September 8th
In the village under the lighthouse of Elysion, there was once nothing on this island, but it had become a gathering place for golden girls. However, due to the arrival of large flying magical girls, it became an open space in the rapidly expanding magical city.
“Wow! This house is still here!”
“Oh my gosh! It’s exactly the same!”
“……”
The golden magical girls now lived in shops run by their close friends or in the tent village frequented by Hikari, the Goddess of Inheritance, turning the first village into a sort of tourist shrine. The houses were clustered together, built of dazzling white bricks, facing towards a statue that honored the Goddess of [Start].
“Na-yeon! Come here!”
“Let’s cheer up since we’re finally on vacation!”
“Ugh.”
Most visitors to Elysion went to check out the central plaza and the downtown area, so few came here. The only sounds were the soft echoes of passersby as a middle-aged couple and a girl in uniform walked along the quiet path.
They stopped to admire a particular house.
The house they stood in front of was a bleak space with a bed for two adults and an old table. Dust had settled, and the signs of life were gone, but the traces left by the middle-aged couple still lingered.
“We lived here for two years! Haha! It’s nice to see this hut again.”
“Ah, when we first came here, it was so daunting. Now, seeing it brings tears to my eyes.”
“Hmm.”
“Look here! Na-yeon! Come see this! It’s a scratch your dad made while counting the days missing you.”
“There aren’t many, huh?”
“…I forgot how many after a while.”
Having stayed long enough on the island to accumulate the goddess’s blessings, Captain Hong had ended up looking younger than his peers, his hair having gone from bald to magnificently full again, leaving him feeling awkward.
“Dad, you’ve been flipping your hair way too often lately! You always do it when you talk.”
“Haha, you wouldn’t understand how precious this feeling is.”
“By the way, shouldn’t the White Wing Unit have some hair regulations? How long are you going to keep that messy blue dye?”
Na-yeon stuck out her tongue at her mom’s nagging and hid her two-tone bob cut under the cap provided by the military. Mrs. Kim stared at it disapprovingly for a moment before refocusing on the house before her. The wrinkles around her eyes had vanished, trembling with nostalgia.
Na-yeon felt both a strange unfamiliarity and a longing for her parents’ side profiles.
‘They really look like different people now that they’ve suddenly gotten younger.’
The blessings delivered to this land by the Goddess of [Start].
The blessing of immortality.
The last remnants of the Age of Gold were slowly fading away.
‘It used to be so natural back then…’
Na-yeon recalled the white-haired girl who had told her, glowing with a halo and using a miracle, that she wasn’t a goddess.
– It’s a natural order for humanity to continue existing through disappearance. So, can you help prevent unnecessary misunderstandings for others?
The miracle experienced by Captain Hong and his wife was possible only in the days when there weren’t many inhabitants on the island. Hikari didn’t want to spread the news about this, and Na-yeon’s family also agreed not to entangle themselves with others’ curiosity.
“Ugh, since there’s nothing left in Busan, should we just come back and live here?”
“Oh ho ho! Would you? I was really happy to see Iris again after so long.”
“…I like Busan.”
“When did you develop such hometown loyalty?”
“As a member of the Republic of Korea Army, I take immense pride in living in the Republic of Korea…”
“Pu hahahaha! Na-yeon! Your service creed!”
“Our resolve!!”
Clap—!
The father and daughter shared a heartfelt high five.
Captain Hong, who had slowly drifted apart from his daughter during her adolescence, felt pure happiness in this moment.
During the past few months of drifting through Elysion and returning to Busan, Captain Hong and Mrs. Kim were just grateful that their daughter was alive and well. They wrapped up all the commotion by filing a legal complaint against the cooperative members and villagers who had stolen their wealth.
Of course, there were minor incidents of passing Na-yeon’s personal details to headhunters in the USA or confronting those who troubled their daughter with fights.
– But still, the fact that she didn’t storm out with a scythe is something! Our Mrs. Kim’s temper has calmed down a lot.
– Did Mom used to be like that?
– No, I hid the scythe away.
– Huh…
As Na-yeon reminisced about the incidents that had happened over half a year ago,
“Na-yeon.”
“Yeah?”
Captain Hong wrapped an arm around his daughter’s shoulder, wearing a genuinely proud smile instead of his usual playful grin.
“Protecting people. It must be tough, right?”
“……”
Well…
Was it tough?
When she was really pushed to her limits in training with the shooting magical girl, Lee Min-seul, when given orders to defend Busan while an epic battle ensued in Japan, or when she fought alongside other magical girls in Europe against a sea serpent.
‘It wasn’t that tough.’
Despite witnessing outrageous battles that made her think she might die, and being called out whenever fissures appeared on the surface of the sea, every time she did get called out, Lee Min-seul chuckled and teased her.
But when she donned that blue dress and bravely saved people, she never once felt it was hard.
– Thank you!! Magical Girl of the [Sea]!!
– You’re really amazing!! Blue suits you!!
– Squad leader is just too cool.
– Hey, what did I say!
Ah, Min-seul had said during training,
“The magical girl is someone who strives to protect people, so it’s not hard at all.”
Back then, she thought it was just a teasing remark.
But now, she understood.
The radiant feeling shining brightly in her heart.
Mrs. Kim and Captain Hong burst into hearty laughter upon hearing those words.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Our daughter. The best!”
“Didn’t you know?”
“No, I knew.”
Na-yeon smiled again, feeling a bit of regret.
That day when the silver-haired girl had come knocking.
‘I should’ve just opened the door back then.’
Not because she was dragged away by the military, but because now she realized how exhilarating it was to save people was what she regretted.
That feeling emerged as she guarded the diminishing human domain in a world of destruction, thinking it was mere keeping a place for her parents to return to, ignoring the voices of outsiders.
“I want to protect them.”
As Na-yeon’s blue glass star shone softly, she began walking towards a different fate than the one the Goddess of [Start] had set for her.
It wasn’t the dramatic change of an individual, but rather, a monumental shift in the world.
In the conversations of ordinary families, the fate of the stars took another step toward somewhere. This was a significant change in fate that even Hikari and Yuki were unaware of.
The direction of the stars shining more brilliantly than the dazzling white star.
A change in the universe.
＊
“Kohane.”
“Yes? What is it, Boss?”
Inside the room, Kohane, who was assembling a model kit, scratched her wide forehead with her nippers and stared at Sumire, who came in with a pale face.
“Is there something you want me to do? Newhu~hu. I just found a new awesome armor…”
“I found him.”
“…Huh?”
Sumire usually came to her with a serious expression, but this time felt different.
Kohane didn’t quite understand, but then suddenly realized what Sumire was trying to say.
Clink
Clink
The nippers in her hand rattled and made a sound.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she wore a sinister smile.
Kohane’s weak side, which she rarely showed even in front of her friends, the shared wounds that everyone avoided touching began to resurface, bringing the pain back to her heart.
“Kohane’s family… your brother.”
“Oh, brother.”
“He’s been using a pseudonym in Southeast Asia.”
“Brother.”
“The… situation is difficult for us to discuss in detail. I think you should come.”
“Wh-what does that mean?”
Shy,
Chubby,
Innocently foolish.
The otaku brother who always let her tiny self sit on his lap and watch mecha anime with her.
The clumsy brother who helped her live confidently by letting her empathize with a pilot riding a massive robot, so she wouldn’t feel small.
Why was her foolish brother, who was innocent enough to be duped by a woman in a cosplay bar, using a pseudonym in Southeast Asia out of the blue?
What on earth had he become that made the boss, who had been through thick and thin, so restless?
All kinds of ominous scenarios flooded Kohane’s quick-witted mind.
Thud
As Kohane, in panic, dropped the head of the model kit armor, it hit the floor and cracked.
“……”
– The flower of the armored model is, after all, the horn!
– Newhu~hu! That’s right!!
“Brother.”
The horn of the model kit was broken.
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