Magical Girl? I Got Scammed Into It! Chapter 27

If she could keep things this way, she would not have to suffer every day.

After the bell rang, Teacher Ci did not begin class as usual. After handing out the registration forms for the test, she told everyone to study on their own for a while and wait for the notice that their class could begin testing.

Before long, a teacher made a gesture to Teacher Ci from the doorway. Once she saw it, she led the entire class to the gymnasium.

The physical fitness test was divided into body tests and running tests, which were conducted separately. While the girls underwent body tests in the gymnasium, the boys went to the track first for their running tests.

So midway through, Ando Meiko and the others' PE teacher came over to take charge of the boys' group.

Come to think of it, is it really okay for me to just follow them in like this...? No... what could possibly be wrong with it! I'm a genuine girl now!

Volume One: How I Got Scammed Into Becoming a Magical Girl: Chapter 46: Physical Fitness Test

"Next, Ando Meiko."

"Here."

The first event was sit-ups. She lay down in the designated spot, and once the teacher announced the start, a classmate helping her held down her legs as she steadily raised her score one rep at a time.

"Wow! That's amazing!"

"That doll-like girl is so strong! She's already hit the maximum score, hasn't she? And she still looks completely at ease."

"That's incredible. Is that girl even human?"

She heard the voices around her and tilted her head toward the other side in confusion. There, she saw Kajieliena lying beside her, doing sit-ups at five times her speed.

In the brief time she watched, Kajieliena's count had already gone up by ten.

"Is... is she human?" The terrifying amount of exercise had frightened the girls around her, and even the teacher looked stunned.

Perhaps sensing the strange looks around her, Kajieliena stopped at an appropriate moment. "I'm out of strength. Please record my score."

"Uh... um, o-okay..." The classmate recording her score wrote it down with a blank expression.

In the following side-to-side jumps and vaulting horse event, Kajieliena crushed everyone in the gymnasium, teachers included, in equally astonishing fashion.

The final indoor event was the grip strength test. Ando Meiko thought that surely Kajieliena would rein herself in a little this time.

But the result was... under her "abuse," the grip strength tester's needle instantly hit the maximum, and she even seemed to have strength left over.

She realized she no longer knew how to comment on it. This was just an ordinary physical fitness test. Was there really a need to stay transformed in broad daylight?

Compared to her, I'm way too weak, aren't I? I'm supposed to be a genuine magical girl too!

After the grip strength test, the girls moved outside for the second part, the running test. It was only then that Ando Meiko got close to Kajieliena and discreetly poked her in the back.

"Meizi?"

"Kajieliena, at least hold back a little! At this rate, you're going to become the center of attention for the whole school."

"Is that so? I was merely taking the test normally."

"You've gone overboard! Didn't you see the looks around you? Those girls see you as Superman now."

Kajieliena nodded slightly, indicating that she would take Ando Meiko's suggestion. "It is rather troublesome. I understand. I'll pay attention later."

The result of her paying a little attention was an astonishing 6.2-second record in the fifty-meter sprint.

The women's world record for fifty meters was 5.96 seconds. In other words, if she wanted to, she could break that so-called record whenever she pleased.

Ando Meiko, meanwhile, performed much more normally. With her weak-leg symptoms mostly recovered, she ran with all her might and only managed 9.7 seconds, just barely short of passing.

After learning that this girl had nearly broken the world record for the fifty-meter dash and had maxed out a grip strength tester, even the boys no longer dared approach her. Kajieliena thus got the peace and quiet she wanted most.

But the shock she had caused remained in Ando Meiko's heart. Even after returning home, she was still thinking about what she had asked Kajieliena before they parted.

"Kajieliena, were you transformed?"

"No. Even without transforming, our bodies are made of Ether Body. We can easily do such things without transforming."

Things she could do easily without transforming might be impossible for Ando Meiko even after transforming. Compared with Kajieliena, she was ridiculously weak, wasn't she?

All she could say was that there were differences even among magical girls, and this difference was far from small.

"Sigh." Ando Meiko let out a soft sigh and glanced at the calendar beside the television.

Tomorrow was the weekend. Since she had nothing important to do that weekend, she decided to visit the grand library and borrow some books to read at home.

After all, the school library did not have everything.

"Fuko, let's go out tomorrow." She mentioned it during dinner.

She could not possibly just borrow a book and go straight home with all that free time, could she?

"Huh? Sure! It's rare for Meizi to invite me. I can't refuse such a heartfelt invitation!"

"How are things at school? Did you get any notice?"

"Mm, they sent a message just this morning. I'll be going back to school the Monday after next. I'm going to miss you so much."

Ando Meiko waved off Fuko's act and continued, "What are you talking about? Isn't it a good thing that you can go back to school? You haven't studied in so long. Be careful not to fail your grades and get held back while everyone else graduates."

"That won't happen."

It truly was unlikely. Fuko's grades were much better than she had imagined. She could probably make up for the schoolwork she had neglected during this time in less than a day.

After dinner, Ando Meiko returned to her room and rummaged through boxes and cabinets for something she herself did not know where she had tossed.

"Master, what are you looking for?"

"My phone. I stopped using it before so I wouldn't expose my identity, but now it seems that without a phone, I can't even contact home when I need to."

"Your phone is under the computer desk, buried beneath some papers."

"How do you know?" She was somewhat surprised, but she still opened the cabinet as Ruby said and found her phone beneath a pile of hand-drawn papers calculating game progression.

"I clean Master's room! Of course I know."

So that was it... I always thought Fuko cleaned my room. So Ruby had been doing this kind of thing where I couldn't see...

"Ruby..."

"Mm?"

"Once Fuko goes back, you can live here in human form."

"Huh?" Ruby froze for a moment, then suddenly turned human and threw herself into Ando Meiko's arms. "I've waited so long for this moment. This is wonderful, Master, truly wonderful. As expected, I love you the most..."

"Hey, hey, what do you mean you've been waiting a long time? Fuko isn't going back until the Monday after next."

Pushing Ruby aside, she found a data cable. After charging her phone for a while, she turned it on. Once the familiar startup animation ended, the phone that had not been used in some time lit up again.

The instant it connected to the network, it began endlessly chiming with text message notifications. Just as Ando Meiko started wondering whether it had malfunctioned, hundreds of messages instantly filled its inbox.

Confused, she scrolled through the texts one by one. She scrolled for a long time before finally reaching the end.

Aside from the few bragging messages and greetings from her parents, who were already out traveling, every other message came from only two people.

Concern from Sawamura Rin, and a bombardment of messages from Hirata Yuya.

Volume One: How I Got Scammed Into Becoming a Magical Girl: Chapter 47: A Little Shopping While We're At It

"Bro, where did you go? How did you disappear without saying a word?"

"Bro, if you see this, send me a reply. I'm really worried about you."

"That girl taking your place in class is your cousin? Where did you find such a cute bargain-bin cousin?"

"She called me by my name the moment she saw me. Did you tell her about our relationship? If so, that really helped me out."

"I think I might kind of like her. Can you introduce us after you come back?"

"Hey, it's been two days already. Where are you? No matter what, you should have had time to check your phone."

"Are you dealing with some difficulty? If you are, just say the word if you need help. What's our relationship?"

"Hey, did something really happen to you? If I can't help, I can use my dad's connections."

The familiar message bombardment. Although she had never replied, dozens of messages still came in every day, as though Yuya had turned her inbox into a place to vent.

Yet his behavior warmed Ando Meiko's heart a little.

"Koichi, where did you go? Meizi said you had something to take care of, but why did you disappear without any news at all?"

"Are you... still there? If something happened, please make sure to ask me for help. If it's Koichi, I won't refuse."

She had thought she and Rin had grown distant, but seeing one message like this every day, she realized that had only been her own wishful thinking. Perhaps her days shut away at home had clouded her vision for too long.

With such good friends, she felt she had nothing more to ask for in this life.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm just tied up with something. Meizi is a very good person, so just treat her as if she were me."

That was the message she sent Rin. Though she copied and pasted it, when she sent it to Yuya, she deliberately added, "By the way, Meizi has a boyfriend. You'd better think carefully before making a move. Don't make her dislike you."

"Huh? Koichi? Holy crap, is that you? You finally showed yourself? But Meizi really has a boyfriend? I don't think that matters. As long as she's not married, I still have a chance, right?"

This brat isn't planning to be some homewrecker, is he? Ando Meiko cursed inwardly.

"Koichi? That's great, you finally replied. As long as you're okay, that's all that matters. I was worried sick when you never replied. Where are you now?"

Both of them replied instantly. Naturally, Ando Meiko only read their messages and did not respond. Stopping there was enough. If she kept chatting, it would not do her any good in her current situation.

The next day, before heading out, Ando Meiko used the cosmetics Fuko had given her and the makeup techniques Fuko had taught her to dress herself up a little, then put on the clothes Fuko had given her.

Fuko had planned long ago to give her a few outfits so she would not have to keep wearing cosplay costumes, but the clothes had been too big for her back then.

It had not even been that long, yet Fuko had somehow altered them to fit her figure perfectly.

What kind of perfect homemaker was this? She was far too skillful.

"Let's go!" Standing by the door, Fuko waved at Ando Meiko, who was locking it.

"We're just going out for a stroll. Do you have to make such a big deal out of it?"

"Hehe, we can't take this casually. We need to make up for those two times at the amusement park and school festival!"

"That's true... Nanako, let's go."

"Let's go! Time to eat tasty food!" Nanako hugged her arm and followed her and Fuko out of the house.

Ando Meiko lived in a rather remote area, and there was no grand library nearby. To borrow books, she had to take the train across several stops to the city center. That was why she had asked Fuko to come shopping with her.

"It's been a long time since I came here. It still feels so familiar, and there are just as many people as ever."

"Your school is nearby, isn't it? It's only a few minutes by train. Isn't that much more convenient than it is for me?"

"Mm, there's everything for sale near my home, and I don't really have friends to go shopping with either. Except for Meizi, of course."

Fuko blinked her large eyes at her. From that gesture alone, Ando Meiko could tell Fuko did not mean Meizi, but her other identity.

I appreciate the thought, but if we really did that, I'm afraid people would mistake you for this shut-in's girlfriend.

"Why did Meizi suddenly want to come here?"

"Can't I just want to go shopping with you?"

"Of course you can. Hehe, Meizi is so nice."

Seeing how happily Fuko smiled, she decided to swallow the latter half of her sentence: "Actually, I was only planning to go to the library and shop a little while I was here."

If she said it outright, she would be the one lacking in romance. Shopping was shopping; as for borrowing books, she could do that when they were ready to head home. They could not exactly carry several thick books around everywhere.

She asked Fuko where she wanted to go, and Fuko's answer was the arcade.

Standing before the arcade and looking at all kinds of game machines lined up inside, Ando Meiko could not help recalling the first time she had come here with Fuko.

She had loved playing games since childhood. Of course, as she grew older, the kinds of games she played had changed from hot-blooded action games to girl-raising games.

There were far more snack shops around than before, so before they went in to play, they bought Nanako plenty of tasty food to keep her obediently following them.

As long as she had food, she would behave. Ando Meiko was truly afraid that one day Nanako would be lured away by some strange old man with a single lollipop.

"Do you remember this?"

The game on the machine was Street Fighter, another classic game. The two-player versus mode was something she and Fuko had played since childhood, but Fuko, who had no talent for games, had never once beaten her.

"Of course. I haven't forgotten how someone cried after I beat her ten times in a row and went crying to her mom to complain about me."

"Huh! That was ages ago. I'm really strong now."

"I can't pretend I didn't hear that. In that case, let's play a few rounds."

Her becoming really strong resulted in nine straight losses after all these years. Fuko's cheeks puffed up more and more with each match. If Ando Meiko kept winning, she might not get dinner tonight.