My name is Himeko Yamamoto. My family kept me from magical girls, charming guys, and a responsibility to protect countless lives at a young age. Luckily, my doctor promised that at 17 I'd be too old to save the world, and I'd finally be a normal per...
The twins and I stood in front of the restaurant, absolutely awed by the autumn decorations its employees put up. The maple leaves, the stream of lights, the jazzy music, the waft of marinara sauce...everything was perfect.
But enough about this vaguely French and Italian restaurant merely used as a sophisticated backdrop of this next scene. "Party of three," I smirked, like a suave rich kid taking her friends out. Oh, that's right - I'm actually the suave rich kid taking her friends out.
"Question, Himeko," Yuki slumped into his seat.
"Yes?"
"Do you have a grudge against the Student Council?"
Yui looked at me with her big puppy eyes (probably because she's not over Adam), and I inhaled a big breath of air to steady my heartbeat. What answer would the twins want from me? I didn't know what to think about the Student Council! Looking back at my words, I sounded like another whiny fangirl.
"Not really," I bluffed. Calm down, Himeko - I needed to take it slow and tell them truth. I couldn't keep it from my closest friends, the closest support I have in this crisis. "I have Anime Protagonist Syndrome." I felt my entire body sink, like it's telling me, "You're a traitor to yourself!"
"Whoa! You could've been one of those magical girls fighting for justice!" Yui beamed. "And then we'd have a bunch of free Himeko merchandise laying around everywhere in our house!"
"Stop it, Yui! You're too nice, I swear."
Yuki leaned back in his seat and took a sip at his icy water. "So I'm guessing your family did the thing and kept you from any contact with the outside world?"
"But the doctor said on my 17th birthday, things would change."
"I think he meant you'd be too old to become a magical girl," he sighed, slamming the glass down. "But no worries. We'll try to help you out as much as possible. I'm guessing you're trying to stay out of sight from the Student Council?"
"Yeah. I'm hoping that having less contact with them would...I don't know. Disassociate myself from carrying a heroic burden? Not having to deal with students' shit? You know how the fans are -"
He furrowed his brows. "Why are you thinking about them so much?"
I stared at the floor and clenched my fists. As much as I hated Yuki drilling down on my bullshit, it was what I needed: a truthful friend to work this out with. Even so, my thoughts fogged up, and my feelings grew more unclear. What did I really want out of this situation?
Yui let out a little gasp and whispered, "Put your heads down!"
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Strange. Alarmingly familiar voices came from the mouths of our waitress's new guests, seated three booths behind us. The twins and I looked at each other with startled glances.
