulous that someone had invaded her hunting grounds. Tsubaki’s dark eyes were unreadable. “I already explained during my class introduction. Things can have more than one meaning to them, you know?” She shrugged. “But if you’re really looking for an answer, I’m just picking up where my big sister left off. I’ll protect innocent people, but I’ll do it my way. Starting with taking out trash like you.” Emi’s lip curled. ‘Ugh, I really can’t wait to shut her up! I just want that damn smug mouth to stop moving! It’s too bad I have to hide my trophies, because I should put her face in a frame when I’m done! She’s definitely the most irritating of my victims, but that’ll just make me feel so much better once she’s gone!’

“A bit early to be shit talking me like that, you know?” Emi raised her hands above her head; reaching out towards the sky. A golden light began glowing behind her like an eerie halo. “I didn’t wanna have to pull out all the stops. It’s more fun to use my main blade. More personal. But screw that! As long as I kill you, that’s all that matters.” Shimmering in the night sky, objects started forming. Tsubaki’s eyes widened and she swore under her breath as she positioned her body to jump into the air at a moment’s notice. “I can’t decide if I’m more angry or impressed that you pushed me to this point, but whatever. As long as I get what I want, that’s all that matters, right?” Emi laughed, posing triumphantly as hundreds of small, golden scissors hovered in the air, poised to trick. She held her palm out at her enemy.

“At this point, I could even handle not getting to take that pretty face of yours! Though, not like you’ll need it when I turn you into sashimi.” Emi gave a tooth-bearing grin as she brought her hand down and the blades released.