*
"I think I got an idea, but just in case. What were those letters shown on the grey cube for?"
Scrutinising her face, I look out for any change in her poker face. Just in case, I had tk make sure. Misinformation could get me killed after all. Paying heed to keep my mind quiet, I awaited her answer with trepidation. She could read my mind after all, it was no secret after the first meeting. It was quite embarrassing to be honest. A slight rise in temperature brought a little blush onto my cheeks. Awkwardly, I stared at her face while she follows suit and inspects mine. After compiling her thoughts, her eyes were brought back to reality on the target before her.
"You probably got your guess right. Each letter represents a quantity of a range of quantities from a ranking system, simply put, they show you how strong you are. Though I wouldn't pay much attention to that. Abilities, or a more familiar term, skills are much more dangerous. Just by the cost of some magic particles, they defy all known phenomena or physical law known to men. " (Kanou)
" Could you at least fill me in on what each letter represents? "
Mauling it over, her expression blanked for a second before a decision was made. As she pursed her delicate lips in anticipation of her next speech, her features slowly morphed into a slight smile.
"... For now, Just know that S would be the highest, followed by A, B, C, D, E. You'll learn about the details when you take your first few lessons later." (Kanou)
"Hmmm... Okay. I should be all healed up now, can I go now~?"
Leaking curiosity, I pleaded with upturned eyes as I still wanted to visit my friends. My eagerness shook within my limbs, waiting to release from my body from this stale air of the infirmary. Perhaps this was the infirmary of the school I would be going to in a couple of days, it wouldn't take much time to look around.
On another case, this was not suppose to be a surprise but--- this place is full of magical girls! Ones in uniforms, ones in pure white coats holding various instruments, ones in casual clothes and finally, ones in their magical girl costume. I wonder if the costumes serve any purpose? It would be cool for my own costume.
"... Next time run. You're an amateur, completely untrained. You only got lucky this time and powered through the pain of a couple ribs, most likely through your adrenaline numbing your senses. Next time, if it took you by surprise. It won't be so convenient. "(Kanou)
" Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Bye~"
Ignoring the disappointed gaze on my back, I took off to the portal hallway. Looking closely at the large words on the wall above the entrance to the hallway, somebody named this location "Omni designator". That person must have 8th grade syndrome, I hope they grow out of it soon. It was written in a shoddy handwriting with some hot magenta paint over a grey wall of concrete, the insides look much more aesthetically pleasing with different coloured lighting and white painted walls with black stripes near the bottom. It seemed to give off a futuristic atmosphere as usual for things related to portals, though these ones are more related to magic than breaking the laws of physics.
In the first place, these portals were made by a team of magical engineers in that base of magical girls. Sure the convenience is astounding, but that is when you take everything at face value and ignore any notions of any hidden impacts. You could be disintegrating as you enter the portal and the person coming out could just be a clone. No one would be able to tell if the replicant was exactly the same as the original. Well, even if such a scary thing was left up to debate with those carefree scholars in the base, it doesn't invalidate the usefulness and functionality of the portals.
Eventually it was a little close to evening and a slight yellow tint was filling up the sky from the usual direction. Like a sped up video of an aging flower, the sky gradually shifted to another colour as rapid wind bends around my body. Though it had only been a few days, a gradual bond with my magical girl form had formed. At least that was how familiarising my body with the warmth of my own power felt. The conditions of awakening, the origin of magic, many things still do not have an answer.
However the simple things we have in life already do. Perhaps we've just accepted things without challenging their existence. Things at the most basic level of existence, subatomic particles, light, where do they come from? We're they always there even before the big bang? In any case, it meant that we should focus on what's in front of us first.
"Yo~ How've you guys been doing~!"
"Ah... You're back! Kaoru-kun, are you here to continue from where you left off? Why didn't you say so earlier! We could have gone together. " (klarence)
He was one of my colleagues from the previous attack. Our company usually had us workers fulfill our duties in shifts, that was why the monster had attacked right after I went home. Klarence had dark orange hair that curved and waved around like seaweed, his tanned rough facial features highlight his countless hours under the sun along with the bulk of his muscle bending the fabric of his t-shirt. He wore a dark brown-t-shirt along with beidge khaki pants that allowed easier movement for his work.
There isn't exactly a budget or producer available for a work uniform, so everyone was mostly dress casually, with the obvious requirement that our clothing didn't get in the way of work. He had a big grin on his face, as if welcoming back an old friend. As this site was quite far away, they had actually just arrived an hour or 2 ago as well. Unlike myself who possessed the repertoire of a magical girl, they had to take primitive vehicles, bycicles or walk here on foot. Needless to say, they had started in the morning while I was lazing around.
For today, I was interrupted by the monster and barely had enough energy to socialise. This includes a variety of activities such as standing up straight, staying awake, being morally responsible and other sorts of things difficult for an otaku like me to carry out. I've definitely improved though, it felt like a light had guided me out of dark cave. Slipping out and abandoning bad habits, interacting and bonding with people more. I would have never thought such things were possible.
"Nah, I just came to visit. So don't think of anything funny, okay?"
"Humu... Well it'd be weird if you just show up and have to go through the trouble of explaining it to everybody. Why don't you just help out a little~" (Klarence)
.... Man this middle-aged guy is relentless in attempting to get more helping hands. He doesn't have much time to advertise about his job outside, so he takes the opportunity to get some assistance if someone wanders into the farming site. Unfortunately for him I had a legitimate excuse.
"Uhh... I kind of got injured on the way here and it really~ made me tired just trying to walk here. So I don't think I'm capable of giving a hand... I just came here to chat as usual, the first shift shouldn't take long right?"
"hmpf.... When did you become such a slacker... Oh well, nothing we can do about your injury. Did you miss us or something? It's only been a couple of days." (Klarence)
"Yeah. Was there some purpose of visiting on your day off?" (Oogi roade)
Another one of my colleagues, rather than being as bulky as the others, his muscle mass was more concentrated in his legs and he had more height than the rest of us to boot. At an astounding 1.96 m he was more known in our small department for having a large pool of stamina and more than average strength while the rest of us were stuck around the 1.7-1.8 metre range. His family had a sugar cane plantation before the great disaster, a couple of magical girls were then dispatched to restore a portion of it.
He could have been living off his wealth as one of the few sources of sugar left, but instead he wished to help out at other farms and arrived at this company. He was around his mid-20s so he seemed young compared to all the other geezers here. If not for me, he would have been the youngest. Age may be a little related to job performance, but in the limited competition of labour at our job, lasting longer was valued more then carrying heavier loads. Thus, such segregations based on age didn't manage to form and people were mostly satisfied with their interpersonal relationships at work.
Dissatisfaction was met with discussion instead of childishly fighting it out, ultimately compromises are the easiest way to resolve conflicts and ensure our own workplace environment to be ideal for working. You could say our department had become rather close knitted, and even more after that monster attack. These people are trying to live their lives to the fullest, that was why I admired and joined them. Them who have a shallow but concrete goal and I who only wanders aimlessly.
Now that I have the powers of a magical girl, perhaps protecting this peace can be my ideal, my will to continue living. I can't let anything destroy it. As the primitive wooden clock chimed on the wall, the echoing knocks of each ticking hand movement bounces off the walls and-... No they don't.
.
.
.
.
.
*BOOOOOOOOOM*
A tremor akin to a small earthquake rattles the entire building as what's left of the wall disintegrates. In the constant flowing of greyish fog, dust and concrete powder was an abnormal silhouette that resembled nothing like a living being. It seemed like 2 large bean-ish poles attached by a tiny tube at the tob to form a N-shape. One of the poles was taller than the other, lifting them completely with that small tube.
This was an emergency. I couldn't hesitate now, if I don't protect what's in front of me I wouldn't be able to protect anything. If I can't acquire this simple notion, it's better to blow everything into the ground. Clenching my fist, this time the burning sensation came and go in an instant, causing my fastest transformation so far. The weight behind my head played with gravity as my flesh and clothes morphed over into the desired state. My double skirt fluttered, kicking into the concrete dust as I readied my fist for what was about to appear...
Clearing up gradually, the top halves of that previous apparition revealed itself to everyone's bare eyes. It wasn't a monster. It was a magical girl holding another girl of a similar age by grabbing her from her head. Much like how grabbing a basketball and keeping a grip on it from the top with a single hand was difficult, a similar show of skill and an exceeding amount of immense pressure was encroaching the hanging, limp girl's skull.
Both the veins on that small arm and the girl's head being carried with that arm seemed to be in a state where they were about to explode, time was only ticking when I noticed the vital difference between the 2 of them.
The one being held was grabbing onto a small circular pendant that shone purple with a convex surface in the torch light and held a mural of a small black crack in the middle like a cat's iris. A follower of the eye god, this must be a magical girl attack from another faction.... She had been untransformed from the lack of magical particles. Her white sleeves were tattered with torn surfaces and blood splotches here and there, her body had cuts at numerous locations under her long sleeved white sweater and black shorts.
The magical girl from the other faction had a somewhat wicked grin, however masked under that intimidating expression of her sharp eyes and pointed nose was an unconcealable hatred that rose to the skies. She had puffy white sleeves and a short white bodice that wrapped around her waist. Her chest was covered by a yellow cloth that connected her sleeves and bodice with multiple circular layers of frills surrounding her neck at different angles. Below her waist was an erect skirt that stood above the air as if by magic and had multitudes of yellow ornaments lining the heavily decorated skirt. Snow white skin peaked from under that skirt, and so did the metallic black boots with jutting spikes all over like a porcupine.
Did she cut the guard with those spikes? They should have a good security network in the sanctuary of the eye god... Wait... The splitting occurred right? Did the followers also form opposing factions? In any case, I need to deal with this now. No one else is nearby to help.