Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 5 - Chapter 2

Yurika’s Enemy Has Come!

Tuesday, November 17th

“I won’t allow it! It can’t happen! Sakuraba-senpai definitely can’t be in a relationship with Satomi-san!”

Even after getting to class the next day, Yurika was still furious. She couldn’t forgive Koutarou for making fun of her just as she was trying to figure out a way to help him out.

“He has no problem trampling on other people’s feelings!”

Since she had been planning on hooking up Koutarou and Harumi, she didn’t particularly care that Koutarou didn’t see her as a romantic interest. But she couldn’t forgive him for being mean to her when she was trying to do him a favor. What if he treated Harumi that way? What if he didn’t believe her when she desperately tried to tell him things? As those thoughts ran through her mind, Yurika could no longer accept the idea of wonderful Harumi going out with stupid Koutarou.

“I can’t let such a terrible person date Sakuraba-senpai. I need to come up with a way to get her to give up on him...”

Just yesterday she was determined to do everything in her power to help Harumi with Koutarou, but right now she was dead set on keeping the two of them apart. She’d been scheming ever since she woke up this morning.

“I could bring Sakuraba-senpai with me and show her how mean Koutarou really is with other girls... Or I could set a trap to make him look like a fool...”

This was the magical girl of love and courage, Rainbow Yurika, now meddling in the love affairs of other people. It was the complete opposite of what she was supposed to do, but as she was blinded by rage, she didn’t mind whatsoever right now.

“What’s up with Yurika? She’s been like that all morning.”

“Who knows? It’s Yurika we’re talking about...”

Koutarou scratched his head as he watched Yurika from his desk. Sanae, who was floating nearby, was also staring at the overly serious Yurika with a confused look.

Kiriha, Theia, Ruth, and Shizuka also sat in the back of the class near Koutarou. After hearing Koutarou and Sanae’s exchange, they all looked over at Yurika too.

“Koutarou, it’s late November. Winter Comiha must be close,” said Kiriha.

The Comic Heart Network, or Comiha for short, was a massive comic event held twice a year. Not only did cosplayers gather there, it was the biggest cosplay event in the entire country.

“Oh! She must be deciding what to cosplay,” said Koutarou.

“Is that the cosplay festival thing?” asked Theia.

“Yeah. If she’s that serious about it, Yurika-chan must be really into it...” said Shizuka.

“I see. Now that you mention it, I can feel her intensity all the way over here,” added Ruth.

They all nodded in agreement. Kiriha must be on to something. In their minds, Yurika was a hardcore cosplayer. Not to mention her poor grades made it seem unlikely that she was concentrating so hard on studying.

“Is that really it? I can kind of sense something else in her aura...”

However, Sanae had a slightly different opinion. As a ghost, she had the power to read auras, and Yurika’s seemed to be somewhat different from normal.

“Well, she was strange from the start, I guess.”

But Sanae didn’t spend too much time worrying about it. In the end, Yurika was just a cosplayer to her too.

“Kou, what are you talking about?” asked Kenji.

Kenji happened to be walking by with the daily report journal for the class. Since he was on day duty, he had just come back from the faculty office.

“Take a look at that.”

“Is there something wrong with Nijino-san?”

“She’s been making that strained face since this morning, so we were wondering what for.”

“Yeah, now that you mention it...” Kenji nodded after Koutarou explained the situation to him. “She does kinda look like she’s about to pull a knife on someone.”

“Mackenzie, are you speaking from experience?”

“...N-No.” Kenji shook his head vigorously, regretting what he’d just said.

“Liar! You definitely are!”

“I wasn’t! Really!”

As Kenji was shaking his head, Shizuka offered up the going theory.

“Mackenzie-kun’s experiences aside, we suspect that Yurika might be thinking about her next cosplay.”

“No, she’s definitely about to cut someone!”

It didn’t even occur to Koutarou that he might be the intended victim.

“Shut it, Kou! Kasagi-san might be on to something.” Kenji nodded emphatically.

Seeing that, Koutarou was willing to stop teasing Kenji for the moment and get back to the matter at hand.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, I’m on day duty today, right? So when I went to the faculty office to get the class journal, there was a girl I’d never seen before with the teacher.”

“A girl? You hit on her, didn’t you? Nothing’s off limits for you, is it, Mackenzie? I’m impressed.”

Koutarou feigned surprise while Kenji’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

“Of course not! Why would I do that?”

“Hard to believe those words coming from Mackenzie-kun, the master of love who’s had a girl pull a knife on him before.”

“Let me finish! You just shut up.”

“Yeah, yeah. You keep going. I’m just gonna keep thinking about the girl with the knife.”

Kenji’s angry look had no effect on Koutarou, who shut up but continued to smirk.

“Ugh, I really shouldn’t have let that slip...”

“Come on, Mackenzie. What is it?”

“R-Right. Well, it seems the girl I saw is a transfer student coming to this class.”

“A transfer student?!” everyone gasped in surprise.

“And apparently she knows Nijino-san.”

It seemed the chill November wind was bringing change with it. For the students of class 1-A, that meant a late transfer student.

After being called into the classroom by the teacher, a girl with indigo eyes entered. After hearing she ran in Yurika’s circle, Koutarou had imagined someone loud and unbalanced like Yurika. But in reality, the new transfer student was quiet and looked like she had a good head on her shoulders.

“For a friend of hers, she sure seems different from Yurika.”

“Maybe Yurika has normal friends?”

“I guess that’s possible.”

Koutarou and Sanae could barely believe this girl was a friend of Yurika’s. They just seemed too different. They continued to whisper rude comments to each other, but they stopped to listen when the transfer student bowed to the class.

“Hello, everybody. My name is Aika Maki. It’s nice to meet you all.”

“Maki-san transferred to this school because of family matters. Please welcome her, everyone,” the teacher explained.

After the transfer student—Maki—introduced herself, the classroom was immediately abuzz. To high schoolers, a transfer students was that big of a deal. Naturally, everyone was excited at this unexpected development.

“M-Maki-chan?!”

However, Yurika was the most shaken up of all. Her eyes shot open wide and she stood up so fast her chair went flying backward.

“Wh-Why are you here, Maki-chan?!”

“Long time no see, Yurika-san.”

Maki had a calm smile on her face in stark contrast to Yurika’s surprised expression. The two girls almost looked like complete opposites.

“Right, I almost forgot. You know Yurika-san, don’t you, Maki-san? Can I ask you to look after her, Yurika-san?” asked the teacher.

But Yurika didn’t hear a word of it. Her head was somewhere else. Not only were her eyes wide open, but her jaw was practically on her desk.

You’re surprised, aren’t you, Nijino Yurika? Well, it’s not like I can’t understand how you must feel...

On the outside, Maki was smiling, but on the inside, she was calmly observing Yurika. She was somewhat satisfied that Yurika had reacted just as she had anticipated, but that was as far as things would go according to her plan.

“Maki-chan! Maki-chaaaaan!”

Yurika’s expression utterly transformed. She called Maki’s name as tears filled her eyes and she smiled brightly.

“H-Huh?”

While this new reaction caught Maki off guard, Yurika ran up to the front of the classroom and grabbed her hand.

“Thank you for coming, Maki-chaaaaan!”

“Excuse me?!”

This time, it was Maki’s eyes that opened wide in surprise. Yurika clasped Maki’s hand and shook it up and down. This wasn’t at all what Maki had expected.

“I’ve been waiting for you! I’ve been waiting so long for you and the others to come!”

“Waiting for me?! Wh-Why?!”

Maki thought Yurika would be shocked. Appalled, even. Maybe she might even tremble in fear at her arrival. But this... This was bizarre. Yurika was rejoicing and welcoming her with open arms.

“What took you so long? I’ve suffered through so much waiting for you to get here!”

“Suffered...?”

J-Just what is this girl saying?!

Now Maki was really stumped. Yurika’s suffering was supposed to start when she arrived, but instead, Yurika was making it sound like she’d done her some favor. Maki had no idea what was going on. In the midst of Maki’s confusion, Yurika turned to the class.

“Satomi-san, Satomi-san! Look! Please look!” Yurika shouted to a boy in the class, waving Maki’s hand in the air.

Satomi? It’s that boy...

Maki knew who he was. Satomi Koutarou. The boy that lived in room 106.

“What is it, Yurika?” Koutarou calmly responded to the overly excited Yurika.

“They came! They finally came!”

“Who did?”

“The enemy! The evil magical girls are finally here!”

“Wha?!”

In that moment, Maki’s heart almost stopped. But it was as Yurika said. Aika Maki was indeed an evil magical girl known as Dark Navy who wielded the power of indigo magic. She was part of the magic organization called Darkness Rainbow. However, good or evil, it was taboo for a magical girl to reveal her identity. That was because the public discovery of magic’s existence wouldn’t help either faction. It was the fate of magical girls to fight throughout the ages while hiding in the shadows.

“See? It wasn’t a lie, Satomi-san! I told you the enemy would really come!”

S-Stop it, Yurika! If you say any more, we’ll—

While Maki was starting to panic, Yurika didn’t seem to have any trouble revealing both of them. It was enough to drive any magical girl to despair, not just Maki.

“Good for you, Yurika. Reuniting with an old classmate must feel great.”

“So that girl will be wearing an evil magical girl costume?”

“Be nice to her, okay? There aren’t that many people who would play along like that with your cosplay hobby.”

“Kurano-san, what kind of outfit will Maki-san wear?”

“Since Yurika’s is pink-ish, she probably wears something dark. When they stand together, that would contrast nicely.”

Even now, the truth betrayed Maki’s expectations. Theia, Ruth, Sanae, Shizuka, and Kiriha... Not one of them showed any sign of catching on to either Maki or Yurika’s true identity.

“Wh-What is...?”

Maki was slack-jawed at this development. Normally she kept herself composed, but this time she was thoroughly taken aback. Granted, that was a perfectly normal reaction considering the situation. With her identity exposed, she had fully expected to lose everything right then and there. But that wasn’t even remotely the case. Yurika had boldly announced her as a magical girl, but nothing whatsoever had changed.

“Oh, she seems pretty proper, but she’s a cosplayer too...”

“So there are multiple types of cosplayers, huh?”

“But wouldn’t chic colors suit her better?”

“Maybe. She would look better if coordinated with her eye color.”

After Yurika’s outburst, the class began evaluating Maki for themselves. But even as they did, no one said anything about her being a magical girl.

Cosplayer...?

Instead, what they kept saying over and over was “cosplayer.” After straightening out her uniform which had become disheveled in her panic, Maki looked over the class.

“Wait, no, she’s not! You’re all wrong!” Yurika insisted, trying to correct everyone as the discussion was getting away from her.

“Hey, Yurika, is that girl going to join the cosplay society with you?” Koutarou asked casually. He didn’t look or sound like anyone who was aware of the fighting that went down between magical girls.

“No! We’re on the verge of doing battle with each other!”

“I see. They do call Comiha a battlefield, after all...”

Comiha was a massive, three day event with over 300,000 participants. It was so incredibly crowded that it wasn’t uncommon for attendees to liken it to a battlefield. Koutarou, who was still on good terms with the cosplay society, had heard all about it countless times.

“You’re wrong! Wrooong!”

“Cosplay...? Cosplayer...?”

Could it be that Nijino Yurika is recognized as a cosplayer by her classmates? And as her friend, do they just assume I am too?

Maki finally began to process the situation she’d gotten dragged into. At school, Yurika was well known as a cosplayer. It then followed that her friends might be into cosplay too. That was really why no one batted an eye when Yurika declared herself a magical girl, and Maki was protected by the same layer of disbelief.

“She won’t join! Maki-chan isn’t that kind of girl!”

“So you’re forcing her to cosplay with you even though she wouldn’t want to join the cosclub?”

“No! I keep telling you that’s not it!”

Tears started forming in the corners of Yurika’s eyes as she desperately pleaded with Koutarou. This time, she was dead set on convincing him that she was a magical girl.

“Maki-san,” Koutarou called out to Maki, who was currently lost in thought.

“Y-Yes?!”

As she hadn’t expected anyone would try talking to her, her voice faltered in the moment. Her surprised expression was quite humorous.

“If Yurika causes you any problems, let me know right away.”

“You’re wrong! If anyone’s going to be causing problems, it’s Maki-chan!”

“Yurika, even if you’re old acquaintances, you shouldn’t talk about your friends like that.”

“It’s not like that!”

Ignoring Yurika who was fiercely protesting the matter, Koutarou looked at Maki with an apologetic expression.

“I’m sorry, Maki-san. We’ll make sure to scold her.”

“Waaaaaaah! Nobody is even trying to listen to me!”

In the end, Yurika confessed both of their identities, but nobody was even really listening.

“This is...”

After watching the whole ordeal, Maki reached a conclusion.

I see. So that’s how it is...

Realizing the situation, Maki gritted her teeth, mortified.

I thought she was just a stupid coward, but what a master actor!

By cleverly claiming to be a cosplayer, Yurika was able to hide the truth. That was what Maki concluded. With a reputation as a cosplayer, even if someone saw her transformed, they would just assume it was her in costume. On top of that, even if she told everyone the truth, it wouldn’t be an issue. They would just think it was the background story for her cosplay. She might even be able to get people to help her that way. For example, if Yurika asked people to “find the evil magical girl,” they would help look for Maki without suspecting a thing.

What a splendid tactic, Nijino Yurika... If I don’t reevaluate you, I might be the one who gets tripped up! To think you were hiding this kind of brilliance... Or maybe she has a mastermind working with her?!

Yurika’s apparently flawless plan struck fear into Maki’s heart. She never would have imagined that revealing the truth could have the opposite effect.

However, making a fool out of me was a big mistake, Nijino Yurika! I’ll make you regret that, no matter what!

Maki grit her teeth even harder. She was under the impression that Yurika was making fun of her. Maki felt a sudden sense of rivalry flare up. She had never felt that way about Yurika before, but this changed everything.

If Yurika was just hiding her identity, there was no need for her to tell the class that Maki was a magical girl too. Yet she had chosen to tell them anyway. The only reason for that would be to torment Maki. Yurika had used the one thing all magical girls should have in common—their secret identities—to mess with Maki. At least, that’s how Maki interpreted the situation.

Knowing what I do now, I can’t just let her toy with me!

Now with a grasp on the situation(?), Maki regained her composure and smiled.

“No, there’s no need to worry. I actually wanted to take up cosplay properly. If there’s a cosclub, I would love to join.”

“Maki-chan! Wh-What are you...?”

“I’m looking forward to working with you, Yurika-san.”

You’ve gotten good at acting this past half a year or so, Nijino Yurika! But I’ll show you soon enough that acting is the only thing you’ve gotten better at!

Aika Maki, the indigo magical girl Dark Navy. Despite her overwhelming magic prowess and intelligence, she had fallen prey to a simple misunderstanding and was now more determined to defeat Yurika than ever before.

As the calendar entered the latter half of November, the wind blowing on the rooftop after school grew colder. Just being there was enough to chill you to the bone. However, as she faced off against Maki, Yurika felt that Maki’s stare was colder than the autumn wind. Worse still, with just the two of them on the vast roof, it felt even colder.

“What did you want to talk about, Nijino Yurika?”

“Maki-chan, j-just what are you trying to do?” Yurika began, restraining her own unrest.

There was a lot she wanted to ask Maki. Her reason for transferring to Kisshouharukaze High School. Why she said she was going to join the cosclub. And most of all, what any of that had to do with room 106. Yurika had brought Maki to the rooftop because she wanted answers to those questions.

“Do you mean why I transferred to this school? Or something else?”

“Everything.”

Maki smiled confidently. However, despite her self-assured smirk, she was analyzing Yurika carefully.

Just by looking at her, she doesn’t seem to have changed any during the last half a year, but I feel like something’s off. And then there’s the cosplaying... Maybe I should investigate a bit more.

“My reason for transferring to this school is obvious, don’t you think? You’re here, and the boy living in that room with all that mana just happens to go to this school too. Of course I’d try to make contact.”

Maki’s capital reason for coming to Kisshouharukaze High School was to secure access to room 106. It would be easier for her to enter Koutarou’s apartment as his classmate than as a total stranger.

But her second reason was Yurika. Maki wanted to investigate her. The only information she had regarding Yurika was from when she was just a normal middle schooler, plus a short period of time after Yurika had replaced the previous magical girl in her position. Really, Maki had next to no information regarding the magical girl Rainbow Yurika at all.

“So why didn’t you attack for over half a year?”

“You remember it as well, don’t you? That fight in March? The one where your predecessor Rainbow Nana’s desperate attack incapacitated five of our seven magical girls. It’s taken time for us to recover and train successors. That’s all.”

“Because of Nana-san’s spell back then...”

Rainbow Nana was the magical girl who called herself Rainbow before Yurika. Eight months ago, Nana focused all of her power into a single attack against the evil magical girls during an all-out battle. That spell incapacitated several of the evil magical girls, but in return, Nana was no longer able to fight. And so Nana passed on her duties and her powers to Yurika, who then became Magical Girl Rainbow Yurika.

“Well, it was a big blow for all of us, both our Darkness Rainbow and your Rainbow Heart.”

Rainbow Heart and Darkness Rainbow were the names of the organizations the two girls belonged to. Rainbow Heart was a special taskforce of the magical kingdom’s army. Although everyone in the army was some kind of magic user, their centerpiece was a group of seven magical girls, the strongest of magic users, given the title of Rainbow. Rainbow Nana was one of those seven.

Rainbow Heart was tasked with working for peace and ensuring the proper use of magic across the land. Practically speaking, their mission involved things like fighting demons and capturing people who used magic for selfish means. In contrast, Darkness Rainbow was a secret society that was active behind the scenes of the magical kingdom. Similar to Rainbow Heart, Darkness Rainbow was a group of seven powerful magical girls. However, unlike the girls of Rainbow Heart who mastered all types of magic, the girls of Darkness Rainbow each focused on a single type of magic. Even though it could be a hindrance at times, it was ultimately in service to Darkness Rainbow’s true goal. Really, that goal was nothing more than using magic as they pleased to create a future for themselves through force. And that was why none of them bothered to study magic that they wouldn’t need. Naturally, that put them at odds with Rainbow Heart.

“No, I guess your side might have suffered more. After all, you lost Rainbow Nana who had the power to fend off all seven of us on her own. Even worse, her successor is a complete failure.”

“That’s not true! I’ll carry on Nana-san’s mission for her!”

“Maybe you will. At the very least, you’ve far surpassed your predecessor in terms of craftiness,” Maki said, narrowing her eyes. Despite what she said, she didn’t really see Yurika as a failure.

“Craftiness?”

However, Yurika didn’t know what Maki was talking about. Maki smiled at her, but it was a cold-hearted grin that sent chills down Yurika’s spine. Yet the words that left Maki’s mouth next made Yurika forget all about that.

“I never thought you’d call yourself a cosplayer to hide your identity...”

“Huh?”

“My hat’s off to you. With this method, even if your secret were to be revealed, nobody would believe it. It blows my mind.”

Maki wasn’t joking or exaggerating. When the two girls were reunited during homeroom, she felt like she was going through some kind of shell shock.

“Y-You’re wrong! Th-That’s not what I’m trying to do!”

“Don’t try to hide it! There’s no other reason for you to be in the cosplay society!”

But this was all part of Maki’s misunderstanding. She was under the impression Yurika had devised this situation on purpose. The thought that nobody would ever dare to believe Yurika was magical girl in the first place or that Yurika had forcibly been recruited into the cosplay society didn’t occur to Maki.

“I’ve never called myself a cosplayer even—”

“Of course. With that character acting, you’ve built up an absolute defense. Even if you transformed at school, nobody would think anything of it. Moreover, by mobilizing the student body, you can make up for your lack of ability. You’ve really thought this through...”

To Maki, Yurika had turned Kisshouharukaze High School into a well defended fortress. Not only had she come up with a clever way to hide her identity, but by doing so, she had access to peers that could help make up for her lack of skills otherwise. For example, if she used her magic to enhance the abilities of members from a martial arts club, they would turn into frighteningly powerful battle machines. After that, all she had to do was pull the wool over their eyes and send them to do her dirty work.

It’s a truly terrifying plan. It’s a good thing I saw through it so early...

It was thanks to Yurika making a fool of her in homeroom that Maki had caught on to Yurika’s plan(?). If she hadn’t uncovered Yurika’s cosplay tactics, Maki might have fallen straight into her trap.

“Like I said, that’s not what I’m—”

But Yurika was frantically trying to convince Maki otherwise. If she didn’t resolve this misunderstanding now, she knew it would only get worse.

“I won’t let you have your way that easily.”

“I keep telling you that you’re wrong! Please, Maki-chan, just listen to what I have to say!”

“I’m also joining the cosclub. Doing that will level the playing field again!”

However, Maki believed she’d noticed a critical flaw in Yurika’s seemingly perfect plan(?). If Maki joined the cosplay society, any benefits Yurika received from being a member would also apply to Maki. That would put them on even footing.

“You miscalculated, Rainbow Yurika! Trying to make a fool of me and revealing that you were in the cosclub was a mistake!”

Maki lost her cool, and the fervor she kept hidden deep inside surfaced. She glared at Yurika with fire burning in her eyes.

“You’re wrong, Maki-chan! It’s just a misunderstanding! I wasn’t making fun of you! And I’m not the one who brought up the cosclub!”

Yurika hadn’t laid any plans. She had never called herself a cosplayer, and she certainly hadn’t joined the cosplay society of her own free will. The people around her just didn’t believe her. And to top it all off, she had no recollection of making fun of Maki. She’d just been happy that Maki had finally arrived. In her head, that gave her proof of her identity as a magical girl.

“Shut up, Yurika! I won’t be fooled anymore!”

“Aaaaahhh! Not even Maki-chan believes in me! Why does it always turn out like this?!”

Yurika was at her wit’s end. She couldn’t help the tears.

Aww, this is just like with Satomi-san!

But despite Yurika’s protest, Maki’s assumption was perfectly reasonable. No matter the perspective, it looked like Yurika could only have gotten herself into her current situation by her own doing. No one would believe that it had all started with Koutarou and Sanae refusing to believe in magic, and that it had only gotten worse from there.

“But it’s not over! I’ve seen through your plans, haven’t I, Nijino Yurika?!”

“It is over! I never had any plans to begin with!”

“Of course not. No idiot would just reveal their plans. But there’s one thing that’s bothering me...”

Maki regained her composure. Although Aika Maki usually appeared calm and collected, she hid intense passion underneath that facade.

“Let me guess! It has nothing to do with what I’m talking about, does it?!” Yurika shouted with fat tears now streaming down her cheeks.

“Did you come up with this plan? Or was it someone else?”

That was important information for Maki. If there was someone devising plans for Yurika, it could make a deadly difference in an otherwise normal battle between magical girls.

“I didn’t come up with any plans!”

But to Yurika, that was all nonsense. She didn’t have any plans in the first place, so how could anyone have come up with them? Yurika desperately wanted Maki to understand that.

“I see. So you really are working with a mastermind...”

“There’s no one like that! Nobody has been thinking up any plans!”

“Heh, don’t you worry, Yurika. I won’t ask you to reveal your accomplice’s identity. That’s for me to find out for myself!”

So they’re my real opponent... If possible, I’d like to flush them out before I fight it out with Yurika.

Maki’s sense of rivalry was stirred up yet again, this time towards someone she had never met. Little did she know that this person didn’t even exist.

“That’s it... I give up... You don’t need to listen to what I have to say...”

Yurika finally broke. It was pointless trying to persuade Maki now. Experience told her that once it had gotten this bad, it was nearly impossible to resolve a misunderstanding like this.

“Indeed. Our talk ends here.”

But as Maki finished her sentence, the door to the stairwell leading to the rooftop opened. Someone was approaching.

“Ah, so this is where you were, Nijino-san!”

A lone schoolgirl stepped onto the roof.

“Sakuraba-senpai?!”

It was indeed Harumi who had appeared, and once she spotted Yurika, she smiled and waved as she ran over to her. A twisted grin crept across Maki’s lips as she watched this.

“Heed my words, Yurika. Darkness Rainbow is coming to claim the pool of mana in that room.”

“Maki-chan!”

Even though Yurika called out to her, Maki turned her back on her and started to walk away. With the arrival of Harumi, she knew they’d be unable to continue their talk.

“However, you’re at a disadvantage in this match. You have so much to protect. Will you be able to protect it all, I wonder?”

“Wait, Maki-chan!”

“Heh heh...”

Ignoring Yurika, Maki kept walking. She passed by Harumi and vanished through the door leading back inside.

“Hahh... Ahh, hahh... I-I’m sorry, Nijino-san... hahh... D-Did I... hahh... interrupt you and your friend?” Harumi asked, completely out of breath.

“No, you didn’t...”

But even as Yurika shook her head, she was still thinking about Maki. Imagining what was ahead of her, her expression grew dark. But it wasn’t her upcoming battle with Maki she was worried about.

How can I explain it to Maki-chan in a way that she’ll understand...?

Yurika’s chief concern right now was trying to figure out how she could properly explain this complex situation to Maki.