*
I ran ahead and behind Paridia. In the distance stood Myuu who was kneeling on the ground and watching us from afar. As she was untransformed, I could kill her if I moved too fast. So I untransformed before I jumped in for a hug. I closed in tightly around her arms which seemed to be smaller than mine.
"I... I promised... I'll find a way to rescue Gerald. So please forgive me..."
An odd silence fills the room while realisation hit me like a truck. I've never once untransformed after I lost my memories. I just assume that I looked the same transformed or untransformed like everyone else... With the exception of hair colour and fashion sense of course...
"... My voice..."
It was oddly deep. I looked at my arms, and while they seem slightly emaciated... They were still larger than usual. My body shape also seemed to have changed and my height went a little taller. As quick as I could, I transformed backed into a magical girl to remove this creeping sense of discomfort...
"D... Don't freak out. Did you not find out you were a guy right after your amnesia?" (Barius)
"@#$#&@#!!!"
Shortly after, I passed out straight away and woke up under an unfamiliar ceiling.
"AHHHH!!!! I GOT TAKEN TO A STRANGER'S HOUSE!!! Did I get roofied?!"
I was suddenly very conscious of such things as what was considered being girly slowly broke down in my mind. At first in order not to inconvenience the others, I learned etiquette and manners by imitating Myuu and the others. But how was I like originally? If I was originally a guy, then wouldn't I be quite uncouth? I have no idea how to act now, what if I get sexually conscious of my own friends.... That would be the worse... I wouldn't be able to interact with them normally...
Just as my thoughts were about to wander, the door had opened abruptly as Myuu walked in. She closed the door behind her as she walked up to the side of the bed.
"..." (Myuu)
"..."
"What are you staying in bed for! You just fainted, you're not sick!" (Myuu)
"Yes ma'am!!"
I stood up with an unfamiliar fervour, it was as if her words boiled my blood and energised my muscles as they springed forward almost by reflex. I sat straight up as Myuu conjured a chair right under her butt.
"Good... I didn't think you'd have this much of a shock that you would get knocked out by it harder than if Aubrey punched you.
First things first, you are a guy or were... Well, it doesn't matter. Kaori stayed as a magical girl for such long periods of time that he needed to take 'guy breaks' so he doesn't get comatose when untransforming. " (Myuu)
".... How do I act from now on... Am I still allowed to stay with you? "
What she said did concern me and pull my interest, but in the end this was still a burning thought searing the back of my conscious. It was of the utmost importance and regarded my future.
"... Well we're not gonna stay in this Inn. We'll be finding more bases to raid and finally kill the progenitor you see? "(Myuu)
A blatant deflection. Even if you ignore the question, I'll still feel lost you know? I look back down at my blanket covered legs as I dive deeper into my own enigmatic thoughts.
"... I would say act like Kaori, but you wouldn't want to do that would you?" (Myuu)
"..."
"See, you can't even reply. It's obvious to everyone at this point. You're trapped. You're stuck between wanting to be Kaori and not wanting to be her. If I said you can just act like yourself, I'm sure you would have trouble 'understanding yourself' later. "(Myuu)
Her eyelids relaxed and her face looked up as if she was staring at something far away.
"... I'm sorry to break the mood but it's not that deep... I'm just concerned about if I should continue acting so casual with you guys..."
An uncharacteristic tomato blush crept on her face as her small nose twitched for a moment. Her ears raised and a frown immediately decorated her expression.
" A... A.... Ah! Youuuuu!!!Sheesh!! Fine! Just do what you want! We got used to Kaori's ridiculousness anyway, what can you even do to one up her? I'm sure we'll be able to handle it!"(Myuu)
Without hesitation, I reached my arms under her armpits and-.... Reached around her back.
"..."(Myuu)
" You know... I don't remember anything about my real mum... So you're the closest thing I have... And I feel safe like this..."
"... Idiot...! Who said hugs weren't allowed?!" (Myuu)
She put her arms around my back. I couldn't see her face from here as my head was buried in her abdomen, but I'm sure she was feeling something different too. I had assumed she would pretend to get mad while indulging me, but I didn't expect her to directly give the okay. But rather than my own behaviour, it feels like my recent discovery would impact the others more. When I act weird, they would be the first ones to notice. I quickly pulled my head out of her embrace with a bright smile.
"I feel recharged after absorbing the Myuunium! Let's go have a meal."
"Who said you can call it Myuunium! You pervert!" (Myuu)
Despite having no sense of taste, Myuu must have noticed and ignored it. I... I suppose I want to act like Kaori to make her happy. But at the same time, I want to remain as myself. I wonder how life would go on like this, it sure as hell wouldn't be a smooth ride.
***
Having lunch with the others, it had been a really long while since I relaxed in proper bedding. As we were in Central, there was higher quality housing and higher quantity of lodgings too. With how much time had passed, resources were transported here as central received a bias treatment due to housing a god magical girl, The Eye God. No one knew what would happen if she were enraged, the god magical girls just sort of appeared the moment The Great Disaster ended.
As all god magical girls wanted to speed up the repair of civilisation, she helped a ton at the start, but now that things were going well and humans were doing that independantly, she was receiving the fruits of her earlier favour now. Presumably this would continue as long as this faction exist, they treated her like an actual god with plenty of offerings. Not that anyone had the power to disprove her divinity.
As such, the nicer things that were industrialised were sent here first rather than the outskirt regions of the faction. Of course they get plenty of bonuses for their affiliation too, enough to live for the next year. As things are, the beds here are logically the softest. I hadn't received such a nice nap in a long time, so I had apparently overslept into the afternoon where we all had lunch. The first floor was a lobby with a corridor that led to the cafeteria. The private rooms were upstairs.
"So how was your first night?" (Barius)
I could almost hear a vein pop over at my side where Myuu was sitting, but since I don't want to be in a bloodbath I'll just pretend I heard nothing. Since we didn't know or bothered to find everyone's preferences, on the table was a drool inducing myriad of side dishes. Rice was a universal staple, so everyone had at least a single bowl of coconut rice. The dishes ranges from various Asian countries, so we were able to find at least 1 plate of food familiar.
"Looks like the food industry is doing really well if an Inn like this could acquire such a variety of ingredients." (Paridia)
She spoke with a little smile, stuffing a mouthful with her spoon. There were now 5 of us, which was the largest the group has gotten, but... I would have wanted it to be the 6 of us. The atmosphere got quiet and I couldn't blame anyone for it. We were all feeling down for having lost someone valuable, well maybe Neli and Barius didn't feel as much but they kept quiet out of respect.
"I'll get her back. We'll defeat the progenitor."
***
Matching the opponent's fist, I hit a little too hard and their B grade wrist powderised as soon as it made contact. Crushing their throat so they couldn't scream, I left them on the ground to regenerate.
" Ruthless as always huh?" (Paridia)
"Speak for yourself... Weren't you guys massacring them before I arrived?"
"... We gave them a choice. Join us and delay their deaths, possible even survive or die immediately. But the cult's hold on them is too strong. Most of them had something important taken from them, something they would risk their lives fighting us for. So I granted them salvation.
What use would be surviving such horrible lives? Only Gerald and I has discarded everything, even the other commanders that govern their own bases were kept on tight leashes by the cult." (Paridia)
"... Once we defeat the progenitor wouldn't all of that go away? "
" No... Someone nearby will just take up the mantle and continue the cycle. The progenitor is not just a title, it is something to be inherited, ironically. "(Paridia)
"Then the best way would be annihilation... So there wouldn't be anyone to pick it up..."
"... We're also defeating competitors, the best solution is to claim it for ourselves and the power that comes with it. With how much damage we've down to the surrounding bases, the only thing left to do is to destroy her bodyguards and then her. "(Paridia)
" Likely a small army of A grades huh, we can't rule out S grades too or The Eye God. "
There were many obstacles, but gradually even the commanders of each base no longer posed a thread. With the 5 of us, 3 could conquer the surrounding area efficiently while 2 would attack the commander.
" Let's get this over with, F.R.M."
"Hehe, I never get tired of seeing that powerup." (Paridia)
"... My aura just changes to a deeper colour..."
"It's still quite cool, I wish I had something like a second transformation. Alright poke a hole in the door for me." (Paridia)
Summoning my vaccum blade, I kneeled on one leg before I slashed horizontally, and I ducked below the hole I cleaved out while Paridia throws a glowing white orb inside. *BOOM!!!* A bellowing roar of wind and debris ravages the inside of the office as light, heat and radiation ramapaged. Anyone who was C grade would get melted by that, so it was mostly to clear away the small fries. As the grades are quantified by human potential, C grade having only 800 times human potential looks really small now that I've crossed B grade which was 4000 and A grade which was 100 000. S grade was 1 000 000, and the most important stat was well has it indicated how much magical particles you were able to hold and use at once.
Kicking down the door, a figure flashed in front of my eyes as they moved at fast speeds that made it seem like they vanish. But at this stage, I didn't even need last pace which bordered on or was slightly slower than light speed. Simply using my superior kinetic vision and agility, I was able to intercept by placing my palm in front of their face before they noticed.
Then I strengthened my grip right after it lands on their face and slammed down backwards into the floor, causing destruction and dust to abuse the ground. I used a weakened version of the pseudo timestop to drastically slow down their movements but not stop it at all, in order to trick them into thinking their movements were normal as usual and not restrained at all.
To ensure this deceit of their own capabilities worked, I had Paridia throw in that light bomb that not only killed all the small fries but also disorientated anyone strong enough to survive, as it released so much light someone could go blind. Then I walked in casually while Paridia stood still to make them think they were moving faster than us, lowering their guard even further. With this combination of preparations, it was easy to slam them entirely into the ground before Paridia fired more lasers to disintegrate the corpse. Even A grades become helpless like that.
"Any leads?" (Barius)
She inquired monotonously as this had been the umpteenth time she asked the same dreary question. The answer always the same since the progenitor was so well hidden.
"... No, only that they're fully aware of our existence and some of our abilities now. Largely due to us wiping out more than half their bases, crippling their manpower and slowing their operations on all levels."
We really need to contain this kind of information of better, we don't know what they do know and don't know about us. It was concerning, but nothing we can do about it now.
" That's good. Though we still have the main base to find, it means there's actual progress. " (Myuu)
" We can't rule out them deliberately sending false information to their allies to throw us off. " (Paridia)
"Then let's continue."