episode_0003

Late afternoon, 17th floor of the Tokusatsu Special Investigation Division building in Tohoku Neodongtan City, Japan.

“Hoo.”

A black-haired woman with candy in her mouth glared at several photos hanging on the office whiteboard.

“Team leader, would you take a look at this?”

“I won’t.”

Approaching from behind, a brown-haired bespectacled young man brought documents, but the woman immediately rejected him with a sharp voice.

“Eh, why not?”

“It’s probably promotional material on how the kids fought and how to spin public opinion based on that.”

“They did survive, though, didn’t they? Thirty students made it out alive thanks to Scarlet Viper!”

“All of them?”

“…One person did pass away, but it’s too late for that now.”

The students survived.

It wasn’t particularly strange for all thirty to be killed by the spider monster that had reached its ‘complete form,’ but fortunately, only one person died at the hands of the spider monster—a bus driver.

When asked which is more important between the lives of a man in his forties and thirty teenagers, the woman, Misaki Murata, couldn’t easily provide an answer.

“Rather than that, why are you so focused on that… Oh, is it about the traces of the dead spider monster?”

“Yes.”

Misaki Murata pointed to a clearing in a forest depicted in one of the photos on the whiteboard.

“Who could have cleanly taken down the spider monster that reached its complete form before our helicopter spotted it?”

“Oh, perhaps an entity approaching the [ultimate] even among the complete forms?” “Is such an entity here in Neodongtan now?”

“…Magical girls don’t exist, right?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

The subordinate’s face turned pale for a moment.

No one dared to mention the problems that others hadn’t thought of or, if they had, couldn’t bring themselves to speak about.

“Who could be an unidentified entity capable of playing with the spider monster like this and killing it? A monster? A demon? Or a villain?”

“I don’t know. Could it be a demon that appeared in the ‘New Cloporte’?”

The young man pointed to another photo in the corner.

“These are the subordinates of the first Clopa who was said to have finally disappeared ten years ago, the demons under the Great Demon [Satan], but we can’t be sure yet.”

A massive sphere newly appearing in the city.

Next to it, resembling the seeds of demons sent by Satan, one of humanity’s ten great calamities that appeared across the Earth ten years ago and has now vanished.

“Since we can’t transition to Cabala, no one knows if Satan truly died here, went back to Cabala and lived in hiding for ten years, or if it’s a new Cloporte born on Earth, right? Haha.”

“Yeah. The problem is… dealing with monsters, giant monsters, and villains alone is already overwhelming.”

Rustle.

“Only the magical girls who have reached the ‘Teen Sanctum’ among the ultimate can confront the Great Demons.”

“Will the magical girls with Sephira come all the way here?”

“I don’t know. But at least they won’t ignore it. Because…”

Team leader Misaki flipped the whiteboard.

“If this time the real No. 1 Great Demon Satan is resurrecting, wouldn’t it be a good opportunity for the No. 1 Magical Girl—[Metatron]—to finally prove herself?”

“Oh, I see. Whether sending out their disciples or becoming a magical girl again and appearing themselves…”

The subordinate pointed to the top of the overlapping circles behind the whiteboard, where ten circles were intersecting.

“Sandalphon took down the ten Great Demons. It will be a good opportunity to properly put an end to that rumor.”

* * *

“Phew.”

“Miss, do you have a cold? Are you sick?”

“No, I’m fine.”

The grumpy old man momentarily treated me like someone afflicted with a serious illness, but I had to just smile warmly and endure.

“Monthly rent is 50,000 yen. Don’t forget the payment date. Don’t cause trouble by bringing men over for no reason.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Tsk… Young people these days… Sigh.”

Elderly folks lecturing young ones is the same whether in Korea or Japan, it’s the same worldwide.

But that’s also life.

I am an illegal resident with an unclear background, taking a bit of a risk to secure this small room in Neodongtan City.

A troubled young woman in her twenties with a difficult past.

In countries like Korea where ID cards are not issued to everyone and not always necessary, with some plausible backstory, appropriate acting, one can easily deceive and get by.

“Japan really has its perks.”

Having wandered for ten years without settling anywhere, for someone with a murky background, there’s hardly a better place than Japan to live in a relatively clean neighborhood.

“Or maybe it’s because of the uniqueness of Neodongtan.”

This city is called Neodongtan in Japan.

Ten years ago, after the last demon “Nehema” was vanquished in the Korean city of Dongtan, which was under threat by the “Devils of Clifport,” Dongtan was also destroyed in the aftermath of the battle.

The citizens managed to evacuate before the city’s destruction, but neither the dust-covered apartments nor the city were restored by magical girls’ magic.

Dongtan vanished.

However, the sentiment to honor the city of Dongtan spread not only in Korea but globally, leading to the establishment of new cities like “New Dongtan” or “Shin Dongtan” in various countries, including Japan’s “Neodongtan.”

“Why did Neodongtan expand so much?”

“There’s no particular significance.”

Rather than honoring the name of the hero who saved the world, cities worldwide simply adopted the name of the demon-vanquished city as a form of sisterhood and benchmarking.

There’s no supernatural phenomenon like the “Will of Mishi” associated with naming a city Dongtan, nor does it increase the likelihood of magical girl births or anything of the sort.

It’s simply a name to honor the lost glory and peace of Dongtan, a city that has disappeared from Korea.

Neodongtan is no different.

“It was good until now.”

It’s a planned city.

Constructed with the help of magical girls who used magic to carve mountains, till the land, and minimize labor costs.

Moreover, drawing inspiration from Dongtan New City’s data during construction, the city’s structure and various forms closely resemble Dongtan’s appearance.

Of course, being Neodongtan in Japan, it exudes Japan’s unique design and atmosphere, much like this two-story goshiwon where I temporarily reside.

Click.

Opening the iron door with the key, a chill fills the empty room whose emptiness is hard to gauge.

“Sigh.”

An empty room with nothing in it.

Though more spacious than a university dorm room, it contained everything from a kitchen and bathroom to a small refrigerator, even a bed and balcony terrace.

“I wonder if goshiwons in Seoul have better facilities than this?”

Given Neodongtan’s age, it must be at least ten years old, and the landlord, like me, seems to be someone who takes advantage of those with stories.

Well, I’m grateful they accepted me.

If not, I might have ended up lying under a large penguin slide in the park covered with trash, or found an empty house to lay on the cold tatami mats.

“Sigh.”

I throw myself onto the bed.

The mattress wasn’t very soft, but just lying down on a bed after being in the mountains made me somewhat happy.

“……”

Actually, one shouldn’t find joy in this.

To truly enjoy happiness, one must return to the Earth where I originally lived.

I am a stranger.

Officially an illegal resident, but strictly speaking, a ‘previous life.’

Even a previous life that ended up undergoing TS.

“Really, it’s like being a beggar.”

After graduating from college and visiting Dongtan for a job, suddenly the sky lit up red as if a nuclear bomb had exploded.

When I lost consciousness and came to, I found myself in a completely different world.

Same time, same place.

But a different Earth, a different gender.

Even younger than my original age, I had become a high school girl – not just any girl, but a magical girl capable of using magic.

“Life, damn it….”

If.

If God is watching me now, I earnestly pray.

“Since I might enlist twice, please, turn me back to how I was…!”

Even if you rewind me to the day before enlistment, I only wish to live as a man in my own world again.

Even if.

Even if I’ve lived as a magical girl and a woman for 10 years, I still want to go back to being a man.

Why?

“Uh, ugh…. Again…!”

Whenever I think it might be okay to live as a woman, the ‘Magical Girl Day’ that comes every month torments me.

“I retired as a magical girl but still…! It keeps telling me to come back, ugh…!”

Externally, I’m a non-entity who goes by the name ‘Murasaki Izumin.’

“Ughhh…!!”

If someone could TS me back to living as a man, I would gladly throw myself into that magic, but the world doesn’t work as I wish.

“……”

A magical girl releases the poison-magic (魔氣) of accumulated clifort within her body once a month.

This is necessary to maintain a pure and innocent body.

“……”

I want to return to Earth.

But it’s Earth.