Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

We encountered a group of bandits today and wiped them out.

We encountered a group of bandits today and wiped them out.

We encountered a group of bandits today and wiped them out.

Passing by again, there were no bandits here anymore.

Passing through areas rife with bandits three times in just three years, the intentions of a guardian with such a busy schedule are quite clear.

While she might write a few words perfunctorily about most things, when it comes to her favorite foods, Mayumi Haga will spend a lot of time describing the taste of them.

Anyone with eyes can see her preferences, but Mayumi Haga herself doesn't admit it.

I'm not particularly fond of food, but Mograine insisted on taking me to a culinary tasting. Perhaps this was the last feast before the aquatic creatures migrated, so I agreed. The next time we meet will be at the foot of the snow-capped mountains.

The taste is naturally quite good.

Not only that, there are also records of each friend from Mayumi Haga's perspective.

The wizard who died young, the giant-half-blooded predecessor who led her to become a guardian, the philandering guardian predecessor who died in the labyrinth...

Mayumi Haga met many people, who became an important part of her travelogue. The first half of the book is almost entirely about encounters and losses.

Of course, since the end of the world is already decided, the direction of this travelogue is also quite clear.

That is, step by step, heading towards despair.

The second half of the book is a complete nightmare.

After the calamity struck, Mayumi Haga's peaceful life as a guardian was shattered. Starting from a certain page in the middle, almost every line was filled with the words "death" and "calamity".

She tried her best to save everyone she could, desperately trying to protect everyone within her power, but in reality, she could do nothing.

Her immortality allowed her to survive alone, so she could only witness everyone else's departure.

The migratory birds never returned, and the tent that once floated there with her and the strangers had long since turned to ashes. She sat in the dusty room, staring at the foul-smelling traces left on the bed after the human had melted away.

She went to the foot of the snow-capped mountain and buried the scales of her aquatic friend, sprinkling the wine her friend had given her on them. She went to the territory of her half-giant ancestor, holding the Guardian Core, trying to awaken it, but was torn to pieces by the mad soul.

Countless deaths, countless resurrections, and when I open my eyes, I am ultimately all alone.

There was no sound of any living thing left in the world. The destruction of the world was not so dramatic. All that remained was emptiness and the whooshing sound of the wind passing through the skull.

On the remnants of a world devoid of day and night, it seems that all Mayumi Haga can do is write an epitaph.

She knew that what she wrote would be destroyed along with this world, but she didn't know that after traveling through countless years, this diary would fall into the hands of people in another world.

At the very end of her life, which was also the end of her life, the words she could remember were actually very few.

It was so simple that Hitomi Tono couldn't understand what she meant at all.

I'm dreaming.

In the end, Mayumi Haga seemed to fall into a sweet dream.

------------

Mayumi Haga stared at the sky where it should have been. She could no longer sense her own body, and her core had already entered its final countdown due to the exhaustion of energy.

After a while, she will be like her old friends, her mind will completely stop, and she will turn into dust in the void along with this world.

The world was eerily quiet, and a chaotic, writhing light gnawed up from the edges, engulfing all her vision.

Mayumi Haga quietly awaits her own end.

She always had many things on her mind. After the disaster struck and the world became like this, she kept thinking about many things and was burdened with worries.

Because those who could think about these things, those who could remember these memories, are all gone. Only she is left, barely clinging to life. If she also stops thinking about anything, then this world will never have even a second of memory left.

Mayumi Haga always wonders why the world has become like this, how to solve it, why she was the last one to survive, and how long she has to keep thinking about it.

This body should be free from the concept of fatigue, and its spirit has been protected by the world's consciousness to the point that it cannot be easily destroyed. Logically speaking, she should not show any signs of exhaustion.

But that was the truth, because all the world's energy was devoured, and she was like a robot that had lost power, her consciousness forever frozen in that last second.

In that very last second, she dreamt of the most incredible and magnificent scene of her life.

It was a strange and beautiful world, almost beyond her comprehension.

She saw another future for herself, a vibrant world. She saw everyone return to her side, and hope returned to her once more.

She was lost in such a sweet dream that a faint light appeared in her eyes as the end approached.

Then, those bright golden eyes dimmed forever.

The travelogue in my hand was forever frozen at the last moment.

The aftershocks of the world's destruction tore the body of this steadfast warrior to shreds, turning him into an insignificant part of the countless specks of dust in the void.

The travelogue, however, drifted along with the tide, and after an unknown period of time, it was picked up by a magical girl from another world out of curiosity.

When I reread it, those bright days were gone, and that unfortunate world was no more.

There was no more Haga Mayumi.

Hitomi Tono closed the travelogue, lacking the courage to utter the name aloud.

That night, after reading the travelogue, Hitomi Tono also had a dream.

She dreamt that she was lying in the middle of a wilderness with a strange, dark-haired girl. The sky was red as if it were on fire, the grass was bluish-black, and the ground was broken and shattered.

The black-haired girl, whom he had never seen before but who looked strangely familiar, was beautiful and delicate, and was quietly gazing at him.

With just a couple of blinks, tears started rolling down the other person's face.

It was only then that Hitomi Tono realized that the Guardian, who wrote such a travelogue and whose words exuded a cold and composed demeanor, seemed to have a soul about the same age as hers.

Mayumi Haga said, her voice choked and broken, "Thank you."

Hitomi Tono didn't know why she was thanking her. Was it just because she knew her name, or because she had seen the last remaining memories of that world?

But the dream ended at that moment.

When Hitomi Tono woke up, she glanced at the diary beside her bed and saw that the guardian core of the Haga True Bow had been reduced to dust.

I felt a sudden sense of loss.

Text: 270. The two as spectators

Ayasa Terasaki returned to her desk with a cup of freshly brewed strong tea.

Sugiyama Rika always jokes that she's like a game character that spawns on a hospital office chair because sitting in the office for long periods of time has made her buttocks flatter.

The consequence of such a joke was, of course, being kicked off the bed halfway through, shrunk by magic, and locked in a glass bottle.

Afterwards, the red-haired idiot kowtowed repeatedly to his obviously angry girlfriend, begging for mercy, before he could escape.

Ayasa Terasaki does lack exercise, but the underlying reason for this is her lack of vacation time.

Because a certain red-haired idiot abandoned Miracle City and went traveling all over the world, I have to take care of two junior magical girls on top of my already hectic work schedule.

When Ayasa Terasaki was working as a magical girl, she was constantly out in the field, so her muscles were quite well-developed due to the high level of physical activity. After starting her job, the defined abs she had worked so hard to achieve disappeared under her soft belly.

Don't be fooled by the seemingly languid and aloof demeanor of some sophisticated women; their bellies can actually be quite soft and feel pleasant to poke.

Sugiyama Rika knew that her jokes had gone too far and weren't funny anymore, so she had been trying her best to make up for it these past few days.

He shamelessly clung to Terasaki Ayasa, offering his help in a fawning manner. To exaggerate a bit, these past two days, Terasaki Ayasa has almost had to go to the toilet by herself.

Although the life-saving magic used to please Terasaki Ayasa was developed by Terasaki Ayasa herself, seeing how cautious this guy has been these past few days, the doctor decided to forgive her partner who speaks without thinking.

Today's work was a little easier. The troublesome magical girl junior had gone to the neighboring Strange City to be a judge for the city festival, so Terasaki Ayasa finally had some free time and could enjoy her lunch break in peace.

Of course, he still couldn't ignore his chattering girlfriend next to him.

Sugiyama Rika ran to queue up to buy afternoon tea snacks for Terasaki Ayasa. After delivering the snacks, she returned covered in sweat and then went to fan her collar under the air conditioner vent.

He had only been blowing for a short while when Terasaki Ayasa kicked him in the butt: "You're blocking my way."

"I'm sorry... it's super hot today." Sugiyama Rika stepped aside, intending to cool down herself with magic.

Snowflakes drifted from her fingertips, swirling around her body twice before falling back down, causing her body temperature to plummet.

Before Sugiyama Rika could even let out a sigh of relief, she couldn't help but sneeze. Goosebumps rose all over her body.

"Are you a child? It would be strange if you didn't get sick from being exposed to this kind of air conditioning." Terasaki Ayasa sighed.

Sugiyama Rika grinned: "Because it's really hot... But let's not talk about that for now. Ayasa, I saw a live stream of the Strange City Festival while I was queuing. Do you want to watch it?"

To avoid further scolding from her doctor girlfriend, Sugiyama Rika wisely chose to change the subject.

This little trick, of course, couldn't escape Terasaki Ayasa's eyes; that was all she knew how to do. Nevertheless, Terasaki Ayasa went along with it: "Look."

Sugiyama Rika immediately came over happily, snapped her fingers, and used magic to place the afternoon tea desserts she had bought in front of Terasaki Ayasa, and quite naturally halved the tea in Terasaki Ayasa's cup.

He took a sip with great enthusiasm, then his face scrunched up from the bitterness.

She looked up at Terasaki Ayasa, who was watching her leisurely with her arms crossed, and then calmly refilled the half-empty cup with water, making the concentration just right.

"Why are you using the same methods you use to torment cats on me..." Sugiyama Rika muttered in complaint, but in the end, she knew she was in the wrong.

Ayasa Terasaki loves cats. A couple of years ago, when she wasn't as busy with work as she is now, she would occasionally feed stray cats after get off work.

Because her family was not short of money—the hospital at the foot of Terasaki Ayasa's house was her own—after the number of cats she kept reached a certain level, Terasaki Ayasa vacated a villa in her house specifically for the cats to exercise, and it was managed by a dedicated person.

When the work pressure became unbearable, Terasaki Ayasa would spend the whole day at that villa, in addition to staying with Sugiyama Rika.

However, she has been too busy lately and has not visited for some time.

As we all know, cats like to drink all water except from their own water dispenser, and the water in their owner's cup is especially tempting.

Ayasa Terasaki is someone who can't live without coffee and tea, but it would be troublesome if the cats accidentally ate these two things. However, the cats are always full of stubborn curiosity, and with so many cats launching surprise attacks on Ayasa Terasaki's cups, she is always worried that something might go wrong.

So she came up with a plan: to use magic to remove the harmful substances from the tea and prepare a special strong tea that was harmless to cats but tasted absolutely awful.

It's so concentrated that a cat only licks it once and then avoids the cup altogether.

Sugiyama Rika was tricked. She didn't really like tea and always avoided bitter drinks. She only drank Terasaki Ayasa's tea because she wanted to try what her girlfriend drank.

Sugiyama Rika quickly poured herself half a glass of ice water to dilute the bitter tea, which made it barely drinkable.

The taste is no different from that of a child.

Ayasa Terasaki, who was standing nearby, had a clear view of the situation and a very clear understanding of her girlfriend.

However, speaking of cats...

Terasaki Ayasa thought of the enormous gray Maine Coon she had encountered some time ago and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

She sincerely invited the cat named Gray to stay at her home, but he refused.

And it's been a long time since I've seen Gray... Is it because there have been too many big events in Miracle City recently, and Gray's instinct as a stray cat has made him avoid danger and hide?

Terasaki Ayasa doesn't actually think that it's something she should regret, since the magical girl agent certificate just disappeared after she handed it to Hai.

When she handed the certificate to a wild and untamed stray cat, she was already prepared for it to take the things away.

Ayasa Terasaki wasn't worried that Gray would use the magical items for evil purposes, because she also had administrative authority over Gray and could revoke his access if anything went wrong.

But as a result, the handsome big cat never used those magical items.

Perhaps it's because animals' minds are not yet fully capable of understanding and utilizing this power.

I wonder when I'll be able to see that big cat again.

Just as she was thinking this, Terasaki Ayasa noticed on the live stream that the contestants seemed to be all ready.

The first match is about to begin.

Text: 271. The Magic Fails

While waiting for the match to begin, Terasaki Ayasa and Sugiyama Rika noticed the earlier shot of Haga Mayumi and were both somewhat surprised.

"So Mayumi recently went to the Strange City to participate in a festival?" Terasaki Ayasa wondered.

Sugiyama Rika realized what was going on: "It must be because of Kagura's matter. She seems to have obtained important information from Kagura and went there to investigate."

Although Mayumi Haga is currently on very good terms with the magical girls, there are some things they won't ask each other for help with.

For example, the daily activities of magical girls, and Mayumi Haga's past.

Some things need time and space to resolve themselves.

This is especially true for someone as reserved as Mayumi Haga; she has a lot of things to process on her own.

I just don't know why they inexplicably appeared at the festival in Weird City this time.

"Putting all that aside, won't the rules of the first match be against her?" Terasaki Ayasa stroked her chin, already calculating the probability of Mayumi Haga's victory in her mind.