Magical Girl? I Was Set Up to Become One! Chapter 16

"Isn't today a day off? There are so many people here. If they're preparing for the school festival, there shouldn't be this many, right?"

"Did you forget about tomorrow's event?"

"Oh!" Only then did she remember. There was supposedly a pre-school-festival rally tomorrow. No wonder there were so many people over by the stadium—they had all come to practice.

"What do you think, Ando? Want to give it a try?"

No wonder Rei had come looking for her. She wanted to practice the three-legged race together.

Ando Meiko suddenly understood.

Then again, it made sense. The students only had a day and a half to practice, and she had left half a day early yesterday.

In other words, if she missed these few hours in the afternoon, she might have to compete tomorrow completely unprepared.

It did not matter if she embarrassed herself, but she could not possibly make Rei embarrass herself along with her.

Maybe because she had overlooked this, her body had brought her and her less-than-functional brain all the way to school.

In any case, coming over out of curiosity had been a great decision.

"Hurry up, Meiko. We might even be able to grab a good spot... Uh, sorry... I suddenly called you by your name."

"It's fine. We're partners now, so there's nothing wrong with calling each other by name, right?"

Ando Meiko was actually testing the waters with those words. Perhaps being able to call Rei by her name, and have Rei call her by hers, had always been her dream.

Upon hearing the suggestion, Rei took Ando Meiko's hand and gave her a playful smile. "Let's go, Meiko!"

If the person before her were still Ando Koichi, he could never have received such treatment. And now, Rei had taken the initiative, even if she might not have meant anything by it.

Rei's hand was soft and boneless, cool and comfortable to hold. To Ando Meiko, such a small hand was somehow filled with security, as though Rei herself was the one more suited to having a boyfriend.

Still, she felt that Rei's personality differed somewhat from her impression of her. But she did not want to care about such details. As long as Rei kept holding her hand, it felt as though nothing else mattered.

If she could earn Rei's affection like this, perhaps continuing to live as Meiko would not be such a bad thing...

She let out a soft sigh and shook her head, casting away that dangerous thought.

On the way from the school gate to the field, Rei did all the talking. Still immersed in the soft jade in her hand, Meiko had completely forgotten who she was. Even when asked something, she merely smiled and went along with it.

She had never known that Rei had such an enthusiastic side. She was completely different from the cold person who had rejected her back then.

"At first, I was worried I might draw some creepy guy, but luckily, I got a cute little girl like you, Meiko."

"Haha, really? I was worried about that too."

But Rei, if I hadn't become Meiko, Koichi would be your partner right now. Is Koichi a creepy guy? Probably not, right?

She felt that her behavior at school had always been fairly proper.

After borrowing a rope for the three-legged race from the equipment room, the two made their way to an empty patch of ground on the field.

Many of those participating believed there was no need to practice an event that was like a child's game, but that was undoubtedly wrong.

The three-legged race tested the pair's coordination greatly. After all, their heights and leg lengths differed, and the distance and speed of each person's steps could hardly be exactly the same.

"Here is fine, Meiko. Come on, stretch your foot over."

Under Rei's direction, Ando Meiko extended her right foot forward. Rei then crouched down and tied it to her own left foot.

This felt strangely nostalgic.

She had often played this game with Fuko and the others before. After growing up, she had never had another chance to do so. Looking at Rei's back now, Ando Meiko seemed to have rediscovered that old feeling.

"Okay, this should do." Rei stood up and tested it slightly. Pulled along by her movement, Ando Meiko's foot rose with hers.

Isn't this a little too tight? It feels like I can't move properly at all.

"Should we try walking first?" she asked timidly. To her surprise, Rei happily patted her on the shoulder after hearing that.

But for someone as physically frail as her, those few pats felt rather heavy.

"Haha, exactly. That's what I was thinking too."

She looks really happy. Should I play along or agree with her right now? Damn it, if I knew something like this would happen, I should have prepared myself mentally beforehand.

Why are the male leads in games so amazing? They can joke around so naturally in front of the girls they like, unlike me, who starts panicking the moment I see someone I like.

She was truly annoyed at herself for being so pathetic.

"Meiko, you know how to walk, right?"

"Although I don't exercise much normally, I can at least handle a three-legged race." After all, she had played it plenty as a child. It could be considered one of the happy parts of her childhood.

"One, eek... ah..." Sure enough, flags should not be raised carelessly. The moment she finished saying that, something immediately went wrong.

Rei's foot landed before her sluggish one did, and she instantly fell out of rhythm with Rei. With her center of gravity and coordination suddenly thrown off balance, she pitched forward.

"Watch out... ah..."

Rei tried to grab her, but because their feet were tied together, her attempt to save her only made things worse. Not only did she fail to help, she was tripped and fell too.

Ando Meiko's reaction was decent enough that she hurriedly rolled over. She did not care whether she herself would get hurt; her first thought was not to let Rei fall.

So, just as she extended her hand to catch Rei... it unexpectedly pressed against her mountains... The soft sensation made her unable to resist squeezing twice more.

At that moment, only one thought remained in her mind.

This feels amazing.

"Meiko, um, while I don't really mind this sort of thing, wouldn't it be better to let go first...?"

"R-right, sorry, I didn't mean to..." Rei's voice made her release her hand at once. Her body unconsciously took two steps back, but that movement pulled Rei along again.

Without Ando Meiko supporting her, Rei pressed herself against her once more.

Although this gave her a faceful of the girl she liked, Rei's meager chest—worlds apart from Fuko's—hit her hard enough to make her vision go black, nearly knocking her out.

Rei lifted herself up. As she looked at Ando Meiko, there was even a hint of indulgence in her eyes.

The two stared at each other just like that until Rei began to laugh first, and Ando Meiko laughed along with her.

"Meiko, you did that on purpose."

"N-no... I'm just not used to it yet. Sorry..."

After all, many years had passed since the last time she had done a three-legged race, and she truly was not used to exercising in this body.

"You don't need to apologize for that. Let me properly take responsibility and teach you."

"Okay."

Volume One: The Story of How I Was Set Up to Become a Magical Girl: Chapter 27: Don't Use Me as a Shield!

When one focused on doing something, time passed especially quickly.

The afternoon was over in the blink of an eye, and Ando Meiko and Nakajima Rei had become much more proficient at working together.

"I'm a little tired. How about getting something to drink? My treat."

"Okay."

There was still quite some time before dinner. Thinking that spending a little more time with Rei seemed nice, she did not refuse—and had no reason to refuse.

"Be careful on your way home." The security guard uncle who remembered them smiled and reminded them.

"Thanks for your hard work, Uncle." After giving him a perfunctory greeting, she left the school with Rei.

"Did Meiko just transfer here? I don't remember having such a cute classmate in the same year as me."

"More or less. I'm actually filling in for Ando Koichi."

"Ando Koichi? Who's that?"

"Huh?"

She never remembered me at all? I confessed three times and was rejected three times, but... she never even remembered my name?

Rei's words made Ando Meiko's heart sink.

"What's wrong, Meiko? You suddenly look unhappy."

That made sense. If someone had no interest in a person at all, then no matter what that person did, they would not remember their name or anything they had done.

"But since you transferred here, we're friends now. If there's anything you don't understand or any trouble you run into, you can come find me."

"Okay, then thank you in advance. But where are we going now?"

Rei gave her a mysterious smile. "You'll know when you get there."

Led by her, Ando Meiko walked down a road for the first time that was neither the way home nor the way to school, nor a road belonging to her former self.

The shopping district.

Having lived on the outskirts of Tokyo for so long, this was her first time visiting this shopping district—and also the first time she had seen it be so prosperous, as bustling as the heart of the city.

She had once wondered why she never saw those classmates whenever there was a holiday. She had originally thought most of the school were shut-ins, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. They were all socially active people.

Then again, for an otaku like her to come to a place like this alone would be strange, right? Whenever she saw them shopping here, they were always in groups. This was probably a place only socially active people were qualified to visit.

Who would have thought that she, too, would one day get to sit here?

"Meiko, here's the milk tea you ordered."

"Come to think of it, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't come to a place like this often by myself either."

"Why?"

"Because if you come alone, it feels kind of strange, doesn't it?"

Strange? Is Rei alone too? Probably not, right? I often see her walking around with friends. Could it be that she's actually lonely?

"If you want to come next time, you can call me to come with you."

She was alone too. Now that she had become this way, Ando Meiko no longer had much desire to play games. If someone invited her out, perhaps she could experience the so-called life of a socially active person.

"Hehe, then let's exchange contact information first."

Taking out her phone and entering Rei's contact information, Ando Meiko glanced at the time. "It's already this late."

"What's wrong? Do you need to head back in a hurry?"

"Yeah, I promised my family I'd be home before dinner."

"Then let's each go home for today. Let's do our best together tomorrow." Rei smiled at her and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Let's do our best!"

"My home is that way, so I won't walk you back. Be careful when you head home alone, Meiko."

"You too. Be careful on the way."

Although parting with Rei felt somewhat regrettable, after finishing the rest of her milk tea and throwing the cup into a trash can, she headed home.

But...

Just as Ando Meiko was about to leave the shopping district, an unpleasant sensation suddenly traveled up her spine and surged into her brain.

[Master, something's happening.] Ruby called out somewhat urgently.

[I won't ask when you started following me, but are you some kind of alarm? Do you have to tell me something's happening here... I don't want to hear it at all!]

[But if Master is feeling sick, that means its Demonic Aether can already affect the Material World.]

[Tch.]

[Master, don't be so stubborn. They've already come right to our doorstep. Do we still have to take a detour?]

[Yes.]

A monster capable of affecting the Material World through Demonic Aether—what if it was another Void Beast at the Void King Serpent's level? How could I possibly handle that? Wouldn't going in carelessly just be suicide?

[Master's worries are unnecessary. If it were at the Void King Serpent's level, this whole area would probably already have been destroyed.]

[That's terrifying.]

[So, Master, stop avoiding it and fight without holding back! I'll support you properly too... Besides, constantly avoiding battle will only put you in an even more disadvantageous position.]

Fight? What a joke. I did not want to fight.

[Since it can't affect the Material World anyway, it should be fine if we just leave it alone, right?]

[That's true, but aren't you afraid... Ah, it's here...]

Although she had planned to simply go home, before she could take more than a few steps, dizziness struck her. The sky gradually darkened, and the surrounding environment abruptly changed.