Chapter 14: The Embrace

In reality, Hana Tanaka managed her personal dimensional space with a surprising, obsessive degree of care and organization. It was less of a simple storage space and more of a private, curated museum of her deepest obsessions.

She could, with a mere thought, freely move the positions of any items within the void-like space, so she had arranged everything with a meticulous, frightening neatness. Inside were all the high-tech, expensive things they had prepared for their last camping trip, neatly stacked, as well as all sorts of other miscellaneous items that Hana had, over the years, hoarded like a proud, otaku dragon.

For example, an entire, almost museum-quality wing dedicated to rare, limited-edition magical girl figurines—specifically, the special, highly sought-after, and often very expensive "fully-detachable, cast-off" versions, of course.

Hana’s own bedroom at home already had an entire, impressive wall dedicated to her more… publicly acceptable… figurines, the kind one could proudly, if a little nervously, display for guests and family. But the vast, shrine-like collection of figurines arranged here, in the secret, hallowed sanctum of her private dimensional space, were the kind that could never, ever, under any circumstances, be shown to another living, judgmental soul. Many of them were even unofficial, unlicensed, and probably highly illegal, fan-made garage kits that were traded in the darker, more "cultured" corners of the internet.

When Magical Girl Black saw all these things, all these expensive, slightly lewd, and meticulously cared-for statues of her colleagues (and, to her horror, several of herself), arranged so neatly, so lovingly, even in her current, extremely weakened and emotionally fragile state, she couldn’t help but let an expression of pure, unadulterated, fatherly astonishment appear on her face. “She’s… she’s actually, seriously loaded, isn’t she, that daughter of mine?! Don’t tell me all the allowance money I’ve so dutifully, so sacrificially given her over all these years… she spent it all on this kind of stuff?! On… on plastic dolls with removable clothes?!”

Ren, standing beside her guiltily, almost imperceptibly averted his gaze. He couldn’t possibly, not in a million years, bring himself to admit that a not-insignificant, and perhaps even quite substantial portion of his own hard-earned allowance money had also directly contributed to this impressive, and slightly alarming otaku collection.

Black felt a familiar, instinctual surge of fatherly anger, but she was too weak, too tired, too existentially confused to truly act on it. She was just… being held, almost cradled, by Ren. “So, Ren,” she mumbled, her voice weak, almost a whisper, “tell me honestly. Why did you really come in here with me? If I can somehow withstand this accursed power, if I can find a way to absorb and nullify it, then I’ll naturally be able to return to the outside world on my own. And if I can’t, if I’m doomed to just… explode in here… then even with you present, you can’t possibly be of any real help. You’re not even an Esper. What could you, an ordinary boy, possibly do in a situation like this?”

Ren, however, had become surprisingly, unnervingly calm, his earlier frantic, life-or-death urgency completely gone, replaced by a quiet, steady resolve. He gently set the weakened Magical Girl Black down on the strange, ethereal floor of the pocket dimension, then looked directly, intently into her eyes. “A magical girl’s power, as we both know, comes from her heart, from her spirit. If I had left you in here all by yourself, alone with that terrible, corrupting power, your heart would have inevitably become vulnerable, your will would have weakened, and your own power would have surely faded. I am here, Miss Black,” he said, his voice quiet but firm, “to give you strength. To be your anchor.”

“That kind of sentimental, shonen-manga nonsense… it has absolutely no meaning for me, kid,” Black grumbled, her gaze drifting away from Ren’s intense, unwavering stare. “Besides, aren’t there plenty of these… inspirational dolls… in here? Although some of them are a bit… lewd… they are all, more or less, infused with the heartfelt, passionate spirit of their original creators, aren’t they? Isn’t that kind of thing enough to support me? To give me hope?”

“That kind of stubborn, childish bravado,” Ren said softly, his voice surprisingly gentle, “is just a classic, textbook expression of wanting to be pampered, of secretly, desperately wanting comfort. Although it might be incredibly inappropriate for me to say this to you, given our respective and highly complicated identities, and though it might even seem like the entire world has been turned completely upside down, but right now, at this very moment, in this isolated, timeless space, I am not going to see you as Tanaka-ojisan, as my girlfriend’s embarrassing dad. In this moment, you are just the hero, Magical Girl Black.”

Black looked at Ren, a flicker of genuine confusion in her eyes. “And am I not?”

“If you truly, deeply believed you were just you, just Kenji Tanaka,” Ren’s voice, though calm and gentle, possessed a sharp, almost surgical piercing power, “then you wouldn’t have so stubbornly, so desperately insisted on maintaining your Magical Girl Black form for so long, would you? You would have let go of it long ago.” He was, with a terrifying, clinical precision, conducting a deep, psychological interrogation of Black’s very soul. A soul he was beginning to understand all too well.

“On the surface, you always pretend not to care about anything, to be above it all. But in reality, you care a great deal, don’t you?” Ren, it seemed, understood Magical Girl Black far, far better than she had ever imagined. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have agreed to come with me to A-City. You wouldn’t have, to this very day, still so deliberately, so consistently avoided meeting my own parents. You haven’t even had a single, proper, honest conversation with your own daughter since this whole insane affair began. The only reason you were willing to come with me, to trust me, is because you knew, on some level, that I, from a very early stage, had already figured out your secret identity. You’re afraid of facing your past relationships, your old, comfortable social circle. You don’t want to face that topic. Perhaps it’s simply because you find it all too embarrassing, too humiliating. Or perhaps…” Ren sighed, a profound sadness in his eyes, “I… I haven’t had the same kind of experiences as you. I can’t truly, completely empathize with what you must be going through.”

This… this terrifying, perceptive, and utterly infuriating boy.

Black had never, ever imagined that this young man, this mere boy she had practically, and with a certain fatherly fondness, watched grow up from a scrawny, awkward kid, could actually, genuinely understand her to such a profound, almost frighteningly intimate degree. And to think, when he had first, so earnestly applied to be her Supporter, his initial, comically inaccurate assessment of her true motivations had been so completely, laughably, almost insultingly wrong. But now… now he saw everything.

With a world-weary sigh of complete and undeniable defeat, Magical Girl Black lay down, her small body sprawling limply on the strange, ethereal floor of the pocket dimension. “So? What now, you clever kid? Are you going to make me, a grown, middle-aged man, show my pathetic, embarrassing, and completely broken side in front of a little kid like you? Is that your brilliant plan?”

“From my perspective, at least,” Ren said, with a soft, gentle smile as he lay down directly beside the exhausted Magical Girl Black, giving her a respectful amount of space, “I believe I’m the more mature, more responsible adult here. In this particular situation, anyway.”

Hana’s magical world was a strange, surreal empty place. A world with no sun, no moon, no sky—a world that seemed to be made of nothing at all, a blank, infinite canvas. Only the spot where she had so meticulously, so lovingly stored all her worldly possessions seemed to possess something akin to a solid, tangible ground, a place where things could be safely, securely placed. Lying there like this, staring up into the endless, silent void above them, was a strangely… peaceful experience.

“You said,” Black began suddenly, her voice a low, defeated murmur, “that right now, at this very moment, you see me only as Magical Girl Black.”

“That’s right.”

“Well then, my dear, brilliant Supporter,” she said, a hint of her old, familiar, sarcastic tone returning, though it was tinged with a new weariness, “tell me, what should we do now? What’s the plan? Magical Girl Black is on the verge of being completely unable to control the terrifying, corrupted power currently raging within her small, delicate body. She is, as you so astutely pointed out, about to repeat the tragic, well-documented history of the first magical girl, Crystal, to have her very essence, her very soul, shattered and split apart. Perhaps… perhaps, my dear Ren-kun,” she added, a dark, mischievous glint in her eye, “you could use this unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to somehow, miraculously absorb a portion of my overflowing magical girl power? Maybe you could even become a magical girl too? I’m sure you’d look lovely in a skirt.”

“I have absolutely, positively no interest whatsoever in wearing women’s clothing, thank you very much,” Ren replied with a blunt, brutal frankness that made Black chuckle. “Although Magical Girl Black is, from an objective, aesthetic standpoint, very, very cute, if I had to become… this… I honestly, truly couldn’t bear it. I’d probably, most likely, kill myself out of sheer embarrassment. It would be a matter of pride.”

“Hmph. You’ve got a lot of damn nerve, you little brat! Are you trying to imply that I’m some kind of shameless, exhibitionist pervert, and that’s the only reason I can so easily, so casually transform into the magnificent Magical Girl Black? Is that it?!”

Ren turned his head to the side, a slow, gentle, and infuriatingly knowing smile gradually appearing on his handsome face. He saw that Black was looking at him, a familiar, pouty scowl on her face, and he looked back at her, his own eyes soft with a strange, new understanding. “I didn’t say that, Miss Black,” he said. “You did.”

He saw Black’s expression immediately, comically morph into that of a pouting, sulking, deeply offended teenage girl. She was clearly, visibly, and quite adorably unhappy with his clever, irrefutable response. In this weakened, vulnerable, and emotionally exposed state, Black was surprisingly, disarmingly honest with her true emotions. It was… nice.

“But,” Ren’s tone shifted again, becoming softer, more sincere, more tender, “I think… I truly think it’s not a matter of being shameless at all, is it? It’s something… something more. It’s a heavier burden, a greater, more profound responsibility. Just like how you, without a single moment’s hesitation, were willing to protect your daughter at all costs, to sacrifice everything for her sake. If it were me in that same situation, if I had your power… I don’t think I could have protected Hana so well, so decisively. That, Miss Black,” he said, his voice filled with a genuine, unfeigned admiration, “that is a sign of true, outstanding heroic strength.”

“Outstanding? You, the boy genius who aced the most difficult exam in the known universe, you think I’m outstanding? Are you talking about the fearsome Magical Girl Black, or are you talking about the pathetic, unemployed Kenji Tanaka?”

“I’ve already said it once, and I’ll say it again,” Ren replied patiently, his voice unwavering. “In this place, at this time, I will only see you as Magical Girl Black. Right now, I am only having a conversation with Magical Girl Black. Kenji Tanaka is not in this room.”

“Heh. You really are a cunning, slippery, and surprisingly smooth-talking little brat, aren’t you?” Black grumbled, though there was no real heat behind her words anymore. “I’m seriously, actively starting to reconsider the entire matter of marrying my precious daughter off to a clever little manipulator like you, you know.” She then, with a dramatic, theatrical sigh, unleashed her ultimate, final, and most devastating attack.

Ren, seeing her cute, pouting, almost tsundere-like expression, couldn’t help but laugh out loud, a warm, genuine sound that echoed in the silent void. “Don’t you dare force me to go out and buy a souped-up, obnoxiously loud, probably illegal custom scooter and then park it directly under your apartment window every single night, you insufferable old geezer,” he retorted, a playful, teasing glint in his own eye.

“Aha! So you really do have ill intentions like a deliquent, you little punk! I knew it!” Black exclaimed, playfully, if a little weakly, lunging as if to grab Ren, to put him in a headlock. But her hand, her arm, stopped halfway. She was just too weak. She sighed again, a sound of pure, unadulterated defeat.  

“So,” she said, her voice now serious again, her earlier playfulness gone, “as my devoted, and apparently quite clever Supporter, how exactly, precisely, do you plan to bestow upon me the great, mysterious, and probably very embarrassing powers of love and justice?”

Ren thought for a moment, an academic expression on his face. “Well, as you know, Hana did see a rather… spirited… discussion on this very topic on The Magical Girl Nexus forum a while back. At the time, the highest-rated, most popular, fan-approved solution was to… ah… well… to ‘just kiss them directly’.”

“What kind of depraved, degenerate forum is that?! It sounds like a disgusting gathering place for complete and utter perverts!” Black exclaimed, her fatherly instincts flaring up again. “To think that my own sweet, innocent daughter is a respected, high-ranking master of debate in such a vile, wretched hive of scum and villainy… my feelings on the matter are very, very, incredibly complicated right now.”

And so, the two of them, the magical girl father and her future son-in-law, fell into another deep, profound, and incredibly, almost cosmically awkward silence.

After a long, long, long while, it was Ren who, with a small, nervous cough, finally, mercifully spoke. “I… I don’t think we necessarily have to go that far, Miss Black. Not right away, anyway. If it’s just the raw, conceptual power of love that you need to stabilize yourself—well, look, Strawberry Sweetheart, she often talks about ‘hugs of love’ and other such cheesy, sentimental things, right? Doesn’t she often, as part of her fan service, give her adoring fans ‘hugs of love’? Although,” he added quickly, “they are mostly just little, innocent kids, so…”

“If they weren’t little kids, it would probably cause a huge, international incident, wouldn’t it?” Black retorted instinctively, a horrified expression on her face. She then let out a small, nervous, slightly hopeful laugh and asked Ren, “So, let me get this straight, kid. What you mean to say is, you’re planning to start this whole… love therapy… with a simple, platonic hug?”

Ren nodded, a serious, clinical expression on his face. “Yes. If that can give you the emotional, stabilizing strength you need right now, then yes, that’s the first step. If not, then perhaps… we can escalate the treatment.”

“And what if a passionate, life-altering kiss doesn’t work either?” Black pressed, a mischievous, almost dangerous glint in her eye.

“…”

Black stared at Ren with a newfound, and deeply unsettling suspicion. “You’re not, by any chance, you little pervert, planning to do something even more… outrageous… to me, are you? You do know what my original body is, right? Even if you’re trying your absolute best to only see me as the cute, petite Magical Girl Black… to put it as bluntly and as crudely as possible, kid, could you even… get it up?”

“CRUDE! That is an incredibly crude and highly unprofessional thing to say, Miss Black!” Ren yelped, his entire face, from his neck to the tips of his ears, flushing a brilliant, spectacular shade of crimson. He then, with a great deal of mortified embarrassment, mumbled, his voice barely a whisper, “Actually… last time… at the hot spring inn… when I… when I saw your… you know… that thing… well, um… you get the idea.”

“?” Magical Girl Black’s expression, at this sudden, unexpected, and deeply shocking confession, underwent a massive, seismic, truly historic shift. This was something she had never, ever, not in her wildest nightmares, considered. She looked as if she had just heard the most terrifying, most horrifying, most world-shatteringly unbelievable thing in the entire universe. She even almost instinctively, frantically scrambled backwards a little, putting as much distance as possible between herself and the suddenly very dangerous-looking Ren Akiyama. “You… you can’t possibly mean… are you… are you one of those so-called... ‘lolicon’ types?! REN! I WAS WRONG ABOUT YOU, YOU LITTLE PERVERT! I WAS SO, SO WRONG! When I get back, I’m going to make Hana break up with you immediately! A person like you would definitely, absolutely make her use her innocent magic to do all sorts of strange, unspeakable, and deeply indecent things! I just know it!”

“You know, Miss Black,” Ren said thoughtfully, a strange, curious look on his face, “I hadn’t actually considered that particular, interesting possibility before you just mentioned it now.”

“…”

And so, the two of them, once again, fell into another deep and possibly even more awkward silence than before.

After a long, long, almost comically long while, Black slowly, timidly, scooted back over. She hesitantly, almost shyly, and with a look of profound resignation on her face, reached out a small, trembling hand towards Ren. “No matter what,” she whispered, “let’s… let’s just try it first, okay…? I… I don’t want to just… die in here like this. Not alone.”

“I think so too,” Ren said softly, his own expression now gentle, filled with a strange, new understanding.

And so, Ren Akiyama and Magical Girl Black, the Supporter and his charge, the future son-in-law and his magical girl father-in-law, in the silent, empty void of Hana’s private dimensional space, embraced.

“It’s only at times like this, when I’m this close,” Black murmured, her voice muffled against Ren’s broad, surprisingly muscular shoulder, “that I realize… Magical Girl Black really is… very, very small.” It was a strange, disorienting thought. “For the very first time, I’m realizing just how big the physical size difference is between us. If I weren’t Magical Girl Black right now… if I were just some ordinary girl… you could probably… you know… easily overpower me.”

“I would never, ever do such a thing, sir,” Ren said firmly, his voice a low, reassuring rumble. “But… it’s true. Black is very… petite. Very delicate.” He felt a strange, almost overwhelming sense of protectiveness wash over him. “I feel like if we were standing close together like this, out in the sun, my shadow could completely cover your own.”

However, Magical Girl Black truly was, in this moment, like a small, vulnerable child. Her body temperature, he noted, seemed incredibly high. Or perhaps it was just because of her current, special, and highly unstable physical state. But she was… so incredibly soft. And so very, very warm. If Ren had to, for the official record, describe the unique, surreal sensation, it was like… it was like holding one of those so-called, high-end stress-relief toys, the super soft, squishy ones, that exuded a faint, pleasant, calming fragrance. A softness that you could, if you were so inclined, seemingly, endlessly, and with great satisfaction, knead into any shape you desired.

In a certain, very real sense, this was a rather dangerously perverted thought, and it was, at this precise, highly inappropriate moment, Ren’s true, unfiltered and deeply embarrassing feeling. He knew with a certainty that made his cheeks burn with shame, that this thought was incredibly perverted. And besides, even if he was trying his absolute, level best to only see Black as Magical Girl Black, as his charge, as a separate entity… even if Black were just an ordinary, unrelated magical girl that he had just met… his sense of guilt from this... taboo act was still incredibly, overwhelmingly, almost cripplingly heavy.

Anyone who knew the full truth of their situation would know that he was, at this moment, desperately trying to save a magical girl’s life. But anyone who didn’t know… they would surely, undoubtedly think he was shamelessly, brazenly cheating on his loving, devoted girlfriend. And even worse, that he was using his girlfriend’s own unique, private magic to hide the evidence of his sordid, illicit affair. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of irredeemable scumbag would be capable of doing such a terrible, heartless thing.

But at this very moment, Ren Akiyama couldn’t afford the mental space for too many complicated, self-flagellating thoughts. He didn’t want Black to die. He didn’t want Kenji Tanaka to die. That was his one and only wish right now. His sole, driving purpose.

Hana and her father didn’t have a good relationship, he knew that. But Ren also knew, with an absolute, unwavering certainty, that she loved her father deeply, fiercely, unconditionally. He was, after all, Hana’s only remaining family in this entire, lonely world. And he, Ren Akiyama, as the man who loved Hana more than life itself, had to protect that family for her. He had to protect her father for her sake. No matter what it took. No matter the cost.

Even if it meant being hated by Hana for it someday.

In that strange, silent, and deeply awkward embrace, in the timeless, empty void of a teenage girl’s secret heart, time itself seemed to stretch on, impossibly, towards a quiet, uncertain eternity.