After the enemy of the world retreated from City H. So, it was revealed that City H had actually used the enemy of the world to collectively hypnotize the city’s citizens. The magical girls couldn’t easily escape that responsibility either.
Wasn’t it uncovered that there was some connection between the enemy of the world and the magical girls? The fact that no new magical girls had been born since the previous enemies retreated, and that the spirits were not connecting with the Spirit Realm, served as evidence.
In the meantime, with the magical girls facing public backlash and not being hunted down like witches, it was due to Ayle creating a new enemy of the world to attack the city. This was also the reason why some magical girls prioritized studying for exams over their magical girl activities.
“An evil magical girl has appeared again? But she doesn’t bother the citizens, right? Can’t we just leave her be?”
“No… even the enemy of the world has become cute, selling mascot dolls. Do we really have to deal with her?”
The evil magical girl may torment magical girls, but she doesn’t mess with the citizens. Instead of destroying the minds of onlookers, the enemy of the world is treated with affection for her inherent cuteness.
In such a situation, the importance of magical girl activities had dwindled even more than before. It seemed better to debut straight into entertainment or hide being a magical girl and focus on studying.
The citizens of City H also regarded the magical girls not as heroes saving their lives but merely as entertainers putting on a show.
Amid this, the story of the Flame Magical Girl receiving a duel challenge from the evil magical girl became a hot topic.
To be precise, someone made it a hot topic.
[Flame! Is that for real!?]
“What’s with the sudden call…?”
[Is it true that you’re going to duel with the evil magical girl?]
The Flame Magical Girl, having slept well after taking a potion sent by the evil magical girl, blinked as if to question how the caller knew.
The duel notice had arrived last night, and she hadn’t told anyone about it, so how?
However, the association president revealed that she was not the only one aware of this fact. In fact, the entire city knew.
[There’s a post on the internet! That you’re going to duel with the evil magical girl!]
“No, it’s true that I’m dueling, but what post are you talking about?”
[You’ve got to check it out! Hurry!]
Hearing the president’s frantic voice, Flame accessed the internet on her smartphone. There was no need to search; the news about her dueling with the evil magical girl was glaringly on the front page.
Clicking on the news, pondering how absurd it was, she burst into laughter at the kind of poster usually seen for famous fighters.
A picture of her glaring at the evil magical girl as if they were prepared for a life-or-death battle was drawn. The date of the fight and the address were listed, and there were even tickets for watching the fight on-site for sale!
“Good grief, is this girl insane?”
[So is it true? Are you really fighting!?]
“It is true, but…”
She never expected there would be such open promotion for the fight. She especially didn’t expect that money would be made from it.
After checking the ticket prices for the match, the Flame Magical Girl calculated how much money would be earned from this one match. It had to be several million dollars.
But since not a single penny would come her way, her eagerness to agree to the duel plummeted.
“Didn’t say anything about getting paid.”
[Money? The evil magical girl won’t take any either.]
“Then why charge for the tickets?”
[Read the bottom line.]
“The bottom…?”
Listening to the president’s words, Flame lowered her gaze to the bottom of the poster and burst out laughing again upon reading the large text in the corner.
[Note: All proceeds from this match will be donated to children with incurable diseases and underprivileged children.]
Wondering what kind of villain would donate like that—she felt embarrassed for even thinking about refusing the duel due to money.
“What a truly crazy girl…”
Flame muttered.
After that, she ignored the media that came to her every day—without expressing any intention to participate in the duel or reject it.
The day of the duel arrived.
* * *
Countless spectators entered the stadium. As nearly 90,000 audience members settled into their seats, Eight blended in among them, looking down at the arena.
He had been given a seat by those wanting revenge on magical girls. He hoped he wouldn’t lose again… Eight thought cautiously, waiting for the duel to begin.
“Ah…”
“…?”
“Hello…”
While he was waiting for the game to start, a woman he had never seen before spoke to him. As he tilted his head in confusion about who she was, a small creature peeked out from between her breasts.
Upon seeing that face, Eight recognized the identity of the woman in front of him and cautiously bowed his head.
─Mew Mew-! Nice to meet you! Evil Scientist!
“Mew…! You can’t shout like that!”
─What’s it to you, anyway? No human other than this one can hear a spirit’s words anyway.
Former magical girl, White Pang stuffed her fellow spirit into her bosom, bursting into laughter.
Seeing White Pang’s face, which he hadn’t seen even during their research, Eight gasped in surprise.
“I don’t understand why you covered your face.”
“Really? Ahaha, it’s just… I’d rather no one know.”
“True, I think that way too.”
White Pang was as beautiful as any other magical girl. It would be a shame to hide such a face and figure…
Now that she revealed her face without covering it, it was likely because she earned enough money that she didn’t have to be a magical girl anymore.
Enough money to buy a few buildings and just manage them while living off of them.
“But why are you here…?”
“Me?”
“Yes. Shouldn’t you be down there as a scientist instead of among the audience?”
White Pang asked back. In response, Eight answered that he had the same reason. He came up because he knew it would be a hassle to deal with those curious about his identity if he went down there.
Hearing that, White Pang giggled in agreement. They chatted about random things until the match started.
From questions about what happened after being forcibly taken to H city during the experiment, to light small talk about what they had been up to recently.
As they were talking, the time for the duel arrived.
Darkness descended upon the world.
“O, is it starting…?”
“Daddy! I hope the evil magical girl wins!”
“The evil magical girl is the bad one…”
“Whatever! The evil magical girl is better!”
Realizing that surprisingly many people around were cheering for the evil magical girl, Eight began to smirk as Ayle, who covered the world in darkness, slowly entered the stadium.
From the sky to the ground.
Like an angel descending on a moonlit night, Ayle gracefully landed and lightly smiled while scanning the audience, subtly lifting the hem of her dress.
With restrained movements. The beauty emanating from her poised behavior captivated the spectators—as the grand entrance music played, a magical girl with bright red hair appeared at the entrance of the stadium.
Neither grand nor elegant, neither flashy nor just. Instead, Flame appeared like a punk, focusing solely on the evil magical girl and not bothering to glance at the surroundings.
[Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! We warmly welcome you to the duel between the evil magical girl and the Flame Magical Girl. I assure you, you won’t regret coming out to see today’s event…]
“─Shut up.”
Fwoosh-!
The speakers carrying the announcer’s voice ignited with the fire shot by the Flame Magical Girl.
She had no intention of playing along with this farce. Just being out here was enough for her to show gratitude.
The audience began to jeer at her. They came to watch a match, not some silly show.
Amidst the escalating booing from the crowd, the Flame Magical Girl casually threw up her middle finger toward the audience.
“You guys are lacking in professionalism.”
“Professionalism? What’s that got to do with a magical girl?”
“Well—magical girls are supposed to be righteous beings protecting the citizens, right?”
After being lectured by the evil magical girl, the Flame Magical Girl let out a hearty laugh. A righteous being protecting the citizens—that wasn’t entirely wrong.
However, it was better to be unable to protect citizens while trying to uphold that so-called justice.
True justice can only be expressed by the strong. There’s nothing as hollow as the justice spoken of by the weak.
“Right. As a magical girl of justice, I should beat down the bad guys and go home. Right?”
“Hehe, I won’t go down that easily today.”
“Last time, did you let yourself lose on purpose? Are you a masochist?”
“Of course not. Let me show you my second transformation!”
The moment Ayle said that and soared into the sky, her dress that had covered her lower abdomen flared open like wings—whoosh-!
The pitch-black wings spread wide from her waist, fluttering as they adorned the sky. That winged figure truly looked like a fallen angel from above.
However, upon seeing that, Flame, and even the audience, remained silent.
“You, you… that…”
“Hoho, are you scared now? The me in this mode is a super evil magical girl stronger than before…”
“No, we can see your panties. Are you okay?”
As Flame pointed out, from the moment Ayle’s dress transformed into wings—her underwear was fully exposed to the world with no covering whatsoever.
Hearing Flame’s remark, Ayle paused for a moment before breaking into unapologetic laughter.
“Ho, hoho- heehee. It’s not panties, so it’s fine!”
“Anyone can see that’s underwear, what are you talking about…?”
“It’s not panties, so I’m not embarrassed!”
The only one to understand that statement was Eight, who quietly clapped from the audience, while parents watching with children quickly turned their heads to shield their kids’ eyes.
Ayle had caused a huge incident before the duel even began, flying through the air while unknowingly whining.
