The Forgotten Past (2)
"H4301. And H4302. You two have succeeded in enduring the experiment to become heroes who protect the city.
From now on, you will live at another research facility, not here. There, too, you must devote yourselves fully to the experiments meant to turn you into heroes."
The facility's general director, who treated the young girls as something less than human, praised H4301 and H4302—who had survived the experiment—with a dry, emotionless expression and informed them they would be transferred to yet another secret laboratory.
"Hello…? I look forward to getting along with you."
H4302, with hair the color of a clear blue sky and water and eyes that shone like gold, offered a gentle greeting first.
"…Yeah."
Unlike H4301, whose face was hollowed out from the experiment's side effects and exhaustion, H4302 smiled despite the obvious fatigue.
'I don't get it. What could possibly be so fun?'
She must have suffered through the same mind-numbing experiments. There was no reason for her to grin so brightly.
H4301 simply couldn't understand her.
'Well, she'll be dead soon anyway.'
Whether she failed to endure like the other test subjects and died, or whether H4301 herself died first—the ending would be one or the other. That was what H4301 believed.
Thus, the two were moved from the large original facility to another secret laboratory, where they began living together in the new environment.
"Greet her. This is the new director who will guide you onto the path of heroes."
The director of the secret facility had rushed over the moment she heard new test subjects were arriving. Though she didn't look particularly old, stress and overwork had left her with thinning hair and heavy dark circles, giving her a haggard appearance.
"Hello!" "…Hello."
H4302 greeted brightly while H4301 responded with a sullen grumble.
"Now… you're telling me to experiment on these children?"
Seeing the two young girls, the director shook her head, saying such children should never be used as test subjects.
"So you're refusing the Alliance's orders… is that what I'm to understand?"
"T-that's…"
The general director's tone turned coercive at the mention of refusal. Though the facility director had voiced her objection, she knew exactly what kind of backlash would follow. After decades of drifting between research posts without settling, she had only recently joined the Alliance's secret project and earned her position as director. Because of that, she could say no more.
"Then… I'll return in one month. With a hero."
She gave them only a month, and the implication was clear: if no satisfactory results appeared, consequences would follow.
"Tch… what am I supposed to do with kids this young…"
The report explained that the girls had lost all prior memories due to a villain terror incident and possessed highly valuable abilities with immense potential. The director felt a deep ache seeing two girls who could have been her own daughters treated as mere test subjects, identified by nothing but a few lines of text and no names at all.
Yet she knew that refusing the experiments would bring far worse disaster. In the end, she chose to subject them to harsh and dangerous procedures. Instead, she tried to give them purpose by suggesting they become not ordinary heroes, but "hero magical girls."
"H4301… your eyes and hair resemble the light of the gem called Seraphinite. From now on, I'll call you Seraphina."
"Seraphina…"
"And for H4302, I'll give the name Aquamarine. It suits her hair, which resembles the clear sky and water."
"Aquamarine…!"
Seraphina and Aquamarine—the names of gems matching their hair colors became their own.
"How do you like these clothes? Aren't they cute and pretty?"
They were neither the white rubber-like suits reserved for experiments nor the shabby white gowns worn between tests.
"Why… are you giving us these clothes?"
"Once you become adults, you will be heroes who protect the city and its citizens. These are the hero costumes that best match the names Seraphina and Aquamarine."
The flowing, colorful dresses and magic wands became their hero costumes.
"Hero magical girl. Doesn't it have a wonderful ring to it? It's a special identity that belongs only to the two of you—something no one else has."
It was the first meaning given to their lives. For girls who had spent years as nameless test subjects destined to be used and discarded, the title "hero magical girl" was a precious gift. That identity became the reason they longed for the future and the strength that let them endure the grueling experiments.
After countless harsh trials, the two girls finally reached adulthood and could act as heroes.
"Hero magical girl Magical Seraphina!" "Hero magical girl Magical Aquamarine!"
"In the name of heroes and magical girls, two forces of justice… we shall judge you villains!"
Wearing the flowing dress costumes the director had prepared, they began operating as heroes under the name "hero magical girls."
Yet the hero world proved just as merciless as the experiments they had survived. They could only rely on powers artificially created in the secret laboratory, and having never gained real combat experience alongside other heroes, their teamwork often faltered and mistakes piled up.
Still, the two girls refused to give up. They were no longer H4301 and H4302, test subjects doomed to die inside the facility—they were proper heroes named Seraphina and Aquamarine. They were magical girls, symbols of hope, carrying the mission and responsibility to protect the city and its people from villains.
They forged their own combination through blood and sacrifice, training relentlessly until it became flawless. Only after defeating their fifth villain did they finally succeed in subduing one without a single scratch.
"Aquamarine… we finally did it with our own strength…!"
"Let's work even harder from now on… and become an amazing hero magical girl duo!"
For the first time, the two girls who had once lived only by others' definitions of success and failure tasted the thrill of accomplishing something through their own efforts. That exhilarating pride drove them forward with renewed vigor.
As the number of villains they defeated grew, they were forced to face increasingly powerful and dangerous foes. They were the pinnacle of the Hero Alliance's secret research technology, and the Alliance placed enormous expectations upon them. To satisfy her superiors, the director began subjecting them to ever harsher and riskier procedures.
At first, she administered drugs that temporarily spiked their adrenaline to boost ability output. A week later, she injected special compounds into their autonomic nervous systems to grant faster reflexes and judgment. Another month after that, she performed electrical procedures on their central nervous systems and brains to dramatically increase ability output while dulling pain perception.
Month after month, the procedures continued. Over the course of a single year, the two girls underwent nearly ten major and minor experiments and surgeries. They had to endure far greater hardships than they had as H4301 and H4302, yet they could not break.
But no matter how many enhancements they received, their young bodies could not withstand the strain forever.
"Aquamarine…?! Are you okay?!"
Aquamarine suddenly collapsed, blood streaming from her nose without warning.
"Seraphina…?! What's wrong all of a sudden?! Grab my hand!"
Seraphina began staggering and falling mid-battle, frequently suffering sudden shortness of breath. The girls' fragile bodies were breaking down while the villains they faced only grew more vicious. The constant pressure of being thrown into battle weighed heavily on them.
The two magical girls, who should have been the shining light of hope protecting the city and its people, were fading like the dying flame of a light bulb.