Even if This World Is False
If even this world was false,
then everything was fake.
Then, who am I?
Himekawa Koyuki.
Snow White.
So… I am me.
…Then, what should I do?
From the very beginning, something had felt off.
If the ‘dead people’ right in front of me were all illusions I had created,
then if they were all fake, wouldn’t Snow White become a completely isolated existence?
“Are you all right?”
Fuwa Kurei asked, gazing at Snow White.
“You look like you’re not in good shape.”
If this was a parallel world, in the original one, my plan would have already collapsed completely.
“……No. It’s nothing.”
She answered briefly.
Shinomiya Gaku sat down with a thud on the nearby rock and opened his mouth.
“Before that, I’d like to ask why you entered this forest. Is it okay?”
Snow White remained silent for a moment, then asked back.
“Before you say that, which division of the Magical Kingdom are you from?”
Gaku chuckled.
“I’d rather not say, but if I do, you probably won’t open your mouth either.”
He paused briefly, then continued.
“I’m an auditor from the Audit Division.”
The Audit Division—the division I… had belonged to in the Magical Kingdom.
Something strange tightened in her chest.
Gaku kept speaking.
“That’s strange.”
“If you’re a magical girl who’s only been one for a short while, you probably haven’t even properly undergone the selection exam yet.”
“……Yet you’re acting this way. Doesn’t that mean you know something?”
Questions came flying in.
They struck exactly at the core.
Should I mention the regression?
Or should I keep it hidden?
Snow White hesitated for a moment.
At that moment, Fuwa Kurei said softly,
“If you don’t want to say it, you don’t have to.”
Snow White lifted her head.
“……You’re from the Audit Division, aren’t you?”
“I have a request.”
“What request?”
Gaku narrowed his eyes.
In this forest, the Magical Phone didn’t work.
Therefore, Fav wouldn’t appear either.
“Please help me arrest the Forest Musician Cranberry from the Personnel Division of the Magical Kingdom.”
“She intentionally uses the excuse of insufficient magical power on sixteen magical girls, making them fight each other.”
The moment Snow White finished speaking,
Gaku’s expression hardened.
Even if this world was fake, it didn’t matter.
No matter what, I wanted to save the people who had died—even if it meant dying myself as Himekawa Koyuki.
Gaku muttered lowly.
“The head of the Personnel Division…”
“The name contains ‘forest’ and ‘musician,’ and the location is a forest…”
“……It does seem plausible.”
And Shinomiya Gaku looked up and stared straight at Snow White.
“By the way.”
“Why, even though you knew about the existence of the Magical Kingdom, didn’t you try to contact anyone?”
“Because Fav, the mascot character, was blocking contact with the Magical Kingdom.”
At that moment, Fuwa Kurei’s eyes widened.
“……Musical girl…?”
His mutter reached this side.
“No way…”
The expression suggested he had realized something.
After all, everyone in Fuwa Akane’s family had died because of her schemes.
It was strange he wasn’t wearing that expression.
“Tsk…”
Gaku gave a dry laugh.
“The Magical Kingdom is a mess. I was already feeling that the Personnel Division was suspicious.”
He stood up and said,
“Fine. I’ll listen.”
“I didn’t like the magical girl from the Audit Division just sitting dead in the forest either, and I was already considering giving up on the investigation. Good thing I didn’t.”
He extended his hand.
A light staff made of light.
And a small, oddly shaped pebble with a faint, hazy color.
It looked like some mysterious object resembling a walnut stand.
“What is this…?”
“I don’t need a weapon, you see.”
“Originally, I only knew how to handle a staff and a staff-sword.”
He tossed the pebble lightly and said,
“This pebble is imbued with a magic that steals sound.”
“Anyone can use it, even if you’re not a mage.”
“……Originally, there was a magical girl trying to expose the truth with this, but she’s already dead.”
The moment he heard that,
Snow White realized.
Someone had once tried to kill Cranberry in the past.
And this pebble was made for that purpose.
Blatantly, a magic meant to steal sound.
If only this existed, the initiative in battle would tilt entirely toward Snow White.
Snow White gazed at the pebble in her hand and opened her mouth.
“……Is that magical girl perhaps the ‘Telmidoru’ magical girl you mentioned earlier?”
“That’s right.”
Shinomiya Gaku answered shortly.
“It’s an unsolved case to this day.”
“The corpses of magical girl examinees were discovered in the same period, but in different locations.”
“No one still knows what exactly happened.”
He stopped speaking for a moment and looked down at the object in his hand.
“And this is the only magical item that magical girl left behind from that incident.”
“……The Forest Musician Cranberry…”
Snow White quietly repeated the name.
She had never heard of the story of Telmidoru.
No one knew what had happened in the past.
But there was one undeniable fact.
The Forest Musician Cranberry was the one who had created the exam that led hundreds of people to kill each other. That was a fact without doubt.
Shinomiya Gaku clapped the paper in his hand.
Then the strange barrier that had covered the forest began to peel away slowly.
The air trembled, the space distorted,
and Shinomiya Gaku’s and Fuwa Kurei’s figures disappeared from that spot.
All that remained was a single sheet of paper that had fallen onto the ground.
“See you next time.
I think we’ll meet again soon.
Next day, the tall-looking iron tower would be good.
See you there.”
◇ Shinomiya Gaku
“Is that okay?”
Kurei asked.
“Isn’t it better to leave a contact anyway?”
“That can’t be helped by the circumstances.”
Gaku shrugged his shoulders.
Fav, the brainwashed fairy AI mascot character.
Leaving behind any trace that an investigation was underway was dangerous as long as that existence remained.
“Circumstances…?”
“Yes. Circumstances.”
Fav was the ‘switch’.
A being that could change the rules at any time, depending on the situation.
There was no need to take the risk of being an uninvited guest.
“……It feels suspicious.”
“That’s just how mages are, after all.”
Gaku chuckled.
◇ Snow White
At the top of the Kuvegahama Iron Tower,
Snow White, hiding the light staff, met La Pucelle again.
“You’re quite late today, Snow White.”
“Sorry, La Pucelle…
There was something a bit tough to resolve.”
The two of them had worked together,
accumulating Magical Candy,
and returned to the top of the tower again.
La Pucelle, who checked the candy count first, spoke.
“At this rate, you’ll definitely be the top this week.”
Snow White was silently gazing at the candy without saying a word.
La Pucelle lightly tapped her back.
“I know.
But I told you,
right now you have no choice but to survive.”
“……You’re not going back?”
Snow White shook her head.
She didn’t care much about the Magical Candy.
What was important now
was the magical girls who were operating as a team at the uninvited guest Okezu Temple.
The possibility that they were lying in wait.
Instead, it would be easier to approach if she pretended to be the bait.
Meanwhile,
below the Kuvegahama Iron Tower,
Ruler’s plan was quietly proceeding.
◇ Ruler
A few days ago, the day the update notice was issued.
Okezu Temple.
At the center of it, Ruler, a magical girl in white costume with purple eyes, was looking down at her subordinates.
“You know what this means?”
Tama, the magical girl in dog costume, raised her hand.
“It means dividing the candy to those who don’t have much…?”
“Zero points.”
Minael and Yunael, the twin sisters, opened their mouths.
“Team up and divide the candy?”
“That’s not it, unnie, totally cool~”
“Thirty points.”
Ruler shifted her gaze.
Next to her, Swimsuim, the girl sitting in seiza with a white school swimsuit and rabbit-ear headset.
“Swimsuim. What about you?”
Swimsuim shook her head.
Ruler sighed.
“You idiots are all so stupid.”
“This is a message sent from the operators.”
“Message?”
“Even if the opponent’s terminal is off,
candy can still be given and received.
That means—”
Ruler’s lips curled up.
“They want us to steal from each other.”
“Simple, isn’t it.”
“Start by stealing from the one with the most candy.”
“From Snow White…?”
Tama asked cautiously.
“It’d be nice to be easy~”
“Totally cool~”
Minael and Yunael laughed.
Tama muttered softly.
“…Will it be okay…”
“No need to worry.”
Ruler slowly walked out.
“Just move according to the plan I made.”
“Don’t make any mistakes, idiots.”
That day,
Tama’s voice was heard.
“We have placed them at the designated positions.”
Ruler, upon receiving the call, said,
“Got it. The three idiots are ready. Let’s go.”
Swimsuim nodded.
“By the way.”
Ruler asked.
“Why do you always kneel?”
“For a respected leader, one must answer in the correct posture.”
“That… was what I said?”
Swimsuim nodded.
Ruler chuckled.
“You remember well.”
Swimsuim said calmly.
“The leader is the object of adoration. As everyone heads toward the leader, the organization becomes strong, and a strong enemy must always be defeated.”
Ruler nodded.
“Good.”
“You’ve become a little less stupid.”
“If you keep something sublime in your head,
you won’t advance a bit.”
“What’s sublime?”
Ruler smiled.
“What I’m saying.”
A message notification rang.
Ruler’s lips curled up.
“As expected.”
“With this, we’ll take both popularity and candy~”
“Totally cool~”
But Ruler didn’t know
that what she was trying to touch right now was not a simple magical girl.
Snow White was not only a regressed person, but also the beings behind her.
They had only been seen as passing bugs.