Dave wasn’t sure how this all started.
All he knew was that he was homeless, trying to get back on my feet when everything had pretty much been taken from him.
He used to live in a good apartment, not a high end one, but still a good one.
He had a decent job and also had a good amount in his savings account.
Then a series of unfortunate events occurred, causing him to lose his job, then he fell behind on his bills as his savings account was drained, ending with him losing his apartment because he couldn’t afford the rent anymore.
Which made it even harder to get a job, since no employer likes it when an employee doesn’t have stable housing.
Although technically if he could at least afford a motel room, he’d still be homeless, but he’d at least have an address I could put on job applications.
Anyway, that merely was what led up to the circumstances that he found himself in when IT happened.
He wasn’t quite sure what IT was, just that suddenly he started hearing a voice in his head.
Dave had taken enough psychology classes to know that he was too old to be schizophrenic.
Unless he was actually a rare case, he was more inclined to think it’d be more likely that it was a result of having eaten something that didn’t quite agree with him than that being the cause.
Although, it was also possible that it was just stress getting to him.
*Congratulations!
You’ve been selected to be a recruiter of magical girls!* When Dave first heard the voice, he actually thought that it was something someone around him was saying.
He didn’t even realize that he was the only one who could hear the voice.
*Hey!
Why aren’t you responding, Dave?
I’m talking to you!* It wasn’t until the voice called me by his name that he even realized the voice was talking to him and he stopped walking along the street.
He wasn’t sure what the voice was talking about, or really had already said, just that it’d called him by name.
Dave looked around, but didn’t see anyone.
He was about to shrug it off when the voice spoke again, this time making him realize that it was echoing around in his head.
*Come on!
At least respond to me when I speak.* Dave wasn’t sure how, but it sounded almost like the voice was starting to sulk.
Nor was he sure what the issue was, but he could tell that he should probably say something, as it clearly couldn’t hear his thoughts, even though the voice seemed like it was entirely in his head.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten that chicken sandwich I found unopened in that dumpster,” Dave muttered to myself, recalling the last meal he’d had, of a chicken sandwich that someone had thrown out, even though there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it, nor had anyone taken a bite out of it.
*Hey!
I’m not a figment of your imagination!
I’m your new system!* “System?” Dave echoed, feeling like the voice was trying to trick him, though he couldn’t say what the reason for doing that would have been.
After all, he was less than a nobody right now.
He didn’t even have any significant amount of cash on him, including what he had in the bank.
“This isn’t a webnovel, you know.” *Doesn’t matter.
All you need to know is that you now have the ability to create magical girls who have enough magic potential to become warriors!* Dace could understand that the voice was making its sales pitch, but he wasn’t sure he even knew what it really wanted.
Nor was he even sure what it was even talking about.
*Look, I know magical girls aren’t something you’ve heard about because it’s not that big of a thing in this country.
But in the eastern part of the world, there’s several.
Trust me and you’ll be surrounded by magical girls before you know it.* Dave wasn’t sure what the voice meant, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t something that would help him out any.
Unless he took it to mean that he’d get arrested and put in jail.
Now, how that would help him is that he wouldn’t have to worry about my housing situation.
After all, the term used is ‘girls’ which made me think of children and a grown man who was homeless hanging around children would scream pedophile, making it more than certain he’d be getting charges pressed against me sooner rather than later.
Although, he knew what magical girls were, he only ever thought of that as something from fictional shows and stuff.
“I hate to say this, but I’m going to have to decline,” he said out loud, knowing he was lying about how he ‘hated’ to say that.
As, even in his circumstances, he felt it was better to at least show some manners in how he spoke.
Even if it was to a voice inside his head that was probably some medical problem that I certainly didn’t have the funding to fix.
*How can you say that!?* the voice cried, almost sounding strangled.
Then silence.
Dave didn’t say anything for a time, waiting for the voice to return.
Then when he was about to breathe a sigh of relief that the voice was indeed gone, it returned.
*Alright, I guess I might have come on a little too strong.
It’s just that I don’t have any other options right now.
You’re all I have and I need you to select a magical girl and if you’re worried about appearances, I can help you turn into something that will look like a stuffed animal or plushie, if you prefer.* Dave shook his head, starting to head towards the hospital.
Even if he didn’t have the money for it, I could at least check himself into the psychiatric clinic and hope that they wouldn’t think that he was just trying to get a roof over my head for the three day mandatory hold they’d have on him if he was admitted to it.
“That would help, but seriously, how would I even go about finding a girl to make into… uh, a magical girl?”