NOVEL FROG Chapter 3
The energy of starlight wrapped around my body, and soon my appearance resembled that of a magician.
Black suit pants clung to my legs, topped with a white blouse.
A black cape shimmered as if it were imbued with starlight.
In one hand, I held a black staff, and in the other, a black silk hat.
I was dressed exactly like what one would picture when thinking of a magician.
“If only the pants weren’t so tight on my thighs…”
It was a downside of the outfit designed to emphasize my slim waist against my chest.
The outfit I wore was essentially a subculture reimagining of a suit. It showcased my new, somewhat provocative figure as a girl.
Thwack!
As I slammed the black staff onto the ground, a rainbow spark erupted.
Watching this, I elegantly tilted my silk hat, which had been chosen as my unique armor, causing three star decorations on my cape to glimmer in the moonlight.
According to the dreams contained in the starlight, the abilities used by magical girls are incredibly diverse.
They can spit fire, shoot lightning, or launch water, embodying the most primitive concepts of power. Some can erect solid walls, summon transforming robots, or even conjure machine guns.
In addition to these colorful abilities, there are three basic spells that everyone shares.
The first is psychic.
Yes, telekinesis is provided as a foundational ability.
This magic, commonly used by magical girls, has varying levels of proficiency based on skill and talent. When wielded by someone like me, who is a born 3-Star, I could match the unique powers of other magical girls even with just a basic spell.
Moderate power control.
Not long after my blooming.
I initially struggled to control my power, smashing everything in sight, but after two years of steady practice, I finally succeeded in moving objects without destroying them.
Maybe I’m unable to utilize this power properly because I’m forcing fate to reveal itself to me…
Thwack!
As those thoughts crossed my mind, I lightly struck the staff, and a stream of colorful light erupted from a colorless star, enveloping the old apartment empty lot in a dome-shaped barrier that muffled the noise.
Unique skill.
After blooming and using transformation, a true magical girl’s magic reflects the dreams and destiny contained within the stars, functioning in a way that embodies each individual’s attributes.
In my case, it transformed into the magic of the illusion realm, carrying the fate of deception, allowing all my spells to have the malleable characteristic of reflectivity.
Should I unfold the veil of illusion and adjust the scenery of the apartment empty lot, it’s unlikely anyone will notice even if I practice large-scale magic. Of course, if it’s a crowded place, someone might detect an odd vibe.
Eeeeeeeeek!
With an unsettling sound, a container once used for storage slowly floated up from the center of the empty lot, rising about ten meters, its ascent resembling a scene from a cosmic horror movie. Was this how it would look if a giant, unseen entity were to lift the container?
The amount of starlight a 3-Star magical girl inherently has is indeed monstrous, allowing me to showcase such a performance without even breaking a sweat. I could maintain this while training for some time.
I then cast the second basic spell.
The second basic spell is Blink.
For a magical girl, short-distance warping is a fundamental mobility ability.
Whoosh!
I elegantly caught the fluttering cape with one hand, pulling it aside like a curtain, and suddenly felt a sensation of being detached from this world, floating in mid-air.
Now, setting a target point allows for an instant move to any desired location. However, I opted to separate my consciousness.
Crreeeak!
On the third floor of the apartment, ‘I’ successfully arrived at my room.
Somewhere in a corner of the empty lot, another ‘me’ successfully used short-distance movement.
From the shadows of the lot’s storage area, yet another ‘me’ began to rise.
This occurred a total of six times, and the ‘me’ gathering at the apartment empty lot numbered seven.
The illusions of [deception] included a clone function that added to the momentary teleportation.
And the illusions of [deception] also altered the third spell, healing magic.
However, the strength was of no use right now, so I decided to finish the training.
Snap!
With the sound of a finger snap, everything vanished like a lie, returning to the quiet scene of the empty apartment lot.
After finishing training, I washed up at the faucet and collapsed back at home.
Since blooming into a magical girl and practicing magic on my own, I couldn’t shake the feeling of banging my head against a wall.
Probably the first 1-Star magical girls learned psychic and heal first.
Although the specifics of how they used it weren’t elaborated on in the story, it was said that shortly after the magical girls appeared, their supernatural powers began to manifest nationwide across Japan.
In this world, the healing abilities used by magical girls do not amplify regeneration by accelerating cells; rather, it’s real magic that causally makes illness and wounds “disappear.”
Of course, it couldn’t heal physical amputations or congenital disabilities, but regardless, the usefulness of this power was beyond words.
Thus, the moment that 1-Star magical girls learned psychic and heal, society became determined to bring the magical girls under their control.
Even just with basic magic, the value of magical girls soared, but the real revolution is the ‘blooming’ of the magical girls.
As recruitment for 1-Star magical girls who could wield basic magic began in earnest, and studies on enhancing powers through experiments on unregistered magical girls started happening beneath the surface.
It was revealed that the Fujimoto Group was behind those magical girls used as test subjects, leading to a rebellion against the state and corporations. However, the daughter of the Fujimoto head, a born 2-Star magical girl, emerged with the fate of [guardian] and repelled all the attacking magical girls.
Afterwards, magical girls became aware of their own powers, competing and forming factions as evolved beings.
“…”
Magical girls then began to wield absolute social power amidst more extensive chaos, starting to dismantle the existing order.
The beginning of it all.
The Shinjuku Incident caused by the Magical Girls of War.
The tragedy of the protagonist, Yuki Shikishima, ensnared in it.
The societal upheaval of magical girls in a world that has been shattered and changed.
Reflecting on all that, I slowly drifted to sleep.
Imagining returning home to my mother, enduring all of this.
—
“Huff… Huff…”
Once a simple middle school girl, Haruko Busujima was not in her right mind.
She had knocked out the troublesome delinquent girl, Yamahara, with a brick.
The childish provocation emphasizing the ‘busu’ (ugly) in her surname, Busujima, was the norm.
She had torn the pages of her favorite manga and plastered them all over the classroom blackboard, inciting other girls to follow, and she hunted down any place she could go to eat lunch with her bent on making her life miserable. The day she was finally drenched in water in the bathroom and forced to eat at a dumpster felt like the day it all began.
Haruko felt that gunpowder was building up somewhere deep inside her heart.
I…I can’t live without proving I’m special by tormenting someone!
After the Red Broadcast, upon being chosen as a magical girl and receiving proof of her uniqueness.
She was certain her thoughts had been validated.
See? I’m much better than someone like you!
However, when she heard rumors that the very Yamahara who tormented her had become a magical girl.
Haruko felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.
K-Ken-chan! I’m special now too!
After seeing Yamahara bragging to her boyfriend, the following day, when Yamahara called her out and requested something, it felt like standing on the edge of a cliff.
Hey, a piece of trash like you doesn’t need anything like that, just give it to me!
N-No!!
Seeing the larger Yamahara forcing her to give up her starlight, expressing that having more stars would make her special, Haruko felt something heavy grip her hands.
[Magical girl A from Arakawa Ward survived after being hit by rebar while passing through a construction site.]
[This incident revealed that magical girls are physically stronger than regular people…]
[To compare, being a magical girl is like always wearing protective gear.]
[And even this transformation is accelerating faster.]
Originally, she would have been hindered by her conscience from committing such violence.
But amidst the chaos of the morning news she saw, it triggered her actions.
There won’t be any problem.
Haruko swung the object in her hand, and Yamahara collapsed.
“…”
Oh no.
I messed up.
At last, the gunpowder in her heart detonated, and amidst the shock of the violence, she heard a male voice in her ears.
“Hey, what are you doing over there?”
“Eep!?”
Yamahara’s boyfriend must have grown suspicious seeing them both disappear into the alley to have a talk. A tanned boy with a rugged look approached with a frown.
He discovered Yamahara trembling on the ground.
“Yat-chan? Is that you lying down there?!”
“Ah… Ahhhhh!”
What to do.
I messed up.
I hit someone.
If I were to get caught by the police, suspension or even expulsion would be just the beginning, and my parents would be notified.
What to do, what to do, what to do, what to do!
In a frenzy, as she saw the boy frantically tapping his phone to report, Haruko pointed her finger.
Not knowing what she was capable of.