"You're proof is a bus...?" Snowball asked suspiciously. "Right, right, sorry... uhm... I'm Rumiparo Sunowobaru or just 'Snow' because it's less awful to say. Nice to meet you, Sagi-chan."
Snow beamed her friendliest smile forward.
"Y-Yes... nice to finally meet you, too." She tried to force a smile. Which looked really, really, creepy.
It did not take long for the bus to arrive. One of many buses that simply went through a bunch of places, notable the graveyard. One advantage of visiting Hisashiro was the free use of the local transportation network. Of course, this also meant that each student had to show their student card if they desired to make use of it.
Maybe the fact Sagi did indeed show such a card to the bus-driver served as some sort of reassurance? Either way, the girl made sure Snow just wouldn't ghost on her, waiting half-way in-between bus and street for Snow to enter, too. Much to the annoyance of the bus driver.
Snow quietly slinked up behind Sagi to peek at the card, trying to get a first name.
Much to her dismay, Sagi seemed to be skillful enough to not really reveal any information towards Snow. At least she was able to take a quick peek at the picture! Which, in fact, confirmed at the very least that the passport did belong to her.
"...Are you done yet?" Sagi asked Snow now, who certainly holding up the bus!
"Oh, right, sorry..." Snow floundered, reaching into her pocket and presenting her student ID to the driver. Unlike Sagi's picture, which looked pretty consistent, the Snowball in the photo almost looked like a totally different girl. An awful sneer that seemed to be looking down on anyone that dared gaze at the little slip of plastic.
Being a school bus driver, he didn't really seem to care too much about the Snowball on the photo being the actual person or not, and the two finally got on the bus. Since school had just ended, it was actually quite full but, luckily, the two girls still managed to get a two-seater.
"..."
'Sagi' didn't say a word...
"..."
Snow awkward sat there quietly for a few long moments before finally restarting the conversation.
"Sooo.... welcome to Hisashiro, Sagi."
A few more awkward seconds of silence, until Sagi's eyes perked up. As if she had just 'forgotten' something. "Thanks."
Snow nodded, allowing the silence to continue for another minute or two before another idea came to mind...
"You haven't... maybe... heard stories about me before, have you...?" Snow asked with a hint of concern on her lips.
"Of course I have." The raven-haired girl responded, there was a slight undertone of admiration in her otherwise monotone (or annoyed) voice.
"O-oh..." Snow answered in shame, heading drooping to the floor. "I see..."
"Quite a shame, actually..." She murmured to herself before smiling in a just ever-so-slightly sadistic fashion as the bus stopped.
"We've arrived."
Much to many peoples expectations, it was not the graveyard they stopped at, but rather the west residential district! This time Sagi did not wait for Snow to follow along. Instead she, somewhat forcefully but still with a certain amount of distance, dragged her into the open.
"Wah~!" Snow yipped in surprise as she suddenly found herself yanked along. "Is this where you live?" she asked once she'd taken a good look around at all the houses.
"Yes." She answered without so much as glancing towards Snow as she walked down the street. Turning left once, and right twice, until arriving at a currently empty playground.
"..."
Snow glanced at the playground awkwardly, as if it brought back some uncomfortable memories. "Here...?" she asked.
"Here." She repeated Snow's word, taking a few step forward and looking around. "...?" Before checking her phone for a moment.
From what Snow could glance the girl did seem to have an app that portrayed similar information to her - or rather Kaede's - magical girl app!
Just like before, Snow casually shimmied forward to try and peek, learning from her former mistakes and doubling up the stealth efforts to 11!
This time, Snow succeeded! Or maybe the girl wanted Snowball to specifically see the information?
Nonetheless, while the app did seem a bit different in design from the one Kaede had, there was one important piece of information to read for Snow. Sagi's name: Chihaya Mikage.
Snow glanced it over, taking in what she could. As soon as she noticed the name, her hands moved to swipe the phone as quick as she could manage. Holding it up and pointing to the screen, and especially the name, accusingly, she asked, "Sagi... did you... steal this!?"
"You!" Sagi looked rather pissed as Snow decided to just take the phone. Taking it with just as much gusto back as Snow had 'stolen' it.
Looking at Snow in annoyance. "I-" yet, before she could finish speaking, it happened.
Just like in the mall.
Just like before.
Time itself appeared to stop as the world was cast in a crimson hue.
"-did not, you moron." She finished her sentence. Unaffected by the 'freeze'.
"...!" Snow glanced around in fear, fighting back shivers as the crimson world brought back memories of danger. "Well you're not frozen so that checks out I guess; but in what world is Sagi short for Chihaya Mikage!? I mean, uhm... sorry," she apologized hastily.
Snow grabbed her own phone, unlocking it and checking in the vain hope that maybe her own app would finally have unlocked.
It did not.
'Sagi', or rather Chihaya, strongly ignored Snow for the time being. Instead, intensely busy with her phone for a good few seconds. Her face displayed a slight hint of annoyance before curling up into a tiny, devious, smile. "Oh Snow..." She said with a mix of pity and enjoyment. Raising her free hand towards the white-haired girl, some sort of energy seemed to gather inside it.
"It's not my fault my phone's acting stupid!" Snow retorted defensively with a pout. Noticing the disturbing light, Snow threw Sagi a weird look and shuffled to the side slightly.
As Snow swayed slightly to the side, Chihaya's hand followed with a slight chuckle, before looking dead serious. "You simply disgust me." With these words, the ball of energy shot towards Snow. At such close range, and such speed, it was impossible to dodge. Sending her fly just a little bit mixed with some hurt!
Snow's flew back into a large bush which managed to cushion her nicely.
"Sagi!! What was that!?" She shouted back as she reemerged from the bush, aggressively glaring in return.
"Are you really that stupid, or just pretending to be?" She asked rather very annoyed, preparing a second attack - for being a *magical attack* it seemed awfully weak to what one would expect.
"You should know very well..." She added, her voice and face displaying that of a maniacal sadist. "The joy of inflicting pain upon others. Oh poor, poor, Snow." She chuckled. "Have I heard stories about you before? Yes, yes I did. You used to be something, but now? Look at you. Utterly disgusting."
Noticing the continued aggression, Snow reached in her bag to grab her tennis racket, as if it would somehow help her defend herself.
"So you're some psycho who lured me out here to torment me and tell me that!?" Snow concluded, pointing the tennis racket accusingly from a distance. "How much joy do you think it brings the victim?!"
The other girl burst out laughing, resulting in her second shot missing entirely. "The victims?! Who cares about the victims!" A bit more serious, and annoyed.
"Uhm... me? And most other people..." Snow answered in a frank 'duh' kind of tone. "Were you dropped on the head as a kid or something!?" she snarked, for a moment sounding just like 'bully Snowball.'
Chihaya opened her mouth to say something, but whatever words she spoke were drowned out by the sudden noise of a deafening and monstrous roar.
Unfazed, the raven-haired girl checked her phone once again. A sigh. Whatever joy she had just derived from fooling Snow was now gone. Instead, her gaze was one of utter disgust - and disinterest. "..." It seemed like she wanted to say something but, ultimately, decided not to.
A second roar, this time seemingly much closer, pulled Snowball's attention away from the girl - who was seemingly gone in the blink of an eye after.
"W-what... where is it...?!" Snow murmured to herself, digging deep inside to find the courage and defiance she needed to not just shrink into a ball of fear. "Hey Miri!" Snow commanded her phone, holding it up. "Transform activate!!"
...
Miri was rather disobedient.
A third growl, much quieter than the two before. But much much closer. In fact, Snow could see how a monster in the shape of a tiger, but nearly completely covered in some form of naked white smooth tissue, stepped forth from some bushes nearby.
Grrr...
With careful steps it came closer while circling Snowball at the same time.
Snow froze, eyes glued to the glue kitty. As it approached, she slowly stepped back, though not to much effect.
"Nice kitty... good kitty... do you want an Orange Burst...?" she desperately offered, pulling a can of soda out of her bag and shaking it back and forth slowly.
Another growl from the plastic kitty before lowering its stance to prepare for a jump!
"Aieyaaaaaa!!" Snow shrieked, shutting her eyes and flailing the racket between them as it leapt unphased by her distraction.
The white tiger was swift and lethal, going straight for the throat. It might've delivered an instantaneous kill, if not for Snow's racket, which managed to smack it off-course just enough. Nevertheless, it bit down on her shoulder hard, and having Snow in its grasp, it began to tear her apart with claw and tooth.
Snow screamed full force, unable to hold back her wailing. This went on for what felt like an eternity, before a ray of hope burst through her crimson hell.
"I found this on the web for 'transform activate.' Did you mean Mahou Shoujou Transform?" her phone called out from the grass beside her.
"Yes! HeyMiriMahoushoujoutransform!!! she sputtered out frantically.
"Activating transformation sequence for Snowball Lumipallo~!"
Snow was suddenly standing on a busy street; hundreds of hostile faces throwing her fearful glances. She bent down, burying her face in shame, as a rumbling noise grew. The streets shook with ferocity, until a monolithic wave of sugary cola washed everything away.
Opening her eyes again, a strange playground surrounded her. Snow wandered forward, approaching a timid girl on a swing, who suddenly leapt off to meet her. She smiled, thrusting a soda can into Snow's hand before her image blew away in a cloud of smoke.
The can in Snow's hand began to grow, morphing and stretching until she held a long wand in her hand. It continued to wrap around her whole body: magical bands of light weaving into a colorful array of frills. A layer of cherry red, blue raspberry, green watermelon...
As suddenly as her dream had begun, it ended, Snow bursting out with enough energy to throw the tiger back several meters.
"... I feel like something out of a weird musical!!" she instantly complained, checking herself over, running a hand over the strange dress, and inspecting the odd wand on her hand.
Having been denied its meal, the weird tiger monster roared ferociously! Grinning at Snow in an act of showing off its many rows of teeth - now stained red crimson. Unlike its careful steps from before, the tiger immediately rushed forward! Cutting short whatever time Snow had left to admire herself.
Noticing right away, Snow leapt back. This time, however, her leap carried her halfway across the yard and straight into a distant fence.
"Wha-- woah!!" she exclaimed, unsure whether to be more amazed at the jump or the fact that she'd leveled a fence without even receiving a bruise.
"Hm... I wonder if..."
Noticing the familiar shape on top of her hand, Snow reached into her bag, pulling out a soda bottle and slapping it right on top. To her surprise, the wand instantly swallowed it up, growing a barrel, a trigger, and even a sight, until it resembled a weird, magical rifle.
"Hm... I really hope I get that back later..." she whined, pointing it at the tiger. After a few seconds of fiddling with it, the gun erupted into a flurry of orange soda bullets, pelting the tiger relentlessly.
The tiger tried to dodge! Yet, succeeded only partially. Clearly having taken damage from the soda attack, as part of its left flank was missing. That didn't stop the monster however from another attack. This time it sprinted forward, stopped with its fore-paws to make its hindlegs 'drift', swirling up sand into the direction of the new Magical Girl.
Under the cover of the sand-screen, and potential of Snow having lost sight, the monster then proceeded to do a quick leap to the right, from which it then tried to attack her once more!
"Plech! What kind of crazy tiger is so smart!" Snow complained as she waved away the dust from her eyes. Not waiting there to get jumped, she ran up a nearby slide and used it to launch herself into the air, spraying more soda bullets straight down.
With the power of high-pressured soda on her side, and foregoing aim in favor for simply attacking The Everything, the tiger suffered another set of injuries and was quickly dispatched after. All in all, less exciting than the battle against the monster of before but a battle nonetheless! And Snow seemed victorious... and a magical girl now, too!?
Once she'd finished with the gunfire, the lack of recoil allowed Snow to gracefully float back down to the ground. She poked the remains of the plastic tiger with a shoe that was, oddly, much nicer than what she'd been wearing before, satisfied that it was dead.
...
"Nnnnnnnnnnyyyyyyyay!! This is so cool!!" she cheered, bursting into a cheerful laugh; the powerful kind that was so absurd and bursting with excitement that 'no one being around' was an essential part of its recipe.
She zipped from place to place with superhuman speed, moonjumped around the playground, and even set up a nearby shovel on the slide to bonk her on the forehead at high speed, amazed it didn't hurt...
"Oww...!"
...as much as it should've.
"It is quite wonderful, is it not?" Suddenly, Snow's recipe was ruined as another voice intruded on her alone time. A slightly distorted, male one. There he was. A tall, adult man in a white suit. Blue'ish hair, and a white top-hat. There was a mask over his face. One half black, the other white, with contrasts of the opposite colors to create eyes and a grin.
"Ngh..." Snow groaned as the shame suddenly hit like a truck. She sprung up, staring back, with a faint red strip running across her forehead where the shovel had bonked her. She glanced around quickly, making sure she was still in the crimson alternate-world.
"Were you here this whole time!?" she accused, pointing the shovel head at the newcomer.
"Would it matter?" The mysterious man asked her, slowly stepping towards Snow. Something deep within her urged her to flee, or pretend to be dead. A primitive fear.
He then stopped just short of the monster Snowball had killed which, unlike the others so far, had not disintegrated into space particles. "Soda..." He simply said with a hunch of amazement. "You're quite a lively one, aren't you?" Stretching out his arm, palm open, the monster now finally dissolved. The particles gathering into his glove.
Snow's eye narrowed like a hawk.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you!" she accused with an indignant tone. "You tried to kill me so you could see what would happen when I unlocked it!?"
He chuckled in amusement. "Poor lost lamb... quite a bold statement, is it not?" In the blink of an eye, quite literally, he had disappeared from her field of vision just to— !
Snow's throat was fiercely grabbed from behind. A strong, cold, grip. Without escape. "If I wanted to kill you, I could do so right now...." Before letting her fall to the ground, shrugging. "You are not completely wrong, however. If you had not transformed today, your live would have been forfeit."
Snowball coughed on the ground a few times before standing back up, backing away several steps.
"Is there anyone who can come in here that isn't a psychopath!? Suicide Sasara, Sadist Sagi, and now this!"
He leaned a little bit down, chuckling in amusement. "I, too, wonder that." Before, in another instant, he disappeared from right beside her to a few meters in front of her.
"An introduction is in order, is it not?" He gave Snow a little bow. "I carry many names. Mephistopheles, Faustus, the Black Knave, The Promise of Ruin..." Before looking up again, not worried of Snow suddenly attacking him. "Or, mayhap, very simply: your Enemy."
Snow stepped back instinctually as there was suddenly a masked weirdo in her face.
"..."
She stared back in bewilderment at his introduction, unable to process what was being said. After several seconds of thinking about it, she finally replied.
"Are you sure you're not some kind of mentor in disguise? Because I don't think you understand how enemies are supposed to act!" Snow critiqued, as if she were an expert in such things. In a way... she actually was.
"Oh?" He tilted his head. "And you are much wiser? How did you end up 'here' again?" Followed by a distorted laughter. "How did it go again?" Another blink of the eye as he did the teleportation thing again. This time, whispering right next into her ear. "Curiosity killed the cat?"
"Bleack," Snow gargled in disgust, waving the guy away from her ear like a gnat that was being especially annoying. "I put on a nice dress for 5 minutes and already there's a creepy guy whispering in my ear!"
Snow put a hand on her hip indignantly. "Fine then: cut to the chase! What do you want from me?"
Another chuckle as he took a step back. "Quench my interest, mayhap?" Striking a thinking pose. "But, for today, a simple introduction." He bowed once again. "That you shall speak of to no one."
"And what if I do?" Snow asked, forcing a shaky, smug grin onto her lips.
She'd seen enough movies to know how this went: now he'd have to do something super threatening to scare her into submission. With any luck: something that brought him close. She gripped the rifle-wand tight, ready to attack the moment he began!
"You're welcome to try..." He said, raising his hand. "But for now I must bid you farewell. Grow strong and prosper, little Mahou." He snapped his finger.
With that, things returned back to normal! No more magical Snowball. No masked carnival clown. No Chihaya. Just... reality.