Getting up the next day wasn't easy, and being up so late last night was part of the reason. The other part of the reason was the stress caused by even just seeing a daemon spying on them. All I could think about, laying in bed wide awake for a solid chunk of the night, was whether they knew, and if they were coming for me. Ping had done their best to reassure me and calm me down, but in the end I only managed a couple hours of sleep. But all that time awake allowed me to do a lot of thinking.

Thinking about being a magical girl, and how I didn't want anything to do it with it anymore. This wasn't my fight, and I never wanted it to be.

But this was news that I thought would be much easier to break on Ping. Several times in my morning routine an opportunity sprang up to tell them simply: "I quit!", but every time I ended up changing the subject and wimping out at the last second. This time it wasn't because of how cute the faerie was, it all had to do with being reminded of those daemons that were going to eat my coworkers last night, and how they would have been dead otherwise.

But still, how long could I keep living like this? Ignorance really was bliss, and I wish I had never been chosen for this job.

When we got back into the flow of bodies commuting to their work in the early morning, Ping finally felt comfortable enough to make themselves visible outside, though he was still more cautious than usual, and I could tell why. Though I hadn't seen too much activity in previous mornings, this morning I could see a number of those winged eyeball daemons flying about between the buildings and scanning the crowd.

"Okay, so what do you think we're gonna fight today?" Ping asked, clinging to the front of my coat as I did my best to weave through the crowd. "Think it might just be another scout? Or maybe a gremlin? Oh! I bet we're going to take on your boss today!" Ping scrambled up closer to my face, but I did my best to keep my eyes leveled on the crowd and watching where I was going. "You could get a pretty spicy promotion if there was suddenly a vacancy, if you know what I mean!"

"There's no way I would get that promotion," I said with a sigh. "You and I both know they're going to choose someone else."

"Yeah, that Jonathon boy's pretty darn good at his job."

"No, I mean they would put another daemon in charge."

"Oh, right, yeah."

At this point I was beginning to wonder if even Ping understood the scope of what it was they were trying to fight. This wasn't just some hidden, secret villain with a solid few handfuls of henchmen, this was an army of daemons that spanned across the world, and I'm just one person.

"Oh yeah, speaking of Jonathon," Ping continued. "You think you gonna talk to him again today? The guy's pretty cute! Oh, I bet he's gonna ask you out! Huh? Do you want him to ask you out? I bet you want him to ask you out!"

"He's not going to ask me out!" I blurted out, feeling my face flush. "Besides, why would I get into a relationship right now?! Besides the magical girl stuff, I'm still just barely getting by paycheck to paycheck!"

"Alright alright, I'm sorry," Ping said. "Just tryin' to lighten the mood! C'mon, somethin's eatin' you, and I know it's not what was keeping you up all night."

Once more I had reached the front of the office, and as my hand grasped the handle I couldn't help but let out a sigh. "It's... well, it's not a very..." I stood there for a minute, doing my best to find the words. All I had to tell him was "this isn't working", or "look, this isn't just a good fit for me". Hell, I could just forget being polite and tell them "you're fired!"

"Not very... what?" Ping asked.

I took in a breath, but just as I was about to say something a crowd of other workers suddenly surged from the sidewalk and I was more or less forced into the building, not being able to stop moving until I was right in front of the front desk.

"There you are, you little socialite you," Violet said, smirking at me as she leaned back in her chair, kicking her feet up onto her desk. Today she was wearing black steel-toed boots. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Terribly," I said, rubbing my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah I bet," Violet said. "Saw a lot of those black whisps out last night, bet there was some bad mojo in the air."

"How'd you manage to sleep, then?"

"Oh, I have a few tricks up my sleeve to get my mind off things. Started getting one of those chill-out anti-energy drinks," Violet said. "Used to have a lot of problems, but ever since I made that part of my routine it's been smooth sailing!"

"I might need to get your supplier," I said, and the clock on the wall chimed the hour. "But... after I get to work."

"I'll text you the link, don't sweat it," Violet said, already whipping her phone out. "And take it easy today, you got it? I used to do those work-hard-when-underslept days, and boy those are shit."

"You got it," I said with a big yawn. "I'll see you later."

As I got onto the elevator, it was once again packed to the brim with another crowd. I never got the chance to tell Ping I was going to quit, but I was sure I would get another one later in the day. A rough night was nothing a coffee or five couldn't fix.

And besides, nothing much happened in this office usually anyways.