Gulp-!
The body of the magical girl that had become a vessel twitched once, and a sharp scream burst forth from the mouth of the remaining human shape.
—Boof, booggh-!
After a good while of screaming, the World Enemy, black as night, poofed! out from the body of the magical girl. It might be wrong to say it like this, but it looked as if the magical girl were giving birth to the World Enemy.
The World Enemy born from the magical girl flailed and flew around right in the middle of the second dimension. After flapping around for a while, the newly born World Enemy was devoured by the existing World Enemy clinging to the body of the magical girl.
Having consumed the newly born baby, the World Enemy grew a little larger than before and had now consumed most of the magical girl’s physical form.
—Joo, kill me…
Bubble, bubble-.
Unlike the left side of her face that was crying in pain, the newly sprouted monster’s face on the right began to smirk.
Seeing her companion’s fate, Harea dropped her head dramatically, looking at Eight.
“…P-please help them.”
“—With what?”
“Anything! I’ll do anything… Please, save them…!”
“Do you think I can actually do something like that?”
“You came to find me because you can! I’ll give you anything I can—just hurry and save them!”
Harea’s desperate words made Eight nod with a smile.
‘…I was just planning to help.’
So, what was all this about giving something? There was no option but to graciously accept it. In the next moment, Eight operated the mechanical device connected to the spirit’s body to rescue the magical girls who had lost their humanity.
* * *
Meow, Myoung… please, kill me…
“Oh, should I resurrect you again?”
—I misspoke… please save me…
The spirit of the magical girl Elemental Flame, Myoung-Myoung, was flitting around the Spirit Realm, trying to save the magical girl who had turned into a vessel.
Of course, the World Enemy fused with the magical girl didn’t leave the spirit alone… But that was fine.
The World Enemy and the spirit were nearly siblings born from the Fairy Queen. The spirit, being an information entity just like the World Enemy, meant if she supplied information, she could be revived as many times as needed.
This was one of the facts learned from studying the spirit of White Pang. Spirits do not die. More precisely, even if they die, they can come back.
“…Myoung. I’ll buy you something tasty when you come back, okay? Just a bit more, hang in there…”
—Meow, it’s creepier when Flame says that… Can’t you just curse at me like usual?
“Okay… I’ll do that when you come back…”
—Really scary…
Normally, Harea would hurl insults at the spirit with her fiery personality, but given the situation, she offered words of comfort instead.
To a spirit who had lived with her, it might have sounded awkward, resembling someone being overly affectionate to their lover, but…
Spirit Myoung-Myoung fulfilled its role beautifully.
Dying and resurrecting about 1372 times, it somehow managed to rescue the magical girls fused with the World Enemy.
“Just a moment. I’ll open the gate soon…”
Preparing two caskets filled with recovery-formalin to rescue the magical girls, nearly half of their bodies having collapsed—meaning they would surely lose their lives the moment they came into the real world.
Next, they would open the gate and immediately put the rescued magical girls into the caskets. If the magical girls, who were surviving as information entities, were successfully placed into the caskets before regaining their human forms, that would be it.
Now it was a race against time. We could already see the injuries of the magical girls entering the caskets beginning to heal a little.
“Aqua, Leaf…”
Seeing her companions in the caskets—looking like patches of corpses hastily stitched together—Harea knelt before them, tears streaming down her face.
For her, who thought her companions were dead, seeing them in such a ruined state just stabbed deeper into her feelings of guilt.
“If only I had paid a little more attention… No, if I had fought just a bit better back there…”
“That’s incorrect.”
“…What?”
I offered a word of comfort to her, who was so downcast.
“Back then, many people died from mild diseases like pneumonia or tuberculosis. It wasn’t because there was a lack of interest or effort from those people.”
It was simply due to lacking technology.
Just like how it’s unreasonable to criticize someone born in the medieval era for not knowing how to use a smartphone, it was also unreasonable to expect her, who knew nothing about the Fairy Queen’s identity, to anticipate and prepare for such events.
It wasn’t her fault.
“…So? Are you saying I should just accept it as something I can’t change?”
“Certainly not. That’s not a mature thing to say.”
“Not mature? What does that have to do with anything in this situation?”
“Children should be children. Adults should lend a hand to children.”
The situation had escalated to the point where it couldn’t be solved by a child’s power any longer. It was time for the adult to step in and help.
I looked at the computer, which was busy processing. Despite being equipped with advanced parts that hardly generated heat, the room was hot due to the processing heat.
After a short bout of processing heat, the built-in AI signaled that it had finished calculations.
It had interpreted the recognition changes used in the vessel that was left over in the Spirit Realm. Now, all preparations were complete.
“Ayle? Can you point the camera over this way?”
“What? Y-yes…”
“Okay, like that.”
I cleared my throat, glancing at the camera’s lens. Just in case it would need to be submitted later, I dusted off a bit of lint from my suit…
Once I tidied up my attire, I began my self-introduction while looking at the camera.
“—A doctoral student. This is ○○○. This use has been conducted without the permission of the subjects and the administration to protect the mental and spiritual well-being of the users, and this can be recognized as an exempt act under the Good Samaritan law…”
And so,
The world was about to change.
* * *
(Current time)
Ughhhh…
The sounds of morning. Awoken by the noisy hustle and bustle of people getting ready for work, the girl with blue hair immediately opened her window, welcoming the morning air and sunlight as she prepared to wake up.
After feeling the refreshing air for a moment, she headed straight to the bathroom, quickly washed her face, and then exited back into the living room.
“Umi, are you awake? Come eat breakfast.”
“Yesss! Mom!”
While eating the breakfast prepared by her mother, she fiddled with her smartphone. Her mom scolded her to eat properly, but Umi just wouldn’t put it down.
As she finished breakfast, skimming through the notifications and news that piled up while she was sleeping, the girl brushed her teeth and finally left the house.
Off to school. A usual routine all students of her age go through.
“Umi!”
“Oh, Naru!”
As she walked down the street, she waved excitedly at her friend, the girl with green hair. The two latched onto each other’s arms and headed to school together.
“Did you see that yesterday?”
“Huh? What?”
“They said the Flame Magical Girl defeated the World Enemy again!”
Naru’s words prompted Umi to nod, as if she already knew.
“I saw it, I saw it! Flame. Isn’t she super cool!?”
“Super cool… Aah, I wish I could be a magical girl too.”
“Exactly… If it were you, Naru, you’d definitely be a great magical girl! Don’t you have any spirit powers?”
“Hahaha! You’re the same, Umi! Your ability fits perfectly with Flame’s water manipulation!”
“Then the three of us would be the Magical Girl Trio?”
The laughter typical of high school girls rang out. Umi drifted into a moment of imagination. Just like Naru said, what if she became a magical girl and fought the World Enemy…
With water manipulation, she’d probably transform into Aqua.
Naru, who was next to her, could manipulate trees, so she’d be Natural? No, that doesn’t sound cute… Leaf sounds better.
‘Flame, Aqua, Leaf…’
Just hearing the names felt like a perfect trio. It painted a vivid picture in her mind, so much so it was as if it had happened just a moment ago.
Considering that her imagination usually wasn’t that vivid, the clarity of the image surprised her. Did she always possess this kind of imagination?
“Umi?”
“Oh, uh! Why?”
“So, do you want to go to a café after school today? They say a café trending on SNS just opened nearby—”
“I want to go!”
Awakened from her reverie, Umi nodded vigorously. Yeah, becoming a magical girl was a far-off story. They were just ordinary high school girls, right?
As the two headed toward school, high above in the sky, Flame watched the two with a silly smile on her face.
“…They really have come back.”
[Did you think I was lying?]
“No, it’s nothing like that…”
[As I mentioned earlier, neither of you have become magical girls. So, you’ve never been harmed by the World Enemy, nor have you been vessels.]
“…I see.”
Flame cautiously bit her lip at the Evil Scientist’s words. The fact that everything after they became magical girls had vanished meant that even the bonds formed after becoming magical girls were gone…
If she found them now, would they even recognize her? Probably not. Of course, they would remember her as the magical girl Flame, but that’s merely recognizing her fame as a magical girl.
They wouldn’t have any memory left of the human Harea.
[Are you sure you don’t want to go see them?]
“I’m fine.”
Flame said that and turned away.
Her friends had come back, and that was enough for her.
Wishing for them to remember her too would be greedy.
With a content smile on her face, Flame flew home when she received a communication from the scientist following her.
[Shall we discuss the price now?]
“…Ah.”
[You definitely said you would do anything to save the two, right?]
She had certainly said so.
Flame hesitated, opening and closing her mouth several times, then finally let out a long sigh.
“W-well, please take care of me…”
[Yes. I look forward to working with you. Unit 2.]
And so, Flame was secured by the Evil Scientist.
Her body, mind, and identity as a magical girl.
Everything.
