I, a Magical Girl

(Bai Ziye)

My name was Bai Ziye.

Male, seventeen years old, a student.

Average height, average build, reasonably handsome.

I had a good friend I had grown up with since childhood.

His name was Sun Yao, though everyone called him A-Yao.

He had the honest, harmless chubby face unique to otaku.

But in my opinion, he was not actually fat.

His face was just rounder, with a bit of harmless belly fat. His weight was within the normal range too; he was at least twenty pounds away from obesity. He was a total fake fat otaku.

But that was not the point. The key was that he was a magical girl... fanatic.

Not only was his room filled with all kinds of magical girl figures, posters, and other merchandise, his favorite magical girl just so happened to be "Moonlit Gale Miluno."

To be honest.

"Miluno" was the name I used as a magical girl.

Yeah, I worked part-time as a magical girl... the proper kind, of course—the kind who never had her clothes blown off for fanservice.

All things considered, if I wanted our friendship to remain untainted, I had to completely hide the fact that I was a magical girl.

To keep that secret, I had not even registered with the Magical Girl Association.

Even if I defeated monsters, I did not get paid a cent. I was a completely unpaid volunteer, doing mandatory charity work.

Though apparently, if I registered, all my previous bounties would be paid out at once...

When would I register?

Naturally, when I graduated.

When would I graduate?

The moment my identity was exposed, I would immediately graduate from the magical girl business!

That had been my plan all along.

To survive the scorching summer afternoon, A-Yao and I sat in a KFC, playing the latest hit, Monster Hunter: Rise.

Fast-food restaurants were great places. As long as your skin was thick enough and you could endure the staff's barely concealed stares, you could order a cup of Coke without ice and sit there all afternoon.

The lack of ice was to keep the Coke from getting watered down.

"Whoa! I got a Nargacuga Medulla!"

After finishing a hunt, A-Yao shouted excitedly. The staff's looks became even more disdainful, almost painfully so.

But I did not care.

Seriously, my face would not even turn red.

Compared to the embarrassment of "fighting monsters in a girly short skirt while being livestreamed across the internet," this was nothing.

Looking at the "Quest Complete" message on the screen, I put down my Switch and rolled my wrist.

"A-Yao, I have a question for you."

Hearing that, A-Yao put down his Switch too and looked at me suspiciously.

"What is it?"

"What exactly do you like about Miluno?"

The moment I asked, he slapped the table and jumped to his feet.

"Oh, now you've got me fired up!"

Even his breathing became hurried, like a hyperthyroidism patient.

"Don't get so worked up. Please answer calmly."

"A mysterious yet powerful icy beauty, the magical girl with the least information available online, yet she can rank in the magical girl Top 10! And she's an insanely cool speed-type too... Miluno not only operates in this city, but her activity range is right near our home! That means as long as I keep going out, one day I'll get to see her in person... Aren't those reasons enough?"

A-Yao's face and neck were red as he spoke. I twitched the corner of my mouth.

Still, everything he said was true.

It was not very humble of me to say so myself, but I really was extremely strong as a magical girl.

The Star Crystal that mysterious magical girl had given me was practically a cheat made specifically for me. Once transformed, I could unleash power beyond normal limits. So far, I had never encountered a monster I could not defeat in a single exchange, so I had never fought long enough for my clothes to get blown off.

If we were only comparing the duration of each battle, I might have been the strongest magical girl.

Maybe because I was too strong, monsters in Skyreach City generally avoided my territory. Security around here was so good that even housing prices had risen.

But...

"Keeping active outside—that was why you asked me out today?"

"What else?"

He shrugged.

"If it wasn't for Miluno, wouldn't my room be more comfortable?"

"No, I absolutely do not want to go to your room..."

I refused on the spot.

You wanted me to stay in a room filled with merchandise and photo books of myself?

What a joke. I would rather take on more than ten monsters at once than stay in that hellhole for ten minutes.

We were not poor enough to need to mooch air conditioning in a fast-food restaurant. A-Yao was even a rich second-generation heir. After all, without money, he could not afford all that expensive magical girl merchandise. Yet somehow, despite being born with a golden spoon in his mouth, he had turned into this kind of otaku. Looking back over every little moment we had spent growing up together, I wondered when exactly he had become like this.

"You really don't understand the appeal of magical girls!"

A-Yao shouted at me. Just as I was figuring out how to roast him, a piercing evacuation alarm sounded outside.

[Alert: A Phase Wormhole has been detected in D4, D3 District. It is expected to fully open in five minutes. Residents in the area, please evacuate in an orderly manner.]

"...Oh? It had been a while."

We were in Skyreach City's D3 District. Holographic evacuation arrows lit up across the streets.

Even though a destructive monster was about to appear, A-Yao looked thrilled.

I called out, "Come on! Time to evacuate, okay?"

"Huh? Evacuate? Yezi, there's a monster near us! I'm not going to a shelter—I'm going to see Miluno!"

"Miluno wouldn't show up in broad daylight... Hey! Don't run off!"

A-Yao ran off without looking back.

That idiot really intended to find somewhere to secretly watch a magical girl fight. He had even left his phone and backpack on the table, so I had to pack them up for him.

It took a little time to gather everything. By the time I stepped outside, he had already vanished. The streets were crowded with civilians evacuating in an orderly fashion. It was as packed as a temple fair; one moment of carelessness and we could get separated. Once separated, we would not be able to contact each other.

And he had left his phone behind too.

"Damn it, he ran so fast. I told you he wasn't fat..."

I looked around and found the holographic marker for the Phase Wormhole in the sky.

It was a massive aerial arrow projected by a high-altitude phase detection craft, visible from every corner of D3 District.

It was not far from here.

If you encounter ads asking "Are you a real person?", ignore them, close them immediately, and do not scan any codes or send text messages!

It was no more than three hundred meters away, by my estimate.

Had this monster gambled on me not acting during the day and come to raid my turf?

But I was not the only magical girl in this area...

Uh...

The other one did not seem very reliable.

The evacuation alarm continued blaring overhead.

External Invader

A collective term for enemies that came to this world through wormholes.

They generally took the form of alien humanoids, which was why they were called "monsters."

Twelve years had passed since the Zero External Invader appeared and caused immense casualties, yet humanity still did not know where these foreign enemies came from.

Conventional weapons were like swords and blades drawn on paper to them, incapable of harming them in the slightest.

Fortunately, magical girls capable of transforming with Star Crystals had also emerged among humanity, allowing this world to maintain a brief peace.

After twelve years, every nation had long since established comprehensive response strategies.

Although people had become accustomed to these sudden alarms, and zero casualties had become commonplace, panic still accompanied every one of them.

With two backpacks on my back, I went against the increasingly sparse crowd to look for A-Yao.

Since I knew where the Phase Wormhole was, I could just search around the marked location. I was bound to run into him.

"Stop!"

But I had barely squeezed out of the crowd when an arm wearing an armband blocked my path.

"An External Invader is about to appear ahead! Ordinary civilians are prohibited from approaching. This area is unsafe. Leave immediately!"

It was an armed police officer responsible for the evacuation. His stance was completely uncompromising, but I could not exactly pull out my Star Crystal to prove I was a magical girl.

Bzzzz—

The distinctive low-frequency sound of a wormhole opening rang out. A blue pillar of light shot into the sky at the arrow marker's location.

"Five minutes already... No, did it open early?"

"All units, stay alert!"

The fully armed police officers turned around and aimed their guns inside the cordoned-off area.

"Leave now! Don't make me put you in handcuffs!"

After getting yelled at like that.

I could not bring myself to say that my friend had sneaked in. Even if they saved that idiot, he would still spend a few days drinking tea at the detention center.

In that case, I had no choice!

I would break my usual rule just a little today...

I followed the evacuating crowd for a few steps, then slipped into a narrow alley between buildings.

After making sure there were no cameras and no one had noticed me, I opened the nylon wristband on my hand and took out my crystal.

So beautiful...

Even after seeing it countless times, the Star Crystal still fascinated me.

Its luxurious dark gold reflected a brilliance as dazzling as the sun.

When that radiance merged into my chest, I became the magical girl Miluno.

(The transformation time of magical girls was only 0.5–2 seconds.)

I wore over-the-knee boots with rather thick heels. I had not been used to the heel height at first, but I had long since adapted. Even running across walls and rooftops in them felt as easy as walking on level ground.

My lower half was covered by a black ruffled skirt trimmed in gold. Beneath it were layers upon layers of soft tulle, like clouds, protecting against any possible wardrobe malfunction from every angle.

My upper body wore a simple short-sleeved white shirt, with a thin ribbon bow at the collar. Beneath the short sleeves were black fingerless arm warmers, also edged in gold.

My neat, unadorned long hair fell behind me. My features were somewhat stern, and because I rarely spoke to hide my identity, people saw me as the cool and aloof type.

My weapons were two jeweled daggers fastened at my waist, though I rarely used them.

Despite being called magical girls, quite a few of us did not use magic as our primary attack method and instead fought physically.

This outfit was fairly modern and convenient for moving around in, aside from the platform boots. Some magical girls transformed into Western dresses with corsets and hoop skirts. Just imagining fighting in clothes that made breathing difficult was torture.

After hiding the two backpacks, I kicked off the wall and leaped to the rooftop.

The fight over at the wormhole had probably already begun.

The blaze from the explosions was visible even from this far away. If I was not mistaken, those explosions had not even been caused by the monster...

"Tch, that girl didn't take A-Yao out along with the monster, did she?"

The other magical girl in this district was exceptionally unstable.

I ran across the low rooftops toward the wormhole. The armed police on the ground noticed me and even saluted.

"Just a moment ago, they had been acting all fierce."

I leaped high into the air above the marker.

I saw it!

Below was a sea of flames, blast craters, and billowing black smoke. This street looked as if it had suffered an artillery barrage. Heat surged from the stone-like monster's mouth like scorching lava... but I could not see the other magical girl.

Had she been defeated?

It certainly looked troublesome... but not for me.

"Time-Freeze!"

I used magic.

In an instant, everything around me slowed down—except for me!

"Maybe you had only just come out, but it was already time for you to leave!"

I descended.

I did not even need my weapons.

The thick sole of my boot, carrying the acceleration of gravity, stomped viciously onto the monster's head.

"Mahou-Shoujo Kick!!!!"

(Note: a reference to Rider Kick.)

Its entire stone head shattered beneath that flying kick, erupting with scorching lava.

Before the magma pouring from its body could touch me, I had already jumped backward and moved away.

"Not bad destructive power, but you're still too slow."

I snapped my fingers and released the slow-motion magic.

The monster that seemed like mere fodder to me collapsed.

"No, should I say I was just too fast?"

But through the obstructing smoke, A-Yao stood there in a miserable state, supporting a heavily injured magical girl.

He looked this way with pleading eyes.

"Please, help her!"