The Invincible Little Lady: Volume 5, page 23
“I believe you’re the one to blame for that,” Magiluka replied with a sigh.
So, what made Victorica give up, you may ask? She got dizzy from staying in the warm bath for too long.
I decided to cool down while sitting on one of the rocks surrounding the hot spring. I thought back over everything that’d happened up till now and felt bad. “I’m sorry,” I said. “We came to the hot spring so that you could recuperate, but it ended up becoming a huge mess.”
“I’m not bothered at all,” she replied. “I’m used to it. You’ve always been like this since you were young, Lady Mary.”
“Should I be happy or sad to hear that?”
We looked at each other and giggled.
“In any case, what will you do now, Lady Mary?”
I quizzically cocked my head to one side upon hearing this question. I had no idea what she was on about.
“Huh?” I asked. “What do you mean? I’ll probably enjoy the hot spring a bit more before we go back and change. I planned on staying another day at Victorica’s castle so that I could bring Tutte here too.”
“That’s nice and all, but what about your report?” she asked with a forced smile.
“Report?” I repeated in confusion.
“We came here in the first place to find a theme for your report, Lady Mary. Did you forget?”
I fell silent and closed my eyes, trying to organize my thoughts. “Aaaahhhh! You’re riiiiiiight!” I’d thought that everything had been resolved and was taking my sweet time in the hot springs, but I screamed upon realizing that I hadn’t actually done anything.
“Oh, and in regards to the magic mirror, our disappeared clones didn’t get teleported back to the mirror,” Magiluka said solemnly. “My grandfather stated that he hadn’t seen anyone near the mirror during that time frame, and there have been no sightings of them afterward. A likely possibility is that they disappeared when they went outside of the mirror’s range. However...”
“However?” I gulped.
“Since your clone copied your abilities, those powers may have caused something outside our expectations. Perhaps one day we’ll hear rumors of a silver-haired girl running around the academy during the night of the full moon.”
“H-Ha ha ha... No way. That’d be like something you’d hear from a seven mysteries legend. That kind of thing wouldn’t happen to us... Probably.”
I felt cold sweat run down my back at Magiluka’s terrifying hypothetical—after all, thanks to my powers, I couldn’t guarantee nothing would happen.
“So, what shall we do? Shall we delve further into the magic mirror and make that into your report?” she asked.
“I think...I won’t do that. Nothing good will come from aiming for uniqueness. I’d like something a bit more normal...” I slumped my shoulders as I paddled my legs, gently splashing water.
“I see. Then I suppose we’re back to square one,” Magiluka replied, splashing water with me.
I was faced with a harsh reality. So I’ve only got one option to take here.
“Um, Magiluka...will you help me find a theme for my report again?”
I poked my index fingers together meekly. That’s just who I was in the end—a no-good girl who immediately turns to others for assistance.
When I sheepishly glanced at my friend, she smiled gently and offered a typical reply. “Of course. I’ll be by your side until you find something.”
Side Story: What If...
After we returned from Victorica’s castle, we managed to have some tea at the academy; it’d been a while since we were all able to gather. I told Safina and the others about the mirror and the hot spring over a cup of tea.
“Huh, a hot spring? I’d love to go as well,” Safina said excitedly.
“Then when we’ve all got the time, let’s go,” I quickly replied, already scheduling a next visit for the hot spring.
“Sure, the hot spring sounds nice and all, but I’m more curious about that mirror,” Sacher said, touching on a topic I was reluctant to talk about. “I’d love to fight against another me.”
“Were you not listening to Lady Mary’s story?” Magiluka scolded. “They may be our copies, but their personalities will absolutely humiliate you. Goodness... Just remembering about it makes my cheeks grow warm.”
“But we’ve got the same abilities, right? I’m willing to close my eyes on the personality bit.”
“You simply do not understand. If you keep receiving blows to your psyche, you won’t be able to exert your usual power.”
“Huh? Seriously? Is it that bad?”
Sacher gulped while Magiluka nodded.
“Try imagining yourself quivering and cowering in fear like a small animal,” I said.
Everyone fell silent as we all tried to envision a terrified Sacher.
“Yeah, that might creep me out a little,” Sacher mumbled with a look of disdain.
Once I saw that, it was too tempting not to tease him. “Really? Let’s make it happen then. I’d love to see that side of you.”
“Hey, stop that! Sorry! I’m sorry.”
“Weren’t you raring to go just a second ago?”
“Well, I’ve changed my mind. Why don’t you ask the prince?” He passed the baton in no time flat to get me off his back.
“Hmm... A side of myself I wouldn’t want to see...” the prince pondered. “Ah, but the experience would let me see myself from an objective viewpoint, and it’d be a perfect simulation to enlighten me on how a change in personality could affect my surroundings.”
“S-Sir Reifus, you’re far too brave,” I said.
The prince may have been half joking, but I could only look at him in admiration. The thought of analyzing myself and testing things had never crossed my mind.
As I wanted to relieve the tense atmosphere, I happened to lock eyes with Safina. “I-I wonder what you’d do, Safina,” I said.
“M-Me?” she replied. “What would my double be like...?” She adorably tilted her head to one side as she thought about this hypothetical situation.
I was the one who’d involved her in this topic, but I couldn’t imagine her personality being distorted negatively, nor did I want to.
“Well, my clone would be optimistic, cheery, powerful, and reliable, so I suppose I’d feel embarrassed to see myself like that,” Safina said with a sheepish chuckle.
She was so adorable that I gave her a hug. “You’re so cute,” I said, patting her head. “Really, you are. I’m sure you could become someone like that—no, you already are someone like that.”
“Er, L-L-Lady Mary... Eep!” She sounded a little panicked, but she didn’t try to turn away from me, shyly allowing me to pet her to my heart’s content.
She was so cute that I was tempted to pet her for eternity. There’s no way I’m the only one thinking that.
“Well, now I want to see another adorable side of Safina, so how about we do visit the mirror after all?” I suggested.
“Lady Mary, I’d appreciate it if you were more prudent. Please refrain from creating an even greater fuss,” Reifus said, scolding me unexpectedly.
“I will. I’m sorry.”
My curiosity immediately left me and I calmed down. I must have looked especially eager to use the mirror. I should be more prudent, huh?
“By the way,” Magiluka said, staring at the maid behind me. “Aside from us, Tutte could’ve also appeared in the mirror. I wonder what would’ve happened then.”
Indeed, Tutte had coincidentally managed to evade the mirror—it felt a little bit unfair, honestly. I wondered what she’d have to say about it.
“Personally, if my clone would’ve possessed the same abilities I do, I imagine I would’ve been ecstatic to support my lady twice as much,” Tutte said. “In terms of personality, if the only issue would’ve been that she embarrassed me, I wouldn’t have minded, but if she would’ve affected my lady negatively, I certainly couldn’t have let her be.”
“Negatively?”
“For example, if she were to dislike you or show any indifference... Huh? My lady? My ladyyy!”
I’d only briefly imagined Tutte taking that attitude with me, but my mental state couldn’t take even that. My psyche had taken such heavy damage that I’d collapsed onto the sofa.
Ahhh! It hurts! I’m so glad Tutte wasn’t copied. If she ever acted that way toward me, I’d have a breakdown!
Afterword
Everyone, it’s been too long! This is Chatsufusa speaking.
So many things happen in life. My mental state is softer than tofu; even when I expect something to occur, once it does, I can’t help but panic. And sure enough, many things have happened, but I was finally able to prepare volume 5 of The Invincible Little Lady for your reading pleasure. I’m so happy I was able to do so.
Thank you everyone for buying and supporting this series. Anyone reading this deciding whether they’ll purchase this volume, I’ll just let you know that we’ve got Mary and her friend in cosplay (kind of) as well as a hot spring scene. So, you know, just some light encouragement there. Eh heh heh.
Now then, I’d like to talk a little about this series. So, how did fake Mary even come into being? Well, when I was on the phone with my editor, we got into a discussion about “Is there anyone Mary can have an actual fight with?” Eventually, we concluded that “The only one who can fight Mary is Mary...right?”
I tried imagining it a bit, but since neither Mary would be affected by the other’s attacks, I figured they’d only cause destruction to their surroundings. I doubted the two would ever go through with a fight. Then the question was “Well, how can Mary be damaged?” Thus, I ended up with “Emotional damage, of course!” Naturally, she can’t be affected by mentally damaging spells from outsiders, so the damage would have to be her tormenting herself with her own thoughts.
So, that’s how fake Mary was born. And, well, please don’t ask how I ended up with the story that introduced her...
If Mary was a character who passively gets dragged into things, I thought that fake Mary should be one who aggressively charges into things. I feel like I ended up creating an interesting person. Of course, they’re both mentally fragile and klutzy, but that’s just their default state.
All right, next up is you, the one who thought for a brief moment, “How did the author think of the hot spring part?” Yeah, I’m talking to you. You know who you are. But the answer is simple: I gave into my greed and wrote what I wanted to. Yeah...
Please don’t ask how I ended up with that hot spring arc. I’m begging you here...
Mary’s constant bickering with Victorica is an unusual side of her, so I had a lot of fun writing it. And I had fun having Mary flirt with Magiluka.
Well, that’s this book in a nutshell. I’d be thrilled if even a fraction of you got a kick out of reading it.
Before I go, I’d like to thank Micro Magazine for their help with the publication of this book. Despite my slow pace, they patiently waited for me. Thank you to Mr. I for always helping me out. I cannot express my gratitude enough.
Thank you to fuumi, who took on the unreasonable demand of drawing the characters in magical girl cosplay and designing them so cutely, as well as providing illustrations where the characters showed a bit more skin. I made one of the illustrations into my wallpaper, and I express my gratitude every day while praying to it. (And just between you and me, I’m always grinning at the illustration every time I glance at it. Keep it a secret, you hear?!)
Thank you to everyone who’s been involved in the publication process. And lastly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who’s cheered me on and who’s purchased this book.
I pray that we get to meet again! Until then, I’ll be off.
Bonus Short Story
Splashing Water in the Hot Spring
As I was fully indulging myself in the hot spring that I’d finally found, I was nervously trying to find an opportunity to play a little game: squirting some water with my hands. I’d been unable to do this in my previous life, but at long last, the time had come for me to unveil my technique.
Truthfully speaking, now wouldn’t be my first time giving this a try—I’d sometimes tested to see how good I was at it in my bath at home when I was alone with Tutte. The problem was that I was incredibly bad at controlling how much strength I was putting into my hands, so I still hadn’t been able to get it down. But if not now, when?! I’m gonna make my long-awaited wish come true!
“Hey, Magiluka, lookie!” I said.
“Whatever is the matter, Lady Mary?” she asked.
I took a deep breath and put my hands together like I was doing a handshake with myself, then I made a small opening by my thumb and allowed the water to seep in. All right! I’m gonna splash some water on her face, then she’s gonna shriek in surprise, and we’re gonna squeal together and have some fun! Heh heh heh! My heart danced with excitement as I prepared to clench my hands together and enjoy the horsing around I’d always dreamed of doing in my past life.
Huh? Wait a sec... Will it really be safe for me to force water out of my hands with my power? I’ve never gotten as far as aiming at another person before, so I’ve never given the danger any thought...
Crap! Now that I’m worried, I don’t feel like I have control over my strength...
“Why do you have your hands together, Lady Mary?” Magiluka asked as she approached me. “Do you have something in your hands?”
I was frozen with my arms out while I was working through my internal strife. Argh! Now’s not the time for me to be so timid! I’ve been secretly practicing this move all for this day! I have to trust in myself!
I amped myself up and slowly squeezed my hands together. I moved as slowly as I could and...tried to divert my aim away from Magiluka. Nope, I’m gonna screw up! The one thing I can’t trust is controlling my own strength!
“Wow, water just squirted out of your hands!” Magiluka cried. “It doesn’t seem like magic. How did you do that?”
Despite my pessimism and low expectations, I’d technically managed to show off the move in front of Magiluka. She stared at my hands in awe. Yay! Thank you so much, Magiluka!
Since I noticed her eyes were glimmering with curiosity, I happily showed her how to squirt water using her hands.
“L-Like this?” she asked.
“Right.”
Then she squeezed her hands and splashed water onto my face. “Whoa!” I yelped. The way I’d drawn things up, the roles were reversed, but I didn’t mind it turning out this way.
“Oops. I’m so sorry,” Magiluka said. “Uh, Lady Mary? What’s wrong?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” I replied. “I’m just emotional because I’ve been wanting to do this for the longest time.”
As I basked in the warmth and fuzziness, Magiluka looked at me quizzically and proceeded to splash more water on me. It seemed she thought that I was happy to get splashed on.
“S-Stop, Magiluka! Here’s payback!”
“Eep!”
I was so overjoyed at seeing her look this adorable that I reflexively squirted water onto her as well. What’s more, I managed to splash her like a normal girl. I did it normally! Nothing happened! This was an important moment for me, so it bore repeating.
“Yes! I did it! I did it, Magiluka!” I crowed. “I managed to do it well! Hooray!”
“Wh-Why do you look so happy about that, Lady Mary?”
“Uh, well, because, you know... I’m not good with controlling my strength. Since you know how this hand squirting thing works, surely you can understand—the water I splash might kill you or something. So what I just did feels like a miracle, you know?”
She fell silent as I mumbled my true thoughts. After a moment of thought, she quietly swam away from me.
“Argh! I’m sorry, Magiluka! It went well earlier, didn’t it? So it’s fine!” I hastily said.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“I think so...” I forced myself to smile.
Though I’d planned to enjoy the rest of my time at the hot spring, for whatever reason, Magiluka decided she’d be my teacher and we’d continue to practice my water squirting maneuver.
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Copyright
The Invincible Little Lady: Volume 5
by Chatsufusa
Translated by piyo
Edited by Zubonjin
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 Chatsufusa
Illustrations by fuumi
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2020 by MICRO MAGAZINE, INC.
This English edition is published by arrangement with MICRO MAGAZINE, INC.
English translation © 2024 J-Novel Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
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Chatsufusa, The Invincible Little Lady: Volume 5
