Magical Girl Raising Project, Vol. 6

About six months earlier, Toko and Kaori had figured they should get themselves another magical girl who would back up Kaori if the time came. Another student from Kaori’s school was preferable, if possible. Rain Pow would use her as a shield, keeping their real business a secret and treating her kindly as a normal magical-girl friend, while in emergencies, she could use her as cover. This had been the idea when Toko had begun surveying girls, and she’d found about five people in the school with magical talent. Tatsuko had been one of those.

Of all the people whom Toko deemed to have talent, Tatsuko was the only one who had seemed like she would refuse to be a magical girl. Kayo Nemura was rather logical by nature, but Kaori could easily see Umi Shibahara dragging her into it. As for Nozomi Himeno, if Kaori were to make a request as a student, having a sense of teacher’s responsibility, Nozomi would accept. But Tatsuko would be the easiest for Kaori to use, since she was the only one in her same grade and class.

And so Kaori had approached Tatsuko Sakaki, deciding to befriend her before making her a magical girl. However, Tatsuko had been even more introverted than she’d imagined, and it had taken time to build their friendship. Right when Tatsuko had finally opened up to her, Toko and Rain Pow’s pursuers had caught up to them. And so Toko and Kaori had ended up kick-starting their plans while still in the half-organized stage.

Even if Tatsuko did feel Kaori was her friend, Kaori revealing her true nature would have exposed that befriending Tatsuko had all been an act to use her.

Rain Pow gazed down at Postarie, who looked embarrassed, somehow. Did she really understand why things had ended up like this?

Rain Pow gave Toko a look as if to ask “What should we do?” and Toko shook her head, a complicated expression on her face. The way Toko dumped responsibility for things on others was such a pain. Rain Pow waffled for a while, but no matter how she looked at Tatsuko, she didn’t seem to be plotting anything. Rain Pow concluded that although she didn’t understand it, it seemed Postarie was just an idiot.

Rain Pow reached out to Postarie and pulled her to her feet. “Yeah… Thanks, Tsuko. You saved me.”

It was best just to leave it at that. She didn’t get what was on Tatsuko’s mind, but it was clear that Kaori could use it. She just had to suck her dry and throw her away. She could still use Postarie.