Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 3 - Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

LAZULINE’S DREAM

  Pechka

Pechka was looking at her new deposit of a hundred thousand yen, but it didn’t excite her like it had before. If someone were to come tell her she could quit the game for a million yen, she would have canceled the time deposits with all her New Year’s money in them and gone to her father and grandfather, pleading, Don’t ask any questions—just trust me, to scrape together the sum. And though it wasn’t like her, she might even have been willing to lie and say a bad man had deceived her and gotten her pregnant. She would be willing to raise money through her friends or use her magical-girl powers to do it. Judging from what she recalled of her friends’ reactions when they ate her food, she could charge for that, at least.

But these thoughts would never leave the realm of fantasy—because there was no kind benefactor who would allow her to quit the game if she paid a million yen.

Once during their exploration, Pechka had waited until she was alone and then summoned Fal to ask a question.

“Do you mind if I ask you something?”

“What is it, pon?”

“What would happen if everyone refused to play?”

“Um, basically, there’s a punishment for any magical girl who abandons the game. The punishment in this case would be, essentially, that her heart would stop, pon. If all of you arranged to quit at once, the whole thing would be deleted…or so I’m told, pon.”

“What would happen then?”

“You would drift in this cyberspace forever, never able to return to the real world, pon. So I can’t recommend it, pon.”

Pechka was crestfallen.

“You’re not the first one to ask that question. So…don’t be too discouraged, pon.”

The way Fal spoke with sympathy somehow made Pechka angry, and she switched off her magical phone.

All their exits had been cut off. They couldn’t abandon the game or challenge the master, and they still couldn’t send any messages to the Magical Kingdom. They’d also all been reminded that they’d be killed if they told anyone, so they couldn’t seek help, either. They had no choice but to head in the direction indicated by the very person who had dragged them into this game: the master.

That was it. Their one sliver of hope: completing the game. The end was getting close. The next area would be the Evil King’s castle, and Pechka’s party had saved their candy while doing a good job of steadily upgrading their equipment. They’d become quite accustomed to the game’s battles, and even Pechka was now competent enough when it came to pure defense with a shield.

If they could just finish the game, it would all be over. If they could just get through this, everything would get better. Pechka prayed for them to remain safe until then, at least, when she pressed her hands together before her home altar like she always did. She went to school and gave Ninomiya his lunch after school in the park. To Chika, her three days of solace flew by like an arrow. She wanted to experience them slowly, make them last just a bit longer, but time would not stop.

She chatted with Ninomiya, sitting alongside him on the park bench lit by the setting sun. He talked about how his coach had instructed him to be more of a team player. He seemed to be reflecting on this, acknowledging that perhaps it was true he often went off on his own and did whatever he wanted, and that he should put in his own best effort while also striving work together with his team. A typical boy of Ninomiya’s age would probably feel resentful after such a scolding from a teacher or parent and wouldn’t repent like that. Perhaps it wasn’t just Ninomiya’s talent that was bringing him success in baseball, but also his humility. Chika had thought someone often called a genius would be arrogant and self-centered, but maybe that had just been her assumption.

On the other hand, what about herself? Even if she hadn’t necessarily been selfish, it wasn’t as if she had done everything she could for others.

Once, in the library area, a devil had attacked Clantail from behind while she was fighting off a demon. Pechka had felt like she’d had her hands full just defending herself, but she still should have been able to call out to her teammate, at least. Clantail, watch out! or There’s one behind you! or something. It would have been enough just to yell something brief. Fortunately, Nonako Miyokata had kicked the devil and Clantail hadn’t taken that hit, but she’d been lucky. Clantail could have died because of Pechka’s inaction. Just thinking about it made her feel like something was gripping her stomach tight.

Ninomiya told her how his coach had told him it was important to call out to people, and that because he hadn’t done so, they’d let a fly ball become a blooper, and the coach had been mad about it for the whole day. Recalling his coach’s fury, Ninomiya hugged his arms close, frowning a little, as if he were cold.

That idea that it was important to call out to people could be applied just as well to Pechka. If she had called out to Clantail, there would have been no problem. If it happened again, she wouldn’t just defend herself. She’d watch out for her allies, too. If they were in danger, she’d let them know. If it seemed like even shouting wouldn’t make it in time…though the idea was horribly frightening to her, she would try to body-slam them with her shield up, at least. As long as she didn’t freeze up in fear, she’d do her best.

Ignorant of Pechka’s contemplation, Ninomiya talked about how the pitching machine had broken recently. It was now dim in the park, and no more people were walking the streets. A tortoiseshell cat meowed from where it lay on top of the slide.

  Detec Bell

Silver grass swayed in the wind. Willows stood in orderly lines along the sidewalk in front of the station. The road was even named simply Willow Street. At the edge of these roadside trees was this lone patch of fluttering silver grass. Nobody had planted it. Had the seeds floated in from somewhere, then? And if so, why hadn’t it been cut before it had gotten this tall?

Just the sight of the silver grass brought these questions to mind, but all the people on the street passed right by it. Not a single one stopped. They had enough on their plates worrying about themselves, so they weren’t going to consider the grass. Even Detec Bell, who was getting sentimental as she watched the silver patch in the autumn dusk, would normally have been entirely occupied with her own business.

Since Cherna Mouse had died, Melville had left their party, and they had welcomed in the lonely Nokko, as well as Pfle after she’d apparently split with Shadow Gale due to a fight. So once again, Detec Bell was in a party of four.

But though they’d regained their former numbers, they weren’t as powerful in battle as they had once been. The new members didn’t make up for the loss of Cherna Mouse and her overwhelming size, and Melville, master of the bow and wielder of camouflage magic. Nokko wasn’t the battle-oriented type, and Pfle was even worse now that she’d lost her wheelchair and was using the magic carpet to get around.

Detec Bell had never been all that great at fighting to begin with, either. A detective only needed enough skill in martial arts to be able to keep up with crooks and didn’t pursue any extraneous abilities beyond that. She hadn’t done anything like specialized training to fight monsters.

Inevitably, their party came to focus on exploration rather than hunting. Pfle gave instructions, Detec Bell used her magnifying glass and other detective tools to discover all the hidden messages and such, and when the time came to fight, Lazuline was their main force. Pfle would swiftly back off to a safe location and give directions, while Nokko would wield her mop and Detec Bell would hold the enemies at bay with her staff. Meanwhile, Lazuline would throw a gem, disappear, reappear, and vanish again to confuse the enemies with her teleportation magic. She would kick, punch, pose, and drop one-liners like, “I am the blue flash that dances on the battlefield: Lapis Lazuline!”

Until now, Lazuline had been overshadowed by Cherna Mouse and Melville, two of the strongest fighters among all the girls, but Lazuline was pretty strong and bold herself. Back during their battle with the Great Dragon, as well, she’d been the one to jump in front of the flames without concern for the danger to protect Clantail, the key to their victory, and this had caused Lazuline to be the most heavily wounded of all of them. Lazuline herself had said, “It was so hot and it hurt so bad, I thought I was gonna die!” But her tone was also light. She didn’t see it as all that serious, nor did she boast of her contribution.

Though Detec Bell had no desire to emulate Lazuline, she had to admit that throwing yourself so casually into danger was very much like a magical girl. But that casual and flippant attitude really did bother Detec Bell. Something deep in her heart whispered, You can’t trust her. She was driven by a hunch that she had to look into Lapis Lazuline.

The city was where Detec Bell worked as a detective and magical girl. The bustling and chaotic area was well-known enough that everyone out in the country would have heard of it. People flocked here from within the city and without, giving her that much more work as both a detective and a magical girl.

The area Detec Bell stood in now was much like her own home turf, but rather more specialized in certain regards. It was on the outskirts of Tokyo, in a place that had been a post town with a wealth of inns back in the Edo period. Just three steps from a certain JR station most people would recognize, you’d hit the red-light district. Bright neon lights, the suffocating heat of bodies, and the grating din of the crowds made for a stunning atmosphere.

The men’s attire presented a wide variety in age, occupation, and class, but all of the women were scantily clad, even in the cold weather. Some were even wearing near-translucent attire with skirts as short as they could get.

Even in such a materialistic and lively district, it seemed there were still old poets who left the silver grass by the roadside trees. It wasn’t surprising that a magical girl, bundle of emotion that she was, would make this her haunt. This was Lapis Lazuline’s home base…or so Detec Bell figured.

With her girlish appearance, Detec Bell was bound to have a run-in with the law and get dragged to the station by some local cop. Furthermore, unlike the time Detec Bell had tracked down Magical Daisy, she couldn’t let Lapis Lazuline catch sight of her in costume. Detec Bell continued her investigation, doing everything she could to keep her form as Shinobu Hioka.

But even as Shinobu Hioka, she was still a young woman. In her long-sleeved casual shirt, a fall jacket, and cotton pants, she looked like she was going out to the neighborhood discount store. Though she was dressed like a local, for a young woman walking around at this hour, it was clearly strange. Plus, her light makeup made her stick out like a sore thumb. She had no choice but to equip herself with clothes, makeup, and accessories from a department store in the next neighborhood over, but she didn’t feel like her makeshift costume truly made her blend in among the professional girls. And she was cold from showing so much skin at this time of year, even with stockings on.

Furthermore, even though she was just faking the look, men would occasionally approach her anyway, which made her investigation that much more troublesome. She’d managed to complete her investigation of Magical Daisy within three days, but she wouldn’t be able to finish this one in that span of time. This led her to doubt her abilities as a detective, but she wasn’t going to give up now. She’d gotten a clue. She just had to rely on it to push onward.

Buildings’ memories were different from human memories: They wouldn’t disappear, fade, or become vague. Even if their tenants moved, their stores were renovated, or they were altered due to a change in fire alarm or emergency exit regulations, as long as the main bulk of the structure was intact, it would always remember.

Skirting some drunk’s pile of vomit, Shinobu walked down a back street, surreptitiously transforming to kiss a wall in search of a building that might know Lapis Lazuline. Avoiding notice and being careful to stay out of sight was a common part of every one of a magical girl’s activities. Detec Bell was quite familiar with it.

Along the way, she witnessed a small pickup truck honking its horn as it ran through a pedestrian-only street jammed with people. The driver’s hair looked like Charlie Brown’s, his face was bright red, and he had a beer can in one hand while his other rested on the wheel. This sight, which might cause one to doubt their sanity, convinced her that yes, there was a lot of work for a magical girl to do in this neighborhood. She walked, and sometimes ran, in search of information.

At first blush, a red-light district and a magical girl seemed incongruous. But contrary to that preconception, they were actually surprisingly compatible. Detec Bell knew this from experience.

In any case, her feet pounded the pavement until she discovered a building that had managed to witness Lapis Lazuline during the last maintenance period. Though they had had only a brief encounter when Lazuline jumped down onto its roof, what was important was that she’d found a clue at all.

Following Lazuline’s trail from the building, Shinobu discovered the roof of an office tower that Lapis Lazuline frequently used to rest, as well as a hostess club that had witnessed Lazuline switch back to human form. The people at the club said that she hadn’t switched back to her human form inside, but out back in a dark alley that didn’t see much traffic. When it informed Shinobu that Lazuline looked like “a young girl,” Shinobu’s only thought was, Well, that’s no surprise.

Buildings never forgot, but it was difficult to get human characteristics out of them. They could differentiate between people if you were to show them a photo, but asking for their characteristics in order to create a facial portrait would just be too difficult—Shinobu’s artistic abilities aside.

She poked into the cleavage of her thin dress with her index finger to pull out a golden chain with a pocket watch on the end. A day and a half had passed since the second maintenance period had begun. She wanted to uncover Lazuline’s identity before they returned to the game, if possible. She didn’t have much time. She tucked her pocket watch back in and exhaled a sigh. Her breath wasn’t visible yet, but in this season, it would be no surprise for the weather to turn chilly the next day.

“Huh?” called a familiar voice, and Shinobu turned around.

Even in the darkness, the blue of her dress was vivid. White over-the-knee socks emphasized her healthy thighs. Her cape was decorated with fluffy fur, and the pin holding it sparkled with a gem. The black-and-white striped tail that hung from her bottom twitched. Her glossy black hair was cut in an even line at her shoulders, and she had a tiny mole like a teardrop near her right eye.

It wasn’t that Shinobu hadn’t imagined that she might, in the process of tracking down Lapis Lazuline, encounter the girl herself. She’d been even more secretive with her magic for that reason, taking care to avoid being found not only by regular people, but also by anyone else in her trade. To avoid standing out as much as possible, she had dressed herself in garish clothing and heavy makeup. There was no way she could have been noticed. But still.

“You’re Bell, right? Why’re ya out in a place like this?”

Shinobu reexamined herself. She was clearly the human Shinobu Hioka and not Detec Bell. But now that she’d taken a good look at herself, she couldn’t explain her way out of this. Anyone who would look down at themselves after being addressed as “Bell” could be none other than pretransformation Detec Bell: Shinobu Hioka. But still, she thought, can’t I come up with some kind of excuse? Can’t I talk my way out of this somehow? She couldn’t come up with anything.

Lazuline clapped her hands in joy. “You’re not from round here, are ya, Bell? Travelin’? Oh, but why would ya be goin’ on a trip now? Did ya come out just to see me?”

Shinobu hesitated, then slowly nodded.

“For real? Awesome! Ya comin’ to hang out with me is the best surprise ever! But wait, how’dja know where I live? Oh, must be ’cause you’re a detective. You can do all that investigatin’ stuff, can’t ya? Oh yeah, you did say ya found out where Magical Daisy lived, huh? Pretty amazin’ stuff, Bell!”

While Shinobu was busy thinking about how she would make it through this situation, Lazuline was working herself into a lather. Did she think that Shinobu could find magical girls without any evidence or hint just because she was a detective?

“Well, since ya came all the way here, I’ll show ya my place,” said Lazuline. Shinobu was startled. That had been her ultimate goal, but she hadn’t imagined that Lapis Lazuline herself would invite her in.

Lazuline closed her eyes, raised up a blue gem, and cried, “Lazuline mode, off! Cancel transformation!” and struck a pose as she turned back into human form. There was no need to yell or anything when canceling a transformation, but that was very like Lazuline, in Shinobu’s opinion.

“Then I’ll show ya the way. Follow me, Belly!”

The girl was wearing a high school uniform—a blazer. She looked sixteen or seventeen. But everything about her appearance was heavily made-up. Her makeup wasn’t like Shinobu’s makeshift heavy look; it was properly done: faint blue eye shadow, red lips, mascara that was thick without being clumpy, and white cheeks. Her hair was a maroon-brown color, fashioned into a complicated braided updo.

When Shinobu had been in high school, she’d had fashion-conscious classmates like that, and they had hung out with similar girls. She’d never exchanged any more words with them than necessary. All they had in common to talk about was school, and she’d figured that any conversation with them wouldn’t be very interesting.

“Bell! Whatcha doin’? You’re gonna get left behind!”

Shinobu dragged her feet behind the teenager in front of her. She couldn’t figure out what this girl’s goal was. She couldn’t understand her train of thought, either. What she did understand was that she was in a bad situation.

From the back alley, they headed into a residential area. When they cut through a children’s playground, the teenage girl deliberately walked along the seesaw, crossing over without falling as it tilted under her weight.

She talked to a cat on a stroll atop a concrete wall, asking it, “How ya doin’ today?” It meowed in reply, and she answered, “That’s pretty nice,” before turning around and smiling at Shinobu. She was all dolled up, but she looked innocent at the same time. It didn’t seem like she was trying to deceive Shinobu, and she didn’t appear to be hiding anything. That alone sent shivers down Shinobu’s spine.

“Over there,” the teenager said, pointing at a line of apartment buildings. They were all five stories tall, each one assigned a number. Moonlight illuminated their white walls. They weren’t fancy—they were typical for an older complex and very standard apartments. Her gait still playful, the girl indicated one of the buildings, marched through a lot containing a smattering of parked cars, and arrived at the entrance.

It wasn’t all that far from the red-light district. It hadn’t been more than a ten-minute walk from where she had found Shinobu behind that cabaret club. But in spite of that, it was quiet and dark. Also cold. It struck a stark contrast with the heat and desire not so far away. Shinobu’s footsteps sounded loud to her, as did her breathing—and not just her own. She could also hear the cheerful inhalations of the girl in front of her.

It was dark, and there was no sign of any people around. Just one step off the path, and Shinobu could probably get away. But even if she were to run now, she would eventually end up meeting Lazuline again in the game. The only difference was whether she’d be cross-examined now or later.

Though this girl was supposedly going somewhere specific, her stride seemed whimsical, somehow—perhaps because of her catlike nature. She was like the kind of stray you always had to keep an eye on. Despite the late hour, she ran up the stairs three at a time, not even considering that she should walk quietly. Shinobu just barely managed to keep up.

“Welcome to my castle,” said the girl.

There was no nameplate. The whole door was pretty old, and the keyhole and hinges corroded by red rust, but it opened and closed smoothly. Had it been oiled, then? The inside of the apartment was neater than Shinobu might have expected—or rather, there just wasn’t anything in there.

The girl went down a hall and guided her to a room, where she set out a soft cloth object—some kind of throw pillow or floor cushion. Her host ran off again, feet tapping on the hall floor, and Shinobu was left alone.

It didn’t look like she was in the living room. This was probably Lazuline’s bedroom, but there was little sign that anyone occupied it. The room was fairly small and featured one big traditional-style chest of drawers, and that was all. The lone furnishing took up about a third of the usable space in the room. Looking around where she sat, Shinobu found nothing else. She stood up to look at the top of the chest of drawers and saw a photo stand. She was stretching up to reach out to the photo when the sliding door was smacked open.

“Sorry for the wait!”

The girl carried two cups filled with black liquid in her right hand, while in her left was a snack bowl full of potato chips. Her right knee was bent, and she was standing on one leg—she’d probably opened the sliding door with her foot. Shinobu panicked and was about to sit back down again when the photo frame fell over with a clack. It didn’t kick up any dust, so it had been properly cleaned. It seemed somehow incongruous that this place was so well maintained and clean—even the hinges on the front door had been oiled—despite the fact that it didn’t seem very lived-in.

Shinobu cleared her throat and then slowly and deliberately sat back down.

The girl explained, “Daddy has to go out at night for his work, so it’s just me at home t’night. Ya don’t hafta act shy, Bell.”

Daddy. What sort of daddy did she mean?

“Oh, and when I say ‘Daddy,’ I mean he’s actually my dad. Don’t go imagining weird stuff.”

“I wasn’t imagining weird stuff.” Shinobu felt like this was the first time in a long time that she’d heard her own voice. It sounded hoarser than she’d expected. Maybe because she was so anxious compared to the high school girl smiling broadly in front of her. When Detec Bell sipped the black liquid offered to her, it fizzed and bubbled in her mouth. The chips were consommé-flavored. Consommé potato chips and cola—the girl’s tastes were surprisingly down-to-earth, if a little odd.

When Shinobu turned to look out the window, she saw the world below glittering with neon lights. Though the light reaching them seemed so intense, the hustle and bustle had gone away.

“Um…” Shinobu wasn’t as hoarse as before, perhaps thanks to the cola. “How did you know I was Detec Bell?”

“I could just tell.” The girl’s expression said simply, Why wouldn’t I be able to?

When Shinobu made a face that insisted, How? the younger girl gave her an even more baffled look. Shinobu noticed the teardrop mole under the girl’s right eye. It was exactly the same size and position as Lazuline’s.

“A magical girl and her regular self seem totally different, but they’re similar in some ways. My master beat that stuff into my head enough to drive me crazy.”

A burst of laughter escaped Shinobu. Fortunately, there was no cola in her mouth, so she didn’t make a mess on the rug. The moment after she’d realized that teardrop mole was in the same place as Lazuline’s, this girl had said that. The timing was so perfect, Shinobu couldn’t help but laugh.

Holding her stomach, she chortled for a while, repeatedly wiping away her tears, but when she looked back at her host again, the girl’s self-satisfied look had turned sour.

“I never said anything funny,” the girl said.

“Oh, sorry, sorry.”

“My master actually did teach me a bunch of stuff.” The girl stood up and reached out to the top of the dresser. She was taller than Shinobu, so she could reach the photo stand without stretching. Of course, inside the frame was a photo. In it, two magical girls stood together, smiling. One was Lapis Lazuline. The other one was half a head shorter than her. The girl’s blue hair flowed down to her back, and though she was smaller, her gentle smile made her seem older than Lazuline, who was giving a toothy grin. “This is her.”

“You mean your examiner from when you first became a magical girl?”

“No, no. The old Lapis Lazuline.”

Shinobu’s brow furrowed. She didn’t really understand what that meant.

“I’m the second Lapis Lazuline. I inherited the name from the old one.”

Each time they hit a point of confusion, Shinobu asked questions, and when their conversation got derailed and sidetracked, she corrected the course until she had slowly but surely gotten the story from the other girl.

Before she had become Lapis Lazuline, she’d been a magical girl under the name Blue Comet. She worked hard at her job, and the old Lapis Lazuline, who’d already gained quite a reputation in the Magical Kingdom by that time, had identified her talent.

The girl said that the old Lapis Lazuline had brought a passionate petition to her—Blue Comet.

She was exhausted, body and soul, she’d said. She couldn’t continue being a magical girl any longer, but she wanted the name Lapis Lazuline to live on, as proof of what she’d been. If possible, she wanted the name Lapis Lazuline to be passed on down through successive generations forever. In exchange, she had said she would teach Blue Comet everything she knew as a magical girl. She would make her the greatest magical girl ever, if she would just accept her proposal.

It had been very selfish. Lapis Lazuline hadn’t considered how she might be imposing on someone else. And most wouldn’t normally agree to such a self-centered request. But Blue Comet was not a regular magical girl. She was destined to be identified as an odd bird. She loved fun and she loved having a good time. If she believed she would enjoy herself, she didn’t mind discarding her own name to inherit someone else’s.

A magical girl was, generally speaking, not allowed to change her name. The old Lapis Lazuline had used her status and connections to the fullest in preparation for her name to be passed down. And she hadn’t just done the legal work. She had trained Blue Comet to be a magical girl who would not bring shame to the name of Lapis Lazuline. She’d hammered knowledge, skills, training methods, philosophy, and various other things that weren’t inherent to magical girl–hood into Blue Comet’s head. This was how Lapis Lazuline the Second had been born.

Maybe all that talk of special skills and knowledge had been a scam…but Shinobu couldn’t say for sure. Back there, she’d just been Shinobu Hioka, but Lazuline had recognized her for who she really was. She never would have been able to do that without the acumen she described.

And so the girl had begun working as the second generation Lapis Lazuline. Mostly, she camped in the mountains to train, and occasionally, to see the fruits of her efforts, she would return home to help people.

I see. So that’s why her home doesn’t seem lived in, thought Shinobu. The reason it was so clean here was because her father was tidying the place up while his daughter was gone. His seemingly irresponsible but oddly diligent nature made sense when you looked at his daughter, who was continuing her training as she’d been taught, even after inheriting her new name.

“What about school?” Shinobu asked.

“I quit. Bein’ a magical girl, I just don’t have the time. Well, I do hang out with friends and stuff, but I don’t go do everythin’ with them as much as I did before.”

“Your dad allows this?”

“Daddy trusts me.”

Once in a blue moon, you ran into a father who could never confront his daughter about being irresponsible because he himself was irresponsible. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” is pretty apt here, Shinobu thought. “Not like it’s any of my business, but it is worrying, you know… So why are you dressed like that if you’re not in school?”

“My clothes from before I became a magical girl don’t fit right no more, and goin’ out in a joggin’ suit seems kinda weird, so then all I’ve got is my old high school uniform.”

“And the makeup?”

“Oh, it’s usually in the fridge.”

Shinobu hadn’t been asking where the makeup was. She’d been asking for a concrete reason as to why she was wearing it. But she got the feeling that questioning her further would be foolish.

And why was she the one asking in the first place? Shinobu had followed her here figuring she’d be interrogated, but instead, Lapis Lazuline had served her snacks and pop and told the story of how she had gotten her name. “Um…aren’t you going to talk about other stuff?”

“Other stuff?”

“Like…more serious matters.”

“Serious matters…” The girl sat cross-legged, arms folded and head tilted. What was puzzling her so much?

“Aren’t you curious about why I came here?” Shinobu finally just said it herself.

“Why ya came here? To hang out, right?”

“No, no, no, no, no. Why would I come to hang out at a time like this?”

“If not, then…” She suddenly tilted her head the other way and lifted her chin to look up at the sky…or not. She seemed to be eyeing the plastic grip attached to the end of the string that dangled from the florescent light. “Oh, I get it!” She clapped her hands. “Ya wanted to hammer out our plans or somethin’, didn’tcha? Aw, you’re totally right. We hafta talk shop. Man, I gotta do better next time!” She stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth and rapped herself on the head.

When the girl had told Shinobu that the previous Lapis Lazuline had selected her, Shinobu had thought, She was just chosen based on her color theme, wasn’t she? The teenager had proudly claimed that her talent had been discovered, but a magical girl named “Lapis Lazuline” had to have a blue color theme. Looks would be more important than talent or personality in that regard. So the previous Lapis Lazuline must have hit up all the blue-colored magical girls, and Blue Comet had been the only one of them to accept, or so Shinobu had figured.

Now she thought that assumption had been wrong.

It had to be because of her personality. For better or for worse, she wasn’t very picky. She was surprisingly unconcerned and nonchalant about anyone that might do her harm and didn’t worry about anything until it actually happened. She might never notice even if something did happen. The culprit wasn’t her. Suspecting this girl would get Shinobu nowhere. There was no point. Just indulging her doubts about her was a waste. Why had she even come here? Her head was all messed up with distrust and paranoia, and now she wasn’t acting logically. It was all because Melville had said that weird stuff. This was basically Melville’s fault.

Shinobu snatched up her cup, guzzled down the cola in one go, and let out a huge burp. “This is basically Melville’s fault.”

“Ohhh, Melvy, huh? Yeah, I’m worried ’bout her.”

“There’s nothing to worry about, really. She seems okay.” Shinobu got the impression Melville was tremendously okay. She had so much okay-ness that Shinobu wished she would share.

“What’s the matter, Bell? Ya look beat. Well, guess that’s no shocker. We’re all workin’ like dogs in the game, and you got even more to do since you’re a detective and stuff in real life, huh?”

“Well, I am tired, but…anyway, I have to go.”

“Huh? You ain’t even done nothin’ yet! Ya can’t just go!” The girl stopped her, begging her to at least stay to see her daddy, so Shinobu was forced to wait until he came back to pay her respects.

From afar, the girl’s father looked plain and respectable and not at all like his daughter, but when Shinobu spoke with him, he seemed delighted to have been able to meet his first real detective, and his fanboying convinced Shinobu that he and his daughter were clearly cut from the same cloth, after all.

Though the plan had been that Shinobu would just greet the girl’s father and then go, her host took her hand after that and dragged her around town. Shinobu ended up furiously singing her heart out at karaoke, drinking an endless river of booze, singing some more, and repeating the process until she passed out.

  Shadow Gale

Kanoe’s laptop was open on her desk, and Kanoe’s cushion was lying at her feet. Kanoe’s aroma diffuser was sitting on her windowsill, imbuing the room with Kanoe’s scent. Atop the chair was Kanoe’s balance ball, and on top of that was Kanoe herself. Since she was sitting on two things at once, her head was high off the ground. Mamori, sitting on the bed facing her to talk, was inevitably forced to look up at her.

It was irritating enough already that Kanoe had taken over more of Mamori’s room, but making her look up at her simply to talk was going too far. Perhaps she was aware that Mamori was grinding her teeth, thinking Why do I have to put up with this? or perhaps not, but Kanoe continued with pride.

“The next area is the Evil King’s castle, and it’s not just the name that suggests this area is the last. We’ve discovered a message that says as much, too. We should be close to completion.”

“You’re saying that the game is almost over?” asked Mamori.

“That’s right.”

“Then if so, why have you been making me do all that work?”

“Just in case.”

“Really? Is that it?”

“I’d never lie to you, would I?” Kanoe gave her a well-mannered smile, and the balance ball swayed. It was on top of an unstable chair, and Mamori silently prayed for her to fall, but Kanoe put her hand on the chair’s armrest and regained her balance. “So things are going well on your end, Mamori?”

“If you say it’s going well, I suppose it probably is.” Before Mamori had tried it, she’d been worried about whether or not it would succeed, and when it had worked out in reality, she’d been honestly glad. But having to do it so many times had killed her initial joy and transformed it into pure woe at the misery that was her life of performing the monotonous task. It was a lot like a hen being forced to lay eggs forever and ever.

“No issues?” Kanoe asked.

“Just doing the same thing over and over and over.”

“I see, I see. It’s good things are going smoothly on your end. Oh, and it’s all going quite well for me, too. It was my first time in a party of four, and I had my qualms about whether things would go smoothly in a mixed unit formed from three different parties, but those concerns have been dispelled entirely. I think I’ve managed to build such easy relationships with them, it’s as if we’ve known one another not only since the game began, but long before.”

“Good for you.”

“And my concerns regarding combat were unfounded. Lapis Lazuline is more suited to fighting than I expected. She’s strong and fast, of course, but she’s fantastic in other ways as well. She has a firm, fine-tuned grasp on how to incorporate her magic in battle. And she moves with such skill—she doesn’t just rely on her physical power as a magical girl. It’s like she’s had martial arts training.”

“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.”

After an endless stream of talk, Kanoe suddenly pressed her lips shut and looked at Mamori. It seemed she’d finally noticed how indifferent her replies were. “Mamori, are you angry?”

Mamori didn’t reply. With a thin smile, she gazed up at Kanoe. She gestured toward the door with her right hand—stiffly, like a rusted-out robot. “Miss.”

“What is it?”

“The door is over that way.”

“How kind of you to trouble yourself. Thank you for letting me know.” Kanoe bounced down off the balance ball. Leaving her ball, cushion, laptop, and other personal effects where they were, she strode toward the door, put her right hand on the knob, and then muttered “Oh, that’s right” as if she’d just remembered something. “I may have been a fool who failed to recognize the limits of her own ability.”

“What?”

“I’m talking about bragging about being able to do something that I couldn’t.” Without another word, she left the room.

After she was gone, Mamori forgot her anger and recalled what Kanoe had said. That sort of remark would have been unthinkable for her, normally. Were things perhaps not going well in Kanoe’s party? Had she not been tormenting or teasing Mamori just now, but rather venting her irritation?

Mamori stared at the door Kanoe had gone through.