Pshuke Prains
As a freelance magical girl, Pshuke Prains did not like to fight with allies. The adhesive, lubricant, gasoline, and volatile anesthetics that she created with her magic—just about every fluid that she could use in combat was bound to harm her allies as well. It really limited how she could conduct herself in combat, compared to when she fought on her own.
And being blamed for the obvious decision to prioritize her own life over those of her allies was also stressful. This was something other freelancers understood to a greater or lesser extent, but when working together with local magical girls who worked without pay or salaried magical girls who were affiliated with departments, they would often complain about the way Pshuke did things.
This was very much not something that Pshuke was looking for. She was a lone wolf mercenary; she faced her work prepared not to complain even if she was abandoned, but when those who weren’t prepared for that were abandoned, they would attack her with resentful complaints. Or sometimes they would say what sounded commendable, like, “There’s nothing to be done,” but their voices would tremble, and their eyes would blame her.
When she had been ordered into that ridiculous job of attending the magical-girl class and being a student, while she had waffled about it, she had been unable to resist the charms of moving up in her career and a sizable reward, and so she had given in, figuring if there was no danger to her life, then why not? Fighting shoulder to shoulder with some student magical girls, the symbol of lack of responsibility, was never something she’d wanted to do.
But once she’d actually tried, things were different. Under the principal’s instruction, all of them had gotten together to fight back against the attackers, the group of Princess Lightnings. Mephis and Tetty worked together, Diko came forward to strike the enemy, Kumi-Kumi and Lillian immediately set up traps, and Pshuke committed to support from the rear. The magic enhancement was gradually fading from her body, and they were no longer able to block the Lightnings at the entrance, but none of them had lost any morale. Pshuke had been pretty heavily wounded before coming here, but that had already been completely healed by the principal’s magic. She was grateful.
Her allies had resistance to magic. Their bodies, remade by the principal, would not be vulnerable to any mediocre poisons or drugs. She had no problems making use of all types of drugs that she normally couldn’t use out of concern for hurting her allies—in fact, she could even use toxic substances that she didn’t bring out because they were dangerous to herself.
But still, fighting an enemy in a loud and direct way was not Pshuke. Since they were up against Princess Lightnings, she showered them over the heads with magic insulating oil, spraying it on her allies as well, making the whole area smeared in oil.
There was one magical girl she didn’t know—she’d only seen her face in the textbook—but since she was fighting on their side, she had to be an ally. Her physical strength and sound magic were exceptional, and it was really nice to have a strong ally they could count on. Pshuke covered her particularly heavily in oil.
“After her! She’s the enemy leader!”
A blue magical girl caught Diko’s arm and vanished into the group of Lightnings. Pshuke narrowed her eyes. Now was the time to put her life on the line. She focused herself even harder.
It was impossible to live purely on instinct. But a freelance magical girl had to have good instincts in order to survive. That was definitely the leader of the enemies, the big boss. And she was incredibly strong.
Pshuke didn’t like to fight strong opponents. She thought that it was better to fight enemies you were sure to beat rather than those you couldn’t, or might not. Up until this moment, she would have just put her hands together for Diko and her recklessness to pray for her happiness in the next world, and that was it.
But that day, Pshuke was different. While spraying lubricant around, she ran at high speed, bounding off a wall to the opposite side, taking an attack from an enemy and then changing direction again, right, left, ignoring the damage to her body as she slid all over the place. Filling the area around with lubricant, she interfered with the Lightnings’ movements and got them aiming in the wrong directions.
The Snow White–type homunculus was attacking harder. She was way stronger than the real thing. The Musician of the Forest, Cranberry, joined Diko on the front lines. The Lightnings were focused in that area. They were in a fine confusion.
Pshuke had taken more than a little damage. Her flesh was cut, blood spilling, her swimsuit torn, but even then, she wasn’t stupid enough to slow down. While sliding around the spot where Diko had vanished, she fixed her aim. She would sink the whole area in poison and kill that blue magical girl. If all that was left was Lightnings, then they’d win.
They all had to work together for this, or they couldn’t expect to win. It was just like in Cutie Healer, which Sally had forced her to watch. You got stronger when you had friends. One plus one could be a hundred, or a thousand.
Right before she fired her water gun filled with magic botulinum toxin, her vision spun and flipped around, and her eyes met those of the blue magical girl. This magical girl was staring emotionlessly at Pshuke.
What happened to Diko? What’s happening to me?
Pshuke couldn’t make a sound. She couldn’t complain, either. Instead, she spat blood. Her neck was broken. Her consciousness was fading. Cutie Healer wouldn’t give up in a situation like this, she thought. She then laughed at herself: I’ve been poisoned real bad.