CH 90

Chapter 3 — Dry scrape, burn and perforate! • Episode 3–3 — Little Sister ③

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

The third Sunday in September, as the remaining fire of summer wanes in intensity, I begin to feel a slight chill in the air. Today, exactly one week after the preliminary round of the Witch Cup, the time has finally arrived for the broadcast of a special program presented by the Magic Bureau to announce the regulations and team divisions for the main competition.

It was announced right after the end of the preliminary round that such a program would be broadcast, so I was standing in front of the Magiphone with snacks and juice ready.

At exactly 15:00, the distribution screen, which had been in standby, switched to a PV that seemed to be some kind of a combination of existing videos. The background music is set to a lively tune that cuts to scenes of the Witches competing in the Witch Cup and their past exploits, or rather, the scenes in which they are using their great skills. The film should’ve been made by simply splicing together different images, so it would’ve been natural that it would have looked clipped, but the good editing skill made the result feel comfortable. Finally, the PV ended with the Witch Cup logo in bold letters, and changed to a video of a single Magical Girl waiting on a set that looked like a cheesy news program with an earthly appearance.

『Okay, and so～ That was a cool PV! It was as powerful as you would expect from the Witches. Those of you who watch this program may already know this, but I will explain it again. This Witch Cup, which was planned and decided to be held by Director Earth, Director General of the Bureau of Magic and Chairperson of the Competition Steering Committee, will be held exclusively for witches.』

A blonde-haired Magical Girl in a red and yellow outfit that gives the impression of vivacity begins to explain about the Witch Cup with a sales smile on her face. I thought I remembered seeing something like this before, but if you look closely, you can see the name “Magical Girl Idol Sunny” in a ticker at the bottom of the screen. Was that the girl I saw on the internet news or something before I was a Magical Girl? If she’s offered to host such a show with the head of Magical Bureau, she must be a well-known Magical Girl in her own right.

After that, the conversation continued on to the background of the project, the preliminary rounds, and the introduction of the contestants, with Earth talking a little bit about what she knew and what she was not interested in, so she listened to them while eating sweets.

And so, about 30 minutes into the program, they finally began to discuss the rules of the main competition.

『Now, let me explain the rules of the Witch Cup Competition.』

As Sunny-san said this, some kind of large board was brought in from off-screen. The ones you see on news shows and such, I think you called them flipboards? The one where you peel off the floppy paper as you tell the story. That’s exactly what it was.

『You mentioned that the rules of the Witch Cup are different from those of regular competitions.』

『The main idea remains the same. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of holding the event under the name of a rivalry. It’s obvious that they’re fighting for position on a randomly determined field, whether it’s a forest, a wilderness, or an urban area. The first difference, and I’m sure you know this, is the number of teams.』

『Yes, you are right. In the normal Witch Cup, three people form one team, and four teams are intermingled in the battle, So this time, that number of teams will be three.』

Sunny-san flipped to the shortest piece of paper on the far left, and from underneath it, the number of teams was three! There, it appeared.

There are still more hidden parts, so the explanation of the rules seems to go on like this for a long time. Why did you refer to a news program to make an event special…? I’m not following the groove.

『We’ve also reduced the number of crystals and the number of positions to be fought over.』

『If so, that would mean a total of three large crystals, one for each team’s base, but what about the small crystals scattered around the competition field?』

『That’s 20. That’s 1 point for a small crystal, 5 points for a large crystal, and 35 points for the entire field. The team with the most points at the end of the 30-minute time limit wins. In addition, the team with a nice bout will also be awarded MVP!』

『So it’s business as usual for point calculations and MVP. Participants are usually divided into teams by color (red team, blue team, etc.), and the large crystals placed at each team’s base are tinted with the team’s color from the start, but the small crystals are initially colorless. In order to take a position, you need to contact this crystal and inject magic power into it. In this colorless state, it takes about 10 seconds to acquire it as your own, but if it is already tinted with the other team’s color, it takes twice as long, 20 seconds. Am I correct in assuming that there will be no change in this area?』

『I was going to explain this later, but, well, you’re right. It takes 60 seconds to repaint the big crystal, and you can’t use magic when you’re infusing it with magic, as usual.』

『I see then～. Regarding the differences, will there be any changes in the vast field that we are familiar with when it comes to rivalry games as the number of teams has decreased?』

『It’s a little smaller, but that’s within the margin of error. Even in everyday life, the size of the field can vary depending on the field chosen. The more significant change is the elimination of warping to bases.』

『It’s a feature that allows you to warp to your own base from anywhere in the field. I think it was a function for movement rather than emergency evacuation, since it is not possible to warp in an instant and requires some pooling, but why was it discontinued this time?』

『I have a lot of theories, but I didn’t think much of it to begin with. Then, there is a correction to the movement speed, which is usually reduced in your own camp and vice versa in the enemy camp. So you will be faster in your own camp and slower in the enemy camp.』

『The elimination of warps, plus the addition of in-campus compensation, this is certainly going to be a different move than the traditional rivalry!』

『You throw in your lame opinions about how there is little merit in having a position in spite of the name “battle of the camps.” I’m sure you’ll be happy with this.』

『I feel like there is some personal animosity in the mix, but I would like to add that taking a position refers to the act of dyeing crystals, but a corrected position is not strictly around crystals. The inner side of the crystal is the area within 50 meters in diameter centered on the large crystal, and the inner side is the area where the outer edges of the small crystals are joined to form a correction area. The large crystal also counts as an outer edge, so that means you need to secure at least two small crystals to get the correction effect!』

『That’s what it means. But, as they are competing for a finite number of positions, they are bound to run into the enemy team at some point. This stiff battle between Magical Girls is what I call the best part of the rivalry. Of course, as usual, we use the same avatars we use at the training facility, so there is no need to worry about casualties. Even if you get hit, you can revive and return to the match after a lapse of time. You’ll need half of the magic you have at that point to get back on the road, so the more you get hit, the faster you’ll run out of gas. Then the basic time to return is fixed, and then there is a plastic correction depending on how many crystals are available. Simply put, the more positions you have, the slower your resurrection.』

『As long as they can defeat the other team’s Magical Girls, even if they are holding their position, they have a chance to turn things around.』

『Yes. Especially during the rivalry match, there is no way to recover magic power. Teams that are pushing at the beginning of the game often run out of gas at the end of the game. Then, there are matches where the entire team was wiped out by the firepower just before the end of the match and could not revive until the end of the match.』

『So it’s not just a matter of expanding the camp without a plan?』

『I guess it depends on each team’s strategy. By the way, the place to be resurrected is their own base, but if the big crystal is taken, it will be random. Don’t worry, it’s not instantly game over just because your base is taken.』

『It seems to me that not being able to revive in a position where you can get a positive correction is pretty tough.』

『That’s because they’re losing, that’s for sure.』

After that, there was some talk about the interface used by the participants, but that’s about it, the explanation of the basic rules of the rivalry and examples of tactics that were the attitude of Earth and Sunny-san’s discussion continued for a while, the team assignments were finally announced five minutes before the end of the program. That’s too much of a stretch…

『Now that the time for the end of the program is approaching, I would like to announce the final highlight of this program.』

『Magical Girls Battle of the Formation Witch Cup, total of 9 participants, teamed up, are them!』

With Earth’s call, the screen changes to show an image with the names of the teams and the Witches who belong to whom.

〇 Red Team

Wiggs Crosseau, Dragon Call, Extend Traveller

〇 Blue Team

Doppelganger, Ex–Magna, Tyrant Sylph

〇 Yellow Team

Permafrost, Red Ball, Rabbitfoot

So my two teammates would be Doppelganger-san and Ex–Magna-san. I’ve studied a lot about fighting styles and magic in videos, so I have it all in my head. Besides, the last time we had conversation, Doppelganger-san seemed to be a talker. I don’t want to deal with Ex–Magna-san, but since Doppelganger-san has the highest rank and even assists the Devil, I should leave her in charge of the team and do my best to fight the battle.

From what I have seen in the videos of previous competitions and this special program, there is no doubt that the more mobile Magical Girls have the advantage. I guess the reason me, Rabbitfoot-san, and Dragon Call-san are on separate teams is to balance that out. I don’t have to tell anyone that I and Dragon Call-san have the ability to fly, and some say that Rabbitfoot is one of the fastest when it comes to straight trajectories.

But what to do? Normally I would keep my interactions with other Magical Girls to a minimum, but this time I have my own reasons for not losing. I know I should talk to Doppelganger-san and others in person once to set up a meeting for the show, but I don’t have their contact information. Can I ask Rabbitfoot-san or Extend-san to tell them about it?

「Uwah, what is it?」

As I was pondering how to contact my teammates in the competition, a pop notification sounded as if a message had been delivered to the Magiphone. I didn’t notice it because I was so focused on my thoughts that I wasn’t looking at the screen at all. The recipient was an address I didn’t recognize, but when I looked at the contents, I couldn’t help but think that the other party must be thinking the same thing.

The message was from Doppelganger-san.