The Stars Are Beautiful, So Rough It Out
The Stars Are Beautiful, So Rough It Out
The Magical Girl Association.
The enormous building at the heart of the city was its headquarters.
A building that rose high enough to freely overlook people’s movements.
It was the optimal launch point for magical girls.
Unlike its modern interior, its exterior was dignified like an old castle. Walls painted in pastel tones transformed that dignity into a storybook dreaminess.
A symbolic building of the modern magical girl, it drew tourists from all over the world every day.
It was also the optimal place for magical girls to rest.
The upper floors were off-limits to civilians.
Everyone there was a magical girl or a former magical girl, and at most, the only other presence was unbound mascots.
There was no need to worry about anyone’s gaze whatsoever.
Red Vega was taking a break in one of those upper-floor lounges.
She lay on a sofa, staring blankly at the huge TV screen.
-She was really the best! As a junior from the same school, I really looked up to her. Really....
-She’s the same age as me but totally different! She’s so sharp... and brave....
-I heard she’s not taking the college entrance exam this year, so I thought I was jealous of her life, but I changed my mind! The exam wasn’t even a wall to climb for Red Vega!
-Despite the unprecedented simultaneous attack of A-rank monsters, there were zero deaths thanks to the magical girls’ swift response....
It was all content praising magical girls while pretending not to.
On the news screen, students from the same school were cheering for Red Vega, using their smartphones to make a digital sign. Someone even jokingly bowed.
“Pfft....”
It was pretty funny.
As she’d thought, what she’d done wasn’t wrong. She could think that once again.
But it was still not enough.
If it hadn’t been for the Big Dipper Monster, what end would the university students have met? It was obvious without looking.
An A-rank monster could breach an Anti-Monster Barrier in minutes.
No matter how fast she got there, some would have lost their lives already. Red Vega knew this instinctively.
‘If a monster-vs-monster dispute hadn’t coincidentally broken out there....’
No, was it really a simple dispute?
What if it wasn’t infighting, but the Big Dipper Monster truly acted to protect those citizens?
Red Vega turned on her smartphone and searched the internet.
-Praise the true hero, Lord Big Dipper!
└Big Dipper’s a bit much; how about we call him Septentrion?
└Big D! Big D! Big D! Big D! Big D!
└You crazy bastards
Posts jokingly praising him were already up in the community for the university that was attacked today. Those had been screenshotted and spread everywhere, too.
There were some reactions saying that praising a monster should be discouraged no matter what, but most joined the joke, responding with praise or laughter.
These people weren’t serious, either.
Because the safety had come about by chance from a monster conflict, they could joke around like this.
But if this repeats.
If, little by little, in the public’s perception, the Big Dipper Monster becomes someone who protects, not someone who attacks.
Honestly, that monster being on our side isn’t a problem at all.
I’d actually prefer it.
The words he spoke today clearly held sincerity.
There had been no hostility in the emotions he sent until now.
Only bewilderment, pity, and concern. Things like that.
Why? Why would a monster worry about a magical girl like herself?
The long, tragic history between humans and monsters surfaced in her mind once more.
‘Still....’
Knowing it was a vain dream, Red Vega hoped nonetheless.
It was obvious she’d get seriously scolded if she told her senior this.
But she simply couldn’t stop wishing that his goodwill was real.
Of course, she had suffered defeat twice at his hands, but....
That was something to settle someday with revenge.
The problem wasn’t the fact that the monster was on their side. It was the opinion that would inevitably take hold the moment he was perceived as a protector of the public.
The argument that magical girls were useless.
Bitches who take all that money but can’t do a damn thing compared to monsters. She could see those words flying around as clear as day.
Red Vega didn’t want that reality to come.
Being a magical girl was her dream, and also her most beloved existence.
Even now, her room was plastered with all kinds of magical girl merchandise.
She didn’t mind taking abuse herself. But she hated the idea of the very value of a magical girl being negated.
“Then the answer is just one thing!”
[Guardian...?]
To never be ignored by that monster out of pity again, to prevent incidents like today, to stop whatever things may come in the future.
Red Vega sprang to her feet and shouted vigorously at her mascot, the red cat-like puffball.
“Just get stronger! Ribbon! Isn’t there a way to raise the brightness of my star more than this?”
“There isn’t, dumbass.”
Pink Deneb, who had thrown the door open and walked in, retorted.
“You’ve been at it less than a year and you’re already thinking of raising your brightness? Every time you do that, I get compared to you since our colors are similar. Take it easy.”
“I can’t! Now that Dilemma’s started moving, we need to become even stronger!”
“If you got stronger just by deciding to, I would’ve already been the top dog. You little shit.”
Pink Deneb dismissed her words as if they were trivial.
“A-hee. Don’t be impatient. We can’t save every person in this world anyway. Tens of thousands are still dying on the other side of the globe right now~ yeah? Donate what you can give. But take care of what you need to take care of. Never let go.”
Pink Deneb, who had been slinking around, took a beer from the fridge and drank it. She sat down on the sofa naturally and slapped Red Vega’s thigh.
“Don’t you know the impatient die young in a game where you risk your life?”
“Ugh... don’t curse me!”
“Curse you? This brat. It’s the seasoned advice of a senior.”
Pink Deneb, who had been sipping her beer a few times, then seemed to recall something and let out a small exclamation.
“Right. That university CCTV footage from today. We’re all going to watch it together later as critical data. You coming?”
“Really?!”
“What, wouldn’t you watch it? Three S-rank monsters gathered. We have to prepare. Suit yourself if you don’t want to.”
“No, I’m going! I’m definitely going!”
“Is that so.”
Chuckling, Deneb sipped her beer.
The drink tasted bitter today.
Leaving her junior’s cheerful voice behind, she thought of two people.
Blue Sirius, who was probably at home right about now, drunk, crying, and fallen asleep.
And the cause of it all, a certain man.
‘Han Jae-jung....’
Even after a long time, she could never get used to the pathetic state of the figure she once looked up to. She didn’t want to.
‘Amnesia... spouting such an obvious lie....’
Were we really such an unsightly bunch?
Her mood turning bitter, she crushed the innocent beer can.
**
“Fuck.”
It was a night that made me crave a cigarette, something I’d never once touched in my life.
Wrestling with the collapse of my ego and my own identity at this age—worries I should’ve already shed and graduated from in adolescence—was truly something to self-mock.
And the worry wasn’t even abstract. I couldn’t just gloss over it.
Am I not a simple Possessor, but Han Jae-jung with lost memories? But that doesn’t mean this body is undergoing Monsterization right now.
It’s complicated.
Complicated, and with no clues, it was an answer I couldn’t jump to conclusions about.
The stars were bright.
Still, it was a city night, so the pale starlight was hidden, invisible against the glow of the streetlamps.
As I stared blankly at that, faint and tiny memories popped up one after another, like stars.
Memory is said to be a chain, isn’t it?
Just like when connecting constellations, finding one star makes it easier to find the next.
As I wandered searching for memories as if drawing a line, a single fragmented memory completed itself before I knew it.
What took shape that way was Pegasus, a constellation commonly seen in the autumn sky.
The first one to attack me was Pegasus.
A monster with a horse’s head as a chest ornament and pure white wings on its back.
The rest of its body, apart from those two pristine white parts, was covered in thick muscle fibers like a serpent, making it grotesque.
-Did you also look at me and think, ‘horse-head’? Are you afraid of my hideous form?!!!
Starting with Pegasus, who suddenly snapped like that, the faces of monsters surfaced one by one.
They enjoyed my terror and never let me die in a single blow. Virgo especially had a strong tendency for that.
-Jae-jung, you can’t. Gonna die if you don’t run a little more? Hm? Our cute Jae-jungie. Move your body properly.
The way she talked sounded like we weren’t strangers meeting for the first time.
Was it Virgo’s idea to attack Han Jae-jung, to attack me? What the hell was our relationship?
Was Blue Sirius not the only magical girl Han Jae-jung was connected to? No, he could’ve gotten acquainted with several magical girls while dating her. But why would she be chasing me?
Anyway, I ran for my life from the monsters.
My body gradually accumulated wounds, and my stamina hit rock bottom.
The more I recall, the more fear wells up. At this rate, I’ll develop a phobia not just of the media, but of monsters too.
[That will create difficulties in future guardianship activities. Clearing your mind and creating a relaxed state is recommended. Searching for yoga methods that can calm the mind and transmitting them to the brain....]
‘Be quiet.’
I have to think about what needs thinking about.
And then, finally, lying there after Virgo’s beam, chewing on the fear of death as I’m eroded by the starlight the monsters deliberately fire at me.
‘Was their goal to spawn a monster within that fear? Other humans who turned into monsters probably feel similar emotions, don’t they? Did I have something that set me apart? Why me, specifically?’
There’s more than one or two things that are strange.
To begin with, why would Han Jae-jung, who feared death that greatly, choose suicide?
What secret is tangled up in this body?
What truth lies hidden beyond the many memories I still can’t recall?
“Hey, Belt....”
[What business do you have.]
“Do you know how to bring back memories?”
Even as I spoke, I felt ridiculous. What was I hoping for?
Grasping at straws, I asked the metal sphere beside me.
[The first method is meeting a subject holding clues to the lost memories, like today, to activate associative memory. The second method is the continuous execution of Quests.]
“...What?”
The Belt spoke smoothly, without hesitation.
[It is to strengthen your transformed form by gathering Star Fragments. When your star is completely activated, there is a probability of regaining your memories. The latter is recommended.]
Hearing its words, I fell silent for a moment.
I was dumbfounded.
The Quest reward wasn’t just my strengthening, but recovering my lost memories? A lifeline came from a completely unexpected place.
“Why are you only telling me this now?”
[Because you did not ask until now.]
It’s a fair point, but still kind of irritating. It should’ve told me this beforehand when it was explaining the rewards.
“T-then, the subject I have to ‘reenact.’ What’s that?”
[That is something the Guardian must find for himself.]
“No, shit, you’ve got no consistency.”
It said it didn’t tell me because I didn’t ask, and now when I do ask, why is it dodging.
Now that I think of it, there’s more than one or two things suspicious about this belt.
It’s a medium that lets me transform, and it’s only visible to its user, just like a magical girl’s mascot.
However, it coerces its user through actions like Quests and doesn’t show full cooperation.
Was it taken somewhere and modified? The more I think about it, the more questions pile up.
But at least I knew clearly what I had to do.
This Belt doesn’t lie.
It can hide the truth, but it can’t dress that truth up as something else entirely.
Therefore, the method for regaining memories is likely the truth.
“Right... so anyway, what I have to do is still the same, huh?”
After all, what I had to do hadn’t changed.
Execute.
Protect.
Advance.
[Quest occurring.]
“At this hour of the night...? Fine. The stars are lovely anyway, so I’ll sleep rough tonight.”
I rose from the bench and moved my body to the location the Belt had transmitted.
Now, it wasn’t just to grow stronger and survive.
I had to move to find my memories.
**
“Then, shall I play it?”
“Yes! Um... what about Sirius-unnie?”
Red Vega asked as the CCTV footage began to play on the screen. The audiovisual room was packed not only with Red Vega and Pink Deneb but several other magical girls.
But Blue Sirius wasn’t there. It was strange, since she always attended these countermeasure sessions.
“That’s right! Our Boss Unnie isn’t here!”
“Hey, whoever taught that white pup of a Jap weird shit... ugh, forget it. The senior isn’t feeling well today, so she’s resting.”
“Ah, she’s sick?! Is it bad? I should go visit her right now—“
“Who’s worrying about who? Just forget it and look at the screen.”
On the screen, the Big Dipper Monster was once again pulling out new weapons and taking down monsters.
“He shoots guns too....”
“Monsters like that have popped up a few times before.”
“What about monsters who use such a variety of abilities?”
“Seriously, those bastards have no business ethics.”
“Seems not....”
The power to drive off A-rank monsters like swatting flies was impressive.
If something like that were a standard weapon, even soldiers could annihilate monsters by now.
Following that monster, Virgo descended from the sky.
“...Red Spica.”
“I’m Red! Red comes before Vega! That’s the rule! Don’t call that traitor Red!”
“It’s Virgo... please use the correct designation.”
“That’s right! That wretch is a monster! She’s someone who clung desperately to her age as a has-been and extended her life as a monster!”
“White Dabih, don’t say things like that!”
“You, seriously, get off the internet!”
The room became noisy at her appearance. Various voices mixed together in confusion, making it hard to tell who was saying what.
A dark crimson shadow fell over their faces.
It was because of the starlight flashing beyond the screen. An overwhelming amount of light.
Faced with the power that swept away most of the A-rank monsters in an instant, the chattering girls shut their mouths.
After that, the Big Dipper and Virgo clashed.
Dark crimson starlight and green starlight collided fiercely.
A flash burst from the gun, and Virgo withstood it without any difficulty.
Just from the aftermath of the battle, tiles shattered like crackers, and the CCTV shook madly as if caught in an earthquake.
That brief battle was enough to command silence.
“We have to fight something like that...?”
Someone murmured. It was despairing, yet no one refuted it. They knew they should, but no one could carelessly say it out loud. Baseless hope only provoked irritation.
The victor was Virgo.
She had struck at an opening using the Dual Magic unique to binary stars.
And after a brief moment passed, the starlight began to scatter from his body.
“...Huh?”
His body slowly started changing from a monster’s form into human attire.
He’s suddenly powering down?
No, since he’s a monster, is it rather a disguise?
It was peculiar. There would be no reason to make that choice right in the middle of a battle.
Red Vega wondered about the true intention behind that action.
And inwardly, she was also a bit glad. If she could discern his disguised appearance, she could potentially apprehend the monster during his everyday life.
A monster’s disguise is remembered blurrily by most humans, but to a Star-Bearer, its form is clearly visible.
She was a magical girl. She could distinguish monsters even in daily life.
As a result of observing with that focus, she unfortunately couldn’t make out his face.
Because before all the starlight scattered and vanished from his body, he instantly reverted to his monster form.
Maybe it was a strategy to make them let their guard down.
“Ugh, what the heck....”
Feeling let down, she leaned her body, which had been drawn close to the screen, back into her chair.
“I thought we’d at least get to see his disguised form, right...? Huh? Unnie?”
Disappointed at the lack of results, Red Vega turned to her side to seek agreement.
But Pink Deneb’s state was strange.
“No way....”
She had a grave expression, as if she’d caught on to something extremely dangerous.