Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 18 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

HERE, ONCE UPON A TIME

  Old Blue

Even someone with no aptitude for it could become a magical girl, and it was possible to get magical girls of similar functionality cheaply and in large quantity. This was the concept of the artificial magical-girl project, otherwise known as the Princess Project. Spearheaded by the R&D Department under Old Blue’s command, it had been moderately successful, but they hadn’t attained their goal—securing a fighting force that could oppose the Magical Kingdom.

But the project had continued to move forward without wasting the sacrifices of the princesses, and they had managed to get to the point of Princess Lightning. These guaranteed aptitude, firepower, physical capability, magic with a wide application, fuel economy, survivability, mental fortitude, and intellect on a level with humans. Assigning them roles via suits and numbers strengthened them even further, and the Lightning army was complete—or rather, was in the process of being completed. There were still things Old Blue wanted to get done before they were sent into actual combat, but if Frederica was making her move, then this would be an experiment-slash-implementation.

“Where to next?”

“The courtyard.”

“There are enemies there?”

“Are they actually our enemies?”

“What else would they be? They’re not our allies.”

They had been an item with a history: girls made from magic, designed to be like pets and sold like products, posing nothing but problems, even by the Magical Kingdom’s sense of ethics. Nothing good had happened to anyone involved: All her sponsors had been punished, and the development office had been ruined. But to Old Blue, the product had been good news. The moment she had seen it, Old Blue’s magic had penetrated her true nature, and Old Blue had hit on the most effective and powerful way to make use of them.

“What do we do about her?”

“Bring in reinforcements?”

The report that a magical girl who called herself Ratsumukana-honome-no-kami was in a wild fight was not worthy of surprise, but she did also feel strongly that this made sense. If Pythie Frederica were going to cause trouble, she would leave behind at least that much of a missile. There was no need to worry over whether it was real or fake. If she was strong enough to be undaunted by a group of Lightnings, then you could assume she was real.

Old Blue would draw Ratsumu away from the center of the fight. She would send in the elites, led by the Ace of Spades, and draw her away from the courtyard. The Ace of Spades would be able to secure her own safety as well as finish things off. If she simply couldn’t do it, then she would contact Old Blue. Old Blue could think about it then.

The specifics about the ruins and the relic had been struck from all documentation, and Old Blue had been unable to learn anything, even via illegal methods. This information wasn’t relayed to high-ranking leadership. The Three Sages had to know, though Old Blue hadn’t confirmed that much. It was ambiguous and uncertain. Even when things were that iffy, mages would just conclude, “Well, they’re the ruins made by the First Mage, after all.” But Old Blue had to know the details, no matter what. So she would see them for herself. Even if the information couldn’t be gained through photo or video, with Old Blue’s magic, if she could see the subject, she could get it.

She would take in the ruins with her own eyes, and if it seemed she could go in, she would do so and steal the relic. Confirming the ruins was number one, and if it seemed she could secure the relic, then securing it was number two. If securing it was unlikely, she would destroy it. The important thing here was just to keep the relic away from Frederica like she wanted. Old Blue had been able to cooperate with Frederica before, since they both opposed the Magical Kingdom. The crystal ball Frederica used and Old Blue’s eyes were incredibly compatible.

But the inevitable time had come when they parted ways. Frederica’s ultimate goal was control of the magical-girl system and creation of a magical girl who measured up to her standards, so they could never cooperate until the end, when that was in contradiction with Old Blue’s touted goals: separation from the Magical Kingdom and elimination of the magical-girl system. And Frederica was not the sort of magical girl who would abandon her original goal to obey Old Blue.

Old Blue would not let her accomplish her goal. No matter what trouble the ruins were, it was fair to assume that Frederica sending in her troops meant that she had a way to break into them. She would rather destroy the relic, ruins and all, than have it stolen by Frederica. If she could neither destroy nor invade, then another plan.

  Pythie Frederica

Dodging a sword with a flutter, she tapped her enemy’s shinbone and shattered it, then swept their legs out from under them and broke the rest of their lower leg. With a light push, she sent them crashing into a different enemy, destroying both foes. Frederica passed under one lightning strike, and when another fired at her right side, Frederica swept it away with her right hand and erased it. All she felt from it was a slight numbness.

A body made to be an incarnation is indeed quite strong.

Destroying every Lightning she saw with light, stroking attacks, she grabbed one of them by the neck and drew her upward, peeling back her costume to look at her collarbone area. The glimpse that she had gotten earlier had been no mistake. The suit was diamond, the number eight. After checking just that, she twisted the Lightning’s neck and broke it.

So these are Lazuline the First’s secret weapons?

She must have combined the Shufflin and Princess Series. It was simplistic, but nothing was stronger than simplistic things. If that went on to define a generation, it would become the standard. Frederica could practically see right through to the blood and tears of the technical experts.

But she couldn’t give them a high grade. They were inelegant. It pushed aside personal attachment to magical girls, making them to be used as weapons—though this was something she could say of all artificial magical girls generally, not solely Princess Lightning. Before, she had felt that personal attachment was the strength of magical girls, and the current Kashiki-akarukushi-hime—Pythie Frederica—still thought so.

A magical girl was all about turning even the weakness of the heart into a strength.

Frederica eliminated one, two Lightnings, four, five, gradually getting a grasp on how her own body moved. Six, seven, it was nothing but Lightnings that she encountered.

Are there none left of our first force?

And how long would the second group last? They had more elites compared to the first group, but still, the Lightnings were strong. Eight, nine, jumping to fifteen, sixteen—more and more kept showing up. If they could get these numbers, and this strength, then of course Lazuline the First would save it as her ace in the hole.

As Frederica was on the move, she witnessed her subordinates fighting with the Lightnings.

A magical girl with a Miko-chan mask was struck by lightning and spasmed, and right as she was about to be finished off, a magical girl with a Cutie Cloud mask cut in and swallowed up one, two Lightnings in something like a black haze. Flashes of lightning burst inside the haze.

Lightning wasn’t strong enough to pose a problem to Frederica now. But if Frederica’s subordinates couldn’t dispose of them alone, then it wasn’t like she wouldn’t fight them. Ignoring enemies when they came at you couldn’t be called elegant conduct for a magical girl who had powered up before appearing.

Though her goal was the courtyard, she couldn’t go there right away, even aesthetic sense aside. A little later would be the perfect moment. Until then, she would get used to her new body while also enjoying being in this chaos. She perked up her ears. Her new body excelled in all physical areas. Her senses, hearing included, were incomparably superior.

This sound…

Footsteps could be heard at a distance. They were clearly different from those of the Lightnings. The manner of their step, the carriage of their bodies—she sensed a beauty even in their individual movements.

Old Blue… So you came after all.

There was an opponent she had to defeat before acquiring the relic.

  Kana

Three Lightnings rushed her at once from behind, and Kana swung around a chain without looking back to knock aside their swords. The purple lightning that wreathed their blades crackled and crawled up her body, and combined with a lightning strike that she took head-on, a nasty burnt smell rose up from her uniform.

Kana kicked them away, shook them off, and flung them down, but the Lightnings kept coming and coming in droves. Kana punched one, threw another, and then her kick whiffed.

Her enemy had dodged. She looked back automatically. It was Lightning. Her smile was even more condescending than usual as she vanished into the crowd. Though she looked the same, it seemed their strength was not equal. If you paid attention when you looked, you could see a difference in the speed and strength of their movements.

Lightning strikes, slices, dagger throws—the moment Kana showed a weakness, she was showered with them one after another. Kana stepped left to right, sending a few Lightnings flying.

Kana’s memories had been distorted by Frederica, and she had been made to believe that her own magic was far weaker than it originally was. Even without asking someone a question, if she thought of a question in her head, then she could acquire the truth, outside of things that had yet to happen. That was how her magic originally had been.

Who is Princess Lightning working for?

Old Blue.

Is that the Princess Lightning I know?

No. They’re all strangers.

What is their goal?

The ruins in the courtyard and the relic enshrined there.

Kana took a hard step on the concrete of the outdoor passageway between buildings, and when the Lightnings all around her lost balance from the shock, she mowed them all down. Then from behind them, energetic Lightnings charged straight in toward Kana completely unflinchingly.

These Lightnings felt more powerful than the group she had sent flying when she had encountered Adelheid. Though their attacks didn’t work on Kana, more appeared one after another, and they were all strong, some of them even more exceptionally powerful. They weren’t sending in reinforcements every time Kana mowed them down. There was an intent here. There was a place they didn’t want Kana getting close to.

Though the Lightnings had started sending in more skilled fighters, they were no longer trying to defeat Kana. They had noticed that Kana was holding back and avoiding any fatal blows to the Lightnings, and they were taking advantage of that, committing to a harassment-like attack in waves. Though they had to understand that at most all they could do was singe her clothing, they never let up their assault, gradually moving the battlefield, trying to move her away from a certain place—the courtyard.

In the courtyard was the entrance to the ruins. Open the lid, and go down the stairs, and if you went along the way, you would come to a stone corridor—the ruins. The relic was enshrined there. It was not something that anyone should consider making use of. Bringing it out would only lead to misfortune. Even the Puk Puck had not tried to use it.

Ever since Kana had learned of the past through asking questions, she’d been having vivid waking dreams. They felt far too real to write off as delusions due to mental stress. They rose in her mind once more—that green hell.

Even its inventor, the First Mage, had bungled in handling it. It seemed unlikely that the succeeding mages, who didn’t even know the idea behind its design, would be able to handle it any better. The land had been transformed, and many mages had lost their lives. The situation had only been just barely resolved because the developer had sacrificed their own life. And now the First Mage was no more.

The remaining three—Osk, Puk, and Caspar—hadn’t even understood how they had survived, and in order to preserve that which their vanished master had left, they had sealed the ruins. That was the foundation of the Three Sages’ system, without them being aware that this was eating away at the Magical Kingdom. As a result, the surviving three disciples had come to be called the Three Sages, there was nobody who would oppose their positions, and the seal had been protected. But it would not go on forever. With the story not in the records, the Three Sages themselves unaware of the situation, and nobody telling the story, of course some people would pop up who thought they would surely be able to make good use of it.

The start of it had probably been Halna. She was getting a cut of the energy of the formula construction that was at the center of the ruins, most likely without knowing of the origin of the Magical Kingdom. Frederica had certainly estimated that she could do it, based on what Kana had said. That was no good. She doubted it would go well. And even if it did go well that time, they couldn’t give it to Frederica.

A twisted scream. Transformed flesh. Swallowed up, vanishing.

Running to the right, running to the left, she drew the enemy to her, then turned back and raced out. On the way, she knocked aside those who got in her way. Lightnings with startled expressions were blown away, and the school building was pulverized. Kana snapped the garden trees, running straight ahead. The voices of the Lightnings that came at her from behind grew distant.

The Three Sages were what was really in the way of the Magical Kingdom. Whenever she had the time, Kana had been thinking, How can I kill myself without a new incarnation being made? But now that things were like this, she had no intention of dying right away. She would protect Umemizaki Junior High and her classmates. To that end, before searching for each one of them individually, first, she had to secure the courtyard. If there were any foolish people who would try to appropriate the ruins or the relic, that would be a danger to everyone in the vicinity. She had to eliminate such people for good.

  Halna Midi Meren

The Cranberry copy made an explosion of sound, and in response, five or six times the lightning strike shot out. Halna’s projectile-response spell rebounded to the caster, but unfortunately, Princess Lightning was unaffected when struck by lightning.

Halna checked on the situation from the small window of the storage shed as she supported the others with her magic. In addition to the strengthening techniques from the magic system that she had established beforehand, she also used other spells. She wouldn’t hit magical girls with direct attacks like fire bullets; healing her allies or strengthening them improved output considerably.

The students were fighting against the robbers, but there were too many enemies.

I guess I’ll add a little more.

Halna twisted the valve that went to an invisible pipe that connected with the relic. Increasing the magic invested in the system, she raised the level of the students’ enhancement.

Another explosion. And then thunder. If she weren’t right in the middle of a battle right now, she would want to plug her ears. In actuality, not being a magical girl, Halna may have taken some damage just from this.

The damage to the students protecting the courtyard was also severe. Though they’d all been fused into new bodies, these fusions weren’t invincible. She had given them stronger bodies by fusing homunculus bodies with the body and mind of a magical girl. But they were just stronger, and that was it. If they fought, they would be wounded, and if their wounds were severe, they wouldn’t be able to move. From the window of the storage shed, she used healing magic on Mephis Pheles and Tetty Goodgripp, healing their burns and cuts and sending them out to the front lines again.

Thunder rang out. She felt like she was going to lose it, just from the lights and sounds.

Cranberry kicked one of the Lightnings and sent her flying, pushing her back from the entrance of the courtyard. She caused a detonation toward the group, and the magical girls flew in every direction.

One of the Lightnings that was blasted rolled away to be stopped by a wall. Drawn on her exposed neck was a club, and the number six.

Halna clicked her tongue bitterly.

She’d been right to assume that Shufflin technology was being used here. Either there was someone on the inside that had caused this or the Osk Faction technology had been stolen. Considering who had recommended Princess Lightning, it was either the Puk Faction, a powerful aristocrat, the R&D Department, or some organization working with them.

Trash.

If they followed the same rules as the Shufflins, then there would be an Ace of Spades. That was not good. With their current defenses, it would be a little dangerous.

Since distance attacks weren’t getting them anywhere, next the Lightnings came forward with swords raised. Diko, moving in the blink of an eye, kicked one, Tetty stopped another, and Kumi-Kumi covered them, but there still weren’t enough people, and Cranberry wielded her fists directly.

Cranberry starting to fight with bare fists reduced the pressure from her sound magic. The Lightnings in the rear came forward. Then a fluid was showered on them from the rear. The Lightnings’ beautiful faces twisted in pain, making a hissing sound as they rolled around on the spot. In a blink, Cranberry routed them.

A figure slid in, weaving through the group.

Diko stuck up her thumb at the figure. The figure stuck up her thumb in the same way, thrusting her clasped left fist at Diko. Blood flowed from her eyes, nose, and mouth, but she never let go of the water gun that she held in her right hand, firing fluid at the enemies. It was the last one of the students Halna had fused, Pshuke Prains.

The unexpected opposition pushed the Lightnings back once more. But it wasn’t as if they had let up in their attack. Even now, they were irritating Halna with their loud noises and bright lights as they fought.

I’ll strengthen them a bit more.

Halna operated the magic circle by her hands, loosening the valve even further, increasing the energy that she was borrowing from the ruins. Now the students protecting the ruins would be stronger.

The storage shed in the courtyard was Halna’s research facility, her main base. It was packed with rare magic items, a barrel full of magic gems, documents, bases for fusion, and lots of other things she couldn’t have other people seeing. The principal’s office that Calkoro frequented was just an office.

The Princess Lightnings chattered away, smiling meaninglessly as they attacked without fear of death. And if the Shufflin system had been applied, then they would have spade face cards, an Ace, and maybe even a Joker.

It seems like I could still do it… I suppose I’ll get ready.

She had no choice but to hold nothing back. If she were to talk about “looking to the future” as if she had all the time in the world, then there would be no future. While it was different from its original purpose, now was the time to use it. She would throw the remark “What a waste” into the gutter.

Halna closed the window and turned back. Lined up in transparent cylinders against the wall were unused homunculi, pre-fusion. Skipping past Adelheid, Sally, and Rappy, she put her hand on the fourth cylinder.

  Thunder-General Adelheid

The footsteps and sounds of destruction grew somewhat farther away. If Adelheid understood Kana’s intentions, then now she should escape. First, she would find a safe position, then meet up with any allies there, and avoid the enemy as much as possible.

That would be for the best. She had fulfilled her mission of supporting the assault on the magical-girl class enough in her one-on-one with Lightning. A wounded Adelheid fighting a group of Lightnings all on her own was the epitome of overwork. Either she would look for allies or flee. Her classmates were among those allies. Group Two was there, of course, and Rappy or Miss Ril might be able to fight alongside her.

While keeping an eye out, she sat up in the rubble. Though she was covered in dust, the damage from Kana’s attack was slight. She must have held back when she’d kicked her. She would not waste the life Kana had saved.

There were fallen Lightnings all over the place. Adelheid raised one of them into a sitting position in her arms. The Lightning who had been found with Adelheid was detransformed and dressed in her uniform. The others were in noticeably casual clothing: sweatpants and sweaters, and T-shirts, so it was easy to pick this one out.

She was breathing. She looked like she was in pain, but her chest was moving up and down. But she was still unconscious. It was better for her to be asleep than have her regain consciousness right now and chatter on about stuff. It was better when she was silent, and her talking ruined it—in other words, she was the same old Lightning.

A smile slipping to her face from that thought, Adelheid reaffirmed that she was still not too pressed to be amused about things.

A dagger, longsword, and some gems were lying in the gaps between the rubble. Adelheid picked up two or three of the fallen gems and held them up to the light. Lightning had been using them in order to enhance her power, but could they be used by others aside from her? Thinking she’d take them just in case, she dropped them down her sleeve.

Then she dragged out the dust-smeared Lightning and slung her over her back. They were both completely dust smeared anyway. So that she wouldn’t drop her by mistake and get complaints later, Adelheid ripped strips off her coat and used them to tie Lightning firmly to herself.

Also, just in case, she wanted her saber. Even if it was a little beat-up, there was a big difference between having it and not. Where did she drop it?

“Here.”

Handed the saber, she immediately accepted it, panicked, and backed up. Lightning was there.

The Lightning that Adelheid knew was, based on her clothes, the Lightning on her back now. Which meant that this Lightning was one of those who had attacked Adelheid. Even though she was an enemy, she didn’t seem wary at all, speaking as if she were addressing her in class.

“Did you see that just now?” Lightning asked.

Adelheid put her hand on the hilt of her military saber. She inched her pivot foot out ahead—

“Well?”

Lightning’s face was right there. Adelheid blinked, and she felt a tickle on her cheek as if it had been stroked by long eyelashes. Lightning was placing her hand atop her hilt.

Adelheid was unable to back away, standing there stock-still. Lightning exhaled a breath, and it caught on Adelheid’s throat.

She couldn’t move at all. This wasn’t like Diko’s teleportation; Lightning was simply that fast.

“C’mon, answer me!”

“Yeah… I saw.”

Various things rose in Adelheid’s mind and then vanished again. She tried to draw from past experience to figure out what to do, then closed that drawer, realizing this was not it.

“Ya mean Kana, right?”

“Yeah, her. Wasn’t she amazing?”

“Uh…yeah.”

Adelheid drew it out by talking. All the while, the gears in her head kept turning. But she still came up with nothing.

“I’m pretty good in a fight, but I wouldn’t want to go up against someone like her.”

“Of course.”

“So, about you.” Lightning smiled, and she stepped softly away from Adelheid. The hem of her skirt fluttered, revealing the spade mark on her thigh and the A beside it. “She made that arrogant remark when she kicked you, but let’s face it…she was actually pushing you away to keep you from being attacked as she played decoy, right? You certainly don’t look injured. If that monster kicked you for real, you’d be in pieces.”

A chill ran down Adelheid’s spine. Lightning had seen through everything.

“So basically, that means you’re important to her, yeah? Then if I take you as a hostage, that monster will leave us alone.” She tilted her head and looked at Adelheid. Brilliant plan, no? her gaze seemed to say.

“So that’s…why you stayed behind?” Adelheid asked.

“I didn’t stay behind—I came back. Brute forcing things looked dicey, so I figured I should just use the girl who got kicked. Work with me here—will you let me catch you?”

“What if I refuse?”

“Here’s the thing: You can’t.”

A sound rang out, and there was a burst of light.

  Lapis Lazuline the Third

Asmona was strong. Lazuline had yet to get through the hallway. In the Caspar Faction mansion, in the hallway that led to Frederica’s room, the two magical girls were continuing to swing at each other.

Lazuline avoided one punch and fired off a series of small, continuous strikes—her arm almost got caught in the enemy’s sticky defense, so she pulled it back. Then she hit her opponent with the heel of her palm and backed up several steps. When her opponent followed, Lazuline kneed her, spun them both around, and parried with a shin. Three blows, then five; Lazuline reached all the way out with her fingertips for a strike that skimmed the other girl’s glasses.

Lazuline backed up, and the enemy—the Great Adulteress Asmona—readjusted her glasses. Lazuline loosened up her shoulders, taking slow, long breaths to prepare herself.

This corner of the grand estate was now a ruin. The roof had fallen, the walls were crumbled, the rugs were in tatters, the chandeliers were in pieces, and the valuable-looking paintings and Western antiques had become basically garbage. Even after this much destruction, Asmona still bore not even a scratch. Even though Lapis Lazuline’s magic meant not just a wound but a complete end to the fight, she was struggling to manage even that.

Asmona was as strong as expected. The title of one of the Seven Great Devils of the Archfiend Cram School was not just for show. If there were another six at her level, then no wonder the school had acted so arrogantly back when Pam was alive. But while Lazuline acknowledged the strength of her opponent, she didn’t plan to lose.

She pulled a single candy out from a hidden pocket at her elbow, bringing it to her cuff and from her cuff to her palm, keeping it from the enemy’s sight. Lazuline could make emotions, memories, and magic effects into candies. While Asmona was fighting, she had been continuously emitting candies from her own body in order to keep from being negatively affected by the mushroom magic. It wasn’t only negative effects that could be made into candies and removed—magics that gave positive effects could, too.

Without any warning, Lazuline jumped. She couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste. Her back to the enemy, she curled into a ball so that they didn’t see her eating a candy she’d pulled out. The sweetness melted in her mouth.

Lazuline had forgotten the name of the magical girl she had fought before, but she was an opponent who used magic that strengthened her body. Lazuline had made that magic effect into a candy and kept it hidden on her person. The two of them had been striking each other with full power, and now Lazuline was going to come at her even stronger and faster. Could Asmona dodge that?

Lazuline struck. This was her fastest, her strongest. The spear-hand made it through Asmona’s guard and skimmed her cheek. Lazuline’s magic worked. A memory candy popped out from Asmona’s face.

Asmona staggered. The light was lost from her eyes. It had knocked her unconscious.

Lazuline stepped forward to finish her off. While firing a follow-up attack, she felt something was off. Something was strange. She sensed a presence—though she could have sworn she’d knocked Asmona out.

Asmona’s polka-dot newsboy hat lifted slightly. Something long and red like a frog’s tongue flew out from the gap between her hat and her head, grabbing the candy that had just appeared in front of Lazuline and thrusting it into Asmona’s mouth.

Oh no…!

Lazuline had been completely focused on attacking, throwing everything into that strike without even defending herself. She hadn’t been prepared for a counter at all. If her master had been here, she definitely would have scolded her for it. The enemy had an opening, but Lazuline was also full of openings, even when they were at a lover’s distance, close enough they could feel each other’s breaths.

Before Asmona’s eyes could regain their light, Lazuline moved. For all she knew, her opponent might have felt the same, thinking she had moved first.

At point-blank range, she fired an elbow, a knee, a palm, and then her back, striking and being struck so continuously it was as if their previous exchange was a lie. With every strike, Lazuline tried to draw out a candy, Asmona just never let her touch skin directly, and all Lazuline could do was punch or kick her over cloth. Though they became tangled up, Lazuline somehow pulled away. Asmona spat blood, trying to get it in Lazuline’s eyes, which Lazuline wiped away.

Her skull was fractured, and her ribs were damaged far beyond some tiny little cracks.

Asmona’s glasses were cracked. Even with the same cracks, there was a big difference there, but she didn’t get off with just that. Her right arm was hanging loosely because her shoulder had been shattered. Her right cheek was swollen, and her right eye was red, and it was difficult to determine whose injuries were worse.

“The hat, huh,” Lazuline said particularly slowly as she checked both their damage.

Asmona listened to her without breathing hard. She understood, too.

“So you have another self that’s separate from your main body.”

Lazuline had withdrawn the memory candy from Asmona’s body, so Asmona should have passed out. But the hat had its own mind—had acted independently and grabbed the candy to put its master back to normal. It seemed simple, but it wasn’t so easily done. To be able to respond so immediately, Asmona was, well, a monster.

“Mine isn’t the kind of secret weapon that yours is,” Asmona said.

Lazuline thought that maybe her master could have seen through it, but she didn’t say so.

“So then, from here on out…”

Footsteps approached. They grew louder. They were coming incredibly hard. A black shadow raced through, cutting through the mushroom spores.

“Frederica…? No—that’s a body double!” said Deluge, on the runner’s back. She closed her eyes and groaned.

The one carrying her was Ripple. Her expression was pure hatred, with open fury. Was Asmona frowning because the person she was supposed to have been protecting had been using a body double, or was it at Ripple’s expression?

Lazuline’s eyes stayed fixed on the three people Ripple was carrying on her back. First, there was Deluge. She looked as if she was at her limits, but she still used her magic in the spores, and she had lasted this long. There were Catherine and Brenda, too. Their transformations were undone, and they were unconscious.

Lazuline sensed the air slacken. Her expulsion of candies decreased and then quickly stopped. Her magical ability to remove harmful magics was striking at nothing. It seemed that Asmona had undone her spore magic.

“Is the fight over?” Lazuline asked.

“My job was to protect my boss… And she used a body double without telling me, so my work is done… Although I guess that means I never had a job to begin with.”

Heedless of the odd air that lay between Asmona and Lazuline, Ripple lowered Deluge first, then handed the magical girls to Lazuline.

“Take care of them.”

There was no time to stop her. Lazuline couldn’t say she was pretty badly wounded, too. Ripple ran off, and when Lazuline looked toward Asmona, wondering what was up, she had already vanished, too. They were all so quick to act.

Bearing with the pain that racked her whole body, Lazuline slung all three of the girls over her shoulders and ran off. She would take along the magical girls who were still fighting as well as those who had fallen and couldn’t move to retreat.

  Snow White

Tumbling along, or perhaps flying, she kept on running. It didn’t matter if she looked like a mess—she just ran. Lightning burst close enough that she could feel the heat, and the pieces of wood scattering around her were charred. Her eardrums were still intact, making her feel faint from the sound. But she still couldn’t let herself fall. She had to keep moving her legs.

Ripple’s sorrowful face rose in her mind.

After Cranberry’s exam, during that time before Ripple had vanished, she had sometimes smiled, and sometimes been angry, and sometimes played innocent—but the look Snow White imagined on Ripple was always sorrow. Snow White had always kept on making Ripple sad.

She knew what Ripple wished for. She wanted to live peacefully, without fighting anyone. She would go around resolving minor problems as a local magical girl.

Snow White had once wanted to be that sort of magical girl. She still admired those types, even now.

But she had made up her mind to do something else. Ripple would try to stop her, but she would not be stopped, continuing to move forward, dragging Ripple into things, bringing her misfortune, bringing many other people misfortune, and even Fal had vanished, but even then, she couldn’t stop.

Sometimes, Snow White wondered if she’d just wanted a place to vent her irritation. Sometimes, she even wondered if she’d just been having a temper tantrum and trying to let those feelings out through violence. She could hear the thoughts of those in need, but not her own, so she had no idea what the truth was. Maybe Marika would say, “What’s the problem with that?” and leave it at that. But Snow White couldn’t be as pragmatic as her.

Snow White had been deeply relieved to hear that the battle was over in N City. Ripple had followed her heart and continued to fight. Snow White’s cry to stop had been unable to stop her, and she had followed through to the very bitter end.

In the end, Ripple had avenged Top Speed, which had enabled her to defeat Fav. Snow White would never have been able to achieve such a serious accomplishment with cheap words alone.

She remembered that time, over and over again.

It had been a chilly spot, a dam in the middle of the night where the rain fell incessantly. It had been as if she were the only thing there that held heat. She had been battered and wounded, having lost an arm and an eye, using her weapon as a walking stick to stand. She had been so badly wounded, it was a miracle that she was even alive, never mind still on her feet. But still, her remaining eye had been filled with an overwhelming, magma-like heat.

Snow White’s breath had caught as she looked up at Ripple. She was frightening, horrific, brave, and so beautiful you would forget to breathe.

Koyuki Himekawa admired magical girls. But she had never thought she wanted to fight. She had never admired those magical girls who defeated villains through violence—until she had seen Ripple getting to her feet.

Now the Ripple who lived within Koyuki was hanging her head with a sorrowful expression. She did not look at Snow White.