Volume 3—Chapter 70: Outer World
Beyond the boundaries of the world, at the far edge of existence where space folds and time loses meaning, three figures floated freely in the shimmering void.
“Whoa… what was that?” asked the girl with jet-black twin tails, her lace-trimmed goth-lolita dress drifting like ink in water. Despite the cosmic vastness around her, she looked more curious than afraid.
“I don’t know exactly,” replied the woman beside her, flipping her long, dark crimson hair over one shoulder. “But whatever it was, that spell seems to be affecting the entire dimension.”
“Almost the entire dimension,” the man with black hair added calmly, hands tucked in his coat pockets. “A few isolated zones weren’t touched. The Esper Association’s HQ, for example.”
“That was terrifying…” The twin-tailed girl floated closer to the woman and clung to her arm. “Unnie, thanks for saving me back there.”
“Unnie? You’re clearly Japanese. Why the Korean honorific?” the crimson-haired woman asked, brow raised.
“I just like it! I’ve been binge-watching K-dramas lately,” the girl grinned. “They’re addictive.”
The man sighed. “She called me ahjussi the other day, too.”
“Ah, that explains everything,” the woman chuckled. “So, who’s your oppa? Was it Edward?”
“Ew, no! I’d rather dive headfirst into a pit of hell than call that ugly bumpkin oppa.” She stuck out her tongue in theatrical disgust.
“Hey, that’s harsh… but I get it,” the woman said, laughing softly.
Their laughter slowly dissolved into quiet, drifting among the starlit nothingness. The woman’s expression shifted.
“…Wait. Speaking of, where are those two? Don’t tell me they got caught in that.”
“Relax,” the man said. “They’re alive. They were not in here when that happened. I’m not entirely sure what they’re doing, but… they got lucky.”
“Hmph.” The woman folded her arms. “Still, a shame. We can’t operate there anymore, not while that thing is in play. Is our base intact?”
“Technically,” said the man. “The structure remains, but the perception of it has changed. The spell didn’t destroy, it altered. Anyone still inside that world won’t be quite the same… but they’re still there. The framework holds. Our agents, too, maybe. Just… different now.”
The twin-tailed girl tilted her head. “So… should we descend now, ahjussi?”
The man didn’t answer immediately. His gaze wandered toward a glimmering fissure in the void.
“…No. You two descend. I’ve got business elsewhere…”
And with that, he vanished into a stream of prismatic light.
“Wha… hey! No fair!” the girl pouted. “He always leaves us with cleanup duty…”
“You really think he’ll ever explain what his ‘business’ is?” the woman sighed.
“Probably not,” the girl muttered.
They floated there in silence for a while. Then the girl asked, “Unnie… should we just forget about that world? Move on?”
The woman turned to her and smiled faintly.
“…Can you talk normally for once, sweetie?”
The girl stared blankly. “No.”
—
High above the skyline of Tokyo Metropolitan City, two girls rode a broomstick, gliding effortlessly through the open air. That is, if you could see them, thanks to a faint shimmer of concealment magic, they were practically invisible to the average onlooker below.
One of the girls looked like she’d stepped straight out of a storybook: her silver hair cascaded like moonlight, catching the golden glow of the late morning sun. She wore a wide-brimmed hat and a long, flowing coat stitched with arcane patterns, clearly the attire of a witch, which made sense, since she was a witch.
Sitting just behind her, awkwardly clutching the broom's handle, was a black-haired girl in a modest dress that was clearly one size too small.
“Uh, thanks for the change of clothes,” the black-haired girl muttered, tugging at the hem. “But this is definitely not my size.”
“You’re still complaining about that?” the witch sighed.
Before the other girl could respond, the witch slowed the broom slightly and gestured toward the dense sprawl of the city below.
“Well, we’re here. Where’s your home?”
“Uh… I don’t know. I can’t exactly recognise it from up here,” the black-haired girl said, squinting hopelessly at the sea of rooftops.
The witch raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? Fine, then. Which side of Tokyo are you from?”
“Tokyo?” The girl blinked. “I’m not from Tokyo.”
The broom wobbled slightly as the witch turned her head, surprised. “Excuse me? Then why didn’t you say that earlier? So, where do you live?”
“Tsukuru.”
“…Huh? Tsukuru? I’ve never heard of a city called Tsukuru. Which prefecture is it in?”
“It’s not in Japan. Tsukuru is the federal capital. You know… largest city on Earth?” said the black-haired girl with a confused look.
There was a pause.
The witch furrowed her brow. “Federal capital? Largest city…?”
The wind rushed around them as the broom sailed through the sky, but the witch suddenly grew quiet.
“You’re from Earth, right?” The witch asks.
“Yes…” The girl replied, unsure why the question was asked again.
The witch’s voice lowered slightly. “What year is it currently?”
“Uh… I think it’s 2038? Why are you asking all this?”
The witch didn’t respond right away. She slowly tilted the broom downward, heading toward the edge of the city. A steep hillside rose from the concrete outskirts, still untouched by buildings and crowds.
Without another word, she guided their descent toward the nearest hill, her eyes narrowing in thought.
Once the witch and the girl touched down on the grassy hillside, the broom gently fading into nothingness, the witch turned to face the girl.
“Syena…”
“Yes?” the black-haired girl responded, brushing dust off her skirt.
The witch studied her for a moment. “Do you believe in alternate timelines?”
Just as the words left her mouth, a faint green glow shimmered across her body, like sunlight filtered through deep water.
Syena tilted her head. “Aren’t other worlds basically alternate timelines?”
“Not quite,” the witch replied thoughtfully. “But... technically yes. Let’s try something. Right now, it’s 2012… Jumping forward to 2038.”
The air twisted like rippling heat. In an instant, the quiet hillside overlooking sparse suburbs was gone, replaced by a dense, bustling neighbourhood teeming with buildings, neon signs, and traffic noise.
Syena looked around in astonishment. “What just happened?”
The witch pulled out a small, floating compass-like device and scanned the area. “Let’s see… Tsukuru… Hmm. Still not showing up in this time either.”
She turned to Syena with a curious expression. “Are you absolutely sure your home world is called Earth?”
“Uh… yeah. Pretty sure.”
“Great,” the witch said dryly, tucking the device away. “Looks like you’re from one of those alternative Earths, then.”
She tapped her chin in thought, then gave Syena a pointed look. “Alright. Can you walk me through your world’s history? I want to find where the divergence began, maybe then we can track down which version of Earth is actually yours.”
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