Watching the Battle, Part One

(Bai Ziye)

As soon as I reached the underground shelter, I took the elevator back to the first floor and found a secluded corner to transform.

A magical girl's powers had to be developed on her own; they weren't something she could use the moment she received them. A-Yao's magic was highly complex, even more cumbersome than my Time Control Magic. It definitely wasn't as simple as blowing bubbles, but it was also true that it had no offensive power...

Sigh. It really was worrying.

Right now, I felt much like a parent watching their child go to school alone for the first time. I had said I would let her go by herself, yet I was still following from afar.

Yeah, I was her bodyguard tonight.

Even if Miss Luer hadn't made that request, I would have kept an eye on A-Yao. After all, he was my best friend, someone I'd played with since childhood.

"1.6 kilometers... That's a little far."

There were only sparse crowds on the streets, and not many people were taking shelter. Incidents where Monsters broke through the blockade were rare, and most people believed magical girls would easily deal with them, so they chose to enter the shelters built into their apartment complexes.

Even if the buildings overhead were reduced to rubble, the underground shelters would not collapse. Those had been the safety standards from the very beginning.

I didn't hide myself and simply appeared on the street, drawing the attention and encouragement of quite a few passersby heading for shelter.

"It's Miss Miluno! Good luck tonight too!"

"Please stomp that Monster to death like you did this afternoon!"

"Ooh! Miluno looked at me! I'm so happy!"

I even made eye contact with a magical-girl fanatic at the end. Instinctive disgust rose in me. It was because nerds were all like this that I didn't want A-Yao to know my identity!

Unfortunately, their expectations were destined to be disappointed. After all, I wasn't the one fighting tonight.

After passing through the cordon set up by the armed police, I climbed the outer wall of another building somewhat farther from the holographic marker. It was taller here, and with the wind blowing over me, I had a perfect view of the battlefield below. It was an ideal place to watch the fight.

Ceruno, dressed in a pink-and-white dress, was already in position. Judging by her Battle Dress, she fit people's image of a magical girl better than I did.

Not long after I reached the roof, a hexacopter drone flew up before me. Its mechanical arm held out a pair of headphones from beneath its body.

I took them and put them on. The front ends of the headphones spread slightly and secured themselves inside my ears.

"Good evening, Miss Miluno!"

"Miss Luer? Did you have something to tell me?"

"You're really so cold... I just came to say hello. It's nothing important."

I looked down at the street below. Ceruno was talking to someone as well. It was probably Miss Heat Haze, who had replaced me as her instructor.

"Since you want me to serve as her bodyguard, shouldn't you give me the rookie's information as well? Otherwise, I won't know when she needs me to step in."

"Oh, of course. Just wait a moment. I have Ceruno's fitness data from this afternoon."

The drone departed, and then...

Bzzzz—

The distinctive low-frequency hum of a wormhole opening rang out. A blue pillar of light shot into the sky, summoning a humanoid natural disaster from another world.

It was a Tiger Monster with horns. Its enormous body was covered in swollen muscles that looked immensely powerful. Compared to it, Ceruno, its opponent, appeared incredibly small.

"A big one came out... It's too far away. I can't see clearly."

Magical girls all possessed absurd physical abilities, and I was one of the best among them. But my vision and hearing had improved relatively little, so I still couldn't clearly make out Ceruno's performance on the battlefield.

"The drone went to get you a tablet. You can use it to check Miss Ceruno's information and watch the broadcast."

The Association streamed magical girls' battles online for the entire world to watch, earning enormous revenue to cover its financial shortfalls.

But it was a bottomless pit. This little money could never fill it.

The Tiger Monster launched a sneak attack on Ceruno. Though its first strike missed, its brutal strength was clear—an outdoor air-conditioning unit crumpled like papier-mâché in its hands, easily smashed into scrap metal.

Even for a magical girl, it would be unthinkable for Ceruno to take a direct hit. Fortunately, she had ways to counter it.

Bubbles.

Trapped in a weightless environment, the Tiger Monster had strength but nowhere to use it. Its limbs found no purchase, and just as it seemed helpless, it suddenly opened its bloody maw and spat out a flashing bolt of golden lightning.

Ceruno barely dodged the attack with a roll, but the building beneath me shook violently... That mouth cannon had actually hit my building.

A fire broke out below, followed by explosions. Billowing smoke rose up and completely blocked my view.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Your tablet should have arrived."

Miss Luer's voice came through.

"Yours?"

I glanced at the tablet brought by the drone. A cute bunny sticker was attached to its back. Since the drone had fetched it from Miss Luer, that meant...

"Could it be that you're near the cordon?"

"Yes, I'm with the armed police unit."

"Couldn't you just stay in the airship?"

"I still need to arrange the cleanup after the battle, so I have to be on site. Besides, we liaison officers rarely get to sit in an office."

Quietly dedicated support staff. Miss Luer and the Association's other logistical personnel certainly had it hard too.

I only gave Ceruno's profile a cursory look. I hadn't expected it to be so detailed that it even recorded her bust size... They're way too big.

Then I switched to the live broadcast.

On-screen, Ceruno covered herself in a Magic Membrane as a defensive measure. I had mentioned this method of application before, but I hadn't expected her to put it into practice right away. Fortunately, it worked fairly well. Even after taking a slap from the Tiger Monster head-on, she could still get back up.

As long as the bubble didn't burst, the object inside would never be harmed.

But that idiot was grinning foolishly. I wondered if she'd been slapped stupid.

"...There are still so many people watching."

Though it was late at night, tens of millions of viewers were still watching the livestream, and the number continued to rise... Magical girls had truly become a focus of the entire world's attention.

Not only as heroes, but as idols as well.

"The stream's popularity is indeed quite high tonight, and the revenue is considerable too. After all, this is a rookie magical girl's debut battle. Quite a few people are interested in this girl."

"I see. Then how many viewers did my debut battle have a year and a half ago?"

Curious about the numbers from my own debut battle, I couldn't help asking.

"Miss Miluno cares about that sort of thing too? Let me see... Uh, 120,000."

"What? That's so low!?"

Even I couldn't keep it together. A worldwide livestream, yet only 120,000 people had watched...

"The entire battle only lasted twenty-seven seconds. You dealt with the Monster before anyone had the chance to pay attention... I think Miss Miluno herself bears much of the responsibility."

Twenty-seven seconds had already been a rather slow battle for me.

Back then, I didn't know my limits, so I increased my speed one step at a time. In later battles, I never needed that long. Some Monsters died by my sword before they could even display their abilities.

"But the recording of that battle has a lot of views! Some people even made slow-motion versions just to admire your beauty. If you're willing, I can have the drone film a personal promotional vid—"

"No need."

"Oh..."

Miss Luer's suggestion was cut off by my reply.