Chapter 3 — Dry scrape, burn and perforate! • Episode 3–Rest — Behind The Scenes Of The Live Broadcast
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
In the anteroom prepared by the Magnetic Witch Ex–Magna, Elephant looked at her Magiphone, fidgeting from slight nervousness.
Elephant hasn’t been told the details of the situation, but as a result of negotiations between Tyrant Sylph and Ex–Magna, it was decided that Ex–Magna’s name recognition would be used in the Sakira Town Magical Girls’ Friendship Appeal Operation. The plan was to start with a live broadcast by the two Witches to gather people, and then Elephant, Blade, and Press would join the broadcast.
The collaborative broadcast was scheduled to begin soon, and the comments in the waiting area were suddenly becoming more active.
The count of viewers has already surpassed 10,000, indicating that the event has attracted attention not only from Magical Girls but also from many ordinary people.
Contrary to her buzz, Tyrant Sylph is a Magical Girl with very little media exposure, and since she doesn’t upload videos herself and her social networking sites aren’t open to the general public, her activities can only be seen in videos of other Magical Girls and videos like the recent Witch Cup.
It was only natural that the sudden collaboration live broadcast would attract attention.
As the scheduled time approached, the standby screen switched.
『Kon-magu～! This is Ex–Magna, the Magnetism Witch, as always—! This time, a big newcomer, who is currently the center of attention, came to play! Fifth in the Witch’s Tea Party pecking order! It’s— The Wind Witch, Tyrant Sylph! Hyu—! Clap-clap-clap!』
『I’m Tyrant Sylph.』
『Hey, hey, Tyrant Sylph～ I told you were too brusque when you came to see me. Come on, smile and laugh more.』
『That’s not what you asked me.』
『She’s as cool as ever. So, here’s Sylph-chan— the half-eyes respectful cool-loli! She’s not an affable girl, but she’s not a bad one, so please take care of her!』
『What is that introduction…』
Sylph, who protested to Ex–Magna with a glazed look as if she felt she was being mocked, but her expression and language were exactly as she had been introduced, and suddenly the her comment was「Thank you for stare, cool-loli!」「The keigo loli is cute!」Ex–Magna was smiling with a satisfied smile as she began to accelerate with the otaku’s characteristic glee.
Originally, Ex–Magna’s channel has a history of gaining viewers by taking advantage of her Magical Girl attributes and her strength as a social game producer and planner, so her audience are skewed toward otakus. Ex–Magna herself understands this, which is why she invited Sylph to collaborate with her, anticipating the otakus’ appeal of Sylph’s attributes.
『Well, let’s get back on track, and I’ll ask you to introduce yourself first.』
『…? I did that earlier.』
『No, no, no, you can’t just say your name like that and call it an introduction!? You know, whatever you like, hobbies, special skills, whatever.』
『What do I like… I play a lot of video games.』
『Ohh, that’s good, that’s good! I like games too. What are you playing these days?』
『Monster Hunting, Minimon, and Smurfy…』
『Eh! You have great taste! Do you have a game console now?』
『No.』
『Then I guess we can’t do the Monster Hunting and Minimon. Okay, we’ll do Smurfy now! This is supposed to be a chat, but this is rescheduled to a game delivery!』
『…I don’t mind, but I’m pretty strong. Please don’t complain if you lose.』
『Ohh— You’re a model for a good sport! I’m going to turn the tables on you!』
Elephant, who wasn’t very familiar with the game, had vaguely heard of the name but didn’t know what it was about.
But,「Ah!（Conjecture）」「Magna-chan, she’s pretty strong, but I hope you’re okay,」「The end of Sylph-chan,」「Here comes the female brat!」She could only somehow guess that it was some kind of a game of superiority or inferiority, seeing that there were a number of disturbing comments such as that.
「Hey, Blade, Press, do you know what is Smurfy?」
「I don’t know. I don’t play games, so…」
「I’ve played it at a friend’s house. To put it roughly, it’s a fighting game.」
「Is it fun?」
「It was fun, but maybe not so suitable for Ele-chan. The best part of the game is kicking each other off the stage. If you want to play with Syl-chan, I think Minimon is the way to go. There are lots of cute monsters and you can play cooperatively.」
「Ehh, is that so? Thank you, Press.」
「It’s nothing～」
Elephant asks a question to Blade and Press, who are each in the same anteroom watching the live broadcast using their own magiphones, Press returned with some very specific advice, to which Elephant thanked her, making no secret of the fact that she was trying to get closer to Sylph. And Blade was looking at Elephant suspiciously.
About a month ago, Blade began to persuade Elephant to move away from Sylph once and for all, to eliminate her dependence on just one person. In the end, the attempt failed because Blade and Press were unable to close the distance between them and Sylph, and the irregularity of the birth of a new Magical Girl caused them to lose their cause to keep Elephant away, but Blade has no intention of just letting things go on as if nothing had happened. She still felt the same sense of mission to save Sylph somehow, and she knew it was the same for Elephant. However, Elephant’s recent behavior was just the opposite, to the point where she was afraid that Sylph might become even more dependent on her.
The current statement also made Blade think that if they were going to deepen their friendship by creating a common hobby, they should all do it, not just Elephant, but Elephant’s words and actions clearly suggested that she was acting on her own initiative.
「Elephant, can I have a word you?」
「Eh, can’t you wait until after the broadcast?」
「We don’t know what the game is about anyway. I really need to clarify something about Sylph-san before we join up with her.」
「It can’t be helped. If Blade says so much, I understand.」
Instead of putting the magiphone to sleep, the broadcast is muted and Elephant turns to Blade. She said she understood, but her gaze almost glanced to her Magiphone, and it was clear that she was backing away.
「…What do you mean? I understand that Shadow-san has teamed up with a new Magical Girl and you have no reason to leave the team. But that didn’t stop you from being too obtuse at the time. On the contrary, you tried to come back yourself, didn’t you? Shadow-san is strong, so I can’t believe she can handle two newcomers.」
「Would Blade have preferred I didn’t come back to the team?」
「No, of course not. I didn’t mean to keep you out of the team. But this is too soon. You were away from Sylph-san for only a short period of time, less than a month. That doesn’t make sense. No, in fact, it will have the opposite effect. It will make her even more dependent on you. Couldn’t you see that?」
If she had wanted to, she wouldn’t have said such a thing to Elephant. She didn’t want to question her best friend, with whom she could fight with her back to the wall. That is why she didn’t mention at first that Elephant had returned too soon of her own volition. She watched her to see if she had an idea of what was going on. She believed that when the time came, she would explain it to them.
But she couldn’t wait any longer. With a sense of urgency, as if something irreversible would happen without her knowledge if she left Elephant alone, Blade questioned Elephant accusingly.
「I know.」
「Then——」
Elephant’s expression did not darken as she answered.
With a cheerful smile as usual, without any hint of guilt or guilt, Elephant acknowledged Blade’s point.
「I knew that, that’s why I came back.」
Interrupting Blade’s words, Elephant takes her seat as she speaks.
Blade backed away as if pressured by Elephant, who approached her step by step with a smile on her face, and when she was cornered up against the wall, Elephant’s footsteps stopped.
「Sorry Blade, I know what I’m talking about. Normally, I would probably be the one to keep my distance for once. Normally, it would be better to wait for Braid and Press to get along with Sylph-chan. But I can’t lie about my feelings.」
「Y–You, what are you saying…」
「I like Sylph-chan. Because I like her, I want to be special to her. I think she was special to me. I can’t stop feeling this way.」
「Y–You like her, eh, does that, mean…」
「I’m in love with Sylph-chan.」
「Wha– that, but——」
At Elephant’s unexpected confession, Blade’s face changed color and she became like a broken machine, trying to say something, stuttering, then saying something else, and then stopping.
In addition to the fact that she had never had any contact with a sexual relationship and wasn’t immune to it, various words were running through her mind and causing panic: teammates, girls, and even though her other teammate was a small child.
「I see, that’s what you meant.」
While Elephant was looking at Blade anxiously, Press, who had been watching the situation with awe and concern, said she was satisfied with the situation.
「Blade, you should leave it at that. You know what they say about people who get in the way of love? I don’t think it’s fair to interfere any further, do we?」
「B–But! That’s not what this is about! Even if the two of them get married, she should still have other friends she can count on!」
「M–Marriage is a bit, you think too fast…」
「That may be true, but that doesn’t mean we should keep Ele-chan away. Ele-chan will attack Syl-chan, and we will approach her on our own. That’s all right.」
「…Approach?」
「Ele-chan, I meant this as a friend, so I won’t look at you.」
「I see. So it’s a race then.」
As Elephant, she intends to keep all the love as a friend and family all to herself, so she has no intention of stopping Blade and Press from trying to be friends with Sylph, but she’s more than ready to develop a relationship higher than friendship with her.
「I’m strange…?」
The information and emotions that exceeded her own capacity were pummeled into her all at once, and Blade’s eyes were rolling around as if she was trying to figure out what was going on.
Before anything else, let’s take a look at the live broadcast of Sylph and Ex Magna.
1st Round
『Ohh? You dropped one plane with no luck～?』
『H–Hmph, first, a small check. I’ll turn things around from here.』
『You use evasion too much! Your guard is too soft!』
『I was just trying to be nice to you, next round I’ll be serious.』
2nd Round
『Magna-chan! Is in game mode!』
『Please stop parrying the return!』
『Okay, a meteor for you.』
『T–This is cheating! Now you’re evasive!』
3rd Round
『No way, Is my fighting power too high…?』
『U–Urrghhh～!』
『Hey, Sylph-chan, don’t pull at me with teary eyes. I look like I’m doing something bad.』
『I’m not crying!』
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I was also exposed as having never even played an online game before because I was afraid to play games with strangers, and I was getting excited just because I won against a computer opponents, and because of that,「Cocky at first」,「Shitty loser slug」,「【Sad News】Sylph-chan was a communicative loser」and「Zero Friends.」Whenever Ex–Magna read them out, I would snap at her and label me as a joke character, a far cry from the cool image I had at the beginning of my career.
