Starlight Dream

Epilogue

"Another one?" Arisu said, puffing out smoke from her cigarette.

"And it's like the others, too," her partner said, hovering over the cadaver. The body lay face down in a puddle, rain gently tapping against him. From the outset, the corpse seemed unremarkable. The killer had attacked while they were jogging in the park. They'd landed a clean blow to the heart. The victim would have died almost instantly. This didn't seem like the type of situation that would attract the Wicked Queen's attention.

"It's all wrong," Arisu shook her head, disquieted. For reasons she didn't understand, this dull, ordinary college-aged man's death had caused a ripple in time, undermining the foundation of history. When Lady Twilight called her to investigate the death of a cousin of her friend Aiko, Arisu hadn't been too excited, but now things had turned interesting.

Was this man important? The Wicked Queen couldn't tell. An upcoming degree in Fine Arts didn't seem like a career that would leave an impact throughout history. The web of time was a spiderweb of possibilities and opportunities, however. No one could predict the impact of one's life on history's grand design. Despite disrupting history, thankfully the death hadn't caused a timeline split. Arisu constantly altered history with her power, without causing problems, but somehow this death damaged the fabric of history. Quite vexing.

"Do you think this has something to do with his vague relation to the new ruler of Starlight Dream?" Arisu asked, tossing away her used cigarette.

"I don't see why." Charity said, frowning. "Charity isn't understanding this one bit. This shouldn't be happening!"

Arisu understood her partner's apprehension. In her visions of the future, the Wicked Queen only saw chaos. Thousands of strands of possibility snapped, only to be replaced with thousands more. Even the terrible Wicked Queen couldn't predict what the future would bring.

"You seem pleased," Charity said, amused.

"I just realized something. Haven't there been other strange murders lately across Japan? Want to bet they're related?" Arisu smiled, showing teeth. "I was worried, with the Devil Princesses gone, things would get dull!"

And Arisu was eager to bust some heads. Nothing else remained for her. With Kaguya gone, nothing of her past remained beyond Charity. All her old friends had long passed. Every day with her cousin Hinata gone was like salt in the wound. Heck, she'd even take the sourpuss Mizuki's company! Deep in her heart, Arisu felt adrift, aimless. Although a new order of Magical Girls had been created, she knew none of them. Seina seemed nice, but it wasn't the same. The Wicked Queen was unsure how to handle this loneliness.

"No, this is better." With heads to knock around, she'd have plenty to distract her. Arisu refused to fall into a melancholic slump. Better yet, since she'd lost almost all her power sealing Kaguya, fights would be fun again.

"Hey, stop it. Don't get so grabby," Arisu said as her partner hugged her chest. "I'm fine. No, better than ever!"

"...Okay." Charity opened her mouth to say more, but decided against it. They knew each other very well. Any further conversation about Arisu's troubled feelings would only tick her off. "Shall we get going?"

"Good. This guy is pissing me off, but they can't hide in the shadows forever. They'll show themselves eventually, then I'll kick their ass!"

---

Author's note:

Thanks for sticking with is strange story for so long. It's been quite a ride, but it's been a fun one for me. I think I've grown a lot since I wrote the first Chapter of Starlight Dream, and I hope to reach even greater heights! Yes, the epilogue is hinting to a sequel, and I've already worked out the basic idea for it. It's going to be quite different from this story, with different characters and a lower power scale. I won't say too much yet, but the hero of the next story will be a magical girl that's a hard-boiled detective. I hope to see you for the sequel. If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them! Please post them in the comment section and I reply to them as soon as I can!

Love,

Jonathanvik