NOVEL WEB Chapter 15
[An unnamed Magical Girl.]
Ding ding!
In the corridor, the sound of a smartphone echoed.
There stood a petite girl.
With sharp eyes.
Dressed in a form-fitting male suit, she was walking toward the studio where a broadcast was taking place, heading for the broadcasting station observation deck.
“……”
The Fujimoto Family possessed two swords.
Among them, the Mumei affiliated Class D kunoichi, tasked with defeating traitors within the family or their sworn enemies.
Kaede was chasing after the Magical Girl in the photo, following the first order from the elder Fujimoto.
For some reason, the face in the photo was faintly erased, making it impossible to track her by appearance. However, one could predict where she might appear next from her past actions.
‘Instead of invading the Fujimoto territory with her own power, she only acted to save the test subjects and vanished,’
A humanitarian-minded human.
A human who shared solidarity with the magical girls.
If she had such thoughts, she would likely appear where the magical girls gathered.
And indeed, she appeared.
“Hey, you shouldn’t look at your phone while walking.”
Thud!
In front of Kaede, who turned her gaze away from the smartphone, a girl in a sailor uniform with striking green ribbons blocked the way.
With a confident smile, she said,
“From Fujimoto, huh? I don’t smell blood, so you must be a newbie.”
“……”
Kaede knew her face.
Yamanaka Ichika.
A girl who had been in the Fujimoto research facility.
“I switched with the broadcasting room because it felt like a Fujimoto lackey might head this way… And I was right?”
“……”
Clash!
In Kaede’s hand was a scythe, hidden behind her back.
The moonlight reflected off the sharpened blade, giving it a chilling hue.
Killing intent.
Yet the smile on Ichika’s face was unwavering, despite the glimmering blade.
Ichika extended her right fist, aiming at Kaede.
With both feet firmly planted on the ground, she lowered her body enough to pull her thighs, while maintaining the stability of a mountain against the sharp wind.
Then, raising her left fist to her chest, she completed a stance ready to respond to attacks coming from all directions.
Six Harmonies Fist!
“You’re not getting past this. Fujimoto’s hunting dog.”
“……”
Clang!
And so, the battle began with the scythe flying straight at her.
Blooming Born 2-Star Magical Girl Ichika
Blooming Born 2-Star Magical Girl Kaede
The War Begins!
*
Suddenly, every staff member halted their actions in unison.
The studio was eerily silent.
“M-Magical Girl?”
“Yes, I am also a Magical Girl.”
I elegantly gestured toward the camera and said,
“I have something to share with the citizens today.”
Rustle!
I took out a document retrieved from the Fujimoto research facility from my coat.
Contents indicating a willingness to harshly exploit the test Magical Girls.
I lifted them into the air with my psychic ability.
The papers expanded, passing through the prism curtain, covering all the walls at the back of the studio.
“Supernatural ability… weaponization… plans…?”
“W-Weapon?! Soldier?!”
“Is this for real…?”
The Magical Girls who had come as guests today gasped as they read the pages.
And I responded eagerly to them.
“That’s right.”
Tap!
“The so-called Fujimoto, who pretends to be the master of this country, intends to kidnap unprotected magical girls to seize their powers through cruel training and experiments.”
“F-Fujimoto?!”
“Shh!!”
“Don’t say that name carelessly in front of others! It’ll be a disaster…!”
Then, the illusion curtain behind the studio unfolded.
There were the scenes of Ichika and her crew being confined and subjected to merciless training processes, with armed guards threateningly chasing after them.
The girls’ faces were covered in noise, obscuring their expressions, yet the pain they endured felt palpable beyond the screen.
“This…”
“All of this…”
“Is it what should’ve happened to girls who just lived ordinary lives until recently?”
The girls fell silent.
Thump!
I struck my staff down, dispelling the projection behind the studio.
“To those who are gravely mistaken, a Magical Girl is not someone to be used or treated as a tool… They are just an ordinary girl, capable of shining on their own.”
“And I am…”
“Here today to prove that.”
Snap!
With a cheerful finger snap, the studio’s appearance began to change inside the spherical observation deck.
[Deception] Magical Girl Unique Skill
Dream World
Sunshine.
Warm sunshine.
Clear skies and fields of roses stretching far away.
Thousands, tens of thousands of roses reached out over the fresh green branches, enveloping the girls.
A massive rose garden.
“On a joyful day like today, lovely rose flowers suit better than adults’ unpleasant documents filled with greed, don’t you think?”
I handed a single rose to a girl who was gazing around in delight.
“Shizuku-chan.”
“Y-Yes?!”
The girl turned bright red, flustered, as if she were the rose itself.
“What does your dream… true happiness mean?”
“A dream… you ask?”
The girl, unable to accept the rose, hesitated for a moment.
“Uh… Uhm, appearing on TV… becoming famous, and…”
“Not what adults have defined for you.”
I encouraged her in a gentle voice.
“Your true happiness, a dream that you desire from deep within your heart…”
“A dream…”
Shizuku, murmuring for a moment, replied with a quiver in her voice.
Her heartfelt truth burst forth.
“I-I want to be a baker who makes others happy, just like Mama…!”
Such a beautiful, precious dream.
Much like a rose that hurts when touched, Shizuku’s dream, once voiced, was both painful and lovely.
“Not a celebrity…! I-I want to be a baker! Waaa…”
I gave Shizuku the rose.
When Shizuku accepted the rose with her tear-streaked face, it transformed into something warm and luminous.
A croissant.
A savory aroma.
Memories of Mama.
Everyday life.
The girl, revealing her genuine feelings through her truthful tears, blossomed like the blooming rose.
A true Magical Girl.
Blooming.
“What?! W-What is this?!”
I turned my attention from the astonished Shizuku to the other girls behind us.
“Join in too! What are your dreams?”
“E-Eh?! I want to run a restaurant…!”
“I want my grandfather’s secondhand bookstore…!”
“I want to be a newspaper reporter like my dad…!”
“I want to run a bicycle shop…!”
Perhaps enchanted by the magical scenery, the girls competing to express their “dreams” after a month of suffocating experiences.
Their previously stiff expressions softened, and excitement colored their faces like roses.
The sight of the girls chattering about their dreams was more beautiful than thousands, tens of thousands of blooming roses.
[Baking] Magical Girl.
[Gourmet] Magical Girl.
[Devoted Reader] Magical Girl.
[Reporter] Magical Girl.
[Silver Wheel] Magical Girl.
The blooming of 1-Star Magical Girls.
It was a concrete phenomenon of the metaphysical concept called “dream,” resonating with the dazzling lights from within their forgotten hearts.
Dream.
Through the appearance of dreams, I could feel the pull of the powerful fates held by the 2-Star Magical Girls concentrating on me.
‘Not everything, but quite a number. It’s time to move to the final stage.’
I winked at Haruko, who had been spinning the camera around with the paper sheep, and she fixed the camera, hugging the sheep as she vanished somewhere.
“Such a beautiful debutante of girls deserves a splendid conclusion, don’t you think?”
Snap!
Rose petals began to rise from the vast rose field all around.
The fragrance and petals danced into the blue sky.
They were fireworks celebrating the second birth of the Magical Girls, transforming the attire marked by adult desires into the magical girl outfits shaped by their own dreams.
“Wow…”
“So pretty…”
“It’s like a dream.”
Leaving behind the girls gazing in awe at the endlessly falling rose petals, I walked towards the back of the observation deck.
Thump thump thump!
On the opposite side of the studio.
There was a frantic presence approaching from beyond the door.
Bang!
“Don’t move! It’s Yamashita from the Metropolitan Police Department!!”
Dozens of armed policemen.
I smiled while gazing at the officers rushing in.
‘Hopefully, Kyoko and Ichika managed to escape.’
The advancing police, aiming their guns at me, appeared perplexed by the surrounding scenery.
“W-What the?!”
“Why is there a flower garden here?!”
“Well, since the uninvited guests have arrived, let’s wrap up today’s stage.”
I spoke to the camera.
Looking towards Fujimoto, who was watching me from the other side of the lens.
“If you’re going to sacrifice the girls for your greed…”
“I’ll awaken the stars hidden in the darkness through dreams.”
“The power of the dreams held by the stars is something you cannot possess…”
I looked at the stage today.
“Shy Fujimoto-san, I hope you don’t take this out on those involved today!”
“Magical Girls, I bless your second birth… your debut as Magical Girls!”
“I, the Magical Girl of [Start], bless you!”
It’s a lie.
My alias is the Magical Girl of [Deception].
But if I can deceive the fate of this world, I’ll even deceive my own alias.
I used Blink to slip through the observation deck’s wall.
The officers stood there, staring blankly at me as I gradually fell past the window wall.
“Leader!!”
“Shirogane-san!!”
“Waaah?!”
“I’m back.”
I safely landed on the giant paper sheep that was soaring high.
On the sheep were Ichika, Haruko, and Kyoko, all safe and sound.
“Heh heh, the Fujimoto lackeys came just to get wrecked!”
“You’re amazing, Captain!!”
“W-Where to next?!”
Below Odaiba Broadcasting Station, numerous spectators gazed at us in wonder.
“We can’t ignore the audience who came to see us, right?”
“What?”
I expanded the dream world in the spherical observation deck so that the rose petals would also touch the people below. The crowd looked in awe at the petals above their heads, smiling.
“…Let’s cross the bridge like this and head back.”
“Yes!”
Riding the giant sheep, the girls crossed the bridge.
Not war, but girls blooming amidst the rain of roses.
Now the original has been twisted.
What remains for me is…
“Leader.”
“Yeah?”
“It was fun.”
Ichika said with a sly grin.
“Please take care of me moving forward.”
“We agree!”
“Ha, hehehe…”
“Hehe… hehehe!”
“Puhah…”
“Hahaha!!”
What was so funny, these kids?
And why am I laughing too?
I don’t quite know, but…
The feeling of fear was gone now.