*
"..." (Myuu)
She stared down at the dark crimson goopy mess with a wry smile, her lips unnoticeable twitched. Her hands were no longer shaking from excitement.
"Let's go. Stay behind me and save your strength for the boss."
An smile crept up her cheeks but Kaori was still facing the front, wary of any potential danger or ambushes. She strode with a relaxed gait, as if welcoming any enemies to attack her. Her confidence seeped through but she also retained her alertness. She had really shown great growth in battle like a proffesional magical girl.
'... You really are similar... ' (Myuu)
Her voice was faint and soft, as if it was fading away as she whispered. She didn't comprehend or understand how Kaori felt as an amnesiac, so she still thought to whisper it to herself despite it being a soliloquy. Kaori continued to walk forward, an engulfing silence flooding the atmosphere. Myuu was not sure what kind of face she was making right now, nor can she see. If she twisted to the side, she could only see Kaori's fair neck and jiggling cheek as she strolled forward. She hoped she wasn't heard, her transient regret welled up and vanished on the spot.
There was no other source of sound other than their clicking footsteps, and Kaori's hearing was severely enhanced by her magical girl augmentations. The endurance stat enhances the potency of the 5 senses... Even if her brain had lost the information to smell, taste, touch and perceive magical particles... She heard everything. Thankfully she was allowed to keep her distance in front of Myuu. No one would want to see her expression right now.
Thankfully a loud sloshing sound echoed in the distance, the transparent slime like fluid seeped from the walls with plenty of mass this time. It filled the atmosphere up with its distinct sloppy noises that permeated our ear drums, before fused together into something more dense. Light was given off where they were fusing, shaping the monster with a mannequin of light. Iron vulture, a C-grade monster, though there were many different features different from that of an actual vulture, its silhouette vaguely resembled one. Only an expert who could remember the specific features of the vulture species would be able to see the difference, for our layman eyes it was no different.
It screeched loudly with an electrifying roar before ascending into the air. Vines climbed all over the walls before soaring into the air after the creature. A barrage of vine spears had also begun to fly towards it, forcing it to dodge as it gained altitude. Kaori forced her strength into her legs and launched off the ground like a spring, leaving a small crater behind.
Her speed far exceeded anything around her, catching up to the monster before executing an axe kick. At the point of collision, the creature's metallic flesh was punctured before morphing into a larger crater. At the final moment, it's magical augmentations gave in to the superior pressure and Kaori's leg sliced through its body like a hot knife through butter.
It's large frame fell apart cleanly in 2 caved in halves. The entire time it could not use its own projectiles at all, even if it did, Kaori would easily evade them as they were much slower than Palmicia's blood barrage. Silence returned as all the projectiles created by magic dissipated back into magical particles and the monster's body clatter onto the ground with a violent clang. Kaori finally turned around, tears subconsciously clung to the tips of her lower eyelids. Her brows furrowed and her lips were in a frown. She quickly retracted her expression and turned around.
It felt like a block of lead clung around Myuu's heart. She instantly realised. She knew, but she was just ignoring it the whole time. What would an amnesiac want in the first place? Usually in a normal case, they would eventually get back their memories as they recovered so they end up as the same person. In this case, it was impossible to get back Kaori's memories. Then what did Kaori want to do from here on? She has only hung out with other magical girls, and her knowledge only pertains to them as well. Was a normal life so out of the norm for her to achieve?
What did she want? If she could never recover her memories again, she was essentially a new person. Since there is no remnant of her past self, her environment is also drastically different making the influences even worse. Even more impactful. It was... Drastically unfortunate that all she can see were the magical girl's around her. Filling in a blank template with weirdness... Things that weren't normal... Would she be able to return to society?
Well, the person in question wasn't actually thinking this hard. It was far mor simple than that. 'I cannot return to being the Kaori that everyone knew.' 'Perhaps after all this is done, I should run away and start anew, will I be able to do this well?' and finally the simplest and most basic of all, 'What will I do from now on? What will happen to me?'
She understood. She really did. That just because she was essentially a new person on the inside, it didn't mean that everyone else could throw away the old Kaori that they have in their heads. That would mean Kaori was dead. Which in essence... She was. There was nothing she could do about it, so she let out those tears without even thinking about it. Myuu clearly wants the old Kaori back. The new one was birthed on the death of the old one. It was denying her existence, she felt rejected but at the same time she felt pity for Myuu who loved her so dearly.
Myuu, finally accepted it. Her vision turned into a blur, a rain of water droplets splashed onto the weird soft ground. She tried to walk by relying on this blurry vision, in truth she could use her magical particle perception to use a similar method to echolocation. But she was emotionally invested, her throat dried up letting some squeaks escape. Her chest throbbed like something was squeezing her heart tightly. It was not something so fickle like physical pain which magical girls can regenerate away. It was simply emotional pain.
It was a given, she walked unsteadily and eventually fell onto the ground, entangled on her own legs. She crawled forward and Kaori entered her sight. She wasn't so cruel to leave a crying girl on the ground in an unfamiliar space. She was mad, so infuriated that she could kill her. But she also felt so much lament that she couldn't blame Myuu at all. It felt like Myuu's own despair was pulling at her entire chest, trying to gouge out her lively beating heart. She wrapped her warmth around Myuu as if it was natural, her chest stained by her tears and wails.
"I'm... Sorry... I'm so sorry... I cannot... Uuuuhhhh aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!" (Myuu)
To acknowledge the new Kaori's existence was to acknowledge the old one's death. Kaori knew about that most of all, because she was the one who values memories the most. So she deeply understood, her friends couldn't abandon their memories of the old Kaori. Just like how she clung desperately to her new memories. She sympathised, she grieves for her own existence.
She saw value in having such loving friends, but she also saw the pain it brought them. So she wanted to run away when all of this was done. Myuu on the other hand had acted cheerful the entire time, she behaved as if she would stick with Kaori for her entire life. So she knew, this hurt Myuu the most.
"I... I cannot... I can't help you like I promised I would... I also cannot feel apologise... Because it's how I was born."
"I know... I was just naive... Hoping that by some chance if I made you act like the old Kaori... By constant comparison... Then you would return back..." (Myuu)
The 'you' here didn't refer to the current Kaori. It stung her a bit, but she couldn't exactly scold a crying girl. So she let it pass for now. What she needed to do now was obvious.
".... Would pretending to be her be alright? I'll... Let you say your last goodbyes. My face and voice is still the same right? Here I'll smile."
It was hard for Kaori to be cheery knowing her own situation. She had this gloomy expression to herself the entire time, only occasionally flashing a smile. So her cheeks were now completely stiff and unfamiliar with smiling. She drove her fingers into her lips and traced an arc. Despite the lousy results, Myuu knew she was trying her best in her own way. They both sat down, though Myuu couldn't maintain eye contact so she was facing down most of the time. Occasionally she would look up to check if Kaori is still there.
"Kaori." (Myuu)
"Hmm?"
"I... I'm sorry I wasn't there for you..." (Myuu)
"It's alright."
Like nails on a chalkboard, Kaori's voice was monotonous and blunt at the same time. Her short response though straightforward had a rather jarring effect when combined with her dry tone and pitch. Was she really trying her best to help? Or maybe she could be having her own revenge. She laughed dryly to herself in her own mind, Myuu couldn't tell if Kaori was doing this on purpose but it brought amusement to the atmosphere.
"I... I'm very lost on what to do now. My initial goal was to live a fulfilling life while providing for my mother." (Myuu)
"I know. You've told me before, about how much you love your mum. Is she doing well?"
Similar to her tone of voice, this time it was a clash of information. The entire conversation gave off a sense of uncanny, it was like her face had been grinded against concrete ground. Her tear ducts felt loose again. They overflow onto her rosy cheeks, her body heat rose.
"She is... She's doing absolutely fine... T... That's why... I'm sure you're doing fine as well, Kaori! That's why... I'll still continue being your friend... You won't ever be able to get rid of me!!!" (Myuu)
Her eyes closed as she rushed forward to hug 'Kaori'. Her eyelids shut tightly as who knows how much sadness it actually hid. Other than her tears and her struggling warm embrace, it was as if her heart was dried up of every other emotion. As if everything else had been thrown away just to keep what little was left.
'I see.', thought Kaori to herself. She finally had an inkling of an idea of what Myuu had gone through. She felt somewhat jealous that she wasn't able to experience it with her. Perhaps, for the first time she was envious of the previous Kaori. Just a tad bit. A transient feeling that only lasted for a moment.
Waiting for Myuu to be done, she decided to pat her head as she was slightly shorter than her. When seeing her up close, Myuu was actually really cute. The way her big eyes and doll lips fit perfectly to give a porcelain texture with her fair skin. Maybe I would have court her if her feelings towards me weren't towards my past self. It's clear what she wants. And I can't give it to her. It aches, it aches so much that I cannot take the place of Kaori for everyone. It forms a hole in everyone's heart. Yet I am that hole itself. It hurts to hurt others.
Once they were done, they resumed their walk, in 5 minutes they finally met a dead end with a large gray stone door. Opening the door, a plain and dark stone staircase extends upward. Looking to the sides, there were upside down stairs and stairs facing laterally. The air was stale, and it seemed that they couldn't jump to another flight of stairs as an invisible barrier blocked their way.
Even thought the barrier allowed light to pass through, our punches couldn't connect to the wall itself, so nothing could be done. It was as if it was not a magic barrier. It was more closer to a gap in space, a gap outside space time that we cannot transcend but magical particles can.
"I guess we have to start moving. Let's run, we'll be able to cover the distance quicker. "
"Mhmm!" (Myuu)
I'm glad, it seemed like she got some of her usual energy and liveliness back.