Chapter 12: Chapter 12 – Responsibility

"On Monday afternoon, just shortly after 5:00PM, stray spawns appeared in the plaza just outside of Tamachi Station—"

"A masked magical girl in black and red—"

"27 people between the ages 3 to 79 died that day—"

"—hundreds more saved thanks to her timely arrival—"

"Who is she?"

"I want to grow up to be like her!"

"—not as cute as Candy, or as cool as Jade—"

"They should call her Black Rose—"

"Twilight—"

"—Eventide!"

"Kari! You keep your eyes glued to the television any longer, and you'll be late for school!" Mom scolded from the kitchen.

"Crap. Where's my bag?" She took one last glance at the television, showing a photo of her winding up the final punch, then raced out of the house with Rocky following close behind.

A single day had passed since the incident at Tamachi Station. One day. Now Kari's partially covered face was plastered all over the tabloids and internet. She became an overnight sensation and was more talked about than the original three.

Fortunately, no one but herself and Makina knew the truth. Putting on the mask and tying up her hair into a ponytail almost created a new identity. The whole masked hero thing might work out like in those American superhero films. But the cat was out of the bag. It was only a matter of time.

Jade, Candy, and Flare knew she was active now. Eventually, the three of them would come find her themselves.

Kari activated the mysterious Apocalypse System as she walked to school. After escaping the public eye and exiting her magical girl form with Rocky's help yesterday, the [Enrage] effect ended instantly. Whatever consequences came with making use of a loan, she had yet to feel them.

Defeating those head hounds and the broken lady brought Kari's Apocalypse Points to a grand total of [75,000].

What would be the best use for it? she wondered. Raising seven stat points in total was one option, or dump it all into experience. Level 3 was still a ways to go at 250,000 points.

If the fight against the broken lady was any indication, her physical strength's value was worth way more than what it appeared. Through a combination of skills, her meager 27 rose to a whopping 810. That was nothing short of insane. She had gone from barely scratching the monster to annihilating it.

Did other magical girls have similar skills?

She heaved a sigh and cracked her neck. Other than waking up with sore joints that were quickly relieved from a good stretch, her body was perfectly fine. It seemed all the damage taken as a magical girl didn't transfer to her out of form. She would be in the hospital instead of going to school otherwise.

A dry leaf struck her face, pulling her from her thoughts and landing off to the side. Its fragile existence lasted mere seconds before a salaryman walking the opposite direction crushed it under his foot. A length of trees on both sides framed the long and wide path to her school, providing a modicum of peace from the urban metropolis beyond it. Hundreds of people, especially students, walked along this pedestrian avenue.

It was a strange feeling. All Kari could think of was how jam-packed they were for a killing spree should a monster randomly spawn here.

Makina waited by the school gate at the end of the path, waving excitedly as Kari approached. Rocky flew ahead to greet her, occupying the top of her head as a more preferable spot than the inside of a book bag.

Kari returned the smile, but she was feeling a different emotion brewing inside. Rumors circulated in school that Makina slept around, and was using her near-death experience in Akiba to score pity points with popular boys. None of it was true, and she was strong not to let it get to her.

For now.

A teenage girl could only handle so much. It wasn't hard to see the cracks along the surface of her friend's smiling facade. Wherever they went, clumps of students lowered their voices to a whisper and stared.

During lunch, Kari, Minato, and Makina went down to the cafeteria to avoid the tight confines of their classroom.

"Your families doing anything for summer vacation?" Kari asked her friends.

"Nope," Minato answered curtly. "Staying home with the AC for me."

"Ah, yes. The hikikomori lifestyle," she teased him.

"I'm eating lunch with you guys for once, aren't I?" he retorted.

Makina shook her head. "My mom wants to go to Hong Kong, but dad wants to visit Lyon, France. They decided on both, but I'm staying."

"They going to be back in time for your recital at the arts festival?" Minato asked.

"Yeah. They already booked tickets to return before then. You two better make sure you're free that day!" she exclaimed.

A whole month and a half break with Makina sounded like a dream. Her parents loved vacationing out of the country and had gone to Egypt last summer, leaving Kari alone to twiddle her thumbs and hang out in manga cafes. Minato's solo attitude certainly didn't help with her boredom while Makina was gone either.

Since her own dad had no plans to take time off work, there wasn't going to be any family vacation plans as per usual. It sucked that Mom wanted to do a mother-daughter outing, but she would much rather stay in the city if Makina was staying, too.

"Excuse me!"

A pair of skittish second year boys approached their table like they had been dared to. A larger group from another table, coincidentally with two empty seats, shot glances their way.

"Can we help you?" Minato asked them, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

Kari had a bad feeling about this. She didn't like the way the boys were acting, elbowing each other, snickering under their breaths.

One of them had a bandage over his nose and spiky hair swallowed his hesitation.

"We were told that you'd be willing to take our virginities," the kid said of Makina.

The three of them gaped, appalled by his outrageous comment. Makina sunk in her seat and clammed up.

Minato got to his feet to confront them. "You guys—"

Kari slammed her hands on the table as she stood up, causing the boys to flinch. "And who the hell told you?"

"You know what? Forget we asked!" the other student said.

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Kari grabbed both of them by the back of their collar as they turned to leave. She shouldn't have the strength to stop teenage boys in this form, but they couldn't so much as escape in her grasp.

"We… can't say!"

"Sorry, alright? We won't bother you again!"

Makina put a hand on Kari's arm, the touch imploring her to release the two second years. She shoved them away, only for them to back into none other than Ena Mizushima, who was flanked by her groupies and none the happier to run into them.

"Let's go." Kari gestured to Minato and clasped Makina's hand to leave the cafeteria, but they were blocked by more of Ena's gang.

"Where are you going? Ten more minutes of lunch left, and your trays are still full. If you're so eager to get out of here, then follow me. We're going to have a little chat," she said, thumbing towards the exit.

"I'm going to call a teacher," Minato whispered.

"No, you won't." Ena snapped her fingers and two girls immediately went to flank him. "Take him to the janitor's closet—"

"Don't. Leave him alone, and we'll go with you…" Makina said to her, then gave Minato a reassuring nod.

Ena and twelve other girls led them out of the school building behind the cafeteria where all the dumpsters were located. The smell of rotting food waiting to be picked up on trash day lingered heavy in the air. Kari wrinkled her nose with each breath.

They had their backs up against the wall and surrounded. No other students or faculty were around to call for help. Makina hid behind Kari's back, trembling hands clutched her arms.

"Is there anything I can do? Anything?" Rocky whispered desperately.

"Go lure a teacher here. Don't care how you do it," Kari replied under her breath.

The anthem flew away in search of help.

Things were mostly going back to normal. Why the hell did Ena single them out again? Whatever the case was, Kari wouldn't let these bitches touch a hair on Makina.

"You know why I had you two come out here?" Ena asked, her arms folded and scowling.

"If it's fashion advice you want, I suggest removing the layer of frosting on your face. You're starting to look like a three year old's birthday cake." Kari smirked.

One of the bigger girls buried a fist into Kari's gut. She dropped to her knees, clutching her abdomen and biting back the urge to vomit. It hurt. Without her other form, she was just as fragile as any other human.

Makina was pulled away by two girls, each restraining an arm.

"Let me ruin her face." One of Ena's groupies, Sachi Tamura, leaned down to show off her recently painted red nails.

The ringleader sneered. "We'll save that for strike three." 

Several others emptied reeking trash bins into a pile on the ground. The fat girl who had thrown the punch pinned her to the ground with one arm, grabbed a handful of Kari's hair with the other, and lifted her head to look up at Ena. 

"You know what isn't funny? Getting expelled and losing your only shot at a good life. My old man's the superintendent of Minato City's entire school district. I can fuck you and that little scamp's life up," Ena snarled.

"We didn't do anything to you…" Kari choked out.

"She didn't tell you? Guess you're just finding it out today like I did." She fished out her phone and shoved it into Kari's face. "You tell me who that is."

It was a picture. A slightly blurry one in a dark room. Daisuke, Ena's target of affection, posed at the corner of the photo holding up the peace sign. However, he wasn't the main focus. A girl was. Lying on a familiar L-shaped couch, underwear pulled down to her ankles, shielding her eyes with an arm… the girl in the photo was Makina. No other proof was needed than the plastic bag from the cake shop sitting wrinkled on the table next to her. The proof of what she feared happened all along.

Kari's heart sank into her stomach and knotted. She watched helplessly from the ground as the bitch showed the picture to Makina, who then shrieked in horror.

"Why do you have that? Delete it! Delete it! Please!" she cried.

"Doesn't matter if I delete it. The whole school has it," Ena sneered.

"They forced me… it wasn't my fault…" Makina's eyes lost their lustre. Whatever strength she had to fight with vanished, and her arms fell limp to the side that the girls restraining her didn't need to hold on anymore.

A torrential rage within Kari's chest swirled like a maelstrom in place of her beating heart.

"Let us go," Kari demanded, breathing hate into each word.

"Hahh? You two aren't going anywhere. Your little scamp friend loves being so trashy, then she can just live in it." Ena leaned against the wall to watch the show, pulling out a cigarette and gesturing to her gang.

Makina pleaded for help as she was dragged by her hair towards the pile of garbage.

"Leave her… alone!" Kari gripped the fat girl's wrist so hard it cracked. One hard shove knocked her away, and she tumbled into the trash pile they were dragging Makina towards. She whirled around with every intention to punch Ena in the face.

"Kari, no!" Makina cried.

Her fist collided with the wall instead.

The cigarette slipped away from Ena's lips.

The area of impact had made a smaller crater in the concrete wall.

"Get out of my sight and don't bother us. Ever. Again." Kari growled.

Ena and her groupies ran away screaming.

"Are you okay?" When Kari reached down to help Makina up, she backed away and kept her head low.

"You hate me… don't you? I'm trash now because they… they…" She began to choke up.

"You're not trash, and I don't hate you. You're my best friend." Kari wrapped her arms around Makina and squeezed. She was never the affectionate type, but right now Makina needed it the most.

Her friend's tears were a cry for help, much like when Kari pleaded Jade for help that day. Except now she had power to enact change..

That's right…

Having this power meant she had a responsibility to protect Makina.