Magical Girl? I Got Tricked into It! Chapter 21

Rei smiled and looped her arm around Ando Meiko's, pressing her whole body against her. "Since you're wearing a maid outfit too, Meiko, how about coming to our class to help out?"

"Um..." She had originally wanted to refuse, but when she saw Rei looking at her with such expectant eyes, she could not bring herself to say it outright. "If I have time, I'll consider it."

"That's great."

"What's so great about it? You two, separate already!" Fuko squeezed herself between Meiko and Rei, pushing them apart. "I really can't let my guard down for even a second."

"What are you worried about? We're both girls, aren't we?"

"That may be true, but girls should still have some restraint!" Fuko shot Ando Meiko a meaningful glance. "And you too, Meiko. If you'd just refused a little, no one would have had the chance to take advantage."

What did this have to do with me? Rei was the one who came over here. I'm obviously the victim.

That was what she thought, but she could not say it outright in front of Fuko. Though she felt like she had been caught in the crossfire for no reason, she still gave a perfunctory reply. "Okay, okay, I get it."

"Is there anywhere Nanako wants to go?"

"Eat something tasty!"

Fine, she had wanted to use Nanako as an excuse to change the subject, but Ando Meiko realized there was no point in asking her.

This little evil goddess might not have been very big, but she ate an absurd amount. Her mouth had not stopped since earlier, and she had already eaten more than four times as much as Meiko, yet she still was not full and wanted more.

She wondered whether Nanako could store energy like a camel... If that were true, then her stomach would need to be connected to at least a four-dimensional space to hold it all.

Volume 1: The Matter of Me Being Tricked into Becoming a Magical Girl: Chapter 35: Under Maintenance

"Nanako, you need to pay a little attention to balanced nutrition too. Don't just eat meat all the time."

Whenever they ate, Nanako would pick out the carrots and green peppers Fuko made and pile them to one side. As a result, the most troublesome part of taking care of Nanako was figuring out how to trick her into eating vegetables.

"No way. They're bitter. I don't like them. They taste bad."

"Meiko, at least try to persuade her!"

Vegetables should not have been bitter, especially not when Fuko had made them.

And so Ando Meiko boldly guessed that perhaps the reason Nanako disliked vegetables was simply because this little evil goddess was a carnivorous creature.

Of course, Meiko knew what Nanako's true form was, so she was not worried at all that this little evil goddess would suffer from unbalanced nutrition due to picky eating.

However, Meiko could not explain that to Fuko, nor could she say something like, "Just let her be if she doesn't want to eat it," which might upset Fuko.

So, in order not to offend either side, she could only remain silent.

"By the way, Fuko, Meiko, who is this child?"

Hearing Rei directly bring up the question she had been wondering about, Rin nodded and asked, "I've wanted to ask since earlier too, but I felt a little awkward about it."

"I'm Big Sister Meiko's little sister!"

Ruby had taught her to say that when she had been bored at home while Ando Meiko was at school. Meiko had not expected it to come in handy so soon.

"My cousin, my cousin. Her relatives entrusted her to my care, and she lives with me now too."

"Huh? I see. Koichi's home really is lively. It makes me want to come bother you for a few days."

Fuko smiled. "Doesn't little Rin live right next door to us? It'd be fine even if you came over for dinner with us every night."

"What kind of lovey-dovey family is this? Maybe I should move next door to Meiko's place too. It'd be so lively."

"Rei, don't join in on this."

The area around Ando Meiko's home was basically all private residences. There was nowhere available for rent at all. Leaving aside how Rei would move there or whether she had the money, a high school student moving out on her own would definitely get a scolding from her family.

"I'm not joking." Seeing how serious she looked, Ando Meiko almost believed her.

"Let's go. We still have plenty of time, but let's not just stand here chatting."

As they headed together toward the lower-grade classrooms, Rei reached out and tugged at Ando Meiko's sleeve.

"What is it? Don't tell me Rei needs to use the bathroom?"

"No! I suddenly remembered something I need to deal with. I'm going to leave for a bit, and I'll meet up with you later."

"I see. In that case, dealing with your own business comes first."

"Thanks, Meiko. You're really considerate."

Rin, who was at the front, quietly looked back. When she saw that only Ando Meiko was following behind, she stopped and asked in confusion, "Big Sister Meiko, why is it just you? Where's Big Sister Rei?"

"She said she had something to deal with and told us to look around first. She'll come meet up with us later."

"Okay, then we'll leave her alone. Let's go in here first!" Rin pointed at the classroom beside her, hands on her hips with a hint of pride.

The classroom Rin pointed to was her own, and Ando Meiko had spent a year here too, so the place was not unfamiliar to her.

A girl dressed in cloth robes came out from behind the door. Seeing Rin standing at the entrance, she came over to greet her. "Little Rin, you brought some friends to see it?"

"Yep."

"But unfortunately, it just ended."

Rin's class was putting on a stage play, but they had arrived a step too late. The performance had just ended and would not start again anytime soon.

"What a shame. It would've been nice if we'd come earlier."

"Don't worry. We've got plenty of time, so let's keep looking around. We can wait for Rei to come back and watch it together."

"Big Sister Meiko is right. There are two more performances this afternoon. We'll come back after we meet up with Big Sister Rei."

"Do you want to go take a look at Big Sister Meiko's class?"

"Yeah, Meiko, what activity does your class have?"

"Ah, um..." The expectant gazes of the two girls made Ando Meiko awkward. "S-sorry, I don't know either."

The event's details had actually been decided a month ago, back when she had still been practically invisible.

Her standing in the class had clearly improved after becoming a girl, but she had not been assigned any work either. It was fair to say she knew nothing at all about her own class.

"It's the school festival, but it feels like it has nothing to do with me. They never asked me to help, so I don't know what activity they're doing."

"So that's how it is." Rin thought for a moment before suggesting, "Then let's go take a look at Big Sister Meiko's class."

"Sure, I want to see Meiko's class too." Naturally, Nanako, who had obediently been following the two girls' decision, voiced no opinion.

However, the closer they got to her classroom, the more Ando Meiko could hear strange music.

Only when they got close did she realize the music was coming from her class. The three girls leaned over to look, and the source was a set of sound equipment placed in a corner.

And everyone in the class was actually dancing like they were at a club.

"How should I put this? Meiko's classmates really are... an interesting bunch."

"Really? Isn't it kind of strange for the upperclassmen to do this... And did they properly apply to the school for those sound equipment?"

What she was seeing had already exceeded what her heart could bear. Without another word, she turned around and led the other three girls away. Right now, she only wanted to leave this troublesome place as quickly as possible.

No way, absolutely no way. The boys were one thing, but why were all the girls dancing along too? What was this? Were my classmates really all people like this?

There was no need to guess that the sound system had definitely been brought in by Yuya, that guy whose way of thinking was not quite normal. But after seeing this scene, getting Ando Meiko to go back was basically impossible.

"Um..."

"What is it, Fuko?"

"I'm going to pick a little flower..."

"Pick a flower? There aren't any around here. You'd have to go outside, but what do you need flowers for?"

"Um! I mean I'm going to the bathroom! Meiko, you're a girl now, so you should pay more attention to that kind of thing!" Fuko puffed out her cheeks and deliberately emphasized the reminder.

Even without Fuko saying it, Ando Meiko knew that herself. But she had only been a girl for a short time and had not yet gotten used to it, especially some of the special expressions used between women.

Fuko was right. I should properly look into it after I get back.

"I'll go with you. I drank so much earlier that I need to go too."

"Then I'll come with you as well." Rin, who had eagerly wanted to visit Ando Meiko's class, was also resistant. Like the other two girls, she wanted to escape this place.

But when Ando Meiko and the others arrived at the restroom, they saw that the restroom on that floor had been surrounded by erected metal scaffolding.

Seeing the words "Under Maintenance" on the sign, Fuko peered inside. "It looks like everything in there was destroyed. Who was so lacking in public decency that they actually wrecked the restroom?"

"Who... who knows." Faced with the condemnation of her conscience, Ando Meiko could only cover her face and play dumb.

Volume 1: The Matter of Me Being Tricked into Becoming a Magical Girl: Chapter 36: Singularity

"It says it's under maintenance, Big Sister Fuko. Shall we go downstairs?"

"Sure."

Under maintenance, huh...

This was the restroom Ando Meiko had destroyed during the battle. The reason it was under maintenance was also because it had been affected by her magic.

In the Void World, she had blown up the entire restroom. Ando Meiko was rather curious how much of that level of destruction had manifested in the real world.

Curious as she was, though, she could not exactly ignore the sign and go in.

As she turned to catch up with the three girls who had already left, reaching the stairs beneath the corner, an inexplicable heavy feeling suddenly arose in her chest.

[Ruby?]

[What is it, Master?]

[Do you feel anything?]

[Feel anything?]

As Ruby released a faint trace of magic, the necklace emitted a weak red glow. This lasted only a few seconds before her voice came through in Ando Meiko's mind.

[No, Master. I don't feel anything. But if you want to investigate further, I'm afraid we'll have to enter the Void World.]

[Forget it if we have to enter the Void World.]

Even Ruby could not detect it. What was this feeling?

Ando Meiko subconsciously looked back, fixing her gaze in one direction. She always felt as though something indescribable was drawing her there, making her want to go take a look no matter what.

After glancing back at Fuko and the others, who had already disappeared from sight, Ando Meiko left the stairwell and followed her feeling in the direction from before.

[What is it, Master? Is there something in that direction?]

Ando Meiko shook her head. She could not be sure either, but she continued down the path until she reached a windowsill at the end of the corridor.

She opened the window and looked outside. A retro-looking building came into view—the Kendo Club she had once wandered into by accident while following Rei.

"How strange. This building feels pretty big, but I haven't seen it at all until now. What's going on?"

She had felt that something was strange inside even then. Even if all the rooms had been designed identically, the Kendo Club was not large enough to make someone get lost like that.

Thinking about it now, though, she felt a little sorry for the child inside named Edogawa Marugō.

"But what kind of feeling is guiding me over there?"

[Why not go take a look? Don't worry, Master. If anything happens, just use me.]

[You're so reliable, Ruby.]

She had no intention of going to find Fuko and Rin first. If she told them about it, she probably would not be able to leave.

Having made up her mind, she immediately went down the stairs. Following the route she remembered from not long ago, she skirted around the crowded areas and made her way to the Kendo Club's entrance.

Even though it was the school festival, there was not a single person around this especially conspicuous Kendo Club. No matter how she thought about it, that was not normal.

"So this was the place Master came to before?"

"Ruby, what's going on here?"

"This is a Singularity. I never expected there to be a place like this hidden in Master's school."

"A Singularity?"

"More specifically, it's like the Interlayer Space Nanako was in before: a Subspace caught between the Void World and the real world."

She had not expected this space to be exactly like the one where she had encountered Nanako.

Looking at it that way, the reason she could see the Kendo Club was most likely because of her Half-Aether Body again.

Perhaps in other people's eyes, this Kendo Club was actually nothing more than an empty lot. Not only could they not see it, they might even walk straight through it.

"Does Master want to go inside and take a look?"