Chapter 10: The Battle Rages On

Nightmare Pudding was demonstrating a level of raw, overwhelming combat capability that was simply, utterly transcendent. If her true identity weren't the beloved, universally adored hero, Strawberry Sweetheart, every single person present, hero and civilian alike, would have probably already fled in abject terror. It was only because she was Strawberry Sweetheart, the symbol of hope and justice, that people could, with a strange, surreal sense of calm and morbid, wide-eyed fascination, continue to watch the epic, reality-bending battle currently unfolding on the giant holographic screens across the city. They believed, with an almost religious, unshakable faith, that Strawberry Sweetheart would never, ever harm them.

Of course, although her new, terrifyingly powerful "outfit" consisted of only a few strategically, artistically placed, rope-like pieces of fabric, no matter which angle the dynamic camera drones captured, no matter how they zoomed or panned, it was absolutely, infuriatingly impossible to see the… sights… one might have desperately, and for purely academic reasons of course, hoped to see. For a certain, very dedicated segment of the magical girl aficionado population, this was a source of profound, existential pain.

For example, Hana Tanaka.

“WHY?! But they’re just a few flimsy pieces of string! It’s not fair!” Hana wailed, her eyes glued to the giant holographic projection of the battle being displayed on a nearby building, her face a mask of pure fangirl agony. “They’re literally just a few strategically placed ROPES! There should be some kind of slip-up! A wardrobe malfunction! A brief, tantalizing glimpse! This completely defies the fundamental laws of physics, aerodynamics, and essential, plot-relevant fanservice! It’s a travesty!”

Magical Girl Red, who was standing beside her, pale and slightly nauseous, looked at her with a completely bewildered expression. “But, Miss Hana… aren’t you a girl yourself? If you really want to see it that badly, couldn’t you just… you know… buy a corresponding outfit online and try it on yourself? Your own figure is probably even better, more impressive, than Strawberry Sweetheart’s, isn’t it?”

“!” It was as if Red’s words were a perfectly aimed, armor-piercing critical hit that struck a vital, undefended point in Hana’s very soul. Hana was rendered momentarily speechless, unable to refute the flawless, inescapable logic. “Th-that… that may be technically true,” she stammered, a rare blush creeping up her cheeks, “but no matter how much I love magical girls, no matter how much I study them, I can’t ever truly become one! Not a real one! It’s… it’s something you can’t do unless you’re one of the chosen ones, you know~ A person blessed by fate itself!”

Red’s expression, upon hearing this, became incredibly, painfully complicated. “Chosen…? If you, Miss Hana, by some miracle, became a magical girl… what would you want to do? Would you… would you want to protect humanity?”

“Well, of course! That’s a given!” Hana chirped, her earlier frustration completely forgotten as she puffed out her chest with a proud, heroic grin. “Magical girls are all super cute, aren’t they? It’s, like, their defining characteristic! Just like the Magical Girl Red you’re so perfectly cosplaying as right now; she’s a very, very cute girl, right? Wearing sparkly, adorable clothes, possessing immense, world-saving power, and being able to stand in the bright, warm spotlight and become everyone’s idol… Magical girls are beings who guide the precious hope in people’s hearts! How could anyone possibly not respect, not admire, not worship people like that?”

Yes, Red, too, had once, a long, long time ago (or perhaps just a few short weeks ago), thought that very same thing. As an ordinary, common, and completely unremarkable girl, she had held just such a beautiful, shining, and hopelessly idealistic yearning for the magnificent beings known as magical girls.

Until, that is, she herself had, by some cruel twist of fate, actually become one.

“But… magical girls also have opponents they can’t possibly defeat, right?” Red murmured, her own painful, humiliating memories bubbling to the surface like a toxic sludge. “For example, the real Magical Girl Red… I heard she lost, very badly, to a certain fiend not too long ago. If other, more powerful Espers hadn’t come to her rescue in the nick of time, something terrible, something permanent, might have happened to her.” Her voice was filled with a quiet, genuine sadness. “How do magical girls… how do they truly see themselves, after something like that?”

Hana was, for a moment, at a complete loss for words. “Well, I… I’m not a real magical girl, so I can’t really, truly answer that question for you… If I did become a magical girl, though, I bet I’d have the answer then. How about this! Let’s make a promise! If, one day, I, Hana Tanaka, become a real, bona fide magical girl, I’ll come and tell you the answer myself! Or—even better! I’ll ask my good friend, Magical Girl Black, for you another day, and I’ll have her tell you the answer! How about that?”

“Is that so… Well then, I… I’ll be waiting for your good news,” Red said with a weak, grateful smile.

“Hana!”

Suddenly appearing before Hana, as if out of nowhere, was Magical Girl Black’s ever-reliable Supporter, Ren Akiyama. For the all-out, high-stakes subjugation operation against the Darkmoon Coven, the Supporters’ most critical work—the intelligence gathering, the strategic planning, the logistical coordination—was mostly completed in the preliminary stages. Once the battle truly, violently began, they no longer possessed the power or the ability to directly interfere, especially not in a large-scale, city-wide battle against a formidable organization like the Darkmoon Coven. Now, the only ones who could truly be relied upon were the raw, overwhelming powers of Strawberry Sweetheart and Magical Girl Black themselves. Standing beside Ren was the calm, professional, and impeccably dressed woman named Camellia, Strawberry Sweetheart’s own dedicated Supporter.

Ren and Tsubaki had arrived, with a sense of grim urgency, before the two surprised girls.

Camellia’s analytical gaze immediately fell on the startled and now very pale Magical Girl Red. “Miss Red,” she said, her voice cold, crisp, and utterly professional, “I have just received direct, high-priority orders from the organization. I am here to formally invite you to join the ongoing operation to subjugate the Darkmoon Coven. This is also, I am told, the personal wish of Strawberry Sweetheart herself. She hopes that you will bear witness to her final battle.”

Hana was instantly stunned. She looked from the serious face of Camellia, to the nervous face of Red, and then finally to the calm, smiling face of her own boyfriend, Ren, her eyes filled with a dawning, comical confusion. Ren just smiled back at her and gave a single, almost imperceptible nod.

And in that silent instant, Hana Tanaka, magical girl expert, finally, truly understood.

The person standing before her, this cute, nervous, and surprisingly well-informed girl… she wasn’t some random, talented Red cosplayer. She was the real, genuine, and currently-in-a-lot-of-trouble Magical Girl Red! In the flesh!

Hana stared at Red with eyes full of utter religious disbelief. Red, in turn, could only return her intense, star-struck gaze with an awkward, sheepish, apologetic smile. Oh, crap. The gig is up.

“Please,” Red said to Camellia, her voice now firm with a newfound, if slightly terrified resolve, “take me there. I want to see.”

Camellia glanced briefly at Ren and Hana, her expression unreadable. “I can take Miss Red there myself. You, Mr. Akiyama, should take Miss Tanaka and evacuate immediately. Find a secure place to hide. I suspect that other members of the fiend organization may still try to make a move on Miss Tanaka.”

Ren nodded, his expression now serious as well. “Thank you, Camellia-san. We will.”

“It’s nothing. Just doing my job.”

And with that, the two groups, their destinies now intertwined, parted ways, heading off in opposite directions.

Ren, taking Hana’s hand, began to lead her away from the sounds of the distant, epic battle. “Come on, Hana. We need to find a place to hide.”

“Are… are Strawberry Sweetheart and my dad… are they really confident about this operation?” Hana couldn’t help but ask, her voice filled with a new worry.

Ren sighed, a sound heavy with a weariness that was far beyond his years. “Honestly, Hana? It’s not really a matter of confidence at this point. It’s that Black… your father… she personally went to Strawberry Sweetheart and declared, with an almost terrifying determination, her unwavering resolve to subjugate the Darkmoon Coven, once and for all. She forced the issue.”

“My dad?! But… why?!”

Everyone, every fan, every analyst, every hero, knew that the Darkmoon Queen was Strawberry Sweetheart’s legendary, personal arch-nemesis. Since the very beginning, since Strawberry Sweetheart had first become a magical girl, the Darkmoon Coven had also been growing in strength, constantly, obsessively opposing her. And yet, it was her own father, the grumpy, cynical Magical Girl Black, who had been the one to propose, to demand, the final, decisive subjugation of the Darkmoon Coven? It didn’t make any sense.

“Because you, Hana, are in danger,” Ren said bluntly, his voice soft but firm. “As a father, she simply cannot, will not, tolerate you being constantly exposed to the very real danger posed by the Darkmoon Coven. That incident the other day, for her, the biggest, most devastating impact was not that her own secret identity was revealed to me, but the cold, hard fact that you could now be targeted, be attacked by the Darkmoon Coven at any time, just to get to her. That fact… it caused her great pain. More than any physical injury could.”

Hana fell silent, a lump forming in her throat. She couldn’t deny Ren’s words. She had always, always known, better than anyone, deep down in her heart, how much her father, her grumpy, awkward, often infuriating father, truly loved and protected her, even if his methods, his words, his very presence, often made her unhappy.

“So… so you’re saying they don’t have a surefire way to win this fight?” she whispered, her voice trembling slightly.

“Strawberry Sweetheart says she is the strongest,” Ren replied simply. “So, therefore, it is impossible for her to fail. That’s her logic.”

“…You know that people who say things like that, the ones who raise their own death flags so brazenly, they almost always get tragically, brutally cut in half in the stories, right?” Hana said, a hint of her usual, morbid otaku humor returning.

Ren smiled, a genuine, warm smile this time. “Then what do you think, Hana? Do you think they can win?”

“…Yes,” Hana said, after a long moment, her own voice now filled with a quiet, unwavering conviction. “Yes, they can.”

“Then let’s get the hell out of here! And try not to get stepped on!” Ren said, pulling her along. “You know, if only your crazy dimensional space magic could be used to hold people, this would all be so much easier.”

Hana shook her head. “No, it can’t work like that. I can put you inside, no problem, but I can’t go in myself. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to fix the exit coordinates. My magical proficiency, my skill level isn’t yet at the point where I can leave a precise, stable anchor at our current location. I have to be physically present, right here, to fix the exit point. Otherwise,” she added, a shiver running down her spine, “I have absolutely no idea where we’d end up when we came out. We could be eternally, hopelessly exiled in some random, empty, WiFi-less dimension for all I know.” Hana’s incredibly convenient storage magic, it turned out, could hold anything, absolutely anything, except for herself. If she ever went inside, she wouldn’t know where, or even when, she would come out. Her unique Esper ability, when she could use a certain spell, meant she would instantly, intuitively know everything there was to know about that spell, including all its wonderful, convenient uses, and all its terrifying, potentially universe-ending flaws. It was a double-edged sword.

“You say we have to hide,” Hana said, looking around at the chaotic streets, “but where exactly are we supposed to hide? Everywhere seems… bad.”

Ren, his mind already working, analyzed the situation with a cold, almost detached calm. “Okay, judging by the Darkmoon Queen’s current, desperate actions, she clearly knows about Black’s unwavering determination to subjugate her. So, all of the Darkmoon Coven’s most powerful, heavy-hitting fiends are probably all gathered over there right now, engaged in a desperate, last-ditch battle against Black and Strawberry Sweetheart. Therefore, the one we really need to be careful of now, the one most likely to be sent after us, is that sneaky, shapeshifting fiend named Dark Butterfly.”

“You mean… you mean that nice lady, Miss Kirishima?!” Hana gasped, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Ren nodded, his expression grim.

In the end, after much panicked running, the two of them, the magical girl’s daughter and her hyper-competent boyfriend, ran into a gaudy, neon-lit, and surprisingly clean-looking love hotel.

High school students, of course, weren’t really, under normal circumstances, supposed to be able to get a room in such an establishment. But Ren and Hana, as they had so conveniently discovered, had their official, high-level Supporter credentials. And after calmly, and with a great deal of authority, stating that they were on a top-secret, high-priority official mission for the Hero Organization (which wasn’t entirely a lie, when you thought about it), they were, much to Hana’s mortification, able to get a room. No questions asked.

“Are… are you absolutely sure we can hide here, Ren?” Hana whispered, her face beet-red as she took in the room’s… unique… decor, which seemed to mostly consist of velvet, mirrors, and a very large, very round, and probably quite bouncy bed.

“Even a master infiltrator like Dark Butterfly,” Ren reasoned, with a logic that was both brilliant and slightly insane, “probably wouldn’t think to look for two high school students, in the middle of a city-wide magical girl apocalypse, hiding out in a tacky love hotel, would she? It’s the perfect, most unexpected hiding spot!”

In reality, a so-called "love hotel," to use a more common, less euphemistic term, was a themed hotel designed specifically for amorous couples. The prices for the different, often ridiculously elaborate themes varied, and they also apparently provided a wide and frankly quite alarming variety of… interesting… props and costumes, including, Hana noted with a fresh surge of embarrassment, a full range of fetish-themed uniforms.

“Is it… is it really appropriate for us to be in here, watching my dad and the others fight for their lives on TV, while surrounded by… all of this?” Hana asked, her eyes darting towards the mirrored closet, which, upon closer inspection, seemed to contain a full set of what looked like… maid outfits. She felt incredibly awkward. And a little curious.

Ren, however, was already completely focused, his gaze fixed intently on the giant, wall-mounted television screen, which was currently broadcasting the Darkmoon Queen’s live, city-wide feed of the epic battle. His brow was furrowed in deep concentration. “Hana, look at this. I just feel like… like something is wrong here. Fundamentally wrong. Rather than say the Darkmoon Queen is seriously, truly fighting Strawberry Sweetheart with the intent to win, it’s more like… it’s more like she’s just… stalling for time. Is it possible? Is there some kind of hidden time limit to Strawberry Sweetheart’s all-powerful Inverted state?”

Hana was taken aback by his sudden, sharp shift in focus. “A time limit? What do you mean?”

“Well, think about it. If there is a time limit, if Nightmare Pudding is on a clock, then the Darkmoon Queen is just confidently, patiently fighting, waiting for her to run out of steam. But if Strawberry Sweetheart can actually maintain this incredibly powerful state indefinitely, with no negative side effects, then the Darkmoon Queen must be waiting for something else. Some other variable. Some other unforeseen factor to enter the equation. But what? What in the world is she waiting for?”

“Well, regardless of her plan, time is on our side, right?” Hana said, trying to sound optimistic. “If Magical Girl Red joins the battle, the situation will only become clearer, more advantageous for us. The Darkmoon Queen can’t possibly be waiting for Red to show up, can she?”

The moment she said it, the moment the words left her lips, Ren’s expression changed dramatically. A look of dawning, horrified comprehension spread across his face. “Maybe… maybe she is, Hana.”

“You… you mean?”

“Because Red, as we both know, is significantly weaker than both Black and Strawberry Sweetheart. So, if the Queen could somehow, in the middle of this chaos, manage to take Red hostage… then the entire situation, the entire balance of power, could still turn around for her. In fact,” Ren said, his mind racing, connecting the dots with a terrifying speed, “the real reason we only had Black and Strawberry Sweetheart officially participate in this subjugation battle in the first place was precisely to avoid any of the weaker heroes becoming a burden, becoming a potential hostage. But Strawberry Sweetheart… she so specifically, so insistently requested that Red be brought here, that she witness this battle. She couldn’t have failed to consider this obvious, terrifying possibility, could she? Unless… unless that’s part of her plan too.”

Hana, sensing the sudden, heavy weight of Ren’s anxiety, walked up behind him and gently, reassuringly hugged him. “Ren, listen to me. Regardless of all that, right now, all we can do is watch. And pray for their victory. Don’t think too much. You’ll just drive yourself crazy.”

Ren took a deep, shuddering breath, feeling the warmth, the simple, comforting presence of the girl in his arms. “Yes… yes, you’re right, Hana. You’re absolutely right. All we can do now is… believe in them.”

......

The fiends of the Darkmoon Coven, it had to be said, were not weak. Not by a long shot. At the very least, Black couldn’t just obliterate them all with a single, contemptuous punch, which was deeply annoying for her. Now that their numbers had grown, and they were, with a surprising degree of tactical competence, supporting each other, even the mighty Magical Girl Black was starting to feel a little bit… overwhelmed. Just a little.

“Running around like a bunch of panicked, screaming monkeys. In the end, you so-called ‘fiends’ are all just things of this pathetic, insignificant level,” she taunted, suddenly stopping her relentless, forward-moving assault, her gaze sweeping over the numerous, now-hesitant fiends with an almost bored contempt. “Don’t you have something, anything, like an ultimate, world-ending move? You know, like in all those cheesy TV shows, where you all fuse together into some giant, even uglier monster and get ridiculously stronger? Why don’t you perform that little trick for me? I’m getting bored.” A cold, contemptuous smile hung on her face, like that of a jaded spectator waiting for the monkeys at the zoo to perform a few more amusing, if predictable, tricks for her entertainment. “Don’t you have something like that in your pathetic little arsenal? Because if you don’t, your precious, magnificent Queen over there… well, she’s probably going to be in a whole heap of trouble pretty soon~ I’d estimate, at her current rate of power loss, that she can last, at most, another few minutes against Nightmare Pudding’s relentless attacks. And then, when she’s gone… you’ll all be finished.”

“Are you absolutely, positively sure you want to keep wasting my precious time, playing with me here?”

The fiends, their morale clearly wavering, exchanged nervous, uncertain glances. Their eyes instinctively, fearfully fell on the distant, epic battle between Nightmare Pudding and their magnificent Queen. And they could see it was true. The Queen’s movements, once so graceful and effortless, were now clearly, visibly slowing. Her breathing was becoming ragged, labored. She had gone from her initial, regal composure to her current, desperate predicament; it was painfully, terrifyingly clear that she couldn’t hold on for much longer. The fiends couldn’t help but feel a fresh, icy wave of panic grip their hearts.

At that precise, opportune moment, Magical Girl Black, with a predatory grin, vanished again. She reappeared, a blur of black death, directly in front of a particularly large, ugly, and now very terrified fiend. She grabbed his arm, and then, with a speed that was almost impossible to follow, she delivered a blindingly fast, five-punch combo directly to his chest. Ora ora ora ora ora!

The fiend, in front of all his watching comrades, simply… exploded. In a shower of gore and dark, viscous fluid.

A gruesome, crimson rain splattered across the battlefield. Magical Girl Black’s smile, now, was somewhat… demonic. Almost beautiful in a terrifying sort of way. “So, as I was saying,” she purred, her voice a low, dangerous growl, “aren’t you going to use some kind of ultimate, last-ditch, desperation attack? Because if you don’t… you’re all going to die, you know~ And I promise you, it won’t be quick. Or painless.”

“BLAAAAACK!!!! YOU MONSTER!!!”

The battle raged on.