The Birth of the Dark Magical Girl
Aile was the second development project, and she served as an executive in the villain organization. For a girl with absolutely no powers, becoming an executive in a villain group was practically a stroke of luck. It was only because Regalia had picked her up while she was sobbing on the street. Of course, even though she was a powerless deadbeat with a ruined life, she had never wanted to become a villain. But when she was told that joining would let her see magical girls whenever she wanted, she had accepted without hesitation.
Even after joining the villain organization, she hadn’t accomplished anything noteworthy. She had never even encountered a magical girl, and her existence had never been revealed to the world. Still…
‘If I had this outfit… I could…’
Aile stared at the dress laid out before her. It was a self-designed magical girl costume that had been doomed to rot away forever inside her delusion notebook. A girl without talent, charm, or courage could never have worn it. It was the magical girl uniform that only the chosen could obtain. And now it was right in front of her eyes.
‘Could I… really become like a magical girl?’
Aile recalled the magical girls she had met. The beautiful, sparkling girls who bravely saved people. The pure magical girls who stood for good and justice.
She had wanted to become a magical girl.
And now, the scientist was trying to make her dream come true using the power of science.
Aile steadied her pounding heart and headed for the bed. She would climb in, smack herself in the head, pass out, and wake up tomorrow. Then she would hit herself again to knock herself out… If she repeated the process, she could try on the completed magical girl outfit right away! It was a perfect plan.
She decided to carry it out immediately. But after smacking herself once, the pain was so intense that tears leaked out and she gave up.
─krgtnpnд!
A World’s Enemy shattered space and revealed itself. Sirens immediately began blaring across the entire city.
Sharp sirens wailed wildly, announcing the enemy’s arrival. The magical girl who received the alert rushed to the scene without delay.
“Sparkling, shining youth light jewel! Magical Girl Jewelry Sapphire, has arrived!”
Jewelry Sapphire appeared on the scene after shouting her cute catchphrase. After confirming there were no civilians around, she let out a long, heavy sigh. She hated performing this cheap theatrical act too, but not long ago a video of her senior carelessly beating a monster while smoking—thinking no one was watching—had spread, and her popularity had plummeted. In her heart she wanted to ignore popularity and everything else, but she couldn’t. A magical girl’s salary was directly proportional to her popularity.
It wasn’t exactly surprising that magical girls operated like celebrities. After all, while other kids studied and went to cram schools, these poor souls had to fight monsters from another world and couldn’t even hold proper jobs. Yet they couldn’t just ignore the World’s Enemies either. So the magical girls sold themselves as a kind of product. They enjoyed greater popularity than celebrities and raked in money. Management agencies even existed to support magical girls who were weak at this kind of business.
‘This stupid job. It’s not like I can do it forever. I’ll squeeze out as much as I can and quit.’
This had already been her seventh year doing this. At this point she should have been sick of it, yet there was a reason she still shouted her lines at the top of her lungs.
Jewelry Sapphire wore a bitter smile as she looked at the World’s Enemy before her. It was the same tentacle monster as always. It was as if the word “freshness” had been completely erased from their brains—these monsters never changed. They always sent the same horribly shaped creatures. She was utterly sick of it.
“You monster! I cannot allow you to attack people’s homes!”
Still, Jewelry Sapphire acted like a professional. She spat out the worn-out line she had said hundreds, thousands of times and fired her magic. A high-pressure water cutter shot from her magic wand and bisected the monster’s body.
Having dealt with the creature in the blink of an eye, Sapphire used her power to create the appearance of slightly damp hair and clothing that faintly showed her underwear, then flew toward the shelter where people had gathered. Moments later, the siren signaling the end of the hunt rang out, and reporters swarmed in at once to film her.
This was all business. Purely business, far removed from any notion of purity.
Name: Jewelry Sapphire
Ability: Magical Girl Transformation
Description: A magical girl with sapphire-blue hair. Uses water-based magic. In her seventh year. Will become an adult next year. Already past the age where she can truly be called a girl.
“Fire Blast—!”
“Star Light—”
“Charged Particle Cannon—!”
“Hmmm…”
It was the third day of research on evil magical girls. I watched videos of magical girls in action and analyzed their abilities. No matter how many times I looked, I still couldn’t understand how any of it was possible.
‘They summon fire and water out of thin air? Where does that energy even come from?’
According to what I’d read on the wiki, a magical girl’s magic was created from their love, purity, chastity, and other “girlish qualities.” At first I thought this was complete nonsense and searched like crazy, wondering if there was some special ore called “girlishness.” After thirty minutes of searching, I realized that wasn’t the case.
True to this world’s American-comic-book logic, magical girls could manifest magic without any conditions whatsoever. It completely violated physics and spat on Newton’s grave. But of course, that couldn’t actually be true.
If this world truly ran on “screw physics” logic, the planet wouldn’t still be intact. It would have been completely destroyed, and Earth would have become nothing more than cosmic dust. Just like how ancient people once believed the sun revolved around the Earth, they simply hadn’t found the proper energy source that magical girls used. And that meant if I could locate that energy source, I could replicate a magical girl.
‘Hmm… but that sounds like a hassle, so I’ll just substitute it with crystals.’
Did I really need to go that far? There were plenty of substitutes. The thread used to make the dress was one. I had taken energy crystals obtained in this world, dissolved them in a special solution, and soaked the thread in it for three full days so the liquid could permeate completely. The dress made from that thread was already overflowing with energy. On the hidden inner lining, I had also woven intricate circuit-like patterns that could be activated.
Apparently Scissors had suffered quite a bit while making it. Now all that was left for me was to create magical girl tools that could properly utilize that energy. It was the most headache-inducing part, but also the part that required no extra thought. I already had a complete list of what to make.
─M-magical girls need something like this…!
─Please make this too…!
─F-fight on! Scientist!
I looked at the notebook Aile had left me and gave a wry smile. It was the client’s order list. Just looking at everything I had to complete already made my head hurt. Well, as long as I could make it somehow functional, it should be fine. With that thought, I threw myself into crafting the tools.
I drank energy drinks I’d bought from the convenience store and pulled all-nighters. The result, after enduring headaches that felt like my skull was splitting open, was that I had finally completed the magical girl outfit.
“It’s… done.”
I pulled out my smartphone and immediately sent Aile a text. Since the outfit was finished, I told her to come pick it up. After sending the message, the accumulated fatigue hit me all at once. I collapsed onto the sofa right where I was. The moment I closed my eyes, sleep claimed me.
Beep beep beep—!
“Scientist…?”
Aile, who had received a text from Eight, entered his laboratory. When she carefully opened the door, she saw a workspace that clearly hadn’t been cleaned in quite a while. There was even a somewhat musty smell. She shrank back slightly at the sight, then carefully stepped inside, making sure not to step on anything on the floor. Since Eight had called her, she assumed he was probably resting in the break room…
When she entered the break room, Aile found Eight fast asleep on the sofa even though he had summoned her.
“Ah, um… Scientist…?”
Aile hesitated, wondering whether she should wake him. But she decided it would be rude to disturb someone sleeping so peacefully and quietly left the break room. The moment she turned her back and stepped out, her eyes landed on a dress that seemed almost miraculous.
It was the magical girl outfit she had wanted so desperately.
“He really finished it…”
She had come because she didn’t know what exactly had been completed, but she never imagined it would be done already. She had been prepared to wait patiently even if it took him a year or two. After all, replicating the power of a magical girl through science was something no country or esper had ever achieved. To finish it in just a few days?
‘C-can I… try it on?’
She worried she shouldn’t touch it without permission, but Aile couldn’t overcome the urge to put on the dress. Right there, she stripped off her clothes and reached for it. Unlike the early prototypes that had required someone else’s help to wear, this one climbed up her body the moment she extended her hand, as if it had been waiting for its owner. It clung to her of its own accord.
A short while later, Aile—who had become a dark magical girl—immediately understood what she could do. She knew it instinctively. She understood what kind of power was contained in this outfit… It didn’t seem to be because she had participated in its creation, but rather an ability inherent to the clothing itself.
So Aile immediately used her power. Magic flowed from the pitch-black magic wand and created a mirror in front of her.
“U-uuu… Hic…!”
In the mirror stood Aile, now a magical girl. The girl who had been told she could never become one because she lacked talent, charm, and courage. The villain executive who had overturned fate with the power of science and obtained magic. The sight was so joyful that tears streamed down her face.
Forcing back the endlessly flowing tears, Aile kept sobbing.
“Th-thank you… Scientist…”
She sent her gratitude toward the scientist lying inside the break room. He had given her back her dream. He had fulfilled his duty as an evil scientist. Now it was her turn to step forward.
Just as Eight had done everything expected of an evil scientist, she would now fulfill her duty as an executive of the villain organization—as an evil magical girl.
A short while later, after her tears had stopped, she picked up her smartphone and called her boss. The call connected shortly after the first ring.
“B-boss. I… I want to deploy.”
“Deploy…!”
Regalia fell silent at the sudden request, but she quickly grasped the situation and gave an order befitting her position as boss.
“Boss…!”
“Yes…!”
With permission granted, Aile flew straight to the neighboring city still wearing her dark magical girl outfit. H City. The happy city where magical girls gathered.