Kagome Journal Edits

PROLOGUE
----
Nightfall is the harbinger of unfolding curses,
as "Witches" tread the town underfoot
and drag people into the Dark.

And who do you think saves them?

Where there's Light, there's is hope.  Where there's hope, there are Wishes.
When a girl utters her Wish to a strange, white creature, her strong hope becomes Light,
imbuing her with the power to illuminate the Dark.

And that is how "Magical Girls" are born.

However, the Dark enshrouds that Light.

Where there's Dark, there is despair: the reverse of Light's hope.
"Magical Girls" ride a depair-bound train,
that despair tinging them a little bit more
with each "Witch" they fight.

To be despair-tinged is to fall into the Dark...

The "Jewel" that once shone with life is dyed pitch-black,
and the "Magical Girl" transforms into a "Witch".

Round and round and round goes the vicious cycle:
for hundreds if not thousands of years,
the litany of sacrifices has grown.

Unbearable... sorrowful... shameful...
So shameful I was, knowing nothing of death.

Hence this pen and paper...

One letter.  Two letters.  Let it be one stroke at a time,
if by them I fight my fate, and brighten our Light...

With each of us who learns the truth,
the Light of the Magical Girls shines all the brighter.


CHAPTER 1 EPISODE 1: BEGINNING
----
It whispers into my ear
the words of Kamihama's Magical Girls.

Small words, individually.
Inconsequential chat.

Those thin threads, when spun together,
begin cohering into a tapestry
of the world these Magical Girls inhabit.

"Magical Girls": that Light of hope enshrouded by the Dark.

To them, Kamihama is a special place,
overflowing with power untainted by the Dark;
where, miraculously, they will never become Witches.

Is it a Utopia?
A Shangri-la for Magical Girls?

Though their hands join in a circle
that revolves with their daily lives,
I can make out the creaking sounds
of cracks beginning to form.


CHAPTER 1 EPISODE 1: END
----
The Magical Girls' voices fill my ears.

A mysterious girl...
Bracelets...
Those who seek them...

People led here by an unseen force:
what are they after, I wonder...?

They are like pitch-black waves
wrought by the restless ocean at nightfall.

Will everyone be okay?
Can they remain unharmed...?

They too are Magical Girls...

I sense in these towering waves
something like the will to Live.

Perhaps our Light
runs in pursuit of theirs...


CHAPTER 1 EPISODE 2: BEGINNING
----
A girl with sparkling silver ring.
Their words again reach my ears:
me, who was close at hand.

Gentle were the words, wafting like a mild breeze --
Like the whisper of one at my shoulder.
But within them, a blade
That transfixed me with each syllable.

Firm rules.
A dungeon, shut tight.
And Magical Girls, circling within.

The Magical Girls from without, and the Bracelet:
a great wave washing over those unable to flee.

Welling up from their feet, seemingly,
to drown the Magical Girls' sundered world...

With it, great anxiety...
Unknown to all...


CHAPTER 1 EPISODE 3: BEGINNING
----
The great wave swells as it strikes Kamihama.
Tales of the mysterious Magical Girls and the Bracelet
soon sweep across the city.

Amidst it all,
it brings me the words --
again like a mild breeze,
gentle in my ears.

The Magical Girls are moving, it says.
As another great swell,
they are moving.

Pitter-patter --
halting are my steps, and small my body,
quite unsuited to exertion
as I labor toward my destination.

And, reaching it, I hear it whisper:
"Here it comes".

I sensed nothing,
wondering in that peculiar instant
if it meant some sort of beast.

Then, slithering through the foliage
of the deep forest spread before me,
*something* parted the branches dead ahead.


CHAPTER 1 EPSIODE 4: BEGINNING
----
The nighttime forest was pitch black,
its shadows seeming to embrace me
and the moonlit sky above tinged in my eyes.

Yet today the forest seemed brighter still:
lights red, green and blue flickered
in a colorful display from within.

It was like a festival,
And how fondly I wish
a festival was what it was.

For those were the lights
of all the Magical Girls in battle...

A flash, as light streaks forth.
A crash, as its target scatters asunder.
Light twinkling, again and again,
as everyone's lives fly away...

I watch it all, unable even to move.
I watch it all, for that is my role.

Before long, the light fades,
And it whispers to me:
"They're going within, let's follow them..."


CHAPTER 1 EPISODE 4: MIDDLE
----
I heard them.
I heard them without a word being uttered.
The Magical Girls' voices,
And Kyuubey's voice, urging me on.

Cables stretch like serpents
amidst the imperturbable blinking lights
inside the jutting, artificial fastness of the radio telescope.

Hiding in a crevice, I feared for a moment
that the sound of my own heart would betray me.
But that thought was blown away in the next instant.

For I plainly beheld that which surrounded the Magical Girls,
assailed by a sensation like
Fate itself pumping harder
in place of my own heart.
The lofty, passionate words
of Magical Girls from so many lands
were a finger tightening around the trigger...

*BANG*

"Well, this is it...
Our battle begins..."
Iroha-san was right:
I too heard the sound of the starting pistol.


CHAPTER 1 EPISODE 5: PROMISED BLOOD
----
"Promised Blood"

Magical Girls from Futatsuki City who,
despite their dislike of Kamihama's Magical Girls,
are bent on stealing the Auto-Purification System...

They blaze like black flames,
unflinching when baring their sharpened fangs at us.

But is it fury in their eyes?
Or perhaps, the sorrow of those who are lost.

Though they seem clever carnivores,
their cheeks are streaked with the tears of the cow
whose calf has been taken away to market.


CHAPTER 1 EPISODE 4: TOKIME CLAN
----
"The Tokime Clan"

Magical Girls from Kirimine Village's Tokime settlement,
seeking to escape their fated transformation into Witches
that they might fight unfettered as the Swords of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Perhaps because of their origins, an area rich with greenery,
they seem as soft as down --
and limpid as spring water.

But white things, clear things, are easily soiled.

In Kamihama, with its myriad of hues,
I fear they may become discolored.

Even the finest brush,
when too many pigments comingle,
yields paintings in nothing but black...


CHAPTER 1 EPISODE 4: NEO-MAGIUS
----
"Neo-Magius"

A portion of the Magical Girls formerly known as the "Wings of Magius",
seeking to control the Auto-Purification System
in pursuit of further spreading their Magical Girl Supremacy ideology.

Perhaps they, like I, have always found
misery in the chore of remaining alive...
At the thought,
I find myself sympathizing with them.

Yet no matter their pain -- no matter how pitiable --
I see how twisted and warped their hearts have become.

They must see themselves as drowning,
frantically trying to breathe as the water approaches their lungs,
seeking anything they might cling on to.

And it appears that last handhold has just snapped.


CHAPTER 1 EPISODE 4: KAMIHAMA MAGIA UNION
----
"Kamihama Magia Union"

A group gathered from Kamihama's Magical Girls,
working to support each other
while expanding the Auto-Purification System to the rest of the world.

Draped, like loose-woven netting,
over the metropolis that is Kamihama.

Surely it would rip if firmly tugged...?
If a fire broke out somewhere,
surely it would be instantly torn to shreds?

The net has faced the swell of a monster wave,
and though shaken fiercely,
has withstood everything those in the water threw at it.

And caught in it, are fish bigger than any dared dream,
whose struggles continue to this day...