“So when there’s a witch nearby, it’ll glow?”
‘Yes. Your soul gem is more suited to be a magic receptor than your body, so it is more likely to detect anything at all, and what it receives will be far more detailed. If you apply yourself, it is even possible to distinguish between magic sources by their signatures.’
“Huh...” I raised my gem. “So...that means there’s a witch nearby.”
It was a few hours after I had become a magical girl – just for today, instead of playing my eroge into the night, I had snuck out as soon as I was sure my family was asleep. Kyubey was teaching me the basics of how to be a magical girl.
It took me a while, but I got the hang of walking around and pinging my Soul Gem’s magic-radar-thingy at the same time. At first it had been close to silent, but now...
‘Yes. That reaction is unmistakably what you would receive if there is a witch nearby. In fact, I believe we are almost upon the entrance. You had best get ready now, Kirino.’
I grinned. This was the part I looked forward to most. “One magical girl costume, coming right up!”
I held my Soul Gem into the air and willed myself to transform.
Light cocooned me, stripping my clothes off and forming into their replacements. A shower of orange light burst off from my body. I beamed as my transformation sequence played out in glorious special effect, and then my face fell.
“Wait. What the hell is this?”
‘It’s your magical girl costume, Kirino. I believe I already elucidated this to you.’
“‘Magical girl costume’, my foot!”
I thought I was going to get something like Meruru’s magic dress. Instead, I got what was clearly a simple yukata. A short-skirted yukata, to boot! I didn’t look like a magical girl, I looked right out of a Japanese folk tale, like a kunoichi or something!
“This is not what I signed up for! I can get this outfit from any random traditional Japanese store! Damn it Kyubey, you said I could get good-looking clothes!”
The alien tilted its head quizzically. ‘That is odd. I had believed prior that by human society’s standards of aesthetics from “okay” to “gorgeous”, this set would have rated a “stunning”. Have I misjudged somehow?’
“That’s not what I meant! I wanted something cute! Something Stardust Witch-like! Something that obviously meant I was a magical girl!”
‘Kirino, I do not understand why humans would purposely aim for the lower end of the spectrum when trying to look appealing.’
“It’s not lower end! You can’t rate beauty on a graph – people have different tastes!” I knew Kyubey said he didn’t understand humans, but this was getting ridiculous!
‘It appears I still have much to learn. At any rate, I have conjectured before that magical girl costumes are determined by the psyches of the magical girls themselves. I am afraid that your outfit will not change until you do.’
I tried to rug the obi off by myself, but it was tied on too tightly! “Oh that is not fair! You mean I’m stuck with this – wait a minute –”
I couldn’t feel my hair at my neck – gods, if this transformation ruined my hairstyle I was honestly going to throw something!
I felt up my head and sighed in relief. It was just done up – it seemed like a spiked bun, but without a mirror I couldn’t tell for sure. Other than that, the only thing on my head was – “Is this a hair clip?”
It was a flower-patterned ornament – more pointless cementing of the fact I looked more like a Yamato Nadeshiko than a magical girl proper. At the center of it was a glowing orange gem.
‘Yes, that is your Soul Gem,’ Kyubey answered, before I even asked. ‘As I have stated before, you will be unable to operate as a Magical Girl if you are too far from it or it is destroyed. Be careful with your source of power.’
“Yeah...okay.” Man...I totally didn’t feel like doing this anymore. Still, I made a contract, and if I learned anything about contracts during my career as a model, it’s that you don’t break them. Glumly, I checked over the rest of my outfit. “Are these geta sandals? Wouldn’t they be hard to move in?”
‘It is commonly known that a magical girl would not experience significant difficulty with operating any of her starting weapons and powers – although there have been cases where a magical girl’s starting weapons and powers were lost. To answer your question, Kirino, you should be able to move without any problems, simply by instinct.’
“Huh...” I tried to hop around a few times to test Kyubey’s theory out, and he seemed to be right – I was surprised at how easily I moved in them. The last time I wore them was for the Shichi-Go-San, and I remembered struggling hard not to trip. “That’s pretty convenient. Guess this outfit comes with perks. Anything else I should know?”
‘Do not forget to summon your weapon.’
“Oh yeah!” My spirits lifted, I grinned and held out a hand overhead, summoning my weapon – which immediately pulled my enthusiasm back down. “What the hell!?”
‘Intriguing. I believe humans call this...a battle pillar.’
“Wh...wh...what!?” I sputtered. I thought magical girls were supposed to get wands. Heck, even a sword would do! But...a battle pillar!?
And yeah, it was a pillar all right. Just slightly taller than me, so thick that my arm reached only a little over half its circumference, the pillar looked like it was made out of stone, coloured grey on the middle part, and capped with white on each of the ends, like a giant Q-tip.
“H...how am I supposed to fight with this?” I finally asked, and knowing I sounded pretty helpless right now.
‘Well, it may have a special property. Try reaching into your instincts and do something to make your weapon react.’
“Uh...okay...” I closed my eyes and, doing what felt most right, pushed magic into it.
Instantly it deflated and now it hung like a sack in my arms.
Both me and Kyubey stared at it for a moment. “Um...” I poked the “battle pillar”, and realized it really did feel like a sack now. “I guess I can use this as a landing pad...?”
‘Not necessary. A magical girl’s strength and instincts are enough that falls from any height can be safely managed under most situations. I’m sorry to say that your weapon is rather redundant in this case.’
“Then this thing is useless!?” I wailed. “That’s not fair!”
Kyubey decided to take pity on me. ‘Well, I suppose it could be used as a crash pad in case there are any innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire. That’s one use.’
Somehow, his attempt only made the whole thing feel even more insulting. I wasn’t sure how, it just did.
“Oh, nevermind,” I moaned, turning back to the witch’s labyrinth and wishing this night was done and over with. “I’ll just figure out on the go! Let’s go already!”
