Chapter 386

This nightmare wasn't entirely a false and terrible lie woven by the Demon King. In a sense, she didn't need to manipulate anything; the suffering in reality was already enough to make Sakaki Chika suffer from pain and despair.

The people I encounter in my nightmares are the same.

The only difference is that Sakaki Chika is no longer a Magic girl, and therefore, she can no longer rely on Magic girls to escape as she did in the past.

Tachibana, who created this nightmare, knew it very well.

Sakaki Chika is a weak child.

Weak and clumsy, innocent and slow-witted—all of this was because of her grandmother, who raised her into such a pitiful little girl.

Therefore, without the Magic girl Star Flower, and without the only kindness left by Tachibana Aeru, everything that follows will cause Sakaki Chika to be defeated by nightmares.

Next, Tachibana begins to witness everything that happens in her nightmare.

Although for her, it was just a few consecutive fragments that passed by in a flash.

But for dreamers, it all seems as long as reality.

This is also the story of Sakaki Chika.

It all started when Sakaki Chika's grandmother passed away, Sakaki Chika became an idol to fill the void in her family's bottomless pit.

Sakaki Chika once had a complete family for a period of time.

However, even at the very beginning, that relationship was quite fragile.

This period can be summarized in just a few sentences.

My father is an irresponsible, lazy, and useless person.

Although her mother's memory was already very vague, she spent even less time at home than her father, often staying out all night, and almost never took care of Sakaki Chika.

The marriage could no longer be repaired after the father began to develop alcoholism and other, worse vices that no one knew in detail.

Sakaki Chika's parents did not divorce; her mother simply packed a few belongings one night and left without saying goodbye to Sakaki Chika.

In fact, her parents may never have been married in the first place.

My grandmother also contracted the disease and passed away some time later.

It was really just a few short, rushed, and perfunctory paragraphs.

However, Sakaki Chika neither knew what to say nor wanted to say anything more.

These are all the memories she has of her childhood.

Maybe she's just not very bright.

It's also possible that she didn't seriously talk to or do anything with them when she was a child.

After Grandma passed away, Father became even worse.

She might have felt ashamed and embarrassed by her actions at first, but afterwards, Sakaki Chika never saw that look in his eyes again; he was just a walking corpse.

For some reason, that kind of father was able to find her a job that seemed completely out of place in her situation.

That was the opportunity that made her an idol.

However, in the beginning, this was only the start of another hell.

Initially, she didn't actually want to be an idol.

She wanted to do what her grandmother hoped for: to study hard, become smarter, more useful, and more mature, so that she could find a reliable job and support herself when she grew up.

Moreover, it seems that if you have a high level of education, someone will like you and someone will be willing to marry you.

Although she had absolutely no interest in romance at that time.

But she also didn't want to face her increasingly frightening father every day, nor the ever-increasing number of IOUs accumulating in the family.

So, she still became an idol.

Everything is terrible.

I've heard that some idols manage to balance their careers and studies. Since she's only in the pre-training stage, her agency has allowed her to study and practice at the same time.

But she's really not very bright.

I can't remember what I learn in class, I'm slow at taking notes, and I learn much slower than others before I can understand anything. Sometimes I even miss a day or two of class because of work, and I can't understand the class the next day at all. As a result, I fall further and further behind.

I have to train in the evening, so I don't have time to finish my homework.

She was desperately trying to finish her homework.

I was so tired the next day that I fell asleep in class.

As a result, the teachers regarded her as a bad student who was neither serious nor studious, and who was smug about being an idol.

Some students thought she was cute, while others thought she was stupid and smug.

Ultimately, Sakaki Chika, devastated by this, gave up attending school.

From now on, until I become a successful idol who can make money, I have no choice but to go down this path to the bitter end.

But at that moment, no miracle occurred.

Sakaki Chika also lacks the talent to be an idol.

She was timid, lacked talent, and was bad at speaking. Not only did she fail to master the basic skills of being an idol, but for various reasons, she was also unpopular among idol trainees and was ostracized by her peers.

It seems like there's no way forward in life.

She had no idea how to proceed with the future.

The family's IOUs still cannot be paid off.

People started banging on her windows every night, causing her heart to pound every night, and she started to develop neurasthenia at some point.

Moreover, she is also very timid.

Seeing the words painted in red paint on my front door every day makes me afraid to go inside.

Even without those blood-stained words, she didn't really want to go home and face her only remaining family member.

At that moment, she was in despair.

There is no hope in sight.

There was no one to ask for help.

She herself was just a stupid, ignorant, immature child who didn't know what to do.

She's not an adult.

Why make her face all of this?

At that time, Sakaki Chika began to have some thoughts and behaviors that she was later ashamed to talk about, such as self-harming things like cutting her wrists.

Until one day, a gift left by her grandmother turned her into Magic girl.

Sakaki Chika finally met an "adult" she could rely on.

As an "adult" myself -- Star Flower.

She is stronger and more mature than herself. No matter what kind of pain she encounters, she will not give up. Even if she encounters something she cannot do well, Star Flower can calmly face it and do it well with confidence.

This gift allowed her to face even more despair.

This gift, this courage, will prevent her from giving up too soon.

However, we are still a long way from being saved.

Therefore, even though Star Flower is not yet an adult, she still retains some of the naivety and innocence that belonged to Sakaki Chika.

Even if she became a successful idol and made money, her misfortune would not change.

It's such a simple misfortune, so why is she still trapped in it?

She has already become a Magic girl.

If we explain it by saying that Sakaki Chika is a stupid child, that makes sense.

But perhaps there are other solutions.

Perhaps it's too far-fetched to talk about memories.

This nightmare was even worse than reality.

If the Sakaki Chika of the past at least had the hope brought by Magic girls, then no miracles occurred in the Sakaki Chika of the nightmare.

And most of what happened in the past continued to happen to her as usual.

Yes, Sakaki Chika has already experienced all of this again in her nightmare.

What will happen to this child?

Tachibana guessed it.

That child must be secretly huddled in some corner, trembling with fear and despair, crying out in their heart, "Who will save me?" or perhaps they have already cried it out.

That's how that child is.

Whenever that child felt pain and sadness, she would cry like a child, hoping that there would be a reliable adult somewhere to comfort her, help her, or even hug her.

This time too, she must be shedding tears of fear and trepidation.

Or the opposite.

Sakaki Chika would cry and scream, begging him to let her go and to let her leave this place.

What will happen?

And so, in the nightmare, Tachibana's consciousness looked towards Sakaki Chika at this moment.

[Um.]

Then, an unexpected sound was made.

[... Um?]

Tachibana's voice, which had been calm at first, paused for a brief moment, as if she were confused.

As for the visuals, they were indeed very similar to what she had expected.

That child, facing everything she feared, hid in a corner where she wouldn't be hit or ostracized, silently wiping away her sad tears.

However, she remained silent.

He neither trembled nor asked for help.

This reaction is truly perplexing.

Would that child react so calmly?

It seems that the nightmare did not defeat him at all, nor did he resort to childish self-harm to relieve and vent his stress as he used to.

Aren't you scared? Everything here should be the thing you hate and don't want to see.

[Besides, what will you do if you don't become a Magic girl? You can't even dance properly.]

[The nightmares will only increase.]

The Demon King Queen calmly asked her curious questions.

The girl heard the sound of the dark Pendulum coming from the backpack, and it seemed as if she had emerged a little from her emotions.

Sakaki Chika raised her arm and used her sleeve to wipe her messy nose in a very unladylike manner.

She lowered her head:

"I am indeed very scared."

"But this time I will handle it myself."

Her words still left Chika unable to understand.

It's not that I can't understand these words.

Instead, they didn't understand why Sakaki Chika would say those words.

What does that mean?

"It was just a nightmare."