“What… the hell happened here?!”
The two magical girls had rushed over as fast as they could the moment they sensed the magical fluctuations at the factory.
But the instant they stepped inside, something felt off.
The once-noisy factory was now deathly silent. You could hear a pin drop.
All that remained was a faint trace of magical residue… and workers sprawled across the floor, fast asleep and dead to the world.
In the middle of one workshop, a single glowing Crystal Core floated in midair.
“They’re fine. Just sleeping.”
Azure randomly checked a few of the workers.
Their breathing was steady, their minds at peace. Only then did the massive weight lift from the girls’ chests.
“There’s magical residue on them too. Someone must have cast a safeguard to keep them from getting attacked by the monster.”
“Some senior, maybe?”
Crimson scanned the area and spotted a few tattered scraps of cloth not far away.
“This is…”
The two Contracted Beasts flew over and picked up the pieces.
“There’s magical residue on these… Wait. This magical signature… It’s from a cadre of the Dark Organization!”
“The Dark Organization!”
The two girls cried out in unison.
“You mean that evil force that’s been around for who knows how many years?”
Crimson stared incredulously at the red pony, which was holding the rags between its hooves. She earned three simultaneous eye-rolls.
She realized she’d said something stupid and laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.
After all, there was only one organization that opposed magical girls.
And besides the Dark Organization, who else would pick such an on-the-nose name?
The Dark Organization was, without question, the lifelong enemy of every magical girl.
No one knew who founded the thing.
All they knew was that its members went around collecting powerful monsters and occasionally stirring up a bit of social chaos.
They weren’t exactly the epitome of evil. More like those idle punks on the street who messed with public order for fun.
Even more ridiculous?
They were officially recognized as a legitimate organization.
With social security and everything.
To this day, no one had a clue what the Dark Organization’s ultimate goal even was.
The most widely accepted theory was:
Maybe their whole purpose was just to oppose magical girls?
It sounded a little out there, but when you thought about it… yeah, it kinda fit.
Their slogan was literally “Down with magical girls!”
Every action they’d taken so far had basically revolved around clashing with magical girls.
The public disturbances were just a side gig.
After that, people mostly ignored them.
They hadn’t caused any major damage, after all.
But if you ran into them, ordinary folks would still make a show of running away.
No helping it.
It wasn’t the Dark Organization they feared—it was the monsters they controlled.
Those things were genuinely scary.
One slip-up and you could end up with a bloody incident.
Though, to be fair, that possibility was ridiculously slim.
“But if it’s the Dark Organization, why would they kill a monster?”
The embarrassed Crimson, desperate to cover her awkwardness, brought up the other burning question on everyone’s mind.
“Maybe this monster was out of control?”
Azure thought for a moment, then offered her take.
“Very possible.”
The two Contracted Beasts chimed in.
“Similar things have happened before. But we should stay on guard. Looks like they just left, so they might come back.”
“As for this Crystal Core… Whoa, it’s incredibly pure. Let’s take it back for now.”
The Crystal Core was useless to anyone outside of magical girls and their Contracted Beasts—including regular mages.
To everyone else, it was more like a projection.
You couldn’t even touch it; your hand would just pass right through.
So the two girls and their beasts weren’t worried at all about the Dark Organization tampering with it.
Azure reached out and touched the Crystal Core.
The floating crystal split into two moths that fluttered over and merged into the crystal on her chest.
After one last sweep of the factory, the two magical girls cast some healing and calming spells on the workers to make sure there wouldn’t be any aftereffects.
The moment they stepped out the factory doors, a new magical girl appeared right in front of them.
Her accessories were similar to Crimson and Azure’s—the only difference was her orange-yellow color scheme.
“You are…?”
The two sides stared at each other in confusion. Little Red and Little Blue showed a hint of bewilderment, while Little Yellow’s eyes were filled with pure blankness.
After a moment, the yellow magical girl nodded at Crimson and Azure, then turned and left.
There wasn’t a single word exchanged the whole time.
It felt exactly like bumping into someone wearing the exact same outfit while out for a stroll.
“Was that a new magical girl?”
Crimson watched the yellow magical girl walk away.
“Never seen her before. Must be, right?”
Azure thought back to all the seniors she’d met recently.
None of them had yellow accessories like this.
“If even you haven’t seen her, then yeah, she must be new.”
Judging by her age, she’d probably come chasing after the monster.
Every magical girl was basically a walking monster radar, after all.
“New magical girls have been popping up like crazy lately. That yellow one, plus the two of us… Hey, do you think the Dark Organization has magical girls inside?”
Before Azure could answer, the red pony cut in.
“No way! The hosts we Contracted Beasts choose have to meet some pretty strict standards!”
The two girls perked up, looking at the red pony expectantly.
The red pony puffed out its chest proudly.
“First off, the girl we contract with has to be fresh enough—”
“Stop!”
Azure interrupted, giving the red pony a weird look.
“Explain what ‘fresh’ means first. Who uses ‘fresh’ to describe a person?!”
The panda plush had somehow ended up lounging on Azure’s head.
It lazily rolled over and explained.
“Oh come on, cut the little pony some slack. That’s just how it talks. ‘Fresh’ basically means the girl has to be young enough.”
“Second, their hearts have to be pure enough. So what Crimson said earlier is totally impossible.”
Seeing its companion defend it—and finish the sentence it hadn’t gotten to—the red pony moved straight on to the next point.
“I see. Got it.”
Crimson nodded, suddenly enlightened.
“I guess I was overthinking it. How could a pure-hearted magical girl ever end up in a villain organization?”
The rest of the way, the two girls detransformed and chatted as they walked. It wasn’t until midday that they finally made it home.
——————
Author Note-
A quick note on the differences between mages, magic users, and magical girls.
Mages are the researchers of magic—think human scientists.
Magic users are just… users of magic.
The line between the two is pretty blurry. It mostly comes down to how the person sees themselves.
As for magical girls, they have two hard requirements: one, they have to be female (duh), and two, they need a Contracted Beast to form a contract with (which requires meeting certain prerequisites first).
Of course, if a guy is willing to say goodbye to his dear little brother and contract with a beast anyway, he could become a magical girl too.
(Just kidding.)