Caught in the Magical Girl's Embrace?
We stood frozen in the narrow alley, our eyes locked in an intense, unbreakable gaze.
I wanted to break the silence first, but I couldn't even begin to think of what to say. Should I greet her? Or pretend I hadn't seen her? Maybe beg her to spare me like I did when I met the vice-president last time?
Just as I was drowning in those endless thoughts.
“Hey, you!”
The blue-ponytailed magical girl was the first to speak.
“You didn’t come looking for me to expose a magical girl’s secret identity or anything like that, right?”
“Ah, no! I didn’t!”
I shook my head frantically to deny it.
Of course I had my own share of guilt, but she’d shouted so loudly in the middle of the street that no one could possibly have missed the commotion.
“Well, duh! If I had, I would’ve taken a picture and just run off!”
“Haha…”
“Don’t worry! Anything I do personally is perfectly righteous!”
“…?”
Was that supposed to make sense?
Before I could even form a question, the magical girl strode toward me with purpose, patted my shoulder reassuringly, and gave me a bright, cheerful smile.
She then planted the toe of one foot on the handle of her weapon and spun it twice in a perfect, flawless arc before stopping it cleanly.
For a so-called magical girl, her aim at the weapon’s endpoint was off by quite a bit.
“I’ll only be a second, okay? I have a few regulations I need to check off before I can leave…”
While the magical girl continued speaking, the voice suddenly rang out.
-Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep!
“Eh? Hold on a sec!”
The magical girl fumbled through her jacket’s inner pocket, then pulled out her phone.
“Hello? Ah, don’t worry! I’m already on my way out, so…”
A magical girl on the phone with someone—probably a colleague or someone from the Association she’d mentioned last time.
Her expression darkened in real time as she listened to the call.
“No! That can’t be true! The Demon King’s Army Executive appeared and handled it?! Before even a magical girl?!”
“…”
In front of the magical girl, who was fuming at having her long-awaited return to the battlefield snatched away, I made up my mind to say nothing.
“Ugh…!”
The magical girl abruptly ended the call and clutched her head.
“This is so annoying! At least I got the flu this time—now they’re stealing my comeback fight too—aaaah!”
“Haha, g-good luck…”
I could only crouch slightly beside her, offering a small, weak sound of support.
“Then… I’ll be going now…”
As I tried to slip away, I turned around.
“Wait! Where do you think you’re running off to!”
Her grip on my jacket forced me to stay put.
“I already told you there are regulations I need to follow!”
“…That’s something I’ve heard before.”
It wasn’t just me—another magical girl with a different ponytail had heard the same thing here.
It felt unfair to claim I didn’t know about her secret identity when I was standing right here.
Saying it out loud would break the secret.
While I was lost in that internal conflict, a loud alarm suddenly blared.
-Wiiiing!
“Huh?”
The blue-ponytailed magical girl’s eyes sparkled with renewed excitement.
“Let’s go!”
She spun her lance in a wide arc, adjusted her stance, and leaped out of the alley.
-Kiiik, kreeeeak!
From the portal that had opened between the alley and the building, something slithered out and fell to the ground.
It was the same tentacle monster that had chased me before, covered in many legs.
The last one to emerge right before the portal closed was different—
Kruh, kaha ha ha ha!
It laughed with a mocking, self-satisfied grin, unlike the last time I saw it at school.
Its arms were thinner and more slender, yet somehow more grotesque.
Its short mouth twitched, then it shook its body and spoke.
Invasion, over there! Go!
It pointed one hand toward the other monster and issued the command.
In that instant—
“Hey, you villain!”
The magical girl pointed her lance at the creature and stepped out from the building.
“You stay hidden here!”
She even turned her head to wink at me, forgetting to worry about hiding herself.
Krrrr…?
The monster tilted its head, then let out a menacing growl.
“About ten of them, I’d guess!”
-Whirrrick!
The magical girl slung the lance over her shoulder, pointed the opposite hand at the group, and declared—
“I already said that earlier!”
Then she gripped the lance with both hands, lowered her stance, and shouted—
“I am! Su-per! Straaong!”
-Paat!
Closing the distance in one stride, the lance tip pierced straight through the monster’s heart.
She pulled the weapon back, dodged the falling body lightly, and leaped again.
-Kagagagagag!
The lance sliced through the sidewalk and swung upward, slicing the tentacles in mid-air. Green fluid splattered everywhere.
Using the momentum, she spun the lance, stabbed it into the ground, grabbed it, and launched a powerful kick at the remaining monster.
-Pwook!
The creature was crushed like a hydraulic press and sent flying far away.
“Next up—this!”
The monster’s sharp blade-tipped tentacle was quickly blocked by the magical girl’s lance.
She used her body to push off hard and stabbed the lance directly into its center, then spun twice, slicing the creature open.
Kreeeeek!
The monster screamed in agony.
From behind the magical girl’s triumphant grin, another monster that had crept up silently approached.
“Behind you!”
As I shouted, the magical girl glanced back at me for a split second, then spun in place and delivered a powerful reverse kick.
Its head exploded in an instant, debris flying everywhere.
“Thanks!”
She flashed a quick thumbs-up, then gripped her lance and swung it again.
She swung, stabbed, punched, and kicked—
The same exaggerated, flashy style that felt more like a TV superhero fight than real combat.
By now, every random monster on the block had been reduced to mush.
The only thing left standing was one grotesque creature clutching its severed arm.
Damn it, magical girl…!
“Even if you say that, there’s no way I can let you off the hook!”
-Whirrick, thak!
The magical girl spun the lance once in her right hand, then gripped it tightly and yelled brightly—
“Still, I can’t keep the audience waiting any longer!”
“…?”
Audience?
Was she seriously saying I was the audience?
“This is the end!”
-Whirriiiick! Kwaaaang!
The magical girl spun her lance in place, then hurled it at the creature.
Kuk, kurak!
She positioned herself in front of the monster, whose heart was impaled on the lance.
She bent her right leg and spread both arms wide.
Then—
“Here I go!”
She clenched her fists tightly and leaped forward.
She twisted in the air once, then thrust her right leg straight ahead.
“Purify Fire Kick!!!”
-Pazizizizik!
Blue lightning crackled across the monster’s body, and for a moment the magical girl’s form vanished.
Then—
-Taaak.
She landed gracefully behind the monster, lance in hand, rose up, and spun it lightly.
She turned toward the entrance of the building where I was hiding.
“Success!”
She raised a victory V-sign with her remaining hand and smiled brightly.
-Kwaaaang!
“Gyaaaaah…?!”
A blue explosion erupted from the monster’s corpse.
I flinched and nearly fell, but luckily there was no shockwave.
If anything, the blast should have shattered the glass in front of me and the nearby windows… yet it hadn’t.
Was that… just a simple effect spell…?
Then why use it like that…?
“Whew! It’s over already! See?”
“Ah, yes…”
Still dazed, she approached my face, then offered me a hand.
Her jacket was flapping wildly—exactly like a TV hero bursting onto the screen.
“T-thank you…”
“Anyway!”
Before I could even finish, she said—
“Do you want to be caught by me?”
“Eh?”
Wh-what…?
-Tap.
There was no time to process.
In the blink of an eye, the magical girl scooped me up like a princess and carried me away.
“I didn’t wait for an answer!”
“W-what kind of—?!”
While I was still trying to form a coherent protest—
-Kwaaaang!
She leaped into the air with me still in her arms and sprinted across the rooftops in the distance.
The ground below was already far, far away. One misstep and I would plummet to my death.
A completely unfamiliar kind of fear wrapped around my entire body.
Instinctively I reached out and grabbed her neck tight.
She smiled down at me as if she understood, and shouted triumphantly—
“Don’t worry! Even if we fall, I’ll catch you before that!”
“If we fall, I’ll die of a heart attack before we even touch down!!”
“I’ll give you CPR!”
Nothing was getting through to me.