Sato Noah had finally gotten her hands on some donuts from Shizuku’s bakery. With sugar stuck all over her mouth, she leisurely walked towards the gateway to school. Next to her, the reddish-brown cat-like creature Nabi shook off the sugar stuck to her precious cloak while urging Noah to hurry.
“You’re going to be late, Noah. The teachers are going to scold you.”
“Yeah! I know! Mom and my sister told me. They said when you’re already late, don’t rush and just enjoy it slowly! That way, I can at least enjoy a leisurely morning!”
“Truly, truly excellent parenting.”
“Yeah! My dream is to become a fantastic Magical Girl like my sister!”
“………”
Nabi seemed hesitant to comment on the Sato family’s educational policies, crossing her arms and observing the changing scenery as they walked.
The view of the Aerial Garden.
For ten years, countless Magical Girls had passed through here, influenced by the powerful Starlight of numerous witches, turning it into a maze-like space.
A place where only Magical Girls could roam.
Even now, every time Noah passed through an alley, she would catch glimpses of girls sipping tea in a bamboo grove or girls connecting game consoles to monitors set up in the gray palace’s corridor.
Various everyday lives of countless girls.
The scenery whirled by, a whirlwind of different views that brought the dreams of the girls to life, making it easy for new Magical Girls arriving here to get lost. Even Noah got lost the first time she came holding her sister’s hand after receiving a colorless Glass Star.
“………”
Among the Magical Girls spending their daily lives, many had succeeded in blooming thanks to Nabi’s guidance and were currently active.
The day when the colorless stars rained down upon numerous girls.
On the snowy white day that brought an unexpected birth, Nabi was born in a corner of the Aerial Garden.
[Raise the Magical Girls properly.]
The singular mission carved into Nabi’s mind was crystal clear.
Since that day, Nabi had spent her time with countless colorless Magical Girls, pondering together about how they could grow rightly while watching over them.
“Nabi, hello!”
“Hello! Master!”
“Oh? Elementary department? Already receiving Nabi’s guidance at elementary school?!”
“You must be a seriously talented Magical Girl.”
Nabi received voices directed at Noah as she walked by.
Nabi waved her front paw to greet her former companions, now well-bloomed.
“You all are doing great!”
Some girls managed to find their dreams normally, while others bloomed with combat-appropriate abilities, fighting demons or becoming stars in the popular combat program [Witch Duel].
“Master! This time, I’ll definitely make it to the semifinals, so watch me!”
“Ah, I’m always watching.”
“Wow! As expected, you’re the master!”
Magical Girls who had been taught by Nabi saw her as both a friend and a master, someone who earnestly thought alongside them to help them bloom. A mysterious creature providing teachings different from friends or parents.
A strong cat draped in a reddish-brown cloak.
Nabi became the most beloved of the three guides among the Magical Girls.
“Hehe.”
“Wow, the cat is really popular among the guides!”
“The only one who fears me is you, Noah.”
“Bah! But the cat’s eyes are scary!”
“Eyes?”
“It feels like the sparkling things in the cat’s gaze are whispering to me to fight and win against others.”
“………”
Fighting others unconditionally to win.
“Hmm, not something I can relate to.”
Nabi shrugged at those words after thinking for a moment. No matter how she looked at it, that was too inefficient. It was a reckless and utterly foolish way of gaining empathy from those with severed emotions… those whose personalities were shattered.
Only the strong remain in a way that ultimately rejects the bonds and empathy that can be gained from the weaker.
The way humans have continued history has been about building strong trust through compromise and empathy rather than conflict.
Magical Girls were no different.
“I don’t particularly agree with that. There are many options in the world beyond fighting to win or lose. That’s way too inefficient… I can’t even imagine why I got that impression from my eyes.”
“For example, by skipping school?”
Just as Nabi was about to give a retort to Noah’s voice mumbling in front of the gateway to school…
A refreshing breeze carried the cheerful voice of a woman from somewhere.
“Whoa, little Sato! Isn’t it a bit bold to be skipping school on the first day?”
“Ah?!”
Hwiing―!
The refreshing green wind suddenly turned into a massive storm, enveloping Noah and Nabi.
The colorless novice Magical Girl and the small creature had no strength to resist the wind.
“Eeek?! Practice teacher?!”
“Grh?! [Freedom]! Why me too?!”
“Heh, little Sato! They say you should skip from middle school onward! I started at elementary school, though.”
“That’s so unfair!”
“Adults are inherently unfair, you know.”
Swish
Within the green storm, a giant green arm emerged, grabbing Noah, who was about to wander off somewhere, not toward the Academy gateway. Then the green giant pushed the girl and the cat towards the Academy gateway.
“Uwah?!”
“Kyaaa!!”
Crash!
With a dazzling light, the mystical creature and the girl safely finished their school commute.
Watching that scene from the highest point of the Aerial Garden was a woman, her hair swaying in the breeze secured with a green hairpin, chuckling. The hair flowing over her ample robe evoked the image of a celestial being, but she was, more than anyone, down-to-earth and materialistic.
“It’s ridiculous to put the school gate in a place like this; the kids will be flabbergasted.”
Complaining about the increasing number of students going off track since the first day of school, Ichika, sensing the most extensive range, was on lookout from the top of the garden. Sure enough, a very familiar face was trying to go off track.
“What a surprise, the original little Sato was diligent… Now that she can’t be called a little one, another little Sato shows up causing trouble.”
“Fufufufu! Innocent little ones just keep pouring out, don’t they?”
“Why does your speech pattern sound like that again?”
Ichika lay on her back at the top of the Aerial Garden, scratching her belly while watching a black puppy.
One of the two guides born with Nabi.
Boss.
A puppy wearing a hat that crossed black and white.
Despite its sorry appearance with bandages wrapped all over its black body, it wore a sly smile on its mouth.
“Fufufufu! It’s because I’m ‘Boss’! I’m going to gather countless innocent Magical Girls as my subordinates and someday become the greatest hat merchant!”
“And yet, the plan is to become a hat merchant.”
“Simple-minded Ichika can’t grasp the philosophy of commerce.”
“What?”
“To really make money, you gotta satisfy the greed everyone has.”
“And what does that have to do with hats?”
“Everyone has a ‘head’! So to become rich, you have to sell hats!”
“………”
The nonsense that spills endlessly from a voice reminiscent of a fragile girl, like a rapid-fire machine gun.
Just listening to this guy felt like it would drive anyone insane.
Ignoring those words suitably, Ichika carefully observed whether there were any Magical Girl Academy students trying to stray off course.
“I never dreamt I’d become a teacher.”
“Your certification was issued temporarily! You’re a phony teacher!”
“Shut up.”
After the Great War, Ichika had been the one who wielded power in the numerous conflicts surrounding the power of Magical Girls, and following the peace, she had achieved undefeated champion status in [Witch Duel]. The path she chose after walking the long road of battles and freedom was “teaching someone”.
“Master… you truly had a broad mind to teach someone as little as I was.”
The little ones caused such trouble and mischief.
Sometimes she found herself reminiscing about how gentle the master’s way of throwing peanuts at her head during training had been.
“Sigh.”
“Huh? Is the teacher’s salary low? Not enough pay? Come join me, Ichika!! The doors of [Boss Company] are always open!!”
“…Sigh.”
The day of the practice teacher (temporary) Ichika was tough just by preventing the little ones from straying off track and taking care of the strange creature that lured Magical Girls with nonsense.
“I envy Kyoko.”
Famous in Yokohama.
A cheerful woman who runs a cafe.
There, Kyoko became a big shot reigning over the area.
Combining with the local business sector and successfully promoting a tourism course on SNS, Kyoko was still thriving, managing dozens of employees.
Who would have guessed that Kyoko would be the most successful among the girls who escaped the research facility…
“Sigh.”
“Why? Why? What’s the problem, Ichika? Huh? Huh?”
“Shut up, you’re spoiling the surprise.”
“Ahhh!! No!! The Goddess insisted she should find out for herself!!”
The black puppy buried its ears with its hat, trembling.
Goddess.
At that words, a certain girl came to mind.
The fireworks at Tokyo Port on a summer night that would be hard to forget even after ten years.
“…Leader.”
Ichika momentarily drifted into memories.
Not a young woman, but an elderly person running the cafe.
There, she rested her arm on the shoulder of a silver-haired girl working part-time, listening to the babbling of the little Sato next to her and exchanging silly jokes with Kyoko.
Eating ice cream bought on the way back to an old apartment.
Sitting on the rusty metal stairs under a setting sun, feeling the wind.
Talking all night about the most mundane topics.
“………”
Those were trivial yet shining days.
Sometimes she felt a longing to return to 17 years old.
For Ichika, the summer of 2011 was more memorable than all the numerous battles and mighty enemies.
But she couldn’t stop.
Ichika anticipated the future even more.
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