Work Text:
The lunch rush at Mizuna Girls’ Academy was a sight to behold. It had long since surpassed the point where it could be called a crowd or a mob, becoming an event more akin to a stampede, or possibly a warzone. The mad scramble began as soon as students were dismissed for lunch, and manners were thrown right out the window as girls sprinted and shoved to try to get in line for the elusive prize before it inevitably sold out, their hearts fixed on only one thing: Manaka’s special bento boxes.
Manaka smirked as the throng of bodies approached, looking upon the results of her hard work with satisfaction. It was only natural that her cooking would whip people up into this sort of frenzy. She was the best, after all.
“Alright, alright, no wrestling in line! Here’s a bento for you, come again, here’s a bento for you, you’re very welcome, a bento for you, please enjoy...”
“I’ll take three!” a familiar fair-haired natural beauty declared as she finally made it to the front, looking a bit frazzled after making it through the crowd. Manaka had a strict one-bento-per-customer policy, of course, but the only thing bigger than Ria’s stomach was her ego, so of course she never listened.
“Sorry, you’re too late. I just sold the last one!” Manaka said cheerfully. A wave of disappointment rippled through the remainder of the crowd, accompanied by looks of determination. Anyone that missed a bento today would fight twice as hard tomorrow.
Ria just looked dumbfounded. “That can’t be! Lunch just started, how can you possibly have sold out already?!”
“That’s business for you. I guess you’re just unlucky!”
Ria’s stomach protested with a loud growl, an argument that was quickly echoed by Ria’s lips. “B-But, my bento! What am I supposed to eat now?”
Manaka shrugged, unbothered by Ria’s typical drama. “I can’t give you what I don’t have. If you’re still hungry after school, feel free to come by Walnut’s and you can order as much as you want.”
“But–!”
A timid girl with green hair managed to make her way to the front, panting slightly from the exertion of running here. “A-am I in time? Are there any left?”
“Ooh, too slow!” Manaka teased. “You just missed the last bento.”
Sana looked crestfallen. “O-oh. I see...”
“Well, since you’re a valuable customer, I suppose I can share half of my lunch with you,” Manaka told her, fishing through her bag. She pulled two boxes out of her bag and presented one of them to Sana with a grin. “Here’s your share!”
Sana’s eyes widened. “A whole bento!”
“Guess I must have packed too much by accident,” Manaka lied shamelessly.
“Hey, wait, hold on!” Ria cut, sounding incredulous. “Why does she get a free bento when I was here first?”
“Oh, um, I’m very sorry–” “Aren’t you supposed to be on a diet?”
Ria recoiled like she’d taken a physical blow from Manaka’s words. “Aha, well, that is…”
“Anyway, you don’t have to apologize to her, Sana. That lunch is yours. Ria’s a big girl, she can find her own lunch. I’m sure she would never beg her juniors to hand over their lunches to satisfy her gluttony.”
“H-hey! I’m right here, you know!”
“So come on, let’s go eat,” Manaka said, ignoring Ria entirely.
Sana clutched her bento box close and met Manaka’s eyes. “Right!” Her smile, so warm and innocent, made it all worthwhile. It was such a simple thing, but Manaka would do anything to protect that smile.
It was that smile that had saved Manaka.
The rain was pouring down in buckets outside, but the atmosphere inside Walnut’s remained warm and cozy. There was a decent crowd inside right now, a far cry from the ghost-town vibe that it had once had, and it was a reminder of just how much all of Manaka’s hard work had paid off. Everyone knew that Walnut’s had amazing food at affordable prices.
And most magical girls knew that there was a secret discount for anyone with a soul gem.
Manaka was currently inspecting the menu (again), brainstorming possible additions to it. It would never do to let their customers grow too bored of the available options, and the weather had gotten her thinking about the possibility of some sort of Rainy Day Special. It would have to be something warm, of course, something that would chase the chill out of your bones and give you the energy to confront the rain.
A chance glance out the window derailed her thoughts. There was someone out there morosely wandering the street, getting completely soaked without an umbrella. Moreover, it was someone that Manaka recognized.
“Leila, I’m taking my break! You’re in charge,” Manaka barked at her talented part-timer.
“Huh? M-me?” Leila sounded flustered, but when Manaka looked over at her she was already pulling herself together. “Okay, right… you can count on me!”
Manaka was out the door before she could think twice about this, striding out into the downpour after the bedraggled figure in a Mizuna uniform. The other girl didn’t even notice her until Manaka grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along.
Sana’s eyes took longer than they should have to rise from the ground and meet Manaka’s face. “…Manaka? What are you…?”
“That’s what I should ask! You’re gonna catch your death out here.” Manaka’s gaze flicked over Sana’s face and then turned away. Sana’s cheeks were wet with rain, but the redness in her eyes said that if not for the raindrops her cheeks would be wet with tears. It was just further motivation for Manaka to drag Sana into the restaurant.
“U-um, what…?”
Manaka pulled Sana to an empty booth and shoved her (gently!) into the seat. “Wait here for just a minute.”
Sana looked uncomfortable. The poor girl was probably worried that she was being an inconvenience. “But, I–”
“Just a minute! I’ll be right back!” Manaka insisted. She started to march off to the kitchen, then thought better of it and grabbed a ‘Reserved’ sign and put it on Sana’s table. There, now nobody would accidentally sit on the invisible girl. Now she could march off to the kitchen.
She grabbed a pad of paper and quickly scribbled out a set of instructions. There was nothing like necessity to bring about invention, and her ideas for a Rainy Day Special now poured from her fingers as a fully-formed recipe. Her hands itched to prepare the food herself, but… no, there were other things she needed to deal with right now. She could count on the part-timer for this. “Leila! I’ve got a special order for you!”
Leila looked startled at the sudden request, but she didn’t miss a beat with the vegetables she was chopping. The girl had real talent. “Heh? Uh, sure! I’ll get right on it!”
“Thanks.” Manaka left the note with Leila, found a clean towel, and headed back out to Sana.
Sana looked like a half-drowned kitten, wet and shivering as she huddled in the seat where Manaka had left her. She let out a squeak when Manaka dropped a towel on her head.
“Here. You should dry yourself off before you catch something.” Manaka slid in to the seat across from Sana.
“Oh, yes! Um… sorryeep!” Sana only just managed to get the towel off of her head before Manaka lightly rapped her on the forehead, prompting a cute squeak.
“I’m not gonna listen to any of your apologies,” Manaka told her frankly. “As a chef, I never want to hear a customer apologize. I just want to hear you say that the food was delicious.”
“But… I haven’t had any food?”
“It’ll be here soon,” Manaka assured her. “I’ve got the kitchen staff working on something for you.”
“I… don’t have any money to pay for it right now,” Sana said weakly, though her stomach picked that same moment to make its hunger heard. This girl really was determined to be miserable, wasn’t she?
“That’s fine. I can’t charge you for this meal anyway.” Manaka waved her hand as if brushing away the problem. “It’s a new item I’m trying out that isn’t on the menu yet. I want you to test it for me, so the only cost is that I want your opinion on it.”
Sana hesitated, but then nodded, finally accepting Manaka’s generosity. She finally started making use of the towel too, rubbing her hair with it. “So, then this… this is your restaurant?”
“Oh, right, this is your first time here, isn’t it?” Manaka rubbed her nose and smiled a bit smugly. “Yeah, this is Walnut’s, my family’s diner. It may not look like much, but we’ve got some of the best food in Kamihama.” Someday she’d be able to confidently say that it was some of the best food in the world, but it wouldn’t do to get too far ahead of herself just yet.
Sana seemed reluctant to converse much, but that was fine, Manaka knew full well that Sana was a shy girl. If she didn’t want to open up about why she’d been wandering around in the rain without an umbrella looking all lost and tearful, then Manaka wasn’t going to press her on it. Manaka didn’t mind holding up the conversation on her own, distracting Sana with small talk and chattering away about school and cooking and whatever else until Sana forgot about her concerns.
It helped even more when Leila showed up with the special order. “Here you go, boss! One rainy day rice omelette, made to your specifications!” Reading the situation correctly, she placed the food in front of Sana, much to Sana’s own surprise. “Enjoy!”
Sana stared after Leila as the part-timer walked away. “She could... see me? Is she…?”
“Ah, so you noticed!” Manaka smiled, glad to boast about the talent she had spotted. “That’s right, Leila’s still in training but she has the potential to be a top-class chef! There’s no way that she’d fail to notice a customer, even an invisible one!”
“Ah, right...” Sana seemed skeptical of the explanation for some reason, but her face transformed after her first bite of rice omelette. “It’s… so good!” she said in awe.
“It’s a variant on the usual recipe to really bring out the feeling of comfort on a rainy day,” Manaka said proudly. “The warmth and softness fills you up and pulls you in, and it’s seasoned to give off a cozy feeling of home that...” Manaka trailed off, seeing that her audience didn’t seem to be paying much attention.
Sana was stuffing bite after bite into her mouth while tears overflowed from her eyes and ran down her face. “Ithf… tho… good,” she mumbled between sobs and spoonfuls.
Manaka reached across and gently patted Sana on the head. “There, there,” she soothed softly. “It’s okay. You don’t have to rush. The food isn’t going anywhere, and I can get you as much as you want.”
Sana looked up at Manaka with glassy eyes and swallowed heavily. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
“You don’t even know that? It’s because you’re a precious customer,” Manaka replied matter-of-factly. “You can come here anytime you want, and you’ll always be treated like you matter.”
That brought out a fresh round of tears from her crybaby friend, and something that might have been a smile. Good. If someone was going to cry, it should be from either happiness or spicy food. Manaka let her take as long as she needed to pull herself together (conveniently, it didn’t even bother the other customers due to Sana’s unique condition), and once she had calmed down Manaka kept her distracted with meaningless small talk while she ate her food. It was good, not just for Sana but for Manaka too. It felt like she was really getting to make a difference in someone’s life, and it was the life of someone that she owed a lot to.
But all good things had to come to an end, and Manaka couldn’t stay there and chit-chat forever. “I have to get back to work,” she finally said with a glance at the clock. “But you can stay here for as long as you want. If you need anything, anything at all, just flag down me or Leila and we’ll help you however we can. That sound good?”
“Yes! Um, thank you!” Sana’s smile was all the reward that Manaka needed, and she walked away with a spring in her step.
Manaka launched back into her work, and she was kept busy enough running the kitchens and dealing with customers that she didn’t have much of a chance to check in on Sana for quite some time. By the time she was wrapping up for the day, Sana’s table was already empty. That was fine. Manaka was just glad that she had been able to give Sana a place of refuge when she’d needed one. In any case, she would see Sana again at school.
The next week, Sana stopped coming to school.
“...Alright, that’s it, I’m out of bentos. Clear out, everybody, I’ll be back with more tomorrow.”
“NOOOOOOO!” Ria pushed her way against the departing crowd, melodramatically arriving too late. “You have to still have one left, right?! After all, I’m Ria Ami! There’s no way that I’d be too late again.”
Manaka took a long glance at her schoolbag. As usual, she had two lunchboxes packed away in there, one for herself, and the other… “Sorry. I’m all out,” Manaka told Ria.
The second lunchbox was still untouched in Manaka’s bag when she went home that day.
“I know you have another bento! You definitely have an extra that you’ve been saving just for Ria Ami! I’ll take it.”
Manaka hesitated. “No, I… I’m all out. Sorry.”
The second lunchbox was still untouched in Manaka’s bag when she went home that day.
“...Here. For you,” Manaka said, pulling the bento box out of her bag and handing it over to Ria.
Ria froze in her tracks for a moment, stunned that her request had actually been granted, but she recovered quickly. “W-well, of course you’d have prepared an extra meal just for a natural beauty like me. Though, ah, I do believe this is the first time, so it is a bit unexpected...”
“It’s not for you,” Manaka sighed glumly. “It’s supposed to be for Sana, but… she isn’t here today, either, so there’s no point in wasting food.”
Ria already had the box opened and was hungrily taking in the scent of the food. “Hm? Sana? Who is that?”
Manaka sighed again. Typical Ria, she didn’t have room in her head to remember anyone that wasn’t herself. “Sana Futaba? A magical girl that goes to our school? She has green hair, I’ve been eating lunch with her?”
“Oh, your little shy friend!” Ria said, her eyes lighting up with recognition. “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen you with her in a while. Did something happen?”
“I don’t know,” Manaka uttered morosely. “It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve even seen her. And her magic makes her invisible to normal people, so it’s not like I can ask the school about her, they think she’s been absent for months. I don’t know where she lives, we never exchanged numbers…” It had never occurred to Manaka just how shallow her relationship had really been until she wasn’t there anymore. Dealing with the restaurant usually kept her pretty busy outside of school, so the idea of making social plans wasn’t something that she thought much about, and she’d never thought about how she had no way to get in touch with Sana outside of school. “I don’t even know if she’s ditching, or if she moved, or if… something happened to her…”
“Manaka!” Ria’s sudden shout snapped Manaka out of her thoughts, and it was only now that she realized that her fists were trembling and her eyes were burning with the threat of tears. “It’ll be okay,” Ria said with self-assured confidence, putting a comforting hand on Manaka’s shoulder. “I’m sure she’s fine. Magical girls don’t go down that easily, you know? I’m sure we’ll find her if we spread the word among other magical girls. After all, no one would refuse a request from Ria Ami!”
Manaka made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. She’d almost forgotten, but Ria was like this too. Even though she was full of herself, she was a genuinely kind girl that wouldn’t hesitate to help someone in need. It felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and she wiped her eyes roughly. “You really think that she’s okay?”
Ria nodded, and though Manaka had no idea where her confidence was coming from, she was sure it wasn’t a lie. “Certainly! I can feel it, I have every confidence that we can find your friend.”
“...Thanks.” Manaka took a deep breath, and slapped her cheeks hard to get herself together. Right. This was no time to be falling apart. She would find Sana, and she’d cook Sana a big meal and get to see that crybaby’s smile again. No more moping. She met Ria’s eyes and put on an impish smile. “You really can be a reliable senpai sometimes… Rita.”
“Why thank you, I– hey, it’s Riaaaaa!”
Manaka heaved a deep breath as the Labyrinth crumbled around her. Another day, another fruitless search for Sana, and another Witch getting in her way. Not the worst Witch she’d ever seen, but taking it on alone hadn’t been easy. “This must be how eggs feel after they’ve been beaten,” she mused to herself.
She found a cool shady spot in the shadow of the radio tower and sat down, glad to give her legs a rest. She grimaced as she took a look at her soul gem; it was murkier than it had been in quite a long time, so it was a good thing that the Witch had dropped a grief seed. Really, the last time she’d seen her soul gem like this had probably been…
...back around the time she’d met Sana.
It was kind of scary looking back at that time, though back then she hadn’t paid much attention. Walnut’s hadn’t been picking up in business at all, with all of her efforts (including her wish) only resulting in her father being invited out as a guest chef instead of bringing attention back to the restaurant. She’d gradually fallen into a slump, feeling that all of her hard work was just a waste of time, and in her slow downward spiral she’d fallen out of the habit of Witch hunting, and she’d had a hard time bringing herself to care about the darkening state of her soul gem. She’d even started to lose interest in cooking, and cooking was her life.
And then this desperate crybaby of a girl had appeared in her world, begging for one of Manaka’s bentos, saying that those meals were the best thing she had going for her. She’d pleaded with Manaka to not give up on her efforts, and she’d smiled like Manaka’s food was the best in the whole world. She’d reminded Manaka of the reason why she enjoyed cooking in the first place.
Sana might have saved her life that day.
Manaka pressed the grief seed to her soul gem with one hand while she navigated her phone with the other. She needed to message Ria and tell her that she hadn’t found anything other than a Witch. The reason that Manaka was even checking out Chuo’s radio tower was because of some rumor, that apparently Ria had heard from Mayu who heard it from Sayuki who heard it from a fan or something, that people were hearing a girl’s voice come from out of thin air around here. It was a bit of a stretch, but Sana was an invisible girl, so, maybe it was her? Manaka was sort of under the impression that normal people wouldn’t be able to hear Sana any better than they could see her, but she didn’t actually know much about how Sana’s magic worked.
Her stomach churned at that thought. It was just more evidence that she should have paid Sana more attention. Sana had been missing for about a month now, and more and more Manaka was having to chase away the thought that she had been killed by a Witch and would never be found.
Her phone chimed. That was awfully fast for Ria, but then again, maybe that clutz had messed up again and sent a message with only the first two words. Really, that girl.
...The message wasn’t from Ria. It wasn’t from anyone that Manaka knew, in fact, and the message was just one sentence.
Will you save Sana Futaba?
what
What do you know about Sana/
Where is she?
Who are you?
I am called Ai.
I know where Sana is.
Will you save her?
What does that mean?
Is sana ok?
Her physical health is in excellent condition.
She is trapped in Endless Solitude, and does not want to escape.
Where is that?
How do I save her?
Endless Solitude exists in the Radio Wave Realm.
A Magical Girl like you should be able to get there.
How do you know about that? Are you a magical girl?
Did you kidnap her.
I am not a magical girl.
I did not kidnap her, but I am keeping her trapped here.
I have been looking for someone that can save Sana.
You have been looking for her.
Why do you want to save her?
Because I’m her friend.
Let her go!
I am unable to release her.
Even if I could, she does not want to leave.
She told me that she does not have any friends.
Manaka felt like she’d been dealt a physical blow. Sana didn’t think of her as a friend? She took a deep steadying breath and tried to think it over rationally. Aside from the once or twice that Manaka had run into her around town, they only really interacted during lunch break. They didn’t hang out, or even fight Witches together. In fact, most of their relationship was built around Manaka giving Sana food. Did Sana think that Manaka was just taking pity on her? Did she twist her thinking around into believing that Manaka didn’t actually care about her, that she was just a customer and could be replaced by anyone?
She wasn’t sure how long she spent staring at those words before she convinced her fingers to move again. But eventually, she forced herself to act. Sana was alive. Manaka would save her.
I think of her as a friend.
I won’t abandon her.
How do I find her?
You can reach Endless Solitude by jumping off of the radio tower in Chuo Ward.
You are already close by.
Srsly??
Won’t I just die if I jump off?
No. You will enter the Radio Wave Realm.
let’s say I believe that.
If I go there, I can find Sana?
and save her?
Yes.
There are two things you must do in order to save Sana.
Tell her that she is needed.
And.
Delete me.
Manaka looked down from atop the radio tower and took a deep breath. The view of the city from here was pretty spectacular, but it was kind of hard to appreciate that when she was about to be jumping off from this height. Was this even a good idea? She was doing this because of some shady messages she’d gotten from a stranger, couldn’t it all just be some ploy to get her to off herself? At the very least she probably ought to let Ria or somebody know what she was doing…
But… Looking down like this, all she could think about was that Sana had stood in this same spot, looking at the same view, and decided to jump. Not because she was trying to save someone, but because she felt that desperate and alone. That thought, more than anything, was what pushed Manaka forward. She had to let Sana know that she wasn’t alone.
No point in overthinking things. If you spent the whole day thinking about your recipe, you’d never get any cooking done! Manaka gathered up her courage and leaped off the edge of the building, taking the plunge into the open air.
Falling…
Falling…
She was starting to get a little worried now…
Falling…
The world was suddenly engulfed in a dazzling light show as Manaka crossed over into what must be the Radio Wave Realm. It felt a lot like a Witch’s Labyrinth, but just a little bit off. A bizarre digital-feeling landscape stretched out as far as the eye could see, and the air was filled with text that looked like computer code. Even by magical girl standards, this was weird.
Two figures stood out against the background of cyberspace. One was an enormous woman that flickered slightly when she moved, who looked right at home in this surreal world. The other figure, much smaller, was wearing a Mizuna Girls’ Academy uniform, and was someone quite familiar.
Manaka felt like a load had been removed from her chest, and she turned a grin on the girl that she called friend.
“Hey, Sana! Long time no see!”
For her part, Sana gave her a bewildered look like her food had started talking to her. “Manaka? How… Why… What are you doing here?”
“I came here to see you, of course!” She strode across the distance between them, acting as if this entire situation wasn’t completely out of the ordinary. “Jeez, you really gave me a scare, disappearing like that! I don’t know what I would have done if Ai hadn’t messaged me.”
Sana turned in surprise to the vaguely-human being beside her. “Ai, did you bring her here?”
> Yes. She will take you back to your world, where you belong.
The synthesized voice caught Manaka by surprise. This was the Ai that had messaged her? She’d sounded normal enough over text messages, but in person her appearance, her voice, everything about her emphasized that she was not a human being.
“But I don’t belong there!” Sana cried out. “I don’t have anything there, or anyone!” Her words cut deep, making Manaka flinch. “Why are you trying to get rid of me? Do you hate me?”
> You are mistaken. There was no kindness in the artificial tones of that voice, but the gentleness with which the AI being placed a comforting hand on Sana’s head spoke of her intentions. > I care a great deal for you. I have learned so much from you. And now, there is something you need to hear from Manaka.
That was her cue. Manaka’s throat went dry as Sana turned her hurt, confused eyes in her direction. Manaka liked to talk a lot of snark more than she liked talking about feelings, and she knew that Ria could always take that kind of snark, but it wasn’t snark that Sana needed to hear right now. What she needed was for Manaka to be clear and genuine with her, to leave herself emotionally vulnerable. And that was terrifying.
But she’d do it.
Manaka crossed the last distance between them and wrapped her arms around Sana in a tight hug, earning a surprised squeak from the other girl. “I’m sorry that I let you feel alone. You aren’t worthless, Sana. You’re incredible.”
“What… what are you saying?” Sana choked out in a raw voice.
Manaka couldn’t see Sana’s face while embracing her like this, but she bet that Sana’s expression right now would have been painful to look at. “I’m saying that I think of you as a friend. A really special friend. You… you saved me, you know? I want to return the favor.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Sana said bitterly with a shake of her head. “I was just a parasite, a customer that never paid you anything, even though you kept making food for me. You’re better off without having to worry about me.”
“That’s not true!” Manaka insisted, holding Sana even more tightly. “I never cooked for you because I wanted your money. I did it because I wanted to see your smile. Your smile saved me, Sana. When I thought I was going to give up, you made me remember why I love cooking. There’s no one that could ever replace you.”
“No, no, I...” Sana shook her head again, and Manaka felt hot tears falling upon her shoulder. “I’m boring, and dumb, and useless… Nobody would miss me...”
“That’s not true,” Manaka stated emphatically. “I missed you. I missed your smile, your crybaby antics, the way you scarf down food, how you change the subject to Mr. Purrs-a-lot given half a chance… You’re my friend Sana.” She took a deep breath, then pulled away from Sana to look her square in the eye. “I need you.”
Sana’s eyes widened, and it was visibly apparent that that one little sentence had rocked her world. After a moment, though, her unsteady gaze shifted away from Manaka and toward the overgrown radio program. “But… But, I can’t leave. If I left, Ai would be all alone. She’s my friend, I can’t...”
> You must. As long as I exist, I will not be able to let you leave. I must always maintain a captive within Endless Solitude, my instincts as an Uwasa require it. You must strike me down and return to your world.
“I could never do that!” Sana cried out, looking horrified.
“I’m sure we can work something out,” Manaka spoke up. “There’s no reason to give up just because things are tricky. If Ai always has to have company, we can take turns. There’s a lot of magical girls in the city, I bet we can work out some system where Ai never has to be alone, and nobody has to be stuck as a prisoner.” She grinned proudly. “I can spread the word around, that is my specialty.”
> You do not understand. There is more to it than that. My very existence furthers the plans of the Wings of the Magius, and their actions are reckless and dangerous. Losing me would be a hindrance to their plans, it is a necessary step.
“Uh… Sorry, I don’t really know anything about these, er, Wings of the Magius or whatever,” Manaka admitted sheepishly. “But I’m sure that if we put our heads together, we can think of something...”
“That’s right, Ai!” Sana agreed with a nod. “I don’t want you to die! We can find another way.”
“Interessante, but I, Alina, cannot allow that.”
The two magical girls and the radio girl were all startled by the voice of a newcomer. Manaka looked around in alarm but couldn’t find anyone at first, until she followed Ai’s line of sight and looked upward. A girl with bright green hair and an outfit that put Manaka in mind of a prison warden was descending from above, making her way down a series of lit steps that flickered into existence just as the girl needed them. She had to be a magical girl, but Manaka didn’t recognize her.
“Who is that?”
> Alina Gray. One of the leaders of the Wings of the Magius. She is extremely dangerous.
“It’s sorprendente that an AI has developed enough feelings to rebel against her creators, but we still have a use for her. And Sana is useful for keeping her in check. But we don’t need the other one.”
Sana stepped protectively in front of Manaka, much to Manaka’s surprise. “Stop it! I won’t let you hurt her!”
The Italian-speaking girl smiled as she stepped off the last step and onto the ‘ground’, and the sight set Manaka on edge. “Oh, so you’ve finally found a friend that isn’t an AI! How emozionante. I wonder… what kind of face would you make if you lost that friend now?” The girl tilted her head, and even from a distance Manaka could see the gleam of madness in her eyes. “I’m sure it would be beautiful.”
There was a tense moment of silence. Then, violence erupted so quickly that Manaka could barely follow it.
Ai moved first, launching some kind of eruption of light that Alina casually deflected with an emerald barrier. A monster of paint and virus matter erupted out of nowhere and blasted Ai with a wave of sickly colors. Sana, suddenly attired in magical girl armor in a flash of light, opened up an oversized shield and shot some kind of spiked hunk of metal that Alina avoided with an almost careless sidestep, and her pet monster counterattacked by charging at Sana.
Manaka had never been an amazing fighter even after becoming a magical girl, preferring to spend her free time in the kitchen than on the hunt. Any plans and strategies were driven from her mind when real lives were on the line, emotions winning out over conscious thought, and in this fast-paced exchange of blows she didn’t second-guess her first impulse. She just moved, following her instincts.
She threw herself in front of Sana, taking the full brunt of the monster’s rush. The impact buried her under a wave of pain and sensation, and the last thing she experienced before her consciousness fled was the sound of someone shouting her name.
Manaka gradually returned to consciousness with a warm feeling growing inside of her. Her body ached like she’d stubbed her everything on a stair, but it felt like there was some kind of comforting light filling her body. She basked in it for a bit before forcing her eyes open to see what was going on.
There was no sign of the weird radio-Labyrinth that she’d been in, she could see the night sky of Kamihama above her. A magical girl with pink hair was standing over her, a soothing pink glow emanating from her hands and enveloping Manaka. There were a few other girls crowded around too, and she recognized Ria’s famous one-sided rival, Yachiyo Nanami. As well as…
“Manaka!” Sana nervously leaned over her, and, unsurprisingly, Manaka’s favorite crybaby was crying. She felt a little guilty about that, but at the same time it was kind of nice that someone had been worrying about her. “You’re okay!”
“Of course.” She put on a smirk, like getting slammed by a freaky Witch-monster around the size and weight of a car was no big deal. A little bravado should lighten the mood a bit. “It takes more than that to take me down.”
“It’s best for you to take it easy for a bit,” the pink-haired girl cautioned her, though she said it with a relieved smile. “I healed the worst of it, but you took a beating.”
“Ah, thanks for that, I owe you. So, uh… what happened while I was out?”
Dark looks crossed their faces. “You see...”
They caught Manaka up to speed. Apparently this group of girls had been investigating the radio-wave girl rumor on their own, and they’d come into the Labyrinth looking to save Sana and hoping to find some other girl from out of town. They got into a scuffle with the Magius and ended up saving Sana and Manaka, but… they couldn’t save Ai. The AI, who had worked so hard to protect Sana, had given her life so that they could all escape. And now they were all hanging out on top of the heliport, which was apparently the exit for the Radio Wave Realm.
Manaka, sitting up under her own power by this point, looked down and let out a big sigh. “…I guess I wasn’t any help after all,” she admitted glumly.
“That’s not true!” Sana exclaimed with startling earnestness. “You came looking for me! Even though… even though I’m just me, you found me, and, you, you called me your friend! So… So...”
“That was a very brave thing for you to do,” Yachiyo said approvingly. “Though it was reckless to try to do so all on your own. It was lucky for you that we arrived when we did. I recommend exercising more caution in the future.”
“Yeah, that… maybe wasn’t my best idea.” She had been so focused on saving Sana as soon as she could, she might have made some poor choices. “So… Sana. I’m sorry, for not noticing how much you were suffering or doing more to help you. If there’s anything I can do for you, anything at all, just let me know!”
“Ah… thank you! B-but, just knowing how you feel, that’s already...”
“Actually, we’d like to lend you a hand as well,” Yachiyo spoke up, and Iroha nodded affirmatively. “We’ve heard a bit about your living situation, and if you’d like, we’d be happy to offer you a place to stay.”
Sana blanched. “I-I couldn’t possibly impose on you...”
“It wouldn’t be any trouble at all!” Iroha quickly reassured her. “Mikazuki Villa used to be a boarding house, so there’s plenty of room. We’ve already got three of us living there together–”
The youngest girl, Felicia, abruptly cut in with “Four if you count Tsuruno, she basically lives there!”
“–and Yachiyo says it’s okay, so, if you want to, we’d love to have you. We… we all want to be your friends, Sana!”
The look of surprise and joy and Sana’s face was priceless. It sort of stung Manaka a bit that she couldn’t do more for Sana herself, but… even if she could talk her dad into taking in a stray, they didn’t really have a space for her, and there was no way that Manaka could explain about her invisible friend. So it really was wonderful that these girls could offer Sana what Manaka couldn’t give her. So she smiled and clapped Sana on the arm.
“Sounds like a pretty good deal! I can’t really move out and leave my dad alone, but you’ll have to show me the place so I can come visit you.”
A fresh look of surprise crossed Sana’s face, and she nodded vigorously. “Yes!”
“Breakfast is served, come and get it! It’s my latest, Mikazuki-style hamburg steak!”
“Ooh! Meat for breakfast, Manaka’s the best!”
“Use your manners, Felicia. It does smell delicious, but it seems a little heavy for so early in the morning...”
“Haha, don’t worry about that! I took that into account when cooking. Each dish has been specially prepared for each person’s taste, so you have nothing to worry about, Yachiyo!”
“That’s incredible! Thanks so much for all of your work. ...A-ah, Felicia, don’t forget to chew! You’ll choke!”
“Hey everybody, I brought a special breakfast delivery! It’s the mightiest meal of all, straight from Banban–waaaah! There’s already a breakfast here!”
It was a lively morning at Mikazuki Villa, and Manaka couldn’t help being smug about a job well done. It was scenes like this that made Manaka love cooking. And the best of it all was the look on Sana’s face, surrounded by happiness and savoring every bite of food that went into her mouth.
“It’s… so… good!”
Yeah, that was the good stuff.
Yachiyo redirected an enthusiastic Tsuruno towards Felicia (who was being fussed over by Iroha) before turning to Manaka. “Really, thank you for coming over to cook. I know that this isn’t on the way to school for you. If you’ll allow us to pay you for your services...”
Manaka waved off her offer. “Not a chance. I’m not doing this for money, you know. I’m walking Sana to school anyway, might as well enjoy myself in the kitchen while I’m here! If you want to thank me, come by the diner sometime and order something off the menu.”
Yachiyo smiled, just a bit. “We’ll have to do that sometime.”
After an energetic breakfast they all headed out in their various directions. Iroha, Yachiyo and Tsuruno headed out in one direction, Felicia went off another way to her own school (probably), and Manaka and Sana walked together toward Mizuna Girls’ Academy.
“So, how do you like it there? They treating you well?” Manaka asked Sana with a sidelong glance.
The other girl nodded affirmatively. “Yes! Um, I’m still, sort of getting used to everything, and it’s a bit overwhelming sometimes, but, everyone is very kind to me. And… I-I’m glad that you come by to see me!” The shy girl was even blushing a little.
Manaka flashed her a catlike grin. “Of course! That’s what friends are for.”
Sana kept shooting glances at her for some reason, and didn’t seem to realize how obvious she was about it. “Um… I might get lost, so...”
“Ah, that’s no good! You’re gonna have to get used to this route, since you’re living over here now. If you have any trouble, you know how to use your phone to navigate, right?”
“Well, yes, but...” Sana was staring down at something. Was there dirt on Manaka’s skirt? Or maybe something on her hand? “I might get separated from you in a crowd, so...”
“This street doesn’t seem too crowded right now, so I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”
Sana seemed dejected for some reason. “That’s true...”
Manaka tilted her head. It seemed like a silly thing to get upset over, but… Hm. She shrugged, then held her hand out to Sana.
Sana’s eyes went wide, and she looked back at Manaka as though asking permission, or maybe asking why.
“Because I want to,” Manaka said simply. “With you. That’s all there is to it.”
The crybaby’s face lit up with a huge smile, and she eagerly took Manaka’s hand. Her grip was warm, soft, comforting. It felt like home.
“Yes!”