At the depot ‘James’ was currently on his computer, looking rather agitated and paranoid.
Terry guessed that his colleague was just uptight having to look after his cousin, perhaps her appearance was an accident. “Hey chill,” he said. “You sent her back to school, right?”
‘James’ bit his lip. “Uh… she’s here a little unexpected. I don’t have a school yet to send her to.”
Terry nodded. “What’s her name?”
James for some reason blushed. He gave a very awkward look. “Uh… Maya.”
Terry chuckled. “cute name.”
For some reason that made James all the more annoyed as he tried to concentrate on his computer. “Urgh… I never realised how boring this job is.” He finally said.
At this Terry had to laugh more. “Well, you get paid for it.”
James sighed. “I need to head home early… could you cover for me.”
“Sure.”
James left rather quickly.
Time passed and Terry was now on his own at the depot. The late teen wasn’t entirely satisfied with James’s explanation of where that girl had come from. He looked again at the video footage of the warehouse, watching the girl… doing the job that James would be doing. “Hm… she looks like she should be in middle school,” he idly thought. She seemed to struggle a bit with the pedals.
On the security computer he zoomed in for a closer look…Though it was hard to look at her face with that ‘mask’ of a paper on her head. Was she really James’s cousin? If so, why didn’t he see her come through the office?
It all seemed impossible…
“Maybe she snuck inside one of the boxes…” It wouldn’t be the first time someone had tried something like that. Though they didn’t have any boxes that large now… though a small girl ‘might’ fit.
He froze the picture to get a good look at the weird writing on her forehead… “Must be some kind of new ‘meme’ or something…” He decided to print it out. A little excited the printer showed the image…
The writing looked vaguely Japanese. He tried to put it through a translator but nothing showed what the writing meant. Perhaps it was just artistic?
“Weird…” Suddenly the writing that was printed began to glow in a strange energy. Even if it was just a print out… some of the magic it contained was carried in the image. Terry felt an odd ‘zap’ on his finger. “Ow- what the…”
He rubbed his fingers in confusion.
Risu was sitting down in James’s living room reading a book when May returned to her house a bit dishevelled.
“You!” The young girl narrowed her eyes.
The innocent looking squirrel toy looked up suddenly from whatever it was reading. “Oh- heya-“
“What are you doing in my house!” Maya reacted with anger and distress. This ‘thing’ had destroyed her life!
“Uh… I’m looking at a way to fix things for you,” the squirrel gestured to the book. ‘Managing magical girls without parents.’ “I am your servant, Maya. If you dismiss me, I will of course go…” She looked back to her charge with a grim expression. “… but… another will probably come. One who is… less uh- concerned about your feelings. Please… let me help.”
Maya stared at the book in an almost defeated expression. She took off the stupid magical paper. “Your trick doesn’t work on technology. I was seen… they…”
“Tech…nology? What’s that?” Risu asked.
“You’re kidding. You know! Like the VHS tape that made me into a magical girl? Cameras! The things we humans make!”
“Oh.” She looked oddly. “Well, you’re just not strong enough to extend your image that that. You should figure that part out eventually. Besides, that was always supposed to be a temporary fix.”
Maya realised she was not going to get anywhere…. She was trapped in this body, this form and… Risu though appearing sympathetic didn’t seem inclined to fix things in a way that would turn her back. “So… what are my options… I can’t… find any joy in doing my job anymore. I can’t do it. It’s so… hard-“
“Yeah, you are a bit too young to work kid,” Risu sighed. “When making a magical girl, usually having someone to take care of you is a given. This is… a pretty weird result for us to work with.”
“…what happens if you change a girl that doesn’t have anyone to look after her?” Maya asked.
“Well… there are options,” She read the first page. “Chapter one, dealing with Orphan Magical Girls-“
“I’m not an orphan! I just can’t be looked after my parents. I mean technically they would be old enough to be my grand parents now!”
“Uh huh… just an example.” Risu flipped the page. “Orphan magical girls often lead to a path where we need to find their real family.” She stated matter of flatly. “That would be the natural course of events.”
“That’s just in the movies!” Maya looked horrified. “What is this some kind of ‘how to write a magical girl’ story book?”
“Well- kinda.” Risu giggled. “You’re not exactly completely mortal anymore. You have, what we in the business call a ‘Destiny’… maybe you didn’t always have it but you do now. So… that means circumstances can have… odd coincidences.”
“…Great.” That was not something she wanted to hear. “I have my parents still… I mean- I don’t know- maybe my brother-“
Risu nodded. “Well, maybe you could move in with one of them?”
Maya shook her head. “They…. They do their own things. I’m not really part of their lives. I couldn’t impose…. they are not in the country anyway,” She looked down sadly.
“Oh… sorry. How about a friend?”
Maya grimly looked away. “I … don’t have any friends.”
“Hm… Well- there’s chapter two,” Risu turned the page. “Magical girls with no connections…” She continued to read. “Ah! We could simply use magic to make someone into your parent. Pretty simple.”
“…what?”
“Yes, It’s actually super easy!” The Squirrel got excited. “Find a person, maybe even a couple! A simple spell and poof! They become your mom and dad, you become their daughter and go live with them! Easy! We alter memory subtly as needed but you’ll get someone to look after you while we can sort out the magic business.”
Maya stared in quiet thought. Could she… do that? Forcefully trick someone…. Into pretending she really was their daughter… then what? Live like some kind of ‘brain leech’, living a lie… hurting them. “I… I can’t do that Risu.” She looked down glumly. “I would be hurting someone else… maybe they have a family too- and I would lose my own house… they would…. I would hurt them. I can’t just force myself into another person’s life… it isn’t right.”
Risu patted Maya’s head. “It’s… actually very sweet that you think of others in such a fashion kid,” The squirrel smiled. “Probably why the magic worked on you despite… well- everything saying it really shouldn’t have. However, there is precedent for this. Your predecessor did something similar and it worked out well for them. It is ‘possible’ to make good memories with such a person. You could be a joyful influence in their lives like she was.”
“My… Predecessor?” Maya blinked. A magical girl… before her?
“Oh- that’s not really something important at the moment.” Risu cleared her throat. “Changing the memory of mortals is pretty much the first trick everyone in the magical community does. It’s also something you are now completely immune to. Part of the whole ‘magic’ life.”
“I… I see.” The girl looked quietly down at her body again. Magic was… the ability to make reality malleable… how scary. How… dangerous. Magic made life non-sequitur. “I could… make my family think I never existed… so they wouldn’t have to worry about me…”
“…that is an option. I believe one of you has done that too,” Risu nodded. “Do you really want to do that though?”
“They barely think of me anyway … but…no. I… can’t do that,” She sighed. “You’ve put me in a difficult situation. I can’t be a girl and keep my old life, can I…”
Risu bounced onto the table. “It’s okay Maya…” She gave a sincere smile. “You’ve got more then two lives to think about anyway. There’s also the … uh… well- there’s things you got to do. So you might be leading a bit of a triple life from now on at a minimum.”
‘…a human can only live one life.’ Maya felt something in her mind just get angry again. Did everything really have to… change? “I can’t work like this. I’m going to end up in an orphanage… people will think I ran away, or … something happened to me. My house will be gone…”
Risu shook her head. “Well… if you are not willing to change people’s minds with magic… I… I might have another option.” The squirrel girl looked pensive not really wanting to use this option.
“What… tell me.”
“I know someone who… would help you out. You could set her up as someone renting this house. Technically you would be her landlord… er lady.” She giggled. “-but for all outward appearances concerned, she’s the one working and taking care of you. It’s win-win!”
“Renting out my house…” Maya thought about it. It could work… she could retain her accounts and access to her house, as well as keep things as much the ‘same’ as possible… but… she rather liked her privacy. Giving that up… well- it’s not like she never ‘thought’ of renting out the house for a little extra money… but still to invite some ‘stranger’…
“What do you think?” Risu asked hopefully. “We are running low on options. I think this could work though.”
Maya sighed. “F-Fine… I… I think I can accept that… arrangement. I could put out an advert-“
“Actually, I know someone. I know she’ll take care of you well.”
“… but I don’t know you either, Risu.” Maya frowned. “How can I trust you?”
“I’m… your servant Maya, I have already explained.” She gave a saddened look. “Is there anything I can do, to get you to trust me?”
Maya looked at her with some thought. Was there honestly anything? It would require some massive leap of faith. For all she knew this could be some ‘demon’… though she did help as much as she could with that weird paper- even if it didn’t work as well as she had hoped.
‘Please trust her.’
Maya frowned again but nodded. “Fine… I guess I can accept a ‘recommendation’. So… who is this person?”
“Her name is Eva Garner. She’s… in the ‘know’ with magic… but…” Risu looked apprehensive. “Just don’t talk about magic ‘too much’ to her. She’s… not going to be interested in that. Though she will want to help you. I am certain.”
Maya looked awkwardly. “Why not let me get someone that’s…”
Risu shook her head. “Maya… you need to understand something important. Suspecting magic exists and ‘knowing’ it exists are two very different things. You are in the ‘know’ now and there are very few people like that. You will find them in time but there are certain… rules about bringing someone into your life like this. Whoever we bring ideally needs to know magic is real… otherwise you risk them finding out and…”
“…something bad will happen to them…yeah I get it.” Maya wasn’t sure she believed it but… some strange instinct inside was making her feel that the magical creature was telling the truth. “So this Eva… she’s touched by magic…”
“She will be a suitable renter and guardian for you. I promise. I’ll go get her, then once we set up your Earthly life er- we’re gonna have to talk about your Magic-mom and magic life.”
“…magic mom?”
“One problem at a time! I promised you I would sort out your house first… and this is a good first step! So just relax!”
Relax… Maya was still going to lose her job but- well- maybe… that was fine. She wasn’t sure she could do another day of it anyway.
Risu debated her choices…
There wasn’t really any other option that she could think of. If she didn’t get ‘someone’ for Maya, then… her charge would end up an orphan. She had to protect her… thus she could only go to the one person… that one woman who could understand.
“Eva Garner…”
It was a small run-down apartment… operating in ‘barely legal’ territory. The door was in a state of disrepair. Glancing at an open window, the squirrel-toy managed to climb up and enter the house. She saw a room in a complete mess. Various items stored, some magical some not… mostly all broken too.
There was a very small woman in the kitchen… barely three feet tall. She was eating some breakfast cereal at evening time and looked like she had barely had enough sleep anyway. “Oh…hey.” She said nonchalantly seeing an animated toy.
“How was the convention?” Asked Risu.
“It’s nice not to stick out to be honest,” The small woman feigned a slight grin. “Hopefully I’ll go again next year. Sold some nice magical items.”
The squirrel-toy jumped up to the table. “Including the tape.”
“Like I was told to.” The brown-haired woman short woman said as she hopped off the chair to clean her spoon and bowl. Everything here was ‘more or less’ made to her size but she did need a placement for the sink. “I’m guessing you are not pleased with the results.”
The squirrel-toy looked thoughtfully. “Hm… can I ask, did you do this ‘intentionally’ I mean I would be a bit surprised but... not too surprised.”
Miss Garner gave a rather ‘innocent’ look in response. “I did everything as agreed. The package said it was ‘best’ for a for a girl... but I can’t be held responsible for where the magic found itself in the end or if some guy watched it.”
Risu looked annoyed. “Why not give it to an ‘actual’ girl then? It would save us a lot of trouble.”
The woman looked in annoyance. “The opportunity never came. Besides… I thought it was unethical anyway.” she clenched her fists. “So, I thought ‘maybe’ some random stranger would eventually watch the tape… why not? Maybe it would work out better! Maybe an adult wouldn’t make stupid decisions. Maybe someone like that…”
“…could break your curse?”
Eva shrugged. “It’s been many years… I think there’s no point in worrying about that anymore. So, what’s the deal now? I wasn’t expecting another meeting. I thought we were done, and I’ll get to live in the magic world.”
Risu sighed. “Yes… that was part of the deal. I am prepared to send you there… but… the new Magical Girl has no family… and is in danger of losing her house. She has nobody...”
“Sounds familiar. I recommend the orphanage.” She chuckled a bit at that.
“Please be serious Miss Garner,” The squirrel said. “Help her…”
The small woman seemed to be considering it. “What’s in it for me?”
“…a better house then this.” The squirrel said glancing around. “You want some identity papers… ones that won’t be ‘fake’ right? Magic can sort that out for you. We can at least mitigate ‘some’ of the curse…”
“I deserve the curse,” Garner replied coldly. “Maybe not for the original purpose… but now I do. There’s not any point in thinking about breaking it.”
“Not break it... mitigate some of it.”
“I don’t want to fight it anymore. Fighting it got me into more trouble…”
Risu sighed. “Well… what about … the fact that you would be helping a young girl who has nobody in the world… a situation that you had a bit of a hand in… and… perhaps less problems will fall your way, if you take that responsibility now. You do know how it feels…”
Eva Garner seemed to consider this her body frozen. “There’s… a chance to see ‘her’ again?”
“Maybe…” Risu whispered. “You are a good person Eva… I know things have been hard for you but please… someone really needs you. She needs your help. Would you really turn her down?”
Miss Garner looked thoughtfully at that. “…I’ll talk to her, and we’ll see.”
