The executive miss finally realized what exactly she was gripping in her hand.
While throwing away the human head she was clutching, she instinctively curled up her body wanting to scream, but a sweet and soft foreign object remained stuck in her mouth, turning her cries for help and venting into whimpers.
The young executive, who had finally gradually recovered from the numbness of being frightened, naturally realized this as well.
Although she was already trembling all over from fear, fortunately the tongue is the most flexible muscle in the human body, so she just needed to push it casually... and it would...
The thing stained with some girl's saliva fell with a "pat" onto the already unrecognizable carpet.
It was a short section of finger that was still dripping blood, and she could even see a section of white finger bone through the pink muscle.
A few meters away, Magical Girl Luna, who had no idea what Reiko had actually seen, was startled by a loud bang, then immediately discovered that her anti-magic room had been blown open with a big hole.
She then naturally assumed this was the trace left by Amber coming to rescue her, so she put aside the still-running game console and walked out of the room.
"Hehe~ I'm out!"
She was preparing to properly teach the monster that had imprisoned her a lesson together with Amber, summoning her staff and vigilantly searching for enemies in the surroundings.
Unfortunately, she only saw a silver-haired girl lying on the ground constantly dry heaving, and a large puddle of tomato juice that had dirtied the carpet and walls.
She completely didn't realize that this girl was the evil organization executive who had been negotiating terms with her through the wall just now, only thinking she was an ordinary hostage who needed her help.
The executive miss, helped up by Luna, couldn't stop her body from trembling, her beautiful purple eyes also dilated from fear.
Although Luna was very curious about who had used so much tomato juice to play such a prank and dirty the carpet and walls, someone needed help right now, so she could only put away her staff and help Reiko to rest on the side.
Reiko bit her lower lip hard, as if not wanting to embarrass herself in front of the magical girl who was her enemy, forcibly suppressing the urge to dry heave and making herself calm down.
She also reached out to cover the name tag soaked and covered by red liquid, avoiding Luna realizing she was the executive miss who had been composed in front of her just moments ago.
But the aftereffects of seeing such a terrifying scene up close weren't something an ordinary girl could easily handle.
Honestly, she was already using all her strength just trying to hold back from crying.
But something she couldn't understand happened... she discovered that Luna's current expression, aside from worry and confusion... surprisingly didn't have even the slightest trace of fear.
Could this guy not be afraid after seeing such things? How is that possible?!
"Are you okay? Do you need me to call a doctor?"
The magical girl's gentle, sweet voice made her shiver.
Could it be... magical girls don't have any reaction when they see such things?
"No, no need... let me rest for a bit, I'll be fine in a moment."
Luna nodded, opened the window, and used simple cleaning magic to help Reiko clean up some of the tomato juice on her clothes.
"Amber, Amber~ thank you for coming to rescue me, but I need to go find the Cream Monster first. I'll treat you to ice cream next time!"
Although she wasn't sure why Amber did good deeds without leaving her name, even deliberately pretending not to hear to act cool... but thank you anyway, Amber!
Ah, almost forgot that ordinary people can't hear this.
"I'm very sorry, I need to go find the Cream Monster. So I'm afraid I can't stay here to accompany you anymore, okay?"
Seeing Reiko nod to indicate she was fine, Luna stepped onto the window and leaped away from here.
The executive miss also relaxed her body and collapsed on the ground again after confirming she had left, and only after a long while did she muster the courage to want to look at that 'corpse' again.
After all, if she didn't find a way to deal with it now, if other timid monsters saw this later... if they got scared away, it would take a long time to find them again.
Reiko cursed magical girls for being truly cold-blooded in her heart while trying hard to squint her tightly closed eyelids into a slit, but when she saw the floor that should have been a mess, she froze.
The walls and carpet stained with flesh and blood were soaked by unknown red liquid, and the nauseating bloody smell in the air was also replaced by a plant's fragrant aroma.
Pat.
She stepped on something.
Her petite body, remembering what was lying at her feet, suddenly trembled and slowly lowered her head.
Moving aside her leather shoes that Luna had cleaned, what came into view wasn't the human tissue she had expected, but a—tomato.
And it was a tomato that looked quite good, but couldn't be eaten because she had stepped on it.
"Are you okay, meow?"
The black cat that had been hiding in the corner since earlier reappeared, examining the surroundings while approaching Reiko.
"I felt danger so I escaped first, meow~"
It sniffed the tomato juice with plant fragrance on the wall.
"I can feel a little residual magic power... but it's not Amber, meow. Should be a new magical girl, meow?"
What...?
A new... magical girl?
"Heh... hehe..."
She violently threw the tomato in her hand on the ground, though the splashing red juice made her fearfully retreat several steps.
Connecting the corpse that suddenly turned into tomatoes, the unfamiliar magic power the black cat had just sensed... and the huge hole in the wall before her.
She reached a conclusion.
'That newly appeared magical girl is a bastard! To actually, to actually use such a prank! I will never forgive her!'
Tsuan, who would never be forgiven by Reiko, slowly got up from the bed.
She stared blankly at her own tender white hands.
Then once again reached toward her pocket to confirm... this wasn't a dream.
That hard sensation was still there.
After pressing the button, her body exploded in an instant, but Tsuan didn't feel pain—rather, she felt... the sensation of consciousness and body disintegrating in an instant was particularly relaxing.
Before consciousness disappeared, she could see the entire world spinning continuously before her eyes.
This feeling was somewhat indescribable. Although there wasn't the slightest bit of pain, she could equally feel the numbness and cold belonging to death rapidly occupying every part of her body.
At the same time, the feeling of magic power accumulated for who knows how long being released all at once from her body was like drinking a cold beverage in forty-degree summer heat, making her unusually comfortable.
But no matter what, it couldn't change... the fact that she had lost a life.
Tissue wiped across her fingertips, bit by bit cleaning the water droplets on them. The black-haired girl, not wanting to recall that strange feeling just now, patted the hard 'magical tool' in her pocket through the fabric with some disgust.
The girl in the mirror looked lively and cute, her gem-like bright red pupils filled with joy at successfully transforming into a magical girl—even though this kind of magical girl was completely unreasonable.
'But no matter what, I'm also a magical girl now! So... I should smile more happily!'
She showed the mirror a lively, cute smile, then bounced onto the sofa, pulled out the remote control, and relaxed her body to enjoy the reward time after battle.
The TV model was somewhat old, seemingly a popular model from several years ago. The first thing it did after being turned on was emit noise.
Tsuan habitually waited a moment, then the full-screen static gradually changed to normal images.
She skillfully switched through several news channels dedicated to reporting on magical girls, watching to see if any new incidents were about to happen while silently reciting in her heart... the name of the person she had tried to help with magic for the first time.
To her disappointment, even though she had already switched through every magical girl channel, she couldn't see any news about Luna.
Tsuan sighed with some disappointment, then wrapped herself tightly in a blanket, leaning on the sofa and using random thoughts to combat the passage of time.
From what to eat for lunch tomorrow to how to meet other magical girls in the future. But no matter how Tsuan thought, in the end she would involuntarily think about... the same thing.
Did Luna... escape? Where is she now, is she safe?
A trace of worry showed in her crimson eyes, unease and fear lingered around her, making her couldn't help but shiver.
Growl...
Tsuan gently patted her flat, soft stomach and discovered the source of her unease.
"Ehehe... after all, I forgot to eat lunch today~"
No wonder it feels chilly. But the urgent matter is to go to the kitchen and make something to eat first!
The black-haired girl habitually turned up the TV volume before turning to enter the kitchen. After simply washing her hands, she opened the refrigerator door, ignored the constantly flickering small bulb due to malfunction, then reached out to take the last can of tomatoes.
Optimists would say there's still one can, pessimists would say there's only one can left.
But Tsuan would say...
"I'm going to eat a whole can at once!"
It seems not eating lunch really had a big impact on her.
"So first... I need to open the can! Then add all the tomato soup to the pot... then crack in an egg..."
Tsuan thought for a moment, then turned to take two eggs from the refrigerator. After gently tapping them on the pot edge, she broke the shells and watched the yellow yolk gradually get submerged by red.
Tsuan put on an apron, then added one... two small handfuls of noodles, then turned on the stove and waited a bit.
This would give her a pot of nutritionally balanced, steaming hot tomato egg noodles!
Tsuan held the spatula and constantly stir-fried in the pot—this way the tomatoes wouldn't stick to the pot and become difficult to clean... but since she had poured an entire can of tomato soup today... each time she stirred the spatula required more effort than usual.
After a few minutes, she began gasping slightly while wiping sweat from her forehead. But the aroma produced after heating the tomatoes perfectly motivated her to continue persisting.
Finally, after what she considered 'a while' had passed... the somewhat chewy noodles were scooped out by her, and part of the cooked eggs mixed in the soup took her quite a while to piece together into half an egg.
She certainly didn't understand things like using hot or cold water to cook noodles, waiting for water to boil first, or adding more side dishes for nutritional balance—after all, no one had taught her how to do it... right?
The girl carrying a big bowl full of noodles walked to the dining table and sat down. Through the rising steam, you could clearly see the joy on her face.
"Time to eat~"
Tsuan put her hands together in devout prayer, then reached for chopsticks. The joy of eating delicious food made her temporarily forget her troubles, throwing herself wholeheartedly into this bowl of noodles, finding happiness in the taste of her favorite tomato soup.
After Tsuan ate everything in the bowl clean, she put down her chopsticks and gently patted her small stomach.
"Delicious!"
She licked the remaining red soup at the corners of her mouth, completely ignoring the fact that she seemed to have eaten twice her normal amount of food in one meal.
Although this kind of canned food was very cheap and suitable for someone financially strapped like Tsuan to buy... she had no income, so no matter how much she saved, she would eventually spend all the little money left on her bank card...
The last time she had income... seemed to be a long time ago... oh well, keep eating.
After pouring the last bit of warm tomato soup from the pot into her bowl and drinking it all, she began washing the dishes. The steel wool scrubbing the iron pot bottom created a somewhat pleasing 'rustling' sound, and dish soap for cleaning grease precisely fell into the bowl.
The girl who had been concentrating suddenly heard a familiar voice from the TV in the living room. She unconsciously lightened her action of scrubbing the pot with steel wool, making the TV sound clearer.
"Miss Luna, what do you mean by... 'being saved'?"
Tsuan somewhat anticipated Luna's answer, and somewhat feared Luna's answer wouldn't match what she thought... but fortunately, that lively, cheerful voice didn't disappoint her.
"Because I was careless and got captured by a monster... but it's okay, I've already escaped~"
Tsuan successfully caught the key information of 'escaped' and, after confirming her safety, completely relaxed. The worries she had deliberately ignored completely vanished at this moment, but were immediately occupied by new worries—the unclosed faucet was continuously adding water to the iron pot placed beneath it.
The cold tap water had already filled the iron pot and flowed along the pot edge to touch Tsuan's fingertips.
Although she was somewhat flustered, she quickly cleaned all the dishes. Finally, she untied her apron, squatted in front of the nearly full trash can to tie a knot on the plastic bag, and lifted the garbage bag almost full of empty iron cans with tomato logos.
"~"
Luna successfully escaped, she herself became a magical girl... and she ate something delicious too!
The joy and relaxation produced by three good things combined made Tsuan, carrying the garbage bag toward the door, softly hum a tune.
With her footsteps, the TV sound also became clearer. No need for careful identification to hear everything clearly, like right now...
"I was rescued by another magical girl companion~"
The black-haired girl's steps paused as she turned to look at the TV screen. Luna's sunny smile happened to appear on screen, seeming to shine directly into Tsuan's heart.
"Thank you, you must have spent a lot of thought... to successfully rescue me using that method, right?"
Thank you.
Luna's sunny, warm voice made Tsuan's cheeks flush slightly. The black-haired girl, not even daring to continue making eye contact through the TV screen, awkwardly bent down to put on her shoes, but her constantly rising mouth corners proved her mood was even better than before.
The satisfaction and happiness from being publicly thanked by the magical girl idol she admired made Tsuan momentarily not know what to say. She wanted to share this joy but belatedly remembered she had no one to share it with.
But that's okay too~ anyway... this happiness is enough for me to enjoy alone...
"Amber!"
She froze behind the opened security door, somewhat bewildered as she turned to look at the TV again.
Luna's smiling face tore apart her last bit of fantasy.
"Thank you~ Amber! I'll treat you to ice cream next time we meet, okay?"