Miracle

The hospital room was so quiet that the ticking of the machines could be heard.

Knight stood frozen, her mind blank.

A long pink dress. Star-shaped pupils. And that introduction—

The warrior of pure love, Love.

The mysterious Magical Girl, suspected to be Dawn Rank, whom the Association had spent days searching for with all its resources was standing right in front of her. In her mother's hospital room.

"You—"

Knight's body moved before she could think.

She stepped forward and instinctively shielded her mother, her right hand closing around empty air. Silver patterns flickered across her palm.

"Oh?"

Love tilted her head, watching Knight shield her mother.

Then her eyes lit up.

Smack!

Before Knight could react, Love darted over and seized her hand.

"Even though you knew how outmatched you were, your first instinct was still to stand in front of your mother?"

"What pure love! I can feel it in even the tiniest gesture!"

"How noble! How pure! How utterly thrilling!!"

Knight: "..."

Her mother: "..."

"Is she a colleague of yours? What a sweet girl."

Knight's mother gave an awkward but polite smile.

Wait.

Had the script gone wrong somewhere?

Knight remained on guard, unable to move forward or back.

This legendary powerhouse was rhapsodizing with shining eyes, her cheeks flushed with excitement. Where was the dignity of a "Dawn Rank big shot" in any of that?

When her daughter failed to find any words, her mother raised a hand weakly from the bed.

"Um... child, are you complimenting us?"

"Yes!!" Love rushed to the bedside, nearly making Knight draw her sword. "Ma'am, I saw the love between you and your daughter from far, far away. It's the brightest light in this city tonight!"

"Oh my..." A little embarrassed by the praise, her mother gained a hint of color in her pale cheeks. "You do have a way with words, dear."

"Mom!" Knight said urgently. "We don't know where she came from. You—"

"Don't know where I came from?" Love turned and looked at Knight earnestly. "I'm Love. The warrior of pure love who protects love and all that is beautiful. That's where I come from, and that's everything I am."

She paused. Her gaze fell on their clasped hands, and her voice softened.

"Knight, you were crying just now, weren't you?"

Knight froze.

"You said your sword couldn't cut down disease. You said you were a useless Knight."

"Wait... you were listening the whole time?"

Love ignored the question and spoke softly.

"But I don't see it that way."

"A sword exists to cut through barriers. You're hurting because you think the barrier between you and your mother is her illness, or life and death—something your sword can't reach."

"But the way I see it—"

The girl raised her head, light blazing in her pink, star-shaped pupils.

"As long as there's love, nothing is impossible to overcome."

"Because love is infinite. It can break through any barrier—illness, life and death, rank, even common sense. A miracle is simply love reaching the place it was meant to reach."

"That is what I, the Magical Girl Love, believe with all my heart!"

With that, she turned and knelt beside the bed.

"Ma'am." She looked up with her first smile that night that wasn't over the top—just a simple, open smile. "May I hold your hand?"

Her mother looked at Love, then at her daughter.

Knight opened her mouth. She wanted to say no, to ask who knew what Love intended to do, to warn her mother that magic was not something to take lightly—

But her mother had already held out her thin hand, riddled with needle marks.

"Of course," her mother said with a smile. "Go ahead, dear."

"Mom—!"

Love gently cupped the hand in both of hers.

The next second, light bloomed.

It was not the light of an attack or an explosion. Warm and flowing, like a stream in spring, it welled up between the girl's hands and her mother's palm, then traveled along that thin wrist and slowly spread through her whole body.

Her mother narrowed her eyes in comfort.

"Oh my..." she murmured. "It's so warm. Like sitting in the sun."

Knight stared at the monitor beside the bed.

Heart rate: rising.

Blood oxygen: rising.

Those numbers she checked and memorized every day, the numbers she had watched helplessly slip lower and lower, were now climbing again like the tide coming in. One increment at a time, steady and sure.

And her mother's face—

Color was returning to that pale, gaunt face before her eyes. The hollows around her eyes softened, her cracked lips grew rosy again, and even her dry, yellowed hair seemed to regain its shine.

"This..."

Knight's voice trembled.

"This is impossible..."

She was a Magical Girl. She knew better than anyone what this meant.

Magic that could heal illness did exist, but it was a rare ability that even someone of Lamp-Lighting Rank might not possess. And no one had ever restored a patient whom modern medicine had given the "spend as much time together as you can" verdict in a matter of seconds—

"Phew."

The light gradually faded.

Love released her hand and let out a long breath. Fine beads of sweat had formed on her forehead, and her face was a little paler than before, but the light in her star-shaped eyes was dazzling.

"Ma'am," she said with a smile, "how do you feel?"

Her mother slowly sat up.

No help, no breathlessness, no clutching her back and crying out in pain. She simply sat up as naturally as if she had just woken from a nap.

She raised her hand, turned it over and back, then squeezed it hard.

"I have strength again," she said in surprise. "And my chest doesn't feel tight anymore... Dear, am I... am I..."

"It's a miracle." Love gave her a playful wink. "A miracle created by the love between you and Knight."

"All I did was help it find its way."

Since when could our love do that?

Knight had no idea what to make of any of this.

She stood there looking at her mother sitting upright, then at the grinning girl in pink, and suddenly felt her legs go weak.

What on earth is happening...?

She had learned that her mother was doing badly while on an exchange visit in the neighboring province and rushed back. Since then, she had split her time between Association work and keeping her mother company.

She had thought they would not have much time left together...

She gripped the rail at the foot of the bed.

Dawn Rank.

Was this what Dawn Rank meant?

No. That wasn't right.

The Association's records contained no Dawn Rank magical girl capable of anything like this.

They were undoubtedly among the strongest in battle, but when it came to treating illness...

This Magical Girl who called herself "Love"...

What was she, exactly?

Could it really be the power of love?

Knight's pupils trembled slightly. She could scarcely believe what she had just seen.