Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 10 - Chapter 6

The Prince of the Club

With one look at Shizuku Ashu, Nana Habutae knew instinctively that she couldn’t be friends with her.

Nana had known of her before. Shizuku Ashu was one of the handful of famous people at school. It would be fair to say there wasn’t even a single student or staff member who didn’t know about her. People whispered plausible-sounding rumors that some people would even come around just to get a look at her, even if they didn’t have any business with her.

Nana had spent a peaceful, uneventful year being uninterested in the cool, gorgeous Shizuku, good at any sport, the brains and the beauty, all famous or whatever. And then, in the spring of her second year, seeing Shizuku for the first time in an applied math seminar, Nana decided she would avoid associating with her as much as possible.

To Nana, the most straightforward indicator of beauty was other people’s reactions. The greater their reaction, the larger the absolute value of your beauty—so Nana believed. In that regard, there was nobody as beautiful as Shizuku. People crowded around her, no matter what she did. Guys flocked to hit on her, girls flocked to sigh over her, and she was unperturbed about it all, as if she took it for granted. You could say that was exactly why Nana didn’t like her.

Shizuku’s air of nobility, her masculine style, and her handsome features had earned her the laughable nickname of “the Prince.” To Nana, princes did not exist in real life. Only in fiction would princes kindly embrace her.

Nana had gone through her first year without any sort of contact with Shizuku, and even when they wound up in the same seminar, it wasn’t like they had to hang out and be friends. Worst case, Nana could change classes. She wasn’t so attached to numerical analysis or functions—her motive for registering had been a careless one, an invitation from a friend. Shizuku probably wasn’t even aware Nana existed in the first place. To someone who was used to being fawned over, a person who never so much as looked at her might as well not exist. That was fine. Nonintervention was best. Nana wouldn’t deny the appeal of being fawned over. She certainly liked feeling fawned over, too. She simply didn’t like Shizuku as a person.

So Nana had absolutely no intention of getting involved with her—but at random moments Shizuku would catch her eye. As the elderly professor explained what sort of things they’d be doing in the class, Nana looked over at the wall clock to check the time. When she turned her gaze back to the whiteboard, on the way her eyes met Shizuku’s. Nana reflexively smiled and bowed her head, then immediately averted her gaze, but she got a nasty premonition that was difficult to express in words. The nastier these sorts of premonitions were, the more accurate they tended to be.

It was three in the afternoon. The school day was over. Parting ways with her friends, Nana headed to the club building. The room for the ski club, of which she was a member, was deep within the building, the third room and the dingiest of a series of old, dirty, moldy prefab huts. On the walls was scrawled some crude graffiti from students of years past, and the atmosphere here, like a slum or the bad end of town, would make even a tough young guy hesitate to step inside.

But that was just how it felt. In actuality, a girl wasn’t going to get attacked here. At the very least, it had never happened to Nana. The important thing here was the atmosphere that made it difficult for girls to come, and if you could overcome it, there was something to be gained.

“Hi, everyone.”

“Hey, Nana.”

“Been a while!”

“Sup.”

“Wow, this is unusual,” said Nana. “I haven’t seen your face in quite some time, Kitajima.”

“And it’s just as handsome each time, right?”

“Hey, we’re playing this German board game right now. You wanna join in, Nana?”

“Ohh, looks fun,” she agreed.

“Come on, come on.”

There were five members, all guys, packed into the small club room. Once they saw that Nana had arrived, they all stood at once, and one of them pulled out an empty chair. Nana gave a small nod and took a seat. It was wonderful VIP treatment. This was precisely why Nana came to this club.

The ski club was supposed to be a sports club. That was why, instead of being in the reinforced concrete arts club building, it was in a room of the athletic club section, which contained lines of prefab huts. But what they actually did was far from an athletic club’s activities. Aside from their annual ski camp, they didn’t even touch a pair of skis. They just talked a lot and played games and mahjong with the pretext that they were “making plans for a ski trip” to keep the higher-ups from getting angry or telling them off. Despite being a club for a sport that involved going outside, it had become a contradictory indoor thing.

And so since the club itself was worthless and its location meant it had a headwind blowing against it, there were no female members aside from Nana. When Nana’s friends had asked her about her club, she’d just smiled and given a vague answer. Seeing her response, her friends had not pressed further, and the subject had shifted to something else. It was best if they didn’t get any other female members.

“There’s a new flavor of Chips Bar. Want one?”

“Ohh, tea, yeah. You okay with the usual?”

“Put in two ice cubes for her!”

So there would be no more female members. In other words, there was Nana and Nana alone. And the only people who would join a club like this would be boring, unattractive guys. There was only one girl among a group of dingy guys of the type who would have hardly ever spoken with a girl, even if you went all the way back to preschool. So then of course they’d fawn over her. And the attention made Nana happy. It wasn’t like she was ordering them to do this—the other members elevated her of their own accord. They were doing it because they wanted to. Both parties were getting something out of this. It was fair to call it a reciprocal relationship. At the very least, nobody here was losing anything.

No matter what sort of unpleasant things happened, whenever she came here, her heart was cleansed. There were no princes, but princes didn’t exist in reality in the first place.

Their game ended, and Nana joined in, taking the loser’s place. “Please go easy on me.”

“Don’t worry, Uemura is the only one playing seriously.”

“Hey, hey, hey, why are you bringing up my name, here?”

“Who cares who’s playing serious; let’s just roll to decide turn order—”

The sound of a knock rang through the small room. The guys looked at each other and then at Nana, and with a tilt of her head, Nana told them, “I don’t know anything about this.” No one but Nana would knock before entering the club room. In other words, it was someone not from the club. It wasn’t like this group was getting up to anything blatantly forbidden, but you couldn’t really say they were earnestly engaging in club activity, either.

Without waiting for the signal from the club captain, everyone but Nana went into action, clearing the game and dice off the table to toss them over to the stack of miscellaneous personal items piled up in a corner of the club room, then putting a blanket on top of that. They flipped over the whiteboard so the side that had some stuff written on it about ski camp plans was facing outward. Then, once they’d made sure everyone was seated again, the club captain prompted the visitor, “Come in.”

“Pardon me.”

The door opened, and a beam of light shone in. Nana squinted at the brightness. The light was so strong, she couldn’t tell who stood there, but she’d heard that voice before. It was clear and carried well, and that was exactly why it got on her nerves. It wasn’t just that she’d heard the voice before—hear that voice once, and you’d never forget it.

The door closed with a creak. Gradually the light faded. Now she could see who it was, whether she liked it or not. The guys were gazing at her with dazed expressions—no, they were entranced. One had his mouth half-open, one kept rubbing his eyes, another automatically stood up, and another muttered something under his breath.

“Sorry for coming in halfway through the term. I’m looking to join the club,” Shizuku said with a charming smile. Nana felt like the ground was falling out from beneath her.

Nana didn’t like to talk about other people behind their backs, and disparaging someone to their face was even worse. She hated biting sarcasm even more, and hiding her identity to post on anonymous boards or social media about how “I met this awful person today” was out of the question. It was fine for her to think any sort of nasty thoughts in her own head. But she couldn’t say such things out loud. If she said something bad about someone, that was the point when she would lose the right to be loved by the princes she adored in stories. Nana lived and died by this creed.

So she had no choice but to withstand it. The invasion of Shizuku Ashu—and yes, it was an invasion—had transformed the social relationships within her club. The beautiful structure that had placed Nana at the top with everyone serving her had crumbled. Nana had been deposed from her throne, and, after a successful coup d’etat, the reign of the new queen, Shizuku Ashu, had begun. The office chair with the elbow rests that had been Nana’s special seat before had now become Shizuku’s, and the guys who had been attentive to Nana in everything she did now only had eyes for Shizuku. It wasn’t like they were treating her coldly—more like her presence was being forgotten. The guys would look at Shizuku like they were spellbound, and only afterward would they shift their gazes over to Nana to say with their eyes, “Oh yeah, was she here, too?” It was true that the eyes spoke more than the mouth. Precisely because they never put it into words, you knew they never lied.

Ironically, the one who was kindest to Nana was Shizuku. When Nana came, Shizuku would pull out a chair for her, saying, “Here,” and offer her the snacks she liked. But this was not true kindness. It was nothing more than an expression of her security around someone who had fallen to a lower rank. Nana privately smothered her humiliation and anger, accepting the snacks with a smile, crunching them in her mouth. No matter how sweet the taste, this was still a bitter hardship to endure.

Is this woman that much better than me?

Nana didn’t let such thoughts leave her mouth, instead swallowing them together with the snacks.

The games started to revolve around Shizuku, and the rules changed to put her at an advantage. One guy brought in a mountain of manga he said he wanted Shizuku to read; one brought in some video games he wanted her to play; another gave her a tablet, saying it would be convenient for her to have. The onslaught of presents escalated further and further and couldn’t be stopped. Nothing of this sort had happened even once before with Nana.

When Shizuku offered to walk her to the train station, Nana refused her with the brightest of smiles, then returned to the apartment building where she lived and stood in front of the mirror.

Appearance-wise, Nana didn’t even want to consider comparing herself with Shizuku. But it wasn’t as if Nana was ugly. She was on the pretty side, in fact. Shizuku was just abnormally good-looking.

In fact, Nana was actually superior in terms of girlishness and cuteness. She had never seen Shizuku wearing a skirt. Her various rather fashionable items of clothing, such as her thin leather suspenders, her coat, worn with a silver chain instead of a belt, and her boots with lots of straps, were more masculine than feminine, and her makeup wasn’t only natural in style—she applied little in general. As the nickname of “the Prince” implied, she gave off a strongly androgynous impression.

Though Nana hadn’t been putting much effort into her makeup at all lately, either. Her fake eyelashes were drying up in the back of her makeup drawer. From now on she would avoid overly thick makeup and apply it in as natural a way as possible, but she had one more concern that loomed larger. It was something she hadn’t wanted to think about, if she could avoid it.

In front of the mirror, Nana spun around—once to the right and once to the left. Her strawberry-speckled skirt fluttered up, but Nana turned heavily. Her legs did not move smoothly.

The cause was clear. Three months had passed since she’d begun avoiding standing on the scale. For better or for worse, she had gained weight. Although she was part of a sports club, they hardly moved around at all, much less got actual exercise; they did nothing but chat. She nibbled snacks and drank juice, and at the parties they had every week or two, she drank and ate a lot. Not that she’d shamefully conspired to eat and drink lots because it was on someone else’s dime. The refreshments were just tasty. Chicken karaage, fries, deep-fried squid rings, roasted potatoes with butter—the common izakaya menu was so good, and along with some beer, she could eat it forever.

And she didn’t exercise. Plus, as someone who gained weight easily, of course this would make her gain weight. Nana had put herself through the wringer before—studying for entrance exams while simultaneously dieting, with the goal of losing thirty pounds before starting university—and the result had been that she’d become wonderfully slim and had started school as a new woman. But that had been a long time ago. If she gained any more weight, she’d go over the level she’d been at before starting university.

Nana made up her mind. She was going on a diet. You could say this time would be easier, since it wasn’t coming in a set with entrance exams. So it was doable. She could pull it off. Nana’s oasis was for Nana alone. She couldn’t let some newcomer mess it up. She would diet, lose weight, and regain her former glory, and once again, Nana would reign as the queen.

One month after deciding to go on a diet, Nana looked at the display on the scale and sighed. This past month, though there had been little rises and dips, overall her weight had been stable, and nothing had changed. She hadn’t gained, but she hadn’t lost any, either. She was using the treadmill she’d bought online for thirty minutes every morning and night. She’d stopped having the rare blueberry cheesecake from the cake shop Lalalanti, restraining herself by biting on a wrung handkerchief. She’d stopped drinking juice and went with tea. She didn’t use the elevator, taking the stairs instead. Any distance of about one station, she walked. All these various efforts had brought her no results. She was just denying herself while maintaining the current situation.

The club was still under Shizuku’s dominion, and with her weight unchanged, Nana could do nothing. Even when she didn’t come for a bit, and then came back to the club, they didn’t greet her with “Long time no see” or “You haven’t come by lately, what happened?” She merely got a normal “Hello” or “Welcome” or “Hey.” They didn’t even notice her absence, did they?

She stepped off the scale, and the display went blank. She didn’t want to see that display, so she sighed with relief when it was gone, and then she got down on herself for feeling relieved and sighed again, putting on her underwear and pajamas, then sitting down in the rattan chair by the window. The stars were sparkling in the sky. Surely the star who sparkled strongest was Shizuku. But Nana wanted to be the brightest star in her club, at least.

Still looking up at the night sky, Nana thought back on herself over this past month. Just where had she gone wrong? Why hadn’t she managed to lose weight? She hadn’t turned down the parties, but that was because she didn’t want to wind up forgotten. So then she had no choice but to go along with these mandatory events, partaking only a little—no, she got the feeling that the problem wasn’t a few snacks here or there. Things that Nana liked, like karaage and fries, would show up, even though she hadn’t ordered them, and they’d be placed in front of her, too, so she’d eat them without thinking. This had happened not just once, but two or three times already.

Hmm?

Something like a flash of insight crossed her mind.

It wasn’t just the karaage and fries at the drinking parties. It was something that happened normally in the club room. The new Chips Bar flavors would be offered to her, and she would pick them up thoughtlessly. But nobody there liked Chips Bars except for Nana. The club members all had different tastes—one of the guys liked chocolates, another liked cookies, another liked salted senbei, another liked brown sugar syrup karinto—so everyone would bring their own favorites. Everyone knew that Nana liked Mutoh Co.’s Chips Bar series, and before Shizuku had come, they had competed to get it for her. But currently Nana’s charisma had been lost, and nobody would bother to get her favorites. So then why were there Chips Bars? And every day, too.

Nana touched her finger to her chin and leaned forward.

It was odd. Something was there that shouldn’t be. Even at drinking parties, all the things Nana liked kept showing up in front of her… Who had been present then? Nana got to her feet and took one of the high-quality ice cream cups from the freezer and opened the seal. She needed to give her brain some sugar to search her memories.

A few days later, at the club, one thing differed from the usual. When Shizuku offered to walk her home, Nana agreed. Leaving behind the guys, who seemed sad to see them go, the two of them headed to the station. On the way, the gazes of both men and women gathered on Shizuku. Shizuku paid no mind at all to their looks of surprise or envy. Not even their warm expressions got her attention. She walked boldly on. Nana was the only one minding the eyes of others, but nobody was staring at her. They all only had eyes for Shizuku.

“Are you okay?” Nana must have seemed melancholy, as Shizuku, walking beside her, put out her hand with a worried expression.

But Nana shook her head, raising a palm at her.

Before long, they were at the station, and after waiting about five minutes, they got on the second car of the three-car train.

Sitting by Shizuku’s side with one fist’s worth of distance between them, Nana sighed. “Ashu.”

“What?” Shizuku looked at Nana with surprise.

As far as Nana could remember, she’d never been the one to address Shizuku, up until now. Because there had been no reason to. Now it was different. Nana continued. “Do you like Chips Bars?”

“No…I’m not much into snacks.” Shizuku’s expression turned glum. Even frowning, she was pretty.

Nana cleared her throat to keep her irritation from showing on her face and continued. “I’ve heard you’re the one who’s been bringing the Chips Bars to the club room.”

“Yeah, um…”

“You would buy something you don’t like?”

“Well, I…” Embarrassed, Shizuku glanced down. That was basically an acknowledgment.

Nana decided to take things a step further. “Were you buying them for me?”

“Ah…yes, I was. Since I heard you like them.”

“And during parties, you ordered fried chicken and squid rings.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“But you don’t eat them yourself.”

“I don’t really like greasy food.”

“So those were also for me to eat?”

“Mm-hmm…” Shizuku crossed her ridiculously long legs the other way, putting both hands to her forehead as she dropped her head and closed her eyes. Her cheeks were slightly reddened. It seemed she was normal enough to be ashamed at the exposure of her evil deeds.

But just because she felt ashamed was no reason to forgive her.

“Why were you trying to get me to eat them?” Nana asked, despite knowing the reason already. Shizuku’s sabotage had caused Nana’s diet to fail. She’d been unable to lose weight and had not managed to regain her position within the club.

Shizuku began to speak in little fragments, as if it were difficult to say. “You’ve just…you’ve seemed down lately, Habutae.”

That’s your fault, Nana thought, but she wouldn’t say that.

“You’ve been eating less, too.”

So then Shizuku had been observing her. No surprise there. Many times, Nana would look up only to meet Shizuku’s gaze and reflexively smile. From Shizuku’s perspective, someone like Nana had to be worthless and nothing else, so then why was there a need to observe her this much to drive her down?

“So then you tempted me to eat a lot,” Nana said.

“I thought if it was something you liked, maybe you’d eat it. I just felt like if you didn’t eat something, you wouldn’t cheer up.”

Nana could hear the unpleasant sound of her teeth grinding together inside her mouth. This was not an appropriate display of shame for the exposure of her wicked deeds. Even now that her deeds had been outed, she was still making excuses for herself. There was no way she could honestly think such a poor justification would pass. She was most certainly thinking that she had to commit to the excuse, as a front; she had to have a reason to keep from getting blamed or insulted. She just didn’t want to be cast as the bad guy.

Nana stole a glance at Shizuku’s face. It was tilted down, her expression a bit serious, eyes closed. It seemed like the redness that colored her cheeks had deepened. This wasn’t reddening from shame. She was excited by the joy of toying with Nana. There was no mistaking it.

The train car rattled, and Nana’s bottom bounced up half an inch, then fell right away. Feeling her flesh jiggle doubled her frustration and irritation, and, still smiling, Nana clenched her teeth.

Shizuku was acknowledging the truth, but not her wrongdoings. But Nana had already anticipated this somewhat. Shizuku didn’t at all look like the type who would apologize and say she was at fault.

If Shizuku wasn’t going to apologize, then that was fine. Plan A was not the only tactic Nana had. There was also plan B.

The key here was Shizuku’s motive—her motive in joining the club, and also her motive in trying to tear Nana down. There had to be a reason that Shizuku, who already led a fulfilling life, would come all the way down to this haunt for losers in the club building. She would also need a reason to want to suppress Nana, and Nana had made some inferences about the reason for that.

“Ashu.”

“Yeah?” Shizuku lifted her head and looked at Nana, who smiled brightly.

“You’re interested in someone in the club, aren’t you?”

Yes, it was love. If there was someone in the club Shizuku liked, it would all make sense. Seeing her crush fawning over Nana along with the rest of the group, Shizuku would have felt uneasy. If her goal was to beat down Nana, her rival in love, and date the object of her affections to win herself a happily-ever-after, then Nana was fully willing to cooperate, as much as it took. Nana would be lying if she said she had no reserves about helping out someone who had made her suffer such a miserable fate, but nevertheless, if it would bring back her old peaceful days, then it was for the best.

No matter which of the guys in the club Shizuku were to date, Nana didn’t care. To her, they were ultimately only for fawning over her, and she held personal affection for none of them. They were not at all her type. She didn’t know whom Shizuku liked, but she thought Shizuku was a pretty good catch. There had to be tons of men in her life who were attractive and had brighter futures, but perhaps it was just as the saying went, and there was no accounting for taste.

Nana turned to Shizuku, who turned to Nana, then got flustered and looked away, turning toward the seat in front of her. Shizuku’s eyes focused on nothing, her hands tightly clenched in her lap. Her cheeks were quite red. There was no mistaking it—Shizuku was anxious because Nana had hit the nail on the head.

Pausing for a few breaths, Shizuku spoke softly. “Interested, um…well.”

“Well?”

“Do you remember the applied math seminar?”

Nana didn’t let her internal surprise show on the surface. Their eyes had met, but she had thought she’d been the only one aware of that. It couldn’t be—Shizuku was saying she remembered that moment?

“Oh, yes,” said Nana.

“Our eyes met, right? Then you smiled and I…felt…happy…”

Nana was shocked. Shizuku said something more, but Nana didn’t even hear it. Nana had thought that it was only wild animals or people of the criminal stripe who took eye contact as a challenge. Shizuku was saying that since their eyes had met that time, she had decided to beat Nana down.

No—it wasn’t simply that their eyes had met. Nana remembered her initial impression then, that the two of them would not be able to be friends. If Shizuku had felt the same thing, then wouldn’t that mean she’d believed she was being glared at, scowled at, and sneered at, too, by someone she really hated?

Now Nana could finally actually understand what the redness tingeing Shizuku’s cheeks meant. That was anger. She was worked into such a fury, it had caused her to go red.

Nana panicked. If Shizuku’s goal was hostility, to bring Nana down, then there was no plan A or plan B. Nana would be driven out from her heart’s oasis, and, depending on Shizuku’s whim, there might be even more to come. Just the thought that Shizuku might come over to steal Nana’s place, no matter where she went, made her cringe in on herself. Shizuku Ashu was capable enough to be able to pull that much off easily, and she had the cruelty and callousness needed to do it without hesitation, too.

“So, here…” Before she knew it, Shizuku was handing her something. It was a little scrap of paper. Turning it over, Nana was shocked. In venomous-looking colors, in a hair-raising font like blood clots, was written SISTER OF THE DEAD, and depicted there was a hellscape of rotten bodies flailing around a nun who was crying and wailing and trying to escape. Nana just about dropped it on reflex, and steadied the hand that held the paper with her other hand.

“Um…,” said Shizuku, “I wasn’t sure about suddenly going for a zombie movie, but I hear it’s been well received by regular viewers who weren’t fans of zombies.”

“Ah…oh, a movie ticket.”

The train announcement told the name of the next station. It was Nana’s stop. She scolded her mush-feeling knees and stood. And more importantly than her home being close, she just didn’t want to be here.

“Um, I have to get off soon, so,” said Nana.

“I’ll walk you home.”

She shivered. What did Shizuku intend to do, knowing where she lived? Did she mean to say that she wouldn’t leave Nana alone, not only at school, but even in her own home, her place of rest?

“No, it’s fine. I’ll be all right.” Repeating, “I’ll be all right,” Nana held Shizuku back and somehow got off the train.

Shizuku called out behind her, “Then at ten this Sunday. In front of the girl statue at the station.”

Huh?

Nana turned around to see Shizuku waving. In her hand was clasped the same thing Nana held—a tasteless zombie movie ticket—and Nana understood what Shizuku was saying. The train rattled as it left, and then the noise and swaying were gone, and in its wake Nana was left there alone, slumped to the ground.

Nana prayed to God. Why must I be tortured this badly, simply because our eyes met? Is something so unfair allowed? Whatever will become of me, being forced to watch such a grotesque and creepy movie? If you have even the slightest mercy, then please, save me!

There was no God, but that which was not divine reached out to her with the hand of salvation.

“And so now you’ll be working as a magical girl, pon.”

Nana looked at the palm of her hand, then turned it around to look at the back. Her skin felt smooth like porcelain, and soft—and these were not her short, round fingers. They were long and elegant, like Shizuku’s.

She stood up, walked around. Though that was all she was doing, she could tell her body moved lighter, quicker, more like she wanted it to. Not only could she walk like a model—she could do a somersault in the air, too.

She stood in front of the mirror. A sigh of “Ahh” slipped out of her. This was not the Nana Habutae who would stress eat snacks in her pajamas and guzzle down beer. There stood a beautiful nun, just like Sister Nana, her avatar in the game, made real. When she combed her fingers through her hair, the strands slid between her fingers like silk threads. She did it over and over, but the beautiful curls maintained their shape and didn’t fall apart.

Her thighs were boldly exposed, and her chest was front and center like she was showing it off. She was voluptuous, but not at all fat. It was a balanced physique. Wonderful. This was what she had wanted.

“Hey, hey, are you listening, pon?”

“Of course…I’m listening, Fav.” Even her voice was different. It was bright and clear.

She picked up the jar of face cream from her dresser. She shook it, but it was empty. Holding the jar in her right hand, Sister Nana squeezed it just slightly. The thick glass jar shattered, making a mess on top of the dresser. Slowly opening her palm, she found it still beautifully smooth, with not a single scratch.

The place where she belonged was something she had to protect, something she had to win. Being a magical girl was a means to that end. No matter what foul methods Shizuku might use, with the power of a magical girl—with the power of Sister Nana—she could strike back.

The long-awaited Sunday came. Today was the day she would put an end to her grievances with her mortal enemy, Shizuku Ashu. Nana ate breakfast and dessert, the smooth, soft, and thick cream pudding she’d gotten for herself the day before, to get herself pumped up. She was full of energy, not anxiety. She just had to act naturally and not give in to any of the pressure. She transformed into the magical girl Sister Nana, put a coat on over her fancy costume, and stepped out.

The statue where they were meeting was two stations away, but if she left an hour before, she could make it by walking leisurely. Sister Nana wanted to walk. After one whole step out of her apartment, she felt eyes on her. An elementary school kid out riding a bike with friends stopped, and a middle-aged jogger running with their dog on a leash ahead of them got dragged along by the dog. Sister Nana couldn’t help but remember the other day, when she’d been walking beside Shizuku. Today, Nana was the star of the show. Basking in the attention, she took her time on her way to the station, enjoying herself, and arrived in front of the statue of the girl. Shizuku was already waiting there, reading a paperback with a leather book cover in one hand. The image of her reading was picture perfect—but today, Nana was just as perfect.

Sister Nana had an idea. She would say she was a friend of Nana’s and apologize, and tell Shizuku that Nana couldn’t come because something had come up at the last minute. And then she would intimidate her. She would shove her magical-girl beauty in Shizuku’s face—you could call this an otherworldly beauty a human could never have—and teach her a lesson: There are people in the world above even the best, Shizuku Ashu.

As a magical girl, she could win. As a magical girl, she could do this. She wouldn’t have to feel frustrated anymore. She wouldn’t have anything stolen from her.

Keeping a cool attitude, Sister Nana slowly raised her right hand. “Good morning.”

Shizuku looked up, and she started to smile that charming smile of hers, but then a shadow immediately fell over her face. “Who are you?”

“I’m a friend of Nana Habutae’s.”

Just as planned, Sister Nana told her that Nana couldn’t be there because something had come up, and that she was very sorry. With her ample chest boldly puffed out, Sister Nana apologized without reservation and bowed her head. She felt like she was no lesser than Shizuku, that she was even better, in fact, and having the inferiority complex that had clung to her all this time melt away felt so good. She brought all these feelings together to turn on Shizuku.

The more Sister Nana spoke, the more the gloom in Shizuku’s face grew and deepened, and by the time Nana was done, her expression had turned halfway to hostile. This was not the usual Shizuku. This got Sister Nana’s heart racing, but, confident that this wouldn’t bring about her loss, she chose to look back boldly.

Shizuku thrust her hands into her coat pockets, burying everything below the nose in her scarf. This rough, or rather brusque, gesture was a rare sight from her, and though she didn’t make any accusations, it made Sister Nana’s heart pound.

“Then let’s go.” And just like that, Shizuku turned around and started walking. Sister Nana hurried after her.

What did she mean by “Let’s go?” Where was she saying they would go?

“Ah, um—”

“You’re coming with me to the movie instead of Habutae, right?”

Sister Nana had said nothing of the sort. But Shizuku strode off briskly with the most unapproachable attitude. She had long legs, so she moved quickly. Scurrying after her, Sister Nana thought, Is she not scared by Sister Nana’s beauty?

No, that wasn’t it. Maybe she wasn’t frightened by it, but she was irritated. She was confused that it wasn’t Nana Habutae, who had been nothing more than a target to bully, and was no longer concealing her aggression. It was affecting her, without a doubt. The real game began now.

They arrived at the movie theater, handed over the tickets, and went inside and took their seats. Even seated, Sister Nana was not at all calm. She wasn’t into zombie movies in the first place. What was so interesting about a movie with gushing blood and spewing guts?

Just as she’d expected, Nana blanched at all the gore in the film. She glanced over at Shizuku, but she never looked away from the screen, watching with a sour expression. If it wasn’t interesting, then she could simply not watch it, and she could’ve just not invited Nana to begin with. Nana could hardly even grasp what was going on in the story, and while she was still filled with thoughts like, That was scary and I don’t really get it and What’s so fun about this? the movie came to an end. The ending theme was death metal with growling vocals that made her want to plug her ears, and there was absolutely nothing good she could say about this movie, beginning to end. If this was a psychological attack from Shizuku, then it had succeeded.

To Nana’s shock, the rest of the audience seemed satisfied, saying things like, “That was fun!” or “This one part was so good” to their friends, family, and partners. Nana and Shizuku were the only two to leave the place quickly without saying anything, despite having seen the film together.

Leaving the theater, Shizuku strode over to a vending machine. “You okay with oolong tea?”

“Ah, yes.”

Shizuku bought two cans of oolong tea, one for herself and one that she tossed over to Sister Nana, then sat down heavily in a corner of the lobby in a plastic chair set beside the vending machine.

“Go ahead,” Shizuku prompted, and Nana was forced to take a seat in the chair on the opposite side of the table. She didn’t open the drink, just holding it in her right hand. She felt as if the cold were coming through her hand to cool her head.

“So…,” Shizuku began.

“Yes?”

“What’s your relationship with Habutae?” Shizuku’s expression was still dark.

Sister Nana had been hard-hit mentally by the zombie movie, but she deliberately straightened herself up. “I believe I’ve told you that she’s a friend.”

“A friend? Really? I can’t believe that.”

“Why not?”

“It’s hard to put it in words. But I can tell. You’re not family, not friends, but you have a deep, strong bond. I can feel it. It’s crystal clear.”

Shizuku was overwhelmingly sharp, but still, Nana couldn’t acknowledge it. She remembered quite well being told that if a magical girl’s identity became known, her qualifications would be stripped from her. Right now, being a magical girl was all of her hopes, the thread of her salvation. She couldn’t sever it with her own hands.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…,” said Nana.

“You’re gonna play dumb?”

“I’m not playing dumb!”

There was a soft tap as Shizuku laid a little case atop the table. “I meant to give this to Habutae when she came.”

Sister Nana gulped. Opening the case revealed an adorable ring. “This is…for Habutae…? Why?”

“I meant to ask her to date me, officially.”

“Wha?” With that sound, the oolong tea in Sister Nana’s right hand exploded. Unable to withstand her grip strength, the contents spewed out as it was crushed in her palm.

“Incredible grip strength you got there,” remarked Shizuku. “So you’re threatening me?”

“Huh? H-hold on. I’m not trying to threaten—”

“I don’t care who you are—I’m not gonna lose to you.”

“Huh? Huh?”

“Remember that.” Shizuku practically kicked the chair away to stand, and Sister Nana stumbled to her feet, reaching out for Shizuku’s back as she left, but she was too far away.

Still, Nana somehow managed to call out, “Why…why?!”

“I just want her to keep smiling.” Shizuku made no move to turn around.

Sister Nana shot back with even more vehemence, “But you’re both women!”

Shizuku stopped and turned to face Sister Nana. Her expression was startlingly calm. “That’s only a trivial matter where love is concerned,” she spat, but it also sounded like an admonition, or just like a murmur. Then she turned back around, and, with the sound of her footsteps, disappeared into the crowd. Sister Nana collapsed into her chair.

Nana’s mind was swimming: What is she talking about? What an embarrassing thing to say. I could never fall for someone like that. But each thought disappeared like a sea of bubbles as it failed to capture her emotions in that moment. She couldn’t even try getting up from the chair. What had Shizuku just said? What was going on? She didn’t know. The words she’d heard only a moment ago were spinning around in her confused head. Sister Nana breathed out an “Ahh.”