Pale's brain spun rapidly.
Facing Hoshino Yume or Suzune, she needed rigorous lies. But facing the gentle-natured, sometimes even absent-minded Jasmine...
"Jasmine..." Pale's voice became small, seeming somewhat embarrassed. "Actually... actually, I'm... I'm planning to raise a puppy!"
"Eh?" Jasmine was clearly stunned, even her hand holding the teacup paused. "Raise... raise a dog? In the base?"
"No... no!" Pale hurriedly waved her hands. The large movement pulled at her wounds, making the corner of her mouth twitch slightly, but she quickly returned to that somewhat embarrassed look. "It's... it's a stray puppy outside, very well-behaved! I've been feeding it recently... but this collar, it's... it's something I bought for it!"
Pale pointed at the collar around her neck, her expression even more "flustered": "But... but I think I bought the wrong size. Too small... I... I wanted to try adjusting it myself to see if it would work... but then... then somehow it got... got stuck. I can't take it off."
"Ara~" Jasmine indeed believed her, showing a worried expression on her face. "That really was careless~ But could you show big sister that lucky little dog? For you to care so much about it, it must be very cute, right?"
"It... it's a bit shy around strangers..." Pale stammered. "And I haven't seen it much lately... maybe it went somewhere else to play..."
Jasmine showed an even gentler expression: "I see... stray children are always more cautious. It's okay. Next time if you see it, try calling me? I'll bring some tasty food for it too. Maybe it can slowly accept us."
Hahaha...
This collar probably won't make it onto any dog...
"Mm-hmm, definitely definitely!"
○
The day's busyness finally ended.
After cooking for the magical girls and cleaning the enormous cafeteria and training ground, Pale dragged her even more exhausted body back to her little nest.
These young magical girls were just so energetic, each one still growing...
Closing the door, locking it.
All the outside noise was shut out.
Only she remained in the room.
Pale kicked off her shoes, walking barefoot on the soft carpet, almost throwing herself into the embrace of a giant teddy bear. The teddy bear's soft body perfectly caught her weight, even bouncing back slightly.
Pale buried her face in the teddy bear's fluffy shoulder, complaining in a muffled voice,
"Mmm... these kids really don't let people worry. How can I retire peacefully like this… Saying they want to protect Pale-nee from Ember or whatever… And Jasmine... where am I supposed to find a dog?"
She couldn't possibly let them discover there was no dog at all, and it was all something she put on herself.
Or rather, worst case scenario.
They discover that Ember and Pale are the same person...
Doomed!
○
Miyana adopted a stray husky.
Though called a stray dog, its appearance was surprisingly beautiful.
Black fur draped over its entire body, with a patch of snow-white softness on its chest.
Its build was sleek and powerful, with broad shoulders and back, long limbs. When running, its fluffy big tail flew like a banner behind it, tracing beautiful arcs.
When it smiled foolishly, it stuck out its pink tongue, both its blue and brown eyes squinting, appearing both silly and cute.
When focused, its ears perked up, dual-colored pupils gazing into the distance, mysteriously taking on some wolf-like pride and mystery.
This strange combination of silly cuteness and handsomeness, foolishness and spirituality, made it one of the few comforts and sources of warmth in Miyana's gray life.
Once upon a time.
Miyana's life was an endless expanse of ashes.
The sky was eternally lead-gray, as if permanently stained by calamity's dust. The air always carried faint burnt and rust smells—the scent of ruins and despair. Rationed food was always bland and unpalatable, compressed biscuits that scratched the throat, thin nutritional paste with a strange chemical taste. Her parents' brows were always furrowed, calculating every portion of food, worrying about the next magical creature attack, their words filled with exhaustion and anxiety.
"Be quiet, Miyana!" "Don't waste!" "What use is this thing?" were their most common phrases.
For a young girl, this world was truly too cruel.
When she was still very small, her life had only two paths left.
Join the post-apocalyptic mass production, or become a magical girl.
But Miyana really had no talent for being a magical girl. Only the most ordinary blood flowed in her veins, unable to resonate with any magic stone, unable to even perform the most basic magic power sensing.
So she could only become an insignificant parts polisher in the massive, ceaselessly rumbling logistics factory, just like her parents.
Magical girls were products of hope.
Only those who harbored hope and longing, who believed in the power of love, might be blessed by miraculous power.
But... how could one harbor hope in such a dark, boundless life?
Hope was a luxury item, a name that would never appear on ration cards, a color that never existed in the gray, hazy sky.
Every day she listened to her parents carefully calculating over a bit of food ration, watched people numbly process part after part, becoming parts themselves.
Love? That was too distant.
Longing? She didn't even know if she could safely get through tomorrow.
She thought she would just be slowly swallowed by gray life, becoming another blurred shadow in the factory background, until she met that equally abandoned husky in the ruins outside the factory.
It was so thin its ribs showed clearly then, its black fur covered in dirt, but the light in those heterochromatic eyes hadn't been extinguished. It looked at her warily, yet couldn't help sniffing toward the half piece of compressed biscuit she had just broken off, intending it as lunch.
Almost instinctively, Miyana gently pushed that piece—incredibly precious to her as well—in front of it.
This action had nothing to do with kindness. It was more like a desperate instinct, a weak response from one gray life to another gray life.
"Ah... you're having a hard time too."
Miyana watched it wolf down those dry biscuit crumbs, her voice very soft, with shared sympathy.
Despite its current sorry state, this dog's bone structure and underlying coat color hinted at something extraordinary.
It must have been a beloved pet from some wealthy family, right?
Perhaps its owner once used exquisite silver bowls to serve it fresh meat, used soft brushes to groom its silk-like black fur. It might have once played in warm, carpeted rooms instead of like now, in cold ruins, wagging its tail and begging for a small piece of compressed biscuit.
The world was just this cruel.
According to mom and dad, long ago, magical girls defeated the calamity mother body and saved the world.
Life was happy then.
People and magical girls united to drive away the gloom and build together. Though life was still hard, people's faces were always filled with happy smiles.
But later, human technology became more and more advanced, life more and more prosperous.
A war between humans and magical girls reduced everything to dust.
Perhaps...
The calamity that destroyed them...
Had always been humanity itself.
"From now on... I'll look after you."
Miyana reached out her hand, tentatively wanting to touch its dust-covered head.
The husky's body stiffened, letting out low whimpers from its throat, but it didn't dodge.
Its eyes still held wariness, but seemed to also contain a trace of longing for warmth.
When Miyana's fingertips finally touched that slightly rough yet still soft fur, a strange warm current seemed to flow through her fingertips.
This was the first contact and mutual recognition between two lonely lives in a cold world.
Like magic, it was a miracle.
"I'll work hard to keep you well-fed!"
"Awoo~?"