Magical Girl Tyrant Sylph

Chapter 2 — Blow all of heaven and earth to smithereens! • Episode 1-1 • Transformation ①

Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV

The only sound in the hot, quiet room is the clattering of keyboards. The air conditioner was turned off on time as usual. I hear that some workers are directly complaining that the heat reduces their work efficiency and causes them to work extra overtime, but so far there are no signs of improvement. I had heard only rumors that they were out of budget. I didn’t bother to check.

I looked at the clock in the lower right corner of the computer and saw that it was a little after 10:00 pm. Colleagues who were working overtime while conversing two or three hours ago are now moving their fingers silently. This is another usual scene.

「Good-bye」

「Many thanks.」

I leave work at the end of the day and get ready to leave the workplace. It takes about two hours one way to get to my home, where I live alone. It’s time to go home or the morning will be hard. Tomorrow is my day off, but even a day off doesn’t change the fact that I have to get up early. The remaining work can be done next week.

I looked outside and saw that it was not raining, although the clouds were suspiciously heavy. The forecast seems to have been wrong. It looks like we can leave our umbrellas behind.

「Mizukami-san, I’m sorry if you were just leaving. Can you just tell me about this part?」

「Ahh, this is…」

I left the workplace in answer to a question from a junior colleague who seems impatient. I missed one. I can’t help but think that they should at least ask me a little earlier, but work is a helping hand. I figured it couldn’t be helped and waited for the train.

As expected at this time of the day, the train was quite empty. Sitting at the end of the table, I kill time by looking at news sites and summary websites at random.

As much as possible, I try not to look at news or articles that make me feel bad. Even if I am just mentally exhausted from the stress of work, I don’t want to feel bad even in my spare time. I look for upbeat news and videos that are congenial.

While being soothed by videos of small animals, all I can think about is work. Human relationships are not a problem to the extent that they interfere with my work, and I don’t always have to work this much overtime. I know that overall, it is not a very bad job. I got into it in the first place for the sole purpose of being stable. I’m not going to complain about the low salary now, but there is a big gap with what I imagined.

If I won the lottery, I would definitely quit. That’s not because I particularly dislike my current job, but simply because I dislike working itself. I am aware that I am a helpless sociopath, but at the same time I fear a future without rails.

I think about quitting, but in the end I am working to survive. I can’t help it. I am so anxious and stressed out that I sometimes wonder if my life has any meaning or future.

Let’s stop. Another bad habit was let out.

As I looked at the new news to change my mood, I suddenly noticed a headline: Magical Girl Idols, a fast-growing trend in popularity. I’m not too familiar with real-life idols, but the word “magical girl” intrigued me.

When I opened the article, it displayed an image of a magical girl idol or something like that. Her pretty, frilly outfit and dazzling smile like the sun. Flickering flames are surrounding such a beautiful girl. They are selling it under the name “Magical Girl Sunny.” I found a link to a video and opened it to see a girl singing and dancing while manipulating a beautiful flame. She do not look like CG or synthetic. Indeed, it is no wonder that this is a magical girl idol.

When did the existence of magical girls first appear in this world? Not that long ago. I don’t think it was around when I can remember, but I can’t recall the exact timing.

When I came to realize that it was rooted in society, it was natural for me to be there.

There are many mysteries about magical girls. It is known that they are fighting something, but what that something is is not known. Various theories have been put forward, such as that a very ordinary human girl is apparently transformed into a magical girl, or that she is an otherworldly person from a magical world. In short, it is totally unknown what a magical girl is.

Well, does it matter?

The more I thought about it, the stranger it was, but I suddenly lost interest. It was always the same. The magical girl thing is indeed a mystery, but I’m not enthusiastic enough to try to figure it out. I am sure they all do.

I closed the Magical Girl Idol article and fired up the shadow game.

The name of the game is Magical Girl Wars. The game features characters modeled after real-life magical girls, and is surprisingly interesting. It’s a great way to pass the time.

Oh, by the way, this was also magical girl related.

After all, it seems that the existence of magical girls is accepted by society in its own way.

.

The station and home are a reasonable distance apart. When I first moved here, I was dazzled by the low rent and thought there was nothing wrong with getting some exercise every day, but after walking this way for several years, I was fed up with the quicksand. I wish I had stayed closer to the station, but I certainly didn’t have the financial means to do so at the time, and in the end, there was nothing I could do about it, even if I thought about it. I can’t bring myself to move now.

I can’t waste time on my phone while walking this way, and I can’t stop to think about it. Normally I would think about what I would do on vacation or about work, but today I just couldn’t stop thinking about my age.

After all, today is my birthday. I was just barely in my twenties, but now I am finally thirty. In addition, I have no sexual experience, so I have become a magician. I laugh to myself, thinking to myself, “I’m one of the magical girls.” Fortunately, there were no people around. A 30-year-old man suddenly bursting out laughing in the street late at night would have definitely been a matter of concern if people had seen him.

In mangas and dramas, there are often characters who do not remember their own birthdays. As an event, it may have to be a surprise, but I don’t think I could actually forget my own birthday. As that day approaches, the feeling that this year will be another year of getting older is sure to come.

I have always had a backward-looking mindset, or rather, a negative one. I can’t help but think of things in a bad or worse way. It’s not funny because I even have insomnia because of it.

Even when I try to change my mind, the bad imagination sticks to me like mud and won’t let go. Let’s think of something fun and enjoyable. Something, something fun.

For example, a game, yes, something about Magical Girl Wars.

「…?」

Suddenly, I looked around and it suddenly seemed dark. I thought I was imagining it, but then I realized I wasn’t imagining it after all. The electricity is out.

I was late to notice because I am already deep in a residential area and there were no stores or traffic lights, but all the houses had no lights on. Plus, the streetlights. Maybe it was a power outage.

But still, the moon is bright. I couldn’t believe how clearly I could see my surroundings even though the lights were off.

Looking up, I see a full moon in a cloudless sky and stars shining. It was so, so beautiful, I couldn’t believe my eyes. A silhouette emerged in the moonlight.

「…Magical girl.」

It was like a painting. A strange shape flying in the sky with a big moon in the background, and a girl kicking it. The scene is instantaneous: the kicked-away deformity disappears as if dissolving into air, and the girl falls, pulled by gravity.

She was running as fast as she could. I didn’t have any idea. Not far enough to make it in time. If she is a magical girl to begin with, she may not die in the fall. In hindsight, it was a meaningless action. However, my body was moving on its own at the time, and I found myself back in my usual scenery.

The magical girl who had fallen from the sky and the big full moon had vanished, and in front of me was an overcast sky and a residential area illuminated by civilized lights.

Suddenly, I noticed that my cheeks were wet.

Ahh, that’s right.

Come to think of it, rain was predicted for today.