Sorry, a Bit Camera Shy
Sorry, a Bit Camera Shy
The sky is the magical girls’ domain. That’s not exactly wrong.
A monster can’t fly without a special ability.
Even I’m relying on my bike to get airborne.
For a monster, the sky is a vulnerability.
But if there’s a reason magical girls still fight on the ground,
for one, combining flight and combat is far harder than it looks and guzzles magic like a black hole.
The other reason is that they have to descend anyway to take down the monsters operating on the ground.
If a monster ignores the magical girl and attacks civilians just to achieve its goal, what can you do? You go down and fight. Long-range attacks from the air are notoriously magic-inefficient.
But even with this background, it’s a fact that the sky still gives magical girls a much greater advantage.
Unlike a magical girl who moves freely, I can’t leave my bike.
Right now, I was quite literally a rat in a trap.
“All right~ so how should we trash that monster bastard?”
“Don’t get arrogant, Deneb. That monster is crazy strong!”
“Confidence is what matters in a fight. Vega, right now it’s okay to be bold.”
I studied the three magical girls who were debating how to trash me and spoke up.
“You’re all mistaken about one thing.”
“Mistaken?”
Red Vega took the bait. Fortunately, it looked like I could buy some time.
“I am not a monster.”
“Then what are you?”
There was only one answer.
“A human.”
“Oh... even as you said it, didn’t you think it sounded ridiculous?”
Red Vega looked like she was about to accept it for a second, then immediately objected.
Yeah. I think it sounds ridiculous too.
I ride a flying bike, my outward appearance is unmistakably the spitting image of an S-rank monster’s armor, and the power I use is constellation-class.
To anyone unfamiliar with transforming heroes, that vicious design makes me look like a monster no matter who you ask.
Who would ever believe I’m human?
“Oh my, didn’t you say earlier you didn’t want to talk?”
“I said I didn’t want to talk to you, Blue Sirius. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t speak to me, since you irritate me.”
If we have Deneb and Vega, naturally Altair ought to show up and complete the Summer Triangle. Why does Sirius have the nerve to butt in instead?
“Ahahahak! Senpai, did she just shut you down?”
“...Deneb. Shut it.”
Deneb must have found that hilarious, because she burst out laughing without a trace of tension.
“Ah... that was fun. So, you’re human? Then you’d better show us some proof.”
Then, as if the laughter had never happened, she did an abrupt about-face and wagged her finger. I know she has a good heart beneath that delinquent, slouching attitude. That’s why she’s still working as a magical girl and all.
Proof.
In their distrust, they were demanding I offer up a harbor where trust could anchor.
In a way, their distrust is only natural. It’s not simply because of my appearance or the fact that I routed Red Vega on my very first day.
It’s the entire history between monsters and magical girls.
That distrust is backed by a history of trust and betrayal that began right here.
In the past, not every magical girl was hostile toward monsters.
There was once a magical girl who advocated coexistence between monsters and humans and tried to build a friendship with one.
The subject was, of course, an S-rank monster—the closest thing to a person, since it could use language.
For about a month, it caused only minor problems like theft and property damage, avoided serious casualties, and seemed to show potential for rehabilitation.
But the moment it recognized it had grown reasonably close to the magical girl who looked after it, it went out to the street and slaughtered 300 people.
Its goal was to determine just how far humans could extend tolerance toward someone they loved.
This wasn’t the only case. Several magical girls attempted peace with monsters and were betrayed.
After that, friendship with monsters became virtually taboo for magical girls.
No matter how genuinely friendly a monster’s feelings toward humans appear to be, the friendly attitude a monster displays is an emotion born from instrumental reasoning—a sense that the human might prove useful to its personal inquiry.
They feel no great regret over killing or breaking us.
They are fundamentally different beings.
Even though some originate from humans, monsters are profoundly missing something.
Their distrust is justified.
Of course they can’t believe me just because I say so.
I exhaled deeply. My exhaustion-laden heart pounded.
There was one very simple method for me to gain their trust.
I just have to put my hand on the Belt and power down.
Take off my mask here, show my bare face, and demonstrate that I’m a person no different from them.
Of course, even if I showed a human exterior identical to theirs, it wouldn’t completely escape suspicion.
Still, people tend to soften toward those they feel a sense of kinship with, so it would at least be possible to steer this toward dialogue.
The problem is...
‘Goddamn it.’
My hand is shaking too much to power down.
The Quest’s coercive element also means I absolutely have to eliminate monsters.
But to do that legally, I’d need to obtain a permit like a magical girl.
The rule in this world is that a hero must disclose their full identity.
Nobody pays taxes and entrusts their life to someone whose face and motives are completely unknown. Private sanctions are forbidden precisely because you never know how an uncontrolled individual might go astray.
That isn’t the only problem.
Blue Sirius is right here. Am I supposed to reveal in front of her that the opponent she was fighting moments ago is actually the ex-boyfriend she had a bad breakup with? That’s insane.
On top of that, Blue Sirius was already caught up in a favoritism scandal once. The moment my bare face is exposed, she’ll defend me without thinking twice. If I don’t want to ignite her as a public bonfire again, I’ll have to be careful.
‘What do I do...’
The biggest problem is that this body can’t endure it.
Just imagining it sends this violent a rejection response. If I actually did it? I might panic and rampage like a monster.
[Distance to Blue Sirius is close. Warning. Behavior could be interpreted as refusal to comply with the Quest.]
Right. There’s the Quest, too.
My current Quest is decidedly unfriendly toward the idea of having a friendly chat with anyone.
‘Explanations, whatever—I need to run first.’
If I don’t, I’ll die. With the Belt’s warning, I took my hand off the release trigger, put it back on the handlebars, and turned. The nose pointed downward. I punched through the clouds into a vertical dive.
“Whoa! The bastard’s running!”
“I almost believed him a little! Was it a lie after all?!”
“He might just be confused, recalling his time as a human. Let’s chase him!”
If the front and both flanks were blocked, I just had to punch through below. This is a fight in three dimensions, not on a flat plane.
The wind hit my face like a wall, interfering with my breathing. I was afraid that if I used the Heaven-Folding Art recklessly I’d slam straight into the ground, so I raced ahead using only the bike’s original maneuvering speed.
Unsurprisingly, I was caught in a heartbeat.
As Red Vega’s kick flew in from the side, I halted the craft for an instant to rise above her.
Whoosh!
A leg wreathed in rings of flame shot through the space I’d just occupied.
“Tch!”
“Are you insane?! If I fall from here, I’ll crash straight into the city! Civilians will get caught up in it—what the hell are you doing?!”
At that, Pink Deneb snorted.
“Huh?! Is that a threat? But it won’t work! I’ve already stationed my Crimson-Winged Crows all over the area directly below me. They’ll see them and run away on their own. It means there won’t be a single civilian wherever you land!”
“That wasn’t a threat... but I’m certainly relieved to hear that.”
Blue Sirius answered me.
“Yes, we’re the ones who are relieved.”
From directly behind me.
I felt an overwhelming mass of magic converging. The temperature had dropped only in the rear. On my right was intense heat, and on my left, the sharp sound of wind shearing off birds’ wings.
“Because we don’t have to worry about letting you fall!”
“Whoa, a combination technique!!! I’ve always wanted to try one!”
“Haha shiiit! This is fun!”
By the time I tried to turn the bike elsewhere, it was already too late.
“Freeze to death in blue.”
“Are you ready to be reduced to ash?”
“You like drinking, singing, and dancing?”
Snow Blossom One Path.
Flame Roar.
Twilight Dance of Crows.
A slashing strike that freezes everything in its path.
A fist of violent force, as intense and unpredictable as the sound fire makes when it screams.
Crimson-stained crows, as if crushed beneath the sunset, spreading their wings in flawless unison like a perfectly choreographed dance.
They all came flying, aimed solely at me.
There was no way to dodge, so I simply had to take them.
KWAAAAANG—!
A monstrous noise echoed, loud enough to be heard from the ground far below. The surrounding clouds scattered and fled into the distance. Multicolored starlight gathered and burst like fireworks, adorning the sky beautifully.
And a single body left out of that festival of starlight was plummeting far below, like a comet.
That body was me.
Boom!
I landed, leaving a crater in the ground considerably larger than a grown man. I didn’t land on my back. One knee was bent, the other raised—the classic movie landing pose.
‘Wow. Superhero landing.’
I’d barely managed to recover my balance right before I hit the ground. If I hadn’t, I might have fallen headfirst and shattered my cervical spine.
Actually, even then, I have the armor, so at worst I’d probably just power down.
Luckily, just as Deneb said, there didn’t seem to be any civilians around. I saw no blood spatter or body parts. Instead, the area was circled only by the same pink crows that adorned Deneb’s wings.
When I staggered to my feet, the first thing I saw was a tall building. A news flash ran across the electronic billboard mounted on it. The angle was an overhead shot, looking down from above.
And the person caught on that screen, without a doubt...
‘Ah, shit.’
My breath seized. My hands shook like mad, and on top of that, exhaustion prevented my mind from working properly. Hurting and dizzy. My field of vision narrowed and shook. A vertiginous gravity pressed down on my body, like I was an astronaut on a launch.
That was definitely me on the billboard. They’re obviously filming from some helicopter.
The canopy made of pink crows slowly drew back. I felt like a stage actor. A stage actor completely unprepared for what they’re supposed to show.
What met my eyes was a swarm of gazes packed as densely as insects. Modern people, busy with their morning commutes and school runs, had stopped walking and were turning their eyes this way.
Just what makes them so interested in other people’s fights?
Among those gazes, one person stood out vividly.
“You seem to be having quite a hard time. My compliments on your efforts this morning.”
He addressed me with precise aim. He didn’t look like an ordinary person. I couldn’t see a single facial feature. Which made sense. Instead of a human head, a perfectly symmetrical potted cactus sat atop his neck.
His clothes were a neat suit, but it boasted an unusual design: divided exactly half and half between white and black.
“You seem to be in considerable difficulty. An individual opposing a group will inevitably struggle. Because the balance is off.”
That distinctive way of speaking. It was definitely him.
“Don’t tell me you’re Contradiction!”
“Haha, correct! I trust my distinctive appearance makes me hard to forget?”
The people around him showed no reaction, as though they couldn’t perceive him. The students on either side of him raised their smartphones at me. Nausea surged. I zeroed in on exactly that student and Contradiction simultaneously and shouted.
“Get lost!”
Before I lost my reason, I had to make them stop pointing those cameras at me as politely as possible.
I strode over to the student and snatched the smartphone that was aimed at me.
“Eek!”
Then I snapped it in half and hurled it to the ground.
“If you don’t want to end up like this, then all of you get lost! All of you! Every last one of you, get lost! Move out of the way if you don’t want to die!”
The majority of these bastards won’t listen to words. A forceful performance like this, though—even a deaf person could roughly grasp the context and figure out what to do.
“Aaaah!”
“S-somebody save me!!!”
—An S-rank monster has currently begun a rampage in the middle of the downtown area....
I tore out a nearby signpost and hurled it at the billboard that was streaming the newscaster’s voice. It flew like an axe and embedded itself dead center in the screen.
“Shut up!”
Goddammit. I have to track the source of that helicopter noise and shut it down. But the tinnitus ringing in my ears mixed with people’s screams, and I couldn’t even pick up the surrounding noise properly.
“That’s far enough!”
At that moment, a magical girl descended from the sky.
“Hey, I was believing you. A little. A very little...”
“Whoa! Hardcore! Gotta say, wrecking the billboard was a good call, man!”
In that instant, the tinnitus stopped. Not because of her voice. I’d simply remembered the monster who was here besides me and realized just how dangerous this situation was.
No. They can’t be here...
“Hmm, a battle of many versus few? The balance is off.”
Even as people scattered in utter panic, he hadn’t budged from the same spot as before.
Fucking hell.
“You, get lost!”
“I apologize, but I cannot respect your opinion. You see, right now resolving my own discomfort is the path to respecting me. Shouldn’t the self take priority over the other?”
This insane bastard.
“Actualization.”
[Reveal the truth.]
A transformation chime darker than the Belt’s voice rang out, and his form began to ripple blue and red.
Blue lenses, and armor exactly split down the middle, red on the left and blue on the right. Occasionally there were pointed protrusions accented in white. Not a single inch of skin was exposed—only black leather filled the gaps.
“There. I shall now join forces with you! For I love equality!”
He spread his arms wide and displayed himself to the magical girls.
“Whom shall I kill first to make this a more just and enjoyable battle! Come, isn’t this a truly fascinating subject?”
I had to stop this madman.
That single thought consumed me entirely.