After the scout proposal, we quickly left the fan meeting location and headed to a nearby café. It wasn’t that she was crazy for money and abandoned her fans; it was just that there were no fans left behind us. As expected, she was a typical hako magical girl who was able to set up a fan meeting on the same day.
Arriving at the nearby café, I ordered a drink and grimaced while watching White Pang, who had no intention of taking off her mask and magical girl outfit even inside the café.
“Isn’t it okay to take that off?”
“It’s fine.”
“What if someone finds out you’re a magical girl?”
In response to my comment, White Pang shrugged and pointed around. Turning my head, I noticed other magical girls sitting as customers here and there, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
As I was processing the ridiculousness of it all, White Pang began to explain why she brought us here.
“This is a cosplay café. Both customers and staff can freely cosplay here, so… it’s unlikely anyone will find out if a real magical girl comes in. Furthermore, since I’m a relatively unknown hako magical girl, it’s even less likely…”
“Uh, scientist. I need to use the restroom for a moment…”
“Aile, sit down.”
After settling a fidgety Aile back in her seat, I looked back at White Pang.
“So, you want to hide your face and name, is that correct?”
“Yes. Is that not okay?”
“Of course it is. What I need is a magical girl, not your name or face, so that’s fine. But…”
“I’ll prove I’m a magical girl through the association’s certification.”
White Pang said this while pulling out an ID. It was a magical girl certification issued by the Magical Girl Association. This certification, crafted with the mysterious magic of spirits, made it clear at first glance that the holder was indeed a magical girl.
It was a type of recognition magic, different from hypnosis. I nodded and confirmed her identity.
“─Okay. Then let’s get right to the point. What I want to ask of you, White Pang, is research on spirits.”
“Research on spirits?”
“Yes. Studying how spirits intervene in this world and beyond that, what kind of worlds they actually touch.”
Upon hearing my words, White Pang made a slight sound of contemplation and turned her head slightly. Then, she nodded a few times toward the empty space before looking back at me. Was there a spirit present? I surely couldn’t see one.
“My spirit says… that they cannot cooperate with you.”
“That’s fine. I only need your cooperation, White Pang.”
“They’re asking if you know that many attempts have been made to study spirits and that all those attempts have been in vain.”
“Of course I know.”
Magical girls are beings with power comparable to Class A or S heroes. It goes without saying that it’s an enormous power to leave solely in the hands of adolescent girls. Of course, there would be attempts to seize that power.
However, I had never heard of any magical girl having their powers stolen or a non-girl, such as an adult man, possessing those powers. Every attempt at research had failed.
“Even so, you still want to hire me?”
“Yes, absolutely.”
“That’s going to be a waste of money.”
But just because everyone had failed up until now, it didn’t mean I would have a reason to give up. I wasn’t brimming with confidence that I could succeed.
Just because something has never succeeded before doesn’t mean one shouldn’t attempt it; that would betray the spirit of a scientist, and aside from this, there was nothing else to try.
“─Still, it’s something that must be done.”
“Alright. Then the contract… Ah!”
White Pang had begun to speak when she suddenly let out a small yelp and started flailing her hands in the air. Though I couldn’t see anything, it seemed like she was tussling with a spirit.
As I smiled gently at her, White Pang slightly bowed her head as if shy and responded.
“I apologize. I have one more thing to ask.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“I’m curious what you plan to do with the research on spirits, I mean, whether it’ll be used for bad purposes or good ones…”
Looking at White Pang as she questioned the morality of the research brought a bitter smile to my face. There’s no good or bad in research. Just as dynamite or machine guns created for people’s safety took many lives, science itself isn’t inherently good or evil.
It’s just the intention of the person conducting the research that matters. Whether it will be used for good from the start or for criminal purposes.
Of course, just because I’m a villain doesn’t mean my research has to be used for villainous deeds.
“It’s for the sake of saving a person.”
“Ah….”
Upon hearing my answer, White Pang looked into the empty space, and this time it seemed she had received approval. As she quickly reached for the contract I had prepared in advance, she read through it swiftly and signed, finally bringing up an issue she hadn’t mentioned before.
“However, how do you plan to conduct research on spirits? They’re beings you can neither see nor touch unless you have the qualities to become a magical girl.”
“Don’t worry. Aile?”
While sipping her drink, Aile shot up with a bright smile at my call and headed straight for the restroom.
Magical girls, by nature, must be pure and innocent. Aile is no exception. With her potential, she wears a magical girl outfit, even if it’s just a fake, and is called the evil magical girl by others.
Like attracts like. From a magical perspective, Aile was practically already a magical girl. Surely, she would be able to see spirits.
“─Hehe, it’s nice to meet you, White Pang?”
“…Evil magical girl?”
“Oh my, why are you so surprised?”
Seeing Aile return as the evil magical girl made White Pang’s eyes begin to tremble. She then carefully turned to me and opened her mouth.
“…You said you were conducting research to save a person.”
“Villains are people too, you know.”
“Oh dear. This is bad. Can I cancel it even now?”
Hearing White Pang, I silently pointed to the bottom of the contract. An unilateral breach of contract incurs ten times the penalty.
It was an amount a mere magical girl could never earn even if she sold her body. White Pang’s expression twisted as if she foresaw her future. But once a contract is made, it cannot be undone.
Society is cold.
There are no exceptions for magical girls.
* * *
Inside the Evil Corporation’s laboratory.
In the research facility set up for studying spirits, Aile was playfully toying with a cute, small animal-like spirit.
“Oh my, how cute.”
─Mew, mew—! Let go—!
“If only I had a mascot like this….”
As Aile said that, she glanced over at the scientist who was busy with something far away. Eight didn’t spare her a single glance. Seeing that, Aile started to torment the spirit without mercy.
─Mewuu—! St-stop! White Pang! Help me!
“White Pang is trapped in a purgatory from which she can’t escape, you know?”
─Damn—! You wicked villains! Let White Pang go and let me go too!
“Fufu, do you think she wishes for that?”
Hearing the spirit protest, Aile rose up as if to show off and approached the window.
Outside the window, White Pang’s whole body was engulfed by a large mechanical device. Seeing that, the spirit let out a frightened squeak.
[Aah, ugh, ahh….]
─Mew, mew… White Pang…!
Watching White Pang groan distantly, the spirit echoed her moans. The sight of her bound up by the enormous machine was no different from a magical girl suffering at the hands of the world’s enemy.
“Fufu, what do you think? No one has escaped from that devil’s machine on their own, you know?”
─You, you cruel fiends…!
“Once you sit in the magical reclining chair our evil organization boasts about, whether an hour passes or two, you will only moan and receive a massage!”
─……Mew?
While I was saying that, White Pang’s voice echoed through the speaker set up in the laboratory.
[Aile? I can see you. I’m coming in, so hold tight to her so she can’t escape.]
“Yes—, scientist!”
Firmly holding the spirit against her chest to prevent it from escaping, Aile waited for the scientist to enter.
Moments later, a scientist wearing goggles entered, walking steadily towards Aile. He kept putting the goggles on and taking them off while looking at Aile’s chest.
“Alright. I can see clearly now.”
“Can I leave now? I really have to do my homework.”
“I’ll waive today’s homework, so stay a little longer. You still can’t touch her.”
“Yay—!”
As Aile cheered with joy, the spirit tilted its head in confusion, not grasping the situation. A guy like this who wasn’t pure, innocent, or devoted looking at me?
However, the scientist smiled and made eye contact with the spirit.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Eight, a scientist for the evil organization.”
─…Mew, there’s no way a man can see a spirit—.
“─【You say a man can’t see a spirit?】”
─Mew—!?
Seeing the scientist mimic its words, the spirit jolted and stared at Eight in disbelief. How could this be? According to the strict laws of the Great Spirit World, men are incapable of even perceiving them.
Yet, this man before me, despite his hair being as dark as it could be, was staring right at me.
─H-how…?
“If I were to explain, it would take a long time… so just think of it as me being able to see now.”
Eight grinned, then got to the point. The main issue for which I had hired White Pang at a high price.
“Do you know about Earth?”
─E-earth…?
“Yes, Earth.”
About my hometown.
