Chapter Text
Smiling to myself, I sit back against the wall in the pitch black darkness of Nacht Base. I don't remember the last time I had as much fun as I had today.
It started out pretty average, what with me playing alone and all. Then, the pink-haired girl that played with me lots at the beach, Haruka, showed up. Having a playmate made it a good day, but not an exceptional one; as of recent, I've had plenty of people to play with, Utena and Kiwi chief among them. And she left sooner than I'd have liked.
So I transformed. There are still so many things I don't get about it; so many possibilities that I haven't explored. However, I'd used it enough to know that there would probably be a response if I transformed out in the open. And there was, so I quickly acquired a new playmate.
Playing house is so much more fun when I have a partner that perfectly plays their role. And yet, somehow, it felt even better when she continued to play along after falling out of it. That was what made today special. That and the memento she left behind. It feels wrong to be keeping another girl's panties, and yet I somehow can't help myself.
I feel an itch at the back of my mind. Mementos... Ah! Beebee the Fairy! I take the keychain out and hold it in front of me. I can't see it, since it's pitch black in here, so I put it back away. I'll have to give it back to Haruka when I see her next. Haruka... Oh, I remember now! Something a little odd happened while we were playing.
I'm still transformed, so I begin to give shape to a new role around myself. This is the other reason I transformed: I had discovered recently a neat trick that allows me to immerse myself in my memories and experience much more vividly than I can normally. If no one showed up, I planned on returning here and reliving today's playtime with Haruka for a little while.
Deep contemplation... reflection on the past... the experience of dreaming... done! Bringing up my target memory, I allow the role to settle onto me and bind.
Haruka stopped running and set me down, clearly exhausted. My piggy back ride was over, I supposed. Giving her some time to catch her breath, I decided to sit down and play with Dolly.
As the seconds passed, I could hear her breathing calm, the exhaled air glancing my arm becoming lighter and lighter. I paid it little mind until I heard her speak.
"Hehe, so cute." She said it softly, in a strange, wavering tone that I couldn't quite place the emotion of. At this, I questioningly turned my head towards her.
"Um, what are you looking at me like that for?" she said nervously, shifting herself backward. I continued to stare. She then suddenly jumped up onto her feet. "A- are you a mind reader? Did you see my thoughts just now?" Her face contorted into that of clear panic. I had noticed that her face is incredibly expressive, which gave me great joy.
I felt my head tilt slightly. What a strange conclusion to come to. Maybe she didn't realize that she had said anything at all?
She seemed to relax. "Ah, of course you can't read minds, silly me." She threw her head to the side a bit, clearly imitating a motion that I didn't understand. She placed a hand on top of my head. "And even if you could, you nice. You wouldn't tell anyone what I was thinking about." She giggled and tousled my hair. I leaned into it, enjoying the warm, pleasant, firm movement.
With the sun shining down at her back, her appearance was darkened nearly to the point of being a silhouette. My eyes were drawn to her hair, done up in an interesting spiral pattern. It looked kind of like a drill-bit.
As I play it out to its conclusion, I feel the role begin to unravel, its effect ceasing. Mind reading, huh? Why did that idea in particular come to her, and why was she so worried about such a possibility? I rack my brain over it, but nothing in particular comes to mind.
My mind eventually wanders to her hair. It's amazing that it stays like that. How does she do it? Is it just natural? Hmmm... pink spiral cone hair... Magenta...
I freeze, my thoughts stutter. No, they look nothing alike!
But... their hair really does have similar features. The bright pink color, the very specific shape... I can't think of any other hairstyle even remotely similar to either of them. They are, objectively speaking, quite similar.
And yet, my basic visual instincts are screaming at me that the hairstyles aren't even remotely similar, even though I just consciously compared their features and concluded otherwise. Ugh, this is making my head hurt. Is that the result of the magical identity protection thingy Utena was talking about? I try again, visualizing them both in my mind. Yup, nothing alike. But they have a similar shade and style.
Abandoning that specific line of thought, I turn to the more general idea. Haruka being Magenta? If it's true, the reason for her worry at the idea of her mind being read is obvious. It also explains how she could have thought that in the first place, since being immersed in magical girl stuff would mean seeing magical ideas seeming more reasonable. It even explains why she arrived so soon after I transformed: she hadn't had the time to get very far away from me beforehand.
...The idea has merit. Clearly, I must investigate further.