Ch.100Chapter 17. Questions (3)

Surprisingly—truly, I can hardly believe it myself—my circuit had been spinning wildly ever since Hayun called me “Lily.”

To be honest, it’s a bit embarrassing.

Happy Lily? What kind of name is that?

I don’t know much about English names—which ones are sophisticated, which are unusual, or which ones seem outdated—so I had no idea where “Lily” stood in the hierarchy of English names.

But as a Korean, if I had to evaluate “Lily,” it honestly seems like something little kids would like.

A flower-themed magical girl name that feels like it should belong to an elementary school girl protagonist rather than a high schooler like me.

Well, I suppose the other names aren’t much better, but Lily in particular feels childish. At least Rose sounds like something you could use in a respectable setting.

Yet, despite these thoughts, I seem to quite like the name Hayun gave me.

If there’s a reason, there’s probably only one.

Perhaps since childhood, I too wanted to become a magical girl. Just like Hayun.

“Huh.”

I let out a hollow laugh as I dusted off my head.

The dust wouldn’t come off easily. When the car was destroyed, oil must have leaked somewhere, making my hair sticky and covered in dust.

How annoying. I even have long hair. While I don’t remember specifically taking care of my hair, I’d still feel bad if it got split ends or broke in the middle.

Actually, Jihye would be the one feeling bad. When we lived together, she was always touching my hair.

Even though she kept hers shorter than mine.

My white dress was stained with dust and oil, making it look somewhat grimy.

But this was better than my hair. I’d rather look like I’d been in a fight than wear an all-white outfit like some bride.

…Anyway, about being a magical girl.

I’d been called “Black Magical Girl” or “Sixth Magical Girl” before, but now I feel like I’ve received official recognition.

No, that’s not quite right. It’s not really “official,” but… well, feelings are feelings.

Come to think of it, even if I were officially recognized, if the other magical girls didn’t acknowledge me, I wouldn’t feel this way.

“Ptui.”

After spitting out something that had gotten into my mouth, I gripped the hammer tightly with both hands.

And jumped with all my might.

Dazzling white light burst from my rapidly spinning circuit, and at the same time, the propulsion part of the hammer glowed white-hot.

Strangely, I didn’t feel any thrust. Had my “thoughts” changed the rocket’s propulsion method too?

I held the hammer upside down.

I tried creating a kind of blade by emitting white light forward, just like Hayun does.

Looking at the blade that spread out a bit wider than the hammer head… well, calling this a sword wouldn’t be quite right.

More like an axe.

Somehow I keep thinking of tools, but what can I do?

In my mind, “reliable yet dangerous objects” were only tools.

I’ve never cut down a tree, but—

Whoosh.

As I swung the hammer toward the kaijin, it reached out its hand to try to catch it.

Was it an instinctive action?

Maybe my blade wasn’t as sharp as Hayun’s. The white light looked somewhat blunt at the tip.

But axes are dangerous for reasons beyond just their sharp edge.

The weight of that thick, heavy blade itself.

Moreover, my hammer originally had propulsion devices on both sides. The hammer, whose purpose had been forcibly changed by my intense “hope,” was now using its “front propulsion device” like a “rear propulsion device.”

It wasn’t as powerful as one massive propulsion device, but—

Crack!

It was heavy and powerful enough to embed itself in the kaijin’s burly hand.

“…!”

The kaijin’s eyes widened.

“Scary, isn’t it?” I asked without thinking.

“I was scared too. Of magical girls.”

The pink blade made of mana, or the beam flying toward me at a speed I couldn’t dodge.

Even a fist-sized mana ball was frightening, as was the enormous meteor that could burn everything around it white when it exploded.

The gauntlet covered in mana was scary too. Rose’s mana effect was especially terrifying with its mix of white and red. From a distance, it looked like blood splattering from her fist.

I tightened my grip on the hammer handle and swung it sideways with all my might to knock the kaijin away.

Crash!

The kaijin smashed into the ground, breaking the concrete. Several cars were pushed aside, but fortunately, most citizens had already fled their vehicles after seeing us fight.

It’s fortunate the kaijin couldn’t make rational judgments.

If it had run away like the Combatants, or if it had grabbed a random person nearby like the kaijin I met before, my movements would have been greatly restricted.

“Graaah!”

The kaijin immediately jumped up and lunged at me. The way it stretched its legs like springs and flew at me was a bit cartoonish and funny, but I couldn’t let my guard down.

I held the hammer—no, the axe—sideways and blocked the punch aimed at my face with the body of what used to be the hammer.

Clang!

I was a bit shocked that a solid piece of metal made such a sound when blocking a punch.

As I was pushed back, the kaijin advanced toward me, throwing consecutive punches with both fists.

Black blades had somehow formed on top of its fists.

That’s right.

How can it use those so well despite having no rationality? Perhaps the circuit responds to the kaijin’s instincts.

I kicked the kaijin’s knee with my foot and turned the axe blade back toward it, bringing it down. The distance was too short for a perfect strike, but at least the blade was threatening to the kaijin.

The kaijin ducked to the side to avoid it, creating a bit more space. I swung the hammer once more to push the kaijin away from me, then jumped backward forcefully to secure some distance.

And then—

“Hup!”

I jumped up high into the air.

The kaijin regained its posture and looked up to find me, but I was already bringing the axe down from midair.

Bright light flowed from the white blade, and small thrusters at the back were straining to emit flames.

Heat radiated from both lights.

The kaijin must have felt it too, as it crossed its arms above its head to protect itself with the blades, but—

Clang!

A collision that hardly seemed like a meeting of light and light.

A sharp noise like metal scraping against metal rang out,

Crack.

The black blade cracked.

Yes. In fights like these, weight is supreme. The sharper a blade is, the more easily it breaks.

Crash!

The black blade shattered. The pieces that flew upward like metal fragments rather than light quickly disappeared without a trace once they lost the circuit’s support.

And beneath them was the kaijin’s head.

It didn’t sound like a blade embedding in a human head.

The kaijin’s body is protected by the circuit’s energy in its own way. The blade had shattered, but it had done its job by blocking the tip of my blade once, reducing the falling speed.

However, the kinetic energy of that heavy piece of metal still remained.

Though it didn’t directly touch the kaijin’s head, when I struck the hardened black mana, that mass of mana hit the kaijin’s head beneath it.

It was enough force to disrupt its posture, if not completely knock it unconscious.

“…!”

The kaijin staggered.

As its posture collapsed backward, it flailed its arms trying to grab onto something.

I pulled back to avoid its grasp, then slightly spread my feet to steady myself, raised the axe high above my head.

And brought it straight down.

Crack!

The white axe blade embedded itself in the kaijin’s chest.

Right on the circuit.

My strength, enhanced by the Hope Circuit, combined with the boost from the original propulsion system, and the kaijin’s momentarily disrupted consciousness weakening its defense, all worked together to split the circuit in half.

Fizzle.

Black smoke flowed from the circuit.

That was the end.

Thud.

The kaijin’s hand fell. After confirming it wasn’t moving, I bent down and placed my hand under its nose.

…It was still breathing.

No, more than that, there were no major injuries visible on the kaijin’s body. At least it didn’t seem like it would die from external wounds.

I’m quite persistent, having burst out of a car and gone wild with a hammer as tall as myself, but this thing is just as tenacious.

Looking around, I could see people hiding in the distance.

They were all looking this way with terrified expressions.

“…”

I could hear sirens in the distance.

Since the circuit was broken, they should be able to subdue it even without a magical girl.

Making that judgment, I left the fallen kaijin and flew up into the sky.

The surroundings were a mess. As always when I fought kaijin on the streets, the asphalt was cracked and cratered, and this time there were quite a few damaged cars that had collided with things.

Could there be injured people? I couldn’t check right away.

Below where I was hovering, police officers came and bound the kaijin. They used wire restraints like those used to capture other kaijin.

For some reason, someone was looking up at me and waving their hands widely, and judging by their expression, they seemed to be saying “leave this to us.”

…I was just badmouthing the police a little while ago.

Well, I’m in a hurry right now, so it can’t be helped.

I immediately flew back in the direction I had come from.

“Is everyone okay?”

[We’re fine, Lily. The kaijin has been subdued.]

Hayun was the first to answer.

Whether intentional or not, she kept calling me… code name? Nickname? Stage name? Anyway, she seemed to really like the name “Lily” she had given me.

Perhaps, like what I was feeling, Hayun was also happy about the fact that I had truly joined the magical girls.

[I’ve subdued mine too. The surroundings are a bit of a mess, but the police are coming to clean up.]

That was Rose’s voice.

[I’ve subdued mine too.]

[Me too.]

[…I’ve finished restraining it.]

Does this mean they can now subdue them one-on-one? Or maybe the kaijin were separated. Last time, I was still running the Despair Circuit, so maybe they were stronger due to its influence.

I decided to think about the details later and said:

“What do we do now? The first operation failed. Has the chairman appeared?”

[No, not yet. I think he’s probably not going to show up today.]

Cherry said.

[He has an excuse too. He couldn’t attend because magical girls were illegally running wild. Well, legally speaking, that’s not wrong.]

“Whose fault is it that things turned out this way?”

Actually, if asked “whose fault is it,” it would be ours. We were the ones who directly caused the destruction.

Following the chain, it’s the result of the Federation, the government, and the company being entangled in pursuit of their own interests. Just like international politics. Similar in the sense that everyone hates each other but the markets are so intertwined that no one can easily back out.

Normalizing such a situation isn’t our job to begin with.

For now, our priority is to deal with Noir Corporation, which is clearly using people as weapons and making immoral plans. Since they established their headquarters here by partnering with the government, trials would be useless anyway.

There would be divided opinions within the government too. What about the government of this world, this country? No, what are other governments on Earth thinking?

Some governments would surely show interest in “energy obtained by modifying humans.”

I didn’t think Noir Corporation was just handling things haphazardly. I don’t know how the investigation into Earth-human kaijin is proceeding, but if those “Earth humans” were created, and if they somehow modified human genes to claim “they are not human,” there would certainly be governments willing to authorize the use of that technology.

“…Well, in the end, that’s just an excuse too.”

That’s right.

I’m not particularly a righteous person.

To be honest, I’d like to live a leisurely life, staying away from politics and just reading comics. Who wouldn’t want to live a life with lots of money, leisure, and nothing particular to do?

I just want to convince myself that what I’m doing isn’t entirely bad.

[Huh? Lily, what did you say?]

“Nothing, Blossom.”

I snapped back to reality at Hayun’s words and answered.

“We anticipated this too. If we can’t catch the chairman, he’ll definitely go somewhere safe and denounce us.”

And that won’t happen right away. It could be hours later, or even days later.

At least the chairman’s immediate investigation will be postponed.

[But he can no longer receive government protection.]

Rose emphasized.

That’s right. If he’s detained as a suspect, then he’ll be under government protection from that point.

The reason magical girls could barely remain legal was because we didn’t directly confront the government. As long as the government leaves us alone, we should avoid provoking them first.

[Let’s start from there. Can we figure out where he might have fled to?]

[We don’t know yet. There’s hardly any evidence. He might not have even started his escape.]

That was James speaking.

“Then let’s trash the chairman’s office at headquarters first.”

I suggested.

[I’ll go with Dalia and Delphinium.]

Rose said. Her voice was already overlaid with the sound of wind.

“The rest of us will look around more. Keep the communication open, and Hayu… I mean, Blossom and Iris, stick with me.”

[Okay!]

[Got it.]

After saying it, I felt strange. Considering that Rose suggested this division, she might have been aiming for this.

If she simply wanted conditions for warping in an emergency, it would be better to have Iris with us instead of Dalia or Delphinium.

…Well, I could just warp to Noir Corporation headquarters in an emergency anyway.

I had a mental image of Hayun being strangely happy about this, but I shook my head to quickly dismiss the thought.

*

Plan B was to raid the headquarters.

But since I didn’t think the chairman would hole up in the headquarters knowing we were after him, we planned to check only the most important parts and then escape quickly.

Meanwhile, the other team would head to the orphanage where I used to live.

I don’t know if this is fortunate or not, but I don’t have many weaknesses.

No family, no friends, no lover.

If anything, there’s Jihye and the people at the orphanage. They’re like family, but we’re not related by blood or legally family in the true sense.

Therefore, from an enemy’s perspective, the means to threaten me are very clear. Moreover, during my time working at the company, I clearly showed how much I cherish Jihye and the orphanage.

I don’t know if the chairman, who has done something similar before, will do the same thing again or not.

But if he did head there, I don’t intend to just sit back and take it this time. Rather, it would be right to use it as an opportunity for reversal.

…Well, personal feelings are mixed in too.

Naturally, if Jihye is family, she could be said to be my only family in this world.

If we had just fought all the time and didn’t cherish each other, there would be no reason to consider each other family in the first place.

Last time, Jihye was in the middle of a government facility. I ran away and left her behind again.

I haven’t properly checked how she’s been doing since then. I made various excuses, but in reality, I could have found out if I had really tried.

With all sorts of emotions mixed together, Jihye was always someone I felt sorry towards.

If we had gone by car, it would have taken 30 to 40 minutes, but flying in a straight line didn’t take that long.

“Is that…?”

Iris, who had the best eyesight among us, looked toward the orphanage and muttered in surprise.

I could see it too.

The area around the orphanage was already packed with police officers.

My heart sank, and I increased my speed to fly there as quickly as possible.

“…What’s going on?”

I asked with a voice full of personal emotion as I descended, and several police officers guarding the entrance quickly made way.

“Since this place was attacked before, orders came down to protect it.”

An officer answered my question immediately, as if they had practiced.

“…”

Protection… is it?

Certainly, even from the government’s perspective, Jihye would have value. I had made it painfully obvious every time I saw her.

“May I go in?”

“Yes, of course!”

When I spoke, the police officers cleared the way.

Two people were landing behind me.

I walked toward the orphanage and carefully opened the door.

Inside was quiet.

They wouldn’t be sleeping. It’s still morning. School-age children would have gone to school, but the teachers and preschool children should still be here.

They’re holding their breath.

…Is it because of what happened last time?

The thought made my heart feel like it was being squeezed.

As I took off my shoes, they reverted to their pre-transformation appearance.

I left those shoes at the entrance and carefully went inside.

Perhaps hearing my footsteps, a teacher peeked out from inside to check who it was.

“Jieun!”

The teacher came out right away and called my name.

And as soon as that name was called, I heard hurried footsteps running out.

“Jieun?!”

The one who shouted that and energetically crashed into the corridor wall was, of course, Jihye.