Snow White's Return Chronicle
La Pucelle
It had been back then, when I was still a child.
“Koyuki must be so lucky…”
“…Why?”
“Because only girls can become magical girls, right?”
“As a boy, I could at best become a magician.”
I held out the cute healer’s deformation keyring I’d pulled from my pocket toward Koyuki.
“Here… Since it’s leftovers, I’ll give it to you.”
At that time, the only friend Koyuki Himekawa could talk to about magical girls was me.
And I truly became a magical girl,
even if only for a little while,
and we were partners.
……
On the iron tower of Kubegahama.
The night view I looked down on alone felt somehow desolate.
Koyuki had always been a crybaby.
She’d cry at the sight of anyone fighting,
cry over things unrelated to herself,
and hated arguments more than anything.
So I knew.
How tormented the Koyuki of now must be.
“…But…”
Himekawa Koyuki.
Or rather, the magical girl Snow White
had pushed me away and disappeared.
Even though she had sworn to protect me.
At that moment, her Magical Phone rang.
It was an email from Sister Nana.
“『Can we meet again at the same place from when I was your teacher?」』
La Pucelle stared at the screen for a moment,
then quietly moved her body.
An abandoned building with light leaking in.
As I entered it,
La Pucelle said,
“Meeting in this form… It’s been a long time.”
“Sister Nana, and Winterprison.”
Sister Nana smiled gently.
“Thank you for coming.”
“Actually… I was asked to deliver this to Snow White.”
“…A request?”
La Pucelle’s eyes wavered.
“From now on, it’s a proposal to work together with us.”
She paused briefly,
and added,
“And… No matter what happens, please protect La Pucelle.”
“……”
The air froze.
La Pucelle asked in a low voice,
“…Where is Snow White?”
“We… don’t know exactly.”
Sister Nana lowered her head.
“She’s probably… collecting Magical Candy.”
“Please…”
La Pucelle’s voice trembled.
“Tell me where she is… I haven’t…”
The words trailed off.
At that moment, Ves Winterprison spoke quietly.
“It might be better to calm down a bit.”
She spoke with a calm yet resolute voice.
“We understand your panic… We’re the same.”
Silence settled.
La Pucelle stood there without a word.
“We also… have something we’d like to tell you.”
Sister Nana spoke softly.
“Could you turn off your phone?”
“…Yes.”
La Pucelle silently turned it off.
And she checked her Magical Phone.
“…?”
It was dead.
Special device or not,
it shouldn’t have been that easy to disable,
so I just stared at the screen.
Sister Nana explained,
“Because it’s content that Fav shouldn’t know… We took a few liberties.”
She took a breath,
and added,
“While protesting to Operations… That’s what I learned.”
La Pucelle’s eyes narrowed.
“Operations never intended to help us from the beginning.
They were even encouraging us to tear each other apart and fight.”
A quiet single word.
“And…”
“An individual from the Magical Kingdom promised to help us.”
Silence.
“…From the very beginning,”
La Pucelle muttered lowly.
“Was everything… just fabricated?”
“Yes…”
Sister Nana nodded her head.
And she continued carefully.
“Snow White told me to pass this on to you.
Never act alone.”
“…But even realistically, it’s difficult, so at least from evening until dawn,
we should move together.”
A brief stillness.
“Are you all right?”
“…Yes.”
La Pucelle slowly nodded her head.
“We… also had a request.”
In the end,
she had agreed.
From the very beginning,
I had felt something strange about her.
The moment I saw her,
Koyuki was crying.
From that time on,
the unease continued.
Next morning.
Nothing felt within reach.
In the end,
she didn’t head to school.
Her steps were heading in another direction.
She didn’t even know why she was going to Koyuki’s house.
“…Mom, Souta?”
The door opened
and Koyuki’s mother peeked out.
“What brings you here at this hour?”
“……”
What excuse could I make?
Not even one came to mind.
School hours had long passed,
“…Koyuki isn’t home.”
That single word
pressed lightly against my chest.
“…Ah, I see…”
“Still, since you’re here, how about having some tea first?”
In the end,
I couldn’t refuse.
I entered the house.
A plain living room table and TV
and
neatly arranged magical girl DVDs and CDs.
“……”
The aunt who brought the car sat down and spoke.
“Recently Koyuki has been… a little different, I guess? She used to talk so much more…”
“Do you know something?”
La Pucelle lowered her gaze for a moment.
I couldn’t say anything.
The fact that Koyuki was risking her life.
“…Me too,”
I opened my mouth slowly.
“…I felt uneasy about it and came to talk directly.”
“At this hour? Maybe you’re—”
Koyuki’s mother laughed playfully.
“Did Koyuki confess to you and get rejected or something?”
“……?!”
Keyibe Souta’s face flushed red like a tomato in an instant.
“N-no-no… There’s no way!! There’s no way that could happen!”
The words tangled.
My eyes couldn’t meet hers properly.
“Really?”
Koyuki’s mother giggled.
“That’s great, then.”
And she added casually,
“Souta has liked Koyuki since you were little, right?”
“……?!”
“P-please don’t tease me…”
Souta lowered her head deeply and muttered.
Her ears were completely red.
“Hee… Since you don’t say you dislike it,
you must like her.”
Her face was bright red as she blushed.
“……”
The washer announced its completion.
“Wait here for a sec?”
The voice came from downstairs.
Koyuki’s room was on the second floor.
p>Inside the house,
no one was there right now.
“……”
Keyibe Souta looked up the stairs.
It seemed like the right thing to do.
But she didn’t want to leave without knowing anything.
“…Just a moment…”
In the end,
her steps headed upstairs.
She stood in front of the door.
Her hand reached for the knob.
She hesitated briefly before deciding.
“…Sorry.”
She muttered softly
and opened the door.
Creak. Koyuki’s room was tidy.
A neatly organized desk, a proper bed,
and the familiar atmosphere.
“…It’s normal.”
There was nothing noticeable.
She let out a small sigh, relieved.
“I was thinking something weird too.”
She turned her body.
Just as she was about to leave the room,
a notebook slightly protruding from the bookshelf.
“……”
Her gaze stopped.
She looked back.
Her hand reached out.
“You didn’t organize it…”
She was about to push it back in but stopped.
A strange unease remained on her fingertips.
“…What is this?”
She slowly pulled out the notebook.
The title written on the cover.
“『Regarding Post-Regression Plans』”
“…Regression…?”
An incomprehensible word.
But strangely,
she couldn’t ignore it.
She flipped the pages.
And realized.
What Koyuki had been shouldering.
And how much she had known nothing.
She opened the notebook.
First page.
“Nemuring — Scheduled Death Date”
The dates and times all matched.
And a short conversation record.
Between Snow White and Nemuring.
“…This is…”
Already happened.
And the record was precisely correct.
She turned the next page.
“Ruler — Records Related to Magical Candy”
“…It was stolen.”
“…Need to process it so Souta doesn’t find out.”
“……”
Her hand stopped.
This wasn’t a simple record.
It was a record to deceive someone.
And the next page.
La Pucelle was dead.
“……”
Her gaze stopped.
“『Death Place — Far from Souta’s house. Time — Outside school hours. Body state — Severely mutilated.』”
“…What…”
Her breath caught.
She understood.
“…So this is how we should pretend it never happened. If I pass it to another magical girl, La Pucelle won’t die. This time I didn’t die so Souta is alive. Next time I will definitely save her.”
“…Ah…”
Then it continued.
“That’s why…”
Why she cried the moment she saw me.
Why she avoided talking.
Why she kept me at a distance.
“…To save me…”
Souta gripped the notebook tightly.
“Koyuki…”
I had to go right now.
Just as she was about to turn the page after that,
footsteps sounded from downstairs.
“……!”
She quickly shoved the notebook back in.
She immediately went down the stairs.
“…Sorry, sorry!”
Koyuki’s mother said with a smile.
“There was a lot of laundry to do— I’m late, aren’t I?”
“…No.”
This time,
her voice didn’t waver.
“I’m the one who owes you.”
“…Please tell Koyuki I said hello.”
“Oh, you’re leaving already?”
“…Yes.”
She left the house.
The sound of the door closing.
At that moment,
she didn’t stop.
She started running immediately.
“Koyuki…!”
This time, I won’t let you escape.
La Pucelle’s Magical Phone suddenly started vibrating.
Sender: The Musician of the Forest, Cranberry.
Content: A simple message — I’d like to meet you tonight.
[Message from Cranberry: Tonight, let’s meet. —pōng]
[La Pucelle: …]
[Cranberry: Look forward to it, La Pucelle-pōng]