56
Huh? Villains fight with scissors. That's just obvious 'common sense', right?
"Ugh... So frustrating... If only my guts hadn't been wrecked by that McCall and pineapple pizza this morning..."
The last magical girl, who'd held out till the bitter end, finally collapsed. She was the toughest and sturdiest of the five. In game terms, she'd be the tank. I remember her having a decent reputation among magical girls. But not enough to stick in my memory by name.
"That's what you get for eating crap like that for breakfast. Mornings call for something refreshing—like mint choco ice cream wrapped in apple mint."
Five magical girls had snuck into the park to ambush me and Tyranno. They'd even used stealth magic to mask their presence, thinking they'd pull off the perfect surprise attack. But they picked the wrong opponent. No way some pathetic human magic works on this Lion. Instead, I turned the tables and ambushed them, pounding all five into paste.
"Phew. But why are they all so damn persistent?"
Looking at the magical girls sprawled around the park, a bad feeling prickles the back of my neck. None of these five were geared for all-out combat—they specialized in stalling. Two with rock-solid defenses like the one just now. One who split into multiples with shadow clone magic—you had to take down every copy. One immune to physical attacks. And one with recovery magic that healed almost any wound.
"They knew it was me and Tyranno holding the park. With all the combat-type magical girls they could've sent, why waste these stallers...?"
Could it be a delay tactic? Was their real goal something else?
"I knew leaving Tyranno alone was a bad idea."
A beast's ominous instinct floods my mind. My tail bristles. Magical girls are weak, but they're not stupid. There had to be some reason for this lineup. Something bad might've happened to Tyranno. The thought sends me racing back the way I came.
There aren't many magical girls who could face Tyranno head-on now that he's got his whip back—Chae Sua being the freak exception. But factoring in Tyranno's smarts, he might still fall for some tricky ploy.
"Kuh!"
Why do these hunches always hit the mark? I arrive too late—Tyranno's gone.
"Where the hell did he go? At least there's no sign of a fight, so nothing major happened."
I focus every sense into my beast ears sprouting from my head. Far sharper and more sensitive than any human's hearing. Tuning in, every sound in the park floods my ears. The breathing of the fallen magical girls. Grass blades rustling. Chipmunk chirps. A single breeze slipping through the branches.
'Hiiiieee... Help meee, Lioooon...!'
"Found you."
I track the voice echoing like it's trapped in an enclosed space—Tyranno's.
"This is... the public restroom?"
A public toilet in the corner of the park. Built near an apartment complex, so it's surprisingly clean for one. But a toilet's still a toilet.
'Hiiiieee...'
And Tyranno's voice is coming from the women's restroom, not the men's. Hard to picture that prideful Tyranno hiding in a bathroom—let alone the women's—but that's proof of how dire things got.
"Tyranno, you okay? It's me. I've come. No bad magical girls anywhere, so you can come out now."
I step into the women's restroom and call out. My voice echoes off the ceramic tiles. The door to the farthest stall creaks open, and Tyranno peeks out.
"Lion? Is that really you, Lion?"
Tyranno's face, on the verge of tears. Seeing him sniffling like that fills me with killing intent toward whatever magical girl nearly made him cry—even if I don't know her name or face. Whoever it was, she'll pay dearly later.
"It's me, Lion. You're safe. The magical girls are gone. Were you really scared?"
"Hiiiieee..."
Tyranno rubs his eyes with his fists. That little devil horn on his head suits his spunky vibe, but seeing him whimper like this is so cute I wanna nibble him. But no—that'd make him burst into real tears.
"Hmph! Who—who said I was scared?! My legs just hurt, so I came in here! Just hiding from the sun, got it?! Don't get the wrong idea, you loser!"
Tyranno clutches his whip tight and toddles over to me.
"Why'd you take so long, you loser?! You should've smashed those pathetic magical girls quick and come back! Huh?! Isn't that what a minion of mighty Tyranno-sama does?!"
His tiny foot kicks my shin.
"Ow, ow, Tyranno."
"Hmph. Punishment for being late, you loser cat."
We head out of the restroom. The sunlight stings my eyes. I buy a cool mint choco cocoa juice from the nearby vending machine and hand it to Tyranno. Cute penguin on the can—kids love it.
"Here, drink this and calm down. Feeling better now?"
-Slurrrp
"Hmph, not bad taste for a loser."
Tyranno slurps the mint choco cocoa.
"So what happened that had you hiding in the bathroom—owowow, my flesh is ripping off, it hurts!"
Bad phrasing—I get pinched in the side by Tyranno. Hng. I gently rub the reddened skin. Might bruise if I'm not careful.
"Okay, sorry. My bad. You weren't hiding in the women's restroom—you were just taking a quick break. I forgot."
"Duh. I would never hide in a bathroom. Tyranno-sama hiding in a filthy public park toilet? No way! Even a loser cat like you should know that much."
"Got it, got it. So why'd you go into the bathroom then?"
"It's all your fault, loser cat! If you'd beaten those magical girls and come back sooner, I wouldn't have run into Chae Sua alone."
Chae Sua. Figures it'd be that bitch. Didn't expect her to show up right when I stepped away. But weird. Even against a monster like her, Tyranno crying and hiding in a bathroom seems overkill.
As if reading my mind, Tyranno explains.
"That loser Chae Sua wasn't the pushover I thought. She was scary as hell. You know what she said, all pissed off like that?"
"What'd she say?"
"Get this. She said if she catches me, she'll stand me on a bed of Legos, then give me the most painful knuckle flick ever, and on top of that, do fist swirls! On my head! Can you believe it?! Fist swirls on this cute Tyranno-sama's precious head!"
Fist swirls! For a mesugaki, that's scarier than a knuckle flick. Pressing your temple with a knuckle and spinning it—that brutal punishment would make any mesugaki bawl their eyes and nose out.
"So I hid in the women's restroom for a bit. All your fault, loser cat. Apologize. Say you're sorry for being late despite being a pathetic minion."
He just claimed it was for the sun a minute ago. Already forgotten? Anyway, I get how terrified he was, so I pat him soothingly.
"Okay, sorry, Tyranno. I was late, and you were so, so scared. My bad. Should've crushed those loser magical girls faster and gotten back sooner. I'm really sorry."
"Hmph, good you know, loser cat. You reflected and even bought tasty mint choco cocoa, so I'll forgive you this once!"
Tyranno beams innocently, cocoa smeared all over his mouth. How'd he get it everywhere from a canned drink?
"Aigoo, eat properly next time. Your mouth's a mess. What a slob."
"Really?"
Tyranno fumbles in his pockets—no way he'd carry a handkerchief or tissue with that personality.
"Loser, wipe it for me."
"Sigh. Forgot your handkerchief again."
"I didn't forget it. I left it 'cause you'd have it, loser."
"Fine, fine."
I wipe the cocoa clean with my handkerchief.
"Eep! Pfft! Hey, loser! Be more delicate when you touch me!"
"Sheesh, complaining even without a handkerchief. Just stay still."
"Pffft! It went in my mouth! What if I get cavities from the germs, you loser!"
"Sigh. Knew this'd happen."
In the end, we wasted the day outside and headed back to Darkness. Maybe it's a relief it ended this anticlimactically. The plan was impossible from the start, obviously.
That hypnosis app? Total fake. Made for pure-love childhood sweethearts, so no way it'd work on Chae Sua. Plus, its mechanics don't affect powerhouses like me, Chae Sua, or Tyranno. It draws focus with the spinning screen, then blasts hypnotic mana waves to hijack the brain. But anyone above a certain level resists mana too well.
So why run the op anyway? Tyranno's personality made revenge on Chae Sua a given—he'd throw a fit. Block him too hard, and he'd cause trouble somewhere I couldn't reach. But revenge on a magical girl like her was doomed to be rough, so the plan was to vent his grudge with minimal damage. This op was it.
It failed due to unforeseen crap... but he won't kick up a fuss about revenge for a while.