CH 130

Chapter 4 — Sleep, until your life is over • Episode 4–3 — Master And Disciple ①

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

A Knight-class Diest, a black humanoid with wings, looking like a demon, flies through the air trying to fend off a school of colorful giant fish that are chasing it. The fishes, which look more fearless than the humanoid Diest to some people and are the exact form of a toddler’s doodle, occasionally fight back against the fleeing Diest and disappear like paint dissolving in water, but the number of fish in the school has not decreased at all since the nightmare gate was left open, as the next giant fish soon appeared.

Finally cornered by the monster fish the size of a miniature car that attacked from all directions, it was bitten one by one and disappeared without being able to regenerate at all. After witnessing this, Succubus closed the nightmare gate and all the giant monster fish melted into the sky and disappeared.

「Yehey!! I did it, Master! I was able to defeat the Diest by myself! What do you think, I am strong after all!!」

「…Well, kudos to you this time. Well done.」

As if expressing her joy with her whole body, the Magical Girl Succubus bounces around and shouts with joy.

When the sun was at its apex, it was still too early to greet the darkness of night, and Shadow didn’t have much effective means of attack against flying Diests. It’s not impossible to do it alone, but it’s labor intensive and somewhat risky. In the midst of all this, the battle was settled without difficulty when a powerful army with the ability to fly emerged from Succubus’ outrageous surprise box-like magic. Shadow wasn’t so narrow-minded as to refuse to acknowledge the outcome.

「I wouldn’t have any complaints if this could produce what I’m aiming for.」

「But this time, I was thinking, “I wish there would be kids who can fly!” I used magic and they came out! I’m getting better and better at controlling it!」

「The other day, it was a worthless piece of shit like a slug.」

「Last time was last time and today is today! I’m growing every single day!」

「You’re becoming positive. You’re still in this job, get the hell out of here.」

「Yeah, I was! Is Master different?」

「Don’t pry into my affairs. Just shut up and do what I say.」

Relationships in the world of Magical Girls are like the Internet, to use an analogy, and while some are not in danger of exposing information about their private lives in a normal way, others are highly cautious, like Shadow, who will not divulge any information about their real lives, no matter how close they are to each other. The main reason for Shadow’s is that she has many enemies of her own, but even if she doesn’t, the risk of being exposed is better to be small. She usually tell Succubus not to say anything unnecessary, but because she’s not afraid to talk about what she learned in class today or what was for lunch today, Shadow has even memorized Succubus’ timetable.

「Ah, that’s how you keep a secret again! I don’t mind talking about your personal life, but could Master tell me a little more about yourself as a Magical Girl? I didn’t know they were holding a grudge against Master, so I was in danger the other day!」

「…What?」

「I was threatened by a shady girl named Necro and a scary girl named Pantera to get Master out! Elephant-san and Sylph-san helped me out and I was fine, but if that’s the way it’s going to be, you should have told me first! I looked up my Magiphone and found a lot of bad things about Master!」

Just as when Elephant and Shadow used to be enemies, Elephant’s brief research turned up a lot of information about Shadow, wondering why her own Master held such a grudge, Succubus researched Shadow on her Magiphone and discovered that she had been spoken ill of by other Magical Girls, mainly on social networking sites and anonymous message boards.

「Well, I believe in Master and Master know me well, I don’t have anything against Master, but! You’re lucky to have a smart apprentice like me, Master!!!」

「Haah… I’m the type of bad person you’re referring to when you say I’m a Magical Girl. You’ve done your research, you know what I’m talking about. Why don’t you stop with the stupid lies and go join the Witch’s team?」

Shadow was reluctant or hesitant to say that she had no choice but to take care of her in the end, but her words didn’t have the usual lightness.

She knew that Succubus seemed to have a longing for Magical Girls. She also knew that she was the opposite of that admiration. So often she told her to quit or go to the other team over there. She knew that sooner or later it would happen one day anyway. And she doesn’t feel any emotion about it now. Shadow is a Magical Girl who prefers to fight alone.

「Master, don’t you know what they say about you?」

「…I don’t like to look up my bad reputation.」

「Wimp, weakling, chickenshit, only the runaway, coward, and spineless.」

「Do you want a fight from me?」

「That’s the kind of abuse you get when you look it up on Magiphone, not me!」

「I see. So what’s the point? I’m sorry I’m such a wimp.」

「No, that’s not what I mean. Master, you didn’t attack any other Magical Girls, did you? It’s said that you’re like a parasite that takes up residence in one’s territory and immediately runs away, but there is no specific story of Master doing something to them or anything like that. You’re not doing anything wrong, are you?」

「…Are you trying to encourage me or put me down?」

Shadow could tell that Succubus was really wondering what was wrong, but that’s just it, you don’t usually say to someone’s face that they are a wimp or a parasite unless you are picking a fight.

「Of course I encourage you. It’s sad to hear people say bad things about Master, but I think the territory is just something they say for themselves. So what’s wrong with you for taking down a bit of Diests there?」

「I told you at the beginning. It’s not uncommon for people to become Magical Girls for the money. To them, I’m like a thief. I think so too.」

「Then it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care about money. For me, Master is Master! You’re not a thief!」

When Succubus looks up at Shadow with pure, sparkling eyes, Shadow tells her to squint and spit out her eyes as if she were looking at the sun.

「…I think you’re mistaken about one thing, I didn’t make you my apprentice for your own sake. I only took you on as an apprentice because there were some troublesome circumstances that made it better for me to have you as my apprentice. And I didn’t attack anyone? Don’t be ridiculous. I attacked the Magical Girls in this town, and here I am. Don’t think that I am actually a good person. I don’t care about anything else as long as I’m alright.」

「What are you dressed up for? You were beaten to a pulp, and you cried to that other person to be welcomed with open arms. That’s about the extent of Master’s misdeeds.」

「You, you know you’ve got a better way of saying it… I mean, how do you know…」

「Elephant-san told me!」

Shadow’s shoulders drop in disappointment as Succubus answers with a puff of her chest. This is nothing like the dignity of a Master. No, she was about to excommunicate her right now, and at this rate, she didn’t seem to be willing to listen to what Shadow had to say.

「Look Master, people make mistakes. Actually, I tried to force Sylph-san to be my friend by magic a while ago and failed.」

「Are you a daredevil?」

「I’d like to apologize to Sylph-san, but ever since then she’s been running away from me whenever I see her, and I’ve never been able to say I’m sorry.」

「Not surprising…」

「But I reflected on it! I realized that it was wrong to make friends by magic! Now I sincerely regret that, and this time I’m going to try to make friends with Sylph-san on my own!」

「Can you say that’s remorseful…?」

「Please don’t make brownie points every time! Anyway! Not only Master, but I made a mistake too! We are a perfect match for each other once we have lost our way, aren’t we?」

「No, I don’t usually like being lumped in with you in any way…」

「What did you say!!」

Shadow, who should’ve been looking at Succubus as if she were looking at something pure and shining and dazzling earlier, but before she knew it, her eyes were looking at Succubus as if she were looking at an incomprehensible being. Even she herself admits that hurting someone for her own sake is a bad thing, and she acts selfishly after swallowing some guilt, Succubus had done something wrong, she was sorry, and that was the end of it, and she had completely switched her mind. She was a demon of switching.

「Well, once I’ve made you my apprentice, I can’t help it. And a disciple’s mismanagement is a Master’s mismanagement. I don’t have a choice, so I’ll bow down with you.」

「Uwah, come on, if you’re going to pet me, pet me a little more gently.」

The speed with which Succubus switches from one to the other is completely incomprehensible to her, but if she is going to follow me, Shadow must fulfill her responsibility as her master, she thought as she stroked Succubus’ head roughly.

Shadow once had a family. She had close parents and a cute, energetic younger sister, and her life was uneventful. They would sometimes fight, but after a night’s sleep, everything would be back to normal. It was such an ordinary, happy family.

It only took one misfortune to make it never the same again. On a holiday, they were going to a theme park in a car driven by her father. A car carrying Shadow and her family was hit head-on by a drunk driver. She heard that her father and mother, who were riding in the driver’s and passenger’s seats, were killed instantly. Her sister, riding next to her, gradually weakened before Shadow’s seriously injured eyes, never to open them again. Shadow herself should have done the same. Somehow, she was discovered as a Magical Girl just in time and received prompt medical treatment in the Magical World and survived.

She couldn’t live for revenge. The other driver had died in that accident, and there was no one anywhere to take out a grudge on.

And so Shadow, with no particular purpose in mind, and unable to choose suicide or return to being a normal girl to repay the high points of her treatment, moved from place to place in search of money and good earners.

She would be lying if she said that I did not see in her the image of her sister when she accepted Succubus’ apprenticeship. If she were alive, her sister would’ve been about the same age as she was, and their energetic and sprightly appearance was very similar.

As theu interacted with each other, there were many aspects of her sister that weren’t similar to hers, but such things were natural since they were strangers. Just because she had found one new aspect of her that she doesn’t understand now, it doesn’t change the fact that Succubus is like a little sister to Shadow.

「Hey, all right, get the hell out of here and go to school.」

「Mmph, Even Master has school, don’t you?」

「I don’t go to school, so it’s fine.」

「…! That’s unfair, Master!」

「Shut up! I’ve taught you, so listen to me honestly!」

So surely, Shadow won’t give up on her pupil until that time when that handful of a pupil voluntarily leave the nest.