Chapter 1:
Careful what you wish for (Prologue), Part 1
Splitting Image
Right before sunrise, at 6 o'clock, the alarm of a phone goes off. After exactly 5 seconds of ringing the alarm is turned off, someone with longer hair is seen getting up from the bed.
The person gets dressed and leaves their room, going downstairs to the kitchen and puts on an apron. A bit later, two very tired-looking adults in pyjamas come down the stairs in line, a woman with long, straight, light green hair, big, round glasses covering her brown eyes and a man having a blue eye colour and ruffled, short burgundy hair. They spot the girl with smooth, brown hair in the kitchen, having prepared three portions of fried and scrambled egg, roasted toast and vegetables in the meantime, one of them half as big as the others. Both of them put on a slight smile.
Parents: Good morning, Mina.
The brown-eyed girl turns around and reveals an emotionless expression, a black hair clip fastening the right part of her fringe.
Mina: Good Morning.
Mom: I see you have been a diligent girl again. But you know you don't have to get up this early for us, right?
Dad: Indeed, please don't go to any trouble.
Mina: It's OK, I don't mind.
All of them sit down and have breakfast together. The three at the table are Mina Gemin, 15 years old, birthday 23rd of May to whom the small portion with the fried egg belongs, and her parents Lira and Lars Gemin, pharmaceutical lab assistant and office worker.
*Why the main role doesn't hold the introduction herself, you ask? It's simple! Even if Mina knew she had to introduce herself, she wouldn't do it because she would think it's embarrassing!*
At half past six the mother gets up from the table and gets ready for work, putting on her lab coat and giving everyone a kiss on their cheek before leaving. The laboratory, her workplace, is situated in a bigger town, 30 minutes away with the car. As Mina wants to take away her tableware and clean it she finds her father being one step ahead of her, already having started to clean up, he accepts her tableware.
Dad: I'll take care of that. If you like, you may kill some time before you head off for school.
She nods at him, then walks upstairs, getting ready in the bathroom and, oddly enough, checks the position of her hair clip with a set square. Afterwards, she prepares her school stuff and sits back, starting her mobile gaming console and playing a bit before she has to take her leave.
At 7:20 AM she goes back downstairs to see off her father who leaves their European-looking wooden house for his office in the inner city of Aria – their ordinary and middle-sized home town –, taking him ten minutes to go there by bicycle. Ten minutes later, Mina takes her leave, too, 15 minutes passing by as she walks to her school at the edge of town. Upon arrival, she sits down on her seat, waiting for the lesson to start as her classmates are seen exchanging lively in the background.
On her way back home her face is deadpan like before, but her inside proves the impression to be wrong.
Mina(thought): God, I'm done from school today. I wonder why those certain people in class are always such a hassle to handle.
*On the inside, Mina is rather eccentric.*
Mina breathes a deep sigh.
Mina(thought): I know my outside and inside are in conflict. It's tiring, but I can't really act differently.
Slowly, an unusual darkness takes over the sky, too gloomy for this time of day while she sits down at the deserted city fountain near the forest. A gentle wind blows, making Mina's hair wave freely as she is relishing the breeze with her eyes closed. A few moments later, she takes her purse, pulling out a coin, and flicks it into the fountain. The sun is hidden behind a giant blackness and Mina is closing her eyes again while folding her hands.
Mina: I wish I could show my true feelings.
Beyond the scene, with the sun entirely hidden by now, somewhere way up high, there is a figure, sitting in a dark room, only slightly lit by a sphere in which Mina is seen sitting at the fountain. The figure begins to grin sinisterly as the light fades completely. Later on, Mina notices that it got quite dark and goes back home. Having arrived there, she greets her mother.
Mina: Hello, I'm back.
Mom: Welcome home, sweetie. Have you seen the solar eclipse?
Mina: ...I guess I did, it was darker than usual.
Mom: Just as I know it from you, the embodiment of coolness. But that kind of thing doesn't happen every day, sun, moon and earth have to be in line for that, after all. You should try to develop some appreciation for these things.
Mina: I'll be upstairs, don't wait for me since I will most probably not come down again later. Just go about your business and don't mind me.
Mom: ...If you insist. But it'll be lonely eating supper without you.
Her mother's smile fades to a sad stare, watching her daughter go upstairs to her room. Inside, she is doing her homework, washes herself later on and goes to bed without having dinner.
She opens her eyes, realizing she is floating inside an absolute darkness. It unexpectedly gets brighter in front of her, and an angelic figure, looking like a blue-eyed girl with golden hair and halo, wearing a white gown with light blue details, steps out of that light.
Angel: I heard your sincere wish and I will grant it!
Placing both of her hands on her chest, the girl shortly after moves them away from herself, pushing a glowing sphere out of her body between the hands in the process. Looking at it, Mina notices that something inside the sphere is spinning round and round, but way too fast to identify what it is.
The other female then reaches out with her right hand, the palm facing upwards, making the sphere move towards Mina and coming to a halt right in front of her. Shortly after, it merges into her chest. Bewildered, Mina looks back at the figure who grants her a charming smile. Mina winks and awakens in her bed. Still confused about what she saw just now, she grabs her phone to look at the time.
Mina(thought): Oh, it's almost time to get up.
After turning off the alarm on her phone, she gets up, gets ready in the bathroom and checks the position of her hair clip with her set square, examining herself in the mirror.
Mina(thought): The dream was so weird, I still can't get it out of my head. And I could swear I wore the same clothes in my dream that I was wearing in bed.
Today, Mina goes to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, too.
*Fun fact: Mina loves to cook, therefore, she almost always arranges breakfast and dinner. Ironically, she doesn't eat much so her servings are tiny. It also happens regularly that she even skips dinner, like yesterday.*
The whole family is having breakfast together again, and the day takes its course, as always. Around lunchtime, Mina leaves school, not having to attend classes in the afternoon. On her way home, not far away from there, a cat catches her eye and she strokes it, wearing her usual emotionless expression.
*Mina loves animals, especially the cute ones, only with few exceptions.*
After a couple of minutes she moves on, arriving home a few moments later. She enters the house, her parents still being absent as they are busy at work. After Mina closes the door behind her, she reveals a big grin on her face.
*Only when Mina is absolutely sure no one is watching her, she is able to show her emotions.*
She starts skipping while she walks up the staircase towards her room.
Mina: The cat was just too cute! She was really trusting, making me stroke her for so long, that made my day!
A shining sphere is visible, and the spinning something inside comes to a halt at “α”. Off-screen, Mina enters her room, passing by her mirror cabinet, and suddenly stops.
Mina(thought): Strange, somehow, as I went past the mirror, in the corner of my eye something looked unfamiliar.
She takes some steps back, now standing right in front of the mirror and flinches.
Mina(thought): What the...? That's not me!
Looking in the mirror, not the common brown-eyed and -haired girl with a black hair clip, but one with mint-coloured hair and eyes is staring at her, wearing a long ponytail with peroxide blonde highlights and a gorgeous white dress with boots of the same colour. Mina moves, and the stranger in the reflection copies her. Confused, she looks down her body, realizing that she is wearing these clothes. She puts on an empty smile, looking back into the mirror.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
A loud scream is echoing through the whole house.
Mina(thought): What's going on? Why do I look like that, and what's with these clothes?! My voice is different, too! Wait. Stop. First, I should try not to freak out and come down to...
Behind her back, a set of wings appears and she gets slammed to the ceiling.
“OUCH!”
Mina(thought): Well, that was quite “uplifting”.
With full power, she gets smashed back to the floor (“OOF!”), lying there as flat as a pancake. A circle of water bubbles builds up around her, makes a complete turn and vanishes again, leaving Mina in her normal body. Still a little dazed she gets back to her feet and completely confused about what happened just now, she looks back into the mirror.
Mina(thought): It seems like I turned back to normal. Did I just imagine things? The pain was rather convincing, though. I just remembered, this figure looked a lot like a magical girl, like in the series I used to enjoy watching back then. I wonder if I... *turns red* Nonononono, it can't be! That kind of thing cannot be real! ...However, I'm sure I was hurled through the air before. It is best to pass it all in revue and analyse the situation. From morning till noon everything seemed normal, after school, I met that cat and stroked her. Subsequently, I went back home. And then... I had a cuteness fit because of the cat. Was that it? Let's just reenact it.
Thinking back of how she enjoyed spending time with the cat, Mina's broad grin returns. Still keeping an eye on the mirror, she witnesses her brown eyes to gleam in mint, the sphere from her dream coming out of her chest while the rotating thing inside of it stops at “α”. Coming from the ball of light, a circle of bubbles forms around Mina, turning around the axis completely, making her appear as the unknown girl again as the bubble stream fades with the sphere. Absolutely shocked, she just stands there.
Mina(thought): I just broke the world record in image change! So it wasn't my imagination after all!
Staring back at her reflected image, she starts taking a closer look at her new appearance, examining her face, hair and lower body, including her clothing.
Mina(thought): What on earth happened to me? My eyes and hair changed colours while my hairstyle is completely different from before, it's so much longer. And this dress, everything I'm wearing right now is so freaking cute! Some kind of gemstone decorates the chest, I also like the ribbons tied to my wrists. *bounces on her toes* The outfit looks amazing, I love it! It's nice to wear attire this beautiful, it's impossible not to look adorable in these clothes!
Enjoying her new looks Mina turns around happily a few times, stopping in front of the mirror again.
Mina(thought): But... How did I end up like this...? I see, now I remember! That dream this morning! I already saw that sphere of light that came out of me just then in my dream! Does that mean that it's really inside of me now and that angel fulfilled my wish? (Flashback: “I wish I could show my true feelings.”) Oh no. I sure hope that doesn't mean that I will change in appearance with every emotion?! Why did she take it so literally?! I would have to control my feelings under all circumstances! If someone were to see me like that, I would be in big trouble! OK, I should keep my balance and come down...
Behind Mina the wings form again as she is slammed against the ceiling.
“Whoah -OOF!”
Changing back, she lands on the floor harshly afterwards.
Mina: Ouch!
Mina(thought): “Come down to earth” → flying up; “uplifting” → flying down; “come down” → flying up. ...The first ability I have... has the same crappy controls as a flight simulator!! I'm really spared nothing. It's best to repress my emotions among other people for now I guess, at least until I know more. But it won't be easy. I may be used to not showing my feelings, but not feeling them at all is a different story. Will I even be able to do that...?
Absorbed in thoughts, she walks up and down for a while.
Mina(thought): It's no good. Instead of breaking my head about things I simply can't understand, I should rather take them on directly. The proof is in the pudding! The forest nearby is pretty desolate and you're rather safe from unwanted glares. I'm gonna get to the bottom of everything there!
Full of energy, Mina goes to the forest.
*Magical girl biases added! *Video game achievement sound*:
The girl transforms, check.
After transforming, she wears clothes that are completely unfit for fighting, check.
She absolutely sucks handling the powers, check. (All three points with a visual flashback)
She has no freaking clue what she got herself into, check.*
The person gets dressed and leaves their room, going downstairs to the kitchen and puts on an apron. A bit later, two very tired-looking adults in pyjamas come down the stairs in line, a woman with long, straight, light green hair, big, round glasses covering her brown eyes and a man having a blue eye colour and ruffled, short burgundy hair. They spot the girl with smooth, brown hair in the kitchen, having prepared three portions of fried and scrambled egg, roasted toast and vegetables in the meantime, one of them half as big as the others. Both of them put on a slight smile.
Parents: Good morning, Mina.
The brown-eyed girl turns around and reveals an emotionless expression, a black hair clip fastening the right part of her fringe.
Mina: Good Morning.
Mom: I see you have been a diligent girl again. But you know you don't have to get up this early for us, right?
Dad: Indeed, please don't go to any trouble.
Mina: It's OK, I don't mind.
All of them sit down and have breakfast together. The three at the table are Mina Gemin, 15 years old, birthday 23rd of May to whom the small portion with the fried egg belongs, and her parents Lira and Lars Gemin, pharmaceutical lab assistant and office worker.
*Why the main role doesn't hold the introduction herself, you ask? It's simple! Even if Mina knew she had to introduce herself, she wouldn't do it because she would think it's embarrassing!*
At half past six the mother gets up from the table and gets ready for work, putting on her lab coat and giving everyone a kiss on their cheek before leaving. The laboratory, her workplace, is situated in a bigger town, 30 minutes away with the car. As Mina wants to take away her tableware and clean it she finds her father being one step ahead of her, already having started to clean up, he accepts her tableware.
Dad: I'll take care of that. If you like, you may kill some time before you head off for school.
She nods at him, then walks upstairs, getting ready in the bathroom and, oddly enough, checks the position of her hair clip with a set square. Afterwards, she prepares her school stuff and sits back, starting her mobile gaming console and playing a bit before she has to take her leave.
At 7:20 AM she goes back downstairs to see off her father who leaves their European-looking wooden house for his office in the inner city of Aria – their ordinary and middle-sized home town –, taking him ten minutes to go there by bicycle. Ten minutes later, Mina takes her leave, too, 15 minutes passing by as she walks to her school at the edge of town. Upon arrival, she sits down on her seat, waiting for the lesson to start as her classmates are seen exchanging lively in the background.
On her way back home her face is deadpan like before, but her inside proves the impression to be wrong.
Mina(thought): God, I'm done from school today. I wonder why those certain people in class are always such a hassle to handle.
*On the inside, Mina is rather eccentric.*
Mina breathes a deep sigh.
Mina(thought): I know my outside and inside are in conflict. It's tiring, but I can't really act differently.
Slowly, an unusual darkness takes over the sky, too gloomy for this time of day while she sits down at the deserted city fountain near the forest. A gentle wind blows, making Mina's hair wave freely as she is relishing the breeze with her eyes closed. A few moments later, she takes her purse, pulling out a coin, and flicks it into the fountain. The sun is hidden behind a giant blackness and Mina is closing her eyes again while folding her hands.
Mina: I wish I could show my true feelings.
Beyond the scene, with the sun entirely hidden by now, somewhere way up high, there is a figure, sitting in a dark room, only slightly lit by a sphere in which Mina is seen sitting at the fountain. The figure begins to grin sinisterly as the light fades completely. Later on, Mina notices that it got quite dark and goes back home. Having arrived there, she greets her mother.
Mina: Hello, I'm back.
Mom: Welcome home, sweetie. Have you seen the solar eclipse?
Mina: ...I guess I did, it was darker than usual.
Mom: Just as I know it from you, the embodiment of coolness. But that kind of thing doesn't happen every day, sun, moon and earth have to be in line for that, after all. You should try to develop some appreciation for these things.
Mina: I'll be upstairs, don't wait for me since I will most probably not come down again later. Just go about your business and don't mind me.
Mom: ...If you insist. But it'll be lonely eating supper without you.
Her mother's smile fades to a sad stare, watching her daughter go upstairs to her room. Inside, she is doing her homework, washes herself later on and goes to bed without having dinner.
She opens her eyes, realizing she is floating inside an absolute darkness. It unexpectedly gets brighter in front of her, and an angelic figure, looking like a blue-eyed girl with golden hair and halo, wearing a white gown with light blue details, steps out of that light.
Angel: I heard your sincere wish and I will grant it!
Placing both of her hands on her chest, the girl shortly after moves them away from herself, pushing a glowing sphere out of her body between the hands in the process. Looking at it, Mina notices that something inside the sphere is spinning round and round, but way too fast to identify what it is.
The other female then reaches out with her right hand, the palm facing upwards, making the sphere move towards Mina and coming to a halt right in front of her. Shortly after, it merges into her chest. Bewildered, Mina looks back at the figure who grants her a charming smile. Mina winks and awakens in her bed. Still confused about what she saw just now, she grabs her phone to look at the time.
Mina(thought): Oh, it's almost time to get up.
After turning off the alarm on her phone, she gets up, gets ready in the bathroom and checks the position of her hair clip with her set square, examining herself in the mirror.
Mina(thought): The dream was so weird, I still can't get it out of my head. And I could swear I wore the same clothes in my dream that I was wearing in bed.
Today, Mina goes to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, too.
*Fun fact: Mina loves to cook, therefore, she almost always arranges breakfast and dinner. Ironically, she doesn't eat much so her servings are tiny. It also happens regularly that she even skips dinner, like yesterday.*
The whole family is having breakfast together again, and the day takes its course, as always. Around lunchtime, Mina leaves school, not having to attend classes in the afternoon. On her way home, not far away from there, a cat catches her eye and she strokes it, wearing her usual emotionless expression.
*Mina loves animals, especially the cute ones, only with few exceptions.*
After a couple of minutes she moves on, arriving home a few moments later. She enters the house, her parents still being absent as they are busy at work. After Mina closes the door behind her, she reveals a big grin on her face.
*Only when Mina is absolutely sure no one is watching her, she is able to show her emotions.*
She starts skipping while she walks up the staircase towards her room.
Mina: The cat was just too cute! She was really trusting, making me stroke her for so long, that made my day!
A shining sphere is visible, and the spinning something inside comes to a halt at “α”. Off-screen, Mina enters her room, passing by her mirror cabinet, and suddenly stops.
Mina(thought): Strange, somehow, as I went past the mirror, in the corner of my eye something looked unfamiliar.
She takes some steps back, now standing right in front of the mirror and flinches.
Mina(thought): What the...? That's not me!
Looking in the mirror, not the common brown-eyed and -haired girl with a black hair clip, but one with mint-coloured hair and eyes is staring at her, wearing a long ponytail with peroxide blonde highlights and a gorgeous white dress with boots of the same colour. Mina moves, and the stranger in the reflection copies her. Confused, she looks down her body, realizing that she is wearing these clothes. She puts on an empty smile, looking back into the mirror.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
A loud scream is echoing through the whole house.
Mina(thought): What's going on? Why do I look like that, and what's with these clothes?! My voice is different, too! Wait. Stop. First, I should try not to freak out and come down to...
Behind her back, a set of wings appears and she gets slammed to the ceiling.
“OUCH!”
Mina(thought): Well, that was quite “uplifting”.
With full power, she gets smashed back to the floor (“OOF!”), lying there as flat as a pancake. A circle of water bubbles builds up around her, makes a complete turn and vanishes again, leaving Mina in her normal body. Still a little dazed she gets back to her feet and completely confused about what happened just now, she looks back into the mirror.
Mina(thought): It seems like I turned back to normal. Did I just imagine things? The pain was rather convincing, though. I just remembered, this figure looked a lot like a magical girl, like in the series I used to enjoy watching back then. I wonder if I... *turns red* Nonononono, it can't be! That kind of thing cannot be real! ...However, I'm sure I was hurled through the air before. It is best to pass it all in revue and analyse the situation. From morning till noon everything seemed normal, after school, I met that cat and stroked her. Subsequently, I went back home. And then... I had a cuteness fit because of the cat. Was that it? Let's just reenact it.
Thinking back of how she enjoyed spending time with the cat, Mina's broad grin returns. Still keeping an eye on the mirror, she witnesses her brown eyes to gleam in mint, the sphere from her dream coming out of her chest while the rotating thing inside of it stops at “α”. Coming from the ball of light, a circle of bubbles forms around Mina, turning around the axis completely, making her appear as the unknown girl again as the bubble stream fades with the sphere. Absolutely shocked, she just stands there.
Mina(thought): I just broke the world record in image change! So it wasn't my imagination after all!
Staring back at her reflected image, she starts taking a closer look at her new appearance, examining her face, hair and lower body, including her clothing.
Mina(thought): What on earth happened to me? My eyes and hair changed colours while my hairstyle is completely different from before, it's so much longer. And this dress, everything I'm wearing right now is so freaking cute! Some kind of gemstone decorates the chest, I also like the ribbons tied to my wrists. *bounces on her toes* The outfit looks amazing, I love it! It's nice to wear attire this beautiful, it's impossible not to look adorable in these clothes!
Enjoying her new looks Mina turns around happily a few times, stopping in front of the mirror again.
Mina(thought): But... How did I end up like this...? I see, now I remember! That dream this morning! I already saw that sphere of light that came out of me just then in my dream! Does that mean that it's really inside of me now and that angel fulfilled my wish? (Flashback: “I wish I could show my true feelings.”) Oh no. I sure hope that doesn't mean that I will change in appearance with every emotion?! Why did she take it so literally?! I would have to control my feelings under all circumstances! If someone were to see me like that, I would be in big trouble! OK, I should keep my balance and come down...
Behind Mina the wings form again as she is slammed against the ceiling.
“Whoah -OOF!”
Changing back, she lands on the floor harshly afterwards.
Mina: Ouch!
Mina(thought): “Come down to earth” → flying up; “uplifting” → flying down; “come down” → flying up. ...The first ability I have... has the same crappy controls as a flight simulator!! I'm really spared nothing. It's best to repress my emotions among other people for now I guess, at least until I know more. But it won't be easy. I may be used to not showing my feelings, but not feeling them at all is a different story. Will I even be able to do that...?
Absorbed in thoughts, she walks up and down for a while.
Mina(thought): It's no good. Instead of breaking my head about things I simply can't understand, I should rather take them on directly. The proof is in the pudding! The forest nearby is pretty desolate and you're rather safe from unwanted glares. I'm gonna get to the bottom of everything there!
Full of energy, Mina goes to the forest.
*Magical girl biases added! *Video game achievement sound*:
The girl transforms, check.
After transforming, she wears clothes that are completely unfit for fighting, check.
She absolutely sucks handling the powers, check. (All three points with a visual flashback)
She has no freaking clue what she got herself into, check.*
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