9 Magical Girl Is Asked to Subjugate a Bear

Author: Kumanano
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7313mj/9/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

About half a year has passed since I became a magical girl.
Since I saved Dad from the curse, he hasn’t been cursed, for now.
He’s working in good health.
And as for me, I’ve kept being a magical girl.
The biggest reason is that Dad might be cursed again later.

The first time I saw magical beasts, youkai, and ghosts, I was scared.
But I saw them attacking people.
People can’t do anything, get attacked by a magical beast, and get hurt. In the worst case, they die.
Even if you take one down with a hunting rifle, it just moves to another animal. Nothing is solved.
If a magical girl doesn’t defeat them, the damage spreads.

I’ve told the Cat God we should just make more magical girls, but there aren’t many girls with the aptitude to become one.
And as he said at the start, it isn’t only having mana. Personality matters too.
So there aren’t many girls who can become magical girls.
If I quit being a magical girl, I’d be making other magical girls do the things I don’t like.
And I don’t know when Dad might be cursed again.
If I didn’t have a magical girl’s power then, I couldn’t save him.
That’s why I keep being a magical girl.

In this half year, I fought dogs and cats tainted by miasma too.
If the dogs and cats had been cute, I don’t think I could have fought.
But the dogs and cats tainted by miasma had their teeth bared, and eyes like a glare; there was no cuteness.
And once the Cat God knew I could fight, he had me fight youkai and ghosts too.
I’d heard youkai existed, but when I actually met them, it was disgusting.
Some of them were even human-shaped, and the first time, my hands shook.
Ghosts were the same. The ones I fought were spirits called evil spirits.
Ghosts that resent people—those were a different kind of fear.
That night I was too scared to sleep.
Incidentally, there are kindhearted youkai too. I actually met some, but they don’t harm people, and they had no hostility.

“What is it today?”

When the Cat God comes to the house, sometimes it’s to check on me, or for idle talk, but nine times out of ten it’s work.

“A bear.”
“A bear?”

In the summer I heard on the news that bears had increased and it was a problem.
But it’s winter now.

“A bear has been tainted by miasma and turned vicious. At this rate, if it comes down to where people live, it’ll be a disaster. So defeating it before that is today’s job.”

Bears have a scary image and a cute image.
I think a real bear is probably scary.
But stuffed bears and such are cute.
I have a stuffed bear Dad bought me too.
The cubs you see at the zoo are cute too.
But even as a kid, I understand that a big bear is dangerous.

“But it’s winter, right? Don’t bears hibernate?”
“Season doesn’t matter to a magical beast tainted by miasma.”

I wish magical beasts would at least hibernate in winter. I don’t want to go out in weather this cold.

“It has to be today, right?”
“There are no other magical girls nearby.”

There are magical girls all over Japan.
The Cat God decides who takes a job, by distance and so on.
In a pinch we go far, but basically the magical girl in charge does the work.

“Dad’s going to call today, and if I don’t pick up he’ll worry.”
“You can pick up the phone even during a job. I haven’t forbidden that much.”
“Um, I’ve been messing with my phone, and the battery is…”

I say it like I don’t want to.
The phone battery is under 5%.
At this rate, the battery will die.
If he can’t reach me, Dad will worry.
As an elementary schooler, I don’t have anything like a portable battery.
I don’t need one, and I never go out until my phone battery dies.
I can charge it at home, so I didn’t need one.
I hadn’t planned to go out today either, so until the Cat God came, I’d been looking at recipes Dad would like, and watching videos, on my phone.
That was when the Cat God showed up.
The phone battery hit 4%.

“Kids these days have so many convenient things, and in exchange they’re a pain.”

Even if he says that, most kids have phones.
Apparently they didn’t used to, but I can’t stop wondering how they got in touch with each other.

“But it’s all right.”
“Um, could you delay leaving a little, or something?”
“The bear will move, so no. And in that short time a person might get attacked by the bear.”

When he puts it like that, I can’t talk back.
But a promise with Dad is important too.

“Then what’s ‘all right’ supposed to mean?”
“You can charge it with mana, so you just charge while we move.”
“You can do that?”
“There was a magical girl who said she wouldn’t work without her phone, same as you, so I made it so you can charge a cell phone with mana.”
“Amazing.”
“Well then, hold my paw.”

I hold the Cat God’s small paw as I’m told.
Something comes through.

“Open your hand.”

I let go of the Cat God’s paw and spread my own palm.
Then a small magic circle floats on my hand.

“If you hold your phone in that hand as is, it can charge.”

I hold my phone, and the screen shows that it’s charging.

“Amazing. That’s amazing.”
“With this, you can go to work, right?”
“Yeah.”

I transform into a magical girl, grip my phone, and head out to subjugate the bear.