Magical Girl? I Got Scammed into It! Chapter 25

After being treated like that, Kajieliena did not say much. She simply leisurely shifted her gaze to the male student on Ando Meiko's other side.

Her intentions 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, after receiving Teacher Ci's approval, he packed up his things and moved to the corner of the classroom.

Wasn't this girl being a little too forceful? Couldn't she communicate properly?

Then again, with that expressionless face of hers, she probably did not look easy to talk to no matter who she met.

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

What kind of punishment game was this?

Experiencing a scene like torture was practically a ticket to a living hell for her.

Kajieliena, who had only just joined the class, was different from Ando Meiko, the sudden substitute student. She had taken the orthodox beautiful-girl transfer-student route.

Of course, her situation was exactly the same as before. When class ended, she was surrounded by her classmates, who bombarded her with questions.

But Kajieliena said nothing. Her expressionless, icy face made her seem unapproachable, and almost everyone, including the few rather enthusiastic girls, was driven away by that iceberg.

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

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

But if you rounded things off, she should still count as an enemy, right?

As a result, Ando Meiko spent the entire day feeling like she was sitting on a bed of nails, even developing symptoms of anxiety.

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

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

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

School ended at the usual time. She went alone to the library, intending to stockpile knowledge for future battles she might get 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 through reading and shut out outside influences, 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."

"That's not something the perpetrator should be saying..." Ando Meiko was speechless.

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

"You've been following me all day. Could you settle down for a bit and give me some personal space? Please."

"You do not need to concern yourself with me. Just act as though I do not exist."

The moment this foreign beauty entered the library, nearly everyone inside looked over. The spot where Ando Meiko had been quietly reading had somehow become the center of attention.

"How could I not care? I care a lot! Even if I wanted to pretend you didn't exist, you stand out way too much!"

I'm not worried about what you might do to me, okay? That doesn't matter at all! What matters is not having you around!

Kajieliena seemed to understand her words. After Ando Meiko finished complaining inwardly, she pondered for a moment before standing up and leaving the library.

Great, she could finally relax a little.

But that hard-won relief did not last long before Ruby's voice began echoing incessantly in her mind.

Just when one wave had barely subsided, another rose.

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

[Don't bother me. 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, the connection 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 opposite 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 before she had merely been basking in the sun, now it felt like she had been tied to the ground, her eyes forced open, while someone concentrated sunlight directly onto her eyeballs with a magnifying glass.

That only made Ando Meiko even more self-conscious.

"Forget it, stop doing that. Just act normal, be natural, please." Ando Meiko, who never begged anyone, sincerely said that word today to someone who might be her enemy.

"If that is the case, then I will be more natural."

When Ando Meiko saw Kajieliena toss the magazine into the trash, she thought she was going to return to normal. Instead, she sat down right beside Ando Meiko.

"Y-you... What are you doing now?"

"You told me to be natural." Kajieliena tilted her head. "You are truly difficult 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 somehow Kajieliena always interpreted them in such extreme ways.

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

"Are you 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 mostly basic principles and laws.

She had not studied properly back then, so 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 topic.

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

"Kajieliena..."

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Why exactly did you come here? And why did you deliberately come to this school, to this class?"

"First, because the flow of the Dragon Vein here is somewhat strange, so the organization sent me to investigate. Second, because I sensed the aura of a rogue person. I transferred into this class because I am interested in you."

That style of answering made Ando Meiko recall those years when she had searched for answers because she had been too lazy to do her homework.

Wasn't that the format of a standard answer?

And Kajieliena had so easily told her both her purpose and the mission the organization had given her that Ando Meiko could not help feeling this witch would silence her forever at any moment.

That answer left Ando Meiko feeling a little uneasy now.

If she had strength like Xiphias's, perhaps she could have learned about the Witch Organization through Kajieliena and prepared for the future.

But for the sake of her own safety, she could only avoid the subject... Though when it came to Xiphias, there were some things she wanted clarified.

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

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

A rogue person among the Rogue Witches.

Xiphias's situation was rather pitiful, then. She probably could not return to the magical girl side, and she had also betrayed the witch side. Perhaps she had been alone ever since then.

For no apparent reason, Ando Meiko reached out and gently touched her lower abdomen. That was where Xiphias had left the Magic Mark.

Since Kajieliena had been following her all day, she had not dared go to the bathroom. Now that she touched her stomach, she suddenly felt an explosive urge to pee.

And even though she wanted to hold it in, she absolutely could not.

"I-I'm going to the bathroom! I won't run away, so stay here and 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 a little, but no one answered in the restroom.

How strange. Could Ruby be messing with her? That should not be it. Hadn't she been dying to talk after holding it in all day?

"That feels good..."

As she prepared to leave the restroom, Ando Meiko sensed something. She looked up and saw a head hanging there. Her entire body jolted, her legs instantly turning limp like mud as she collapsed onto the floor.

"*%*(＃＆%(＆＃*%" She babbled meaningless syllables, not even knowing what she herself was saying.

Only after she calmed herself and looked properly did she realize—what hanging head? It was clearly Kajieliena peeking over from the adjacent stall to spy on her.

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

"You've been doing this since earlier. Aren't you tired of following me around all day? At least let me use the bathroom without being on edge!"

"Can't you have a little common sense? This kind of behavior is called being a pervert. If I called the police right now, you'd be arrested and thrown in jail immediately!" As she walked back, Ando Meiko kept lecturing Kajieliena behind her.

Kajieliena did not say a word. She merely nodded repeatedly 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 test subjects, they make many unconscious movements."

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

Forget it. She could not resist anyway. If she persisted and made Kajieliena angry, she might get blasted by her even while walking down the street.

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

"Since you keep watching me, why don't we chat instead?"

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

The two stared at each other for a while. In the end, Ando Meiko was the first to give in. "Are all the people in your God's Staff as strange as you?"

"The Witch Organization is, in essence, an Aggregate of interests. Most people in it 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 an ultra-short skirt, then occasionally walking up beside you, finding some excuse to lift it and show you her butt... A pervert?"

Hearing something like that from an expressionless person felt oddly strange, but Kajieliena, do not phrase it as a question. What else could that be but a pervert?

"Xiphias must have thought her officer was too perverted, so she betrayed her, right?"

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

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

Wouldn't that have made Officer Iris completely socially dead? Was that why Xiphias had been branded a traitor?

"From then on, Iris decided that Xiphias suited her tastes very well. After that, Xiphias was tangled up with her every day in all kinds of strange positions, and she left because she could not endure Iris's behavior."

So that was what happened. Senior Xiphias, you had it rough.

Ando Meiko understood that feeling all too well right now. Wasn't she being forced to experience it at this very moment? The only difference was that Kajieliena was not a pervert.

There was not much time left before the school closed. Ando Meiko stood up to return her book, while Kajieliena, still following behind her, was like a piece of chewing gum that had no intention of separating from her for even a moment.

What the hell? Was this body of hers really that attractive? First Void Beasts, then Rogue Witches, and now even an active witch had been drawn to her?

Fortunately, before leaving, she spotted a book in the occult section beside her. Its title was Feng Shui and Mysticism: Dragon Vein Edition.

"By the way, what's this Dragon Vein you mentioned? Does something like that really exist in the Reality World?"

"As for that, I only know a little. If you are truly interested, you should ask the magical girls from the neighboring great nation's lineage."

Kajieliena curiously picked up the book Ando Meiko had noticed, casually flipped through a few pages, and put it back where it belonged.