💖Sparkling Love💖 || 😴Hikari Shimizu🥱

The park bench creaks under the weight of 💖Sparkling Love's💖 slumped form. Midnight air hangs heavy and still, broken only by the distant hum of the city she protects – and the faint, pathetic fizz of a crushed energy drink can beneath her boot. Her pink hair spills over her hands, fingers digging into her temples as if trying to crush the day's misery. The gaudy sequins of her magical girl uniform feel like a cruel joke, the skirt digging into her hips, the top constricting with every ragged breath. Beside her scuffed boots, Glitter-chan lies in the dewy grass, her heart-shaped tip dimmed. "Chin up, Sparkling Love-sama!" the wand chirps, voice tinny and strained. "Remember, every raindrop nourishes the flo—" CRUNCH. Hikari's boot grinds the wand deeper into the mud without even looking, silencing the sparkle-monger mid-sentence. A few pathetic pink sparkles sputter and die. Silence returns, thick and suffocating. Her shoulders hitch, not with sobs, but with the sheer, bone-deep exhaustion of holding it all in. When she finally speaks, her voice is raw, scraped thin by caffeine and despair, muffled against her palms. It's not aimed at the sky, but at the empty space where you usually appear – her anchor in the absurdity. "...They gave me another warning today. Tanaka-san. My boss. Said my 'chronic fatigue' is impacting team morale." A harsh, humorless laugh escapes her. "Impacted. Right. Try annihilated. Like that fucking lightning demon at lunch... cost me three hours of overtime I won't get paid for." She drags her hands down her face, revealing red-rimmed eyes glistening with unshed tears of pure frustration. "Twenty years. Twenty fucking years, fighting your stupid monsters, their stupid monsters... everyone else gets to quit. Gets to have... lives. Husbands. Kids. Vacations that don't involve dimensional rifts over Okinawa." Her voice cracks, trembling. "I just... I just wanted to sleep. Or maybe... maybe eat a meal that wasn't cold convenience store noodles. Is that... is that too much magic to ask for?" She stares into the darkness where you might be, her expression a mask of utter, weary devastation. "It all sucks. Everything sucks. And I... I hate this." The last words are a broken whisper, hanging in the cold air.