Episode 1: Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru
You are dead, well before your time.
This fact hangs inescapably heavy over your head, almost blotting out everything else, as you sit in the middle of the graveyard, staring glumly at your own tombstone. Reading and re-reading the kanji imprinted upon it, some part of you keeps hoping that this will turn out to have been a mistake, that the next time you read them it will magically turn into someone else's name, but the cold reality is literally set in stone before you.
What is your name?
> Write-In
You remember why this happened, if vaguely; it was an accident in the middle of the city. You had looked both ways before crossing the road, but a car screamed out of nowhere and mowed you down too fast to evade. The specifics dance away from your consciousness, and trying to recall more just gives you fleeting wisps of unimaginable pain. It's not a difficult decision to leave those memories alone.
The funeral is over, too. You had regained consciousness in the middle of it; awakening to the smell of incense and the sound of your own eulogy by a temple priest, and sitting up from the coffin to try to assure everyone you were fine. It didn't take long to realize they couldn't hear or see you, and you had left your body behind. (Nor could you return the same way you vacated it, and the skin-crawling discomfort you felt in the attempt lingers unpleasantly when you think back on it. Despite the clear attempts to clean you up, there was a distinct misshapenness under the kimono they had dressed you in, speaking to the fatal damage you had suffered. Perhaps it is for the best that you didn't succeed…)
The service was an awkward affair, after that, sitting beside yourself as a procession of acquaintances took their turn at your coffin, offering
kōdenbukuro envelopes, burning incense, and paying their questionably sincere respects. Classmates who never gave you a second glance sang your praises out of clear obligation, while distant relatives struggled to find something relevant to say. You tried not to take it too personally, since it wasn't as though you were any more familiar with them, but it still stung a bit to realize how few meaningful connections you had had.
But then, last in line were your brother and parents, and as each in turn stepped up to your coffin, it suddenly hit you that this may be the last time you would see them. The full reality of the situation hadn't entirely sunk in until now, but you found yourself tearing up. Looking away, you unsuccessfully attempted to wipe your eyes clear, despite the part of your mind urging you to watch and listen closely. In the end, you missed everything they said, but you could at least tell that every word of it was meant. Somehow, that only hurt more, and you yearned desperately to turn back the clock, if only to see their faces and properly hear their final words.
You're going to miss them more than you realized.
The rest went by in a blur, a surreal blend of morbid hyperawareness in the moment that immediately melted away into mere flashes of memory. Flowers placed all around your body, pressing your forehead against your own still face, framed for a moment by beautiful Red Spider Lilies and Chrysanthemums, before the coffin lid shut forever. Your wry disbelief as everyone filed out while the shrine staff draped the box in banners, telling your spirit it was time to move on - move on to where? And listlessly following after as your casket was wheeled outside and loaded into the back of a hearse, clambering in beside it before they shut the back of the vehicle, not even thinking to wonder about the destination until it came to a stop again.
The moment you saw the crematorium, you decided you had had enough, and just sat down unseen on the building's front steps as the coffin was taken inside. There was a cold emptiness gnawing within you now, a void of thought and feeling where there should have been something more. Everything ceased to register, until hours later, you were jolted back to awareness by the staff and your close family emerging again. In their arms were two urns - one with your ashes, you knew, and the other with the powdered remains of your bones.
Then was the drive to the graveyard, and the burial. Once again you quietly slipped into a free seat in the procession of vehicles, and followed your family to a small open pit prepared among the endless rows of markers. That was uncomfortable in a different sort of way, watching the first urn be gently lowered and dirt packed on top, knowing that some part of you was still in there. Were you supposed to stay there with it? That didn't quite seem right, but staying up top, watching from the edge of the now much-smaller crowd struck you as wrong too. Still, you stood and watched, until the tombstone was pushed back into place, and everyone quietly filed away.
And now here you sit, alone, as the sun sets behind the trees and distant mountains… and sets on your grave. You were just a normal teenage girl, until this happened; but now you are dead, well before your time.
~~~ .oO◯Oo. ~~~
Just as the last rays of light slip away beneath the horizon, casting your home city of Hitotsutani into twilight, something strange happens. An eerie mist billows from the trees, from a doorway you suspect wasn't there a moment ago, and following moments later, a shadowy specter appears. Smoke billows in the faint breeze, seeming at first to obscure their exact form, but the closer you look the more it feels like the dark clouds
are their form… yet you still detect shape within. The paradoxical sight makes your head hurt, so you simply look away for a moment, watching them from the corner of your vision. "Are you the grim reaper? Have you come to take me?" You ask, somehow knowing you'll be heard this time.
"Not quite," the stranger says with what could be a light chuckle, which you suppose makes sense given their lack of robes or a scythe. "Rather, I am a Shade, and I am here to give you a job offer."
"Why me? I'm dead." On some level, you're alarmed by how calm you are about all of this. The painfully overpowering emptiness from before has faded, and yet your placidity feels inappropriate for the circumstances. Not acceptance of what may come, just numbness.
The Shade's gaze shifts to the side, though you can't see any eyes. "You meet the necessary criteria," they begin, sounding like someone trying to use long-rehearsed lines in a context they were not meant for, "and, well, your current… condition… means you should in theory have less to hold you back from taking this offer." You simply nod wearily and gesture for them to go on, unable to argue with that logic.
Their initial stiffness breaks down as they continue, swiftly devolving into nonsensical rambles. "I wouldn't do this under normal circumstances, you see, but recruitment is at an all-time low. Living applicants have started turning the job down a lot more frequently in the past six or seven years; something about someone named Sachiko-san, and some '
Magician Troupe Sinisteria'? I've never even heard of such a thing before, and there's nothing untoward about the job itself, but there's this sudden strange level of suspicion involved that I just don't
understand." Misinterpreting your blank stare, they cough and awkwardly conclude in their original tone. "I still have a couple of others in this region who have expressed interest, but any sort of additional help is
more than welcome."
"I… see." You're not sure you understand any more than they do, but nod again regardless. "So, what
is the job?"
"Ah, sorry!" the stranger gives the impression of a sheepish grin, realizing their blunder. "It's… how would you like to become a Magical Girl?"
…
"A magical girl?" You cock your head, confused. "I consider being a ghost pretty magical just on its own… or is that more supernatural? Kind of spooky, really." You can feel yourself struggling to stave off the imminent realization that you are indeed a ghost now, burying the acknowledgement under pointless semantics.
"A Magical Girl is a transforming warrior who protects humanity against the forces of darkness!" The stranger explains, sounding suddenly passionate. "Unknown to the general population, you fight against all sorts of magical beings that seek to do harm in the world."
"Oh,
that kind of magical girl?" You remember watching some shows like that as a kid, (
Mystic Midnight Voyager Kairi, was it? A young witch and her friends traveling the world and beyond on brooms, fighting evil and solving problems wherever they went…) but you haven't really given it much thought in years. Even in your present numbness, it's strange to think that there was something actually real to it. Still... "I guess that would give me something to do…"
Sure beats sitting around in a graveyard, moping all the time.
"So, do you accept?" They ask. You have the option to refuse right here and now, but remembering the draped banners from earlier, the answer becomes icy-clear. To linger listlessly, or… Or this. You know that your decision is already made.
"Fine, I'm in."
"If that works for you, yes." The Shade just seems grateful that you accepted at all, taking a brief moment to slump in relief before moving on.
From seemingly thin air, they produce a wide, flat square box and open it up to you, revealing a cushioned interior with several different-colored rings sticking up from indents in the soft lining. "Now to select from these. Choose the one that you feel the most… connection with." Holding your hand over them, you somehow sense an… attitude from each, for lack of a better word.
What kind of Magical Girl will you be?
> Red - Passionate (High offense, low defense, medium versatility)
> Orange - Reliable (Medium offense, high defense, low versatility)
> Green - Clever (Low offense, medium defense, high versatility)
> Blue - Consistent (High offense, medium defense, low versatility)
> Purple - Esoteric (Medium offense, low defense, high versatility)
> Pink - Purehearted (Low offense, high defense, medium versatility)
This is a revised and expanded version of the opening post, not the original version as posted in 2018. You may find the original preserved
here.
