Trick or Magical Girl

Trick or Magical Girl

Not believing in unproven things unless one had experienced them in person; was there anything strange about holding that opinion?
对于未证实的事物，如果不是自己亲身经历就不会去相信，持有这种想法真的有那么奇怪吗。

“Things like these are unrealistic!”
“那种东西，只是反实在论！”

“You just came up with that line and wanted to use it.”
“你只是想把想到的这句台词说出来吧。”

There was a rumor going around school: one out of the tens of thousands of players who played the free social game “Magical Girl Raising Project” would become an actual Magical Girl. The source of the rumor remained unclear until today, and at first it was only discussed amongst groups of elementary schoolers and kindergarteners. Anyone with common sense would laugh it off for the most part.
免费就能玩的社交游戏【魔法少女育成计划】，在数万名玩家中会有一人成为真正的魔法少女……以上这种传闻在学生之间传播着。传闻的出处至今不明，刚开始只有在小学生、幼稚园儿童的群体中成为话题，而对于有常识的人群，其中大多数只会对此付之一笑。

However, the establishment of a Magical Girl sighting web page, which gathered the testimonies of many witnesses, changed the spread of this topic. People on that page claimed to be Magical Girls. Some of them helped others take pictures using extreme ranges of movements which human beings could not accomplish. Some flew through the sky, some burrowed through the earth, and posts like that came to prominence one after the other. Then, there were people who pointed out “I spotted a girl wearing clothing that you can find in Magical Girl Raising Project”, and it made the topic of Magical Girls in N-City more active than ever.
但是由于魔法少女目击情报网页的开设，收集整理了诸多目击者的证言，使得话题的风向发生了改变。网页里有自称是魔法少女的人、有使用人类绝对办不到的超级极限动作帮助他人的场景、有的在天空飞翔、有的潜入地面，这种帖子一个接一个地被曝光。再加上有人指出【被目击少女的穿着打扮重现了魔法少女育成计划这个游戏里的服装】，以致N市有关魔法少女的话题变得无比热闹。

Her friend Sumire indulged herself in daydreaming, while her friend Koyuki lived her life in dreams. The two of them discussed those rumors as they though they believed Magical Girls really did exist. Koyuki felt that Magical Girls ought to be more traditional, while Sumire was more interested in the popularity of the Magical Girls who were sighted.
作为友人的堇积极地发着白日梦，同为友人的小雪则呆呆地活在梦里。二人像认为魔法少女确实存在似地谈论着传闻，小雪认为魔法少女应该更加偏向传统，而堇则对被目击的魔法少女中谁有人气这件事比较感兴趣。

It was not just the two of them. The fast food burger restaurant they visited on the way home was packed with middle-school students every day, and whichever clique one cared to listen to, they were all discussing something to do with Magical Girls.
不单单只是这两人。平时从学校回家路上光顾的汉堡快餐店中，每天都聚满了中学生，无论耳朵靠近哪个圈子，大家都不约而同地谈论着有关魔法少女的话题。

Suddenly, it seemed as though she was the only person in N-City who was not interested in Magical Girls. Yoshino Yoshiko sighed as she munched on her french fries. They were cold, and they were too salty.
忽然之间，N市内对魔法少女没有任何兴趣的人仿佛只剩下了自己一样。吉乃浦芳子边叹着气边啃着薯条，薯条已经变冷，盐的效果也太强了。

“Magical Girls and the like shouldn’t exist.”
“魔法少女之类的不应该存在吧。”

“All those hits on the site can’t be wrong.”
“既然这个网页的目击者有这么多，那肯定不会有错啦。”

Yoshiko was not one of those people who stubbornly denied the existence of the supernatural. If God, the Buddha, monsters, fairies, espers, chupacabras, Japan’s Bigfoot, Nessie, aliens or Magical Girls appeared before her eyes, she would have no problems believing in them. She was not like those characters in horror movies who did not believe in the monster and ended up being the first to die.
芳子并非顽固的反超自然主义者，无论什么都好，如果神、佛、妖怪、妖精、超能力者、卓帕卡布拉、日本大脚怪、尼斯湖水怪、鱼木星人、魔法少女能在自己眼前出现，那么让自己去相信这些事物也没有问题。自己和那种在恐怖电影中登场【绝对不相信怪物存在而成为第一牺牲者】的角色是不同的。

However, until now, nothing mysterious had appeared before Yoshiko’s eyes. Sumire and Koyuki simply talked about Magical Girls, so there was no need to believe in them. Besides, there was something more important that.
只是目前为止，还没有任何不可思议的事物在芳子面前出现过。堇与小雪仅仅只是擅长谈论魔法少女的话题而已，那么就没有相信的必要。而且与此相比还有更应该做的事才对。

“Sumire, rather than Magical Girls, shouldn’t you be more concerned about next week’s term exam?”
“堇，比起魔法少女你更应该关心一下期末考试才对吧？”

“Come on, Yoshi-chan, don’t bring that up. I went to a lot of effort to escape from reality.”
“慢着，小芳就别说那个啦。明明好不容易才从现实逃避出来。”

Koyuki added, “Even if you’re a Magical Girl, you still have to study for your exams…” There was no telling if Sumire was listening; she was still talking passionately.
小雪附和着，“即使是魔法少女，考试的学习不去完成也是不行哟……”不知道堇有没有在听，她依然充满着热情继续着话题。

“As long as you have Magic, you can solve it. I know that from the Magical Girl anime I watched when I was little.”
“只要使用魔法就能解决一切啦。我在小时候看过魔法少女动画所以知道哟。”

“You sound like the sort of person who believes in Nostradamus’ predictions at the turn of the century.”
“感觉你现在就像在世纪末里相信诺查丹玛斯大预言的人呐。”

“But Magical Girls do exist! Yoshi-chan, it’s because your mind keeps denying them and your brain is so inflexible that you can’t meet Magical Girls.”
“魔法少女是真实存在的！正因为小芳的头脑一直对此否定，脑子灵活度才那么低，所以才不能与魔法少女相遇。”

“Somehow I feel like I’ve been insulted, have I?”
“我貌似被说了非常失礼的话对吧？”

“I’m sure we’ve met Magical Girls before, it’s just that we missed it because we weren’t paying attention. Think about it; haven’t mysterious things happened around you?”
“我们肯定与魔法少女相遇过，只是还没注意到就错过而已。想想吧，你身边有没有发生过不思议的事？”

“Mysterious things… nope.”
“不思议的事……才没有。”

In the past, she had been playing Magical Girl Raising Prokect and she had fallen asleep without realizing it. During her dream from back then, she encountered a Magical Girl. The Magical Girl was wearing pajamas and sleeping on a bed of fluffy clouds, saying, “Working is so troublesome” in her sleep. However, that was just a dream, and not reality.
之前在玩魔法少女育成计划中不知不觉睡着了，那时候的梦中遇见了一位魔法少女。那位魔法少女穿着睡衣在轻飘飘的云层上睡着，并说着“工作之类的太麻烦了。”的梦话。但是，那只是一个梦，并不是现实。

She dug deep into the depths of her memories, reviewing them all, and then she came to a conclusion. Yoshiko munched her fries and then brought her face close in.
一直深入到记忆的底部，将自己拥有的记忆都回想一遍，在这之上得出了结论。芳子将薯条啃下，将脸靠了上来。

“Magical Girls simply don’t exist.”
“魔法少女根本就不存在。”

“Ehh, what kind of conclusion is that?”
“唉，那个结论是怎么回事。”

“There’s nothing unexpected in this world, not even mysterious events or objects. Living with one’s feet firmly planted on the ground is the happiest, and realism is the strongest.”
“这个世界没有出乎意料的事，就连不思议的事、不思议的物体都没有。脚踏实地的生活才是最幸福的，坚实最强。”

“Don’t say such boring things~”
“这种毫无乐趣的话就不要说出来啊——”

Sumire chattered on in displeasure, and Koyuki was at a loss for what to do as she looked over. Even so, Yoshiko stood firmly by her line of thinking. Unless she saw them with her own eyes, nonexistent things were simply that, nonexistent.
堇喋喋不休地表达着不满，小雪摆出一副不知该怎么办才好的表情望向这边。即使是这样，芳子依然坚持自己的想法，除非在现实中亲眼看见，否则不存在的事物就是不存在的事物，不会有任何改变。

2

After parting ways with the other two from the burger restaurant, she followed the usual route home. Since it was autumn, sunset came earlier than usual. Since Yoshiko did not want to meet anyone suspicious in a place with few pedestrians, she walked more hastily than usual today. The road Yoshiko walked towards the fields was illuminated by street lamps which were evenly spaced every ten meters. On roads like this, the only sound one could here was one’s own footsteps, and she had to leave places like those as soon as possible.
在汉堡快餐店与二人道别后，就一如既往地沿着路线回家。由于秋天的关系，日落也比往常要早，芳子实在不想在行人稀少的地方遇上可疑的人，因此今天走得比平时要匆忙。芳子沿着每隔十米设置一个街灯照明的道路走向田地。在这种道路只能听见自己的脚步声，这种场所必须尽早离开。

Thanks to her friends talking about things that did not belong in this world, both her breathing and footsteps were more hurried than usual. She kept thinking that something would appear from the darkness, and she could not exorcise those distasteful thoughts from her mind. She increased her walking speed, and as her mind wandered, her foot caught the edge of a drain cover.
都怪两位朋友一直在谈论不属于这个世界的人物，导致今天的呼吸与步伐都比平时要急促不少。总感觉黑暗之中会有什么东西冒出来，这种让人讨厌的想法在脑中挥之不去。再次加快步伐，在胡思乱想的时候脚部碰到沟渠的盖子。

Yoshiko stumbled, and just as she was about to fall, she reached out to grab a nearby wall. At least she had managed to catch herself in time--
芳子踉跄了一下，快要跌倒的时候伸出手扶着墙壁，总算还是及时支撑了身体——

--Huh? A wall? Was there a wall here before…?
——唉？墙壁？这里原本有墙壁吗……。

“Are you alright?”
“没事吗？”

At this bizarre moment, a voice came from behind Yoshiko and startled Yoshiko. She pressed her hand to her chest. Her heart was pounding furiously. Yoshiko turned back, and saw a young woman wearing a large coat. Said coat was wrapped with several leather belts.
在这个绝妙的时机，背后传来了不知谁的声音，芳子被吓了一跳。用手按着胸膛，心脏咚咚地急促跳着，芳子回头望去，对方是位穿着大衣的年轻女性，大衣上缠着几条皮带。

She must have been a high schooler. Even encountering her on this darkened road could not hide her beautiful face which moved her heart. Could she be a Magical Girl… but on a second look, Magical Girls who wore scarves over their coats in an ordinary fashion could not possibly exist in reality. There was a pumpkin-shaped pin on her chest; come to think of it, Halloween was coming.
大概是高校生吧。可即使在微暗的路面上也遮掩不了她那副让人心动、漂亮的面孔，难道她是魔法少女……但重新审视一下，在大衣上普通地围着围巾路过的魔法少女在现实中不可能存在吧。
她的胸口位置还别上了南瓜图案的饰针，说起上来万圣节也快来临了。

She had another special feature above and beyond her beauty. She was holding a Japanese-style cloth bag. It was a very big bag, larger than a person’s body.
在美丽的容貌之上还有一个特征。她抱着一个和式包裹布，包裹非常大，体积超出了一个人的分量。

“Ah, yes. I, I’m fine.”
“啊，是的。没事，没有任何问题。”

“Is that so? That’s good.”
“是吗，太好了。”

Yoshiko looked at her face again. She really was too beautiful. Just as she was thinking that, she glancd at the bag, and through the gaps in the cloth, she saw… pumpkins. A bag full of pumpkins would surely weigh more than a grown man. Perhaps she had noticed where Yoshiko was looking, but the girl in the coat looked at her own bag, and sensing that something was wrong, she pointed at her face.
再次看着她的面孔，果然还是觉得太漂亮了。就这样想着的时候，眼睛瞄了一下包裹，在包裹的缝隙中所看到的是……南瓜。包裹中全是南瓜那得有多重，肯定比成年男性的体重还要重吧。大概是注意到了芳子的视线，穿着大衣的女性看着自己的包裹，感到事情不妙似的用食指指着自己的脸颊。

“That’s because Halloween is coming.”
“这是因为快到万圣节了。”

“Oh, Halloween...:”
“哦，万圣节啊……”

“It’s autumn now, so it’s given me quite an appetite. I was planning to eat all of these, since I don’t need to diet or anything.”
“因为现在是秋天，也特别让人有食欲。所以就打算把这些吃了，也不用减肥或其他什么的。”

--Appetite? Eat? Those pumpkins? All of them?
——食欲？要吃下？那些南瓜？全部？

The coated woman did not seem to feel the weight at all as she strode off with light steps. Yoshiko stared dumbly at her from behind as she left, and then she suddenly remembered the wall. Come to think of it, it was quite strange to have a wall standing in the middle of nowhere with nothing to support it. Yoshiko looked to the right, and then the left, and then behind herself, but the wall she caught herself on just now was gone.
穿着大衣的女性像完全感觉不到重量似的，迈着轻快的步伐离开了。芳子呆呆地在后方目送着她离开，突然想起了墙壁的事情。说起来，刚才的墙壁在没有任何支撑的地方立了起来实在太奇怪了。芳子往右侧看去，接着往左看，再往后看，刚才扶着的墙壁已经不见了。

3

She remembered what Sumire had said that day, then hurriedly shook her head hard so she would not think about it. It was just a strange feeling; nothing mysterious at all. Yoshiko tried to convince herself like that. While she thought she had felt her hand touching a wall, in reality it was just a railing.
想起了今天堇说的话，赶紧用力摇头让自己不去多想。只是稍微有些奇怪的感觉而已，根本没什么不可思议的。芳子这样想着并尽力说服自己，虽然自己的手确实有触碰墙壁的感觉，但实际上那只是护栏吧。

As she thought that, her feet took her to a shopping street, where they were having a Halloween sales.
就这样子想着，一直走到了商店街，那里正进行着万圣节的展销。

Yoshiko went into a stationary shop and bought a case of HB pencil leads, and when she stepped out of the shop there was a witch before her eyes. Yes, she was a witch. She wore a long black dress, a big pointy hat, her right hand held a broom, her hair was plaited into a pair of braids, and no matter how you looked at that girl, she was the very model of a witch.
芳子走进文具店买了一盒HB铅笔芯，走出店外的时候眼前出现了一位魔女。对，就是魔女。一身黑色的连衣裙、戴着一顶大大的尖帽子、右手拿着扫把、绑着两条三股辫，少女的外表无论怎么看都是一副魔女的模板。

Yoshiko was startled, and then she thought about how it was close to Halloween, and so she could bring herself to accept what she saw before her. She was probably a cosplayer of some sort, or a temp worker hired to induce pssers-by to spend money here. If she were in the latter category, that would be quite surprising, because she honestly could not see a run-down shopping street like this spending money on someone like that.
芳子被吓了一跳，突然又想起临近万圣节，心里也就接受了眼前的景象。对方大概是自发前来进行cosplay的人吧，又或者是被商店街花钱雇来招揽客人的临时工。如果是后者那么挺让人意外的，因为实在看不出这条不景气的商店街会把资金花在这点上。

The witch was not looking towards her, so Yoshiko could not see her face. Her costume was very well made, and she looked just like a real witch. The witch waved to the nearby kids, and as Yoshiko passed by the witch, the witch took out a smartphone.
由于魔女没有面向这边，所以芳子无法确认她的容貌。她的服装完成度真高，简直就像真正的魔女。魔女向附近的孩子们挥了挥手，芳子在魔女身边穿过的时候，魔女拿起了智能手机。

“It’s just like Magicaloid said, coming here for a stroll in broad daylight is fine. Honestly. Sister Nana said so too, and Winterprison is in Halloween dress so it’s fine. Come over quick, Ripple, if not I’ll come over to get you.”
“跟Magicaloid所说的一样，白天出来闲逛也没有问题，真的。修女娜娜也说了，寒冬牢狱今天穿着万圣节版本的打扮就没问题。波纹也快过来，你不来的话我就过去接你啦。”

Coming over for a stroll in broad daylight was fine? Well, it was true that cosplayers would not normally walk around on the streets in the day, but what on earth did people cosplaying for Halloween intend to do while walking around on the streets?
白天也能出来闲逛？Cosplay确实不会在平常的白天出来闲逛，但趁着万圣节特意以cosplay的姿态出来闲逛的人究竟打算干什么啊。

Yoshiko hurriedly hid behind a butcher’s sign and spied on the witch. The witch was still chatting on her phone, and she acceded to the requests of passing high school students to shake hands with her. She was far removed from the gloomy image of typical witches; instead, she was very well suited to the backdrop of this shopping street.
芳子慌忙地躲到了精肉店的招牌后面，窥视着魔女。魔女还在聊着电话，并回应路过高校生的请求与他们握手。与魔女阴森的形象相差甚远，反而与这黄昏拱廊的背景非常合称。

So it was just cosplay after all, huh.
果然只是cosplay而已吧。

The witch continued talking on her phone, and after she was done, she turned off her smartphone and tucked it away. SHe then looked around before walking into a small alley. Yoshiko stealthily followed her. The way the witch was looking around in all directions could not be anything other than being wary of something.
魔女继续聊着电话，聊完后将智能电话关闭并放进怀里，向周围环视一周后走进了小巷。芳子悄悄地在后面跟踪。魔女向周围四处张望的举止，怎么看都是在警惕着什么。

Those actions were very suspicious, and Yoshiko thought, I can’t lose her, but the fact that she could not close the gap to her made Yoshiko anxious, right until she barged into the alley. After stepping in, she saw the witch approaching her, and while she thought of hiding, she could not move her body in time. A look of surprise appeared on the witch’s pretty face as she looked on Yoshiko, who was stunned into immobility. In the moment they made contact, Yoshiko twisted aside and avoided direct contact, brushing past the witch in the cramped alley, but then the with slid past Yoshiko, accompanied by a gust of wind.
这举止很可疑，芳子心想绝对不能把她跟丢，但距离没有缩短让芳子感到焦虑，一直追着闯进了小巷。才刚进入了小巷就看见魔女正迎面逼近，想着躲开也没有足够的时间去移动身体。面对呆立不动的芳子，魔女那端正的面孔浮现出惊讶的表情。就在接触的一瞬间，芳子扭着身体转过身总算躲开了直击，在狭窄的小巷中与魔女交错，伴随着一阵疾风，魔女在芳子身旁穿了过去。

Yoshiko stood there dumbly for a full ten seconds, and when she could react, she exhaled heavily, and then wiped the sweat off her forehead with her right hand. It was then that she realised that the tote bag she was holding had vanished.
芳子足足呆了十秒钟，反应过来后深深地呼了一口气，接着用右手擦掉额头的汗水。这时候才发现了手上的挂包消失了。

“Oh, sorry about that!”
“噢，不好意思啦！”

A voice? But where had it come from? Yoshiko subconsciously looked up, and as she raised her head, her student tote bag fell from above. She barely managed to catch it in both hands, but there was nothing within her line of sight besides the corner store and the sky.
声音？从哪里发出来的？芳子下意识地向上方望去，在抬头的同时，学生挂包从空中掉落下来。总算勉强用双手接住了挂包，但视线中除了角落的商店和天空之外什么都没有。

4

Why had her student bag fallen from the sky? She had moved to the roof in an instant; surely she must have done so by some means other than flying. If she really had flown, then she must have done so through wires. That would explain how she had gotten into the air. Yes, there could be no mistake; it was some kind of gimmick of special effect. Since hers was a witch-themed cosplay, she must have put some thought into flying. She was a professional cosplayer. Yes, that must have been it.
为什么学生挂包会从空中落下呢。在一瞬间移动到屋顶，肯定用了飞上天空以外的方法吧。如果真的在上空飞行，那大概是使用了钢丝，这样一来飞在上空就能解析得通了。对的，绝对不会有错，只是戏法、特技而已。既然是以魔女为主题的cosplay，那肯定也为了飞上天空想了办法。她是位认真专业的cosplay，对的，肯定是这样。

Guided by instinct, Yoshiko walked along while still lost in her recollections from earlier, which dissipated her focus. She missed the turn she was supposed to take and continued straight on. Why was she struggling so hard on the road from school, which did not have a slope? By the time Yoshiko realized it, she had gone a long way from her destination and ended up somewhere else. Already confused, Yoshiko became even more flustered, and she took three deep breaths as she walked. It’s fine, it’s a familiar place. This is a temple district with a lot of shrines, all I need to do is follow the slope and walk a little further to reach the main road. Ahead of her was a run-down shrine.
就凭感觉走着，芳子还在沉浸于刚才的回想当中，以致于分散了注意力。错过了本来必须要转弯的路口，还沿着路线一直走。为什么要在通学路上理应没有的坡道上吃力地走着呢，当芳子察觉到这些疑问的时候，已经远离了目的地到达了其他地方。本来就混乱的芳子变得更加动摇，边走边进行了三次深呼吸。没问题，是认识的地点。这里是附近有很多寺庙的门前町，稍微沿着坡道向上走一段路就能走出国道，目前的方位是在破旧的寺院前。

--A shrine…?
——寺院……？

A sudden wave of cold made her body shudder. It was not the drop of temperature caused by impending nightfall, but the chill unique to abandoned buildings. In addition, this shrine made her think of other things, and a long slope stretched out when she turned to look.
突然袭来的寒气让身体一震，并不是临近夜晚气温下降的原因，是废墟特有的寒气。加上这座寺庙让人想起其他事情，往后望去是长长的坡道。

When she had still been in elementary school, she had heard a rumor. The shrine on the temple district’s slope was haunted by a spirit; one that belonged to a granny who had fallen to her death from the slope when tending a grave. At that time, she had simply laughed it off, but now she could not laugh at all. Yoshiko looked down; the slope seemed a lot higher than she expected. If she fell from here...
那是自己还是小学生的时候，曾经听过的传闻。门前町坡道上的寺院有幽灵出没，那是前去扫墓时从坡道上滚落而导致死亡的老婆婆的鬼魂。当时听完后只是付之一笑，可如今却笑不出来。芳子从上往下望去，坡道的高低差比预想以上的要大。如果从这里滚落去的话——

Thanks to her thinking about all sorts of weird things, the temperature felt colder than ever. Standing in place for a long time was not a solution either; the sun had already set and her surroundings were dark. She had to get back to her usual route and heas home. Yoshiko looked ahead of herself, and her body stiffened up.
都怪自己尽想些奇怪的事情，以致感到温度比之前还要寒冷。长久呆站着也不是办法，夕阳已经落下，四周变得昏暗，必须赶快沿着平时的道路回去家里。芳子望向前方，身体突然僵住了。

In the middle of the road was the severed head of a girl.
道路的正中央，放着一个少女的死人头颅。

No, that was not right. It was not a girl’s severed head. There was no blood around it. Surely it must have been a model head, what an evil-minded prank. Someone had probably thought that it would be fine to prank people like this since it was Halloween. However, what would happen if a car drove past, the driver was spooked, and a traffic accident resulted?
不，不对。那并不是少女的死人头颅，周围没有任何一滴血。那肯定是人体模型的头部吧，真是坏心眼的恶作剧。大概有的人想着既然是万圣节，做些恶作剧也没有问题。但如果有车辆经过，驾驶员被吓了一跳，导致事故发生那该怎么办。

After a rational analysis of the present situation, Yoshiko reached the conclusion that at the very least, she had to move the head to the side of the road, but her thighs would not obey her.
理性分析了现状，芳子得出了至少得将人头移到路边的结论，但是自己的大腿却不听使唤。

Her heart was pounding heavily, and Yoshiko could not calm down. Just then, the head suddenly turned a half-circle to face Yoshiko.
心脏剧烈地跳动，芳子没法镇定下来。就在这时，人头突然迅速地半回转，转到了芳子的方向。

The earmuff-wearing girl opened her eyes and looked at Yoshiko. A scream followed shortly; it was Yoshiko’s voice. Yoshiko had been so frightened that she did not even recognize the scream as her own. This was her limit, and her vision went white as her consciousness started fading away. Yoshikowanted to flee, but in her panic, her foot hit a rock, and she lost her balance.
戴着耳机的少女睁开双眼，望向芳子。紧接着传来了一声悲鸣，那是芳子的声音，芳子被吓得连自己发出悲鸣的自觉都没有。这次已经到达极限，视界变得一片空白，意识也开始远去。芳子想马上逃走，但在慌乱中脚碰到了一块石头，让自己失去了平衡。

Yoshiko fell backwards, She did not even have the time to think of how to break her fall. This was probably the same thing which had happened to the old granny who had fallen down the slope. It was a very steep slope, and even Yoshiko, young as she was, would not be able to escape unscathed. She would be lucky if she only broke one or two bones. Ah, I’m done for, Yoshiko thought as she closed her eyes. In this way, some time passed, Strange, my body hasn’t hit the ground yet. She had resigned herself to falling backwards, but her body halted in mid-air, in defiance of gravity.
芳子向正后方倒去。连考虑受身的时间都没有，大概就这样滚落坡道吧，那是和前来扫墓结果滚落坡道的老婆婆一样的下场。坡道非常斜，即使是年轻的芳子也不可能安全无事，要是只断一两根骨头的程度就好了。啊，已经不行了，芳子这样想着并闭上了双眼，就这样经过了一段时间。好奇怪，身体还没有落到地面。明明已经死心往后仰了，但身体却反重力地静止在空中。

Yoshiko slowly opened her eyes, and she was startled by the faces before her.
芳子慢慢地睁开双眼，被出现在眼前的面孔吓了一跳。

The two angels she saw were giggling to themselves as they hung on tightly to Yoshiko’s arms. The scene before her seemed strangely familiar. It had been a nostalgic anime special, which contained an especially moving scene. The boy Nero watched as a Rubenesque portrait and a Pitrush rose to Heaven together, surrounded by countless angels...
视线里的两只天使嘎嘎地笑着，并捉紧了芳子的手臂。说起上来眼前的光景有点似曾相识，那是令人怀念的动画特集，动画中有个令人感动的高潮片段。少年尼罗看着鲁本斯的画满足地与派特拉修一起升上天堂，复数的天使与少年一起……

--Am I already dead?
——我已经死了吗？

I don’t want to die. The desire to live quickened the flow of blood through her clouded brain and returned Yoshiko to reality. Her arms flailed, but the angels did not go away.
还不想死，这种生存的意欲让朦胧的大脑加快血液循环，让芳子回到了现实。手不断挥动挣扎着，但两位天使没有离开。

“Saved in the nick of time, nee-chan.”
“勉强安全上垒，姐姐。”

“Wonderful, wonderful, that was totally magi-cool!”
“太好了太好了，真是帅毙了。”

The two angels carried Yoshiko to the roadside, and then they slowly descended before letting go and putting Yoshiko down. As the angels released her, Yoshiko was shocked. What had just happened? She looked back, then forward, then upward, and then to both sides. The only person on the lamplit slope was Yoshiko, and even the head which had appeared in the middle of the road was gone.
两位天使提着芳子来到路边，就这样慢慢下降、松开双手，把芳子放下。在天使松开手的同时，芳子大吃一惊，究竟发生了什么事？向后望去，再往前看、上看、左右看。街灯照明下的坡道上只剩下芳子一人，连刚才出现在路中央的人头也不见了。

Nobody was there. The angels were not there. Suddenly, the voices of girls chatting came from somewhere.
谁都不在，天使也不在。突然从哪里传来了少女们的谈话声。

“Swim Swim, you idiot! While I said you could leave the temple in that outfit, it’s obvious that your ability would scare people! Even Halloween is no reason to use your ability willy-nilly! Honestly, all you do is give me trouble…”
“笨蛋泳泳！虽然我说了可以穿着这身打扮走出寺院，但是你的能力把别人吓到了不是理所当然的嘛！即使是万圣节也没有让你随意使用能力的理由！真是的，尽给我添麻烦……”

“I was just thinking that it would be a shame not to prank people on Halloween.”
“我在想，万圣节不做些恶作剧就太可惜了。”

“I’ll give you Candies later, so things like that…”
“糖果我等会给你，所以那种事……”

The voices slowly drifted away.
声音渐渐远去。

What had happened here was not an illusion. The sensation from her arms was real enough. If what had happened just now was reality, then she had probably been brought up to Heaven and then returned to earth. Her line of sight went to her right hand, which was tightly clutching white feathers.
这究竟发生了什么事，并不是幻觉，刚才手中的感触非常真实，满满的现实感。如果刚才发生的事是现实，那么自己是真的被召到天堂、又返回了人间吧。视线转移到右手中，右手紧紧地握着白色的羽毛。

Yoshiko trembled, then hugged her bag to her chest and hurriedly ran home.
芳子微微一震，抱紧学生挂包在胸口、急忙地往自家跑去。

5

After that incident, Sumire continued insisting that “Magical Girls really exist”. As usual, Yoshiko refuted her. However, she now qualified her words with “Now, if you said angels exist, I could believe that.”
事后，堇依然热情地说着“魔法少女是真实存在的。”而芳子则一如既往地给予否定。但是如今追加了一句“如果你说天使真实存在，那么我还是可以相信的。”