My Normal Life Now Has a Boring Normal Role that I Love

“Please, stop panicking! I told you why I—”

“Identity theft! Identity theft!”

“No, wait—!!”

Tama scurried behind Chiho. “Come on,” she yelled, “transform already! Some weird creature is stealing my appearance and is like, probably gonna eat me and take my memories or something!”

“…The Head of Society doesn’t have a physical form like we do, so they pick a from from their visitors to take,” Chiho explained, blushing. “Can you please—let go? This is quite inappropriate given the circumstances.”

Sarine grumbled, ripping Tama off of Chiho. “Same as always. Flighty, unreliable—”

“You’re flying right now,” Tama spat.

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“‘Yeah, yeah’ yourself!”

Tama wished she could argue Sarine into abandoning this stupid idea of making her a heroine forever, but as she glanced at the supposed Head of Society, the tearful, pitiful look on her—well, her own face made her freeze.

Chiho sighed. “You’ve hurt their feelings with your disrespect.” She clapped her hands together, squeezing her eyes shut. “Please apologize.”

Tama blanked. Before she stopped herself, she sighed and mimicked Chiho’s pose. “I apologize, uh…Ms. or Mr. Head of Society. Um, I…have a faerie problem. And a destiny problem. And we were sorta hoping you could help us out with that? Like, maybe tell Sarine to get off her high horse or—”

“Kimura-san,” Chiho stressed.

“—I mean, since I’m Chosen or whatever, I might as well get on with my big destiny stuff. You wanna give me a job here?…Wherever here is?”

The Head of Society crossed their arms, mouth pressed into a thin line. Though they mimicked Tama’s appearance near perfectly, one element remained out of place, a door with a crack left open for darkness to spill through; black, pure black eyes peered back at her.

Eyes, the window to the soul. The one thing no one dared try mimicking, with all its complexities and specks of imperfection reflected back at whoever dared to pry.

“I see.” They smiled. “No lies. You’re here to confront what’s ahead of you. As a Chosen, your destiny is a variable one.

“I can’t say for sure what lies ahead or where your talents would be best dedicated, but if I may play a role in it, I’ll be sure to make the path easier. I founded our ‘Society Prime’ in order to protect mundane humans from the supernatural forces which threaten to prey on them. Here we offer a safe place for people and creatures who need it, alongside recruiting the magically-destined and those who’re inclined to fight against any evil forces out there.”

Chiho raised a hand. “Like me! My family never knew of this organization, but I encountered some allies of theirs while fighting a particularly feisty Nacht—since then, they’ve helped me with scouting others monsters while we track down the villain creating them.

“Right…” They shifted their feet. “But we’ve been short of assistance since Rento’s recent injury. I apologize for that.”

“It’s all right,” Chiho said, bowing. “I’ve been doing the best I can. In fact, I managed to track down the latest Nacht due to Kimura-san’s assistance.”

“Kimura…san.”

The Head focused on her. Tama couldn’t help but tense under their empty gaze.

They nodded to themselves, face scrunched up in thought. “That may be where your destiny leads you. You see, all our scouts are busy with other villains. Perhaps you may be interested in being a scout for Kimura-kun the meantime? Until we can uncover your unique strengths and destiny, after all, it’s a low-level role; for a Chosen, being assigned to something so common and inconsequential might seem insulting—”

“Are you kidding!?”

Tama lunged, grabbing the Head’s hand and shaking it with such vigor one might think she won a billion yen and a guaranteed retirement in a beach-side condo for the rest of her days. “I’ll do it! Don’t you dare change your mind, my name’s already on the contract or whatever it is you freaks do, ‘k? I’ll be like. Scout number one or something. You don’t have to think of some bullshit ‘cool’ role to give me, just like—let me have this!”

“Aaaaaaaa?” They opened their mouth, a droll sound of confusion leaking out. Chiho, Sarine and Lavi exchanging a look of understanding.

“As long as you’re happy,” Chiho said, putting a hand on Tama’s shoulder, “then I’m happy, Kimura-san…or should I call you Kimura-kun now?”

Tama sighed, letting the Head go. “Just call me Tama already. You’re being waaaay to formal for my tastes.”

“I—what?” Chiho blinked, and shut down. “Huh? A first name basis? But…but I’m—”

“So,” Tama said, swinging an arm around Chiho’s shoulder. “When do I start? Tonight? I’m kinda feeling tonight. Might as well do this ‘fore all the good restaurants close in case we get hungry.”

“Are you only happy because you want food!?” Sarine snapped, but Tama ignored her.

The Head, regaining themselves, put their hands up. “I—I see. You’re…happy with this path? You don’t feed demeaned?”

“I feel awesome. Can I go now?”

“Er…well, since you’ll be working with Ohzora-kun, she can explain everything. So—yes, I suppose—”

“We’re done here!” Tama grabbed Chiho by the arm and dragged her out, the faeries once again left to follow their masters. The void guided Tama back outside before she knew it, and Chiho flew her back down. Tama whooped, cheered and skipped her way past a crowd of strangers, slipping through the Torii gates and speeding through the process she went through to return to reality.

As she blinked into existence back in the (now dark) forest, she threw a fist in the air. “Woohoo! Unimportance wins! Take that, you stupid faerie, you’re not getting anything out of me!”

“I can hear you,” Sarine spat, “I got here first!”

“And I don’t care!”

“And you should! Try learning mindfulness sometime! This is why you have no friends!”

Sarine’s spite couldn’t get her down, though. Despite fate’s best efforts Tama claimed her crown of mediocrity, and she clung to it, slobbered over it and marked the golden trinket as her territory. No one dared to pry her away from it.

No one at all.

No one…except the shadowy figure who watched from far away, turning and slipping into the darkness before anyone noticed her.