*That’s completely basic!
And it doesn’t really have to be a girl, as I think about it, magical girl just sounds so much better than magical boy anyway.* Dave sighed, unsure how that would make the situation any better.
“By the way, what kind of system are you?” Dave asked, still walking towards the nearest hospital he could think of.
*What kind?!
I’m a magical girl system!
What other kind of system would there be!?* Dave didn’t press the matter.
All he could say was that he had his doubts that this was an actual ‘system’ like he’d used to read about in webnovels.
Besides, if what it was saying about magical girls, and boys, being real, then magic was real and that could explain how he was hearing a voice inside of his head.
Or at least that would explain it if he actually believed magic was real and not illusionary tricks that were made to entertain.
*You’ve gotten rather quiet.
Are you thinking about all the girls you can make into magical girls and see them transform?* Dave blinked.
He wasn’t sure what this ‘system’ was getting at, but it certainly sounded rather illegal.
“No, just heading towards the hospital,” he replied, causally, acting like he didn’t notice the strange looks some people gave him as he talked to ‘himself’.
*Good idea.
There should be any number of girls there who have magical potential but are too sick to live normal lives.
You should be able to find a few there if you can get them to agree to be magical girls.* Dave shook his head, not sure how to reply to that.
Though, he didn’t plan on letting the voice know just what he was thinking of doing at the hospital.
Especially when he didn’t care to hear what the voice had to say about what he had in mind.
As Dave turned the corner, bringing the entrance to the hospital into view far down the street, he noticed a homeless woman rummaging through a trashcan, picking out aluminum cans.
He’d seen her before and had occasionally talked with her, though he never got her name, nor did he ever give her his.
She was like him with a hard luck story, but rather than trying to get back on her feet, she was trying to find a way to simply survive in her new circumstances.
However, that’s not what drew his attention to her this time.
Instead, he felt a kind of pressure from her, almost as if it was squeezing the air out of his lungs.
“What’s with her?” he muttered to himself, suddenly not wanting to be heard talking to ‘himself’ this time.
*Her?
Oh, she has enormous magical potential.
You could turn her into a magical girl, but I’d advise against it.
She’s too old.* “Wait, when you said ‘girl’ I thought you were talking about children.
You’re saying women could be turned into magical girls too?” *I thought that was obvious.
I mean, isn’t the term ‘girl’ used pretty much in place of ‘female’?* Dave couldn’t argue with that statement, but usually it didn’t apply to women in their thirties.
“Aside from that, why is she too old?
What age are you expecting me to look for?” Dave asked, looking away from the woman, still determined to reach the hospital and enter the psychiatric ward.
*Around ten to fourteen.
They’re much easier to control and get them to do what you tell them to at that age.* Dave stopped cold in his tracks, feeling like he had to have misheard the voice.
Not only was it telling him to essentially try and recruit children, but the way the voice phrased it was making it sound like he’d be committing a crime by getting them to agree to be magical girls.
*What’s wrong?
Did I say something wrong?* Dave took a deep breath, hoping that there would be a reason for getting them to become magical girls.
He couldn’t imagine what that would be, but he was at least holding out hope that the voice wasn’t trying to get him to be viewed as a pedophile.
“Let’s just say I have concerns about the reasons you want me to get girls to turn into magical girls, okay?” Dave said as diplomatically as he could.
“If you would tell me the purpose of getting girls to agree to becoming magical girls, maybe I wouldn’t be so… hesitant about this.” *Ah, yes.
I completely forgot about that.
Though, the reason might sound a little crazy.
You’ll probably want to avoid repeating this out loud to any girls you recruit until they encounter them themselves.* the voice answered firmly.
*There is a spirit world that intersects with the one you know.
These spirits will sometimes cross over here and cause problems.
Magical girls are the ones who stop the evil spirits from trying to destroy this world.* Dave sighed, feeling like he was listening to a clichéd explanation of a bad plot device.
“Are you saying there’s a war between this world and the spirit world?” Dave asked, wondering which option he’d prefer as he spoke.
*Not at all.
It’s just some spirits will appear and cause problems.
Often, they’re taken as freak weather events or other natural disasters.
Even wildfires can be caused by spirits wreaking havoc in this world.* “So, you’re saying that these ghosts are all enemies?” Dave sighed, confident his imagination was worse than he’d thought if this was the best it could come up with.
*Hey, I didn’t say ‘all’ were enemies, and ghosts are completely different from spirits.
Ghosts are from the essence of people who died and can’t move on for whatever reason.
Those are a completely different threat to magical girls.
The spirits are much more of a threat when they appear.
A magical girl would be able to tell the difference between them and would be able to deal with both appropriately.* Dave felt a headache coming on.
He wondered if maybe he should test the voice.
If one thing the voice told him was true, then maybe he could believe the rest of it.
After all, if he got turned away from the psychiatric ward at the hospital, he wasn’t sure what he’d do then.