Chapter 80 : The Call of the Goddess Religion

“Actually, I don’t know much about the magical girl of [Revelation] either. All I could confirm was [Revelation]’s combat style using blessings received from a transcendent being.”

Yuki changed from her magical girl outfit that she had been wearing for 4 days straight into pink rabbit pajamas after taking a bath. Then she sat on the bed and told me about the magical girl of [Revelation] she had met with a serious expression.

-Miss Shirogane, it’s getting late, so feel free to stay overnight.

Ryota, seeing his daughter regain her spirits after meeting me, urged me to stay the night.

‘I didn’t expect to have dinner with the Shikishima family and spend a night in the protagonist’s room.’

I was somewhat familiar with it since I had been invited to stay overnight at Sato Hana’s house before. But unlike staying in the guest room at Hana’s house, this time I would be staying in Yuki’s room.

Yuki’s clothes didn’t fit me, so I looked ridiculous in them. Lying on the floor with a futon spread out in my own casual clothes, I felt strangely unfamiliar. As a fan of the original work, should I say it feels like I’ve achieved everything there is to achieve now?

‘No. I need to focus since we’re in the middle of an important conversation.’

I pushed aside those sentiments and listened attentively to Yuki’s words.

“Unlike [War] or [Death], I’ve never had a proper conversation with [Revelation]. She was especially indifferent to her surroundings, even among the three born 3-stars who could communicate. So I didn’t even know if there were magical girls belonging to her domain.”

[War]’s declaration.

[Death]’s domain.

Battle with [Bombing].

They left Japan, crossed over to Russia, and arrived at the Arctic. At the midpoint of the journey back to Japan, the third of six trials began.

The trials always came with an infinite downpour of demons, and each trial demon was a huge monster hundreds of meters tall.

The first trial, the lion demon, completely paralyzed Japan.

The second trial, the viper demon, contaminated the European coasts with poison.

And then came the third trial.

The endlessly charging boar destroyed everything as it crossed Russian land, and people gradually fled outwards.

Finally, as people abandoned land and headed to sea by boat, the magical girl of [Revelation] appeared before them.

Yuki urgently asked for help from her, who had instantly cleared the small demons that had been driven to the coast along with an infinitely multiplying rain of arrows received from God’s protection.

But the magical girl of [Revelation] firmly refused and turned her back.

[Why won’t you help people!]

[Because that is not the role given to us.]

The magical girl of [Revelation], pressing down her hood, headed somewhere into the sea again and exited the scene just like that.

In the end, Yuki formed a temporary alliance with scavenger magical girls who extorted civilians to repel the boar that had come right up to their noses. And they won with dozens of magical girl casualties as Chen Lihua, the magical girl of [Lightning], self-destructed inside the boar’s mouth.

A battle with no gains, no one grateful, just dead people left behind.

Despairing in the Arctic where she had gone hoping to revive her father. It happened just before returning to Japan again.

“…”

“Hm? Hikari, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m just glad Yuki is still kind…”

“D-don’t say that.”

Hearing my words, Yuki suddenly covered her face with the blanket and hid towards the inner side of the bed. Then she peeked at me through the gap in the blanket, fidgeting.

‘She looks like a pink rabbit hiding in a cave.’

I was proud of Yuki for not becoming completely emotionless or lethargic out of disappointment in humans after going through all that.

“Yuki.”

“Yes?”

“I’m glad Yuki is Yuki.”

“What?!”

Yuki opened her eyes wide enough to be seen through the gap in the blanket, then hurriedly went deep into the blanket, completely turning into a pill bug. Then she pleaded while trembling.

“Hikari, wait a moment!! I-I’m not mentally prepared yet…!”

“Yuki.”

“J-just a moment!! I’m really sorry but I need to prepare myself!!”

“Do you know what the word ‘apostle’ means?”

“…Huh?”

“It seems [War], [Death], [Plague], and [Revelation] call each other apostles. I thought maybe I might be one of those apostles too.”

“W-well, I don’t know much about that either. Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I only found out recently too.”

I thought it couldn’t be helped since even I, who had read the original work with narration and explanations added, didn’t know this fact.

The Scavengers, presumed to be influenced by the magical girl of [War].

The keyword ‘goddess’s apostle’ mentioned by Doctor, the magical girl of [Puppet], had remained in my mind all along.

Emily Hopkins, [War]’s messenger and a likely figure behind all this, was still calmly maintaining her daily life.

‘Should I deal with Emily even now?’

But for some reason, the voice felt beyond the colorless star was strongly discouraging attacking her.

Is this also the goddess’s will?

The goddess’s apostle.

‘What does the goddess want from me?’

Why did she make me the magical girl of [Deception]?

-Please think about the meaning of deception for everyone.

-It’s a relief. That you, who deviated from the journey prepared by the goddess, have the will for salvation yourself.

The path I started to save those around me gradually widened to a path for humanity in this world. And now even the goddess was starting to enter that path.

A great path.

Am I moving towards a great path that can embrace both the goddess who gave me strength and all my precious people?

‘Mother…’

In this path that had grown too big, I always thought of my mother.

‘Yuki said only her father was left.’

Come to think of it, Yuki and I had too many things in common.

Trying to distance ourselves from people but longing for them.

Having lost our parents.

Moving forward relying on vague hope while knowing it’s a foolish path.

That might be why I couldn’t forget <Magical Girl HAZARD> that I read in middle school.

“Yuki.”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever… thought about wanting to see your mother?”

“Mom?”

“Yeah… actually, I can’t meet my parents anymore either.”

“What…? Hikari too?”

This was the first time I was telling her about my circumstances, other than that I’m not from this world and that I know all about Yuki’s battles. Hearing this, Yuki suddenly sat up and looked at me as if she couldn’t believe it.

Tears gradually welled up in her eyes.

“Yes. Before coming to this world, my father had already passed away, and my mother… well.”

The moment I tried to explain calmly to her.

It felt like something was going to come up in my throat.

I stopped speaking for a moment.

Yuki watched me for a while, then carefully got down from the bed and warmly held my hand as I lay on the futon.

“Yeah. I think I understand.”

“…Sorry. It’s hard to speak.”

“Yeah. I know.”

Yuki quietly spoke while holding my right hand with both of hers as I lay there.

A voice that felt gentle, clear yet warm and subtle like a quietly burning candle.

“I always wanted to see her. Even when it seems okay, I suddenly wonder what it would be like if she were here.”

“…”

“And I wanted to become someone my mom wouldn’t be ashamed of.”

“…”

“I didn’t act like that most of the time though…”

“No, you did.”

“…Thank you.”

After finishing speaking, Yuki muttered something with my hand against her forehead as if praying.

Her warm body temperature transmitted through my fingertips.

May you be happy.

Perhaps that’s what she said.

‘May you be happy too.’

I replied inwardly to those words.

After praying for a moment, she brought the blanket from the bed, lay down next to me, held my hand again, and smiled broadly.

I held Yuki’s hand in return and tried to sleep.

My heart filled with relief and warmth, as if I had found a single candle while wandering a vague and dark corridor.

Though it couldn’t illuminate the entire dark corridor, at least it was enough to not feel anxious.

Perhaps I didn’t come here to get answers from Yuki.

“Good night, Yuki.”

“Good night, Hikari.”

* * *

January 25th

“I-Ichika?!”

“Oh, Leader. As expected, you were safe. I believed in you.”

Heng.

When I returned to my apartment, which was my home, I saw Ichika sitting cross-legged in the air, wrapped in a faint green energy, quietly with her eyes closed.

“I also gained some insights from this fight, you know.”

Behind her familiar casual clothes, a thousand strands of green energy were tangled, making it look like she had a thousand hands, and green lotus flowers were rising one by one from the ground below her as she floated serenely.

Unlike in the past when she analyzed space with a threatening green storm, the faintly rising green lotus flowers were completely dominating the space.

And what I could see with my eyes connected to the world was…

‘A giant? A giant with a thousand arms?’

It seemed Ichika had made it transparent in her own way.

But to my eyes, I could see a green giant tens of meters tall sitting cross-legged in the same posture as Ichika in the air above the apartment courtyard.

“You… fully bloomed on your own?”

“Yep.”

“That’s… amazing.”

“Hmph.”

Ichika snorted once and unfolded her legs, striding over to me.

“Hmm…”

Ichika quietly analysed me.

As she drew up her power, her hair and eyes glowed green.

“Wow, you’ve really become a monster now? Even ten of my current selves wouldn’t be enough.”

“That’s too much, really.”

Ichika shook her head and folded her arms.

“Leader, more importantly, we have a big problem.”

“Why? What happened?”

“The water and electricity in the apartment have been cut off since I came back from China.”

“…”

That really is a big problem.