A Pact Forged in Blood and Regret
The voice I had left behind whispered once more.
“...I suppose I was only ever in the way.”
So that meant I hadn’t died fighting for Koyuki after all. I had simply been killed by someone else, dragging Snow White into even greater danger. How could I claim the right to walk beside her?
Maybe Snow White was stronger than I was.
Maybe I was only someone who needed protecting.
Now that I knew the truth, chasing after Snow White felt impossible. I had no idea what words to say.
Below the iron tower of Kubegahama, as promised, I made contact with Ves Winterprison.
“Good evening...” I wanted to say, but the feeling didn’t fit.
Before me stood a beautiful magical girl with a thick muffler, radiating that masculine charm Ves always wore.
“...Snow White has been my childhood friend since we were little... so it’s only natural I worry.”
Contact from Cranberry was even stranger.
More than that, I already knew the truth.
If I refused, she would chase me down. Of course she would.
“So that’s why you formed an alliance with me?”
“Yes...”
Though I hadn’t spoken much with Ves, our relationship had never been bad. I could still pour out the truth.
“Actually, I received an email from Cranberry, the Musician of the Forest.”
“What...? You think I’m weak. The promise to protect you has vanished because Snow White is now safe...”
I activated my magic and drew my greatsword.
“...Don’t—!”
“I want to become strong. Please, don’t stop me from running away from you right now.”
“I don’t think I can accept that.”
“You don’t want to fight me?”
Before the regression, I had spoken with a La Pucelle who had already died, though not the same one.
The place was the dream world of Nemuring.
Because Nemuring was ill, the time within the dream twisted and tangled, allowing me to speak with La Pucelle before her death.
La Pucelle stood atop the iron tower, playfully sparring with the imaginary self I had created.
I felt awkward watching myself jealous of my own creation, and I didn’t know what to say.
“Who’s there?! ...Two Snow Whites?”
“Ah, so you’re the fake. Snow White is behind me. I’ll handle you! The real Snow White wouldn’t be holding a weapon like that.”
La Pucelle swung her greatsword toward me.
Snow White didn’t counter. She only dodged and blocked.
Then the imaginary Snow White revealed herself as the fake, apologized, and claimed the one before me was the real Snow White.
After that...
La Pucelle had promised me I would become strong like Koyuki and told me to meet again.
I should have said I was dying.
...But this was another timeline’s dream world. Dreams always fade. Even if I told her, the past wouldn’t change.
Snow White had simply nodded with her blunt expression.
But now things were different...
I had started over in a world that felt much like my past.
“...Is Souta angry right now?”
And in front of Snow White, a familiar magical girl appeared.
An ebony-haired girl with long waves and an apron dress that swallowed the black of “Alice in Wonderland” itself. She wore a gothic headpiece that was too subtle to call a headdress, a lace choker, and dark under-eye circles that made her skin look deathly pale.
“I found you... the white magical girl.”
Snow White smiled as brightly and kindly as she could.
“Good evening, Alice.”
Because her face was so pale, Alice might have looked like a creature radiating unknown terror if someone faced her directly.
But right now, Snow White knew. Alice was only a shy, quiet child.
“You... know me?”
She would never forget.
She must never forget.
The words of encouragement she left behind still clung to my heart like a curse.
Hardcore Alice’s words—the ones that must never be forgotten.
『If you’re here......
The magical girls in this city will never disappear......』
So I would become a magical girl.
Those were the words she had spoken to me.
“Of course I do...”
Alice tilted her head strangely, speaking to Snow White in a stiff tone, as if reading from a textbook.
It might have looked like a scene from a horror movie.
“How... do you know?”
But she didn’t flee in fear.
Snow White smiled gently and brought her lips to a “shh.”
“That’s... a secret. I don’t think I can tell you.”
Hardcore Alice approached Snow White’s eyes as if she were stepping out of a horror movie scene, but her shyness made the words stick.
“...Thinking...”
“You’re asking if I have something on my mind?”
Alice nodded.
“I... I did something that would make a close friend hate me.”
“...We were... good friends?”
Silence stretched for a moment.
“I thought we were. Even before, and now, that guy always protected me.”
Snow White, who used to rely only on La Pucelle, was gone now. La Pucelle had always been with Snow White, saying “I’m your knight.”
I had always wanted to be with La Pucelle.
I had wanted to achieve dreams together with her.
But I couldn’t anymore.
I no longer wanted to lose anyone or mourn them...
Hardcore Alice frantically searched her pockets for a handkerchief to wipe her own tears and carefully wiped mine instead.
“...Are you okay...?”
“Ah... I was crying?”
I had thought my emotions were dulled, but they weren’t at all.
The Magical Phone rang with an alert.
It was a message from Ves Winterprison.
‘Sorry. La Pucelle ran away on her own and broke our promise. We’re chasing her too.
If you have any idea where Snow White might be going, please come with me. She was probably meeting Cranberry.’
Snow White’s eyes widened.
Fate was not on her side.
The Musician of the Forest Cranberry would never be on our side. Not now... I had to find La Pucelle first.
“Sister Nana and Ves Winterprison, please deliver my message: stop this game! Don’t throw water on it!”
“That message won’t reach them.”
“I see. So the Musician of the Forest Cranberry... it was you all along. I had a vague feeling the one who killed me was you...”
“You’re still alive and you’re saying that?”
“I also wanted to see the power of the La Pucelle who defeated you three-to-one.”
“That can’t be called a victory.”
Even if fate was predetermined, I wanted to show that no matter how many times I fell, no matter how desperately I struggled, I could change the ending.
I had decided to erase the future where I died and the future where Snow White grieved.
Even if it was reckless, La Pucelle had begun resisting fate.
“That fact alone is enough for me. Since you’re a strong magical girl, there’s finally something worth challenging.”
According to the notes I read and the information Shinomiya Gaku had given me, Cranberry was a villain.
But La Pucelle was curious.
“What’s your goal?”
“I am... the Musician of the Forest. What I desire is a worthy opponent.”
“My name is La Pucelle! Cranberry of the Forest, I shall fight you!”
“Thank you.”
Instantly, Cranberry charged at La Pucelle with terrifying speed.
La Pucelle leaped to the roof and brought her greatsword down.
But Cranberry had already twisted her body and landed back on the roof.
As the commotion grew, lights began flickering on in the surrounding abandoned buildings one by one.
La Pucelle retreated, leaped toward a utility pole, and headed toward an empty area.
Cranberry looked around and quietly followed.
“I thought it might be a trap... but I miscalculated.”
“Places with many eyes are dangerous.”
It seemed to be following the notes’ flow.
The place where the dead La Pucelle was found was probably somewhere around here.
The plot had already changed.
But fate had not yet been altered.
“Here, we can swing our powers freely against each other.”
So why had La Pucelle died here?
Perhaps she had shouted that she would fight Cranberry fairly.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I seek the strong and crush the strong with full power... a royal road, indeed.”
[You are merely a human who kills the strong with your own hands and rejoices in it!]
“Did you realize that far? Good instincts.”
La Pucelle activated magic on her greatsword. Its power surged dramatically as she swung to slice Cranberry off the roof.
But Cranberry leaped upward and easily dodged.
La Pucelle immediately swung again.
However, Cranberry evaded with a kick, allowing no proper strike at all.
They exchanged attacks at blinding speed, and Cranberry murmured, “As expected... she’s strong...”
La Pucelle rushed straight forward.
She charged straight at Cranberry and drove her greatsword into the ground.
With a deafening crash, dust and debris flew in every direction.
And the next instant
The neck was grabbed.
Before I knew it, Cranberry had sunk right in front of me, her fingers locked around La Pucelle’s throat.
“Guh...!”
I couldn’t breathe.
Cranberry lifted La Pucelle calmly and said, “I want strong opponents... no, desiring them is too weak a word.”
The red eyes flashed.
“I’m starving.”
Immediately after, a fierce kick pierced La Pucelle’s abdomen.
“Cough...!”
Blood trickling from her lips, La Pucelle’s body tumbled off the building railing.
I had to move.
I had to win.
The only thing holding me up was the thought of fighting back.
I still couldn’t die.
But... it seemed fate was truly unresisted.
