Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 4 - Chapter 9

Come Play with Top Speed

This story is set just before the competition for candy in Magical Girl Raising Project begins.

Ayana Sakanagi was seven years old, in her first year of elementary school. And right now, she served a princess.

The princess was very important, so nobody was allowed to disobey her. One day, the princess said, “I’m sick of seeing nothing but your boring faces day after day. So to give my eyes something pleasant and beautiful, we’re going on a picnic to go see the fall leaves,” and not a single one of them could oppose her. Especially since she’d bookmarked the whole day for the event, bought a bunch of snacks for it, and was already getting excited about what to bring.

The two angels had grumbled about how going to see fall leaves was something old ladies did, but this was a first for Ayana. Basically, it was like a field trip, right? She was really looking forward to it. As she gazed at the night sky, praying the next day would be sunny, her magical phone rang. Wondering who was calling, she looked and saw it was from Tama.

“What?” Ayana answered.

“Huh? …What’s going on, Swim?”

“What do you mean?”

“Where are you? Everyone’s already here.”

She didn’t understand what Tama was talking about.

“Ruler said we’re going to see the leaves today, right?” said Tama.

“…Isn’t that tomorrow?”

“Huh? It’s today. We’re meeting up at the souvenir shop at the bottom of Mount Meishou.”

Ayana hung up the phone. Had she made a big mistake?

Tsubame didn’t like the expression “I played around when I was young.”

You play around when you’re young and when you’re older, too. No matter how many years go by, whether you’re past forty or sixty or eighty, you relax and have fun. It doesn’t just end once you’re an adult.

To Tsubame Murota, “play” meant relaxing the heart, an approach to life that was more than just working to eat and living for the sake of existing.

Tsubame’s husband, Shouichi, who worked for the publicity department at city hall, hated that expression, too, but for different reasons.

“Basically, you’re either making an excuse or you’re bragging. As an excuse, it’s like, I did all that fooling around when I was young, and now I’m stuck like this. My life would be easier if I hadn’t played around. And if it’s not that, then they’re bragging. I did fool around when I was young, but now I’m so mature. Amazing, right? It’s just a cue that they’re going to launch into a story about how they turned out after wasting the period of prime opportunities to learn. You’re the only weirdo out there keen on wasting your whole life.”

When Tsubame asked him if he spouted this ill-mannered argument at the workplace, he snorted with a hmph and replied, “I mean, it’s true.”

She wondered why she had ever married this man when she should have learned her lesson over and over, ever since he’d moved next door when she’d been in elementary school. She also found it baffling that this stubborn man had made her his wife. She could have sworn they’d both hated each other as kids. Tsubame had always seen him as her friend’s nagging big brother, and from his perspective, she had to have been the little brat who was a bad influence on his sister. On more than one occasion, they’d directly butted heads. “Don’t buy candy to stuff your face right after school,” he would say, and she would fire back, “Don’t talk like you’re a big deal just ’cause you’re seven years older, four-eyes.”

But now, things were different. When Tsubame looked at her husband with his proudly twitching nose, he looked so adorable, she wanted to give him a big hug.

“Love makes ya crazy…”

“Hmm? Did you say something?”

“No, nothin’. By the way, are you gonna be late again tonight?”

“Yeah. I don’t want to go drinking, but I can’t say no.” Shouichi always talked about how drinking with newspaper reporters and magazine writers was part of his job.

When Tsubame had first heard about this, she’d yelled, “City hall’s colludin’ with the media!” and he’d calmly and lazily replied, “Ohhh, Tsubame.”

“I know I don’t need to tell you this,” Shouichi said, “but right now is an important time—”

“You’re doin’ some kinda promotional campaign, right? Or was there a regional mascot design contest taking applications from all over the country or somethin’? Our city’s mascot is that thing, ain’t it? The long, pointy guy that kinda looks like somethin’ else?”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I mean your health.” Shouichi looked at Tsubame’s stomach with just the slightest smile on his face, one only those familiar with him would recognize.

Mildly embarrassed, Tsubame cleared her throat. “You don’t need to remind me about that stuff. I just hafta take it easy, right?”

“Yeah, you just have to take it easy.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know.”

Shouichi looked ready to say something more, but she gave him a good-bye kiss and pushed him out the door.

He was worrying way too much over every little thing. It was obvious just how worried he was, because instead of going straight to drinking after work, he’d come all the way back home to check on her first. He told her his superiors teased him about being a newlywed, too, but he deserved that.

Her husband wasn’t the only one. Everyone was acting like this. Tsubame’s mother and the neighbors were all anxious about Tsubame and the baby in her stomach. Even the old shop owner at the deli where she worked, who had bitterly complained about her “rushing to make a goddamn baby at a busy time like this” had told her, “Listen, I’ll put out a chair for you, so don’t push yourself right now. You’re not allowed.” She had also made her promise to take maternity leave when she was close to the last month of her pregnancy. She was getting treated too well for just a service worker.

Everyone was so concerned about Tsubame, but she’d had practically no morning sickness, and she wasn’t showing much at all. She could still get around fine, but everyone was acting like she was deathly ill, with everyone telling her to stay still and not move around. This was her first baby, so she did have concerns and anxieties. Every time she heard stories about pain or difficulty, she thought, I don’t want that and I’m scared. But the attempts to control her like this made her feel rebellious.

For Tsubame, the best kind of “play” at times like this was Magical Girl Raising Project. It was more thrilling than any other way she’d gotten her kicks before. It wasn’t that clicking away on her smartphone was more fun than playing tag with police cars. What fascinated Tsubame was the mystical happenings the game had brought about.

After sending off her husband, Tsubame did the cleaning, laundry, and dishes; then, making full use of the skills she’d learned at the deli, she put together a boxed meal for her husband, as well as her own lunch. Toast, milk, and shredded cabbage with tomatoes and fried eggs would make a fine breakfast. Now she was free to do whatever she liked until the next afternoon.

She then pulled out her phone—not her normal smartphone, but her magical one with its characteristic heart-shaped screen. Now was not the time for the housewife, Tsubame Murota—it was time for the magical girl Top Speed. Humming, she pushed the buttons and transformed, acquiring a wide-brimmed pointy hat, a flying broomstick, a witch dress, and a black leather cape. Her full and glossy blond hair was gathered in a braid, her skin glowed, her face was gorgeous, and most of all, she was young.

There were rumors that the mobile game Magical Girl Raising Project could turn you into a real magical girl, and it had been about eight months earlier that it had made Tsubame one. Her first concern upon gaining her powers was that a magical girl couldn’t be a married nineteen-year-old!

When Tsubame had been in high school, she’d been the leader of Empress, a gang that drove and partied around the Kitayado area of N City. Even back in middle school—no, as far back as elementary school—she’d hung out with kids of the same stripe. She’d been a so-called juvenile delinquent, and anime and manga hadn’t been a part of her life at all. The main reason she’d tried out Magical Girl Raising Project was because it was free. But even then, she’d known that magical girls were elementary or middle school–age, or the age of high schoolers at most.

After the rumors came true and Tsubame had gained magical-girl powers, the first thing she’d done was face the hologram that had introduced itself as “the mascot” with her hands pressed together. “I’m sorry, but could ya ask someone a little bit younger?”

“That’s not an issue, pon. Well, if you look in the mirror, you’ll understand, pon.”

She checked her reflection, then went to the washroom to look at her whole figure in its full-length mirror. Finally, she gave a thumbs-up and called to the holographic mascot, “Good job!”

After that, she conceived, and she discovered that the pregnancy didn’t carry over into transformation but that when she turned back, the baby was still safe. So in other words, as long as she was transformed, she could fly and jump around and it wouldn’t affect the baby at all. After she confirmed that with Fav, she did a little fist pump. Now she could go all-out with her playtime: being a magical girl.

And that was how the magical girl Top Speed was born. Astride her broomstick, she sailed freely through the skies of Kitayado. Her flying broomstick could maneuver in all the ways a motorcycle couldn’t and was far faster than any automobile.

“Okay, then. First, I’ll give Ripple a shout…” But right when Top Speed was about to open up her messages, her phone rang.

Has Ripple ever contacted me first? she wondered. She thought back on every interaction since they’d first met, but no, Ripple hadn’t, not even once. The number displayed on her screen was an unfamiliar one. “Magical girls wouldn’t make prank calls, right? …Hello?”

A pause, and then a voice said, “I want you to help me.” It was a young woman.

“Huh? What was that?”

“I want you to help me. I want you to take me to Mount Meishou.”

“Who are ya?”

“Swim Swim.”

Swim Swim. She’d heard that name before. She seemed to recall that one of Ruler’s lackeys had a name like that.

Top Speed figured if this girl was one of Ruler’s, then it’d be logical for her to ask for help from her boss. But she’d gone to the trouble of calling Top Speed instead, and they weren’t at all acquainted, so it must mean this favor was either something Ruler couldn’t do or something she didn’t want Ruler to know about.

She wasn’t gonna think too deeply about this. That was Tsubame’s style—Top Speed’s style.

Helping people out was the rule of this “game.” So she had to do just that. Top Speed had never helped out another magical girl before. How much candy would this get her? It had to be quite a bit.

“All right. I’ll come to you. Where are ya?”

“Nishimonzen…on the roof of the apartment building with a convenience store on the first floor.”

“Uh…oh, there, eh? Ya turn by the station at the scramble intersection and head a li’l way down?”

“Yeah, there.”

“All righty then, I’ll zoom right over. Hold on just a minute.” Top Speed opened her window, got on her broom and jumped out. She flew about fifteen feet through the air before she reconsidered. Even if it’s the fifth floor, it’s a bad idea to leave the window open when ya go out, I bet. Flustered, she went back to close the window, then thought, But it’d be a bad idea not to lock up, right? I’ve heard some thieves’ll break into your apartment from the veranda. So she changed her mind again and went back into apartment, locked the window shut, then came out the door to lock that as well before jumping out a window by the stairs.

Unlike back in her reckless youth, now that she’d become a wife in charge of a household, unfortunately, she had to be careful about a lot of things.

The girl waiting for her atop the high-rise building wore a white school swimsuit. Pretty skin, smooth hair, and perfect facial features were the standard for magical girls, so she’d expected as much beforehand. What surprised Top Speed was the girl’s fashion sense.

Her appearance was that of a girl around her second year of high school—and she was very well developed. She beat Top Speed in the volume, oomph, and plumpness of her breasts and rear. On the inside, Top Speed groaned over her stylistic choice to pair that body with a pure-white school swimsuit. Maybe she was trying to make something different by putting together two incongruous elements? It could be described as “chic,” “attention-grabbing,” or “a fashion statement.”

But despite her judgmental opinions, Top Speed had her own preferences when it came to her costume.

She was dressed to kill, what with her magical-girl version of the long jacket with “No Gratuitous Opinions” printed on the back, which she’d worn to indicate she was in a gang back in the day, charms for safety in transit and safe birth hanging from her neck, and her broomstick tastefully outfitted in biker-gang style. Her rebellious fashion sense made a silent statement: Don’t you take me for one of those stale old broom-riding witches, you numb-nuts. The avatars in Magical Girl Raising Project were very customizable.

This might just be the first time I’ve ever met a magical girl with similar fashion sense! Top Speed was a bit excited as she lowered her broom and dismounted.

“’Sup! Nice to meet ya! I’m Top Speed. Here to help.”

“Swim Swim.”

“Huh, that name’s pretty tame. Oh, you’ve told me it before, though. So ya called me here today ’cause ya need somethin’, right? You wanted me to take ya to the mountain?”

Swim Swim nodded, then began explaining the situation in a murmur.

She told Top Speed about the leaf-peeping picnic Ruler had arranged, and that because of some misunderstanding or miscommunication, Swim Swim had gotten the day wrong. She’d really been looking forward to the trip, and she wanted to go. But even if she were to start heading for the mountain now, she might not make it in time, and she didn’t know if she’d be able to meet up with the others or not. And Swim Swim couldn’t defy Ruler’s orders. She was the princess.

“I gotcha. So that’s why ya called me up for help.”

“Ruler said to use anything that can be used.”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! And you’re gonna say that to a lady right before you use her, too? I thought we were gonna be friends! C’mon.”

“Ruler said that leaders and followers have a relationship, but it’s not as sloppy as friendship.”

“Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” Top Speed liked this girl’s fashion sense and her blunt honesty, too. And while she was at it, she was fond of her perfectly unwavering personality.

Top Speed had a playful nature, so it followed that she needed a playmate. If someone asked for her help, she’d give it. That went double for someone she liked. It was how she got on in the world. “Okay. I’ll take your request. Mount Meishou, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

Top Speed pulled out her magical phone and sent a message to Ripple.

Empress had been a small gang—just five people; so small it barely counted as a gang—but they’d maintained their status as the fastest in N City up until their retirement. If you’re going to race faster than anyone, you don’t just need skills and a machine: You need to pick the right course, too. You intercepted radios, swapped info with other gangs, and picked roads that were good for racing. That attention to management was exactly what had made them the fastest.

Top Speed may have retired from active service to her gang, but she still did things the same way. She started with choosing the fastest route.

If she was going from Nishimonzen to Mount Meishou, then between them lay the Jounan district. That was Calamity Mary’s territory. It wouldn’t benefit anyone to step in there thoughtlessly and create problems that would bite her in the ass later.

Choosing to detour would be an amateur move. First, Top Speed called Ripple over. Just the other day, Ripple had walked out of a fight with Calamity Mary that had nearly become a battle to the death. Top Speed would have Ripple take a gift to Calamity Mary to apologize for that. Meanwhile, Top Speed and Swim Swim would pass through the Jounan district and cut toward Mount Meishou. This was a great plan, and it’d benefit everyone involved.

“Heya, Ripple?”

“…What?”

“Listen, I’d like you to go apologize to Calamity Mary.”

With a click of her tongue, Ripple hung up. Top Speed panicked and dialed her again, but Ripple wouldn’t answer. When Top Speed texted her after a thirty-second wait, she got a text in reply. The reply read, …Tsk.

Glancing over to the side, she saw Swim Swim looking at her intently. Top Speed didn’t know what to say.

After some thought about what she should do, Top Speed took her magical phone in hand once again to make a call. “Hey, Magicaloid? Yeah, it’s me. Listen, I’ve got a request. Could ya give Calamity Mary a call? Yeah, I just need ya to distract her for a minute… Gotcha, I’ll pay ya later. Five thousand? Come on, three thousand, tops… Yeah, okay, then four thousand. Sorry. Thanks. I owe ya.”

Top Speed turned off her magical phone, tucked it into her pocket, flung a leg over her broom, and pointed to the back. “My plan’s perfect! All right, we’re jetting over to Mount Meishou! Don’t fall!”

They rose upward. It felt like even her insides were floating up, too, which can be a confusing sensation if you’re not used to it. Leaning forward, looking straight ahead through the windshield, Top Speed accelerated in a sudden burst. In the blink of an eye, the scenery around them was completely different. The school, which had looked obnoxiously large when she’d been attending it, was now so small. She could hear the wind whooshing past her ears. She didn’t even feel any air resistance. No matter how many times she experienced this, it always felt good.

“How ’bout that? Pretty great, huh?”

“It’s fine.”

Under Top Speed’s control, the magical broomstick Rapid Swallow zoomed through the sky at supersonic speeds. Even a magical girl would get badly hurt if she were to fall from such a high-speed vehicle.

On the rear seat, Swim Swim was holding on to Top Speed tightly, and she was in no apparent danger of falling. The feeling of her pressing against Top Speed’s back was overwhelmingly sensual.

“Maybe I shoulda made my avatar a little bigger…”

“…What was that?”

“Oh, just talkin’ to myself. It’s nothin’.” Top Speed needed to think about the task at hand, here, not distractions.

Mount Meishou was big. Even with a magical girl’s vision, if they were going to spend time looking for Ruler’s group once they arrived at the mountain, they might not make it there before the picnic started. So Top Speed had to predict what course Ruler would take. Judging from her personality, Top Speed figured she’d just head for the highest spot. “They do say idiots smoke, and people in high places…like high places.”

“Which one is Ruler?”

“Obviously, she’s…she’s in a stupidly high place.”

Also, they might not be able to escape flak for arriving on Top Speed’s broom. In fact, she’d bet Ruler would criticize them for it. She could easily imagine the other girl launching into a sarcastic diatribe. “Oh, you must be such a VIP, if you’re coming in late in your personal vehicle.”

Ruler was easy enough to handle, as long as you acted like she was the boss. So it would be best if Top Speed could give her a gift. She had a boxed lunch with her, which she’d brought along when she’d left the house. Originally, she’d made it for her husband, but she’d sneaked it along with her. Right now, she had it hidden behind her windshield.

Top Speed knew it would taste good. She was a talented enough cook to bring just the barest smile to Ripple’s surly cheeks. So it should be perfect for this outing, and it’d be sure to improve Ruler’s mood.

“That’ll mean no boxed lunch tomorrow, though,” Top Speed muttered.

Swim Swim must have thought Top Speed was talking to her, as she replied, “I get lunch from the cafeteria.”

“Cafeteria?”

“They serve it every day. I don’t need a homemade lunch.”

If she was somewhere that had cafeteria lunches, that had to mean either she worked at a school or she was going to school. And she had a hunch the magical girl behind her wasn’t staff. “Do ya have a good guess of what’ll be on your midterms?”

“What are midterms?”

She was in elementary school.

She had thought that Swim Swim had given some rather blockheaded answers to her questions, but now it all made sense. She kind of deplored a world in which an elementary schooler was spending her time playing a cell phone game, but it was free, so whatever. Besides, she had the feeling it was way more appropriate for an elementary schooler like Swim Swim to be a magical girl than a married and pregnant nineteen-year-old.

Top Speed adjusted her grip on her broom and addressed the girl behind her. “Ya just said you don’t need friends, right?”

“That’s what Ruler said.”

“You gotta have friends.”

If someone wanted to have fun, they needed people to hang out with. In the past, Top Speed had had her gang, and now she had Ripple and…her husband? Maybe her husband didn’t really count.

“Ruler said you don’t need friends.”

“That’s not true. Even Ruler’s got friends.”

“…Who?”

“A cute magical girl named Top Speed.” Top Speed grinned, but then quickly realized that Swim Swim couldn’t see it, being behind her. “Well, whatever. Just keep holdin’ on tight. We’re already at the mountain. We’ll find them quick enough.”

“If you’re Ruler’s friend, then—”

“I’ll prove it to ya soon enough. Don’t talk or you’ll bite your tongue.”

“So what are those charms?”

“You’re a kid with a lot of questions. Safe birth and safety in transit…I’m askin’ the gods for my baby to be born healthy, and to keep me from gettin’ into an accident.”

“You’re going to have a baby?”

“Yep.” She’d been keeping it a secret from Ripple because she’d been embarrassed, but now it just popped out of her mouth. Were her lips getting loose because she was talking to a kid?

Mount Meishou, which had been deep green all over through the summer, was now dyed in red, gold, and brown with only a few speckles of green remaining. Even when it was dark, a magical girl could still enjoy the foliage.

Anticipating the route Ruler would pick, Top Speed’s gaze moved to the area around the summit. This was up high, not on the normal hiking route, and steep enough that only a magical girl could climb it. Circling above the fall leaves, Top Speed stared hard and discovered a couple of figures floating gently in the air.

“Bingo!”

Glowing halos and angel wings. Those were the Peaky Angels. Top Speed couldn’t tell which was Minael and which was Yunael, but that didn’t matter.

“I told ya I’d find ’em right away! This is what they call the power of adulthood,” Top Speed called back to the rear seat, and not even a moment later, they’d arrived at their goal. There were Minael and Yunael, eyes wide and looking toward them, while another gazed up at them, pointing arrogantly—that was Ruler. The dog-eared one yelping in surprise was Tama. It looked like they’d spread out a picnic blanket.

“What happened, Swim?” Tama asked.

“You’re not AWOL?” “Does AWOL mean skipping out?”

Ruler stood up, and thumped the ground with the end of her staff. “You’re late! Don’t be late, you big lug! And why is she with you, too?!”

“Why’d ya have to say it like that? Don’t be so mean!” Top Speed let Swim Swim down to the ground, then stepped off the broomstick herself. With a beaming smile, she put her hand on Ruler’s shoulder. “You and me have a rapport.”

“Hey. You. Don’t be so friendly and touchy with me.”

“But we are friends.”

“Who are you calling friends?!”

“Me and you. Oh yeah. I brought a boxed lunch, so let’s all chow down.” Top Speed offered her the lunch, and Tama and the Peaky Angels gathered excitedly. Red-faced, Ruler swung her staff around, but Top Speed didn’t really take her seriously, turning back to Swim Swim to give her a wink. The young girl didn’t react, but she probably got the message.

“All righty, then! It’s time to enjoy the fall leaves! We’re all pals here, so don’t be shy!”