December 21st
For two months now, Hikari had not returned.
Even as the day of trial passed, the Destruction Dragon did not appear.
As twilight settled quietly like the calm before nightfall, the darkness and red hues accompanied it.
“…”
The sky was blazing red, yet the chill on my cheeks felt terrifyingly cold.
It was a colder winter than ever due to the long absence of the midday sun.
No,
Perhaps it wasn’t just the cold.
The fear that what we have done might be meaningless.
The anxiety that everything might be hanging on the thread of fate.
Countless thoughts rose in my mind, chilling my fingertips.
Even now, it felt like I could hear the sighs of people taking refuge in Elysion, avoiding monsters. Those sighs weighed heavily on me, making me shrink back.
Still, I had to remain composed in front of the people.
I had to act as if I knew everything.
I was [Hope], after all.
“Hikari.”
“…Yuki.”
“I managed to handle as much as I could for now.”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
Turning my gaze from the crimson sky, I saw Yuki, who hadn’t transformed for several days, in her pure white form.
She radiated a warmth that gently surrounded us with her white flame.
As she approached, a warmth began to return to my heart, which had grown cold with anxiety.
“…”
“…What’s wrong?”
Even with the power of a [Thousand Bloom] 3-Star, the fatigue under my eyes wouldn’t fade. Yuki appeared vibrant compared to the other Magical Girls, who were fighting with fleeting naps on the ship of fate, forcing themselves to the limit and releasing their transformations.
As I looked toward the location where the Destruction Dragon was to appear, I couldn’t move; thus, I entrusted all the fighting to Galatea and the Magical Girls. I was told that if we couldn’t stop the Destruction Dragon, all of it would be in vain when I offered to help them directly.
The Magical Girls smiled at me, asking for my belief in them.
Even so, I couldn’t help but feel pity as I placed my hand on Yuki’s cheek.
It was cold.
Yuki didn’t fully understand the situation.
She was anxious too.
“…”
We were merely protecting people from the approaching monsters, placing miracles in the devastated world of people.
We laughed as if everything was fine, like fools unaware of the impending doom.
In a situation that was unreasonable to anyone, we shouted that we were winning.
We had become fools in the endless unknown.
If we couldn’t move forward like fools, it felt like we wouldn’t be able to take a single step.
So, we smiled and said it was okay.
“I’m sorry.”
“…For what?”
“Just.”
“…”
In reality, for the past two months, aside from the occasional nap or break, most Magical Girls have been traveling across the world in their transformations. Normally, small fissures would appear once or twice a week, but now they were opening in dozens or hundreds of places around the globe.
Endless monsters pouring in.
The sun that wouldn’t rise.
Crops withered away.
The word ‘destruction’ had become something we no longer needed to even speak of.
Everyone had already conjured it in the corners of their hearts.
The moment we spoke it aloud, it felt like it would come to pass.
Despair.
Having reached the highest peak of joy, we were quickly reminded of that word.
A predetermined fate approached in such an unreasonable and sudden manner…
In this absurdity, how had Yuki continued to fight?
“Are you not tired?”
“…A little. It’s hard when everyone keeps trying to embrace everything alone.”
“…”
“I’m okay.”
“…Ah.”
“It’s okay not to be anxious alone. We’re together.”
“Yeah.”
“What you’ve done isn’t meaningless.”
“…Yeah.”
A gentle lie.
Yuki slowly took my hand and kissed the back of it.
Her soft bobbed hair fell like curtains as she bowed her head, the warmth burning in the secret space beneath her head engraved a promise on my hand.
Short but intense warmth.
Fierce yet gentle softness.
Her demeanor resembled a majestic vow.
For a moment, I couldn’t look away.
After a timeless moment, her parted lips formed a smile, leaving warmth embossed like a brand.
“Thanks to you, I was able to come this far.”
“Is that so… I’m glad you think that way.”
“Thanks to you, I was able to grow.”
“You’ve always been strong, Yuki. You just didn’t have the moments to reflect on yourself.”
“You gave me that opportunity.”
I tried to smile composedly, but I couldn’t hide the trembling in my eyes.
‘Ah.’
For some reason, Yuki’s face felt like it resembled mine.
Perhaps we had walked together in the fate where we met, cherishing each other because of our similarities.
The protagonists in the story and I finally came to know each other here.
“We’ll be okay… I’m okay.”
“Yeah.”
“So if everything ends well… it’s okay for you to leave without worry.”
“Yeah…?”
I had no choice but to freeze at those words.
Seeing my frozen expression, Yuki chuckled and looked pleased.
“Did you… know?”
“Yeah. You were acting like someone who was going to leave somewhere. Not leaving anything in the room, indifferent unless it involved outside matters, and acting as if you wouldn’t be here after the trials.”
“…”
“Honestly, I think everyone has picked up on it to some extent.”
Hana, Ichika, Sumire…
“So do you want to live here for the rest of your life? I’ll help you.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Hehe, that’s a shame.”
“…”
Whether her words were in jest or not, she simply continued to smile at my refusal.
Suddenly, it felt like if I didn’t say it now, I might never get the chance.
For Yuki, who dedicated herself for me.
“I’ll definitely come back.”
“…”
“Even if it means finding miracles again, I will return to this world.”
Upon hearing that, Yuki’s face slowly twisted.
I could feel weak hopes and fears trembling at her fingertips.
“…What about that world?”
“I’ve continued to deny it, but I’m closer to becoming a goddess.”
“…Nobody believed you were a goddess.”
“Is that so?”
Taking care of my mother until the end, sorting out what I hadn’t finished, and finding a way to return. I might not find a way back on Earth, where the Will of the Stars does not exist, but no matter what, I will find it.
Still, the time would take at least…
“Fifty years… maybe more.”
“I’ll be a complete grandmother by then? Hehe.”
“…”
“Well then, I’ll lead the Magical Girls and protect this place.”
“Yuki.”
“Shining constantly in front of people, straining to bloom the… Fourth Star.”
“…”
“No matter how old I get, I’ll become the best Magical Girl that never changes.”
Yuki finally hugged me, trying to hide the tears that burst forth.
Yuki, who was a little smaller than me.
The girl with the slightly frayed bob seemed to be.
She loved her father and loved the world.
So fragile and small.
It looked so precarious that she might disappear somewhere if she shed a tear.
I held her firmly to keep her steady.
“I’ll definitely… wait.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll wait for you who watched over me.”
“I’ll return to you who I’ve watched.”
We promised each other under the cold red sky.
That we would definitely meet again.
＊
In the destroyed world, everything reverted to chaos.
Only silence settled upon it.
Gods,
Humans,
Even the Will of the Stars,
Everything returned to chaos, and the star fell silent.
It had been so long since destruction that even the passage of time could not be grasped.
The territory maintained by the indifferent Apostles had vanished, and with the Will of the Stars lost, the Glass Stars left by the Magical Girls drifted aimlessly in the age of nihilism. In that age, one singular Glass Star rose from the chaos, gaining a persona.
The 10,001st star that shouldn’t have existed.
Not born from the Goddess of [Start].
But the chaos engraved upon the two starlights spilled during [Resurrection] transitioning to another dimension.
A star made from the fragments of the Magical Girls, who killed each other in conflict.
“…”
It existed in solitude without any memories or personas.
Just in loneliness,
Just in emptiness,
Drifting within the Throne of Nihility, before the memory of destruction, mixed with the curses of the goddesses approached.
The three goddesses forsaken by the Will of the Stars cast their curses to summon the chaos existing in another dimension. It distorted through the curse of [Greed] and reached some being existing in another timeline.
The voice of destruction that cursed the world
The voice of the star that sought completion
Reached one being.
“I see. You hated the incomplete world.”
It began to move.
To restore the incomplete Will of the Star to the time it lived in.
It bloomed, not as the goddess of humans, but as the goddess of stars.
The last goddess born alongside chaos in the era of stars.
A terminus existing outside the fated events that should not occur.
It shone not with darkness but with the light of chaos, crossing through the Throne of Nihility.
All memories of the Magical Girls
Memories of the destroyed world
Memories of the stars
It could only empathize with the voice of the ‘star’ since it couldn’t live through the age of humans.
The [Star]’s Magical Girl radiated with light composed of four chaotic elements.
It mimicked the form of a Magical Girl that had last occupied the Throne of Nihility.
“You hated escaping from the predetermined fate.”
“In that case.”
“I’ll help you.”
The [Star]’s Magical Girl answered the call of the star conveyed through the curse and crossed dimensions.
To end the age of humans and usher in the age of stars.
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