Congratulations on Your Magical Girl Duties

89 – Second School Days (2)

I want to kill them.

Magical Girl Magenta Eagle.

Real name, Han Yunseul.

That was the feeling she was currently experiencing.

When she was first dragged to the Magical Living Quarters where Sora and Rei were, she’d thought it would be okay.

She’d been half-convinced a little coaxing would have them handing over all their Magical delivery work.

But then Kim Siyul had to go and ruin everything.

‘The crazy b*stard, seriously!’

Who could have known?

She’d only nicked her wrist, a little Magical threatening, but he went and sliced his artery wide open, for real.

She’d only played up her Magical sob story, hoping for some Magical sympathy votes, and they suddenly threw her this Magical event, unprompted.

Forced to sing and dance before a crowd of magical girls, desperately conjuring up a talent show act where there was none.

And that wasn’t all. They told her to leave midway, and she’d happily obliged, only to be dragged back when they decided she looked refreshed.

They called it a Magical gathering to forge a new high school experience, but it was just a horrifying recreation of her old high school trauma.

One slip, and she’d be in tears. Actually, she probably already had been.

‘It’s less of a Magical gathering, and more of a…’

Magical beatdown. Han Yunseul ground her teeth.

Still, at least the magical girls’ burdensome attention had faded.

They were all chatting amongst themselves now. No more suffering to be had.

Now she just needed to kill some time.

“In honor of this Magical gathering, this maiden shall distribute Magical handouts to you all!”

Or so she thought.

Right up until she received that Magical handout.

“Huh?”

Magical Girl Black Kitty – Taishi, she thought her name was – the contents of the Magical handout she was passing around were… too familiar.

Han Yunseul’s mind momentarily stalled.

Then, an expletive escaped her lips, reflexively.

“Shit, fuck!”

Well, what else could she say?

The Magical handout contained Han Yunseul’s secretly written Magical poems and Magical fan fiction, laid bare.

The Magical poems and Magical fan fiction she’d scribbled whenever the Magical feels got too much during her Magical Girl days.

Embarrassing Magical cringefests, but too precious to throw away, tucked away with the thought of proper revisions later.

And now it was being shared with everyone.

In the form she least desired.

It was, quite literally, the worst.

“Just how did you even find this!”

No, correction.

This wasn’t the worst.

I couldn’t possibly dare call just *this* the worst.

“All of these wonderful magical creations were prepared by none other than Magical Girl Magenta Eagle, it is so!”

Taishi singling out Han Yunseul – *that* was the true worst.

With Taishi’s pronouncement and one single gesture, the gazes I’d barely managed to shake off focused back on me, instantly.

“Isn’t it just splendid, yes? I implore you, what state of mind did you write this in? A few magical words of impression, please!”

And then Taishi drove in the magical wedge.

“Don’t…”

Han Yunseul’s lips trembled, barely moving.

Taishi amplified his volume yet again.

“I am *begging* you, it is so!!!”

“D-Don’t do it…!”

At Taishi’s words, the magical girls, one by one, began to open their mouths, pressing Han Yunseul.

To say her magical impressions, quickly.

‘N-No way…!’

Dying is still scary now.

But, this is as scary as dying.

I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t see any way to escape. A truly magical dead end.

At that moment, Kim Siyul lowered her voice.

“What is everyone doing.”

As if rain had fallen, the atmosphere sunk down, but Han Yunseul didn’t quite see it that way.

“Do you really think it’s right to suddenly demand impressions from the creator?”

For her, it felt like a ray of light shone through.

‘S-Saved.’

A brilliant light of hope.

“We need to start with the reading! Isn’t that right!”

Of course, that light was quickly extinguished, however.

“Our Magical Girl Magenta Eagle says she can’t do it because there isn’t enough applause!!! So everyone, clap!!!!!!”

It had never been lit to begin with.

The grand applause slammed into Han Yunseul’s eardrums, and in that instant, so much began to crumble within her.

Heart, mind, a multitude of precious things besides.

As her thoughts ground to a halt in real-time, Kim Siyul’s laughter-laced voice pierced her brain.

“Hey, it’s not scary anymore, right? Isn’t that so?”

Finally, Han Yunseul decided.

“Ah, haha…”

To stop thinking.

“Mom, I’m not scared of anything anymore.”

Because if she did that, there would be nothing left to fear.

*

The magical girl had successfully reclaimed her stolen school days.

Preparing it, she’d frankly been so annoyed and exhausted she almost quit, but seeing the magical girl shake off all her fear made it worth it.

“Ha…, haha, ahahaha…”

Something felt a little off, but frankly, she couldn’t quite place it. The original was practically insane anyway, so surely a rapid cure could have some side effects.

Still, hadn’t everything been resolved, more or less?

And this wasn’t the end of it.

The magical girl had overcome not just fear, but other problems, too.

“If you reverse ‘suicide,’ it says ‘let’s live.'”

“Wow, that’s such a heartwarming sentiment. From now on, instead of magical suicide, I’ll work hard at living.”

“What, you’re not going to overturn this rotten world?”

Observe.

The magical girl’s reaction to Sora’s words.

Yes. Even her severe case of eighth-grade syndrome was completely cured.

She no longer self-harms, no longer bets her life as a stake. Instead, she was pledging to work hard at living.

Now, at long last, she was a true magical girl.

There should be no more problems with interpersonal relationships.

Magical delivery tasks would surely become easier.

Overjoyed, she smiled brightly at everyone.

“Hey, you all did a great job.”

“Issue! Solved! Yay!!!”

“It seems the magical revisions you made during the magical reading sessions really paid off, Miss.”

“Wow…, haha, happy…… so happy…….”

Whitey and Octopus savored their joy in their own ways. The Magical Girl, naturally, along with them.

Only Sora wasn’t rejoicing.

“Hmm…….”

Sora wore a complicated expression.

Happy, it seemed, yet unable to be completely so, an ambiguous look. A faint bitterness lingered about her.

“Sora, what’s with that face?”

“I didn’t think it would break so easily. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed I didn’t think of something like this myself.”

“We didn’t break it, why are you talking like that?”

Honestly, it’s ridiculous. If she says it like that, other people might misunderstand.

This isn’t broken.

It’s been fixed, more like.

It does have the side effect of inducing giddy laughter, but all things considered, we finished smoothly.

Still, Sora seems disappointed right now, so I should probably find a way to ease her regret.

In that case, to ease her disappointment, instead of this rotten world, flip grandma─

“Oh, shit. Senpai, hold on a second.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know what it is, but I suddenly feel uneasy.”

The instant Sora urgently tried to stop me, the dormitory door suddenly slammed open.

“Heteros! I’m back!”

Ah, yes.

Lez had returned.

She’d collapsed suddenly before and been transferred to the Magical Capital Hospital for a while, but it seemed she’d finally recovered and returned.

“Lez, are you completely recovered?”

“Actually, I don’t remember what happened back then.”

“Be careful. You never know when your time will come.”

Lez casually waved off my earnest concern, stepping boldly into the dormitory.

“Huh?”

Then, Les suddenly stopped.

Her gaze fixed on the magical girl.

“Ma, Magenta… Eagle…?”

More precisely, on the magical girl who was smiling brightly, approvingly at us.

How long did Les remain frozen like that?

“She… she never smiled at *me* like that.”

Her lips trembled as she spoke.

“I, I!”

And then, she began to pour out the words in her heart.

“I! I hate Magenta Eagle laughing where I can’t see her! And holding hands with other girls! I want her to only do those things with me! I want her to be with me! I even wanted to go to Magical PX with her! When Magenta Eagle is happy, when she’s smiling, I want to be there beside her! I love that! My head aches, it’s painful! I only think about Magenta Eagle, I feel like I’m going to break… I’ve been waiting for Magenta Eagle to acknowledge me! Sometimes, talk to me, say something to me, I don’t want it to be just me, does Magenta Eagle even a little bit… aren’t I even a little bit on her mind? Even a little? Not at all? Is it nothing? Just friends? Plain friends? I don’t want it to be plain, I’d rather have something, anything, that isn’t plain… Uhm, Magenta Eagle, what should I do? Huh? Magenta Eagle, are you listening? Listen to me. Are you listening to my voice and thinking something? Are you thinking about it? It’s okay, anything is fine, just think *something*. I need that, is it wrong to want that? Magentaaa—!”

“N-Nooo!!!!!!”

At that moment, the magical girl screamed and ran out of the barracks, without anyone being able to stop her.

She might have overcome her fear of social interaction, but her fear of *yuri* was something she couldn’t overcome at all, so she fled.

In short, a new trauma had resurfaced.

We had just cured one trauma, and now a new one had sprung up.

Soon, the others turned to Les, the cause of the incident, and threw barbed words her way.

“Ugh, seriously, you’re so annoying.”

“Les, you ruined everything.”

“Those who engage in such… activities are inferior, even so, this was too much, *desuwa*. It is Magical One Hundred and Eight Torments, *desuwa*. Even Buddha couldn’t have endured this, *desuwa*.”

“Seriously? I went Magical Dash how many times, and you only laugh this easily for them.”

Regardless, Les didn’t admit her mistake and just wore an aggrieved expression.

The thought that all our efforts had been for nothing because of one troublemaker suddenly made me feel empty.

This emptiness, it was not for this that I worked so hard.

Unable to bear just quietly dwelling on it, I quietly moved my lips.

“Now who’s going to give us Magical Delivery?”

I murmured, staring blankly at the place where the magical girl had disappeared.

Not long after, a message came from the Magical Outpost and spread throughout the unit.

A magical girl, wearing a desperate expression, had just deserted.

As a result, all the magical girls were mobilized to catch the deserter.

The deserter, as expected, was Magenta Eagle. Her excuse was that she had desperately deserted because of the crisis to her Magical Chastity.

Afterward, the magical girl was transferred to the Magical Psychiatric Hospital.

Rumor had it, her Magical PTSD was too severe. Apparently, discussions were underway regarding a magical early discharge.

Anyway.

Another peaceful day for a magical girl.