The next day.
I went to work.
My vacation had been canceled. Given the circumstances, I didn’t push back on it. As I was walking down the corridor, a girl dressed entirely in black approached from a distance.
It was Ayle, the infamous Evil Magical Girl everyone was talking about.
“Sc-Scientist! G-Good morning…!”
“…Yeah. Good morning.”
“Hehe…”
The sinister personality of the Evil Magical Girl I had seen on TV a couple of days ago was nowhere in sight. Instead, here stood this gloomy, awkward ss. I stared at Ayle, intrigued by the striking contrast.
Sensing my gaze, Ayle jumped slightly—thump—and cautiously lifted her head to look at . Her pitch-black eyes sparkled under the lights.
“Oh, um… The, uh, Magical Girl outfit… I wore it well! It was aweso—really—!”
“Really? I saw it on the news yesterday—”
“Kyaaaaah—!”
While she seed fine talking about herself, hearing it from others made her incredibly shy. Ayle let out a screech and dashed away like she was on fire. Free at last, I sighed and headed back to my lab.
As soon as I returned, I downed an energy drink I bought from the convenience store and glanced at my homade tonic rolling around in one corner of the lab. It was a sowhat yellowish liquid that splash swished around.
‘How on earth do people manage to drink this…?’
I may have made it myself, but to be honest, I wasn’t feeling very confident about it. I’d rather die than drink sothing like that. With that thought in mind, I chugged the energy drink I had bought.
The refreshing zest and the sharp fizz went down my throat. After all, when it cos to this kind of thing, you can always trust big corporate products. Glancing at the label, I let out a small gasp. I couldn’t believe I was about to see this na.
‘Evilus Drink? Evilus is here, huh?’
It truly felt like a big company run by the Boss. I hadn’t expected them to even venture into small markets like this. I suppose if they didn’t have such power, they wouldn’t be able to scoop up a vagrant off the streets and turn them into high-ranking mbers of an evil organization.
I prayed that the Boss’s wealth would last forever and that her interest in running the evil organization would endure as I sipped my energy drink.
*
“Damn it—! What the hell is that thing!?”
—eeeow!?
The Elental Fla, the Fire Magical Girl, smashed her fist down, startling the spirit assisting her into a little squeal. But she had long since stopped caring about that mascot. Every Magical Girl with a bit of experience had been there.
What was most important was the fact that a new type of Evil Magical Girl had erged. And this Evil Magical Girl had single-handedly knocked out all the others. That was the main issue.
“Hey! Didn’t you say Magical Girls wouldn’t use their powers for evil!?”
—That was true, ow.
“So what the heck is that!? Why can she use magic on the whole city and beat up her own companions without a care!?”
Fla’s anger was justified. They had rules. If they weren’t villains, they couldn’t use their powers unless it was against bad guys or criminals, unless they were hunting down soone dangerous. Not to ntion, dealing with annoying paparazzi was a tricky business; sotis you couldn’t chase them away with magic, but ignoring them was equally botherso—!
But this newly erged Evil Magical Girl seed to have none of those restrictions, casting spells across the entire city, threatening citizens, and rcilessly overpowering other Magical Girls. So were so beaten up that they developed traumas from the experience.
—We don’t know either, ow! It was definitely a Magical Girl, but it wasn’t a Magical Girl, ow!
“What the hell kind of nonsense is that! Aaaaah—! Is ‘I don’t know’ all you can say!? You need to figure this out!”
—We’re doing our best, ow.
“If you keep this up, I’m not saving you from the world’s enemies anymore!?”
—T-That would be a problem, ow…
As Fla vented her frustrations on her spirit, she recalled the events of that night. A Magical Girl clad completely in black. The Evil Magical Girl had made her presence known to all those who were there that night.
Hadn’t she promised to make them never forget her existence? And truly, Fla felt she would never forget that event. At least, not while she was still active as a Magical Girl.
‘Damn, doesn’t anyone know her true identity?’
You can’t just stay transford into a Magical Girl 24/7. They were human too, and maintaining that form consud a lot of energy.
And the sa likely went for this Evil Magical Girl. If they could figure out who she was in her normal state, they could strike when she was vulnerable. On their end, they had the numbers, so it wouldn’t be a problem to keep soone transford all day.
But, surprisingly enough, not a single person managed to uncover the real identity of the Evil Magical Girl. Not even the spirits that bestowed powers on the Magical Girls, nor the worldwide Magical Girl otaku scouring the internet for her true form—!
‘Or maybe… is she really a world-threatening enemy disguised as one of us…? A foe who beca a Magical Girl to fight us—’
If that’s not the case, then the only possibility left would be that she was soone inconsequential enough that no one cared to know about her. Like a powerless nobody without any special skills.
But when Fla recalled the power this Evil Magical Girl wielded, she swiftly banished that thought from her mind. A Magical Girl’s power is proportional to the strength of the superpowers they had before. With that kind of strength, there’s no doubt her true identity was that of a well-known superpowered individual.
She could even be an active hero or a hero-in-training…
—eeeow!?
“What? Did you find sothing?”
—No, it’s just… My stomach’s growling since I skipped lunch, ow…
“You little food scrounger—!”
*
It wasn’t just the Magical Girls who were shocked by the appearance of the Evil Magical Girl. Various organizations across the globe were also in a state of disbelief, realizing that the power of Magical Girls could indeed be exploited for malicious deeds.
“Magical Girls can be used for military operations…?”
“No way, what the….”
“Send people to the Magical Girls imdiately!”
However, it wasn’t long before they all reached the sa conclusion. It was impossible to use a Magical Girl in that way; no matter what thods they employed, the Magical Girl would lose their powers.
“—So, you failed?”
“W-We’re sorry…!”
Crimson, the leader of the villain organization Dawn of Crimson, frowned deeply as he listened to the words of his subordinate scientist. It wasn’t even a complicated task. All he’d asked for was to brainwash a kidnapped Magical Girl with drugs and hypnosis to use her as a villain.
And to fail at such a simple task? How could this be happening?
“Did I ask for such a difficult task? We arranged the kidnapping of the Magical Girl and the procurent of the drugs, didn’t we? You only had to carry out the simple task of brainwashing her. Yet you failed at that?”
“I-I deeply apologize, Boss…! B-But—! Just as we were about to succeed in brainwashing the Magical Girl, her powers vanished…! It was almost as if the Magical Girl was saying she shouldn’t be used like that…!”
“Hah— What nonsense. It was proven yesterday that a Magical Girl could be corrupted. Soone succeeded at what everyone else claid was impossible. And—if soone else succeeded, then we can succeed as well.”
That was the motto of the Dawn of Crimson.
Crimson remarked as he lightly squeezed the scientist’s head. With a grip that far surpassed human limits, Crimson’s pressure crushed the scientist’s head as if it were a waterlon.
Despite a person bursting right in front of him, not a drop of blood stained Crimson’s body. With a tch of his tongue, Crimson commanded his subordinates to dispose of the body before taking a seat on his throne, casting a glance at his executives.
“I’ll give you ti. Bring results within a month.”
“Y-Yes, sir—!”
“Use any ans necessary. Yeah. If possible—”
Crimson’s eyes glinted as he spoke.
“Kidnap the one who turned that Magical Girl so we can sohow reproduce those results.”
And so.
Unbeknownst to Eight, attention began to focus on him from all sides.
From both heroes and villains alike.
*
“—Um! In that case, I will comnce the Evil Organization Executive eting!”
Clap— At Regalia’s words, Ayle was the only one to respond, giving a feeble clap and a dry cheer. The applause, coming solely from her, quickly faded when it beca clear she was the only one clapping.
Regalia pouted at the cold reception and started to complain about her companions.
“—Boss. What is the aning of this?”
Galm, looking at the Boss, inquired about the reason for their summons. Regalia, seemingly rembering, clapped her hands.
“Oh, right. I forgot to ntion. Today’s executive eting was called because of you, Scientist.”
“Wha—?”
“Yeah, you.”
I, who had been idly counting the stains on the ceiling, was taken aback by this sudden ntion and looked at the Boss. What had I done wrong to be the focus of an executive eting?
Yet Galm and Ayle nodded as if it was a matter of course. I had only been dutifully doing what I was asked… Were they perhaps planning a party disguised as a eting? Unfortunately, the atmosphere didn’t feel that way at all.
They were genuinely holding a eting to address an issue created by .
“—Um, Boss? What have I done wrong…?”
“It’s not that you did sothing wrong. It’s not wrong, but… in a way, it’s worse than simply doing sothing wrong.”
“What does that even an…?”
Could it be that they’d found out I had copied Earth-made gadgets to generate results? That couldn’t be possible. Even if there were products in this world that were similar to those from Earth, there couldn’t possibly be exact matches for what I had created. Those products existed solely in my head.
So what could it be? Maybe it was because I had slept for an hour without answering the call? I hoped they’d let that slide. After all, I had just pulled three all-nighters and finally wrapped up my research…
“The problem is that the things you’ve created are too remarkable.”
“Hmm…?”
“From now on, please let know ahead of ti when you’re making sothing like that. Got it? I nearly had a heart attack.”
Regalia stated this while sighing as she patted her chest. While it’s unlikely that soone as young as her would actually suffer a heart attack, I nodded, playing along with the performance. Sothing I made was considered amazing? I didn’t think that was true at all…
The Boss looked at silently and let out a big sigh as if contemplating sothing. It was the kind of sigh you’d expect from a weary old man who’s seen it all.
“As long as you understand, that’s what matters. If there’s nothing else to do, how about making sothing to sell in our corporate line? Children’s Day is coming up soon. It’d be nice to create so gifts for the kids.”
“Gifts for the kids?”
“Yeah, like the robot you fixed at the mansion recently. If you make sothing like that, it shouldn’t be a major issue.”
With that, Regalia assigned a new task. Frankly, I’d have preferred it if she just let lounge around and collect my paycheck, but as an evil scientist and employee, I couldn’t act that way.
I forced out a wry smile and replied.
“Yes, well. I’ll do my best.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)