Chapter 77
Time passed, and it was Christmas Eve. Before leaving for work, I checked my condition.
"Any dust on me?"
[None.]
"Dark circles or skin trouble?"
[None of that, either.]
"Have Mia's calls and messages been blocked?"
[That too.]
"Good. Perfect."
I had finished all the preparations for a smooth shoot.
The last part in particular was the most important, so knowing I'd finished that too was more than I could ask for.
After that, I took a deliberately convoluted route and arrived at the meeting place before filming began.
"Mm. Chocolate yogurt is good too."
This shoot was a date. Since it would take place while we walked around outdoors, the meeting place had been set downtown.
Two magical girls walking around downtown while filming would naturally draw attention... But today was Christmas Eve, anyway. The streets would be packed even without us. People might even be too busy with their own plans to pay attention to magical girls.
Alice had a strong image as a mysterious beauty, but she didn't have much feminine allure. Black Rose, on the other hand, looked properly feminine, so she might even attract the jealousy of other women.
She didn't have the overwhelming presence of Mia, Emerald, or Sapphire, which was obvious at a glance, but she had enough curves to be vaguely noticeable, I suppose?
Alice, meanwhile, was a sandbag people could pass by thinking, 'At least my chest is bigger than hers.'
I'd already been waiting for about ten minutes at the café where we'd arranged to meet. Naturally, there were plenty of people sneaking glances at the mysterious magical girl. I didn't really mind being watched as long as no one took pictures. Not that Alice appeared in photographs even when people did take them.
-Jingle
"Oh! Senior! You got here first!"
As I was thinking that, Black Rose entered the café and, without even needing to look around for long, spotted Alice, who stood out perfectly. She came over and sat down.
"I figured you'd be here soon, so I ordered the same chocolate yogurt as Alice. The ice hasn't melted yet, so drink it quickly."
"Wow! Thank you! I-I was the one who asked you out, so I should be paying for this..."
"Since your senior and teacher is buying, don't feel burdened. There probably weren't many appearance offers coming in during your time, were there, Miss Black Rose?"
"Ah... It was like that until recently, but after I won the Rookie Magical Match, they've increased tremendously. Thanks to that, I was even able to move from a studio apartment to a bigger place... I think this is the prime of my magical girl career."
Ah. She was a successful junior, after all.
...Should I be the one being treated?
'Sigh. What am I thinking.'
"Miss Black Rose, you're an outstanding junior. Still, please rely on your senior whenever you need to. No magical girl dislikes a cute junior asking for help."
"Th-thank you. I'll definitely pay next time...!"
As if she knew when there would be a next time. It was obviously just a polite thing to say, though.
Most of the expenses during filming would be paid for with the company card... And even if that wasn't possible, I should pay whenever I could. Alice was a ten-year magical girl, while Black Rose was only in her first year. It was only natural.
I didn't need another controversy involving Alice if this happened to air.
"Ah. You're here already. Haha... The cameramen should have arrived first..."
"I'm sorry. We should have arrived early and prepared something to drink. A manager being late... It's simply unacceptable."
"We just got here too, so it's fine. Cameramen, have a drink as well."
"Thank you. We'll enjoy it. We look forward to working with you today."
With that, all the main figures for this shoot had gathered.
Sapphire, Black Rose, Alice, the cameramen in charge of filming, and the bare minimum of staff. And...
-Stare...
...Back there. At the table farthest from ours, there was one black-haired woman staring intently in our direction.
'...Does she think I won't know?'
She had disguised herself in her own way. She was wearing clothes she normally wouldn't, had pulled her hat low, and was wearing sunglasses, so her overall atmosphere was quite different from usual.
'...If you're going to do that, you should have worn thicker clothes when you came out.'
Honestly, anyone could tell she was Shina.
Should I take comfort in the fact that she hadn't transformed...?
How many women in the world were short but had good figures, long straight black hair, and suspiciously watched Alice? I could confidently say there was only one Shina on the numbered Earth where I lived. If there were more, that would be an even bigger problem.
I had expected her to follow me. Just yesterday...
[Oh, come to think of it, Senior. You said the filming was tomorrow, right?]
[You can't come along. The purpose is to film a date with Miss Black Rose.]
[Do you think I'd make the unreasonable demand of asking to be included as if it were only natural? I'm not that inconsiderate, you know? Miss Black Rose worked hard to win that date ticket. If I inserted myself into it, the picture would look strange.]
[...You know that surprisingly well?]
[I understand what it's like to be a fan too?! If I were Miss Black Rose and came to the date with my heart all aflutter, only to find another woman there with some strange excuse, I'd be really hurt!]
[Then you're not coming, right?]
[...Ahem.]
[...Ms. Mia?]
'...Um... well..."
After dropping that many hints, it would have been strange to think she wouldn't come.
I had no idea how she'd found the café. Maybe she'd asked Sapphire. Maybe she'd searched every suspicious location with superhuman persistence. Or maybe she'd tracked my route in real time through the internet and followed me.
It wasn't impossible for her to do, one way or another. Especially since Mia seemed to have something like a wariness toward Black Rose.
'...A fifth- or sixth-year magical girl being wary of a first-year magical girl...'
She seemed to think their positions as juniors overlapped, but they were fundamentally different. One was a promising rookie, while the other was a veteran magical girl who had been through all sorts of hardships.
I understood why she was wary of Black Rose, but... how should I put it...
...Honestly, that... No. I'll refrain from saying it.
"Well then, shall we start filming? It's a merry Christmas Eve, after all. Alice's heart is already fluttering at the thought of meeting the citizens outside and strolling among them with Miss Black Rose."
"M-me too, Senior!"
-Rattle
"Miss Black Rose. Where shall we go first? On my way here, Alice spotted a shop full of claw machines. Do you like claw machines?"
"I-I do! Though I'm not very good at them...!"
"Good. Then Alice will win you a cute bunny plush."
"R-really? I'll treasure it!"
"Then, everyone! Let's set off! Miss Black Rose's date with Alice begins now!"
I declared the start on my own, but everyone was a professional, so the cameras had already been set up and filming had begun. It made things convenient.
As we tidied up the café and prepared to leave, the watcher behind us hurriedly cleaned up her own table and maintained a safe distance... I couldn't tell whether she really thought I wouldn't notice or was deliberately pretending not to know. If it was the Shina I knew, the former was more likely, but even if I wanted to pretend not to notice, she was far too obviously Shina for me to do so.
The one fortunate thing was that everyone here was familiar with Mia's appearance, while they either didn't know Shina's appearance or weren't familiar enough with it to recognize her. Sapphire might have noticed, but she was the kind of woman who handled such situations on her own, so even if she had realized, she would probably stay quiet.
There was no way Alice hadn't noticed the watcher Sapphire had noticed, and Sapphire would understand that Alice's tacit acceptance meant she had given her implicit permission.
After that, we went to the claw-machine arcade just as I had declared. It had been a while since I'd filmed while maintaining Alice's image, so I was worried I might have lost my touch, but fortunately, my body seemed to remember.
"Ta-da! This is the cutest bunny plush in the shop!"
"Wow...! It's really cute! Can I really take this?"
"Of course. You're Alice's top student, after all, Miss Black Rose. If you think of Alice whenever you look at this plush, that would be the greatest gift Alice could receive."
-Click... click...
"Ah...!"
...Shina, who had been enjoying the claw machine behind us in real time, slipped and dropped the plush she'd almost dragged all the way out, but I decided not to turn around.
For the record, Alice got hers in three tries. If the broadcast had shown me failing dozens of times and wasting money without winning anything, we would have had to rely on the power of editing. Fortunately, luck was on my side.
"Thank you, Senior...! I'll treasure it...! I'll keep it by my pillow and sleep with it from now on...!"
-Click!
"Ahh...!"
...I said to play the claw machine. Don't listen in on other people's conversations.
"Then... Now that we've won the plush, let's have Miss Black Rose choose what she wants to do next!"
"M-me?"
"Alice chose the claw machine, so Miss Black Rose gets to choose next. Fair, right?"
"I-I... anywhere, as long as I'm with you, Senior..."
"I-I got it...!"
Ah. It looked like she had succeeded. It was a bunny plush, too.
...Was this a date with Shina or a date with Black Rose?
'...Should I kick her out even now?'
Almost no one would know, but something felt strange. Somehow, I felt like I was doing something awful to Black Rose.
Still, if she'd gone to the trouble of winning that date ticket, shouldn't I focus on her during that time?
'Tokkaengi. What do you think?'
[...I don't know.]
'Hmm...'
I wouldn't go so far as to tell her not to follow me at all, but I needed to tell her to keep a reasonable distance. If she stayed too close, she'd end up in the footage too, and later people might wonder, 'Who is this person, and why did she follow Alice around all day?'
I didn't want some pointless rumor involving Alice to be posted and circulated somewhere.
"...An escape room! I want to go to an escape room!"
'...I think I've heard of it.'
Supposedly, it was a place where you entered a room with puzzles prepared inside, solved them, and then escaped. People these days had some pretty strange ways of entertaining themselves.
Fortunately, it would be difficult for even Shina to follow us inside. We clearly weren't part of the same group, and the spaces would be separated, too.
"Good. Let's go right away."
"R-right away?"
"Because you said you wanted to, Miss Black Rose. Today is a special day, so we can't waste time, can we?"
-Crack
...That time, it sounded like something other than the buttons moving behind us, but I decided it was just my imagination.