"Welcome back."
Tatsuya recognized the voice—it was Aiag. He was back in the same place where he had first met the goddess: endless green meadows stretching beneath a serene blue sky.
"Hello again, Goddess Aiag," he said, bowing slightly to her, taking in her ever-present, divine grace.
"I saw your first mission. You did well," the goddess said, her voice calm and approving.
"Did I really?" he replied, scratching his head, a confused look crossing his face.
The wind blew, rustling the grass as if it were waving its hair in the soft breeze. Aiag said, "You have performed admirably. Few magical girls endure the trials of their inaugural mission, and surviving it grants you considerable merit."
"Ah… thank you…" he replied, then hesitated before asking, "Goddess, I was wondering… what is this place?"
Aiag regarded him with serene composure. "This, my child, is thy mindscape. Every magical girl possesses such a realm—a sanctum wherein one may confront and master the more darker and depraved facets of the self. Consider it a personal astral plane. Monsters, though they too possess such a domain, lack the acumen to harness it effectively."
"I'm sorry, I don't understand half of it," Tatsuya said.
"My apologies," Aiag replied, her voice tinged with a gentle sigh. "It is my fault; I spoke in a rather elevated manner, and I constantly forget that you of the modern era no longer converse in such a fashion."
She waved her hand gracefully, and the distance between them shifted. A white table, flanked by two matching chairs, appeared. Aiag took her seat, and Tatsuya felt himself drawn toward the other chair. The seats subtly moved toward the table, where a cup of tea had now been served.
"So, where I was—one could say that the mindscape is a personal space for one to train their thoughts and urges. Will this suffice?" Aiag asked, her tone shifting to something more casual. "I personally believe it will."
"Ah, I see. Anyways, how did this"—Tatsuya gestured at the cup, table, and chairs—"just appear out of nowhere?"
"It is one of the many features of the mindscape. You can do quite a lot here. That is the simplest way I can explain it, because if I were to go into the mechanism behind it… your brain might very well kill itself."
"Kill itself? Do you mean metaphorically or literally?"
"Literally," Aiag said, lifting the cup to her lips and taking a slow sip of tea.
"How does that even work?" Tatsuya asked, picking up his cup.
"It just works. Don't ask," Aiag replied, taking another sip.
Curious, Tatsuya mirrored her action—and the moment the liquid touched his lips, his eyes widened. "What kind of tea is this? It's unbelievably tasty!"
Aiag's speech gradually rose into its elevated cadence once more. "You may thank my essence. The divine essence of a goddess brings about wondrous alterations to the nature and composition of most things when infused with their presence."
"Huh?"
Aiag spoke in a casual tone again. "Let's just say I infused some fluid with my essence when I made the tea appear."
"Okay…" he said, taking another sip before setting the cup down. "If I may ask, can anyone control another's mindscape?"
Aiag placed her cup on the table and replied, "No, they cannot—unless the person is far stronger than the one whose mindscape they have entered, or if the mindscape has been left undefended. In your case, both conditions apply, for I am the one who governs your mindscape."
"I see," Tatsuya said, still not fully understanding, though he kept his silence this time, having already asked twice before.
"Now, let us get to the point," Aiag said, her voice calm yet commanding. The atmosphere shifted abruptly—winds grew heavy, and dark clouds swallowed the sky.
"Is it that serious?" Tatsuya asked.
"Yes," Aiag replied. "It concerns the magical girl you encountered."
"Oh yes, I remember her… I placed my sword at her neck and sliced it. What about her?"
"That girl you met is the most psychotic magical girl—Tsumi Hoda. She harbors an extreme, almost pathological hatred for pregnant women," Aiag explained.
Hearing that, he asked, "Hatred for pregnant women? Why?"
"Tatsuya," Aiag began, her gaze piercing, "tell me—do unborn lives have a right to exist?"
Tatsuya hesitated, contemplating the question. "Yes… they do."
"Then is it morally justifiable to deny that existence? To terminate life before it even draws its first breath," Aiag continued. "To rob someone of the chance to perceive the world, to experience joy or suffering, to live at all?"
Tatsuya had no easy answer. He believed in the potential of life, the innocence of those yet to be born. Yet he also recognized the sanctity of bodily autonomy—the right of a woman to make choices for herself. The two truths clashed within him, irreconcilable in a simple answer.
"I… I don't think I can answer that so simply," he admitted.
"Figures," Aiag said softly. "Life is rarely simple. Morality rarely comes in absolutes."
"Does this question relate to Tsumi's hatred for pregnant women?" he asked.
"Yes," Aiag said. "Tsumi was once an aborted fetus, conceived accidentally during a drunken encounter between her mother and a friend. Her mother had no desire for another child. Yet Tsumi survived—her will to live, burning fiercely even in the womb, coupled with the despair at her mother's cruel attempt to end her existence, awakened her powers. And when her fragile body was discarded as if it were nothing, she emerged into the world marked by trauma."
The mindscape shifted, revealing the haunting image of Tsumi's mother and the events Aiag described. Tatsuya's breath caught—she had survived against all odds, even as a fetus.
"She vowed revenge," Aiag continued, her tone heavy. "Not only upon her mother, whom she eventually killed, but upon every pregnant woman who might choose to abort a child."
"So that's why she does it?" Tatsuya whispered, horrified.
"Yes," Aiag said. "Yet power magnifies the nature within. Magical girls are fractured, broken, as I have told you before. Their abilities slowly corrupt them, twisting the heart and mind. Over time, the wishes, desires, and traumas that give rise to their powers merge with the magic itself, transforming them into instruments of suffering or obsession. Life, desire, vengeance—they intertwine into a cycle that none can fully escape, nor, perhaps, would they ever wish to. This is the nature of their existence, and it is how it has always been, and will always remain."
This was too much for Tatsuya—all of this felt overwhelming, almost unbearable.
"Sorry, I shifted into a rather elevated tone again, a bit philosophical," Aiag said, her voice returning to casual as the sky normalized.
"Is there no way to help them? To stop all this?"
"I don't have an answer for that. I doubt anyone does," Aiag replied. "Though perhaps… you could be the one who does."
"Me? Really?"
"Yes. You are the magical boy, destined to intervene in conflicts that no magical girl could. Perhaps you can even save the magical girls themselves."
"If there's even a minuscule chance of stopping all this, then I will," Tatsuya said, determination hardening his voice.
"Good. Then start with Tsumi."
"Tsumi… where will I ever find her?"
"You don't need to."
"I don't need to?"
"She's actually a student at your school."
"Huh?" Tatsuya blinked in disbelief—and in that instant, everything turned black. He was pulled out of the mindscape, back into his bedroom.
Sunlight streamed through the window, bathing him in its warm glow. It was morning.
He glanced at the clock.
It was six o'clock.
"Morning already? So soon?"
[When you're in the mindscape, the passage of time blurs and constantly shifts. Depending on the user—or the one being controlled—you can spend hours or even days there while only minutes pass in the real world, or a few minutes there can stretch into hours here,] the system suddenly said in his head.
You're back.
[Yes, I am. Now go take a bath—your body stinks!]
Yes, yes…
Tatsuya sighed and swung his legs off the bed, reluctantly getting up.