Starlight Dream

Chapter 49

Wonderful, glorious air filled Arisu's lungs as she tasted freedom. She lived again, not some abstract entity in the cosmos' lifestream. She'd been one with everything, but that meant little when you were blind to everything else.

"Eh? This is the old queen?" The black-haired girl with twin tails said, mouth agape. Her companions seemed just as befuddled.

Old queen? What had people been saying about her? She wasn't a ruler of anything, much less a damn planet. Arisu considered it too much work.

"Yep, this is her," Charity replied, nodding. Arisu noted an edge of long-suffering resignation in the fairy's voice and rolled her eyes. Typical Charity.

"Charity! Finally! What took you so long?" Arisu grumbled, surprised at how easily words came to her lips after silent centuries. Despite her complaint, she couldn't fight back the tears pricking her eyelids. Damn, it was beautiful to see her partner again. While they'd had their differences, they were blood sisters for life.

"Charity apologies, but she had to work around the Devil Princesses' influence. But she made it in the end." The fairy didn't hide her tears, taking a moment to compose herself before gesturing to the strangers. "They helped me."

"Seina." She stared at the Wicked Queen in wide-eyed wonder.

"Emiyo." This magical girl was warier, unsure what to make of this odd magical girl.

"Masato Kiyojiro." The Wicked Queen sensed a kinship with the man, both rough-edged punks raised in a brutal world.

"That right? I owe you then. I'll buy you a beer later." Arisu said, beaming.

"That's unnecessary." Seina forced a smile. "But thanks, I guess?"

"Arisu, please stop being a bad influence on the younger magical girls," Charity said, chastising her partner.

"Fine, fine." She'd been joking, but Arisu enjoyed playing into the stereotypes about her. It kept people on their toes. "Still owe you all the same."

"I see you've made a royal mess of everything, Reiko." Arisu sent a scathing glare at the monster girl, scary enough to peel paint off walls. "I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass for that."

Centuries stuck in a stupid quagmire had left her ignorant of the current condition of the cosmos. But already, she sensed the wrongness of her former home. A sickness hung in the air, like breathing in tar. A great evil had happened in her absence.

"Damn you! Why can't you go away?!" A hint of trepidation entered Reiko's voice, remembering the ass-kicking she'd gotten earlier.

"After the trouble you caused, I'm too pissed off to die!" Arisu slammed her staff against the ground, making everyone jump.

Reiko's eyes lit with malevolent glee. "I'm going to enjoy this. I wish..." Blood trickled down her cheek as she just dodged the red line thrown at her face, the end of the Wicked Queen's staff implanting deep into a nearby wall. Arisu finally stood up.

"Typical Reiko. Can't win if you can't cheat." Arisu withdrew her broach, flicking aside her cigarette. "I'm not as strong as I was, but it'll be enough to kick your ass! Change Change, Magical Love Dress Up!"

Despite being a total delinquent punk, the dress gave her an aura of elegance and sophistication. Arisu ruined this when she withdrew a white cloth mask and put it over her face, looking more like a street thug than a magical girl. That's better. Arisu wasn't no pretty princess.

"Tsk." Reiko whipped blood from her cheek and licked it off her fingers. "I won't need my wish ability to annihilate all of you. I've gotten stronger since we last met, Arisu. Shall I show you? It's a little trick Kaguya taught me."