Akihabara, Tokyo. Friday, 4:23 PM.

Eighteen year old Kari Tachibana watched the afternoon news recap of last week's incursion while sipping on bubble tea. She had sucked up all the tapioca balls and was only left with milk tea hopped up on sugar. Even though she explicitly asked the barista to make it half-sweet he added four pumps of syrup instead of two.

"Eugh… I don't even want to drink this anymore…" she muttered, dumping the rest into the trash can. It landed hard on its side at the bottom of the bin and exploded. "Oops."

Some poor janitor was going to have a miserable time cleaning that.

Whatever, she thought. Someone else's problem anyway.

Her attention returned to the television in time to witness the trio of magical girls cut through a crawling monstrosity. Flare, Candy, and Jade gave each other a round of high-fives before going back to finish the job. Their respective anthems, small fairies that looked like rejected plush toys from a manufacturing line, followed close behind to provide support.

Midori Ward in Chiba City was attacked last week. One of many attacks by horrifying monsters from god knows where plaguing the world, and the only defense against them were young women in idol costumes empowered by mystical powers.

Kari wondered how it would be to live like those magical girls who were practically celebrities and heroes. That wonder quickly vanished, drowned out by her friends' groaning.

"Aw. You were so close, Gouda! One more time? Please?" Chie urged her boyfriend to go again.

"Okay, okay. Tetsuo, spot me another round," Gouda asked his little brother.

They were busy busting their wallets over the crane game. Gouda, the third year student with a combover, had spent all his yen trying to get a baby chick plush for his girlfriend Chie. Meanwhile, Tetsuo ignored him to flirt with Makina whose displeasure couldn't be more obvious.

Kari was beginning to feel like a fifth wheel. If only Makina would tell Tetsuo off already. Seeing him remotely near her left a bad taste. He gave nothing but bad vibes.

"Who cares about the plush. Let's go watch a movie or something. I'll cover your ticket, but you can forget it if I'm fueling your crane game attempts. The girls wanna see that new horror flick," Tetsuo said, inching closer to Makina only for her scoot away.

"You guys go ahead first. I'm going to get another bubble tea. Hopefully the barista doesn't mess up my order again," Kari said, making her way out of the arcade and satisfied that Tetsuo's attempts to flirt with Makina were failing.

"I'll tag along so she doesn't go alone!" Makina told the others.

The two of them linked arms once they exited the arcade center and out into the beating sun of Tokyo's summer. Makina beamed with her usual smile framed by curly dark brown hair that never failed to make Kari weak. Affection was never her strong suit. All the girls in their extended friend group hugged and held hands all the time. It didn't mean anything. They were just a cuddly bunch, but she always put her foot down on it.

Not with Makina. Somehow, Kari couldn't refuse her. It might have to do with them being friends since grade school. Makina was only ever like this when they were alone together. Around the others, it was like she had to put up a front.

"What are you going to get?" Kari asked as they walked into the cafe.

Makina gaped. "You were serious?"

"Uh, yeah?" Kari returned her friend's stare with the same confusion.

"I just wanted to get away from Tetsuo. Ugh. Ever since Gouda invited his brother last month, he's been all over me every chance he gets." She gripped the air in front of her like it was Tetsuo's head she was clutching.

"Why don't you tell him off straight? Guys are shit at catching hints. Look how long it took Gouda to realize Chie was into him. Tetsuo can't miss a blunt shut down."

They gave their orders, and Kari made sure to be extra insistent that her drink be half-sweetened. Now it was up to the damn baristas not to screw up again. While waiting off to the side, Makina's phone was getting blown up with notifications until she put it on silent.

"Gross. It's Tetsuo again. He's saved me a seat away from you guys. Even sent a selfie of himself with popcorn and one drink with two straws in it. Honestly, he should go to hell. Gouda, too, for giving him my number." She grimaced.

"Alright, alright. If you don't want to deal with them anymore, just say I got a stomach ache and you're taking me home," Kari said.

Makina lit up like a torch. She threw her arms over Kari and almost knocked themselves into other customers.

"You're the best! I love you so much! We should go karaoke for a bit before going home," she suggested, completely ignorant to how much those words made Kari's heart throb.

At what point did these feelings emerge? Kari was neither a fool nor an innocent maiden. She knew exactly what love was. What troubled her was whether or not Makina was aware, and if that touchy-feely affectionate side of her friend had anything to do with it.

The two of them grabbed their drinks, and Makina again, linked arms with her as they left the cafe.

"How is it?" Makina asked.

Kari took a sip and swirled the milk tea in her mouth. "They did it right the second time, I'll be damned. Wouldn't put it past them to mess it up next time."

Without warning, Makina clamped her lips on the straw of Kari's drink. She gulped down a fourth of it in one go before pulling away.

"That was mine…" Kari murmured to herself and stared at the straw where her friend's lips were just perched.

Akiba had everything. They didn't need to go far to find a karaoke place. In fact, it was right across the street from the movie theater that Gouda and the others were currently at. Kari and Makina forged the white lie about feeling under the weather. Gouda and Chie didn't really mind, but Tetsuo was not happy about it at all.

At least he had a jumbo-sized soft drink and popcorn to keep himself company.

With the rest of the afternoon to themselves, Makina sang her heart out— or rather, sang out the frustration from being so aggressively pursued. Kari declined to participate. She was content watching and listening to Makina.

"Hwuaahh… I'm beat! Ditching those guys was the right choice," Makina said, sitting down next to Kari and laying a head on her shoulder.

"Really? You're going to do that while all sweaty?" Kari thought about shrugging that shoulder to shake Makina off, but decided against it after taking one look at her.

"But you won't mind at all." She giggled. "Just for a few minutes so I can rest my eyes."

Makina raised both hands in front of her chest, fingers dancing gracefully across the empty space upon an imaginary piano. She often fell into bouts like this. A prodigious young girl who spent more time on the piano than in her academic studies. The way her lithe fingers moved, Kari could almost hear the song.

In fact…

"Mariage d'amour, Paul de Senneville," Kari blurted out.

"Someone's been watching me play. How did you know?" Makina started poking Kari in the ribs.

"You said it was your favorite piece. When I saw your fingers tapping, it sort of clicked," she answered.

Mariage d'amour. Wedding of Love. The musical piece had an odd history. Composed by Paul de Senneville and first played by Richard Clayderman, it rose to popularity due to people misattributing it to Chopin. When Kari first made the mistake of thinking it was Chopin who composed it, Makina flew into such a rage that she was determined never to get it wrong again.

"I plan to play it at the Ueno Music Arts Festival. You'll come right? It's only a short bus ride away. You better go!" she declared.

"I'll go! I already promised to go last month. You don't have to keep reminding me. Here, I even have it marked on my calendar." Kari showed Makina her phone, which had the arts festival date marked on August 10th.

Satisfied with the response, Makina returned her head to Kari's shoulder, much to her dismay. The two of them sat there in silence. Kari watched the analog clock tick. It had only been sixty seconds, but for some reason it seemed like an eternity. Just how long was Makina going to stay like this?

"Noticed you watching the magical girls on the news earlier. I thought they didn't interest you?" Makina asked.

"It could have been the animal channel, and I'd watch that over Gouda wasting his allowance on a crane game." Kari scoffed at the idea that he had gone so broke, Tetsuo basically paid for Chie and his brother's date.

"You're dodging my question." Her friend glanced up and was pouting, their faces mere inches away from each other.

"Why do you want to know what I think so badly?" Kari asked, but knew by the look on Makina's face she wasn't letting it go until she got an answer. "They don't interest me at all. I mean, what's so fun about fighting monsters all day. I'd rather hit up the arcade or mall."

Makina's pouty cheeks deflated. She held a hand out, preparing to flick Kari's forehead.

"Anything but that!" Kari quickly shielded her forehead with both hands.

"That's a cop out answer," she said.

"Okay, you gremlin. What about you? Do they interest you at all, seeing as you're the one who brought it up?"

The truth was, Kari already knew Makina was into the magical girls. Who wasn't at this point? Jade and Candy were her favorites, as evidenced by all the posters in her room.

"Hmmm… Same answer as yours." Makina grinned.

Kari felt Makina's hand move on top of hers. She glanced back up to her friend's face and they locked eyes. Makina leaned in like she was about to kiss her— no, she was definitely going for a kiss. Her mind blanked out and was going to let it happen…

Until a rumbling robbed them of the moment.

"An earthquake?" Makina asked.

"Do you hear that? It's coming from outside," Kari said, listening carefully past the ticking clock to the sound of muffled screams on the other side of the wall.

Both of them rushed out into the karaoke lobby to find the attendant hiding under the counter and cowering. They saw right away why— an incursion.

Head hounds, four-legged creatures the size of horses with enlarged caricatured human faces, chased people down in the streets. A large number of the monsters stampeded into the theater across the road where Gouda and the others were watching a movie. Those three couldn't know what was going on outside yet.

Her heart sank. She pulled her phone out with every intention to warn them, to tell them to get the hell out of there, but her fingers locked up.

"What do we do?!" Makina cried.

What should they do? Stay put and wait for the magical girls to arrive? Or—

A head hound pressed its toothy, grinning face against the window, giggling like a hyena. Condensation from its breath ebbed and flowed on the glass. It stared right at them, backed up a few steps, and charged through.

Kari threw herself on top of Makina to shield her from the shards of glass. The head hound fell and skidded across the lobby, its face only inches away from chomping off their legs. 

The adrenaline kicked in. She grabbed a fire extinguisher from the ground and hurled it against the wall behind the attendant's counter. It burst and sputtered, drawing the head hound's attention away and to the attendant instead.

"I want to go home… I want to go home…" Makina whimpered, clutching herself.

"Stay with me and don't look back!" Kari took her hand and ran out as the karaoke attendant uttered a blood curdling scream.

Outside was sheer panic. Dozens of head hounds raced up and down the street in a sick game of tag. Those unlucky enough to get caught in their jaws were made chew toys and snacks out of. Police officers entered the scene armed with assault rifles, but guns could only stop so many. They were quickly getting outnumbered and beaten back.

Whichever way Kari turned, monsters blocked the path.

"This way!" Kari's eyes darted all over the place, searching for a clear path to escape. She made a sharp curve around an avenue with less traffic, but that proved to be a mistake. A speeding car headed right for them. The driver panicked and swerved hard to avoid them, crashing into a street light.

Makina's grip went limp. She had passed out and wouldn't wake up no matter what Kari did. Three head hounds giggled as they surrounded them.

"Fuck… Somebody help!"

Flying in from above, just in the nic of time was a magical girl. She wore a green and white dress, and wielded a large spear. It was Jade, the quiet hothead of the trio that protected Japan.

"H-Help us!" Kari pleaded to her.

Jade took one look at them, grimaced, and flew off.

"What…? Why… Come back…"

The only person capable of saving her and Makina, the heroes lauded by the public, abandoned them in their time of need. The hero Makina had posters of in her room? Kari's eyes twitched. She was too angry to be scared, but held Makina tightly to her nonetheless.

"COME BACK HERE, YOU BITCH!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

All that approached were the giggling head hounds.

Kari shut her eyes and waited for the jaws of death, but something like a digital interface appeared. Texts flitted across her vision, followed by a squeaky voice that spoke in her mind.

Yep. You definitely have potential. Do you want to live and protect your friend? the whimsical voice asked. If so, put that on.

She opened her eyes and saw black ring set with a smooth red gem. She didn't question it. She wanted to live. She wanted Makina to live. Most of all, she wanted to continue being with her, and so did the only sensible thing— put the ring on like the voice told her to.

[Synching soul power… synching… synching… Apocalypse System activated. 

Generating profile now...

Your skills are as follows:

Wanton Smash(10), Stampede(12), Apocalypse Power-Up!(30), Stand Firm(5).]

She returned to her senses, head spinning and resisting the urge to vomit. Stomach acid burned the inner linings of her throat. Tears welled around the corner of her eyes.

The shadow of three head hounds loomed over them, but they hesitated.

"N-No! Stay back!" Kari screamed.

"Don't be afraid. You have the power to fight back! Use the Apocalypse System to protect yourself and your friend!" an anthem in the form of a rabbit shouted to her from above.

Fight? Could she fight them? Her arms and legs trembled. She was so scared, the piss in her bladder was going to leak out.

But if she didn't do anything, she was going to die. If she died, Makina would die.

The head hounds lunged forward. As they did, the world around Kari appeared to slow down. She remembered from watching the news earlier that magical girls yelled their skill names when fighting. Just a second ago, her own skills flashed across the screen. But which one should she use?

Kari thought of Makina's smile, gritted her teeth, and screamed the first thing she remembered, "WANTON SMASH!"

What happened next was a blur. Her arms were sore as hell. The head hounds that tried to attack her had been smashed as flat as pancakes, oozing black blood like syrup. She carried Makina away before more head hounds could find them, then collapsed in an alley between two tall buildings.

"Makina… Hey, wake up! Come on…" Kari pleaded tearfully, patting her friend's face.

"Nnh… What… happened?" Makina's eyes opened slightly, but snapped wide open a second later. "Kari, is that you? What's wrong with your eyes?"

"Thank god, you're okay— Yeah, it's me. What are you even saying?" she asked.

From the reflection in Makina's gaze, she saw the red crosses in each of her own eyes. Kari got the answer looking at her own body. The school uniform had been replaced with a black and red outfit, with frills like that of the magical girls she saw on the news. When she thought to seek answers from Makina, her friend stared past her.

The rabbit anthem that had yelled at her earlier floated listlessly with a grin and applauded.

"That's right. Kari is a new magical girl, and you survived your first fight! Hooray!" He set off party poppers filled with confetti that landed around them.

Text from the system began to display in her vision just like earlier.

[System message incoming…

…

…

…

System message received. Displaying message now…

 

The fate of your world teeters on the precipice of annihilation. Billions will die. Your loved ones will perish.

This power is gifted to you to tip the balance. Will you expedite earth's doom or become its savior?

Be wary, for others have cast their die from different corners of the table.

Apocalypse is coming, Kari Tachibana.]