An actress in our midst! (web version)

“Good job, everyone,” Frost nodded to the others.

“Yeah… Ugh, this is just gonna keep happening, isn’t it?” Spark groaned.

“At least we resolved this one before it got out of hand…” Bloom added.

“But where does it stop? It’s not even the generals anymore. We’re running around, putting out fires set by some random spirits who decided to go and mess things up!” Sarah growled.

“You’re right… We need to do something. We can’t just wait for our minion ally to resolve it on her end.” Frost pursed her lips. “I think we should try to get into contact with first gen. They might know something.”

“Well, that’s an idea.” Spark nodded. 

“The first magical girls… Yeah, that might be a smart move. Although I haven’t actually met any of them yet,” Flame mused out loud.

“Hmm, me neither. What are they like?” Spark asked as the group landed and transformed back.

“Well… My predecessor is the motherly caring type,” Iris explained. “Then there’s the first Pretty Bloom… She is… well, a very enthusiastic woman. Those two hit it off really well after they handed down their mantles… I heard they even adopted a kid.”

Sarah whistled. “Now that’s unexpected. What about the other two?”

Iris frowned at that. “I don’t know, to be honest. I haven’t heard from the first Pretty Spark in ages and none of us in the second gen had ever even met the first Pretty Flame.”

“Oh, really?” Erika asked.

“Yeah… From what I remember, she wasn’t even there when your predecessor received the Cinder Blade. Spark gave it to her.” Iris shrugged. “So I don’t know.”

“Huh, that’s strange…” the redhead mused.

Sarah tended to agree. She felt like there was an uncomfortable implication…

“We’ll try to get into contact with the first Frost and Bloom at least. See if they know why rogue demons could be causing a mess now.”

“Yeah, you do that,” Sarah said with a sigh. “I’m not sure if I can handle another hostage situation like the other day.”

“Right…” Iris nodded. “Well, I’ll call them and see. I’ll let you know.”

“Alright, see you then!”

“Bye!”

“Goodbye everyone.”

And just like that, the magical girls parted ways. And once again, the demon attack had interrupted Sarah when she’d been going to the cinema to see a movie, meaning she was now left with nothing to do. Again.

So she decided to aimlessly wander around the city just to relax a bit. If only the clubrooms were still open during the summer break. What she would give for some relaxing session of archery. Too bad.

On her way through the city, she couldn’t help but think about the past few days and the rogue demons they’d had to deal with. There was something off about them. They weren’t like the generals or even the minions. Those were organized, almost like humans. But the spirits… they were more like wild animals lashing out.

Sarah growled to herself as she came to an intersection and the lights just turned red.

A terrifying thought she had was… what if a rogue demon decided to target one of them? Or their family and friends?

What if Jessica got possessed by one…? Nah, she would probably trick it into letting itself be defeated somehow. Or convince it to let her use its powers… and then use those to defeat it herself.

Yeah, that sounded like Jessica. A true schemer. The perfect troll.

Once again, Sarah couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of Jessica having magical powers. But imagining her as a magical girl seemed absurd. Jessica didn’t fit that image at all. No, she would definitely have to be a demon if she used magic.

Jeez, just imagining her as one gave Sarah a headache. Jessica would definitely be the biggest troll as a demon. Probably wouldn’t even try to fight them, just annoy them.

The image of the annoying minion flashed in Sarah’s mind and she stopped on the spot.

…

Wait one goddamn second.

…

Was… Jessica that minion?

The thought seemed absurd at first, but the more she thought about it, the more it seemed to fit. They had the same build, the same hair, the same mischievous personality…

The part-time job. Was it just a cover for being a demon minion?

No, but… why? Sarah joked about it, but she knew Jessica enough to know that she wasn’t evil. Which meant that the whole talk about infiltrating the demons, and really being on their side… was true?

Heck, Jessica had even admitted to being a demon! But she had made it sound like she was joking! Telling the truth but making it seem like a joke was definitely something she would do. Just so when everything was finally revealed, she could go ‘Hmm? What? I told you, didn’t I? It’s your fault for thinking I was joking.’

…

Dammit. What was Sarah supposed to do now?

Should she just ask Jessica? What if she was wrong? She would basically be admitting that she was Pretty Spark, and everyone had agreed not to drag Jessica into this any more than necessary.

But if Sarah was right about this…

A loud metallic thud jerked her out of her thoughts and made her hide behind a nearby shipping container on instinct. She only now realized that she’d walked all the way over to the pile of shipping containers at the edge of the city while lost in her thoughts.

Sarah peeked out from behind the container toward the noise and spotted a very suspicious hooded figure looking around. Well, it was just a kid, but still, who would be wearing a hoodie in this scorching heat?

Sarah frowned.

The magical girls mainly dealt with the big flashy threats and rarely dealt with the more hidden crimes, but all her instincts were telling her that this kid was here to either buy or sell drugs.

Just as she was about to call out to him to chastise him, the kid mumbled something under his – or her? – breath, turned to a pile of containers, and then a giant set of demonic wings burst out from their back.

Sarah froze behind her cover, eyes going wide.

Their hoodie fell back to reveal demonic horns reminiscent of Salem and Hecate. The magical energy flooded out of them. It was a demon. A powerful one, at that. Another possessed person? Or maybe… a new general?

Sarah immediately fell further behind her hiding spot, watching the threat, her mind abuzz trying to figure out what to do now.

Before she could make any decision, the demon flapped their wings and jumped on top of one of the containers. Sarah immediately summoned forth her Thunderclap Bow and let its magic permeate her in order to transform.

The demon stopped in their tracks, let out a “Hmm?”, and turned around to look at Spark. She wasted no time falling completely behind her cover to avoid detection.

Spark heard the demon mumble something again, flap their wings, and then a distant thud as they presumably landed.

Taking a chance, she peeked out from her hiding spot. She didn’t see the demon anymore, but she heard some suspicious rustling sounds from beyond the container they had jumped atop of.

Spark decided to follow the noise, she slowly flew upward, looking in the direction of the noise, and soon spotted it. She saw the wings disappear inside one of the containers before a hand reached out and closed the door from the inside.

Spark just now realized that the containers were arranged in such a way that you couldn’t really get in the middle of them without climbing over one or flying. The perfect hiding spot for a demon.

She floated there for a few minutes, watching and listening for more movement, but none happened. 

What was inside that container?

She floated down while keeping her eye on the container, ready to bolt at any moment. Once she did, though, she felt something odd emanating from inside. Her brows furrowed as she floated closer to the offending object.

The door wasn’t fully closed though. And through the crack, she saw some light.

As she got closer, she got a better look at what it was.

Some kind of device? It was projecting a giant spinning ball of… something magical. She could see glimpses of some kind of cavern inside the magical ball.

And the demon was nowhere to be found.

Sarah stared at the thing in front of her as she opened the container door wider.

She instinctively reached out with her hand to touch the magical ball… before abruptly stopping herself, taking a step back, and pulling a phone out of her pocket.

Her fingers swiftly typed out a message in the magical girls’ group chat and pressed send, all while she kept an eye on the magical ball.

That thing… It was a portal, wasn’t it?