Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 16 - Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

THOSE EXPOSED AND THOSE NOT EXPOSED

  0 Lulu

The fight with Guinevere had left Ripple battered. Many times already, it had gotten so bad that it was baffling for her to be on her feet, but this time it was baffling that she hadn’t died. Lulu anticipated that they would have to wait quite a while for their next job and figured they would coop themselves up in a business hotel for a recovery lifestyle.

But a doctor sent them a large magic gem. Such gems, which were used as both a Magical Kingdom energy source as well as currency, had nothing so refined as the special meaning of other stones. Its effects were unromantic and straightforward: Use it, and you could gain energy.

What this meant, in other words, was “recover fast.”

0 Lulu wrapped Ripple in even more bandages than usual and laid her down on the bed of the business hotel. Sitting down on the bed beside her, she extracted energy from the magic gem to send to the healing of her injuries.

Head hanging, Lulu pondered.

This doctor wasn’t the type to give them special treatment because this fight had been tougher than usual. There was a reason they’d sent this magic gem. In other words, there was a reason they had to have Ripple’s injuries healed quickly. That could mean only one thing.

“Lulu.”

Lulu lifted her head to see Ripple looking at her with concern. “What is it?”

“Don’t give me that. Why the heck are you worrying about me? You’re clearly the one we should be worrying about. Do you understand how badly you’re hurt?”

After saying her piece, she took a breath, and in that moment, Ripple opened her mouth. “What happened?”

“Agh… Yes, something happened.” Lulu hung her head again before lifting it with more force. “My master would absolutely never send you a special bonus for no reason. If she’s sending such a big magic gem over, then there’s a good reason for that, okay. In other words, she’s thinking she might need your help in the near future.”

When Ripple started sitting up, Lulu rose from the bed. “Lie down,” she ordered, pushing her. “A magic gem of this caliber isn’t cheap. As you know, my magic needs gems, but I don’t get paid much, and I hardly ever get an extra bonus, so I only use worthless gems. Good gems would be even more useful, but using a good gem each time must seem like bad cost performance to her, I figure. So if she’s sending me such a fine magic gem, then things must be pretty urgent.” Lulu let out a breath. “We’re probably going to be in conflict with Frederica soon.”

The warmth left Ripple’s expression. It was cold and sharp.

“And it also means that the magical-girl class is going to be in trouble.”

The warmth returned to Ripple’s face. There was a mixture of multiple feelings there now: anger, confusion, sadness. She kept trying to sit up, so Lulu stood again and held her down.

“You only have one body. You can’t go to both, and it won’t be allowed. The magical-girl class and Frederica’s residence are a couple dozen miles apart. There’s no way you’ll be able to move easily from one to the other with that leg.”

Lulu brought her face close to the struggling Ripple. Their foreheads clunked together, and she pressed her down from above. “There is one thing we can do.”

Ripple’s resistance weakened. Lulu gradually came away and sat on her original spot on the bed. Ripple gripped the edge of the sheets, looking at her with an imploring expression.

Don’t give me that look.

Keeping her thoughts in the back of her throat, Lulu said, “Like I said before, nobody thinks of me as very important. If the time comes, it’s not like I absolutely have to be by your side. Basically… my idea is that if you can trust me, then I will go to the magical-girl class.”

She tried to follow up with, “Can you trust me with your precious Snow White?” but Ripple said, “Do it,” at exactly that moment, and Lulu was unable to finish.

  Tetty Goodgripp

The information Kana brought that day caused a major shock for the magical-girl class. “Apparently, a number of classes will be making original T-shirts as a uniform.”

“For real?!”

“Isn’t that something you do for sports festivals and athletic days?”

“Oh, I figure some places will do it for cultural festivals, too, yeahhh.”

“This kind of feels…unfair.”

“This is…completely…unexpected…”

“Shit, shit, shit… They’re just going hog wild ’cause we’re not experienced with this stuff!”

“Should our class make some, as well?”

“T-shirts are a must item fer a ramen shop.”

“You think so?”

“Then wrappin’ towels ’round our heads, it’ll be perfect.”

“Must, must!”

“Wiiiillcuuum!”

“And hey, why’d you get that information from Umemizaki?”

“When that unpredictable accident occurred before, I actually used it to get myself an information source. A dog has their own way, as a wolf has theirs.”

“T-shirts, huh. Making that sort of thing costs money, right?”

“Well, it shouldn’t be that expensive. What do we do for the designs?”

“We can’t make it like Cutie Healer, yeahhh?”

“No copyrighted stuff.”

“We can’t let it get out that we’re magical girls… So assuming that out of the gate, I’d like it to be at least a little magical girl–esque. Even if it’s nothing so big and loud.”

They gradually fell into the decision of making T-shirts, and the topic shifted to what to do about the design. Tetty joined in on the discussion, but privately, her worries were gradually growing larger.

She hadn’t even thought of making matching uniforms. And she hadn’t been the only one. None of the others in the class had, either. It wasn’t that they lacked in imagination or intellect. It was just that they were all unused to this type of event.

They were making T-shirts now because they were copying someone else. The Umemizaki students might also have come up with some other ideas. And if they’d come up with some original ideas, they probably wouldn’t tell Kana. All they had told her was the common idea of “matching uniforms.”

It wasn’t as if they were in competition. This Founding Festival wasn’t for deciding who was better. But Tetty couldn’t deny that the feelings inside her were saying she didn’t want to lose. Rather, more accurately, she didn’t want to be looked down on.

Tetty was aware that she wasn’t especially talented as the student representative. But her classmates were different. Even if they hadn’t been magical girls, they were still all wonderful students. Mephis had the leadership to pull everyone aggressively along after her, and Tetty had never met any other middle schooler who was as good a person as Miss Ril. Kumi-Kumi’s caution, Kana’s ability to make things happen, Rappy’s cheer, Arlie’s curiosity, Lightning’s immeasurable quality, Diko’s intensity—she could keep coming up with traits where they excelled forever.

Just thinking about how these girls might be looked down on as nothing special because they were unused to school festivals and cultural festivals was absolutely mortifying.

Though Tetty was not that capable, she was the student rep. She was obligated to guide the class in a better direction. As she carried out her regular duties as the student rep, such as leading homeroom and supporting her fellow students, she considered things. There had to be some idea that would be enough to match up to the craftiness and cunning of Umemizaki Junior High.

But unfortunately, Tetty was unable to come up with any great ideas on her own. She came up with a few, like linking to a video submission website or having live music inside their shop, but when it came to actually doing it, all of them seemed like they would generate problems.

It wasn’t the deadline yet, but if she couldn’t think of an idea after a day of considering it, then she probably wouldn’t be able to think of anything, even if she pondered it all the way up to the deadline. She understood that from experience.

Before, Tetty would have given up there. But in the few months that she had been given the serious responsibility that was student rep of the magical-girl class, she had been sorely tried by her unique classmates, enough to make her want to cry. She wouldn’t give up right away.

After school in the courtyard, Tetty spoke to Satou. Tetty couldn’t come up with anything on her own, and her classmates had also come up with all they had. But she hadn’t asked Satou yet. Satou was a mage, so she might well be struck with a great idea that magical girls wouldn’t come up with.

It was thanks to Satou mediating with the principal that they were able to participate in the Founding Festival. Tetty was so thankful just for that, she felt like paying her respects every day wouldn’t be enough. She had enough shame that she felt that it was clearly brazen to ask anything further of the mage. But here, she would make this intrusion, knowing just how brazen that was.

“Hmm,” Satou muttered, moving her hand away from the weed she’d been about to pull. She wiped the sweat on her forehead with the white towel hanging around her neck, wiped the ends of her ears, patted off the dirt on the hem of her work outfit, and muttered, “I see,” then nodded with a gesture that made Tetty think of a kind old man.

“Ideas, hmm? But there’s a limit to what you can do. For starters, I can’t recommend anything that would drastically increase your amount of work or the burden on you, and it’s against the rules to do something more than the feature that you announced to Umemizaki beforehand.”

Tetty gradually hung her head.

“So you can work out something in an area outside the shop if it won’t cause trouble for anyone.”

Tetty’s head bounced up. “So what does that mean, basically?”

“The shop is in the old school building…in other words, a classroom in this building. You have to go through the hallway to reach it. If the courtyard is on the way, then wouldn’t that be a bit of an idea?” Satou laughed out loud, the tips of her ears trembling.

That sounded wonderful to Tetty, but she couldn’t feel glad right away. “Huh…is that all right? You can’t get into the courtyard without permission.”

“Look at it the other way—you just need permission.”

She remembered having been told, “What about inviting Mephis?” Unfortunately, what with Tetty’s lack of courage and things, she hadn’t been blessed with an opportunity to invite her, but it wasn’t like nobody aside from Tetty and Satou was ever allowed in here.

“It’ll be a special day, after all. I’m sure you’ll be able to get permission. There will be people looking forward to having some good ramen and people coming back full and satisfied. If this place could give all those people a treat for the eyes, nothing could please me more, as the one who’s been maintaining it.”

Now, a few moments later, happiness was overflowing from Tetty’s heart. She was overcome with emotion as she clasped Satou’s hands. Voice shaking, she murmured, “Thank you very much.”

  Rappy Taype

The magical-girl class was gathering materials for making a decorative dragon—trash like plastic bottles, plastic containers, iron plates, and cardboard boxes. The more they had, the better, so some were even going to their affiliated offices for help, like the Elite Guard, the PR Department, or the Department of Diplomacy.

They were surprised when Dory brought in two armfuls of some incomprehensible rubberlike and metallic junk from the Lab, but they were even more surprised when Miss Ril brought in golem materials, lumps of stone and iron from the Management Department. Rappy hadn’t quite imagined that the chief of the Management Department would cooperate for this sort of event.

Tetty didn’t bring anything from the Information Bureau. Well, of course, Rappy thought—the department would probably treat any garbage as confidential.

Rappy didn’t try to get anything from Magical Girl Resources, either. She was practically a spy, so she couldn’t slip in and out of the group while playing dumb to the other magical girls like, “Oh yeah, I’m from the Magical Girl Resources Department.” Or so you would think, but the situation had changed now. Rappy was very reluctantly forced to return to the Magical Girl Resources Department under the pretense of “I’m gonna grab some trash.”

“Pardon me.”

“Welcome back.”

The Magical Girl Resources Department was at the front line of magical girl culture. In other words, it was a maelstrom within a maelstrom where you were hard put to it just to survive. Many times, it had been swallowed up in the waves of reform, and each time it had been “renewed.” The last renewal had been harsher than ever before—she’d heard that blood had flowed.

The current chief of the Magical Girl Resources Department was supposedly one of those who had caused blood to flow, but her outward appearance was always peaceful, at the very least. Rappy had never seen her raise her voice. That was what made her so terrifying.

A magical girl with purplish-silver hair and freckles sat on the other side of a large, rustic oak desk, eyes fixed on Rappy. She was the current chief of Magical Girl Resources, Juube. Even just the fact that she was being looked at automatically made Rappy nervous, and she stroked the pad of her right middle finger with her thumb.

The vice–department chief, who was sitting daintily on the visitors’ sofa beside her, was looking pitifully at Rappy. The puppet she had on her hand, which looked just like Rappy, moved its mouth to say, “I’m sorry,” but that wasn’t going to help her any.

“Snow White has requested cooperation.”

This was the major cause of the change in their situation. Juube nodded at Rappy’s report. “I’ve heard. This is pretty sudden.”

She talked like she was addressing a child, which startled Rappy into looking back at her. The Juube Rappy knew spoke in a harder manner. Juube went “Ah,” and clapped her hands and nodded. “Pardon me, you’re the real thing. Lately, I’ve had a lot of chances to speak with the puppet Rappy. If I don’t pay attention, my tone of voice changes, but don’t worry about it. Well then, continue.”

Rappy cleared her throat and continued as if nothing had happened. You wouldn’t be able to survive the Magical Girl Resources Department if you got hung up on every little strange thing staff here did.

“The Founding Festival is approaching. I imagine she’s thinking it’s likely they’ll make their move.”

Rappy figured she knew something anyway, but she still had to report what she had to report. If she made assumptions and kept silent about it, all that would remain would be the fact of her silence.

“Why do you think she made contact now? That’s strange, isn’t it?”

Juube’s tone had already gone back to how it was before, but Rappy ignored it and responded, “I hear Snow White went to the Management Department with Miss Ril. Perhaps at that time, she had the Management Department chief show her mine…and your career histories, and she thought of the idea.”

“I see. I was originally a member of the R&D Department. It would be logical to suspect that I might be under Lazuline’s patronage. If that’s the case, then she would hesitate to request cooperation. The Management Department’s data is highly reliable—she must have seen as much, and upon confirming that we have no such relationship with Lazuline, she reached out to Magical Girl Resources. Magical Girl Resources’s…or rather, my reputation isn’t very good with Inspection, so that must have been Snow White’s independent choice. Ooh, she really is a scary magical girl…don’t you think?”

After Pfle’s demise, Frederica had been making Magical Girl Resources her nest, and Juube had been the one to kick her in the bottom and drive her out. Since she was clearly enemies with Frederica, Snow White could have reached out to her earlier, but it seemed she’d suspected they were in communication with Lazuline’s side. So then she might even have considered that the conflict with Frederica was a sham and that they were actually in cahoots with her. Snow White could apparently read minds, but she must not have been certain just from reading Rappy’s mind. A scary person to deal with, indeed.

Rappy listened in silence without changing her expression or making any interjections.

But Juube suddenly leaned forward over her desk and gave Rappy a mischievous look. “By the way, Rappy?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“About working with Snow White.” Juube folded her fingers and looked down at an empty spot on her desk for a while, then lifted her face. “In emergencies, you’re to be under Snow White’s command and follow her instructions. No matter what happens, her orders are your top priority. There’s no need for you to try to consider the benefit or loss for the department.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Even if other forces are fighting, avoid supporting either one of them as much as possible, okay? Of course, if you have received orders from Snow White, then that’s something else.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Also, yes, your senior Dark Cutie has yet to return. That’s not good. It’s not as if she’s left her position, so we have to get her back. I hear she shows up now and then around Snow White, so if you see her, I’d be glad if you could tell her to come back.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Also, make sure to enjoy the Founding Festival to the fullest.”

Rappy started to reply, “Yes, ma’am,” just like before, and closed her mouth, looking back at her automatically. Juube was smiling at her.

“Of course, you can’t let your guard down.”

Rappy replied, “Yes, ma’am,” as if nothing had happened.

“Good grief, it’s nothing but revolutionaries out there who want to do something about the Magical Kingdom—it’s quite the bother. And they get so obsessive about it, thinking they have to do it themselves, too. It’s so hopeless. This is why Inspection is always so busy. Awful.”

Aren’t you one of those revolutionaries who wants to do something about things, too? thought Rappy, but she couldn’t say that out loud. Juube was scary. No one knew who she really was, not originally being from Magical Girl Resources and coming rather from R&D, and the fact that she’d risen to the top of the department in spite of that was very scary.

Rappy wouldn’t survive if she said a few words too many—for example, “Why not have Snow White do something for us in exchange for accepting her request for cooperation?” The boss could tell what she thought anyway, but there was no helping that. That was what it meant to deal with Juube.

Rappy bowed her head deeply and left the room. When the vice-chief waved her puppet hand at her, she gave her a little wave back.

From here on out was her do-or-die. Having gotten the order from her superior, she would look to Snow White for instructions, and then she would do what she had to, to ensure her own survival. If she hadn’t been capable of that, she wouldn’t have been able to survive in the Magical Girl Resources Department at this age. And being able would save her innocent classmates, too. It wasn’t particularly necessary, but even Magical Girl Resources, which people called block one of hell, had some honor and sentiment.

“Ah, oh yes.”

Called to a stop, Rappy turned around. Even understanding rationally that Juube couldn’t have read her mind, her heart was racing like mad.

“What is it?” Rappy asked.

“I put together a lot of old junk. Take it and show it off.”

Rappy bowed her head for a full ten seconds.

  Snow White

Being that it was settled that they would make some original T-shirts, what would they do about the design? Everyone had their own ideas that they wouldn’t back down on, and the homeroom was in chaos.

“It’s not as if we’re going to put that we’re magical girls in writing and print it on. I’m just saying that it would be nice for a magical-girl class to make them a little magical girl–ish.”

“So ya say, but that design of yers is Cutie Healer, Sally.”

“Hey, no it’s not. You can’t say that for sure just from the silhouette.”

“But…this makes it…basically…fan art…”

“They said we’re not allowed anything copyrighted…”

“Look, it’s like, yeahhh. I could go get permission from the PR Department.”

“The principal says no, so there’s no point to getting permission from them.”

“Okay, so then Sally’s suggestion is a no-go.”

“Hey, hold on, hold on. I’ll make it a little more so like you can’t tell even from the silhouette.”

Everyone else must have thought Sally’s design was a sure reject, but she pushed it and pushed it, holding out until she had consumed one third of the original allotted homeroom time. But this was just a prelude to the battle ahead.

“It’s a ramen shop, so wouldn’t illustrations of ramen and a donburi be safe?”

“If we’re doing that, then wouldn’t it be great to have the smell of ramen, too?”

“Hey, but we’d be wearing them normally once the Founding Festival was over, right? I kinda wouldn’t want the smell to be lingering.”

“It’d suck if it transferred to the other laundry… I’d die.”

“Wouldn’t that be technically difficult in the first place? The smell of ramen.”

“Ummm, this is a request from our sponsor…er, the senior who’s supplyin’ our ramen, but she said she’d be glad if we could stick in the brand logo somewhere.”

“A three-headed dragon… That’s the Twin Dragons brand, right? Why are there three heads?”

“’Er magic evolved from bein’ able to summon two dragons to summonin’ three dragons. But since she cain’t get ’er name changed, she’s still Twin Dragons—she calls herself Super Dragons, but ya apparently cain’t change the brand name, either.”

“I really don’t give a damn about your friend’s private business.”

“Private biz.”

“Everyone’s a dummy.”

“Cutie Healer…”

“Well then…shouldn’t we make…the art piece…dragon…that decorates the classroom…three-headed…too…?”

“I’m not sure we have the time to be remaking it.”

“Indeed. We have no time. While we’re wasting time here, the wolves’ Dead Road is—”

“Hey, I have an idea. If the smell of ramen is too much, then how about the smell of vanilla ice cream? It’s probably easier than the smell of ramen, and it’s no problem if it shifted to your other laundry, right? Since there’s some fabric softeners scented like that.”

“Diko! Shove her out in the hallway and have her cool her head!”

They weren’t allowed to transform into magical girls during homeroom. For that reason, Koyuki Himekawa, being not Snow White, couldn’t hear the voices of their hearts. All she could do was make guesses based on their attitudes combined with what she heard while she was transformed.

Mephis was surely worrying even now. But she didn’t show it on her face. She was trying to control the situation, as the leader of Group Two. Rappy, who was working for Magical Girl Resources, and Adelheid, who was working for Diplomacy, were currently acting like normal middle schoolers.

While participating moderately in the conversation, Koyuki asked what she should do.

Could she convince Mephis? If she was going to do it, then she couldn’t do it alone. She had a strong sense of responsibility. If Koyuki brought it up in the wrong way, then it would go badly and get passed to Frederica.

Frederica would know about Snow White’s magic, but she’d involved herself with the magical-girl class like it was obvious she should. Having functionally taken over the Caspar Faction, Frederica was too great a foe for Snow White right now. The information about Frederica she could get from Adelheid’s and Mephis’s minds was fragmentary, and she couldn’t get a full picture of what Frederica was trying to do. Frederica was trying to restrict the information as much as she could to keep Snow White from learning anything.

While Snow White was thinking about Frederica, the face of another magical girl rose in her mind. How was Ripple doing? She could only remain in hiding for so long. Was she getting support from someone, or had someone captured her and was keeping her imprisoned? Every time Snow White thought about it, she concluded that Ripple might not be alive anymore, and every time something icy ran down her spine. When Ripple had sliced off Sachiko’s head and run off, her heart had been saying that she never planned to see Snow White again. If Snow White wanted to tell her not to do something so selfish, first, she would have to see Ripple.

She rocked her head right, rocked it left, and brought it back to its original position. She couldn’t be losing track of her goal. Ripple was surely connected to this, too. She would defeat Pythie Frederica.

  Calkoro

The whole magical-girl class was busily working away. Since it was the students participating in the Founding Festival, there were no odd jobs for Calkoro to help with. But it was Calkoro’s role to keep an eye on the busily working students, so she had to be in the classroom. This was a huge pain.

Perhaps since the Founding Festival was close, Halna was at school at just about all times, and any foolish slacking off would lead to instant ruin. Even getting a cup of coffee in the staff room was difficult.

They really are doing quite the job, she thought with 80 percent exasperation and 20 percent admiration as she watched them at work. Since she was already done rechecking their grades for a minor test, she stood from her seat to go to the washroom. Her sole pleasure was to take out her phone in the washroom stall to play a round of solitaire.

Wondering whether she should see if Halna would get mad at her over reading an academic book or a spellbook, she was walking down the hallway when Princess Lightning, walking the other way, caught her eye. Calkoro was a lot better now than when she’d first been appointed to the magical-girl class, but even so, her eyes moved away automatically. Her looks were just too much to get used to.

Right now, Lightning was staggering around carrying a home air conditioner. Calkoro rushed up to her and supported it from the side. Lightning blinked. You could practically hear her long eyelashes making noise.

“Oh my, teacher. Should you be helping?”

“You seemed like you were about to hurt yourself, so I had to… Please leave it at that.”

“You’re surprisingly flexible. Thanks.”

Normally, even a single very casual smile from her would have some tremendous pressure in it, but that day, there was a line of black dirt on her face that softened the impression she gave. Calkoro responded with a vague smile, and the two of them went off carrying the air conditioner together.

“There’s some dirt on your face. Once we’re back at the classroom, wipe it off.”

“I didn’t notice.”

She must have been just that absorbed in her task. Thinking about how Lightning was also looking forward to joining in the Founding Festival made her seem somehow cute. Calkoro had thought that she wasn’t very interested in class activities, that she wasn’t that fussed about such things, or rather that she was detached from it all. She’d just seemed like a really coolheaded student. But that impression had changed a lot recently.

Rather than Calkoro being a bad judge of people, this had to be a change in Lightning. No matter how mature she seemed, she was still a middle schooler, so of course she would grow through interacting with her classmates. This was actually the way she should be.

Such unusually teacherly thoughts left Calkoro feeling rather moved, and she muttered thoughtlessly, “You’ve changed, too.”

Right after saying that, she nearly stumbled. She looked over to see Lightning had stopped.

“Changed? Me?”

Her gaze bore into Calkoro, her eyes seeming to sparkle under the light of the sun streaming in through the windows. Feeling even more overwhelmed than ever before, Calkoro made the excuse for herself, “Oh no, I didn’t mean anything much by it,” and then covered it with “Anyway, let’s get moving.”

Lightning wouldn’t be fooled. While she moved her feet, her mouth didn’t stop. “Changed as in how? From when did you feel that I’ve changed? You mean that in a good way, right? I didn’t have a bad feeling from it. Why do you think I’ve changed?”

She fired off questions one after another. Unusually for a girl who rarely showed her feelings, she seemed truly glad. While waving her aside with a noncommittal response, Calkoro quickly arrived at the classroom and prayed that she would be freed. She shouldn’t have opened her mouth.

  Thunder-General Adelheid

Mephis’s attitude was strange. The way Lillian was acting was also suspicious. Kumi-Kumi was focused on her task.

Unlike Adelheid, they were all bad at hiding things. They were acting funny because they had something they couldn’t say out loud kept in their guts. Making a comparison with her own experiences, Adelheid figured something had happened to them. They had been summoned by Frederica, and most likely they had gotten the same orders as Adelheid. Even if they were members of the same group, because they were obeying the command not to expose themselves, things had gotten weird.

But this was basically exposing it. Adelheid considered telling them herself instead, but this was ultimately nothing but speculation, and Adelheid would be angry if she got blamed for pointlessly going against orders. And if the other members were blamed, and not just Adelheid, that would be worse than stirring up trouble.

She did consider the option of going through the Archfiend Cram School or the Department of Diplomacy to ask about what was really going on here, but nothing would stop that from just being uncool, like tattling to a parent. And since Adelheid’s mother actually was an Archfiend Cram School graduate and a member of the Department of Diplomacy, rather than being like tattling to a parent, she would literally be tattling to her parent.

Thinking about what to do while working made her get her fingers stuck in the air conditioner parts. She shook her fingers, saying, Ow, but Kumi-Kumi was so intensely focused on taking apart the air conditioner, she didn’t even look at Adelheid. She probably hadn’t even noticed.

“We have no need of tomorrow.” Saying something that Adelheid felt she’d heard somewhere before, Kana offered her a bandage.

Which reminded her—Kana should be the student most close to Frederica, but she was acting completely the same as always. She didn’t look like the type who could lie, but had she not been given any particular orders? If that were the case, why would only she not be given any orders?

Adelheid looked around. Nobody was paying attention to them. Even Kumi-Kumi was focused on her task, and no voices reached her.

Accepting the bandage, Adelheid asked quietly, “Hey, why were you sent here?”

Kana, who had been peeling the exterior off a heater, stopped her hands, folded her arms, and nodded. “I don’t know, either.”

“Well…Ah guess that’s how it is.”

If you were ordered from above, no matter how irrational it was, you had to do it. That didn’t just go for magical girls—it was true for all living things.

  Mephis Pheles

Apparently, they weren’t going to do anything until the Founding Festival, but it wasn’t like they could just leave things be. Frederica had revealed to them that “At this rate, we might wind up doing it,” so they would have to lend a hand on the Caspar Faction attack on the school. But said major problem had been neglected and was being put off, in which case, it would be best if they could find a way to resolve it by the day of. But since Mephis did not have the wonderful powers of imagination that manga protagonists shared, time simply passed on by.

Already, they had no time, but there were so many things to do. Mephis couldn’t be the only one immersing herself in thought while everyone was busily working, so she helped in the tasks so people weren’t suspicious of her, and that took her thinking time away. It was irritating, but she couldn’t show her irritation.

This was what it was to serve some power and receive pay for it. You were always made to take on responsibility and had your freedom taken from you. Mephis envied Kana for freely going back and forth between the class and the main school to get information, but just as Kana could not be Mephis, Mephis could not be Kana.

The work that day was more irritating than the usual tasks waiting for them. They were heading out to Umemizaki to participate in the Founding Festival Organization Committee, where they would confirm their decisions and get printouts and stuff. Tetty—the student rep and leader of Group One—would go with Mephis and Lightning, the leaders of the other two groups.

Group Two looked very worried. They were practically lecturing her, saying things like, “Make sure not to start fights with the students of Umemizaki” and “No matter what they say, you can’t get angry.” Mephis yelled at them, saying, “Just what do you think I am?”

Before entering school, Mephis had dyed her hair black, put on some dorky glasses, done her hair in braids, and put on her uniform to regulation, all to fit in with the magical-girl class. Maybe in the end that had been unnecessary effort, but she had smothered her individuality for the sake of the mission. She’d been willing to go that far, so why did they think she would cause problems at Umemizaki? If they were going to worry about anyone, it should be about Lightning.

She looked over to see the members of Group Three were also giving orders like “Don’t do this,” “Don’t do that,” and “Stay quiet as much as possible” to Lightning—or rather, making such requests. Their judgment was far more sound.

In the end, the organizer meeting ended without any particular accidents. Mephis put on a serious look to greet everyone and a serious look to listen to everyone—in other words, she just put on her serious look for the whole thing. The Umemizaki students were focused on Lightning. All Mephis could think was, Well, of course. Per her group members’ orders, Lightning didn’t speak more than necessary, but sitting, walking, or whatever she did still drew attention.

Magical girls were beautiful when transformed, and having gone to school with Lightning for a few months, Mephis was used to her. However, anyone else would obviously turn their head to see such a creature out and about.

They heard constant sighs and whispers all through the committee meeting. After it was over, when people came right up to try to speak with her, Mephis bowed her head and pushed her way through them, and by the time she had somehow gotten back to the old school building, she was exhausted. Just thinking about how she would have to do this for every committee meeting, she felt like she couldn’t hack it.

Lightning, the source of these troubles, said, “I’ve got to go help Kumi-Kumi,” and headed to the classroom with a skip in her step.

When Tetty tried to return to the classroom as well, Mephis called her to a stop. “Do you have a minute?”

“Huh? What is it?”

“Hey, don’t you think it’s enough to have just the class rep for this? Umemizaki has one representative per class. Why are we the only ones sending in one rep per group? Next time, you go on your own. You’re not gonna say it’d be too lonely on your own, right?”

Tetty’s eyes widened. She seemed surprised. She drew in a breath and expelled it quietly. “Um, well…it’s kind of like an excuse to bring Lightning.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The kids from Umemizaki apparently asked if we could somehow bring her along.”

Now that she was hearing it, it sounded so stupid, Mephis had to sigh.

“What the heck… It’s fine, don’t worry about that. Next time, you go alone.”

“Huh? You’re not coming, Mephis?”

“We’re already busy to begin with. We can’t lose a worker.”

“Well, but look, it’s like we were able to participate because of the goodwill of everyone from Umemizaki.” As Tetty was making excuses, for some reason, the corners of her lips went up, and she broke into a smile.

Mephis brought her eyebrows together in suspicion. “…Why do you look glad?”

“Huh? Did I seem glad? Ohh, well, I was just thinking, you were talking to me normally.”

Having that pointed out, now Mephis thought, Ahh. Thinking of it now, Mephis and Tetty had that falling out. Lately, there had just been so many things to think about, she’d forgotten about it.

Mephis did understand that if anyone was to blame, it was her, but she still didn’t want to apologize, and so things had dragged on because of her. Her group members, with Adelheid at the top of the list, had gone off about this and that, so she’d gotten stubborn. Seeing Tetty giving in to her like this, Mephis didn’t really get anymore why she had been mad, and she sighed and pushed up her sliding glasses.

“It’s kind of like,” Mephis began.

“Kind of like? …Oh, I know, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“What?”

“About the courtyard.”

Mephis’s back automatically straightened. Tetty sounded excited. She didn’t seem as if she understood just what an important word she’d said.

“We got permission to use the courtyard as a way to and from the shop. It’s such a nice place, so I think it will be an added appeal for the customers.”

“Permission…from who?”

“The magical-girl class’s janitor.”

“The janitor? There is one?”

“There is. They often work in the courtyard.”

The courtyard was almost certainly the entrance to the ruins, and the ruins were protected. Mephis and her group had been sent to this magical-girl class to steal a relic. If they could steal it, then there would be no attack. Mephis saw her original mission as being to confirm the position of the ruins, sneak inside, and steal it. It wasn’t like she’d never considered the possibility there would be an attack then, but now, things were different.

If she could steal it, there would be no attack. The problem was whether she could pull that off.

“…Can we go see it now?” Mephis asked.

“Maybe not right… Oh, wait. Before, they said, why not invite you to the courtyard. So then that means, in other words, that if I’m with you, then you’re okay, too…I think?”

“Oh, yeah. That sounds fine. Then could you let me have a peek?” Mephis said with a cool look on her face, but her heart was pounding like never before. If things went well, then she could end everything here. She’d never gotten a chance like this before. Even if it didn’t go that well, then she would get information. Even if it wasn’t possible now, she might be able to manage somehow before the attack. While glaring at Tetty’s back ahead of her, Mephis bit her lower lip hard. If she succeeded, then she couldn’t stay in the magical-girl class. But that was clearly better than having an attack. It had to be. Yes, it actually might be best for it to not go too well. It would be good for Mephis to identify the position and an infiltration route, and a different specialist would sneak in and steal it based on that information. Then there was a chance that she could continue to attend the class like before.

They went from the entrance down the roofed corridor between buildings, circling the first floor clockwise to come out in front of the courtyard. Tetty put her hand on the handle, and the heavy-looking metal door smoothly opened. It seemed like there was magic cast on it. It was probably reacting to Tetty. And now they were going inside the door that Mephis couldn’t open.

“Oh, hello.”

Now this was trouble. Someone was there already. Tetty was waving her hand. Was this the janitor that she’d talked about? The person who’d been squatting down beyond the shrubbery of the courtyard stood up. They were wearing overalls and had a towel around their neck like a stereotypical janitor. Their hair was pulled back in a tight bun, and the ends of their long ears were pointed. Mephis scowled. She had assumed it was the principal, but looking closely, their face was different. As for why she’d mistaken this person for the principal, aside from having pointed ears, she had the overall slender and elegant face of a lady elf that appeared in stories.

Actually…

She’d seen that face somewhere before. Where had she seen it? The woman reached her left hand out toward her. Mephis felt faint. She couldn’t stay on her feet. This was—

“Y’know, I’m glad we could make up.”

“Ahhh, well…oh.”

Walking side by side down the hallway, Mephis smiled on the left side of her face, on the side that Tetty couldn’t see. She hadn’t simply smiled because she was glad—she was smiling at how carefree Tetty was, seemingly not caring about the reason why Mephis would come to talk to her like it was nothing.

But it wasn’t like she wasn’t glad at all.

“That reminds me…,” Tetty began.

“What?”

“Ummm…what was it again? I thought there was something I was going to say to you.”

“Some more pointless crap? You really haven’t changed. Never mind that; just tell me if you remember. More importantly, let’s get back to the classroom. Lightning went straight back, and she’s probably already working. It’ll get on my nerves if we’re late and she thinks we’re slacking off.”

The two of them walked faster, heading to the classroom.

  Kana

The next day, the whole class knew that when they’d had the Founding Festival committee meeting, Mephis and Tetty accomplished a historical reconciliation. The reason for their reconciliation was unknown. When Miss Ril asked Tetty, she said, “I don’t really know,” and when Adelheid asked Mephis, she went “Shaddap.” If Kana asked, her magic would give her an answer, but that would be too crude.

It seemed something had happened on the way back from the committee meeting at the moment that Princess Lightning had gone. Having missed that scene, Lightning said, “I should have stayed a little longer instead of hurrying back.” She was frustrated in her own way.

Kana thought to ask Mephis after they went home, but since Kana’s magic would activate if she formed a question, she was unable to ask. Simply touching on the matter without asking questions made Mephis get rapidly grumpier, and sensing her foul mood, Kana gave up on the issue of the Mephis-Tetty reconciliation.

Kana was curious about the details, but it wasn’t as if she could know everything in the world. There were quite a few things that she would have to give up on. Instead, she should be glad of their reconciliation and at her own growth for having picked up on Mephis’s mood.

At the end of the day, so long as they had made up, then things were good. And if that caused things to go better in the magical-girl class, then everyone would benefit. Of course, Kana would be included among them. This “Kana is included, too” part is nice, she thought as she bit into her dinner pastry. Her smiling creeped Mephis out.

While she did make some mistakes, things generally went well. If things continued to go like this, then surely the Founding Festival would go well, too. The next day, they had their classes, helped carry things during breaks, and during recreation time, they taste-tested the ramen.

“Every time I try this, I make new discoveries. I’ve realized that this flavor seems bad for your health,” said Mephis.

“Ya cain’t give a better review than that? If ya say that, my senior’ll cry.”

She was quickly dismissed from the role of taste-testing and went to help Kumi-Kumi instead. Being always in magical-girl form, she was stronger than her classmates—obviously. For tasks that required strength, such as taking apart machines or compressing plastic bottles, Kana was unrivaled. Strictly speaking, maybe this was going against the rule that they were not to use magical-girl abilities, but if you were going to be such a stickler for the rules, then Kana alone would be unable to participate, so everyone ignored this—there was no declaration that they were ignoring it, but well, Kana figured that was the case, and she was grateful to her classmates and their kindness.

The production of the art piece, with Kumi-Kumi in charge, progressed and grew deeper with each passing day. Their dragon made of trash items seemed so lively it might start moving any minute.

“It’s turned out wonderfully,” said Kana. “There was nothing this great in prison.”

“That doesn’t…feel…like a compliment…”

“How strange. I meant that very much as high praise.”

After finishing her school lunch without delay, Kana ran at full speed to the Umemizaki main school. It was impossible for a human to see Kana while she was in motion, but if she slowed down and someone questioned her while she was stopped, that was bound to lead to the discovery of the magical girls, so she made perfectly sure that nobody was looking first before stopping. Such worries were so very magical girl–ish; Kana felt that she had grown from being a lawless prisoner and nodded to herself.

“Ohhh, Kana. Welcome.”

“Mm, hello.”

“How are things going over there? Are they going well?”

“I’m thinking that ramen may just be bad for your health.”

“Well, it’s not very healthy…but it tastes good.”

“You don’t think it’s rather too decadent to risk your life to indulge in the gourmet?”

“Do you have to be that dramatic about it?”

At Umemizaki Junior High, she was able to get along particularly well with the students of class 2-C. She paid the finest attention to their discussions to avoid exposing that she was no ordinary human, so she couldn’t speak frankly and openly like with the magical-girl class. But the students here were overflowing with even more information unknown to Kana compared to the magical-girl class, and there were lots to enjoy. She could spend the whole break just talking with them.

When she was asking them about the power source of a cardboard box roller coaster, her magical phone vibrated to give her an alert. There were a lot of standee-types outside the class watching and whispering, and she couldn’t pull out her magical phone while they were looking. Kana said, “Pardon me a moment,” and left, and moving swiftly, she passed through the standees to come out to an empty stair landing and pull out her magical phone.

She had received a message from Yoshioka. This was her first contact since she had come to the magical-girl class. It read:

We are about to visit in great numbers, so please be good and lie low so you don’t get hurt.