VOLUME 2

Chapter 2: Part 7

Like that, we had our heart’s fill of fun at the arcade, and then left.

Haruna took a nice, long stretch. Why was it that girls seemed so erotic when they stretched? Was it because you could really see their b.r.e.a.s.t.s with their arms over their heads like that? Was it because their backs being curved really highlighted their b.r.e.a.s.t.s? Were their voices themselves erotic?

In any case, when the normally not-erotic Haruna stretched like that, even she seemed just a bit s.e.xy.

Then, right after I averted my eyes… right in front of the arcade we had just come out of…

There was a Megalo.

All animals that wore boy’s school uniforms were Megalo. They were the easiest thing in the world to recognize.

This Megalo really did look like a stuffed animal. The Megalo there was a bunny with slightly green ears. He almost looked like a daikon radish.

Good grief. I released my schoolbag, which had been filled to the brim with stuffed animals and cell-phone straps, and let it fall to the ground. It would only get in the way of the battle.

The bunny took one look at my face, and…

“Usagee~~! (1) It’s a masou shoujo!”

He shouted that. He was standing on two feet, but his size was pretty much the size of a normal rabbit. He was just a cute little rabbit.

“Haruna, are you alright?”

“Hueh? Why?”

“Come on, there’s a Megalo in front of you… look there.”

“Hueh? That’s a Megalo? Really?”

“He’s wearing a school uniform and he’s standing upright, so he has to be a Megalo, right?”

“But… he doesn’t look strong at all… ah, is this a bunny?!”

When Haruna approached, the bunny began to hobble slowly away. He might be a bunny, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of hopping.

Then, the bunny spun in a half-circle, and for some odd reason… hid behind me in my shadow.

What the h.e.l.l…

“He really doesn’t feel like a monster at all, does it?”

Even though Sera said that, her eyes had already bled crimson. Hey hey, if you say that, why do you still look like you have every intention to beat him down?

“H-Help me.”

Even if you tell me that… in any case, I bopped him on the head, and the bunny’s eyes teared up. He ran towards Yuu.

“The human punched meee~~~.”

He almost sounded like a child seeking comfort from its mother.

Yuu stroked his head softly.

“Ah, look, he’s carrying something.”

Sera took something from the bunny. It was an envelope.

“Give it back! I’ll rabbit you, you a.s.shole!”

What the h.e.l.l did that mean?

“Haruna, what rank is this Megalo?”

“Bunny Megalo are the lowest rank, rank D. Us masou shoujo started by hunting rabbits. Even the gloomy necromancer could probably beat him with one hand.”

It seemed that we had just come across this Megalo by accident, so we really didn’t have to beat him. Haruna also seemed to have lost interest. Although, I did punch him once.

Sera opened the envelope, and took out a single piece of paper. She looked at it and her expression became suspicious.

“What’s written on it?”

“… Nothing.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing is written on it.”

Sera showed me the contents of the envelope.

What was the meaning of this?

I picked up my bag… wait just a second. This wouldn’t happen to be another thing Dai-sensei wanted me to hold onto, would it?

For example, suppose Dai-sensei sent a masou shoujo my way, but she got beaten by a Megalo, and this envelope was stolen from her. Now suppose that battle scene was close by, and we just happened to b.u.mp into this Megalo with this envelope. Was that possible?

Nah, that was preposterous. However, why would anyone ever put a blank sheet of paper in an envelope? Surely this white piece of paper also had some meaning to it?

Well, if that were true, I might as well believe that having a bomb shaped like an orange was also…

Orange?

Ah, right. What about invisible ink? I’ve heard somewhere that you could use citrus fruits to write invisible letters, and they would show up with heat.

But even if that idea was right, it’s not like I could test it.

If this were really something Dai-sensei had given me, then I couldn’t just do what I wanted with it.

“Give it back! What do you think you’re doing?! Returning a favor with a grudge?!”

Exactly what kind of favor do you think you’ve done for us? The bunny tried to get the paper back, but he was too short and even with his jumps he couldn’t reach the paper.

“I’ll let you run away, so disappear.”

I whispered that into his long ears, and the bunny opened its mouth wide, almost seeming in shock.

“Hmph, this world should just go and get destroyed by the masou shoujo!”

The bunny left those words in the air and hobbled off.

“Geez, what a weird Megalo. Saying masou shoujo were going to destroy the world…”

He was not mistaken.

“Really?

I turned the conversation to Haruna, and…

“Yeah. Virie is trying to purify this world.”

It was an instant response.

Purify? What did that mean? No matter how I interpreted it, it just left a bad echo in my ears. Were the masou shoujo really trying to destroy this world like that bunny had said?

… That has to be a lie, right?

I thought that the masou shoujo had come to protect this world from the threat of the Megalo. Vampire ninjas were the same way.

Were masou shoujo… was I acting on the side of justice? What was justice in the first place?

Also, if that’s the case… what should I do?

Should I stay as a masou shoujo and continue fighting the Megalo?

No, justice had nothing to do with it. Megalo went after the masou shoujo. Kyouko and the people helping her behind the scenes were going after Yuu.

I needed the power of the masou shoujo to fight against those ent.i.ties.

Yes, I had to drive away the sparks that were falling down.

Sparks that were not falling down on me, but rather on Yuu and Haruna.

END CHAPTER 2

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) Usagi is rabbit in j.a.panese.