Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 18 - Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

A BLOODY FEUD

  Pythie Frederica

The crystal balls would absorb things that leaped toward them and spit them out from a different crystal ball. Frederica had set them on auto to block anything fired at her, which was nice since she didn’t have to pay attention to that and could concentrate on the hand-to-hand combat. It was very simple compared to Frederica’s old magic, but it was extremely effective as a trap for people who were not aware of it. Old Blue could see through it, so Frederica had just used them as bullets against her, but up against a Sage who was unused to combat, things were different. Frederica didn’t know specifically what sort of magic Kana had used, but so long as there were results, that was enough.

Point three seconds after Kana began to fall, Frederica kicked off the crystal ball she’d been using as her footing. She leaped at Kana faster than falling speed. She had experienced quite personally the power of an incarnation. She would not give her the time to do anything more. She would finish her off before she landed. But right before she could step on Kana’s gut and kick her to the ground, she sensed a presence behind her. Something had moved.

Huh?

Frederica turned around in midair, but she didn’t make it in time. Even given that she’d been in mortal combat with a powerful enemy, this came as a total surprise. Ripple had slipped past a Sage incarnation’s excellent senses—as well as Frederica’s sixth sense—and struck faster than any reflexes or foresight. Frederica was unable to stop Ripple’s katana from plunging directly into her throat.

Ripple buried the blade in the deep wound that had been made by Old Blue and thrust it out through the other side of Frederica’s neck. Frederica swiped with her right hand, but she was too slow. With her katana still stuck in, Ripple kicked off Frederica to leap back. First Kana and then Frederica fell to the ground.

Frederica did fall on her back, but she broke her fall. Slamming with both arms hard enough to break the road’s surface, she made use of the impact to instantly stand up.

With the dust and dirt billowing around them, she looked side to side, thinking to finish off Ratsumukana-honome-no-kami, but she had vanished, leaving only the mark of her fall. She’d left a blood trail like she’d dragged herself off. Frederica really doubted Kana had enough left in her to use her own bleeding to lure Frederica somewhere. Just follow the trail, and Frederica should be able to finish her off.

But right now, this came first.

Blood had come up into her mouth from her throat. Wiping off the blood bubbles that spilled from the corner of her mouth, she flicked them away. Ripple stood atop a steel beam that thrust out from the rubble and eyed Frederica with suspicion. Frederica had a smile on her face, and she broke off the Japanese sword stuck in her neck with only her index finger and thumb.

It wasn’t as if there was no damage, but she pretended she wasn’t even looking at the spray of blood, turning to Ripple with a smile. She had Old Blue’s smile in mind.

“That was a wonderful surprise attack.”

Frederica leaped off a crystal ball. Ripple also jumped, running away. Frederica gave pursuit. Up in the air, she jumped off another crystal ball, then jumped again, knocking down the kunai as they zoomed toward her, landing on the edge of the gym roof. Then she eyed the magical girl readying her kunai on the other edge of it—Ripple.

“Normally, I would have died…but alas, I am no longer normal. I was created to be different from humans and ordinary magical girls. See? Even with my throat pierced, I can still talk to you.”

Frederica leaped to the right, and a beat later, Ripple threw her kunai. It was impressive that she could even track Frederica’s movement. Frederica knocked down the kunai with her right hand and then swept it back the other way to knock aside the second that had been thrown in the shadow of the first. At the same time, she grabbed the sneakily thrown follow-up projectile between her middle finger and pinkie.

She didn’t know when Ripple had thrown a shuriken, but it came for the back of Frederica’s head from behind and above to the right. But that was absorbed by the crystal ball that suddenly appeared in its trajectory.

Ripple immediately bent way back. From the other crystal ball that had been floating behind her—even Frederica herself, the user of that magic, hadn’t noticed—the shuriken that had been sucked in just now flew out and thrust into Ripple’s back. Even as she groaned, she still made to throw her kunai as Frederica came a step closer and grabbed her arm, twisting it and pushing her down. Ripple twisted from her back to her waist like a wrung rag and kicked from below.

It was a wonderful counterattack, but to Frederica, it was hopelessly slow. The kick came for her chin, and Frederica struck back at her foot with her chin instead. She held back but still felt the sensation of foot bones breaking.

This is what would happen, normally. Old Blue was the strange one.

As Ripple was about to tumble to the roof, Frederica struck from above. She crushed Ripple’s knees, stepped on her remaining arm, and straddled her. Frederica repelled the needle Ripple spat at her with her eyeball.

This was no flattery; it had truly been a wonderful surprise attack. She had launched herself out at the one moment that counted. Frederica sensed her growth and training, and her rage and obsession. She had grown by one or two levels as a magical girl. But it was still not enough. It was close, she’d given her a little shock, but that was it. It was pitiful. That was precisely why she was so darling.

Ripple finally stopped moving. Panting hard, she was looking up. Her pupils were continuing to flit around. She was looking to see if she could still do something.

“It’s no use. There’s nothing you can do. You should give up,” Frederica said with a laugh.

She wasn’t laughing at Ripple being like a child throwing a tantrum on and on. It was her own fondness for this that was so ridiculous. She’d ended her pursuit of Ratsumukana-honome-no-kami, but then instead of going to the courtyard, she was very gladly pinning Ripple to the ground when she’d attacked, even though she was running out of time.

There had been other times before when she had bungled things because she had gotten carried away with her interests at the most important times, but despite reflecting on her actions, she had not learned. No, even if she did learn, her body would just move on its own, so there was no helping it. If you asked the mercenaries who had cannily withdrawn, they would say that was foolish. But if she were to throw away her foolishness, then Pythie Frederica would not be Pythie Frederica.

  Kana

Kana’s body was stronger. But things like Frederica’s combat experience, technique, that strange martial art, and her ability to handle things on the fly had kept her at Frederica’s mercy, and since Kana had been seriously wounded, it had become difficult to continue the fight. She had no hopes of winning if she kept fighting like this. She wasn’t in a position where she could wish for an honorable defeat and abandon everything.

Kana ran away. That was the most appropriate choice right now.

She moved like an insect in order to get away from Frederica’s pursuit; after making sure that she wasn’t being followed magically, she laid herself down on the floor of a destroyed classroom.

Why isn’t Frederica following me?

The answer that she had been attacked by a different magical girl and was fighting with her made her look up at the sky. This was so lucky, she couldn’t use “The heavens have abandoned me!” as an excuse.

But still, this was not a situation where she could somehow manage with luck alone. One of the reasons she was lying down was to hide, and the other was because it was hard to stay on her feet. Even with her exceptional vitality, she was bleeding too much. The more she moved, the more her body would slow down.

Breathing hard, she looked up at the ceiling of the destroyed classroom. Thinking about ceilings reminded her of the gymnasium. A basketball had wound up stuck between the steel beams, and in order to grab it, Kana, who was normally in magical-girl form, jumped up and then jumped too far and hit her head on a beam. Looking at the slight warping made her remember her classmates’ surprise and concern that time, and even how they had all laughed hard once they knew she was all right.

Where is Thunder-General Adelheid now?

No answer came back to her. In other words, Thunder-General Adelheid was nowhere right now. Kana clenched her teeth. She had done what she could to somehow save her, but she basically had no experience in saving people. She had been unable to save her, with her hasty preparation.

Mephis Pheles. What came to mind was the girl pretransformation. Mephis with her glasses flashing was the most familiar to her. Kana had spent the most time with her since she had become Kana, and she had learned various things from her.

Where is Mephis Pheles now?

The courtyard. She was still alive. She was relieved, and the next things that rose in her mind were the faces of Kumi-Kumi and Lillian, and her classmates. But before Kana could try to confirm the safety of the classmates she had yet to ask about, she gave up.

Why did she give up? Because she didn’t have the time to ask about each and every one and feel relieved or get disappointed. Or did she stop because she didn’t want to hear? Did she not want to hear those cruel replies and get hurt any further?

It seemed like maybe that was it. It also seemed like she’d grown weak.

She’d grown weak due to her severe injuries, from having run away from Frederica, and maybe even from becoming Kana in the first place. Not wanting any of her classmates to be missing was the wish of a weak person. Kana had seen a mountain of the weak, the unlucky, those watched by the strong, and those who had died because they should. And yet this late in the game, she was treating magical girls whom she’d only just gotten to know as special. If you didn’t call that weakness of the heart, then what would you call it?

Kana tensed her stomach and sat up. The fighting had gotten farther away. Or rather, the sounds of struggle had quieted. If she was going to go to the courtyard, would now be a good chance? Frederica would eventually head there. She might already be headed there. At the very least, Mephis would be in the courtyard, and most likely she would not be alone. She would let her know that Frederica was coming.

She stood up. She looked out a dirty window to see outside. There was no sign of the enemy. It seemed that all those Princess Lightnings had gone off somewhere.

She struck the glass with an iron ball to break it, and then scattering broken shards, she leaped outside to run right through the thick weeds. She ran as fast as she could past fallen magical girls in masks and Princess Lightnings. Kana had grown weaker, but she was still strong.

  Pythie Frederica

Frederica began to speak to Ripple as if reading a picture book to a small child. This was neither a bluff nor a lie—she wanted to tell her how she sincerely felt.

“That was a wonderful blow—it packed quite an emotional punch. I’d thought your emotions had shattered back then, but it seems I was mistaken. My apologies.”

“What…are you talking about?”

“You know—when you killed that magical girl…Premium Sachiko…in front of Snow White.”

“That was…you!”

“Precisely. You are not at fault… But consoling you would do nothing for you, would it?”

Ripple was unable to reply.

I am Lazuline the First, Frederica told herself. She offered a smile that must have looked comforting.

“Your skills haven’t grown rusty—not in the least. In fact, you’ve grown even more than I anticipated. Goodness, I’ve certainly misjudged you. I’m so sorry. You have my apologies… And yet, your skills aren’t enough to touch me now.” Frederica paused. “You are trying to kill me. I’m sure there’s more than one reason. For revenge? Indeed, I have done enough for you to seek revenge. However, that is not your only reason for killing me.”

She watched Ripple’s reaction: a harsh glare. Ripple wasn’t trying to hide her anger. But she was listening.

Frederica continued. “You tried to kill me for Snow White’s sake. Didn’t you?”

Ripple’s eyes wavered slightly. Her expression didn’t change, but she was shaken up.

“Listen to me,” Frederica said. “You are mistaken. Snow White needs me.”

“You—you shameless little…!”

Frederica sounded as if she were speaking to a small child. “I understand your feelings toward Snow White quite well. But you don’t understand anything about Snow White.”

“What…?!”

“While Snow White was suffering, what were you doing? When Snow White was struggling—when she wanted help—where were you? Wouldn’t she have had an easier time if only someone—a friend she could count on—had been by her side?”

“You bitch!”

“You claim you couldn’t bear to face Snow White, but that was just your own selfishness. ‘This is all Frederica’s fault; killing Frederica will help Snow White’—those were merely your own assumptions. You were just looking for excuses to escape.”

“Shut your goddamn mouth!”

Ripple couldn’t even give a proper answer. She had nothing to say back.

“I am different from you,” said Frederica. “I understand Snow White. Because, you see…I’ve always been watching her.”

Ripple’s expression changed. Hatred openly on her face, it was as if she didn’t even want to look at her.

“As you know, there is no such thing as the ‘right thing.’ And yet, Snow White strives to be the right kind of magical girl for the sake of her fallen friends. The most powerful beings attract brownnosers, and those who reap benefits for others are held in high regard. But simply doing the right thing doesn’t provide a place to belong. Some will avoid her; others will shun her. The only people who get close to her just try to use her—but Snow White reads their minds. She doesn’t wallow in deceit. That is why she suffers so much in isolation… And her one remaining friend vanished without a trace.”

Ripple’s eyes widened. She wanted to argue back, but she couldn’t find the words.

“At this rate, Snow White will remain isolated in this big, wide world… But if great evil exists, then that doesn’t have to happen. Righteousness will be her strength. A magical girl who personifies justice will become the hope of the people, their aspiration, their emblem. She’ll gain friends who sincerely adore her, and she will be supported. People will even follow in her footsteps… How does that sound? Don’t you think this is the kind of world that’s most fitting for Snow White?”

She paused there and gazed at Ripple, whose eyes were swimming.

“That’s why I’ve decided to take on that role. I want to reign as the enemy of the world, as the absolute evil to defeat, and make a place where Snow White belongs. I want to bestow a clear goal in life—all so that she never again has to worry, struggle, or suffer.”

Confused by the long speech and unable to keep up, Ripple still must have thought that she had to say something.

“Snow White won’t bow to the likes of you,” she spat under her breath.

“Oh, but of course she will! She’s the one I found so promising, after all. She can grow beyond anyone’s wildest imagination, overcome any hardship! She acquires power in her own unique way and will defeat a grand evil! Indeed—I want Snow White to slay me.”

It was no lie. Frederica was speaking from the heart. She was best of all at deceiving people with her glib tongue and superficial arguments, but there were times when she wanted to communicate her real feelings to others, too.

“But I can’t have her slay me just once. Then the world will go straight to eliminating her. It’s only in fairy tales that a great evil is defeated and all is resolved. In the real world, heroes are uncontrollable, a nuisance… It’s a tale as old as time.”

Ripple’s expression changed yet again. It was as if the ratio of confusion and fear in her heart was changing at a dizzying rate.

Frederica lowered her voice a little and brought her face close to Ripple. “Are you familiar with the Sage system? You fought Grim Heart in a disguise—even in death, the soul of a Sage incarnation like her is never destroyed. They are reborn as new beings. Right now, I am working to hijack that system.”

The Three Sages were absorbed in their factional dispute, only causing the decline of the Magical Kingdom, and she doubted they had a mastery of the system. There should be a better way to use it.

“Even if I am defeated, I will be revived as a different being—a different evil. Snow White, her friends, and her successors will work together to defeat me over and over. The Sage system will ensure a never-ending cycle of poetic justice.”

She continued speaking in a whisper, as if imparting a secret. “I was inspired to come up with this plan when I first heard of the Sage system. Snow White has been the only thing on my mind ever since, and I forged ahead with this plan of mine. Snow White must attain the brilliance she deserves. That is my sincere wish.”

All emotion vanished from Ripple’s face. Her eyes were unfocused. But Frederica could see the gears turning in her brain.

“And you…Ripple. Do you remember when you and I and Snow White first met in person? The memory alone gives me chills, but it also sets my heart alight. Two magical girls working together so beautifully to defeat evil—me! I want to experience that very moment over and over. I’m doing this for your sake, too. In order to save you, first, Snow White must be saved.”

With her expression fixed, Ripple just trembled.

“It’s still not too late—won’t you join me? You can help with my duties as you did in the past; you can help Snow White as she grows, too. She’s stronger now—and together, you two might even try to kill me…just like you did once before.”

Frederica stood, leaving Ripple there dazed, and leaped from the gymnasium roof. She left her back wide open, but no attack came.

  Snow White

Snow White knew who the magical girl was from her thoughts, even before her arrival. She came down the stairs from the entrance to the underground that had opened in the courtyard to have the black Snow White thrust a weapon at her.

Halna looked at the visitor and furrowed her brow, and the visitor, Kana, looked back at her without any diffidence at all. Her uniform was dyed in blood, and it was more difficult to find places that weren’t dirty. It was not only splatter from opponents. Her collar was sliced open, and her thigh, calf and back, and many other places were cut up deeply. But even so, she was standing there without even wobbling.

“I heard the students are supposed to gather in the courtyard,” said Kana.

“Ah…yes, they are,” replied Halna.

“So then, there’s nothing odd about my coming here. And there’s no reason for anyone to brandish a weapon at me when I’m shown inside. This thing—” Kana gestured behind her with her chin. “This shadowy Snow White—can you order it to put away its weapon?”

Halna’s expression changed from baffled to suspicious. “What are you going on about?”

“Is that really something you should be asking the incarnation of Caspar Vim Hop Seuk, Ratsumukana-honome-no-kami?”

Halna’s expression contorted in shock. “No… How dare you! What an outrageous lie.”

“Sorry—I got my memories back just a moment ago.”

“That’s absurd.”

“Does that sound familiar to you, Halna Midi Meren?”

Halna’s expression twisted once more. Hiding her face with her right hand as it became a mix of various emotions—upset, fear, shock—she removed her glasses and put them on again. She staggered and leaned one hand against the stone wall.

Snow White was tied up and lying there, but it wasn’t as if she was blindfolded. She’d had a fair amount of time to observe. She could still grasp what was on Halna’s mind without reading her thoughts.

“If you have any doubts, then go ahead and use magic to check.”

Halna shook her head violently and looked back at Kana. Her hands were trembling. She was clearly rattled; Snow White didn’t need to hear her thoughts to tell that much.

“No…wait.” Halna slowly straightened up and brought her hand away from the wall. “Master Caspar is… No… It can’t be. You were in prison.”

“Pythie Frederica deceived me. She took over the Caspar Faction.”

“No way… No way!”

“Halna. I want to ask about the two magical girls who were outside, ready to attack.”

Fear could be seen on Halna’s expression as she looked at Kana. To Snow White, Kana being a Sage just meant her trust in her was greatly damaged for being one of Grim Heart’s and Puk Puck’s lot, but at the very least Halna seemed to see her as a dignified and holy being. She was the ruler of the mages, so it wasn’t strange that she was an exalted being to them.

“It seemed they were being controlled,” said Kana. “By you.”

Halna’s expression was changing again. You could see her hesitation. Would she prostrate herself before Kana’s overwhelming seniority and beg her forgiveness, or would she settle this problem here in privacy where what happened would never get out? If everything was exposed, then Halna would lose her current position anyway. So then it wouldn’t be strange for her to think that she should just finish Kana off here, even if she was a Sage incarnation. Criminals of high status would sometimes become defiant when they were cornered.

Did Kana even sense that she shouldn’t push Halna too far? Snow White didn’t think so. Kana could still hold a conversation; meanwhile, Grim Heart had almost never talked, and Puk Puck had basically been lying even to herself. But that was like comparing apples to oranges. Kana came off as aloof. In fact, Snow White thought she seemed completely detached.

Halna drew in a long breath, and let a long breath out, and looked up at Kana. No respect could be seen there. Her fear had also faded. Kana narrowed her eyes. She was also badly wounded. She was wounded so badly that normally, she couldn’t even be alive, let alone standing. Snow White twisted around.

Halna put her hands out in front of Kana and yelled, “Wait!”

Snow White looked up from a strained position as she furrowed her brow. Wait for what? She didn’t get what Halna meant. But that action generated immediate results.

Snow White heard people rushing down the stairs. It was beyond rushing—Tetty and Mephis practically rolled down the stairs to come to them. The two of them slid between Halna and Kana, Tetty readying her mittens with both hands in front of her and Mephis glaring at Kana with a look like a beast right about to snap.

Kana kept one eye on Halna and the other on Tetty and Mephis as she put her back to the wall.

“What are you doing?” Kana asked Halna.

“I’m the one who should be asking that! Just what the hell did you do?!”

Kana understood Halna’s plan. She had cried out as if she needed help so the two at the top of the stairs would hear it. If she had simply called out to “come,” then Kana might have acted first. Her having waited a moment, not understanding what Halna was saying and doing, had allowed the enemy to call reinforcements.

Halna lowered her hands and spoke to Kana expressionlessly. “We’re at a critical juncture right now. You can’t just show up out of nowhere and start spewing nonsense. Follow my orders. I don’t want to get violent with a student.”

“You intend to commit treason?”

“Oh, please. I would never do such a thing. I simply need you to settle down.”

Halna most likely did not care about magical girls. Mephis and Tetty were no more than simple reinforcements. But was that the same for Kana? Were they not simple reinforcements, but functionally hostages?

The magical girl and mage stared each other down. Neither of them could make a move. But neither could they surrender. At this rate, if nothing happened, would they be glaring at each other forever? But this wasn’t the time for that. Just the hostage Snow White fully understood that there was no way nothing would happen.

“Principal!” someone called over Kana’s shoulder.

Snow White didn’t know how many times she had seen Halna looking surprised that day, but she was surprised again as she turned to that voice, and the Snow White homunculus reacted slightly.

The intruder—Calkoro—pointed at the homunculus and wailed, “That…that homunculus! I knew it! I knew you were in on this!”

She was enraged. Various thoughts were swirling in a whirlpool within her: about what the black Snow White was doing; about the seemingly abnormal mental states of the students; about the many black magical girls she had seen in the incident; about Diko’s altered corpse; about the defeated Musician of the Forest, Cranberry; and about just who had caused the incident, who the most suspicious person was if you calculated backward from the formulas used to guess the caster. The relative importance of the magical-girl class was greater in Calkoro’s heart than she was aware of herself. Normally, she would only be able to flatter Halna, but now she was yelling at her.

“What was inside the safe in your office?! Those homunculus bases—they have the exact same heights and weights as the students!”

Snow White could hear Calkoro’s inner voice. She could also hear what Kana would do. Snow White was just lying there, but it was more of a calculated risk than a gamble.

Halna was overwhelmed by Calkoro’s menacing scowl. If there had been a little more time, then maybe she would have been able to make up an excuse, but the Snow White homunculus moved first. Tetty and Mephis went for Calkoro a moment later. They would automatically destroy Halna’s enemies. Calkoro, who walked up with an intensely menacing look and clear hostility was, from where they saw it, none other than Halna’s enemy.

Now Kana was unguarded. She instantly circled behind Halna, grabbing her by the throat and the head.

“Order those three to stop,” she commanded.

“S…stop!” cried Halna.

Tetty, Mephis, and the Snow White homunculus turned around. They couldn’t move.

Still on the floor, Snow White bowed her head. “Thank you, Miss Calkoro. You’ve saved us.”

“Oh, well… Um, I… What’s going on?” Calkoro sputtered.

“Halna,” Kana said, ignoring Calkoro. “Undo the spell on Mephis and Tetty. Order the homunculus to drop its weapon.” She quietly added, “If I sense you’re using magic, I’ll immediately break your neck.”

Tetty and Mephis couldn’t move. Neither could the homunculus. Halna was trembling; she still seemed unsure.

“I have no intention of butting in to the Osk Faction’s affairs,” Kana told her.

Halna heaved a big breath as if her soul were leaving her body. “Fine… I understand,” she said. “Drop your weapon.”

“Calkoro,” said Kana. “Remove the ropes around Snow White…the magical girl lying there.”

Calkoro hesitated, but she did what Kana ordered. Snow White took Calkoro’s hand and stood up. She felt dizzy—not because she had been restrained. It was these ruins.

They were dark, stony, and damp farther inside. Up until this point, they’d resembled the ruins that Puk Puck had occupied. But there was one major difference: These ruins were warped. There were no straight paths, the corners of this room were rounded—and furthermore, the whole area was distorted. Despite how this should just be the entranceway of the ruins, most likely a room corresponding to the vestibule, and despite how what lay opposite the entrance to this room, beyond the heavy-looking stone doors, had to be the important part—even then, they were all enveloped by a strange presence.

Snow White leaned her back on the stone door.

She could not let the relic out. If they handed it to Frederica, it was basically over.

She could not give up. Hearing that voice from Kana’s heart, Snow White agreed.

Snow White hit herself hard on the cheek with her right fist. A sound just as loud as the noises of destruction they’d been hearing from outside rang through the room, and everyone looked at her.

“Let me do it, Kana,” said Snow White.

“What do you—? Ah.” Kana knew the answer to her question before she finished asking it. She nodded. “And you’re fine with that? …I see.”

Snow White also knew the answer.

“Halna,” Kana whispered in the principal’s ear. “You’re going to help me with something. Something very important that only you can do.”

Before hearing Halna’s answer, Kana turned to Calkoro. “I want your help, too.”

Calkoro looked back at her, then at Halna, then at the white magical girl standing there, and finally at Snow White, who had just gotten to her feet.

“Just what on earth is going on?” Calkoro asked in a pitiful voice.

Snow White faced Halna. “Please fuse me with the homunculus,” she said. “I will go into the ruins.”

  Mephis Pheles

The haze that had been in her head cleared. But even then, she didn’t feel refreshed. Even if there was more or less an explanation for the realities that had been flung at her one after another, none of it made sense, and it just made her feel more confused.

“Fucking shit!” Mephis yelled.

“I’ve already explained everything,” Kana calmly replied.

“So what?!”

“I don’t have time to tell you everything in detail until it all makes sense to you.”

Mephis had thought she was already used to it, but Kana’s weirdly calm attitude was so irritating.

She remembered everything. She’d basically been fighting under the orders of the principal. In other words, she’d been being controlled by the principal. She hadn’t thought it was strange at all, had not noticed it was unnatural, and had accepted the situation as just what it was. When she had realized the truth, Mephis had reached out to grab that principal’s long ears, but Kana had stopped her, and she hadn’t been able to do it. “Lemme sock her one, at least,” Mephis had begged, only for Kana to refuse: “Now’s not the time.”

“This is basically all her fault!” Mephis yelled. She was pointing at the principal, who looked absolutely miserable. The small stone room made Mephis’s voice echo so loud that even she herself couldn’t stand it.

“Mephis, don’t be so loud,” Kana told her. “They’ll hear your bickering outside.”

Mephis had no choice but to lower her voice. “It’s not just our minds. She was even messing with our bodies, wasn’t she?”

“She was.”

“Fuck that.”

“Once all is said and done, I’ll have her fix everything. I’m not lying—I have her under a magic contract.”

“So she can definitely fix this stuff?”

“I make no guarantees.”

“Goddamn it.”

“Right now, we have no choice but to cooperate.”

“Shit… Let’s just hand her over and surrender.”

“Giving Frederica the relic could mean the end of the world.”

“Frederica’s, like, our boss, right? So getting in her way would be counterintuitive.”

“No, Frederica hijacked the Caspar Faction. I’m the real boss.”

“…What?”

Kana’s expression was deadly serious. She didn’t seem like she was joking, but then again, she always said ridiculous things with a serious look on her face. Mephis looked at Tetty, but she was just curled up in the corner of the room and trembling, and it didn’t seem like she would help. Looking over to Snow White, she had both hands in the air, with Halna and Calkoro giving her some kind of inspection.

Snow White also looked ridiculously serious as she nodded and said, “That appears to be true.”

Not knowing how to reply, Mephis just spat, “Shit,” and kicked the wall as hard as she could. Even with the leg strength of a magical girl, the kick didn’t leave a single crack.

“Mephis,” said Calkoro, “we just have to cooperate for now.” She gave Mephis an apologetic look and immediately turned back to Snow White.

Mephis kicked the wall one more time. It didn’t even budge.

There had been no contact from Lillian and Kumi-Kumi since they’d gone into the ruins on the principal’s orders. Though Rappy was an enemy, she had apparently been taken into custody for the time being. The Lightnings had come to attack in large numbers, and Mephis had also defeated many of them. Pshuke and Diko had leaped into the crowd of foes, and they hadn’t been seen since. Since parting ways with Miss Ril, Dory, and Arlie, they didn’t know what had happened to them. Sally’s whereabouts were unknown. And nobody had even seen Ranyi.

“…Oh—what about Adelheid?” Mephis asked.

Kana started to open her mouth, then she stopped for a moment. Mephis understood belatedly what Kana was about to say and was hesitating over. Mephis was slow to get it because she’d never once seen Kana talk in that way before.

“She perished.”

Mephis reflexively swung her hand, but she stopped just before it could strike Kana’s cheek. Have some goddamn tact, Mephis thought, angry for no good reason. But she figured that Kana had to be suffering in her own way, and that was why she’d hesitated for the first time. That, and how gruesome she looked, with her uniform and hair all stiff from dried blood, stopped her slap.

Mephis kicked the stone wall yet again. Her last discussion with Adelheid had been an argument. It was beyond messed up that that was the end of it. She kicked the stone wall and kicked it again. Next, she punched it. She could never meet her again. She would also have no chance to make up.

“Shit,” Mephis spat.

Now that she said it out loud, everything sank in. This really was shit. It was hopeless.

Mephis lifted her chin. Tetty was trembling in the corner. She was facing the wall and holding her head, trying to not look at anything. She probably didn’t even want to see reality.

She could understand that feeling so well it hurt—just what it meant to be told to do a job in this situation. Understanding that it was because there was nobody else to do it made her want to punch and kick the stone wall. But even so, even if it was painful, she understood that in the end, there were things that she had to do.

“Shit,” she repeated, this time not as angrily.

Seeing someone more upset than her helped Mephis Pheles calm down just a little bit. Not because she felt she was better than whoever was shaking and crying, but because it made her think there was someone she had to help.

Mephis walked up to Tetty.

  Tetty Goodgripp

She didn’t get anything. She didn’t understand any of it. It was all just scary. She couldn’t even stand. She didn’t want to remember what she had been doing. But even though she didn’t want to remember, she couldn’t help but do so.

Whatever they were talking about, it just went in one ear and out the other, and she couldn’t digest what they were saying. She didn’t even really know what expressions they had as they talked. She had no idea what they were feeling. Tetty couldn’t see what was in front of her, and she didn’t want that.

She felt nauseous, but she couldn’t vomit, and though it would be easier if she could die, she couldn’t. What she’d just been doing remained clearly in her memories. Just when had the control begun? Just when had she stopped being herself? Even just thinking she wanted to be a great magical girl, she wanted to live as a career magical girl—had that been a sin?

Had her mother saying that “I know you can do it” been a delusion, or a dream, or a fake memory from when she’d been controlled?

Tetty no longer knew what was true and what was a lie. The sense that the ground at her feet was crumbling out from under her wouldn’t stop. She couldn’t see the end of it. She felt like she was going crazy, but she understood better than anyone else that she was in her right mind. It didn’t make sense, keeping her senses even as her awareness and memories were all mixed up and feeling like it would all turn upside down.

The magical-girl class had been tough, but it had been fun. Though the job had been beyond her, Tetty had done her best as the class head. She had hoped for everyone to be able to get along. Had that feeling really been her own? Surely, the principal would’ve also wanted the same thing. She was the one who’d picked Tetty to be the class head.

It had been tough as the class head. Magical girls were more than just highly individualistic, and she’d had to bring them all together somehow. But still, it had felt worthwhile. Every day, she’d always been thinking things like, Let’s do this here; let’s change that more there; I have to give that girl a little more attention; let’s show some care to that girl; it’d be nice if the teacher would be a little more motivated. It had felt tough at the time, but in retrospect, maybe she’d been happy.

That had surely been because there had been a future, something to aim for. That was something she didn’t have now. Or rather, she’d never had that from the start. There was only a stupid magical girl who had been tricked by fraud and grown full of herself.

Tetty didn’t have anything. No possibilities, no future, nothing.

“Tetty.”

Someone laid a hand on her shoulder. That someone turned Tetty’s head to face them—Mephis Pheles. Mephis clutched Tetty’s face. Unable to resist, Tetty looked back at her dazedly. Neither did the mittens on her hands try to resist.

There were lots of things she wanted to say. But the words wouldn’t come out. Instead, tears spilled from her eyes and flowed endlessly. Tetty didn’t resist; she just let them fall.

She remembered. There was no way she could forget. She had been able to make up with Mephis. They had stood shoulder to shoulder to fight. She had been truly happy about that.

But that only happened because we were being controlled—

Mephis headbutted Tetty—hard enough that it made a painful thunk.

“Apparently, your help is needed in the ruins,” Mephis told her. “Don’t worry—I’m coming with you. Let’s go.”

In elementary school, Fuuko Sayama had clasped Fujino Tohyama’s hand tightly to go to school. That had been back when she’d been starting to avoid school because she’d hated the boys who made fun of her economic situation. The hand in her grasp had hurt just like now but had felt very reliable. That was also just like now.

Mephis stood up. That drew Tetty to stand, too. Mephis strode off briskly. Tetty hastily followed. Kana was standing there with a meek look. Calkoro had her hands in her lap and was groaning. The principal turned away with a bitter expression. And Snow White was standing next to the ruins entrance.