The Goddess and the Mysterious Record

*A long time ago, beyond the future, beyond the stars, sits the goddes of magical girls.*

*Every day, the goddes takes a seat in a corner of space and spins around. She focuses on the sounds of countless records, and peacefully smiles.*

*While watching over all magical girls, the goddess listens indiscriminately...*

*To the first sounds of that born by the ancient, distant cosmos, and the cheerful voices of girls in the distant future alike.*

Madoka: *"Huh? There was a record like this?"*

*When the twinkling of the stars went to sleep, the goddess found just one "unknown record" she had forgotten to visit.*

*She should have known it, but she didn't. There's no way she missed it, yet it was her first time seeing it.*

*That was the first time this had ever happened to the goddess. Filled with unease and expectation, she extended her hand toward that disc, and gently, reverently, lowered the needle.*

*From the surface of the record, the goddess could hear the song of magical girls she knew well.*

*Sometimes, the song of a tiny hero who spun the threads of history. Sometimes, the song of that girl who dreamed of galaxies in the back alley. Sometimes, the song of a girl who composed thoughts in a hidden room.*

*Every one of those singing voices belonged to a magical girl blessed by the goddess.*

*The goddess acknowledged that she was accustomed to these voices, but it was a mystery why she knew not of a record of voices she knew.*

*The goddess rested her chin on the planet's ring, and let the singing voices that came flowing from the record resonate in her ears, but suddenly, she opened her eyes wide in surprise.*

*This was because of a voice she had never heard before.*

*The goddess was flustered, and rushed about listening to the sounds of other records, but only this one record before her eyes had the song of a magical girl she did not know coming from it.*

*"There there, calm down, frayed threads of fate. Panic ensues from the film springing forth. Mockery arises from cracking eggs. Now now, you girls there, come close and have a taste."*

*Even the cheerful interjections between songs were new to her.*

*For there to be a magical girl I don't know, what might be going on?*

*The goddess tilted her head slightly and listened to the record once again, but that unknown voice she had never heard before suddenly seemed so familiar.*

*How long had it been since she'd heard a new song? Since the time before dawn when the dinosaurs roared? Since the great tombs were built in the desert?*

*No, not either of those.*

*It had been since the time when the goddess was still just a human girl.*

*Thinking of the mysterious unknown, the goddess added the song of her blessing to the song of the new magical girl.*

*However, what to do? No matter how much she sings, the goddess's voice would not be engraved upon the record disc. Neither the front or the back showed any signs of having been changed.*

*What was going on? The goddess's voice simply wouldn't be engraved in the record. This was the first time this had ever happened.*

*Why is my song alone being excluded!?*

*The goddess, in a huff, gradually began to feel more uneasy.*

*And so she decided to listen to the record once more from the beginning.*

*I've listened to this record before...*

*Having returned to the start of the record, indeed the voices that streamed forth were ones she had heard, and blessed, many times over.*

*No matter how much she strained her ears, no matter how much she stared at them singing, nothing changed.*

*It really should be a record I know...*

*Still worrying about it, this time she decided to listen to the end of the record.*

*Huh?*

*I can't hear any sounds at all...*

*There were so many firsts that her unease began changing into impatience.*

*Even now, just as in the past, and beyond, even in the overturned future, she knew all of the unlimited, silently watching over magical girls from far beyond the sky.*

*That's how the goddess of magical girls should have been, but listening to the end of this record was the one thing beyond the goddess's capabilities.*

*The voice she had just listened to, spellbound, and grown accustomed to, now felt almost eerie.*

*The girl surrounded with machines, thinking of space. The girl in her bed, spinning stories that reach the world. The girl burning away her meager life to illuminate her surroundings. The girl devoted to the other three.*

*All of those voices were warm and kind, but no matter how millions of times she streaked across the sky, journeying to beyond futures past...*

*In the end, the goddess could find no other record in which she heard their songs.*

*The goddesss listened to the newly-found record one sound a ta time, and carefully took a look at the singing girls.*

*She was looking for what was behind the appearance of the magical girls whose voices she had never heard before.*

*Ah, right then... that was a strange sound...*

*It was a truly miniscule change, like the sneeze of a flea in comparison to the infinite vastness of space.*

*The goddess hurried to stop the record and stared at the groove of the uniformly carved disc.*

*And what did she see?*

*There were traces of the groove having been re-carved, just as when the goddess would bestow her song of blessing.*

*And even now, the groove was still being carved.*

*An unknown record, never before seen. Unknown magical girls' voices, never before heard. An unknown re-carving of the groove, never before noticed.*

*All that the unknown voices gave birth to started here.*

*I wonder if this record plays bad music?*

*But the goddess didn't know, for the record was in the middle of being created.*

*Let's hold off on bestowing the song of blessing...*

*There was nothing else she could do. If she added her song of blessing to the voice of the record still being carved, there was a chance this wayward record might break.*

*The goddess decided to simply watch over it.*

*But if it's a bad record, then I have to break it, right?*

*When the now nearly familiar record, carved with mysterious, fun, and frightful voices, becomes truly complete...*

*Would the goddess break it, or would she bestow her blessings upon it?*

[brief fade to black]

*The goddess herself did not know.*

[brief fade to black]

*The goddess herself didn't know.*