Despite telling myself I was going to leave anyway, a burst of noise that sounded a bit like an explosion and a cacophony of screaming convinced me to wait until the actual end of the rush to head home. By the time I felt I was actually ready to leave it was 7:30 PM. 30 minutes after the rush should have ended. What I found when I left wasn't pretty, even for a post-rush street.

The street's completely trashed. Even the sidewalk's self-healing cement is still in the middle of repair, either the damage was similar to that of a freight train or the concrete hasn't had time to repair itself. I don't like either option. Though from my understanding there aren't any particularly strong empowered here, so the city probably isn't going to get destroyed. Hopefully. Fuck I'm tired. Screw walking, I'm just going to take the bus. I don't care how annoying it gets it's better than staying on my feet.

The bus stop in question was little more than a sign next to a tiny two person metal bench. I immediately sat down.

I should probably go on the local news. Damage on that level isn't going to just be ignored. Hopefully whatever's going on isn't too big of a problem.

……..

So much for not being a big deal, some of the more notable heroes of America just moved into the city today. A lot of 'villains' turned up to take them on, some of which decided not to hold back. The article sounds more like a bunch of conspiracy theories as to why they might be here, I was hoping for an informed statement on what was happening.

From the little news that was already available I got a pretty clear picture of the situation. Dangerously strong empowered were here, it probably involved something dangerous, and they weren't likely to leave for a long time.

"Fuck me, I thought I had problems before. Now I have to worry about an apocalypse or something."

Before I could continue down that line of thought I heard an exhausted, yet abnormally high voice.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Is this seat taken? I need to pass out real quick."

The voice was a high, with a musical quality to it despite the obvious exhaustion.

"Feel free, the only reason I haven't yet is so I can catch the bus."

She seemed to sound nervous. Obviously unsure of herself.

"Oh, didn't you hear? The bus is supposed to come at around 8pm. You're going to be waiting a while. Unless I'm wrong, I'll admit- I'm kind of new around here."

"Ah yeah, they say 8 PM but it's more like they show up after a rush. Didn't realize that until the third time I missed the bus on this path and asked somebody."

"Oh, well that's great to know. Luckily I can get home on my own."

"Not if you park your car here you can't. It's probably crushed."

"Wait, those are actually people's cars, I thought those were just experimental designs!"

She sounded mortified at the thought. I didn't blame her. While it's funny imagining people attempting insurance fraud getting a slap in the face with reality, it was much less funny to imagine someone who didn't know any better losing money to replace a car because it was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Though some people had it coming, knowing better and still making the choice to park here.

"Most are at least. Although, you always have that one ignorant tourist or someone who just thinks their car will be an exception."

She seemed to chuckle at my dismissive tone towards the latter type of person, but didn't disagree.

"People are the same everywhere I guess. Think they can get away with being stupid, no matter how much the world tells them otherwise. I'm guessing by the fact your taking a bus you don't have a car to lose? You wouldn't happen to be one of those 'ignorant tourists' would you?"

I clicked my tongue at her. Before taking on the snootiest voice I could.

"I'll have you know I sold my car ahead of time. To nice old man who priced it at a crisp 500 dollars. He said it was a steal. Not like those other simpletons who lost their car and got nothing for their scrap."

She let out a quick and snappy laugh.

"OH. Okay mister savvy, how do you get to work then? Just take a local commute through the rush?"

"Yes, actually. It's worked out wonderfully so far."

"Wait, really?"

"no, but I had you going for a moment- didn't I?"

She let out a burst of laughter when I said that, granting me the victory in the brief verbal spar. It's been a while since I heard someone laugh like that. It was nice. Then I realized I was being very friendly to someone who didn't even know my name.

Oops

"Anyway, I never actually introduced myself. That's a bit rude. Sorry about that, I'm-"

As I finally introduced myself I decided to stop being rude and looked away from my phone. I put my hand out to shake, not realizing how unprepared I was…. to see an honest to god magical girl sitting right next to me.