Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 12 - Chapter 7

Magical Girls on Christmas Eve

  Mamori Totoyama

Mamori had heard there were such things out there as “fun, joyful Christmas parties.” She’d never experienced one for herself. No matter how the general populace took them for granted, she couldn’t say for sure that they existed if she’d never seen such a party firsthand.

Large-scale parties, with prominent people from the area and celebrities sprinkled here and there among the invitees, and a fancy dinner brought personally by the owner-chefs of famous restaurants, were for the enjoyment of partygoers of corresponding status, and a mere attendant was not permitted to enjoy such things. Mamori would stand behind her mistress and pass the time with such tasks as bowing and smiling politely. Then the party would be over and the next day would arrive.

Ever since Mamori had been small, this was what parties had been. But the media really shoved these “fun, joyful Christmas parties” down your throat. Although the letdown of reality left her despondent, Mamori kept smiling on the outside, at least, as she trailed behind Kanoe. This was how Christmas went for Mamori Totoyama, and that would never change, even now that she was a magical girl—or so she had thought.

“Though it truly brings me deep regret, I must hold a party at the department. So I am forced to remain apart from you for the whole day, on Christmas. It seems the hostess cannot be slipping out of her own event.” Bouncing on her bottom on a balance ball, saucer in her right hand and cup in her left, Kanoe seemed to be joking, but her expression was—for Kanoe—apologetic.

Sitting on the bed, Mamori looked down on Kanoe to examine her expression, and to keep Kanoe from noticing that, she reached out to her own cup, bringing it to her lips to hide half her face. “I see, a party at the department…huh? Uh-huh.”

“What is it, Mamori? You’re making odd noises.”

“Just thinking, for all your bragging about how important you are now, it’s not as if you’re running a dictatorship,” Mamori replied with mild sarcasm.

But still, she was surprised to have gained free time during Christmas for the first time she could remember. The situation made sense to her, though. Kanoe Hitokouji—the magical girl Pfle—had used her natural deviousness, calculation, bluffing, connections, financial means, and so on and so forth to rise within the public offices of the Magical Kingdom and brag about it. As a rule, she did not involve Mamori—Shadow Gale—in that business, so it made sense that Shadow Gale would not accompany her to this party. In other words, this was different from her usual Christmases.

“So about your plans…,” Kanoe began.

“You need not be concerned,” Mamori replied. “I have my own plans.”

“Oh, do you?”

Mamori had no one else besides Kanoe. If she were to realize that Mamori was privately screaming with joy, who knew what sort of sabotage she’d get up to? Mamori inserted an appropriate level of sullenness to hide the fact that she actually did want to be away from Kanoe, taking meticulous caution not to blow her cover. She wanted Kanoe to think that she obviously had no plans but was putting on a front and making like she did.

Yes, Mamori was glad. She was dancing for joy that Kanoe wouldn’t be around. Well, when it came to dancing, all she’d ever done was that “create your own dance” in gym class, but that counted. Maybe she would get to experience that “fun, joyful Christmas party” she’d thought would never happen to her.

Kanoe continued going on about something or other as she returned to her room, and Mamori at last got to revel in her joy, while at the same time, she realized she had to get serious about this. A “fun, joyful Christmas party” was not a guarantee. It would come only from the effort Mamori put in now.

For the following two days, Mamori waited to see how things would go. Kanoe was in frequent contact with various people. She was probably busy with that department party. It seemed she had many things to do, and that distracted her from Mamori. If Mamori wanted to outmaneuver this sharp and wily villain, then it was now or never. Mamori got started on her plan.

First, she had to decide on the goals and structure of the party. What kind of event would she make it? Who would attend?

The really cool thing to do on Christmas was to go on a date with your significant other, a trend that had been around since before Mamori was born. But Mamori didn’t have that kind of someone in her life, and she didn’t have the guts to get one now, in the two weeks before Christmas.

Celebrating Christmas Eve with her family was also out of the question. Her parents put the master’s household first, and they were occupied with regular business. If they learned that Mamori wasn’t going to be with Kanoe, they would definitely tell her, “If you’re free, then come help us.” So she would make it seem as if she were with Kanoe and not mention that they would be apart.

That meant she would have a fun time with some friends. Mamori could think of a number of rich girls she was friends with at school who would come if she invited them to a party, but she’d never hung out with them without Kanoe. Mamori’s relationships at school all fundamentally went through Kanoe. If she invited those girls, she could easily anticipate that information would reach Kanoe.

Did she not have any legitimate friends, people she wouldn’t worry would report to Kanoe? Any Selinuntius-like characters who’d both offer themselves up as a hostage for her and attend a party with her? She did not; Mamori had only one Campanella, only one true friend. Turning on her magical phone, she selected Clantail and sent her a message. It was an invitation to her party. She also made sure to ask her to keep it a secret from Pfle.

While waiting for her response, Mamori hung her head. Isn’t this rather short for a list of friends? she wondered. But then she lifted her head: Well, then I should just make some now. Imagining a future with lots of friends, she waited thirty minutes, then got a response. Her offer had been accepted, albeit with the proviso, as long as the party doesn’t go too late. You could basically call this an easy yes. And Clantail didn’t even question the part about keeping things secret from Pfle; she just answered sure thing. Mamori hugged her magical phone to her chest a moment, savoring her swelling joy. This was what friendship was all about.

But this was just the start. Just Mamori and Clantail having a celebration together didn’t make a party. Only when you had a certain number of people could you call it a party.

Shadow Gale had no magical-girl acquaintances she could invite. This was all because of Pfle. But despite her burning with anger toward Kanoe/Pfle for trying to get in her way at every opportunity, now was not the time to be venting about that. Mamori felt bad about being entirely reliant on Clantail, but she was the only person Mamori could count on. Mamori expressed her joy about Clantail’s willing participation, making use of her full vocabulary to ensure it would be communicated through her text message, also adding, Please invite your friends, too. She even put, The more the merrier, in fact. It’d be a problem if there were too few. She worried that might be a bit much and might put Clantail off, but in the end, she sent it like that. It was just a fact that she’d be in trouble if there weren’t enough people.

The reply came in five minutes. The brief text message read, Understood, exuding Clantail’s earnest personality. She acted completely different from a certain someone who would use far too many words in an attempt to confuse people. Clantail was generally taciturn, with few patterns to her facial expressions, so she did come off as unsociable at a glance, but various parts of her, such as her tail and hooves, would indicate her feelings with surprising garrulity. That was interesting to watch all on its own. Even if Clantail was curt, she wasn’t boring to be around. Being the sort of person she was, she’d have a lot of magical-girl friends, unlike Shadow Gale. And friends or acquaintances of Clantail could never be bad people. Aside from Pfle.

An unsnobbish party full of people to be at ease with sounded nice, but there was no one Shadow Gale could be at ease with, so oh well. The point of this party was to get to know people she could be friendly with. If she wasn’t going to put in the effort now to make friends other than through Pfle, then when would she?

In the two weeks before Christmas, Shadow Gale kept careful watch over Pfle’s activities, taking great care that Pfle did not pick up on what was going on in Shadow Gale’s head as she cautiously proceeded with arrangements for the party. Though it seemed the enemy was focused on the other party, Shadow Gale nevertheless knew well enough to scream and cry about it that you could never let your guard down with Pfle. Shadow Gale could assume that if she did something to draw attention to herself, she would be questioned. Besides, even if Kanoe herself didn’t notice, there would be spy types lurking in unexpected places to report to Kanoe anything that came up. So Mamori restrained her jitters and made slow and gradual progress in her preparations on her own. She procured items like Christmas wreaths, tinsel, electric lights, a charming tree, party crackers, a Santa Claus and stars, and board games individually through different routes, and she reserved a cake. Though the bakery she ordered from wasn’t exactly famous, it had a decent rating on a review site. She chose a cake that was big, so it’d be fine even if lots of people came, and made sure it was visually appealing, with an edible Santa decoration.

And since she couldn’t hold this party at the Hitokouji estate, she rented a room for the venue. But then Clantail sent her a message saying, It seems like there will be a lot more people, is that okay, though? Without letting anyone see how she was chuckling smugly to herself, Shadow Gale replied, That’s no problem and pumped her right fist in a little victory pose.

Having more people wasn’t a bad thing. Clantail’s response read, Thank you, followed by They’re going to be bringing food and drinks. That was also something to be very thankful for. Shadow Gale had intended to somehow manage a few expenses with her savings, but if she could restrain expenditures there, that would make it possible to invest those funds elsewhere.

She wouldn’t choose anyplace too cramped, like a rental room or a space in a community center. If she held the party in the school gym, it was too likely that Kanoe would notice, and the same went for a meeting room at the library. It seemed every possible venue had flaws of one sort or another, but then Mamori’s brain, which normally only ever operated dimly, came up with an idea that seemed quite brilliant.

There was that underground shelter that had been made on Pfle’s order. The anti-magical-girl system she’d ordered from the Magical Kingdom had been modified with Shadow Gale’s magic, which had made it into an emergency bomb shelter removed from this dimension and transported into another world. Shadow Gale had added further modifications daily, continually improving it to add resistance to every possible intruder, magic, and destructive weapon.

Currently, the only way into it was through the Hitokouji estate. But the space was in another dimension, so if Shadow Gale modified it, she could make another entrance someplace very far away. So she would invest her extra funds into the creation of a second entrance and invite the guests in through there, and then, after the party was over, she would use her magically modified automatic cleaning device to erase all traces of the event, dismantle the second entrance, and destroy the evidence, then go welcome Pfle back from her department party event with a nonchalant look on her face.

It’s perfect… This will work!

Mamori Totoyama clapped her hands, certain of the party’s success and her clear victory.

  Shadow Gale

Mamori Totoyama had never hosted a party before.

She’d attended parties held by others many times. Sometimes the organizer was an adult, sometimes a kid, an organization, or a commercial group—but whether the event had been big or small, no particular problems had ever cropped up, and such parties had moved quietly along before the time came for everyone to go. Mamori had assumed that was just how it went.

Now that she was the hostess, she realized for the first time that you couldn’t take any of that for granted. Every party was made a success by the unrelenting efforts of the organizer and the people they invited.

Waiting for someone underneath a cloudy sky that could drop snow any minute, in the middle of the wilderness, with cold winds raging, was not an ordinary thing to do. You had to be a magical girl, with resistance to icy temperatures, or you were bound to freeze to death, even with a full set of cold-weather gear.

Shadow Gale’s initial plan had been to put the entrance to the shelter on a mountain path nobody used at night. Her only priority was keeping it unnoticed, waving her guests in under utter secrecy. But she was forced to revise this plan with the very first guest. This was because that magical girl, who’d arrived thirty minutes before the time the venue was scheduled to open, arrived riding a one-woman lawn-mowing machine that looked like a tractor. Belatedly, Shadow Gale realized that she hadn’t anticipated anyone would come riding a vehicle. But then she remembered that on the way, she’d passed through a parking lot for hikers at the base of the mountain trail.

With the aggressive-looking lawn mower taking the lead and its even more aggressive rider yelling at her, Shadow Gale headed down the poorly maintained trail to the parking lot. Figuring there would be others coming by vehicle, she made a sign saying CARS THIS WAY, decorating it with some extra electric lights so that it would stand out. As she was doing that, elaborately dressed people who looked like magical girls came one after another, and each time, Shadow Gale explained, “Go a little farther, and the entrance is up there.” But people complained that it was hard to tell where it was, and Shadow Gale was forced to bow her head a few times, and so, figuring she needed a sign for this as well, she made a second one, making it say, “The entrance is right up this way.”

Though she used magic for her modifications, it took about thirty minutes to make two big signs that could be seen even from a distance. And since she couldn’t use her magic on the parts that weren’t mechanical, that actually took more time. And going up and down the trail took up even more time. And all the while she was working, guests kept coming. She didn’t have the time to even greet them one by one. The big parking lot was filled with vehicles like lawn mowers and flying saucers and things she couldn’t even recognize. This meant a lot of the guests were old enough to have driver’s licenses, and Clantail had a lot of older friends, too. Shadow Gale’s plan to “act like a big sister toward middle school–age magical girls” changed to “be educated on the nuances of the lives of adult magical girls,” and once she was done setting up the signs, she headed up the mountain trail.

As expected, the entrance was packed with magical girls. This was inevitable, with such a big crowd arriving at the thing she’d built in a restricted space. Each time Shadow Gale heard someone complain, “The line’s so long,” or “Why is it so cramped?” she cringed. Finally she reached the entrance.

“Merry Christmas!”

“Ah, right. Merry Christmas,” Shadow Gale replied.

A magical girl dressed like a scholar was blocking the entrance. A little bell was stuck on the end of the string that hung from her hat, and the tie at her neck was in Christmas colors. She’d probably worn it for the party.

“Right then, the party venue is just ahead,” she told Shadow Gale.

“Okay.”

“Since this is a peaceful gathering, all types of weapons will be checked at the door. You’re not carrying anything like that, right?”

Shadow Gale did have her scissors and her wrench, but those were tools for work, not for hurting people. “I’m not,” she replied.

A reception process had been made without Shadow Gale even knowing about it. This magical girl must have volunteered to manage it and guide people in, since it was so crowded here. Magical girls were fundamentally about helping people, so many of them were kind. Privately feeling thankful, Shadow Gale finally got inside the venue, where she found it was even more crowded. Since it had never been a normal space to begin with, there were no problems with its size, but that meant that once a lot of people were inside, it got as packed as a can of sardines.

There was a magical girl calling out, “Anyone who’s lost, come this way!” through a loudspeaker; a group of Cutie Healer cosplayers; a magical girl demonstrating how she could pull the tablecloth off a table without disturbing the dishes atop it; some indescribable person engaged in pleasant discussion. Gathering a particularly large crowd was the Christmas cake–making presentation. A magical girl in glasses and a cake-like costume was taking the lead in the decoration of a giant, five-layer Christmas cake. The Santa Claus on top was the size of a volleyball. The craftsmanship was beautiful, and it looked like it was still delicious, even being so huge. Her skills were fabulous enough to impress Shadow Gale, as a fellow creator—but what had happened to the store-bought cake Shadow Gale ordered?

It was dizzying. Not only were there lots and lots of magical girls, but they really ran the gamut. Were all of them really Clantail’s acquaintances? Were none of the people who’d shown up during Shadow Gale’s brief absence strangers?

“Here.” A magical girl decked out in lace, a cape, garlic, and a garter belt offered Shadow Gale a glass.

She reflexively accepted it. “Ah, thanks.” As she brought it to her mouth, a strong scent wafted up to her nostrils, and she pushed it away. “Is this alcohol?”

“It’s a special alcohol that can even get magical girls drunk.”

“Sorry, I’m a minor.”

“Oh, come now, today’s a special day.”

“Uh, I still can’t…”

As the two of them pushed the glass back and forth between them, droplets sloshed up from inside the glass to hit Shadow Gale’s cheek. The fancily dressed magical girl apologized quite sincerely, touching the back of her hand to Shadow Gale’s cheek to wipe off the droplets before responding to a call from elsewhere asking if there was any booze, rushing off with her tray full of glasses in one hand.

That woman was handing out alcohol, and the sort that would have an effect on magical girls, too. A lot of magical girls were emotionally unstable to begin with, and Shadow Gale didn’t even want to think about what would happen if you added booze to that. There were enough people here that it was no longer a question of trusting them because they were Clantail’s friends. With this many people, it wouldn’t be a surprise if there were a dangerous person or two in the crowd.

Thinking all the more that she had to find Clantail, Shadow Gale started walking, but she was quickly called to a stop.

“You over there.”

“Pardon?” A powerful aroma made Shadow Gale scrunch up her nose.

A magical girl with a blue necktie wrapped around her forehead was holding out a ramen bowl as she smacked a pot lid twice. “If you can’t have booze, then how about this?”

“No, this isn’t the time to be eating—”

“Though ’tis yet to reach supreme perfection, I’ve never once thought its flavor inferior.”

The split curtains fluttered. The air rippled from the heat rising from the giant gas stove, and the green-haired magical girl beside it cutting onions wore an expression of utter resignation.

A food stall…!

It wasn’t as if it were out of the question for a food stall to show up at a party venue. But hadn’t it been a mistake to choose tonkotsu ramen with such an intense smell? If the hostess had permitted it, then maybe it wouldn’t matter, but the hostess was right here and had no recollection of having given permission. But the person running this stall was too intimidating for Shadow Gale to tell her she was disallowing it on the authority of the hostess, and she really got the impression that she didn’t want to get further mixed up with this person. Magical girls with ramen bowls were gathered all around, proclaiming how delicious the noodles were as they scarfed them down.

Well, as long as people are happy, Shadow Gale thought, mentally giving them permission to run their business. Dodging the bowl that was thrust at her, she resumed her search for Clantail.

The more she looked, the more she noticed how many people there were. A mouse mascot and a cat mascot were dangling from the ceiling, playing. Weren’t they using the electric lights Shadow Gale had put up? And wasn’t the cake that large magical girl standing on a table was gobbling down the Christmas cake Shadow Gale had gone to the trouble of purchasing? She’d wondered where it had gone, and apparently it was over there, getting eaten. Maybe that girl thought of it as just a bit of a snack. And that red-faced magical girl drinking champagne straight from the bottle as she laughed loudly—wasn’t that thing around her neck the Christmas wreath Shadow Gale had set out?

She felt this wasn’t quite the party she had been expecting. This was no time for board games. She couldn’t find Clantail, either. No one stood out in a crowd like she did. Shadow Gale came to a stop and looked to the right. Not there. She looked to the left. Her eyes met another’s.

“Are you searching for someone?”

“Y-yeah. Sort of,” Shadow Gale replied.

It was a robot the size of a child. She was smooth and glossy on the surface, unlike a living creature. Was she a magical girl, or was she something else? Shadow Gale couldn’t figure it out from her appearance and speech alone.

“Large crowds are tough. Here, have one of these.” The robot offered a metallic tube covered in wrapping paper decorated with Santa Clauses and reindeer. Sticks of various colors were poking out from inside it.

“…Churros?” asked Shadow Gale.

“You need something sweet when you get tired.”

Shadow Gale nodded, bent over, and pulled out a pink churro. It was flaky and came apart on her tongue, sweetness spreading through her mouth. A sigh slipped out of her. “So good…”

“Right?”

When Shadow Gale turned to the robot to thank her, she found the robot’s hand held out, palm up. “That will be three hundred thousand yen.”

“Huh…? You’re charging— Wait, what’s with that price?!”

“Of course I would not be able to give them away for free. This is not volunteer work.”

“Uh, but this is a party… And more importantly, that pricing—”

“Hmmm. Well, take a look at this, then.” The robot pulled a vividly colored slip of paper from her pocket, fluttering it in front of Shadow Gale. The cute fluorescent font read for partygoers. “This ticket indicates that I may attend a magical-girl Christmas party in a place beyond time and space. Do you have any complaints about this?”

“No…I don’t.” Seeing that, Shadow Gale couldn’t complain. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t complain, but she just couldn’t complain. “But…I don’t have it. Three hundred thousand yen is just…”

“For individuals such as yourself, I allow payment with goods. In fact, I would even prefer if you paid with goods. That is why my prices are so ludicrous.”

“Wait…what did you just say?”

“Never mind. More importantly, I request goods from you. You are also a magical girl, yes? Surely you are capable of something, are you not? I am rather pressed for time, you know.”

“Uh-huh… What kinds of goods, for example?”

“Such as a beam cannon that can mow down a whole area, or a missile that can blow up an entire building…”

“That sounds really dangerous…”

“Things are clearly heading in a dangerous direction! I have no doubt there will be some reckless types willing to do anything to remain a magical girl. In fact, I know people like that. I have a need for self-defense.”

It was difficult to read the robot’s facial expressions, but she appeared desperate. Besides, since Shadow Gale couldn’t pay three hundred thousand yen, she had to do something.

“If attack is not an option, then how about defense?” the robot suggested. “It might be good to be able to defend against bullets or bombs. Since I may not necessarily be able to become allies with that woman.”

“Uhhh…I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if it’s just boosting your defense…”

All Shadow Gale had for materials was some leftovers from making those signs earlier, but she was dealing with a robot here. Keeping an eye out around them all the while, Shadow Gale produced her wrench and scissors, making a surface coating to somehow raise the robot’s defensive capabilities. She ran out of materials halfway, so she used colored cellophane lights for the defensive coating, which increased resistance to heat, projectiles, and impacts by 80 percent. That covered only the robot’s front; there wasn’t enough to do her back as well. Shields were for raising in front, though, so that shouldn’t prove to be an issue. But she got the feeling that if she was honest with the robot about that, she’d complain about it, so Shadow Gale decided to stay silent.

“All finished,” Shadow Gale said.

“Wow…I feel as if I have become somewhat more durable.”

Leaving the robot to examine herself in the mirror, Shadow Gale hurried away. Impertinent types like that would endlessly demand more and more. Shadow Gale didn’t want to be around her for long.

Right as she was thinking, Now then, I have to look for Clantail, there was a shriek. Turning toward the voice, she saw a magical girl flying up to the ceiling. She crashed into it, then fell to the floor on her back as the sounds of things breaking and multiple screams came at once. Then the screams spread farther and got louder.

Shadow Gale panicked. What was going on? Happy-looking drunks, magical girls enthusiastically cheering on the fight—it didn’t seem like there was much point in asking those types. For now, she just approached the commotion, where she found a group of Cutie Healer cosplayers bickering among themselves. In the crowd surrounding them, Shadow Gale found a magical girl saying, “I’m not in the least surprised they would wind up like that.”

“What happened?” Shadow Gale asked her.

“They were having a little chat about who’s the strongest in Cutie Healer, and one girl apparently brought up Dark Cutie’s name. When Cutie Altair heard Cutie Pearl say, ‘You can’t count Dark Cutie as a Cutie Healer,’ she absolutely had a fit. Cutie Cloud tried to stop their tiff and was then smacked away, is what happened.”

All these strange names had Shadow Gale at a loss. When Shadow Gale saw Cutie Healers, all she ever thought was, I guess that’s Cutie Healer, and she couldn’t recognize individual characters. She certainly didn’t care about this stuff, but fans got hung up on these things, apparently. Still, their getting into a fight caused problems for her.

The quarreling became more intense. Shadow Gale could even hear what sounded like punching and kicking. Irresponsible comments like, “Someone stop them!” and “Where’s the host?” flew from around them. Did the host of the party have to handle even that, too? Wasn’t that too much responsibility?

Shadow Gale had been naive. She’d had no idea that hosting a party would be like this, and so she’d thrown this whole group together so haphazardly. She’d thought that if she just set up the venue, that would be the end of it, opening up the place despite not having the spine to accept whatever accidents might happen.

Now that things were like this, she had no choice but to place herself in the line of fire to resolve this problem. With grim determination in her heart, she took one, two steps forward, and then, on the third step, a magical girl was flung at her, so she backed up reflexively before steeling herself and proceeding once more. She heard murmuring all around and looked up automatically. They were not reacting to Shadow Gale. The crowds parted, and she could see someone beyond them. The murmuring got louder, starting from that direction. Shadow Gale doubted her eyes, and she doubted her head, too. But he was there, solid and real.

“Ho-ho-ho, did I keep you waiting?”

Red clothes, white beard, and a round stomach. The old gentleman who had appeared so suddenly could be none other than Santa Claus. Clantail appeared after the old man, pulling a giant sled, and piled on top of that sled was a mountain of white bags of appropriate size.

“I’ve brought presents for all good girls.”

Cheers broke out. All the magical girls went for Santa Claus at once. The fight was entirely forgotten. Shadow Gale lay a hand on the table beside her, letting out a deep breath. She realized belatedly that Clantail had put her head on the antlers of the reindeer—in other words, her lower body was the reindeer.

  Micchan the Dictionary

“Hey, Missan, chasing down every single person in this crowd and looking up where they’re going feels kinda like, gimme a break, you know—and hey, you’d normally think it’s just impossible— Hey, Missan.”

“You’re the one who got carried away because you got to make a cake on their dime, so that’s the work you have to do.”

Glassianne was still complaining, but Micchan turned off her headset, cutting her off. The more Glassianne complained, the better she worked.

“Kigurumi to igurumi,” Micchan said, and the Santa Claus costume disappeared, turning into igurumi—an arrow with a string on it.

The magical girl who’d been inside the suit rubbed her arms, saying “Yikes, it’s cold,” while the reindeer magical girl put her down in the wheelchair she’d been pushing from behind.

“Thanks to the both of you for your efforts,” said the girl in the wheelchair.

The reindeer magical girl shook her head, as did Micchan. Though it had been a bit of effort, they were getting paid for a party where nobody was getting offed, which was something to be glad about. From the parking lot, she could hear the voices of magical girls loudly chattering.

“But I’m impressed you could gather so many people. You’re surprisingly well connected,” the girl continued.

The reindeer magical girl gave a little shake of her head. “I only invited two people, but one person called the next, and we got more,” she replied, then tilted her head. “It wasn’t a surprise party?”

“What made you think that?”

“I was told to keep it a secret from you, so I assumed we were surprising you.”

“I have sharp ears. Even if you mean to keep things a secret, I’ll wind up catching wind of it.”

The reindeer magical girl nodded a few times like this made sense to her, then bowed her head. “I’ll help with the cleanup,” she offered, before rushing off to do just that.

“I must get back before my absence is noticed,” the girl in the wheelchair said, and, turning her wheelchair along the mountain trail in the opposite direction from the parking lot, she happened to look up at the sky and held out her palm.

It was snow. Tiny white flakes wafted down, then vanished. It made Micchan feel rather sentimental, but she shook her head. The little bell on her hat tinkled. As she raced after her boss as she went up the mountain trail in her wheelchair, the sound of her bell followed them both.

“We finished scouring the list of attendees,” Micchan said. “No problems with any of them.”

“Excellent.”

“What about at the Magical Girl Resources Department?”

“That party finished early, so I slipped out. I’ve always committed to the sickly act. If I feign illness, all is forgiven.”

Micchan had thought that was an important party, with even mages from other departments and the Central Authority in attendance, but the boss tossed out that remark without another thought.

Micchan tried to choose her words, but she wound up abandoning that and asking point-blank. “What were you trying to do with this whole thing?”

“I was thinking that next year, we should throw a truly fun Christmas party. This was just practice.”