It looked like nothing more than a plain, sturdy card. The only unusual thing was the portrait, which had been taken while she was transformed.

Yukieda held the bank-card-sized ID up and turned it over in her hands. Was this really her proof of identity?

“How do I use it?”

Mai set down her teacup and took the ID from Yukieda.

“Like this. Place the card against the back of your terminal.”

“Oh—what’s this?” Yukieda sounded a little surprised.

Once the ID made contact, Mai’s terminal automatically opened a new page. It also required fingerprint verification.

More detailed information appeared on the screen.

Name: ****

Codename: Squirrel

Magical Girl Rank: D. 10/100

Affiliation: White Crane City Emergency Disaster Rapid Response, Section 2

Record: Eliminated one Rank-D Demon

Mai explained at the same time, “Only authorized personnel can view this information. The higher their clearance, the more they can see. Whenever you go on a mission or meet your coworkers, you can show them this ID to prove who you are.”

“The people above us take the secrecy of Magical Girls’ identities very seriously. Remember this: only a few people know your real identity. Whenever you act while transformed, you must refer to yourself by your codename.”

Yukieda nodded with a hint of guilt.

After all, she’d wanted to tell her daughter everything on her very first day.

She quickly realized something. “Not that I’d be able to tell her! Speaking of which, when can I finally reveal myself to my daughter?”

“When you retire or rise to Rank S.”

Mai pointed at the huge letter D on the ID. It looked painfully glaring.

“That’s a long way off…”

Yukieda murmured. She slipped the ID into her uniform pocket and fastened it shut.

Mai continued explaining the promotion system. According to him, the future awaiting an S-rank Magical Girl was both wonderful and simple.

Yukieda saw through the problem at once. Her original self had spent years struggling as a corporate wage slave, after all.

“Mai, isn’t that the sort of thing written in a training manual? Do you tell every Magical Girl the same thing?”

In other words, it was just an empty promise meant to keep them working.

Mai fell silent and quietly drank his tea.

“What, what? What are you two looking at?”

Mari had just returned from the bathroom. She immediately trotted over to take a look.

Without changing expression, Mai switched the terminal page to a browser.

“It’s nothing,” Yukieda said. “Mai and I were discussing how to help you lose a little weight.”

Mari’s face instantly fell.

“Huh?”

Mai nodded and showed Mari the browser search results.

“I’ll do my best!”

Mari looked extremely serious.

——

“Bye-bye!”

At Ryōsan Station, Yukieda and Mai stepped off the train. Mari remained inside, waving at them through the window.

Yukieda smiled and waved back. Then she watched the train pull away outside the station.

Quite a few passersby turned to look at her.

Would wearing a baseball cap make things better?

Everyone at the station was an adult. Most of them only glanced at her politely before looking away.

A few particularly shameless people, however, kept staring.

Yukieda and Mai quickly left the station.

“Did you get everything ready?”

Mai raised the notebook in his hand as his answer.

Yukieda unlocked the front door. At the entryway, she took off her leather shoes, bent down, and lined them up neatly.

Then she called into the house, “Shizuku, I’m home!”

Following behind her, Mai calmly glanced at Yukieda’s rear.

Beneath her raised skirt, a pair of teddy-bear panties was barely visible.

He quietly said, “Excuse me.”

Oriuchi probably didn’t realize how often she exposed herself. After all, she was a “girl” who had only entered the profession halfway through.

“Welcome, welcome.”

Shizuku brought out the snacks and tea prepared for their guest. The three of them sat around the living-room table.

Shizuku studied Mai with curiosity.

He was a very cool “girl.” His high ponytail was tied perfectly, and he sat upright at the table while working on his notebook.

His most eye-catching feature was probably his thighs. They were long, straight, and slender.

He reminded Shizuku of a highly respected senior from the kyūdō club.

“You’re Mai, right? What exactly is your relationship with Yukieda?”

Shizuku didn’t attend the academy, but she could still use her terminal to learn about things happening there.

Mai’s status as a transfer student, along with his good looks, had made him quite a popular topic online.

Shizuku naturally knew about Mai’s declaration, too.

“I’m different from all of you. I came here for Oriuchi Yukieda.”

Yukieda sat between the two of them. She looked at her daughter, then at Mai.

She had no idea how Mai planned to explain their relationship.

They could simply say they were classmates. Or perhaps roommates sharing a place. Either excuse would work.

“I’m Oriuchi’s younger sister.”

Mai lowered his head and continued typing on the keyboard.

Shizuku stared at Yukieda in shock.

Yukieda stiffly turned her head toward Mai.

What was this guy talking about? How could I have a younger sister that huge?

And you’re not even a girl, you little brat!

“Well, actually, Mai is…” Yukieda deliberately slowed her speech while her mind raced.

How was she supposed to explain this?

“She’s my younger sister. We have different fathers. You know how that works, right, Shizuku?”

Yukieda looked toward Mai’s black ponytail.

What am I even saying?

“So I’m Yukieda’s younger sister, and Mai is also Yukieda’s younger sister?”

Shizuku seemed to accept the explanation.

After all, Yukieda herself was living proof that blood-related sisters could look completely different.

She studied Mai with a complicated expression.

She’d never imagined that her father, who was always away from home, had left behind so many romantic debts.

Yes, her respected father had officially been promoted to a deadbeat old man.

“Ugh.” Shizuku sighed. “Did you keep this from me because you were afraid I’d overthink it? No wonder you’re hardly ever home…”

“When I get the chance, I’d like to meet Yukieda’s mother and Mai’s mother. I should at least apologize to them on behalf of my father.”

Mai’s typing became slightly uneven.

Yukieda nearly fell out of her chair.

How am I supposed to fix this?

She wanted to keep lying, but after thinking about it for a moment, she realized the lies would only become harder to maintain.

One lie required several more to cover it up.

It would be better to drop the subject.

“They’re both overseas right now. Ahem. Mai is a computer expert, though. He can deal with that guy today.”

After saying this, Yukieda looked at the boy with the high ponytail, signaling for him to stop making things worse.

“Right, Mai?”

Mai nodded.

Ugh. What am I going to say when Shizuku discovers that Mai is actually a boy?

“Mai doesn’t seem to talk much,” Shizuku whispered to Yukieda. “And he’s so cold. Did I do something wrong?”

“It’s because he lacked proper family education,” Yukieda said with a sorrowful expression. “He rarely felt the warmth of family, so Mai became a little withdrawn. You understand, right, Shizuku?”

Yukieda put on an unbearably mournful face.

Seeing her sad expression, Shizuku believed her even more. She gave Mai a sympathetic look.

Mai lifted his gaze from the cold-lit screen.

For some reason, the way those two women were looking at him felt extremely strange.

——

“So as long as we send a file and the other side accepts it, the program will take a picture and send it back to us?”

After Mai’s brief explanation, Yukieda understood the basic principle.

With the shield known as the internet protecting them, the person hiding behind it would finally show his tail.

“Then what kind of file should we send?”

“Would a photo work?” Shizuku lowered her head, looking a little embarrassed. “That guy often tried to pressure me into taking strange pictures.”

Yukieda asked nervously, “You didn’t take any, did you?”

“Of course not. Father always taught me to take good care of my body.”

Yukieda looked at Shizuku with relief.

Shizuku grew uncomfortable beneath that gaze. She reached out and pinched Yukieda’s cheek.

“That works,” Mai said.

He picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip.

But what kind of pictures did that pervert want?

Yukieda frowned as she checked the chat history.

The man had asked for pictures of Shizuku’s legs. Preferably without stockings.

That was easy enough.

Mai casually downloaded a picture from the internet, processed it, and had Shizuku send it.

“That pervert didn’t take the bait.”

Shizuku frowned slightly. A new message had appeared on her terminal.

“Trying to fool an idiot? The internet’s duplicate-image rate is ninety-nine percent.”

“Looks like a regular photo won’t fool him,” Yukieda said gravely.

Then what were they supposed to do?

They’d have to take a picture on the spot.

But Yukieda didn’t want her precious daughter taking strange photos. Her gaze slowly shifted toward the space beneath Mai’s skirt.

“It worked. He clicked to download the original.”

Mai’s voice held a trace of resentment.

Perhaps he didn’t like the thought of his picture being used by some strange person for some strange purpose.

“More! I want more!”

Ignoring the message on the terminal, Shizuku and Yukieda leaned over Mai’s notebook.

They wanted to see what the pervert looked like.

A photograph appeared on the cold-lit screen.

A young man with a shaved head was lying on a bed. His eyes were rather small, and a box of tissues sat beside his pillow.

“Is this him?” Yukieda asked.

“It’s him,” Mai confirmed.

Shizuku stared blankly at Mai and Yukieda.

“So who is this guy?”

“Oh, you don’t recognize him?” Yukieda scratched her head. “I thought you did.”

“If we can’t identify him, I have other ways.”

Mai calmly took another sip of tea.

Now that they had a photograph of their target, it was only a matter of time.

He planned to use the police database.

“Wait. I think I remember him.”

Shizuku thought for a while.

“I’ve got it. This is the guy from Class Six who confessed to me.”

“Shōtanihara?” Shizuku sounded uncertain. “I think that was his name.”

Her terminal kept vibrating.

After they sent him the picture, he must have thought he’d found an opening. He still had no idea that his identity had already been exposed.

Yukieda didn’t hesitate. She picked up the terminal, entered his name, and sent it to him.

She could practically feel the panic on the other side.

His nonstop stream of harassment suddenly stopped, like a duck strangled mid-quack.

When Yukieda tried to send another message, a red exclamation mark had already appeared beside it.

Playing ostrich, are we?

This was the guy who’d turned her daughter into a shut-in for so long!

He had to pay.

Yukieda was furious.

Especially since that man had harassed her daughter right in front of her.

She scrolled through the chat history, message after message. A pressure built in her chest. Her face flushed red, and she was so angry that her hair nearly turned green.

At that moment, Shizuku hugged her.

Instead, she began comforting Yukieda.

Only after Yukieda gradually calmed down did she speak.

“Sorry. This is all my fault,” she said thickly.

Shizuku looked confused. “What does this have to do with you?”

Yukieda couldn’t explain.

She simply hugged Shizuku back.

Her daughter truly was the cutest girl in the entire world.

And Yukieda would protect her, no matter what it took.