Chapter 10: The Dueling Magical Girls

During the break, at the principal’s office.

Chao Wu stood before the door, raising a hand only to let it fall in hesitation.

After repeating this gesture several times, she finally steeled herself and tapped gently on the door.

Although she was unaware of the Captain’s reason for being there, her experience suggested that only a leader of this caliber would be able to host her.

Thus…

“……”

There was no response, yet the door was ajar.

With her gentle tap, the door creaked softly, revealing a small gap.

Chao Wu took a deep breath.

“Excuse me—”

With a soft push, she opened the door.

Beyond that threshold…

It was not the Captain she had anticipated, but someone far more resplendent, more audacious, and decidedly younger—

A young woman.

“Welcome, Apprentice Magical Girl, Chao Wu.”

The girl Chao Wu laid eyes upon possessed a cascade of brilliant golden hair, and was clad in a lavish gown utterly out of place within a school setting, its fabric adorned with dazzling gems and diamond chips that sparkled like scattered stars.

She sat composedly at the table, cradling a cup of hot tea, as if the space were hers alone to command, betraying none of the demeanor expected of a student.

“You are… from the Pacific Front’s…”

****

“Oh, so a Magical Girl from the Eastern Kingdom actually deigns to interact with us common folk?”

As the unfamiliar girl revealed her trump card, Ling Xing’s smile faded, and her fingertip pressed down on her own face-down card.

In poker, there was no card that could possibly beat it.

Even delaying would only postpone the inevitable outcome.

This was a truth universally acknowledged.

No matter how much Ling Xing feigned composure, the result remained immutable.

Thus, the unknown girl remained entirely unfazed by Ling Xing’s demeanor, instead settling effortlessly into Chao Wu’s seat.

She crossed her legs, her fingertips deftly picking up the neatly shuffled deck of poker cards.

“With common language and shared thoughts, Magical Girls are not so different from ordinary people. However, you seem to know my identity?”

The students who had been gathered around them, unusually perceptive, prudently widened their circle.

Overawed by the ‘aura,’ they dared not even approach, speaking only in cautious whispers.

“Hahaha, the Epic of the Magical Girl Heroes is a classic, you know? Citing examples from it in essays can earn you three extra points, so of course I’d recognize the characters! Let me think, I recall it was page 193, the Pacific Front’s…”

“It’s Kuonji Hane. Don’t mistake me for Young Miss Mashiro, or she’ll be quite cross.”

Just as Ling Xing was about to speak, the unfamiliar girl preemptively stated her name, cutting off Ling Xing’s words.

Kuonji Hane, a D-rank Magical Girl specializing in stealth and assassination, was a fully recognized Magical Girl.

While D-rank might not seem particularly high, compared to the novice Chao Wu, it represented a chasm of difference in power.

A Magical Girl of her caliber, visiting such a small locale, would typically warrant a grand spectacle of drums and firecrackers, if they so desired.

Yet, two had arrived in such quiet succession, Ling Xing mused inwardly, realizing with a touch of surprise that the Magical Girl organization held her in remarkably high regard.

“Ah, yes, that’s right, that’s it. Sigh, I suppose a renowned hero Magical Girl wouldn’t be accustomed to our common fare, would she? Perhaps we should just call it off?”

Pressing down on her face-down card with one hand, Ling Xing lightly scratched her cheek with her index finger, feigning a slightly embarrassed yet composed demeanor.

Nevertheless, the outcome was already sealed.

“It’s quite alright; this is simply part of the local culture, isn’t it? Heh heh, if you feel you can’t win, how about another round?”

The girl named Hane tapped the table, her fingers interlacing as she instantly re-shuffled the deck with dazzling speed.

Then, she neatly placed the deck back on the table, offering Ling Xing a polite, inviting gesture with a smile.

Her confidence was absolute, certain that with her skill, another round would yield no different result.

“Whoa, seriously? This is the first time I’ve seen Ling Xing so passive in a card game; usually, she’s the one wreaking havoc on everyone else…”

“Idiot, that’s a Magical Girl, the kind you read about in comprehension tests! How can Ling Xing possibly compete with a monster like that?”

“True enough, it looks like Ling Xing is definitely going to have to treat them to this meal… It’s my first time seeing her host, and being chased into it, no less…”

In contrast, Ling Xing’s ears were filled with the students’ hushed whispers.

Everyone could plainly see that Ling Xing’s aura had been utterly suppressed, leaving no chance of victory.

Ling Xing’s fingertips tapped rhythmically on the tabletop, and she idly brushed a strand of hair from her forehead, presenting an image of anxious unease.

Then, she forced a semblance of calm onto her face.

“Uh… I don’t mind, but if we’re playing another round, shouldn’t we add some other conditions?”

“Of course. If I win, I’d trouble you to show me around this city. Being new here, I’m not very familiar with anything.”

Hane smiled sweetly, her words sounding akin to a date invitation.

For an ordinary person, it wasn’t a particularly difficult condition to accept, and it was precisely such plausible terms that gave the wager meaning.

“Oh, you should’ve asked that guy just now; he’d have agreed without even thinking twice. As for me—let me see, how about you help me take notes in class next period?”

“Heh heh, then… it’s a deal.”

Hane deftly drew a single card from the deck.

With a flick of her wrist, she revealed it.

—Undoubtedly, another trump card.

The match was decided.

There could be no greater card.

Not even intending to grant Ling Xing a chance, Hane was eager to declare her triumph.

“Well then, let me say in advance, I look forward to your guidance?”

“Ah, but before that, shouldn’t I reveal my card as well?”

‘The outcome was unchangeable, but perhaps by revealing her card, the point difference wouldn’t be so vast, and her loss wouldn’t appear quite so humiliating?’

It was understandable, indeed.

Hane waved a hand, magnanimously gesturing for Ling Xing to reveal her card.

Following this, Ling Xing’s fingertip touched the corner of her card, lifting it slightly, and grasping its edge.

‘It must be a King, that’s the only one close enough.’

The girl confidently cast her gaze.

Then, her gaze froze.

Though the card’s back had been that of a regular poker card when face-down, upon being revealed, what emerged was—

“Blue, Blue-Eyes White Dragon?”

The surrounding students gasped in astonishment.

The face-down card was… a Blue-Eyes White Dragon?

This, this—

The girl named Hane froze for a moment in stunned disbelief.

“Oh dear, my apologies, I forgot to draw a second card—though I feel this one is already quite large enough?”

Before Hane could recover from her stupor, Ling Xing rubbed her fingers together, glided them across the top of the deck, and casually drew another card.

—A single poker card, with a flick of her fingers, transformed into three.

Three identical Jokers.

‘Impossible! Hane was absolutely certain she remembered every card in the deck, yet—’

“Ahahaha, it seems you didn’t shuffle your deck very thoroughly, did you?”

Ling Xing swept her hand over the deck, flipping the entire pack and fanning it out.

Not a single card was one Hane recalled from memory; every single one… was a Joker.

“You—”

“Thank you for your concession, Kuonji… Hmm, Mashiro?”

Hane instinctively tried to rise.

However, it was only then that she realized, in that brief moment her attention had been diverted by the shock of the cards.

One of her hands had been bound to the chair’s backrest with a backpack strap.

‘How could this be? In front of her, a Magical Girl renowned for stealth, no less!?’

“Stealth, infiltration, theft, assassination—well, all these little tricks are essentially achieved by diverting attention, aren’t they? No matter how powerful someone is, if their focus isn’t there—”

Ling Xing’s lips curved into a smirk as she vaulted over the desk.

As she moved, Hane simultaneously tried to undo the restraints on her hand and rise, but…

Her gaze involuntarily drifted downwards.

There, beneath the hem of her school uniform, her black lace… triangular fabric, had somehow, at some point, also been snagged beneath the chair’s backrest.

“Ahahahahaha, do me a favor and take those notes, will you? I’ve got a little something to attend to, so I won’t be playing with you anymore—”

The white-haired girl brought two fingers together, flicking them past her hair in a flippant farewell gesture. Then, leaving behind the girl whose face was a mask of shock and whose cheeks were flushed but dared not make any sudden movements, she turned and fled.