Chapter 48: The Freak Show
The delivery girl grumbled under her breath as she began packing up her bottomless pouch. She muttered loudly about the misery of being deployed to the "outer parts of the multiverse," throwing in a sharp complaint about having to deal with "uncultured multiversal bumpkins."
Maya’s eyebrow twitched violently, her fists clenching under the table. But beside her, Riley calmly shook her head, repeating a familiar phrase in a beautifully flat, deadpan voice. "We don't know her power scaling..."
Maya opened her mouth to argue, blinked, and then reluctantly crossed her arms and pouted, backing down.
White turned the package over in her hands. The label possessed a strange, shifting holographic sheen, completely unreadable. "Excuse me..." White called out politely. "Who exactly sent this to me? I can't read the label. It appears to be in a completely foreign language."
The winged girl paused, letting out an annoyed, dramatic sigh as she looked back at the booth. "Are you serious? Can't you read?"
For the first time since she had appeared, White’s gentle face creased into a slight, uncharacteristic frown of anger. Still, she kept her voice polite. "No. I read English, and occasionally a bit of Spanish. I have absolutely no idea what this language is."
The delivery girl groaned. Knowing that the protocol of her delivery code strictly required her to read the label aloud if a customer requested it, she dragged her feet as she walked back over. She stared down at the shimmering box, her voice suddenly switching into a dry, incredibly forced formal tone.
"This package is officially addressed to Tony, designated leader of multiversal squad number 125467123—otherwise known as Team 7-A. It has been sent directly from the High Command of the Sparkle Syndicate."
Suddenly, the girl stopped, doing a massive double-take as she stared at the official numbers. "Wait... oh... them? Why on earth would High Command send an official package to a complete deadbeat team?!"
Almost everyone at the table glared at her with deep displeasure. The only exception was Pigeon Chad, who was currently taking advantage of the distraction to covertly steal food from everyone's plates, cooing with absolute enthusiasm as he swallowed a whole fry.
White tilted her head. "Exactly who is High Command?"
"They are basically... the ones who run the entire Sparkle Syndicate," the girl explained, tossing her hair.
"And what is that, exactly?" White asked genuinely.
The delivery girl’s jaw dropped. "Are you guys seriously kidding me right now?! Are you all completely clueless newbies or something!!?"
Suki looked up from her plate, her dark eyes completely calm and steady. "Ma'am... we have been magical girls for exactly three days."
The entire table nodded in perfect, synchronized agreement.
The delivery girl looked at them, a chaotic mixture of impressed, deep disgust, and absolute shock washing over her face. "Three... seriously?!"
Before she could process that information, the magical energy around White suddenly shifted, shrinking her frame down into a petite, vibrant form. Pink took the reins, looking up at the delivery girl with a smug expression.
The winged girl’s eyes widened in horror, her hands flying to her head. "Wh—What the hell!?? You have completely different magical forms!!? That's... that's strictly impossible!?!"
Pink smirked, flipping her pigtails proudly. "Damn right! I'm beautiful, and I'm special!"
The delivery girl didn't look amazed—she looked terrified. "You're a freak!!"
Pink’s smirk instantly vanished. She scoffed loudly, her massive magical mallet materializing out of thin air above the table as her pink eyes flared. "Excuse me? I'm about to freak out on you right now—"
Rip.
The sudden, violent motion instantly tore open her fresh shoulder wound. The mallet vanished as Pink collapsed back into the diner booth, tears pricking her eyes as she rocked back and forth. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, it hurts!! Alice, hug me to numb the pain right now!!"
Alice blinked, her face turning red, but she immediately scrambled over. "O—Okay!!"
While Pink was wailing, Maya smirked, silently sliding her hand across the table to sneakily swipe the package yet again. But before her fingers could even touch the cardboard, Miss Marcy effortlessly reached across the booth, intercepted the box, and pulled it away.
Maya pouted and crossed her arms.
"We should actually open this," Miss Marcy said, her authoritative teacher tone putting an end to the chaos.
The delivery girl’s small wings were fluttering at a million miles an hour, her hands raised because she had genuinely thought she was about to be pulverized by a giant hammer. But as she stood there, really looking at the nine people crammed into the booth, she realized just how utterly ridiculous they all were.
She took a step back, her eyes darting between them in sheer disbelief. "Why... why do almost all of you have such an enormous, terrifying amount of emotional energy radiating off you... except for the crying pink one?!
What... are you people?"