Later that evening Meg headed out to grab a few things from a nearby convenience store. Returning to the sweet shop with a small bag of goodies, she came to a screeching halt as she noticed a familiar girl standing outside, visibly drooling over a promotional poster attached to the front wall.

  Sneaking up, Meg tapped her on the shoulder. “We meet again!”

  The mystery woman jumped, turning to face her. “What the—! Oh… it’s you.” She breathed out after an initial sharp inhalation, holding her chest. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

  “Ah… sorry,” Meg mumbled, her cheeks glowing. Going by what this girl apparently dealt with on—she assumed—some sort of regular basis, it possibly wasn’t the best idea to go surprising her. Meg might end up squashed under one of those gravity bubbles if she wasn’t careful.

  “What do you want?” the girl asked, backing away a couple of steps.

  “Nothing in particular. Actually, that’s not quite true. I was wondering if you needed any help? Or… anything?” Meg gave an awkward laugh. “I’m not sure how much help I can be with giant monsters, but maybe I can help some other way? Anything at all!”

  “It’s dangerous, I can’t go getting you involved!” The girl turned to leave, but hesitated briefly to say, “Th-Thank you for the offer, though! I’m happy with the thought.” She attempted to run, but a short and simple sentence from Meg stopped her dead in her tracks.

  “How about being my friend?”

  “Friend…”

  “Even if I can’t help you fight, I can give you some company.”

  “I don’t want to endanger anyone else if I can avoid it,” the girl muttered, her brows furrowing.

  “I’ll run at the first sign of trouble, I promise.”

  “But—”

  “Just accept the offer, Emilia!” came an exasperated voice from the depths of the girl’s jacket.

  Now it was Meg’s turn to jump, spinning around a few times as she attempted to place the sound. “Where did that voice come from?”

  The girl named Emilia attempted to appear innocent, with mixed results. “What voice?”

  “I’m sure I just heard a voice,” said a suspicious Meg.

  “That was… my ventriloquism practice! Yeah, that’s it.”

  Meg narrowed her eyes. “Really…?”

  “R-Really!”

  Something from the previous evening popped into Meg’s mind, something she had noticed at the time, but which she had forgotten upon the meeting in the park. “Now I remember! You had a little, um, girl? Or a fairy? She had cute blue butterfly wings and orange hair! Was that her?”

  A brief sigh escaped Emilia’s lips. She had a look around to ensure they were alone, then stuffed a hand down the front of her heavy jacket. “I suppose it’s pointless hiding it if you saw her last night.”

  Meg’s face lit up as the little fairy girl she had briefly spied the previous evening was produced, looking what might be described as dishabille, or what Meg imagined the word dishabille meant, which in this case was ruffled.

  The fairy, nearly a foot in height and with the aforementioned blue butterfly wings and bright orange hair—again held in twin ponytails, one to either side of her head—sat on Emilia’s outstretched palm, her diminutive body clad in a fairy-like tutu, and gazed up at Meg, her eyes a crystal clear sky blue colour.

  “Pleasure, I’m sure!” the fairy said, giving a shallow bow. “I am Lifa, and this young lady here is Emilia. How do you do?”

  The fairy’s voice and mode of speech reminded Meg of those upper class ladies she had occasionally seen in the old English period dramas her mother sometimes watched; posh, well-enunciated to a fault, and given half a chance she would likely start using words like ‘smashing’ and ‘super’ in an entirely over-exuberant manner.

  Meg managed to find her own voice in order to respond. “Oh, yes, nice to meet you both!” She almost curtsied. “If Emilia can transform and you’re a fairy, does that mean you really are a magical girl?”

  Emilia blinked. “A magical what, now?”

  “Girl. Magical girl. It’s uh… it’s a type of show here. You can see it on TV?” Meg said, holding a hand out and pressing an invisible television remote control in hopes of getting her point across.

  Emilia did her best to hide her confusion. “O-Oh, those. I’ve not watched them.”

  “We aren’t really from around here, you see,” Lifa said.

  “I can show you around if you like?” Meg suggested.

  “No, we’re okay—”

  “Yes, that would be splendid—”

  Both of them attempting to speak at the same time and at cross purposes merely resulted in Meg’s own confusion multiplying. “Mm, so is that a yes or a no?”

  Lifa jumped up into the air, her wings a blur as she hovered before Meg’s face. “Perhaps we should discuss this further over a nice cup of tea?”

  Every time Lifa spoke, Meg had the feeling she was back at primary school. This adorable little fairy had a matronly air to her and a voice that made Meg’s legs want to buckle every time she heard it, the type of voice that never gets into a flap and always knows what to do. She was less certain as to the reason for Lifa sounding posh and British, however.

  Putting these thoughts aside for now, Meg agreed this sounded nice, so Emilia stuffed Lifa back inside her jacket and led the way. Apparently she lived in some large manor house on the outskirts of the city. Going by Lifa’s overall demeanour, Meg could believe it.

  They arrived at the large house, nestled in a veritable sea of trees, bushes, and hedges. A paved driveway led via black metal gates to the front door, a grandiose double affair as befitted the gravitas its owner was clearly going for.

  Emilia entered and turned left, where she wandered through into an enormous living room at the front of the building, furnished such that Meg thought she had entered one of the aforementioned period dramas. The colour blue featured predominately; blue sofa, blue flowery wallpaper, blue carpet, blue crockery, blue curtains.

  “That’s a lot of blue,” she said under her breath.

  A voice floated through from an adjacent room, followed by its owner. “Welcome, welcome! Make yourself at home.”

  A young man had appeared. He was… blue? Meg was quite certain of what her eyes were telling her. Oh, not his skin, of course, that was a pretty regular deep pink tone, but his hair was a vivid azure, matching the overall theme of the room. He wore a shirt, left open with manly chest hairs waving in the breeze from the door. And the trousers had certainly been picked for their flair; they might as well have come directly from a 1970s disco dance floor. They were also blue, and made from a cord material.

  Emilia held an arm out in the man’s direction. “This is Azurine Azul Siyonami, he’s uh… our friend? I guess that’s the best way to describe him for now.”

  Meg bowed her head. “Nice to meet you, A… Azureeen.”

  “We normally just call him Blue,” Emilia added.

  “Ah, that’s much easier, thanks. Nice to meet you, Blue!” Meg said, thinking that while this was easier, it was also odd. Then she remembered seeing an old TV show starring an American actor called Rainbow, and figured maybe she shouldn’t judge.

  Blue’s expression morphed into something welcoming and he clapped his hands together. “A new friend for Emilia? Wonderful! Just this morning I was thinking she really does need some more friends.”

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  “Or any friends at all,” said Lifa with a quiet giggle. With that, she prepared them a cup of tea each (watching this tiny fairy girl lifting a full pot of tea in a single thimble-sized hand terrified Meg for reasons she couldn’t quite pin down) and the four of them relaxed on one of two long sofas arranged in an L-shape in the main living room.

  Now they were indoors and rather more relaxed, Meg noticed something about Lifa that she hadn’t originally; her skin complexion had a shifting quality to it, an almost pearlescent effect moving from white to pink to warm orange and back. It was quite beautiful.

  Returning to the matter at hand, Meg asked the important question. “So… are you facing some terrible evil that needs to be vanquished to secure the world’s peace?” She held her cup in shaking hands, afraid she might drop it. Meg was knowledgeable enough to understand that these cups alone were probably worth more than her university tuition fees.

  “Eh? Evil? I don’t think so,” Emilia said.

  Lifa concurred. “You wouldn’t think of a force of nature as evil, correct? What we face is somewhat similar.”

  “That creature looked pretty evil to me,” Meg muttered.

  “Think of it like an element. Fire, water, wind, that type of thing. Benign for the most part, but they can rage out of control in the right conditions.” Lifa sipped her tea and frowned. “However, we believe there is an as-yet unseen force controlling these elemental creatures.”

  “Yeah, and when I find whoever it is I’m going to punch them in the face! Probably more than once!” Emilia said, simulating this by holding her left hand up and thrusting her right fist into the palm. “Is it too much to ask that I get a few minutes uninterrupted so I can see a bit of this world? Really? Is that too much to ask?”

  Meg’s ears pricked up at this. “Are you from another world?” She beamed to the point of blinding her new friends. Maybe Yasuko’s surmise about being from another world was more on the money than they thought.

  “Uh, country, I meant country! We’re not from Japan, we’re from… Indiana! Yep, that’s the place, all right.”

  “Do you perhaps mean India?” Meg hazarded.

  If Emilia’s face had been any hotter she would have set fire to the curtains. “Yes, India. Language barrier, I’m not so used to speaking Japanese.” She nodded, pleased at managing to reverse out of a corner of her own making.

  Meg let the matter drop for now. She had her suspicions, of course, but didn’t feel a need to press the issue right at this moment. “Anyway, I’d love to stick around for longer but I have to be in bed soon. I can maybe show you around a bit if you like, Emilia? I’ve been here nearly a year now so I know the town fairly well. I love exploring!”

  “I might take you up on that,” Emilia said, looking down. The change from a fiery girl threatening to punch someone in the face to this outwardly bashful young lady who had difficulty making eye contact was as night and day.

  Carefully placing her empty cup on its saucer, Meg stood. “Thanks for inviting me round. I’m looking forward to getting to know you some more, Emilia. And Lifa, too.” As she went to leave, she was stopped by Blue.

  He held a hand up to his mouth and coughed in a theatrical manner, producing a sparkling red gem between thumb and finger, then held it out to her. “Here you go, a special gem for a special Meg.”

  Accepting the gift, Meg held it up to her eye. “It’s beautiful. Thanks, I’ll treasure it!” A deep translucent crimson, the star-shaped gem sparkled and glittered, and inside she could make out something reminiscent of molten lava. “I’ve never seen a gem like this before.”

  Admiring it for a few moments, she gave Blue a thank-you for the lovely gift, gave her new friends a farewell, and exited, wandering back home. She examined the gem as she walked, before slipping it into her jacket’s inside pocket and continuing on her way.

  ☆ ☆ ☆

  The rest of the week soon disappeared, at which point Meg invited her best friend around on the Saturday afternoon to talk things over some more, now she had properly met Emilia.

  For once Yasuko had forgone beer and instead brought a special relaxation drink she was partial to, utilising a variety of herbs and spices, and one-hundred percent homemade. She settled down in her preferred position at the coffee table, and proceeded to demolish a doughnut from a box she had brought along, while pouring them a glass each from a Thermos containing her special drink. “So you ran into her again?”

  “I did, right outside the shop, too. Seems she has a bit of a sweet tooth, going by how she was drooling.” Meg laughed, taking a doughnut from the box. It has occasionally been speculated that doughnuts are in fact a magical girl’s source of power, and this was a theory Meg was more than happy to put to the test.

  “Doffweooru?” Yasuko said. That hadn’t come out quite as intended, so she spent a moment forcing the rest of her doughnut down and tried again. “Don’t we all?”

  “Eh, I prefer savoury stuff.”

  Yasuko pointed her glass of drink. “You’re clearly addicted to curry bread.”

  “I suspect curry bread will be the death of me, yes,” Meg said solemnly.

  Yasuko chuckled and changed subject. “Anyway, let’s hear it, I want to know about this magical girl.”

  Relaying everything she could remember, Meg finished by placing the red jewel on the glass table top, where it proceeded to sparkle, little points of red light dancing around the walls. She sat back and sipped at her drink, which had one of those odd flavours that was basically impossible to describe, but still somehow managed to be delicious.

  Yasuko took the gem and held it up to a critical eye. “I’m not aware of any natural stone that has a miniature volcano inside.”

  “Emilia said Blue’s gems are special in some way. Not sure how, though.”

  “And she had a fairy with her? Like… seriously? A proper, honest-to-goodness fairy?”

  Between nibbles of her doughnut, Meg nodded and attempted to speak. “Yeff…” She blushed and put a hand up to her mouth.

  “I used to dream of being a magical girl when I was little.” Yasuko handed the gem back.

  Taking the shiny rock, Meg placed it in a pocket for safe keeping. “So did I, probably pretty normal for young girls. Friendship, action, nice outfits, school drama, good stuff.”

  “Couple of my friends were more into beat-em-ups and action shows. But most of the girls in my class tended to be into magic and fairies and unicorns and rainbows and… you get the idea.”

  “Sounds like you were different?”

  Yasuko shrugged. “I was somewhere in the middle? I love cute things, but I also love action and explosions. Magical girl shows suited me because they often have both of those things in one neat little package.” She idly toyed with a doughnut for a moment, then glanced up. “Back to this girl…”

  “Emilia.”

  “Yeah… reckon I could meet her one day soon?”

  “I’m not sure I trust the purity of your intentions, Yacchan…” Meg said. Her best friend liked to draw people, and Meg still had a framed A4 piece of paper featuring a sketch Yasuko had done of her just after their first meeting. She looked across to one of the dressers which held the picture. “I’m not sure she’d want to be drawn, given her situation, but I’ll ask if she wants to meet you.”

  “Great!”

  “Speaking of which, I was going to go and visit today, sorry. Um… how about I introduce you the next time? I don’t want to scare her off.”

  “Scare her… Meg… you wound me.”

  “I remember our first meeting, Yacchan. You got me pissed, we slept in a park, then you forced me to sit for that picture while I was hungover and wishing for the sweet release of death. I don’t want to inflict that on Emilia.”

  “I hoped you might’ve forgotten about that.”

  “I’ll tell her about you first so she’s prepared.”

  “All right, all right, jeez,” Yasuko muttered. With that, she headed home, slouching her way down the metal staircase beside the shop, shoulders slumped in defeat.

  Meg giggled at her friend’s antics and headed back inside to get ready.

  ☆ ☆ ☆

  Later that same afternoon, Emilia received an unexpected visitor. Opening the mansion’s front door to see a grinning Meg, she invited her inside and Lifa immediately began preparing tea. Blue was presently nowhere to be seen.

  Sitting on the same sofa as before, Emilia appeared pensive. “I wonder why you weren’t affected?”

  Meg made herself comfy on the other sofa, stopping with a cup of tea halfway to her lips. “Affected by what?”

  “Normally when elementals show up they make people black out, but you were okay. I wondered why. I’ve not seen them directly attack anyone before either.”

  “You don’t say? Then why was everyone else in the area knocked out but me?” Meg asked the world at large.

  “You’re not hiding anything, right?” Emilia said with narrowed eyes.

  Meg’s cheeks warmed. “Of course not! Why, are you?”

  Now it was Emilia’s turn to blush. “No. I’m just trying to figure out why you seem different.”

  A vague shrug indicated Meg had no idea either. “Well, if I think of something I’ll tell you.” She drank a little more tea. “Actually, I couldn’t get a signal either. I wonder if that was something to do with the… the elemental monster thingy?”

  Emilia’s face screwed up. “Signal? What’s that?”

  “Like a phone signal?” Meg said, pulling her phone out and holding it up.

  “O-Oh, one of those things. I’ve got no idea, sorry.”

  Lifa chimed in here. “Thunderstorms can affect electronics, I believe? Perhaps elementals have a similar effect? They are, after all, much the same thing.”

  “Seems like there’s a lot we don’t know yet,” Meg muttered, finishing her current cup and handing it off to Lifa for a refill.

  “We’ve kind of been moving around a lot, trying to keep up with where the things appear,” Emilia said, letting out a light sigh.

  Handing a freshly filled cup to Meg, Lifa nodded. “Yes, but at the present time they appear to be localised here in Kamogawa. Most curious.”

  “First I’ve seen or heard of them,” Meg said. “Though any damage that one caused seemed to heal itself once Emilia had defeated it. Maybe no one’s noticed them yet because of that?”

  Sauntering through from the kitchen, Blue leaned against the doorframe, holding a glass of water in right hand, which he took an occasional sip from while silently observing their discussion.

  Lifa pointed a tiny finger at him. “Blue’s powers are much diminished currently, but he is generally capable of undoing most of the damage caused by the beasties. Essentially, you can think of him as a nature spirit, a personified God.”

  The light of understanding dawned on Meg’s face. “Oh… so it’s like those shows I watched as a kid? Everything reverted to normal the moment the monster of the week was defeated, but it was never really explained how. Well… not beyond ‘because magic’ anyway.”

  “Alas, I cannot comment on the shows of which you speak,” Lifa said, bowing her head for a moment, “but yes, the healing process is handled by Blue. It is also quite draining, so finding and stopping these naughty nuisances is our top priority for now.”

  Meg’s expression morphed into one of determination. “I know I can’t really do much to help, but if there’s anything you need, just ask.”

  “Thank you, we appreciate the sentiment,” Lifa said. “You still have the gem Blue graciously gifted you, Meg?”

  “Right here in my pocket,” Meg said, patting same.

  “Wonderful. Keep it with you at all times. It is a protective charm as much as a gift of friendship.” Lifa sipped her tea with a strangely satisfied smile on her lips.

  “I will, thanks.”

  An hour ticked past as they talked, discussing the city, Meg’s interests, and any other random topics that presented themselves. Before long, the sun had dipped down towards the horizon, flooding the room with warm orange.