INTERLUDE
She had never played video games before.
She’d never felt the desire to play them, either.
It wasn’t that she was avoiding them for generational reasons, emotional reasons, educational reasons, economic reasons, or anything like that.
She simply wasn’t interested. For as long as Frederica could remember, the majority of her lifestyle had been dominated by magical-girl activities. Games were something like a substitute for those who found reality boring or painful, and Frederica thought them unnecessary for a magical girl, for whom reality was stimulating and fun.
Compared to being a magical girl, role-playing games where you defeated the evil overlord in another world, shooting games where you struggled through showers of bullets to defeat the enemy, adventure games where you solved puzzles to discover the truth, and strategy games where you acted as king to command your subordinates and seize hegemony all seemed stale.
A magical girl needed no video games.
This was an area in which she had clashed with Keek, despite how they’d generally gotten along. Keek had loved games as much as she had magical girls, but to Frederica, there was no comparison.
If she was going to get games involved with the magical-girl lifestyle somehow, she would use it to gather those who had magical potential, like the Magical Girl Raising Project cell phone game that Fav, mascot to Cranberry, Musician of the Forest, had made.
Or, if there were something like a simulator she could use to train those who were already magical girls, then she would be interested. A magical girl’s relations with her peers could often be delicate, and sometimes even when you wanted to train for battle, you had to do it by yourself. Just how convenient would it be to have a simulator to help out at times like that?
If there was no such utility and it was simply for pleasure, then Frederica didn’t need video games. Neither did she need nonelectronic games. Magical girls were the greatest pleasure, the queen of entertainment. She didn’t need anything else.
If Frederica wanted pleasure, all she had to do was pour herself some tea and appreciate some hair.
Or so she had thought until that day.
“What’re you up to?”
“Oh, I’m a little busy.” Frederica held her crystal ball atop the table. After some tests, she’d discovered that it was easiest to go about it in this position. It probably would look strange to someone else, but this made it easiest.
“I’m not fussed about whatever it is you’re doing, though.” The old woman tore open the bag in her hands to pull out some salted crackers and fill up the snack bowl. Her eyes watching Frederica were, as she had figured, quite unconcerned. “Don’t break the equipment, all right?”
“Yes, don’t worry about that… Oh, yikes!”
“Is everything all right?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. There’s no problem.” Frederica pulled the crystal ball closer to herself. She had to keep a close eye on it, or she’d be in trouble.
“Well, as long as you’re fine.”
“It’s all right. I can do it. I’m managing it all quite naturally. Nobody will find out, and I won’t bungle it and lose some lives, either.”
“I don’t really understand what you’re talking about.”
“This is like, how would I put it? Whoops, that was close. I’m safe, phew. This is, well. It’s like you can’t just move around however you want. It’s truly thrilling, you know. How interesting it is that it’s enjoyable to be unable to move around how you want. Yes, it’s quite interesting.”
“Is that sort of thing fun?”
“Oh, very much so. Though you know, I’ve always loudly insisted that young people waste their youths when they get absorbed in games. But I revise that opinion today. I think games are fun. I’ll acknowledge it. Games are fun… Dodge it! Yes!”
“It’s all well and good to have fun, but don’t come running to me if all that ruckus you’re causing bothers the injured girl.”
“I’ll talk more quietly… I will… Ohhh!”
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