Episode 5: I become a bullet myself

"We have a plan to defeat him. I will now tell you the strategy."

　I cut off the communication and called out to the four people who had managed to avoid the attack.

　Whether it will work or not will be a matter of face-to-face, and if it fails, I will lose my life along with the only prototype booster, and there is no guarantee that it will succeed, but theoretically I can defeat it, so I have no choice but to do it.

　What you lack, you can make up for with courage. I also need to do my best.

"Senpai, that's..."

"A prototype long-range deployment booster is about to arrive. After that, I will turn into bullets and shoot through the control core of that critical beast."

"...No matter how much Chihaya-senpai is, isn't that unreasonable? It's mostly about the location of the control engine..."

"I have a plan in place."

　I can't say it's because it's written in the setting materials, and Hazuki and Yukina are right to be worried.

　What I was asked to do here was to convey the answer in an improvised way, in a manner that sounded like I had thought of it myself.

　From here on out, it's up to them to believe me or not, but it's a gamble. How much can a girl named Chihaya Saijo be trusted?

"It's hard to tell because of the flickering light, but that critical beast has limbs."

"It does have limbs, but..."

``In other words, I interpreted that it was human-shaped.If it was human-shaped, where was the control nucleus...and there was something like an organ that controlled energy circulation. I thought about it."

"Senpai, that's..."

　Hazuki suddenly swallowed.

"It's the heart."

　In response to my words, the special class magical girls placed their hands on the spot where it was.

　Fortunately, I had already learned how big the control nucleus is. The only chance I'll take it off is if I make a mistake or get scared.

　Hypotheses are hypotheticals, and it's a gamble as to how far people will believe it, but when it comes to this, they have no choice but to believe in the girl named Chihaya Saijo.

"...Ah, uh..."

"...What, secret weapon?"

　It was Koyomi who broke the momentary silence and spoke in a low-key voice that seemed to disappear.

　Even though Hazuki gave her a cruel look, she kept resolutely facing forward and taking deep breaths, even though her eyes were filled with tears.

　And Koyomi.

"...I...I...I believe in Saijo-senpai...!"

　You could say that it was an unexpected stroke of luck that those words came out.

　To be frank, the answer I quoted from the collection of setting materials called My Consideration doesn't make sense, either.

　Still, it was reassuring to hear the words "I believe" come out of Koyomi's mouth. Even if that trust wasn't placed in me, but in a girl named Chihaya Saijo.

"Well, Koyomi-chan got ahead of me, but if that's what my senpai says...I'll believe it too, right?"

"It's Mayumo…!"

　As if in response to Koyomi, Yukina and Mayu also express their intention to bet on my strategy.

　Hazuki is the only one left.

　Since the time to rendezvous with the long-distance deployment booster is approaching, even if the worst is Hazuki's impression of her, she has no choice but to proceed.

"...It's the worst thing to have been defeated by a secret weapon, but I'm also betting on my senior's strategy."

"...Thank you. It would be helpful if you could buy me some time until I can shoot him through the heart."

"roger that! "

　In unison, the four of them jumped in front of the critical beast Pig Surge, as if acting as a decoy.

　In the original story, she died during the tutorial, but it's easy to see that Saijo Chihaya, a magical girl, was quite trusted just as she was set up to be.

　If that's the case, responding to that demand must be one of my missions in my second life as Saijo Chihaya.

　Like stars flashing in the distant sky, steel wings that reflected the sun's rays flew by.

　It is obvious that it is quite an acrobatic feat to match the relative speed with that of bare metal, whose paint has not been weakened, and to attach it in the air.

　I'm sure Chihaya Saijo could perform such acrobatics without changing her appearance at all.

　But now I'm "Saijo Chihaya."

　Then I have to do it, I have no choice but to do it, I don't have time to whine about how I might die.

　I glare at the incoming long-distance deployment booster, adjust my relative speed, and fly through the sky.

"Docking sequence, start...!"

　The belt part of the booster, which was approved by voice recognition, unfolded and was attached to my waist.

　Then, as soon as the lock was engaged, the booster accelerated to the second stage, and with a force approaching the speed of sound, I was thrown into the sky as a bullet.

　Even with the magic barrier and the physical reinforcement unique to magical girls, the burden was placed on my entire body to the point where I had to grit my teeth.

"...!"

　A chill ran down my spine, thinking that I might die, no joke. But for now, I'm putting aside my fear and thinking about only one thing: piercing the heart of that critical beast.

　I light up the memories of my previous life in my eyes that are about to turn inside out, and aim that one point at the control core of Pig Surge, and I become a comet rushing through.

　With a magic barrier in front, it unfolds in a spindle shape, uses magic conquest, and thrusts out a sword.

　---The aim is set. If so.

"...This is the end...!"

"Pikyooooooooo! ! ! ! ! "

　The critical beast, unable to maintain its shape, collapses, letting out a high-pitched cry of death.

　My desperate attack had completely pierced that cloak of light and the control core that created the lightning strikes.

　As a compensation, Booster, who was not protected by the magical barrier, was reduced to a state of complete destruction and turned into scrap, but it was probably better than the city becoming an empty lot.

"Headquarters confirms the subjugation of the critical beast Pig Surge...The mission is over, please return immediately."

　Hearing the colonel's voice coming from the communication device felt somehow like a dream, and it made me think that my reincarnation itself and this battle were all a dream.

　However, the tingling pain in my whole body that I had to pay for my unreasonable act of squeezing the magic barrier and thrusting into the energy body told me that this was reality.

　All of this is because Koyomi believed in me.

　Purge the remains of the booster. Sheathing my sword, I let out a deep breath as if to release what had been building up in my stomach.

　For the time being, I didn't die.

　I don't know what will happen to this world in the future because it deviates from the original work. but.

"...Thank you, Koyomi."

"...Eh...I-I..."

"Because you trusted me first, I able to proceed with the operation. Thank you."

　I bow my head to Koyomi.

　I'd be humbled if I said I hadn't done anything, but in that situation, she was the first to believe in me, even though I had come up with a plan that was both outrageous and too risky. .

　If I don't lower my head at all, it won't make sense.

"...I...I...I..."

"If you can't accept it, that's fine for now. But I wanted to express my gratitude. That's all."

"…Ah, thank you… Thank you…"

　Koyomi looked soft and shy, tears welling up in her eyes. I'm sure she's smiling from the bottom of her heart, not shying away from anyone or looking down on herself.

　If I could see that, then it would have been worth the effort.

　After landing on the ground and undressing, I look up at the sky as if to reflect on the fact that I'm living this day.

``I was wondering what would happen for a while, but as Koyomi-chan said, I believed in my senior and was right.''

"It's true... Koyomi-chan's fine play."

"...I-I...I..."

　Magical girls descended on the ground one after another, surrounding Koyomi and praising her courageous decision.

　Out of all of them, Hazuki had a slightly complicated look on her face, but it also seemed like she had become less eager to 'swords'.

　From the way she snorted and turned away, I could tell that there was still a long way to go before reconciliation, but I felt somewhat refreshed and looked at Hazuki's back.

　Even if this incident had the meaning of showing off my face, Saijo Chihaya's, in Hazuki's mind, I want to believe that my choice to ``believe in Koyomi'' will definitely lead to a good future.

　That's all I wanted now.