An actress in our midst!

“Peace? How could there ever be peace?!” Jessica shouted whilst hefting her surprisingly well made plastic spear painted black and pointed it in Flame’s direction. “After all, we’re enemies!”

“We don’t have to be!” Flame pleaded. “You don’t have to follow the demon lord! You can be free!”

“I am free!” Jessica bellowed as the special effects team flickered the lights around her to mimic magic going out of control. “You know nothing about me, Flame! But enough talk! Have at thee!” she shouted as she took a battle stance and prepared to lunge, the four girls in front of her following suit.

“Aaand cut!” Rick shouted.

Jessica rolled her eyes. Rick sure loved to pretend to be a famous director on a real set. Well, it made Jessica feel important too, so she let it slide most of the time.

“That was great, you two!” He beamed at them as he walked to the little stage they had in the drama club’s room.

“Thanks.” Erika gave a wry smile.

It had been a big shock for her when she had found out about the contents of the play and she had intended to back out right then and there. But after a bit of convincing via Jessica’s puppy eyes, she had decided to give it an honest go.

She was glad she had. This was a lot of fun, and more importantly, everything was just an act, so she didn’t have to feel too weird about anything. And since it was a tragedy, she didn’t even have to suffer through any romantic scenes.

“So, what’s next? A battle scene?” Jessica asked, putting the blunt end of her spear on the ground and leaning on it.

“Nah, we don’t have the budget for anything fancy,” Rick denied with a hand wave. “We’re just going to close the curtains, play some fight sounds, and then open it again as the transition.”

Jessica snorted. “Lame. But fair.” Then she grinned. “If only we could hire the real Tepes and magical girls to provide special effects, eh?”

Erika looked at her, deadpan.

“Hah! Yeah, that would be the dream.” Rick laughed. “Alas, we’ll have to make do with what we have.” Then, he looked at Jessica with exaggerated suspicion. “Unless… there’s something you want to tell us…?”

Erika startled, her eyes widening, a motion neither Rick nor the other actors noticed with their eyes trained on Jessica.

Jessica, on the other hand, stopped for a second, before her lips slowly curled up into an evil smirk. “Hmmph… How perceptive of you…” She then threw her arms to the sides, hands splayed open. “That’s right! I’m not just acting! I am the real Tepes, the enchantress! Now that my cover has been blown, I no longer need to hold back! Tremble before me, humans! Mwhahahaha!”

Erika blinked before giving a soft sigh and a facepalm.

Melody, Hellen, and Alice – the girls playing the other magical girls – gave a round of claps.

“Hah! That was really good, actually.” Rick nodded in approval before falling into thought. “Hmm… Maybe we should have a scene where Tepes reveals herself to have been Flame’s best friend under her mask all along or something?”

Erika choked.

Jessica scoffed. “Seriously? That would be a tad too cheesy, don’t you think?” She snuck a glance at Erika, smirking.

“Yeah, you’re probably right… Well, onto the next scene, everyone!”

Cody watched the scene from afar, standing next to Max, and he was doing his best to hold back the hysterical laughter threatening to break out.

“They… She is going to keep doing that, isn’t she?” Max murmured.

“Yep. That’s Jessica,” the other minion replied.

It was kinda funny, Max could admit. It also felt pretty nice to be in on the joke that flew over everyone else’s heads.

Naturally, Max had ended up joining the drama club after looking around for a bit. He helped out with the costumes and would play demon minion C – Cody played minion B, of course. It was actually kind of wild how fitting all the roles they had gotten were. Although a silent part of him felt a bit disappointed that he couldn’t try at least playing one of the magical girls.

Well, he wasn’t even a girl, so obviously, nobody had even considered him for the roles.

With a little sigh, he gathered himself and walked onto the stage for the next scene alongside Cody. Tepes at the demon castle, ordering her minions around.

It felt odd just how inaccurate some parts of the play were when compared to reality.

For one, Jessica didn’t have a spookily lit auditorium where she routinely gathered the minions to shout at them. No, she just sat behind her mundane desk in her office whenever she talked to her minions.

Another thing – and Max couldn’t really blame Rick for getting this wrong – was that Jessica definitely wasn’t all meek and subservient to the demon lord. Sure, she was still his subordinate, but from the few stories she had told them, she took no shit from him.

“Don’t fail me again,” Dennis, playing the demon lord, ordered.

“Yes, my lord,” Jessica said through gritted teeth.

Max marveled at just how good of an actress Jessica was for going through a scene like that despite her personality. She wasn’t the type to bow down her head and follow orders. Although unfortunately for her, she had failed at negotiating the removal of this scene with Rick.

“Alright, everyone, that’s a wrap for today!” Rick announced in his I’m-totally-a-famous-director voice. “We’re gonna go through the rest of the scenes tomorrow and then we’ll start really practicing the difficult ones.”

Even if he couldn’t play a magical girl, the drama club was still a lot of fun. Partially because his friends were in it, sure, but he also enjoyed the acting itself. He could become someone else for a moment and nobody would call him out on being weird.

Granted, he was currently acting as a minion, which was exactly who he was. But still.

He heard Erika suck in a breath. When he turned to look, she was looking at her phone, eyes wide. When she lifted them up, they met with Max’s eyes. Erika’s mouth pressed into a line as a concerned frown appeared on her face.

A demon attack, Max translated to himself.

“Hey, Erika. I was thinking. Could you –” Rick approached Erika, but was cut off.

“Sorry, but I gotta run! It was really fun, though! I’m looking forward to next time!” she shouted as she darted out of the clubroom, leaving everyone – except Jessica, Cody, and Max – surprised at the abruptness.

“... Huh…” Rick seemed a bit hurt by the action. “Did I… say something wrong…?”

Jessica snorted. “Nah, she probably had some kind of emergency. She was looking at her phone before she bolted.”

“Ah, I see.” Rick nodded to himself, accepting the excuse.

With that, Jessica approached Cody and Max, the obvious question already played on their faces. She shook her head, however.

“It’s Salem,” she whispered. “Can’t help them with her.”

The two nodded, but Max still didn’t like it.

He understood that they couldn’t openly help the magical girls against the other generals, but he still felt like he should be helping.

That he should be fighting by their side.