Ai Senshi: A Magical Girl Joint

Work's been hectic, so this took a bit longer to get out.

[♡] Turn the Raising☆Heart on the miko


The will of the miko is too strong to ignore.

If she were softer, frailer, more resigned to her fate, you would turn the Raising☆Heart on her assailant. Scour the spectre from this place and save her like any other civvie.

But she's fighting.

She's been fighting since you've met her, cursing up a storm as her lifeblood flowed into the earth. Even now, chained to an ever-darkening leash, against an evil that would claim her soul, she spits and claws and curses.

And you can't let that kind of energy slip away. You can't let her remain a victim.

You can't let someone this hardcore not be a Magical Girl.

The Raising☆Heart beats faster in your hands, your Will and its own intertwining. You turn it on the miko, bathing her in myriad rainbows. Her body turns incandescent as the black spectre shrieks, shielding it's eyes from her castigating light.

It is a moment.

It is an eternity.

From the light is born something more than a miko. Her hakama has become a brilliant vermilion slit dress, still with hip intakes. Her pure white kimono is left brazenly open, showing a pugilist's sarashi wrapped around her chest. The pulled-back sleeves and lapel of her kimono shimmer with ruby embroidery.

Aviator goggles rest atop her strawberry-blond hair, now tied back in a wild samurai ponytail with a sacred shide streamer. Light plays upon a jade magatama inlaid in her bright red choker. A shirasaya sword stamped with talismans dangles nonchalantly in her hand.

With liquid motion, like flashing fire, she draws her pure white blade and severs the chain that binds her.

The spectre recoils from her brilliant blade, before shaping a weapon from its roiling darkness. It's a mockery of the miko's, more a butcher knife writ large.

The miko grins like you grin, full of feral pride, and points her sword at the spectre.

"Let's dance, perra."

The spectre roars and charges, wheeling it's blade overhead for a bisecting chop.

The miko sheathes her sword, closes her eyes in prayer, and smiles.

There's a flash once the spectre gets into killing range. The miko's blade splits it neatly in half, glimmering in the black hole sun.

The spectre, what's left of it, passes over the miko as mere sound, fury, and smoke. Wisps of its remaining darkness flow into the magatama, casting writhing shadows within.

A rend in this reality follows soon after.

The miko opens her eyes, nods at her handiwork, and sheathes her sword once more.


You snap back to the real world, gasping. The miko joins you, coughing as her soul returns to her body. She's in her costume still; from the rise and fall of her chest, you notice how much more "talented" she is compared to you.

The miko groans and rubs her temples "Ayyyy, why do I have a possession hangover?"

"Because you were cursed, love." Alice says to her, checking her for (now-healed) wounds.

The miko damn near leaps out of her skin. "Talking cat! Rabbit...cabbit?"

"The term is cabbit, yes," Alice says. "I prefer Majokko Corps cadet, but you can call me Alice."

The miko makes a half-prayer hand and calms herself down with a slow exhale. "Got it." She crouches down and offers the hand to Alice. "Reina Ichigo, head miko of the Mikazuchi Shrine."

Alice takes the hand with her forepaw and shakes. "Charmed. Congratulations on becoming a Magical Girl."

Reina, the miko, stares at her with a confused smile. "Te estás quedando conmigo, ¿verdad?"

Alice taps at her floppy bunny ear. "Sorry love, translator's a little on the fritz from all the magical energy. Could you repeat that, please?"

Reina laughs. "You're messing with me, right?"

"Nah," you say to her. "Check the fit."

Reina does so, gawking at her new outfit. She twirls, her hakama skirt billowing brilliantly, before examining the shirasaya still in her hand.

"...Well then." She rummages through her kimono, draws a talisman out between two slender fingers. Holding it to her face, she shuts her eyes in concentration as a droning chant falls from her lips. The talisman crackles with power, its elegant black script glowing red.

"Seeing as how neither I nor this outfit is being bathed in cleansing fire, this isn't a curse," she says, dismissing her talisman with a flick of the wrist. "So I'll take your word for it. Always liked that priest chick from Sailor Moon."

"Rei was pretty badass," you say, offering a hand to Reina. "Welcome to the club."

She takes it and pulls you in for a respectful half-hug. "You the one that saved me?"


[Dialog Select! What do you say?]
[ ] That's right, all me baby!
[ ] Alice is the one who kept you alive, I just made sure you became a Maj instead of a monster.
[ ] It was a team effort: me, the cabbit, that edgy Kamen Rider on the ground over there, Jesus maybe.

Reina snerks. "That's wild."

Before the two of you can talk further, Iron Beetle gathers themselves and heads back over to you.

"I don't know what you just did, Dango-head." Iron Beetle says with a busted-speaker drawl, "But I get the feeling you're fucking with forces you don't understand."

You get up in Iron Beetle's face. "And I get the feeling you're butthurt I solved things all sparkly-like. Bet you don't understand what I just did, either."

"I don't," Iron Beetle says, sharp enough to make their speakerbox squeal. "But I know the last time I saw a girl put out that much energy, she turned into a Youma."

You sneer and point to Reina, who's inspecting her costume more thoroughly now. "I just stopped her from becoming a Youma, dickhead."

Iron Beetle sighs static. "I get that. What happens when you start turning, Dango-head?"

The side of your mouth twitches into a half-grin. "That a threat?"

"I don't make threats," Iron Beetle says. "I give warnings. Your ally of justice claims don't come off as complete bullshit, but I've seen your type before. They get a little taste of power, think they're Superman. Start chasing that dragon more and more. Three months in, they're either dead or a Youma."

You jab a finger into Iron Beetle's chest armor. "Listen here, fucko. I don't know what kind of wack-ass heroes they got here, but I'm built different. I'm not turning, I'm not dying, and I'm not becoming a joyless fuck like you."

Iron Beetle brushes your hand away, chuckling with the sound of a caught chainsaw. "Prove me wrong then, Dango-head."

With a lazy, mocking salute, they leave you to your mascot and miko.

You ball your fist, eager to deck them again, only for Reina to hold you back.

"Tranquilo," she says. "No need to start more shit."

You bite back a curse and sit, cross-legged, on the shrine grounds' cool grass. Your half-grin is a full frown as you rest your cheek on your fist.

Reina brushes out her skirt and sits seiza in front of you. "Yo, since I'm a Magical Girl and all, you gonna tell me what the hell happened that led me to get my wrists slit by some emo kid?"


[What do you tell her?]
[ ] Tell her about the hunt for the Raising☆Heart, and that it ended up in her shrine.
[ ] Tell her the Kumatora Sisters are doing some Satanic bullshit, and keep the Raising☆Heart stuff to yourself.
[ ] Tell her you don't know, you just came yo help a stranger in need.