Animated in Akiba - An Otaku Fairy Tale
Animated in Akiba is an urban fantasy story about an anime fan who works in Akiba having an amazing adventure. It is from my book, Tokyo Intro, and includes the preface to the story. Every story had a preface to explain terms and aspects about Japan to familiarize a reader with them. I had originally planned to write these stories as pick your own path type of adventure stories, but that would have turned a short story into a book. Still, I decided to try and write each story from the more unusual second person narrative with a gender-less protagonist so the the reader could pretend to be in the story.
INTRO TO ANIMATED IN AKIBA
This story introduces anime hobby concepts, magical girls, and the district of Akihabara. It is about a magical girl on a quest in Akihabara, the district that is the center for anime culture in Tokyo and Japan. Setting an anime related story here seems fitting as anime fans from around the world flock here to immerse themselves in anime culture.
Akihabara: Akiba started out after WWII as a black market that became the central hub in Tokyo for anything electrical. It then became a hub for anime by the early 2000s as maid cafes and anime stores displaced electronics parts shops.
Cosplay: This is short for costume play. Fans of an anime dress up as characters from the show for conventions or just to show off. They create custom costumes and makeup to match the appearance of their favorite character. There are big gatherings of cosplayers at anime conventions. Cosplayers often can recite lines from their favorite character and strike poses that are used by the character.
College: Universities in Japan are the gateways to good corporate jobs. Getting into the university of your choice can be gruelling due to the entrance examinations that everyone must take. Fierce competition exists to get into the best universities. If you don’t get into the university of your choice, you can try the exam again next year. You then become a ronin, like a masterless samurai, who often attends a cram school or juku to prepare for the test.
Exocrisis Blue: The author’s science fiction mecha stories set in a future earth that has been invaded by aliens. Read HARM on the website here.
Figures: These are little statues of characters from anime shows most often made out of PVC plastic. These are modern Japan’s version of the old geisha figures your grandmother might have bought. The figures come in various sizes, but the detailed ones are usually between 1/10 scale to 1/6 scale, with a common size being 1/8 scale. These are often hand painted and cost up to several hundred dollars or more as they are created in limited runs. There are also high quality, action figures that allow fans to pose their favourite characters, and they often come with different accessories and even facial expressions.
Mecha: A term for robots in anime. They are an entire genre of anime where characters pilot giant humanoid robots into battle. Full Metal Panic, Gundam, Macross, Mazinger, and Patlabor are a few examples of mecha shows.
Magical Girl: This is a girl who leads a normal existence, while having an alternate identity of being a super powered being, a magic user / witch, or both. Magical girls have a long history in anime and are a popular genre. The first magical girl was Sally the Witch from 1966. This show was influenced by western shows such as Bewitched and Mary Poppins. Then there was the rise of girl power in the 1990s. Sailor Moon (1992–97) took the world by storm and spawned a global craze for the magical girl as transforming warrior. Sailor Moon is a seemingly ordinary schoolgirl who changes into an adorable costume, equipped with really cute accessories, and releases her magic energy with the help of a scepter (or similar weapon) to do battle against the forces of evil. Since then, there have been other magical girl series such as Cardcaptor Sakura, Precure or Pretty Cure, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and more.
Otaku: This is a term used to identify a hard core fan, most commonly about anime or manga. It translates across as geek or nerd, but has a more derogatory meaning in many cases in Japan.
Sumimasen: Sue-mie-ma-sen. Excuse me. Extremely handy word to get someone’s attention or to pardon yourself.
Yen: The Japanese Yen is roughly equivalent to a penny. A dollar would be 100 yen. 15,000 yen would be $150.
ANIMATED IN AKIBA - Complete Story
by Peter Lok, Copyright 2018, All rights reserved.
It has been an average day at the anime goods store. There are four floors to the store where you work, including books, fan merchandise, electronic media, and figures. The most exciting thing to happen today was stocking the shelves with new products that arrived this morning. It always feels a bit like opening presents when you open boxes of new merchandise. You unpacked the new PVC figures from the anime Exocrisis Blue, and nicely stacked their display boxes to prominently showcase them. The figures were done by a top notch sculptor, and the poses and paint jobs on the robots and mecha pilots are both dynamic and brilliant. Half of the figures had already been sold as pre-orders, but there was a big shipment to work with.
You like a few of the characters from the show, but can't really afford the figures yourself as they were all 15,000 yen. That would be like half of your spending money for the month. Being an otaku, or anime fan, and a part-timer in an anime store is either working in paradise, surrounding by things you love, or being in hell, eternally tortured by things beyond your reach. You decided long ago that it was a bit of both, but more on the paradise side.
This part-time job is just a stepping stone to your college dreams. You are a ronin, a graduated high school student who didn't get into the university of your choice. Now, you are studying at cram school or juku to make sure you ace the next round of admissions exams.
Another half hour until you're off work. Keeping busy, you straighten out the shelves full of colorful boxes of figures and model kits. A few of the product displays need reorganizing, including the now disorderly stack of Exocrisis figure boxes.
In the middle of re-stacking the Exocrisis display, you feel air pass behind you as someone walks by. There is the hint of a pleasant flowery perfume in the air and you catch a glimpse of long blonde hair with a blue ribbon braided into it in a distinct way. A girl, you think to yourself, but not just any girl.
You turn your head to see her stop in front of a display case of anime figures, her back to you. She is wearing a white summer dress that has a wide blue belt, and skirt that loosely flows to just above her knees. It is a pretty good costume play or cosplay of Rin Sakamoto in her regular summer dress. Rin Sakamoto is also known as Magical Girl Aquarius Bloom when she transforms into her superhuman form. Aquarius Bloom uses her power staff to fight the forces of Eternal Dark that threatened to overwhelm an alternate Tokyo. Her anime, Sapphire Flash, ran for 24 episodes six years ago. For an anime, six years is an eternity, as there is a constant cycle of over a hundred new shows and manga every year. Some series can run for decades, but most do not, and are mainly remembered by die hard fans. You happen to be a big fan of Sapphire Flash and wish there had been a second season.
The woman continues to examine the display case until she sees something that catches her interest. Turning around she sees you. You realize that you had been staring at her and quickly turn your head back to your work.
“Sumimasen”, is the next thing you hear as she tries to get your attention. The voice sounds just like the voice actress that voices Rin in the anime. This is crazy, you think to yourself, it is like you are in the anime. Maybe you've been studying too hard at night.
Your expression must have looked a little dazed or shocked by what you saw when you turned around.
"Are you alright?" the woman asks, a bit of concern in her voice.
She looks just like Sakamoto Rin, you think to yourself. The resemblance is uncanny in her face and even in her eyes. Anime characters have large eyes. Hers might be a little larger than normal, not enough to look odd, but there is a blue depth to them that grabs your attention. If this is a cosplay, it is absolutely amazing. She even looks about the right age, in her late teens or early twenties.
"Uh... Yes," you finally stammer out. "I'm okay. Your cosplay is amazing."
"You know who I am?" The woman seems surprised.
"You're cosplaying, Sakamoto Rin."
"You do know who I am," she confirms. Sakamoto then looks at you very intently for a moment, obviously evaluating you. She takes a deep breath. "I need your help."
"What?" you are certainly surprised.
"I'm going to tell you something that is unbelievable, but I need you to believe." The voice is sincere and her eyes are pleading. "Please hear me out."
"I can certainly listen." She does sound like she does need help and doesn't seem crazy.
"I am not cosplaying. I am actually, Sakamoto Rin, Magical Girl Aquarius Bloom. I used the last of my powers to cross over to your world. The world that created my show. I understand there is an anime about me, but I am real, and not an anime character. I do not know how this works, but I need your help to defeat Night Eclipse. She has broken my staff into three pieces and transformed them to hide them. I need your help to recover its three pieces so I can return to my world."
"Uh..." You aren't sure what to say. That was quite a bit to believe. Maybe she is crazy after all. That would make your day.
"I'm telling the truth," Sakamoto reassures, seeing the doubt in your eyes. "I wouldn't believe it myself, but I can prove it to you. Can you open the display case over there?"
You look at the display case she points to. It was the same one she was standing in front of. "Yes, I can open that."
"Please open it," she says firmly. "I can sense magic coming from it."
She is very convincing. She behaves just like Sakamoto, down to the way she brushes her hair back when talking. Figuring you really don't have a lot to lose, you decide to open the case. You walk towards the case with her at your side.
"What do you need from it?"
"The figure of me in my armor."
"There isn't a figure of you in your armor," you say. You dusted inside the case a couple of days ago and there was no figure of her in the case.
"What the..." Your voice trails off when you do see a larger figure of her in the display case. The pose has her in blue breast plate trimmed in gold with a yellow skirt leaping up in the air. Both her hands are holding her magical staff to stab down with its pointed star tip as if it is a spear.
"This is odd," you say to her. "I've never seen this figure before either, and I've seen them all."
Fumbling with your keys for a moment, you find the one to open the display case. Pulling the figure out you carefully examine the figure. "It's really nice. The sculpt is very lifelike and the paint job is flawless."
Rin looks at you expectantly, not hiding her excitement well. "Can I see it?"
"What are you going to do with it?"
"I promise I won't damage it if it is just a figure. But if it is a piece of my staff, I can restore it."
"Okay." There is a doubt in your mind, but you decide to take a chance.
You hand her the figure. When she touches it before you let go, you feel a tingling sensation from the figure, almost like a gentle shock. Rin's face beams with a happy smile.
"Forces of light. Beacon of hope against the darkness. Restore what is broken!"
The figure in her hand begins to glow blue, then white, and emit short-lived sparkles. There is an almost blinding flash and Rin is holding a piece of the red shaft of her staff.
"It is done!" Her voice is happy and excited at the same time. "Thank you for trusting me." She bows to you.
Stunned and amazed at what you just saw, you bow back mostly out of habit. "I am glad I could be of assistance." You look back at the display case and a different figure now occupies the spot you pulled the figure from. It was like the whole event never happened.
"Tha- That was incredible," you stammer out. Your shock is fades quickly and the fan in you is taking over. "I'm sorry I doubted you, Sakamoto-san." "What are you going to do next?"
"I don't know." A hint of despair enters her voice. "I have been visiting store after store since this morning. This is the first success I have had. Akihabara is so big and there are so many stores."
You're almost surprised by the next words out of your mouth. "I think I can help you out." You've just met her and now you’ve volunteered to help.
"I pretty much know where all of the anime stores are here." You suddenly find yourself feeling embarrassed about admitting this. Your face reddens and your eyes look down at the floor.
"It's okay," Sakamoto empathizes, "you like anime. It is your hobby and you shouldn't feel bad about admitting that."
You look up just a little to see her smile at you and it kind of shines down into the deepest part of your being.
"You have already shown me that you are a good person. That means everything to me. Being an otaku is just you, and you should be accepted for that." She holds your hand and you find yourself very close to her. She smells good and is just seems to radiate warmth. "I gladly accept your help, believer of love and justice! Please call me, Rin, from now on."
Her catchphrase completely pulls you out of your minor funk. It is like a dream come true. You are going to be helping Aquarius Bloom.
You introduce yourself, then ask her to wait fifteen minutes for your shift to end. While she waits, she tells you about her search so far. It sounds like Rin has been all over Akihabara already and hit the main anime stores like Gamers, Animate, Kotobukiya, Volks, the new Radio Kaikan Building, Akiba Culture Zone, and a number of other stores on Akiba's main street, Chuo Dori, that runs north south right down the district. However, she has just scratched the surface. Akihabara is an entire neighborhood packed full of stores and services related to anime, part of the anime business that is worth over 15 billion dollars in revenue every year to Japan.
You think, if Night Eclipse broke her staff into three pieces, where would she have hidden them? The obvious places like the big anime stores? Probably not. It is likely they are in the smaller stores like the one you work in, or are in the many second hand or consignment sales stores. You will have to start at the many stores in the southern part of Akihabara north of the Manseibashi Bridge and work your way north block by block.
While your mission is serious, it is also very surreal. You are amazed this is happening to you. Rin is actually fairly chatty and outgoing, and you find yourself telling her more about yourself than you expected. She finds out you are trying for university again and encourages you to study hard and get in. You also find out that she has more going on in her life than working at her uncle's flower shop and fighting evil. She seems to be taking this in stride far better than you, but then she has magical powers.
The first few stores do not have any figures of Rin. The staff pieces have to resemble her even when transformed as that is their affinity from what you can understand. The two of you develop a system of searching when you both walk through a store. You look for figures while Rin tries to sense the presence of a staff segment that is within three or four meters of her.
Real estate is cramped in Tokyo. Buildings are often narrow and are four or five stories high in the side streets off of Chuo Dori. On main street, the buildings are twice as high, and generally larger. Many of the stores occupy more than one floor inside narrow, low-rise buildings, many around five stories in height. This adds to the search effort as you are walking up and down between floors.
In just over an hour, you have visited over a dozen stores. Some stores are dingy, some are disorganized, while others are well presented. Both of you look through aisle after aisle of merchandise, finding the odd figure or other merchandise related to the show, but no magical Aquarius Bloom figure.
Rin doesn’t escape notice either when she walks down the street. Anime fans think she is doing a really good cosplay and even ask to take her picture a few times. Rin smiles and patiently strikes a quick pose for them. Even the maids on street corners handing out flyers for their cafes comment a few times on her appearance and outfit. More than once, you are sure that there are a few jealous looks as some people think you are pretty lucky to be her companion. You are happy and are still amazed you are helping her.
At a small shop in the basement under a computer store the search is successful. In a display case at the back of the store, you see another figure of Aquarius Bloom in the same pose and armor. You call Rin over and she confirms that there is magic present.
The clerk for the store has been sneaking glances at Rin since she entered, probably attracted by her appearance. He is wearing a t-shirt with a cute anime girl character on it and adjusts his glasses when you walk up to him. “Hi. Could we have a closer look at that the Aquarius Bloom figure in the back case?”
“We don’t have an Aquarius Bloom figure,” he answers.
“Just humor me,” you reply, “my friend is really interested in it.”
“Your friend has a really good cosplay,” the guy comments. “Let’s see this figure she is interested in.” You can tell the clerk is humoring you, a bit like when you also said there wasn’t a figure earlier to Rin.
Rin gives him a big smile as he approaches. The clerk smiles back at her. “It’s this one in the corner,” Rin points to it.
“Oh!” the clerk says in surprise. There is definitely a figure of Aquarius Bloom in her armor with her staff there. The clerk unlocks the case and pulls the figure out. “I wonder when we got this,” he says aloud.
“Can I hold it for a moment?” Rin asks nicely with a big smile.
Charmed, the clerk says, “Uhh, sure.”
Rin holds the figure. “Forces of light. Beacon of hope against the darkness. Restore what is broken!”
The figure glows blue and then white. Sparkles fill the air. You close your eyes before the blinding flash hits and open them to see Rin holding most of the shaft of her staff. The staff’s shaft has a blue metallic finish and some white banded trim. All she is missing is the spear-like tip that is shaped like a star.
The store clerk is astonished, his mouth hanging open in shock. “What… what just happened?”
Rin dematerializes her staff and bows to the clerk. “Thank you for helping me.”
“You’re welcome,” the clerk replies, also bowing. The poor man is still shocked.
“You’ve just helped a real magical girl,” you speak out, “this isn’t a trick.”
Rin looks at the man directly and holds out her hand. “Can you keep this a secret? Dark forces are at work.”
The clerk reaches out. Rin grasps his hand with both of hers. “Thank you, believer of love and justice! We must go now, but know you have done good.”
Waving goodbye to the clerk, who waves weakly back, you depart from the store. In the display case, the spot previously occupied by the Aquarius Bloom figure has a different figure in it, leaving no evidence behind of what had happened.
Buoyed by your success, your spirits are lifted. You visit more stores to no further success, and eventually find yourself back on the corner of Chuo Dori and Kanda Myojin Avenue. To the north of you on the eastern side of the street are the Animate and Toranoana buildings that are Akiba landmarks. You have looked at all the stores in Akihabara south of Kanda Myojin Avenue, covering half of the neighborhood west of Akihabara Station. Fortunately most of the anime stores are west of the tracks and not to the east. There are still many stores to search though.
“There are a number of used and rental box stores north of here. We should search on this side of Chuo Dori first,” you say while pointing to northwest.
“That sounds good,” Rin assents. That is when her stomach growls loudly.
Rin looks embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m really hungry. I haven’t eaten since early this morning.”
You have not eaten anything since lunch and realize that evening is almost here from the low position of the sun. You could do with dinner yourself. “You like curry, right? You’ve cooked it several times in the show.”
Rin nods. “Yes. I do like curry, I use my mother’s family recipe. It is so good.”
“Lets grab a quick bite to eat. There’s a place right here that is really good. We’ve been searching for hours now and could use a break.”
Rin hesitates in answering.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t have any money. I had no chance to prepare to come to your world. All I have are the clothes on my back.”
“Don’t worry,” you easily reply. “I can pay for dinner. You’re my friend.”
Rin is outgoing, but still strangely shy. “Thank you very much. You have been very kind to me.”
“Meeting you has made this a really good day for me. I’m doing something I could only dream about. So thank you!”
Just south of where you are, you enter a curry shop with a bright yellow interior that is decorated in a retro style from the 70s. You both order from a machine at the door. You insert a few bills to pay for it and it spits out change and two tickets for katsu curries. Both of you sit on round stools at the counter looking at the kitchen where they have stoves with big vats of curry roux cooking. A kitchen worker comes up on the other side of the counter and take the tickets for your orders then calls them out for the other cook staff.
Both of you pour yourselves a glass of ice water from a pitcher on the counter while you wait for your meals. It smells wonderful in the restaurant and you see that other diners are busy eating along the counter. Your curries arrive within five minutes. Each is a plate of white rice topped by a breaded and fried pork cutlet that is then covered in a dark curry roux with a side of cabbage. The cutlet is pre-sliced, and you can easily break the tender meat into pieces with your curry spoon. Each mouthful can include rice, curry, and meat.
“This is really good,” Rin says between bites. She is devouring the curry as she is quite hungry.
“This place is a favorite of mine,” you add. “Glad you are enjoying it.”
“I wish I could cook you my curry,” Rin adds. “I use some different spices, but I’m sure you’d like it.”
You kind of wish you could try it too, but you are from different worlds, you think to yourself. You’re probably going to be the biggest fan of hers for the rest of your life after this.
Your curries are quickly finished and you both get up to leave. The kitchen staff call out a thank you.
Back out on the street you see that all the street lights have come on to brighten the twilight. The buildings along Chuo Dori have turned on their lights to turn the street into a multi-colored paradise. Buildings are colored white, yellow, red, and blue. Neon signs flash, Japanese characters are illuminated everywhere. Big signboards with anime characters on them are easily visible up and down the street on the sides of buildings.
You have a more than a few hours before the stores close at 9 PM, but there is much to search before then. Standing on the street corner of Chuo Dori and Kanda Myojin again, cars whiz by, the sounds of advertisements and jingles from the businesses around you are loud in your ears. Busy streets in Tokyo are not quiet places.
“Do you have a direction you want to try first?” you ask Rin.
“I tried the other side of the street a bit already,” Rin replies, pointing towards the Animate and Toranoana stores to the north east. “Your instincts have been pretty good so far. Lets go where you would search first.”
“Okay. There are some more stores in some of the back streets to the north west of us. Mandarake is one of them, and there are a few other places I’d like to hit near there too.”
“Lead the way. I’ll follow”
You cross Kanda Myojin with Rin at your side and enter another side street. You try the bigger stores first with no luck. Undiscouraged, your search takes you down another small street. While the street is not well lit by street lights, other light comes from business signs and the glows from the ubiquitous banks of drink vending machines. These back streets still have a fair number of people walking through them as Tokyo is heavily populated and you pass by some people coming out of a ramen restaurant.
There is a shop halfway down the block that you remember seeing Sapphire Flash merchandise in. The outside of the store is unremarkable, basically just an entranceway with a flickering sign above that indicates it is Miyazaki Collectibles. A slightly dusty front window shows an assortment of anime merchandise, with a big robot figure display.
Just outside the shop, Rin stops. “I can feel something.” She materializes her staff and holds it with both hands. It is vibrating and tipping towards the store. “We are close.”
Rin enters the store first, letting her staff guide her. Both of you ignore some shelves full of boxes of robot figures by the entrance and head deeper into the store. In another cabinet near the back there is another figure of Aquarius Bloom in that familiar pose again. This time, the figure is glowing. It is as if it wants to be found.
“That’s it!” Rin exclaims.
“Can I help you…” the voice of the store’s owner trails off behind you.
You turn to face the man then recoil in surprise. “Augghh!”
The slightly overweight, middle-aged man with a big nose looks normal for a moment. Then his face is begins to twist and morph followed by his entire body.
“Stay back!” Rin pushes by you and strikes the man on the head with her staff. The mans head splits in two, but a coiling mass of darkness is revealed instead of brains. There is a strange wailing moan as the entire form evaporates into thin air.
“Wa- was that a shadow puppet?” you stammer out, thinking about the minions from the anime. You hadn’t thought about danger up to this point, but your mind is spinning now.
“Yes.” Rin confidently replies. “I’m sure that Night Eclipse knows that we are here now. We need to move quickly.”
Turning around, Rin strides towards the display case. She shatters the front glass to the case with quick strike of her staff. Reaching inside she picks up the glowing figure of herself. “Forces of light. Beacon of hope against the darkness. Restore what is broken!”
The figure glows blue and then white. Sparkles fill the air again. There is a blinding flash of light you manage to avoid by closing your eyes. You open them to see Rin holding her complete staff, with the spearhead-like star capping it. She has a broad smile on her face.
“My staff is whole again. Thank you for all your help.”
You find the store’s owner unconscious in the back room. The shadow puppet was using him as a body model for its form. Rin examines him and indicates he will be okay. Back out on the street, the evening is calm. It is as if nothing had happened in the store. The ramen restaurant you passed earlier seems to have a slow, but steady stream of clientele as you see one person arrive and another leave.
Rin turns to you. "I need to return to my world now. Who knows what Night Eclipse has been up to? I'm sure she thinks I'm powerless without my staff."
There is a cackle from above. You recognize that evil laugh from the anime. Both of you look up at the same time to see a woman in a long red robe and a black cloak floating above. In her hands is a wicked looking scythe that has a wild looking demon head where the blade joins the shaft.
"Night Eclipse!" Rin yells out as she forcefully pushes you to the side, while dodging sideways at the same time. You slam hard into a vending machine, but are not hit by the green bolt of energy that blasts a hole in the asphalt where you were. As it is, you are showered in fragments of rock.
"Forces of light! Zodiac Spirits! Release the guardian of justice. Transform!" Rin begins her transformation into Aquarius Bloom. She is enveloped in a rainbow sphere of light and spins around with her arms out, the staff in her right hand. Ribbons of cloth and metal bands seem to emerge out of nowhere to wrap her body and merge into her armor. Night Eclipse shoots several more bolts at her from her demon scythe, but they just seem to be absorbed by the sphere of light.
In a moment, the transformation is over. Fully armored, Aquarius Bloom leaps from the ground like a superhero right at her enemy.
Night Eclipse meets the attack head on. The staff meets the scythe with a booming metal clash that rattles windows in the buildings around you. Both of them are blown apart by the impact and hover in the air ready for the next move.
Night Eclipse has the pale face of a jester's mask that is fully expressive around eyes and mouth. She snarls. "You're weak. Your powers are not all back yet. I don't know how you recovered your staff again, but I'll finish you here!"
"This isn't your world either. You're powers are weaker too. Love and hope will always prevail!"
Bloom flies to the side and shoots a series of yellow bolts from her staff. Eclipse pivots and spins her scythe at incredible speed to deflect the energy bolts. Several bolts blast holes in the buildings on the street. One strikes near several men who have emerged from the restaurant to see what is happening, showering them with debris from a wall.
Seeing the collateral damage happening, Bloom changes to melee attacks. Closing in again, she lunges with the point of her staff. Eclipse parries it with her scythe and performs a deadly sweep of her scythe. Using both hands, Bloom blocks the sweep with her staff and pushes Eclipse back. Flipping backwards in the air, Eclipse strikes with the butt of the scythe to knock Bloom backwards.
Staggered, Bloom pushes forward and weaves a series of fast blows with her staff that Eclipse barely parries. Eclipse then counters again, swinging her scythe in impossibly short cutting arcs that has Bloom parrying and backing up. Then Bloom counters again with jabs and side strikes.
During this fight in the air, Bloom is slowly moving them higher until they are above the buildings on the street. Below, a few dozen people are watching the spectacle along with you. The loud fighting has drawn people from inside shops and other people passing by. There are a few cell phones taking video of the whole affair.
"It's time to finish this," Aquarius Bloom calls out.
You suspect she has been drawing the battle out to gather her strength, like in the anime. She points the tip of her staff towards Eclipse. "Super Starlight Beam!" The star head on her staff begins to glow and spin with incredible speed.
Eclipse seems to have been ready for this and has her own attack. "Total Darkness Twister!"
A brilliant rainbow beam of light lances from the tip of the staff to be met by a jaggedy bolt of black lightning. Writhing bands of light and darkness form in a bright sphere where the two energy beams meet. The colliding beams produce loud crackling, and static building makes your hair stand up.
Both foes are focusing their powers in a battle of magical strength. Slowly, you see that Aquarius Bloom is winning as the sphere is pushed towards Night Eclipse. Bloom's face is hard to make out that this distance but you can tell she is concentrating hard.
Night Eclipse soon realizes she is losing. She performs some kind of mystical gesture as the sphere is about to envelop her. The energy sphere bursts in a kaleidoscope of light and dark energy waves that dazzles the eyes and deafen the ears with a thunderous boom before imploding into nothingness with a pop.
Blinking off the bright spot on your retinas, you swear you saw Night Eclipse vanish just before the energy sphere exploded.
Aquarius Bloom slowly descends from the sky and lands right in front of you. “She’s escaped again, but at least we’ve foiled her plot.” She looks at the crowds of people at both ends of the street. “I think we had better get out of here. Too many photos and I’m sure the police will be here shortly. Let’s avoid the questions.”
To your surprise, she puts one arm around you and leaps up to the rooftop while holding you tight. It is like you are on an exhilarating fun park ride. From there she jumps several more times until she is satisfied that she is far enough away. She then gently floats back down to an empty street and releases you.
“I’m sorry I put you in danger,” Aquarius Bloom apologizes. “You aren’t hurt anywhere?”
You kind of quickly check yourself over. “I think I’m okay. My shoulder is a little sore from when I hit the vending machine, but it’s all okay.”
“I am so sorry about that.”
“Like I said, it’s okay. You saved my life,” you reply again. Then you do get one selfish thought. “Do you think I could take a selfie with you? Just to remember you.”
Aquarius Bloom is surprised, then laughs. “For you, of course.”
You take several selfies, one serious, then a few with her clowning around a little.
“I have to go now,” she finally says.
You find that you’re more emotional than you expected to part with Aquarius Bloom. “I know.” You’re a little choked up, but the words to do come out. “You need to return to your world.”
“Goodbye, friend,” she replies, with a tinge of emotion. “Maybe we’ll meet again supporter of love and justice. And… don’t forget to ace those entrance exams this time.”
Aquarius Bloom steps into the middle of the street. “Forces of light. Undo the material bonds of the world. All things belong in their rightful place. Return me!” She raises her staff above her head with both hands grasping it.
A bright rainbow sphere of light forms around her. It pulsates and crackles with electrical discharges. You step back a few paces involuntarily. Increasing in intensity it then just winks out with a pop of air rushing into fill a vacuum.
You are alone on the street which seems very dark right now. Goodbye, Rin, you think to yourself. This was an evening you’ll never forget and you will ace the next entrance exam.
The next day, you see there are rumors of about a possible Sapphire Flash second season floating around as there was a unannounced promotional event staged in Akihabara last night.
A post about an afternoon visit to Akihabara.
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