My Normal Life Now Has A Moment of Self-Reflection

“You already knew magic!?”

“What?” Tama shook her head. “No. What the fuck—was that magic?”

“…Right, no one’s ever explained it to you.” Chiho frowned, pressing a finger to her lips. “I thought you lived a completely ordinary life, but perhaps that might not have been the case…considering what you’ve managed to accomplish.”

Tama squeezed her eyes shut. After throwing a shark into a house, she didn’t want to think about shit related to anything magical. Luckily the owner was on vacation—some Society Prime backup arrived and used magic to fix everything before any mundane people might have noticed. But after they learned Tama (alongside Sarine, but she’d already been tied up in this business from the start) was the source of it, Chiho strong armed Tama back to her home once more for an impromptu sleepover and explanation.

Tama collapsed in her futon, warm pajamas lulling her to sleep. Even then it remained such a distant wish she could only groan and bury her head in her pillow. Chiho reclined right next to her, the door open a tad to let a cool breeze through. Of course the temperature already started to rise…

“I swear, on whatever gods I gotta swear on that I’ve never had any weird shit happen to me before. No throwing furniture across the room, no rage spells, no random visions of the future or whatever the fuck you people get up to.”

“I see.” Chiho sat up, hands in her lap. “I believe you, but…um, my confusion might make more sense if I were to explain how magic works—or at least, how we’ve come to understand its existence.”

“Just tell me already,” Tama grumbled, managing a small smile out of Chiho.

“To pit it simply, there’s two channels through which magic is expressed—words, and gestures. A key ingredient that ignites a spell is intent. You need dry material to start a fire alongside oxygen, don’t you?”

A sigh. “But, there’s one more thing, too.”

Chiho crossed her arms, pouting. “A connection with the Powers of Prime. They don’t need to approve of you—plenty of malicious magic wielders siphon their powers without permission, but you must be able to connect with them. Perhaps…when you prayed at my family’s shrine to enter Society Prime’s resting grounds, you formed the connection? But that’s never happened before. Most students need at minimum several personal meditative sessions before being able to link with them.”

“Please never say that to me ever again.”

“…Did I do something wrong?”

“Stop implying I’m special!” Tama shouted into her pillow. Sarine sighed, curling into a small futon of her own placed next to Lavi’s on Chiho’s desk.

Chiho stared, glancing to the faeries with concern. Sarine squeezed herself tighter into a ball near-nonexistent.

She hadn’t said a word since they’d returned.

Lavi wiggled out of her futon, swinging her legs over the side—putting distance between herself and Sarine. “Sorry, but that’s what you are! Special! You gotta embrace it sooner or later or something really bad might happen!”

“What!? You can see the future?” Tama narrowed her eyes.

A giggle, and: “Nope! But that’s just the feeling I get. But with the sparkling Magical Girl Yearning Yuriko by your side, you won’t need to worry about anything but the glittering light of her justice!”

Tama sneered at the cheerful faerie. “You’re saying that like I’m the one getting beam blasted next.”

Lavi smiled, saying nothing.

“Whatever,” Tama said. “I just…I don’t want anything to do with this shit. I shouldn’t—I…”

She focused on her hands, having nothing else left. With a few words and mean-spirited gestures, Tama managed to throw a massive shadow creature like a pebble, so light and meaningless, bouncing over the lake’s surface and falling to futility within its depths—all with a toss.

Just a toss.

Yes, she didn’t want to think about it. Tama couldn’t deal with the burden of power, but as much as she tried to suppress it, a spark of something too undesirable to mention simmered. So small as to sneak into the palm of her hands, grains of sand burned into a fragment of glass, reflecting back an emotion left to collect dust for far too long.

Excitement.

She wanted more.

More, more—Tama shook her head. “…Listen. I’m not promising anything, and I don’t wanna deal with any fighting bullshit. But if I’m the one who made this happen, then—shouldn’t I…figure out a way to control it? Just, like, I don’t wanna get kicked out of school ‘cause some teacher pisses me off and I magic-throw her out the window.”

Chiho, cast over with hesitance, burned off those emotions in a flash and lunged forward to grab Tama’s hands. “Yes, yes, yes! I’ll teach you! The faeries can help as well—oh, I’ve never studied magic with anyone outside of my family! We can explore these new horizons together!”

The excitable magical girl gestured to Sarine, who gave her no reaction. “You’ll help, right?”

“She doesn’t have to,” Tama grumbled, only because she hated the idea Sarine might’ve reaped some satisfaction from this turn of events. If anything, she only agreed to magic practice to preserve what fragments of a normal life she had. Tama just needed to reel in this weird thing before it made her cross a line she couldn’t return from. That was all. She could still be a scout—she would still be unimportant.

She still wouldn’t give that damn faerie the satisfaction of changing her life. Though at the moment Sarine revealed nothing; she might’ve fallen asleep, though when it became clear Sarine had no inclination to reply, Chiho cleared her throat and moved on.

“We shall start tomorrow,” she said, releasing Tama. “Will you be staying the night again?”

Tama stretched her shoulders, wanting to fall back into the futon and wake up to yesterday’s morning—all the events of the day becoming a fleeting dream.

But fantasy ruled, now, the common days shunted to her imagination.

“Trains don’t run this late anyways. If you don’t mind—” I’d love to steal some of your awesome breakfast again, Tama almost said, but stopped herself. She didn’t want to seem like a blatant leech. Chiho tilted her head, before her confusion gave way to a big smile as she trapped Tama in yet another hug.

Right—this was all weird. Tama wanted nothing to do with it.

But in the face of Chiho’s kindness, she couldn’t face the possibility of a magical tomorrow with the vitriol she used to.