School started again, and strangely, Setsuna didn’t show up on the first day... or the second... or the entire week. The teachers gave excuses but never properly explained why.
And Setsuna wasn’t answering her phone. Septarion said maybe she just wasn’t feeling well, and I wanted to believe that. After all, we had an amazing Christmas, even if the food I made wasn’t exactly "edible" like it should have been.
So I tried to put it out of my mind, but ti passed, and now it’s been ten days since she last spoke to on the phone, ten days since she showed up at school, and ten days since she’s been seen at the magical girls’ base.
On top of that, Septarion strangely ntioned that monster activity has gone crazy. Strong monsters are starting to hide away, leaving everything "stalled," while weak monsters are fleeing the city like mad.
I’ve spent the last few days hunting monsters myself and found almost nothing. The other magical girls also said they’ve found hardly any, and even Ophelia ntioned it’s gotten difficult to find monsters.
Septarion went to investigate the reason, so he’s not around right now. I wonder when he’ll be back with information about all this.
"Haa... School feels weird without Setsuna," I murmur as I approach my house. But just as I get close, I see Setsuna standing in front of my door.
She’s in a regular dress, but it’s torn in several places. Her hair is a ss, I see drops of blood on her clothes, and she has horrible dark circles under her eyes.
"S-Setsuna!!!!" I run to her, activating only my staff—my magical girl weapon—while I start casting healing magic on her at my maximum power. After becoming an angel, my healing abilities increased.
"Ayane... You weren’t ho..." she says with a hoarse voice and an empty look.
"Yeah, I was at school because... there’s class today..." I say, launching healing magic at her, but nothing changes.
’Is she not injured?’
"Ah... right... school started... Sorry, I forgot... My mind’s been a ss... Today... what day is it today anyway?" she asks, confused, as I open the front door and guide her inside.
"January 10th..." I answer her question as I lead her to my couch and sit her down. She stares fixedly at .
"Are you okay? Do you need a glass of water?" I ask. She shakes her head.
"Ayane... I’m just tired... I’ve been having horrible nightmares for the last three days..." she says as I sit down beside her.
"You can tell . If sothing’s bothering you, you can tell , and I’ll help," I say with conviction. She seems to ponder my words for a mont as I look for injuries on her body.
"Ayane, you haven’t betrayed , right?" she asks abruptly.
"Yes? I an, no!!" I say, confused by the strange question.
"...I’ve been having so many nightmares about you betraying , one after another. But I’m so tired I can’t stay awake... I feel like I’m about to do sothing stupid..." The way Setsuna speaks makes it clear she’s hiding sothing.
"Setsuna, is there sothing you don’t want to tell , or is it just these nightmares?" I ask. She averts her eyes.
"No... It’s just... I’m tired... Can I sleep here?" she asks, and I imdiately agree.
"Yes! You need to rest! I’ll prepare sothing for you to eat, just wait." When I say this, she closes her eyes, slumping completely onto the couch, already starting to fall asleep.
’How exhausted is she to be able to fall asleep that fast?’ We’re magical girls; being able to fall asleep so easily and quickly is kind of absurd. I wonder what happened these last few days to make her like this.
I wanted to have gone to her house, but I was afraid of seeming like a clingy girlfriend since I’d made a ton of calls that were ignored, but the school said she’d notified them she’d be absent.
I rush to the kitchen to make sothing for her. I wonder what would be good for soone exhausted and decide to make a simple stew.
I start gathering the ingredients while putting a pot of hot water on the stove, and I spend the next 30 minutes preparing everything for Setsuna to eat.
’I wonder if she’ll tell ? Should I press her for answers? Or is that too intrusive?’ I wonder as I turn down the heat. Twenty more minutes and it will be ready.
’That should be enough.’ I turn around and see Setsuna standing right next to . I startle a little because I didn’t even notice her approach, and her gaze is sowhat dark.
"Setsuna, do you need sothing? I’ll get you a glass of water," I say as I approach her.
"Ayane, you aren’t betraying ... are you?" she asks coldly, and I rember she said she dreams about that every ti she sleeps. I wonder if it’s an attack from a monster; it would make sense for it to be that.
"No, Setsuna, I’m not... Garhhh—" I let out a strange sound as my speech is cut off by a strange pain. I look down and see a knife buried deep in my chest.
"..."
"Again... you betrayed again... Ayane, I didn’t... want to do this... but I don’t know, how do I know you aren’t betraying ?" Setsuna pushes to the floor, climbing on top of my stomach. I look at her with tears in my eyes. She pulls out the knife and stabs again.
"The last few days have been horrible, and you weren’t there to comfort ... The dreams keep repeating. I see you betraying with other people, then I kill you, and it all starts over..."
"They’re dreams so... realistic that I don’t know anymore if they were just dreams... Number 0 could see the future; wouldn’t this be the future too?" Setsuna begins to speak deliriously, and I don’t even know what she’s talking about. I just try to push her off , but she drives the knife deeper, causing pain.
"Tell , Ayane, did I start seeing the future? If so, then you were going to betray ... Why?" she asks but doesn’t even let speak as she stabs again.
"I tried to ignore it... I knew Number 0 did sothing to make kill you... but how can I ignore this?" she asks, black tears streaming down her face.
"How do I deal with this, Ayane? Suddenly my life has beco a ss. It was all so fast and chaotic... I don’t know if what I’m seeing is just a lie... If it’s a lie, then hurting you now is a mistake... a mistake I tried not to make..."
"But if you betrayed , what was I supposed to do? I sacrificed everything for you. If you throw away like that, what was I supposed to do? TELL !" She stabs again in the throat. I taste iron as blood begins to flow from my mouth.
"...Sorry... I’m confused... Is this a dream too? Am I seeing the future? Or is this reality... I don’t know... so I’ll try again." She suddenly summons her pistol and aims it at her own head.
I try to move my hand to stop her, but I don’t have the strength for it as everything fades to black, and the last thing I see is her firing a shot into her own head.
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