Chapter 9: Kanna

“Let me out!” Kanna shouted. “Let me out! Let me out!” She continued, banging her fists on the storage closet door. Her hands hurt, it was hot inside the cramped space of sports equipment, and what she regretted the most, was that she couldn’t hold back the tears. “Please…”

Kanna remembered this moment. It was the first time she had felt completely helpless, and here she was again, locked in her worst memory, dead inside a poetic purgatory, and watching herself crumble from the inside out.

I never used to cry, Kanna thought, spotting the first of many tears teen Kanna was trying to wipe away. I always used to wall off the emotions with a cold emotionless face, and pretend that people didn’t exist. It’s how my parents acted after all. She continued to watch her fourteen year old self stand back and ram the door with her shoulder, hoping that someone would hear the ruckus. I did that about three times before my shoulder really started to hurt. Kanna predicted perfectly. Teen Kanna rubbed her shoulder as she tried to open the door again, uselessly. And all because I didn’t want to injure myself before my kendo match. Adult Kanna looked up where teen Kanna didn’t, at the small window above the door, expectedly. But when nothing came of it, she slumped against an old mat, and watched.

The other girls in the kendo club were so jealous of me. I transferred to their school a month ago and they shoved me into a storage closet on the day of the big tournament. She looked up to the window again, as teen Kanna sat down and kicked at the door, trying to exert more strength into her kicks with each attempt. She saw that her younger self was getting tired, red faced and sweaty.

And no one on the team ever cared to make friends with you either, she told herself. Then the youth stood up again and used the other shoulder to ram the door. Teen Kanna was beginning to cry more and more. Her sobs became louder, and her eyes were stinging.

You think this is bad, Kanna thought to herself. Wait till you’re older on your first date, you find out that the boy who asked you out is a villain hell bent on destroying the world and ending mankind. And worse yet, you don’t even get killed by him, your latent magical powers disappear and you’re helpless as a goddess plays with you and stops your heart with a lightning bolt.

Kanna started to feel a rage within her that she had never felt before. She had Izanami on the ropes, she was already burning into a pile of ash. All she had to do was not show mercy, not give her the chance to strike again. Kanna squeezed her forearms, she could hear her teeth grinding, but not so well over the tantrum the child in front was throwing.

“Give it a rest!” She told herself. “You have absolutely nothing to worry about compared to me! Ayako-Senpai is already on her way to free you!” But teen Kanna didn’t hear her. “You get out of this, you wake up your magical powers, you help the others fight off Goro and the Osoroshi Kaidame, and you still have enough time to get back to the tournament and win your match!” Kanna thought that her voice would be more hoarse after screaming, but she supposed that the dead didn’t have those problems.

The young Kanna picked up a shinai next and started beating the door with it. Each strike bent and splintered the wooden sword more and more until it snapped. She threw the broken stick to the floor, and both Kannas watched it bounce and clatter to the ground. Teen Kanna went to the back and picked up another one.

“Men!” She shouted, inhaling through her quivering voice and shouted again. “Men! Men!” She kept making the calls of the vertical head strike until the second shinai had snapped too. She returned to the back of the room and grabbed the next one. This time it only took four strikes for the shinai to snap in two. The next one too, and the fifth. It wasn’t until the sixth shinai that she had started to feel the exhaustion with each strike. This one broke too, but it broke slowly. Adult Kanna noticed that her younger self was bleeding at the hands from the heavy strikes she was making, but teen Kanna didn’t.

“Why did I care so much?” She asked herself. “Why didn’t I just sit quietly, put on that emotionless face and give up?” Kanna sank into herself, doing exactly what the younger Kanna refused to do, and accepted the hopeless result of her pointless life, until she too began to cry.

“I wish I had gotten to see Yui again,” Kanna lamented. “I haven’t seen her since she retired. I wish I could have hung out with the others too. And Trimy, I hope she’ll be alright and find someone more capable to carry the torch.”

The calls and strikes made by her younger self were all but a muffle as her vision got blurry with tears. “I hope Goro isn’t mad at me… I hope he had a good time on our date.” Her thoughts reflected on the date at the festival, the games she won, the treats he bought her, and the truth as to who he really was. She laughed, and wiped away the tears for all but a moment. “I had fun at least…”

“I need to be there,” Kanna heard her younger self say. “She said that she’d watch my match. I have to be there! Men!”

Who’s she? Kanna thought before flinching at the sound of shattering glass. Teen Kanna had finally noticed the window above the door and smashed it with the last good shinai. They both heard a scream from the otherside, and they both waited to hear who it was.

“Huh? Hello?” The voice said from behind the door, stepping on glass as the person knocked.

“Senpai!?” Teen Kanna called out.

“Momo-san!” It was Ayako, from before they had become close friends. Both Kannas stood up straight at the familiar voice and knocked on the door back.

“Senpai, I’m trapped in here!” Teen Kanna shouted.

“Hold on,” Ayako said, jiggling the door to no avail. “It’s locked!”

“I know that!” Teen Kanna said, picking up and throwing one of the broken shinai pieces through the window. The sound of wood hitting bone echoed, and both Kanna’s winced at the sound.

“Ow!” Ayako cried out from behind the door.

“Sorry Senpai,” both Kannas apologized.

“Let’s try to pull it together on the count of three,” Ayako suggested. “We might be able to force it open if we work together!” Teen Kanna nodded from behind the door and started pulling. The door refused to budge, and Kanna knew that her younger self was already tired from attacking the door. And yet somehow, despite knowing the outcome, Kanna found herself cheering them on.

“You can do this!” Kanna told her younger self, who stopped to look behind her. Teen Kanna made eye contact with herself, and smiled, before putting all her strength into the next pull.

That’s right, Kanna thought. Ayako-Senpai uses her magic powers to force the door open at the last moment.

“Alright, I’m going to pull again!” She heard Ayako say from behind the door.

Wait, she wasn’t pulling? Kanna then watched as the door started to slide open, screeching open with just teen Kanna’s strength alone. No, it wasn’t Ayako who used her powers… It was me.

Kanna witnessed as her younger self started to glow with violet magical energy flowing around her. Her hair turned white too as her kendo uniform changed colors from white and black to pink and purple. The door crashed open, with Ayako on the other side, so surprised that she forgot to breathe.

“Thank you, Senpai…” Teen Kanna thanked.

“Sure…” Ayako said, before remembering something. “Kanna!”

“Yes?” Teen Kanna said.

“I need your help, come with me to Shinjuku, I think you can help me save some people.”

“But I-”

“Trust me!” Ayako continued. “You’re more special than you understand.” Teen Kanna’s aura faded as looked at Ayako confused. And in truth, she was speechless. Kanna wanted to say that she was busy, that she had an important kendo match that she wanted her senpai to see, and Kanna knew this. But her younger self stood up, flipped her hair back over her shoulder and stepped out of the storage closet.

“Right!” Teen Kanna agreed without a word for her personal needs and ran off with Ayako. Kanna too stepped out of the closet, and watched the two girls run away from the school and towards certain danger. She knew how it would play out, just like it always had. The bad guys would show up, reveal their master plan, and Kanna and her friends would thwart the plot and save the day. And no matter how hard the fight got, they never gave up hope, and always, always, got back up.

“I remember now, why I’m a magical girl…”

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Kanna’s eyes opened. She was lying against the tree Izanami had set her against. And just in front of her was the goddess herself, walking away with Kanna’s scarf around her neck. Kanna stood up, her body didn’t feel heavy anymore, she felt strong, stronger than she ever felt before, and she used this strength to strode up behind Izanami, reached out and grabbed the scarf trailing behind her and pulled.

Izanami turned around and saw Kanna, again in her magical girl kimono, but she saw the anger in her now iridescent eyes and as her hair waved like fire whtie with streaks of violet appearing and disappearing.

“I think you didn’t overestimate me enough,” Kanna told Izanami. The goddess threw her right hand into the air, calling back her spear of lightning. But before she could attack, Kanna tugged on the scarf one more time and pulled Izanami close enough to plant the candle cannon square at her chest. She fired the cannon, fireworks erupted from it and sent Izanami flying and spinning into the air as Kanna unwound her scarf from around the goddess’s neck

Kanna gave chase, flying up and after Izanami. She was furious, looking down at Kanna, she readied to unleash her fury upon her, whereas Kanna smiled, ready to meet her with her own fury. The two clashed with sword and spear. Kanna returned to her kendo style, making the calls to her opponent as she struck.

“Men! Kote! Men! Do!”Kanna called as Izanami attempted to block, but failed to at every other strike.

“How did you survive!” Izanami shouted, trying to fire off lightning strikes at Kanna point blank.

“I didn’t!” Kanna told her. “But more importantly, I finally came up with an answer for you!” Izanami dodged back as Kanna sliced horizontally at her neck. Izanami dashed back and threw her spear at her, but Kanna caught it. The lightning prickled her skin, but it no longer had the same shock that it had almost no effect on her while in this form. Kanna broke the spear in two over her knee and the lightning zapped into thine air.

“I do this because I have friends who look up to me and watch over me. I don’t want to disappoint them, and I want to do the best I can in all that I do!” Kanna smiled as she watched Izanami’s expression frown into a sneer. She didn’t really care what reason Kanna had, she was just trying to get under her skin. Kanna realized that now, but faced her opponent with the seriousness that she thought the goddess deserved.

“Good answer, Magical Girl,” Kanna heard Goro, Kaiyo Omo say as he flew up behind Izanami, a new iron circle for a weapon in his hands. It was silver and sharp, but it resembled the iron rings they threw together down at the festival.

He is just Goro deep down, Kanna thought. Just like I have always been Kanna, the woman who never gave up.

The two watched as Izanami looked around desperately for something, but Goro only laughed at her.

“Your little birds have all been captured,” Goro told her, as she turned to face him. The goddess looked up as a dark portal opened above her, where two giant clawed hands reached down to surround her from escaping left or right of Kanna and Goro. Kanna also noticed the talking wolf from earlier below them in the trees, waiting for the goddess’s next move. Izanami looked over her shoulder at Kanna and shot her one final glare before laughing and shrugging to herself.

“Monsters and humans working together, who would have thought of such a terrible idea,” Izanami said. “This will suffice for now. I don’t find it quite as satisfying as killing you, but at the very least, I’ve made the scale of causality shift just a little bit out of balance. Then again, was it me who did that?” She told Kanna, who just stood her ground, refusing to contribute to Izanami’s game again.

“Regardless, I’ve had my fill for now. But remember this Hanabi Ryu, the next time I will be sure to kill you nine times over if that’s what it takes to destroy you. And I hope that neither of us will hesitate when that time comes…” The monstrous hands slowly clasped around Izanami as she finished, and the portal closed from above.

Classic villain monologue, Kanna thought, finding it oddly nostalgic after nearly dying.

The wolf below them ran away, and Kanna was finally alone with Goro again. The surge of power that Kanna had gained left her and she wrapped her scarf around her neck and returned her other armaments to their original places where she used her magic to hide and conceal them from Kaiyo Omo. While Goro refused to let his guard down. She laughed and took her scarf off, ready to teleport away.

“I’ll let you off the hook this time, Ocean Lord. Just don’t cause any trouble and I won’t have to beat you up again.” Earning a bit of a surprised look from her favorite nemesis Kanna teleported back behind the destroyed stands below. Kanna looked up at Goro as he too turned into black mist that dissipated into nothing. Kanna wondered if it was best to just remain here or try to make her way to the rest of the crowd. The people were already coming back into the area, assessing the damage to their stands, and Kanna picked back up the stuffed squid and took the marble out from its suit pocket.

Stepping out from behind the stands, Kanna watched the festival goers walk about with amazement. Far more enchanted that Hanabi Ryu and Kaiyo Omo teamed up to fight a new super villain or at least that’s what she heard as she made her way to the exit.

The damage was actually minimal this time, Kanna thought. I’ll have to give Goro credit for that.

“Kanna!” She heard the faint call of her name from a distance. She looked all around until she heard it again. “Kanna, over here!” Goro shouted for her, running through the rest of the crowd.

So your alibi is that you evacuated? Not bad, She thought, waiting for him to get to her. He put his hands on his knees, appearing tired, but Kanna was certain that he was, and so did she.

“Are you alright?” He asked right away. She smiled and paused to think up a response.

“To tell you the truth,” she started, pretending that nothing had happened. “I’m super exhausted!” She said, slumping a bit, and using the stuffed squid as a pillow as she stood. “I didn’t think we’d end up in the middle of a fight between Hanabi Ryu and Kaiyo Omo though, talk about exciting.”

“You’re telling me, I couldn’t find you anywhere,” Goro said, sounding a tad sad as he did. Kanna blushed as she imagined him looking everywhere while she fought Izanami alone. Then that thought stuck with her and she glared.

“Well, I for one was worried for poor Hanabi Ryu. She had to fight that crazy looking woman all by herself while Kaiyo Omo just sat on his butt, waiting for things to resolve.” Kanna stated, getting a nervous reaction from Goro, but made sure not to look at him directly.

“W- Well, I’m sure if that monster heard you say that, he’d most likely try to help a bit more if that happened again.”

“Are you a Kaiyo Omo fan?” Kanna asked accusedly.

“No!” Goro retorted instantly. “I’m just saying that you make a good point.”

Kanna couldn’t help but tease him. It was too funny, too cute, and too fitting for her. But even so, her fight with the goddess, Izanami, left her with more questions than she had time for. Like her time when she first awakened to her powers, she wondered what Goro had to go through to get his. She wanted to learn more about him, even if he was a monster, she wanted to make the effort and give her nemesis that chance.

“Did you want to do anything else before the day is over?” She asked Goro, to which he perked up, not expecting that question.

“Well,” he started, looking around at the mess of a festival, knowing full well that it was closed indefinitely. “Want to get some ice cream? There’s a park near the cafe that I know of, my treat.” Kanna then slipped her arm through his and handed him the stuffed squid.

Those questions can wait though, I think I’ll just take it easy for now, she thought.

“Lead the way!” She told him, and they started walking for the station, quite ready for a bit of rest and relaxation.