Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 5 - Chapter 3

Misunderstanding and Being Misunderstood

Tuesday, November 17th

“...Maki-chan, huh?”

After parting ways with Harumi who wanted to talk about the date, Yurika’s expression once again turned dark as she walked home. Her steps were heavy and she had a gloomy aura about her. Now that she was alone, the reality of the situation finally began sinking in. She’d been able to put it out of her mind while she was so dead set on trying to convince Maki that the whole thing was a giant misunderstanding, but the truth was that Maki’s appearance meant only one thing. Yurika was going to have to fight.

“Fighting, huh...? Can I even do it?”

Not since coming to room 106— No, not since becoming a magical girl had Yurika ever experienced a real battle. Even as a novice magical girl, Yurika simply used her staff and her spells to get away from her opponents, avoiding combat altogether.

And since no enemy with the power to use magic had appeared since she’d come to room 106, she still hadn’t experienced anything worth calling a battle. At most, she’d just used her magic in emergencies. And so although Yurika was a powerful magician, she was still a beginner when it came to fighting.

“But I have to do it! I owe Nana-san for saving my life!”

Yurika raised her head as she made up her mind. Her greatest wish was to repay her savior, and it was that that suppressed her urge to run away.

“Yurika, fight! Yurika, fight!”

Yurika curled her fingers into a fist and pumped it into the air to cheer herself on.

“All right!”

She then slapped her cheeks with both hands, and her expression completely transformed. There was now a brightness in her eyes that hadn’t been there moments ago, and she began taking strong, willful steps.

“I can do it! It’s my duty as a magical girl to protect room 106!”

Yurika’s enemy had finally appeared. Fighting Maki was not only her duty, but her way of repaying the magical girl who’d saved her. She also held a faint hope that Koutarou and the others might come to believe that she could use magic this way. And that was enough. She was overflowing with determination now.

“...Huh?”

As Yurika got close to Corona House, she could hear something.

“Third up, Matsudaira Kenji! I’ll be singing! The song is ‘Brightness Edge’!”

“As expected, Matsudaira-kun knows all the hit songs.”

“Ah, yes, Mackenzie! An excellent choice from a man who’s stared down the edge of a knife!”

“Shut it, Kou! Damn, I chose the wrong song...”

They were loud, familiar voices.

“What’s going on?”

She could hear Kenji, Shizuka, and Koutarou using a microphone, as well as the voices of several other people in the background. And the closer Yurika got to Corona House, the louder the voices got.

I wonder if everyone from our class has come to room 106?

Based on the number of voices, there were far more people there than usual. It almost sounded like they were having a party.

“Wha?! Are they having a party without me?! Th-That’s just unfair!”

A party meant there was free food to be had. And with that thought, Yurika made a mad dash for room 106.

Lured in by the hope of food, Yurika threw open the door to the apartment. She could now clearly hear the lively commotion inside.

“Sixth up, Satomi Koutarou! I’ll be knitting!”

“Beat it, Satomi! What kind of boring skill is that?”

“Wait, that’s unexpected! Satomi-kun, you’re actually knitting. Amazing!”

“Hmph, that’s because I have a good teacher.”

“There’s no reason to try and act so cool about it...”

Just as Yurika had imagined, there was a party going on in room 106. The apartment was small enough as it was, but with this many people inside, there was hardly any room to move. There were also plenty of treats, snacks, and drinks set out. It was everything Yurika could have hoped.

“Oooh, that looks delicious...”

“Hey, you’re finally here, Yurika.”

Koutarou noticed Yurika as she entered the inner room, but she was already reaching out for the fried chicken.

“Hom nom! I’m bhack, Shatomi-shan!” Yurika called, greeting Koutarou as she stuffed her face.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“Thish chicken ish delishous.”

“That’s not for you, so don’t go eating all of it.”

“Huh?”

Hearing Sanae’s voice, Yurika looked up from the platter of chicken she was feasting on. When she did, she could see Sanae floating over to her from where Koutarou was. There were a lot of people in the way, but that didn’t impede Sanae.

“This many people wouldn’t get together like this for no reason. Look over there.”

Sanae stopped in front of Yurika and pointed at the far wall. There hung a large banner with the words: “Welcome, Aika Maki-san! Class 1-A’s welcome party at Satomi’s place.”

“Oh, you came as well, Yurika-san?”

“Wha?!”

Maki herself was standing right below the banner. She was surrounded by several classmates, but called out to Yurika with a smile.

“M-Maki-chan?!”

“You’re quite late. Did you have some business to attend to?”

Maki had seen Harumi approach as she parted ways with Yurika, so she knew exactly what Yurika was doing. But even so, she was confidently smirking. “Look what I’ve managed while you were out playing.” That was what Maki was really implying, taunting Yurika. The proof was in her superficial smile, not to mention her steely eyes—locked on to Yurika—that said she was anything but happy to see her.

“Wh-What?! Why is Maki-chan here?!”

Yurika was beside herself.

Her mouth hung so agape that the chicken she was eating dropped onto the tea table. Even though she might be scatterbrained, Yurika knew exactly what it meant that Maki was in room 106. She was there to investigate the pool of mana. While it might be hard to do any serious investigating in the middle of a party, some basic snooping would be easy.

“Well, it’s only polite to hold a welcome party for a transfer student.”

“Guests are to be properly welcomed indeed. Koutarou, I’m glad you’re at least picking up a noble’s attitude.”

“Class has nothing to do with this.”

“Ohohoho, there’s no need to be defensive!”

Yurika knew this was the first step to something bad. Nothing said Maki had to finish her investigation tonight. If she got closer to Koutarou, she would have plenty of opportunities.

I let my guard down! This is what she meant when she said it was easy to get in!

Of course, that wasn’t Maki’s only goal. She was also trying to gather info on Koutarou’s relationships and the other residents of room 106. From just this party, Maki could collect all the intelligence she needed to properly invade the apartment. She’d moved more effectively and swiftly than Yurika had anticipated.

“Yurika-chan, I left your favorite for you. Just ask Ruth-san for it later.”

“Not good! At this rate, something terrible will happen.”

“Yurika-sama?”

But neither Shizuka or Ruth’s words reached Yurika’s ears as she began to panic. The longer she let Maki stay in room 106, the worse the situation would get. She needed to get Maki out of there as quickly as possible.

“S-Satomi-san! Of course! To Satomi-san!”

Yurika looked around for Koutarou, who was the one who had organized the party. He was also the one who’d suggested the location. The fastest way to chase Maki out of the apartment was to get Koutarou’s help. Even if he still refused to believe in magic, he was the only one Yurika could count on.

“Hey, Furuta! Don’t strip!”

“But Satomi, if I don’t strip, I can’t dance naked.”

“That’s the point! Are you seriously planning on dancing in this packed room and rubbing your dirty junk on people?!”

Koutarou was in the middle of arguing with a classmate who had begun stripping.

“Satomi-san, Satomi-san!”

Because of that, he didn’t notice Yurika calling for him. Without any other choice, Yurika moved through the crowd of her classmates and made her way to Koutarou.

“That’s rude! It’s not dirty! I took a bath just a while ago! Everyone knows you fix yourself up before getting on stage!”

“You’ve still missed the point!”

“Satomi-san! Please listen to me!” Having gotten closer, Yurika shook Koutarou’s arm, finally getting his attention.

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Yurika?”

“Satomi-san, at this rate, room 106 will be stolen away!”

“Stolen?”

At the moment, Koutarou’s relationship with the invaders wasn’t all that bad. He’d begun understanding that they each had their own legitimate reasons for invading and that they weren’t exactly bad people for what they were trying to do. More honestly, he was building bonds of trust with each of them. That being the case, Koutarou didn’t really feel any immediate sense of danger in regard to his apartment being snatched away.

“But who would steal it? Well, you certainly have lost a good deal of points. You’re at seventy-something now, aren’t you?” Koutarou said, whispering the second half.

Being bad at games, it was true that Yurika had lost a lot of points. She had less than eighty centimeters of space left. Really, Yurika was the one about to have the room stolen from her.

“Y-You’re wrong! I’m not talking about us! A new invader has appeared!”

“A new invader?!”

Hearing that, Koutarou froze.

“That’s right! Maki-chan is after the mana gathered in this room!”

“You’re saying that Maki-san is after this room?”

“That’s right, so you need to chase her out of this room as soon as possible or something terrible will happen!”

“What are you saying—”

Koutarou was about to tell her to stop saying stupid things. But before he could, he realized how serious the expression on her face was. Seeing her desperation, he swallowed his doubts and decided to at least hear her out.

“Okay, Yurika, explain yourself properly. Don’t just suddenly accuse Maki-san of being an—”

“Now’s my chance!”

With Koutarou not paying attention to his surroundings, his classmate began stripping. He was absolutely determined to dance naked. Naturally, the girls in the room began screaming.

“Number eight, Furuta! I will be dancing!”

“Kyaaaaah!”

“Idiot! Pervert!”

“Whoa, knock it off, Furuta! Don’t strip!” Koutarou barked, breaking his attention away from Yurika again.

“Satomi-san, I’m not done talking yet!”

“S-Sorry, Yurika. H-Hang on... Stop it, Furuta! Don’t take anything else off! There are girls here, you know?”

Koutarou had his hands so full trying to keep his classmate from getting naked that he didn’t have time to listen to Yurika.

“Did something happen?” Shizuka asked.

“What’s wrong, Yurika? Why are you shouting like that?” Sanae inquired too.

“We’ll listen to you instead of Koutarou,” Theia offered.

As if to replace the busy Koutarou, the three girls approached Yurika. Everyone else was distracted by their classmate’s mostly-naked dancing, but the Corona House girls were all too often around Koutarou and weren’t really affected by the sight of a boy in his underwear.

“A-Actually, Maki-chan is an evil magical girl that’s after the mana in this room!”

“Now that I think about it, you said something about that when you first came to this room,” Sanae commented.

Floating up in the air with her arms crossed, she recalled how they met. Yurika had barged into the room by smashing through the window. Then she’d gone on a rant similar to what she was saying now.

“Yes! So you can’t have a welcome party for her! Getting into the room like this is just what she wants!”

Yurika tried her best to explain the situation to the other three girls, but there was no time to spare. If they didn’t do something about Maki right away, there was no way of telling what could happen.

But that won’t work, Nijino Yurika.

Maki watched Yurika with an icy glare, but there was still a fake smile plastered on her face.

That’s because I’m using the same method as you are to protect myself!

She was convinced that all of Yurika’s efforts would be in vain.

“I see. So that’s the setup you’re going with...”

Sanae, who had been turning the matter over in her head, suddenly clapped her hands together and smiled. She was genuinely impressed by Yurika’s ability to create a story and stick to it.

“Huh?!”

“Cosplay is the only thing you’re that dedicated to, isn’t it?”

Sanae nodded repeatedly in apparent approval at the confused Yurika. She was actually offering up rare praise for Yurika.

“Wait a minute! You’re wrong, Sanae-chan!”

“I get it now, Yurika-chan. I’m pretty impressed you’ve been preparing for this for over half a year...”

Next to Sanae, Shizuka was also nodding. She was astounded that Yurika had taken Maki’s transfer into account months ago and had been using it to hype up winter Comiha.

“You’re wrong, both of you! Theia-chan, please say something to Sanae-chan and Shizuka-san!”

Yurika began panicking as both Sanae and Shizuka still somehow managed to completely misunderstand her. Having decided that she couldn’t resolve this on her own, she turned to Theia for help.

“I got it, I got it. You want to keep it at that, right?”

However, fate was cruel. Her remaining lifeline snapped in an instant.

“Th-Theia-chan?”

“But Yurika... We can’t just chase her out of her own welcome party because of your background story.”

“Yeah. Just let it go for today. People will take offense, you know?”

“That’s true. I understand that you’re panicking because Comiha is close, but can’t you just be yourself and celebrate your reunion for now?”

In the end, not a single one of them listened to her.

“This is too much... The three of you are too cruel...” Yurika’s eyes began tearing up. “I’m telling the truth! If we don’t chase Maki-chan out, something terrible really will happen!”

“Come on. She just transferred in...”

“Yurika, can you just let it go for now?”

“It won’t hurt to put cosplaying on the back burner for a bit.”

No matter how much she pleaded, nobody took Yurika seriously. Even though an evil magical girl had finally appeared, nobody recognized her as an enemy. And yet to Yurika, this was an upset serious enough that it threatened her standing as a magical girl.

“Heehee...”

Maki secretly gloated as she watched the tears stream down Yurika’s cheeks.

Serves you right, Yurika. That’s your punishment for making a fool of me.

She wasn’t Yurika’s enemy, but a fellow cosplayer. That difference in perception gave Maki an overwhelming advantage. Her classmates, unaware of the truth, simply treated her as a transfer student and a cosplay friend of Yurika’s. They even held a welcome party for her. And since Koutarou was the only one in their class that lived on his own, room 106 was the ideal party location so that no one had to worry about their family getting in the way.

But really, the straw that broke the camel’s back was that nobody believed what Yurika said. Since they both appeared to be cosplayers, Yurika trying to kick Maki out just seemed mean. Regardless of what Yurika thought, the real reason she hadn’t been pegged for the immature magical girl she was was because everyone was convinced that she was just a cosplayer. If that hadn’t been the case, she probably would have been found out long ago. And right now, Maki could say the same. She was protected from the world by the very word “cosplay.”

“Why won’t you believe me?! I’ve never told a lie even once!”

Yurika turned away from Theia and the others, tears scattering as she turned.

“Hey!”

“Yurika-chan, where are you going?!”

“Yurika, the party isn’t over yet!”

This is just too cruel!

Someday they would believe her. Once the enemy appeared, they would surely understand. Up until now, that was what Yurika had believed. But heartless fate had other things in store. The tears Yurika was shedding now were different than normal. They were real tears, heavy with the weight of bitterness of despair.

“I don’t care anymore! I don’t care what happens! Even if you’re in trouble later, I won’t come save you!”

“...Yurika?”

Hearing Yurika’s sorrowful voice, Koutarou stopped what he was doing and looked behind him. However, by that point, Yurika had already left the room.

“Ruth-san, what happened with Yurika?”

Clueless as to what he’d missed, Koutarou turned to Ruth. In response, she shook her head and began explaining.

“I don’t really understand. Everyone was telling her to go easy on the cosplaying like always, but she suddenly dashed out of the room...”

Concerned, Ruth looked towards the door. Following her gaze, Koutarou did the same.

Should I really just let her go...?

Getting the sense that something was up, Koutarou wondered if he should follow her.

“I’m free!”

“Whoa! Kou, you idiot! Don’t let go of Furuta!”

“S-Sorry!”

“Kyaaaaaaaah!”

“Nooooooo!”

But because of the continuing commotion in room 106, Koutarou couldn’t go after her.

Harumi and Kiriha met outside the front gate of the hospital.

“Oh? You’re Satomi-kun’s friend... Kurano-san, was it?”

“Yes, my name is Kurano Kiriha. Hello, Sakuraba-senpai.”

“Hello, Kurano-san.”

After her regular checkup, Harumi was leaving the hospital at the same time Kiriha was leaving from a different ward. They didn’t bump into each other until they reached the front entrance.

“Were you in for an examination, Sakuraba-senpai?”

Kiriha hid her true colors from everyone but the other invaders and Koutarou, and this was no exception. She greeted Harumi like a proper underclassman.

“Oh, yes, that’s right. It was a routine checkup.”

Harumi flashed a smile, but only for a moment. It soon vanished as she looked back towards the hospital.

“Um... Could it be that you’re sick too, Kurano-san?”

It was worry that something might be wrong with Kiriha that had stolen the smile from her face.

“No.”

However, Kiriha shook her head. Seeing that, Harumi’s expression brightened up again.

“Actually, an acquaintance of mine is hospitalized here.”

“I see...”

Harumi had been relieved to hear that Kiriha wasn’t sick, but now she was worried for Kiriha’s acquaintance instead.

“Heehee... Sakuraba-senpai, it’s just a few bruises from a traffic accident. There’s no need to worry so much.”

“Oh, s-sorry...”

Harumi’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment, but she was relieved to hear it wasn’t anything too serious.

“You’re quite kind, Sakuraba-senpai.”

“Th-That’s not... I mean, I have experience with being hospitalized, so I was just a bit anxious...”

Kiriha was smiling and Harumi was blushing. Just looking at them, it was hard to tell who was older.

Several cars passed by Harumi and Kiriha as they walked together down the sidewalk. The road from the hospital to the station was one of the busiest in town.

“Do you get along well with Satomi-kun, Kurano-san?”

“Well, we do get along, but you could also say that we fight a lot.”

They chatted as they walked along, but they ended up speaking in much louder voices than usual because of all the traffic. Mostly, they talked about Koutarou. Since they didn’t have that much in common, the conversation naturally drifted to him.

“Hearing that makes me a little envious.”

“Envious, you say?”

“Yes. I’ve never had a fight with Satomi-kun,” Harumi said with a somewhat sad expression.

Kiriha was amazed.

“Really? It’s been quite a while since Satomi-kun joined the knitting society, so I figured you must have clashed once or twice by now.”

“That’s just it. We haven’t. Satomi-kun respects me and treasures me, but that’s all. He’s never shown me any strong emotions...”

“I see. To think he...”

It seems Koutarou treasures the person he loves the most too much. Unexpectedly, the rest of us might be the ones who get along with him better. No, I suppose that’s not it... Is he just trying to keep Sakuraba Harumi out of our fight?

The other day, Koutarou had stated his interest in Harumi, but apparently he hadn’t revealed the same to her yet. He clearly treated her differently from how he treated the invaders and Kenji. Kiriha figured that was his way of keeping her out of their battle for room 106.

“Would you like to have a fight with Koutarou-kun, Sakuraba-senpai?”

“I don’t mean that I want to fight, but I do wish he would hold back less.”

“I understand how you feel. I wouldn’t want the man I love to hold back either.”

And Sakuraba Harumi isn’t satisfied with their current relationship. This is getting quite complicated, Satomi Koutarou...

“L-Love?! Th-That’s... I don’t really...!”

“It’s okay, Sakuraba-senpai. I won’t tell a soul.”

“I-I... Oh goodness...”

“You do love him, right?”

“Y-Yes...”

Harumi began nodding slowly as if in resignation. Her face was beet red.

“I knew it. I thought that might be the case ever since I saw your acting for the play.”

“Oh...”

When Kiriha mentioned the play, Harumi’s face turned even redder. She was practically speechless now, but just as Harumi turned her eyes away as if to escape the embarrassment, she saw a familiar face.

“...Is that Nijino-san?”

“Oh?”

Harumi instinctively stopped walking and Kiriha followed suit. Kiriha looked around for Yurika, but didn’t see her right away.

“Heehee... Look over there,” Harumi said with a giggle, pointing out Yurika to Kiriha.

“Ah, you’re right. But they’re holding a welcome party for the transfer student, so what is she doing over there?”

They were walking by a small park. And in the corner of the playground there, the two girls could see a familiar set of pigtails.

In the park cloaked by dusk, the sound of a lone swing could be heard squeaking. With the sun about to set, there were no children around. Given how much the temperature had dropped with the approach of winter, a child would either have to really love playing or have some special reason to still be in the park at this hour

“Hmph. I don’t care anymore... I hope you all suffer by Maki-chan’s hand.”

It was Yurika on the swing, and she did indeed have a special reason for being there.

“I definitely won’t come to save you! Not Theia-chan, Sanae-chan, Shizuka-san, or even Satomi-san! Satomi-san was a little more understanding this time, but... he never believed me anyway, so I won’t save him either!”

Yurika shed tears of frustration as she swung back and forth on the swing. She was more devastated by the fact that the people closest to her didn’t believe her than she was at being outdone by Maki. After spending half a year together, even if the others didn’t believe in magic, she at least wanted them to believe in her when she said that Maki was dangerous.

“They’re all so mean.”

It was enough that Yurika had abandoned her responsibilities. Fleeing from the room in that situation was the same as giving up on her duty as a magical girl. Normally, she would have stayed and kept an eye on Maki. If she tried to use magic to investigate, she could have interrupted her. She could have also gotten in the way if she tried to gather other information. Doing that while keeping anyone from realizing that she was a magical girl was what she should have done. It was what would be expected of a magical girl.

However, Yurika couldn’t bring herself to do it. And that was largely because the residents of room 106—people she had grown to know and trust—had no faith in her.

What was she even fighting for? Before she knew it, her enemies-turned-friends had become her reason to fight. But when even they denied her, she lost her will to fight altogether. When Yurika had first come to room 106, she probably wouldn’t have cared. But right now, she just couldn’t stand it. She was so mortified, she couldn’t stop her own tears.

“Nijino-san, Nijino-san!”

That’s why she didn’t notice Harumi until she had called out to her several times.

“Nijino-san, what happened?”

“Huh? S-Sakuraba-senpai?!”

Since Yurika hadn’t been paying any attention to her surroundings, she was extremely surprised by Harumi showing up.

“Kyaaah!” she shrieked.

“Nijino-san!”

Yurika was so startled that she almost fell off the swing, but she managed to hang on by frantically grabbing the chain.

“Are you okay, Nijino-san?”

“I-I’m fine. I was just a little surprised.”

Yurika still held on to the chain as she caught her breath. It had been enough of a shock for her to forget all about crying.

“I see. That’s good...”

“Sakuraba-senpai, what are you doing here?”

“Heehee, well, this is right next to the hospital.”

Harumi sighed with relief once she confirmed that Yurika was okay, but then she smiled broadly at Yurika’s question.

“Ah, r-right...”

Yurika finally took stock of where she was and realized she was indeed in the park right next to the hospital. She didn’t remember much after running out of room 106. Driven by raw emotion, she’d run at random, and this just happened to be where she ended up. It wasn’t all that strange for Harumi to be passing by here. Yurika blushed realizing she’d asked such a dumb question.

“So what happened, Yurika-san?”

“Kiriha-san too?”

Yurika was surprised again when she saw Kiriha step out from behind Harumi. Not only had she never imagined that she would see the two of them together, she had no idea why Kiriha would be at the park too.

“Actually, that’s... My friends and I... We couldn’t see eye to eye about something... No matter how many times I told them the truth, they wouldn’t believe me, so I...”

As Yurika explained, the feelings of sadness and frustration she’d felt came flooding back to her. It wasn’t long before the tears returned too.

“So that’s what happened...”

After listening to Yurika, Harumi looked sad too. She sympathized with Yurika so much that she almost felt like she’d been hurt too.

“...”

It seems something happened at the welcome party. It looks like I should leave this part to Sakuraba-senpai.

With a handle on the situation, Kiriha chose not to say anything. Since she didn’t believe in magic either, she knew that contributing would make things unnecessarily complicated.

“So that’s why you’re crying here?”

“...Yes...” Yurika nodded her head and looked down. She’d really gotten her feelings hurt.

“I see...”

“...”

Harumi looked at Yurika softly. Since Yurika was helping her with Koutarou, she wanted to help Yurika in return.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“...Yes...” Yurika replied in a whisper, still looking at the ground.

“What made you sad, Nijino-san? That the truth didn’t reach a lot of your friends? Or that your special friends didn’t believe you?”

Was she sad because most of the people at the party didn’t listen to her? Or was she sad because her closest friends didn’t believe in her? If she didn’t make that clear, Harumi wouldn’t be able to comfort her.

“That’s...”

Yurika fumbled for an answer. She assumed that it would be the first option, but the truth was that most of her classmates were total strangers. That meant the other option was that she was upset because a small group of people had hurt her feelings. But most of them used to be her enemies, so of course they wouldn’t believe what she had to say...

“That’s... My best friends not believing me was more painful.”

Yurika’s answer confused herself. She was admitting that her enemies had become her closest friends.

I see. So that’s why I’m always so frustrated and mortified...

At first, she’d just been trying to persuade Koutarou and the others to escape from the unsuspected danger, but as she spent more time with them, her desire for them to truly believe in her grew. That was because she’d come to care for them. And that was why today, when they were faced with real danger and no one trusted her, Yurika was utterly disheartened.

“I see. In that case, you already have your answer, Nijino-san,” Harumi said, nodding at Yurika’s response to her question.

“...Huh?”

Confused by Harumi’s words, Yurika finally looked up from the ground, and she was greeted with the sight of Harumi smiling at her gently.

“Nijino-san, you still think of them as precious to you. That’s why you’re so sad. That’s why you need to make them believe you. Right?”

Because she thought of them as friends, she was sad that they hadn’t believed her. Her options were to either stop thinking of them as friends, or to get them to believe her. Anything else would still leave her feeling empty.

“Yes, that’s true... but how can I...”

“Take action. I don’t know exactly what you need them to believe in, Nijino-san, but you just need to keep doing whatever it is you need them to believe in. Do it so they can believe in you.”

“Keep doing what I need them to believe in...?”

In Yurika’s case, that was doing her job as a magical girl. If Maki was targeting room 106, her duty was to protect it.

“You can only earn trust through action. Just trying to convince them with words won’t get you the true trust that you desire, Nijino-san.”

“I see, then...”

In that moment, Yurika realized something.

Over this past half a year, have I ever really acted like a proper magical girl? Even though I explained it to them with words, I never followed through with my actions...

Today, her enemy by the name of Maki had finally appeared. Wasn’t this the chance she had been waiting for to really earn the trust of Koutarou and the others?

“All right!”

Yurika slapped her cheeks with all of her might. As she did, the tears that had welled in her eyes scattered all over, sparkling in the evening sun as they fell through the air.

“I understand, Sakuraba-senpai! I’ll do my best!”

By the time her tears had sunk into the ground, Yurika was overcome with an indomitable spirit and a smile blossomed on her face again.

“Give it your all, Nijino-san.”

“Right! Sorry for making you worry, Sakuraba-senpai! But I, the humble Nijino Yurika, will give it my all!”

Yurika saluted Harumi in a comical fashion. It was like her sad expression from mere moments ago was just a dream now.

“So this is Sakuraba Harumi...”

Kiriha, who had silently been watching over the two of them, let praise slip her lips.

This selflessness is why Satomi Koutarou doesn’t see her as a romantic interest right now.

Seeing firsthand Harumi’s thoughtfulness, her gentleness, and her normally hidden strong will, Kiriha could easily predict that Sakuraba Harumi would eventually become a powerful rival.

Maki’s welcome party ended at roughly eight o’clock. Continuing the party after that would trouble the neighbors, so landlord Shizuka put an end to it. That said, the party had been in full swing since four, so everyone had been able to enjoy themselves to the fullest.

“In the end, Yurika never came back...” Maki muttered to herself as she returned to her own home.

Her words echoed through her dark, empty, lonely room that barely had any furniture in it. It was a sad excuse for what should be the room of a sixteen year old girl.

“That magic barrier that appeared at six o’clock was most likely hers. She acted like she’d gotten into a fight with her friends so she could go outside and cast spells without anyone knowing... The mastermind behind her plans must be exceptional. How irritating...”

Maki faced the center of the room and held out her hand.

“Come, Twilight Wing!”

With those words, a staff suddenly appeared in her extended hand. Her staff, just like Yurika’s, had plenty of decorations and didn’t look like it was designed for any practical use. The biggest difference between their staffs was the color. Unlike Yurika’s fantastical pink one, Maki’s was of a more austere indigo color.

Maki raised the staff above her head and muttered something. It was the spell required to activate a magical tool she had set up.

“Magic Communication Gem: Activate. Open Channel.”

Responding to Maki’s incantation, the indigo gem embedded in the ceiling began to glow. And almost as if resonating with it, six more gems embedded into the walls surrounding Maki began glowing as well. The colors of the gems were red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Including Maki’s indigo gem in the ceiling, there were all seven colors of the rainbow. However, even their glow somehow seemed dark. It was almost as if they were emitting darkness instead of light. Eventually, the dim lights coming from the six gems gradually began to take the shape of people.

“Oh, that school uniform suits you, Maki.”

As the shifting lights stabilized, six girls appeared, each standing next to the gem that corresponded with the color of their outfit. But they were just images. Holograms, to be exact. The item Maki had used was a magical tool that allowed communication over great distances.

“Don’t make fun of me. You told me to report, so I went to all this trouble to contact you.”

“My bad. Don’t get so upset.” The girl in red shrugged her shoulders and smiled wryly at Maki’s reply.

“Really now, you’re so...”

Despite being surrounded by six girls, Maki showed no sign of submission. Maki and the other girls were all equals, and she knew that. These girls were her allies. The seven of them present, including Maki, were the leaders of Yurika’s sworn enemy, Darkness Rainbow.

“So how were they? The new Rainbow and that mana pool?”

Seeing that Maki and the girl in red had finished talking, the girl in purple spoke up. Out of the seven, she was the most mature and most often held the role of chairman.

“First of all, regarding Rainbow Yurika, I’m unsure.”

“And by that, you mean...?”

“Her abilities aren’t all that, but it seems like she has someone highly intelligent working with her.”

Maki explained the situation. She shared with the others how Yurika could manipulate the truth under the guise of cosplay, and how she’d gotten in the way of Maki’s investigation of room 106 from the outside during the welcome party.

“So I can’t see the full extent of it all. All I know is that she is most likely inferior to her predecessor, Rainbow Nana.”

“That sure is a handful,” the girl in purple said, furrowing her brow as she listened to Maki’s report.

“If we were to fight, who knows what kind of trick she may pull...”

“Maki, it might be that this accomplice of hers is the real problem. In the end, magic is just power. It’s how it’s used that’s important.”

“I think so too.”

The girl in purple and Maki were in agreement. They nodded to one another with serious expressions on their faces.

“You should just crush the coward right away,” the girl in red let out in a displeased voice. She was simple and straightforward, so all this discussion was irritating her.

“It’s not that easy. Right now, Yurika’s mental state is strangely stable. She’s completely different from eight months ago.”

Eight months ago, right after she had succeeded Rainbow Nana, the pressure of her duty and constantly appearing enemies was almost enough to destroy Yurika. It was her MO just to swing her staff around and use her magic without regard for the consequences. But now Yurika was different. It was true that she was still a coward, but she wasn’t as overly frightened as she was back then.

“That might be the influence of her accomplice.”

“That’s very possible. The existence of an ally she can trust must have stabilized her mental state.”

Maki and the girl in purple nodded to each other once more. But Maki was somewhat irritated.

To think she would put her trust in someone like that... She really is a fool. People will betray you the first chance they get. The only thing you can really believe in is power—overwhelming power!

Maki was irritated that Yurika had found allies she could trust and that those allies had in turn helped stabilize her mentally.

“And we can’t ignore the possibility that they have another plan ready. It’s too dangerous to rely on pure force.”

“Jeez, what a pain...” The girl in red frowned and scratched her head.

The next one to speak was the girl in orange. She had short hair and big eyes, and she looked rather lively.

“That’s enough about Rainbow. So how about that pool of mana?” she asked.

“I got up close and gave it a rough examination,” replied Maki.

“That’s our Navy-chan. You’re always quick to the punch.”

Maki furrowed her brow slightly, as she disliked being called “Navy-chan” by the girl in orange.

“...The mana in that room is significant. That much power could normally only be found in artifact-level magical items.”

Out of all magical items, artifacts were said to be the stuff of legends. They had unfathomable powers, but the methods of producing them had mostly been lost, meaning it was next to impossible to create them nowadays. The only known means of doing so were highly impractical because of the time and resources required. Essentially, artifacts were the ultimate magical items, powerful enough that they were said to have been created by the gods.

“Wow, that much?!”

The girl in orange’s surprise was somewhat exaggerated, but Maki ignored her and continued talking.

“If we can control it completely, we’ll have the upper hand against Rainbow Heart. Moreover, we might even be able to upset the power balance in Folsaria.”

“Then we need to get on this!”

The girl in orange’s eyes were sparkling. The girls of Darkness Rainbow were trying to overthrow the Magical Kingdom of Folsaria for their own reasons. That’s why they were always on the lookout for artifacts or anything with equivalent power.

“But Maki, would we be able to control something that powerful?”

“I was trying to figure that out when Yurika got in my way.”

Maki shrugged her shoulders. She had tried to use her magic to investigate the mana pool at the party, but it was difficult to use any powerful spells as the guest of honor. The best she could do was pretend like she was showing off her cosplay, but she didn’t get that many chances. On top of that, Yurika faked a fight(?) and dashed out of the room to intervene with her own magic, thwarting Maki from investigating properly. Yurika had the ability to use more powerful spells than Maki could since she’d been outside and didn’t need to disguise them.

“So even then, that accomplice of hers was a problem...”

“It must be someone incredibly clever. They’re always one step ahead.”

“Which means... just how much of a welcome party was that welcome party really supposed to be?” the girl in purple asked.

“What do you mean?” Maki replied with a confused expression.

“If they held a welcome party in that apartment, you would definitely come for reconnaissance. And while you were there, you would definitely use your magic. Maki, you may have been the one being investigated.”

Maki was so taken aback at the thought that she appeared not to react at all.

“It couldn’t be... I was the one being had?”

Maki couldn’t accept it right away. But if what the girl in purple said was true, it would mean that Maki had lost to Yurika.

“That is most likely the case. In reality, you didn’t get any important information regarding the mana, right? You were lured to that room, made to use magic, and essentially spied on.”

The girl in purple sadly shook her head. At this point, Maki realized her defeat.

“Feh, I’ve been had! And not just by Yurika, but by some normal person!”

The very thought was sheer disgrace to Maki. If her opponent was a magical girl, that was one thing, but she had been bested by a normal human with no magical power. And if the girl in purple hadn’t pointed it out, she never would have even realized it. She’d been read like an open book and had no idea. She hated being toyed with.

“I never dreamed our indigo magician would be the one getting manipulated!”

The indigo magic that Maki specialized in was used to manipulate people. So to Maki, the mind was hers to play with as she saw fit. Being manipulated herself, however, was completely unacceptable.

“I get that you’re frustrated you lost, but calm down a little.”

“Shut up!” Maki growled angrily and glared at the girl in red for her criticism.

“Oh, scary. But that’s what you’re always telling me, Maki.”

However, after hearing those words, Maki started to regain her calm.

“...Sorry for getting loud.”

“Doesn’t it feel good to let loose every once in a while?”

“Let’s just leave it at that.”

After taking several deep breaths, Maki was composed again and smiled.

“So what will you do, Navy-chan? Wait for us to group up?”

“About that... I was thinking about infiltrating that room again.”

“That’s dangerous. With this mystery accomplice, I can’t recommend rushing things.”

After what Maki said, the girl in purple looked a little concerned.

“That’s exactly the point.”

However, Maki looked dead serious. This was a cool, calm, and collected decision on her part.

“The enemy is a brilliant strategist. That means their advantage will only grow with time. Besides, I’d like to flush out this accomplice before the seven of us attack at once. If I don’t get rid of them first, we could be making the same mistake again.”

Maki didn’t want to repeat the mistake they had made when fighting against Rainbow Nana. It had devastated Darkness Rainbow, forcing them to cease operations for over half a year.

“I see. So your goal is that accomplice, not the pool of mana...”

“If I get the chance to seize control of it, I would love to. But since there would be trouble afterward, I have no intention of rushing that part.”

Even if Maki gained control of room 106, she would have to protect the room from Yurika all by herself until the other six arrived. With that in mind, seizing control of the room just yet was an unwise plan.

“There are also the others in that room we know nothing about yet.”

“You said that apart from that boy, there are two foreign girls and a girl with black hair?”

“Yes. Other than the black-haired girl, they were all at the welcoming party.”

“Hey, Navy-chan, you said something about there being a ghost too. Is it really a good idea to just ignore her?”

“I observed her while pretending I couldn’t see her. She seemed to be communicating with the residents, however it’s still unclear if she’s employed by them or not.”

“But Maki, if you try to do something in that room, won’t they all get in the way?”

“That’s what I’m worried about too, so if I’m going to do it, it would be better to do it during the day while they’re at school.”

Maki and the others were aware of Sanae, Theia, Ruth, and Kiriha, but none of them believed Yurika’s story, so Darkness Rainbow didn’t consider any of them to be much of a threat.

One of them is probably Yurika’s accomplice...

Maki figured that either Theia, Ruth, or Kiriha had to be Yurika’s accomplice. She had gone to the welcome party in hopes of finding out which one. But now if she attacked the room while no one was there, it should only be Yurika and her accomplice that would take action.

“I understand. In that case, I have no objections.”

“I agree as well.”

“Me too!”

The girls voiced their opinions one after another. In the end, all six agreed to Maki’s plan. But first off, they would gather more information. After the majority of their members were incapacitated in the fight with Rainbow Nana, they were extra cautious these days.

“Thank you, everybody.”

Satisfied that her plan was unanimously approved, Maki’s stoic expression eased some, revealing a small smile.

Just you wait, Rainbow Yurika! And your cursed accomplice too! I’ll unmask you soon enough!

And just like that, the massive misunderstanding regarding Yurika spread throughout Darkness Rainbow courtesy of Maki.