Chapter 61
"...Thanks for your help. You saved me."
"It's nothing. I only took a short walk, anyway."
"Then, I'll see you next..."
"Aah! I went through all that trouble helping you! Let me see, too! Just what it is! I won't do anything beyond looking!"
...She said it was a simple task until just now.
Well, I understood her feelings. When you're carrying a box, it's only natural to wonder what's inside.
And... it wasn't anything particularly secret, either.
"It's just fan letters and gifts that Alice's fans sent to Alice."
"But I'm still curious! What did the other fans send, besides me?"
"...Well, come in for now."
The chain on the front door had already been opened to receive the box. I carried it inside, set it on a suitable table, and sat down.
Even after seeing it again, the box had an incredibly flashy appearance. Apparently, this was what the company used when delivering gifts to magical girls.
'...Considering Alice's concept, it isn't entirely out of place, either.'
As far as her concept went, Alice had a rather self-absorbed streak, so a flashy box like this suited her better than a plain one. She was always going around saying things like, 'What suits Alice is~.'
I suspected Sapphire had thought of that when she gave it to me.
'...Why did that bastard come up with such a lousy conce— Ah, forget it.'
The more I thought about it, the more I was the only one who suffered.
"But what if there's something weird in there? Like a malicious fan letter from an anti-fan, or a gift with a stalking device hidden inside?"
"Since it was delivered through the company, there shouldn't be anything strange. They must have run everything through a metal detector, at least."
It was a company specializing in managing magical girls. Surely they had at least that much security. Attempts of that sort targeting magical girls had been publicly condemned long ago, and several people had actually ended up with criminal records, so these days, it was a world where no one dared try such things.
So there was probably no camera or anything like that, either... If a fan letter the company failed to screen turned out to be malicious... I would either ignore it or find some other way to return the favor if it really bothered me.
Being a magical girl didn't mean I couldn't sue someone.
Even so, I kept Alice's transformation active in case that 0.01 percent possibility actually came true. Even if there really was something like that, I would be fine in this state.
'...It would be difficult to do because of the concept, but... I might as well take a look.'
-Swish
I untied the cord around the box and lifted the lid, revealing its contents.
"Ooh... Letters, and... This is a rabbit doll. It looks like they tried to make Senior's mascot... Though it does look somewhat similar, too? These are candies, and... chocolate, and... There are lots of tasty things. This chocolate looks foreign-made. It looks pretty expensive, too."
"You can eat it if you want."
"Oh, rea— No. It's rude to take and eat someone else's gift."
"...I probably wouldn't eat much of it even by myself."
"It's still rude! This came to Senior Alice! And Alice is..."
"Um... This rabbit doll..."
"Ignoring me?!"
All rabbit dolls probably looked more or less the same, but this one was quite different from Tokkaengi's appearance. That was only natural, since Alice had never revealed what her mascot looked like, so other people had no way of knowing.
Even so, the reason it felt similar was probably because there was an expected appearance. If you combined the name Alice, Alice's usual behavior, and the rabbit symbolism, anyone would imagine a rabbit in aristocratic clothes holding a watch. That was probably the image people thought of.
'...Now that I look at it, maybe it is similar?'
[Not at all.]
'Aren't rabbits all basically alike?'
[Those are discriminatory remarks against rabbit mascots. Even rabbit-type mascots have slightly different appearances. The placement of their fur, or the spots on the soles of their feet, for example.]
'...Differences that small still make them the same, don't they?'
Since it insisted it wasn't, I had nothing more to say.
"There aren't any eavesdropping or hidden-camera devices, at least. These days, it would be hard to find someone bold enough to do something like that."
"You can tell just by looking?!"
"Applying magic makes it possible to detect things like this. There are already quite a few anti-stalking spells posted online, aren't there?"
"Most of those are incredibly difficult, though?!"
"Because I'm Alice."
"As expected of Senior!"
...Anyway, I confirmed that the doll was just an ordinary doll. There was no need to worry about anything strange.
Aside from that, there were candies, chocolate, fan art of Alice presumably drawn by the sender, and various other things.
"...Come to think of it, we told them to send letters, but there are a lot of things here. Are Alice's fans usually like this?"
"Since she doesn't have any activities of her own, they tend to be active with fanworks instead. I don't do that because I have no talent for anything, though."
...Don't derivative works usually die down when there is no original work? What did she mean by saying they worked harder because there wasn't one...?
"The drawing is... pretty good. They captured all of Alice's defining features."
"Some people do draw her with a bigger chest, too."
"...Why?"
"Because it's fanwork. And nobody thinks Senior's true identity is that. They just think of her as a woman who's a little too flat-chested."
-Dizzy
...Even if I really were a woman, the original was small. Why go out of my way to make it bigger?
The more deeply I dipped my toes into this, the more it felt like strange information was entering my mind and contaminating it. It seemed best not to hear any more.
"Ah. I looked up the chocolate, and it really is foreign-made. At this price... $250? That's incredibly expensive."
"...What kind of chocolate costs that much?"
"The fact that they sent something like this so quickly means... They might have prepared it to give you around the time the broadcast ended, even if you hadn't specifically said you would accept letters. Or maybe they're unbelievably rich...?"
"Why would someone like that be a magical girl fan...?"
Once again, the world was impossible to understand. Honestly, I probably would have received money more gladly, but saying that outright in front of Mia, a fan, didn't seem like a nice thing to do...
"...Since they went to all the trouble of giving us a gift, let's try some."
"Hmm... But I am curious. If it's 300,000 won for something that size... It must really be high-end..."
I generally didn't eat things given to me by strangers, but could I really say that bluntly in front of Mia? She had even handed out rice cakes when she moved in long ago.
Besides, I was currently Alice, so even if someone had put poison in it, it wouldn't really matter. I wasn't avoiding it because I was worried there might actually be something in it; it was just a personal preference.
'...Still. My suspicious nature never gets any better.'
Thinking this way about expensive chocolate given to me by a fan really did make me a twisted person.
That didn't mean I had any confidence I could change now.
-Rustle
As soon as I unwrapped and opened it, the sweet scent unique to chocolate wafted out. It had the familiar aroma I usually associated with chocolate, but there was something slightly different about it. It really did seem to be expensive chocolate.
There were twelve chocolates, each made in a rather impressive shape. I picked one at random and put it in my mouth. It melted as soon as it touched my tongue, filling it with a refined flavor.
...Mm. That's it.
I didn't know what else to say. It did taste more refined than convenience-store chocolate, but did a snack really need to be of such high quality?
Alice liked chocolate because of her concept. I wasn't actually the kind of person who enjoyed chocolate, so even if you asked an average person to compare expensive chocolate with ordinary chocolate, what could they really say?
"Mm... It's tasty."
"That's it?!"
"It might be the most delicious chocolate I've ever eaten."
"Of course it would taste good if it was that expensive! What's the most expensive chocolate you've ever tried?!"
"...Probably a box of about twenty chocolates from a big-box store that cost 30,000 won."
"This is ten times more expensive than that! No, considering the amount and size, it's even more expensive! I'm curious what such expensive chocolate tastes like, too! Give me a more accurate review!"
"If you're that curious, eat some yourself."
-Push
"Mmph?!"
"If you spit it out, it'll just become garbage. Just eat it."
"Uh... okay..."
I picked up a chocolate without asking and popped it into Mia's mouth.
She seemed startled at first, but after hearing what I said, she quietly rolled it around on her tongue and seemed to begin savoring it.
-Gulp
"...It's tasty."
"That's it?"
"I'm not very good at describing things in flowery terms in multiple languages..."
"Got it. I suppose I'm no different."
After we each tried one, I neatly wrapped the chocolates again. They might be useful for taking out one at a time whenever I needed some sugar.
After that, I arranged the remaining gifts and took out the letters. It was time to read them.
"Oh, you're going to read the letters now? I'll get going."
"Aren't you curious about them?"
"Even if I am curious, I'm a fan. It wouldn't be fair for me to read a letter sent by another fan."
...Now you say that?
I thought that, but I didn't stop her when she said she was leaving. I was more comfortable alone, too.
"Goodbye. I'll see you next time."
"I'm working hard on mine, too! Look forward to it! You have to tell me what you think after you read mine!"
"...Please keep it a reasonable length. My eyes are going to go bad reading letters like this."
"...You might be curious about Senior wearing glasses, too."
"Get out."
"I-I'll see you tomorrow!"
-Thud!
-Flash!
Now that I was alone and had confirmed there was nothing strange among the gifts, I could comfortably undo my transformation, collapse onto the bed, and tear open the letters.
To begin with, I didn't consider myself Alice.
The real Alice was that person, and I had only put that shell over myself.
Even if I had spent far longer wearing that shell and acting as Alice than the real one ever had, I was still not Alice.
...Because I was different from that person.
Even now, sometimes I saw hallucinations when I closed my eyes.
There were far too many hallucinations to count, but some of them still felt painfully vivid.
Not content with erasing the world's hero from existence, someone scratched at my body with something I couldn't tell was a fingernail or a claw, asking whether I really enjoyed wearing that shell and receiving all the fame that had never been mine.
Even if I had done many things while living as Alice, and even if that period had been longer than the real Alice's, if the roots were not mine, then the branches could not be mine, either.
How could I call a life lived under someone else's name, using someone else's power, and inheriting someone else's fame my own?
-Rustle
[Hello, Alice. I've been a fan watching you for a long time. You may not remember me, but seven years ago...]
-Snicker
That was why I didn't care how Alice was treated.
Whether Alice received the cheers of her fans or the hatred of her anti-fans, it was 'Alice' who received them, not me.
Don't get confused.
I didn't live as an exemplary magical girl to gain fame as 'Alice.' I merely played the role of 'Alice' because Alice had lived that way.
If Alice had been a villain, I would have played a villain. If she had been an ordinary magical girl, I would have played an ordinary magical girl.
...The Alice the world remembers.
Because she was a magical girl who loved everyone, saved everyone, and lived for everyone.
I simply lived that way.
Only to avoid being exposed as a fake.