The Spirit's Reluctance
After making my scouting offer to White Fang in the happy city, we left the fan meeting venue right away and headed to a nearby café. She hadn't abandoned her fans out of greed for money—there simply weren't any fans left behind us. It was exactly what you'd expect from a low-profile magical girl who could book a fan meeting on the same day.
When we arrived at the café and ordered drinks, I couldn't help but smile wryly at White Fang, who showed no intention of removing her mask or magical girl outfit even inside the café.
“Are you sure you don't want to take that off?”
“It's fine.”
“What if someone finds out you're a real magical girl?”
At my question, White Fang shrugged and pointed around the café. I turned my head and let out a dry laugh at the sight of other magical girls sitting among the customers.
While I stood there dumbfounded, White Fang explained why she'd brought us here.
“This is a cosplay café. Both customers and staff are free to cosplay, so even if a real magical girl walks in, the chances of being exposed are low. Especially since I'm just a low-profile magical girl with little recognition…”
“S-Scientist, I need to use the restroom for a moment…”
“Aile, sit down.”
I forced the fidgeting Aile back into her seat and turned to White Fang again.
“So, you want to hide both your face and your name. Is that correct?”
“Yes. Is that a problem?”
“Not at all. What I need is a magical girl, not her name or face. However…”
“I'll prove that I'm a magical girl with my association license.”
White Fang pulled out an ID card as she spoke. It was a magical girl license issued by the Magical Girl Association. Created through the mysterious magic of the spirits, the license made it instantly clear to anyone who saw it that its owner was a magical girl.
A form of perception magic, different from hypnosis or brainwashing. I nodded and confirmed her identity.
“—Very well. Let's get straight to the point. What I want to ask of you, White Fang, is research on spirits.”
“Research on spirits?”
“Yes. Research into how spirits interfere with this world, and beyond that, what kind of world they actually reach.”
White Fang let out a thoughtful hum and tilted her head slightly. She nodded a few times toward empty space before looking back at me. Was her spirit over there? I couldn't see anything, of course.
“My spirit says… that it cannot cooperate with you.”
“That's fine. I only need your cooperation, White Fang.”
“You're aware that many have attempted to study spirits before, and all of those attempts ended in failure, correct?”
“Of course I am.”
Magical girls possessed power on par with A-class or even S-class heroes. Naturally, that was far too much power to entrust solely to teenage girls. It was inevitable that people would try to seize it.
Yet there had never been any news of someone successfully stealing a magical girl's power, or of an adult or a man obtaining that power. Every single study had failed.
“And yet you still want to hire me?”
“Yes, of course.”
“It'll just be a waste of money.”
But just because everyone else had failed didn't mean I had to give up. It wasn't about confidence that I could succeed where others couldn't.
It was simply that refusing to even try because no one had succeeded before went against the spirit of science—and besides, there was nothing else worth attempting.
“—Even so, this is something that must be done.”
“Understood. Then the contract… Ow-.”
White Fang let out a small yelp and waved her hand frantically at empty space. Though I couldn't see it, it looked like she was arguing with her spirit.
When I smiled at her, White Fang lowered her head slightly, looking embarrassed.
“I'm sorry. It wants me to ask one more thing.”
“Go ahead, ask anything.”
“It wants to know what you intend to do with the research on spirits—whether it'll be used for something bad or something good…”
I gave a wry smile at White Fang's question about whether the research would be good or bad. Research itself had no inherent good or evil. Just as dynamite and machine guns, created for people's safety, had taken far more lives, science had no morality of its own.
What mattered was the heart of the person conducting the research—whether they intended it for good from the start, or for crime.
Of course, just because I was a villain didn't mean my research had to be used for villainous purposes.
“It's to save one person.”
“Ah…”
After hearing my answer, White Fang looked toward empty space, and this time she seemed to have received permission. When I handed her the contract I'd prepared in advance, White Fang quickly read through it, signed it, and only then voiced a concern she hadn't mentioned before.
“But how exactly do you plan to research spirits? If someone lacks the qualifications to become a magical girl, spirits are invisible and untouchable.”
“Don't worry. Aile?”
“C-can I change now…!?”
Aile, who had been happily sipping her drink, stood up with a bright smile at my call and headed straight for the restroom.
Magical girls were supposed to be pure, chaste, and innocent. Aile was the same. With her qualifications, she had operated while wearing a fake magical girl outfit and was known to the public as the evil magical girl.
Like attracts like. From a mystical perspective, Aile was already no different from a magical girl. Seeing spirits should be possible for her as well.
“—Hehe, nice to meet you, White Fang.”
“……The evil magical girl?”
“Oh my, why do you look so surprised?”
White Fang's eyes began to tremble violently as she saw Aile return in her evil magical girl form. She turned to me and spoke cautiously.
“……You definitely said this research was to save someone.”
“Villains are people too.”
“Oh no. This is a disaster. Can I still cancel the contract?”
Without a word, I pointed to the bottom of the contract. Unilateral termination would cost ten times the down payment.
It was an amount no ordinary magical girl could earn even by selling herself. White Fang's expression twisted as if she could already see her future. But a signed contract could not be undone.
Society was cold. Even magical girls were no exception.
Evils Enterprise research lab. Inside the specially prepared laboratory for spirit research, Aile was gently poking at a small animal-shaped spirit with an affectionate expression.
“Oh my, how cute.”
—Mew, mewmew-! N-no, let go-!
“I wish I had a mascot like this too…”
As Aile spoke, she glanced over at the scientist fiddling with something in the distance. Eight didn't spare her a single glance. Seeing this, Aile began roughly tormenting the spirit with a sulky expression.
—Mewuuu-! S-stop! White Fang! Save me!
“White Fang is currently trapped in an inescapable purgatory, you know?”
—That's-! You evil villain bastards! Let go of White Fang and let me go too!
“Hehe, do you think she would want that?”
—Our alliance won't break that easily!
After hearing the spirit's mewing protests, Aile stood up as if to say “just watch” and walked over to the window.
Outside the window, White Fang's entire body was swallowed up by a massive mechanical device. The spirit let out a terrified mew at the sight.
[Ah, ugh, hwaaa….]
—Mew, mewuu… W-White Fang…!
The spirit whimpered as it watched White Fang let out faint moans. Her body, tightly bound inside the large machine, looked no different from a magical girl captured by a World's Enemy.
“Hehe, what do you think? No one has ever escaped that demonic machine on their own.”
—Y-you cruel bastards……!
“Once you sit in the massage chair our evil organization is so proud of, whether one hour or two hours pass, you'll just moan and receive the massage!”
—……Mew?
“Uhehehe-! You don't want to end up like that, do you?”
While she was speaking, the scientist's voice came through the speaker installed in the lab.
[Aile? I can see it now. I'm coming in, so hold it tight so it can't escape.]
“Yeees- Scientist.”
Squeeze-. Aile pulled the spirit into her chest so it couldn't escape and waited for the scientist to enter.
A moment later, the scientist walked in wearing goggles and approached Aile with heavy steps. He repeatedly took the goggles off and put them back on while staring at Aile's chest.
“There. I can see it clearly now.”
“So can I go now? I need to start on my homework soon.”
“I'll exempt you from homework today, so stay a little longer. Just don't touch it yet.”
“Yay-!”
While Aile cheered in delight, the spirit tilted its head in confusion, unable to grasp the situation. How could he see it? According to the strict laws of the Great Spirit Realm, men shouldn't even be able to perceive them.
Yet the man before it—a fully grown adult with black stubble—was clearly looking straight at it.
—H-how…?
“It's a long story…… Just think of it as me being able to see you now.”
Eight grinned and got to the main point—the very reason he'd paid a hefty sum to contract with White Fang.
“You. Do you know anything about Earth?”
—E-Earth……?
“That's right. Earth.”
About my hometown.