CH 5

Unique Skills

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

–The next day, Tsugumi and Bell stood facing each other in the living room. The first thing they did was to try out the transformation before going to fight the Demonic Beast, because he insisted that they should try it out first.

He told Chidori in advance that he would be absent from school and asked her to contact his teacher. He felt sorry for Suzune-sensei, who was worried about him, but today was not a very good day to be at school.

Naturally, Tsugumi had to cancel his plans with Yukitaka, but he backed down easily, which was unusual for him. On the contrary, Yukitaka said he would go to the secondhand store to pick up the book for him. After all, that’s what it meant to be a friend.

–But how did Yukitaka know that I hadn’t gone to pick up the book yet?

Well, most likely he thought that Tsugumi had forgotten to pick up the book. The reason wasn’t important because it was a big help.

“Now, what do you think?”

“What a great idea! …Wow, even my voice has changed.”

Then Tsugumi stroked his throat in a restless manner. It felt so different. He was wondering what was going on under his… clothes, but with this feeling, everything must be transformed.

-Yes, he had transformed into a woman’s form.

As for his height, he was probably a little under 170 cm. He was thinly fleshed and generally slender.

He was surprised to see how easily his body could be reconfigured by simply thinking in his mind. He was amazed and awe-struck at the same time. 

Watching Tsugumi, Bell laughed with satisfaction.

“The contract I gave you was specially made by me. Any slight discomforts will soon disappear.”

“Even though it’s such a small ring. God is ridiculous, after all.”

A contracted trinket, was necessary to transform into a Magical Girl. Tsugumi was given a ring with a round green stone, with an unfamiliar crest engraved deep within the stone. The design somehow tickled the male heart.

“The dress is a black skirt and a stuffed collar jacket. Basically, it’s similar to what I’m wearing now. That’s a little surprising.”

It’s as if the men’s uniform he always wore has been transformed into women’s clothing. As it was, it was too plain, and there was a danger of floating away.

But even as he calmly thought about this, he couldn’t help but feel embarrassed by the fact that he was wearing a knee-length skirt. It was so cold, he wondered why women like to wear such things.

“No, a Magical Girl’s clothes are designed to change according to your imagination. The fact that your clothes haven’t changed much is simply because you have a poor imagination.”

“So I have to think up all those sparkly outfits that the average Magical Girl wears? I’m sorry… but I don’t think I can do it.”

From so-called gothic lolita designs, to fashionable idol-like clothing, to ethnic costumes. He had assumed that the clothes would be changed to suit each person best, but he had no idea that they were all made by hand.

“I’ll have the contracted equipment fixed by tomorrow. I’ll make you dress as befits a contractor of mine.”

“What?”

“What, you got a problem with me?

“No, yeah… That’s fine.”

To be honest, he was dreading to see what the finished product would look like. If the whole thing was full of frills and stuff, he didn’t know how he would react.

However, considering the degree of perfection of this ring, he had a feeling that it would be of reasonable quality. 

Let’s trust Bell here. Or rather, there was something more worrisome than that.

“I’d like to take a look in the mirror. I’m curious to see what I look like now.”

After all, when it came to transformation, the best part was becoming a ridiculously beautiful girl.

When Tsugumi said that, Belle let out a sigh of exasperation.

“Human people immediately care about their faces. It’s just a piece of skin.”

“Don’t say that. Let’s see, the mirror is here”

He looked into the mirror with a buoyant feeling. What was reflected there was…

“This is me…? I mean, not much has changed, has it?”

Tsugumi said, and looked at Belle in frustration.

He had straight black hair that reached just below his shoulder blades, and lightly pigmented, dark brown eyes. If he had a younger sister who looked like him, she would probably have a face like this.

Of course, there were differences between men and women in terms of sharpness and roundness, so she probably didn’t look like the same person, but he felt very disappointed.

“I’m sure someone I know would recognize this face…”

“I’m sure you can pretend you don’t know her. No one would normally think that you, a man, are a Magical Girl. –If they say anything, just tell them you might be a sister from another life.”

“That’s easy for you to say. Well, I don’t know every face of all the Magical Girls either, and there’s a lot of things I’d rather not know.”

He didn’t know much about the Magical Girl industry, so he couldn’t judge. But since Bell, who knew more about Magical Girls than Tsugumi, said so, he supposed it wasn’t a problem.

But it was a bad idea to set them up as brother and sister who have been separated from each other. It is a well-known fact that Chidori and Tsugumi had no memories of their past, so someone might try to bring them together.

“But you can’t change your face. You don’t have the capacity for transformation anymore.”

“…Then it can’t be helped. I’ll just have to defend myself by wearing glasses in my normal form.”

He couldn’t complain anymore. By nature, Tsugumi had no right to lament or anything. He guessed he should consider himself lucky that he could still voice his opinion.

“By the way, is this state a ‘Magical Girl’? The feeling itself is not much different from usual.”

“Idiot. The function of strengthening by Magical Girl’s conversion can only be used in the space of the other world. Don’t you know that?”

“Is that so? I’ve never heard of such a thing before.”

When Tsugumi replied, Bell’s brow furrowed with a grim look on her face.

“…I see. Is it kept secret to protect the Magical Girls? Because it can be handled in any way, such as a little girl who can’t use her power as a Magical Girl.”

“But wouldn’t that put your everyday life in jeopardy? I heard that as your name becomes more popular, there will be some bad chasing going on.”

“To prevent this from happening, Magical Girls are able to use two unique skills even before they transform. The problem is the organization–foreign agents. Surrounded by a group of firearms, some of them may be helpless.”

“Foreign agents, huh? Japan has been closed to the outside world for a long time, but a limited number of people – diplomats, for example – can enter the country if they go through the proper procedures. Although they are not allowed to stay in Japan for more than a week by law, there is no guarantee that they will not commit abductions or other acts within that short period of time.”

Japan was now attracting attention from all over the world. The magical nucleus of the “Demonic Beast” was truly a blessing from God. It seemed that other countries were jealous of Japan’s monopoly on it.

“I guess we just have to be careful. What is this unique skill…? I know this sounds like a game, but is there some sort of status indicator with parameters?”

When he asked Bell about such things, she looked down at him with the utmost disdain. She also flew above Tsugumi’s line of sight. Well, it was a fine trick.

“In the first place, the efficiency of the divine power, the acceptable range, and the techniques that can be used differ from person to person. The only thing that is quantified is the number of people who can use it. This is why the ignorants are so annoying.”

Bell snickered, cowering her shoulders. Well, it was certainly bad for Tsugumi to get carried away and ask strange questions. It was rude to say to a Magical Girl fighting for her life that it was like a game. He must reflect on that.

“The only thing you have is this ‘skill sheet’. Hey, you might want to take a look.”

With a mechanical whirr, something that looked like a thin, shiny A4 board appeared in Bell’s hand.

He took the board with trepidation. It had no weight at all, and he didn’t feel like he was holding something.

It seemed to be a touch panel and able to scroll down. Let’s see.

“…That.”

“What?”

“According to our common sense, this kind of thing is called a status display.”

Tsugumi squeezed out in a slightly lower voice.

The remaining divine power in the form of a pie chart and the activation rate of the body were displayed. The skills he could use and their proficiency levels were indicated. There were columns for height, weight, number of Demonic Beasts defeated, and frequency of battles. No matter how you looked at it, it was a status display. What was that all-out denial earlier?

“I didn’t say that there was no status display. I only said that there was no numerical value. There is no need to be so angry.”

“I may need to have a meeting with Bell-sama sometime in the near future to reach a mutual understanding.”

In a telling tone, Tsugumi said. A disagreement like this would surely get them in trouble later on. And it would be him who suffered. 

“According to the skill sheet, my unique skills are – [Transportation] and [Thread]…?”

He knew what Transportation was. It was the ability to move yourself or an object to an arbitrary location. It was also indicated as such in the skill introduction section. But what exactly was the effect of this [Thread] skill? The skill description only said that it “creates and manipulates threads.”

In addition to the unique skill, there was a column for a constantly activated passive skill and a column for an optionally activated active skill, but these were blacked out. These were probably only visible in the barrier area.

“I’m glad to hear that. That [Transport] is right on the money. According to my research, there are only a few people in the government who have this ability. From our point of view, it is convenient for us to be able to move around unnoticed. I praise you.”

“What is this [Thread] skill…?”

“I don’t know. The first skill is almost random, but I hear the second skill comes from personal characteristics. If you don’t know, I don’t know either.”

Bell was the only one he could count on, but she was completely unreliable. What should he do?

Skills that depended on Tsugumi’s characteristics. Manipulating… threads? To be honest, he didn’t get it at all.

“…Who the hell came up with these ‘unique skills’ or ‘skill sheets’? It’s easy to understand, but it just doesn’t feel real somehow.”

As Tsugumi thought earlier, this system was very close to the “game system” that young people nowadays think of. He guessed from Bell’s words, this system was common to Magical Girls. It was a little hard to imagine that such a rigid government would create something so playful.

“I don’t know the details, but it seems your Sun God Amaterasu created it as a hobby for her own comfort. I guess Amaterasu just made it this way to make it easier for light-headed people like you to understand. Also, I heard that the reason why the unique skills are now random and dependent on qualities is because the people who thought up and created their own techniques and arts were, as far as she was concerned, useless.”

“I see…?”

Tsugumi honestly wanted to respect them, but he also felt like he was dancing in the palm of the government’s hand, which makes him feel vulnerable.

He was pretty sure those who destroyed themselves by creating skills misread their own limitations. Adolescents had a tendency to run off a bit that way, didn’t they?

He considered himself lucky that he was able to become a Magical Girl after some of the basic systems were in place.

Tsugumi let out a sigh with slumped shoulders.

I wonder if I will be able to survive in the future.

It was a terribly depressing thought.