“[Twinkling Heart Babylon Wave]!” Steph cheerfully chanted the transformation incantation and thrust her arm with the bracelet up into the air.
So we went with Doc Babylon’s idea after all?
A ball of light jumped out of the bracelet and enveloped Steph. The light around her neck burst into a ribbon, then shoes, then a skirt. Steph’s outfit changed with every burst of light. Even her hair morphed from her side ponytail into pigtails. One last big flash of light was emitted, and Steph was standing there in a yellow magical girl outfit, holding a small staff.
“You look adorable, Steph!”
“Hee hee hee hee!” Steph giggled and bashfully fidgeted at Sue’s unrestrained praise. She definitely was adorable, no denying that.
“Do those clothes do anything special for the wearer?” I asked Doc Babylon, who was looking satisfied beside me.
“They come equipped with both physical and magical resistance. It’s way better than your average suit of armor. We also infused it with cognition disruption, so acquaintances won’t be able to recognize who they are.”
“Hm? But can’t we tell that it’s Steph perfectly fine?”
“Hey, you do realize you’re comparing your and your wives’ magic resistance to that of normal people, right? Even the court magicians of other countries are affected by cognition disruption, but it barely has any effect on you guys.”
I hadn’t realized it was so difficult for cognition disruption to affect us. In fact, it didn’t affect us at all. It would have to at least be on the level of my or Quun’s [Mirage].
I looked over at Allis and her ice-blue outfit, and Leylle in her similar mint-blue outfit. Ende was taking pictures from afar, his face the picture of frustration as he watched the three Phrase girls praise the two—he wasn’t able to approach because Leylle was there. It was clear that the cognition disruption wasn’t working on him either.
While I was lost in my thoughts, the other kids began transforming one after the other.
“T-[Twinkling Heart Babylon Wave]...?”
The embarrassment was practically radiating off of Yakumo as she said the magic words. Her costume was the same as Steph’s, but was a light purple instead. Her usually straight hair had changed into loose waves.
A change of hairstyle makes for a fresh look, after all.
“It suits you, Yakumo, it does.”
Yae nodded approvingly. Yakumo’s face turned red as she nervously pulled at the bottom of her skirt.
“I think this skirt is a little short, though...” the girl muttered.
“Don’t worry about it. The cognition disruption will stop anyone from remembering if you happen to flash your panties,” Doc Babylon said as she gave her a smooth thumbs-up.
“That doesn’t make it any better!”
Yakumo usually wore a hakama, so she might have felt a little uncomfortable wearing something like a skirt.
“If you really don’t like it, I did make sure to install leggings as additional equipment. Just tap the blue crystal on the side of your bracelet.”
“Tell me that sooner!”
When Yakumo did as Doc Babylon said, the area around her waist momentarily sparkled before revealing some short leggings sticking out from under her skirt. The girl let out a sigh of relief. As her father, I also felt better about this. Even if there was cognition disruption, that only worked if the person didn’t have high magic resistance, right?
I wasn’t so bothered by the thought of my wives or the Phrase girls seeing, but the thought of Ende seeing them...!
Maybe I should gouge his eyes out while I’ve got the chance.
Apparently, having had the same thought, Ende sent a message to Allis telling her to put on the leggings too, especially because she was way more active than any of the other kids... She was much more likely to leap around everywhere.
Ten new magical girls were finally born. Though technically, they were already magical girls even without transforming. Everyone was wearing a similar outfit, but the details were what distinguished each of them.
“If we just gave them all the same outfit with the color being all there was to differentiate them, it would be like any old uniform, so I made sure to obsess over the details,” Linze proudly stated.
“You did, huh?”
I felt the passion in her words, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about it. It was fine, though. Everyone looked cute, after all.
“I kinda want to see the kids try them out for real now, honestly.”
Those words of Doc Babylon’s were exactly what I didn’t want to hear.
Look, now Linne, Allis, and Steph have all latched on to the idea...
“If you really want to, why not have a practice match with the knights?” I suggested, making sure to suggest a safe option right off the bat. Linze looked less sure of it, though.
“Touya, can you not call out some monsters or something?”
“Are you crazy?”
If I called out monsters, I’d be the mastermind!
Just as I was still reeling at Linze’s unreasonable suggestion—though I was sure she’d been joking when she said it—Doc Babylon said something just as casually that led me to being no less exasperated: “I can call some out.”
So you’re the mastermind.
It fit her, honestly. She was like some evil scientist, after all.
“Remember that digital space I used with you guys once before? It can call out fake monsters. It was originally a training tool for security officers, but if I mess around with the settings, I could probably turn the intruders into regular bad guys.”
“Is this that amusement park experience you made us go through once? Is that really safe?”
“Of course it’s safe—you saying it wasn’t safe when I let you experience it before? If things really get dicey, it’ll forcibly eject you. You can manually set the training stage and scenario too.”
Linze was nodding along to the scientist’s explanation. She was totally into the idea.
“In other words, you can adjust the location somewhat as well? So you could make the scenario that they have to defeat the bad guys who are infiltrating the castle, or to defeat the bad guys messing up the town?”
“Sure can. I can make it both safe and thrilling. This was originally designed for training, after all.”
“I see. In that case...”
Suddenly, an impromptu meeting began between Doc Babylon and Linze.
This is gonna take a while...
Deciding to leave them to their own devices, I joined the other parents, who were taking part in a photo shoot with all the girls dressed up in their magical girl outfits. Those smiles were as wonderful as ever.