“Your panties are showing,” Flame taunted.

“They're not panties!” Aile, her face flushed bright red, decided it was better to just ignore Flame’s words. She sighed and flapped her wing-like skirt, letting the fabric billow around her.

Regardless of whether what was showing beneath truly was underwear, Aile’s appearance didn’t seem vulgar at all. Instead, it exuded an air of divine reverence.

Much like an angel flying through the sky, it didn’t matter to the lambs on the ground whether she wore underwear or not. Before the descent of a fallen angel, no one here was distracted by such trivial thoughts.

“Let me show you, Flame the magical girl.”

Evil Magical Girl Fallen Angel Mode.

“I’ll show you what true despair looks like.”

Aile, who had now clearly evolved into her new form, flapped her wings. The AI embedded in her magical girl suit read her thoughts and moved accordingly.

With each flap of her wings, black feathers made of magic rained down on the ground, and to the spectators, they seemed as terrifying as bombs falling from a warplane.

Flame had the same thought. This wasn’t something she could simply block and be done with.

“That damn woman evolved by herself!”

Flame rolled on the ground, unleashed her fire to maneuver at high speed, and even flew through the sky to dodge the feathers. But she quickly realized that Aile hadn’t moved an inch from her position while launching those feathers.

Did she lose mobility while attacking? Flame wondered and fired off a quick burst of flame. The answer was no. Aile’s lack of movement was entirely by choice.

“Magical girls are all entertainers, aren’t they?” Aile said with a sly smile. Her graceful smile and the fluttering of her wings were captured by the stadium’s cameras, and her image filled the large screens.

“Look at all the people who came to enjoy your show. Why don’t you put on a good performance for us?”

For the sake of entertainment.

Aile had no intention of ending the show anytime soon. Not until she had repaid the humiliation of her first defeat. The show must go on.

“That damned woman…”

Flame spat out curses. There was only one thing she could do.

As she had done so many times before, all she could do was struggle.

Flame swung her fist toward the fallen angel in the sky. Even if her fist didn’t reach, she believed it would eventually.

That was what it meant to be a magical girl.

 

“Dad! When’s the next one?”

“I’m not sure there will be a next one…”

The fight was over.

As expected, the evil magical girl had won.

Although Flame had managed a miraculous victory against Aile before, it wasn’t because she had the skill to do so. It was mostly luck. Now that Aile had powered up, Flame stood no chance.

An elementary schooler might get lucky and defeat a high schooler, but they could never beat a world champion.

When the skill gap between two people becomes extreme, there’s no room for anything but pure ability.

“Damn it… I bet on Flame winning,” someone grumbled.

“You idiot. The payout was nearly 100-to-1. You really thought that would happen?”

“Who wouldn’t take those odds? 100-to-1!”

“That just means she had a 100-to-1 chance of losing.”

“Really…?”

As the spectators, having witnessed the spectacular magical displays, began to leave the stadium, a few enthusiastic fans rushed down to the field. They demanded autographs and photos with Aile, declaring themselves new fans of the evil magical girl after this battle.

“Ma’am! I’m your biggest fan!”

“Please, just one photo!”

“Could you do that underwear-revealing pose from earlier again?”

Aile, overwhelmed by the flood of fans, managed to escape only after signing autographs and taking photos. When she finally fled to the staff-only area, she froze upon seeing Eight waiting for her in her dressing room.

“Whoa… I thought you were another fan waiting for me.”

“Fan, huh? You sure are popular now.”

“Haha… I never expected to become this popular…”

Aile scratched her cheek awkwardly, clearly still processing her sudden surge in popularity. Lost in a vague mixture of emotions, she hesitantly glanced at Eight, looking troubled.

When Eight gave her a questioning look, Aile fidgeted before carefully speaking.

“Um, Scientist…? Could you step out for a moment…?”

“Why?”

“I, uh, need to change clothes… I’m all sweaty, and I can’t change with you in here…”

“Oh.”

With that, Eight was kicked out of the dressing room and found himself standing idly in the hallway. The room was well soundproofed, so he couldn’t hear any sounds of Aile changing inside.

As Eight waited for Aile to finish, he noticed a figure with red hair walking down the hallway toward him.

It was none other than Flame, the magical girl Aile had just fought.

Flame, now closer, narrowed her eyes slightly when she made eye contact with Eight.

“That woman’s in there, isn’t she?”

“…‘That woman?’”

“The evil magical girl.”

Was Flame here to seek revenge now that the duel was over? Eight stepped in front of the door and shook his head.

“You can’t go in right now.”

“What? Why?”

“She’s changing clothes…”

“Seriously? The pervert who exposed her underwear in front of everyone is worried about changing now…?”

Though grumbling in dissatisfaction, Flame reluctantly leaned against the wall and waited for Aile to finish changing. However, seemingly bored, she suddenly asked Eight a question.

“So, who are you anyway? Her manager?”

“Something like that.”

“Of course… Even the evil magical girl has her own suited lackey. Do you even realize she’s a villain? That she’s working with the enemies of the world?”

Eight simply shrugged at Flame’s accusation. She probably thought of him as just another manager or producer attached to a magical girl, like many others.

But it wasn’t because he was another villain like her that he thought there was nothing wrong with evil magical girls having producers. In business, there was no good or evil—only products that made money and those that didn’t.

And it was easy to see the inferiority complex this girl had likely built up from being treated as a product that didn’t make money.

“If that’s the case, magical girls are no different. There’s a rumor that the enemies of the world were summoned by the mayor of H City and the heads of major corporations. Does that mean all the magical girl activities have been staged—”

“That’s bullshit, you bastard!” Flame snapped, grabbing Eight by the collar.

Eight, unfazed, stared coldly down at her.

“It wasn’t staged! We fought to protect people with our lives! Why does no one remember the ones who died? Why are we, who risked our lives, being treated like villains?!”

Her voice was filled with frustration and desperation, so much so that it seemed to penetrate the soundproof walls of the dressing room. Aile, hearing the commotion, cautiously opened the door and peeked out.

When she saw Flame grabbing Eight by the collar, she immediately stepped out.

“S-stop!”

“…You.”

“Stop it! I won’t forgive anyone who hurts the Scientist!”

Aile stepped between them, her trembling eyes fixed on Flame. Flame, taken aback by the intense look in Aile’s eyes, slowly released Eight and stepped back.

“The evil magical girl…? You’re the evil magical girl?”

“Y-yes… do you have business with me…?”

“…No. Forget it.”

Flame, muttering to herself that this gloomy, awkward girl couldn’t possibly be the evil magical girl, turned and walked away.

As Flame disappeared down the hallway, Eight threw something in her direction.

Whoosh─! Startled, Flame caught the object flying toward her. When she looked at it, she saw it was a red potion.

“Take it. You’re pretty banged up.”

“…Thanks. And, uh… sorry about grabbing you.”

“It’s fine. I might’ve said too much myself.”

As Flame disappeared, waving her thanks, Eight returned to Aile’s dressing room and reflected on what Flame had said.

Magical girls had died in battle, and no one remembered it. Why?

“Aile.”

“Y-yes?”

“Were there any magical girls who died in battle?”

“Well… not that I know of… as far as I remember, they all either retired or are still fine…”

“Right. That’s what I thought.”

If Aile, a self-proclaimed magical girl otaku, didn’t remember, then it either never happened or wasn’t widely known.

And yet, there was a magical girl who remembered something no one else did.

Two people making completely opposite claims. One of them must be lying.

‘Or… maybe neither of them is lying.’

Eight thought back to the Fairy Queen he had banished from this world—the one who had shared her power to create magical girls.

─If she was still hiding a secret?

‘A technology that could alter perception on a global scale…’

It was an incredibly tempting idea.

He would love nothing more than to dissect and understand how such a thing was possible.