SWITCH!!! Enjoying amusement parks can be hard work! [Part 1]

“You ate two entire pizzas in one go?!” I laughed.

“More like two and a quarter,” Jack corrected me. “You should’ve seen my best bud’s relative. I lost count of how much pizza she managed to eat. No idea where she managed to fit it all in her petite frame!”

The following afternoon, I had met up with Jack as Lune for an impromptu date. Once again, the two of us went walking around the neighborhood. I wore a white and yellow floral blouse with white capris and a lengthy light brown cardigan.

Jack continued. “So there I am, laying on the floor, absolutely regretting my actions. Daniel offers me some antacids, only to discover he didn’t have any. Being the cool guy that he is, he immediately ran out the door to get some. I felt bad since, by the time all this was over with, all he had to eat was cold pizza.”

“Sounds like a good friend,” I said.

Jack nodded with a smile. “Yeah, he really is.”

I couldn’t help but smile gleefully at Jack.

He noticed me. “What?”

“Oh, nothing,” I replied. “Just sounds like he’s someone super special to you.”

Jack began to blush. “I guess he is. Are you worried or something?”

“No! No, no! I get it. I know what it’s like to have a very close friendship.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mhm!” I nodded. “I have a best friend who’s always been there for me, no matter what. He’s super dependable, always working hard and doing his best. Sure, he might get in trouble from time to time, but he always has the best intentions.”

Jack raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Oh? A guy friend, huh?”

“Now who’s the jealous one?” I teased.

Jack laughed. “He sounds like a cool guy. Hope I can live up to being just as dependable to you as he is.”

I couldn’t help myself from giggling over the absurdity of this conversation, knowing that we were complimenting ourselves. It was nice to hear how Jack saw me, regardless.

My arm found its way around his as I leaned into him, unable to control myself. “I dunno. You might be even more dependable than he is,” I said, humoring myself.

Jack busted out laughing. “Oh no! That’d be a punch in the gut if he heard that!”

“Good thing he’s not here, then,” I smirked.

“Yeah,” Jack replied. “You know, I’d love to meet this friend of yours.”

I turned my head away. “Y-yeah! I’m sure the two of you would hit it off well! I’ll ask him next time he’s free! In return, you’ll have to introduce me to your friend Daniel!”

“Sure thing!” Jack said, giving me a thumbs up.

“Huh?”

“In fact, I just got a job over at Ten Flags.”

“Wait, what?! You got another job already?! And at Ten Flags?!”

Ten Flags, named after the ten flags flown over Louisiana, is a nationwide chain of amusement parks. One of them happens to be on the edge of town, which claims to have the most rides in any amusement park in the state, including the tallest wooden roller coaster in the country. I’d only gone once as a kid with Grandma, where I was too scared to ride on any of the coasters.

Though having been a magical girl for the past year, flying around in the sky and leaping off buildings and such, I can’t imagine being scared now.

But more importantly…

“When the heck did you get it?!” I yelled in shock. “I thought you just lost your job at the dry cleaner yesterday!”

“Turns out one of my neighbors at the apartment is head of security, and they’re desperately in need of staff. The two of us met in the laundry room this morning and ended up having a long chat. Next thing I knew, I got the job. I start next Friday!”

“...What’s with you finding employment while doing laundry at your apartment?”

“Huh?” Jack said, cocking his head in confusion.

“N-nothing! I’m happy for you! Really!”

“Thanks! It comes with some cool perks, like free admission. Plus I can have friends tag along. I’ll be working in the morning next Saturday, but I’ll have the rest of the afternoon and evening off. We could all go together!”

“Together.”

“As a group!”

“A group…”

“You don’t want to? In that case–”

“No! I’d love to!” I shouted. “It sounds like fun! Let’s do it! Yeah!”

I cheered, holding up a fist. But deep down I soooo wanted to shove my foot into my mouth.

“Alright, then!” Jack said. “I’ll ask Daniel if he’s up for it, and we can all go Saturday. How’s 2 PM sound?”

“Great! Great. Great… Great! Sounds great!”

My phone went off in my pouch.

“Oh! Would you look at that!” I said, thrusting my hand into my pouch and practically throwing my phone into Jack’s face. “Seems like Red Sandrea is up to her usual shenanigans again! Best be heading out!”

“Oh. Sure. You kick her butt for me, okay?”

“You bet!” I replied.

I quickly transformed out of my outfit and into my usual magical girl getup.

“Later!” I said, sprouting my wings and launching into the air.

***

“Nya ha ha!” Red Sandrea cried out, her hands to her hips as numerous Shadownyans flew about a large public park, harassing its visitors. “Release that sweet, sweet negative energy!”

A group on a picnic was distraught as the Shadownyans ate their sandwiches and kicked sand into their potato salad. A weekend larping group tried desperately to fight back with their foam weapons, only to have their arsenal shredded by a Shadownyan’s claws. However, one group of kids near the jungle gym appeared to be enjoying themselves as they pet one Shadownyan and gave it scritches behind its ears.

Noticing the lazy Shadownyan creating joy, Red Sandrea became furious. “Hey! Stop entertaining them and get to work!”

In response, the Shadownyan sluggishly looked around for a victim, not wanting to part with the comfort and attention it received from the children. Seeing a lone kid building a sand castle, it maneuvered its long body around the structure and smashed it with its butt, its tail end swinging like a wrecking ball. The kid was surprised by the sudden cat butt demolishing their hard work but began to laugh as they rebuilt the castle atop the butt.

“I swear…” Red Sandrea cursed, gripping her fist in anger.

But there was something else bothering her more than the Shadownyan’s mediocre attempt at bothering people. Something that bothered her so much that she wound up breaking character.

Not that I knew what it was, as I was too busy trying to figure out how to deal with Jack’s invitation to Ten Flags next week. On top of that, he would soon be asking me, I mean Daniel, to go along and meet me, I mean Lune. Plus there was the issue with my nonexistent other best friend I had brought up.

Why the heck did I even do that?!

“Lune!”

All I wanted t was to tease Jack a bit and see how’d he react!

“LUNE!!!”

If I could go back in time, kick myself in the butt, and go “no!”, I’d–

Red put her hand atop my head and shook it around. “Ya home in there or what?!”

“Huh?” I said.

“I go out of my way to set this whole thing up to continue our fight from yesterday, and here ya are not even paying any attention!!!”

“Oh. Right! Sorry,” I said, getting into my fighting stance.

“I only got an hour before I start gettin’ ready for work, so we gotta do this–”

Wait! Jack hadn’t even told me, Daniel, that he’s dating me, Lune, yet! Was he just gonna spring it up out of nowhere all nonchalantly?!

“Hey! What’d I just–”

Now that I think about it, how are you supposed to tell your friends you started dating, anyway? It’s the first time I’ve ever been in this position. Well, Jack’s the one who’s supposed to be the one to tell me. Maybe the fact he’s dating the one and only Magical Knight Lune makes it difficult–

“LUNE!”

Oh crap! What should I say when he invites me?! Should I make up some sort of excuse? Like I’m busy with something? But when the heck am I, Daniel, ever busy with anything during the weekend?! It’d be more suspect if I don’t go! I mean, it’s freakin’ Ten Flags we’re talking about! No way I wouldn’t refuse an invitation–”

“LUNE!!!” Red yelled at the top of her lungs right next to my ear.

“GRAAAAAH!” I screamed, pulling at my hair in frustration. “I CAN’T THINK WITH ALL THESE DISTRACTIONS!”

I quickly reached for my pouch and turned it upside down, where my sword fell out and pierced the ground unceremoniously.

“HEARTPRISMBEAM!!!”

The Heart Prism Beam blasted out from the sword in an instant, annihilating Red Sandrea. Her charred body fell backward, where she coughed.

“Sorry, but I got a lot on my mind right now!” I told her, sprouting my wings. “I gotta go! Later!”

I blasted off from the park, leaving Red behind.

***

Belliney snapped a pistachio shell in half between her fingers, and then flicked it into a portal leading to outer space. With the nut freed from its prison, she tossed it into her mouth. “I see,” she said, chewing on the pistachio with her eyes glued to the TV as she lay across the couch.

I went straight home from the park, where I changed back into Daniel and quickly informed Belliney of my latest quandary. I hoped she could help me figure a way out of my predicament. Instead, all she seemed to care about was watching TV. Honestly, with how little she reacted, I couldn’t tell if she was even listening.

“I am,” she corrected me when I inquired. “But I’m also watching this movie. It’s getting good.”

The movie was a romantic comedy that came out late last year. It starred a hapless male protagonist struggling desperately to confess his feelings, only to make his situation worse and worse as he refused to take the easiest route of simply admitting his feelings to the person he admired. His poor choices led him to his current predicament, where he was now driving the getaway van for two robbers who just pulled off a bank heist while also speeding towards a hospital with a tag-along pregnant woman in labor.

Highly unrealistic and dumb, but otherwise alright. I’d give it a B+.

But anyway…

“I’m in a very bad situation right now, Belliney, and I’d really appreciate your advice!” I cried, leaning over the back of the couch above Belliney.

“Tell Jack the truth,” she said, breaking open another pistachio’s shell.

“I can’t! I’ve already gone this long, so it’d be incredibly awkward if I told him now. He might even resent me for it!”

“That’s what the guy in the movie said about twenty minutes ago, and look at him now.”

“But that’s fiction! No way something as convoluted and contrived like that could happen in real life.”

“Real life’s stranger than fiction,” she retorted. “Anyway, movie.”

I sighed. “Can’t you pause it?”

She shook her head. “It’s live TV.”

“Well, what about pausing time? Like you did that day at the mall.”

Again, she shook her head. “That was only for a brief moment. You’re asking me to pause for several minutes at minimum.”

“What’s the difference?” I asked.

“I didn’t pause time. I paused the entire Solar System.”

“...What?” I asked, cocking my head in confusion.

At that moment, commercials started playing.

“Oh good! Commercial! Okay, so here’s the deets. I didn’t pause time, because time doesn’t exist. It’s a social construct created by one’s perception. What I paused was literally the entire Solar System. I would have paused just the inside of the mall, but then that could cause a whole bunch of problems. Like, what if someone outside the mall walked in? I could pause just the planet, but then it’d fall out of the Sun’s orbit, cue everyone freezing to death. Easiest thing to do was to pause the entire solar system.”

“...I see,” I said, not understanding.

“Pretend the Solar System is a car driving on the highway, going 490,000 miles per hour. Sure, maybe the roads seem empty, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t another car speeding along, not paying attention to where it’s going. If we’re at a complete standstill, what do you think happens when that speeding car comes up behind us?”

She clapped her hands together, then fanned them outward in a grandiose fashion. “Kablooie!!!”

“Okay. That sounds bad.”

“Yep! Back when I was in Celestial school, I had to watch a video of two universes accidentally colliding due to them being paused for too long. Scary stuff!”

Celestial school, huh? Guess even Celestial beings have to get an education before becoming… whatever it is they are? At this point, is it safe to label them as deities? Because the more random info about Celestial life that Belliney drip-feeds me, the more I think she’s a god. Not sure how I feel about that.

More importantly…

“Belliney.”

“Hm?” she replied.

“Let’s not freeze the solar system anymore for something as small as making it convenient for me to transform.”

Belliney laughed. “Oh, it’s all fine! If I weren’t confident nothing bad would happen, I wouldn’t have done it! Have faith in me!” She gave me a thumbs up and smile, then turned back to the TV. “Oh! Movie’s back!”

With that, Belliney returned to watching her movie. There was still about half an hour left in the movie, so I scooted next to her and watched as well. Sure, I was in dire need of help, but I could wait until the movie was over for advice. All that talk about cosmic collisions had me thinking how insignificant my worries were in the grand scheme of things.

“You’re not gonna change out of that?” Belliney asked.

“Huh?”

“You're still wearing Lune’s date outfit.” I looked down at myself.

The ability to transform between Daniel and Lune meant I could technically wear two sets of clothes at the same time: one as Daniel and one as Lune, then swap between them the same way I transform my body. Problem was I could only wear two. Because of that, I got into the habit of putting on Lune’s casual clothes as Daniel before going out. This way I could dress up all nice and cute when I saw Jack, but still have my magical girl attire on retainer for when I did my rounds. An incredibly nifty life hack.

“Meh. Too lazy to change out of it. Besides, they’re comfy. And I still totally rock this outfit even as Daniel,” I said while making a little pose to show off my figure.

Belliney gave a thumbs up. “Heck yeah, you can!”

Just then, my phone went off. The screen flashed, alerting me of a new text message from Jack.

“Uh oh,” I said, unlocking my phone.

(Jack 4:25 PM):

[Hey!]

[So I recently started dating Magical Knight Lune!]

[I know how much you like magical girls and all, so I set up a get together for next saturday]

[You wanna go]

And there it was! His revelation to Daniel about him dating Magical Knight Lune. So casual, too! Like, he just tossed it out there like it’s no big deal!

However, it just occurred to me that he might’ve set this all up specifically for me, remembering my love of magical girls over the years. That was thoughtful of him! I could kiss him!

I’ll kiss him later.

Despite that, there was no way this meetup could be done. I’m Lune, after all. And Daniel and Lune can’t very well be in the same place at the same time. Even though he’s going out of his way to set this all up, it really would be best for me to simply say “I can’t.” I’m sure even without some sort of excuse, Jack will be understanding.

I then tapped the auto-response…

“Hm? What’s wrong?” Belliney asked. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“I…”

The most horrific message appeared on my phone, displayed directly under Jack’s last text. Sweat rolled down my face and dripped off my chin. In just two simple words, I had shot myself in the foot.

(Daniel 4:28 PM)

[sure lol]