Mahou Tarot Club: Pilot

Pilot

Sayomi, a young somber girl was in her room reading a book as she was blasting some hard rock music threw her earphone until she heard a knock. She unplugged one earphone and looked at the doorway. There stood her foster mother.

“Your father and I have decided to give you the best gift for your birthday.” She said.

“Oh? And what would that be?” Sayomi asked quietly.

Her foster father walked by and stood next to his wife and they looked at each other with a smile then looked at Sayomi, who was still pondering on what this gift would be.

“We decided we want you to be our full time daughter.” They both said.

Sayomi didn’t respond, she didn’t know how to react. Her background had been so tragic that everyday when she wakes up she wishes it never happened.

Sayomi was only eight at the time her biological parents had died. She was very close to them too. Until one day, out of the blew, the house caught on fire when no one in the house had done anything wrong. No one was cooking or using anything flammable. It just happened. Because of this her parents had died, but Sayomi was unharmed. She had been taken into foster care since then. The social workers believed that Sayomi was some kind of demon that had caused it, making other people around her afraid to adopt her.

Sayomi constantly jumped from home to home for eight straight years. She constantly had to move, make friends, go to new schools. Once her new parents saw her angry, they were afraid that they were next to die and gave her up. Sayomi is now staying with the Daitan family for the last eight months and no harm had been done. This was the longest that Sayomi had ever stayed with anyone.

“What's wrong, sweeety, isn’t this what you wanted?” Her foster mother asked.

“It is but…” Sayomi said with a brief pause, trying to find the correct words. “I feel as if no one can replace my birth parents. I love them and I miss them.”

Her foster father had frowned and began to sadly walk away until his wife had stopped him. She then told Sayomi. “We haven’t talked to your social worker yet, but we plan to at the end of the month, until then we can discuss whether or not you want to stay with us.”

Sayomi said nothing once more. Her foster mother sighed and said, “we just thought maybe you wanted to stay with us since we really do love you more than those other families who believe that awful myth that you killed your own parents. We thought you were tired of bouncing from one place to another.”

“I understand.” Sayomi said and plugged her music back in. Her foster parents left her alone once again. As she listened to the angst filled  lyrics and the chaotic guitar riffs, she can imagine what her foster parents; Ume and Koisuke could be talking about.

She can see her Ume trying to calm Koisuke down by saying, “I understand what is going on honey, you shouldn’t feel this upset.”

“What if she dosen’t like us? I don’t know what we could of done that been so wrong?” Koisuke said.

“I know that’s not true. Its just hard for her to trust people, that’s all.” Ume said. “She loves us, I know she does.”

Ume was right. Sayomi did love Ume and Koisuke, however she could never actually call them her parents.

~

The next morning at school, Sayomi was off to class. She was running late since she had accidentally overslept. The halls were nearly empty…except for one person. She was roughly her age and was slightly taller than she was. Sayomi hadn’t seen her before since the school she went to only had around two hundred kids and almost everyone knew each other.

Sayomi watched the girl pull things out of her locker. She seemed to have been chanting in some kind of weird language. Not hearing herself speak, Sayomi asked, “what is she doing?”

The girl heard that comment and looked around. She wasn’t angry, but she was confused. She saw Sayomi and said with a smile, “Oh its some kind of prayer that my family says whenever someone is gravely ill.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Sayomi said, hiding herself behind her binder with shame.

The girl shook her head and said, “Its okay, you didn’t know.” Then she tried to change the subject. “I haven’t seen you around here. You new?”

“I would say the same thing. I’ve been going here for about four monthes.” Sayomi said.

“Well I’m a senior going here. I just don’t go threw this hallway that often, I guess.” The girl said. She held out a hand and said, “My name is Kimiko.”

“I’m Sayomi.” Sayomi said. “Nice to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine.” Kimiko said. She held out a deck a cards and said, “Hey, ever had a tarot reading before?”

“I’ve heard of them but I never actually had my fortune read, nor have I ever own a deck before. Though it sure sounds interesting.”  Sayomi answered.

“Come, follow me.” Kimiko said, leading her to an empty class room. On the chalkboard was written “tarot club.”

“There’s a club dedicated to tarot?” Sayomi asked.

“We like to keep our reputation quiet since we only accept few members.” Kimiko said, motioning Sayomi to sit in front of her.

Kimiko used a Celtic cross spread and told Sayomi her fortune. “You seem to have trust issues with your background being so dark. You wish to find happiness however you fear happiness as well. In your near future, some group or tribe will recruit you.”

“Recruit me?” Sayomi repeated.

Kimiko nodded.

“I sense a spirit in her. It’s a tarot spirit!”

“But Catherine, who could we have left? We have all the major arcana! All the minors have been corrupted.”

“Have you forgotten, Kimiko? There are only three life users. She is the holder of the moon. I can see it in her.”

“Really? How?”

“Her aura is so strong. It glows like the moon.”

“I don’t know, I have never read tarot before. I don’t think I can.” Sayomi said shyly.

“You don’t have to. We do other things that aren’t tarot related.”  Kimiko explained. “We go on field trips, play games, go to exotic restaurants…”

“Then why are you called the tarot club if you do not do just tarot?” Sayomi asked.

Kimiko looked around as if there were people in  the room, which there wasn’t, and asked quietly, “Can you keep a secret?” Sayomi nodded. “We’re a secret organization called Mahou Tarot, we aren’t your average school club, we’re warriors.”

“But why recruit me?” Sayomi asked. “I have never fought anyone before.”

“You have the hidden moon card locked inside your heart. Once you unlock it you’ll become a warrior like us.” Kimiko explained. “A legend says that when Earth was created the goddesses of heaven had created tarot cards in order to protect the humans from dammed souls of hell. Seventy two people are called the tarot keepers and represent one card from a tarot deck however only the major arcana are the one with magical abilities. The others were just spirits within a human, keeping them safe. However the whole minor arcana was whipped out and turned into demons.” She swallowed hard as she continued her story. “The demons of hell found out what the goddesses had done to the humans and created a tarot system similar to them. Except it turned the souls into demon souls.” She looked up at Sayomi. “Its our mission to wipe out the demons and purify those who are corrupted. However that’s not so easy.”

“Why not?” Sayomi asked.

“Only light users can purify souls. The rest have to kill demons and that’s not what we stand for. There are only three light users in all of tarot; the sun, the moon and the star.” Tears started to flow threw her eyes and said, ‘however the sun holder is terribly ill that her powers no longer work. Thus you and one other person are the only healers left.”

“M-Me? But tarot has been around for so long! How can you guys live for that long and she is on her death bed!” Sayomi pointed out

“Tarot warriors are created threw reproduction. Once a warrior has an offspring, the other warriors have a ritual on the child and he or she has to carry on the warrior ability once their powers are unlocked.” Kimiko explained. “However Sayuri’s illness prevented her to have children, so no one can carry out the sun card. Besides she is far too young to have children of her own. Only eighteen.”

“I still don’t know if I can do this.” Sayomi said, uneasy.

“Please, do this for me. Do this for the fate of the world! Its lying at the palm of your hand.” Kimiko sobbed.

Sayomi shook her head and said, “I can’t.” Then she walked away, leaving Kimiko on her own. A girl with long black hair walked in.

“She didn’t accept, did she?” The girl said.

Kimiko shook her head.

“Well then, she shall learn the hard way to face our reality.” The girl said.

Kimiko looked at her and said, “Kara, you don’t mean…?”

“Yes, we must wait until the demons attack her.”

~

Sayuri was late to class but she didn’t care. She tried to piece what had Kimiko was trying to tell her.

Sayuri shook her head. “Magical girls are only in animes. There is no such thing.”