“You coming?”

After the sight of Emily’s face had brought the very vivid memories of my dream back to the forefront of my mind, I had been left there in a daze for a few moments. Her voice floating down the corridor again broke me out of it, and I stumbled forward out of my room, attempting to rebalance as I clumsily walked to the kitchen.

“Y-yeah… I’m on my way…” I tried to stammer out a reply, but my mind felt like it had a billion thoughts bouncing around inside it.

This has been… it was happening right at the start, too. Emily’s always been very touchy-feely with me, even before my whole… transformation thing. After it, though…

I paused right before rounding the corner to the kitchen, hesitant to go inside after my previous reaction to seeing Emily again.

She used to jostle me a bunch, like guys do. After I turned into a girl, though, it feels like she’s been way… softer? She’s been hugging me, holding me… she called me cute–

“What are you waiting for?”

“Wah–” I jumped back as Emily poked her head around the corner, her eyes roaming up and down my body as if trying to figure out if anything was wrong.

“We’ll be late if you don’t hurry up,” she said, retreating around the corner without taking notice of my current state. My heart had started racing again upon seeing her, and my cheeks felt like they had been set on fire.

Wh-what am I even supposed to do? After… what happened in PE yesterday–and then at lunch, too… Am I going to be like this forever?

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, desperately trying to push aside all of the strange feelings buzzing around inside my body. 

“I’m heading out now.” As I finally plucked up the courage to step into the kitchen, I brushed past Melissa, who was hurrying along towards the door living room. “Oop–sorry.”

“N-no, it’s fine.” I jumped back a step, making sure I was out of her way.

“Right–anyway–gotta run!” With barely any more words, she rushed out of the door, her footsteps echoing around the now-quiet house.

Luckily enough for my suddenly overwhelming feelings, Emily seemed to be nearing the end of breakfast, as she wolfed down the remainders of her toast behind me. She briefly glanced at me as I turned around, gulping the rest of her mouthful, before scooping up her plate and rushing to the kitchen sink with an absurd amount of energy.

“I’ll wait out the front for you,” she said, depositing her plate in the sink before quickly zooming off towards her bedroom. “Don’t take too long–it’s getting late.”

“O-okay.”

 

As I finished my own breakfast, Emily thundered past behind me, bounding towards the door with her school bag on her back.

Why does she have so much energy? Leaving my plate behind in the sink, I peeked towards her as she deftly opened the front door, slipping through into the garage. She’s moving so quickly… did something happen?

My questions were left unanswered while I prepared to go to school, thoughts swirling around inside my head as I cleaned my teeth and packed my school bag. I almost left with my brain still in a tizzy, before a loud snore echoing out from my bed distracted me.

Oh–right, I should probably wake up Mira. She’ll probably want to come with me to school, and I need to introduce her to Amelia.

Mira hadn’t stirred at all throughout the process of getting ready for school, even when the zipper of my bag had gotten stuck, and I had loudly groaned as I wrestled with trying to get it open again. Lifting the bag up onto my back, I wandered over to my bed, slowly lifting off the covers.

She’s… is she shining just a little bit?

The pool of spirit energy I had left for her last night, though somewhat visible at first, had completely disappeared. Instead, her clothes seemed to be glowing with a similar sheen, sending slight rainbows down onto the covers in a circle around where she lay. Her hair had taken on a similar luminescence, with small streaks of silver appearing along the strands as they caught the light.

“Mmrgh.” She twitched for a moment when I lifted the covers off of her, letting out a small groan and curling her arms inward closer to herself. 

“C’mon, Mira.” Reaching out, I gently shook her shoulders. “I’m heading out for school now.”

She slowly began to wake as I held her, shifting her head back and forth restlessly before her eyes slowly flickered open. She stared up at me for a moment, stretching her arms and legs out blearily as she glanced around.

“...M-mum?” she asked, her voice slurred from drowsiness. “What’s… going on?”

Her eyelids started to droop again for a moment as she mumbled, and she wriggled around a little, seemingly trying to get comfortable again as she reached out for the covers.

“I’m about to leave for school,” I said, lifting my school bag up. “Did you want to come with me?”

She stared blankly at me for a second, and I flinched as I noticed something surprising as I was looking at her. Her eyes, they’ve also… have they taken on the colour of my spirit energy as well?

Suddenly, she snapped upright, leaping out of bed and launching into a graceful flight beside me.

“Oh, school!” she exclaimed, all traces of drowsiness disappearing. “Yes, I want to… is that okay? If I come with you?”

“Sure,” I replied, smiling at her as she floated around the room. Oh, I’ve missed her. She always seemed so lively and energetic. It’s so nice to have her around again.

“Yay!”

 

While I finished getting ready for school, and as we made our way to the garage, Mira excitedly chattered away as she floated around me, relaying the stories from her self-described adventure. Her hands moved around animatedly while she spoke, emphasising her heightened energy levels along with her extremely excited voice.

“And I went back to that market–you know the one we were at last week?” she gushed, fluttering back and forth behind me as I opened the door to the garage. “I went back there again–it’s so amazing. So many people, and so many places.”

Emily peered back at me from the end of the garage, ready and waiting on her bicycle as I closed the door behind me. I gave it a gentle push, making sure that it was locked, before doing a once-over inspection of my uniform to make sure I had formed it properly. The one thing about making my uniform out of spirit energy–I never know if it’s the same each time, or if I’ve messed something up.

“And the–all the crazy bright lights in the market,” Mira continued, following close behind me as I wheeled my bicycle to where Emily was waiting. “I don’t know what kind of magic, or power, they’re using, but they’re amazing. So strong!”

Emily gave me a nod as I approached her, her ears twitching at Mira’s story. She stared at me again, her gaze roving across my body in the same way it had before.

“Wh-what’s up?” I asked, as my heart began to beat just a little bit faster.

“No… it’s nothing.” She averted her eyes, throwing one quick glance back towards me before turning and staring outside. “It’s just… no, nevermind.”

What’s going on? 

“Did something happen?” Mira glanced between us, confusion evident in her face at the way we stood, with a somewhat awkward distance between us. “What did I miss?”

“N-no, don’t worry about it.” Emily suddenly dashed forward a few steps, leaning her bicycle against the front fence and turning around to reach for the garage door. I hurried outside with Mira in tow, flinching as the door crashed to the ground behind me.

“S-sorry,” Emily hastily said, jumping back in shock as her hands shot to the top of her head, folding her ears down flat.

I rushed towards her, any previous embarrassment and fluster being completely overwhelmed by worry for her. “Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine.” She waved her hands defensively for a moment, before dropping them down to her sides as she spotted my concerned expression. “I’m just… I was a little startled, that’s all.”

A strange feeling permeated the air as we stared at each other in silence, the world seeming to slow down around us. The sounds of birds chirping in the trees faded into the background, along with the cars driving along the nearby road. A sensation akin to a nervous tension swept into me as the world seemed to close in around us, making it seem like we were the only two people in it.

“We should…” Emily suddenly spoke up, breaking the illusion as she looked towards the street. “We need to get going, otherwise we’ll be late.”

“U-um, yeah.” I stammered out a response, turning my bicycle towards the street. “Let’s go.”

 

The trip to school was just as awkward as the conversation prior to leaving, as we rode along in silence, our bicycles staying a respectable distance from each other. Emily’s usual chattiness had disappeared, and she kept a thoughtful expression on her face throughout the whole trip, occasionally glancing back at me as we waited for a gap in the traffic.

Mira flew along behind me in silence, still confused at the strange mood that had developed between us. The hints of spirit energy throughout her hair and clothes that resembled my own still remained, and a slight trail of energy was formed in her wake, suspended in the air for a few seconds before it fizzled out.

As we arrived at the bicycle racks near the back of the school, wheeling our bicycles in and locking them against two nearby loops, I called out to Emily, trying to break the awkward silence.

“U-um, what’s our first class today?”

“Should be Science, I’m pretty sure,” she quickly responded, hanging her head. “Oh, and our teacher–wasn’t he getting on your case about something last class?”

I thought back to our last Science class, at the end of my first day back. It feels like so long ago, with everything that happened, but it’s only been like two days.

“Yeah… I think he doesn’t like me.” I shivered for a moment, remembering the way he looked down at me in disdain.

“He doesn’t like me either, even though most of the other teachers do.” Emily rolled her eyes as she made for the nearby path, and I hurried forward to follow her to the lockers. “He doesn’t like anyone, I’m pretty sure. God knows how he landed a job at a school, of all places.”

She hesitated for a moment, her ears rotating as they followed every nearby sound. The flow of nearby students had begun to slow down, as everyone filtered into their respective classrooms, and the schoolyard gradually quietened down.

“Wait, we need to run.” She sprinted forward, briefly turning around to gesture for me to hurry along with her. “We’re gonna be late–I didn’t keep track of the time.”

Oh no.

 

“So, what’s your excuse?”

The science teacher stood in front of the two of us menacingly, backing us up against the closed door. We had arrived at class less than a minute after the bell rang, having thrown our bags into our lockers and gathered together all our books in an absurdly fast amount of time. When we tried to slip inside, however, he quickly cornered us, launching into a condescending lecture.

Emily took a deep breath, about to respond to him, but he quickly talked over her, his voice full of contempt. “What would happen if you showed up late to a workplace? Do you think your boss is just going to forgive you? Let you get to work whenever you wanted? You’ll have to get used to this in the future.”

His gaze flicked towards me, and he looked down his nose as his lecture went on.

“And you, you’ve been here–what, two weeks? No workplace will want to hire you if it takes you this long to start dragging your feet.”

His voice seemed to pull me down as it droned on and on, and the world began to close in around us, only this time out of fear.

“Your choice to not take adequate care in making sure to arrive on time will have real consequences, out in the world.” My heart sunk as his full focus homed in on me, and his glare felt like it was burrowing in through my eyes, sending waves of what felt like tar flowing around my body. “Your pay being docked would be the least of your problems, were this to happen out in the real world.”

A harsh heat began to radiate near me as Mira hovered forward, her hair fluttering outwards behind her as she placed herself in front of me protectively. Small spurts of fire popped up along her dress and her hair, glowing with hints of the same iridescent colours that resembled my own energy.

“She’s been here for three days,” Emily growled, her ears folded back and tail bristling as it puffed out her dress.

“Excuse me?”

“She transferred in at the start of this week, and is still yet to adjust to this schedule.” She glared up at him as she spoke. “I was helping her get ready for school, since she still hasn’t gotten everything she needs yet.”

Emily! I teared up a little as I watched her standing up for me, and the muck that felt like it had lodged itself in my body started to vaporise. My heart began to thump in my chest once more, her voice seeming like it was filling me with courage, and I took a deep breath.

“Sh-she’s right,” I began, mustering all of my willpower to look directly up at the science teacher. “I… My humanities textbook was delayed, because of an issue with the delivery… and I have that next class, so I-I needed to wait for it to show up.”

I–I just lied to him. I just lied to a teacher for the first time… I think ever. Is this–

My thoughts trailed off as I glanced at his eyes, seeing a worrying sight. Deep within his irises were hints of red, a similar colour to the eyes of the mage that we had encountered on Sunday, and his pupils looked like an endless void, with no reflections showing inside them.

The mages? What connection does he have to them? Wait, does that mean that he can see Mira? My muscles began to tense like a coiled spring as I waited for his response, trying to be ready to react to anything.

“Hmph, whatever.” He grunted a brief response, walking back to the front desk as if he had lost interest in lecturing me. “Go on, sit down.”

At his dismissal, I quickly scurried away to the furthest back seats, grabbing Mira’s wrist and pulling her along with me.

“Hey–hold on!” She protested for a moment, trying to pull away from me as she angrily glared at the teacher. “He’s… I can feel hints of magic from him–how dare he talk down to the Queen of Spirits like that!”

“I need you to be quiet for a while,” I whispered, trying not to be noticed by any of the other students. “There’s a lot that needs to be explained, but we’ll do that once class is over.”

“Mmmh.” She quickly clamped her hands over her mouth, nodding as she slowly wound down, her aggression dissipating.

The last row of the classroom was mostly empty, save for Caitlyn and Amelia sitting in the backmost corner. The two of them seemed to be getting along once again, and Amelia waved as I got close, pulling the seat out next to her for me.

“Thanks.” I nodded as I sat down beside her, pulling my textbook out of my folder and flipping through the pages until I found the one she was on. “How’d things go last night, by the way?”

“I’ll explain later,” she murmured, staring down at her arms as her expression faltered for a moment. She had switched her uniform out for one that had long sleeves, and was wearing opaque stockings, in an attempt to completely cover herself up. As a result, the only visible aspects of her dryad transformation were the flower on her head, and a few short green lines that poked out of the end of her sleeve, or around the collar of her uniform.

“U-um, in return…” she continued, hunkering down in her chair as she glanced nervously towards Mira, confusion visible in her expression. “Can you explain who that weird floating girl is?”

“I’m not a weird girl!” Mira exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips. “I’m Mira, and I’m a spirit! My specialty is fire!”

“A… spirit?”

“That’s right!” A huge smile instantly rose to Mira’s face as she loudly introduced herself to Amelia, who was wilting somewhat under the small spirit’s large helpings of enthusiasm. “Just like how Mum here is the Queen of Spirits, I’m a fire spirit, and I–”

She quickly cut herself off, slapping both hands to her mouth as she reeled back. “I-I’m sorry,” she said, her voice muffled. “I know you told me to be quiet, but…”

“No, it’s fine.” I gently rubbed her head, trying to reassure her as she whimpered. “Don’t worry about it.”

“...Are you talking to someone invisible again?” Caitlyn quietly spoke up from the other side of Amelia, subtly glancing around us while attempting to not alert the teacher.

Oh, right, Caitlyn won’t be able to see her. What can we do about that…

“Y-yeah, sorry–um…”

“No, don’t worry about it,” she waved her hand dismissively behind Amelia’s chair, putting on a smile that seemed slightly forced in response to my apology. “I’ll… I’ll get used to it in time.”

A slight anxiety gnawed away at me as I turned Caitlyn’s answer over and over in my mind, trying to figure out what she was thinking. She seems like she’s really trying… I wish I could give her spirit sight, somehow. Surely there’s a way for me to, isn’t there? I’m the Queen of Spirits, after all.

As we flipped the pages of our textbooks forward to where we needed to, switching our attention towards the teacher’s lecture, Mira hovered up to peek over Emily’s shoulder as she sat next to me. Her eyes widened at all of the varied scientific diagrams shown on the currently open page.

“I hope we didn’t miss much last week,” Emily mumbled, grabbing a pen out of her pencil case as she prepared to take notes, her ears twitching. “I forgot to ask someone last class.”

“We only missed two classes, so I think we’ll be fine.”

 

My mind wandered for a moment as the group of us grew quiet, beginning to write down the various notes that the teacher was scribbling on the whiteboard.

I wasn’t expecting him to have a connection to the mages! That red in his eyes… that was the same red as the mage’s eyes, and that weird red glow of magic. It’s not the same as Mira’s red, it seems… cruel, somehow.

He doesn’t seem to be acting any different from yesterday though, and he didn’t react at all to Mira standing right in front of him, so does that mean he can’t see her? Mira said that she could feel hints of magic from him, though, so he might be able to in the future. We have to be careful.

Resolving myself to be on the watch for anything that might happen, I went back to taking notes.

“...wait, she called you ‘Mum’ just before, didn’t she?” Amelia suddenly spoke up from beside me, her hand frozen as she glanced between Mira and I.

“Y-yeah, she did.” Oh no, am I going to have to explain…

“...You have a kid?”

Not again...