Review Event
Yun Seoyeon thought she was having particularly bad luck today.
In the middle of using the bathroom, the blaring alarm pierced the air, and she started getting seriously pissed off.
"Aish, why today of all days…!"
It was a completely different reaction from her classmates, who were all cowering in fear.
Part of it was annoyance at a high-rank kaijin attacking on the first day of school.
'A raid right on orientation day?!'
And part of it was irritation that she had to deal with it.
Yun Seoyeon, age 17.
She had a secret she hadn't revealed to anyone around her yet.
"Haa… Transform…"
Her black hair shifted to pale lavender, and her pristine uniform morphed into a frilly, pretty dress. The transformation was complete.
She was the magical girl English Lavender.
Fortunately, no one was around her yet. If she slipped out quietly like this, she wouldn't be late at least.
She quickly finished up and was about to dash toward the sports field where the kaijin had appeared when—
"Gyaack!!!"
Students collapsing from the kaijin's sonic attack came into view right in front of her.
Rescuing civilians was part of a magical girl's duties too. She had no choice but to carry the remaining people to the shelter.
"Hey! Get up!!"
"Where…?"
"If you're awake, get moving to the basement!"
By the time she'd slowly evacuated the students like that—
"Hey, get u—"
A few of the students she'd been waking up suddenly vanished in a puff.
'!? Could it be she came here too…?'
She didn't have time to dwell on the thought amid the urgency, so after confirming all the other students were safe, she bolted straight for the sports field.
"Ah! Where're you—!"
"Who the hell…"
"And you're a B-rank magical girl making a scene like that."
"Ehehe… sorry…"
She managed to safely stop the kaijin that had been trying to enter the building.
And not long after, she spotted Pronesis stomping her feet on the rooftop.
'So cute!!!!'
"You come down too."
'Can I pet her head? But I should ask permission, right? This is our third meeting, so it should be fine…?'
After a morning full of pent-up frustration, she ended up blurting it out.
"Hey, mind if I pet your head a bit?"
This was the result.
"Hey, mind if I pet your head a bit?"
My train of thought froze for a second.
'Is she a lolicon or something?'
I immediately shot down Sofia's voice in my head.
'No way.'
Unless she was a sex offender or had zero social skills, there was no way she'd say something like that on a third meeting.
'Doesn't seem like it…'
Ignoring Sofia's ongoing chatter, I stared at her with a puzzled look, and she started rambling in embarrassment.
"N-no, I mean, you did so well, so I was wondering if I could pet your head…"
…?
"I didn't really do anything special."
I truly hadn't done much of anything.
"Huh? Wasn't it you who warped all those civilians out of the building earlier?"
"That's just what any magical girl would do."
A magical girl has to save people anytime, anywhere—that's the rule.
I told Lavender that with all the meaning it carried, and her expression turned a bit subtle.
"Anyway, go ahead and pet my head."
As soon as I gave permission, her face lit up instantly.
"R-really…?"
Being treated like a kid felt surprisingly nice.
Even buying merch got you service like "Running an errand?" and at magical girl fan meets, you got the idol's super-friendly gaze instead of weird looks.
Anyway, if it meant getting headpats from a magical girl, I was the one getting rewarded here.
"Right here."
I closed my eyes in front of Lavender to make it easy for her hand to reach.
"H-huhk…!"
With my eyes shut, my other senses sharpened.
Soon, her soft hand began gently stroking over my head.
—Swoosh, swoosh—
Even though she was just lightly petting my hair, my scalp started reacting sensitively.
The faint friction heat from my hair shifting made me lean into her without thinking, transmitting deep into my head.
"Hyat!?"
I opened my eyes at the loud squeak, and she was blushing bright red.
"English Lavender doesn't make faces like that."
Fortunately, my words cooled her expression to her usual chilly one, just as I'd hoped.
Yeah, that's English Lavender.
That's when Lumina Betaris, who'd been watching our exchange, came charging at me.
"Pronesis-sama!!!"
"What's up?"
"Huuuhk…! I-it's really Pronesis-sama…!"
The moment she saw me up close, she began trembling with emotion.
"C-c-c-can I, I get a handshake with Pronesis-samaaaaa!?"
…Hmm.
I took her hand as requested, feeling the soft, callus-free texture.
Magical girls' bodies really were nice like that.
But I didn't get to savor it long.
Her hand was shaking like crazy.
"I-I'm gonna cut this hand off right now and preserve it as a family heirloom…!"
She was aiming her one-handed sword at our joined hands like she meant it.
Brutal.
I tried using magic to nudge her sword away, but it failed.
Guess I'd have to talk her down.
"Wouldn't it be a waste to throw away future chances to shake hands with me like that?"
"Gasp…! How do you come up with such a genius idea…!"
Fan management is just basic magical girl protocol.
Even if it was just one fan, having news headlines about her chopping off her own hand wouldn't be fun.
Fortunately, she came up with her own solution.
"Th-then how about some cookies I baked at home…!"
It felt like receiving tribute from a shrine, but since she looked ready to commit seppuku if I refused, I accepted.
"Thank you."
The cookie bag looked familiar.
Munch munch.
Delicious as always.
By now, I had a pretty good guess at Lumina Betaris's identity, but I had no intention of asking.
A magical girl's red pill—their civilian life—is sacred privacy, so a proper fan pretends not to know even if they do.
"So."
English Lavender, who'd been quietly watching, finally spoke up.
I looked her way, and for some reason, she was glaring at Lumina Betaris.
Something bothering her? But she got straight to the point anyway.
"How're we splitting the magic stones this time?"
Ah.
This was definitely a sensitive topic.
Magic stones.
They made up the biggest chunk of a magical girl's income, and there were two main ways to handle them, though usually just one option was picked.
Selling them to the Association.
For wild magical girls like me, they took a 30% cut, but it still meant serious cash.
The reason the Association bought them up like this? They were ultra-efficient natural energy resources.
So I could understand why she brought it up now.
"I'll pass."
For me, joining this convo didn't mean much.
I hadn't contributed much, so I wasn't planning to ask for a review this time either.
"What're you talking about? You're the MVP."
"Right!!!"
They saw it differently.
"…? You two fought the kaijin."
Lavender sighed at my words.
"Fighting isn't actually that big a deal for us."
Betaris nodded in agreement, backing her up.
"The real hassle is evacuating civilians! That hostage situation earlier would've been impossible without Pronesis-sama!"
"You can warp people out easily with your unique magic, but we have to handle everything one by one."
No.
Well.
That much—
"I'll give you a 5-star review."
"Thank you."
Thinking it over, yeah, that seemed fair.
Managing star ratings was tough these days; I couldn't pass up precious 5-stars.
Just treat it like a review event.
For some reason it felt like a review event where the shop owner got free stuff, but I'd secured the 5-star promise, so review event it was.
"How about you two split it?"
I might be MVP, but they had contributions too.
"I just spooned in at the end, so I don't care."
"Me too, I don't mind at all!!! Please take it!!!"
Hmm.
Not what I'd expected.
These splits usually got super touchy—there'd even been lawsuits—so I'd planned to decline to avoid hassle.
But if they were yielding this much, no point refusing.
Since I was taking it, might as well go full shameless.
"Did Magical Girl Pronesis's service please you? If it helped, please give me 5 stars."
"It helped a ton!!!!!"
"Helped perfectly."
Hehe.
Good customers, thankfully.
They participated earnestly in the review event and said nice things.
I left with their farewells behind me.
And the next day.
"Ah, forgot to get her autograph."
I'd forgotten to get Lumina Betaris's autograph.
Wonder if she'll sign if I act like I know her at school…?