Magical Girl? I Got Scammed into This! Chapter 25

Treated like that, Kajieliena did not say much. She merely slowly shifted her gaze to the male student on Ando Meiko's other side.

Her intention could not have been more obvious.

"Uh, sure, I'll move. How could I bear to refuse a beautiful girl's request...? But could we exchange contact information?"

Kajieliena's shaking her head in refusal left the boy looking rather dejected. Still, with Teacher Ci's approval, he packed up his things and moved to the corner of the classroom.

Was this girl being a little too forceful? Could she not communicate properly?

Then again, with that expressionless face of hers, she probably was not easy to communicate with no matter who she met.

Hirata Yuya on her right and Kajieliena on her left—sandwiched between them, Ando Meiko felt awkward no matter how she moved.

What kind of punishment game was this?

This scene, like enduring torture, was practically a ticket to experience hell on earth for her.

Kajieliena had only just joined the class. Unlike Ando Meiko, the suddenly appearing substitute student, she had taken the proper route of a beautiful girl transferring schools.

Naturally, her situation was exactly the same as before. During recess, her classmates surrounded her and bombarded her with questions.

Kajieliena, however, said nothing. Her expressionless face was cold and unapproachable, driving away nearly everyone, including the few girls who had initially been enthusiastic.

And from beginning to end, she had not listened to the lesson at all. All her attention was focused on Ando Meiko, observing her every movement and action at all times.

If she had merely been an ordinary pretty girl, that would have been one thing. But this person was a witch from the Witch Organization. Though Ando Meiko had nothing to do with that organization, she had been attacked only because she had been caught up in things while standing beside Xiphias.

But when all was said and done, she was still supposed to be an enemy, right?

As a result, Ando Meiko had spent the entire day feeling as though she were sitting on a bed of needles, even developing symptoms of anxiety.

This whole day had been even more unbearable than her first day attending this school after becoming a girl. It had nearly driven her into depression.

"That concludes today's lesson. Students without club activities, please be careful on your way home. Do not linger outside the school for too long."

The instant the teacher dismissed class, Ando Meiko, whose patience had long since reached its limit, immediately stood up, grabbed her already packed bag, and left the classroom.

After school, as usual, she went alone to the library to stock up on knowledge for future battles she might be dragged into... but compared to the past few days, there was now an uninvited guest in front of her.

"Um, Miss Kajieliena, could you please stop staring at me?"

People could focus on reading and block out outside distractions, but how was she supposed to keep reading while a witch stared at her so intensely?

"Please do not concern yourself with my actions. Just remain calm as usual."

"Shouldn't that be something the perpetrator says...?" Ando Meiko was speechless.

"I see. Is that what you are worried about?"

"You've been following me all day already. Can't you calm down for a while? Give me some personal space, please."

"You need not pay attention to me. Just act as though I do not exist."

The moment this foreign beauty entered the library, practically everyone inside looked their way. The quiet spot where Ando Meiko had been reading had inexplicably become the center of attention.

"How could I not pay attention? I care a lot! Even if I wanted to pretend you didn't exist, you're way too conspicuous!"

I'm not worried about what you might do to me, okay? That doesn't even matter! What matters is having no one around me!

Kajieliena seemed to understand her words. After Ando Meiko finished complaining internally, she thought for a moment, then got up and left the library.

Great. She could finally relax a little.

But that hard-won relief did not last long. Ruby's voice soon began echoing through her mind.

Just as one wave settled, another rose.

[Master... I can finally talk to you. I was bored to death. I've been holding it in all day.]

[Don't bother me now. Kajieliena has probably given up, so please let me read in peace for a while.]

[But... I've already held it in—]

Before Ruby could finish, her voice was abruptly cut off. There was no need to guess—Kajieliena had returned.

Ando Meiko put down her book and looked for Kajieliena, only to see the silver-haired, expressionless beauty holding up a thin magazine in the seat across from her.

Though she had completely hidden her face behind the magazine, she had poked two holes in it so she could continue observing Ando Meiko through them.

If being watched before had been like basking in the sun, then this was like being tied to the ground with her eyes forced open while someone used a magnifying glass to focus sunlight directly onto her eyeballs.

That made Ando Meiko even more self-conscious.

"Forget it, don't do that. Just act normal. Be natural, please." Ando Meiko, who had never begged anyone before, sincerely said that word today to someone who might have been her enemy.

"In that case, I shall be natural."

Seeing Kajieliena toss the magazine into the trash, Ando Meiko thought she was going to return to normal. Instead, she sat directly beside Ando Meiko.

"Y-You... what are you doing now?"

"You told me to be more natural." Kajieliena tilted her head. "You are a difficult person to understand."

"You're the difficult one to understand!"

Ando Meiko felt that every word she said should have been easy enough to understand, yet Kajieliena somehow interpreted them in the most extreme ways every time.

Did this girl possess some extraordinary talent for twisting other people's meanings?

"You are interested in this?" Kajieliena picked up the book Ando Meiko had placed on the table and casually flipped through a few pages.

It was a book about physics experiments, though its contents were all relatively basic principles and laws.

She had not studied properly back then either. Now that she regretted it and wanted to catch up, she had to start with the basics.

"Sort of. It's not that I'm interested in it, I just have no choice but to pick it back up." She did not really want to continue this subject.

After all, she could not tell Kajieliena that she was studying this because it concerned her future fighting style. What if Kajieliena decided to kill her right here?

"Kajieliena..."

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Please do."

"Why did you come here in the first place? And why did you deliberately come to this school, to this class?"

"First, the flow of the Dragon Vein here is somewhat unusual, so the organization sent me to investigate. Second, I sensed the aura of an outcast, and I transferred into this class because I was interested in you."

Kajieliena's way of answering questions reminded Ando Meiko of the years when she had searched for answers because she had been too lazy to do her homework.

Was this not the exact format of a model answer?

And Kajieliena had so easily told her both her purpose and the task the organization had assigned her. It made Ando Meiko feel as if this witch might kill her to silence her at any moment.

That answer had left Ando Meiko somewhat frightened.

If she had strength like Xiphias's, perhaps she could learn about the Witch Organization from Kajieliena and prepare for the future.

But for her own safety, she could only avoid that topic... though there was something about Xiphias that she wanted clarified.

"Come to think of it, this is already the second time you've called Xiphias an outcast, right? What exactly does that mean?"

"Because she was once a member of God's Staff. Later, she escaped after betraying Officer Iris."

An outcast among the outcast witches.

Xiphias's circumstances really were rather pitiful. She could not return to the magical girl side, and she had betrayed the witch side as well. Perhaps she had been alone from that point onward.

Without thinking, she reached out and lightly touched her lower abdomen. That was where Xiphias had left a magical mark on her.

Because Kajieliena had been following her all day, she had not dared to go to the restroom. But now that she touched her stomach, she suddenly felt an explosive urge to pee.

And although she tried to hold it, she could not hold it back at all.

"I-I need to use the restroom! I won't run away, so stay here. Don't follow me. Absolutely do not follow me!"

"I understand, Ando Meiko."

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Sitting on the toilet, Ando Meiko enjoyed the physical relief, but she could not shake the feeling that Kajieliena would not obediently remain in the library.

[Ruby, are you there? Hey, Ruby.]

She called out several times but received no response. She was already so far from Kajieliena that, logically speaking, there should not have been any interference.

"Kajieliena, you're here, aren't you?" She raised her voice, but no one answered in the restroom.

How strange. Was Ruby messing with her? That should not be it. Had she not been itching to talk to her after holding it in all day?

"Ah, that feels good..."

As Ando Meiko prepared to leave the restroom, she sensed something. Looking up, she saw a head hanging there. Her whole body jolted, and her legs instantly turned to jelly, causing her to collapse onto the floor.

"%(＃＆%(＆＃*%" She babbled incoherent syllables that even she did not understand.

Only after she calmed herself and took another look... that was not a hanging head at all. It was clearly Kajieliena peeking over from the neighboring stall to spy on her.

"Kajieliena! Didn't I tell you to sit there and wait for me properly?"

"You've been like this since earlier, following me around all day. Isn't it annoying? At least let me use the restroom without being on edge!"

"Can't you have even a little common sense? What you're doing is called stalking. If I called the police right now, you'd be arrested and sent to prison immediately!" As they walked back, Ando Meiko continuously lectured Kajieliena behind her.

Kajieliena did not say a word. She merely kept nodding to show that she was listening.

"Don't you have anything to say?"

"Ando Meiko, do you know? A research subject is more valuable to observe when alone."

"Huh?"

"Because when they do not know they are a test subject, they make many unconscious movements."

"Enough!" From those words, Ando Meiko understood that Kajieliena simply did not get it. She only regarded her as an experimental subject to observe.

Forget it. She could not resist anyway. If she kept pushing and made Kajieliena angry, Kajieliena might blast her with a shot while they were walking down the street.

After returning to the library, Ando Meiko no longer had any interest in reading.

"Since you keep watching me, why not chat with me instead?"

"Sure." After saying those two words, Kajieliena fell silent and continued looking at her, waiting for Ando Meiko to offer a topic.

They stared at each other for some time before Ando Meiko finally gave in. "Are all the people in your God's Staff as strange as you?"

"The Witch Organization is, in essence, an aggregation of interests. The people within it more or less act for their own benefit. Not everyone is a researcher like me. Officer Iris is one example."

"Iris?"

"That is right. She likes wearing thong underwear and ultra-short skirts, then occasionally walks up to you, finds some excuse to lift them, and shows you her butt... a pervert?"

It felt strange hearing something like that from someone expressionless, but Kajieliena, could you stop phrasing it as a question? If that was not a pervert, what was?

"Xiphias must have betrayed them because she thought her officer was too much of a pervert, right?"

"Not exactly. Xiphias did not initially intend to leave the organization." Kajieliena struck a thoughtful pose, as though trying hard to recall what had happened then. "Once, in front of everyone, she cut Iris's clothes into pieces."

"Huh?" Ando Meiko's eyes widened in astonishment.

Would that not make Officer Iris die of embarrassment on the spot? Could that have been why Xiphias was branded a traitor?

"From then on, Iris felt that Xiphias suited her tastes very well. After that, she would cling to Xiphias every day in all kinds of bizarre positions, and Xiphias eventually left because she could not endure her behavior."

So that was how it was. Senior Xiphias, you had it rough.

Ando Meiko understood that feeling all too well in the present tense. Was she not being forced to experience it right now? The only difference was that Kajieliena was not a pervert.

There was not much time until the school closed. Ando Meiko got up to return her book, while Kajieliena continued following behind her like chewing gum, with no intention of separating from her for even a moment.

What is going on? Is this body of mine really that attractive? First Void Beasts, then outcast witches, and now even a witch in the present tense has been drawn to me?

Fortunately, just before leaving, she spotted a book in the occult section beside her titled Feng Shui Mysticism—Dragon Vein Volume.

"Oh right, what exactly is this Dragon Vein you mentioned? Do Dragon Veins really exist in the real world?"

"I only have a superficial understanding of that myself. If you are truly interested, you should ask the magical girls from the lineage of the great nation next door."

Kajieliena picked up the book Ando Meiko had spotted with great interest, casually flipped through a few pages, then put it back where it had been.