Stalker

As the bell signaling the end of the school hours rang, I walked toward the entrance, as normal, people avoided me. Having lived 14 years with this new body and identity, I had already given up on changing the way people saw me.

Yes, this body was beautiful—Much more than the one I once had, the beauty of Inoue Ren couldn't compare with Amano Ren, even though I used to find pride in my appearance before I died; however, unlike Inoue, Amano had a whole new set of problems. No matter how much I try, smiling is a task so hard that it seems almost impossible; my face is naturally disinterested, with a bored and dead look in my eyes. Good emotions are hard to show, while bad emotions manage to slip through that wall much more easily in comparison, even if they are subtle.

Even worse than my lack of expression is the way I tend to talk.

Despite my appearance changing so much, I couldn't change my speech patterns for some reason, or at least, not easily. How would anyone react if a girl so beautiful that she looks like a doll told their kindergarten teacher to fuck off before calling them a crusty old hag, despite them being in their mid-twenties?

It wasn't intentional, but even if I try to speak according to my age and appearance, it will just come out badly and with nicknames. It's not like I can't speak correctly, but the minimum trace of annoyance or anger can release a chain of insults from my mouth, and the nicknames almost always replace the real names. When I was a clandestine fighter nearing my thirties, that was no problem; I was used to talking like that, and it was even useful sometimes, but now I can't ditch that way of talking, and it has brought me a lot of problems.

I'm a loner

Of course, no one in this school knows how I speak—Not even Oka-sensei, thankfully— But since I get annoyed easily, I decided simply not to speak, hoping it would prevent my image from turning bad here too. However, the result was that I turned into some kind of ice princess who would send shivers down people's spines with a look because my face and eyes were scary for these kids.

That was new, and I couldn't expect it. Before, I would always provoke more hate and anger than fear because of my speech.

Because of that, I couldn't help but find the current situation odd. All I had to do was look at my hand mirror to see the reflection of the student council president peeking at me from behind a corner with obvious curiosity.

I heard that she has a respectable and good personality...but to me, she seems like nothing but a stalker—I'm sure some people would enjoy being stalked by a good-looking girl, but I have no interest in a young girl, so it was annoying instead.

This has been going on for a while now, but I can't get used to it. Just as I was thinking how troublesome that girl was, I felt a flow of magic inside my mirror, and my gaze shifted to the corner of the mirror, where Mary peeked out from.

"Blue-sama, the...what's with that expression?"

"Can't you tell? I'm being stalked again."

Seeing her grin at my misfortune with my same face made me click my tongue in anger.

"Why don't you just get away with a mirror?"

"Did your brain go out for a walk, you lousy brat? I can't just disappear with so many people around."

"Then go to the bathroom, you foolish master."

...I just zipped it and walked quietly to the bathroom. Once inside, I made sure nobody else was currently inside with me before opening a window and turning back toward the large mirror, stepping into it.

Using magic without transforming is hard, so instead of just moving directly from reality to a mirror, it was easier to step inside a mirror and move from there to another. Soon enough, the view of my room, plain and devoid of anything eye-catching, appeared before me, and I quickly stepped out of the mirror.

...There is a beer can peeking out from under my bed, which would be bad if my mother saw that...let's throw it into the mirror.

"Hey, don't throw your trash in here!"

"Oh shut it, it will just come out somewhere else."

I locked the door and dispersed my magic around the room to trap any sound inside before plopping down on the bed. Even without magic abilities, magic itself can be used conveniently in various circumstances.

"So, what did the bug and the hare say?"

"Yellow-sama is busy dealing with a Fake hiding in her territory, so she can't come."

I grimaced at the mention of a Fake. I've dealt with one before, and they are creepy as hell, not to mention the strongest among low-tier devils. Devils are divided into low, mid, and high ranks, and further subdivided into three tiers in each category. Fakes belong to low rank, tier 3.

Since it's Yellow, I shouldn't need to worry too much—I almost died when I fought one, but she is considerably stronger than I am.

"Green-sama is busy with activities from the gardening club at her school, but said she will come help in about two days."

Ah, right, that's often a thing with her. She prioritizes her club before Witch activities, which is not a problem since her territory has a minimal presence of devils. Green is just slightly weaker than me, so if we divide the work, one can keep the public safe while the other searches for the nest.

I will probably be the one to keep patrolling and killing Frogmen in my territory. My surveillance is perfect, but I haven't been able to find their nest, which means that it's somewhere outside of the area where I set up mirrors. Green Magic is more varied than mine, and she can hide anytime she wants, so it would be safer for her than it would be for me, who would have to fight without mirrors.

...Actually, if I'm outside of my area, I'm much weaker than Green...even though I've killed more Devils and I have more magic.

Sigh

"Well then, I'll wait for Green. It will probably take us a few days to find it, so we can't slack off."

"I'm sure you would love to just drink your worries away, idiot mast-...ah hell, Blue-sama, we got Frogs moving"

This bitch...Whatever, I have work to do.

The space around me broke like glass, replacing Amano Ren with the witch dressed in blue. Those Frogs will turn into pretty little souls for me to swallow.