Did You Trick Me?
“Popo.”
A sudden question crossed my mind.
“What’s wrong, Mir?”
“What that woman said earlier. She called them... Ma-ins, right? What are they?”
What exactly is a Ma-in?
Is it just short for 'magic person' or something?
“Huh? Ma-ins?”
“Yeah. Ma-ins.”
“Hmph, I guess I have no choice. Lord Popo shall explain! Ma-ins are monsters from the demon realm that look almost identical to humans. They might look like us on the outside, but on the inside, they're completely warped!”
“Ah.”
So they're basically monsters.
But wouldn't 'humanoid monster' make more sense?
Either way, I nodded and waited for further explanation.
But Popo just kept its mouth shut and stared blankly at me.
What?
“Is that it?”
“Uh... yeah.”
Huh.
Popo is useless.
I stared at Popo with a cold, deadpan look.
...Well, I suppose that makes sense.
But I quickly accepted it and looked away.
Until now, the only things that had appeared in this city were brainless monsters bent on mindless destruction.
Even as a hardcore YouTube Shorts addict, today was the first time I'd ever seen one capable of actual conversation.
In other words, these Ma-ins were keeping their identities thoroughly hidden.
It made sense that Popo didn't know much.
Disappointed but letting my curiosity rest, I headed toward the bedroom.
Either way, today had already been long enough, and getting some sleep was far more important right now than worrying about some mysterious Ma-in.
“...Ah.”
Right.
I should try transforming once before going to bed.
I'm a bit worried the noise-complaint guy from downstairs will come back up.
But at most, it'll probably just emit a bit of light, so it should be fine.
Inhale—
Standing in the middle of the living room, I took a deep breath. I didn't really know how to do it, so I just tried to channel the magic power throughout my body, hoping for the best.
And next... the chant, right?
Magical girls usually shout their own names when they transform.
Do I really need to do that?
I'll just say whatever.
“Transform.”
Whoosh—
Oh?
The moment the word left my mouth, a brilliant, dazzling light erupted from deep within my body.
A blinding, pure white radiance.
I felt it gently enveloping my entire body.
Is it actually working?
My skin tingled.
Is this what it feels like when magic power restructures your body?
Awesome.
“Gasp.”
I basked in the warm, cozy sensation for a moment.
Soon, the light subsided, and my vision returned to normal.
And what I saw right in front of me was Popo, desperately covering its eyes with its paws for some reason.
“A-Awaaa...!”
What?
Its reaction is a bit weird.
I tilted my head, staring at the creature, when I suddenly realized the air brushing against my skin felt unusually chilly.
No way.
I slowly looked down at my chest, then further down.
Then, I looked at my reflection in the living room mirror.
“...Huh?”
Reflected in the mirror was my completely naked self, boasting pale, smooth skin without a single thread of clothing on.
What the hell is this?
“Eeeek?!”
My voice, which usually remained calm under any circumstance, cracked spectacularly.
I mean, of course I panicked!
The clothes I had been wearing just a second ago had completely vaporized!
At least it happened inside my own home and not outside, so nobody saw me except Popo, which was a relief...
But still, my dignity as a... girl? felt utterly shattered.
Even if my mind was that of a middle-aged man.
Right now, my physical appearance was undeniably that of a young girl.
Which meant this was my body.
It would be weirder if I didn't feel embarrassed in this situation.
No, no, that's not what's important right now. I need to cover myself first—
Snatch!
I hurriedly grabbed the blanket lying on the living room sofa and wrapped it tightly around myself.
“Popooo...!”
“You said transforming puts you in the optimal state! What the hell is this?!”
“Did you trick me?!”
Wrapped in the blanket like a cocoon, I glared at the creature with eyes full of resentment.
I could feel my face burning up.
I'm going to die of embarrassment.
“Hey, I'm shocked too! Normally, a magical girl's magic power automatically creates an outfit that fits them...!”
Popo, still covering its eyes with its paws (though it looked like it was peeking through its fingers), blushed in protest.
“Then what is this?!”
“I don't know either!!!”
“Just because you don't know doesn't mean... Ugh, Po-Popo. Just get me some clothes first...”
I shrieked, clutching the blanket as if it were my lifeline.
My voice sounded about two octaves higher than usual, but this was no time to worry about my pride.
The night air seeping through the gaps in the blanket felt exceptionally cold, driving me crazy.
“O-Okay! I'll get them right now!”
Overwhelmed by my intensity, Popo hurriedly flew toward the master bedroom.
The sight of it flapping its wings in a panic was ridiculous, but I didn't even have the energy to laugh.
I curled up tightly in the corner of the sofa.
I stared anxiously at the front door, terrified that the noise-complaint guy from downstairs might come back up because of my screaming.
Come to think of it, I hadn't locked the door after he left earlier.
What if he just opened the door and walked in right now?
“...”
That would be the absolute end.
I would literally die.
Just the thought of it made my head spin.
“H-Here! Mir, I just grabbed whatever was in the closet!”
A moment later, Popo returned, struggling to drag a pile of clothes with its paws.
The instant Popo dropped the clothes on the floor, I snatched them and wriggled under the blanket to put them on.
Argh.
“...”
“...”
After that tempestuous ordeal finally passed.
Popo and I stared blankly at each other in the living room.
“...Mir.”
“Yeah.”
“Um, I know I shouldn't say this, but...”
“I know. So don't say it.”
Because I'm well aware of how ridiculous I look right now.
Sigh.
Of all the clothes in the closet, why did it have to bring these...?
The clothes Popo had hastily dragged out were an incredibly oversized dress shirt and a pair of jeans.
The sleeves dangled far past my wrists.
And the jeans were so baggy they would slide right off if I didn't hold them up with my hands.
I tried several times to tie them up somehow, but there was absolutely no hope, so I just kicked them aside.
And thus, what was born...
Was none other than Mir in a Naked Dress Shirt.
What a life.
“Mir! But... it looks good on you! Seriously!”
“Shut up.”
Inside the archives on the second floor of the Magical Girl Association.
In a room filled with the musty scent of paper and the lingering traces of ancient magic, Red was roughly flipping through a mountain of documents.
*Rustle, rustle.*
The sound of paper was the only thing filling the otherwise silent, empty space.
“It has to be... it has to be here somewhere.”
The mysterious girl she had encountered in the shopping district today.
No matter how much she racked her brain, the girl's actions made absolutely no sense.
She had to find out the true nature of that overwhelming magic power, and whether any similar entity existed in past records.
The Elders...
Moreover, that wasn't the only question troubling Red's mind.
She had brushed it off at the time because she was so annoyed.
But the more she thought about it, the more abnormal that nasty old hag's reaction seemed.
That reaction... she was definitely hiding something.
No matter how much of an obnoxious bunch of middle-aged women they were, always picking fights with the active magical girls.
The appearance of an entity capable of summoning and controlling monsters was not something that could be easily brushed aside.
Yet that old hag hadn't even bothered to verify the facts before dismissing Red's report.
She had even claimed Red was hallucinating from combat fatigue.
Treating a veteran like her as if she were losing her mind, she had swept the report under the rug as quickly as possible.
It was as if...
She was telling me not to dig any deeper.
Red knew.
She knew those women cared about their own safety and power above all else.
For people like that to ignore and cover up such a massive threat...
There was no doubt about it.
The Elders were hiding something.
They either already knew the identity of that mysterious entity, or at the very least, they knew something related to it.
“The problem is, what exactly is it...?”
With a grim expression, Red slowly turned her gaze toward a room deep within the archives, marked by a massive, imposing door.
The Elders' private confidential archive. Otherwise known as the Forbidden Library.
Quite literally, it was a space only those old hags could enter—the most bizarre and restricted area within the entire Association.
Red stared intently at the heavy stone door.
To be honest, she hadn't given the room much thought until now.
But after everything that had happened recently, she saw it in a completely different light.
“Why did they bother making a separate room like that?”
If it was simply to maintain confidentiality, the existing document archives should have been more than enough.
After all, ordinary humans without magic power couldn't even perceive this building, let alone enter it.
Yet, they had gone out of their way to create a separate zone that even active magical girls couldn't access.
Why hide it away in the deepest part of their headquarters?
In the first place, there shouldn't be any information kept hidden from the magical girls fighting on the front lines.
Which meant...
There must be information inside that they absolutely could not afford to let anyone discover.
Breaking down the door wouldn't be difficult.
But the real problem lay in what came after.
Without knowing what was inside.
There was no telling what would happen if she just barged in blindly...
Sigh.
“...You obnoxious old hag, what on earth are you hiding?”