This time you get MAGICAL GIRLS.



It was a rainy Saturday night when she walked into my office. She was soaked head to toe in rainwater, or perhaps it was tears. She told me that someone had knicked her new kitten, not the first time I'd heard this story, what's more it wasn't the first time I'd heard it that week. I told the girl, one Itou Hiromi: age eight, that I would look into her cat's disappearance.



I showed miss Itou out before stepping into the pouring rain myself. I had somewhere to be that night, a contact of mine had some information relating to a case I'd worked during Summer break, and I had to be home before mom finished cooking dinner. Looking up at the moon through rain drenched bangs I could tell it was going to be a long night. Mom wasn't going to be happy with me.



Nine PM, I'd had mackerel and miso soup with a side of white rice for dinner, my contact insisted on meeting at a cafe. Walking in to the Sixty Stars I noticed him almost immediately. Mikoshiba Jin, thirty-eight years old, he was my former partner back before I quit the force. I couldn't deal with all of the red tape getting in the way of justice, call me old fashioned, but I see a talking cat trying to sucker girls into making faustian bargains and I just snap. I trusted Jin more than I trusted most people, he was good people, even though he treated me like a ten year old. I'm twelve, thank you very much.



"You haven't changed a bit, Jin, how's Mihoshi?" I greeted him the same way I always did, Mihoshi was Jin's daughter, she was my age although she had been held back a year due to her poor health. Jin smiled, he hadn't shaved in days, something big must have happened down at the precinct. "You haven't changed either, Chief, still haven't grown into that coat Yuka left you," we exchanged a small moment of silence. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought her up..." "It's not a problem, we all have our ghosts."



Jin told me that they'd found new evidence in a magical relic smuggling case I'd been on in the Summer. An insane magus was abducting magical girls to power her youth talismans, it was our group that brought them down. That was before I left the force, before Yuka disappeared, before I sealed my magic. Apparently the magus had an accomplice, an apprentice skilled with fire magic, word has it that she'd been spotted in town a few nights back. Maybe she was out for revenge, maybe she just didn't know when to quit. Jin and I had a few drinks, he had a Monkey Wrench, I had a mixed fruit smoothie, which discussing our families. After about two hours had passed, Jin quietly stood and put his hand on my shoulder.



"Mihoshi's been asking if you can spend the night agains sometime soon, Chief, don't forget, you have friends. You don't have to be alone in this."



"I know, Jin. Tell Mihoshi I'll ask my mom when I get home."



"I'll do that. You have a good night, Chief." With that, Jin walked away, a sad look in his eye, he knew I wasn't going home any time soon. The snack bar attendant walked up to me a few moments later, "Will that be all, Chief?" I looked him dead in the eye.



"It's been a long time since I was in charge of section starbust, I'm no one's chief now."



When I stepped outside the Sixty Stars it was still pouring incubators and hellhounds, the rain didn't seem to be letting up. The raindrops served a fitting soundtrack to my musings as I headed downtown to the Ace of Spades hotel, the last place our rogue magical girl was spotted. I had intended to find the mystery mage as soon as possible, what I didn't know was that I had walked into something that would threaten to pull me under for good.



The Ace of Spades was an establishment catering to the cream of the magical girl crop, you wouldn't find any of those card capturers here, no, these girls are full time magical girls, much like I used to be. The door guard almost didn't let me in, said I didn't look like a magical girl, he changed his tune when I opened my coat and showed him my frilly sun dress. I just don't have that sparkle in my eyes anymore, I've seen too much, done too much. Caught sight of myself in a mirror near the entry way, the bruise-like rings under my eyes spoke of one too many late nights at the office, no wonder people thought I didn't look like a magical girl. When you think about, it's their perceptions' fault that I don't look like a magical girl.



Walking into the establishment's lobby I spotted some girls I knew through my contacts in the force. These types treated the Ace of Spades as their personal clubhouse, which, in many ways, is exactly what it was. At the corner of the snack bar I spotted a small girl with pink hair, she smiled at me, I did my best not to make eye contact, her story was in her eyes, it was more than I could handle on a good day. I headed out to the so-called purple room, where "dark magical girls" hung out. Flashing the bouncer a metallic card with a purple star in the middle, I was granted entry. All eyes were on me as I entered the room.



Back in the day, before I had joined the force, before Jin, before Yuka, I was one of these dark girls. A specialist in dealing with "other" threats, things that would make even miss Takamachi turn pale. They called me Magical Girl Amethyst Hunter, the lone magical girl in this city who could turn out purple fire. I spotted a few familiar faces in this room as well; a certain gun toting time stopper, the bureau's lightning mage, lots of girls I knew. They all had the same tired look as I did, some more than others, just girls who had gotten involved with things that had stained them in every color of the night.



I slid into my usual seat, opposite a silver haired ice mage I knew from school. Mizuha knew everything and everyone, if something was going down, you could bet your ass she knew exactly what, when, and how. The tricky part was getting her to tell you anything but half of the truth. Ice users are like that, they think they're above everyone else.



"Well, well, well, if it isn't Chief Nijimura, haven't seen you in a while," Mizuha said, her metallic blue lipstick was especially tacky tonight. "I don't have time for your games tonight, Mizuha, I know you know what I'm here for, and I know you know where she is," I growled, although it was more like a squeak. Mizuha smiled and shook her head, "You know the rules, Megumi, you want info, you gotta pay." I set a stack of limited edition chocobanana flavored lip gloss on the table and pushed them towards Mizuha. This was her usual asking price for me, she knew my mother was involved with cosmetics and used me to get whatever she needed. The ice mage smiled and pushed a folded up piece of paper towards me.



"What, are we passing notes in class now?" I questioned as I looked up, Mizuha was gone, a slow stream of ice crystals falling towards her seat. Stupid prideful ice magi, always having to use flashy tricks to exit a room, as if doors or good-byes were too good for them. I opened the note up to read whatever information Mizuha had seen fit to impart upon me.



"10:00 pm @ old fireworks factory - going to have to run - good luck Megu"



I closed my eyes for a moment, I might not be too happy with Mizuha all the time, but she had never steered me wrong. However, there was no way I was going to make it to the factory with less than 15 minutes on the clock. I sighed, I was going to have to use magic if I wanted to get there in time. No doubt Mizuha knew this, which was why she'd played her game for so long, there was no shortage of people who wanted Amethyst Hunter back in action. I stood and took my leave, nodding at the pink haired mage sitting at the snack bar. If Mizuha was trying to force me to use magic, whatever was going on had to be serious. Serious enough to risk my life again.



"COME, AMETHYST STAR-BLADE! LUNERRION!"



I promised my parents that I would never put the dress back on, that I wouldn't let myself be taken away from them like my sister had. They would understand, I hoped, that I had to do this. I pulled up the scarf that came with my magical battle dress, covering my lower face to protect myself from the rain. With Star-Blade Lunerrion slung over my shoulder I set into a dead sprint, my magical power that had been dormant for so long rushed throughout my body, leaving trails of amethyst fire in my wake. There would be no escape for the rogue magical girl, not this time.



At 9:52 I arrived at the factory, just in time to see a red haired girl walk into a side entrance. I didn't bother stopping my magical burst, opting instead to charge through the door, hoping I could tackle the mage to the ground. If it came to a fight, we'd likely burn down an entire city block with our fire magic, I couldn't let that happen again.



My purple aura lit up the entire factory, just enough for me to see the red headed girl fall to the ground, whatever she had been carrying torn from her arms by hands made of shadow. I saw her emerge from the darkness, a black form with a red slit that served as a mouth. Slowly the shadow obfuscation spell she was wrapped in vanished.



"Y...Yuka?"



Yuka vanished momentarily, I was so shocked by her appearance that I couldn't guard against her shadow step attack. A kick landed squarely in my gut, sending me flying across the room, unable to locate the shadow mage with my eyes. "Yuka, what are you doing!? It's Megumi, your sister!" I cried out, hoping that either I wasn't fighting Yuka, or she just didn't recognize me. My cries stopped as I hit the far wall with enough force to knock the air out of me. Yuka reappeared as soon as I hit the ground, a delay in her attack just long enough for me to notice the green amulet hanging around her neck. Normally, when people think of green magic they of healing, however, the type of magic that green originally belonged to was curse magic, my sister had been possessed by a curse mage.



I caught her next kick, although it was almost too fast for me to notice, whoever was controlling Yuka didn't know half of her abilities, hopefully that would play in my favor. As long as I didn't have to deal with the full array of Yuka's shadow binding, I could probably tear the amulet from her neck, I could free her. I summoned Lunerrion to my hand once again, using the broad side to block a shadow spike aimed at my face. Whoever had done this was playing to win, which meant I needed to play harder. I didn't want to hurt Yuka, but she was a strong mage, I knew she could stand up against whatever I could throw at her.



Lunerrion opened up as I pointed it at Yuka, the blade sliding up and back as a long barrel unfolded in its place. "Shooting mode, set!" Purple flame began roiling around the barrel as Lunerrion's gun form charged. Yuka's shadows recoiled as the light from my gun touched them, siblings were not meant to fight against each other, their magics would only be a third as effective as they would be against anyone else. "AMETHYST HUNTING!" Purple light arced from the barrel through Yuka, shattering the amulet and dropping Yuka to the ground.



My fight wasn't over even with Yuka down, I still had to deal with the curse itself. A spectre made of green flame grew from the amulet's shards. "Who are you, and why did you possess my sister!?" My shouts likely didn't reach the original caster, the spectre merely laughed as it flew towards me. It's not my style to take down a suspect before getting information out of them, but I was beyond angry. I made a horizontal slashing motion with Lunerrion, the gun barrel twisted slightly, a faint beam of purple light streaming from the mouth.



"Magical Sword Form, KNIGHT OF NIGHT!" The purple light grew in intensity until it had become a claymore blade made of amethyst fire. "With the flames of my dark justice, I banish you back from where you came!" My mana burst sent me flying at the spectre.



"JUDGE CUTTER!"



An explosion of purple and green fire erupted as our magic clashed, but my sword won out in the end, the green spectre vanished. I had used up what little strength I had left after Yuka's attacks to defeat the spectre and so I fell down next to her. A few moments later Yuka opened her eyes and, turning her head to look at me, she said "You look like someone hit you with a train, Megu." I laughed, god help me, I laughed.



Yuka and I got home somehow, mom and dad cried for hours and probably grounded both of us until we were twenty. I wasn't really paying attention, something was still gnawing at me, like I'd forgotten something. I didn't remember what I'd forgotten until I was trying to get some sleep.



"Oh right, I never did find that girl's cat."