Snow White
Snow White knew who the magical girl was from her thoughts, even before her arrival. She came down the stairs from the entrance to the underground that had opened in the courtyard to have the black Snow White thrust a weapon at her.
Halna looked at the visitor and furrowed her brow, and the visitor, Kana, looked back at her without any diffidence at all. Her uniform was dyed in blood, and it was more difficult to find places that weren’t dirty. It was not only splatter from opponents. Her collar was sliced open, and her thigh, calf and back, and many other places were cut up deeply. But even so, she was standing there without even wobbling.
“I heard the students are supposed to gather in the courtyard,” said Kana.
“Ah…yes, they are,” replied Halna.
“So then, there’s nothing odd about my coming here. And there’s no reason for anyone to brandish a weapon at me when I’m shown inside. This thing—” Kana gestured behind her with her chin. “This shadowy Snow White—can you order it to put away its weapon?”
Halna’s expression changed from baffled to suspicious. “What are you going on about?”
“Is that really something you should be asking the incarnation of Caspar Vim Hop Seuk, Ratsumukana-honome-no-kami?”
Halna’s expression contorted in shock. “No… How dare you! What an outrageous lie.”
“Sorry—I got my memories back just a moment ago.”
“That’s absurd.”
“Does that sound familiar to you, Halna Midi Meren?”
Halna’s expression twisted once more. Hiding her face with her right hand as it became a mix of various emotions—upset, fear, shock—she removed her glasses and put them on again. She staggered and leaned one hand against the stone wall.
Snow White was tied up and lying there, but it wasn’t as if she was blindfolded. She’d had a fair amount of time to observe. She could still grasp what was on Halna’s mind without reading her thoughts.
“If you have any doubts, then go ahead and use magic to check.”
Halna shook her head violently and looked back at Kana. Her hands were trembling. She was clearly rattled; Snow White didn’t need to hear her thoughts to tell that much.
“No…wait.” Halna slowly straightened up and brought her hand away from the wall. “Master Caspar is… No… It can’t be. You were in prison.”
“Pythie Frederica deceived me. She took over the Caspar Faction.”
“No way… No way!”
“Halna. I want to ask about the two magical girls who were outside, ready to attack.”
Fear could be seen on Halna’s expression as she looked at Kana. To Snow White, Kana being a Sage just meant her trust in her was greatly damaged for being one of Grim Heart’s and Puk Puck’s lot, but at the very least Halna seemed to see her as a dignified and holy being. She was the ruler of the mages, so it wasn’t strange that she was an exalted being to them.
“It seemed they were being controlled,” said Kana. “By you.”
Halna’s expression was changing again. You could see her hesitation. Would she prostrate herself before Kana’s overwhelming seniority and beg her forgiveness, or would she settle this problem here in privacy where what happened would never get out? If everything was exposed, then Halna would lose her current position anyway. So then it wouldn’t be strange for her to think that she should just finish Kana off here, even if she was a Sage incarnation. Criminals of high status would sometimes become defiant when they were cornered.
Did Kana even sense that she shouldn’t push Halna too far? Snow White didn’t think so. Kana could still hold a conversation; meanwhile, Grim Heart had almost never talked, and Puk Puck had basically been lying even to herself. But that was like comparing apples to oranges. Kana came off as aloof. In fact, Snow White thought she seemed completely detached.
Halna drew in a long breath, and let a long breath out, and looked up at Kana. No respect could be seen there. Her fear had also faded. Kana narrowed her eyes. She was also badly wounded. She was wounded so badly that normally, she couldn’t even be alive, let alone standing. Snow White twisted around.
Halna put her hands out in front of Kana and yelled, “Wait!”
Snow White looked up from a strained position as she furrowed her brow. Wait for what? She didn’t get what Halna meant. But that action generated immediate results.
Snow White heard people rushing down the stairs. It was beyond rushing—Tetty and Mephis practically rolled down the stairs to come to them. The two of them slid between Halna and Kana, Tetty readying her mittens with both hands in front of her and Mephis glaring at Kana with a look like a beast right about to snap.
Kana kept one eye on Halna and the other on Tetty and Mephis as she put her back to the wall.
“What are you doing?” Kana asked Halna.
“I’m the one who should be asking that! Just what the hell did you do?!”
Kana understood Halna’s plan. She had cried out as if she needed help so the two at the top of the stairs would hear it. If she had simply called out to “come,” then Kana might have acted first. Her having waited a moment, not understanding what Halna was saying and doing, had allowed the enemy to call reinforcements.
Halna lowered her hands and spoke to Kana expressionlessly. “We’re at a critical juncture right now. You can’t just show up out of nowhere and start spewing nonsense. Follow my orders. I don’t want to get violent with a student.”
“You intend to commit treason?”
“Oh, please. I would never do such a thing. I simply need you to settle down.”
Halna most likely did not care about magical girls. Mephis and Tetty were no more than simple reinforcements. But was that the same for Kana? Were they not simple reinforcements, but functionally hostages?
The magical girl and mage stared each other down. Neither of them could make a move. But neither could they surrender. At this rate, if nothing happened, would they be glaring at each other forever? But this wasn’t the time for that. Just the hostage Snow White fully understood that there was no way nothing would happen.
“Principal!” someone called over Kana’s shoulder.
Snow White didn’t know how many times she had seen Halna looking surprised that day, but she was surprised again as she turned to that voice, and the Snow White homunculus reacted slightly.
The intruder—Calkoro—pointed at the homunculus and wailed, “That…that homunculus! I knew it! I knew you were in on this!”
She was enraged. Various thoughts were swirling in a whirlpool within her: about what the black Snow White was doing; about the seemingly abnormal mental states of the students; about the many black magical girls she had seen in the incident; about Diko’s altered corpse; about the defeated Musician of the Forest, Cranberry; and about just who had caused the incident, who the most suspicious person was if you calculated backward from the formulas used to guess the caster. The relative importance of the magical-girl class was greater in Calkoro’s heart than she was aware of herself. Normally, she would only be able to flatter Halna, but now she was yelling at her.
“What was inside the safe in your office?! Those homunculus bases—they have the exact same heights and weights as the students!”
Snow White could hear Calkoro’s inner voice. She could also hear what Kana would do. Snow White was just lying there, but it was more of a calculated risk than a gamble.
Halna was overwhelmed by Calkoro’s menacing scowl. If there had been a little more time, then maybe she would have been able to make up an excuse, but the Snow White homunculus moved first. Tetty and Mephis went for Calkoro a moment later. They would automatically destroy Halna’s enemies. Calkoro, who walked up with an intensely menacing look and clear hostility was, from where they saw it, none other than Halna’s enemy.
Now Kana was unguarded. She instantly circled behind Halna, grabbing her by the throat and the head.
“Order those three to stop,” she commanded.
“S…stop!” cried Halna.
Tetty, Mephis, and the Snow White homunculus turned around. They couldn’t move.
Still on the floor, Snow White bowed her head. “Thank you, Miss Calkoro. You’ve saved us.”
“Oh, well… Um, I… What’s going on?” Calkoro sputtered.
“Halna,” Kana said, ignoring Calkoro. “Undo the spell on Mephis and Tetty. Order the homunculus to drop its weapon.” She quietly added, “If I sense you’re using magic, I’ll immediately break your neck.”
Tetty and Mephis couldn’t move. Neither could the homunculus. Halna was trembling; she still seemed unsure.
“I have no intention of butting in to the Osk Faction’s affairs,” Kana told her.
Halna heaved a big breath as if her soul were leaving her body. “Fine… I understand,” she said. “Drop your weapon.”
“Calkoro,” said Kana. “Remove the ropes around Snow White…the magical girl lying there.”
Calkoro hesitated, but she did what Kana ordered. Snow White took Calkoro’s hand and stood up. She felt dizzy—not because she had been restrained. It was these ruins.
They were dark, stony, and damp farther inside. Up until this point, they’d resembled the ruins that Puk Puck had occupied. But there was one major difference: These ruins were warped. There were no straight paths, the corners of this room were rounded—and furthermore, the whole area was distorted. Despite how this should just be the entranceway of the ruins, most likely a room corresponding to the vestibule, and despite how what lay opposite the entrance to this room, beyond the heavy-looking stone doors, had to be the important part—even then, they were all enveloped by a strange presence.
Snow White leaned her back on the stone door.
She could not let the relic out. If they handed it to Frederica, it was basically over.
She could not give up. Hearing that voice from Kana’s heart, Snow White agreed.
Snow White hit herself hard on the cheek with her right fist. A sound just as loud as the noises of destruction they’d been hearing from outside rang through the room, and everyone looked at her.
“Let me do it, Kana,” said Snow White.
“What do you—? Ah.” Kana knew the answer to her question before she finished asking it. She nodded. “And you’re fine with that? …I see.”
Snow White also knew the answer.
“Halna,” Kana whispered in the principal’s ear. “You’re going to help me with something. Something very important that only you can do.”
Before hearing Halna’s answer, Kana turned to Calkoro. “I want your help, too.”
Calkoro looked back at her, then at Halna, then at the white magical girl standing there, and finally at Snow White, who had just gotten to her feet.
“Just what on earth is going on?” Calkoro asked in a pitiful voice.
Snow White faced Halna. “Please fuse me with the homunculus,” she said. “I will go into the ruins.”