“Yuki, why did you try so hard to protect everyone?”
“Huh?”
The day Yuki told me about her unique weapon transformation. After training, when Yuki spoke about her days of fighting.
I suddenly became curious.
The reason she desperately wanted to save everyone, which wasn’t detailed in the original work.
Her only family, her father, had already died at the beginning of the story.
Those who ruled the society she belonged to, including Fujimoto, perished due to their greed.
The magical girls fighting alongside her laughed at Yuki’s noble vow. Close allies like [Lightning] and [Dream], [Navigation] died mid-battle.
Even if “Death” confined the magical girls to her domain, parting was still parting.
Yuki’s fight left nothing but scars lingering on.
Yet, why did she not lose her kindness and faith?
Because she’s the protagonist?
A friendship episode?
Sometimes receiving humane treatment?
Yuki smiled brightly as she looked at me.
“Well, I think Hikari already understands. Maybe even more than I do.”
Yuki clasped her hands behind her back, glancing back at the thousands of roses blooming outside the training ground, tapping the ground with her red shoes. The sound seemed to release countless memories too big to fit into words.
“For someone like me, who ran away from people due to my burns… fighting to save others was like a miracle, magnificent days.”
“…”
“To be honest, it might have been strongest for my own satisfaction. I had all these bad things happen, yet I act like I’m such a good person~?”
“…”
“Lack of food, threats from monsters… yeah. It was scary, tough. Everyone was sad.”
Yuki turned back at me with her hands still clasped behind her, her smile seeming both sad and happy. Maybe it looked like she was about to cry.
“Still, I thought that at least the most pitiful me should bring happiness to everyone. So, every happiness I discovered felt precious somehow.”
“…”
“In the end, I fell apart and ran away.”
“No.”
“Huh?”
“Yuki didn’t run away. You stood up to start again.”
“…”
I grabbed Yuki’s hand and spoke with conviction.
I had to affirm that in this world.
“Yuki is the best magical girl I know.”
You taught me how to live rightly; you are the best magical girl.
You, who don’t lose faith; you are the best magical girl.
Yuki, momentarily silent at my words, nodded her head. The smile on her face softened a bit.
“Yeah. Thanks, Hikari.”
*
*
[Urgent News! It has been confirmed that Russia has launched an attack on the USA with over 1,000 nuclear weapons!]
[The USA has also confirmed it is responding with all its nuclear weapons, adopting a mutually assured destruction strategy against Russia!]
[Air Raid Alert! Air Raid Alert! All citizens should evacuate to designated shelters promptly, prioritizing the elderly, children, and pregnant women!]
“We’re done… we’re all gonna die!”
“No, no!! We can’t die like this!!”
“Why do we have to get dragged into the fight between Russia and the USA!!”
“It’s war… it’s nuclear war!!”
People, paralyzed with fear, pouring out onto the streets as they despaired while glued to the news broadcasts inside their homes.
Men screamed, women cried, and children froze in place.
Destruction is approaching.
News spread across the globe that the USA and Russia had launched thousands of nuclear missiles at each other. Anyone who had attended school even a bit understood how terrifying and unlaunchable nuclear weapons were—if thousands of missiles detonated, only air soaked in radiation and eternal winter remained.
‘Destruction is approaching.’
All intellectuals, prophets, and seers warned that a third world war must not happen. Even if it’s a unilateral fight between superpowers, if they thought about the repercussions of their last-choice options, it must be stopped.
“Destruction is approaching.”
Everyone dies. Just the threat is the key to stopping the war, a worst-case scenario long left empty. The last choice to prevent humans from attacking each other and fighting. A tragic ending of everyone dying.
[Destruction is approaching!]
[Destruction is approaching!]
[Destruction is approaching!]
All the internet and news went haywire. News anchors who had maintained calm broke down into sobs. Those gathered in the crisis room to discuss future actions covered their mouths and trembled. Those hiding in bunkers listening to the radio silently pulled their blankets over themselves, facing the coming doom.
Everyone’s gaze turned to the sky.
Some wanted to see the missiles being launched.
Some prayed desperately to be saved.
Some felt like they would collapse and die if they looked at the ground.
Yet, only one girl soared up towards the sky.
＊
It was always like this.
I desperately ascended, wrapped in the colorless starlight towards the sky filled with thousands of sparkling lights, feeling hopeless.
This world was too frail to overcome its fate, almost like it would collapse at the slightest touch.
Foolish people were blinded by their small desires right in front of them.
They hated each other, passing by the darkness that truly blocked their way.
“Ugh…!”
Thunder Rumble
Thousands of lights shooting far away, spitting forth giant flames.
The worst of evils humans can spew at each other.
Evil that powerlessly crumbles under the trials bestowed by the gods.
Evil only directed from one human to another.
I chased after the countless lights flying over Russia with all my might.
“Please… please…!!”
Did Dorim have this despair when she went up with the bomb?
I aimed my silver bow and shot at the many lights.
‘If I could just shoot down the launch pads, at least they might fall!’
[Deception] Magical Girl Unique Skill
Inverse Causality
The possibility of the world fell silent.
It was too weak to hit the thousands of lights already beyond the clouds, reaching the dark cosmic fringe.
Still, I aimed again.
The possibility of the world fell silent once more.
This world was too vast to protect with my hands, and my hands were too small.
Yet, I aimed again.
‘The happiness I discovered felt so precious.’
Should I lose those fragments of happiness Yuki spoke about again?
Like how I had to helplessly watch the girls die due to the Scavenger’s rampage.
‘The days I fought to save people were like miracle-like splendid days.’
New World.
A result that only satisfied our little paradise, leaving behind countless people’s happiness.
At the moment these missiles emitted their lights of destruction.
The era we knew, familiar to me, would end.
Only what remained would be around me.
‘Isn’t this enough? I’ve gotten strong enough to protect my surroundings, and many people have gathered.’
As I shook off that temptation, I aimed my bow again.
[Deception] Magical Girl Unique Skill
Inverse Causality
The world’s possibilities fell silent, even in the despairing gesture of my hand.
Why?
If this goes on, ordinary people living now will disappear.
‘Isn’t being a magical girl about protecting others with dreams? Why can’t I reach them?’
Please answer me.
The only goddess who affirmed humanity.
The goddess who believed in this unreasonable human world.
Please…
No matter how much I jumped, I was left with despair at the unreasonable fate that eluded me, aiming at the multitude of lights before me.
Dozens of despair.
Hundreds of enticements.
I shook everything off and simply aimed for the innumerable unknowns.
[Hang in there.]
“…What?!”
A gentle touch.
A white light.
[Don’t give up.]
Intersecting hands.
Warmth.
[You’re not wrong.]
Silver hair.
Crimson eyes.
[Please think of the meaning of deception for everyone.]
A girl supporting me from behind.
A girl giving me words of encouragement.
Her voice felt familiar.
Colorless Star.
It was a voice coming from there.
“The meaning of… deception.”
■■■■
“■■■■.”
Originally, some unknown realization could be grasped now.
I merely followed what she was saying.
[□□’s Magical Girl Unique Skill.]
□□□□
[Thank you. For thinking of this world. For coming this far.]
[So please don’t give up.]
My bow no longer held a colorless light.
Instead, a dazzlingly bright white arrow was born.
I aimed and fired it.
A great white trajectory advancing.
A massive light gently embracing everything.
Light.
I shot that arrow.
And for the first time since awakening in this world, I exhausted all the starlight.
[Sister! The nuclear missiles disappeared from the sky! How did you do that?!]
I wanted to answer Dorim’s urgent radio call that I didn’t know either.
‘Is Ichika okay on the China side…?’
But the consciousness drifting away prevented me from speaking.
[Sister? Sister!! Answer me! Are you alright?!]
And so, I fainted for the first time in this world.
As I fell, feeling someone gently hug me.
