Snowah stared at me with a disbelieving expression after hearing my words.
"The culprit is inside this building?"
"You must have some idea who it might be, Snowah."
"…Aile."
"Exactly. As you know, Aile is an Evil Magical Girl."
And at the same time, she’s also an otaku who’s excessively obsessed with magical girls.
When the Fairy Queen was destroyed and the World’s Enemy disappeared, Aile had been deeply concerned. She feared that magical girls would lose their purpose. Magical girls, she believed, should always remain magical girls. They shouldn’t become tools for adults or terrifying entities.
To accommodate her, I created a new generation of the World’s Enemy and handed over complete production rights to her. I never imagined, of course, that someone with Aile's level of knowledge could modify the creations I had designed…
But somehow, she did it.
As an adult—and as the one responsible for making her an Evil Magical Girl—I had a duty to resolve this. Not because I was curious about how she had altered my creations without permission.
"And since she ran off to her room earlier, that means Aile is still inside this building."
"So the one causing all of this… is also in here?"
"Precisely."
Hearing this, Snowah nodded as if she understood. Even though she was nearing retirement age as a magical girl, she couldn’t just walk away when there was a crisis.
Stretching her limbs, she confidently stepped forward, her wand radiating a pure white light that illuminated the dark corridor.
"Alright, Professor. Lead the way."
She smiled brightly—a smile of justice meant to save those trapped in darkness, regardless of good or evil.
"—Because I need to give my friend a little knock on the head."
*****
“Hmm-hmm~ Hehe, I see, I see—”
In her room, Aile was observing the situation in the building through the shadows.
Of course, her primary focus was on Eight.
"—So he rejected my confession so coldly, yet gets along just fine with her, huh?"
Her vision showed Eight closely interacting with Snowah.
That wretched woman. That fox. Look at her wagging her hips around a man like that. Eight might have been foolish for falling for it, but the most detestable one was Snowah.
With those crude, shameless gestures. With that body made for seducing men. How many men had she ensnared with her looks? Eight deserved better than to be dragged down by her.
Kill her.
"Die… Just die, you bitch."
The evil blossoming within Aile whispered to her, and she embraced it. From the depths of her heart, she summoned pure malice.
As a reborn Evil Magical Girl, her intent to kill alone radiated enough malice to crush an ordinary person’s spirit.
Surrounded by this oppressive atmosphere in her darkened room, Aile continued creating more of the World’s Enemy.
Like a flower scattering seeds, her malice birthed monsters.
As Aile unleashed more of the World’s Enemy, her attention was caught by a voice from one of the monitors in the corner of her room.
"—Aile, I know you’re listening."
"…Scientist?"
It was Eight’s voice. Could he see her? Impossible.
Eight, for all his advanced technology and intellect, was still an ordinary human.
His skills were formidable, but there was no way he could fully grasp the capabilities of her magic…
Yet he continued speaking without hesitation.
"—I’ll be coming to see you soon. Wait for me."
Seeing his faint smile on the screen, Aile felt her heart waver for a moment.
But she clenched her teeth and forced herself to endure.
That man was a monster. A creature that could seize someone’s heart and twist it. She couldn’t afford to let her guard down.
"Heh… So he’s coming to see me?"
She chuckled to herself, feigning arrogance to suppress her excitement and fear.
"Fine. Come. I’ll be waiting."
And then—
Aile saw him smirk, as if he’d heard her.
Even though there was no way her words could have reached him.
*****
─KIIIIEEEAAAK!
The monster lunged, a grotesque creature so hideous that it made me grimace just looking at it.
Its arm lashed out like a whip, moving so fast that the deafening sound of a sonic boom filled the building.
CHWAAAAAAK!
The air split with a sharp crack as Snowah ignored the noise and charged forward, raising her staff.
A blizzard erupted from her staff as she advanced, colliding head-on with the World’s Enemy. The monster froze solid, and with another strike, it shattered into countless pieces. The sight of its broken, frozen body scattering across the floor was eerily reminiscent of a horror movie.
"Hah… Is this the right way, Professor?"
"Hmm… The direction is correct, but something feels off."
"Well, we have been walking for hundreds of meters, haven’t we?"
I nodded at Snowah’s comment with a bitter smile. The Evilus Corporation’s building was large, but not this large. It was still a structure in the middle of the city. Even if we’d walked from one end of the building to the other, this much distance didn’t make sense.
Despite walking for what felt like an eternity, there was no end in sight. No walls, no sign of Aile’s room—just endless corridors. It felt as though the building had transformed into a labyrinth.
"Could this be some kind of magic…?"
"Does an Evil Magical Girl have magic like this?"
"Not according to the specs."
"Specs…?"
"Oh, didn’t I tell you? I’m the one who created the Evil Magical Girls."
Unlike other magical girls, Evil Magical Girls weren’t born but were manufactured using advanced technology.
While ordinary magical girls could grow stronger through love, courage, or some other ridiculous force, Evil Magical Girls were bound by their pre-determined specifications.
In other words, Aile might look like a magical girl in name and appearance, but in reality, she was closer to a Kamen Rider or a tokusatsu hero.
When I casually explained this, Snowah’s eyes widened in disbelief, her gaze trembling as she stared at me.
"Y-You created the Evil Magical Girls? You’re the one who made them?!"
"What, Aile never mentioned it?"
"She said you worked the same part-time job, but… to think—"
Seeing the shock on Snowah’s face, I started to regret saying anything.
For a real magical girl like Snowah, Aile must have seemed like an interloper—an artificial creation that didn’t belong.
And to Snowah, I was likely an even greater threat—someone who could mass-produce magical girls, potentially rendering natural ones obsolete. It wasn’t hard to imagine her feeling like a worker during the Industrial Revolution, staring down the threat of mechanization.
"I’ll just say this—Aile wasn’t designed with these kinds of abilities. Shutting down an entire city or creating the World’s Enemy wasn’t part of her specs."
"Then what is this…?"
"That’s what we’re here to find out. Isn’t the pursuit of the unknown exciting?"
Snowah grimaced, clearly unimpressed.
"…You’re just as strange as ever, Professor. Finding joy in this situation—"
"Haha, being able to smile no matter what is the key to being an adult."
"Then I must still be a child because I don’t feel like smiling at all."
Snowah sighed and continued forward but suddenly raised her staff and swung it sharply.
WHAM!
Something that hadn’t been visible before flew out of the air and tumbled across the floor.
Snowah stepped in front of me protectively and immediately fired another spell at the now-revealed monster. Her decisiveness was impressive—a hallmark of a seasoned magical girl.
"K-KIK, KIIIIK—"
But instead of dying, the monster began to laugh, as though it had achieved its purpose.
Before we could react, Snowah gasped and clutched her hand.
"Ugh—!"
"Miss Snowah?!"
"My hand…!"
Looking down at her hand, Snowah saw a tattoo of a hollow flower beginning to form on the back of it. One of the petals had turned pitch black.
The tattoo looked ominous, as though it came with a curse. If all the petals turned black, something terrible would likely happen.
Snowah seemed to realize this as her expression darkened, her gaze fixed on the tattoo.
"…This isn’t good."
Understanding that she couldn’t kill any more monsters without worsening the situation, Snowah looked slightly panicked.
I reached into my pocket, pulling out a spray bottle and a handkerchief. Taking her hand gently, I said, "Hold still."
"Huh? What are you—"
Ssssshhhhh—
I sprayed her hand with disinfectant alcohol and began wiping the tattoo with the handkerchief.
The tattoo, which had looked so ominously permanent, started to fade as I cleaned it. After a few more wipes, it disappeared entirely.
Satisfied, I put the spray bottle away and said, "There. Let’s go."
"…Professor, what was that?"
"Hm? Oh, just disinfectant alcohol. I use it for cleaning, and it’s harmless to humans. No need to worry."
"No, I mean…"
Snowah stared at me, utterly dumbfounded.
I just smiled back at her. Eventually, she sighed in defeat and started walking again.