August 2024
***
Miori arrived in Yoyogi park. She recognized the place on the leaf as the bench where she met Juno and received Bellona as her partner.
“This is the place. I’m not sure what Lethe wants us to find here.”
She looked at a patch of dirt next to the bench which looked suspiciously fresh - and it smelled of roses, casting off all doubt that this could be a random spot instead of Lethe’s ‘gift’.
“I didn’t bring anything to dig.” Miori mumbled, looking at her expensive clothes.
“You brought me. Transform and I’ll help.”
Transforming just to dig? If you say so.
Miori did as she was told after checking that no one could see her. While approaching the patch of dirt she pondered her options.
“Here’s a device.”
This time the information dump felt like a gentle tap on her head rather than a massive headache – probably because the weapon was much simpler. She stretched out her hand and created a magic circle to summon whatever it was that Bellona proper just taught her.
It was a tool with an axe blade on one side and a horizontal, even blade on the other.
“A pickaxe?”
“A dolabra.”
“I thought you were limited to weapons of war.”
“It was carried by hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the Roman Empire at once, so it qualifies as a tool of war. One might even say it was more important than swords and spears.”
Miori’s mind inside Bellona listened to her partner rambling about the tool’s uses – in a way it made the crystal much more endearing.
She utilized her new tool and dug up the loose earth in front of her.
It didn’t take long for her to feel a strange resistance, so she put the dolabra aside and pushed away the dirt around the object she found. It was a cardboard box, and she lifted it out of the hole, placing it on the nearby bench. She furrowed her brow and summoned her halberd to her side, just in case this was some kind of trap that Lethe set for them.
She poked the lid and lifted it up and… nothing happened, so she dared to step closer and look inside.
There were diaries inside. Three of them, all the same brand and make as the one Miori was currently using to record her fight against Lethe and her romantic pursuit of Hitoishi.
And they were all filled with her handwriting.
Moon of the Forgotten King, 1067 AR
***
“I still have gifts for you, Minerva. Come.” Madame Bille announced before she turned and ascended the stairs. She stopped ever so often for Minerva, who was still limping along with her bleeding thigh.
“You know, you could just undo your transformation, Minerva,” Madame Bille suggested, giving the Magical Girl pause.
“Isn’t the air so thick with magic it’s harmful to normal people?”
“Oh, please. A convenient lie that the Celestial Sisters and I came up with if you asked why they weren’t going themselves. They actually come here quite regularly.”
Minerva let out a long sigh and undid her transformation. Seika still grimaced as she felt the bruise on her thigh instead of the stab wound.
“Better, but not entirely gone. I’ll turn back again once I can.”
“By all means, whatever makes you feel better, Seika.”
“It kind of feels weird to be called Seika after the entire day that I was Minerva.”
Madame Bille let out a quiet chuckle in response.
“You have grown accustomed to your role in my world.”
“I wonder what Holda would call me.”
Madame Bille seemed to take that as a challenge – her appearance changed with a swirl of shadow circling her body as she turned around and looked Seika up and down.
“You must be a scholar. Nice to meet you, miss scholar, I am Holda.”
She curtsied in front of the woman in her terribly anachronistic office outfit.
“Not as much respect as she has for her ‘madame mage’, I see.”
“To learn magic in this world is to learn to make peace with the spirits that haunt our nights and our forests, miss scholar. It is only natural to revere them.”
Seika couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I really picked one hell of a role to appear in this world, hm? Was it all just a stage? Was it all just fake?”
Madame Bille changed back while Seika was talking and shook her head.
“The Elves? The Dwarves? My people? All of them are real and dear to me.”
***
As they arrived back at Madame Bille’s workshop Seika had already turned back into Minerva. Luckily her appearance in her green robes was preserved by her crystal’s storage.
“There’s one thing I still don’t get, Madame Bille.”
“And what would that be, Minerva?”
“If you are trying to help us, what’s with the attacks on our world?”
Madame Bille turned around and faced Minerva with a mysterious smile.
“I am helping you with those attacks. Good heroes need challenges to grow. And someone will have to play the part of… a villain to achieve it.”
Minerva furrowed her brow and thought back to some of her fights against the marionettes – they hurt civilians, but whenever they were ready for a coup de grace, it was at the exact time of arrival for a Magical Girl, be it herself or the Flower Brigade. In the end no one suffered permanent damage, though the psychological impact of random puppet attacks was showing effects on some shopping streets.
Her fights were also never quite the same, and more often than not they seemed to be oddly ‘balanced’, requiring her to go beyond her comfort zone and employ new tactics.
“What is this… character growth for?”
“There are far more dangerous things out there than living shadows, Minerva. The multiverse we reside in is endless, and so are its dangers. You cannot afford to grow complacent.”
Madame Bille offered Minerva a mysterious little smile to accompany those words.
“Enough of that, though. Your gift.”
She reached into one of her shelves and pulled another chest out of it. This one was larger than the one she had previously given to her, and Minerva couldn’t pick up any traces of magic from it.
Madame Bille opened the chest and Minerva looked inside. There were seven white lilies arranged in a line, with a familiar rainbow sheen.
Madame Bille grabbed the first one and handed it over to Minerva.
“Plucked from Lethe’s Garden. I am the only person able to enter and leave unnoticed, since she doesn’t appear to register my presence. It is time that you learn the whole truth of what that… thing has put you through over the course of the nine years since she ate your friend’s memories.”
Minerva’s hand trembled. She still hadn’t entirely processed what was happening, and a part of her was afraid of learning the truth. She grabbed the first flower and looked at its petals.
It depicted her and Bellona on a sinking boat, laughing together. Then Minerva stepped closer, grabbing Bellona’s face and moving in for a kiss – only for the memory to replay before it happened.
“What is this…?” Minerva didn’t understand at first, but her body reacted – tears started streaming down her face as she saw the love that was stolen from her. It finally dawned on her that she herself was a victim of Lethe, that she was about to start a relationship with the blue Magical Girl she fought with and was denied that happiness.
“I am afraid there is more.” Madame Bille said in an apologetic tone as she offered Minerva the rest of the flowers.
August 2024
***
Miori brought the diaries to her apartment. She only looked at the handwriting with a cursory glance so far, too afraid to confirm the contents.
They sat in a stack on her table, with her sitting on her bed, her knees pulled to her chest as she stared at the books.
“You haven’t read them yet?”
Miori shook her head, burying her face in her hands.
“I have a feeling that it will change everything for the worse.”
“You are wise to be cautious. But we are at a standstill. Information is all we have to turn the tide against her.”
“Even if it comes from her?”
“Even then, we can look through it and pierce together the lies to separate them from truth.”
Miori closed her eyes and clenched her fists in response, mentally preparing herself for whatever horrible truth she might find inside those pages.
She got up from her bed and brought her own diary for reference. Before she opened any of the diaries on the table, she opened her own, looking at the first page.
‘March 30th 2022
After reviewing the facts of Ayame’s memory loss and Senpai growing distant I decided to start a diary. If I leave no space between the entries, there should be noticeable gaps if my memory and related physical evidence are erased.
I have no idea why it took me six years to have this idea, but now that I started doing it, I will keep at it.’
It was indeed strange that she only got the idea to keep physical evidence of her memories around this late in her fight against the memory loss that was going around.
Why didn’t I think of something so obvious much quicker?
As she tried to recall what she did the six years before that diary entry, she was struck by a strange headache. She decided to keep reading.
It was mostly entries about her job, where she would courteously talk to Hitoishi whenever she visited – amidst an endless amount of teasing, naturally. Meanwhile she approached Minerva Crimson as Bellona Azure, keeping her real identity hidden from her beloved. Minerva introduced her to the Celestial Sisters, who were her supporters for some time now, though that was entirely unofficial.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Minerva and Bellona quickly became fast friends and more. Both of them were able to feel the tension between them and after a long time, during a certain catastrophic incursion that flooded parts of Tokyo, the two had a laugh among themselves which ended in a love confession. And Lethe’s appearance.
‘June 22nd, 2023
Senpai’s memories of Bellona are gone. Eaten by that creature that calls herself Lethe. Even worse, Bellona’s memories of me have been erased as well. I don’t know what else Lethe has done to Senpai, but it is clear that I must stop her.
I will keep my distance from Senpai as Bellona for the time being.’
She kept reading past multiple entries that dealt with her stalking Lethe – it appeared like all of this was a well-rehearsed game for the demonic being, as she kept evading Bellona without breaking a sweat.
‘June 15th, 2024
I’ve been on a date with Senpai. After all this time I’ve finally been on a date with her! I’ve teased her for ages, but she always rebuked me. Yet now, that it’s just the two of us and we have time to talk about anything, Senpai seems to be falling very quickly for me. Why did it take eight whole years? If she harbored those feelings before, she should have fallen for me much quicker.
For now I suggested that we go on platonic dates. I wonder if my heart can take it.’
“Of course, my heart couldn’t take it…” Miori mumbled in a bitter voice.
“I’m pushing the boundaries now, only inviting Lethe to ruin everything again.”
She looked at the stack of diaries as she put hers away. She picked the one that looked the oldest and placed it on her lap.
An ominous feeling spread through her as she lifted the cover to read the first entry.
‘February 14th, 2016
Juno left after my training. I don’t know if I’m properly prepared to take on whatever attacked Senpai and Ayame, but all I can do is to try my best.
After reviewing the facts of Ayame’s memory loss and Senpai growing distant I decided to start a diary. If I leave no space between the entries, there should be noticeable gaps if my memory and related physical evidence are erased.
Hopefully this will keep me safe from any meddling.’
Miori’s heart sunk after reading the entry. She quickly grabbed the other two diaries, checking the first entries of each of them.
‘June 3rd, 2018
After reviewing the facts of Ayame’s memory loss and Senpai growing distant I decided to start a diary. If I leave no space between the entries, there should be noticeable gaps if my memory and related physical evidence are erased.
I should have done this two years ago.’
‘July 15th, 2020
After reviewing the facts of Ayame’s memory loss and Senpai growing distant I decided to start a diary. If I leave no space between the entries, there should be noticeable gaps if my memory and related physical evidence are erased.
Why did I wait four years to do this? Am I stupid?’
Miori’s hands trembled, and the diaries fell to the ground as they slipped out of her grip. Her vision grew blurry, and she realized she was crying.
“Is there no hope?!” She shouted at the diaries, clutching her head as despair overtook her heart.
Moon of the Forgotten King, 1067 AR
***
Madame Bille handed her the flowers in reverse chronological order. The next one showed Seika and Miori in a pod of the Big O Ferris wheel. They held hands, fingers intertwined while Miori rested her head on Seika’s shoulder. They exchanged words and quiet chuckles among themselves until Seika shifted awkwardly, looking out of the window for a while. She turned her head towards Miori again, spoke a few words and caught her attention.
As they looked towards each other, Seika’s lips moved again.
Minerva didn’t need to be a lip reader – she knew exactly what was said. A quiet ‘I love you’ hung in the air between the two women on the petals – then they mutually leaned in for a kiss that never connected.
“Every year she stole the memories of either you or of Miori, who is Bellona Azure. When she first caught you and made you watch Ayame lose her memories, she said she planted a seed inside you, didn’t she?”
Minerva looked up at Madame Bille – the woman’s mysterious smile was gone. She pitied Minerva, quite openly so.
“She did.” Minerva answered with a shaky voice.
“That seed was primed to call you and Miori into her domain whenever you say that you love her and are about to consummate your mutual love. With a kiss or… otherwise.”
She pointed at the flower.
“This flower is grown from Miori’s memories. 2022 by your method of counting years. You lived in fear of doing this to her again for the next year while Bellona got closer to you. When you let your guard down and fell for Bellona, Lethe consumed your memories of the Magical Girl and parts of your memories of your failed romance with Miori. You were… reset, never knowing that you got so close to Miori already.”
Minerva swallowed heavily, her body already shaking.
“Did you never wonder, Minerva? How you managed to resist her allures for eight whole years and then, when met with the smallest hint of intimacy, you fall for her?”
“I did… I swore never to give her my contact information, but after our first date… I just gave it to her despite myself.”
“Lethe is very cruel indeed. She chose a pair of fated lovers for her longest game and most sustainable harvest. If it weren’t for her, you would probably be considering adopting a child in the peace of your shared home by now. Instead of bartending to keep in contact with you, Miori might have pursued higher education.”
***
She grabbed another flower and handed it to Minerva– another one showing her and Bellona – together with Sol and Luna. They seemed to celebrate something, and judging by the haul of needles they shattered it was their ultimate victory over the Enraged. The timeline lined up with their disappearance.
Minerva said something – and that must have been the love confession, considering the shocked reactions from Sol and Luna as the two Magical Girls moved towards each other for a kiss. Again, it never connected.
“Why is she doing this to us?!”
Minerva gritted her teeth and stared at the flowers with hatred - pure, unadulterated hatred for Lethe.
“For her, memories are akin to nourishment. She doesn’t -need- to eat, but she craves the taste as well as the sense of fullness it gives her. And most important of all, cruelty itself is her idea of entertainment. She likes to wander through her garden and recall all the cruelty she inflicted to grow her flowers.”
Madame Bille looked at the flower and spun it slowly between her fingers.
“Luna and Sol by this point already knew. Whenever Lethe reset you or Miori, she made sure to erase memories of them as well, leaving it to the one who still remembered to reintroduce them. Don’t judge the girls too harshly for not interfering earlier, they needed to… build connections and formulate a plan, first. Which they have done in the past three years as they needed to strike a bargain with me to maintain the illusion of possessing powers.”
She smiled bitterly.
“The way she erased their memories was uncharacteristically pragmatic as well. She sneakily stole drops of blood during their battles. She must have been really invested in keeping you in the dark.”
Minerva looked into the chest with a weary expression.
“I don’t even want to see the rest of them…”
“If you insist, Minerva. I will plant them in her garden once more. Who knows what she will do if she notices that the flowers are gone.”
Minerva looked at the flowers for a last time – multiple scenes depicting Bellona and Minerva, or Seika and Miori about to kiss only to have that moment never happen played out.
“Judging by this her next move will be to steal Miori’s memories of me and repeat the cycle anew.”
“Just so. Which brings me to the problem we are facing: You need to make her crave your memories instead. My blood will only work if the person affected actually has a memory of my past – and of Lethe’s awakening.”
“Why not bring Miori here?”
“Her relationship with Bellona has been… dysfunctional. I’m not sure she would be strong enough to stand against Lethe when it counts.”
Madame Bille looked regretful. Minerva couldn’t help but admit to herself that she was right – if Miori truly was Bellona’s partner, then she destroyed their trust a while ago. Maybe she was repairing it, but right now Minerva didn’t know enough about her situation to confirm or deny.
Madame Bille spoke up again.
“Ah, one more thing, Minerva. Please accompany me to the theater.”
***
The two stepped out of the doors of the theater – Minerva possessed no memories of what transpired inside, but she knew that whatever it was made her heart feel heavy.
Madame Bille stepped next to her – a magic ring’s jewel shone brightly on her left index finger before the entire thing turned to ash.
“What did we just do?” Minerva asked.
“I don’t know, either. That was the whole point, Minerva: we are up against a creature that can rummage through our memories, so some things need to remain sealed until the time has come.”
August 2024
***
Miori read the rest of the pages once she calmed down, and had a complete image of what was going on now.
Minerva and Bellona encountered the current generation of Celestial Sisters shortly after they became a monstrosity-fighting duo, caring for them as their protégées.
Lethe first got Hitoishi’s memories of Bellona, making Miori chase after her without re-establishing contact.
While that happened, she and Hitoishi got closer and once her beloved Senpai returned her feelings, Lethe grabbed them again – and from what she could tell, her own memories were taken. Every time one of them lost their memories, the Celestial Sisters would find a way to meet them again for the ‘first time’. Despite their involvement, they never became the target for Lethe’s memory erasure, save for erasing them from Hitoishi’s memories along with Bellona every two years. Mostly as a side effect of the two of them always being together when they met the Celestial Sisters.
If she read the diaries correctly it would soon be her turn to have her memories erased – though Lethe already announced that she wouldn’t be following her usual pattern – that she would put an end to this eight-year long game and simply make the two fated lovers forget each other so completely that they would never find each other again.
“I don’t want that…”, she whispered quietly to herself.
“What are you going to do against it?”
“I… don’t know. I’ll need to consider my options.”
“Could you try to ally yourself with Minerva?”
“We tried that before. It didn’t work.”
The two of them sat in heavy silence for a long time before Miori shook her head.
“I’ll need to think about it carefully. For now, I’ll do what a Magical Girl should do: save people. I’ve neglected that for way too long and Akane opened my eyes.”
???
***
Minerva entered the white void of the dimensional fault, and the stone arch disappeared in the nothingness behind her. Again, she carried a chest, and two keys this time, though she was headed in the opposite direction.
Holda brought her back to the city along the actual intended path, all the way to the door that accepted the dimensional keys.
“Keep it. And give this copy to the Celestial Sisters,” she said while handing her an exact replica of the key.
“I’d like for you to be able to visit whenever you feel like it.”
Right now Minerva didn’t know whether she would ever be in the mood to return for pleasantries. Her mind was focused on one task and one task only: to kill Lethe, using whatever means necessary. Her fear of her wasn’t entirely gone – but she was able to suffocate it with hate.
“Hello again, stranger.”
She was torn out of her own brooding thoughts by the kind voice of the tall, hooded humanoid.
He bowed over, extending his hand and Minerva knew to give him her key.
“From Romystedt to Tokyo. So, you’re making a return trip.” The creature observed.
“The key was fashioned by Madame Bille herself. Such a skilled artisan, not only where it concerns her puppets.”
“Do you know a lot about the people behind all these doors?” Minerva asked as they passed by the myriads of gates to other realities.
“Some more than others. Take this one for example: a world not unlike the Earth in which your Tokyo is located, but hundreds if not a thousand years in the future, concerning technology. I hear a deep-dive video game is all the rage right now.”
The creature turned its head and pointed towards another gate, which was made of two marble columns with nothing in-between.
“Or that one. It is said that ‘gods’ live there. Some of them thrill-seeking adventurers.”
“Home.” Minerva proper added in a slightly melancholic voice.
She wanted to do something, Seika could feel it at the back of her mind, so she gave Minerva partial control. She reached into her coat and fished out the three blood-red gemstones, placing them between the columns.
For a moment nothing happened, then a portal appeared between the stone pillars. A single hand reached out and grabbed the gems, then it pulled back, and the gate vanished.
Their guide waited patiently the entire time with body language that made Minerva imagine a wide smile on his shrouded face. He was all too eager to continue once the business with the gemstones concluded and pointed at a gate that looked like the entrance to a large tent.
“That one over there… barbarian tribes band together under warlords of the cruel sands, fighting over the water of the few springs that are left. And this one leads to an infinite library that contains every possible book in the universe, staffed by wizards looking for the combination of letters that creates magic books of vast power.”
“I’ll be honest, all of that makes Tokyo sound rather boring.” Minerva observed with a chuckle.
“Oh, on the contrary. There is a lot of ancient magic hidden in the woods, the stones and the air itself. It has simply been forgotten. There is a reason why the myriad worlds converge towards yours.”
Minerva gave the hooded man a little smile.
“My benefactor called our world bereft of magic… but said that it has beautiful ideas.”
“That it has, kind stranger. That it has.”
They continued in silence for a while – and Minerva’s curiosity won over.
“Who are you, really?” she asked, her head turned towards the hooded man.
“I’m nothing less and nothing more than the guardian of this place,” he answered in a friendly tone.
“Did this place only appear sixteen years ago?” Minerva kept probing him.
“No. This place is an extension of me. It was here at the beginning, and it will be here at the end, connecting whichever places are close enough to each other with gates and doorways. Your ‘Kawaguchi Incident’ is just one of many such overlapping occurrences that happen from time to time.”
“How long do they last?”
“It depends. Some worlds like to stay centuries or millennia in such a pile-up, others only stay for a decade at most. Sometimes, the overlap is near instant. For example, Madame Bille’s world could detach tomorrow, moving in its own time again, but the world of your patron would still be accessible.”
“Speaking of her, how does she get those keys?”
“I reveal the secrets of their creation to a selection of individuals who show the aptitude. Otherwise, it would get awfully lonely in here.”
Minerva raised a brow at the stranger and could imagine his wide smile under his hood.
August 2024
***
“So, is that all the stuff you were hoping for?”
Visiting the luxurious apartment of the two idol Magical Girls was Seika’s first order of business after her return. She handed the chest over to Miyu who opened the lid and piled up the artifacts on their large living room table. Soon enough a proud pile of gold and gemstones was amassed while Momo rifled through it.
“Wohooo! Ya really brought home, like, a treasure trove, Paisen!”
She immediately latched onto a sword hilt without a blade – with the push of an almost invisible button a golden blade made from light appeared and Mono gleefully cleaved a chair in half. It appeared to work just the way a beam saber from the Gundam franchise would.
“Momo-pi, you dumbass, stop wasting magical energy!” Miyu gave her partner a karate chop on the back of her head, forcing her to turn off the blade, then she turned around to face Seika.
“You, uhm… you saw?” She asked, quite timidly even as she turned her head to the side.
“The accident? The fact that you two have known me and Miori for ages?”
Seika crossed her arms in front of her body and looked at the two gyaru.
“I saw both, yes. What kept you from interfering until now?”
Miyu looked Seika in the eyes and took a deep breath.
“We didn’t have a plan. Only when Madame Bille offered to hand you a method to actually kill her, we intervened. Bellona warned us that Lethe can’t be killed. Repeatedly, always after your memories were eaten.”
Seika looked at the two of them with tired eyes. As she blinked, she could see their appearances change in front of her mind’s eye, into the young, scared girls she saw in the memory of Miyu’s regret.
They were still those girls, deep inside.
Seika sighed and stepped closer to them, pulling both into a hug.
“Thank you for still believing in me,” she whispered to them. As she let go of them, she turned around to walk towards the door.
“I’ll take care of things from here.”
“Oh no, you’re not doing this alone.” She heard Miyu say.
As she turned around, she saw the two of them putting on various rings, grinning her way. It was Momo who added their declaration:
“You thought this was just for, like, our sole benefit? No, Paisen. We’ll help you kick that plant’s ass. And now we have the firepower to do it.”
