Somebody's Watching (Over) Us

 Kaneko and Minny had gotten out of their 6th and final class for the day. Kaneko really wished she could walk home and take Minny with her. There wasn’t anything that should keep her busy after school. “Should” being the key word there.

Minny had agreed to help Sylvia out by looking for her cat, which meant that now Kaneko was walking towards wherever Sylvia said. A railroad station?

“Where are we going?” Kaneko asked.

Turning around while she walked, Minny postured like a tour guide as she said, “Way back in the day, there was a red car trolley rail that passed through here. You know, like the ones in like, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? All those old timey versions of Los Angeles. So now, all the tracks have been pretty much abandoned and there’s this small lil’ museum to remember them.”

“And I guess that’s probably near where Sylvia lives?”

“I guess. That’s just where she told us to go. She might not even be there.” Minny shrugged as she turned back around and continued walking.

“And the backup plan for if she isn’t there is-”

“Yup. We’re gonna look for the cat anyways.”

Figures. Kaneko was hoping that Sylvia was bluffing and she wasn’t gonna show up. Especially since she barely even looked at Kaneko or Minny during class. That girl was seriously weird. Kaneko could understand Minny going overboard with a joke or messing something up at a party, but Kaneko couldn’t really imagine her in a social environment like that.

The museum was only about 20 minutes away while walking. And Bellwood Blvd was a nice street with lots of cool hobby shops and small businesses. There weren’t a lot of chains, which made it feel a lot more different than Japan. Kaneko could walk into a McDonalds anywhere and basically get the same experience as back home, but with these stores and restaurants and stuff, everything was pretty much brand new.

Obviously, Minny had walked past all the storefronts as if they had been there her entire life. Because they had. She walked and smiled like she usually did, looking around at the different architecture of the buildings and the lights that were strung between the rooftops. Kaneko could tell that a lot of the city’s effort had been put towards making and maintaining this nice area. It was a pretty stark contrast to what the neighborhoods looked like closer to the school. More urban, but still suburban. Kaneko was surprised at how enjoyable the walk had become, especially considering what they were walking towards.

Kaneko was so caught up, looking at some construction that was going on across the street, that she didn’t hear something weird coming from around the corner.

Minny grabbed Kaneko’s shoulder. “Hey.” She whispered. “We’re here, but something’s up. Can’t you feel that?”

It took Kaneko a second to figure out what she meant. There was a small feeling in the base of Kaneko’s neck, a slight pressure. She knew there was something around the corner, only she didn’t know how.

“So there’s a monster?”

“Yeah.” Minny responded, her face glowing with ill-contained excitement. “We’re gonna have to transform. There’s nobody around, right?”

Kaneko looked around. “Nobody here. Maybe down the street, but they shouldn’t be able to make us out.” Kaneko swung her backpack in front of her and fished out the tape gun. “We doing this?”

Minny took out her wand too, extending it out into its full length. “Um, yeah. We’re ready. Yeah.”

Kaneko was about to try to transform when she realized what they were doing. “Wait, Sylvia’s probably right there.”

Minny rebutted, “Well, it’s not like we can be sur-”

“Aahhhhh!” A scream came from around the corner. It was definitely Silvia.

“I guess that answers that. What are we supposed to do?” Kaneko asked.

Minny contemplated for barely a second before responding, “It’s not like we can leave her out there. We have to help.”

“But she’s gonna see us!”

Minny gave Kaneko a look. It wasn’t stern or angry. It wasn’t that same excitement that she could barely contain a few moments ago. There was something deeper behind Minny’s hazel eyes. Something forcing itself above the rest of her thoughts and feelings. Something Kaneko was familiar with, but couldn’t describe.

In a second, Minny’s face straightened out. She had decided something internally. “We have to go.”

Kaneko couldn’t bring herself to stop her cousin at this point. She knew exactly what she was feeling, although she hadn’t felt it in a long time or… Maybe she had. Kaneko couldn’t remember.

Breathing out and balancing herself, Kaneko transformed into her “Magical” form. It was a simple thing, now that she knew how to do it, although she didn’t actually know what happened when she did. She looked exactly the same, but something was off about her. She moved more effortlessly than normal, but only slightly.

As she returned to the normal world, Kaneko saw Minny transform in front of her too. Kaneko was nearly blinded by the light before she recognized Minny’s transformed form in front of her.

“Okay.” Kaneko said as she rushed around the corner with Minny right on her tail.

What they saw when they turned was definitely strange. Unlike the other animals that Kaneko had seen so far that were basically bigger versions of normal animals, in front of them was a cat that was standing on its hind legs. More accurately, the cat was bipedal… and very humanoid.

Even facing away from Kaneko and Minny, the cat’s silhouette was stuffed with muscles. It looked like a bodybuilder from the 80’s, back when there weren’t so many regulations about what you could put in your body. Every inch of the ginger cat… man, Cat-man? Was covered in enough muscle to lift several semi trucks stacked on top of each other. It was standing imposingly over Sylvia, who was crawling slowly backwards, having seemingly fallen on her butt.

Kaneko was frozen for a second, she hadn’t seen something so strange before, even on the news. There were always reports on giant monsters that some superhero was beating up out in New York, or coverage of Kaiju back in Japan, but this was completely different. It was too uncanny.

The setting was also fairly unique, unlike most stereotypical renditions of California that Kaneko saw in movies or Anime. Train tracks ran diagonally between a nice neighborhood and the shopping area that Kaneko and Minny had come from. There was a bike path that ran parallel to the tracks and a long sand patch that covered everything else. On one side was a large cinder block fence that separated the path from the houses. The other side was slightly more open, running directly into the back of some apartment buildings.

〰

Minny saw the way the cat was standing above Sylvia and she quickly jumped into action. She tried to quickly sneak up behind it and take it out. Unfortunately for her, nobody ever taught her that running is pretty loud.

Just before Minny was able to touch the head of the staff to the head of the cat, it swatted her out of the way, sending Minny flying into the sand on one side. The wind was knocked out of her instantly. She hit the ground rolling, eventually ending up on her back after tumbling a few feet. Her eyes tracked the ensuing battle as Kaneko rushed in to try to stop it herself.

Every breath was difficult for Minny. It felt like she should have passed out at this point. Aren’t you supposed to pass out when you’re about to suffocate? Minny had never felt like this before. Weren’t her powers supposed to protect her? She’s never fought anything like this before. It’s never been so hard.

Thoughts raced through Minny’s head as she watched the fight. That was all she could do. Any attempt to yell or even speak was met with a whimper from her throat. It felt like a few minutes passed before Minny had recharged her air supply enough just to get to her knees. She couldn’t get a better view, but hopefully her powers could help her get back in the fight quickly. Maybe she could serve some use.

〰

Kaneko snapped out of her stupor, right in time to see Minny get knocked to the side. A switch flipped in Kaneko’s mind as she jumped out towards it. It was time to attack. She threw out a line of tape in front of her, trying to get it around the cat’s wrist. Instead, the cat grabbed the tape and pulled Kaneko towards it without much effort. Kaneko was pulled through the air, heading straight for a punch the cat was in the middle of winding up. She had to get past it somehow. Kaneko was sure she couldn’t take a real hit from this thing.

Instead of resisting the tug and trying to get grounded again before dodging, Kaneko let the tape pull her towards the massive fist that was coming towards her with force. At the last moment before impact, she threw her legs behind her and managed to flip backwards before landing a ways behind the cat.

This prompted a new challenge though. Sylvia was in the line of fire, between Kaneko and the Cat.

Kaneko jumped out and reached for the girl, unconsciously using the tape gun to extend her reach. At the same time the cat had begun to walk towards both of them. It was an unstoppable force, not especially quick, but you still wouldn’t want to be in its way when it got to you.

Kaneko pulled Sylvia towards her, but Sylvia dragged on her butt until she reached Kaneko’s feet. Kaneko tried to pull the girl to her feet, but Sylvia wasn’t trying to help. She was staring at the cat monster. It was hers. Sylvia’s cat. Red Butler! It even had a little patch of white fur on the base of its neck that looked like a bowtie.

Kaneko’s heart rate started to increase. A terrible feeling began to wash over her. Something like Deja Vu and guilt all swirled together in a cocktail of emotions. It wasn’t even that Kaneko wanted to run but couldn’t. She couldn’t even think to do that much.

The cat started to move towards her, pausing slightly with every step it took. Every time it paused, Kaneko saw something take its place. Between instants, an unseeable creature was tearing its way through Kaneko’s reality. At first it was hard to see, but as it got closer its form started to reveal itself.

An inky blackness was flashing into being. A corruption of Kaneko’s past. Its grotesque visage was constantly changing and shifting, but it was terrifyingly recognizable regardless. It was someone she met a long time ago. Someone who ruined Kaneko’s life.

Kaneko was frozen solid. She wouldn’t have budged at all if Minny hadn’t shouted.

“Hey! Get her outta there!”

Suddenly, Kaneko snapped out of her funk. Right as the cat was reaching them, about to do who knows what, Kaneko jumped out of the way, pulling Sylvia with her. The cat simply turned and started its march forward.

“Okay, let’s go!” Kaneko said as she pulled Sylvia to her feet, finally getting her to stand by herself.

Kaneko grabbed her wrist and pulled her along to a small building that’s probably used as a tiny storage space and a place to put the plaque. It was probably enough to keep Sylvia hidden though.

“Stay put. I’m gonna go help deal with it.” Kaneko said, half turning back towards the cat.

“Wait!” Sylvia exclaimed. “I can still watch, right?”

This stunned Kaneko again, but thankfully she was able to snap herself out of it that time. “Uh, sure. Just make sure it doesn’t go after you.” she said, before running back to the monster.

It was slowly walking towards Minny as she used her staff to help herself to her feet. It was still some distance away, so Kaneko could take her time to catch it off guard. Making eye contact with Minny, Kaneko conveyed everything she needed to succeed with her plan. Assuming it wasn’t completely stupid. She really hoped it wasn’t that dumb, but she couldn’t be certain unless she tried it.

Throwing almost all caution to the wind, Kaneko used the tape gun to stick her shoes to the concrete below her. Then she sent a thread around Red Butler’s arms, wrapping around its front. Before the tape even reached it, the cat was starting to struggle.

Luckily, Kaneko was still able to connect the tape with both arms, sending a spiral through the line like a ballet ribbon. That caused the tape to wrap around its wrists a few times. He continued to struggle to tear off the tape or rip it apart, but it proved to be impossible. After a few moments, it tried to tug at the other end, but Kaneko had braced herself.

Kaneko was putting her full weight against the tape gun, wrapping a strand of tape around her elbow a few times with the sticky side out. Together with her feet attached to the ground, Kaneko was able to just keep the cat still and distracted.

Minny, much closer now than the last time she tried, was running towards the cat’s back. She wasn’t going as fast as she could be, but Kaneko hoped that it would be enough to catch the thing off guard.

Minny jumped as she nearly made contact, but the cat was spinning to hit her again. Tugging with every ounce of her strength, Kaneko managed to divert the attack, forcing it to throw its arms downwards, narrowly missing Minny and allowing her the opportunity to finally hit it straight on its head.

Unlike the last time with the raccoon, a small *pop* sound emanated from the cat’s head and Minny was thrown back slightly from the force. She was able to somehow land directly on her feet, sliding backwards on her heels. It would have been more impressive if she didn’t almost fall backwards at the last moment.

The cat collapsed almost immediately, deflating like one of those arm flailing tube guys when the fan is turned off. Once it hit the floor, it almost immediately began to noticeably shrink albeit slowly.

Kaneko ripped off all the tape she had built up on the tape gun using the serrated edge and threw it on the floor before trying to use the same edge on the tape that was covering her shoes. After dealing with that, Kaneko ran over to a still slightly winded Minny as she stood, hunched over, out of breath.

“Hey, are you okay?” Kaneko asked

Minny let out a long exacerbated breath before responding. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. I’m just glad that we were able to help Sylvia out. She’s okay?”

“Um, yeah, I think. I set her down over there.”

Kaneko turned and pointed over towards the small building that Sylvia was supposed to be hiding behind. She honestly didn’t expect to find the girl peeking around the corner with a grin so wide that it looked like the top side of her head was nearly detached from the bottom.

“What the heck is up with her?” Kaneko asked.

“Why don’t we see?” Minny said, gesturing for Sylvia to come over.

“Minny, stop. What if she hasn’t actually seen our faces yet? We can still get away.” Kaneko whispered urgently.

“Dude, you’re wearing the same clothes you have every single day since you arrived. She’s not that stupid.” Minny replied in a similarly hushed, but more calm tone. “Besides, we saved her and her cat. I doubt she’s gonna rat us out that easily.”

Kaneko wanted to continue the argument, but she was interrupted by the sound of a small animal in pain.

Squeeeeee!

Turning towards the source of the disturbance, Kaneko saw that it was not, in fact, an animal that was making that horribly high pitched noise. It was Sylvia.

“Oh my goodness! I can’t believe you’re both really in front of me!”

“Yeah, yeah. Look-” Kaneko started.

“Real life magical girls! In my own backyard! Almost literally. Wow… What are you names?”
This through Kaneko through a loop, and glancing at her cousin, Minny seemed to be confused as well.

“Excuse me?” Kaneko asked.

“Oh sorry! I don’t mean your real names. I mean, like, your magical girl names.”

That made Kaneko even more confused. She had to double take her own immediate memories. Is Sylvia blind?

“Oh? Is that all?” Minny piped up. “Um… Well I’m Pastel Princess! I fight for the dreams of young people everywhere!” Minny struck a pose, clearly happy to finally have somebody to show off to. She really seemed in her element.

“Ohhh!” Sylvia squealed. “And who are you?” She asked Kaneko.

“Me? I don’t know…”
“Sukeban!” Minny interjected.

Kaneko turned to her cousin quickly, “Wha- No!”

“Wow! So you two are from Japan? What are you doing here?” Sylvia said, not paying Kaneko’s reaction any mind.

“Actually, we’re from the US. We’ve gotta be the only magical girls in the country, right?” Minny said, mostly to Kaneko.

Kaneko didn’t respond though. She was too busy slowly coming to the realization that that conversation was actually happening. Instead, Sylvia responded. “Try the only magical girls in the western hemisphere! That’s insane. How come I’ve never heard of you? There’s no way I wouldn’t hear about you online. I mean, you’re amazing.”
Minny smiled, loving the attention she was getting from this girl. “We’re actually pretty new at this. You’re our first real person saved.”

Somehow, Sylvia’s eye’s turned into stars. She was blown away by this revelation, like she was meeting her all time favorite celebrity or a superhero.

“I can’t believe I was the first!” Sylvia giggled.

As much as Kaneko hated to admit it, this version of Sylvia was slightly less annoying than the passive aggressive one she had interacted with up until then. Slightly.

“Okay, okay. You’ve met us.” Kaneko looked over the girl’s shoulder at the cat that was slowly returning to normal size. “Look, your cat is over there. We have to take off, so take care of it, Okay?”

Sylvia’s head spun around quickly and then turned back to the two of them. “You’re right. Thank you so much. I can’t believe you did all this. Ah! It’s so exciting! I can’t believe it!” Sylvia paused for a moment as if she were trying to make sure she remembered it. Kaneko crossed her arms and gave Sylvia a glare that eventually got the point across that she should head out. “I’ll leave you now though.”

She practically skipped over to her cat, who was pretty much the size it should be. Still gigantic, but only because the cat was fat. As Sylvia doted on it, eventually deciding to pick it up, Kaneko grabbed Minny by the arm and ran to the street where she could be out of eyeshot.

“What the heck was that?” She asked Minny, looking around for any other witnesses.

Minny quickly de-transformed and said, “I have no idea. Cat never really brought up anything about meeting other people. I guess we have a Goddess watching over us, maybe it is magic?”

“You’re saying that the talking cat never said anything about this to you?” Making sure the coast was still clear, Kaneko also de-transformed.

“No.” Minny said, “Didn’t he say anything about it to you?”

“Minny, he didn’t say anything at all to me. I barely got anything from that Goddess or whatever either.”

The pair paused in thought.

“I guess it doesn't matter. Sylvia didn’t recognize us and that’s probably good, right? Never seen her act like that though.” Minny said finally.

“What do you think that means? She’s never been, I don’t know… Nice?”

“I mean, yeah, a while ago, but never like that. I guess we could just ask her.” Minny said, walking back towards the tracks.

Kaneko stood in her way. “I don’t think we should push our luck. What if she puts two and two together. We don’t know what happened or why she acted like that.”

Minny smiled and stepped around her cousin, walking onward. Right before she reached the corner, she turned around. “Lighten up. We’re gonna be fine. We’re superheroes! Besides, we promised to show up.”

Kaneko gave a small whimper as Minny turned the corner.