Day 125

[from StarLight]

A short while and a lot of staring later, Amaya had purchased two hamburger meals from a local fast food joint, and had managed to fly up to the roof of a local skyscraper so she and Kage could eat in solace, while the youkai explained exactly what was going on.

"Okay, start from the beginning," said Amaya. "Who are you?"

"M' name ith Kage, nyum~" said the youkai through a mouthful of hamburger, before swallowing. "I'm a youkai, from another world parallel to yours. Say, what did you say this thing was called again? It's delicious, nyaa~"

"It's a hamburger," said Amaya. "Do you not have hamburgers in your dimension?"

"They didn't have 'em here either, when I first came here," said Kage. "But then, I guess that was a while ago now, nyaa~"

"A while ago?" repeated Amaya. "How long exactly were you trapped in this thing?"

Kage thought it over for a moment while chewing another mouthful of hamburger. "I'm not good with math, nyaa~" she concluded finally. "What's 2015 take away 1643?"

Amaya tried to work it out in her head for a moment, gave up, and consulted her smartphone's calculator app instead. "372," she said finally. "No way! You were in there for almost four centuries?!"

"Apparently," said Kage through another mouthful of hamburger. "Man, I can't tell you how good it feels to be outta that thing~"

"How did you get in here, anyway?" asked Amaya, holding up the wand in her hand. "And also… what is it? How come it turned me into a magical girl when I picked it up?"

"It's called an Emblem, nyaa~" said Kage. "It's a mystical object, forged from the energy that flows through our world. It's what allowed me to travel to this one, nyaa~" Kage picked up her vanilla milkshake, took a sip and scowled. "The hell is this?"

"It's a milkshake," said Amaya. "Did you not have those either?"

"It tastes awful, nyaa~" said Kage. "Don't you have beer in this time period?"

"Well, we do, but they don't sell it at fast food restaurants," said Amaya. "And I'm a minor, so I can't buy beer anyway."

"No beer?" asked Kage, looking terribly disappointed. "What kind of awful future is this, nyaa~?"

Amaya opened her mouth to reply, then realized they were getting rather off-topic. "We can discuss that later," she said. "Back on topic… you say this thing is full of energy?"

"Yep," said Kage. "It's called chi. That chi is now flowing through you, giving you extraordinary power. It's what changed your clothes too, nyaa~ The clothes symbolize... something or other, I dunno. Can't remember. It's been however many years you said, I've forgotten a few things." The youkai shamelessly stuffed the last of her hamburger into her mouth.

"But you still remember how you ended up sealed inside it, right?" asked Amaya.

"Of course," said Kage. "I'll never forget that. You see, I came to this world with a friend, to protect you humans from monsters coming from another world. Not our world, another one."

"There's a third world?" asked Amaya.

"Yeah," said Kage. "It's not a great place, nyaa~ So anyway, using the powers of our Emblems, we fought together to keep the old Mitsuzawa safe from the rampaging monsters. But then things turned sour." Kage's expression, which had previously been carefree, now grew bitter and resentful.

"The humans were ungrateful, nyaa~. We were fighting to save their lives on a regular basis, but they didn't appreciate all the hard work we were putting in for them. They started forcing us to do all kinds of dumb favours for them, like cleaning their houses and stuff. We became their maids, rather than their saviours. One day, I put my foot down and said, "I won't be a slave to humanity any more, nyaa~!" But they'd already brainwashed my friend into serving them. So she turned on me, and sealed me inside my Emblem."

"That's horrible!" said Amaya.

"I know," said Kage. "I'd love to get my revenge on her, but sadly, I wouldn't have the first idea where to find her any more, nyaa~ And in any case, I can't. The moment you touched my Emblem, all my powers passed to you. Now I'm bound to you eternally as your familiar. Don't expect me to wait on you hand and foot, but feel free to use the Emblem's power for whatever, I don't really care, nyaa~"

Amaya looked down at the Emblem, and started to think. Revenge… that's right. With the power of this Emblem, I could get my revenge on everyone who's ever wronged me. My father, who abandoned me… my mother, who ignores and neglects me… that guy from GameStop who refused to sell me Black Ops 2… I could get back at all of them using this. No, more than that…

An image of White Star ran through Amaya's mind. She remembered how the entire town had stopped to gaze in wonderment at the magical girl, and how nobody had been able to talk about anything else ever since. She remembered the way everyone had been staring at her as she walked down the high street. And slowly, the plan began to formulate in her mind. Slowly, a twisted grin formed on Amaya's face. "I have it," she said. "I know just what to do with this power."

Amaya turned to face Kage, a serious look on her face. "I'll avenge you, Kage," she said. "I'll find your youkai friend and crush them. I'll find all those who have wronged us both, and crush them. Nobody will be able to ignore me any longer, now that I have this power. They'll be forced to pay attention to me, just like they all pay attention to that idiot White Star!"

Kage, who had been thoroughly enjoying Amaya's rant up to this point, suddenly choked on a mouthful of French fries. "Wait a minute… did you just say White Star?" she asked.