Case 2: Hocus Pocus Occultus: Part 1

“Are you sure you won’t sing?” pigtails begged, flashing her big, blue eyes at Tsubaki. “Sorry, but I don’t sing!” Tsubaki cheerfully waved her classmate off. “Not my thing. But I’ll man the tambourine and cheer you guys on!” Pigtails plopped down on the sofa next to her and crossed her arms. “You’re no fun!" She pouted. "You finally come to karaoke with us just to sit on your butt! What’s the point in even coming?” The girl was small and could easily pass as an elementary school student, but pigtails had a lot of sass in her tiny frame to compensate. Though, with her curly pink pigtails tied on top of her head in huge red bows, it was so hard to take her seriously. “Child, quit it with your pouting!” With a jangling sound, tomboy gently whacked pigtails on the head with the tambourine. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to enjoy the show! That’s the point of karaoke, f-u-n.” Tomboy enunciated each letter. The tall, short-haired girl rolled her brown eyes as she passed the tambourine to Tsubaki. “Thanks!” Tsubaki had put off her classmates karaoke invitations for a week but finally gave in after she defeated Emiri and went with the trio for the first time last week. Even if the experience was somewhat enjoyable, the idea of singing was about as repellant for her as bug spray was to bugs.

She used to love Karaoke so much that she’d go alone multiple times a week because her friends would get sick of it being their default after school activity. She had loved singing since she was a child. It wasn’t something she ever planned to do anything with, just a hobby that she was deeply passionate about. Even when she was alone, she’d project her voice from the bottom of her heart and be as vocally and physically expressive as if she was on stage before a crowd of thousands.

 But that was in the past. Ever since her world smashed to pieces, she had lost all desire to sing. When Hana had died and left her truly alone, the things that Tsubaki had loved ceased being fun and simply made her feel dead inside. Aside from that, karaoke reminded her of all the times she’d dragged Hana to her favorite establishment when no one else would go with her. Her sister had always thought she should join one of the music clubs, but she’d protested that having to practice every day and sing what other people told her to sing would suck all the fun out of it. But now, even holding the microphone for the other girls caused her body to tense and flooded her with memories of what her life had once been like. It made her chest feel tight and her breath feel labored.

‘I wonder, when was the last time that I did anything that actually felt fun to me? My body does the motions, but I don’t feel anything and I couldn’t care less what I’m doing.’ Even before it had invaded her body, the damn parasite had already stolen her emotions. When her stepmother had been killed, Tsubaki was reduced to a state of constant despair and sadness. She would burst into tears at the slightest glimpse of something that reminded her of how powerless she felt. She hadn’t attended school for weeks after because the intensity of her negative emotions had been so overpowering that they virtually kept her glued to her bed. And, when Hana had been taken into government custody, she had felt constantly exhausted and burnt out on top of the despair because her intense feelings prevented her from eating or sleeping normally. But then, when Hana had died in front of her...that was it for her. The experience was so gut-wrenching that it shattered her ability to feel anything at all. But that emptiness and inability to feel normal emotions had its own kind of stress; even if she couldn’t feel anything, that didn’t remove the need for her to keep pretending that she did. Her entire life was largely performative at this point.

Glasses opened the door and entered the room. “Okay, I paid for the hour and I got a menu! Let’s decide on our order, then we can get started.” She set the laminated print-out on the table and the four girls leaned over it. “Oh, God, I can’t decide which cake I want!” Tomboy complained. “That chocolate cake looks heavenly, but I heard that this place has great strawberry cake! Ooh, wait, cheesecake?!” Tsubaki swore that the girl was actually drooling!“ Your affinity for sweets is terrifying.” Glasses cringed. “All that processed sugar makes my teeth hurt! I’m getting a parfait! Whipped cream and fruit are my kind of sweet.” Tomboy rolled her eyes. “That’s still sweet! Okay, I’ll get a piece of chocolate cake and a piece of strawberry cheesecake! Then I’ll have both chocolate and fruit flavors, and it’s healthier if there’s some fruit on the cheesecake!” “...no, that’s not how that works at all.” Glasses glared at her, obviously thinking that her friend had rocks for brains. “I’m not really hungry, I think I’ll just get a bubble tea.” Pigtails decided, finally coming out of her sulk. If tomboy had an empty void for a stomach, then pigtails had a stomach the size of an ant. “That’s a good choice.” Tsubaki agreed. “It’s almost dinner time. I’m going to get coffee jelly and some milk tea. Any sort of pastries would be too heavy at this time of night.” She laughed. “I know, weird combination, but I need a drink and getting coffee with coffee jelly is stupidly redundant.” The four giggled.

Tsubaki stood up. “So, we all know what we want. Anything else? I’ll go put in the order!” “You're sure? Thank you, Tsu! You’re the best!” Tomboy praised. “Yep! It won’t take long!” “Okay, let’s rock-paper-scissors to figure out the order we’ll go in!” Pigtails jumped up. “No! Can’t we just flip a coin or something?” Glasses asked timidly. “I’m so bad at that and I lose every time.” “Hey, it’s a game of chance, so you can’t blame me if you’re just unlucky!” “That’s rude. It wouldn’t kill you to let her go first just this once.” Tsubaki closed the door behind her just as tomboy gave pigtails hair a tug. ‘They’re nice girls.’ Tsubaki thought as she stretched her arms above her head. ‘Nice, playful, normal girls.’ A part of her envied their blissfully ignorant lives. Did she choose them as her cover friends just because they were the first classmates to approach her, or because some part of her genuinely felt drawn to them and wanted to be “friends” with them specifically? Who could say.

She approached the front desk and rung the small bell. “Y-yes!” A young woman in a formal suit quickly appeared from behind the counter. “What can I do for you? Oh, no, did I not take your information and payment yet?” “Oh, my friend already paid for the room! I just wanted to come put in our order for food and drinks.” Tsubaki smiled sweetly. “I know someone should be coming around to check-in, but my friends are hungry and rowdy so I figured it would be better not to wait.” “Oh, um...that’s good actually.” The woman stared at the ground. “Because I wasn’t planning to come around...and I actually haven’t been handing out the menus unless people ask for them.” She leaned over the desk and Tsubaki noticed the dark circles under her eyes. “...I shouldn’t have said that. Here.” She slid a pen and note pad across the desk. “Write down your order and I’ll do my best to make it quick. There’s only one person in the kitchen right now, and she’s old and nearly deaf. And we’re so understaffed that I’m the only one working right now, aside from the cook.” The woman sighed in exhaustion.

“It’s okay, I understand. It’s not your fault.” Tsubaki promised politely as she began writing down the other’s orders. “You’re doing your best and just trying to survive.” “You have no idea.” The woman mumbled, massaging her temples. Tsubaki didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t any of her business, but she couldn't help but pity the woman. She looked very young, but she was so exhausted and worn down; a feeling and dichotomy that Tsubaki knew all too well. ‘What should I say? “Are you okay? You seem burnt out?” Is that too familiar or intrusive? Will it just make her feel worse if I comment on it?’ Tsubaki stared at a hole through the paper, trying to figure out what she was going to say, if anything. When she finally finished writing and looked up, the employee was staring at her with an uncomfortable degree of focus. “Are...you okay?” Tsubaki awkwardly forced out. ‘Damn it! That was the completely wrong moment to ask that! The context is completely off!’ “Oh, sorry!” The woman jumped and turned bright red.

“I didn’t mean to stare! It’s just...well, I thought I might have recognized you, but you’re not actually the person I thought you were. Sorry to make you uncomfortable.” “You didn’t make me uncomfortable.” Tsubaki assured the woman as she pushed the note pad back to her. “But I’m curious, who did you think I was?” “Ah, it’s embarrassing.” The woman looked down. “But you’re right. I’m not okay. I’m an exhausted mess. I’m going to university, but I also need to work and the amount I have to work just to survive doesn’t mesh with being able to have a healthy lifestyle. I work at least half the day, Minimum, and go to classes, but that leaves me so little time to study that I can’t waste any of it. I genuinely don’t have time to sleep. It’s either not get my classwork done at all  or do all my schoolwork and operate on like an hour of sleep and small connivence meals. It’s...a shitty trade off and I can’t really sustain it. Oh, sorry to bother a child with my adult problems.” The woman sighed.

 “But, anyway, I had a really bad night a few days ago. I was crying, feeling sick and sleep deprived, and just done with life. I was...going to make a drastic decision. But when I walked to the nearest bridge, this girl ended up stopping me from hurting myself. It was the oddest thing. It was so late at night that there was no pedestrian traffic, and I didn’t see her coming. She was just there all of the sudden, and she was wearing some sort of heavy-metal outfit. Maybe she was a cosplayer or something. I don’t know, but she told me that I shouldn’t make permanent decisions so rashly. I yelled at her like, “what the hell do you know? You’re not the one working yourself to death with no help and no end in sight!” I swore at her and tried to get her to go away, but she wouldn’t. And then she just...sat there on the edge of the bridge with me. She asked me about my life and listened to me for two hours. She didn’t say anything, but she was there. And when I was done, she convinced me to go with her to get something to eat and we went to some little stand by the side of the road. I can’t exactly remember what she said, but the gist of it was that I matter, even if there isn’t another person who’d share the sentiment, and that life is too precious and short as it is to give up early. She didn’t try to make me feel or decide one way or the other...but she was there for me without judgment and told me that I mattered.”

“Oh, that’s awful! But good that girl was there for you! I’m glad you’re okay!” Tsubaki mimed an expression of shock and worry. Well, being glad that the woman was still alive wasn’t an act, at least. She was glad that stopping to listen for a few hours and buying her a meal had given her some strength to keep going. But it was just what she did. She’d been passing by while doing surveillance; that was all. A smile tugged at the corners of the woman’s mouth. “Yeah, me too. Mostly, anyway. Nothing in my life has changed, but she quite literally saved it. I don’t have anyone to talk about stuff with, so it was just bottling up. And the fact that some random person on the street cared enough to listen and try to cheer me up...well, not many people have been kind to me, so it means a lot. Even though she didn’t do anything crazy, I still want to thank her. But she vanished while we were walking back to my apartment and I never even got her name.” She laughed. “I guess the exhaustion is getting to my head because I keep swearing that I see her in the customers that pass through here. But it’s pretty stupid for my brain to think you’re her because you’re still a child.” She picked up the notepad.

“Thanks for indulging my sentimental, insomniac nonsense, honey. I should have your order out in about fifteen minutes.” Tsubaki thanked her and turned back down the corridor. In the week since Emiri’s memorial service, she’d been on a constant look out for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. She’d intervened in more than a few attempted muggings, assaults and acts of bullying, but nothing unnatural. Bigger cities naturally had more violence and “odd” things happening, so magical girl related incidents tended to be more highly clustered in dense population areas. Whether that was because a larger population meant more vessels and easier transmission, because the worms desired to cause the most death possible, or something else entirely, she had no idea. However, Tsubaki was a bit more surprised that nothing had immediately popped out at her as being the work of a magical girl. She’d expected to recognize something immediately after she’d delt with the serial killer incident and had more time to spare. It was pointless to be hanging out with her classmates right now, but she didn’t exactly have anything else to work on, either.

“Oh, so you have some sort of attachment to other humans after all, Tsubaki-San?” Tsubaki yelped and nearly fell down. “Detective! Is it really necessary to be so damn stalker-like?” She looked at the man casually leaning on the wall. Even in casual clothes, Mr. Detective was still seemingly unable to find anything that wasn’t in a shade of black and didn’t seem overly strait-laced and bland. But he was adetective; flying under the radar was part of the job description, especially when you worked with unnatural phenomena that the government didn’t publicly acknowledge. ‘But still! He sticks out like a sore thumb here!’ Tsubaki’s veins throbbed in annoyance. ‘He’s so blatantly out of place that it’s like he’s not even trying!’

“If you want people higher up to find out your secret, then be my guest.” The man shrugged. “But if you’d like to continue operating as a vigilante and retain your freedom until you die, then it’s in your best interest for me to sneak around so you’re not tied to the special forces unit.” Tsubaki huffed. “Anyway, why are you here, of all places?” The detective pulled a file folder from his jacket and waved it like he was tempting a dog with a treat.

“If you’re available, I think I might have a lead on another magical girl for you to look into."