Snow White's Return Chronicle - The Burden of Sacrifice
Someone will die for someone else.
◇ Shinomiya Gaku
It was during the time when Shinomiya Gaku’s plan had been discovered by Fav and its details were becoming hazy. Ves Winterprison came to find him and spoke hesitantly, her voice low and steady.
“……If I just don’t participate in Fav’s test, is it all right to talk to him?”
“Ah, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the game, it’s fine anytime, pong.”
Gaku looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“So you want to talk to me for a moment? Ves Winterprison?”
“This is only to prepare in case things get to the worst. I figured you were someone I could trust.”
“Yeah, I appreciate the thought… but I can’t help you anymore.”
“There’s one more thing I need to ask.”
“What?”
“If I die… can you protect that magical girl ‘Nana’? Instead of me. On this cruel game board.”
Gaku gave a short, bitter laugh.
“What? That’s impossible. The test director and operator are in the HR department. If the Audit Division just starts moving like I want, it’ll turn into a pretty nasty turf war. Sorry, but I have to decline.”
“……Please.”
Ves Winterprison did not give up. She bowed deeply, the desperation in her posture heavy enough to make Gaku’s chest tighten uncomfortably.
Why did she trust him so completely? It felt almost unbearable.
“No need to go that far. You’re making a big deal out of nothing. Haa… fine. But only after you’re dead. And don’t die on your own—promise me you’ll live and come back. This is my contract and my magic.”
“……Huh? A contract?”
“My unique spell is a kind of binding. It’s called Doryeongjeongdo—the Path of Guiding Spirits. The stronger the number of dead people in this city, the more powerful the spell becomes. It’s not a particularly impressive magic; it’s just there if things get peaceful.”
Gaku snapped his fingers as he continued.
“And the contract you make will be that when you die, your name’s three characters will become mine. That’s the prerequisite of the ritual.”
“What happens to me if we make the contract?”
“You won’t be able to go to the afterlife even after death. You’ll stay as a soul in this world. In other words… you’ll become something like a ghost or a spirit.”
Gaku added, watching her stiffen.
“Don’t worry. You won’t become a wandering soul that can’t go to either world. You’ll just stay by my side anyway. And after the contract is made, does your last words before death turn into a curse?”
“I have a benefit too. As long as my soul is near yours, I can use magic without any risk.”
Ves Winterprison fell silent for a long time, then asked.
“Can you keep using that power?”
“Good question. The power from the contract can be used as long as it exists. But any power not from the contract has a limit until midnight. It’s a pretty annoying magic, though.”
“As long as I don’t die, the contract can be canceled anytime. What do you want to do?”
After a long silence, Ves Winterprison spoke as if she had made a firm decision.
“……I’ll do it.”
There could be only one soul bound to a contract.
He had wanted the contract to be canceled if possible, but the moment Nabukashi Highway burned like hell, those empty hopes shattered to pieces.
“Ves Winterprison… is dead, then.”
There was no other choice. A blue will-o’-the-wisp appeared right in front of Shinomiya Gaku.
Spirits bound by contracts appear in the form of will-o’-the-wisps.
Just seeing it chasing him was enough to let him intuit everything.
Information was shared as payment for the contract.
He could tell where Ves Winterprison’s soul was heading right now—the house where the two of them had lived together.
At that moment, the sound of a TV came from a corner of the living room.
It was the news anchor’s urgent voice.
“There has been an explosion with unknown causes in Nabukashi. An urgent evacuation warning has been issued to nearby residents.”
Gaku rushed out, and the moment he arrived, he found Nana with a rope around her neck. In a flash, he sprinted forward, pulled her away, quickly cut the rope, and forcibly restrained her struggling body.
“Hah… hah…! Are you insane?! You were really trying to die?!”
“……Don’t let me die! Now… Shizuku… Shizuku is already…”
“Yeah, that guy’s dead… Stay calm.”
Nana looked up at Gaku with bloodshot eyes. Gaku stared into her eyes and spoke firmly.
“If it were that guy, he would have stopped you from dying.”
“Huaaaaaah! How did you find out I was here?!”
“Just to keep my promise with Ves Winterprison. You don’t have time for this right now. We have to go help the people!”
◇ Citizens and a Highway in Chaos
Panicked shouts echoed across the turned-apart highway.
“Hey! People are down over here too!”
Emergency responders were frantically running around, dragging unconscious bodies aside as they carried out rescue operations.
◇ Ripple vs Calamity Mary
Calamity Mary lowered her scope, remembering the moment she had faced Ripple.
If she had just bowed her head even once. If she had shown even a little fear.
She laughed as she shot the cars on the highway until they exploded.
“You’re the only one who messed up!”
The barrel of her gun turned toward the sky where Ripple was flying. Ripple jumped off Top Speed’s broom and dropped near Calamity Mary. The two magical girls faced each other tensely.
One wore a ninja costume, the other a western gunfighter outfit.
“Late again, little lady.”
“Tch!”
“Well, whatever~”
When Calamity Mary fired, Ripple jumped backward and threw a kunai. But Calamity Mary easily swatted it away with her gun.
Ripple drew her katana and blocked the incoming bullets.
Ting. Ting. Ting.
Metal clanged three times. Ripple glared at Calamity Mary, katana still in hand.
“Still that annoying look in your eyes. Use it to save this town, then.”
◇ Top Speed
At that moment, Top Speed, flying in the sky, shouted down.
“Damn it, what the hell are you thinking, you idiot?!”
Top Speed’s ears picked up a frantic rescue request.
“Help! Anyone! Please, anyone…”
Top Speed dove toward a crumpled car where people were trapped and a burning spot.
“Are you okay?”
“I got caught in the explosion… This kid… this kid…”
The citizen was holding a newborn baby, sobbing uncontrollably.
“I know, get to the hospital fast… Hurry, get in!”
Top Speed extended her broom and said. The crying citizen looked up at her in shock.
“Don’t think about anything right now. Just think about the baby. I’ll never, ever let you die.”
◇◇◇
Meanwhile, Ripple and Calamity Mary were still locked in combat. Ripple stepped forward and clashed katana against the gun with Calamity Mary.
“You thought you could handle a Tokarev, huh, little lady?”
The gun and sword struck, and Ripple was knocked backward by the shock, rolling away. Bullets rained down; Ripple jumped and cast a spell, but the thrown kunai was shattered by the gunfire.
“Too bad. The gun I’m holding will never break.”
Ripple charged again, dodging the relentless bullets.
“What the hell are you saying?!”
Ripple threw her katana downward, yanked it back, and held it. Then she raised a kunai and swung it toward Calamity Mary’s face.
But Calamity Mary blocked it lightly with her gun barrel.
Calamity Mary began firing again. Ripple retreated, dodging all the bullets.
The gun and Ripple’s katana crashed together violently.
Ripple struck Calamity Mary with the arm holding the kunai. But Mary grabbed Ripple’s arm and sealed her movements with raw power.
“If you don’t stop me, this town will suffer an even worse fate, righteous saint.”
Ripple broke free with a backflip from that position and charged at Calamity Mary.
She wrapped her arms around Mary’s neck and threw her, but bullets immediately started raining down again. When she barely dodged them, a bone-chilling sound reached her ears.
Beep… beep… beep…
Calamity Mary started laughing hysterically.
“AHAHAHA! Get out of there, little lady! You can’t just stand there doing nothing any longer!”
Calamity Mary pulled out a revolver.
“How about we play with mines until the end and see who dies first!”
Ripple frantically blocked the gunfire. The situation was terrible. She could dodge the bullets somehow, but she had no way to deal with the mines.
“Don’t oppose Calamity Mary. Don’t make her annoyed. Don’t make her angry.”
Calamity Mary started throwing grenades filled with magic.
Boom!
Ripple squeezed her eyes shut. A massive explosion erupted on the rooftop of the Priestess Hotel.
◇ Memory Fragments
A massive flood of memories and information poured into Ripple’s head. Ripple had not died.
Nor had she been harmed by Calamity Mary’s hand.
“Top Speed…?”
“You stupid brat! Stop being reckless! Do you want to die?!”
Someone dies. Eyes are stabbed. They are used.
Ripple muttered.
“……Am I alive? Top Speed… Is this a dream?”
If it was a nightmare, it was too cruel. But she had only been repeating the same actions as in the past.
Still, she couldn’t remember why Top Speed had died.
“Take me back to that place from a moment ago.”
“What?”
“I’ll definitely handle it here.”
“Don’t talk like a yakuza! You have to get out of here!”
“This… is to torment me. I know I can’t abandon you. Until I die, that guy will keep hunting from there.”
“Really…?”
“I’ve lived without lying to my heart until now. I don’t even want to save the people of this world anymore, nor do I think I can. Still, if I just abandon the people of this town—people I barely know—and run away, I’m no longer a magical girl. I might not reach the ideal magical girl. But even so, I am a magical girl!”
Ripple thought inside her heart.
Sorry, Top Speed. I can’t become a magical girl anymore. But… for now…
Top Speed looked at Ripple and whispered.
“……I promise. If we both live and return safely at the end, I’ll become a magical girl who never hesitates.”
“What did you say at the end…?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Oh, I see. The first time I’ve seen Ripple speak so much. Even if there are some parts that feel lacking.”
“Hold on tight!”
Top Speed cast a spell on her broom, and the two flew at top speed, shouting.
“I’m a magical girl too!”
Ripple, flying toward the Priestess Hotel at insane speed, spotted Calamity Mary.
“There she is.”
Ripple charged at full speed and tried a body check.
“Body check coming! Go, Rapid Swallow!!!”
Rapid Swallow—Top Speed’s broom—smashed into Calamity Mary like a body check. Calamity Mary was blown through a wall and shot into the sky.
Looking up at the sky, Top Speed and Ripple shouted at Calamity Mary.
“She’s alive!”
“Of course!”
Top Speed shouted.
“Great! One more for good measure, you bastard! Grab her properly!”
At that moment, Calamity Mary switched to a sniper rifle and aimed at Top Speed. Ripple quickly wrapped her arms around Top Speed’s head and shouted urgently.
“Dodge!”
Boom!
Rapid Swallow exploded, spewing smoke as it plummeted downward. Ripple and Top Speed fell inside the building.
“Aiyaaaa…… What are you doing, seriously!”
Top Speed looked at the broken Rapid Swallow and said.
“What the hell is this? The bullets couldn’t touch it at all~”
“The gun was different!”
“Then maybe it works!? I can only do frontal body checks.”
“……Glass shards.”
Ripple had already killed Calamity Mary once with her own power. And that memory remained in her head.
“Next, I’ll go frontal.”
“Yeah…!”
Calamity Mary stroked her gun barrel and muttered.
“She must be scared of this guy’s power. So where is the little lady going to come in from?”
Calamity Mary crushed the reinforced door with her gun. Bullets flew continuously in warning shots, but she barely dodged them.
“It really is hard to break through frontally.”
“That’s what I said.”
Calamity Mary muttered.
“You can only do one stupid thing. Then where is she coming from now?”
At that moment, Top Speed and Ripple rose through the hole in the Priestess Hotel and made Calamity Mary freeze in shock.
A glittering object fell from the sky.
“You rotten brat…”
In the moment Calamity Mary was about to shoot the broken glass shards with her gun, Ripple’s kunai lodged into Mary’s head.
“Don’t look down on me.”
Ripple descended to confirm that Calamity Mary was dead. Her pulse was clearly stopped.
“You took her down?”
“Yeah…”
“You look pretty happy to have been shot, though. You okay?”
“Somehow…”
“Nice, partner. Here, lighter.”
Top Speed smiled brightly. But Ripple quickly shoved her aside. And… her heart was pierced.
“Ripple…?”
Ripple had forgotten. Why had she forgotten? Even as memories returned faintly, she had forgotten that Swim Swim was waiting here.
Like an idiot… Even if they hadn’t gone down, both would have lived. Too late for regret. Ripple’s transformation faded.
“Swim Swim…… Why…… Why……”
“Run, Top Speed. For the baby in your belly… I’m glad I could protect you this time…”
“Ripple? Just a second, Ripple! What is this… Hey, don’t mess around! Ripple!! Is this a lie? Huh? Open your eyes, Ripple!!”