Chapter 89 : In the Dream Where the Flower of the Other Shore Blooms

February 27, 2012

“So, for now, we’ve installed warp gates in temporary offices set up in Los Angeles and Washington. We’ve reached an agreement to allow magical girls to freely come and go in these two cities.”

Rustle

Kang Dorim turned to the next page of the stack of documents. The chair in the Grand Council meeting room at the Elysion Central Hall was too high for her, so she kept swinging her feet throughout the meeting.

“…And we’ve completed modifications to reduce the size of the high-speed transport ship Pollux so that even magical girls with ordinary piloting abilities can sufficiently operate it.”

The high-speed transport ship Pollux, built following the enormous Sirius, was on standby at the top of the Elysion lighthouse.

“We had to make a lot of noise to finish quickly because there’s a lot to create these days and a lot to monitor on the internet. But I told Iris to have the people in the village below the lighthouse evacuate temporarily, so it should be fine.”

“Since it’s smaller than the Sirius, maintenance finished quickly. It seems like a really practical and good airship!”

Natalia, the magical girl of [Navigation], smiled broadly as she listed the advantages of the Pollux. She also mentioned that if there was anything else she wanted to modify, she planned to do additional maintenance later.

I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit seeing this.

The Divine Maiden, who had been going back and forth between the US and Russia declaring domains for the past two weeks, was lying sick inside the lighthouse. Because of this, she had been hearing the construction noise of the Pollux in real-time, and it seemed she would have to suffer for a few more days.

“That’s all I have to report.”

Kang Dorim put down the documents with a thud, signaling to me that she had finished everything she had to report.

“Okay. You’ve worked hard. You must be busy these days because of the warp gates.”

“Actually, the warp gates are not that difficult because it’s just about making the door frame and [Transfer] casting magic on it.”

“Still, you do have a lot to do. It’s probably the same for everyone here.”

“Huh? I don’t have much to do though?”

Ichika, who had fully bloomed powerful combat abilities, was assigned to defense, going back and forth between China and Japan in preparation for any contingencies. In other words, if nothing happened, she was the most leisurely person among us.

“Because Ichika is here, we can work with peace of mind.”

“Heng. You don’t need to flatter me like that.”

“Anyway, does anyone else have anything left to report?”

I slowly looked around at the Grand Council members in the meeting room, as well as Chen Lihua, Iris, and Natalia.

‘Huh? Why is she acting like that again?’

Sumire was fidgeting with an expression of utter embarrassment.

“Fujimoto-san. Do you have something to say…?”

“Well… it’s about the merchandise… sales that you previously approved.”

Ah.

That Horse Mask bastard.

He used unnecessarily fancy words, so I couldn’t imagine what they were making.

When I first saw that proposal, I coolly approved it because I imagined things like figurines or bromides. But most of the items created due to that approval were products with somewhat intense desires.

‘I thought all that talk about breasts was just a joke, but they were serious.’

The 1/1 size real doll boasted a level of detail that was truly alarming. I felt uneasy for a while after seeing that, but soon gave up.

“Well, what can we do about something I’ve already approved?”

“…But I didn’t know such suggestive items would be made. I’m truly ashamed.”

Sumire muttered about legal responses with a genuinely disgusted expression. And everyone gathered here made uncomfortable expressions and glanced at me regarding this topic.

‘Come to think of it, they’re all still kids.’

They were all able to develop independence because they could handle the power of fate and starlight, but their sensibilities were close to those of ordinary schoolgirls. That’s why they showed somewhat sharp reactions to these kinds of things, even if it wasn’t about themselves.

‘I don’t mind what they do where I can’t see, but I’ll punish them if they say it directly in front of me.’

From my perspective, having lived a total of 30 years as both a man and a woman, others’ sexual desires were perplexing but not something to feel disgust about, so I didn’t want to make a bigger issue out of it.

“I particularly don’t mind, so please don’t feel too burdened.”

“…Yes. We’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Even though I said it was okay, I decided to end the morning meeting time after asking Horse Mask one additional request towards Sumire, who was still feeling down.

As Sumire walked towards the Japanese warp gate, Ichika put her arm around her shoulder, her silver light armor fluttering, saying, ‘I get hungry whenever I see the name Fujimoto, let’s go buy some sushi.’ Sumire nodded slightly with somewhat scared eyes.

I felt dumbfounded seeing this, but soon sighed, thinking of that Horse Mask guy.

The message I conveyed to Horse Mask was…

[I’m fine with it, but don’t mess with the other magical girls.]

Because I was just unusual, while most other magical girls had delicate sensibilities appropriate for their age. So I prohibited them from pushing such contracts on other magical girls.

It was pathetic that such ridiculous incidents were occurring when the invasion of demons was right around the corner.

‘What can we do? That’s just how people live.’

Even at a funeral, people cry their hearts out over the death of a family member, but then hurriedly eat to survive. And they go out to smoke a cigarette at the hospital they visited to survive, dragging their sick bodies.

Isn’t that how everyone lives?

Thinking this, as I left the meeting room and walked across the square, magical girls organizing food supplies in front of the warehouse greeted me.

“Hello! Your Majesty!”

“Hello. And please just call me by my name.”

“Yes! Understood! Your Majesty!”

“…”

“Um… I’m sorry, but could you move up the food supply schedule for next week a little?”

“What? Has it already run out?”

“Yes… it seems the population of Elysion Island is rapidly increasing due to magical girls who decided to live with their families.”

In Elysion, basic necessities could be solved with magic, so the number of people choosing to move boldly was rapidly increasing.

‘Although the population of just over two thousand is still small compared to the size of the island.’

I quietly picked up the Glass Star hanging on my belt and thought of the store window.

Magical

Merchandise

Letters floated above my Glass Star as starlight was consumed.

“How much do you need?”

“Well… we’re short on flour, meat, and salt.”

Flour.

Meat.

Salt.

Just as much as possible.

As I thought about what was needed, starlight was instantly consumed. An amount of starlight that would be difficult for even other 2-star or fully bloomed magical girls to handle fell away.

Rumble rumble

A mountain of food supplies appeared in the square with an enormous sound.

“Wow! Woooow!”

“Amazing!”

Sacks of salt and flour were piled up like small fortresses, and fresh meat was displayed as if an entire butcher shop had been emptied.

“Waaah?! It really came out like a mountain?!”

“Is this enough?”

“Yes! This is enough to eat for a week!”

“Please call me anytime if you need more.”

“Thank you! Your Majesty!”

I walked away, leaving behind the magical girls chattering while looking at the food supplies piled up in the square.

“…”

Even a born 3-star should have struggled with starlight depletion for a while after creating food for thousands of people to eat. But my Glass Star had long since refilled the depleted parts.

‘It’s like having a fast charger plugged into a phone.’

Since revealing my face, name, and true purpose, and truly stepping forward in front of many people, the speed at which starlight charged had become unbelievably fast.

-It’s probably because the successor has the most similar attributes to the goddess.

-The goddess’s attributes?

-Leading humanity, relieving ignorance, and becoming an idol.

-…

The Divine Maiden said this was because I had started walking the fate closest to the goddess. As she said, my Glass Star had been growing and evolving with increasing power since I stepped onto the true path of salvation.

‘Maybe this is also a kind of deception.’

That the one closest to being a goddess considers herself human.

* * *

In an old hospital in Moscow, which was included in the domain by the Divine Maiden, active volunteer work by magical girls had been taking place recently.

Cho Yeonseo, the magical girl of [Dream], looked at the small girl sleeping in front of her with a pitiful expression.

“She’s been… sleeping continuously since birth?”

“This case is rare, so the child’s parents went around looking for a solution…”

The doctor shook his head as he spoke.

“…In the end, they went missing nearby while going to meet a doctor in a European hospital who had handled a similar patient.”

“So this child has been sleeping her entire life without family.”

Cho Yeonseo’s purple eyes were filled with sadness.

When she had collapsed in sorrow over her parents’ death, her maternal grandfather was by her side. But this child had never seen anyone since birth.

A life of endless sleep.

Can that be called life?

A life born from nothingness, living in nothingness, and returning to nothingness was no different from death.

Cho Yeonseo spoke, firmly resolving to save her.

“I’m a magical girl, so I can enter Alisa’s consciousness.”

“But this child hasn’t received any stimulation since birth. She has no self, no dreams.”

“We won’t know until we see for ourselves.”

All dreams are infinite.

Cho Yeonseo, who had glimpsed the vast dream world spread beneath the curtain of consciousness, thought this child might be trapped in her own world.

“I’ll look into her dream and try to find clues.”

“…Alright.”

The doctor left the room with an expression that said he couldn’t stop her.

After the sound of the hospital room door closing, only the sound of Alisa’s breathing, deep in sleep, could be heard in the shabby room where cold winter wind leaked in.

“…”

Hoping that this child could come out of the dream world and walk with her in a bright world.

Cho Yeonseo prayed like that.