Hagakure Sakura Does Not Lament

Edited by LyraDhani

–The time is December. About three months have passed since Tsugumi became a Magical Girl.

“Fifteen Class E. Six Class D. Now we have one C-class. –Isn’t it a good result for a fledgling Magical Girl?”

Tsugumi said this to Bell as he gazed at the scene of “Gluttony” after the battle was over.

In terms of numbers alone, the quota for two years in total had been achieved. He was getting better at using the thread, and for a newcomer in his third month, he was doing a good job.

But Bell shook her head with a discouraged look.

“No, it’s still a long way to go in a battle.”

“Is that so?”

“Oh, it’s none of our business as strays, but the government guys have combat simulators. They can train for combat whenever the conditions are right. Compared to them, we’re just a bunch of chicken.”

“Simulator:..”

He had no idea such a useful thing existed until now. But the fact that Bell didn’t tell him about it suggested that it must be useless for Tsugumi.

“Do I have to belong to the government to use it?”

“Of course. With a collar, you have the privilege to make up for that inconvenience. Just like the bounty. -Otherwise, people wouldn’t gather together”

Tsugumi nodded at her words.

That’s certainly a point. However much “Magical Girls” may be the No. 1 occupation that girls wanted to be in, Magical Girls who belonged to the government had as little personal freedom as the Self-Defense Forces. It’s no wonder that there were people who want to do it comfortably in the field.

“As for you, it’s better to study in reality than in fiction like a simulator. Sometimes it’s a matter of skills.”

Having said that, Bell looked into the mouth of the beast that was feeding on the C-class Demonic Beast. Surely that couldn’t be reproduced in a simulator. They couldn’t fill a stomach in virtual reality.

–He thought that the total amount of power that he could manipulate had increased considerably in the past three months. The duration of his skills had increased, and above all, his body was easier to move and his senses were more acute. He could handle a string stretched over a wide area as if he were moving his own arms and legs.

According to Bell, “The size and strength of my vessel have increased,” but he had no idea what exactly was happening.

‘Well, maybe it’s more nerve-wracking in practice. –But the C-class is hard and big, and they move fast. And they would send things like poisonous needles at you.”

Saying that, Tsugumi gazed at the C-class Demonic Beast, a.k.a. “Manticore,” which had been eaten and was almost like a leftover piece of meat.

The original length of the manticore was about 15 meters, larger than a large bus. It was built like a tiger, with a reddish body and a scorpion-like tail. The only problem was that its face bore a striking resemblance to that of a human being, making it a little creepy to stare at.

However, it seemed that this “Manticore” creature may or may not have actually existed. According to some theories, the existence of the Manticore was a transformation of a Bengal tiger’s fearsome image into a deformed monster.

Demonic Beast’s concept was to change into stuff that people find scary. There wasn’t any relationship between actuality and non-existence.

As a confirmed example, Shoggoths and Shantak birds in the Cthulhu Mythos sometimes appeared as Demonic Beasts.

Since B-class and even A-class Demonic Beasts had mythological names and projected their own names, if you challenged them with the same mindset as C-class Demonic Beasts, you would be easily beaten back.

It might be called the “name recognition correction”. Everyone knew that mythological monsters were strong. So, of course, the Demonic Beasts that were imagined with their existence at their core were also strong.

The current Tsugumi – Hagakure Sakura – still had his hands full with the less well-known C grade, and he must work harder to challenge the higher grades.

Eventually, they considered challenging the A-class, but if they go that far, Tsugumi’s stance of being inconspicuous would be broken.

Bell said that if they became good enough to take down a Class A, the government would have little to say about it, even if their identities were discovered. It would be a long road ahead, but he had no choice but to do what he could.

“Oh, I think I’m done eating. –Let’s go back.”

“Ah.”

And so, Tsugumi – “Magical Girl Hagakure Sakura” – was steadily gaining strength.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

“Yo, Nanase. Hey, take a look at this.”

“…What is it, Akiyama? Don’t rub my shoulders, it’s annoying.”

When he entered the classroom, Akiyama hunched his shoulders as if he was hugging him from behind. To be honest, he wasn’t happy to have a guy do that to him.

Shaking off the hand roughly, Tsugumi turned to Akiyama.

“So what are you looking at?”

“Here it is. You’ll be surprised.”

Akiyama smirked and quickly held out a cell phone in front of him. The screen was showing a video.

He took the phone and pressed the play button.

[Special feature on Magical Girls this season! ]

In the video, a certain Magical Girl was shown. The girl was running around the building city in all directions, cutting down huge Demonic Beasts with some kind of weapon.

When the Demonic Beast was defeated, her name appeared on a large sticker at the bottom of the screen.

“…Hagakure Sakura?”

“Yes, yes! This Magical Girl–she looks just like Nanase, doesn’t she?”

For a moment, he stopped breathing.

–Finally, the time had come. He had been prepared for it, but he hadn’t expected it to be so soon.

He glanced at Akiyama’s face. His expression was not suspicious of anything, but innocent, like a child who wanted to share something interesting.

-Then, let’s go with Plan D. Tsugumi decided in his heart. It hurt a little, but it couldn’t be helped.

“Sure, we’re similar…”

“Right? I was surprised when I found it yesterday, too. I have to show it to you.”

While Akiyama laughed happily at that, Tsugumi bit his lip and made a sad expression on purpose.

“I wonder if I did something to Akiyama without realizing it. If so, I apologize…”

Tsugumi took a step away from Akiyama, and then said weakly. From the outside, he looked like a wounded boy.

Akiyama stared at him with a look of incomprehension.

“Huh? What?”

“No, because, you know. This is well done, but it’s an edit, right? The face has been modified to look more feminine, but I don’t think you have to go this far to harass me.”

“I can’t do something that advanced! You just look alike!”

“That’s impossible, isn’t it? We look like twins, this woman and I.”

Watching the exchange between Tsugumi and Akiyama, some of his classmates came up to him to see what was going on.

One of them snatched the cell phone from him and started laughing, comparing the video to his face.

“Ha-ha-ha! What’s this? She really looks just like Tsugumin! I’m going to cheer for her starting from today.”

“I like it. I’ll check out the other information. This girl’s name is Hagakure Sakura correct?”

“Are you serious… And stop calling me Tsugumin.”

It gave him chills in many ways. Tsugumi took three steps away from his noisy classmates and hugged himself with both hands. Everyone was more fond of “Hagakure Sakura” than he expected, he was a little scared.

—Some unexpected events happened, but they were generally within the expected range.

Plan D was to pretend he didn’t know her at all and made a mess. He thought that if he were dealing with these classmates, he could just make a joke out of their resemblance and be done with it. This is not to say that he was mocking them or anything, but simply that he was aware of their personalities.

Even now, they were only making fun of each other by comparing the videos with Tsugumi. No one was looking at the relationship between Tsugumi and “Hagakure Sakura”. So, the whole thing was supposed to be settled.

“–What’s with this stupid fuss? Don’t bother Tsugumi-chan too much.”

The class fell silent at the words of the person who entered the classroom. There was only one person in this class who had this much influence.

Tsugumi gripped his hands tightly.

“Yukitaka…”

“Good morning, Tsugumi-chan. So–what were you talking about?”

–The guy he couldn’t predict had come.