Snow White
Her eyes seemed to see through everything. With her kind attitude, just talking with her was like an embrace, and she moved so elegantly, even in the school turned bloody battlefield. If you only knew what could be seen of her, you might never notice that her driving force was anger and sadness.
Her inner voice seemed to ooze blood. And not only in this moment. For over ten years, her heart had continued to bleed, and it did not know how to stop.
Snow White ignored the Lightnings conversing behind her—they seemed like they were communicating with one another somehow. She carefully steadied her breathing. That alone was difficult for her right now.
Old Blue hid her seething anger toward the Musician of the Forest, Cranberry. She understood that if she were to recall everything about those events, she might lose herself in rage. Some of those memories were dear, too. But she would put a lid on them, if needed. Old Blue could do that. She kept enough distance talking to Snow White so that the girl couldn’t hear her inner thoughts.
Snow White was a fearsome magical girl, but now that she was trying to fight Frederica, she was a reliable ally. She reported the information she had gathered from reading minds.
“Frederica’s subordinates are trying to gather in the courtyard, but your people are making it difficult for them,” Snow White told Old Blue.
“That’s good.”
“The students have also gathered in the courtyard, but…”
“But?”
“It’s usually hard to hear voices from that direction.”
“Hmm.”
“Judging from Pshuke’s voice when she was headed there, she was being mind-controlled.”
“That was the school principal.”
The principal had gone so far as to guard herself with magic to keep Snow White from listening in on her true intentions. There had been something hidden in the courtyard. The one managing the class was the principal. Putting together all these facts, the principal was nothing but suspicious. So that made sense to her. It did make sense, but it still made her angry.
Old Blue would immediately be able to read the anger of someone like Snow White, but Snow White still kept a calm tone and look on her face as she continued her report.
“I was able to confirm everything before Frederica showed up, but I’ve had trouble hearing people’s thoughts ever since.”
“Oho.”
Her back spasmed, having recently been struck by lightning. She felt faint from pain. Her magic not working well on the courtyard was typical, but she felt like it was more messed up than usual. Was her confusion due to her own injury, or had something gone awry in the courtyard?
She could hear Kana’s inner voice screaming out.
Ranyi was gone. Snow White already knew that from having listened to Old Blue’s thoughts.
Snow White had known that the students had been defending the courtyard, but she didn’t think she could go help them. She’d learned from Old Blue’s thoughts the things that Principal Halna had done. It was fair to assume that all the students in the courtyard were being controlled.
She perked up her ears and heard another voice. This person must have been in quite a lot of trouble, which made their voice reach Snow White more easily.
“One of your students…a magical girl who is close with Ripple is trying to stay hidden. She’s frightened.”
Snow White’s point was that the student was in distress, but Old Blue responded without any change in expression.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the time to save her. I’m sure she’ll hang in there.”
Old Blue did see that as unfortunate, but she had no hesitation. She would not waste time on making decisions that had to be made. That went all the more so on the battlefield.
Snow White had no time. Neither did she have the temperament for this. That’s why she worried and agonized. 0 Lulu was Ripple’s friend. She was thinking about Ripple. If possible, Snow White wanted to save her, but she couldn’t reach that far.
If only Snow White couldn’t hear thoughts, maybe she could have had a life relying on someone like Old Blue. But she could hear these thoughts from people.
“Ripple is…”
“We can deal with her after everything is done.”
An image of Ripple rose in her mind and didn’t leave. She was always either worried or angry. Even if she smiled, it was only sometimes.
✦ ✦ ✦
Calkoro
One, two, three swords swung up, crackling loudly as they shone with ominous charge. Now that things had come to this, her calculations meant nothing. Neither did she have the time to chant any spells. Her abacus was kicked up into the air and slid into a corner of the classroom. She reached out her hand practically reflexively, but even if she thought, I have to get them to let me go somehow, she couldn’t even cry out in the moment.
“Good-bye.”
She was going to die. She was going to be killed. Why had things wound up like this? Why were there so many Princess Lightnings? Nobody would answer. Her mouth moved to form “Stop it,” but her voice was shaking, and it wouldn’t make words.
“Hold on a minute.”
One of the Lightnings raised her hand. She had a flat device the size of her palm, probably a communicator. She put it to her ear and began nodding along.
“Master says not to kill her.”
After a delay, the swords were lowered one by one. Slumped on the ground and looking up at them, Calkoro heaved a deep sigh and fell forward onto her knees.
They’re not gonna kill me…?
She really couldn’t understand what had just happened. Things she could understand were probably in the minority, here. Raising herself up, wondering what was going on, she happened to get a whiff of a burnt smell. Before thinking about the reason why, she took a jump to the right side into the corner where her abacus was.
A human-sized dark red flame suddenly blew upward. The three Lightnings had reacted just a hair slower than Calkoro, but they still managed to avoid getting a direct hit. With their hair and costumes singed, they readied their swords, heading to the source of the flames, to the attackers in magical-girl masks.
Calkoro scooped up her abacus, maintaining her speed as she broke through the classroom window. The attackers’ masks were from the Star Queen series. They were different magical girls from the ones Calkoro had been fighting. There were no marks or dirt on their costumes, no signs they had been fighting. Calkoro also didn’t recall that magic.
Were they hiding? Or maybe…
They were fresh troops. Lightning shook the floor. The sounds of swords clashing increased in ferocity. The numbers were increasing. New forces were being sent in. This was a different force from the Lightnings. Jumping under some torn floorboards, Calkoro went under the floor. In the dark, crawling around like the mouse that was her motif, she kept on moving to wherever was quietest.
Someone had probably been here ahead of her. There were marks on the ground. The meandering trail aside from hands and feet—had she been dragging a long weapon?
What do I do?
She had gotten separated from the students. If Miss Ril and Arlie hadn’t blocked that lightning bolt, Calkoro would have died. Was Dory okay? Calkoro spat in frustration and turned around.
She remembered that there had been a broadcast saying to gather in the courtyard. It was fair to assume that at the point of broadcast, at least, the principal had been safe. If the security homunculus remained, or even if they didn’t and there was some kind of security system, that would be a lot better. If they focused on defending themselves while the two attacking forces destroyed each other, then eventually either the Inspection Department or the Information Bureau or something would come to save them.
Besides, Calkoro had no other prospects. If the students remembered the broadcast, then they should head that way. She should head to the courtyard. Even being under the floor, where it was hard to tell where she was, she could figure out her direction and position by calculating.
Calkoro inched forward even more cautiously than a mouse.