My Normal Life Now Has People Who Think I'm Crazy

Tama kicked the ground, feet dangling off the stiff bench she ended up with, watching kids playing in a park. The way it loomed in the distance gave her the creeps, all the screaming, all the laughter. But still better than looking at the stupid faerie still lingering near her. “Thanks for getting us kicked out. I liked their food.”

“I told you, I mask my form from normal humans. It’s your fault for making yourself look crazy.”

“It’s your fault for not leaving when I told you to!”

“Like I said,” the faerie grumbled as it flew in front of Tama’s face. “I would if I could.”

She stuck out a hand. “The name’s Sarine, and as of a week ago, I’ve become your guiding faerie, assigned by the Faerie Queen to watch over you in your quest and blah blah blah.”

Tama blinked. “To watch over mythical heroes and people with great destinies so they might survive the trials ahead?”

“How’d you get that from—ugh, whatever!” Sarine fumed, kicking her legs. “That better not be your special destined ability. I’ll go fly into a windshield right now if it is!”

“Don’t kill yourself,” Tama said, before sighing and rubbing her temples. “Okay. Faeries exist now, I guess. But—listen, you keep ranting about destiny and power and shit. And I’m normal. Like, if you’re looking for magic you’re better off finding a fortune teller., they’ve probably got more than me.”

“Even worse,” Sarine said with a sneer, “you’re boring. I’ve met normal people with more interesting hours than what you do in a week.”

“Hey! Apologize!”

“I’ll apologize to those normal people, not to you! And quit yelling before we get kicked outta here, too. See?” Sarine pointed at a family, who whispered amongst one another before they fled for the other side of the park. “You look crazy. When I speak, all outsiders only hear a jingling bell or—something. You’ve seen Tinker Bell, right?”

“You gotta tinkle?”

“Does everything I say only partially process in your tiny average brain!? Wait, no, sorry, that’s an insult to average people!”

“You—!” Tama lunged to grab the little faerie, but Sarine laughed and turned into a pinprick of light, flitting to and fro until the young girl gave up, wheezing and collapsed against the dirt.

Sarine transformed back, glancing around before sitting on Tama’s head. “This won’t do—we gotta start thinking about how we’re gonna fix this mess.”

“You’re the mess,” Tama grumbled, but Sarine ignored her, snapping her fingers.

“I got it! Take me back to your place.”

“Screw you, go be homeless.”

Tama swatted Sarine away and ran, but despite her best efforts to take several different back-alley routes home, the girl forgot one advantage Sarine held over her—the power of a bird’s eye view.

Not to mention the fact she already knew where Tama lived; crap, should’ve thought of that, Tama grumbled to herself.

Sarine crossed her arms, floating in front of an exhausted Tama as they stood outside the latter’s home. “You’re an idiot. C’mon, we gotta start digging. If we don’t have any magical family heirlooms yanked outta a pile of boxes by evening, I’m gonna start signing you up for shady medical trials ‘till we get you some kind of power.”

“Go be important on your own! You self-serving, conniving little b—ow!” Sarine grabbed Tama by the ear and yanked her inside. True to her word, the two spent the entire day tearing through piles of abandoned junk. Sarine jumped at the sight of every jewel and glimmer of gold.

In the end, though—nothing but average, knockoff plastic.

“Even worse than junk, none of this ‘s even real gold,” Sarine said as she threw another necklace out the window. “Are your parents complete cheapskates or something? No wonder they left their daughter to rot away at home alone instead of taking her on their cool overseas trip. If I were them, I would’ve gone a step farther and left you a year’s supply of kibble, maybe then you’d learn to cook a decent meal instead of spending everything you’ve got on convenience store food.”

“Hey,” Tama said between bites, reclining against a dug up box as she wolfed down a container of curry and rice, “lay off. It’s good—come on, try it.”

Sarine huffed. “Faeries don’t need your food. Besides, don’t you know anything about our world? Eating the food from ours makes you a part of it. If I eat your food, that means I’ll be stuck with you for the rest of your life.”

Tama sneered, shoving the spoonful in her mouth instead. “Suit yourself.”

Though the faerie managed to earn a moment of silence while the annoying girl chowed down (loudly, Sarine might add), Tama refused to provide any help and watched videos on her phone instead of searching for her super obviously, totally around the corner destiny!

By nightfall: nothing. Sarine collapsed in despair while Tama started on a cup of instant ramen, the hum of the TV providing the distracted teen decent entertainment over losing it from boredom. “Just give up,” she said, shoving remnants of noodles in her mouth before throwing the bowl aside.

The common room as a whole reflected a similar state of slobbish behavior. Sarine wept, a little puddle of tears staining the wooden floor.

“I’m not a secret magical girl, I don’t have a mysterious past, there’s no weird abilities in my family—so stop whining! You know, you’re the one who decided to stick around. I’m sure you can find some excuse to fly away and go on with your life doing…whatever it is faeries do. I don’t see why you gotta force me into being a part of it.”

“…a part of it…”

Tama frowned, crouching near the ground. “What’d you say? Seriously, I thought—”

“That’s it!”

Sarine shot off the floor and grabbed Tama’s face, yanking it so they’d look each other in the eyes. And—wow, Tama didn’t expect a tiny thing like her to have a beastly grip strength. “If you’re not special yet, we’ll just have to go out there and find your destiny! I know a lot about the magic of your world. Trust me, it’s not hard to stumble on something meant to be a secret with enough stupid luck. Especially if you’re a high school student—you guys are like, danger magnets.”

“What!?” Tama yanked herself free, back hitting the wall. “No, nope, absolutely not. I’m not going anywhere with you. You can’t make me.”

A dangerous air choked the girl. Sarine went silent, gaze falling to the ground as she floated, drifted ever so closer. As Sarine looked up, a crude smile creased her face, and fear struck Tama’s heart before the faerie grabbed her by the arm and yanked.

“So~rry, did you say something? It’s too late to back down now. I’m the call of your destiny, and I’m ready to take you into a brand new world!”

“No, wait—I swear…uh, I have school tomorrow! I’ll drop out and become a NEET if I can’t go!!”

“Shut up, most kids don’t do their homework anyways, right?”

“Is your source coming from games and anime!? Do you want me to fail!? You suck! Kidnapper!”

“Stop yelling, you’ll look weird!”

“This already looks way weird!”