Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 5 - Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

  Weddin (Time remaining: seventeen hours, thirty-eight minutes)

“Ms. Himeno! Can you hear me, Ms. Himeno?”

Kuru-Kuru Hime had undone her transformation and was lying on the ground. The teacher was not responding at all to her calls. Her chest was moving up and down, so she did seem to be breathing, but she had been completely knocked out. It didn’t seem as if she’d be able to help get Weddin out of this pinch.

Weddin strained with her limbs. She held her breath until her face was hot, channeling all of her strength into trying to rip up the ropes that bound her. She continued to strain right until she was nearly out of oxygen, but still, the ropes wouldn’t loosen. She’d already done this many times.

All she could do now was lie on the floor. Bunny Ears had finally moved away from her, but Weddin wasn’t strong enough to take advantage of this opportunity.

She understood that Bunny Ears had done something to Kuru-Kuru Hime, but she didn’t know what. Even though Kuru-Kuru Hime restrained their opponent completely, she’d moaned and fallen over, undoing her transformation to return to the human Ms. Nozomi Himeno. Being part of her costume, her ribbons had disappeared at the same time. Now free, Bunny Ears had stood and walked up to Weddin, who was immobilized in a crucifixion pose.

Understanding that her plan had failed, Weddin addressed Bunny Ears. “Come on, like I said, let’s stop with all this violence.”

“It’s okay. There won’t be any more violence here.” Using a rope she had pulled from her sleeve, Bunny Ears tied up Weddin’s arms and legs, removing each kunai pinning her down, one by one. Weddin hadn’t been strong enough to even make them budge, but when Bunny Ears put her back into it, they slowly loosened and eventually came out.

“Isn’t this violent?”

“I’m trying my best to be gentle, aren’t I?”

“I wouldn’t call that ‘trying.’”

Bunny Ears finished pulling out all the kunai around Weddin, tied her up completely, and rolled her on her side.

Next, Bunny Ears went to tie up Ms. Himeno. Her back was facing Weddin. Weddin strained her limbs, trying to move them, but the rope was tied tight. Even with the strength of a magical girl, she couldn’t rip it up.

Bunny Ears glanced back at Weddin to make sure that she was still bound, then returned to her task. “This is special magic rope made by our team chief. I think you’d have a hard time tearing it.”

“So then could you untie me? I won’t struggle.”

“You seem like the type I’d want to be careful with.”

“That’s not true. People know I’m a person of character.”

“You talked to me a lot to distract me before, too, didn’t you?” Bunny Ears picked up Ms. Himeno with her right arm, and with her left, she took Weddin by the leg and flung her over her shoulder, upside down.

“Hey, at least put me right-side up.”

“I’ve decided not to chat with someone who talks with the intention to deceive, like you do. So no matter what you have to say, I’m not going to listen. I’ll have an easier time learning about the situation from this girl anyway.”

Frustratingly enough, she was basically right.

Weddin continued to chatter, trying to talk Bunny Ears into just one verbal promise, if possible. But Bunny Ears wasn’t paying any attention at all as she carried Weddin and Ms. Himeno. “I’ve gotta get out of here before the human police come around.” She hopped off the top of the apartment building to the roof of a house.

It seemed Bunny Ears was planning to meet up with someone. She traversed the roofs of houses and commercial buildings, as well as telephone poles, to arrive at a crumpled station wagon on a destroyed road. There was a car parked on the shoulder there, too. The locals were gradually gathering down there.

Bunny Ears looked as if molten lead had just been poured down her throat as she watched the spectacle on the road from atop the building. Then suddenly, she pulled out her magical phone and attempted to make a call. But no one picked up. Bunny Ears’s expression tensed even more, and she muttered, “Maybe the signal’s no good” and “Maybe I should head straight to the emergency meetup point?” and so on as she moved over to the edge of the roof and tried to call again.

This is it, thought Weddin. Bunny Ears was clearly upset. She had her eye off Weddin, so if Weddin could just deal with the one issue here—the rope—she might be able to sneak away. With that thought, Weddin struggled, wriggled, and tried to talk to Ms. Himeno, passed out beside her, but nothing worked. Weddin just wasn’t strong enough to loosen the rope.

She could feel the chill of the concrete seeping through her back all the way to her bones.

In this business, was strength everything, in the end? On the other side of the roof, Bunny Ears was still fighting with her phone. It seemed even a strong magical girl like her had her own struggles to deal with, too.

Softly, Weddin breathed a sigh.

“Weddin, Mei’s tired,” came a sudden voice.

Weddin almost yelped instinctively, but she bit her lip and managed to hold it in. Tepsekemei was looking down at her. She was floating, cross-legged.

Weddin spoke to her as quietly as she could. “Where have you been?”

“The enemy came, so Mei was fighting. She was strong.”

“Did you defeat her?”

“Mei couldn’t. She was too strong.”

“So in other words, you ran away, huh? Well, that doesn’t matter right now. More importantly, could you do something about this rope? I just can’t undo it myself.”

“Mei already cut it. Yours, and that lady’s over there.”

Weddin moved her hands. The rope fell gently. The cut clean, like the work of a very sharp blade. “Nice. Now I can run—”

“No.” Tepsekemei wasn’t looking at Weddin. Her attention was focused in a completely different direction. When Weddin turned her head to follow her gaze, her eyes locked with Bunny Ears’s. Bunny Ears was looking at them with her magical phone in hand.

Weddin got up and jumped off the side of the building. She could hear Bunny Ears’s footsteps coming after her. They were terrifyingly fast—way faster than hers. This was no use. Weddin would have to either surrender again or fight together with Tepsekemei.

Tepsekemei was flying by Weddin’s side. It seemed running wasn’t yet a struggle for her. “You’re slow, Weddin.”

“We all have our individual differences!”

“You’re slow, so Mei will help.” As Weddin ran, Tepsekemei grabbed her collar and yanked her up, sweeping Weddin into her arms. “This is faster.”

Tepsekemei sped up in a burst. But Bunny Ears, in pursuit, was just as fast. She lost no ground as she chased them. Tepsekemei went all over to try to get away somehow: the front of the farming cooperative storehouse, the parking lot of a big bookstore, the street behind the pachinko parlor. She even darted into narrow roads at sharp angles, but Bunny Ears still kept chasing.

“Can Mei fight?”

“Um… No fighting. Let’s run.” Before, Bunny Ears had fought evenly against multiple opponents, including Tepsekemei. Against just the two of them, Bunny Ears would be more than they could handle. And besides, they didn’t even know how she’d defeated Kuru-Kuru Hime.

Tepsekemei didn’t slow down, but neither did Bunny Ears.

“Get off the ground, Tepsekemei. If you fly, she won’t be able to follow.”

“Mei can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re too heavy.”

“Geez, rude!”

  Kuru-Kuru Hime (Time remaining: seventeen hours, twenty-one minutes)

She remembered everything until she’d passed out in front of Bunny Ears because of that mysterious sickness. That had been on the roof of the apartment building. When she came to again, she was lying on the roof of a completely different building, and Weddin and Bunny Ears were both gone. What’s more, she wasn’t Kuru-Kuru Hime but back as the human Nozomi Himeno, chilled to the core and trembling under the cold sky.

I’ve got no idea what’s going on, but I should run. Everything was terrifying.

Nozomi transformed into Kuru-Kuru Hime and started running. She didn’t care where; she just had to get away. She sprang off the car parked on the road’s shoulder and climbed up a telephone pole to the power line, then went up to the chamber of commerce building. From there, Kuru-Kuru Hime ran on top of the downtown arcade, took a running leap just barely short of the farming cooperative building. She flung out a ribbon to catch the edge, and from there, she slipped between combine harvesters and kicked aside weeds as she followed a beaten path through a farmer’s field. She ended up racing through the forest, not caring if she was on an animal trail or a hiking path or no path at all, swinging between trees on her ribbons like Tarzan, until eventually, in the middle of the mountains, her face slammed into an invisible wall. She fell to the ground and rolled around, scattering dead leaves as she writhed in agony.

She was not only shocked by the impact. A sickening feeling like something had directly churned up her brain was running through her whole body. Her legs wouldn’t move, her back felt weak, and she couldn’t stand.

Now that she thought about it, she recalled Toko had told them that an invisible barrier surrounded the whole city. So this had to be the one. Kuru-Kuru Hime lay curled up for a while holding her nose, then picked up a leaf to wipe the blood from it. It was a good thing her legs had begun to weaken from the long run by the time she’d hit the barrier. She shuddered to think how much worse she could have been hurt if she’d collided with it when she’d been going at a dead sprint with full energy. Still, she shuddered again at the fact that she couldn’t escape from this town.

She wove together her ribbons to make an impromptu seat with a sawtooth oak as its base and sat down on it, leaning back against the tree.

Bit by bit, the pounding of her heart and throbbing pain in her nose faded, as did her terror. Something was strange.

When she had been in magical-girl form, she hadn’t questioned fighting. Moreover, with her mysterious magic and superhuman physical abilities, she’d tied up and twined her ribbons around her opponent like it was the natural thing to do. Returning to human form for a moment had made it unbearably incomprehensible to her how she could have done such a thing. She had no idea what would have happened to her had she lost. The word “death” rose to her mind, and she clutched her trembling body in her arms.

She wasn’t just cold. She couldn’t stop shivering. There had been malice and desire to kill. There had been something raw and vivid that should not be in the lighthearted life of a magical girl.

She couldn’t even consider going back. The overwhelming violence had crushed her idealistic belief that a teacher should ensure all her students escaped before she was allowed to run herself. Despite what a deplorable state she knew she was in right then, she couldn’t move. She was frightened and scared and confused as to what was going on. After running this far, she was finally able to think carefully, but she still couldn’t bring herself to consider going back. At least let them be safe, she thought and tried calling Toko, Weddin, Captain Grace, Funny Trick, Tepsekemei, Rain Pow, and Postarie, one after another, but not a single one picked up. She sent them a message saying, I’m safe, let’s meet up somewhere, and returned her magical phone to her pocket.

—Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down.

She took out her magical phone one more time and checked the time. It was already late at night.

Some of the students might never return to their homes again. She clenched her jaw and squeezed her fists. Her ribbon chair was trembling.

She checked her messages. No replies from anyone.

The leaves on the trees rustled. Right now, Kuru-Kuru Hime was like cornered prey. A magical girl’s ears were sensitive enough to pick up even the smallest rustling of leaves—unlike Nozomi Himeno, who would carelessly fall asleep in the staff room directly beneath where the concert band practiced.

She rose slightly out of her seat and looked toward the source of the sound. She had anticipated that it would be nothing in the end, that she would smile at her own cowardice and sit down again, but her expectations were betrayed. In the shadow of the trees, there was a female ninja with one arm and one eye. The scarf covering her mouth fluttered in the wintry mountain wind, and her one open eye was gazing steadily at Kuru-Kuru Hime.

She was clearly a magical girl but not one Kuru-Kuru Hime knew. In other words, she was an ally of Bunny Ears’s.

Kuru-Kuru Hime put her ribbon chair away and began running, scattering tree leaves as she went, but before even one second, she hit the invisible wall again and tumbled to the ground. This time, she hit not just her nose, but her front teeth, too. Her brain felt ready to somersault.

Her nose, teeth, and lips hurt, but it wasn’t the time for that. She held her face with her hand and used her elbow to lift herself up. Then, just as she was trying to somehow get herself off the ground, she froze. The ninja was right there. She was standing on Kuru-Kuru Hime’s left side, looking down at her. Then she suddenly squatted, reaching out to take Kuru-Kuru Hime’s arm. She pulled her to her feet and patted off the leaves stuck to her rear and back.

Still ready to bolt, and yet also unable to do so, Kuru-Kuru Hime just stood there. The ninja wasn’t doing anything, necessarily, but she did keep hold of Kuru-Kuru Hime’s arm, unwilling to let her go. Should she use her ribbons? But she really doubted she could beat the ninja in reflexes or speed. She felt like if she made any sort of move, she would get punched or thrown first.

Both of them remained silent, not budging at all as they looked at each other without backing away. Unable to take the silence, Kuru-Kuru Hime spoke first. “Um… How did you know where I was?”

“…I could see you running off, so I followed you.” The ninja’s scarf was hiding her mouth, muffling her words slightly, though her lovely voice still carried. But her tone, her way of talking, came out in dour, gloomy mumbles.

“Did you follow me?”

“…I did.”

“Why?”

“…If I had called out to you, I wouldn’t have known what to say,” came the rather foolish reply. It didn’t quite match up with her ninja image.

No, if her reply was foolish, then Kuru-Kuru Hime’s question was just as foolish. Leaving aside whether this was a good time for questions at all, if this girl was going to answer, then Kuru-Kuru Hime had to ask what needed asking. “Why…did you people come here? Why are you trying to capture Toko?”

The ninja pulled in her chin, burying her face even deeper into her scarf, and her gaze turned to the roots of the sawtooth oak. Her mouth stayed closed, and her silence made Kuru-Kuru Hime think she’d asked a question that couldn’t be answered. Apparently it wasn’t that she didn’t intend to reply, but rather that she was thinking. “We came…in order to…capture a criminal.”

“A criminal? Are you people the police?”

“Some of them…are like police… I’m just helping.”

“Helping?”

“I just came for an interview…but I got dragged into this…”

“If you were just dragged into this, you should have said no.”

“If I say no, I can’t get ahead in my career…”

She wanted to get ahead in her career? Kuru-Kuru Hime started to feel an affinity for this ninja. It was less out of sympathy and more thanks to the humanizing revelation that the ninja had such a worldly-minded desire. She was not a fully automated battle machine just expressionlessly swinging its sword and tossing shuriken.

The two of them continued their conversation, standing there awkwardly. Kuru-Kuru Hime learned that Ripple and her allies were trying to capture a murderer who was killing people connected to another world called the Magical Kingdom, and that Toko was connected to the murderer. Kuru-Kuru Hime also told Ripple frankly of her own situation.

She no longer worried how honest she should be with Ripple. She’d never been able to trust Toko, since she’d made the students her hostages; she felt an affinity with Ripple; and most of all, waiting here would just leave her in a deadlock. Ripple listened to her wish to have her students escape somewhere safe, then shook her hand as they stood there in those unnatural positions. Ripple’s chilly palm felt nice.

  Postarie (Time remaining: seventeen hours, twenty-six minutes)

Postarie made a call to Weddin, then to Captain Grace, Funny Trick, and Tepsekemei, but she couldn’t get through to any of them. It wasn’t just that they weren’t picking up. There was this unpleasant, grating interference almost like a scratching sound, and she couldn’t even hear the call. It wasn’t just Postarie’s magical phone having this problem. The call functions on Rain Pow’s phone weren’t working anymore, either. When she tried dialing her home phone number to test, the same thing happened. She couldn’t make calls anymore, to any kind of device.

When they tried asking Toko what was going on, all she had to say was, “No clue.” The fairy had been quite useless for a while now.

After getting rid of that black thing, they left that area for the time being, making sure that nobody was chasing them. Relief and fear welled up simultaneously inside her, and Postarie slumped down on the spot.

An enemy attack, a shuriken-throwing ninja, their flight across the rainbow bridge, their trip clinging to the station wagon as it flew through the air—all of those had been fairly scary experiences, but the encounter with that black thing to top it off had sent Postarie’s heart well past the breaking point. She cried for a while on the ground on all fours, but Rain Pow rubbing her back somehow relaxed her. She was so grateful for the warmth of Rain Pow’s palms on her back, she wanted to cling to them.

With the concrete-block wall at their backs, Postarie and Rain Pow sat side by side, and Toko, who had retreated into Rain Pow’s shirt, also joined them to talk about what had just happened. They came to no conclusions. Though they understood that the enemy had come to them, neither Postarie nor Rain Pow knew what the heck it was. They’d never really understood what sort of being it was in the first place.

What was important to Postarie was that they never get involved in this matter ever again, and she would have no regrets if doing that required quitting being a magical girl. Not so for Rain Pow. She insisted that she wanted to resolve this, and in doing so, make her powers permanent. Of course, Toko also supported her endeavor.

“I mean, it’d be a waste. We’re so strong and cool now, with mysterious powers…and we’re magical girls! You’d never get to be something like this living a normal life.”

“Yeah, yeah! That’s right. I like the cut of your jib.”

Postarie understood that Rain Pow didn’t want to let go of these mysterious powers. But Postarie would rather stay alive.

Even if they were stronger than humans, ultimately, it was a relative thing. It had been proven by this point that Postarie’s powers were not that great relative to other magical girls. So it was better to live her ordinary life as a normal human being, just as she always had, rather than get some semi-superpower and fight with dangerous opponents. It wasn’t as if she had been at all unhappy with her life thus far.

But still, it wasn’t as if Postarie had any great ideas as to how to get out of their current situation, either.

Postarie had the feeling that even if they tried to find someone to save them, the enemies they faced right now would be able to hold their ground against not only the police but even the Japan Self-Defense Forces armed to the teeth with tanks or planes.

Rain Pow not only told her that they couldn’t rely on the police; she also disapproved of revealing their identities. She protested that she wanted to continue being a magical girl, talked about how so many things would go to waste if they were found out. So she refused any intervention from society. Of course, Toko also endorsed that argument.

“C’mon, Tsuko. Let’s do it! We can’t give up now!”

“That’s right! There’s no way I’m letting you give up halfway! No way!” Adding Toko to the conversation meant they ended up circling the same place, in the end.

Postarie mainly spoke to Rain Pow. They let Toko talk all she wanted, too, but Postarie wasn’t actually listening to her.

Postarie and Rain Pow’s discussion was close to a quarrel. It didn’t seem there could be any compromise between their views, and no matter how they tried to argue their points, neither ever got through to the other. Plus, it wasn’t as if either girl had any firm plans for a solution. Though this was ostensibly a conversation, it was their first fight since they had become friends. To Postarie, Rain Pow was just coming off as reckless and crazy. Postarie wondered if maybe she should just abandon her, say “Do what you want!” and plan her escape alone. But all she did was wonder. She couldn’t bring herself to actually do it. When Postarie tried to run away, she couldn’t shake off the memories of Kaori’s ever-changing expressions, the sound of her joyful laughter, the first time they’d gone to an arcade together, the warmth of Kaori’s palms rubbing against her back, and more.

Until Kaori had become her best friend, Postarie—Tatsuko—didn’t have a single person she could call a friend for her whole ten-odd years. She’d always wanted a friend as much as anyone did, but once she made one, for the first time, she understood. This was like a curse.

Postarie’s shoulders drooped. It was hard for her to accept how aggressive Rain Pow was acting, but she couldn’t leave her, either.

Something was happening—but they didn’t know what. Since the three of them were isolated without help, unable to contact anyone, they decided to follow Rain Pow’s suggestion and try going back to the apartment building next. Of course, they were not returning as magical girls. They would undo their transformations and go back as humans. Then they would check out what had happened one more time. Police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks would probably be there by now. The local newspaper and maybe national online mass media would have come. There was bound to be a crowd, and it had to be big. This was a small town with little entertainment, incidents, or accidents; if something happened, even this late at night, people would join the throng just because it was there. Once there was a crowd, they could slip in among them. As long as they didn’t transform into magical girls, the enemy should not be able to identify Postarie’s and Rain Pow’s faces.

If one of their allies had been captured and was being tortured into revealing the identities of their allies, including Postarie’s and Rain Pow’s, then they might get caught. But if that had happened, then they were going to get caught soon enough anyway.

These unproductive, pessimistic fantasies were bad for her stomach and heart. The physical heart of a human was not as sturdily made as that of a magical girl. This was surely also true for the human spirit.

The three of them were now headed for the road where the station wagon had fallen. As they had anticipated, the road was now closed. A big crowd surrounded it, and police cars were parked nearby. They detoured around the road, wearing expressions that said, “We’re just harmless middle schoolers passing by.”

The crowd at the apartment building was even bigger. There were a lot of police cars, an ambulance, and even a fire truck. The wail of sirens echoed all around, and their red lights repeatedly asserted themselves in the darkness of the night. They were joined by plenty of rubberneckers, too. Some were wearing pajamas, and some weren’t.

There was also a collection of media people with cameras and microphones. The area was blocked off with tape, keeping out everyone but the police, so they couldn’t see what it was like on the inside.

An old man in a down jacket with a mike pointed at him was spraying spittle as he raved: “A car flew through the air! I swear I saw it! There’s no way I was imagining things!”

Rumors from the crowd reached their ears. It seemed other people had witnessed a flying car, too. There had been a rainbow, even though it was nighttime. A boat, too, for some reason. And someone had fired a rocket launcher. No, it wasn’t a rocket launcher—it was a cannon. A mysterious group of cosplayers had started a loud brawl on the road nearby, and maybe this was connected to that. But it seemed nobody had been caught yet. What was going on here, causing such a big commotion?

Tatsuko looked at Kaori, who stared back. Her eyelashes were trembling slightly, her eyes moist, and her whole face was pale, even her lips.

Nobody had been captured. In other words, no one was left here. But they couldn’t get ahold of them. So then where did they all go? Horrible thoughts floated up in Tatsuko’s mind, then receded.

Aware that both of them looked awful, she tugged her knit cap down low over her eyes, pulled together the collar of her coat, and wrapped her scarf around her neck tight. Kaori’s shoulder bumped someone in the crowd, and a middle-aged man who looked like a factory worker spat at them. “Watch it!”

Tatsuko tugged Kaori’s sleeve and pulled her out of the crowd. “It’ll be okay… The other kids and Ms. Himeno and Mei are all strong,” Tatsuko said quietly, as if trying to console herself. “They’re just hiding somewhere right now.”

She was so transparent. Even she didn’t think they were just hiding.

She took Kaori’s hand, and they left the scene. The two of them sat side by side on a bench at a nearby children’s park and gazed up at the sky. The clouds were thick and black and went on forever. It didn’t look as if it was going to clear up.

They were the only people in the park. Illuminated by the streetlights, the promenade was missing many bricks, and the playground was rusted and creaking in the blowing wind. This town was the same everywhere. A sigh slipped from her. There was nowhere to go.

“Are you magical girls?” someone suddenly called out to them.

As Tatsuko was processing that in her mind, she panicked and looked back, tripping over her feet. As she started to fall, she grabbed the back of the bench and somehow managed to catch her balance.

A magical girl was standing at the park entrance. Her long dress coat, middling-length khaki scarf, Panama hat, and big sunglasses all looked suspicious. For a magical-girl costume, it was mismatched overall and lacking in style, but there was no mistaking her face and aura. Most importantly, she was using the term “magical girl.”

Kaori gave Tatsuko a sidelong glance as she went on guard, facing the magical girl. She appeared extremely cautious.

The magical girl’s eyebrows tilted up, and one of her cheeks rose. As Tatsuko thought about what that expression meant, she heard the magical girl sigh, and Tatsuko realized she was disappointed.

“What are you doing?” The newcomer approached them readily, casually raised her hand, and slapped Kaori’s and Tatsuko’s cheeks. It wasn’t the sort of attack that would send them flying—nor enough to even call it an attack in the first place. But still, Tatsuko’s cheek stung, and she cradled it as she looked back at the magical girl, dumbfounded.

“You two aren’t transformed right now. I’d like to yell at you and demand why the hell you’re on the battlefield out of costume in the first place, but no matter. There are times when you’re forced to go human for covert missions and such. But that aside.” This time, she slapped their other cheeks. She hadn’t even given them enough time for the heat from the first strike to fade, and now both cheeks stung. “What do you think you’re doing, going on guard when someone asks if you’re magical girls? Huh? You might as well be publicizing your identity. How can you let the enemy know you’re a magical girl when they’re already transformed and you’re not? You’re never going to survive on the battlefield if you do things like that. You’ll be squashed like insects.”

The magical girl stared closely at them. She wasn’t really glaring, but her gaze wasn’t friendly, either. Unable to determine what the look was, Tatsuko smiled mildly at her, and this time, the magical girl brought her fist down on Tatsuko’s head so hard she saw stars.

“What are you doing?!”

“Are you in the position to be complaining?!” The magical girl crushed Kaori’s brave resistance with a double slap. Seeing Kaori collapse onto the bench, Tatsuko firmly closed her mouth. “Attention!” the girl ordered, and Tatsuko snapped her back straight. The girl turned her gaze to Tatsuko, then next looked at Kaori, who lay on the bench with her shoulders trembling, and kicked up at Kaori’s thigh. “Why are you lying there?! If you’re told attention, then stand, at least!”

Tatsuko would absolutely never say, “But aren’t you the one who knocked her down?” The magical girl dragged Kaori to her feet, where she stood on the verge of tears. Tatsuko had no intention of protesting.

The suspicious-looking newcomer raved about just how dangerous it was to face a magical girl when in human form. It seemed she wasn’t going to kill them or anything, but she could slap them again at any time, and Tatsuko couldn’t quell her anxiety.

Toko remained safely silent within Rain Pow’s clothing. It seemed she was pretending she wasn’t there. That was probably the right choice.

“The person approaching you was transformed. You were not. In this situation, if someone asks if you’re a magical girl, then play dumb. Treat them like a freak. Say, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ I don’t know how well that will work, but it’s far better than doing something so suicidal as openly bracing for a fight when you’re in human form. And though it’s out of the question to go on guard as a human, don’t even think about transforming there to fight back, either. Do you know how long it takes for a human to think about transforming and then to carry that out? With the reflexes of a magical girl, I could kill you a hundred times, or a thousand. Do you understand now that transforming in front of another magical girl is foolish? If you have, then transform.”

Tatsuko was considering what she had just been told when her cheek was slapped again. Tears leaked from her eyes.

“Transform! Do what you’re told immediately!”

Tatsuko panicked and transformed, and her cheek was slapped again.

“Were you not listening to me when I told you not to transform?!”

“U-um, but—but we went on guard already, so you already know, and there’s no point in playing dumb, right?”

“Don’t talk back!”

Rain Pow was knocked down onto the bench again. Even as Postarie wondered why her friend hadn’t learned, she hated herself for how quickly she was getting used to this unreasonable treatment. The magical girl stared at Postarie and Rain Pow appraisingly. Finally, she snorted. It seemed like she didn’t think much of them, and that made Postarie vaguely angry. Of course, she didn’t let that show on her face.

“Not like I didn’t know already, but you’re amateurs. Students at the local middle school?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You’ve only just been made magical girls by Toko.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Did Toko trick you?”

Postarie was unable to respond to that immediately. She couldn’t recall ever being deceived. Some things had been vaguely suspicious, but she couldn’t say for sure. She looked over at Rain Pow’s chest, but there was no reaction from Toko.

In response to Postarie’s apparent hesitation, the magical girl snorted once again, pulled out her magical phone to push a button, and put the phone to her ear. Then she scowled. “It won’t connect.”

“Um… We haven’t been able to get through for a while now, either.”

Her reply was a slap. The magical girl muttered, “Now I can’t contact the team chief,” and then she turned back to Postarie and Rain Pow. “I am Archfiend Pam. I’m a member of the inspection team that’s infiltrated this town in order to arrest the assassin hiding here. So you two girls opposed us because you were deceived by her accomplice, Toko… What are your names?”

“Postarie.”

“I’m Rain Pow.”

“Postarie and Rain Pow. I’ll give you one chance. If you cooperate with us, we won’t inquire into the crimes you’ve committed thus far. I would have preferred to inquire with the team chief before doing this if possible, but I can’t get through, so there’s no helping that. I guarantee this, on my honor, so you don’t need to worry.”

As Postarie was desperately sorting out this information, wondering just what this all meant, another slap flew toward her.

“How do you answer?!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Y-yes, ma’am!”

“All right. Good answers, for amateurs. So then starting now—” Archfiend Pam suddenly glanced away to look at the park entrance. Postarie’s and Rain Pow’s eyes were also drawn to the same spot. A little girl in her pajamas was staring at the three magical girls. Archfiend Pam’s relentless and tight expression suddenly relaxed, and she waved at the child. “Sorry! We’ll get out of the way soon!” Her gentle smile and carefree manner of speech made her seem like a completely different person from before.

Postarie gave her a look that said, “What’s with you?” But when Archfiend Pam turned back again, she panicked and looked away.

“What is so funny?!”

Rain Pow had apparently smiled, so Archfiend Pam hit her again. It hurt about the same transformed as it had in human form, which had to mean she was good at holding back.

—What is with this lady…?

  Captain Grace (Time remaining: seventeen hours, fifty-nine minutes)

When the hammers she’d given to Postarie to hold on to flew toward her, she knew that they were fighting the enemy, too. I’ve gotta go save them, Captain Grace thought eagerly, running toward where the hammers had come from.

She and Funny Trick dashed over the downtown arcade, moving from the roof of the credit union to a residential area, to stop on the roof of an old house. They encountered no allies or enemies. Captain Grace pulled out her magical phone, confirmed once more that it was useless, then tossed it away. It rolled down the corrugated roof to come to a halt in the gutter.

She couldn’t get ahold of anyone. She couldn’t use her magical phone anymore. What use was it if it was broken? They didn’t have the technology to repair it here, either.

Funny Trick picked up the magical phone Grace had thrown. “Listen, if our magical phones aren’t working, then why don’t we use our normal phones?”

“Kayo, d’you even know everyone’s numbers?”

“Well… Then we could check and see how things are going at their homes or something.”

“I dunno their addresses. Do you?”

“…No, I don’t.”

The apartment building was bustling with rubberneckers and police. Most likely, neither their enemies nor their allies would return there. The two of them tried going to the school, too, but all that did was remind them that the school at night was a lonely place.

“We should’ve decided on a meeting spot for times like these.”

“If that idiot Weddin wanted to play leader, she should’ve done that stuff right, at least.”

Defeating that black thing had been truly exhilarating. Everything after had been lacking in excitement. Searching and searching unsuccessfully for the allies who’d been fighting with them only made her frustrated.

“What do we do…?” Funny Trick sank down on the peak of the roof.

Captain Grace hated seeing her in such a state. “Don’t give me that! We’ve just gotta meet up with someone. It doesn’t matter who.”

“It doesn’t matter who, huh? …But it’d be nice to find someone reliable, if possible. If we meet up with Toko, she might be able to explain what’s going on.”

This was the reason Captain Grace was getting so irritated. Funny Trick was uneasy. She was scared, frightened, and trembling in cowardice, even though her partner, the one she should rely on the most, was right there with her.

Captain Grace was different. Captain Grace, the great pirate who had sailed the seven seas, who was also a magical girl who wielded mysterious magic, would always bravely continue to fight. That was true even now. Even as they searched for allies, she was simultaneously seeking out enemies. She was going to find an enemy as strong or stronger than that black thing and take them out. Speaking of which, she wanted another fight with Bunny Ears. Now that she had leveled up with one do-or-die fight as a magical girl under her belt, she wouldn’t let Bunny Ears get away again.

“C’mon, we’re not resting forever. Next, we’re gonna go look around the Teramachi area.” Captain Grace grabbed Funny Trick’s arm and hoisted her up.

  7753 (Time remaining: fifteen hours, fifty-two minutes)

The magical girl with the ribbons introduced herself as Kuru-Kuru Hime. She said she was a teacher at the local middle school and explained that Toko had made her and a number of her students into magical girls. She hadn’t liked the idea of sending her students out into danger, but Toko had said her memories would be erased if she opposed the plan, so she had obeyed. She seemed to be blaming herself more than making excuses.

As 7753 listened to Kuru-Kuru Hime’s story, words were continuously displayed in her goggles, instructing 7753 how to prompt her: Absolutely do not blame her; put your hand on her shoulder; discreetly check Ripple’s and Mana’s expressions; turn the discussion toward Mana, etc. 7753 obeyed every one of these minute instructions, but then halfway through, it suddenly cut off.

It can’t be—it’s not just the magical phones? Even the goggles are broken? Perhaps it was one of her boss’s reckless modifications. It was a convincing enough theory to scare her. But while she was getting worked up, a new message appeared. Her relief that the goggles weren’t broken lasted only a brief instant as her heart was cast into a yet deeper ocean of distress.

Some serious criminals had escaped from magical-girl prison to infiltrate B City for some reason. These escapees, led by Pythie Frederica, would of course have some kind of goal in mind, and though 7753’s boss didn’t know if that target was the assassin or the inspection team or something else, it was certain that the situation in B City had grown even more dangerous. Military personnel among the upper ranks of the Magical Kingdom felt the gravity of the current situation and emphasized that they must take out Frederica’s party before the barrier erected by the Department of Diplomacy wore off, no matter what it took. Depending on the situation, they might not even be able to avoid injuring innocent bystanders.

7753 had never heard the name Pythie Frederica before. The message from her boss continued to stream across her goggles.

Pythie Frederica had previously been a scout for magical girls. Though she had not been directly involved with Musician of the Forest, Cranberry, she’d been heavily influenced by her and had deviated from her proper role; she had been arrested under suspicion of having made magical-girl candidates kill one another, then been imprisoned. It was thought that Frederica had gained knowledge of the dark side of the Magical Kingdom by using her magic, which allowed her to observe things from a distance. It was also rumored that it may have been the reason she had been sentenced to the ultimate punishment of being sealed away.

7753 didn’t really understand this, but what she did get was that some frightening magical girls had been unleashed in the world. This was clearly not information that she could keep to herself. But still, if she were asked how she had gotten this information, she would be unable to reply.

The message from her boss continued.

I’m aware that your magical phones are broken, but the cause is unknown. It’s believed the prison escapees are using some method to interfere with them. Share this information with the others and tell them, “I received an e-mail from my boss before my magical phone broke, but I only just noticed it now.”

Oh, so I could do it like that.

7753 told the others that she was going to try a little more to see if she could get her magical phone to work and left the circle where the rest of them were discussing. She pulled out her phone, created a suitable fake e-mail, and gave a deliberate yelp of surprise. “Oh! I had an e-mail!” Praying, Please let them not find out, she told them all the information she’d gotten from her boss.

Her expression serious, Mana rubbed her eyes, which were red and swollen from crying, and bit her lip.

Ripple looked worried and muttered, “It’s her…”

That made Mana suspicious, and she turned over to Ripple. “What? Someone you know?” Ripple nodded, and Mana exploded. “What the hell’s going on?!”

“Frederica…”

Mana grabbed Ripple by the collar and shoved her. Ripple’s back hit the iron fence, making red rust sprinkle down from it. “You’re friends with an escaped criminal?!”

Ripple patted off the dirt from her back. “…Someone me and my friend captured,” she finished.

Mana tried to press even closer to Ripple, but 7753 stopped her. If she let Mana do this on the edge of the roof, one of them was going to fall. “Mana, please calm down. She’s more of an enemy than an acquaintance, right?”

“Shut up! And you! You captured Frederica, didn’t you? Then capture her this time, too! With Hana on your side, you can do it easy, can’t you?!”

Holding Mana’s hands behind her back, 7753 peeled her off Ripple. Kuru-Kuru Hime looked frightened as she watched. Well, of course she’s frightened, thought 7753. Ripple, under attack, also had her eyes on the ground. 7753 felt sorry for her, too. Mana was worried about Hana right now, which had gotten her so worked up she was having trouble leading. She was so mentally off balance that 7753 wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to get them all to do something reckless.

Just like with magical girls, you couldn’t tell the age of a mage based on appearance alone. She might actually be the age that she looked. 7753 felt bad for her, but she couldn’t allow her to force them all into a suicide mission. Seeing Mana’s tearful rage, she also thought, I can’t let this girl kill anyone.

And then another message appeared in her goggles.

Frederica has brought out two vicious criminals who were arrested one hundred and thirty years ago.

The one in patchwork rags is Sonia Bean. The fencer is Pukin. These magical girls ran rampant through England a hundred and thirty years ago, until they were sealed away in the same prison as Frederica. Adding their body counts together would total more than a thousand victims, and they went down in history as the worst criminals the Magical Kingdom had ever seen. Their combat abilities were top class, even compared to modern magical girls, and Sonia’s ability to crumble whatever she touched was an indomitable fortress that operated as both defense and offense, while Pukin’s magic sword, which could give delusions to anyone it cut, enabled some extremely high-level mental manipulation.

7753 repeated this information verbatim as it flowed into her goggles. As she explained, she despaired. They seemed like unbeatable opponents.

“And Tot Pop, Frederica’s student… Even within the revolutionary faction, she’s known as a militant. It’s believed that these are the four who have entered the city.”

“How could they get in?! The barrier still hasn’t been broken!”

“With Frederica’s magic, if the conditions are fulfilled, she could ignore the barrier…right?”

Ripple nodded deeply, and 7753 followed the message in the goggles. “The problem is who to prioritize: Frederica’s party or the assassin.”

Kuru-Kuru Hime gave a very deep nod, and 7753 continued following her goggles’ message. “Letting Frederica’s group run free would allow the worse harm than the assassin would do. We have to catch them quickly. We should prioritize them over the assassin.”

“Bullshit! So then what would you have us do?!”

“We have to meet up with Hana somehow. She doesn’t know the escaped prisoners have been unleashed in the city. She’s in danger.”

“Hana is… Shit!” Mana shut her mouth. The way she was glaring at the ground, it seemed less that she had calmed down and more that she was holding in her anger.

7753 continued reading the message from her boss. “And Archfiend Pam, too. With Archfiend Pam, the Department of Diplomacy’s ultimate weapon, we can face them… Huh?” 7753 hesitated, then looked at Ripple, whose eyes were still on the ground, and continued. “With Archfiend Pam, who was a teacher to Musician of the Forest, Cranberry.” She knew that Ripple had lifted her head. She could feel her intense gaze. “I’m sure we’ll be able to stand against Frederica’s group of four.”

Mana lifted her jaw and opened her lips to say something, still gritting her teeth, then blew out only air.

7753 continued reading the words before her. “The reason we were saving Archfiend Pam’s strength was because we were afraid of killing the criminal. If we’re using her not to arrest the culprit but instead to suppress Frederica, then there’s no problem—at the very least, as long as she causes no damage to the area.”

Mana closed her eyes. The streaks of her tears were not yet dry. 7753 gingerly let go of Mana’s arm, and Kuru-Kuru Hime heaved a deep sigh. Mana didn’t stir at all, nor did anyone else for a few minutes more, and right when 7753 was thinking that she had to do something, Mana pulled out her staff. “First, we look for Hana. Once we’ve found her, we go for Archfiend Pam.”

Now they might finally manage to break out of this situation. 7753 was thankful to her boss for sending her all that information.

  Archfiend Pam (Time remaining: sixteen hours, thirty-five minutes)

The two magical girls she had caught in the park were total amateurs, but they didn’t appear to be villains to the core. They weren’t targets to be fought but kids she should be safeguarding.

Archfiend Pam was not in the position to be laughing and calling others amateurs, either. She’d been doing nothing but make mistakes ever since she’d come to this town. She was unquestionably an amateur when it came to investigation.

Although Archfiend Pam was attached to the Department of Diplomacy, she wasn’t very fond of their methods. They had deployed a combat specialist as external help so they could control the scene with force. They hadn’t changed one bit since Pam had first become a magical girl.

The way the special inspection team saw it, it must seem like clear, unnecessary meddling from outside forces. And as field staff, this job was not a joy to her. She’d had some interest in this assassin—not out of a sense of justice or ethics, but rather because she was very curious about the assassin’s strength.

Having worked a long time as a magical girl, Archfiend Pam knew herself better than anyone. Her interest in strong magical girls was a problem because, even being aware of it, she couldn’t quite keep it under control. She hadn’t changed one bit since she was a newbie, not even now that she could call herself a veteran.

When the incident with Cranberry had been exposed, all she had thought was Oh, I see. Archfiend Pam had understood how Cranberry must have felt. She must have just wanted to fight strong magical girls so much. Her arguments about reform, like that the conventional exams were too lenient, were just a pretense. The true nature of the problem was elsewhere.

Cranberry was slave to nothing and so had taken extremes, while Archfiend Pam was bound by ethics and emotions and unable to do such things. That was the only difference between them.

And although Archfiend Pam had the same desires as Cranberry, crushing the weak underfoot felt loathsome to her. Many of the examinees Cranberry had crushed had to have been such weaklings. That was another thing that made them incompatible.

Though Pam had told no one of these complicated feelings, being the teacher who had given Cranberry the title of Musician of the Forest made her position within the organization unstable—although it was quite a long time ago that she had been Cranberry’s teacher, and in fact, she did not end up being demoted. As a result, while she was a veteran with a degree of status, as a difficult magical girl to deal with, she was made to fight on the front lines.

She had felt remorse about the incident, but even so, she didn’t feel as if she had educated Cranberry any differently. Those who chose to go out and fight were all playmates. Whether they killed or were killed, there were no regrets, and any sadness was fleeting. The same had been true for Cranberry, too. She had been a playmate. That was an undeniable fact. The problem with Cranberry was that she had dragged those who were not playmates into her games. Archfiend Pam didn’t feel something like that could be any fun.

Archfiend Pam reflected on herself. If she’d been in the same position as Cranberry, would she have done the same thing? Probably not. But she couldn’t say that with any certainty.

That was why Archfiend Pam did not resist orders from above. If she were to act on her own judgment, she might go wild. The ones who stood above her would surely direct her better than she would direct herself. She obeyed mechanically and blindly, never thinking for herself. She would become equipment. Every time she remembered Cranberry, she was deeply reminded of the necessity of this.

It was the same with this job, too. She obeyed her superiors’ orders. Even if she could see through the official instructions to their hidden intentions, she pretended not to. She would not deliberate over political machinations or the pulling of strings. Even if she meant to act intelligently, that might not necessarily lead to good results.

The dancing girl she had fought with in the sky when they had attacked the apartment building had ultimately gotten away from her.

Pam had completely forgotten the barrier up high in the sky. Once she got the chance to start fighting a strong enemy, she dropped everything else to focus only on the battlefield. That was exactly what had enabled her to survive this long, but with a mission of this sort, that habit was more problematic.

Chasing her opponent, she’d cut through a thick cloud, and when she’d emerged from its top, she’d remembered. She couldn’t see it, but when something might cause her harm, she would feel its presence. She immediately sensed the barrier wall and came to an abrupt stop. Flustered, she looked around, but the dancing girl was gone. She might have hit the barrier and fallen to the ground. Pam continued to search the area for a while but never found her. So then she recalled her job and flew back down to the world below.

Alighting on the ground, Archfiend Pam called all her wings back. For some reason, one of them had sprouted white bird wings and returned to her at intense speed. It seemed some sort of magic had been used on it. Another wing didn’t return, apparently destroyed. There had to be a fairly powerful enemy on this battlefield, capable of taking out one of Archfiend Pam’s wings. Just thinking about that made her heart jump with glee.

Calming the excitement welling up in her heart, she split one of her wings in half to return the number of her wings to four. Four was simply the upper limit for her number of wings, and it wasn’t as if the missing wing wouldn’t come back. Archfiend Pam’s wings could be manipulated in absolutely every way she wanted.

Pam gave each of her wings the ability to see and hear and conferred them with simple intelligence, enabling them to act on their own. She ordered them, “Once you find those who seem to be enemies, inform me. If they attack you, I give you permission to attack.”

This was the battlefield, and carelessness would lead to a swift death. She transformed one of her wings into a black dress coat and wrapped it around her body, then headed to the apartment building where the enemy seemed to be staying, remaining alert to her surroundings as she went. She wanted to check on things there before she headed to their emergency meeting spot.

It was right around then that she discovered the two magical girls. The apartment building was swarmed with reporters, news staff, and rubberneckers making a commotion, but among all this, two girls whose movements seemed unnatural caught Pam’s eye. With restless eyes, they checked inside the apartment building, but their ears were perked up to listen to every voice around them. The fact that both of them were wearing school uniforms also made them stick out from their surroundings. Most of all, they had the air that all detransformed magical girls shared. After some hesitation, Archfiend Pam came down to the ground.

Archfiend Pam meant to safeguard the two magical girls, but the pair themselves had most likely gotten a different impression. Pam was angry—not at them but at Toko for just turning them into magical girls with hardly any training at all and then tossing them out onto the battlefield. Toko had simply made some throwaway pawns for the sake of her own escape. Just what did she take magical girls to be?

When Archfiend Pam had been working in the special teaching corps, things had been different. Newbies, be they good or bad, had been treated carefully and with affection. Recalling her time in service, Archfiend Pam informed the two about the rules of magical girls. Raising her voice, slapping their cheeks, she taught them kindly, carefully, and thoroughly what a sitting duck a detransformed magical girl was and just how dangerous what they were doing was.

Looking at the two of them respectfully standing in front of her, they didn’t seem at all like the enemies her allies had just been fighting. They were frozen stiff. They looked scared. When she asked them some questions, they answered honestly.

Eventually, she figured she had to contact the investigation team chief now, so she tried calling with her magical phone, but she got nothing but grating static and couldn’t get through.

—Something is happening.

It would be dangerous for the newbies to undo their transformations right now. It seemed something unexpected was going on, but being away from the center of the situation, Archfiend Pam had not quite figured out what it was. But still, if she dragged around these two while they were transformed, they would be hopelessly obvious.

“There’s no helping it… Sabbath.” Archfiend Pam transformed two of her wings into coats. She changed their color to brown, gave them the texture of cloth, and also added buttons and hoods and such. “Wear these while you’re out. Pull the hood down over your eyes.”

Having them wear these coats made from her wings meant they wouldn’t stand out so much, at a glance. And if the time came to fight, she could use the wings to protect the two girls. She didn’t want to involve children in a battle, but abandoning them here would be a lot more dangerous than imprudently dragging them into this mess.

Rain Pow looked at the coat suspiciously and hesitated to put it on, so Archfiend Pam slapped her cheek. Now they would be able to get moving—for now. Her current goal was to meet up with the inspection team.

She reproved Rain Pow for a comment to Postarie (“Who the heck is this lady?”) with another slap to the cheek, and after warning them to stay on guard, she began walking.

As they walked, she asked them questions. The two of them had been told that the inspection team were “evil mages” and had apparently fought with them. It seemed they were being used by Toko, after all. Their group had attacked the inspection team on the street and had been attacked in turn at the apartment building. The two of them had withdrawn for the time being but then returned to the apartment building to check on what was happening, and that was when Archfiend Pam had caught them.

Archfiend Pam still didn’t know if Hana and Ripple were safe, and she still didn’t know why she couldn’t get ahold of the team chief, in the end. The girls told her their magical phones weren’t working now, either. Rain Pow suggested, “Maybe they all broke at once on coincidence…” and so Archfiend Pam punched her.

  Weddin (Time remaining: sixteen hours, forty-one minutes)

They just ran. They ran and ran and kept on running. But they couldn’t escape.

“Can’t you go any faster?!”

“Mei can’t. Weddin is heavy.”

“You don’t have to keep saying that!”

They traversed sudden curves, winding mountain roads, and complex intersections. Tepsekemei knocked over a bucket that had been sitting behind a ramen shop, scattering the contents, and blew away a pachinko parlor banner as they shot past. But Bunny Ears still stayed hot on their heels.

Outrunning her seemed unlikely. When Weddin lifted her head to look behind them, she saw Bunny Ears’s expression was still calm and her pace was steady. She didn’t seem out of breath, either.

So if they couldn’t rely on endurance, and they weren’t fast enough to break away from her, then what should they do?

“Oh, I know!”

“What is it, Weddin?”

“You’re flying, right, Tepsekemei?”

“Yeah. Mei is flying.”

Tepsekemei had said she couldn’t fly any higher because Weddin was too heavy, but she could still manage to float about four inches above the ground. She was sliding along at that height.

“Then you should head toward the port.”

“Why?”

“You should go onto the ocean.”

“What’s the ocean?”

“I even have to teach you that? Um, how should I put it now…? It’s a big puddle beyond a place called a port.”

“Why would we go there?”

“You can float on top of the water, but she can’t walk on it, so she’d have to swim. I doubt that rabbit can swim as fast as she can run. If that were possible, the Hare of Inaba would never have been skinned.” That’s a good idea, if I do say so myself, Weddin mentally complimented herself.

But Tepsekemei shook her head. “Mei can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Earlier, Mei flew up very, very high, touched it, and fell.”

“You what?”

“This place is all wrapped up now. We can’t get outside. So we can’t go to the ocean beyond.”

“Wrapped up?”

“It hurts a lot when you touch it. Mei won’t touch it again.”

Oh. Now Weddin recalled how Toko had told them B City was encircled by a barrier. So in other words, their game of tag was restricted to this city only. They couldn’t run out to sea.

So then what about a river? A large river flowing through the city…didn’t exist. Though it was cloudy, it didn’t rain much, and the last time she’d heard talk of rising water flooding rivers was summer of last year.

So what should they do? They were boxed in. Bunny Ears had easily knocked Kuru-Kuru Hime unconscious using something they didn’t understand…probably magic. Even though Bunny Ears had been completely restrained, too. Weddin knew Tepsekemei was strong. If they were to fight, she couldn’t say there was absolutely no chance of victory. But could they win when they didn’t even understand how the enemy attacked?

Should she make Tepsekemei stop so they could negotiate? But their trust levels were at rock bottom. Bunny Ears had said it herself: “I won’t listen to what you say anymore.” No matter how she wheedled—no, it was certain that any talking would make Bunny Ears more likely to ignore her.

“Hey.”

The voice that addressed her was unexpectedly close, startling her. Weddin craned her neck around to confirm the identity of the magical girl diagonally behind her. “Captain Grace!”

“Geez, guys! You gotta make it easier to find you when you’re runnin’ around!” The pirate-style magical girl grinned boldly. Funny Trick was behind her. Tepsekemei was with them, too.

“Huh? Tepsekemei? Why? Huh?”

“Mei sent out five other selves. And made them look for the others.”

With a hissing sound, the Tepsekemei behind Funny Trick shrank, then disappeared. Now that Weddin thought of it, Tepsekemei could create copies of herself. She’d said they couldn’t move as freely as her main body, and they could only be used as messengers, but yes, they were definitely useful.

“Wait, if you could do something like that, you should’ve had them fly the other way to buy us time!”

“You said not to fight.”

Tepsekemei gradually slowed, and Captain Grace and Funny Trick matched her, until they all stopped in front of an abandoned factory that had shut down after the economic bubble burst. In this town, which was in decline overall, this region was the most desolate. The streetlights were broken and abandoned without any repair.

“So we finally meet. I’m not letting you get away again.” Captain Grace unsheathed her cutlass and pointed it at their enemy.

With the blade pointed at her, Bunny Ears smiled wryly and went into a fighting stance. “Oh, dear. Fighting four at once. I’d like to give my team chief a call, though.”

“Four at once? What a sad thing to say. Just me’ll be enough.”

“Hey! Umi! That’s dangerous!” Funny Trick practically shrieked.

Weddin nodded, too. “She’s too much for you to try to fight solo just so you can look cool. She knocked out Kuru-Kuru Hime using some method I couldn’t even understand. We should all fight her together.”

“Whoa, Kuru-Kuru Hime, huh. So is she still alive?”

“Yes, she was breathing but unconscious.”

“Well, that’s good. Then let’s fight one-on-one.”

Funny Trick’s shoulders drooped, and Weddin sighed as Tepsekemei let her down. Captain Grace’s brain was made of muscle and magic.

“Ohhh, well I’m quite grateful you say that.” Bunny Ears’s strained smile turned into a lighter one, and Captain Grace grinned broadly.

“Nobody interfere. I’m gonna finish this good, so you just—”

The trash pile in front of the factory shook and moaned. Weddin furrowed her brow. A hole had opened in the entrance of the factory, which had been nailed shut with boards and completely sealed off before.

The hole was unnatural. It didn’t look as if it had been broken open by punches or kicks, nor did any heavy machinery or chain saws appear to be involved. And if Grace had used her blade to cut a hole, it would have been shaped differently. The hole was a good size larger than a human, and the edges were flaking and crumbling away like charcoal. It was something like rust or rot.

The other side of the hole was dark. Something was wriggling. Weddin couldn’t see through it, even with the keen eyesight of a magical girl. A hand came through from the other side of the hole to grab the edge. The black charcoal sprinkled to the ground and disappeared. Slowly, a human figure emerged from inside the factory. Weddin’s expression softened slightly.

It was a swordswoman. Her eccentric clothing and beautiful face made it clear she was a magical girl. Unsure what was happening, Weddin fixed her eyes on the girl’s face.

The girl smiled, showing off her beautifully straight teeth, and unsheathed the sword at her waist. If a wild beast were to smile, it would surely look just like that.

Weddin smothered a scream.

The swordswoman who emerged first spoke in a foreign language, and a magical girl carrying a crystal ball followed her.

“It seems you’re enjoying your game of tag. We will be taking this opportunity to join in, as latecomers. Why don’t we take on the role of ‘it’? We will pursue you, so you all should run as well as you can…says General Pukin. And so, since we’ll be showing no mercy to those who oppose us, I recommend doing your utmost to avoid resisting. You don’t want to get hurt, do you?”