LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 28
The first light of the Glass Star is connected to dreams.
The dreams that the girls discover and find.
The second light of the Glass Star is connected to fate.
Fate that leads dreams through connections with others.
The third light of the Glass Star is connected to the world.
A world that declares a territory and accepts others.
After the second Red Broadcast passed, when four Magical Girls proclaimed to the world…
The only territory most Magical Girls could reach was the realm of [War].
BAM!
“I really thought of dodging this as much as possible.”
The moment I confronted that guy who is described as the strongest, the merit of being Born 3-Star disappeared like smoke.
TV news was blabbering about the era of Magical Girls that would begin with the inauguration of the Union Council chairman of [Start].
“In the original, the true era of Magical Girls starts when they hold the power of life and death over ordinary people…”
CLINK
“Uh?!”
“Hmm?”
The Master, adjusting the coffee grinder, glanced at me, who was doing the dishes like it was no big deal. He then turned his gaze back to the grinder and spat out.
“If you’re not feeling well, just go.”
“…It’s not that day.”
“Who said what?”
“When you brought me medicine asking if I had a cold or was feeling nauseous, it was a bit embarrassing, wasn’t it?”
“Seems like you’re just picking words, huh?”
The Master chuckled for a moment before waving his hand to signal me to take a break.
I sat on a bench in the shade at the back of the cafe, looking at the view of Yokohama Port.
SWISH
SWISH
White ships came and went beyond the blue horizon, separating the sea from the sky.
The cloudless beach was too clear and pure, in contrast to my gloomy feelings.
Even while looking at the clear sky, I was lost in complicated thoughts when I heard Sato Hana’s voice.
“Hii~kaari~chan~”
TIPTOE
Sato Hana, swaying her Side Tail, quietly approached after checking if that bad uncle, who used to smoke here, was around.
The Master in Hana’s heart seemed to be in a delicate position of being rude while also feeling uncomfortable when actually faced.
Having seen each other for two years coming in and out of the cafe, we should be close by now.
“Hana-chan.”
“Hehe, were you watching the beach? I always do that when I feel stuffy in my room.”
WHOOSH!
Hana playfully climbed onto my lap.
Her high body temperature as a young child felt a bit uncomfortable in the summer heat, but I didn’t show it and hugged her tightly.
If I showed even a bit of dislike, this kind and sensitive child might get hurt.
“When are you thinking of going to school, Hana-chan?”
“Umm~ well, Mom and Dad said I’ve been away from school for too long, so I’m supposed to start in 5th grade.”
“Are you scared to start from a higher grade?”
“No! I learned everything in the hospital! Up to 6th grade!”
“You’re so smart, Hana-chan.”
“Hehe!”
Hana, who turned around laughing at my words, continued.
“So, they said maybe starting middle school and making new friends would be better than returning to the same elementary school where my classmates are.”
“I see, that’s a valid point.”
Thinking about it, it might be better for Hana, who had been away from school for 5 years, to start confused in 1st grade of middle school rather than squeezing into a class where everyone else already knows each other.
“Hana-chan is smart and kind, so you’ll make friends in no time.”
“Hehe, but my very first best friend is Hikari-chan!”
“Thanks, Hana-chan.”
“But I’m really looking forward to going to middle school in 2 years!”
“…….”
Two years.
Will this world still be whole by then?
Will I be able to see Hana in a school uniform?
“Hana-chan.”
“Yes?”
“Do you still want to help people a lot as a Magical Girl?”
“Yes!”
“I see.”
“I see~”
I hugged Hana, who echoed my words.
Hana let out a GIGGLE, completely trusting me.
You see.
I want to see it too.
Hana helping people, wearing a school uniform, going to school with friends.
In that moment, I realized.
“Ah…”
This is my true desire.
The answer had already been decided for me.
I will save this world.
It didn’t require a grand resolve as I thought.
It started with a very small wish.
The huge choice that might change everything was made during our trivial conversation on the bench at the back of the cafe on a hot summer day.
“It might be that I couldn’t see my true feelings amidst complicated thoughts.”
Since the day I decided to help Haruko, I had made my last resolution that I couldn’t organize inside me until I finished what happened in Kabukicho.
*
“Yamashita, can you hear me?!”
“Yes, I’m listening, so please stop asking, Ishikawa-san. This is the 21st time.”
“What do you mean by ‘san’! I am the honorable Team Leader of the Metropolitan Police’s Magical Girl Task Force, Tsugumi Ishikawa!”
“Yes, Team Leader, that’s the 33rd time.”
HUMPH!
Burning with motivation, the girl with prominent eyebrows, dressed in a Magical Girl outfit inspired by police uniforms, patted her unmotivated subordinate and entered the conference room.
Yamashita felt a sense of shame being called by a girl who looked like she could barely be in high school.
‘How did I end up babysitting the granddaughter of the police chief?’
During the Kabukicho incident, Yamashita had taken leave and was drinking at home.
He was pondering which area between Sagawa and Gunma would be comfortable for his housing contract when he received a call from the police chief.
“Yamashita-kun! Is it true that you helped to save citizens together with a Magical Girl?!”
“Uh…?”
With remnants of elitist cop left in his mind, Yamashita hastily opened his PC to check the news.
An article about what happened in Kabukicho.
There it showed the face of an unnamed hero evacuating citizens.
[It is the police’s duty to protect citizens’ safety!]
He imagined how a hot-blooded cop would say that.
That hot-blooded cop vanished into the darkness after revealing neither his name nor rank.
A face just like his own.
A cop who didn’t reveal his rank.
He didn’t know how, but this seemed better than Sagawa or Gunma’s backcountry.
NO LIST HIGH RETURN.
‘This is an opportunity.’
Yamashita was a man who never missed an opportunity since graduating from Tokyo University with a law degree.
“Of course! It’s the police’s natural duty to protect citizens! As soon as I heard the citizens were in trouble, I rushed right out!”
“Very good! We needed someone in the Metropolitan Police who has experience cooperating with Magical Girls!”
“Hahaha!”
“You will now be the deputy leader of the Magical Girl Task Force!”
“Hahaha! Thank you!”
And present day.
“Yamashita! Where did that bravado go when you evacuated citizens?!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yamashita! Why is the training of the Magical Girl Guard delayed so much?!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yamashita! Where did the pudding from the office fridge go?!”
“It wasn’t me.”
“Isn’t it a lie when only you and I are left in the office and the training isn’t done yet?!”
“I’m sorry.”
The police department only had two members on that day, a makeshift team.
Yamashita had become the only errand boy there. And now, as a part of the ‘Nationally Affiliated Magical Girl Organization,’ he found himself here today for the launch ceremony of the Magical Girl Union Council.
WHISPER WHISPER
The conference hall lacked enthusiasm as dozens of people were seated around a central table that could hold hundreds more as spectators.
Various individuals were moving about, looking for their seats.
‘It’s like a proper government assembly.’
Already many people had taken their seats, and the central table was occupied by well-known Magical Girls and representatives from companies or official organizations.
Some were recognizable just by their faces, while others sat looking perplexed as if they had been pulled from somewhere.
‘What is this self-governing organization stuff?’
Behind these girls, adults constantly stood up, exchanging opinions through radios or phones.
They occasionally whispered instructions to the girls or confirmed the details noted in their notepads.
‘So, are the Magical Girls just puppets?’
Tsugumi took her seat at the spot with her name on it at the central table.
Yamashita stood quietly behind the chair.
Unlike the surrounding adults, he thought it was funny to be in a subordinate position to that girl.
[Team Leader of the Magical Girl Task Force Affiliated with the Metropolitan Police]
‘What in the world is this nonsense?’
To Yamashita, this launch ceremony looked no different from adults playing politics while holding paper dolls against the screen.
THUD
THUD
As all but one seat were filled by the Magical Girls, Sumire Fujimoto, as the temporary representative, struck the gavel to signal the start.
Besides the ‘assistants’ standing behind the Magical Girls, everyone entered the spectators’ seating.
“From now on,”
“I will begin the launch ceremony of the Magical Girl Union Council and the inauguration ceremony of the chairperson.”
Sumire’s eyes remained fixated on the single empty seat.
Will she actually come?
Will she sit there as the representative of the Magical Girls?
Will she join Fujimoto in ushering in a new era?
Sumire wished just a little that the righteous dream she held would remain forever as just a fleeting dream.
Fujimoto’s way couldn’t grasp dreams, after all.
‘Or maybe if it’s her, she might show a new direction…’