Protocol Magi :ORIGIN / Episode 5

Detective Mashiro is the fifth episode of Protocol Magi :ORIGIN. 
==Characters==
*Mashiro Mitsu
*Nakajima Shiori / Aubade
*Oshiro Hanako / Hyacinth
*Abe Kira / Solstice
*Hikawa Naomi / Numina
*Aoyama Anna (text)
*Minami Mio (mentioned)
*Shitto
*Unknown Messenger
*Pandora (Mentioned)
*Yano Manami
*Aigasa Nozomi (Mentioned)
*Kawamiya-sensei (Mentioned)
*Mitsu's father
==Episode==
Mitsu: “Kira, I need your help with something!”
Kira: “What? I’m on my way to practice!”
Mitsu: “…So you can’t come over..?”
Kira: “No. Mitsu, the ice hall I’m going to, is in Miyazaka!”
Mitsu:“…Oh. Uh… Have fun.”
Mitsu crossed her arms. Well, that hadn’t gone according to plan. She had counted on Kira to help her. However, refusing to give up, she typed another message.
Mitsu: “Shiori, can you help me with something?”
Shiori: “Mitsu, I’m studying. I’ve got a test coming up, so unless it’s ‘the end is nigh’-important, I can’t.”
Mitsu: “It actually is ‘the end is nigh’-important!”
Shiori: “…”
Shiori: “What?”
Mitsu: “I’m trying to find out more about the Magical Girls.”
Shiori: “…”
Mitsu: “…Shiori?”
Mitsu: “Shiori, are you there?”
Evidently, Shiori didn’t want to come.
Mitsu: “Hanako? Are you free?”
No reply.
Mitsu: “Mio? Can you come over?”
Mio: “Sorry, Mio can’t come to the phone right now.”
Mio: “Mio’s busy currently. She’s trying to finally beat Rainbow Road.”
Mitsu: “…Anna, you took her phone, didn’t you?”
Mio: “Well, yeah! It’s a distraction! Mio’s going to beat Rainbow Road today! She can’t afford any distractions!”
They’d be at that all day, if Mio was going to attempt to beat that level. Mitsu frowned. Why did all her friends have to be busy today? The day when she was finally going to uncover the identities of the Magi?
Mitsu: “…Naomi? HELP!”
Naomi: “What happened?”
Mitsu: “…can you come over?”
Naomi: “I should be able to.”
Naomi: “What has happened?”
Mitsu: “…everyone else is busy, and I can’t do this alone!”
Naomi: “Do what?”
Mitsu: “Too long for a message. Come over, and I’ll tell you.”
Naomi: “I’ll be there in five.”
Mitsu sat on her bed when her father opened the door. He was slightly surprised when Naomi suddenly appeared, but concluded it to being Mitsu forgetting to tell (or ask) him. He let the blackhaired girl in, mentioning that his daughter was in her room.
When Naomi came to the room, she found Mitsu still sitting on her bed. The brunet’s eyes were shifting between her, rather cluttered, wall, and the notebook in her hand, where she currently was writing down all the information she had on the Magi and all encounters she had had, which was a considerable amount, albeit very little at the same time. 
 “Hey,” Naomi said, before taking notice of all the papers and notes on the wall, something which seemed to catch her off guard. “..Wow. …You’ve done your homework. Is this you want help with?”
 “Yeah, I gotta figure out who they are,” Mitsu replied. “And the others wouldn’t come. I swear, Shiori studies more than can possibly be legal.”
 Naomi shrugged. “She’s a determined person, and she knows what she wants. Were the others busy too?”
 “Yeah, Hanako didn’t answer. Kira has the competition coming up, and Mio and Anna had already made plans.” She huffed. “I mean, obviously this is more important.”
“…I’m not so sure about that, Mitsu,” Naomi replied. Then her eyes fell on the name of the Leader of the Magi, and the small note that was scrawled beside the name in blue. She pointed at it, “Really, Mitsu? ’Kinda’ a jerk?’” She asked. “Didn’t she save your life, like three times already?”
 “Four,” Mitsu replied absentmindedly. “Four times.”
 “Can you really call her a jerk, then?”
 “She is a jerk”, Mitsu replied. “And not the best Leader. She doesn’t follow any of the tropes!”
 “Isn’t that a good thing?”
 “No!” Mitsu paused her writing. “In EVERY Magical Girl anime out there, the Leader is supposed to be cheerful, in order to keep her team’s spirits up during hard times! Not a serious buzz-killer!”
 “Isn’t it good though?” Naomi asked. “That she’s serious, I mean. It shows that she’s serious about fighting, right?”
“…Are you defending her?”
 “I’m just saying, there might be more to her than you think.”
 “Yeah, I know that,” Mitsu replied. “Doesn’t mean that she’s not a jerk, though.”
 Naomi sighed. “If we’re going to find out who they are, we need some sort of plan, though. What have you got?”
 
“Of course I do!” The Maniac seemed almost offended at the notion. “I didn’t do all of this for nothing,” she gestured at the wall. “Excluding the first time for obvious reasons,” she said, “the rest of the Magical Girls have always made it to the site of attack within a few moments after another has made it there. This means that they have some sort of communication with each other, even if they may not all be together at the time of the attack.”
 “Makes sense.”
 “And Aubade was at our school super fast too, which means that she has to be a student at our school!”
 “But she’s able to move superfast though? Doesn’t that mean that she could go to any other school?”
 “…Shoot. Didn’t think of that.”
“Do we have any other leads?”
 “…Well, Hyacinth – the red Magical Girl, she showed up at school, the ice rink and the park – said that Aubade has been fighting longer than everyone else, so maybe we could see if we can find any records of the first appearances on Shades?”
 “Would that really help finding out who she is though? I mean, if we find out anything about who Aubade is, finding the others should be easier, right?”
 “Well,”Mitsu beamed. “I already have a theory of who it is.”
“That is bad,” Naomi thought. “She couldn’t have figured it out, right? None of us has really given any indication of who we are, right? Shiori’s alibi of always studying should be secure, and Hanako knows how to not reveal big secrets like that. Granted, Kira is closer to Mitsu than any of us, but she also has a good alibi, and Mitsu hasn’t had that much time to interact with me as Numina, so she couldn’t possibly have figured it out already?”
 However, Naomi voiced none of these thoughts, she merely rose a questioning eyebrow. “Who would that be?”
 
“Yano Manami.”
 “Yano-san?” Naomi asked, both relieved and confused. “Yano Manami-san in my class?”
 “Yep.”
 “…Why? Isn’t she too busy? You know, with her being Student Council President and that?”
 “That’s precisely why she’s the perfect candidate!” Mitsu retorted. “Do you know how many Magical Girl series has a team member who is the Student Council President? And how many of them are blue?”
“…” Naomi hoped that Mitsu would suddenly break her dead serious look and say something like “Just kidding!”, but when she didn’t, Naomi sighed. “You’re basing your logic on that?”
 “...Well, yeah!” Mitsu replied. “Come on, it makes perfect sense! And her work as President, could be a cover-up for the things she does as a Magical Girl.”
 “…Right.”
 “And she’s super strict and kinda’ a jerk at times!”
 Naomi sighed.
Shitto leaned back in the couch she was in, her right arm covering her eyes. “Go away,” she said.
 “Why would you be so rude, I wonder?” The voice asked inside of Shitto’s head. 
 “Because I’m thinking,” Shitto replied. “And I don’t feel up to dealing with you right now. Go away.”
 The voice hummed, “Pandora-sama would like some results. Or at least answers.”
 “I’m getting closer,” Shitto said. “And you’re not exactly helping. Go away.”
 “Very well,” the voice continued. “But know this; that little plan you’re trying to form in your head, will have to be better than ‘let’s attack somewhere on random’, because it seems the interference you’ve had seems to have caught onto that idea.”
 “Shut up”, she said, but it fell on deaf ears; the other had already disappeared from the room.
“I can’t believe you’re making me do this,” Naomi sighed. “I don’t even know her that well.”
 “It’s in the name of-… well, not science, but… truth!” Mitsu replied. “If I turn out to be right, it’ll be worth it!”
 “For you, yeah,” Naomi replied. “But in case she’s not, you’ll end up freaking her out.”
 “When did I last freak somebody out?!”
 “…Five minutes ago. The poor shopkeeper must’ve thought you were insane or something.”
 “…Oh.” Mitsu blinked. “That’d explain the weird looks… But that time doesn’t count!”
The pair walked in five minutes.
 “Well, we’re here.” Naomi knocked at the door, causing a series of barks reach their ears as something four legged rushed towards the wooden barrier.
 ”Beyyo! Stay!” The sound of paws on wood stopped, but not the barks. “Beyyo! No!”
 The barks silenced.
The door opened, and the pair was met with a blonde girl holding onto the collar of a large Rottweiler (who was also growling lowly). At the sight of the dog, Mitsu shuddered, and instinctively took a step closer to Naomi.
 “Hello,” Manami said. “I apologize for Beyyo. She’s not very fond of strangers.”
 “I… noticed,” Mitsu said, refusing to let the large dog out of her sight out of fear that it would attack. Manami looked at her, and then at the Rottweiler.
 “Come in,” she told her guests. “I’ll go place Beyyo in another room. Beyyo, Heel.”
The dog looked at her, as if hoping that she wasn’t serious, but when she was, it lowered its head again, and followed Manami into a different room. “Stay,” the pair of guests heard a few seconds later, and then a door closing. Manami came out of the doorway again. “You wanted to talk to me about something?” she asked.
 “Well,” Naomi replied. “Mitsu had some questions for a project she’s doing.”
 “Oh? Which one? You are in Kawamiya-sensei’s class if I’m not mistaken, Mashiro-san? Is it for the Renaissance project? I am not sure how much I’d be able to help, if that’s the case I’m afraid.”
 “It’s not exactly for school,” Naomi said. 
 “Oh, really?” Manami was visibly surprised. “What project is it then..?”
“Do you know what caused the crater in the school-yard?” Mitsu asked.
 “Well,” Manami replied. “No-one knows for sure, and what people are saying sounds rather ridiculous, so I can’t really say.”
 Mitsu picked up the notebook she had been writing down what she knew about the Magi in, flipping to the page with “Aubade” as title. “It was caused by a fight between a Shade - a large monster – and two Magical girls.”
The look Manami sent them spoke for itself. “…Right.”
 Mitsu didn’t look away as she picked up her phone, unlocked it, and went into the image gallery.
Noticing Mitsu’s movements, Naomi almost started sweating. She knew where this was likely heading, and it wasn’t good. Sure enough, Mitsu opened an image – that showed Aubade and Hyacinth fighting the giant tree-esque Shade that had appeared at the school – and there was light in their respecting colours surrounding their hands.
Manami looked at the image. “…I’m not going to lie,” she said. “That photo manipulation almost looks realistic. That’s a pretty good job.”
 Mitsu blinked. How could the first thing she thought was that Mitsu was somehow a good photo manipulator?! The picture was real! “It’s not a photo manipulation. She said. I took the photo April the 22nd, the day the crater was created.”
 Manami’s expression changed from one of disbelief. “…Look,” she said. “I don’t know what you think is going on, but I don’t get why you’d bring it up to me-…”
Naomi sighed. This was bad.
“Is this you?” Mitsu asked, pointing at Aubade in the picture.
 “…What?” Manami asked, and her tone turned icy. “Mashiro-san, it’s one thing to believe something as ridiculous as Magical Girls, but another completely to make groundless accusations of vandalism. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?”
 “…Is this you?” Mitsu pointed at Hyacinth in the picture.
 “No. Is that all?”
Mitsu stared intently at the older girl, who met her gaze with ease. 
 Eventually, Naomi decided to end the tense silence. “I think you got what you came for, Mitsu,” she said.
 “Splendid,” Manami’s voice was icy.
Mitsu turned towards the door again, and Naomi mouthed “I’m sorry,” to the Student Council President, although the blonde’s expression did not change.
The two girls left the Yano household. The door closed behind them.
 “…You freaked her out,” Naomi said. “Thank you, now she’s likely never going to take me seriously either.”
 “She is Aubade”, Mitsu spoke without hesitation. “There is no doubt. She is Aubade.”
 “…What?” Naomi asked. “You can’t be serious.”
 “I am! She didn’t say no! She said that she wasn't Hyacinth, but she never said she’s not Aubade! She avoided the question!”
Naomi facepalmed. “Mitsu, you really have no idea what you have done, have you?”
 “I cracked Aubade.”
 “She didn’t admit to being Aubade either,” Naomi replied, “and even if she would have said no, you would likely say that she was Aubade even if she said she wasn’t.”
 “…” Mitsu paid her words no heed; she was dead set on Manami being Aubade. “And if Yano Manami is Aubade, then maybe Aigasa Nozomi could be Hyacinth? We’ve gotta check that.”
 “Aigasa-senpai?” Naomi asked. “Music club leader, Aigasa-senpai?”
 “Yeah! She hangs out with Yano-senpai a lot! You don’t happen to know where she lives, do you?”
“…You know what?” Naomi said. “No. No. No more. You’ve already freaked more than one person today. No more.”
 “... But-… But-…”
 “Mitsu, you may not have noticed, but you’re rather extreme when it comes to this… business.”
 “This is important!”
 “That may be so,” Naomi replied, “but you’re bothering others, who may or may not have anything to do with this whole thing.”
 “I can’t just give u-…”
Mitsu was interrupted by terrified screams. The pair shared a look, before Mitsu took off running in the direction of the screams.
It was odd, really. Most wouldn’t even consider running towards what people were running away from, and Mitsu was the same, for the most part. A fire, or a robbery, she ran as far away as she could. But when magical girls were involved? What could she say? She needed to know.
 People were running in the opposite direction of her, almost causing her to fall several times, but Mitsu slowly made her way towards where the large shade towered over some of the smaller buildings. Somewhere in her mind, she knew she was being a bit reckless, considering she didn’t even know if the Magi were already there, or if she would just put herself into more danger, but she wasn’t paying any attention to that.
Something else, she wasn’t paying attention to, was what was going on behind her – or rather, what was coming in her direction from behind at an inhumanly high speed.
 What Mitsu sure felt though, was when the green figure dashed past her, and the tailwind following the green Magi almost blew her off her feet. She swore she could hear the Magi yell “Sorry!”
Numina approached the Shade at higher speeds than she normally would have. She wasn’t sure if any of the others were at the site yet – no one had mentioned anything in the chat – and she wasn’t sure if there still were civilians in the line of fire. As a result, she almost knocked Mitsu over when she passed the Maniac, not having time to stop in time. “Sorry!” she yelled over her shoulder as she continued closer to where the Shade was.
Getting closer, she paused briefly to assess the situation. None of the others had gotten there yet, and that there, indeed, were civilians who had yet to make it away from the street. Green sparkles surrounded her once more, and using them, she made her way over to a man only seconds from getting squashed by a-… cupcake...? attached to an arm, that was attached to a …lollipop, out of all things. Quite frankly, it was the oddest Shade Numina had seen in a while.
Having gotten the man to safety (having held his neck to shield him from the sudden increase of G-forces he had to withstand), Numina used her control over the wind currents around her to move back to the Shade. She landed a powerful kick to push it back a bit, before rescuing a girl who looked all of 5 years that had become the next target for the Shade.
By the time she put the five-year-old down by her mother, Hyacinth had appeared, and punched the attack the Shade had aimed at Numina into the ground, stopping it. “Hey,” Hyacinth greeted. “Aubade’ll be along in a minute. Solstice might take longer – she was in the car back home.”
 “Thanks,” Numina replied. “You wouldn’t believe the day I had.”
 “Unicorn?” Hyacinth asked, her lower arms and hands glowing red as she blocked an attack from one of the large cupcake-hands (getting smeared with the icing in the process).
 “Unicorn.” Numina smiled at the usage of the newly created code name they were using when talking about Mitsu – as the latter had an irritating habit of showing up in the middle of a fight, it was simply safer. She grabbed a hold of the (icing free) cupcake and flipped over, throwing the appendage back at the lollipop.
“No offense,” Numina said. “But you might need a shower later.”
 Hyacinth smiled wryly, “yeah, I do.”
 The pair launched at the Shade, and they pushed it back a good bit, before it managed to send a successful attack their way. Or rather, would-be successful attack, had a blue ripple not appeared last second to protect Numina. Aubade appeared by Numina a second later, punching the Shade back with another blue ripple. “Hi, sorry I’m late. …Is that frosting?”
 “Yeah, yeah,” Hyacinth said. “I know. I’m a frosted cupcake right now.”
The three Magi pulled spread out, simultaneously attacking the Shade. They pushed it back, and kept each attack coming from a different angle – as to not let the Shade get even close to countering them.
Once, Mitsu tried to get closer – maybe it’d trigger a transformation? But, before she was able to even get three meters, a certain blue haired Magi landed in front of her, kicking away an incoming attack from the Shade that had been aimed at the brunette.
A wordless shout reached them, and alerted the three Magi that finally, their fourth member had arrived at the scene, and sure enough, less than a second later, said Magi landed a punch in the back of the …head? of the Shade. “Hey!” she yelled teasingly. “I seriously can’t leave town more than a couple of hours, and this is what happens? Geez, guys, I thought you were more capable than this!”
“We were handling it just fine!” Aubade shot back. “We only need you when we decide to go overkill!”
 “Overkill is great!”
 “Not if you scare some pigeons half to death,” Hyacinth called back.
 “That was once!” Solstice defended.
Mitsu couldn’t believe it. Was this really mid-fight banter she was witnessing? And the ever-stuck-up Aubade was willingly joining in? Either, they considered this fight too easy to really be serious, or the world was ending. 
“Hey, are we ending this, or what?” Solstice asked. “I wanna get home and kick back, watch a movie or something. I mean, at this point, we’re toying with it.” Solstice easily avoided a frosty punch from the Shade, and looked at the blue leader. “Aubade? Captain? What’s the drill?”
 “First, don’t call me that,” Aubade replied. “Second, wouldn’t watching a movie after what you did before be a bit counterintuitive? And third, Hyacinth, would you do the honours?”
 “‘No can do, Cap’ and ‘Nah’, in that order,” Solstice replied.
Aubade said something more, but Mitsu zoned it out as Hyacinth kicked away from the Shade towards a building. She flipped in the air, and her feet touched the concrete wall of the building. She pulled her right hand back in a fist, and red light started swirling around it. The light then concentrated and covered her fist. “Hyacinth, Acceleration.”
 She shot at the Shade, punching at he last second, hitting the dead centre of the lollipop. The Candy cracked, and Hyacinth broke through to the other side. She landed in a crouching position several meters away from the remains of the Shade. The red light around her fist faded, and the black pearl it had been holding – having extracted it from the Shade – cracked and withered to dust.
“Hey,” Solstice prompted with a grin when the four Magi joined up in the aftermath, looking at what had made up the Shade’s body and arms and legs as they, too, withered away. “Hyacinth? What happened to you? Is that frosting?” The orange Magi prodded Hyacinth’s cheek, wiping a bit off, and tasted it. “Yep, frosting.”
 “That’s gross!” came from the redhead in question. Numina laughed alongside Solstice, and Aubade merely sighed. “…Let’s just get out of here, guys.”
“Hey wait!”
Aubade paused at the voice she knew so well (and had started to come to resent) in the middle of a step. “Oh, for the love of-…”
 “Wait! This is important!” Mitsu bent over, panting, before straightening up. “Do you go to my school?”
 “Sorry,” Hyacinth cut in, sensing her leader’s growing irritation. “But we’ve got to go.”
 “B-but-…”
And they were gone.
“…Fudgepuppies.”
 
==Trivia==
*The first time the codeword "Unicorn" is used by the Magi to refer to Mitsu.
Category:Protocol Magi :ORIGIN