Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 2 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

GOOD FOOD MAKES EVERYONE HAPPY

  Magical Daisy

A flourish of trumpets rang out from Genopsyko’s magical phone as its screen glowed with all the colors of the rainbow. She dropped the phone, and it skittered across the base of the fountain to smack into the mermaid statue, where it stopped, screen side up. A band of light expanded out of the screen and condensed to form an image: a symmetrical spheroid, its right half black, the left half white. It floated lightly in the air, a butterfly-like wing sprouting from one side. The translucent orb hovered there, illuminating the billowing cloud of sand with its light. It was a hologram.

“Hello, good day, and good evening to all you magical girls! This is Fal, appointed mascot of Magical Girl Raising Project, pon!” The high-pitched, synthetic voice was childlike, and yet mysteriously sickening. Daisy’s expression soured. Genopsyko, @Meow-Meow, and Nokko all watched her.

Fighting the urge to throw up, Daisy addressed the hologram that had introduced itself as Fal. “What is this? What is going on?”

“Magical Girl Raising Project is a next-gen social network game used as a training simulator for magical girls on active duty, and also for testing candidates, pon. The experience you gain here in this virtual space will be directly relayed to your physical bodies, pon. You were all selected through impartial lottery to be test players, pon.”

“Virtual space? This isn’t the real world?” asked Daisy.

“Exactly! The Magical Trace System–based controls feel just like reality! Plus, there’s the gorgeous, hyperrealistic graphics. Those are the two big draws of Magical Girl Raising Project, pon.”

“Is this really a game?”

“It is, pon. Fal wouldn’t lie, pon.”

“It’s not magic?”

“It’s a game created by magic, pon.”

Magical Daisy tried to act calm, but inside, she was shaken. Though Fal had explicitly claimed that this was a game, everything seemed so real, despite the strangeness of the scenery. The smell of dust and mold in the dilapidated buildings, the unrelenting sunlight, the sensation of impact when she’d hit the skeletons, the solid feeling of the ground she was standing on—it all screamed “real.” But only in a game could skeletons rise from the ground, and only in a game could there exist an endless desert dotted with identical crumbling buildings standing at uniform intervals.

“I didn’t hear anything about this!” yelled Genopsyko. “No one even asked if I wanted to participate! Don’t you dare give me that, you furry creep!”

“This sort of causes problems for us…,” said Nokko. The two of them drew closer to the magical phone. Unfortunately, they were still speaking to a hologram, so they couldn’t even grab it by the collar. Not that it had a collar to grab.

But their anger was understandable. You couldn’t just spirit someone away without their consent, force them to fight skeletons, then order them to find some town and expect them to accept all of it without grumbling.

“Now, now. Please calm down and listen, pon.” Despite the advancing hostility, the mascot, as it had introduced himself, was calm. Its expression hadn’t changed—rather, there had been none to begin with.

Daisy’s old partner, Palette, had been a small, boisterous fairy with a wide range of emotions.

They’re so different, even though they’re both mascots, thought Daisy.

“Time is compressed here, so this won’t cause difficulty in your day-to-day lives,” said Fal. “At this point, we’d like you to spend three straight days participating in the game. But that will only be a moment in the real world, pon. You might have already realized this, but you can all use your magic here, just like in reality, pon. And none of this is dangerous in the least, pon. There are no healing spells, extra lives, or save points, so if you get a game over, you’re done, but there will be no damage to your real body, so it’s completely safe, pon.”

“I get how it works,” said Daisy, “but why were we forced to participate? We weren’t even asked.”

“Well, I’m sure you’re all familiar with how unreasonable the Magical Kingdom can be, pon. Or perhaps the reason is that magic itself is the embodiment of irrationality. It’s possible that nonconsenting participation is the trigger or key or something, pon.”

Whether it knew their thoughts on the matter or not, Fal continued. “Ultimately, this is an official test from the Magical Kingdom, so there’s absolutely nothing to worry about, pon. The rewards for completion are very generous, and even the participation awards are pretty great. If you can be our test players and help us figure out the bugs, future candidates will owe you a great debt, pon. This game is still a secret, though, so talking about it to anyone but your fellow players is forbidden, pon… But keeping secrets is part and parcel of being a magical girl, so it’ll be easy for you, pon. And so, will you participate, pon? Everyone else has already started, pon.”

Fal was looking at Magical Daisy. Genopsyko, @Meow-Meow, and Nokko all had their eyes on her, too. Daisy glanced at Nokko, feeling she had to keep her safe.

  Pechka

Pechka was still confused, but she was locked into playing the game. She personally had a ton of things she’d rather do than train or pave the way for future candidates, and she didn’t find the reasons she’d been brought to this game in the first place to be particularly convincing. She wanted to apologize and bow out, but the other three had different plans.

“I don’t appreciate such forceful measures,” said the doll girl, “but if it’s the Magical Kingdom’s work, then I suppose there’s nothing to be done. It seems interesting, at least, so I shall accept.”

“It would be magnifique if this reward is real!” enthused the shrine maiden.

“Yeah,” the half-animal one agreed.

“The reward does sound quite splendid,” agreed the doll girl, “but this doesn’t really feel like something the Magical Kingdom would do.”

“But it’s so fantastique! With ten billion yen cash, you could live the magical-girl vie luxe!”

“What a narrow-minded plan for your life.”

With the others like this, Pechka didn’t want to be the only one to stand up and say she wouldn’t participate. Just like any other plain, introverted middle school girl, she was good at reading the social situation. So she laughed a little and nodded, a vague smile on her lips.

“Now then,” said Fal, “you need to form a party, pon. You can have up to four people, pon. Forming a party will allow you to use items that afford all kinds of benefits, pon. Once you install the map app, it will display the locations of your members, and you only need to carry one copy of the items you use as a party, pon.”

The four of them exchanged looks, and after a few moments, all eyes ended up on Pechka. Somehow or other, she knew what was on their minds. They were likely thinking, I don’t wanna party up with a weak-looking, clearly useless chicken.

“If you don’t mind, would it be possible for you to tell us your magical ability?” the doll girl asked her.

“Yeah, I am très curieuse about that.”

They weren’t just thinking she was no good. They’d gone and said it.

“Uh, I can make delicious food…if I have just five minutes…”

The other girls exchanged looks. Pechka knew what that meant, and it hurt. She could sense the silent messages passing between them, right over her head: What do we do with that? She’s clearly useless. Maybe we should just leave her here.

“Err…it is possible to change party members during the game, pon. You can add, drop, and swap to suit the situation, pon.”

The three girls’ eyes locked. The centaur girl nodded. And that was how the four of them became a party. Pechka was fed up with how obviously they were flaunting their opinions.

Two hours passed. In the end, the three girls treated Pechka like any classroom outcast. She was just an extra body to be tossed aside once an actually useful magical girl came along. She sat on the sidelines like a child exempt from gym class as they battled the skeletons. Neither her cooking magic nor her cowardly personality were made for fighting.

The magical shrine maiden was named Nonako Miyokata. The yin-yang ornaments in her hair, deep-slitted red hakama pants, and ancient Japanese-style name made her motif obvious, but something about her personality clashed with her pure Japanese aesthetic. It was a little fishy.

“Girls magiques are cool! Cute! Strong! This is common knowledge, in my country.” From the words she used and her intonation, the sort you’d never hear from a native speaker, Pechka guessed she was a foreigner, perhaps one attempting to be more Japanese than even a native.

She’d proudly told them of her ability to control familiars, but her ability was limited to living creatures. Unable to befriend the skeletons, she kicked and punched them instead.

The doll girl’s name was Rionetta. She wasn’t like a doll, or resembling a doll—she actually was a doll. Her long ribbons dancing in the wind, the ends of her skirt flipping about, her bonnet fluttering with every move as she fought, she seemed to be the picture of a Lolita warrior. But upon closer observation, Pechka could tell that her movements, joints, and expressions were all fake.

She and Nonako Miyokata seemed to be on bad terms and would often butt heads. Her manner of speech was generally refined, but she had a sharp tongue. She was full of jabs and sarcasm. Pechka didn’t like her type.

Her magical ability gave her control over dolls, but none of those were around, so she was always in hand-to-hand combat, just like Nonako Miyokata. Her ball joints allowed her to attack at angles impossible for a human, striking sharp and deep from her opponents’ blind spots…though whether skeletons had blind spots at all was a mystery.

The centaur girl was named Clantail. She wasn’t exactly a centaur, though—more accurately, she could replace her lower body with that of any beast. She’d transform into an alligator and smash the skeletons with her tail, or turn into a horse and grind them to dust with her hooves, choosing the best form for any given situation. Most often, she would revert to a pony, deer, or some other kind of relatively small four-legged animal.

Clantail was also a lot kinder than Pechka had first assumed. It had barely been a day since they’d met in the game, but Clantail had clearly settled in as leader of the three. Watching her break up all of Nonako Miyokata and Rionetta’s disputes, Pechka thought, That looks tough. Clantail never complained and rarely spoke at all, which added to such an impression.

The three girls fought with some space between them so as not to get in one another’s way, striking down skeleton after skeleton. Muscles straining, hair dancing in the wind, white skin flashing from beneath their costumes, there was an ephemerality to them, as if they would disappear if someone touched them. Yet there was also a sensuality within them that made you want to do it anyway. Just watching was enough to make Pechka sigh. Their faces were diverse, but they were all perfectly arranged, with perfect features.

Pechka hugged her legs tighter. What she had wanted more than anything was the beauty of a magical girl. She’d believed that if she could be cute and beautiful, her world would change. She could even give Ninomiya a homemade lunch. And Chika really had changed after becoming a magical girl. Where before, she’d been intensely introverted, now, when she was Pechka—and even when she wasn’t—she had been able to act more assertively. But that boldness was born from a sense of superiority and the belief that she was beautiful and special.

But here, she was just another magical girl. Among these others, her looks were average. With her ego popped, all the assertiveness had spilled out of her. Who she was at the core hadn’t changed at all. She felt like she’d returned to being the girl who hid in the corner of her middle school classroom. Without anything to hold her up, all that was left was her timid nature. She couldn’t fight or object to participating in the game and merely sat in a sort of limbo, watching as the others fought.

While Pechka had been busy picking at her own flaws, tormenting herself over her powerlessness, and otherwise generally moping, the fight had ended. The many dozens of skeleton bodies burst into white dust and faded into the wind.

“It seems my hunch was correct. There are lots of skeletons ici.”

“Are you trying to take the credit?” demanded Rionetta.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! Credit certainly doesn’t go to la personne who couldn’t think of it.”

“How much candy do we have?” Clantail’s interruption brought their argument to a temporary halt. Nonako and Rionetta took out their phones to check.

“J’ai seventeen.”

“I’ve got fifteen.”

“And I have twenty-eight. How about you, Pechka?” Clantail asked her.

They all turned to her, and Pechka instinctively shrank back. Nearly dropping her phone as she took it out, she somehow managed to bring up the status screen. “Still zero…” The number displaying the magical candy in her possession hadn’t changed.

“I wonder what this means?” asked Nonako.

“It would seem that we do receive candy for defeating monsters,” said Rionetta, “but there’s quite a lot of variation in amount. Apparently, we don’t all receive the same amount for being in a party.”

At the bottom of the status screen for the party were three names: Clantail, Nonako Miyokata, and Rionetta.

Clantail seemed to be thinking. “Maybe only the person who strikes the finishing blow receives the candy.”

“Yeah, it looks that way from the numbers, t’sais?”

“So she who doesn’t work shall not eat, then?” Rionetta glanced at Pechka, and she shrank back again.

Clantail put a hand to her chin and pondered some more. “The phones have a transfer function. We should redistribute the candy after each battle.”

“Whatever for?” Rionetta protested. “Those who work should get more, should they not? That gives value to the work. Marxism is a relic of the past.”

“Maybe that’s best when we’re fighting hordes of small fry like these,” said Clantail. “But when there’s fewer enemies, nobody will benefit if we fight among ourselves over the kill.”

Rionetta scowled. Pechka could understand Clantail’s logic. In RPGs, when big, strong enemies appeared, they would either be solo or in a small party. If they fought over who would strike the finishing blow, the strength of the enemy could turn it into more than a mere hassle.

“Mademoiselle Greedy just needs to watch herself.”

“You be silent.”

“Um…I was just…watching, so I don’t need…” Pechka trailed off.

“In that case, fight next time,” said Clantail.

Pechka shrank back even farther. She wished she could just disappear.

Fal had told them that for now, they would be logged in to the game for three days in game time, one moment in the real world. Then they would spend three days in real-world time before logging in again. This cycle would continue until someone completed the game. In other words, their situation would continue for at least three days. A dull ache settled in Pechka’s stomach.

“Rionetta, are you fine with this?” asked Clantail.

Rionetta seemed quite reluctant, but she nodded. “Good grief. I’m not going to be saving up any candy like this. I need to find a hunting ground.”

A hunting ground. That wasn’t a phrase you heard every day. Pechka assumed she was talking about a place where monsters spawned or something. A beep came from Rionetta’s magical phone as the image of a black-and-white sphere rose from its screen. She must have pressed the HELP button.

“Is something the matter, pon?” Fal asked.

“Do these monsters respawn?” Rionetta asked. “It’s a pain to go looking for a new hunting ground.”

“The monsters will respawn every morning, pon.”

“I see. Another question, then. How much candy must we save until the next level? Isn’t that typically something one sees in RPGs?”

“Level?” Fal’s expression was as blank as always, but the tone communicated the message clearly. The creature seemed to be thinking, Why are you asking me that? “There are no levels in this game, pon.”

“Huh?”

“Candy is an item you use at the shop, pon. It is the currency of this world, pon. Well, you may need it for things besides the shop, but for now it’s meant for the shop, pon. Oh, and using real money is strictly forbidden, pon.”

“A shop? I don’t see…”

“Huh? It’s in the middle of town. You haven’t noticed it, pon?”

Pechka, Nonako, Rionetta, and Clantail all exchanged glances.

“There are lots of useful items for sale,” Fal explained, “so do please be sure to use it, pon. Oh, and the grasslands area is now unlocked. Feel free to progress forward, pon.”

“An area has been unlocked? Whatever does that mean?” asked Rionetta.

“It means other players have completed the quest needed to unlock the gate to the next area, pon. But there are still rewards for those quests, so you should definitely try to complete them—” Fal’s voice cut out. Rionetta had closed the HELP menu.

So the other players were making progress. They, on the other hand, hadn’t even figured out that there was a shop in town or that magical candy was the accepted currency there. Never mind Pechka and her reluctance—now the other three were seeming anxious, too.

“For now, let’s go back to town. We’ll check the location of that shop and then head for the grasslands,” Clantail said, and they all nodded.

  Shadow Gale

The nurse in black, Shadow Gale, twirled the wrench in her right hand and the scissors in her left before dropping them both into the holsters at her waist. She couldn’t help but laugh at herself for doing something so cliché, even in such a strange situation. She put a hand to her chin to wipe away the sweat, but there wasn’t any.

The battle has ended.

The physical abilities of magical girls surpassed those of any other living thing. Those who couldn’t use their magic in battle, like Shadow Gale, were still capable of putting up a good fight. But she’d still never had any opportunities to use her enhanced physical abilities in real life, so it was shocking to her that just now, she had been able to fight without freezing up or even trembling. Shadow Gale knew better than anyone that she had no real fighting experience. Perhaps it was only the monstrosity of her enemies that enabled her to smash and slice them without mercy. Strange red human bones lay all around her.

“In the end, skeletons are just skeletons… A new color doesn’t make them any stronger. They’re no worthy foes for the superheroine Masked Wonder,” a masked magical girl murmured with her right arm raised, left arm bent in front of her chest, and legs braced wide in a victory pose.

Shadow Gale had accompanied Masked Wonder since they’d first met at the start of the game, but she still didn’t know what those victory poses of hers meant. “Um…are you all right?” she asked worriedly. There was a big bump on the back of Masked Wonder’s head as she posed crisply. It glowed bright red and looked terribly painful.

“The Masked Wonder would never fall to such measly wounds! …It does kinda hurt, though.”

“But I never saw anything hit you. Do you know how you got that bump?” The question came from a girl in a wheelchair—but her expression didn’t seem concerned at all. The girl’s head and arms were covered in so many bandages, it begged the question of what had happened to her.

“I was throwing a rock at one of the skeletons when one hit me like bam! I didn’t think any of them were behind me, though…”

“That may be due to some special ability. We should consider purchasing the monster encyclopedia in the grasslands shop, though it’s quite expensive. We should have the funds soon with these monsters around,” the girl in the wheelchair said, and then she urged them to check their phones.

When Shadow Gale took out her phone, she saw she had fifty-six pieces.

“Eighty-seven?!” Masked Wonder shouted with surprise. Somehow, despite (possibly) handicapping herself by striking a pose after every downed enemy, she’d defeated more than Shadow Gale. “This should be enough to buy a whole lot at the shop!”

“Wow,” said Shadow Gale. “That’s way more than the white ones give, isn’t it?”

“And this is only after shifting from the wasteland to the grasslands. The enemies here aren’t even that much stronger. We’re definitely going to have to prioritize opening up new areas,” Pfle, the girl in the wheelchair, muttered as if to herself and then nodded. “Bring out the map. We’re going back to the grasslands town.” She set off on her wheelchair, not even bothering to say “Follow me” or “Let’s go together.” Shadow Gale and Masked Wonder hurried to catch up.

Pfle was strong-willed. She hadn’t changed one bit since she and Shadow Gale had paired up in the real world. She was the kind of self-centered person who believed her own ideas would benefit others, so naturally, they should obey her. She was arrogant and did whatever she wanted.

And wherever Kanoe Hitokouji was, you’d find Mamori Totoyama. That was still true even now that they were magical girls. Ever since Mamori Totoyama had become Shadow Gale and Kanoe Hitokouji had become Pfle, Shadow Gale had continued to follow the girl and guard her back.

But Mamori would swear on her honor that she did not respect, love, or depend on her.

Kanoe took it for granted that she was above everyone else, toyed sadistically with her prey before finishing it, and thought anyone outside of her own family was no better than cattle, slaves, protozoa, or algae. In spite of this, she sincerely believed herself to be graceful, kind, and deserving of others’ love. And in her mind, others did love her.

Mamori was closer to Kanoe than anyone else, and even she thought, Wow, she’s such a jerk. Mamori was sick of it. But even so, she had to stick by Kanoe’s side.

The Hitokouji family was a long and unbroken lineage of the ultrarich. For generations, they had amassed, consumed, fattened, and bloated themselves like a clan of monsters. They’d spent more money on their rock garden than the average office worker made in a lifetime. Their mansion was the size of an entire town, and so the area as a whole was named Hitokouji. Even the train stations and bus stops were labeled HITOKOUJI ESTATE. Once, a naughty kid had thrown a rock at Kanoe. The next day, his family had moved far, far away.

And the Totoyama family had served the Hitokoujis for generations. Mamori’s parents had even told her that they’d named her Mamori, meaning “protection” in Japanese, so as to ensure she would be able to protect the young mistress. Her very existence was defined by this, and she’d stood behind Kanoe as her servant since before she could remember. If Mamori kicked up a fuss, the adults would get angry at her.

Standing behind Kanoe, Mamori was forced to hear all the praise aimed at her charge. About 60 percent of this was flattery and sycophancy from people attempting to curry favor with the Hitokouji family, while about 40 percent was legitimate. Even among her peers at the rich girls’ school she attended, Kanoe dominated both academically and athletically. However, she bored easily, so she never stuck with one sport for long. The proportions of her body were nearly perfect, and her looks were so eye-catching, eight out of ten people would turn around to stare. And through kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and high school, Kanoe had been the center of everything.

This had made Mamori uncooperative and rebellious at times. But she’d been instructed from a very young age that it was natural for her to serve the Hitokouji family. As she learned more about the world, her view of her parents and herself had become quite cynical.

None of this changed when they became magical girls. Pfle would give orders and Shadow Gale would obey with a tired sigh and a muffled “Yeah, yeah.”

Upon getting sucked into the game, Pfle’s first order was for Shadow Gale to wrap bandages around her. As Shadow Gale’s costume motif was a nurse’s outfit, she did carry bandages on her person.

“There are two sorts of magical girls: those who fight and those who don’t,” said Pfle, looking like she’d been severely injured, even though she wasn’t hurt at all. Obviously, the wheelchair, a part of her magical-girl motif, helped in this role. “Those who fight are suited to dirty work. I want people like that near me in case anything happens, since neither of us has the skills for violence.”

“So what does that have to do with the bandages?” asked Shadow Gale.

“These girls have an instinctual need to protect the weak. So naturally, they’ll feel empathy for the injured, sick, children, elderly, and pregnant women.”

Shadow Gale had been completely confused when the skeletons attacked, but Pfle, in comparison, had apparently already considered their future needs. Maybe that was just because defeating monsters, collecting items, and heading to town was such basic RPG fare. Pfle had been using her magic phone earlier, and she’d investigated a lot back at those broken-down buildings, so maybe there had been some hint back there.

Wasn’t this a game? Assuming it was, that meant there were other players here, too, right? And if so, then wouldn’t they also be magical girls? So wouldn’t that suggest the other players weren’t opponents to fight? Most likely, that was why Pfle had wanted to be wrapped in bandages and play injured. She was hoping to lure in the magical girls who would fight for such lofty ideals as protecting the weak.

But this was just Shadow Gale’s post hoc analysis of events. Pfle wasn’t the considerate type who explained her ideas and actions in thorough detail. The theory was largely guesswork, but it was based on years of knowing the girl and understanding her total willingness to take advantage of others’ goodwill.

And her plan had already landed one sucker.

Masked Wonder looked like she jumped straight out of an American superhero comic, from her skintight suit and purple cape to the black mask that revealed only her blue eyes and golden hair sparkling in the sun. Her boisterous voice, voluptuous body, and most of all, her penchant for flashy entrances screamed “American,” too.

“I am the avatar of justice, here to punish evil! Be you friend or foe?!”

Shadow Gale had been pushing Pfle’s wheelchair, as ordered, when they heard the shout from atop a building. Looking up, they saw someone jump down and land, knees bent and raising dust from the impact. Then she lifted her right arm, bent her left across her chest, braced her legs wide, and shouted, “I am the Masked Wonder! A magical girl, the embodiment of justice!”

Shadow Gale didn’t even realize it had been a self-introduction until Pfle greeted Masked Wonder in return as if it were nothing at all. “I’m Pfle, and this is Shadow Gale. It’s good to meet you, Masked Wonder.”

“You seem to be hurt,” said Masked Wonder. “Did the skeletons get you?”

“Is that why you called out to us? My, how kind. Thank you very much.”

“No need to thank me. A superheroine always helps people in need.” Masked Wonder, with her natural urge to offer aid, had come forth to provide her protection, fulfilling Pfle’s first objective.

The world just makes things so easy for the evil, mused Shadow Gale.

Later, once they made it to the town, they formed a party, completed the quest, unlocked the gate to the next area, and progressed to the grasslands. There, thanks to Pfle, they managed to quickly complete the quite possibly deliberately obnoxious quest of exploring the vast grasslands from corner to corner. As became apparent, Pfle’s power lay in her magical wheelchair. Thanks to it, she could travel fast enough to create shock waves and sonic booms. This cut down massively on the time they needed for the exploration quest, allowing her to complete in only twenty minutes a journey that would have normally taken hours.

While Pfle was busy doing that, Shadow Gale and Masked Wonder had traversed the wasteland to grind some magical candy. Shadow Gale could only speculate as to what Masked Wonder might think, seeing the supposedly injured Pfle rocket away, leaving only a cloud of dust in her wake.

“Wonderful to see her with so much energy,” Masked Wonder simply commented. Apparently, she saw it as a good thing.

  Magical Daisy

Magical candy functioned as currency in this game, and it was obtained by defeating monsters. In other words, this reward was the whole point of going out to try to beat monsters. So for now, if nothing else, they should be trying to collect more candy, because that was guaranteed to be useful to them. That was how Fal had explained it.

Nokko had echoed Daisy’s feeling that the term “magical candy” sounded familiar. When they asked Fal about that, too, Fal had replied, “It’s from another testing ground, pon. During that test, magical girls would receive candy by performing their duties to help people. They’d receive more or less depending on the scale of the deed and the amount of gratitude felt. Basically, it was a measurement of their efforts. A numerical representation of their good deeds, pon.”

Fal went on to tell them that it had been a robotic, calculating system, devoid of any feelings or community spirit, and it was only thanks to the vehement opposition of certain influential figures that it had been rejected in the testing phase. Only the name was back in its new incarnation.

After that explanation, Magical Daisy thought the story did sound familiar.

The shop in town was empty, just like the rest of the game world. All that was displayed within was a menu listing various recovery items and rations. Daisy pressed the HELP button to call for Fal. “What is this special pass?” she asked. “It says they’re selling it for five magical candies.”

“You’ll need that to cross into other areas, pon,” Fal told them. “You only need one per party, pon. The effects of one pass last until morning the next day, pon.”

“So I’ll buy one, then… Everyone okay with that?” The other three nodded, and Daisy pointed at the menu. “All right, one pass and…rations?”

“Hunger levels are one of the hidden parameters in this game, pon. Even magical girls need to eat, pon. So please, be sure to eat enough not to starve, pon.”

That reminded her how hungry she was. It must have been hours since she’d first entered the game realm. The lack of a clock and the unnatural, unchanging temperature threw off her sense of time.

“And what is this R?” Daisy asked. Most of the items had prosaic names, such as Great Recovery Potion, Small Recovery Potion, or Ration—names that made it obvious from a glance what the item’s effects were. But among them was an anomaly simply labeled R. The mysterious name wasn’t the only oddity—it was way more expensive than all the other items. The rations were one candy each, and the great recovery potions were twenty, but this item cost one hundred candy.

“Selecting this will grant you a random item, pon. You could even get a crazy rare item, pon.”

“Oh!” Someone made a funny squeal. Daisy looked over to see it was Genopsyko. “I knew it. In games like this, you’ve gotta have a random element!”

“That something to be so happy about?” asked @Meow-Meow.

“Just imagine!” Genopsyko gushed. “Rolling the dice over and over, never getting the item you want, and before you know it, you’re living the dream: debt! And then soon enough, the collectors are even calling your workplace…”

“That no sound good at all.”

“You just don’t get it, do you? That’s what makes it so great! Oh, my collector’s soul is on fire!”

“But…we don’t have enough candy,” said Nokko. And she was right—they didn’t have nearly enough. All four of them together had a total of twenty candies, eighty short of purchasing R.

“Hmm, that’s too bad,” said Genopsyko. “But this sort of thing is what makes games so fun.”

“There’s currently a grand opening sale, pon. The first roll is only ten pieces, pon.”

Daisy could swear she saw a glimmer beneath Genopsyko’s dark visor. “Let’s do it! Let’s do it! We gotta do it! C’mon do it, do it now!”

“But it better to buy potion and ration, yes?” said @Meow-Meow.

“We can just buy it with what we have left! It’s ninety percent off! We’re clearly gonna lose out if we don’t do this now!”

Eventually succumbing to Genopsyko’s insistence, they bought one R and ended up rolling a map. This was an application that modified a magical phone’s map to display the area’s towns, its owner’s current location, and even party member locations if you registered them. Genopsyko proudly puffed out her chest and said, “See? We got a useful item. Good thing we took the gamble, right?”

@Meow-Meow offered the cautious suggestion that they gather more information. Genopsyko boldly exclaimed that she wanted to explore the new area. And Nokko would blindly follow anything Daisy said. Ultimately, Magical Daisy concluded that they should check out the grasslands.

Now that it was settled that they were all participating, Daisy had somehow ended up as the acting leader of their group. She didn’t mind having people rely on her, but it’d been a while since people had depended on her. Perhaps she was more excited about this than she had initially realized. She felt they should be careful as they progressed, but there was no guarantee that staying in the wasteland would be beneficial to them. Now that Magical Daisy was in this game and leading a party, she’d like to win, if they could, which meant they needed to catch up to the others who had come by earlier.

Along the road, they fended off sporadic skeleton attacks, using the map in their phones to progress. Eventually, they found their way blocked by an ancient wooden gate, similar in construction to an Edo-period-style checkpoint, sitting between steep peaks. Once they passed through, the wasteland transformed into grasslands. Ankle-high grass rustled and swayed in the wind. The bright field of green stretched out all the way to the horizon, much easier on the eyes than the endless buildings and dirt of the wasteland. The sunshine seemed considerably gentler, too. They were no longer burning up.

“I guess vast open spaces is the common theme.” Genopsyko bent forward, put a hand to her visor, and surveyed the land around them. It was all flat, save for the gate behind her. This area had a more pleasant view, but it could get boring, too, if they were stuck there for a long time.

“I wonder if there’s another town like before…” Nokko brought up the map on her magical phone.

“A town would be nice, but in games like this, what we really need is a spot to farm candy.” Genopsyko threw out a couple of quick jabs, as if she was shadowboxing.

“They say we have to complete quest for area gate to open. What we do about that? Fal say quest give candy, too.” @Meow-Meow bent down, seemingly observing the grass.

They were all good ideas, which gave Daisy pause. A place to farm was important. Magical Daisy had essentially banned herself from any violence, so the skeletons were the perfect target to unleash her pent-up frustrations on, even if they were pretty weak enemies. The nice part about games was that you could use lethal force with no ethical repercussions.

The main quest was important, too. They’d need to progress into more areas in order to fight stronger enemies, and of course, to complete the game first, they needed to progress the fastest. That was generally how things worked in video games. Thus, the question Daisy asked herself boiled down to whether they should fight or not.

Fighting’s fun, after all… In a game, you didn’t have to feel any reservations about doing things that would otherwise be taboo. And she wanted to do those things.

“All right, let’s head for the town first,” said Daisy. “If we go there, we might be able to dig up some information or hints on the area quest, or even something about a good place to farm.”

As they progressed through new areas, the parts they’d already covered appeared on the map, allowing them to head straight to town. I see! How convenient, Daisy mused. Genopsyko’s insistence had been worth it, then. All right, let’s cross the grasslands and head to the town.

They started walking, but within five minutes, a hindrance appeared.

“Whoa, they’re red!” said Genopsyko.

“Eugh.” Nokko grimaced. “Kinda creepy.”

They must have hit a spawn area. Hordes of skeletons were crawling up out of the ground. What’s more, unlike the pure white ones from the wasteland, these were covered in brilliant red.

“Skeleton mark two, huh?” said @Meow-Meow.

“So they’re just doing a palette-swap to cut down on the work, huh?” Genopsyko griped. “That’s a pretty cheap technique for a magical game.”

“Everyone, stay alert,” said Daisy. “We’re in a new area, so the enemies may have gotten stronger. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Fight with all you have!”

Genopsyko dropped her visor, @Meow-Meow raised her leg and struck a kung fu pose, and Nokko lifted her ribbon-adorned mop. They’d already discussed their strategy for these monsters.

Visor lowered, Genopsyko charged in first. Her magic lay in her special suit. According to her, it could protect her from even a supernova or the Big Bang itself. As long as her visor was down, no attack could get through. Daisy wondered if it would even stop her Daisy Beam, but she never said it out loud. She was the adult here, so she had to act like one and not mess with the other girl.

Genopsyko rushed in, kicking, punching, and pummeling everything within reach. The gun at her hip was just a decoration to help sell the theme, so she left it there and opted for hand-to-hand combat. She investigated thoroughly to see how the enemy would attack and how hard they would hit. “Hey, looks like there’s no need to worry! These things aren’t much different from the white versions!” she reported.

Next, @Meow-Meow hit a skeleton with a flying kick, while Nokko spun her mop, destroying a crimson skull. Naturally, Daisy wasn’t just standing there, either. She hit the monsters with everything she’d practiced, from elbow strikes to roundhouse kicks, palm strikes, and front kicks. In the blink of an eye, the enemies had scattered, and only one remained.

“Everyone, spread out! I’m gonna finish this!” Making sure everyone was out of the way, Magical Daisy pointed at the skeleton and shouted. She could have just attacked, but her fans were here. It would be a discredit to her name not to end things with her finishing move and a little fan service.

“Daisy Beam!” The yellow ray struck the skeleton right in the torso. She’d imagined its spine vaporizing, ribs flying as red bones clattered to the ground, but the thing continued on undamaged. @Meow-Meow jumped in, delivering kicks to the heel, hips, and neck in quick succession and destroying it entirely.

Genopsyko was pointing at Magical Daisy and shouting something. For some reason, Daisy couldn’t hear. Something welled up inside her throat, then forced its way out. Warm liquid. She could see the sky. It was pure blue, not a single cloud there. Something hit her back. As she fell, she caught a glimpse of her stomach. It was stained bright red, blood pouring out of it with no sign of stopping.

Finally, her heart gave one last big pulse, and her consciousness faded.

  Pechka

With the town as their base, the party hunted for monsters on the grasslands and built up their candy stash. They also simultaneously explored to gain information on the area quest or other useful hints for completing the game. It was risky to break up the party, but with the map they’d rolled from R, they could keep track of one another’s positions, so they ended up splitting into two teams. When it was decided that they’d split into a fighting pair and a scouting pair, Pechka breathed a deep sigh of relief.

She wasn’t brave enough to fight or thick-skinned enough to withstand the condemning stares for her lack of contribution. Rionetta had even commented in a stage whisper, likely so Pechka would overhear, “Perhaps it would be more efficient if we only had three in our party.”

If Pechka had been brave enough, she would have spat back, “I don’t remember asking to join, stupid,” and then things wouldn’t have turned out like this.

There wasn’t much she could do, so she didn’t really do anything. Time went on by anyway. She wanted to hurry up and finish the game, but it didn’t feel like they were making any progress. The only change she really felt was her rising frustration. When it would finally bubble over, even Pechka didn’t know.

She volunteered herself for the scouting party.

“Ha-ha-ha! I will get so much useful information, even the doll will be surprise!” Nonako Miyokata wasn’t all that intimidating compared with Rionetta and her sharp tongue or Clantail and her silent pressure. Nonako looked human, at least, compared with the two monster girls.

“The grasslands are so agréable! Let’s never go back to that wasteland!”

“Um, could you try to be a little quieter…?” Pechka trailed off.

“I hope there will be living creatures here, t’sais? I’m gonna adopt them!”

“Um…”

“Pechka, how did you become a girl magique? I received an e-mail.”

“Like I said…”

“This is so cute! Cuteness is la justice!”

“Hey, please don’t pull…”

She was so loud. As they explored, Nonako Miyokata never shut her mouth, oblivious to Pechka and her ever-present anxiety that the extra noise would attract monsters. When the scenery changed, Nonako would instantly start babbling. When the wind blew, she laughed. And even when absolutely nothing was happening, she continued to ramble on about herself. Apparently, she had a very cute friend named Tama, but she had been unable to bring it with her into the game. According to Fal, all they were allowed to bring in was their weapons and costumes.

All this was more exhausting than the walking. Her fatigue made the rations taste much better, but Pechka wasn’t happy about that.

“So then they should send more than just skeletons!” They were eating the dry and tasteless rations atop some rocks when—bam ! Nonako smacked the stone beneath her. Pechka was so startled she dropped her food. She quickly scooped it up and blew on it before resuming her meal.

“With only these skeletons, I can’t use my magique! If I could make a friend, I could finally be useful to this ensemble. No one needs a magical girl who can’t use her ability!”

What must she think of Pechka, then, whose ability to create good food was of no real use to the party? She was too scared to ask.

“That’s why I am searching for new monstres during this investigation,” Nonako proclaimed, clenching a fist. Her eyes shone. “Pechka, if you find one, then please let moi take it. As thanks, I will defend you if the others try to kick you out.”

“Oh…sure. Thanks.”

Nonako grabbed her hand and shook it. Pechka guessed that was her attempt to cheer her up. But she was going about it rather oddly, and Pechka didn’t feel very encouraged.

This place seemed to have more potential to host living things than the wasteland did. But despite Nonako’s enthusiastic babbling about how there had to be animal-type monsters, they never saw anything other than red skeletons—not even an ant.

“Putain! This game is conneries!” Nonako muttered, and Pechka nodded. No animal-type monsters appeared—fortunately for Pechka, who was scared of them, but unfortunately for Nonako, who wanted some companions. But they were able to meet other players.

Pfle, the magical girl in a wheelchair they’d met in town, said she was in the middle of completing the quest to unlock the next area. The other members of her party were out collecting candy.

Pfle looked so evanescent, like she’d disappear under the lightest touch, and so helpless, like she’d break under a caress. Pechka wondered if it was okay to let her attempt the quest by herself, but Pfle’s strong voice belied her appearance. She’s a magical girl, too, after all, thought Pechka.

“It seems a few parties have already formed, and there’s one girl out on her own as well,” Pfle had informed them.

Out on her own. Just thinking about being forced to fight the skeletons all by herself sent a chill up Pechka’s spine. That was the last thing she wanted.

“One group is hunting to the east of town, and another is doing the same to the south,” Pfle added. “Oddly enough, no one’s staking claim to territories yet. We’re all naturally keeping our distances. Oh, and there are red skeletons in these grasslands. Be careful of them.”

“But they are weaklings. No différent from the white ones!”

“Unlike the white ones, they have the ability to reflect projectiles,” said Pfle. She held out her magical phone to show them an illustration depicting a red skeleton. The impressive image of the skeleton poised to attack looked stronger than the real ones that just broke apart.

Name: Powered Skeleton. Magical candy: 8–12. Spawn area: Grasslands. Group numbers: 5–20. Elemental weakness: Fire. Can reflect any long-range attack. Use close-quarters combat to defeat them.

The entry went on and on.

“One of our party members threw a rock at them,” explained Pfle. “She now has a big lump on her head.”

“What is this? Data de les monstres?”

“A monster encyclopedia. It’s an app for sale in the shop. You might need it if we’re going to start encountering abilities like Attack Reflection. It wouldn’t be pretty if one of your attacks bounced back at you.”

Pechka and Nonako immediately messaged Clantail, notifying her of the red skeleton’s ability to reflect projectiles. Their party had long ago exchanged numbers. The e-mail app still seemed to be broken, but for some reason it could still send messages to other people inside the game just fine.

“You should check out the grasslands shop. There are a lot of items for sale. Weapons and armor and such, too. The material and make of them are rather plain for magical-girl equipment, though. A bit lacking, I suppose.”

Pechka jotted down what Pfle had said in her phone’s notepad, and they bid good-bye to the other girl. Their information exchange had been entirely one-sided, since Pfle had already known everything they had to share in return, but Pfle still smiled and waved good-bye at them.

“She was très nice!” said Nonako.

“Yes, I’m so glad we ran into such a good person,” Pechka agreed.

Pfle was the only magical girl they met on their scouting mission. Perhaps the others were all busy killing monsters on their hunting grounds. The bounty the grasslands offered compared to the wasteland made it easy to assume the others would also want to farm candy for a bit.

Messages filled the town. There were no signs of life, only haphazardly arranged buildings, but posters and little notes doled out hints everywhere. There was a variety of messages—not just ones like This is the grasslands town, but also things like Monsters appear in X area, so be careful and Each town’s shop sells different items. Pechka recorded each and every one.

“I do not like this.”

“Huh? Why?” asked Pechka.

“There are no dressers or treasure chests in les maisons! Fishing through others’ things with no consequences is the privilege only for un héros!”

“I’m not sure about that…”

Despite Nonako’s complaints, Pechka figured they had basically done all right. They picked up a letter in one of the houses and followed the instructions inside, bringing it to a building in the wasteland town. They were awarded with one hundred pieces of magical candy.

“La mission was a big success!” Nonako clapped.

It’s less that she’s loud. More like she’s just very emotive, Pechka thought.

Night fell, so they met up with the combat party at their predetermined meeting spot in front of the grasslands town. There they sat in a circle, exchanging the information they’d gathered and discussing the candy haul. Conventionally, a party would sit around a campfire, but magical girls had excellent night vision, and they didn’t need to scare off animals or worry about warmth, so their little ring was empty.

Rionetta seemed very tired. Her expression was less than lively, and she hardly said a word. Clantail’s silence was normal for her, but her tiny deer tail was drooping weakly, and she looked exhausted, too.

Pechka had assumed that fighting had sapped their energy, but apparently, that was not the case.

“We were hardly able to earn a thing,” said Rionetta.

“Oh?” said Nonako. “Who was going on about those who don’t work?”

“It wasn’t that we weren’t making an effort. We simply couldn’t.” Every time they found a new hunting ground, some other magical girl was already there and chased them off.

“What nasty people, oui.”

“Indeed. Almost as nasty as you.”

Before Nonako could retort, Clantail stomped her hoof against the ground. Halfway to her feet, Nonako sat back down. Rionetta closed her mouth.

Pechka munched on her meal, quaking in her boots. No matter how hungry she was, the food was so flavorless that she couldn’t enjoy it. Still, Pechka thought, Rionetta’s stubborn, and Clantail isn’t the type to let such a crazy demand slide. If someone told them to go away, would they actually just do it? Seeing how tired they both were, it was possible something else had happened.

As Pechka chewed and thought, her magical phone rang. And not just hers—the others’ devices went off, too. On the screen were instructions:

A game event is now beginning. All players will be transported to the square of the wasteland town in five minutes.

  Shadow Gale

Just like when they’d first started the game, the scenery changed instantaneously. The sudden change made Shadow Gale’s feet unsteady, so she grabbed on to the back of the wheelchair to keep from falling. This was that forcible transportation, all right.

Magical girls filled the square. It was quite a spectacle to see so many magical girls in one place, even in a game. A shrine maiden–looking girl was facing one who resembled a samurai and shouting a strange string of words like “Geisha! Hara-kiri! Divine redistribution!” But the samurai girl was ignoring her.

Three girls—one dressed like a maid, one in battle-force style, and the other in a Chinese dress—were sitting in a corner, apparently discussing something. Maybe it was just Shadow Gale’s imagination, but they all seemed ragged and pale. Chatting with them was a girl with a deerstalker cap and cape…rather resembling a certain famous detective.

A girl with the lower half of a deer was flicking her tail back and forth. Perhaps she was excited. On the other hand, her companion, a cook or pastry chef of some sort, appeared uneasy.

Shadow Gale observed them all, somewhat fascinated. One girl caught her eye. She gave Pfle’s sleeve a couple of tugs and whispered, “That’s it. That’s her.”

The girl she was eyeing was encased in a fluffy, fuzzy plush hamster suit and munching on a giant sunflower seed. Another girl with a huge bow slung over her back was standing next to her and talking at her, but it was hard to tell if the hamster girl was listening.

“Yes, there’s no doubt. Different size, though.” Masked Wonder seconded Shadow Gale’s statement.

While Pfle was busy gathering information, Shadow Gale and Masked Wonder had been grinding for candy—in other words, hunting down monsters and fighting them nonstop. Even in a game, the constructs of capitalist and laborer, white collar and blue collar, user and used, remained.

They ran around the endless field of grass from end to end, exploring all corners of the area until they encountered the steep cliffs acting as boundaries, defeating every red skeleton they met along the way. They were taking a break to eat when it happened.

Masked Wonder noticed it first. “…What is that?”

Shadow Gale followed her gaze. Masked Wonder placed her palm on the ground, watching it closely. Shadow Gale did the same. It wasn’t obvious at first, but eventually, she could feel the slowly swelling tremors. A tremendous, rhythmic thumping shook the ground, growing gradually larger and larger.

“Look over there,” Masked Wonder prompted, and Shadow Gale followed the other girl’s gaze. Something was advancing from the horizon toward them. It looked like a monster—but also like a magical girl.

Shadow Gale rubbed her eyes and did a double take. “Uh…is something weird going on with perspective, here?”

“It seems right to me.”

It was big—leagues wider and taller than Masked Wonder, Pfle, and Shadow Gale. They could feel the tremors getting stronger, shaking the ground hard enough to lift Shadow Gale’s bottom clear off the ground. How many creatures on the planet were capable of creating minor earthquakes just by running?

It came to a point about a hundred yards away from them and then stopped. But even that far away, they had to crane their necks to see the top. The creature—no, the monolith—had to be over thirty yards tall. “You’re not allowed to hunt here!” it yelled. Its voice was big, too. The grass around them trembled with every word. Shadow Gale felt like she was about to be blown away herself and instinctively lowered her center of gravity.

“Cherna’s group found this place first, so it’s our territory. So stay out!” the giant yelled. It was insisting they leave the hunting grounds. In other words, it wasn’t a monster, but a magical girl.

“There’s nothing in this game’s rules that says you can blame us for that!” Masked Wonder shouted. She wasn’t about to bow to this giant.

And she didn’t have to bow, but Shadow Gale wished she would just back off. Shadow Gale’s legs were shaking, and tears were welling in her eyes. While she agreed that this nonsense about territories was unfair and Masked Wonder was simply saying out loud what Shadow Gale was thinking, she also knew full well that being in the right did not mean you would win. What was she doing picking a fight with a ninety-foot colossus?

“If you don’t leave, you’ll make Cherna angry!” As a demonstration of that fury, she stomped her foot, and the ground shook.

Shadow Gale toppled onto the grass. “We can’t. We can’t take her.” She shuffled along on her knees to cling to Masked Wonder’s cape, tugging on it. “That’s not something we can fight. Let’s run away. Nobody’s going to pat your back for fighting, and there’s no point. Please, let’s just run.”

Masked Wonder brushed her hand off and adopted a battle stance. “Might does not make right. But justice without strength is meaningless.”

“I’m telling you, it’s hopeless!”

“I am the Masked Wonder! A magical girl, the embodiment of justice and strength!” she shouted, jumping up. And up. And up and up… Shadow Gale’s eyes went wide with surprise. She still hadn’t come back down. The launch itself had seemed light enough, but the distance and speed defied the laws of physics as she hurtled the one hundred yards to her target, landing a kick on the giant magical girl’s chest. Frozen in the face of that sudden, massive leap, the giant just stood there and took the kick—though it looked less like a kick and more like a light touch. But it sent the giantess flying like a feather until she landed on her knees thirty yards back.

Such an enormous object hitting the ground after a ninety-yard flight should have caused a quake far greater than her steps had, but the giant hardly made a sound as she floated down. She seemed confused, too. She cocked her head to the side, patting herself down. “What did you do? Is this your magic?”

“We will not bend to your threats!”

Shadow Gale didn’t mind being part of this “we,” but more than that, she was impressed with how amazingly Masked Wonder had fought. She dazedly stared at the battle between the titan and the superheroine.

“So threats aren’t enough, huh?” The giant stood up and swiftly spun her right arm to create a gust. Shadow Gale threw herself down on the ground and clung to the grass, but it felt like the roots were about to give way.

“Just try it. If you think you can beat me, that is.” Masked Wonder readied herself.

The tension in the air was thick, the situation inches from an explosion, when someone yelled, “Wait!”

That wasn’t Masked Wonder’s voice, and neither was it the goliath’s bellow. Shadow Gale was too rattled to have said anything. That was when she first noticed. Someone was standing on the giantess’s shoulder—and they dropped something from above.

Thinking it was an attack, Shadow Gale backed away and watched the object fall. It was a blue gem about the size of a baby’s fist. Not a raw gem, either, but carefully cut so that every angle shined. If it was real, how much was it worth? It had to be a fake.

“Hup!” A girl wearing a blue dress and a cape of white fur, with a black-and-white-striped tail growing from her behind—clearly a magical girl—was standing where there had been nothing before. Shadow Gale retreated even farther.

Pinkie and index finger extended on each hand, the newcomer crossed her arms in front of her face, bent her right knee, and stretched out her left leg. The pose looked strenuous. “The blue flash descends on the battlefield! Lapis Lazuline!”

Masked Wonder strode toward her, raised her right arm, bent her left in front of her chest, braced her legs in a wide stance, and struck her “victory pose.” “I am the Masked Wonder! A magical girl, the embodiment of powerful justice!”

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then they relaxed at the same time, extended their right hands, and shook. Shadow Gale didn’t really get it, but the two seemed to have come to an understanding.

The girl who had introduced herself as Lapis Lazuline scooped up the gem and turned back to the giant. “Hey! Ya can head back, Cherny! No need to fight these people!” Her tone was quite flippant, despite her dramatic entrance.

“But, but Melville said to guard the hunting ground!” the enormous girl protested.

“Nay.” That was another voice.

Looking toward the sound, Shadow Gale could see a faded figure melting into the grasslands. Little by little, the image patched together, and the green faded, revealing a magical girl. In her right hand was a longbow that looked out of place in her thin arms, and in her left hand she clasped an equally out of place rustic harpoon. Contrasting with her heavy weapons were a light gray cape, supple legs extending from her short skirt, vines with blooming purple roses winding through her reddish-brown hair, and pointed elf ears. All of these made it clear she was a magical girl.

Is making dramatic entrances a requirement to be part of this magical-girl party? Shadow Gale wondered.

“Th’ strong rule in th’ mountains, lest ye be eten. None but th’ most stout o’ hairt are free to hunt ’ere in this land. If ye nae be strong, ye cannae be permi’ed.”

Shadow Gale frowned. Looking at this girl filled her with unease. Was it just her strong accent? Or was it her oddly calm voice? The fact that she’d appeared out of nowhere? Shadow Gale glanced to Masked Wonder—she was perfectly calm. Unperturbed, she crossed her arms. This had the side effect of emphasizing her large breasts.

“Melvy’s sayin’ ya can use this place, since you’re strong,” Lapis Lazuline translated.

In response, the girl Lapis Lazuline had called Melvy nodded with a grunt. “Godspeed.” The girl’s body turned green again, faded into the grass, and eventually vanished.

Lapis Lazuline scaled her way up the giantess, grabbing hold of her shoulder again. “Well, see ya ’round. Bye!”

The giantess sprinted off, her footsteps shaking the ground, just like when she’d come. From her shoulder, Lapis Lazuline waved. The pair grew smaller and smaller, until eventually they disappeared beyond the horizon. Shadow Gale looked at Masked Wonder and saw that she was waving back.

Shadow Gale finished recounting the events of the previous day, and Pfle gave a light nod in response. Though it had already been three days since the game had started, Pfle’s levelheaded attitude showed no signs of flagging.

“She’s small now, which means she must use magic to grow,” said Pfle. “That would be difficult to use in the real world due to how much attention it would attract. But in a game world, she can blow herself up as big as she wants without worrying that people will see.”

“It was quite shocking! No match for me, though,” said Masked Wonder.

“And the disappearing girl,” Pfle went on. “That sounds like optical camouflage rather than invisibility. Being able to change her color would fit that.”

“That seems pretty useful! Of course, no match for me, though.”

“Exactly. You’re as strong as I knew you would be. That’s the strength you need as an enforcer of justice. I’m not just talking about muscular or magical strength, either. You have a strong heart.”

Masked Wonder’s cheeks flushed red, and the tip of her nose seemed to rise by half an inch. Pfle knew exactly how to butter her up.

And that was right when a magical girl walked over to them. Pinkie and index finger extended on both hands, she crossed them in front of her face, bent her right knee, and extended her left leg. “The blue flash descends on the battlefield! Lapis Lazuline!”

Matching her, Masked Wonder raised her right arm, crooked her left arm in front of her chest, and spread her legs wide in her “victory pose.” “I am the Masked Wonder! A magical girl, the embodiment of powerful justice!”

They stared at each other for a few seconds before relaxing at the same time, smiling as they shook hands. Were they planning to do this every single time they ran into each other? Shadow Gale wished they would at least show a little restraint when they were in front of so many people.

“Well, well, well! Thank you all so very much for coming, pon.” A voice came from her magical phone. Shadow Gale only knew one person—creature…thing?—that said “pon,” and in that cheerful tone.

Shadow Gale took out her phone and pointed it upward to see a hologram rise from the screen. The black-and-white sphere floated lightly in the air. Similar images stood above the others’ phones. They were all saying the same thing.

“Today is logout day, pon. You will all be logged out at exactly sunset. We plan to spend three days of real-world time doing maintenance before you may log in again, pon. Going forward, we will be keeping to this same schedule as you play the game, pon.” Fal twirled around, scattering gold scales into the air. “Usually, there will be a special event on logout days. These range from very lucky to very unlucky events. One will be chosen at random, pon. Today…ho-ho! My, my, my. A very lucky draw indeed, pon. There’s a very kind message in the grasslands settlement with the name of the town on it. Have you all seen it, pon? I want you to all go to where that message is right now, pon. The first one to reach it will receive a special, rare item from Fal—”

Not waiting for Fal to finish, Pfle shot off like a rocket, leaving dust clouds in her wake. A second later, the rest of the girls followed after her like a stampede. Shadow Gale and the remaining few watched them go.

No one could beat Pfle’s speed, and she’d even gotten a head start on them, so the event ended with a crushing victory for her. She’d taken a lead of more than a thousand lengths.

After the event was over, Shadow Gale was relieved that no one seemed angry about Pfle jumping the gun. The next time a similar event came up, however, many were sure to cheat in the same way, which disheartened her. People like Pfle seemed to always be setting bad precedents.

The rare item she received for winning was a coin. On the front was a girl holding up an obviously magical stick—a staff. The back was engraved with a star. Gleaming golden, it was about the same size as a five-hundred-yen coin, albeit much heavier. Suspecting it might be pure gold, Shadow Gale inspected it, but she had no skill for appraisal. She didn’t feel like biting it like someone out of a period piece, either. That probably wouldn’t tell her anything, anyway.

“That’s the Miracle Coin, pon,” Fal informed them. “If you carry that, enemy drop rates will increase slightly, pon.”

“Drop rates?” asked Pfle. “You mean we’ll get more candy?”

“No, no. Certain enemies can drop items other than candy, pon. Some enemies even drop super-rare items on super -rare occasions, pon. That coin will surely come in handy when trying to collect those, pon. To give you a hard number, it will bump up the drop rate by about five times, pon.”

Pfle transferred her prize from her phone to Masked Wonder’s. Now the Miracle Coin was inside her phone’s item bank. Just like the map, potions, and passes, it had to go inside a phone before it could be used. Apparently, that was the standard in this game. She could withdraw it by selecting it from the inventory.

“I’ll have Masked Wonder use the coin. I take it you’re fine with that?” said Pfle.

Not that she’d care if I said I wasn’t, Shadow Gale thought. But honestly, she had no complaints. More often than not, Masked Wonder was the one with the chance to land the finishing blow on enemies.

“I won’t waste this rare item you’ve granted me. You can count on me!” As Masked Wonder struck her victory pose, her breasts jiggled.