MHGA Chapter 368 – Cooperation with Magical Girls
What Mami Tomoe said darkened Kairo Retsu's expression several shades.
Magical Boy? Magical Uncle? Those terms immediately brought up mental images of him and the other Hunters at the Gathering Hub, dressed in dazzling, glittery outfits like hosts at a club…
And worse—wearing magical girl costumes. Kairo didn't even dare continue that train of thought for fear of contaminating his own brain.
"No magic! Absolutely no magic!"
Kairo crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I've never signed a contract with anything. Besides…"
"I'm the boss where I come from! You know what I mean?" He gestured grandly as he spoke. "Leader! Commander! Administrator! Like the Demon King of a demon army, or God in heaven—the kind of guy who transforms in the second phase with theme music blaring!"
"You're talking about a game boss!!" Sayaka shouted. "And why would God be a final boss?!"
"See, that just means you haven't played enough games." Kairo said proudly, rubbing his nose. "When it comes to bosses, it's not just Demon Kings. You've got world wills, god-king systems, hyper-aliens, mad scientists, or even characters from the protagonist's faction early on…"
"God's just one of many possibilities!"
He scratched his nose.
After all, with how many worlds the Gathering Hub could now access, it wouldn't be surprising if they ran into a world where even God had an HP bar.
"But you said that little lion is a mass of magic…" Mami caught the point. "Didn't you make a contract with it?"
"I did."
Kairo scratched his chin. "But it's different from a Magical Girl contract."
"I'll tell you where our power as Hunters really comes from."
Kairo answered truthfully. "Eating (cat) meals well, training hard, taking on lots of quests, and hunting seriously."
"There's no way just eating and training would let someone do what you do! Just your Great Sword alone is probably impossible for a normal person to lift!" Sayaka immediately objected.
"You've got a knack for being the comic relief, huh?" Kairo gave her a strange look.
In the original story, Sayaka's arc was so heavy he'd never noticed it. But now that he thought about it, among Madoka, Sayaka, and Hitomi, only Sayaka had that hyper personality. It made sense for her to be the straight-man type.
"Snark is a good habit," Kairo grinned. "That overly gloomy, sad atmosphere? Not for us Hunters."
"One of my best friends is a big-time snarker too." Kairo gave a thumbs-up. "His name's Kazuma Satou. Don't be fooled—he might seem unreliable, but when it counts, he'll charge straight into danger without hesitation."
As for how he charges in, or whether it's really voluntary? Don't ask!
"Whoa!" Sayaka looked genuinely impressed. "He sounds like a guy with real guts!"
"Hunter-san, let's put the digressions aside for now," Mami returned to the topic. "Earlier you said you came to Mitakihara City because of… the Frenzy Virus?"
"What is the Frenzy Virus?" she asked, clearly focused. "And… how many of you are there?"
"That'll take some explaining." Kairo smiled.
Just as he was about to speak, the Winged Lion appeared beside him, burping with satisfaction. "I'm back."
It landed atop Kairo's head, sitting in its cub form. Its eyes met Kyubey's.
Kyubey silently observed the suddenly materialized energy cluster. The Winged Lion likewise extended its senses to analyze Kyubey's structure and existence.
The Incubator—Kyubey's kind—was completely baffled.
Just a condensed structure of energy, yet this entity could move freely, express itself, and had just cohered within a room?
Kyubey couldn't understand that the Winged Lion was magic itself, infinite across dimensions, born of desire.
But unlike Kyubey, the Winged Lion had already understood Kyubey's structure.
In fact, if it so wished, it could create an identical magical creature using infinite mana—a copy of Kyubey, but with an entirely new mind and will.
However, now wasn't the time for that.
So, the Winged Lion yawned and shut its eyes, curling up atop Kairo's head.
"Let's work together, Magical Girls," said Kairo, balancing the Winged Lion. "I'm a big Magical Girl fan myself. Love stories where they save the city."
"!" Mami caught on. "You mean… if the Witches infected by the Frenzy Virus go out of control, the whole city could be in danger?!"
"No, it's not the infected regular Witches that will endanger the city," Kairo shook his head. "It's… an extraordinarily powerful Witch, and the source of the Frenzy Virus."
"They'll appear in this city within a month." Kairo's tone turned grave. "Before that, I want your cooperation to eliminate the Witches already infected by the Frenzy Virus."
"We're hoping to prepare for them in advance and minimize potential damage." Kairo glanced at Mami. "And by that, I mean all the Magical Girls in this city."
"Eh?" Sayaka blinked. "You mean there are other Magical Girls in Mitakihara besides Senpai?"
"Mm… there are," Mami replied after some thought. "But Magical Girls usually hunt Witches for Grief Seeds, so we don't enter each other's territory…"
"But if the taint on our Soul Gems can be cleansed directly…" Mami hesitated.
"No worries, we'll reach out to the others," Kairo smiled. "You'll be meeting other members of our team soon."
"How many of you are there?!" Sayaka asked, baffled. "And… are they all like you?!"
"You'll find out soon enough." Kairo grinned. "Tomorrow… yeah, tomorrow, you'll get to meet a new member of our squad."
Like this story Leave a review ; it would really help me out a lot.
Want to Read Ahead in Advance?
Join my Patreon!
+75 Chapters
Support me in
Patreon.com/BestElysium