Unmarked Prologue

What is the Magical Girl Project?


☆Easy enough for newcomers to pick up, yet deep enough that veterans won’t get bored!

★Beautiful card art provided by famous illustrators!

☆Characters have as much move variety as an action game!

★Choose from 500 character types and 2000 items! Mix and match--the combinations are endless!

☆The game is free, no matter what! No microtransactions whatsoever!

Welcome to a world of dreams and magic!

This is an RPG where you will become the best Magical Girl. This is the Magical Girl Raising Project.

You have been chosen by the Land of Magic to be a protector of the world. The Land of Magic has granted you Magic with which to shatter evil and destroy the darkness, and as a cute and kitschy, strong and powerful Magical Girl, you will shoulder the destiny of battling evil.

You will not be relying simply on the power of magic; make full use of the mascot character, your costume, magic items and victory lines to defeat the enemy. The Magical Candies you gain from defeating your enemy will help you steadily grow into the best Magical Girl that you carry within your heart.

The world is always in danger, and there are never enough Magical Girls. Please, gather up your courage and take the first step forward.

Your dreams will surely come true.


Prologue

That night, Hatoda Ako was in trouble.

She had gone to her part-time workplace directly from school, and after that she had walked the distance of a bus journey back home, and it was then that she realized she had lost the key to the main door.

It was a small key. Looking for it would surely take a very long time. This was especially true since night had fallen. The sun set early in autumn, and it was very difficult to do any searching with just the light of the moon and the streetlamps.

All she needed to get inside was to wait for her uncle and auntie to return home. However, that did not change the fact that she had still lost the key. SInce anyone could pick it up and use it, they would need to change the door lock as a result. She did not want to cause them that sort of inconvenience.

About three months ago, her father had been arrested for stabbing her mother to death. Ako’s mother’s younger brother--her uncle, in other words--had taken her in. She knew very well that this matter was greatly inconveniencing them. She could continue studying in the same school as always, and she even received the same allowance as before. There was no handicap to her daily life. She could not inconvenience them any more than this.

Once, she had gone to see her father in prison, and she had been chased away with a terse, “Never come again.” Even to her father, Ako was an unnecessary entity.

Nobody spoke to Ako in school. The news of how an argument between Ako’s parents had somehow turned into a fatal stabbing spread like wildfire, and so people whispered and stared at Ako and drew away from her.

Right now, Ako was a being who was not necessary to anyone; all she did was inconvenience others.

The notion that “I should just die” crept into her head. In the past, her grandmother had said, “You’re as obstinate as your father,” but she did not feel her resolve was a drawback. At least, it was better than constantly making trouble for other people. Thus, Ako slowly prepared to kill herself. She got rid of the objects which held memories that were precious to her, prepared her will, then slowly pilfered her uncle’s sleeping pills in quantities which would not be noticed and hid them in her drawer. By now, she had gathered her target amount.

However, she had gone and lost the keys. She had already made up her mind not to inconvenience people any further, but in the end she had made unnecessary trouble for others again. Her frustration at losing the keys at such a critical moment built within her, and Ako slumped weakly to her knees in front of the door.

The lost keys had become a symbol of the misery in Ako’s heart. Unable to think of anything other than the keys, tears flowed steadily from Ako’s eyes.

“Are you in trouble?”

An out-of-place… well, given that Ako the middle-schooler was already here, it might not exactly be out of place, but she heard something that did not quite belong in a residential district at night; the somewhat inapropos voice of a cute girl.

“If there’s something bothering you, I hope you can tell me about it. For instance… being unable to get back inside because you lost your keys, or something like that.

Ako raised her head, and there she saw a beautiful girl, the very sight of whom caused her heart to beat faster. Her skin was pale and clear, shining through the darkness of the night. Her facial features were perfectly positioned for beauty. Perhaps that smile of hers was a little awkward, but the juxtaposition of her good looks and that clumsy smile of hers only made her appear that much more adorable.

However, her outfit was quite bizarre. It resembled a student outfit at a glance, but it had been extensively remodelled. Strictly speaking, it was closer to a cosplay costume from manga or anime. Her scarf was edged with lace frills and her pleated skirt was decorated with white flowers. Her armband looked like it had a school badge on it, but the badge there did not belong to any schools nearby. For a moment, she thought her kneesocks were similarly decorated with that badge… however, they did not seem to be kneesocks, but rather, long white boots. Her fine platinum blonde hair gleamed in the moonlight, and it was decorated with ribbons and a white flower ornament.

The words “Magical Girl” appeared in Ako’s mind. She stood there dumbly, and by the time she came to her senses, she had already told the Magical Girl all about losing the key. The girl nodded and said, “please wait a moment” before vanishing. A breeze blew past, and a fruity scent tickled Ako’s nose.

--She was the real thing. She was a real Magical Girl.

Ako stood in place for about five minutes, and then the girl returned, panting a little.

“Is this the one?”

The key she handed over was the one Ako had lost.

“Please don’t lose it again.”

The girl smiled, as though she were very politely cueing Ako to smile as well. They looked so different, yet that smile was very much like that of Ako’s mother when she had still been close to her father. It was a carefree and happy smile, one which gladdened the heart when one saw it.

Ako bowed her head in thanks, but by the time she raised her head again, the other girl was gone. So she was a Magical Girl after all.

Ako’s spirits soared, and a feeling of warmth came from somewhere around her heart.

She no longer desired to die. Magical Girls were real, and one of them had saved Ako.

What if Ako could become a Magical Girl too? If she became a Magical Girl, would she not be needed by others? As she thought about that, her heart pounded heavily.

Was there someone out there who felt that Ako was necessary?