Chapter 13 : Wisdom (1)

Three skyscrapers encased in glass. A cube-shaped building to the right. A large electronic billboard was installed on top of it. It wasn’t particularly unfamiliar. I’d seen it a few days ago, and it had occupied this spot for a while now.

Someone made this request of me a while back.

[When peace comes, bring all the magical girls to me.]

[Well, they’ll be wandering around with nothing to do by then, right? I should take care of them.]

[How? We’ll figure that out later. Anyway, is it a promise?]

I was too busy to grant such a request, so I naturally forgot about it.

If someone asks how I could forget when they’re always promoting their idols on TV, I’d simply answer that I always have the documentary channel on, so I don’t know.

We weren’t that close to begin with. We only met twice, whether in the fairy realm or here, so it was natural.

Anyway. I heard from this bed-wetting fairy that Wisp was dealing with the devils, so I had to go. Dealing with devils? It’s the end of the world. In this case, however, it was an opportunity.

*Beep*

An access card was needed to enter. I could have snatched it from the bed-wetter and gone alone, but my presence was too well-known.

“Excuse me.”

If I messed up, I could waste time at an autograph session before even meeting Wisp, so I disguised myself like this and moved together.

Look. I just look like Fairy 1 in a coat and sunglasses. It’s worked really well since the old days.

“I already know.”

“Pi?”

My surprised voice automatically went up an octave. I widened my eyes behind my sunglasses and looked around cautiously. No one seemed to care.

Were they trying to divert my attention unnecessarily?

[No one knows, pi. Just hurry up and move, pi. And hurry up and add ‘pi’ to the end of your sentences, pi. If you get caught, it’ll be troublesome, pi.]

The bear, who was looking up and down, narrowed his eyes and scratched his head with his claws.

“Everyone’s pretending not to know. Everyone here has contracted as a magical girl, how could they not know? So, please take off that tacky outfit. What era is that disguise from?”

I lowered my sunglasses to the tip of my nose and looked at the bed-wetter suspiciously. Tacky? It’s called classic.

I took off my sunglasses and put them in my pocket. The women working here were magical girls. I could tell by the intertwined flow of magical power. Except for a few, most of the flow was directed towards a single point on the ceiling.

Wisp must be up there.

The bear, after being greeted by the security guard, pressed the elevator button. It was much smaller than the ones humans rode, since the president himself was a fairy, it was easier for us to ride.

There was still some time before we got there. Leaning against the elevator wall, I asked a question I’d always had.

“Is there a reason to increase the number of magical girls this much? They only sing and dance, they don’t do any actual combat training.”

“Ms. Amber, you seem to have an outdated mindset. You can fight with singing and dancing too.”

“Ha!”

I couldn’t help but laugh. To think they were saying such nonsense in a serious manner. … Were my eyes deceiving me? It seemed like it was the truth.

“If you don’t believe me, there are a lot of people who are reformed by listening to songs. It’s not like people look for us instead of the police when they get into fights on the street.”

“That’s true for humans. Not devils.”

“That’s true, but… They won’t get involved in the first place. If they needlessly use their magical power to cause trouble, they’ll be caught by the Association. Their horns will be broken before they’re released, and without them, they’re not even considered devils.”

Wasn’t that saying that they wouldn’t be able to do anything if something happened? Was I too accustomed to peace?

*Ding*

With a cheerful sound, the elevator arrived. I thought we could just board, but we had to use our access cards here as well. The bear tapped his ID card on the panel and pressed the floor number. It was the 9th floor, not the top floor, the 23rd.

“The Association President made his office on the top floor, but it seems like Wisp isn’t there.”

To my casually thrown question, he answered nonchalantly.

“Oh, he is there, but at this time, Mr. Wisp will be attending to other matters.”

“Hmm.”

Right, with this scale, he must be busy. He’d have to use his brain even more since he was committing corruption. I was looking forward to seeing what he was up to.

We got off the elevator and walked a bit. We arrived at a studio painted white all around. In the corner were a dressing table and mirror, and in the center, a large light was brightly lit from the ceiling. And the subject of this light was Wisp.

Wisp was striking various poses for the camera. The minimal outfit tailored to his body shimmered under the lights. The photographer kept asking him to move. Wisp, looking familiar with it, seriously posed with various expressions and gestures.

It seemed they hadn’t noticed us coming in. Their eyes were fixed on the camera lens. Having at least a little sense, I decided to wait quietly by the entrance. How long could they possibly take?

My expectations were quickly shattered. When the shoot ended and I tried to approach, Wisp moved towards the cameraman. He looked at the laptop connected to the camera and asked him something. The cameraman then gave instructions to the lighting staff. And this was being repeated.

I wondered what there was to take so many pictures of. I got fed up. I stopped tapping my foot and poked the calf of the bear waiting with me.

“How much longer will this take?”

The bear waiting beside me glanced at his wristwatch. At his hesitation to answer, I poked him again, and then he spoke.

“Our boss tends to take his time, so he’ll be shooting until at least 3:00… If you’re bored, please wait in the waiting room.”

3:00? Was he serious? I didn’t intend to keep my promise with Jangmi no matter what, but I couldn’t waste my time on something like this.

“Hey, Wisp!”

I raised my voice so that everyone there could see me. As I strode towards the shooting location, I confirmed that the staff inside were looking at me.

As if trying to stop me, the bed-wetter tried to grab me with his huge front paws. I showed him my ability again. He then gave up and just stared blankly. Like he had been hit by a freeze spell.

“Look who it is. The fairy who discovered Bright Lily, Amber. What brings you here?”

After apologizing to the staff, Wisp approached me. It seemed like the idea that we weren’t close was one-sided. He clung to me as if we were close and hugged me. Due to the size difference, he was hugging around my ankles.

As an answer to how I got here, I nodded towards the frozen bear. Seeing that, Wisp let out a short exclamation, “Ah.” Surprised, he gave the bear a big smile and a thumbs-up.

“So, did you bring the magical girls?”

He twirled my fur. I got goosebumps. I tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t budge.

“You still remember? Isn’t your memory ridiculously good?”

“Of course. It’s a promise we made when we were struggling. How could I forget? So, where are they? It’s hard to sense them with so many here.”

Despite my obvious discomfort, he looked up at me with expectant eyes. And ‘we’? What were we?

“There’s no such person.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t bring the magical girl you wanted.”

His expression changed rapidly. Would a child whose request for a toy has been refused make such a face? A feeling of being unable to control his anger, yet also feeling grief.

He pushed my leg away and walked towards the set. In a cynical tone, he ordered the bear.

“Hey, Daddy. Don’t just stand there, take her away. I thought you’d brought a big shot for once, tsk.”

So the stupidly frozen bear’s name was Daddy? What a funny name. He couldn’t do anything to me after I had already given him a hard time.

I grabbed the head of the rat as it scurried away, sneering. I had to work hard to stop his struggling. I reassured the worried humans that it looked like I was playing a prank.

In a low voice, I said to the enraged Wisp,

“I heard you’re dealing with devils.”

Hearing that, Wisp made a comical expression and whispered back,

“There was a reason the guy who never showed his face came. I’m very disappointed.”

“Answer with yes or no.”

“You’re trying to use ‘Eyes,’ aren’t you? Do you think I’d give that to you when you haven’t even brought a gift? Don’t even dream of it, get out.”

I tried to flick my wrist to threaten him, but Wisp had already noticed and held it tight.

“Let me warn you, I don’t know how many dimensional gates you can open, but if all the magical girls here attack you, things won’t end well.”

He took the sunglasses out of my coat pocket and placed them on his head. It looked unbalanced, but he walked towards the lights to take another picture.

I rummaged through my empty pocket and felt an unfamiliar texture. A rectangular piece of paper, Wisp’s business card.

On the back, something was scribbled, probably written just now.

[2:00. President’s office. With Daddy.]

Leaving only the words that I would return later, I left.