Magical Girl? I Got Scammed into It!

"I had so much fun! I want to do it again!"

She could completely understand that urge to play something again after trying it once. Everyone had felt that way as a child; if something was fun, they never wanted to leave without experiencing it two or three more times.

[Master, boohoo... I want to play too. I want to join you all too.]

Ruby's voice in her mind made Ando Meiko frown slightly.

In fact, ever since they had entered the amusement park, Ruby had been complaining to her nonstop in her mind.

Though Meiko had indeed harbored a desire for revenge at first, making Ruby watch the rest of them have fun like this did seem a little too cruel.

Should I let her out to play for a while?

Meiko considered it, but the situation clearly did not support such a course of action.

After all, Fuko was here too.

[How about this? Be good and stop bothering me. After a while, I'll find an excuse to leave Fuko and Nanako alone, then I'll let you out to play.]

[Okay! Master, it's a promise!]

[A promise once made cannot be taken back.]

Meiko could vividly feel the change in Ruby's emotions after she agreed. Even in her mind, Ruby's entire tone became full of energy and joy.

Did Ruby really like amusement parks that much?

She did not quite understand.

After dealing with Ruby's issue, she returned to enjoying herself.

There was just one thing that bothered her a little. Every time they came out of an attraction, Fuko's gaze would drift toward the Ferris wheel, either intentionally or otherwise.

"Fuko, do you want to ride the Ferris wheel?" Meiko asked.

"Huh? You noticed?"

It was not a matter of noticing or not. Fuko's expression had been far too obvious.

"Yeah. I've actually wanted to ride the Ferris wheel with Koichi for a long time, but I never had the chance."

Since she had been found out, Fuko stopped hiding it. She spoke bashfully, glancing at Meiko from time to time, her intentions impossible to miss.

"Then let's go together. I've been wanting to experience riding a Ferris wheel too."

Embarrassingly, she had never ridden one in her entire life.

There simply had not been anything like that nearby when she was younger. Judging by how new the Ferris wheel at this amusement park looked, it had probably only been built this year or last year.

Still, as one of the quintessential date spots in anime, novels, and games, never having ridden one could not stop her from yearning for it. Now that she had the chance, she could experience it with Fuko.

"Yay! Meizi is the best!"

"Big Sister Meizi is the best! Big Sister Meizi is the best!"

"Of course I am." She and Fuko laughed as they gently patted Nanako's head.

Whenever she walked alongside and took care of this Evil God hatchling, Meiko felt that rather than a little sister, Nanako was more like an innocent daughter filled with curiosity about everything around her.

Volume One: How I Got Scammed into Becoming a Magical Girl: Chapter Twenty-One: Imaginary Practice

"Let's take a short break. I'm getting a little tired from all the playing."

"Meizi, I'll go buy some drinks. What do you want?"

"An iced cola will do. What about Nanako?"

"Iced cola!"

Nanako raised both hands and copied them, making Meiko and Fuko exchange smiles. "All right, all right. Big Sister will go buy them now."

Watching Fuko's retreating back, Meiko leaned against the chair.

Feeling tired was perfectly normal.

Since it was a weekday, there were not many people at the amusement park. Without having to line up, they could ride four or five attractions in the time it used to take to enjoy just one.

Even though they had only spent the morning there, they had already played far more attractions than they ever had when they came to amusement parks as children.

The wait was not long. Before long, Fuko returned carrying a tray with three cups of cola and crepes they used to buy every time they passed by them as children.

"Cough, cough, cough! What is this? It's sweet, but it burns."

Nanako, drinking cola for the first time, clearly could not adapt to the carbonated drink. But after playing for so long, she was thirsty, and the flavor made her want to drink more and more.

"This one's for Meizi." Fuko handed her a cream crepe covered in a thick layer of strawberry sauce.

"Fuko really does know me well." Meiko had actually noticed that when she ate Fuko's cooking.

Fuko knew very well that her tastes had not changed since childhood.

Fuko had gotten one thing wrong, though. Meiko might have chosen iced cola because she wanted to quench her thirst, but she had not known Fuko would buy crepes as well.

With the heavily sweet cola stimulating her taste buds, the crepe tasted completely bland, like chewing wax. She could only force herself to eat it to fill her stomach.

After eating, the Ferris wheel was absolutely the most suitable ride. Fuko had considered that first, which was why she had saved this attraction until now.

And because there was no one around, they did not even have to wait. They could get on as soon as they walked over.

As the Ferris wheel slowly began turning, the innocent little Evil God leaned against the window and watched the scenery gradually recede with rapt attention. And she was not the only one—this was also Meiko's first time looking down from a Ferris wheel.

It truly had a unique charm. Seeing the city where she lived from above, she had never imagined it could be so beautiful—beautiful enough to make her want to protect it.

"It's so beautiful..." Fuko turned toward the window and could not help sighing from the bottom of her heart.

Meiko saw her reaction. She had never observed her this closely before, but this childhood friend who had always been labeled an airhead really was quite pretty.

She was cute, considerate, gentle, and had a great figure. A girl like that should never lack boys pursuing her, yet she did not seem to have a boyfriend.

Maybe she did and simply did not want to tell her, though that seemed unlikely. More than that, Meiko worried that this absentminded girl might get tricked by some strange man.

Thinking of that, she suddenly wanted to know more about the childhood friend with whom she had had a two-year gap. "Fuko, how have you... been lately?"

"Huh? What's with the sudden question?"

"I just wanted to know a little more. We exchange messages occasionally, but we only chat about everyday things, right?"

"Mm... I've been doing okay. Going to school, coming home from school, nothing much different from usual. It's just been a little less fun."

"What kind of fun?"

Fuko smiled slightly. The Ferris wheel cabin was not large to begin with, and with a small lean forward, she brought herself close to Meiko. "Of course, I've been missing Koichi, who was always by my side."

No wonder it was one of the classic dating spots. That simple action alone gave her a kind of ambiguous feeling she had never experienced before.

"Quit joking around."

"Honestly." Fuko straightened back up and leaned against the padded seat. "I wasn't joking with you."

Forget it. Asking had been pointless.

She knew this girl had loved teasing her since they were children. No matter what she said, she could never win against Fuko, so she decided not to ask any further.

As she took in the unusual feeling this city gave her, the brief journey came to an end. Finally, amid Fuko and Nanako's reluctance, the Ferris wheel slowly descended.

"I want to ride it again."

"I'll pass." Meiko waved a hand. "If you two want to ride again, I can wait here."

"Mm, if Big Sister Meizi isn't riding, then forget it."

"Yeah, it's not much fun if Meizi isn't there."

The reason she did not want to ride again was simple. Even the best scenery would grow boring if she saw it too many times. If she only came once in a while, perhaps every ride could bring her a new kind of comfort.

In short, she wanted to keep it as something special, not treat it as an attraction to ride repeatedly just because it was pretty or fun.

"Hmm?"

A sound like an eggshell cracking reached her ears, making her turn around instinctively. Yet no matter how hard she looked, she could not find where it had come from.

[Ruby, did you hear any strange sound?]

[It's probably just Master's imagination. I didn't hear anything.]

Ruby's voice in her mind sounded a little sulky, but if even she said she had not heard anything, then it should be fine. Ruby would not joke about something like this.

"Is there anywhere else Meizi wants to go? We've played for so long that I'm starting to feel tired."

"Yeah, there is. Let's go try it." She led Fuko to a building beneath the shade of the trees.

"So it's here. You always loved playing here when we were little."

"Yeah. Shooting guns is every little boy's dream, after all." Meiko walked to the stall and picked up an air gun.

Yes, this was the air gun range. There were naturally two areas here: one where hitting targets earned prizes, and another where people could simply shoot.

Meiko chose the area without prizes because it was cheaper.

There was no need to choose something especially expensive just for simple practice. Still, she could always use it as a chance to win a couple of gifts for Fuko and Nanako to take home.

She bought some pellets and the right to use an air gun, then casually fired a few shots at the distant target. Every pellet struck the target, but they were nowhere close to the bullseye.

Perhaps because she had played it as a child, she had already found a bit of the feeling after only just picking it up.

Naturally, Meiko had a reason for coming to play this game.

Since Ruby had said the results of releasing magic could be achieved through imagination, then logically, this game could also serve as imagined practice for battles she might face in the future.

Volume One: How I Got Scammed into Becoming a Magical Girl: Chapter Twenty-Two: An Emergency at the Amusement Park

After hitting several bullseyes in a row, she stopped at just the right moment. Walking into the other area, she happened to see Fuko and Nanako playing too.

Ten shots cost one thousand yen. It looked like a lot, but the guns in this area had all been subtly adjusted by hand. Even if one made good use of the sights, the bullets would still deviate slightly.

"How's it going?"

"Big Sister Fuko has already shot sixteen times."

Sixteen times without hitting once. Fuko was still just as bad at this sort of thing as ever.

"Mm, why can't I hit anything? Why? That can't be right!"

Judging from her tone, she was clearly getting carried away. In that case, it was time for Meiko to step in and stop Fuko from spending any more money.

"Let me do it." A few minutes later, the stunned stall owner watched the three of them leave the attraction holding plush toys.

The prizes used to attract customers had been arranged with little tricks to make them difficult to knock down. Yet this beautiful girl had used the last four pellets in the gun—one to adjust, then the remaining three all hit, and every one of them knocked down a prize.

If she kept playing with that kind of skill, the owner would probably lose even his underwear.

But after that, she discovered something interesting. Even when she did not look through the sights, she had a feeling guiding her toward a certain direction.

She had not planned to hit anything with the final shot, merely following that ridiculous feeling, but it had somehow hit anyway.

Maybe it was just blind luck.

The funniest part was that when she planned to stop while she was ahead, the owner practically stumbled over himself to bring them the prizes that had fallen, terrified that she would pay for another magazine.

The three of them had already had their fill of fun, and since it was midday, it was time to eat. She could use this excuse to send Fuko and Nanako away, then let out Ruby, who had started muttering again.

"Meizi, where should we go eat later?"

"The old place we used to go to as kids. Take Nanako to that restaurant first and order some food. I'll use the restroom and come over."

"Okay." Though deceiving them made Meiko feel a little guilty, what else could she do? It was not like she had asked to be stuck with such an idiot.

"Nanako, Big Sister will take you to eat something delicious."

"Yay! Big Sister Fuko is the best."

Watching their backs as they left, Meiko waited until she was sure they had not turned back. She hid beneath the shade of a tree and was about to take off the necklace around her neck when a tremor sounded in the distance.

[Level 2 Master?]

The sound came from the direction of the Ferris wheel.

She raised her head and saw only one sight: the Ferris wheel's load-bearing axle snapping.

Without its load-bearing axle, the Ferris wheel began collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Every metal object nearby was twisted by some force into tangled spirals.