NOVEL NEXT Chapter 130
A magical girl raid with identical faces.
While sorting out the minor cracks occurring in Europe, China, and Korea, this eyewitness report was relayed to the grand council through the representatives of the European Union, Myungwol, and the White Wing Unit.
Pierce the magical girl Chloe
Memory the magical girl Lina
Shoot the magical girl Lee Min-seul
Since last winter, these battle magical girls have steadily grown stronger through numerous 1v1 matches and real combat, reaching 2-Star Awakening.
Compared to the born 2-Star magical girls, their exceptional battle sense was hard to distinguish from their peers. The report mentioned that they were attacked by someone with an identical face.
“The observation station said it felt more like a monster’s energy than a magical girl…”
As soon as I heard that news, I sat down with Lina, who had come last to report this fact, to listen to more details.
“But it’s strange.”
“What do you mean?”
Lina seemed to be recalling memories while twisting one of her pigtails with her hand. Her face showed an expression of discomfort.
“Seeing an unknown opponent with the same face as mine must have been an unpleasant memory for her too.”
Thinking of the vague discomfort that surfaced, Lina gradually continued her story.
“When she saw me, she started shouting that she was going to tell Mom, mentioning our house and the clothing store my mom runs. I thought, ‘Could she really be another me?'”
As I listened to her, a chilling thought crossed my mind: perhaps the monsters mimic magical girls and read their hearts.
“Among the things she said, she kept talking about how we were deceived by the nation, how monsters tricked us and sent us to America, and how America was an even worse hell… something like that? She kept mumbling about things I don’t know.”
“Huh? America? Why suddenly America?”
America is a perfectly safe land currently protected in turns by Hecate, the Freedom Magical Girl Alliance, and the golden magical girls of Elysion.
“I don’t know. But that girl was really odd. She made a ton of rookie mistakes like a newbie in a friendly match, yet she showed no hesitation to kill. It was creepy.”
As I listened to Lina, I recalled the familiar appearance of magical girls I had seen somewhere and a certain world.
A magical girl not skilled in handling starlight.
China, forcefully overpowered by monsters.
Used to killing.
That world is the original world of Magical Girl HAZARD.
“…No way.”
“Huh? Do you know something?”
“Oh, no. Just wondering.”
“Yeah.”
“Did another Lina try to take the Glass Star?”
“Yep! Exactly. I wonder what she was planning to do with it. After all, magical girls should be helping others and blooming their dreams.”
“……”
“Sigh… Anyway, it feels uneasy. I miss my mom…”
“I see. Sorry for holding you up for too long.”
“It’s fine.”
I forced a smile on my face as I sent Lina off with words of gratitude, and she returned to China through a warp gate.
“……”
I calmed my slightly racing heart and returned to the conference room. The representatives of magical girls from various countries were discussing with serious expressions.
“Isn’t it a type of monster that reads thoughts and mimics appearances… a doppelganger?”
“Hmm, are they aiming for psychological shock by mentioning home or family?”
“In that case, it would also explain why they imitated the battle leaders.”
“Exactly. It’s only natural to imitate the strongest and most influential.”
“Instead, they might have intentionally chosen to imitate the weakest members to evoke sympathy, so we’ll have to note that in the manual.”
Dorim, Himari, and Sumire were analyzing thoroughly, treating the opponent as a pure monster without getting flustered. Their inherent rationality likely led them to consider that the monsters could attack in this way.
“Hmm, so you said they were weaker than the ones they mimicked?”
“Right. The squad members said they operated starlight poorly, almost like a newbie who hasn’t trained at all.”
“What? Are they seriously that pathetic? Just a monster that can only do psychological attacks?”
“Don’t underestimate them. There might be a tendency for that type of attack to work better.”
“True, it is a dirty tactic.”
Ichika was questioning Park Saebyeok purely out of curiosity, while Park Saebyeok explained in a calm but firm tone.
Amidst the magical girls discussing strategy and combat, Lee Meirin looked at me with a grave expression.
“I have a… concerning point.”
“……”
When Lee Meirin, who usually dozes off or slacks off during meetings, raised her hand seriously, everyone turned to her. With trembling eyes, she looked at me, and I realized what unease she harbored.
Perhaps I thought I would never have to talk to them about it.
“Among the things that fake magical girl Lina said, she mentioned that a certain operation the Chinese government decided to execute long ago has been carried out…”
“Are you talking about the plan to evacuate the magical girls of China and Korea to America if they face problems?”
Dorim quickly understood what Lee Meirin meant, as she had stopped President Yang and I from executing that plan last fall.
If China and Korea were endangered, the government would ensure the safety of high-ranking officials and isolate the magical girls in a controlled environment in America. This was a plan to swiftly assimilate their transcendent healing abilities under a joint government.
“W-We were nearly forced to execute it due to the scavengers last year. But fake Lina claimed that due to monsters, China was on the verge of destruction this year, and they evacuated with high-ranking officials to America.”
“…Now that you mention it, Squad Leader Lee Min-seul said something similar.”
“Chloe mentioned that another version of herself was desperately looking for her friends.”
Park Saebyeok and Laura agreed with Lee Meirin’s words, and the magical girl representatives in the conference room instinctively felt the threads of these testimonies linking together towards a new direction.
“Those comments seem to differ significantly from the facts we know.”
“That’s right.”
“But they could be a scenario that might have happened.”
“…That could be true.”
“And there are details they wouldn’t know if they weren’t themselves.”
“……”
Lee Meirin may have proposed a horrifying hypothesis.
A truly terrible situation that Lina, Lee Min-seul, and Chloe might unknowingly have caused.
“Perhaps… just perhaps.”
“……”
“It’s an absurd thought, but what if the fake magical girls that came from the cracks are… versions of themselves from an alternate history?”
“……”
“…Oh, or maybe not. It could have just been a random thought.”
Killing another version of oneself from another place.
In a sense, a variant of suicide.
For the magical girls who subdued the fake ones for the safety of their peers and the removal of the cracks, this could be a shocking realization. As I anticipated that fear, the suffocating silence began to settle in the conference room, interrupted by a voice.
“That is probably not the case.”
“Hecate?”
Hecate, having finished her outside business, quietly sat beside me and continued the conversation.
“Even if they came from that history, I can assure you they are not themselves.”
“Why is that?”
“……”
Hecate looked at me with eyes that sought agreement.
Should I tell them about the world that has already been destroyed?
Should I explain how I twisted and protected the original history of this world to save them?
Her softly glowing red eyes held that question.
‘In a way, they might look like sisters.’
Eyes resembling mine.
Originally, Hecate would have unilaterally informed me of the facts without asking, but through interacting with many people, her eyes began to fill with warmth as she learned to communicate.
Warm red.
Those eyes were now becoming more like mine.
“……”
And the magical girls gathered here were firmly moving forward, fortified by their own thoughts, experiences, and trusts.
They were no longer fragile girls I had to protect unilaterally.
Equal companions.
“This world has already been destroyed once.”
“Destruction? Is that a past story? Related to the Goddess of [Start]…”
I shook my head at Sumire’s words.
“The time in this world has already been flipped once, and I know the original history of this destroyed world. I’m a foreign body that didn’t exist in that history.”
“Time is flipped? You mean we’ve already gone back to the past…?!”
“Yes, that’s why I have been leading magical girls towards their dreams, having foreseen the time of destruction.”
“The time of destruction… is that a history different from now?”
“Yes.”
I recounted what I once thought was unnecessary to tell them: a history that had passed.
“All the magical girls, except for the Apostles, who lived there… have died.”