“Yeah. Still there.”
The black magical girl grimaced just as much as the white one had. “What do we do?”
“This is no good. Let’s go from below.”
“Different directions?”
“Actually…we shouldn’t split up. Fewer fighters is just what—”
The white magical girl didn’t finish what she was saying; the cry that escaped her lips sounded like a squished frog. Roof tiles struck the back of her head and shattered into dust as she rolled down the roof, damaging it in the process. The black magical girl turned around, slowed down, and met the enemy’s attack. However, she failed to block the few, then dozens of tiles that came flying at her in succession. Her battered body tumbled off the roof after her companion.
As the pair groaned, a red magical girl landed right in front of them. She pointed her naginata-esque weapon at them like a spear.
“Noir Mii. Blan Key,” she began. “You are hereby charged with fraudulently demanding fabricated charges from magical girls and blackmail, extortion, violence, and more—”
Before she could finish, the black magical girl—Noir Mii—threw a knife whose blade was just as black as her costume. Everything about the throw was flawless—the timing, the speed, the smoothness—but the red magical girl easily caught the knife between her fingers, twirled it around, and threw it back. The blade struck Noir Mii’s exposed shoulder, and vivid red blood spurted out.
The white magical girl—Blan Key—panicked and raised her hands in defeat. “I give, I give! You got me! I surrender.”
“Drop your weapons,” the red magical girl demanded.
“I will! I will! I don’t wanna get hurt!” Blan Key tossed aside her weapon and that of her partner, who was holding her shoulder and moaning. The white magical girl looked up at the red magical girl like a frightened puppy. “Please, please have mercy.”
“…Never mind that. As long as you don’t resist, I won’t—”
“But they say the Magical-Girl Hunter even beats up people who don’t resist… Oh, uh, that’s just a rumor, though. Sorry, sorry.”
The red magical girl sighed to herself. Nothing had changed; that horrific nickname and the groundless rumors blowing her reputation out of proportion were still following her around.
Meanwhile, Ripple spoke to the red magical girl with a smile:
It’d be nice if they surrendered before putting up a fight.
“I wish they’d stop calling me the Magical-Girl Hunter, though,” the red magical girl replied quietly so that the other two girls couldn’t hear.
I get where you’re coming from…but it’s a lost cause now.
“Maybe I can come up with a cuter nickname for myself and spread that around.”
Better quit while you’re ahead. It’d be really embarrassing if people found that out.
After that exchange, she glanced down at Blan Key. Whenever the red magical girl had these internal conversations, she tended to look like she was zoning out and letting her guard down.
Sure enough, Blan Key hastily shook her head and said, “Of course I would never stab you when you have your guard down! I wouldn’t dream of it!”
“…Aren’t you telling on yourself?”
“No, no, no! Not at all! I swear I’m innocent! I mean, the Magical-Girl Hunter, Snow White… Oh, sorry, you have a different name now… Um, Snow—”
“Snow Blood.”
“Yeah! I could never pull anything so outrageous against Snow Blood!”
In her desperate attempt to assert her innocence, Blan Key was coming off as a joke. Noir Mii, still gripping her shoulder, stared tepidly at her partner.
“It’d be so much easier if all we had to deal with was petty villains like these,” Snow White murmured quietly enough so that no one could hear.
But we have to deal with people who are even bigger trouble, Ripple replied.
“Trouble, huh…? That’s true.”
Snow White had managed to save Ripple. When Ripple was on the verge of death—as she’d intended—Snow White had given her own body to fuse them. Now they had become Snow Blood, two magical girls as one. They had the physical prowess of a fusion, and their combined powers—throws that always hit their targets and the ability to hear others’ thoughts—made them an even better inspector than before.
Snow White didn’t know what had happened in the depths of the ruins. She just felt like she’d sensed some sort of intention. An intention to save Ripple and Snow White. She’d also felt an energy that wrapped them in an embrace. By the time the power of the ruins had waned and Dory had come to the rescue, the only ones lying there were Mephis, barely alive, and an unknown red magical girl.
“But it’s not over.”
Yeah.
In the Magical Kingdom, the era of the Three Sages had ended, and the next phase was just beginning. There was still no telling whether things would lead in a good direction or a bad one. There was even harder work ahead, and further sacrifices, and yet still more to do—but as painful as that might be, things could have been worse. Marika would grimace and say that it was ridiculous to be happy about being busy, but that was exactly how she felt about her work at the school.
Was Snow Blood about to move to the next phase? Even with her new look, what she was doing wasn’t much different from before. But for some reason, it wasn’t as painful now.
All this time, every magical girl she had encountered and parted ways with thus far had been pushing her forward. Snow Blood wanted to become a magical girl who wouldn’t bring shame to them. She wasn’t at that point yet; maybe she didn’t even know exactly what it was that she really needed. Maybe she was just being stubborn. But still—
“I’ve always…”
Mm?
“…been dreaming.”
Mm.
“And I’ll keep on dreaming.”
Mm.
“If I keep on dreaming until the very end, I’ll win…don’t you think?”
…Maybe.
Ripple’s voice was quiet, but very kind. They could talk to each other, but Snow White couldn’t hear Ripple’s thoughts—just like how Snow White couldn’t hear her own. And that made her happier and more grateful than anything.
She would continue to worry. She’d accept that there wasn’t going to be an answer. She understood that she was far from her ideals, but she nevertheless worked to get close to them. She would do that before she had any regrets—or even after the regrets came. As long as Ripple was with her, things would surely be okay.