The Fate of Those Who Fight
"...What the hell are you talking about?"
I had made a promise to Harin.
Not to harm humans. Not to fight magical girls.
Even though I wasn't exactly thrilled with it, I had accepted it because she had asked me—because her request had slipped into my mind.
But now she was saying she was going to fight the demons right now?
"You... you're seriously planning to break your promise already...?"
"... "
Harin looked at me sharply, then let out a long sigh and looked away.
"It's not like that."
"Then what is it?"
Tell me right now.
I stared at her with that meaning, and after a moment of hesitation she opened her mouth again.
"I'm going to fight the Demon King's Army."
"...Why?"
For a split second, hope flashed through me.
Maybe the brainwashing was already loosening up a lot, and the part that used to be a magical girl was finally waking up?
"They messed up my mind."
But my hope shattered before a minute passed.
Of course. She was a Demon King's Army member. There was no way the brainwashing would lift that fast.
Harin simply felt disgusted by the fact that they had forced loyalty upon her.
That's why she had chosen to kill them—the biggest way to get revenge.
...Even so, she was once a magical girl... I thought her condition had improved a little today.
I had been wrong.
I hadn't realized her thought process was twisted this badly.
"...Grab me."
"Why me!?"
And why the hell had she brought me along anyway?
After all, I was just an ordinary person who would only follow the screaming alarms and evacuate. Not a fighter. If I got captured as a hostage, it would only make things worse.
"...If I fight... the brainwashing gets worse..."
Harin's voice trembled just slightly as she answered.
"...That's why you have to grab me..."
"... "
I heard her answer and silently took her wrist.
...Honestly, I was still scared.
The ordinary life I had was gradually becoming unreal.
But when the time came to reach out, if I didn't, I would never be able to grab her again.
It was infinitely scarier to forever regret not having held her hand than to simply hold it.
"You'll protect me, right?"
"...Of course."
Harin nodded.
For some reason, the purple eyes that had looked so menacing just moments ago now held clear resolve.
...Yeah. Even though she had changed, she was still the Harin I knew.
She liked sweets a lot, and with me she showed a freer, more honest side.
My childhood friend.
"...By the way, can you lend me some clothes?"
"Clothes? Why?"
"...Look at this."
Harin looked down at her own body.
"You don't think it's gross?"
"... "
It was pretty gross.
She was wearing a full-body, skin-tight suit that left her breasts, stomach, and everything in between completely exposed.
It looked like every perverted outfit imaginable.
"Are all Demon King's Army clothes like this?"
"Usually."
If this was normal, what in the world...
...No, not now. I wasn't supposed to be imagining anything.
"Clothes..."
Was there even any clothes I could lend her?
If they were too big or too small they'd be uncomfortable, and to move freely I needed something active... but none of that mattered right now.
"Ah, here it is."
"Huh?"
While I was standing in front of the closet thinking, Harin picked up the windbreaker I had draped over the dining chair earlier.
It was the thing I had thrown away after the Executive alert went off last time—after I had roughly put it on and then, still dazed, left it there.
I had run around sweating like crazy and had gone straight through the smell of blood without changing.
"Yo, I didn't wash that..."
"What?"
Harin didn't answer, already slipping the windbreaker on and zipping it all the way up to her neck.
...Yeah. Do what you want.
After all, I was the one who had promised to help.
"Is it comfortable?"
"It fits perfectly."
It was a little loose, but it shouldn't interfere with movement.
"Ready?"
-Pajik!
A black hole-like void stretched out in the empty air, connecting to somewhere hellish.
Demons with mouths wide open seemed to be welcoming us.
I carefully grabbed one of Harin's arms and jumped into the void with her.
*****
"Guweeeeeek...!"
I vomited.
"Why are you vomiting from this little bit?"
"My stomach's twisted..."
Imagine watching a video on your phone while on a rollercoaster and feeling nauseous.
My sense of balance was completely off, and the world spun in front of my eyes.
I leaned against the wall, barely able to stand, and while fighting back the endless nausea I glanced sideways at Harin.
Can't you cast some magic for me?
I didn't know the exact details, but I had the stability magic the homeroom teacher gave me last time.
There were fatigue-eliminating spells and instant-sleep spells too. Surely there was something to stop motion sickness.
Why can't you use it on me, Harin?
I thought that way.
"Even if I keep watching, I can't cast the magic on that side."
"Why, why guweeeek..."
"After this change..."
Harin muttered something incomprehensible, then hit my back hard enough to make the air pop.
After spitting out everything in my stomach, I felt a little better.
...Even so, the spinning in front of my eyes didn't stop.
"Stay quiet and hide there."
Harin said that, then stretched so hard her body made a loud crackling sound and lightly flicked her right hand.
"They're coming soon."
What the hell was?
Right as I thought that.
-Weiieieieing!
Sirens on every building around us started blaring the Demon King's Army invasion alarm all at once.
"...Fuck. How the hell did you know?"
"... "
-Pajik!
"Move!"
Harin didn't even answer, leaving me by the building railing and leaping toward the road.
The purple hair fluttering in the wind brushed past my vision.
Soon she landed on the ground, shattering the sidewalk, and at the same time a strange current began to swirl around us.
The feeling I had felt before—space and dimensions tearing apart, the presence of the Demon King's Army emerging from the gap.
A chill running down my spine that I could never get used to.
-Krrrrr...
A mindless monster growled.
The monsters burst out, looked around, and then fixed their eyes on Harin.
Were they surprised to see a familiar face suddenly?
While I was thinking that.
-Puk!
A black tentacle shot up from the ground and pierced the body of the monster at the front.
-Kwaduk!
Another tentacle erupted, shattering legs, cutting off arms, digging into eyeballs and bursting out from the inside.
-Kwajik!
It was as if every part of the body was being tortured in pain, and only then did it sink back into the ground with satisfaction.
"... "
The first thing that came to my mind was that the power I had been swinging at humans just a few days ago wasn't from the Demon King's Army.
The second thought was...
She was much stronger than I had imagined.
Against monsters three times her own size, she slaughtered without even raising a finger.
Crushing, piercing, slashing, breaking.
Not the flashy attacks of magical girls, but a pure, concentrated surge of rage and hatred.
It felt like she was taking out her frustration at having been turned into this, but even with that small grudge her destructive power was immense.
-Kwajik!
Another monster's head was crushed by a tentacle and burst on the ground.
Green blood splattered everywhere, and the stench reached here.
-Zziiiing.
"Uggh..."
The nausea I had barely settled came back.
...Calm down, calm down.
This wasn't a human. It was a Demon King's Army monster.
The reason I was fighting it wasn't out of pure justice... it was pure anger and hatred.
And hadn't I already seen the homeroom teacher defeat the Demon King's Army as a magical girl twice?
...Yeah. I had. The kind of thing an ordinary person couldn't even imagine seeing.
But watching it still wasn't familiar.
-Puk, uuuudddd!
Harin, without leaving even one monster, extended two tentacles and stabbed one straight into the monster's chest, then tore it apart with both sides.
The strength was so great that even from the railing where I was leaning, I could hear the sound of bones and flesh ripping right in front of me.
The fight ended almost instantly.
Quickly, brutally.
That was how Harin fought.
-Whiiick.
Harin, having glanced around, leaped and stood right beside me.
"It's over."
"...You worked hard."
Harin looked me up and down, tilted her head, and spoke.
"Seriously, you didn't have to watch the whole thing."
"...Yeah."
That method?
"You really are an idiot."
She laughed with a snort, then took a long breath and spoke the cancellation incantation.
"Deformation."
-Shuuuung...
When the bright purple light flashed like it did during transformation, Harin had already returned to normal.
Except she was still wearing the windbreaker I had lent her.
"This is comfortable."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I can hide this weird outfit too. The size fits perfectly."
She pinched the collar with the tips of her fingers and fiddled with it, then said,
"I'm going to keep wearing this?"
"Huh?"
"...You don't like it?"
Harin flashed her red eyes and glared at me.
"Ah, no... I don't mind..."
"Then it's fine."
Harin extended her hand.
"Let's go back."
"You didn't take a portal this time?"
"I just wanted to walk."
I looked at my capricious childhood friend's hand many times, then finally reached out with my trembling arm and carefully took her hand.
The feeling of the palm I had grabbed with my own will for the first time in a long time.
Still.
Scary.