Chapter 15: The State of Generational Change

What in the world had happened to her father and her boyfriend?

Hana Tanaka’s heart was a chaotic, churning maelstrom of anxiety. She had no idea if the two of them, the two most important people in her life, had simply… died… inside the silent, empty void of her private dimensional space.

Of course, she possessed the means to investigate the interior of her own space, to check on their status. Setting aside the basic functions of the space itself, she also had more advanced, esoteric spells similar to "Astral Eye" that she could theoretically use for remote, non-invasive viewing. But having the means to investigate, she was quickly, painfully discovering, did not mean she possessed the courage to actually do so.

She was terrified. Terrified that she would finally work up the nerve to open the space, to peek inside, and find… nothing at all. Just an empty void where they had once been. Or, even worse, that she would be confronted with the horrifying, traumatic sight of their two lifeless bodies floating silently in the darkness.

But she had to look. She had no other choice. She had to look.

She wrestled with this internal conflict for a full, agonizing day. She remained there, by the thundering, indifferent waterfall, continuously, stubbornly trying to emulate Magical Girl Black’s form, to sit in the very center of the cascade, to find some semblance of her strength. She told herself, in a desperate, prayer-like mantra, When I succeed, when I can finally sit there without being washed away, then, and only then, will I look inside the space. Then I’ll face whatever’s in there. I promise.

However, relying on her own meager, untrained strength alone, this was an incredibly difficult task. Her stamina was constantly, relentlessly being drained by the crushing force of the water. Even with her stubborn, unwavering will, it became harder and harder with each failed attempt. And yet, though it grew more difficult, though her muscles screamed in protest, she was, with each try, getting closer, just a little bit closer, to the waterfall’s thundering, almost sacred center. She was becoming familiar with the water’s crushing weight, with the slippery, treacherous terrain of the riverbed. She was learning, through pure, painful trial and error, when and how to apply her strength, how to brace herself against the unrelenting torrent. Until, in a single, transcendent and miraculous moment, she truly, finally, with a gasp of triumph, sat down in the very center of the waterfall. Feeling the full, immense and cleansing impact of the water crashing down from the sky above, she knew, with a certainty that was painful, that this was an arduous, almost impossible form of training.

But when she had truly, finally done it, when she had conquered the waterfall, she felt in that instant a sense of unparalleled, divine tranquility. She felt a deep, profound sense of harmony and peace wash over her weary soul. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, more beautiful, more wonderful than this feeling.

And so, in that state of perfect, hard-won calm, she finally, with a steady heart, reached out with her senses, to perceive her own private space, to gently, cautiously peek inside at the situation within. She, of course, held absolute dominion over her own dimensional space; otherwise, how could she possibly retrieve her precious, limited-edition figurines from it at a moment’s notice? After her arduous, self-imposed training, she hadn’t gained any new, overwhelming power, not really. But she had gained something far more valuable: a newfound stability of heart, an unshakeable, powerful courage to face anything.

Until, that is, she saw Magical Girl Black, nestled like a small, trusting, and ridiculously cute little bird, in Ren Akiyama’s strong, protective arms, a peaceful, blissfully serene smile on her sleeping face.

“?”

In that single reality-shattering instant, the profound, hard-won tranquility she had just achieved shattered into a million tiny, jagged, and furiously jealous pieces. She could, once again, no longer resist the crushing, relentless force of the water. With a yelp of pure, unadulterated rage, she was unceremoniously swept away by the waterfall and plunged, once again, into the churning, icy pool below. She scrambled frantically, sputtering and fuming, to the shore, and then, with a furious, feral roar that was pure, unfiltered teenage jealousy, she activated her magic and unceremoniously, with extreme prejudice, dumped the two of them, the two cuddling traitors, out of her dimensional space and onto the damp, unforgiving riverbank with a wet thud.

In that single, solitary, almost reality-shattering instant, the profound, hard-won tranquility she had just achieved shattered into a million tiny, jagged, and furiously jealous pieces. She could, once again, no longer resist the crushing, relentless force of the water. With a yelp of pure, unadulterated rage, she was unceremoniously swept away by the waterfall and plunged, once again, into the churning, icy pool below. She scrambled frantically, sputtering and fuming, to the shore, and then, with a furious, almost feral roar that was pure, unfiltered teenage jealousy, she activated her magic and unceremoniously, and with extreme prejudice, dumped the two of them, the two cuddling traitors, out of her dimensional space and onto the damp, unforgiving riverbank with a wet, unceremonious thud.

“Mmm~ Oww~ that hurts~” a soft, sleepy, and surprisingly, almost illegally girly voice sounded. She opened her eyes in a daze, rubbing them cutely, her vision gradually, slowly focusing. And then she saw Hana, standing over her, her arms crossed, her foot tapping impatiently, radiating an aura of pure, concentrated, and frankly quite terrifying righteous fury. The memories of what had happened, the battle, the power, the embrace, the... began to resurface in her mind with an alarming, horrifying clarity. Hee expression, in that moment, shifted a good three or five times in a matter of seconds—from sleepy confusion, to dawning comprehension, to abject terror, to feigned innocence, and finally, with a monumental effort of will, settling on the usual, somewhat cold, aloof, and hopefully not-at-all-guilty-looking face of the one and only Magical Girl Black. “Ah. Hana. You can rest easy now. We’re fine. Perfectly fine. Nothing to worry about at all. I’ve… successfully dealt with the corrupted power of Magical Girl Crystal. Yes. All handled.” She coughed awkwardly. “Right now, if they were to, hypothetically, update the real-time data in the ‘Magical Girl Brawl’ game, I bet not even Strawberry Sweetheart’s ridiculously high stats would be as high as mine. So, you see, it all worked out for the best.”

“Is that so?! That’s amazing! Then shouldn’t you hurry up and get the organization to update your data immediately?! Contact the officials at ‘Magical Girl Brawl’ and demand a new, even more overpowered SSR card and—wait, no! That’s not the point!” Hana almost got sidetracked by her gacha-addled brain. She glared at them, her eyes narrowed into suspicious slits. “What were you two doing in my private dimensional space all this time?! Cuddling?!”

Just then, Ren also slowly, and with a rather convincing groan, began to wake up. He looked at Hana and then at Black with a masterfully confused, innocent expression. “Doing…? What were we doing…?” he mumbled, as if trying to recall a distant, foggy dream. “We were… we were fighting with all our might against Crystal’s overwhelming power, and then… and then we were just completely exhausted… I… I don’t really remember what happened after that, to be honest. It’s all a blur. I just remember that the final impact, when Crystal’s power finally exploded… that concussive force was truly terrifying. I honestly thought I was going to be completely erased from existence.” He was a very, very good actor.

Black, catching her cue, also began to “recall” the events with a pained expression. “Yes, that’s right! I thought I was a goner for sure too. But in the end, somehow, we managed to hold on, to endure it. At that time, the only thing in my mind was resisting Crystal’s corrupted power… What happened after that, I… I don’t seem to remember either. It’s all… very fuzzy.”

Looking at their two perfectly synchronized, and frankly quite suspicious expressions of feigned amnesia, Hana was… well, she wasn’t entirely convinced. But… in other words, after they had both fought off the terrifying power of Crystal with all their might, they had both fallen into a state of complete unconsciousness from the sheer strain, and had then, totally with absolutely no romantic intent whatsoever, accidentally ended up holding each other for comfort? It seemed… plausible. Barely.

“Did… did we do something weird in there?” Black asked, her timing perfect, her expression the picture of innocent, amnesiac confusion.

Faced with Black’s direct and probably entirely feigned question, Hana was suddenly at a loss for words. She couldn’t possibly, not in a million years, say, “Well, actually, I looked into my private space and saw you two cuddling like a pair of love-struck teenagers, and I got so furiously, unreasonably jealous that I, in a fit of pure rage, unceremoniously dumped you both out onto the cold, hard ground!”—there was absolutely no way Hana Tanaka could ever, ever say something so incredibly embarrassing out loud. She would rather die. So, she had no choice but to change the subject. Immediately.

“Speaking of which!” she said, her voice a little too loud, a little too cheerful, “did you really, truly master Crystal’s legendary power, then?! That’s amazing!”

“Well, to say I ‘mastered’ it isn’t quite accurate,” Black said, going along with the change of topic with a profound sense of relief. “It’s more like I… digested and absorbed it. And it feels very, very strange. This digestion process, it’s as if there was some kind of significant power loss along the way. At most, I’d say I only managed to absorb maybe twenty or thirty percent of its total, original power. I don’t know if the rest of it just… dissipated into the void or what. I… really can’t remember what happened at that time, during the final moments.” Black also, for good measure, looked a little confused and disappointed. “You know, I thought for sure that after all that, I’d get a cool new transformation form out of the deal. But in the end, it was just a raw power-up. Well,” she sighed, “that’s fine too, I guess. I’ll take what I can get.”

She thought for a moment, then, with a shrug, she dismissed the entire, life-altering matter from her mind. “Speaking of which, Strawberry Sweetheart said she was going to retire, right? I’m planning to go and see for myself just how a magical girl officially goes about ‘retiring.’ There seem to be some deep, dark mysteries surrounding this whole ‘generational change’ of magical girls that I really need to understand. Do you two want to come along? It might be educational.”

Hana looked down at her own completely water-soaked, probably ruined clothes. Now that the immediate crisis had passed, a profound, almost bone-deep sense of utter exhaustion washed over her. “You guys… you guys go ahead… I… I think I really, really need to rest for a bit. Maybe for a week. Or a month.”

“Can you get back home on your own, Hana-chan?” Ren asked, his voice filled with genuine concern.

“My stamina is completely drained, but my mana is… mostly okay, I think,” she mumbled. “I can probably manage to teleport myself back home. Don’t worry about me.”

“Alright then. In that case, Ren and I will go find Strawberry Sweetheart,” Black declared, her usual authoritative tone returning.

After Hana, with a final, weary wave, opened a small, shimmering portal and disappeared, Ren and Magical Girl Black finally, collectively, let out a huge, shuddering sigh of relief.

Black, her brief moment of relief over, gritted her teeth and turned to glare daggers at Ren. “You little brat,” she hissed, her voice a low, dangerous growl. “You kissed me at the end, didn’t you? You actually, really kissed me.”

“…Well, it’s not like we had any other viable options at the time, did we, sir?” Ren said with a helpless, apologetic shrug. “As long as the final result was a positive one, that’s all that really matters, right? Just… just think of it as being unexpectedly, and perhaps a little slobberingly, licked by a large, overly friendly pig. An unavoidable, if slightly traumatic, unfortunate accident. I didn’t want to kiss you, you know. Not really. Do you have any earthly idea how deeply guilty I felt when I had to face Hana after that? The mental gymnastics I had to perform?”

Magical Girl Black suddenly felt a little… ashamed. After all, Ren had only done it, had only performed that heroic, if deeply questionable act, to help her control Crystal’s overwhelming, corrupted power. And, to be perfectly honest, that sudden and frankly quite shocking kiss had indeed caused a subtle, but absolutely crucial change in the raging power within her… Magical girls really are strange, almost ridiculously illogical creatures! Their biology makes no sense!

However, although she had strategically, and with no small amount of self-preservation instinct, concealed some of the more… intimate… details of the process from Hana, she truly did have some serious, pressing questions about the generational change of magical girls and intended to consult with the now-retired Strawberry Sweetheart. As for Hana… well, Dad is so, so sorry, my girl. I’ll find a way to make it up to you later! I promise!

In the end, it was the one and only Akari Natsume, now in her cute, civilian school uniform, who met with Black and Ren.

“So, are you really, truly, no-kidding planning to retire, then?” Black asked, getting straight to the point.

Akari nodded, a cheerful, almost carefree smile on her face. “In fact, I’ve already officially, and with much relief, retired~ Camellia-san has already been reassigned to a new, and probably much less stressful, post. The person standing before you now is just a genuine, ordinary, sixteen-year-old high school beauty! The one and only Akari Natsume!” She struck a cute, idol-esque pose.

“What kind of person just casually, and with a straight face, calls herself a ‘beauty’!” Ren said, rolling his eyes.

Akari immediately pouted, her cheeks puffing out adorably. “Senpai! Are you trying to imply that I’m not a beauty? How rude!”

“Well, no, that’s not what I meant, but…”

Akari smiled sweetly, her good mood instantly restored. “A beautiful girl has to have the self-awareness of a beautiful girl, you know~ If a beautiful girl goes around saying she’s not a beautiful girl, wouldn’t that be incredibly, almost insultingly pretentious? To frankly, confidently admit one’s own overwhelming cuteness is a virtue, you know~”

That kind of logic, that kind of unshakable self-confidence… probably only Akari Natsume, the legendary Strawberry Sweetheart, who had experienced countless great storms and terrifying waves, could possibly say such a thing with a completely straight face. Even when she wasn’t the magical girl Strawberry Sweetheart anymore, she was still her same, infuriatingly, almost blindingly cheerful self.

“So,” Akari continued, her expression turning a little more serious, “the two of you came all this way to find me about… the matter of the generational change, right?” She had, with her usual sharp intuition, clearly already guessed their purpose for being here.

Black nodded. “Yes. I want to know what the so-called ‘generational change’ of magical girls really, truly means. From the Gem Generation, to your Dessert Generation, and now to this so-called Color Generation. You were the very first of the Dessert Generation, and I am, apparently, the first of the Color Generation. But my birth, my awakening, was completely different from yours, wasn’t it? I didn’t inherit your power, or anyone else’s for that matter.”

Akari listened patiently to Black’s words, a thoughtful expression on her face. She then said, “Well, that’s precisely why I said you’re such an anomaly, Black-san! Looking at all the magical girls from throughout recorded history, you are a very, very abnormal, almost unprecedented existence~ To be perfectly frank, Magical Girl Red should have, by all rights, been the first official magical girl of this new generation. After all,” she added, a hint of deep, secret knowledge in her voice, “it was Red who actually inherited a Prima Materia and thus officially started the era.”

“A Prima Materia?” Black echoed, a confused look on her face.

“The 'Original Stone,'” Akari explained. “Hmm—when a magical girl officially retires, she extracts all the magical power from her body and condenses it into a single, crystallized Prima Materia—the kind of thing that the Darkmoon Queen so dramatically, and with such poor form, crushed during your last battle. That’s what Magical Girl Crystal did, all those years ago. And that thing, that little stone, it allows someone else, someone with a compatible soul, to inherit that power. You’ve probably figured that much out already, right?”

Black nodded slowly. “Indeed. That’s how you and the Darkmoon Queen, or rather, Magical Girl Moonstone, were both born, isn’t it?”

“Exactly! That thing is called a Prima Materia because, for example, if I were to extract my power and condense it into one,” Akari continued, her voice now like a patient teacher explaining a complex subject, “and if someone, somewhere, resonated with my Prima Materia and, as a result, became a magical girl, they wouldn’t become another, second-rate Strawberry Sweetheart. Instead, they would become a completely new, special, and unique magical girl, one born according to the shape and desires of their own heart. This form of succession, this passing of the torch, usually appears in the form of a distinct ‘generation.’” Strawberry Sweetheart explained it all with a surprising clarity. Her gaze then, with a new, intense curiosity, sized up Magical Girl Black. “Your abnormality, Miss Black, lies in the fact that your fundamental nature, your very essence as a magical girl, is exactly the same as that of the original, Magical Girl Crystal. No one officially started this new ‘Color Generation.’ So, logically, no one should have been able to awaken the Esper ability of a Color Generation magical girl. And yet, you, somehow, were just… born. Spontaneously. Just like the sudden, inexplicable appearance of the very first magical girl, Crystal, all those years ago. In fact,” she added, as if sharing a juicy piece of gossip, “Magical Girl Red, she became the magical girl she is today because she accidentally, and with no small amount of emotional trauma, resonated with Magical Girl Lapis Lazuli’s long-dormant Prima Materia. Though she herself, poor thing, probably still doesn’t know it.”

“Will this... have any kind of negative impact? Me being an anomaly, I mean?” Black asked, a hint of genuine concern in her voice.

Akari spread her hands with a cheerful, carefree shrug. “Honestly? I have absolutely no idea~ Because, you see, I’ve already condensed my own Prima Materia and completely extracted all my power! I’m just a normal, powerless, and soon-to-be-studying-for-college-entrance-exams young girl now~ It’s the Color Generation’s time to shine! And based on my own personal, and often quite traumatic experience, Magical Girl Red should become the one to lead this new Color Generation. But, based on the even more ancient, and even more tragic experience of Magical Girl Crystal, you, the anomaly, the new original, should be the one to guide the Color Generation. So, who will ultimately lead this new, chaotic generation… well,” she beamed, a mischievous glint in her eye, “that’s your own problem to figure out now, isn’t it~?”

“The ‘strongest’ magical girl is really, truly, unbelievably irresponsible!” Black grumbled, shaking her head in disbelief. “And you retired so hastily, too! Weren’t you planning to hold some kind of grand, tearful retirement ceremony or something? For your fans?”

Akari laughed, a bright, cheerful sound that seemed to fill the room with light. “And give you a chance to challenge me to one last, epic battle? No thank you! I would never procrastinate on something so important! If I told you my specific, official retirement date, Miss Black, you would definitely, absolutely, one hundred percent try to fight me before then, just to test your strength. And I, for one, have absolutely no desire to fight you, Black-san. You hit very, very hard.”

“Are all high school girls this ridiculously, infuriatingly cunning?” Black directed this exasperated question at Ren.

Ren nodded sagely. “Yes, sir. In my extensive experience, high school girls are indeed very, very cunning creatures.”

“Then does my dear Senpai like cunning girls, then?” Akari asked, her eyes twinkling mischievously as she leaned in a little closer to Ren.

“…I like girls like Hana,” Ren replied.

Akari gave Ren a long, meaningful, and slightly inscrutable look. “Ehhh~ Is that so… Well, you know,” she said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, “although I’m not a magical girl anymore, my instincts as a young, perceptive girl seem to be… sniffing out a slight, almost imperceptible scent of taboo from you two. Is it just my imagination, I wonder?”

“Yes,” Magical Girl Black said instantly, her face a perfect, unreadable poker face, her voice utterly, completely flat. “It is most definitely your imagination.”