Day four. Today I approached the two most available and friendly council members. The magical girl of the Abyss and the magical girl of protection.

They were in the cafeteria room of the magical girl council building, a place filled with different chefs and culinary experts waiting for the council to ask for any dish they wanted. Ayaka, a girl wearing a male sailor uniform, was known for her extreme appetite and boundless desire for food. Chiasa, a girl covered in steel, was always led by an invisible string by her colleague and happily did anything she wanted.

These two, from the very start of my short time in the council seemed to be the most relaxed and friendly… well aside from the one I'm currently avoiding.

"Excuse me." I walked up to them, my demeanor hopefully not seeming weak. I have been a little tired lately and I hope their eyes won't notice it.

"Hey! What's up?" Chiasa greeted me brightly, her hidden smile stabbing through her helmet and into my retinas. "Do you need anything? Maybe some food?"

"I'm not giving her my victor's bounty."

"She won't ask for it Ayaka. Don't worry, the cooks can prepare food for her."

"Hmm, you give a good point Chiasa. Tell them to cook me a proper good bucket of rice."

"Alrighty!" She rushed into the kitchen, leaving a trail of flames from her dragging metallic shoes.

"And make it snappy please!"

"Excuse me Ayaka, can I ask a favor from you?"

"What is it… Shima?" She said her head turning slightly, her voice sending an obvious message of unsureness.

"Yes I'm Shima."

"Well of course. You are you. Now what is your favor?"

"Can you please train me and make me stronger?" I prostrated myself on the ground, my forehead directly touching the cold tiled floor. "Please teach me how to be a stronger magical girl."

"Hmm. Why do you want to be stronger, Shima? Is it a desire to be useful? Why are you here to begin with? Is your place in the world really right here in the front lines of war? A battlefield filled with innocent civilians?"

"Huh? I don't understand… What?"

"Hey guys!" Chiasa came back with a massive tub of rice. She slammed it into the table, knocking the empty plates onto the ground.

"What were you talking about?"

"Oh I was just telling Shima here the wonders of jam and bread. Ahh like a balloon filled with stones, it certainly fills your stomach."

"What?"

"What?"

"Well can you let us be alone for a second Chiasa? I think you need to eat some food. Ah, I recommend the juicy crab and the barbeque, it's quite good surf and turf."

"Okay, I will try it for you!" Chiasa said, waving us goodbye as Ayaka walked out of the room, leaving me no other option but to blindly follow her.

Ayaka brought me to a wide empty room filled with small holes on the floor, around the size of pebbles. "Please don't mind my earlier question Shima? It wasn't relevant to your request was it? Hufufu."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Yeah haha… yes. So are you gonna help me?"

"I don't see why not. If a little warrior wanted the armament they wield to be sharpened then I shall take the role of a grindstone."

"I see. Thank you Ayaka."

"Don't give me your gratitudes yet… I'm just doing what a good senior would do. Now let's get that tired look off your face and let's begin some proper lesson."

"First of all I need you to see and understand that life is full of ups and downs. Understand that things will not go your way. And then after understanding that. Throw that belief away. If you have failure in your brain, then failure will drag you into the hole you dug yourself."

"Now this might sound quite stupid, an advice that tells you to have extreme belief in yourself and to not imagine losing. But I think otherwise. Keeping a cool mind and a victorious mind is what somebody like you should do. Ah but I'm not telling you to be prideful now. I'm telling you to not falter. To never have your sanity fall as your morale breaks into fragments."

"In a more simple way. Throw your worries away and be alert at all times in combat. You're fighting monsters that act based on instinct and hunger. It's better to play it cool and to not let your sadness and doubt dull your blade. Understand?"

"Yes… you want me to not panic right?"

"Well yes! You do understand it. I'm such a great teacher aren't I? I think I deserve a couple pats on the back and maybe a well deserved snack."

"I uhmm well I don't have any snacks on myself right now but umm…"

Ayaka giggled quietly and smiled at me. It seems my awkward response to her demands was humorous to her. I couldn't help but smile a little at her earlier claim now.

"Now secondly, as a magical girl of your type. I think you should obviously charge in. Hmm don't tell her this but I heard from Okumura that you heal quite fast and I mean fast. Way faster than us other magical girls. Have you considered you might be the magical girl of regeneration?"

"I don't think I am. There's a couple reasons as to why I know I'm probably not the magical girl of regeneration."

"I see. And those are?"

"That's a secret."

"I understand you don't want to share it. Secrets are such an important part of a person. After all what are we but badly hidden secrets covering deep dark truths."

"You have secrets on your own as well. We all do."

"Yes. Now back to my lesson. As a fast healer and apparently hard to kill, I believe the best for you is to be constantly aggressive and be close to your enemy. Now there are a couple risks to this but I believe you can figure those out and how to not let them happen."

"Yes I think I know what you mean. You are telling me to be on the attack but to not let myself get reckless. Do not slip up and get stuck in a deadly situation."

"Yep, that's bullseye. Hey you're quite the fast learner aren't you. Ahh I do wonder why you even need my guidance in the first place. I already see it loud and clear, you are at the top of the ladder. A rising star!"

"Really? Thank you for your praises."

"Nah, I'm just kidding. Don't get your hopes too high. You have to topple us if you want to be at the very top and I know you are far from doing that."

"Shut it big shot. Well not to be ungrateful but can you teach me how to fight better? I'm a little slow when it comes to magic and I can't focus in the middle of fights. Additionally, my weapon proficiency is noobish."

"Rubbish. Well don't worry. I can guide you to make your magic the best it can be… Actually do be worried."

"Huh? Why?! Don't tell me I don't have what it takes?"

"Oh but that is exactly the problem. Since you don't know what you represent as a magical girl, your magic is lacking substance and reason behind it. Look at me for example and tell me what you see."

"I see an aloof girl that tries to sound wise with philosophical lines and metaphors she probably heard from the internet."

"That's so funny of you Shima." She slammed her hand into my shoulder, her immense strength instantly knocking me prone into the ground.

"Don't get too comfortable with me now Shima. I'm still your teacher." She said with a smile which quickly turned into a frown. "You know… those words hurt me a lot, Shima." She rubs her eyes as tears drip down her sadden face.

"I'm sorry I didn't know those would hurt you."

"I don't think I can ever get this feeling of sadness away… Well I'm over it." Her face quickly returned to normal, her smile not showing a single hint of past sadness.

"I'm a perfect example of an abyss. An unfeeling shell of a person. I cycle emotions to what emotions are possible. I think what I think. I flow where the winds take me. I am a puppet to my very own strings. I am in complete control and at the same time lack control of myself. That is how I view myself."

"How exactly does that correlate with the abyss?" I asked while backing away a little so as to not get suddenly hit.

"I don't have desires. I'm like the abyss. Lacking any sort of proper being. For the longest time I had no emotion.”

"Then what about your extreme desire for food."

"Human flaws. Those are my flaws as a human. You have them too, Chiasa has them as well, everyone is filled with them. Now let's train your skills."

Two droplets of water swung around me, hitting me in the arms and engulfing my hands before transforming into metal. The fight has begun and I am already at a major disadvantage.

"Use what I taught you Shima." She stood still waiting for me to act, her eyes looking over me and at the sky, the corner of her mouth slightly twitching as she probably imagined some delicious food.

I rushed into her but not directly in front of her, I ran to the side. Using the gifted strength and agility I have, I slid to her side which prompted her to throw a punch at my head. I quickly used my reflexes and raised my metallic hands as a shield against the blow. Her hand slowed down and brushed my hands, turning it back to water, before raising her arm and uppercutting me.

My head recoiled back and my jaw was screaming in misery. I took a couple steps back and closed my eyes and jabbed my hand forward, shooting out my weapon of choice, my sharp glaive out of the palm of my hands and into her. Water sprung up and knocked the blade into the air, she gave me a wide smile before jumping into the air and grabbing my glaive and bending it into a knot

I rushed forward and slammed my hands into her like a flaining child but she chaotically dogged my moves, jumping into the side and ducking while spinning water around the both of us. I stopped my trashing after noticing the thick layer of water surrounding my feet. “A student is punished if they don't listen to their teacher’s lessons.” The water grabbed my left and raised me up into the air with my legs at the top and my head hanging low.

“Now let's train your endurance.” She slammed her legs down, splashing water everywhere under her which she quickly molded into a metallic chair. Water gathered around her hands before shooting at me in a weak but constant stream of water at my face. “Yobraahh gaahh wateoaahg boradadgd ghhhhg meiiii!”

With no other options to escape, I began concentrating again and again. I tried to do something with my magical powers but the non stop barrage of water at my head kept breaking my thoughts apart. Minutes began passing by and then an hour before another hour passed.

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“Haaahh, this is so boring.” The water lowered me slowly down, next to the pile of weapons and mismatched rubble of items I created.