Chapter 19
"You've come to me first of all people. After throwing that persona of yours around while refusing me, too. What changed your mind?"
"Alice is perfect, but that doesn't mean my opinion of Perfect Alice can never change."
"Why don't we talk over something to drink? Black tea? Green tea? I don't mind alcohol, either. I have most varieties, so just tell me what you want."
"Cocoa. With three sugar cubes."
"...This is a single cup, you know? You want me to put three cubes of sugar in one cup?"
"Yes. That's right."
Emerald's expression twisted as if she'd heard something she shouldn't have.
It was the expression of someone who could already imagine exactly how it would taste.
Even so, since she'd taken the order, she obediently made it as requested, though her face was still full of doubt as she handed it over.
"Isn't this just melted chocolate and sugar water...? You're really going to drink this? It's viscous...?"
"Alice likes it."
"...Here. For now."
I carefully accepted the cup Emerald handed me.
-Sip
Though I'd taken only one sip, the viscous liquid—practically sugar water—slid over my tongue, generously delivering its sweetness to my brain and stimulating my taste buds.
If you drove the sensation of "sweet" straight into your brain, it would probably feel a lot like this.
Most people liked their sweetness somewhat moderated; they probably didn't enjoy this horrifyingly excessive sweetness.
'Fuck, that's sweet.'
And I was no different.
'How the fuck does that crazy Alice even drink this?'
It wasn't as if I was drinking it because I wanted to.
The real Alice actually drank it this way. With a blissful expression, too.
Since I had to imitate Alice as closely as possible, I gave it a try... but there was no way I could imitate this taste.
Fortunately, even as my insides were in chaos from the sugar bombardment, the Alice on the outside was carrying out her role perfectly.
"Mmm... How delightful. Cocoa really suits Alice."
"...At this point, I can't tell whether it's a persona or not. I couldn't drink something like that even if it were a persona... Well, is being cute all that matters?"
With my tongue already tingling, I began the proper negotiations again.
"Mm... So the conditions are no group lodging, no changing clothes or outfits, and no requests for various kinds of physical contact or service scenes. Is that about it? It's more or less what I expected, but you really hate touching other people, don't you?"
"It would be better if you focused the cameras more on your juniors. Alice is already perfect, so there's no need to show more of her."
"You still seem to hate cameras. But I'm genuinely curious—how do you avoid them so well? You seem to go out on patrol pretty often, so how do you never get photographed?"
"Is it because they can't keep up with Alice's light?"
"Anyway, I understand the conditions. Nothing in particular is a problem. Since the main purpose is to advise the juniors and teach them how to fight, I won't ask for anything unnecessary. Just do a little fan service if you feel like it."
"Of course Alice is perfect, but... was there really a reason to call Alice? Miss Emerald, you're a perfectly impressive magical girl yourself."
Emerald was highly ranked among magical girls to begin with.
Even if the ranking wasn't an absolute measure of combat power, someone at Emerald's level was more than qualified to teach other magical girls. It was honestly hard to see why she needed to call Alice at all.
"Oh my. Did that Alice just call me impressive? What an honor."
"Alice doesn't like answering questions with questions."
"Hmm... Even though I may not look it, I run a business. That alone keeps me incredibly busy. I don't deploy very often because my activities are recognized as helping magical girls overall... but anyway, appearing on a program myself to teach the juniors while running my business would be a bit much."
"I see. Alice understands."
In the end, she was saying that she was too busy making money, so she was looking for a stand-in. What a hypocrite.
There was no denying that the other magical girls benefited greatly from the money this woman made, but I couldn't help feeling envious anyway.
"The filming period is one month, with two shoots a week, so you'll probably need some help. I'll assign you a manager. No doubt you'll refuse to have someone constantly at your side, saying Alice has to remain mysterious, so just save the phone number. I've told the manager they may contact you in advance, so get in touch whenever it's convenient. Just don't call in the middle of the night, okay?"
"What exactly do you take Alice for?"
"It's because you're so secretive in the way you operate. Anyway, tell me now if you don't need one. For your information, the manager is a magical girl too, so she knows this field well, and you don't need to worry about confidentiality."
It was honestly inconvenient, but now that I'd decided to appear on the show, refusing to have a manager would be absurd.
Just imagine me handling every little thing myself despite not being a professional: the filming schedule, locations, what needed to be prepared, the script, and so on. My head was already starting to split.
Even if she wouldn't be following me around like the managers people usually imagined, I couldn't deny the need for a professional to help with all the miscellaneous work.
For the time being, my policy was to at least do what I was paid for.
"It would be impolite to refuse your offer to help Alice."
"Here, take my business card. Thinking of your personality, I assigned someone who clearly separates business from personal matters and knows how to respect boundaries, so don't put up too much of a wall."
"Then Alice will be going now..."
"Leaving already? I haven't had lunch yet. If you haven't either, why not eat together while you're here?"
...It was a chance to save on food expenses, but eating in this appearance was extremely uncomfortable.
There were so many things to worry about if I wanted to eat like Alice that, rather than cut into a steak while maintaining Alice's persona, I'd be better off making ramen at home.
"Alice's time is up, so... I have to go look for Mr. Bunny."
"Sheesh. You and Aia both look cute, but you put up the same walls. Well, Aia at least lets me hug her, but you don't even allow that, so maybe you're the stiffer one. All right, go on, go. How can you refuse me even once after I've begged you for ten years?"
Aia... She was the number-one S-rank magical girl.
The public assessment was that... true to her number-one ranking, she was extremely strong and swift at exterminating Abyss Ones, but had an unwavering sense of self... Hmm...
To put it bluntly, she was just a persona freak like Alice.
That was what Emerald had been talking about.
It wasn't strange for magical girls to have one persona or another, but genuine persona freaks who maintained theirs even outside official events or off the record were rare.
I also found such magical girls personally uncomfortable, but talking to a persona freak while maintaining a persona was a headache for both sides, so I preferred not to run into them if I could help it.
People would probably accuse me of hating my own kind.
"Then, I'll see you again later. May your day shine brightly, too."
"Before I retire, I'll definitely pounce on Aia at least once."
Hmm. I'd pretend I hadn't heard that.
In any case, Emerald's physical abilities, as a magic specialist, weren't enough to knock Alice over.
So she must have just been saying it.
Was that level of physical contact common among magical girls...? I really didn't understand women's culture.
If this had been a return from a normal deployment, I would have teleported away at this point, but everyone who might have seen Alice enter the building had already seen her.
So I had to let them see her leave, too, or they might unnecessarily assume I was still inside the building.
-Bustle-bustle
'...Sigh. I can already hear the reporters swarming everywhere.'
They surely knew that Alice rarely agreed to interviews, so they had probably come hoping to get at least a few pictures.
Normally, I wouldn't have allowed it, but this time I had something to say, so I would.
"I'm sorry, Miss Alice. I tried my best to hold them back, but reporters are always like that... If you're uncomfortable, I'll guide you out through the back door. If you leave that way, you can shake most of the reporters..."
"Alice doesn't stop the love directed at Alice!"
-Fling!
-Click-click-click-click
&@$@!$#@
Because of Alice's persona, she couldn't leave through the back door in such an undignified manner.
Then she'd walk out proudly, say what she had to say, and disappear.
"Alice has decided to appear on 'Rookie Magical Clas..s' for the sake of her juniors! Please show us lots of love! May everyone have a shining day!"
'Ugh, that naming sense.'
-Whoosh!
I said exactly what I needed to say and moved by teleportation.
I had even struck an Alice-like pose in the process, so the reporters, who were like piranhas that had smelled blood, should have been reasonably satisfied.
'Ha, money really is the root of all evil.'
Normally, I wouldn't take the initiative to promote myself, but money really was the root of all evil.
They were even offering an incentive if the ratings were good, so I had no choice.
And in any case, Emerald's side would do a tremendous amount of promotion, and one more word from me wouldn't make much difference.
'I really didn't want to be a regular MC.'
It wasn't actually an MC role, but rather that of a teacher who advised the junior magical girls and helped them grow. Still, my screen time would be enormous.
I'd asked them to focus the cameras on the juniors rather than me if possible, but since I would be filming eight episodes, it would still be fair to say that this was by far the most exposure I'd had in any activity over the past several years.
But refusing meant going back to a life of anxiously waiting for work that might never come, repairing the house, and comparing the value of purchases down to the last ten won while trying to refill the bank account that had been emptied in an instant.
I decided it would be better to overextend myself once, fill it back up in one go, and then disappear again.
After all, the Alice known to the public was a magical girl with ten years of experience. Unless I were a newly debuted celebrity, people wouldn't be all that interested just because I suddenly became popular through one program. As I'd said many times, this market was already saturated with magical girls.
...That's what I thought, anyway.
-Ding!
[Look, Alice. These are the applications from prospective students that came in today.]
-Piled high
"Holy fucking shit."
Apparently, Alice's popularity really wasn't something I could kill off easily.