An actress in our midst! (web version)

Jessica let out a sigh as she stepped out of the shower. She idly toweled herself dry before changing back into the minion outfit, all while thinking about one person – Erika.

Just as always, after the whole pepper spray incident and her subsequent indirect confession, Erika had simply ignored it and brushed it off as a joke.

Well, it had been a joke. But still, something about it just stung. How she hadn’t even considered it being genuine.

Jessica sighed. What was love anyway? She had always had a crush on Pretty Flame since the first time Jessica’s butt had gotten saved by her. But she had always known it would be unrequited. It was like a celebrity crush, after all. No way the magical girl would ever date her of all people.

Maybe Jessica was substituting Pretty Flame with Erika. They were quite similar, after all. The energy, the positivity, the drive to help others… Heck, they even looked similar! Cute face, bright red wavy hair… although, Erika’s wasn’t glowing like fire.

…

Pushing these thoughts aside, she got herself dressed, walked out of the showers, through the gym, and out into the hallway. Before she could call back Nomed again though, she noticed something peculiar in the hallways. A human.

There was a tall, muscular guy walking through the castle, a scowl clouding his expression. No horns or tail, no minion outfit, nothing. He was breaking all the rules of the demon army.

Jessica was confused for a second. Who was he? What was he doing in the castle? A shady businessman? An investor? What human would invest in the demon army?

But then Jessica remembered. That one little detail Nomed had told her back when she had first started looking through sealing magic.

‘We usually resummon the human part of their soul and body back, and leave the demonic part behind as a decoy.’ 

She grinned to herself as she recalled the memory, and approached the man who was walking in her direction.

“Hello there~ You look upset. Did something happen?” Jessica called out to him in the sweetest voice she could muster.

He growled, bit out, “Nothing to do with you!”, and kept walking.

Jessica fell into a step with him and said, “Come on now… no need to be rude. I’m just concerned for you, you know?~”

The guy’s answer was a brief glare in her direction before he pretended to ignore her again.

“Ah, I know what’s wrong! You just added too much pepper into your food, right?~” Jessica said, her voice turning subtly malicious toward the end.

“Wha–”

The man stopped in his tracks and looked at Jessica. His eyes scanned over her minion outfit but stopped at her silky black hair before widening.

“You… It was you!” he yelled at her, drawing the attention of nearby minions walking by.

“Hmm? What are you talking about? I barely use pepper! How could I overpepper your food? We don’t even know each other! Oh, but that reminds me! I do need to buy a new pepper spray after using up my old one on a molester.”

“You bitch!” the ex-demon general roared and threw his massive fist in Jessica’s direction.

Unfortunately for him, right now, he was just a human with no magical power or any of the benefits of a demon’s body. Jessica, on the other hand, still practiced various magical techniques every day. Especially sealing magic.

The man’s fist stopped just short of her mask. The minion’s comparably tiny hand intercepted it and completely killed its momentum. An odd sight for an everyday Joe, but an obvious use of sealing magic for the more observant magic user.

“W-wha–”

Before the ex-general could comprehend what was going on, Jessica jerked him by his arm down to her level and leaned in to whisper into his ear with a devilish grin.

“Oh, how the tables have turned… Isn’t that right, you puny little human?~”

The man immediately jerked himself away from the demon in front of him. Jessica graciously let his hand go but didn’t stop grinning at him from beneath her mask. He couldn’t see it, but he just knew she was looking at him like prey caught in a trap.

“Well, that was fun!~” she suddenly said in a disturbingly cheery voice. “I gotta run now, though. Enjoy your retirement, old man!~”

She turned away from him and casually walked away. The ex-general could only stare with a mix of anger, fear, and confusion permeating him. He wanted to rush at her and tear her to pieces, but he also knew that was impossible.

A moment later of blank staring, he finally mustered a response.

“You… you demon!”

Jessica merely laughed out loud whilst waving her hand in the air, not even bothering to turn around again.

When Jessica arrived back at her room in the barracks, she looked around to see nobody else present. Then, she began giggling, which gradually turned into full-blown laughter as she rolled on the floor.

She couldn’t help it. That was too funny. A big and mighty feared demon general was calling her a demon. She should totally go with that. Just as humans were afraid of demons, she should become a demon for demons. Wouldn’t that just be poetic?

“Ah, right… what do they say in this situation?” She mused out loud, before narrowing her eyes, putting on an evil grin, and saying, “One down, four to go,” in a low voice.

…

Then, she burst out laughing again.