Chapter 3

Komekko grabbed my sandwich with both hands and took a huge bite, then regarded the half-eaten food critically before holding it out to me. “…Want some?” “I am quite full, so you should eat all of it, Komekko. But may I keep this fuzz ball for the time being?” “Sure!” Komekko happily set about the work of finishing the sandwich. I let the cat loose in my room, where she curled up on my bed as if it belonged to her. “Now then, I wonder what I’m going to do about you.” She was so brazen. Maybe she really was something bigger than I imagined. I knew I couldn’t let Komekko make breakfast out of her, but even so, we didn’t have the resources at home to feed an extra mouth. If I just released her back into the wild, though, and Komekko found her again, she might really get eaten. That left me with only one choice— 10 The classroom was humming. “…Megumin? …M-Megumin?” “Good morning, Yunyun. Why the face?” Yunyun offered me a good morning in return, her eyebrows still furrowed in an expression of concern. “Do you have to ask? …What’s with…that?” “My familiar.” The “that” to which Yunyun referred was the black cat lying on her back on my desk, playing with my finger. I introduced her to the classroom. “Familiar?! I thought only wizards in fairy tales had familiars!” “Look at that adorable, shameless face! It’s terrible! She’s pretending to be a sweet little kitten, and all the while she’ll be trying to get our lunches for her mistress, Megumin!” “That’s awful! But…okay, here’s my food!” The girls in my class were instantly smitten with my familiar. Maybe this kitten was a practitioner of attraction magic. If nothing else, she seemed to promise to reduce my food bills, and I certainly appreciated that. “W-wow… She looks so soft…! Megumin, what’s her name? Have you given her a name yet?” Yunyun asked. Her eyes sparkled as she went to pet the cat, but my familiar got up on her front legs threateningly as Yunyun’s hand approached. She pulled her hand back, disappointed to realize even this tiny cat was rejecting her. “I don’t get it. Maybe she only likes you, Megumin?” Arue said, even as she reached out to pet the cat, who gladly accepted her ministrations, a sight that brought Yunyun to the edge of tears. “I have not named her yet,” I said. “As it stands, I’m concerned she would be in danger if I left her home by herself during the day, so I think I will bring her to school every day from now on.” The girls shared a collective worried look. “She’s so cute. I sure wouldn’t mind, but I don’t know what Teacher is going to say…” “Yeah. She’s adorable, but I don’t think Teacher will let you. Even if she is really cute.” Hrm. I might have known our instructor would be a problem… “Absolutely not.” That was the very first thing our teacher said when he walked in the room. I held up the kitten, who was trying her very best to look as lovable as she could. “Teacher, this is my familiar. She needs my MP for sustenance. To separate us would be a death sentence for her.” “I said no. You can’t even use magic yet; how can you have a familiar? Anyway, there are two things we don’t allow at school: snacks and familiars! Now, go put her back where you found her.” So it was no use after all. In that case…! “Teacher, this is another me. A fragment of my power resides within her. I was able to retain the majority of my strength, but this is, I promise you, also me. We are of one mind and one heart. We cannot be separated!” “…This second you doesn’t look very fond of being picked up.” “I am at a rebellious age, sir.” I let go of the cat, who scampered over to a wall in one corner of the classroom and began sharpening her claws on it. “Now your ‘fragment’ seems to be instinctively sharpening her claws.” “That’s because Crimson Magic Clan members must be ready for battle at any moment. I took most of the intelligence and rationality in our split, so my other self is like a beast with only brute strength and wild instinct…” “Fine.” “Indeed, I know how sweet and lovable I look, but within— Um, did you say it was fine?” The teacher had agreed so abruptly. Here I’d been ready to describe at length the life-and-death struggle over my very body that my “fragment” and I had waged. “Yeah, I’m willing to see where this goes. I think it’ll be funny.” That did not sound like a very teacherly reason, and frankly it gave me a sense of foreboding. “No, Megumin! You have to go to the bathroom in your toilet spot! Here, over here! This is where you do pee pee! There, good! What a good girl, Megumin!” “……” “Won’t Megumin’s leftover food smell if we put it here? I think it should stay out of the sun.” “…………” “Oh! Bad Megumin! Didn’t we say not to sharpen your claws there? You won’t get away with this just by looking cute like that! You won’t… Arrrgh, but you’re just so cute, True Megumin!” “Aaaaaarrrrrrggghhhh!” “Eek! False Megumin is on a rampage! Your true self finally made off with your intelligence and rationality, not to mention cuteness!” Flipping over my desk only got me called False Megumin by one of my classmates. “Who is false, I ask?! I am the True Megumin! Please stop using my name willy-nilly like that!” “Wh-what are you so upset about, Megumin? Didn’t you tell us that thing is a part of you? You said there was the intelligent and rational Megumin and the powerful and wild Megumin, right?” “Megumin this, Megumin that, Megumin, Megumin, Megumin! I have reached my limit of hearing my name from every quarter! Please give her a name already!” At my outburst, Yunyun, holding my fragment, said, “E-erm, but we’ve already been calling her Megumin all day today, and I think it kind of stuck… Look, Megumin even likes me now; she lets me pick her up! …I think maybe this sweet little kitten should get to be Megumin, and you should be the one to change your— Ow, ow!” “Traitor! Can you abide the name of your rival changing?! For that matter, I have heard the name Megumin more times today than in all the days since I started at this school!” My classmates responded with drawn faces. “I’ve kind of started to like the name Megumin for her…” “Yeah… Our sweet Megumin, our cute Megumin…” “Excuse me, but it sounds like you are trying to start something,” I said. Being a member of the Crimson Magic Clan, one of whose precepts is always to accept a fight, I slid some chairs aside in preparation of lunging at my classmates. “…Norisuke,” Arue said flatly. Apparently, she intended it to be a potential name for my cat. “…Perekichi,” someone else volunteered. “Choisaa.” “Marumo.” “Kazuma.” The cat in Yunyun’s arms snorted in what might have been a sneeze of disinterest at any of these names. Yunyun, meanwhile, held up the animal. “She is a girl…” “…Eh, Megumin’s the perfect name, then.” “You’re dead,” I said, just about to jump at my antagonist, when Yunyun interrupted loudly. “Um… Ink! …Er, I mean, m-maybe. Because, you know, she’s a black cat…” ““““……”””” Silence descended upon the classroom… Until… “Sure, that might be good. It’s such a weird name, it’ll be easy to remember.” “What?! W-weird…?!” …Hmm. Yes, the name was odd, but that would help make it memorable. What’s more, the newly christened animal squinted in Yunyun’s arms as if to say, Not bad. “Very well. For the time being, we shall go with this bizarre name of Ink. If and when she becomes my familiar proper, I reserve the right to give her a more awesome name, though.” “Bizarre?! Is that how you think of me?! Am I the weird one in this village?!” Yunyun demanded, nearly in tears, as I retrieved Ink from her. 11 “Hey, Megumin. Want to go to the accessories shop today?” We were on the way home from school. I seemed to recall being told only yesterday that we weren’t to be caught dead together, but for some reason, Yunyun was following me home again. Well, I didn’t think of her as my rival, so it didn’t matter to me. “Accessories shop? Do we have one of those?” “The smith started it as a hobby. Erm, um, M-Megumin…” “Yes, yes, I’m sure it’s always been your dream to stop and admire cute accessories with your friends on the way home from school. Let’s go.” And so Yunyun and I headed for the blacksmith’s place. “Welcome, welcome! Well, if it isn’t the chief’s strange little daughter and strange Hyoizaburou’s girl. What, what do you want? For a couple of young girls like you, I’ve got… Let’s see… How about this giant great sword? I’ve got big axes and even a hammer, too.” “S-strange…” “Why would you attempt to foist such brutal weapons upon two fair, retiring maidens? We do not need weapons anyway.” Personally, I blamed the blacksmith for setting up a weapons and armor shop in a town full of wizards. If he would at least make staves, he might get a few orders. “Gigantic weapons are perfect for little girls to swing around. The contrast is the whole point! The defiance of expectations!” “In what world would such girls ever exist? …Yunyun, what’s wrong?” Beside me, Yunyun was looking around the shop, her eyes goggling. “Um, I heard you started selling accessories as a side business…” “Well, they’re right there. Although they don’t seem very popular in a village of people who only like uncommonly long swords and needlessly complicated weaponry.” The burly blacksmith gestured with his chin at a corner of the shop. There, indeed, was a collection of accessories. If you considered knives to be accessories… “I think when most people refer to ‘accessories,’ they don’t mean tiny weapons; they mean fashion items,” I said. “Now you tell me,” the smith answered. “I never get any customers in here, so I thought this might be a way to drum up some business.” Again, I felt his problems went back to a poor choice of location. How was he even making a living? “I know that look. You’re wondering how I eat. I’m something of an Arch-wizard myself. I use my magic to heat up my forge hotter than anyone else to produce the best armor. I’ve got a certain reputation among some armor nuts, y’hear? I can’t name any names, but a young lady from a certain noble family loves my product.” “Why would a young noblewoman love armor? Yunyun, I think it’s about time we—” But Yunyun had picked up a silver dagger and was looking at it admiringly. “…Don’t tell me you like it?” Yunyun nodded emphatically. Afterward, Yunyun and I parted ways, and I came home to be greeted by Komekko, whose robe was once again muddy. “Welcome home, Sis! What’d you bring me?” “Nothing today, I’m afraid. But have you been outside again? Apparently, the Dark God has nearly come unsealed in the village recently, so be certain you’re home before dark.” I couldn’t tell how much of what I said registered with Komekko, who was fidgeting and staring at Ink in my arms. “…Drool.” “?!” Ink scrambled up onto my shoulder, where Komekko couldn’t reach her. This cat had some nerve, clawing her way up her master’s very body like that. “Sis, we’re having meat for dinner tonight, aren’t we?!” I had some reservations as I looked at my little sister, who was perfectly happy to consume a handful of bugs or the beloved family pet. “Komekko, now, just wait a moment. Look how thin she is. There’s hardly any meat there. Let us fatten her up first.” “Oooh. You’re so smart, Sis!” She smiled innocently, and I wiped the mud from her face with a handkerchief. “So what little games took you outside today, Komekko?” “I found a toy, and I was playing with it! You wanna try it, too, Sis?” …A toy? The word nagged at me for some reason. I seemed to remember I… “Sis, let’s take a bath! Kitty can come with us! It’ll help cook the bitterness out!” “Komekko, I can feel the fuzz ball on my shoulder quaking with fear. Please give her a break.” 12 Komekko, Ink, and I shared a bath, after which I ate a simple meal and went to my room. I heard a commotion from downstairs, presumably my mother getting home. My father was no doubt working on some weird magical device with such single-mindedness, he had forgotten to eat. I lay on my thin bed mat, spread over the carpet, and rested Ink on my stomach. Then I let the memories come to me. “A toy. I think when I met that person, I asked her to help me find my toy,” I murmured to myself, hugging Ink in the dark room, holding her up so she was right in front of my face. The cat was looking at me as if hanging on my every word. Her eyes were big and bold and lovable. …Why? Why did looking at her make me think of that person? I pulled the covers up over my head, burrowing down into my bed like I always did. “Hey, you’ve got some nerve for a freeloader,” I said. But really, I enjoyed the feeling of Ink where she had curled up on my tummy under the covers. I didn’t expect to leave the village for a long time, not then. I would go to school and look after my sister. Just passing the days without anything changing. Or so I thought.