Work Text:
Shiho looked down from the tall company building she had landed on. It was surreal. Not even two months ago Saki had been talking her ear off about re-watching an old magical girl anime from their childhood. Now she may as well be from that same anime. The powers had fallen into her lap a month after the first attack, right after she had discovered her fragment SEKAI. They had been a pair of earrings tucked inside her school bag along with a note of what they were for, signed off with Luka's signature, yet when Shiho confronted Luka about it, Luka had no knowledge of the earrings. She had been genuine as well. It had only added to the confusion slowly overtaking their lives.
The monsters had appeared without warning; canine-like and right in the middle of Shibuya, accompanied by a girl with short, dark purple hair and a wooden bow. The monsters had quickly started tearing at the pavement. A few moments later, another girl with long pink hair had shown up and beaten the monsters with her axe. Apart from the damages, the thing that the news covered most was that no one could describe what either girl had looked like. They could recall the outfits and hair in glorious detail, but not a single thing about the face. Not even an eye color. When they replayed footage from the event, there was an inexplicable static over each face. As more and more of the incidents occurred, with more and more mysterious figures, the streets buzzed with speculation. Why were they showing up? How many of them were there? Who were they?
All things Shiho would like to know as well. In her limited interaction with the others, one thing had been made perfectly clear: All identities were private. No one was keen on this bleeding into their personal lives and getting others tied up in the mess, especially not with more monster attacks popping up. Leo/Need shortened their practice time at school to ensure that they would make it home before dark, opting for more and more time spent in SEKAI.
Shiho was still getting used to the powers, practicing how to control the poison and acid she was able to summon, as well as how to change her "transformation" (as the mysterious letter had called it) from a dress that was frilly and short and horribly wrong to a street style she felt comfortable in (something she had been thankful to figure out within a week). No matter how much she practiced though, there was always fear lingering around. That fear, for her friends, for her sister, for her parents, is what kept her from telling them why she would have to suddenly leave hangouts or skip family dinners. Still, the pull between lives was taking it's toll on Shiho. Which is why she came up here, to sit and think.
"You're pretty hard to track down!"
Startled out of her thoughts, Shiho turned around to see who had found her. It was someone she recognized as another of the "magical girls" as they had been called. They had long pastel pink hair with a pair of twisting horns, one broken in half yet still elegant. Their outfit could have come straight out of a lolita fashion catalogue with it's petticoats and ribbons in pink just a shade darker than their hair.
"Who are you?"
"You can just call me Itsuki!" They sat down next to her, legs dangling off of the edge. "What about you?"
"I don't do the nickname thing." Shiho said, turning away. It was contrived and complicated, remembering the others by their outfits and weapons had worked well enough so far.
"You're not the only one, but I don't get it. You have so much creative freedom. Like, mine is the protagonist from my favorite anime. I actually go by the villains name online, but it felt a little inappropriate to use the villains name if we're trying to save the world." Itsuki giggled.
"Well, I don't plan on talking with many of the others, so it doesn't really matter."
"Of course it matters! I've been calling you 'Green Girl' for ages now. Even if you don't plan on talking with anyone, it makes it a lot easier to figure out who we're talking about if we all have the same idea on names. Like, have you met Blossom?" Shiho shook her head. "She was the one who showed on the news first. Pink hair, axe?"
"Yeah, I've seen her around."
Itsuki smiled. "For the longest time me and her thought we were trying to track down two different villains because we were calling her different names. We decided to call her Ume because she didn't want to give us a name and it's helped a ton."
"I guess that makes sense." Shiho stared at a passing bird. "Just give me a name then, I don't really care."
"Really?" Itsuki leaned over, getting dangerously close to Shiho. "You don't have any preferences?"
"Not especially." Shiho leaned away, fighting the flush that had overtaken her face. Itsuki's eyes were a dazzling pink, shining with excitement and complementing the blush dusting their cheeks perfectly. They were almost painful to look at.
Itsuki leaned away, placing a finger in front of their lips. "What about... Kyo? That could work. Maybe Fuku?" A smile graced their face again. "Got it. Usagi!"
"Usagi?" Shiho asked.
"Yep! It suits you. You’re really cute and shy, just like a bunny.”
Shiho’s face flushed again, sudden and red hot. She was called “cute” a lot; by her band mates, by her sister, but this felt different. “Sure, whatever you say.”
Itsuki smiled, turning to look back at the horizon. “This is a really nice spot. It’s like you can see the whole city from up here.”
Shiho kept staring at Itsuki, tracing their features in the slowly dimming sunlight, watching how it bathed them in gold. There was something magnetic about them, almost electric.
”Too bad you found it first.” They continued. “I’d love to hang out here after school.”
”You can come here” Shiho said before thinking about it.
“Really? I don’t mean to take it over, seriously.”
“It’s not like I own the roof.” Shiho shrugged, turning away from them.
“Thank you!” Itsuki cried, pulling Shiho into a side hug. “I knew you were a softie, Usagi.”
“Shut up.” She muttered, wiggling out of the hug. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Whatever you say.” Itsuki giggled. “When are you coming back next? I’ll bring snacks.”
”Why are you so friendly?” Shiho asked, coming off more snappish than intended.
Itsiki paused. “Not sure. I’m just a really outgoing person, I guess. I think the secret identities help too. It’s like… there’s less pressure to behave how I ‘should’ you know? Kinda like being online, just in real life!”
Shiho did know. Being able to walk around town like this and know that no one could recognize her was freeing.
”Mochi.” Shiho mumbled.
”Huh?” Itsuki asked.
”I like mochi.”
“Man, your name really is fitting! When should I bring some?”
”Same time next week?” Shiho asked, giving the first thing she thought of.
“Perfect, it’s a date! I’ll see you then.” With that, Itsuki stood and jumped off the roof, floating down to the ground.
Leaving Shiho to figure out what had just happened and why her heart felt like it was going to explode.
Later that evening, when Shiho tried to think back to those lovely eyes, she couldn't remember their color.