Reveal Your True Selves!

“That’s right.” The girl said, cackling.

“Wha- How? Why are you here?” Kaneko asked, horrified.

“Kaneko, what’s going on? Who is this girl? You know her?”

“That’s- No! It can’t be! I knew her in middle school, but she left! She started school in Korea after… It can’t be her!”

“Silly, silly. Where do you think we’ve been for the last month? We studied you thoroughly, so it took a while, but of course we were going to find your biggest nightmare!”

Kaneko grit her teeth, but she didn’t say anything. Minny followed her example, waiting for the new bad guy, Naoko apparently, to make the first move.

“I guess you haven’t met my dad yet though, have you? Well, do I have an exciting surprise for you!” Naoko announced, pointing upwards to the top of one of the chain-link fences that surrounded the field. “All the way from the Andromeda galaxy, I give you the genius scientist that has created a brand new field of biomancy, as well as several forlorn pets and yours truly! My dad, Gatal!”

Climbing out of the riverbed and onto the fence, a scruffy looking man with green skin and a white lab coat appeared. He took what should have been a cool pose, except everybody had just seen him clamber up a fence, as a spotlight appeared from nowhere and showered him in white light.

“That’s right! I’m the one who has been terrorizing your quaint village! And now-”

Naoko cut him off. “And now that I’m here to destroy your protectors, once and for all, he won’t lose his job!”

“Yes, I won’t lose my job.” He acknowledged. “Hey! Wait, I was going to say that they don’t stand a chance!”

“Oops.” Naoko shrugged with a cheeky grin on her face.

Minny looked around at the crowd of spectators watching this all go down. Their expressions shone every emotion that a human could possibly express. Some were excited to see a real superhero in action, while others were clearly starting to get anxious about the battle that was about to start.

“She’s the ghost that possessed Ace, right?” Minny asked, under her breath.

Looking at Kaneko’s face, she was more angry than Minny had ever seen her. She almost looked animalistic, needing the slightest action to set her on a total frenzy.

Minny breathed out, trying to unwind the knot that had formed in her stomach. It didn’t work. Her nerves weren’t prepared for this fight. It needed to happen before she could think about it.

“Kaneko do something! Please!”

Kaneko let out a long, drawn out and low breath of her own, before her eyes narrowed. Then she growled. “So, you’re the one that did this to her? You’re the mastermind behind all of this?”

She was looking at Gatal, who made a great attempt to look unfazed by her radiating hatred. “Yes. I was. Of course, I couldn’t do it with my wonderful assistant.” He explained, motioning towards Naoto.

“Don’t shift the blame. It was you.” Kaneko snapped.

Minny could have sworn she saw Kaneko’s eye twitch before she jumped forward, nearly pouncing on top of the scientist. Instead of hitting him though, she met a drone that had intercepted her mid-flight.

The drone was metallic and egg shaped with a lime green light that shone in Kaneko’s eyes, making her shield them for a moment with her hand as she regained her footing. Behind it, Gatal began to try and climb the UFO ride next to him.

Before making any other moves, Kaneko looked back at Minny and yelled, “Go get her spirit back!”

Minny turned and looked at the girl who had introduced this spectacle. And funnily enough, Naoto also turned her head to look at Minny.

“Wait. Wait!” she yelled, crouching and holding her hands out like she was trying to shield herself from an oncoming car. “Nevermind.”

Naoto ran perpendicular to Minny, jumping straight over the crowd, somehow landing on the other side without any trouble. Then she ran away through the empty field.

Minny had to somehow find a way through a crowd of people that were clambering for her attention. “Can I… Can I get through?!”

Her cries fell on deaf ears. Everybody was too busy dealing with their own problems, moving in a rapid current of people. It would be impossible for anyone to get through the crowd now, especially not if they didn’t want to get trampled. The crowd would probably disperse, but not in time.

〰

Sylvia watched as Kaneko ran around the UFO spinner ride and chased after the green man, Gatal. She had made it to the edge of the crowd, right under the fence that Gatal had jumped to get into the field. There was a small opening that allowed Sylvia to pass through the crowd and into the open space in front of her.

“Sylvia! Come back! You’re gonna get killed!” One of Sylvia’s friends had shouted behind her.

“Yeah, come on Sylvia! Do what she says!”

Sylvia started to run toward Pastel Princess, who was cut off from the outside. Suddenly from behind, a girl had caught her hand before she was able to move forward. “Sylvia, please. We have to go.”

Sylvia frowned as she tore her hand away and ran closer to Pastel Princess, shouting, “Hey! Come on, you can get out over here!”

Pastel Princess turned quickly, dashing toward Sylvia. “You’re here?” She asked, bewildered. “Nevermind. I-I have to go.”
“I’ll come with you. I can help you find her.”

Pastel Princess kept running past as Sylvia followed behind her.

Minny wasn’t saying anything, she didn’t turn back to Sylvia, and it seemed like she was avoiding her. It made Sylvia draw further back as she ran, not wanting to get in Minny’s way.

Minny turned a corner into the second to last of the aisles. Sylvia decided to run past, checking that that girl hadn’t made it there either.

Sylvia walked slowly, trying to be as silent as possible. Her steps were deafened by the grass, the only thing she could hear being the semi-far off commotion of people who were fleeing the scene. She turned her head from booth to booth, finding everything empty. Food stalls and games were left with all their appliances running, which gave them an eerie feeling.

Thankfully, it would be hard to hide behind anything here. Most booths were made up of a tent with a back, to separate it from neighbors, and a small folding table, along with a small stock of anything they were selling. Game booths were mostly the same, although they’d usually have more stuff going on and, in general, have a few hiding places, where the food stalls did not. Regardless, every stall that Sylvia passed was completely empty.

She eventually reached an outlier in the pattern. A smaller tent was set up, that was much more closed off and much more themed. Apparently there was a fortune teller of some sort that could read a crystal ball or something. It was probably phony, but Sylvia had to admit that it could be fun anyway. Besides, she had to go inside to check anyway.

Stepping inside the small blue tent, Sylvia was caught off guard by the small flickering lantern that hung in the center of the room, which was also the only real source of light in the whole room. There was enough room for about 4 or 5 people to sit inside while the teller sat behind the desk, so it’s not like it was tiny, but it was small.

Looking at the desk, Sylvia found a crystal ball and a few baubles before spotting a deck of elongated cards. Curious, Sylvia grabbed one and flipped it onto the table. Sitting in front of her was the visage of a man, planted to a tree. Looking for any kind of writing on the card, Sylvia realized that the man was upside down. The text at the bottom read “The Hanged Man”.

Sylvia gave a perplexed look before putting the card back on the pile. It took her a second to realize that what she was doing wasn’t helping at all. She was practically browsing the fair.

“I have to just tell her. I have to tell her that I know her secret identity and that I’m sorry for being a jerk to her all this time and… and… I have to tell her I’m sorry. There’s nothing else that matters.” Sylvia turned back towards the opening of the tent and tried to change the subject on her mind. “This place is a dump, eh? School can’t even pay for a good fake fortune teller.”

As she moves to leave, something happens. All the lights in the aisle turn out at once. They’re all probably running off the same electrical outlet, and a breaker flipped. No big deal… Until the oil lamp that lit the fortune teller’s tent also flickered out.

Sylvia was left to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Slowly, the definition of the room came back to her as she realized that all around the blue walls of the tent were small glow-in-the-dark stickers shaped like stars. It was something you might see in a kid’s bedroom.

Figuring that she should probably go find Minny again, Sylvia stepped out into the dark alley. Looking back and forth, Sylvia couldn’t see anybody, so she got out her phone and turned on the flashlight.

“Haha… This place is creepier when it’s deserted. Even with the… Wait, did everyone evacuate? Why can’t I hear anybody else?...” Sylvia’s voice trailed off. She couldn’t escape the notion that something was wrong. Isn’t it darker than it should be? Where are all the street lights? Light pollution in general… It was all gone.

Sylvia walked even slower up the aisle. She checked every booth as she passed, certain that that girl could pop out at any time. Or Minny. Minny could also pop out at any time…

In a brutally long few minutes, Sylvia made it to the end of the lane. Thankfully, nothing managed to pop out and scare her. She was certain that Minny must have missed that girl too, or else she would have heard something.

Wandering around the corner, Sylvia scanned the entire area with her flashlight. She could finally see out to the street, but it was empty. Where there should have been crowds of people, police officers and maybe even a superhero, there was nothing. An empty void. Blackness thicker than dreams.

Sylvia thought about getting her arms through the holes in the fence, and seeing if there really was nothing out there, but she decided against it. Sure, it looked like nothing, but anything could be beyond that wire gate.

Turning away, Sylvia ran towards the end of the next alley, where Minny was supposed to be. She shined her light down the long path, but found nothing. There should be some silhouette of Pastel Princess. She can see almost all the way down. The darkness hasn’t made its way inside the gate… So why? Why isn’t she here? Why is Sylvia alone? What’s going on?

Sylvia began to run down the aisle. She was desperate for something, even that villain girl, to come out and show her that this was all normal. That everything was a coincidence, or that everybody ran far far away and just left her there. She couldn’t be alone. She couldn’t be dead! She was okay!

Sylvia stopped running when she found an obstacle in her path. Right in the middle of the path was a garbage can placed upside down. It wasn’t there when she looked earlier…

Letting out a long low breath, Sylvia tried to push it using her foot. It wouldn’t budge. There was something inside that was making it heavy.

Using her hands, Sylvia grabbed the thing and pulled it slightly. After it was lifted about 6 inches off the ground, Sylvia felt something hit her leg. Dropping the can instantly, she backed away from it and pointed her phone’s flashlight to the place where her leg was hit. It was a glove, a purple glove with a pink bow on it. But… the hand was still inside.

“Minny?!” Sylvia exclaimed, rushing in to pull the can clean off.

As she moved in, she felt something else on her foot. Before she could even grab ahold of the can, the hand had grabbed onto her ankle.

Sylvia shrieked as she pulled the can off, hoping to find Minny, just as scared as she was. That wasn’t what was inside though. It couldn’t be Minny. Minny was cute and pink and lively. Whatever this thing was that was wearing her clothes. It was the opposite of everything that Minny was. Sylvia had to look away. That thing couldn’t be allowed to burn its way into her memory.

In her panic, Sylvia dropped her phone onto the grass, shrouding her in complete darkness.

〰

“You!” Kaneko screamed. “Give her back!”

Gatal was climbing over all sorts of wind blowers and generators, along with coolers and crates full of food, running behind the rides and booths at the fair. Kaneko was easily catching up with him, not losing any speed to the obstacles in front of her. She didn’t bother to use her tape gun. All she needed was her bare fists.

As she approached from behind, she silently rallied for a punch, throwing her entire weight behind her arm. She threw the punch right into Gatal’s back, trying to knock him to the floor, but instead her hand hit that same drone from earlier. It felt like she had broken at least one of her fingers, but quickly checking, she could still move it. She decided to keep going. Heck, even if it was broken, it probably would have made her angrier.

Using the robot as a distraction, Gatal had managed to climb back up on the fence that ran around the field. Kaneko caught up to him, throwing a line of tape to try and pull him back down. Again, the robot deflected it.

“Stop hiding behind your puppets!” She shouted, running and jumping off of the wall of a “hall of mirrors” attraction then using the flying robot to jump off and flip over the fence making her way to the other side.

She tried to land on the slanted ground, but fumbled her footing, and ended up rolling to the flat length of the riverbed. She didn’t cry out or yelp. Kaneko got up and faced Gatal. The riverbed wasn’t nearly as well lit as the field. It got even less residual light from the surroundings than that hill with the bleachers which was fairly dark in its own right. Here, she could only see Gatal in silhouette.

“What are you doing?” Kaneko grumbled.

Gatal looked around, as if there were anybody else that she could be referring to. “Me? I wanted to mess you up. It might have worked a bit too well though…”

Kaneko began to march toward the man. “You’re going to make it right. Or I’m going to hurt you.”

Gatal was nearly frozen. He shambled backwards, but not nearly fast enough to outpace even Kaneko’s purposeful gait.

“I-I have a gun!” he cried out, pulling what looked like a novelty space gun from a dollar store.

Before he even pointed it at her, Kaneko had whipped a piece of tape and threw it from his hand. When the white drone flew in to try and somehow deflect the tape that had already been thrown, Kaneko redirected towards the orb. As it attached, she reeled the tape around her arm before hurling the robot into the concrete floor. It exploded into a shower of sparks and small parts.

And with all distractions and obstacles out of the way, Kaneko moved so swiftly that to any outside observer, they would have seen her teleport. She placed a palm on the alien’s chest and smashed him into the ground with all her effort. He even bounced back a few times after he hit the floor.

She had completely knocked the air out of his lungs.

“Take that thing out of her!”

Gatal coughed, trying to suck in enough air to say something. “She’s- *cough* *cough* She’s better than ever before. She can’t lose!”

“You stupid old man! Are you gonna take that demon out of her or am I gonna beat the devil out of you? I’m prepared for both!” Kaneko grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up, snarling inches from his face. She wanted to hurt him more than she’s ever wanted to hurt anything.

Before he could respond again, Kaneko heard someone cry out from the other side of the field.

“Minny? What’s- What’s happening to her?” Kaneko’s fear quickly returned to rage as she realized that the culprit was in her hands.

Gatal chuckled softly, still struggling to get air in his lungs. “You’ll have to go over there to find out! I honestly can’t tell you!”

Kaneko picked Gatal up, off of his feet and threw him head first into the river before dashing up the slope and back over the fence. Even as she climbed over, she could hear him get up, the water pouring off his coat. She had to remind herself not to go back and finish him off.

He didn’t make it hard for her though. As Kaneko ran, a wobbly sci-fi noise started to ring out behind her. She slowed for a second, only to see Gatal get lifted into the air by another drone, still dripping wet. She could try to wrangle him back down with her tape gun, but she couldn’t waste the time. Minny was in danger and even seconds could count towards her safety.

She bit her tongue as she ran back through the fair, it seemed like pretty much everyone had made it out through the gate and only the people who wanted to be there were left. It didn’t take much time for her to reach the back of the fair. It was definitely where Minny had gone after Kaneko ran off. She was sure of it.

Looking down the second to last aisle, Kaneko couldn’t see anything. Just some flickering lights and the odd candy bag that blew in the wind. When she made it to the last row, she ran down. She still couldn’t see anything, but she couldn’t check the booths from the end and she didn’t have anywhere else to go.

As she ran and looked she eventually noticed something. Not with her eyes, but with her ears. Kaneko jumped through the back tarp of one of the tents, finding the real back of the field. On top of a 2nd story classroom, Naoko was holding what looked like Sylvia by the ankle, with her other leg bending behind the straight one. Sylvia seemed to be completely out cold, unaware of anything that was happening.

Then she saw what was making the noise. A few feet away, Minny was crying on the ground.

“Please! Please, give her back. She didn’t do anything! She was following me, it's not her fault!” Her head turned to Kaneko, giving her a pleading look as tears flowed down her face.

“Minny! Are you hurt?”

Minny cried. “Sylvia! You have to help her! I can’t do anything!”

Kaneko looked back up at Naoko, feeling a cocktail of emotions just at the sight of her. She wanted to run, to fight, to protect, but she couldn’t do anything.

Naoko grinned fiendishly. “She’s right!” She calls, “You’re the only one who’s gonna make a choice here, Ka-ne-ko!”

Naoko was mocking her.

“Naoko! Fight it, please! Force her out!”

Naoko danced on top of the building, keeping Sylvia outstretched over the edge. “Sorry girl! You’re not getting to keep one of us. I’ll make it easy. 2 choices!” Naoko suddenly stopped, outstretched her arms and held out two fingers. “Either chase me down. Maybe you can bring me back to your little cousin and she can trap me in that staff of hers, if she’s even able to… But! This girl falls down. 20 feet! Nothing to soften her landing. Maybe if Minny, there, was put together, she could catch her…” Naoko looked toward Minny with mock sympathy, “But I doubt she could pull herself together in time.”

Naoto danced around again before settling. “O-oo-or, you can catch this one for Minny. Problem solved! And obviously I’d be free to get off by myself. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a fair choice.”

Kaneko grit her teeth, bracing to have to run. “Minny,” She whispered. “Get up. You need to catch her.”

Minny was still bawling. She couldn’t see anything in front of her and every part of her body looked like a puddle of broken dreams. She wasn’t up to it.

“Minny. You have to get up. Please.” Kaneko urged.

She didn’t stop. She didn’t move. She couldn’t, and Kaneko knew that.

In another instant, Naoko dropped Sylvia and time slowed down. Kaneko looked from Minny to Naoko and back to Minny. As Sylvia dropped one story, Minny didn’t move. Kaneko had to act now, whether or not Minny had any intention of moving.

Throwing out several lines of tape, Kaneko managed to form a net that safely cushioned Sylvia from the fall. After making sure that she was okay with a quick check, Kaneko ran around the corner, hoping to spot Naoko running away. There wasn’t even a silhouette that might be her in the distance.

Kaneko threw up a line of tape to the top of the building, tugging at it to see if it could hold her weight. It seemed okay, so she used the retract function on the tape gun to pull herself up to the top. Obviously there was nothing up there either. They were long gone by now.

Making her way back down to the ground, Kaneko knelt down by Sylvia again, making sure that the tape really worked the way it was supposed to. She was perfectly fine.

Kaneko had stopped feeling anything. No anger, no fear, no disgust. Nothing. She felt empty. She felt broken. And then she looked at Minny and something struck her.

She walked over and grabbed Minny’s arm, pulling her up to her feet as she continued to bawl and wipe her tears with her gloves. She was a slobbering, useless mess.

“Minny, let's go. She’s okay. And we need to talk.”

Something had begun to fill the void in Kaneko’s heart. Anger, rage, sadness, disappointment. Grief.