"What did you do?"
A hint of irritation could be detected in the Hidden Witch's tone.
She was about to feast but discovered that the food had developed an odor that monsters dislike, even fear.
To vent this emotion, she chose not to hide her form but to resort to more direct violence.
The man-eating monster's hands transformed into beast-like claws, swinging down with a gust of foul wind.
But the prey, who should have lost the ability to move, suddenly leaped up, grabbing her throat with his left hand.
Supported by an unknown strength, Leo managed to suppress the Hidden Witch, pinning her to the ground.
The monster screamed miserably, her pale neck emitting a burnt smell as if touched by a hot iron, and her hands, turned into claws, reverted to their original form.
"Get off me!"
She tried to push Leo away, punching the damned human.
Leo's consciousness was already on the verge of disarray; he couldn't ponder why he could physically suppress the monster but simply followed the desire to attack, raising the glass shard in his right hand.
It might have been an illusion, but he faintly felt a crimson glow emanating from the shard.
The Hidden Witch, pinned to the ground, suddenly let out a terrified howl, using all her strength to break free from Leo's grip, standing up, and then activated her invisibility.
But it was useless.
Leo stared intently at the text floating in the air.
Your real name has been uncovered by me.
He chased after the carefully drifting text towards the door, then stabbed the shard down like wielding a dagger.
He felt the tangible sensation of hitting a solid body.
The Hidden Witch became visible, her mouth slightly open as if trying to scream silently. From the wound where Leo stabbed, red lines spread out like blood vessels, followed by the ignition of clear flames.
The man-eating demon thus turned into a pile of ashes.
With the enemy's death, Leo felt a warm flow emerging from within, collapsing to the ground as energy and consciousness receded like the tide.
In the last moments before sinking into darkness, he vaguely saw a figure rushing into the classroom, speaking to a doll-shaped object floating in mid-air, "…Even after setting up a barrier, why would someone get involved…"
When he opened his eyes, he saw the ceiling of the school infirmary.
Leo moved his body, realizing he was lying on a hospital bed, with the room lit and the time indicating late night on the wall clock.
The campus was silent, as if everything that happened at dusk was just an illusion.
A slight breathing sound came from beside him; turning his head, he saw a figure sitting on a chair next to the bed.
It was Mizukawa Aoi.
She was wearing the school uniform, her head nodding off as if fighting against sleepiness.
Leo's movement evidently woke her up; she spoke with a hint of surprise, "Leo, you're finally awake! I found you passed out in the campus after school, so I brought you here to the infirmary. Remember to thank me, okay?"
"…Why are you talking to the wall?"
And sneaking glances at him with the corner of her eye, such a poorly fabricated lie!
Even if he hadn't witnessed your transformation, the text above your head has already betrayed your identity!
"Ah, I'm not really used to making eye contact with boys~ I'm glad you're okay, I'll be leaving first!"
She stood up somewhat stiffly from the chair.
"Speaking of which, it feels like I entered a strange place after school, and I saw a girl in weird clothes fighting monsters."
Mizukawa's expression was as abstract as a painting, quite amusing.
"Ha ha ha, we're high school students now, you can't still believe in dreams, right? A girl in weird clothes fighting monsters is an outdated anime trope—I'm just curious, how weird?"
"That kind, ah, very impressive, very exaggerated."
"Exaggerated, huh?! Ahem, I mean, girls wouldn't wear exaggerated clothes to fight, not in middle or elementary school… uu."
Her expression turned tearfully, quite an explosive conversation.
Although Leo realized Mizukawa Aoi didn't want to expose her identity, he was eager to know the truth.
Where did those monsters come from, and what was the Hidden Witch all about?
Most importantly, are beings with extraordinary powers always hidden among ordinary people?
Until today, even though Leo could see those with strange texts above their heads and truly believed in the authenticity of the texts, he still felt like an observer.
He had never experienced abnormal events, and daily life was like a thick glass pane; even if he saw the slight reality of the world through the glass, there still seemed to be a barrier in front.
Until the crisis brought by the monster shattered it.
So, he decided to take a step forward.
"Mizukawa, are you doing something like, you know, a magical girl or a pretty soldier kind of job?"
"Wh-wh-wh-what?! Pretty soldier is too embarrassing! Who would do that kind of job!"
She blushed and shouted angrily.
"Is that what being a magical girl entails?"
Mizukawa Aoi sat back down in her chair, hugging her knees, and wore a very troubled expression without saying a word.
After a while, she looked up at Leo and said seriously, "The magical girls of Sakura Island originated from the influx of European witch traditions in 1966, mixing with local culture and evolving into what we see now."
"Uh?"
"So, the battle attire of magical girls is actually an imitation of the 'witches who conceal their faces,' which isn't strange at all."
"Ah?"
"Not strange at all!!"
"Okay, I'm sorry."
Mizukawa Aoi nodded in satisfaction and said, "I originally planned to have someone else approach Leo, but this works too—let me ask you, you've awakened special powers and even killed a monster, right?"
Did she guess this?
When mentioning special powers, Leo instinctively thought of his ability to see text.
Mizukawa continued, "It happens occasionally, ordinary people awakening powers to exorcise demons and ghosts, which is why you were drawn into the barrier with that monster—umm, if I was more familiar with local mysticism, I would have sensed its presence sooner."
But Leo likely didn't possess the so-called power to exorcise demons before being drawn into the barrier Mizukawa mentioned; rather, killing the monster was due to some combat ability granted by the text.
There was clearly a difference.
He didn't correct her but asked, "I'm not quite sure what's happening. Are the monsters you deal with the same as the one I encountered?"
"Of course not!" Mizukawa jumped up, making an X with her arms in front of her chest, "Monsters are monsters, Negative Realm creatures are Negative Realm creatures."
She leaned forward slightly, "And I am the magical girl under the Bureau of Negative Realm Disaster Countermeasures, code-named Starlight!"
Bureau of Negative Realm Disaster Countermeasures?
No wonder she was an [Active Magical Girl~(^_)☆]; there was indeed an organization behind her.
Leo was pondering this when he noticed Mizukawa, who had just been boasting, now covering her flushed face with her hand, muttering something.
"Ugh, announcing my code name is more embarrassing than I thought. How did the seniors do it so effortlessly?"
He asked, "So, according to Mizukawa, I've awakened superpowers and got involved in the barrier you mentioned. Will I be under the jurisdiction of that bureau?"
"It's not superpowers, nor is it under the bureau's jurisdiction. Didn't I say I originally planned to have someone else approach you?"
Mizukawa shook her head in denial, "But it's already so late today, and after everything you've been through, you should go home. I'll introduce you to a more professional person on the rest day after tomorrow."
Without waiting for Leo to respond, she grabbed her bag next to her and ran to the door, waving at him, "Your injuries have been healed, so I'll be going now. See you tomorrow."
The door snapped shut.
Not long after, with the sound of footsteps, the door cracked open again, revealing a face with a slight blush, "That, that, please don't reveal my real identity, I beg you, Leo!"
He had thought Mizukawa was a serious person but discovered today she actually had a quite offbeat side.
And she was a magical girl.
Leo got out of bed.
Standing on the ground, he felt as if his body had completely changed.
Full of vitality, the world seemed clearer, and he even had the illusion that if he concentrated, time in the external world would slow down.
He placed his hand on the rail of the hospital bed and applied a little force.
The metal gave a slight sensation of deformation.
Was this the power brought by the text [Exorcist]?
Leo looked at his reflection in the glass of a medicine cabinet, seeing the text [Exorcist (Completion 3.5%)] above his head.
It had increased... maybe related to killing the Hidden Witch.
Focusing on the completion percentage in the parentheses, new categories unfolded next to it.
[Power to Repel Evil: Suppress Evil, Strengthen, Attach, ???]
[Pure Sight]
Below was a series of question marks.
Leo, drawing from his gaming experience, speculated that new abilities might appear as the completion percentage increases.
Also, he remembered that initially, he seemed to have fulfilled some condition to draw a "prototype," so by inference, could there be other prototypes?
"It feels like the belt buckles in tokusatsu shows."
On his way home, Leo saw many ethereal figures, most in human form, some walking on the ground, others floating in the air, passing directly through surrounding objects.
They also had text above their heads, mostly in the form of [The wandering soul of Taro Tanaka].
"Are these ghosts? Is this the effect of [Pure Sight]?"
Leo curiously reached out to touch a spirit floating in front of him, but it vividly showed a scared expression and flew away as a puff of smoke.
He had to give up on the idea.
When he got home, he glanced at the neighbor's second floor, noting the lights were still on.
With his father often away, his own home was naturally dark.
After eating something and taking a bath, Leo continued to explore his abilities.
He picked up a compass from his pencil box, recalling the feeling at dusk.
The compass glowed with a crimson light.
Soon, books, pencils, and erasers were all subject to his experimentation, playing to his heart's content.
Resulting in him falling asleep without actually starting to study.