Chapter 52 : The Flame Reignites

November 17th

“…Eat your food.”

“…Yes.”

Yuki felt moved even looking at the meal of rice with pickled plums, stir-fried anchovies, and miso soup.

She could eat without having to kill demons pouring down like black rain from the sky.

There was a home with warm blankets without having to burn soil contaminated by demons’ poison and lie down.

She didn’t have to worry about Scavenger magical girls setting traps to steal starlight.

Slurp…

Her father’s clumsy miso soup going down her throat warmly was so delicious that she couldn’t help but shed a few tears.

“…Sniff.”

“…”

Shikishima Ryota, who was awkwardly watching his daughter suddenly bow her head and cry at the dining table, took out a few tissues and gave them to Yuki.

A week ago.

His daughter, who had been spending time outside without going to school, suddenly ran into the house and hugged Ryota who had fallen asleep drunk. Yuki touched Ryota’s face several times as if she couldn’t believe it, and cried out as if screaming:

“D-Dad…!!!”

“Yuki…!?”

Even after she became a magical girl or whatever, the image of his daughter’s face melting before his eyes because of his kiln lingered, so he couldn’t treat her the same as before, and the father and daughter who had gradually grown apart due to guilt towards each other hugged for the first time in 5 years.

“Hic… waaaah!”

“Yu…Yuki? Wh-what?! What’s wrong?!”

“Uuu, huuu… huuu!”

Seeing his daughter completely bent over on the floor with her small, frail body, just sobbing pitifully, Ryota suddenly felt tears coming too, and the two cried for a long time hugging each other. After crying so much that he lost the energy to go out drinking, Ryota went grocery shopping with Yuki for the first time in years and had a meal together.

“…”

“…”

The awkwardness and guilt that had built up between them for years didn’t disappear in an instant, but they made a promise to at least eat meals together. And so, with sudden tears, the father and daughter were gradually getting closer to each other.

Yuki calmly told Ryota about the difficulties of school life she hadn’t been able to convey before, and the two awkwardly held hands and went for counseling with the teacher together.

Because a bill had been proposed to show some flexibility regarding magical girls’ attendance issues, Yuki was recognized for her attendance and decided to take a break from school for the remaining period.

“…Take a bath first.”

“…Yes.”

After finishing her meal and soaking in warm water, Yuki quietly cried again because the bathtub was so warm. After finishing her bath, Yuki came out with a towel wrapped around her damp hair and entered her room.

My room.

The marks on the wall recording her growing height until age 9.

The middle school uniform hanging on top of the wardrobe.

The narrow, old desk and boxes containing bandages she had bought because of her burns.

The blanket her mother was said to have mended by sewing before she passed away.

Yuki skillfully shook off the moisture in her hair with flame magic and carefully wrapped herself in the blanket and lay down.

She closed her eyes while smelling the faint scent of her mother coming from the stuffed animals placed beside her pillow.

‘Ah…’

If this is a dream, please don’t let me wake up.

“…”

But Yuki couldn’t fall asleep right away. She took out her red Glass Star that she had habitually kept in sight even while bathing.

“…There really is only one light left.”

The star that had grown brighter as she fought repeatedly and accumulated magical power, shining like the sun just before the final trial, was now emitting a shabby light. It had become a born 1-star with only one light, not three brilliant lights.

“I came back… but something was strange…”

While she was busy with the joy of meeting her father, she was startled to see bloomed magical girls walking on the streets. Of course, for Yuki, bloomed magical girls had only appeared after the war in 2012.

“All the magical girls in Japan were cruel, trapped in [War]’s world of struggle…”

They had no hesitation in killing each other.

They killed ordinary people without blinking an eye for a single meal.

Stealing and being stolen from had become everyday life…

“…The magical girl of [Beginning].”

A girl appeared and shouted to the adults.

That magical girls bloom with dreams and should not be tainted by adults’ greed.

And so, accumulating numerous achievements, she led magical girls to hope.

Japan had early on become [Beginning]’s domain, not [War]’s.

For Yuki, this was a ‘history that hadn’t existed’ and a very awkward situation.

The regression magic she had performed intending to go back to age 9, her first life turning point, had for some reason brought her to the relatively recent day she decided to run away. And the Japan she returned to had become a world full of hope following the guidance of the magical girl of [Beginning].

“…I want to meet her. I wonder if I’ll have a chance.”

The cruel [War].

The indifferent [Revelation] and [Death].

[Plague] who couldn’t be reasoned with.

The four born 3-star magical girls who appeared after the second red broadcast were mechanical and scary, unlike other magical girls who showed some humanity. As if they were judges forcibly trying to continue <Magical Girl HAZARD> somehow…

-Why don’t you try to protect people!!

-Because that is not the role given to us.

They just nested in the north and south, somewhere in the sea, and Japan, and indifferently continued managing their domains.

No matter what the evil gods said, no matter how the demons came down, they didn’t care if it wasn’t their domain.

But [Beginning] was different.

Even though it was a past she didn’t know, sincerity could be felt in her voice talking about dreams and hope on the broadcast. Even though she was just a shabby born 1-star magical girl, she wanted to meet her and help create a better future.

She wanted to explain the achievements of her companions who had disappeared under the flame of regression and tell her about the direction we should go.

She wanted to hold her hand and tell her how great what she had accomplished was.

“I wonder if she’ll believe me if I ramble about having a future that only I know.”

A faint hope that she could become a companion who could face that nightmarish future together, along with the fear of an ‘unknown past’.

“A place… where it’s okay… for me to exist…”

Thinking it would be nice if the magical girl of [Beginning] was as kind as she appeared in the debutante broadcast, Yuki gradually fell asleep.

Over Yuki’s Glass Star as she fell asleep, the notice for the <1st Magical Girl Friendly Mock Battle Tournament> sent from the Walpurgis Grand Council quietly appeared.

* * *

Ichika was depressed.

“Haah… it’s completely ruined.”

While habitually fiddling with her smartphone watching a Hong Kong martial arts movie while using the public restroom, she absent-mindedly placed her smartphone on top of the toilet tank as she was about to finish up and leave…

Splash

“Eh?!”

Ichika turned around in shock at the sound she shouldn’t have heard.

The top of the old public toilet’s tank had broken, and the smartphone was sinking below the water surface.

“No!!! No!!! Aaaaahhhh!!!”

Splash

She hurriedly fished out the smartphone and anxiously touched it, but the screen was crackling.

If she had quickly turned off the power and rushed to the service center, there might have been a glimmer of hope left, but Ichika, in a panic, clicked the power button several times, turning it on and off…

“…”

Dejected by the incredibly absurd event, she quietly lay down at home.

She thought about trying to make one with magic from the Glass Star store, but most electronic devices made that way disappeared quickly. Deciding to quit such useless acts, she quietly made plans to increase her part-time jobs.

“Huh? Boss? Are you tired of Hong Kong movies now?”

Even when Kyoko, who had returned home after finishing her cafe job in the evening, asked cheerfully, she didn’t respond and just lay there quietly. Kyoko went ahead and prepared dinner.

Slurp

Slurp

After eating udon together, Ichika did the dishes and lay down again.

“Hm? Boss? Aren’t you going out on patrol today?”

“…”

…Sometimes she thought that even Tokyo’s thugs should have room to breathe.

Come to think of it, the legend of the Green Vigilante didn’t seem like it would disappear just by not going out for one day.

Right.

Just for today, her fists weren’t itching.

Kyoko looked at Ichika strangely and said:

“Oh, the Sato kid said to come play in the Garden plaza, so I’ll be going!”

“…”

Whoosh

Ichika didn’t even glance at Kyoko who disappeared with a bright light from a corner of the room, and was estimating which shift she should work to earn money quickly when:

Pop

“Huh?”

Small text was gradually appearing over Ichika’s green Glass Star.

<1st Magical Girl Friendly Mock Battle Tournament>

Decided by the Walpurgis Grand Council to help magical girls apply their abilities in situations like real combat to prepare for dangerous situations…

In the arena made of [Beginning]’s illusion barrier, magical girls can engage in mock battles under conditions completely identical to reality without suffering damage…

We intend to hold open mock battles for all magical girls belonging to each domain…

Registration is completed immediately upon expressing intent through the Glass Star, and withdrawal is possible at any time…

Matches of magical girls who pass preliminaries in each of the 4 sections and advance to the main tournament will be broadcast live…

[Higher ranking magical girls will receive prizes such as smartphones, home appliances, clothing, cosmetics, etc. sponsored by various companies…]

“Smartphone?”

Smartphone.

The prize is a smartphone.

“I’m in!!!”

Ichika repeatedly tapped her green Glass Star to express her intent to participate and got up.

“…I guess I really shouldn’t skip patrol even for a day! Hahahahaha!”

[Transform!]

Ichika, who had regained her energy, ran out into Tokyo’s night streets, her green sailor uniform fluttering.

“Wait for me, smartphone!! Hahahahaha!!!”