*

Dark clouds paved the sky like the gateways to an upsidedown hell, perhaps, heaven? Would be a better phrase. However, no matter how you look at it... The dark crimson filling the empty space doesn't look like heaven to me...

I had just awoken from my slumber, only to see the wall of my apartment shattered beyond recognition. It was the 7th floor, it would be more accurate to say a whole side of the building was gone. Craters lined the streets, though they were strangely small for meteors. Craters of that size would be formed by meteors so small they couldn't form meteors, they simply weren't meteors but nothing in my imagination could form such a numerous amount of craters.

The professionals would say that earth was out of the trajectories of meteors for the foreseeable future, that or that the next one had a low chance of hitting. Perhaps one had miraculously shattered and rained death on the city, that was why the city was... Deathly quiet. Making puns to myself seem grim, but that was the only way I knew how to keep my sanity in this desolate scenario. I could observe the state of everything from here, yet I felt comfortable revelling in my Sloth here.

Buildings that were once tall had either collapsed in halves or vanished completely, the streets either full of small craters or unrecognisable piles of a black material covered in soot. The smaller buildings had suffered a similar fate, with a majority spilling over to season the open areas with debris. The clothes on my back were foreign to me, when did I put these on? The fit comfortably but had designs I've never seen before. Ah, I see. This must be a dream.

*****

The beeping ensues in the morning, echoing through my ear drums to rock me from my slumber like an earthquake. I struggle to surface from what seemed to be the top of a lake, the little ripples from my released breath blocking my view completely. I jolt awake, my heartbeat seemingly increased to a race faster than a carefully breeded horse.

Last night... I was up playing my fantasy MMO... The government recently came out with an absurd finding in the news, the discovery of magic. These games with fantasy elements and videos of unexplainable acts have started trended online, flourishing beyond control, as if the first impact had hit human civilisation.

There was no coherent explanation from the officials, other than 'steer away from suspicious things'. Was it a pandemic of sorts? Did magic have the properties of an uncurable disease? Did a sickness grant the ability to cast magic? Why was this even mentioned by the government? What exactly... Had cornered the central governing body enough... To say something this absurd... Maybe that vision had something to do with it.

A week after, strange occurrences have become more common and grown in absurdity. The government had issued an order for people who could 'use' magic to help resolve the matter, unfortunately only frauds showed up. Perhaps the magic was using them, rendering them unable to help. We still have not enough information. Most worrying of all are these strange occurrences.

Certain buildings have vanished completely and others have grown in size. The buildings that grew didn't only become larger in scale, their outer material had also morphed into an unrecognisable black texture. They were impossible to break and the residents or visitors inside the buildings have vanished without a trace. The entrance existing as an antique wooden door that showed no hints of the insides.

There were window panes in the door, but they only displayed glimpses into the darkness of the building. Out of the government's very first order of steering away from the suspicious, it had become an unspoken rule to not stare into those buildings. Others mourn feebly at the hopelessness, but most of all what consumed the world was confusion. No one knew what was happening.

The second week in, strange colours filled the sky in the form of cloth patches stuck to the sky like stitched fabric. People have started vanishing even without the presence of those buildings. The only factor in common of those disappearances were that they took place in the night. Strangely a ray of hope had shone upon the humans, strange girls in costumes have started showing up. They matched the descriptions of one of the most popular genres in kids shows, magical girls.

From the ground, it would seem like they either jumped off from buildings with superhuman prowess, or flew through the skies like fighter jets. What people didn't notice were their expressions, oddly enough I was on site when a couple of magical girls were caught in an interview, one with rose coloured hair and the other with a lime greenish-yelloe. They were cheerful and full of energy in front of the camera, explaining that they were fighting unseen monsters in the night while protecting humanity. What the camera didn't catch was their expressions after they flew into the air. They were as blank and dull as dead fish.

What do these dismal expressions hide? I feel like there was much more to it then their petty middle-school girl dramas. If anything was to be concluded, was that I should follow the government's ingenius command. Steer clear of suspicious things. I didn't miss out on the small glimmer of light in the extreme distance of the magical girls in the sky.

One of them must have glanced at me so fast, the air combusted and sparked for a second. I felt an absurd pressure pressing down on my chest, as if I was buried under a mountain. My heartbeats even mimicked this analogy as they seem to bounce off the cave walls and seem louder than they were suppose to be.

I ran off in horror to the comforts of my home. I was only in my first year of high school, basically a child. To be aware that I was a child and take advantage of it seemed to be a paradox, but I want nothing to do with this. A child shouldn't suffer a fate of facing such unexplainable events. No one wants to disappear, no matter how lonely or abysmal their environment seemed. Even I who was shunned off by my classmates, due solely to being an otaku.

There were no other underlying reasons, everyone repeated the same practiced procedures in school, only that I fell asleep most of the time. Then again my decent grades were what prevented the teacher from berating me too harshly. They weren't the best grades, but they ranked pretty highly, outshining the others with minimal effort. If I could describe it, this ease of learning was both a blessing and a curse.

I could put as much time as I wanted into my games and other mediums related to my hobby, but this caused jealous glares to be shown my way all the time. I didn't exactly mix with any friend groups like people would do at the start of school, I simply missed the right timing and became a social recluse. If I had to say, a visible third of the class hated me, there may have been more and I would be none the wiser. Thus, I had completely avoided the attention of others. Though that only irked the mood of some individuals. What didn't help was that I caught the attention of people who were actually at the top.

The rain bore down as drops of rain visibly joined the moisture of my skin. My hair became drenched and my clothes went after as a veiny bunged up fist held my collar to a wall. The person on the other end was Tsukasa reiji. He was the aforementioned person at the top of the grade, but for some reason he never ever became satisfied with his position. He pushed those around him lower or coerced them into serving them in some way. Specifically, I had caught his attention for being a lazy bum.

The other top students specifically in the 3rd and 5th place were there as well. The others had probably become victims when they refused to join him, his uncouth nature leaked out over every pore, yet the general student body viewed him as the perfect being. Nothing, could hide my animosity. Even in a strangle hold, I had glared into his eyes with fierce vigour. My breathing rate had audibly increased, while his face had contorted. He had probably been pissed off after someone became defiant for the first time in a while.

This was not the first time we had met up here, on the school rooftop. Countless occasions, I was shaked down and my money stolen. After witnessing those magical girls though, I knew I had nothing left to loss. Pressing my arms and left leg on the wall, I swung my right foot with as much force as I could mustre. It didn't pack much but it managed to shock him. Though I was a social recluse, I had much more free time than most other people. So I wasn't exactly unfit either. A little chubby around the stomach maybe, however my other muscles were in a decent state, though they were as average as any highschooler.

Taking advantage of his shock, I stamped forward to unleash a tackle. I was not used to a fight after all, my punches would miss awkwardly and he would retaliate instead of waiting for me. So the best course of action was to use as much surface area as possible, a simple tackle to push him down. Sitting on his stomach, I started wailing. Though weak as they were, he wasn't exactly used to pain either. My fist did their job as I slowly got the hang of it and unleash more force.

"Die! Die! Die! Die! You worthless bag of sh*te, just die!"

He had stopped responding, there was visible fear as his eyebrows and ears twitched. In the span of a minute, I endured the grueling pain of my fatigue to practice and deal more force. He eventually collapsed mentally and tried to cover his face. Bruises and nosebleeds were easy to spot over his fast, before I noticed, the skin over my knuckles had stretched to an unnatural white as miniscule traces of blood had remained on my skin.

Looking up, the other 2 cowered in terror. 'This person is not normal, they have gone insane' things along that line have started coursing through their mind. They appear to be strangely refreshed, as if an imaginary clock in their bodies had jsut rewound. Nothing was clear to these 2 individuals, it was unexplainable. A guy that used to cower and gave them money had started wailing on their leader, even Mr leader here had only gone as far as a push and wetting their victims belongings. He had just as little experience fighting as I did and only gotten high and confident on his own ego.

Looking down once again, he was facing the side crying to himself, praying for it to be over. Oh, it wasn't going to be over just yet. Foot steps resounded and diminished into the distance, the rooftop had looked surprisingly empty now. His friends had run away, probably to get a teacher. I didn't have much time. Dragging the collar of his shirt with both arms, I pushed him towards the edge.

As this was a rooftop, the fence was fairly low so that the staff could hang banners over the walls during special events. It was just low enough to push him over. I didn't though, murder wasn't something I wanted on my record so I drew an imaginary line. Only his head peaked over the edge, his bruised eyelids facing the cold breeze of the 4 story building in horror. He started crying harder, it wasn't as if I could run so I might as well sit on his back until the teachers arrive.

There was a large impact in the distance, morphing and convulsing black smoke spreaded out as if someone had dropped a bomb. What was even more strange was that a faint yellow light could be seen behind the smoke, flashing occasionally as if something else strange had existed there. It was a strange thing, I should turn the other way and-

It was a magical girl, she seemed to be between the age of 14 to 17, her vibrant blue hair fluttered in the wind like the flickering of a projector. She was clad in a short light blue dress with 2 navy blue belts securing her waste. Metallic texture gleamed from under her dress before transition to her pale blue boots that seem to release sparkles from under. Her sleeves seemed to cover all the way to the elbow before opening up into 2 branches the swing in the air along with her hair. The blast in the distance seemed to continue affecting it's surroundings as the wind didn't stop for a second.

A thin white cloth is wrapped around the front half of her arms starting from the elbow to the palm, blue light as if there were mini projectors on each of her finger, was gleaming into the air like floating brass knuckles of pure light. They glimmered with a deadly aura that seemed to keep every living being away.

Nothing in the world could conceal my confusion. My mouth forced itself agape as my eyebrows furrowed into a V-shape. My left cheek rose in tandem, all of it ingrained into my body as a natural reaction.

"What do you want..."

"... Originally I wanted your help... But it seemed that it was just a coincidence, you're not worthy of helping at all..." (?)

"Why...? I'm issued by the law to stay away from weird things like you... Stay away..."

Walking backwards, my right leg hit the low mount of the roof fencing. I had lifted myself up from Tsukasa's body when she arrived. What was she doing here? And why me?

" I can't tell if you did it out of fear or common sense... Return that boy back to safety, I don't understand the circumstances but whether your answer satisfies me or not will let me decide whether I should beat you up..." (?)

"Exactly... You don't know anything... Whatever that explosion in the distance was, whatever you are. All of these have nothing to do with me... I beat him up because he's been taking my money for weeks, but I won't back down from a fight..."

" Hehe... You confident because I'm a girl?... Unfor- "(?)

" No it's pretty much common sense that your magic is overwhelmingly advantageous and maybe even lethal. I don't have a motive, only that I don't want to regret my choices anymore. If I back down, more bullies like this guy and you will appear to beat me up. So bring it on, I'd rather die. "

".... You're broken... Whatever, it's none of my business. "(?)

In a flash, an impact akin to a truck struck my abdomen, pushing air and blood out of my lungs. With blood-shot eyes, I ignored the lack of oxygen in my body and gave one suicide charge. There was no need to think, this person was going to beat me up regardless if I had a good reason or not. They simply didn't value some random guy's life when their identity is kept anonymous, they could even attribute my death to the fight with whatever was inside that mushroom cloud.

Strangely enough, it felt uplifting. As if something warm and endearing covered my body so I could give my all in this last punch, no it was actually searing and painful. That pain nearly driving me unconscious forced me to grit my teeth regardless if my tongue was in the way or not.

"SCREW YOUUUU!!!!!!!"

My view changed dramatically as my body unnaturally swerved into the side. I swung my left hand at the last moment, ignoring whether it found its target or not.

"KUHHGH!" (?)

An unladylike groan resounded as something warm and hard impacted my left fist, another impact shook the ground and school as blazing agony consumed my left side. The sky changed colours a few times before a rock knock my unconscious from the back.

Exiting from my blackout, it seemed her punch threw me quite far away. If I was counting the height, it would be around 70 metres away from my original position, there was a tiny crater on the low fence of the roof where I flew from. Oddly enough, I survived almost completely fine. The pain was still there, however blood didn't exit from anywhere but my lungs. I snorted and coughed it out along with my phlegm and other fluids.

The blue magical girl stood there, this time along with a yellow one with greenish-yellow hair. Unlike the other, this one had little to no metallic gleam on their costume, it resembled much like a goth lolita attire, except it was yellow and white with frills and ribbons covering a good quarter of the costume.

It was also similar to a French maid costume as the top and sides were covered with yellow, while straps of white attached the back of the costume to a rectangular patch of white into front that's surrounded by frills. Her dress came in layers accompanied by frills like cake and its whipped cream.

Looks like her friend is here to back her up.