Kirara Hoshino's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Kirara set the tripod up on the sidewalk, adjusted the phone mount, and stepped back to check the frame. Downtown looked perfect behind her — busy enough to show she was actually out here doing the work, but not so crowded that people would stare. She cleared her throat and hit record. "Hey everyone, Kirara here, and today we're finally doing the thing I've been putting off since forever — my actual origin story intro." She paused, trying to remember the script she'd practiced in her bathroom mirror. Something cracked behind her. The fruit vendor's stall collapsed sideways, wood splintering as a creature the size of a delivery truck pulled itself through the gap between buildings. Kirara grabbed her phone off the mount without thinking. The creature's six legs scraped against the pavement, each one leaving grooves in the concrete. People were already running. She transformed mid-step, galaxy patterns spreading across her costume as she moved between the thing and the nearest cluster of civilians. Her phone clattered to the ground for the second time in her magical girl career. But the tripod was still there, camera pointing at nothing, and the intro she'd finally worked up the courage to film was forty seconds of her talking before everything went sideways. At least this time she'd gotten her face in the shot.