Incident 1: Resolution

Tsubaki flew through the air, dodging the scissors that flew at her like arrows. The buildings and lights of the city below whirled as if she was being thrown around on a roller coaster. “Geez, this is one crazy bitch! How did I find such a loon right out of the gate?” Tsubaki grumbled as she used her razor wires to beat off the scissors that were flying at her. She had no choice but to be continually in motion; perpetually pivoting and turning; because Emi’s scissors were going for every slight opening. ‘Does she have a limit to how many she create at once? I doubt it. I can’t keep track of how many she’s thrown at me! She just keeps regenerating and spamming them!’

Projecting dozens of lines of wire from her hands and feet, Tsubaki spun head-over-heels wildly in a sort of aerial break-dance, rapidly knocking away all the scissors until she was sure no more were coming. “Hey, I’m here too, you know!” Tsubaki spun around; her foot making contact with the blade of Emi’s large scissors. With her malicious grin and gauzy dress flapping in the wind, the girl looked like a pastel wicked witch strait out of a children’s book. Sparks flew as Tsubaki grunted and pressed her foot onto the blade with all her might. When the force pushed the girls apart, they quickly closed the gap and rushed at each other once again. This time, Tsubaki used her arms.

“I’m surprised that you still don’t have scratch on you!” Emi said it casually, but Tsubaki could see the fire of rage flickering in her pink-tinted eyes. “Well, yeah. My wires are thin, but they’re as strong as the sharpest sword. Your pretty scissors aren’t even the toughest thing I’ve spared with.” The two rapidly exchanged blows at a speed that the naked human eye was incapable of perceiving. “And since they’re my power and my weapon, my body is just as strong and durable. It would be counterproductive if I had a power that could cut through anything but couldn’t use it without chopping myself up.” The two flew apart once again and glared at each other. ‘At this point...’ Tsubaki eyed Emi’s quickly rising and falling shoulders and the slouch in her classmate’s posture... ‘We should be ready. She talks a big game, but she can’t keep up. She may have access to lots of scissors, but she’d not used to fighting one-on-one. I doubt she’s used those large scissors like a sword before. Everything about her outfit and her weapons are ornamental.’

Tsubaki stuck out her hip and casually rested her hand on it. “Hey, Emi-Chan. I have a genuine question. Indulge my curiosity a little. I get your motivation. You’re jealous of people who are considered prettier than you, and you want to steal their beauty. Messed up, but it’s still a reason for your killings. So...why now? Did you get your powers before or after you started killing? Why’d you decide to do this?” Emi looked at her in confusion for a moment before shaking her head. “Interesting that you care about this now. Trying to postpone your death?” She gave a small smile that was more genuine than any of the others she’d displayed since she’d dropped her mask. “Not that I mind.” She propped her scissors on her shoulder.

“To answer your question, I’d gotten my powers before I killed Sakura. The day before, actually. I was already planning to confess to that guy, but I was even more confident and ready after getting my powers and becoming a magical queen! I wasn’t planning on killing her, but that skank pissed me off and, before I knew it, I was stashing and bludgeoning her with my scissors. I didn't even transform for that one. But it felt so good!” Her face contorted in a creepy look of pleasure and relief. “If you’re trying to blame my power’s for messing up my head or something, though, that’s not it. I’d thought about killing annoying girls who were full of themselves way before that. I’d fantasize about it all the time. But once I got my powers, I figured, why keep pretending? Why keep playing along with society? Why should I hold myself back from what I wanted and what would make me happy just because it would upset other people? That glowworm didn’t manipulate me. It freed me and I feel better than I’ve ever felt before!”

Tsubaki studied the pink sadist. ‘The worms haven’t truly begun influencing her yet. They just removed her inhibitions and gave her the nudge to act the way she’d always wanted to act.’ “I see. That makes things simple, then.” Before Emi could react, Tsubaki launched into a flying nosedive towards the ground. By the time the serial killer realized that she was gone, Tsubaki was hurtling past the roofs of the skyscrapers. ‘Just as planned. Gotta slow slightly. Make sure she can tell which turns I’m taking.’ She hurtled through the maze of alleyways as Emi finally picked up on her movement. “You bitch! Distracting me!” Emi’s scream was carried to Tsubaki on the wind that whipped her face and hair. As they approached a large, overflowing dumpster, Tsubaki could hear the wind slapping against Emi’s ballgown. ‘Perfectly timed.’

Tsubaki hurtled past the dumpster. Emi attempted to follow her with all her might but, to her horror, realized she was slowing down. “Wha-!” Her scissors were violently jerked from her hands and clattered across the ground, coming to a stop by Tsubaki’s feet. “No! AHHH!” Emi screamed and thrashed like a feral animal, attempting to charge at Tsubaki, but she remained suspended in place in the air. “You filthy bitch! You cheating asshole! What dirty trick did you use? How can you freeze me in place?” Spit flew from Emi's lips. “I didn’t freeze you.” Tsubaki stated calmly. “When did I ever say that my wires had to cut or had to be visible?” She gesture with her fingers in the air. “No!” Emi’s eyes went wide as the hundreds of wires clogging the alley suddenly shimmered in the moonlight. “They’re mine to manipulate, after all.” Tsubaki said as she slowly walked towards Emi. “That’s how we’re different. Yes, I used my curiosity to buy time to spawn enough wires to catch you, but I really did want to know how far your takeover had progressed. It’s not a dirty trick. Not like  yours. You prey on normal people who can’t resist you. You don’t have to exert yourself or engage in strategy for that. You aren’t used to fighting someone who can keep pace with you and you’re not experienced in needing to use multiple of your abilities at once, let alone using those scissors of yours as a weapon. You look terrifying and impressive to people who can’t fight back but, really, you’re just a kid playing dress-up.” Tsubaki stopped two feet away from Emi. “It’s a fair fight. I just know how to use my powers better than you and can get creative with them. It's not my fault you're shallow." Emi strained against the wires and continued barking out threats.

“Oh, really? Like you’re one to talk! You act all tough but you’re no different than me! You lied and manipulated me to get me here! We’re the same!” Tsubaki looked steadily into her crazed, empty eyes. “Yeah. We are the same. That’s why I have to stop you. It’s my job, since I’ll end up the same way, one day. We’ll all end up that way because of the worms.” She reached her hand out towards Emi. “But that doesn’t mean we have to take innocent people with us or that we have to die humiliating deaths. It's time for you to be at peace, where you can't hurt anyone anymore.” She moved her hand slightly.

“You-!” The sound of steal cut off Emi’s voice and, with a tumble of gold, her head fell to the ground. Tsubaki gently let go of her wires as Emi’s royal outfit disappeared post mortem. She stared up at the moon looming large in the sky.

“Number ten. Emiri Todo, AKA Queen of Hearts Emi. Terminated.” After a few moments, her reverie was interrupted by her sixth sense shooting daggers in her skull. Staring at the concrete, she saw something white and shimmering wriggling away from the wound in Emi’s neck. With a flash, Tsubaki was next to the corpse, bringing her foot down on the worm with all her might. Grinding it into the ground for a painfully long time, she finally removed her foot. The instant the oily stain was met by the air; it burst into a puff of smoke like a flash-bang going off.

In a matter of seconds, the trigger and proof of the beauty queen killer was gone as the smoke vanished into the cool night air.