Magical Girl with Demonic Time Magic-Chapter 60: Friendly Duel

"Is Ayane sure?" Setsuna asks me as we head down to the underground of the magical girls’ base.

"Yes, I am," I say with a smile. As soon as she arrived at the base, I told her I wanted to have a training fight with her. She hesitated, but said it was fine if that’s what I wanted.

I want to fight better, and that’s why I need help, and Setsuna, as someone on my team, is the best one to help me.

We soon arrived at the training area, a large white room that looks like a gigantic gym underground, it must span almost 6 city blocks. I wonder just how big it is down here.

There are some people using equipment to train while the two of us enter a more reinforced room made for these duels. There are several of these rooms, and some are already in use.

"Calm down, Ayane, you’re tense," Setsuna tells me, so I take a deep breath and relax.

"O-Of course, I’m just a little nervous about this." This fight will prove how much stronger I’ve become. I know there’s still a lot to learn, and just a few days of training haven’t made me superstrong.

However, I’ve clearly become stronger and better at using barrier magic, and even my healing magic has seen some, albeit small, progress.

"Ready?" She says, summoning her weapon. I also summon my weapon. Since mine is a staff, basically a rod, I can’t fight up close.

But Setsuna can’t fight up close either, so we’ll both be fighting at medium to long range.

"..."

"What are you two doing?" We hear a voice outside the duel room and look through the window, seeing Lenore entering and sitting down in a chair she brought.

"Oh, we’re having a friendly duel to see how much we’ve improved!" I tell her with a smile.

"...That’s good..." Lenore says simply and just observes. I guess she’s going to watch the duel. Strangely, no one told me about that other girl who helped me along with Setsuna. I wonder if she’s okay, I need to thank her too.

"Okay, Ayane, we can start whenever you’re ready," Setsuna says, and I nod, taking a deep breath.

"We can start," I say, pointing my staff and creating a barrier in front of me instantly, stopping a shot aimed at my leg. I’ve seen Setsuna training and fighting, and I know she always tries to seize any initiative or opening she can find.

"..." I move the staff, making the barrier advance forward, which Setsuna evades by jumping to the side and firing. I stop the shots with smaller but more resistant barriers.

Each of Setsuna’s shots makes the barriers tremble. If my barriers were a little weaker, they would break. It’s a good thing I can make them more resistant now.

"Ayane, try to concentrate more magic at the base of the form, so you can alter the shape of the barriers more easily and they’ll be more resistant with less cost," Lenore offers a tip.

’...Is that how it works?’ I try it, forming a pyramid-shaped barrier. I hold the staff and start spinning it, making the pyramid rotate and form almost a drill with the spinning motion, then I launch it at Setsuna, who dodges by jumping over it and firing.

I narrowly avoid being hit in the arm as I form a large barrier to defend against a few more shots. I know Setsuna is holding back a lot.

Normally, she fights by firing multiple shots, but with me, she only fires a few and focuses more on my arms and legs.

"Don’t underestimate me so much, please," I say, forming four barriers I had been preparing beforehand and moving them to trap Setsuna in a large barrier box.

Setsuna, who wasn’t expecting it, gets trapped inside, firing at the barrier. I thought a lot about what Setsuna said, and she’s right, the monsters are cruel, so sometimes certain things are unavoidable.

I’ll never become as cruel as the monsters, but I need to protect people, so I have to be more creative and bold with the barrier shapes.

"S-Setsuna, if you don’t give up, I’ll start shrinking the barrier," I tell her, and she aims her weapon and charges it. With an unexpectedly strong shot, my barrier breaks, and she escapes.

"Ugh," I fall to the ground as she gives me an elbow strike, taking advantage of the proximity to close the distance between us.

"Are you okay?" She asks, seeing me holding my stomach in a little pain from the blow.

"Y-Yes..."

"Don’t get so close to enemies, and never warn them what you’re going to do," Setsuna says seriously after hearing my ’yes’.

"B-But..."

"But nothing, Ayane. If I were a monster, bad things would have happened. You should have started closing the barrier first, and only stopped it when I was about to be crushed."

"Also, getting close to an enemy is a terrible idea. We’re both fighters who aren’t that skilled at close combat. I had my arm broken from trying to fight a monster directly."

"Please avoid getting close unless it’s absolutely necessary... but you did well, that magic that advanced against me like a drill was good," she praises, averting her gaze as she notices a slight despondency on my part.

"You’re right, I’m sorry... I should have been more serious, I can’t make mistakes," I say, trapping her in a barrier and pushing her to the ground with a victorious smile.

"But our fight isn’t over. You shouldn’t underestimate an enemy just because they seem defeated. As you said yourself, you shouldn’t get too close," I lecture, giving her a taste of her own medicine. She’s being pressed against the ground and can’t get up or use her weapon.

"I won, admit it," I say, excited to have won.

"...You won this time..." She admits, as I make the barrier disappear. I have a big, proud smile for having managed to win, even if it was with a surprise attack.

"Not bad, Ayane," Lenore says, coming up to us. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"But you, Setsuna... why haven’t you gotten stronger?" Lenore speaks, making Setsuna fall silent.

"What do you mean?" I ask, not understanding. Setsuna is clearly stronger than when she saved me.

"Don’t you see, Ayane? Setsuna’s total power is still the same amount she had when she arrived at this base. The only thing that’s changed is that with a little experience, her shots have gotten stronger."

"..." Lenore speaks without any filter, creating an uncomfortable silence, as if she had said that all of Setsuna’s training made no difference whatsoever.

"W-Well, it’s only been a few days, so..." I try to say something about it.

"Don’t try to smooth things over for her, Ayane. You’ve gotten stronger, your magical control has increased, the amount of magic you have and can use has also increased, but Setsuna’s remains exactly the same," Lenore speaks severely.

"B-But she’s trying..." I try to defend Setsuna, but Setsuna herself speaks.

"It’s alright, Ayane, she’s right... I haven’t gotten stronger," Setsuna seems unaffected by Lenore’s obvious criticism.

"It’s good that you understand. Strive harder if necessary," Lenore says, leaving the room, leaving us two.

"Don’t worry about it, Setsuna, I know she didn’t mean to sound bad, that’s just how she is..." I say, trying to comfort Setsuna, but she just looks at me as if nothing had happened.

"Let’s go get something to eat?"

"Ah... yes..." I speak, not understanding this. Setsuna’s gaze is so... empty. She seems not to care about Lenore’s criticisms at all, as if Lenore were just a spectator who said something and left.

"..." I’ve noticed this isn’t the first time. Setsuna always has this empty look for everything. She may even say she understands or talk with a smile on her face, but her eyes almost never express any emotion.

However, when we’re alone or talking to each other, she’s clearly not expressing that emptiness, and I can’t understand it. How can she be so emotional when talking to me, but so cold with everyone else?

"Let’s get a hamburger, how about that?" She speaks as I follow her out of the room.

"Yes, sounds great... Setsuna, don’t you care about what Lenore said?" I question her, and she stops in her tracks.

"...Don’t think I’m arrogant, but... I don’t care. Nothing she said affects me. It’s not bad or good, it’s just the truth, and I honestly don’t feel anything about it," she responds, what she considers an honest answer.

"But you usually smile. If you don’t care, why do you smile for these things?" These empty looks are frequent, but she’s either neutral or gives a small smile.

"Why do you always smile at everyone, Ayane?" She questions me, and I think about the answer.

"It’s..." I begin to speak.

"Wait, let’s say it at the same time. I’ll tell you why I always try to smile," she stops me before I can give my response.

"Okay," We both prepare, and start speaking at the same time.

"It’s because I believe my smile can always brighten someone’s day, even if it’s not the best smile. After all, if you smile at life, it smiles back at you..." We both give the exact same answer.

"..."

"I think that answers your question, Ayane. If I don’t smile, the only thing left in my expression is an emptiness that some may find uncomfortable. If I smile, at least it doesn’t look like I don’t care at all," she responds simply.

"Now, shall we eat? I believe a snack before returning to training is a good idea to refuel our strength, since we haven’t had dinner yet. I’ll buy you a little dessert this time," she says with a genuine smile.

"Mm-hmm," I nod, leaving this topic aside. If she doesn’t find any of this bad and thinks the same as me about smiles, then it’s fine. It’s just another thing that strengthens our friendship.