Angelica

  ***

  “WAITWAITWAIT!?” I struggled as my body was locked in pce. “PLEASE BELIEVE ME I’M TELLING THE TRUTH!”

  “Sorry miss spirit, but you’re possessing my friend.” The Magical Girl said. “And I don’t want no ghost body snatching her.”

  “OKAY I’M SORRY I LIED! I DIED AND WAS REINCARNATED INTO THIS BODY! PLEASE DON’T KILL ME! I DON’T WANT TO DIE AGAIN!” I admitted.

  “Wait really?” The Magical Girl seemed surprised.

  “YES I WAS AN OFFICE WORKER FROM A PLACE CALLED EARTH AND WHEN I DIED I WOKE UP HERE!” I said.

  “Okay…” She said. “So, if you just got here, mind expining why you were calling that Evelyn girl evil and saying that she was going to kill you?”

  “Oh.” I said.

  I hesitated. Although I’m telling the truth, will she believe me if I tell her that this world is in a video game? Does she even know what a videogame is?

  “Is it hard to expin?” She asked.

  “Well…” Again I hesitated. “I know what I’m going to say sounds crazy, but please believe me.”

  “I’ll listen.” She said, taking a seat on the floor in front of me.

  Maybe this is a sign of trust, but I’m still unable to move, so it’s not like she fully trusts me. Still, she is willing to listen, so that’s a good start.

  “Okay.” I took a deep breath, as after all, my life depends on it. “To start off with, this world is in a video game called ‘Saintess Shuffle.’ To make a long story short, it’s an action adventure, dating sim, RPG with some RTS and base defense mechanics. Not that that makes any sense for you…”

  What am I doing? None of those words mean a thing to her. Let’s just go over the plot.

  “Just forget about that. What’s important is that I’m a character in the game and that girl is the viliness. Evelyn turned evil and she’s trying to kill me.” I said.

  “You mean, the girl you body snatched?” She asked.

  “No I am me- I mean yeah but…” I sighed. “I’m sorry I don’t know what to do. I just opened my eyes and I was already like this. I didn’t mean or even want to take over anyone’s body.”

  “I see…” She nodded.

  Honestly what do I do? The two of us sat in silence for a bit, each taking in the situation.

  “Well.” She said. “It doesn’t seem like you’re lying, but I can’t exactly just let you go.”

  “…” I kept my eyes down.

  “After all, you did attack someone out of the blue.” She said.

  “She’s evil, I know it.” I said in my defense.

  “You say that, but as far as I know, she hasn’t done anything wrong.” She said.

  “But she is going to team up with the Demon Lord and try to take over the world!” I said.

  “You say that like we’re in the game.” She said. “Is this world really that game you’re talking about?”

  “Y-yeah…” I said.

  Although I was fairly confident I haven’t been in this world long, so there could be some differences. The most obvious one was looking at me right now.

  “Am I in this game of yours?” She asked.

  “…” Of course she would ask that. “No…”

  “Then is it possible that this world isn’t a game?” She asked.

  “…” I couldn’t look her in her eyes.

  Obviously a person living here would want to say that this world is real, but is it? I know for a fact that this world is from a game. Although there's no way for me to prove it at this moment.

  “Well, let’s go with the idea that this world is real.” She said. “You, someone I don’t know, took over the body of my friend and committed a crime. Not only that but the person that you attacked is a Duchess, and you were witnessed doing so by commoners, nobles, and royalty. Even if she doesn’t want to make this incident public, do you think others will keep quiet? Even if she becomes evil in the future, attacking someone is a crime. From that action alone, you just made my friend a criminal, and the punishment for attacking a Duchess is severe.”

  “…” She’s right…

  “So, what now?” She asked. “Are you going to tell everyone, ‘Hey, don’t worry. She turns evil in the future, so it’s fine that I attacked her out of the blue.’? Even if it’s true, would anyone believe that?”

  “…” I couldn’t answer her.

  “Putting that aside, what about her friends and family? Do you think that they won’t notice that you aren’t Charlotte? Are her parents supposed to be fine with someone repcing their daughter?” She asked. “Are you going to ask me to ignore the fact that you took over my friend's body?”

  “I’m sorry…” I apologized.

  What am I saying? Of course she won’t accept this. Who would accept having someone they knew being repced with a stranger? What am I going to do? What can I do? With my future looking grim, I was unable to do anything about the tears forming in my eyes.

  Evelyn

  ***

  Seeing Charlotte- no, seeing whoever this was beginning to cry, I couldn’t help but feel a bit bad. Given what she told me, it was obvious that she didn’t pn this. She’s just as much of a victim as Charlotte. Okay well not as much considering that she was an adult who got a second chance at life and unknowingly took over the body of a kid, but she’s still a victim! As a Magical Girl, it is my duty to help those in need! Luckily I know just how to help her! Kind of… To be honest there were a few problems with what I was going to do, and I know for a fact that 38 would hate it. So, let’s get her out of the picture for a bit. Creating a bubble of silence around the distracted Charlotte, I looked to 38.

  “Well, this is quite the problem, huh?” I said.

  “And what is it you pn on doing?” 38 asked, not reappearing.

  “Luckily it’s a simple problem to solve.” I said. “She’s just a wandering soul who happened to get stuck in Charlotte’s body. All I need to do is separate their souls and she’ll continue on to the afterlife.”

  “Is it that easy?” 38 asked.

  “Yes and no.” I said. “When a soul is like this, it can easily go into another body and take it over, so I need to be careful about it.”

  “That sounds dangerous.” She said.

  “It is, but not for me.” I said. “With me like this, I have the goddess’s protection so it won’t affect me. You on the other hand…”

  “Got it. I’ll make myself scarce.” She said.

  “Thanks for understanding.” I said. “I’ll be back to the camp soon enough. Can you make sure that my friends are fine?”

  “I’m sure they are, but I’ll go check in on them.” She said. “Make sure to be back soon. I’m sure they’ll send out a search party.”

  “I will.” I said.

  With that, 38 quickly disappeared into the woods towards the camp. With her gone, I released the bubble of silence around Charlotte.

  “Alright!” I said cheerfully. “I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”

  “Right.” She wiped her eyes, only now looking up. “Let me hear it…”

  “The good news is that I know exactly how to solve this little problem.” I said.

  “This girl… Charlotte won’t get into any trouble, right?” She asked.

  “I’ve got a good cover story so we’re good.” I said. “I’ll tell everyone that she was taken over by a demon but I managed to destroy it with my magic.”

  “Will that convince them?” She asked. “Won’t that give her a bad reputation?”

  “Don’t worry about that. I have everything pnned out.” I assured her.

  “Okay.” She nodded. “What’s the bad news?”

  “You’re probably not going to like this, but I’ll remove your spirit from her body-” I started.

  “Will that kill me?” She asked fearfully.

  “Kind of but only if your spirit can’t find another body.” I said.

  Charlotte visibly paled.

  “Don’t worry though. I’ll just put you into an animal for the time being until I can find a permanent body for you.” I said.

  “Wait… You can do that?” She asked.

  “With a soul like yours, yes.” I nodded.

  “And I can go into any animal?” She asked.

  “As long as I can find one, yes.” I said.

  “Can you put me in a wolf!?” She asked, excited.

  “No.” I quickly said. “You would get killed immediately.”

  “Can’t you tell people I’m not a bad wolf?” She asked.

  “You would be killed by me.” I said. “I’m not good with wolves.”

  “Oh.” She said.

  “Yeah, sorry about that.” I said. “How about, like a bird or something?”

  “I can work with being a bird.” She nodded. “Just one question. How-”

  Before she could continue, I sped off, grabbed a big bck bird, and returned.

  “-are you going to get a-?” She asked, only now seeing what was in my hands. “What?”

  “Got one.” I said, showing off a very confused bird.

  “Aren’t you fast for a magical girl?” She asked.

  “If there’s anything I’m confident in it’s my speed!” I said proudly.

  “…” She paused, looking at me. “You look… familiar…”

  “How so?” I asked.

  “Well, back where I’m from, there's Magical Girls just like you.” She said. “What’s your name?”

  “I’m Magical Girl Charming Melody of the Moonlight Blossoms!” I said. “Do you know the name?”

  “No…” She shook her head.

  “Ah, so you’re not from Las Vegas?” I asked.

  “No, Warsaw.” She shook her head.

  “A Red. That’s a shame.” I shrugged.

  “Wait.” She suddenly paused, gears in her head clearly going into overdrive. “You’re from Earth!”

  “Yep!” I said. “But don’t tell anyone, I’m trying to keep it a secret!”

  “You’re reincarnated! Why are you upset at me for doing the same!?” She asked furiously.

  “Unlike you, I was reborn here, so I didn’t take over anyone’s body.” I said. “As weird as it is, I clearly remember being born here.”

  “That’s…” She seemed grossed out.

  “Yeah, let’s not talk about it.” I smiled. “Also, this body in front of you is still the same one from Earth.”

  “How can that be?” She asked.

  “My Goddess felt bad for me and helped me out.” I said.

  “So… You’re really from Earth?” She asked.

  “Yep!” I nodded. “From the sunny beaches of Las Vegas, right on the Mojave Bay!”

  “America?” She asked.

  “Yep.” I confirmed.

  “Texas?” She asked.

  “California.” I corrected.

  “You don’t look like a drugged out hippie to me.” She said.

  “And you don’t look like a dirty Red, but here you are taking what isn’t yours.” I countered.

  “I said I’m sorry!” She said.

  “Right right.” I said. “So, how do you feel about going into this bird?”

  “Temporarily, right?” She asked.

  “Yep.” I nodded. “As soon as we figure out how to get you a new body, I’ll switch you out.”

  “Okay. So, what do I need to do?” She asked.

  “Just sit still.” I said. “It won’t hurt one bit.”

  Still very much restrained, she had no choice but to obey. Pointing my staff at her, I readied a forbidden spell. Why was it forbidden? Well, it’s name isn’t one that inspires hope…

  “Soul steal.” I said.

  “Waitwaitwait!” She panicked.

  The moon on top of my staff turned a deep purple, and snaking beams of light coiled around Charlotte. Once her soul had nowhere to run to, a spear of the light sunk into her chest. At that moment she turned stiff and her eyes rolled back. Looks like it’s working. As to why I know this sort of spell, well it’s a long story. I learned it from some of the Magical Girls in Chicago during the Christmas incident, but that’s a story for another time. Anyway, as the light surrounded her, the spear twisted and turned, until finally it locked onto it’s target.

  Emerging slowly, a cracked, white orb surrounded by a blue fme came with it. A human soul. Damaged from either the process of being stolen or during the hijacking of Charlotte’s body, I don’t know. Let’s pretend that it wasn’t me though. Anyway, this amount of damage isn’t anything to worry about. It’ll fix itself in about a week, so nothing to worry about. Pulling the soul towards me, I put the raven in the path of it, it struggled, but it's puny strength was nothing compared to mine. Ha ha ha! Okay, let’s stop acting evil.

  Upon reaching the Raven, it shone brightly and entered its body. After freezing for a moment, it started to shake and opened its beak to croak rapidly. As if compining.

  “Ah, oops.” I said.

  Casting another spell, I created a mental link between the two of us, allowing us to speak in each other’s minds.

  “It hurts! It really hurts you liar!” The spirit’s voice yelled in my mind.

  “Wait, really!?” I excimed.

  Those girls told me that it was painless! They lied to me!

  “You didn’t know!?” She seemed really upset.

  “Well, I mean I thought it might hurt, just a little.” I admitted.

  “So you did know!” She tried to peck me. “How dare you trick me!”

  “I’m sorry but it really was the only way!” I kept her away from my face.

  Huffing, she shook free from my grip and carefully moved her body. Taking a step, she moved in small circles and fpped her wings. Not quite flying, she was more of trying to get used to what she could do. With Charlotte still unconscious I waited patiently as she got used to her new body.

  “Well.” She huffed. “I’m a bird now…”

  “Hopefully not for too long.” I said.

  “I already died once, so I can’t compin.” She sighed. “So, what now?”

  “Truth be told, I need to get back to css before they send out a search party, and it would be annoying if they knew I was actually Melody.” I said.

  “Oh, so this isn’t your true form?” She asked.

  “It is, but it’s like a weird thing where this and my other body are my true forms.” I said. “To put it simply, I have two bodies.”

  “That sounds nice.” She said.

  “Yeah, but they both get hungry and tired so they both need to sleep in a way.” I expined.

  Well, that was only kind of true. Melody, as I currently am, does not need to eat, but I still feel hunger. I don’t starve or even have my stomach growl, but it’s still unpleasant, so I still like to eat.

  “That sounds annoying.” She said.

  “You get used to it.” I shrugged. “By the way, what’s your name?”

  “Me? I’m Angelica.” She said. “Well, I was Angelica. I’m not sure if you can call me that anymore.”

  “For the time I’ll call you that. Anyway, Angelica, nice to meet you. I’m-” I dramatically paused to transform to my other body.

  Although transforming back isn’t nearly as cool or fshy as when I turn into Melody, there was still a bright fsh of light and I emerged from it with a gentle spin. Regrettably still bloodied and with a broken hand, I smiled as kindly as I could and gave a small bow.

  “I’m Evelyn Eytell.” I smiled. “That icky viliness who will try to kill you!”

  The terrified squaks of a raven sounded out in the forest.

  Nissia

  ***

  About an hour has passed since the incident and we were all gathered together in the base camp. Most of us at least. Evelyn and Charlotte were still missing. Search parties were being prepared, although not nearly as quickly as they should be. But that isn’t the only problem. The fshes of light which caused this whole mess were undeniably holy magic. Given that power is much stronger than ours, then that can only mean one thing…

  “She’s the Saint, isn’t she?” Alice asked.

  “Probably…” I nodded.

  “Given how strong that was, it’s impossible that she isn’t.” Jenna said.

  Unlike us, her power was on an entirely different level. She was not a Saint, but THE Saint. The one who was meant to defeat the Demon Lord. But why now? Why had her powers only appeared now? Although I’m not sure if it was said in the game, but people have been known to awaken their magic in life threatening situations. That being said, not everyone is that lucky. Evelyn for example had her magic greatly reduced during her time in the Dark Woods. Speaking of Evelyn, Alice spoke up.

  “Do you think Evelyn is okay?” Alice asked.

  “I don’t know.” I answered honestly. “She got hit point bnk.”

  Even demons would be heavily injured from something on that level. And it wasn’t like that was the only attack that Charlotte let out. Even as we were carried away, we saw and heard more attacks of the same level.

  “Surely she’s alright, right?” Lidia asked.

  “We got evacuated by those suspicious guys, so do you think she did too?” Jenna asked.

  “But she would be here, right?” I asked.

  This goes without saying but when those ninja looking dudes grabbed us and set us outside the camp along with the fifth prince, and Evelyn and Charlotte’s friends. And although they saved us they didn’t say anything and just disappeared just as quickly as they appeared. I would have loved to ask them what was going on, but obviously we didn’t get the chance. Given the panic from the big fight that was going on not far from the camp, the teachers and mercenaries worked overtime to try and keep the peace. Things became a little less tense when Lloyd and Lna appeared, but there were still two people missing. We tried to bring it up with the mercenaries, but the response we got wasn’t helpful.

  “She’s with Evelyn, so she’ll be fine.”

  I was really counting on you guys to show a little bit of concern for them, but no…

  “Open the gate!” A shout carried over from the back entrance.

  Hearing this, all of us students turned from our worried conversations and looked towards the gate. As it opened up, a single figure entered. With the search party moving in they inadvertently blocked our view. With no other choice, we ran towards the gate. Upon reaching it however we froze. Entering the camp was a blood stained Evelyn. In a broken hand was a bloodied spear and over her shoulder was what looked to be the lifeless body of Charlotte. Evelyn’s eyes were cold and dark. Her face was stoic, and her previous blond hair was pitch bck. Not only that, but on her free shoulder was a rge bck raven. Seeing her like this, it isn’t difficult to imagine her being the one to have killed the Saint.

  “Oh my god she killed her!” Lidia whispered.

  “No no, that’s her friend. She wouldn’t kill her friend, right?” Jenna asked, not sounding too sure of herself.

  “She seriously beat her…?” Alice asked.

  “How…?” I asked.

  Given that the two of them had just returned, it is safe to say that the ninja dudes didn’t get involved and just saved us. So that only means one thing. Evelyn, who was already injured, fought Charlotte and won. Furthermore, she doesn’t look any more injured than when she fought the Fenrir… Evelyn. She… I don’t want to fight her. I really hope she doesn’t turn evil. Please don’t be evil. Let this all be a misunderstanding. I don’t want to be killed by you.

  From the search party, which had already surrounded her, emerged the leader Aura. She looked a bit worried, but that sort of worry isn’t the, “oh no you almost died!” but rather the “you scraped your knee, are you alright Champ?” sort. Given their history together, I thought for sure that she would be more than a little concerned for her safety. Please be more concerned for her safety.

  “““Evelyn!””” Evelyn’s friends ran towards her.

  How brave of them. I know that I don’t want to be near her, and given everyone else’s faces, they feel the same. As they talked, some doctors carried Charlotte away, and soon after, Evelyn and her friends followed. Seeing them walk off, I couldn’t help but shutter. Evelyn, even with what little magic she has was able to beat a Saint. Just imagine what she could do if she had any actual good magic… I’m not sure any of us would be able to stop her. As we currently are four Saints, Lloyd and Lna, I don’t think we can do it. We really should prepare just in case she is evil. Maybe we should start looking for other Saints to help us. We already know that there are at least five of us. Surely there's more of us, right?

  Grayburne