I'm walking back home, the sun is already setting on the horizon painting the clouds on a nice shade of orange, the sidewalk is being populated by adults in business suits, university students leaving from their school, and the occasional kid making a fuss about a trivial problem, I pass by all of them without paying attention, I'm currently wearing my school uniform, it is a bit dirty since is roughed up and has traces of dirt in it.
It takes me 10 minutes of walking before I finally reach my destination, a grey 5 story building position on the edge of the urban area, it is one of the newer apartment buildings so the walls on the sides have not been graffitied by school delinquents yet, there are black painted metal stairs attached to the side of the building, they are on a 'square spiral' because they cannot take too much space, the windows are mostly closed and you can see Air conditioners embedded into the walls, they are dripping water.
I go up the stairs until I get to the third floor and enter the hallway, said hallway has a row of doors at the right, concrete railings with a view of the undeveloped area on the left, the doors are labeled by numbers, some of them have different materials, colors, even some of them have potted plants to decorate, some of the plants inside them are dried, they have seen betters days.
I go by all the doors while seeing the numbers go up.
[35, 36, 37, 38, 39..].
I stop at door number 39, it's the default wooden door, a golden doorknob on the side, its paint is metallic paint is beginning to peel since it's been used a lot, unlike the doorknob, the wall around it is clean and without traces of deterioration, there are two switches at the right side of the door, the upper one has a bell on its switch, I extend my arm and press my index finger against the switch.
*ding dong
The faint sound of a doorbell comes from the inside of the department.
"Give a minute".
The voice of a woman comes through into my ears, it sounds lovely but is worn out, I hear steps that keep getting closer, the door opens.
"Welcome home Amy".
A 36-year-old woman with straight long hair that reaches all the way to her hips, she is wearing a purple blouse and a pink apron with the phrase "Kiss the Cook!!" embroidered in it, she has blue jeans that are a bit too long so they get dragged in the floor constantly and is she also only wearing sandals, she is looking at me with her clear purple eyes, she's happy and a bit worried.
"I'm back mom".
"We're where you? you took longer than normal so I was about to call you!!!" she quickly shows me her phone, the call slot is displaying 5 digits of my phone number so I know for sure she isn't lying, not that I was doubting her, but it still makes my heart warm.
"Ahhh that... I got too invested while talking to my friends and didn't notice the hour" I give her an awkward smile while putting my hand in the back of my head.
[I don't like lying to her but it's like I have an option do I?].
"Ohh, well if that's the case then it's alright, you can stay even longer if you want but do give me a call if that happens again, okay?", she is leaning forward while smiling, she now is patting my head, it feels comforting.
"Okay mom, will do" I nod and also smile at her, this time a genuine one.
"I'm a little tired so I'm gonna go to my bedroom now".
"Okay Amy, dinner will be ready in a few minutes" she stops patting my head, she smiles one last time and goes back to the living room, I follow suit.
Once past the entrance hallway is the living room, the kitchen is fused into it in the left corner, only separated by an L-shaped counter, the Tv is displaying one of those trash drama series, I can't make the plot but the usual shouting and forced acting is there so I don't look too long at it.
I turned left to find another hallway, there are 4 doors, 2 on either side, I take the second left one, inside there's a poorly made out bed, a desk with a computer on it, it also has some books about biology, physics, and other school subjects.
There are shelves with 'books' on them, they're magical girl manga with a few shonen spread out to give it other colors than bright pink, there are magical girl pictures and posters taped into the wall, one of them seems to have gotten loose and now is hanging a bit, the floor is somehow clean trough it all.
I throw my school bag into the only chair in the bedroom, the chair is now holding not only the clothes that I didn't bother to fold but now a scrunched school bag I walk towards my bed and just let my body drop on it.
*boing, boing
the bed springs a little before settling down, my face is buried in the pillow, I raise my head and inhale a lot of air before planting my head back into the pillow.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH".
I scream into the pillow to muffle my sounds, once I stop, my throat hurts a bit but is alright, I turned around to face the ceiling and stare at it.
[...].
2 Minutes pass before I move again, I raise my school uniform to see the side of my belly, my skin is unharmed, I let a sigh of relief before putting back my uniform, I get up and go to the closet, I grab a new set of clothes chosen solely by what touched my hand first, I exit my bedroom and head towards the bathroom, first door to the right.
I enter the bathroom, unbuttoned my uniform, and take off my two pieces of clothing, I throw my clothes into the plastic basket that is in the corner of the bath, I reached to back of my skirt, unbuttoned it, and pullet down, I take a look at the mirror.
[I'm I really a magical girl?].
The body of a young teenage girl is reflected, her skin is the color of an almond, it is soft to the touch, her figure would be considered good if it weren't for the lack of 'curves' that we're the standard of beauty at the time, her deep black hair was disheveled, it normally would be a cute bob cut that stopped at her shoulders, but it was messy and covered in traces of dirt, she could only look at that with disappointment.
I reached towards my back to get off my pink bra, once done my breasts slowly got a bit loose and show themselves, they're not as big as my mom's F cup, only ever reaching C, but I think I had time to grow, I proceeded to take off my underwear, I did all of that while looking at the mirror to see if I had any injuries, I didn't, but I still searched with my emerald-colored eyes, scanning for any sign of scar tissue, I didn't see any.
I jump into the stall and took a shower with warm water, the water felt nice as it courses through my naked body, I begin feeling my skin since it seems that I got stronger, my finger sank a little into my skin as I moved along it feeling my muscles, I touched my arms, hands, belly, and face, there wasn't any difference from yesterday.
Once I was done I got off, took a towel that was folded on the shelves, and dried myself, once done I grabbed another towel for my face and hair, I wrapped the big towel over her body to not expose skin and my breast, although nobody would see me I still did it, and proceeded to dry my hair and face, hen combed my hair until it looks decent, and put on my set of clothes, they are comfy.
I exited the bathroom and got back to the bedroom to once again drop on the bed, this time on my back.
[What a long day].
I was tired, trivial activities seemed to take longer than need it, my muscles were a bit sore, but I still needed to set things straight, but it was hard to, and it was my fault.
[What did I decide to make it that?]
I pondered but gave up, I grabbed a nearby pillow and put my mouth on it, I whispered into the pillow.
"Not even the gods can stop me from saving the helpless".
The small muffled voice could not be heard unless you were the pillow, my face was red from embarrassment, a small flash of light happened and my clothes changed shape and started glowing, now I look like an adventurer of a generic RPG.
[I'm disappointed]
"Well there's no use to cry over spilled milk," she said.
"Sauriel can you like, materialize?".
The round hairpin started glowing light blue, then a small blue ray was shot from, it landed on the wall and started shapeshifting, it took the form of a cat with a round bell on the end of its tail, after a few seconds, the hairpin stopped glowing and the figure of the cat became clearer.
"You look absolutely beaten" A small gentleman's voice is heard coming from the cat.
"I'm aware" condescending tone coming my voice was unusual but that remark deserved it.
"Ok, what did you call me for," Sauriel asked.
"I'm gonna need to talk with you, but today isn't that day, so I'm just asking 3 things tonight".
Sauriel tilted its head but gave a nod of approval after a few seconds.
"Okay, first, Do you have a gender? I've been referring to you as a He/It in my head but I just don't know how I should address you".
I talked a bit hastily since it was the one question I wanted to be answered.
"Angels are genderless".
"I figured, but still do you have any preferred way to call you?"
I insisted on a way to call sauriel.
"You can use whatever pronoun you think to befits me".
"Since your face features are sharp, I guess I will use He".
I'm relieved about that, my guilt was lifted from my conscience as now had I clear permission to call it 'he', I didn't like the idea of offending an angel and getting a taste of the wrath of God.
[Is not as if that was actually going to happen but still, good progress].
"Second, Do I have to continue being a magical girl?".
[I know what the answer will be, but asking didn't hurt anyone].
"Yes, the contract established it"
[Oh yeah the contract stuff happened].
"How do I see the contract?".
"You have it stored as a string of aether characters, so you would need to manipulate your own aether and projected to see it".
"Mmm, I understand".
I'm disappointed, I don't know how to manipulate aether, and the experience I was left with made shivers crawl on my spine.
"Well thank you sauriel I will speak to you tomorrow once I'm done with my homework".
"I was thinking that you and Aquamarine can talk a bit, since she's is gonna be here I thought that would be a good idea".
[Well that's unexpected, but if she's alright with it then I don't see the problem].
"Okay, give the details later, I'm just gonna lay on my bed"
I started doing just that.
"Oh and by the way, Earlier you were talking to me in front of a bystander, try to avoid that since I'm only visible to those I permitted to see me".
"So I looked like I was talking to myself?".
"Yep"-.
"Godammit, fine ill try not to talk to you in public".
I'm too tired to think anymore, so I just let my first thoughts fill my mouth with words.
"Well, goodnight"
Sauriel wave his paw and started shining and projected his image back into the hairpin, my clothes also started shapeshifting while glowing and turned back into my normal clothes.
"AMYY dinner is ready!!!".
Mom shouted from the kitchen.
"Okayyy" Amy shouted back.
"Is going to be a long day tomorrow too" I sigh before going to eat.
I sat at the table, the dinner consisted of a bowl of rice with a fried pork chop, the was also a 'salad' made out of a combination of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and shredded carrots, no dressing, only a pinch of salt to add some flavor, even though the food wasn't the best there was a lot of it, it was obvious that it was made with love, I chowed trough the bowl of food.
[Delicious].
I was very hungry, I took another plate and had a second serving of rice.
"Thanks for the food"
We both said once we finished eating, I took the bowls and plates out of the table and put them in the sink, I started rinsing them with water followed by scrubbing with a detergent filled sponge, once I cleaned them and cleaned them I put them on the dish rack, I want to put them on the shelves above me, but I knew I was too short to reach it.
I walk to my bedroom, close the door behind me, and reach for the switch to turn off the lights.
*click.
I then go to my bed and starts relaxing, my body sinks into the bed, and I start drifting off into dreamland.
It's now morning, I'm sleeping soundly on the bed, I move a lot during sleep so the pillow lays on the floor while I'm snoring, its pretty silent when compared to my mother's since it can be heard from my room, but I was accustomed to it so I remained unfazed,
*BEEP, BEEP, BEEP...
A strong sound suddenly filled the room, My alarm was set off since it was 7:00 am, I open her eyes and try to reach my alarm, failing multiple times
"Ughhhhh".
I groaned as it was a Saturday morning I didn't have school, but I forgot to turn the alarm off yesterday because I was tired, I managed to turn the alarm off and rub my eyes.
"I don't wanna leave my bed".
I believed my alarm was magical because once it activated my bed suddenly became comfier than usual, I pull myself to wake up, I noticed that my legs were sore, but I endure the pain to brush my teeth and take a bath before going to the kitchen.
"Good morning Amy".
Mom was already making breakfast as usual.
"Good Morniiiiing".
I yawned mid-sentence, I stretched my arms while walking towards the sofa in front of the tv.
"Did you sleep well?".
"Yeah".
I take out my phone and begin scrolling through the news, I noticed nothing out of the ordinary.
After a few minutes breakfast was made, 2 fried eggs and bacon, a classic view, and a bowl of rice to the side, I didn't particularly enjoy rice but I liked it, but my mom is a fanatic of it, so she was always eating it, they're also some buttered toast at the side of our plates.
"Mom I'm gonna go out today".
"Huh really? Where are you going".
[That 'huh really?' hurts, gotta endure it since she obviously didn't mean it in a bad way].
"I'm going to meet up with some friends at Stanly park later"
[This time I'm not lying, but calling a cat 'friend' is kinda lame even if it talks]
"Ohh that's nice, do you need anything, like a snack".
She seems excited since her daughter was finally going out on a weekend.
"Umm, some snacks would be fine I think".
"Okay don't worry I will get it prepared".
I didn't like the fact that my mother always offered help, but I let her this time since she seemed excited about it, it made me feel a bit guilty about the fact that she was 'meeting up' with a cat.
We finished eating, I started doing my homework while mom cleaned the plates and prepared a 'small snack' consisting of 4 sandwiches cut in triangles and packet in a tiny basket, there were also some juice boxes in there and some spare money she had, I finished my homework and then exited the apartment.
"Have a safe trip, remember to call me if anything comes up"
"Okay mom, bye!!"
I waved goodbye and close the door.
10 minutes of walking later, I arrived at Stanly park, to her surprise, it was in pristine condition.
[Huh?].
The park was accommodating some people since it was a weekday, still, a lot of the park was empty but kids were running about playing tag while being supervised by their parents, Amy walked to a secluded corner of the park, she took from her purse a Cloth and extended over the grass, she sits down on it and checks that nobody is watching her.
"Noteventhegodscanstopmefromsavingthehelpless".
What I said was almost gibberish, but she felt a warm feeling and she transformed, she then waited.
[...].
*cough, cough, cough
Her hairpin glowed and from there Sauriel exited as a projection, once taking his normal size he became clearer.
"Good morning Sauriel".
"Goodmorning Amy" Sauriel walked around a little before sitting on the cloth.
"So do we just wait? or do I need-" she got cut off by a shadow behind her.
I turned around and saw a girl with long dark purple hair standing in front of me, she was looking at me coldly with her amber eyes, it took a second but I get the familiar feeling.
[I mean I only talk to 6 people, 2 of which I met yesterday so she must be..].
"Aquamarine?".
She nods, It wasn't difficult to guess with that same poker face of her being so memorable, She walks to my side and sits down, now all 3 of us are in a circle.
"Okay let the picnic begin!!!".