Story: RCM Magic Free Popularity

Would it be a surprise to anyone that the clubs at this very peculiar high school were also very peculiar? None of your gymnastics clubs, no volleyball club or baseball club or painting club or writing club. No. Nothing like that. Remember, while most of the students were not exactly aware of the fact on a conscious level, they were all of them possessed of some form of supernatural ability that made them unique, special. Whether they used it for good or evil depended on the girl in question, but they were all very different kinds of magical. Under those circumstances a mundane club was simply impossible no matter what they tried!

For example: Imagine that there was an “American Culture Club”. That might seem strange to someone that lives in America, or even any other English-speaking country. Some snobs may even claim that “American culture” was an oxymoron. But no, there was definitely a culture there. Scratch that. Numerous cultures, spread across the landscape. It’s rather why the political climate there is more consistently fucked than a character on this addventure, but probably best to move on before someone decides to take that imagery and make it literal by way of anthropomorphization.

The point is that Japanese culture is significantly different from, well, Western countries in general and they find it as fascinating and weird as the West finds Japan. So, it’s only natural that a club like this might form. It’s a club devoted to things like American comics, television shows, movies and the comparatively shorter history than other major world powers. A mundane version of this club might just goof around watching DVDs, reading comics, discussing how the context changes between the official translation with the original English… Mundane stuff all around which might sound familiar to some people.

However. When your club is entirely comprised of magical girls in their secret identities…

“And I maintain that Civil War was a goddamn trainwreck!” yelled one girl wearing a suit of armour which, at a distance, looked sort of like a certain trademarked character but, on closer examination was legally distinct enough that nobody could be sued. The palms of her hands began to glow an ominous pink as she marched across the room. “They butchered everyone’s character for the sake of cheap drama!”

“Oh, please,” her opponent snorted, lounging around on a chair with her feet up on the desk. “What are you going to do, heal me to death? Anyway, Civil War is a misunderstood modern classic. Give it time and people will see how brilliant it really was.”

“Besides which!” Satoko said through gritted teeth. She grabbed hold of Protector Healer’s wrist and gently twisted her back onto the seat she’d stood up from. “Transforming in school when there’s not a threat is an incredibly stupid thing to do!”

“Um… I fail to see the problem?” said a quiet voice in the corner of the room. “I’ve scanned the surrounding area already, and… And the room is completely soundproof. No surveillance of any kind. God himself doesn’t know what’s going on in here.”

Protector Healer glowered at the girl sitting opposite, who continued to file her nails as if nothing at all had happened. Yes. This was the American Culture Club. And like every club within the school to some degree, it had become completely twisted around because of the magical nature of every single member of it. Even the clubs where the members didn’t know about the magical girl status of the others were still completely twisted in their own special ways. Here it manifested as the occasional magically assisted argument. In other clubs? Well, let’s just say that the baseball club’s bats are auto-fixing and the balls can’t go further than ten feet from school grounds even if carried in a tank. And may all the gods help any male caught trying to peek at the swim club, because they’d certainly need that help!

In the meantime, these were the members:
Satoko Hagino, aka Wild Patroller, a Southern belle-themed magical girl.
Shinobu Oshin, aka Protector Healer, who fights in powered armour that fires healing bolts and projects force fields. However, water, electricity and magnets are her crucial weaknesses.
Emiko Ukiyo, aka Ghostly Caller Guardian, who specialises in the realm of the recently departed and offers them a peaceful passing to the afterlife in exchange for some favours helping people.
Katsumi Nagai, aka Night Duchess, who is capable of teleporting between shadows in the blink of an eye.

Protector Healer’s mask disassembled into nothing, revealing the annoyed face of Shinobu underneath. She kept a steady eye on Katsumi, who proceeded to give not a single damn. Really. The two of them were the best of friends. Like all best friends, they just happened to know <i>exactly</i> how to push the other’s buttons.

Katsumi waved her hand, and reached into her shadow to pull out a can of juice that was in the fridge in the corner. “Really now, you shouldn’t take it so seriously,” Katsumi sighed. “This is why your trip to the comic expo with Nari went so horribly, horribly wrong.”

“… Well, you showing up didn’t exactly help much.”

“And yet without my assistance, Corruption Thief Princess would have gotten away with it.”

“Girls, I do declare!” Satoko interrupted. “Could you please just kiss and get it over with already? We don’t have a tremendous amount of time, so I would rather stay on point. If that’s okay with you?”

“Um…” Emiko began, pushing up her far too thick glasses and shuffling over towards the three of them. “I… Was able to get the analysis on Nanako done like you asked… You were right. Something is weird about her. I t-tried to get a spirit to check her out, but it was repelled by something immediately!”

A chill descended over the room, and suddenly Katsumi was wearing her game face. That was when you knew something was serious. Her game face only ever came on in a real crisis that needed attention. Of course, none of them thought for a moment that it could be because Nanako was a magical villain that might just have decided it would be a good idea to protect herself from remote scans with a few well-concealed wards.

“Nanako…” Shinobu began. “Isn’t she the annoying girl that always gives you the death glares? Sorta smart, but obnoxious about it instead of cute like Emiko?” As soon as she said that, Shinobu winced.

“You think I’m cute?” Emiko asked, suddenly excitedly gripping Shinobu’s arm. “Really? You think I’m cute? What is it that makes me cute? Is it the way I sometimes stammer? My smile? My hairstyle? Do you think Nari will find me cute as well?”

“Mostly? You’re cute when you’re not cutting off the circulation in my arm! Leggo!”

“It might be Darkness Corrector,” Katsumi suggested, and there was the second sign that she was serious. Completely ignoring the perfect opportunity to push Shinobu and Emiko’s buttons. “You remember how she was at wiping memories. Well… I hope you remember. If not, we have a more serious problem than we thought.”

“I was thinking of Empress Screamer, personally.” Shinobu shrugged. Mercifully, Emiko detached from her arm and went to looking at herself in a hand mirror. Damn insecure supposed genius… “Either of them could pull this sorta stunt. Neither’s the sort I’d like to face again in a hurry.”

“In which case!” Satoko interjected. “It is in her best interests if we keep a close eye on Nanako. For her own good. Y’all are gonna help me come up with a little old plan to become this bad tempered bibliophile’s best of best friends! Whether she likes it or not.”
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You know what’s the best part about having an entire school basically at your beck and call? Everything! That’s what! Lunch was the best time of the day. Absolutely. Without question. Why, look! Just now she was sitting under a tree while one girl rubbed her shoulders, and two others took turns feeding her lunch! What sort of fool would you have to be if you didn’t take advantage of something like that?

“How hedonistic,” said a voice that Nari did not recognise. She opened her eyes and looked around, but couldn’t see anyone at all. Come to it, none of the girls here heard anything either so… Figment of her imagination? Must be! She settled back into place and - “What is the purpose of this behaviour? It lacks meaning. It lacks purpose.”

“Um… Do you hear that?” Nari said. The girls looked at her blankly, then laughed as if she’d told a funny joke. “No, really. I think I just heard someone.”

“Nope, just us here.”

Weird. She perked up her ears for a minute or so, waiting for anything else they might want to say… But whoever it was they were keeping quiet. Eh. Whatever! She had better things to do than listen to some disembodied voice that only she could hear for some reason. Which was a little bit freaky, to be fair, though if she focused on that then how would this lunch get eaten and those shoulders get rubbed?

Purpose? That voice didn’t know what it was talking about. Of course this had purpose! Fun and relaxation were their own rewards. There was nothing empty about what they were doing at all. Not one single solitary thing.

Right?

1. Nari shakes off the existential dread, sets up dates for the evening.
2. Meanwhile, Nanako is watching Nari from a distance and is disgusted by what she sees.
3. Nanako suddenly has to deal with a smaller version of what Nari has to deal with from the curious culture club.
4. Other students have encounters with the mysterious memory stealer.
5. Something else