The shrill beeping of her alarm clock roused Sanae Hikari from her slumber. Cracking an eye open, she looked at the LCD display. 7am exactly. Class started at 8:45. No good, she thought. It's the first episode; what kind of protagonist wakes up bright and early for school in the first episode? Turning the alarm off, she went straight back to sleep.

About an hour later, she woke up again, smiling as this time the clock showed a more acceptable time of 8:07am. Perfect. Just enough time for me to conceivably make it, but still late enough to cause a panic. Speaking of which... Sanae cleared her throat then, feigning shock, shrieked, "HOLY CRAP I'M GONNA BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!" and scrambled out of bed.

In a hurry, Sanae showered, got changed into her school uniform, grabbed her rucksack, and headed downstairs. There's no time for breakfast, she thought, I'm gonna have to do the toast thing. Jamming a slice of bread in the toaster, she waited impatiently for it to pop up, then snatched it from the slot, clamped it firmly between her teeth, and dashed off the road towards the school.

As she rushed past the buildings, bag-in-hand and toast-in-mouth, she took a moment to admire her reflection in the windows she passed. In her blue-and-white uniform, with her breakfast dangling from her mouth and her lavender hair trailing behind her, she looked every bit the anime protagonist. "Nailed it," she mumbled. "Now all I need to do is-"

WHACK. Not looking where she was going, Sanae ran straight into someone waiting at a crossing and tumbled face-first to the floor, the toast falling to the ground. Silently mourning the loss of her breakfast, Sanae started to pick herself up, looking up to see who she'd run into. Please be a hot love interest...

It was not a hot love interest. It was a girl wearing the same school uniform as Sanae, and looking at her with concerned eyes. Concerned, mismatched eyes. One was purple, one was green. "Are you okay?" asked the girl.

"Your eyes are different colours," blurted out Sanae.

"Yes, they are," said the girl, bemused, "but that's not important right now. Are you okay?"

"I guess so," said Sanae, picking herself up. "I'm gonna be starving by lunch, though," she added, staring longingly at the dropped, now inedible toast.

"You're supposed to eat it on the way, not run the whole way with it dangling from your mouth," the girl pointed out. "I learned that from experience in middle school."

"Oh. Well, hopefully I won't need to try it again," said Sanae, dusting herself down. As the light at the crossing turned green, Sanae and the strange girl both sprinted off towards Mitsuzawa High School.

"I'm Hitomi Murasakime," said the girl, choosing to introduce herself as they ran. "I'm starting my first year."

"I'm Sanae Hikari," said Sanae. "I'm starting my second year."

"Oh, so you're my senpai!" said Hitomi excitedly. "That's cool!"

"I guess," said Sanae, shrugging as best she could while frantically running for the school, her stomach starting to hurt from hunger. Being an anime protagonist is hard work, she thought. The plot hasn't even started yet. At least I think there's a plot.

Finally, the pair made it to the school with only a few minutes to spare. Sanae and Hitomi went their separate ways, dashing towards their respective classrooms. As Sanae approached the door to Class 2-2, she saw a familiar and very welcoming sight. Standing outside the classroom door was her best friend, Amaya Kurozawa, holding out two pieces of buttered toast.

Sanae squealed in delight at the sight of the food, skidding to a halt and snatching a piece from Amaya's hand. "How did you know, Amaya?" she asked in amazement, before greedily munching down the slice. It was still warm.

"I figured, since you're the protagonist, you'd probably end up doing the running-to-school-with-toast-in-your-mouth thing," said Amaya. "I also figured you'd probably end up dropping it, since that scene is only ever parodied these days, so I brought along a couple of spare pieces of toast just in case."

"Thankff, Mmmayum, yuwa wife-thaffer," mumbled Sanae through a mouthful of toast, already taking the second slice.

"Don't mention it," said Amaya. "Now hurry up, class starts in two minutes."

Quickly polishing off the rest of the toast, Sanae headed inside the classroom, ready to begin what she thought would be an ordinary day. Moments later, as the bell rang to signal the start of homeroom, the classroom door opened and a pretty woman in a generic teacher's outfit stepped inside. She was in her early-to-mid twenties, had long brown hair, and generally resembled almost every other anime teacher in existence. It was reasonable to assume that she was also single and had a massive complex about it, but that's a story for another day.

Despite her seemingly generic appearance, Sanae and Amaya recognized her immediately as their science teacher from last year. "That's Inaba-sensei!" said Sanae excitedly. "We're going to have Inaba-sensei as our homeroom teacher for this year!"

"Nice!" said Amaya, smiling. "She's the best teacher ever! Except for that one from Kiniro Mosaic."

"Alright, settle down, everyone," said Inaba-sensei, motioning for her class to be quiet. "I'm sure some of you will know me already, but for those who don't, my name is Inaba-sensei. I'm going to be your homeroom and science teacher for this year." Picking up a piece of chalk, she wrote "YUI INABA - HOMEROOM TEACHER" on the chalkboard, then turned round and bowed politely to her students. "I hope we all get along well."

"Now, there's a few things we need to sort out," Inaba-sensei continued. "Firstly, and most importantly, we need to decide on your seating allocations for this year." From behind her desk, Inaba-sensei produced an upside-down top hat filled with small pieces of paper. "When I call your name, you will come up to the desk and take a piece of paper out of the hat. Written on that paper will be your seat for this year. There will be no arguments and no trading of seats, understood?" There was a general murmur of agreement from the class, and Inaba-sensei pulled up the class roster. "Okay then… Kojima, you get first pick."

As Kojima went up to the front to select his seat, Sanae patiently awaited her turn. She didn't need to wonder which seat she was going be assigned: since she was the protagonist, she was guaranteed to get seat 4A, the one second from the back on the leftmost row, next to the window. Every self-respecting anime protagonist had that seat. There was no way she wouldn't-

***

"What is this?"

Seat 2F. The seat second from the front, on the rightmost row. Sanae had been assigned the seat completely opposite to the one she had wanted.

"Is there a problem, Hikari?" asked Inaba-sensei.

"Yes!" said Sanae. "I'm the protagonist, I can't sit in this seat! I'm supposed to have that seat!" She pointed at her preferred seating location.

"Sorry, Hikari, but that's just how it goes," said Inaba-sensei. "You have your seat, now please sit down so I can call the next person."

"But it's not fair!" said Sanae, pouting. "I deserve a better seat than this!"

Inaba-sensei leaned across the desk, glaring at Sanae. "I deserve to be in a better anime than this," she retorted, "but we can't always get what we want, Hikari."

With a sigh, Sanae resigned herself to her situation, and slunk off to the seat she had been assigned to, sitting down at the desk with a sour look on her face. Her expression brightened up a little when Amaya sat down at the adjacent desk a few minutes later. "Looks like we'll be sitting next to each other this year," she said.

"Well, that's something, I guess," said Sanae.

"Bummed that you didn't get that nice window seat?" asked Amaya.

"You bet I am," said Sanae. "Who did get that seat, anyway?"

Looking over, Sanae and Amaya noticed a bored-looking male sat in the seat Sanae had so desperately wanted. He was mostly unremarkable except for his hair, which was bright blue with golden streaks and stuck out all over the place like a technicolour explosion. He may well have been the protagonist of his own anime.

"I didn't know there was a card game anime being filmed here," remarked Amaya.

2: Episode 1: Dawn (Pt.2)

Just as she had expected, Sanae's first day back at high school turned out to be fairly ordinary save for two incidents. She was completely oblivious to the first, which occurred during the start of lunch break, as Sanae and Amaya headed out of their classroom.

"Hey, you wanna go eat lunch on the roof today?" asked Amaya. "It feels like it's been forever since I got to see that view!"

"Sure!" said Sanae. "But we're probably gonna cut to the next thing before the readers get to see it."

"Shame," said Amaya, looking not particularly upset about this. "They don't know what they're missing."

"Half an hour of us eating lunch and talking about nothing in particular? Yeah, they're not missing much, apart from the view," said Sanae.

As they made their way through the corridor, they passed a male first-year student heading in the other direction. His name was Ryouichi, and as he laid eyes upon Sanae, he became immediately smitten with her. She's beautiful!, he thought to himself, turning his head to watch her go. A beautiful, gracious senpai… I know it's cliché, but I've fallen in love at first sight!

Ryouichi was so caught up in daydreams of his newly-discovered senpai that he forgot to look where he was going, and before he knew it he had walked face-first into the sizeable breasts of a third-year student going in the other direction. The third-year student froze, blushing, then squealed and recoiled away. "S-sexual harassment! Sexual harassment!" she squealed, before slapping Ryouichi hard across the face and running away.

Ryouichi was startled, but quickly recovered and became consumed once more by thoughts of the wondrous girl who had passed him by a moment before. Senpai is so pretty… I wonder what her name is? I wonder if she'll ever notice me…

***

The second incident happened at the very end of the school day, just as Sanae was retrieving her shoes from her locker, ready to head home. All of a sudden, there was a cry of, "SANAE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!" Turning round, Sanae found herself confronted with Kazuo Ishihara, the school's resident conspiracy theorist. Or as Sanae preferred to think of him, "that idiot".

"I'm getting my shoes out of my locker," she said in a rather bored tone, hoping Kazuo would take the hint. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

Kazuo didn't take the hint. "Sanae, you shouldn't touch that locker door!" he barked, pointing at her open locker door and glaring wide-eyed at it like it was a known terrorist. "It's been freshly painted!"

Sanae rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but the paint's dry now," she said, showing Kazuo has perfectly clean palms as proof. "See?"

Kazuo, undeterred, seized Sanae by the shoulders as he launched into full-on conspiracy mode. "That's not ordinary paint," he said, his face taking on a seriously grave expression despite the ridiculousness of what he was saying. "That locker's been painted by the Illuminati! When you touched it, it absorbed your DNA, and now, at night, when we've all gone home, the Illuminati will come here and harvest your genetic material from the paint. Using it, they'll create an evil duplicate of you, which will someday kill you and take your place! Then, when the time is right, the Illuminati clones will-"

"-rise up and take over all of humanity," completed Sanae dully, as she pulled away and started to put her shoes on. "Look, I don't have time for your stupid conspiracy theories, Kazuo, they're eating into my screen time."

Kazuo scowled. "Fine," he said, "but don't say I didn't warn you!"

"Whatever," said Sanae, as she turned and walked off. Kazuo stayed put - no doubt he was waiting in case any Illuminati agents stopped by to pick up her DNA from the locker. Sanae chuckled to herself. What an idiot.

Arriving back home, Sanae was greeted by a rather more welcome surprise: a visit from her parents. They were archaeologists, and spent all their time flying around the world looking for various artefacts; they were almost never home, and today was the first time Sanae had seen them in a few months. She had grown used to not having them around, though, enjoying the freedom it gave her; as an anime protagonist, it was also quite convenient. Nonetheless, Sanae was elated to see them standing in the living room as she opened the front door. "Mom!" she exclaimed, rushing forwards to hug them. "Dad!"

"Close the door, please," said Sanae's dad, chuckling as she hugged him.

"And take your shoes off," added Sanae's mom.

"Oh right, sorry, I forgot," said Sanae, taking off her shoes and then hurrying back to the door. "I was just so excited to see you that I-"

"It's okay, dear," said Sanae's mom, as Sanae quickly closed and locked the door. "We know how excited you always get when we visit. I think you did the same thing last time."

"Probably," admitted Sanae, nervously rubbing the back of her head. "So, what have you been up to? Where have you been recently? Peru? Morocco? That country with all the pirates?"

"You mean Somalia?" asked Sanae's mom.

"No, Sweden," said Sanae, as an imaginary rimshot played somewhere in her head.

"Actually," said Sanae's dad, "we've been working for a while at the ruins of Old Mitsuzawa, right on the outskirts of the city. We've been meaning to come visit you for a while, since we're so close, but we kept finding so much incredible stuff that we never got round to it!"

"But since it's your first day back at school," added Sanae's mom, "we managed to drag ourselves away from the dig site for a while to come visit you. How was your day, honey? Anything exciting happen?"

Sanae shrugged. "Eh… not really."

"We've actually got a surprise for you," said Sanae's mom suddenly. "Haven't we, dear?"

"We have, yes," said Sanae's dad. He reached into his pocket and took out a small object wrapped in a handkerchief. "We found this on the dig site and we thought you'd like it. I don't know what it is - we've never seen anything like it - but it's very beautiful, and no doubt a priceless artefact."

Sanae took the present and carefully opened the handkerchief. Inside was a beautiful white object that looked like a brooch of some kind. It was circular, about four inches in diameter with a large five-pointed star carved inside it. Sanae couldn't tell what it was made from, but it gleamed and shined as though it were brand new; she never would have guessed that it had been found on an archaeological dig.

"Wow!" exclaimed Sanae. "It's beautiful! I love it! Thank you so much!" She wrapped the artefact up again to keep it safe, then gave her parents another big hug.

"We knew you'd like it, dear," said Sanae's mom.

"I do," said Sanae. "So, uhh… when do you guys have to go back to the dig site?"

"Uhh…" Sanae's dad checked his watch. "Right now, actually. Sorry, darling. We'll be sure to visit as soon as we can, okay?"

Sanae nodded, a little disappointed but glad that she had at least been able to see them, and receive her wonderful gift. "Okay. I hope you find lots of cool stuff!"

"We will, don't worry," said Sanae's mom, as they prepared to head back out again. "Stay safe, honey! See you soon!"

"Bye, mom!" said Sanae, waving them off. "Bye, dad!"

"Bye, Sanae!" said her dad, waving back. "Try not to have too much fun without us!" And with that, Sanae's parents left the house, heading back towards their dig site.

Sanae, eager to try and find out more about the strange object she had been given, rushed upstairs to her bedroom, depositing her rucksack in a corner. Sitting down on her bed, she carefully took the artefact out of the handkerchief and held it in her hands. It really was a beautiful piece of carving. For something so old, something that had no doubt lain in those ruins for centuries, it looked strangely shiny and new. Looking at the star shape in the centre, Sanae could see her reflection in it. Damn, she thought, I look fabulous. No wonder I'm the protagonist.

Suddenly, without warning, the object began to glow brightly with a brilliant white light. Sanae barely had time to gasp with surprise before the light enveloped the entire room then, as it slowly faded away, Sanae felt as though some sort of strange energy was flowing into her. It was as though the light wasn't fading away exactly, but absorbing itself into her, flowing through her, making her stronger somehow. The power felt almost... magical. "What's going on?" cried Sanae. "What is this?"

Even once the light had faded from the rest of the room, Sanae and the strange object remained glowing. Her clothes shone so brightly that she could not see them; they seemed one whole, brilliant-white shape. Then, before her eyes, the shape began to change, her outfit remodeling before her eyes. "What's... happening?" she asked, stunned.

As the rest of the glow faded, her school uniform had disappeared, replaced by a silk-white dress with a flowing skirt and violet lace detailing. Elegant white gloves extended up to her elbows, a diamond-shaped patch cut from the backs. Lifting her leg, she saw her socks were now thigh-length and silken, her feet clad in white three-inch heels. Catching a glimpse of her hair in the corner of her eye, Sanae extended a hand and realized her hair had been curled into long drills draped over the front of her shoulders. It looked a bit stupid in her opinion.

"'It looks a bit stupid'?" Sanae jumped, startled by the indignant voice coming from behind her. "Tremendous power has been bestowed upon you, and that is your reaction? 'It looks stupid'?! Has your race truly become so petty and lacking in manners over the course of my slumber?"

Turning to face the source of the voice, Sanae found herself startled once more. Standing - no, floating in mid-air in front of her was a strange-looking woman in a long white dress. Her hair was equally white, and flowed almost all the way down to her waist, and her eyes were a piercing sky blue; but easily her most distinctive feature were the large white wings that protruded from her shoulder blades. They more resembled the wings of a bat than those of an angel, and barely seemed to move at all, and yet there she was, this strange creature, suspended two feet above the ground with an annoyed look on her face.

"On that note," said the woman, "how long exactly was I sealed away for? What year is this?"

3: Episode 1: Dawn (Pt.3)

It took Sanae's brain a moment or two to process what she was seeing, and another moment to process what she had just heard. "...2015." she said finally.

"That would make it... 372 years since I was sealed away." said the woman. "From your incredulous reaction to my appearance, and to your transformation, am I to assume that youkai and their associated abilities are no longer a noteworthy part of human society?"

After another moment of blankly staring at the flying figure before her, Sanae eventually managed to ask, "I'm sorry, can we just start again from the beginning? Who are you?"

"Ah, of course," said the strange woman, "introductions are in order. Not just for myself, it would appear, but for my race as a whole." Descending to the floor, the woman sank to one knee in a deep, reverent bow, her wings folding neatly behind her back, her demeanour suddenly completely changed from her initial irritation. "My name is Kousen, forger of the White Star Emblem. I am a youkai, an immensely powerful being from a world parallel to your own. In taking my Emblem into your possession, you have taken myself and my powers into your possession. You have also taken onto your shoulders a tremendous burden: that of protecting the Kingdom of Mitsuzawa from the evils that plague this world!" After a moment's silence, Kousen suddenly looked up at Sanae. "The Kingdom of Mitsuzawa still stands, does it not?"

"Uhh... no." said Sanae hesitantly. "It's a city, not a kingdom."

"I see... well in that case, it is your duty to protect the city of Mitsuzawa from the evils that plague this world!" corrected Kousen.

"Wait, why?" asked Sanae. "What evil? There's still loads you're not explaining!"

With a sweep of her leathery white wings Kousen took to the air once more. "Fortunately," said Kousen, "I had plentiful time during my imprisonment to plan such an explanation, in the event that we youkai had been completely forgotten, as appears to be the case. Listen well, for I shall not repeat it, mostly because it's quite long and the readers won't want to sit through it twice." Kousen cleared her throat and began.

"First of all, the world you know is not one; rather, it is split into three. There is this realm, home to humanity. Then there are the Unseen Realms, Above and Below. We youkai reside in the Realm Above."

"What about the Realm Below?" asked Sanae. "Who lives there?"

"I'll get to that in a minute," replied Kousen, clearly annoyed that her grand explanation had been interrupted so early on. "Anyway, we youkai possess many abilities beyond those of mere humans: we can fly, we are ageless and immortal, and we can will things into being by reciting simple incantations. This last ability is the essence of what you would call "magic", and is as mundane to us as walking is to you.

"For the most part, youkai do not interfere with this realm. There are two reasons for this, the main one being that, in general, youkai see themselves as superior to humans. They do not wish to associate with seemingly lesser beings, and so they are content to simply watch humanity's progress, as though it were some elaborate play without end."

"Or a giant reality TV show!" chimed in Sanae. "Oh, right: if that's the main reason, what's the second reason?"

"Again, I'm getting to that!" snapped Kousen. "Stop interrupting! I've waited 372 years to recite this, I'd appreciate some quiet while I do so!"

"Sorry," said Sanae sheepishly, "I'll shut up now."

"Thank you," said Kousen. "Now then, where was I... ah, yes. The second reason youkai do not visit this realm. You see, our magic is only able to function because the Realm Above is permeated by a force known as chi. The human realm contains no such chi, and so in order for us to be able to use our abilities here, we must first forge an Emblem, an artefact made of pure concentrated chi. You just happen to be holding such an artefact in your very hands." Sanae looked down in wonder at the wand she was holding. "Yes. Four hundred of your years ago," continued Kousen, "I crafted that artefact, the White Star Emblem, so that I may cross over into the realm of humans.

"That brings me on neatly to the Realm Below, and its inhabitants. They are, to be blunt, monsters. Creatures of darkness, destruction and hatred. Sometimes, these monsters make their way into the realm of humans, and if left unchecked they could wipe your race from the face of the planet. And so I descended into this realm, so that I might fight these monsters wherever they appeared. As it happens, monsters from the Realm Below are drawn to chi like moths to a candle flame, and thus whenever a monster made its way into this realm it would travel here to Mitsuzawa, away from any other populated areas, and I would swiftly destroy it."

Sanae couldn't help feeling that the monsters' attraction to chi was quite convenient plot-wise. If monsters would be drawn to Mitsuzawa just from her being here in possession of the Emblem, then there'd be a steady, never-ending stream of monsters for her to fight, allowing the plot to progress accordingly. She did not voice this aloud, fearing reprisals if she interrupted Kousen again, and allowed the youkai to continue.

"However, 372 years ago, I was defeated," said Kousen. "My powers were drained, and I was close to death. With the last of my strength, I was forced to seal myself away inside my own Emblem, in the hopes that one day, a human such as yourself would find the Emblem and carry on my legacy."

"I'm sorry, I know I'm interrupting again," said Sanae, "but can't you carry on your own legacy? I mean, I know I'm the main character, but I didn't think I'd be fighting monsters in this show! Besides, you're all better now, right?"

"I am alive, yes, and free of the Emblem's seal." said Kousen. "But you see, there is one last, vitally important thing that must be explained."

"Good thing, too," remarked Sanae, "the readers are starting to get bored of all this exposition."

"I spent 372 years preparing and rehearsing this speech," declared Kousen, "I'm not deviating from it. Now then, the last thing you must know... when a human capable of harnessing chi comes into contact with a youkai's Emblem, as you came into contact with mine, that Emblem becomes that human's for all eternity, and they and they alone may harness its chi. This is an ancient contract made between humans and youkai. The power you feel coursing through your veins is chi flowing from the White Star Emblem, chi only you may control.

"In addition to gaining the power of chi," concluded Kousen, "the youkai who originally crafted the Emblem is forever bonded to that human, as what you might call a "familiar"." Kousen once more bowed respectfully before Sanae, lowering her head until it almost touched the floor. "Congratulations, Insert-Name-Here. You have come into possession of the ultimate power. The clothes you now wear, and the hairstyle you so crassly mocked, are a mark of that power. Using the chi contained within the White Star Emblem, and with my assistance, it is your destiny to protect this realm from the forces of darkness, and bring light to the world!"

Straightening up, Kousen saw the slightly overwhelmed look on Sanae's face and added, "I said Insert-Name-Here, didn't I? I practiced it that way so many times, and... oh, heavens above, I never even asked your name at all, did I? How terribly rude of me!" She bowed once more. "What is your name, O mistress?"

Still overwhelmed, it took Sanae a moment to respond. "H-Hikari. Sanae Hikari."

"Miss Hikari, I am eternally at your service," said Kousen, still bowing. "I pray that you will prove worthy of my servitude, and of carrying on the name of White Star."

"I hope so too," said Sanae. "Just one more thing: how do I change back into my normal clothes? I can't really walk around like this, can I?"

"Oh, of course," said Kousen, straightening up. "Concealing your identity as White Star is vitally important."

"How is it important?" asked Sanae. "I'm fighting monsters from another dimension, they won't know who I am."

"This scene has gone on for three pages already," said Kousen, "I'll explain later. But trust me, it's important. As for getting back to normal, simply release the White Star Emblem and the chi will cease to flow through you."

"Like taking the battery out of a cellphone!" remarked Sanae, a comparison that was made utterly pointless by the confused response it elicited from Kousen:

"The what out of a what?"

4: Episode 1: Dawn (Pt.4)

It had occurred to Sanae that, having been gone for almost 400 years, Kousen was going to be rather out of touch with modern society, and especially modern technology. While this would be a great source of comedy, she didn't really want to come home one day to find Kousen had smashed open the TV because she thought there was someone trapped inside it, so she felt it would be best to try and give Kousen a crash-course in modern technology.

Firstly, she reverted back to her normal form, placing the White Star Emblem safely on her desk. She had no idea what effect its energy might have on her electrical devices; for all she knew, it might wipe her hard drives or fry her phone's circuitry. With that done, she help up her smartphone for Kousen to see.

"This is a cellphone," she explained. "It lets you talk to other people over long distances. These days you can do all sorts of other things on them as well, like play video games, watch movies, surf the Internet… oh right, you won't know what the Internet is, will you? I gotta show you that!"

"I don't know of these "video games" and "movies" you speak of, either," said Kousen, looking thoroughly perplexed. "And what is "surfing"?"

"Ehh…" A bead of sweat formed on the side of Sanae's face as she realized just how much her familiar had to learn. "This is going to be difficult…"

"You don't have to teach me everything at once," said Kousen reassuringly. "I'm sure I'll pick up plenty of information about this time period as we go along. But if you must, try and start with the basics."

"Like what?" asked Sanae. "I know there's all kinds of stuff you didn't have in the 1600s, but I don't know everything that's been invented since then."

"Well…" Kousen looked around the room briefly, trying to find something simple-looking yet unfamiliar that Sanae could explain easily. After a moment's searching, she spotted the lampshade hanging from the ceiling, and the light bulb glowing brightly within it. She floated up to the ceiling, staring curiously at the light source. "What is this magnificent light?" she asked.

"That's a light bulb," said Sanae. "You didn't have light bulbs in your time?"

"Light bulbs…" repeated Kousen. "No. We lit our houses using candles. This light bulb is far brighter… how does it create so much light?"

Sanae was a little relieved to be asked something with such a simple explanation. "Well," she began, "there's a little coiled-up wire inside, and when electricity passes through it, the wire gets really hot and starts to glow. It's not very efficient compared to more modern designs, but it works."

"I see," said Kousen, nodding as though she understood. A moment later, however, she asked, "What is electricity?"

At this point, Sanae was completely overwhelmed. "Ehh?! You don't even know what electricity is?!" she exclaimed.

"No," said Kousen blankly. "Is it some kind of energy?"

Sanae quickly recovered from her initial shock, thoroughly relieved that Kousen was able to grasp the concept for herself. "Uhh… yeah, basically," she said. "It's a special kind of energy that can pass through metal wires. It's used to power pretty much everything these days. My cellphone runs on electricity, for example."

Kousen floated down to take a closer look at the device. "But it doesn't have any wires," she said, perplexed. "How does the electricity get to it?"

"We have these things called batteries that can store electricity in them," said Sanae. "I mentioned them earlier, remember? They work kinda like the Emblem does. When the battery's connected to the phone, and it has power in it, the power flows through the wires inside the device and allows it to work, just like how the Emblem's power flows through me while I'm holding it. If you remove the battery, or the battery runs out of power, the phone will stop working. Does that make sense?"

"I see," said Kousen, nodding. "Yes, that makes sense. So the electricity flows through wires to get to the house to power the light bulb?"

"Yep," said Sanae.

"Where does the electricity come from?" asked Kousen.

"Well, there's a bunch of different ways of generating electricity," said Sanae. "Can I explain those later, though? This scene is starting to drag on a bit and the audience are probably getting bored. Again."

"You could continue your explanations off-screen while the scene cuts to something else," suggested Kousen.

"Hey, yeah, good idea!" said Sanae. "Let's do that then."

***

Meanwhile, in one of the three large rivers that flowed through Mitsuzawa, a strange, ominous shadow had appeared beneath the surface of the water. The shadow slowly made its way upstream, headed towards the densely-packed centre of the city. Nobody seemed to notice it, or pay it much attention. Perhaps those who saw it assumed it was a whale, or a dolphin, or some other animal. It was not. It was far worse than anyone in Mitsuzawa, save Kousen, could have imagined.

The shadow advanced along the water's surface until it reached a suspension bridge spanning the length of the river, ferrying cars from one side to the other. Nobody on the bridge could see the dark figure lurking beneath the surface, so even as it began to emerge from the depths, those on the bridge were entirely unaware of the danger they were in.

Suddenly, the water erupted, and out of the river burst a creature the likes of which had not been seen in almost 400 years. It was a gigantic sea serpent, easily fifty feet long, with a large gaping jaw and two long, sharp fangs. As it let out an almighty roar, thrashing in anger, everyone in the vicinity screamed and ran, as people are prone to doing when gigantic monsters appear from nowhere. The bridge quickly jammed with traffic as those on it tried to get clear; finally, those on it resorted to getting out of their cars and fleeing on foot.

The bridge was cleared just in time. The monster, enraged by the screaming, roared once more and slammed its head into the bridge. The bridge shattered under the impact and collapsed into the river, the numerous abandoned cars on it sliding irretrievably into the depths. Those gathered around watched on in horror, especially those who hadn't finished paying off their now-lost cars.

The monster did not seem the slightest bit scathed, despite having slammed headfirst into a heavy suspension bridge. It did, however, continue to roar and thrash angrily, kicking up tremendous amounts of spray as it did so. As the reality of what was happening began to sink in for those watching, various questions began to form in their minds: what was this creature? Where had it come from? What did it want? And who was going to stop it before it caused any more damage? What the city needed right now was a hero.

***

Conveniently, the city already had a hero. Inconveniently, she was currently occupied with other matters.

"This is a television," said Sanae, waving her hand at the device. "Did you have plays back in your time?"

"We did, yes," said Kousen. "They were the pinnacle of entertainment."

"Well , you can think of a television as being like having hundreds of theatres in your own home," said Sanae. "Each theatre is called a "channel", and most of them run 24 hours a day. As well as plays, or "programmes" as we call them, they show documentaries - those are programmes about real-life things - and news programmes that tell you what's going on in the world. They're great for both entertainment and for learning things. But mostly entertainment."

"I'm not sure I understand," said Kousen, looking puzzled. "This small box is a theatre? How do the actors fit inside?"

Sanae had seen this coming a mile off, but even so she still facepalmed quite hard. "There's nobody inside it," she said. "It's electronic, like my cellphone." Sanae thought for a moment about how to explain the inner workings. Uhh… did you have flipbooks in your time?"

"No," said Kousen.

Sanae sighed and nodded. "Right… well, how television works is, a series of static pictures are transmitted to it through the air, one after another, like electronic portraits. The television then shows these pictures one after the other, really really fast, and it looks like the pictures on the screen are moving, but actually it's just a bunch of still images. Does that make sense?"

Kousen looked thoroughly mystified. "Not in the slightest," she said.

Sanae sighed again. "I'll just show you, then." She turned on the TV, and by sheer coincidence, was just in time to catch the start of what appeared to be an emergency broadcast.

"We interrupt this programme to bring you an urgent news announcement," said the news anchor in a serious tone. "What appears to be a gigantic sea monster has emerged from the river in the centre of the downtown area, demolishing a bridge and sending dozens of cars plummeting into the depths. Nobody is thought to have been killed or injured, but as the strange creature continues its rampage, fears of a city-wide catastrophe are starting to spread-"

Kousen's technology-induced confusion rapidly gave way to concern. "So, it's begun already," she said. "Monsters are starting to converge on Mitsuzawa. You'll have to teach me how this device works another day, Sanae. Right now, your destiny awaits."

Sanae nodded innocently, then suddenly did a double take, an expression of shock emerging on her face. "Waitwaitwait… I have to fight a giant freaking sea monster?!!" she exclaimed. "Right now?! I can't fight a giant sea monster right now! I only got this Emblem an hour ago! I don't even know how to use it!"

"I know how inconvenient this must be for you," said Kousen. "I personally would have liked to have been able to teach you how to harness the Emblem's power before the first monsters appeared. But I guess it can't be helped now. I'll have to explain how to use it on the way there."

"You mean I'm really going to have to fight it?!" cried Sanae. "But I'm not ready! What if it kills me? Oh God, I can't die in Episode 1! I'm the protagonist!"

"Don't be so concerned," said Kousen. "With the power of the Emblem flowing through you, your endurance will be far greater than that of any ordinary human. That monster may be huge, but it'll be no match for you, even with your lack of experience. As White Star, it is your duty, nay, your destiny to defeat that monster, and defeat it you shall! This city needs you, Sanae Hikari. This storyline needs you."

Sanae nodded, her confidence returning. "You're right," she admitted. "It might be tough, but I'm an anime protagonist! I can probably do anything! I might fail the first couple of times for comedic or dramatic purposes, but I'll always succeed in the end, because the protagonist never loses! And even when they do, they always win the second time!"

Sanae switched off the television and strode over to her desk. As she gazed upon the White Star Emblem, she could see her determined face reflected in its shining surface. She was ready - at least mentally - to face her destiny, and kickstart the series' plot. All she needed now was a fancy catchphrase to yell as she transformed. She thought of one quickly, then swiped the Emblem from off of the desk and held it high above her head. "White Star: Transformation!" she yelled, and once more she was engulfed in a blinding white light.

5: Episode 1: Dawn (Pt.5)

With a flourish, Sanae's transformation was complete once more, the energy of the White Star Emblem surging through her body as she clutched the transformed artefact in her hand. "Alrighty then!" she declared confidently. "Let's go defeat a giant water serpent! Wow, didn't think I'd be saying that when this show started."

Sanae jumped up off the floor, and instead of coming back down, she found herself floating two feet up in the air. At first it was a strange sensation to get used to, but by channelling the energy of the Emblem, and concentrating on where she wanted to go, Sanae found that she was able to fly around her bedroom with ease. "Hey, this is easier than I was expecting!" she exclaimed. "Pretty fun, too!"

"The longer you take, the more damage that monster can do to the city," said Kousen sternly, watching on unamused. "I know you're still finding your feet, but you can find your feet on the way there."

Sanae sighed. "Fine," she said, coasting to a halt by the window. "You know, the audience are probably going to end up not liking you."

"As long as the city of Mitsuzawa is safe, that's all that matters to me," said Kousen. "I know you probably resent me pushing you like this, but I feel that I have to, for the good of the city."

Sanae nodded, and unlocked her window, throwing it open. "Well, now that I've gotten the hang of flying, this'll be the fastest way out."

Kousen nodded, but then a thought occurred to her. "Wait, what about your parents? Shouldn't you tell them you're going out somewhere, so they don't panic that you've gone missing?"

"My parents aren't home," said Sanae. "They're archaeologists, they spend all their time working at dig sites. They dug up your Emblem, actually, at a site just outside of town. That's how I got hold of it."

"I see," said Kousen. "That must be hard, not having your parents around."

"Actually, it's kinda convenient from a story perspective," said Sanae. "I mean, if my parents were to walk in here right now and see me like this, and you… just being there… that would be really awkward, you know?"

"True," said Kousen. "Although I don't think I mentioned this, but since my existence is still tied to the Emblem, you're the only one who can see me. Other than the audience, of course."

"That's also pretty convenient," Sanae remarked. "But wait, won't that make it look like I'm talking to myself?"

"I suppose so," admitted Kousen, "but if you fly high enough, nobody should notice."

"Alright then," said Sanae, nodding. "Let's go!"

Sanae turned back to the open window and flew through it, soaring out into the open sky. After taking a moment to enjoy the freedom of flight, she looked back at the house and noticed Kousen was still hovering above it, seemingly frozen in place. Curious, she flew back over, and noticed the youkai staring blankly into the horizon with a look of sheer amazement on her face. "What's wrong, Kousen?" Sanae asked her.

It took Kousen a moment to respond, and when she did, her voice was quiet and awestruck. "This is not the Mitsuzawa I remember," she said.

Sanae followed Kousen's gaze, looking out into the horizon. They were only about thirty feet up, but even at this altitude it was possible to get a sense of just how large the city was - much bigger than in Kousen's day. In the distance, the tall skyscrapers of the central business district were clearly visible, dominating the skyline. The cars passing by below looked surprisingly small considering they weren't all that high up.

There was a low roar as an aeroplane passed by high above them, and Kousen suddenly looked up, alarmed. "What is that?!" she exclaimed, eyeing the unfamiliar contraption with astonishment. "Another monster?"

"That's just an aeroplane," explained Sanae. "It's a flying machine that lets people travel to faraway places."

"That's a… machine?" Kousen repeated in disbelief. "That's a contraption that humans built? And it flies?"

"Yep," said Sanae. "And it only crashes, like, once in a million flights, which is pretty good if you think about it."

"You humans have made so much progress since I was gone," said Kousen. "It is truly remarkable."

"Yeah… hey, wait, weren't you the one saying we had to hurry up and defeat that monster as soon as possible?" said Sanae suddenly. "Come on, we can admire humanity's accomplishments later! Right now we have to go save people!"

Kousen nodded, shaking herself out of her bewilderment. "You're right," she said. "I'm sorry. I guess both of us are going to need some time to adjust to things, but right now, we need to worry about stopping that monster instead. Let's go."

"Let's," said Sanae, nodding. The two of them flew off, heading towards the monster's roars which they could now hear even from across the city. "So," asked Sanae suddenly, "how do I actually fight this thing?"

"The Emblem acts merely as a source of power," said Kousen. "How you harness that power in battle is up to you."

"You mean I have to come up with my own attacks?" asked Sanae.

"Yes," said Kousen. "It's as simple as picturing them in your head and giving them a name. When you point the wand, and shout the name out loud, the attack will be called forth."

"So I have to call my attacks? That doesn't sound very sensible," Sanae remarked.

"What do you mean?" asked Kousen. "It's a mindless beast, it's not going to know what your attack names mean, much less how to dodge them."

"Good point," Sanae conceded. She could see the monster clearly now, rising up from the silvery surface of the river. Every so often it would let out a deafening roar, screaming to the heavens. The banks of the river were crowded with people come to witness the extraordinary event, and in a few moments' time, they would witness another.

"Alright," said Sanae, "I think I have a couple of attacks now. Let's do this."

"I've done all I can for you now," said Kousen. "From here, I can do no more than believe in you, and encourage you to do your best. The rest is all up to you. Good luck, Sanae Hikari... or rather, White Star."

Sanae, or rather, White Star, nodded. "Thank you, Kousen," she said. "I'll do my best!"

As White Star advanced on the monster, the crowd below began to notice her. One by one, their faces and cameras swivelled upwards, watching in disbelief as the floating figure approached. "What is that?" asked one onlooker. "Is it a bird?"

"Is it a plane?" asked one.

"It's the lizard men, come to steal our first-born sons!" screamed Kazuo with genuine terror.

Hitomi Murasakime, looking up at the sky with her mismatched eyes sparkling, knew exactly what the strange figure was. "It's a magical girl!" she squealed excitedly. "It's a magical girl, come to stop the monster!"

White Star came to a halt above the river, hovering level with the monster's fanged head. "That's right!" she proclaimed, as though in response to Hitomi. "I'm a genuine magical girl! Using the otherworldly power I've inherited, I'm going to blast this monster into oblivion and save the city! Fear not, citizens of Mitsuzawa: your destiny lies with me, White Star!" After a moment's pause, she added, "Wow, that sounded a lot less cliched in my head."

"We can't hear what you're saying!" Hitomi called out in response. "You're too far away!"

"What?" called out White Star.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, just fight the monster already!" shouted Kousen. "You're wasting screen time!"

"Sorry!" White Star called out to her.

"Who are you talking to?" called out Hitomi.

"I thought you said you couldn't hear me?" called out White Star.

"What?" called out Hitomi.

A sudden loud roar from the monster interrupted this exchange, and reminded White Star that she did, after all, still have a monster to fight. "I'll let my fighting do the talking, then!" she proclaimed. "Alright, here goes!" She pointed her wand directly at the monster, which wasn't exactly presenting the smallest of targets, and shouted the name of her first attack: "Star Shower!"

The White Star Emblem glowed brightly, and a barrage of star-shaped rays of light shot out of the wand, striking the monster directly. It reeled back, then roared once more, its sights now set on the one who had hurt it. It rushed through the water, heading straight towards her.

"And again… Star Sh- OOF." Before she could complete the incantation, the monster swung its long neck and headbutted her hard, sending her flying back a number of feet. The crowd below gasped, but after getting over her initial shock, White Star realized to her astonishment that she was completely unharmed. "Hey, that didn't even hurt at all!" she exclaimed. "I can't tell if that's cool or just weird, but it'll sure come in handy."

Sanae was now close enough to the riverbank to hear the words of encouragement drifting down from below. "You can do it!" cried one onlooker. "Defeat that monster!" cried another. "Can I put this on FooTube?" asked a third, holding up his phone.

Her spirit redoubled by the crowd's cheers, White Star gripped the wand tightly in her hands. "I got this!" She pointed the wand once more, as the creature lined up for another charge. "Lightning Strike!"

A thunder cloud suddenly rumbled overhead, and a moment later an immense bolt of lightning tore through the sky, blasting the monster with a powerful jolt of electricity. It roared and thrashed about, steam rising from its singed body.

"Alright, this next attack will end it!" declared White Star. "White Star Pulse!"

A star-shaped ball of light blossomed from the tip of the White Star Wand and then struck the monster with incredible force. With another loud roar, it was sent crashing back into the ocean from which it had emerged, sending a huge pillar of spray gushing forth into the air. Sanae smiled and breathed a small sigh of relief, soaking in the cheers of the crowd below. "Well, that's that dealt with-"

She had spoken too soon. 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.

6: Episode 1: Dawn (Pt.6)

"You were expecting the last part of the episode - 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 will be: "Stop messing around and start the chapter!""

"Stop messing around and start the chapter!" 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.

7: Episode 2: Dusk (Pt.1)

"The day after an enormous monster appeared in downtown Mitsuzawa, demolishing a bridge and causing severe disruption, the world is rife with speculation about the mysterious magical girl who destroyed it. The girl, who called herself "White Star", has already become a global phenomenon, with hundreds of fans producing tribute artworks of her and fan-sites popping up all over the Internet. There are even reports of companies attempting to secure merchandising rights for White Star, with planned products ranging from figurines and fridge magnets to life-sized hugging pillows.

"At the same time, many are questioning the origins of the monster, and how exactly this girl was able to defeat it. Some have speculated that the entire event could have been staged, as some kind of viral marketing campaign. One expert went as far as claiming that White Star herself poses an imminent threat to humanity, claiming that her final attack may well have the equivalent power and destructive capability of a targeted nuclear strike. However, White Star herself proclaimed after the monster's defeat that she intends to protect Mitsuzawa from any threats."

The reporter, who had been narrating over a montage of clips from White Star's debut battle, now fell silent as White Star's words were transmitted across the airwaves once more: "I promise to let the light of justice shine wherever the darkness may appear… If any other monsters show up, I'll blast 'em to bits just like I did this one! That's a promise!"

"White Star's words appear to suggest that Mitsuzawa will face more monster attacks in future," the reporter continued, "however the girl also vows strongly to defend the city from any such attacks. In the meantime, nobody knows for sure whether or not Mitsuzawa will be attacked again, when or where any future attacks may take place, and perhaps most importantly, whether this mysterious heroine will be able - or willing - to make good on her promise to protect the city. Until then, arguably the biggest question on everyone's lips is this: who or what is White Star, and what heroic deeds will she perform next?"

***

As the morning sun shone through her bedroom window, White Star was busy replacing the lightbulb, after Kousen had broken it the night before. She didn't really need to be in her magical girl form in order to change it, but being able to just fly up to the socket rather than needing a step ladder was remarkably convenient.

"Hey, Kousen," she remarked suddenly, as she started to screw in the bulb. "How many magical girls does it take to change a lightbulb?"

Kousen seemed somewhat baffled by the question. "One, evidently," she replied.

White Star facepalmed. "No," she said, "you're supposed to say, "I dunno, how many magical girls does it take to change a lightbulb?""

"Oh, it's a joke," said Kousen. "Okay… I don't know. How many magical girls does it take to change a lightbulb?"

"Actually, I couldn't think of a punchline," White Star admitted. "I just wanted to say that, since I actually am changing a lightbulb right now."

"Oh," said Kousen. "That wasn't very funny."

White Star shrugged. "We seem to be getting that a lot on FictionPress," she said, as she finished screwing in the lightbulb. "Something about breaking the fourth wall too often. I don't even know what a fourth wall is." Flying over to the light switch, White Star flicked it on and off a few times to check that the new bulb worked. It did. "Alright, that's that fixed," she said, before placing the White Star Wand back on her desk. As the chi faded from her body, she was surrounded once more with a bright white glow, and when it faded she was back to being Sanae Hikari again, dressed in her regular school uniform.

"One other thing as well," said Kousen, as Sanae stowed the Emblem away inside her rucksack. "I ask that you only use the White Star Emblem for emergencies, such as monster attacks. It's an incredible power, and not something that should be misused for anything you feel like."

"Oh, lighten up, Kousen," said Sanae, putting on her rucksack. "I was only using it for about a minute. You gotta admit, being able to fly comes in handy sometimes."

"It does," conceded Kousen, "but even so, this power is not to be abused. Do you understand?"

"So I can't use it unless there's a monster attack? That's kinda boring," Sanae lamented. "But, I guess if I was White Star all the time, there wouldn't be any slice-of-life elements, and we're parodying that genre as well, so I guess it's alright."

"I'm glad we've reached an understanding," said Kousen. "And remember: you are not to tell anyone that you are White Star."

"I know that," said Sanae. "Alright, I'll be off then. See you after school, Kousen!"

***

"Eh? You're coming with me?"

Kousen, having caught up to Sanae only a few minutes later, nodded. "I decided that following you to your school would be an excellent way to continue learning about your time. Besides, I must admit that I'm curious about what your school is like, since I've never been to one."

"You've never been to school?" repeated Sanae, surprised. "Then how did you learn to do math and stuff?"

"I don't know," admitted the youkai, shrugging her shoulders. "I assume I had some sort of education, but I don't remember what exactly."

"How could you not remember going to school?" asked Sanae. "It's either the worst time of your life, or the only time you'll ever be an anime protagonist! Or it could be both, I guess, depending on what anime you end up in…"

"I'm thousands of years old, remember," Kousen pointed out. "The first few hundred years of my life are all just a blur now."

"I guess immortality has its downsides, huh?" Sanae remarked, before pausing for a moment, looking suddenly pensive. "Wow, this got really deep all of a sudden. Should I go fall over or something to lighten the mood?"

"That won't be necessary," said Kousen, "although you are about to walk into a lamp-post."

"What do you mean I'm about to walk into a-" CLANG. Sanae, who had been looking at Kousen the whole time and not at where she was going, had indeed just walked head-first into a lamp-post. She staggered back, wincing and limping slightly. "Ow. Ow. My legs. Ow."

"And the universal balance is restored," remarked Kousen drily.

8: Episode 2: Dusk (Pt.2)

Upon arriving at school that morning, Sanae and Amaya found that White Star was almost the sole topic of conversation among the other students. Wherever they looked, there were people discussing when the next monster would appear, or who would win in a fight between White Star and Goku, or whether you could see White Star's panties if you looked up at her from below (I sure hope not, thought Sanae, blushing). Sanae found it very strange, and a little bit creepy. Amaya merely found it annoying.

"Geez, can't these people talk about something else for a change?" she asked, as they passed two students arguing over whether White Star broke the fourth wall too often. "It's like White Star is the only thing anyone cares about all of a sudden!"

"I know," said Sanae, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. "The way people are so obsessed with it is a little… off-putting."

"I know, right?" said Amaya, glad that her best friend shared her opinion. "I saw one guy on Macebook like night who was like, "White Star is my new waifu!" Dude, you don't even know her! You've never talked to her! You just saw her for, like, five minutes! Get over yourself!"

Sanae did not reply, her face bright red as she tried to process the fact that there were already nerds so obsessed with her that they wanted to marry her. Oh god… if they want to waifu me… that must also mean… She hid her face with her hands and tried to block out the thought. Oh, how embarrassing!

Amidst all this embarrassment, Sanae had completely forgotten that not only was Kousen still floating just behind her, but the youkai was capable of reading her thoughts. "What's Rule 34?" asked Kousen.

Sanae, startled, jumped and let out a squeal, catching Amaya's attention. "Huh? What's wrong, Sanae?" she asked. "You're as red as China!"

"I, uhh… i-it's nothing, uhh…" Sanae fidgeted nervously.

"Should I take you to the nurse's office?" asked Amaya.

"I, uhh… yes please," said Sanae. "I think I need a moment to myself."

"I know how you feel," said Amaya, glaring at a first-year who was wondering aloud whether White Star's breasts got bigger when she transformed. "Come on, let's get outta here."

***

After spending a little while cooling down in the nurse's office, Sanae and Amaya headed off to begin what would prove to be a long and difficult school day. Everywhere Sanae went, there were people unknowingly discussing her. During one break between lessons, she was confronted by another student from her class. "Hey, Sanae," she said, "help me settle an argument. Who do you think would win in a fight, White Star or Sailor Moon?"

"White Star, without a doubt," said Sanae. "I mean, have you seen Sailor Moon? She's completely useless!"

"That's what I said!" said the girl. "But Mikoto's all like, "No, Sailor Moon would kick anyone's butt!" Then why does she lose so often?"

"Because she fights powerful enemies!" called out Mikoto. "All White Star's fought is a giant snake that Usagi could defeat in one hit!"

"She defeats all her enemies in one hit!" said the other girl. "They can't be that powerful!"

"They can!" insisted Mikoto. "Sailor Moon only defeats them in one hit because she's even more powerful!"

"If she's that powerful, then how come she loses so often?"

Sanae sighed and rested her head against her arms as the circular argument continued. I never thought I'd say this, she thought, but I'll be glad when the next lesson starts.

"They sure are enthusiastic about you, aren't they?" said Kousen.

"Mmm," Sanae mumbled into the desk. "I can see now why you told me to keep my identity a secret. If people found out, they'd never leave me alone."

"Precisely," said Kousen. "It's not worth the hassle. Also, I probably forgot to mention this, but since I can read your mind, it might be better if you think things to me in public, rather than saying them out loud."

"You could have mentioned that this morning," muttered Sanae.

"I know," said Kousen, "but I forgot. Sorry."

"You mean the writer forgot," muttered Sanae. "Anyway, I hope the rest of the year isn't like this."

"It'll die down eventually," said Kousen. "After a while, people will just get used to having you around. When they do, you'll know you've finally succeeded in bringing peace to the city."

I'll probably have to wait until the season finale, then, thought Sanae. Greeeeat.

Kousen's nervous laughter was cut off by the school bell ringing to signal the start of the next lesson. Mikoto and the other girl carried on arguing even as they settled into their seats, and it was only the teacher's arrival that brought an end to their debate.

***

Much to Sanae's relief, she was not confronted about White Star again until lunchtime, when she suddenly found herself confronted by Kazuo while on her way to the cafeteria. "I know your secret, Sanae Hikari!" he declared.

The accusation came out of nowhere, and for a moment, Sanae legitimately panicked that somebody had discovered she was White Star. Then she realized it was just Kazuo, who probably had another of his insane theories to throw at her. "Oh?" she asked sarcastically. "And what secret would that be?"

"You are White Star!" declared Kazuo, pointing dramatically at Sanae.

Once again, Sanae panicked for a moment before realizing that this was still Kazuo making the accusation. It was likely that his reasoning was complete nonsense, and that he'd arrived at a correct deduction completely by accident. And in any case, nobody ever believed a word he said. Even so…

"Don't be so ridiculous," said Sanae, chuckling nervously. "What on earth makes you think that?"

"Your hair!" bellowed Kazuo, holding up a blown-up photo of White Star that he had printed out. It was rather pixelated, but White Star's purple hair was clearly visible. "Your hair is the same colour, and roughly the same length as White Star's!"

"Wait, that's your proof?" asked Sanae, amused. "That's your entire proof that I'm White Star? I don't know what I was expecting, to be honest, but come on, you have to admit that that's pretty flimsy."

"Do you deny it?" asked Kazuo, his glasses glinting dangerously. "Do you deny being White Star?"

Sanae rolled her eyes, and decided to play along with Kazuo's games for once. Nobody would believe him anyway. "Okay, you got me," she said sarcastically, holding her hands up in mock surrender. "I'm White Star."

"Aha!" declared Kazuo, jabbing his finger at Sanae. "You admitted it!" Turning to the nearest people, a pair of first-years who really couldn't have cared less, Kazuo shouted, "Did you hear that? She just admitted she was White Star!"

"No I didn't," said Sanae innocently.

"Yes you did!" said Kazuo, before scrambling to retrieve something from his jacket. "I can prove it, see? I caught it on tape!"

"That's a granola bar," said Sanae blankly, pointing to Kazuo's outstretched hand.

"Huh? Oh, so it is," said Kazuo, as he caught sight of the green-wrapped bar held in his hand. Shrugging, he unwrapped it and took a bite. "But mark my words, Sanae," he mumbled through a mouthful of granola, "I will prove that you are White Star, just as I will prove that the American President is actually a Martian bent on world domination! Hey, this is a pretty good granola bar." Kazuo took another bite. "I will expose your secrets, Sanae Hikari!"

"Yeah, good luck with that," said Sanae.

"Thank you," said Kazuo, the sarcasm going right over his head. "But for now, I must investigate why I only got 28% on my latest science test. I suspect that the teacher is secretly an Illuminati clone."

"Or maybe you're just an idiot," muttered Sanae.

"What was that?" asked Kazuo.

"I said you might be right about that," said Sanae innocently. "You go investigate that, okay?"

"Alright," said Kazuo. "I'll see you later, Sanae… or should I say, White Star!" With that, Kazuo attempted to make a dramatic exit, but the impact was lessened somewhat by the half-eaten granola bar still hanging out of his mouth.

"What was that all about?" asked Amaya, as he hurried up to Sanae - she had been in the bathroom until now.

"Just another one of Kazuo's crazy theories," said Sanae. "Don't listen to him."

"I never do," said Amaya. "Come on, let's get going."

"Let's," said Sanae, as they made their way once more through the crowd.

9: Episode 2: Dusk (Pt.3)

As Sanae and Amaya walked home that afternoon, they were both relieved to be getting away from the constant chatter about White Star. Sanae was very much looking forward to the comfort of having a whole house to herself. Amaya, not so much.

"I'm home!" Amaya's greeting fell on deaf ears, as it had every day for years now. It wasn't that there was nobody there to hear it; it was that the only other person in the house was far too preoccupied to do so. Amaya's eyes shifted from her unresponsive mother to the TV, and the console plugged into it. Her gaze grew disdainful.

"I'd tell you how my day went," Amaya continued in an annoyed tone, kicking her shoes off, "but I doubt you're even aware I'm standing here right now, are you?"

No response, only the continued tapping of the buttons on the controller, and the sounds of the game on the TV.

"Mom, please", said Amaya, in a softer, more hurt tone. "You can't just spend your whole life playing video games, and ignoring everyone and everything around you. That's why Dad walked out, because he couldn't take being ignored any more, and neither can I! You're wasting your life, just like the fat neckbeards who watch this show! Can't you see that?"

Still no response. It was no use. Amaya could run in front of the TV shouting at the top of her lungs, and her mother would simply shift positions so she could see the screen again. Nothing registered but the feedback from the monitor. Only when her bodily needs began impacting her gameplay did she finally stop to eat, rest, go to the bathroom or whatever else she needed to do, resuming gameplay as soon as she could. It had been like this for years now. Amaya knew it well, but this had been a good opportunity for an expository monologue, cluing the readers into her situation.

Amaya reluctantly trudged upstairs to her room and put her rucksack away. As she changed out of her school uniform, she reflected bitterly on her situation.

It's not fair, she thought. Everyone else's parents pay attention to them. Everyone else's parents care, but not mine. All my mom cares about are her stupid video games. Even my dad doesn't really care about me; if he did, he would've taken me with him when he walked out. The only person who really cares about me is Sanae. She sighed heavily. Sanae... her parents may be gone most of the time, but at least they actually come home when they can and spend time with her. My parents don't even do that.

Amaya positioned a black beret on her head. I wish, just once, people would pay attention to me.

Now dressed for her walk, and unaware of the plot element she had just foreshadowed, Amaya left the house. Her mother continued playing, unaware that her daughter had even entered the house at all.

---

It had become a habit for Amaya to wander the junkyard once she had come home from school and changed. There was no point in her staying at home, with nothing to do and no-one to talk to. Out in the junkyard, she almost felt more at home than at her house.

Everything here is discarded, she thought. Unwanted. Kinda like me. Amaya smiled suddenly. Damn, this is getting heavy for a story that's supposed to be a comedy. Maybe I should fall over or something... wait, no, Sanae already did that this morning. In that case, I should just try thinking about something else. 

At that precise moment, Amaya found exactly the distraction she was looking for. Something dark glinted in the corner of her eye, catching her attention amid the dull rusts and peeling paints. Amaya turned back, heading towards the abnormally shiny object.

It was a black, circular object about four inches in diameter, partially embedded in the junk. It had been carved into a perfect five-pointed star, with a thin circle around the rim, enveloping the points. It seemed unnaturally shiny and new-looking for something found in a junkyard; Amaya could see her face reflected in it. Amaya wondered what it was, and how it came to be here; it looked exceedingly out of place amongst the piles of rusting machinery.

Maybe this would make a good wall decoration or something, thought Amaya. She took the object in one hand, and tried to pull it free of the junkpile. It seemed to be stuck; it wouldn't move no matter how hard she pulled. Amaya grabbed the object with both hands and pulled ferociously. "Come on, you stupid piece of-"

CLUNK. The object slid free of the junkpile, and Amaya's momentum sent her flying backwards into the opposite pile. Amaya fell to the floor, dazed.

Once her head had cleared, Amaya suddenly realized that she was no longer wearing the clothes she had been wearing when she stepped outside. Her sneakers had been morphed into black high heels whose straps wound up her shins. Her shirt and jeans had become a black mini-dress with white frills, exposing her pale legs; her jacket was gone. Even her hair seemed to have changed; her previously neatly-parted fringe had now been swept downwards over her right eye, partially obscuring her vision. Her beret had morphed into a witch's hat.

The strange star-shaped object was still in her hand, only now it has morphed into a long black rod-shaped object. A strange energy seemed to be flowing from the object into her body, filling her with a mysterious sensation like nothing she'd ever felt before. It was almost like magic. Could this be a…

"A magic wand?"

Startled, Amaya scrambled to her feet, looking around frantically for the source of the voice. Who said that? she thought. That wasn't the narrator. What's going on?

"I just told you, nyaa~. Magic. Or at least, that's what you'd call it, nyaa~"

Amaya jumped about six inches in the air, and found to her horror that she did not come back down again. When she finally tore her eyes away from the ground hovering beneath her feet, she finally spotted the source of the mysterious voice: perched on top of the junk pile in front of her was a strange-looking woman in a black dress. She seemed to have fangs, and... were those demon wings sticking out of her back?

"Why, yes, I suppose they are." said the strange woman, throwing a glance at her wings, as though she had just read Amaya's thoughts. "And yes, I am reading your thoughts, nyaa~. Sorry if it creeps you out, but it's a natural ability, I can't help doing it, nyaa~"

Until now Amaya had simply stared disbelievingly at the strange woman on the junkpile, but now she finally found her voice. "Wh... what are you?"

"What am I?" The question seemed to surprise the winged lady. "Why, I'm a youkai, of course. Don't tell me you've never seen a youkai before, nyaa~"

"Well... no, I haven't." replied Amaya. "I thought youkai were only a myth."

The strange winged woman - or youkai - frowned, crossing her arms. "I must have been in there longer than I thought, nyaa~. What year is this?"

"2013… I mean, 2015. Stupid writer, taking forever to write his shows… speaking of which, what the heck is going on here?" asked Amaya. "Who exactly are you? And what is this thing?" She held out the black wand-like object.

The youkai smiled, a fang poking out from between her thin lips. "Allow me to explain, nyaa~. But first, I'm starving. Could I get a bite to eat, nyaa~?"

10: Episode 2: Dusk (Pt.4)

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 in 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.

11: Episode 2: Dusk (Pt.5)

"KENSHIROOO!"

"JOTAROOO!"

"KENSHIROOO!"

"JOTAROOO!"

Sanae was currently in her bedroom, introducing Kousen to the world of anime. On the TV screen in front of them, two heavily-muscled men with spiky hair were staring each other down, fists clenched, yelling each other's names back and forth endlessly. While Sanae seemed enraptured by the show, Kousen was rather nonplussed by it. "Are they actually going to fight," asked the youkai, "or just stand there and yell each other's names for the entire episode?"

"I hope so," said Sanae. "They've been doing this for three whole episodes now."

"Then why are you still watching it?" asked Kousen. "I don't understand."

"It's the suspense!" exclaimed Sanae. "You know something's going to happen at some point, but you don't know when! It could be in five minutes, it could be in five weeks! That's the beauty of it!"

Kousen sighed. "Is this really how your people entertain yourselves these days?" she asked. "How boring."

Sanae sighed. "Well, if you don't like it, then let's see what else is on…" She turned over the channel and was greeted by a shot of five girls sitting round a table eating cake. "Nope, that's also boring." She turned over the channel again, and this time stumbled across a news broadcast.

"We interrupt this program to bring you a convenient news bulletin," said the anchor. "A strange magical girl dressed in black is currently on the rampage in downtown Mitsuzawa, overturning cars and smashing windows. Authorities are unsure whether this magical girl is connected in any way to White Star, the heroine who yesterday saved Mitsuzawa from a giant sea monster, but it is clear that unlike White Star, this girl does not have good intentions. Authorities are thus urging people to stay in their homes and watch clichéd shonen anime instead."

"I don't believe it," said Kousen, staring at the screen in horror.

"I know!" moaned Sanae. "Watching shonen anime is always less fun when the government are telling you to do it-"

"No, not that," said Kousen. "It's her. She's back."

Sanae took another look at the screen. There was a shaky close-up of the magical girl, and although it was a little blurry, she could clearly tell that just had the report had said, this girl was evil. Or maybe just attention-seeking, as at that moment she turned to the camera and waved energetically at it before turning her attention back to the Mazda MX-5 that she was currently violently dismantling. Either way, she needed to be stopped.

"You know her?" asked Sanae.

"I do," said Kousen. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you this, or at least not this early, but… when I came to your world, all those years ago, I didn't come alone. There was another who came with me, a youkai called Kage. We fought to protect this city from monsters, and together we were known as the StarLight Duo, for we wielded the White Star and Black Star Emblems respectively. However, 372 years ago, it all went wrong," she added ominously. "Do you recall what I told you this morning, during class?"

Sanae thought hard for a moment, then shrugged. "Nope," she said. "But we can just show it in a flashback, like this:"

***

"They sure are enthusiastic about you, aren't they?" said Kousen.

"Mmm," Sanae mumbled into the desk. "I can see now why you told me to keep my identity a secret. If people found out, they'd never leave me alone."

"It'll die down eventually," said Kousen. "After a while, people will just get used to having you around. When they do, you'll know you've finally succeeded in bringing peace to the city."

***

"Oh, that!" said Sanae, her eyes widening in recognition. "Yeah, I remember that now. So, is that what happened with you and Kage? People just got used to having you around?"

"More or less," said Kousen. "People stopped being afraid whenever a monster appeared, because they knew we would defeat it, and when we did, they carried on as though nothing had happened. To me, that was a sign that we were doing our jobs properly. But to Kage, it was a sign that the townspeople no longer truly appreciated what we were doing for them. She felt we'd been turned into slaves, doing the humans' bidding without any recognition.

"Eventually, she grew bitter and resentful towards humanity, and one day when a monster appeared, she refused to help. I tried to talk sense into her, but she had grown angry at me as well, for serving the humans so willingly. In the end, I was forced to fight my old friend. The resulting battle destroyed half the city, but ultimately Kage was defeated, and I sealed her away inside her own Emblem. However, my powers had been greatly weakened during the fight, and I was close to death. With the last of my strength, I sealed myself away inside my own Emblem, in the hopes that … well, you know the rest," Kousen concluded.

"And now someone's picked up Kage's Emblem and decided to use it?" asked Sanae. "Damn. I'm guessing I'm going to have to fight her, right?"

"I'm afraid so," said Kousen, her expression grave. "However, I must warn you that Black Star will be a far more formidable opponent than that monster you fought yesterday. It will be a very difficult battle. All I can do is wish you good luck, and hope that you will be successful."

"Thanks, Kousen," said Sanae. "I'll do my best, just like I did yesterday!" Sanae hopped off her bed and began rooting around inside her school bag. "Now then, where did I put that Emblem… I know it was in here somewhere…"

"Please don't tell me you've lost the most powerful magical item this side of the World Above," said Kousen wearily.

"No, wait, here it is," said Sanae, and as she pulled it from her bag, she was engulfed once more in a blinding white light. Her T-shirt and sweatpants morphed into a beautiful white knee-length dress, with violet lace trim. White thigh-high socks and high-heeled shoes gently enveloped her feet and legs, the straps of the shoes winding their way delicately up her shins. White gloves manifested themselves on her hands, and as the Emblem transformed into the White Star Wand, she clutched it tightly in her right hand. Finally, her hair curled itself into two neat ringlets either side of her head, and her transformation into White Star was complete.

"Alright," said Sanae, "time to go do the thing! Seriously, I need to think of a good pre-battle quote."

12: Episode 2: Dusk (Pt.6)

Meanwhile, downtown, Amaya was greatly enjoying her new-found powers as Black Star. "Man, this is a blast!" she exclaimed, looking down upon the twisted wreckage of the various cars she had destroyed. "I didn't think I'd get to do this when the series first started!"

"I didn't think I'd be released by someone who'd have so much fun with the Emblem, nyaa~" said Kage, hovering at her shoulder. "But I have to admit, it's fun to watch you smashing up all these weird doohickeys, nyaa~."

"It sure is~" said Black Star. "Man, I wish I could do this forever!"

"Wouldn't you run out of stuff to smash eventually, nyaa~?" asked Kage.

"I guess so," said Black Star, "but to be honest, I probably would've gotten bored by then. Also, I need to go to school tomorrow, so at some point I'll have to stop and go to bed."

"That's lame, nyaa~" said Kage.

"Yeah, I know," said Black Star, as she levitated a passing SUV off the ground. "But I like school. I get to leave the house for a while and talk to people, like-"

"Stop right there, criminal scum!"

Black Star was so surprised at the sudden shout that she dropped the SUV, causing it to smash back down to the ground, wrecking its suspension and shattering its windows. Turning around, she saw White Star hovering in the air behind her, a serious expression on her face. As the two magical girls stared each other down, they were completely oblivious to each other's secret identities.

"You must be White Star," said Black Star. "I was wondering whether you'd show up."

"Of course I would!" said White Star. "I made a promise to this city that I would protect it, and that means stopping people like you!"

Black Star snorted. "You? Stop me?" she said. "You could barely stop that fifty-foot sea monster! What makes you think you can stop me?"

"The fact that I'm the protagonist!" said White Star. "And the protagonist always wins!"

Black Star scowled. First of all, she's completely wrong about that, she thought. I could give at least a dozen counter-examples. What's more, she's even taking attention away from my best friend now! Sanae's supposed to be the protagonist, not this idiot! I'll put her back in her place for sure! "Well, we'll see about that," said Black Star. "Prepare yourself, White Star! You're about to face the wrath of Black Star!"

"Bring it on!" said White Star, adopting a combat stance. "In the name of the moon-"

"I thought you said you couldn't use that one," said Kousen.

"Oh, right, yeah," said White Star. "Darn."

"Use your line from yesterday!" called out Hitomi, who was eagerly watching on below. "The one about the light of justice!"

"The light of justice…? Oh yeah, I remember now!" said White Star. "Hey, you're right, that does make a pretty good pre-battle one-liner! Thanks, Hit- uhh, I mean, thank you, random heterochromatic citizen!"

"You're welcome, White Star!" said Hitomi.

"Alright then!" said White Star, adopting her combat pose once more. "Time to let the light of just- OOF!"

Black Star had grown bored of waiting for White Star to come out with a catchphrase, and so struck her with a bolt of energy, knocking her backwards. "Oww! Hey, you're not supposed to attack while I'm talking!" said White Star.

Black Star's response was merely to grin and start firing more bolts of energy. "And how come you're not calling your attacks?" asked White Star, as she flew around in circles trying to dodge. "I thought you had to do that to get it to work!"

"I am calling them," said Black Star. "I'm just muttering the spells so quietly that you can't hear them. If you don't know what I'm about to do, then you can't-"

"Star Shower!" White Star interrupted by firing a stream of star-shaped projectiles at Black Star, striking her and sending her flying back.

"Now who's attacking while the other person is talking?!" Black Star complained.

"If you're gonna ignore the conventions of magical girl battles, then so am I!" said White Star. "It's not like this series follows anime conventions anyway!"

"Did someone say anime convention?" said a fat otaku who suddenly appeared beneath the two girls, dressed in a ninja outfit and carrying a body pillow.

"Go away, you filthy neckbeard!" shouted White Star and Black Star in unison.

"Awww," moaned the man, before running off, his arms trailing behind him.

"Alright, fine," said Black Star, readying her wand. "The gloves are off!"

"You're not wearing gloves," White Star pointed out.

"Exactly!" said Black Star. "Fire Storm!"

White Star grinned, and shouted, "Fire Hose!", summoning a large jet of water from the tip of her wand. She had expected a jet of flame to burst out of Black Star's wand, only to be quenched by the fire. She had not expected a large flurry of snowflakes to engulf her, freezing the water solid and chilling her to the bone. Shivering uncontrollably, she was unable to move as Black Star pointed her wand at her once more.

"Weren't expecting that, were you?" declared the villainous magical girl. "Now, to finish you off! Dark Laser!"

A black pulse shot out of the end of Black Star's wand, heading straight for White Star, but in the instant before it hit her, White Star managed to shout through chattering teeth: "F-F-F-Flame Shield!" A fiery sphere engulfed her just in time; the black pulse smashed straight into the solid flames and exploded harmlessly. At the same time, the flames surrounding White Star began to warm her up, counteracting the effects of Black Star's misleadingly-named Fire Storm attack. By the time the flames dissipated, White Star was back to normal, and ready to keep fighting.

Black Star couldn't help smiling. "I have to admit, I underestimated you," she said. "I've been throwing every trick I can think of at you, and you're just shrugging them off."

"Well, if those are all the tricks you can think of, you're obviously not a very good magician," said White Star with a grin. However, internally she was starting to panic. I really underestimated her as well, she thought. I know Kousen warned me she'd be tough-

That's right, I did, thought Kousen in response.

-but I didn't think she'd be this tough, or this hard to deal with! I can barely get an attack in! White Star's grip tightened on her wand, her resolve hardening. There's only one thing for it, she thought. I'm going to have to use my ultimate attack-

"Are you gone with your internal monologue yet?" asked Black Star impatiently.

"Pretty much, yeah," said White Star.

"Good, said Black Star, "because this ends now!"

"Agreed!" said White Star, resuming her combat stance.

"I'll show you my ultimate attack, that I came up with just now and totally isn't a copy of yours!" said Black Star, readying her own wand. "Black Star…"

"White Star…"

"BEAM!!!" Both girls fired their ultimate attacks simultaneously, sending out two immense beams of energy, one snow-white and one pitch-black. The two beams collided in mid-air, clashing in a burst of energy. Sparks crackled and flew as the two girls focused their entire beings, each trying to overwhelm the other's beam and finally claim the ultimate victory

Down below, a massive crowd had already gathered to watch the fight, and now they all stared in awe at the titanic tussle being played out above them. Hitomi watched on anxiously, silently cheering on White Star, as were most of the other spectators. I have to win this for them, thought White Star, her gaze remaining focused on the opposing magical girl. I have to…

13: Episode 2: Dusk (Pt.7)

"Give it up, White Star!" jeered Black Star, as the two magical girls' beams continued to clash in mid-air. "Your power is no match for mine!"

"Actually, I think my powers are a perfect match for yours," said White Star.

"Oh?" said Black Star. "And what makes you think that?"

"We've been at this for four hours now," said White Star. "Everyone's already gone home." Indeed, the crowd around them had completely dissipated, the public having grown bored of the stalemate, and the sun was now beginning to sink below the horizon.

"I'm still here!" said Hitomi excitedly.

"I don't even know you," said Black Star dismissively.

"I'm here too!" said the overweight otaku in the ninja outfit, having apparently returned.

"Shut up, you filthy neckbeard!" yelled White Star and Black Star in unison. Once again the man moaned and ran off, his arms trailing behind him.

Black Star scowled, glancing over her shoulder at the setting sun. "Wow, we really have been at this for a while," she muttered. "I have to get home and cook dinner." Turning back to face White Star again, she scowled and said, "Alright, fine. We'll call this one a draw. But the next time we meet, I'll be sure to kick your ass!"

"Ha! Dream on, Black Star!" said White Star. "I'll be the one to kick your ass!"

"Oh?" said Black Star. "Well… I'll kick your ass times a hundred!"

"What is this, elementary school?!" scoffed White Star. "If your fighting skills are as bad as your insults, then you won't stand a chance!"

This less-than-witty repartee was swiftly interrupted by the growling of both girls' stomachs. "We should probably call this a day and go have dinner," suggested White Star. But wait, she suddenly thought. If I cancel my White Star Beam, there's no guarantee that Black Star will do the same. She could wipe me out the instant I cancel it. I can't take that risk… but, I can't stay here and cancel out her Beam forever! Ohh… what should I do…

"Uhh... are you gonna cancel your beam or what?" asked Black Star suddenly. "I already cancelled mine."

Bringing herself back to her senses, White Star realized that Black Star had already moved out of the way of the beam while cancelling her own. Her White Star Beam has now flying straight down the highway, illuminating the evening sky with a dazzling white light. White Star hurriedly cancelled the beam, chuckling awkwardly and rubbing the back of her neck. "Hehe… whoops. Sorry about that," she said.

"Honestly… how I failed to defeat you, I have no idea," said Black Star, shaking her head. "But no matter. Next time, I'll defeat you for sure!" With that, Black Star turned tail and flew off. I really do need to think of better insults, she thought. I lost that particular battle.

White Star glared after Black Star as she retreated. "I'll kick your ass times infinity," she hissed quietly.

"Nicely fought, White Star," said Kousen, flying over to her. "You managed to hold off Black Star and get her to withdraw… eventually."

"She'll be back, though, won't she?" said Sanae.

"Most likely," said Kousen. "But if she couldn't defeat you this time, then she most likely won't be able to defeat you next time, either. Well then, now that the city is safe, shall we head back home? I believe you were going to teach me about giant robots next?"

"Oh yeah, I was," said White Star. "But first I should go have dinner, I'm starving."

"I think I could use something to eat as well," said Kousen, massaging her stomach, which was growling even louder than Sanae's. "It appears that since I can no longer draw on the White Star Emblem's chi, I now require the same nourishment as humans."

"Why didn't you say something earlier?!" said White Star, alarmed. "You've gone over 24 hours without eating a thing!"

"Technically, I've gone my whole life without eating anything," said Kousen. "I'm sorry, White Star, but all this other business rather distracted me from it."

"You mean the writer just made it up on the spot again to fill in a plot hole…" grumbled White Star. "Alright, come on, let's go home and I'll cook you something tasty for dinner."

"Thank you," said Kousen. "You are an excellent guardian, and some day, I'm sure you'll make an excellent wife as well."

"Yeah, right," said White Star. "The writer would have to invent a love interest for me first, and that's never gonna happen." As the two flew off, they passed right over Ryouichi, who was standing in the street for no apparent reason. He had no idea that she was his beloved who was flying overhead.

***

The next morning, the battle between White Star and Black Star was on both Sanae and Amaya's minds as they met up on their way to school. Play it cool, Sanae, thought Sanae. You don't her to realize that you're White Star.

Play it cool, Amaya, thought Amaya. You don't want her to realize that you're Black Star. "So, uhh… did you hear about White Star and Black Star duking it out last night?" she asked.

"Kinda hard not to," said Sanae. "It was all over the TV and Internet. I imagine it'll be all over the school as well."

"Oh." I didn't really think that through, thought Amaya. Attacking her will just make people talk about her more. But at least they'll be talking about me, as well.

"Yeah," said Sanae. "I imagine most people will be talking about who should have won."

"Well, we all know what the answer to that is," said Amaya.

"Yeah, we do," said Sanae, smiling. "White Star."

"Black Star," said Amaya simultaneously. Oh, right, she remembered, I should probably make it sound like I don't like Black Star, just to be on the safe side. "Uhh, I mean White Star!" she said hurriedly. "Obviously White Star would wipe the floor with Black Star!"

"Obviously," said Sanae. Oh, right, she remembered, I should probably make it sound like I don't like White Star, just to be on the safe side. "Uhh… I mean, it would be a pretty close contest, but…"

"Oh?" asked Amaya. "You think Black Star really has skill?"

"Well, she certainly gave White Star a hard time," said Sanae.

"I guess that's true…" said Amaya. "Well, at least we can both agree that all this attention surrounding them is rather annoying, huh?"

"You can say that again," said Sanae. "Good thing the spotlight's back on us now."

The pair continued on their way towards school, each of them oblivious to the fact that the other was now their sworn arch-nemesis.

14: Episode 3: White Star Fan Club (Pt.1)

As expected, the White Star phenomenon only intensified following her battle against Black Star, and the two magical girls remained almost the sole talking point for the rest of the week. Sanae soon found herself getting used to it, although it was still a little difficult not to turn around every time she heard someone cry out "White Star!" in the corridors.

To her surprise, it also seemed as though Black Star had gotten a small peripheral following. Her villainous nature hadn't stopped some people on the Internet from expressing affection for her, and she had seen more than one person posting things like "I don't care if Black Star is evil, she's still adorable as hell", or "Black Star did nothing wrong", or "Isn't Black Star a character from Soul Eater?" She had to scroll past that last one fairly quickly, for fear of copyright issues.

Much to her horror, Sanae also found a small group of people who were obsessed with the idea of "shipping" White Star and Black Star together. By the weekend, she had already seen at least three pictures of the two magical girls expressing their love for one another in some manner. I don't get it, she thought. How does one look at two mortal enemies fighting to the death and think, 'I bet they actually really want to screw each other'? Probably watched too many tsundere anime.

Having become a little burnt-out on her alter ego, and feeling all the more glad that no more monsters had appeared since Monday, Sanae spent the weekend relaxing and putting all thoughts of White Star and Black Star to one side. Come Monday morning, she was ready to go back to school and face the endless chatter all over again. Amaya was not so ready.

"Just let it die already," she mumbled, as she shuffled towards the school. "Just let the White Star fad die already."

"Are you alright, Amaya?" asked Sanae. "You look tired. Like, really tired."

"My mom was up all night playing the new Bat-Dude game and she had the volume turned up really loud for whatever reason," she groaned. "I couldn't get a wink of sleep, and I know half the plot now. I can still hear Bat-Dude's voice in my head…"

"Well, to be fair, there's worse voices you could have in your head," said Sanae. "Like Sailor Moon and her annoying whiny baby voice. Ugh." She shuddered. "I hope I don't get a voice like that when this series gets animated."

"I don't have to worry about that, because I'm a tomboy," said Amaya. "They wouldn’t give a tomboy a voice like that." She yawned, and then sighed. "They're gonna give me an annoying voice now just for the fun of it, aren't they?" she muttered.

Sanae shrugged. "We'll find out someday. Hopefully."

Amaya nodded "Hopefully," she muttered. Then she stopped walking, and her head suddenly lolled forwards onto her shoulder.

"Amaya?!" exclaimed Sanae, startled. "Don't tell me you've just fallen asleep standing up!"

"I'm too tired to go to school," said Amaya.

"Too bad!" said Sanae, seizing her arm. "You're the straight man to my idiot! I need you to make the classroom scenes funnier! Besides, if you don't come into school, what are you gonna do for the whole day? Stay at home while your mom plays Bat-Dude?"

"Let's go," said Amaya suddenly, her head snapping upwards as she resumed walking.

"Wow, that was fast," remarked Sanae. "Good thing I didn't have to drag her all the way up there, though. That would have been tiring."

Amaya suddenly glared at Sanae over her shoulder. "Did you just make a fat joke?" she asked.

"Well, if the boot fits-" quipped Sanae, an instant before Amaya's foot impacted her face, knocking her to the ground.

"Sure fits your face nicely," grumbled Amaya, before walking off again. Sanae picked herself up, rubbed her face, and made a mental note never to tease Amaya while she was sleep-deprived.

***

When they finally made it to school, Amaya proceeded to spend most of the day sleeping at her desk, only waking up when a teacher barked at her to do so only to go right back to sleep again five minutes later. When it came to lunchtime, Sanae gently nudged her friend awake. "Amaya," she whispered, "wake up. It's lunchtime."

"Thanks, Sanae," mumbled Amaya, rubbing her eyes. "I think I'll eat here today, you go ahead to the cafeteria."

"You sure?" asked Sanae.

Amaya nodded. "I'm sure," she said. "You're the main character, you go do your main character stuff."

"Okay," said Sanae. "I'll be back once I'm finished eating, okay?"

Amaya nodded, and yawned. "Sure, whatever," she said.

Getting up out of her seat, Sanae grabbed her back and headed off to the cafeteria as usual. On her way there, however, she spotted a flyer crudely stapled to one of the walls. Usually, she didn’t pay attention to the various club flyers stapled to the walls, but this one happened to catch her attention, as this one had a picture of White Star on the front. Moving in closer, she began to read it:

"Are YOU a fan of White Star?" it proclaimed boldly. "Why not join the new WHITE STAR FAN CLUB? Meetings are every day after-school (location tbd). Come and discuss White Star, Black Star, and any other cool supernatural stuff that happens in Mitsuzawa!"

Sanae couldn't help being surprised. "Wow, I even have a fan club now…" she muttered.

"Wanna join?"

Sanae shrieked and jumped about a foot in the air, paranoid that whoever had just spoken had heard what she had said. Looking around, she realized it was Hitomi, the heterochromatic girl she had run into - literally - at the start of the semester. "Wh-wh-wh-when did you get here?!" she exclaimed, flustered.

"F-f-f-five seconds ago!" replied Hitomi, mimicking Sanae's stuttering. "I heard you were interested in joining the White Star Fan Club! Is that right?"

If Hitomi had heard her, she wasn't letting on. Sanae decided to give her the benefit of the doubt for now, and forced herself to calm down. "Uhh… maybe…" she said. "Are you in it, Hitomi?"

"I'm the club president!" she said boldly. "Or rather, I will be, once we get one more member, a room, and a supervising teacher! Then we'll be a proper club!"

"You already have three other members?" said Sanae. Somehow, despite all the attention she had gotten over the last week, she was still surprised that there were people who liked her enough to join a fan club dedicated to her.

"Sure do!" said Hitomi. "You wanna go meet 'em?"

"Sure, why not," said Sanae. She was rather curious about what kinds of people would join a fan club dedicated to her.

"Alright, let's go!" said Hitomi. "They're over in Class 1-3, so follow me~!" Hitomi headed off down the corridor, with Sanae following along behind. I hope I get to eat my lunch while I'm there, she thought, I'm really hungry…

15: Episode 3: White Star Fan Club (Pt.2)

A short time later, Hitomi burst cheerfully into Class 1-3 with Sanae in tow. "Hey guys!" she loudly proclaimed. "I managed to find us a fifth member!"

"What?!" exclaimed Sanae. "I never agreed to join!"

"But you already signed the consent form!" said Hitomi, looking genuinely confused. To Sanae's amazement, she help up a consent form that undeniably had her signature on it.

"What?!" repeated Sanae. "I don't remember signing that!"

"Sure you did!" said Hitomi. "Here you are signing it in a flashback:"

***

"So, have you thought any more about joining?" asked Hitomi, as the pair made their way through the corridors.

Sanae nodded. "I've made up my mind," she said. "I'd like to join the White Star Fan Club."

Hitomi's mismatched eyes lit up with joy. "Really?!" she said. "Really really?! Wow, thanks, Sanae!" From seemingly nowhere, she produced a printed consent form and a pen. "Here! Just sign this consent form and you'll be an official member!"

Sanae took the pen and paper, leaned against the wall, and began to sign her name.

***

"That wasn't a flashback!" Sanae protested. "That was a dream sequence! That didn't actually-" Sensing she was fighting a battle she could not win, Sanae groaned and gave up. On the face of it, a fan club dedicated to her own magical girl persona certainly wasn't the worst club she could have been roped into joining.

With Sanae's protests silenced, Hitomi carried on. "Alright, now that you're signed up, allow us all to introduce ourselves!" Hitomi turned to address the only other people in the room, three freshman girls who were sat on the opposite side of the classroom. "You guys know the drill, right?"

The three girls nodded, one of them rather reluctantly, and together with Hitomi they lined up side-by-side in front of Sanae. Their hair colours formed a rudimentary rainbow: one blue, one green, one yellow, and one red. Hitomi pressed play on her smartphone, and a generic heroic anthem filled the classroom as she stepped forward. "Hitomi Murasakime: Blue Star!" she declared.

Next the green-haired girl stepped forward, her serious expression and imposing physique contrasting with the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. "Nagisa Tezuka: Green Star!" she bellowed.

Next the blonde-haired girl stepped forward, neatly adjusting her glasses as she did so. "Mio Natsume: Gold Star," she said plainly, not bothering with the boisterous introduction the other two had made.

Finally it was the red-haired girl's turn, but she remained rooted to the spot and did not say a word, her expression betraying her complete and utter embarrassment. "Come on, Hinata," complained Hitomi, "you're messing up our intro!"

"B-but… it's embarrassing…" stammered Hinata quietly.

"But nothing!" barked Nagisa, who seemed incapable of talking any quieter. "Be polite and introduce yourself to your senpai!"

Blushing even harder, Hinata reluctantly stepped forward. "H… Hinata Morishita: Red Star," she squeaked.

"And together," the four of them concluded in unison, "we are the White Star Fan Club! Supporting White Star in her every endeavour!"

"-e-every endeavour," Hinata finished feebly, having been a little out of sync.

Sanae stood silently for a moment, trying to take in what she had just witnessed. Finally, her voice filled with disbelief, she said, "Did we just segue into another dream sequence or did that actually happen?"

"You're not dreaming!" said Hitomi cheerfully, seemingly mistaking Sanae's bewilderment for amazement. "That did just actually happen! Now, you'll need some kind of code name of your own, for when you're cheering on White Star in battle along with the rest of us! Hmm…" Hitomi pondered this for a moment, her eyes poring over Sanae's violet fringe. "I know! You can be Violet Star!"

That sounds like a porn star name, thought Sanae. Well, I suppose it could be-

"What's a porn star?" asked Kousen suddenly.

Sanae, who had forgotten that her familiar had followed her to school again that day, shrieked and jumped about three feet into the air, alarming the other fan club members. "What's the matter, Sanae?" asked Hitomi. "Do you not like that name?"

"No, no, I, uh…" Sanae tried to think of an excuse fast. It wasn't a talent she'd needed particularly often, but it was a talent she'd certainly needed to master if she was to preserve her secret identity. "I got stung by a hornet! Yeah, that's it! I think it's flown away now, don't worry."

"Is that so?" asked Mio, as Hinata started frantically looking around the classroom to make sure the imaginary hornet really was gone. "How strange. Are you okay? Hornet stings can be dangerous if not treated."

"Yes, I'm fine," said Sanae. "Don't worry."

"Well, now that we've all introduced ourselves, the only thing left to do is to get ourselves a supervisory teacher!" said Hitomi. "And I know just how to do it! Sanae, since you're the main character, you should come with me!"

"Wait, you mean right now?" said Sanae. "But I haven't eaten lunch yet!"

Hitomi, not caring, was already out of the door. "You can eat it afterwards!" she said. "This will only take a few minutes!"

With a resigned sigh, Sanae followed Hitomi on her way to the teacher's lounge, her stomach letting out a low grumble. I'm so hungry…

***

As the pair entered the teacher's office, Sanae glanced around at the half-dozen teachers sat around eating, or marking, or marking while eating. Some of them looked like they'd much rather eat their marking than actually mark it. All the eating didn't really help Sanae's mood. "So, did you have a specific teacher in mind?" she asked, keeping her voice down.

Hitomi did not bother keeping her voice down. "I was thinking maybe her," she said, pointing at Inaba-sensei, who was also currently eating.

"You mean Inaba-sensei?" said Sanae. "That would be convenient, since she's my homeroom teacher. Law of conservation of detail, and all that."

Hitomi nodded. "Inaba-sensei it is, then!" she said.

The two girls made their way over to Inaba-sensei, who looked up from her sandwich. "Ah, Hikari, Murasakime," she said. "Is there something I can help you both with?"

"Yes!" said Hitomi, pulling out another consent form. "Could you please agree to be the supervisor for the White Star Fan Club? You won't actually have to do anything, but we need one in order to be official!"

Inaba-sensei smiled apologetically. "Well, you see… the thing is, I'm already supervising the Literature Club," she said. "I'm sorry, I'd like to help, but I can't."

"But like she said, you don't actually-"

"It's okay, Sanae, I've got this," said Hitomi, cutting off her upperclassman. Leaning forwards, her demeanour suddenly changed, becoming rather sinister and upsetting. "You're forgetting, Inaba-sensei… I know your secret."

Inaba-sensei's attitude also changed dramatically. Her eyes shot open in genuine panic, beads of sweat forming on her brow as her face turned pale. "I… I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Murasakime-" she said.

Hitomi was persistent. "You wouldn't want the whole school to find out about it, would you, Inaba-sensei?" she said, smiling cheerfully all the while.

The mere thought of this seemed to be enough to get Inaba-sensei to fold. "Wh-what was it you wanted me to sign again?" she asked.

Hitomi held out the form. "Here!" she said. "Just sign this and I'll keep quiet!"

Inaba-sensei snatched the form out of Hitomi's hands and signed it without a second thought, swiftly returning it to her. "Here," she said. "Now, please don't tell anyone what you know. After all…" Now it was time for Inaba-sensei's expression to turn sinister. "I can make school life very unpleasant for the both of you."

"Of course!" said Sanae worriedly. "Our lips are sealed, don't worry."

"Pleasure doing business with you, Inaba-sensei!" said Hitomi, tucking the completed form away. "See you later!"

"See you later, girls," said Inaba-sensei, before returning to her sandwich, a little rattled.

Sanae was also rather shaken, as she and Hitomi emerged back into the corridor. "Was blackmailing her really necessary?" she asked.

"I guess so," said Hitomi, shrugging. "I mean, it worked, after all."

"But still, how did you manage to get the dirt on her?" she asked. "I didn't think Inaba-sensei had any dark secrets like that."

Hitomi grinned. "Here's the thing: I didn't actually have any dirt on her!" she said cheerfully. "I just thought I'd say that and see if it worked!"

"So you're blackmailing her with a secret that you don't even know?" said Sanae. "Wow. Well, at least there's no chance of it getting out... although I worry what might happen if she ever finds out you've got nothing on her…"

"She won't," said Hitomi. "As far as I'm concerned, this lingering plot thread is never going to be brought up again."

"Let's hope not," said Sanae.

"But anyway, we're an official club now!" said Hitomi. "Let's hurry back and tell the others!"

"And then I can eat?" asked Sanae.

"And then you can eat," said Hitomi.

Sanae let out a sigh of relief. "Finally," she said. "I'm starving." With that, the two girls continued back towards Class 1-3.

16: Episode 3: White Star Fan Club (Pt.3)

Sanae ended up spending the whole of lunch with the White Star Fan Club, eagerly tucking into her boxed lunch as the other members set about acquainting themselves with the new arrival. "Sorry about that embarrassing introduction earlier," said Mio. "That was Hitomi's idea, along with the code names. Please allow us to introduce ourselves properly. My name is Mio Natsume. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sanae-senpai."

"I already introduced myself," said Nagisa dismissively. "Once is enough. Still, nice to meet you, I guess."

"Umm… yeah," mumbled Hinata. "N-nice to meet you…"

"So, are you all in the first year?" asked Sanae.

"That's right!" said Hitomi. "We're all your kouhais!"

"I see," said Sanae. "So, were you all roped into joining like I was, or did you join of your own accord?"

"We all joined of our own free will," said Mio. "Hinata took a little, uhh… persuasion… but that's only because she's so shy and indecisive that she wouldn't have said yes otherwise." Sanae wasn't sure what this "persuasion" entailed, but she wondered whether it was the same way she had been "persuaded" to join.

"I'm not indecisive," protested Hinata quietly. "Well… I think I'm not… maybe…"

"So, why did you all decide to join, then?" asked Sanae.

"You mean, why do we like White Star?" asked Nagisa.

"Well, yeah, I guess so," said Sanae. "I mean, it is the White Star Fan Club, after all, so you wouldn't have joined unless you liked her."

Nagisa nodded. "I like White Star because she kicks ass," she explained. "I watched her fight that serpent monster and I thought, 'Wow, she could destroy an entire army!' Besides, I think it's important for young girls to have powerful role models, and White Star certainly counts as one of those."

Sanae nodded. She hadn't really thought of herself as a beacon of female empowerment - she'd seen herself more as a paragon of meta-humour and obscure references - but if that was really what other girls thought about her, then she couldn't help feeling a little honoured. "What about you, Hinata?" she asked.

"Umm… well…" Hinata fidgeted nervously in her chair. "White Star is really brave… I wish that… I could be strong like her…"

"I see," said Sanae, nodding. "And what about you, Mio? Why did you join the White Star Fan Club?"

The calm, collected Mio suddenly seemed a little flustered. "Uhh, well… you see…"

***

Mio had been watching on from below as White Star and Black Star came to blows. As their respective Star Beams clashed in mid-air, looks of sheer determination on their faces, Mio's eyes lit up and shone brightly. Look at them!, she thought. Two beautiful magical girls locked in mortal combat… imagine if they were madly in love! Surely soon, they will fall swooning into each other's arms, having forgotten why they were fighting in the first place… how wonderful! It's the purest form of love! I ship it! I ship it so hard!

***

"…uhh… I admire White Star for her strength…?" said Mio nervously.

"As for me," said Hitomi, "I think White Star is the awesomest thing that's ever happened! That's why I created this fan club, so all her fans can gather together and discuss her exploits, and then cheer her on during battle! You'll be there cheering her on alongside us, right, Sanae?"

Oh great, that issue again, thought Sanae. "Uhh… well, I guess it depends when the monster attacks are," she said hesitantly. "I'm usually really busy after school-"

***

"Hey, I wonder if the White Star Wand works on video games as well," said Sanae, as she was embroiled in a fierce game of Mall of Duty.

"First of all, I told you to only use it for emergencies," said Kousen. "Second of all, wouldn't that be considered cheating?"

"I didn't even say what I was going to use it for," said Sanae. "But now that you mention it…"

Keeping her eyes locked firmly on the screen, Sanae slowly made her way towards the White Star Emblem, which was lying on her desk. Holding the controller with one hand, she grabbed the Emblem in the other hand and quickly transformed into White Star as the chi surged through her body. Pointing the Emblem at the screen, she said, "360 No-Scope!", and every enemy on the screen suddenly fell dead to the floor, minus their heads.

Sanae let out a cry of amazement. "Oh my God, it worked!" she squealed. "I can't believe it worked! That was awesome! Kousen, get the camera!"

"What's a camera," asked Kousen, equally loudly, "and why are we shouting?"

***

"-yeah, really busy," said Sanae. "But I'll be there with you guys in spirit."

"Well, that's better than nothing!" said Hitomi. "Now we just have to wait for a monster attack!"

"You want monsters to attack the city?" said Nagisa.

"Well, yes and no," said Hitomi. "No, because that's bad, but yes, because that means White Star will come out and kick their butts like she always does! And we get to watch and cheer her on as a team!"

"Well, even if I do end up missing it, I'll be looking forward to it along with the rest of you," said Sanae.

***

Amaya, having slept through most of lunchtime as well, hadn't noticed that Sanae had been gone the whole time. In fact, she didn't even notice Sanae re-enter Class 2-2 at the end of lunch, and Sanae had to nudge her best friend awake once more. "Huh?" said Amaya. "Is it lesson time already?"

"Yeah," said Sanae. She was holding a hot cup of coffee, which she then placed on Amaya's desk. "I bought you a cup of coffee from the cafeteria, to help wake you up some more, but I guess you can't drink it now, huh? Sorry. I should've gotten here earlier."

In a flash, Amaya's sleep-deprived brain suddenly came up with an idea. As Inaba-sensei entered the classroom, Amaya pretended to look out of the window, then suddenly leapt to her feet and pointed. "Oh my gosh, look!" she declared. "It's White Star!"

Immediately the entire class rushed to the window to look, with the exception of Sanae, who was understandably confused. "But that's impossi-" she began to object, before realizing that explaining why it was impossible would be tantamount to revealing her identity. She abruptly joined the others in rushing towards the window, and with everyone's attention now focused elsewhere, Amaya put her plan into action. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the Black Star Emblem and in an instant she had transformed.

"I've always wanted to say this," she muttered. "Za Warudo!" In an instant, time itself stopped. Her classmates froze in place, still staring expectantly out of the classroom window. Now, she had all the time in the world to drink her coffee. In fact, she had all the time in the world to do more or less anything she wanted. But I guess it's not as much fun to do evil if there's nobody watching, she thought to herself. Ah well… mind you, I suppose while I have time stopped like this, there is one more thing I might as well do…

***

"WRRRRYYYYYYYYY!"

With an almighty yell, Amaya slammed a road roller end-first into the ground outside her mother's house. Her mother, frozen in the middle of her Bat-Dude gaming session, did not flinch, but she certainly would once time resumed. Amaya wondered how long it would take her to notice that she had also swapped the Bat-Dude game disc for a Road to Hull: Revolution game disc. Hope she has fun with that steaming pile of dog turd, she thought smugly to herself.

Perching herself on top of the road roller's rear end, which stuck several feet out of the cracked asphalt, Amaya began to drink her coffee in total, blissful solitude, idly swinging her legs. Although it had taken her quite some time to find a suitable road roller, the time-stop meant that her coffee was still nice and hot. "Ahhh… that feels much better," she said, after ingesting the first mouthful. "This time spell is really draining my power, though. I'd better hurry up and drink this coffee so I can head back to the school and undo the spell."

Amaya drank her coffee quickly, and when she got back to Class 2-2, everything was just as she had left it. With the caffeine not yet taking hold, and the time-freeze spell draining the Emblem's power severely, she felt no less tired than she had before. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, she thought. Well, too late now. Sitting back down at her seat, she dropped the Emblem into her bag, and as her transformation was broken, so was the spell. A few seconds later, her un-frozen classmates began to realize that White Star was not in fact outside their classroom window. "Hey, where is she?" "I don't see her!" "Maybe we missed her already?"

"Oh, sorry, my mistake," said Amaya casually. "It must have been a bird, or a plane, or something."

The rest of the class let out a collective sigh of disappointment and returned to their seats. "Well, now that all that excitement is over, let's get on with the lesson," said Inaba-sensei. "Turn to page 78, please-"

17: Episode 3: White Star Fan Club (Pt.4)

"I summon the ANCIENT WARRIOR OF LIGHT, IN ATTACK MODE!"

The man with the long rose-coloured hair raised the card high above his head, and from out of it burst a heavily-muscled man in silver armour so shiny it was almost blinding to look at. "Since I have Temple of Light in play," declared the man, in an unnecessarily-loud voice, "The Ancient Warrior of Light's attack is BOOSTED BY 500! AND HE GETS TO ATTACK YOUR LIFE FORCE DIRECTLY!"

"NOT SO FAST!" His opponent, a teenager with wild blue-and-yellow hair that pointed in all directions, held up a finger and grinned. "You just activated my Trap Card, Pit of Plot Convenience!"

"WHAAAAAAT?!" screamed the rose-haired man, reeling backwards in shock.

"That's right!" said the wild-haired teenager. "Pit of Plot Convenience sends any monster that attacks me into the PIT OF ETERNAL DARKNESS!"

"NOOOOO!" yelled the rose-haired man. "NOT THE PIT OF ETERNAL DARKNESS!"

"BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!" the teenager boomed. "Since it's a Monday, my left shoelace is untied, and I had bacon and eggs for breakfast this morning, Pit of Plot Convenience also allows me to summon THE ULTIMATE DRAGON MONSTER FROM MY DECK! AND YOU'LL ALSO RECEIVE THIS FREE TOASTER!" He held up the card in one hand, and the toaster in the other.

"NOOO! NOT THE ULTIMATE… wait, is that a four-slice toaster?" asked the rose-haired man.

"No," said the wild-haired teenager. "It's only a two-slice."

The rose-haired man dramatically fell to his knees and let out a loud "NOOOOOOO!!!" of despair.

***

As Amaya headed out of the school that afternoon, she, like most of the other students filtering out, couldn't help noticing the extremely loud card battle going on in the schoolyard. "Huh, so there is a card game anime going on here," she remarked.

"Apparently, the loser gets sucked into the Pit of Eternal Darkness for, uhh… eternity!" said an onlooker.

"Doesn't that just mean they die?" asked Amaya.

"Sshh!" said the onlooker in a hushed voice. "They think 'Pit of Eternal Darkness' sounds cooler!"

"Well, I think they're losers," said Amaya, a moment before the rose-coloured man let out another scream of terror as the Ultimate Dragon reaped the last of his Life Points. "Losers with no concept of volume control," she added. That reminds me, I wonder how Sanae's getting on at the Sewing Club…

***

"Okay, first order of business," said Hitomi, adjusting a pair of red glasses she had put on. She didn't need them to see, but she thought they added to her moe appeal. "We all need official roles within the White Star Fan Club. I'll be the chairman, because this whole thing was my idea. Nagisa, you'll be the treasurer. You'll be in charge of our budget."

"What budget?" asked Nagisa. "The school isn't going to give us any funding!"

"Then we'll have to secure our own funding," said Hitomi.

"How?" asked Nagisa. "And what for?"

"You're the treasurer, you figure it out," said Hitomi, shrugging. "Mio, you're the secretary. You'll be making notes of each meeting."

Mio nodded, pulling a notepad and pen out of her bag. "Leave it to me," she said.

"Sanae, you can be vice-chairman, since you're the oldest out of all of us," said Hitomi. "Now, what could we get Hinata to do…"

"Well, I-I don't really mind," said Hinata nervously, "as long as it doesn't involve public speaking… o-or anything embarrassing…"

"Hmm…" Hitomi thought about it for a moment. "Oh! Since we're an official fan club, we should have a website, right? Are you any good at HTML coding?"

"I-I don't even know what that is…" stammered Hinata.

"Then just set up a Blagger page, and write articles on there about White Star's exploits!" said Hitomi. "I'm sure that'll do!"

"Oh, please," said Nagisa, "who even uses Blagger anymore?"

"We do!" said Hitomi.

Mio seemed to have had an idea. "Could we post fanfictions on the blog as well?" she asked.

"Why?" asked Sanae.

"Oh, no reason," said Mio, her glasses gleaming. "No reason at all."

"Sure, why not?" said Hitomi. "Just make sure they're good ones, and not just stuff you stole from ."

"Oh, I will," said Mio, smiling, "don't you worry about that."

"And no lewd fanfictions either!" said Sanae. "This series is rated T for Teen, and that should go for the website as well!"

"I agree," said Hitomi. "I couldn't possibly picture White Star in that way! But then, I'm guessing that's the same for all of us here, right?"

Mio's enthusiasm immediately took a sharp dive. "Uhh… yes, of course," she said. "I couldn't possibly think of White Star in such a perverted manner!"

"Okay, good!" said Hitomi. "Well, now that we've settled all of that, on to the second order of business…"

As Hitomi carried on speaking, Sanae was suddenly distracted by the arrival of Kousen, floating down through the ceiling and hovering in the centre of the table, unseen by everyone except her. "Another monster has just appeared," she said.

This time, Sanae not only managed to not react, but also remembered to think her responses rather than saying them aloud. Are you sure that's not just the card game guy doing his card game things?, she thought.

"It is not," said Kousen. "This monster has appeared downtown, in a strange area full of giant smoking buildings. They do not appear to be on fire, but if the monster damages them, something catastrophic might happen."

You mean the industrial area?, thought Sanae. That's not good. Okay, I'll be over there as soon as I can, I just have to get out of this meeting first-

"-senpai?" Sanae blinked as she realized Hitomi was addressing her. "What's wrong? You're spacing out."

"Uhh…" Quick, though Sanae, I need to think of an excuse. Bathroom? Phone call? Uhh… "I need to use the phone call. I mean, uhh, make a bathroom. I mean, uhh…" Panicking, Sanae pointed out of the window. "Look! An obvious getaway excuse!"

"Where?!" The four underclassmen all turned to look out of the window, leaving Sanae to slip out of the room unnoticed.

"Heh, suckers," she said, as she headed down the corridor. "Alright, now that I'm finally away from those lunatics, I can get back to what this show is really about: me, beating the crap out of monsters!" Opening her bag, she took out the White Star Emblem and raised it into the air. "White Star: Transformation!"

Once more, Sanae was engulfed in a blinding white light. Her school uniform morphed into a beautiful white knee-length dress with violet lace trim. White thigh-high socks and high-heeled shoes gently enveloped her feet and legs, the straps of the shoes winding their way delicately up her shins. White gloves manifested themselves on her hands, and as the Emblem transformed into the White Star Wand, she clutched it tightly in her right hand. Finally, her hair curled itself into two neat ringlets either side of her head, and her transformation into White Star was complete.

White Star flew off through the corridors and out of the main entrance, and as she headed towards the industrial area, the White Star Fan Club - still searching for the obvious getaway excuse that Sanae had pointed at - suddenly noticed their hero flying away. "Omigosh! It's White Star!" Hitomi exclaimed. "Alright, gang, you know the drill: let's go follow her and cheer her on for victory!"

"Yeah!" cheered the other members. The four of them quickly rushed outside into the corridor, heading towards the exit.

"Hey, where did Sanae go?" asked Nagisa. "She was with us just a moment ago."

"Probably making a bathroom," said Hitomi. "What a shame… she's gonna miss out on seeing White Star battle!"

18: Episode 3: White Star Fan Club (Pt.5)

It didn't take White Star very long at all to reach the industrial district. "There it is," she said, as the cluster of factories and warehouses drew close. "Alright, let's see what we're up against. Considering the last one was a fifty-foot-long sea monster, I imagine this one's going to be some giant land monster, or a… tiny dot?"

White Star halted in mid-air, confused, as she spotted a monster down below that was much smaller than she had been expecting. She could tell it was a monster, and not a regular animal, from its pitch-black colouration and sinister aura. Slowly hovering down to street level, she found herself confronted - in a manner of speaking - by something that resembled an ordinary pug, albeit with pitch-black fur, two sharp fangs, and a crimson-eyed stare.

White Star was extremely underwhelmed by this new adversary. "A dog?" she said in disbelief. "I have to fight a dog? It's barely a foot tall! I mean, yeah, it's got vicious fangs and glowing red eyes, but come on! How is this thing possibly any threat to-" White Star's rant was cut off mid-sentence as the pug monster suddenly leapt at her with a vicious bark, clawing and biting at her leg. "Kyaah! That's how! Get off me!" White Star frantically shook her leg to try and shake the dog off, but it clung on, trying to align its jaws for a savage bite.

"Careful, White Star!" said Kousen. "If that monster gets even a single paw on the White Star Emblem-"

"I know, I know!" said White Star, holding the wand aloft. "It'll absorb the chi and grow stupidly large and strong! Heck, maybe I should let it, so I actually have an - ow - worthy opponent!"

"It's clawing your leg to shreds," Kousen observed drily, noting the scratches running all the way up White Star's shin.

"I am… aware… of that!" said White Star, swinging her leg wildly to try and dislodge the monster. Finally, with a tremendous swing, she sent it flying about twenty feet away; it skidded a little across the asphalt before scrabbling to its feet again and growling silently.

White Star conjured a strip of bandages out of thin air and began to wrap up her injured leg. "I'm really gonna have to practice coming up with excuses," she said. "I mean, now I'm going to have to explain to my friends why my leg is all bandaged."

"You could just heal it with magic," Kousen suggested.

"Oh yeah, didn't think of that," said White Star. "Well, I'll do that later. Right now, I should probably take out this monster before it attacks me mid-sentence again. Seriously, I had enough of that with Black Star last week."

"Maybe it's a sign that you should talk less and fight more?" said Kousen pointedly.

"Maybe," admitted White Star. Turning her attention back to the job at hand, she readied her wand for attack. "Although I still have one more thing to say: let the light of justice shine! Star Shower!"

A volley of star-shaped projectiles burst forth from the tip of the White Star Wand and obliterated the ground around the pug monster, sending it flying backwards. White Star flew forwards to get a closer shot, but found that the pug had injured its own leg, and could seemingly no longer stand. Looking at it now, it almost seemed like just an ordinary wounded dog, and although she knew it was a dangerous demon that had to be destroyed, White Star felt that she could not bring herself to do so. With a sigh, she lowered her wand.

"What are you doing, White Star?" asked Kousen. "Hurry up and destroy it!"

"I can't!" protested White Star. "Look at it! It's a hurt little doggy!" Kousen groaned and facepalmed. "I'm sorry, I know I should kill it," White Star continued, "but I just… can't! Oh gosh! I'm getting flashbacks to every anime I ever watched with a dog, because in every single one, the dog dies! And it's always sad! Especially that one time in-"

White Star fell silent as Kousen suddenly rested a hand on her shoulder. The youkai, sensing that her usual impatient approach would get her nowhere, had decided to try a different approach. She had seen this in one of the TV shows Sanae had shown her: it was something called "tact". "Sanae," she said gently, "while I can't say that I understand your feelings, being an emotionless being, I can tell that this is causing you great distress. But you have to snap out of it. Despite its appearance, this creature is merely a vicious demon bent on destruction, and it must be put out of its misery."

Kousen then had a sudden idea. "Think of it this way," she said. "It's not actually a dog, it only looks like one. It's no more a dog than a wood carving would be. If it helps, try to picture it as something other than a dog. Picture it as something that you hate. Picture it as the embodiment of evil that it truly is, rather than just a pitiable creature."

White Star nodded. "You know, that actually makes a lot of sense," she said. "I'll try that." She looked down at the wounded monster, still trying in vain to climb to its feet, all the while growling sinisterly. She used her imagination, and slowly its face began to change into a human one.

"Kirino was best girl!" said the monster.

"YOU LIE, DEMON!" The trick had worked perfectly, and a riled-up Sanae pointed the White Star Wand at the wounded monster once more. "To hell with your blasphemy! Finishing Move: White Star Beam!"

A blinding beam of light shot out of the White Star Wand and struck the asphalt at almost point-blank range, obliterating the monster in an instant. When the beam faded away, all that was left was a smoking crater in the middle of the road, and a Black Heart lying at the very bottom. White Star scooped it up off the ground and stared at it wistfully. "Alas, poor Yorick," she remarked. "I knew him well." With a jaunty shrug, the enthusiastic smile returned to her face. "Ah well. Let's go home," she said.

"You got over that surprisingly quickly," said Kousen, as they flew off back to the centre of town.

"Well, what can I say?" said White Star. "Your trick really worked. Thanks for snapping me out of that, Kousen."

"No problem," said Kousen. "I was just doing my job… which is making sure that you do your job."

White nodded, giving Kousen a confident smile. "And I'm going to do that job to the best of my abili-" THWACK. The magical girl, not looking where she was flying, had flown headlong into the side of a warehouse, and slowly slid down the corrugated iron wall before coming unstuck and falling backwards to the floor with a thump.

Kousen leaned nervously over her charge. "Are you alright, White Star?" she asked.

White Star groaned, looking up at Kousen with dazed, unfocused eyes. "Kyon, the phone's ringing…" she groaned.

***

The following day, after school, the White Star Fan Club had gathered once again to discuss the previous day's events. "I'm sorry I missed the fight," said Sanae, rubbing the back of her neck. "I was in the bathroom, and by the time I came out, you'd all already left."

"Don't worry about it," said Hitomi. "The thing is, well… we all kinda missed it as well." She let out an awkward chuckle.

It was only at this point that Sanae realized she hadn't seen the White Star Fan Club - or anyone at all - at the scene of the fight. "Really?" she said. "How come?"

"Well, we saw White Star heading towards the industrial district, but by the time we got there, the fight was already over," said Hitomi. "It was kinda disappointing, but there's always next time, right?"

Sanae nodded. "Sure," she said. "We'll all catch the next one. I'm sure of it."

19: Episode 4: Making a Splash! (Pt.1)

"Ah, summer. I love summer, nyaa~. That feeling of lying out in the shade, an ice-cool beer in your hand... sheer bliss, nyaa~"

While Kage went on her usual ramblings about beer, Amaya was busily preparing her things for the first day of the summer term. Uniform, textbooks, high-pressure water gun...

"What's with the weaponry, nyaa~?" asked Kage, peering curiously over the top of her beer can at the plastic water cannon. "Planning some Black Star chaos to celebrate the start of summer?"

"Not quite. It's a tradition at our high school." Amaya walked to the bathroom clutching a handful of detachable water tanks for the gun, each about the size of a soda can, and began filling them from the tap. "Every year, on the first day of summer, all the students gather in the grounds during lunch break and have a massive water fight. Guns, balloons, even buckets full of water. Anything goes. Even the teachers join in sometimes."

"You fight with water? That's a pretty weird tradition, not to mention a waste of water, nyaa~" Kage's statement about wasting water seemed somewhat misplaced considering she did not need to bathe or drink, not to mention the beer can clutched in her hand.

"The story goes that it started in the Eighties," Amaya explained. "A couple of American transfer students arrived at the school, and brought with them this thing called a Hyper Drencher, which was a powerful type of water gun they had over there. Before long the whole school was obsessed with them, and water fights would break out en masse, in the corridors and even during lessons." By now, Amaya had filled two tanks, placed watertight caps on them, and had started filling a third. "Of course, it was a nightmare for the teachers, so they reached a compromise with the students, and the annual lunchtime water fight was created."

"Do you really need so much, uhh... ammunition, nyaa~?" Kage indicated the water tanks.

"So me and Sanae can win, of course." said Amaya. "It's quicker to remove an empty water tank and replace it with a full one than it is to just refill it. The longer you're out of ammo, the more vulnerable you are. It's what cost me last year. But this year-" Amaya jammed a lid on the third full tank in an overly-dramatic fashion, and began filling the final one. "-we're gonna team up, and beat the entire school. Because, as Sanae would say, the protagonists never lose!"

"You're the antagonist, nyaa~" Kage pointed out.

"And Sanae is the protagonist," countered Amaya. "It all balances out."

"Here's hoping," said Kage.

***

"I still fail to see the point of this," said Kousen. "How can you derive enjoyment from soaking other people?"

Sanae, who was filling her water tanks from the kitchen sink, did not turn to look at Kousen hovering behind her. "It's fun!" she insisted. "You wouldn't understand, since fun is an alien concept to you."

Kousen raised a finger to object, then realized it was true: youkai had no concept of fun or boredom or any other emotion. "I suppose you have a point," she said.

"Besides, soaking people is only half the fun," said Sanae, screwing a lid onto her third full water tank. "The real fun comes from winning. That's what Amaya and I are going to do. After all, the protagonist never loses!"

"I'm not sure that's applicable to everything," said Kousen.

Sanae grinned. "We'll see about that. After all, I have a trick up my sleeve."

Kousen folded her arms and gave Sanae a disapproving look. "I've told you before," she said, "the White Star Emblem is-"

Sanae gave Kousen a cryptic grin. "I'm not talking about the White Star Emblem," she said.

***

The atmosphere at Mitsuzawa High School that morning was tense and highly-charged, in anticipation of the warfare soon to unfold. Groups of students stood clustered around the courtyard, debating the merits of their various weapons and strategies.

"I'm telling you, when it comes to power, range, and capacity, the Chekhov SR-15 is unbeatable!" said one student.

"Nonsense," said another. "Nothing beats a traditional Hyper Drencher!"

"Psshh. Hyper Drenchers have had their day," said a third. "And the Chekhov can't hold a candle to my Hydrex 4000!"

Meanwhile, other students flitted between groups, hoping to forge crucial alliances with which to take down the opposition, all the while secretly plotting to squirt their partners in the back the moment they were no longer needed. Some tried to take advantage of the hype over the impending battle to sell extra guns and water balloons. One student had opened a wooden stall, a sort of neutral territory where students could safely refill their guns without fear of attack, for a small fee. If an outsider were to enter Mitsuzawa High School at this moment, they could well mistake the place for an army barracks preparing for war.

Amaya, as she entered the school, would certainly not have looked out of place at a warzone. Her weapon of choice, a Kasaiki H40, was clamped firmly in her hands, fully loaded, pumped and ready to fire. Her spare water tanks were strapped onto a bandolier slung over her shoulder. The school rucksack hanging from her other shoulder merely added to the illusion that she were some army general, ready to lead her troops into combat.

Sanae met her just inside the gate. She had a determined grin on her face, a bust that seemed larger and bouncier than usual, and a large water gun in her hands, even larger and more fearsome-looking than Amaya's. Well, as fearsome-looking as a blue plastic water gun can look. "Are you ready for this, Amaya?" she asked, grinning.

After glaring at her friend's enhanced chest for a few seconds, as every small-chested anime character is obligated to do upon seeing someone bustier than them, Amaya nodded. "I'm ready, Sanae."

"You'd better be, Hikari!" shouted an enthusiastic third-year from nearby. "We'll take you down, and your pet Kurozawa as well!"

Sanae's grin barely wavered. "You say that now," she shot back, "but on the battlefield it'll be your gun doing the talking, and I don't think your gun can do more than whisper feebly."

"You won't be saying that when you're soaked through to your panties!" returned the third-year.

"I'm not wearing panties!" shouted Sanae, rather too loudly and with an odd smirk on her face. At this, the third-year looked somewhat embarrassed and fell silent, leaving Sanae with a triumphant grin on her face, having gained the psychological advantage over her rival.

Amaya, too, looked rather embarrassed. "You can't shout things like that across the school yard!" she objected. "This isn't Seitokai Yakuindomo, you know!"

"Sure you can," Sanae replied. "All's fair in love and war. It's true, by the way," she added in an undertone. "Last year they got soaked and it was really uncomfortable walking home, so this year I've gone commando."

"Too much information," Amaya muttered back.

Before Sanae could say anything else embarrassing, sexual, or embarrassingly sexual, the conversation was cut short by the morning bell. "Aww, I forgot to point out to her that the protagonists never lose," remarked Sanae. "Ah well. I guess we'd better get going now."

"Yeah," said Amaya. "And don't worry, I already said that during the opening scene."

"So did I," said Sanae. "I guess it would get boring if we said it three times in one chapter."

Amaya nodded, then grinned. "Man, I am so psyched for this," she said. "Lunchtime can't come soon enough."

"Indeed it can't," said Sanae.

20: Episode 4: Making a Splash! (Pt.2)

The lessons that day seemed to crawl by at a snail's pace. Very few students bothered to pay attention, their minds focused on lunchtime. Even the teachers didn't seem all that bothered, as most of them seemed to recognize the futility in trying to teach a class whose minds were elsewhere. Besides, many of the teachers themselves were anticipating the fight; Inaba-sensei spent most of third period absent-mindedly caressing her Chekhov water gun.

Finally, the bell rang to end the last period before lunch, a few minutes early to allow all the students to filter out and make their last-minute preparations. Sanae stood up and crossed to Amaya's desk, gun clamped in her hands. "You ready?"

"I was born ready," Amaya replied, standing up and snatching up her Kasaiki H40.

"Good." Sanae pumped her already well-pumped gun for no real reason, other than to look cool and dramatic. "Let's soak some suckers."

***

In class 1-B, Ryouichi pocketed his twin water pistols, his belt stuffed with water balloons. After I win this battle, he thought, Sanae-senpai is sure to notice me!

Meanwhile, as the White Star Fan Club made their own preparations, Nagisa was already heading towards the classroom door. "Where are you going, Nagisa?" asked Hitomi. "I thought we agreed we'd stick together?"

"There's something in my locker that I'll be needing," replied Nagisa. "I'll meet you guys outside." With that, she vanished into the corridor.

"Alright," Hitomi called after her, "but you'd better. Hinata, quit trembling!"

"B-but... I don't want to fight..." squeaked Hinata.

"Tough beans!" said Hitomi. "Everyone has to join in whether they want to or not!" The twintailed girl gave Hinata a rather creepy smile. "Don't worry... I'll protect you, Hinata!"

***

Evidently Kazuo had not gotten the memo about the fight being compulsory, as while the other student made their final preparations, he was hiding in a broom closet, as he had been the previous year.

"It's all a trick," he muttered to himself, "a trap set to catch me. They think it's ordinary water they're firing, but in reality the Illuminati have laced it with a mind-control substance that's absorbed into your skin and allows them to control you like a puppet! It's too late to help the other students, they've already been contaminated... but if I can save myself, I can reveal the truth to the wider population! This conspiracy must be unveiled!"

***

One minute to go. Fifty-nine seconds to go. Fifty-eight. Fifty-seven. And so on. Time seemed to slow almost to a standstill as the bell to signal the start of the fight approached. Fifty-three.

Sanae and Amaya were stood back-to-back in the centre of the courtyard, guns pointed in opposite directions, covering all possible angles. Both were ready to fire at a second's notice. Amaya's trigger finger, honed by years of playing her mother's video games, twitched constantly. Above them, Kage lay on the roof with a beer, a tub of popcorn, and a pair of binoculars, eagerly awaiting the chaos that was to come. Forty-three.

Ryouichi stood crouched behind the cover of a stairwell, ridiculously posed like a gun-fu action movie hero, preparing, in his mind, to fight for Sanae's love. Kazuo stood stock-still in his broom closet, scared to make even the slightest sound in case someone discovered him and dragged him outside where, in his mind, he would meet his doom. Thirty-three.

Three of the four White Star Fan Club members stood together in a cluster, weapons primed. Hitomi was looking frantically around for Nagisa, who had still not shown up. When she finally saw Nagisa approaching, her jaw fell open, and when Mio and the still-trembling Hinata spotted her as well, their jaws fell open too. Slowly Hitomi's mouth curled into a grin, her mismatched eyes sparkling. "We are so gonna win this," she said. Fifteen.

The atmosphere in the courtyard was so tense that one could cut it with a knife. In theory. Sadly, nobody present had any knives with which to test this theory. In any case, three hundred trigger fingers twitched in anticipation as the final few seconds counted down. Three.

"This is it." breathed Sanae.

Two.

"Sanae-senpai, here I come!" muttered Ryouichi.

One.

"PREPARE TO DIE!" roared Nagisa.

Zero.

As the bell rang to signal the start of the fight, it was almost instantly drowned out by the sound of a hundred water guns firing simultaneously, as Mitsuzawa High School's entire student body (and most of its teachers) sprang into action. Sanae and Amaya took out five targets instantly, swapped sides and took out four more. There was no retaliation from their victims; once you were soaked, you were out. That was the unwritten rule that everyone followed. The last one to stay dry takes the glory.

Ryouichi sprung from his hiding place and was immediately hit by three water streams, sending him off-balance. He tumbled to the ground, whereupon the water balloons on his belt burst, soaking him completely from head to foot, and compounding his humiliation. "Senpai won't notice me now..." he moaned despairingly.

Sanae and Amaya made their way through the students with ruthless efficiency, cutting them down one by one. The third-year student who had boasted that she would soak Sanae to her panties instead suffered that fate herself as the two friends ganged up on her before exchanging a high-five. "We got this for sure!" said Amaya.

21: Episode 4: Making a Splash! (Pt.3)

While the water fight continued in earnest, Kousen was at Sanae's house, feeling slightly bored. She had elected not to follow Sanae to school today, having had no interest in the water fight, but now she was at a loss for what to do in the meantime. After eating cup noodles for lunch - They truly have invented some marvels, she thought to herself - she was now lying on Sanae's bed, feeling listless.

After a short while, she found herself glancing at Sanae's laptop, positioned on her desk. She spends a lot of time using that contraption, Kousen thought. Surely she must derive some sort of enjoyment from using it. Deciding to investigate the device, Kousen got up from the bed and sat down at the desk. Normally, Sanae's laptop was password-protected, but in her carelessness she had left it logged in.

Now that she was in front of the device, Kousen looked at it, puzzled. "Hmm... now how does Sanae use this...?" Mimicking Sanae's movements, she took hold of the mouse and gave it an experimental shake. The cursor on the screen shook correspondingly. "What a clever device!" Kousen exclaimed. 

Once she had gotten the hang of the mouse, Kousen moused over a program on the toolbar. "In-turn-it," she read aloud. "I believe Sanae spoke of this 'In-turn-it'... she said it could tell me anything I wanted to know. So, perhaps if I ask it where Black Star is, we can discover her true identity and stop her!"

Spurred on by this idea, Kousen opened 'Internet' and found herself at the Moogle homepage. Seeing the 'Search' button merely solidified her belief, and she swiftly typed in "Where is Black Star?" Well, in her excitement and inexperience she had actually typed "where is blakc stR", but somehow Moogle knew what she meant and auto-corrected it. 

Kousen began trawling her way through the search results, but to her annoyance, she could not find anything. On the fifth site, however, something on the side of the page caught her attention. "'Congratulations'," she read aloud, "'you are the one millionth visitor to this website! Click here to claim your prize'! Wow! The one millionth? And I get a prize for it! I'm sure Sanae will be happy to hear about it when she gets home. After all, humans like surprise gifts, do they not?" Without further deliberation, Kousen clicked the link.

***

Back at the water fight, Amaya had been somewhat less conservative with her ammunition than Sanae, and had started to run out of water. The stream from her gun gradually got smaller and weaker, and eventually dried up altogether. "Cover me," she said, rapidly unscrewing the water tank, "I need to reload."

While Sanae span in circles, trying to cover all angles, Amaya crouched low to reduce her own profile and give the camera a neat view of her thighs. Additional fanservice wasn't really necessary in an episode such as this, but Amaya knew the readers weren't going to complain about it. She tossed the empty water tank aside, snatched up another from the bandolier, removed the watertight lid and screwed it on. The whole process took about five seconds before Amaya stood up again to join the combat.

One plucky little first-year, who could only have been about four-foot-six, managed to evade Sanae and Amaya's every effort to hit her, though her own water pistol was woefully inadequate and she could not get close enough to hit them. "It's no good," shouted Amaya. "While we're concentrating our efforts on her, someone else could easily ambush us!"

"I'll take care of her!" Sanae insisted. "You watch my back!"

Amaya rushed off to cover the perimeter, while Sanae continued the dogfight with the intrepid first-year, the pair darting round each other in a frantic effort to get the hit in while avoiding getting hit themselves. Finally the first-year managed to dodge round and get close enough to fire at Sanae, but before she could, she was confronted by the barrel of Sanae's water gun, mere inches from her face. The first-year bravely held her own, aiming her pistol squarely at Sanae and managing a somewhat stoic expression despite her trembling knees. She must have run out of water by now, thought the first-year desperately.

"Now, I know what you're thinking," said Sanae, sneering confidently. "'Has she run out of water or not?' Well, I'm afraid in all that chaos I have no idea how much water I have left. But," she continued, looking down confidently at her gun, "considering this is the Kasaiki H50, the most powerful water gun in the world, capable of soaking you through to your skin in one shot, you just have to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well... do you, kouhai?"

The first-year's increased trembling and look of terror betrayed the fact that she did not feel the slightest bit lucky. Once again Sanae had won the psychological advantage, if only by paraphrasing an obscure Western film. Eventually the first-year ended the standoff in the most honourable fashion she could think of: by turning her water pistol on herself.

"I really need some help over here, Sanae!" Amaya shouted from another part of the playground, a distinct note of panic in her voice.

Before rejoining her friend, Sanae briefly patted the tiny first year on the shoulder. "You fought well, kid. You'd make a pretty good protagonist someday." The first-year looked admirably up at Sanae with shining eyes and dripping hair.

"SANAE!" shouted Amaya desperately. "HEEELP!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" shouted Sanae, rushing to her friend's aid.

22: Episode 4: Making a Splash! (Pt.4)

Back at Sanae's house, Kousen was eagerly filling in the form necessary to claim her prize, only to hit a snag. "'Please enter your credit card number to continue'..." Kousen stared at the screen in confusion. "What's a 'credit card number'? Hmm... oh! I'll just ask the magic Moogle!" Opening another tab, Kousen typed in "wat is a criedt card nimber" - once again, auto-correct spared her blushes - and began to search.

***

Meanwhile, at Mitsuzawa High School, Amaya had been pinned down behind a bench by Nagisa and the rest of the White Star Fan Club. As Sanae raced across the battlefield, her enlarged breasts bouncing conspicuously, she caught sight of Nagisa's weaponry and stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth falling open.

Nagisa had not bothered with her Hyper Drencher's soda-can-sized water tank. Instead, she had taken a garden water barrel, filled it full of water and strapped it to her back, then attached it to the gun via a piece of rubber tubing. The result was that her gun resembled nothing less than a makeshift flamethrower. Not only did this set-up provide Nagisa with a tremendous amount of ammunition, but it also constituted an amazing feat of strength, considering she was still able to move and fight even with dozens of litres of water strapped to her back. Hitomi, Mio and Hinata stood sheltered behind her, all three still completely dry, Nagisa's superior weaponry having swept all before them.

As Nagisa trained her weapon on Sanae, she sprinted to join Amaya behind cover, barely making it in time. A blast of water hit the bench, splashing over the already soggy woodwork, but the pair were safely out of its reach.

"She's got us pinned down," commented Amaya rather needlessly.

"Thanks for the sitrep, Captain Obvious," retorted Sanae.

"What should we do?" asked Amaya.

Sanae winked at her friend. "Don't worry. I have a secret weapon. Or rather, two secret weapons."

Sanae reached inside her blouse, and the reason for her apparent increase in chest size and bounciness quickly became apparent. As she pulled a small water balloon out of her bra, holding it up for Amaya to see, one side of her chest promptly deflated back to normal proportions.

Amaya was torn between utter bewilderment, and flat-chest-induced relief that those hadn't actually been Sanae's real breasts. "So... you're not wearing panties, and you've had water balloons stuffed up your bra all day?" she remarked. "I don't know what to worry about more: you, or this show's chances of keeping its Teen rating on FictionPress. Especially with all the times we've said "breasts" by now."

"I'd be more concerned about the White Star Fan Club, if I were you," said Sanae with a smirk. "They're about to get totally drenched!"

Sanae hurled the water balloon at the group. As can only be expected of an anime protagonist, it was right on target, exploding right in the middle of the group before they had a chance to dodge. All four fan club members were instantly drenched as the balloon exploded. "Aagh! I got water in my eyes!" wailed Hitomi, scowling. "Hey! Stop laughing!"

"Nobody's laughing, Hitomi," said Mio as she attempted to dry her glasses on her sleeve, a futile effort since her sleeve was just as soaked as her glasses.

"I wasn't talking to you guys, I was talking to the readers!" protested Hitomi. "I know you guys found that funny, but stop laughing! Oh, and Mio, the narrator says it's pointless to try cleaning your glasses with your damp sleeve."

"So it is," said Mio, examining her lenses, which were still streaked with water. "I'll clean them properly once we get inside."

Meanwhile, the battle continued in earnest, and before long Sanae and Amaya were the only two students left. The playground around them was littered with discarded weapons, drenched students and the remnants of burst water balloons. Some students were already traipsing inside to dry themselves off and eat their lunches, others merely sat around feeling sorry for themselves, or lay still for fear of being mistaken for a dry combatant and squirted again. But the battle wasn't over yet.

"You know, Amaya," said Sanae suddenly, with a devious grin on her face, "only one of us can truly win this."

"Of course," said Amaya, returning the grin.

"Let's settle this like in the old American Westerns," Sanae continued. "We stand back-to-back, take ten paces, then draw."

"Sounds good to me," said Amaya.

The two turned and stood with their backs to each other, Sanae clutching her Kasaiki H50 and Amaya her Kasaiki H40. Each had a look of sheer determination on their face. "On the count of three," said Sanae, "start walking. One-"

SPLASH. A water balloon flew from nowhere and both Sanae and Amaya were drenched. Sanae gasped audibly with surprise; Amaya merely looked disappointed, her wet hair falling over her eyes. Sanae wiped her own bangs away from her face, wide-eyed with shock. "But I thought we were the only two students left!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, you were," said a voice coming from the side. "Unfortunately, you forgot about your teacher!"

The pair turned in unison to see the triumphant face of the victor, Chekhov SR-15 held in her hands. "Inaba-sensei!" exclaimed Amaya.

"That's right!" gloated Inaba-sensei. "Victory goes to the teacher!"

***

Inaba-sensei revelled in her victory for the remainder of the school day. Most of the students, of course, felt that having a teacher win the battle violated some unwritten rule, and so the win was generally attributed to Sanae and Amaya. Inaba-sensei, however, knew just how to get her students back on side again.

"If one of you had won the water fight," said Inaba-sensei during that afternoon's homeroom, "I'd been planning to let the winner out of doing homework for the next week. But since I won the water fight instead, I'm cancelling everyone's homework!"

At this point, of course, her sodden class couldn't help but cheer for her, and so both teacher and pupils left the gates at the end of the day feeling elated. Well, most of them. Amaya had managed to towel-dry her hair at the end of the battle, but like most of the students, her clothes were still wet as she trudged back home at the end of the day.

"I still won, for all intents and purposes," she complained to Kage, her water gun still clutched in her hand. "Me and Sanae were the last students standing. Teachers don't count."

"You're just a sore loser, nyaa~" said Kage.

Meanwhile, Sanae was also trudging home. With all five White Star Fan Club members still rather bitter about having lost, not to mention rather sodden, they had agreed to cancel that day's meeting and go straight home instead. "My twintails take forever to dry!" Hitomi had said.

About halfway to her house, Sanae's attention was suddenly grabbed by a chorus of screams coming from her right, near the downtown area. Looking round, Sanae could see a vague black shape looming in the distance. "Oh, come on, today of all days?" wailed Sanae. "I already got soaked, and now I have to defeat a monster?" She sighed. "I guess it can't be helped… Kousen might not be here to nag me into doing it, but I know I still have to. Besides, at least I'll get to change out of these wet clothes. Sorry, readers."

Sanae winked at nobody in particular, then swung her bag off her shoulder, placing it on the ground in front of her. Crouching down, she retrieved the White Star Emblem from the pocket in the front and raised it high into the air. "White Star: Transformation!"

Once more, Sanae was engulfed in a blinding white light. Her school uniform morphed into a beautiful white knee-length dress with violet lace trim. White thigh-high socks and high-heeled shoes gently enveloped her feet and legs, the straps of the shoes winding their way delicately up her shins. White gloves manifested themselves on her hands, and as the Emblem transformed into the White Star Wand, she clutched it tightly in her right hand. Finally, her hair curled itself into two neat ringlets either side of her head, and her transformation into White Star was complete.

Sanae soared blissfully up into the air, performing a backflip. "Ah, it's so good to be out of those wet clothes... and wearing panties again." she added sheepishly. "Otherwise it would be really kind of awkward right now. Alright, time to go do my duty!" Sanae immediately flew off towards the strange black shape in the downtown area.

"Haha, she said, 'do my doody'," chuckled an onlooker for no apparent reason.

23: Episode 4: Making a Splash! (Pt.5)

The strange black blob in the distance turned out to be exactly that: a black gelatinous blob about twelve feet in diameter, with no discernible features. As it rolled through the streets it engulfed everything in its path, mostly just parked cars. Fortunately for the city's residents, the blob creature only seemed to travel at about walking pace, and so everyone in the vicinity was easily able to outrun it, although what exactly would happen if it did engulf them was unclear. The vehicles absorbed into its mass merely hung suspended inside it, slowly tumbling end over end.

As White Star soared above the streets full of fleeing pedestrians, their heads turned skywards and their panic dissipated. "Go, White Star!" cried one businessman, raising a fist that was still holding his briefcase. "Destroy that blob!"

White Star looked rather bemused at the sight of the monster. "A giant blob?" she remarked. "Really? Don't tell me the writer's run out of monster ideas already? What's next, a floating blue octahedron? More to the point, where's its weak spot?" White Star start to fly in circles around the blob, trying to find some point on its gelatinous surface that was perhaps weaker, but it was no use; it was identical from all angles, save for the accumulation of cars and debris now building up inside it. With each item it absorbed its size increased slightly; it had grown perhaps three or four feet since it had first appeared downtown.

"It's no use," conceded White Star after her dozenth circuit, "this thing doesn't have any weak spots. Plus I'm getting dizzy, and I still need to say my catchphrase." She stopped for a moment, her head still spinning, heavily disoriented. She shook her head to clear it, focusing on the task at hand, then pointed her wand directly at the creature, assuming her signature pose. "Time to let the light of justice shine!" she cried, to cheers from the crowd below. "Meteor Shower!"

Star-shaped energy projectiles burst forth from the end of the wand, smashing into the creature at high speed. All they managed to do was push it backwards and send shockwave ripples across its gelatinous surface; no other damage was visible. The creature continued to take in debris, growing ever larger.

White Star pouted. "How are you supposed to damage something like this?" she moaned. Sighing, she thought for a moment. There had to be something the creature was weak against. Something that would damage its gelatinous structure. If not her energy attacks, then what?

White Star raised her wand high. "THUNDER STRIKE!" she cried. High above, dark clouds formed and hovered ominously over the black blob. A rumble sounded from deep within them, and then with a loud boom a thunderbolt burst forth from the heavens... and struck an antenna on the roof of a nearby skyscraper, dissipating harmlessly.

White Star was shocked that the monster hadn't been shocked. "WHAT?! How does that even..." She looked on in disbelief for a moment, then sighed, exasperated, and sought out the White Star Fan Club in the crowd below. Fortunately, it seemed they had arrived this time; Hitomi had even brought a tub of popcorn. "Hi, White Star!" said Hitomi excitedly. "We're your biggest fans!"

"I know," said White Star. "I, uhh.. heard about you on the Internet."

"See, I told you the Blagger page would work!" said Hitomi.

White Star turned to Mio. "Mio, you're the smart one, right?" she asked. "Why didn't that lightning attack work?"

"Well, you see," said Mio, adjusting her glasses (which she had dried and cleaned earlier), "electricity, when projected in the form of, say, a bolt of lightning, will automatically arc towards the nearest conductive surface. In a battle against Black Star a thousand feet above the city's rooftops, this surface will invariably be Black Star herself, but at street level the tops of the buildings will be much closer than whatever you happen to be targeting, rendering the attack ineffective. Additionally, judging from the monster's appearance and gelatinous properties, it's fair to assume that it wouldn't conduct electricity anyway."

About half of this lengthy explanation had gone over White Star's head, but she got the gist. "So... Thunder Strike won't work on monsters on the ground?"

"Precisely," said Mio. "However, there should be some method of breaking down the monster's gelatinous structure and effectively dissolving it."

White Star nodded. "Dissolve the monster. Got it. Anything else?"

"Umm... could you dry our clothes, please?" asked Mio. "We didn't get a chance while we were at school." It occurred to White Star that she was the one responsible for soaking the other Fan Club members in the first place; ironic that she was now being asked to dry them.

"Okay, fine," said White Star, and conjuring a flame at the end of her wand, she began heating the girls' clothes and evaporating the water still left on them.

"Ahh… that's nice and warm~" said Hitomi, holding her hands out towards the flame to warm them up. "It's a shame Sanae couldn't be here to get dried off; she's missing the battle again!"

"I'm, uhh... sure she's watching it from somewhere," said White Star.

The girls gathered round the flame, and within moments their clothes were nice and dry. "Thanks, White Star," said Nagisa. "Sorry to distract you from kicking that monster's ass."

"Don't worry about it!" said White Star. "And you're welcome!" With that, she flew off above the crowd again. She now had an idea for how to defeat the blob, based on what Mio had told her. But first, she needed something. Scanning the crowd, she quickly found what she was looking for; another high school student, still clutching their Chekhov water gun as they watched the blob's steady, relentless advance. White Star promptly swooped down in front of the student. "Hey, can I borrow this?" she asked, indicating the water gun.

"Uh, sure," said the bemused student, handing it over. "Go nuts."

"Thanks." White Star flew back over to the monster, water gun gripped tightly in her hand. "Alright, Mister Blob," she smirked, raising the gun's barrel, "prepare to be dissolved!"

White Star pulled the trigger, firing a stream of water at the blob. What she expected to happen was that it would dissolve, the water melting it like the Wicked Witch of the West. What actually happened was that the stream of water was simply absorbed into the blob, causing it to swell another few inches in diameter. White Star quickly released the trigger and lowered the gun, feeling quite annoyed with herself for her faulty logic.

"Whoops," said White Star feebly. "I guess Chekhov's guns don't work on this thing."

The blob continued on its way, every car in its path being sucked into its gelatinous form and hanging there, suspended like a fly trapped in amber. One driver who had somehow not heard about the chaos found himself driving directly into the blob's path; he braked hard, scrambled out of his seat and fled to the safety of a nearby cafe just in time to see his van get sucked into the advancing blob. By now the creature was so large it filled the entire street, its form pressingly slightly against the windows of the buildings on either side to the horror of those within. If it grew much bigger it would press against the buildings with enough force to do some serious damage to them. It was now or never.

White Star's brain worked overtime to try and process the additional information she had learned, and what little she had bothered learning in science class. The creature absorbed water; water made it grow larger. That meant it had to be largely made up of water. In fact, looking at it now White Star was almost reminded of the water balloons she had carried earlier that day, all round and squishy and full of water, except those had been easier to break. The plan clicked into place all too soon. It was remarkably simple, if equally stupid.

"Okay," declared White Star, "I know how to defeat the monster now! This next attack will end it!"

"You said that the last time!" shouted a sceptical man from the crowd, to laughs from those around him. White Star was somewhat grateful for the interruption, as it gave her additional time to come up with a name for the attack she was about to perform.

White Star swung the wand dramatically, posing with her arms swept behind her. "Finishing Move: Phoenix Strike!" Her wand was again engulfed in magical flame, and this time the flames spread across her entire body, burning with an intense heat that at the same time did not harm her. Pointing herself towards the still-advancing blob, White Star then swooped down, leaving a blazing trail behind her, and plunged straight into the gelatinous foe.

"She dived straight into it!" exclaimed an astonished onlooker, rather needlessly.

"Is she insane?" cried another.

"This is going straight on FooTube!" exclaimed a third, who was filming the whole thing on his cellphone.

Immediately, however, White Star's crazy yet simple plan began to take effect. As she had correctly deduced, the blob was largely made of water, and as the intense heat from her flames entered its body it began to evaporate. A dark cloud of steam rose up from the blob as it boiled away, gradually shrinking until there was nothing left but its Black Heart and the objects inside it, which one by one dropped harmlessly to the ground. The owner of the van rushed forwards to hug his reclaimed vehicle, only to be repelled by the heat that had been conducted by its metal surface.

As the last remnants of the blob evaporated away, White Star was left hovering in the air where the centre of the blob had been just moments before, clutching the fallen Black Heart in her hand. As the watching crowd processed what had happened, a mighty cheer began to rise up. "White Star's saved us again!" crowed one onlooker.

White Star smirked. "Well, it looks like that monster…" She pulled a pair of sunglasses from nowhere and put them on. "…couldn't take the heat."

“Boo,” called out someone in the crowd.

***

To Sanae's annoyance, she found that when she changed back into her normal form, her school uniform was still wet. She had therefore had to trudge home with soggy shoes, a translucent shirt, and a rather uncomfortable breeze in a rather uncomfortable place. Needless to say, she and the other Mitsuzawa students had gotten a lot of stares. Sanae had never been more relieved to get through her front door.

"Finally," she sighed, as she slipped off her wet shoes. "I can dry myself off, get out of these wet clothes, and relax. Man, this day really didn't go as well as I'd hoped... but at least now everything's okay-"

The moment Sanae entered her room, she realized that she had spoken too soon. Kousen was stood at her desk, her expression an odd mixture of guilt and - unbelievably - panic. Sanae had never seen her youkai companion scared before. She quickly realized the reason for Kousen's fear: her laptop had blue-screened. "Kousen," she said in a wary tone, "what happened to my laptop...?"

"I-I don't know," said Kousen. "Someone on the In-Turn-It said that I could make your laptop run faster by deleting something called System32, but I did it and now-"

"Kousen, that was a prank!" said Sanae, indignant. "Computers need System32 to function! Now you've broken it!" Sanae muscled her way to the desk and stared in horror at her broken machine before turning to lecture her familiar. "You shouldn't believe everything you read on the Internet! There are people on there that are trying to trick you!"

"So you mean that gender really isn't a social construct?" asked Kousen. "And that that singing man really will give me up?"

Sanae facepalmed. "Please tell me you didn't fall for anything else," she said.

"No," said Kousen, "but this will cheer you up! While I was searching for Black Star using the magic Moogle, a website told me I was their one millionth visitor and that I'd won a special prize! All I had to do was give them your credit card number and-"

Kousen was cut off by the sound of Sanae repeatedly and violently slamming her head against the desk. "Is something the matter, Sanae?" asked Kousen. "Was it something I said?"

24: Episode 5: Sleepless in Mitsuzawa (Pt.1)

Sanae's parents had decided to surprise her with a visit one afternoon. It was five o'clock as they arrived at the house, so they knew she would be home from school by now. They did not, however, expect to find their daughter fast asleep on the sofa, happily dreaming.

"Aww, look at her," said Sanae's mother. "All tuckered out from school."

"I'll go and bring her down some blankets, so she doesn't catch a cold," said Sanae's father.

Sanae's mother decided not to wake her daughter. Instead, she sat by her side and silently watched her sleep. Actually, it sounds kind of creepy when you put it like that, she suddenly thought to herself. I probably shouldn't do that. Hmm… I wonder what happened today to make her so exhausted…

***

FIFTEEN HOURS EARLIER

"Sanae! Time to wake up!"

Sanae's eyelids slowly slid open in response to Kousen's quiet but shrill voice. She blinked drowsily, looking at the mentor with unfocused eyes. "What time is it?" she moaned groggily.

Kousen peered curiously at the digital alarm clock. "Two-hundred and fourteen," she said.

Sanae rolled over, pressing her face against the pillow. "I'm not waking up at two-fifteen in the morning," she mumbled.

"You have to," Kousen replied. "A monster has appeared on the edge of town, and it's your duty to fight it before it causes serious damage."

"I'm not fighting a monster at two in the morning," muttered Sanae. "I'm tired, and as an anime protagonist, I need my beauty sleep."

"What's more important, your beauty or the safety of Mitsuzawa's inhabitants?" asked Kousen indignantly. Sanae's response was to throw a pillow at the youkai's face. "Sanae-"

"You go fight it, if you’re so eager," mumbled Sanae.

With a weary sigh, Kousen seized Sanae's hand, which was dangling off the edge of the bed, and tried to pull her off. "You're fighting this monster," she stated, "and that's final."

"I'm not fighting it," retorted Sanae, "and that's final."

***

"Time to let the… light of…" White Star's head lolled forwards and then promptly jerked back as she tried to stay awake. "Oh, what's the point of saying the catchphrase if there's no-one awake to hear me say it?” she grumbled. “I mean, sure, the readers are here… all six of them...”

Having essentially been dragged out of bed by Kousen, Sanae had transformed into White Star, drowsily flown over to the suburbs (narrowly missing several tall buildings) and was about to confront the monster, a large black bird with a ten-foot wingspan, razor-sharp beak and flaming red eyes. "Well, I guess you're here too," White Star added bitterly, looking the bird in the eye, "but I doubt you give a damn."

The bird's response was a shrill cry, followed by a direct swoop right at White Star's head. White Star dropped down by about ten feet a split second before the bird's beak sliced through the air right where her head had been. "Be careful, Sanae!" shouted Kousen, watching as ever from the sidelines.

The bird circled round, preparing for another attack. "Don't worry," said White Star, "I got this." She lazily raised her wand, pointing roughly at the bird. "Star Shower!"

A series of glowing stars sprayed out of the end of the White Star Wand. Every single one missed, bouncing off a nearby skyscraper and dissipating. "Did I get it?" asked White Star, a second before the bird's beak slammed straight into her stomach, carrying her with it. "Nope. Didn't get it," she wheezed.

Other than being severely winded, White Star was unharmed, but certainly none too pleased about being hit. "Alright," she growled, "now I'm tired, pissed off and in pain. Big mistake, feathers." She jammed the end of the wand into the side of the bird's head, and growled, "WHITE STAR BEAM!"

A blinding white light exploded in the night sky, and the monster was incinerated, its Black Heart falling to the street below. White Star, carried by the bird's momentum and the force of the blast, was sent flying backwards, clutching the Emblem for dear life. Kousen caught her comfortably in mid-air. "Sanae, are you alright?"

White Star's head continued to gently sway back and forth as she tried to stave off her tiredness. "I think I… got 'em that time…" she mumbled. "Which way is bed? I need bed…"

***

Upon arriving back at her house, Sanae tossed the Emblem onto her bedside table and then gratefully flopped down onto her bed. "Finally," she groaned, "I can get some sleep~"

Not a moment later, Sanae was jolted awake by a terrible crashing sound coming from outside. "Another monster attack!" she cried out. "I'll take care of this!" Snatching up the White Star Emblem, Sanae transformed into White Star for the second time that night and threw open her window ready to fly out, only to realize that the crashing sound wasn't coming from a monster, but from a set of roadworks right next to her house. She couldn't remember the roadworks being there before; maybe she'd just been so tired during her first excursion that she just hadn't noticed them.

Quietly putting down the White Star Emblem and powering down, Sanae leaned out of the window and shouted, "Hey! Would you mind keeping it down? Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"Sorry," called out one of the workers in response, shutting off his jackhammer. "This is the only time we can work without causing any major travel disruption."

"You're causing some major sleep disruption!" retorted Sanae.

"Sorry," said the man, "but we're not stopping work just for one person."

Sanae pouted angrily. "Well, fine!" she shouted, slamming her window shut. "Have fun escaping from the next monster attack, because I won't be helping you!"

As Sanae stormed back to her bed, the crashing sounds started anew. Kousen felt that she should probably try and calm her master down. "Sanae-" she began.

"Not now, Kousen," said Sanae, before flopping back down onto her bed. "Ugh… I'm sure if I get tired enough, I'll fall asleep no matter how loud it is…"

***

Sadly for Sanae, this did not transpire, and the sound of the roadworks kept her up all night long. By the time the infernal crashing sound finally ceased, it was morning, and sunlight was streaming in through her curtains. The exhausted girl had bags under her bloodshot eyes, and her hair lay in disarray. As the glorious silence washed over her, she let out a weary sigh.

"At least they've finally stopped working," she groaned, closing her eyes. "Now maybe I can get a short nap in before my-"

A shrill beeping noise interrupted Sanae as her alarm clock went off. Jerking upright, Sanae shot a tired glare at her alarm clock and then slammed her hand down on the Snooze button. "Stupid monster," she snarled. "If it hadn't showed up last night, I could've slept through those roadworks and gotten a decent night's sleep! But nooooo, it had to show up at two in the morning! Now I gotta go through the whole day on just two hours of sleep! Sure, maybe I shouldn't have stayed up so late playing Medal Gear Salad V, but-"

"Uhh, Sanae?" interrupted Kousen.

"What?!" barked Sanae. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of an angry monologue here?"

"My apologies for interrupting you," said Kousen, "but shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"

Sanae let out a grunt of discontent and slipped out of bed. "Today is not going to be a fun day," she said.

25: Episode 5: Sleepless in Mitsuzawa (Pt.2)

Sanae managed to get ready for school as normal, and met up with Amaya at their usual spot. Amaya seemed shocked to see her friend in such a state. "Damn, you look terrible," she remarked. "Were you up all night playing Medal Gear Salad V?"

"No," said Sanae. "Well… I was up late playing it, but then I got kept up by roadworks for the rest of the night."

"Wow, that sucks," said Amaya. "Well, remember a couple of episodes ago when I was super-tired and had to sleep in class? You should just do that!"

"Yeah, I guess I should," said Sanae. "Say, that reminds me. Wouldn't your mother have been playing Medal Gear Salad all night as well?"

"Nah, she already completed it somehow," said Amaya. "I think she must have played it for about three days straight without sleeping. I dunno how she does it."

"Me neither," said Sanae bitterly. "I'd love to be able to go one day without sleep, let alone three."

"Trust me," said Amaya, "no you don't. It's not worth it."

Sanae nodded lazily. "So… sleep through class, eat lunch, sleep through lunch, go home, sleep some more… sounds like a good day to me."

"Yeah," said Amaya. "Sounds good to me too. I just hope we don't get a-"

***

"Pop quiz!"

The whole class groaned as Inaba-sensei started to hand out the surprise test papers, and Sanae groaned loudest of all. While this would mean fifty minutes of peace and quiet for her, it would also mean she'd have to be awake for the whole lesson in order to fill in the paper, and she was not very pleased about being kept awake yet again.

Actually, she thought to herself suddenly, I don't have to stay awake for the whole lesson! I just have to stay awake for as long as it takes me to complete the test! In other words, if I just fill in whatever answers I want without looking, I'll get it done in five minutes tops and I can sleep in silence until second period starts! Sanae, you're a genius!

With a flourish, Sanae put her plan into action. Her pen danced across the answer sheet with unwarranted gusto as she scribbled whatever nonsense came into her head into each answer box in turn. [AUTHOR NOTE: imagine Light writing in the Death Note, but every word is "cabbage" or "tissue paper". That's what I'm going for here] In a matter of minutes, the paper was complete. It's done!, Sanae thought triumphantly. Now I can rest… Without a second thought, Sanae folded her arms across the desk, rested her head upon them, and fell fast asleep, certain that when she woke up, she would be feeling refreshed and ready to face the day.

***

"Ugghh…"

This, suffice it to say, was not what transpired. Instead, when Sanae woke from her nap at the start of second period, she felt even worse than she had done beforehand. She now felt groggy, thirsty, and had a throbbing headache, and her exhaustion felt like it had merely intensified. How could this happen…? she thought to herself. How could sleeping actually make me feel worse? What kind of hellish nightmare am I trapped in…?!

When Amaya noticed the state Sanae was in, she let out a disappointed sigh. "You idiot," she said. "There's a trick to taking naps, especially in class. You have to remain hydrated, and you have to be stealthy about it. Your little stunt with the pop quic was way too obvious."

"Then what am I supposed to do...?" asked Sanae, stifling a yawn.

"Don't worry," said Amaya. "I always come prepared for an emergency nap, in case my mom keeps me up all night with her gaming. I've got just the solution for you." Amaya opened her bag, rummaged around, and pulled out a set of felt-tip pens. "Close your eyes," she said, "and remain very still."

Sanae obliged, and Amaya carefully began to draw on her eyelids. Within minutes, Sanae had a crude drawing of her own eyes painted over the top of her eyelids. From a distance, it would be impossible to tell that her eyes were in fact shut. "There," said Amaya. "Now, when the teacher looks at you, they'll think you're just leaning forward on your arms, eager to learn, when actually you're just sleeping! It's foolproof!"

"For all I know, you just drew dicks on my face," said Sanae.

"I was tempted to," Amaya admitted, "but even if I did, they'd have to be blurred out anyway, so there's no real point."

"True," said Sanae.

"Also, here." Amaya handed Sanae a bottle of water. "Chug as much of it as you can. You'll need it so you don't wake up dehydrated again."

"You're a real lifesaver, Amaya, you know that?" said Sanae as she took the bottle.

"I know," said Amaya, smiling sweetly.

Sanae chugged about half the bottle of water, then rested her chin on her hands, closed her eyes and started to nap once more. Or at least, she tried to. With no pop quiz, second period turned out to be a lot noisier than the first, and Sanae was unable to get a wink of sleep. She kept her eyes closed, hoping to at least get a little rest, but it seemed that even that wasn't to be.

"...Hikari?" The reacher was calling her. "Would you like to come up and solve this next equation, please?"

With a quiet sigh, Sanae stood up and made her way to the front of the class. As she did so, she took in the equation on the board and slowly realized to her horror that it contained new material which, in her quest for sleep, she had not taken in. By the time this realization sank in, however, she was already standing in front of the blackboard and it was too late for her to turn back. Had she realized back at her desk that the equation was beyond her, she could perhaps have ducked out of it, but now she had no choice. I'm going to have to BS it just like I BS'ed the pop quiz, she thought to herself.

Taking the chalk, Sanae began to answer the question as best she could, but it quickly became apparent to both the teacher and her fellow students that she had no idea what she was doing. Very soon the teacher was forced to take the chalk from her, scowling. "That's enough, Hikari," he said. "Go back to your seat. Now, could someone who was actually paying attention come up and solve the equation, please?"

Sanae slunk back to her seat, blushing a little with embarrassment. "Well, so much for that idea," said Amaya.

"I didn't even get any sleep, and now I look like an idiot in front of the whole class!" moaned Sanae. "Ugh... this is gonna be a very long day."

Fortunately, Amaya still had an idea left. "You can always get some sleep during lunch, if you can hang on that long," she suggested. "We can head up to the roof together as usual, there's never anyone else up there."

"You saying that makes me expect that there'll be a whole bunch of people up there today," remarked Sanae, as she started to rub the felt-tip off of her eyelids.

"Well, if there is, we'll either go someplace else or we'll just kick them off," said Amaya. "We're the protagonists, we should get first priority when it comes to school roof access."

"Good point," said Sanae. "Alright, I'll try and sleep through lunch. Thanks."

"No problem," said Amaya. Internally, the raven-haired girn grinned. This is the perfect opportunity, she thought to herself. While Sanae takes her little rooftop nap, I'll quietly transform into Black Star, sneak off, cause a little havoc in town, and be back before she even knows I was gone! Ohh, it feels like forever since I last caused any mayhem with the Black Star Emblem... I'm looking forward to this!

26: Episode 5: Sleepless in Mitsuzawa (Pt.3)

Sanae hurriedly ate her lunch during the breaks between lessons, in order to be able to sleep through the lunch break itself. Once lunch break finally arrived, she and Amaya headed through the corridors towards the entrance to the school roof. Sanae was still dead on her feet from exhaustion, and after she bumped into one too many people, Amaya resorted to hauling her through the corridor by the scruff of her collar. “Thank you, Amaya~” yawned Sanae.

Upon seeing the exhausted Sanae being pulled along, Kazuo's usual conspiracy theories kicked into overdrive. “You see?!” he cried out, pointing at Sanae. “This is what the Illuminati are trying to turn us into: mindless sheep who are ferried around our whole lives without ever thinking for ourselves! Well, I won't stand back and let it happen!” He darted forward and took Sanae by the shoulders, shaking her vigorously. “Wake up, sheeple!” he cried. “Wake up and smell the truth!”

“Ughh… five more minutes...” groaned Sanae.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?!” Amaya cried out, pulling Kazuo off of her friend. “Get off her!”

“You can't fool me, Miss Illuminati!” said Kazuo, trying to break free of Amaya's grip. “I've seen through your sinister plots! I will awaken these people to the truth of the world we live in, no matter how hard you try to stop me!”

Amaya's response was to roll her eyes and punch Kazuo in the face with enough force to knock him out. “What an idiot,” she said.

The remark drew various mutters of agreement from those who had gathered around in the corridor: “Yeah, I agree.” “Massive idiot.” “Attention-seeker.” “Baaa.” With Kazuo unconscious and the show now over, the crowd quickly dispersed, and Amaya resumed dragging Sanae up towards the roof.

When the pair finally arrived up on the roof, they found it entirely deserted, much to their relief. Looking up, they were greeted by a beautiful clear sky, with barely a cloud in sight. Looking down through the protective mesh fencing, they could see groups of students milling around in the grounds below them. It was nice and quiet, and Sanae felt that she might finally be able to get some sleep here. “Ohh, it'll be so good to finally get some sleep,” she said.

“It will,” said Amaya. “You really do need some proper rest.” And while you're getting that rest, I can sneak out and cause a little chaos, she thought to herself.

Sanae slumped down against the safety fence, stretching her legs out in front of her, and closed her eyes. Before she could drift off, however, she and Amaya noticed some sort of commotion going on beneath them, as the sound of dozens of excited students filled the air. “Oh, what now?” groaned Sanae. “At this rate, I'm never gonna get any sleep!”

“Hang on,” said Amaya, “I'll see what's going on.” She approached the safety fence and called out the to crowd below. “Hey! What's going on down there?”

“There's another monster attacking the city!” one of the students called out. “We're all gonna go watch!” As Amaya looked on, dozens more students filtered out into the grounds and rushed towards the main gate, eager to view the action.

Looks like there's gonna be quite the audience today, Amaya thought to herself. Not to mention, wherever there's a monster, White Star is sure to appear. Maybe I can pick another fight with that spotlight-hogging idiot. First, though, I'll have to get out of here without Sanae noticing… Amaya glanced over at the spot where Sanae had been resting, but found that she had mysteriously vanished. “Sanae?” That's odd, she thought. Maybe she gave up on trying to sleep up here. Well, whatever the reason she's gone, it sure works out nicely for me. Now I can get out of here without anyone noticing.

Pulling the Black Star Emblem out of her bag, Amaya was engulfed in a bright white glow. Her school uniform morphed into a black minidress with white lace trim. Her shoes morphed into black high heels whose straps wound up her pale shins. Amidst a sudden rush of wind, a black witch's hat manifested itself on top of Amaya's head, and her jet-black fringe swept across one side of her face. Finally, the Emblem transformed into the Black Star Wand, and as Amaya clutched it tightly in her right hand, her transformation into Black Star was complete.

“It's good to be back,” said Black Star with a grin.

***

Meanwhile, Sanae had already transformed into White Star and flown off to confront the latest monster. Naturally, she was not very happy about it. “Two in one day?!” she exclaimed. “Come on, that's just ridiculous! And while I was trying to sleep as well?! Gimme a break!”

“I'm sorry, White Star,” said Kousen, flying alongside her. “I realize how inconvenient these recent attacks have been for you.”

There was a moment's awkward silence. “I'm expecting a 'but' here,” said White Star. “You know, something like, 'but it's your destiny to defeat these monsters whenever they appear, blah blah' or something like that.”

“Well… yes, it is,” said Kousen. “I think I've said that more than enough times now.”

White Star let out an irritated sigh. “Alright, let's just get this over with so I can go home and sleep,” she said.

White Star quickly located the latest monster inside a residential area. It was a strange, giant spider-like creature with four long, spindly legs. It skittered through the streets at alarming speed, crushing parked cars beneath its spiked feet and sending civilians sprinting for cover. Its size and location gave White Star a lot of cause for concern. “Okay, this is really not good,” she said.

“I agree” agreed Kousen. “This monster has the potential to cause an immense amount of damage. You'll have to take it down as quickly as possible.”

White Star nodded in agreement. “Guess I'll skip the catchphrase for today and just go straight to the butt-kicking.”

White Star started to take aim at the monster, but in her exhaustion she found it difficult to keep her eyes open, let alone keep track of the fast-moving creature. Finally, with a sweep of her arm, she cried “Star Shower!” The resulting barrage of star-shaped projectiles all missed the monster by several feet, bouncing off a nearby row of houses instead. White Star fired two more Star Showers at the monster, but missed again both times, and began to grow frustrated.

“Focus, Sanae!” said Kousen. “It's imperative that you-”

“I am focusing!” snapped White Star. “You try hitting something that's moving that fast after going all day without sleep!”

“Sorry,” said Kousen, deciding it was better to back off for now. “But… maybe it would be better to try some close-range attacks for now.”

White Star forced herself to calm down and nodded. “I guess it would,” she said. “Thanks, Kousen.”

White Star swooped in, aiming to get closer to the monster. Before she could reach it, however, she heard a cry from below her: “Hey, White Star! Down here!” Looking down, she saw the White Star Fan Club waving frantically at her, trying to flag her down. This had better be important, she thought to herself as she descended towards them.

“What is it?” asked White Star. “I'm a little busy at the moment.”

“I know,” said Hitomi, “and I'm really sorry to interrupt you – well, not really sorry, because you're my idol and it's always such a great honour to get to talk to you – I mean, I know I shouldn't be interrupting you, but-”

“Just get to the point!” said White Star, growing impatient. “I have a monster to defeat!”

Hitomi seemed a little shocked by her idol's sudden outburst, and found herself tripping over her words. “Uhh, th-the, uhh… well-”

Fortunately, Nagisa stepped in before White Star's patience wore any thinner. “Black Star has returned,” she said. “She's over in the downtown area, seeking you out for a rematch.”

White Star wasn't exactly too thrilled to hear this. “Oh, you've got to be kidding me!” she groaned. “It's just one thing after another today! I'm never going to get any rest at this rate!”

The White Star Fan Club hated to see their heroine so despondent. “Don't worry, Sanae!” said Nagisa. “We'll keep her busy while you defeat that monster! You deserve a rest for having worked so hard!”

White Star was rather touched by this promise. “Really?” she said. “You'd do that for me?”

“W-we would?!” said Hinata, who seemed rather alarmed at the thought of facing Black Star. “Eh… I-I mean, yes! Of course we would!” she added a moment later, as Hitomi nudged her in the ribs.

“Thanks, girls!” said White Star. “You're the best fan club a girl could ever wish for!”

Hitomi, having quickly regained her normal enthusiasm, quickly seized her friends' hands. “Come on, guys!” she said. “Let's go stall a villain!”

Together, the four girls rushed off to delay Black Star as long as possible, leaving White Star behind to battle the monster. “Alright,” said White Star. “Time to let the light of justice shine!”

27: Episode 5: Sleepless in Mitsuzawa (Pt.4)

Meanwhile, downtown, Black Star was casually sitting on an overturned bus, absent-mindedly swinging her legs back and forth and staring into space as she waited for White Star to arrive. “Come on, come on,” she muttered to herself. “Where is she? She should be here by now...”

Hearing sudden footsteps, she looked down to see the White Star Fan Club sprinting towards her. They came to a stop about ten feet away; Mio and Hinata were both gasping for breath, resting their hands on their knees as they tried to recover. “I'm not… cut out… for running… so quickly… between scenes...” gasped Mio.

“What do you want?” asked Black Star.

Hitomi hadn't quite thought this far ahead – or at all, really. “We're, uhh… uhh…” Suddenly she was struck by an idea. “We're fans of yours!” she said.

“No we a-” Hitomi promptly elbowed Nagisa in the ribs. “-I mean, uhh… yes! We're very big fans of yours!”

“So we thought… we'd come… and say hi...” said Mio.

“Hmm...” While Black Star enjoyed the attention that the four girls were giving her, she was still anxious to get her rematch over and done with. “I don't suppose any of you nice girls has seen where White Star is, do you?” she asked. “I heard she was around here somewhere, but I can't find her anywhere.”

As Black Star spoke, there was a flash of light in the distance behind her, as White Star's battle with the monster continued. The White Star Fan Club glanced at each other awkwardly. “No, we… haven't seen her at all,” said Hitomi.

“But I heard that… she might be near… the town park...” gasped Mio, who was still recovering. “By Homura's wings... I really need to start... working out...”

“I guess I'll go look for her at the park, then,” said Black Star, getting to her feet. “Thanks for the info, girls. I'll see you all around.” With that, Black Star flew off on what, unbeknownst to her, was merely a wild goose chase.

“Well, that should keep her busy for a little while,” said Hitomi. As another flash of light appeared on the horizon, she added, “Looks like White Star's still battling that monster. Let's head back over there and cheer her on!”

“Oh, no, please, not more running-!” objected Mio, but it was too late. Hitomi had already seized her friends' hands once more and was sprinting back towards the residential area, with the tired Mio dragging behind. You can get through this, Mio, she thought to herself. Just think of White Star and Black Star kissing… White Star and Black Star kissing… White Star and Black Star… oh myyy...~

***

“Alright, first things first...” White Star raised her wand and proceeded to blast herself in the face with a jet of cold water, forcibly waking herself up. She gasped, then shook the excess water out of her hair. “Ahh, that's much better,” she said. “Now I can actually focus on what I'm doing-”

“Excuse me! White Star!” someone suddenly called out from below. “Could I get a quick interview for-”

“Not now!” White Star yelled back. The reporter slunk away, and Sanae turned her attention back to fighting the strange spider monster, which was continuing to cause havoc in the town. “Man, life was so much easier before I became a magical girl… but I guess it still has its perks. Now then...”

With her renewed focus, White Star was finally able to aim properly at the monster. “Star Shower!” Once more, a stream of star-shaped projectiles burst forth from the White Star Wand, but this time they all found their mark, striking the monster's body. However, it seemed merely to shrug off the blows, and kept right on charging at White Star. “Well, that didn't work,” she remarked.

At the last second, White Star dodged out of the way of the charging monster, ducking underneath its body and passing between its legs. She swiftly turned round to pursue it, pondering how to bring it down. “Hmm… I'm going to have to slow this thing down somehow,” she thought aloud. “Every second I spend not destroying it is a second it spends wrecking up the place.”

“How do you plan on slowing it down?” asked Kousen.

“I've got an idea,” said White Star. “I'm gonna try taking out the legs, so it can't run.”

“Good idea,” said Kousen. “Just be careful that when it falls over, it doesn't cause any mo-”

But White Star, not listening, had already flown ahead to put her plan into action. If I create a magical rope that stretches all the way across the street, when the monster runs into it, it'll trip over the rope and fall over! Then I can quickly White Star Beam it into oblivion before it can get back up again! Simple! Having pulled out a large lead over the monster, White Star turned round to make sure it was still following her, then with a wave of her wand she cried, “Hideyoshi Attack!” A long, glistening white rope appeared from thin air, stretching across the width of the street in front of her, ready to trip the monster up when it arrived.

However, there was something White Star had not considered. As the monster approached, it suddenly took a left turning, heading towards the river and missing the rope trap completely. White Star looked on blankly as she realized her trap had failed. “Didn't see that coming,” she remarked. “Guess I'll have to try something else.”

White Star headed off once more in pursuit of the monster. Seeing that it was heading towards the river, she had another idea. “I've got it!” she said. “Arctic Blast!”

A flurry of snowflakes shot out of the White Star Wand and struck the ground in front of the monster, causing it to freeze over. As the monster reached the frozen patch of road, it lost all its grip and was sent hurtling out of control, its legs skidding and sliding as it frantically tried to regain some kind of traction. Ultimately, the monster was sent skidding straight into the river, crashing straight through the metal barrier and falling into the waters below with an almighty crash.

The sound of the monster falling into the river caught the attention of Black Star, who by now had realized that White Star was not in fact at the park as she had been promised. “Found you,” she muttered to herself, before flying off in the direction of the spray.

Meanwhile, White Star arrived at the river, ready to finish the monster off. “Here's one of the perks of being a magical girl: getting to fire off a quick pun before you finish off your opponent!” she declared. “Something like, uhh...” White Star promptly fell silent, her look of smugness freezing awkwardly on her face as she struggled to come up with a suitably pithy remark. After a few moments of mental struggle, she sighed and gave up. “I got nothing,” she admitted. “James Rond makes this look so easy… ah well, let's just get this over with.”

As the monster rose back up from the river, White Star pointed her wand directly at it and cried, “White Star Beam!” A beam of brilliant white light shot out of the White Star Wand and blasted straight through the monster, obliterating it. As the beam faded away, all that was left was the monster's Black Heart, which dropped into the river and sank with a plop.

Having used a significant amount of energy to fire the White Star Beam, Sanae's exhaustion suddenly caught up with her and she drifted back down to the ground, yawning heavily. “Man, that fight took a lot outta me,” she said. “I think I might just… have a little nap...”

***

A short time later, Black Star arrived at the riverbank, spoiling for a fight. “Aha! I finally found you, White Star!” she exclaimed, upon spotting her rival. “It's time we finally faced off to prove which of us is truly the- huh?!”

Black Star had arrived too late: White Star was fast asleep, slumped against the broken guard rail with her wand still clutched tightly in her hand. “She's asleep?” muttered Black Star incredulously. “How am I supposed to fight her if she's asleep?!” She let out a half-sigh, half-moan. “And I was so looking forward to fighting her again… guess I'll have to just head back to the r-” Black Star's eyes suddenly jolted open in panic. “Oh crap! The roof! I gotta get back up there before Sanae realizes I'm gone!”

In a flash, Black Star hurtled off through the skies back towards Mitsuzawa High School. The noise woke up White Star, who looked around confused for a moment. “...eh? I thought I heard-” Her eyes suddenly shot open in panic as she realized the same thing Amaya had. “Oh crap! Amaya! I gotta get back up to the roof before she realizes I'm gone!” White Star raced off, unwittingly following Black Star back towards the high school.

When Black Star arrived back at the rooftop, she found Sanae slumped just where she had been, fast asleep. Black Star breathed a sigh of relief, and as she stowed the Emblem away, she transformed back into her normal self. That was a close one, she thought to herself.

***

“Wait!” said Hitomi, looking confused. “How did Sanae get back to the rooftop before Amaya?”

Mio shrugged, looking equally confused. “Well, you've got me,” she said. “By all accounts, it doesn't make sense.”

28: Episode 5: Sleepless in Mitsuzawa (Pt.5)

At the end of the day, Sanae was delighted to hear the bell finally go to signal home-time. Finally, she thought to herself, I can go home and get some rest! Oh, hey, I just thought of a line I could have used before I killed that monster: 'Looks like there's snow way out for you!' Hehe… because I froze the ground with snowflakes… I'm such a genius…

As Sanae approached the classroom door, however, she suddenly felt a hand grip her shoulder. “Where do you think you're going?” asked Inaba-sensei, in a downright menacing voice. Turning around, Sanae saw that her teacher was angrier than she had ever seen her before. She soon realized why: held in Inaba-sensei's outstretched hand was her test paper from the pop quiz, with a large red “0%” scrawled in the top-right corner. When Sanae saw the number, she screamed and fell over backwards with shock.

“You know, Hikari,” said Inaba-sensei, “there are three things I really hate: people who make fun of my age, people who can't count, peanut butter… and people who don't take their education seriously.”

Sanae's horror momentarily gave way to confusion. “But that's four things,” she said.

“If you're smart enough to realize that,” said Inaba-sensei, “then you're smart enough not to get a zero on this test! Now, you're going to stay here in detention and do this test properly! Is that clear?”

Sanae let out a weary sigh. Yet again, her quest for rest had been thwarted. “Okay,” she said, traipsing back to her desk. “I'll do it properly this time.”

“Good,” said Inaba-sensei, calming down. “Hand it in to me at the front when you’re done.”

After finishing the test and handing it in, Sanae trudged back home, looking exhausted. “Man, what a day,” she mumbled.

Kousen tried to give her master some encouragement. “Well, at least it’s o-“

“Please, for the love of Madoka, do not say what you were about to say,” said Sanae.

Kousen, being unfamiliar with the concept of tempting fate, did not understand Sanae’s concern, but decided to comply. “Alright then,” she said. “I will, however, congratulate you on fulfilling your duties today in spite of your current state. To be honest, I was a little worried that you might fail.”

“I wasn’t,” said Sanae. “A magical girl never loses…” Sanae barely stifled a massive yawn. “Why can’t I have team-mates like every other magical girl? There’s like, fifty Pretty Cures, and I’ve gotta do everything here by myself!”

“Well, I dare say you’re doing a fantastic job,” said Kousen. “I’m proud of you, and the whole city is proud of you too.”

“Thanks,” said Sanae. “Hopefully the city will understand if I take tomorrow off.”

Fumbling for her keys, Sanae unlocked the front door of her house and headed inside. She immediately staggered towards the living room sofa, collapsed onto it, and fell fast asleep. A relaxed, contented smile slowly spread across her face.

“Rest well, Sanae,” said Kousen.

***

And so we reach the point where we came in: Sanae’s parents arriving for a visit to find their daughter sleeping peacefully on the sofa. Rather than wake her, they simply draped a blanket over her, then left to continue their excavations. When Sanae finally woke up from her nap on the sofa, she was oblivious to the fact that they had even visited. She did, however, feel refreshed and re-energized. “Oh man, I needed that nap,” she said, stretching her arms. “Now I can make the most of the rest of the day. Speaking of which… Kousen, what time is it?”

A moment later, Kousen floated down through the ceiling. “Two thousand, one hundred and thirty-six,” she declared.

“Two thousand and… what?” Confused, Sanae rushed upstairs and consulted her digital alarm clock. Kousen was right: the display read “21:36”. She had slept until 9:30pm. Her usual bedtime was only an hour away, and she had already slept away all of her exhaustion. Slowly, the realization sank in, and suddenly Sanae let out a cry of horror. “I’VE SLEPT TOO LONG!” she shrieked.

29: Episode 6: A Matter of Time (Pt.1)

Bank robbery is a difficult crime to pull off. Often, a heist requires weeks of planning, intimate staking-out of the venue, and a foolproof getaway plan. Either this, or as the villain of our piece is about to demonstrate, you could simply waltz through the front door wearing a plastic demon mask and carrying an automatic rifle, and hope for the best.

As the man entered, he pointed the rifle at the ceiling and fired. Unused to the recoil, his arm quickly swung backwards until it was pointing behind him, the momentum almost throwing him off-balance. The man swiftly released the trigger and, satisfied that he had captured the attention of everyone present, stepped forward, brushing flakes of fallen plaster from his hair. “Everybody on the ground now!” he declared. “This is a bank robbery!”

The scared bank patrons swiftly complied, most of them holding their hands in the air as they did so. The man looked around to make sure everyone was on the ground, then said, “Nobody try anything funny! That means you!” He pointed the gun at a man in clown make-up, who nodded sadly and put down the pie he had been about to shove in a woman's face.

With the customers subdued, the man strode confidently towards the counter. The bank teller also had her hands in the air, in spite of the pane of bulletproof glass behind which she sat. “Alright, you know the drill,” the man said. “Gimme all your money!”

The frightened teller caved in immediately. “Uhh… y-yes, sir,” she said. “Umm… do you have a bag for us to put the money in?”

The man paused for a moment, as though only just realizing he hadn't brought a bag, before slapping himself in the side of the head. “Oh, darn it!” he exclaimed. “I knew I'd forgotten something! Uhh… could you just transfer the money into my account instead? I do have an account here-”

“I'm afraid your account has just been frozen.” The man looked round, startled, to see White Star standing in the entrance to the bank, posing heroically in the sunlight.

“W-White Star!” the robber exclaimed. “How did you get here so fast?”

“I was hungry, and the narrator mentioned there was pie here,” said White Star, in the same heroic tone as before. “Now, I'm going to have to ask you to stop robbing this bank.”

The man continued to stare incredulously at White Star for a moment, then sneered, “And just how are you going to stop me? You're just a girl, and I have a gun!” He pointed said gun at White Star, as though to prove his point.

White Star couldn't help feeling a little nervous – after all, she'd never been held at gunpoint before – but she held her ground. “I'm not just a girl,” said White Star, pouting and folding her arms. “I'm a magical girl. Don't you read the news or anything?”

The man still wasn't impressed. “I bet your magic can't stop bullets!” he declared, and with that he opened fire. Technically, the man was right: White Star's magic did not stop the bullets. The bullets did, however, deflect around her and fly past her into the glass front of the building, shattering the panes. Fortunately, nobody had been passing behind her on the street at the time, otherwise they could have ended up being struck by a ricocheting bullet.

The stream of bullets was over almost as soon as it had begun, and White Star awkwardly surveyed the damage that the ricocheting bullets had caused. “Maybe it would have been better if I had stopped the bullets,” she remarked. “Probably would have looked cooler, too.”

The man's eyes widened with shock, his hand shaking as he lowered the rifle. For the first time, he began to appreciate the true threat that White Star posed. “Wh… what the hell are you?!” he gasped.

White Star sighed and rolled her eyes. “I told you,” she said. “Ma. Gi. Cal. Girl. Which part of that is not sinking in? It better not be the 'girl' part.”

The man, perhaps wisely, decided it might be better if he cut his losses. “I should get outta here,” he said, and with that he sprinted towards the shattered front windows. White Star, however, was not about to let the man get away so easily.

“Not so fast,” she said. “Rope Snare!” A length of rope shot out of the White Star Wand and wrapped itself neatly around the man's legs, sending him crashing to the floor. With the robber incapacitated, it was not just a matter of waiting for the police to arrive and arrest him. “Job well done, I think,” White Star remarked to herself, glancing down at the would-be criminal. “Now to have me some of that pie.”

***

Later that day, after White Star had eaten her pie, she was summoned to City Hall, where the mayor of Mitsuzawa apparently had a big announcement to make. The magical girl was invited up on stage to thunderous applause from the crowd that had gathered outside the building to hear the mayor's announcement.

“We, the people of Mitsuzawa, owe a great debt to you, White Star,” said the mayor. “Over the past few weeks, you have stopped a number of monster attacks within the city, saving countless lives and preventing all kinds of horrendous damage. Only today, you stopped a bank robber from potentially getting away with millions of yen in cash.”

'The past few weeks'?, White Star thought to herself. It feels more like it's been several months. Out loud, she said, “It's nothing, really. It's all part of the job.”

“It's not nothing to us, though,” said the mayor. “I believe it's time that this city, and I as its representative, gave something back to you. And therefore, to honour your selfless deeds and tireless commitment to protecting this city, I'm delighted to announce that this Monday we will be hosting a parade in your honour, right here in the city, with your esteemed self as our guest of honour!”

White Star hadn't been expecting this. “A parade?” she repeated. “For me? Oh, please, you don't have to go through so much trouble for little old-” The flattered smile suddenly froze on her face. “Wait, did you say Monday?”

“That's right!” said the mayor. “The parade will start at 10am and last until 3pm, when we'll be holding a special presentation ceremony here at City Hall. That won't be a problem, will it? I mean, you will be expected to attend.”

“Oh no, that's no problem at all!” said White Star hurriedly, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck. “I'll be there, no problem…. Hehehe...”

***

“We have a major problem.”

As Sanae sat despondently on the edge of her bed, Kousen was surprised to see her so down. “What's the problem?” asked Kousen. “I can understand you not wanting the mayor to make such a fuss about you, but...”

“No, it's not that!” said Sanae. “I don't mind going at all, but the thing is, I have a major test on Monday at 11am, and the parade starts at 10am! I can't miss the test, or my grades will plummet, but I can't not show up to the parade or I'll be letting the entire city down!”

“Couldn't you show up to the parade, then leave at 11 to go take your exam?” suggested Kousen.

“Well, I guess I could do that...” said Sanae.

***

Sanae entered Class 2-2 and gave her classmates a jaunty wave. “Good morning everyone!” she said. “I'm here to take the test!”

Inaba-sensei immediately bore down upon her. “Where were you for the first two hours of school?” she asked, flashing Sanae a menacing smile. Sanae let out a startled yelp and took a step backwards.

Suddenly, there was a chorus of clicking and flashing behind her, and Sanae turned round to find a wall of paparazzi standing in the doorway to Class 2-2, cameras eagerly flashing away. “You join me at Mitsuzawa High School,” said a news reporter, “where we followed White Star after she snuck out of today's parade honouring her! We can now exclusively reveal that White Star's secret identity is none other than-”

***

“Uwaaah!” As the scenario played out in her head, Sanae became increasingly alarmed until she cut off the dream sequence with a startled cry. “No good!” she exclaimed. “That won't work either! Oh… what should I do? I can't be in two places at once…!”

Kousen suddenly looked thoughtful. “Hmm…”

“What is it, Kousen?” asked Sanae.

“Well… there might actually be a way for you to attend both events at the same time,” she said. “However, I've never tried it myself, so I don't know whether it would actually work-”

Kousen was cut off by a sudden flash of light, accompanied by a loud crackling sound. She and Sanae turned round, alarmed, to see a large ball of light floating in the middle of the room, with sparks and bolts of lightning shooting off of it at regular intervals. A white silhouette suddenly appeared around the ball of light, and gradually solidified until the light disappeared in a blinding flash. When Sanae and Kousen looked again, they saw to their surprise that standing in the spot where the ball of light had been was none other than White Star herself. She looked around the bedroom for a moment, a little confused, then raised her hands in triumph.

“It worked!” White Star exclaimed.

30: Episode 6: A Matter of Time (Pt.2)

Sanae stared blankly at the newcomer for a moment, then uttered a flat, “What.”

White Star grinned. “Don't worry,” she said, “I remember how confused I was the first time this happened! Actually, this is kinda weird for me too, because I heard myself say all this stuff and now I'm the one saying it, and I heard you say the thing I already said… wow, this is really trippy. I know how this entire conversation goes.” White Star suddenly assumed a manly pose. “'Your next line is going to be...'”

“Who are you?” asked Sanae.

“Called it!” said White Star. “I'm you, from the future!”

“You're me?” repeated Sanae.

“And I am you,” said White Star cryptically, before snapping back into serious mode. “But enough references for now. I came back from Monday evening so I can go to the parade in your place, while you take your exam!”

Upon hearing this, Sanae suddenly perked up. “Hey, that's a great idea!” she said. “Why didn't we think of that?”

“Actually, that's what I was about to suggest,” said Kousen. “But if I never got round to suggesting it, then-”

Before Kousen could finish point out the inherent paradox, Sanae interrupted. “Wait!” she said. “Why do I have to take the test? Why can't you take it?”

“Because I already did,” said White Star.

“Wait, what?” said Sanae. “Ugh, this is too confusing!”

“Yeah, I remember,” said White Star. “Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it. Uhh… how did I explain this the first time round? Oh yeah!” Walking over to a whiteboard and easel in the corner of the room, White Star pulled out a black whiteboard marker. “Let me illustrate it,” she said. She drew a horizontal line across the board. “This line represents the flow of time. This end is today – Wednesday, October 21st, 2015 – and this end is next Monday.”

“I was about to ask where you got the whiteboard from,” interrupted Sanae, “but I think I already know the answer.”

“If you were thinking 'magic' – and I know you were, because I was you once – then congratulations! You get a gold star!” said White Star.

“Can I get a white star instead?” asked Sanae, cheekily sticking her tongue out. “Ba dum tiss.”

“Can I finish my explanation first?” asked White Star. “Gosh, now I know what Kousen has to put up with.”

Kousen smiled smugly. “You could learn a few things from your future self, Sanae,” she said.

White Star cleared her throat. “Anyway,” she said. “You are currently here, at this precise moment in time.” She began drawing another line parallel to the first one, this time in blue. “You'll progress naturally through the next few days, then on Monday morning, you'll go into school as usual and take that test. That evening, we'll meet on top of Fujitsu Tower to say goodbye, and then you'll travel back in time to now.” White Star drew third line, this time in green, leading diagonally back to the left-hand side of the board.

“And then I'll be you?” said Sanae.

“Now you're getting it!” said White Star. “I'll stay at home playing video games and teaching Kousen some more about the 21st Century, so I don't screw up the space-time continuum or anything. Then, on Monday morning, I'll travel to the parade in your place!” She drew a third line, parallel to the first two. “After Monday evening, you will have travelled back in time to become me, and there'll be only one Sanae Hikari again! It's foolproof!”

Sanae nodded. “Now I get it!” she said. “Yeah, that seems like the perfect plan! Nice thinking, Kousen!”

“Well, technically, I-” At this point, Kousen decided it would be better not to think about the apparent paradoxes and just roll with it. “I guess you're welcome. But I should warn you, a spell this powerful will consume an immense amount of energy.”

“One-point-twenty-one jiggawatts, to be precise,” said White Star.

“Don't you mean '1.21 gigawatts'?” asked Sanae.

“No,” said White Star. “Anyway, I don't think that'll be a problem, since I already made the jump.”

“That's true,” said Kousen. “But it will have taken a lot of power out of your Emblem, and it will take time for that power to recharge.”

“How long exactly?” asked White Star.

Kousen thought about it for a moment. “Probably until Monday night,” she said. “You already lived that time period once: were there any monster attacks during that time?”

“Nope!” said White Star. “And even if there were, the past me would have taken care of them for me! So everything should be totally fine!”

“Fair enough,” said Kousen. “This plan does seem almost too perfect, if I'm honest, but let's wait and see how it all pans out.”

“Come on, Kousen,” said Sanae. “It's just a little time travel. What could possibly go wrong?”

31: Episode 6: A Matter of Time (Pt.3)

It didn’t take Sanae very long at all to get used to the presence of her future self. For convenience, Future Sanae had agreed to remain in her White Star outfit at all times, so that the pair could be easily distinguished between. “It’ll save the writer from having to call us clunky names like ‘Past Sanae and Future Sanae’,” Future Sanae had suggested.

 

The pair spent most of Wednesday night playing video games together, though they quickly found that since their minds were identical, they ended up holding each other to stalemates more often than not. “You might know everything I’m going to do,” Sanae jeered, “but that won’t help you, since I know everything you’re going to do! Strange, isn’t it?”

 

“Not really,” said White Star. “We are the same person, after all.”

 

“I guess,” said Sanae. “Wanna play co-op instead?”

 

“Sure,” said White Star.

 

The co-operative play turned out to be much more enjoyable for both parties, and before they knew it, it was almost midnight. “Oh, darn it,” said Sanae. “We’d better get to bed. I have school tomorrow.”

 

“Yeah, I was getting pretty tired anyway,” said White Star. “I guess the jump back in time took a lot out of me.”

 

The pair saved their game, switched off their console, and immediately ran into a problem. “Uhh… there’s only one bed,” Sanae pointed out, “but there’s two of us. What are we going to do?”

 

“Why don’t I sleep in our parents’ room?” suggested White Star. “They’re not here, they won’t know.”

 

“Hey, yeah, good idea!” said Sanae. “Heck, I dunno why I haven’t been doing that anyway! Alright, I guess I’ll see you in the morning!”

 

“Goodnight!” said White Star.

 

The pair headed off to their respective beds. Kousen, being a youkai, did not need sleep, and instead she simply perched herself on the side of Sanae’s desk and waited patiently until morning. Upon first being released, she had used these quiet hours to float around Mitsuzawa and acquaint herself with the city, seeing how it had changed over the 372 years she had been sealed away. She had discovered many things on these late-night wanders, including trains, vending machines, soda cans, soda, and the fact that soda goes everywhere if you don’t open it properly. After accidentally showering a poor passerby in soda, causing them to run off screaming about thirsty ghosts, she had decided it might be a good idea not to wander off unsupervised.

That morning, Sanae was woken up as usual by her alarm clock. White Star had not bothered to set an alarm clock, and so remained asleep for about two minutes longer before her eyes suddenly snapped open. “Wait a minute,” she said. “This is the morning where I-“

“GOOD MORNING SLEEPYHEAD!” Before White Star had a chance to react, Sanae leapt upon her bed and began bouncing up and down on it like a child on Christmas morning. Any trace of sleepiness in White Star’s system was immediately jolted out of her.

“Must- you- do- that-?” said White Star, as she was buffeted to and fro.

“Hell yeah!” said Sanae. “It’s not fair if I have to get up early in the morning to go to school while you can just lie in and laze around all day! So wake! Up!”

With one last tremendous jump, Sanae rattled the bed so hard that White Star was tossed right out of it and onto the floor. “Oww…” she groaned. “The one time I actually have energy in the morning, and I use it to torment myself…”

Kousen stuck her head through the bedroom wall. “Sanae, be nice to your future self,” she said. “If you don’t, you’ll be regretting it in a few days’ time, once your future self becomes your current self.”

“Oh yeah, good point,” said Sanae. “Sorry, future me.”

As Sanae helped her up, White Star suddenly remembered what happened next, and offered her past self a sly smile. “Don’t mention it,” she said innocently. “You have to go get ready for school, right? Why don’t you go do that?”

“Sure!” Not realizing her future self’s intent, Sanae skipped off to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She wet the brush and squeezed the toothpaste out onto the bristles as usual, but as she lifted the toothbrush up to her mouth, a hand from behind her suddenly snatched the implement from her.

“Allow me~” said White Star, a mischievous grin on her face.

“Huh? What are y-“ But before Sanae could object any further, White Star jammed the toothbrush into Sanae’s mouth and began forcibly cleaning her teeth. Sanae was taken aback for a moment, but then she was merely confused. She’s… brushing my teeth for me? Is this supposed to be payback somehow? She’s not even doing a bad job…. which is weird, because I don’t think she can see what she’s doing. Is she gonna dress me and make my lunch as well? That’d be nice.

Oh yeah, I forgot I ended up liking this, thought White Star. Darn it. I’ll have to think of another way to get back at myself.

***

Once Sanae had left for school,however, White Star's thoughts of vengeance against her past self had to be put to one side. As promised, she would be using this time to teach Kousen a little more about the modern world. "Hmm... let's see," she said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "What could I teach you about today...?"

"It's no good asking me," said Kousen. "You're the teacher."

"Well, what kinda thing would you like to learn about?" asked White Star.

Kousen thought for a moment, trying to recall her experiences of human culture from the 1640s. "Hmm... what of the music of this time? I recall the graceful melodies that the humans of my time used to play, but I haven't heard anything like that since I was released."

"Music, eh?" said White Star. "Well, that's an easy one! I can just go on FooTube! You can find pretty much any song ever made on there!" White Star crossed to her laptop and opened FooTube.

"So this 'In-turn-it' thingy can play music as well?" said Kousen.

"Of course!" said White Star. "I told you, you can do anything on the Internet!"

"So, what kind of music are going to show me?" asked Kousen.

"I'm going to introduce you to J-pop!" said White Star. "That's short for 'Japanese pop'!"

"'Japanese pop'...?" Kousen seemed rather confused by the Engrish phrases. White Star, ignoring her, loaded up a video by LAB48, one of Japan's premier idol groups. They were known for dressing in frilly outfits and singing about science; White Star figured that by playing their music, she could teach Kousen about music and science at the same time.

"Alright," said White Star. "Strap yourself in, and prepare for awesomeness!" With that, White Star clicked the play button... and nothing happened. The idols in the video began their elaborate dance routine, but there was no sound at all.

Kousen gave White Star a confused look. "Is that supposed to happen?" she asked.

"Oh, right, I forgot to unplug my headphones," said White Star. "Sorry about that."

White Star unplugged her headphones and suddenly the room was filled with the sound of loud J-pop. Kousen, totally unprepared, jumped backwards in shock. "Wh-what the heck is this?!" she exclaimed. "It's so loud and shrill! Where are the graceful melodies?"

"There's no such thing as 'graceful' in J-pop!" said White Star. "It's fun and loud and in-your-face!"

"I don't know about fun, but it's certainly those other two things!" said Kousen. "And anyway, what are they even singing about? I can't understand half of what they're saying!"

"That's probably the random English phrases they throw in every now and again," said White Star. "Wait, you mean you can't speak English, Kousen?"

"What's English?" asked Kousen.

White Star was so alarmed by this question that she immediately turned the music off. "Oh, thank goodness for that," said Kousen. "My ears hurt..."

"Okay, music can wait for another day," said White Star. "Right now, we seriously need to teach you English! It's the language of the world! It's the language this series is being written in! Which... will probably make it really difficult for me to teach it to you, but this is really important stuff to learn!"

Kousen nodded, and quickly grabbed a pen and paper. "Alright," she said. "Please, teach me English."

White Star nodded, pulled out a pair of spiral-pattern glasses, and put them on. "Just call me 'Hikari-sensei'," she said.

32: Episode 6: A Matter of Time (Pt.4)

When Sanae got home from school that day, she was greeted by Kousen speaking in rather broken English. “Goodo afutanoon, Sanae,” she said. “How wasu your day?”

Sanae gave her familiar a curious look. “You’ve been learning English, Kousen?” she said. “Not bad for a beginner, but…” Sanae cleared her throat, then spoke in flawless English: “Your English sounds a little awkward!”

Kousen stared blankly at Sanae, unable to comprehend what she had just said. “My English is what?” she said.

“Never mind,” said Sanae. “Just keep working on it.”

“I shall,” said Kousen. “So, how was your day at school?”

“Uneventful,” said Sanae and White Star in unison.

“That’s why the narrator skipped over it,” White Star added. “Actually, come to think about it, I don’t think anything important happens right up until the moment I go back in time. Unless you count Kousen learning English as important, but then again, that technically hasn’t happened yet.”

“I see,” said Sanae. “So does that mean that we’re just going to skip over-“

***

Friday and the following weekend proceeded just as uneventfully as White Star had predicted, other than an incident on Friday morning. White Star, having not forgotten about Sanae waking her up the previous day, managed to turn the tables by covertly switching off Sanae’s alarm clock, causing her to wake up late for school. “I can’t believe I’m having to do this gag again!” shrieked Sanae as she rushed for the toaster, while White Star stood at the top of the stairs, howling with laughter. After this incident, the two Sanaes agreed that they were even.

Meanwhile, Kousen’s English lessons continued in earnest, and the youkai proved to be an exceedingly fast learner. By Monday morning, she was fluent enough to wish Sanae good luck on her exam that day in perfect English.

“Thanks, Kousen,” said Sanae.  “Have fun at the parade, future me.”

“Will do,” said White Star. “And so will you, eventually.”

“Looking forward to that,” said Sanae. “Alright, I’ll see you later.”

***

Sanae headed up to school with Amaya as usual, and perhaps predictably, the topic of discussion ended up being White Star’s parade. “Can you believe the mayor is dedicating the whole day to her?” said Amaya. “That’s ridiculous!”

Sanae shrugged. “Well, she has saved a lot of people,” she pointed out.

“I guess,” said Amaya, “but does she have to rub it in everyone’s faces like this?” She let out a sigh. “It’s a shame we’ve got this exam and can’t make it, huh, Sanae?” she added sarcastically.

Sanae had to suppress a grin. We’ll see who can’t make it, she thought to herself. Out loud, and with no conviction at all, she remarked, “Yeah. It’s a real shame.”

“Just do what I’m doing and skip school!” Sanae and Amaya jumped about a foot in the air, and turned around to see Hitomi standing right behind them, wearing a White Star t-shirt and jeans.

“Hitomi?!” exclaimed Sanae. “Where did you come from?”

Hitomi stroked her chin thoughtfully. “Hmm… how should I put this…?” she wondered aloud. “When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much-“

"N-no, that's not what I meant!" said Sanae hurriedly. "I mean, how did you get here?"

“Plot convenience!” said Hitomi. “Anyway, me and the other White Star Fan Club members are ditching today and going to watch the parade instead! You wanna come with us?”

Sanae nervously rubs the back of her neck. “Sorry, that’s not an option for me,” she explains. “We have important mid-terms today.”

“Oh, I see,” said Hitomi. “Ah well. I’ll just record it on my phone for you and post it on FooTube! Good luck with your exams!”

“Thanks,” said Sanae. “Have fun at the parade!”

“I will!” said Hitomi. “See ya!”

As Hitomi dashed off, Amaya gave her friend a suspicious glance. “I thought you said you were in the sewing club?” she said.

“I am!” said Sanae. “She was only asking because we said it was a shame we couldn’t go. She’s not good with sarcasm.”

Satisfied with this explanation, Amaya nodded. “I see,” she said. “Well, I guess we’d better get going.”

“Let’s go do some mid-terms!” said Sanae.

“You don’t need to sound so enthusiastic about them,” said Amaya.

***

The midterms were exactly as boring as you can imagine, and no space will be devoted to describing them. Nothing else of note happened while Sanae was at school, and as she headed back home, she was starting to feel excited about her impending trip back in time. There was no need for her to feel nervous about it: after all, she already knew how it would go. She had been living with her future self for the past five days.

That evening, as agreed, Sanae and White Star met atop the Fujitsu Tower, the city’s tallest building, to say their goodbyes. “Alright, I guess I’ll see you… never, I guess,” said White Star.

“I’ll see you in just a few minutes, once I become you,” said Sanae.

“I guess you will, technically,” said White Star.

“This is still confusing,” said Kousen.

“Well, you won’t have to worry about it anymore,” said White Star. “In a couple of moments, Sanae will be going back in time to become me, and then there’ll only be one Sanae Hikari again.”

“Thank goodness,” muttered Kousen. “Dealing with one of you is hard enough sometimes.”

“I guess this is it, then,” said Sanae. “Here goes.” Taking out the White Star Emblem, Sanae transformed into White Star, then held her wand aloft. “El Psy Congroo!” she declared. There was a bright flash, and a sphere of brilliant white light erupted from the end of the wand, crackling with energy. The sphere grew larger and larger until it had completely engulfed White Star, and then in an instant, it collapsed in on itself and disappeared, taking White Star with it.

***

“Well… there might actually be a way for you to attend both events at the same time,” said Kousen. “However, I've never tried it myself, so I don't know whether it would actually work-”

Kousen was cut off by a sudden flash of light, accompanied by a loud crackling sound. She and Sanae turned round, alarmed, to see a large ball of light floating in the middle of the room, with sparks and bolts of lightning shooting off of it at regular intervals. A white silhouette suddenly appeared around the ball of light, and gradually solidified until the light disappeared in a blinding flash. When Sanae and Kousen looked again, they saw to their surprise that standing in the spot where the ball of light had been was none other than White Star herself. She looked around the bedroom for a moment, a little confused, then raised her hands in triumph.

“It worked!” White Star exclaimed.

Sanae stared blankly at the newcomer for a moment, then uttered a flat, “What.”

White Star grinned. “Don't worry,” she said, “I remember how confused I was the first time this happened! Actually, this is kinda weird for me too, because I heard myself say all this stuff and now I'm the one saying it, and I heard you say the thing I already said… wow, this is really trippy. I know how this entire conversation goes.” White Star suddenly assumed a manly pose. “'Your next line is going to be...'”

“Who are you?” asked Sanae.

“Called it!” said White Star. “I'm you, from the future!”

“You're me?” repeated Sanae.

“And I am you,” said White Star cryptically, before snapping back into serious mode. “But enough references for now. I came back from Monday evening so I can go to the parade in your place, while you take your exam!”

Upon hearing this, Sanae suddenly perked up. “Hey, that's a great idea!” she said. “Why didn't we think of that?”

“Actually, that's what I was about to suggest,” said Kousen. “But if I never got round to suggesting it, then-” I’m kidding. I’m sorry. I’m not actually going to make you read through the whole time loop all over again. Had you going there for a moment, though, didn’t I? I’ll just skip forward to the parade now.

33: Episode 6: A Matter of Time (Pt.5)

On Monday morning, while her past self headed off to school to take her mid-terms, White Star headed towards the bridge where she had encountered her first-ever monster. Having been newly-repaired, it was now to serve as the starting point for that morning’s parade in her honour. From there, the parade would wind its way through Mitsuzawa before ending at City Hall, where White Star would be given the “key to the city”, something she was disappointed to learn was only a visual metaphor and wouldn’t actually unlock anything. It wasn’t even a giant keyblade, either; just a regular key.

As White Star approached the bridge, she could make out the large parade float that would ferry her across the city. She could also make out thousands of people gathered in the streets below, all lining the parade route in the hopes of seeing her. Not all of them were Mitsuzawa citizens: fans of White Star had come from across the country and even from abroad just to catch of a glimpse of their magical idol. Some were even in cosplay. White Star couldn’t tell whether the sight was humbling or awesome, but eventually she decided to settle on “awesome”.

A huge cheer suddenly rose up from the crowd as White Star swooped down onto the bridge, landing gracefully on top of the float to thunderous applause. The magical girl gratefully curtseyed to the gathered crowd. “Thank you, thank you!” she said. “You’re all too kind! And too loud! Seriously, I can’t hear myself think.”

White Star’s words were drowned out by the crowd, who continued to cheer their beloved idol. “We love you, White Star!” called out one enthusiastic fan.

“And I love you too, random citizen!” said White Star.

Eventually, the crowd’s continued cheers were silenced by a grating blast of static from a loudhailer, which the mayor was holding aloft. Even he couldn’t help wincing at the burst of feedback – especially since he was the closest one to it – but it was the only way he could think of to get the crowd’s attention, and it certainly worked. “Alright, everyone,” he declared, addressing the crowd through the loudhailer. “The parade is about to start. Please make sure to make lots of noise to show your appreciation for our magical saviour: White Star!”

Another great cheer rose up from the crowd, even louder than before. White Star took her seat in a gilded throne at the top of the float, smiling and waving to the crowd as she tried not to flinch against the sheer volume. “I’m gonna be deaf by the end of this parade…” she muttered to herself.

After a moment’s wait, the parade float juddered into life, ferrying White Star across the bridge at a walking pace. White Star was perfectly content to lap up the attention of the crowd for a while, waving merrily to her fans as she passed them, but by the time they were over the bridge and entering the central business district, she was already beginning to grow bored. This float moves too slowly, she thought. My arm’s getting tired from all this waving. I hope I don’t have to hold this smile for the whole journey or my face will end up hurting. And the crowd’s still too loud… White Star stifled a sigh. First-world magical girl problems, I guess. I mean, this might be boring and all, but at least all I have to do is sit here and wave-

No sooner had this thought crossed her mind than there was a sudden crash to her right, followed by a loud chorus of screams. White Star’s smile froze on her face, and she slowly turned around to face the inevitable. Standing there in the middle of the road was a large wolf-shaped monster, its red eyes gleaming dangerously as it growled at the parade float.

“I had to open my mouth,” said White Star.

With a loud roar, the wolf dashed forward, sending the crowd scattering as the terrified onlookers rushed for cover. White Star quickly hopped off the parade float, readying her wand. “Why didn’t future me tell me about this?!” she said. “I thought she said nothing important happened! Grrr… I’m so mad at myself right now!”

“I guess you could say you’re… beside yourself with rage?” Hitomi called out from the crowd, grinning.

“Shut up, Hitomi!” said White Star. “Your puns aren’t helping!” Letting out another sigh, White Star turned her attention back to the task at hand. “Well… nothing I can do about it now. Guess it’s time to let the light of justice shine!”

The crowd joined in with the final part of White Star’s catchphrase, before erupting with another thunderous cheer as she flew up to confront the wolf monster. Rather than encouraging her, however, the cheers reminded White Star of just how precarious this situation was. This isn’t like any of my previous fights, she thought to herself. There’s a huge crowd here. Even if this is a comedy series, people could still get hurt. I’ll have to be extremely careful not to-

A sudden barrage of camera flashes dazzled the girl, disorienting her and forcing her to cover her eyes. “Gah! What the-“

The crowd around her didn’t seem to have quite grasped the seriousness of the situation, and were busily taking pictures and videos on their phones. “Wow, this is so cool! We actually get to see White Star fight!” “I bet she takes it down in, like, two minutes!” “This is all just part of the parade, right?” “Yeah, that monster looks totally fake.” “Use your White Star Beam!” “No, use the fire move! The fire move!”

White Star sighed. “Could everyone please calm down a bit?” she asked. “I can’t concentrate with you all taking photos and shouting!” The crowd swiftly complied, the camera flashes dying down and a hush descending over the crowd. White Star was now finally able to concentrate on the monster, which had thankfully remained passive so far, slowly circling her while growling viciously. “Good thing the monster didn’t attack while all that talking was happening,” she remarked. “Usually, it would have done.”

Now that the talking was over, however, the battle began in earnest. The monster pounced at White Star, who dodged out of the way just in time, causing the monster to crash into the now-abandoned parade float. As the dazed monster staggered back, White Star aimed her wand and shouted “Star Shower!” A barrage of star-shaped projectiles flew at the wolf monster, sending it skidding backwards with a roar of pain.

The monster wasn’t incapacitated for long, however. Shaking off its injuries, it quickly began sprinting towards White Star again, ready for another attack. Unable to dodge, as this would send it barrelling straight into the crowd, White Star instead seized the creature’s jaws in both hands, holding it at bay while it snapped uselessly at her, its snout just inches from her face.

As the crowd around her gasped in horror, perhaps realizing that this wasn’t staged after all, a sudden thought came to White Star. If I can time this just right… Sliding a leg underneath the creature, White Star yelled, “Magical Flying Suplex!”, and executed a spectacular backflip. In mid-air she let go of the monster and gave it an almighty kick to the stomach, causing it to fly backwards through the air, sailing over the heads of the crowd, before crashing down hard to the ground.

Seeing that her move had been successful, White Star pumped a fist. “Yes!” she exclaimed. “Now that I’ve got it away from the crowd…” White Star flew up, and aimed her wand at the limping monster. “Time to finish this! White Star Beam!”

The White Star Beam burst forth from the wand in a flash of light, engulfing the monster and destroying it. As the beam faded away, all that was left was the creature’s Black Heart, lying in a smoking crater. Seeing that the monster had been defeated, the crowd burst into another triumphant cheer, the camera flashes starting anew. “You did it, White Star!” “Amazing!” “That was the best thing I’ve ever seen!” “I hope FooTube don’t take this one down like they did the previous one!”

Having emerged victorious once again, White Star took her place once more in the gilded throne atop the parade float, leaning back in the chair and waving merrily to her supporters as the float continued on its way once more. “It ain’t easy being a magical girl,” she remarked to herself, “but it sure has its perks.”

***

That evening, as agreed, Sanae and White Star met atop the Fujitsu Tower, the city’s tallest building, to say their goodbyes. “Alright, I guess I’ll see you… never, I guess,” said White Star, parroting what she had heard herself say the first time round.

“I’ll see you in just a few minutes, once I become you,” said Sanae.

“I guess you will, technically,” said White Star.

“This is still confusing,” said Kousen.

“Well, you won’t have to worry about it anymore,” said White Star. “In a couple of moments, Sanae will be going back in time to become me, and then there’ll only be one Sanae Hikari again.”

“Thank goodness,” muttered Kousen. “Dealing with one of you is hard enough sometimes.”

“I guess this is it, then,” said Sanae. “Here goes.” Taking out the White Star Emblem, Sanae transformed into White Star, then held her wand aloft. “El Psy Congroo!” she declared. There was a bright flash, and a sphere of brilliant white light erupted from the end of the wand, crackling with energy. The sphere grew larger and larger until it had completely engulfed her, and then in an instant, it collapsed in on itself and disappeared, taking the past White Star with it.

The moment her past self was gone, White Star groaned and facepalmed. “I forgot to tell myself about the monster attack,” she said. “Darn it. Well, I guess I’ll find out about it in time, huh? Anyway, I’m kinda glad that’s over with. Now I never have to worry about time travel ever agai-“

Before White Star could finish, there was a sudden bright light behind her. Turning around, she saw to her surprise that another sphere of white light had appeared, crackling with the same time energy as before. As she looked on in shock, a faint silhouette appeared within the light, growing gradually larger and larger. “Oh geez,” said White Star.

The light then vanished with a flash, and standing there before her was another version of herself, however this one looked distinctly worse for wear. Her hair was ruffled, her dress was torn, and her left eye was covered with a black eyepatch. She fixed her past self with a steely glare.

"Alright, kid," said Future White Star. "This is where it gets complicated."