Although Adah had expected a crowd, the horde that had formed in front of the Department of Magic exceeded even her most egotistical fantasies.
She’d never seen so much media attention focused on their region, not even when Thibault had resigned. The coalition defeating an A-Rank at their levels was impressive, and the fact they’d taken the mission as such a large group would spark some interest, but not to this degree. So many journalists and cameras had gathered at the bottom of the entrance steps that the crowd spilled out onto the street, forcing the local police to set up barriers to separate the media from the traffic. The only reason this many people would have shown up today was because of whatever hints Elise had leaked to them.
Just what exactly had she told them?
“As we planned, I’ll make the opening remarks,” Elise said to Adah. “Margot’s prepared something that will help me set the tone. They will want to hear me speak about the region and explain the big picture. Once I’m finished, you can introduce the coalition. It seems appropriate that the unit’s leader should be the first to speak about it.”
“That’s fine with me,” Adah said. “But are you sure you want me to go second? Maybe we should end on whatever you have to say, so I don’t steal your thunder.”
Whatever Elise had said in her memo was what had drawn such a crowd. Surely she should have the last word at this press conference.
“My thunder?” the Secretary repeated. “No, this order will do. I believe you will have plenty to say.”
If that’s how Elise wanted to play it, then there was no reason for Adah to put up a fight. Her objective today was simple, and was more like a continuation of the work she’d already done to establish the coalition than any new announcement. Elise could grab the flashy headline while Adah told the world what this new generation of magic users stood for.
With their speaking order settled, Elise walked toward the building’s entrance, where her young assistant Margot awaited her. Now that she was seeing the girl again, Adah had to wonder how someone her age had wound up with such an important position at the Department. She looked fresh out of high school. Out of all those staff members who had stayed loyal to Elise throughout Thibault’s abuse, Margot was the one Elise wanted by her side? In that case, Adah would have to get to know the girl better. Meeting Thibault’s assistant had proved so useful, after all.
Margot handed Elise a sheet of paper and pointed at a few spots on it as Elise read it over. Adah couldn’t hear what they were discussing from this distance, but most likely they were reviewing Elise’s speaking notes. That was wise of them—Elise’s usual manner of speech didn’t translate particularly well to an event like this. Was that it then? Margot was the creative counterpart to Elise’s analytical side?
The two of them looked as though they were just about to finish up, so Adah signaled for the coalition members to group up and prepare to head outside. They assembled in double file lines with Adah spearheading at their center. Like their tactics against the A-Rank Cruelties, they’d also practiced how they would walk out to this crowd ahead of time.
Adah liked that word Margot had used when she first introduced the idea of giving a formal identity to the coalition. Discipline. It was somehow essential to the concept of an idol magical girl and the very quality so many magic users seemed to lack.
It took discipline to present the same image to the public day after day, in every interaction, regardless of whether you were feeling up for it or not. Magical girls seemed to understand the benefit of that kind of discipline, maybe because it was what made them popular. Yet, the industry as a whole was entirely undisciplined when it came to its real responsibility. Ongoing trainings, intelligence sharing, strategic delegation—the Departments of Magic weren’t interested in any of that. They focused on producing popular magic users, and operated under the assumption that high FP levels could take care of the rest.
Adah wanted the coalition to represent a different approach.
When Elise opened the entrance doors and stepped outside to greet the crowd of reporters, Adah led her squad close behind. Elise made her way straight to the podium while Adah came to a stop a couple yards back. The two lines of magic users trailing after her split left and right, filing out to form a single row behind her that ran the width of the entrance staircase. With the way Adah had arranged the lines, Iris and Rika wound up standing directly behind her. Giving Iris a center position would help satisfy her ego, and having Rika close would give Adah an extra boost of confidence.
Out in the crowd, the photographers immediately set to work snapping photos. They all had their flashes on this late in the day, so their shots sparkled over and over in quick bursts spread throughout the crowd. If Adah squinted, they almost looked like white fireworks.
“Thank you all for joining us this evening,” Elise addressed the crowd. “The role that the press plays in protecting our region, through the timely dissemination of pertinent information regarding public safety, is not often recognized by the government. Therefore, I would like to acknowledge your hard work and encourage you to fulfill that role to your fullest potential based on what you learn here today.”
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A few faces in the crowd smiled, though they weren’t the grins of someone who had fell for Elise’s flattery. They were more like sharks who had found a boat chucking chum overboard. From the sound of things, Elise was going to make their jobs easy tonight.
“It bears repeating that public safety should be the government’s number one priority—all the more so a Department such as the one I have been charged with leading. In fact, I believe the close relationship between the Department of Magic and the media first stemmed from this focus on public safety. Our cooperation served the purpose of destroying Cruelties and thereby keeping our shared community safe. Battles were filmed to display the triumphs of humanity against our enemy, to inspire the public and to support the magic users who rely upon the recognition your platforms provide. The idea we were trying to sell at that time was hope. Now it seems we’ve become more concerned with selling magic users themselves.”
Elise glanced down at the sheet of notes Margot had given her before continuing.
“And in some cases, we’ve sold them out,” Elise continued. “The will of humanity is an impressive force. We put a young man or woman on television and, if people like them enough, they end up with the power of an entire army before too long. They become spectacles instead of soldiers, and we treat them as such. In the process, we lost sight of what the purpose of magic is. The mascots granted us this power for a reason, and while it is true that humans have proved capable of doing more with that power than either we or the mascots anticipated, we’ve abandoned our purpose.
“Instead of using our unforeseen potential to end this war against the Cruelties, we used magic to distract ourselves from it. Throughout the country, each Department of Magic has focused on maximizing the worldly outputs of its magic users. Money, fame, influence. Meanwhile, our otherworldly enemy has remained unchanging in its endeavors. The Cruelties wish to destroy us, and every action they take is in pursuit of that goal. During the most recent S-Rank appearance, we witnessed the consequences of haphazardly changing our objective in the face of an unyielding enemy. As successful as we have been at creating powerful magic users, we have failed the public when it comes to using them.”
Elise paused, and there was a rumble throughout the crowd. The Secretary’s last sentence had set off a commotion, as the journalists readied their notepads and stared at Elise with wide eyes. Adah didn’t understand how those words were any more significant than those that had come before it, but Elise had clearly primed her audience to react this way.
When Elise resumed her speech, it soon become clear why her words had gotten such a reaction.
“I told you all that Region 4 was building a weapon intended to exterminate the Cruelties completely,” Elise said. “That weapon is the magical girl known as Twilight Heartbreak.”
Elise paused again, which the journalists in the crowd took as an opportunity to shout out questions, their words piling on top of each other as productively as a jammed up freeway. They weren’t the only ones with questions either. Iris leaned forward to whisper her own in Adah’s ear.
“What’s all this, Heartbreak?” she asked. “I thought this was about showing off our team. I didn’t take you for the type to play the long con.”
“I’m not,” Adah whispered back. “This is the first I’m hearing about this, too. I’m not even sure what she means.”
Though, she could wager a good guess. The weapon in question wasn’t Twilight Heartbreak so much as Heartbreak’s literal weapon. Elise had instructed the whole region to funnel Cruelty cores into Adah’s scythe with the idea that Adah could become the region’s safety net. If there was ever a Cruelty or a situation that the region’s magic users couldn’t handle on their own, the extreme power stashed within the scythe would guarantee that Adah could eliminate the threat. But Elise had never mentioned wanting to use the scythe to destroy the Cruelties as a whole.
More importantly, she’d never told Adah that they would share that idea with the whole world.
Back at the podium, Elise ignored all the questions flung her way and raised her voice to speak over the shouts.
“It is my honor to introduce a new approach to magic, along with the coalition of magic users who will show what that approach is capable of. If the status quo has led humanity to this point of danger, where even the strongest among us can fall to the Cruelties, then the group you see behind me will shatter those outdated systems. In Region 4, magic users will fight for each other, not against. And they will not stop until our weapon is complete and our war is won.”
Elise looked down at her notes one last time, then turned around and walked away from the podium without another word. She stopped in front of Adah and nodded, as if passing the baton on a race they’d both planned to run. Adah grabbed her wrist and held the Secretary in place.
“What did you just tell those people?” Adah said. “We’re building a weapon?”
Elise looked at Adah, the corners of her lips turned ever so slightly downward.
“Is that not true?” she said. “We’ve been feeding your scythe for a reason.”
“That’s one thing, and the coalition is another,” Adah said. “You made it sound like this whole announcement was all about me.”
“Most of what Kodriel and I have done has been about you,” Elise said. “I thought you understood that.”
The Secretary walked away without another word, taking a spot behind the lineup of coalition members. She stood alongside Margot, and floating between the two of them was that white-coated lion Kodriel.
Adah tried to put Elise’s words out of her mind for the time being. She still needed to speak to this crowd and—after the lack of an introduction from Elise—explain in no uncertain terms what the coalition stood for. She made her way to the edge of the steps where the podium stood and looked out at the horde of reporters and cameras.
Except she didn’t see them.
She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them, again and again, hoping this was some lingering effect of allowing the scythe’s power into her for so long today. Yet what she saw remained the same.
Each and every person in that crowd appeared to Adah as a gray silhouette.
Even though she knew them all to be normal people, her eyes showed Adah an army of humanoids.