Have You Ever Seen the Stars?
Have You Ever Seen the Stars?
[Wake up.]
“Ughk... guh!”
At the Belt’s call, I grabbed the information booklet that had been covering my eyes and shoved the artificial fluorescent light straight into my pupils. The sharp brightness of modern civilization sliced through my vision, and for a moment my dim consciousness cleared.
“Augh....”
The price was dizziness. My eyes, having failed to adjust, decided to glare instead, and my sight darkened again.
“Uh... excuse me?”
“Yes?”
Turning toward the voice, I found a familiar face.
“This is the counseling center, right...?”
“Ah, yes....”
I nodded awkwardly in greeting. As my vision bobbed up and down, I scanned the person before me.
That ornate outfit, unmistakable.
Red Vega.
‘Why is she here...?’
The girl’s appearance, exactly as I had seen her last night, left me speechless. It’s true that when a person is too startled, they end up in silence rather than making noise.
Like facing a monster, my breath caught and a cold sweat dripped like midsummer dew. A second encounter after only one day—was I supposed to call this fate or a curse?
While ordinary citizens tremble at the sight of monsters, I alone was trembling at the sight of a magical girl.
“So... you’re here for counseling...?”
“Ah, yes. I’m Han Jae-jung.”
“Oh, right. I am....”
Thankfully, that trembling wasn’t only fear.
Excitement.
“I know! You’re Red Vega, right?!”
Meeting an idol face-to-face after seeing her only on a screen was thrilling—no, it was more than that. I was elated. Yesterday had been too chaotic for it to fully sink in.
Now that I thought about it, I’d come to the world where I used to indulge my fan obsession and gotten a real chance to meet the characters I loved most.
What otaku could ask for greater joy?
‘There’s not going to be a sudden fight here, is there...?’
I shifted my gaze to the Belt. Fortunately, no quest had been issued. No need for a transformation.
“...! Yes! That’s right!”
Delighted that I recognized her, Red Vega grinned and struck a pose.
“Since you didn’t catch it a moment ago, let me introduce myself again!”
A flashy self-introduction began with a performance that sent a red star dancing off her fingertips.
“Hello! A comet into your heart! The red star, Red Vega, has made her entrance!”
“Waaaaaah!!”
Clapclapclapclap.
I clapped hard enough that no one could mistake it for a token gesture. The reaction was exaggerated, but none of it was forced.
Magical girls do a lot of public service, so Red Vega was probably a temporary counselor for some kind of event.
Red Vega has high self-esteem and a generous nature. Someone who openly accepts goodwill and returns it in kind—the archetypal good person.
By sending such a positive response now, I might even form a positive relationship with her later.
The ending of Magical Girl Golden Age is the death of every core magical girl.
Red Vega, as the main character, grows all the way to the final chapter, but in the end she dies.
And then the world ends.
‘No way I’m letting that happen.’
If getting to know the magical girls like this was all part of the connection needed to stop that insane ending, it didn’t feel bad at all. Even better that the Belt was quiet and she wasn’t meeting me knowing my true identity.
Positive thinking always makes the world a better place.
“Ahaha, seeing you respond so happily makes me happy too! Hup—one more star!”
“Th-this kind of fan service too...! Oh Red Vega, you are a true magical girl...!!”
Acting like an idiot was still the most honest reaction. Don’t people say you get dumber when you look at something you love? Besides, I genuinely meant it.
That aside.
‘So that’s Red Vega’s catchphrase. Even cuter in person.’
It could be mistaken for simple self-promotion, but there’s a very real reason why every magical girl has a line like this.
Actualization.
That measurement the Belt takes whenever I use a technique.
Magical girls naturally have the same standard.
In exchange for the power of a star, they are assigned a role.
That role embodies an ideal self they may not even know they possess, and the closer they come to it, the stronger they become.
This is why the magical girls’ strength lies in love and peace.
Their ideals originate from the hero who protects love and peace.
A catchphrase is a form of self-hypnosis required to further solidify that identity.
The act of reciting lines at odds with ordinary life, binding yourself more firmly to the existence of a magical girl.
That’s what those lines are.
So I didn’t find them embarrassing.
Even if she’s outgrown early childhood and still wears a frilly mini-skirt dress, twin-tails, and lines straight out of a children’s program!
Because Red Vega is a hero and an actress working to perfectly perform her own ideal!
‘Impressive.’
I could never do that with my face exposed. Even if I wanted to, this body would stop me anyway.
“Ahaha... I’m relieved you’re brighter than I expected. That’s right! That kind of spirit is the most important thing!”
“...?”
Oh, right. This was a suicide counseling center.
“Ah! So, why were you sleeping earlier? I was really surprised!”
“Just... tired?”
“...Ah! I see!”
That brief silence probably contained a thought like ‘you climbed onto a table and slept because you were tired, you absolute brute.’ I get it. But I hope you’ll understand too. Look, I was that tired, what else was I supposed to do?
A slightly awkward silence passed, and I spoke first.
“So... what do you do mostly in counseling? I haven’t really done this much.”
“Nothing special. I ask questions, and all you have to do, Han Jae-jung, is talk honestly.”
“Honestly?”
“Yes. Sometimes just talking honestly can put your heart at ease. For today, being honest is plenty enough!”
Red Vega gave a harmless smile. I could feel from that smile alone a confidence that she would do me no harm. Her experience in on-site rescue work came through.
‘Just as expected of a magical girl.’
So this is the smile of a hero who protects everyone. Impressed, I began to speak.
I couldn’t tell her much.
Nor did I choke up telling her about the hard times.
Because I’m not Han Jae-jung. I just pulled from the story in the suicide note and things I learned from the original work and gave a short, vague life history.
The more specific I got, the more I’d trip myself up later. Han Jae-jung’s life story ran dry in under five minutes.
“I see!”
However tragic the life story, Red Vega didn’t offer cheap pity. Her attitude toward a would-be suicide wasn’t bad at all. But...
“....”
“....”
“Um....”
“That’s it.”
“Excuse me?”
“I told you my whole life story.”
“Ah! Oh! Right!”
She’s naive. The ‘girl’ part of magical girl was definitely felt.
Another awkward silence flowed. Maintaining her harmless smile, Red Vega began flipping through a book she’d brought. That’s a manual for sure.
‘She came to talk to a suicide risk without even reading the manual?’
Given her age—still a kid not even ready for her first year in society—it wasn’t that strange. What sense does it make to tell a kid who can barely take care of herself with all her other business to take care of someone else?
So, what now?
Flicker.
In that instant, the ribbon decorating Red Vega’s chest area blinked red for just a moment. A signal, as if alerting her to something.
A deployment order.
The moment she saw it, Red Vega turned back with a dismayed expression.
“Ah, um....”
[Monster detected.]
Ah, fuck. Me too.
“I’m sorry, but would it be okay if we ended today’s counseling here? I have some urgent business.”
“Ah... I... see.”
I got up quickly, just like when I left the police station before.
“Hey!”
Red Vega was smiling softly.
“Thank you!”
“For what?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You were being considerate, right?”
“...No, I wasn’t.”
I really wasn’t.
“I’m sorry. Instead... next time I’ll bring you something good to eat!”
“Next time?”
“Yes! Next time! Same time next week!”
She pointed her finger down at this counseling room. It was a firm, unshakeable promise that assumed no refusal.
“Yes, then same time next week.”
“...! Yes, definitely!!! Next week!!! Same time!!!!”
What a bright, vigorous kid. This massive energy felt like it could drain even my own. I’d worried she might be depressed after getting wrecked by me, but thankfully it didn’t seem like there was any need to worry about that.
“Well then! The red star Red Vega, who came and went like a comet into your heart, will now take her leave first!!”
Having given a spirited greeting right to the end, Red Vega threw herself out the window rather than the door to exit the counseling center. A figure like a single fire-moth appeared beyond the window among the forest of buildings.
Of course, it was Red Vega. She was flying along in style, scattering her red starlight behind her. As my eyes followed her, the Belt’s order came again.
[Transform and eliminate the monster. Failure to comply will be penalized with death.]
“Yeah, I know. Stop nagging.”
Turning my back on her, I also shouted.
“Transform.”
[ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATION.]
I couldn’t exactly meet a gruesome end beaten to death by the Belt, could I? Given that I came to a suicide prevention counseling center, surely the polite thing to do is struggle against death as hard as I can.
[THE BIG DIPPER.]
Inside the empty room, a gloomier light than before flashed.
**
[MEGREZ.]
Turning the Belt’s buckle spoke not all my stars, but just one.
Megrez.
The name of the star connecting the bowl and handle of the Big Dipper.
When its name was called, a black halo emerged from the Belt, wrapping the green armor and coloring it black.
Spikes of dark green rose from the shoulder pauldrons, and the leg armor shifted to a sleeker design.
The darkest star.
Following the star’s true nature of linking, lechery, and love of drink, this role and character granted radical power.
That power was mobility.
Stretching both arms straight out and rounding my hands, starlight gathered in the space between and took on lurid substance.
The completed object was a bike.
I swung myself onto it without hesitation.
‘I don’t have a license.’
Well, do I have a vigilante license either? What’s a motorcycle license matter when I’m already covering my face and beating up magical girls and monsters?
Anyway, I already know how to use it. The controls were hammered straight into my brain just like the fighting methods, so I couldn’t be clueless if I tried.
Besides, this isn’t a bike that runs on roads.
‘Guess this is how I ride a bike I was too scared for my life to ride.’
Vroom.
This was the rooftop. I started the engine without a single thought for the fact that moving forward would mean falling straight off.
The bike charged without hesitation, as if feeling no fear at all.
I didn’t fall, though.
The wheels turned once—the sky folded.
Turned twice—I shot across the folded sky.
It was literally ground-shrinking. No—Heaven-Folding Art.
Distances that would take others minutes to fly covered in mere seconds.
I reached the quest site safely without even crossing paths with Red Vega.
This time it was a group.
Caterpillar-like bipedal monsters were swarming and sowing chaos throughout the city.
Right then, one monster under my feet was reaching its foul hand toward a civilian.
“That guy, seriously.”
I killed the bike’s engine. The bike that had been floating fine in the sky dropped vertically and lightly crushed the monster’s head under its wheels.
Bang—! Crunch!
The compressed head couldn’t hold in its ink-like blood and scattered it everywhere like a burst tomato. The spray was so wide it was like a volcano erupting, spewing evidence of what used to be a life in all directions.
Sadly, that black blood spattered onto the face of the person who’d been moments from attack. That stuff’s pretty gross; poor bastard. Especially if they’re someone who uses public transit.
They’re going to get a lot of stares on the way home looking for a shower.
“....”
“Bad luck.”
The person doused in blood seemed too shocked to even speak properly.
“...Uh, uh....”
“If you keep spacing out here, you’re going to get attacked more by those things over there. Got some room to spare?”
I pointed a finger behind them. Matching their insect-like appearance, the bastards swarmed like a cloud of bugs.
“Why are you still standing there? Wanna die here?”
“Uwaaaaaah!!!”
Good, scream nice and loud. That’s how you vent stress. The civilian, face gone white (though the black gore made it barely visible), finally fled in a frantic scramble.
With the civilian behind me, I looked over the monsters heading this way.
At that moment, the Belt spoke again.
[Deliver your entrance line.]
Ah, that applies to me too?
[It will assist in drawing out the star’s power. For your future as a Guardian, creating one starting now is advisable.]
Kill me now.
How’s anything going to come to me all of a sudden...?
‘Oh, there is one.’
I don’t even need to make one up. Isn’t imitation the mother of creation? I’ll just roughly follow some cool-sounding line someone already made.
—Have you ever seen a star?
What came to mind was the text from my first meeting with this world. The opening line of the Magical Girl Golden Age prologue.
Rolling my shoulders to loosen muscles stiff from the landing, I said:
“Have you ever seen a star?”
With those words, I charged into the monster swarm.