Tutorial Master

What even is a magical girl?

What is an Awakening, for that matter?

I could toss around lofty, fundamental questions all I wanted—none of them settled into anything coherent. They only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cluttered my head further.

Forget it.

I reclaimed my composure. I felt no fear at all. What I had to do was already decided.

My hammering heart returned to its normal pace. It felt as if someone had rewired me. The dissonance was unpleasant—but at least I had my cool back.

My body, however, paid none of that any mind. It moved on its own.

I raised the mana-charged staff high, ready to pour every scrap of that star-laden power into the vines.

"Huh?"

In an instant the vines vanished from my field of view. I felt the plant stems pull away from me.

Having dodged the attack, the tendrils raced back to the side of the mother that had birthed them.

The first word I'd been about to shout never made it out.

My scan of the monster cut off abruptly. Staff still lowered, I started deeper into the floor.

I drew the gathered mana back into my body. Now was not the time to use it. I needed to return to the chamber and land a finishing blow on the boss.

I stepped slowly back through the door I had come from.

An artificial forest spun from a single organism.

A grotesque, terrifying wood where countless plants pecked and chattered. A bizarre place where every living thing had been born from some nameless flower.

"Is the Tower always like this?"

I began to doubt what I was seeing. It was nothing like the information I'd known.

Was it the difficulty? Well—how many people even picked Expert?

The Tower was a nest of variables. An unknown domain where human common sense simply did not apply.

Followers had even sprung up barking that the Tower was a gift from the gods, but at its core the Tower was never kind to people.

It was a place where people died. A place that casually changed its face and rendered carefully gathered information meaningless.

Only then did I truly grasp what kind of place I had set foot in.

"What a goddamn mess…"

From here on, everything was improvisation.

This performance had only one goal: kill the boss that had shown me hostility.

"…"

The moment I entered the forest, violet smoke wrapped around my body. It billowed thick as if to stop me, but I pushed forward regardless.

Deep into the woods. Of my own will, I returned to the place I had fled in terror.

The eerie sounds still came. Monster cries, most likely. I moved toward them.

Found it.

Before long I located the master of this forest.

A colossal flower rooted in place. The disgusting bloom that shielded itself with the very vines that had tried to attack me filled my vision.

The giant flower fixed its pupils on me and began to spew something. No matter how many times I saw it, the sight was revolting.

But this time my emotions did not thrash the way they had before. Without a word, I simply raised my staff.

Following the System's guidance, I released my mana.

I was wide open. I'd left a weakness exposed to the monster. Sensing the opening, the creature lashed its vines at me.

"…Useless."

I felt the pain. Countless thorns on the vines punched cleanly into my body.

They carved wounds into this unfamiliar flesh. Red blood beaded and soaked the ground.

Even so, they could not stop the brilliant starlight. Vines like these could never hold me.

"Now…"

My steps were light. Every one of the boss's attacks failed to truly reach me, leaving only minor scratches.

The situation reversed in an instant. The one retreating was not me—it was the monster.

I sneered at the thing. Those disgusting eyes started to look almost funny.

To be afraid of something like this. To think I was going to die. To freeze and do nothing.

Pathetic…

My quiet heart began to pound. Not from fear. This feeling was exhilaration.

At last I had seized the chance. I could kill this monster. I could leave the Tower.

"Here I go…"

There was only one thing this mana needed to aim for.

Killing that monster.

"I can do it now…!"

An unintended monologue slipped out. It was not a line I had chosen to speak.

Even after everything that had happened, I still didn't understand the situation. My body was being pulled along by the mood; my mouth moved on its own and made sounds that reached my ears.

Everything felt controlled. Actions, even emotions—as if I had borrowed someone else's. A deep sense of wrongness settled in.

But I had no room to dwell on it now.

Once more, I focused mana into the staff. I simply obeyed the instinctive pull. As long as I could get out of this Tower, nothing else mattered.

The image: a brightly shining morning star.

A chain of stars that would burn every last tentacle to ash. One spell I could use by pure instinct.

Mana drained hard. But the bottomless well of power never ran dry.

"Nejeri Shining Star…!"

I screamed the skill's name.

…For all its childish moniker, a fierce beam of starlight latched onto the boss.

A hideous roar swallowed my ears. This time, though, pain was woven into the cry.

Everything about the boss began to burn. A torrent of star-streams so fierce it would leave no form behind set the boss ablaze.

The familiar voice of the Tower found me.

At the same time, the strength drained from both my legs.

The moment the boss died, the immersion broke.

The earlier emotions—terror, despair—came flooding back. Only after retching for several minutes could I finally take stock of my surroundings.

"It's… it's over, right…?"

A cute voice I could not believe was my own. Short, thin limbs. With those, I had killed a monster. I remembered the scene.

The creature burned by something like my magic. And at the same time, the System's chime ringing in my head, congratulating me on the clear.

"Haa…"

The strength left my legs completely.

That earlier boldness had long since fled my body. Right now I was nothing more than a little girl terrified of dying.

"My body just… moved on its own…"

I'd heard something like A magical girl never loses—and then my body had moved of its own accord.

It had forced mana into the staff I had no choice but to swing, slowly, as if teaching me the sensation.

Then it detonated the mana gathered in the staff. That power became flame and burned the entire forest to cinders. Even the boss could not survive those flames.

I'd called out an embarrassing skill name and rained down glittering stars. It felt like a magic that was somehow slightly off for something called a magical girl.

"…My head hurts."

Thanks to that, I'd learned the feel of how to use this mana, but…

Everything felt like it had ended too easily. By the time I came to my senses, the boss was already ash.

A conclusion perfectly suited to a tutorial, really.

"Well, it was a tutorial…"

Even so, I had been ridiculously pathetic.

I'd been so scared I'd cried. Convinced I was going to die… so terrified that at my age I'd ended up… on the floor…

"Ugh…"

Just remembering it was mortifying. Shame at having done that at my age flushed my face red.

What part of this form was supposed to be a magical girl, exactly? I still didn't even understand why I was a magical girl in the first place.

Ah.

My clothes feel gross. My thighs are damp… disgusting…

"…I'm canceling the transformation."

I lightly tapped the pendant twice. Countless lights veiled my body. The thoroughly soaked dress vanished without a trace.

What covered me now was just a T-shirt and dry dolphin shorts.

…The clammy dampness on my thighs, though, stubbornly remained.

"Haa…"

I'd survived somehow, at least. I still didn't understand what had happened, but I'd cleared it one way or another.

Forget making money—I'd thought I was going to die in here.

Thank god the boss was weaker than it looked. Otherwise I definitely would have…

"I want to cry…"

I felt miserable. Nothing was going right. Without that skill, I really would have died in the tutorial.

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"…Ugh."

Ever since becoming a girl, I'd gotten terrible at regulating my emotions.

I could feel how easily I cried now. I'd stopped hesitating to cry at all.

Having lost anything left to do in the Tower, I sank down again. This time, though, the Tower would not leave me alone.

"What the hell is this."

A flood of results from everything so far poured out.

The panic lasted only a moment. My first worry was how I was supposed to haul all these items home.

"None of this is even worth money."

That worry turned out to be pointless—there wasn't a single usable item in sight. Not one thing that would sell for anything.

I couldn't even use a dagger or a magic tome, and I'd heard you needed at least Rare grade for something to have real value when selling. These were stamped Normal.

"Garbage."

The only thing with any immediate cash value was the Magic Stones.

And then the items only a magical girl could use—stuff I could never show anyone—obtained through the skill. What even was a Magical Girl's Friend supposed to be? Calling it a "friend" when it was an egg…

"…Shit."

Had I risked my life climbing the Tower for this? Even selling the Magic Stones would barely cover this month's rent.

…The results were painfully meager.

Was that just how tutorials worked? For almost dying, this felt way too cheap.

I'd basically eaten four pieces of worthless trash.

"What the hell is this…"

No—why is my name ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like that?

If there's going to be a ranking, at least let people set a name to engrave on it…?

This Tower is out of its goddamn mind.

Was it that pissed I pissed myself?