My Normal Life Now Has a New Job For Me

When Yuriko said ‘her place’, Tama assumed she meant somewhere closer by—not a massive, Japanese-style mansion on the outskirts of town, buried in a forest that seemed to whisper all the secrets this magical girl held. Yuriko glided over the treetops, landing in an open-roof courtyard tucked in the middle of the property. She tiptoed around the zen garden before she placed Tama down, and in a flash of light, detransformed into—

“Ohzora!?” Tama said, mouth snapped open. Sarine frowned.

“Who’s she?” the faerie asked.

Chiho Ohzora smiled, the long skirt of her school uniform fluttering in the gentle night breeze—a kind whisper, compared to the resentful trees. “I suppose I don’t have to hide it anymore! I knew I’ve seen you somewhere; we’re classmates, aren’t we?”

“…Oh, yeah,” Tama snorted, finally having processed it, “Of course our class rep honor student moonlights as a city-saving magical girl.”

“Um—Thank you…?” Chiho said, brushing a strand of short-cut hair from her face before holding out a hand. “This time, I’ll introduce myself properly. My name is Ohzora Chiho, and it’s a pleasure to meet you. There’s no other Chosen in this city, so it’s been lonely, fighting back the Nacht by myself. But now that you’re at my side—”

Tama put her hands up. “I’m not magical. No powers, no trinkets, no nothing.”

“…Your faerie didn’t gift you a transformation trinket?”

“Wait, we do that?” Sarine said, searching her pockets as Lavi nodded.

“Some of us—others don’t need them,” Lavi said, putting a hand on her hip as she sat down on Chiho’s shoulder. “I thought you knew that already?”

“I—” Sarine said, stopped, then scoffed. “I mean, yeah. I was just…testing you. But I have a feeling my Chosen won’t need that kind of stuff, so. Yeah.”

Lavi frowned. “Yeaaaaaaaah.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. If you’re sure.”

Chiho smiled, wide and desperate to change the topic before the fighting transferred from human to faerie to faerie on faerie. “So…are you certain nothing’s changed since you’ve met your faerie?”

Tama looked herself over. “Maybe I got a pimple somewhere…I think it’s on my—”

“Hey! Too much information!” Sarine flew in front of Tama’s face, then shivered. “Ouugh. Can we head inside? We won’t be bothering your family by crashing in all of a sudden, right?”

“They’re used to it,” Chiho said, smiling as she walked ahead of the group.

Lavi kicked her legs back and forth, grinning with pride. “You guys are gonna love this place. It’s beautiful! And, if I can tell you a secret…um, Chiho, can I tell them?”

“Yeah, of course!”

“Okay!” Lavi grinned, leaning over as Chiho opened the sliding door, leading everyone down a hallway. “This house resides right near a shrine; it’s been in my Chosen’s family for generations. Our meeting was written in the stars!” Her wings twinkled, pinpricks of light from tip to tip, “Tell us, was it the same for the both of you?”

Chiho pushed the door open to her room, and the the two humans took their seats on mats around a table while the faeries kept close to their companions. “Uhhhh…sorry, I dunno,” Tama said. “Damn, this place is super Japanese style. Are you some kinda shrine maiden in your spare time too?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” Chiho said, looking sad as she tucked her legs under herself. “My older sister takes care of those duties.”

“Oof.”

“But—to bring the subject back,” Lavi said, eyes alight with curiosity as she drifted towards Tama’s face, “Tell us about how you two met!”

The question dropped a bucket of spilled displeasure on Sarine and Tama’s faces, sneers telling more than the pointed insults they threw at each other ever could. “Where do you want me to start?” Sarine griped, laying on the table as she swung her legs up and propped her head on her hands. “This girl’s got no hobbies, no dreams, no goals, and no evil monsters to kill! Do you know what that’s like!? It’s miso soup outside the bowl, all spilled on the floor in some kinda puddle for someone to trip in! Or worse, they trip, find out how messy and terrible her life is, and end up forced to clean up after her! Hmph, of course I get the luxury of wiping it all up, and when I’m done, I’m throwing the dirty rag in Kimura’s face when she isn’t looking!”

“Keep your metaphors in check!” Tama shouted. She raised a fist in the tiny faerie’s direction, and despite the odds, Sarine met her challenge, her tiny hands crackling with a green energy before Lavi shrieked and flew between them.

Chiho clapped her hands. “Please, stop! Stop! I understand now, okay? Things…haven’t been great between you two.”

Lavi frowned; Tama sighed and leaned back, staring at the ceiling as Sarine groaned and flipped onto her back, wings splayed in both directions, a spilled bundle of intersecting lines captured in their web-like structure. “Tell me about it,” the faerie grumbled.

“I’m just trying to live my life,” Tama said. “It’s not my fault it’s not up to your amazing expectations. Sounds more like a you problem, getting so hyped up for something that wasn’t guaranteed to happen.”

“I, well—” Chiho coughed, raising her voice with a little squeak at the tip, “I think you both have good points, okay? I do!

“Kimura-san, you’re right. Sarine isn’t being fair to you by needling you with criticisms because you weren’t what she wanted you to be. But it’s also not fair of you to ignore the implications of this. Faeries only get assigned to Chosens of great destinies. Having one in your life means the Gods are trying to tell you something, and it’s best to heed their warning and prepare over plugging your ears and covering your eyes.”

Tama frowned. She covered her ears and closed her eyes, Chiho’s smile faltering.

“Ungrateful brat,” Sarine grumbled. “See why I had to drag her out now? She’s not finding anything great on her own.”

“You could’ve been devoured if we didn’t show up in time,” Lavi snapped, face bright red and easily mistaken for a ripe tomato.

“Well…”

“No well!” Lavi said as she put a finger up. “Let destiny come when it comes. Chiho’s life seemed as average as everyone else’s ‘till we met, then boom! She received her transformation trinket and swore to protect this city! Maybe if you waited—”

“Ah, actually, Lavi…may I say something?”

“She—huh?” Lavi looked up. “Go ahead, Chiho.”

Chiho smiled. She snapped her fingers, and the baton she wielded before fell into her hands, changing her appearance back to Yearning Yuriko in a flash. Another clap of her hands formed white cuffs around Tama’s wrists, forcing them together, away from her ears.

“Hey! What the—”

Before Tama argued, another snap put a gag around her mouth, along with Sarine’s (no matter how much she cursed and used her magic to burn it off). “I apologize,” Chiho said, a slight pout tracing her hesitance, “but I need to say this without interruption: though it may not seem destined, we don’t know for sure where your paths lead. So I thought of something.

Chiho held a hand out to Tama. Her gag disappeared, but Tama said nothing. “Kimura-san, may I please ask you to join Society Prime as a scout?”