Izumi

  I let out a yawn, stretching my arms while trying not to knock over the pillow fort and blankets we'd set up on the basement floor. Mina and I were huddled under a pile of blankets, watching some magical girl anime she’d picked out of the dusty shelf the previous owners of this joint had left behind.

  She was quiet, eyes glued to the screen. I glanced at her, trying to figure her out. After last night's outburst, I expected her to be all frosty today too, but here she was, snuggled up next to me like we were old pals.

  I couldn't help but smirk. "You like this show, huh?" I nudged her, trying to sound casual. Mina just nodded, a small smile tugging at her lips.

  Weird.

  Last night she was all frosty paranoid ice queen, and now she's all Miss Smiley.

  Girls were so damned strange. I never really got them.

  I always chalked it up to not having my mom around. I mean, it really wasn’t easy growing up like that.

  There was just something about growing up with an older brother and a super macho dad in a hostile world that made me tougher than old boots. Of course, that made making friends stupidly hard in elementary school. Especially girls. I always fit in better with the boys, and I missed my boys back in Philly who didn't care if I played rougher than the other girls.

  But here, in this newly reclaimed chunk of a city, I was the new kid.

  And making friends? Sheesh. That was hard. Hard like trying to find a clean spot on a mechanic's rag.

  With Mina right there with me under the blankets today, though, something inside me felt a little less hard, though. Ikki and my dad had turned our basement into a makeshift workshop and home theater, and I was more than thankful for it.

  The anime girl on the screen was kicking butt, and I couldn't help but see a bit of myself in her. Tough, no-nonsense, but deep down, fighting for something more. That's me, Izumi, the girl who can handle anything.

  Except maybe... the thought of my brother leaving.

  Ikki… well. Not to get sappy, but that big dork was my rock and compass, you know? The one person in this crazy, messed-up world who really got me. Him heading to Terra for high school felt like someone plucking away the North Star from my night sky.

  How was I supposed to navigate through this screwed-up life and figure stuff out without that reliable pain in the butt? Every time something had me stumped I'd just go up to him for help. If I had to be perfectly, totally honest, it felt like I'd even taken himm for granted. But now, that lifeline was about to vanish, and I wasn't ready for that. Not one bit.

  Mina's sudden guffaw pulled me back from the edge of that dark thought pit.

  She was laughing at the Magical Girl’s ferret mascot getting… frankly bullied on the screen, and her laugh was contagious. I found myself chuckling too, despite the heavy stuff creeping in at the back of my mind.

  "Never thought I'd find someone who gets as geeked about magical girl stuff as me," I said, more to myself than to her.

  Mina turned to me, her eyes wide. "Really? I love this stuff. What we could import, at least. Sure, it isn’t like this in real life over at Terra, but your media here has a way of making everything appear more... magical, you know? Almost idyllic."

  That made me pause. Real life. Yeah, if only magical girls could solve all our problems. If only it was as simple as transforming, beating the bad guys, and saving the day. But life wasn’t a TV show, and the bad guys weren’t always so easy to spot.

  "Yeah," I said, feeling a sudden kinship with her. "It's a nice escape, isn't it? For a while, you can just forget about the mess out there." I waved a hand vaguely towards the basement window.

  Mina nodded, her smile fading a bit. "It's been rough... since my parents passed. I never expected to find myself out here. On your world, I mean."

  I knew that feeling. The move from Philly to this husk of a city had been rough.

  The streets were tougher, the kids at school were probably gonna be a different breed, and then there was the whole thing with Ikki and Pops and the weird magitech stuff the other day. It felt like I was always playing catch-up, always a step behind.

  But Mina... she was in the same boat, sorta. New city, new planet, new... everything. It made me wonder if maybe I'd been too quick to judge her and her siblings. Maybe she wasn’t just some stuck-up Terran girl. Maybe she was just trying to find her footing. Same as me.

  "Hey," I said, suddenly feeling brave. "How about we make a deal? We’ll stick together from now on, you know? Help each other out. Like, I can show you around. And maybe you can tell me about Terra and all that real magic stuff. Err, what I mean is… heck. Guess I’m gonna say it out loud. Let’s be friends? Like, make it official."

  Mina's face lit up, and it was like watching the sun come out from behind the clouds. "I'd like that for certain," she said.

  And just like that, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders.

  Sure, I was probably losing Ikki to Terra, but maybe I was also gaining a friend back right here.

  Hopefully we wouldn’t end up at each other’s throats. That seemed to happen with me and girls for some reason.

  I hated cloak and dagger stuff. The catty, passive-aggressive crap some girls seemed to like was something I could never quite wrap my head around. I'd rather have it out in the open, you know? Like, couldn’t we just settle our differences and beat the snot out of each other before becoming friends like reasonable people? Get it done with.

  Boys were so much less of a pain in the ass. God, I loved the fact my dad had raised me the way he did. I hated girl drama. Always had. And, I guess, I always will. Being attracted to rugged, strong boys who were more like me than not was probably going to be an issue in the future when it came to dating, though. Mark and Ebbie always treated me like another bro, after all.

  But who knows. Maybe I’ll get lucky?

  We settled back into the pillows, the pink anime girl on screen striking a heroic pose as she faced down a blonde dark magical girl in an edgy black cape.

  "I've gotta ask, though," I said, turning to Mina. "Can you do any of that Terran hocus pocus?”

  Mina's smile turned mischievous, and she sat up, pulling her knees to her chest. "Well, not anything fancy, but yeah, we have magic. My family, we're not exactly high society or anything, but we’ve had a history dabbling in Wuxing."

  "Wuxing?" I repeated, trying to sound cool and not at all like a kid who just found out Santa might be real.

  "Yeah, you know, the five elements – wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. It's all about balance and energy flow. Taoist stuff. I’ve been learning it since I could crawl," Mina's hands moved in the air as she spoke, like she was painting a picture with her words.

  I leaned forward, my skepticism taking a backseat to fascination. "Can you show me something? Some of that magic?"

  Mina glanced around, biting her lip. "Okay, but just something small. We're indoors, after all." She held out her hand, palm up, and closed her eyes. I watched, hardly breathing.

  After a moment, a small light flickered to life above her palm. It wasn't like any flame I'd seen before. It was more... alive, dancing and changing colors like it had a mind of its own that gave off a technicolor lightshow of smoke.

  "Holy smokes..." I whispered, unable to take my eyes off the tiny flame. “Literally!”

  "It's a basic fire manipulation technique," Mina said proudly. "But it takes a lot of control. Fire can be unpredictable."

  As she closed her hand, the flame vanished, leaving no smoke or burn marks. It was like it had never been there. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

  "That was... amazing," I said, genuinely impressed. "You gotta teach me that!"

  Mina laughed, a sound that was quickly becoming familiar and... nice. "Maybe, but it's not as easy as it looks. It took me years of practice to even get that down, and I heard you guys can’t manipulate mana like us here on Earth."

  She trailed off for a second, putting on the saddest look I'd ever seen. "We... had an older sister. She married a captain in the Confederate army who came from a long line of high-class practitioners. They taught me a lot, but she was killed in the attack on our city. She was so kind, patient, and loving. And the reason Sochi, Malina, and I got to live a better life. Our parents... They were just laborers. We were poor. The captain treated us like we were his own sisters, and... well... her death ripped the family apart. He became reclusive and distant."

  I didn't know what to say. It was like a punch to the gut, hearing her talk about loss like that. I'd never lost anyone close to me, and for the first time, I realized how lucky I was as fucked up as things were.

  "Jeez, that... that's terrible. Sorry, I didn't mean to pry." I felt like a jerk, pushing her to do magic tricks when she was still carrying around that kind of pain. "And hey, don't worry. You can stay with us for however long you need. You and your siblings."

  Mina blushed a bit and looked away. "Thanks, I... really appreciate that."

  She looked like she was struggling with something, her hands fidgeting in her lap. Finally, she took a deep breath.

  "You know... I've never really had a close friend before, at least not one I felt comfortable talking to. It's always been me and my siblings. I know from your reactions that you think we look down our noses at everyone... but the reality is the opposite. We don’t belong anywhere. Zaachi sent me to international schools for the elite but I've never been good at code switching. And I don't know. You just seem different from the other girls. More... sincere. So, I was wondering if, well, you'd like to be my err... bestest friend, at that?"

  I was taken aback by her confession. Mina, this cool, kinda aloof chick with magic tricks, wanted me, the scruffy wild kid from the boonies to be her best friend? Just outta the blue?

  "I thought you didn't like me," I admitted, remembering how frosty she was at first. "Like you saw me and you were ready to throw hands."

  Mina laughed again, but this time it was nervous. "Oh, no, not at all! I was actually really nervous. I'm er, more sensitive than most girls, so to say. It's uh, magic stuff. But I didn't know how to talk to you without saying the wrong thing. I guess I came off a bit... cold."

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "Yeah, just a bit," I teased, but my heart wasn't in it.

  I could see the vulnerability in her eyes, and it made me feel all mushy inside. Like she was trusting me with a secret, and I had to protect it with my life. "But hey, water under the bridge, right? Friends it is."

  I held out my pinky, a gesture as old as time itself. Mina hesitated, then hooked her pinky around mine. "Friends," she agreed.

  We sat there, pinkies intertwined. It felt like a weight had lifted off my shoulders. Like I'd found a kindred spirit in the unlikeliest of places.

  Mina giggled, and turned back to watch the dusty screen.

  But just as we were about to dive back into our little morning media binge, Mina's whole body tensed and her expression changed. Her eyes widened, and she stiffened like she'd heard something I couldn't.

  "You okay there, buddy?" I asked.

  "Did you feel that?" she murmured quietly.

  "Feelawhat now?" I frowned, straining my ears. Our basement was usually as quiet as a library after hours, except for the occasional clank and clatter from Pops working upstairs in the kitchen.

  Mina was already on her feet, her earlier playfulness replaced by a sharp alertness.

  "Something's wrong," she said, her voice urgent. She bolted up the stairs, leaving our cozy blanket nest in disarray.

  "What the French toast?!" I muttered, scrambling to my feet.

  I wasn't about to let her go face trouble alone – not in my house. "Hey, wait up!" I called, dashing after her.

  The stairs creaked under my plastic slippers as I took them two at a time. My heart pounded in my chest, a mix of adrenaline and confusion. This wasn't how I expected our sleepover to go.

  One second we're geeking out over anime, and the next, we're in the middle of... well, I didn't know what yet.

  I caught up to Mina at the top of the stairs. She was standing in the hallway, her head cocked to the side like she was listening for something. "Mina, what's going on?!" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

  She didn’t respond and just then, Pops emerged from the kitchen, wiping his hands on an apron that had seen better days.

  He sighed, before picking up the giant metal pot he’d heated the stew in. "Hey now… What's all the commotion about?" he asked, his brow furrowed in concern.

  Before I could even shrug, Mina spun around, her eyes wide with urgency as she snapped a low bow. "I'm sorry, Mister Yi, I have to go. Something's wrong."

  Her voice was tense, and there was no mistaking the seriousness in her tone.

  Dad looked as baffled as I felt, but before he could ask any more questions, Mina was at the door, slipping into her boots with a speed that would've made a superhero jealous. And then, she began to glow with a green light.

  She turned around to face us with apologetic eyes. "Please, stay safe," she said. “Lock the doors and stay low.”

  Then, in a flash of green that seemed to twist the very air around her, she sprinted off at a breakneck speed, leaving behind a swirling trail of light that quickly faded to nothing as the door swung on its hinges.

  For a moment, I walked forward, staring speechlessly at the lightshow she’d put on.

  Then all of a sudden, I smelled it. My heart began to pound in my chest as a familiar, awful smell filled the air.

  I narrowed my eyes and dashed forward, sloppily slipping a sneaker on while fighting my pajama pants that seemed determined to trip me up at every step. My dad was shouting something from the doorway, but his words were lost in the rush of blood pounding in my ears.

  Fire. I smelled fire.

  I stumbled onto the porch, finally getting my other sneaker on and took off down the street.

  “Izumi! What are you doing!” my dad shouted as I broke off into a sprint down the streets, chasing after Mina.

  She was fast. Not too fast to chase, but stupidly fast regardless.

  “Sorry, Pops!” I shouted without looking back, my laser-sharp focus on Mina's retreating figure.

  My sneakers slapped against the pavement, the rhythm drowned out by the roar of my heartbeat in my ears. The air was thick with the awful stench of burning.

  “Mina!” I shouted. But I was quickly losing track of her as she weaved in and out of alleyways and side streets.

  What the flippity fuck was happening?! Who was in danger?

  And why did Mina rush out like that so suddenly?

  I was always the sporty type. Not a girly girl by any stretch, and I could run like the best of them. I'd also learned just the tiniest bit of parkour from Marcin back home, just enough to get it to muscle memory and get around some low level buildings out here.

  Despite that, Mina seemed to be on a whole other level, and I flat out struggled to keep up while in a dead sprint. My chest heaved with every breath, and sweat poured down my back, but I didn't stop. I couldn't. She was jumping over fences and dodging through narrow gaps like it was no big deal, and I struggled just to keep up.

  Finally, I emerged several steps behind her through a chain fence, jumping and climbing onto a small shed overlooking Forsyth Street. My heart sank when I saw what was causing the smoke and smell.

  Ahead, a gang of motorcycle-riding thugs was tearing through the streets, hurling Molotov cocktails at buildings and marketplace stalls like they were playing some kind of twisted, messed up game.

  Flames licked up the sides of the buildings, devouring everything in their path. The sound of breaking glass and the roar of the fire mixed with the distant wail of sirens. It was pure chaos.

  Mina was nowhere to be seen, and I was left standing there, stunned. The heat from the fire felt like an inferno, and the harsh smoke stung my eyes and made me cough. People ran around frantically, trying to put out the flames or escape. Most of the gangsters didn't seem to care about the screwed up chaos and destruction they were causing, and they laughed as they tossed bombs at whatever was in their path.

  There were even squads of gangsters throwing bolas at fleeing men, women, and children in the streets, tying them up so they couldn't get away. They were dragged and stuffed into armored vans, their screams echoing through the streets. The scene was straight out of a nightmare.

  I felt sick to my stomach.

  The sight made me clench my fists in pure rage for a second, and then it hit me.

  My big bro had headed out less than thirty minutes before this. He was more than likely in this crowd somewhere, in serious danger and fighting for his life against these god awful thugs.

  Alright, ‘Zumi. It’s time to get serious. Stop the bullshit for a second.

  I ducked down back out of sight, clutching the locket with a picture of my family around my neck.

  I was really the sappy sort, deep down inside. Beyond all the roughness I tried to project, I was still a gal at heart. And I never took that thing off.

  I opened it, looking at the smiling picture of me, Ikki, and my Dad.

  I was only seven years old in this photo, but I missed those times. Things were simpler then. Ikki was still my big bro, and he was the guy who played dolls and board games with me. He didn’t care that I was a girl, and I didn’t care that he was a boy. And Pops? I never saw him shed a tear in front of us, but in this photo, a single teardrop rolled down his cheek.

  He said it was because he was happy to have family. To have us. And it was one of the rare times when we went to a decent restaurant together, so we took advantage of the moment to capture it on an old camera.

  I wasn’t gonna let that nerdy bastard Ikki die. Not on my watch. Not to a bunch of shit-stirring thugs.

  Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and focused on the treasured photo, letting the memories wash over me. The faces of my family filled my mind, along with all the happy memories we shared.

  And then a new memory surfaced - the day I had silently protected Pops and Ikki from the shadows back home. When we'd been ambushed and everything had changed for me.

  Clutching the locket in both hands, I quietly began to recite the vow that had spoken and whispered directly to my soul that day.

  “On the streets of this broken world, where danger lurks in every shadow, I stand as a guardian, a sentinel in the night. For those who suffer, for those who are voiceless, I will be their strength. I am the avenger of the wronged, the punisher of evil.”

  As the words left my lips, the air around me began to thrum with energy. There was a pulsating rhythm that resonated deep in my bones. A feeling of raw power surged through me, starting from the locket and spreading outward. The ground seemed to vibrate under my feet, and the air crackled with electric anticipation.

  Then, I changed.

  My worn-down and ordinary sneakers morphed into armored boots that laced themselves up my legs with living shadows. They were black as the night, with threads of crimson that pulsed with fire. Next, my pajama pants melded into form-fitting leggings, strong yet flexible, allowing me the freedom to move as I needed.

  “O, wicked souls. O ye shadows that creep and crawl through these forsaken streets," I continued. "Mark well my presence, for I am the nemesis of depravity and infidelity, the sentinel at the gates of treachery. My cloak of night, woven from the sorrows of those fallen before me, I rise — an unyielding shield against your malevolence!"

  My clothes began to change, the fabric morphing and shifting like liquid shadows. The transformation continued upwards, my simple t-shirt becoming a sleek, armored bodice. Then, a cloak of darkness unfurled over, edged with crimson, swirling around me like a living creature.

  "Each tear that falls from an innocent’s eye. Each cry that pierces the night. Each serves to fortify my resolve," I declared. "In the name of the aggrieved, the silenced, and the downtrodden. I vow to uphold justice. I vow to punish those who prey upon the weak. I vow to protect the sanctity of life and innocence!"

  My hair, which… admittedly could seriously use some conditioning and brushing, suddenly unfurled. It cascaded down my back in a flood of beautiful silky raven black. A blank white mask formed over my face, not to hide who I was, but to symbolize the faceless many who had been wronged.

  I stepped out from the shadows of the roof, my cloak billowing behind me like the wings of a dark angel.

  "Let those who bring darkness to these streets tremble at my approach," I whispered, my voice carrying the weight of a thousand unspoken promises. "For I am the light that will pierce through their shadows, the shadows that will swallow their sins. The flame that will burn away their corruption. I stand as a protector of the helpless, a guardian of the innocent.”

  The final pieces of my transformation fell into place as a ringed Shakujo staff appeared in my hands, its rings chiming with a sound that seemed to echo through the chaos and reach into the depths of my soul. I felt a surge of energy as I put the final touches on my outfit, morphing the blank mask into a mischievous fox mask.

  I growled, feeling a flame ignite in my chest as I stared down at the insanity playing out below. “O let it be known… That this sackless gaggle of losers just picked the wrong neighborhood to fuck with.”

  I leapt down from the shed, landing with a thud that sent a shockwave rippling across the concrete. The thugs, caught up in their own twisted game, finally noticed me.

  They stopped in their tracks, their smug grins faltering as they took in my transformed self. A few of them even stumbled back, their bravado crumbling like cheap plaster.

  I twirled the Shakujo staff in my hands, the rings singing a song of impending-fucking-doom for these jerks.

  “Hey, dipshits!” I shouted, the words slicing through the air like a knife. “Time to learn what the ‘finding out’ part of ‘fuck around and find out’ means!”

  The thugs, now scrambling to regain their composure, began to circle around me. They thought they could intimidate me, a bunch of grown men against a girl. But they didn't know who they were dealing with.

  As the first one lunged at me, I sidestepped smoothly, using the staff to trip him. He fell flat on his face, groaning. The others hesitated, suddenly unsure. That hesitation was all I needed.

  I moved like a whirlwind, my staff a blur as I knocked weapons from their hands and sent them tumbling.

  I whipped my head around as I heard the roar of engines, spotting the convoy of armored vans speeding away, a plume of smoke trailing behind them.

  I took off after the convoy of armored vans With a burst of speed that would've made a cheetah jealous,. They were speeding away, carrying their terrified captives, thinking they got away with it. But they had another thing coming.

  I sprinted, my boots pounding against the pavement, each step propelling me faster. My cloak streamed out behind me, a flag of vengeance fluttering in the gritty city wind. The vans roared ahead, drifting in the streets.

  People on the streets stopped and stared, their mouths agape as I zoomed past them like a bullet. I could hear their whispered, awe-struck words, but I didn't have time to stop and explain.

  There were lives to save, bad guys to beat, and probably a brother to pluck out of a mountain of beat-up thugs later.

  Without a second thought, I flared my mana and broke into a sprint, leaping onto the rooftops, my boots thudding against the tiles.

  The wind whipped through my hair, my cloak snapping behind me like a flag. From roof to roof, I hopped, my eyes locked on the vans.

  The vans weaved through the streets, but they couldn’t shake me. I was a Magical Girl with a mission, and no bunch of no-good slaver scumbags was going to outpace me.

  The world seemed to slow down, the sounds of the city fading into a distant hum. It was just me, the vans, and the vast expanse of rooftops under the morning sun.

  "I swear, the things I do for a little peace and quiet around here..." I grumbled, picking up speed.

  The vans were like a snake slithering through the streets, trying to lose me, but they clearly didn't know who they were dealing with.

  People like my dad. People like Blake. These hard-working and honest people deserved better than this. They deserved someone to fight for them, and that someone was gonna be me today.

  I was Izumi. Yomotsu-Shikome.

  I was grace, speed, and a whole lot of pent-up anger. And if these jerks thought they could just waltz into my neighborhood, snatch people up, and not get their butts handed to them on a paper plate, they had another thing coming.

  I crouched down, feeling the energy coursing through my legs, and then I sprang into the air, soaring like some kind of avenging angel over the city streets.

  Landing with a roll on the other side, I barely broke stride. The vans were getting closer, I could almost reach out and touch them. My fingers itched for my staff, eager to teach these shitbags a lesson.

  I could see the vans getting ready to turn a corner, thinking they could give me the slip.

  I smirked behind my mask. "Fuck no you don't!" I muttered.

  I launched myself off the edge of the building, soaring through the air like some kind of comic book hero. For a moment, I felt a weird sense of… clarity.

  There was something almost meditative about seeing the city sprawled beneath me, a sprawling concrete jungle waking up to a day of mayhem.

  I landed with a roll on the next building, keeping my momentum. "You can run all you want, but you can't hide!" I said, almost enjoying the chase. "Time to bring down the hammer on these clowns!"

  With that, I leaped off the rooftop, my cloak billowing out behind me, aiming straight for a van in the middle of the formation.

  "HERE COMES THE NEIGHBORHOOD!" I yelled, grinning behind my mask.