“But…” I sputtered, mind reeling at the implications. “I thought the Anathema weren’t intelligent like that? That they were like the weather, unpredictable and just a part of life?”

“That… is a complicated subject,” Everglaive sighed. “The Anathema are a blight, a malice that seeks to cause the most destruction possible. This malice may be best described as a vague and nebulous hive mind, showing at least some coordination in order to effectively accomplish its goal. While we’ve never seen a worldwide “invasion” like this before, there are instances of Usurpation Zones or large scale attacks working in sync to accomplish the most damage. Comparing the Anathema to the weather is apt, but only if you modify the definition into saying the weather sometimes decides to try causing the most chaos possible.”

Everglaive paused, then nodded to herself as if making a decision.

“Some higher level Anathema are capable of commanding and coordinating others of their kind, but we’ve never seen one capable of operating on this scale. Theoretically, it isn’t impossible, but we have yet to discover any real leadership or command network behind the Anathema’s actions.”

Some of the tension left me as I nodded. I suppose it made sense that some Anathema could get strong enough to command others, but even from what I knew, it didn’t seem likely they were organized. If they were, I doubted they would be opening Usurpations at seemingly random locations and intervals, attacking places where they knew they were going to be repelled.

“Regardless, the goal of the worldwide attack has come into sharp focus the past few days,” Everglaive continued. “Taking down the Sanctuary Cities was never going to happen with the level of forces they used, but between the number of Usurpations and Anathema they sent, reality around the Sanctuaries has been drastically weakened. Our early warning system has fallen from being able to predict Usurpations up to an hour in advance to only fifteen minutes. Even worse, we’ve been experiencing multiple daily Usurpations. All of them have been low level and fairly small in size, but it is clear they are attempting to keep reality weak around the cities with constant attacks.”

“How bad is that?” I asked, clenching my mug tighter.

“Well, it’s actually quite good for Guardians,” Everglaive responded. “The Zenith recruit new Guardians in giant waves, so right now, there are a lot of new Guardians who can potentially make use of this for easy levels and points. The Usurpations are also weak and small enough that the Magical Soldiers can take care of them on their own if needed. While it has caused more disruptions in the city, most of the Zones are limited to only a building or two in size with maybe two or three dozen Anathema appearing at the most. In the long run, it will be quite beneficial for the growth of new Guardians like yourself.”

“For now, more experienced Guardians are taking care of it,” Naiad said. “Just until the academy starts up and the new wave has enough training to actually fight.”

“There’s an academy for Guardians?” I asked, vaguely remembering Error Machina mentioning something about that.

Everglaive and Naiad both paused, looking at each other and then back to me. I felt myself curling up further into myself as Everglaive tilted her head at me curiously.

“Excuse me for asking,” Everglaive began slowly, “but you are in high school, yes?”

“Um… yes?” I answered, nervously shifting around.

“I see… It’s just, most people know about the Guardian Academy. It’s somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, especially with the annual festival they hold. There’s a few high school classes that also teach about Guardian culture and events if I’m not mistaken.”

A blush creeped up onto my cheeks. Of course I’d heard of the festival they held every summer. It was a huge, city-wide event with days of games, events, and even tournaments. I’d just never actually watched it more than stopping on the street to see some of it being broadcast on a TV. I had so much else to worry about and do, Magical Girl things had never really seemed that important.

“Oh… I didn’t realize there was an Academy involved. I, um… I haven’t paid much attention to Magical Girl stuff. I’m only a first year in high school, and we haven’t really gotten into Magical Girl things yet…”

The last part was a blatant lie. We had talked about various things, but I’d mostly used the time to either study other subjects or work on homework. That, or I was resting my eyes for a few minutes…

“Ah,” Everglaive said, nodding. “Apologies, sometimes I forget there are people out there who aren’t as interested in Magical Girls as I was before becoming a Guardian. Going back to your question, yes, there is an academy. One in each Sanctuary City, in fact. While it isn’t mandatory that you go, I would highly recommend it. Classes there are taught by either experienced Guardians, Familiars, or subject matter experts. There, you’ll learn things like proper fighting technique, the lore behind magic, the common types of Anathema and how to recognize them, marketing yourself as a Guardian, working in teams of Guardians, and a variety of other things. The academy is starting up soon, and the knowledge you can learn there is invaluable.”

[It is highly recommended that all Magical Girls go through at least one year of the academy, preferably all three,] Selene added. [The survival and growth rate of a Guardian increases dramatically for each year you attend. Additionally, there are many special opportunities that can only be attained by attending.]

It sounded incredible. I’d been stopping to ask Selene for explanations constantly, and I was still learning things. Sitting down and actually getting a chance to absorb the information would be a blessing. It already felt like I’d forgotten half the rushed answers Selene had given me.

The only problem was…

“Um. How does it work with regular school? Would I stop attending my normal classes or…?”

“There are a few options,” Everglaive nodded expectantly. “One is to go to only the academy and receive private tutoring on the normal school subjects. This is something I wouldn’t recommend. Immersing yourself with only Magical Girls can be incredibly insulating and skew your perspective negatively. It also robs you of any chance of normalcy, something we as Guardians need to balance out the stressful, combat filled lives we live. No, the normal route is to go to a normal school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then attend the academy on Thursday, Friday, Saturday.”

“Wait,” I frowned. “Isn’t that the schedule for the special offering students?”

The SO students were a sort of unique phenomenon in Sanctuary Cities. They only went to a normal school half the week before heading to a specialized school the second part. Mostly, it was for students who both already decided what profession they wanted to pursue and had some sort of special circumstance. Things like surviving a brutal Usurpation, losing family, or having the highest level of grades for the school entrance exams were ways to get offered a spot. Supposedly, it helped the brightest of students excel in their field and also gave the misfortunate ones a chance to thrive.

SO schools were known for producing some of the most experienced graduates and were highly coveted. My brother had gotten into one designed around magitech engineering due to his grades, and he was already working at a company as a paid intern with a promise of employment upon graduation.

“It is the same schedule,” Everglaive confirmed. “SO schools help as a sort of smoke screen for Magical Girls, allowing those who wish to keep their private identities secret a legitimate way of hiding what they are. The unique blend of a normal school environment combined with specialized learning helps produce well-rounded individuals for both SO students and Guardians.”

I let out a quiet sigh of relief, feeling myself relaxing. My school situation was… not great. But it was manageable, and I wasn’t willing to lose my friendship with Lily just to escape some annoying bullies. I’d handled it just fine since middle school, even if they had gotten more aggressive lately…

I shivered, remembering my current predicament with Katie. I still had no idea how I was going to deal with that…

“Speaking of private identities, I never asked you if you wanted to be a public Magical Girl or keep your personal identity secret,” Everglaive said. “Not many choose to be public, but some enjoy the fame.”

“Um. What would you recommend?” I asked, already fairly certain what I wanted.

“Keep your identities separate unless you want to be recognized every time you go out in public,” Everglaive said seriously. “Once you go public, there’s no going back. Everytime you go out to eat, to buy groceries, or even just walk down the street, there’s a good chance you’ll be recognized. Considering your deeds and the fact that you’re a Dark, I would say there’s almost zero chance of you ever going outside unnoticed. Linking your two lives together takes any chance you have at normal interactions with non-Guardians.”

“Some people love the attention,” Naiad sighed, shaking her head. “They like the full celebrity treatment. Honestly, though? We get enough of that while we patrol around in our outfits. Never having a chance to just be a normal person, to just go outside and not worry about being the symbol of hope Guardians are made out to be… Look, unless you are a serious extrovert, I seriously don’t recommend it either.”

I shivered, shaking my head. That literally sounded like my version of hell. I already got enough looks and stares because of my stature and eyepatch. It was a good day when I got to take the train to school and nobody bothered me about it. The last thing I wanted was more attention.

“How does having a secret identity work exactly?” I asked. “Sorry, I don’t know much about the specifics.”

“Part of your astral shift has enchantment magic weaved into it,” Everglaive explained. “It affects the part of the brain that recognizes faces for anybody who looks at you. While you may not look any different from your normal self, the magic tricks people into associating your appearance with a completely separate identity. It works through pictures and video, and is potent enough that even if somebody had an image of you in both forms and compared them, they would still think that the pictures didn’t match.”

“The only way to break it is if you directly tell somebody you are a Magical Girl or what your personal identity is,” Naiad added. “Although, it isn’t complete protection. Just because they won’t ever see a Magical Girl that looks like you, they can still believe your personal identity is one if you leave enough hints. Going out every night without a good alibi, disappearing whenever something dangerous happens only for a Magical Girl to appear at the scene, and other stuff like that can lead people to suspecting the truth.”

“With how strict laws are regarding the revealing of a Magical Girl’s personal identity, it’s more or less a moot point,” Everglaive said. “The Zenith technology we have access to also makes it possible to constantly monitor for people trying to expose a Magical Girl. Not once in twenty-one years has an identity been revealed to the public. The biggest part you have to worry about is somebody close to you finding out the truth.”

Everglaive suddenly stopped talking, her head tilting slightly to the side. She let out a long sigh a moment later.

“I apologize, it seems we’ve strayed from the core topics I wanted to cover. While all of this is good information, I would like to finish up going over the repercussions of recent events before we discuss more Guardian information.”

“Oh, right,” I blushed. “Sorry… I get carried away with my questions sometimes.”

“It’s no problem!” Naiad cheerily assured me. “It’s a little out of order, but this is all stuff we’d be covering with you eventually.”

“But back to the topic at hand,” Everglaive said. “To summarize: Your Death Wish achieved much more than just saving the shelter, it also helped Guardians clear out Arcadia quickly. As a result, you’ve gathered quite a bit of fame for your heroics. We’ve kept your identity secret and intend to at least until the award ceremony in December unless you decide otherwise. Are we on the same page about everything so far?”

“Yes ma’am,” I replied, and she froze for a second.

“Just Everglaive is fine,” she said gently. “Guardians can always refer to each other by their codename. Some might try to be pushy if they are a higher level, but those that do so are generally considered…”

“Pricks,” Naiad interjected, nodding sagely.

“Not incorrect,” Everglaive rolled her eyes. “But perhaps not the most eloquent way of putting it. Moving on, the next thing I wanted to discuss was the first cause of your Death Wish, the illegal activation of the shelter’s emergency shield. In the mall’s third floor shelter, only inexperienced mall guards with no emergency training were present, and an Anathema specializing in psychological combat showed up.”

“I’m not sure what that means,” I admitted as Everglaive paused.

“It could speak,” she clarified. “Which is exceptionally rare at the lower levels. While not very strong, its strength lies in putting its opponent off balance with its words.”

I shuddered at the thought. Anathema already looked like things out of nightmares, and I could only imagine how much more horrifying they would be if they spoke.

“When it spoke, one of the guards panicked,” Everglaive continued. “He tried to activate the emergency shield. A student attempted to stop him and succeeded with some help, however-”

“Excuse me,” I interrupted, my heart lurching in my chest. “Um. Was that student named Lily Parker?”

“They were,” Everglaive confirmed with a nod, and I felt a wave of relief and joy washed through me.

I’d told myself over and over again that Lily didn’t give up on me, but I hadn’t been able to completely ignore the whispers deep down inside. That she’d abandoned me. That she hadn’t cared enough to try keeping her promise. I knew doubting her made me an awful person, that I didn’t deserve her as a friend.

But I was glad she was anyway. Knowing that she’d tried to keep her word made me feel warm inside. I didn’t even care that the shield had still somehow gone up. Just knowing she tried was… everything.

“Are you alright?” Naiad asked, and I looked up in surprise.

I was shaking a little, and my next shuddering breath came in with a sniffle. Cursing myself for letting my mask slip, I quickly nodded my head at her.

“Yes, I just… She promised me she wouldn’t let anybody activate the shield when I went to save Brian and… Oh, do you know about all of that, or…?”

“We were informed of your actions by Error,” Everglaive gave a deep nod. “As we already discovered your personal identity, it was deemed beneficial for us to understand the full scope of your actions for the purpose of developing a cover story for you. But back on topic, your friend did manage to stop the guard. However, one of your teachers, Mr. Toujou, activated it during the commotion.”

I froze, staring at Everglaive. Mr. Toujou. My homeroom teacher. He was the one who set all this into motion?

A mixture of emotions swirled inside me. It was mostly exhaustion mixed with bitterness, anger only vaguely coloring the edges into something sharper. I knew there was no point in getting angry, so I quickly smothered that part, leaving me feeling just… tired. And cold.

People. It was always people.

“Oh,” I replied simply, taking a sip of my drink, hoping the warmth would fill the empty feeling inside me.

Everglaive tilted her head curiously, but Naiad’s eyebrows practically raised off her head.

“‘Oh?’” Naiad asked. “Just ‘oh?’”

“It makes sense,” I shrugged. “He’s my homeroom teacher and-”

“He’s your homeroom teacher?!” Naiad shouted, shooting up out of her seat.

I flinched away at the outburst, folding into myself as fear flashed through me. I tried to come up with an excuse even though I didn’t know why she was so upset at me. I opened my mouth a few times but couldn’t find any words that felt right.

“Naiad,” Everglaive murmured calmly. “Please, sit down.”

Naiad blinked, looking from Everglaive to me before her eyes widened. She quickly took her seat again, raising both hands in a pacifying gesture.

“Sorry!” Naiad quickly said. “It was just a surprise, that’s all. We only knew the basics of your situation and that your class was on a field trip, but we didn’t realize he was your homeroom teacher.”

“Yes…” Everglaive quietly intoned, a slight frost seeping into her voice. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but most schools in Arcadia still follow a more Eastern style where homeroom teachers are the, for lack of better word, school parent of the class? Their responsibilities do still include counseling the students in their class, helping them plan for the future, and looking out for their wellbeing if I’m not mistaken?”

“Um… yes ma’a- I mean, um, yes. But he’s new, and… hasn’t really been good with students.”

I tried my best to pacify them. I wasn’t about to tell them how bad he really was, that I’d tried to tell him about Katie and the other bullies and been shrugged off. He’d suggested they were probably just trying to be friends by teasing me, and I should try harder to get along because I was the loner in the class.

Katie poured a can of cranberry juice on me the next day.

It had been really hard trying not to cry when I realized I was going to have to replace some of my clothes because I couldn’t get the stains out.

“I see…” Everglaive replied, her voice still cold. “Well. There is a levy of possible charges he could be tried with. Criminal negligence for turning the shield on when he knew people were still outside is possible, but his lawyers might argue he acted with reasonable care to protect the students in the shelter due to the rarity of the Anathema he encountered. Involuntary manslaughter is a possibility for the deaths of the police officers who went to turn on the mana generator, but his lawyers would argue the true fault lies with the mall owners.”

Everglaive gave a tired sigh, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face.

“What he will be charged and convicted of is felony shelter operation for activating the emergency shield against the automated system’s recommendation, resulting in civilians or rescue personnel being put into danger, injured, or killed. It more or less covers the previous two charges, and there is no doubt he violated that particular law. With all the facts of the case, I would guess he gets a maximum of ten years in jail and a fine he will be paying off the rest of his life. It’s possible he takes a plea deal down to just the fine and parole depending how much his lawyers can leverage the extenuating circumstances including the fight that broke out, but we’ll see.”

I felt my brain wrapping itself in knots as Everglaive gave her legal analysis, and Naiad let out a giggle as she saw my expression.

“Ever’s been a Guardian for six years now,” she explained. “You get to know the specifics of emergency shelter laws when you’ve been a Guardian as long as we have.”

Right… I’d forgotten that Guardians tended to keep their youthful appearances. Even some of the first Guardians from twenty-one years ago looked like they were in their late teens or early twenties. I wasn’t clear if they just stopped aging or how it worked, but I made a note to ask Selene later.

“Anyway,” Everglaive shrugged. “Your teacher will be punished, though not as much as he should be. Because both you and Brian survived, the crime is less severe. It also doesn’t help that a lot of the fault of the situation lies with the mall owners for tampering with the mana generator. We’ll get to that in a moment, but first…”

She gestured to the second file folder in front of me.

“Inside, you will find everything we’ve set up for your personal identity’s cover story. The police officers you interacted with helped us set it up. Officially, you snuck with Brian to the third floor shelter after encountering a hound that you dispatched without injury. Upon learning the emergency shield was activated, you went to the first floor, finding some Anathema patrolling outside the shelter’s entrance. You lured those into a store and set them on fire, freeing the way for you and Brian to make your way in. Unfortunately, an Anathema swiped your leg when you set off the trap, causing severe damage to your calf muscles. Because the damage would take weeks to heal and months of physical therapy, we’ve been keeping you in a hospital to be instantly healed by a Magical Guardian due to your heroics.”

“It’s fairly close to what actually happened,” Naiad said, “which makes it more believable. We’ve taken out any mention of you using a gun, though. One thing that helps your cover story is that people in the first floor shelter saw you walking in the hallway. It will lead them to believe you weren’t the new Magical Girl who went on the Death Wish.”

I must have looked confused because Everglaive interjected a moment later.

“They saw you injured. A Magical Girl wouldn’t be injured and would be in their outfit. As for what’s in the folder, we have medical logs corroborating the story, an initial police report regarding the incident that you’ll have to finalize later, a damages report for you to fill out on what personal belongings were damaged or lost, and a letter.”

“A letter?” I tilted my head.

“Yes. I’m going to leave that one as a surprise for now, and I recommend looking through that folder on your own time to familiarize yourself with the details of the cover story. Speaking of which, we need to discuss the media’s reaction to your story and how they’ve been reporting it the past few days.”

My mind went blank, the bottom of my stomach dropping as horror flooded my veins.

“What?” I whispered, my eyes widening in panic.

“It’s alright,” Naiad quickly assured me. “I promise, it’s not as bad as you think.”

“There were a lot of civilians involved in this,” Everglaive explained. “The security guards, your classmates, and the people in the first floor shelter… it was inevitable someone would tell the press, and your classmates speculating on social media forced us to run with the cover story. A high school girl who risked her life to save a young boy, killing an Anathema and being injured in the process because of an emergency shield activation? The story was too sensational for the media not to jump on it. Thankfully, due to the strict privacy laws of Arcadia, your name and Brian’s haven’t been publicized, nor any potentially identifying details. They reached out to your father for comment and permission to interview you, but both were denied. Brian’s family, meanwhile, said they weren’t comfortable talking to anybody so long as you wished to remain anonymous.”

Nausea bubbled in my stomach like acid, and I found myself clenching my teeth tight as I looked to the ground.

So.

Father knew.

I swallowed down the bitterness in my mouth. I should have realized it, that at least me risking my life to save Brian would get out there. The fact that I also fought and defeated Anathema was just icing on the cake. I had no idea how he was going to react to that, but the first part…

And then there were my classmates. God, how was that going to turn out? I knew most of the people in my class didn’t think much of me. I was just the weird loner girl with creepy eyes to them thanks to Katie. The rest of my grade I wasn’t so sure about. I was sure Katie’s rumors had spread to them as well, but I wasn’t sure how much they believed them. I wasn’t in any clubs and didn’t really interact with anybody else besides Lily.

I felt a headache building up while the nausea increased, and I looked back up to see Everglaive and Naiad watching me closely. I quickly forced a weak smile, clearing my throat.

“So… how many, um… how bad is this?”

“The story itself garnered quite a reaction from the public,” Everglaive responded slowly, gauging my reaction. “Your classmates were quite talkative about the fact you got locked out of the shelter, which we believe is how the media discovered it was you. To prevent any other people from learning your identity, Error Machina has gone and lowered the visibility and reach of any post mentioning your name. In other words, while your classmates will still see posts about you, strangers won’t be able to find them. This should prevent anybody else from discovering the truth, and Error Machina is on the lookout for any potential problems just to be sure.”

I felt myself relax a little bit at that. If it was just limited to my school and a few reporters who knew, I could deal with it. So long as people weren’t recognizing me on the street… Otherwise, what was the point of having a personal identity separate from my Magical Girl one? I didn’t want fame or attention.

“Sorry,” Naiad gave me a sympathetic smile. “It’s kind of damage control at this point, but on the bright side, you’re going to be pretty popular at school from all this! I bet your friends are going to go wild when you tell them the story.”

I forced a smile, trying to keep my face relaxed as I gave her a nod, hoping it looked like I was agreeing with her. Internally, I was torn between wanting to cry and just going back to sleep. I could imagine the chaos of the first few days back at school, and I was looking forward to it about as much as I was dealing with Father’s reaction.

“Remember to read the cover story we’ve prepared,” Everglaive said seriously. “It’s imperative to keep the details straight. Your heroics combined with a new Magical Girl popping up in the mall is very suspicious. Keeping to the story and stressing your injured leg kept you sedated in the shelter are imperative to prevent anyone from making a connection.”

I gave her a deep nod, taking her advice to heart. The only way this got worse was if people started suspecting I was a Magical Girl and making a big deal out of it. I couldn’t deal with the added pressure, and if Father found out… I couldn’t let that happen.

“With that out of the way,” Everglaive continued, “the last thing we need to go over is the device you found attached to the mana generator. The investigation is ongoing, and due to the possibility of a Guardian being responsible for supplying the generator, some specialized investigators are involved. As this matter is quite sensitive, there isn’t much more I’m allowed to say other than warn you to keep this matter to yourself for now. If you’d like updates, you can contact Error Machina or me directly. Understood?”

I nodded, fidgeting with my cup. I wasn’t sure how bad it really was, but the fact that a Guardian might be the cause of what happened was clearly a pretty big deal. I imagined if it became public knowledge, there would be a sharp dive in trust with Guardians as a whole. That would cause fear, and that would just invite more Anathema in…

“Excellent. Now that we’ve covered the after effects of your Death Wish, we can begin the true and proper tutorial that you never received. There’s a few administrative things we need to take care of such as getting you registered at Guardian Command, deciding on your academy attendance style, officially choosing whether you are going to be a public or private Guardian, giving you your starting gift bag, and all that. Before anything else, I need to ask you one important question.”

She leaned forward, and I felt her stare intensify as she studied my face.

“Do you even want to be a Magical Girl?”