Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku: Breakdown Volume 1 Chapter 3

Chapter 3

☆ Touta Magaoka

When his aunt told him, he thought she was joking or something. After she transformed, he realized it wasn’t a joke. Magical Girls are here. They’re real.

“Awesome!”

“Hahaha, what do you think?”

“Me? Clearly, I think you look just like someone who’d be a Magical Girl”

“If that was the case, I’d have quit being a Magical Girl in my teens…”

She lifted a cabinet with just her right hand, while carrying it, she hummed as she cleaned the tatami mat, cabinet still in tow. She placed the cabinet, then jumped off the veranda, before Touta could scream, she returned back to the entrance by knocking on the front door.

Also her b.o.o.bs were huge.

Magical Girls. Not to mention, he knew her. Whenever he asked her what she did for a living, she was always vague and avoided it, he was convinced that this was why. Unlike his friends’ houses, he was convinced that the gap between the cabinet and the wall or the fridge and the floor did not have any dust.

“Are there boy heroes too? The ones that get remodeled and ride motorcycles? The ones that ride giant robots? The ones that shoot beams and lasers?”

“I’ve never heard of any. Ah, but occasionally there are boys that become Magical Girls.”

“So you have to be a Magical Girl… That’s okay. It’s a bit unfortunate, but it’s okay.”

“Why are you looking down on it? You have to compromise on these things.”

“Okay, I’ll compromise.”

“You’re unexpectedly quick to give in.”

“By the way, I’m a Mage, aren’t I?”

“You’re the grandson of a cousin of a Mage, yes. You’re… um, a relative of a Mage. You may have the blood of a Mage, but not learning how to use it is the same as not using it at all. Ah, also, you probably already know this, but magic, Mages, Magical Girls, you can’t tell anyone. If you do, your memories will be wiped and you’ll forget everything.”

“They can do that?”

“Well… How can I say this. There’ve been many cases of it being done to Magical Girls. I don’t think Mages are any different, though.”

“Huh? What happens to them? I’m kinda scared now.”

“Well, it’s okay to be scared as long as you remember. You can’t tell anyone, not even your friends, okay?”

“Okay!”

Touta had never experienced fantastical events before. There were mountains of them in books and TV, but Touta never had fantastical things happen around him.

His parents had gotten in a traffic accident before he could even understand anything, he got into a fight with a kid who said Santa Claus wasn’t real and cried, he snuck out to a particularly haunted place at night with his friends, but nothing happened there, then he was scolded when people found out what he’d been doing. All of them were things that could be cla.s.sified as “Non-fantastical events”. Miracles, ghosts, none of them existed. It wasn’t interesting. It was boring. Touta felt that nothing fantastical happened, and he hated it. Somewhere in the world, there were fantastical things, he was sure it would be very wondrous, yet none ever came to Touta.

But that was also until the other day. Now, his aunt was clearly bringing him something fantastical. Of course his aunt would do something like this. The only person who knew about his aunt was his mom’s mom’s sister. He didn’t even know what she was doing. She didn’t look like an ordinary working person, it’d be very weird to go to work wearing a T-s.h.i.+rt and sandals. Once she said she was a Magical Girl though, Touta thought “Oh, I get it now.”

“Hm? Auntie, you’re not coming?”

“I’ve got work that I can’t let out of my hands.”

Whenever she said that, he never even joked in a “So work’s more important than me?” way. He didn’t want to see his aunt’s face when he said those words a second or a third time.

“So I’m going alone?”

“I’ve asked a friend of mine. She’s reliable, so I wouldn’t worry. Though, she’s a bit moody. Well, a lot of Magical Girls are like that.”

“She a Magical Girl?”

“Yep. She worked harder than anyone back then, but a bunch of things happened and now she’s kind of lazing around. She’s turning into a slacker, so I thought I’d give her some work.”

After that, she said “You can ask anything about Magical Girls, Mages, or the Land of Magic to her.” He felt that she knew how much he wanted to ask, but Touta just silently nodded. He also nodded when she said When you meet her, eat as happily as you can okay?

A few days later, the Magical Girl they met at the beef shop, Miss Margarite, was just like her aunt said, moody. With a ladylike hat and skirt and a western knight-like slender sword, she also wasn’t eating any of the delicious beef with chopsticks. While Touta was nervous about meeting another Magical Girl other than her aunt, he ate his beef happily just like she asked him to, while not saying it out loud, he did compare that Miss Margarite’s b.o.o.b size was different to her aunt. Margarite’s was normal sized. It seems not everyone that transforms into Magical Girls get ridiculously huge ones.

Margarite seemed to look a bit sullen. His aunt looked really pleased. Which means, he was sure everything would go as she planned. When he returned home from the store, his aunt praised him by saying “Good on you for comparing our breast size.” Panicked, he tried to put on a face that said he did it on purpose, but it was pretty clear that he didn’t do it intentionally.

It’s been two days since he ate at the beef shop, Margarite, who volunteered to help Touta with his preparations, came to his apartment after dark. The chime of the doorbell rang, “She’s here!” he cried as he looked into the monitor, and saw the ladylike costume of Miss Margarite reflected on it. Did she come all the way here in that getup?

The automatic door of the entrance soon opened up. Her aunt hasn’t come home from work yet, so it was just her and him. One on one. Touta rubbed the sweat on his palms on his trousers. When they sat across from each other across the kitchen table, despite being at different ends of the table, somehow the pressure still managed to make Touta s.h.i.+ft his chair.

Margarite grabbed the cup, drank the barley tea, then placed it on the saucer. Touta stood up, he went to the refrigerator and poured barley tea from a bottle to refill Margarite’s cup.

“Thank you.”

“It’s fine.”

He became like the kids in his science group who was bad at talking, he had to talk somehow—he felt drinks are necessary to do that. Margarite didn’t look like a person who loved to casually talk. She was probably as Touta imagined, his aunt really was mean to do this.

“You’re both the same…”

“Excuse me?”

“Uhh, it’s nothing.”

Maybe Margarite was nervous too? He thought, which managed to relieve a little bit of tension. While she talked like how his teachers talked, rather randomly, but the way it felt forced looked a bit cute.

“Something wrong?”

“Uhh, nothing.”

“I see. Then let’s get ready.”

“Okay.”

He heard it’d probably be about one week. So this would be enough right? He thought as he laid out the objects he’d prepared in the Tatami mat. Margarite looked at each of the objects from one end to the other and shook her head.

“Too much.”

“But I already decreased it.”

“You don’t need this game console. You don’t need any mobile games, you don’t need these card games either.”

“Huuh… but.”

“You do not. Need it.”

“Okay, then I’ll leave the cards I’ll use for trading. They’re kinda heavy and bulky. But I can bring my deck, right? Deck cases won’t be too distracting.”

“If you bring games to school, don’t your teachers get angry?”

“You’re not wrong, but-”

“You’re not going there to play. So you don’t need anything to play with.”

“But there might be opponents I can battle there.”

“Only Mages and Magical Girls will be there. Not your playmates.”

“Oh, okay then… But won’t we get bored at night?”

“We’ll sleep at night. It’s to prepare yourself for work in the morning.”

“Okay…”

“Also, those fish tanks… Are those… Crayfish? Why are you bringing this?”

“No one’s gonna look after them.”

“Leave it to your friends.”

“These guys have failed a bunch of times before they finally molted, this is the most important crayfish I’ve had ever! My friends, they’ll forget to feed ‘em, so they’ll start resorting to cannibalism, or they’ll forget to clean the tanks, it’s not easy taking care of them.”

“Then leave it to your aunt.”

“My aunt hates crayfish. She keeps saying how crayfish smells. She keeps nagging about how she’ll throw them out the veranda.”

Margarite smiled. It wasn’t an easygoing kind of smile, it was those broadly grinning kind of smiles.

“Then you should strongly insist that you can’t leave without giving these over to someone else. For now, just leave them with your aunt.”

“Oh… Okay then.”

His aunt had pushed a job onto Margarite, it looked like Margarite would get pleasure from giving his aunt something she’d hate. Even though his aunt was friends with Margarite, was this what friends do? The friends that Touta knew were—now that he thought about it, were more than happy to give people what they disliked.

“I guess that’s how things are, huh…”

“Excuse me?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

“Oh, there are some things you’re missing. Robes, cloaks, and a hat.”

“What are those?”

“They’d want you to look appropriate when you go to a gathering of Mages. Robes, cloaks, and pointed hats, those are clothes that befit a Mage.”

“Ah, okay, so I should wear something that lets people know, right? But I don’t have any.”

“Then let’s ask your aunt to prepare you some. Also, I want some souvenirs from her.”

“You wanna ask my aunt for that too?”

“That’s right. I don’t mind light sweets, the more expensive the better.”

“How many do you want her to get?”

“I actually have heard no information on the amount of people attending. She should prepare as much as possible. 10 should be enough.”

“And we can eat the rest, right?”

Margarite grinned.

“Not a bad idea.”

Touta replied with another grin.

☆ Miss Margarite

After dining together in the beef shop, once again she called to ask what she and Touta should do, she listened in case there were any unworded intentions, and when she found out what she was asked to do, Margarite pulled away her furrowed eyebrows.

She wasn’t being asked to win with her combat skills. She wasn’t being asked to educate an amateur to become a warrior. What the client asked Margarite was for her ‘experience’. Margarite, who has worked for many years as a Magical Girl in public, knew that the Land of Magic was like that, she remembered to her bones on how Magical Girls and Mages would commune. They wanted to make use of that, in addition, it was something to teach Touta.

Margarite gives what she is asked for to the best of her ability. She’s always been like that. She’d do the same if she was dragged into something too, that’s how she’d work to get money. Fortunately, Touta was an obedient child. She’s known many Magical Girls who were elementary schoolers pre-transformation, but they always ended up being selfish one way or another. Compared to them, he was far better. Though if she said he was a good boy out loud and let it get to his head, it’d be trouble for her, so she mess with his behavior.

On the way, she met up with the Examination Division, greeting the Mages and Magical Girls working in the Examination Division, pa.s.sing through the Gate, and finally arriving at the island. Meanwhile, Touta’s curiosity got the better of him, “h.e.l.lo!” “Nice to meet you!” “What’s that?” “I’ve never seen that before” he said, wanting Margarite to explain to him, wasting their time, resulting in a late arrival.

Touta’s great aunt, the Magical Girl Death Prayer, said that the reason she wanted Touta to partic.i.p.ate in the event is “Less the inheritance itself, more that I want his status as a Mage officially recognized.” She saved up some money for it, she wouldn’t mind if she died at any time, but that was all she was worried about. Touta’s father had a mage’s blood, his wife—Touta’s mother, had pa.s.sed away together with him in a traffic accident, but his father lived his life as a worker for a trading company. He lived his life by not getting involved with the Land of Magic and stopped using magic. That was a good choice. Even if Margarite was involved with magic or the Land of Magic, she could understand the idea of not wanting to get into trouble.

However, Death Prayer’s position was different. She didn’t say it directly, but Margarite could infer it, and she knew exactly what Death Prayer was going for. The job that Death Prayer had embraced involved dangerous things as well. She may have thought that Touta could be the only one left standing. If his great aunt died, this elementary schooler will be thrown into the world. If that happens, it’d be better if he had a status as a Mage, but he had yet to possess knowledge about the Land of Magic. If there was a record that he had received a heritage, then Touta’s status as a Mage would be semi-formal. Also, the heritage he’s receiving is from a Mage whose family name is famous, as an heir, it can be inferred that he’d have plenty of status. Using that, he can make connections with people, not to mention he could rely on the Magical Girl Miss Margarite. That was what Death Prayer was thinking.

As a recluse, Margarite was too weak to refuse this. She had a youthful feeling in her that felt like her weakness had been exposed by mentors who were once ashamed to show their own weakness, yet there was some good in feeling like it was inevitable, since she was dragged into this.

She taught Touta things that he didn’t know. That was also part of Margarite’s job. When she answered politely to Touta’s “What’s that” “What’s this” questions back at the Examination Division, Touta nodded while thinking deeply.

“Miss Margarite, you know everything, huh.”

“I do not know everything. Don’t rely on me too much.”

“Ah, I knew it.”

“You knew it?”

“My aunt says you just throw away any praise that comes your way.”

Margarite cleared her throat, but she silently cursed at Death Prayer, who she was working for.

That aside, one of the things that Margarite had to teach him was “How should I make connections?” There were people who would spoil him because he was a child, but he wasn’t going to be a child forever. Even a child should remember courtesy and common sense. That was just manners.

What should Touta do when he first arrives at the island? Introduce himself. A cheerful and happy greeting is necessary for communication. Since the island’s administrator, John Shepherdspie, had been laying in bed for such a long time that his physical condition wasn’t that great, they sent a message of sympathy, they gave the candies prepared by Touta’s great aunt to a Magical Girl subordinate.

Since he was the island’s administrator, he had to be the reception for all the Mages. If Touta did something wrong, Shepherdspie could probably help him out somehow, though you could hardly rely on a sick person. Shepherdspie’s two subordinate Magical Girls, Dreamy☆Chelsea and Pastel Merry couldn’t afford to be calm either, since their employer was sick in bed. The flock of sheep was much calmer than the two, making rows in order to carry loads. Their faces slightly raised upwards, their legs proudly marching up and down as if they were human. Upon leaving, Touta turned around and looked up at the mansion.

“Whoa, awesome. The mansion looks like a castle… Oh, look, look! That wall’s broken.”

Touta’s index finger pointed to where a section of the stone wall had been torn off, its majestic appearance impaired.

“Keep those thoughts to yourself. Don’t say anything or point fingers at it.”

“Okaaay!”

Chelsea and Merry—while really awkwardly fluttering about—guided everyone to the closely visible annex and told them to wait there. From where Touta entered in the advertised main building, the annex was only 25 meters away, compared to the main building it was considerably new, its size was also small. Though, as private property, it was a fine mansion, with considerably no problems. It probably hasn’t even been 10 years since it was built. It looks cheaper than the moss-covered stone castle, but they also used good building materials. It was also solidly built. If what Margarite saw was correct, it had high amounts of soundproofing and earthquake resistance.

“Why are you knocking on the walls?”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

If any unwanted guests pa.s.s through, alarms would ring from the sensors as they pa.s.sed through the entrance, they went to the lobby according to the map guide hung on the wall.

At the hall, there were already a number of Mages and more Magical Girls that have gathered. In the approximately 20 meter square room was a round table and chairs with armrests, there were furnitures like silver candlesticks and armor-clad knights wielding spears lined up, the soft furred carpet was dyed a bloodshot red. Each person was sitting side by side as they pleased, talking amongst themselves, reading books, generally giving off a good atmosphere. Their responses when Touta gave them the souvenirs were also quite so-and-so, it felt like they just accepted it indifferently.

“I see… so you’re distant, yet you have Satabourne’s blood”

“Uhh, yeah. I’ve never met him, though.”

Margarite knew his name as well. He was famous, after all. The Head of the Magical Girl Department, Ragi Je Nent. His job was to yell at imprudent Magical Girls.

Rather than saying Ragi was gentle, he seemed to be more downhearted. He seemed to be supporting his body weight with his twisted cane, his body somehow resting on it. He was unlike the rumors she heard of “Always being a stubborn angry old man”, he was hardly energetic at all. Just talking made him seem like he was exhausted of fatigue. He probably chose a seat secluded from the rest as a way of saying he didn’t want to converse with anyone.

When Touta was talking to Ragi, he seemed to be fluttering off as if he was looking away. Not to the old man sitting in front of him on the sofa, but to the Magical Girl standing beside him. The Magical Girl also didn’t move despite being unconsciously gazed at, standing by the side of the old Mage without moving an inch. He was probably just interested because she looked like someone chopped off a deer from the top of its body and placed a human on the upper half.

Before even being introduced by Ragi, Margarite knew about the girl. Ever since Anna Marie was killed, she had discreetly investigated the Children of Clamberry. Even without her background as a Children of Clamberry being a stepladder, her strength as a Magical Girl exuded all over her. She had no openings in her appearance. When she received Touta’s candy offers as souvenirs, even though she was just standing there, she wasn’t neglectful of her surroundings.

She heard that Ragi was a stone-cold Magical Girl hater, why did he bring along a Child of Clamberry? As the Head of the Magical Girl Department, a man of such status should know of Clantail’s ident.i.ty. No matter how weak she looked, Margarite was careful not to let her guard down.

The middle aged hair-thinning man sitting the farthest from Ragi was called Navi Ru. He claims to report directly to the top bra.s.s of the Land of Magic. If that were true, then he’d be one of the elite. However, the man himself had no feeling of status or authority, he welcomed Touta with a friendly att.i.tude and casual words.

“Well then, when all this is over, would you like to pay me a visit? I’ll give in a good word for you if you’d like a job.”

“Uhh, well, I’d um, have to ask my aunt.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, that’s not exactly somewhere you’d take children.”

“Now, hang on Clarissa… You’re right, though. You have a point. It’s not a place for kids.”

He was quite earnest until now, but Touta’s eyes were discourage once he realized his employment as a Mage faded away, shrugging his shoulders. Navi gently tapped on Touta’s shoulders. It seemed like that cheered up Touta’s disappointment.

“Don’t look so down. C’mon, I’ll show you some other places. There’ll be somewhere for a kid like you to have fun.”

“You’re so irresponsible. You don’t even have that much power, though.”

“Maybe you should stop saying things like that, huh. Look nice for a change.”

Clarissa opened her big mouth and grinned, you could see her well-formed fangs from the edges of her mouth. They were sharp and pointed fangs, suitable for a feline. The way she clapped her hands, bent her body, and smiled also showed her powerful flexibility, through which you could see her fresh muscles. She may be a pleasant, fun, and cute Magical Girl normally, but in an emergency, she was the type to become a fighter.

Also, Ragi’s outwards appearance of being rough yet loving old man to children couldn’t possibly be the kind to live in the Land of Magic and work with sly and cunning Mages. The Magical Girl he brought along was also not just as a conversation partner, she had fighting abilities. Margarite had to be cautious.

Agriellemaid Quarky, the Mage with a tongue-twisting name, was a young woman. She seemed to be talking closely with Navi, but it looked like they had just met on this island.

Rather than taking an interest at Touta himself, Agri seems to be interested in Touta’s background. Meaning, Agri was attracted to the fact that Touta had Satabourne’s blood in him. It could be said that Agri was closer to the deceased than both Ragi and Navi. She wasn’t a former schoolmate or a distant disciple, she actually had blood ties with him.

“Relation-wise, we’d be… distant relatives. I wish there was a better term for it”

“So what should I call you?”

“It’d be quite troublesome for you to call me ‘aunt’ all of a sudden.”

“Yeah. That’s what I think, too.”

Agri smiled at Touta, glanced at Margarite, and smiled her way too. Margarite smiled back as politely as she could, the Magical Girl who observed them, Nephilia, laughed with a strange voice, the other Magical Girl sitting beside her, Love Me Ren-Ren, chided Nephilia with a whisper.

Agri began to investigate Touta’s circ.u.mstances. Her two subordinates were relaxed, though their eyes were still cautious. They weren’t the type to use physical strength, so was it their Magical Skill, or something else? People who couldn’t be beaten by direct combat were more troubling. The Mages that bring these Magical Girls along should know this as well. Although Margarite saw Agri as a Mage she couldn’t underestimate, even now, she was entrapping Touta, who saw her as an older aunt-figure. After their conversation, Margarite would have to teach him that she was an opponent that he couldn’t show any mercy to.

Margarite rang her nose with a small noise that no one should be able to perceive. Regardless of no one being able to perceive it, Nephilia spurted out, shaking the cup on the table, spilling black tea all over the saucer.

“Miss Margarite!”

She turned around at the voice calling her, there she saw a familiar face. No, this person has somewhat matured than last Margarite saw her. Though, she was still quite childlike.

“It’s been a while, Mana.”

The Mage who came later than Touta was Margarite’s acquaintance.

“Why are you here?”

“Chaperoning a Mage.”

“You? A chaperone?”

“It’s just a job as a Magical Girl Freelancer.”

“If you were gonna be a Freelancer, I wish you hadn’t quit the Examination Division. Without you, the whole Division’s weakened. If we don’t have one good teacher, that’s just what happens.”

“You overestimate me.”

Mana was a Mage affiliated with the Examination Division. It was rare for a Mage to want to be directly involved in Investigation Teams, to be willing to polish themselves or have the motivation to gain experience. Although there is a tendency for those views to be narrow, to Margarite, it makes for an excellent Investigator.

Touta looked alternately between Margarite and Mana while being fl.u.s.tered. Margarite turned her hand to Mana.

“This is Mana.”

Margarite cut off her words, keeping silent. She didn’t introduce her properly. It was natural of Margarite, who was higher in position at the Examination Division, to introduce Mana so casually, but Margarite’s not in the Examination Division anymore. She had always told her students not to neglect manners, but it seems she couldn’t even do it that well herself when it was her turn.

Margarite confirmed to see if Mana would say anything blaming her, when she didn’t, Margarite continued.

“She’s a former colleague of mine. Also, that makes her your aunt’s current colleague.”

Touta nodded convincingly. To which Mana tilted her head.

“Aunt?”

“Death Prayer.”

“Oh, he’s related to Prayer.”

It’d be troublesome to give an alternate explanation, but avoiding explanations would lead to even bigger trouble. Margarite switched where she pointed her hands, now pointing towards Touta.

“This is Touta Magaoka, Satabourne’s family and my-”

He wasn’t her employer. Margarite received payment from Death Prayer. He wasn’t exactly a delivery, and saying he’s the person she’s bodyguarding is too indirect. It was more like he was a friend she’s escorting. With only a moment of hesitation, she said…

“-Apprentice...ish kind of person.”

“Nice to meet you, Touta. Your aunt has always been very… helpful.”

Perhaps Touta could feel that Mana was collecting her words, as he apologetically bowed his head.

“Sorry for whatever my aunt did… I’m Touta Magaoka.”

“No, it’s… Well, in either case, this Magical Girl is 7753.”

She faced her palm to the Magical Girl sitting beside her. Because she pointed to the Magical Girl wearing a boy’s school uniform so suddenly, she quickly bowed her head, the goggles on her neck whipped and hit her forehead.

“She’s a Magical Girl working in Human Resources.”

Examination and Human Resources weren’t particularly great friends. Margarite didn’t hear anything about them being friendly since she quit either. She wasn’t a Freelancer, it didn’t look like she was being paid to come along either. She must be personally friends with this Magical Girl. Margarite was secretly delighted that even someone as senseless and angry as Mana would find someone like that, Deep down, she’s a good girl, she thought as she smiled in her heart, however it did not show on Margarite’s expression.

“We also brought in one more, but…”

Mana grabbed the brim of her hat and looked around her surroundings, furrowing her eyebrows.

“She’s not here, huh. Hey, where’d Tepsekemei head off to?”

“Uh... she floated off outside with a cookie jar earlier.”

“I thought I told you to supervise her properly.”

“S-Sorry, I tried to stop her but she didn’t listen.”

“Figures… Well, looks like she’s played off somewhere, we have time to introduce each other later anyways. 7753, this is Miss Margarite… Hana’s teacher.”

When she had heard that Hana Gekokujou had died, she wondered if it was a mistake, but when she found out Mao Pam died in the same place, Margarite knew there was nothing she could do. Even amongst Margarite’s students, Hana stood out as being an excellent Magical Girl, but no matter how excellent you are, there was no way to survive in a battlefield where Mao Pam died. Rather, it was more unusual that Mana survived it, but she was sure Hana had accomplished something. Mana’s facial expressions, and 7753’s at the time Hana’s name was uttered, had told Margarite the whole story.

Mana, together with Margarite, exchanged words with Touta, sometimes they’d talk to 7753, who’d panic, it was an adequately peaceful conversation. Mana was also nicer than she remembered, she could feel her being more kind. It was probably thanks to 7753, probably also thanks to the influence of the other Magical Girl who isn’t here right now too.

After separating from Mana, Touta whispered to Margarite.

“Hey.”

“Something wrong?”

“I’m your apprentice?”

“Unsatisfied?”

“No… Actually, I’m all fired up.”

She didn’t know what that meant or what his intentions were, but as long as he wasn’t unsatisfied, it was good.

The next relative after Mana was a female Mage who gave off a strong impression. Her age shouldn’t be different from Touta, but her tone was mature.

“Greetings, Sir Touta. I am Yol.”

“Oh, greetings.”

She had such a large volume of hair that even rolling them up into spirals would take a considerably amount of time. Unlike Magical Girls, her hair wasn’t automatically perfected as she didn’t transform. She could potentially set it up simply using magic, but to a member of the higher cla.s.s, personally grooming their own figure would take far more time and effort. Unlike other Mages, her robe and hat embroidered with her family crest or golden threads, she chose something that would make it seem like she was nothing but someone who was rich and powerful. Her gorgeous western doll-like appearance, combined with her couture robe would make any weak-willed Mage unconsciously prostrate before her.

Though, Touta spoke without any hesitation. Seeing a girl the same age as him seemed to loosen the tension. The girl, Yol, also without uttering anything negative, accepted Touta’s prepared gifts. Seeing the cute little girl saying “My, this is wonderful” and “Thank you” could make anyone happy. She wasn’t sly like a Magical Girl, she was kindly like a human. Touta scratched his head saying things like “Oh, it’s no big deal,” but his expression was that of a grin. Though it wasn’t the filthy smile of an adult, this was a pleasant one of a child.

However, Yol’s follower, who was standing beside her, did not think this way, seemingly glaring at Touta. Touta instantly raised his head, did he notice the glare? His eyes were like that of a child who thought he was being scolded for being naughty. He hasn’t been accused of doing anything that bad.

Margarite glanced at Yol’s followers—of which there were two—and glared at the one standing on Touta’s right. Noticing it, the follower glared at Margarite this time. You might be misled by her costume, being a robe with a coat of arms one rank below Yol, but she, and the other follower, were also Magical Girls.

The other follower looked troubled, looking around her surroundings noticing there was no one to rescue her. Being a black-haired girl with bangs and round sungla.s.ses was quite plain as a Magical Girl appearance, but it was still altogether very organized.

Realizing that Touta was looking quite strange, Yol turned around, finally knowing that one of her followers was glaring.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m merely looking ahead as usual, My Lady. I was just…”

“You were just?”

“If there is someone with a guilty conscience on their heart, they would unconsciously divert their eyes.”

“Meier, you always say that.”

Margarite furrowed her eyebrows. She couldn’t even pretend not to notice that the girl’s name had been spoken out loud. Meier curled her lips, not overlooking that. Margarite silently clicked her tongue.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t notice, Miss Margarite.”

She was an opponent who knew it’d be trouble if anyone noticed. However, she also knew that it would be more troubling if Margarite pretended not to notice.

“...Impossible. I just noticed it now. The Meier I know dresses differently.”

“Hmph, you sound like you’ve prepared that excuse in advance…”

Did she notice the atmosphere between Margarite and Meier, or did she not? Yol clapped her hands, gathering the attention of everyone.

“The two of you are acquaintances, I see!”

“We’re not on such good relations to say we’re acquaintances, we’re rather on bad relations.”

“Oh, you mustn’t say that. After all, you’re the one who told me that friends are important, right, Meier?”

“If you’re friends, then yes, they’re important. That hardly applies to people you’re not friendly with.”

“You’ve met before, so you should at least rekindle your friends.h.i.+p. Come, let’s talk inside my room.”

Yol stood up, taking Touta’s hand as he stood up. Meier gazed her eyes when Yol grabbed Touta’s hand to leave, but Yol didn’t mind as she lead Touta to the back door. Meier reached out her hand, stopped halfway, returned, then called out the other Magical Girl, Rareko, to which Rareko hurriedly followed her master and Touta.

At the exit of the hall, Navi said “Oh, the children are leaving. Have fun, you two.” Yol replied back, “You’re always saying weird things, old man.” Navi tried to say more, but then he noticed Meier’s killing glare, so he shrugged his shoulders and chuckled.

The two children and one Magical Girl left the hallway. Margarite and Meier stared as they stood there. Meier was staring in closely as she thought. Her face was more distorted, bitterly spitting out “Figures”.

“I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I could say the same.”

She’s met Meier many times in events hosted by Mao’s School. Not as students, but as external partic.i.p.ants, despite how much she disliked it, she heard. With a position similar to a nanny and a tutor to a Mage’s family, when she partic.i.p.ated in the events, she said her reasons were “I need to shape up my skills if I ever need to protect my masters.” For other Magical Girls, these were mostly events to relieve stress or as hobbies, but Margarite felt pity for her as she made the excuse that this is for work, like a workaholic, but if that was the case, then she was no different from Margarite, as this was also an excuse for work.

She didn’t the experience to fight until either of them couldn’t move. However, Margarite knew that the girl’s magical iron staff has taken the blood of many of Mao’s School’s Magical Girls. Also, her abilities didn’t seem to decline. Thus, the two of them were confronting each other, unconsciously Margarite’s hand reached for her sword. She could feel Meier’s rough killing sensation.

“You never changed…”

“Guess that makes us the same. I heard you quit Examination.”

“That’s right.”

“So you’re a Freelancer?”

“That’s also right.”

“That was your employer?”

“Rude of you to refer to someone as ‘that’.”

“Insects who come close to my Lady are fit enough to be called ‘that’... No.”

Meier grabbed the tip of her wizard hat, holding it. Meier’s wrinkled brand new hat covered the wrinkles that she had between her eyes.

“There’s actually a worse insect.”

“Who?”

“This sc.u.m is a huge vermin that came from the depths of a toilet bowl, you could say. Letting them approach My Lady would be harmful, not to mention touching he. Ah, abominable.”

“...They’re here now?”

Meier lowered her voice, lower and lower.

“It’s fine, Margarite. We’ll cooperate. We’ll not let Navi Ru approach My Lady. If he does, not even your master would be able to remain standing.”

☆ Touta Magaoka

“Those two were glaring at each other, huh? You think they’ll be okay?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, they’re good friends so they just want to talk.”

Yol walked rapidly. She walked as she held onto Touta’s hand. Her fingertips were soft, smooth, cold, although it was cool, it started to get warmer and warmer. When Touta noticed it was because his own hand was transferring heat, without thinking he pulled away his hand. Yol turned her face around, “Oh my.” then soon grinned. She opened a door and stepped to the side, as if to say, come in, he just noticed that he’d been taken all the way to her room.

The inside was muuuch wider than he thought. There was a smaller sofa than the one she sat in before and a long table. There was also something that looked like a shelf for liquor and wine. There were also two doors inside the room. Probably one for getting dressed and one for sleeping. When he thought of the words getting dressed, his face became red, Touta hurried off into the room.

Yol sat with her cloak aside, she sat opposite the seat facing Touta, the gla.s.ses Magical Girl named Rareko was behind Yol.

“Well then, shall we begin?”

“Begin… begin what?”

“Hmhm, don’t play the fool now.”

She was a bit weird. It wasn’t the kind of subtlety of the previous Yol. Somehow she felt rather fearless, like the rival character in a Manga or Anime.

“I’ve investigated how magic is treated in worlds other than the Land of Magic. How you would capture such techniques as magic when you don’t know if it exists, or how you would cultivate it culturally.”

“Oh, okay.”

Yol suddenly stood up. She flipped her cloak. Behind her cloak was a myriad of light… Touta squinted his eyes looking at the thing. When he finally saw it, it was something familiar. The Queen of Fire, Extreme, The Female Knight’s Agony, Devilish Twin Angels, Robot’s Secret Room, Nameless Seraph… These were cards from the popular trading card game Magical Battlers. Difficult to get promotional cards and expensive rare cards were all lined together in a narrow s.p.a.ce.

“Touta Magaoka. When I heard your name, I instantly remembered. You’re a duelist aren’t you? Third place winner of the nationwide 5th MagiBat elementary school champions.h.i.+p.”

“Wha, how did you… oh, is it because my name was in a magazine?”

“It’s a rare name. While I was exploring other cultures, I became fascinated by the Demon of Duelists…”

“Ah, I see.”

“So, Touta! Choose the best regulations! We shall play the dark game here and now!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t bring my deck.”

“Why?”

“Margarite told me not to bring anything that might be a bother.”

“What… But I heard that the deck was a duelist’s soul…”

Yol screamed, throwing her hat on the floor. Rareko was nervously unable to do anything. Touta was also unable to do much, Yol stomped on her hat many times.

“But my Satan control was supposed to be a great success!”

“Hm? Satan control, you run a General Satan control?”

“I do. You know it, don’t you? It’s the face of MagiBat control decks. You just counter or bounce other cards until you get to the high cost demon General Satan.”

“No, I know that… but you can’t make a Satan control now, can you?”

“Why? But my cute Satan-Chan’s always resulted in big successes…”

“But General Satan’s a banned card.”

“You’re kidding!?”

“They adjusted it a week ago, it’s kind of an emergency ruling, but sometimes erratas come out, then it was announced that General Satan became a banned card… but then a bunch of cards surrounding General Satan started having their prices drop, and card shops say they refuse to buy them.”

“That’s…… impossible.”

Yol got down on her knees. Her cape and the cards she set behind her fell to the floor gently, her hair following softly after.

“I only get my information on Monthly TCG… so to say that it was last week… would that mean… could it possibly be… the meta has suddenly changed…!?”

“Yep”

“How cruel… how very cruel… I’ve adjusted my Satan control to the meta, to the meta’s meta……”

She was s.h.i.+vering her shoulders as both her hands and knees were on the floor. It looked like she was in shock. When he looked at Rareko, she was still acting nervous. She wasn’t going to be very useful. Meaning Touta had to do something.

“Uh, um… Wouldn’t this be your chance?”

Yol raised her head. Her face now visible where it was once hidden by hair. There were tears in her eyes.

“Chance… What chance? Satan-Chan’s gone now…”

“Well, we can’t do anything about that. It’s because 90% of compet.i.tive winners all use Satan control… but see, when a card gets banned, it means new decks can now succeed… right? Famous deck builders are now thinking up new decks to dominate the metagame.”

Yol rose herself up, now sitting on her knees. Her tears have now long gone.

“Which means… it’s time to do just that. You can think up the next strongest deck, a chance to engrave your name in the history of MagiBat… yeah.”

“Ah, yes. Well, it seems that way.”

Yol stood up grabbing her hat, dusting it off, then placing it on her head. Her right arm strongly clenching on it, her chest puffed up, looking up at the ceiling, then shouting.

“There’s always an opportunity within disaster!”

“Oh, yeah, G.o.d Emperor Izuka always says that in the second season of the Anime.”

“If that’s the case, let’s build a deck. You’ll help too.”

“Ah, yeah. Do you have cards not in the deck stocked in your cape too? Isn’t that kinda bad.”

“But it’s cool, isn’t it?”

“Well yeah, it’s cool.”

“It’s custom-made”

“Awesome”

When they looked at Rareko, she was wiping away her forehead sweat.

☆ Dreamy☆Chelsea

The cute Shepherdspie had fallen asleep. Unlike Magical Girls Merry or Chelsea, a Mage’s toughness was just like a human. Falling down to the floor, breathing in the smoke, added to the one-two-punch of the building damage, he was physically and mentally weak, finally slinking to his bed, not wanting to do anything anymore.

Chelsea reflected a bit more. The tension has risen up a bit too much for the start of her job. Based on her current reflection, even though it might only raise her evaluation a little bit, she decided to at least help the sleeping Shepherdspie have the strength to wake up, she decided to do her best, by heading towards Pastel Merry to fix whatever broken parts need repairing.

“No, this isn’t gonna work. You can’t repair this, we didn’t bring a carpenter along.”

“Yeah, amateurs can’t possibly do it huh~”

They instantly had a setback.

As a result of consulting with Merry, they at least decided to clean up afterwards, Merry used her drawn sheep to move the rubble, while Chelsea tied a yellow-colored rope around all the trees, hanging a warning poster. While they were doing so, the island’s visiting Mages would occasionally visit, when they did, the girls would say “Shepherdspie isn’t feeling too well right now, he’s collapsed.” They had to lead them to the annex.

Ah, so this is what a job feels like, she thought. Steadily, she saw that jobs were more complicated than Chelsea had thought. Having Merry handle everything while Chelsea took a break is impossible, since Merry looked like she was about to die right now.

If she took a break after placing the food in the kitchen, would that be okay? She wondered as she took off from her worksite. There was a famous department store paper bag, inside were some famous pastry shop’s box packed with wrapping paper. Chelsea’s intuition told her it was cookies. If she was back home, she’d open it, eat it, and if there were any complaints, she’d apologize. However, Chelsea didn’t have the courage to do something like this at work.

This particular shop’s cookies use white chocolate, wouldn’t it be especially delicious? If she had the internet, she could look at reviews and a description, but here, she could only open the box. Too bad, so sad, she thought as she opened the box, it’d be okay to just cut the seal. However, when she was about to do that and unconsciously reached her hand out, she dismissed it, she had no choice but to stare at it, when she placed the table to the box thinking I should head back soon, she turned around, seeing Merry, who peeked her face behind the pillar.

“......I didn’t eat it.”

“Really…?”

“I never ate it! Never mind that. Why did you come all the way here, Merry?”

“You were coming back a bit late Chelsea, so I thought maybe you were going to grab a bite…”

“I didn’t eat it, I did. Not. It’s fine, everything’s fine.”

Perhaps Chelsea had to be more cautious than she thought when dealing with the Magical Girl known as Pastel Merry. Chelsea reevaluated Merry in her mind as she went back to work. Though, if the rubble removal and fire extinguis.h.i.+ng was done, there wasn’t much work left. She finished tensioning up the rope, finis.h.i.+ng up this one job, she looked up, she saw a hole in the walls of the mansion. When Chelsea was stomping on the floor, it was the place where she fell together with everything.

“Oh yeah, forgot about that.”

“Can we cover it up with a vinyl sheet or something?”

“We can? Can we?”

“It’d be bad if it started raining there and if it poured in, though.”

“It’s sunny out, I doubt it’ll rain anytime soon.”

“But the wind might still blow it”

“Won’t it be nice for it to be a little colder, though?”

“It won’t look very good when you see it from the outside, though.”

“But don’t you think it’ll be avant-garde?”

“Chelsea… Are you just trying to get less work?”

“No, no, I’m not trying to do that, I’ve got lots of motivation for work… Huh?”

Something was pa.s.sing through the corner of her eyes. A translucent human shape, resembling those genies in a lamp, holding a cookie jar in its hand, grabbing its contents and biting it-

“Hey! Wait a minute! You, Magical Girlish person!”

The semi-transparent girl who looked like a genie looked to her right, then looked to her left, then looked down, then pointed to herself.

“Are you talking about Mei?”

“You can’t do that, you can’t just eat those cookies! How did you even get them out anyway!?”

“This belongs to Mei, so Mei eats them.”

“That’s not yours, that’s Shepherdspie-Kun’s!”

“Mei doesn’t know Shepherdspie. Funny Trick gave this. This is Mei’s.”

She rudely turned the other way, turning her back as if she was about to fly away. At this rate, the cookie thief will escape. Even though Chelsea had endured it, now this unnamed Magical Girl is about to run off with famous brand cookies.

Chelsea dropped several stones on her feet. Should she throw these? But if she wasn’t a good shot or if her opponent dodged it, she might hit the cookie jar. If it broke, it’ll all have been for nothing. She also paid attention to how the girl was transparent. If an enemy in a game was transparent, physical attacks won’t usually work.

She aimed for the jar. There was no physical transparency there. There was no magic being used either. In short, she could steal it. She closed in and s.n.a.t.c.hed it.

“W-What do we do, Chelsea”

“Have no fear, Dreamy☆Chelsea is here!”

She looked at the enemy’s position. She was separated by Chelsea, currently, at a distance of eight meters above, about eleven meters from the building. Using the wall should be enough. With one step, she kicked the ground, then planted her feet on the mansion wall, from there, she ran up vertically. Tap, tap, tap, she ran through the mansion’s uneven walls upwards, until she was the same height as the lamp genie. She acc.u.mulated as much power in her last step to head horizontally, bending her legs, before hearing an unpleasant noise, the scaffolding collapsed. The walls were collapsing, Chelsea was thrown out to the ground, although she landed with a roll, Merry was running with her sheep towards the forest. She turned around and looked back, Merry desperately shouting up,

“Up! Up!”

Following her words, Chelsea looked up, the stone wall of the crumbling mansion was slowly falling this way. Chelsea chased after Merry, then pa.s.sed through her, then the wall, or rather part of the mansion fell, enfolding the surrounding trees with a loud sound and crowding it with more smoke, large thick trunks and fruits were rolling, the rope that they had tied now crushed.

Merry, Chelsea, and the sheep were able to escape to the safety zone. No injuries. Yet, they didn’t exactly feel like they were saved, since the damage was on a large scale. Chelsea could tell how serious it was when Merry sighed out “Aaaa…”

Chelsea tried to think of an excuse for this situation, I was trying to catch the cookie thief. That was the best she could go with.

☆ Love Me Ren-Ren

Every Mage was a great person. Without Mages, there wouldn’t be any Magical Girls.

Since there were a number of great people around her, she was very nervous. The half-beast Magical Girl Clarissa, the Mage-looking Magical Girls Meier and Rareko, the lady-like Magical Girl Miss Margarite were all standing by their employers, not sitting. Maybe she should do the same. When she wanted to stand, Agri grabbed her hand and stopped her.

“Where are you going all of a sudden?”

“I wasn’t, I was just-”

“It’s talking time now, which is for talking, okay? So, let’s talk.”

Agri moved seats, accompanied by Ren-Ren and Nephilia. Mana and Yol were very cute, Ragi looked tired, probably because of his age, Touta looked like an elementary schooler forced into a Mage getup. The only thing they have in common is that they don’t seem to be bad people.

After speaking, Agri returned back to Navi.

“He’s a bit different from what I heard.”

“Ah, the old man, huh.”

The two of them were whispering in small voices. Since they were protected by magic, none of the other Mages or Magical Girls could listen.

“I thought he was a grumpy old man.”

“Well… I’d say his age is to blame for that. According to the rumors, he’d still be flaring up in anger and all that.”

“If he is, wouldn’t it be better if we didn’t make him our enemy?”

“As long as people keep quiet about it, sure.”

The others didn’t seem like bad people, but she couldn’t be sure if those two weren’t bad people. To Ren-Ren at least, it was difficult.

“What about the others?”

“Yol is an acquaintance. She’ll be friendly. However, Her Magical Girl hates me. It’d be better if she doesn’t raise her opinions this way.”

“Why does she hate you?”

“I don’t know. I’m not a psychologist. I can’t understand women.”

“Don’t hate all women generally like that.”

“I don’t hate them. I’m actually grateful for them.”

“Hold up.”

Clarisa rose up, interrupting the two’s conversation.

“Did you hear something just now?”

“No? Did you?”

“I don’t hear anything in particular, but”

Ren-Ren and Nephilia didn't hear anything either, but Clarissa kept her eyes open, her large ears shook on the smallest noises. Navi crossed his arms, “Looks like n.o.body heard anything but Clarissa” Just as she appears, she has good hearing.

“That’s weird… It sounded like something collapsed.”

“From where?”

“The mansion.”

“Hey now, that’d be terrible.”

“The place where it collapsed is somewhere over there, I think?”

“n.o.body’s caught were they? Should we go and see.”

Navi clapped his palms on his knees and stood up. He used a louder voice than the whispers he did earlier to say, “Hey, everyone!” instantly, he had everyone’s attention.

“Let’s all head to the main building-”

In the corner, there was a crash noise. Cups and its contents flew out. It came almost diagonally from the room. Though it was far, Ren-Ren judged what happened at a glance.

The table was turned over. Ren-Ren and Nephilia headed in front of Agri, Clarissa was beside Navi, spreading her arms. Margarite, who was close to the exit, unsheathed her rapier, Meier took out a colorful cane. 7753, who was sitting beside her, clumsily stood up. Afterwards, Clantail picked Ragi up. Ragi fell, making the table fall.

“Hey, you okay, old man-”

While Navi tried to approach him, his body suddenly crumpled over, Clarissa instantly supporting him. Agri suddenly reclined powerless towards Ren-Ren, Ren-Ren also hurriedly supported her.

Ren-Ren ran her eyes across the room. 7753 had Mana slung on her shoulders. Meier and Margarite started running to the back door.

“What……”

Agri moaned. Ren-Ren kept on holding her while still being vigilant.

“My…… strength…… is fading……”

“Don’t force yourself, please.”

She felt strange. Who’s voice was that? She wondered. However, it can’t be anything other than her own voice. Suddenly, Agri’s body became extremely heavy. Magical Girls shouldn’t feel like one adult female would weigh her down.

Ren-Ren looked at her right hand while carrying Agri. They weren’t slim long white supple fingers. Her arms had hair that human arms had.

She looked towards Nephilia. There was a high school girl in a blazer uniform with a surprised look on her face. Thick eyebrows, brown dyed hair trimmed around her back. Her lips were glossy. Although there was some overlap with Nephilia, Ren-Ren knew. This girl was Nephilia. The only person who would look delighted in a situation like this would only be Nephilia.

A girl with gla.s.ses and pigtails wearing a sailor uniform placed Ragi together with herself on the sofa, the girl in her pajamas holding Mana—who looked to be in her mid-20s, lost her balance as she also headed to the sofa. The girl crushed by Navi’s body, or at least she would if her skirt hadn’t been hanging out, was a girl that was probably about elementary or middle school aged, or maybe younger.

“What’s going on? What happened!?”

A 40-year old? The graying hair and business-suit wearing woman shouted out. Holding Yol tightly in her arms. Was that Meier? From behind her, a black-trimmed gla.s.ses wearing maid dress-looking young girl was watching, looking with distrust into the room. Rareko. Her att.i.tude hadn’t changed even before her transformation, her appearance was plain. Touta, who followed behind afterwards, was looking at Yol with a worried look on his face, but he was still able to walk on his own. Behind Touta was a woman in her late twenties looking into the room—Margarite. She had a long T-s.h.i.+rt with a skinny rough look on her, completely different after she transformed. She had a gaze that embodied her calmness and cautiousness.

“I asked you what happened!”

The Magical Girls—now no longer Magical Girls—all looked at each other. They confirmed that n.o.body would answer, each of their faces had a worried expression. As if they didn’t know what happened. However, they knew that this was a very troubling situation.