Magical Girl? I Got Tricked Into It!

"What do I do, what do I do, what do I do..."

Ando Koichi, who possessed the skill and confidence to conquer every life-sim game and perfectly analyze every possible choice, was utterly at a loss right now.

"If everything in that bathtub dream was real, then I have to face a fact I really don't want to face. I have to prepare myself for the possibility that I might never change back..."

"Oh God! I don't want this at all!"

Yes, he had wanted to become a protagonist, but the protagonist he wanted to be was the male lead of a romantic comedy harem series.

Not the heroine of some NTR world!

Volume One: The Story of How I Got Tricked into Becoming a Magical Girl: Magical Girls and Trash Wands

After waking up from a good night's sleep, Ando Koichi felt much better.

Even though he had been agonizing all night over what to do about suddenly becoming a girl and had been unable to sleep, still...

Everything naturally failed to return to normal. Her body remained feminized.

Though she had deliberately clung to the faint hope that it had all been a dream before falling asleep, the moment she saw her petite body still looked the same, she let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.

"So it really didn't work! Aaaah!"

Luckily, her parents' rooms were both on the first floor. Otherwise, they might have burst through the door upon hearing that scream.

"What am I supposed to do now? Never mind my little brother disappearing, but turning into a girl? What the hell is this? Who did this to me?"

As she prepared to get out of bed, the hand she casually stretched to the side touched something soft.

As for what it was... she couldn't tell at first, so she simply kneaded it a few more times.

Warm, smooth, soft, and incredibly comfortable to touch. It felt like... a little steamed bun?

"There's a ghost!"

Gasping sharply, she sprang off the bed like a cat that had turned around and seen a cucumber. Then, using the bedframe as a shield, she cautiously looked toward her blanket.

Just as she hesitated over whether to lift the blanket and investigate, a hand suddenly reached out from underneath it.

"Eek!!!"

The feminized version of Ando Koichi let out the cute shriek of a frightened girl. In the cramped room, she kept backing away until she slammed her head into the wardrobe and finally came to her senses.

What followed was neither a horror movie chase nor a jump scare lunging at her face. Only calm breathing came from beneath the blanket.

"Wait, could it be?"

She remembered the dream she had in the bathtub yesterday. That dream was the reason she had become like this.

"What contract? What magical girl? Whether you're human or ghost, let me see your true face for myself."

Even so, she moved as slowly as possible, afraid that making a sound would alert the indescribable thing beneath the blanket.

There might be a girl in there, a cross-dresser, or perhaps a monster with human hands. Like Schrödinger's cat, unless you observed it, you would never know what state the cat inside was in... No, there might not even be a cat in there.

"Whatever! I'm going for it!"

The cat in the microwave finally revealed its true form. The first thing that entered her sight was a snow-white body, naked and uncovered like that of a newborn baby.

The second thing she saw was that infuriatingly familiar pretty face. If there had been a notebook nearby that could kill someone just by writing their name in it, Ando Koichi felt she would have drawn a portrait of her inside.

"Liar! You damned liar!"

She no longer cared about physical contact. Humiliated and enraged, Ando Koichi sat on top of the twin-tailed loli and shook her violently as if hand-brewing coffee.

"Liar, get up! Get up already! Turn me back!"

"Don't... ngh, don't shake me... I'm dizzy, I'm going to throw up..."

The twin-tailed loli opened her bleary eyes. Her pupils were unbelievably covered in the spirals used in manga to represent dizziness.

What the hell was wrong with this person?

Momentarily speechless, Ando Koichi stopped shaking the loli and climbed off her, puffing out her cheeks in displeasure.

"Oh, it's Master. Don't go crazy in here for no reason. I'm going back to sleep..."

She had no idea why this loli called her Master the moment she saw her, but this damned liar had actually gone back to sleep on her pillow. How could she tolerate that?

Ando Koichi grabbed the loli's shoulders again, ready to shake her awake, but before she could, the girl raised her hands in surrender.

"Mercy, Master! I'm getting up, okay? I'll get up!"

Her apology seemed sincere enough... but Ando Koichi couldn't just let this go! How was she supposed to face anyone like this? How was she supposed to live?

"Who are you?"

"Me..."

Noticing the slightly perfunctory tone in the girl's voice, Ando Koichi sharpened her glare. After reading her expression, the girl gave an awkward laugh.

"My name is Ruby. I'm your magic wand, Master."

"What you are is none of my business! Why did you trick me? What is this contract? And what even is a magical girl?"

"Um... why are you being so fierce, Master? Have you already forgotten that deeply unforgettable night we spent together yesterday...?"

"Answer me seriously! Or else..." She held up her fist at the girl.

But after becoming a girl, that fist looked so frail that it had no intimidation whatsoever. It only made her look adorable.

"Fine, fine. How did I end up with such an unromantic Master?"

"An-swer-me!"

"Because this world needs Master to save it!"

Hearing that her Master was becoming genuinely irritated, Ruby, the self-proclaimed magic wand, decided not to keep pushing her luck.

She rubbed her shoulder, picked up the half-empty bottle of mineral water by the bed, gulped down several mouthfuls, and cleared her throat.

"Ahem. Since Master wants to understand everything, I'll explain it properly."

There was a world composed entirely of magic connected to this one. The two worlds were two sides of the same coin, and that world was known as the Void World.

Any major changes in the real world, or any changes within the Void World, would create ripple effects in the other.

During a magical girl war ten years ago, the world barrier of the Void World had been pierced. After the war ended, several of the strongest magical girls used a special method to repair it with magic.

However, the magic covering that hole was like a Band-Aid trying to plug a water outlet. As time passed, the weakening repair magic could no longer completely seal the breach.

Some smaller impurities seeped through the hole into the Void World like viruses, devouring massive amounts of magic without restraint.

And as long as the magic within the Void World was disturbed, its effects would manifest in the real world through natural phenomena such as earthquakes and typhoons, as well as unnatural phenomena such as explosions and collapsing walls.

Before another person capable of repairing the hole in the Void World could be found, the Void Beasts that had seeped inside could only be dealt with personally by magical girls in various places.

She understood the situation now.

But... even if she became a magical girl after transforming, couldn't they at least have kept her pre-transformation body unchanged?

And why did saving the world require tricking her into signing some bizarre contract whose terms she didn't even know?

It would have been one thing if she had been given a choice. Being chosen without knowing anything just made her feel like an easily fooled disposable pawn.

"Then why did I become a girl?"

Volume One: The Story of How I Got Tricked into Becoming a Magical Girl: There Are Others? Then I Can Slack Off!

This question was of utmost importance to Ando Koichi. If she knew the reason, she might be able to find a solution.

Otherwise, living in this body would feel worse than death. She would have to face not only her family, but also her classmates and the friends she got along with fairly well.

"Master, I'm also very puzzled about that question."

"Maybe there was a tiny misalignment when your body accepted magic and converted into an Ether Body."

"Hey, that tiny misalignment completely flipped my gender."

"What does it matter? After all, Master should be the first male in history to accept a magical girl contract. It's normal for there to be something unusual."

Forget it. She no longer had the strength to complain.

Since even Ruby didn't know what had happened to Ando Koichi, she couldn't think of any other solution besides accepting her fate.

"What exactly is this Ether Body?"

Having her body accept magic and turn into an Ether Body... wasn't that basically saying she was no longer human?

"Ether is the source of magic. It fuses and transforms with the magical fluctuations unique to magical girls, and the resulting adaptive Ether Body becomes a magical girl's source of magic."

"However, both ether conversion and magic fusion take time. I'm not sure exactly how long, but since Master used to be male, you'll probably change back once the fusion is complete."

As long as she could change back, that was good...

Although Ruby seemed to have said something unnecessary and omitted something important, after hearing her explanation, Ando Koichi completely deflated like a pickled radish. The imposing aura she had barely managed to muster collapsed in that instant.

"Don't be so sad, Master. Aren't you really cute like this?"

While she was feeling down, Ruby rolled over and pinned her beneath her. As Ruby gently stroked her cheek, it felt ticklish yet wonderfully pleasant, a sensation she had never experienced before.

She closed her eyes and quietly enjoyed the process. It felt as though she had become a cat being petted, but whatever...

Without warning, an itch flared up. The extra fat that Ando Koichi found rather unnecessary changed shape like slime in Ruby's grasp.

She felt as though she had been inflicted with a weakness debuff. Even though she wanted to resist, she couldn't muster any strength at all. After all, her body was far more honest than she was.

"What are you doing...? Get off me!"

"Hehehe, Master, Master, you're so cute like this..." Ignoring the completely unthreatening scolding, Ruby wore a smug smile, as though she were mocking her.

"Saying something like that in such a cute voice is practically an eager invitation."

However, the result of getting carried away was being kicked off the bed by Ando Koichi.

"You're just a magic wand, so stop taking liberties!"

"You're the one who turned me into a girl. I don't even know what excuse I'm supposed to use to get through however long this lasts at school and at home, so could you please stop making more trouble for me?"

"Um... I wasn't..."

"Answer me!"

"Fine, fine. Seriously, Master, I was just making a tiny joke. Why are you being so serious?"

"So explain exactly what's going on first."

"Okay~"

A red light flashed, and Ruby directly conjured clothes made of magic onto herself. Then she sat properly before Ando Koichi and stared at her with a solemn expression.

"It's actually very simple. What Master needs to deal with are Void creatures that will cause the world to collapse."

But being told she had to deal with some kind of creatures left her unable to make sense of things for the moment.

"Let me ask, I'm not the only magical girl in this world, right?"

"Mm, there are factions, at least. But the enemies aren't just the Void. There are also Rogue Witches..."

That was really great.

Since she wasn't the only magical girl in this world, then there was no problem. She could just slack off completely. She had no grudge against those creatures in the first place, so why should she fight them?

Ruby stuck out her tongue. Seeing the ever-changing expression on Ando Koichi's face, she quickly guessed what she was thinking.

"I know Master isn't very motivated to fight, but as long as you gather enough ether, you can make a wish through the Great Will."

"A wish..."

"Any wish! Money, women, status, everything."

Huh? Any wish could come true... Then as long as I gathered enough ether... No, I can't be tempted so easily.

"Forget it."

"Huh? You don't want to fight even if any wish can come true?"

"Wishes are something you strive for yourself, not something others give you... Besides, these battles would put my life in danger, wouldn't they?"

As a veteran otaku, she had watched more anime than she had eaten meals. She didn't believe magical girls were all beautiful fairy tales.

"Uh... yes. After becoming an Ether Body, if you overuse your magic or die, your soul will become ether drifting through the Void, while your body will turn into ether and merge with the world."

"In other words, you'll disappear completely without even a single hair left behind."