The two girls hovered into the abandoned alleyway, clutching their newfound magic wands nervously. Neither of them were quite sure what was going on, but something had given them magic powers, and something nearby was causing explosions. The least they could do was investigate, right?
"This must be the the place," remarked Chishiki, glancing at the damaged wall beside her. She was bedecked in the fancy red outfit that spawned along with her magic powers, hands sweating fearfully as she gripped onto her wand. "But what could have—"
She was cut off by the sound of another explosion, causing her to let out a frightened yelp—especially considering how disconcertingly close by it seemed to have been. Yukai, her blue-clad companion, scanned the area for the source.
"Over there!" she cried, pointing.
Chishiki turned to see what Yukai was pointing out, and sure enough, there he was: standing in the dust of a recent explosion was a man—she assumed it was a man—wearing a dark hoodie that obscured most of his features. His hands were radiating with dark energy, which seemed to be making a faint whining noise as it pulsated frantically. Finally, the man turned his head, allowing the girls to see that he was wearing a sinister-looking mask that covered his entire face.
"Who the heck is that?!" Chishiki yelped.
"He's attacking the buildings!" Yukai added.
"H-hey! Stop right there!" Chishiki shouted, mustering up her courage and flying closer to the masked man to catch his attention. "Um... halt, evildoer!"
"Oh?" the man spoke, and it became clear that he was, in fact, a man. "And who do you think you are?"
"I don't know, but— but exploding buildings is not okay!" was Chishiki's response.
"We're here to stop you!" Yukai added, holding out her wand warningly.
Hearing this, the masked man could only laugh. "You think you can stop me? Well, we'll see about that."
With that, he thrust his arm forward, a dark beam shooting out of his hand toward the girls. Chishiki shrieked as she and Yukai flew out of the way, allowing the beam to collide with the wall behind them. Sure enough, this resulted in a small explosion, knocking some bricks loose from the already crumbling wall. There was no doubt about it—this man had definitely been causing the explosions.
While Chishiki fumbled for what to do, she found herself dodging a second explosion beam, meaning she had to act fast. Remembering the wand in her hand, she did the first thing she thought of, and swung it at him. A fireball shot out of it, colliding with the man's chest and knocking him backward. She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not that he didn't catch on fire, but he didn't, the fireball immediately dispersing upon contact. Nonetheless, it did injure him, and potentially left him with a painful burn.
"Hey! That worked!" she beamed.
"Let's keep it up, then!" Yukai said, waving her own wand at the masked man. Yukai's wand shot out a steam of water instead, pushing the man further back and into the wall behind him. He grunted in pain, crumpling to the ground from the impact, and gasping for breath.
"Unbelievable..." he mumbled, slowly climbing back to his feet.
"Yeah, well, we've got plenty more where that came from!" Chishiki warned him. "So you'd better leave, or... face the consequences!"
"Hmph... mark my words, then," the masked man said. "This is only the beginning."
"Wait, what?" Chishiki asked. But before she could get a reply, another explosion beam was fired at them, and she hastily dodged out of the way. "Whoa!"
The beam collided with the wall behind them, and the already-crumbling wall finally collapsed, thankfully not landing on the girls. It kicked up a huge dust cloud, however, obscuring their vision and sending them both into uncontrollable coughing fits. It was only as the dust finally started to settle that Chishiki was able to look up, just in time to see the masked man retreat behind a building and out of sight.
"Hey! Hey, wait!" she cried, but it was no use. He was already gone. "...I guess that's it."
"Hooray! We did it, Chishiki!" Yukai cheered.
"I guess so," Chishiki agreed. "That was weird, though. I wonder who that was?"
"Masked Malice. I would recognize that mask any day."
The two girls jumped at the sound of the voice, whirling around to face the speaker. This time, they were greeted with the sight of an elderly lady, wearing a purple shawl lined with rainbow-colored beads. Her expression was solemn, looking directly at the girls with a calculating gaze.
"Who are you?" Chishiki questioned, gripping her wand tightly just in case she was another threat.
"My name is Rikou Nikara," the woman replied. Glancing at Chishiki, she added, "I am here to help you."
Yukai blinked. "Help us?"
"Help us how?" Chishiki asked, relaxing a little at the words.
"I am sure you are wondering what is happening to you, and why you can do all these things?" was Rikou's response.
Chishiki was surprised by this, not quite sure what to say. Ultimately, she just said, "Um, yeah."
"Well, I can tell you all you need to know," Rikou told them. "But not here. Come, I will take you to my home."
As Rikou turned to leave, Chishiki and Yukai exchanged confused looks. A stranger offering to take two young girls to their home was the kind of thing that the girls normally wouldn't be keen to do, but... it had been a very strange day, and this was the best chance for answers they had. And, Chishiki thought, at least they could defend themselves if they had to.
So with a mutual shrug, they two girls floated after Rikou, hoping she had the answers she claimed to have.
* * *
The masked man groaned as he collapsed beside his car, pausing for a moment to catch his breath. Of all the things he was expecting, he wasn't expecting that. Honestly, if it weren't for the very real pain in his chest right now, he would have thought this all a dream. But no, it was all very real.
"Flying heroines, huh... who would have thought," he muttered under his breath. "But no matter. They'll see... next time."
He took a brief glance around the area to confirm that no one was watching him—those flying girls hadn't followed him here, thankfully—before reaching up to undo the clip keeping his mask in place. He removed the mask deliberately, pulling down his hood and shaking his hair loose. Wherever the mask came from, it was perfect for anonymity... but now it was time to become a normal man again.
He tossed the mask unceremoniously into his car, where it landed on top of his briefcase from work. He then climbed into the car, wincing slightly from pain, and proceeded to drive home. It had been a long day, and he was going to need a long nap.
