Magical Girl? I Got Scammed into It!

The meeting place was a café called the Catgirl Maid Café. It was somewhat out of the way and not particularly well-known, but the service provided by the catgirl maids there was the most authentic.

Not far from the familiar building, a girl leaned against the outer wall, apparently looking down at her phone.

A large beret covered her face. Though Ando Meiko could not see what she looked like, judging by the outfit described in her messages, this person had to be Three Purities.

But what was with that girlish stance, legs drawn together and hands behind her back? It did not match her imposing appearance in battle at all.

What would be the best way to greet someone she was meeting for the first time? Something ordinary seemed boring, but would being too direct make her seem shallow?

After thinking it over for a moment, Ando Meiko decided to go with something more ordinary.

Before she realized it, she had walked up beside the girl while thinking. "Hi, hello."

"Are you Ruby?"

As the beret lifted, the face hidden beneath it was revealed to her. Yet when the two girls met face-to-face in their real identities for the first time, both their smiles froze.

They stared at each other, their pupils trembling like children who had accidentally dropped a string of firecrackers into their pants during New Year celebrations. Other than shock, there was only more shock.

"Meizi?!"

"Rin..."

Awkward. So awkward. Incredibly awkward. That was the only thought in Ando Meiko's mind after following Rin into the café.

Her mouth continued drinking normally, but her mind was as blank as a newly created folder. While she desperately thought of how to smooth things over, her toes were practically digging her a seaside villa.

Who could have imagined that the person she was meeting would be the neighbor's child, Sawamura Rin, who had gotten along quite well with both of her identities?

No wonder she had grown so distant from me over the past few years. So this child had gone off to become a magical girl. She clearly did not want to drag me into it. Rin really was such a kind child.

Ando Meiko quietly sighed to herself.

Neither of them spoke first. She did not know whether neither wanted to break the silence, or whether the atmosphere had simply become that tense.

Her coffee was nearly gone. The clinking of unmelted ice against the bottom of the cup pulled Ando Meiko out of her thoughts.

They were both certainly embarrassed, but they could not just turn around and go home, could they? As Meizi, she felt she should take the lead. Once they took the first step, conversation would probably become much easier.

"The weather is nice today." Before her mind could catch up, the words had already slipped out.

What the hell am I saying? Who says something like that in such an awkward situation?

Rin did not answer. She looked out the window, seemingly lost in thought. Though it was awkward, Ando Meiko decided to persist. "Rin, I never expected you to be Three Purities. It really is surprising. The world is truly small."

"I never expected Ruby to be Meizi either... But the contrast is just too..."

She could clearly feel that Rin's gaze had fallen on her chest. That was not strange. Rather, it would have been strange if she did not find it strange.

Fuko and Kajieliena had both explained this to her: after forming a contract with the Great Will and transforming into Aether, a magical girl's physical age became fixed.

Before transforming, Ando Meiko was Meizi, a well-endowed high school girl. After transforming, she became Ruby, a flat-chested twin-tailed little girl. The contrast really was absurdly huge.

"By the way, Rin, why did you ask me to meet you?"

"I actually..." Rin had prepared what she needed to say beforehand, but after learning that Ruby was actually Ando Meiko, she hesitated.

At first, Ando Meiko had thought Three Purities merely wanted to thank her. But now, it seemed it was not that simple.

"It's fine, go ahead. I know you do not want to cause me trouble, but even if we know each other's secrets, we are still friends, right?"

"Actually... I wanted to ask Meizi— I mean, Ruby—to join the magical girl organization, Divine Shield."

"Magical girl organization?" Since Kajieliena had already mentioned it to her, she was not particularly surprised.

"Um... could I visit first before making a decision?"

Joining an organization meant contributing effort. Since even after becoming a magical girl, she only wanted to live an ordinary life, Ando Meiko was extremely resistant to the idea. But she also could not directly refuse Rin's invitation.

The best strategy was to ask for a visit first, then find all kinds of excuses during the visit to politely decline. That way, Rin probably would not feel embarrassed.

"Of course. Then I'll show you around, Meizi." Rin grabbed her hand and headed toward the staff room backstage.

When the maids still working saw the two girls enter the staff room together, several of them immediately came over and guarded its door.

Wait, what did this mean? Were they not going to visit the base? Why were they heading backstage? Could it be... this maid café was the base?

After Rin pressed a switch hidden beside the light switch box, a crack suddenly appeared in the innermost wall of the staff room. Then, as the entire wall retracted, it opened to both sides like an automatic door, revealing mechanical structures within.

"This is... an elevator?"

"Yeah. The base is hidden beneath this shop."

After she and Rin stepped into the elevator, Rin brought her face close to its electronic lock.

[Magical Girl Three Purities, identity confirmed. Welcome home safely.]

"B-but... why a catgirl maid café?"

"After all, everyone can transform into magical girls, so they do not feel too embarrassed about it. With military support, they basically do not lack money. Most of them simply come out to earn a little extra cash when they have nothing else to do."

Life really was not easy. Even magical girls had to come out and perform for money.

"Huh?"

Ando Meiko froze. She seemed to have heard something extraordinary. Military support? That meant the country's upper ranks actually knew magical girls existed?

The elevator descended rapidly. Just as the weightlessness made her feel as though she was about to float away, it suddenly sank and stopped.

Once the elevator doors fully opened, the layout inside made Ando Meiko completely forget that she was supposedly living in the twenty-first century.

Under pure-white shadowless lamps, the place resembled the bridge of a warship. People in all kinds of work uniforms moved back and forth, and there were also quite a few ordinary-looking people dressed like Rin and Ando Meiko.

"Hey, Three Purities. Oh? This one looks unfamiliar."

"This is a newcomer I brought in to visit. Her name is Ruby."

"Hello, Ruby. I hope you enjoy yourself here." As though she were in a hurry, a girl in casual clothes greeted them, then entered the elevator and left without even giving her name.

"Are these names codenames?"

"Yeah. Avoiding the disclosure of real names is common practice among magical girls, so you should be careful when you are out too, Ruby. Otherwise, it will be troublesome if you encounter a witch."

"Okay~" In reality, there was already an especially troublesome witch beside her. That witch even seemed to be executive-level. Even without magic, her superhuman physical abilities left Ando Meiko completely helpless.

After all, she had truly made Ando Meiko understand what a physical magical girl was.

"This is the transfer area. From here, we can reach other parts of the base. Let's visit the command area first. You can meet the commander while we are there."

A commander? There was even something like that... What kind of magical girl organization was this? Would it not be better to call it a militarized girl organization?

"This is our commander, Tamura Yōichi." When the man looked their way, Rin nodded to him. "Commander."

"Three Purities? You worked hard yesterday. Hmm?" The commander, Tamura Yōichi, immediately noticed Ando Meiko behind Rin. "And this is?"

"Sorry, I brought her back for a visit without permission."

"Oh? A newcomer?" Yōichi examined the girl before him. He stroked his chin and nodded solemnly. "Hmm, she is rather cute."

What the hell? After staring so seriously for all that time, that was all he had to say? What nonsense was that? Say something more useful!

"Then I'll look forward to you joining us. Just in time, Three Purities, come attend the operations meeting..."

She noticed Yōichi glance at her, but she did not know what she was supposed to say. Could she take that to mean she was in the way here?

That made sense. This was their operations meeting, after all. She was only here to visit and had not actually joined, so it was normal that they did not want her hearing it.

"Then I'll excuse myself..."

"Commander, she is the person who saved us yesterday." Rin's meaning was obvious. She wanted Ando Meiko to sit in on the meeting, but she did not know that Ando Meiko did not want anything to do with them.

"If you insist. Right, how are the others doing?"

"Other than Aika, the other two were not seriously injured. That is fortunate amid misfortune."

Aika? Should that not be Agate? An agate? Was she an Obsidian-Type Magical Girl like me?

Meeting a fellow magical girl for the first time, Ando Meiko could not help feeling curious. Just how would a magical girl of the same type as her fight?

If she got to know her properly, perhaps she could gain some inspiration through reference.

Though Ando Meiko did not know who Aika was, the most seriously injured person should have been the magical girl embedded in the wall.

But...

Should not Rin have been the most severely injured? Ando Meiko thought. That had been a penetrating wound...

Then again, it was hard to say which was worse: a penetrating wound or being embedded in a wall.

"Commander." The automatic doors opened to either side with a mechanical clank, and a girl walked in from outside.

Seeing this, Rin immediately stepped forward to support the girl who had suddenly barged in. "Aika, why are you... You are not well enough to be running around. Go back and rest."

"I held everyone back last time. I want to participate in this operation too."

"No, Aika. As commander, I cannot let you act recklessly. I will not stop you from listening to the operations meeting, but participating in combat is impossible." Yōichi's answer was firm.

"Fine... Hm? Who is this?" After calming down, Aika noticed the unfamiliar girl standing behind Rin.

"She is the person who saved us last time, Ruby."

"Huh! Why didn't you say so earlier?" Aika walked up to Ando Meiko and bowed slightly. "Thank you for yesterday. If it were not for you, things would have gone very badly for us."

"N-no, it was nothing... I just happened to be passing by."

"But..." A trace of anticipation appeared in Aika's eyes. "Ruby, you're Ruby? I never expected to meet another magical girl of my type. This is wonderful."

Being watched with such an enthusiastic gaze made Ando Meiko a little embarrassed, but she also noticed a problem in Aika's words. "Are Obsidian-Type Magical Girls rare?"

Rin nodded, then explained in Aika's place. "After all, among the sky, ocean, and land, land has the smallest area. So there are relatively fewer Obsidian-Type Magical Girls."

"Yeah..." Aika continued from where Rin left off. "Compared to the Star Tarot's wildly imaginative themes, or the countless sea creatures of the ocean, gemstones are simply too rare."

After their explanation, Ando Meiko suddenly understood. If they ever fought by faction, could Starry Magical Girls drown the Obsidian-Type ones with a mouthful of spit each?

"All right, girls, the meeting from here..."

"Sorry, Commander."

"It's fine. Three Purities, Aika, Ruby, take your seats."

They had actually invited even her, a mere visitor, into the command room.

It felt rude not to accept their kindness. Helplessly, she could only support Aika from the other side and take a seat with the two of them.

The projection on the large screen lit up. The image displayed was the Ghost Grade Void Spider from the Void World.

In less than a day, the tail Ando Meiko had shot through had already completely recovered. Moreover, many of the spider cocoons it had protected had cracked open, revealing small, somewhat translucent spiders inside.

"The situation is not optimistic. Judging by the cocoons' size, there are at least fifty juvenile Void Spiders in the three cocoons. Their Aether fluctuation intensity is still unknown, but a conservative estimate puts them at General-class."

Weaker magical girls could not handle General-class enemies alone. That meant the fifty Void Beasts about to be born were not ordinary cannon fodder.

After considering it for a moment, Rin asked, "How much combat strength do we currently have?"

"Including you, there are seven magical girls able to participate in operations."

"Is she here?"

The commander shook his head. "She went to Osaka on a mission. There is also a Ghost Grade there, and it is far stronger than this spider. It is already approaching Dragon-class."

"What is going on? Have Ghost-Tier Void Beasts become this common?"

"It is probably the same old Dragon Vein issue again. Unfortunately, we cannot spare anyone recently, so there is no way to thoroughly investigate this area."

They then began discussing how to fight the spider. Time was extremely tight. If they waited for those little spiders to hatch, the situation would likely become even worse.

"How about having a more agile magical girl lure away the Void Spider while we deal with her eggs first?"

Yōichi agreed with Rin's suggestion. "That was my thought as well. We deal with them before the spiders hatch. With your abilities and the others, you should be able to manage it, right?"

"Yeah. We can just burn all the eggs with one fire. I prepared quite a few fire talismans, but who should draw the spider's attention?"

"How about Furate?"

The commander's words made Rin's eyes light up. "She is here too? If it is her, she really would be the best choice."

"Sorry for always making you bear the burden. But the Void Interface Device should be nearly finished. If ordinary people like us can enter the Void World too, we will at least be able to assist you in battle."

"Um..." Ando Meiko weakly raised her hand. As everyone fell silent, they turned their eyes toward her.