1 1 - Deep black

*

Blocks of grey bathe in the dewy golden light of approaching dusk. The street lamps lit up one by one as if greeting the darkness, a mass of spiralling noise fills the crowded city.

The firm support of the concrete holds myself up on an overhead bridge, over a road. How did this situation come to pass? Ah! , I forgot to introduce myself... Name's higuresawa kaoru, some friends make fun of my girly face by calling me kaorin. Well, I didn't care either way and got used to it. I only cared about reaching home in time after club activities, so I can catch up on my dearest magical girl anime, "mokuyoubi no Kaori".

A rather bland name that say's 'Thursday's kaori'. What's that? It's similar to my nickname and might possibly be the source of it? Surely not, you must be imagining things.

Anyway back to the topic, how did it come to this situation? I was only returning home when I observed a classmate leaning dangerously forward over some railings. Railings that kept people from falling off the overhead bridge, that was over a road with countless cars zooming pass at high speeds. He would turn into red mist, this was real life not anime.

Releasing my bag on the ground, I rushed forward towards that classmate. He had dim blond hair that seemed as if a layer of dust had settled over normal blond hair. Maybe the colour was exaggerated on TV, well it didn't matter at all at this time. His name was sajima kyou, a third generation of a foreigner who had settled here. Beyond that, he didn't stood out much. So whatever reason he had for suicide, I couldn't think of one or help. In the first place it was his personal matter. I'm just a lowly magical girl otaku, not a saviour.

Nevertheless no one could sit still if they see an acquaintance attempting suicide. The nearest person was on the other side of the bridge, having just walked up the stairs. That stranger probably had the same thoughts, only that he saw the situation from below and rushed up. As the person that was closer and less exhausted, it became my problem. I wasn't fit at all, powering through with willpower was all I could do. Even then I don't think I would have enough strength to pull him up if he were to ever fall.

My legs creak in pain, large gasps of air escape my lungs. My breathing became quite erratic, it felt like lead was poured inside. An annoying weight pushing me down into inertia. I still moved. I pushed through and grabbed his hand, our school uniforms stood out in the setting sun. I pulled him backwards--, I pulled kyou jinmei. Our backs crash onto the floor of the bridge, his upper half had been dangling over the railing like a slug until now. We hadn't interacted much in class, well, I didn't interact with anyone much.

I was at a lost on how to deal with suicidal individuals, so I left it to the stranger that had just arrived after me. I simply went home after stability in the situation was displayed. The adult stranger tried to calm Jinmei, and it seemed he was heading back home as well, in the opposite direction. He must have taken a detour. Taking the first step down the stairs, that was when it happened. No, there was nothing as grand as dying and going into another world.

For one thing, I lived. A global tremor, one never felt before in history. The shaking disorientated my sense of direction as the city went into chaos. I was on a bridge, I gripped to the railing as hard as I could as my life quite literally depended on it. An awful premonition, if the shaking could sweep large skyscrapers onto the ground, how would the bridge react any different? We had received these tremors in the past few weeks, growing in intensity each time. This was the only one that could affect lives, the rest were trivialities compared to it. Only this one shook down absurdly large buildings, the ground convulsed and before I gained any awareness-- everything was up in the air.

Cars, vehicles, small shops, people, animals, everything was thrown into the air along with the ground. The bridge didn't escape that and I also arrived at 20 stories in the air. I could only tell it was 20, since I counted them from an adjacent office building. Where was any chance of survival... Everything fell apart, I would later come to find roughly half my classmates were gone. Nothing could survive this velocity and inertia, anyone in a building would get crushed, anyone outside would be flung with the ground itself.

Large pillars with the same diameter as a certain tower in France sprouted out of the ground, they extend ever forward before joining in the sky. From the point of connection in the sky, the pillars multiplied. They shot towards the ground like the wires on a taser, only that they are so massive and numerous that buildings get demolished or skewered. What could the government even do? As far as I know, those old guys have an even lesser chance of surviving. Disregarding trying to help their people, they were thrown just the same as anyone else.

How did I survive you ask? It seemed like I've been ignoring it the whole time, the answer was obvious. Magical girls, they appeared, they rescued and then left. There was not many of them, so not many people could even be saved. Nonetheless there was one near the government officials, so at least half survived. Debris would also fly into the air, it was much harder to find people than to rescue them for the magical girls. I didn't think they were real either, but after everything calmed down I could only bawl.

This happened globally, even the particularly weaker magical girls got crushed by the debris from the tremor. It was both a miracle and a curse to live. I won't be able to get used to this. My phone survives, but without cellular reception what was the point? It couldn't contact or surf the net anymore, everything was destroyed in the aftermath. I was brought to the same shelter as Jinmei and yuuka, a childhood friend that grew distant. At this point, she would have the same status as Jinmei in terms of interaction. I entertained the thoughts of 'getting together with the childhood friend' in the past, maybe I started acting weird because of that and grew distant as a result.

Well, I lack any concern towards that anymore.

*****

"... t's..oka..ow... There's..no.....worries... You.....well... You can finally rest now, you've earned it" <?>

*****

".. Rin.. Kaor... Kaorin..." <?>

"hnnnn~...Was that a dream?"

"Wake up kaorin~!"<Aibe Yuuka>

"Wha... What are you... Why did you wake me up?"

"I have a proposal~!" <Yuuka>

Thinking back to before I fell asleep, I miraculously found a magical girl and worked up the courage to ask her about the current situation. She had dark orange hair and a frilly dress that seemed surreal in this apocalyptic setting. No matter how many times I see them, I can only convince myself that they are real since I was saved.

'We can safely assume 75% of humanity is gone. Even with magic... We couldn't save everyone... With things going as they are, most of the survivors will collapse and die from starvation... Even... No... Nothing. Go back and rest, unless you want to volunteer for food recovery. '

The only law enforcement left is the magical girls, but they are obviously scarce and lacking manpower. Most of them are searching for survivors in the first place. When asking about my parents, she only gave a curt reply of ' We've lost loved ones too. I can not help you' while staring in the opposite direction as if she was some cool character in an anime. Hahah... I guess I'm losing it... Everything is gone... I've already bawled my eyes out before calming down and inquiring about the current state of the situation...

When I returned to my own space in the shelter where younger people are grouped together, Jinmei and Yuuka had already fallen asleep on their sleeping bags. I could see a lot of people with our school uniforms, some grieving, some sobbing just as hard as I did and others sleeping to escape reality. Before I knew it I had fallen like log on my own sleeping bag and fell asleep too. This exhaustion is too much, I should try to conserve energy. I've grown too attached to the characters in a lot of the games I played in the past, knowing I'll never be able to see them again hit almost as hard as knowing I'll never see my parents again. I think I'll have to sleep off this unhealthy attachment.

***

"So what is this proposal?"

"Nothing too complicated. Once the adults come back from food recovery and possibly start rebuilding society, I think we should... Form a family to make living easier..." <Yuuka>

Completely out of the blue, a marriage flag. Or maybe a death flag. It's certain that everyone is feeling depressed and hopeless at the moment, including her. To resort to this, I would rather not take advantage of the situation. Well my thoughts were quite simply though. She is attractive to have been a target of love at one point in my life, however I've already set it aside to pursue to life of an otaku. It isn't hard or anything and there was nothing standing in the way. I've simply lost interest and I doubt she would make good partner in that unhinged state of hers. Well, let's start by defusing the situation...

"Hey... We're just 15... We should leave that for the future when things are more stable..."

"... Have you ever been in a hopeless situation? People usually make excuses, find reasoning and logic and come up with theories just to face away from the truth. Maybe it was a defense mechanism, by the human brain, so that we don't immediately breakdown. But what if the person was more self-aware than the average person? They can detect flaws and problems in themselves, no need for solving those flaws but they are aware of issues and take action.

Have you ever been in this position? Where hope is cut off, and even when the culprit has been apprehended. The law can't undefile your body. So I thought, if there was a tiny sliver of hope. What if clinging to this fact would bring a miracle? Who knows, I was expecting you to save me from this... Situation... Everyone is dead, wait until we're more stable? We could starve right before that... Maybe I'll ask Jin instead... "<Yuuka>

Jinmei, the boy I saved with blood from distant foreigners that had settled here. His dark yellow hair stood stock-still as near imperceptible convulsions expand under his clothes. Steadily they heaved in and out like the twisting current of a river, a sign of life that was actually quite rare now.

This unprecedented disaster was just too absurd, it took way too many lives and it was a miracle that magical girls existed in the first place. Everytime it seemed unreal, I would look into the distance at the east side of our shelter. Over there would be a roughly 14 to 16 year old girl in a frilly costume and a weapon of sorts leaning on the side of the door with their eyelids shut. They would take shifts and the one stationed here would be both guarding the survivors and resting.

In any case, what was Jinmei thinking now? Was he awake? Had he heard everything? We all rested around the same time, it would be weird for him to still be asleep unless he did some particularly strenuous activities right before. Well, I'll ask him later. For now, I lean a little forward to block Yuuka's view. If Jinmei had a reason to eavesdrop, I'll have to cover for him so he can rest from the tension of the conversation. Staying still is harder than it looks. This example probably does not apply here, but I tried something similar before to sleep in a few more minutes before school.

Unlike back then though, things won't be so peaceful anymore. A large gust of wind blew as a loud crashing sound echoed from the east side. Looking at it dead in the eye, blood gushed forth from my nostrils, my throat flaring up in pain.