Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 5 - Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

THE GIRL WHO SWOOPED BACK FROM THE DEEPEST PRISON

Magical girls were in the business of selling dreams and fantasy. However, from time to time, some would dirty their hands with criminal acts. No matter how strict the selection exams were, there would always be a certain number of bad apples among the lot. And the more rotten they were, the stronger their influence would be. That’s why they had to be removed, since what they say about spoiling the bunch didn’t just apply to humans.

In fact, it might be even more serious with magical girls. On top of their regular human abilities, magical girls had a capacity to kill and injure far exceeding that of the largest predators—and potentially tanks, fighter aircraft, missiles, and weapons of mass destruction, depending on the individual. This made villainous magical girls far nastier than their human counterparts.

Humans could hardly perceive what magical girls did, and relationships between magical girls of equal rank tended to be weak—meaning few reports from other magical girls—so criminals generally went undetected. The Magical Kingdom’s system of oversight was essentially a sieve. However, once they did come to light, their punishments would be severe.

If their violation was in bad faith, they would be shunted to a magical girl who specialized in corrections for reeducation. If their influence on human and magical-girl society was great enough, or their acts themselves had been extremely vicious and left them no hope for correction, then all their memories regarding magical girls would be erased, and they would be ejected into society as a regular human again.

Usually, that was as far as it went. It was rare for anyone to receive a punishment greater than that. However, that didn’t mean it never happened at all.

There were some individuals who would do harm if released out into society, even without their magical-girl powers. Others might have them restored by some related party who would make contact with them, even if the criminal was expelled into society with their memories erased.

Such criminals who would inspire continued concerns as to their futures were imprisoned and cut off from the world. Legal reform twenty-seven years earlier had changed the regulations, making it so that there was currently no death penalty in the Magical Kingdom, for human rights reasons. However, imprisonment was not so different from death, functionally speaking.

Imprisonment by the Magical Kingdom meant being sealed away by magic. These seals, applied by elite, first-class practitioners, made every single thing the subject did confusing and exhausting.

When sealed away, these serious criminals of the magical-girl world were guarded by multiple layers of barriers and strictly monitored. Their location was kept at the highest level of confidentiality, and all that was known generally was that it was somewhere in this world.

If you were going to put an emphasis on security, then the best choice would be to imprison them in a facility within the Magical Kingdom, since there would be no way for an escapee to get out of the realm. But the prison was in the human world. Some said that residents of the Magical Kingdom had rejected the idea of constructing a prison there, while others held to the official explanation that crimes committed in the human world should be punished in the human world. Yet others said it was just a convention with no particular meaning.

  Pythie Frederica

In the cracks within the space between reality and dream, existence itself becomes vague, melting in a winding, muddy path, on and on. You’re incapable of any normal powers of thought, but your sense of time is oddly lucid, and as you try to escape from someone chasing you, you keep struggling and flailing—even though you don’t know where your pursuer is. You try to move your hands and feet to go somewhere, anywhere, even though you can’t perceive your limbs. Impatience builds, but nothing else does.

I never want to go back, the magical girl Pythie Frederica thought most earnestly. Arching her back, she stretched. Some time must have passed. She bent her arms, then extended them again in a flexibility exercise. Her hair bounced on her back. She drank in the joy of moving her body of her own will.

It seemed the strength of her muscles, her endurance, and her spirit were still sharp. If she were ordered right here and now to enter a duel to the death, she’d be able to move her body to an extent.

She bent each of her fingers one by one and then opened them again. She lifted a leg up high, then bent from the knee. She jumped up almost high enough to hit the ceiling—which wasn’t that high—and landed. Her long skirts followed her, floating and swelling. Dust wafted up within the small, moldy-smelling room.

“So how’re you feeling?”

“Hmm, well…,” replied Frederica.

As they chatted, they walked. Frederica took two steps toward the center of the room, closing in on her opponent, and launched a front kick. The attack wasn’t telegraphed, but it was blocked gently with a hand. As she drew back her foot, her ankle-length skirt billowed up to become a floating blindfold as Frederica turned and stabbed out with a spear-hand. Her opponent avoided it with a half step back and then smoothly unsheathed a guitar from her back and ground out a riff. The eighth notes overflowed from the guitar like hail, but Frederica brushed them off with the turning hem of her skirt, letting the momentum carry her into a midair spin and landing in an erect stance.

The eighth notes hit the floor with hard thunks, then melted away.

The two of them faced each other for a while, still in fighting stances, and then Frederica slowly relaxed her expression. “It seems I can move well enough to repay my debt to you.”

“Yee-hee-hee-hee! You’re the same as ever.”

Frederica looked around the room. Seeing the whole thing, fifteen square feet in size, with floor, walls, and ceiling all of undressed concrete and iron bars over the small window, it looked like a prison or some cheap flophouse in a slum. The only anomaly was the multicolored magical inscription in the center of the room.

Frederica went down on one knee to lean in close to the writing. It wasn’t just a single circle; there were many of them, with several overlapping layers. By magically combining letters and symbols and drawing them out, they had made multiple magical inscriptions into one single one, focusing all their powers on one direction.

With the pad of her finger, she stroked the enchanted writing and scratched at it with her fingernail. It didn’t seem as if anything special would happen. This magical formation had already lost its power.

“What wonderful technique. So this was the inscription that sealed me away?” asked Frederica.

“They’re rotten as hell, but they’re still the Magical Kingdom. We brought in an ace caster, but undoing that thing was still a big struggle.”

Frederica stood up, bowed at her savior, and then used her pointer finger to swish her flowing black hair over her shoulder. “I’m grateful for your help.”

“Oh no, no need to thank me. Saving her master is the least a student can do.”

“But you weren’t looking to save me for no reward, were you?”

“Well…”

Frederica turned back to face the magical girl Tot Pop, running her eyes over her boots, pants, and shirt. Her costume, with its liberal use of studs, belts, leather, and spikes, was less “magical girl” and more like a pop star’s onstage ensemble. Her skull-based theme had a strong presence, and her hair decoration looked just like a bear trap. Her guitar, which at a glance looked like a barbaric ax, only reinforced the theme further.

Her face was also covered with a gas mask, but it was apparent from its contrasting design that this had not originally been part of her costume.

“It’s been a long time since I last saw you. It seems you haven’t changed; that’s a relief.”

“I should be the one saying that, Master Frederica.” The girl slid her gas mask aside to show her face. She was smiling. Her lip piercing glinted. Being cute and beautiful was a characteristic common to all magical girls, so that wasn’t anything worthy of mention, but her large, unreserved grin was just the sort Frederica liked. The wisp of hair lying against her forehead was especially nice. Not only was it glossy and vibrant, her short hair seemed full of vitality in each and every strand. Frederica put her hand on Tot Pop’s head, petting it as if to say, “Good girl.” Tot Pop seemed pleased, like a cat looking for attention from her owner.

Once she was done indulging herself in the texture of Tot Pop’s hair, Frederica pulled her right hand away and brought it to her nose, slowly inhaling the smell and then blowing out a long breath. “You’re most certainly Tot Pop.”

“And you’re definitely Tot’s master.”

For many years, Pythie Frederica had trained magical girls. She’d had many students, but she remembered few of them. Tot Pop had been an excellent student, but excellence alone wasn’t enough to make Frederica remember anyone. What was most deeply carved into her memory was Tot Pop’s intense lifestyle as a warrior who devoted herself to antiestablishment organizations in the continuous fight to transform the Magical Kingdom. Also the smell of her hair, which would sweetly, gently tickle the membranes of Frederica’s nose.

The one to capture and imprison Frederica had been her final student. That girl might no longer think of Frederica as her master. But even now, Frederica still considered her a darling student.

While avoiding the watchful eye of the Magical Kingdom, Frederica went slightly out of control in search of her as-yet undiscovered ideal magical girl. She’d done something similar to what the infamous Musician of the Forest, Cranberry, had done before, and an unfortunate disagreement with Snow White, Frederica’s final pupil, had led Snow White to find out. Unable to forgive her, Snow White had brought the ax down, and Frederica had been arrested.

Most lamentable of all was that her collection of magical-girl hair, gathered steadily over the course of many years, had been confiscated by the authorities. But that aside, Frederica hadn’t thought it so bad to be captured, then; since her final student was so excellent, she had thought, I don’t suppose I’ll have regrets, if I can leave the rest to her. She’d found Snow White’s actions commendable. Afterward, she was investigated and imprisoned, and now another pupil of hers had gotten her out again. For better or for worse, her fate was in the hands of her students.

Tot Pop shifted gently over sideways, put her hand on the doorknob, and turned it halfway. “All right, we’re getting out of here before they come after us. I’ll tell you the whole story on the way out.” She creaked open the door, a single layer of rough metal. In the narrow hallway beyond, they could hear the pitter-patter of footsteps as girls in gas masks dashed from room to room.

“You guys ready?” Tot Pop yelled out.

“Hold on just a sec!” One of the girls stopped to yell back, then ran off again. As the girl ran off, the hem of her skirt fluttered animatedly over her white calves as she leaped, and a lock of reddish-brown hair escaped from her gas mask to dance in the wind. Frederica’s cheeks relaxed into a smile. She no longer felt her arrest by Snow White was a praiseworthy accomplishment. After the experience of imprisonment inside that barrier, nobody would ever think about wanting to return. This was true for Frederica, too. And besides, now that she was going back to the outside world, it would be overflowing with wonderful hair and thrills to be had. It was easy enough to act like she was past the ordeal, but difficult to actually overcome it.

“Wait just a bit longer. We’ve gotta get outta here fast, but, well, there’s a lot of prep to do. I dunno if it’s magical stuff or what, though.” Tot Pop clapped her palms together and bowed her head, a very Japanese gesture. She wasn’t Japanese, but living somewhere for a while will change your habits.

Watching the girls in gas masks running around busily, Frederica touched her finger to the end of her chin. “You said you went to great difficulty to break through the barrier, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It must have taken tremendous effort to penetrate the defenses here, too.”

“No, no, that was like…”

No other smile defined “smirk” as well as hers, Frederica thought.

“I just sent a bunch of people out everywhere,” Tot Pop continued, “and used the information we gained to pick the best time, right when the prison guard was weakest, and we stormed the place.”

“…I see.”

Frederica had been rescued from imprisonment by a magical-girl squad led by Tot Pop, who was affiliated with antiestablishment factions. So basically, those factions wanted to make use of Frederica’s powers. Even if Tot Pop might try breaking her out just to fulfill her duty to her teacher, no organization would give her backup without demanding anything in return.

“What am I expected to do?” Frederica asked.

“It’s kinda like searching for someone, or…yeah, kidnapping. A certain department of the Magical Kingdom keeps an assassin. You’re gonna capture her and make a big scene of indicting her.”

“I’m impressed you got ahold of that sort of information.”

“I just told you, didn’t I? Team Tot sent a bunch of people out everywhere.”

Closing her eyes, Frederica imagined a track stretched in front of her. The rails were laid out by the antiestablishment organization, as they wanted her to do something for them. She couldn’t see where they led. And she was being asked to follow them.

But they hadn’t indicated the vehicle they wanted her to ride in.

“This was the seventh inn, wasn’t it?” Frederica asked.

“Yep.”

Such secret locations were called by unique code words to ensure that even if others heard, they wouldn’t understand. The name “inn” was a secret term for prison.

Frederica traced back through her memory.

She had a fair number of strengths she could rely on: strength, speed, combat experience, her own magic. Before she’d been imprisoned, she’d had connections, too. She also possessed knowledge of magic and of magical girls.

In her endless love for magical girls, Frederica had used her own magic to gather information, many, many times. She’d also done more research than most would about magical-girl prisons. The criminals held within them had very much stimulated her curiosity.

There was no prison for magical girls in Japan. If a villainous magical girl were apprehended within its borders, there would be nowhere to put them, so they would be sent to another country. The seventh inn was supposedly in England. Frederica was not the only magical girl to be imprisoned there. Long before her arrest, other magical girls who had done their evil deeds in this country had been locked up in this prison. And if she recalled correctly, they were—

“The caster who undid my seal is still here, right?”

“Yup. What about it?”

“I’d like to have her undo two more seals.”

“…What? Uh…huh? No, no, no.” Tot Pop waved her hand vigorously in front of her face. “I’m telling you, we’ve got no time. No way, no way, no way. If we drag our asses, some scary types will show up.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

“It’d be a huge problem! We were told to do this fast!”

“If my thinking is correct, we shouldn’t be too pressed for time.”

“Wait, but—”

“Please instruct them as such.” Frederica could see the rails. And that was exactly why she needed a strong train. She couldn’t be alone. She needed a stronger, more villainous, crazier magical girl. Her casual spar with Tot Pop earlier had shown her that Tot Pop had grown plenty, but even then, that wasn’t enough actors for the stage. She wanted a monster who would make even Frederica her toy.

And such a monster would be found here.

“First, undo the seal on Pukin. After that, undo the seal on Sonia Bean.” Those two would be enough. They would be useful, no matter what the mission was. They might help too much and go on a rampage, but that energy was perfect. Frederica liked the kind of magical girls that even she couldn’t control.

Frederica smiled. She was grateful from the bottom of her heart that she was able to return. She could be together with her beloved magical girls once more. Nothing could please her more. “Come on, hurry up. Our seniors are impatient. If you’re late to wake them, they’ll scold you for it.”

Grumbling, Tot Pop gave the orders, and the girls in gas masks began working to undo the next barrier.

Frederica hugged Tot Pop close and buried her face in her hair.

Pythie Frederica was particularly fond of magical girls. If she heard of an excellent up-and-comer in the east, she would rush out there to pick up some of her hair, and if she heard of a beauty in the west, she would set out to pilfer her hair, too. In pursuit of her ideal, she had discovered talent among the budding magical girls, and as an examiner, she had raised them up. And she was not only interested in those of the present day. She had also pored over the past, looking through the exploits of famous pioneers.

And the renowned were not only those who had received praise. Infamy is another type of fame, as they say, and the worse they were, the more documentation on them remained. The magical girls who had made those records back then must have prioritized chronicling evil deeds over the activities of their peers. Had that been out of jealousy, or had they believed that using these examples as lessons to the next generation was their first priority?

Both passion and necessity fueled Frederica’s desire to know how these bad eggs had fallen to the path of evil. The ideal magical girl Frederica sought was a righteous one. And a truly righteous magical girl always required the presence of evil.

Pukin and Sonia Bean were particularly infamous, even among those who had made names for themselves through evil deeds. Their rampage had been over a hundred and thirty years ago, on the British Isles. Their exploits were so notorious, they were immortalized in nursery rhymes passed down in local tunes, with cruel lyrics such as, The streets run red when Sonia walks and Pukin reclines on the mountain of dead.

The details of those who died to satisfy Pukin’s hobby of cruel torture, the numbers of victims to Sonia’s sudden robberies, the number of people Pukin had falsely accused, the political purges Sonia had enacted against those who had opposed her—all these misdeeds had been recorded.

In regions where they’d been particularly active, their names were used to warn children: “If you’re bad, Pukin and Sonia will get you.” It was said these threats would make children sob with fear and apologize to their parents. This might be the only way the two of them had ever helped other people, since the day they’d been born.

Pythie Frederica was familiar not only with the public side of their affairs, but Pukin’s and Sonia Bean’s criminal histories, tendencies, and what about their characters could be inferred from those things.

The first seal undone was Pukin’s.

The gas mask squad members all scattered to their designated positions. One prayed in order to weaken the magic, while another strengthened the unlocking magic from the side. Yet another sucked up magical power to hand to another, and one more sent her will into the magical inscription to attack it from within. A single nail was pounded into the inscription and turned into a sapling with roots that plunged down to break up the concrete. Cracks radiated from the nail. The inscription’s shape swelled and distorted; the magical energy, powerful enough to be visible, stained the surrounding atmosphere like industrial oil spilling into water as the shrill sound of something breaking struck Frederica’s ears. She ordered the gas mask squad and Tot Pop to get back.

The continuously changing hues mixed together to blend into gray, while at the same time, the laws of physics regained control of the space, and things settled into how they should be. Frederica felt drunk just from watching. Recalling that she herself had also been freed in the same way, she felt a little nauseous.

The wafting gray hues dissipated into smoke, beyond which a silhouette appeared.

She was clad in what looked like a fairy-tale prince’s costume: a waterfowl feather stuck in her brightly colored hair, long gloves and matching boots, a wavy ruff, and a rapier hanging from her waist. If you didn’t know what she really was, she’d look just like a hero of justice. She appeared dazed, and the light in her eyes was vaguely blurred as she glanced restlessly all around. But even with a rather unimpressive expression and manner, she looked as beautiful as any magical girl… No, in Frederica’s eyes, she shone even brighter.

“Whoa…” Tot Pop gasped reflexively. And it wasn’t just her. The gas mask girls behind them were murmuring, too.

As those who defied the system and dealt in the illegal, they would have noticed. They could see the gushing blood that flowed around Pukin like a river, and they could hear the resentful cries and curses from those who had died under her boots. All she had to do was stand there, and you could feel through your skin just how many people she had killed.

Frederica spread her arms to hold back the magical girls behind her. They couldn’t approach Pukin yet. She checked everything with great care, from the rapier at Pukin’s waist, the length of her limbs, to her muscularity as a magical girl, and maintained what she felt should be a safe distance.

Pukin tottered unsteadily, but bit by bit, the light returned to her eyes. Frederica knelt at Pukin’s feet and bowed her head low. “My name is Frederica, General Pukin. We’ve come to receive you.” When she lifted her head, Pukin was looking at her in surprise. Frederica gave a little smile, and seeing that, Pukin replied with a smirk from just the corners of her lips. It was an unpleasant way to smile, but it still didn’t dissolve the impression of nobility.

“Is this work?” Pukin’s voice was the same. Though it should have sounded like the beautiful voice of a human girl, the stench of blood clung to it. She was just talking to them, but it came out like a threat.

“We will offer you a reward.”

“Oh? So you don’t want free labor?”

“There’s no need for you to return to this prison ever again. I offer you freedom,” Frederica proposed.

Pukin glanced back at Frederica for a while, surprised, and then gave an amused grin. “How interesting! You mean to release the monster who has been sealed away for all eternity?”

“Locking up one such as Your Excellency forever would be blasphemous to human history.” Most people would never take to such flattery, but Frederica knew that Pukin was not most people. Placating Pukin would make her easier to handle.

The swordswoman Pukin nodded arrogantly as if to say, “Of course.” “I don’t give a damn what manner of challenges you have for me, though I wouldn’t mind kissing this wretched place good-bye. On my honor, I will repay you for releasing me. By the way, where’s Sonia?”

“I’ve ordered these girls to rescue her the moment we receive Your Excellency’s permission.”

“You need none. Get her out of there immediately. Sonia is a loyal retainer to us. Not only does she serve wholeheartedly, she has a certain talent. Sonia is necessary.”

There was some chatter behind Frederica, along with a mutter of, “The royal we? Seriously?” followed by a quiet giggle. Above Frederica’s head, something silver sparkled.

“Now then, let’s go to Sonia. I’m sure she’s waiting with bated breath—the girl’s a crybaby and so needy. Leave her by herself for one moment, and she’ll be on the verge of tears.” Pukin began to walk off, treating Frederica’s underlings as if they were invisible, which forced the gas mask squad to hurriedly clear a path. Frederica headed to the front to lead Pukin.

Pukin nodded twice in satisfaction. “I’ll leave you to clean up these rude ones.” While walking, Pukin snapped the fingers of her right hand, and instantly there was a thunk, thunk as two somethings fell to the ground. Screams followed. When Frederica looked back, two gas masks—no, two severed heads—were lying in the hallway. The walls, the floor, the magical girls—everything was splattered red with fresh blood.

Two of the magical girls had been decapitated. Their bodies collapsed on their knees, blood gushing and spurting from their necks. They were probably the two who had scoffed at Pukin’s personal pronoun and giggled.

Tot Pop froze at the sudden act of violence, but Frederica held her in check with a look. She then quietly ordered Tot Pop to make sure things were cleaned up, then turned and resumed walking.

Many things had to be taken into consideration if they were going to be working together with Pukin. Frederica had explained clearly to the gas mask girls that they were absolutely not to be rude, but nevertheless, some would fail to manage that. Girls, by nature, can’t be silenced.

Sonia Bean contrasted with Pukin in every single way. Unlike Pukin, so confident and bold, she appeared timid and nervous. She would twitch and glance around at even the slightest noise. It was so bad, just watching her stirred up sympathy.

Perhaps it was her outfit that made her seem so pitiful. Unlike Pukin’s elegant and aristocratic garb, Sonia’s costume was in tatters, a threadbare patchwork of sewn-up rips and tears. Fortunately, there was nothing indecent about it. If pressed to say, she looked comical, like a cartoon character.

Not only did the two of them differ completely in appearance, but also in their backgrounds. Pukin had racked up achievement after brilliant achievement as a Magical Kingdom official, while rumor had it Sonia had hidden in a cave and attacked passing travelers. If Pukin hadn’t taken her in specially, she would have most likely spent her whole life as a mugger.

Now, the two of them were in the basement lounge of a pub, eating whole roasted chicken. With fine skill and proper manners, Pukin was using her knife and fork to cut up the meat and eat it. Sonia was grabbing and chomping into a leg of chicken like a wild animal. If it had been served raw, she might just have wolfed it down anyway.

This was a special room that sold itself on profligate, luxurious furnishings such as silver candlesticks from the days of the court of York, Persian tapestries woven of pure silk, and amethyst chandeliers. Tot Pop had boasted that the Mafia, politicians, and nouveau riche would visit this place surreptitiously. They had rented this room to show respect to the newly awakened pair, but the two didn’t so much as glance at the furnishings, engrossed in their meal.

With a brief “Pardon me,” Frederica stood from her seat. Sonia and Pukin ignored her, continuing their meal.

Frederica left the room quietly. A low bass sound resonated deep in her body from the music booming down from the floor above. It wasn’t to her taste, and she didn’t even know the genre, but it was the kind that Tot Pop would probably like. As she walked through the door into a hallway covered from floor to ceiling in resplendent tile, she found Tot Pop standing imposingly there. Her ostensible role here was to guard them, more or less.

“Hello, Tot Pop.”

“Hey, master. So those two actually eat, huh?”

“Yes, they’re different in many ways from modern magical girls, due to steady progress in selective breeding. We’re superior with regards to fuel consumption, at least… But that aside.” Frederica narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Why are you speaking so quietly?”

“I mean…” Tot Pop leaned in and lowered her voice further. Her breath stroked Frederica’s cheek, and the sensation made Frederica tremble reflexively in joy. “I don’t wanna say something dumb and then, shlick!”

“That’s quite the suggestive sound effect you’re using.”

“This isn’t a joke. They’re dangerous. It’s scary.”

“But you like those kinds of people, don’t you?”

“Of course!” Tot Pop beamed and gave a thumbs-up before returning her expression back to normal. “But y’know, Tot’s basically a leader now, so…” This time, she pointed her thumb at herself and puffed out her chest. She smiled proudly, then pulled herself together again. “I don’t want my cute little girls to end up dead.”

“That’s a reasonable explanation.”

“I mean, I love carrying a bomb around, but as a kingpin, I’ve gotta take the safety of my minions into consideration, first.”

“About that. I’ve been thinking perhaps it might be a good idea to operate with just the four of us: you, me, General Pukin, and Lady Sonia.”

“Pardon?”

“A small party of elites. Our task will be easier if we keep our numbers low.”

Tot Pop leaned against the tile wall and glanced at the door at the end of the hallway. “Can we trust those two that much?”

“Speaking purely as to their skills, they’re without question worthy of our trust. As for their character…neither of us has room to criticize anyway.”

“If we lose control and it all blows up in the end, that’s not gonna get us anywhere, is it?”

“Controlling Sonia is General Pukin’s job. Ensuring General Pukin enjoys so graciously working for us is mine.”

One hundred and thirty years ago, when Pukin had been in power, she had worked as an inspector for the Magical Kingdom. It was a management position, the opposite of her current status. It was said that she’d been a talented inspector who others had dubbed “General” for her prosecution of many magical-girl criminals.

It hadn’t taken long for her glowing reputation to reverse course and hit rock bottom. The true culprit of a robbery incident Pukin had resolved was unable to stand her guilt and confessed to a friend, who recommended she should turn herself in—so she did. This led to the incident being reexamined, and it was made clear that the allegations had been false, but the accused had already been executed.

One by one, cases that Pukin had handled were reopened, beginning with the less convincing ones. The result of the investigation was that Pukin had used her magic to force false confessions out of people, shifting the blame no matter what the crime was.

Under the laws of the Magical Kingdom at the time, the inspectors had possessed unusually powerful rights. All the assets of the executed would be confiscated, and half would go to the inspector. Pukin was apprehended for making false accusations for financial gain and sentenced to imprisonment.

Immediately before Pukin’s arrest, she had published a book. This autobiography, which both bragged of her own exploits and also attempted to justify them, still remained within the Magical Kingdom’s document vaults. This heinous book, bulging with excuses for her crimes and misdirected pride in her abilities, was bound to make anyone snicker. Frederica doubted it was based on reality, but it did vividly communicate the humanity of the author.

Frederica was good at currying favor with people. She would find the things others enjoyed, work her way into their hearts, and gently massage them. If that thing was part of an easily understood stereotype, then all the more so. She could control Pukin in any number of ways.

Pukin’s book was fundamentally all about herself, but there were also accounts of Sonia, albeit few and far between. Sonia had been sort of like Pukin’s bodyguard. As was obvious after her stunt in the prison, Pukin was no poor hand at violence. The one special fighter she had entrusted with violent tasks was a girl named Sonia Bean. With Sonia’s absolute viciousness backing her, Pukin had thrown her weight around, growing worse and worse with time, celebrating the heights of prosperity until the Magical Kingdom had arrested her.

“I know it’s neither here nor there to say this now that we’ve already gone and released them, but I’m thinking maybe they’re a little too much firepower for this next job,” said Tot Pop.

“You’re saying their strength is unnecessary?”

“The job is to catch one assassin hiding in a town. The only problem is there’s a mage on the inspection team, so there’s a barrier around the whole town, and you can’t get in from the outside using normal means.”

Frederica gave a faint smile and petted Tot Pop’s head.

The reform faction was intending to capture this criminal and safeguard them as proof of the Magical Kingdom’s illegality…or that was the plan. Tot Pop believed so, at least.

Frederica did not. Though the Magical Kingdom did underestimate magical girls, it didn’t indulge them. Frederica had a long history of using her magic to collect all the information she could, so she was aware of the collusion between the upper ranks of the reform faction and the Magical Kingdom. They might want to act like revolutionaries, but in truth, they had deep ties with certain powers in the Magical Kingdom, and they did no more than act as a branch office, shouldering a part of the power struggle. Such revolutionaries were allowed to exist in the Magical Kingdom out of convenience.

The Magical Kingdom would not have allowed such a painless assault on a prison, helpless as they released dangerous inmates. Frederica was forced to assume that the ones controlling Tot Pop had pulled some strings to open holes in security, setting the stage for her. That was exactly why Frederica had released Pukin and Sonia. She’d judged that even if they took a long time, the guards were not going to come. The Magical Girl Division of the Magical Kingdom was an overcompartmentalized bureaucracy. Each department sabotaged the others as they all competed ruthlessly to protect their own vested interests. The rumors that the assassin was working for some department were probably true. That was exactly why Frederica could surmise that the various powers would all jump in together in an attempt to either capture the criminal or kill one another.

Right now, it was more than just the special inspection team and the culprit in B City; a number of very powerful magical girls who had received orders from various departments had surely infiltrated the area. If they were going to jump into that situation, they needed the appropriate firepower. Simply strolling in empty-handed would only get them routed, and that would be the end of things. The result would be the same no matter how many pigs they sent out there. What they needed most of all was an ace. Pukin and Sonia would prevent them from being driven out. They would become their unbreakable backbone.

And that backbone would be useful, even after this job was over. This was a delicate affair they were dealing with. Tot Pop was Frederica’s favorite student, but in this situation, Frederica couldn’t trust her or her backing 100 percent. She needed some insurance that she would be safely released once she’d fulfilled her most important role. Masters who tossed their hunting dog into the pot together with the bunny it had caught were the rule rather than the exception. If Frederica wanted freedom, she needed enough power to avoid being silenced.

“Consider your priorities. You needn’t worry so unnecessarily.”

“Unnecessarily? Am I?”

“Yes, you are.” Frederica stuck up her pointer finger, gently touched it to her lips, and glanced at the door of the special room. Tot Pop’s gaze followed hers at the gesture. She started as the door began to slowly open at that very moment.

“Pukin says not enough food…,” Sonia mumbled, poking her head out. Her gaze was pointed down at her feet, but the statement was probably directed at Frederica and Tot Pop. After Frederica’s prompting, Tot Pop energetically rushed off and returned in less than three minutes. She had big plates in each hand, another pair of plates balanced on each arm, and even a bowl on top of her head.

When Frederica switched places with her in the hallway, she pushed Tot Pop’s back. “What is it you should do right now?”

“Bring in the food?”

“Yes, bring in the food, and one more thing: Ensure our guests have a good time.”

“Ensure they have a good time?”

“Use your clever conversation skills to show them some fun, get closer to them, and become friends, please. That’s sure to make this task easier.”

“Huh? Wait, master, clearly, this is—”

Frederica knocked on the door, gently opened it to toss in Tot Pop, then closed it shut.

Tot Pop had her job to do, and Frederica had hers. She thought about the assassin being targeted by this gang of various powers.

A magical girl who specialized in assassination. Her weapon was a large blade. Frederica had recommended to her last apprentice, Snow White, that she use a large weapon, but…

—That girl wouldn’t assassinate anyone.

Frederica’s amassed collection of magical-girl hair had been confiscated by the authorities. If she’d still had that, she could have gone to meet Snow White. Though having to start from square one with her collection pained Frederica, the thought of gathering it all over again gave her a thrill, too.

Pythie Frederica’s magic was difficult to describe in just a few words.

The first thing she needed was some hair from her target’s head, a length long enough to wrap around her finger. It had to be hair from a person’s head, and you couldn’t swap in some other body hair. She would wrap her target’s hair around her finger and tie it tight, which would show her target’s reflection in the crystal ball she’d hold in her left hand.

No matter where her target was—wandering in outer space ten billion light-years away, locked in cyberspace, off on a grand adventure in another dimension, starting a new life in a parallel world—Frederica’s crystal ball would display whatever it was they were doing at that given moment. However, that was only if they were alive; she couldn’t display a dead person.

When Frederica was in active service, she had used this magic as much as she wanted. She’d polished the technique of stealthily plucking out a hair as she crossed paths with someone. If that didn’t work, she would sneak into their home and crawl on their carpet in search of fallen hairs. She’d use the strands to figure out her coworker’s weaknesses, learn of her superiors’ love affairs, eavesdrop on private conversations, and make fun of cute girls and their lifestyles. Her magic was hers to use as she pleased.

And that’s not all; Frederica’s magic was for more than just remote viewing.

By plunging her own hand into the crystal ball, she could manipulate the scene reflected within. Her disembodied hand was able to move, grab, pinch, squeeze, punch, and slap her target just as her physical hand might.

She could also grab objects and bring them back to her when she retracted her hand. The objects she withdrew were not restricted to the size of the crystal ball; anything Frederica could lift in one hand, she could drag out, big or small. The laws of physics did not apply to her magic; they ignored distance, dimension, space, and location.

She could do the opposite, too. If she held something in her hand and plunged it into the crystal ball, she could deliver that something directly to the target in the display.

The task the reform faction wanted Frederica to do involved putting this ability to use. By sending in people through her crystal ball, they could ignore the twenty-four-hour barrier and then come back. Since she and the others were free to go in and out, the barrier was actually helpful to them. As long as it was up, their target couldn’t escape. It was just like grabbing a little caged bird in your hand. Their mission was to secure the criminal within the twenty-four-hour time limit.

Pukin and Sonia would deal with the venomous snakes that targeted the little bird appropriately. If the inspection team got in the way, they would deal with them, too. How many could surpass these two when it came to sheer force?

Thirty minutes had elapsed since Frederica had tossed Tot Pop into the room.

Frederica was good at getting close to people. By observing them with her magic, she would determine what sort of language, mannerisms, and personal background they preferred in a person and then adapt accordingly. It didn’t matter what it took—special treatment, deference, flattery, collaboration, guidance, sympathy, the occasional strategic hostility—she would do everything in her power to curry favor.

Frederica’s student Tot Pop was good at getting close to people, too. But her methodology was inimitable for her mentor. Though Tot Pop was Frederica’s student, her way was innate to her and not something Frederica had taught her.

Tot Pop was sloppy, laid-back, easygoing, and didn’t fuss over anything. She was fine with whatever, as long as it was fun, and she took this lifestyle to a new level most would normally never consider. You could be her parents’ or closest friends’ worst enemy, but as long as you were fun to be around, she was totally fine with things. No matter if you were a terrorist, a murderer-rapist, hair fetishist, stalker, magical-girl fanatic, or examiner who had made her examinees fight one another to the death, if you were someone she liked, she’d just be like, “Rockin’!” And that was that.

And on that count, she wasn’t deceptive in the way that Frederica was. She would feel genuine, deep affection and friendship for that person, making them want to respond in kind. To Tot Pop, stubborn people were like hedgehogs; she would neither avoid nor remove their spines, but instead let things lie, and if she got stabbed, it wouldn’t bother her.

Frederica had been fully aware of these special qualities when she had assigned Tot Pop to Sonia and Pukin.

“To begin with, they said we had fabricated their sins. And it’s true, we did. I’ll admit it. But those acts were all for the sake of justice.”

“What d’you mean?”

“From many years of experience as a torturer, we could find ways to discern a person’s disposition and know whether they will bring evil to the world or good.”

“Whoa! Dude!”

“Even if they hadn’t committed any sins just yet, if they were going to turn evil later on, then it was our duty as a watchman of the law to pluck them right then and there. We did nothing more than fulfill that obligation. But the inquiry’s report made it up to seem like we were massacring innocent civilians out of sheer self-interest.”

“For real?! That’s crazy!”

“And that’s what remained for the rest of history. Our name has gone down as one of an incomparable agent of atrocity…”

“That’s harsh! Those inquiry guys sucked!”

“If the only victim of such slander had been us alone, then we could’ve managed. But even now, I regret that Sonia was dragged into this mess.”

“Whoa, you’re a really good person, General. People are totally gonna love you! With a boss like you, they’ll put their lives on the line to follow you.”

Tot Pop may have already forgotten that not long ago, she had been lamenting her own underlings’ murders. She was listening attentively to Pukin’s endless stream of complaints. Frederica pulled her ear away from the door and stood up. Quite impressive, if I may say so about my own student.

“If we’re all traveling overseas, then we wish to take a plane.”

Since there was no time, Frederica refused Pukin’s suggestion politely to prevent Pukin from losing face. She had already retrieved some B City resident’s hair from an accomplice. Without this one strand of hair, they would have been unable to ignore the barrier and enter B City.

Wrapping the strand around her finger, first, Frederica pushed Tot Pop into the crystal ball, then deposited Sonia and Pukin in succession, and finally, in an act that ignored the laws of physics, she grabbed herself with her own hand and plunged herself into the crystal ball. With that, the Revolutionary Army Special Forces Unit (so named by Pukin) cleared the magic-repelling barrier and infiltrated B City.

Once Frederica entered, the owner of the hair was already half-dead.

“We told him we would kill him if he fled, but he attempted to run nevertheless.”

“I get the sense you probably should’ve told him that in Japanese.”

“An unfortunate misunderstanding.”

Lying facedown on a table in a puddle of his own blood with his throat sliced up, the portly old gentleman died before long. It seemed Pukin had more or less listened to Frederica’s instruction not to kill the hair’s owner, or she wouldn’t be able to use her magic. Either Pukin or Sonia would have killed him more swiftly if they hadn’t been holding back.

They had made it into the barrier without incident. From this point forward, they would have to pound the pavement to search for their target. But then Pukin whined, “You’re not going to make us walk around the city, are you?” And so they ended up looking for a car that would do. It was certainly a decent enough mode of transportation. In a small town like this, as long as you avoided rush hour, you would rarely get into a traffic jam, and best of all, even with all four of them together, they could get around without drawing attention to themselves.

The problem was whether they could find a car that would satisfy Pukin. It was already nighttime, and since this was an empty small-town street, Frederica anticipated it would take them quite a while to acquire a car. But contrary to her expectations, they quickly found something suitable—or rather, it found them. Pukin ordered Sonia to chase after it. Sonia ran alongside the car and opened the door from the outside. No sooner had she reached inside than the driver was already decapitated, and the vehicle spun out of control before crashing to a stop into a telephone pole.

Pukin was furious with Sonia for destroying the car they had been after. As Sonia trembled with tears rising in her eyes, Tot Pop swooped in to help, probably feeling sorry for her. “The bumper’s just a bit dented. We can use this, no problem. American cars tend to be sturdier than the domestic stuff.”

The vintage Plymouth Fury was polished to a sparkle, just like brand-new, but the front showed some signs of their earlier accident. It was a vivid red color. The driver seemed to be wearing a department-store suit that didn’t fit quite right, though perhaps that was because he no longer had a head and neck. He must have been a young white-collar worker with a new job. Why he had been driving a car like this one would forever remain a mystery.

“We have seen this car before, in a movie. We’ve wanted to take a ride in one ever since.”

“The one with that car that kills people?”

“Yes, yes, that’s the one!”

Pukin had been imprisoned one hundred and thirty years ago, so how did she know about movies that had been made after that? The answer was because she had been temporarily released from prison a number of times for “work.”

“I hate to break it to you, but this here’s a different model.”

“That’s unfortunate. But we can compromise.”

“It’s based on a book, y’know.”

“Oh, we’d like to read that. Is there an English or Latin translation?”

Tot Pop sat shotgun, Pukin in the rear, and Frederica took the driver’s seat. Sonia quickly undressed the body with practiced ease, gathering up the man’s bag to toss it into the trunk with everything else.

Seeing that, Pukin yelled at her. “Sonia! How many times do we have to tell you?! You can’t just bring anything and everything with you! Get rid of the man’s possessions along with the body!”

“B-but…’e’s got nice cwothes…”

“You won’t starve even if you don’t sell the clothes. This country is full of good food to eat. We’ll give you some sushi or tempura or whatever you like, so please, exercise some self-control right now.”

Sonia eyed the body from top to bottom, looking sad to see it go. She gently patted it all over and turned the body into shriveled black remains. The black waste crumbled apart, unable to hold its shape, even though there was no wind. In the end, nothing was left.

This was Sonia Bean’s magic. She could deteriorate anything she touched. No living thing, inanimate object, or even energy, was immune. This magic had enabled Pukin’s arrogant and despotic actions and been the indirect cause that led to her subjugation by the Magical Kingdom.

Sonia seemed stricken as she got into the back seat. Pukin comforted her, telling her there would be sukiyaki, too, while Tot Pop exclaimed brightly, “What a hungry soul!” Frederica couldn’t tell what there was for her to be so happy about. Perhaps Frederica was the one among this group of four with the most common sense, and such a thought gave her a quiet sense of glee. Frederica loved magical girls who lacked common sense. Were all her students still doing well?

B City was somewhat large, and the barrier covered the majority of it. It was best to keep away from the city’s edge as they drove. They couldn’t afford to touch the barrier, even if they just took a wrong turn. If they were to hit the barrier in a car, only the car would exit, and the magical girls inside would be stuck. It wasn’t hard to imagine just how horrible that would be.

Frederica drove down the farm-encircled highway for about fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, Pukin continued chatting idly as Sonia fiddled with the dead salaryman’s smartphone. Frederica found a conveyor-belt sushi chain by the roadside and stopped the car.

“Huh? You’re gonna eat more? Didn’t you guys just have a big meal?”

“There’s always room for sushi! Let’s go, Sonia!”

“Comiiin’!”

Pukin gracefully passed through the hanging curtains at the entrance of the sushi restaurant, while Sonia anxiously followed after her.

Frederica smiled calmly. “Let’s accompany them.”

“Aw man, we’ve got a job to do! But I guess there’s no helping it… Save some tuna for Tot, ’kay?”

The older-model magical girls were gas-guzzlers compared to the newer ones. They needed refueling. Besides, what Pukin had said earlier to stop Sonia had been an implicit demand for sushi, tempura, and sukiyaki. It was best to meet what demands they could and reduce her stress.

“Oh-ho, so this is sushi! Incredible! It’s riding a conveyor belt! I had heard this country was a manufacturing giant, but to apply that industry even to sushi…the Japanese people are a force to be reckoned with. Calm down, Sonia, the sushi won’t run away… Oh, it is running away. All right, let’s tuck in.”

Sonia devoured the sushi with enough force to halt the conveyor belt, and when she made a mess, Pukin would casually wipe it up for her as she secured her own portion. Tot Pop just cheered her on. Their looks were enough to make them stand out, but their mannerisms attracted still more attention. The staff and the few customers present were staring and whispering.

Some of them came to ask permission to take photographs, and Frederica allowed it. “Go ahead, go ahead.” She faced their raised smartphones and smiled.

Back in the day when Frederica had worked as a magical girl, she had always kept her identity hidden and had been careful to avoid civilian eyes when she was on the clock, as per the Magical Kingdom’s rules. But now, they were just outlaws. They could do as they pleased while transformed. If doing so would hinder them in some way, that would be another story, but there was no need for unnecessary fuss about secrecy. Sonia turned to a middle-aged man pointing his smartphone at them and made a peace sign, her face still full of sushi, while Tot Pop scribbled off an autograph onto a piece of colored paper offered by the staff.

Frederica steeped a bag of green tea in hot water and blew on it twice before she took a sip. The Japanese tea at conveyor-belt sushi was cheap but familiar on the tongue. It calmed her heart. The teacup decorated with the names of different kinds of fish stirred a deep nostalgia for her homeland now that she had returned.

During their long term of imprisonment, the Magical Kingdom had sent Pukin and Sonia out many times to do their dirty work. The reason they had gone to the trouble of sealing away these dangerous magical girls was, in fact, because they would later be useful to the Magical Kingdom.

Mages had at their disposal an innumerable number of magics through the use of spells, tools, sacrifices, and rituals. So many variations existed that you could describe their magic as all-purpose. However, there were many prerequisites and conditions for its use, and to strengthen it, you needed either time or a catalyst, meaning there was a lot of cost involved anyway. On the other hand, magical girls each only had one type of magic they could use, but in most cases, it was incredibly powerful, could be activated instantly, and could be used indefinitely. They were equipped with far more robust bodies and greater athletic abilities compared to mages. This was why the Magical Kingdom made use of magical girls.

Frederica dug through her memories, poring over all the countless secrets of the strangers she had peeped on with her magic.

When temporarily undoing the seals upon Pukin and Sonia, the authorities would always take caution upon caution, forcing them to work in a state that would completely rob them of any method of resistance. They would not simply have them guarded. They would take double and triple safety measures, such as equipping them with headsets with bombs implanted in them, or brainwashing them with magic, or taking one of them hostage, or injecting them with a magical poison fatal to even a magical girl without an injection of the antidote within a certain time limit, and so on and so forth.

Pukin must have been constantly resentful about this. Frederica had experienced herself the unceasing struggle of being sealed away, stuck in a quagmire without knowing up or down. Though theirs may have been a retributive sentence, it would have continued for eternity. They were shackled and worked like slaves, and once their tasks were done, they were returned to prison. They had to be unhappy about that.

Right now, Pukin was doing as she pleased without a single restraint. Frederica had no way of knowing when she might bring about a global crisis. Some had already died, in fact.

The Magical Kingdom had asked itself if it should let these two free with no safety measures and had come up with the answer: absolutely not. Frederica was certain that right now, she was doing something the Magical Kingdom had never expected. She was an individual operating completely outside of their calculations.

She sipped another mouthful of green tea from her cup. This light, cheap flavor could become a habit.

“Hey, Frederica.”

“What is it, General Pukin?”

“The plates stopped coming.”

“You can order directly from the chefs. I’ll translate for you.”

“You’re so very talented! Once this mission is over, I’ll appoint you to a position directly under my command.”

Frederica had received some hair from Tot Pop. She’d also acquired some from Pukin and Sonia earlier, as well as a number of strands from Tot Pop’s subordinates and regular people passing by.

Hair was essential for Frederica’s magic. Having more in hand would increase her options. Her powers would increase in breadth and scope and make Frederica herself stronger.

That was her excuse, at least. The truth was that she just wanted to collect hair. Even if it couldn’t be as good as her lost collection, she wanted to inch even a little closer to what she’d had. And for that, she needed true, inviolable freedom. So first, she had to make this job a success.

Frederica unfolded a slip of paper, pulled a single strand of hair out from it, and held it up to the sushi shop lights. She’d received this one from one of Tot Pop’s subordinates, a girl with the most beautiful hair. The strand itself was not even a foot long, but it shone a brilliant gold that reminded her of richly ripened ears of rice in fall. Its splendor made Frederica smile, and she took another sip of her tea.