The Villain and the Magical Girl
"Popo."
Leaving the hospital room, I called out to Popo in a low voice.
"Hmm?"
"I think we need to change our plans a bit."
"Huh? How?"
Originally, I had planned to find my next target, thinking it was entirely up to her whether she handed over her power or not. But I'd changed my mind.
She's the one who tempted me first.
"I feel like I've been offering nothing but carrots so far."
Ding.
With a soft chime, the elevator doors I had pressed earlier slid open.
Stepping inside, I muttered,
"Now, it's time for the whip."
I turned on my phone.
The screen showed that exactly twenty-five minutes had passed since I first set foot in this hospital.
Seol-ah. No, Magical Girl Marchen.
Just you wait.
Because I'm going to make you an offer you absolutely can't refuse.
Inside the hospital room after Mir left.
"So, when did you become friends with that girl? Is she a friend from school?"
Seol-ah sat beside her grandmother and grandfather, chatting warmly.
"Oh, no. Mir and I actually just met for the first time today at the hospital."
And I'm pretty sure I'm older than her.
"You silly girl. If you're going to lie to your granny, you have to do a better job than that."
"Dear, our Seol-ah is embarrassed. Let's leave her be."
"No, really! It's truly the first time I've ever seen her..."
Seol-ah mumbled defensively, but a smile she couldn't hide played on her lips.
"Marchen!"
Pop!
As they were chatting like any other day,
a tiny creature suddenly popped into existence on Seol-ah's shoulder.
It was Seol-ah's partner, her mascot Pur.
"Pur, what's wrong?"
"Oh my, who is Pur? Is that another friend's name?"
"Ah..."
Right. She was in front of her grandparents.
Seol-ah immediately lowered her head and whispered to her shoulder, keeping her voice so quiet her grandparents could barely hear.
"Pur, what on earth is going on? They almost saw you!"
"A monster has appeared! It's right in front of the hospital! We have to go right now!"
"W-what did you say?!"
A monster... in front of the hospital?
Patter!
Clutching her racing heart, Seol-ah rushed to the window.
"..."
Under the darkening evening sky, right in front of the convenience store where she had bought the healthy juice earlier,
black smoke was billowing into the air.
"What is it, Seol-ah? Is there something interesting outside? Why are you staring out the window like that?"
When her grandfather tried to stand up out of curiosity, Seol-ah hurriedly blocked him with her body and cried out,
"O-oh, it's nothing! It's just, yawn... I'm suddenly so sleepy."
"Oh? Is that so? We've been keeping you too long without realizing how tired you are. You should head home now."
"I'm sorry. I guess I'm especially tired today. You two need to get some sleep. I'll be going now!"
"Alright, dear."
Seol-ah bowed repeatedly, her face a mix of guilt and urgency.
"Ah, Seol-ah. If you're too tired, you could sleep here next to your granny..."
"No, I'm really fine. I have school tomorrow anyway... See you tomorrow!"
Seol-ah dashed out of the hospital room in a flurry.
Fortunately, the hallway was empty.
"Pur! I need to transform right now!"
Without hesitation, Seol-ah reached out into the empty air.
Particles of light enveloped her, replacing her worn school uniform with a dazzling magical girl costume.
"Please don't let me be too late...!"
Biting her lip, Seol-ah flung open the emergency exit door.
Slam!
She flew down the stairs that opened with a loud crash, descending in a single breath.
In an instant, she reached the first-floor lobby.
Unleashing magic power from her entire body, she shot forward like an arrow toward the convenience store where the black smoke was rising.
The scene that unfolded before Marchen's eyes when she arrived was absolute pandemonium.
"What in the...!"
"Groooar...!"
A monster with a massive horn resembling a rhinoceros growled.
Bizarrely, its body was that of a bipedal, muscular man.
With a loud boom, the massive beast stomped its foot, sending the already pulverized ruins of the convenience store flying in all directions.
"Urgh...!"
Marchen felt a surge of fear at the sight of the colossal monster, unlike anything she had ever faced before.
I'm scared.
Can I really defeat a monster like that?
I haven't been active as a magical girl in so long, so I can't even control my magic properly.
And my body is already exhausted from pushing myself at my part-time job just moments ago.
Can I win?
"But..."
You never know until you try.
Marchen gripped her staff tightly.
The magic power emanating from the tip of her staff wrapped around her body in a blue glow.
"Haaah!"
Marchen's small body charged toward the monster without hesitation.
The monster also noticed the tiny intruder trespassing on its territory. Its bloodshot eyes flashed as it kicked off the ground and lunged forward.
The rhino monster's massive horn and Marchen's slender staff clashed head-on in midair.
Crash!
"Ugh, argh...!"
Their magic powers collided.
The ground cracked and shattered. Sparks from the clash of magical energies swirled violently around them.
Marchen gritted her teeth.
The overwhelming weight transferring through her staff made her palms throb in real-time.
The muscles in her arms screamed, pushed to their absolute limits.
"Groooaaar!"
The monster snorted violently, putting even more force into its horn.
"Ugh?!"
Marchen began to be pushed back by the overwhelming strength.
No, if I get pushed back here...!
Marchen tried to concentrate magic in her toes to kick off the ground and gain momentum, but...
"Gwah!"
The monster was far cleverer than she had anticipated.
It stopped pushing with its horn and suddenly swung a massive fist.
Boom!
"I-I survived..."
She avoided the fist by a hair's breadth, but the onslaught didn't stop there.
"Krr!"
Thud!
The monster's rough horn slammed directly into the flank of the off-balance Marchen.
"Aaargh...!"
A heavy, suffocating pain left her unable to even scream.
The blunt impact to her side made her vision blur.
Marchen's body flew through the air and crashed violently next to a car parked nearby.
"Ugh... huff."
Marchen barely managed to push herself up amidst the scattered debris.
"Heh, groar."
The monster curled its lips in a smug grin of certain victory, slowly lumbering toward her.
I guess it really was too much for me.
Is this... the end?
Am I going to be defeated so helplessly?
Just as Marchen gritted her teeth in despair—
"Sorry, I'm a bit late."
An incredibly calm, sweet voice echoed through the air.
"Huh...?"
Forcing her blurry eyes to focus, Marchen turned her head toward the source of the voice.
"Groar?! Grrr!"
The monster was also visibly flustered.
It raised its horn and looked around, seemingly confused because it couldn't locate where the voice was coming from.
"Tanghulu. It's actually pretty good."
And when the voice spoke once more,
Gasps.
Marchen's jaw dropped in sheer disbelief.
Between the rhino monster and Marchen.
A girl was standing in the empty air where there had clearly been nothing just a second ago.
She was a girl of mysterious, breathtaking beauty, with long, flowing white hair.
"W-who..."
Before Marchen could even finish her sentence,
the rhino monster let out a beastly roar.
"Groooaaar!"
As if annoyed by the girl standing so casually in front of it,
its massive, muscular body kicked off the asphalt and charged straight at her.
"D-danger! Watch out!"
Run away! Marchen desperately tried to scream a warning.
If a fragile body like hers took a direct hit from that rhino monster,
she would undoubtedly be crushed to pieces.
But her warning caught in her throat.
"W-what..."
Far from running away,
the girl was just staring blankly at the oncoming giant weapon, her cheeks puffed out, stuffed full of tanghulu.
No, to be precise,
"G-groar?!"
A tiny wooden skewer.
The tiny wooden tanghulu skewer the girl held in one hand was blocking the rhino monster's ferocious horn without budging even a single millimeter.
Munch, munch.
Chewing nonchalantly, the girl stared at the rhino monster with indifferent eyes.
"Grr, groar..."
The rhino monster tried to twist its horn and back away in panic,
but for some reason, it couldn't move a muscle, merely trembling in place.
"I don't need you anymore."
Gulp.
And with a very light flick of the ordinary wooden skewer in her hand,
Slice.
the rhino monster's hard horn flew into the air, severed cleanly as if sliced by a razor-sharp blade.
"Groar?!"
The monster screamed in shock at the loss of its signature horn,
but the scream didn't last long.
In an instant, it dissolved into a thick mist of magic power and dispersed into the air, as if it had never existed in the first place.
"What in the world..."
Marchen was left utterly speechless by the overwhelming sight.
"Mmh."
The girl watched the scene unfold, and then, as if nothing had happened,
Spin—
she turned gracefully and walked toward Marchen, who was sitting dumbfounded amidst the rubble with her mouth wide open.
Closer and closer she came.
"Now we can finally talk, just the two of us."
Soon, she was close enough that their noses could almost touch.
The girl stopped in front of her and tilted her head slightly.
Then, she flashed a bright, beaming smile.
"Right, Marchen?"
Because that smile was so terrifying,
yet paradoxically, so incredibly beautiful,
Marchen could do nothing but stare blankly at the girl for a long, silent moment.