Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku - Volume 3 - Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

THE CHILDREN

  Detec Bell

Detec Bell rapped on the throne at every quarter-inch interval, but no matter where she hit it, all she heard was the sound of dense, thick marble. There was nothing strange about it. And she’d already investigated everything besides this throne—this room and the room next door, floor to ceiling—and had found nothing. She’d searched anything and everything. Looking at the map, it was clear at a glance that there were no hidden rooms, but still, if there were a tiny space or little crack, there could be an item or message in there.

Detec Bell sighed. Since she’d finished investigating the throne and these rooms, she had to search that stupidly long hallway next.

Once the traps here were activated, they didn’t go off a second time. What’s more, the Evil King’s castle only had what they call “event monsters.” Once the knights and jester were defeated, they would not respawn. They’d already confirmed those facts with Fal. But even if there were no more traps, just thinking about the great length of the hall was daunting.

The other magical girls had headed out to search other areas and would be off running around in search of the Evil King, who had to be around somewhere. The plan was that if anything happened, they’d immediately contact the others, and all the girls would meet up. Seeing that so far, her magical phone had not even twitched, they must not have found anything.

Pfle had been calm. She was not agitated in any recognizable way. It seemed that even with Shadow Gale out of her party, she was still in control. As long as Pfle was calm, it meant that Shadow Gale was probably not going to be up to anything.

Lazuline was making a racket about the situation, but you might say that was par for the course with her. She was getting herself worked up about finding the Evil King and had apparently not yet imagined anything more frightening.

Melville seemed to be one of the calmer ones, too. She was a realist. Detec Bell didn’t know what she might get up to later, but she appeared to be of the opinion that now was the time to be searching for the Evil King, since she was cooperating with their search and investigation, as well as helping to defend the other girls. If reality as Melville saw it were to change…Detec Bell didn’t know what might happen.

The other magical girls were all right on the brink. One more half step, and they wouldn’t be able to function. Clantail only seemed calm because she didn’t talk much, and Nokko rarely put forth her own opinions and generally went along with what other people wanted, but both had to be emotionally wrecked. They would be imagining how to escape from this—namely, the most obvious and worst conclusion: that there had never been an Evil King, and that no matter how they struggled, they wouldn’t be able to complete the game.

They were like balloons pumped with as much air as they could hold. If anything happened, they’d pop. Detec Bell had been like that until only recently. They all felt helpless, stuck with nowhere to run. They had to let out some air before they all popped. Lazuline’s carefree nature had helped Detec Bell do just that. Though it was frustrating to admit, Lazuline was probably a big part of why Detec Bell was feeling more at ease now.

What was needed most now in order to relieve some of the pressure was the Evil King. It didn’t even have to be the final boss itself. They just needed a trigger that would lead to some progress, a hint that would guide them to their goal. Even the smallest thing would do.

Detec Bell left the king’s throne room, went into the adjoining room, and exited out the other side. The long, long, long, long hallway coiled around and around before her eyes. I have to investigate all this? She felt ready for another sigh. But she figured it might be easier for her mentally if she searched the most promising sections rather than combing the whole thing. It was decorated with statues and paintings. Those would be easier to investigate, and it seemed more likely that something would be hidden there instead of in the passage itself.

Then she got an idea. Come to think of it, there was one room in this section she hadn’t inspected at all yet.

Carefully examining every one of the decorations in the hallway as she went, Detec Bell made her way toward the area gate. At the halfway point, she turned toward the light pouring in from the outside. It was the area shop.

She stepped out onto the terrace, shielding her eyes from the glaring rays of the sun with her left hand. The air was clearer, somehow—well, it was colder here than inside, which made it seem clearer.

Detec Bell diligently examined the terrace railing, the posts that supported it, everything. There was nothing there. She wiped her forehead. Next, the floor. She investigated the entire surface. Next, the entryway. She studied it with her magnifying glass, knocking lightly on it as she went. Just like with the railing, she found nothing.

…She wasn’t done yet.

There was an urn fixed in the center of the railing. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary urn, made of entirely regular ceramic. It was dark inside, and Detec Bell couldn’t see anything. She tried sticking her arm in, but she couldn’t touch the bottom. Even after straining her fingertips as far as they would go, she still couldn’t reach.

She thought about breaking it, too, but before that, she activated her magical phone and clicked USE SHOP. Scrolling down the list of items, she stopped on the very last one. There was an item listed there that she’d never seen before. She was baffled, confused, shocked, and then finally, exuberant. She hadn’t even considered that there would be a new item for sale.

But when she checked the description of the new item, she was puzzled again. Her newfound joy faded a bit. Written on the screen was MEMORY RESTORATION DEVICE.

Memory Restoration Device?

She knew what the words meant. What she didn’t understand was what the item actually did. Come to think of it, when they’d touched the throne, she recalled that they’d gotten some message about memories. Did it have to do with that?

It was priced cheaply. It was the least expensive of all the items for sale in the Evil King’s castle shop—by a long shot. Detec Bell purchased the Memory Restoration Device and immediately activated it. It was an application. Maybe it was a clue that would help them in their search for the Evil King. She had a powerful suspicion that something extremely important was in front of her.

WILL YOU RESTORE THE LOST MEMORIES? This message appeared on the screen along with the option to select YES or NO. Will you restore the lost memories, or not?

Detec Bell didn’t understand what that sentence meant. She tilted her head, and that was when fireworks exploded before her eyes.

Something had happened. She didn’t know what. Her cheeks were cold. And not just her cheeks. Her lips, right arm, body, and right leg were all chilly, too. Not just cold. Something felt hard. Slowly, as her head began to clear, she got a grasp on her situation. The chill, the hardness—this was marble. She’d fallen on the stone floor.

She tried to get up, but her body wouldn’t move. Only her right hand, hidden underneath her cape, just barely moved. She could see the white marble floor before her eyes turning red here and there. Without even thinking about it, she understood what it was. Her head ached like it was being squeezed in a vise. Something was flowing from it.

Footsteps reverberated from the marble floor. Someone was approaching. They came right up to her and then stopped. She sensed someone was there. Were they the one? Had they struck her and knocked her to the ground? That wasn’t a monster. She didn’t know who it was, but she could tell it was a magical girl. Detec Bell tried to make sense of all the thoughts in her head.

Why had she been targeted? Who had done it? What for? What had she been doing right before she’d was hit? She couldn’t hand over her magical phone or its contents. Wait. Was she going to die? She didn’t want to die. But. Would she? Still make it in time, at least? She had to make it. Could she? Use it. Her magic. The buildings in this game would not oppose their master. They wouldn’t answer Detec Bell’s questions. But they could still talk to her. They just wouldn’t answer if she asked. Still. Even if it wouldn’t work. Somehow.

Someone had struck her. She didn’t know who. Her consciousness was fading. If the one who hit her took her items, it would all have been for nothing. She had to give this to the one person she could trust most.

Still facedown, Detec Bell kissed the ground and moved her right hand.

  Nokko

An event is now beginning. Players, please gather in the wasteland town square.

At first, they were surprised it was already that time. Next came feelings of relief.

In the two hours since they’d reached the fake throne, all of the magical-girl players had joined together in search of the abominable Evil King. The atmosphere was tense, set to explode, and all their eyes were sparkling. Where is the Evil King? If we can just find him, the game will be over.

Even if she attempted to calm everyone down, Nokko was near her emotional limits, too. Her heart was racing, her breaths came shallow and quick, and she couldn’t stop the cold sweat coming from her pores. She couldn’t influence the others well when she was like this.

She was part of the team in charge of the city area, so the monsters weren’t that strong, and since Clantail was guarding her, she didn’t have to feel uneasy about battles. Her anxiety had a different source. Clantail was terribly irritated and had been stomping her hooves over every little thing.

For a long, long time, every second feeling like an hour, they patrolled the area, suffering, exhausted. And then, there was an announcement.

The premaintenance period event involved a forcible summons. Even if they didn’t want to participate, they had no choice. Once the time came, no matter where they were, they were transferred to the square in the wasteland town, so the event was unavoidable.

All the magical girls gathered in the square seemed tired. That was understandable.

“Huh?” Lazuline made a confused noise. “Where’s Bell?” They looked at one another. Detec Bell wasn’t there.

“…And Nonako?” Clantail muttered softly. Detec Bell wasn’t the only one missing. Nonako Miyokata and her dragon were both absent from the square.

“Actually, it looks like she’s not in the wasteland area at all.” Lazuline was checking Detec Bell’s position on her phone’s map application. Only three of their party members were displayed: Nokko, Lazuline, and Pfle. Detec Bell alone was missing.

“Nonako was…” Pechka, so pale she looked ready to faint at any moment, began telling them what happened, her eyes fixed on a single point on the ground. She wobbled more than once as she explained, and Clantail moved to support her halfway through. At times, Pechka glanced toward Rionetta, too, but she was facing away, not even attempting to look at Pechka.

The monsters in the library area had assaulted them using entirely new tactics. They’d launched a surprise attack—one had turned into a chair, a wraith had used its own body as a blindfold, and another monster had transformed into a tiny snake to invade Nonako’s body. Pechka said that this had killed Nonako.

Clantail bared her clenched teeth. Pechka no longer seemed about to pass out and instead looked like she was on the verge of death. As the one supporting her, Clantail couldn’t stamp her hooves or yell or vent any of her feelings, and the rage was showing itself on her face. By the time Pechka had finally finished the whole story, standing had become difficult for her, and Clantail lowered her to sit on the fountain side.

Pfle nodded. “The dragons in the subterranean area have become curiously more coordinated as well. It must be for the same reasons.”

Melville, too, talked about the goblins in the mountain area and how they were working together in a way they hadn’t before.

And those machines that had spawned in the city area, too—the group had beaten them down with their charms and high-powered weapons and armor, so Nokko hadn’t realized it, but reflecting on it more closely, she got the feeling that the monsters had acted differently than during their previous encounters in the area.

“So what about Bell?” Lazuline looked each of the magical girls in the eye in turn. Nokko met her gaze and dropped her head reflexively.

Lazuline turned on her magical phone. “Falzey, tell me, please. Where’s Bell?”

For a second, the image of Fal was streaked with noise, a distortion like TV static that then turned into a dust of golden flakes. Then Fal began to speak as if nothing had happened. “The premaintenance period event is mandatory, pon. After a certain amount of time has passed, any magical girl who has failed to arrive at the square will be forcibly transported to the square, pon. If any magical girl does not appear here, it means she is no longer playing the game, pon.”

“What’s that s’posed to mean?” Lazuline asked.

Fal’s reply was quiet. “It’s highly likely…that she’s dead, pon.”

Lazuline stomped hard on the ground. “There’s no way! She was in charge of investigatin’ the Evil King’s castle. You’re the one who said no more monsters would spawn there, right?!”

“That’s exactly right, pon. There will be no more monsters in the Evil King’s castle area, pon.”

“So then Bell can’t be dead. There’s no way for her to die in the Evil King’s castle when there’s no monsters there and we already set off all the traps!”

“I will now begin explaining the event, pon.”

“Listen up! Hey! I’m asking you where Bell went!”

A gust of wind blew into the square, sweeping up sand. The girls covered their faces with their hands. The breeze passed, the sand settled, and Fal began describing the event. It was as if the wind had carried away Lazuline’s questions with it.

“This event…um, since you’ve made it to the end of the Evil King’s castle, this won’t be the usual random event, but a special one…pon. Allow me to distribute a strategy guide for you all. Everyone, please pull out your magical phones, pon.” It didn’t seem like Fal was taking his time explaining on purpose, and yet he was speaking rather slowly. It was as if even Fal hadn’t been aware of this event.

“Wot’s th’ meanin’ innit now?”

“Melvy is wondering why you’d hand out strategy guides at this point,” Lazuline translated, “and that bothers me, too. But more importantly, what happened to Bell?!”

“There, it’s been distributed. All right, this event is now over, pon.” A strategy guide application was now installed on Nokko’s phone. When she launched it, it displayed a message.

“I don’t care about this thing! What’s important is Bell!”

“Hold on, Lazuline.” Pfle restrained the other girl, who was ready to dash off. Everyone who’d checked their strategy guides was frozen.

Now that you have reached the throne, you have earned the right to know the secret of the Evil King. The truth is that the Evil King is among the players. She acts in secret for the sake of her own victory condition: killing all other players. Take care not to be killed.

The message was so direct that Nokko felt its impact like a slam to the head. Everything in her mind turned into a tangled mess, and her knees started trembling. It seemed like everyone else was talking about something, but Nokko couldn’t hear it.

Pfle clapped her hands together. “The event is over, which means we’re not obliged to remain in the square. We should all search for Detec Bell. Avoid going alone. Be sure to keep to groups of three or more…to stay safe, no matter who the Evil King might be.”

Before Pfle had even finished talking, Lazuline had raced off with Melville and Clantail close behind.

  Shadow Gale

The interval between the premaintenance event and logout was very short. Ultimately, it was nothing more than a little additional time or an extra break, not enough to be used on anything productive.

Following after Lazuline, who had taken the lead, Shadow Gale dashed off to the Evil King’s castle. Once she reached the castle, she launched Pfle’s map application and checked for the four icons of her party members. Pfle’s own icon, as well as Nokko’s, was at the entrance to the Evil King’s castle. Then there was Lazuline’s, and one more icon that had to be Detec Bell. Those icons were on the terrace of the castle, in the shop zone.

Were they okay for time? Shadow Gale could probably still make it. Wordlessly, she ran with all her strength, her footsteps pounding across the marble floor. She arrived at the terrace, and when she passed through the entrance, her toes touched liquid. A familiar smell hit her nostrils. It was the same thing she’d smelled back when they’d logged in after the end of the first maintenance period…when she’d discovered Masked Wonder, murdered.

A pool of blood had spread across the white marble floor, and in its center was Lapis Lazuline, hunched over on her knees, with Rionetta, Clantail, and Melville standing around her. Clantail was facing away from Shadow Gale, toward the outside. Her tail was hanging limp. Rionetta’s head drooped, expressionless, while Melville was shaking her head at the four magical girls who had come in. “’M sorry,” she said.

Lazuline’s shoulders were shaking. She knelt in the center of the pool, trembling and heedless of the blood soaking her blue costume as she clutched something. Shadow Gale could see shoes, knee socks, a pale gray cape, a limply dangling arm, and a broken magnifying glass. It was Detec Bell. Her head was crushed, a mess of white and red. That was clearly what had killed her.

Her costume was in disarray, too, and not just because she’d fallen. Her coat had been shredded, her cap ripped, and her shirt and skirt rolled up. The disheveled state of her clothes suggested the killer had been looking for something.

They were all speechless, staring at Detec Bell’s gruesome transformation.

“I’m supposed to hand it to the blue magical girl, right?”

Shadow Gale lifted her head at the sudden, unfamiliar voice and looked toward Pfle. Pfle also seemed startled, looking back at her. Shadow Gale scanned the terrace. Clantail turned back toward them, Rionetta lifted her head, Pechka seemed frightened, and Nokko was readying her mop. Melville had faded away, melting into the white of the marble. Still cradling Detec Bell, Lazuline skittered backward without rising from her knees, placing her back to the wall as she glanced cautiously around her.

It hadn’t been any of them. That voice hadn’t belonged to a magical girl or Fal. It was more human, like the voice of a middle-aged man. No one in the game so far could have talked like that.

“Could you move aside?” That same voice again. Shadow Gale sensed something odd at her feet and looked down to see a giant face. She panicked and leaped back. The other magical girls also moved off the face. With the weight gone, the enormous visage made an expression of relief and breathed out a phew. For a human face on the floor, it was rather cartoonish in style and expression. But despite that, this whole area was covered in a pool of blood, inevitably including the stylized features, which just made the sight especially grotesque. Shadow Gale winced.

The face, which resembled a middle-aged man from an anime or manga, goggled its eyes around, looking at all the alarmed magical girls. It must have had a thought, then, as it blew out another phew and started talking. “I can’t give you any hints.” Its big eyes swiveled around and looked toward Detec Bell, still in Lazuline’s arms. “But I’ll do a favor if I’m asked, at least. She said to hand this to the magical girl in blue.” The face sucked in its cheeks, pouted its lips, and spat something out from inside. The object rolled through the pool of blood, trailing a line of fluid that was probably saliva behind it until it thunked to a halt at Lazuline’s feet. It was a magical phone.

“Good-bye, then.” The bulges and dips on the floor disappeared, its outline faded, and everything that had made up the giant face vanished. All that was left was the white marble floor, a great deal of blood, and the magical phone, soiled with saliva and blood.

Unfazed by the spit and blood, with Detec Bell still cradled in her right arm, Lazuline reached out to take the magical phone in her left hand and turned it on. It activated. It had probably seen some pretty rough treatment, but it apparently wasn’t broken. “This is…Bell’s magical phone, isn’t it?”

Detec Bell’s magical phone had come out of the mouth of a giant face? Pfle sighed on Shadow Gale’s back. It tickled the hairs on the back of her neck, and it felt gross.

“Detec Bell’s magic was to converse with buildings,” said Pfle. “Does anyone know how she exercised her magic?”

“Bell told me that she’d kiss a building and talk with the face that popped up there. But she complained that she couldn’t use her magic inside the game.”

“Strictly speaking, I’d wager it wasn’t that she couldn’t use it, but rather that she couldn’t get any information from the buildings,” Pfle said, thinking aloud. She might have been watching the other magical girls’ reactions as she did. “That would explain what that large face just said. But it seems that even if she couldn’t get information out of the buildings here, they would still do her favors. And the favor she asked was to hand this magical phone to you, Lazuline.”

Lazuline was staring hard at the magical phone in her grasp.

“Detec Bell chose to use her magic to entrust her phone to the face and even indicated who should receive it—which means there’s someone else she didn’t want having it. Look, her clothing is in disarray. Most likely, someone was trying to steal her magical phone. But they failed.” All of them held their breaths, listening intently to Pfle as she spoke.

“We can hypothesize two things at this point. First, the one who attempted to steal her phone was not a monster. It was probably one of the players, the one who killed her—the Evil King.” Someone let out a tiny yelp. “The other thing is that important information is hidden within that magical phone. It’s so important that, despite knowing she was about to die, Detec Bell still tried to leave it to Lazuline—to us.”

Pfle used her phone to launch her magic carpet. She dropped from Shadow Gale’s back onto the carpet and looked up at the sky. “We don’t have much time.” The sun was still sparkling brilliantly, but in the game, sunset was sudden. Intuitively, Shadow Gale knew that it was close to setting. In other words, she could tell that the logout time was almost upon them.

Pfle took the magical phone from Lazuline and lowered her carpet by a foot, almost all the way to the ground, so that everyone could see the screen. She began tapping through the magical phone. She checked her party members, amount of candy in her possession, her address book, messages, Internet browsing history, memo pad, and then finally stopped on her item list. “What’s this?”

The Memory Restoration Device. Shadow Gale had never seen this item before. From Detec Bell’s history, they could see it had been bought at the shop in the Evil King’s castle. Pfle launched the application and inspected its contents.

WILL YOU RESTORE LOST MEMORIES? YES OR NO.

“What does this mean?” Pfle pressed YES with her finger. The lighting behind the NO disappeared, and the YES shone white. A message appeared on the screen:

Memories have been turned on. The players’ lost memories will be restored as of the beginning of the next maintenance period.

The time had come. The sun turned to shadow, Shadow Gale’s awareness faded, and then she was sitting on her bed in her own room as Mamori Totoyama. Kanoe was in front of her. She was sitting in Mamori’s chair, just like she had been before they’d logged in to the game again.

Suddenly, the inside of her head was as bright and clear as day. The haze disappeared, and all her memories were back. Mamori bent over and vomited again and again onto the floor.

  Pechka

Chika’s memories returned, and she took two days off from school.

The battle in the Evil King’s castle had been fierce. The enemies had been strong, and most of all, there’d been a lot of them. Missiles flying, explosions, sounds that made her want to plug her ears, and choking smoke. The knights’ sword swings had made her arm go numb when she blocked them with her shield. Despite its high plus modifications, it couldn’t entirely block the enemies’ weapons.

Pechka’s burdensome presence had meant that Clantail and Rionetta couldn’t fight how they wanted and were forced to focus on defending her while she cowered behind them, knees trembling and shield up. She hadn’t been doing anything in particular; she’d just been there to be protected. She had made excuses for herself, telling herself that if she fought, she’d only get in the way. She had been fine with being the protected, doing hardly anything.

The turning point had come quickly. Right in the middle of the fight, a bright, red-hot magma had welled in her heart, swallowing up everything. It engulfed her fear, fretting, anguish, aversion to combat, and everything else, and turned it into loathing for her enemies and a desire to protect her allies, and Pechka had moved to the front line.

Now that Pechka was able to protect herself, Rionetta and Clantail weren’t so pressed. That was the point when they broke the enemy’s line like water bursting through a dam. In the end, the magical girls were victorious, and they didn’t lose anyone. Considering how strong their enemies had been, it was a miracle.

Thinking back on it after it was over paralyzed Pechka with fear, but during the fight, she’d been in a trance, blocking the enemies’ attacks with her shield and swinging her spatula left and right. An enemy had dodged her attack then evaded her counterattack, so next, she bashed it with her shield. Maybe she hadn’t been in a trance. She must have been enjoying herself. It was fun to fight her enemies in order to protect her allies, these people who were so important to her.

Their next fight had been the one in the library area. Again and again, she’d swung her spatula at the fiend that had been holding down Rionetta. She’d used it to beat away the wraith that had been blinding Nonako. She didn’t even want to think about what had happened in the end, but even so, in that moment, Pechka had felt exhilarated. When she’d been attacking the enemies, there hadn’t been anything else in her head except Get away from my friends! She hadn’t even thought to be scared or frightened.

That was right. Pechka hadn’t always been so afraid of fighting. It was true that she wasn’t any good at it. Her magic was to make good food, so she didn’t have any special physical abilities. She’d never trained nor practiced. But still, she hadn’t been so bad that she would bench herself and watch everyone else fight their hardest. She’d known to fight when she had to, and doing it had made her feel great.

Why had Pechka come to avoid battles? Why couldn’t she move her feet and step up to the front, even in a crisis situation? Now she remembered why.

“Yeah, it’s good,” Ninomiya was saying, stuffing his cheeks with his first box lunch from her in two days. “Man, it really is, you know?” It sounded like he was asking one of his guy friends to agree with him, and though it felt a little funny, she nodded anyway. Ninomiya smiled, too, and his friendly grin pricked at Pechka’s heart painfully.

She understood why she was so drawn to him. He was very much like someone she’d once known. He was so cool and strong when he played sports. He put in his best effort for the sake of his future, and he was never lazy or slacking off. But he also liked to talk, and when he smiled, he seemed so friendly. Even the way he enjoyed Pechka’s cooking and showered her with compliments—So good! So good!—was just like her.

A familiar voice sounded in Pechka’s mind, the voice of a dear friend who was now gone.

Damn, you’re such a crybaby, Pechka.

It’s not worth crying over at all. You always think that all you have to do is burst into tears!

She’d said some pretty harsh things to Pechka, too.

Relax. As long as I’m here, you won’t get a scratch. So stop crying—seriously. All that wailing really makes me uncomfortable.

Hey, Pechka, that wasn’t so bad. That last kick was half-decent.

They’d always been together.

Cut this out, you guys! Open your eyes! How can you all just lie down and take orders from her?! This stuff isn’t okay!

Run, Pechka!

Right up until the end, they’d been together.

To Chika, she’d been nothing more than another classmate. She was always making lame jokes and fooling around with her friends, and even though Chika thought privately that she was annoyingly loud, she didn’t have the courage to scold the other girl to her face. To her, Chika had surely been no more than one of the crowd. She’d been pretty popular in their class, so she maybe she didn’t even notice Chika. Her clique was good at sports and liked being active, while Pechka’s preferred books and always occupied the same spot in the library at lunch hour. The two had nothing in common, aside from being in the same class.

During the school field trip, they’d been set up as a pair for the walk through a “haunted forest” by drawing straws, and at the time, both of them had probably been annoyed. Chika saw her as just plain loud and tactless, while she saw Chika as a bland and boring girl who had nothing in common with her. They couldn’t have fun together like friends, and there was no excitement like there would have been between a girl-boy pair. It was the most boring combination.

Though the test of courage should have ended with little fanfare, her adventurous spirit got the better of her, and she had suggested that they go off the arranged path to take a shortcut, leading the outing to an unusual conclusion.

Chika had desperately tried to stop her, begging her not to, but an outdoorsy girl brimming with a healthy spirit of adventure wasn’t about to listen to an indoor type’s attempts at persuasion. Ponytail swaying, she gallantly marched out into the bush, and Chika, who didn’t want to be left behind, reluctantly followed after her.

The shortcut was nothing but the vestiges of a deer trail, meandering and not at all in a straight line, and before they knew it, they were both alone in the middle of the woods, and neither of them knew where they should go anymore. Chika cried and blamed her companion for her thoughtlessness, while the other girl put on a tough act, striding forward steadily and insisting this was no big deal. She walked and walked, stubbornly pushing forward until they emerged at a clearing.

The tiny little house that looked like either a mountain cabin or a ruin was sitting there all alone. Figuring it might be occupied, the two of them ran toward it, and then, once they were a bit closer, they realized someone was standing on the roof.

In the silent forest, void of any sound from insects, birds, or beasts, they heard a flute. The clear tune was sucked into the starry sky. The figure on the roof was playing the flute. It was a common children’s song, but the sight was so fantastical, it captured their hearts. Maybe the reason the insects and birds were silent was in reverence of the instrument. In something of a dreamlike state, the two of them gazed up at the roof, standing silently until the tune was done and utter silence had fallen once more.

Chika’s breath caught in her throat. It was a very beautiful woman.

Her blouse was decorated with frills. Over it, she wore a jacket the color of fresh green grass with a rose design. An amber collar pin held it in the front. Her translucent-white thighs were boldly exposed, her legs lithe and slender, while multicolored roses bloomed in the vines that wound around all over her soft-looking, artlessly tied golden hair. The bloom at one of her shoulders was particularly large, a red-purple rose as big as a baby’s head. Her facial features were flawless, and her eyes were bright red. In the darkness, the only light came from Chika’s flashlight, and yet even though the woman’s face wasn’t well illuminated, her beauty had been visible.

Most of all, those ears. Just like the forest people, the elves in the fantasy novels that Chika had once read, the pointed tips were poking out of hair that failed to hide them.

“Good evening.” Her voice sounded so pleasant in Chika’s ears. It was an ordinary greeting, but it twined about her body and soul. “I am the Musician of the Forest, Cranberry. I am a magical girl.”

The samurai girl Pechka had met in the game had said, “Must I do this again? Is it not over?”

She’d also said, “Is it not over? Come on, Musician.”

Musician. The Musician of the Forest, Cranberry. The name floated up in her mind. Her lost memories returned.

The reason Pechka hated fighting was that she had never fought to protect her friends. She’d fought to protect herself from her friends.

Everyone had accepted the game so naturally. Even after they’d learned that dying in the game meant death in real life, while she had cried and wailed she’d also thought, Oh. I knew it.

The strategy guide Fal had distributed to them during the last event had said “the Evil King is among the players.” One of her friends, one of the magical girls, was the Evil King.

“Thanks for the food!” Ninomiya put down the chopsticks.

Pechka accepted the box back from him and smiled. “It’s my pleasure.” She stood up, approached Ninomiya, and gently kissed his cheek. When she drew back, his mouth was half-open, his eyes wide as he stared at her. Pechka gave him a toothy grin. “See you later, then.” She turned from the shocked, speechless boy and dashed away.

  Shadow Gale

Mamori was lying on her back in bed, a thin blanket draped over her. After regurgitating everything in her stomach, she felt a little better. But the nausea hadn’t gone away entirely.

Kanoe was sitting in the chair, watching Mamori.

“I remember now,” said Mamori.

“Yes, me too.”

“I didn’t want to remember it, though.”

“Indeed. Neither did I.”

The Musician of the Forest, Cranberry. The examiner from the time Mamori and Kanoe had become magical girls. A total of 104 candidates had gathered from nations all over the world for that magical-girl selection exam. Their examiner had been surprised, saying that such a large-scale selection exam was unprecedented, and her sidekick had happily claimed that it would surely be an amazing exam, pon. Had that exam really been unprecedented, though, or had it just been utterly mundane to Cranberry?

“It finally makes sense,” said Kanoe.

“What…makes sense?”

“I never forget the things I’ve seen. Even people I’ve only ever encountered in passing. I’ll always remember, once I’ve heard their names. But I couldn’t remember the name of our examiner, and furthermore, I didn’t see anything strange about that. Our memories about Musician of the Forest, Cranberry, and the exam that she oversaw must have been erased—by someone.”

Mamori rolled over toward the wall, turning her back to Kanoe. “Oh.”

Kanoe had nursed Mamori and cleaned up her vomit as well. Maybe she’d done it because she figured that ordering someone else to would’ve caused a big fuss, and then Mamori would be quarantined and they wouldn’t be able to see each other. Mamori considered making a crack to the effect of, I must be the first and last person to ever make you clean up puke, miss, but she didn’t have the energy to say it aloud.

Right now, she’d rather not look at Kanoe, if she had the option. It would make Mamori remember, whether she wanted to or not, what had happened during that exam and what she herself had done. There was nothing left for her to throw up but acid.

“But anyhow,” Kanoe went on, “I’ve figured out the culprit.”

“Yeah…me too.”

“I understand now why I failed, too.” Kanoe sounded calm and collected. She would not lose control like Mamori. Even now that she remembered what she’d done, what she’d been forced to do to become a magical girl, she was still the same old Kanoe Hitokouji: strong, indomitable, and proud. “I’d estimated that simply examining character, not motive or opportunity, would enable me to figure out the culprit. And that judgment was based on experience—founded on the supposition that if a magical girl were to commit a crime, she would use her magic to conceal her motive and opportunity as best she could, and so I judged that I should examine character only. In both the wasteland town square and the Great Dragon’s cavern, I observed their reactions…and failed. The culprit used magic to conceal her methods and falsify her facial expressions, disguising even her own character.”

Kanoe’s voice turned cheerful. “Well, this was all before our memories were restored. I understand now what it is she wanted to steal, even if it meant killing Detec Bell. With our memories returned, she’s painted into a corner. We have a clue that one of us is suspicious, and if you go from there and consider her methodology, you’ll naturally come to see what she did and how…the way she concealed the Miracle Coin and manipulated Cherna Mouse’s candy stock. I don’t even have to show off and play the great detective, explaining to everyone, ‘So-and-so is the culprit, and this is how she did the crime!’ Even the ones who don’t understand how she did it will have a vague sense of who it is…since they have their memories back.”

“Yeah…I’m sure you’re right.”

“We can’t let our guards down around her, even seven-on-one. But it will be concerning if she kills us one by one before we can meet up. We’ll gather the others as quickly as possible so as to avoid that. According to the message, she is the Evil King. Once we defeat her, the game will be over.”

“Yeah.”

“I registered you in our party right before our last session ended. You, Lazuline, Nokko, and I will already be together from the moment we log in. But how quickly will the rest be able to convene after that? Worst case scenario, one or two will die.”

“You think some will die?”

“I want to avoid that, if possible, but our enemy must realize that she’ll be under suspicion. She will act. Well, even if some die, we’ll minimize the losses. After that, we avoid contact with the enemy for three days. Then, when we’re forced together for the premaintenance event, that’s when we hit her.” The chair creaked. It sounded like Kanoe had stood. “The next login is in two days and twenty-two hours. Until then, rest up.” Mamori heard her walking on the carpet. The door opened, then closed. Mamori rolled over onto her back.

Kanoe never changed. Not last time, and not this time.

Even among a crowd of a hundred, Pfle was still Pfle. She occasionally formed alliances, occasionally broke them, and occasionally caused conflict, all the while manipulating the magical girls like an orchestra conductor. She occupied many positions: the agitator who sent them to their deaths, a double-dealing fraudster, their reliable leader, or a heroic martyr. She watched them from above as she maneuvered her pawns, sometimes becoming one herself, tilting the scales, pulling the strings.

Even in an aberrant situation, a battle royal, she had made full use of her talent, crushing every one of the other magical-girl candidates, deceiving them, killing them, or making them kill.

The last one, her ally throughout her ordeal, she’d shot in the back. The girl’s limbs had blown away, and her organs had dangled from a tree branch. Blood literally rained down while Pfle conversed with the forest musician, who had been watching them from the shadow of the trees. Pfle’s face, hands, clothes, everything had been soaked red—not in her own blood. It was the blood of her sacrifice.

“In accord with our contract,” said Pfle. “You should have nothing to complain about here.”

“What a wonderful show. I would personally request a match with you,” Cranberry replied.

“That would be counter to our agreement. My swindling and cajolery isn’t the strength you seek, anyway. If you’re looking for a rival, go elsewhere.”

Kanoe had looked over at Mamori. Her handsome face had warped for an instant, and then immediately went back to a smile. “Shall we go, then? I really am somewhat tired.”

Mamori had been totally ignorant. She hadn’t been told of this secret contract Kanoe had made with the Musician of the Forest, or what it was about. When Kanoe had mentioned that this was “in accord with a contract,” Mamori had wondered if she would be killed. She thought that perhaps, if Kanoe’s contract were fulfilled, Shadow Gale’s death might be a part of it, and that had probably revealed itself on her face. And Kanoe had noticed that look.

The change on Kanoe’s face had not been anger or disappointment, but sadness. She hadn’t even considered that Mamori might worry that Kanoe would kill her. Mamori’s baseless fears had wounded Kanoe. That was the first time Mamori had ever seen Kanoe look hurt and then try to hide it. She’d never seen her do that since, either.

Mamori figured their secret contract might have something to do with allowing two people to pass. Kanoe had made Cranberry an offer on the condition that two would pass the exam. Either money, or something in the exam—just something. The question was: What about now?

Had Masked Wonder been forced to do the same thing? A battle royal?

Mamori rubbed her eyes with her sleeve. The pillowcase under her head was wet, too. Surely, even with her back turned, Kanoe had noticed she was crying.