2024-12-02 - A World Without Magic: Raiko Takshima

Title: A World Without Magic: Raiko Takashima
Summary: In the wake of Space-Time Criminal Jail Scaglietti stealing all magic for himself, magical girls everywhere fall into a deep sleep, dreaming of a life without magic. Raiko Takashima sees a vision of what might have been--and what might still be--and has a chance to say some precious words. (Expanded to include Raiko waking up.)
Who: Raiko Takashima, Kiyo Tagawa, Cheiko Otomo, Asami Yakumo, Takeshi Yakumo, Kenji Takashima, Shiori
Where: Infinity Dorms
OOC - IC Date: 12/2/2024 - Friday, June 17, 2016

Soft, rhythmic thumping filled the dorm room as Raiko studied the inside of the microwave. Not the part with the turntable, but the /inside/--she'd pulled it out from the wall, unplugged it, and removed the outer housing. Bright orange eyes traced lines of circuitry and wiring, and she'd tied her long blue hair back into a ponytail to keep it from being a distraction.

She bit her lip as she studied it. /Something/ had shorted, and she was certain she'd almost figured it out. She was /almost/ there, if she didn't lose her concentration--

"Oi, Sprocket! You done yet?"

Nope. She'd lost her train of thought. Raiko sighed, glancing over her shoulder. "I told you, I'll be done sooner if you stop asking me when I'll be done." She was dressed in sky blue overalls and a plain white t-shirt.

The dorm was lavishly appointed but still small, despite being for 3 people. Kiyo was in the middle of the living space. She was taller and more athletic than the other two, with short, unruly green hair and clear blue eyes, dressed in a pair of plain black shorts and a green tank top. She'd been practicing juggling a soccer ball, bouncing it from knee to knee to head, for at least the last 20 minutes. "C'mon, I'm getting hungry over here."

Raiko rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, maybe if you'd stop playing with your ball in the dorm, you wouldn't be so hungry."

The ball hit the floor, and Kiyo trapped it with her foot. "Well /maybe/ if you didn't insist on taking everything apart around here I could've eaten sooner."

"Oh yeah?" Raiko crossed her arms, letting her screwdriver dangle from her fingertips. "In case you forgot, /I/ was the one who fixed the baseball team's pitching machine when /someone/ hit a line drive right into it, /Ace/."

Kiyo stepped forward, the ball and her practice forgotten for the moment. "Oh yeah? And who was it /I/ had to organize a search party for on the last field trip when you went missing?"

Raiko's cheeks flushed. "I wasn't missing, I said I'd be right back," she protested hotly. "/You/ just got impatient."

"Oh please," said Kiyo with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "It was like, half an hour. And don't give me that 'you lost track of time' line again."

On the couch sat the third member of the dorm room, Cheiko. She was much more quiet, her long rose-red hair fixed up into an elaborate bun. She'd been relaxing on the couch, dressed in a t-shirt and skirt, sketching ideas in a sketchbook. She did her best to ignore the shouting, but finally her green eyes flickered up to look at the two shouting girls. "Get a room, why don't you," she muttered under her breath.

... She thought better of it when she remembered her bedroom was in between theirs. Maybe not, then.

Cheiko sighed, raising her voice and taking on a far more gentle but still firm tone. "Kiyo-chan, Raiko-chan."

Both girls paused and looked to her questioningly.

Pointing her pencil at Kiyo, Cheiko said, "We agreed to no balls in the dorm. The carpet is still stained from where you knocked my ink pot over last week."

Kiyo rubbed the back of her neck, blushing as she glanced aside. "Ahhh... yeah..."

Turning her attention to Raiko, Cheiko said, "And we agreed on a three 'oops' limit, didn't we? How many are you at?"

Raiko blinked, counting off something on her fingers, then looked chagrined. "... Oh. Five."

Cheiko raised an eyebrow at Raiko.

"Fiiiiine," said Raiko with a sigh. "I'll call maintenance." She pushed the half-disassembled microwave aside. "Sorry, Ki-chan. You're gonna have to use the stove top." Raiko moved to take a seat on the couch, while Kiyo headed to the sink and started filling a small pot.

"It's fine, the cup noodles shouldn't take /that/ long," said Kiyo quietly.

Raiko looked at the sketches in Cheiko's notebook. "Whatcha working on, Manga-chan?"

Without looking up, Cheiko said, "It's a new story about a girl who has to put up with her roommates constantly bickering, and the stress of it finally makes her snap and become a serial killer."

Kiyo and Raiko shared a glance, and both had the grace to blush.

"I mean... it /was/ sweet of you to be so concerned, Ki-chan..." admitted Raiko.

Kiyo grunted a bit as she prepared her cup noodles. "And it /was/ pretty cool how you discovered the limiter setting on the pitching machine... Probably wouldn't have scored that last home run without all that practice batting fastballs."

Both girls looked to Cheiko, who finally looked up to them and smiled. "Better."

The other two girls let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, Raiko's phone chimed, and she pulled it out of her pocket to check it. "Oh! Hey, they're ready for the video call!" She sprang up and dashed to her room to grab her laptop, coming back and setting it on the table. The screen sprang to life as she started the right app, initiated the call...

And suddenly two windows popped up, side-by-side. In the first window sat her parents. Asami Yakumo, who had the same blue hair and bright eyes, was wearing a bright yellow sundress. Her hair had been left free to drape about her shoulders. She grinned broadly and waved, "Raichan! It's so good to see you!"

Next to her sat Takeshi Yakumo, who had short brown hair and half-rimmed glasses. He was wearing a simple polo shirt, grinning as he spotted his daughter. "Rairai!"

And in the second window was an older gentleman with silver hair, wearing a shirt with the last few buttons casually undone. He smiled kindly, "Ahh, Mago-chan, it's so good to see you." He was really just a friend of the family, but he'd been so for a very long time.

Raiko beamed, addressing each one in turn, "Okachan, Otochan! Ojiisan! It's so good to see you all!"

With a meow, a calico tabby cat wandered into the room and hopped up on the table. She sniffed at the laptop screen and then mewed plaintively at the image on the screen.

Raiko laughed, standing up to pick up Shiori and sit down with the cat in her lap, petting her. "And Shiori says hi, too."

Asami laughed gently, waving to the feline on the camera. "Hiii, Shiori. It's nice to see you, too."

Raiko grinned as Shiori mewed at the camera. "Oh! And my friends are here, too!"

Cheiko leaned in close to Raiko to get into frame, smiling and offering a wave. "It's very nice to see you all again, Asami-san, Takeshi-san, Kenji-san!"

"Ahhh, Otomo-chan," said Takeshi. "It's nice to see you again as well!"

"Thank you for agreeing to have us again for our next break!" said Cheiko, doing her best to affect a bow from a seated position.

"Think nothing of it! It's always a delight to have Rairai's friends over. You're welcome anytime!" said Takeshi with a bright smile.

Cheiko smiled warmly, "You're too kind!"

Kiyo suddenly barged into the frame on the opposite side of Raiko, slinging an arm around her shoulders so she could get in close. "Hey! I'm looking forward to the trip, too! Thank you!"

Raiko laughed and playfully shoved at Kiyo's side without any real force. "H-hey! C'mon."

Asami laughed softly, smiling at the sight of her daughter flanked by her friends on the screen. "Hello, Kiyo-chan. It's nice to see you too."

The green-haired girl pointed emphatically at the screen. "Kenji-ojiisan, your teriyaki was amazing last time! Can we have some more?"

Kenji chuckled softly, "I'll see what I can do."

Raiko grinned, "Oh, I can't wait. There's so much to catch up on-- Oh! And guys, I can't wait to show you what my mom's been working on, too. It's state of the art robotics stuff, it'll be really cool, promise."

Noogying Raiko, Kiyo stood up. "As long as you don't take it apart like you did the microwave."

"Wha--hey, that's..." Raiko's cheeks flushed. "... I'd /never/ do that to one of my mom's projects."

"Yes you would," said both Kiyo and Asami in unison.

Raiko groaned and covered her face with her hands. "... is it too late to stay here for break?" she muttered.

"Yes," said Cheiko gently. "But you'll be fine."

"So, Mago-chan," started Kenji, trying to move the conversation along. "Your parents tell me you've been up to plenty of your own projects."

"Oh! Yeah!" Raiko brightened, getting up from the couch and setting Shiori down. "One sec!" she called out from over her shoulder. She came back a moment later, her arms laden with several small machines she'd built. "Some of these are hard to see, but I'll bring them with me on break. So this one--" She paused, as her phone buzzed in her pocket. "Oh, sorry, lemme check that really quick."

Raiko reached into her pocket and pulled it out, and then paused. It was a shiny metallic blue. It was a great color, especially for her, but... a moment ago it had been black.

... hadn't it?

"Ooh, Raichan," said Asami enthusiastically on the other side of the screen. "Is that your phone? Did you do that yourself?"

A bit numbly, Raiko held the phone up for the camera, the message momentarily forgotten. "Yeah, I did it when... when..."

'When I enchanted it,' came the thought.

Raiko's eyes widened as she processed the thought. /Magic/. She'd... she'd... she'd been fighting. Trying her hardest to protect everyone. But she hadn't been able to stop...

She gasped in shock, a hand flying to her mouth as she /remembered/.

Her magic had been drained. All of it. All magic, /everywhere/.

But she was /here/, and... and that meant...

Her eyes were stinging as her gaze slowly slid up to the screen, fixated on the image of her smiling parents. Her throat was locked up, her chest was tight, and as she tried to speak, to say /anything/, all that came out was a hiccup and weak, helpless laugh as something wet ran down her cheeks.

Cheiko instantly had her arm around Raiko, giving her a tight squeeze. "Raiko! Are you okay?"

Takeshi, Asami, and Kenji on the screen all frowned, leaning in. "Raiko-chan, honey," started Asami. "Is something wrong?"

Raiko shook her head furiously, though she leaned into Cheiko's embrace. "N-nothing... I-I'm just..." She felt something on her shoulder, and Raiko looked up to see Kiyo's hand there. The other girl was looking down at her with a frown, but at a loss for words. Even Shiori was nuzzling against her leg.

"I'm okay," Raiko insisted, taking a deep breath. "I-I'm just..." She managed a smile, her voice still trembling a little. "... r-really happy to be here, with... with everyone that's important to me, th-that's all."

This next part was going to hurt. She'd do it gladly, willingly, because she knew what her responsibilities were. But it didn't stop the pang of longing in her chest, or the fresh wave of tears from welling in her eyes. "B-but..." She looked at the image of her parents on the screen. "... I w-won't... I won't be able to make it home for break. There's something /really/ important I have to do, b-but I wanted to say..."

These weren't her parents. They were just the figments of a mind trying to cope with the sudden loss of her magic. They weren't real, and yet, if there was any hope that her words might reach them...

Who knew better the power of words than a witch? And what kind of a magical girl would she be if there was no room in her heart to believe in miracles, no matter how small they might be?

Somehow, she managed a smile, despite all the conflicting feelings waging a war in her. "... Okachan, otochan... Thank you. For... e-everything you've done for me. I'll never forget it. P-Promise."

"Of course, Rairai," said Takeshi, with a smile. "Just do your best, okay?"

"We're proud of you, Rai-chan," said Asami warmly. "And we always will be."

"Th-thanks." Raiko sniffed wetly as she reached over to tap the screen. The window with her parents vanished, and the image of Kenji expanded to fill the screen.

She took a moment to dry her tears, then looked to Cheiko and Kiyo. They were still rebuilding their friendship, after having fallen out for three years, but... she was more certain than ever that she wanted to keep making that effort. To Shiori, who had been faithfully looking over her, guiding her, and was as much family to her as... She looked to the screen, where Kenji's smiling face was watching her. "Jiichan... Wherever you are, I know you're still fighting, so I'll keep fighting too." To everyone else, she smiled and said, "I'll see you all soon."

There was one more precious person she needed to see, too: Yumi, who'd been so kind and patient with her, as she took her first steps to accepting her destiny.

Raiko stood up and held out her hand. In a flash of blue lights, her staff appeared. "Okay. Let's go!" She raised the staff high, letting magic flow through it as lightning started to dance upon its length. The crystal on top shone brighter and brighter until everything was a pure yellow light.