Coffin Girl, Gran Orca Descends!
"Ah, why! You guys like it too!"
"You're out!"
In a neatly decorated booth, a girl with a bright impression from Bonni Perm shouts at the webcam. There are three monitors. One shows a mecha orca girl syncing with her movements, mirroring her expression. Next to it, a round mecha floats around, checking the monitors.
"No, this game came out just two weeks ago. I haven't even played many rounds yet, and you're calling it 'again'!"
"Ah, it's training! Training! This is all for your safety and society's peace, okay? And geezer game? It's a total god game, you guys."
"Yes, thank you for the 10,000 won donation from CutieLover. And step out for a bit!"
The girl glances at her mascot. The round-shaped mecha mascot with tiny cat ears uses its translucent little hands to ban 'CutieLover' for 1 hour. The girl turns back to the webcam with a satisfied expression.
"No, stop with the auntie slander! I'm just a 17-year-old girl!"
"Hey, I'm not that person, okay? Show evidence! Evidence! I'm a fresh 17-year-old!"
"Hey! I'm young and spry! Argh! You forget even when I show you every time!"
The girl's name is Ryu Ihyeon. She's a vtuber doing general streaming on Spark, Next's streaming service, under the nickname 'Harang', and also the magical girl Gran Orca.
In this world, there's a super-high 0th-grade Awakened Phenomenon called the Magical Girl Laws. One of the laws makes it impossible to trace a magical girl's identity. No method can break this phenomenon. It's a top-tier cognition hazard, but other elements in the Magical Girl Laws prevent magical girls from becoming criminals by exploiting it. However, this law also makes magical girls' human relationships narrow.
Ryu Ihyeon bravely started as Gran Orca at age 12, making her a 10-year veteran magical girl. And at just 22, she's still young and spry. But no matter how much she shows her ID or face, people's cognition gets distorted. So viewers use the Korean Association Law that Awakened Ability Users must be 18+ to debut, turning her into a 28+-year-old hag. She started countering by denying she's Gran Orca, but in the fandom, Harang=Gran Orca=30 is officially accepted. She should've hidden being a magical girl from the start. Her sin was blatantly making her faceplate in magical girl transformation form. Thus, one hag grew older by the day.
"I'm pretty, right? You all saw it!"
"No! I'm blue!!"
"No! Stop sending that!! Anyway, thanks for the 10,000, and get out again!"
She secures decent fixed viewers as a magical girl doing vtuber RP and a diehard fan of the mecha game Armored Coffin series, which women don't usually play. Two weeks since Armored Coffin 9 released, today too, Harang—no, Totototo—is running PVP in Armored Coffin.
"Ah! Finally matched. Let's see, huh? Why's that Assy acting weird. Dropping rank?"
A match forms quickly, and the opponent's mech appears on screen. Opponent ID: AlbumIridis. Rank: S-81. Emblem: plain white background. Completely white mech. Harang's ID: GranOrca. Rank: S-21. Emblem: blatant caricature of Gran Orca, black-white-gold mech.
Harang's build is the current scam meta: lightweight quad with solid long-range OP weapons. Opponent: just dual heavy Kirikhi sniper rifles. And despite sniper rifle, ignores stability for lightweight biped. Pure romance build that'd get shredded by Harang's weapons.
"No bullying, opponent's S-rank too!"
She doesn't relax, thinking the opponent climbed to S-rank in this hot game meta. Mech movement changes with control skill. Plus, the game's FCS tracks even ability user reaction speed, so normals can fight ability users with superior skill or mind games. Japan, the dev country, uses "Surpass the Transcendent!" as catchphrase since series 5. Transcendent 0th-grade: Japan's 0th-grade ability users. Intense phrase to surpass them. Yet no big backlash. Game's that good. Harang enjoys sweaty close matches here sometimes. Pure fun unlike magical girl fights.
Map selected: Urban Ruins. Desert floor, so boosters key. Lots of cover, tall buildings—not overwhelmingly favoring Harang's air superiority.
Prep count ends, mechs move. Harang instinctively hits ascent booster to take air.
"Eh?"
Harang startles like seeing a cockroach. One of the game's advanced techs: booster slide, finicky hard input. Harang can do it but rarely succeeds in real matches. Opponent casually pulls it off, slicing through building forest at hyper speed.
Too far for FCS lock, but Harang quick-boosts evade seeing the rifles dot-aim. Gut feeling it'd hit.
Right after, red Kirikhi particle afterimage grazes her mech's head barely. Boss BGM from this series' final boss (cleared post-transform) flows in Harang's head with cold sweat.
"What what! Manual aiming?"
Realizing no FCS aim warning, Harang shivers.
Harang's frantic inputs blare through the mic. Chat splits: hopes for end to coffin streak vs. "Harang'll win anyway." But pathetically, Harang's FCS can't even track, AP chunks vanish fast. Normally lightweight quad uses long FCS and air hover for kiting. But opponent dances distance, pulling unheard-of techs, flying building forest.
Her mech gets scratched by white foe before crashing into desert pit.
"Ah, thanks for 10,000 from MagicSpike. Yeah, I can lose too. So what!"
Her personality doesn't get too down from game losses. Just a bit deflated. Most wrecked in 2 weeks.
"Alright, round 2 prep~ gotta do it."
This series PVP gives 30s prep mid-round to swap mechs or surrender.
Harang, Ryu Ihyeon thinks. Opponent's definitely a skilled ability user. And good at the game.
"Nah, what. Opponent's skill is unreal! Time to show real skill, right? True duel! Hehe."
"No! I said no! Stop slandering!"
Harang says that, but mutes, covers mic with hand, whispers quietly.
"In the flash that shines brilliantly like steel soul, transform."
10-year veteran, 3rd-grade ability user with 1st-grade scale power. Magical girl Gran Orca. Here she descends.