The First Echo in My Heart
That voice had begun to reach my mind.
Memory Recall
It was one year ago.
In the girls’ bathroom stall, a male student had slammed into me—Sazanami Kano—without warning.
He was already dating someone else.
Soon after, his girlfriend and her friends showed up, sniffling and shouting.
It was ridiculous.
I had never done anything like that.
On the contrary, the guy had been the one who kept getting too close.
“Stay away from Kimura-kun!”
I told him straight up.
“He’s been hanging around me on his own. Honestly, it’s annoying.”
A friend beside me jumped in.
“Then just tell Kimura-kun that!”
“You—do you even know how Natsumi feels?”
“How would I know that?”
“If he thinks she’s cute, he’ll flirt with anyone, right?”
The frustration swelled up, and I clicked my tongue.
“Seriously, you idiots.”
That was the moment.
“What the hell is that attitude!”
“Ah, you’re swapping guys just like your mom, huh?”
My head went blank.
I raised my fist to swing.
Someone grabbed my wrist.
It was a boy’s hand.
We were in a girls’ bathroom.
“Who are you?! Do you have any idea where you are?!”
The girl shouted.
He just yelled back louder.
“Can’t hear you over all that noise.”
“I don’t stand for people who insult their own parents and keep quiet about it.”
Shinomiya Gaku.
A classmate, but I hadn’t really known his face.
I only knew he was one of those weirdos in the class who caused trouble.
The surrounding students flinched.
“Eek… what is this… it feels wrong…”
“Hmm, I was just analyzing the magic I used. I messed up and a frog popped out, so it’s a bit inconvenient, though.”
“Get it off! Get it off right now!
You’re going to get called to the teacher, Shinomiya!”
“And you walked into a girls’ bathroom!”
“Haha, come here.”
The frog jumped from the girl’s body onto Shinomiya Gaku’s shoulder.
“Now that’s better.”
“And about the snitching? Go ahead and do it.”
He pulled out his phone.
And played back the recorded voice.
“So if I play this for the teacher—”
“Which side would they take?”
“The side that gangs up and harasses one person?”
“Or Sazanami?”
“Or… me?”
“Of course I’d get punished too, but—”
The girl’s expression hardened.
And in an irritated voice she said:
“Enough! Let’s go.”
“No need to listen to that freak.”
As people left, Shinomiya let out a sigh.
“Phew, I’m alive. I’m alive. You’re safe from suspension because of this.”
“…I never asked for help.”
“I know that.”
“But when I heard that loud voice in the hallway, I couldn’t just walk by.”
“Because I can’t stand watching others suffer, you’re unlucky.”
“Tch! It’s noisy! It’s unnecessary meddling!”
“Yeah, yeah, busybody Shinomiya-san.
Still, you looked pretty desperate.”
“Tch…”
“Stop clicking your tongue.”
“Why are you so irritable? Sometimes you should just chill and live more loosely. If you keep taking everything hard, you’ll just pile up stress.”
“Annoying… not even an idiot…”
“…Can’t even say thanks?”
“Then what, shall we exchange names?”
“…Sazanami Kano.”
“Hmm.”
Shinomiya smiled.
“Pretty name, Sazanami.”
That had been the only lucky moment.
Then my dad changed again.
My mom brought home a new man.
“Properly greet him.”
The “new dad” came over and asked:
“Should I call you Dad? Or Papa? Which one do you like, Kano?”
“Not really.”
“You need to answer properly.”
“I have homework.”
Kano stood up and left right away.
“Kano!”
My mom called after her, but I ignored it.
“It’s fine, it’s fine~ She’s probably just embarrassed.”
“She’s already complicated in age. Fifth time around, there’s no way to be happy about it.”
Right after I came out of the bathroom and was changing clothes.
Through the gap in the door, that “new dad” guy stared with a lecherous gaze.
Disgust rose in me.
I opened the door.
“What’s up?”
“Oh, sorry, sorry~ I just came to get a towel…”
Clang.
I slammed the door shut.
And the next day when I got home.
“Kano, come here.”
The man was sitting on the sofa watching TV.
Two beer cans and snacks were visible.
“Not working?”
“I am looking, but the economy’s bad…”
As I put my bag down.
The man reached out and groped my butt.
…It was disgusting.
“Why are you doing that?”
“With that scary look on your face.”
That was the limit.
Thud!
I kicked his face with my foot.
“I’ll survive on my own!”
“I’ll go to school there too!”
For Sazanami Kano, what was worse than having nothing was having something.
Even on days I transformed into a magical girl and hung out with Top Speed, I was annoyed.
“Tch.”
Top Speed said.
“Once a month, the fountain light turns on! We got through today safely~”
“People will gather. There’ll probably be fights, and that’ll give us a reason to move.”
Top Speed smiled and said:
“Well, having nothing happen is the best, right? From a magical girl’s perspective!”
I wasn’t impressed.
Top Speed offered me stewed chicken.
“How is it? Made today?”
“Not really.”
“If I’d known, I would’ve brought alcohol and watched~”
(I’m not sure if drinking is allowed…)
Ripple narrowed her eyes.
“What did you just say?”
“You were going to drink?”
“No, I didn’t say anything after that.”
…I definitely heard it.
(Is drinking allowed…)
Maybe it was just my mood.
“Besides, you can’t drink.”
“Why again?”
“Minors…”
“That’s in the real world? Not for magical girls.”
Ripple just bit into the chicken instead of answering.
“Real age?”
“…17.”
“Really?!”
“I’m 19.”
“You can’t either, then.”
“You’re pretty old~ I thought you were the same age or older.”
“You know, Ripple.”
“Is school fun?”
“Normal.”
“Friends?”
“…None.”
Suddenly I remembered.
The annoying guy who stuck to me during transfer.
And the mage who tried to help me in this game too.
Shinomiya Gaku.
“Family?”
Power surged in my hand.
“…None.”
Top Speed paused.
“I was the same at your age.”
“But you might be better off.”
“Back then I was completely crazy.”
(That’s from the ex-yakuza days…)
Again.
An unfamiliar feeling.
Top Speed didn’t speak, but it felt like her thoughts were reaching me.
Unease.
But I turned my head.
At that moment, Fav’s holographic image appeared.
Top Speed immediately said:
“…Don’t go. It’s a trap.”
“I know.”
“…So you’re still not going?”
Fav added:
Top Speed sighed.
“At least let me live another half year…”
“I hope so.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Why half a year?”
“Hehe…”
(I just wanted to spend time with the kid…)
“…Kid?”
“Ah, it’s nothing!”
“Forget it!”
Fav butted in.
The Magical Candy system was unbelievable.
But I couldn’t ignore it either.
The items in the shop.
They were all designed to kill the targeted magical girls.
Among them, there were firearms that worked well with Calamity Mary.
…Even if it was blackmail.
I had no choice but to go.
“That’s enough… let’s disband.”
Top Speed said.
“There’s no rule anymore that the number of magical girls decreases with candy.”
“Collecting candy is only to survive when we become targets.”
Top Speed stood up, grabbed her broom, and said confidently:
“If anything happens, just ride Rapid Swallow and zoom over instantly~ Money, money!”
“Tch… that’s not going to help in a fight anyway.”
“Hehehe”
Ripple headed straight home.
She changed clothes and lay on the bed.
She wanted to sleep.
…She wanted to sleep.
A nightmare crawled in.
Even without that, the entire situation was like a nightmare game.
They were designed to kill each other on a board.
Calamity Mary was taken down together with Top Speed.
In the gap of that moment, Top Speed was killed by Swim Swim.
“I can’t become a magical girl!!”
“I’ll become a magical girl who doesn’t click her tongue.”
…And.
I killed one of Snow White’s friends.
Even if brainwashed, the fact that I betrayed Snow White again made me unable to endure it.
“I… can’t be with Snow White!”
My eyes opened.
My head throbbed.
Memories I had never experienced seeped slowly into Sazanami Kano’s mind.
And without realizing, I muttered:
“Snow… Bloody…?”
“…What was that…?”
Eventually the sleep was ruined.
A massive amount of information tried to flow into my head, but I figured it was just bad condition.
Ripple picked up her phone.
She searched for an article about Snow White.
Eye-witness information.
In the organization site too, her magical candy ranking remained number one.
“…As expected.”
Snow White was still the ideal magical girl in my eyes.
“…I won’t become a magical girl who doesn’t click her tongue… What on earth did I just say…”
…It was just a nightmare.
Sazanami Kano denied it herself.
But she knew it best.
This habit was impossible to break.
She had no intention of breaking it.