Month 3, Year 1 of Chief Technocrat Meryl’s Rule

  ***

  Mana stared at the ceiling, reflecting on her actions these past weeks. Marisa was snuggling up to her side, with her breath gently caressing the skin of Mana’s neck. Mana felt at peace, and yet, at the same time, this exact feeling of peace was the cause of a gnawing feeling of intense guilt.

  She betrayed everyone. The people who work at the Interdimensional Containment and Research Institute in particular. Their trust in Mana was what made them remove the cameras in the private areas of Marisa’s house, and it was that same trust which she broke with her actions. She was disgusted by herself, and yet… a not-so-insignificant part of her was happy that she did it.

  She finally got Marisa back. The strange clone of hers, who she fell in love with, who was so cruelly taken away from her by the will of the spell book that created her. Now she just needed to get rid of that book’s influence over Marisa’s mind so that she could leave the containment facility, and then…

  Mana’s thoughts were interrupted by Marisa leaning in and kissing her again.

  “Good morning… sorry, did I move around and wake you up?” Mana asked with some concern. Marisa shook her head and lazily rested her head against Mana’s shoulder again, watching her with her silver eyes.

  “No, I woke up naturally. But you look like you’re thinking about something… what is it?”

  Mana stared at the same spot on the ceiling again for a long time before she answered, deciding to still lie to her girlfriend.

  “Well, in the eyes of everyone around here we’re still sisters. We need to keep quiet about us. Our parents know, but still… they might get angry that we broke the charade. And your classmates could think that it’s gross.”

  Marisa stared at Mana for a while. Mana didn’t like the expression on her face all that much. Like she had her suspicions.

  “Really? Well, I guess that would be bad if people found out like that,” she agreed with Mana, nonetheless.

  Mana nodded and got out of bed before collecting her clothes. Marisa let out a rather cat-like groan and grabbed the part of the blanket that Mana just slipped out of and wrapped it around herself.

  “Come, don’t be so dramatic, it’s only the start of fall, it’s not that cold yet,” Mana commented with a chuckle before she put on her school uniform.

  “Anyway, you should get out of bed now. I think I’m already running a little late for school, so you are, too.”

  “Mmmm… okayyyy!” Marisa yawned and followed Mana into the washroom. They brushed their teeth next to each other, sometimes exchanging looks.

  She’s looking so happy. But it still makes me feel uneasy.

  Mana looked ahead in the eyes of her own reflection. Golden irises stared back, with an inscrutable facial expression, perfectly mirroring the state of her mind. It was no wonder that Marisa had her suspicions.

  ***

  Mana walked through the door of the observation room, listlessly dragging her school bag with her. The actors pretending to be her parents were diligent enough to even prepare her a bento in the morning to keep up the illusion, so Mana had everything she needed.

  Her own parents knew that she was visiting her girlfriend, who was in a difficult situation. She never told them all the details, just enough that they decided to give her some space. Once again, she counted herself extremely lucky that they were so understanding, especially after they found out that Mana was a sort of Magical Girl and visited dangerous places where she fought similarly dangerous foes.

  “Good morning, Mana,” she was greeted by a familiar voice. Stevyn sat in front of the monitors, leisurely sipping from a cup of coffee while he observed Marisa’s own walk to school. There was an odd device in front of him, resembling some sort of sci-fi hand scanner.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Morning,” Mana replied with a yawn as she walked past him, to a storage box. She entered a pin code to unlock it and retrieved Portal. It was the only spell book she took with her to Thirram, since she had to lock them up either way.

  “Oh yeah,” Mana said, remembering something important. She turned towards Stevyn. “I heard you’re now a couple with Claudia. Congratulations!”

  Stevyn smiled, though the tall man appeared strangely bashful.

  “More than that, actually,” he commented, lifting his left hand, on which he wore a simple ring. “We got engaged the other day.”

  Mana’s eyes widened and she took a step back.

  “Woah! You’re moving really fast!”

  Stevyn cleared his throat and smiled at Mana before he spoke again.

  “I proposed the same day we found out that she’s pregnant. Things just… happened and we’re going with the flow as they are coming our way.”

  “Well, I hope you two will be happy together! And, if she’s pregnant, do you… uh… have a name in mind, yet?”

  Stevyn looked a little surprised and rubbed his chin.

  “Well, I was thinking Kay. It would work whether we have a boy or girl, or whichever the child prefers after,” he added the last part with a little chuckle.

  “It’s a good name. I’m sure you’ll be great parents! By the way, what is that?” she asked, pointing at the strange scanner contraption.

  “Insurance,” Stevyn replied. “After all these fake doctor visits we managed to identify Doppelg?nger’s magic signature. It won’t be enough to separate it from Marisa, but it will subdue it temporarily if we’re ever in some sort of emergency.”

  Mana felt her stomach tying into a knot. She had to admit that it was good to have options, but she didn’t like the idea of things going wrong – which her actions might cause.

  “I hope you won’t have to use it. But… I have to go now, I’m late!” Mana added hastily, and Stevyn nodded.

  “Don’t let me stop you! Have a good day at school, mighty Witch Queen!”

  Mana put on her special cat ear headset and furrowed her brow as she felt like she heard a bit of a tease in that goodbye, but she opened a portal and stepped through, rather than dwelling on it.

  On the other side of her portal was one of the side streets leading to her mixed junior- and senior high school. Miss Hitoishi had asked her to look over Arisu and help her out if she had trouble adjusting to human society, but Mana wasn’t entirely certain.

  What if I just avoid her? I could keep seeing Marisa, and she will never know or flip out.

  Doubt filled Mana’s heart. She was certain that there was something important she forgot about. Something that required her and Arisu to time travel at some point, but right now she couldn’t put her finger on it.

  September 2025

  ***

  Amicitia was in her ‘Filo’ disguise, or rather, in her ‘gyaru’ disguise, which her ‘Filo’ disguise wore once. And disguised two layers deep as she was, she walked along the narrow neighborhood roads of Tokyo, namely in the Shibuya ward. Here she could watch girls in cute uniforms walking towards a singular destination from the nearest train station. And here it was where she saw what her uncle called the ‘abomination’, which was rather adorable, to be truthful.

  What she was looking at was a young girl, with dirty blonde hair, wearing an eyepatch. The girl looked around nervously, identifying girls with similar uniforms to her own and following them inconspicuously. Or at least she may have thought that what she did was inconspicuous. She made exaggerated sneaking motions as she followed, hopping behind streetlamps and utility poles while peeking around the obstacles that didn’t even fully hide her body, and it wasn’t long until she caught the first gazes from other schoolgirls.

  Some of the other girls started to whisper to each other, which caused the young girl to drop her foolish act and clear her throat noisily, emerging from behind the pole to walk down the street normally.

  “You have your doubts,” a voice spoke behind her, and Amicitia froze. Two icy hands rested on her shoulders and gripped them tight enough that it hurt a little.

  “Poor, sensitive Philotes. Already your thoughts are clouded by misguided notions of mercy. Let me assure you: this… thing will bring nothing but ruin to us.”

  “How?! She’s a child, and a quirky one at that,” Amicitia raised her voice and turned around towards her uncle. He had assumed a disguise as well: his white hair didn’t glow and it was combed back, while he wore a custom-tailored business suit. He looked like one of the more important businessmen around.

  Still, Amicitia could tell that he was hurt. A part of his suit didn’t lie flush against skin, like there was a hollow on his chest somewhere, and a faint white glow appeared through his collar, indicating that his human form was damaged and bleeding its light. She heard from the others that one of Jove’s hundred-handed allies, who helped him overthrow the Titans themselves, grievously wounded her uncle, but she didn’t believe it until now.

  “Eris is in hibernation. Apate is wounded, and Nemesis has been turned into the High King’s concubine. Even just the events leading up to the abomination’s birth have struck a blow against us, and we can’t simply wait until her actions hurt mother as well,” he spoke with gritted teeth.

  Amicitia wanted to object, she almost wanted to scream that none of this would have happened if they never attacked those women, but his very presence was like a hand around her throat that kept her silent.

  “Go and proceed as I instructed you to. You already prepared the stage, so gently nudge the main actress towards it.”

  They heard a noise. A blue circle appeared in the middle of the side alley, hovering in the air. Scotus immediately pulled Amicitia out of sight as a blue-haired girl with cat ears and a tail hopped out of said circle. The girl checked her phone and immediately ran away in a jog, muttering ‘Damn it, damn it!’ over and over until she was completely out of sight.

  “And do avoid being seen by that one. She already knows you.”