Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 13 - Chapter Ep

EPILOGUE

  Kana

Once she was sucked in, Kana realized this was Bella Lace’s magic, the one who gathered and materialized corpses’ regrets. She’d just learned about that the day before in class.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t learned how to deal with this magic. No one must have anticipated that they would fight it.

She couldn’t see, she couldn’t move, and she was gradually getting colder. She couldn’t breathe, either. Her consciousness was fading. It felt like the polar opposite of the time she’d been freed from that magic seal in prison. Even the feeling of her body heat being drained was leaving her. She was drifting in the darkness.

After a long time passed, she thought someone was speaking to her.

That someone said, “I can’t let you die here.” She felt like she’d heard that voice before, but maybe she hadn’t. It told her, “Making friends is very nice, but it’s not funny if you die guarding one.” Rather harsh, for a vision on the shores of death.

Someone’s hand grabbed her neck. Its grip was rough.

She was being carried somewhere. She didn’t know where. Kana opened her eyes. Something bright filtered through the tree leaves, speckling her face. It was sunlight. The day was dawning.

She sat up, then clasped her right hand. It had moved. Her arms and legs, too. She turned her neck and looked around. She was in the forest. No homunculi in sight. Looking up at the sky, she saw it was starting to turn white in the east.

“It seems…I survived.”

There was nobody to answer. Kana stood up, put a hand to her waist, and stretched wide.

“It’s her! Over there! She’s alive!”

She definitely knew that voice. Turning toward it, she saw a familiar face. It was Mephis. Kana didn’t know what was so funny, but she was smiling. Tears were streaking down Kumi-Kumi’s face as she wept beside her. Was something sad happening or something glad happening? Their expressions were contradictory. Kana didn’t understand what was going on.

Mephis yelled into her magical phone. “She’s alive! She’s been alive, for real! She’s a hundred percent alive! Manhunt over! Everyone get back to the school! …What? It’s not a manhunt? It’s a search party? They’re basically the same thing!”

Crying, Kumi-Kumi ran over to Kana and clung to her waist, tackling her down to the ground. She was sobbing hysterically, not even forming real words.

Kana still didn’t understand what had happened, but it seemed like things were good for now. Kana patted Kumi-Kumi’s back and got up, only to be body-slammed by Mephis and knocked down again.

  Calkoro

Standing in front of the principal’s office, she took a deep breath. She was somewhat prepared. It’s okay, she told herself. She’d made it through countless life-and-death situations out on the mountain. In fact, you could call it a miracle she was still alive. In that sense, the principal’s office shouldn’t be much different from out there.

Once she had steeled herself, she knocked. There were zero students dead. It was fair to call that incredible, after that kind of disaster. She should be commended for such a feat.

With a “Come in” from the other side of the door, Calkoro shakily entered the room. Halna’s voice was pitched higher than usual. She sounded like she was in a good mood. If her voice had been trembling in rage, that would have been understandable. Calkoro couldn’t think of any reason why Halna should be in a good mood.

Restraining the trembling of her right hand with her left, she clasped the doorknob and opened the door. “Pardon me.” Stepping into the room, Calkoro closed the door, and her whole body shook again.

Halna had a little smile on her face.

It was frightening. Calkoro’s knees felt like they would buckle, but she somehow forced her legs forward, coming to stand in front of Halna. Would Halna make her take responsibility for the whole thing and have her die in an accident, or would she be sent to the lab and cut into pieces?

“I heard you went to the mountain to try to bring the situation under control,” said Halna. “You’ve done well.”

“Y-yes, ma’am.”

Unexpectedly, that was praise. So then did the slap-down come after this? Was there a “but” coming? Or would it be “Did you think I would say something like that?”

Halna was still smiling. Calkoro had never seen that expression on her face before.

“The lab technician who set up the security system had unintentionally created an error in the settings, which caused the whole predicament,” Halna explained. “In other words, this was human error. The homunculus-generation device malfunctioned, going over the limiter, and it wound up creating many powerful homunculi. It was a convergence of a lot of bad luck that also slipped past the management net.”

Normally, Halna would be spewing all manner of verbal abuse toward the lab right now. But her expression did not change, the tips of her ears bobbing in a sprightly rhythm. “The Inspection Department sensed something was wrong and headed to the scene immediately. I’m told that with the authority of the administrator, they eliminated the homunculi that had gone out of control and managed to safely resolve the situation.”

Calkoro had heard there had been a mysterious big explosion, but Halna didn’t mention that.

“The one in charge of managing the security system was forced to take responsibility and resign from their job, and it seems they’ve decided that’s settled it. That’s how the lab deals with things. Well, the lack of deaths was a big part of it. Normally, it wouldn’t have been strange for the magical-girl class to be abolished.”

There had been zero reported deaths. So then just what had been that dead mage Calkoro had seen? The sigil on the back of his hand had indicated he was an employee of the lab. Halna was still in a good mood. There was no way she wouldn’t know that Calkoro knew, but she wasn’t bringing up that mysterious body at all.

An accident caused by a convergence of bad luck and human error, Halna had said. But something wasn’t right. Something—actually, everything wasn’t right.

What had those magical girl–shaped homunculi been? Calkoro hadn’t been told that they’d gotten new models.

And on top of that, the homunculus based on Grim Heart had appeared in a position that seemed to be defending the observation deck and the master communications unit, never moving from that spot. It was just as if it had been protecting the biggest weak point—the master unit—which would have deactivated the homunculi if attacked. A homunculus would never protect a stronghold without being ordered to do so. The intent there was clear.

Holding her left arm with her right hand, Calkoro somehow kept her entire body from trembling. What’s the point of thinking about things you shouldn’t be considering? she scolded herself. Just how many people thus far had noticed too much and met unfortunate ends?

“And I also have good news,” said Halna.

“Yes?”

“We’re welcoming a new transfer student to our magical-girl class. She’ll be a wonderful addition—not just a nice bit of propaganda but also an example to the students.”

The moment the subject turned to the exchange student, Halna’s voice went even higher. “I have to return to headquarters now. Make sure to welcome her kindly.”

Halna made a clearly identifiable smile, and Calkoro, trembling, smiled back.

  Tetty Goodgripp

Just what sort of accident had to happen for things to wind up like that?

Fortunately, no one had died, but people had been hurt. Adelheid had been seriously injured, stabbed in the torso, and Ranyi was still in the hospital—Tetty had heard that she’d been really touch and go for a while there. And even though it hadn’t been bad enough to be hospitalized, Rappy had been stabbed, and Dory had been cut. Arlie’s armor had been ripped off, and the one who did that had been no one else but Tetty. The memories of the time she’d been mind-controlled remained with her vividly.

Just remembering made her stomach start turning. She had so much sincere respect for her classmates, who’d kept fighting through that abnormal situation.

But even so, it was really good that nobody had died. She doubted that made everything good, but nobody would get mad at her for only thinking that. Thank goodness, Tetty repeatedly thought, relieved that she was capable of being glad about her classmates’ safety.

After five days off school following the incident, class was back in session. Getting some time off did calm her heart a bit. Tetty had heard that magical girls had strong hearts, but still, five days was short. She slapped her cheeks twice the usual amount and somehow got herself to school.

Satou comforted her when she arrived in the garden, and she burst into tears upon seeing the mage. Once she was back in the classroom, she saw her group members and cried some more, and it wasn’t just her—but Miss Ril and Rappy were crying, too. They all hugged, celebrating their safety.

“She’s here! Teacher’s here!” someone announced, and the students buzzed as they hurried to their seats. Things were “back to normal” after five days, although this wasn’t exactly the “normal” they all knew. Ranyi still wasn’t there; Kana seemed like she’d gotten a bit closer with her group; she was chatting with Mephis. Tetty was curious as to what they were talking about, but she couldn’t overhear them.

Calkoro came into the classroom. Following Tetty’s call to rise, the girls stood and bowed. When they lifted their heads again, they saw Calkoro looking rather morose. And there was someone standing behind her. It wasn’t anyone Tetty knew.

Arlie said something that sounded like a chirp. Tetty didn’t understand what it meant, but she sounded unusually cheerful.

“Um…this is the transfer student, Snow White.”

After Calkoro said the girl’s name, the students started whispering among themselves. Tetty felt like she’d heard that name somewhere. And if she knew the name, it was fair to say this person was pretty famous.

Where have I heard that name, again…? Hmmm… Someone definitely mentioned it to me before…

“I’m Snow White. It’s a pleasure to meet everyone.”

The petite girl bowed her head and immediately raised it again. Her voice, attitude, posture, and even her features seemed oddly mature.