Blood-Stained Heart
With a scream, the form of the chi-dog collapsed, and Minael's true self reemerged — an angel with wings. Kurei coldly recited what he had just gleaned from Swim Swim's memories.
"So that's what it was. A kind of operation. You deliberately made Swim Swim target Snow White, sent Tama out as bait to drop her into a hole… and in that window, you tried to kill Hardgore Alice after her transformation wore off."
Kurei's face twisted into something hideous. He roughly seized the terrified Minael by her hair and hauled her up.
"To make sure you finished off Hardgore Alice — who's so hard to kill — you, the one who'd transformed into Ako's rabbit doll, dug up her personal information and handed it over to Swim Swim… is that right?"
Minael's eyes flooded with horror. The secret operational details she had shared only with her leader were pouring, without the slightest hesitation, from the mouth of this bone-chilling magical girl with light-blue hair streaming in the rain.
Minael thrashed, trying to escape, but Kurei's hand already had her life by the throat.
"Interesting. You even knew Snow White was supposed to arrive here around this time… and you used that to ambush from both sides. Ah… hahaha!"
A mad laugh mixed with the sound of the rain. Kurei sneered at the sordid motive he had read in Swim Swim's memories.
"And the reason you killed Ako was to avenge the one who killed your little sister? Honestly, it's like a cheap soap opera. You're the ones who attacked Ves Winterprison first and tried to kill her."
"You reaped what you sowed."
Kurei shoved his face close to Minael's. There was no human warmth left in his eyes.
"Stop pinning this on innocent people… and scream for me. Who knows? Maybe I'll find your screams so pitiful I'll let you live."
Kurei transformed once more into the form of a magical girl steeped in murderous intent.
Across the rain-soaked vacant lot on the outskirts of the city, the despairing screams of the angel-shaped Minael began to ring out.
"Pity. Still, I'll only torment you at the start, then send you off easy."
Kurei smiled thinly and seized one of Minael's wings.
Without a moment's hesitation, he put strength into his wrist and tore the solitary wing clean off.
Crack. Crunch!
"AAAAAAAHHH!!"
The raw sound of muscle and nerve ripping free drowned out the rain.
From the severed back, bright crimson blood gushed in a surge and spattered across Kurei's face. He did not so much as blink. Instead, he planted the blade of the scythe that had fallen to the ground and crushed Minael's ankle beneath his heel.
"Revenge for your little sister? Yeah, I know that feeling well. When someone precious gets hurt, it flips a switch. But here's the thing… I'm the same way."
Kurei slowly rotated the scythe, grinding the bones of her ankle to powder. Her screams had already ceased to be human; they had become something closer to the howls of a beast.
"You came to the wrong address. Your target for revenge was wrong — completely, utterly wrong! Well, good for you. You can go keep your sister company in hell."
"…Please… spare me… please…"
"You've already killed two people, and now you're saying that? Too bad. You reaped what you sowed. We're short on time, so I'll finish this quick."
Kurei pinned Minael underfoot, cutting off any retreat, then raised the massive scythe and drove it deep into the region of her heart.
As the cold metal pierced through, Kurei felt his own heart becoming stained with blood as well.
Droplets of blood that had splashed onto his black clothes sank into the darkness. It was a chilling sensation — as if every human emotion were gradually transforming into those of a killer.
Kurei carefully gathered the fallen Ako into his arms. And he prayed, desperately.
Please… let Ako never see this horrific sight.
Beneath the blood-reeking rain clouds, only the boy's twisted prayer drifted quietly away.
Snow White
Snow White, who had fallen into the enormous hole, was startled at first — but she quickly recovered her wits and struggled to climb out. She pulled out her Magical Phone to call La Pucelle, but for some strange reason the connection would not go through.
What on earth is going on?
If she stayed like this, Hardgore Alice would die. It was clearly a trap laid by Swim Swim's group.
Just as her anxiety reached its peak, a magical girl in a witch costume slowly descended from the sky.
"What the hell is this?! What's going on… Snow White, hop on for now!"
Top Speed pointed urgently at the broom she had ridden in on and shouted.
"Top Speed…?"
"I have a favor to ask. Could you watch the situation below from the sky? I need to help Hardgore Alice."
"The new magical girl who just joined? What's she gotten herself into?"
"She's probably… under attack by Swim Swim."
The moment she heard the name Swim Swim, Top Speed clenched her teeth.
"You're serious…"
"It's only a guess for now."
"No — it's probably right. If it hadn't been for Ripple, I might've died to Swim Swim myself."
Snow White did not know whether Ripple was alive or dead. She could only hope she was still living. Top Speed, however, was already certain that Ripple was gone.
"A while back, y'know, I went to visit Oketsu-chi for Ruler's birthday party. Nemuring came with me. I thought they were good kids, even if their personalities were a little twisted. Minael, Yunael, Ruler, Swim Swim, Tama… all of them."
Top Speed's voice trembled.
"If Fav and Cranberry hadn't set up that survival game where we all had to kill each other… do you think we could've gotten along without murdering one another?"
"Maybe we could have."
It was Fav and Cranberry who had driven things to this point.
"Snow White… what am I supposed to do now? Ripple's gone too. She died in my place… because I had to go and make a big deal about high-fiving and lightening the mood…"
"The Ripple I know would want you to live. This time… she might even think she protected the child inside you."
At those words, the flying broom came to a dead stop.
"Hold up… Snow White. How do you know I'm pregnant? That's weird no matter how you look at it."
But Snow White did not answer. She simply leapt down.
From the sky she had seen it — a magical girl with light-blue hair running across the ground, cradling Ako Hatoda in her arms.
"…Thank goodness. Snow White. You're safe. I'm leaving this one with you."
Kurei handed the Ako he had been holding over to Snow White.
Looking at the unconscious Ako and the blood-soaked Kurei, Snow White found herself thinking of Gaku Shinomiya.
Why do people who have nothing to do with this have to get hurt and wounded like this?
"Are you all right?"
"No need to worry. I'm just a little tired."
"But the blood…"
"Most of it isn't mine."
In the Kurei who gave that answer, Snow White saw the cold-blooded Princess Deluge overlaid. She could not explain why the impression arose even though they were clearly different people.
The Deluge she had known had been frozen-cruel, so consumed by rage that nothing else registered in her eyes.
"…Then I'll leave her to you, Snow White."
"Oh — and this."
Kurei managed to toss a shopping bag, and Snow White caught it.
"Give it to her when she wakes up."
"What are you going to do?"
"Gaku Shinomiya ended up like that too. Even so, I don't want to just leave people free to kill each other. So… I'm going to go fight Cranberry."
"There's no point hiding behind that kind of justification."
Snow White's magic heard the hearts of others. His concern for Ako was genuine. But the real reason he was going after Cranberry was something else entirely.
"…Is it for revenge?"
"Yeah. That's right. I can never forgive the Musician of the Forest, Cranberry. Not for my family — and not for dragging Ako into this game either. And… honestly, I'm scared too. That's the truth."
Snow White hesitated. She wanted to stop him, but his resolve was not something that could be broken.
"I can't promise I'll come back safely. Even so, I'm going to kill her. So I won't make any promise about returning alive. If I die… you take her down. Magical girl hunter, Snow White."
"…"
"Don't follow me. This is my fight."
"But—!"
Without looking back, Kurei began to run through the sheets of rain, toward the forest where Cranberry waited.
Kurei's figure vanished beyond the rain.
An ordinary magical girl might have been overwhelmed by that grim resolve and stopped in her tracks — but Snow White did not indulge in sentiment.
Through her mind, like data, flashed the countless reports she had read during her days in the Audit Division, before the regression.
The Musician of the Forest, Cranberry.
She was no mere murderer.
She was also the one who had left behind the existence known as Cranberry's Children.
In the Magical Kingdom, that was the collective name given to the magical girls who had survived Cranberry's exams and become entangled with her.
And even after this incident ended, that name would continue to spawn further tragedies.
Snow White herself was one of Cranberry's Children.
Of course, it was never a term of praise. It was closer to a label of condemnation and loathing.
Even if the Musician of the Forest, Cranberry, were completely defeated, the problem would not end.
Snow White, who had sprinted through the rain, seized Kurei Fuwa by the arm.
"I'm going to defeat Cranberry too. This is something I chose for myself, so please don't try to stop me."
"Why all of a sudden…?"
"I'm thinking about the future. If possible… a happy ending is better than a bad ending that leaves everyone grieving."
"What about Ako…?"
"I left her with Top Speed."