Day 91

[from StarLight]

"You were expecting a Project 20:15 post - but it was me, Hitomi!"

"Hitomi, stop messing around and get on with the show! The readers want to know if White Star survived getting eaten by that monster!"

Hitomi sighed. "Sure, I guess... hey, wait! What are you doing here, Mio? You're not supposed to show up until Episode 3!"

"True," said Mio, adjusting her glasses, "but it's my job to show up unexpectedly and make plot-related observations. Now, shall we get on with it?"

"Not yet," said Hitomi, "I wanna make one more reference." She assumed a manly pose. "Your next line is: "Stop messing around and start the post!""

"Stop messing around and start the post!" said Mio, a second before her face froze in an expression of shock.

"Called it!" said Hitomi triumphantly. "Alright, that's enough of that… let's get on with the show! Now, where were we…"

At once the monster, not quite defeated, burst out of the water with a deafening scream, looming tall and menacing over the startled magical girl. White Star watched in shock, strangely frozen to the spot as its jaws opened wide, sharp fangs ready to devour her. Then the monster darted forward, and with a single deafening snap of its jaws, White Star disappeared from sight.

For a moment, all of Mitsuzawa seemed to fall silent, stunned by what had just occurred above them. The mood changed in an instant from joyous and excited to sombre and shocked. Hitomi gasped, clasping her hands to her mouth. "No…" she whispered. Around her, the citizens started to mourn a hero that they had only known for two minutes.

Then suddenly, Hitomi noticed something. "Look!" she exclaimed, pointing up at the monster. The people around her began to look back up, following her gaze, and soon the entire crowd realized what has happening. The monster's mouth was slowly being prised open from within, and as its jaws parted, a figure was visible inside its mouth, forcing the jaws apart.

"It's White Star!" squealed Hitomi excitedly, and sure enough, there she was: the magical girl was perched at the entrance of the monster's mouth, staring determinedly into the gaping maw. She was done on one knee, her hands raised high above her, pushing open the monster's jaws. A confident grin spread across her face.

"You didn't think I'd let myself become monster food so easily, did you?" White Star remarked, to no-one in particular. "I told you, I'm the protagonist, and the protagonist never loses! Mind you," she continued, addressing the monster this time, "you must be pretty hungry, huh, big guy? Fine! Then I'll let you sample my latest dish, that I cooked up just now!"

White Star adjusted her wand, still held in her right hand, so that the Emblem at the end pointed directly into the monster's mouth. "This will end it! For real this time! Finishing Move: White Star Beam!"

The wand glowed bright white, and then an enormous beam of brilliant white light burst forth from the tip, blasting the monster right in the head with a tremendous burst of chi. It was too much for the monster to take. With one final roar, it was finally defeated, dissolving away into thin air as the intense magic burned its flesh into nothing. All that remained of it was a blue-black crystalline stone, which hovered in mid-air before White Star. It vaguely resembled a heart, and was small enough for her to hold in one hand. She took hold of it, examining it curiously. "What is this?" she asked.

Before she received an answer, a great cheer rose up from the crowd, as they finally processed what had happened. The monster had been destroyed, and their saviour was the mysterious magical heroine floating above the river in front of them. Those gathered began to applaud wildly, and before long, Kousen found herself joining in. You did well, Sanae, she thought to herself. No… I suppose I should call you White Star now…

White Star took a moment to bask in the applause and cheering from the crowd below. Then, it occurred to her that she should probably give the crowd some kind of heroic victory speech, to properly introduce herself to them. Holding the White Star Wand up to her mouth like a microphone, she began to address the crowd.

"Citizens of Mitsuzawa!" she declared, her voice magically amplified because the wand can totally do that. "As I already told you earlier, my name is White Star! I'm a magical girl who has inherited the powers of the youkai; powers with which I will protect you and this city with all my strength! I swear to let the light of justice shine wherever the darkness may appear, and, uhh… I can't really think of anything else, but you get the idea, right? If any other monsters show up, I'll blast 'em to bits just like I did this one! That's a promise!"

The crowd below continued to cheer, and White Star curtseyed in thanks. "Thank you, thank you!" she called out to them. "You're too kind!"

White Star could have stayed there forever, lapping up the adulation of the crowd below, but Kousen approached her and gently took hold of her arm. "We should get going," she said. "Our work here is done, and it's getting late."

White Star nodded, addressing the crowd once more. "I have to go now, as my work here is done," she said. "I hope to see you all aga- actually, no, not really, because that means there's a monster attacking again, and that's bad. But you get what I mean, right? Alright, then I'll be off! Until we meet again, citizens of Mitsuzawa!"

As White Star flew off, with the unseen Kousen following behind, the crowd below cheered and waved her off. Hitomi watched her go excitedly, her mismatched eyes gleaming with hope. "White Star… what an awesome heroine!" she squealed. "I'm totally gonna be her biggest fan! But not in a creepy way!"

One of the other onlookers was not quite as enthused. Actually, hardly any of the onlookers were quite as enthused as Hitomi was, but one of them was not enthused at all. She watched the white-and-purple-clad heroine fly off into the distance, with a look approaching jealousy on her face.

"'The light of justice', huh?" muttered Amaya.

***

Sanae flopped down onto her bed, heaving a weary sigh. The sun had set, and the first few stars were beginning to emerge from the twilit darkness. "Man, what a day!" she exclaimed. "I'm exhausted! I didn't think we could pack so much action and exposition into one day! Oh, right, that reminds me…" She glanced over at the blue-black crystal that the monster had dropped, which was now lying on her bedside table, next to the White Star Emblem. "You never explained what this crystal thingy is."

"To be honest, I'd completely forgotten that the monsters dropped those when they died," said Kousen. "But I remember now. It's called a Dark Heart. I still can't remember what it does, other than prove that the monster actually died for real that time, but it certainly looks pretty."

"Yeah, it does," said Sanae. "Well, other than the part where I almost got eaten, I'd say that went pretty well."

"It certainly did," said Kousen. "You'll make a fine White Star, I'm sure of it."

Sanae nodded. "I should think of some kinda catchphrase I can shout when I enter battle. Something like, "In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!", or something," she said, assuming a combat pose briefly.

"Why not just use that?" asked Kousen.

"Already taken," said Sanae. "Ehh… it's the end of the episode, so I'll have until next week's to figure it out. For now, I should get some rest."

Kousen nodded in agreement. "Goodnight, Sanae." With that, she flew up to the lampshade and pulled the lightbulb straight out of its socket, sending sparks showering across the now pitch-black room.

"You're supposed to turn it off using the light switch," said Sanae wearily.

"There's a switch that turns it on and off?" asked Kousen. Surprised, she sought out this switch, mounted on the wall by the door, and began flicking it repeatedly. "It's not working," she said, staring at the disconnected lightbulb.

Sanae sighed and facepalmed. "I've really got my work cut out for me this series…" she muttered.