Chapter 24: Biohazard Pandemic

Shortly after New Year’s, the Blue Witch heard the infectious disease prevention warning issued by the Seer mage covering the entirety of Tokyo. At first, she didn’t take it too seriously.

The mage predicted a rise in health issues a month later, but such warnings had occurred before.

When a massive typhoon was foreseen, preparations like reinforcing roofs and windows minimized the damage.
When a drought was anticipated, people stored water in advance.
Even during an influenza outbreak warning, lockdowns of the epicentres successfully averted a larger pandemic.

Of course, there were plenty of tragedies that clairvoyance couldn’t prevent.

The great kaiju was overlooked. The coup in Iruma went unnoticed—though Iruma’s cunning played a significant role in that. Neither the Hell Witch’s rampage nor the destruction of the large farms in Katsushika could be stopped.

However, tragedies that were foreseen were always mitigated.

No matter how grim the event, a month of preparation was enough to reduce the damage significantly, if not entirely avert the crisis.

So, when the prediction came of an infectious disease spreading a month ahead, the Blue Witch optimistically assumed it would be a minor outbreak by the time it arrived.

But a month later, when the Blue Witch visited the magic university to deliver a letter to Ohinata from Dairi, she was shocked to find four out of the five academic departments closed.

“Many students and professors have been complaining of health issues…”

Ohinata, who welcomed the Blue Witch in the headmaster’s office, looked visibly unwell.

Her complexion was pale, and the fur on her ears and tail had lost its usual luster. The sight made the Blue Witch’s heart tighten.

“Could it be you too, Kei-chan? You should rest…”
“No. I have work to analyze the infected cases. At this university, the proportion of people feeling unwell is especially high. But some remain unaffected. I need to find out what’s causing the difference… If this university is Ground Zero for the infection… But even that doesn’t fully explain everything…”

Ohinata’s voice faltered as she tried to continue her work, but her strength was clearly failing. The handwriting produced by her fountain pen was shaky and uneven.

“You need to stop. Rest, okay?”

The Blue Witch gently took the pen from Ohinata, pushed aside the documents, and carried her over to the sofa, insisting she lie down.

Ohinata resisted briefly, reaching for her unfinished work, but after being gently laid on the soft sofa and covered with a blanket, she seemed to surrender.

The Blue Witch held Ohinata’s small hand, softly stroked her cheek, and spoke soothingly.

“Have you seen a doctor? Should I call one for you?”
“Even the doctors… many of them are falling ill. Have you seen the city? Half the population is unwell. It’s not just Bunkyo Ward. This illness could be spreading across all of Tokyo—no, perhaps all of Japan…”

Ohinata’s weak voice and closed eyes sent a chill down the Blue Witch’s spine.

She placed a hand on Ohinata’s forehead, but there was no fever. Nor was there any sweating. Yet her body was limp, as if life itself was slipping away.

“I have to… I have to find the cause of this disease…”

Ohinata’s hand lost its strength mid-sentence, and the Blue Witch panicked, calling her name while checking her pulse. Her heartbeat was still there, and her faint breathing confirmed that she had only fallen asleep. With a deep breath, the Blue Witch wiped the sweat from her brow.

Yes, rest was undoubtedly the best way to regain strength when one was so drained.

However, leaving Ohinata on the sofa indefinitely wasn’t an option. After some hesitation, the Blue Witch lifted the sofa with Ohinata on it and carried her to the university’s infirmary.

The infirmary beds were all occupied.

Students, just as pale and exhausted as Ohinata, filled every bed, and some even sat slumped on the floor.

With a grimace, the Blue Witch retrieved fresh sheets and blankets, set up a makeshift bed in an empty classroom, and carefully transferred Ohinata there. Before leaving, she used a red permanent marker to scrawl a bold warning on the door:

“Seeking Medical Professionals. All others: Intruders will be killed. —The Blue Witch”

If this truly was an infectious disease, isolating Ohinata now might not matter. However, exposing her to other patients couldn’t possibly help.

The Blue Witch stayed by Ohinata’s side all night, through the rising and setting of the moon.

She tended to Ohinata’s needs—giving her water, feeding her softened bread, adjusting her blankets to keep her comfortable, and even helping her to the bathroom. When Ohinata deliriously called out for “Father,” the Blue Witch’s heart ached. She could never be her father, but perhaps she could be like an older sister. She hoped so, at least.

As dawn broke, the Blue Witch took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders, and rubbed her eyes under her mask.

Her body felt unusually heavy. Must be exhaustion from caregiving, she thought. But after a few seconds, she remembered—she was a witch.

No amount of caregiving should have left her feeling this drained after a single night.

A chilling realization struck the Blue Witch: she was infected too.

Since becoming a witch, she had been immune to illness. Even small cuts healed within a day. But now, looking down at her trembling hands, she couldn’t deny it.

As she stood in shock, there came a knock on the door of Ohinata’s makeshift “private ward.”

“Excuse me—uh, wait… What the… Oh, Blue Witch?! I-I’m so sorry!”

The knocker had apparently noticed the warning on the door and scrambled away in panic, their hurried footsteps echoing down the hall.

Before leaving, they slipped a piece of paper through the door’s gap.

The Blue Witch retrieved the paper and read it.

The freshly printed words revealed critical information.

“The currently spreading illness becomes severe and the mortality rate jumps to 100% for those who have previously experienced loss of consciousness due to magic power depletion. Those with low magic reserves are especially advised to refrain from using magic. Please ensure this information is widely disseminated.
— Medical Team, Bunkyo Ward”

The Blue Witch crumpled the paper in her hand.

The warning had come far too late.

Due to the widespread use of fertility magic and fire magic, more than half the population of Tokyo had undoubtedly experienced fainting caused by magic power depletion.

Especially at the Magic University, where the entrance exam included a test of magic reserves, 99% of the students had a history of fainting from magic depletion.

Naturally, Ohinata, who was at the forefront of magic linguistics, had also fainted from magic depletion numerous times.

And the Blue Witch herself had fainted once during the battle to subdue the giant monster due to magic depletion.

The Blue Witch was now tumbling down a path toward death.

The Blue Witch returned to her home in Ome while she still had enough strength left to move.

She had taken many lives in the past—whether for vengeance, self-defense, or collateral damage in the pursuit of saving others, each killing had its own rationale. But murder was murder. She had amassed countless grudges over the years.

What terrified her most was the thought that those seeking revenge on her might target the people she cared about. Her strength had allowed her to ignore such threats until now, but not anymore.

On the way back to her home, the sight of the deathly quiet city reminded her of the earliest days of the disaster.

The doors of houses were firmly shut, and there were few people walking on the streets. Even when someone was collapsed by the roadside, no one had the energy to care.

Just a few days ago, the city had been bustling with life. But now, it was eerily quiet, as though the fire of life had been extinguished.

Seeing the dried-out soil and withered flowers in the garden of one house, the Blue Witch felt a deep gloom.

The witches’ efforts had successfully brought vibrant life back to Tokyo, but it turned out to be fleeting beauty, doomed to wither so quickly.

Upon reaching her home, the Blue Witch lay down to conserve her remaining strength.

When she woke up, a mushroom was growing on her head.

“…What is this?”

Looking into the mirror over the sink, she saw a mushroom sprouting from the top of her head. Its color and shape brought back unpleasant memories.

The purple and red mottled cap, and the grotesque human-like wrinkles on its stalk—it was strikingly similar to the mushroom monsters that the Iruma mage had controlled using puppet magic.

While these mushrooms were human-sized, the one on her head was much smaller, palm-sized.

When the mushroom monsters had been defeated, their bodies had exploded.

They had shattered into fine particles, scattering everywhere.

The explosion itself was minor, but almost everyone present at the battle, including the witch’s gathering, had been coated in the dispersed powder.

At the time, no one had paid it much attention, but it might not have been just powder—it could have been spores.

If the witches had been infected back then, unknowingly becoming carriers who spread the spores throughout Tokyo, then the current situation made far more sense.

The Blue Witch carefully placed scissors against the base of the mushroom growing on her head, watching herself in the mirror as she cut it off.

Clearly, such a foreign object growing on her head couldn’t be a good thing.

But her decision turned out to be a grave mistake.

As soon as she cut it off, an intense dizziness overwhelmed her. Her magic energy was rapidly drained from her entire body, and within seconds, an identical mushroom had grown back in the exact same spot.

Not only did she lose magic energy, but her condition deteriorated sharply.

This was no longer a matter of mere fatigue. Even standing required immense effort.

Cursing her rash decision, the Blue Witch dragged her heavy body to her study, slapped her cheeks to force her sluggish mind into action, and staggered to the bookshelf.

She pulled books down one after another until she found an old mushroom encyclopedia she’d received as a child and barely read.

Clinging to any hope, she flipped through its pages.

The book didn’t have any information about the mushroom monsters or this illness, but it did provide her with a grim realization.

Some types of mushrooms spread their mycelium throughout the substrate long before sprouting mushrooms on the surface.

What appeared to be a mushroom suddenly sprouting overnight from decayed wood was, in reality, the result of months of preparation. The fungus would first spread its roots throughout the entire piece of wood, gradually infiltrating every part of it.

Only when it had fully claimed its territory would it send up mushrooms in one sudden flourish.

The Blue Witch realized from the information she had gathered, combined with the sensation of having her magic power rapidly drained when cutting the mushroom, that her body was already thoroughly invaded by the mycelium of the monstrous mushroom.

The mushroom growing on her head was merely the visible tip of the iceberg.

The true cause lay in the mycelium that had spread throughout her entire body.

There was no way to deal with this situation.
Surgical removal was out of the question, and to burn everything would mean reducing her entire body to ashes.

The Blue Witch tried to use ice magic to cool herself down and slow the mushroom’s growth by lowering her body temperature. However, whether due to the advanced stage of the disease or her deteriorating magic control, the spell would not activate.
Even when she recited the incantation, the magic energy that should have been forming the spell was siphoned off by the mushroom instead.

Stricken with severe illness and deprived of her ability to use magic, the Blue Witch was overcome with despair.

Was there nothing left but to die?
To let the mushroom drain her magic and life force until she became nothing more than its seedbed and perished?

She cursed the Iruma mage, who had left behind this worst of ticking time bombs, whether by design or accident. No matter how many times she had killed him, it was never enough.

Suddenly, she remembered that she needed to warn Dairi about the mushroom disease. Living deep in the mountains, Dairi likely had no knowledge of the situation.
The Blue Witch served as Dairi’s source of information. If she said nothing, Ōri would remain in the dark.

Whether he had ever experienced a fainting spell caused by magic deficiency was unknown, but if she hadn’t, she needed to be warned to prevent the disease from worsening—rising to a 100% fatality rate.

Her mind, now sluggish and muddled, struggled even to realize something so obvious.

However, when she tried to send a warning through her familiar’s magic eye, she found she could no longer produce a voice. Only hoarse breaths escaped her throat, barely audible.

The Blue Witch was not afraid of her own death.
She had long since moved past such worries.

What terrified her was the inability to protect those she cared about.
The thought of losing the lives of her loved ones, of letting them slip away, filled her with dread.

There was nothing more she could do for Dairi. In her current condition, she would only hinder efforts better left to the medical team in Bunkyō Ward.
But for Dairi, she had to act.

If the magic eye communication was useless, then she would simply have to travel to Okutama on foot.

The Blue Witch crawled out of her bed and slid down the stairs from the second floor, dragging herself to the first floor.
Her body moved not on strength but on sheer willpower.

After taking nearly an hour to crawl a distance of less than 10 meters, the Blue Witch noticed a letter lying beneath the front door.

A letter… When had it been delivered?
Now that she thought about it, she faintly recalled hearing the doorbell some time ago.

Her hearing, too, had weakened.

Blinking her blurry eyes repeatedly, she strained to read the name of the sender.
It was from the “Seer of the Future.”

Despite having a magic eye familiar, the Seer had opted to send a letter. What could they be thinking?

Her foggy mind was soon met with an equally foggy realization.

The Seer had also been infected by the mushroom and could no longer use magic.
If their condition had advanced to that stage, they wouldn’t be able to visit in person either. Sending a letter must have been their only option.

What had the Seer witnessed?
What were they trying to tell her?

The Blue Witch still hadn’t entirely let go of her suspicion toward the Seer.

Iruma had seemed trustworthy, too—so capable and sincere that everyone believed in him.
Yet he had secretly plotted a devastating coup.

She wanted to trust the Seer, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so fully…

That hesitation faded along with her capacity to think.

Her mind had slowed to the point where even doubt was difficult to maintain.

If the Seer was offering hope, then the Blue Witch had no choice but to cling to it.

The Blue Witch opened the letter and tried to read its contents.

But she no longer had the strength to open the sealed envelope.

She tried over and over again to unseal it, but each attempt failed.
Utterly defeated, tears spilled from her eyes.

Hope was in her hands, yet she could do nothing.

Her entire being was consumed by despair, leaving her blind to any light.

Time lost all meaning. She had no sense of how much time had passed.

Then, suddenly, she felt the letter being taken from her hands.

“What the heck are you doing? What’s this letter about?”

Despite the unprecedented biohazard unfolding around them, Dairi’s carefree, clueless voice, lacking any sense of urgency, felt oddly reassuring in this moment.

Relieved beyond measure, the Blue Witch finally let go of the tenuous hold she had on her consciousness and fell into a deep coma.

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