Chapter 9: The Mean God

The Mean God

"This is the second one!"

With a shout, Kaoru-chan swung her flaming sword, splitting the demon in half. The two halves caught fire, and the flames continued to burn until the demon was completely annihilated.

"Whew," Kaoru-chan sighed deeply and shook her head. Sweat splashed from the ends of her short red hair, sparkling in the sunlight.

"Ah, it's so hot! Combining flaming swords in the middle of summer is tough."

"I wish I had a 'Cooling Off Spell'."

"You're right. I wish shaved ice could come out of my fingertips."

We joked and laughed.

We were doing our homework at the city library just now. It had nothing to do with our magical girl jobs or the "Eighth Girl," and we were just doing it as friends.

At that moment, a demon appeared nearby and we were forced to deal with it.

That would be normal, but--

Immediately after defeating the first demon, a second one appeared.

This is the first time we had to fight a demon twice in one day.

"--Recently, the frequency of demons appearing has been too high."

I remembered Mitaka-san's words.

Kaoru-chan and I only recently became magical girls, so we didn't really understand the difference in frequency of appearances between the past and the present, but if Mitaka-san, who has been a magical girl for a long time, feels that way, then it must be true.

After fighting two demons in a row today, I finally understand what Mitaka-san said.

Mitaka-san continued by saying the following:

"There's a possibility that Tachibana is involved in this abnormality."

There has been an abnormal increase in the number of demons appearing, and a mysterious "eighth person" has suddenly appeared.

It's difficult not to doubt the causal relationship.

And then--

"The barrier will be destroyed in one week."

Sumire also declared that.

It is the barrier that prevents the intrusion of demons. If you feel that the number of demons appearing has increased, it is reasonable to assume that the barrier is the cause.

I wonder if Sumire is planning something after all.

Ah, even though I had decided to believe her for the time being, my thoughts were leaning towards doubting Sumire again.

"That's right!"

"Eh?"

Kaoru suddenly let out a loud voice, bringing me back to my senses.

"Let's go eat some zenzai!"

Zenzai?

"Even though it's so hot... Zenzai?"

"There's a shop around here that serves Okinawan-style zenzai. Okinawan zenzai is served cold."

"That's right"

I changed out of my magical girl transformation and headed to the store with Kaoru's guidance. When I changed out of my transformation, my outfit changed and my hair returned to its natural black color.

Okinawan-style zenzai was certainly different from the zenzai I knew.

It uses kidney beans instead of azuki beans, and is topped with shaved ice. Judging from the proportions of the shaved ice, it looks like it would be correct to call it "zenzai-style shaved ice."

The taste is... sweet, like boiled red kidney beans. It also has a hint of brown sugar. The shaved ice is as fine and fluffy as snow, and on a hot day like today, it's refreshing.

"Delicious!"

"Yeah."

The rice crackers are served as a side dish, and the saltiness of the rice crackers is a nice touch after the sweet zenzai.

Kaoru-chan looked at me with a smile. After I'd eaten a certain amount, she picked up a paper napkin from the table and wiped my mouth, telling me not to move. It seemed there was some brown sugar syrup on the corner of her mouth.

"Hehehe."

"D-don't laugh."

"Sorry, sorry. Koharu, you had a difficult look on your face the whole time. I'm kind of relieved."

"Eh……?"

"You have something to say to yourself, don't you?"

It seems like you can't hide anything from Kaoru-chan.

I was wondering whether I should tell Kaoru-chan about Sumire.

On the day Sumire predicted, it was clear that I, who specialized in defense and had no offensive abilities, would not be able to stop her on my own. That's why I needed Kaoru's help -- but...

I was scared.

I was being accused of hiding such an important thing from everyone.

“When we were deciding the rotation of the tower guards, there were days when you couldn’t come in because you had plans, right? But in reality, you don’t have any plans. I think it might have something to do with that.”

The day before yesterday, Mitaka-san came to me again to ask about the watch on the tower.

Now that Sumire had been caught by the tower guards, consisting of Asahina-san, Yuzuriha-san, and Nemuri-chan, it seemed that the same tactic might not work in the future. She suggested that next time we should focus on exploring the city and searching for Sumire.

In response, Alice-chan insisted that guarding the tower was a must. After all, the tower was the only connection between us and Sumire. There was no way we wouldn't keep an eye on it.

In fact, Mitaka-san seemed to have a clue as to where to find Sumire, but Alice-chan's argument was sound solid, so she continued to keep watch over the tower.

With Sumire now almost confirmed as black, the three-person system was no longer essential, so the rotation was rearranged again.

A week later, Sumire would visits the Sousei Dome Tower.

Knowing this, I wanted to adjust the rotation so that my guard duty at the tower would be on the day she announced, but since it would raise suspicion if I directly said, "I want to be on guard duty at the tower in a week," I pretended to have plans on several days and managed to get the guard duty to rotate a week later.

The lead was successful, but it seems to have ended up making Kaoru-chan suspicious.

Incidentally, anyone who had no plans other than guarding the tower was to wander around town and search for Sumire, as Mitaka-san had suggested.

It would be difficult to find just one Sumire even if you ran around Sousei Dome City blindly...or so I thought, but Mitaka-san had an idea.

It's a way to narrow down Sumire's range of activities based on the distribution of magical girls.

It seems that Mitaka had a hypothesis that the magical girls were scattered around the tower, with the tower at the center.

It's true that in all my activities up until now, I had never encountered any other magical girls other than Kaoru-chan, and the same was true for the others.

Furthermore, it is impossible to know from which area a demon will invade a town. If the magical girls' activity areas are unevenly distributed, the initial response will be slow when a demon appears in an empty area. Therefore, it is rational for magical girls to be widely distributed within the town so that each has jurisdiction over an area.

So we shared our respective areas of activity and checked to see if there were any blank areas.

Mitaka-san's thinking was spot on. Aside from the fact that Kaoru-chan and I overlapped in terms of our range of activity (which was only natural, since we were always fighting together), there was no overlap in our areas of activity. Everyone was spread out so that they were neatly separated.

And in one place, there was a blank area where no magical girls were active.

There is Sumire.

Mitaka-san looked troubled for a moment, so it might not be that simple... but for now, that's the only clue we have.

If possible, it would be better to search the city and find Sumire rather than meeting her at the tower. That way, I might not have to tell Kaoru-chan about the barrier...

Because of this optimism, I kept putting off telling Kaoru-chan about the barrier.

However, it seemed that Kaoru-chan had already figured something out from my lame lie. I had no choice but to accept it.

"Actually……"

I told her about my conversation with Sumire.

About the barrier that will be destroyed.

About Sumire who will appear in the Sousei Dome Tower five days later.

Kaoru-chan's eyes widened, probably not expecting the secret to be so serious. However, she didn't seem to panic, and instead calmly asked, "Have you told Mitaka-san?"

"No."

"I see... That's true. If you had said something like that to Mitaka-san, it would have led to the direction of eliminating Tachibana-san without question."

"Aren't you angry?"

"Eh?"

"Hiding something so important... It could be to everyone's detriment..."

"Hmm. To be honest, I think you should tell everyone. But I thought it was very Koharu-like. You want to help Tachibana-san, right? Koharu is always trying her best to protect someone."

"That's not true... I abandoned Sumire... I'm not a good person who tries so hard to protect someone."

"Is that so? Looking at Koharu, I think magic reflects the personality of the person using it. Koharu's magic can protect someone or heal wounds... Koharu's kindness really shines through. It's very different from me, who specializes in attacking with swords and flames."

No, it's wrong.

It's true that my magic has zero offensive power, so I can't even harm a single insect. My shield doesn't move, so I can't hit anything with it...

But that's the result of running away from the responsibility of "taking a life." Being a coward, I always push the dirty job of finishing off the demon onto Kaoru-chan. Even though they're demons, they're still living beings, so there's no way it feels good to cut them down.

To begin with, I'm a burden, unable to even fight without a partner like Kaoru-chan, an attacker. I'm a flaw as a magical girl. Why did they choose someone like me to be a magical girl?... I'm sure Rococo couldn't have predicted this would happen.　

"But even so."

Kaoru-chan said with a grin.

"Koharu calling someone her age by their first name...that's unusual. When did you become close?"

"Huh?"

I was taken off guard by Kaoru-chan's remark.

My face gets hot and I realize I'm blushing.　

"No, that's not it. It's not like we became friends or anything."

Hmm, why was that?

It's true that I'd started calling her "Sumire" without even realizing it, and it didn't feel strange. In fact, calling her anything else other than 'Sumire' felt off. It was as if we were close friends...but in reality, Sumire and I had only just met. It was unusual... or rather, it was the first time... and it was rude to suddenly call someone who looked to be the same age or older by their first name.

"Hehe, I know. She is the one Koharu always wanted to protect, right?"

"No! I just-"

"Don't say it all, don't say it all"

"S-Seriously!"

It's a bit complicated being teased, but... I feel like I've lifted a weight off my chest. I think she's trying to act cheerful so that I don't dwell on it too much. I feel a little bad for Kaoru-chan's consideration and kindness, but I'm also happy... She's such a good friend, far more than I could ever hope to be.

And yet, for some reason, I find myself thinking, what if Sumire had joined us here?　

◇◆◇◆

It's too hot and the air conditioning isn't working.

That's right, let's eat ice cream!

So, on my way back from buying ice cream at a nearby convenience store, I came across Tengai Nemuri.

Nemuri seemed to float lightly in the air, wandering aimlessly around the area. Her eyes were fixed on something vague, and she didn't seem to be moving with any apparent purpose in mind.

I almost let out a loud "Eeeeehhh!" but managed to hold it in. However, Nemuri must have sensed my slight gasp, as our eyes met.

Nemuri approached me, consulting with something invisible, her agent, probably.

I braced myself for a fight, but there was no sign of it.

"See... that's not her... it's not Tachibana Sumire... She is not wearing a dress after all... Eh...? Her face...? I wonder..."　

Apparently, her Agent decided that I was Tachibana Sumire and urged her to contact someone like Raika, but Nemuri's naivety kicked in and it didn't go well.

Why?

Each magical girl has a personal color (which also seems to reflect their spirituality), and when they transform, the base color of their hair and clothes is unified to that color. Therefore, their appearance changes greatly between their normal and transformed states, but my personal color is the same black as my natural hair, so my appearance remains almost the same.

Maybe she can't even remember other people's faces. She doesn't even remember her own...

"It's fine now, right?"

She asks and tries to leave the place, when her eyes stopped at something.

"Ice……"

Nemuri stared at the plastic bag I was holding in my hand, drooling. Perfect!

Then she looks at me expectantly, her eyes flicking back and forth between the plastic bag and me.

Ugh, what a tremendous amount of pressure...

Overwhelmed by her expectant look, I handed her the ice cream.

It was a sherbet ice cream that could be split in half and shared, but instead of sharing half, I give the whole thing with her.

It's okay for a mysterious heroine like Nemuri to be shown eating. She usually eats in a messy way, which gives the impression of mystery and makes you wonder, "What kind of environment did she grow up in?"

But for a mysterious heroine like me, it's best not to show my eating. It will add point that makes me seem less human.

I was sad to part with the ice cream I'd gone out of my way to buy in the damn heat, but it was unavoidable if I wanted to fulfill my role as a mysterious heroine.

Roy was trembling with emotion. "It's wonderful to build friendships with other magical girls," he said with an unusually happy look on his face, excited. This a agent of mine vibrate like rats when they're happy.　

Even so...it's not as neat as I thought it would be.

I don't mind if she sucks on the opening of the container and makes a slurping noise, but she pulls and sucks on it with her hand while she's sucking, which makes a slurping noise that bothers me. She also bites the whole container and drops the contents...

Well, she's had a tough life, so I'll give her a break.

As the only surviving member of the Tengai family, a family that has produced users of "Barrier Magic'' for generations, the task she bears is no small one.

The gods of this world are malicious deep down. There's even an anecdote that when the anime was airing, if you predicted the story would unfold in a "worse direction," your accuracy rate would increase without exception.

The identity of the "Eighth Person" was also a terrible choice. That it would be the most shocking things for audiences if the "Eighth Person" turned out to be the protagonist herself.

When Nemuri finished eating the ice cream, she put the empty container into the plastic bag I was holding. Her hands were sticky with the melted ice cream.

"Thank you... You're a good person, Onee-san..."

After she thanked me, she put her arm around my shoulders from behind and held me tightly.

Huh? What? I was confused when suddenly my body started to rise.

I was surprised by the suddenness of it all, but I was used to flying in the air so it wasn't scary.

"Thank you... Flying in the sky feels good..."

I was suspicious that I would be taken straight to Raika, but it seemed that she was simply taking me for a stroll through the air.

I was dropped off at a convenient spot and then bought some ice cream at the convenience store again before heading home.