When Stacy and I had gone to the hospital for our injuries, Stacy’s mom went to my house and picked up Rini so she could see us. It was a little awkward getting treated by Stacy’s dad, who was a bigshot doctor at the largest hospital in town, and whom I’ve known since I was a child. It was strange seeing him with a serious expression on his face when I was used to the goofball he normally was at home.

At the time, Rini rushed into our shared hospital wing, tears already streaming down her face. 

“How could you almost die, you idiot!” she blubbered, pressing her head to my shoulder. 

“I told you being a Magical Girl wasn’t hard,” I laughed but it was cut short when the movement shot pain down my chest. I rested a hand on her head.

Normally my comment would earn me a playful punch, but Rini just sat quietly with her head buried in my shoulder, trying to muffle her sobs. I felt guilty seeing how hurt she was. Even though it wasn’t technically my fault, I still felt responsible for her pain.

It took a long week of healing and Rini doting on me before I could move well enough to go back to school.

I sat at our kitchen island, doing a homework assignment that was due tomorrow. Luckily my ribs hadn’t broken and only fractured, so I was okay to move around, but not without pain.

“I can’t believe you met Emerald!!” Rini squealed excitedly as she darted around the kitchen, preparing dinner. Rini had finally worked up the courage to ask me about my experience. I think she felt guilty prying about something traumatic. I was honestly just surprised she’d made it an entire week before throwing questions at me.

“You know, she’s ranked like, number three in the Magical Girl rankings,” Rini said, stirring a pot of stew. “She’s really famous.”

“That’s probably why she looked so surprised when I called her Ember.”

Rini gasped and looked at me like I’d grown two heads.

“You didn’t.”

“I did.”

“I’ve told you about her before. I’ve even shown you pictures! I literally have her poster in my room.”

“So? You’ve told me about like… a hundred Magical Girls. How am I supposed to remember them all?”

“You can at least remember the top three, Nyx. Everyone knows them.”

“I know Valentina.” 

“Well, everyone in the world knows Valentina,” Rini huffed.

We spent the rest of the night talking about Rinis’ favorite Magical Girls as she tried to explain to me their powers, where they were located, and other random facts like their favorite foods. I pretended to listen, remembering the vow I’d made to be a better sister. 

The next day came and I got ready for school, dreading every second of it. My body was still covered in half-healed bruises and bandages. Moving still felt like a chore, but that wasn’t what I was worried about.

As I’d left the demon-scene with Emerald, we had been bombarded with reporters and live newscasters, waiting to hear the scoop.

“No worries, everyone,” Emerald said, hands on her sheaths like she was ready for battle at any moment. Was she posing? “The demon is taken care of. It was only a type five.”

I’d learned from Rini that demons were given rankings based on how strong they were. Type five being the lowest. I’d encountered the weakest demon and still almost died. I guess I was lucky it wasn’t anything stronger or I probably would have died.

The newscasters pointed their cameras at me, holding out a microphone in anticipation. They started listing off questions at rapid speeds.

“Survivor! How did you feel when Emerald saved you? Was this your first encounter with a demon? Did you see any other casualties?”

Annoyance surged. I almost died. I didn’t care about any of this. I just wanted to get my wounds treated and go home.

“Can you just move? I need to go to the hospital,” I said, brushing past the crowd toward the emergency medical team.

For some reason, the reporters had shown my statement on television and titled it “girl survives demon attack”. I was seen on TV sporting my many injuries and looked like a corpse. 

A naive part of me hoped my parents would see the news and be shocked from… wherever they currently were. It’d be nice if it hurt them a little. Made them feel guilty. Their daughter almost died, afterall. 

What parent wouldn’t worry about that?

Probably mine.

I lightly touched my ribs and flinched. Every inch of movement was painful, even lifting a fork to my mouth. 

School was going to suck tomorrow. In more ways than one.