“Wow, you’re early,” Himari remarked as she sat down at the table nearest to where Hailey was standing.
“I didn’t expect you until tomorrow, so when I saw you here waiting, I almost thought I was seeing things.” Dave wasn’t sure if he should tell Hailey to sit down or if she’d figure out it on her own.
Partly because he didn’t want to sound like he was trying to boss her around and partly because of her attitude towards him on the way over here.
He wanted to get a better relationship with her, a working one if nothing else, but that wouldn’t happen if he did or said things that alienated her.
“I got released and didn’t want to wait for tomorrow,” Hailey answered after a minute, sitting across from Himari.
“So, what can you tell me about being a magical girl?” “Slow down,” Himari said, setting Hoshi and her drink on the table.
“Bring out your faerie and we can talk.
We have questions for him that we need answered before we can tell you anything.” Dave wasn’t sure if it was a good thing that they were wanting to speak with him, but he figured it was something that would need to be dealt with sooner or later.
Better to get this over with now, Dave thought to himself as Hailey pulled him out of the bag and set him on the table.
“So, we confirmed you’re not a faerie, but we’re still not convinced you’re human,” Hoshi said, somehow looking like he was eyeing Dave like a cat would watch a bird it thought it could catch.
“As far as we know you’re a spirit that’s found a way to create magical girls.” “What can I do to prove to you that I was human?” Dave asked, hoping that he’d be able to straighten this out quickly.
At least before they decided to attack him or something.
“Even if you could turn into a human, that wouldn’t be enough,” Himari said.
“Even Hoshi can turn into a human, it’s just something that faeries and spirits can do once they’re strong enough, but with you, we’re not sure exactly what you are.” Dave did his best to hide his nervousness, but he could tell that Hailey wasn’t happy that he was the one who was the focus of this other magical girl.
“So, tell us.
Tell us how you created the magical girl before us,” the cat said, barely glancing at Hailey.
Dave wasn’t sure if complying would help him out any, but he couldn’t see how it’d hurt.
If nothing else, it might get them to extend some goodwill towards him by seeing him so compliant.
“Well, I wanted to wait for her to wake up, but I wasn’t sure if she’d wake up on her own anytime soon, so the voice told me to make the change and she’d have increased recovery abilities and would be more likely to wake up.
Though I wasn’t sure if it was exactly ethical to do so, I figured that it’d be alright since she wouldn’t have to transform if she didn’t want to.” Dave took a breath as he finished talking.
For some reason it felt almost he’d run out of breath and needed a moment to catch it.
Although, if he was human, he suspected that he’d be sweating buckets right then.
Why that was, he couldn’t be sure.
Just that he had a feeling he was the one in the most danger right then.
“‘Ethical’?” Himari echoed, sounding skeptical.
“What’s that mean to you?” Dave wasn’t sure why they were focused on the word ‘ethical’ but he wasn’t going to complain.
After all, it could just be like a regular job interview where they’d ask questions to see how he’d respond and the actual response wasn’t what was important, but rather how he acted as he responded.
“It’s about what’s right and wrong.
While it was wrong for me to change Hailey into a magical girl without her express consent, it did help her wake up sooner which meant I could talk with her about being a magical girl.
If she declined, she could just not transform and it’d be the end of that,” Dave replied, wondering if he was essentially signing his own death warrant by even talking with these two.
“You know, ethics aren’t something we faeries concern ourselves with and evil spirits tend to be like that as well,” Hoshi remarked, walking over towards Dave.
“So, what is it that ethics mean to you?
And I don’t mean ‘right and wrong’ as that’s something for magical girls to decide.” Dave blinked.
He wasn’t sure exactly what the problem with his response was, but it was clear that these two considered it a complete ‘fail’.
Yet, it wasn’t enough at least to have them turn on him just yet.
“Well, ethics are what keep us from being animals,” Dave said.
“Even if it’s a matter of perspective, what’s right for one person might not be right for another, but that doesn’t change what’s ethical,” Dave said, feeling like he was drowning in fear right then.
“So, maybe you really are human,” Hoshi remarked, turning away from Dave as if he’d just lost all interest in him, nearly making Dave collapse on the table in response.
He wasn’t sure if his nerves could take this if it happened again.
“So, now that you’re done with him, would you tell me more about being a magical girl?” Hailey pressed.
“We just made your faerie collapse on the table.
Aren’t you going to try and comfort him?” Himari asked, sounding rather surprised, and possibly a little annoyed.
Hailey glanced at Dave and shrugged.
“He’ll recover.
It’s not like you killed him or anything.” Thanks a lot, Dave grumbled in his mind.
He wasn’t sure he could bring himself to speak right then, but he was at least confident he wouldn’t say those words aloud.
Not when he was still trying to get his heart to keep from beating so fast.
Even though he couldn’t be sure that he actually had a heart in the same way that he did as a human.