*
She casts off a meaningful look, her characteristic brown pigtails fluttered along the breeze's rhythm. It was a smile, but for some reason it looked melancholic, as if she had just lost something once more. She was Myuu, she had fought a similar battle before, so she understood the most of what it meant. She saw the sadness peeking from underneath and chose to appreciate it for the meagre moment where it existed. Now they were no different, she opens her mouth for a second about to mouth her thoughts, before taking back her decision and gave up on it.
Was this the right path?
Well, it wasn't the wrong path. There are no such things as paths, as they are mere illusions that humans put up to rationalise their journey. In reality, it was a chaotic mesh of intertwining decisions, they lead to everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I should stop being so naive as to try to simplify life into just some paths that I take. Maybe I was truly lost, so I started making stuff up.
I will see things for what they are, or at least try to. Then, I'll attain my wish.
Her beads of sweat flicked off into the wind like snowflakes, eyes narrowing in delight with her elevated crescent lips. Maybe it was the sunset, but it looked like she was glowing for a moment. A different glow from her usual magical girl aura, despite using no magic, her appearance felt magical. Perhaps she had also taken out some of stress by sending me flying a few times.
This time, I finally feel as though I am whole. My conscious was no longer hollow, my being was no longer anxious and half-baked. Without noticing, I had returned a smile that was much similar to hers. Her cheeks slightly redden as we resumed our walk back home. As usual, the Owner of the Inn misunderstands what was going on.
"I see... Perhaps this time was a long round outside?" (Owner)
This middle aged uncle had a small stuble on his chin and a cheeky grin to go with his greying hair. His body was well toned out showing that he had some level of fitness even while being in this occupation. Once again he makes another crude joke, trying to push through with his friendliness. Naturally his cashier son and chef brother chastised him simultaneously.
"You shouldn't say such things to customers!" and such. I suppose it was amusing to me to some extent, it certainly brightened the mood a little. That was, until he spoke once more. I assumed he was trying to make the atmosphere lighter with his jokes, but that was just how his personality was. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten serious right after.
"You girls should stop being outside so late. Not even the evening. There have been reports of strange deaths, each one weirder than the previous, none consistent.
Everyone's suspects that it was the doing of a rogue magical girl, but the ones working with the authorities haven't said much about it. It's a suspicion in everyone's heart, further supported by their silence. " (Owner)
" Strange deaths? Like what kind? How strange can it be? "
" Are they unidentifiable? "(Myuu)
The cheeriness is now completely gone from his face, as if everything before had been a mere facade. Through instincts, we felt that he wasn't lying, sincerity could be felt in his harboured concerns. His cheeks contorted for a moment as he mulled over what he should say, but he recovers quick with his resolve.
"You're exactly right. That's why we're all assuming it's a magical girl. They could be anywhere in this small rural section of Central. The presence of the authorities isn't so potent here to scare off the morally corrupt." (Owner)
Just as expected. The magical girl's, despite having around 10k in central are very tied to their jobs. They don't have nearly enough man power to manage the 400 k people living around here. While magical girls numbers were usually directly proportional to population density, sometimes the limit of awakening magical girls could be the land itself. The amount of magical particles residing in the land and environment. Only can be used by so many people.
We step back into our room, pondering over the Owner's words. One thing was for sure, now we couldn't reveal the fact that we're magical girls. Just as the Owner had said, the authorities reach over this section of central was so thin, it might as well be non-existent. While that is usually good for criminals, there is also some downsides. Such as when one is caught and captured by a townsperson, they could get executed. It all devolves into a me versus you situation, where the significantly smaller population of criminals as compared to law abiding citizens is forced into hiding or risk getting hanged.
That means night time would be a very good window for these people to conduct activities. And also an excellent opportunity for us. By modern standards, even the Inn's rental rooms will have some windows to let the sunlight in. A year ago and there wouldn't even be a window, but a simple square hole. It was important now that humans have lost everything, that we recover what is left of our technology and salvage it. For a short period of time, the mass destruction of The Great Disaster may have set back our level of technology, but humanity was able to repair and retain a portion of it back.
An odd sound escapes the walls, like a clogging cog in a network of gears. It kept ringing into our ears over and over until another noise like a mix of a broken record and projector slipped out. A dark blue light slipped over our surroundings at once, coating the room we were in like a thin layer of film. Our best bet was to punch through the window and escape, where the barrier was the most thin. It didn't seem like a particularly powerful trap, as we couldn't feel or detect much of anything in this barrier.
Escaping was one matter and finding the culprit was another... It seemed to be a magic that had been set up before hand, or we would have notice a burst of magical particles in its activation... The way that it bypassed our notice is only if it had already been activated before hand, and simply work in multiple phases. This was our very own inn room, who would have time to slip past our notice and plant a barrier here? Naturally, we first assumed the Owner.
If we don't break the barrier, perhaps he will walk to us instead. Footsteps can be heard approaching us from further down the corridor, starting with the stairs then the hallway. A steady and firm walk, each step gradually grew louder and closer to our romm, until, it finally stopped right outside the door.
"Tch, so you can use common magic. But you understand right? This is like paper to us." (Myuu)
Common magic was made when someone had extensively studied skills and magical girls. Their name wasn't made public but their research was, most analysis of their paper concluded that the handwriting was the same and that one person alone was responsible for common magic. Common magic is a term for magic used by commoners. Anyone that isn't a magical girl was addressed as such by the researcher, it was degrading but it stuck on.
It was a method to use magic without the need to awaken into a magical girl. It was something ordinary people could use. The problem was their source of magical power. Without much of it, they couldn't stand toe to toe with actual magical girls. As Myuu said, raising that barrier was like erecting a paper wall. It was pointless, and pathetic. Some people were able to bypass this limitation, gaining the ability to hold massive amounts of magical particles while staying human.
We call them witches. Because they are usually not suited to holding so much magical particles. It was like pasting a band-aid over a dam. It wouldn't be a surprise if they were to spontaneously explode.
"If I didn't do this, you would proceed to investigate those deaths, would you not? This is for your own good. For that, I've prepared to siphon magical particles from my customers for a year. There is enough in this barrier to trap you and kill you. I just haven't activated the traps yet. " (owner)
The sound of glass cracking and imploding resounded all over the inn. As if stepping on shards, Myuu walked slowly before turning open the door. He hadn't run when he saw his barrier collapse, he simply stood there. Waiting to convince.
"I'll still stop you with these old bones of mine. I won't let you follow the fate of those victims. Just because you're magical girls, powerful ones at that, didn't mean that you could disregard your own lives. If you go all out, it would damage the surrounding buildings. A dense outskirt town like this is not appropriate. "(Owner)
" We've demonstrated a little of our strength and you still think it is beyond us? "
He makes a difficult expression, the ridge of his eyebrow wrinkled with his forehead while his cheese tense up in frustration. He was pretty desperate here.
" Some of those victims are magical girls. I had a run in with the perpetrator, and you are probably well aware I'm too powerless to stop them. They were a genuine monster unbound by common sense, the locals here treat it as a natural disaster now. No one bothers to investigate into it, even the magical girl forces in the authorities don't dare to go anywhere near it.
It's... Awful. Bisection, rotation, petrification, slicing only certain parts of the body to let them bleed out to death, drowning, burning, stretching some limbs beyond recognition, twisting and pulling the neck into 2, ripping out organs. " (Owner)
" Just as you feel such a strong sense of duty, we too feel the need to investigate... "
Letting off a deep sigh of resignation, he cranks his neck down to prepare his next words.
" My daughter was killed. She was a magical girl. B-grade too. " (owner)
" Tch, let's go Myuu. We have no time to waste. " I typically spoke with a soft tone, but this time I left nothing to interpretation. I won't waste anymore time dilly dallying over here. Perhaps the Inn Owner thought the death of a relatively strong magical girl was a good argument, and using his daughter at it too. But it only did the opposite. It felt like someone was setting my heart ablaze, a small fiery rage burning out of frustration in my chest.
I don't know much about other people but... I suppose we valued family a lot more because we've lost ours. Losing his daughter had only riled us up even more. To deal with this fiend. This odd fiend with many different horrific deaths, are likely an entire group of magical girls. A small gang. We'll need to take out all of them.
The floorboards creak under my foot steps, the evening had already escaped into the night. There was only moonlight and coldness now. All manner of warmth is maintained by magical particles and our magical girl augmentation. I didn't really think things through, a few clues from the Owner would have been useful.
There was also the other function of the owner's barrier. Usually it would be completely transparent, and it would be so thin even we wouldn't notice it. The problem with making magic as thin as possible to go undetected is that the effects are equally as weak. That meant that the main function of the barrier was something else, and something simple.
With something on such a small scale like that, perhaps it masked our magical signatures or only detected intruders. We hadn't been careful in covering our tracks these few days, perhaps we've gotten too relaxed. Well, it isn't too late to do it now. As relatively strong magical girls, our magical signatures are easy to detect. It's like watching a very tall building walking around for other magical girls. But we could alter the height of that building if we were to concentrate. It's a hassle that need training to do effortlessly, but now we were on the hunt.
Yosh, let's do this. I suppose we'll have to wander around aimlessly. Yosh, let's do this.
Using the normal magical particle manipulation technique of search radar, I released waves of magical particles in regular intervals. These waves were let out to seem like they were from an amateur, typically someone who is experienced would want to let out waves that were as small as possible to go undetected by the enemy. We want to detect them, not get detected by them. In a sense, this was a lure. If they bite the bait, we'll know that they're weak or inexperienced. We should take that small time frame to ambush and kill a couple of them.
Let's play a little game of pretend.