—“Alright so here it is; ‘The awakening of Magical Girls is a significant event, typically accompanied by an animation depending on their star rank. The contents of which heavily related to their concept in some manner.’ So that confirms that neither Mirai or Yuki awakened while I wasn’t looking, good to know I didn’t miss anything. Is awakening that hard? I mean, Act 1 was a handful, I feel like they should have awakened.”

  ‘So those two didn’t even awaken during that time? How useless…’ Natasha reviewed the girls with new eyes and there was a hint of disdain within. ‘Then again, at least they survived Act 1. I died, according to this parallel.’

  She was alive now though, but there was still a point in time where she would meet that specific time where she died in the plot. She didn’t know when though, and while it was slightly worrying, it wasn’t something to raise arms about. For Natasha, if she didn’t know something and didn’t have a method of finding out, then it was best to forget it.

  ‘Anyway, as long as I tread carefully and don’t overstep we can all make it out of this safely. With Mirai’s power, that hopefully doesn’t dwindle over time, we can make some plans for this situation.’

  Natasha scratched her arm, frowning when she felt the room become slightly more suffocating as if it was being deprived of air. She pursed her lips, glancing out of the window worriedly, before she glanced back at her phone.

  [Yuki: You know sitting on the ground is very comfortable, and I don’t even have to move around. For a predator, I’m just the perfect prey! Like that Earth Hippo over there…]

  Her voice was chock full of sarcasm and while Natasha couldn’t see the girls face—something she should have asked about long ago—she could determine that her expression was utterly lacking in emotional qualities.

  [Leon: This plan of yours, it’s a bit on the nose and I don’t really think it’s going to work with just me at the center. But if it really is the only option, not saying it is… We can try to make a way for it to happen, it's going to take a lot of time though, and I'm not sure we have that.]

  Leon sighed with much emotion, as if he was tired but had no choice in the matter, so acceptance was the predominant expression on his face as well as a faint unwillingness.

  [Leon: We still need to deal with the Flame Monkey and Earth Hippo…]

  [Mirai: And meet in person! We need to meet in person. You said we're a team now, like in the movies, so we need a hideout. We can’t be planning to kick ass without having a cool hideout. This is essential, essential!] Mirai emphasized, her face serious as she spoke with enthusiasm, ignoring the ground that was trembling behind her. [We also need a name, something cool. Something that'll make everyone recognize us.]

  [Natasha: We need to survive first, survive. We can't do any one of those if we end up as food for the Meta-Beasts.]

  Natasha sighed at their responses, frankly she felt the plan was slightly impossible too but they had to try something. Something beyond the notion of just “survive”.

  As someone once said, humans needs goals, desires and drive to live straightforwardly. In this chaotic situation, they needed some structure.

  Thinking of the time she was chased by the Flame Monkey and had to chaotically rush around the school in a panic, Natasha couldn't help shivering.

  While she was having these thoughts, Natasha Alter kept speaking;

  —“’According to the information figured out by [Fate] and [Time] Magical Girl’s’ Hey chat there’s a spoiler block here, should I click it?

  ‘No, it’ll reveal the names of who [Fate] and [Time] are, as well as some of their titles and even their profile. Though the latter is obvious.’ Obvious huh? Time, time, time... So it’s Mirai? Is that how they’re referred to when they awaken? By their concept instead of their name, or is it like an official denomination or title? No idea who [Fate] is though, but she sounds powerful.

  ‘Yeah.’ Short ass answer.

  Hmm… Let’s continue; ‘According to the records and information figured out by them and experienced in various Acts, there are Four States of Star Awakening; Partial Awakening, Pseudo Awakening, Full Awakening and Complete Awakening.’”

  Natasha didn’t didn’t much more from her alternate self in terms of knowledge after this development. At least for now, and strictly on the topic of awakenings and nothing else.

  More knowledge on other topics; like the Star-Scarred Sky—what she had begun to call the state of the sky after this apocalypse scenario, and some miscellaneous questions would be quite welcome.

  Knowing this much was a good start, and she couldn't be greedy. This was good leverage for the future when they escaped the school.

  [Mirai: It’s going to be that time again soon, I can feel it… By the way, we are meeting up right? Don’t get me wrong, the video call is nice and all but I’m a bit worried about you…]

  [Leon: That thing… The Corastrum on your chest, it attracts the Meta-Beasts you know. Are you sure you’re safe from the Flame Monkey?]

  [Yuki: Why do you guys sound so worried, she'll be fine as long as she isn't sitting still. Like us. Mirai, if you can use that thing you've been using to go earlier in time, I'd appreciate it.]

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Leon had a worried expression as he confirmed one of Natasha’s guesses, and she resisted the urge to stroke her chin.

  ‘So they also had some things to share, but I want to know something else…’

  As for what Yuki said, Natasha just blinked. She, indeed was sitting still but she knew her limits, she didn't want to go near that thing called the Flame Monkey for a while.

  There was a little apprehension in her heart when she thought about it, the last few minutes of the last loop were a blur and she had a feeling it would be best if it was kept that way.

  Nevertheless, she still took the time to answer them.

  [Natasha: Oh no. I'll probably have to run in a few moments but I doubt I'll last long, so I'll be counting on Mirai to loop before I die…] Pausing for a few moments to see Mirai and Leon tense she chuckled a little and then said while keeping her eyes locked on the outside of the window. [Ignoring that though, I'm very curious on how the first loop went, and the second as well. We're supposedly on the third loop right?]

  Mirai put on a thinking expression and Natasha felt her mouth drying up a little, looking around and realizing she had no water, she frowned.

  The heat was increasing, she hummed and watched as a leaf lit on fire randomly. Absent-minded, she heard a trembling from across the phone and with it came some frightened noises and some turbulence.

  Moments later she felt the ground beneath her rumble with the same power.

  ‘It seems these two are going to go at it again,’ Natasha looked at the shining red light in the distance, and she no longer stood as close to the glass as she did before.

  It had slowly began to lose form, and Natasha nodded as she heard the voice of her alternate self speaking once again.

  —“‘The first—Partial Awakening—is a state unlocked unconsciously and is typically stated to be the Unawakened State, due to the Magical Girls being unable to consciously and reliably control their powers...’ So like, some state of magical power limbo. No wonder Mirai and Yuki were struggling, their powers are basically 50:50, basically having your life depend on a gacha.

  Huh? ‘Read the next line’ I was planning too chill…

  ‘However, there are exceptions, like with [Time] during the first Act, whose powers reacted consistently. It was later theorized that a Magical Girls Witch Factor, her source of power or rather, the power itself, reacts when her life is in danger—’ wait wait wait?! What the hell is a Witch Factor?!”

  ‘I'm wondering about that too, I thought the Corastrum was the source of power. What do they mean by ‘the power itself’ And why is it called a Witch Factor? Aren't we Magical Girls? Also—’

  —”Doesn’t this just reveal that [Time] is Mirai? Why were they hiding it in the first place then?”

  ‘That is… similar to my thoughts.’ Natasha frowned at the similarities as the turbulence from across the phone increased.

  [Mirai: Ahhhh… We're going to die again!] Mirai, who was playful a moment ago, immediately started panicking.

  It was as if she didn't have the ability to rewind time at will, well, technically she didn't.

  Natasha blinked and she felt chills run down her spine. If she had to be honest, she wasn't nearly as calm as she wanted to be and she would be lying if she said she didn't regret not going for another bike to use to run away.

  She didn't have to sense anything and only used her head, she wasn't dense. She knew that the Flame Monkey was coming here, but it didn't change the outcome.

  She would die.

  To Natasha, this perilous situation which resulted in an outcome where death was the ultimate conclusion was… unquestionably frightening to conceptualize. So when her mind started blanking out she wasn't surprised, but while it was blanking out it didn't decrease in speed either, so this was a… welcome revelation.

  As her thoughts began to increase in fluidity, Natasha began to feel the chills and suffocation even more closely. Her awareness of her own body continued to grow; sharper, deeper and clearer than ever before. She saw her lungs desperately trying to avert disaster, and her heart undergoing some type of change.

  Her Corastrum, meanwhile, only seemed to grow brighter the more the sensation of death, fear and negativity permiated trough her.

  Then, all of that broke away and a scene emerged.

  In the back of her mind, she saw her other self, happily chatting with people beyond the screen. Natasha wondered, how could she be so happy with people she didn't even know? She couldn't understand it.

  Slowly, small fragments of memory that were not her own filled her mind—fragments of a life that seemed to be hers but were unquestionably not at the same time—but she found them increasingly difficult to ignore and this, Natasha knew she was dying.

  Could she have changed this outcome?

  Possibly, but it depended on which outcome she wanted to make possible.

  If it were to prevent her death, then repeating her actions from what was the second loop would have worked fine, after all she had experienced it once before so she could do it more efficiently in the third.

  But what would that achieve?

  Sure, she would live but in the grand scheme of things, what was her life worth?

  This wasn't a question born out of a lack of self worth—likened to the thoughts of a person wishing to end it all—neither was it's origin a place that was depressive in nature, with the only thing being born were thoughts that could only be deemed “anti-self” or anything of the sort.

  This was just a logical inference, based on prior references.

  In the game, it didn't seem like her life was worth much and so was Leon's, naturally this type of nonesensical result was infuriating… but what was presented was the truth.

  She didn't want to die.

  She would, but she didn't want to.

  While having such thoughts, Natasha watched with a tight expression when a beam of light—that wasn't really light speed—engulfed her in a wave of pure heat and death.

  The short time between experiencing the pipeline of burning degrees, from first and second to all those after, and the various sensual phenomina that assaulted her senses in an anomoulous cascade of pain, the smell of burning meat and fractured memories of the first time this happened—Natasha, who observed and experienced all of this in what what was to be called a “strange state”, where her mind was moving both slow and fast, could only muster a single word from the depths of her mind.

  Painful.

  ‘Painful. It hurts… The timeloop… when will it start? Painful. Painful, pain. It hu…rts.’

  Natasha disliked the darkness, but when it chose to engulf her, she wasn't shy to embrace it.

  And so, for what was an undetermined time, Natasha died.