The Magical Girl of Hope

A dry, colorless announcer's voice spilled from the television left running in the living room.

Wherever you went, talk of magical girls overflowed from every screen and every street corner.

About ten years ago, rifts like black holes had torn open without warning, and from those holes, monsters had come pouring out. No one knew why they attacked the streets, or why they slaughtered people. Humanity had been helpless, overrun again and again, dozens of times over.

Then, from the mouths of the few creatures that could speak, the words Demon King's Army had slipped out — and that was what we started calling them.

...Not that anyone had ever actually seen the Demon King. Beyond the name itself, we knew nothing at all.

Anyway. After that came whatever miracle it was: mana, taking root in women. I had no idea why only women could wield it. But those who used that power to fight became known as magical girls.

...And that was as far as my knowledge went. I hadn't wanted to know any more than that in the first place.

Right on cue, my stomach growled, pitching a fit for food. I got up and opened the refrigerator.

The fridge was empty. The freezer, too — stripped bare.

"Ah."

...I'd forgotten to stop for groceries on the way home from school. I'd been living alone for about six years now, and I still hadn't gotten used to the fact that I actually had to keep the place stocked. At best I stuffed a few packets of instant ramen into a drawer and called it done.

Today, though, I wanted something a little more like real food than another round of instant. ...Not that "real" meant much. Pasta, maybe. Or microwave rice with curry dumped over the top.

I pulled a black windbreaker from the closet, shrugged it on, and stepped out the front door. I was only on the third floor, so I didn't bother calling the elevator waiting up on the twentieth. Walking was faster anyway.

I took the stairs, crossed the lobby, and headed out of the complex. A cool breeze brushed past as I walked without a break, and before long I'd reached the supermarket.

Except.

"..."

Huge red letters on a scrap of cardboard hanging from the supermarket door. I'd walked here without looking back once, and I'd deliberately come to the closest store.

"So the only places left..."

I pulled out my phone and searched for a supermarket still open nearby. Luckily, it looked like only a little more walking. It was in a somewhat out-of-the-way spot, and the streets were fairly tangled, but still.

What could possibly go wrong?

Something did. Fuck.

A sharp, eardrum-piercing high-frequency whine packed itself into every gap of the alleyway. At the same time, the phone I'd shoved deep in my pocket erupted with the shrill tone of a disaster alert, and a guidance voice began telling me to move to the nearest shelter.

"Damn it...!"

I swore under my breath at the letters filling the screen and started moving. The shelter-status app already showed that the nearest one was full. I had no choice but to check the map, find a place that still had room, and keep running.

Breath clawed up into my throat. My lungs felt ready to burst, and a raw, metallic taste lingered in my mouth. But I couldn't stop. Behind me, from somewhere, came a nauseating sound like a massive insect dragging itself along. Jaws like grotesque appendages clicked and clacked; a low growl clung to my back and refused to let go.

Monsters, drooling at the sight of me, smacking their lips.

I'd only come out because I was too hungry for ramen and figured I'd throw together a proper meal. Of all the luck, a small portal had opened inside the shortcut I was taking, and I'd locked eyes with five or six monsters just as they crawled out. Just like that, I became their first target.

My luck really was garbage.

I threw myself down a narrow alley. A few more turns and I'd hit a main road. If I was lucky, I could still make it into an open shelter, or duck into a building and wait for the monsters to vanish.

Not much farther now. Please. Just this once. I didn't want to die meaninglessly like this.

I wrung out every last scrap of breath I had left and kept sprinting. My heart hammered like it had lost its mind. A little farther — just a little farther, and—

That was when I saw it. A familiar figure, bursting from the mouth of another alley that connected to a villa in the gloom ahead.

"...Class president!?"

The hoarse cry tore out of lungs that had already been emptied of air, scraping through a shredded throat. Short black hair. A school uniform so neatly pressed it might as well have been advertising model student to the world. Large, round glasses covering half her face. Anyone would have recognized her at a glance: Yoo Seoyeon, the class president of our class.

"Hah... Class president, what are you doing...!"

I had no idea what she was doing here, but we had to run together. Getting deeply involved with a friend wasn't my style — but you still had to save a person's life, didn't you?

"S-Siwoo!?"

I'd already forgotten I was supposed to be fleeing. I ran toward her. My feet were moving as if they no longer belonged to me.

"You — here — what...!"

Word-chunks, barely forced out between ragged gasps. I had to believe the intent, at least, had gotten through.

"Hurry, run...!"

I shouted it, urgent, and grabbed her wrist to pull her along.

But.

"..."

She didn't budge. Instead she shook off my hand and stared straight at the mouth of the alley I had come running from. When she glanced back, the look that met mine seemed mixed with something like worry.

"Class... president...?"

Yoo Seoyeon smiled faintly, as if to reassure me.

"It's dangerous. Go hide back there."

"What are you even—!"

I didn't have time to wonder why. Beyond the alley, a wicked shadow began to blot out the sunlight as it drew closer.

A creature like a mantis, twitching its sharp, bladed appendages. One with too many legs, like a spider. A mass of black slime made of some substance I couldn't name. All of them were the kind of common fodder that showed up everywhere — but to a barehanded high schooler, they were walking grim reapers.

"...It's all right."

The class president whispered it, low.

"I can stop them."

In that instant, I doubted my own ears. What had she just said? Stop them? How? Those things?

Before the thought could finish, she slowly took off her glasses and slipped them into her uniform pocket. Without them, her face felt strangely unfamiliar. The eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the class president — always so calm, always so kind — now flashed with a seriousness and a sharpness I could hardly believe.

The monsters hesitated, twitching, watching to see what this was.

With a look of steely resolve, she raised her clenched left fist to her shoulder.

Then she thrust her right arm high toward the sky, and at the top of her lungs — loud enough to shake the alley — she cried out.

An unbelievable sight unfolded before my eyes.

A light burst from her body, bright enough to blind — not pure white, but a pale, blossoming pink. A violent wind whipped against my cheeks along with that fierce radiance, and I threw an arm up to shield my face.

"Kh...!"

Particles of light poured over her neat school uniform, and in their place a fluttering pink dress unfurled to cover her. Her tidy black hair bled into pink and streamed in the wind; from the back of the dress, the tails of a ribbon trailed all the way to her ankles. A small ribbon sat at her chest beside a blue, heart-shaped gem, and in one hand she held a modest magic wand set with a matching jewel.

"...Class president?"

I muttered it, half out of my mind. The rookie magical girl from the news — the one who had stopped an army of the Demon King's Army — was Yoo Seoyeon, the class president of our class?

What on earth was this...?

"Class president! Are you going to be okay!?"

"Don't worry."

Even her voice was nothing like usual. Brighter. Clearer. It carried a strength I couldn't easily put into words.

She leveled the wand in her hand at the enemy.

At the same moment, a pink sphere bloomed at the tip of the wand, and the pale rose particles rising from Innocent Heart's body were slowly drawn in, the sphere swelling larger. Before I knew it she had both hands locked tight around the wand she had been holding in one.

The enormous pink beam that erupted from the tip flooded every inch of the alley. The monsters, struck dead-on before they could even think of dodging, evaporated where they stood without so much as a scream — melting away as cleanly as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠snow under a blast of heat.

When the fierce light finally receded, a suffocating silence settled over the alley once more. As if the chaos of a moment ago had never existed at all. The clicking of monstrous jaws, the guttural growls, the wicked shadows — all of it vanished in the space of a blink.

All that remained was a faint, faintly sweet fragrance... and me, slumped on the ground, staring blankly at what I had just witnessed.

And then — her clothes crumbled into powder and drifted away as she returned to her original form.

The class president rested a hand against her chest and drew a long breath. Then she took the glasses from her pocket, put them back on, and turned toward me. And she smiled — bashfully, the way she always did, as if nothing at all had happened.

"Siwoo, are you okay?"

"..."

I couldn't say a word. My head wouldn't turn over properly. Just now... what had I even seen? The class president was the magical girl from television, and I had watched her transform from an arm's length away, and something had flashed, and in an instant the monsters were gone...

Was this a dream? Or had the Demon King's Army already gotten me, and I was seeing things before I died?

"...Um, Siwoo...?"

I pinched my own cheek, hard. The pain came through vivid and sharp, so I was, thankfully, neither dead nor insane.

"Siwoo...?"

Right. A hallucination, then. The class president waving her hand in front of my face right now, checking whether I was in my right mind — that too...

"Siwoo!!!"

"Aaaaagh!!!!!"

Her shout nearly blew out my eardrums, and I barely managed to claw my reason back.

"You are okay, right? I kept calling and you wouldn't answer, so..."

"Ah — I'm fine. Class president..."

"Really? You're not hurt anywhere? You didn't fall while you were running, or anything?"

Every time one of her questions ended, I nodded like a machine. Her earnest questions went on for a few minutes like that.

"Phew. Thank goodness."

She swept a hand across her chest, visibly relieved.

"Class president, thank you. Seriously. Anyway, I'll just—"

I offered my thanks and tried to slip away, nice and casual.

"Wait! Siwoo!"

My forehead smacked into a pale pink, translucent barrier that sprang up right in front of my face.

"Nngh..."

"Ah! I'm sorry!"

She hurried over to where I was crouched, rubbing my forehead, and checked that I was all right. Once she was sure I was fine, she relaxed again, then carefully crouched down beside me and brought a finger to her lips.

"This is... a secret. Got it?"

The class president smiled, light and easy.

"You must never, ever tell anyone else. Understand?"

"..."

I nodded without a word.

I couldn't say why. The class president's bright, sunny smile — the one I saw several times a day — felt so unnervingly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chilling today. And behind that request to keep her secret, there seemed to be a threat mixed in: the moment I told anyone, I would not keep my life.

Plenty of things were still unanswered. But one thing was certain.

I had gotten myself far too deeply entangled with the one thing I had wanted to stay farthest away from: a magical girl.