Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Alice Likes Cocoa
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"Never thought I'd live to see the day you come to me first. You were going on about your 'concept' and turned me down flat back then. What changed your mind in the meantime?"
"Alice is perfect, but that doesn't mean my thinking about perfect Alice never changes."
"Shall we talk over something to drink, at least? Black tea? Green tea? I'm fine with booze too. I've got pretty much any kind—name it."
"Cocoa. With three sugar cubes, please."
"...That's one cup? You're telling me to put three sugar cubes in a single cup?"
"Yes. That's right."
Emerald's face twisted up like she'd heard something she couldn't unhear.
The look on her face said she could already imagine the taste just fine.
She still took the order obediently and prepared it exactly as requested, but when she handed it over, her expression was full of doubt.
"Isn't this basically just melted chocolate and sugar water...? You sure you wanna drink this? It's all viscous..."
"Alice likes it."
"...Here you go."
I carefully accepted the cup from Emerald.
*-Slurp*
Even just one sip, and the viscous liquid—practically sugar water—slid over my tongue, generously delivering its sweetness straight to my brain and stimulating my taste buds.
If you slammed the sensation of 'sweet' directly into someone's brain, it'd feel pretty damn close to this.
Most people like sweetness in moderation, not this unrestrained, monstrous level of it.
'Fucking hell, it's insanely sweet.'
And I was no exception.
'Alice, you crazy bitch—how the hell do you drink this stuff?'
It wasn't like I wanted to drink it.
Alice actually drank it like this. With a happy look on her face, no less.
From my position where I had to imitate that Alice as much as possible, I gave it a try... but there was no way I could match her tastes.
Fortunately, even as my insides were throwing a fit from the sugar bombardment, the outer Alice was doing her job properly.
"Mmm... So happy. Cocoa really suits Alice after all."
"...At this point, I'm not even sure if it's an act or not. I couldn't drink that even for a concept... Well, if you're cute, that's what matters, I guess."
I shoved my already numb tongue to the back and got down to proper negotiations.
"Hmm... So the conditions are no group lodging, no changing outfits or wardrobe changes on camera, no demands for physical contact or fanservice scenes. Got it. That's about what I expected, but man, you really hate being touched by other people, huh?"
"It'd be even better if you focused the cameras mostly on the juniors. Alice is already perfect, so no need to film her more."
"You still hate cameras, I see. But I'm really curious—how do you dodge them so well? You go out on calls pretty often, but how come there's not a single photo of you?"
"Because they can't keep up with Alice's light?"
"You and your slippery words. Anyway... I get the conditions. No big issues there. The main goal is to have you give advice to the rookies and teach them how to fight, so I won't ask for anything unnecessary. Feel free to throw in some fanservice if you're in the mood."
"Of course Alice is perfect... but was there really a reason to call Alice specifically? Emerald-unni is a splendid magical girl in her own right."
Emerald ranked higher than most magical girls to begin with.
Even if rankings weren't a perfect measure of raw power, someone at her level was more than qualified to teach other magical girls, so I had to wonder why they needed me specifically.
"Oh my. Is that Alice calling her unni cool? What an honor."
"Alice doesn't like answering questions with more questions."
"Hmm... For starters, believe it or not, I'm running a business here. That alone keeps me insanely busy. My activities are recognized as beneficial to magical girls overall, so I don't go out on calls much... but anyway, running the business and personally appearing on the program to teach rookies is a bit much."
"I see. Alice understands."
In the end, she was saying she was too busy making money to do it herself and needed a stand-in. What a hustler.
She did funnel a ton of that money back to help other magical girls, so I couldn't complain, but I still envied her.
"The filming schedule is two sessions a week over a one-month period, so we'll need your help. I'll assign you a manager. I know you'll say you need to stay secretive and refuse anyone sticking right by your side, so just get the number. I've already told the manager you might contact them, so call whenever it's convenient. But don't call in the dead of night or anything?"
"What do you take Alice for?"
"You're so secretive with your activities, that's why. Anyway, if you don't need it, say so now. Oh, and the manager's a magical girl too, so she'll know the ins and outs and keep secrets no problem."
Honestly, it was inconvenient, but since I'd already decided to do the show, refusing a manager outright would be silly.
Program schedules, locations, prep work, scripts—all that miscellaneous stuff handled by someone who wasn't even a pro like me? My head would explode just thinking about it.
Even if it wasn't the clingy type of manager people usually imagine, I couldn't deny the need for a pro to handle the grunt work.
Especially since I intended to earn my keep.
"If you're offering to help Alice, it'd be rude to refuse."
"Here, business card. I picked someone who respects boundaries and keeps work and personal separate, thinking of your personality, so don't be too standoffish."
"Then Alice will be—"
"Leaving already? I haven't had lunch yet. If you haven't either, why not eat together since you're here?"
...It was a chance to save on food costs, but eating in this form was no small inconvenience.
To eat like Alice, I'd have to mind so many things with the concept, so at this point, it was better to just go home and boil some ramen.
"Alice's time is up. She has to go find Mr. Rabbit."
"Sigh. You and Aia are the same—cute as hell but total iron walls. No, Aia at least allows hugs, but you won't even do that, so you're the stiffer one. Fine, go on. How do you keep saying no after ten years of me begging?"
Aia... The S-Rank number one magical girl.
Public opinion held her as incredibly strong, befitting number one, with super quick Abyss Being subjugations, and a rock-solid sense of self... well...
To put it bluntly, she was just another concept zealot like Alice.
That's what Emerald meant.
Most magical girls had some kind of concept or gimmick, and it wasn't weird, but the real die-hards who stuck to it even off the record or in private weren't that common.
I personally found them uncomfortable, and dealing with concept zealots while maintaining my own concept gave me headaches, so I preferred to avoid them if possible.
Others might call it self-loathing or whatever.
"Then, until next time. Have a brightly shining day."
"I'll definitely pin her down once before I retire."
Yeah. Pretend I didn't hear that.
A pure magic specialist like Emerald couldn't physically overpower Alice anyway.
So it was probably just talk.
That level of skinship was common among magical girls...? I didn't get women's culture.
Normally after a call, I'd teleport away by now to vanish... but plenty of people had already seen Alice enter the building.
So I had to let them see me leave too, or they'd think I was still inside.
*-Rustle rustle*
'...Haa. Bet the reporters are swarming already.'
They knew Alice didn't do interviews well, so they were probably here to snag some photos.
Normally I'd refuse, but this time I had something to say, so I'd allow it.
"Sorry, Alice-nim. I tried to hold them off as much as possible, but reporters are always like this... If it's uncomfortable, I can guide you out the back. Most of them won't follow that way..."
"Alice doesn't block the love directed toward her!"
*-Swing!*
*-Click click click click*
"&@$@!$#@"
Alice's concept wouldn't allow sneaking out the back like a coward anyway.
So instead, boldly say my piece and vanish.
"Alice! For the sake of our juniors, she's decided to appear on 'Rookie Magical Class'! Please give us lots of love! Have a shining day, everyone!"
'Argh, the naming sense is for real.'
*-Flash!*
I said what I needed to and teleported away.
I even struck an Alice-like pose in the process, so that should satisfy those piranha-like reporters enough.
'Hah, money is my true nemesis.'
Normally I wouldn't promote upfront like this, but money was the real enemy.
They were offering incentives for good ratings, so no choice.
And Emerald's side would promote the hell out of it anyway, so one extra word from me wouldn't change much.
'Really didn't wanna be a fixed MC.'
It wasn't MC per se—just advising and helping rookie magical girls grow—but my screen time would still be huge.
I'd requested they focus the camera on the rookies as much as possible, but with eight filming sessions, it'd be the highest exposure of any activity in the past few years by far.
Thing was, I didn't want to go back to waiting for unpredictable gigs, patching up the house, watching my bank account drain in an instant, and agonizing over every 10 won to find the best value.
Better to push a bit, fill it up in one go, and vanish again.
Alice was a ten-year veteran magical girl known to the public. Not like a rookie celeb—people wouldn't care that much if she popped up on one show. Like I'd said many times, the market was already saturated with magical girls.
...Or so I'd thought.
*-Ding*
[Check this out, Alice. Applications from prospective students that came in just today.]
*-Stack*
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me."
Looks like Alice's popularity really was no joke.