The Knight's Oath and the Ending Already Known
The wind blew on the Kuvegahama Iron Tower. Looking at La Pucelle's back, I wanted to blurt out everything about my regression.
"I had an inkling that you're Koyuki Himekawa, Snow White... I just figured you were a little spacey... but I didn't know."
"hehe... what kind of thing is that? I'm still me."
It was strange. I thought that this moment should last forever.
"I finally smiled..."
Snow White startled and covered her mouth.
Looking at La Pucelle with her hair fluttering in the wind, she said, "Honestly, it was really unexpected that a guy became a magical girl..."
"According to Fav, the existence of a male magical girl is rare in the world."
"Really turned into a girl?"
"When I transform... I'm completely a girl. Yeah, definitely..."
"...I see. I thought that Souta-chan had forgotten about the magical girl."
It would be better if... I hadn't become a magical girl, I wouldn't have gotten dragged into such dangerous things.
But the deaths surrounding Snow White, unlike a lover, don't easily fall away.
The more you try to push them away, the more they eventually come back to you.
La Pucelle... the boy who swore to protect me, was eventually killed like trash.
It was in a place where a middle school student shouldn't be.
"I still liked magical girls a lot. But if you get caught in middle school, you're treated like a pervert. So I went to the next town to rent DVDs, hid magical girl manga and light novels deep in my desk drawer... it was really no laughing matter."
La Pucelle's words continued, but I don't remember what he said next. He said he forgot because he was playing soccer...
I think that's what happened.
"Koyuki...? Why are you so okay...? You were crying earlier and now you're spacey... was there something bad?"
"Uh-huh... sorry. I'm fine. It's nothing..."
"Anyway, how about we team up..."
"I... won't let you down. Please take care of me, Souta-chan."
Snow White said that, but the expression reflected in La Pucelle's eyes looked like someone who had survived alone on the battlefield.
La Pucelle stepped forward to reassure Snow White.
"...By the way, I haven't told you about my magic yet?"
La Pucelle pulled the sword from his back.
And he gradually increased its size.
"I swear on this sword! The magical knight La Pucelle swears to protect the magical girl Snow White!"
"...Well, it's a knight character, right."
'...That means... that's my line to say... Souta-chan.'
"Well, there's not much that can threaten a magical girl. Don't worry."
La Pucelle extended his hand.
"Please take care of me, Snow White."
I took his hand.
But in La Pucelle's eyes, Snow White still didn't look calm. There were doubts, but I didn't ask.
After finishing the conversation with La Pucelle, Snow White released her transformation and returned home through the window.
Still... I hadn't fully awakened my magic. For now, there was no big problem.
But thinking about the future, my current ability, which could only hear the 'voice' of an inconvenient person, was clearly a limitation.
It was impossible to save everyone. I knew that fact better than anyone.
I felt pathetic that I was erasing and re-sending messages to the magical girl selection exam organizer.
With my current Snow White, I had reached the conclusion that it was impossible to overturn the magical girl selection exam itself.
So Himekawa Koyuki, finally unable to do anything, only fell asleep after 5 a.m.
...For the first time in a long time, I had a dream.
The sounds outside the Audit Division facilities were the stories of the magical girl hunter Snow White.
It was a dream like a false wind that hoped that all the things that happened in the future were just dreams and flowed peacefully as if nothing had happened.
The original Audit Division of the Magical Kingdom had caught and dealt with magical girls who committed crimes.
Snow White was not part of that, but with her sufficient skill, she was scouted.
Their evaluations varied, but they were mostly similar.
A lone wolf that had strayed from the pack. A person who challenges dangerous opponents themselves, defeats them, and survives... but.
No matter what kind of evaluation they received, would the boy who swore to protect me come back to life?
The girl who worried about me to the end, even while being stabbed by a knife, would she come back to life?
Once dead, it's over. Nothing remains.
The world in the dream was painted entirely with blood, a mountain of bodies covered with falsehood.
The path Snow White walked, the path she was walking now, both were thorny paths made of pain. This heart... from this nightmare— no one can save you.
Even if that person was a god-like omnipotent being.
The memories of the past replayed one after another in the dream.
Snow White ran away.
The number of magical candies was 1st place for her.
But if the past repeats, could she change it...?
She never wanted to repeat a future where she alone survived. The magical girl with the fewest magical candies... Nemuring first.
Among the 16 magical girls, only Ripple and Snow White would survive.
Even with the memories of the future, fear remained.
"...Heh, Snow White is having nightmares too."
I met a girl in the dream.
Gold hair, with a pinkish purple in the middle like sweet potato skin, and hair on both sides split in a unique way.
Behind her, fluffy clouds were floating and looking worried.
A twin-tail girl in a yellow knit. Nemuring.
"...It's a nightmare. Everyone has them."
"Ha! Nemuring will take care of the bad nightmares!"
As Nemuring appeared, the bodies in front of Snow White flew away in a grotesque way and returned to happy faces. Nemuring was truly an amazing magical girl. At least in the dream world, she was an entity I didn't want to meet as an enemy.
Nemuring's magic could enter others' dreams, or invite others into her own dream. And in that dream, anything was possible.
It was absolute ability.
Snow White let out a small laugh.
"Taking care of nightmares... that's a weird way to put it."
"More than that, the person with fewer magical candies dying... there's no way that would happen. Fav said he would revert to normal if a magical girl quits."
This was the first time Nemuring entered my dream. In the past, I didn't have such dreams.
"Even if it's true, Nemuring won't let it happen! Even if it's impossible in reality, it's invincible in the dream!"
Snow White looked at the confident Nemuring and asked.
"Nemuring... do you trust Fav?"
"Well, I've received a lot of help. Of course... I haven't been active outside so I don't have many magical candies... but I've heard the voices saying to be active... but I still think he's a good guy."
"...Nemuring thinks that."
Snow White opened her mouth with a dark expression.
This was the dream world. My words here would disappear. But Nemuring was in a world where she could remember.
"I hope... that Nemuring doesn't die."
"...?"
"Whether you believe it or not is up to you... but Nemuring will die."
"...I can't die just because I'm staying home."
Nemuring currently had the fewest magical candies among the 16 magical girls. So she would be eliminated first. She had been warned. Whether she would believe this was up to her choice. But... she didn't seem to fully believe Snow White's words.
"A few days from now, Fav will announce in the chat room that he will reduce the magical girls."
"And the criteria will be... the number of magical candies."
"Nemuring should... gather magical candies from now on too."
But hope was almost none. The other magical girls had already started and were stacking up their magical candies. Trying to catch up by starting now... was almost realistically impossible.
There was only one method with the most possibility. To have the current Snow White recover her original power, hand over the entity controlling the selection exam to the Magical Kingdom, secure Fav, and report it. But it was impossible for me now. Another method. For Nemuring to... kill the ones who would cause trouble first. But that was impossible for Nemuring. Given her personality, there was no choice to kill someone.
"Hey... are you still spacey? Are you okay...?" "I hope you remembered my story well." "This is the last advice, Nemuring."
"...Well, if you say it like that, I'll be careful. Ah, time's up."
"See you again, Snow White. I'll be watching your activities on the sorting site too."
Nemuring disappeared. Snow White muttered like a soliloquy. "...Nemuring."
This time— I hoped she would stay alive.
Snow White woke from the dream.
"Koyuki...! Wake up, you're going to be late!!..."
My mom's voice came again. But when my mom saw my appearance, she said to take it easy today. The blood disappears instantly when a magical girl transforms. I knew that. If I couldn't gather a little more, I would be eliminated and die. That meant I couldn't protect what I wanted Snow White to protect. So I tried to transform and slip out as quietly as possible.
In that moment, Fav jumped out from the Magical Phone.
My heart tightened instantly.
"Fav also thinks that the current Snow White should rest...pong... Anyway, no matter how much the other magical girls try, there is no magical girl with more magical candies than Snow White...pong."
"I have a promise with La Pucelle... so it's okay."
"Really? You look bad...pong. If you go out looking like that, it will only make people worry...pong."
On the surface, Fav seemed to be worried about me. But it was no different from telling Snow White, who had the most magical candies, to stop gathering more. That is, Fav was a being with a white exterior and a black interior.
Snow White hated that kind of thing more than anything.
"Don't worry... it feels bad."
[System: Snow White is on her way home after transforming. Take care.]