The next day, I headed to work.

The vacation was canceled. It was understandable, so I didn’t bother to argue about it. As I walked down the corridor, a girl dressed head to toe in black approached from a distance.

The infamous evil magical girl, Aile.

“G-g-g-good morning, Scientist-!”

“……Yeah. Good morning.”

“Hehe, ehehe…”

The personality of the evil magical girl I had seen  on TV just the other day seemed to have vanished, replaced by this awkward, gloomy introvert standing before me. I looked on in fascination at the stark contrast of Aile.

Noticing my gaze, Aile flinched, then cautiously lifted her head to meet my eyes. Her pitch-black eyes sparkled under the lighting.

“Um, the magical girl outfit… I wore it well! It was awesome!”

“Really? I saw you on the news yesterday, too—”

“KYAAAAAAH-!”

It was fine for her to talk about it, but hearing it from someone else made her too embarrassed, causing her to squeal and run off into the distance. Finally freed, I exhaled a sigh and returned to the lab.

As soon as I got back, I downed an energy drink I’d picked up at the convenience store and spotted my homemade energy booster lying around in the lab. The slightly yellow liquid sloshed inside the container.

‘How on earth am I supposed to take this…?’

I had made it myself, but honestly, I wasn’t convinced. I’d rather die than drink that stuff. So I gulped down the convenience store energy drink instead.

The refreshing coolness and tingling carbonation traveled down my throat. That’s right; you can always count on quality products from big corporations. I sneakily checked the label and couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise at the unexpected name.

“Evil Corporation Drink? Isn’t Evil Corporation right here?”

Once again, it was just like the boss to stretch his business into this tiny market. After all, if they weren’t capable of picking up some random drifter from the street and making them an executive of an evil organization, they wouldn’t have such wealth.

I prayed for the boss’s fortune to last forever and for her interest in running the evil organization to never wane, all while sipping my energy drink.

*

“Damn it—what the hell is that!?”

─Mew!?

Elemental Flame, the fire magic girl, slammed her fist down, causing her supporting spirit to scream in shock. But that little mascot doll was long past my radar. Every magic girl went through that phase eventually.

What mattered right now was that a new type of magical girl had appeared. And that magic girl had ruthlessly beaten all the other magical girls on her own. That was the problem.

“Hey! Didn’t you say magical girls can’t use their powers for evil!?”

─Y-yeah, that’s true, meow.

“So what’s up with this chick? She’s using magic against the city and beating up her fellow magical girls like it’s nothing!”

Flame’s anger was justified. They were bound by the idea that if they weren’t bad guys, they shouldn’t use their strength, making it impossible to use their powers against a world enemy, wanted criminal, or villain. But now—!

The newly emerged evil magical girl seems to flaunt those restrictions, casting spells across the city while threatening civilians and mercilessly overpowering other magical girls. Some even developed trauma after being beaten up so badly.

─We don’t know either, meow! She was definitely a magical girl, but also not one, meow!

“What the hell does that mean!? Ugh—! Seriously!? If you guys don’t have answers, then what are we even doing here!?”

─W-we’re doing our best, meow…

“If you keep this up, I’ll treat you like the world’s evil and just quit trying to save you!?”

─Th-that would be a disaster… meow…

As Flame vented her stress on her spirit, she recalled the events of that fateful night. The all-black magical girl had left quite an impression on everyone there.

She had made sure that no one would ever forget her. Flame was certain she would remember this for the rest of her life, at least during her time as a magical girl.

“Damn it, can’t anyone figure out who she is?”

Magical girls couldn’t stay transformed 24/7. They were still human, and maintaining a transformation took a toll on their energy.

That was likely true for the evil magical girl as well. If they could discover her true identity and ambush her when she’s untransformed, they’d have the advantage since they outnumbered her.

However, surprisingly, no one could figure out who the evil magical girl’s true identity was. Not even the spirits that supported the magical girls, or the global magical girl otaku digging through the internet for clues!

“Unless… could she actually be the world’s evil? Maybe she turned into a magical girl type to combat all the magical girls…”

If she weren’t that, then there was only one possibility left—someone who wasn’t worth knowing at all. Like an incompetent person without any special abilities.

But remembering the power that the evil magical girl had wielded, Flame quickly dismissed that idea. The strength of a magical girl correlated with the strength of the abilities they possessed. Whoever this person was, they’d surely have to be a well-known ability user.

Perhaps even a current hero or a hero trainee…

─Mew!?

“What’s wrong? Did you figure it out?”

─N-no, it’s just that I’m feeling pretty hungry since I didn’t have lunch…

“Hey, you little glutton—!”

*

The shock of the appearance of the evil magical girl wasn’t just felt by other magical girls. Various organizations around the world realized that magical girls could be used for evil purposes, and they were all in for a huge shock.

“Wait, we can use magical girls for military operations…?”

“N-no, what the hell…?”

“Send people to the magical girls immediately!”

However, it didn’t take long for them to all come to the same disappointing conclusion. No matter how they approached it, magical girls simply couldn’t be used like that. No matter what, they would lose their powers.

“—So, we failed?”

“I-I’m sorry…!”

Crimson, the head of the villain organization Dawn Twilight, frowned heavily at the report from one of his  science lackeys. Was it too much to ask for them to simply brainwash the kidnapped magical girl with some drugs or hypnosis to turn her into a villain?

To fail at something so simple—was this a joke?

“Did I ask for anything that complicated? We were the ones to kidnap the magical girl and provide the drugs! All you had to do was successfully brainwash her! How could you not manage something so simple!?”

“I-I’m sorry, Boss… But the moment we thought we could complete the brainwashing, the magical girl’s powers disappeared! Almost as if she was saying that she wasn’t meant to be used like this!”

“Hah—give me a break. Just yesterday, it was proven that magical girls could be corrupted. Someone else managed to do what everyone else thought was impossible. And if someone succeeded, we can too.”

That was the motto of Dawn Twilight.

Saying this, Crimson lightly gripped the head of the scientist. His grip, far exceeding human limits, proved too much for the science lackey’s average head, which exploded like a watermelon.

Even though a person had just popped right in front of him, Crimson’s body remained unblemished. He clicked his tongue disapprovingly and then ordered his subordinates to dispose of the body before casually looking around at the other executives.

“—I’ll give you time. I want you to bring me the same results within a month.”

“Y-yes, understood!”

“Use any means necessary. Right, if possible—”

Crimson’s eyes sparkled as he continued.

“Bring me whoever turned that magical girl into what she is now.”

And thus, unbeknownst to Eight, attention began to gather from all sides.

From both heroes and villains alike.

*

“—Alright! With that, let’s start the evil organization executive meeting!”

Applause echoed as Aile clapped weakly, her dry voice barely participating. The few claps that had resonated soon faded, revealing she was the only one clapping.

Regalia pouted, grumbling about the cold response from her subordinates.

“—Boss. What is the meaning of this?”

Galm asked, glancing at Regalia, clearly curious about why they were called. Regalia snapped her fingers as if she had just remembered something.

“Oh, right. I didn’t mention it. This executive meeting is being held all because of you. Scientist.”

“M-me?”

“Yep, you.”

Startled, I suddenly looked at the boss, who had drawn my attention while I had been zoning out, counting the stains on the ceiling. What did I do to deserve being the subject of an executive meeting?

But both Galm and Aile nodded along earnestly as if it made perfect sense. I had only been doing my job diligently… Was it possible they were planning some sort of party under the pretense of a meeting? Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like that was the case.

They were genuinely having a meeting to discuss me.

“—B-boss? What did I do wrong…?”

“It’s not that you did something wrong. Not really. But… in a way, it’s worse than making a mistake.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

Could they have caught on to me copying things made on Earth for my results? No way. While there might be similar items on this world, there couldn’t be exact replicas of what I made—they existed solely in my mind.

So what was it? Was it because I took an hour’s snooze after not answering the phone? I hope they can let that slide. After all, I had just pulled three all-nighters to finish my research…

“It’s that your inventions are too outstanding of a problem.”

“Uh…?”

“The real issue is that you didn’t tell us beforehand if you were going to make things like that. Got it? If something like this happens again, I might just have a heart attack.”

Regalia said, patting her chest lightly. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the young-looking boss actually did have a heart attack, but I nodded along, playing dumb. She thought my inventions were exceptional? They really weren’t all that great…

Seeing me nod along without a word, Regalia sighed, sounding more like an elderly person reflecting on life than a young girl.

“Okay, I get it. If there’s nothing else, how about you create something to sell for our company? Children’s Day is coming soon, after all. It could be nice to whip up some gifts for the kids.”

“Gifts for the kids?”

“Yeah, something like that robot you fixed up at the mansion a while back. If you make something like that, it should be fine.”

Regalia said, giving me a new assignment. I wished she’d just let me coast through work, but as an evil scientist and employee, I couldn’t just sit idly.

I forced a smile as I responded.

“Sure, I’ll do my best.”