by Asari Endou
For example, light. The fact that she was visible meant she still reflected it. And there was one more thing she couldn’t pass through.
Tama was approaching, moving from the shadow of one tree to another. Did she think she was hiding? Cranberry could even tell where Swim Swim was in the ground. She couldn’t eliminate the sound of her pulse, after all, and a surprisingly calm heartbeat echoed from the earth.
While Tama circled around counterclockwise, Swim Swim moved clockwise, slowly spiraling toward Cranberry. Were they going to attack at the same time? The best course of action would be to take out one of them first—who should she prioritize? Between Tama and Swim Swim, the latter was more of a nuisance. Swim Swim was nearly thirty feet away, beneath the ground at a depth of… maybe a foot from the surface, measuring from her head.
Cranberry leaped back without warning. At the same time, the upper half of Swim Swim’s body rose out of the ground, and a moment later Tama dashed forward. A great weapon materialized in Swim Swim’s hands, and she swung as Cranberry stretched out her right hand.
Swim Swim could sink into matter while she talked, which meant sound did not go through her. She could pass through neither light nor sound.
So Cranberry attacked with sound.
The blow ripped up the surrounding grass and sent the trees behind her flying like toothpicks. The boom slammed into Swim Swim and flung her through the air. The destructive sound wave was focused in one direction, meaning its power was particularly concentrated. It packed quite a punch.
Memories of long ago surfaced. This was how she had repelled the demon in that basement. The pleasure she’d felt in that moment had never left her mind, and that was precisely what drove her now.
Swim Swim landed hard, and she could hear bones breaking. For a second, she thought she’d finished her with one hit, but the pulse and breathing hadn’t failed. The girl was quite sturdy. As for Tama, she seemed to be watching from the side. Cranberry decided to prioritize Swim Swim and make sure she never took another breath.
Cranberry walked over to where Swim Swim lay and lifted her foot. She would crush her head and stamp out her existence. But she didn’t. Swim Swim wasn’t there. What lay there wasn’t even a magical girl, but a young human in about first grade, possibly second.
She quickly realized this was Swim Swim’s pre-transformation form. She must have lost consciousness from the impact and detransformed.
Cranberry was no shining example of humanity, and she knew it. She would kill anyone, magical girl and human alike, if need be. Whether they were in elementary school, kindergarten, or even a baby. Savior, lover, parent, sister, brother—she’d kill them all. Age didn’t matter one bit.
But for one moment, not even a half of a half of a tenth of a second, she hesitated. She loved battles and cared immensely about the strength and abilities of her opponents, but gave no thought to their true forms. This had turned out to be a mistake. Cranberry wondered how such a young girl could be the rival she’d rated so highly.
She’d paused for only a moment, but her hesitation because of her victim’s youth confused her. Her mind raced. As a result, she couldn’t fully dodge a blow she might otherwise have laughed off—Tama, approaching from behind, slashed into her back.
In truth, only her jacket had been torn to shreds. Cranberry herself suffered nothing but minor abrasions. She wasn’t even bleeding. The marks on her skin were too slight to be called welts. Naturally, she’d sustained no damage. At least, she wouldn’t have—if she’d been attacked by anyone other than Tama.
Cranberry knew of Tama’s magic. She could dig holes. If she dug in even the slightest, it would create a yard-wide hole. This included ground, concrete, steel, even humans—she could expand any opening she dug to three feet wide.
Regret was the first thing to pop into her head, then disbelief. Before she could think any more, Tama’s magic activated. Cranberry’s back twisted, then ripped apart. Her torso and head vanished; her arms and flowers dropped to the ground; her vines wilted; and her lower body fell back, spilling guts.
Covered from head to toe in Cranberry’s blood, her knees buckled. Remembering the horrifying death she’d witnessed and how her own magic had caused it, Tama vomited up everything in her stomach. She nearly collapsed then and there, but she managed, just barely, to hold herself together. She still had things to do.
“Swim!”
Was it really Swim Swim? The girl lying there appeared to be in early elementary school.
“Swim! Swim!”
She cried out desperately, but to no avail. She wondered if she should shake the body, then took it in her arms. The girl’s eyelids twitched slightly. She was still alive.
“Swim!”
Her eyelids fluttered, then slowly opened.
“Swim?”
“Yeah.”
The girl got up.
“Oh, thank goodness… You’re okay. And I’m so surprised! You’re just a kid.”
She’d always assumed the leader was older. After Ruler’s death, Swim Swim had taken the reins. She gave orders, but despite Tama’s many screwups, she never yelled like Ruler had, never abandoned her. She’d let her stay. She’d seemed like a kind adult.
The girl clung to Tama for support while she struggled to her feet. She pressed down on her side and grimaced, wobbled, regained her balance with help from Tama, and finally stood. By then, she was no longer a little child, but the transformed Swim Swim.
Swim Swim summoned her weapon into her hands, then swung it to the side. Something burned in Tama’s throat, and she felt something spraying from her. The warmth drained from her body instantly. Her legs struggled to support her, and she collapsed. Her consciousness melted into darkness before she could understand what had happened.
It had to be done. Ruler had said they must kill anyone who learned their true identity, so she had to kill Tama. She was a companion, and it was cute how her ears and tail drooped when she screwed up, but Ruler’s orders were final.
“Hey! New master! Can you hear me, pon?”
A voice sounded from her magical phone.
“There’s a lot we need to discuss. Is now okay? You must have questions, too, pon. Like what exactly is Magical Girl Raising Project, or who exactly I am, pon.”
Swim Swim wiped away the tears streaming down her face with her wrist.
“Hey, are you listening, pon? We need to work together as one now, you know. If we can’t communicate, there’ll be nothing but trouble, pon. You’re not going to say you don’t want to be a master, are you, pon?”
“What’s a master?”
“A very important magical girl, pon!”
“Then I’ll become one.”
“Thank you for accepting, pon. So, we’ll be working together from now on—“
“No.”
She turned the phone off.
Ruler stood at the top. Ruler wouldn’t work together with someone else.
EMERGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Fav: Well, Fav has some important news so no one better miss this, pon
Fav: We’ll start with those cut last week:
Fav: Tama
Fav: Hardgore Alice
Fav: Minael
Fav: The Musician of the Forest, Cranberry
Fav: Congratulations! You’ve reduced your numbers to less than four, pon
Fav: Further information will be distributed to each of you individually
Fav: See you!
CHAPTER 9
COSMOS FLOWERS BECOME THE BATTLEFIELD
The Magical Kingdom’s talent discovery department tended to hate office work, and the stronger the mage, the more obvious this was.
For this reason, the digital fairy familiars that lived in supervisor magical phones and took care of desk work were prized far more than the orthodox familiars of old, like black cats and owls. About 80 percent of the department had such familiars.
Fav was an older familiar, even in the talent discovery department. But despite his
long tenure, he held no passion for his job. He couldn’t remember whether he had lost that spark somewhere along the way or if he’d just never had it. Most likely he was defective. He had grown tired of the selection tests and bored with his masters, continuing on as a familiar purely out of habit. Until he met Cranberry.
In Cranberry’s first selection test, a summoned demon had gone berserk and massacred the master and other applicants because Fav hadn’t checked to prevent such accidents like he was supposed to. This exceptional situation blew away the same old, same old selection test and excited Fav, but watching the nine-year-old girl defeat the demon by herself excited him even more.
The look in her eyes, the way she spoke, and her unusually belligerent attitude said she was clearly off her rocker, but Fav’s report to the higher-ups mentioned no problems at all. Surely she would be able to create a fascinating selection test. Though he had just lost his previous partner, Fav named her his master right away.
As it turned out, Fav was correct. Cranberry ended up being the best supervisor and partner he could wish for. No other magical girl would actually participate in the test to slake a thirst for blood, after all. Cranberry got to enjoy her death matches, and Fav got to enjoy the thrilling spectacle.
The normal selection tests were no fun to watch at all. They looked for qualities that had nothing to do with magic, like courage, wit, and personality, and only one of the applicants was chosen to become a true magic user. Those who failed simply had their memories erased and returned to their normal lives.
But Fav and Cranberry’s tests were different. They bent the rules to end the lives of the rejected applicants, encouraged them to kill one another, and ensured that only the strongest would end up victorious. Sometimes Cranberry even forgot herself and killed the “strongest.” Her bloodlust was glorious, but she did tend to go overboard.
The Magical Kingdom firmly believed that all people were inherently good, which to Fav was completely stupid. He did everything in his power—messing with the winners’ memories, sending fake reports—to keep the wool over their eyes, and so far, they were none the wiser. Naturally, the winners were also stronger, so the superior results of their selection tests actually helped Fav’s and Cranberry’s reputations.
Talented practitioners strengthened the Magical Kingdom, which meant Fav and Cranberry could call themselves proud patriots compared to the masters who held orthodox selection tests and fostered incompetence. Fav was fond of Cranberry, but he wasn’t sentimental enough to mourn now that she was dead. If he needed a new master, he would swap in a heartbeat. Swim Swim’s motivation was difficult to determine, and she even rejected Fav’s help, so she was hardly a good master. She would need to be eliminated.
La Pucelle had sworn to protect her.
Sister Nana had tried to find a peaceful solution.
And Hardgore Alice.
That girl who lost her key had been Hardgore Alice.
While the end of the game was a relief, Snow White also wondered why only she had survived. She was a crybaby, a weakling, a coward, and above all, fearful, always shaking in her boots. Yet she was the only one to survive.
The lone thought in her mind was, Why am I alive? So when another surviving magical girl proposed a meeting, she agreed without hesitation.
She’d thought of them all as friends. As people important to her. Yet she was more relieved to be alive than sad that they were dead. It made her want to kill herself. She wanted to ask the other survivor how she felt, now that everything was over.
Nothing she ate had any taste, and nothing she imagined scared her anymore. She was simply numb.
The girl waiting at the steel tower by the beach was nothing like she’d imagined. She seemed like neither a veteran hero nor a blood-crazed murderer—the aura around her was more lonely than anything, and a sadness darker than her black clothes hung over her. But there was a brilliant glow in her almond eyes. A strong will burned within.
“Good evening…”
“… Good evening.”
Ripple. That was the name of this other survivor.
“Swim Swim…”
“Huh?”
“If you know anything about her… I need you to tell me.”
Why was she asking about Swim Swim? As if reading the question on her face, Ripple spoke.
“I have to… kill her…”
“Huh?”
“To avenge… a friend…”
“B-but they announced that the game’s over.”
“If you know anything about Swim Swim… I need you to tell me…”
The end had already been announced. They didn’t need to kill or compete anymore. Snow White desperately searched for a way to convince her of this. Ripple, on the other hand, saw Snow White’s silence, sighed, and turned her back to her.
“Well, bye…”
“Wait!”
Snow White had had enough. She didn’t want to see or hear about anyone dying anymore.
“The scary competition’s over! We don’t have to knock each other out of the running now.”
Ripple looked back over her shoulder.
“Let’s just stop. I hated how we had to hurt others in order to survive. And now there’s no reason to do any of that. If you kill someone now, you won’t be acting as a magical girl… You’ll be a murderer.”
“I don’t care… I’ll just be a murderer, if I have to.”
She didn’t need to repeat herself. Her words and eyes communicated her iron will, and Snow White took a half step back.
“But I did once want to become a magical girl… like you, Snow White.”
Ripple turned her back once again. Snow White realized she could not stop her. Nothing she could say would change her mind.
Everyone associated with Swim Swim had died—Ruler, whom she supposedly followed; Cranberry, who had gone to see her; even the Peaky Angels and Tama, who had been part of her team. Ripple would certainly die as well. She couldn’t beat Swim Swim.
Snow White had never made a choice, had only let things happen as they did. But Ripple was making a decision. She knew it was the wrong path—that it would lead to her death—but it was her choice, and she would see it through. Ripple had said she was not a magical girl, but that was wrong. Ripple was a true magical girl. Snow White didn’t want her to die.
“Swim Swim’s weaknesses are light and sound, pon. She can pass through all matter, but not light or sound, pon.”
A voice echoed from both of their magical phones at the same time. The high-pitched synthetic voice continued confidently in stereo.
“Well, if you aren’t satisfied, Ripple, we can continue the game, pon. It’ll be part of the competition, not a grudge match. So who will blame you, pon? Simple as that. Well, good luck surviving until the final two, pon.”
Snow White glared at the phone in horror. Fav’s cheerful tone never successfully masked the hellish things he spoke of.
“Fav! What’re you—”
“Thank you… I’m grateful…”
Ripple thanked him and leaped from the steel tower. Snow White reached out her hand but only swiped at air, just inches from her red scarf.
“Girls like her will do what it takes even if you leave them alone. It’s easier to just give them a push in the right direction, pon.”
“Why… why did you encourage her?”
“Normally, Swim Swim would be my new master, pon. She killed Tama, who killed Cranberry, so she’s more than qualified, pon.”
“What are you talking about?”
“But she’s just no good, pon. She’s got too many fried circuits in important parts of her brain, so Fav can’t partner with her. She has talent as a killer, but she’s a failure as a master, pon. So if Ripple is itching to kill her, then Fav doesn’t mind helping her out.”
Snow White tore the magical phone from the makeshift leather utility belt at her waist, grabbed it with both hands, and raised it in the air. She glared at the holographic black-and-white mascot.
>
“Why are you angry, pon? Isn’t this what you wished for, pon? If Ripple and Swim Swim take each other out, you’ll be the only one left alive and the absolute winner! You’ll become Fav’s new master and win an invitation to the Magical Kingdom, pon!”
She let go with her right hand and balled it into a fist. She raised it up, then slammed it down. Her enhanced strength was enough to snap it in half, and the screen darkened.
“Oh dear. What a waste, pon. There’s no point doing that just to cheer yourself up. Destroying your phone doesn’t mean Fav goes anywh—”
The projected image faded.
Hardgore Alice had said that as long as Snow White existed, the town would always have one magical girl. Even on death’s bed, she had thought of Snow White. Her own life had been about to disappear, yet she was thinking of others.
Snow White no longer considered herself a magical girl, but she’d rather die than disappoint Hardgore Alice.
She knew what she had to do. And with that in mind, she dived from the top of the steel tower.
They could have met anywhere they wanted. All the super-territorial magical girls were gone, and the city was littered with empty locations at night. Swim Swim chose Koujimadai Dam only because it was near her home—nothing more complicated than that.
The meandering mountain path suddenly opened up to the dam. About a hundred yards from the entrance was a hollowed-out circle, paved with stone and filled with wooden benches. People used them during the day, but at night it was another story.
Rolling mountains lay to the east and beyond the dam to the west. This area was created so people could enjoy the scenery. Though it was near the town, the mountainous terrain got very dark at night. The cosmos flowers blooming on one side were practically invisible.
The air had been humid, warning of the rain to come. The downpour wasn’t particularly heavy. Droplets dotted the concrete with little spots of black that slowly connected and spread. The surface of the reservoir rippled. But no matter how strong the rain was, it never wet Swim Swim. It simply passed through her and splashed against the ground.