Chapter 61
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Magical Girl Koneko is Hungry (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Late afternoon, with the sun slowly dipping below the horizon.
The clear blue sky gradually took on the hues of sunset, turning red, and even those tied up with work could sense the liberating hour of quitting time drawing near.
- RUMBLE...
But from somewhere in the heart of the city came a massive roar, like some enormous structure collapsing, shattering in an instant the anticipation of heading home if they could just hold on a little longer.
"Mon... Monster?!"
"Kyaaaaah!!!"
Countless people were making their way home at this hour... and of all places, the monster had appeared right in front of the subway station.
"Grrrrr..."
Blocking the path of those heading to the entrance to board the train home, it began wildly swinging its arms, embedded with countless sharp thorns.
- BOOM!!!
The monster ripped a stone sculpture from the subway station plaza with its hand.
It hurled the debris straight at the entrance where people stood.
"Kaaaaah!!!"
"Help!! Someone's hurt!!"
Dozens of massive boulders flying in at inescapable speeds.
Citizens were struck on the head, blood streaming as they lost consciousness on the spot,
or pinned under the rocks on their legs or arms, screaming and unable to move.
"We'll help you!"
"Just hold on a moment, we'll get you out right away!"
Men appeared before the citizens who had met with sudden misfortune on their early commute home.
Wearing thick protective gear to shield their bodies from the monster's attacks,
they were the special rescue squad dispatched to disaster sites caused by monsters to aid civilians.
And their arrival meant... a magical girl had reached the scene as well.
- SWOOSH!
From behind the monster, which had lost its temper and slammed into the plaza floor,
came a razor-sharp sound, followed by a massive slashing blow.
"GRAAAAAH!!!"
A huge gash scarred the monster's back, as if clawed by a giant beast.
Seeing its own pitch-black blood spurting from the wound and splattering on the ground,
it flew into a greater rage, bellowing even louder.
"Nyahaha! That wound must hurt like crazy, huh?"
A girl mocking the monster from behind its back, where the claw marks were fully visible.
She looked like an adorable girl in cat cosplay at first glance,
but she was the one who had inflicted that massive wound on the monster's back.
"The righteous cat magical girl who hunts evil... Koneko-nim makes her appearance!"
Koneko introduced herself confidently, perking up her ears and tail.
"Ma... Magical girl?!"
"The magical girl's here!!"
At her lively, cute voice announcing her arrival, the people cheered for the heroine who would save them.
"Hehehe... Yeah! That's right, cheer for me like that! Nyahaha!"
Most magical girls would respond to civilian cheers with a light smile.
But Koneko reveled in the adulation like she was on stage,
craving even louder, more vigorous shouts from them.
"Grrrrr... GRAAAAAH!!!"
Not content with the back wound, the monster grew even angrier at the civilians' cheers.
The large thorns embedded in its massive arm grew even more vicious,
and it began firing them at Koneko like missiles.
"Nyat?! You startled me!"
But Koneko was a magical girl with cat-like magic, true to her name.
Dodging a sudden volley of thorn missiles lightly and flexibly was child's play.
- Clang!
And if she couldn't dodge, she could just swat them away with her sharp claws.
"Now it's my turn again? Get ready... Nyaaaaah!"
Wearing a cute but annoyed expression as she crouched low,
she leaped straight up to a height rivaling three stories in an instant.
"Take this! Magical Nyan Nyan Punch!"
Unlike her cute, cat-paw-like gloves,
Koneko raised the razor-sharp claw tips of her costume gloves menacingly.
- Slash slash slash slash slash!
Then she went wild, clawing at the monster indiscriminately.
"GRAAAAH...?!"
It looked like a pathetically weak attack on the surface,
but each graze of her claws left deep, savage wounds.
And from those wounds, pitch-black blood erupted...
splattering all over Koneko's clothes.
"Nyat?! My clothes are totally soaked in blood now?!"
The dark stains on her outfit were bad enough,
but what soured Koneko's mood was the stench assaulting her nose.
Monster blood had such a foul odor it could numb the senses,
so magical girls tried to avoid contact with it as much as possible.
But Koneko had to fight up close, so she inevitably ended up drenched.
No matter how many times she got covered in monster blood,
she could never get used to that revolting, nauseating smell.
It only made her attack the monster more viciously in anger.
"How dare you dirty Koneko-nim's cute costume!
You're getting a special extra-powerful attack to make you suffer."
Like a hissing cat in a fury,
Koneko growled with her tail straight up in the air.
"Nyaaaaah!!!"
Letting out a mighty battle cry, she swung her right hand fast and hard.
- SLASH!
The same attack she had used to ambush the monster's back at the start, carving that massive wound.
Unlike the wild clawing of the 'Magical Nyan Nyan Punch,'
this technique, called the 'Super Powerful Nyan Nyan Scratch,' had enough power to finish off a weak monster in one hit.
And fueled by her rage over her soiled clothes, its power doubled.
"Gr... Aaaah... Ah..."
It wasn't just wounded—its body was precisely sliced into four pieces.
Unable to even scream, it collapsed on the spot.
"All that stink and nothing special! Nyahaha!"
Wrinkling her nose at the stench but keeping her playful grin,
she vigorously waved to the civilians being rescued by the special squad.
"That magical girl... she's way more brutal than she looks, huh?"
"Y... Yeah."
The citizens cheered and waved back at the girl who vanquished the monster,
while whispering about the savage combat scene that contrasted her cute appearance.
'What... I save them and they gossip behind my back?'
But Koneko could hear every whisper, no matter how quiet.
Cats could detect a wider range of frequencies than humans,
and pinpoint sound sources at will.
Of course, she didn't let it get to her.
She knew her fighting style seemed cruel and brutal to some,
and understood that to ordinary citizens without magic, she might look frightening.
Still, she sometimes wished the civilians would praise her sincerely without fear.
'Whatever... I'm hungry, better go eat something tasty quick!'
True to her playful, cute personality, one of her charms was how utterly cool she was.
Forgetting her bad mood from the monster blood in a flash,
and brushing off the gossip without a care—that was thanks to her cool demeanor.
"Oh yeah. That monster... it fully disintegrated, right?"
Too focused on her hunger, Koneko hadn't even properly checked if the monster had vanished.
She quickly confirmed with her eyes that it had turned to dust and scattered,
then hurried back to the office to fill her growling stomach.
After the battle... inside the office where Koneko and her manager were stationed.
"You're back safe! How was the fight this time?"
The manager, who had been watching her battle just moments ago, greeted Koneko.
"That guy I just fought... the smell was even worse somehow.
Nothing else really stood out, I guess?"
Back in her casual clothes instead of her magic-spawned costume,
she was sniffing various parts of her body, as if the lingering scent still haunted her nose.
"Is that so? You're always super sensitive to smells, Koneko-nim."
"Nyat? Manager, you smell it too! It was so strong I nearly passed out!"
When he suggested it was because of her cat-like sensitive nose,
Koneko shoved her hand right under his nose, insisting there was no way.
"Uh... I don't smell anything."
But having reverted to her normal form, there was no scent left, of course.
As the monster she defeated crumbled to dust,
its blood had likewise disintegrated into powder.
"Well, good then!"
Her mood brightened instantly at the confirmation there was no smell.
"Come to think of it... it's almost time for us to clock out too."
Since the site she'd just left was an early evening rescue operation for commuters,
it was about time for Koneko and her manager to wrap up as well.
"Nyahat! In that case, I'm heading out early! I have an appointment."
Hearing the manager mention quitting time, Koneko checked the clock,
then pocketed her phone and hopped off the sofa.
She had an important appointment from a few days ago that she absolutely had to keep.
"An appointment... meeting a friend or something?"
"Friend? Well... not sure if you could call it that.
Anyway... it's important, so I'm clocking out first!"