Cute~yo. Cute~yo♥
Aster's wide-area detection had finally picked up a monster rift after such a long time. A rift was a type of gate that only spat out monsters, and this one was clocked at 3rd grade—small scale overall. Thanks to mascon traits, they could detect rifts before the beasts emerged, so mascons ran wide-range mana wave scans at set intervals. There'd been that off-schedule super-wide mana wave detection not long ago, but even after chatting with the other mascons, Aster hadn't turned up much. In fact, very few had sensed it at all. With the innocent simplicity unique to mascons, Aster had concluded it must mean another magical girl had shown up somewhere.
Mascons gonna mascon, Gran Orca thought, imagining some mysterious junior. Still, it was probably overseas—far more likely. Korea just wasn't spawning many new magical girls these days, leaving only faint hopes. In this modern era, the government and association handled things competently enough that even ignoring a rift wouldn't spark a major incident. Even so, a 3rd grade was fairly high-tier, and Gran Orca couldn't just stand by if there was any risk of harm. She took to the skies, heading out voluntarily to the detection zone. In truth, at her post-transformation 1st grade level, it was just pocket change—but hey, magical girls got jaded after a decade on the job.
Being an Awakened ability user made scraping by easy in this world. You didn't even need to register, so long as you avoided crime. The villain stigma from getting flagged by criminals was harsh, but that was irrelevant to magical girls. Korea had ended up like this because of that past "incident." The younger generations were reaping the benefits, at least.
"Almost there, right?"
"Imminent~ching. A monster's about to come out~ching."
As she descended, Aster spoke up.
"Passed it~ching. 6 o'clock direction~ching, 200 meters~ching."
Paju Badtown. Whether due to city policies or the late hour, the streets felt eerily desolate despite being urban central—streetlights flickering sparsely. Gran Orca's magical girl vision lit it up like daylight, but the emptiness clung with its own heavy silence. She tracked the mana residue Aster indicated and found the rift. At this range, even a regular magical girl could spot it easily.
A spatial distortion cracked open in an empty lot by the roadside. Gran Orca hovered midair, drawing one of her magic wands: a sniper rifle. No civilians or buildings nearby, so she'd handle it casually from above.
Soon the space split stickily, vomiting out a monster. The rift's edges ran with black mud like ink. Out came a 3rd grade ogre-type beast. Classifications varied even within the type, but anything bipedal over three meters with a muscular, monochrome-skinned build usually fell under that umbrella. Not that it mattered much against Gran Orca. Biological taxonomy didn't even apply.
These were the brutes that forced 3rd grade Awakened users to team up, boasting raw power and stamina. Gran Orca popped their heads one by one like spawn-killing in a game. Perfect accuracy every time. A far cry from her recent gaming frustrations, where shots just whiffed into the void.
Aster kept watch, ready for surprises in her observer role. The nineteen ogre-types never even got to roar as they emerged from the rift. They crumbled to black dust, leaving only mana stones behind—dissolving into the air. Proper processing would've yielded byproducts, but Gran Orca found it too much hassle. She'd earned plenty over ten years. 3rd grade stones cashed out fine on their own.
Anyway, it felt good—easing some stress pent up from gaming.
"All done?"
"~Ching. Done~ching."
Aster confirmed as the spatial crack withered away. The rift vanished without a trace right after. That was the edge of having a personal detector-mascon. Aster zipped off with a translucent pouch from who-knows-where, scooping up the fist-sized mana stones. Auto-looting? Handy mascon.
Gran Orca pitched in too, pocketing stones. She was the sweet type, all things considered.
Hmm. Her in person?
Standing on the black curtain of the night sky, disguised as a white star, she observed the other magical girl. Gran Orca and her mascon gleamed in beautiful colors—a stark contrast to the monsters' sticky black. A streamer doing it raw, no vtuber filter? Slaying beasts, goofing around chummily with her mascon, picking stuff up.
Baek Yeha's sharp vision confirmed the familiar face from stream clips. That's a real magical girl. The fresh girlishness of the genuine article crushed the fake tranny-uncle vibe. She looked just like a character from that game with the praising android. But her face was even prettier than the deformed vtuber version. Claiming thirty-something? Viewers trolled her as "auntie," but she looked way younger—sixteen tops? Seventeen, per her claims...? Ten years active? Nah.
My face looks young for my age too, but maybe you can't guess a magical girl's by looks.
Anyway, hovering solo, she dithered on approaching—then just spectated the missed monsters and girl. I psych'd myself up to come out... Good luck or bad? Either way, memorize that mana pattern and pretty color. Unilateral familiarity was key.
Kihehe.
"Magical girl here too! Act like you know me first!" She waved big—but Gran Orca jetted off. Passive detection range not as wide as mine? Or my cognition hazard cranked too high. Yeah, that.
No guts for chit-chat anyway. My destruction urge was still smoldering incomplete. Ocean trip? Small fry infested there. Deep sea drawback, sure. Might be fun though. Eh, too bothersome. Homeward.
She drifted home through the star sea, savoring the float. Winter air mixed with her signature scent, spreading fresh and tangy. Spinning loops, blending natural and artificial lights, flowing resistance-free in serene defiance of physics. Flying the skies was bliss. A magical girl perk. Not every Awakened could soar. Aah, poor ground pounders.
Kihehe.
A few days prior, right near where Gran Orca had cleared that rift—another one pinged on detection.
"Not clustering, right?"
"Probably not~ching. Coincidence~ching."
Rifts occasionally clustered in outbreaks, so Gran Orca checked worriedly with Aster. Aster figured it was too soon to tell.
Gran Orca thought she'd alert the Magical Girl Management Department if signs pointed that way. Things would get hectic—probably grounded, no streams. Streaming fueled her work, but public safety trumped it.
"~Ching?"
"What's up?"
Gran Orca asked while slicing through the air at high speed.
"Weird~ching. Reaction's faint now~ching."
"Huh?"
She slowed, double-taking.
"2 o'clock direction~ching. 320 meters~ching."
Same time frame, same spot—organized vibe to it. Old nightmares flickered; Gran Orca shoved them down, tracing the crack's afterimage visually. Just as her mascon said, everything felt over—only faint traces left.
Gran Orca drifted slowly to the aura's source and landed. Then she saw it.
Middle of a road with barely any traffic. Dim lights piercing the dark, a fluffy white silhouette standing there.
"Cute~yo. Cute~yo. Mopping, cute~yo."
The silhouette sang in a bright, lovely voice, wiping red splatters off the ground with a long pole topped by a square rag. Not so much wiping as erasing them away.
"Weird phenomenon?!"
"!!"
Stunned by the bizarre form—and zero mana waves—Gran Orca yelped involuntarily. The pale silhouette whipped its head—presumed roundish—straight at her in an instant.
"Eek!"
She froze. Gran Orca and Aster both did. An otherworldly, grotesque pressure bore down. Like a white eraser smear with a few sloppy lines scratched in for a mocking face. Gran Orca's mind flashed: This is bad. That ridiculous expression blanked her thoughts white. Not mental corruption, but why...
She stood rigid, consciousness slipping.
Aster snapped to as the silhouette tottered right up to Gran Orca. Mascons resisted cognition hazards best. Aster's threshold was especially high. Magical girls too, but Gran Orca must've crossed hers. Still, the weird pressure pinned Aster immobile.
The silhouette waggled a thin tendril before Gran Orca's eyes, then poked her cheek with it. Tension eased then—Aster's color sense read the silhouette as magical girl. No mana waves, freaky shape, but... probably.
The white thing tilted its round head, gently stroking Aster's. Careful, soft motions. It nodded, then vanished in a flash. A cheeky giggle echoed, maybe.
Aster's stroked spot wafted a super pleasant scent. Finally free, she prodded Gran Orca's soft cheek with her squishy hand.
"Orca! Snap out~ching!"
"Ugh... ha?"
"Gone~ching."
"Wh-what was that?"
"No mana waves at all~ching... but the color was magical girl-like~ching. Probably~ching."
"Huh? Not a weird phenomenon?"
A good scent drifted from Gran Orca's cheek too.