Chương 6: Prologue 06 – Road Trip

Dressed in her best pink dress, best pink tights, best dress shirt with lace cuffs, best hat, and new best sword that her big sisters got her as a decanting day present, Meiya landed lightly outside of the Quiet Rise train station, the green venecite that had been wrapped around her for lift dissipating as she terminated her flight spell.

"Hey, Meiya," Rain greeted, waving at her.

"Did you remember your letter?" Meiya reached down into the satchel hanging from her sheath harness.

"Right here," she said proudly as she drew out the sealed envelope where it had been tucked next to her lunch bento. On the front was written, "To Magical Girl Stardancer". She couldn't put Kaede's real name down, after all. What if one of Stardancer's enemies got hold of the letter and learned her secret identity? Like her, Rain was wearing her best clothes, with a yellow blazer instead of a hoodie, her nice top hat and a yellow bow tie.

Indeed, there were a lot of bow ties and nice hats around, as no one wanted to look slovenly for the picture they would be taking. Tomoko had exchanged her cravat for a bow tie, and her dress had an added collar and cuffs for formality, while Chloe was wearing actual pants instead of just shorts under her red waist cape and had on a black dress shirt beneath her red detached sleeves and mantled cape.

Lorelei was the most dressed up, wearing a blue robe with the collar secured by a bow tie, her blue raincoat shined, and had on her nicest hat. Even Jane was dressed up in slacks and a white dress shirt—and a bow tie—with her new mask looking extra-shiny somehow. Nearly everyone was also carrying new weapons, with the exception of most of those who specialized in guns like Chloe and Tomoko. Clearly Meiya wasn't the only one who'd received a nice, new, sharp decanting day present.

"New sword?" Rain asked, and Meiya touched the hilt peaking out over her shoulder.

"Yup!" she said, glancing down at the smaller weapon belted on her crèche-sister's waist. It was longer than the practice sword she'd been carrying until now, and actually needed to be worn at an angle to keep it from scraping along the ground.

"You too, I see. Nice."

"I still need to grow up into it," Rain said, one hand reflexively straightening the sword only to have the tip of the scabbard tap the ground.

"Ugh. That keeps happening."

"You should wear it on your back," Meiya suggested.

"Ooh, or carry it next to your arm pit, like an underarm holster!"

"Ooh, that could work!"

"And how exactly would you draw your sword when you needed to use it?" Lorelei interjected as she joined them, moving next to Rain. Meiya didn't roll her eyes from years of long experience. So possessive. As if anyone would steal her best friend.

"It should probably be on some kind of retractable line, so I can pull the sheathe down when I want to draw the sword," Rain said thoughtfully.

"That could work… I'll talk to Mitsuki about it later, see what she thinks." Meiya nodded. Mitsuki was talking to Reiko and Tomoko about something, so it would be rude to bother her right then. Chloe was talking to Sapphire, no doubt comparing their new guns. Gunslingers always got so competitive. A short tune played over the PA system, and a voice announced, " The train to Mute Eminence will be arriving shortly. Please stay behind the line." Meiya had been on the train a few times before.

There'd been the time they'd accompanied Mitsuki to the Mechathlon, where her crèche-sister had joined the many hopefuls trying to beat that year's devious obstacle course with her mech suit. She was used to their smooth movement as the traveled on magnetic rails across the countryside, protected within tubes of vennplate that flashed into being to push out animals to keep them off the tracks.

The seats were comfortable, the company was good, and the food available was delicious if you happened to forget to bring a bento or get one at the station. Having said that, it felt unnatural to be moving that fast while not held up by your own venn!

"Are going to keep that up through the whole train ride?" Chloe said, clearly amused as she looked at the way Meiya's venn was wrapped around her legs, then up around the rest of her body. And her hat, of course. Most people who wore hats learn quickly to always have a little venn on it to keep it on their head. It was a thin layer, because unless you expected to also need to deflect other venn it didn't really need to be thick.

"Yes," Meiya said primly. Unnatural! Magical Girls were only meant to go this fast under their own power! Cars and busses were fine, they went slow, and mecha… well, they usually needed a buddy in them to move properly so they didn't count, but trains…!

"Too fast… it's unnatural." Chloe rolled her eyes at Meiya, her gun cradled against one shoulder. From the way she kept glancing at her buddy, Glass Heart was probably busy talking to someone.

"You're cute when you're being silly," she said, turning to look back out the window. As Meiya glared at her, the lights on the ceiling of the train suddenly took on a yellow tint, and a short siren played over the speakers." Proximity warning. Kaiju-class megafauna within risk distance of the train. Proximity warning. Kaiju-class megafauna within risk distance of the train. All passengers, please prepare for emergency evacuation. All passengers, please prepare for emergency evacuation.

To increase situational awareness, we will be turning off interior lights to facilitate night vision spells. Interior lights will be deactivated in 5… 4… 3…""

Night Vision, please," Meiya asked her buddy, and she heard the spell being repeated all along the train as Tomoko scrambled to reach into her bag and pull out her visor. As the lights went out inside the train save for some weakly glowing lines and numbers on the floor to help people navigate, Buan readied the spell as she channeled magic to the nascent spirit AI through their synchronization, the two of them forming it together as lights came to life on the train's exterior.

What had been impenetrable darkness became visible to show the road that ran parallel to the train line. Pale blades of grass grew on the open ground, looking bleached by the exterior lights, but beyond the cone of radiance there was only shade of gray that deepened into darkness. Meiya activated the night vision spell, and the interior of the train slowly brightened as the spell amplified the light passing through it before it reached her eyes.

All along the train, everyone's eyes took on a subtle glow as their own spells activated, save for Ai and Tomoko. The latter had to use her visor, while the former could see just fine, her eyes and magic adapting without any outside indicators. To Meiya's eyes, the fifty-meter clear-cut safety margin around the train became visible, revealing a wide stretch of ground covered in more ghostly pale grass that glittered with a metallic sheen. Past that, trees rose.

Many were massive, easily dwarfing the outer shell around Quiet Rise, but in some places the trees were much shorter, growing around the shattered stumps of giants overgrown with the familiar shape of kokeheya feeding on the dead wood, oxidizing metal and the traces of venecite inside them protected from the rain and dew. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Next to her, she heard Chloe grunt. She was facing the other window, and Meiya turned to see what she was looking at.

—Kaede took to the skies as the kaiju rose out of the sea. Thirty meters long, every step caused the ground to shake as it dragged itself out of the water like a turtle, if a turtle happened to have bear claws— Meiya shook away the flashback, focusing on the sight in front of her. She saw it through a break in the old growth, rising above the trees like a hill with its crown covered with more trees was the kaiju, looking almost exactly like it was depicted in the picture books from when she was younger.

The trees between them hid most of the lower half of the yamagong, so it was hard to tell what direction it was moving, or it if was really moving at all. The train was still at full speed, so there probably wasn't any direct risk of it heading towards them, but best to make them aware of it. There were moving little lights in the air around the yamagong, either flight spells or mecha as Field Rangers kept watch over it, perhaps trying to convince it to turn another way.

"Ah, should have remembered," Chloe said, and Meiya glanced towards her, as did the others sitting near them. Her eyes were glowing bright red from her own Night Vision spell. At their gazes, the hunter shrugged.

"That's old Niuta. Big sis says she's heading for the sea as part of her cycle to eat lots of silt and mate. Shouldn't be a problem. She does this every year."

"Then why the proximity warning?" Lorelei said, frowning.

"It IS a kaiju-class," Chloe pointed out, and Meiya realized she'd been checking her rifle all this time.

"Thinking it's safe just because they're known would be a dangerous mistake." Everyone considered that and turned towards that side of the car as they loosened their weapons in their sheathes. They watched old Niuta until the proximity warning stopped and the lights came back on.

When they reached the small city of Mute Eminence and got off the train, everyone had a half hour break for the bathroom, snacks, souvenirs and getting bentos if they hadn't picked up any already before they transferred onto three buses from the city motor pool. The three vehicles were clearly meant for rural travel, what with their eight wheels more than a meter and a half tall, gun turrets, and heavy armor plating.

Everyone listened attentively as the big sister gave the usual speech about bus travel: in the event of an emergency, everyone was to put on their seat belts so they could maneuver at speed, their priority was to shield the bus except for those specifically chosen for aerial harrying duty, please do not use high explosives on targets within fifty meters in case of shrapnel.

Chloe had sighed at that one, but had brightened when she'd been given one of the bus's sniper nests, letting her set up her gun and extend the barrel all the way. From there, it was another two hours on the road as they headed for their final destination. Since Meiya was on the lead bus, she heard the fallen branches, fruits and gnuts being pushed out of the way by the front debris plow of the bus, and the occasional cracks as something small enough rolled under the heavy wheels.

Unlike the train, the buses kept their internal lights dim to prevent glare as their headlights lit up the road ahead. It was enough illumination to let everyone look outside with the night vision spell. Trees, bushes and grassed whizzed by, and among them she'd see the forms of wild animals: groups of bulbous knugrinds foraging for fallen gnuts; six-winged tifak birds fighting over overripe leadberries whose skins had cracked to reveal their sweet and pulpy insides; a jhorobus eating a dead…

well, Meiya wasn't sure, they passed by too fast. Chloe probably knew. When lunch time came around, everyone carefully ate gel energy rations so as not to risk getting food on their nice clothes, saving their bentos and MREs for afterwards. They wanted to look their best, after all." We are now approaching Shizugaoka Fortress,"the big sister driving their bus said. Outside the shroud of darkness had thickened almost into a fog, limiting visibility down to about twenty meters.

Meiya had needed to switch to IR-based nightvision to pierce the obstruction, but all she could see was flat, cleared ground, the grasses and bushes cut down and the trees ruthlessly cleared." Arriving at motorpool in twenty minutes. Please prepare all weapons and secure all loose ammunition." Meiya wasn't the only one who looked out the window curiously as lights shined in front of them, revealing the curving outer wall of Shizugaoka Fortress.

The Ranger base's steel walls rose up fifty meters high, topped by gun emplacements. From what Meiya knew, there would be a greater concentration of guns on the other side of the base. And then they all needed to deactivate their Night Vision spells again, lest they get blinded. Entering the base, their buses slid into the motorpool to recharge, giving everyone another opportunity to head to the nearby rest stop for the bathrooms.

Once that was done, they congregated at the rest stop's outdoor eating area, where Rain was setting up the tripod for the camera they'd bought along.

"All right everyone, line up," Rain said as she finished setting up the tripod with the camera as passing big sisters slowed down in curiosity.

"Form four rows. Everyone with hats float up about ten or fifteen centimeters in the rearmost row, back row is for people with big weapons all standing straight, middle row will bend down to show the back row's faces, front row crouch or sit on the ground." Meiya joined the fourth row, and almost asked Buan to ready the standard flight spell out of habit before shaking her head, and forming the spell herself.

Taking a deep breath—and feeling a little more magic than usual being absorbed from the air—she drew a trickle of magic from where it was stored in her soul, and wrapped her feet and legs in a thin layer of flexible vennplate that hugged the contours of her body. There was a subtle pressure against her skin before Meiya had the venn push up against her feet, lifting her up so she could see over people's head.

It was second nature now after months of practicing unassisted flight, but yesterday's flying certification had made her slip into younger habits. She moved to float behind Chloe, who had unpacked her rifle and had its barrel out at full extension, although the magazine wasn't loaded and the safety was visibly on. Lorelei drifted over to them, her whole body as well as her staff wrapped in venn, moving with an effortlessness Meiya was still trying to master. The blue-haired girl had always been very good at magic.

After several minutes of grouping up, the four rows were ready with weapons and buddies in hand, all staring expectantly at the camera as Rain made some final modifications. While they could have taken this picture by asking one of the buddies to do it… that meant one of the buddies wouldn't be in the picture! Satisfied, Rain joined the end of the second row, crouching down as she took off her sword and held it next to her so it was visible.

"All right!" she announced as she held up her buddy.

"Get ready! Three… two… one… smile!" Meiya smiled with everyone as the camera took the picture, then twice more 'just in case'. Then they did the 'jumping while taking the picture so everyone's in midair' picture and finished with a 'silly' picture, which was all of them either making faces, flipping up each other's skirts or, in Jane's case, simply floating herself upside down with her head just touching the ground and doing the same pose—making a 'V' sign at the camera—as before.

With the pictures taken, Rain and Lorelei flew off to the nearest makerlab to get the pictures printed out while everyone else took advantage of the rest stop to stretch, eat their bento and MREs now that they'd gotten their picture taken, get something to drink, or simply talk to people"Hey, cute sisters," Chloe greeted a group of big sisters who looked only a couple of years older than them eating at a table who'd watched as the crèche-sisters had taken their pictures.

"We just turned thirteen and are on our way to send letters to Kaede. I'm Chloe and have you met Meiya and Reiko here?"

"Hi," Meiya said, waving at them in greeting.

"Nice to meet you!" Reiko said energetically.

"Nice to meet you too," one of the sisters replied with equal energy. Wearing green slacks and suit jacket with a red waistcoat made from hard-wearing materials—obviously working clothes—she had Ranger insignia on her collar and the armband on her left bicep. Her red tyrannosaurus button without a metallic border and red stripe marked her as a Field Ranger officer-trainee.

"I'm Drew, and this is Carey, Matthew, Makoto and Yuki." Each sister raised a hand as their name was called. Matthew, who had a sheathed large sword leaning on the table next to her, exchanged knowing grins with Meiya as fellow members of the Big Swords club.

"Happy Decanting Day!""""Thanks!""" They had a pleasant conversation as they waited for Rain and Lorelei to get back, the group exchanging contact invitations so they could talk again later, and the three of them listening intently as they listened to what it was like training to be a Ranger. It was nice to meet new sisters!