Walking onto the ice, Miri Dreamwell used her magical power to transform into a Magical Girl.
The biting cold wind tousled her hair, and beneath the violet hexagram lay a conviction already hardened.
The mistakes she had made—she had to atone for them herself.
She hoped it wasn’t too late to make amends.
Gazing at the endless frozen lake, Miri Dreamwell shouted her thoughts aloud.
“Mentor… tonight, I don’t want to talk about justice, morality, or those lofty ideals of humanity. Tonight, I only think of you—I only care about you!”
With that, Miri Dreamwell took Bubble Chime from her waist and shook it into the empty surroundings.
Ding-a-ling~
With the swaying chime, the environment instantly changed. The frozen lake turned into an asphalt road, and countless towering buildings sprang up from the barren emptiness.
The full moon of the night was replaced by a blazing sun at the center of the sky.
Miri Dreamwell knew she had forcibly entered this subspace, hidden away by The Government, using her Mirror Flower, Water Moon ability.
Now, without a doubt, she had committed an outright crime.
But Miri Dreamwell no longer cared. If she had to be a sinner, then so be it.
A traitor’s traitor—how utterly shameful.
But if she couldn’t even live with her own conscience, then there’d be no difference between life and death.
She had to admit—acknowledging her guilt felt strangely liberating.
Yes, I’m a sinner. So what?
I just want to break free from this world’s rules and do what I desire. What’s wrong with that?
Walking down the asphalt road, Miri Dreamwell suddenly realized how exhilarating it felt to embrace her sins.
“So this is the joy of wickedness?”
“No need to care about morality, justice, humanity, or any of those hypocritical things!”
“That’s right—I am who I am. I have no obligation to play The Divine and save the world.”
“I’m just me—just a child born into this world, like my name, Miri Dreamwell. Nothing more.”
“Thank you, Dad.”
“I feel so happy now. Today, for the first time, I’ve truly breathed air that belongs to me.”
The feeling of casting everything aside was this joyful, this wonderful.
No burdens, no responsibilities—living only for herself, doing whatever she pleased, with no one to bind her.
How ironic—the first day she truly lived for herself was as a sinner.
Walking down the empty road, Miri Dreamwell soon found herself at a loss.
In such a vast space, finding one person was no easy task.
But the environment of the subspace at least proved one thing:
Eve Nightburn wasn’t as dangerously monstrous as they claimed.
“What should I do…?”
Miri Dreamwell fell into confusion.
A needle in a haystack—this wasn’t a problem she could solve alone.
Besides, needles don’t run away, but Eve Nightburn clearly would.
“Do I have to use that move?”
Miri Dreamwell took out her Crystal pen, eyeing the barrier with some concern.
“I hope… I have enough magic.”
With that, she raised her Dreamwell Pen and activated the Dreamscape Refraction ability.
—
Eve Nightburn sat up from the hotel bed, changed her clothes, and left the inn.
Staring at the eternal sun in the sky, she had long lost track of how many days had passed.
Or rather, in this world, there was only the concept of “today.”
Standing at a crossroads, Eve Nightburn decided to cut diagonally across the street to reach the intersection ahead to the left.
It’s not like there was anyone here—she could walk however she pleased.
Thud!
“Ow!”
The moment she reached the other side and prepared to continue forward, something invisible smacked into her head.
“That hurts…”
Rubbing her forehead, Eve Nightburn stood up, though her tone betrayed no real distress.
“What’s this?”
She reached out toward the seemingly empty space ahead and found an invisible barrier blocking her path.
“An… air wall?”
Eve Nightburn was instantly exasperated. Since when did this world have air walls?
“I’m sure this road didn’t have these before I went to sleep…”
With no other choice, she stretched her hands forward, feeling around to find a way forward.
After who-knows-how-long of wandering, she still hadn’t managed to enter a single shop.
Eve Nightburn trudged on blankly, with no energy to ponder why things had turned out this way.
She was already used to these bizarre days—what was one more strangeness?
—
Miri Dreamwell walked above the city, the Mirror Flower, Water Moon ability keeping her at a distance from this world.
Right now, she wasn’t in this world—she was merely walking on the ground of her own world, looking into this one.
At least this had one advantage: the Magical Girls outside the barrier couldn’t detect her, because she wasn’t even in their world.
Rubbing her eyes, Miri Dreamwell had only just finished sketching the city’s walls. To conserve magic, she had to compromise and leave them uncolored.
She scanned the sprawling city, searching for the one moving figure in this vast space.
“I hope the route I designed works…”
She wasn’t entirely confident. Though she knew the path she’d drawn led to only one exit, there was a catch:
Eve Nightburn had to actually walk it. If she refused to move, no amount of clever routing would bring her to the exit.
So Miri Dreamwell had no choice. Instead of waiting at the exit like a fool, she had to patrol the entire space to find Eve Nightburn.
After what felt like an eternity, she finally spotted a petite, pale-yellow figure on a Park Bench at North Road, Exit 5.
“Mentor…”
The moment she spoke, Miri Dreamwell dispelled Mirror Flower, Water Moon. As she fell, she swiftly sketched a large umbrella with her Dreamwell Pen to slow her descent.
Once her feet touched the ground, she tossed the umbrella aside and sprinted toward the girl on the bench.
“Mentor!”
She wrapped her arms tightly around the girl, refusing to let go, not even for half a step.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” For the first time, Miri Dreamwell allowed herself to breathe. Tears she could no longer hold back streamed down her face—her calm heart was finally in turmoil.
“Please forgive me—no, don’t forgive me. I’m a despicable sinner, a traitor who betrayed everything. No one anywhere would ever forgive me, right?”
“I’ve done so many foolish things—I hurt you, I hurt everyone. Please, I beg you—pass judgment on me, won’t you?”
She kept talking and talking.
“Mentor… why won’t you say anything?”
