November 10th
Emily Hawkins
She wasn’t a magical girl.
“……”
The only catalyst was pure intuition.
Because of the lingering disgust from a trivial conversation, she suspected that Emily was a magical girl following the scavenger and even secretly followed her, searching her lodging.
She was from England and had come to Belgium to attend a memorial service, an elite who was expected to earn her doctorate at a young age.
As I hurriedly completed my domain and tracked the remnants of her magical power…
She was an ordinary person.
Then what exactly was the intense disgust I felt toward her?
[…Humans have started to realize the value of victory and begun to move forward, right?]
That single remark.
If I acknowledged that one phrase, which seemed to signify the movements of countries beginning to accept my domain declaration quietly, after the chaos of the scavengers…
I felt as if I could never go back.
“……”
I placed the file I personally investigated about Emily Hawkins onto the glass table.
Sparkle
“…Huh?”
I felt the star within my domain spread across Japan blooming.
Since I reported that the self-governing organizations of magical girls in each country would soon hold a “friendly match” to foster the growth of magical girls at the Walpurgis Grand Council, the blooming occurrences had significantly increased.
“…Is it because I’ve been trying to raise them too cautiously?”
Because I wanted to lead in an entirely opposite direction from the tragic path of the original work, where they competed for one another’s stars, the very word ‘competition’ never crossed my mind…
“I was trying to quickly recruit the strong characters from the original…”
Recruiting the reliable allies seen in the original work had failed, except for Ichika.
Yuki Shikishima would not appear until January next year in the mentioned location in the original work.
The Russian magical girl [Navigation] was currently untraceable.
The remaining magical girls completely vanished after the scavenger’s rampage.
‘[Sea] is still waiting for a chance, but for now, it’s on hold…’
Instead, those who were drawn to my actions, like Hana, Kyoko, Sumire, Kang Dorim, Park Saebyeok, Lee Meirin, Laura, who were either absent or disappeared from the original, became my allies.
“Nothing ever goes as planned.”
Slurp
I sipped my black tea on the glass table and crossed my legs while secretly watching the proceedings of the Walpurgis Grand Council.
＊
The Central Garden expanded further with the establishment of the council.
A huge domain was newly created outside the previous council’s meeting space, influenced by the mental imagery of the representatives of the magical girl self-governing organizations, taking on various forms.
Behind the group of representative participants including the magical girl of [Guardian], Sumire, there was a rose garden flowing with colorless light strongly influenced by [Start].
“Let’s collect all the hopeful participants from each country and decide the entry.”
“If that’s the case, won’t Japan, where most of the magical girls are, inevitably win?”
Hmph
The magical girl of [Harmony], Lee Meirin, said with a sullen expression as she twisted her hair. Behind her was a neatly arranged bamboo forest, and the spot where the Chinese group sat had bamboo-colored wooden chairs and tables.
“It’s not a national competition, so why not just drop the country names and fight as individuals?”
The magical girl of [Cyber Brain], Kang Dorim, flapped her short legs, which were floating above a gray chair. The area of the Supernatural Ability Response Team resembled a castle within the [Cyber Brain] domain, with opaque 0s and 1s floating on the ground.
“Anyway, there are unofficial commentators among the magical girls, so how about conducting it as an officially public event?”
The magical girl of [Harmony], Laura, quietly pointed this out while grabbing her brown-tinged robe. Behind her was an endless field of golden wheat swaying gently like waves.
“Oh, don’t worry about that, I’ve already decided to stream it online.”
Kang Dorim flapped her small hands while speaking.
“I’ll distribute the server allocations based on the situation. Real-time censorship is also possible.”
“Censorship…?”
Sumire answered Laura’s question instead.
“They say that anyone who enters the arena established by the magical girl of [Start] has an illusion magic that makes it indistinguishable from reality cast on them.”
“So then… if they fight, they won’t actually get hurt… Cinderella, you mean…”
Lee Meirin’s expression began to pale as if she suddenly realized something.
“…It’s about growing stronger through battles that feel like real fights.”
“Hmm.”
“Well, I don’t know if extreme battles will actually occur, but those who aren’t ready can just go train at a different training facility.”
Kang Dorim continued with a chuckle.
“This friendly match is literally just an exhibition, so don’t put too much pressure on yourselves~”
“What about… prizes?”
Lee Meirin raised her hand slightly to ask.
“There aren’t any.”
“I heard there’d be none.”
“Didn’t I mention it was a friendly match?”
“Ehh?! No way! I’ll contact the cosmetics brand I modeled for and a foreign electronics company right away!”
“Oh, you did stuff like that?”
Flex
Lee Meirin emphasized her beautiful face with both hands.
“Of course! I’m pretty, right?!”
Fwap
“Yikes?!”
Kang Dorim threw a sheet of paper folded into an airplane at Lee Meirin, seemingly annoyed by the sight.
“Then, please let the magical girls responsible for the council’s administration know once the details are settled.”
Sumire concluded the meeting with that statement.
Representatives of self-governing organizations from various countries exited through the passage they came in.
After that day, large corporations, entertainment companies, and broadcasters from each country sent requests to the council expressing their desire to participate.
“Looks like I’ll be pulling an all-nighter again.”
Sumire muttered quietly.
A week later, a formal document about the first magical girl friendly mock competition was delivered to the glass stars of magical girls across the globe.
＊
If asked to point out two moments of regret in the life of Shikishima Yuki.
The first would be the day, when she was 9 years old, she visited her father’s ceramic workshop alone and, out of curiosity, opened the kiln to take a peek while her father stepped away to take a phone call, getting burned in the process.
Fire.
Her face was half melted, and all the fingers on her right hand fused together at the moment of life and death, and the words she heard the most in her life were “monster.” Her father, consumed by guilt over her appearance, quit the pottery workshop, began to drink, and never returned home, creating an awkward relationship between them.
Always hiding with bandages wrapped around her in a corner, she became someone who feared the heat yet yearned for warmth.
“Someone talk to me…”
The second moment of regret was on November 10, 2011, during her last year of middle school when she received a glass star and became a magical girl, and until months after her burns healed, she decided to run away from awkward school life and her father.
“I want to find a place where I can exist…”
Until January of the next year, as she roamed around Tokyo, she was charmed by the rumors that joining the Supernatural Ability Users’ meeting operated by the Fujimoto Group would provide her accommodation and a chance to make friends.
That year, Japan was enduring a civil war increasingly becoming violent with the coalition and the rebellion organization of magical girls known as FLAG, resulting in a high number of severely injured individuals rarely seen in public, while magical girls were welcomed as heroes wherever they went.
After spending several months treating patients from the coalition at the Supernatural Ability Users’ meeting, she heard the proclamation of [War] in Shinjuku.
Everything she had known crumbled away.
Everyone who had helped her died.
She never saw her father again.
After a nightmare of a time passed, all that remained in her hands was a single ‘Goddess Fragment’ that could borrow the power of the world just once.
The girl who bloomed from [Flame] to [Resurrection] and overcame her final trial quietly closed her eyes.
That was the end of her story.
“……”
No.
Her story wasn’t over yet.
Yuki opened her eyes and rose in the darkness.
If she could use the power of [Resurrection] to bring back just her body.
It was a feeble fragment that couldn’t resurrect everyone in the current time.
But if she could even give up the third light connecting her to the world…
If she could also give up the second light connecting her to fate…
Even if all that remained in her hand was a tiny ember.
She could return alone.
“…I want to turn back…!”
Yuki stood up from her throne and held the fragment.
[The Magical Girl of Resurrection’s Unique Skill]
Eternal Recurrence
Whoosh
Yuki’s entire body ignited like a flame.
All the magical power she had accumulated fighting monsters over the past year got sucked into the fragment.
The light of her red glass star, burning like the sun, rapidly diminished.
She felt that her epithet, known as [Resurrection], could never be used again.
Whoosh
Due to the magic of reversing fate established by the gods, the third light that had connected her to the world vanished along with the flames.
“A world where everyone is gone…!”
Whoosh
With the choice that denied the time she had walked, the second light connected to her fate vanished with the flames.
“Ugh…!”
She cried as she watched the vanishing time of everyone who had helped her and all those who sacrificed to save her.
She felt guilt watching the pillars of all her hard-fought trials being rebuilt.
Her selfish desire to return to the start of all nightmares made her feel guilty toward those who would suffer again.
“I’m sorry, for negating everyone’s will… but still…!”
Only a very feeble first light remained in her hand.
And she vanished into the darkness of the world alongside the flames.
And she returned to where she had spent time on the day she had run away, at Tokyo Station.
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