Change #2
A solemn atmosphere hung over the great hall.
There, girls dressed in white dresses modeled after nurses' uniforms — aprons tied at the waist, red crosses stitched onto their armbands — were reciting their oath in voices full of resolve.
"…And so, as magical girls, we swear upon our honor!"
"We swear!"
"We swear!"
"We swear!"
Applause thundered through the hall.
It was a vow to heal people as magical girls and to carry on honorable work. The countless adults gathered there celebrated the girls' noble pledge with all their might.
Among the magical girls assembled in that hall, Himari — the only one to have Bloomed into a 2-Star — stepped forward as their representative, following the guidance of a Red Cross staff member.
Escorted by the staffer, she began discussing the schedule ahead alongside the doctors invited to serve as temporary advisors.
Night in Kabukicho was never dark.
Light poured ceaselessly from the dazzling neon signs and shop billboards. In this district, saturated with the smell of alcohol and perfume, the entertainment establishments blazed with garish brilliance, seducing every passerby that drifted near. Men and women staggering on drink. Sticky, lingering gazes. Naked, unashamed desire. It was a place where people lived for the day, savored the night, and surrendered themselves to fleeting pleasure — as ephemeral and thin as the beat of a butterfly's wings.
And through it all, a single motorcycle was tearing through the open air.
VROOOOM!!
"Kyaa?! What the hell is that?"
"Th-that crazy woman's at it again!"
"Hey! You're way too loud!"
A motorcycle ripping across the night sky above the streets. It was the kind of story that belonged in urban legends — yet the faces of the people watching it were filled not with fear or curiosity, but with bone-deep, wearisome exasperation.
"HOEEHH!! Today's ride feels fantastic!!" The girl in a fluorescent scarlet helmet with cat ears twisted the throttle and rocketed forward at full speed. "A little more acceleration and I might just reach the speed of liiight!!"
"You lunatic!! Knock it off already!!"
"Why does she always have to fly past OUR shop?!"
"Please, just stop!!"
The madams and floor managers of every establishment poured out into the street, shrieking their protests at the top of their lungs. But the girl showed no intention whatsoever of slowing down. Her ride was simply too fast to be caught by those who had surrendered themselves to worldly desire — and so her sprint knew no end. Trailing a line of fluorescent scarlet starlight like a ribbon drawn across the night, she pushed onward endlessly.
Endlessly onward.
VROOOOM!!
"Ughhh!! Somebody stop that lunatic!!"
"We're all going under at this rate!!"
VROOOOM!!
The shouts of the crowd were swallowed whole by the roar of the engine and lost to the night.
The Bloomed Natural 2-Star, Magical Girl of [Speed].
An emergency call reported a giant monster roaming the plaza beside a Kabukicho movie theater. At first it was dismissed as a prank, but after repeated reports a middle-aged police officer was finally dispatched — and he stood there, utterly dumbfounded.
THOOM. THOOM.
Pushhiiii—
Weee—clank!
A robot. An ivory, angular body tapering to a point. The joints where its limbs connected were exposed joints bristling with pipes and wiring, and in each hand it gripped a massive rifle of futuristic design, the kind that belonged in a science fiction film. Rising from its back was a cannon that brought to mind a heavy self-propelled gun. It jutted upward like a smokestack, swaying menacingly in time with the machine's movements, and every time one of its reverse-jointed legs folded and stepped, the ground shuddered with a deep tremor.
KOOM— KOOM— Pushhii—
Venting the scorching heat of its engine, the great mecha strutted with swaggering pride across the plaza beside the theater. It was nearly as large as the three-story building next to the cinema, and that overwhelming bulk meant every step shattered the paving stones and snapped streetlights in half. The path it left behind looked less like a street than the aftermath of an earthquake.
The officer stared blankly for a moment, then scrambled to raise his megaphone.
"S-stop right there!! This is the police!! Robot! Whoever's in there, come out immediately!"
Vmmm—
A red light flashed to life on the mecha's head.
"Whoa—?!"
The instant the machine's crimson mono-eye fixed itself upon him, the sheer, crushing pressure of it made the officer drop his megaphone where he stood.
"Nyahahaha! Did you truly believe I would simply hand over my Super Cool Mecha No. 1?"
A frail girl's voice rang out through the speakers mounted inside the machine. "Nyahihihi… with the power granted to us by our one true leader…"
The mecha raised both rifles, radiating intimidation — the pose of a warrior mid-roar.
Weee—
"I have finally earned the freedom to show off my Super Cool Mecha No. 1!"
Even as everyone around her trembled in terror, the girl remained perfectly composed, as though this were nothing more than a game.
The Bloomed Natural 2-Star, Magical Girl of [Mecha].
On the rooftop of a department store in Kabukicho, a curly-haired girl in a khaki air force jacket watched the whole spectacle unfold — and threw back her head in uproarious laughter. She laughed with every ounce of strength she had, as if to shake off the stifling weight that had oppressed her for years.
"FUAHAHAHA!! This is it!! THIS is freedom!!!"
"Thank you, Leader!!!"
"Please accept this humble celebratory salute from our 'Salon,' offered up in your honor!!"
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
At her command, machine guns conjured at will opened fire, and an enormous barrage of blanks erupted in thunderous roar. Two colossal machine guns floated behind the girl as she began to play a hymn of fire — an offering to the Magical Girl of [Beginning], the one who had given them the strength to overcome this suffocating reality.
A hymn for the most noble of girls. A poem of reverence sent her way. A song of joy from girls who had finally won their freedom.
Feeling her gratitude toward that noble Magical Girl of [Beginning] brim over, the girl savored the moment with everything she had.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
In time with the crack of the blanks, fear blossomed across the street she so despised. This world could no longer pretend they didn't exist. The moment they had stepped out of invisibility and into the world as human beings—
The girl spread both arms wide, raising them toward the sky.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
"Machine guns… are LOVE!!!"
The Bloomed Natural 2-Star, Magical Girl of [Machine Gun].
"…Salon?"
"Yeah. Didn't you make it, Leader?"
The phone screen Ichika held up showed Kabukicho in a state of utter chaos. Why, exactly, was a motorcycle screaming through the air above the streets? Why was a ten-meter robot stomping around, smashing everything in its path? Why was the district being bathed in a baptism of gunfire and roaring explosions?
And the girls responsible were all running around claiming to belong to an organization that I had founded?
Hearing the news, I felt my mind go numb.
"Me?"
"Yeah."
"Since when?"