Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 11 - Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

LET’S MAKE MORE FRIENDS

  Pfle

“Hello, hello, I’m Pfle.”

“Lethe.”

“Hello, all, I’m Hamuel. These are Shufflin IIs: a two and three of hearts.” The three magical girls each took seats.

Pfle smiled and turned to the window at her right. “Thank you very much for inviting me. What a wonderful room. The carpet is so soft, and the view is superb.”

“Oh, not at all, it’s very much an emergency temporary stronghold,” said Hamuel. “It’s exceedingly embarrassing that this is the only place we have to welcome you… But more pertinently, it would truly be most heartening if we could have the cooperation of the Magical Girl Resources Department.”

“I’m very grateful you would say that of us.”

“So? Pfle, you said, eh? I heard you brought me gifts,” Lethe said.

Pfle nodded. “The first is not a gift based on my position, however. A certain inspector, upon hearing report from a good citizen that a magical girl had been kidnapped and confined in the Puk estate, went there to investigate. However, she reports that there, she was attacked by magical girls under Puk Puck’s command. And she just barely managed to escape this dire situation.”

“Oh-ho. A fine pretext…,” said Lethe. “I mean, so she’s been up to no good, eh?”

“Indeed,” Hamuel agreed. “And she can’t explain it away by saying her subordinates did it on their own. A proper investigation must be done, including on Puk Puck.”

“Ensure that it’s arranged, eh.”

“Yes’m. However, after so foolishly attacking a mage of the Inspection Department and then allowing her escape, wouldn’t they have surmised that Inspection would be making a move on them? Though they might be somewhat unprepared, I would suggest the possibility that they may act before the authorities arrive.”

“This is Puk Puck,” Lethe pointed out. “No matter how much of a hurry she’s in, she spends an hour simply changing clothes, eh. Add in transportation time, that makes around two hours… So then deal with the legal procedures in accordance with precedent within thirty minutes, and send the Inspection Department to her estate. Be sure to seize everything that can be seized.”

“Yes’m. Then I’ll make the arrangements for that as well.”

As she listened to Lethe and Hamuel’s exchange, Pfle’s cheeks relaxed into a smile, and she clapped her hands. “What marvelous efficiency. So then perhaps we should also contact the ruins. It would be a good idea to firm up the defenses or gather soldiers or whatnot, wouldn’t it?”

“Ensure it’s done, Hamuel.”

“Yes’m.”

Pfle nodded and raised her right hand, sticking up her index and middle fingers. “And then the second item. I have some highly trustworthy information acquired through a certain channel. And it’s rather intriguing.”

“Intriguing, you say?” said Hamuel.

“I heard that activating the device will make Puk Puck become friends with all magical girls.”

“Friends?”

“Yes, friends. I would assume that includes those like ourselves—her enemies—among those who will become her friends, but I don’t know how. If I told you no more than this, it might sound like a simple joke. Perhaps it seems like nothing but the most ludicrous nonsense. But it bothers me. Though this is only hearsay, it’s strangely stuck with me. My impression is this runs deeper than a simple expression of Puk Puck’s idiosyncrasies. Being that you and your associates have information, you may be able to more precisely assess what it is the Puk Faction is truly attempting to do.”

“Mm-hmm,” said Lethe. “Hamuel, tell the research team—that Puk Puck is trying to become friends with all magical girls, eh.”

“Yes’m.”

“Well, though rather than being information from Magical Girl Resources, I might call this information from a source I just happened to know,” said Pfle. “In either case, I am nothing more than a messenger, so as it stands, I will not be able to take pride in having been useful… So I will employ some magical girls who work as mercenaries and take them along. While I’m sure this is obstruction from the Puk Faction, there are some groundless rumors going about that the Osk Faction is using magical girls as experimental subjects. And because of that, mercenary magical girls are not keen to side with the Osk Faction.”

Hamuel nodded gravely. “…That is indeed inconvenient.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I can do something about that on my end,” Pfle continued. “Since that’s a Magical Girl Resources issue, after all. I have already secured some magical girls with reliable backgrounds who I can assure you are not under Puk Puck’s influence. They are my subordinates. If need be, I shall lead them myself to join the battle. I would hope you won’t think of me as merely that frail girl from Magical Girl Resources. All of mine are worth a thousand fighters. I have a roster of them right here.”

“Thank you very much,” said Hamuel. “Then I’ll take a look right away… Um, this is…a magical girl who manifests shadows? And…a magical girl who wields a trident and…uses powers…of ice…huh.”

“They look strong, don’t they? Oh, they are in fact strong.”

“Oh, yes…I’m sure they are.”

“Hamuel,” said Lethe, “you look pale.”

“Not at all, oh no. I’m in quite perfect health. There are many things to discuss more important than my pallor. Many things, right?”

Pfle reached out over the table and picked up one milk-white chocolate. “May I have this chocolate?”

“Oh, yes, please, go right ahead.”

“Hmm, the flavor melts on the tongue. It’s been quite some time since I’ve had sweets. It goes so well with this tea.”

“Pfle,” said Lethe, “if you’re so willing to cooperate, you must be seeking recompense. In the first place, you… Hamuel, of which faction is she?”

“I have some sense that the head of Magical Girl Resources, for some generations, may have been of the Caspar Faction, or maybe not,” said Hamuel.

“Indeed,” said Lethe. “In the case that we and the Caspar Faction were to cooperate, you would have taken this to the Caspars, going through the upper ranks to inform me of this, which would score points for the Caspar Faction as a whole. If you would go over their heads to contact me yourself, you must have some goal in mind, eh.”

“Oh no,” Pfle said, “though my department may be of that faction, it’s not as if I have any sense of personal affiliation with them. I’ve received no gifts from them, and neither have I paid compensation to them, either. It’s simply that over the generations, such affiliation has been assumed.”

“So then do you mean to say,” Lethe replied, “you would sever ties with the Caspars to follow the Osk Faction instead?”

“I’m not concerned with affiliations. The party presently taking the lead in the assault on the Puks is not the Caspars but the Osks, which is why I’ve brought this proposal to you. This is not seeking association for the sake of future stability. Rather, I mean to get along because there’s something I want currently—that’s my angle.”

Lethe leveled an evaluating gaze at Pfle. “I shall listen.”

“As I’m sure you are already aware, Puk Puck is gathering a large number of magical girls to use their magic to activate the device.”

“You’re very informed, eh.”

“Thanks to my information sources. And among the magical girls captured by the Puk Faction is one called Shadow Gale. She has been ensorcelled by Puk Puck’s magic and is being forced to cooperate, but she’s my subordinate. I want her returned in one piece.”

“Hmm. So the rescue of your subordinate is your first priority? What a fine leader.”

“Oh yes…I fully agree,” said Hamuel.

“What’s wrong, Hamuel? Do you have something to say, eh?”

“No, nothing.”

“I’ve been attempting to get her back,” Pfle continued, “but it just hasn’t been going well. I’m sure your antennae are longer, so I think you would also be aware how hard put we’ve been—haven’t you?”

“Haven’t you, Hamuel?”

“Oh…I couldn’t say…”

“Well, then, no matter,” said Pfle. “Whatever the case, Shadow Gale’s safety is enough recompense. Though she is an important figure in this ceremony, I would ask that you not do anything like send an assassin to kill her or blow everything up, ruins and all. If you would put your oath into form, by promissory note or seal of blood, then let us cooperate. I’ll be counting on you.”

  Puk Puck

In the end, Uluru disappeared. It had been a bad idea to be considerate and let her rest for a bit after losing her sisters. That decision had led to the loss of a dear friend.

It wasn’t like there were no restrictions to Puk Puck’s magic ability to make friends. If she turned her powers up high, her magic would neglect others by an equal margin. There were so many other magical girls she wanted to be friends with, and because of that, she’d wound up splitting from Uluru. Puk Puck sighed in sadness and grief.

She’d been told that a mage from the Inspection Department had been present when Uluru had been trying to flee the estate. Puk Puck’s friends had attacked the mage in an attempt to get Uluru back, but they’d let her get away. Puk Puck had expressed her gratitude with a “Thanks, thanks!” to all the friends who had done their best, and she honestly was thankful to them, but now she had a problem. If the Osk Faction found out about Puk Puck’s friends having attacked a mage from Inspection, that would be giving them a pretext. They’d march right over to Puk Puck’s place, spouting a mix of fact and fiction, and try to get in the way of the ceremony. She couldn’t have that. She didn’t want that.

Puk Puck had discussed this with Snow White, who had said they should take action right away. Puk Puck had agreed, and then, figuring she’d take about an hour to get changed, she’d begun selecting clothes. Snow White had stopped her, saying she could just change in the car. Such a rude proposal had shocked Puk Puck a lot, but once she pictured it, it seemed fun and new, like an adventure. After a bit of waffling, Puk Puck accepted Snow White’s proposal.

When the truck turned the sixty-sixth corner after leaving the estate, Puk Puck felt a lightness as if her body had suddenly disappeared. The scenery faded, blurring as if it were melting away, and the car navigation screen went all wonky, showing an error dialog. Her consciousness faded along with the scenery, and by the time she came to, they were driving through a completely different place. Puk Puck squeezed a fist and opened it again, checking again that she was indeed present. No matter how many times she experienced magical travel, she never got used to it.

She was somewhere entirely different now—almost like a new world. This place was like a microcosm created to transfer the device somewhere with no external threats in order to preserve it and the ruins around it forever and ever. Anything lovely or cute had been deemed useless and omitted, so it was desolate in every direction. Even aside from cute things, all else had been thought capable of “leading to danger that would harm the ruins,” so there was truly nothing more than the necessary minimum in this world. There were no animals and no plants. Everything about it was contrary to Puk Puck’s taste.

The trucks ran down a road that was practically untouched by the hands of man; it was like it had been carved straight out of the wasteland. There was nothing around save for the open landscape, and without the road, they would have just been going straight along without knowing which way to go. The speedometer indicated seventy-five miles an hour. Far ahead down this road were the ruins, and the device.

The ruins and their legacy, made by the First Mage, who might be called the god of the Magical Kingdom, were a national treasure, a gift from God. Their preservation and maintenance were things the Three Sages were supposed to take full responsibility for tackling together. However, considering what was happening next, that wasn’t that important.

Presently, the ruins where the device lay were heavily guarded by the Osk Faction. In order to fight off those who would use the legacy left by the First Mage for ill, they had put up a magical barrier and built a great wall and gate, stationing plenty of skilled fighters and homunculi there. This made Puk Puck sad—now wasn’t the time to be doing something like that. This wasn’t the time for the Three Sages to be bickering among each other, but the Osks wouldn’t listen to her. They just kept repeating like some schoolteacher, “It’s dangerous, so we can’t.”

The time was coming when they would have to use it, even if it was dangerous. No matter how Puk Puck explained it, the Osk Faction wouldn’t listen, and even the Caspar Faction, which had once voted in agreement, apparently had been offered a variety of payoffs by the Osks. Now the Caspars were starting to say that since it was so important, they wanted to have another meeting to discuss it. It was quite uncertain where the future was headed.

Puk Puck had cheered herself up, telling herself she couldn’t be discouraged by this. She’d made up her mind that even if she wound up on her own, she had to do what she could for the Magical Kingdom’s future. When she had shared her valiant determination with her friends, they’d all wept, and Puk Puck, who was kinder than anyone, neatly wiped away their tears with her soft and velvety magic handkerchief.

All eighteen trucks made their way onward in perfect order with no hiccups. Their load of shipping containers swaying, they approached their goal, and in about fifteen minutes, they stopped in front of the giant gates. Puk Puck agonized over what to change into, saying, “Should I go with this, or should I go with that?” before selecting a pure white robe. Its sleeves fluttered cutely as she stepped out alone from the truck at the head of the line. This robe was the Three Sages’ formal wear.

Her friends, led by Snow White, were trying to follow, but she restrained them with a bright smile and strolled up to the gates. She looked right, left, and up, then looked ahead. Not a single tree grew in this vast wasteland, but there were two small mountains nestled together. Between them was a narrow ravine. The entrance to the ruins was beyond that ravine, but the way to the ravine was blocked by giant gates—firmly closed, as if trying to drive away Puk Puck and her friends.

That was a very sad thing. If the gates were indeed trying to drive her away, as if her enemies had no intention of getting along even without meeting her, then they couldn’t become friends. That was a massive loss. All her friends said the same thing: Just thinking about a life where they didn’t know Puk Puck made them feel heartsick. Even if they were enemies right now, she couldn’t let them feel like that.

Puk Puck took one more step forward and raised her hands in front of her. “People inside the gates!”

The air shook.

“Hey, are you listening? This gate’s made so it’s controlled from the inside, right? So that means there’s people running it, right? Can’t you hear Puk’s voice?”

At the top of the gate, near the peak of the arch-shaped part, there was a camera. It was most likely used to look at any visitors before the people inside decided whether they would be allowed entry.

The air shook with greater intensity. Puk Puck stroked the surface of the gate with both hands, then put her right palm to her lips. Before you could even be startled, she had blown a kiss at the camera. “Come be friends with Puk.”

The shuddering burst. The gates swayed wildly.

Puk Puck looked right, left, up, and then ahead of her. Shuddering all the while, the massive gates slowly inched open, until eventually they were fully spread wide. Puk Puck’s smile was brilliant, brimming with gratitude and joy. “Thanks so much.”

Hurrying back to the lead truck with a skip in her step, she slid into the custom-made front passenger seat that had lots of fluffy cushions, pointing ahead to order, “Go!”

With a sincere joy from the bottom of her heart, the driver smiled and picked up her radio. “Lady Puk has opened the gates.”

“No, no, Puk made friends with the gatekeeper,” Puk told her.

“Pardon me. Lady Puk has made friends with the gatekeeper, and has had them open the gates from the inside. We will be passing through in order, from vehicle A. The region ahead is under the Osk Faction’s control. All personnel, operate just like in training. Good luck.”

The truck started off. Puk Puck turned on the stereo. A song she’d never heard before was playing.

“The world is full of things Puk’s never seen or heard. Even having the title of one of the Three Sages, there’s tons of stuff Puk doesn’t know. That’s what makes learning so fun. There’s joy in making new friends. Right?”

Snow White nodded, and Puk Puck slipped her small, cute little hand into Snow White’s palm and squeezed it. Snow White was momentarily stunned before she hesitantly and timidly, with slowly increasing strength, squeezed back.

Puk Puck opened the window and leaned out.

“Isn’t that dangerous?” asked Snow White.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. You’re holding my hand, Snowy Sis.”

Puk Puck whistled along to that song she didn’t know—it was chipper and up-tempo, just perfect for Puk Puck at that moment—as she gazed at the scenery. The desolate ravine bottom of rocks and boulders and nothing else, the large trucks driving on through it in a line while stirring up dust, everything about this would usually be not at all to her taste, but right now she was unbearably happy about it.

“Puk’s come here a bunch of times before, you know,” Puk said.

“Yes.”

“But Puk’s never been as happy about it as right now.”

With dust billowing behind it, her truck drove onward, crushing rocks as it turned. It turned again, never slowing its speed of seventy-five miles per hour as it approached its goal with flawless control.

They came to an open space that looked as if it had been made by carving out the steep mountains around it. This basin-like spot was a few kilometers across, and on the other side, there was a hole in the rock face. That was the entrance to the ruins, and inside there was the device.

A bunch of magical girls were running through the basin, yelling as they approached. The truck raced forward, ignoring them, and the yelling girls jumped aside to avoid the truck—they were trying to do something to the vehicle, but right as they passed by, their eyes met with Puk Puck’s, and they got these befuddled smiles on their faces and dropped their weapons, then just watched the truck go.

Coming up to the entrance to the ruins, the truck braked, making a long slide sideways, sending up billowing clouds of dust and digging deep tire tracks to come to a stop. The trucks behind it came to a halt in the same way, until the second-to-last truck got its tires caught in the ruts and rolled, which made the last truck lose control. It toppled on its side, making such a loud and frightening sound that Puk Puck pulled a face and shouted, “Wahhh!” But she quickly recovered her former smile.

Puk Puck and Snow White opened the door and got out of the truck, while the driver also stepped out from the opposite door to attend at Puk’s side. The magical girls in the trucks behind them also left their vehicles, opening up the shipping containers on the trucks one after another, while more girls swarmed out from within the boxes. Magical girls crawled out from the drivers’ seats of the two fallen trucks as well—the shipping containers were warped, and the girls inside couldn’t get out, so they whacked and thumped at them a bunch of times from the inside until they managed to kick them open to get out. Some were bleeding, or dragging a leg, or looked like they were in pain, but they were all in one piece. Everyone had managed to arrive there safely. Normally, some girls would probably be crying, but on that day, Puk Puck was lavishing far more love than usual on each and every one of them. None of the girls here were so weak that they would cry from just a broken bone.

Cupping her hands around her mouth, Puk Puck called out in a big loud voice, “Thanks for coming all this way, guys!”

The magical girls clenched their hands into fists and thrust them skyward in unison. A cry of “Wooo!” echoed through the ravine.

“And Puk’s gonna be counting on you guys from here on out, too!”

The united cry rang out one more time, and then the magical girls hurriedly put on gas masks, and, with Puk Puck in the lead, they scurried away into the ruins.

  CQ Angel Hamuel

Hamuel had thought the trucks were for carrying the items they were selling off. But they had packed combat personnel in together with the luggage, and while the Osk Faction had been busy pulling strings in an attempt to drag out negotiations, the Puk Faction had taken advantage of their distraction to attack the gem sellers instead. Then, after stealing the gems, the Puks hadn’t waited even a second to attack the ruins, with their leader Puk Puck taking command at the head of her forces. She had charmed the gate guard through the camera to make her open it, then blasted her way through the defense unit. The ones who had died in that fight had been the lucky ones—reports said all the survivors were following Puk Puck now. The ruins had been completely taken over.

Hamuel heard the report at her hotel.

Negative thoughts in the vein of We’ve been had, it’s too late spun around in her head, and eventually she shot her arm out to punch the table, but she just barely restrained her fist. She was surprised she still had enough sense to recognize that if she hit the table with magical-girl strength, she’d easily destroy it. That did help her calm down a little.

When she snapped out of it and looked ahead, she saw Lethe sitting there in an unusually slouched position, lips twisted as she leaned her full weight on the arm of the sofa. Plainly put, she seemed like she was in a very bad mood.

“You are not to show your anger in front of an aristocrat. You understand?” said Lethe.

“Yes, of course, my lady,” Hamuel replied. “Pardon my rudeness.”

“You understand what you must do, eh?”

The two of them faced one another in silence for a while. The heart Shufflin II attending behind Lethe shifted her gaze back and forth between them with a terribly frightened expression. Hamuel would have preferred to look away, but she couldn’t do that. Lethe was ordering her to come up with a plan to deal with this.

“We should hurry to the ruins,” Hamuel said finally. “Even if they have taken control of them, it’s not as if they’ll finish the ceremony and reactivate the device right away.”

“Oh-ho, oh-ho. Anything else?”

“Let’s make a serious matter of this, far beyond her subordinates attacking personnel from Inspection. Now we have just cause. It has been the Osk Faction’s mission to defend the ruins. But now an attack has been launched on them, a de facto takeover by force committed by the Puk Faction—rather, by Puk Puck herself. Our enemy is acting unlawfully, and so we will be the ones to defend the law. Public Security Enforcement, the Demonslaying Division, or the agents from General Staff Section Zero, any of them will do—we just need to appeal to the Central Authority, saying, ‘Puk Puck has become deranged, send whatever forces you can.’ If we take it that far, even if Puk Puck is leading the sortie herself, she won’t be able to handle our superior forces.”

“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Anything else?”

“However, it would take too much time to wait for these forces to gather before taking action. I would arrange it so that we obstruct the ceremony while simultaneously striking them with our gathered forces. We take the military strength we can assemble now and go straight to the ruins. Since their side has an incarnation of one of the Three Sages, having someone to act as our banner will boost morale, and should also be a significant functional boost to our combat might. Even if they’ve gathered a hundred strong magical girls and a thousand combat-use homunculi, they are no match for the greatest warrior of the Osk Faction, Lethe, and everyone will know that.”

“You would have me go out on the front lines?” said Lethe.

“Only if you’re not opposed, my lady.”

“Do you think I can fight Puk…a Sage incarnation?”

“If you cannot fight her, then I will make sure to manage the situation appropriately.”

Lethe merely gave Hamuel a fixed look. Hamuel did not say anything to fill the silence or prompt her to speak, either. Hamuel thought back on what Lethe had just said. Lethe had kept prompting her for more and more, so with the thought I have to say something, she’d kept adding further remarks, but she did admittedly get the feeling that she’d said too much for her station. Actually, she figured she’d definitely said too much. Especially that part about going out onto the front lines and whatnot.

Whether she was aware of Hamuel’s stomachache or not, Lethe slowly began to speak. “In the main…”

“Yes?”

“That’s about what I was thinking, eh.”

“Pardon?”

Lethe rose to her feet, and her attending Shufflin II immediately draped a cape over her shoulders and lifted up the skirts of her dress so that they wouldn’t touch the floor. Since one alone couldn’t carry it all, a heart Shufflin II also leaped out from where she’d been in waiting, and each of them held one corner of her skirts.

“Well then, let’s go, eh?”

“Oh, yes, my lady.”

Hamuel came up in front of Lethe to lead her to the elevator. She most certainly had a skeptical expression on her face, but fortunately, that couldn’t be seen from behind, so it wouldn’t be a problem no matter what kind of look she had.

“That was fast,” said Lethe.

“Huh?”

“The Puk Faction. They’ve been lightning fast.”

“Oh, indeed. Perhaps she didn’t need time to get changed.” After saying that, Hamuel realized that this sounded like she was blaming Lethe, and she cleared her throat to cover it. Lethe gave no indication that she’d taken this remark as sarcastic or spiteful, and Hamuel was relieved about that. But then seeing that Lethe seemed to be deep in thought, Hamuel looked over to the display indicating the floor they were on. They were still only about halfway down.

“That estate is Puk’s playground,” said Lethe, “where she amuses herself playing king of the hill. Even if she would waste time changing clothes, I doubt anyone there could voice complaints about it… I wonder what’s amiss, eh?”

“Perhaps she’s had a change of heart.”

“Sage incarnations never experience a change of heart.”

“Is that so…? Oh yes, then shall we notify Pfle as well?”

“I’m sure she’s learned about this anyhow, even without notification from us. She has a keen nose. She’s got that sort of look to her.”

  Mana

Mana had somehow managed to escape from the magical girls at the Puk Puck estate. Going back the way she’d come, upon returning to the Inspection Department Headquarters, she’d found Pfle gone. According to HQ, some magical girl from the Osk Faction had called to say Pfle had gone elsewhere. This was now beyond the issue of Pfle being a suspect or handing herself in.

Not only that, but things were also heading in the most unthinkable direction. The Inspection Department explained that the Puk Faction had launched a sudden attack on the ruins where the device the First Mage had supposedly made was enshrined. The situation was no longer under the jurisdiction of the Inspection Department—they were basically like neighborhood police. You needed the military. But Mana wasn’t going to abandon the job now. So she’d decided to take on a new mission that was fundamentally out of her league—to rush to the scene as a representative of the Inspection Department.

She sent the van that had gotten hit in the firefight to maintenance and procured a new one. Uluru followed her, sliding into the back seat, while Mana tossed her magical phone, left switched on, over onto the front passenger seat.

“Why’d you save Uluru?” Uluru asked them.

“You seemed to be in quite the pinch,” Pfle replied over the phone, “so on the spur of the moment, you know.”

“Hmm.”

The magical girl with the toy rifle on her back had introduced herself as Uluru. She said that she’d served Puk Puck, but now she was being chased for some reason. But when Mana had asked, “So then you mean you’ve basically switched sides on your own?” Uluru had become absolutely incensed, taking a swing at Mana, heedless of the fact that she was driving.

So Mana had decided to take a different angle when questioning her about the situation. “You said you were being chased for some reason—why don’t you know the reason?”

“It was probably because Uluru was trying to get out of the estate with Snow White… But no one else should know about that, except for Snow White. And there’s no way she would tell anyone about Uluru.”

“You were trying to take Snow White and get out of the estate? Why?”

“You just keep asking why, why!”

“Because you keep saying things that don’t make sense!”

“Uluru hasn’t said anything that doesn’t make sense! Uluru made a promise with Snow White to get the bad guys! That’s all!”

No matter what this girl said, Mana didn’t really get what she was on about.

It seemed her connection with Snow White was that they’d done a job together. At a glance, Uluru had a very bad temper and didn’t seem like a good liar, but that didn’t necessarily mean everything she said was true. If she was an extremely transparent spy sent by Puk Puck, then it would be quickly exposed what she was doing.

And when Mana said as much, Uluru got even angrier. She started throwing a tantrum in the back seat, but Pfle somehow managed to talk her down from it over the magical phone.

Seems I better avoid talking to this girl, Mana thought. Mana and Pfle didn’t get along for different reasons.

In the rearview mirror, she saw Uluru scowling as she was listening to Pfle.

“Fal thinks you can trust what Uluru’s saying, pon,” the cyber fairy came in to back up Uluru from Snow White’s magical phone. “Uluru’s magic is to make people believe her lies, pon.”

Deep wrinkles creased in between Mana’s eyes. “So then she’s not worth trusting.”

“It’s the opposite, pon. If you think she’s not worth trusting, that means you can trust her, pon.”

Mana didn’t trust a single hair on Pfle’s head. And she obviously didn’t trust Uluru, whom she had only just met. Compared to the two of them, she had a decent amount of trust in Fal. Fal supported the Magical-Girl Hunter as a mascot of the Inspection Department. Rumor said Snow White couldn’t have become who she was without Fal’s efforts. Mana had also heard that Fal was so passionate about magical girls, if you brought up the subject, he would respond with about ten times as much as you wanted to hear. As a colleague, Mana felt she might as well trust what Fal had to say.

“I see,” said Pfle. “Her lying would activate her magic. And if her magic were activated, then you would believe her. So then if Miss Mana does not believe her, that means she’s not lying. How ironic, for a magic to tell lies to guarantee she tells the truth.”

Pfle laughed from the magical phone, and Uluru responded with misdirected anger, saying “Don’t laugh at Uluru!” so Mana forcibly took control of the conversation. If she let these people babble on as they pleased, there was no telling where this would go.

“More importantly,” Mana interrupted, “what do you plan to do now?”

“I’m operating in the company of the Osk Faction. I’m on my way to the ruins where the device is supposed to be. You all come, too. Let’s meet up.”

“It sounds like you’ve been acting as you please. Do you understand your own position here?”

“This is an emergency.”

Mana made a point of slamming the brakes at the next traffic light, and the magical phone sitting on the front passenger seat crashed to the floor.

  Princess Deluge

After fighting off the magical girls of the Puk Faction and making it back safely, Deluge was relieved to hear from Pfle that they’d established an alliance with the Osk Faction. And then she questioned her relief. Just what was she feeling so relieved about? The Osk Faction was the enemy.

Her instructions from Pfle were to use the pass that had been issued to her as an employee of the Magical Girl Resources Department and head to the ruins. Pfle had said there would be a clash between the Osk and Puk Factions, and that Pfle was personally rushing over, so they would be meeting up there.

Deluge turned off her magical phone and passed on the orders to Dark Cutie, Glassianne, and Bluebell. Dark Cutie nodded, Glassianne looked very unhappy about it, and Bluebell had this look like she was ready to fall over any minute as she asked, “Do you need a candy?” That reminded Deluge that so much had been going on, she hadn’t been sucking on those candies the whole time. She waffled for a bit, then shook her head.

At this stage, they’d just be waiting for Pfle’s next call. The roof of the high-rise building where they were on standby was slightly chilly.

She pulled out her pill case and dropped a pill into her palm. She rolled it around in her hand, but eventually put it back into the case. Though she had to keep taking these pills in order to maintain magical-girl form, for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to take them proactively.

She wasn’t engaged in any intense action like combat, so there was no need to consume large amounts of the drug. She only had a limited number of pills, so it was best to make them last as long as possible. Her eyes dropped to the pill case. She’d known ever since she’d stolen them from the R&D Department that she had a limited number. Then why had she been taking them like candy until the day before? It was true there had been situations where she should be using them. But she also felt that, even outside of such situations, she’d taken a bigger dose than necessary. She’d heard that from the one who’d been giving her directions—and who was that anyway? Deluge had never questioned just who it was giving her instruction after instruction via those slips of paper, even as she’d taken action based on the information they provided, raging, resenting, and suffering all the while. Who on earth was it? There couldn’t be all that many people in a position to acquire that kind of information. What was the reason they had only ever given her instructions, without ever showing themselves to her?

Deluge and Dark Cutie exchanged looks.

“Five-minute break,” said Dark Cutie.

What had she thought, looking at Deluge? Or had she not thought anything? Dark Cutie leaned against the wall of the building, switching on her magical phone. An anime song played from it—something from the Cutie Healer series, maybe? Vibrant animation was dimly reflected in Dark Cutie’s black eyes.

“Ahh, we can finally take a break, huh?” Glassianne stretched wide, and, still with her glasses on, she sank down to the ground. Bluebell let out a deep, deep sigh and leaned against the iron fence.

Folding her arms, Deluge leaned against the wall opposite Dark Cutie. She decided to take another close look at the thoughts that had risen in her mind. She had indeed been relieved to hear that they would form a united front with the Osk Faction. When she analyzed just what she was relieved about, and how, she found it was that this would enable them to swiftly launch an attack against the Puk Faction.

Armor Arlie, Blade Brenda, and Cannon Catherine were the three magical girls who had been captured by the Puk Faction. Deluge wanted to save them. Partly because she felt indebted for having made them go along with her revenge plan and guilty about having used them to her ends—but more than that, scene after scene of everything that had led up to now bubbled up in her mind. The memories were from that span of a few days when she’d been holed up in the hideout after attacking the R&D Department lab. She’d tried to see if she could practice fighting in the underground room there, but trying to do it like she’d once done in the Pure Elements’ lab had been a bad idea. Seeing the building start to collapse and Deluge panicking, the black armor had rattled away. Deluge had realized that she was laughing—she’d found it funny. Arlie had liked to put an egg into an economy-size consommé soup, and when Deluge had said, “But magical girls don’t need to eat,” she’d shaken her head no. All those sorts of small, trivial memories made since she’d left the research facility kept rising in her mind.

Deluge slowly shook her head.

This was sentimentality. She had shared so many countless small memories with her old friends, the Pure Elements, and now she was projecting them onto Arlie and the others. Deluge had fought against Snow White. She’d attacked the R&D Department, and she’d kidnapped Shadow Gale. In the process, she’d killed that cop-styled magical girl. She’d also killed many of the playing cards. She knew there was no going back now, so what point was there in continuing to cling to old memories?

Deluge gazed up at the sky with its countless twinkling stars.

Should she be doing something like this? At the very least, she still hadn’t settled the score. She couldn’t drop everything now.

Pulling her gaze away from the sky, she looked back to the building roof to find Dark Cutie’s face just a foot away from hers, and she reflexively stepped back. All that was behind her was the building wall, so she smacked the back of her head and let out a little moan.

“You all right?” Dark Cutie asked.

“…I’m fine,” Deluge replied.

Dark Cutie turned to Glassianne and Bluebell and said, “Five minutes have passed. Break’s over.” Glassianne booed and Bluebell sighed, but both of them got up.

When Deluge thought about the situation calmly, she could understand quite clearly that Pfle was using her to her ends. Deluge could tell that Pfle was just saying they were putting up a united front as she pulled wild moves of her own accord, then tried to pull the wool over their eyes about it while she benefited from the results. As long as she got back Shadow Gale, Pfle would see Deluge as nothing more than a kidnapper. Pfle could offer up whatever charges she liked to the authorities, or order Dark Cutie to quietly get rid of her—no matter what happened to Deluge, it wouldn’t even be a prickle on her conscience. Deluge was the same. Pfle was the most dubious person here, and Deluge had no intention of following her lead and operating purely for her benefit. She was going to save Armor Arlie and the others, and get back Shadow Gale, and use Pfle every step of the way.

Deluge squeezed her eyes tight, then opened them.

She would make her goal clear. In order to use Pfle, she needed the thing that bound her—Shadow Gale. Even if they were fighting on the same side now, Deluge couldn’t forget that she and Pfle would be parting ways at some point. Deluge would be the one to get hold of Shadow Gale in the end. She would use Shadow Gale to manipulate Pfle and get revenge on the Osk Faction, which had killed her friends. To that end, first she had to beat the Puk Faction, so there was no helping that, right now, she had to use the Osks. She’d beat the Puks and retrieve Shadow Gale, then take back Armor Arlie and the others. All these things were necessary in order to accomplish her goals.

“Let’s go,” Deluge called, and in response, the Demon Wings that had been hiding in the shadow of the building appeared in a rustling swarm, grabbing the magical girls with their black arms to fly up into the air.

  Shadow Gale

Shadow Gale walked behind Puk Puck through the corridor of the ruins they had gained control of through a blitzkrieg strategy by elite soldiers of the Puk Faction. She could smell earth, blood, and fire. The sound of things burning, screams, and shattering reverberated through her feet. As the two of them passed by someone bleeding, someone collapsing, someone moaning, chaos all around them, Shadow Gale was engulfed in happiness.

Puk Puck was there, walking ahead of her.

When they saw Puk Puck, those magical girls who were bleeding as they were being treated, those who were wrapping the bandages, and even the homunculi curled up in the corners of the room all smiled happily, and when they saw Shadow Gale and the others walking behind her, their faces twisted in envy.

Shadow Gale puffed out her chest with pride. The others with them walked with their heads held high. They were now in the center of the world. From all over, they heard ripples of voices saying, “Lady Puk,” “Ahh, Lady Puk!” “She’s so beautiful,” “She’s so adorable,” “I could do anything for her!” They trembled with the joy of being able to serve closest to Lady Puk, on the verge of tears, even.

When Puk Puck walked by the wounded, she stopped by each one, squatting down to place her hands on their injuries and say, “Pain, pain, go away!” to cheer them, and those who had been blessed with her touch hung their heads in gratitude before the first-aid team dragged them off for treatment.

The wounded were carried away, and the ugly stone passage was decorated to Puk Puck’s tastes. It was filled with stuffed animals and decorated with flowers and hung with paintings and lined with expensive-looking antiques. These were some of the effects that had been brought here along with Shadow Gale and the rest. The girls sprayed perfume to dissipate the stench of blood. Jester-like magical girls danced and scattered flowers in Puk Puck’s path. Puk Puck was all smiles as she walked over the flowers, and those magical girls who were working thoughtlessly paused in their tasks with dazed expressions, entranced by Puk Puck’s beaming visage. They didn’t return to their tasks until after Puk Puck passed by.

All was for Puk Puck’s sake. The world was for Puk Puck’s sake. Those who didn’t know that, who didn’t even try to know that, meant to hurt Puk Puck. If they just got to know Puk Puck, they could never think about getting in her way, but the people against her were attacking without any thought to their own ignorance. Puk Puck hated to fight, but she had no choice but to resist those who opposed her, even as she spilled beautiful tears.

However, even enemies would change if they came into contact with Puk Puck. The survivors of the guard that had been protecting these ruins had, in fact, without exception, sworn loyalty to her, and were working their hardest in order to make up for their wrongdoing and cleanse themselves of that dishonor.

Puk Puck would change people. Shadow Gale had also been a selfish, willful magical girl who had only ever thought about herself. There had been no value in her life at all. She’d only ever used her magic powers for herself. She shuddered to think about her life if she hadn’t met Puk Puck. And she thanked God—that is, Puk Puck—for the fortune of having been able to meet her.

The party walked on down the stone hallway that was being brilliantly decorated. Whether the path branched into two or three, Puk Puck moved on without hesitation, until eventually they came out to a wide cavern. The ceiling was between sixty and eighty feet high. The width and depth had to be three times that.

Puk Puck strolled up in front of everyone and spread her arms wide, pointing to the back of the sanctum. “Ta-dada-daaa! So? Amazing, right?”

It was a massive…something. At a glance, it looked like an enormous upside-down egg. It was like metal, but also like clay. It looked as if cords extended from it, but also as if vines were tangled around it. Its large mass was many times greater than the height of a human, and it was supported by four long, thin legs that seemed as if they would snap off under its weight.

“Puk’s master left this behind.” Puk Puck walked ahead casually, and the other magical girls followed her a beat later. Deep down, Shadow Gale didn’t want to approach this thing she didn’t really understand, but if Puk Puck was going, then she couldn’t fail to follow.

As she got closer, her impression changed. What had seemed to be an inorganic object started seeming obviously organic, and its previously clear existence now seemed to blur. It was soft but also hard, square but also round. Despite having seemed to be a perfect square, it became a circle, and while being a circle it became a square and also a triangle. Shadow Gale stopped staring up at the thing, looking at her feet as she walked. She felt nauseated. She realized that thing there was something that must not be approached. If not for Puk Puck’s presence nearby, she would have run away.

After walking for an unknown time, Puk Puck touched her hand to the leg of the thing with a soft tap. Though Shadow Gale thought it was something that shouldn’t be touched, Puk Puck just gently laying her hand on it made a surprisingly perfect picture. It felt right. Shadow Gale got the feeling that this thing had been for Puk Puck since the time it had been made.

“You know, Puk thinks Puk’s master left this for us to use when we were in trouble. You guys all agree, right?”

Shadow Gale and the rest all nodded in unison. If Puk Puck said so, it had to be true.

Puk Puck nodded back with a satisfied smile. “Right now, we’re in big trouble. And that’s ’cause the Magical Kingdom has way less magical power now. If we keep using magic as we always have, then it might all be gone soon. If we try to make it last, we might be able to manage, but then magical technology won’t develop anymore. And that’s a very sad thing.”

Shadow Gale and the others nodded morosely. Puk Puck being sad made them sad.

“But it’s okay. That’s what this is for.” Puk Puck bent her index finger and rapped twice on the thing with her second joint. The sound it made was both soft and loud, high and low, something Shadow Gale had never heard before.

“We’re gonna modify this device and make it so we can put aaaall magical girls inside. You’ll all melt up gooey and become one, and bit by bit, we’ll be able to create magical power. But even if it is just bit by bit, if we get a whole bunch of girls in there, we’ll be able to create a whole bunch of magical power, so it’s okay. If you’ve got friends, you won’t be lonely in here, so you don’t have to worry, right?”

Drawn by Puk Puck’s smile, Shadow Gale and the rest of the group wore enchanted smiles themselves as they nodded.

“If you enter in order, then it’ll make it so we can put in all the magical girls in the world. Since based on the calculations, you need that much, or it won’t be enough. Puk will watch over all magical-girl friends from outside the device. And Puk won’t be lonely about staying behind, either.”

That was good. Shadow Gale breathed a sigh of relief that she could be at ease.

“Originally, this device was made to take in magical power bit by bit from the air, and then, over a long, loooong time, make it into crystals. Making power real quick using magical girls isn’t the normal way to do it. So we have to modify it, but we can’t do the modification when it’s like this. Puk’s master sealed the device away so that bad guys can’t use it for bad things. Normally, it’d be impossible to undo the seal, so nobody’s been able to use it, and it’s been left here all this time.”

Puk Puck’s gaze slowly swept over each of the girls’ faces. “You guys’ job is to make it so this device can be used. Everyone do your best to make the machine work, ’kay? With all your magic powers, I’m sure you can do it! Puk’s gathered up all the best of the best, after all. Even an unsolvable code’ll be a piece of cake for you.”

Puk Puck put one of her hands on top of the other and thrust them both out in front of her. Quite automatically, Shadow Gale and the other girls put out their hands on top of hers. The warmth of Puk Puck’s hands lit the light of courage in their hearts. It made them feel like even this massive undertaking on which depended the fate of the Magical Kingdom was a feat they were sure to pull off.

“Let’s do our best! Wooo!”

“Woo!”

“Let’s go!”

“Let’s do it!”

“We’ll pull this off!”

“I just know we can do it!”

They all called out completely different things. Then they all looked at each other and laughed out loud.