Magical Girl? I Was Scammed Into It! Chapter 5

The moment Ando Meiko held the magic wand in her hand, an inexplicable confidence welled up within her. She felt like there was nothing left for her to fear.

She pointed the wand at the writhing tentacles, yet what came out of her mouth was the sort of grandiose line a villain would say after obtaining some overpowered cheat.

"I'll repay the humiliation you gave me a thousandfold!"

"Something's wrong..."

"What's wrong, Master? Didn't you already transform?"

The metal shaft of the wand suddenly bent around, as though Ruby had turned back to ask her a question. The sight made her feel oddly uncomfortable.

"Why... did my chest get smaller?!"

It was not just her chest that had shrunk; even her whole body had become much smaller, as though she had directly turned into someone else.

"Is this really the time to care about details like that? Besides, wouldn't being smaller make it easier to move?"

That was true. Even after a whole day of adapting, she had not gotten used to the sense of imbalance her body brought her. In this state, she could actually move more nimbly.

This also proved what Ruby had said before. Ando Meiko's body really seemed to have become an Ether Body formed from magic power that could change freely.

While she was still thinking, several tentacles struck at once, forcing her to scramble backward a few steps to evade them.

"Tch."

She clicked her tongue. Enraged by the tentacles, she shouted these words to bolster her own spirit: "Die!"

Having shouted that in anger, she really did look like a villain about to finish off the heroes.

At the very tip of the magic wand, magic power drifting through the air gathered into a fist-sized ball of magical energy. This was the energy cannon she had been charging.

"Fire!"

Biu...

No way... You've got to be kidding me. How could this happen?

The orb in front of the wand did not turn into a beam of energy and shoot out as Ando Meiko had imagined, destroying every enemy before her.

The light orb, accompanied by a strange sound effect, flew less than a meter through the air before dissipating. After it vanished completely, it even emitted a puff of white smoke that seemed to be mocking her.

Not only was this damn magic mocking her, even the tentacles stopped in front of her and swayed as if laughing at her.

Ando Meiko glared viciously at the tentacles. If magic could not be relied on, then with this enhanced transformed body, she would bite every last one of them off if she had to.

But the disgusting slime made her abandon that idea.

"Hey! Ruby, do something! Didn't you brag yourself up to the skies? Why are you useless when it matters most?"

"What does this have to do with me? It's because Master is too weak."

A sweeping tentacle knocked away the magic wand—the wand she had only just touched, that had only just transformed her, that had only just made her feel invincible.

The wand that called itself Ruby the Gem had not even had time to warm up in Ando Meiko's hand before falling to the ground.

Humiliation. This was humiliation!

Finally unable to endure it any longer, she picked up the magic wand in a fit of shame and anger, used it like a club, and swung it straight at the tentacles.

"Master! Don't fight in such a crude way! No matter what, I'm a magic wand!"

"Like I care?" Ando Meiko ignored Ruby's protests and swung the wand.

But the outcome was inevitable. The wand was knocked away again, and she was once more wrapped around the limbs by the surging tentacles and hauled into the air.

Volume One: The Story of How I Was Scammed into Becoming a Magical Girl: Chapter Seven: Tentacles... Loli?

This was all fake. Maybe even my identity as a magical girl was fake. This was all a dream, a dream world created by God to punish me for hiding at home and playing games.

The tentacles tried to tear apart the transformed magical girl battle outfit, but clothes made of magic power were not so easily damaged. The inflexible tentacles could only tug at it wildly.

The already skin-tight outfit was pulled taut, digging into the flesh all over her body and making it hard for Ando Meiko to breathe.

Just as the tentacles were about to take things a step further, Ruby's hurried voice finally drifted over.

"Stupid Master!"

"How am I stupid again? It's all because of you! Because of you, I have to suffer this humiliation! I just wanted to live a normal life!!!"

Not caring whether she frightened or enraged the tentacles, she shouted it outright. Even if saying such things while restrained like this gave her absolutely no dignity, she still wanted to express the anger in her heart.

"Master, trust me. Calm down. Only by joining our powers can we get you out of danger. Use me, trust me!"

"How am I supposed to use you? How am I supposed to trust you? Haven't you tricked me enough already? I've accepted the fact that I became a girl. Why do I still have to face this?"

"You were the one who insisted on messing around there and got yourself hit, so how is that my fault?"

"..."

She was speechless. That actually made sense. This really could not be blamed on Ruby. She had been the one playing around near the barrier and ended up like this. Ruby bore no responsibility for it.

"Sorry..."

Watching the tentacles do whatever they wanted to her battle outfit, she closed her eyes and sincerely apologized to Ruby.

"Master, everything I have belongs to you. No matter what you say, that fact will never change. So please use me. The combat trait of Obsidian-Type magical girls is imagination!"

A magical girl's combat trait was imagination... What kind of strange fighting style was that...?

"Ruby!"

"Yes, my Master!"

She stretched out her right hand toward the magic wand lying on the ground, and Ruby answered Ando Meiko's summons at the same time. The wand trembled on the ground before floating up, then dove straight back into her hand.

What I need now is something that can free me from these tentacles. Something sharp enough.

"A sword!" Ando Meiko's imagination seemed to run wild as she carefully pictured every detail of the sword she wanted.

Red light enveloped the magic wand, and the wand made of magic power changed shape according to her imagination.

It was certainly sharp, but instead of becoming the sword she had imagined, the wand became a smaller, more stripped-down version...

A fruit knife.

She really wanted to complain about why it was so different from what she had imagined, but this was not the time to pursue that. As long as it was some kind of knife, it would do for now.

She gripped the fruit knife in reverse and spun it once against the tentacle wrapped around her wrist.

The fruit knife, which looked utterly useless, effortlessly sliced through the entire tentacle.

Though the knife was small, it was made of magic power and strengthened by Ruby's true body as a magic wand, making it terrifyingly sharp.

With one hand freed, breaking loose became much easier. Three swings, three cuts, and she severed all the tentacles suspending her in the air.

Without the tentacles supporting her, Ando Meiko fell from midair to the ground.

"Ow..." Her hand instinctively clutched the part of her body that had made intimate contact with the ground, but the expected pain did not come. "Huh? It doesn't hurt?"

"A magical girl's battle outfit has decent impact resistance, and her physical strength increases considerably after transforming. Even falling from the tenth floor would not do much, much less a height like this."

"So that's how it is."

She glanced at the severed tentacles, which had turned into threadlike strands, then stood back up. The fruit knife had already returned to its magic wand form.

I did it. I really broke free from the tentacles. Maybe after defeating my natural enemy, I'm already a mature magical gir—

No, no, no. Why am I accepting this identity? No!

"Waaah..."

Just as Ando Meiko was about to press her advantage and pursue the tentacles, she heard a little girl crying.

Questions immediately flooded her mind.

Why was there a little girl crying inside the barrier? Could it be that a little girl had accidentally wandered into this barrier?

"Is anyone there? Little girl? Where are you?"

Since there was a little girl crying here, if she had entered before Ando Meiko, then could she already have...

After all, Ando Meiko had experienced it firsthand. She no longer dared to imagine the scene that might follow between tentacles and a little girl.

She did not know whether the tentacles had succeeded, but either way, she was afraid of seeing it in progress.

As she followed the sound in search of the little girl, the tentacles actually withdrew to either side along the path she had to take.

"What's going on? Are they afraid of me?"

That wasn't right. There were at least thousands of tentacles in this whole barrier. I only cut four of them. That shouldn't have affected them at all.

"Master, you should still be careful."

"You're right."

That completely threw Ando Meiko off, but afraid that the tentacles might counterattack, she turned the magic wand into a fruit knife ahead of time.

Only then could her suppressed feelings find a little peace and relief.

As she walked deeper into the darkness, the tentacles around her grew denser and denser, even forming walls on either side.

"How strange."

A puzzled voice came from the magic wand, nearly making Ando Meiko's heart leap out of her chest in this environment that resembled a horror movie set.

"W-what is it, Ruby?"

"Logically speaking, a barrier like this is another space that only people whose bodies carry magic power can touch and enter. Ordinary people should be able to walk straight through without any problems and never enter the barrier."

Then if she kept walking down this path, wouldn't the answer reveal itself?

The walls formed by the tentacles had reached their end, and a little girl sat crying at the very back.

Just as Ando Meiko was about to approach, she saw pink tentacles behind the little girl, each one connected to her hair.

This crying little girl was actually the true culprit behind the tentacles and the barrier. No wonder the severed tentacles had turned into thin pink threads. Those threads were actually hair.

Startled, Ando Meiko took half a step back and stared fixedly at the child, afraid she might do something strange.

But the little girl seemed to notice her movement. She stopped crying and stood up from the ground.

As the little girl slowly walked toward Ando Meiko, Ando Meiko examined her.

She was very small. If she had to describe it, the child was probably about the size of a third- or fourth-grade elementary school student.

But because Ando Meiko had also turned into a loli after transforming, she did not look much taller than the child.

Yet when those beautiful sapphire-like eyes looked at her with such a resentful gaze—especially when they were still moist from crying—

She felt her inner loli-lover spirit ignite instantly.

"She's... way too cute."

Volume One: The Story of How I Was Scammed into Becoming a Magical Girl: Chapter Eight: Descendants of Gods in Fault Space

"Big sister, did you come to play with me?" The little loli shyly lowered her head, tracing circles with her fingers in front of her chest.

"Um, little sister, why are you here alone? And what's with these tentacles?"

She pointed at the loli's hair behind her, then at the dense tentacles piled up like walls, and asked.

"These are my hair... But I don't know why I'm here either. No one plays with me. It's been many years, and Big Sister is the only person who has ever come here."

"I'm the first person to come here... So, were you playing with me just now?"

"Yes. Big Sister looked like she was having fun."

What? There's no way I enjoyed being restrained by tentacles, not even a little! That was only because you were having fun, little sister!

"I... Forget it. Little sister, do you want to get out of here?"

"Yes! Does Big Sister have a way to take me out?"

The little loli hugged her at almost teleport-like speed, while the tentacles formed from her hair tightly wrapped around both of them. Her soft body rubbed against Ando Meiko's embrace.

It was still related to tentacles, but this felt far more comfortable than before.

"Little sister, could you let go of me first, then put your tentacles away?"

The tentacles stirring with the little loli's emotions gave her instant PTSD. Ando Meiko had developed an instinctive aversion to them.

"Okay."

The tentacles released her body, and the little loli who hopped away from her landed with a little "tap." All the pink tentacles shrank and gathered toward her hair, finally turning back into long pink hair that trailed along the ground.