Chapter 47: Open Your Heart

Peck.

I awoke to the soft sensation on my lips.

Before my eyes was a familiar face.

Long black hair, black eyes, and the once-expressionless face of Lee Seoa, now replaced with a shy one.

Lying next to her in my bed had become familiar.

“Sorry… I thought you weren’t waking up, so I just…”

In the dizzying low blood pressure of early morning, I forced my malfunctioning brain to recall yesterday’s events.

A blood-red sunset that seemed to be dying, a confession of love.

I had often thought it would come to this, and swept up in the mood, I accepted her confession and even kissed her.

But looking back after a night’s sleep, it felt a little bewildering.

To think I initiated the kiss, it was as if my feelings for her were completely overwhelming me.

Moreover, since then, Seoa had been constantly asking for kisses.

She would slightly lower her gaze, touch her own lips, and hesitate.

If I held her chin or wrapped an arm around her waist and moved closer, she would close her eyes and slightly pucker her lips.

She was adorable, like a baby bird begging for food.

“Thank you, I love you.”

I returned her kiss and got out of bed before Seoa could react.

I need to clear my head in the shower.

Standing under the warm water, facing my own reflection in the wiped-clean mirror, all sorts of thoughts raced through my mind.

Brown hair, brown eyes, a lovely impression.

An appearance that easily wins favor from anyone, especially older people.

I really liked it.

My usual expression when alone was a frozen, emotionless one, just like Lee Seoa’s when we first met.

Showing emotion was a means to induce and manipulate the emotional expression of others, so I had no expression to waste on myself.

But as I grew closer to Lee Seoa, and now that we were finally lovers, a smile would appear on my face just from looking at her, before I could even think about what the appropriate emotional expression would be.

It was a world away from when we first met, when I had deliberated over when and what expressions to make, and what actions to take to make her dependent on me.

Lovers, lovers.

I had never experienced love firsthand, and I thought I never would.

To think my first love would be with someone of the same s*x.

At first, I had approached her thinking a neighbor would be a nuisance and wanting to get rid of her quickly.

But instead, I had fallen head over heels for Lee Seoa.

Her miserable spirit was just so captivating.

Well, she’s lovely, so it doesn’t matter.

Even if you try to hold and dominate someone else’s life, you can’t win against the hormones and instincts that dominate your own.

The thought of not wanting to see that girl, Lee Seoa, sad in the slightest, contradicts the modus operandi of the self-proclaimed artist, Ahn Yujin.

A voice cries out to snatch away the small life she has painstakingly grasped, to fill it only with my name, with the existence of Ahn Yujin,

to not hold a single genuine emotion as I have always done, and to completely dominate Lee Seoa’s life and complete her as a work of art.

The voice of instinctual love tries to block it.

However, in the end, the temporarily seething instinctual emotions are bound to dry up once the hormones and chemicals are depleted.

What remains for a long time are only the reason and modus operandi engraved deep in the brain.

With every drop of water from the faucet, I wash away a drop of emotion.

The love I have is not the ordinary love that normal people talk about.

In a way, you could say it’s close to platonic love.

Although it’s completely different from what is generally referred to as platonic love.

As I have done countless times before, approaching people who have fallen into a life of deficiency and hardship, giving them what they perceive as love, becoming their friend, neighbor, family, and everything.

It is truly a platonic, or even agape, love.

With each drop of water pouring from the showerhead, I washed away and wiped clean a drop of the romantic feelings I had for Lee Seoa.

I was almost certain about her true identity, lacking only the proof, but that was no longer a matter for consideration.

She couldn’t possibly harm me.

The revolver I had acquired just in case would be confined to its drawer for the time being.

A confession of love and a confession of identity.

She had made one of the two, and she, who was already dependent on me, would now be forced to depend on me completely, both body and soul.

Unless I suddenly announced a breakup.

It would be perfect if she would just confess her identity with her own lips.

The deepest secret that can never be revealed.

Because for her to reveal to me the identity she tried to hide even while revealing the pain and wounds of her childhood, would mean that she had truly been completed.

A thought I have mulled over countless times, but now, there is truly only one step left until completion.

I looked in the mirror and touched my face here and there.

“Good.”

A more natural and lovely smile than usual formed.

“Yujin.

“Um…”

Before leaving the house, Seoa fidgeted with her hands and averted her gaze shyly.

“I know.

“Here.”

And a light kiss.

The short, short vacation ended, the date changed, and our daily lives began to move again.

From Seoa’s perspective, with the addition of the relationship of being lovers.

Arriving at the center, just as I was about to get out of the car, Seoa linked her arm with mine.

She clung to me, pressing her chest and face against me, but her gaze was shyly directed to the side, which was an endearing imbalance.

Was she imitating the old, cheap romance movie that had been broadcasted to fill the TV schedule, the one we had watched together last night?

I felt a sense of cuteness and loveliness from the bottom of my heart, but my emotions didn’t stir in the slightest.

Good.

“Uht.”

When I gave her another short kiss, this time her face flushed red and she quickly pulled her arm away.

How many times had it been already?

Since waking up, even in the car, whenever the signal stopped, I couldn’t help but kiss her when she looked at me with an expectant expression.

It’s the first time for both of us, so we can’t help but be excited.

Perhaps, she doesn’t know anything beyond kissing?

How interesting.

“Seoa, outside…”

“Yeah.

“I know.”

There was no reason to engage in romantic behavior in front of others.

Although it was an era of everyone for themselves, there was no reason to attract attention at this point, when I needed to start thinking about sorting out Seoa’s relationships with other people.

Come to think of it, she hasn’t smoked at all in the past few days.

I wonder where she got them, but they were piled up in the cupboard.

It’s good that there’s one less thing to worry about.

Is it because she’s worried I’ll dislike the smell, or can hugs and kisses replace cigarettes?

“Hello~”

As I greeted them as always and went inside, a few people were not at their desks.

“Those two took a vacation too.

“They said they were scared of the monsters and would stay home for a few days.

“Don’t you think they’re overreacting?

“They used to come to work just fine when it was much more dangerous before.

“I know work is slow these days, but at a time like this…”

I dodged the endless stream of complaints and backbiting by agreeing appropriately and went inside.

The TV turned on in the corner of the office was already reporting that over 20 demons had been caught in the metropolitan area in a single day.

If the monsters and magical girls are active for a long time, won’t there be more clashes with Lee Seoa?

Like that one time before.

It wouldn’t be bad for her identity as a magical girl to be explicitly revealed like that, but it would be boring if things were to be suppressed so smoothly.

Well, if the monsters go on a rampage, there’s a risk that other works of art will die, so I guess it can’t be helped.

I decided to wish the Magical Girl Association good luck and, without giving the TV a second glance, took the hand of the foolishly standing Seoa, who had her eyes fixed on me, and led her away.

***

“…Let’s go back.”

“Huh?”

As I was driving to the house of today’s second work of art, Seoa started acting strangely.

“Turn the car around, let’s take a long detour the other way.

“It’s dangerous up ahead.

“I mean, um…”

Her eyes darted around as she trailed off.

I see.

If we go straight, there must be a monster, or a magical girl who has come to dispose of it.

I, as a normal person, can’t feel anything.

And if we run into them, you’ll be in trouble.

“Yujin, please.

“It’s dangerous, okay?”

“Alright.

“It’ll be a little late, but…

“I’ll take the upper route.”

An awkward atmosphere where we both avoided mentioning the reason for turning the car around, that is, any mention of magical girls or magic.

Her desperate expression made it seem like my body was really in danger, so I turned the car around, but I felt frustrated for some reason.

I’m getting impatient.

Knowing that the completion is near, I want to peel off the persona of Lee Seoa and see the true self beneath it with my own eyes.

Since it has never been clearly revealed before, an impulse arises to quickly prove that my speculation is perfectly correct.

Rather than waiting for her to speak, it might be a good idea to create an opportunity this time.

Reveal your true nature to me, the nature of a heinous, fallen magical girl, a criminal.

Ask for forgiveness, beg for mercy, kiss my feet and cry, begging me not to abandon you.

Then I, only then, will know that you are complete, and will be able to give you true love.

***

“Wow!”

“Thank you, unni.”

Alisa happily received a mint chocolate-flavored candy, and Materia, while speaking politely, had her eyes shining.

The candy given to Materia was, of course, an ordinary orange-flavored one.

“You both did a great job.”

Glacia patted the two on the head as she watched the defeated monster disintegrate into particles of black magic and disappear.

It had long been Glacia’s daily routine to give Alisa and Materia one of their favorite candies whenever they defeated a monster or did something praiseworthy.

“Starting tomorrow, you two can go out and hunt monsters on your own, right?”

Although there was some risk, both of them had originally hunted monsters alone, and now that they had accumulated enough experience and skill to be called veterans, they should be able to easily defeat the summoned monsters.

Considering that magical girls in the past had been assigned their own districts or had gone out into the alleys at night alone after learning only the bare minimum of knowledge and experience, one could say that Glacia was being overprotective.

“Then unni, what should we do about this?”

“P-p-p-please, p-please!”

Begging in a muffled voice, as if unable to pronounce properly, was a round demon that looked like a gym ball.

A single large eye, a wide, torn mouth, and pale white skin.

Moreover, its stubby limbs were bound in ice, and its torso was wrapped in tree roots grown by Materia and nailed to a wooden board, a miserable sight.

Even though anything with limbs that could speak was classified as a demon, it was disappointing.

“What exactly are demons?”

Due to their rarity and the cunning and viciousness that came with their high intelligence, Glacia had an image of demons as something like the villainous gunslingers of old Westerns.

But now that she knew they were worse than a neighborhood thug, she couldn’t help but sigh.

“The monster it was controlling was quite strong…”

Alisa seemed to have a similar impression.

“Since we’ve managed to capture it alive, let’s escort it to headquarters.

“I’ll buy you a snack when we’re done.”

“Wow! Unni’s the best!”

When Association President Yu Ji-hye and Coral Echoes tracked the monsters’ activities and gave orders, the magical girls would be dispatched, track the traces of magic at the scene, and dispose of them before any civilian casualties occurred.

Since both of them had experience tracking the traces of a demon once, they would be able to smoothly defeat monsters and gain experience and grow for a few days until the job was done.

Hoping that they would grow to the point where they wouldn’t be easily defeated by Sanguine Obsidia, Glacia was about to levitate the captured demon and move it, when,

Whoooooosh—

Suddenly, a pitch-black magic bullet flew in with a loud explosion, destroying the moaning and screaming demon’s body without a trace.

And someone fell from above.

A girl with sky-blue hair, wearing a dress with pink frills that were now so long they dragged below her feet.

“The magical girl of love and anger who flew in from the other side of the world, Soda Pop☆Ritalin, appears!”

“Frostbite!”

Without waiting for Soda Pop☆Ritalin, who landed stylishly and struck a strange pose with her arms crossed while delivering her entrance line, Glacia activated her magic.

A spell that scattered ice in the space around the target and froze the moisture to momentarily seal their movements.

Upon seeing her face, Glacia immediately recalled that she was one of the duo who had previously terrorized the association headquarters.

She intended to first tie her down and then immediately follow up with the next move, but,

“Hey! It’s manners to wait for the entrance line and transformation scene!”

As she lightly swung her staff, Glacia’s magic was nullified by the black aura that enveloped her body.

“Not knowing manners means you’re not a magical girl either.”

“So.”

Magic converged at the tip of the pitch-black, star-shaped staff.

“Die!”

A black beam pierced through Glacia’s shoulder.