Chapter 18: Black's Melancholy

Magical Girl Black felt that a lot of things, far too many things, had been happening lately. It was all a bit much for a middle-aged man’s weary soul.

Of course, the fact that the infamous Darkmoon Coven had been well and truly subjugated brought her a great deal of relief. The fiend known as Yuki Kirishima, or rather, Dark Butterfly, had not been captured, true. Apparently, that woman’s insidious Esper ability allowed her to completely change her appearance at will, making her almost impossible to track. Her true civilian identity, however, had already been found by the organization’s surprisingly competent intelligence division.

But, as he’d heard, her real identity was, in fact, a genuine, if somewhat obscure web novelist. They had even, with a bit of digital sleuthing, found her published works online… Her own family, it turned out, had absolutely no idea about any of her fiendish, double-life shenanigans… which was just incredibly, painfully awkward for everyone involved.

At the end of the day, the Hero Organization, for all its bureaucratic faults and questionable PR decisions, was more or less on the side of the good guys. They couldn’t possibly, as a matter of policy and basic human decency, use someone’s innocent, unsuspecting family members to threaten a target into submission. That was something that was simply not allowed. (Probably.)

And the fact that the target herself had simply vanished was, of course, very troublesome. But, thankfully, she wasn’t considered overwhelmingly powerful on her own, and the organization had assured Black that they would continue to search for her, assigning specialized Espers with advanced tracking abilities to the case. Good luck with that.

Black didn’t really expect the organization to find her immediately. As long as they could keep that woman tied up, prevent her from causing any more trouble for her and her family, that was good enough for now.

Comparatively, she had far more important, far more pressing things to do. More important matters to handle.

For example, arranging her daughter’s new work assignment. Of course, receiving the news that both Hana and Magical Girl Red had enthusiastically agreed to the new arrangement was a very good thing. She had been secretly terrified that one, or both of them might resist the idea. Since they had both agreed, it was all for the best. A huge relief.

The real reason she wanted her daughter to go over to Red’s side, of course, wasn’t any of the noble, fatherly reasons she had so eloquently, and with much internal suffering, espoused to the Handler. No, it was because she, Magical Girl Black, had now become significantly more dangerous. More of a target.

Just as Strawberry Sweetheart, after becoming the undisputed "strongest," had to inevitably face enemies on the almost mythological level of the Darkmoon Queen, Black wasn’t sure if she, now that she had become somewhat stronger herseld, could truly survive a no-holds-barred, life-or-death battle against the Darkmoon Queen at her full, uninhibited strength. That fiend, that creature of pure malice, was just that powerful.

And now, Strawberry Sweetheart, the pillar of their generation, had retired. This matter, this  fact, was far too critical, far too world-altering.

People always say that when the sky is falling, the tall ones will be there to hold it up. Well, now the sky had well and truly fallen, and the tallest, most reliable person was gone. And Black discovered, with a dawning, crushing sense of horror, that she was now the tall one. She now had to be the one to hold up the entire goddamn sky. And having her precious, and not-at-all-invincible daughter by her side while doing so… it was just too dangerous. Unthinkably so.

Who, after all, are the most dangerous people in this crazy, super-powered world? It’s the half-baked ones. The ones who know just enough to be reckless, but not enough to be truly skilled.

It was just like swimming. People who can’t swim at all, under normal circumstances, won’t even get in the water. People who are expert swimmers, on the other hand, know exactly how to handle all sorts of emergencies and unexpected situations. It’s only the half-baked ones, the ones who know a little but not nearly enough, who are most prone to dying in the water due to some unforeseen, tragic accident.

The world of Espers was exactly the same.

Ren Akiyama, ironically, precisely because he wasn’t an Esper, was actually far, far safer than Hana in many situations. Because in the perception of most fiends, and even many other Espers, those without powers, the Normies, simply didn’t constitute any kind of genuine threat. Even if Ren could, as Black had seen, take out a normal Esper with a well-aimed RPG—most Espers, almost instinctively held a certain contempt for ordinary people… Even most heroes, if they were being honest, would subconsciously see ordinary people as little more than helpless objects to be protected.

In this kind of situation, Hana, being an Esper who was, for all intents and purposes, still "not strong," would be in a great deal of danger. She was a target.

And the even more critical, more frustrating problem was, even if he, Kenji, as her father, told Ren to leave her side, to stay away, would he just obediently say, “Okay, sir, I’m leaving now,” and then just… walk away?

Obviously not! Impossible! That stubborn, loyal, and frankly quite insane kid was the type who would forcibly, and with a great deal of heroic conviction, drag her into a pocket dimension to face a potential, world-ending Inversion together. A person like that might seem gentle, polite, even pliable on the surface, but once he truly, firmly decided to do something, he was absolutely, positively impossible to stop. A stubborn, unmovable bull. For a conflict-avoidant, long-suffering corporate drone like Black this was the most difficult, most frustrating type of person to deal with.

After all, a standard, defining trait of a corporate drone is the complete, almost pathological inability to refuse requests that seem well-intentioned, no matter how unreasonable they might be. It was just like when a slimy, manipulative boss says, with a greasy smile, "Hey, Tanaka-san, could you just quickly do this extra bit of work for me? It’ll be great for your future promotion prospects, I promise!" Many corporate drones, upon hearing the first half of that sentence, are filled with a righteous, burning anger. But when they hear the second half, even knowing full well that the boss is just dangling a fake, nonexistent carrot in front of them, they still, somehow, find it incredibly difficult to refuse with any real, righteous conviction.

And besides, Ren Akiyama wasn’t just dangling a metaphorical carrot. That kid… that kid actually had the guts to kiss her. For real.

Black couldn’t help but unconsciously touch her lips with her slender, delicate fingers. Speaking of which, it had been so, so many long, lonely years since she had kissed someone. The last time… the last time had been with her beloved Kaoru… A man’s lips, she mused with a strange, detached curiosity, really are so much rougher, so much more chapped than a woman’s. But that kind of firm, resolute line… it was surprisingly, unsettlingly comfortable…

With a sudden, violent groan of pure, unadulterated self-loathing, she slammed her head hard against a nearby, heavy-duty sandbag. In the private, well-equipped room provided by the organization for Magical Girl Black’s personal use, there were many similar pieces of high-end fitness equipment. Of course, for the ridiculously overpowered Magical Girl Black, they were completely meaningless. But the organization’s official, well-intentioned idea was, “You can use these things to practice and develop some cool, new special moves.”

Special moves. Hissatsu-waza. Of course. For magical girls, for any hero really, they were a very, very important thing. It was all about branding. Just look at Strawberry Sweetheart’s iconic “Lovely Shock!” Even the newly debuted Magical Girl Red, for all her inexperience, already had a cool-sounding ultimate attack called “Magic Red Lotus Sword Slash” to unleash at dramatic moments.

Only she, the fearsome Magical Girl Black, had nothing but her plain, boring, and brutally effective basic attacks. Just… punches. And kicks. Lots and lots of them.

But she personally felt that basic attacks, that pure physical combat, were the most suitable, most efficient method. At the end of the day, when the Darkmoon Queen, with all her fancy, flashy, ridiculously complicated skills, was being beaten senseless by Strawberry’s Nightmare Pudding form, what had she done? She had still, in the end, just grabbed her Dark Moon and tried to smash it over her opponent’s head like a common street thug. That, Black knew, proved that this was the most effective, most primal, most honest form of combat.

So, if she had to have a "skill"… then it would have to be martial arts, wouldn’t it? Perhaps she should devote herself to seriously, diligently practicing the martial way.

The martial way… It was a subtle, romantic term. Who, in their foolish, bygone youth, didn’t have a secret, burning dream of practicing martial arts, of becoming a legendary, unstoppable warrior? And now that she had, by some cruel, ironic twist of fate, been given a chance to be young, to be powerful again, why not practice the martial way? It made a certain kind of sense.

Moreover, her heart, her mind, it needed to find some kind of peace, some kind of anchor. When faced with the fiends’ sophistry, their tragic, self-pitying cries, their righteous, hate-filled shouts, even their surprisingly valid grievances and their twisted, logical reasoning, she could always, without fail, remain calm, detached, and brutally efficient. She could exterminate fiends without a shred of mercy, without a moment’s hesitation. And yet… and yet she couldn’t bring herself to simply, decisively push Ren Akiyama away.

This… this was just so terrible. It was a fundamental weakness. A flaw in her very being. This was, by any reasonable definition, a form of cheating! An emotional affair!

As a father! As Hana’s father! She should be sternly, righteously teaching Ren Akiyama a harsh lesson, scolding him fiercely for his inappropriate actions! She should be making him confess everything to Hana, making him work hard to earn Hana’s forgiveness! And she herself should be apologizing profusely to Hana, begging for her forgiveness as well! That was the right thing to do! The responsible thing!

But she couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth. She couldn’t bring herself to do it.

This was a weakness of the heart. It was her weakness, Magical Girl Black’s weakness. And she needed to find something, anything, to make her heart calm, to allow her to face this weakness directly. Otherwise, this… this emotional vulnerability… it could very well become a gaping, exploitable hole for the fiends to use against her. And she absolutely, positively would not allow that to happen. Not ever. The Darkmoon Queen had already, with terrifying precision, aimed for this very direction in her previous, insidious attack. If it hadn’t been for Hana and Ren suddenly, miraculously appearing at that critical moment, she might have well and truly fallen into their carefully laid, psychologically devastating trap.

“Miss Black,” Ren’s voice suddenly came through her comms unit, pulling her from her dark, spiraling thoughts. “I’ve just received the official materials from the organization. It’s about the new raid dungeon in ‘Magical Girl Brawl.’ The developers want to feature a new form for your character. Do you have any ideas or preferences on that?”

…There’s… there’s work, too? Now? Of all the times?

Black felt a fresh wave of profound helplessness wash over her. “I haven’t even awakened a new form myself, you idiot! What kind of ideas do you want me to have? Last time they just arbitrarily came up with that ridiculous ‘Wrath Mode’ out of thin air. If you ask me, that was already a blatant, shameless cash grab, wasn’t it?”

“That may be true, Miss Black,” Ren’s voice replied, calm and professional as always, “but they seem to have gotten some reliable inside information that Strawberry Sweetheart has now officially retired. So, they’re looking to sign you to the same kind of exclusive, high-remuneration, multi-year contract that she had before. The compensation package they’re offering is… quite generous, to say the least.”

It was… it was simply, utterly impossible to refuse!

Magical Girl Black—Kenji Tanaka—once again, and with a profound sense of self-loathing, realized the absolute, l tyrannical power that cold, hard cash held over a poor, long-suffering corporate drone like herself. Faced with a contract, a paycheck, identical to the one held by the legendary, and now probably obscenely wealthy Strawberry Sweetheart, she had absolutely no way, no power, no will to refuse. Not a single one.

“Actually,” Ren continued, his voice filled with a certain professional zeal, “the developers said that even if you don’t have an actual ‘new form,’ per se, they can still just release a series of new ‘Dresses’ for your existing character—for example, a qipao, an elegant evening gown, a beautiful wedding dress, a skintight bodysuit… these can all be sold as premium cosmetic ‘skins.’ And then, they can just slightly, almost imperceptibly tweak your in-game stats for ‘balance’ purposes.”

Black couldn’t help but retort, her voice filled with a weary, cynical sarcasm, “This… this is just the most direct, most shameless way to show people the true ugliness of modern capitalism, isn’t it? And they don’t really think that people, actual, sentient human beings, will fall for it, do they? That they’ll actually buy this stuff? There’s a tired, middle-aged uncle under this cute, magical girl body, you know! At this point, what’s the goddamn meaning or purpose in releasing a bunch of sexy new skins of me?!”

“…Your popularity, Miss Black, as you know, has been steadily, almost exponentially increasing lately,” Ren replied, a hint of amusement in his voice. “And besides, someone, or rather, some group of very dedicated people, even did a full, in-depth investigation on you, and they managed to discover the fact that you’re actually a devoted single father who has been raising your daughter, Hana, all by yourself. It’s become something of a… a selling point.”

Ren then, with a small cough, scrolled through his data-slate and read a particularly noteworthy comment aloud from one of the more… enthusiastic… fan forums.

“I can’t even begin to imagine how incredibly wifely, how devoted, and how utterly, deeply thirsty a loli-wife-widow version of Magical Girl Black would actually be. The moe potential is off the charts! Take my money! Take all of it!”

“?!” Black saw this comment, or rather, heard it, and a series of large, angry question marks literally drilled their way out of her head. She didn’t, she couldn’t, she refused to understand what in the seven circles of internet hell these people were even thinking. How could someone actually, publicly say such bizarre, almost unholy, tiger-and-wolf words out loud? It was enough to make her poor, old-fashioned head spin. Since when, she wondered with a dawning sense of horror, can the wholesome, domestic vocabulary word ‘wifely’ be used in the same sentence as the word ‘thirsty’?! This is madness!

“Hey, guys, here’s a thought. What do you think would happen if Black got pregnant while she was still in her magical girl state? Could she even change back afterwards? And what would happen to the baby? Would it be a magical baby? Let’s discuss the possibilities!”

There were even people, probably real human beings, saying such terrifying, existentially dreadful things online. It made Black want to immediately, desperately contact the organization and have this entire, degenerate and probably illegal "Magical Girl Nexus" forum completely, and with extreme prejudice, shut down. For the good of humanity. Is there no one, no one at all, moderating this wretched hive of scum and villainy?!

Black suddenly, and with a profound, crushing weight, felt the immense, multifaceted pressure of suddenly becoming the "strongest." Pressure in every conceivable and inconceivable sense of the word.

She rubbed her aching head, violently suppressing the sudden, overwhelming urge to snatch Ren’s data-slate and smash it into a million tiny, irreparable pieces. Then, with a monumental effort of will, she adopted her most professional, all-business tone and looked at Ren. “Alright, fine. If we’re going to be doing these ridiculous ‘skins,’ then you can ask them if a ‘kung-fu girl’ type would work. I’ve been thinking about my combat methods recently. As you know, I don’t have any fancy ‘ultimate moves’ or any of that nonsense. So, if I could, through this, perhaps improve my actual, practical fighting techniques, then that might actually be a good, productive thing.”

Ren, hearing this, thought it actually made a surprising amount of sense. “You’re right, Miss Black. That’s a very practical approach. In fact, there are people out there who, through pure skill and technique, have managed to reach a level that is almost comparable to that of high-ranking Espers. In recent years, researchers have also shown that ordinary humans, through intensive, focused technological and physical training, can indeed approach the realm of Espers—at the end of the day, Esper abilities themselves are just a unique, latent power of the human body. So, if one doesn’t happen to awaken an ability naturally, perhaps one can still reach that same, or a similar level through their own sheer hard work. But, as of right now, there are no sufficiently solid, well-documented examples of this actually happening.” He paused, a thoughtful, calculating expression on his face. “I’ll help you contact some highly skilled and probably very expensive martial arts masters. And at the same time, we can use that opportunity to shoot the promotional footage and record the voice lines for your new ‘kung-fu girl’ skin. It’s a very efficient plan.”

Just like that, Ren Akiyama gave off the distinct and frankly quite terrifying impression that no matter how troublesome, how complicated, how utterly bizarre something was, even if it was something he had never, ever dealt with before, he would still, somehow, with a calm, effortless ease, manage to accomplish it perfectly. It was as if there were nothing in this entire crazy world that was truly, genuinely difficult for him.

Sometimes, Black couldn't help but think, if a person like this, a person with this level of competence and dedication, were to awaken a truly powerful Esper ability… how unbelievably, how terrifyingly amazing would they be? Different people, after all, could do completely, fundamentally different things with the exact same ability. Black was certain that if you gave a guy like Ren even a trash-tier, almost useless ability like the one that poor Maiden Bandage had possessed, he could still somehow manage to turn it into something incredible, something truly special. It was a pity, a real pity, that he didn’t actually have an Esper ability of his own.

But, you never know, do you? What if Ren, too, when he finally, inevitably turned forty, also suddenly, inexplicably awakened the latent ability to become a cute, frilly, and probably very powerful magical girl? It wasn't entirely impossible, was it! This world was a strange place.

After they had finally, mercifully finished discussing work matters, Black, as if in a casual, offhand manner, brought up a new and much more important topic. “Speaking of which, kid,” she began, trying to sound nonchalant, “you and that Akari girl… when you went to the Esper prison a while back… what exactly did you two do there?”

“…We didn’t do anything,” Ren replied, a little too quickly. He carefully, meticulously recalled the event. He really, truly hadn’t done anything. Not really.

“Really?” Black pressed, an unmistakable edge to her voice. This boy, his hesitation, however slight, was so obvious. Could it be… could it be that he and Strawberry Sweetheart actually did something behind my back? Something I should be worried about? That little brat! He can’t possibly be cheating on my precious daughter, can he?! Not with HER!