Disclaimer: I do not own Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni or Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
This is my attempt at a short story which blends together the Higurashi world with the Madoka world.
HOWEVER, the following is a continuation of a one-shot Higurashi chapter, Hinageshi-Hen, which focused on Mion Sonozaki. You can find it online.
This will also spoil information about Madoka, so I suggest you read the main story before you read this.
Puella Magi Mion Magica
A.K.A.
Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni ~ Mahoushoujo-Hen
Chapter One - The Wizard Of Oz
The following is a continuation of the Higurashi one-shot story Hinageshi-Hen, mixed with traces of Madoka Magica.
1984
It's snowing again today. Watch as it piles up near the window.
The patient is a permanent resident. She doesn't get many visitors. Her family and friends died over a year ago.
It's not as if she's aware of it though. Most of the time she's asleep, lost in her own little world.
It's because of the disease she's contracted. Poor thing. There's no cure for it.
So she never has to learn that the people she loved so dearly are all gone.
It's a pity she doesn't get many visitors.
Most of the time.
...
Cold... I'm so cold again... why is it so cold?
"Well hello there."
Who's that?
"Are you awake again?"
Awake?
"The doctors have decided that you ll never truly wake up."
Huh?
"They don t seem to be aware of your infrequent lapses back into reality."
Who's there?
"But I am."
I?
"The dream world must be quite a comfort to reality's cold touch."
It sounds like a little girl. Rika-chan?
"No. Not Rika-chan."
Then...?
"I guess I must be lucky. I wonder how long you'll stay awake this time."
This time?
"In answer to your earlier question, it's a hinageshi."
Hinageshi?
The girl in bed began to stir, until finally finding the strength to lift herself up. The covers slid off her slightly emaciated frame, and she turned her head towards the sound of the girl-like voice.
Over by the window, there was a lone vase framed against a window, snow silently falling from the black-and-gray sky. In the vase was a single scarlet blossom, out of season though it may be.
Beside the vase was an animal of some sort, with a long tail and big ears. It looked like a cat, or maybe a dog. She couldn't recall ever seeing an animal like it.
"More commonly known as a red poppy."
A red poppy...
"In the language of flowers, a red poppy means to say consolation. The poppy flower is famously known for the way it trapped Dorothy in sleep in The Wizard of Oz, only to be frozen so she might awake and find the Wizard. Its use is a reference to it being used to create the drug known as opium. Heh-heh. I guess someone in this ward must have an ironic sense of humor."
Ward? Where am I? A hospital?
She turned her head from side to side to get a better look at her surroundings. She was indeed in a hospital, a single room. She was the only person in the room beside the animal by the window.
"Would you like to find the Wizard who'll make everything better, Mion Sonozaki?"
So of course the voice was coming from the animal.
Who, what...?
"What are you?" She finally managed to speak. It felt weird to actually open her mouth. Like she hadn't used it to speak in a long time.
"I'm the wizard. I've come to grant your heart's desire."
The cat/dog/thing hopped off the windowsill onto Mion's bed. She put a hand to her forehead as she began to feel slightly dizzy.
"Ugh, I feel so weak..."
"It's only natural. You ve been in sleep's cozy embrace for a while."
Mion could tell that the animal's voice was a projection of its mind, because as it spoke its mouth never moved.
"A, a while?" Mion asked.
The animal nodded its head. It didn't blink as it began to explaining the situation, which only made Mion more uneasy.
"They've had to feed you with machines, and they've had to clean up your waste. You've been given sponge baths, and they've had to make sure you don't develop bed sores."
"They?"
"The doctors and nurses of course. This is a hospital after all." The animal mentioned matter-of-factly.
"But, but what am I doing here?" Mion asked.
"You contracted a very serious illness, Mion Sonozaki. It doesn't have a cure. But you're lucky, compared to most."
Mion's heart sank.
"N-no cure? Am I... a-are you Death?"
Despite no shift in its facial features, Mion felt the animal found that question rather amusing.
"Heh. Quite the opposite, actually. I'm here to give you back your life."
"You said, you were the wizard." Mion repeated its earlier words. The animal nodded its head in agreement.
"Well, I came to grant your wish. Tell me, Mion Sonozaki, would you like to see your friends again? Your twin sister? Would you like to have the happy life you once had in your home of Hinamizawa back?"
"I don't understand. What about my friends? And what about Shion?" Mion asked as she began to recall all the friends she had left behind.
"Why, they're dead of course."
The atmosphere had become so tense and so still a falling pin could've had the same impact as an atomic bomb. Mion suddenly felt sick to her stomach and her skin became even paler than it was before.
"D, dead?" Mion whispered.
Keiichi. Rena. Satoko. Rika. Shion.
"All of them?"
"And your mother. And grandmother. Your schoolteacher. Your friends' parents. The whole town of Hinamizawa." The animal bluntly stated.
"H-how? How?" Mion screamed.
"A gas leak killed the whole town. Except for Miss Furude. They said they found her sliced open, as if she was vivisected while still breathing." The animal had no compunctions with the way it gave Mion the details. It spoke, or thought, however way you wanted to view it, with no remorse and no hint of emotion beyond what felt like a sense of inhuman detachment.
"No! No you're lying!" Mion shouted.
"I'm afraid not."
Tears fell from her eyes as she tried to comprehend the situation.
"Why?"
"Well Mion, you were lucky. As soon as you lapsed into your illness you were hospitalized and missed the destruction."
"What is this disease I have? Why was I spared?" Mion cried.
"It's called Hinamizawa Syndrome. It's a disease which causes rampant hallucinations and paranoia depending on the amount of stress you suffer. The more rampant the disease the less chance of recovery. Think back. What do you remember?"
Mion began to wrack her sleep-addled brain for memories of before her coma.
"I remember... I was away. I was at school, and I was looking forward to the Cotton Drifting Festival. I just, I wanted to see my friends again. I was working so hard but I wasn t doing as good as everyone had hoped I would. But, I was nervous. I, for some reason I started to think my friends didn t want me anymore. God I was so stupid. I made so many silly conclusions."
"Takano certainly didn't make things easier, did she?" The animal cocked its head to the side.
"Yes. Miyo Takano. She was a local nurse. She told us a story. One of our local customs. Every year, we make a Hina doll and set it down the river. The dolls are supposed to represent our impurities. But, every year, there would be a doll missing. And the person that doll represents they would be sent down the river."
"And your doll was missing." The animal pointed out as it reached a conclusion on its own.
"Yes, that's why I thought they had forsaken me. But, but it turned out they were just planning to fix my doll. They just wanted to surprise me. Only, only I can't tell if that was a dream. How long have I been asleep?" The tension in Mion s voice mounted to another yell of desperation.
"Currently, it's November 28th of the year 1984."
With that, Mion lowered her hands in defeat and just let the tears flow naturally. Despite the position of her eyes, she wasn't really looking anywhere.
Her friends are dead. Her family is dead. Her home is gone. And who knows how long before she lapses back into her comfortable dream land where everything is okay, all the while her body wastes away, being fed and washed and changed like a baby.
The animal slowly walked on all fours right up towards Mion's tear stained face.
"Don't be sad, Mion. You're being given another chance. You can do it all over again." The animal explained, its tone never changing. "All you have to do is make a wish. A contract. Say the word, and you can have your old life.
Mion blinked.
Was it possible?
"Why do you want to give this to me? What do you get out of it?" Mion asked.
"Well, when the wish is granted, in exchange you have to fight." The animal told her.
"Fight?"
"You'll receive amazing powers above those of ordinary people. You'll become a magical girl."
Mion had no idea what this meant.
"A, magical girl?"
"Or Puella Magi. Or Mahou Shoujo. Whichever way you want to phrase it. You may be able to figure out the truth of Hinamizawa, but you'll have to deal with other threats."
"Threats? What kind of-?"
"As a magical girl, it's your responsibility to fight against forces which threaten to plunge the world into despair. These forces are called witches."
"Witches? Magical girls?" Mion asked in utter helplessness. "This is insane."
"This is your life, Mion Sonozaki. It's not my fault, and it's not your fault either. But would you rather be spending your life in a hospital bed?"
Mion eyed the thing suspiciously as she tried to think over the situation.
"How, how do I know that, you aren t just another hallucination?" She asked it.
"Hmm. I guess you don't. And besides, does it matter if I am? You either get to figure out what happened to your friends, or this could all just be another dream. Why worry about it?"
"...what would it cost."
"Does that matter?"
"Stop with your goddamn rhetoric WHAT WOULD IT COST?" Mion shrieked with a force she didn't think she had in her anymore.
"Your soul, Mion Sonozaki. In exchange for your soul and your services, I will give back to you your life and your precious home town."
Mion lowered her head in resignation.
"So, so that's it. I either sell my soul or I live in a fantasy while the real world passes by."
"If you have to put that way, I guess. What is a soul, really? Would you have even known you had one until this moment?" The animal which may have very well been Satan asked before it straightened up in front of her.
"Now then, Mion Sonozaki, what would you like to wish for in exchange for your soul?"
Mion looked at the animal in defeat before letting out a long sigh. At a crossroads she could have never imagined her life reaching in a million years.
"...I guess it doesn't matter at this point."
And so Mion Sonozaki made her wish.
"I, I want to be cured of my illness so I can go back to June of 1983 and be able to live my life again from that point, in Hinamizawa with my friends and family. That is my wish."
The animal nodded without blinking.
"How very concise."
A moment went by.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Do it!" Mion yelled. Do whatever the hell you re supposed to-"
Mion couldn't finish that sentence as a terrible, searing pain gripped her chest. Pain she had never known before in her entire life. She found it hard to breath as her vision blurred and a white hot feeling rose in her chest. The animal's expression still had not changed as a bright light emerged from the frightened girl's body.
"It's done." The animal told her. "Now, all you have to do is take your newfound power, and your wish will be so, Mion Sonozaki."
Mion gripped her chest as she set her gaze on the glowing orb in front of her.
"Is, is that it?" She asked, afraid to reach out and touch it, for the moment she did, it would mean that this was indeed happening, and that she would never be able to go back.
"Yes. That's your soul."
My soul.
Mion cast her gaze downward.
"You say it so easily."
"This isn't my first time."
"Of course it's not." Mion sighed, reaching her own conclusion.
There's no turning back.
Mion looked at the ball of light which was her soul, and, with hesitation, reached out towards it, and grasped it in her hand. She blinked once, twice, and after the third time, she suddenly found herself standing in a familiar, yet altogether surprising, setting.
1983
The coldness had disappeared, and a slight summer breeze blew through her bright green hair.
Mion Sonozaki was now standing above the town of Hinamizawa. She could see everything, the whole town which she had grown up in and spent her entire life in, save for her brief time in that prep school.
The setting sun cast off a skyward color similar to the flower in the hospital room she had just been in.
Her body no longer felt stiff and emaciated. She was now a year younger, and she was wearing the clothes she had worn when she arrived back to Hinamizawa the first time.
The dizziness and soreness was gone, the entire year of sleeping and briefly waking, of being fed by machines and relieving herself with bed pans and developing bed sores was gone completely, save for a lingering sense of a phantom sensation.
Mion blinked twice before the situation began to set in amidst her confusion.
"What? I thought, what happened to the hospital?" She asked to no one, and of course, received no answer. Mion looked around to see if there was anyone else there, a witness to the sudden appearance of the heir to the Sonozaki Family. There was no one.
Her heart beating rapidly, Mion took in a deep inhale of sweet, summer air, and then exhaled as she began to calm down. That was when she realized she was holding onto something.
She felt something heavy in her closed right hand. As she lifted it to her face, she discovered she was now holding a beautiful, round jewel set in gold.
Her jewel. Her soul. Her proof that she had a second chance.
"It, it was real?" She asked to herself. She closed her grip once again and held her soul towards her chest.
"It was real." She said, in confirmation to herself, a small smile forming on her face.
And with that, Mion Sonozaki began to walk, then run, down the path to her town. Her home. Her family. Her friends.
"I'm home. I'm home! Ahahaha! I'm home!"
In the distance, the cicadas were crying.
...
Hinamizawa is an interesting setting.
We Incubators have never paid much attention to it, but there is something odd about it. Witches don't normally manifest here. In fact, to our knowledge, no witches have ever emerged in Hinamizawa. Which is understandable, since we've never made contracts with anyone in the area.
However, Mion Sonozaki's wish has tied together the fate of every inhabitant of Hinamizawa with her own. I don't think we ll have to wait long for a decent output of energy from this magical girl. With no witches to fight, she should either exhaust her energy or succumb to despair pretty quickly in the battle to come.
Yes, it won't be long now.