Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 16 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

I WONDER IF WE CAN GET ALONG

  Kumi-Kumi

It was before homeroom, around the time of day when you could hear the various school clubs having morning practice out on the sports field.

Group Two was in their magical-girl forms, taking up their usual positions—sitting on the steps, leaning against the wall, or squatting by the edge of the gutter. Classical Lillian had strung her magic yarn around them to make sure that nobody got close enough to eavesdrop on their secret talk.

Mephis, who was squatting with her legs spread, cleared her throat and started the conversation.

“We have two items on the agenda today.”

“First time I’ve heard anyone say ‘agenda.’ Was this some kind of formal meeting?” Thunder-General Adelheid asked, adjusting the brim of her military cap.

Refusing to comment on that question—teasing, rather—the leader of Group Two, Mephis Pheles, continued apathetically. “First: Kana. What do we do about her?”

“What…do you mean…?” said Kumi-Kumi.

“I mean whether it’s okay to invite her to this group. It’s a pain in the ass to always be like, ‘I’m going, but don’t follow me,’ and leave her behind.”

“But…still…”

“I know, okay. It’s not just ’cause it’s a pain. I’m saying, wouldn’t it be good for her to join in on sharing information with us? The one to let her out of prison was our boss, right? So then she counts as one of us.”

Kumi-Kumi considered captain of the Elite Guard an unreachably high rank, and even higher above that was the suspicious magical girl in the Caspar Faction’s upper echelon, Pythie Frederica. After barging in unannounced, Frederica had advised Kumi-Kumi of many things. A lot of the information she had brought had surprised Kumi-Kumi. Given how suspicious Frederica was, Kumi-Kumi had gone to check things with her senior just in case, and she had said that the prison was also in their faction’s jurisdiction and that she’d seen someone there who seemed to be Frederica. And so Kumi-Kumi figured that this information was passably accurate.

“Ah suppose,” said Adelheid. “It’s not like Ah can’t understand that. But this is about yer self-interest, too, Mephis.”

“Whaddaya mean, self-interest?” Mephis shot back.

“Ya cain’t be leavin’ Kana behind every mornin’ for this meetin’. It’s pretty emotionally exhaustin’ to come ta school from the same house and then tell her to wait awhile, ain’t it?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“Ah don’t think it’s a great idea to bring Kana just ta avoid stress.”

“I’m not bringing this up just ’cause of my stress. Look, it’s like—Kana helped out a lot during the whole kerfuffle that happened before, right? She helped you, too, right, Kumi-Kumi?”

Kumi-Kumi nodded. She meant to nod as heavily as possible. All on her own, Kana had defeated a homunculus with a really crazy ability to turn whatever it touched to dust, and furthermore, when Kumi-Kumi had been just about caught, Kana had risked her life for her. So it would be rather unreasonable to say not to trust her.

Kumi-Kumi personally felt that it would be fine to go call Kana here right away, but it seemed Adelheid wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea, and she folded her arms with a complicated expression. “Ah think it’s great ta be strong. But that also means she can be dangerous.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s strong, and she was in prison. She’s gotta be dangerous.”

“Hmm,” Classical Lillian muttered and touched her fingers to her chin. “I’ve heard she had her memories tampered with in prison. Kana can be a little odd, but she seems like a good magical girl. Let’s say she did something awful in the past; if she lost her memories of that time and her personality has changed, then doesn’t that basically mean that she’s a different person now?”

Kumi-Kumi nodded in complete agreement. But Adelheid still appeared indecisive; her lips were pouty.

“Ah cain’t complain about callin’ Kana a good girl now. But y’know, it ain’t jus’ that she was dangerous before prison. The people usin’ her are dangerous. Why was she allowed in this school? Basically, it’s ’cause those people figured they had a use for her here.”

Adelheid was putting it indirectly, but after some consideration, Kumi-Kumi got what she meant. And she also considered what she should do.

“What if…I go…ask about…that…?”

“Ah, that’s an idea. But is it okay for ya to be askin’ that stuff?”

“If it’s not…they’ll just…tell me no…”

Everything Frederica had told her could also be shared with her friends, and Kumi-Kumi was allowed to ask her questions. Frederica’s goals were opaque and suspicious, but at the very least, right now Kumi-Kumi was glad to have her.

Mephis snorted. “Why Kumi-Kumi of all people? The higher-ups should know that the leader of this group is the great Mephis Pheles.”

“I would assume they’re wary of your magic, Mephis. If you met up and talked with them, that might trigger your magic without them realizing. Your magic is particularly fearsome when it comes to conversation.”

Lillian’s immediate flattery soothed Mephis’s mood a little, and she let it go and said, “Well, can’t do anything about that.” Kumi-Kumi didn’t know either why Frederica had come to her, but looking at the others, she was forced to think it was because she seemed like she was the easiest to handle.

“So, that’s one item down,” said Mephis. “The second item on the agenda is the Magical-Girl Hunter.”

“I never even imagined that Snow White would transfer in,” Lillian commented.

“Just what…is her goal…?”

“She’s with the Inspection Department. She must be tryin’ to investigate somethin’.”

“There was that whole mess with the homunculi—maybe that was it?” Mephis suggested.

“It’s possible…she has her eye on us…”

“That sounds accurate. I don’t like it,” said Lillian.

The Caspar Faction’s goal was to secretly investigate what was going on with the ruins underneath the school where the magical-girl class took place, and if possible collect a relic hidden there. Kumi-Kumi’s group members belonged to the Caspar Faction’s Elite Guard, so that was their goal as well. Of course, this was illegal, and if they were found out, they would be caught.

On that point, Kumi-Kumi did feel that some of them were more enthusiastic about it than others. Kumi-Kumi figured that if it looked like they would be found out, then they wouldn’t push it. If they just reported what they knew and said they had no chance to get the artifact, they could use that as an excuse and then graduate normally. But it seemed like Adelheid and Mephis took it a lot more seriously.

“I hear she can read minds, but from talking with her, it doesn’t seem like her magic is a big deal,” said Mephis. “Kana’s magic might even be more dangerous.”

“It doesn’t seem that she can hear absolutely everything…,” Lillian agreed.

“She could be…watching and waiting…until we have a…concrete plan…”

“If that’s what was going on, I think she’d already have arrested us.”

“Inspection ain’t the Caspar Faction, after all. In any case, we should be aware that she’s got an eye on us.”

“You don’t think she’s got an eye on the others?” Mephis asked Adelheid.

“That’s totally possible. Inspection has to work pretty independently, or they wouldn’t be able ta do what they do. And Ah’ve been hearin’ fishy stuff about Tetty’s Information Bureau, Dory’s Lab, and Rappy’s Magical Girl Resources.”

“What about Group Three?”

“She’ll have her eye on them just as much as on us.”

The Research and Development Department was the greatest rival of the Caspar Faction—in other words, of the Elite Guard. So basically, their greatest rival was Princess Lightning, who’d received a recommendation from the R&D Department. Kumi-Kumi had also heard from Frederica that Ranyi and Diko Narakunoin were essentially friends of the R&D Department. That made them enemies of Kumi-Kumi and her group.

“I wish she’d just arrest Group Three.” Mephis sighed.

“Ya cain’t be gettin’ yer hopes up like that. We don’t really understand Snow White’s magic—we need to work that stuff out carefully, or ya never know when we’ll get burned.”

“That’s true, and then there’s how she is in a fight. Actually, she’s totally not as strong as I thought. Since they call her the Magical-Girl Hunter, I had my hopes up, but I was disappointed, honestly.”

“The textbook…exaggerates things…”

“The textbook is so focused on how frightening Cranberry was, after all,” said Lillian. “I’m sure they can’t go writing that Snow White wasn’t a big deal, as the one who defeated Cranberry.”

“But it’s real common for someone ta hide their real ability. Ya cain’t let yer guard down.”

“‘Can’t let your guard down’?” Mephis repeated in a more mocking tone. She snorted. “Adelheid, you were chatting away with her like nobody’s business. And then you were holding your stomach and laughing. You weren’t guarding jack shit. You were buddy-buddy with her.”

“That ain’t what was goin’ on.” Adelheid aggressively waved her hand in front of her face and then shook her head. “Any graduate of the Archfiend Cram School would jump on a story of Marika Fukuroi’s blunders.”

“Who cares about those kinds of in-group stories?”

“I think her being able to bring up those sorts of in-group stories may be exactly what we should be watching out for,” said Lillian. “Since it means she’s looked into your background, Adelheid.”

“Ah, that’s hard ta say. She may’ve just based that off mah name. And Ah feel like Ah mighta heard before that Marika Fukuroi and the Magical-Girl Hunter were on friendly terms, or maybe not.”

“You’re being way too careless—”

“Hey, you were chattin’ away with ’er, too, Mephis. During the rec time the other day.”

“Look, that was just idle talk—Snow White was reading the same manga that I’d been talking about with Kana during the break. It wasn’t like I enjoyed chatting with her or anything.”

“From where Ah was standin’, ya seemed to be enjoyin’ yerself.”

“Well yeah, ’cause I was talking about a manga I like. When I recommended it to you, you said you’re not into delinquent manga, and you wouldn’t read it.”

There was no point in letting them continue this fruitless exchange forever. As Kumi-Kumi pondered a good way to turn this discussion around, the bell that came five minutes before the start of class cut off their pseudo-meeting. Without the time to come up with a plan to deal with the Magical-Girl Hunter, Group Two undid their transformations and ran to the classroom.

  Kana

The four members of Group Two—except for Kana—headed to their morning strategy meeting. Kana had to stay behind alone in the classroom, keep watch to see if anything different from usual happened before class started, and report back to them. This was normally an important job that would never be left to a newbie like Kana, so this had to mean the rest of her group trusted Kana just that much. Kana had contributed modestly enough during the homunculi incident, although she still made quite the blunder and almost died—but maybe her group members interpreted things more positively, like she’d risked her life to help a classmate.

If that was the case—no, even if that wasn’t the case at all, she couldn’t betray their trust. Kana had to focus every iota of concentration on observing the classroom.

When Group One gathered to talk, Kana perked up her ears to listen; when Group Three was saying hello, Kana casually joined in and said hello as well—but even while she was acting as usual, her eyes were sharply checking around the whole classroom, investigating for anything strange.

She did one round, and Group Three felt vaguely off to her, so she walked over there. Princess Lightning was arguing emphatically that based on the rotation, deep-fried bread was bound to show up for the school lunch that day. Kana was standing behind her and nodding. She then surveyed Group Three once more.

She hadn’t been observing them every day for nothing. She immediately discovered what made her feel that something was off. It was Diko Narakunoin. Her unique hairstyle, with part of it sticking up—it was called a Mohawk, which she’d seen a number of times in Mephis’s manga—was even spikier than normal. To use Mephis’s words, she was “kicking it up a notch” today.

“Diko,” Kana called out despite herself.

Diko looked toward her, as did the rest of Group Three. Lightning cut off the conversation, looking at Kana as if to ask, “How long have you been there?”

Kana briefly mulled over how to describe Diko in that moment before settling on: “It looks like something good happened.”

Diko opened her mouth slightly, closed it, wrinkled the bridge of her nose, and then opened her mouth again to say “Oh.” She looked up to the ceiling before turning back to Kana with a serious expression. “Ranyi’s going to be discharged from the hospital.”

Sally made a surprised “Huh?”; Lightning broke into a smile, saying “Really?”; and Pshuke smacked Diko’s back. “You should’ve told us that sooner!” she said. Group One noticed the fuss and approached, then joined in the celebration. Kana was glad, too. But she was still observing. Even after hearing some unexpected good news, she couldn’t let her guard down. The mission levied on Mephis and the others was just that serious.

And then she noticed: There was someone who was a little outside of the ring of people—smiling, but not trying to join the conversation, and just standing there. It was Snow White.

Now that she thought of it, Ranyi had been in the hospital when Snow White had transferred in. In other words, she wouldn’t really be a classmate to Snow White so much as a complete stranger. Of course, she would seem different from those who had fought with her in the same incident.

Kana was about to finish her observation of Snow White when their eyes met. Snow White looked intently at Kana, and Kana looked back at Snow White.

Kana passed by Arlie and Dory, who were chattering away loudly, and went to stand beside Snow White. The transfer student was the one Kana should be paying most attention to, but now that she thought of it, she couldn’t recall talking to her very much. Snow White conversed with the other students a fair amount, and occasionally laughed or made them laugh, but Kana realized now that Snow White had never spoken to her.

She considered why and came to an answer.

“The Magical-Girl Hunter,” she said out loud.

She sensed Snow White stirring beside her. “That’s just a title other people gave me.”

“That means you’ve done enough to be called that.”

“Well…”

“That’s not an accusation. I think it’s great to get rid of villains.”

Kana believed there were no real villains in their class. Granted, she didn’t remember anything about herself before she went to prison and had her memories manipulated. The odds were good that she’d been bad enough that Snow White would get rid of her. And since Yoshioka had been the one to let Kana out of prison, Kana couldn’t help but feel that had to be evil.

Kana was probably the reason Snow White had transferred in.

She gazed intently at Snow White, imploring her: “If I’m evil, I’d like you to defeat me without hesitation.” But Snow White just tilted her head, confused.

  Sally Raven

Sally took Pshuke to a cafeteria in the neighborhood like always, but that day they sat in a booth at the rear. The terrace seating was out of the question—she wanted to avoid standing out as much as possible and pick a place away from prying eyes, somewhere their voices wouldn’t travel.

“If that’s what you’re thinking, then we should’ve gotten a karaoke room,” said Pshuke.

“But then we would’ve had to sing,” Sally replied. “I did want you to hear my Cutie Healer medley, but let’s leave that for another occasion, yeahhh?”

Pshuke muttered something as she pulled out three Blu-rays from her school-issued bag; Sally pulled out three different Blu-rays, which she exchanged with Pshuke.

“Man, the series has really progressed, yeahhh?” said Sally.

“It’s crazy to think that it’s still got a long way to go.”

“I honestly envy you. There’s so much of the show that you haven’t seen yet.”

“Did you invite me here to talk about that?”

“Of course not… Snow White transferred into our class, right?”

Pshuke nodded, her expression bitter as she grumbled. “So annoying… Ridiculous… Can’t stand that girl…”

“You really hate her, huh? So as a freelancer, you wouldn’t want to deal with her, after all?”

“Of course not. All freelancers have guilty consciences to some extent. I can’t have her snooping on us. Frankly, it’s bad enough that I even considered leaving school for a while…”

“Oh, don’t do that. I’d be sooo lonely.”

Pshuke clicked her tongue, swiped her cup of tea, and gulped it down aggressively. Then once the cup was empty, she smacked it down on the saucer. Sally figured Pshuke was trying to hide her embarrassment.

“Though I’d like to ask you, being a freelancer with that kind of history, Pshuke. How much do you know about Snow White?”

Pshuke picked up her knife and cut a vertical line down her pancakes. She glared up at Sally with the slightest grin on her lips. “Doesn’t the PR Department have its own dirt that they don’t want outsiders knowing?”

“Please, I’m just a peon, so I haven’t heard any dirt yet. But I can’t quite say that there’s absolutely none of that in the PR Department, yeahhh. The Magical-Girl Hunter, Snow White, is famous enough to be in the textbook, so you want what info you can get, right?”

“It’s not like I know much… Just some hearsay.” Pshuke poked at her pancakes as she nodded along, listening. She called it hearsay, but it seemed to her at the very least like a more realistic episode than the sort of heroic tales that were in the textbook.

Sally twirled her pasta around her fork and stabbed a cherry tomato, bringing it all into her mouth. “Basically just that she’s real tough on bad guys, yeahhh. But she comes off pretty different from that.”

“That could be a pretense.”

“Maybe, yeahhh. I’m sure that the stronger they are, the more they’ll typically try to hide it.”

“Well, either way…” Pshuke mopped up the syrup on her plate with a piece of pancake.

Seeing that pancake soaked with so much syrup, Sally felt a little regretful. Maybe I should’ve gotten that, she thought.

“It’s probably not us she’s after,” said Pshuke.

“You think?”

“I did some investigating into things.”

“Huh? So that’s what you were up to, yeahhh?”

“I’ve been asking people in the know and doing some investigation around the school building for a while… And, like, there’s more suspicious people in our class.”

There was Kana, a former prisoner; Ranyi and Diko, who were sneaking around in various ways; and Lightning—who knew what she was thinking? Their class had plenty of suspicious students.

“I haven’t even seen the principal,” said Pshuke. “That’s real suspicious. They’re from the Information Bureau, right? Definitely dangerous.”

“Is the Information Bureau that bad?”

“It totally is.”

“If the principal is her target, then we might wind up without a class, yeahhh.”

“Well, if that happens, then it happens, and we just have to give up. We can hold our farewell party and have some fun talking smack about the principal.”

That remark was so Pshuke that Sally couldn’t stop herself from laughing. When Pshuke started sulking, Sally held up her hands and pacified her with a “Hey, c’mon.” She wasn’t trying to mock Pshuke. “I was just thinking that you’ve really considered things, yeahhh. It seemed like you had a lot on your mind, so I was worried.”

“What? I’m the same as always.”

“Well, the way you put in your hairpin was a little messy. Plus, your lips were kind of glossy from lip balm, so I figured your lips must’ve been super chapped.”

Pshuke snorted, then twirled her fork before setting it on her plate. “You’ve been watching me.”

“I mean, yeahhh.”

“Your powers of observation are creepy.” Pshuke rattled off several curse words as if she was casting a hex.

Sally was privately relieved. If this was how Pshuke was acting, then there was no need to worry.

  Ranyi

Ranyi’s emotions were a twisty mess up until she was set to be discharged from the hospital. Adding “twisty” to “mess” wasn’t usually apt, but this was not the usual sort of mess—it was a twisty mess.

She was ashamed of herself for being the only one to wind up in the hospital and relieved that the other magical girls were safe, but then she reconsidered, since she didn’t have to be relieved about the other groups, so she was relieved that her group members were safe, and then she got worked up over the report from Diko that the Magical-Girl Hunter, Snow White, had transferred to their class, and she repeatedly reread the letter from her master that had been sent to her with some well-wishing fruits—the letter was from Lazuline the First, now called Old Blue. In beautiful characters that were gladdening just to read, the letter showed concern about Ranyi and happiness that she was all right, while also apologizing, saying she would have to return to the field right away.

But Ranyi’s happiness didn’t go on forever. Even after reading the letter—rather, the further she read it, the more her panic revealed itself. Ranyi had to return to the class, or Group Three would be short one fighter, and the forces her teacher had sent in would be one short.

As she was anxiously impatient and feeling she had to get back right away, one day, two days passed, and finally, the day before she was to be discharged, she got a visit. It was not her master. It was Diko plus one. Diko made daily visits, and it wasn’t unusual for her to come talk about what had happened that day, but her companion was quite unexpected. It was Princess Lightning.

She strolled right into the hospital room behind Diko as if it were nothing, smiling and saying, “It’s been a while.” That smile lifted Ranyi’s spirits and immersed her in feelings of happiness. But that was immediately replaced by confusion. This hospital was owned by Ranyi’s and Diko’s backer, the R&D Department, and Ranyi had made up some reasons to refuse visits from any classmates aside from Diko.

But for some reason, Princess Lightning was there in her school uniform.

Ranyi saw Diko. She stood there boldly and without diffidence, her face expressionless as usual. It didn’t feel like she had been forced into this by Lightning being really pushy. Diko was the type to make a firm refusal to begin with—even with Lightning.

“No need to look so bewildered,” said Lightning.

Ranyi realized she’d failed to hide her feelings. She put a hand to her mouth and coughed deliberately a few times.

With a gesture as elegant as the statue of some kind of goddess in an art textbook, Lightning held up the white box in her right hand, then placed it down on the table and opened it. The box was packed with twelve jars—of pudding. Lightning immediately pulled out one and opened a folding chair with another elegant gesture. She took a seat, removed the pudding jar lid, grabbed a plastic spoon, and then scooped out some pudding and brought it to her mouth. Every one of her gestures brought a smile to Ranyi’s face.

“I’ve already talked about this with Diko…but I suppose we have to bring it up again?” Lightning said.

Diko, who was standing diagonally behind Lightning with her arms folded, nodded expressionlessly.

Lightning leaned her elbows against the back of the chair in a slightly immodest position, then turned to Diko with a reluctant look on her face. Ranyi stared at the flashes of pale skin on the nape of Lightning’s neck peeking out from behind her hair, before hurriedly pasting on a serious expression.

“So there’s something we haven’t talked about,” Lightning began.

“Uh-huh… What is it?” Ranyi asked.

“Umemizaki Junior High apparently has something they’re calling a Founding Festival. They’re hard at work making all sorts of things for it, even after dark.”

“Oh, really? Wait—right now?”

“Also, I was ordered to join the class by Old Blue. Oh, do you know who Old Blue is? Her previous name was Lapis Lazuline.”

“Um…well…yes, I do know her.”

Ranyi’s put-on seriousness immediately disappeared, and her face contorted in shock. It wasn’t an unbelievable thing to find out, but it was surprising to hear stated directly. And yet, Lightning’s visit to the hospital with Diko backed up what she said. Ranyi moved just her eyes to look at Diko and saw her silently nod. This was no lie.

This was definitely a shock to Ranyi. She wished her master would’ve told her about this, but there had to be reasons why she hadn’t, so she couldn’t criticize. If anything, maybe she should be happy about this—since basically, Lightning was with them.

“Um…that’s a good thing, right?” asked Ranyi.

“It is,” Lightning answered.

“You’re not a Lazuline candidate, right, Lightning? Are you…a mercenary?”

“No, I’m part of the organization—that’s the Research and Development Department, not Lazuline. See, I’ve been with the organization from the start, so I think you can trust me more than a mercenary.”

“Oh yeah. I trust you. But why are you telling me this now?”

“About that—according to Old Blue…”

There was neither familiarity nor respect in the way Lightning said “Old Blue.” She was indeed different from Lazuline candidates. Of course, Ranyi was aware that her master was deeply involved with the R&D Department, but she had no idea what sort of work she was doing specifically. She didn’t know the mages or magical girls who worked there, and it wasn’t strange that she didn’t know Lightning, either.

“There’s been a slight change of plans. Rather than our main objective being to steal a relic from the ruins, she says we want to focus on blocking the Caspar Faction…what Group Two is trying to do.”

“A change of plans? I haven’t heard about this.”

“The situation’s different now. There’s Snow White—she showed up. I was disappointed that she’s not very strong—but look at it the other way: If she can be the Magical-Girl Hunter even though she’s not that strong, that basically means she’s a scary person. Stealing the relic would make us thieves and put us up against her, right? But if we’re mainly obstructing, that means we’re actually on her side.” Lightning tapped her head with her index finger. “It’s apparently not as incredible as what was written in our textbook, but she can read minds. I even had some memories hastily removed before Snow White transferred in.”

Ranyi clenched her fists. She was sweating from nerves. Lightning was talking about this weighty subject as casually as that day’s school lunch.

That was probably Lazuline the Third’s magic. If the Third was using her magic on Lightning, that meant that Lightning was just that close to confidential information.

Lightning was quite brave to let her memories be taken away, even if it was only parts of her memories for a brief period. Ranyi was ashamed of herself for feeling a little put off at the idea of strategically removing an ally’s memories. She lacked determination.

“They probably did that because they don’t want certain things to get out, but don’t you think that’s a bit much? Granted, I can’t remember what those things are, so I guess it doesn’t really matter. Oh, except it seems like they generally haven’t removed anything about my life at school. I haven’t forgotten you, either.”

“Right.”

“I mean, they won’t go that far on you two, so don’t worry. But you won’t be able to exchange secret information with Old Blue anymore. Keep that in mind.”

Ranyi hadn’t been exchanging any secret information before, but she couldn’t argue, so she just nodded.

“Originally,” Lightning continued, “it was me and you and Diko. The plan was to bring us into the magical-girl class from both directions…with you two investigating and me doing sabotage.”

“You mean…like that thing you used when you fought Adelheid that one night?” Ranyi asked while looking toward Diko. She didn’t really react. Maybe Ranyi shouldn’t have asked.

Lightning’s brow furrowed slightly as she brought her spoon to her mouth. “Yes, that’s part of it.”

In hindsight, lending that dagger to Group One in their mock battle against Group Two was indeed a type of sabotage. This made sense in a lot of ways, and most of all, Ranyi was grateful and glad to have Lightning as a solid ally whom she could rely on. Being too open about how glad she was might make Lightning look down on her, but she also didn’t want Lightning to think that she wasn’t pleased, so she clapped her hands with an expression that she hoped looked modestly happy.

“Aw, I’m glad. It’s so great to have even more allies. And I know for sure I can count on you, Lightning.”

Ranyi joyfully reached out to the puddings and took one in hand only to find it was empty. She placed the empty jar on the table, put a hand into the box, and took another pudding but found it was also very light. Ranyi peered into the box. All the puddings were gone.

“I’m sorry. It seemed like you weren’t eating, so I assumed you didn’t need them.” Lightning put her hands together. Was that an apology, or was the implication, “Thanks for the food”?

Ranyi smiled and nodded. When she looked at Diko, she was silently scooping up the pudding from a glass jar with the spoon in her right hand and bringing it to her mouth. It seemed she’d secured her own portion before Lightning had stolen it all.

“Oh, right,” Lightning said. “Diko let slip that you’re going to be discharged.”

Ranyi automatically looked at Diko, who averted her gaze and made an unusually awkward expression.

Lightning hid a smile, seemingly amused by Diko’s reaction. “Everyone was so glad. Dory and Arlie were even dancing. You’re quite popular, Ranyi.”

Ranyi knew she was blushing and prayed it was no more than a faint pink tinge that wouldn’t embarrass her further. She scratched her head and laughed.

  0 Lulu (Love Lulu)

“Wonderful, wonderful. You truly have done well.”

Frankly, she thought it was no good at all, but she kept that to herself and instead offered praise and applause.

But Ripple, the magical girl she’d just complimented, didn’t so much as twitch, not even opening her eyes as she lay on the bed. She was wrapped up with bandages like a mummy—magic bandages that were part of her treatment—and 0 Lulu knew Ripple was aware and cognizant of what she was saying. Basically, Ripple was just ignoring her.

Lulu’s smile faded into a bitter scowl. If Ripple wasn’t looking at her anyway, then it didn’t matter what kind of expression she had.

“We should transfer you to someplace a little better, but hold on for just a bit longer. Right now, the most important thing is to stay hidden. Maybe this won’t make up for it, but I brought lots of medicine, so your treatment will be speedy. And I’ll also use my magic on you. Okeydoke?”

Ripple didn’t react.

Lulu’s brow remained furrowed as she looked around. This dim business hotel room with the curtains drawn felt small even with just the two of them in it. But Ripple’s silence didn’t appear to be a complaint about their location.

Lulu became even more annoyed. Her initial impression that she wouldn’t be able to get along with this girl had yet to change.

Ripple was indeed gravely wounded. Normally, she’d be sent straight to the hospital, or at least to the R&D Department. But they couldn’t do that now. Frederica and the Caspar Faction had eyes all over the place, and few people could be trusted. With all that going on, in order to operate as a commando unit, Lulu and her allies had to maintain the utmost secrecy and caution.

Eliminating three fighters on her own was an incredible feat. Anyone other than Ripple might have acted arrogantly about the accomplishment. But it was her own fault that she’d gotten so badly wounded in the process. These weren’t wounds of honor; she’d been unnecessarily injured because she’d gone to the trouble of avoiding killing people when it would have been fine to do so. Meanwhile, Ripple emerged completely unscathed when Lulu helped her take out Kimiera.

However…

Yes, thinking about that now, that had been a turning point. She felt like ever since then, Ripple’s attitude had hardened to the extreme, and she had become pigheaded. Ripple disabling Kimiera and Lulu finishing her off had been a wonderful display of teamwork, considering how impromptu everything was. But Ripple was furious that they’d taken a life, and she said that from here on out she would do things alone. Lulu scowled at her and pointed out how that was impossible, only for Ripple to capture two more people without killing them. She offered Ripple a half-hearted compliment for that, but Ripple didn’t respond.

Initially, Lulu had been irritated with Ripple. They’d been in a do-or-die situation. You had to stay sharp when your enemies were Archfiend Cram School graduates, and on top of that, they were terrible villains who had killed tons of people for their own pleasure. They needed no mercy, and there was no reason for Ripple to be mad at her for killing one.

Lulu’s first impression of Ripple was that she’d pruned herself down to the essentials, that she was tough on herself and did away with the unnecessary—there was even something brutally tragic about her. The light in her eye was strong and sharp as a beast’s. 0 Lulu never would have imagined that she was a softy who hated killing.

Next, Lulu had been irritated with her teacher, who hadn’t properly explained Ripple’s quirks. She’d told Lulu to back up Ripple in order to whittle down Frederica’s forces and explained Ripple’s history and an overview on her magic and fighting abilities—but she failed to include anything about Ripple’s distaste for killing. And when you considered how Ripple looked, too, there was no way you wouldn’t think she was a demon of revenge with no mercy or pity.

Lapis Lazuline the First was very capable, but she wasn’t a person of good character in any shape or form. The other Lazuline candidates, like Ranyi, who had been endowed with the mission to infiltrate the magical-girl class, worshipped her like a god—but she wasn’t a god, and she wasn’t even a decent person. She was dishonest and secretive. Lulu thought only a fool would trust her, then get betrayed and cry about how this wasn’t what they’d been promised.

Nonetheless…

Lulu felt there was a significant chance that her master deliberately neglected to mention how Ripple didn’t like killing.

Lulu’s magic involved the use of gemstones. Not in a flashy way like with the Second Lazuline’s teleportation. It was a very modest skill that amplified the power a stone had and caused effects in others. The worthless white gemstone she had just slid under the rug—a little moonstone that represented health—was amplifying Ripple’s own powers of recovery. Most likely, Ripple wasn’t even aware she was being helped.

The stone that she had inserted at the scene of the Kimiera attack had been a blackish-white sillimanite. It meant warning. A bright red ruby meant majesty and elegance, and a bluish-purple tanzanite meant a prideful person. She had mixed a little of various stones and fine-tuned them, putting in such a small amount of magic that only someone with high sensitivity would just barely notice, and buried them under the ground. She had made Frederica think of a specific person, to confuse her. If Lulu undid her magic, no more than grains of sand would remain, not even magic power to be felt. Precisely because it was a delicate, weak, and vague magic, she could surprise people with it.

She’d embedded the impression of Pukin in Frederica to make her afraid of Pukin’s shadow so that she wouldn’t be paying attention to the presence of other assassins.

Right after Frederica had Ripple murder Premium Sachiko and undid her brainwashing, Lazuline the Third had approached Ripple. At the time, Ripple had been enraged and ready to go try to kill Frederica, but the Third had removed her feelings of anger, and when Ripple had lost all her driving force, the Third had taken her into custody and hidden her in a shack in the wilderness. Of course, this was while ensuring that she wouldn’t know this was the doing of the Lazuline Faction and the R&D Department.

Frederica had come to peek in on how Ripple was doing numerous times, but all she could see was Ripple, cooped up alone and having lost all her will and energy. Eventually, she must have judged that she’d completely broken her and lost interest, as Frederica had stopped observing her, and after a little bit longer, Ripple and 0 Lulu had begun acting as a commando unit.

Lulu didn’t know how much point there was in this. But it was clear that the First thought it was important. Right now, Frederica was as wary as an old cat. She also had her eye on the First Lazuline’s activity—if Lazuline tried to dispatch anyone, then Frederica would immediately vanish, and if she attacked Frederica with a small party, Frederica would run away immediately. The odds were good that a commando unit unknown to the enemy would become vital.

They would make a single tiny wound on the most troublesome weapon Frederica had: her powers of judgment. Right now, that was enough.