~ Joanna ~

  Zoey and I finished up her delicious ramen—-an old family recipe, in fact. I got up and moved to do our dishes, reflecting on the prior conversation with Oliver. He seemed really defensive and… kinda scared? I really don’t know how to open up to him heart-to-heart without him freaking out and running away.

  And I still can’t believe Zoey almost revealed our secret identities as magical girls! Like what the hell, we promised to not discuss this in front of Oliver!

  Well I really can’t be mad at her though. If we want to earn Oliver’s trust so he can feel more comfortable around us, we need to be more transparent with him.

  As I contempted my thoughts, a buzz came from my phone on the kitchen counter. It was Amber.

  I motioned for Zoey to come over as I picked up the call. “Hey girl, what’s up?”

  “Hey yourself! I was wondering if we could have a more proper meetup sometime today? Cuz st time was abrupt from the whole incident thing. And bring Zoey too.”

  “Hmmmmm- I can do today. What time and pce?”

  “There’s this really popur cafe—Brea Café, that just opened recently at the mall and is getting like a lot of traction on social media. You girls down to come in like, two hours?”

  “Yuhhh! I’ll let Zoey know, text me the address and we’ll be there.”

  “Okay see u soon!”

  “cya!”

  I ended the call and looked at Zoey. “We’re going shopping!”

  “With who? Just us?” Zoey narrowed her eyes.

  “Nono, with Amber too! She said she wanted to get to know us better.”

  “Joanna, don't you think she might be trying to drag us into this whole fight with demons thing? Or trying to recruit us?”

  I thought about it for a moment.

  “I’m down to fight if it comes to that. We’d finally see some combat after all! Zoey. Think about it, we could be duos! Like we can have matching uniforms and everything! And even a cool complementary group name!”

  “But we could get hurt! Or worse!” Zoey raised her voice.

  “Zoey, this is a great opportunity that can really—-and I mean really—-help our training as we won’t be fighting in simutions like we do in csses, but fighting for real!” I persuaded. “How about we participate BUT on one condition, and that will be more magical girls as backup. We don’t have as much experience as they do, so we’ll stand a better chance.”

  Zoey thought about it with a grim expression. “Okay. But only if we are given support roles. I’m… not entirely confident about taking on a front line position. Deal?”

  “Deal. By the way Zoey your light attack spells are awesome, especially when you use your Ptinum Sword. Remember st week? During your Magical Arts 005 final where you wiped out the entire battlefield of enemy soldiers with your Pureae Aurora spell? Professor Weaver loved it so much and gave you an A!” I knew Zoey can handle fights but she needs to be more confident in her abilities.

  Zoey smiled and blushed as she reminisced the thought. “You’re right. Wanna start getting ready?”

  “Hell yeah girl, that’s the spirit! There’s this new snow-like eyeshadow I got in the mail this morning that I wanna try out. Plus, I got one for you too! I left it in a small shopping bag in your room.”

  Zoey did the real life equivalent of the “:o” expression and covered her mouth with her hand. “Girlll, that’s been on my wishlist for months! Thankyousomuch!”

  “You’re welcome.” Joanna smiled and bowed dramatically.

  ~ Oliver Maddie ~

  “So what does this spell do?” I asked with nervous excitement.

  “Well, in short, it won’t turn you into a girl. Or at least not immediately. It takes into effect over time, kinda like what you guys call HRT.” Ellie expined in detail. “So it’s like the HRT you're taking now, except instead of taking years, it only takes weeks.”

  “So it has the same benefits? Like boobs for example?” I asked sheepishly. “And does that mean I stop taking the conventional pills I have now?”

  “Yes.”

  “and… ummmm… what about the junk in between my legs?”

  “That, I don’t have a solution for.” Ellie could clearly see my disappointment and rubbed my back. “We’ll find a solution to that, I promise.”

  I nodded and sat in silence until Ellie spoke again moments ter. “There’s a couple ways I can apply the spell. Either I directly administer it to your body by holding your hands daily, but that’s kinda inconvenient. I’d rather we use this—-“ Ellie paused as she took out a silver heart neckce with a transparent green gem filling the heart’s shape, from seemingly out of nowhere. “This neckce has the capability to hold magic energy, and, once activated by a spell and worn by a user, the spell’s effects will apply to them as long as they keep the neckce on. This means that you’ll have to keep the neckce worn 24/7, excluding showers.”

  I took the neckce from her hand and examined it carefully. It had a very feminine touch and looked to be a perfect final accessory to a cottagecore outfit. “The first time you wear this, the effects will be a bit overwhelming as the initial wave will make you feel a bit dizzy and uncomfortable. This will st for a couple of seconds.” Ellie cautioned.

  Slowly, I slipped the neckce over my head and, after a few seconds, I regained my footing.

  “How do you feel?” Ellie asked. The first thing I noticed after the initial wave was a sort of comforting warmth, probably from the magic doing its work on my body. “I feel warm, and comfortable, kinda like having a heated and weighted bnket hugging you.” I observed. “Congrats Maddie, you are now a magical girl!”

  What? “What!?” I asked out loud, surprised.

  “Well you have magic energy embedded within you now, but it’s not a lot. You won’t be able to cast any spells though.” Ellie expined.

  “That’s fine. My mind is still stuck on ‘I’m an official magical gurl!” I’m a magical girl now! Will Ellie train me just like that web novel I read st month? Will I even get to fight alongside her? No way that dream will come true. No way!

  “Hold your excitement girlie, we gotta get ourselves to our little mall excursion.” Ellie stood up from my bed and walked over to my closet. “I have a small bag of girl clothes on the floor in there if that works.” I suggested. Ellie took a look and replied. “No, this won’t do. You need a whole new wardrobe! Not just one outfit and a bra and panties. Do you have any makeup?”

  I shook my head. “My roommates might have some-“ I stopped myself, covering my mouth with both hands, preventing myself from continuing. I remembered the consequences of “borrowing” their things from days prior and they weren’t particurly happy about it.

  “Great!” Ellie said. “I’ll be right back.”

  “No wait! What if they’re in their rooms? You’ll get spotted for sure!” I excimed before Ellie disappeared from my bedroom again.

  I rubbed my hands across my face, anxiously waiting and pacing around my room, scared that she was going to get caught and questioned by my roommates. The wait workout didn’t st long however, as I felt someone tap my shoulder.

  I jumped and turned around. There was Ellie again, smiling, with a bag in her hand.

  “Ohmygod Ellie, you need to stop doing that and scaring the crap out of me.” I said sarcastically, smiling.

  Ellie giggled. “Sorry Maddie, I’ll remember to teleport in front of you next time, and then raise my hands up to scare you.” She imitated a totally super scary gesture reminiscent of a horror movie killer.

  “Also, stealing is very very bad! But only bad girls steal!” Ellie said, grinning. “Seriously though, this is the one time exception ‘cause we gotta make you pass as a girl first before going out.” Well, it seems like my habit of ‘borrowing stuff from my roommates without permission’ does appear to be a little contagious.

  I made eye contact, pouting. “You could have been caught!! And then it’ll be over.”

  “Okay okay, to be honest we could have just gone to a makeup store.” Ellie said sheepishly. “But how else are you supposed to ask and test makeup shades in guy mode without the whole experience being awkward?”

  “Well I guess. But let’s make this the st time we do something like this, okay? I can ask them next time if we need something from them.” My eyes motioned over to the small, beige shopping bags. “Well, whatcha got?”

  “I just grabbed two small bags with some stuff in it and teleported back. I didn’t want to take too much ‘cause that might be too obvious.”

  I looked into the bag to see a sealed white eyeliner bottle. The tube was transparent and contained a sparkly, snow-like liquid. And it was brand new! I felt a sense of guilt for unboxing and using such an expensive-looking eyeliner stolen from one of my roommates.

  In the other bag was a compact makeup kit, complete with everything a girl could need and small enough to take on the go.

  “Do you have a mirror anywhere?” Ellie asked.

  “Yea.” I pointed. “Through that door in the bathroom drawer.”

  Ellie went to get the mirror while I examined the makeup kit. Inside were various articles of makeup, with a couple brushes and color palettes. I recognized some items such as foundation and mascara but was completely clueless about the rest.

  Ellie opened the compact makeup kit and examined its contents. “Okay Maddie, this’ll do for today. We’ll have to get you a comprehensive makeup arsenal ter.”

  Ellie gestured for me to sit on my gaming chair. “Sit tight for me and try not to flinch too much.” Ellie began working her (makeup) magic. She carefully worked with brushes all over my face, then moved onto my eyes. I did my best to sit still and behave, but the unfamiliar sensations of soft brushes and stuff going on all over my face meant that Ellie had to redo some areas when I suddenly turned my head or when my eyes flinched.

  After what felt like half an hour, Ellie pulled back.

  “All done!” She announced and walked around me, inspecting her work a couple times before nodding in satisfaction. “Hold up, just one more thing.” Ellie held her palm out towards me, and shot a gentle ball of psma nded on my hair, making it grow past my shoulders down to my waist, where my hair naturally curled at the ends. She styled my new hair by parting some hair towards the front, grabbed a pair of scissors from a drawer, and started cutting and arranging it into side bangs.

  Maddie held a mirror in front of me. “What do ya think?” She asked enthusiastically.

  Wait. Is this girl in the mirror… me??

  The girl copied every movement I made. It was almost like seeing yourself for the first time in a VR game but with realistic graphics.

  But this isn’t a game. This is really happening!

  For a few minutes I observed her face. Her wide grin suppressed any self-doubt arising within her. She had an aura of confidence. Her side bangs framed her face perfectly, her eyes popped, and she had snowy sparkly eyeliner. Her face had zero traces of facial hair shadows and her eyebrows were now well-trimmed.

  “This is all makeup! Zero magic involved.” Ellie said, ruffling my now voluminous hair.

  My giddy grin made me look like a teenage girl who’d just won a multi-million dolr lottery. “Let me go shave my legs and body hair.” I grabbed the necessary tools and headed to my bathroom. “Could you prepare an outfit for me?”

  ~ Zoey ~

  A muffled voice interrupted my final preparations when I was comparing different bracelets to my outfit to find the one that complimented it best. “Ready yet?” I heard Joanna ask at my door. “Almost!” I replied. A few more seconds of comparison made me decide that the gold bracelet with blue gems was the best fit.

  “Okay I’m ready!” I announced and opened the door. “Let’s take my car this time.” We left for the front door, then entered the elevator headed to level P1.

  Announcementchapter 6! I’m already about halfway through chapter 7 rn. I finally made a catalogue of stuff for this story so I don’t forget any plot or character elements I introduced previously. So yeah! cya next chapter!