take a quick glance at the clock above a street sign near me. All while not stopping my lower half from spiriting . It says it is now10PM. I have been running away for over an hour and a half at this point...
"Eat this! Magnificent Bink Spirale!!"
"Kyaa!!" I yelp helplessly against the reptile-like aggressor's drill motioned attack.
*Blam! *
I am forced to stay on the defensive of Bink's constant attacks and manage to deflects his attack at the last second, by swinging my wand at him with all the strength and Mana I can muster. As if I was aiming for a homerun and repelling the demonic being into crashing towards the vending machine on the other side of the block.
"Ugh!" I could barely gather enough force for this swing. I begin feel a searing and stinging pain stemming out of both my wrists. My legs are also starting to give on me as well. But I can't stop now and urges my body further. I just know that I won't be able to move them again and collapse if I do.
I try desperately calling the number written "Agnicia" on my phone again
"We are sorry. But the number you reached is out service or disconnected and unavailable. Please try again later."
"Fuck! She isn't picking up the phone! I just had to put a strong front and say that I was fine handling things on my own for today!"
"…Ai…ka…g…o…"
I can hear Nyamo's distant and blurry voice beckoning me.
"Nyamo! Are you okay?! What is happening?"
"Go…yo…ur…scho…ol..."
"The school?" I ask her confused.
"HEY! Aika-Chan! Where are you!!" I hear a yell down the street. Good thing we are currently in the most secluded part of the city and I don't have to worry about prying eyes.
"!"
Barely making up what she asked or finding the time to ask why. I decide to stop questioning and do like Nyamo asked since I don't have a better plan.
Becoming aware of my surroundings and where I am. I take a sharp turn at the very next intersection that I can find, jump over the large wall down the alleyway towards the shortcut to the hills to splits into my school and the mountains. Which I sometimes use during the mornings for when I am almost getting late to class. Bink still chasing me in tow.
"What's wrong Aika-Chan? Not feeling like smacking me around like usual? I guess playing S and being on the other end of the stick sometimes isn't so bad either! Hyahahaha!"
I decide to shake off this sense of failure and humiliation for now. I cannot fall for his provocations and but make mental notes that I will not let things ends like this…
***
More twenty minutes have passed since I made my way to school like Nyamo had suggested me. I can finally see the school gates ahead and managed to shake Bink off my tail while on my way here.
"Aika! Sweetie? Where are you?! Relax! I won't bite so you don't need to worry! I know what you are thinking but I don't have any diseases to infect you even if I did!"
Bink's voice full of cockiness and confidence can be heard echoing down the hill.
I quickly take look at my surroundings and find the door towards the gym open. Getting a very uneasy feeling about it while looking at it for some reason but I decide to against my better judgement and lay low in there for now.
(I never would have thought that the school during the dark would be this much unsettling to me…)
I had noticed while on my way here that one of the lights in the teacher's office and the gym storage equipment behind me are still lit dimly.
I can also faintly hear something akin to snoring from behind the gym storage. However, I simply don't have the time to worry about any of this right now and hide in the stands.
It's only a matter of time until Bink finds us here…
The wand on my hand starts glow in a blue light and I suddenly feel a strong presence in here.
A sudden surge of Mana starts to flow from the place and begins to gather into my wand and body. I can feel my body getting lighter and a portion of my tiredness fading away while the light permeates my body.
Nyamo's voice inside my head also starts to get clearer and clearer until she manages to separate from my soul and becoming a normal housecat in front of me. My dress changes back into the school uniform from the morning. While a bit relieved, I just realized my clothes are heavy and drenched with sweat.
"Finally! That was a close one Nya!" My partner exclaims while stretching her forelegs.
"Nyamo! What the hell is going on here?! What is happening to us?! What was that strange orb that Bink was holding in his hands?! Why did you told me to go to the school in the first place?!"
I bombard her with one question after the other in a fluster.
"…We don't have the time to explain so I will be brief. Ai, please listen to what I am about to say to the end and very carefully."
Nyamo's usual carefree and energetic tone is now gone. Since she is rarely serious ever. I decide to shut up for now and do as she asked.
"The orb Bink is holding was something thought to be stolen from Arcadia Artifact Storage, thousands of years ago. I might have a vague idea on who stole it now and how it ended up on Bink's hand. But we can talk about those issues later with Agnicia-San…"
"Ok." I nod at her response. Still tight-lipped.
"Anyways, that orb is a powerful artifact capable of instantly erasing or dispelling Mana of anything it lays eyes upon it. Rendering it incapable of creating or channeling Mana properly. Whether its target is living or non-living doesn't matter. All logic and magic is irrelevant against the Magekiller's eye. Long story short, that eye broke your 'contract' with me as a Magical Girl. The fact that I haven't disappeared or went dormant yet is due to your huge amount of latent mana not going away completely and supplying me. But that's not going to last us for much longer! Like I said, I'm going to become dormant if we don't do something about it now…"
"T-Then what shall we do?!"
"That's a tricky question. Uhhh…" Nyamo deeply ponders over our options here. This is probably the first time I seen her thinking this much about something that isn't related with food or playing.
"I know! Since your body is now completely scrambled of using Mana properly and our powers are completely reliant on them. I could try to temporarily transfer our contract towards someone else. Preferably a family relative of yours and then we try to find a way to properly fix the issue in the meantime from there. I remember your brother having the quite a lot of potential inside him. I guess that could work somehow…"
"Aki-Nii?! Are you serious?!"
"Yeah! We could transfer our powers to him! The moment the temporary contract is in motion, I'll hijack his body for a short moment, defeat Bink with his help and following that, we then properly explain things to your brother!"
"What?! Drag my brother into this mess?! Even if we did, how long it would take for you to return to me?!"
"No idea! It's either that or facing Bink by ourselves! We don't have much of a choice here!"
Seeing there is no way out of this. I decide to give up and accept her absurd plan. Letting fate take its course.
"Fi-Fine! What do I have to do?"
"I'll try to transform with you briefly again and try to give shape to your thoughts with my own leftover Mana and forcefully cast a spell from them. Ready?"
"Yea!"
"Here we go! Nyamo! Magical Girl Transform!" She quickly enters my body again and we try to transform. The disruption in my body is so big that as testament of how weakened we are, my hair changed into pink color once again. But, my dress did not and the school uniform still remained.
"Now, try to gather all the mana I'm doing to give and place on the wand. Then, start thinking about your brother. Remember stories about with you and him that you are fond or something. I'll try and take care of the rest from there."
"Got it!"
I take a deep breath, tighten my grip around the wand and Nyamo starts chanting a spell in words much more complex than the ones we usually do.
A large magic circle reveals itself and starts to surround us. But I pay no heed to it and try to remember some stories about my brother from the top of my memory.
I remember the day back when we were still kids and sneaked out of the house during the midnight to play on the harbor. I tripped like the klutz I was back (like mother, like daughter I guess) then and fell into the ocean. Aki-Nii immediately dived in to rescue me. I sprained my ankle and he carried me on his back all the way home.
Our parents scolded us pretty harshly after we got back. We had to take care of almost all the house chores and were forbidden from going outside or eating sweets for an entire week as punishment.
I got bedridden with a cold. Aki-Nii promised to prove himself as the reliable older brother and took care of all chores by himself. I wonder if this is how he started to develop those housewife skills of his. Just the thought of it is enough to make me giggle…
There's also the time my body froze after climbing a tree. Trying to show off to Yozo, who had previously climbed it a minute before with ease and the moment the branch I was on broke under me, my brother rushed in and put himself below me to cushion my fall.
He broke his arm that day and it took three months to heal it completely. I felt so bad for it and apologized to him so many times for but he said that the most important thing was that I wasn't hurt and still took care of the house with one arm. He really was a much more dependable older brother back then…
I unconsciously flash a smile filled with nostalgia.
But now…
Not only his grades are higher than ours. Both Me and Setsuna are constantly asked to deliver love letters to him. I am often pestered by men from all classes questioning me about what he likes and dislikes, his "fan club" are not far behind from our uncle, in terms of causing trouble for others either.
Judging by how shy and cute he usually acts without noticing and awesome at mostly everything he does when Aki-Nii puts his mind into things. My brother is definitely going to become popular Magical Girl…
He would not look totally out of place when wearing my uniform either. It hurts to admit. But he is probably going to rock it while wearing that and look much cuter than I am with it…
I can already hear him getting showered with praises from everyone and me getting behind his shadow with time…
My resolve begins to waver and hands starts to tremble.
"Err, Ai? You are getting under your own skin. It might be better if you don't lose your focus or else I might get sent far away and who knows what will happen then…"
My thoughts are so scattered around that I can barely hear Nyamo is saying.
Aki-Nii would then become popular in Arcadia and even more at school too. I can see him looking even more womanly than now.
"No…"
I can picture all the boys in school be at his feet, his fan club would triple in size, the Pig would find a way to make a profit out of this somehow and I would be stuck beneath his shadow as the "Miss Demeanor'. Then…
"Ai? Earth to Aika? Your eyes are scaring me Nya…"
For some reason, I suddenly picture Yozo leading the fan club, asking him out on a date before his graduation this year, they blush at the same time, start to hug each other and kiss…
"Ai! Your heart is shaken and your thoughts are everywhere Nya! You need to Foc-"
"NOOOOOO!!!!" I shout and point the wand at the floor instead of the window outside.
"NYAAAAAAA!!!!"
Nyamo screams as the physical manifestation of her soul is suddenly aimed and shot at the floor. Hitting everything inside the gym's vicinity while violently bouncing.
Cracking some of the seats, the walls, pushes down the basketball cart laying around, bends one of the goalposts, shatters some windows and suddenly disappears before my eyes can track where she went. Making it an absolute mess out of the place…
Meanwhile, inside the gym storage there was man, who was peacefully sleeping in a loud snore, several bottles of beer and sake can found scattered about. The commotion happening outside pops his snore bubble, he begins to twist and turn in his sleep while his body suddenly begins to glow in a mysterious white and red light…
Bink, hearing theirs shout and the destruction, starts to rush in and kicks down the gym's front door.
"So that's where you were, sweet Aika!"
Same said door is sent flying and almost smashes into me by a few inches away, hitting the wall right next to the storage equipment instead.
The wind current caused by the door dishevels my hair, my eyes widen in fear and my heartbeat triples in speed. I am now left completely alone with Bink. There is no one to hear us and because of my jealous and childish fit from earlier, I botched any chances of salvation that I could have.
"Relax! I will be nice and quick in scoring that win out of you!"
Bink then positions himself like track runner about to take off, only that his scaly body was becoming even more prominent and a forked, snake like tongue now hisses out of his mouth. An enormous amount of air pressure starts to surge from his body as Bink's muscles and veins tenses disturbingly.
"Take this! Magnificent Bink Spirale!"
He attacks in the same corkscrew motion as before. Only that he is now calling a large tornado mid spin and I do not have any ways to defend myself against it this time around.
Time seems to slow down as I feel my end approaching. His spinning attack gets closer and closer to me. I give a few steps back before feeling my legs giving out and I feel the gym storage door behind me giving me no more corners to dodge.
My legs gave in and I slide down the door. Only to sees a pair of blades right in front of me. I grit my teeth and feel my life flash before I close my eyes…
Someone… anyone… save me. I don't want to die… I-I…
I hear loud footsteps coming behind me and…
"ENOUGH WITH THE NOISE!!!! THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE TRYING TO PEACEFULY PASS OUT DRUNK IN HERE!!!!"
A man's loud roar is heard, followed by a fist breaking through the door behind me, landing perfectly against Bink's face, inches away from landing his attack.
"Gyuhhh!!"
Bink's very face sinks and distort behind the powerful punch. His body recoils and bounces off the ground. Like a pebble skipping down a river and crashes into the wall on the gym's opposite site, more than twenty meters away. His body is twitching and seems to be unconscious, but he looks happy about it…
"Geez! I swear to god! If it's yet another couple trying to screw around in here because they can't do 'it' at their own homes or don't have enough money to afford a bloody love hotel! I swear that even I will-Huh?!"
The man looks around, blinks and rubs his eyes repeatedly. Only to realize the place is absolutely wrecked.
"AHH!!! My sacred grounds!! Just what kind of kinky shit were you two trying to- AIKA?!"
The man looks behind him and shouts my name, after finding me lying against the wall. He looks completely pale and shocked from seeing me this way.
I can barely breathe, let alone see what is in front of me after death scare following the exhaustion from running constantly for two hours. It's too dark to see anything in here anyway.
He rushes towards my side, checks my pulse, then puts his hand below my nose to make sure if I am breathing properly, then rest his hand on my cheek and lets out a huge sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness! Looks you are mostly unharmed; it was just a scare." The man recomposes himself, runs next the entrance.
He picks up the emergency first-aid kit off the wall and then returns to take care of me. The mysterious man massages my swollen wrists, bandages my bruised leg and sprays my skinned knees and scratches with some antiseptic. He gently caresses my hair, somehow soothing me and my racing heartbeat.
"Shit! It's too dark to see your pretty face! Don't move! I'll be back in a jiffy!" He then slowly lies me against the wall again and runs towards the light switches.
Either way, whomever he is, this man looks to be a nice and very gentle person. I should thank him for rescuing me before anything…
"Thank y- ugh"
My words are cut short as I get blinded by the sudden bright lights hanging from the ceiling and the man throws a question at me.
"By the way… this might not be the best time to ask but… is this costume some sort payback at me over what happened to your brother or something?"
Hm? He knows about me and my brother?
"…I definitely think that I look ridiculous in it. But, if you really wanted me to wear this or anything, you should've just asked me! Oh! But I would prefer if you didn't take any photos! You might find it hard to believe but, I still have an image to care about! Gyahahah!"
The man reaches out his hand out to help me get up.
(That laughter sounds strangely familiar…)
I didn't understand the question nor the meaning behind his words until I rubbed my eyes, got accustomed to the brightness and recognized the round figure of the man that stood right in front of me…
"Ah…"
I gasp so hard that no other words leave my lips. My eyes widen from shock, even more that when I felt my death coming near just minutes ago and my skin goes white as a sheet.
I felt like nothing I have ever seen before in my entire life comes even close to the hellish scene I am just witnessing. Not even the likes of Bink managed to look so mortifying and definitely, no nightmare comes even close to par over what is dangling right in front of me.
"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
I scream. Louder than I ever did and pass out from shock right afterwards. Foam starts to froth out of my mouth.
The man who saved me and stood right in front of me…was my fat and shit-faced uncle.
Wearing a Magical Girl uniform. …More specifically, MY Magical Girl Uniform! With a pair of cat ears, tail and everything…