Here's another RCM! Just one more of this batch to go, and boy it's a complicated one. Says something in a batch of complicated ones.
A young girl strode casually down the street towards her all-girls school’s front entrance with a great big smile on her lips and a confident swagger in each and every step. By all appearances she was a perfectly ordinary young girl. Average height, average build, average looks. Average length black hair in a fairly nondescript style. It extended beyond that as well. Average grades, average athletic ability. Absolutely nothing stood out about this particular young girl save for how completely she did not stand out in the slightest. She was normal, without being boringly so.
And yet she was happy. Happy as a well-fed clam. This may seem a little strange to some people, but to Nari Sammiya it made a great deal of sense. It didn’t particularly matter if she was average or normal. In fact she didn’t really use those terms to think about herself at all. Why?
The answer became apparent the moment she stepped through the school gates and the eyes of every single female student turned towards her, with a sense of eagerness shining through. All for her. It’s hard not to be happy when you’re the most popular person around.
“Nari!” one girl said. “I’ve got tickets to that movie screening tonight! Wanna come?”
“No, ignore her!” said another. “You know the bookstore on the high street? Tonight they’re doing an autograph signing for -”
“Ignore that geek! Tonight’s the boxing finals and I’ve got a spare ticket!”
Nari sighed as offers poured in and the girls began to bicker among themselves. It was strangely satisfying watching them all argue over her. Some of them were bigger than her, or smarter than her or prettier than her or - But they all wanted to hang out with her. Each and every single one of them. Nari chuckled and rolled her eyes. Who would have the best offer for her evening’s free entertainment? The closest three to her didn’t pay any heed as she took the offered tickets or pamphlets advertising whatever event they were discussing, and she quirked an eyebrow at what she was reading.
“Now, now, you girls shouldn’t fight!” Nari admonished, much though she did love the attention. “I’ll tell you what. I mean, there’s plenty of time to go to the book signing, see the movie and watch the boxing match. See? The movie airs from six to about eight, the fight starts at nine and is a ten-minute walk from the theatre. That leaves plenty of time to go to the bookstore straight from school. See? Not a problem!”
The three girls all sighed contented sighs, while the others all looked rather dejected. Sorry, all of you! But she couldn’t hope to spend time with all of them, no matter what they might think. Still! She’d try to make it up to a lucky special few over the course of the school day. In the meantime, once she was able to slip away for a brief period she flipped open her phone and scrolled through a folder full of pictures of girls. Let’s see now…
Hatsue Kusunoki, Shoken Okita and Satoko Hagino. Those were the three she’d be spending time with tonight. She flipped it shut with a bit of a giggle to herself. Every night was party night for her! She didn’t know what it was and didn’t particularly care either but every single girl in school seemed to be drawn towards her and she loved every single moment of it. The smart girls helped her study and with homework, the athletic girls made every effort not to humiliate her in sports or even remotely hurt her at all… She was universally popular, among all groups throughout the school! Little Miss Popularity!
Tonight in particular sounded like a lot of fun. But first thing’s first….
<hr>
She was a shy girl, the type that never spoke up if she could avoid it. Which made it all the more irritating that people kept on coming over to talk to her. Didn’t they understand that she wasn’t interested? Didn’t they get that she didn’t care a jot?
Those feelings had gotten worse once she’d discovered that book. Hidden away in an old library, unnoticed by people that didn’t have the same love of books that she had. A book of magic. A book full of spells…
“Oh, Nanako!” a voice called out, and she felt a strange euphoria pass over her entire body. It was the one and only person she would allow to approach her. Nanako Shiomi had always considered herself a shy girl, true, but she had always thought her preference was boys. It sort of was. But if there was one girl that could make her go the other way it was Nari. She didn’t even know why. “I was wondering if you could do me a favour,” she said.
“Anything,” Nanako said without hesitation.
“I’m going to be a little bit preoccupied tonight,” Nari said. “Would you mind at all doing my homework for me?”
“Not a bit of it,” Nanako said, even though she also had plans tonight involving her cowl, makeup and a bunch of fools drawn to a commercialised event that committed blasphemy against the true potential and power of books. This level of homework would take ten minutes at most. She could spare that. Anything to keep Nari happy.
<hr>
There was a bit more of a queue at the bookstore than Nari had been expecting, if she was perfectly honest. She clutched the book to her chest with one hand, while the other was held firmly and fast by Satoko Hagino. Definitely one of the curvier girls at school that made Nari almost sort of wish that she could get a little bit of alone time with her away from this crowd. It wasn’t entirely helped that the store was particularly warm today.
“Gosh, what is with this heat?” Nari complained.
Satoko turned towards Nari, her droopy eyes dancing in amusement. “It’s the number of people in here,” she said. “Obviously, this many people in one place would cause a significant increase in temperature. Perhaps their air conditioning is malfunctioning… Or…”
The girl trailed off, and slowly turned her head around to look at the crowd. “You stay here,” she said, releasing Nari’s hand and giving her a peck on the cheek that left the girl wanting so much more. “Look, there’s a serving counter. I’ll get us something to drink while we wait.”
“Okay! Hurry back!” Nari said, waving at her retreating form and trying not to drink in the image of that wasp-waisted figure wandering away. Such a shame that she could only spend so much time with her today, but then again the other two dates were looking pretty promising as well. Did she say dates? She meant, uh, meetings.
“Hey!” a voice called. “The door’s locked!”
A low rumble began to go through the crowd. They were locked in? What? But how - When did that happen?! Why would someone lock them in like that? The people around her began to panic, jostling each other around in a futile attempt to push their way out. Gods, but the heat was unbearable and getting worse moment to moment! If this kept up then Nari knew she was going to collapse, and in fact she could see several people with weaker constitutions starting to keel over already.
“Kekeke,” a sinister voice cackled from above them all. “That’s right! Collapse under the heat! I wonder how long it will be before anyone notices that you are all missing?”
Nari turned her head up towards the source of the voice and scowled at the cowled girl standing up there with a cocky smirk on her makeup-covered face. There was a mad glint in her eye that sent a chill down her spine, but that was nowhere near enough to keep her cool.
“Soon enough, we shall drain you completely dry of all of your energy! Heat, chemical, nervous impulses! It will all be turned towards our wondrous use -”
“What, you’ve never heard of a battery?”
Nari turned her head and stared in awe at the sight of the girl walking out of an aisle of bookshelves. It actually looked more like she’d just walked out of late 19th-century America, with a gleaming white blouse and hoop skirt that covered everything from the waist down. The fact that she was still conscious in that getup was a testament to something pretty amazing.
“I am Wild Patroller!” the girl announced, twirling a dainty umbrella around her head. “I shall overcome this artificial heat wave and set these people free!”
The weird cowled girl rolled her eyes and pointed her fingers towards Wild Patroller, and she obviously had some sort of generator hidden under there that let it look like she could shoot lightning from her fingertips. Because magic was stupid and impossible. Wild Patroller ducked her head and let the electricity strike the umbrella, which seemed to somehow absorb the attack. However, the cowled girl had vanished from where she had been standing and an identical twin had appeared right behind Wild Patroller with glowing yellow hands and an absolutely evil expression upon her face.
“Drop dead,” the villain said, punching Wild Patroller in the back and sending her crashing into a bookcase. “That’s a completely impractical outfit to fight in. You don’t stand a chance against my lightning speed!”
Wild Patroller almost seemed to prove her right by taking her time in standing up, but it was kind of weird how it looked like her dress was glowing like that. Weirder still was the way it sort of flew apart, leaving Wild Patroller standing in nothing but a corset and a positively tiny pair of shorts. The villain started to laugh, but suddenly her gaze seemed to fall upon Nari and for some reason she froze completely in place. This provided Wild Patroller with the perfect opportunity to swing her umbrella like a mace. It had about the same sort of impact, sending the villain into and through the locked door with a tremendous clamour. The cool air rushed through the building, and everyone slowly got back to their feet. By the time they’d done so, Wild Patroller was gone.
“Nari!” Satoko yelled, nearly bowling her back over onto the ground with a flying hug. “Are you alright? Did that witch hurt you at all?”
“Not a bit of it,” Nari replied. “In fact, I rather think you’re hurting me more than she did!”
“Oh! Sorry!” Satoko separated herself in an instant. Nari giggled a little there, but it was sort of a shame. She was actually enjoying the hug a little bit. “Um… I think the event has probably finished… And you have a fair bit of time before you have to go to the cinema… Shall we do something else to pass the time?”
“Sounds like fun,” Nari replied with a twinkle in her eye.
<hr>
So there it was, just a tiny taste of Nari’s life of late. Every girl at school tripping over themselves to be her friend. Every girl at school secretly being either a magical girl, or a magical girl’s villain and completely smitten with one girl in particular. Gossip would circulate about who her favourite was. The entire school’s societal structure gravitated to one girl in particular. But… why? Why would that happen if none of them even knew of one another’s secret?
The answer is simple: Unconscious fascination with the normal world. We all need some level of connection to it, and this is especially true for those waist deep in the supernatural realm. Though not a single one of them is consciously aware of their peculiarly shared fate, at a subconscious level they are all picking up on the one person in their lives that is different. Her normality is subliminally abnormal to all of them, and it fascinates them so much that it compels them all to spend time with her. To make her their one and only “normal friend”.
But alas, there are going to have to be consequences for this. Poor Nari may be on top of the world for now, but pride does come before the fall.
Nari heads to the cinema, another attack occurs by another villain.
Nanako is furious and decides to focus her attention on magical girls.
Background for Wild Patroller!
Nari and Satoko head off somewhere more private for fun.
Something else
No comments:
Post a Comment