Prologue

Magical Girl Alice has two secrets.

One is that the image she presents in front of the cameras is nothing but a staged performance steeped in her persona, and

the other is that she isn't actually a magical girl.

The first isn't much of a problem even if it gets exposed, since most magical girls have their own personas to uphold, but the second is fraud exploiting a loophole in the magical-girl contract, so it must never be discovered.

[Alice! We got a request for backup!]

"Damn it, I just lit this!"

The magical-girl industry won't even let her sneak a puff away from prying eyes after finishing a job.

Magical Girl Alice heads out today as well, hoping only that her secret will remain safe.

"Um... Senior Alice...? There's something here..."

"Fuck."

She'd been found out.