Transformation Is Mandatory
8 p.m. — the hour when most streamers on Twich kicked off their broadcasts in earnest.
With the day's grind over, the darkened evening hours were when the most wandering viewers floated about, and once again tonight, crowds of them drifted from channel to channel hunting for something fun to watch.
And among them all, the place that had been drawing the biggest crowds lately was—
Period 2: Fundamentals of Mana
A simple stream title. But what began beneath it was anything but simple.
As countless messages fought to be heard, the DeoEn default waiting screen held for about five minutes before the feed shifted with a wash of bright light.
There stood Lily on the lecture hall's podium — and seated before her, four students.
Just like last period, Yena sat there in her academy uniform, Leo beside her with a puzzled expression. Candy Star looked faintly nervous, and Beriad's face was unreadable.
What a colorful bunch.
Teaching them was going to be a genuine pleasure.
"Now then, welcome to our second session. Did everyone have a good week?"
"Before we start Period 2 of Fundamentals of Mana... I should mention that some of you actually completed the homework I assigned. All of you passed with excellent marks in just one week."
The camera panned, showing each student's face in turn — every one of them bursting with personality.
"Which means, before class begins, we need introductions, don't we? Who'd like to go first?"
Caught off guard by the sudden introduction time, everyone hesitated to step forward — until someone sprang to their feet.
The one person you'd expect to go first in a situation like this.
"Me! Me, sensei!"
"Yes. Yena, come up to the podium, please."
"Yes ma'am!"
Swish. Swish. Swish!
Yena marched up without a trace of nerves.
"Hello, everyone! I'm Yena — fresh, bubbly, and sexy, and the future top student of Lily Academy! Stay tuned!"
WaaAAAH — applause!
Clap clap clap clap clap.
"Fresh, bubbly, and sexy, was it?"
"Yes! Is something wrong with that?"
Yena answered with a perfectly unbothered expression. I'd noticed it before, but she really was shameless to her core.
"I'm Leo. Most of you probably know me already, hihi. Right?"
The second introduction was Leo.
Spirits wreathed around her body as she grinned and looked into the camera. For the record, unlike a few hours ago, she was once again in the grip of her penalty.
"For the record, Leo here passed in just two hours and twelve minutes. Naturally, she was the first to succeed."
The chat window — and the students inside the lecture hall — let out collective gasps of admiration.
Completion at that speed was rare even by the standards of the past. Of course, everyone's starting line differed, but DeoEn's users carried penalties of their own, so it more or less evened out.
Next came Beriad, draped in a black robe. Where Candy Star was the type to glitter and catch the eye wherever she went, Beriad was the type shrouded in darkness, barely visible at all. The inside of his hood looked pitch black, and he didn't bother stretching his words out either.
"Beriad. Dark mage."
Shadow-magic mana rippled off him in waves.
Not quite at the level of magi, though.
In some ways the aura resembled Vlack's, but beside Vlack's it was considerably fainter. The one difference was that in sheer depth, this one had the edge.
Catching his obvious wish to get it over with quickly, I sent him straight back to his seat.
"And next is... Candy Star?"
"......"
"Candy Star?"
"Y-yes! Coming."
Ugh. Eyes squeezed shut, Candy Star rose from her seat.
Her outfit was pure princess-pink frills, and her voice was astonishingly bright — though for some reason, it didn't quite sound like her natural voice. Probably something forced on her by her class traits.
Come to think of it, she did have a seizure at the phrase 'self-introduction' earlier.
Not a joke — a genuine, full-body seizure. If the camera had been on Candy Star at that moment, the chat would have flooded with 'what's happening?!' spam.
Haaah... like a lamb dragged to the slaughterhouse, Candy Star shuffled forward, step by dragging step.
At last, standing before the table, she turned to me with pleading, wavering eyes.
"...There's no way I can get out of this, right?"
"Nope."
"......"
Haah. Letting out a long, deep sigh, Candy Star gritted her teeth, pink hair swaying.
HAAH!
Pink starlight burst from the candy jewel at her chest and seeped into both her eyes.
"Magical Girl! Transform!"
Magical Girl Candy Star
FLASH! Starlight swirled around her in a dazzling display as pink mana — on an entirely different scale from before — wrapped itself around her body.
Amid countless ribbons and hooks, the transformation continued — accompanied, somehow, by the distinct impression that its caster was crying. Setting that aside, the sheer volume of mana on display was enough to make one wonder just how powerful a player had been hiding here all along.
At last, the transformation finished in an even more flamboyant flourish than before, and Candy Star's brand-new snow-white boots came crashing down on the podium.
TAAANG!
"With the power of love and justice! Magical Girl Candy Star — HAS ARRIVED!!!"
"......"
In an instant, a silence — as if some higher-order angel had passed through — filled the lecture hall to the brim.
Had I been in her position, I knew exactly what I would have been thinking.
Hmm. I would need to die. Somehow. Immediately.
The chat descended into utter chaos. And the chat wasn't the only one.
"...Huh."
"Whoa, incredible."
"No sanity remaining."
Candy Star's impact was, without exaggeration, absolute — Beriad, who hadn't spoken a single word beyond his introduction, actually threw in a comment.
A technique that froze everyone in the room solid in an instant. Even a grand archmage who'd devoted her entire life to frost magic probably couldn't have managed it.
"That was wonderful, Candy Star. So please, get up."
"...I want to die."
"You can't die. You have a lecture to attend."
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck..."
"Profanity is forbidden in the lecture hall."
"Ah, is it a penalty, by any chance? Class? Species?"
"My class..."
"A penalty that makes you transform?"
"...Anyone who doesn't know me. I'm forced to shout an activation phrase."
"Ah."
I hadn't ordered this hoping for such a result — but sadly, that was how things had turned out. Nothing to be done about it now.
"Everyone, give Candy Star a huge round of applause for her effort!"
Clap clap clap clap clap.
Yena and Leo clapped their hands with all their might.
"WAAAAAH! Amazing! Amazing!"
"You're so cool, big sis!"
"...That's enough."
"Ahem. Now then — go take your seat, Candy Star."
"You're laughing."
"No, I'm not. I'm not the sort of person who mocks something like that."
I've always been someone who laughs a great deal.
As of today, I decided that I would be.