CW: period typical bigotry, no slurs
—
Two centuries ago, one plane of reality forced its way into another, a dark kingdom invading our own. However, native spirits emerged from hiding and made pacts with willing humans, young women whose souls were malleable enough to channel their power. With spiritual power and human ingenuity combined, these magical girls forced the darkness to retreat from Earth, sealing the opening behind them. After this victory, the spirits became dormant within charms that the girls' families kept and passed down from generation to generation, awaiting the day that the dark kingdom might return. Now, a renewed assault of evil has begun…
"Emerald Radiance: Entangled Garden!"
Jou Keiko sucked in a deep breath, trying to stay balanced on her feet as the powerful magic surged through her body and outstretched arm in particular. A flash of green light morphed into a massive, engorged set of vines a few feet across in the vague form of a twisted knot. The mass of plant life worked exactly as Keiko had hoped—it spawned in and around the five legs of the Epicyon shadow-wolf, the spectral, vaguely canine beast before her, trapping it in place. Shadowy matter rose off of it like smoke as it struggled against the vines, trying to pull the topmost layer off with one of its fearsome sets of teeth. The other set remained outstretched, chomping at the air, towards her and Keiko watched them carefully as she took a few steps back.
"Good aim, Kinshiden-chan!" one of her teammates complimented her as she leapt up onto the pathway from the woods behind them both. Keiko sighed in relief as Minamoto Sachiko, the Higanbana Warrior and self-proclaimed "Mistress of Fire," finally caught up with her.
"Took you long enough," Keiko chided her lightly. "This one's trouble, it's rather strong—" The Epicyon successfully tore through one of the vines as she spoke. "—very strong," she corrected, "Higanbana, quick!"
Sachiko nodded and shouted, "Ruby Brilliance: Firestorm!"
Keiko still disliked the names her teammate came up with for her spells—they were blunt and tasteless—but she couldn't deny their power: Sachiko's spell conjured up a massive fireball that immediately engulfed the shadow beast and the vines. It began shrilly keening in pain, which was a very good sign—shadow beasts were resilient, but when they started getting actually hurt they were close to defeat.
Keiko and Sachiko had been hunting down this particular beast for the better part of the evening. The priests at the Houseki no Seirei temple, the informally formal headquarters of their little group, had let them know their omens had predicted a minor incursion tonight, and unfortunately their third teammate, Kawahara Sakura, was still down with a bad cold. An Epicyon was a bit more than they'd been expecting to handle without Sakura, but with that lucky vine trap events had thankfully swung in their favor.
"Jade Radiance: Corrosive Corona!" This spell was nasty, but without Sakura Keiko wanted to get the job done quickly. A ribbon of sickly purple liquid shot from her hand onto the tiny bonfire, dousing parts of it for a moment. The Epicyon shrieked—Keiko's spell created a magically potent acid that ate away at shadow beast flesh rather violently. The smoke and fire hid the damage but it definitely did its work: within moments the telltale dark blue glow of a dissolving beast shone through the fire.
"We did it!" Sachiko exclaimed, grinning widely. Keiko was a bit more reserved but she smiled and nodded, and meant it; the fight could have absolutely been far more trying. Once the glow faded, both girls raised their hands and focused: the fire, smoke, and burnt vines popped out of existence, their only trace remaining a ring of vague scorch marks.
—
"You're back! How did it go? Are you alright?"
Naturally, the first one to greet Keiko and Sachiko when they returned to the temple was Asakura Rina, one of the shrine maidens in training; technically, they were all shrine maidens in training as a cover story for their families, but Rina was the only one around their age at the shrine who didn't have a magical charm.
Or rather, Keiko thought with a hint of bitterness, Rina's charm was missing.
Sachiko proudly showed herself off, her ruffly and elegant European-style dress still as spotless as when she'd summoned it earlier. "We handled it easily! We're fine, see? You didn't need to worry so much, Yamabuki-chan."
"Don't be so cavalier about it, Minamoto," Keiko said, frowning. Now that they were back in the temple and protected by its wards, they could use their actual names; outside, they had no way of knowing if the Dark Realm had hidden ears listening. "It was a dangerous beast, and it was only luck that we managed to trap it so easily. If another incursion happens before Kawahara gets better—"
"I know we can handle it," Sachiko said a bit more seriously. "We're getting stronger, can't you feel it, Jou-chan? Each time we go out as Flower Warriors, the magic comes so much more easily!"
Keiko nodded slowly. It was true; a month ago, it would have taken her twice as long to cast a spell, and her vines had been a good measure smaller. Apparently satisfied with her answer, Sachiko snapped her fingers and shifted out of her Flower Warrior form, returning to her mundane school uniform. Her necklace glowed as the power faded and Kyan-kun, the fox-like spirit responsible for her powers just as Budou-chan was for Keiko, emerged with a yip.
"You're doing great, Higanbana-chan!" Kyan-kun cheered in its high-pitched voice. "It won't be long now till you can each take on an Epicyon alone, I promise! It happened last time lickety-split!"
"We haven't gotten there yet, so it's still dangerous," Keiko fretted.
"It wouldn't even be a problem if I could find the Yamabuki charm," Rina muttered.
Keiko hummed in sympathy and Sachiko put a comforting hand on Rina's shoulder. It was absolutely the most frustrating part of their situation as Flower Warriors: that they were missing a member through sheer bad luck. From what Keiko understood, the four original Flower Warriors had meant to pass their spirit charms down through their families, firstborn daughter to firstborn daughter, until the time when their powers would be needed again. For Sachiko, Keiko, and Sakura, this system had worked out well, but somehow Rina's ancestors had lost their spirit charm over the generations. Rina hadn't even known it would be an issue—her family had forgotten the legends of the charms—until Sakura had realized that she ought to have had one going by the koseki genealogical records of the shrine.
"Oh, but I do have a little bit of good news!" Rina announced while Keiko switched out of her own costume. The dress was gorgeous and she loved to wear it, but her normal clothes were far less cumbersome. "I got a letter back from my aunt in Kawasaki! She says I can come visit next month, so I can finally get a look at their koseki too!"
The Asakura family was rather widespread, and Rina had a theory that one of the other branches of the family had possibly ended up with the charm. Privately, Keiko had her doubts—since the family had forgotten its significance, it was frankly possible the charm had simply been thrown away at some point—but she wasn't about to crush Rina's hopes by saying so.
"Kawasaki, huh?" Sachiko said with a hint of a smile. "Make sure you get your aunt to take you up to central Tokyo too while you're so close!"
"It's not that close," Rina considered, "not unless we took the train…but I'll try to ask."
"Mei and I had a great time there last year when Dad took us to see the Olympic wrestlers," Sachiko continued eagerly, "although the best part of the trip was all those muscle bound men, mmm…"
"Ugh, don't be so crass, Minamoto!" Keiko groaned.
"Don't be such a stick in the mud, Jou-chan," Sachiko snapped back.
"Aah, please don't fight," Kyan-kun whined. Both girls muttered apologies to the other.
"Is everything alright in here?" Takahashi Himari, one of the older maidens, poked her head into the room. Her long, shiny brown hair always made Keiko a little jealous, but the older girl was kind enough that Keiko couldn't really dislike her. "Congratulations on another victory, by the way!"
"Yes, we're alright," Rina assured her.
"Thank you, Takahashi-sensei," Keiko said with a short bow.
"Heh, I'm not a teacher, just a fellow student, honest," Himari giggled. "Do you girls want some of us to walk you home? Sachiko-chan said it was helpful with your parents last time."
"Yes, they're quite not so mad about me staying here late if we're brought home by a responsible adult," Sachiko said. "I guess we should be getting home, it's late. Will you check in on Sakura for us, Rina?"
"Of course! Hm, I can't call you though, my family still doesn't have a phone…but I can tell you how she's doing at school tomorrow if she doesn't come, alright?"
Both of the other girls nodded. As they got ready to head back to their homes, Keiko's idle thoughts turned to the Yamabuki charm again. If Rina was right and it really had been accidentally passed down to some obscure daughter, they almost certainly would have married into some other family, making the search efforts that much more difficult. The war had destroyed a lot of records too, hadn't it? If they had changed their name or moved to some other town and then had children, who had children of their own…who knew how far the charm might have gone? It could be anywhere in Japan by now!
—
"Oh my gosh, Patty! I heard you made it in tonight? I'm so excited!" Linda Anderson squealed through the phone.
"I did! I really did! I had my doubts, I don't totally have the look I thought Shelley wanted, but I guess I was wrong," Patty Clark, newest member of the Santa Monica High School cheerleading team, squealed right back. The thrill of making the squad was still making her jittery; as she lay on her bed with one hand holding the phone, the other hand nervously twisted her charm bracelet. It wasn't like being a cheerleader was such a big deal—all you really had to do was stand at the front of the crowd at the games in a cute little outfit and clap, according to Linda and her other friends on the team*—but it was huge because of what it meant socially. The cheerleaders were the prettiest, most popular girls at school, and Patty hadn't really thought she was part of that group at all.
"Shelley wishes she had your looks, Pats!" Linda exclaimed, and Patty briefly had to pull the phone away from her ear. "Your hair always looks terrific, your eyes have that exotic flair, and on top of that you're thinner than her."
"Exotic?" Patty muttered to herself. She didn't really think being part Japanese was all that exotic in California, and frankly it didn't feel like a compliment. She let go of her charm bracelet and started twisting the phone cord around instead.
"Besides, she had to put you on the team no matter what," Linda barreled along, "since you're friends with practically everyone."
"What?" Patty sputtered. "That isn't true at all!"
"Well, maybe I said it wrong. You're friends with all sorts of different people, and everyone likes you. For example, you and that surfer girl hang out a lot, right?"
"Who—oh, Faith? Well, I would think so, we're good friends. But what's so odd about that?"
"I didn't say it was odd, but how many other girls do you know who go surfing every single day?"
"There are a handful, or at least I think there are. I've gone a couple of times with her, not that I'm any good at it!" Patty laughed.
"But you don't make a habit of it—surfing, do you? You don't," Linda answered her own question, "and most girls don't, but Faith does and you get on great with her anyway, and plenty of people think she's strange." Patty frowned. "Maria too, you're practically her only friend in our grade."
"That's only because she spends practically all her free time studying. I've been trying to help her make more friends, but…"
"I'm sure she's just swell," Linda said dismissively, "but my point is that nobody else could have gotten through to that bookworm. Maybe you aren't friends with absolutely everybody, but you could be, and that's definitely the type of girl Shelley wants on the team."
Was that true? Patty turned over, cord tangling around her, stared at her bedroom ceiling, and wondered. She'd doubted her place on the team because she wasn't part of the "cheer crowd," but she did have friends in that crowd, including Linda…maybe? Linda wasn't the nicest, honestly, but here she was supporting Patty now and Patty supposed that had to count for something. Then there were Faith and Maria, and then there were Susan and Lindsay who she'd studied with on Tuesdays last year for English class and made friends with, and there were the girls on swim team even though she didn't swim anymore, and the girls she knew through church, and her neighborhood friends, and her cousins up in Santa Clarita…
"You just might have a point," Patty admitted.
"I always have a point," Linda said confidently. "Well, I've got to run, but we'll talk later. Congrats again!"
"Thanks!" With that the line went dead and Patty untangled herself and plopped the phone back onto the receiver. She hummed for a moment to herself in excitement—she was going to be a cheerleader! For three long years she'd gone to football games and watched the girls lead the crowd in cheering the Vikings to victory (or defeat—honestly, usually defeat) and now she'd get to stand up there every Friday night, go to their parties, and even date their kind of boys!
She blushed as her thoughts went in that direction. She'd have to make an effort to date again—after a few dates and flings that went nowhere freshman year, she had taken a break to focus on her studies and not deal with any more heartbreak. Cheerleaders always had boyfriends, so she would have to have one too, but probably not the kind of guy that wanted to go too fast—she still hadn't made her mind up if she wanted to go to college or not, and a husband would definitely get in the way if she did!
Anyway, she didn't want to think about that heavy stuff now—she wanted to celebrate! Maybe she should see if anyone wanted to go grab a milkshake. She didn't feel like making more calls after that rather exhausting conversation and Susan lived just a street over, so Patty figured she'd pay her house a visit.
That settled, Patty rolled off of her bed and gave herself a quick once over in the mirror. Her dotted blue-and-white blouse and matching jumper weren't too ruffled from the bed. Her bouffant hairdo had lost a bit of its lift, but that always happened when you lived close to the water. She looked good enough, she decided, but an odd gleam caught her eye on her wrist.
It was one of the charms on her bracelet, she realized. She'd had charms ever since she was young, although she had swapped out bracelets as she got older. It was an old family tradition from Japan, Mom had once told her. Supposedly the charms were meant to keep her safe, something about old spirits that grew out of old and used objects. Patty didn't really get it, and it definitely didn't jive with what she heard in church so she hadn't taken the story seriously since she was little, but it was a sweet tradition at least.
At any rate, one of her oldest charms was suddenly golden yellow and quite shiny, where she clearly remembered it being an ordinary, dull silver all her life. It was a tiny flower with five petals, somewhat like a marigold. Maybe it was some Japanese flower? Patty held it up to her lamp out of curiosity. She didn't have any paint or nail polish in that color, so maybe someone had played a prank on her.
It would have had to have been her pest of a little brother, she realized with a grimace. It was a strange prank to play, but maybe this was only part of it. Was this even her real charm or had he swapped it out? She squeezed it between her fingers—it was real metal, at least—and rubbed it in case it was just a layer of paint.
Immediately it glowed, as if a tiny light had been put inside. What seemed like proof of the prank suddenly got stranger as the light somehow slipped out of the charm and floated toward the center of the room, leaving the charm its usual silver. Patty yelped and stumbled back against her bed, covering her eyes with her hands instinctively against the flash. When a moment passed and nothing exploded or flared any farther, she cautiously peeked between her fingers.
It honestly took her mind a moment to process what she was seeing, because at first it seemed like a trick of the light. The glowing light had solidified into a shape, a sort of spectral cross between a cat and a fox with huge, round eyes. It seemed to be taking stock of her room, from the lamp to the window to the A Hard Day's Night poster opposite her bed. It suddenly spotted her and with a squeak flew up—really flew, through the air—right to her face.
"Konnichiwa!" it squealed.
"Ohmygod!" she squealed right back and fell back onto the bed.
It was one of the protector spirits, the impossible thought resounded in her head as it said something that sounded apologetic in Japanese and flitted all around her. She couldn't even follow it with her eyes, it moved so quickly. She just lay there for a moment, mouth slightly open and mind racing with crazy thoughts. If this was some prank by Ben, it was incredibly impressive—impossible, her thoughts whispered.
"Anata no tamashī no naka de sore o kanjimasu - anata wa watashi no saigo no pātonā no shisondesu!" it continued eagerly. "Dāku kingudamu no chikara ga watashi o miryoku kara mezame saseyou to kakitatete iru ni chigai arimasen. Saki no sensō kara dorekurai jikan ga tachimashita ka? Jinja kara nanika renraku arimashita ka?"
Patty knew maybe five words in Japanese and she was sure the little thing had used none of them. "Um, do you speak English?" she tried weakly.
The spirit cocked its head. "Eigo?" it asked.
Patty gave up. "MOM!" she bellowed out the door.
—
Literally the whole concept is "what if American magical girl in '60s SoCal." That's it, that's the prompt.
*I know this absolutely isn't true of cheerleading now, but my research suggests this was the case back then.
