Chapter 107: Girl’s Sleepover

“Welcome. Please make yourself at home.” I welcomed the two girls to the condominium.

“Do you live alone? Where are your parents?” Francesca asked.

“Um… no. Apart from the staff — Sebastian and Edward — my uncle Kageyama lives here. He was busy today, though; he rarely sleeps at home. As for my parents, Kageyama forbade them to meet me without his supervision.”

“Eh? Kageyama can do that?” Alice turned to me. It was unheard of that an uncle could ban my parents from visiting. My situation was special — I didn’t like my parents, especially my mother. To keep Black Lily from being snatched by other companies, Kageyama had forbidden them to visit.

“Well, I don’t really like meeting them anyway. I guess Kageyama took my side.” I smiled wryly.

“... We’re different, huh?” Francesca sighed. “The old me would have usually advised you to care for your parents. But I don’t feel like doing that now.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“Well… it turned out not all parents love you. Maybe…”

“Is that so? I think your father loved you, Francesca. He just had other priorities.” I answered.

“I knew that already — long before he became an exile,” Francesca said. “My father was always a bit obsessed, even when he became the CEO of the most successful company on Earth. I don’t know why. He wasn’t like that when Mom was still alive three years ago. I couldn’t change him. I couldn’t soothe him. I failed.”

“I don’t think so, Francesca. At the very least, you tried. That’s what matters.” Alice said. “My parents and brother were the same — they had lost all hope in the shelter. But when I became a magical girl and asked them to open a bakery, they tried. In the end, we can offer help, but they have to be the ones to reach out.”

“I see.” Silence ensued. Luckily, we have a Pink Guardian here with endless topics in her arsenal. Alice shifted the topic to her career.

“Hah… I’m jealous. Lily already opened a masterwork vault and here I am hesitating. She’ll leave our team in the dust at this rate.”

“Lily is amazing, isn’t she?” Francesca muttered. “Ah — you were there, right? At New Mesa.”

“Yes. But talking about that is forbidden. I’m sorry.”

“Let’s talk about you, Francesca. We all know you are a magical girl. How did you become one?” I asked, diverting the topic. Alice helped herself to my bathroom while Freya asked her familiar to order a pizza. After we both took a bath, Alice the extrovert, used one of her endless conversation cards.

“Ah! Let me tell you how I met Wan-Nyan!” Alice hopped into the conversation as she took a bite out of the pizza Freya had ordered.

“No need. You already told me before,” I interrupted her.

“You’ve told everyone how you met your familiar, Alice. I saw it on the news four years ago.” Francesca also laughed. Becoming a public magical girl was harsh. She basically has no privacy, because all of her information is on the internet.

“Ah. I guess so. It even made the news… I guess I have nothing interesting to say. Sorry.”

“Well, my meeting with Tinkerbell wasn’t interesting either. One day, my favorite doll just started moving and talking to me.”

“Whoa. That went straight into a horror movie!” Alice took a step back, imagining the scenario.

“That’s rude! My dolls were precious to me!”

“Ah haha! I’m not good with dolls. Thank goodness your familiar was like a fairy.”

“Yuri, I rarely see you in the entertainment industry anymore—not in ads or films. What happened?” Francesca asked me.

“Eh?”

“Yeah. I think ever since New Mesa. I worked in a similar industry as a magical girl, so I knew some faces. My familiar said you have no ads or movies lined up, yet you rarely go to school either.”

“Well, I have my reasons,” I dodged the topic. “I mostly help Kageyama with his work.”

“I see. You will become a businesswoman then. I hope we can strike some contracts. I wouldn’t mind if it came from you, Yuri. If Shirayuki needed them.”

“I shall tell Kageyama then.”

“Ah, but I’m done with the entertainment industry for now. I don’t want to appear in public, so Guardian’s work only, okay?”

“Yes.”

Ah yes. My life as an actress. I had forgotten about that ever since I became a magical girl. I need to start attending those again from now on, or my cover as Black Lily will be blown. Nana had also been pestering me about my next movie.

“You have two offers for movies as Yuri and twenty-nine offers for Black Lily. Kageyama has been putting those off. Will you accept them?” Felicia said telepathically when the topic shifted to movies. “Ah, there were over one hundred twenty-three calls for an interview, but I blocked them all. Their questions might probe your privacy too much, since they will mostly ask about your relationship with Shirayuki.”

Ah, so it wasn’t because there were no offers—it was because they were hidden from me. I thought my absence from the entertainment industry had dried those offers, but apparently, my fame hadn’t fully disappeared. Still, I was surprised. There were twenty-nine offers for Black Lily.

“I need to accept at least one, don’t I?”

“Yes. I recommend The Black Mesa or The Green Guardian. The first is an action movie where Black Lily saves a school that was attacked by Anathema, while you act as Black Lily’s friend. Black Lily’s unshifted persona will be played by another actor.

The Green Guardian is another action movie where Yuri becomes a green Magical Girl, and Black Lily plays the anti-hero. The story revolves around how Black Lily ignores citizens, focusing only on killing Anathema for their essence, while Yuri as the Green Guardian reminds her that protecting civilians should be their number one duty.”

I rolled my eyes at the movie script that was offered to me. That was so…

“Were they expecting Black Lily to agree?”

“Black Lily has appeared in an interview before, so they thought they had a chance. No other dark guardians have had that many offers. Ah, but some did get offers. For example, your fellow dark Magical Girl, Slifer, was offered the role of an assassin. Of course, she didn’t accept.”

“I see. What will happen to the movies if I don’t accept as Black Lily but accept as Yuri?”

“They will cast other girls to play Black Lily, of course. Ah, you topped the rankings as Black Lily’s replacement, by the way. There are offers for Yuri to play as Black Lily.”

“....”

“But we can’t accept such an offer. The magical perception blocking will get weaker if they realize how uncannily similar you are to Black Lily when you wear her costume.”

“I see.”

“Ahh… the pizza was delicious. Want to play some games? Francesca? Ah, she’s sleeping.” Alice glanced at the sleeping Francesca on the floor. “Geez. It’s just 9 PM.”

“Maybe she’s tired.”

“Yes. She was tired. Moving into Guardian Command has been rough mentally. She also took too many shifts as a magical girl.” A doll spawned beside her, caressing her like she was a dear friend. She was Tinkerbell, Freya’s familiar.

“Really? I thought moving to Guardian Command was just signing papers and filling out forms,” Alice said as she recalled. Wan-nyan nodded.

“It is not that. She is alone now. Staying cooped up inside her room depressed her, so she took many shifts to distract herself from the fact that she had become an orphan. Now that she has distanced herself from Enra and Newstar, she has no friends to distract her. Thank you for staying with her despite what she has done.” Her familiar, Tinkerbell, spawned beside her and bowed her head to us.

“It’s no trouble at all. Besides, I don’t think what she did was evil. She was just trying to save her dad from becoming Anathema’s food,” Alice said, and I nodded.

“If you could keep being friends with her, I’m sure she will get used to her new place faster. Please help us. Despite being an A-ranked Guardian, she is not invincible.”

“Yes!” Alice nodded.

I then put a blanket and pillow over her sleeping body. Looking at her sleeping face made us yawn.

“Want to sleep?” I asked Alice.

“Hm… I am sleepy, but this is such a rare chance to have a sleepover at a friend’s house. Don’t you think it would be a waste to sleep so early? We should play or talk all night!”

“I will not disrupt my sleep schedule to entertain such things. I will sleep in an hour or two, regardless.”

“What a shame. I want to talk about entertainment then. I was wondering if we could do movies together. I also had offers.”

“You did?”

“Yes. But I wonder whether I should accept them. It doesn’t feel right to accept them if you are not.”

“Which movie? The one where Black Lily saved the school?”

“Yes!”

I forgot how popular pink magical guardians are. Of course, she did have offers. Despite many offers, Guardians seldom accept them. They accepted some, but since their primary duty is fighting Anathema, these movies often ended up delayed. Then there is he issue with acting skills.

So Alice also got the same movie offer as I did. It was intriguing, but seeing the script was embarrassing. Why must I befriend myself? Thanks to my clone ability, I could act both as Black Lily and Yuri, and we could act with distinct personalities. But, Ugh! Just imagining me fawning over my magical girl persona filled me with embarrassment.

“Well… I guess we should give it a try. But befriending myself is a bit…”

“I want to see it! Let’s do it!”

“Well… I have nothing to do right now. So, maybe I will. But I wonder what I should do if our duty calls.”

“Don’t worry about it! Magical girls have immunity against contracts. We can cancel any appointment if there are more pressing matters,” Alice said.

“But Yuri can’t do that…”

“Ah… You are right…”

The main reason I have been holding off accepting offers is this: Guardians have immunity against contracts if duty calls. However, I am a special exception. If I play in a movie as Yuri, I am bound by the contract. Unless I divulge my identity as Black Lily, I can’t wiggle my way out if I went off due to incursions.

“So, it’s a no?” Alice asked.

“Hm… I should ask Kageyama. If the movie was sponsored by him, I can ask him to make a cover story if both Lily and Yuri couldn’t attend.”

“Yes! Let’s do movies together! I shall also bring Sapphire and Red Flame Darkness! This will be our first movie together ever!”

Unfortunately, I didn’t share the same enthusiasm. I just thought this would be a good way to pass time and cool down. I wanted to get off killing Anathema for a bit. I have been leveling a bit too fast lately; the enemy had become more and more dangerous. Fear started to grip me.

I am afraid. Afraid that I will lose in the darkness of my heart.