“Hana just called in. The final toll was 100 dead. A third of the girls we brought with us.”
Mai shared that solemn news as the two of us sat alone in my room, the dawn of the 23rd slowly creeping in. The victory had come at great cost, but a victory it was. We were thankful to be alive. And to have a home to return to.
“People die at war. We always knew it was a possibility. But… they were innocent girls. Most of them still teenagers. Does it… feel like we dragged a bunch of kids to their deaths?” My voice quivered slightly as I spoke. It was a miserable topic of conversation, but one I felt like we needed to have.
“I… can’t exactly deny that fact. The eight of us were the ones who decided to fight this war, the Sisterhood got involved at our behest…”
“So it truly is our fault? The-“
“I’m not done. I can’t deny we have some responsibility. But these girls weren’t kids. They weren’t some children we dragged off the street, threw some armour and sent off to die. They made their own decisions. They had their own will. And they died a death they were prepared for. I think… to lament like this… to take the blame upon ourselves… it’s a disservice to that will.”
I silently cursed Mai’s ability to talk me into a corner, while also silently praising her ability to make me feel better.
A hundred of our comrades, and four people we had set out to save, had died as a consequence of our war. But their sacrifice saved the lives and souls of billions. Humanity itself owes its very survival to those hundred and four heroes.
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To lament their death was wrong. We should instead celebrate the lives that they gave so selflessly.
“So…” Mai scratched her cheek and spoke with a wavering voice, “what now?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“I mean, where do we go from here? Baal is dead and the war with hell has ended, but what’s next? Heaven is still a threat. Our allies have dead to bury and wounds to recover from. And we have no idea if defeating God is even remotely possible. So… what do we do now?”
It was a good question. Where do you go from saving the world? We could train more…. But I was unsure how much more strength we could possibly have to draw out. We could help the sisterhood recover from the war… but neither of us were repairmen, metallurgists or medics, so I doubted we’d even be much use.
The more I thought, the less I could think of.
“I… have no idea. After doing little but training and fighting for so long, I don’t know what to do now we have no training to do nor battles to fight. After surviving the fiercest battle of our lifetimes, what else is there to do but… wait for the next. I can’t same I’m sure, but at the moment…”
“Shin! Mai! Breakfast’s ready!” Called a woman’s voice from downstairs
“…I think what we do next is eat.”
“Poetic. You truly know the way to a woman’s heart.”
“Hey, I captured yours, didn’t I?”
“I gave it to you out of my own good will. In fact, call it pity.”
“Then I must thank you, your royal highness, for taking enough pity on me to allow me to see you naked.”
“Snrk. You dork.” Mai punches me lightly in the arm as we both stood up to leave the room.
For two months, we had spent nearly every waking moment in fear of what was to come. Hunted by magical girls, haunted by spectres of the past, trapped by the legions of hell.
After all of that, I’d say we had earned a little downtime.