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Meow – Part 05

I sprinted through the streets alongside the dog. This was a personal matter, so the other three didn’t come.

The night felt good. I could bring out my full power in the dark. Under the sun, I might not even win against a grade schooler.

“This is the place,” the dog said. “Seems like someone’s still alive.”

He stopped in front of a perfectly ordinary house. Nothing stood out about it. We opened a second-story window and slipped inside.

“It’s too late. The soul isn’t here anymore.”

“What do you mean? Are they dead?”

“I came to take the soul to the Underworld, but it’s already gone. This has been happening a lot lately. Souls that never reach the Underworld.”

“Then where’d it go?”

“If I had to guess, they got sacced.”

“Sacced?”

“Short for sacrificed. From what I’ve heard, offering a soul to someone called the King of the Night grants you immense magical power. It’s been happening more and more lately.”

We crept out of the room and down the stairs. The house still looked completely normal. Was this really the site of some grotesque murder? The silence almost made me doubt it.

But when we reached the first floor, blood was everywhere.

“Stay alert, Aikawa,” the dog warned, wiping his brow with the sleeve of his trench coat. This dog actually sweated.

And so was I. There was overwhelming pressure coming from deeper in the house. My heartbeat quickened, and a chill ran down my spine.

Someone terrifying was up ahead.

“Whoa, the mana’s ramping up fast,” the dog said. “There’s no way a human should have this much magical… energy. I see! Of course!”

I had no idea what he was talking about. I wish I could sense magical energy too.

Something glinted in the dark. Suddenly, my body was shoved aside, and the dog in the trench coat spread his arms in front of me. Come on, I can’t die, remember? I should be the one shielding him. Move it already.

“Why are you protecting me?!”

“If something happened to you, Lady Hellscythe would be sad.”

“I’ll be fine. I—”

“Lady Hellscythe looked so happy earlier. I can’t take that away from her.”

His expression, just for a moment, looked completely human. He really cared about Eu.

“Get out of here! You don’t stand a chance. They’re—”

His large frame collapsed over me before he could finish. Fresh blood splattered across the floor.

I couldn’t move. I wanted to get in front of the dog, to face whoever did this. But I couldn’t move an inch. All I could see was the blade of a sword.

With one clean strike, everything from my chest down was severed. The dog took the hit with me.

Still, my body didn’t respond. Move. Move. Move, damn it. My mind worked fine. I wasn’t afraid. Not anymore. But my body wouldn’t move. Just like the night I was killed.

At the very least, I wanted to see the bastard’s face.

Just as I was about to get a look, my vision spun. The dog hurled my upper body with such force that I crashed through the wall and out of the house.

Once outside, my body suddenly moved again, like nothing had happened. I clawed at the dirt and dragged myself back toward the house. I didn’t know what the dog had sensed that made him toss me out, but I wasn’t going to run. I didn’t ask for his help anyway.

Inside, the dog lay still. Blood drenched the hallway, and his body had been split in two. No, three. His head was missing.

I reattached my lower half and stumbled through the house.

A small hand lay on the floor. A young boy’s? Or maybe a woman’s?

A large body lay nearby, probably the homeowner. The remains had been torn apart, scattered in pieces. Four victims in total. Five, counting the dog.

But the one I was looking for was nowhere to be found.

I sat down in the pool of blood beside the dog and stared at what was left of him.

“What were you trying to tell me?”

“They’re—”

A little more would’ve been very helpful.

But he could no longer answer. The dog’s body crumbled apart like a puff of dandelion fluff, drifting gently into the air. Just like how Megalo disappeared when killed.

Why would he do something so stupid?

But hey, I guess you weren’t such a bad guy after all.

Wait. Just like Megalo?

Come on. Even Megalo talked. Remember the crawfish dude?

I opened the trench coat that was starting to vanish, and there it was. A black school uniform, the symbol of a Megalo.

The dog—Cerberus One-Third—was a Megalo.

He’d said he was a watchman of the Underworld. So that meant Megalo came from the world of the dead?

Why would a Megalo help me, a Magiclad Girl? Why didn’t he attack Haruna? Why did he know Eu?

And… why the hell did he turn out to be a good guy?

Bzzz, Bzzz.

My phone vibrated as I made my way home. The screen showed a number I didn’t recognize. I figured it was probably some scam call, but I had nothing better to do until I got back, so I answered it.

“Hello?”

“Oh? This isn’t Haruna, is it?” A lazy, cutesy voice came from the other end of the line.

“Haruna? Ah… are you by any chance Big Teach?”

There was only one person who’d be calling to talk to Haruna.

“That’s me. And who might you be?”

“I’m Ayumu Aikawa, the poor soul forced to be a Magiclad Girl in her place.”

“But you’re not a girl at all.”

A giggle drifted through the phone. Fair point.

“I’ve been painfully aware of the irrationality from the very beginning,” I said. “Anyway, did you need something from Haruna? She’s not around at the moment, but I can pass your message along.”

“Hmm. Then could you please tell her this? Forget about the Kyoto-style tofu. Just focus on recovering your magical power, okay?”

“Kyoto-style tofu?”

“Yes. An errand I asked Haruna to run. She couldn’t find it no matter how hard she looked. So I figured, oh well.”

I stopped in my tracks in disbelief. That’s what she’d been searching for? Kyoto-style tofu—square and soft tofu from Kyoto. Not taboo or tutu, but Kyoto-style tofu. Only Haruna could mix that up. She couldn’t even manage a simple errand. What a lovable idiot.

“Would you like me to get it instead?” I offered as I resumed walking.

If I remembered right, Kyouko’s grandfather lived in Kyoto. Why do I remember that? Because she’s cute, obviously. Still, why the hell was Haruna looking for Kyoto-style tofu in Tokyo? She should’ve gone straight to Kyoto.

“Oh, then please do. I just love Kyoto tofu.”

“Right. But then why did Haruna come to Tokyo in the first place? Shouldn’t she have headed to Kyoto?”

“Oh, my. You’re not in Kyoto? I’m sure I told her to go to Kyoto.”

No way. She didn’t seriously mix up Kyoto and Tokyo, did she? Tokyo… Kyoto.

“I can’t believe that girl. No wonder she’s lagging behind.”

I heard a long sigh. As if I could apologize on her behalf.

“She says she’s a genius though,” I said with a chuckle.

“Oh yes. I agree with that.”

Wait, what? So… was she a genius or a flunker?

“She’s a genius, and that’s why she’s failing.” Big Teach’s voice remained as laid-back as ever. “She’s got incredible talent. She understands things instantly and can put them into practice just as fast. But she was too good at everything, and in the end, nothing felt fun to her anymore. It all started to feel meaningless. Eventually, she stopped showing up to school. Ah Kyoto-style tofu goes best with myōga,^[1] don’t you think?”

Big Teach kept talking in that same relaxed tone. She occasionally wandered off into tangents about Kyoto-style tofu, but if I boiled it all down, her point was this: even geniuses struggle to gain something without guidance.

That’s why Haruna got left behind. She believed she could catch up anytime, but that pride kept her from wanting to go back and learn the basics. That attitude put people off, and eventually, no one wanted to be around her. If she’d had even one friend, even one rival, maybe she could’ve pushed herself and grown through friendly competition.

But instead, she accepted being alone. Because she was a genius, she flunked. Her attendance record was too low. At this rate, she’d repeat the year.

Big Teach suggested she hunt Megalo, since she could earn credits without needing to show up to class. And while she was at it, she tried asking Haruna to pick up some tofu from Kyoto.

Apparently, Haruna’s inability to remember names wasn’t because she was dumb. It was because she didn’t want to remember them. She had no interest, so she didn’t bother.

Names like Craw, Beary, and Bluey were all things she came up with on her own. They all had actual names: the bear was Maeshiba, the crawfish was Manabe, the whale was Maesowa, and the anteater was Toki. Some unusual names, supposedly chosen to make them easier to distinguish. Personally, I thought that just made it harder. Oh, and the ranks like Double A-class were apparently more or less accurate. That part must’ve interested her.

“Although, something really surprising happened recently,” Big Teach said.

“Like what?”

“She remembered someone’s name. Just one. She doesn’t even remember my name, you know?”

Now that she mentioned it, Haruna only ever called her Big Teach.

“What kind of spell did you use, Ayumu?” she said my name with a chuckle. “I know lots of different kinds of magic, but I’ve never found anything that could open that girl’s heart. You must be quite the powerful mage.”

I fell silent, caught off guard by the unexpected compliment from the great and almighty professor. Flustered, I tried to change the subject and brought up something I’d been wondering about.

“So, what exactly are Megalo? I thought they were enemies of humanity, but now I’m not so sure.”

“Megalo are enemies of Magiclad Girls. Unless we wipe every last one of them out, we have no future.”

Haruna had said something similar before. So that wasn’t just her personal view. It was the stance of the entire Magiclad Girls.

“But there was a Megalo around earlier, and Haruna didn’t even notice it. It didn’t attack her either. Why’s that?”

“That’s unusual. I’d guess it must’ve had some other objective? Megalo can detect Magiclad Girls, and we can detect them in turn. So if that Megalo didn’t detect Haruna and came for a different reason, then it makes sense she wouldn’t notice it. After all, Haruna never learned how to sense magical power. Even if one were right in front of her, I doubt she’d notice.” She let out a little giggle.

I figured the other objective must’ve been to see me.

We chatted a bit more about the duties of a Magiclad Girl, and the call ended right as I arrived at my house. Apparently, Big Teach had passed along everything she wanted to say to Haruna. It seemed like Haruna had a pretty good mentor.

Well then, I guess I’ll text Kyoko. I gotta ask for some tofu.

1. Myoga or Japanese ginger is the species Zingiber mioga in the family Zingiberaceae. It is a deciduous herbaceous perennial native to Japan, China, and the southern part of Korea.