March 2021

  ***

  Seika felt utterly out of place. She sat on a blue folding chair inside a high school’s gymnasium, among various other people, who were all parents of a high school kid of graduation age. For the first time in a while, she felt too young for something.

  A young man wearing the school’s uniform and a pair of square glasses that perfectly matched his steely eyes read off a scroll, delivering the graduation speech for this year’s batch of students.

  “Just like the ephemeral beauty of cherry blossoms lasts mere weeks, the time we spent in high school must now come to an end after a mere three years. In this time, we learned much, we forged new bonds, some of which even turned into friendships which may last into our late life, and…”

  Seika’s mind already checked out of the speech. It was a standard graduation speech, almost painfully cliché, even, delivered by the school’s top scoring student who used it as an opportunity to practice speech writing for his inevitable future in politics or as CEO of a company. In short, it was utterly divorced from Seika’s own world.

  She remembered her own graduation from high school – Ayame and her pulled an all-nighter before the event, mostly owed to Seika’s Magical Girl duties, mixed with video game and anime sessions while talking about each other’s plans for college. Which might be the reason why she didn’t really remember the speech given at her own graduation, since the two troublemakers could barely keep their eyes open the next day.

  She looked over the crowd of high school students: all them wore their uniforms properly and followed the speech with dutiful interest, some of them even got emotional and wiped away some tears. Seika could sympathize; while her own high school life was way more hectic than that of others, she knew full well that this was the last time one really mingled with all sorts of different personalities and had a lot of free time to follow their interests, be it through clubs or after-school activities. Most of the people here would enter college or university and dedicate themselves seriously to their studies soon after with little room for frivolity, save for the occasional get-together and, naturally, the first taste of alcohol once they hit their twenties.

  In that crowd of hopeful youths, however, she spotted two girls whose uniforms were very short of violating the school’s dress code: the blazers were open, the ties were loose, as were their socks, with colorful accents added here and there and their skirts worn dangerously short. Those were Miyu and Momo, the black sheep of their class, as far as Seika understood. If she told the people around her that they were the Celestial Sisters, the world-famous Magical Girl idols, no one would ever believe her.

  They grinned and waved at Seika in a rather exaggerated manner, and she could feel the people’s annoyance with them turn on her, who was just identified as the girls’ guardian. Seika grinned awkwardly and shrunk a little in her seat, wishing for the ceremony to finally come to an end.

  ***

  “Hahaha, Paisen, some people looked like they were totes angry with you! Sorry, sorry!” After leaving the gym Momo laughed cheerfully while she patted Seika’s back, who let out a long sigh but still managed to smile.

  “Why did you ask me to come, anyway?”

  “Well… you’re the next best thing to a proper guardian we have,” Momo said and turned her head away, causing Seika to immediately raise her hands in a calming gesture.

  “Sorry. I forgot that that was a sore topic for you.”

  She looked at Miyu after, who clutched her left wrist with her right hand, looking at a spot on the ground. She was an orphan, as far as Seika knew; she was only told last week. A girl constantly chastised by her parents for her supposed stupidity and a girl without parents. Seika could feel gall at the back of her throat as she realized that the High Enchantress probably picked them because they would be easy to control by giving them the means to be important to others.

  “Well!” Momo announced with a sigh. “I’d rather have you as my, like, mom, anyway.”

  Seika’s eyes widened and she took a step back from them both, stammering.

  “Y-your… m-mom?! What are you saying, Momo?!”

  “Ohh… good idea, Momo!” Miyu grinned and wrapped an arm around Seika’s shoulders. “What do you say, Paisen. Want two pretty gals to call you ‘mommy’ from now on?"

  “Absolutely not! I’m way too young for that!” Seika protested, gently separating herself from the gyaru’s embrace while the girls took her reaction with hearty laughter.

  “Well, you’re our, like, cool aunt then, how about that?” Momo asked with a wide grin, hugging Seika from behind.

  “I guess I can work with that…” Seika said with a little sigh, but she smiled regardless. These two girls embracing her filled her with a sense of warmth she hadn’t experienced in a while. After her short contemplation, she noticed something from the corner of her eye, and as she looked up at nearby buildings she could see a blue glow on a rooftop.

  “She’s still too shy about her identity, hm? But she came to visit, nonetheless”

  “Haha, well, that’s the most love we’ll get from her right now,” Miyu chuckled. Momo let go of Seika and grinned, then she waved at a nearby classmate.

  “Subaru, dear, could you, like, take a photo of us?” she asked with an angelic smile and handed the girl her phone, who tilted her head quizzically and inspected Seika.

  “Who’s that? A relative of yours?”

  “She’s our cool auntie!” Miyu said without hesitation.

  ***

  June 2025

  ***

  Seika blinked into the first rays of sunlight that broke through the curtains in front of the bedroom window. She felt very warm as the embrace from two gyaru in her dream was now replaced by the embrace of her two lovers, Miori on her right side, and Ayame on her left. She thought about her dream – no, her memory. These two gyaru, who looked up to her, who she trained from their earliest days as Magical Girls; they viewed her as family. She finally remembered the story behind one of the photographs and couldn’t help but smile, even as it came with a small aching in her heart.

  A desire manifested, and she didn’t quite know what to do with it. At least not yet.

  I want to have a family of my own.

  A colorful assembly of humans passed through the streets of Shibuya and Harajuku which bordered Yoyogi park. Every person in this procession wore a shirt or waved a little flag with rainbow stripes on it; some waved flags with white, baby blue and pink stripes as well, and others even combined those elements with a baby blue, pink, white, brown and black chevron cutting into the rainbow. Cars drove alongside the parade, with people standing on floats wearing drag or other colorful outfits waving at the people who were chanting ‘Love is love!’ and similar slogans. It wasn’t just Japanese attendants, either: there were teams from various Tokyo embassies in attendance, proudly displaying their countries’ flags next to the rainbow and pastel-colored flags. Tokyo Rainbow Pride usually took place in April, but this year marked the 30th anniversary, and thus the event was renamed into simply ‘Tokyo Pride’ and rescheduled to June to line up with other global Pride events. Seika, Miori and Ayame walked in this parade; Seika and Ayame waved flags with their free hands while they held Miori’s with their other, and the three walked together. Ayame was radiant, clothed in a red dress over a white shirt and a ruffled petticoat underneath. Whenever her skirt fluttered it looked like a flower blooming underneath, only elevating her beauty, which was perfectly underlined by her smile. She also wore a necklace on which a hollow silver heart dangled, intertwined with an infinity symbol. It stood for polyamory, Ayame told Seika earlier. Seika admired her for a while, and then Miori, who gave her hand a little squeeze.

  “I’ve never been to one of these!” Miori admitted with a little smile towards her lovers, and Seika nodded.

  “Me neither. I never really had the time to… figure myself out, if you want to put it that way.”

  Ayame looked at them with a challenging smirk before she looked ahead again. “Well, now you’re with me! I’ve attended these ever since I graduated, you know.”

  “Because it’s important to make ourselves visible?” Seika inquired, recalling what Miori told her during their cherry blossom date.

  “That’s right, dear Seika! Make yourselves visible, so that the big shots in the government see that you exist and deserve to have the same rights as everyone else, because one of these days, you’ll want to marry your cute little Miori, and I want to stand there next to the altar as your maid of honor! Before attending the wedding night, of course.”

  “Cute little-” Miori couldn’t help but laugh as she looked over to Seika, then to Ayame. She was taller than both of them.

  “You know how I mean it, young Miori! Ahh, how I love to remember the girl with little stars in her eyes eyeing our lolita selection…” Ayame recounted dramatically with a laugh and Miori bumped her hip into her in return.

  “I really want to hear the story how you two met some time.” Seika mused, observing the two as they kept bumping into each other with their hips and laughed.

  “Well, the parade is still going on for two more kilometers, so we have time, don’t we?” Ayame grinned; Miori’s eyes however widened.

  “What? Now? In the middle of the parade?”

  “No better place to tell the story of your awakening than here, young Miori! So, once upon a time, a young girl noticed that she felt way more confident when wearing pretty clothes, and…”

  ***

  The parade reached Yoyogi park, where many booths, food stalls and even a stage were erected. Now that the attendants reached their destination, they dispersed, browsing the offers on display, mingled, or assembled in front of the large stage in anticipation.

  “I never knew you needed to wear your clothes to feel more comfortable in your skin, Miori… don’t tell me I get to take the lead because you’re… undressed.”

  “N-no! Not just because of that!” Miori stammered and Ayame let out a loud laugh, wrapping her arms around Miori from behind.

  “She’s way more polite and timid when she’s not wearing her lolita fashion, but you’re in charge because she wants you to be in charge, my dearest Seika.”

  Miori blushed furiously, but didn’t deny Ayame’s claim, instead looking at Seika with an awkward smile as she leaned against Ayame.

  “I really liked the way you held me after saving me. I think it left a lasting impression on me!” she explained, and Seika couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “No worries, then. I’ll be your hero and hold you as much as you want me to.”

  Her words had the desired effect, as Miori only turned even redder, looking to the side with a wide grin.

  “But now, you two! Let’s have some fun. We still have half an hour before Lu…” Ayame caught herself before she blurted out the names. “…before our friends perform.” Ayame looked around and grinned, putting a finger on her lips. The Celestial Sisters’ appearance during Tokyo Pride was a secret; given their fame, if they publicly announced their appearance, they would choke out the event and leave no space for the actual participants of the LGBTQ community. A surprise act to show their support.

  She grabbed both Seika’s and Miori’s hands, pulling them along with a wide smile to visit the booths and stalls together.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  ***

  The group grabbed a handful of snacks. Yakitori, mochi, takoyaki, whatever they were in the mood for – and they were in a mood for a lot of snacks today. They visited a few of the booths, too, which were erected by the city’s embassies and companies, detailing their efforts in furthering LGBTQ+ acceptance in their respective countries and companies. Seika thought back to Magic Collection publishing; as far as she could remember it was never truly a topic there, though Watanabe recently proposed a few campaigns to promote the company’s yuri works, including ‘The Starfaring Maiden’, ‘My Friend, the Magical Girl’, and ‘A Lifetime of Adventure at Sea’ – Mana Kanno included more yuri scenes, safe for work, of course, given that she was officially too young to read, let alone write spicier scenes, and lessened the role of Marco in her final draft of volume 1, which was released a while ago.

  Standing in the middle of all these people who proudly showed off who they were made her realize how far back she pushed her own desires the past decade. Lethe’s terror made her too afraid to allow herself to grow close to anyone, and if she did anyway, she was snatched away and made to forget or forced to bear witness to Miori’s memories being erased in turn. She never had time to even think about where her attractions would place her in society, and she deeply felt the loss of a decade again.

  She shook those thoughts partially off as she heard music from the big stage. Instrumental versions of Celestial Sisters songs played, announcing the impending start of the idols’ performance. Ayame, Miori and Seika found a good spot in front of the stage to watch the performance, and Miori even brought light sticks for everyone in her handbag.

  “Hellooooo, Tokyo Pride!” Luna’s voice boomed through the speakers and the two idols stepped onto the stage. Instead of their usual Magical Girl outfits they wore variants – they kept their Magical Girl silhouette, but these featured the bright colors of the flags surrounding them. Ayame grinned and bumped her elbows against both Miori and Seika’s arms.

  “I made those, you know!”

  Seika raised a brow but couldn’t help herself and reciprocated Ayame’s grin. Atelier Antoinette had recently become the official supplier of the Celestial Sisters after the two idols requested Ayame’s services personally. Originally, she wanted to decline; that level of nepotism, just because they were all victims of the same monster and in the same friend group, was a little off-putting to Ayame, but Miyu and Momo kept insisting until Ayame agreed. Nevertheless, Ayame put her all into creating the new designs for the new Magical Girl outfits, which bore design elements hinting at their mentors per their request. And as was obvious today, they kept requesting Ayame’s services for special occasions as well.

  “Can I hear you all chant ‘love is love’?” Sol now shouted for the crowd, scanning the audience. She gave the trio a little wink as she saw them before she led the crowd in their cheers and their chants both. Before long the idol duo opened with Magical Beam Heart, their all-time crowd-pleaser. In lieu of stage lighting, the venue installed confetti cannons. In semi-regular intervals they fired red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple confetti onto the stage, as well as baby blue, pink and white. Seika, Miori and Ayame shook their light sticks and joined into the cheering – though both Miori and Ayame watched with wide eyes as Seika entered a mix chant during the first instrumental break.

  “Tiger, Fire, Cyber, Fiber, Diver, Viber, Jyaa jyaa!!”

  The shout was only accompanied by a few other voices, and soon after they fell silent. Seika blinked and looked around; only a few other people had joined in, while the rest watched them with some stunned amazement. She felt her face heating up as it dawned on her that this was a special event at a venue with fewer idol otaku than usual, given that there were many more musical acts to come. She heard Luna laugh on stage.

  “We have a few of our super fans here, too! Don’t you love when people bring all their enthusiasm to a show?” A few laughs accompanied her words, but it broke the awkward stares, at the very least.

  “We’re honored to be here today, Tokyo Pride! And I’m sorry that it took us so long! Which of you heard the news about us?” Sol now chimed in, looking over the crowd; most people shouted their answers or raised their hands, and she gave them a little smile.

  “Luna and I have been in… sort of a relationship for a while, but last year we confessed to each other properly. We didn’t want to immediately come out, due to the fear of being rejected by our fans. And true enough, quite a few overseas fans and some at home have given up on us after our reveal. Some think this is just business yuri to boost sales.”

  Luna took over again. “And this is why we are here today! We want to tell you: this is real! We are in love, and we are willing to stand together with all of you, so that one day everyone in this country and the world can live their lives the way they want as whoever they want to be, and love and marry whoever they want!”

  Luna stopped there, and the crowd gave a little applause. She cleared her throat and looked over to Sol, grabbing her hand and holding it before she continued.

  Seika looked on and felt a strange tug in her chest. Marriage. She told herself just a few weeks ago that it wouldn’t be a topic for her for a long time yet, but here she was, contemplating the words of the two idols in front of her. Her encounter with her supposed daughter from the future and her memory of the Celestial Sisters being like family to her brought all kinds of thoughts bubbling to the surface, but Luna’s voice yanked her back into reality.

  “Well, that was heavy! Let’s lighten the mood some more with music, what do you say?”

  The Celestial Sisters performance went on for three more songs; a short concert, but they weren’t the only performers at Tokyo Pride, after all. Many smaller acts were yet to perform, and the two idols asked the crowd to support them just as strongly as they did the pair of celebrities.

  Miori stowed the light sticks in her handbag and Seika could tell that she studied her face. She turned towards her girlfriend and tilted her head, but Miori simply responded with a smile and declared. “I’m parched after cheering for them. Do you two want something to drink as well?”

  “Oh, I’ll have a beer!” Ayame declared with a cheerful grin – Seika raised a brow at Miori’s sudden offer but decided to go with the flow. “I’ll have one, too. Will you be alright, though?”

  “Don’t worry about me, Seika. I’m just going to get some tea instead.” With a quick kiss on both Seika’s and Ayame’s cheeks the gothic lolita vanished into the crowd towards the nearest food stall.

  “So, my dearest Seika. What’s going on in that head of yours, hm?” Ayame stepped next to Seika and grinned, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

  “…Why am I getting the feeling that both my girlfriends are telepathically communicating and leaving me out?” Seika observed with a raised brow.

  “Oh, nothing dramatic like that. We both saw your face during Luna and Sol’s little speech up there and you were like an open book. Then we just needed to look at each other to confirm that you need to talk to someone about it.” Ayame kept smiling at Seika, and she responded in kind, gently grabbing Ayame’s hand and squeezing it.

  “…I want us to be a family. A real family. I haven’t told Miori yet, but during the whole thing with Lethe, I was saved by a strange girl from the future, and she called me mama. I think we’re going to adopt her, but I… I don’t know how.” Seika stared at the ground until she felt Ayame’s hand on her cheek, gently lifting her head again.

  “That does sound very strange. I guess you’re worried about the law not allowing you to marry or adopt, hm?”

  Seika nodded in response to Ayame’s question. “And… even if it is legal at some point… I can only marry one of you. I don’t know what to do.”

  Now Ayame laughed, and Seika looked at her incredulously. The beautiful woman in front of her took a while to calm down before she took a deep breath.

  “Then marry Miori, you dummy!” she said, wiping away a tear of laughter. She enjoyed the sight of a stumped Seika before she continued.

  “Does a piece of paper or a government registry really change what we are to each other, Seika? Of course not. Marry Miori, or, if it still remains unavailable to you when you decide to take that step, get an entry in the Partnership Oath System. Adopt that strange child. None of that will diminish what I mean to you, or what you mean to me, alright? So, stop worrying!”

  Seika grinned awkwardly, looking Ayame in the eyes. “It’s that simple, huh?”

  “Always has been,” Ayame retorted with a wink and Seika gave her a bashful smile in return.

  “Just... don’t mention it to Miori. Not yet at least.”

  “Hm, which part?”

  “All of it. The strange girl from the future and that I want to marry her. The latter should be a little surprise.” Seika chuckled as Ayame gave her a thumbs-up in confirmation. The carefree attitude clashed a little with the fashion designer’s stylish appearance. She was mischief incarnate in an elegant package.

  “You two seem to be having fun.” Miori said as she approached with three drinks in her hands and two familiar gyaru in tow. The two changed out of their idol outfits since the end of their performance, wearing their usual getup. Both had rainbow-colored face paint on their cheeks, as well as matching Pride wristbands and pins. Momo immediately jumped Seika, clinging to her side.

  “Yahoo, Paisen!”

  Miori chuckled at the display and handed Ayame and Seika the requested beer before sipping on her tea.

  “Did you talk about everything that was on your mind, Seika?” There was a mischievous spark in her girlfriend’s eyes, like she most certainly knew what the two talked about, but she insisted on playing ignorant. Seika nodded in return.

  “Good! Then let’s enjoy the rest of this day, with the five of us, alright?”

  Seika furrowed her brow, studying an infographic on her smartphone as she waited for her father’s arrival home.

  Today she was visiting her childhood home, together with Ayame and Miori, two weeks after the Pride parade. Her mother was eagerly talking with them both, especially Ayame, who she already knew from Seika’s childhood. Seika could hear snippets of conversation, even as her attention was focused on the device in her hand; she was a hundred percent certain she heard something about her mother rooting for Ayame and Seika to get together since they were sixteen, expressed surprise at the triad relationship, curious and well-meaning, but uninformed questions about Seika’s and Ayame’s involvement in the LGBTQ community, and so forth. And of course, Miori got the full introduction as well.

  Seika was glad that things were going smoothly, as far as she could tell, since Miori told her that her own mother’s acceptance of their relationship only came after some initial pains – not because her mother was homophobic, but because she hated Magical Girls.

  Seika rubbed her eyes, groaning as the graphic she was looking at gave her a mild headache. It was an infographic by the metropolitan government of Tokyo detailing the process of swearing a Partnership Oath. It was essentially a slip of paper which gave limited rights similar to those of a married couple, mostly pertaining to issues of housing, hospital visitation, or the partner’s consent for surgical procedures. Currently Seika and Miori were registered as roommates in their own apartment, so she hoped that this system would let them rectify that, but she didn’t have high hopes.

  It was even more limited in scope than Seika imagined, especially given that it expressively stated that the partnership certificate is not legally binding – meaning if they ran into a doctor who didn’t like them at a hospital, he had every right to flat out refuse them any of the rights it was supposed to grant.

  And for just that I have to jump through all of these bureaucratic hoops? No wonder Miyu and Momo are set on demanding proper marriage equality.

  “Have you ever considered coming to my world to get married, Seika? We aren’t that... close-minded.”

  Seika stopped for a moment and considered Minerva’s words, but her train of thought was interrupted as her father entered the living room and looked around in surprise. He was still the kind-hearted man with a perpetually stern face, though his hair sported quite a few grey spots these days.

  “Well, that’s quite a few guests. Is something special happening? And hello, Ayame! I haven’t seen you in years! I thought you two had a falling out or something.”

  Seika got up and greeted her father, offering him a smile.

  “Thank you with your help getting that photocopier and fax machine replaced. I think my boss would have actually been upset if we had to get a more expensive model.”

  “Ha! Everything for my daughter. Besides, wasn’t it an incident? Look at you, you’re even scarred from it! How could anyone blame you for that?”

  “Well...” Seika looked at her two girlfriends before she looked her father in the eyes and took a deep breath.

  This will take a while.

  Seika sat back down on the couch, between Ayame and Miori, gesturing for her father to sit down as well, and then she told her parents everything – about her being a Magical Girl, about Lethe, and her unconventional relationship.

  ***

  “Two girlfriends!” Her father exclaimed for the third time – it kind of annoyed Seika how he focused on that while her confession that she was a Magical Girl was being ignored.

  “She’s always been a little greedy, our Seika. I remember when I asked her which figure she wanted, Nanoha or Sakura, and she just said ‘both’!" Her mother chimed in, smiling radiantly at their guests.

  “...really?” Seika groaned as she looked at her mother, who grinned from ear to ear as she engaged in the time-honored tradition of parents embarrassing their adult children with childhood stories.

  “Well, she’s taking good care of both her dolls right now!” Ayame joined in and all of them shared a laugh while Seika sank deeper into the couch.

  “Are you all just ignoring the Magical Girl part? At least call me crazy or a liar or something!” she protested now, and her parents exchanged a quick glance before they laughed.

  “It was pretty obvious, wasn’t it, darling?” her father asked her mother.

  “It was!” she concurred.

  “What…?” Seika stared at them, her mind churning with possible blunders which may have given away her secret.

  “Well, for starters, you completely changed after the Kawaguchi Incident. Some might say you got traumatized, but no, you looked like you had a duty to uphold. Like you found your purpose in life,” her mother continued, offering her daughter a gentle smile.

  “And it made sense. You were the only person who went missing and came back – and then the second incident happened, and this Magical Girl appeared and there were no casualties at all,” her father continued.

  “And once merchandise for real Magical Girls popped up you bought it for all of them, except Minerva Crimson. That was a little out of character, wasn’t it? So, all in all, it was very easy to piece together what happened. And we decided to play into your delusion that you’re keeping it a secret from us,” her mother finally concluded.

  “Ugh…” Seika sunk back into the couch and both Miori and Ayame patted her shoulders.

  “…four years of sneaking around to make sure you don’t find out and you’re telling me you knew?”

  “That about sums it up,” her father confirmed, and Seika buried her face in her hands with a loud groan.

  Still, she couldn’t help but smile after a while…

  ***

  Sorry for the interruption. What were you about to suggest earlier?

  Seika stepped into her childhood bedroom, sitting down on the edge of the bed with a nostalgic smile. Miori and Ayame were still in the living room, talking to her parents, and from what she could tell, her parents quickly warmed up to Miori, while they naturally already knew Ayame and welcomed her as Seika’s girlfriend with ease.

  “It won’t count in your world, but if you intend to marry these two, then I would suggest coming to my home. I’m sure Juno would happily officiate! She does preside over marriage, after all.”

  Seika smiled and closed her eyes.

  What is a marriage in your world like?

  “Not much different! The bride and groom, or in this case just the brides, get to swear their oaths in front of Juno, then the one designated as the bride has to be abducted from her parents’ house by the groom and…”

  Come again?

  “It’s only for pretend! So that the Lares don’t think the bride abandoned them!”

  You lost me…

  She could hear Minerva’s chuckle in the back of her head before the otherworldly woman continued.

  “You’ll see when it’s time. If you want, that is.”

  I’ll give it some thought. I promise.