Day 254

[from StarLight]

Bank robbery is a difficult crime to pull off. Often, a heist requires weeks of planning, intimate staking-out of the venue, and a foolproof getaway plan. Either this, or as the villain of our piece is about to demonstrate, you could simply waltz through the front door wearing a plastic demon mask and carrying an automatic rifle, and hope for the best.

As the man entered, he pointed the rifle at the ceiling and fired. Unused to the recoil, his arm quickly swung backwards until it was pointing behind him, the momentum almost throwing him off-balance. The man swiftly released the trigger and, satisfied that he had captured the attention of everyone present, stepped forward, brushing flakes of fallen plaster from his hair. “Everybody on the ground now!” he declared. “This is a bank robbery!”

The scared bank patrons swiftly complied, most of them holding their hands in the air as they did so. The man looked around to make sure everyone was on the ground, then said, “Nobody try anything funny! That means you!” He pointed the gun at a man in clown make-up, who nodded sadly and put down the pie he had been about to shove in a woman's face.

With the customers subdued, the man strode confidently towards the counter. The bank teller also had her hands in the air, in spite of the pane of bulletproof glass behind which she sat. “Alright, you know the drill,” the man said. “Gimme all your money!”

The frightened teller caved in immediately. “Uhh… y-yes, sir,” she said. “Umm… do you have a bag for us to put the money in?”

The man paused for a moment, as though only just realizing he hadn't brought a bag, before slapping himself in the side of the head. “Oh, darn it!” he exclaimed. “I knew I'd forgotten something! Uhh… could you just transfer the money into my account instead? I do have an account here-”

“I'm afraid your account has just been frozen.”

The man looked round, startled, to see White Star standing in the entrance to the bank, posing heroically in the sunlight. “W-White Star!” he exclaimed. “How did you get here so fast?”

“I was hungry, and the narrator mentioned there was pie here,” said White Star, in the same heroic tone as before. “Now, I'm going to have to ask you to stop robbing this bank.”

The man continued to stare incredulously at White Star for a moment, then sneered, “And just how are you going to stop me? You're just a girl, and I have a gun!” He pointed said gun at White Star, as though to prove his point.

White Star couldn't help feeling a little nervous – after all, she'd never been held at gunpoint before – but she held her ground. “I'm not just a girl,” said White Star, pouting and folding her arms. “I'm a magical girl. Don't you read the news or anything?”

The man still wasn't impressed. “I bet your magic can't stop bullets!” he declared, and with that he opened fire. Technically, the man was right: White Star's magic did not stop the bullets. The bullets did, however, deflect around her and fly past her into the glass front of the building, shattering the panes. Fortunately, nobody had been passing behind her on the street at the time, otherwise they could have ended up being struck by a ricocheting bullet.

The stream of bullets was over almost as soon as it had begun, and White Star awkwardly surveyed the damage that the ricocheting bullets had caused. “Maybe it would have been better if I had stopped the bullets,” she remarked. “Probably would have looked cooler, too.”

The man's eyes widened with shock, his hand shaking as he lowered the rifle. For the first time, he began to appreciate the true threat that White Star posed. “Wh… what the hell are you?!” he gasped.

White Star sighed and rolled her eyes. “I told you,” she said. “Ma. Gi. Cal. Girl. Which part of that is not sinking in? It better not be the 'girl' part.”

The man, perhaps wisely, decided it might be better if he cut his losses. “I should get outta here,” he said, and with that he sprinted towards the shattered front windows. White Star, however, was not about to let the man get away so easily.

“Not so fast,” she said. “Rope Snare!” A length of rope shot out of the White Star Wand and wrapped itself neatly around the man's legs, sending him crashing to the floor. With the robber incapacitated, it was not just a matter of waiting for the police to arrive and arrest him. “Job well done, I think,” White Star remarked to herself, glancing down at the would-be criminal. “Now to have me some of that pie.”

***

Later that day, after White Star had eaten her pie, she was summoned to City Hall, where the mayor of Mitsuzawa apparently had a big announcement to make. The magical girl was invited up on stage to thunderous applause from the crowd that had gathered outside the building to hear the mayor's announcement.

“We, the people of Mitsuzawa, owe a great debt to you, White Star,” said the mayor. “Over the past few weeks, you have stopped a number of monster attacks within the city, saving countless lives and preventing all kinds of horrendous damage. Only today, you stopped a bank robber from potentially getting away with millions of yen in cash.”

'The past few weeks'?, White Star thought to herself. It feels more like it's been several months. Out loud, she said, “It's nothing, really. It's all part of the job.”

“It's not nothing to us, though,” said the mayor. “I believe it's time that this city, and I as its representative, gave something back to you. And therefore, to honour your selfless deeds and tireless commitment to protecting this city, I'm delighted to announce that this Monday we will be hosting a parade in your honour, right here in the city, with your esteemed self as our guest of honour!”

White Star hadn't been expecting this. “A parade?” she repeated. “For me? Oh, please, you don't have to go through so much trouble for little old-” The flattered smile suddenly froze on her face. “Wait, did you say Monday?”

“That's right!” said the mayor. “The parade will start at 10am and last until 3pm, when we'll be holding a special presentation ceremony here at City Hall. That won't be a problem, will it? I mean, you will be expected to attend.”

“Oh no, that's no problem at all!” said White Star hurriedly, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck. “I'll be there, no problem…. Hehehe...”

***

“We have a major problem.”

As Sanae sat despondently on the edge of her bed, Kousen was surprised to see her so down. “What's the problem?” asked Kousen. “I can understand you not wanting the mayor to make such a fuss about you, but...”

“No, it's not that!” said Sanae. “I don't mind going at all, but the thing is, I have a major test on Monday at 11am, and the parade starts at 10am! I can't miss the test, or my grades will plummet, but I can't not show up to the parade or I'll be letting the entire city down!”

“Couldn't you show up to the parade, then leave at 11 to go take your exam?” suggested Kousen.

“Well, I guess I could do that...” said Sanae.

***

Sanae entered Class 2-2 and gave her classmates a jaunty wave. “Good morning everyone!” she said. “I'm here to take the test!”

Inaba-sensei immediately bore down upon her. “Where were you for the first two hours of school?” she asked, flashing Sanae a menacing smile. Sanae let out a startled yelp and took a step backwards.

Suddenly, there was a chorus of clicking and flashing behind her, and Sanae turned round to find a wall of paparazzi standing in the doorway to Class 2-2, cameras eagerly flashing away. “You join me at Mitsuzawa High School,” said a news reporter, “where we followed White Star after she snuck out of today's parade honouring her! We can now exclusively reveal that White Star's secret identity is none other than-”

***

“Uwaaah!” As the scenario played out in her head, Sanae became increasingly alarmed until she cut off the dream sequence with a startled cry. “No good!” she exclaimed. “That won't work either! Oh… what should I do? I can't be in two places at once…!”

Kousen suddenly looked thoughtful. “Hmm…”

“What is it, Kousen?” asked Sanae.

“Well… there might actually be a way for you to attend both events at the same time,” she said. “However, I've never tried it myself, so I don't know whether it would actually work-”

Kousen was cut off by a sudden flash of light, accompanied by a loud crackling sound. She and Sanae turned round, alarmed, to see a large ball of light floating in the middle of the room, with sparks and bolts of lightning shooting off of it at regular intervals. A white silhouette suddenly appeared around the ball of light, and gradually solidified until the light disappeared in a blinding flash. When Sanae and Kousen looked again, they saw to their surprise that standing in the spot where the ball of light had been was none other than White Star herself. She looked around the bedroom for a moment, a little confused, then raised her hands in triumph.

“It worked!” White Star exclaimed.