Chapter 18 : Kabukicho Battle

July 18th

“Hikari-chan! I became a magical girl!”

“Hmm… Hana-chan, you were already a magical girl.”

“Eep! That’s not it!”

Hana, who had come running excitedly to show off, seemed disappointed that it wasn’t acknowledged. She stamped her tiny feet, gesturing to hurry and notice.

‘I can’t really tell even with that gesture.’

Only the sound of Hana’s stomping feet could be heard for a while in the quiet cafe.

Ichika and Kyoko, who had been hanging around for a while, had been teasing me but seemed to have gotten bored and were now blankly watching TV turned on in a corner of the cafe where I work.

In the midst of this, Hana, who lives near the cafe, suddenly came running to show me something to brag about.

Magical girl.

Something to brag about.

After the debutante.

“Oh… could it be?”

“Mm-hmm!”

Snap!

As Hana cutely raised one hand, her side tail that her mother had tied swayed like a puppy’s tail.

“Transform!”

Hana took out a yellow glass star with an excited, loud voice. There, starlight that had appeared due to blooming was shining dazzlingly.

The twinkling of starlight.

A yellow flash.

Yellow starlight that burst out from the glass star completely enveloped Hana’s body, changing her outfit.

Bloomed born 1-star magical girl of [Swiftness]

Sato Hana’s blooming.

A yellow fluorescent jacket.

A white shirt faintly glowing with starlight.

Black shorts with yellow stardust visible.

Running shoes sparkling with yellow star stickers looked as if they wanted to run off somewhere far away right now.

A girl imbued with starlight.

A yellow meteor.

‘Oh… her hair color?’

Yellow.

Surprisingly, after transforming, Hana’s hair had changed to the same yellow color as her glass star.

“Oh…? Do kids these days change hair color when they transform?”

“No, you’re a kid these days too.”

“Leader, don’t mind such things. You sound like an old man.”

“…”

Ichika seemed to have turned her attention to the commotion here, scratching her bottom as she slowly joined our table. Kyoko also followed Ichika, subtly scratching her back as she joined.

‘These kids act so rough, they’re like younger cousins.’

Although both Ichika and Kyoko had cute appearances in their own way, it wasn’t very noticeable due to their rough attitude both inside and outside. Kyoko at least tried to be mindful in front of others, but Ichika was just wild through and through.

“Wow~ Even such a little one blooms, but I’m still far from it…”

“Were you worried about that?”

“I’m a magical girl too, you know.”

As she said, Kyoko still hadn’t bloomed her own star, so her orange glass star remained in an unbloomed state.

She seemed to have been subtly concerned, comparing herself to Ichika who bloomed in an instant and me whom she met already in a bloomed form from the start.

“Hehehehe!”

Pleased that those around her were admiring her appearance, Hana hopped up and down, her yellow-changed side tail swaying up and down.

“Look at this!”

“Ooh.”

Hana started taking all sorts of poses to express her good mood.

A cute pose with one foot raised.

“Yap!”

“Ooh.”

“So cute!”

A pose like doing figure skating with one leg raised high.

“Yop!”

“Ooh, you’re flexible? Want to learn some martial arts?”

A pose imitating martial arts with small fists extended.

“Hah!”

“Cool!”

As if not knowing what to do with her joy, Hana took all sorts of poses and enjoyed the reactions, and Ichika and Kyoko, noticing this, continued to praise her in succession.

‘Hana-chan isn’t usually this open with others… Is it because she’s seen Ichika and Kyoko often at the cafe and doesn’t feel uncomfortable?’

An endless shower of praise.

The joy of successful blooming.

Sato Hana’s happiness level had exceeded the critical point and she couldn’t contain her joy.

“Calm down, Hana-chan.”

“Hehehe! Thank you, Hikari-chan.”

I grabbed Hana’s shoulders and massaged them to calm her down.

She was already excited to the point where her heartbeat could be felt, with her naturally high body temperature.

Ichika and Kyoko patted Hana’s head, saying how cute her innocent appearance was.

“Heheh, really a cute little one.”

“Uiii! Don’t treat me like a kid!”

“Aww, so cute.”

Ichika put her hands under Hana’s armpits and lifted her up like an airplane, making buzzing sounds.

At first surprised, Hana soon giggled and enjoyed the play.

“Haah…”

“What’s wrong, Kyoko?”

Kyoko hesitated and then spoke.

“I didn’t do anything last time in Odaiba either.”

“Ah… So what? As long as we all got out safely, it’s fine.”

“If only I had bloomed well… Maybe I should have just stayed home…”

It was refreshing to see Kyoko, who always spoke energetically with her ‘I say’ endings, being anxious for the first time.

The blooming of stars depends on how well one knows their own dream.

It varies greatly depending on how close that dream is to fate.

After the first blooming that appeared around December 2011 in the original work, some people bloomed right after Fujimoto Sumire, like Ichika who was the leader of FLAG.

‘Ichika just showed an exceptionally strong reaction to fate…’

The majority of born 1-star girls disappeared without ever showing a bloomed form.

Above all, the original work only featured veterans who survived the war and alliance among the 2-star girls.

‘They all tasted blood and went crazy.’

Most 1-star magical girls were blocked from blooming on their own due to the curse of struggle, so they fought each other to accumulate power.

The protagonist Shikishima Yuki was a miraculous case who increased her own number of stars in the midst of fighting against demons, so there weren’t many types of bloomed magical girls that actually appeared.

‘Even in volume 1, half of it was about getting food.’

Although a shop window that could obtain items using starlight appeared in the realm of born 3-star magical girls. Since it was originally a story about escaping from the realm of the magical girl of [War], the protagonist didn’t use it much.

“Ah, come to think of it, leader.”

“Hm? Wait, but Ichika calls me boss and you call me leader?”

“What does it matter? More importantly, what about the leader’s glass star?”

“Ah.”

Except for Haruko, no one has seen it properly.

I took out the colorless glass star from my chest and showed it to Kyoko.

A huge starlight shining in various colors formed a triangle, emitting endless energy.

The power of a huge world that no one else could show until next year.

“Hmm.”

“There are three.”

“Wow~”

As expected, the reactions of the group who saw the power of the huge world were bland.

It’s only been a short while since blooming was discovered in the first place.

No one even felt the difference between born 1-star and 2-star.

‘Since the Fujimoto Disturbance probably won’t happen either…’

It would be difficult for them to grasp the meaning of the difference in the number of stars, as I had never shown a display of overwhelming power against magical girls like Fujimoto Sumire had shown on the battlefield.

‘…Still, couldn’t they show a bit more admiration for the magic class I’m showing?’

I felt somewhat disappointed, like an uncle who witnessed his nephews and nieces leaving most of the delicious food he bought them, saying they were full.

So I stuffed the colorless glass star back into my pocket.

“By the way, where does Sato live?”

“Around here!”

“Ooh, so you live in Yokohama.”

“Yes! I live in that white house over there!”

“When I did loading and unloading part-time work last time, I felt this was really a neighborhood with nice weather.”

The cafe returned to a peaceful atmosphere.

Ichika went back to the corner seat and took out her smartphone to watch the news.

I returned to the counter and pretended to organize things while turning the espresso machine.

If we fool around too much, the neighborhood people passing by might see and tattle to the Master in this close-knit neighborhood.

Just as it seemed a quiet time had arrived, Ichika suddenly called me.

“Leader!”

“Yes?”

“Do we have any other comrades besides us?”

“No? What are you talking about?”

I was surprised by the sudden out-of-nowhere remark and stared quietly at Ichika.

“Then what’s Salon?”

“Salon?”

“Oh, didn’t you make it?”

“Come here and take a look.”

I put down the cloth I was using to wipe the espresso machine and looked closely at the smartphone screen Ichika was showing.

[A group of magical girls claiming to be ‘Salon’ is causing a disturbance in Kabukicho!]

[While claiming their leader is the magical girl of <Beginning>…]

[Is this a terrorist act by magical girls under someone’s orders?]

[Meanwhile, what’s being fired from the machine gun on the department store rooftop…]

I suddenly felt uneasy due to information about a familiar figure.

‘Why is the magical girl of [Machine Gun] here?’

She was a character that appeared in the original work.

But the other two were figures I had never seen before.

A motorcycle flying over the streets.

An armored robot marching through the streets.

A machine gun firing towards the sky.

All of these were running rampant around Kabukicho, creating a chaotic situation. And I saw a news caption saying that the magical girls carrying this out were claiming to be members of a group I created.

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“I don’t know that either.”

Ichika shrugged as she answered.

“But should we just leave this alone?”

“…”

Even the current situation is a peace created through a method close to a surprise attack.

The perception of magical girls that barely changed after seeing the performance and miracle of the magical girl of [Beginning].

If that changes savagely like in the original work, and a situation full of sharp confrontations returns.

It might become the spark that returns to the tragedy of <Magical Girl HAZARD> that started with the domain declaration of the magical girl of [War].

I don’t care about the epithet of the magical girl of [Beginning] being tarnished.

But now that ordinary magical girls’ dreams are barely blooming. I had to stop the riot of magical girls from happening.

“Kyoko.”

“Yes?”

“Sorry, but can you watch the shop for me?”

“Eeh?!”

Kyoko looked surprised, as if she hadn’t expected her earlier words to come back and become reality.

But I didn’t mind that and handed the apron to Kyoko as if throwing it. Then I called Ichika, who seemed to have already finished preparations.

“Ichika! Let’s go!”

“Oh. I was just itching for some action!”

“Wait!”

Hana raised her hand and shouted.

“I want to go too!”

“What?”

“I’m a magical girl now too, so I want to do good deeds!”

“…”

“You said if I do good deeds, I’ll make friends!”

It would be reassuring if Sato Hana, a bloomed magical girl, came along.

Even if it became dangerous, she could prevent the worst-case scenario.

‘…It should be fine.’

I couldn’t think any further in the urgent situation.

“Alright. Let’s go!”

I, Ichika, and Hana rushed out of the shop.