We Transform

Minny watched as the sun began to rise over the horizon and the din of fog emanating from the field began to glow with near-supernatural splendor. She sat here most mornings, in the park near her home, watching the sunrise. It was a sort of ritual for her, getting to watch as the dawn literally brings new light to the world around her. She liked to think that the habit reminded her that anything can be transformed by the light of such a heavenly body, but in reality, she’s just passing the time.

Minny was wearing headphones that were playing the same sappy songs about romance and heartbreak that she had always gravitated towards. She was wearing a set of pink overalls that she had found at a thrift shop that was near her school. She often went there to see if they had anything she liked. They usually didn’t, but she looked anyway. Underneath that, she was wearing a white t-shirt with a print of a bunch of magical girls on it from an anime. She found that at the mall and she liked it a lot.

“So, Cat.” She said to the pitch black feline that sat in her lap. “What’s gonna happen now that Kaneko’s here? I kinda flubbed it with that introduction.”

The cat let her know that she wouldn’t have to worry about her.

“Really?” Minny said, astonished. “Okay. I mean, I trust you. It does make me wonder about her though. What kind of girl is she?”

The cat had no answer to that, only purring in Minny’s lap, persuading her to give him scratches. She did, almost absentmindedly. Her thoughts quickly drifted back to her question. She didn’t know anything about Kaneko. There were pictures of her in the hallway, from back when they all lived in Japan. She was tiny and cute in those pictures, although honestly, everyone was, even Minny’s Dad.

Minny snapped herself out of it. “I should maybe get something to eat before I head to class. Do you wanna get in my backpack?”

The cat refused.

“Okay,” She said, “Well, I’ll see you tonight then?”

The cat purred, bidding MInny farewell before jumping out of her lap and disappearing behind a tree.

“Aaaaand I’m alone again.” Minny says to herself.

She gets up, lightly brushing off any grass that might be stuck to her overalls before heading to a path that’ll lead her to the small cafe that opens the earliest. Minny goes there most mornings because she usually leaves the house too early to eat with even her dad, who got up early for work already. She only really ever got to see her mom when she came home to eat dinner.

As Minny hit the concrete path in the park, she let out a long breath, a cloud of vapor pouring out of her mouth. She hadn’t noticed that before.

“Maybe it’s colder than I realized. I should get inside before I catch a cold.” She says out loud, although in a hushed voice that only she was meant to hear.

She takes a small shortcut, behind a building that was rented out to some community gym or something. As she walked up the small alley, her eye’s caught a glimpse of a piece of graffiti, an image of a cartoon capybara. It was very unique and instantly gave Minny deja vu.

She was here when the cat guided her to her powers. This was where she first saw the cat and he led her from this alley into a building in the park that was used by employees to store equipment. When she walked in though, it wasn’t just some shed, it was an abyss of blackness. No, a hallway marked by torches. The image seemed to flicker in her mind as if it wasn’t properly stored in her memory. She had to remind herself that it was both.

Torches were mounted on either side of the midnight hallway, illuminating nothing and yet burning brightly. As she stepped, a large wooden door slowly skittered its way into reality, growing from a small brown square in the distance to a towering castle gate that she hardly believed existed at all. In front of it was a wand, short and purple, with a pink orb at its head.

“Minny. Step forward and take hold of your dream. Fight for others and yourself.” A voice, maternal and powerful, echoed into her mind.

“Is this… I’m becoming a magical girl? Like…” Minny’s voice trailed off as she stared at the wand.

“It is your dream Minny.” The voice spoke. “I know your heart. I want you to use your dream to help others and I know you will be able to spread your dream to those around you.”

“But… But I’m not in Japan. Everything says… All the articles I’ve ever read say-” Minny stutters, not knowing why she’s even protesting.

“Didn’t know the full truth. Being a magical girl is a part of you. It’s in your blood, Minny. One earthly nation couldn’t monopolize it. But, it is your choice to accept this power.”

At that moment, Minny was struck with a conscious thought. Somehow, she was the one person in her half of the world who got to be a magical girl. A real one! She would fight possessed monsters and the villainous people who controlled them. She’d have friends, maybe even ones that she could fight crime with. She could be a superhero. She would transform! Completely.

Minny stepped forward and grabbed the wand, only to wake up on the grass outside, grasping the wand with both hands. And ever since then, every time the birthmark on her wrist started to quaver, she would follow its intuition and purify whatever monster she found, turning it back into a normal animal. Then the cat would show up and take the animal back to wherever it was supposed to be.

Minny looked up for the first time in a few minutes. She had been staring at the ground as she walked, unconsciously slowing as she thought. She had only realized she was at the door to the cafe as she stepped up to it.

As she walked inside, Minny wondered how Kaneko would react to such a crazy story, or how she would even attempt to explain something like that without it sounding like a boring dream

〰

Hours later, after Minny had got to her school, Bellwood High and gotten all the way through her lunch period, she made her way to her final class of the day. Part of her wondered whether Kaneko had even decided to come to school that day. She hadn’t seen her, even with her distinctive red dyed hair streaks, which Minny had looked for whenever she moved around between classes.

Walking into her last class though, Minny immediately spotted her. Kaneko was talking to the teacher, Ms. Novac, handing her a schedule and getting a little introductory spiel from the teacher. Minny decided to hang back at the door, pretending to check her phone while she watched Kaneko. She was a little too nervous to think of any introductions.

She looked like she was being polite to Ms. Novac, who had a big smile on her face. Minny thought Ms. Novac was pretty caring as a teacher, so it’s not super surprising that she’d be accommodating to a transfer student, even with the short notice. It was only 2 days ago that anyone knew that Kaneko was even coming to the states, from what Minny’s mom had told her.

Minny took another peek inside and found that Kaneko was sitting in the seat next to hers. Maybe Ms. Novac knew they were cousins? They had different last names, but it’s not like they didn’t look at all similar.

Minny thought about going inside, but then she saw something that surprised her a little. The girl who sat behind Kaneko was talking to her. It wasn’t surprising that someone would want to talk to Kaneko, but seeing who was doing the talking caught Minny off guard.

Her name was Sylvia. She had long and wavy blonde hair and only wore designer brands. Minny had always thought she looked pretty, but ever since she entered high school, she had really started fussing about her appearance, making her more and more pretty. Right now, she was wearing a yellow floral dress that Minny had never seen before, with daisies and plums in the design of the fabric. Over that, she had a letterman style jacket that one of the trendier brands had recently come out with. The arms were white and the body was a light blue that matched with the dress nicely.

Both were probably brand new, and looked the part, which was in sharp contrast to the hat that she wore every day. Minny couldn’t see the front of the hat from where she was standing but she knew it had a logo from a store in a far away mall. Minny had asked about it years ago, but by now, had forgotten.

Minny knew she had to go in now, class was about to start. She made her way around the desks, before sitting down next to Kaneko, who looked surprised to see her. Sylvia, just like Minny expected, pretended to be bored as soon as she showed her face. Minny still didn’t have anything to say to Kaneko though, so she started to take things out of her bag, hoping Kaneko would say something before class got started.

She got so caught up in the idea of getting ready that she didn’t realize that Kaneko had leaned over to whisper to her. “I almost didn’t recognize you without pink hair.”

Minny didn’t know what to say to that. She patted her wavy hazel ponytail on the back of her head, as if she was checking to see if it was still there at all. Then she realized Kaneko was talking about her magical girl transformation and a number of questions rose to the surface of her mind. Should she try to play coy? Should she just admit the truth? Should she keep silent until after class is done?

Kaneko continued, “On the way to school this morning, that black cat found me and led me to this.” She opened the backpack that was placed between them. Inside were a few books, a few loose and tiny pencils, and a tape dispenser, the kind with a handle that heavy duty movers would use to quickly tape up boxes.
“Wait what?” Minny asked.

“I think it’s like, a magical thing or something. There was this big door…” Kaneko explained.

“Oh!” Minny exclaimed, way too loud. She had to bring herself down to a whisper. “We should definitely talk after school. This is going to be sick!”

“Uh, okay. As long as you explain some of this stuff to me.” Kaneko said. “By the way, this girl sitting behind me shut down after you started walking towards us. She was right in the middle of complimenting my outfit too. I’m not trying to brag, it was just weird.”

“Yeah, I can’t really explain that. We used to be friends…” Minny trailed off

Before she could continue, the bell rang and Ms. Novac stepped up in front of the class to start lecturing about Great Expectations, the book they were supposed to have read in between classes. Minny had forgotten though, busy with magical girl work, and only remembered once the book was brought 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 dark 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.”

Kaneko looked for Minny’s reaction. She had stars in her eyes, definitely a fangirl.

“So you really got powers too? Are we gonna be partners in crime-fighting?” Minny asked, excitedly.

“Well, that’s not exactly why I took the offer.” Kaneko explains. “I just wanted to know more about what was going on with you. Wait, how did you get your powers?”

Minny grinned, any apprehension she had about talking through this was completely gone. “It was mostly the same. I followed the cat through to a door and everything.”

“You’re saying that you just followed an alleycat around and that happened to give you superpowers?”

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

“Little gentleman? I’m pretty sure he drugged me last night.” Kaneko scoffed, jokingly

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

Kaneko stopped smiling, reminded of how she got here. “Sure. Yeah. Me too.”

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

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

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 really nice, from what she had seen. “It’s fine. I guess we should actually talk about your powers. What are they? Obviously, I got this tape gun, but I honestly don’t know what to do with it.” She said.

Minny explains, “Yeah, I don’t really know what’s up with that. 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.”

Kaneko thinks for a moment, “That’s one thing… You’re a magical girl. Not an American knock off or anything. Not a sorcerer or a witch or anything like that. A real magical girl.”

“Aww, thanks.” Minny gave a bashful little punch to her cousin’s shoulder.

Kaneko brushes the punch off easily, continuing, “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.” Minny responds.

Something irked Kaneko, causing her to respond rather sharply. Sharper than she even realized she was being. “I don’t know that magical girls are really superheroes…”
“What do you mean, of course they are!” Minny says.

Kaneko doubles down, trying to explain her way out of her own words. “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 just wild! Besides, most magical girls fight aliens and stuff. Superheroes fight aliens.”

Kaneko realized that she probably went too far, 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.

“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 on her feet, not used to the nagging feeling. “But I don’t even know how to use my powers or anything. What, am I gonna wrap an animal with tape?”

Minny waves her off. “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?” Minny corrected.

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 walled with 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 stroke of 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 3 foot fence into the riverbed impressively fast. She could tell the animal was close, even though that feeling still wasn’t leading her anywhere in particular Kaneko carefully made her way down the slope to the bottom of the riverbed as Minny finally followed her over the fence.

“So, now what? I don’t see it.” Kaneko asked

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, it looked the same as what she had the night before, only shorter. The orb on its head was made of a smokey 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 warning, she was suddenly bathed in light. She became a human 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. The whole process only took about 3 seconds or so.

She was dressed in the same pink and purple outfit that Kaneko had seen the night before, wearing big purple gloves and boots and a pink top tucked into a band that circled her waist like a belt. She had these cute pink poofs on her shoulders and a pair of culotte 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. It wasn’t just a dream after all. “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. She didn’t find any, 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 or blue dress and throwing up from all the sparkles. Kaneko didn't have a problem with pink in moderation, but the image that flashed through her mind, frankly disturbed her. She opened her eyes, looked herself over and felt simultaneous joy and frustration.

She sighed. “Why didn’t it work?”

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

“I mean, kinda?...” She said, not really believing herself.

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.

“Ooh! 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 it might be the kind of thing to trigger the transformation.

Seconds passed as Kaneko breathed. She could hear some splashing and movement in the distance, but she 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 her friend with her. The sky was golden as twilight descended; The buildings in the distance were nothing but silhouettes. The thought quickly turned sour though.

Apparently bittersweet memories didn’t help.

Then, “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 the incredibly dirty water. The raccoon was hissing and walking along the edge of the water, almost looking like it was goading Minny into attacking it again.

Without thinking, Kaneko began to float in the air as she was consumed by light. She looked around only to find herself in a technicolor whirlwind. When she looked down, she found herself to be that same swirl of color. Then Kaneko’s jacket appeared on her arms, the black contrasting harshly with the lights around her. She looked down at the jacket, realizing then that she was the one who got to choose what she looked like.

In the next second, she was back, gently settling on the pavement. Kaneko blinked as she got a hold of this new reality, before she rushed off towards the raccoon. As if it were second nature, Kaneko pushed the tape gun out in front of her, before feeling the tape itself shoot out the front. She was controlling it like another appendage.

Before she even knew what was happening, the tape connected with the raccoon and it jumped sideways to turn towards her. With one swift flick of her arm, Kaneko had dragged the animal into the air, before sending it flailing back onto the ground.

Then 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, blindsiding the raccoon and tapping it on its head.

“Boop! Oh! ~Blegh~ You got it!” Minny exclaimed, jumping from playful to grossed out to excited without any in-betweens.

Kaneko was a little disappointed that she didn’t get to fight it. “That’s it? I was ready to capture it or something.”

“No, once I use the staff, the evil energy gets sucked out and stored inside. At least, that's how I think it works.” Minny explained.

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

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

Kaneko looks down at herself. “Huh. I wonder if that works for me too…”

“What do you mean? You didn’t transform, did you? 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!”

“Ah, 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 and Kaneko heard the same click before an untransformed Minny appeared beside her.

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

〰

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

“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 weirdos 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 place where she saw them, before turning towards her friends and walking off with them.

For the rest of the day, she couldn’t help but remind herself, “Those aren’t magical girls. They can’t be.”