Colorless Magical Girl - 2
Three whole days had passed since the opening declaration, and Japan was still burning hot.
Radio, newspapers—every form of mass media was heaping on baseless speculation in unison. Of course, it went without saying that they covered themselves with the disclaimer, 'The views expressed in this program are those of the panelists alone.' before opening their mouths.
Lying in my six-tatami one-room apartment that I'd lived in for two years now, listening to the radio, I felt a strange sensation. Thanks to the lucky connections I'd made, I could earn a decent living in a minor's body, but buying expensive electronics was out of the question, so I made do with a radio.
To think I'd end up glued to a radio I never even listened to in my past life.
From my very first day in this world, I had been lying in this room still dressed in my school uniform, and the only things the room contained were the star that held the three starlights I'd clutched in my hand—still colorless and unawakened—enough cash to cover little more than transportation costs, and a student ID card bearing my name.
"......"
It felt as though whoever had brought me here was openly ordering me to go to school, which sent a chill down my spine—but having even gone through the nightmare of retaking my college entrance exams once, I had no particular desire to go eat cafeteria food with high schoolers all over again.
Eating school lunches at this age would be a bit much. Wait, do Japanese schools even serve lunch in the first place?
There had been a scene in the original story where the protagonist, Shikishima Yuki, ate her lunch alone in the bathroom while being relentlessly bullied—so probably not.
Poor kid. I know exactly how that feels.
Back in middle school, I'd hole myself up in the library too, lost in whatever book I'd brought with me. After all, I'd read Magical Girl HAZARD, bought secondhand from a used bookstore.
Not that any of it meant a thing. In the afterword of the final volume, the author had mentioned that the title came to him offhandedly while playing a zombie shooter, that he'd pitched it to his editor as a joke, and that he'd been stunned when it actually got approved.
Not a single person on the air knew anything, so they endlessly repackaged the same recycled statements, reacted to each other as though it were all fresh insight, and filled the airtime with meaningless noise—until I finally got sick of it and turned the radio off.
"Hnnngh~!"
As I stretched, two hills unfolded grandly beneath my view—hills that had never existed in my past life.
squish
The legs visible below my lounge shorts were white and slender, like a porcelain doll's.
Two years, and I was thoroughly accustomed to this girl's body.
I felt nothing anymore.
I reached both hands into the sleeves of the black tracksuit I'd tossed carelessly on the floor and pulled up the zipper.
Zzzzip.
"Ow?!"
Every so often, like in my past life, I'd zip up absentmindedly and the zipper would catch on hills my previous body never had—and a small pang of pain would follow.
Dammit.
To think I'd only get to touch these after dying, when in my past life I'd have given anything to. I chased off the inexplicable melancholy with a brief massage.
Those two masses, as if the word "pillow-soft" had been sculpted into physical form, kept slipping out between my fingers even as I kneaded them, proudly flaunting their texture.
Ugh, the feel of them is pointlessly nice...
Leaving behind two great masses I couldn't brag about to anyone—and had no intention of trying—I headed toward my familiar workplace.
A stylish white building set against a backdrop of seaside scenery.
Neatly arranged antique décor.
A refined cafe you'd drift into almost by accident, just passing through Yokohama.
Kanagawa Prefecture's pride, The Black Boss of Yokohama, opened at eleven in the morning, closed at six in the evening, and its best-selling menu item was the special lunch served for two hours starting at noon.
For the past two years, I had spent my days working here as a waitress.
"Good work today."
"You too, Master."
"Mm."
Master was an old man who had used his severance pay to buy a small building on the outskirts of Tokyo and run a cafe. He preferred being called "Master" over being addressed by his name.
"Get home safe, now."
Normally a man of few words, he would always see me off in that gruff voice when my shift ended and I came out changed.
"Yes, Master."
The truth was, this man was a character from the original story.
I'd been able to find this place because the episode where the protagonist, Shikishima Yuki, collapses in the street after a brutal battle and is treated in a shuttered shop had described the location in detail.
It was one of the few quiet, everyday events in , so it stuck with me.
In that story, after the great battle that had swallowed all of Japan, Tokyo included, the shop lay shattered in pieces—and Yuki, returning to this place, stares into an empty glass filled with rainwater and despairs.
But for me, it was also the place I'd thought of first—somewhere in those three days after arriving in this world, while I wept and floundered in shock and anxiety, one place had stood out as the one that could convince me: 'if this place exists, then this world is that world.' And so I'd come staggering here without any plan at all.
'We're closed,' 'One special lunch, please,' '...Fine.'
I can never forget the kindness of Master, who instead of throwing out the wretched girl who'd shown up at closing time, fed her. Above all, there was the kindness of how, when I asked about part-time work, he agreed without asking much of anything.
"What are you spacing out about?"
"Ah... sorry. I was just thinking about something."
"Nothing to apologize for."
Our conversations always went like this.
Within his gruff, clipped words hid a quiet undercurrent of worry.
Probably because he'd lost a daughter in the past...
"Oh, by the way, Hikari."
"Yes?"
"You sure it's all right not to be going to school?"
"Ahh~ I graduated middle school early so I could get a job fast, and now I'm trying out all sorts of things."
A lie.
I had never enrolled in, let alone graduated from, a middle school in this world.
And considering what lay ahead, I wouldn't have the leisure to hold down a job, either.
"Even so, giving up on high school entirely is going too far. You're still young."
"I'm fine, really. Working at the shop I stumbled into by chance is fun—I want to learn more."
A lie.
I had known about his shop through the original story.
The reason I'd asked to work part-time in the first place was that I knew keeping myself alive would be easier if I leaned on the heart of a man still grieving for his dead daughter.
"Barely two years of slacking, and if you throw it all away completely, you'll be no good to anyone."
"......"
"Any time you feel like going to high school, get in touch."
"Yes. Thank you, Master."
Back when I'd first arrived in this world.
Even when a silver-haired girl who looked unmistakably like a teenager, with a completely Western appearance, abruptly declared she wanted to work part-time, Master had agreed.
And so the days went on.
Then one day, Master casually asked about my family situation—me, still dutifully showing up for shifts during school hours.
After that question, Master never once brought up my family or my parents again. His gruff manner remained unchanged, but I could feel his kindness deepening.
"......"
Was it guilt over the lies that deceived his goodwill—or the shame of knowing, without permission, the story of his lost daughter that he never once revealed until the end of the story?
With that lie as my last, I never lied to him again.
I showed Master, and Master alone, as much of my true heart as I could.
Even if I kept the truth from him, I refused to deceive him any further.
And still, without pressing me about anything, he quietly kept helping me.
"I'm really fine."
"...I see."
With my upward-slanting eyes, the smallest smile turned my face into something like a strange, sly squint.
Anyone could see how suspicious I looked.
And still, he chose to believe in me.
"Get home safe. Things have been unsettled lately, all sorts of rumors flying about."
"Yes, Master."
If a worker with an awkward smile and a cafe's master had found themselves with a bit more time and a bit more ease, perhaps they might have opened the doors of their hearts to each other and become something like family.
But for now, this was the most comfortable distance the two of us could manage.
From Ishikawacho Station, where my part-time job was, to my home in Shibuya took about thirty minutes by train.
In Japan, 2011, smartphones were just beginning their real spread.
I wasn't in a position to buy one yet, so with Master's help I'd gotten a flip phone with a data plan instead.
Word had it that if you bought any phone capable of receiving TV broadcasts, by some means or another, a vicious fee collector would come knocking, demanding the public broadcaster's reception fee like a demon.
I don't want to get tangled up with anyone else.
I had no one to exchange messages with anyway, and I'd given up on further schooling, so the only thing my phone was really good for was contacting Master.
Looking around blankly at the train car, I could see plenty of people still reading books or newspapers.
What is Magical Girl HAZARD?
The phrase on everyone's lips, spoken alongside that shocking opening declaration.
Just what was a magical girl?
What was the destiny carried within the stars?
And toward what end would this incident guide the girls?
That was the word people played with in pure, innocent curiosity.
And every time I saw it, I was afraid.
Which is why, in this entire world, I was the only one preparing for it.
The next station is Shibuya. Shibuya.
Past the vacant lot at the edge of a Shibuya back alley stood my small, shabby apartment.
Don't let the word "apartment" bring Korea's version to mind, though.
To a Korean's eye, it was probably closer to one of those old multi-unit villas.
Two years of living there had confirmed it: aside from me on the third floor, no one lived in the building at all.
Paying rent was simple—you left a cash envelope under the sign the landlord had put up on the appointed day.
Apart from a note with instructions that appeared at my door about a month after I entered this world, I've never seen a single trace of another person here.
Creepy, admittedly—but finding a place in Tokyo where a girl who looked barely old enough for high school could live alone in peace was next to impossible, so I just made my peace with it.
There's a lot about this place even I don't know.
Tucked away beyond the alley in a spot you'd never stumble upon by chance, the neighborhood was deserted despite sitting in the heart of Shibuya, giving it an almost desolate air.
And precisely because of that desolation, there was one thing I could do here without holding back.
Magic practice.
Every girl who received a star could use the Basic Magic: psychokinesis, blink, and causal healing.
And if you knew the secrets tied to your star, you could gain far greater power.
And I—among all of them—possessed the same power as the strongest four of the original story.
The strongest four.
Born three-star magical girls.
Four magical girls wielding an absolute power often likened to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—sometimes clashing with the original protagonist Shikishima Yuki, sometimes fighting beside her, and enduring to the very end of the story, every single one of them surviving until after the protagonist's death.
The Magical Girl of Death — dark navy.
The Magical Girl of Revelation — silver white.
The Magical Girl of War — rust red.
The Magical Girl of Plague — black.
The girls bearing these four colors of starlight possessed the title of magical girl along with epithets that radiated an aura a million light-years apart from ordinary humans—and the divine authorities to match.
And what was needed to wield that authority?
Blooming.
The true power of a magical girl.
The stage at which one could genuinely accept the destiny pouring down from one's starlight.
The beginning of a magical girl.
And I had already achieved that "Blooming."
Which meant that, at this point in time, I was probably the only magical girl in the world to have completed it.
"...Transform!"