1-2
"Okay… role call!" I commanded, reading off the clipboard in my hands.
A bunch of new Agents had popped up since Madoka's haul yesterday. 12 in all. Out of a class of 32, we had 12 rookies. Of course, I told the veteran girls to be nice to them because they were new, that they should all treat each other like sisters. I didn't even have to remind them too much; they all hit it off with each other pretty well. It was as if the moment they saw each other, they instantly became best friends.
Of course, this was always the case here in the Cycles. Now that a magical girl has reached paradise, she has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Perfect friends were only the start of the deal. And it's a really awesome deal, at that. I had so many friends that I lost count. Sure, I can't remember some of their names, but when we meet it's as if we never stopped seeing each other.
A match made in heaven indeed.
The girls obediently announced their names, and one by one I checked them off the roster, double-checked, and finally had peace in mind when I discovered that I had everybody in one place. Not as if they'd be absent for role-call or anything; nobody in the Cycles is ever absent for anything, especially training sessions.
"Alright, ladies, welcome to the Hall," I said from a podium just above them on stage. "I'm Sayaka Miki and I'm Head Agent. Welcome to the Law of the Cycles."
The Hall is our place, where Agents meet up, train, and plan for operations. Kind of like our headquarters. We didn't have any fancy names for it, so we just called it the Hall and… well, it stuck. It's like one of those fancy ballrooms in castles, with pink curtains and chandeliers, like every girl's dream, shot right out of a fairy tale.
Not to brag, but I was pretty much head honcho around here. No, really, I was Head Agent. What does the Head Agent do? Well, I boss people around (kidding!). I plan operations, I'm also in charge of training new recruits as you can see here, and I'm the person Madoka sees whenever she wants help clearing Witches out and stuff. It was a pretty cool job.
You'd think it was tough, but it was actually pretty easy. Just say one word, people follow you. And even if you mess up your speech or mess up whatever you train them to do, the new recruits just shrug it off and that's it, you're still awesome with each other. That's what I liked most about this place: the people here are very understanding and help you out in a bind.
Even when they were just recruits, they understood me. I was flopped the welcome speech I gave them (it sounded a lot better in my mind) but they were still smiling. Some of them were even chuckling, but I knew that it wasn't because my speech sucked, but because they understood how I wasn't that much of a people person in the first place.
I loved them. Every single one of them. I wanted all of them to be my friends.
"…And, well, that's… that's the Law of the Cycles. The long and short of it is, well, we're magic, we can kick back and relax, and we kick ass from time to time," I summarized. "So, how does that sound? Good enough for you guys?"
"That sounds cool," one of them said.
"When can I be Head Agent?" another one asked.
One was even raising both her hands. "Oooh, pick me! Pick me!"
Well, they can act like kids sometimes. Like a pack of kindergarteners, even. But it gives me a chance to be a teacher, and I've always wanted to be a teacher. Handling my own gaggle of girls like this, I'm probably like Miss Saotome now.
I chuckled at the thought. Of course I don't want to end up like her. Why she was always like that, though, I'd never know. Her boyfriends always break up with her all of the time, and she can't seem to keep herself on a stable relationship. Usually they lasted like what, five, six weeks, give or take one week? I remembered making bets with some of the girls in our class about what kind of mistake Miss Saotome would talk about in Homeroom. How a man likes his eggs? How a woman likes cats? How warm a man likes his cup of coffee?
I can't believe people would break up with Miss Saotome over little things like that. I bet those guys were total jerks.
After my introduction, I asked all of the new recruits to introduce themselves too. I liked this part because it's kind of like a little fashion show. Everybody's decked out in their magical girl costumes, they go up the podium, and make their cute introductions. Everybody does their best to make their introduction as cool as the last one, and nobody's a slouch. Some flaunt their uniforms like one girl that had this kimono thing going on, the flares of her blue dress making her look like some sort of super-cute Miko. Some others, they use their magic, like another magical girl wearing a black Witch getup. She showed off her powers and summoned these badass muskets out of her witch hat that fired fireworks. There were even three people who cracked jokes, one girl and a pair of twins. And they were even from Kansai, so everybody laughed their heads off when they started spouting jokes in Osaka-ben…
Xxx^.^xxX
Girl A and Girl B are in cahoots with each other so they can cheat out a few Grief Cubes from Girl C. Girl B pretends to be dead while Girl A tries to get Girl C's sympathy.
Girl A [begging]: My sister has run out of magic and is dying; please give her your Grief Cubes!
Girl B: [pretends to be dead, sticks tongue out in wacky ways]
Girl C: And why should I? You know how hard it is to get Grief Cubes!
Girl A: Look at her! Can't you see she's dying? Are you even human? Don't you pity her?!
Girl C [stares at Girl B for a few moments, then Girl A]: Um… *sighs* All right, here.
Girl C tosses a few Grief Cubes to Girl A, who immediately uses them on her own Soul Gem.
Girl A [to Girl B]: Nothing personal; just business.
Girl B [sits up with an incredulous look on her face]: WHAAAT?! [points finger] You traitor!
Applause, laughter, because everybody knows that was how life really goes.
Xxx^.^xxX
After the introductions, I let them just talk with each other, and their assignment was to show up the next day. Formal training for newbies wasn't going to start until tomorrow, and it would give those who were already training a day's rest from activities. I got a little sociable with some of them, just to let them warm up to me. Besides, I was pretty interested in talking to some of them anyway.
"So, what did you do before becoming a Magical Girl?" I asked.
"Oh, I was a… I didn't go to school, so… I dunno!"
"Well, um, what did your parents do?"
"My dad was… I think my dad's gone," one of them said. "Mom, she was a… uh… she worked at the salon, I think."
"Wow, must've been pretty interesting. They work hard?"
"Yeah, even if they always came home late from their jobs, it's okay. I mean, what's wrong if they leave me alone at home sometimes, right? It helps you be independent."
"And you're just ten years old!" I exclaimed. "That's pretty cool."
"Yeah, my parents love me a lot," she said. "They love me so much that sometimes, they even lock the door for me when they leave."
"And they let you hold the key? That's a lot of responsibility now."
She shook her head. "Nope. They have it. It's so I wouldn't give the burglars the key if they got in. They love me sooo much!"
I talked to another one. "So, what did you do before becoming a magical girl?"
"Ah, I wrote things."
"What, like novels?"
"Uh-huh."
"Cool!"
"Have you read one of my novels?"
"Well, I don't think so. But I'm not really that much of a book reader anyway so I guess that's it."
"No surprise there, I suppose," she said. "A nice man uses his name instead for the books I write."
I figured that I should try one more time just so I'll be able to get familiar with everybody. I had to be friendly, because that's what a leader does, right?
"So, what did you do before becoming a magical girl?"
"I was… I was a… erm…" This girl kind of looked like an airhead. "I think I was a student!"
"Well, what did you do when you were a student?"
"I collected teddy bears."
"Teddy bears? Really? Wow, they must be pretty cute."
"You think so?"
I nodded. "Yeah, totally."
"Some other people didn't think so, though."
"Really? What happened to them?"
"There was this one girl… No, not a girl. She was my mom. I think… I think she died."
"Oh my god, I'm sorry."
She waved her hand. "No, no, don't; please. It's okay." She smiled. "I killed her."
"I'm sorry?"
"I said I miss her." She was still smiling. "But I got over that, so it's okay now."
"That's… what I thought you said."
After that, I let them talk with themselves. I was probably just a little worn out, is all.
Xxx^.^xxX
The rest of the afternoon gave me a much needed chance to fix paperwork. You would think that in heaven, everything would be automatic. But keeping track of how many Agents were active down to how many sanitary napkins they would use would need some form of bureaucracy or other. Papers would need to be signed, forms filed, telepathic calls made. Sometimes, pencil-pushing like this takes the fun out of the job, but it's worth it. Like everywhere else in the Cycles, the people you talk to here are nice. They're more than willing to take your forms, more than happy to accept your requests, and they're really ecstatic to deliver those sanitary napkins you need. It's perfect clockwork.
I was in my office, stacking the last couple of documents for new recruits while wearing a pair of glasses. The place was a little small—just a wood desk with some file cabinets here and there. There was a coffee table with a few sofas in front of the desk, and I had a little kitchenette to the side, with a sink and a microwave and other things. Of course, it still looked like the rest of the Hall, with shiny, glittery stuff all over the walls. I would've liked it to be less… gaudy, though.
Somebody knocked on my door. "Miki-san?"
At this point, I was just killing time in my leather lazy-boy chair, but pretending to be busy was part of the job of being busy. "Come in."
A little girl with long pink hair that went down to her waist. She wore a brown bonnet, a khaki smock that covered her scant maroon dress. In her hands were a stack of folders a foot taller than she was, toppling like a Jenga tower during the late game. Of course I rushed towards her and quickly took the rest of her load off, which she gladly appreciated.
She sighed, a cute, squeaky sound. "Thank you, Miki-san. I thought I was going to drop all of these."
Nagisa Momoe. If I was Head Agent, then she was probably my lieutenant. Well, more like my secretary, really. She takes care of paperwork, most of the stuff I'm supposed to do. The stack she brought around was almost 3/4s of the papers I was supposed to sign. What's useful about her is she's really good at mimicking signatures. Besides from organizing my calendar and making really great coffee, of course.
"So, all of these are taken care of?" I asked her. I picked up one of the files, and boy was she great at impersonating my signature. It actually scares me sometimes. .
She smiled and gave a small salute. "All signed in triplicate like you asked, Miki-san."
Works hard, very friendly, and does her best to please. Of course Madoka couldn't have picked someone better as my second than Momoe.
There was just something the Girl did not trust about her.
"What's the next thing I'm supposed to do?" I asked, smiling.
Forcing a smile, maybe.
"Um…" Nagisa put down the rest of the files she carried and took out a small notebook, from which she read out my daily itinerary. "After organizing paperwork, you'll… be doing some research and organize study plans. After that, you get some R-and-R."
"My favorite time of the day, I might add." Finally, time to rest. Right after I finish that darned lesson plan first. "I'll be at my usual place, Momoe-san."
She cocked her head to one side. "And if someone tries to reach you?"
Nobody will try to reach her.
"Tell them I'm not to be disturbed. You know, the usual drill."
"The usual drill; got it." Nagisa wrote down some marks inside her notebook. "Anything else, Miki-san? Coffee, maybe?"
"After you file those docs, you can take the rest of the day off. How's that sound?"
"Are you sure? Um… okay." She nodded. "But about the day off, no thanks; I'm working overtime."
The Girl raised a brow. Why the pause?
"Logging in more hours?" I asked her.
"Uh-huh."
"I see. Alright, well I'm going then." I started walking towards the door. "Make sure to lock up before you leave, okay?"
"Got it!" I heard from behind.
Her Secretary's stare stuck on her back until she was gone from the door.
When I was a little of sight, I held the side of my head, feeling some sort of warmth right above my ear.
What was I thinking earlier?