My Normal Life Now Has a Dramatic Emotional Moment

Sarine drifted in the cool night air one moment, shame bringing warmth to her cheeks until everything turned upside down—Tama grabbed Sarine hard enough to squeeze the life out of her, grabbing the faerie and booking it in the other direction.

“Shit shit shit shit SHIT!” Tama dropped Sarine on her shoulder, fumbling to call Chiho as something chased them; something Sarine couldn’t see amidst the deep ache settled in her chest. Humans often didn’t know their own strength. Sarine hoped none of her wings became bent, or even worse, torn.

Click. “Ohz—I mean, Yuriko, get over here! I found it! The big cheese!—No, the fucking nightmare monster you sent me to find!…I’m not typing out the address, I already sent you my location learn to use your damn phone and get over here!”

A dark splotch darted into their path. Tama screamed, and with a leap, sailed above it. The creature burst out and rammed into her with its head, sending Tama flying; she hit the ground a fair distance away. She twitched, forcing herself to her feet, but already the shadowy shark plunged back into the ground and continued its pursuit.

If these are supposed to represent fears, a shark is totally the most unoriginal option, Tama grumbled within the safety of her own head as she ran for dear life. Sarine clung to her shoulder, wind cutting past her little body and loosening her grip every passing moment.

Tama zipped through turns and past houses as the Nacht leapt out of the ground, smashing into lamp posts and plunging everything into darkness. Tama narrowed her eyes and focused on vague shapes ahead to keep herself on the path.

That, and the growing, glimmering light.

Yearning Yuriko’s arrival—cued by a beam of light aimed right at the tip of the Nacht’s fin. It sizzled upon contact, and the monster seized on land, diving back down and struggling through clumsy turns to hide in the darkness.

Yuriko fired off several more beams from the tip of her baton, but now the monster knew to hide itself fully to escape her dangerous attacks.

“This is where you come in!” Yuriko shouted, jumping from roof to roof. “Lure it out so I can blast it to bits!”

“You were totally more polite before—” Tama began, jumping out of the way of the monster’s path, “—wait, what the hell do you want me to do against that thing!?”

Yuriko frowned, following it from above while Tama tried to follow her now, streetlights exploding from a mere brush with the monster. “Reveal its weak point. Look for something I can attack. We have to stop it before it gets someone hurt. You’re a scout—see what I can’t see, and take care of the rest.”

Tama realized then and there that there may have been a reason not many people saw anything good in being a scout. She signed up for the death trap job without noticing.

It’s like—I applied for a job as a waitress, the advertisement listing the duties I’d be doing and tacking on a lazy ‘along with whatever else we see relevant’ at the end. Then when I get there, I’m being run ragged taking phone calls while cleaning a bathroom and checking on five tables every ten minutes.

“I’m not gonna add less soap ‘cause you think it smells, I like it and that’s all that matters!” Tama yelled.

“Wait, huh?…Argh, it’s getting away! T—Tama, please, I need your help!”

Stop stuttering when you’re just saying my name, Tama thought before she locked on to the road ahead. The shark-shaped Nacht stayed on course, making swift, steep turns around each block and taking out every source of light it saw. If Yuriko didn’t shine with such natural (well, magical) radiance, they’d have lost the creature long ago.

But it wanted to get away. It needed to, and the pair had to stop it before it made it past the residential areas. Tama grit her teeth.

It attacked her earlier, but now it saw its chance to cause further harm out in the crowded nightlife. Tama couldn’t just throw her arms out and expect to get its attention like that.

…But…

No, it wasn’t just the two of them. Sarine held on with everything she had, too busy focusing on her grip strength to contribute. Tama grabbed the little creature, waving Sarine around like a toy.

If the Nacht ate Sarine, then Tama would finally escape this stupid story she’d been forced into. If it didn’t, then Yuriko would have a chance to blast the monster before it made a midnight snack of random innocents.

Tama saw no problem with this whatsoever.

“Let go of me!” Sarine shouted. “What the fuck—you’re actually gonna feed me to that?”

“Hey! It’s not…” Tama waved a hand side to side, “Not technically feeding you. Using you?”

“That’s worse!”

“No, it’s totally not! It’d be a guaranteed death if I did use you for feed, but like. I’m not gonna. But if it happens just tell yourself you died for the cause.”

“If I die, I’ll curse you because you—” Sarine pointed at Tama, “—were the one who killed me!”

“Well, you—” Tama yelled, pointing back, “Deserve it! You ruined my life!”

“I improved it! You really wanna spend the rest of your life eating boiled eggs and being late to everything? Having no friends, no hobbies, just existing and doing whatever crap teenage girls do before doing whatever crap adults do, old ladies do, and then whatever dead bodies do? They just rot. You’re rotting, Tama Kimura, and if you’re gonna feed me to dream monsters for trying to fix that, then I’d rather kill you instead!”

“Um, guys…” Yuriko said, but her words failed to pierce the veil of anger around the human and faerie pair.

Tama shook Sarine, throwing her to the ground. “You don’t get to tell me shit about my life! You don’t even know anything about our world! You just rant and criticize and try to make me something I’m not, force me into a world I’ll never be apart of like you’re playing with dolls to make yourself feel better about your shitty, sad existence! I don’t need you! I never needed you, and everything you ever wanted is gonna go to waste because I never asked for this!”

Sarine glared, a look of pure displeasure towards the existence she’d been bound to. “I never asked for this either! Just—”

“Guys, please!” Yuriko said, but another creature sought to interrupt their argument—the Nacht tore through pavement and jumped up, jaws open and ready to devour Tama and Sarine.

It failed to notice, though, the aura of malice between the two—or rather, an uneasy feeling that had manifested into a literal red aura around them. They both locked eyes with the creature.

“Go away!”

As they both screamed, the Nacht’s eyes shot open, and it launched into the air. All the streetlights shone brighter than they ever had before, exposing everything in the area before it slammed into a house. Beaten, broken.

Yuriko forced herself to get back to work, raising her baton, reciting the right words to erase the monster from existence. Tama, though, watched. Rooted to the spot. Staring at her hands—running them against one another.

Wondering what she said. How she did that.

Struggling, now, to figure out what she’d become a part of.