“Why can’t I seem to find any Magical Girls?”
After walking out of a school, Kyubey trudged listlessly out of the campus gate.
This was already the tenth school it had visited; bullying in schools across Neon Province was quite severe.
At least eight of them had instances of bullying, and when Kyubey couldn’t stand it anymore, it kicked those bullies to the point where they had to be hospitalized.
All bullies deserve to be crippled!
This was the only good deed Kyubey could perform with its own hands.
The girls who were being bullied didn’t have the aptitude to become a Magical Girl, let alone be saved.
There were boys too, but they also lacked the aptitude.
It could only help them for a moment, not for a lifetime.
Aimless, Kyubey could only head to the next school to try its luck; it didn’t want to make contact with those anime heroines or god-like beings who were already living decent lives for the time being.
Yet, those who truly needed help couldn’t become a Magical Girl, creating a vicious cycle.
Having accidentally arrived on a rooftop, Kyubey originally intended to look for the next school, but thanks to its excellent eyesight, it caught a glimpse of a scene below that made it feel nauseous.
It saw a man’s head split into six petal-like sections, resembling a blood-colored flower; the man who had been lured inside was terrified, only to be sliced open by a sharp blade.
The monster immediately crouched down and began to devour the corpse.
Kyubey’s human nature and conscience felt instinctively disgusted, even fearful.
“These disgusting things are a Parasyte, right?
What on earth is wrong with this world?”
This wasn’t the first time Kyubey had seen such a monster; unlike a Ghoul, it felt absolutely no goodwill toward a Parasyte:
“I should just increase the number of Magical Girls and kill all these man-eaters as soon as possible.”
It couldn’t tolerate these man-eating creatures; if a Ghoul didn’t know its place, it wanted to wipe them out too, excluding those that only fed on corpses.
…
Inside a Tokyo hospital.
A blonde girl lay on the hospital bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
I’m dying…
Kaori knew her health was steadily deteriorating, and she had seen her father and mother secretly crying behind her back.
The diagnosis had come out; she had a terminal illness that modern medicine simply could not cure.
But she had just turned eighteen, and there were so many regrets left unfulfilled; she hadn’t achieved her dreams yet.
However, she wouldn’t live past April.
She turned her head to look toward the window, and a glimmer of light sparked in her hollow, lifeless eyes.
Since I have to die sooner or later, why not do something more meaningful?
“I have the ability to let you live.”
A white creature suddenly appeared outside the window, sitting upright on the windowsill.
When did it appear?
The smile that had just formed on Kaori’s face turned into confusion; she thought it was just a hallucination, so she closed her eyes to rest for a dozen seconds before opening them again, feeling a bit more energetic.
“It seems it wasn’t a hallucination.
You just spoke, didn’t you?”
Since it could speak, how it arrived outside the window of this eighth-floor ward didn’t matter.
“That’s right.”
Kyubey jumped from the window into the ward, landing on the cabinet beside Kaori, facing her from across the room.
“I can cure you; you just need to sign a contract with me and become a Magical Girl.”
After sensing a girl with the aptitude in the hospital, Kyubey had come here impatiently.
Upon seeing Kaori, it recalled the anime about her.
“Your Lie in April”
The impression was so deep that even after becoming Kyubey, it couldn’t forget it.
This energetic girl had redeemed her “white moonlight” with a life that wouldn’t last past April; she was a strong and brave girl.
Now that it had the ability to save such a girl, how could it stand by and watch?
Unlike those god-like beings or young ladies, she was truly worthy of becoming a Magical Girl.
“Sign a contract?
Become a Magical Girl?”
Kaori looked puzzled upon hearing this: “A Magical Girl?
Is it like Meruru, the one I watched when I was little?”
“And what is this contract?”
“You sign the contract by making a wish.
As for being a Magical Girl, it is not as easy a profession as the ones in children’s shows.” Kyubey answered Kaori’s confusion in a single sentence.
“Can any wish come true?
What do I need to do after becoming a Magical Girl?”
Kaori didn’t ask what price she would have to pay, nor did she doubt Kyubey—not because she didn’t want to ask.
But because it was meaningless.
“Not quite.
A wish is an equivalent exchange.
Depending on your aptitude, you can make a wish of a certain magnitude.
You can take your time to consider what wish you want to realize.”
“Also, a word of advice: you don’t need to waste your wish on curing your body.
After becoming a Magical Girl, your appearance and body will be fixed at the time you become one, and your life will be entirely sustained by your soul gem.”
“As long as your soul gem is not shattered or completely tainted, you can be put back together even if you are torn into pieces.”
As for the headless upperclassman, that was purely because her soul gem was in her head, which is why she died.
“Eek…
that sounds too terrifying, doesn’t it?
Can I really be pieced back together even if my body is shattered?”
Kyubey’s explanation made Kaori subconsciously shiver and hug her arms tight.
Upon hearing the latter part, she asked curiously:
“As long as the soul gem is still there, I can live, right?”
“That’s not wrong, but if you use too much magic, the soul gem will also become tainted.
Once it is completely tainted, you will thoroughly turn into a Witch and endanger the world.”
“At that point, I would have to make you end your own life; otherwise, I would have to call on other Magical Girls to eliminate you after you’ve turned into a Witch.”
Just like with the previous two, it informed her of the price of becoming a Magical Girl, but Kaori didn’t show any fear upon hearing it.
Her lively eyes sparkled, and she smiled brightly:
“If it really comes to that, I will do it myself.
I won’t hurt anyone.”
She could actually still smile?
Kyubey couldn’t understand; even during its time as a human, it hadn’t faced a chronic death like a terminal illness, so it was hard to empathize with Kaori’s feelings.
“Why can you still smile?”
“Because I can become a Magical Girl and do more meaningful things!
Besides, I was dying anyway; being able to live a bit longer is all thanks to you.”
“By the way, what was your name again?
I’m Kaori; you can just call me Kaori from now on!”
Kaori’s voice was light and pleasant, completely devoid of any fear of death.
“My name is Kyubey.
Kaori, do you have any wish you want to realize?” Kyubey began to get to the point.
“A wish I want to realize…
Originally, I wanted a healthy body, but after becoming a Magical Girl, I’ll have a healthy body, so there’s no need for that anymore.”
“Let me think…”
Hmm?
Why didn’t she mention Arima Kousei?
Watching Kaori fall into deep thought, Kyubey was somewhat surprised.
It had assumed Kaori would make a wish for Arima Kousei, but the way things looked now, that clearly wasn’t the case.
“I’ve got it!”
Kaori had a flash of inspiration and wanted to state her new wish: “There must be many people in this world like me who can only wait for their life’s countdown to reach zero, right?
I want to have the ability to cure them.”
“That won’t do, Kaori.”
“Do you want the ability to cure those incurable diseases, or do you want all terminal illnesses to disappear?
If it’s the latter, your aptitude isn’t enough, and even if it were, I couldn’t agree to it.”
The smile on Kaori’s face vanished, and she felt confused: “Why?”
“If there were no birth, aging, sickness, and death, the human population would quickly exceed the limits of what Earth’s resources can support.
If resources are insufficient, humans would only be able to launch large-scale wars to reduce their numbers.”
Kyubey knew humans far too well.
“How can that be?
Why can’t everyone just live in peace?” Kaori was still just a girl with little worldly experience, and she didn’t yet understand the harshness of society.
“I understand, Kyubey.
Please, let me have the ability to heal others!
Saving even one person is better than none.” Kaori still made this wish.
How truly kindhearted.
A light enveloped Kaori, and a golden soul gem, the same color as her hair, appeared in her palm.
“There, your wish has been granted.”
“That…
that’s it?”
After sensing her body, Kaori got up from the hospital bed; her body was agile, not at all like a girl with only a month left to live.
“Protect your soul gem well; make sure you don’t lose it.
Try to use less magic in the future.” After giving Kaori this instruction, Kyubey leaped out the window.
“Kyubey!
Kyubey!”
Kaori went to the window, looking left and right to search for Kyubey, but seeing that it had vanished, she was filled with regret:
“I haven’t even properly thanked you yet?
Why did you just leave like that?”
“Right, I should hurry and have Mom and Dad handle my discharge papers!
I’m not the same person I was before.”
Afterward: Seeing their daughter bouncing around and as healthy as a normal person, Kaori’s parents thought they were dreaming.
After confirming it was the truth, the family hugged each other excitedly and cried for a long time.
Until nightfall, after Kaori had properly celebrated her recovery and discharge with her family, she saw Kyubey again at her bedroom window.
“Follow me.”
Kyubey said only one sentence and jumped out the window again.
Watching Kaori rush downstairs and head out, it only felt speechless.
Subconsciously, she still regarded herself as a normal person, but that was fine; soon, she would realize what kind of species she was now.