Chapter 62: Alice Is Heading Out

I had read almost all the letters. There was nothing special about them. They said things like, “I’m always watching over you,” “I’ll always support you,” “Thank you for saving me back then,” and “Please appear on broadcasts more often.” They were all standard fan letters, the kind fans commonly sent to magical girls.

Well, one or two fans had worked up a little courage and asked why Alice had been appearing on broadcasts so infrequently, saying they wanted to see her more often, but the rest hadn’t even asked that. Given the nature of magical girls who operated while hiding their identities, they probably felt it would be rude to ask carelessly when they didn’t know what circumstances might be involved.

There had even been cases where it was revealed that a magical girl had been unable to work much because she was caring for a sick family member. Considering situations like that, even asking could burden the other person and be impolite.

‘I don’t really care, though.’

Didn’t I say so? Whether they were fans or anti-fans, I didn’t feel anything because I wasn’t Alice.

Whether they urged me to be more active or not, they weren’t my fans in the first place, so why would I care? I would go out if I needed money. Otherwise, I wouldn’t.

And right now, I had nowhere to spend money... so I could take a break for a while.

‘...Alice’s stock has already risen too much recently.’

My policy for operating as Alice was ‘not attracting too much attention.’ Even when I went out as a magical girl, I simply returned after defeating the Abyss One, without providing any unnecessary fan service. I had also limited the programs and works I appeared in to those where I could merely give a brief sign that I was still alive.

The reason I didn’t disappear completely was that it was impossible to erase myself from the world entirely without retiring in the first place...