Who Da Boss Lady? 20 (Patreon)

Commissioned by InfiniteChaosRai

Who Da Boss Lady?

Chapter 20

-VB-

When I saw that Mari was gonna win and win by a big, fat margin, I left her to tour the school.

Because the school was out and this was the first time I would be able to explore it on my own! 

So there I was under an invisibility spell (because prudence!) and floated around the hallways. I looked into each of the classrooms. 

And as far as I could tell…

Yeah, this was one of those prestigious schools that cared more about face than actual work. There was no creativity! It was all uniform and boring! Well, I don’t know about what kind of things they taught at this school, and I’m sure all of that tuition went to hire a banger teacher for each of the subjects, but I highly doubted that -.

Hmm? 

I backtracked a little and looked at a girl who was staring out of the class window with a pair of binoculars. 

And doing a horrible job at it. 

Didn’t she know that binoculars reflected and refracted light?! Those shiny ass glasses were dead giveaways to her position and her activity! 

And why in the middle of school?

… Actually, she might be smart. School windows reflected sunlight anyway so she might blend(?) in, though I wasn’t sure about the angle of that reflection.

What was she looking at? 

I followed her gaze…

Oh?

She was looking directly at the gym.

The spell-covered gym that should be telling everyone non-magical or non-divine that “there was nothing going on in here.” Except there were a lot of pretty and colorful lights pewing out of the gym’s near-ceiling windows if one had the insight.

And this girl… she just might.

A big burst of light spewed out, harmlessly passing through the gym’s windows but it startled the girl.

Oh yeah, she definitely did. 

“Hey.”

She jolted and whirled around. “W-Who’s there?” 

… Oh yeah, invisibility spell. Duh, me.

While hovering at her eye level some good two meters away from her, I uncloaked. Then I waved. “Hi! What’s your opinion on magical girls?”

She blinked, flabbergasted. 

“H-Huh?” 

“Oh, I should introduce myself first, right? My bad. My name’s Venalita~! Your loveable, squishy, and powerful magical girl mascot!” 

The girl … was looking at me in horror. It was quite the contrast between her normal appearance. Kuoh Academy’s girl uniform, boxy pair of glasses, twin pig tails, and two large expressive eyes. 

… Are you Japanese Taylor? 

“... Hello?”

She slid down the window wall while staring up at me with wide eyes. 

I tilted my head. “Are you okay, girl? You look like you saw a ghost-.”

I paused and slowly looked over my shoulder. 

… no ghost. 

Feeling a little perturbed and still not sure, I switched my sight for some unusual feelings and colors. Colors compressed and warped and … Nope. I don’t see anything unusual, though I was starting to see the Devil energy permeating the school like it was after sex musk.

Disgusting and nasty. 

I turned back to the girl.

Oh, she was unhealthily pale now. 

“What’s wrong?” 

I waited for her, and the girl seemed to relax a little. 

She shakily stood up and gave me small bow. “I-I am a magician. I am no one important.”

Okay. Cryptic. 

“Well, yeah, I got the first part, but why are you downplaying yourself? You don’t need to just be a magician. You could be special. Like a magical girl!”

“Magical girl…? Like the manga trope?” 

“Exactly. Would you like to be one? Be strong and powerful?”

The girl was definitely flustered and confused now. “... You don’t look like a Devil. Or feel like one.”

I scrunched my face. “What about my cute self reminds you of the Devils?”

“Bat wings.”

I blinked and looked at my wings. The hovering wings that weren’t even flapping because I was keeping myself afloat with magic. Because I could. 

I looked back at her and shrugged. 

“Alright, fair. But I’m not! I am a magical girl mascot!” 

“The Devils have a Satan who cosplays as a magical girl.”

I opened my mouth and closed it. 

“Really?”

“Yes… She even has a human action show called Magical Girl Levy-tan.”

My heart soared.

“Are you telling me that there is a magical girl out there warming the hearts of the masses into accepting being magical girls…?!” 

“I mean… I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t put it that way…” she trailed off.

But I wasn’t listening. 

“You! You have told me a great news! So I shall grant you a boon!”

“W-Wait, please -” she looked ready to cry. 

“It is not every day that a random bystander gets such a gift! Behold… I shall make you into a magical girl.”

“Wait, no, that’s not what I meant - !”

But I was already reaching out. 

Why did the room grow dark? 

I looked at her glasses and saw a dim reflection of my form.

‘Oh,’ I thought as my body moved on its own. ‘Oh damn. I look like a Shoggoth.’

-VB-

Mari grinned as she sat on top of Shirone.

Sure, she was a bit scruffed up and bits of her magical girl costume was torn up a little, but she knew somehow that the costume would repair itself over time if she poured magic into it. 

And she was sitting on top of her friend because she’d won three spars in a row. 

Her cat friend pouted. 

“But you only just learned how to use magic…” she complained. 

Mari smirked. “I am stronk.”

“Ew. Old American internet lingo.”

“Hey, they’re cool!” 

Shirone looked over her shoulder. “Are you secretly an old man, Mari? Do you need to wear double layers of pants? Do you drink your plum juice today?”

She glared down at her now smirking friend. 

That’s when Shirone’s other acquaintances came over while clapping.

“Youi are pretty strong, aren’t you? And you certainly like being on top,” Himejima crooned while … blushing.

Mari leaned away. 

“Shirone, is our senior a pervert?”

“Oh my! What a thing to call a lady!” she complained… but didn’t look at her resentful or bothered by what Mari said. 

But whatever else she’d been about to say cut off when Mari felt a spike of mana that she recognized. And from the way that the rest of the Devils around her froze, they felt it, too. 

‘Vena, what are you doing?!’ 

But Venalita didn’t respond. 

The spike surged even higher for a second before abruptly cutting off. 

And that’s when she felt two more mana(?) signatures blossom and rush toward them from the old school building. 

They were…

They were strong. Stronger than Shirone, Rias-san, and Akeno-san combined. Stronger than her. 

And they rushed toward Venalita’s position.

‘You idiot, get out of there!’ 

But no response. 

In fact, it didn’t even feel like Venalita could hear her. Or if Venalita was even on Earth anymore.