Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 11 - Chapter Ep

EPILOGUE

In a corner of a rather quiet café, two girls were enjoying a secret, whispered conversation.

The two Lazulines, teacher and student, were not picky about where they discussed secrets. Among all abilities magical girls possessed, they valued intuition and sixth sense the most, and the teacher Lazuline had said those were what she’d considered most when selecting her protégée, Lazuline. Their senses and intuition were trained to a level that was supernatural even for someone so extraordinary as a magical girl, allowing them to notice absolutely anyone who might hear, or things like listening devices, keeping their private talk private.

“Heyo, long time no see, master. I guess not since you gave me my memories back in that tent.”

“Yes, it’s been quite a while, hasn’t it? How is Deluge?”

Lazuline paused. She knew her master had noticed her hesitation, but she didn’t let that show, instead shrugging in a silly manner. “Seems like she’s worrying about lots of stuff.”

“She is at that age, after all.”

“That’s a pretty mean thing to say when you’re the one who drove her to it.”

The teacher Lazuline put her elbows on the table, laying her chin on the backs of her folded hands. Seeing that casual gesture, the younger Lazuline smiled, saying, “It really has been a long time since we last saw each other, huh.”

“There’s one issue,” said the elder.

“Issue? Was there one?”

“The probability of whether we can control her. We don’t want her going wild.”

“Ohh, I gotcha. But I kinda want her to give it her best shot.”

“Why?”

“…Hmm, I dunno.”

She didn’t say the reason was “because the Bluebell inside me said so.” Lazuline hated being sentimental and gloomy. Her style was more cheerful and fun. But, well, she figured it wasn’t wrong to say it was because Bluebell had told her so.

Her master had told her nothing good happens when you act out of sentimentality. Her master was generally not wrong about things, but some people acted on sentimentality anyway. Lazuline had reported that she’d listened to Pfle’s request and extracted Shadow Gale’s memories, but she hadn’t gone so far as to report the chats she’d had with Deluge. Even if they were trivial and unimportant, there were some things she just wanted to keep to herself. There was nothing to be gained from going out of her way to say, “Having been a princess, now Deluge might become a queen,” and then get laughed at for it.

Her master’s mouth split into a smile. “When you’re not even sure of something yourself, it’s best to make it clear.”

“Is that right?”

“That’s right. Because you’ll suffer for it.”

Her master was generally not wrong about things. Maybe that sort of thing was what had killed Pfle. When she thought back on the magical girl in the wheelchair embracing the other girl, even as she was being stabbed, bitter feelings came back along with the memory. She recalled Pfle’s eyes. That was no good. It was difficult to express it properly in words, but still, she also had no desire to try asking her master straight about it.

“Well then, guess I’ll follow your example there,” said the younger Lazuline. “I’m counting on you to be a model for me, master.”

“You’re still young, you can be bolder than that.”

“If I’m any bolder than that, I’ll get cut. Like Frederica.”

“Cutting Frederica couldn’t be helped. If we worked with her any more than this, it would drag our reputation down, too. It’s practically a miracle we cooperated this far. If we hang around her forever, we’ll be branded as ‘Frederica’s ilk.’”

The two magical girls looked at one another, and both smiled at about the same time.

“Is Ripple doing well?” asked the younger Lazuline.

“She’s in good health.”

She had to mean just physically. The younger Lazuline stuck out her lower lip, smiling in a very villainous manner.

Mana had worried and agonized right to the end about what she should have done. In that sense, Mana had been the one most stuck in limbo. She’d yelled about magical girls being stupid or idiots or thoughtless and snapped at Uluru, but it was the thoughtless idiots and the stupid ones who were useful at times like these. It was totally common to worry and agonize and get nothing out of it, but she was still stopping her feet in an attempt to think anyway, which kept her from moving on.

In front of the investigation room, the magical girls who were waiting to be questioned were all in a line. Having suspects make a line to wait was ridiculous, but there were so many of them, and so, due to the irresponsible assessment that “Well, it’s fine to do this with the harmless ones, right?” such was the outcome they had arrived at. They’d sent the most loyal original members of the former Puk Faction elsewhere, while for the others, those who insisted they’d been under the control of Puk Puck’s magic, they had to determine whether that was true.

Apart from these people, card soldiers would also occasionally pass through. They were questioning people under the pretext of cooperating in the investigation. They were much cheerier than the dour former members of the Puk Faction, laughing and chattering among themselves.

Seeing the card soldiers like this, the former Puk Faction members lined up in front of the investigation room booed. Every time they did, Mana yelled, “Shut up!” at them, and though that did basically quiet them down, they all gave Mana miserable and resentful looks. She did admittedly think, Weren’t you guys insisting that you were controlled by the Puk Faction? So then the cards saved you, right? But it was inevitable that they would feel resentful on seeing the cards acting blatantly at ease in their victory.

Resenting and being resented. It was just like the incident in B City. Pfle, whom Mana had thought she might be able to get something out of, was now gone. If she was going to investigate, it would have to be in another direction. Mana wasn’t satisfied. She knew this wasn’t something she should be satisfied about, but she still wanted satisfaction.

If Pfle were gone, then Frederica was her next best bet. Her hunch told her that if she approached Frederica, the truth just might come clear. But maybe this was wishful thinking. And she had to support Snow White and Uluru as much as she could—no, even more than she could.

She could hear crying. Looking over, she saw a heart card was holding her shin and wailing. The other cards were all yelling, “She did it!” as they pointed fingers. The one they pointed at was a former Puk Faction member, looking up at the ceiling with an expression of feigned ignorance as she whistled.

“Hey, you! Don’t cause trouble! Quiet down!”

Fal was still missing. The restoration of the ruins and the repair work on the device were moving along at a rapid clip, and everything that hadn’t originally been in the ruins had been gathered up to be returned to its owners or destroyed. Snow White had told the workers to inform her right away if a management-use magical phone was found, but with all that was going on, she’d received no reply. If the phone was in a state such that Fal could contact her, then he would have done so right away, so either the main power was off, or there was some other malfunction. She was worried about Fal, but she believed in him. She knew how capable and tenacious he was, and she also knew how indestructible management-use magical phones were.

Ripple had also not been found. She’d looked to the Inspection Department to help with this as well, and though she hadn’t wanted to, she’d had them basically treat Ripple as a suspect or material witness to have them search for her. Mana had said they couldn’t just carry out a search without that kind of pretext.

Snow White had heard the voice of Ripple’s heart. She knew Ripple was avoiding her, but even knowing that, she wasn’t giving up. If Ripple wanted to stay away, then Snow White just had to be the one to go look.

“Should I hold back a little more?” said Snow White.

“Hold back what?”

“I thought if I don’t hold back, maybe you couldn’t keep up with me.”

“Don’t talk like Uluru’s legs are slow!” Uluru ran behind her, enraged.

Snow White leaped over a boulder, then bounded off a tree trunk to cross a small valley. While reflecting on the foolishness of having asked Uluru that directly, she dropped her speed subtly, so Uluru wouldn’t notice.

The ringtone sounded on the regular magical phone she was borrowing to replace her management-use one. The message was from Mana. She said Dark Cutie had come around to inquire as to her location. Snow White replied to please not tell her.

“What? Who’s the message from?” Uluru demanded.

Snow White opened her mouth, closed it, and blew out a breath. “It’s nothing serious.”

“Ah! There you go, not telling Uluru! You’re trying to leave Uluru out, huh?!” Uluru got all huffy again and began complaining about this and that. Maybe Snow White slowing down was what had given her the breath to move her mouth even as she ran. If she’s going to be like this, maybe I shouldn’t have slowed down, Snow White thought regretfully.

Ripple would be after Frederica. Snow White would get to Frederica before Ripple did. And then Snow White would hunt Frederica. She’d never felt proud of the title of Magical-Girl Hunter, but just when it came to Frederica, she felt like she did want to live up to that name.

“Hey, where are we going? You’re taking such a weird route.” Complaining for a while must have made Uluru feel refreshed, as now she was asking about where they were going. Snow White couldn’t tell her, “This is the sort of thing you should have asked before leaving.”

“There are some people who will help me. I’m going to them to see.”

“Can you count on them?” Uluru’s words were clear and straightforward. You could tell as much from listening to the voice of her mouth and the voice of her heart together.

Snow White gave a little shake of her head. She doubted her own words were clear and straightforward. But she wasn’t about to change herself now. “I’m not going to count on them for everything.”

“Of course.”

Snow White stopped. Through the trees, she could see a paved road. They’d finally gotten over the mountain. Using the road, they could go faster. “We’re going down that road.”

“Yeah, yeah. Hey, couldn’t we use a gate?”

“I’m taking a break from my work for Inspection. I can’t be using the Inspection Department’s things.”

“What a prim and proper thing to say… Hm?”

“What is it?”

“I feel like I might’ve just seen a figure in black.”

Snow White could hear the thoughts of the figure nearby. She knew who that magical girl hiding in the shadows was, but there was no particular need to touch on that. Snow White didn’t think of herself as a heroine, and neither did she think of herself as a villain.

Snow White smiled wryly. That was a very Pfle-like thought.

Rushing down the mountain, she aimed for the road. It seemed Uluru was following, too. The ringtone sounded on her magical phone. She got the feeling the ringtone on the management-use one had been clearer.

A lost her life protecting B, and then, because of A’s death, B wound up like an empty shell. So didn’t that mean A’s death had been worthless? Every time Deluge saw how despondent Shadow Gale was, Deluge wondered, Wasn’t there a better way to do it?

Deluge’s consciousness had been hazy at the time, but she hadn’t let go completely. After Snow White had cut her down, Deluge had been saved by Bluebell, and by Dark Cutie, who’d come back after defeating the Shufflins. She remembered up to being carried out of the ruins. When she had awoken in a bed after somehow surviving it all, she’d been holding on to a map and a key. The map showed the location of a facility that Pfle had managed, and the key fit perfectly into the lock at its entrance. Inside were all sorts of equipment, weapons and armor, drugs, a mountain of documents and papers, and also a girl sitting on a chair. Deluge knew that girl. When she’d kidnapped Shadow Gale, she’d seen her go into human form when she’d passed out. This was Shadow Gale pretransformation. She’d lost the majority of her memories.

Now she wore a hollow expression as she grasped a controller, playing video games against Armor Arlie. There were Demon Wings flying around the area, but Shadow Gale displayed no particular reaction to them. But even if her mind seemed empty, her fingers moved. Watching her, Deluge couldn’t tell if she was enjoying herself or not, but nevertheless, the two girls didn’t stop playing the game.

Deluge sat down in a chair and put one elbow on the table, supporting her chin with her wrist. Idly, she watched the pair play games. It had become a familiar sight at the facility.

Arlie, Brenda, and Catherine—they were all taking care of Shadow Gale. Though it wasn’t like Brenda and Catherine knew her, they were still treating her well. Deluge’s eyes turned to the screens that showed the feeds from the security cameras that filmed outside the facility. Endless rows of empty vacation homes showed on the screens. She’d heard that once the season came, there would be more people around, but knowing only the present, it was hard for Deluge to imagine it.

The things Pfle had given her had laid a gentle pressure on her. Until just recently, Deluge’s goal had been to use Shadow Gale to move Pfle at her will. If she used what she’d gotten from Pfle, she’d be able to make way more things, all sorts of people move—to do so much more it was hard for Deluge, a mere artificial magical girl, to imagine.

Accepting the cup Catherine brought her, she raised it to her lips. The coffee Catherine had made was bitter. But she didn’t feel like adding sugar or milk in it now. Brenda tossed five sugar cubes in hers. That was another thing Deluge didn’t understand. Wasn’t that too sweet?

Pfle had been a selfish magical girl up until the bitter end. She would have known Deluge would agonize over this. And knowing that, she casually handed over all this awful stuff. Or no—maybe she’d just seemed nonchalant, but she really hadn’t been. Since it had been the bitter end, after all.

Maybe Pfle had had a premonition of her own downfall. Had she been searching for someone to pass these things on to? No matter how Deluge thought about it, she would never know the right answer, but she kept thinking these thoughts over and over anyway.

What could she do? What did she want to do? Not so long ago, she’d had no answers for those questions at all. Even now, it wasn’t like she had any clear answers, but she did have incomparably more options and possibilities. Her feelings were complicated, but that shouldn’t at all be a bad thing.

Deluge opened up the notebook she’d been toying with. Inside was a student identification card. The name Nami Aoki was written there, with a photo attached. Deluge closed the page, sandwiching the passbook between her index and middle fingers. She watched as frost crawled across its surface, turning it white, and when she dropped it to her palm and squeezed it tight, it shattered into dust.

Deluge sipped her coffee. It really was hopelessly bitter.