Protecting Neff (2) (Revised)
I desperately shot a glare with my eyes. At whom? Obviously at Team Leader Kim, standing behind the camera.
Team Leader Kim fidgeted awkwardly and held up his sketchbook. I could see the words scribbled hastily in marker.
[Special Guest! Concept: Neff's Fan!]
Eh? I'm a special guest too, you know? Even so, is it okay to just barge in during a live broadcast without even consulting me first?
Ah, well, to be fair, I didn't consult the viewers before doing my broadcast either. Is this like a hidden camera prank?
The silver lining in this misfortune was that the second part's content wasn't "Raising a Magical Girl."
If they'd sat a real elementary school kid next to me while playing a gacha game? The broadcasting committee would've slapped us with fines immediately.
But part two was about splitting into teams with Rexon Games mascots to tackle quizzes and mini-game showdowns.
The winning team’s voters would get prizes like burger sets or in-game item coupons via lottery—totally peaceful and wholesome stuff.
So, just think of it as the mascot costume part-timer swapping skins to a blonde kiddo. Right?
Honestly, this looked way better on camera than the drab mascot suit. I bet that's what Team Leader Kim was aiming for.
Plus, thanks to three months of training, I'd long since mastered the art of kid-handling.
Lately, dealing with kids felt way easier than adults, even.
"Our cute friend Gold Luli came to see Neff!"
Anyway, I quickly pulled myself together and kept the script going.
"Where's our Luli from? Are your parents outside?"
Before I could finish, Gold Luli slapped my hand away.
"Remove thy hand. I am a monster."
"?"
"Magical Girl Neff, I have descended in person to fell thee."
Hey, this kid's weird.
She straight-up outed herself as a monster. I immediately glanced at Bella, standing guard outside. Assassin alert. Help!
I hurriedly used mana to scan Gold Luli.
……Huh?
Clean? No trace of that monster-specific mana signature. Just your average kid with slightly above-average mana sensitivity.
It's a concept.
Middle school syndrome already? Well, kids like Hasol-a or this one...
Not everyone's gonna idolize magical girls like me. Gotta be some hipsters fangirling monsters. Like those GateXGate fans, right?
But wait. This actually makes for a pretty good visual.
I'm the magical girl of justice. The kid who rolled in is an evil monster. Clean hero-villain setup, yeah?
Did they plan this for the drama? Is Team Leader Kim secretly a tactical genius?
I glanced at him just in case, but he was still floundering cluelessly. Nah, probably not.
Good is good, though.
"Alright! Then we'll roll with this for part two!"
I instantly edited the voting poll name on the side screen. From Neff VS Monkey to Magical Girl VS Monster.
"It's Magical Girl Team VS Monster Team!"
I plopped the bewildered Gold Luli into the seat next to me.
"Rules are simple! Luli and I will battle in mini-games. Viewers, vote for the team you think will win! We'll draw winners from the victory team's voters for awesome prizes!"
"……Voting? Prizes? What nonsense is this?"
"If Luli wins, her supporters get gifts."
"Hoh. A ritual of tribute, then. I know a crow lord among my acquaintances."
"Uh, kinda like that."
That's when Gold Luli's gaze locked onto a corner of my table.
There sat the Dubai chewy cookies Frost had slipped me earlier for sugar crashes during the broadcast.
"……That."
Gold Luli gulped and asked.
"Is that the legendary Dubai chewy cookie I've only heard rumors of?"
"Huh? Oh, this? Yeah."
"I... want to eat it."
"? Go ahead."
The second permission hit, Gold Luli snatched a cookie and chomped down with a huge nom.
Crunch crunch. Crispy kataifi crust meshing with thick pistachio spread. The flavor blooming in her mouth.
"……!"
A radiant smile bloomed on Gold Luli's face.
Her venomous glare turned sparkly in an instant—honestly, kinda cute.
And I wasn't the only one reacting.
The vote graph went wild in seconds. [Magical Girl Team: 42%] vs [Monster Team: 58%]
Magical Girl Team: 42%
Monster Team: 58%
What the—? My support dropping?
This is a broadcast hosted by an active magical girl, and I'm losing to some mystery monster cosplayer? What if she's a Monster Association spy?
Infiltrating with a cute kid like me to steal my audience? Name's Gold Luli—super suspicious.
Can't lose.
No way I'm letting a kid steal the show. Time to throw Gold Luli off her game.
Just as she blissfully brought the last cookie to her mouth...
I poked my head in.
Nom!
"……?"
I chomped half the cookie right out of her hand.
Crunch. Chomp chomp.
Sweetness and nuttiness flooding my mouth. Mmm. Delicious.
That instant, Gold Luli's eyes flashed wide.
"Neff."
"Yeah?"
"Thou art a creature that should not exist."
Meanwhile, as the broadcast raged on, Ignis had swapped with Bella and was guarding the lobby.
Fiddling boredly with her smartphone, she sensed a familiar, annoying mana from afar.
……Tch.
Ignis instinctively furrowed her brow.
No need to sense mana. The door hadn't even opened, but the grating voice echoed already.
"Oh~hohohoho! Goodness, how could this noble body deign to grace such a humble place? My feet simply refuse!"
A torrent of blue. Drill-curled roll-cake hair spinning like a corkscrew, nose held sky-high in arrogance, fan covering her mouth.
Villainess lady concept magical girl Aqua.
She swept the lobby with her gaze as she exited the car, landing on Ignis with her legs crossed.
"……"
"……"
The moment their eyes met, they both whipped their heads away in sync, like it was rehearsed.
Ignis and Aqua. Their frosty relationship went way back.
They'd debuted as 4th-gen magical girl rookies together, partnering as a duo for over five years.
Back in their hot-blooded student days, they'd gone all-in on a spicy concept: delinquent girl and villainess lady yuri bait.
Rough-mouthed thug Ignis. High-handed, selfish noble miss Aqua.
The public ate up the oil-and-water duo bickering yet protecting each other in the clutch—pure business yuri gold.
It skyrocketed their power as imagination-fueled magical girls.
But time was the enemy.
Magical girls' top retirement reason: reality crashing down.
Hitting near-thirty, not many could strut in magical girl outfits like Shining or Frost without a care.
Average anti-magic humans just felt self-loathing staring in the mirror.
Worse, their concepts clashed hard with reality.
Ignis's thug act? Her civilian Ivy was a prim lady from a classy family, elegance oozing from every breath.
Aqua's villainess? Her civilian was a foul-mouthed, hot-tempered ex-soldier.
Ivy craved the honesty she lacked, so she played Ignis. Aqua's civilian yearned for elegance she didn't have, so she played Aqua.
Youth and grit carried it, but age turned them into each other's living black histories.
One glance sparked nightmares of their past selves, kicking off the covers every night. How could the duo survive?
That was the real reason their partnership dissolved quietly.
They still chatted casually in the group chat with civilian speech. But face-to-face in magical girl form...
"Ahem."
"……Oh, my. What splendid weather we have."
Utterly awkward.
"Uh... thanks for coming today."
"Yeesh, well... I was curious about that famous Neff girl myself..."
Silence.
They pulled out their smartphones in unison, scrolling pointlessly.
"One hour till the broadcast ends."
"Indeed."
Silence.
They used to sync with a glance, but time apart made them worse than strangers.
"Magical girls here are doing a group dinner after."
"Indeed. Many familiar faces after so long."
Silence.
God, this is painfully awkward.
They screamed internally.
Even wished a monster would crash the party to break the tension.
Endure another hour in this suffocating space? What else could go wrong?
As they mentally fried themselves...
A familiar aura approached from the parking entrance. Twin monsters, Per and Mer.
"……"
"……"
"……"
"……"
Four pairs of eyes met in midair. A different kind of groan filled the lobby.
"Oh, come on."
Ignis and Aqua clutched their foreheads and groaned in unison. Why them, of all people?
Per and Mer had clashed endlessly with the Ignis-Aqua combo since their active days.
Full-power fights were even, so they'd tacitly WWE it out and part ways. But running into them now?
Per-Mer looked just as sour.
Haa...
They weren't here for fun either.
Kargos had impulsively charged into Neff's studio, so they had no choice.
A-rank Monster Association cadres couldn't let a hardliner exec get offed.
But the studio's barrier blocked instant Shadow Realm gates.
They'd have to go in, grab Kargos by the scruff, and drag him out. And the gatekeepers were that ancient duo.
One thought crossed all four minds:
Fuck, I don't wanna work.
But what could they do? Unbridgeable gulf between magical girls and monsters.
"Step aside. We have business inside."
"And if we don't?"
"We'll go through you."
"Oh my, hohoho! How dare you set foot here?"
"Perfect. My body's been itching anyway."
Ignis wrapped her bat in flames with a scowl, while Aqua unfurled her feather fan with dead-eyed boredom.
And here's another awkward combo.
"P-Please take care of meee..."
"Yes, Pluto-unnie. Don't be so tense."
Frost had come down to the parking lot to reinforce the barrier while Bella headed to the studio.
And Pluto, who'd been crouched in the corner maintaining the building-wide barrier from the start.
Unlike Ignis and Aqua, theirs was plain awkwardness.
People assume all magical girls are besties. Wrong.
The more veterans, the less teamwork, more factions, fewer meetings. They hadn't hung out privately in over five years.
To Pluto, Frost was a living fossil. Industry witness, rubbing shoulders with 1st-gen legends—ultimate ancient.
Even meeting her eyes felt uncomfortable, like a private trapped alone with the division commander.
Pluto's shady, twisted personality didn't help the vibe.
Sunbae must despise my hobbies...?
Pluto's abyss subculture obsessions? To mid-30s Frost, they'd just look... weird.
At least Neff connected them.
"U-Um... N-Neff's doing okay on the broadcast, right?"
"Of course. That junior's got endless talent."
"H-Heh, yeah. L-Last time I saw, her getting tied by the octopus monster was..."
"Pardon?"
"N-No! Nothing! J-Just, the knots looked sturdy!"
Pluto clamped her mouth shut.
"Anyway, thanks for the hard work maintaining the barrier."
"N-Nooo, it's my joboo. Hehe..."
Strained small talk. Sweat beaded down Pluto's back with every lull.
As they stared at distant hills, killing time in their own ways...
An alien presence rippled from the parking lot corner. Frost and Pluto's gazes snapped to the floor.
Something sprouted from the jiggling shadow.