Day 243

[from StarLight]

Sanae hurriedly ate her lunch during the breaks between lessons, in order to be able to sleep through the lunch break itself. Once lunch break finally arrived, she and Amaya headed through the corridors towards the entrance to the school roof. Sanae was still dead on her feet from exhaustion, and after she bumped into one too many people, Amaya resorted to hauling her through the corridor by the scruff of her collar. “Thank you, Amaya~” yawned Sanae.

Upon seeing the exhausted Sanae being pulled along, Kazuo's usual conspiracy theories kicked into overdrive. “You see?!” he cried out, pointing at Sanae. “This is what the Illuminati are trying to turn us into: mindless sheep who are ferried around our whole lives without ever thinking for ourselves! Well, I won't stand back and let it happen!” He darted forward and took Sanae by the shoulders, shaking her vigorously. “Wake up, sheeple!” he cried. “Wake up and smell the truth!”

“Ughh… five more minutes...” groaned Sanae.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?!” Amaya cried out, pulling Kazuo off of her friend. “Get off her!”

“You can't fool me, Miss Illuminati!” said Kazuo, trying to break free of Amaya's grip. “I've seen through your sinister plots! I will awaken these people to the truth of the world we live in, no matter how hard you try to stop me!”

Amaya's response was to roll her eyes and punch Kazuo in the face with enough force to knock him out. “What an idiot,” she said.

The remark drew various mutters of agreement from those who had gathered around in the corridor: “Yeah, I agree.” “Massive idiot.” “Attention-seeker.” “Baaa.” With Kazuo unconscious and the show now over, the crowd quickly dispersed, and Amaya resumed dragging Sanae up towards the roof.

When the pair finally arrived up on the roof, they found it entirely deserted, much to their relief. Looking up, they were greeted by a beautiful clear sky, with barely a cloud in sight. Looking down through the protective mesh fencing, they could see groups of students milling around in the grounds below them. It was nice and quiet, and Sanae felt that she might finally be able to get some sleep here. “Ohh, it'll be so good to finally get some sleep,” she said.

“It will,” said Amaya. “You really do need some proper rest.” And while you're getting that rest, I can sneak out and cause a little chaos, she thought to herself.

Sanae slumped down against the safety fence, stretching her legs out in front of her, and closed her eyes. Before she could drift off, however, she and Amaya noticed some sort of commotion going on beneath them, as the sound of dozens of excited students filled the air. “Oh, what now?” groaned Sanae. “At this rate, I'm never gonna get any sleep!”

“Hang on,” said Amaya, “I'll see what's going on.” She approached the safety fence and called out the to crowd below. “Hey! What's going on down there?”

“There's another monster attacking the city!” one of the students called out. “We're all gonna go watch!” As Amaya looked on, dozens more students filtered out into the grounds and rushed towards the main gate, eager to view the action.

Looks like there's gonna be quite the audience today, Amaya thought to herself. Not to mention, wherever there's a monster, White Star is sure to appear. Maybe I can pick another fight with that spotlight-hogging idiot. First, though, I'll have to get out of here without Sanae noticing… Amaya glanced over at the spot where Sanae had been resting, but found that she had mysteriously vanished. “Sanae?” That's odd, she thought. Maybe she gave up on trying to sleep up here. Well, whatever the reason she's gone, it sure works out nicely for me. Now I can get out of here without anyone noticing.

Pulling the Black Star Emblem out of her bag, Amaya was engulfed in a bright white glow. Her school uniform morphed into a black minidress with white lace trim. Her shoes morphed into black high heels whose straps wound up her pale shins. Amidst a sudden rush of wind, a black witch's hat manifested itself on top of Amaya's head, and her jet-black fringe swept across one side of her face. Finally, the Emblem transformed into the Black Star Wand, and as Amaya clutched it tightly in her right hand, her transformation into Black Star was complete.

"It's good to be back," said Black Star with a grin.

***

Meanwhile, Sanae had already transformed into White Star and flown off to confront the latest monster. Naturally, she was not very happy about it. “Two in one day?!” she exclaimed. “Come on, that's just ridiculous! And while I was trying to sleep as well?! Gimme a break!”

“I'm sorry, White Star,” said Kousen, flying alongside her. “I realize how inconvenient these recent attacks have been for you.”

There was a moment's awkward silence. “I'm expecting a 'but' here,” said White Star. “You know, something like, 'but it's your destiny to defeat these monsters whenever they appear, blah blah' or something like that.”

“Well… yes, it is,” said Kousen. “I think I've said that more than enough times now.”

White Star let out an irritated sigh. “Alright, let's just get this over with so I can go home and sleep,” she said.