NOVEL WEB Chapter 9
I was watching Haruko use her blooming ability in the apartment empty lot.
Of course, it was a given to set up an illusion curtain so no one could see.
[Fairy Tale]’s Magical Girl Unique Skill
Storytelling 口演童話
“Woof, woof! Carry that drum and do 10 squats!”
Crinkle
Haruko’s earthy colored feather pen emitted earthy starlight like ink, allowing her to write in the air.
She was jotting down little stories in the air. To make those stories come to life, her summons moved.
A 2-meter tall paper werewolf, crumpled up like origami, awkwardly Squatted, holding a drum on each shoulder while emitting a low howling sound.
With its comically exaggerated pose, it was limited to performing stiff actions in its shabby paper body.
Thud!
After repeating its squats ten times, the werewolf tossed the drum away like it was waiting for the command to do so and returned to a standing position, all its strength drained.
“Ah, no! Just because the command sentence ended doesn’t mean you can go back to standing right away!”
“Busujima-san, it looks like the wolf’s toss matched the quantity, don’t you think?”
“Uaaaaaah! Piggy, heal!!”
Shasshasash
Haruko furiously scribbled a command in mid-air. The hastily written characters looked so messy that they were nearly doodles, but the summons understood the orders.
A paper pig nudged the crumpled paper lamb with its teeth. The paper lamb instantly returned to its original bouncy paper balloon form.
Even without a command sentence, the summons tried their best to act naturally, gauging Haruko’s mood.
‘Although it’s not a powerful ability, summons that act completely autonomously are unique in their own right.’
The blooming magical girl changed her basic magic’s attributes based on her unique skills. However, types that change basic magic into summons were incredibly rare even in the original story.
‘The protagonist Yuki Shikishima’s basic magic only manifested as flames.’
The magical girl’s magic from [Fairy Tale] was on par with the magical girl that performed all her spells with a machine gun, showcasing a unique form.
It could be said that my magic, inherently possessing the illusion magic trait due to [Deception], was also peculiar. But Haruko’s magic, which changes the activation conditions altogether, became more fascinating the more I saw it.
‘After all, there weren’t many blooming magical girls in the original work.’
Shasshasash
Haruko, who was writing neatly, shifted to writing sloppily to convey the intent with less effort. In fact, the summons began to move even more naturally according to those commands.
A command for each to show their abilities properly.
The werewolf exerted physical strength thanks to its psychic properties.
As the wolf struck a front biceps stance with its arms over its head, the drums scattered around the empty lot stood back up at an astonishing speed.
The wolf’s chest puffed up. As it inflated to match the level of the paper lamb, earthy starlight burst forth with its breath.
Whooooosh
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
The drums became enveloped in starlight, organizing themselves at a faster pace.
The empty lot was now completely tidied up.
“Busujima-san, should we try Blink again?”
“Hehe! Yes, yes!”
Shasshasash
Baa-
The paper lamb hopped toward us, spreading its limbs wide in a pose as if running at us. With a sensation of being pulled, we found ourselves in front of shabby iron stairs facing the apartment.
“It’s still peculiar no matter how many times you see it.”
“Hehe, I didn’t think I could do something like this.”
“Every magical girl should be able to use this kind of ability.”
At this moment, we were far before the prologue mentioned in the original work.
Most magical girls were at a stage where they could barely manage telekinesis, let alone bloom.
But if nothing was done, the average level of magical girls would rise in a few months, and the time would come when blooming magical girls appeared in various media.
From then on, it could be said that the allied forces’ research on magical girl abilities would be completed, so it was still very early.
“But, but Shirogane-san, I’m curious about something.”
“What is it?”
“Do you always commute by subway?”
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier if you could just use teleportation for commuting?”
“It’s impossible to teleport from Shibuya to Yokohama.”
“That’s not what I meant…”
Haruko wiggled her two fingers, pretending to appear multiple times, and said.
“If you go like this, whoosh! whoosh! whoosh! then you can save on transportation costs, right?”
“Busujima-san, you should stop walking around and always just run instead; that way, you save time too.”
“Ah…”
Did she understand the underlying meaning of ‘It’s a hassle’? Haruko twisted and looked embarrassed.
I took a slow glance at Haruko’s blooming magical girl outfit.
Besides me, the first blooming magical girl, it had been two years since I saw the outfit of another blooming magical girl. She wore a simple green linen traditional dress like a European mountain girl and sturdy hiking boots.
In the original work, there was a depiction of blooming magical girls sometimes changing their hair color under the influence of starlight. But Haruko’s braided hair was still a brownish-black.
‘Such a simple look.’
Since it’s a subculture work, typically, the exposure or costume concept of blooming magical girls fit the otaku taste, and this simple design was quite refreshing compared to the usual designs.
‘My own outfit may reveal my figure, but it’s relatively low on exposure…’
My fitted outfit accentuated the contrast of my slim waist and breasts, so anyone could tell I was female. Moreover, the pants were basically closer to stockings, making it feel more like a concept outfit than a formal one.
When I first bloomed, the clingy outfit didn’t feel comfortable, leading me to twist uncomfortably, but now I was used to it.
“Hmm, well then, Busujima-san, I’ll stop practicing here and go for a bit.”
“Aah. Yes, yes!”
Hearing Haruko’s determined response, I transformed.
Colorless starlight.
A dazzling light wrapped around my entire body.
As a magical girl, I was a magician deceiving people.
Even after transforming, the starlights that remained turned into a white mask, covering my face.
The smooth white mask, looking like it came out of an opera ghost performance, was a crystal formed by gathering [Deception] starlight. It prevented those looking at me from seeing my essence.
Given the tasks ahead, it was essential to always wear a mask to avoid exposure.
＊
The Tokyo Port, where Japan’s maritime goods gather, is located in the nation’s capital, Tokyo.
Here is the logistics warehouse of Fujimoto Heavy Industries, the core sector of the Fujimoto Group.
Japan’s number one city. Japan’s number one port. Japan’s number one company.
Among these, the warehouse of Fujimoto Heavy Industries boasts a size comparable to that of the lungs, which move the heartbeat of the Japanese economy.
Dozens of massive cranes.
Every day, huge cranes, several dozen meters tall, lift and lower countless goods.
Underneath, people shouting to move logistics and endless vehicles.
This place was always filled with noise.
The voices of a few innocent girls were drowned out by the noise.
“Huff, huff…”
“Test subject number 11, with 21 manifestations of supernatural ability, the third test concludes.”
I could use this for the data to send to the planning director.
Mumbling to himself, the lab worker wrote something on a piece of paper in his hand.
The girl, who had just been exhausted from repeating her supernatural abilities, shouted to him.
“Hoo, I went over 20 as promised! Hurry…!”
The lab worker, clad in a white coat, gazed at her coldly and then motioned to one of the armed guards beside him.
Thud
What dropped on the floor was a cheap loaf of bread.
A loaf that could be bought for a single coin at any convenience store.
Yet, to the girl, that bread was incredibly precious.
More precisely, she was in an environment where those who imprisoned her regarded even that loaf of bread as valuable.
The test subject girl, who had been completely worn out until just moments ago, hurriedly hugged the bread bag that had fallen at her feet.
“Then go wait.”
“……”
Feeling miserable, the girl only gazed at the bread.
The staff member confirmed that she was heading into the darkness before he continued to write something on the paper.
Thud thud
She had been imprisoned in this basement warehouse for a week, without a single ray of sunlight coming in.
The girl had become somewhat accustomed to this wretched life.
The booming sound of the cranes from above resonated in her head.
The oppressive confinement of the small room that had been assigned as her accommodation.
Being denied the privilege to sleep comfortably.
Everything became numb after the week had passed.
The only thing that didn’t become familiar was—
Gurgle
“……”
During the first three days, she had been trained repeatedly without being fed anything but water, focused on raising her statistics to predetermined levels.
‘If you can’t produce results here, you won’t even eat.’
The girls who had cried out for release succumbed to extreme hunger, and by the third day, they wolfed down their first meal in tears.
The 11 magical girl test subjects shared tales of their hardships to overcome hunger from the first day they arrived during their breaks. Thus, they discovered their commonality.
-Were you also an orphan?
-You too?!
Damn.
It was always like this.
This damn world was dead set on squeezing the powerless like them.
“Damn.”
The girl surveyed the path back to the dorm, clutching her bag of bread.
In the hallway leading back to the dorm, several CCTV cameras were watching, and the only passage was guarded around the clock by armed guards.
‘I bet the dorm is under 24-hour surveillance, too.’
In this cycle of confinement and meaningless training, there were children who gained the ability to move objects as well as those who could heal others.
But healing abilities couldn’t solve hunger, so the guards kept the girls imprisoned with a combination of guns and bread.
‘Even so, I will definitely get out.’
Freedom.
The moment she whispered that desperate word, green light sparkled in the girl’s eyes before vanishing again.
‘It’s not the right time yet.’
At least it felt like a very distant story.
The girl finished her thoughts and returned to reality. She walked out weakly, clutching the precious bread she would share with her hungry friends in the dorm.
When she was abandoned at the orphanage, a flower had been placed on the blanket covering the baby.
Thus, she was given the name Ichika (一花).
In the future, she would become the leader of FLAG, the rebellion group of magical girls, and bloom as a 2-star magical girl.
She would fight against the coalition forces led by the magical girl of [Guardian] and become the magical girl of [Freedom].
The corridor Ichika walked through was filled only with silence.
However, if she had shifted her gaze from the bread bag, she might have seen a faint sparkle of starlight flickering in a corner of the corridor before disappearing.