NOVEL WEB Chapter 20
“Hoeeet?! Kohane?! Nana-chan will come to save you!!”
Bung!
Bung!
Buaaaaang–
A delicate voice that doesn’t match the rough engine sounds.
From far away came the sound of a motorcycle throttle being twisted to the max, along with an enormous engine roar.
The girl on the fluorescent orange bike was racing around Kabukicho.
Nanami rushed straight ahead, scattering starlight to save her friend trapped inside a black dome.
‘Wha… what is that?!’
It looked like a giant trapping a cockroach in a bowl.
At the sight of such a massive figure, Nanami hesitated in shock.
Shuuuuuuuuung–
A yellow flash was approaching from afar.
Racing towards Nanami, the yellow flash swiftly turned and began running alongside her.
The girl, streaking through the air, produced a threatening wind with her arms and legs as she chased the bike.
With side tails streaming like a meteor’s tail, she followed the bike.
“Hey! Ppuppu! Bad older sister! Slow down right now!”
“Chasing a bike on foot?!”
The girl running alongside the bike.
In this surreal scene, Nanami gasped once more.
Hana, cloaked in yellow energy, evaded obstacles by running along the walls of buildings, keeping up with the low-flying bike.
Druk
Druk
Hana, fiercely in pursuit, extended her fingers. Slowly, the yellow energy began to wrap around the bike’s rear wheel.
Druk
Druk
With a stiff metallic sound, the bike’s speed gradually diminished.
Feeling the slowdown, Nanami panicked and changed her course, yanking the throttle to full and launching the fluorescent orange bike forward.
Bung–
Bung–
Buaaaaang–
Amidst the rough exhaust sounds as she fled from the yellow flash, Nanami lamented.
Feeling foolish for being held back by such a kid.
Frustrated with only keeping pace with her running speed.
“What is this kid even?!”
“Eek! A kid?! I’m a proper magical girl!”
“Kohane-chan! Hurry and come help me! This kid is too persistent!!”
“That’s mean! If you say bad things, I’m giving you a red sticker!”
Shuuuuuuuuuung–
Buaaaaaang–
One girl was scattering starlight from above as she left a fluorescent orange trail.
One girl was darting across the ground and walls, leaving a long tail of yellow energy.
The two girls ran side by side.
They raced through countless people, signboards, and buildings, weaving madly.
It was a frantic rush where the surroundings looked like a smeared painting, no longer clear.
At the end of the fray, the bike took the lead.
With the ability to soar through the air, the bike could race down a clearer path.
Nanami began to swerve the handlebars, using overpasses and low buildings to try and shake off the girl of yellow energy.
The gap between the two girls was slowly widening.
Sato Hana withdrew the psychic she had almost reached a moment ago.
‘Ugh… Flying is cheating!’
Hana looked up at the fluorescent orange bike, about to burst into tears.
‘I shouted so loudly at Hikari-chan!’
Since the moment she bloomed, following the whispers of the yellow star had given Hana a strong confidence in ‘running fast,’ and she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of her friend Hikari.
[Hana-chan!]
“Eh? Hikari-chan?”
Suddenly, her friend’s voice echoed.
Looking up, Hana saw Hikari’s doppelgänger, masked and observing her from the rooftop of a tall building.
[I’ll guide the way with my illusion, so just follow closely and slow down!]
“Hikari-chan! Can’t we just snag her like a robot?!”
[I tried that a few times, but she escapes before I can activate it, so we need to slow her down first.]
“How about just squashing her like a fly?”
[…It’s not just about killing her; she needs to pay a price.]
“Okay! Got it! We need to punish her like we do at school, right?”
Gathering energy at the tips of her toes.
Lightly bringing her arms close to her body.
Lowering her body.
Shifting all her weight forward.
Full speed ahead.
In an extreme posture that threatened to lose balance with the slightest shift.
In a precarious situation where a single stop would send her tumbling forward.
Like an arrow, aimed only to shoot forward.
Like a meteor, flying straight ahead.
Shuuuuuuuuung–
The sound of air threatened to whip past her ears.
Inside that sound, the yellow star whispered that it was okay to go faster.
“A bad older sister who inconveniences others gets a big thump on the butt!!”
With a sharp sound cutting through the wind, the yellow meteor was launched.
The fluorescent orange bike immediately hit the brakes and tried to swerve, but upon seeing the condition of the road ahead, it came to a halt.
“Hoeeet?! What is that?!”
“Wow! So that’s what it is! Cool!”
Gugugugung
Buildings began to move.
The cityscape of buildings rose and shifted like a single organism.
They blocked off side streets and alleys like walls.
They absorbed everything except the road the two girls ran on.
A straight line.
A horizon.
Only a single road stretched out beyond the horizon.
In front of Nanami, who had been racing chaotically through alleys, lay only a straight road.
“Hiiiik?!”
To Nanami, unfamiliar with illusions, this scene was a massive nightmare triggering panic.
In her panic, her vision narrowed, and she dashed forward.
A pure speed competition.
Hana finally smiled at the fair competition unfolding.
“Hahaha! In just a run, I won’t lose!”
Her arms moved flamboyantly.
Her legs sprinted swiftly.
With endless explosive acceleration, the two legs emitted an afterimage, making Sato Hana a complete meteor.
The yellow meteor surged forward to stop the bike.
Nanami’s shoulder and Hana’s shoulder finally began to align once more.
The distance narrowed.
“Now, now I’m close!”
Hana aimed to stretch out her psychic to the back wheel she had just barely reached before.
“Just a bit!! Just a bit more!!”
“No!! We can’t stop the bike!!!”
Nanami screamed as she pulled with all her might on the bike throttle.
The front of the bike lifted.
Simultaneously expanding the fluorescent orange starlight as a footrest,
Creating a new road for herself.
Stepping onto the curved footrest born of the empty terrain allowed the bike to execute a 180-degree turn like a roller coaster and go backwards.
In an instant, the bike that had turned from front to back skated right past where Hana was.
“……”
Hana stared blankly at the rear of the bike, now completely facing the opposite direction.
She heard Hikari’s voice in her ear again.
[Not yet!]
[Deception] Magical Girl Unique Skill
Dream World 夢幻世界
Gugugugung
No longer was the straight road a plain.
It became a steeply sloping pathway like paradise’s stairs rising into the sky.
Nanami was losing control of her bike as it balanced on the unfamiliar incline.
“Gah! The slope…”
In the chaos of the perception altered by the illusion, Nanami was thrown into confusion.
At that moment, black drapes began to form in the direction she was heading, but in the midst of her confusion, she adeptly maneuvered to evade them while grasping the throttle.
[Now, Hana-chan!! You need to slow down!!]
“Aha ha!”
Sato Hana regained her confidence.
It was a track shape she was all too familiar with.
After all, she had practiced in her head countless times since the day when her legs couldn’t move, running toward the sky.
[Swiftness] Magical Girl Unique Skill
Flash Girl 閃光少女
A trail of yellow light was chasing the bike, which had lost balance on the unfamiliar road.
Before the path toward the starlight was a track stretching into the sky.
Once having plummeted to the low ground, the yellow meteor regained its light and rushed back to where it belonged.
Drudrudruk!
“Gyaaa?! N-no!! Please don’t stop the bike!!!”
“The tag game in the hallway is over, big sis!”
The yellow starlight shot from Hana’s hand and gradually began to grip the back wheel of Nanami’s bike.
Kaduk
Kaduk
Kaduk
Druk!
“Now, Hikari-chan!!”
[Well done, Hana-chan!]
After what felt like an endless chase, the bike finally slowed down, covered by a black curtain.
A complete prison of illusion.
In there, Nanami’s cognition was completely twisted, and she crumbled.
Bang bang bang!
“Eek?! Is that older sister really alive?”
[A 2-Star bloom doesn’t die like that.]
“Phew, thank goodness. If she died, there wouldn’t be a big thump on the butt! She must be punished!”
[…….]
As the drape unfolded, what appeared was the wreckage of the crushed bike. And Nanami, collapsed and gasping for air on the road.
Nanami was half-conscious, murmuring through the opened visor of her helmet.
“If the bike… stops… mom will…”
“……”
Hana paused at that sight. Then she approached Nanami and began to stroke her head.
Gently stroking the cat ear helmet Nanami was wearing with her tender hand.
[…Hana-chan is so kind.]
“Ugh, why won’t this come down?”
[Huh?]
Gruk!
Once Hana completely closed the visor of the helmet that wouldn’t come down due to being crumpled, Nanami’s murmurs faded away.
“Mom said that making excuses after doing bad things is the worst!”
[…I see.]
＊
Trapped within the black drapes, Kohane was moving her armor, searching for a way to escape.
[Nyuhuhuh! The supremely cool armor No. 1 can handle any emergency! It’s a multi-purpose armor!]
Clunk!
Pushii—
[Just as I said, it’s supremely cool!]
“Is that so? Looks pretty lame to me.”
[Nyuh?!]
Kohane hurriedly spotted a girl in front of her armor with night vision goggles.
The girl was dressed in an old-fashioned sailor uniform.
And wearing a green special attack uniform over her shoulder.
The green girl.
She quietly stared at Kohane’s armor from the darkness.
[Well, based on a lowly commoner’s eyes, one can’t see the difference.]
Kohane spoke aloud, sensing her heart racing with tension.
The green girl’s glowing eyes.
Those burning eyes seemed to look directly at Kohane inside the armor.
“If a lowly commoner strikes that filthy armor, both you and I would have similar thoughts.”
[You dare to break my supreme cool armor No. 1 made with my older brother, I mean, assistant!!]
Whooooosh–
Threatening red light.
The crimson mono-eye shone in the darkness as all of the armor’s mechanisms activated.
Brightly shining armor.
Clunk
Clunk
Push—
[Nyuhuhuhu… I intended to skip the performance demonstration today and only march for the [Start] Magical Girl…]
Wiiiiiiiiiiiing!
[I’m excited to show how amazing my abilities are against a magical girl!]
“That [Start] is my boss, you moron.”
[Shut your nonsense!!]
Kwaaaaang!
The armor charged threateningly toward Ichika.