Chapter 37: Burdensome attention.

Low-grade monsters pop up often enough.

Today’s gate opened at a quiet urban spring.
Evacuation was quick due to the secluded spot, and my teammates arrived promptly to start the fight.

I’m keeping an eye out for any stragglers, fiddling with my phone.

[Haeun: Ugh, everyone’s out except me and Sia again.]
[Lily: You’re at school, right?]
[Haeun: Free period. And the others go to school too.]
[Lily: Wanna come?]
[Haeun: Ooh, maybe to check on the juniors?]

She talks like it’s a field trip.

Better than whining about not wanting to come, though.

[Lily: It’ll probably be over by the time you get here.]
[Haeun: 😭]

The spring was overrun by F-grade monsters.
Weak enough that an armed civilian could handle them.

[Sia: With Reaper Mors there, Lily could’ve sat this out.]
[Lily: Just showing my face, so it’s fine. I’m basically chilling now.]

Fifth-gens need field experience, so they show up for most fights.
One or two seniors tag along for emergencies.

For F-grades, Sia’s right—Reaper Mors alone would do. But more firepower’s always better.

“Taking a while,” I muttered.

Feeling bad for slacking, I got up from the bench and headed toward my team.

“Damn rabbits! Stab their guts!”

Parfait Alpha skewered a rabbit monster with her spear, yelling.

Still got a foul mouth.
Where’d she even pick up “guts”?

“Water Bullet!”
“Reverse Icicle!”

Aqua’s water shots rained from above, and Gamma’s icicles surged from the ground.

Rabbits, even as monsters, were frail.

The fight was one-sided but not exactly easy.

“Kree! Kree!”

Red-eyed rabbits charged.
Didn’t they win a war against humans in Australia?

Their strategy: overwhelming numbers, breeding like roaches.

“Eek! Stop clinging!”

Gamma swung her spear wildly to shake off rabbits.
Her close-combat skills were a bit clumsy.

“Beta, Aqua, over here! Let’s group up!”
“Coming!”

The four stood back-to-back, wielding spears and swords, protecting each other as they fought.

Nice to see.
Moments like this become cherished memories.

“What’s with that rabbit?! Why’s it so fast?!”

Reaper Mors was struggling elsewhere, sweating against a boss mob from the gate.

“Can’t even see it move,” a voice drawled.

It was Silent Eve, a fourth-gen magical girl newly assigned to our group, per Armo’s orders.

“Oh my!”

Silent Eve took a body slam from the rabbit.
Her calm reaction belied the hit as she casually raised a barrier for defense.

The boss was fast but weak.

“Angel Slash! Angel Slash! Angel Slash!”

Reaper Mors swung her sword frantically, but no hits landed.

No real plan here.
Support magic would be perfect, but none of us were skilled in that.

Until now.

“Blank World.”

Silent Eve cast a spell, and a soft light glowed from the ground.
The rabbit’s movements slowed.

“What just happened?” Reaper Mors asked.
“Barrier magic,” Silent Eve replied, stepping one foot into the area.

She tapped the ground, but no sound came.

“I silenced the area. Animals get rattled when they lose one sense.”

She’d blocked the rabbit’s hearing.

It seems minor, but it dulls their precision.
Even a slight hesitation creates an opening in a real fight.

“Now I can hit it!”

Another Angel Slash.
Reaper Mors’s blade struck true.

From there, it was easy mode.

“F-grades, but not pushovers.”
“Rabbits don’t seem cute anymore.”

The fifth-gens handled the fodder; the fourth-gens took the boss.

Both fights were intense, and everyone was wiped out by the end.

“Here, drink up,” I said, handing out convenience store drinks to the team sprawled on the bench.

“Lily, stop spectating from afar and jump in sometimes,” Reaper Mors grumbled.

“Spectating? I took out about a hundred rabbits trying to escape the spring.”
“We let that many get away?” Aqua said, stunned.

“You’re not used to swarms, so it happens,” I said.
“You talk like you’re a pro at it,” Reaper Mors teased.

Well, the demon world was crawling with monsters.
I didn’t say that out loud.

“Maybe I’ll shoot some beams next time?” I said.

Parfait Alpha jumped in. “No way! Without one of our three elements, it’d feel empty!”
“You’d need to turn your spear back into a wand for beams,” Gamma added.

“Just kidding. We’ve got our own style,” Alpha said.

The three, with their matching names, had stellar teamwork.

Fire, lightning, ice.

They trained to complement each other, ready for any enemy.
Add Aqua, and they cover the skies too.

Great friendship, perfect balance.

“Scarlet Lily seems seasoned,” Silent Eve said, sitting primly on the bench, smiling at me.

“Lily lived solo in another region for a while. Her magic reserves are huge, so she skipped group training,” Parfait Alpha said, reciting Armo’s cover story to clear up any confusion.

Gotta praise her for that later.

“A genius, huh?” Silent Eve asked.
“More like average,” I said.
“If you’re average, what are we?” Reaper Mors quipped.

Pointless jab.

“Scarlet Lily’s interesting,” Silent Eve said, eyeing me with a sly smile.

She was a unique magical girl.
Friendly, yet there’s this odd distance.

Good that Reaper Mors has a new friend, but this kind of attention feels heavy.

“Cheese!”

Beta snapped three photos, switching poses and angles.

Click! Click! Click!

The fan, a woman in her early twenties, beamed at the pictures and bowed.

“Thanks! I’ll keep cheering for you!”

She’d approached the Alpha-Beta-Gamma trio, calling herself a fan.

The three were recognizable enough to turn heads.
People loved their idol-unit vibe and tight-knit dynamic.

“You guys are popular,” Aqua said casually.

While resting in a small park, a few others had asked for photos too.

“We’re just a trio, so this is nothing. Aqua, you got a fame boost after the wildfire,” Beta said.
“That was mostly Lily…”

I flew the distance and supplied the magic for the rain.
Sure, I did the heavy lifting, but Aqua got the spotlight in interviews.

“You put out the fire. Own it,” Parfait Alpha said, and the others nodded.

“Wanna rename to Delta?” Beta suggested out of the blue.
“Aqua Delta? Oh… I’d have to drop Aqua to match you guys.”
“Like Chocolat Delta?”
“I’m not big on chocolate.”
“Kidding. You’ve built a rep as Aqua, so stick with it,” Beta said.

Parfait Alpha, Macaron Beta, Tart Gamma.

Early in their debut, Alpha, a former idol trainee, suggested matching names for fun.
Beta went along, and Gamma joined, forming their group.

“You aiming to be magical girl idols?” Aqua asked.

Streamers exist, but idols? Unheard of.
With Alpha’s background, it seemed plausible.

“Chasing two rabbits means losing both. I’ll stick to being a magical girl,” Alpha said firmly.

“Alpha knows proverbs now!”
“Her vocab’s way better than last year!”

Beta and Gamma were impressed.

“But if we did become idols, what’s our group name?”
“Desserts together… Sweet Girls?”
“Eh, sounds off.”
“Whatever the name, add Aqua and Lily, and we’re a top group!”
“What’s this about?”

Silent Eve walked over, cutting into their chatter.

“Talking about being idols. You in, Eve?”
“Nah, I heard Lily’s name.”

The four exchanged looks.

“If you’re after Lily, give up. Frozen Princess has dibs,” Beta said.

They all giggled.

“Because of her streaming donations?”
“You saw that too, Eve?”
“I watch everything magical girl-related. Oh, I’m your fan too.”

Her expression brimmed with pride.

“Our fan?”
“Yup, got some of your merch at home. Always buy the trio set.”
“Wow, that’s huge!”

She spared no expense on her fandom.
Alpha, Beta, and Gamma were touched.

“Lately, I’m obsessed with Scarlet Lily,” Silent Eve added.
“So that’s why you asked Armo to transfer here,” Beta said.
“Yup.”
“Greedy! Just don’t piss off Frozen Princess.”

A senior who’s a fan of her juniors.

Silent Eve was blending in seamlessly.

But amid the bonding, one person held back, casting a wary glance.

Aqua.