My Sister is a Magical Girl

Chapter 3: Unseen Cost

Chapter 3: Unseen Cost

Everything seemed normal.

Of course, things only seem normal until someone starts to look closer. A single strange little incident can be ignored and assumed to mean nothing. These minor blips on the radar, the hints that there is nothing more are just dismissed, a weird coincidence, but nothing more. But when someone looks a bit deeper, they may find that what once was thought to be impossible could really be true, and then the mysteries of the world would be revealed.

Sora wondered if despite everything seeming normal, it really was.

Phyia felt fine after about an hour of lying down. Sora's headache had gone away. There weren't any signs of anything magical going on at school. He was just sitting in his history class, reading through his text book trying to see what he could learn about different culture's religions, the things they worshiped and why.

Sora found it fascinating how people always clung to the idea that there was something greater, that there were worlds and creatures beyond the natural. Every culture had something that they worshiped, sometimes a single god who ruled over all, and sometimes a parathion of deities, all who had their own duties and responsibilities. It seemed to strange to just be a coincidence how all across the world, these beliefs sprung up, all so different, but still having one thing in common. They took the world around them, and the values the culture held, and looked to that to explain to unexplainable.

Sora always wondered if these old religions could have known something about the magical world around them. Could some of these people have seen or understood a piece of it, and could that have formed parts of their religion?

Perhaps he was looking too far into things, but at the very least, Sora wanted to try to understand the things that even those who were a part of that other world couldn't explain. Sure, Jade told them what she could make sense of, and Winona seemed to have a greater grasp on the situation than the others, but even she'd admit there were so many things she didn't know.

And well, Sora was bored by the movie the teacher decided to show him, so overthinking about these old religions at least kept his mind occupied. Still, the bell rang, signaling the end of class, so Sora got up, really not looking forward to the rest of the classes. He wasn't really sure why they even needed to come to school today since exams were over, but oh well.

As he exited the classroom, he saw a rainbow colored hippo on a poster that was hanging on the wall. He didn't remember seeing that before, but it certainly got his attention. But then he saw it was just some advertisement for a club that didn't interest him, though he was thankful it wasn't as strange as other club posters. The "Human Expression" club didn't last long after the incident last fall.

He then walked down the hallway and saw Mallory standing there, looking through the crowd. Sora made eye contact with her, and she waved, telling Sora that she wanted to talk. He swallowed down a lump in his throat knowing this. Sure, he wanted to talk with her, especially since they wouldn't see each other for several months, but this still made him nervous. And even more so after what Phyia told him earlier. Yep, he was a mess and he knew it.

"Hey Mal, what's up?" he asked, trying to act as calm and composed as he could.

"Oh, nothing I mean, it's almost summer but," she ran her fingers through her air, as if she was trying to figure out exactly what she wanted to say.

"I know, summer is going to be cool. Well, actually it'll be hot, but you know what I mean." Sora hoped that made him sound at least a little bit cool.