EPISODE 2
Section 2
Part 1
Part 2
Part 1
The students and the residents of Sorakara City live their lives without a single thought about what"s to come. After all, they know the only future open to them is conflict with Red Sahne and her allies.
Many, seeing the destruction around them, hesitated. But it"s no surprise that many of them were terrified.
Normally during such times The Family would coordinate the people, but with the death of its leader, Ijuuin Reika, it had become dysfunctional. They had their hands full trying to collect themselves, nevermind lead the city.
But still, the city needed someone to organize them, someone to guide them. This role naturally ended up falling to Onizaki Reki, who had already been leading the students of Sorakara Farm.
Reki had, of his own volition, decided to continue Sorakara Farm and established its new base at the old Senridou University campus. It had an abundance of real estate and facilities—both necessary to accommodate the students—and the relative modernity of the buildings made the danger of their facility falling apart around them minimal.
Reki ordered a group of students to begin getting the University into a workable state while the rest continue cleaning up bodies around the city.
Once the corpses were mostly cleaned up Reki told the student council functionaries to distribute a message throughout the city.
"We will hold a meeting to decide the future of Sorakara City."
This meeting was to be held in the University"s courtyard.
All seven hundred and five of the city"s able-bodied residents were present. Once upon a time, famous singers frequently performed at the university, so it had a suitably s.p.a.cious courtyard that could host all of the city"s surviving residents.
Under the grey skies, on the simplistic rusted-iron stage two actors were present. Onizaki Reki, the representative of the people of Sorakara City, and Minazuki Takeya, the great criminal.
Takeya, condemned to execution, was strapped to a makeshift wooden cross on the stage. His arms and legs were chained and his mouth was gagged.
He was to be killed.
The h.e.l.l is this?
The crowd looked on Takeya with bloodshot eyes as they jeered and hurled insults at him. Everyone hated him, despised him.
It"s exactly as I had thought. I caused this, and with no other outlet, their frustrations have turned against me.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Hurry up and die!"
"My mother was taken away because of you! Accept your punishment!"
"Do you know how it feels as a parent to have your five year old daughter killed right in front of you? Do it yourself! Bite your tongue off!
"Atone with your death!"
But there"s something seriously off here…!
Yet still, the anger and bloodl.u.s.t of the crowd before him was no less real. He felt like his mind was going numb.
"Let"s calm down for a moment."
Reki, the person responsible for putting him up there in the first place, stepped out in front.
"There have been a great deal of rumours and speculation surrounding Takeya. Some of them are true, some of them are false. Some are absolute absurdity, going as far to as to claim he is a magical girl."
A trial without defence lawyers and a corrupt judge who has already decided on the guilt of the defendant. Yet Reki spoke as if he represented the voice of the people.
"I know everything. We will stick to the absolute truth."
The crowd fell silent. He had the them wrapped around his hand.
"First we will cover how Red Sahne"s subordinates broke White Noisette"s 21 Confectionaries. White Noisette, who uses human souls as nourishment, was prevented from eating. This weakened her magic, allowing them to enter."
That"s different from what Usakoro said. He said the cause of the break was Reki sneaking White Noisette"s magical ring in the cla.s.sroom.
"Why was White Noisette unable to eat? Because this man, Minazuki Takeya, had confined her and prevented her from doing so."
How dare he say that! He"s the one that caused this!
"The problem is!"
Reki continued without changing his tone.
"The problem is that Takeya knew Red Sahne would strike when White Noisette"s magic was weakened."
A barefaced lie, but Takeya"s gag prevented him from raising any objections.
The city"s residents didn"t seem entirely satisfied either. Hard as they may try to paint him as a traitor that sold everyone"s souls off to Red Sahne it was hard to imagine a magical girl cooperating with a human.
But Reki seemed to expect that as well. He continued with his usual unchanging facial expression.
"You must be wondering why he would do something like that. The answer lies in the sacrifice system. His lover was chosen as the next sacrifice. He wanted to protect her and her alone over everything else, even if he had to sacrifice everyone else to do it."
Someone in the crowd blurted out "If it was for this lover, then he might have…"
Reki quickly responded.
"His lover was Ijuuin Reika."
The crowed fell silent.
Ijuuin Reika was a special name in Sorakara City. It was common knowledge that some in The Family would happily sacrifice everything and everyone for Ijuuin Reika.
With that, what Reki was saying took on a sudden persuasiveness.
"At that time, he came across a blue b.u.t.terfly. It"s already clear, isn"t it? It was a magical b.u.t.terfly. Many of you have seen those exploding b.u.t.terflies with your own eyes, no?"
Some in the crowd started crying. They had probably lost close ones to the b.u.t.terflies. After all, most of the victims of the attack died to the b.u.t.terflies.
"Before the magical girls attacked, he saw one of those b.u.t.terflies, unfathomable in this world, and immediately knew it was magic. He realized magical girls other than White Noisette were lurking nearby. Labouring under the idea that "maybe the other magical girls will save her for me", he made a deal with the devil."
Reki continued his nonsense.
"I imagine most of you have already pictured it. If the magical girls attacked, the sacrifice would be interrupted. In exchange for sparing him and his lover, they would bring down White Noisette"s 21 Confectionaries. Naturally, the magical girls had no intention of keeping a promise made with humans. As you know, Ijuuin Reika was killed, but that does not change the fact that he handed us over to the magical girls. Through his deal with them, he sacrificed this entire city."
Takeya started thinking frantically as his execution drew ever closer.
He thought it was odd that everyone despised him. Even if there were rumours floating around about his being the main cause of the disaster, they shouldn"t have been so fast in buying what Reki said.
Someone must have been spreading misinformation behind the scenes. That someone, of course, probably being Reki.
With The Family in its current near-defunct state it would be possible, but it would also require a lot of work.
But why? What would they gain from pulling off such a huge scheme just to corner someone like me?
Takeya hastily sized himself up. He has no special powers or amazing abilities. If Reki sees some value in him, what could it be?
"And you are the closest of all to Ijuuin Reika, your "ruler"."
Ah, yes, Takeya"s value for Reki lies in his closeness to Reika. He had viewed her in a special light. Usakoro had also said that Reki was the one that chose Reika as the next sacrifice.
Reki intended to kill Reika-san. In other words, Reika-san and The Family were a nuisance for Reki.
"I just want to kick off the story."
"Finally, it begins."
What if Reika-san was still alive? The person standing here taking charge would probably be her instead of the less experienced Reki… Would that be problematic for him?
Reki said that he wants to fight the magical girls. But the people are weary after the recent disaster. They lack cohesion. If Reki became dictator, he could raise their morale and lead them to war.
"For demons, the wage of sin is death."
He decided to kill Takeya here.
It was well known that Takeya was the closest to Reika. He used this to build the lie that Reika was the source of Takeya"s mistakes, and that The Family was bad for the city.
If Takeya were to be killed as the crowd cheered here The Family would be unable to regain their authority. Takeya"s execution would, in effect, signify the city"s rejection of Ijuuin Reika. Consequently, all power would fall into Reki"s hands.
"You said you were going to restrain White Noisette, right?"
"Naturally, you will be in charge of this endeavour and a.s.sume responsibility of it?"
From the very beginning.
He planned to execute me from the moment he heard my plan, to usurp Reika and fight this war.
"It is hard for me to put into words. I am merely a servant of the universe, following its dictums."
"I know exactly what I have started."
"A war with the magical girls."
He killed Reika, is going to kill Takeya and will make the city"s residents fight and get them killed as well, all based on his nonsense theories.
Reki turned around, his face unchanged as always.
He took a step towards Takeya and put his hand softly on Takeya"s shoulder as he moved his mouth close to Takeya"s ears.
"I apologize. Things would be difficult if there was an authority figure other than me around."
You ma.s.s murdering monster! How dare you…
Takeya"s eyes flew open with rage, glaring at Reki.
How dare you kill Reika-san!
Part 2
Unfortuntely, this part isn’t done yet!