Bonus Short Stories

Side: Karama & Korama

Born into the world as machines, the haniwas Karama and Korama were always looking for ways to improve themselves in lieu of growing. They were in the midst of one such self-improvement discussion today, and were looking down at a piece of paper laid out on the tea table.

“These things are our real rival, ho!”

“They’ve been stealing our spotlight all the time lately, ho!”

The main topic of their tiny little meeting was how they hadn’t gotten much of a chance to shine recently. The cause? As far as they were concerned, it was the fault of their decided new rival: the unmanned fighters from Blue Knight.

“Their most amazing point is that they have so many weapons, ho.”

“Now that you mention it, it’s like they use a different weapon every time, ho.”

The paper spread out on the tea table featured a cute doodle of an unmanned fighter the haniwas had drawn with marker. Blue Knight’s fighters had a wide variety of weapons, which really made them stand out—especially during bigger battles. As the haniwas were all-purpose automatons, they didn’t really stand up to the made-for-battle fighters in terms of combat potential. And that’s why they felt they were getting the spotlight stolen from them.

“But we have weapons too, ho!”

“The Spiritual Energy Katana and Spiritual Wave Cannon, and even Ohime, ho! But they’re always stored away, ho...”

“Then we should make it so we can use them at a moment’s notice, ho!”

“Yes, that way we’ll have more chances to shine, ho! Let’s ask Clan-chan, ho!”

The improvement the haniwas ultimately decided to focus on today was finding a way to have their weapons at the ready at all times. If they could be prepared for battle at a moment’s notice, they were quite sure they’d get more chances to shine. And so they decided to ask Kiriha’s friend Clan if it was possible to set up a transfer for their weaponry.

“But their most terrifying aspect isn’t really their weapons, ho...”

“You’re totally right, ho...”

However, the haniwas then stumbled upon another rather serious problem. While the unmanned fighters certainly had an impressive arsenal, their most dangerous weapon of all was...

“Ruth-chan, ho!”

“It’s unfair they have a full-time operator, ho!”

“It’s not like those machines themselves are superior, ho!”

“It’s Ruth-chan that does all the work, ho!”

The haniwas followed Kiriha’s orders, but they were still automatons that could and did act on their own. Kiriha often played the role of commander for all of the Corona House crew. She kept a watchful eye on all of her allies, and unfortunately couldn’t focus on directing the haniwas specifically.

In contrast, the unmanned fighters always had Ruth as their personal operator. And with her at their remote helm, it was really Ruth’s skill and prowess that achieved results with the fighters. Their performance was hers, and the haniwas were envious of that.

“I know, ho! Let’s have Ruth-chan look after us too, ho!”

“That’s it, ho! Let’s surprise her with a cake, ho!”

“We’re geniuses, ho!”

“That’s what makes us different from those mindless robots, ho!”

In the end, the haniwas reached the conclusion that Ruth should become their operator too. There was a high probability that that would actually be counterproductive for the darling automatons, but that hadn’t seemed to have crossed their tiny minds.

Side: Ruthkania

Ruth held the proud title of guardian knight, but knew good and well that fighting wasn’t her strong suit. She’d gotten much stronger after training under Koutarou, but she was simply peaceable by nature. Being from a renowned family of knights, she could never say it out loud, but she knew that—at best—she’d only ever be able to guard her loved ones.

“Yet... why did I take up the sword to begin with?”

Clan had given Ruth the swords her legendary ancestor Flairhan once used, and Koutarou had taught her how to use them. With both of their help, she’d grown much stronger and much more capable. But now, after all that, she couldn’t really remember why she’d wanted to get stronger in the first place.

“I feel like I’m forgetting something...”

Ruth quizzically tilted her head as she looked down at the beam swords in her hands. Up until now, she’d been motivated by an urge to get stronger. Despite being timid and demure, she was absolutely driven in her quest for strength... but she wasn’t sure why.

“W-Well, what does the reason really matter?”

Theia, who was accompanying Ruth in her training, did her best to thwart any discussion of this matter. She knew exactly why Ruth had taken up the sword, and was well aware of the danger that might befall them all if Ruth remembered what had inspired her to do so.

“But it feels like something is off...”

Ruth studied her swords with a perplexed look. She’d felt compelled to learn to fight, but why? Was there some enemy that she was afraid of? One she sought to defeat? The lingering thought that there was some lurking threat she needed to protect Theia, Koutarou, and everyone else in room 106 from kept eating at her, pushing her further and further towards an answer that Theia absolutely did not want her to find.

“Wh-Why you did it isn’t as important as what you’ve achieved! You can now wield Flairhan’s swords of light thanks to your training—isn’t that enough? Reason aside, surely this is the will of the Goddess of Dawn.”

In truth, Ruth first desired to get stronger after losing to Shizuka, disguised as Kabutonga, last year at the amusement park. She was so blinded by rage at the time that she didn’t remember it now, but she wanted to become strong so that she would never, ever lose to a beetle again.

And that was precisely the realization that Theia was terrified of Ruth reaching, so she was desperately trying to change the subject.

“That’s true... It’s certainly romantic and wonderful to think it was fate that guided me here.”

Ruth was quite attached to Flairhan’s swords, so what Theia had said struck a chord with her. Perhaps there was just something special about them. And with that thought, Ruth readily put the discussion aside and got back to her training, swinging her swords just like Koutarou had taught her.

“Phew...”

Seeing this, Theia let out a small sigh of relief. She then watched Ruth train in admiration.

“I wonder if Flairhan fought this way.”

“I believe so, Your Highness.”

Ruth did her best to copy the footage of Flairhan that had been stored in Koutarou’s armor, swiftly and gracefully swinging a beam sword in each hand. It wasn’t like Ruth didn’t have any talent for swordsmanship. As long as there were no enemies, her form was quite composed and beautiful. Just like Flairhan, she was a splendid whirlwind of deadly finesse.

“Huh?”

But suddenly it hit her—a strange sense of deja vu. She felt like she’d fought against someone like this not long ago.

“It’s coming back to me... It was when we were taking down the radical faction... There was something in their base...”

“Oh no! Stop it, Ruth! There was nothing there! Don’t think any more about it!”

“It was a... Yes, they were...”

“Ruth-chan! We have a request, ho!”

“But first things first, ho! We brought you a cake, ho!”

“Curse you, beeeeetles!”

Vrooosh!

“Why, ho?!”

“Do you hate us that much, ho?!”

In a moment of intense fervor, Ruth saw an illusionary swarm of beetles coming at her and swung her swords wildly, which sent the innocently haniwas flying. Fortunately, the swords were set to training mode so the haniwas were unharmed, but they wisely decided their point of improvement for this day would be to never get close to Ruth when she was holding swords again.

Side: Shizuka

As Shizuka treasured Corona House, her inheritance from her parents, cleaning and maintenance were daily chores of love for her. She was a constant figure around the building, and she was always the first to notice when something was strange or amiss.

“What’s the matter, Karama-chan, Korama-chan?”

Today, that strange thing was Kiriha’s two haniwas, who appeared to be doing something like dancing in the corner of the Corona House grounds.

“We realized that we can’t rely on others to get stronger, ho!”

“We decided to master the ways of martial arts to get stronger ourselves, ho!”

“So that wasn’t dancing, but martial arts training?”

“That’s right, ho! We’re developing our own technique, the Haniwa Divine Fist, ho!”

“We’ll strike those soulless machines down into to hell, ho!”

“I see... I guess human martial arts won’t work for you, huh?”

It turned out that what had looked like dancing to Shizuka was actually the haniwas’ way of practicing martial arts. Their tiny, odd proportions were completely different from a human’s; they didn’t even have legs. That’s why standard martial arts wouldn’t work for them. If they wanted to fight, they’d have to develop their own haniwa way of doing it.

“So far, we’ve figured out that the Jet Headbutt is the strongest, ho!”

“Spiritual Energy Field Punch isn’t bad either, ho!”

The haniwas showed Shizuka a few moves. Martial arts typically relied on the inborn powers of the individual, but for the haniwas, that included things like flight and barriers. Their way—these haniwa martial arts—was something truly unique.

“Oh... that looks fun.”

Shizuka took an interest in the haniwas’ training, and stopped cleaning to watch them. As she did, she slowly came to the realization that perhaps she should be doing the same thing, and called out to the Fire Dragon Emperor inside of her.

“Say, Uncle...”

“Yes?”

“Should we come up with moves like that too?”

“I think so. Mana would be put to more effective use, which would mean it had a less profound effect on your weight.”

“Really?!”

When Shizuka used Alunaya’s power, she partially took on the appearance of a dragon. A horn grew out of her forehead, claws on her hands, wings on her back, and a tail at the base of her spine. On top of that, her physical abilities increased exponentially. Surely, with all of that going for her, there had to be an effective way of fighting in such a form.

“Karama-chan, Korama-chan, can I join in too?”

“You’re very welcome to, ho!”

“Our school is always open, ho!”

Shizuka left her broom leaning against the wall, and tried throwing a few punches and kicks while imagining herself in her half-human, half-dragon form. She’d been training in karate since she was a child, and so far had relied on that to get by when fighting. But like she’d just realized with the haniwas, it was a human martial art. It had some serious flaws being used in a nonhuman form, the best examples of which were her wings and tail. They drastically changed her center of gravity and created drag. So when she was spinning around for a roundhouse kick, for example, she had to do her best to tuck them in. There were countless other such adjustments that had to be made as well.

“Haaah!”

“Take that, ho!”

“And that and that and that, ho, ho, ho!”

Eventually, the three of them began sparring. They were each grateful to have an opponent, and had fun playing around with their new moves.

“By the way, Haniwa-chans, why did you suddenly want to start training with martial arts?”

“There are simply times when men must fight, ho!”

“More specifically, we want to stand out when we do fight, ho! We want to outshine Ruth-chan’s fighters, ho!”

“That’s a surprisingly selfish reason.”

“It’s not very different from trying to keep your weight down, ho.”

“You’re selfish too, Shizuka-chan, ho.”

“Ahaha, that’s true!”

Shizuka and the haniwas continued their practice for a while longer. Several days later, Shizuka would get complaints from the other tenants about all the shouting, but she was blissfully unaware of that for the time being. And so she and the haniwas would spend the day enjoying their training in the soft light of the autumn sun.

Side: Maki

The art of magic was a long, time-honored tradition. And since it couldn’t be used by just anyone, it was often handed down the generations from master to student. That held true for both Rainbow Heart and Darkness Rainbow. In fact, Maki had learned magic from her master, Maya.

“Make us your students, ho!”

“Please teach us magic, ho!”

“...Are you serious about this?”

But surprisingly enough, the two prospective students before Maki were haniwas. They were lined up next to each other with their tiny heads bowed all the way down to the tatami mat. Of course, being haniwas, they looked more like they’d faceplanted than anything.

“We’re very serious, ho!”

“There is something that we absolutely must do, ho!”

Maki thought they were joking at first, but it seemed they were quite serious indeed. They were desperately pleading with her and practically throwing themselves at her feet.

“Something you must do? What’s that?”

“We have to beat those things, ho!”

“We need to show them our true power, ho!”

“What things?”

“Those blue things Ruth-chan uses, ho!”

“We have to become stronger than the unmanned fighters, ho!”

“Oh.”

Maki now finally understood what was going on. The haniwas saw the unmanned fighters that Ruth used during emergencies as rivals, and they wanted to surpass them.

“We tried all kinds of things to get stronger, ho!”

“Like becoming friends with Ruth-chan, ho! And learning martial arts, ho!”

“And then we came up with the ultimate plan, ho!”

“We’re going to become magical girls, ho!”

“Those things can’t use magic, ho!”

“I see...”

Maki was a bit taken aback at first, but the haniwas did have a point. The unmanned fighters were pure technology, so the haniwas learning how to use magic would give them a distinct advantage.

“Maki-chan, please, ho!”

“Make us your students, ho!”

“I don’t mind taking you on as students, but...”

“Really, ho?! Thank you, ho!”

“We’ll call you master from now on, ho!”

“But I can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to use magic.”

“What, ho?!”

“What do you mean, ho?!”

The haniwas were shocked to hear those words from Maki’s mouth. She felt a little pressured as they leaned in closer with their expressionless faces, and explained the situation as best she could.

“Not just anyone can use magic. It requires a certain latent talent, and without that, you’ll never be able to use magic no matter how much someone teaches you.”

Maki was worried about the haniwas not being human. Most humans didn’t have the potential to use magic, so the chances of the nonhuman haniwas having it were even lower.

“We’ll only be able to beat those things by making the impossible possible, ho!”

“We’re real men, ho! And we’ll fight like men to become magical girls, ho!”

“Well, as long as you’re resolved...”

As long as they knew going into this that there was a possibility they wouldn’t be able to use magic at all, things would probably be fine. And so Maki decided to try teaching the haniwas magic despite the near absurdity of the situation.

The first spell Maki taught the haniwas was the most basic of basics: a weak spell to create light. It was the first spell that almost any magician learned.

“Here we go, Karama!”

“Got it, Korama!”

“Firefly, ho!”

“Firefly, ho!”

The haniwas held chopstick-sized wands above their heads and incanted the spell together. When they did, their bodies began faintly glowing.

“Did it work?!”

Maki was quite surprised by this result. While the haniwas had souls, their bodies were artificial. They shouldn’t have been able to generate any mana of their own, much less activate a spell. But seeing it happen before her very eyes, Maki was floored.

“It disappeared, ho!”

“It was only for a moment, ho!”

But as expected, the haniwas couldn’t sustain any magic. The light they did manage to conjure only lasted for a fraction of the estimated time.

“Guess we don’t have the talent after all, ho...”

“We’re not cut out for this, ho...”

The haniwas’ shoulders slumped in disappointment. As aspiring magical girls, the haniwas were hoping for something a bit more spectacular.

“That’s not true at all. You two just being able to use magic is amazing.”

In Maki’s eyes, the haniwas had a surprising amount of talent for magic. While the magic they could muster was weaker than most humans’, the fact that they could muster anything at all was nothing short of miraculous.

“Let’s try a little more, okay?”

“Thank you, master, ho!”

“We’ll do our best, ho!”

And so the haniwas continued down the path to becoming magical girls under Maki’s guidance. Of course, they’d likely never be able to cast anything amazing. But they would eventually succeed in learning to cast spells that would make them more valuable, like creating nice smells and being able to make things a little colder. And since those were things the unmanned fighters couldn’t do, the haniwas considered this a victory.