*
A girl with deep blue hair appears, her eyes shut tightly like a newborn adjusting to light for the first time. Her body was completely fine. Her skin was glossy smooth, nearly reflecting the golden hue of the setting sun.
"Mmmh~ mmh!!" (Ledia)
She was conscious, she struggled awake with a savage groan, vibrating her vocal chords roughly to exert strength into her limbs. She brought both arms to one side and pushed her torso up before rubbing the drowsiness out of her eyes with one hand. Her throat felt dry and raspy and her muscles felt sore, as if she had gone through an entire marathon in her sleep. She brought a few of her fingers to cover her mouth, heaving a deep yawn into it as she pries her eyes open to look at the individual in front of her.
An overwhelming presence akin to a beacon that lights up the world, her dress of pure white dyed in bluish grey under the darkening skies of gradual twilight. They bent under her weight and trace around her knees as she knelt in front of Ledia, a blurry mass of colours hovered above the pair of knees. As if the streaks of grey and many other colours were puzzle pieces, they slot into their rightful places and reveal a clearer scenery in front of her.
"... Kaori... You're here... Am I dead...?" (Ledia)
She spoke softly with her weakened and out of use vocal folds, the innards of her throat stretch with a staggering rhythm in an attempt to convey her thoughts. Though groggy, she seemed to have at least some awareness of her surroundings, her iris ponder around wildly like a pair of frantic fish. Finally settling down, her gaze rested on the wedding dress in front of her, before trailing up to Kaori's face. Droplets of sweat caressed her moisturised cheeks, dangling over the edges of her jawline and coating her neck.
At times like this, Ledia wondered if she might have turned weird. The sight of Kaori slathered in perspiration awakened something inside Ledia... At least mildly. There was a person's natural sense of judgement in gauging how attractive someone else is, then there's this. It made her thought about completely reevaluating how attractive she found other girls, but when she thought deeper it turns out it was only Kaori and who she was that gave her these feelings. In the end, these were nothing but after thoughts. Yeah, it couldn't be any simpler. Her feelings as Kaori's comrade was far stronger than whatever spontaneous urges she felt right now.
Quickly dismissing these slightly raunchy thoughts, she focused her attention once more.
"... Thank god, I saved you... Well technically, I can now thank myself but that's not the point...
I'm glad... I'm glad I could fix my mistake of dragging you into all of this and save you one last time..." (Kaori)
".. N... No way... In the end, we achieved a happy ending... You freed me from the loop yourself and everyone was saved...
So, please don't apologise. I decided this on my own, after much thought, I believe it was necessary to save the world... Are you... Are you going to die again? " (Ledia)
Kaori had a pained expression, as if she swallowed something bitter. Strangely enough Ledia was tranquil, she smiled gently at Kaori in an effort to calm her down. Right, Kaori broke her own ideals. In the end, she did something she regretted. Even if it was logically sound, to carry out the only solution to save the world... It was morally reprehensible...
"I'm not gonna die, but... Are you sure it was fine? The torment, the suffering I inflicted. I don't believe any of it was justified even if it was the only way to save the world.
I made the one decision that set destiny on course for this world to survive the Destroyers, but I still have to take responsibility for causing you so much pain... " (Kaori)
Ledia went quiet as Kaori spoke, listened to Kaori choke her words out and silently nodded to each thing she said. In the moment she might have cursed Kaori to die a horrible death every time, it was simply how emotions worked. At that time her frustration and despair would have been so amplified, she wouldn't hesitate to plunge a blade into Kaori then. Yet now... She was doing all she can to keep Kaori alive. Her stance had changed, she was all the more aware of her own change of heart, she was the most understanding of it seeing as it was her own thoughts put into emotions.
She heaves a sigh and recollect herself.
"Kaori we have to have a proper talk." (Ledia)
She looked into Kaori's eyes, a firm unwavering gaze that wouldn't accept refusal. Of course Kaori was still free to refuse, but her character wouldn't allow it. She wouldn't ever accept such a decision, running from this talk would have been the most shameful part of her entire life.
"Shall we leave?" (Barius)
A familiar grey haired individual interjected. As far as anyone went, Barius must have been the one Kaori knew the longest in this crowd. She would always feel comfortable and safe with Barius around, if your rival is the 'perfect' magical girl, such feelings were bound to arise. Oddly enough, it was her consideration right now that was 'perfect'. Kaori nodded sheepishly and everyone left at once, teleporting away as if they were never there.
"Fuh~ I'll talk." (Kaori)
Squatting down, they both sat on the ground facing each other. Using her magic, Kaori swept the dirt away and made a solid flat surface that could fit the both of them. The cloth of her dress was swept to one side by the wind as she adjusted herself.
"Alright, then let's get started. First of all... I'm over it. I don't want you to blame yourself any longer. If you wonder if my mental state was okay or if there were any misgivings, I'll just say this:
I'm just that strong. I got over it. I reconciled with the past and compromised with the fact that it was necessary to save the world. In any other scenario, it wouldn't have been worth it. But in this specific case...
I want to thank you. Thank you for saving me, for defeating Arasovi and keeping the world safe. Keeping the magical girls of the world safe, securing our future. Thank you, Kaori Hisugawa. Magical girl of magical girls. " (Ledia)
It felt like an invisible pressure was released from her shoulders, and with that... Kaori's tears flowed. The floodgates no longer worked and her vision blurs up uncontrollably. They covered her iris and lashes, flowing down and causing her sweat droplets to enlarge. Her lips curled up without rhyme nor rhythm, a chaos of shivering involuntarily. Her heart was calm through the thick of it, but it was speeding up as she got weirdly conscious of its loud beating.
No one else could hear her heartbeat normally, after all in real life one's flesh will dampen the sound no matter how nervous or anxious they got. Here, Ledia was untransformed and only Kaori's hearing was heightened. The speed of her heart stood out to her in particular, filling her with internal embarrassment.
Ledia raised her hand, curling her index finger out to wipe off Kaori's tears from her lashes. She herself was beginning to get strangely conscious as well, but for Kaori's sake, she didn't want Kaori to lose any of her dignity. So she smiled with warmth as Kaori regained her composure.
"... Right... Himei must have told you while I was gone... I... I just wanted to be a hero at first. Someone who could fight The Great Disaster.
I started small, joining a company that salvages food and resources from ruins to help out with rescue and recovery efforts. To rebuild human civilisation or at least repair some semblance of it... " (Kaori)
Ledia narrowed her eyelashes slowly, she spoke with a renewed voice.
" And that's when you became a magical girl... " (Ledia)
" Y... Yeah. I thought I could make changes to this world, I really tried my hardest... I wanted to make this a better place... Save other magical girls." (Kaori)
She aspired to be a hero, threw away her ordinary life and associations. If her parents were still around, they must know of her by now. No... They would know her magical girl self but they wouldn't be able to connect the dots with their missing son. The friends that she previously had, she had long since forgotten about them. Or rather, she had been so preoccupied with her new life that she no longer thought about them.
"Did you do it? Have you achieved your ideal self? Your dream..." (Ledia)
"I achieved godhood and accessed the divine particle. But my idea self simply isn't realistic, even for an all powerful all knowing God...
Because to judge what is right and wrong, what people deserve and do not deserve, that will not fall into the purview of a righteous hero. I want to save others, but they must also want to be saved. I can not decide who deserves to live or die, but I can still give those that still want to live another chance...
Morally, I will only do so much as it is for the best. So if anyone were to need help, I hope they do call my name. " (Kaori)
" Which one? " (Ledia)
" Kaori. I would say this is the name I was attached to the most. Some might call me Kaede or Kaoru, and I would heed the call nonetheless. " (Kaori)
"... Enough of thanks and apologies, it's time to look towards the future. Will you continue to be a magical girl?" (Ledia)
" Of course, it'll be my pleasure. " (Kaori)
A smile on the level of the divine, as if meticulously sculpted by the greeks with perfection allowed by the rules of nature. It seemed to glow on its own even if it didn't really emit light. She was especially beautiful at this moment as her mind was occupied by what she loved the most. Magical girls and-
Herself.
***(?)
"Alright we're cleared here." (Gerald)
"Same here." (Paridia)
"Here too, last, over." (Kaori)
Within a second they arrived back at the top of the labyrinth, a modest outpost perches itself in that barren desert terrain. Remnants of the demon army had synthesised a method to spontaneously create monster nests. When left for too long, the older monsters might cannibalise the weaker ones or absorb magic in other ways, strengthening themselves beyond the control of the local magical girls.
The 3 of them had taken up the job of clearing up the nests that grew too large or had queens that were too powerful. Naturally the monsters couldn't hold a candle to them.
"Fuah~ a day's worth of hard work done! It's time to relax!" (Paridia)
"It is nice to be fighting these mindless things as opposed to magical girls." (Gerald)
"Not to mention how fast it takes! We're getting paid for putting in little work!" (Kaori)
The black haired and pink haired girl stared at Kaori with a blank gaze. Certainly, none of them had any trouble carpet bombing a nest in less than a minute, however they still had some of their sensibilities. After fighting the Destroyers and the Demon King, maybe Kaori got a little strange.
"Kaorin, you free this weekend?" (Karell)
A voice call via a magic device came through, they were rudimentary in structure much like the pagers of old, but we're more than sufficient for their function. They were still able to store contacts and told the time, it would take an actual phone's intricacies to connect to the Web and play games.
"Ah, excuse me for a sec, got a call..." (Kaori)
"Alright." (Gerald)
"Have fun!" (Paridia)
As can be seen, the world was peaceful and uneventful. The last vestiges of the demon army continue to hide in another dimension, under the tolerant gaze of the god magical girls. There were numerous strong A grade demons, and a couple S grades left. Negotiations were handled by Zedicia as the rest took a backseat and lightly handled worldly affairs. Governing was left to normal humans as well, as the effects of The Great Disaster faded with time, less people awakened into magical girls and the population of magical girls eventually stopped increasing.
Stepping into her home, her thoughts were renewed afresh with the aroma of dinner wafting about.
"How was work? Was it any trouble?" (Myuu)
"Fufu... It was magical!" (Kaori)
"Uwah... When will you get sick of these puns~?" (Myuu)
FIN