Kamen Rider Zi-O, Dimensional Descent

One of the girls said this to her.

"Magical girls, really, can they even be considered human...?"

"Humans, humankind..."

At this moment.

Mami Tomoe's eyes trembled, and her heart felt like it was about to shatter.

"Are you saying that people who are magical girls... like me... are not human...?"

Volume Nine, The Demon King Appears: Chapter 412 His words will definitely work…

wow-

Things were scattered all over the ground.

Those were the school supplies that Mami Tomoe had been holding. Now, because of the huge shock she had suffered, she didn't even notice that the things in her hands had fallen to the ground.

"Are you kidding me?"

Her face trembled, and a slight, aching pain swept through Mami Tomoe's heart, transforming into a slightly trembling cry.

"Do you really think... that I, as a magical girl, am not even human?"

"Huh? No, that's not what I meant—"

"No way, that's what you really think! Otherwise, why would you have said something like that just now? It's completely meaningless!!"

She ran up to her female classmate.

While trembling, Mami Tomoe grabbed the other person's shoulders with both hands, breathed heavily, and shouted out her innermost thoughts to her.

"Mami, Mami-senpai...!!"

"…ah…"

Mami Tomoe only came to her senses after hearing her female classmate's almost crying voice.

She quickly let go of his hand, blinked, and turned to look at the expression on the female classmate's face.

The girl was so frightened that she looked like she was about to cry.

As soon as Mami Tomoe let go, the girl collapsed to the ground, trembling slightly as she backed away.

The expression on her face as she looked at Mami Tomoe had changed from slight fear to genuine terror.

"I'm...I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry! I...I didn't mean to..."

However, Mami Tomoe is now too afraid to go over there.

Then, as if she had sensed something, she turned her head slightly and looked to the side.

The students were all watching her.

Some people, like that female classmate, went from simply caring to being afraid, while others were fine, just looking startled.

But at least all the students near the gate, regardless of whether they were in higher or lower grades, were staring at Mami Tomoe.

And he looked at it with the same gaze one would use to look at a foreign object.

The girl's companion, who had come over at some point, carefully helped her up. The two of them then cautiously headed towards the school gate, while... looking at Mami Tomoe with even more terrified eyes.

That look in his eyes was like a sharp blade, completely piercing his heart.

Mami Tomoe swallowed hard, her eyes gradually filled with shock and panic. She even forgot about the school supplies that had fallen to the ground and staggered back into the school.

As she jogged along, Mami Tomoe didn't dare look at the people around her, but she could still feel that countless students and teachers were watching her.

I don't know how long I ran like that, sprinting up the stairs—

Clang!

She opened the rooftop door, then closed it tightly again.

"Ha...woo..."

The blonde girl leaned against the door, feeling nauseous and vomiting, as if she were about to throw up.

She couldn't think of anything anymore.

With her mind blank, the girl stood there, her back still against the door, and slowly slid down to sit on the ground.

I don't know how much time had passed, but I could hear all sorts of noises coming from downstairs.

Mami Tomoe took a deep breath, suppressing the feeling that her heart was about to leap out of her chest... and went to the edge of the rooftop to look down.

The students all seemed to have left.

The spot I was just standing in is empty now... even the things I left on the ground are gone.

Right... all of this must just be an illusion, like a dream...

I was just too tired and too excited, so I imagined all of this... right?

Mami Tomoe trembled as she reached into the only small pocket on her clothes... and took out her cell phone, along with the yellow gem hanging from it.

The Soul Gem is a precious object that serves as the source of a magical girl's power and is a symbol of her existence.

For some reason, Mami Tomoe seemed to have lost her mind at that moment. Her eyes were blank, and she unconsciously raised her hand, clutching the Soul Gem in her hand.

"Don't do stupid things for no reason."

"Huh...?!"

The sound suddenly came from the right.

She quickly turned her head—and there stood a young girl.

"you…"

A strange, indescribable feeling welled up inside me.

A beautiful girl with long black hair, wearing the same school uniform, and looking about the same age as me, exuding a cold and aloof aura.

But the rooftop door behind him had already been closed, and he hadn't heard anyone open it at all.

"Who...are you? How did you get up here?"

Looking at the girl in front of her, Mami Tomoe always had a strange feeling that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

The black-haired girl ignored her question.

She approached him step by step, and surprisingly, Mami Tomoe at this moment... had no intention of being on guard at all.

He let the other person grab his phone—and the Soul Gem on it.

"If you throw this down or destroy it, your life as a magical girl will also end."

"Eh...?"

"Remember, no matter what, your own life is the most important thing, and you should never treat it lightly."

Perhaps even Mami Tomoe herself didn't realize that she had actually made that gesture.

"So, you're someone who knows about this kind of thing too..."

The black-haired magical girl... Homura Akemi, watching her so calm, Mami Tomoe finally took the jewel and phone from her hands.

And a small backpack was handed to her from behind.

"These are all the things you dropped, right? Take them carefully, and don't be so impulsive again."

Clutching his backpack, phone, Soul Gem, and everything else.

Mami Tomoe gazed at the things she was holding in her arms, and gradually, she began to lose her balance.

Thump—she fell to the ground with a thud.

As if all her strength had suddenly vanished, the girl, unable to support herself, told everything.

"I... I received so much praise and so much anticipation from everyone yesterday."

"Everyone likes me so much, and I thought I'd finally gained their approval. What did I do wrong? Or was everything I did, everything I believed, wrong from the very beginning..."

Looking at Mami Tomoe, who seemed to be constantly denying herself, Homura Akemi silently took out her phone.

After a quick search, she handed the phone to the other person.

"…this…"

The content displayed on her phone was exactly the same as what she had seen during the day.

These are mostly negative messages about magical girls... People around the world on the internet are questioning the existence of magical girls. Some even associate natural disasters with magical girls, while others link the existence of witches with magical girls.

All the information is completely contrary to the news that people have been praising magical girls a lot in recent days.

It's hard to believe that the two extremes of good and bad could happen in just a few days.

Why...?

As she watched the increasingly outrageous content, Mami Tomoe's hand gripping her phone began to tremble.

"Why are you suddenly so hostile towards us magical girls? We're no different from everyone else! We're all human too! When the witch appeared, didn't the other magical girls help everyone in the city? Why! Why are you so hostile towards us!"

"...That's because magical girls shouldn't have been exposed to this world in the first place."

Homura Akemi said calmly.

“We are people who should only exist in the shadows. There is no difference between magical girls and humans, but... the objective fact is that we do possess exaggerated power and abilities, and we can indeed cause considerable destruction.”

"Originally, all of this was being done in secret. Under normal circumstances, there wouldn't be so many witches and magical girls. Therefore, the magical girls would try their best to conceal their identities and live like ordinary citizens in normal life..."

"However, since the sudden increase in magical girls and witches a few days ago, this balance has been completely broken."

Even Mami Tomoe felt something was off. Why... why were there suddenly so many magical girls appearing all over the world? Wasn't this all too sudden? It was even a bit dramatic.

“There’s nothing wrong with our existence, Mami Tomoe. We’re just like any other human living in this world, except that we possess some special powers.”

"But... when our identities are exposed, when people know that we really have superhuman strength, then most people will be afraid of this power."

"I...I just wanted to save everyone at that time...I just wanted to defeat the witch who was threatening everyone...Is that wrong...?"

"So what you did was not wrong, Mami Tomoe. You protected the lives of those around you. You did the right thing."

Homura Akemi continued, enunciating each word clearly.

"...But not everyone in the world sees magical girls that way. You should understand that when we reveal what we are doing and our identity to others, some people will choose to accept it, and some people will choose to reject it...This is normal in this society. And in that situation, you can't choose not to reveal your identity."

"In today's society, due to various factors, the general perception of magical girls has begun to become very negative. Under such circumstances, it is impossible for the people in our school not to be affected... This is something that cannot be avoided."

Mami Tomoe looked up at Homura Akemi, then lowered her head again, her face full of distress.

"Since you've chosen to expose your identity... then you should be prepared to face everything that comes with that identity."

The black-haired girl crouched down slightly and slowly extended her hand towards her.

"Things haven't gotten that bad yet. Stand up, stop having so many unrealistic fantasies about our identities... and face reality."

Face reality with equanimity.

Mami Tomoe's mind replayed all her experiences up to this point: the magical girl... the revelation of her identity... and how most people in the world perceive this identity...

This is not a question of who is right and who is wrong.

…This is something that cannot be avoided once the identity of a magical girl becomes more mainstream.

What awaits me ahead is definitely not the magical girl I've always fantasized about and longed for.

She raised her hand as if struggling... and slowly grasped Homura Akemi's hand.

At this moment, even the black-haired girl couldn't help but reveal a gentle smile.

The two then stood up together, and a moment later, Mami Tomoe tightly embraced Homura Akemi.

Even though Mami Tomoe didn't know Homura Akemi very well... and it was only their first meeting, she still couldn't control her behavior.

The blonde girl was crying softly, while Homura Akemi comforted her silently.

"...Why did everything turn out this way?"

"There must be a mastermind behind all this, and it's him who caused all those magical girls and witches to suddenly appear..."

"What should we do...? How can we resolve... and end this situation?"

"I do not know."

To Homura Akemi, she was just a magical girl who could easily control time.