“You still haven’t reverted even with mana exhaustion? That’s quite troublesome.”
He observed her for a moment, then asked:
“So then, what exactly is sustaining your body right now?”
If Kamui truly had no magic power at this point, then what exactly was her body right now?
Conno’s meaning was simple—since a Magical Girl’s body is composed of magic power, if Kamui had no magic power at this moment…
After a long while, the gem artisan Conno set down his tools, switched off the magic-detection lamp, and removed the monocle perched beneath his deep-set eyes.
He continued: “There really isn’t much magic power left in your gem.”
“So my magic power really did disappear?” Kamui asked.
“No, it didn’t disappear.” Conno pulled a translucent magic crystal ball from his toolbox—colorless, looking like something a roadside fortune teller might use.
Clara didn’t recognize it, but Kamui knew what this kind of magic power test tool was.
She furrowed her brow, then placed her hand on the crystal ball.
However, nothing reacted.
[It wasn’t completely unresponsive—if you looked closely, you could actually see a faint glimmer of golden light.]
Conno immediately spread his hands and said: “See, you don’t have zero magic power—it’s just that your magic power recovery is extremely slow. Combined with the fact that you’re maintaining your transformation even under mana exhaustion, recovery becomes even harder.”
“My Mana Emission was already near zero anyway. What’s the point of testing with a tool like this?”
Kamui casually tossed the magic crystal ball to Clara.
The latter caught it in her hands, then tried injecting her own magic power into it.
As a result, a burst of pitch-black light exploded from within the crystal ball.
“See, little Honey has real talent as a Magical Girl~”
“She’s a Witch, isn’t she? The color of her magic power… is clearly that of a Magic Power Villain Magical Girl.” Kamui couldn’t help but quip, then asked, “So then, what’s causing my magic power recovery rate to slow down?”
Kamui was still wondering whether this was a consequence of Clara transferring magic power to her.
Though the two magic powers shared the same origin, their manifestations were completely different.
Forcibly mixing them was like injecting different magic power blood types—coagulation would occur, and perhaps magic power would also show abnormalities.
But Conno seemed to see right through her thoughts and shook his head.
“Don’t go looking for causes in other people, wild girl.”
Her thoughts exposed, Kamui’s gaze wavered.
But Conno continued: “Think about it—do you even use the magic power recovery stat in your daily life? Before yesterday’s battle, your magic power radiation was practically zero, and the magic power within your body was almost always at full capacity.”
“Muscles atrophy when unused, and magic power gems are the same. You who almost never needed magic power recovery naturally had that ability decline.”
It wasn’t because of Clara…
Kamui’s magic power recovery rate had always been slow, and with her needing to maintain her Magical Girl form, the recovery speed was predictably worse. It was just that she never really consumed magic power before, so it never mattered…
Conno continued: “As for why you can’t undo your Transformation Reversal… I can’t find the reason for that either. Perhaps recharging your magic power to full once might do the trick.”
“That answer is a bit irresponsible.”
“…So, it’s all my own fault?!”
Precisely because her Mana Emission was nearly zero, her magic power recovery rate had become abysmally poor. For Kamui, the concept of magic power differed from that of ordinary Magical Girls.
Compared to the MP of common sense, magic power for her was more like magic power internal energy—as long as it was full, every punch and every kick carried astonishing power, with negligible consumption.
But she had fired off all her internal energy in one go…
That blast was certainly spectacular, but after firing it, she was left in the miserable state of having lost all her power.
After hearing Conno’s explanation, Kamui couldn’t muster a smile.
“To be honest, I also watched the two of you fight yesterday. That crude magic power firework was as ugly as a magic power nouveau riche flaunting wealth, without any optimization from spell formulas.”
“New Magical Girls still have familiars to assist with spell formulas, but you… do you really think that kind of Mana Emission will make the Magic Power Society members take you seriously again? No, it will only make you more of a magic power laughingstock.”
Conno’s words landed rather harshly on Kamui’s ears. Especially now, when she had lost all her magic power, couldn’t undo her transformation, and couldn’t even create clothes—it stung even more.
Still, she raised her head and looked at Conno, asking: “Shopkeeper, is there any way for me to recover? Could it be… I can only wait for my magic power to slowly recover? How long will that take before it’s all back?”
Even if she waited ten days or half a month for her severely overdrawn magic power to return to normal, wouldn’t she still be unable to use Mana Emission in the future, reduced to fighting with just her fists and feet like before… In the end, nothing would have changed, even with Clara by her side.
Kamui had originally thought that Clara had brought her hope.
But she never expected that hope was merely a fleeting bubble—she hadn’t even experienced joy before plunging back into the ice valley of magic power despair.
“Magic power can only recover on its own. If other Magical Girls inject their magic power into you, it becomes Mana Emission and causes destructive rejection phenomenon.”
“At most, you can go to the hospital for some magic drip, but that can’t be used too much—overuse creates drug dependency, and your already low magic power recovery would become even slower… Just recover slowly.”
“Treat it as training your magic power recovery ability. Maybe your recovery rate will slowly improve a bit?”
Seeing Kamui’s head and shoulders droop, Conno felt he might have been too absolute. After all, this wild girl was still his customer…
He scratched his head, as if trying to comfort her: “Of course, it’s not completely hopeless. If you can find a magic source that doesn’t trigger rejection, and have her inject magic power into you, it won’t have negative effects on your body.”
“But it’s impossible to find one that doesn’t reject, isn’t it? In this whole world, can you find a second yourself?”
A second herself?
Kamui turned to look at Clara.
Clara also pointed at herself in surprise: “? You want me to do it again?”
Kamui was desperate! She was too desperate!
Leaving the Forest of Enchantment, she didn’t even return to the Apartment—she dragged Clara straight into a roadside Magic Power Hotel and got a room.
Two little girls walking into a hotel to get a room startled the Front Desk staff.
But she took another look at the magic power age on their ID cards and simply let it go.
These days, magic power technology was advanced.
Modification surgery, magic power full body prosthetics, and even magic power brain transplants were all common in Central City, so lolicon-minded folks had plenty of ways to modify themselves into little girls. Tsk, and they even came to get a room…
What a decline in magic power worldly customs.
Kamui neither knew nor cared what the Front Desk thought.
She dragged Clara into the Magic Power Elevator, used the magic power room card to open the door to the Magic Power Standard Room, turned around, and said to Clara: “Alright, replenish my magic power now!”
Clara wasn’t really a true little girl, after all. Though she knew Kamui’s purpose, being suddenly dragged to a hotel room still left her at a loss.
Kamui sat on the bed and spread her arms wide toward her.
“If you want me to take the job offer, at least you have to turn me back into a Magical Girl, right? I won’t release you until I’m fully charged!”
Mana replenishment?
That sounded pretty bad, too.