Rising Shards

Aira and Syval were still stuck stiff as boards holding up the blue tarp and mask that made up Tokickaman’s costume. I was starting to process that the two could actually be involved in this hero thing, but also accepted that this could be cosplay, and that I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.

“We can explain!” Aira said.

“Just…shut the door, please?” Syval said.

I obliged, trying to figure out what I wanted to say first.

“So is this like dress up time or are you two seriously Tokickaman?” I asked.

The two glanced at each other nervously. “I…er…don’t know Syval at all!” Aira said.

“That didn’t answer my question in the slightest,” I said.

“I have a thing I really need to get to,” Syval said, trying to walk past me. “Important appointment and all.”

“Nah, I’m at least getting some answers,” I said, stopping him with a single hand.

After some more glances and an awkward silence, Syval finally answered me.

“Fine, we’re Tokickaman,” Syval said.

“Well, you are,” Aira said. “I’m more of a sidekick.”

“No way! You’re a vitally important part of this endeavor!”

“Damn, you’re Tokickaman…” I said.

”You don’t have to sound so underwhelmed!” Syval said.

”I mean...sorry, it is kind of underwhelming,” I said. ”Why are you even in disguise? You know we all Cani have powers, right? You don’t need to hide it.”

”Shut up, it’s a secret identity!” Syval said.

”Two Tokickamans,” I sighed. ”You looked way cooler in the footage, the hell are these costumes?”

“We grabbed whatever we could before we left the first time,” Aira said. “Then it’s just kinda stuck.”

”You shouldn’t both be Tokickaman,” I said. ”That sucks. Honestly, Tokickaman is a terrible name in general.”

Aira glared at Syval.

“I…maybe cracked under the pressure of my first interview,” Syval said.

“One of you could be Blude,” I suggested.

”Blude?” Aira asked.

”That’s the name Zates came up with for you,” I said. “Cuz like, blue dude?”

”Laenie was always good at coming up with names,” Aira said wistfully.

“OK, we’re getting way off track here,” I said. I couldn’t believe I actually knew the heroes that had been all over the news, that I’d spent hours thinking about. I don’t want to say I had been obsessed with them, especially with them right across from me, but it was a state pretty close to obsession. “How did this happen? Are you two a thing?”

“We’re a crime fighting thing, definitely,” Aira said. “Any kind of thing past that…? I haven’t really explored if I’m bi or anything, and my preferences so far have been decidedly more on the feminine side, but that doesn’t necessarily mean…”

“I would…I don’t know! Say something similarly…” Syval said. “I know what my preferences are, and going by my crushes, yeah, more on the opposite, Syval Galatia is very into dudes, ya know? But those preferences could one day include a bigger window, you see…”

I rolled my eyes as the two stammered.

“Just focus on the how part maybe,” I said.

“The first time wasn’t on camera,” Aira said. “We’ve been doing this for a few weeks now.”

“I’ve been so bored,” Syval said. “And I wanted to make a difference in the world. I was telling Aira about that.”

“It sounded nice,” Aira said. “I had been wanting to get off campus for a bit after…some incidents.”

“…well, actually, the talks happened after the first mishap. The one where we ended up in East Valataran helping people.” Syval said.

“What kind of mishap sends you halfway across the country?” I asked.

“One of my Cani powers is short term flight, hers is teleporting,” Syval said.

“Syval tripped down a staircase, and I rushed to save him, and we both freaked out and traded powers back and forth for a bit.”

“A bit? You did that for how long?” I asked.

“We can get over there in about forty-five minutes,” Aira said. “Give or take some time for wind currents and avoiding various aircrafts.”

“Kay, so Syval biffed it and you both freaked out and teleported a thousand miles away,” I said. ”Screaming and flying/teleporting for almost an hour.”

“We accidentally ended up in a den of a bunch of crime bosses,” Syval said. “I was moving junk around for a teacher, so all we had was this thing.” He held up the blue tarp.

“They had some people tied up,” Aira said. “We couldn’t just leave them alone, so we started fighting. It all happened so fast, but we were able to help people that were in danger.”

“When we got back, both of us were like, ‘man, that felt great!’ Well, I had a black eye and everything hurt, but it felt awesome overall,” Syval said.

This all sounded a bit farfetched. Maybe they were exaggerating. They sure sounded like they believed what they were saying.

“It’s the only thing in the last few months that’s made me feel better,” Aira said. “If I do some good, maybe it’ll make up a bit for…”

“Ah,” I said. That rang a bit truer to me. I had been on the outs with Aira for a long while. She was involved in one of the worst days of my life, where right after Nikki rejected me, I got nabbed by Ovie to try and find her girlfriend/ex/who cares Jeans. Aira was just trying to help Laenie, who was trying to find her brother—is every day of Cani life just a tangled web of dumbassery? Anyways, things had been awkward between us after that, obviously.

“So are you going now then?” I asked. “Didn’t mean to hold you up.”

“You’re fine,” Syval said.

“A void storm is coming, a lot of people will need our help,” Aira said.

“Can I come with?” I asked.

I shut my eyes. Why the hell did I blurt that out? Caya’s lesson flashed into my mind. Would going along with these two dopes really put me on a path that would leave me all alone? Why would I want to go with to that?

“Teleporting two people is gonna make me really barfy,” Aira said.

“And we know that you are already pretty easily barfy,” I said.

“We’ll spare Kalei the full East Valataran trip, we only need to go as far as Litus Empirica,” Syval said.

“And spare me teleporting two people across the country,” Aira said.

“Wait, I thought you’d say no,” I said. “You really want me to come with?”

“We could use all the help we can get,” Syval said. “But we can’t wait any longer.”

When I woke up this morning, I didn’t think I would be meeting Tokickaman. I also wouldn’t have guessed how easy it felt to say “Hell yes,” and join them.