Chapter 51 : The Flame Reignites

November 10th

Emily Hopkins

She was not a magical girl.

“…”

It was just intuition.

Due to the disgust left by the momentary conversation, I suspected her of being a magical girl who followed the Scavengers and secretly followed her, even searching the lodgings where she stayed.

She was from England and had come to Belgium to participate in the memorial service, and was an elite who was set to receive a doctorate at a young age.

While hurriedly completing the domain, I tracked the lingering traces of magical power I felt from her, but.

She was an ordinary person.

Then what was the source of this intense disgust I felt towards her?

[…Humanity has started to move forward, realizing the preciousness of victory, right?]

That one line.

If I acknowledged that line which seemed to refer to the movements of countries beginning to quietly accept my domain declaration after the Scavengers’ rampage,

It felt like I could never go back.

“…”

I put down the file of personal investigation I had done on Emily Hopkins on the glass table.

Flash

“Hm?”

I felt one of the stars in the domain I had spread in Japan blooming.

Since delivering the news at the Walpurgis Grand Council, where magical girl self-governing bodies from each country exchange opinions, that a ‘friendly match’ to promote the growth of magical girls would be held soon, there have been many cases of rapid blooming.

“…Am I trying to raise them too safely?”

I wanted to guide them in a completely opposite direction from the path in the original work that led to tragedy along with competition to steal each other’s stars, so I induced them in a direction where the word ‘competition’ itself didn’t come to mind, but…

“I tried to quickly recruit the strong ones who appeared in the original work first…”

The recruitment of reliable companions who appeared in the original work all failed except for Ichika.

Shikishima Yuki only appears in the place mentioned in the original work in January next year.

The magical girl of [Navigation] in Russia also cannot be located currently.

The rest of the magical girls completely disappeared after the Scavengers’ rampage.

‘[Sea] is still looking for an opportunity but is on hold for now…’

Rather, those who did not appear in the original work or had disappeared, like Hana, Kyoko, Sumire, Kang Dorim, Park Saebyeok, Li Meilin, and Laura, remained and became companions, drawn by my actions.

“Things really don’t go as planned.”

Slurp

I drank the black tea on the glass table, crossed my legs, and secretly watched the Walpurgis Grand Council proceeding.

* * *

The Central Garden expanded further with the establishment of the Grand Council.

A huge new domain was created outside the existing space where the council held meetings, and it changed into various forms influenced by the mental images of the magical girl self-governing body representatives.

Behind Sumire, the magical girl of [Protection], and the group participating as representatives, there was a rose garden with colorless light flowing, heavily influenced by [Beginning].

“Let’s decide the entries by gathering all applicants from each country.”

“If we do that, won’t Japan, where most of the world’s magical girls are, definitely win?”

Hmph

Li Meilin, the magical girl of [Harmony], said with a haughty face while twirling her hair. Behind her was a neatly arranged bamboo forest, and the Chinese delegation was seated on bamboo-colored wooden chairs and tables.

“It’s not a national competition, so just remove the country name and add an alias for individual fights.”

Kang Dorim, the magical girl of [Cyberbrain], spoke while swinging her short legs floating above the ash-gray chair. The Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team’s area was very similar to the appearance of the castle in [Cyberbrain]’s domain, with opaque 0s and 1s floating on the floor.

“There will probably be people unofficially broadcasting among magical girls anyway, so why not make it an official public competition?”

Laura, the magical girl of [Unity], quietly pointed out while holding her brown-tinged robe. Behind her stretched an endless golden wheat field swaying quietly like waves.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, I’ve already decided to stream it online.”

Kang Dorim said, flapping her tiny palms.

“I’ll distribute allocated servers and stuff as I see fit. Real-time censorship is possible too.”

“Censorship…?”

Sumire answered Laura’s question on behalf of her:

“The magical girl of [Beginning] has deployed illusion magic that automatically makes it indistinguishable from reality for those who enter the arena as participants.”

“Then… even if we fight, we won’t actually get hurt… and censorship means…”

Li Meilin’s complexion gradually turned pale as if she realized something.

“…Getting stronger through fights that feel like real battles.”

“Hmm.”

“Well, we don’t know if such extreme fights will happen, but those who aren’t prepared can be told to toughen up in separate training grounds first.”

Kang Dorim continued speaking with a grin.

“This friendly match is just like a demonstration game, so don’t feel too pressured~”

“What about… prizes?”

Li Meilin raised her hand slightly and asked.

“There are none.”

“I heard there aren’t any.”

“I said it’s a friendly match.”

“Eeh?! That’s! I’ll contact the cosmetics company I modeled for and foreign electronics companies right away!”

“Oh, you did that kind of thing too?”

Shrug

Li Meilin spoke while emphasizing her beautiful face with both hands.

“Of course! I’m pretty, aren’t I!”

Fwip

“Ow?!”

Kang Dorim seemed to find that annoying, so she folded one of the documents in front of her into a paper airplane and threw it at Li Meilin.

“Then we would appreciate it if you could inform the magical girls in charge of council administration once the details are decided.”

Sumire concluded the meeting with those words.

The representatives of each country’s self-governing bodies left through the passages they had entered with their delegations.

After that day, major corporations, entertainment companies, and broadcasters from various countries sent requests to the council expressing their desire to participate.

“I’ll have to… pull another all-nighter.”

Sumire muttered quietly.

A week later, an official document about the 1st Magical Girl Friendly Mock Battle Tournament was delivered to the Glass Stars of magical girls in domains around the world.

* * *

If Shikishima Yuki were to name two moments she regretted in her life.

The first was when she was 9 years old and visited her single father’s pottery workshop. While her father briefly went to answer a phone call, she curiously opened the kiln and looked inside, getting burned by the fire.

Fire.

After a moment of life and death where half her face was melted and all the fingers on her right hand were fused together, the word she heard most in her life was ‘monster.’ Her father, overcome with guilt over her appearance, quit the pottery workshop and always came home drunk, creating an awkward relationship.

Always hiding in corners wrapped in bandages, she became someone who feared heat while longing for warmth.

“Someone, talk to me…”

The second was on November 10, 2011, during her last year of middle school, when she decided to run away from her awkward school and father, even months after becoming a magical girl and having her burns healed by receiving a Glass Star.

“I want to find a place where it’s okay for me to exist…”

Until January of the following year, she wandered around various places in Tokyo. Tempted by the promise of food, lodging, and friends, if she joined a supernatural ability user group run by the Fujimoto Group, she entered.

That year, as the civil war between the Alliance and Flag, a rebel group of magical girls, became increasingly violent in Japan, there were many severely injured patients rarely seen normally, and magical girls were welcomed talent wherever they went.

After spending a few months treating Alliance patients at the supernatural ability user group, she heard [War]’s declaration in Shinjuku.

Everything she knew collapsed.

Everyone who had helped her died.

She never saw her father again.

After the nightmarish time passed, all that remained in her hand was the ‘Goddess Fragment’ that could borrow the world’s power just once.

The girl who bloomed [Resurrection] beyond [Flame] in the darkness and overcame the final trial quietly closed her eyes.

That was the end of her story.

“…”

No.

Her story had not ended yet.

Yuki opened her eyes and rose in the darkness.

If she could use the power of [Resurrection] that could only revive her body on the fragment.

Though it was a feeble fragment that couldn’t even revive everyone in the current time.

If she gave up even the third light connected to the world.

If she gave up even the second light connected to fate.

Even if all that remained in her hand was just a tiny spark.

She alone could go back.

“I want to… go back…!”

Yuki stood up from the throne and picked up the fragment.

[Resurrection] Magical Girl’s Unique Skill

Eternal Return

Whoosh

Yuki’s entire body burned like a flame.

All the magical power she had accumulated over the past year fighting demons was sucked into the fragment.

The light of her red Glass Star burning like the sun rapidly diminished.

She felt that she would never be able to use her alias of [Resurrection] again.

Whoosh

The third light that had connected her to the world disappeared along with the flames due to the magic that defied the order set by the gods.

“A world without everyone… I don’t want that…!”

Whoosh

The second light that had connected her to fate disappeared along with the flames due to her choice to deny the time she had walked over the past period.

“Ugh…!”

She watched the disappearing time while crying, denying all those who had helped her, all the sacrifices made to save her.

She felt guilty seeing all the pillars of trials she had so fiercely overcome being rebuilt.

She felt guilty towards those who would suffer again due to her selfishness of wanting to return to the starting point of all nightmares.

“I’m sorry for making everyone’s will as if it never existed… even so…!”

Only a very faint first light remained in her hand.

She disappeared into the darkness of the world along with the flames.

And she returned to where she had been spending time at Tokyo Station on the day she had come out to run away.