Chapter 5
☆ Ragi Juu Nent
There was a folding chair and a plain metal table and several cables in the room, as well as a rhombus-shaped information terminal on the floor. Other than that, there wasn’t even a window nor any breathtaking sights in the barren stone room as he looked back one more time.
Within the operation room in the fourth floor, magic was supplied throughout the house, the annex, the island’s environment, and various other things in the mansion, from here, you can operate everything. The island’s environment, the plant’s health, the amount of rainfall and sunlight, all these environmental changes can affect both Mages and Magical Girls. The most suspicious source of the events would happen here.
A couple of hours ago, a strange series of events occured—The Magical Girls detransformed, the Mages fell unconscious—They resolved the incident by giving people grayfruit, passing about two to three pieces per person, creating a temporary solution. But it doesn’t mean that they discovered the cause, the incident has not yet been solved.
Before passing out, Ragi had taken a grayfruit from his sleeve. He ate it, and strength flowed from his belly, and from there, it gradually spread throughout his body, so it wasn’t a problem for him to recover with only one bite. He only needed one piece.
He placed his cane by the desk, and slowly sat on his chair. He opened his big mouth, and as if he was a youngster, took a bite, ripped the meat of the fruit on his teeth, and swallowed. The refreshing fruit’s smell and taste filled his mouth, and gradually spread through his entire body. It was as if he was as relaxed as he was but a minute ago.
Today, he ate two pieces of grayfruit, with its skin attached. He wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, checking his beard for any fruit juice. Satabourne made everything from small gems of use to complete rubbish, and although he was improving, is it as good as belonging in the pile of useful gems.
After confirming his beard was juiceless, he got straight to work.
First, he cast his first password, then he pressed the touch panel on the phone to activate the device. Then he entered the second password, and then the inside of the room became dark, and the edge of the small cramped room disappeared. He stretched his arms out and rotated it in a circle once, but couldn’t touch anything, afterwards, he walked in a circle, as he walked in circles, within the vast black space with no color in sight, the old Mage sat down.
In order to understand the system, he chose a simple method of information gathering. A variety of colorful runes appeared one after the other. They were supposed to intersect each other, but life isn’t that simple.
This information gathering system is an abnormally annoying construction. The creator—Satabourne—really didn’t consider any possibility of people using it after he had died. Despite having prepared a will for his death, he managed to miss this simple detail.
Satabourne used a variety of new inventions throughout the island, and since he continued adding more and more and retrofitted it, it became a veritable mass of blackboxes. His excitement clearly went to his head while he was making these. It’s fun to make things while making new elements. He could sympathize with that. Ragi also had fun when he was making new security measures for his office, incorporating new theses with old defense rituals to create an absolutely invincible magical fortress. He hadn’t considered his successor at all when it would be time to leave his office.
But there was one crucial fact about Ragi and Satabourne that was different.
Ragi was alive, so if someone were to succeed him and it was time for him to use his office, he could explain it.
Satabourne had died. He can’t explain this system at all.
The Mages were all foolish, the Magical Girls had all detransformed. Not to mention the cause was still uncertain. Even the information gathering device wasn’t working. Magic that Ragi had neither seen nor heard of continued to be used, and the information on the runes was updated in milliseconds.
There was no point to doing this further. Ragi turned off the simplified information terminal. The runes one by one disappeared, the once dark room began blinking, and the darkness disappeared. It had returned to its original small shape. He fiddled with the terminal on the metal table, he closed the floating window on the phone and left, and the terminal finally returned to its standby mode with its light on. Ragi sighed and got off his chair.
Making contact with this system was difficult, and he couldn’t find the cause of the incident. There was no way to investigate it by force, and they didn’t have enough manpower, tools, resources, mana, time, and a variety of things. He couldn’t even think of what he should do now. If he seriously wanted to investigate the cause of this incident, he should have everyone leave the island and bring actual experts in. His inner voice asked him “are you saying you’re not an expert?” which irritated him, so he calmed it down by deciding he’ll just lead the experts again by coming back to the island with them.
Ragi nodded. Yes, that’s a good idea.
When Ragi left the room, he saw Shepherdspie and Mana talking in the hallway. Their talk was interrupted when they saw Ragi, and without even hiding his face, Ragi bitterly gritted his teeth and shook his head.
“I haven’t been able to fix the issue, and I still don’t know cause.”
While the two of them remained stoic, he knew that they also felt some anger inside.
“Even with Satabourne’s new tech, it wasn’t able to properly investigate. I wonder if even 10 Magical Gems can solve this?”
Ragi glared at Mana and Shepherdspie in turn. Although Mana seemed pressured, she didn’t back her eyes away, and Shepherdspie glanced downward instantly. Although Mana was young, her spirit was strong as she had been the head of the Examination Division and the Investigators. Unlike Shepherdspie. Satabourne should really educate his nephew more, since Satabourne was so enthusiastic about research.
“If we can’t seal off this island, then we’ll have to keep investigating, and if we have to eliminate the problem, then I expect your cooperation.”
Although he’s the one that’s suggesting force, the fact that it was far too masochistic made Ragi feel frustrated with himself. He didn’t say any more than that, and while he was silent, he tried to get a bead on what the two were thinking, but then gave up. Mana was blocking his path forward.
“Well then…”
Mana was talking about several different things at once.
“So what would be the direct cause of this… If there was a reason, then… They wanted to knock out all the Mages, and detransform all the Magical Girls?”
Ragi’s face was somewhat loose, his wrinkles became less shallow.
“It’s natural to assume everyone has mana within their bodies.”
Even among Mages, the symptoms were a bit different. Ragi felt sick and stayed unconscious until he recovered, Navi Ru was completely normal and then immediately collapsed, Yol couldn’t even speak and was woozy, Mana and Agri were somehow able to talk, Shepherdspie wasn’t in a good condition, but was still able to walk, and Ragi had heard that Touta was completely fine and was able to walk and talk.
While all the Mages were affected, perhaps the severity was proportional to how much mana they had. It was obvious that Touta had no magical talent at all, Shepherdspie’s lack of talent was now proven beyond a doubt, Mana and Agri were so-so, Yol was a little more than them, Ragi’s known of Navi Ru since he was just a rookie. Regardless of his personality, the man had some talent, and the Osk Faction was not some place you could just join on a whim.
The Magical Girls’ symptoms were almost consistent. Compared to Mages, a Magical Girls’ mana was very similar to one another. Since they’re not reliant on it to live, they wouldn’t faint if it was completely gone. With mana they could transform, without mana they can’t. Simple as that.
As Mana listened to Ragi’s explanation, she nodded deeply. It wasn’t the expression of a person surprised to learn new information, it was the expression of someone who had thought of the same thing, and was glad that someone else confirmed it. As if she had thought of the same thing as Ragi and simply allowed him to say it to her and agree out of spite. Ragi became angry, and looking at Mana’s serious face only made his anger stay longer, he left the two alone and started to walk. He didn’t want to be blocked by Mana any longer. He heard Shepherdspie say “Thank you very much,” from behind him, but he just kept on walking without saying anything back.
Was Mana’s seriousness simply because of her being professional? Ragi didn’t think that was just it—But Ragi shook his head, this wasn’t the time to think about that. Mana can do whatever she wants, he’ll just leave her alone.
While Ragi kept doing what he did as well, he had some concern on him, and he couldn’t say he wasn’t completely worried. While his current duties were finished, there was still the matter of the will that wasn’t completely fulfilled, and that nagging feeling kept sticking on the back of his mind, not going away anytime soon.
Ever since Ragi came to this island, he’s always had a bad feeling that he was never able to get out. Because of that, he was always uneasy with everyone else, although looking back at it, Clantail never talked to anyone but Ragi.
She was unlike the others. Meier and Margarite was always talking with each other in whispers. Mana, 7753, and Tepsekemei introduced themselves to everyone. Navi Ru was always laughing and patting Agri in the back, and Yol was always playing with Touta. Shepherdspie… was someone who would make friends with his subordinate Magical Girls it seems, such as the fiercely eating Dreamy☆Chelsea—who apparently was a woman in a bathrobe before she transformed who had a certain sexual appeal and a magical aura about her—and Navi Ru and Agri in the annex talking with each other in whispers, which Ragi overheard slightly. When Ragi came in, however, they spoke even softer, and Ragi simply sat down on the sofa in the same room. Chelsea was probably Shepherdspie’s mistress. They were both good-for-nothings.
Aside from just Shepherdspie’s scouting, all of them had exchanges with each other. Fellow Magical Girls, fellow Mages, Mages and Magical Girls relaxing and talking together. But Clantail was different, she simply frowned along while Ragi walked. The evening sunlight pierced through the window, illuminating the dust dancing in the corridor.
He covered his eyes with his hand and held his breath as he walked into the dusty corridor.
Clantail was quiet. She had nothing to say for herself.
...However…
If they don’t come back from this, while the others made friends with each other, Clantail didn’t, and barely increased her social standing, she was just doing her job.
But that’s exactly why, he couldn’t say that he didn’t care about her, but he didn’t exactly care about her either. Why he had some interest in her, he couldn’t put into words. These feelings only made him more embarrassed. He shouldn’t be worried about Clantail. He wasn’t in any kind of relationship with her. She was just supposed to be an escort for him because he couldn’t find anyone else to do it for him.
While he was thinking, Ragi had a flash of thought. It wasn’t that he cared about Clantail, the problem was that Clantail was someone Ragi had brought with him, but she has yet to talk to anyone else. That’s right, he nodded to himself. That must be it, as he quickened his pace. Although he wanted to be out of it, he was the Head of the Magical Girl Division. Day after day, he always had to fight off challengers and potential successors. If anyone found out that “The Magical Girl Ragi had brought with him hasn’t even talked to anyone” when he came back home, his position as the Head of the Magical Girl Division would be in jeopardy.
That must be it, That has to be it.
It’s not strange to have a Magical Girl that can’t communicate with anyone be your escort as the Head of the Magical Girl Division, but if he did do it, it’ll only create more challengers.
Despite not having talked to anyone, Clantail had a general understanding of the situation, it could be said that she’s grasped it. That means she probably also had some measures on how to solve it.
Ragi shouldn’t really be talking to anyone else, but he should at least introduce himself. But shouldn’t she already know who he is because he’s the Head of the Magical Girl Division? Was she even someone he could introduce himself to? The only other Mage who knew him was Navi Ru, and he was a horrible person. The only Magical Girl he personally knew was one person, Mana’s little attendant, 7753. The only reason her name always came to his head was because it was very hard for him to remember Magical Girl names, and there were only a few Magical Girls with actual numbers for names. Whenever he was sorting out rosters of new Magical Girls, he separated them into two sections, “Weird names” and “Easy names”. Of course, then there was the long arm of the Human Resources—Ragi stopped his thoughts as his leg hit something hard. That’s right, this isn’t me being acquaintances with her, this is just me introducing myself to her. Just because I’m introducing myself, doesn’t mean I’m being friendly with her.
He knew that nobody would answer his thoughts, but he can’t help thinking it. While he pulled his robes up so they wouldn’t drag around the floor, he continued walking up the corridor. He walked downstairs, and looked across the windows to the ballroom. There, Clantail stood, but she wasn’t alone.
Nephilia was beside Clantail, stroking her back. Clantail kept looking forward without any mind. She wasn’t reacting at all. Meanwhile, Nephilia was mumbling something and giggling, she seemed like she was having fun.
Ragi had a thought, they looked good together.
He came to that conclusion after only thinking for a moment. Well, having friends was better than nothing.
☆ John Shepherdspie
Ragi walked off very angrily. In the end, they weren’t able to find the cause of the incident, but Shepherdspie was also quite relieved, that old man just makes everyone around him tense. Shepherdspie especially considers “Angry old men” his natural enemies.
As Ragi disappeared into the corridor, he looked away and met eyes with Mana. It was the eyes of an enthusiastic professional. People working at the forefront of their jobs despite being super young was also his natural enemy. People like Shepherdspie just had many natural enemies in general.
“We’ve reconfirmed it twice now, and we still don’t know the cause.”
“We’ve got nothing.”
“Nothing like this has ever happened on this island.”
“Although I haven’t actually stayed very long here, this is the first time I’ve seen this too.”
“Really…?”
After asking that question, Mana sighed and relaxed.
“I guess this stopped being a matter of heritage now.”
Oh boy, he thought. Even if this was an interrogation, she was doing this in public. Shepherdspie still wasn’t good at it.
“This is really troublesome. And you also don’t know what’s caused it right?”
“Not even Master Ragi could figure it out.”
“What about your uncle? What has he done recently?”
“Well, recently Uncle Satabourne’s brand new Barrier rituals are being formally considered by the Examination Division.”
“Would you say he may be highly skilled but had a bad nature?”
“I’d say weird is the better person.”
“He’s definitely weird.”
There was a pause. When he looked back at Mana, her seriousness started increasing again.
“No matter how weird he was, don’t you think asking Mages to bring along one or two Magical Girls in his clause was unnatural?”
The air felt different. Even the dull-headed Shepherdspie could sense it. This really was an interrogation. Despite his rapidly beating heart begging the conversation to stop, it’d be rude to interrupt her.
“Hm? Unnatural? How so?”
“Because I can’t see any connection between heritages and Magical Girls.”
“Well… I guess if that’s unnatural, it’s unnatural, probably. But you never know, maybe old man Satabourne was just a really weird man. Even I only came here because he told me to, he’s just that kind of guy. Maybe he really is that kind of guy.”
“But still…”
“Well then. If there’s anything strange at all that you think is happening, you can investigate plenty when you return. Since you’re a professional, I’d be very thankful if you do so. Some weird things are happening and we don’t know why, so we can’t just leave like this.”
“That’s true.”
He didn’t sound like a senior at all, but he was satisfied, and nodded. He wanted to say that he had stuff to do so he couldn’t just laze around here, but he didn’t feel like that’s something he should say, especially to someone younger than him.
He bade farewell to Mana and walked away, and five steps later he was stopped by her calling him. Although it didn’t look like she wanted to know more, Shepherdspie carefully turned back around.
“Something the matter?”
“Just wanted to thank you for the meal. It’s pretty delicious soup you made there. First time I tasted it.”
Without showing too much on his face, he acted like a senior and nodded promptly. Shepherdspie turned his back to Mana and walked away, loosening his cheeks. It’s a nice thought that she complimented the cooking, but his cheeks were still relaxed.
☆ Mana
After talking to them both, Ragi and Shepherdspie didn’t really seem to be bad people. They were certainly Mages with quirks, though Mana can’t say that all Mages have those quirks.
The one who would be able to easily control everything in this house would’ve been the host and direct descendant, Shepherdspie, but he didn’t seem like the type of person to do it. He was way too boisterous to be someone who’d deceive people.
But Mana still had a strange feeling about this.
After confirming that Shepherdspie was long gone, she entered the room with the terminal that Ragi had investigated earlier. The door hinge made a horrible noise, it clearly needs more oil. In the approximately three to four meter squarae room, there was a table, a chair, and a terminal, with some cables extending on the floor. There were no windows or dust. As Mana reached her hand out to the terminal, she felt a momentary numbness in her finger, which caused her to pull back out. She rubbed her fingers. This was a common warning. If she didn’t enter the proper password, it wouldn’t just be a warning.
Mana huffed out a small breath. She wasn’t some amateur that could be stopped that way.
She closed the door behind her, and huffed again. She just got a little upset is all.
She started walking, thinking. She had to think, her thoughts were like a mountain.
The clause that they had to bring Magical Girls was like a fishbone stuck in her throat. Why would they do that? To protect us from the wildlife? She was convinced of that earlier, but now that it’s come this far, she wasn’t anymore. They didn’t encounter a lot of wildlife on this island, so was it really enough to ask a Magical Girl to come along? Her thoughts then went to each successors’ Magical Girls. This was all too strange.
Navi and Agri told her that Shepherdspie had a Magical Girl Mistress. Well, according to how they described it, Chelsea really did seem like a mistress, being in nothing but a bathrobe when he saw her. She also called him “Shepherdspie-kun”—certainly a very mistressy thing to say—during dinner with Ragi, which made Ragi choke. It was a lot closer than just a money-based relationship. Despite being a host, he really was accepting of his Magical Girls. They made some good food and gave good hospitality.
Yol was playing some sort of card game, enthusiastically talking with Touta about it. Mana knew about those things. There was a time when Mana was into it too. To be so young and experience all those cheap and fun novelties. She was not being particularly high and mighty with Touta, though her House’s Magical Girl, Meier, seemed to serve Yol from the bottom of her heart. Her House always accepts Magical Girls, so perhaps they thought they were important?
Agri seemed to be close with her Magical Girls. However, she hired them using money, it didn’t look like a relationship that was only based on money. They seemed cheerful and close. Being the bastard child of a mistress, she would usually have a rougher life. Perhaps that was why she was much kinder to her subordinates.
You couldn’t see it at first glance, but Ragi actually seemed angry trying to pair up with a Magical Girl, and angrier still that he had to keep up the act. Legally, all he could do against all those Magical Girls that tried to steal information from him was report to the authorities, but all he could do was things legally. It was clearly too much for him to keep getting that treatment face to face. Especially since everyone treated it like some kind of sport, calling each other challengers. Was that why he was so angry? Or was it because he was the Head of the Magical Girl Division?
Navi was one of the elite Mages who Mana really can’t handle. Even when his subordinate, Clarissa, makes fun of him, he just laughs it off. Even to the other Magical Girls—which he would sometimes have perverted talks with—he still acts like a friendly old man who laughs and gives people pats on the back. Mana had heard that life was rough for Osk Faction Magical Girls, but were they all actually like that? Or perhaps he was the kind who keeps his business and private affairs separately.
Touta wasn’t really a Mage to begin with. Although his Magical Girl, Miss Margarite, would protect him with her life, he wasn’t really that big of a deal—To be fair, he was a kid. Margarite was probably only protecting him to that extent because he was related to Deathprayer.
Am I thinking way too into this? Mana thought to herself. With what Shepherdspie said earlier that she could just investigate after she got back. He was right. He wasn’t wrong. Still, Mana couldn’t help but think. For any other decent person, they wouldn’t think of anything unnecessary. No matter how unnecessary it was, they’d just shiver in their spines trying to think of it. The fact that they still don’t know what’s caused this would only make them shiver even more.
Ever since that time, when it happened, the fact that things are still progressing without Mana knowing the cause of these events is making her feel extremely anxious.
She knows why she’s feeling this anxious. It was the incident that happened back in B-City.
Something had happened, but she didn’t know it was going to happen before it did. Even if she had been trapped by the barrier, if she could’ve just seen the truth, even half of it, things might have been different. Thinking about that before bed always made her stomach turn every time. In her dreams, she often solved the B-City case, and woke up eyes bulging every time she hears Hana’s voice beside her going “Wow, that was a big case, wasn’t it?”
Just thinking about it made her grit her teeth, possibly because of her regret that she’s clenching. The only one who should bear that kind of regretful feeling should be Mana and no one else, not one, not even two. So with that feeling in her gritting teeth, she knew she had to keep going.
She heard a loud voice and was pulled back to reality. It was a shouting, angry voice.
From the windows, she saw people gathering outside. They seem to be gathering around someone. She heard not one, but several angry shouts, and some crying noises as well.
Mana ran through the stone corridors and jumped down the stairs in eight skips, though she couldn’t even register the shocks in her legs, even though she was leaning in the handrails, she landed on her knee. Now’s not the time to get hurt! Mana scolded her feet. She stood up and ran again.
The voices were getting closer. She went outside, careful not to touch the cracked walls. Shepherdspie and Ragi, who went before Mana, had already arrived. Ragi was grasping his cane with a face that looked like he was biting back an insult, while Shepherdspie felt like he was frustrated or sorrowful. Shepherdspie turned around, noticing the sound of Mana’s footsteps, and met her eyes, with a slight “Ah” in his face.
“This is bad. This is really bad.”
His voice was also rising, Mana tried to calm him down, and by that she was also trying to calm herself down, she lowered her tone and slowly asked him to lower his as well.
“What happened?”
Shepherdspie’s restless eyes continued to look right and left, even behind him. Mana turned her eyes towards what Shepherdspie saw, following his obese body. It was a person. She saw the backs of Agri, Nephilia, Navi, Clarissa, Clantail, and 7753. Ren-Ren was standing near the big hole made in the atrium. Rareko was also in the middle. Somewhere else, there was Margarite, standing with an expressionless face, as Yol cried and cried into Rareko, as Touta also hugged Yol and rubbing her back.
“Is that…”
“Meier. She’s, um… She’s gone.”
Mana instinctively winced and looked at Shepherdspie. He was fumbling backwards, before moving his eyes downwards restlessly.
“Also… Rareko and Margarite said earlier but… the Gates are broken. Oh… What are we going to do?”
“Wait, the Gates? Both?”
“No, well… Yes. The West and the North… They said they were broken.”
Suddenly, Dreamy☆Chelsea popped her face out of the main building, making her way to the group seemingly wanting to know what’s going on, but none of the others were willing to explain, so she went to the closest person, Ren-Ren, to ask.
Mana took a deep breath, tilting her hat down to hide her face, and breathed out an even deeper breath. She made sure her heartbeat was calm before finally moving her hat back into position.
“So, Meier’s gone.”
It took several seconds for Shepherdspie to notice that he was being talked to, and he went back to restlessly looking around, remembering that he was, in fact, in a conversation with Mana. He had a surprised look on his face before he nodded. He saw Mana patiently waiting while biting her lower lip, and decided to speak before Mana lost her patience.
“Well, yes… It seems that Meier’s been, uh… murdered.”
“Murdered?”
It took several seconds for Shepherdspie to answer again, as if he really didn’t want to answer. He probably wasn’t trying to choose his words, and was just scared and nervous.
“Er, yes… It seems she was… slaughtered, and uh, had blood flowing everywhere.”
“But I thought you said this island’s been equipped with the latest crime prevention tech?”
“Er, I did… not. No, it hasn’t. Well… Not anything preventing people from slashing anyone apart. Or killing people… Or harming people… It’s not that kind of security system.”
So the master of this island never installed any security system. A possible cause for this would be the wild animals, but none of them could murder a Magical Girl. Which means that way of death had to be impossible.
Even though she was positive now that her bad feeling had been right, she wasn’t in a mood of saying “I told you so!” Instead, she simply wondered “Why’d it come to this?” The one job the Examination Division had was to make sure that this exact thing won’t happen in the first place.
Mana watched all of the Magical Girls and Mages in the group in order. Both 7753 and Shepherdspie were acting as usual, Navi Ru had his right hand on the upper half of his face while looking up at the sky, Clarissa was also looking up at the sky like she was drunk. Agri had a pale complexion as she asked Rareko something, Ren-Ren was trying to explain to Chelsea and support her as well. Yol was just crying, and Touta was also crying, but hugging Yol and patting her in the back as well. The only one that was normal and was Tepsekemei, floating near Dreamy☆Chelsea, who yelled at her earlier, as usual.
Mana touched her own face, she probably didn’t have a ferocious look on right now.
Margarite was talking to Nephilia, who replied back with a sour look on her face. It looked like she had a hard time trying to understand her words. She put her ears next to her mouth, and exchanged several words with her, before finally raising her head to face Mana. It was only for a couple of seconds, but Margarite and Mana stared at each other, then turned her eyes away and looked behind Mana, walking away from the group, then she turned around again and walked back towards the group.
Nephilia talked to Agri, now that Margarite was gone.
Mana placed her right hand in her pocket, and clumped a small pebble in her palm. People were confused, nervous, no one was able to give any instructions at this rate. But just to be safe, there was no guarantee that someone wasn’t listening in.
In the center of the pebble, she knocked on a slightly dented part with her middle finger three times. The hustle and bustle of the crowd started to fade, their voices seemingly now far away, now no one could hear her voice.
Originally, this pebble was used among aristocracy. Mana’s heard that they would often use these to have private conversations at ballrooms or tea parties, nowadays, this was a standard issue Magical Item among Examination Division members. It affects the air vibrations so that voices won’t travel.
“Meier was killed head-on.”
45 degrees behind Mana, she could hear Margarite’s voice. Everyone in the Examination Division always talked succinctly. Mana also had questions.
“Was Meier powerful?”
“If I were to fight her, even I wouldn’t know if I could win.”
“Powerful, then. So, do you know anyone here that could kill her head-on?”
“There’s no way to truly predict how a fight with two Magical Girls would fall”
“Do you think Rareko would have a likely chance of killing her?”
“Meier was probably Rareko’s master in combat. I doubt that she has the skill to exceed her master, but-”
“There’s no way to predict how a fight with two Magical Girls would fall. Right.”
“Correct.”
Mana took a deep breath. It’s practically useless to know that it was hard to predict a fight between two Magical Girls. She reconsidered her questions, and asked about the Gate.
“Can the Gate be repaired? How was it broken?”
“Physically destroyed. Some parts were also taken.”
“Parts? What parts?”
“We already tried to repair the Gate, Rareko did, actually. Her Magical Skill was suitable for the situation, being that it can repair anything that’s broken, but since there was a part that connected the power to the Gate that was missing, she couldn’t repair it. Her powers don’t allow her to make new parts from scratch.”
“So the culprit wanted the parts… No, I don’t think that’s it. The culprit wanted to crush any escape routes so they could get to their goal. Perhaps they knew about Rareko’s power, and broke it in a way that couldn’t be repaired?”
“Perhaps Rareko herself did it?”
“What do you think, Margarite? Was it someone from the outside, or the inside?”
“If it was someone from ours, this would be fairly strange. When Meier was killed, everyone was here. Rareko would have to go out with Meier if that were the case.”
“So, someone not from our group?”
“I didn’t say that. It’s not definite. Even if we couldn’t do it, we shouldn’t exclude Magical Skills to make up for what we physically can’t do.”
Mana opened her mouth a bit, and unconsciously sighed. When she sighed, Margarite stopped talking, perhaps noticing her sighing.
Mana spilled the rest of the words that she wanted to say.
“Is there a way for us to confirm?”
“We both need to have a way to confirm if the Mages and Magical Girls are actually what they are. The question is, do you know a way to do that, Mana?”
“Oh, yeah. I actually do”
She continued to breathe.
“We’ll have 7753 investigate.”
“You mean with her goggles? She tried that earlier…”
“We’ll just change the settings. ‘Who killed Meier and sabotaged the Gate’, then-”
As she spoke, there was an old Mage who looked her way. Mana quickly tapped her fingers on the pebble, and returned the airflow back to normal. She heard Ragi’s voice. Despite being old, he had a very loud voice.
“...So, we’ll use 7753’s Magical Skill. No matter what happens, we need to make sure nobody around us is going to do something bad to us in the meantime.”
Oh right, the old man’s the Head of the Magical Girl Division. No wonder he knows 7753’s powers. Mana turned her eyes away and looked towards the group. Everyone was looking her way. Even 7753 was looking her way. She wanted to sigh. It’s not like she didn’t want to sigh before this, anyways.
☆ 7753
The only time 7753’s goggles were needed was when things were really bad. There was almost no time where she could just use her goggles to make someone happy. 7753 knew that too, that’s why she felt gloomy. Not that she wanted a situation where someone was killed to be a good thing. She just hated always having to do something like this.
7753 had already tried to find a target with her goggles earlier, but unlike back then, this time everybody was looking at her. She can’t just glance at them anymore.
“Nonononono, you can’t do that! I-It’s a violation of privacy!”
A violation of privacy is a very useful infringement phrase. It’s always something to say at the last minute, no matter what, and it usually passes through without fail, probably because 7753’s powers were easily exploitable to do some bad things, which could socially obliterate her. That was probably why.
“That is bad. Really bad,” repeated Navi constantly. Ragi rubbed his beard and huffed his breath, moving ahead of Navi.
“We shouldn’t be going against each other’s backs. Even if she was able to find out who was plotting, we shouldn’t have to keep that information secret. Observe, be mature, and be compassionate about it.”
“No, no, no, old man. I’m not just thinking about myself here, but everyone else as well. I’ve been given orders by the Osk Faction, but I can’t tell if those orders are to be seen by anyone else or not, and I’d rather not risk it.”
Ragi’s face turned red astonishingly fast, he stumbled trying to swing his cane, so much so that Clantail had to support him. Ragi continued swinging his cane while leaning on Clantail.
“You’re acting like the Osk Faction is some criminal organization with a mastermind! You have no respect! That’s right! You’re just a bastard! It’s bastards like you that are dirtying the Osk Faction’s name!”
“You’re overreacting! I’m a member of the Faction first and foremost. Don’t just sully the Boss’ name like that!”
“Then stay out of the Faction! It’s people like you who make the Osk Faction’s name be a dirty word!”
Mana slowly walked forward. It seems 7753 wasn’t the only one thinking that these two would bicker to no end, Shepherdspie looked relieved, and Agri’s tired face finally relaxed.
“If we just set 7753’s goggles’ settings, then we can adjust what she sees, right?”
7753 suddenly nodded as if she was shaken.
“Yes. Uh. Yep! That’s right! I won’t be able to see everything at once!”
“So, are you able to just see who Meier’s killer and the destroyer of the Gate’s is?”
Navi was saying all of this with a difficult look on his face. Agri knuckled her palms.
“In that case, you need to check it now.”
Shepherdspie also nodded in response. Perhaps Navi knew that the only one objecting was himself, so he reluctantly accepted.
“I guess if that’s all she can see, then I’m fine with it. Sorry if I’m suspicious.”
He added that last bit as an excuse.
7753 set her goggles, then checked on everyone. In order to convince Navi that she can only see the settings she can see, she lent Navi her goggles, and had him look at Mana and 7753.
“Well, I guess this is fine.”
She checked to see if there was anyone who destroyed the Gate, or killed Meier, and changed the settings to check again, and no one did. 7753 took a deep heavy breath. Although she was able to talk to everyone more calmly now, it wasn’t any more relaxed than before. That’s because there was still someone who killed Meier and destroyed the Gate in hiding.
“Wait a minute.”
Dreamy☆Chelsea balled her fists.
“We haven’t checked everyone yet!”
“Wait, we haven’t?”
She folded her fingers and counted one by one. Navi and Clarissa. Ragi and Clantail. Touta and Margarite. Yol and Rareko. Agri and Ren-Ren and Nephilia. Shepherdspie and Chelsea.
Mana heard a voice from beside her.
“Where’s the sheep girl?”
“Oh, that’s right.”
Navi remembered something about being swallowed by a hoard of sheep. The Magical Girl who was swallowed by her own hoard of sheep, as well as the one who lost her sheep as well, was missing.
Chelsea huffed and puffed and pointed at her own heart.
“You all forgot Merry-Chan, so Chelsea’s mad!”
“Oh, um, sorry… We didn’t intentionally forget her. Wasn’t she in the main building?”
“She was! You told her to clean up the kitchen, Shepherdspie-Kun!”
Shepherdspie nodded, he was going to say “So you are useful for something,” but Dreamy☆Chelsea interrupted him.
“Merry-Chan’s not a bad girl! So she wouldn’t kill or destroy anything!”
Chelsea confidently placed her hands on her hips, she also said “There’s no way a Magical Girl can be a bad girl!” As she said that, Mana approached 7753 and whispered to her.
“Do you think the sheep girl is the culprit? She doesn’t seem like the culprit-y type.”
“At first glance, I’m thinking… Margarite. I don’t think Merry could even kill Meier, could she?”
Margarite tilted her head right and left, then returned back to normal. Despite being completely silent, she had a powerfully surreal look.
“Well, she always falls flat on her head when she tries to run normally. I doubt she has the physical capability to kill Meier.”
“What about magically?”
“I guess if she were to order her sheep to kill anyone from a distance she… probably could, but does Meier really look like someone who would be killed by a bunch of sheep?”
“I don’t even think she could control her own sheep that well.”
“What if she’s playing dumb…”
Margarite was lowering her jaw at a delicate anger at Mana’s words, unclear if she was nodding or not.
“It’s not completely impossible.”
At the same time, Mana and Margarite looked over at 7753. Seeing both their faces made her feel pressured.
“Well, I guess I’ll uh… Go get the sheep girl.”
Mana talked to Shepherdspie and asked him to call Chelsea over. Despite Chelsea repeatedly saying “But Merry-Chan’s not like that!!!” She returned to the main hall.
Since Meier’s killer and the Gate’s destroyer wasn’t here, perhaps now everyone could work together, now that their source of doubt has disappeared. Mana placed her fingers on her chin, seemingly thinking about something.
“If we’re cooperating, we should do what we can…”
“Huh? Oh, yes.”
“If we don’t unite against a common foe, the victims could increase.”
“I would… rather not let that happen.”
Mana looked up. 7753 as well. The sky was red. The sun had already begun to set. Magical Girls could see perfectly in the dark, but their foe might also be a Magical Girl as well. Then the danger will only increase. Mana began speaking, before Agri raised her hand.
“A minute?”
After she made sure that no one was there, Agri began.
“My Nephi can hear the voices of the dead. If she could hear Meier’s voice, we might learn something.”
Nephilia was saying something, but nobody could hear her voice. She pulled on Agri’s sleeves, frowning while shaking her head. Clarissa pointed at Nephilia.
“What’s up with her? She don’t want it?”
“Nephi… doesn’t like to use her powers. She doesn’t like touching dead bodies. Still, now’s not the time for that. I think she should use her powers anyway.”
Nephilia nodded many times, she said something, but no one can really hear her. She seemed to be affecting Mana, since Mana also dropped her tone.
“What do you mean ‘hear the voices of the dead’?”
“It’s just as it sounds, Nephilia’s Magical Skill is hearing the voices of the dead.”
7753 felt her heart skip a beat. When she heard the words ‘hear the voices of the dead’, it made her hug both arms faster than she could think. If the dead could speak, what would they say to her. What would she ask of them? She wasn’t afraid, nor was she trying to make excuses. She had difficulty expressing her feelings to it.
“So, like a seance?”
“No, that involves asking questions to the dead.”
She swore she could hear Ragi mumble “That’s not suspicious at all,” under his breath. Agri turned to Margarite.
“Well, er… May we… touch the corpse? We should be able to hear her voice-ish? It’s actually kind of like listening to a recording.”
7753 breathed out, noticing that she had been holding her breath this whole time. Mana was biting her lower lip, it seemed like she looked troubled earlier.
Navi cut in while scratching his head.
“So wait, you can’t talk with the dead. The dead can’t talk back to you. It’s actually a repeated recording kinda thing?”
“Yep. Exactly what it is.”
“Isn’t that, kinda… useless? Cuz’ I mean, all you’ll probably hear is ‘AAAAAH’ or ‘GYAAAA’ and stuff.”
Nephilia scooched while mumbling something, and was going “Hmhm” while nodding her head, as Agri looked up.
“The more she touches, the further back the voice can go.”
Navi made a difficult looking face—which he’s made several times now today—Agri saw it and closed an eye.
“So what’s it going to be? If we’re going to use Nephi’s powers, we’ll need Meier’s… uh… body.”
She was probably saying it softly so that Yol won’t hear. Yol was somewhere further away being hugged by Rareko.
Margarite immediately responded.
“That would be dangerous.”
“I know it’s dangerous. We can’t just let Nephi do it alone.”
Mana tilted her head.
“So you’re suggesting we all go there? To where Meier was killed?”
Ragi stabbed the ground with his cane.
“We can’t just all leave at once. These people broke terminals and showed up out of nowhere. They’re professionals.”
“Then how many should we send?”
“B-But wait, if the killer’s with us. That’s also dangerous.”
“How quickly can Nephilia use her powers?”
“Shouldn’t be too much of a concern.”
“But is it worth it? Just to hear what Meier has to say?”
“If we don’t, then we won’t know anything at all, old man! What are you saying.”
“Don’t you question my validity!”
Although they bantered a little more than that, in the end Nephilia and a couple of others went to Meier’s body. They were told to return as soon as possible if anything happened. Nephilia, Margarite, Tepsekemei, and Clarissa. 7753 prayed that everything would go well.
☆ Touta Magaoka
For some reason, he couldn’t feel it. He couldn’t feel that Meier had been killed, that the Gate had been broken and they couldn’t return home. He knew he was scared, but he also didn’t think this was real. Although he was slightly distracted because he had to comfort someone, he was still nervous. Someone was murdered, their escape route was blocked, and this was happening in real life. In somewhere sunny and warm, it didn’t seem like a place where this would happen.
His head and heart were spinning out of control, but even so, he was blown away. They were amazing, he thought. He’s heard that Magical Girls and Mages were cool but now that he’s seen them in action, he thought “This is just like an Anime!” Especially 7753, who you couldn’t hide anything if she put her goggles on.
There were adults that disgusted him too, and adults that shouted at each other, he felt so bad seeing 7753 being nervous and shouted at.
Despite 7753 looking quite miserable, all he could think when he remembered her was “Wow, she’s cool!” Even though this isn’t the time to think “This is cool!” Yol was crying, Meier was annoying, but she was always with Yol, so she was like a family to her. Just like how his aunt would’ve been to him. If his aunt was killed in the same way, he knew he would cry just as well. Although she barely knew Meier, watching Yol cry was enough to make him sad as well. To think, he was just talking to her about the latest meta strategy, and now that’s all behind him.
That’s why she’s with Yol right now. Margarite told him to “Take care of Yol,” but he’d do it even if she didn’t ask anyway.
When he looked at Yol, he wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t know what to say. He wanted to protect her, but he didn’t know what he could do, so he just kept on stroking her back. But if he could do something, he thought that’d be a good thing.
7753 was apologizing to people and everyone was getting angry, but he knew that in order to make the best of things, everyone had to work together now. If this were a detective manga, then the killer would be one of them, but 7753’s goggles made sure that wasn’t the case. Being able to get everyone to cooperate, Magical Girls are cool, thought Touta.
The adults were talking about this and that, but he got the gist that they were going to use Nephilia’s powers to listen to Meier’s voice or something. Margarite had told him “If anything happens, find an adult and run. Take Yol’s hand and run if you can’t do that,” with a serious face. Touta also nodded seriously. “Don’t be like Deathprayer… Don’t be brash and bold like your aunt. You wouldn’t be able to do anything if it comes to bloodshed,” she said with a difficult face, and Touta still nodded. Afterwards, Margarite only turned around once, before looking forward and going with the other Magical Girls.
Touta thought for a moment. “Hang on a moment,” he said as he separated from Yol and Rareko. He went to 7753, who was behind Mana.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
7753 had her goggles above her school uniform cap. So it seems she doesn’t always wear those goggles.
“Can you… look at me?”
“I’ve already looked at you. You’re fine. Don’t worry!”
“N-No, I meant… Can you check my… Magical Potential?”
7753 raised her eyebrows slightly, she seemed worried. She looked at Mana for a bit, but Mana was busy talking with the other adults. Mana actually looked pretty young, but she talked like an adult. Probably because she was a Mage.
“Okay, let’s take a look!”
7753 put on her goggles and looked at Touta. Touta straightened himself up so much his fingers were actually stretched as well. 7753 then lifted her goggles up.
“Well… you don’t have any yet.”
She said yet! That means possibly he could have some in the future. But probably not in time for right now.
“Um… What about Magical Girl potential?”
“Huh?”
“I heard that Magical Girl and Mage potential is kinda different. I uh, also heard that, even boys can become Magical Girls.”
7753 placed her goggles down, then put it back up.
“...You don’t have a lot.”
“...Did you look right?”
“Yes, I did… I switched to my Magical Girl potential settings. It’s a hotkey item, since I use it a lot.”
Touta gasped. “Thank you!” he said bowing his head as he returned to Yol and Rareko. Yol had stopped crying now. Still, she was sad. With a lonely looking face, she looked at Touta and had a face that said “So she’s really dead.” He sort of regretted leaving her to go to 7753.
“I’m sorry.”
“Did… You have something to ask her or something?”
“Well…”
He didn’t really feel good saying he asked if he had Mage potential. Yol and everyone else seemed like they were obviously Mages, but Touta had no potential… He puffed out his chest a bit.
“I was just wondering if I had any Magical Girl potential.”
“Magical Girl?”
“If I could be a Magical Girl…”
I’d be able to protect you, but he didn’t want to say it, as he felt too embarrassed. He’d be able to cheer her up too. He’d be able to be there and lend his strength. He’d be able to do all of that. Margarite also said something about “don’t be brash like your aunt,” but if he was a Magical Girl, he felt like he could have a chance.
“...I was just wondering if I could make you safe or be useful, y’know?”
“Being a Magical Girl is very difficult. Especially for boys.”
“I know, but I know there are boys too!”
“I also can’t be a Magical Girl.”
“You too?”
“If you ask around, they can test you for it. There’s people who examine adults and kids. Plenty of them. I’ve been taking medicine for it but nothing came out of it…”
Talking about her past, Yol seemed a bit, just a bit, back to being happy again. She looked up, and this time the one with the crying face was Rareko.
☆ Miss Margarite
Fortunately, no problems occured.
With Margarite in the lead, they went to the place where Meier was killed, and it didn’t look like Meier’s remains were disturbed. Even though this is her second time seeing this, she felt the same. She wanted to look away, but didn’t. Margarite observed the other Magical Girls with her. Tepsekemei was floating in the air, Clarissa’s movements were fast, clearly physically well-trained. No matter how old she was as a human, she was a veteran Magical Girl, Margarite could see that. Then there was Nephilia, who had very dull movements, at least compared to other Magical Girls. As a Magical Girl, Margarite judged her as average.
Before coming here, Mana seemed to have many doubts. Margarite couldn’t just ignore her worries. That’s why they had to rely on Nephilia’s powers if they can. After she squatted in front of the body and said a small prayer of respect, she beckoned Nephilia over. Nephilia walked and retreated back half a step, and winced. Her face never seemed happy, as if she was constantly disgusted. She grumbled and muttered and whispered in Margarite’s ear.
“What? ...She’s very… Torn apart… Don’t wanna... touch…”
With Clarissa booing her from all the way back there, Margarite placed her hand on her hips. There’s no way she was going to let Nephilia go home after they came all this way and she tells them this now.
Despite Nephilia not wanting to do that, it seems she’s read the air around her and reluctantly agreed. She sniffed something in the air, noticing the smell, and started.
Nephilia got on her knees, sitting next to the body, nervously placing her hand on Meier’s face, then she pulled away, then she extended it again, like she was taking her sweet time touching it, and finally she started to stroke her. As she began stroking her, Nephilia’s negative face gradually disappeared, she began to speed up and started stroking the head faster. The blood flow had already stopped, but the ground was still dirty. Nephilia’s knees were stained in blood, but she didn’t mind.
Margarite didn’t lose any attention on the other Magical Girls, even though she was watching Nephilia. Despite seeing a corpse and Nephilia’s behavior, Tepsekemei seemed to be expressionless. Mana brought her along, so she was clearly not a rogue. But she was… very weird. Clarissa had a very drawn back face, her catlike ears were pointed downwards as if she was feeling down herself. She was far easier to undertand if she was good or bad.
Then, Nephilia screamed. It was a scream of a person who was killed. Margarite instinctively placed her hand on the handle of her sword. That wasn’t Nephilia’s voice. It was Meier’s. Tepsekemei flipped around once in the air, and Clarissa gave a yelp. Nephilia ignored the Magical Girls and continued stroking. It was one of a kind, it was as if they were pulling Meier’s spirit back from the dead. Margarite knows that’s not possible, but that’s what it looked like.
“Do you understand! If you resist, then I have no choice!”
It was Meier’s voice. She was firm and clearly told her opponent. It wasn’t Nephilia’s mumbling unhearable voice.
“What are you talking about? Think hard about this!”
It went backwards.
“Who are you? What are you doing in this island!?”
More backwards.
“You…”
Nephilia stopped moving. Her pupils widened, it’s like her mind had deepened.
“Now… talking with… Rareko…”
“You’re saying this was when she spoke with Rareko?”
Nephilia nodded, Margarite knew that face. That was the Nephilia she was familiar with. She didn’t have a haunted look on her face anymore, but a glazed face.
Margarite thought about what Meier said in reverse order.
Meier saw someone, and said “You…” Then at some point, she said “What are you talking about? Think hard about this!” as if she was replying to someone. Before that, she said “Who are you?” which means she didn’t know who they were. Not to mention Meier was alone. Since she was able to ask questions, this was probably a humanoid attacker and one who was capable of speech. Right…? As she thought about all of it, Clarissa spoke out.
“I didn’t wanna think about it, but I get how you feel.”
Margarite turned around. Clarissa smiled on one edge of her mouth, made a thumbs up, and pointed backwards.
“Wanna go back? It’s pretty dangerous and scary here, plus I’ve left my Master back there.”
Margarite wasn’t even thinking that, though what she was talking about was reasonable.
Margarite reflected on it a bit, then nodded, helping Nephilia up. The four Magical Girls returned back to the main hall again. Margarite apologized to Meier in her heart for using her body like this.
☆ Love Me Ren-Ren
The blistering atmosphere had disappeared. That was good. Ren-Ren hated when the atmosphere was so thick that she couldn’t pierce it. Even if she can handle liars, it’d be better if everyone got along anyways. There were people who didn’t think the same, but Ren-Ren still thought that way. Ren-Ren always thought that way, though she wasn’t really going to force them to do it. Only through 7753’s powers could they make sure that the culprit wasn’t one of them.
Agri also seemed to be in a lighter mood. Right now, Ren-Ren’s number one priority was her. It wasn’t just because she hired her with money either. She wanted to help Agri let go of her past and her unhappiness with her family. Ever since they got here, she’s been eyeing all the Mages’ backs, then looked towards their sleeves and even downwards. Ren-Ren assumed she was looking at their robes. Agri wanted someone to tailor her a robe that was as beautiful as the ones everyone else was wearing. Agri didn’t seem like the type to care about that, but she did.
Ren-Ren thought it was unfortunate that all these little sad things added up for her. From now on, she wanted to make her as happy as she could. That was Ren-Ren’s wish.
Occasionally, Agri would look at Navi. Navi would twist his neck so hard he’d make cracking noises as he watched Clarissa and the others run off. He was definitely worried about her. Ren-Ren was also worried about Nephilia. She knew that there was someone scary out there, but unless Nephilia left, they couldn’t even begin. Even though Nephilia was not suited for fighting at all.
Ren-Ren was able to talk with Yol. It was impossible to heal the scar in her heart after losing someone so close to her. But still, stopping her from crying and getting to talk with her again were two very important things. Her first priority was making herself cheer up, afterwards, she had to make sure everyone else’s moods were up as well. Even though she hasn’t talked with Yol that much, she could see how cute she was just by looking at her. No one cute should be crying, they should be smiling. If everyone smiled, then everyone can be happy together.
Thanks to 7753, she knew that at least the culprit wasn’t among them. Because of this, she’ll be able to find ways to get everyone to cooperate against a common enemy. That was good. Agri had rapidly offered suggestions like “We’ll set up the main building as our base of operations” or “We’ll make something like a noisemaker.”
However, there was one Magical Girl they haven’t checked yet.
Ren-Ren looked at Shepherdspie with just a little glance. He was tapping his toes on the ground, and every time she saw Shepherdspie, Chelsea wouldn’t be far behind.
The only one missing was the Magical Girl who could draw and control sheep, Pastel Merry. Not to mention, Dreamy☆Chelsea, who’d left for a while, still hasn’t returned.
The Mages were all talking about magical defenses, the Magical Girls were deciding watch rounds and patrol routes. In order for them to go home, they had to protect each other. The Gate was broken, and before they could try to communicate with the outside world, they had to make sure their defenses were fully ready first. As she thought of that, she heard coughing, and the coughing continued, Clantail hurriedly headed over to her employer and gave him a hand, seating him down in the stone steps. It seems that she always attended on Ragi.
Speaking of magical defenses, Ragi was sort of an expert on that, if he falls unconscious now, they could still desperately go on, but this is a humanitarian issue, Ren-Ren would rather have everyone healthy.
Shepherdspie went to grab some grayfruit from his supply, and when he came back, Chelsea had returned. Shepherdspie looked stunned, Chelsea was confused.
Chelsea muttered.
“She’s gone. Merry-Chan’s not here.”
Shepherdspie groaned.
“They’re gone too. The grayfruits.”
Ren-Ren had a shocked look on her face, and her jaw opened as she stared at the two.
Chapter 5
☆ Ragi Juu Nent
There was a folding chair and a plain metal table and several cables in the room, as well as a rhombus-shaped information terminal on the floor. Other than that, there wasn’t even a window nor any breathtaking sights in the barren stone room as he looked back one more time.
Within the operation room in the fourth floor, magic was supplied throughout the house, the annex, the island’s environment, and various other things in the mansion, from here, you can operate everything. The island’s environment, the plant’s health, the amount of rainfall and sunlight, all these environmental changes can affect both Mages and Magical Girls. The most suspicious source of the events would happen here.
A couple of hours ago, a strange series of events occured—The Magical Girls detransformed, the Mages fell unconscious—They resolved the incident by giving people grayfruit, passing about two to three pieces per person, creating a temporary solution. But it doesn’t mean that they discovered the cause, the incident has not yet been solved.
Before passing out, Ragi had taken a grayfruit from his sleeve. He ate it, and strength flowed from his belly, and from there, it gradually spread throughout his body, so it wasn’t a problem for him to recover with only one bite. He only needed one piece.
He placed his cane by the desk, and slowly sat on his chair. He opened his big mouth, and as if he was a youngster, took a bite, ripped the meat of the fruit on his teeth, and swallowed. The refreshing fruit’s smell and taste filled his mouth, and gradually spread through his entire body. It was as if he was as relaxed as he was but a minute ago.
Today, he ate two pieces of grayfruit, with its skin attached. He wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, checking his beard for any fruit juice. Satabourne made everything from small gems of use to complete rubbish, and although he was improving, is it as good as belonging in the pile of useful gems.
After confirming his beard was juiceless, he got straight to work.
First, he cast his first password, then he pressed the touch panel on the phone to activate the device. Then he entered the second password, and then the inside of the room became dark, and the edge of the small cramped room disappeared. He stretched his arms out and rotated it in a circle once, but couldn’t touch anything, afterwards, he walked in a circle, as he walked in circles, within the vast black space with no color in sight, the old Mage sat down.
In order to understand the system, he chose a simple method of information gathering. A variety of colorful runes appeared one after the other. They were supposed to intersect each other, but life isn’t that simple.
This information gathering system is an abnormally annoying construction. The creator—Satabourne—really didn’t consider any possibility of people using it after he had died. Despite having prepared a will for his death, he managed to miss this simple detail.
Satabourne used a variety of new inventions throughout the island, and since he continued adding more and more and retrofitted it, it became a veritable mass of blackboxes. His excitement clearly went to his head while he was making these. It’s fun to make things while making new elements. He could sympathize with that. Ragi also had fun when he was making new security measures for his office, incorporating new theses with old defense rituals to create an absolutely invincible magical fortress. He hadn’t considered his successor at all when it would be time to leave his office.
But there was one crucial fact about Ragi and Satabourne that was different.
Ragi was alive, so if someone were to succeed him and it was time for him to use his office, he could explain it.
Satabourne had died. He can’t explain this system at all.
The Mages were all foolish, the Magical Girls had all detransformed. Not to mention the cause was still uncertain. Even the information gathering device wasn’t working. Magic that Ragi had neither seen nor heard of continued to be used, and the information on the runes was updated in milliseconds.
There was no point to doing this further. Ragi turned off the simplified information terminal. The runes one by one disappeared, the once dark room began blinking, and the darkness disappeared. It had returned to its original small shape. He fiddled with the terminal on the metal table, he closed the floating window on the phone and left, and the terminal finally returned to its standby mode with its light on. Ragi sighed and got off his chair.
Making contact with this system was difficult, and he couldn’t find the cause of the incident. There was no way to investigate it by force, and they didn’t have enough manpower, tools, resources, mana, time, and a variety of things. He couldn’t even think of what he should do now. If he seriously wanted to investigate the cause of this incident, he should have everyone leave the island and bring actual experts in. His inner voice asked him “are you saying you’re not an expert?” which irritated him, so he calmed it down by deciding he’ll just lead the experts again by coming back to the island with them.
Ragi nodded. Yes, that’s a good idea.
When Ragi left the room, he saw Shepherdspie and Mana talking in the hallway. Their talk was interrupted when they saw Ragi, and without even hiding his face, Ragi bitterly gritted his teeth and shook his head.
“I haven’t been able to fix the issue, and I still don’t know cause.”
While the two of them remained stoic, he knew that they also felt some anger inside.
“Even with Satabourne’s new tech, it wasn’t able to properly investigate. I wonder if even 10 Magical Gems can solve this?”
Ragi glared at Mana and Shepherdspie in turn. Although Mana seemed pressured, she didn’t back her eyes away, and Shepherdspie glanced downward instantly. Although Mana was young, her spirit was strong as she had been the head of the Examination Division and the Investigators. Unlike Shepherdspie. Satabourne should really educate his nephew more, since Satabourne was so enthusiastic about research.
“If we can’t seal off this island, then we’ll have to keep investigating, and if we have to eliminate the problem, then I expect your cooperation.”
Although he’s the one that’s suggesting force, the fact that it was far too masochistic made Ragi feel frustrated with himself. He didn’t say any more than that, and while he was silent, he tried to get a bead on what the two were thinking, but then gave up. Mana was blocking his path forward.
“Well then…”
Mana was talking about several different things at once.
“So what would be the direct cause of this… If there was a reason, then… They wanted to knock out all the Mages, and detransform all the Magical Girls?”
Ragi’s face was somewhat loose, his wrinkles became less shallow.
“It’s natural to assume everyone has mana within their bodies.”
Even among Mages, the symptoms were a bit different. Ragi felt sick and stayed unconscious until he recovered, Navi Ru was completely normal and then immediately collapsed, Yol couldn’t even speak and was woozy, Mana and Agri were somehow able to talk, Shepherdspie wasn’t in a good condition, but was still able to walk, and Ragi had heard that Touta was completely fine and was able to walk and talk.
While all the Mages were affected, perhaps the severity was proportional to how much mana they had. It was obvious that Touta had no magical talent at all, Shepherdspie’s lack of talent was now proven beyond a doubt, Mana and Agri were so-so, Yol was a little more than them, Ragi’s known of Navi Ru since he was just a rookie. Regardless of his personality, the man had some talent, and the Osk Faction was not some place you could just join on a whim.
The Magical Girls’ symptoms were almost consistent. Compared to Mages, a Magical Girls’ mana was very similar to one another. Since they’re not reliant on it to live, they wouldn’t faint if it was completely gone. With mana they could transform, without mana they can’t. Simple as that.
As Mana listened to Ragi’s explanation, she nodded deeply. It wasn’t the expression of a person surprised to learn new information, it was the expression of someone who had thought of the same thing, and was glad that someone else confirmed it. As if she had thought of the same thing as Ragi and simply allowed him to say it to her and agree out of spite. Ragi became angry, and looking at Mana’s serious face only made his anger stay longer, he left the two alone and started to walk. He didn’t want to be blocked by Mana any longer. He heard Shepherdspie say “Thank you very much,” from behind him, but he just kept on walking without saying anything back.
Was Mana’s seriousness simply because of her being professional? Ragi didn’t think that was just it—But Ragi shook his head, this wasn’t the time to think about that. Mana can do whatever she wants, he’ll just leave her alone.
While Ragi kept doing what he did as well, he had some concern on him, and he couldn’t say he wasn’t completely worried. While his current duties were finished, there was still the matter of the will that wasn’t completely fulfilled, and that nagging feeling kept sticking on the back of his mind, not going away anytime soon.
Ever since Ragi came to this island, he’s always had a bad feeling that he was never able to get out. Because of that, he was always uneasy with everyone else, although looking back at it, Clantail never talked to anyone but Ragi.
She was unlike the others. Meier and Margarite was always talking with each other in whispers. Mana, 7753, and Tepsekemei introduced themselves to everyone. Navi Ru was always laughing and patting Agri in the back, and Yol was always playing with Touta. Shepherdspie… was someone who would make friends with his subordinate Magical Girls it seems, such as the fiercely eating Dreamy☆Chelsea—who apparently was a woman in a bathrobe before she transformed who had a certain sexual appeal and a magical aura about her—and Navi Ru and Agri in the annex talking with each other in whispers, which Ragi overheard slightly. When Ragi came in, however, they spoke even softer, and Ragi simply sat down on the sofa in the same room. Chelsea was probably Shepherdspie’s mistress. They were both good-for-nothings.
Aside from just Shepherdspie’s scouting, all of them had exchanges with each other. Fellow Magical Girls, fellow Mages, Mages and Magical Girls relaxing and talking together. But Clantail was different, she simply frowned along while Ragi walked. The evening sunlight pierced through the window, illuminating the dust dancing in the corridor.
He covered his eyes with his hand and held his breath as he walked into the dusty corridor.
Clantail was quiet. She had nothing to say for herself.
...However…
If they don’t come back from this, while the others made friends with each other, Clantail didn’t, and barely increased her social standing, she was just doing her job.
But that’s exactly why, he couldn’t say that he didn’t care about her, but he didn’t exactly care about her either. Why he had some interest in her, he couldn’t put into words. These feelings only made him more embarrassed. He shouldn’t be worried about Clantail. He wasn’t in any kind of relationship with her. She was just supposed to be an escort for him because he couldn’t find anyone else to do it for him.
While he was thinking, Ragi had a flash of thought. It wasn’t that he cared about Clantail, the problem was that Clantail was someone Ragi had brought with him, but she has yet to talk to anyone else. That’s right, he nodded to himself. That must be it, as he quickened his pace. Although he wanted to be out of it, he was the Head of the Magical Girl Division. Day after day, he always had to fight off challengers and potential successors. If anyone found out that “The Magical Girl Ragi had brought with him hasn’t even talked to anyone” when he came back home, his position as the Head of the Magical Girl Division would be in jeopardy.
That must be it, That has to be it.
It’s not strange to have a Magical Girl that can’t communicate with anyone be your escort as the Head of the Magical Girl Division, but if he did do it, it’ll only create more challengers.
Despite not having talked to anyone, Clantail had a general understanding of the situation, it could be said that she’s grasped it. That means she probably also had some measures on how to solve it.
Ragi shouldn’t really be talking to anyone else, but he should at least introduce himself. But shouldn’t she already know who he is because he’s the Head of the Magical Girl Division? Was she even someone he could introduce himself to? The only other Mage who knew him was Navi Ru, and he was a horrible person. The only Magical Girl he personally knew was one person, Mana’s little attendant, 7753. The only reason her name always came to his head was because it was very hard for him to remember Magical Girl names, and there were only a few Magical Girls with actual numbers for names. Whenever he was sorting out rosters of new Magical Girls, he separated them into two sections, “Weird names” and “Easy names”. Of course, then there was the long arm of the Human Resources—Ragi stopped his thoughts as his leg hit something hard. That’s right, this isn’t me being acquaintances with her, this is just me introducing myself to her. Just because I’m introducing myself, doesn’t mean I’m being friendly with her.
He knew that nobody would answer his thoughts, but he can’t help thinking it. While he pulled his robes up so they wouldn’t drag around the floor, he continued walking up the corridor. He walked downstairs, and looked across the windows to the ballroom. There, Clantail stood, but she wasn’t alone.
Nephilia was beside Clantail, stroking her back. Clantail kept looking forward without any mind. She wasn’t reacting at all. Meanwhile, Nephilia was mumbling something and giggling, she seemed like she was having fun.
Ragi had a thought, they looked good together.
He came to that conclusion after only thinking for a moment. Well, having friends was better than nothing.
☆ John Shepherdspie
Ragi walked off very angrily. In the end, they weren’t able to find the cause of the incident, but Shepherdspie was also quite relieved, that old man just makes everyone around him tense. Shepherdspie especially considers “Angry old men” his natural enemies.
As Ragi disappeared into the corridor, he looked away and met eyes with Mana. It was the eyes of an enthusiastic professional. People working at the forefront of their jobs despite being super young was also his natural enemy. People like Shepherdspie just had many natural enemies in general.
“We’ve reconfirmed it twice now, and we still don’t know the cause.”
“We’ve got nothing.”
“Nothing like this has ever happened on this island.”
“Although I haven’t actually stayed very long here, this is the first time I’ve seen this too.”
“Really…?”
After asking that question, Mana sighed and relaxed.
“I guess this stopped being a matter of heritage now.”
Oh boy, he thought. Even if this was an interrogation, she was doing this in public. Shepherdspie still wasn’t good at it.
“This is really troublesome. And you also don’t know what’s caused it right?”
“Not even Master Ragi could figure it out.”
“What about your uncle? What has he done recently?”
“Well, recently Uncle Satabourne’s brand new Barrier rituals are being formally considered by the Examination Division.”
“Would you say he may be highly skilled but had a bad nature?”
“I’d say weird is the better person.”
“He’s definitely weird.”
There was a pause. When he looked back at Mana, her seriousness started increasing again.
“No matter how weird he was, don’t you think asking Mages to bring along one or two Magical Girls in his clause was unnatural?”
The air felt different. Even the dull-headed Shepherdspie could sense it. This really was an interrogation. Despite his rapidly beating heart begging the conversation to stop, it’d be rude to interrupt her.
“Hm? Unnatural? How so?”
“Because I can’t see any connection between heritages and Magical Girls.”
“Well… I guess if that’s unnatural, it’s unnatural, probably. But you never know, maybe old man Satabourne was just a really weird man. Even I only came here because he told me to, he’s just that kind of guy. Maybe he really is that kind of guy.”
“But still…”
“Well then. If there’s anything strange at all that you think is happening, you can investigate plenty when you return. Since you’re a professional, I’d be very thankful if you do so. Some weird things are happening and we don’t know why, so we can’t just leave like this.”
“That’s true.”
He didn’t sound like a senior at all, but he was satisfied, and nodded. He wanted to say that he had stuff to do so he couldn’t just laze around here, but he didn’t feel like that’s something he should say, especially to someone younger than him.
He bade farewell to Mana and walked away, and five steps later he was stopped by her calling him. Although it didn’t look like she wanted to know more, Shepherdspie carefully turned back around.
“Something the matter?”
“Just wanted to thank you for the meal. It’s pretty delicious soup you made there. First time I tasted it.”
Without showing too much on his face, he acted like a senior and nodded promptly. Shepherdspie turned his back to Mana and walked away, loosening his cheeks. It’s a nice thought that she complimented the cooking, but his cheeks were still relaxed.
☆ Mana
After talking to them both, Ragi and Shepherdspie didn’t really seem to be bad people. They were certainly Mages with quirks, though Mana can’t say that all Mages have those quirks.
The one who would be able to easily control everything in this house would’ve been the host and direct descendant, Shepherdspie, but he didn’t seem like the type of person to do it. He was way too boisterous to be someone who’d deceive people.
But Mana still had a strange feeling about this.
After confirming that Shepherdspie was long gone, she entered the room with the terminal that Ragi had investigated earlier. The door hinge made a horrible noise, it clearly needs more oil. In the approximately three to four meter squarae room, there was a table, a chair, and a terminal, with some cables extending on the floor. There were no windows or dust. As Mana reached her hand out to the terminal, she felt a momentary numbness in her finger, which caused her to pull back out. She rubbed her fingers. This was a common warning. If she didn’t enter the proper password, it wouldn’t just be a warning.
Mana huffed out a small breath. She wasn’t some amateur that could be stopped that way.
She closed the door behind her, and huffed again. She just got a little upset is all.
She started walking, thinking. She had to think, her thoughts were like a mountain.
The clause that they had to bring Magical Girls was like a fishbone stuck in her throat. Why would they do that? To protect us from the wildlife? She was convinced of that earlier, but now that it’s come this far, she wasn’t anymore. They didn’t encounter a lot of wildlife on this island, so was it really enough to ask a Magical Girl to come along? Her thoughts then went to each successors’ Magical Girls. This was all too strange.
Navi and Agri told her that Shepherdspie had a Magical Girl Mistress. Well, according to how they described it, Chelsea really did seem like a mistress, being in nothing but a bathrobe when he saw her. She also called him “Shepherdspie-kun”—certainly a very mistressy thing to say—during dinner with Ragi, which made Ragi choke. It was a lot closer than just a money-based relationship. Despite being a host, he really was accepting of his Magical Girls. They made some good food and gave good hospitality.
Yol was playing some sort of card game, enthusiastically talking with Touta about it. Mana knew about those things. There was a time when Mana was into it too. To be so young and experience all those cheap and fun novelties. She was not being particularly high and mighty with Touta, though her House’s Magical Girl, Meier, seemed to serve Yol from the bottom of her heart. Her House always accepts Magical Girls, so perhaps they thought they were important?
Agri seemed to be close with her Magical Girls. However, she hired them using money, it didn’t look like a relationship that was only based on money. They seemed cheerful and close. Being the bastard child of a mistress, she would usually have a rougher life. Perhaps that was why she was much kinder to her subordinates.
You couldn’t see it at first glance, but Ragi actually seemed angry trying to pair up with a Magical Girl, and angrier still that he had to keep up the act. Legally, all he could do against all those Magical Girls that tried to steal information from him was report to the authorities, but all he could do was things legally. It was clearly too much for him to keep getting that treatment face to face. Especially since everyone treated it like some kind of sport, calling each other challengers. Was that why he was so angry? Or was it because he was the Head of the Magical Girl Division?
Navi was one of the elite Mages who Mana really can’t handle. Even when his subordinate, Clarissa, makes fun of him, he just laughs it off. Even to the other Magical Girls—which he would sometimes have perverted talks with—he still acts like a friendly old man who laughs and gives people pats on the back. Mana had heard that life was rough for Osk Faction Magical Girls, but were they all actually like that? Or perhaps he was the kind who keeps his business and private affairs separately.
Touta wasn’t really a Mage to begin with. Although his Magical Girl, Miss Margarite, would protect him with her life, he wasn’t really that big of a deal—To be fair, he was a kid. Margarite was probably only protecting him to that extent because he was related to Deathprayer.
Am I thinking way too into this? Mana thought to herself. With what Shepherdspie said earlier that she could just investigate after she got back. He was right. He wasn’t wrong. Still, Mana couldn’t help but think. For any other decent person, they wouldn’t think of anything unnecessary. No matter how unnecessary it was, they’d just shiver in their spines trying to think of it. The fact that they still don’t know what’s caused this would only make them shiver even more.
Ever since that time, when it happened, the fact that things are still progressing without Mana knowing the cause of these events is making her feel extremely anxious.
She knows why she’s feeling this anxious. It was the incident that happened back in B-City.
Something had happened, but she didn’t know it was going to happen before it did. Even if she had been trapped by the barrier, if she could’ve just seen the truth, even half of it, things might have been different. Thinking about that before bed always made her stomach turn every time. In her dreams, she often solved the B-City case, and woke up eyes bulging every time she hears Hana’s voice beside her going “Wow, that was a big case, wasn’t it?”
Just thinking about it made her grit her teeth, possibly because of her regret that she’s clenching. The only one who should bear that kind of regretful feeling should be Mana and no one else, not one, not even two. So with that feeling in her gritting teeth, she knew she had to keep going.
She heard a loud voice and was pulled back to reality. It was a shouting, angry voice.
From the windows, she saw people gathering outside. They seem to be gathering around someone. She heard not one, but several angry shouts, and some crying noises as well.
Mana ran through the stone corridors and jumped down the stairs in eight skips, though she couldn’t even register the shocks in her legs, even though she was leaning in the handrails, she landed on her knee. Now’s not the time to get hurt! Mana scolded her feet. She stood up and ran again.
The voices were getting closer. She went outside, careful not to touch the cracked walls. Shepherdspie and Ragi, who went before Mana, had already arrived. Ragi was grasping his cane with a face that looked like he was biting back an insult, while Shepherdspie felt like he was frustrated or sorrowful. Shepherdspie turned around, noticing the sound of Mana’s footsteps, and met her eyes, with a slight “Ah” in his face.
“This is bad. This is really bad.”
His voice was also rising, Mana tried to calm him down, and by that she was also trying to calm herself down, she lowered her tone and slowly asked him to lower his as well.
“What happened?”
Shepherdspie’s restless eyes continued to look right and left, even behind him. Mana turned her eyes towards what Shepherdspie saw, following his obese body. It was a person. She saw the backs of Agri, Nephilia, Navi, Clarissa, Clantail, and 7753. Ren-Ren was standing near the big hole made in the atrium. Rareko was also in the middle. Somewhere else, there was Margarite, standing with an expressionless face, as Yol cried and cried into Rareko, as Touta also hugged Yol and rubbing her back.
“Is that…”
“Meier. She’s, um… She’s gone.”
Mana instinctively winced and looked at Shepherdspie. He was fumbling backwards, before moving his eyes downwards restlessly.
“Also… Rareko and Margarite said earlier but… the Gates are broken. Oh… What are we going to do?”
“Wait, the Gates? Both?”
“No, well… Yes. The West and the North… They said they were broken.”
Suddenly, Dreamy☆Chelsea popped her face out of the main building, making her way to the group seemingly wanting to know what’s going on, but none of the others were willing to explain, so she went to the closest person, Ren-Ren, to ask.
Mana took a deep breath, tilting her hat down to hide her face, and breathed out an even deeper breath. She made sure her heartbeat was calm before finally moving her hat back into position.
“So, Meier’s gone.”
It took several seconds for Shepherdspie to notice that he was being talked to, and he went back to restlessly looking around, remembering that he was, in fact, in a conversation with Mana. He had a surprised look on his face before he nodded. He saw Mana patiently waiting while biting her lower lip, and decided to speak before Mana lost her patience.
“Well, yes… It seems that Meier’s been, uh… murdered.”
“Murdered?”
It took several seconds for Shepherdspie to answer again, as if he really didn’t want to answer. He probably wasn’t trying to choose his words, and was just scared and nervous.
“Er, yes… It seems she was… slaughtered, and uh, had blood flowing everywhere.”
“But I thought you said this island’s been equipped with the latest crime prevention tech?”
“Er, I did… not. No, it hasn’t. Well… Not anything preventing people from slashing anyone apart. Or killing people… Or harming people… It’s not that kind of security system.”
So the master of this island never installed any security system. A possible cause for this would be the wild animals, but none of them could murder a Magical Girl. Which means that way of death had to be impossible.
Even though she was positive now that her bad feeling had been right, she wasn’t in a mood of saying “I told you so!” Instead, she simply wondered “Why’d it come to this?” The one job the Examination Division had was to make sure that this exact thing won’t happen in the first place.
Mana watched all of the Magical Girls and Mages in the group in order. Both 7753 and Shepherdspie were acting as usual, Navi Ru had his right hand on the upper half of his face while looking up at the sky, Clarissa was also looking up at the sky like she was drunk. Agri had a pale complexion as she asked Rareko something, Ren-Ren was trying to explain to Chelsea and support her as well. Yol was just crying, and Touta was also crying, but hugging Yol and patting her in the back as well. The only one that was normal and was Tepsekemei, floating near Dreamy☆Chelsea, who yelled at her earlier, as usual.
Mana touched her own face, she probably didn’t have a ferocious look on right now.
Margarite was talking to Nephilia, who replied back with a sour look on her face. It looked like she had a hard time trying to understand her words. She put her ears next to her mouth, and exchanged several words with her, before finally raising her head to face Mana. It was only for a couple of seconds, but Margarite and Mana stared at each other, then turned her eyes away and looked behind Mana, walking away from the group, then she turned around again and walked back towards the group.
Nephilia talked to Agri, now that Margarite was gone.
Mana placed her right hand in her pocket, and clumped a small pebble in her palm. People were confused, nervous, no one was able to give any instructions at this rate. But just to be safe, there was no guarantee that someone wasn’t listening in.
In the center of the pebble, she knocked on a slightly dented part with her middle finger three times. The hustle and bustle of the crowd started to fade, their voices seemingly now far away, now no one could hear her voice.
Originally, this pebble was used among aristocracy. Mana’s heard that they would often use these to have private conversations at ballrooms or tea parties, nowadays, this was a standard issue Magical Item among Examination Division members. It affects the air vibrations so that voices won’t travel.
“Meier was killed head-on.”
45 degrees behind Mana, she could hear Margarite’s voice. Everyone in the Examination Division always talked succinctly. Mana also had questions.
“Was Meier powerful?”
“If I were to fight her, even I wouldn’t know if I could win.”
“Powerful, then. So, do you know anyone here that could kill her head-on?”
“There’s no way to truly predict how a fight with two Magical Girls would fall”
“Do you think Rareko would have a likely chance of killing her?”
“Meier was probably Rareko’s master in combat. I doubt that she has the skill to exceed her master, but-”
“There’s no way to predict how a fight with two Magical Girls would fall. Right.”
“Correct.”
Mana took a deep breath. It’s practically useless to know that it was hard to predict a fight between two Magical Girls. She reconsidered her questions, and asked about the Gate.
“Can the Gate be repaired? How was it broken?”
“Physically destroyed. Some parts were also taken.”
“Parts? What parts?”
“We already tried to repair the Gate, Rareko did, actually. Her Magical Skill was suitable for the situation, being that it can repair anything that’s broken, but since there was a part that connected the power to the Gate that was missing, she couldn’t repair it. Her powers don’t allow her to make new parts from scratch.”
“So the culprit wanted the parts… No, I don’t think that’s it. The culprit wanted to crush any escape routes so they could get to their goal. Perhaps they knew about Rareko’s power, and broke it in a way that couldn’t be repaired?”
“Perhaps Rareko herself did it?”
“What do you think, Margarite? Was it someone from the outside, or the inside?”
“If it was someone from ours, this would be fairly strange. When Meier was killed, everyone was here. Rareko would have to go out with Meier if that were the case.”
“So, someone not from our group?”
“I didn’t say that. It’s not definite. Even if we couldn’t do it, we shouldn’t exclude Magical Skills to make up for what we physically can’t do.”
Mana opened her mouth a bit, and unconsciously sighed. When she sighed, Margarite stopped talking, perhaps noticing her sighing.
Mana spilled the rest of the words that she wanted to say.
“Is there a way for us to confirm?”
“We both need to have a way to confirm if the Mages and Magical Girls are actually what they are. The question is, do you know a way to do that, Mana?”
“Oh, yeah. I actually do”
She continued to breathe.
“We’ll have 7753 investigate.”
“You mean with her goggles? She tried that earlier…”
“We’ll just change the settings. ‘Who killed Meier and sabotaged the Gate’, then-”
As she spoke, there was an old Mage who looked her way. Mana quickly tapped her fingers on the pebble, and returned the airflow back to normal. She heard Ragi’s voice. Despite being old, he had a very loud voice.
“...So, we’ll use 7753’s Magical Skill. No matter what happens, we need to make sure nobody around us is going to do something bad to us in the meantime.”
Oh right, the old man’s the Head of the Magical Girl Division. No wonder he knows 7753’s powers. Mana turned her eyes away and looked towards the group. Everyone was looking her way. Even 7753 was looking her way. She wanted to sigh. It’s not like she didn’t want to sigh before this, anyways.
☆ 7753
The only time 7753’s goggles were needed was when things were really bad. There was almost no time where she could just use her goggles to make someone happy. 7753 knew that too, that’s why she felt gloomy. Not that she wanted a situation where someone was killed to be a good thing. She just hated always having to do something like this.
7753 had already tried to find a target with her goggles earlier, but unlike back then, this time everybody was looking at her. She can’t just glance at them anymore.
“Nonononono, you can’t do that! I-It’s a violation of privacy!”
A violation of privacy is a very useful infringement phrase. It’s always something to say at the last minute, no matter what, and it usually passes through without fail, probably because 7753’s powers were easily exploitable to do some bad things, which could socially obliterate her. That was probably why.
“That is bad. Really bad,” repeated Navi constantly. Ragi rubbed his beard and huffed his breath, moving ahead of Navi.
“We shouldn’t be going against each other’s backs. Even if she was able to find out who was plotting, we shouldn’t have to keep that information secret. Observe, be mature, and be compassionate about it.”
“No, no, no, old man. I’m not just thinking about myself here, but everyone else as well. I’ve been given orders by the Osk Faction, but I can’t tell if those orders are to be seen by anyone else or not, and I’d rather not risk it.”
Ragi’s face turned red astonishingly fast, he stumbled trying to swing his cane, so much so that Clantail had to support him. Ragi continued swinging his cane while leaning on Clantail.
“You’re acting like the Osk Faction is some criminal organization with a mastermind! You have no respect! That’s right! You’re just a bastard! It’s bastards like you that are dirtying the Osk Faction’s name!”
“You’re overreacting! I’m a member of the Faction first and foremost. Don’t just sully the Boss’ name like that!”
“Then stay out of the Faction! It’s people like you who make the Osk Faction’s name be a dirty word!”
Mana slowly walked forward. It seems 7753 wasn’t the only one thinking that these two would bicker to no end, Shepherdspie looked relieved, and Agri’s tired face finally relaxed.
“If we just set 7753’s goggles’ settings, then we can adjust what she sees, right?”
7753 suddenly nodded as if she was shaken.
“Yes. Uh. Yep! That’s right! I won’t be able to see everything at once!”
“So, are you able to just see who Meier’s killer and the destroyer of the Gate’s is?”
Navi was saying all of this with a difficult look on his face. Agri knuckled her palms.
“In that case, you need to check it now.”
Shepherdspie also nodded in response. Perhaps Navi knew that the only one objecting was himself, so he reluctantly accepted.
“I guess if that’s all she can see, then I’m fine with it. Sorry if I’m suspicious.”
He added that last bit as an excuse.
7753 set her goggles, then checked on everyone. In order to convince Navi that she can only see the settings she can see, she lent Navi her goggles, and had him look at Mana and 7753.
“Well, I guess this is fine.”
She checked to see if there was anyone who destroyed the Gate, or killed Meier, and changed the settings to check again, and no one did. 7753 took a deep heavy breath. Although she was able to talk to everyone more calmly now, it wasn’t any more relaxed than before. That’s because there was still someone who killed Meier and destroyed the Gate in hiding.
“Wait a minute.”
Dreamy☆Chelsea balled her fists.
“We haven’t checked everyone yet!”
“Wait, we haven’t?”
She folded her fingers and counted one by one. Navi and Clarissa. Ragi and Clantail. Touta and Margarite. Yol and Rareko. Agri and Ren-Ren and Nephilia. Shepherdspie and Chelsea.
Mana heard a voice from beside her.
“Where’s the sheep girl?”
“Oh, that’s right.”
Navi remembered something about being swallowed by a hoard of sheep. The Magical Girl who was swallowed by her own hoard of sheep, as well as the one who lost her sheep as well, was missing.
Chelsea huffed and puffed and pointed at her own heart.
“You all forgot Merry-Chan, so Chelsea’s mad!”
“Oh, um, sorry… We didn’t intentionally forget her. Wasn’t she in the main building?”
“She was! You told her to clean up the kitchen, Shepherdspie-Kun!”
Shepherdspie nodded, he was going to say “So you are useful for something,” but Dreamy☆Chelsea interrupted him.
“Merry-Chan’s not a bad girl! So she wouldn’t kill or destroy anything!”
Chelsea confidently placed her hands on her hips, she also said “There’s no way a Magical Girl can be a bad girl!” As she said that, Mana approached 7753 and whispered to her.
“Do you think the sheep girl is the culprit? She doesn’t seem like the culprit-y type.”
“At first glance, I’m thinking… Margarite. I don’t think Merry could even kill Meier, could she?”
Margarite tilted her head right and left, then returned back to normal. Despite being completely silent, she had a powerfully surreal look.
“Well, she always falls flat on her head when she tries to run normally. I doubt she has the physical capability to kill Meier.”
“What about magically?”
“I guess if she were to order her sheep to kill anyone from a distance she… probably could, but does Meier really look like someone who would be killed by a bunch of sheep?”
“I don’t even think she could control her own sheep that well.”
“What if she’s playing dumb…”
Margarite was lowering her jaw at a delicate anger at Mana’s words, unclear if she was nodding or not.
“It’s not completely impossible.”
At the same time, Mana and Margarite looked over at 7753. Seeing both their faces made her feel pressured.
“Well, I guess I’ll uh… Go get the sheep girl.”
Mana talked to Shepherdspie and asked him to call Chelsea over. Despite Chelsea repeatedly saying “But Merry-Chan’s not like that!!!” She returned to the main hall.
Since Meier’s killer and the Gate’s destroyer wasn’t here, perhaps now everyone could work together, now that their source of doubt has disappeared. Mana placed her fingers on her chin, seemingly thinking about something.
“If we’re cooperating, we should do what we can…”
“Huh? Oh, yes.”
“If we don’t unite against a common foe, the victims could increase.”
“I would… rather not let that happen.”
Mana looked up. 7753 as well. The sky was red. The sun had already begun to set. Magical Girls could see perfectly in the dark, but their foe might also be a Magical Girl as well. Then the danger will only increase. Mana began speaking, before Agri raised her hand.
“A minute?”
After she made sure that no one was there, Agri began.
“My Nephi can hear the voices of the dead. If she could hear Meier’s voice, we might learn something.”
Nephilia was saying something, but nobody could hear her voice. She pulled on Agri’s sleeves, frowning while shaking her head. Clarissa pointed at Nephilia.
“What’s up with her? She don’t want it?”
“Nephi… doesn’t like to use her powers. She doesn’t like touching dead bodies. Still, now’s not the time for that. I think she should use her powers anyway.”
Nephilia nodded many times, she said something, but no one can really hear her. She seemed to be affecting Mana, since Mana also dropped her tone.
“What do you mean ‘hear the voices of the dead’?”
“It’s just as it sounds, Nephilia’s Magical Skill is hearing the voices of the dead.”
7753 felt her heart skip a beat. When she heard the words ‘hear the voices of the dead’, it made her hug both arms faster than she could think. If the dead could speak, what would they say to her. What would she ask of them? She wasn’t afraid, nor was she trying to make excuses. She had difficulty expressing her feelings to it.
“So, like a seance?”
“No, that involves asking questions to the dead.”
She swore she could hear Ragi mumble “That’s not suspicious at all,” under his breath. Agri turned to Margarite.
“Well, er… May we… touch the corpse? We should be able to hear her voice-ish? It’s actually kind of like listening to a recording.”
7753 breathed out, noticing that she had been holding her breath this whole time. Mana was biting her lower lip, it seemed like she looked troubled earlier.
Navi cut in while scratching his head.
“So wait, you can’t talk with the dead. The dead can’t talk back to you. It’s actually a repeated recording kinda thing?”
“Yep. Exactly what it is.”
“Isn’t that, kinda… useless? Cuz’ I mean, all you’ll probably hear is ‘AAAAAH’ or ‘GYAAAA’ and stuff.”
Nephilia scooched while mumbling something, and was going “Hmhm” while nodding her head, as Agri looked up.
“The more she touches, the further back the voice can go.”
Navi made a difficult looking face—which he’s made several times now today—Agri saw it and closed an eye.
“So what’s it going to be? If we’re going to use Nephi’s powers, we’ll need Meier’s… uh… body.”
She was probably saying it softly so that Yol won’t hear. Yol was somewhere further away being hugged by Rareko.
Margarite immediately responded.
“That would be dangerous.”
“I know it’s dangerous. We can’t just let Nephi do it alone.”
Mana tilted her head.
“So you’re suggesting we all go there? To where Meier was killed?”
Ragi stabbed the ground with his cane.
“We can’t just all leave at once. These people broke terminals and showed up out of nowhere. They’re professionals.”
“Then how many should we send?”
“B-But wait, if the killer’s with us. That’s also dangerous.”
“How quickly can Nephilia use her powers?”
“Shouldn’t be too much of a concern.”
“But is it worth it? Just to hear what Meier has to say?”
“If we don’t, then we won’t know anything at all, old man! What are you saying.”
“Don’t you question my validity!”
Although they bantered a little more than that, in the end Nephilia and a couple of others went to Meier’s body. They were told to return as soon as possible if anything happened. Nephilia, Margarite, Tepsekemei, and Clarissa. 7753 prayed that everything would go well.
☆ Touta Magaoka
For some reason, he couldn’t feel it. He couldn’t feel that Meier had been killed, that the Gate had been broken and they couldn’t return home. He knew he was scared, but he also didn’t think this was real. Although he was slightly distracted because he had to comfort someone, he was still nervous. Someone was murdered, their escape route was blocked, and this was happening in real life. In somewhere sunny and warm, it didn’t seem like a place where this would happen.
His head and heart were spinning out of control, but even so, he was blown away. They were amazing, he thought. He’s heard that Magical Girls and Mages were cool but now that he’s seen them in action, he thought “This is just like an Anime!” Especially 7753, who you couldn’t hide anything if she put her goggles on.
There were adults that disgusted him too, and adults that shouted at each other, he felt so bad seeing 7753 being nervous and shouted at.
Despite 7753 looking quite miserable, all he could think when he remembered her was “Wow, she’s cool!” Even though this isn’t the time to think “This is cool!” Yol was crying, Meier was annoying, but she was always with Yol, so she was like a family to her. Just like how his aunt would’ve been to him. If his aunt was killed in the same way, he knew he would cry just as well. Although she barely knew Meier, watching Yol cry was enough to make him sad as well. To think, he was just talking to her about the latest meta strategy, and now that’s all behind him.
That’s why she’s with Yol right now. Margarite told him to “Take care of Yol,” but he’d do it even if she didn’t ask anyway.
When he looked at Yol, he wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t know what to say. He wanted to protect her, but he didn’t know what he could do, so he just kept on stroking her back. But if he could do something, he thought that’d be a good thing.
7753 was apologizing to people and everyone was getting angry, but he knew that in order to make the best of things, everyone had to work together now. If this were a detective manga, then the killer would be one of them, but 7753’s goggles made sure that wasn’t the case. Being able to get everyone to cooperate, Magical Girls are cool, thought Touta.
The adults were talking about this and that, but he got the gist that they were going to use Nephilia’s powers to listen to Meier’s voice or something. Margarite had told him “If anything happens, find an adult and run. Take Yol’s hand and run if you can’t do that,” with a serious face. Touta also nodded seriously. “Don’t be like Deathprayer… Don’t be brash and bold like your aunt. You wouldn’t be able to do anything if it comes to bloodshed,” she said with a difficult face, and Touta still nodded. Afterwards, Margarite only turned around once, before looking forward and going with the other Magical Girls.
Touta thought for a moment. “Hang on a moment,” he said as he separated from Yol and Rareko. He went to 7753, who was behind Mana.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
7753 had her goggles above her school uniform cap. So it seems she doesn’t always wear those goggles.
“Can you… look at me?”
“I’ve already looked at you. You’re fine. Don’t worry!”
“N-No, I meant… Can you check my… Magical Potential?”
7753 raised her eyebrows slightly, she seemed worried. She looked at Mana for a bit, but Mana was busy talking with the other adults. Mana actually looked pretty young, but she talked like an adult. Probably because she was a Mage.
“Okay, let’s take a look!”
7753 put on her goggles and looked at Touta. Touta straightened himself up so much his fingers were actually stretched as well. 7753 then lifted her goggles up.
“Well… you don’t have any yet.”
She said yet! That means possibly he could have some in the future. But probably not in time for right now.
“Um… What about Magical Girl potential?”
“Huh?”
“I heard that Magical Girl and Mage potential is kinda different. I uh, also heard that, even boys can become Magical Girls.”
7753 placed her goggles down, then put it back up.
“...You don’t have a lot.”
“...Did you look right?”
“Yes, I did… I switched to my Magical Girl potential settings. It’s a hotkey item, since I use it a lot.”
Touta gasped. “Thank you!” he said bowing his head as he returned to Yol and Rareko. Yol had stopped crying now. Still, she was sad. With a lonely looking face, she looked at Touta and had a face that said “So she’s really dead.” He sort of regretted leaving her to go to 7753.
“I’m sorry.”
“Did… You have something to ask her or something?”
“Well…”
He didn’t really feel good saying he asked if he had Mage potential. Yol and everyone else seemed like they were obviously Mages, but Touta had no potential… He puffed out his chest a bit.
“I was just wondering if I had any Magical Girl potential.”
“Magical Girl?”
“If I could be a Magical Girl…”
I’d be able to protect you, but he didn’t want to say it, as he felt too embarrassed. He’d be able to cheer her up too. He’d be able to be there and lend his strength. He’d be able to do all of that. Margarite also said something about “don’t be brash like your aunt,” but if he was a Magical Girl, he felt like he could have a chance.
“...I was just wondering if I could make you safe or be useful, y’know?”
“Being a Magical Girl is very difficult. Especially for boys.”
“I know, but I know there are boys too!”
“I also can’t be a Magical Girl.”
“You too?”
“If you ask around, they can test you for it. There’s people who examine adults and kids. Plenty of them. I’ve been taking medicine for it but nothing came out of it…”
Talking about her past, Yol seemed a bit, just a bit, back to being happy again. She looked up, and this time the one with the crying face was Rareko.
☆ Miss Margarite
Fortunately, no problems occured.
With Margarite in the lead, they went to the place where Meier was killed, and it didn’t look like Meier’s remains were disturbed. Even though this is her second time seeing this, she felt the same. She wanted to look away, but didn’t. Margarite observed the other Magical Girls with her. Tepsekemei was floating in the air, Clarissa’s movements were fast, clearly physically well-trained. No matter how old she was as a human, she was a veteran Magical Girl, Margarite could see that. Then there was Nephilia, who had very dull movements, at least compared to other Magical Girls. As a Magical Girl, Margarite judged her as average.
Before coming here, Mana seemed to have many doubts. Margarite couldn’t just ignore her worries. That’s why they had to rely on Nephilia’s powers if they can. After she squatted in front of the body and said a small prayer of respect, she beckoned Nephilia over. Nephilia walked and retreated back half a step, and winced. Her face never seemed happy, as if she was constantly disgusted. She grumbled and muttered and whispered in Margarite’s ear.
“What? ...She’s very… Torn apart… Don’t wanna... touch…”
With Clarissa booing her from all the way back there, Margarite placed her hand on her hips. There’s no way she was going to let Nephilia go home after they came all this way and she tells them this now.
Despite Nephilia not wanting to do that, it seems she’s read the air around her and reluctantly agreed. She sniffed something in the air, noticing the smell, and started.
Nephilia got on her knees, sitting next to the body, nervously placing her hand on Meier’s face, then she pulled away, then she extended it again, like she was taking her sweet time touching it, and finally she started to stroke her. As she began stroking her, Nephilia’s negative face gradually disappeared, she began to speed up and started stroking the head faster. The blood flow had already stopped, but the ground was still dirty. Nephilia’s knees were stained in blood, but she didn’t mind.
Margarite didn’t lose any attention on the other Magical Girls, even though she was watching Nephilia. Despite seeing a corpse and Nephilia’s behavior, Tepsekemei seemed to be expressionless. Mana brought her along, so she was clearly not a rogue. But she was… very weird. Clarissa had a very drawn back face, her catlike ears were pointed downwards as if she was feeling down herself. She was far easier to undertand if she was good or bad.
Then, Nephilia screamed. It was a scream of a person who was killed. Margarite instinctively placed her hand on the handle of her sword. That wasn’t Nephilia’s voice. It was Meier’s. Tepsekemei flipped around once in the air, and Clarissa gave a yelp. Nephilia ignored the Magical Girls and continued stroking. It was one of a kind, it was as if they were pulling Meier’s spirit back from the dead. Margarite knows that’s not possible, but that’s what it looked like.
“Do you understand! If you resist, then I have no choice!”
It was Meier’s voice. She was firm and clearly told her opponent. It wasn’t Nephilia’s mumbling unhearable voice.
“What are you talking about? Think hard about this!”
It went backwards.
“Who are you? What are you doing in this island!?”
More backwards.
“You…”
Nephilia stopped moving. Her pupils widened, it’s like her mind had deepened.
“Now… talking with… Rareko…”
“You’re saying this was when she spoke with Rareko?”
Nephilia nodded, Margarite knew that face. That was the Nephilia she was familiar with. She didn’t have a haunted look on her face anymore, but a glazed face.
Margarite thought about what Meier said in reverse order.
Meier saw someone, and said “You…” Then at some point, she said “What are you talking about? Think hard about this!” as if she was replying to someone. Before that, she said “Who are you?” which means she didn’t know who they were. Not to mention Meier was alone. Since she was able to ask questions, this was probably a humanoid attacker and one who was capable of speech. Right…? As she thought about all of it, Clarissa spoke out.
“I didn’t wanna think about it, but I get how you feel.”
Margarite turned around. Clarissa smiled on one edge of her mouth, made a thumbs up, and pointed backwards.
“Wanna go back? It’s pretty dangerous and scary here, plus I’ve left my Master back there.”
Margarite wasn’t even thinking that, though what she was talking about was reasonable.
Margarite reflected on it a bit, then nodded, helping Nephilia up. The four Magical Girls returned back to the main hall again. Margarite apologized to Meier in her heart for using her body like this.
☆ Love Me Ren-Ren
The blistering atmosphere had disappeared. That was good. Ren-Ren hated when the atmosphere was so thick that she couldn’t pierce it. Even if she can handle liars, it’d be better if everyone got along anyways. There were people who didn’t think the same, but Ren-Ren still thought that way. Ren-Ren always thought that way, though she wasn’t really going to force them to do it. Only through 7753’s powers could they make sure that the culprit wasn’t one of them.
Agri also seemed to be in a lighter mood. Right now, Ren-Ren’s number one priority was her. It wasn’t just because she hired her with money either. She wanted to help Agri let go of her past and her unhappiness with her family. Ever since they got here, she’s been eyeing all the Mages’ backs, then looked towards their sleeves and even downwards. Ren-Ren assumed she was looking at their robes. Agri wanted someone to tailor her a robe that was as beautiful as the ones everyone else was wearing. Agri didn’t seem like the type to care about that, but she did.
Ren-Ren thought it was unfortunate that all these little sad things added up for her. From now on, she wanted to make her as happy as she could. That was Ren-Ren’s wish.
Occasionally, Agri would look at Navi. Navi would twist his neck so hard he’d make cracking noises as he watched Clarissa and the others run off. He was definitely worried about her. Ren-Ren was also worried about Nephilia. She knew that there was someone scary out there, but unless Nephilia left, they couldn’t even begin. Even though Nephilia was not suited for fighting at all.
Ren-Ren was able to talk with Yol. It was impossible to heal the scar in her heart after losing someone so close to her. But still, stopping her from crying and getting to talk with her again were two very important things. Her first priority was making herself cheer up, afterwards, she had to make sure everyone else’s moods were up as well. Even though she hasn’t talked with Yol that much, she could see how cute she was just by looking at her. No one cute should be crying, they should be smiling. If everyone smiled, then everyone can be happy together.
Thanks to 7753, she knew that at least the culprit wasn’t among them. Because of this, she’ll be able to find ways to get everyone to cooperate against a common enemy. That was good. Agri had rapidly offered suggestions like “We’ll set up the main building as our base of operations” or “We’ll make something like a noisemaker.”
However, there was one Magical Girl they haven’t checked yet.
Ren-Ren looked at Shepherdspie with just a little glance. He was tapping his toes on the ground, and every time she saw Shepherdspie, Chelsea wouldn’t be far behind.
The only one missing was the Magical Girl who could draw and control sheep, Pastel Merry. Not to mention, Dreamy☆Chelsea, who’d left for a while, still hasn’t returned.
The Mages were all talking about magical defenses, the Magical Girls were deciding watch rounds and patrol routes. In order for them to go home, they had to protect each other. The Gate was broken, and before they could try to communicate with the outside world, they had to make sure their defenses were fully ready first. As she thought of that, she heard coughing, and the coughing continued, Clantail hurriedly headed over to her employer and gave him a hand, seating him down in the stone steps. It seems that she always attended on Ragi.
Speaking of magical defenses, Ragi was sort of an expert on that, if he falls unconscious now, they could still desperately go on, but this is a humanitarian issue, Ren-Ren would rather have everyone healthy.
Shepherdspie went to grab some grayfruit from his supply, and when he came back, Chelsea had returned. Shepherdspie looked stunned, Chelsea was confused.
Chelsea muttered.
“She’s gone. Merry-Chan’s not here.”
Shepherdspie groaned.
“They’re gone too. The grayfruits.”
Ren-Ren had a shocked look on her face, and her jaw opened as she stared at the two.
