Chapter 5 : The Colorless Magical Girl

Chiyoda Ward, where the offices and headquarters of the national infrastructure facilities necessary for 120 million Japanese people to live are located.

Here, bureaucrats in suits were busy answering phones or skimming newspapers with cold expressions, holding coffee in one hand.

Some busy handling urgent matters.

Some sighing over things that weren’t going well.

Some just wishing for this time to pass.

A street where numerous human figures in suits gather.

If you follow that street, you’ll come across the Metropolitan Police Department, which can be called the heart of Tokyo’s public safety, also called headquarters by those working on the front lines.

As Tokyo is a megalopolis where people, equivalent to 10% of all of Japan, live in just 23 special wards, excluding suburban areas.

The Metropolitan Police Department, which is in charge of Tokyo, always spends bustling days with various incidents and accidents.

A meeting was held in the conference room of the Metropolitan Police Department building about an incident that occurred just a week ago, among numerous other incidents and accidents.

On the monitor in the conference room, a scene of the suspect fleeing immediately after causing an injury incident was being played.

The suspect has been in hiding for a week after fleeing.

They’ve been patrolling places commonly used as escape routes after juvenile crimes, including the suspect’s home, nearby parks, internet cafes, and manga cafes, but haven’t been caught for a week.

“Yamashita-kun, could you show it again?”

“Yes, sir!”

The young elite police officer with a bright blue-shaved side of his head was merely acting as a remote control for old men, but no one questioned it.

[Japanese people are a nation of loyalty, and it’s the dream of Japanese boys to participate in great affairs by serving as the arms and legs of high elders.]

This is because only people who sincerely believe this or can pretend to do so can gather here.

An old and outdated bureaucratic society.

In that place, only vertically extending thoughts were forgiven.

“…Who did you say the suspect was?”

“Busujima Haruko. Age 13. She was a female student with antisocial tendencies who didn’t get along with her classmates and was isolated.”

Content that was all written in the report was distributed to participants just before the meeting.

The report was well delivered to the homes of high-ranking officials in a luxury cover on the morning of the meeting day, but one high-ranking official sitting at the head of the table asked in detail as if testing.

Yamashita was not unaware of the meaning of this question.

If he honestly recited only the contents of the report here, he would be assigned to a rural corner of Hokkaido or Tsushima District Station the next day. This was because asking again through the mouth of a high-ranking official about content they already knew was a kind of interrogation like ‘Do we have to take charge of this at our level?’

“The Superintendent General is paying attention to this case.”

“What? Superintendent General Ishikawa?”

“Hmm… why is he paying attention to such a trivial case.”

It was incomprehensible that the Superintendent General had issued an emergency summons for officials at the department head level and above from the morning over just one juvenile violent crime.

As it felt quite dissonant, the officials gathered here wanted a justification to resolve their uncomfortable feelings.

Yamashita, who graduated from the University of Tokyo’s Law Department, was not an ordinary person lacking the tact to miss this signal, so he pointed out a part that was written in the report but that high-ranking officials didn’t care about.

“The initial injury was carried out using a brick the suspect picked up in a nearby alley… but the Superintendent General is focusing on the second injury that occurred.”

“Indeed, it’s hard to understand even when looking at it.”

“Suddenly twisting in the air and flying far away.”

On the monitor, Haruko’s figure was shown trembling all over and sitting down.

Then the scene of her gesturing to the male student who was reporting was played.

The male student flew back 1 meter by an unknown force as if a puppet with its strings cut and lost consciousness while convulsing.

“Did the suspect, being a magical girl, use some kind of magic…”

“What does that matter? This isn’t child’s play; what nonsense is that?”

“Ahem. It was just a passing comment.”

Director Mori chuckled at the words of the official who had muttered after listening to a radio show featuring magical girls on the way.

Magical girls? Those girls? Don’t make me laugh.

Mere pseudo-idols who just appear on TV and radio grinning, having such supernatural powers?

It would be more reasonable to suspect an explosion due to a gas leak that wasn’t caught on the recorded video, as the rationality of someone living in modern society.

But as if to contradict Director Mori’s inner thoughts, Yamashita answered.

“That’s exactly the point.”

“What?”

“It is magic.”

“Not a gas leak, but real magic?”

“It was the Superintendent General’s instruction to distribute this to personnel at the department head level and above.”

The document that Yamashita carefully removed from the briefcase he had quietly placed in the corner of the conference room.

It contained the signatures of the Superintendent General, the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, the Chiefs of Staff of the Ground, Maritime, and Air Self-Defense Forces, and Congressman Fujimoto, who is mentioned as a strong candidate for the next president of Japan’s ruling party.

“Fu-Fujimoto Congressman?!”

“Why is a prominent figure in the cabinet…?”

“Even ministerial-level officials…?”

“What’s going on here?”

Murmur murmur

People were thrown into confusion after confirming the names written on the document.

Yamashita opened his mouth after confirming that the plan had been placed in the hands of all officials.

“The supernatural abilities believed to have been used by the suspect Busujima Haruko are gradually manifesting in ability users across Japan, commonly referred to as magical girls.”

“…!”

“I’ve heard that Miss Fujimoto, the daughter of Congressman Fujimoto, who established this plan, has also become a magical girl.”

“Then this wasn’t simply for investigating an injury case?”

Yamashita nodded his head greatly, conveying through his attitude that this case was not simply a juvenile crime investigation but a more severe matter approaching the underlying issue.

“The Prime Minister and each minister have instructed us to clarify the correlation between the physical changes in girls who received glass stars two weeks ago and the supernatural abilities witnessed across the country, including this incident.”

“I see…”

From Director Mori’s perspective, it seemed that one of the victims, Yamahara, had inflicted physical violence first before the crime, and the subsequent injury using supernatural abilities also made it difficult to prove intentionality.

Moreover, the suspect is 13 years old, subject to juvenile law.

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t imagine the scene of the suspect going to a juvenile detention center originally.

“That means.”

It meant that a sacrificial lamb was needed for research.

The gaze of the Japanese public, bustling with the appearance of magical girls, had changed to be unprecedentedly favorable towards the girls.

Therefore, it was instructed to secretly arrest Busujima Haruko, a magical girl suspect who officially committed a crime, as bringing in innocent magical girls indiscriminately for investigation would risk public opinion.

On the surface, it’s secretly detaining a suspect in a violent incident using supernatural abilities, so even if discovered, the mass media wouldn’t be able to attack.

‘They would attack if they knew what would happen afterward.’

Director Mori, who had been suspicious of the resident reporters at the police station keeping their mouths shut when they usually wouldn’t have missed such a sensational article about a magical girl using supernatural abilities in an impulsive crime, finally felt like he understood the inside story.

“Are you saying that the political and business circles, including the Fujimoto Group, are targeting this suspect?”

“It’s a legal investigation procedure.”

“You mean act as if it’s legal.”

“They don’t want to waste even a moment since Fujimoto’s daughter is involved.”

The group was silent for a moment.

“Proceed.”

“Yes, sir!”

The writing on the paper that Director Mori put down glistened.

[Magical Girl Supernatural Ability Weaponization Plan]

* * *

“Hikari-chan~ Let’s play together~”

“Ahaha, I’m working right now.”

This little one who’s whining while fiddling with the skirt of my waitress uniform is Sato Hana.

She’s one of the regulars I’ve seen most often over the past two years. It’s become a weekend event for her whole family to stop by for a snack while taking a walk together.

The Sato family was the most impressive customer I’ve seen.

That’s because until two weeks ago, Hana was a child who couldn’t use her lower body.

After injuring her nerves while rolling down stairs at the age of 7, she had to rely on a wheelchair.

To comfort Hana, walking around Yokohama and eating a snack at our cafe became a daily routine before returning home.

-Next time, let’s go there.

Hana stared blankly at the sky from her wheelchair, whining about where to be taken next time.

The sight of the Sato couple silently pushing the wheelchair around was particularly impressive among the connections I’ve seen here.

Hana, especially, seemed uncomfortable with the elderly Master and chattered to me whenever I was working. Because of this, the Sato couple thought of me as ‘the big sister who plays well with their daughter’ and took care of me in many ways.

This year, when Hana turned 10, she started walking on her own.

It’s because she became a magical girl.

“Hana-chan~ You shouldn’t trouble big sister!”

“Haha, I’m sorry, Shirogane-san.”

“It’s alright.”

Mr. Sato smiled awkwardly and then said with an unbelievable expression.

“Really… I can’t believe it. Sometimes I think this must be a dream, you know?”

“That’s fortunate.”

“Yes, really… It’s like a miracle I never want to wake up from.”

“…”

The power of magical girls is an unreasonable miracle.

A child who couldn’t walk regains a healthy body and can run around happily like that.

It’s truly a miracle.

From the Sato couple’s perspective, they can’t help but call it a divine miracle.

“Hana-chan~ Do you want to go look at randoseru together this time?”

“Yes! I… I want to buy red and pink ones!”

“Ahaha, you can only buy one~”

Mr. Sato and I stared blankly at that scene for a while.

Perhaps even if someone took away Hana’s star power, she would still be able to walk around like now.

Even the remnants left behind would be an incomparable miracle for the Sato couple.

If only the future society were peaceful.

[Magical Girl Supernatural Ability Weaponization Plan]

The event is where magical girls are treated as strategic assets rather than idols.

‘Not magical girls who share dreams, but starting to act as more advanced humans.’

I endlessly doubted whether events would unfold as in the original work for the past two years, but that anxiety was resolved through the red broadcast.

However, according to the original work, 1-star magical girls like Sato Hana, who are grateful for their ordinariness, will soon face a harsh fate.

‘That’s rather beneficial for me.’

If it proceeds according to the original work, I just need to go with the flow and survive until after the final trial.

Then I can obtain ‘that’ which is the key to returning home…

“Dad! What if the friends at elementary school don’t like me because I’m older?”

“Hahaha, should we bake donuts together and share them if that happens?”

“Then let’s prepare the donut dough together this weekend.”

Hana, who was talking with her parents, suddenly turned to me and said:

“Hikari-chan!”

“Yes?”

“Hikari-chan is different from other big sisters, with white hair and looking like a princess~”

“Mm-hmm.”

“What should I do if friends don’t play with me because I’m different?”

“Hmm…”

I patted Hana’s head and said.

“Well? If you live kindly, everyone will like you.”

“Is that so~”

Actually, it’s a lie.

My school life was without friends ever since the incident in middle school.

“Of course! I had so many friends at school.”

I felt the Master’s incredulous gaze, which meant, ‘You don’t even go to school,’ but I ignored it.

“Yes! I got it. Thank you, Hikari-chan!”

“…”

Should I be happy that things are proceeding according to the original work in front of this smile?

I’m not sure.