Ch 2: Questioning
"Huh," I said in a perplexed state, not even acknowledging the voice, too panicked to think clearly.
[Alright too many things are happening, let's cautiously examine the situation] at the top of the presumed corpse of the trash devil there is a beautiful girl, with a pale complexion and long dark blue hair, her white and blue dress with gold accents swaying in the breeze, it looks like it has embroidered symbols of water waves and a cute yellow starfish accessory sits atop of her chest. Although she has amber-colored eyes, a very warm color, I can't help but feel that her gaze could freeze volcanoes.
"I said greetings, young girl" says a voice with a disgruntled tone. The voice sounds like it came from her direction, but not only did it sound like a gentleman, she didn't even move her mouth.
Not trusting my ears I looked at my sides to see if there's anyone else in this alleyway that could have said those words, but I'm only met with an assortment of trash, a stray cat rummaging through said trash, and 2 poorly built brick walls, I looked back at the blue girl and think [Maybe I'm just delusional, or even worst, this could be a weird version purgatory].
"Hey, it's rude to leave someone hanging like that you know?" The voice said, this time it sounds half-annoyed and half-sarcastic, she still isn't talking so I look around her with the hope of seeing a person behind her or something that could explain the voice without resorting to me hallucinating it.
Then as I search her surroundings I crossed eyes with the cat thing sitting on her left shoulder. It has silver fur with a total of 8 grey spots, it also fades into a nice shade of black at the end of its paws and ears, it's has a gilded orb attached to the end of its long tail, it looks to be around the size of an egg, it has some markings on it and has many crevasses.
[It reminds me of a jingle bell] the cat doesn't seem to have whiskers on its face, [What? whiskers are the best part of cats] I'm now trying to not look too disappointed over the not-having-whiskers discovery.
Its most distinctive feature is its eyes, they are colored black but they are somehow sparkling with color, although that explanation doesn't make sense, the shape of the pupils resemble a rounded 8-pointed, the outline of the star shine in color gold in contrast of the void of its eyes star and I'm pretty sure it hasn't blinked since I started looking at it.
[Well, she does look like a magical girl, so the strange cat thing is probably a guardian angel].
It is a fact that most magical girls have a guardian angel, although no one has seen 'real' guardian angels, there are some fictional depictions on anime and manga [The cat does cover the pet and magical thing that angels have going on on anime, but it lacks in the cuteness department I mean, it just a cat without whiskers really].
I stare at it trying to see how could anyone see this as a 'cuter than most animals' thing that angels are supposed to evoke.
"Oh my, don't they also teach that staring is rude? The manners of adolescents really do drop generation by generation".
"Uhhh... forgive me, I didn't notice that I stared for too long".
I said while bowing my head apologetically, to my surprise, the cat thing also didn't open its mouth, so it can't be the one that is speaking, but the words tell me otherwise.
[Maybe it's telepathy or some other advanced communication magic, like radio], I raise my head and ask."Umm, I'm sorry I didn't answer properly before" I hesitate a little before saying "good afternoon?".
"Good afternoon, it seems that you finally calmed down a little, may I ask, what is your name? " I'm still moving my eyes like crazy trying to see where does this voice come from.
[I'm not giving my name to someone that I don't even see] finally I decided to open my mouth and say.
"Excuse me, but wh-who exactly is speaking right now?" I said, my words are trembling but at least they come out, that generally doesn't happen when I'm this nervous.
"Oh, let us introduce ourselves, this lady right here is Aquamarine, a veteran magical girl" she nods proudly but her expression is still stuck in a poker face.
"And my name is Sauriel, the guardian angel of guidance, I'm the one who is speaking to you right now" as soon the voice stops the cat thing sprouted a pair small of white wings, they resemble the wings of those white doves that they released at my aunt's wedding, but the wings look pathetically small compared to rest of its body.
[So Sauriel is a guardian angel as I thought, but it's also the thing speaking right now?] I begin to realize the absurdity of this situation.
[I mean I'm glad I got saved by her but why is she just staring like I'm less than dirt, the trash devil gaze now seems like a better alternative to being frozen to death by her just glaring at me].
"I'm Amy Rochelle, thank you for saving me Miss Aquamarine and Mr. Sauriel, I deeply appreciated it and will never forget for the rest of my life" I bow to them, "Then I will take my leave" I instantly turn 180 degrees and start walking away.
[Now I need to get out of here ASAP without calling more unwanted attention, I hope that wasn't too mean of a response, I technically didn't lie so I shouldn't be worried, ri-right?].
Suddenly a slender hand grabs my shoulder stopping me in my tracks, it has a tight grip on my shoulder but it doesn't hurt at all [It feels kinda nice, this hand is oddly cool or refreshing I guess? , wait, I shouldn't be stopped so easily].
I turn my head and see Aquamarine is the one stopping me with her hand [Not surprising that that's her hand, but she is stronger than I thought].
"Uhh... may i ask what business do you have with me?" I'm getting anxious, but at least I'm not trembling like a kid anymore.
"...".
"Umm" [Why doesn't she say anything, why is she stopping me from leaving?].
"Excuse her Amy, it's just that she is a girl of a few words" Aquamarine nods in agreement.
[A total of 0 words don't amount to a few, you need at least 3 of something to be called a few!!!].
"Then.. how may I help you Mr. Sauriel" I'm still not sure how I should answer Sauriel.
[I don't know if Sauriel is a boy, maybe it doesn't have a gender, could I have offended an angel by addressing it/him/they like that?, maybe I will become a devil or something I don't know] I begin to use my special move ⌈overthink⌋ to destroy my mental health even more than the devil already has.
"We have a proposal that we want to make for you" Aquamarine lets go of my shoulder so I can face them correctly.
[Oh god what are they gonna do to secure my silence, maybe are they going to take my life a hostage, no I don't want to worry about that ever again] I begin to open my mouth to speak but I get stopped.
"We want you to become a Magical girl".
"..."
[What?, Why? Why me of all people?] I start thinking about all the possibilities as to why they would ask that
[But why, I'm clumsy, dumb, socially backward, I almost died today, and don't even like fighting, what could they mean by that] my mind just doesn't consider that i of all people, could become a magical girl so the logical conclusion that I arrive at is.
[Maybe it really is purgatory, but then again why would God punish me in this bizarre way] I get nervous.
"Wait, let me think it over" I make a random excuse to buy time, I still need time to process the information.
"Don't worry, you can take these 3 minutes to ask us questions".
[What do you mean 3 minutes? I was hoping for 3 years at least, oh God what do I do? I guess I need to take the initiative and start asking questions as to not waste the time, I mean they kinda suggested it].
"Why do you ask me this?" I said while making eye contact with Sauriel.
"Because you have the qualities of the Third generation" Sauriel is now scratching its head with one of its hind legs.
"⌈Third generation⌋?" I asked because I'm truly puzzled, I haven't heard the term before even as a magical girl otaku.
"That's the name we give to new Magical Girls with the purpose of distinguishing them from their seniors".
"I see".
"Good, it seems that you catch on quic-".
"Of course not
!! I was being sarcastic, what qualities do I even have to be chosen as a 'Third generation' magical girl" I shouted involuntarily."That is classified information".
"What do you mean classified?".
"It means that it is a secret".
"I know what classified means! I meant why can't you tell me that" I'm really getting annoyed [Maybe this karma for treating Mary in a similar way].
"Only magical girls can access that information, so you need to become one for me to be able to answer the question".
"Geez, you really are a tough nut to crack" I pout a little.
"I'm not a nut".
"So it may seem" at this point I have given up in trying to have a serious conversation with Sauriel, as he only gives answers that raise more questions or takes my words literally.
[He was so gentleman-like 2 minutes ago, time sure does fly, well I gotta gonna move on].
"Anyway, how can you talk without moving your mouth?" seeing Sauriel talking without its mouth is really creepy [There are probably better questions but this conflicting information makes it hard to concentrate anyway].
"Oh, my 'bell' is shaking in a certain pattern, thus it generating air vibrations imitating what you call 'speaking' in your language".
[Sounds odd, but I guess it's believable, I mean a speaker does that... I think] I start stroking my chin.
"3 minutes are up, take your decision".
[3 minutes didn't really even feel like minutes, but it's okay, I don't want to become a magical girl anyway, so I guess I will do the obvi-] Sauriel gets up, its hair spike up and he turns to look at Aquamarine.
"Aquamarine we have aether signatures at 1800".
"Roger that" this time an imposing but smooth feminine voice answered.
"What's going on?".
"A group of devils has appeared in a nearby area, they are at least 250 meters ".
[1800, so in the opposite direction, that's where the other end of this alleyway is, wait..., the opposite end?].
"don't worry about it, we will take care of it, it still working hours so there should be nobody in the-".
"The kid!!".
"What?".
"The kid from earlier ran in that direction" I shouted "He ran in that direction" I started pushing Aquamarine to move.
"Maybe I'm asking for too much but could you please help the kid?" Aquamarine looks at me dead in the eyes, I stare back at her, then she just nods and starts running in that direction. She is way faster than me so in a matter of seconds she had already left the alleyway and turned right.
I'm also running in that direction, I still do [I know I will be useless, but I at least need to see, I don't sleep well if I have any doubts, after all, everything I did earlier would be for nothing if I don't see all the way through] while I'm thinking I hear Sauriel say in the distance.
"Aqua the kid probably had the catalyzer, so prioritize concealing".
[Catalyzer?].