---

Residual Magical Power exists.

Actually, it’s not some groundbreaking theory from academia, it’s just a concept we use among ourselves.

Unlike aliens who can utilize magic in a weak form with their bare bodies, Earthlings, if left to their own devices, cannot use magic at all. The means to assist in this was the circuit, and conversely, only those humans who couldn’t naturally use magic could generate greater power than the weak magic that aliens instinctively use by employing circuits.

Well, aliens do have their own methods of utilizing magic. Rather than casting real spells, it mainly manifests as their physical abilities being significantly stronger than those of Earthlings. Cases of them using real magic like true magicians are rather rare.

On the other hand, magical girls tend to showcase their powers almost entirely in the form of magic—

Blergh!

But that magic can also be quite impressive if used well.

Even if it wasn’t about shooting beams or arrows of light, it can be utilized to disarm an opponent or give a slight push or support to myself.

It’s a fighting style that only those accustomed to operating the circuits can master.

Ah, so what exactly is residual magical power—

“Guh! How on earth…!?”

“Did you really think you could just win without circuits?”

Well, that’s common sense. Not just us, most other heroes are in the same boat. I’ve heard it’s caused actual damage in real-life incidents.

There are folks who get in trouble, whether it’s troublemakers looking for a fight or those who’ve been punished once and come back for more.

That’s why it’s usual to always carry a circuit.

“I think when a lot of magic is poured out, some stays in the body.”

It’s not quite the same as during the real circuit operation. But at least I managed to suppress those not-so-good aliens who weren’t real threats.

I kicked out at one that was rushing me, sending the knife I was holding flying with my foot.

Then I turned my head to look around.

Other magical girls—my seniors—were also fighting well.

I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why residual magical power remained in our bodies, but maybe it was because I had been wearing a circuit for almost 24 hours, and during that time, the circuit had been running while I oscillated between despair and hope, feeling enormous emotional changes.

Above all, I felt like there had been a slight change in the concept of magic when I unleashed a full attack by gathering the powers of other magical girls. At least for us.

Seo-hee was fighting adeptly. She had originally used the strategy of diving into the opponent’s arms when utilizing the circuit in battle, so the moment she was in front of the enemy, they had no real hope.

Yeon-woo—she wasn’t using a wand, but she was swinging her bag around. Quite intimidating. The armor of the guy facing Yeon-woo had already flown far away.

Some other guys rushed towards those two, so I jumped with all my might and slapped the back of one of their heads.

Thud.

As they fell, I turned back to see—

“…”

Delphinium, or rather, Chae-yeon, was just about to be attacked.

It wasn’t that fighting two at once was too difficult, rather, Delphinium had played the role of a strategic weapon for the magical girls.

Slicing through many at once with a wide-ranging magic, just by chanting magic, she emitted an ominous, overwhelming presence, psychologically intimidating the enemies.

Still, it’s not like she couldn’t use magic often. If she reduced the range, she could cast frequently with a shorter chant.

However, being a magical girl specialized solely in ‘pure magic’ made her movements a bit awkward.

Would I describe it as somewhat creaky?

She was indeed utilizing magic and didn’t seem particularly injured, but perhaps it was a bit concerning.

“Oh dear.”

Ultimately, unable to sit back, I leaped to the side and grabbed Chae-yeon’s arm.

“…Ah.”

A few strands of Chae-yeon’s hair were slightly cut. Just moments ago, the knife had barely missed where the back of her head used to be.

“…!”

The two knife-wielders turned their heads towards me and quickly shifted their stance to swing their knives, but—

Slash.

“Ah.”

I winced.

As I tried to dodge to the side, the knife just barely snagged my clothing. The blade skimmed dangerously close to my shoulder, creating a hole in my short-sleeved shirt.

…

This was given to me by Ha-yoon.

In a moment of uncontrollable rage, I slammed my fist into that guy’s jaw.

“…!”

Then I grabbed Chae-yeon again, placing her behind me, and snatched the wrist of another one. Unable to even land a hit on me, he grimaced.

Thud.

I heard the sound of the other one collapsing. Seo-hee and Yeon-woo were taking care of the remaining ones.

“Are you okay?”

I turned to check on Chae-yeon behind me.

“…Yeah.”

Chae-yeon answered while subtly avoiding my gaze.

“Hmm.”

I lightly grabbed Chae-yeon’s wrist. While she seemed a bit surprised, she didn’t shake off my hand.

“…You’re completely bony.”

Her wrist and hands were extremely thin.

They could even be described as delicate arms—why do such thoughts cross my mind? They looked like they could break if poked, like thin legs or arms.

She was so skinny, it felt like looking at those kinds of arms.

“You’re still going to be a magical girl, right? I think you should exercise a bit.”

“…I’m fine as long as I can use magic.”

After hearing what I said, she seemed a bit annoyed and tried to shake my hand off.

Or rather, she put effort into trying to shake it off.

But she couldn’t do it.

“…”

“…Even so?”

As I asked, she slightly turned her gaze away.

“We’ve tried before, you know?”

Seo-hee replied while coming over, her expression completely unfazed even after fighting the knife-wielders. Well, the folks we typically fought were definitely much scarier than these.

“True. There’s a facility for that, you know? But even if you take them, they wouldn’t do any serious exercise. I’ve seen them lounging on the bench press while reading books instead.”

…Are magical girls hitting the gym too?

Well, it wouldn’t be strange if they did.

I, personally, didn’t have the time or money to go to a gym, so I’d never been.

That said, I hadn’t done absolutely no exercise. I used to jog in the morning, and occasionally did some push-ups or squats. Well, it wasn’t every day, but I still wanted to win when fighting.

I just wanted to make sure she sticks to some physical activity.

There’s really no reason for it. Somehow I felt like it would be fun to see some interesting expressions from Chae-yeon if she exercised.

These days, I often teased Ha-yoon or tickled Ji-hye, and I loved seeing Pang-pang’s slightly tipsy expressions over coffee. It’s so amusing, right? As long as the other party isn’t too disgusted, I’d want to keep watching them.

I wanted to stop seeing faces scrunching up, crying, or screaming.

…Well, exercising might automatically make one’s face scrunch up, though.

“Um, but I don’t think this is really the time to be talking about that?”

Yeon-woo said that while poking one of the groaning guys lying on the ground with her foot.

“First, let’s call the police.”

At my suggestion, Seo-hee took out her smartphone.

*

If the police had just arrested the guys on the spot, we wouldn’t have had to write an incident report, but since we had gotten into a brawl, we were told we had to.

After heading to the police station to discuss this and that, about an hour had passed.

It was too early for dinner, and an awkward time to wander around.

Those guys had messed up our schedule a bit.

“Well, it wasn’t a terrible experience, right?”

“Are you getting too absorbed in being a magical girl?”

At Seo-hee’s comment, I frowned.

After all, getting ambushed by strange guys while hanging out with friends is just plain bad, right? It’s not like we got hurt, but we could have been!

“…”

Chae-yeon was staring at my clothes intently.

“That outfit.”

“Hmm? Oh, this.”

Referring to the shirt with the hole in the sleeve, I shrugged.

“It’s fine. I can just sew it up.”

Since it was a gift from Ha-yoon, I didn’t want to throw it away, but I could at least sew it. I’ve moved past the point of caring about what others think of my clothes. My magical girl outfit already looks like that anyway.

But perhaps Chae-yeon was worried as she lightly tugged at my garment.

Since the sleeves were short, she ended up pulling a bit around my waist… no, was it my stomach? That area seemed to be getting tugged a little.

Isn’t that a bit embarrassing?

When I turned back with a somewhat troubled expression, Seo-hee and Yeon-woo were just laughing.

So it must have been a gesture for me to come along.

For some reason, I felt like if I followed them, I’d end up having dinner really late—but well.

Still, since they were offering, I figured I had no real reason to refuse, so I decided to quietly follow them.

…

What should I say to Ha-yoon?

If I told her I was attacked, she’d be worried for quite a while.

It would probably be the same with Ji-hye. And Pang-pang would likely react similarly.

…Well, it seems I’ve had a bit too much good fortune lately.

Isn’t the recoil from all the misfortune hitting me too hard?

 

---