The Delinquent and The Magical Girl

Kaneko was getting bored, which was honestly a disappointment. After arriving late to her first day at a new school, she expected to get scolded or something, but the lady at the front office didn’t seem to care at all.

That seemed weird to Kaneko by itself, but when she got to the classroom, she discovered something even worse. Even though she was pretty sure she was enrolled in an advanced mathematics course, Kaneko already knew literally everything that the teacher talked about. She was anxious about needing to catch up, but apparently everyone needed to catch up with her.

Maybe that’s only in this class, She hoped.

Nope.

Due to several factors that Kaneko was up till now, completely unaware of, Kaneko was extremely overprepared for every single class she was to attend. For one, as opposed to Japanese schools which end in the winter time and start back up in the spring, American schools start in the fall and end in early summer. American schools also spent a lot less time in session when compared to the Japanese high schools, which meant that the content being covered in her new classes had been covered years ago for her in Japan.

It was hard for Kaneko to focus on these lessons, her mind more focused on the insane events of that morning. Kaneko wished she could set that aside for a while, but nothing in her classes engaged her enough to distract her.

By the time Kaneko walked into her 6th and final period, she was ready to kick her desk over, if only to make the time more interesting.

“At least this is the last one.” She told herself, “One more introduction and I get to kick back and wait for the school day to end.”

Stepping up to the teacher’s desk, Kaneko knocked on the table to get the woman’s attention. “Hi, I’m Kaneko, a new student as of today. Here’s my schedule.”

Kaneko handed the woman the schedule that she was given in the front office. That was something else that confused her. Instead of having one classroom like in Japan, where the teachers would change for every different subject, in America, the students are required to move from classroom to classroom depending on the subject.

The teacher took the slip from Kaneko and looked at it briefly before handing it back. “Oh, Kaneko is it? You can sit at the desk over there, in front of the blonde girl. I hope you’re enjoying your first day here.” She said, obviously being polite.

“It’s not exactly what I expected…” Kaneko said, matching the tone. “Uh, thank you.”

Kaneko turned and walked directly to her seat. Right in front of the blonde girl. She didn’t bother trying to introduce herself to anyone before the class started. Kaneko had tried that a few times today, but something felt off about her interactions. Maybe she was rusty, but Kaneko decided to stop trying to talk altogether. It was just easier.

“Hey, you’re the new girl, right?” A voice came from behind.

Apparently, the blonde girl was talking to her. Kaneko wasn’t expecting this; Still, she kept her cool.

“Yup, that’s me.”

“Where did you get your style? It’s so simple, but so punk. I love it.” The girl spoke with an attitude of uncaring engagement.

Kaneko couldn’t tell if the girl was making fun of her or not, but she didn’t want to get in any fights, so she responded normally. “Shibuya 705. In the clearance pile.”

Kaneko’s clothes were, as the girl said, simple. She wore a white t-shirt, with a red collar, underneath a black bomber jacket, with red trim. Her hair was dyed with red stripes. Then, she wore a long black pleated skirt that ran down near her ankles. In Japan, this style was synonymous with Sukeban. Delinquent girls. Apparently some of that vibe carried across cultural boundaries, which was a surprise for Kaneko. She only brought this stuff because it was all she had and now she was being complimented for it.

The girl chuckled. “Oh, I guess I’d have to get it somewhere else. Uh, I’m Sylvia by the way. Who’re you?”

Kaneko finally turned to face the girl behind her. “Kaneko. Nice to meet you.”

This girl was clearly rich. Everything that this girl was wearing was designer. It looked good, but… almost overdone? Everything she was wearing looked inauthentic and impersonal. She looked designed, not like a normal person. The only thing that seemed to be her original choice was a baseball cap with an obscure logo on the front that Kaneko didn’t recognize. It was worn out; Used. In a way that nothing else she wore expressed. The hat felt loved.

Sylvia’s face was hard to read. She was smiling, but only with her mouth. Her eyes were somewhat focused. In a second though, it changed to a transparent grimace.

“Hi Sylvia!” Another voice came from the front of the classroom, now behind Kaneko.

Turning around, Kaneko saw a girl with hazel colored hair that was tied into two ponytails on either side of her head. She was wearing a cute light blue jacket over an anime t-shirt and short shorts over leggings. The girl was Japanese too, although she clearly had some European in there too. The most jarring thing about this person however, was that Kaneko recognized her. It was her cousin, Minny.

Once Minny met eyes with Kaneko, she froze, an expression of “What do I do now?” shown on her face. Kaneko was also frozen, not expecting the cascade of boredom that was that day to stop so suddenly.

Sylvia clicked her tongue. “What, you know each other?”

This seemed to break the ice enough for Minny to respond. “Uh, yeah… Kaneko is my cousin, from Japan. She’s staying with my family for a while.”
“I didn’t ask about all that.” Sylvia scoffed.

Minny sat down and got out some papers and things from her backpack without a reaction to Sylvia.

After finally snapping herself out of her stupor, Kaneko leaned over and whispered in Minny’s ear. “I know it wasn’t a dream…”

It was a rather ominous way to start a relationship, but Kaneko was pretty far past caring about that. Minny started to idly mess with the things on her desk, a small bead of sweat suddenly formed on top of Minny’s forehead as she frantically thought of a response.

“Um… What dream? I don't really know what you’re talking about…” She said, unconvincingly.

Kaneko didn’t shift her demeanor. “Look, I need to talk to you about it. I think we might have the same…” Kaneko eyed Sylvia for a second before deciding her next word. “Affliction.”

Minny looked up from her desk, suddenly excited. “Really? Like, you’re gonna help me and stuff? I wonder what you’ll look like… Oh, this is so exciting!”

Up until now, the conversation was hushed and quiet. Kaneko didn’t really want anyone to hear her and Minny unconsciously matched the energy from her cousin. At this point though, Minny was starting to let that slip. Her whispers got louder, until she was basically just talking funny.

“Man, we’re gonna be, like, a team! I’ll have your back and you’ll have mine! It’s gonna be gre-”

“Hey, why do you have to be so annoying?” Sylvia interjected.

Minny stopped talking immediately, looking slightly embarrassed.

Kaneko didn’t respond to Sylvia either, instead looking straight ahead at Minny, “What’s her problem? I mean, you should probably keep it down, but…”

Minny whispers, “I don’t think she likes me very much for some reason. Anyway, we can talk about the thing after school, right?”

“Great. Yeah.”

“Well, I thought you were cool, but I guess Minny poisons everything related to her. What are you even talking about?” Sylvia asked.

“We’re talking about how stuck up you are. Buzz off.” Kaneko responded, malice seeping through what she wanted to be a monotone.

Sylvia looked like she wanted to respond, but the bell rang before she could. Immediately, the teacher stood from her desk, a slideshow presentation ready on the projector screen behind her. Kaneko smirked as the lesson began. It wasn’t too often that she actually got to shut people up.

“So… There’s nobody around anymore, should we talk about it?” Kaneko asked.

After class was dismissed, Kaneko and Minny decided to walk home together, although they were taking a different route than Kaneko had that morning. In fact, Kaneko wasn’t even sure they were walking towards the house.

Minny smacked her lips before responding, “Yeah! I mean, where to start? How’d you get the powers?”

Kaneko thought for a moment, then said, “I followed that black cat through a magic door or something. Everything was all black and then this lady’s voice came outta nowhere and told me… Well, she said I could have the powers and some great calamity or something would be avoided.”

Looking to her left, Kaneko saw Minny’s reaction. She had stars in her eyes, definitely a fangirl.

“You met Gaia? The- The goddess? She’s supposed to be like, end of season! But you met her in the first act. Aww, I’m jealous.”

Kaneko tilted her head subtly in confusion. “Wait, how did you get them then?”

“Me? Well I was walking around town, not really doing anything in particular, when Cat came out and offered me superpowers.”

“You’re saying that you just agreed to be gifted super powers from a random alley cat?”

Minny chuckled. “Alley cat? Cat’s a little gentleman. Who wouldn’t say yes to that face? Besides… I get to be a superhero!”

“Wait, little… gentleman? I’m pretty sure he drugged me last night.” Kaneko scoffed, not totally serious.

“Yeah, but I told him to. That makes it better.” Minny smiled. “I’m happy you're here, cuz.”

“Sure. Heh. Me too.”

The two girls walked for a while more, with Minny taking charge and turning in seemingly random directions at every opportunity.

“Minny, where are we going?” Kaneko finally asked.

Minny didn’t respond for a second, apparently lost in thought. Then she looked up and said “Hmm? Oh, sorry. I usually don’t go home right away. I guess I was on autopilot.”

Kaneko didn’t really expect that. Sure, she never went home after school either, but that seemed like a completely different situation. Minny’s parents were pretty nice, from what she had seen.

“It’s fine. I guess we should actually talk about your powers. What are they? I got a tape gun or something, but I honestly don’t know what to do with it.”

“You got a magical tape dispenser? I got a wand… They really threw us different parties. I can transform into this super cute pink outfit and I get some super strength and agility. Like, the normal magical girl stuff.”

“That’s one thing… You’re a magical girl. Not an American knock off or anything, you’re authentic.”

“Aww, thanks.” Minny gave a bashful little punch to her cousin’s shoulder. “I’m glad you changed your mind.”

“No, I mean, I don’t know that much about magical girls, but they’re Japanese! It’s basically a rule.”

“I’m Japanese. That probably has something to do with it. I don’t really care though. It doesn’t bother me that I’m the wrong type of superhero.”

Something irked Kaneko, causing her to respond rather sharply. “I don’t know that magical girls are really superheroes…”
“What do you mean, of course they are!”

“Well, superheroes are big and bombastic. They scream in your face every time they fly past your window. Plus they fight actual bad guys, not wild animals.”

Minny started to get more defensive. “Somebody’s doing that to the animals, they aren’t only wild! Besides, most magical girls fight aliens and stuff. Superheroes fight aliens.”

Kaneko realized that she probably pushed a button, so she didn’t respond after that. She didn’t want to fight about it. They walked silently again for a few minutes, neither having anything to talk about.

Suddenly, a strange feeling came over Kaneko. It was somewhere between physical and emotional, like she could feel a direction in her brain.

“Woah~ What the…” Kaneko stopped, hoping that the feeling would subside. “What’s going on?”

“Oh! You can feel it too. I guess that makes sense. Basically, we’re being told that there’s a monster or animal or whatever around. We gotta go stop it. Feels close too, shouldn’t be too hard.”

Kaneko stumbled to her feet. “But I don’t even know how to use my powers or anything. What, am I gonna wrap an animal with tape?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll show you how to transform when we get there. Shouldn’t be too difficult.”

The two girls rushed over to wherever they were being led. They didn’t exactly run, doing that with backpacks looks very goofy. Instead they walked fast with a wide gait, which didn’t exactly make them less goofy, Kaneko and Minny were slightly more comfortable.

They arrived swiftly, after all, it was where they came from in the first place.

“We’re back at the school?” Kaneko asked.

“Feels like it’s actually behind it… Maybe in the riverbed?”

Bellwood High School, the school that Minny and now Kaneko both attend, is situated right in front of a riverbed, one of many that run from higher ground by Los Angeles proper. These river beds were completely covered in concrete, and while they definitely could take a large amount of water, most of the time, all the river water passed through a shallow ditch in the center of the concrete structure.

From the direction Kaneko and Minny arrived, the riverbed was behind a small fence, with the school’s sport’s field behind it. By some luck, the field was nearly completely empty, with only a few students loitering about, instead of one of the sports teams practicing. Besides, the field was separated from the riverbed with a much taller chain link fence and several tall trees that lined the perimeter.

Kaneko jumped over the fence into the riverbed impressively fast, even considering that it was 3 feet tall. The feeling was still throbbing in her head, and she could tell the animal was close. Kaneko carefully made her way down to the slope to the bottom of the riverbed as Minny finally followed her over the fence.

“So, now what? I don’t see it?”

Less carefully, Minny ran down the slope to meet her cousin. “That’s good actually. Now you can learn how to transform.”

Minny smiled, taking off her backpack and fishing around until she pulled out a small handheld wand. The wand was pink with a purple orb on one side. The orb was made of smoky glass that seemed to change texture with even the slightest movement.

“Okay,” Minny continued, pressing a button on the wand that made it extend to almost a full meter in length. “So, all I do is hold it out like this and…”

Minny extended her arms, holding the staff directly in front of her. Without any indication, she was suddenly bathed in light. She seemed to turn into a floodlight, spraying whiteness everywhere while she levitated about a foot off the ground. Before, all at once, she was back and Kaneko could look at her again.

She was now dressed in the same pink and purple outfit that Kaneko had seen the night before. She was wearing big purple gloves and boots and a pink top that was attached to a band around her waist. She had these cute pink poofs on her shoulders, and a pair of culottes shorts. Not to mention, her hair was now a bright shade of pastel pink.

Kaneko was stunned for a second before she snapped out of it. “So what, you just extend it out in front of you?”

“No… I mean, that’s part of it I think… Why don’t you try it out?” Minny responded.

Taking the tape gun out of her backpack, Kaneko tried to see if there were any buttons or switches that would allow her to work it. Apparently there were not, so she let out a breath and extended the tape gun in front of her.

Closing her eyes, Kaneko imagined blasting into a stream of lights, changing into some cheesy pink dress and throwing up from all the sparkles. Kaneko didn't have a problem with pink in moderation, but that was not it. A shiver went down her spine and she opened her eyes, hoping that the transformation was already over with. Unfortunately, it was not.

“Why didn’t it work?”

Minny rubbed her chin. “Uh, I don’t know. Did you want to transform?”

“I mean, kinda?...”

Before Kaneko could continue, something violently emerged from the river a few dozen yards away, splashing around and making tons of noise. It was a raccoon. A really big one.

“Oop! Okay, you figure this out while I deal with this. It shouldn’t take too long, so don’t feel pressured if you still can’t transform.” Minny gave a small pose with her hand in a victory “V” before she ran off toward the raccoon.

Breathing out and closing her eyes, Kaneko tried to get into a meditative state. She really wasn’t one for meditating normally, but it seemed like the right thing to be doing at that moment.

Seconds passed as Kaneko breathed. She could hear some splashing and movement in the distance, but focused on herself. She imagined a switch inside her head, and then flipped it, but it didn’t work. Then, she tried to think of a happy memory from her past, thinking that it might have to do with emotions.

She saw the parking lot that she spent every afternoon in until very recently, except she wasn’t alone. It was middle school and she had a friend with her. The sky was golden as twilight descended; The buildings in the distance, nothing but silhouettes. The thought quickly turned sour though. The reason Kaneko remembered that day was because some guys from their school had messed with them which made Kaneko fight back. It was Kaneko’s first fight.

Apparently bittersweet memories didn’t help. Kaneko toyed with a few more ideas, trying to figure out what worked, when suddenly…

“Ahhh!” Minny yelped.

Kaneko’s eyes shot open, as she saw Minny in the river. She had fallen on her butt, and gotten herself drenched in incredibly dirty water. The raccoon was standing over her, almost reveling in its victory. As much as a big raccoon can revel at least.

Without thought, Kaneko began to float as she was consumed by light. As she looked around everything was a technicolor whirlwind, including herself. Suddenly, through the act of observation itself, Kaneko’s jacket appeared on her arms. The black contrasting harshly with the lights around her. In another motion, Kaneko looked down and the rest of her clothes materialized over her form.

In the next second, she was back, gently settling on the pavement. Kaneko blinked as she got a hold of herself, before she rushed off towards the raccoon. As if it were second nature, Kaneko extended the tape gun out in front of her and felt the tape extend out the front. It felt like she had an extra appendage almost.

Before she even knew what was happening, the tape connected with the raccoon and it jumped sideways to turn toward the new assailant. With one swift flick of her arm, Kaneko had dragged the animal into the air, sending it flailing onto the ground in front of her. It started to scramble up and around, trying to regain its footing.

Kaneko got ready to deflect an attack as the raccoon faces her off, but before anything could happen, Minny jumps out from the water and taps the raccoon on its head, immediately sending it out cold.

“Oh! ~Blegh~ You got it!” Minny exclaimed, without missing a beat.

“That’s it? I was ready to capture it or something.”

“No, once I use the staff, the energy gets zapped out. At least, that's how I think it works.”

Kaneko then noticed that her cousin was just standing in the river. “Uh… You wanna get out now? You’re probably gonna catch like 20 diseases.”

“Hmm? Naw.” Minny said as she finally waded out of the shallow water. “The transformation protects me… I mean, once I go back, I’ll stop being wet at least.”

“Huh. I wonder if that works for me too…”

“What do you mean, like, you didn’t transform. You look exactly the same.”

Kaneko looked down at herself and thought about that. “Um… I think I did. I transformed into myself.”

Minny looked dumbfounded, jaw agape in confusion. “Wha- That’s not how transformation sequences work!”

“Whatever.” Kaneko gave a smug shrug as she turned away from her cousin, “Come on, riverpants. We don’t want people to catch us hanging out by an unconscious raccoon.”

Kaneko gripped the tape gun tightly in her hand and breathed out, trying to calm herself down. As she did, a film of sparkling white dissipated from her body, with a *click*. Behind her Minny was running out of the water. Kaneko heard the same click before a pre-transformation Minny appeared beside her.

“Man, I really hope you don’t start calling me riverpants.” Minny moped as they walked off, probably towards home.

Above Kaneko and Minny, behind the fence at the school, was a group of girls who had seen everything from a distance.

“Woah, what the heck?”

“I can’t believe we saw someone do that…”

The girls were watching, but there was no telling that they had actually seen. They just saw two figures fighting a raccoon from over 100 yards away. Who’s to say who those figures were or why they were doing what they were doing.

“Let’s go. I don’t wanna be around if those freaks get into the school.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

As the group turned to leave, there was one girl who didn’t hear them.

“Is that… No way. What’s going on…?” She thought, blocking out the rest of her friends.

“Sylvia, come on!”

Sylvia snapped herself out of it, giving one last look at the raccoon on the riverbed before turning towards her friends and walking off. Unconsciously, she whispered. “A magical girl, huh?”