Sally Raven
There had been a lot of fun in the magical-girl class. But at the end of the end, once it was over, things had wound up being sad. Now that things were like this, there was no helping it. Even if she remembered the fun times, things had come to a sorrowful conclusion in the end.
Fighting together with the real Dark Cutie and giving everything she had to defeat the enemies may have been the memory of a lifetime, but while Sally had been engrossed in fighting, her classmates had lost their lives, the magical-girl class had come to an end, and those who had survived had all gone their separate ways. She had been unable to keep her promise with Pshuke, too. If she had been alive, she would have let Sally have a storm of verbal abuse, but now there was none of that, either.
Could she even say that she’d done well? She felt like she’d only ever been saved by others. Ultimately, she had clearly had someone else protecting her.
Her life goal had been to become a Cutie Healer. Her going into the magical-girl class had also been to advance in her career. Doing well there, trying to get along well with her classmates, wanting everyone to get along, wanting to do well during rec time, wanting to make detours after school to eat something nice, and wanting to have a whole bunch of customers at the ramen stall during the cultural festival—all of it was supposed to have been for Cutie Healer, but now that it was over, it didn’t feel that way anymore.
Being at Lightning’s whims, being consoled by Ranyi, sharing a look with Diko that said, “We both have it tough, huh,” and nodding at each other, letting the cursing that overflowed from Pshuke in one ear and out the other—it didn’t feel like any of these things had been for her future or to become a Cutie Healer. Even the most terrible memory, having been attacked in the mountains by a group of homunculi, now she could look back on as a great adventure that hadn’t been so bad at all.
The magical-girl class had been shut down. The principal, who had secretly been doing biological modification on the students, had lost her life during the outlaws’ attack, and the ruins, where something wild had really gone down, had also been sealed away. Young magical girls would again gather in the same place.
The magical-girl class was over. It was gone. For about a month, just remembering it had made her cry. Now she was able to think back on what Dark Cutie had told her, and she could cheer herself up by saying, “How can a protagonist do nothing but cry?”
That was when Sally received an unexpected job offer.
After graduation, talk of Cutie Healer had ended with the closure of the magic class. Right as she had been renewing her determination to start from square one as a candidate, she was invited to work on an anime. Unfortunately for Sally, it wasn’t Cutie Healer. It was a magical-girl show meant to outsell the Cutie Healer series, a new anime project that aimed for one cour and then an entire season if that went well.
Before, Sally would have rejected that in a second as an outrageous offer. But now she wound up thinking—was she okay being a magical girl who believed in Cutie Healer, clung to Cutie Healer, and made Cutie Healer alone her righteousness?
Cutie Healer was just so big. There was no way they could beat it. How would anyone even achieve that? Figuring she’d just hear it out for now, and if it couldn’t win her over, then she could just refuse, she headed to Conference Room Three at Headquarters on the date of her appointment.
The amazingly talented magical girl they had found who was introduced to her as a unique beauty—if it was made into an anime, she would be Sally’s partner—was a magical girl who Sally knew. Momentarily ignoring the producer, who was speaking in a very flowery manner about this girl, Sally spoke to her.
“Um…why?” Sally asked.
“Why? They came to talk to me when I was walking down the street. I thought they were hitting on me at first. There’s a dinner after this, right? Apparently, there’s gonna be sukiyaki, sushi, yakiniku, and shark fin soup—is that true? Is there a restaurant where you can eat all those things together?”
Then, she added, “It’s nice that you seem well.”
Princess Lightning sandwiched together five cookies and brought them to her mouth.
This wasn’t one of the many Lightnings from before. She was the Lightning Sally knew. It was the very Princess Lightning who had put her group members on the spot with her crazy remarks, who had captured their hearts with her looks and attitude, who had been the leader of Group Three and the problem child of the magical-girl class.
There were things Sally wanted to say to her—so she thought, but the words wouldn’t come. Princess Lightning scarfed down cookies just like she had when she had been in the class, then tilted her teacup back in a calm manner that said that was all completely natural.
Lightning was a difficult magical girl to understand. She had been just as difficult to understand back when they had been going to the magical-girl class, too. But that was precisely why Sally had made an effort to figure out what she was thinking. That day, she was comparatively easy to understand. She had come for the food and to meet Sally. The anime was secondary. Most likely, she would just eat what she could, with no intention of working.
Sally had more than 50 percent intended to refuse—about 70 percent. She just couldn’t help but feel resistance to the phrase “outselling Cutie Healer.” But seeing Lightning’s lips, she reflexively drew closer and grabbed her shoulders.
“Let’s do it! Together!”
Lightning looked back at Sally with a cool expression, and with no particular reply, she inhaled another cookie. The producer was quite overjoyed to see Sally’s attitude. Sally still didn’t know yet whether she could count on this person. If anyone could actually convince Lightning, it’d be Rappy Taype. Sally thought someone had mentioned that Rappy had been recommended by the Magical Girl Resources Department. And that department was known for hearing things before anyone else, so such a well-informed person might know more about Lightning.