You should be thinking about the kind of first impression you want to make… But...

It's hard, thinking when you're so close to one of your crushes. It's difficult, trying to contain the explosion of emotion that's welling up inside of you. There's a thirst in your throat, a heat in your loins that's sending your netherlips aquiver. You feel stickiness when you rub your thighs together, a subdued squish from your panties as you brace yourself against a shelf.

Aaah!

Focus. Focus! You flirt with the idea of introducing yourself with a common romantic trope, accidentally stumbling into Luminous Libromancer's civilian identity with a stack of books in hand. You dismiss the idea after a moment's thought. No, she'd see right through that in a second. Hardly subtle. Hergh. Hnngh. Blergh.

… Maybe you should do the unthinkable and just walk up to her and try… Talking to her like you're a regular person?

Talking. To her. Normally.

Normally. Talking. Normal. Talking.

… What's talking normally? What do 'normal' people even talk about? The world's insanity. The whole population's cooped up in megacities, last bastions of humanity guarded by Magical Girls. Criminals fill the streets, and starvation and violence are commonplace facts of life. Corporations rule what remains. Kaiju, demons and other supernatural creatures attack these bastions on a daily basis. The biosphere's crumbled, the sea's risen and turned toxic, the air's choked with industrial smog and pollutants.

Normalcy is overrated in a world this insane. What even is a normal person in a world like this?

… Why did you just go on that little mental tangent? Is it this hard to try to think of a way to introduce yourself? Of a topic you can use to introduce yourself? It has to fit with your cover persona too, you have to come off as earnest! Nervous!

You take a deep breath. In, then out. At least you aren't going to have to fake any of your reactions. Oh, the thrill of being this in love, and having your love stand so close to you! It's sent you into a tizzy, goodness gracious!

"Hey, boss, did you need help with anything?" You ask smoothly as you step out from behind the shelves.

Nailed it! The perfect way to seamlessly slide yourself into this conversation between your love and this sad sack of a mortal man you've hypnotized.

Henry smiles as you approach. "Ah, my favorite customer gets to meet my newest employee! Mia, this is Evelyn Parker! Evelyn, this is Mia. Be nice to her, she's one of our regulars!"

Ah, the joys of having a hypnotized muggle around to do the introducing for you. This makes things so much easier. Pity you have to use a fake name though, you'd love to introduce yourself to your love as yourself. Well, there's always next time. When you get to know each other just a bit better.

"Evelyn Parker, nice to meet you!" You squeak, faking a nervous tremor in your voice. You don't have to fake the way your hand's shaking as you extend it.

"… Mia Cabalis," Luminous Libromancer replies after a moment. The girl studies you carefully, eyes you from head to toe. She doesn't take your hand. "… Henry's newest employee, huh? You don't look like much."

Klaxons begin blaring through your head. Oh no. This is the exact opposite of a good impression! She's unimpressed with you! You sent a quick mental ping in Henry's direction, magically tugging on the strings of his mind.

"I can assure you, Mia, Evelyn knows her stuff! Hired her myself! Quite the expert in demonology, if I do say so!"

"Is that so?" Luminous Libromancer hums, continuing to study you through lidded eyes. You resist the urge to flinch when her mana flickers. A tingle runs down your spine as you watch her nonverbally cast a cantrip. Some kind of detection spell, nearly unnoticeable. Devilishly subtle.

She really isn't playing around, huh? Even in this space, the one place she visits regularly in her civilian guise, she's got her guard up. Well, Magical Girls do tend to be the paranoid type, especially when they've been operating for years like Luminous Libromancer has. She shouldn't pick up on anything though. You might be diminished in terms of power at the moment, but you've still got the magical skill where it counts and you know how to hide your magical signature. It's like breathing at this point.

"… Hmm…" Luminous Libromancer studies you, before finally taking your hand and giving it a half-hearted shake. "… Demonology, you say? What do you think of the new printing of the Ars Goetia?"

"Which reprinting? Serrit's reprinting or Goerbler's reprinting? With Serrit's reprinting, I appreciate that she added all sorts of new rituals, but you'd think she'd add more warnings to their rituals. Or more warnings in general. It's not like most of us can even perform magic, only Magical Girls are magic, so there's no way to check if any of the rituals even work. For all any of us know, it's just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. They should've focused more on the facts. Without any of that, then it's kind of lacking, especially since we have actual demons running around right now?" You reply truthfully.

"… And Goerbler's reprinting?"

"The guy's a hack, it's just a version of the pre-Resource Wars compilations that got a newer cover, just so Goerbler could scrape a few credits together from suckers who didn't bother to put in the right amount of research. And so stores like this one can make a few credits off of those suckers," you continue smoothly.

… Shit, did you just break character a little? Does it make sense for a nervous, energetic clerk to speak so vulgarly? You cough, affecting an embarassed blush.

"… Of, of course, that's all just my opinion…"

"… They're good opinions. You don't have anything to worry about. You really do know your stuff then."

Hah! Success! And of course you know your stuff. Demon summoning's something you're pretty proficient at. They make terrible minions, of course. Too lazy, too full of vice and sin. It's a pain trying to cajole them to do anything, and it gets worse the more powerful the demon. And they're all totally uncute to boot. Nice looking bodies, but totally rotten personalities.

Good conversationalists though. Better teachers, you've learned a lot from some of the demons you've summoned.

"… I look forward to getting to know you a bit better then," Luminous Libromancer – Mia says.

You squeal. Mentally of course. You'd pump your fist in the air if you could. Ha. Haha! This is going great! Soon you'll insinuate yourself in Luminous Libromancer's life, and then? Well, that's when the fun begins.

Of course, that's when it all goes to shit.

The door slams open. A smoke grenade's tossed into the store. You hear gunshots, someone shooting in the air. That's when a burly, smelly man grabs you by the arm. You hear a metallic click as the barrel of a gun's put to your head.

"Nobody move, everybody on the ground, now! You, open the registers, give us all the creds you've got-"

… This isn't happening.

This can't be happening.

… Ugh, this is happening. It's to be expected, you suppose. This is Terminus City. The crime rates here are through the roof. Businesses get robbed all the time, especially the more successful businesses like this one seems to be. There's no shortage of idiots with too much time and cybernetics on their hands, looking for a cheap cred to make quick.

"Alright, alright, this isn't the first time this has happened," you hear Henry sigh, off to the side. "Martha, open the register, okay? Let's just get this over with -"

"Stop acting cool, old man!" One of the robbers shouts. He's as burly and disheveled as all the rest of the stupid idiots who've collectively decided to commit suicide, trying to rob a store when there're two Magical Girls right here. If Luminous Libromancer doesn't murder these clowns, you will.

Wait. You're undercover right now. Eh, shit.

"I'm not acting cool, this happens every month," Henry grumbles.

You scan the room quickly. There are… Five of these morons, armed with cheap assault rifles. Mass-produced garbage a century old. They're all wearing tiger masks, of all things. With jade inlay. Ratty coats, rattier clothes. What a bunch of posers. Looking to get in big with one of the local gangs? Some sort of gang initiation?

Whatever. It's not like anyone important cares.

The most important thing is that they're ruining your date. Not even a date! The precursor to a date! You'd only just figured out the perfect way to introduce yourself! You'd only just introduced yourself! The fiends! The scoundrels!

Ooh, if you didn't have to maintain this cover identity, you'd eviscerate them. Slit open their bellies, tear into their bowels, rip out their beating hearts. When your eyebrow twitches now, it's from cold, irritated rage. Worthless human trash.

All of this makes the flare of mana next to you all the more comforting. Ah, to be standing so close to one of the girls you love so very much… Even if you didn't have to maintain your cover identity, you'd want to stand by to watch her tear these fools asunder. It's a rare treat, watching a skilled Magical Girl taking apart mortals, especially a Magical Girl as skilled as Luminous Libromancer is. Hnn. The kind of thing that'd really do terrible, awful things to your underwear…