“Hey, are you awake?”
“……”
I woke up still sweating cold as I replayed the last fight in my mind.
The fight at the front gate was basically me using my 3-Star Magical Girl’s sheer physical specs to withstand the blows and clumsily finishing it off with Illusion Magic.
“From the sound of your breathing, it seems like you’re up.”
“……”
I should have lured them out or disarmed them with my perfectly prepared Illusion Magic. Instead, I panicked and just charged in, trusting my physical specs.
I got so distracted trying to control my clones, yet I chose the worst course of action among all the bad ones.
‘Even after the gun fired, I couldn’t muster the boldness to throw myself in.’
I lacked preparation, ideas, and most importantly, I was reckless.
‘Even a 1-Star Magical Girl could run wild on the battlefield if she gave it her all, so what in the world was I doing?’
I swung a sword that could cut anything but didn’t even have the resolve to hurt anyone.
‘I should have immediately subdued them, even at the cost of leaving someone seriously injured.’
Boldness.
Decisiveness.
I completely lacked those qualities.
Ichika single-handedly took down more than six security guards by deftly using the terrain in the corridor.
Divide and Conquer.
Swift and precise.
Once Ichika realized she had clones devoted to defense, she only focused on attacking and broke through.
While I was barely wrestling with five guards, she managed to safely bring back the others from dozens of meters underground.
‘Let’s be honest, I hesitated because I was scared of hurting someone, so I handled the situation half-heartedly.’
No matter how much I resolved myself inside, it was too different from the actual experience.
In the end, I got out safely, but it was way too risky and precarious.
To think I even considered overcoming an apocalypse with this half-hearted mindset.
“I can’t tell if you’re sleeping with your eyes closed or what.”
“I was just lying here because I felt pathetic.”
“Oh, so you’re awake.”
“What about the others?”
“They’re still asleep. I’ve been resting lightly, not knowing when we might be called for ten days.”
I guess we were making swift progress on the experiments to get results in 24 hours.
The girls we rescued were sleeping nearby, emitting tired breaths.
“Got it.”
“Why do you look so down?”
“I should have made better decisions even if I was confused during the fight.”
“Anyway, as long as no one got hurt and it ended well, isn’t that what matters?”
“I had the wrong mindset; I should have done better.”
Heh.
Ichika let out a husky breathy laugh.
Inside the experimental facility, she had a sharp and tense impression, but as soon as we escaped from danger, she turned into a laid-back personality with a relaxed smile.
“So all you need to do is get better next time, right?”
“……”
“You’ve got crazy powers and act all cool like you know everything, but then you show this cute side.”
“……”
“Anyway, thanks a lot.”
Knock knock
Ichika tapped my shoulder in gratitude.
Her rough hands shocked me a little due to their rocky texture.
‘Did she do some kind of workout before getting caught?’
In the end, we successfully escaped that night.
Using my Unique Skill, I took advantage of the confusion among the security guards, changed into the clothes we had hidden in the dark, and altered our appearances with Illusion Magic before returning to Shibuya.
Haruko and the other five girls were waiting for us in the apartment, reportedly staying up late as it passed 3 AM.
“Captain, hurry up!”
“Glad to see you all safe!”
We had such a tiring night that we were still sprawled out sleeping in my room by 1 PM the next day.
A one-room apartment with six tatami mats was completely packed with thirteen girls.
It felt like viewing the aftermath of a college trip with a bunch of guys who drank too much.
Of course, the difference was that now it was cute girls, not guys.
‘Lucky I didn’t buy any furniture in the last two years.’
Haruko, who got squished against the wall by the girls, was groaning in discomfort.
“Hey, Shirogane.”
“What?”
“Wanna go out for a second?”
“Sure, why not.”
Ichika and I quietly got up, carefully stepping over the girls who were sound asleep like stepping stones.
As soon as we were outside, we washed our faces at the sink and cast Concealment Magic on our faces.
Ichika was still in the same denim shorts and loose t-shirt she had worn all night.
The wild girl look suited her nicely.
“So what’s next?”
“You just wanted to go outside so you could say that, huh?”
“We don’t need to worry the sleeping girls unnecessarily.”
“My feelings are still all complicated, though.”
“That’s the responsibility of the leader, man.”
Leader or not.
Ichika seemed to be playfully pushing the leadership onto me, so I changed the subject.
“Let’s grab something to eat and then talk.”
“That sounds good.”
Tap tap
Ichika, who was playfully poking my chest while grinning, suddenly looked flustered.
Her eyes were fixed on my chest.
In the blazing sun, it created a notable shadow that stood out.
While Ichika stared at the two hills that had escaped her notice during the tense situation, she muttered in a dazed voice.
“Seeing them in the light, they’re really big. What did you eat to make them grow like that?”
“Ah, come on.”
We exchanged silly banter and headed outside to eat at a family restaurant.
The news playing in the corner of the restaurant mentioned the incident from last night.
The event at Fujimoto Heavy Industries’ logistics center was surprisingly glossed over.
– It was an accident caused by fireworks stacked for a rehearsal of an event.
– Is that so?
If the spokesperson of the Fujimoto Group said so, that’s how it was.
No one questioned this given fact, so the news quickly moved on to the next breaking story after the Fujimoto Group’s spokesperson finished his comments.
“Wow, that’s really simple.”
“Well, everyone probably knows there’s something going on.”
“So they’re just bowing their heads in front of the old man Fujimoto, huh?”
Ichika stabbed at the pancake in the family restaurant like she was bothered by it.
Watching her, I took a sip of the black coffee in front of me and read the newspaper I picked up from the subway station.
‘It’s surprisingly quiet.’
Ichika and I were eating a late lunch far from the neighborhood where our apartment was in Shibuya, just in case.
Even though we’d seen so many newspapers and news reports on our way here, no one mentioned what happened at the Fujimoto Heavy Industries’ logistics center last night.
“So?”
“Hmm?”
“What are we going to do now, leader?”
“Wait, why am I the leader?”
“If you saved us, then you should take responsibility.”
Ichika said it playfully, but I felt the underlying sincerity in her words, which made me feel a bit flustered.
“More importantly, could you slowly inform me why we rescued you and what we’ll be doing from now on, leader?”
“……”
I stared at Ichika, who was enjoying my flustered reaction, and sighed.
I began by explaining everything that happened with Haruko and how I accidentally found out about what the Fujimoto Group was trying to do, mentioning that their perception of Magical Girls was fundamentally flawed.
“Even when I was at the orphanage, I heard about it. Didn’t they say on the ‘Red Broadcast’ to snatch from each other?”
“True.”
Ichika scratched her head with the fork she was holding, reminiscing about that time.
“Yuck, that’s gross.”
“What does it matter? Anyway, the researcher at the facility tried to treat us like soldiers.”
“Soldiers?”
“Yeah. The daughter of Fujimoto is a Magical Girl. She’s supposed to serve as a tool for her own strength, a resource, and a private army.”
I guess in the original story, they used the stars of children who were no longer useful as ‘resources.’
“Isn’t it survival of the fittest? Resources are limited, and the ones with the good stuff want to keep it all to themselves.”
“……”
Ichika looked outside the family restaurant for a moment.
People were sweating as they passed by in the hot early summer weather.
Everyone was indifferent to one another, bustling past.
“If they’re going to snatch, it’s easy to grab kids like us who don’t have parents.”
“…What I want to say is that those resources aren’t necessarily limited.”
Ichika seemed surprised by my words and turned back to look at me.
＊
“Takahashi, branch manager.”
“Hey! Senator!”
“Takahashi, branch manager.”
“Hey! Head of the household!”
“Takahashi, branch manager.”
“……”
Takahashi, the branch manager of Fujimoto Security’s logistics center, was feeling the heat.
‘No, he’s about to die.’
Fujimoto Security, one of the two swords held by the Fujimoto Family, comprises people who are only loyal to the head of the family, not just any soldiers loyal to the Fujimoto Clan.
They’re trusted enough to be allowed to guard the head of the family.
With just one command from the head of the family, they could spend three days and nights standing at the door or bravely rush into a burning mansion, leaving behind legendary tales of loyalty.
‘In exchange for the glory of serving the head of the family, you can’t afford to fail.’
The penthouse on the rooftop of the Fujimoto headquarters is a vast building with a traditional Japanese house on top of a real earth and lake park.
Only a chilling silence filled that place.
“It has been an honor to serve until now.”
“……”
After bowing while still seated, two women followed Takahashi out the door.
One of the two swords owned by the Fujimoto family exists to deal with outsiders.
The other one exists to punish traitors.
And a sword that fails to do its job is seen as a betrayal of its master.
Even if it is an unreasonable order or beyond one’s capabilities.
No type of failure could be tolerated from the upper echelon of Fujimoto Security, who knows countless secrets and weaknesses of the Fujimoto family.
What they protect is the ruler of Japan.
“……”
Fujimoto Eiji never even glanced in their direction.
What he was staring at was a single photograph.
A blurry image of a Magical Girl captured on a security guard’s body cam.
Fujimoto Eiji sought to ascertain the unidentified power she wielded, presumed to be a supernatural ability.
He was looking forward to the capabilities of a foe that dared to challenge Fujimoto so boldly.
‘There was indeed a foundling worth testing.’
He handed the photograph to the petite girl standing behind him.
“Kaede.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If you find this person, eliminate her.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kaede responded without a moment’s hesitation.
Inside her deep green Glass Star, two lights sparkled.
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