Chapter 501 –

Meteor.

A celestial body entering Earth’s atmosphere, shining brightly as it falls.

People usually make a wish when they see such a meteor.

Because it’s a rare and precious moment that embodies someone’s desires.

Wishing to make a lot of money.

Hoping to meet a good partner.

Longing for a happy life.

Praying for their future to flourish.

Each person has their own varied wishes in their hearts.

It’s only natural for everyone to have different desires.

But.

What if, instead of a meteor,

A malevolent star descends?

What if a meteor shower made up entirely of evil stars falls?

In that case, the types of wishes wouldn’t be diverse at all.

The Japanese spectators, catching on to this, were already showing it.

That’s right.

“Someone save me!”

“God! Buddha! Allah! Anyone, please!”

“I don’t want to die like this!”

“I want to live! With you!”

Survival.

Most of the Japanese audience, albeit in different ways,

Were all desperately longing for safety, shouting for their lives at the top of their lungs.

So shocked that many fainted.

Well, they had no other choice.

The arena’s exit was blocked by a barrier created by Hyeji.

It effectively turned everyone here into prisoners.

Of course, amidst the chaos, a tiny minority showed a slightly different side.

“Professor, is this going to get covered as an industrial accident?”

“Get a grip. You’re a graduate student.”

“Damn.”

You could see the disheartening violations of human rights.

“Anyone want to have sex before dying?”

“Me! Me! Let’s do it!”

“Where do you want to do it?”

“Right here!”

Even in such a critical moment, the instinct to reproduce kicked in.

A couple of academy students suddenly got together.

To flamboyantly burn out their last moments.

[There are really a lot of different types of people in the world.]

‘Indeed.’

That’s something the pair shared in the most beautiful yet

“Hey! Why am I suddenly falling over!”

“Want to have sex, right?”

“You’re the one with the dick!”

It was a somewhat fruitless act of creating life.

“Me too.”

“Ah.”

In a different sense, it was an act where life couldn’t bear fruit.

“I’m going in.”

“Oh/ah/oh!”

[……There are really all kinds of people in this world.]

‘……Indeed…fuck…’

Meanwhile, the evil stars in the sky seemed to be attempting to prove themselves as meteors.

They were fiercely falling, sprouting tails like thrusters.

Among them, three particularly bright stars stood out.

‘That’s the Summer Triangle.’

[Altair. Deneb. Vega.]

‘Oh, is it the Great Triangle?’

As I engraved that sight in my mind, I reflected on Hyeji’s actions.

To set up the current situation, Hyeji had been maintaining her focus on other things even during the battle.

She had only used minimal abilities to buy time for this grand scale.

It was a bonus that she was purposefully attacking just enough so Haruka wouldn’t surrender.

Of course, she did end up excessively beating Haruka, likely due to her emotions flaring up.

But it was indeed fortunate that Haruka didn’t give up and instead charged at Hyeji.

In the end, without the effort of Haruka, this situation would’ve been virtually impossible.

[I suppose she was asking Kyoukyou earlier to calculate the scale.]

‘She must have asked about the location with pinpoint precision to just hit the Hunter Academy.’

Thanks to that, this optimal situation was created.

Meanwhile, Haruka seemed to be struggling with the unrealism of the current situation.

Forgetting they were in a fight, she glared at Hyeji with veins popping in her neck.

“Are you seriously insane? Can you handle this?!”

“What do you mean handle?”

The moment she heard Hyeji’s words, it seemed Haruka finally came to realize something.

“You… you… Don’t tell me what you were asking about earlier…?”

“Thanks to you, I survived.”

It turned out there wasn’t a single downside to our actions.

The damage from the Magical Girl battle would be handled by Japan, said Haruka.

That condition was still applicable in the current situation.

Those missiles had been fired during the Magical Girl battle after all.

“No matter what, this is just too much!!!”

“Don’t worry; they won’t come here. I’ve made preparations for the backlash.”

Feeling aggrieved for being used, Haruka was venting her anger.

“That’s not the issue!!!”

“By the way, are you going to be okay?”

Hyeji simply shrugged nonchalantly toward the sky.

“Those are about to fall, you know?”

“Damn! Damn! Dammiiit!!!”

Haruka was pulling her hair out, stretching her arms toward the sky, yelling at the top of her lungs.

It seemed she prioritized dealing with that over going after Hyeji.

“Magical missile!!!!!!”

Then, quite a number of vintage missiles started flying from Haruka’s hands.

Of course, they were aimed at erasing the many malevolent stars in the sky.

The missiles effectively removed some stars, but.

“Is that it?”

“……”

That was all there was.

“Is that how it is.”

“……Damn it…”

There were still so many stars in the sky that counting them was out of the question.

And was that Haruka’s last power?

Suddenly, her body collapsed, plopping down on the ground.

She even completely reverted from her transformation.

Lying helplessly on the ground, Haruka gasped for breath before staring up at the star-filled sky with an incredibly aggrieved look.

“How is this the most powerful Magical Girl!!!”

It was a disorganized and somewhat abrupt statement.

But somehow, I felt I understood its meaning.

What she was saying was not about a Magical Girl, but rather what an ordinary girl would say.

There shouldn’t be much of a difference, so why was there such a drastic difference?

After all that effort, why hadn’t she accomplished even one thing?

Defeating Hyeji’s plan, winning this fight, and passing art school; none of it.

Of course, it was entirely Haruka’s fault for blaming her lack of skills on AI.

But thinking of it as a mechanism of self-defense, I couldn’t say I didn’t understand it at all.

When pushed to the extreme, people typically seek something to blame for their situation.

Sure, this could help them grow and move forward compared to before.

But that’s not something you could casually say; it’s far from light words.

“How come nothing is working out! Not one thing! Why! Why!!!”

In order to improve, she first had to acknowledge her weak and powerless self.

But experiencing such bitterness, pain, and heartache is something quite rare.

That’s why I could kind of understand Haruka blaming AI, only a tad.

‘Personally, I sympathize a bit, and above all, it breaks my heart.’

[Did the gacha fail?]

‘……Right, fuck… this is also the AI’s fault…’

[……Idiot…]

In truth, I might be highly biased due to having no good memories of AI.

Just then, Haruka suddenly turned her gaze toward Hyeji while lying down.

What followed was a mix of venting frustration and an unanswered, question-like inquiry.

“Tell me! Where does my magical power fall short!”

Honestly, that was something Hyeji could disregard without a second thought.

From Hyeji’s perspective, that was merely the lament of a loser.

But Hyeji didn’t do that.

Taking a moment to steady her breath, Hyeji stepped toward Haruka.

She reached out her hand slowly while looking at Haruka, who was lying on the ground.

“You can’t achieve anything with just magic.”

At those words, Haruka fell silent for a moment, then tightly grasped Hyeji’s outstretched hand and stood up.

And after hesitating a bit, like a kid who had done something wrong, she looked down and muttered to Hyeji.

“So, what can I use to achieve my desires…?”

However, unlike before, this time there was no rage or feelings of unfairness in her words.

There was just a hint of self-deprecation, but it was a genuine question that came from her.

“If it’s not magic, what the hell can it be…?”

As she heard this, Hyeji slowly shook her head, reached out to shake hands, and gave Haruka a fierce but refreshing smile.

With an answer that succinctly and firmly pierced through all the world’s propositions, true to Hyeji’s character.

“Physical.”

Did Hyeji’s words pull the trigger, perhaps?

Finally, the evil stars in the sky descended to the ground,

To bring doom to the Japan Hunter Academy.

The Japanese audience trembled in their spots and fainted.

I and Hyeji wished for a safe return.

Haruka looked at Hyeji with a relieved expression.

And even I, sporting a faint smile.

We were all different.

Appearance.

Thoughts.

Personality.

Yet we all felt the same.

In expressing an extremely brief time, a word that is commonly used: “instant.”

The fragment of time that seemed impossible to divide.

No, it was a piece of time that couldn’t even be labeled with the unit of time.

On that day.

During that fragment.

We, who had been different,

Coincidentally felt the same.

The universe momentarily dimmed.

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