2003 (The Kiseru Lady)

2003 (The Kiseru Lady)
Date of Cutscene:	15 September 2023
Location:	The Book Nook
Synopsis:	Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Cast of Characters:	Kiseru

---

The Book Nook

The Kiseru Lady sits in her shop, the Book Nook, watching the clock on the wall as she waits to close the front half that is open to mundane people. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The last of the customers leave, and an hour later the staff finish their duties and depart as well. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The clock on the wall is a carved wooden one, with a pendulum swinging back and forth behind a glass case. Silence falls within the book store, and night as well. With only the lights from the plaza outside and the shops not yet closed across from the Book Nook, the store definitely appears to be closed. Tick. Tock.

A pale, gothic beauty sits behind the front desk, leaning an elbow on the counter top. She's wearing a black jacket over a red blouse, and some black businesswoman pants and appropriate shoes. Very professional looking, all told, even if there's a gap between the bottom of the blouse and her lower half, showing a flat belly. It would be enough to make customers of all ages take notice... If they could see her. Despite being the owner, she is rarely seen in the store. That goes for even when she's sitting right in front of them. No, this is worn for her own benefit. Because she likes it, and especially likes how it looks on her. After all these years, she is still enthralled with the body she obtained. One doesn't get a shell like this too often, and when finding one usually there's a fair few number of 'entry wounds' to make it wearable. This one came calibrated in advance. No modifications necessary.

Not on the outside at least.

Black lipstick gleams with the reflected street lamps outside, as the Kiseru Lady, with her black hair hanging in her gray eyes and obscuring them, begins to speak out loud.

"Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick--"

--

April 1st, 2003

"Ughhhhh." groaned the girl in the striped shirt and jeans as she leaned her head back in order to roll her eyes even more dramatically than she had been. "Rika-chaaaaaan," the girl then whined. "Why can't you play too? Come on! The Mana Beast is waiting to be defeated! If I didn't have to cycle party members so much, I could just focus on attacking with Randi's Mana Sword! You can handle support, right? Purim and Popoie are awaiting your commands!"

The other girl being addressed was sitting nearby, in seiza position. She was--A blur.

She smiled apologetically and said, "--"

Adjusting her glasses, the gamer frowned and turned back to her Super Famicon and her much-replayed copy of Seiken Densetsu 2. "Did you hear? Square and Enix completed a merger today. Now they're called 'Square Enix'. What's up with that? Enix better not mess with the quality of Square's games!"

A quiet laugh and then she--Nothingnothingnothingnothing

The pigtailed girl puffed up her cheeks in annoyance. "Even so, as a loyal consumer of Square's games, it's reasonable for me to be concerned, you know?"

Just a gray wall of emptiness and noticed it was getting late and said so.

The bespectacled girl got up to see her friend to the door. "Next time, be prepared to team up with me!" she admonished. "I'm even trying to order a Super Multitap from America; so if you know anyone else who plays, please bring them too!"

The--SCRIBBLES SCRIBBLES ALL OVER THE WALLS NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING

The girl grinned back at her guest, and then waved before heading back indoors.

April 11th, 2003

Flames cast everything in a hellish hue. Explosions continued to go off periodically, making eardrums bleed and sending the handful of people still able to walk around staggering and watching out wide-eyed to see if something was falling towards them or if they needed to take cover. Six buildings at a fireworks factory had been completely torched by the detonations. Several employees were dead.

A Puella Magi was running among the infernal disaster scene, trying to find any other survivors. She had evacuated one who was seriously injured already, but there were supposedly two others remaining. Were they Witch-Kissed? Are they already dead in the fire? Buried under rubble? Suffocated from smoke inhalation? Did they wander into the Witch's Barrier? She didn't see anyone else in there, and the Witch is dead now. How did this happen!?

The Magical Girl coughed repeatedly into the back of her hand. This was bad. She couldn't keep healing herself from the smoke's damage or risking herself in these flames, with industrial chemicals, and who knows what else waiting to go off. But she couldn't just give up on people in trouble. Closing her eyes, she focused on her special ability.

'I want to be able to rescue people in trouble, and not leave a single one behind.' she had told Kyubey.

Her white and gold dress flared and sent out blue motes of energy to search once again for any sign of the two missing men. They probably had friends, families, loved ones, coworkers, or even just treasured their own lives. They shouldn't die here! The Magical Girl found bodies, seven in all. But none of them were the two employees she was told about my the man she rescued.

Her blue sparks reacted to something. Magic? Her heart leapt at the idea that there might be other Magical Girls on the way. Other friends of Kyubey's would definitely help her! It was weird though, her Search Dust kept going blind in this one area. She thought it was fire destroying them, but this was something else.

She focused more of her magic into identifying the unknown phenomenon. Search Motes swarmed in that direction, getting detailed looks at everything in the area, to the extent she could have drawn a to-scale rendering of that part of the factory from memory with nearly a hundred percent accuracy. Then they started going blind again. That... Blankness... It was closer. Opening her eyes, the Puella Magi drew her Holy Sword. Her heart was hammering now. There couldn't be a second Witch could there...!?

She got 'pings' off of the other magic sources. They were all heading right for her. There were... Two of them? With three Magical Girls they could definitely handle whatever this was! Or maybe those two could. She wasn't feeling quite up to it anymore.

Her weapon sunk in her two-handed grip until it hit the steaming concrete. Surprised, the Puella Magi let out a slow, "Eeeehhh...?" She shook her head, making her singed ponytail with its Divine Beast clip sway back and forth. Was it the smoke? She was coughing weakly. She should probably heal herself.

She sat down on the hot ground, one of her hands slipping from the two-handed sword. "I... Can't sit down here. I need to... Do something about..." She trailed off. Her free hand reached up to push her eyeglasses up her nose. They had been slipping thanks to the sweat on her skin. 'Huh.' she thought. 'I wonder what temperature glass shatters at? Maybe I should take these off.'

She did none of the things she was thinking she should do. She just stared vacantly, giving wheezing little coughs occasionally. Then she shook her head again, gritted her teeth, and punched herself in the side of the head until she had her senses back. There was still this gray blah in her head, almost like the smoke she was choking on, but she wasn't going to give into it. Raising her Soul Gem, she again healed her body. Then she stared in shock at the crystal. It was turning... Gray. Color was leeching out of it completely. She had never seen it do something like that, not even when magic was getting low. How could--?

Pingpingpingping!

The blank spot! It was right behind her! She whirled around and--Nothing.

Lying on the ground as the flames closed in on her, blood pooling in the back of her throat, and tears leaking from her eyes behind her glasses just to turn into steam while they rolled down her cheeks, the game-loving girl wondered how it came to this. She coughed uselessly on her back, ashes landing on her striped shirt. Was there something she could have done differently? It had all seemed so clear when she made her contract. Was she being punished for not saving people? She couldn't decide. She also didn't know why--Nothing Nothing Nothing

The sound of voices yelling out to each other, announcing they had spotted her, made her red-slicked lips quirk upwards a bit. For some reason, she suddenly felt hopeful. Like that fog that was affecting her was lifting as it got further away.

The light went out of her eyes as her Soul Gem was taken out of range.

April 12th, 2003

Of the three girls present, one was sobbing uncontrollably while being comforted by another who looked like she was barely holding it together.

The Guardian Knight who usually came to save them had joined them this time, unmasked himself as the older brother of one of the Magical Girls, and was sitting on a wooden chair, domino mask in his hand, head hung, expression unseen with all of his long hair in the way. He looked broken, frankly.

The third girl stood alone in a corner. She had been closest when the body was found, so she was the one who still smelled like smoke.

This was the first time this team had failed to save anyone. They were already so few in number, and then right when they found someone who might be an ally... Whomever that girl had been, they at least made sure she would be found by the authorities. Seven employees dead, one seriously wounded, two missing. Three bystanders -- the girls after they had reverted to Civilian form -- were reported as having suffered injuries. But they weren't too bad off. They had already been returned to their parents, gotten the mix of crying hugs and yelled lectures, and been brought home and put to bed.

Then they had transformed again, snuck out, and come out to the garage.

The Guardian Knight looked up, eyes lined with red from particulate matter irritating them. He stared at the third of the girls, the one standing alone. "What are you smiling about?" he asked, a mix of anger, confusion, horror, accusation, hurt, and guilt in his voice.

The third girl's smile didn't drop as she said--NOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHINGNOTHING

April 15th, 2003

The parents insisted that she accept the Super Famicon and Super Multitap, saying that they were sure their daughter would have wanted her best friend to have it.

Instead of even attempting to politely decline, she smiled and said--....

After all, she had been wanting one for years.

--

September 15th and 16th, 2023

The Kiseru Lady continues her 'Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.' right up until the clock strikes midnight. As the chime begins, she shifts her surroundings to the back of the store, the magical one. Without the input of any outsider's perspective or perhaps just because the simplicity is desired by the owner, it's just a black void except for the counter, chair, and Kiseru herself. Once the chimes finally finish, the black-haired woman turns in her seat. Her outfit has changed to a striped shirt and jeans. She doesn't include the eyeglasses though. That feels in bad taste. Then she puts an object on the countertop. One that is still glowing a soft white, in a golden egg-shaped frame, even after over twenty years.

"Happy birthday, my friend." the Kiseru Lady says quietly to the Soul Gem. A quick reach into one of her many storage dimensions, and another object is put on the counter, and then another, and then a cable, and two controllers. She sets the Super Famicon up, switches it on, and the television plays the sound of the Mana Beast's cry as the Squaresoft logo comes up on the screen. She puts one of the controllers in front of the Soul Gem, like she does every year, even knowing the other player will never use it again. Likewise, the Super Multitap that was ordered from America back then is plugged in despite there only being two controllers.

What are you smiling about?

Her lips quirk a bit more, as she remembers the reply that boy had received.

If she had lived another month, I would have been able to deliver her birthday present. Instead it looks like she's going to wind up giving me mine.

The Kiseru Lady lets the opening story scroll without interrupting. She's very patient.