November 2nd
In a closed school in Gunma Prefecture, Japan.
The playground, which should have been filled with the stillness of night after years of neglect, was bustling with girls of all kinds riding various rides, making a deafening noise.
Vroom vroom!
Tu-ta-ta-ta-ta!
Gurrung!
Hee-hee-hee-hee!
Pwooo!
“Hey, there are only weaklings gathered for this Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, huh?”
A girl sitting on a summoned racing cart swallowed hard.
She explained to the two girls who were participating for the first time how to join the race, the course, and the rules that needed to be followed, and introduced the participants.
“The one riding the elephant is an original member who’s been participating since the early days of the Night Parade, the one on the unicorn is a strong opponent who won last time, and that one over there is a speed demon known in Kyushu who was even mentioned in a brief reference to Walpurgis.”
“…They all look pathetic, though. Nyu-hu-hu.”
“Hoeee… it looks so lameee…”
“That’s just because you don’t know well.”
The 1-Star girl on the cart shrugged, feeling like she had become an elder explaining the Night Parade to newbies.
“You can’t judge a Magical Girl’s ride by its appearance.”
She remembered how shocked she was when she underestimated a gloomy-looking girl riding a rainbow-colored unicorn who took the lead in an instant during the last tournament.
“Nyu-hu-hut, then wouldn’t a girl who can fly be the best?”
“Hoeee… it looks so lameee…”
“You’re disqualified if you go over 3 meters above ground and run more than 10 meters!”
The girl with an impressively wide forehead sneered while a girl wearing a cat-ear helmet replied in a disheartened tone, which was really annoying.
‘Ugh, these guys are so irritating, should I just smack that forehead once?’
But if a dispute escalated, leading to the illegal tournament being caught by the security team or council due to traffic laws and noise complaints, she’d never be able to bring out the cart again in places where regular citizens walk.
Creepy.
Having finally become a Blooming Magical Girl, she didn’t want to be sealed of her powers, standing in the garden square begging, “P-please have some ramen!” while pathetically collecting starlight.
“Hmph, I’ve explained everything.”
Vroom!
The girl put on an obviously sulky expression and casually rolled away to the start line wearing her safety helmet.
“Nyu-hut, does Nanami want to do it?”
Dori dori!
The girl wearing a cat-ear helmet shook her head, making hesitant gestures.
“Hoett, um, I do have my pride, I’d feel sorry for my bike to be racing with such pathetic competitors…”
“Nyu-hu-hu, Nanami is surprisingly picky about racing~”
Tok tok!
Kohane lightly tapped Nanami’s cat-ear helmet and strolled leisurely toward the start line, dragging her loose robe along. The Magical Girls lined up at the start line teased Kohane by shining lights on her forehead and honking horns.
“Hey, isn’t the newbie too relaxed?”
“Tch, it’s common sense to wait 15 minutes unless you have 3 rounds of experience…”
“My unicorn is crying out to devour the slowpokes, haha.”
“Wow, but that forehead is really wide.”
“Why hasn’t she summoned her ride yet?”
All the participants stood at the start line drawn on the playground, and the organizers at the rusty iron gate of the old school prepared to start the event.
Vroom vroom!
Vrooooom!
All the participating Magical Girls raised the heat of their summons and tensed their bodies to wreak havoc in Gunma Prefecture tonight for a frenzied race.
“Awesome Armor No. 8, standby.”
“Hmm?”
“Armor… [Armor]?”
“…Salon?”
Silence.
The girls present exchanged glances without saying a word but felt that today’s race was already over.
And from now on, they calculated how to bounce away without getting caught.
The girls exchanged glances, silently discussing which direction to take and how not to overlap.
0.5 seconds.
The girls took off all at once.
[Armor]’s Magical Girl Unique Skill
Armor Deployment 機甲展開
Splash!
An ivory-colored armor suddenly appeared, launching nets from its arms, which were almost the same size as its body.
Dozens of girls who had gathered at the start line were trapped in the net, flailing helplessly.
“Waaaaah!! It’s the council!! It’s their goons!!”
“Our rush must not be stopped!!”
“This violates the rights of Magical Girls!!”
[Nyu-hu-hu, what a great catch.]
“Hoeeet, don’t flail around, please.”
Click click!
Nanami took pictures of the girls stuck in the net individually and bundled them up into an album to send to the Security Team leader, Tsugumi, as a file of suspicious individuals.
[Shall we head to the Central Garden like this?]
“You guys! I’ve explained the Night Parade to you with such effort!!”
The girl from the racing cart who’d been acting like a senior to Kohane and Nanami cried out in betrayal.
“Honestly, aside from the participant list, we weren’t listening at all…”
“Wait…?!”
＊
[Guardian]’s Magical Girl Unique Skill
Thousand Spears, Ten Thousand Swords 千槍萬劍
Bzzzz!
As she recalled hundreds of lavender katanas deployed in an abandoned factory, the oppressive feeling that flowed from the space simultaneously disappeared. Sumire, wearing a lavender kimono that exposed her legs, gracefully flicked her sleeves and sheathed a gathered katana at her waist, letting out a heavy sigh.
“Did you all not see the rules set by Walpurgis? Or can’t you read?”
“Do you think we’re the stupid fools who can’t even read?!”
Sumire almost let the answer escape her throat but barely restrained it.
‘Three sleepless nights are making my self-control weaker.’
With the battle over, the gentle smell of gunpowder and scattered sparks filled the wide area of the abandoned factory, where 20 Magical Girls lay injured or unconscious, leaving only the leader of the Magical Girl band of thieves still resisting.
“Is it sane to think of using the power of Magical Girls to steal artworks from museums and distribute them to the poor?”
“Hah! Council Vice President! You might not know this coming from a well-off family, but there are people in our country who can barely manage to eat a slice of bread in a day! I’ll steal for them!”
“Even so, proposing to rob a museum… there are other ways to volunteer, right?”
“Hah! Council Vice President! Are you trying to force me into submission to the logic of capitalists?! I’ll gladly steal any fake from that hypocritical world!”
“Isn’t distributing stolen goods to decent people more of a violent act of enslavement to the social system?”
“Hah! Council Vice President! I’d rather steal the playthings of the wealthy who play games with billions!”
“Why does this thinking keep leading to thievery?!”
Zing!
Sumire pressed on her slightly throbbing temples with her thin fingers, stressing herself out.
Endure.
No matter how foolish, they are Magical Girls.
They are those I must protect.
That person’s faith and duty bestowed upon me.
Feeling that if she laid her hands on that girl, selfishness would creep in, Sumire spoke through her walkie-talkie.
“…Lena.”
[Yes, Boss.]
Bam!
“Ugh! The tyranny of capitalism!”
From afar, a rubber non-lethal bullet flew and, with a strange scream, silenced the last of the bandit Magical Girls.
“…Kaede.”
“Yes, Miss.”
A petite girl dressed in a male suit with long hair loosely tied appeared quietly from behind Sumire’s shadow and began tying up the unconscious bandit girls with ropes.
“Haa.”
Magical Girls engaging in foolish actions driven by hero syndrome with flimsy logic were explosively increasing.
It was events driven by their immense potential coinciding with desires to become special based on their unconscious grudge against society.
[Korean Hero Magical Girls, Kang Eun-seol and Park Saebyeok.]
[The emergence of a super-large Magical Girl that can rival the beginning?]
[Stopping terrorists that Europe couldn’t!]
Particularly, witnessing the shimmering of two heroic Magical Girls rising concurrently with the global terrorist Magical Girl incident that recently occurred became the decisive trigger.
“We want to be sparkling Magical Girls like that too!”
However, after the proclamation of [Start], Japan, which had established a stable society for Magical Girls, found it difficult to see such dramatic scenes. Hence, the girls began to choose stages increasingly out of Walpurgis’s control to flaunt their brilliance.
‘The terrifying nature of the terrorists and the chaotic atmosphere of the victims are completely ignored as they obsess over hero syndrome…’
Although it was a situation arising mostly due to the lack of responsibility among the girls, it was bleak from Sumire’s perspective who had to oversee it.
To flaunt their moving illusions and the resulting tangible performances, numerous entertainment industry Magical Girls held impromptu performances using SNS, leading tens of thousands of crowds in Shinjuku and Shibuya to cause a situation falsely perceived as unrest, prompting simultaneous deployments by police, security teams, and salons.
In the metropolitan area of Tokyo, summoned-type Magical Girls openly violated traffic laws and engaged in dangerous racing tournaments and illegal racing broadcasts.
They even collaborated secretly with corporations and statistical sites to hold popularity contests based on the looks and abilities of the sponsored Magical Girls, showcasing their charms competitively.
Magical Girls resolving various violence incidents while touring different locales such as the green knight of Tokyo, the fighter of Sapporo, and the bear harvester of Kyushu were even acquiring new aliases.
‘While it might be seen as a somewhat heated competition, it’s still…’
Sumire felt that the potted flowers in the greenhouse were slowly losing control of their growth potential.
It was not merely about being satisfied with showcasing their brilliance to others, but the desire to shine even brighter than other Magical Girls…
“Problems to be solved are increasing as Magical Girls grow…”
[Are you feeling tired?]
“While other countries are in serious situations, these Magical Girls are igniting childish rivalries among each other.”
[It seems that wanting to compete and win is a human instinct, Boss.]
Flinch!
Lena’s voice made Kaede’s hand tremble slightly as she tied up the unconscious bandits, but Sumire, who had temporarily closed her eyes from fatigue, didn’t notice it.
“How am I supposed to report this situation to the king…?”
As soon as Kaede mentioned the topic of the [Start] Magical Girls, someone came to mind.
“Kaede?”
“…Yes, Miss, everything is complete.”
Sumire tilted her head while looking at Kaede.
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