Repeat [S-Rank Exam]

The world was interesting from this angle, thought the girl, as she tilted her head over the back of the chair. It was like her perspectives, the points of view that were supposed to be normal and proper would mix together, and things would seem just sort of fantastical in some strange manner. It really wasn’t something that should be happening, right? Seeing the world from here, blood rushing into your head as you blinked languidly in the early morning sun. Her mind was still bleary with sleep, and the world just seemed much too bright for her eyes. The rush of blood to her head only intensified the throb within her mind, the girl squeezing her eyes shut for a brief moment before righting herself with a quick huff of air. The long curtains of hair draped down over her face, and she briefly considered cutting it before shaking her head with a sigh, blinking her eyes a few more times.

Her vision cleared, and the girl stared down at her wrists, laying before her on the table. What a weird outfit this was, she thought, raising her arms to see the long, soft sleeves of a light green cardigan. Why would she ever wear clothes like this? Didn’t she have, like, school or something? Groaning, she let her head rest down on her arms. Had she been up studying late again? She looked around, slowly growing more and more awake, only to see nothing but shelves full of papers and files above her head, all looking very official and all that. There was a stamp and an inkwell and pens on the desk, looking not at all practical. In fact, nothing here looked at all practical until she opened up one of the drawers and found more familiar pencils, erasers, and pens, with blank sheets of lined paper residing at the back. Well, she could confirm she wasn’t in her own room, then. But where was she?

Standing up, the schoolgirl turned to survey the room. It was fairly large, with a large, comfy-looking couch in a corner and bookshelves lining the walls. The room was dimly lit with a faint light emanating from magic-powered wall sconces, and it all looked very professional but homelike at the same time. Turning to one side, she saw the large, familiar symbol of Magnolia’s resident mage’s guild, Fairy Tail. Was she in the Fairy Tail guild hall? Frowning, she tried to look for a window, but found none. Feeling along the walls for a possible magical switch, she gasped in surprise when the wall in front of the desk suddenly turned to glass, letting in a stream of the morning light. “Oh. Whoa. Okay, this is weird,” she muttered, slowly stepping away. See, Chika was many things, but she wasn’t really anyone with potential for magic. Like any proper Magnolian teenager, she had a few fun magic and lacrima gadgets, but nothing quite as advanced as the magitech in this room. But… If she really was in the Fairy Tail guild hall, wouldn’t that explain everything? Looking out the window, she saw the familiar path leading up the hall, and confirmed her location. But wasn’t this place the guild master’s office? Blinking in shock, Chika pressed her hands up to her head in shock.

What was she doing here? Who was the current guild master again? Was it still that blue-haired dude? Or was that witchy-looking woman the guild master now? What would they do if they found her in their private office? Rushing towards the door, Chika suddenly stopped right in her tracks. What the literal hell? Blinking in horror at the mirror attached to the door, Chika felt around her head, feeling the long, silky locks of black hair, and the smooth face that contorted strangely whenever she wanted to try out any more extreme emotion. Why had her appearance changed so much? Scowling, she pulled two hairties from her wrist, pinning her hair up in more comforting pigtails. They were unusually long, feeling cumbersome and heavy on Chika’s head as she tried to comprehend what exactly was happening. Had she been involved in some magical mutation situation? Had she been kidnapped, then performed experiments on? After all, Fairy Tail had been doing pretty weird stuff these days, changing their guild hall location completely and building an office-like building just off of Main Street. But even if that were so, why would she be alone in the guild master’s office of all places? Wouldn’t she be down in the basement or something?

Cautiously, she opened the door and stepped out, trying to make as little noise as possible. She didn’t know what her status in the guild was at this point, and didn’t want to risk her life or anything. I mean, she was in a mage’s guild hall of all places, how unpredictable could this be? Strangely enough though, her feet guided her to the edge of a balcony, a glass wall separating it from the place she was now, and she looked down into an outdoors courtyard. No one was there now, but most people usually hung out in the front bar area, so that wasn’t too weird. Carefully, Chika made her way over to the stairs, looking suspiciously down into the area at the bottom of the stairs before stepping down. She’d been in the Fairy Tail guild hall before, she knew, but it was when they’d still resided in the old hall. This place had only been put up about a month ago, and few people in town had checked it out. Still, it seemed that essential parts of the old guild hall still remained, including the essential bar on the first floor. Walking in, she could hear the soft clinking of glasses behind the currently dim bar that seemed to be serving coffee and breakfast sandwiches at the moment. What time was it now, anyways? Checking a clock on the wall, she could see it was only around half past six in the morning – no wonder it was so quiet.

Feeling a rumble in her stomach, the girl moved over to the bar, hoping to get at least a glass of water. She didn’t know where to get any money right now, anyways.

“Ah! Sorano! You’re up already? I wasn’t expecting you to be awake so early – wait a moment, I’ll get your usual order as fast as I can, you should’ve told me you’d be getting up early, aha.” Flashing her a cheery smile, the bartender hurried on to the back, fumbling around for the right ingredients.

Ah… Sorano? Was that her name now? Had they changed her name completely, or had she switched bodies with someone or something? Looking down at her clothes, she tried to judge this Sorano’s personality. Probably kinda conservative, was what she gathered from the simple, practical clothes, with a light green cardigan over a pressed white shirt and long green skirt, dusting over the tops of her ankles. The shirt had the emblem of Fairy Tail printed over the right breast, confirming she was indeed a member of the guild now. What?

Before she could study herself some more, the bartender hurried back with a mug of warm milk tea and a breakfast sandwich, smiling broadly. “Here you go, miss! You stayed up last night again, didn’t you? Haha, please remember to take care of yourself, we couldn’t operate without you, after all.” Chika nodded dumbly back at him, wondering who exactly she was again. Retreating to one of the many tables, she dug in before realizing that she’d been given the food and drink for free. Did Fairy Tail members get food for free or was it just automatically charged to some bank account of theirs or something. Musing quietly to herself, she polished off the sandwich and tea quickly before standing up and bringing the dishes back to the counter. She murmured a quiet thank you to the bartender, who smiled back at her with a nod before hurrying back upstairs into the office.

In the privacy of the upstairs room, she looked curiously at the mirror on the door before checking that it was locked. It was time to investigate a little, as weird as it might be. Chika struggled out of the green cardigan, tossing it on the couch, and studied the body she had now. The arms were thin, but had some muscle, suggesting this Sorano girl did a decent amount of physical exercise. Upon closer inspection, there were signs of faint, thread-like scars that ran across the otherwise unblemished skin. Healed by magic, they were almost impossible to see. There was a faint tan line around the sleeve of the shirt, showing that this was typical stuff she wore and that she did in fact spend time outside. Interesting.

Feeling like a professional detective, Chika pushed up the stiff sleeves of the shirt before suddenly stopping. Ah… So here it was. Running her hand over the inky blue tattoo, she traced the edges of the Fairy Tail symbol. The guild that had always been such a large part of Magnolia’s business, those who came to seek Fairy Tail’s special brand of assistance would end up stopping by stores and admiring the beautiful festival decorations that were almost always up, establishing the strong tourist and vacation industry here. They brought the business here in the beginning, and although they were no longer quite so big a power, the people were still thankful for them. The mess they brought in the past hadn’t always been appreciated, but it was when they finally quieted down that everyone realized they sort of missed the noisy, sloppy Fairy Tail of Magnolia. Sighing, she let the sleeves back down, reaching over to grab the cardigan and shrug it back on. Turning to the desk now, Chika decided to look through the papers and files.

Plopping down on the chair, she pulled out a stack, looking over it quickly. Ah… A letter from the West Fiore Trading Company. She wasn’t supposed to be looking at this, was she? How was this office even protected though, if it had stuff like this? Who was she even right now? Looking at the door, she now noticed the soft glow of magic around the edges. Identifier locks. They would repel anyone who wasn’t allowed inside, which meant she most certainly was. Opening the letter hesitantly, she read the first line. “Greetings, Miss Sorano Granon. I read over your guild’s proposal for a possible alliance or agreement, and found it to be generally favorable.” So. Sorano Granon, whoever she was, definitely belonged in this office, it seemed. Struggling to think back over the magazines she had skimmed through over the years. While many of the kids at school obsessed over the mage celebrities, Wizard Saints and Rising Stars alike, as well as the darker ones, Chika hadn’t ever been that interested in them, which she now regretted. What young teenage mage of Fairy Tail was well-known? Was she a Rising Star or Wizard Saint or anything? No… She didn’t think there were any Wizard Saints in Fairy Tail anymore, never mind a young girl. The city would have been all over that then.

A past Rising Star then? There were so many Rising Stars all the time though, she couldn’t really come up with anything right now. Looking around, she tried to find a lacrima or iLac she could use to look things up real fast. Spotting one of the milky orbs in the corner, she panned her hands over it, wondering if it would respond. The surface slowly cleared. The lacrima was surprisingly a pretty old model, but she supposed that a guild master would get their information pretty quickly anyways. Or maybe there was a more advanced version somewhere? Deciding not to go to all that trouble, Chika made do with what she had and searched up the name “Sorano Granon”. Immediately, older articles popped up, detailing the girl’s promotion to Rising Star number 3, something that had actually happened quite a while back. However, she had also ended up being kicked off of the Rising Stars, something that now made sense because of Fairy Tail’s brief exile period with that Coming Storm in their guild. It didn’t seem that she had gone back to try and regain her position though, but why?

Going back to the search page, she found herself looking at the official Fairy Tail site, with details of their mercenary businesses and the profiles of the guild master and aces. Curious, she checked that, and nearly fell over upon seeing her very own current face staring back at her, eyes dull and lifeless, and everything very nicely arranged for the photograph. Sorano Granon, huh? So this body she was in… This fifteen year old girl was the current guild master of Fairy Tail? Slowly pushing herself up, she sighed. What was she going to do? She was in the body of a famous guild master… What was going to happen to her? No wonder the bartender had been so nice. Checking the lacrima, she read on through the girl’s profile. Sorano Granon used solid script letter magic… That sounded pretty familiar, actually. Thinking back on what she had heard about Fairy Tail, she then recalled that at one point, there had been an ace or something with letter magic that had gained special recognition from the Magic Council for their peaceful retrieval of several missing civilians. Probably was this very girl in fact, which might help to explain why she was in such a high position now. It would also explain the light scars all over her body. If she participated in battle-based jobs, or jobs that could potentially escalate into something powerful, it made sense she would have gotten badly injured every now and then. Stretching, she turned the lacrima off with a sweep of her hand, walking around the room.

Although she knew whose body she inhabited now, how exactly had she come to be here? Looking into the girl’s face in the mirror, ideas began to spring into her mind. How much power did she have in her hands now, exactly? Maybe she could do some cool magic spells. She knew for sure that some stores in town gave discounts to Fairy Tail members, those that seemed to be sort of in love with the guild itself. Actually, didn’t she basically have an entire guild under her control now? Thrill leapt through her body as she smiled, unlocking the door. Alright. She was gonna do this, that was for sure.

“No, Chika.”

A sudden powerful force seemed to force itself down upon her chest, causing her to fall to the ground with the unbearable weight. “H-huh?” Was there someone in the room after all? How did they know her name? Was it the real Sorano Granon? Had she been cloned or something? Or had they really switched bodies?

“Chika, you naughty little girl,” the voice trilled, the pressure steadily increasing. Looking off to the side, Chika could see a faint blue glow surrounding her now, emanating from whatever was speaking. “Going off to use your host’s body for bad things? Surely you know better than that, kid. I actually trusted you to be more aware than the rest, ya’ know? But obviously you’re just power-seeking and selfish, something you should have learned long ago not to be, hmmm? I mean, Sorano dearest would realize we exist, and that would be the end of everything, ufufu.”

Slowly, the pressure seemed to fade slightly, before pain filled Chika’s mind and body. An agonized hiss escaped her mouth as the blue light slowly entered her. “Sorry sweetie, but I’m taking over. If none of you guys can control her properly, I’ll have to do the job. What a pain.”

And in a flash, Chika’s world turned black again.

Even while Chika faded back into her rightful form within the mind, a new entity slowly stretched her arms out, activating the magic that changed her form to one she was more comfortable with.

“Ah, Sorano-chan’s body is so small and restrictive, and her clothes are sooo uncomfortable, huh…” With a yawn, the blue-haired girl settled down on the armchair, eyes glowing an eerie blue as the being surveyed the room. “Ah, so this is what Sorano-chan’s place looks like, hmm?” Leaping quietly off the chair, the blue-haired sprite seemed to float around the room, flipping through files and playing her fingers over the surface of the lacrima. She’d never been outside of the mind before, and all of this was truly fascinating and engaging stuff, really. Looking at herself in the mirror, she reached down, feeling under the space where her feet should have been, and ran her fingers through the pixels of her legs. Interesting. So, the old Sorano was seen like this now, hmm? She pressed her glowing fingers to the glass, feeling the exposed material of her fingers creating a hissing noise as the strange substance reacted to the window glass. What the hell was she even made of? Looking around the room, she shrugged quietly to herself, reaching up to quickly adjust her headphones. A light blue stain was left behind on the mirror glass.

Another yawn stretched from her mouth as the sprite made her way to the couch/bed, and she flopped down comfortably, closing her eyes. It was still too hard for her to maintain this solid form for a long time… Sorano’s magical capacity simply wasn’t high enough to take her energy levels, and she knew she would have to give the body back, something she was very reluctant to do. Everything gradually faded away, and when she opened her eyes again, she was back there, trapped at the very depths of the girl’s mind. Oh, but one day, yes, one day… Grinning up into the darkness, VYX smiled bitterly. One day she would get her revenge…

It was with that thought that Sorano Granon woke up, jerking out of bed to see the blue fingerprints staining her mirror.