*
Curriculum time had just ended, a pair of small brown twin tails quivered as it giddily thought about the conversation she had during break.... `Hmmm~ Am I perhaps getting closer to her? That should be it right? She showed a sudden interest in my goals, I took advantage to tell her my back story and basically forced her to know more about myself... She doesn't think I'm a creep now right? ʼ was what she thought as she forsake her bag in daydream. Most of the students were quickly returning home, bringing with their absence, an empty atmosphere.
"Hmm?... Myuu-chan~ why are you standing around for? School's done, time to go back. "
Staring at Kaorin and mulling over her question, a bright yellow bulb popped up in her mind.
"... Kaorin, want to go back together?" (Myuu)
Feeling a slight blush to her cheeks, Kaorin swiftly calmed her heart down before smiling back in a reply. The way her slick black hair shivered and bounced into the air before immediately returning back to normal charmed Myuu. She had thought the way Kaorin tried to hide her own embarrassment was way too cute and stimulating.
"Uh... Un... Sure, but... Aren't we already doing that? We don't live in the same direction, so going down the stairs together everyday is pretty much the same..."
It was Myuu's turn, a hot pink crept over her cheeks as her iris and pupils shivered in realisation.
Silence engulfed the pair as they took slow strides toward the stairs, hoping to prolong their time together as much as possible. There was nothing to do at home other than studying, it was frankly an insufferable bore that gnawed at some people's conscious. A year long cycle of waking up, eating breakfast, going to school, going back home, studying, eating dinner, sleeping. Was such a monotonous lifestyle really sustainable for a year? Sure if you were a monster that could bear emptiness.
Most people wouldn't be able to take it, even before this magical girl training system was implemented, we had the everyday education system that was somewhat similar. The exception being that we had modern conveniences and entertainment then. What about now? Now that a month and 3 weeks has passed since the great disaster, now that practically all the phone batteries in the world must have died. Now that all cellular network and World Wide Web has collapsed under a moniker called disaster.
The simplest way of solving this issue of boredom without technology, was to grab the next closest thing. Friends. Thinking back to those glowing flames and that crackling cinder brought unwanted thoughts. Thoughts that the magical girl's in that classroom had long buried. Reality. The reality of death, mortality. There was no doubt that fear was trudging through mud and hiding in the shadows, but it slowly rises higher and ever closer, reaching for your bare nape, waiting for its chance.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, a blatant and visible well of emotions was being contained in Kaorin's expression. Her face was confused, and so was her mind. It didn't know what to feel, what to do, how to do, why it did. Her decently long eyelashes shook all over the place as her eyelids and cheeks stretched in perplexity. Myuu on the other hand was able to understand it very easily. Even if a multitude of emotions were to get smashed and grinded together into 1 face, the most dominant, most prioritised emotion would be shining through from all the chaos.
And what she saw was fear. Kaorin's knit eyebrows of frustration was frustration at her own self, her teeth was bared as if grinding so hard she forgot to close her lips. Cheeks tensed to the point a visible contour of muscles unfolded in an unsightly manner. But most of all, the biggest factor giving away her fear was her eyes. They don't seem like their about to cry, they can't. But Myuu could still feel her frustration just by seeing them. Kaorin hides most of her emotions anyway, most of those details were erased in a second and barely noticed due to Myuu's excellent peripheral vision. The only thing that remained unchanged were Kaorin's eyes, their expressions can't be hidden so easily.
"... Nee~ Kaorin. How bout it, let's play some ball game on the weekend. You're free right? Ah! I promised I'll go easy on you! I'll even revert my transformation to make sure... I may look slightly different but please don't freak ou-" (Myuu)
Kaorin having observed his classmates before the disaster, wouldn't be so dense as to not notice Myuu's consideration. She had a suspicion after all, that maybe she wasn't so good at hiding her emotions... So she interrupted Myuu before Myuu's awkwardness destroyed the mood.
"Y... Yes! I'll go! You don't have to worry about anything. But what are we going to do about the ball? Are we going to explore some ruins?"
".... Explore ruins?! Where do you even get these ideas from? There's one you know~ A shop selling sports equipment. They're barely stocked with 3 of each possible supply that we may need, but they exist! These things aren't popular with magical girls anyway, most graduates get assigned to a faraway post on the surface, revel in their research or training or waste away like signposts as guards. "(Myuu)
With most magical girls being actual girls rather than genderbent ones, Myuu was right in that physical recreational activities weren't that popular unless it was training. For some reason training was quite the craze in that a lot fanatics took part in it. To be fair, everyone wants to get stronger so they don't die so easily, so it was quite normal. Due to this, sports may have been looked down on as ineffective training, thus making it unpopular. The guys that turned into magical girls weren't much different, most preferred training or research. This underground base was full of hardworkers.
"So we'll buy the supplies on the day itself? Sounds good, I look forward to it!"
"Mhmm! Well, I'll be going now. Don't get lost on your way back~" (Myuu)
Ignoring Myuu's last taunt, the usual grey lighting of the underground buildings fill Kaorin's vision, halation present in the distant blocks of grey. Each step was as heavy as the last, her legs tensed and arms went limb. Struggling, she twisted the door knob to her apartment room after unlocking the door with her keys. For some reason she expected something inside the room to be different each time she returned home from school. It didn't have to do anything logical or factual at all, it was just an irrational hunch. Perhaps it was more accurate to call it a desire instead. The desire for change? Whatever it was, it didn't matter now.
Brushing that feeling away, her school uniform rubbed into her sides with a nauseous pain, skin practically covered by a layer of cold sweat. In the 2-room apartment, a magical girl hobbled with great difficulty to the restroom, the sound of semi-liquid splashing against a composite sink surface could be heard from even the apartment room's entrance.
"... Oogh Uweghhhhhhhhh" She had that repulsive impulse since the morning, it was completely bearable when other people were around. There wasn't exactly a choice since she didn't want anyone else to worry about her, so she endured. This was just the explosion of it, the release of all tension and stress holding her psyche down like chains. A feeling of relief filled her now less tensed conscious.
Just what is going on? She didn't know for she could only experience the phenomenon, it didn't feel like an enemy attack, then again how was one suppose to feel that? Whether a strange phenomenon occurring was the result of someone's I'll intentions. That would be an enemy attack, I'll intentions. Magic could be manipulated into an absurd weapon, even if the opposing side only had ill intentions but have taken no action, one can never make sure their own safety is guaranteed. Safety is a privilege of the strong. It was legal to kill other magical girls not of the same faction.
Exhausted, Kaorin pounced over her own bedsheets and guickly dozed off.
Only around 100k magical girls and 20k normal militants exist currently as the world's military force, the human population had been reduced to a billion, with roughly 6 billion deaths from the great disaster and the remaining loss their lives from disease and suicide. With the help of magical girls, collapsed countries had begun to form continental factions. With so many deaths, the universal lack of manpower made it easy for them to share resources and depend on one another, for the first 2 weeks.
Then came the great splitting, unsatisfied with their ruling parties, many smaller factions begun to defect from the the continental factions and formed their own countries. These factions, starved for resources, stole from and raided the numerous settlements of the main continental factions. At present, large swathes of villages have been rebuilt and many have started to worked on the concrete buildings of the past.
Under constant siege from the holy kingdom of Blumford in the Americas region and the Grundo alliance, the ruling faction of the African-Middle eastern region, the Gangrea monarchy in the europic region suffered a chain of bad luck and has collapsed. Their supply lines were cut and so were their defending soldiers. Some capable magical girls barely held out and protected the people, but their ruling king had been sealed away due to being immortal.
That day's raid was similar to what has been stated. A smaller faction came for supplies, that was why deaths were minimal. The food was more important to them than the elimination of enemy forces. Then again, there were still deaths. Unforgivable. A classmate, Ming fen had died in that fire. She didn't particularly stood out among the rest of the students, nevertheless in a class of 15 students, a single empty chair has an even more significant and overbearing presence.
Skirting around the topic, filling the air with chatter, avoiding looking at the empty chair. The Great Disaster had impacted everyone more than they thought it would, this behaviour was reminiscent of that. They had already learnt how to ignore dreadful things.
***
"Zenith commander Frey, when should we move in and invade? Our supplies are running low on the front line, apparently some magical girl on the enemy side released toxins and destroyed our military silos, spoiling all rations. All we have left is our vantage points being extremely close to their territory. "(Kuzuha, captain of the 55th company)
"... One week from now. Everything will be in the right place for my plan to work. We'll win this and defeat the eye god, have faith in your commander"(Frey)
Frey was sat at her desk idling into the afternoon heat, silky dark hair was tied up into a ponytail, the occasional flutter of it revealing a pinkish tint underneath. She wore a rather normal business suit that fit the atmosphere of her office to a tee, her usual outfit would be hotter and unbearable under the sweltering afternoon heat.
A pair of brown twintails bobbed up and down as they exited the office room for their next errand. Laying in her chair, Frey went over her own plan once more before finally relaxing. She heaved a sigh of relief before retreating even further into the comforts of her seat.
"Haa~ what a pain. Just one more week and I can finally get what I want. Even after that, I'll need to go up a rank huh. The sentinels aren't trustworthy, but even if one as strong as that one could lose, I need as many contingency measures as possible.... What a pain~" (Frey)
Meanwhile, Kyou was busy training. With his full capabilities at his fingertips, he placed all his diligence into exercising and getting fit, so much so that he occasionally ignores his superior's summons by accident. When questioned, he could only sheepishly reply with a 'sorry, I was training. Teehee pero~'
After rigorous exercising, his physical stats have greatly improved though not to the point of going up a grade. Wiping off the accumulation of hard work with a towel, hot air slipped through his lips as he recovered his breath. As usual, he was in magical girl form, though he had changed his clothes to a fitting grey sports bra and black leggings with white strips at the bottom.
It was strangely similar to an older brand that started with the letter 'N', but it had collapsed due to the great disaster annihilating their labour force and plunging their assets into the abyss. This was made by a magical girl, some had skills related to forging magical weapons or armour. It wasn't limited to tools solely for warfare but extended to daily life needs like this sportswear as well. Such support aided many in rebuilding society, but the damage will remain deeply rooted.