November 2014

  ***

  “Right. With that, welcome to the team. I’ve already put you in for afternoon shifts that match your times after school. If you want to adjust anything, just come talk to me.”

  The store manager handed her a little name badge as well as a folded uniform and pointed out a whiteboard on the office wall. Multiple names were on it and covered full-time or part-time shifts during the store’s 24/7 operation.

  Miori, age 17, applied for part-time evening shifts, starting a comfortable time after school was out. She didn’t participate in any clubs, so a four-hour shift was no problem for her. Her interest in alternative fashion didn’t come cheap, as she painfully found out the other day, so she was glad for all hours that she could work.

  She wasn’t wearing any of her cheaper lolita fashion during the job interview and the current discussion, of course. She was the model high school girl in her uniform, maybe a bit of an outlier with her blonde hair that was neatly grown to shoulder length.

  Miori took her uniform and inspected the fabric. Takanashi said to try out different clothes and see if they would have an effect on her, so maybe she could feel something from wearing this as well?

  “Thank you! From now on I’m in your care!” She said like a prim and proper employee should as she bowed.

  “Right. You share your shifts with the same person most days. She’s been here for half a year now, so she can show you the ropes. She’s a college student, a few years older than you.”

  Miori was a little relieved that her co-worker would be a girl, especially considering that they would be the only people working at the store during most of her shifts, according to the whiteboard. She wouldn’t want her experience at the bonfire to be a daily occurrence at work.

  “I’ll start today?”

  “That’s right. Your shift starts in half an hour, so you got plenty of time to get changed and wait for your senpai to come into work and show you around.”

  Miori nodded and went to the changing room to get ready for her first shift.

  After donning her uniform consisting of a shirt covered in blue stripes of various sizes, Miori headed to the cash register where the manager was waiting for her. Apparently, they owned a good selection of uniforms for new employees, since hers fit her surprisingly well. She looked herself up and down, while trying to catch her own glimpse in reflections.

  Nope, nothing.

  Unlike the lolita dresses this change of clothes kept her in her normal, passive state. She shouldn’t have expected much from just wearing what was essentially a striped shirt, anyway.

  Just at that moment she saw her coworker enter. Her black hair was in the process of growing to hip length and combed to smooth perfection. Her style was casual, as expected of a college student; She looked like she simply grabbed some pants and a t-shirt at random after getting out of bed – in which she didn’t spend enough time, as she looked like she was starting to grow dark rings under her eyes. A standout feature was the single earring she wore on her right ear – a triangular red gemstone was hanging on a golden chain link, fastened to her earlobe with a cuff.

  She seems familiar.

  Miori couldn’t quite put where she saw this woman before, but she was certain that she wasn’t seeing her face for the first time just now.

  “Evening, Manager.” The woman greeted the manager first, then her eyes were on Miori.

  “Oh, good evening, Hitoishi. May I introduce you to your new coworker?”

  Miori stiffened a little and bowed to the woman. “I’m Miori Takeuchi. I’m looking forward to working together, Senpai!”

  Hitoishi looked her over and smiled, then she bowed in turn.

  “Seika Hitoishi. Looking forward to it.”

  ***

  Hitoishi got changed before their shift started and joined Miori. Her loose hair was now tied in a ponytail as she took her place behind the cash register. “This is your first day, right, Takeuchi?”

  “Oh, call me Miori, please.”

  “Alright, Miori. You know vaguely how to tally up people’s shopping?”

  Miori nodded, looking over to the cash register.

  “I scan the items and then I should have the total, right?”

  “Right. Then you can enter the payment method. But selling items isn’t all we’re doing here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “A lot of online services offer the option to pay in cash at a convenience store, such as ours. That even includes phone or electric bills. If they come in with a payment request like that, you’ll have to…”

  ***

  Her senior continued her explanations and got Miori set up for her first day at work. Miori did her best to deliver a good performance while Hitoishi helped her with everything she had trouble with, putting down her own work stocking the shelves to do so. Before she even knew it, the day was over and the two of them changed out of their uniforms into normal clothes.

  Miori looked over to her colleague and pondered a moment if she should hold idle conversation with her.

  “Senpai, what’s your hobbies? Anything that you’re financing with this job?” she simply started.

  “Hm?” Hitoishi looked at her and put a hand on her cheek like she needed to ponder her reply.

  “You’re not going to think I’m a gross otaku if I answer you honestly?”

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind. Well, I partially pay for the tuition costs and my grocery spending instead of relying on my parents. What’s left I sometimes put into… er… merchandise.”

  She cleared her throat– all of a sudden it seemed like the older woman was walking on eggshells around her.

  “Oh? Merchandise of what?” Miori smiled as she finished changing out of her uniform, facing her senior colleague.

  “Magical Girls. I buy figurines and doujins and such. I actually saved up for Winter Comiket next month.”

  Miori stepped closer and grabbed Hitoishi’s hands, beaming a bright smile at her.

  “Oh! Then you must know about Minerva Crimson, too!”

  There was an odd expression on Hitoishi’s face for the fraction of a second at the mention of that name. She averted her eyes and put a hand on her right ear, nervously flicking her single earring.

  “Hm? Her? Yeah, maybe. Not too big of a fan, though. I mean, there’s barely any good footage of her, is there?”

  Her tone wasn’t entirely convincing – in fact, Miori felt like there was a certain amount of trembling in Hitoishi’s voice.

  “She’s my favorite, actually.” She finally said, tapping on her phone to play one of the many videos she kept saved.

  Minerva Crimson really was a blur on it most of the time as she was moving fast, and striking hard. The only time the camera could focus on her was when she stopped momentarily to assess the situation. Often, she would fly in, solve the problem, and leave just as fast, as if she needed to be somewhere else right after. Other times the people filming would be shooed away by the Magical Girl for their own safety.

  She uttered no catch phrase or struck any cool poses before the battle began.

  And still, she was the one Miori loved.

  Hitoishi’s expression softened a little as she saw Miori’s fixation. She reached out a hand, patting the younger girl’s head, causing her to look up.

  “Well, I can definitely see that you love her. I’m sure she appreciates being someone’s favorite.”

  Miori still couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity. In fact, the feeling of that hand on her head rattled on the cage of her memories, but in this very moment said cage’s locks still held tight.

  January 2015

  ***

  Work with her senior continued like that for the next two months without incident. After a short New Year’s break Hitoishi returned to work with a wide grin, telling Miori all about the merch she bought at Winter Comiket. Figurines, wall scrolls, doujins, all of her favorite Magical Girls from anime and manga – though she was very vague about the type of doujins she bought.

  “I’ll tell you when you’re 18.”, she said with a flushed smile.

  I’m not a child. I’ve read dirty manga before.

  It was mostly out of curiosity when she noticed who she was attracted to. She knew that yuri, or girls love, existed. But she hadn’t really read any until that point. As she was questioning her attractions, she delved a little deeper into the topic and bought a few volumes of a popular series at the time. While not extreme, it did feature some steamy situations.

  She kept her mouth shut, though. She wasn’t confident enough in just her uniform to speak her mind like that.

  “Ah, but I do have this one.” Seika grabbed into her bag and handed Miori a thin book. The cover depicted two popular Magical Girls from a recent anime and its movie continuation – one in an angelic form, one as a devil. They embraced on a cracked pane of glass while the devil covered the angel’s eyes and looked over her shoulder at the viewer.

  “It’s a collection of humorous short stories and all-ages, so I got you a copy, too. You saw the movie, right?”

  “Ah, sure!” Miori was surprised by the gift and started to flip through the pages. After a while she couldn’t help but smile.

  “You are a hopeless otaku, gifting thin books to a high school girl.” She teased her with a little giggle.

  “Hey, come on now! I was being thoughtful here!” Hitoishi laughed.

  Suddenly Hitoishi touched her earring, wearing a serious expression that clashed with her previous cheerful disposition.

  “Miori, can you watch the store for a minute?”

  Hitoishi produced a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her pocket – this was the first time Miori ever saw her with those items, even after having worked here for two months.

  “Senpai, you smoke?”

  “Sometimes. When I’m stressed. Please don't follow my bad example, okay?”

  Miori nodded, though she remained skeptical. There was never a trace of tobacco smell on Hitoishi for as long as she knew her. This revelation came a little bit out of the blue.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “I’ll be behind the store. Do me a favor and give me some privacy. I really don't like it when people see me smoking. Makes me feel gross, you know?”

  Hitoishi gave her a tired smile.

  “Uh… sure, Senpai. But I’m sure you'd kill the look!”

  Hitoishi let out a little laugh and went for the backdoor.

  “Sure thing, sure thing. Still, no peeking!”

  Miori stared at the door for half a minute after Hitoishi left. She considered peeking after all – to maybe give her Senpai some compliments to make her feel better about her habit – she knew all too well how insecurity gnawed at one's core, after all.

  Just at that moment she received an alert on her phone.

  ‘LIVE FOOTAGE

  Magical Girl Minerva Crimson is battling the Enraged!’

  Miori forgot all about her smoking senior and grabbed her phone, glued to the screen as shaky phone camera footage caught a red blur moving between people with a purple complexion.

  The Enraged were a prime opportunity to see clearer footage of Minerva Crimson, as they were civilians transformed into monsters by an unknown foe. As such, they required her to approach the threat tactically instead of simply blasting ahead and smashing them.

  She needed to dodge their attacks, locate where the people were pricked with a poisonous needle and then pull it out to return them to normal, all while preventing that they wander off and slash at the surrounding bystanders.

  Needless to say, while this was ideal for Miori as an observer, it must be the most annoying enemy for the Magical Girl to deal with.

  “Fear not, citizens, for we have arrived!”

  "The light of the heavenly bodies will keep you safe!”

  The camera panned away from Minerva Crimson onto two newcomers: the Celestial Sisters. Two girls in monochrome dresses in opposite patterns: one black with white highlights, the other the exact opposite.

  “Ugh, stop filming them!” Miori complained out loud at her phone, making the head of a customer in the back of the store turn her way.

  “Thank you for holding them back until our arrival! Now we can take over!”

  The camera finally panned back to Minerva who was dodging multiple claw swipes with backward hops.

  “I’m not complaining if you want to take over, but if you’re gonna do so, get a move on!”

  “Huh?! Who are you to talk to us like that?! Sol, we should blast her!”

  The verbal argument continued while Minerva Crimson kept dodging – from time to time she managed to yank a poisonous needle out of an Enraged. The sequence after was another blur: she grabbed the cleansed civilians by the clothes and tossed them out of frame before pointing her cane in that direction.

  When the camera finally followed the people she threw, they were floating in the air and gently placed down on the ground by wind magic.

  In the end the Celestial Sisters argued with the crimson defender for so long that she already finished with turning back all of the Enraged.

  She looked up at them with a look of exasperation as Luna kept rambling on about respecting them and interfering with their work.

  “Well… I'm all done here, so… bye?”

  With that the red Magical Girl turned into a blur once more and vanished into the sky. The camera went back to the Celestial Sisters - Luna's face was red with rage while Sol gently patted her shoulder, trying to calm her down.

  Miori turned the stream off – now that Minerva Crimson wasn't in the picture anymore, she lost all interest in the rest of the broadcast.

  Just at that moment Hitoishi came back inside. She reeked of cigarette smoke, though she also looked annoyed by something.

  “Senpai! You missed a Minerva Crimson broadcast!”

  “What a shame.” She replied with a strained smile, causing Miori to cock her head.

  “Really, zero interest? You're a pretty boring adult, after all.” She poked her tongue out at Hitoishi, who reacted with a small snort-laugh.

  The weekend after that incident she went back to Harajuku. Takanashi was on shift again and greeted her energetically.

  “Welcome back! Oh, you already look wonderful. Are you sure that you need any more?” She winked at Miori, who was wearing the affordable gothic lolita outfit that she bought the last time.

  Miori gave her a self-satisfied smirk in turn as she produced the envelope with her salary.

  “That was a trial run. Today I’m wearing the real thing!”

  Takanashi took a step back and bowed to her playfully.

  “Right this way, your ladyship!”

  “Oh, stop it!” Miori giggled. After two months of work, she felt 140.000 yen richer, though that wouldn’t last long.

  A black skirt and corset with red highlights, a wine-red blouse with shirring fabric and rose petal-like layered sleeves, a black jabot tie with a little metal cross and black pumps with their own little bow ties. Red-and-black diamond pattern tights, and to top it all off she got a black lattice headdress as well. That was the combination she went with, now that she could afford it.

  Takanashi clapped as Miori left the changing room, letting out a whistle as she admired the coordination that Miori put in place.

  “Wonderful, wonderful! I don’t know what kind of part-time work you found but it was worth it! You now really look like a dark kind of princess!”

  Miori smiled and put a hand on her chest, taking a deep breath as she let the feeling of confidence that her new attire brought with itself flow through her body.

  This is it. I am confident. I can speak my mind.

  ***

  The cash register offered her a bit of a rude awakening. Her total came down to 82,390 yen, which was more than one month’s worth of part-time salary. If she wanted to collect a variety of clothes like this, she would have to work at that convenience store for quite a while longer.

  For now she proudly held the spoils of her hard work in two bags.

  “So, what are you going to do with that? Going to wear it on a date with a sweetheart? Or simply wear it for going out?” Takanashi was still as invested in Miori’s exploration of fashion as ever.

  “For now I’ll keep it for longer outings… I only have the two outfits, after all.” Miori smiled gently, now radiating confidence in every direction by just having that outfit in a bag while wearing the cheaper one.

  “Ahh, you want to buy more, huh? Fair warning, that’s a hard road you’ve chosen. The outfit you’ve picked out today is from a relatively reasonably priced brand, but there’s others of even greater quality and brand recognition where just getting a coat dress costs you the same as what you just spent on the entire ensemble.”

  Miori furrowed her brow in response to that.

  “It seems I still have a long way to go.”

  “Haha. Well, you can always ask me when you need guidance. The name is Ayame, by the way!”

  “Miori. “

  “Nice to meet you, young Miori. And have fun on your journey into fashion!”

  November 2015

  ***

  A whole year had passed since Miori joined the crew at the convenience store. Her earnings rarely stayed long in her wallet – whenever she saw a good gothic lolita dress combination she wanted to try out, that was exactly what she was working for. From time to time, she showed her senpai photos of herself in her dresses, as she didn’t exactly have an opportunity to show her in person.

  Hitoishi always let out a little whistle or hum of appreciation, flustering the girl, even as she did her best to not let it show.

  They even celebrated each other's birthdays with small gifts over the course of the year, complete with a piece of tart with a single candle. They celebrated Seika's 21st birthday on March 19th and Miori's 18th on October 30th.

  This day was a relatively boring one. There were waves of customers and then long periods of nothing happening, so the two were chatting it up in the meantime.

  “Senpai, do you have a girlfriend?” Miori asked – at that time still out of innocent curiosity.

  Hitoishi was caught off guard and coughed, blinking and looking at the younger girl.

  “Huh?! Why would you ask that?”

  “I’m just curious!”

  “And why would a girlfriend be your first assumption?”

  “Ah!” Miori didn’t have an explanation for that, aside from her own preferences. She looked to the side and scratched her cheek.

  “Oh!” Hitoishi held a hand in front of her mouth on realization.

  “Miori, could it be that you’re into yuri? Like, a himejoshi?”

  “Huh?!” She raised an eyebrow and realized in this moment that her senior could be incredibly dense… and that her own otaku preferences painted her perception quite a bit.

  ***

  Their chat didn’t continue for much longer after that as a customer entered.

  “Welcome!” They both said in unison – then they froze in place as they recognized that the nervously sweating man held a knife, pointing it at the two women.

  “H-hand over the cash!”

  Miori felt a cold sweat break out at the sight of the trembling hand holding the knife. The man didn’t look very threatening, but she was acutely aware how even weak people could do a lot of damage with a sharp blade when provoked.

  “Senpai… what do we do?” she asked quietly.

  “What the store tells us to do. We comply to keep everyone safe.” Hitoishi didn’t hesitate to open the cash register.

  “Grab a bag and help me out, Miori.”

  Miori did her best to follow her Senpai’s request, holding the bag open while shooting nervous glances at the robber. He still held the knife pointed towards them with an outstretched arm.

  “Hurry up!” He shouted while Hitoishi kept piling the cash into the bag.

  “Please have a little more patience, dear customer.”

  “Don’t give me lip!”

  Hitoishi put the last of the cash into the bag – she was about to take it and go to the man as he spoke up.

  “No, not you! I don’t trust you! You have evil eyes!” He shouted, his shaky hand pointed at her.

  “I assure you, that’s just because I’m tired, sir.”

  “The blonde one! You! Bring me the money! Now!”

  Miori decided that there was no negotiating with this man and grabbed the bag – Hitoishi held it tight, stopping Miori momentarily, but after another tug from the girl she relented.

  “Here. Now please leave…” Miori said in a quiet tone.

  “No, no, you can’t tell me what to do! No one can!” the man suddenly shrieked – and in that moment everything happened all at once.

  She felt his hand on her cheek and her body tripping backwards from him as the burning sensation of the slap spread throughout her face.

  In the very same moment, there was a bright flash of light that blinded her and the robber both. Through squinted eyes Miori could barely make out a red glow and as she hit the shelf behind her, her vision came back again.

  She heard another crash as the robber hit a shelf and cans of beverages fell down on his head.

  Both his knife and the bag full of money laid at Hitoishi’s feet, who held a pose like she just performed Bruce Lee’s one inch punch.

  As she noticed Miori’s eyes on her she quickly went back into an upright position and cleared her throat. Her face was starting to turn red as she walked over to her junior and helped her up.

  “Are you alright?”

  “Uh… yeah.” Miori was a little dazed and her cheek burned, but most of all, she was utterly confused. Hitoishi was still behind the cash register a second ago – did she jump over the counter to hit the man?

  How did she manage to launch him two meters, was she that strong?

  And what was that flash of light?

  For now she remained without answers as Hitoishi called the police.

  The police came after a few minutes and arrested the man while Seika closed the store for the time being to call the manager. With a messed-up shelf and products scattered all over the ground they couldn't present the store to any customers. Hitoishi looked exhausted, using a broom to gather up damaged products and tossing them into a large garbage bag.

  “I'm sorry, Miori, I shouldn’t have let you go towards him.”

  Miori shook her head.

  “No, Senpai. He would have tried to attack you with the knife.”

  “Well, I would have dealt with it, as you saw.”

  “Where did you learn that, anyway?”

  Hitoishi turned her head away from Miori.

  “Some self-defense courses I took while I was in high school?”

  “Why did that sound like a question?”

  “Never mind that! I'm going to take a smoke break.”

  With that she turned around towards the back door – though she stopped before she went through.

  “Tell me how I can make it up to you at a later time, alright?”

  ***

  She only takes smoke breaks when she's stressed.

  Miori still remembered that detail. The robbery must have taken its toll on Hitoishi’s mental state, no matter how brave a front she put up.

  Even if she disliked when someone saw her smoking, Miori would ignore that today and go to cheer her senior up, especially after she knocked out a criminal for her sake. As her hand was on the doorknob, she could hear Hitoishi's voice and stopped.

  “Yes, yes. I know it was reckless; you don't have to tell me. We've never done a split-second transformation before.”

  Who is she talking to? Transformation?

  “Don’t worry about the camera footage. I've gotten quite good at distorting it while transforming.”

  Miori pressed her ear against the door to keep listening.

  “I am just worried that Miori saw… she should have been blinded like the robber, but you never know. It's bad enough that Ayame knows everything, we can't have a second person.”

  There was a silence for a little while, then Hitoishi cursed quietly.

  “Really? Now?! Ugh, and the cigarette is already half burned down. Not a lot of time.”

  Miori decided to open the door after all – quietly, though. She saw Hitoishi standing with her back to the door, in her store uniform.

  And just in that moment a bright flash occurred, the same that blinded her during the robbery earlier. As her eyes recovered, she could make out the silhouette of a woman, slightly different from Hitoishi’s.

  Right there, in front of her was Minerva Crimson – and then she took off.

  Half a minute passed, with Miori staring at the spot where Hitoishi used to be. A phone notification went off in her pocket.

  ‘LIVE FOOTAGE

  Magical Girl Minerva Crimson is battling the Marionettes!’

  Miori stared a good long while at the notification and her mind finally started to put the pieces together as it resumed normal function.

  Hitoishi-senpai is…?

  ***

  She stood in the office wearing her gothic lolita outfit. For this next step she needed all her courage – besides, after the manager arrived, he gave the place a cursory glance and declared the place closed for today while he made calls to get a new shelf installed tomorrow. Miori was instructed to take a day off and to relay that order to Hitoishi as well, so Miori was free to change out of her uniform.

  She didn't have to wait long for her senior to arrive through the back door – the woman froze for a moment as she saw the younger girl.

  “Oh, it's you, Miori. I finally get to see you wear this, huh?”

  “That's right. And I now know what you can do to make today up to me!”

  Miori beamed.

  “Right. And what would that be?” Hitoishi cocked her head quizzically.

  “Hug me!”

  “Huh?!” Hitoishi took a step back.

  “Hug me!” Miori repeated, stepping closer to her senior.

  “What's gotten into you, now?”

  “Is it such an unreasonable demand?” Miori now made puppy eyes at her.

  “It is entirely out of the blue, is what it is!” Hitoishi tried to evade eye contact, while Miori stepped from side to side so she wouldn't leave her field of vision. Hitoishi stopped trying to look away from Miori after realizing that it was fruitless and let out a long sigh.

  “Why, though?”

  “I am so traumatized by this robbery that I need an older woman to hold me.” Miori’s deadpan expression and tone didn't match her words at all.

  “Uh-huh.” Hitoishi replied with a dead look in her eyes.

  “Hug! Me!” Miori’s mannerisms and tone of voice increasingly became that of a petulant child.

  “What's with the age regression thing you have going on here, Miori?!”

  Hitoishi glared at her, though her expression softened as she saw the blush on Miori's face – she must have realized that Miori herself was way outside of her comfort zone with how she was acting right now.

  “Pff… fine. Come here!” Hitoishi stifled a laugh before she wrapped her arms around Miori and put a hand on her hair, gently stroking it. At this point in time the two of them were at about equal height, before Miori's final growth spurt.

  “There… are you happy with this?”

  Miori didn't respond. Her heart as well as her thoughts were racing.

  The chains that were wrapped around her treasured memories were broken and the doors swung wide open. Hitoishi’s scent was Minerva Crimson's. The softness of her body was the exact same, as was the warmth of her arms around Miori.

  This… this is it!!

  She was experiencing the most blissful moment of her life.

  ***

  That night Miori wasn't sleeping. Her body was squirming in her bed as she recalled the memory of Minerva Crimson coming to save her. All the gaps in her memory that she previously struggled with were finally being filled in by her co-worker.

  Senpai's scent… Senpai's softness… Senpai's warmth…

  Miori let out a gasp as love and lust became one for a few hours.