Ch.111Chapter 18. A Certain Emotion (7)

The truck driver fled in terror at my threat.

As the truck came to a stop, I heard what sounded like Kaijin gathering toward us all at once.

They seemed to be rushing toward the warp point, but of course it wouldn’t be easy for them.

Hayun was outside.

After giving me strength with her kiss, Hayun herself was fighting incredibly hard, and there were plenty of police and soldiers to help divert the Kaijin’s attention.

And then.

“The warp point has been shut down.”

Ju-a, who had climbed out through the hole above and was firing at the approaching Kaijin, shouted toward the opening.

“That’s fortunate.”

I muttered in response, carefully removing the Kaijin from the trailer walls and setting them down in a corner. Fortunately, there weren’t many specimens whose bodies were free enough to swing their arms.

Perhaps to function inside the device, they needed to direct all their energy in one direction.

Still, to be safe, after cutting off their circuits, I tore open one side of the trailer wall with a mana blade I extracted from my hammer.

Crack.

The poorly torn metal plate made an unpleasant sound as I bent it outward.

Though there were still sporadic gunshots, the battle seemed to be winding down.

Inside the trailer, for some reason, almost no lights were working, so I could barely assess the situation with the sunlight pouring in from above. But after tearing away one wall, the inside brightened considerably.

And then, I could finally see the situation clearly.

After hearing Ju-a’s words, my thought was to just take Pang Pang and leave.

Alien technology isn’t just any technology. It’s alien technology precisely because it can keep people in suspended animation for a long time and revive them immediately.

Besides, we live in a world where almost all diseases, except for an extremely small number of incurable ones, can be treated. That’s why I thought Pang Pang would be fine.

But.

“…”

For that purpose, aren’t there too many devices?

Thinking about it again, there’s no reason to bring this many Kaijin just for protection against mana. Of course, if the protection was very strong, we would have struggled that much more, and it was indeed effective.

But if they needed energy for something else too…

“No.”

Ju-a came to my side and quickly looked at the device.

“It’s not that urgent of a device. I think the chairman’s side also thought it would be problematic in many ways if this Pang Pang person died.”

Ju-a pointed to a large battery-like object as she spoke.

“They probably converted and stored power. It seems this person’s power was needed for a ‘long’ time. And they needed stability in the process.”

Circuits move according to human emotions. Obviously, there are some issues with generating energy periodically over a long time.

Even in my case, the form of energy I generate changes with my emotional fluctuations.

“Then…”

“However.”

Ju-a spoke with a slightly hardened expression.

“I don’t think we can take her out right away. For now, we have to maintain this device.”

“…”

I looked at Pang Pang again.

Her face, lying in the mysterious liquid, looked very peaceful.

That’s natural, of course. She’s literally in a sleeping state. So it’s impossible to know if she’s really in pain or not.

Whatever state she’s in, it can’t be called normal to stay like this.

And it’s all my fault that Pang Pang ended up this way.

“Why go to such lengths?”

“They must have wanted it that badly. That company entity. We see it on Earth too sometimes. People who are so obsessed with power or money that they don’t care what happens to others… Even if it wasn’t you, this would have happened for sure.”

Ju-a spoke as if to comfort me, but honestly, I found it hard to fully agree with her words.

Even if such an incident was destined to happen, it’s easy to imagine that my existence accelerated that destiny.

The original story I read only went up to the summer vacation where the kids went to the beach and encountered enemies. Until then, the main villains of Noir Corporation were executives like James, and the chairman never showed his face.

Besides, the “chairman” I remember was the “former chairman” of this world. There was never any coup-like event within Noir Corporation. If there had been, I would have been prepared in my own way.

I would have known that Pang Pang was the former chairman’s granddaughter.

How much has my existence changed this world?

Perhaps they feared that the former chairman’s claims would be credibly received within the company because of me? Was the idea to take over before establishing more certainty?

…These are all questions that can’t be answered until we catch the chairman.

“Jieun!”

I heard Hayun calling me from behind.

When I turned around, Hayun and the other magical girls were descending near me. The chairman’s face was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, what they caught was—

“…You.”

The person Rose roughly set down on the floor was the mohawk-haired executive with his limbs tightly bound.

The executive who seemed to have taken James’s position after his purge.

“I-I don’t know!”

The executive shouted as soon as our eyes met.

“I don’t know where the chairman disappeared to!”

“It seems you were just assigned to remove the equipment first.”

“Yes! That’s right!”

“If you had succeeded, my friend would have been sent off into space. And then you would have waited for the chairman to come separately.”

When I emphasized the word ‘friend,’ the executive’s face hardened.

“You know the former chairman’s granddaughter?”

“She’s someone who helped me when I was being chased by you people, without asking for anything in return.”

“…”

“So, what about other equipment besides this? Even if not the chairman, you must know that much, right?”

“I-I…”

“It would be better if you did.”

As I abruptly approached the executive, his mouth snapped shut again.

My clothes were gradually turning black again. Perhaps sensing the intimidation from that, the executive squirmed, trying to crawl as far away from me as possible.

“Wait, Jieun.”

Hayun held out her hand to block me and said.

“It would be better to leave this to someone who knows how to ask such questions.”

“Who? The police?”

“No.”

Hayun smiled slightly at my lips, as if she knew I couldn’t fully trust the police either.

“You know. Someone who has enough grudge against this person, has the skills, and is rational enough not to mess things up.”

“…Ah.”

I nodded at Hayun’s words.

I see.

There was James.

If James alone seemed a bit concerning, we could also attach Cherry to his side.

Though I wasn’t entirely sure where this person should be placed yet.

“For now… For now, be satisfied that you were able to bring your friend out. Let’s take some more time and solve things one by one.”

“That’s right.”

Ju-a added to Hayun’s words.

She’s right.

If you try to solve everything at once, even things that would work out might not.

But—

“…”

Still, I couldn’t help wanting to hit him at least once.

I had to try very hard to suppress that emotion.

*

In the end, Pang Pang was moved to a university hospital near the orphanage.

My existence must really be considered important, because even that essentially national hospital said they would do their best to care for her.

There’s no way to extract Pang Pang right away. If it had been an ordinary machine, we could have used conventional methods to get her out, but this machine had many complex devices attached to it.

As I had suspected, it seemed they intended to keep Pang Pang for a long time and use her.

“Locks using genetic information are quite common.”

James replied when I shared my thoughts.

“And yes, the chairman would have created many such devices here and there. Moreover, not all those who served the chairman have been swept away. Even if betrayal was overlooked, some people’s thoughts might change over time. So the existence of legitimate succession is valuable.”

“Were they planning to brainwash her later?”

“Well, as long as she’s alive, they can unlock any genetic locks they find. Brainwashing is a secondary issue.”

“…”

Indeed, there would likely be many documents that could serve as evidence of proper succession to the chairmanship, even if Pang Pang herself didn’t say anything.

“I guess it can’t be opened just with fingerprints or hair?”

“If it could be opened that easily, they would have done so already. The company’s ‘headquarters’ is in this country, but originally Noir Corporation was a galaxy-scale enterprise that moved its headquarters here for tax avoidance and research convenience. Although they can move through warp points, the galaxy is still vast. If you want to hide something somewhere else, it would be more comfortable to make it so that only yourself, or someone you permit, can open it.”

And that “permitted person” includes Pang Pang.

If that’s the case, it would have been better to take Pang Pang and run away.

…No.

Pang Pang has a somewhat stubborn side. If the most important information of the company was made accessible to Pang Pang as well, then the chairman must have cherished his granddaughter quite dearly.

Perhaps that was his weakness. He might have felt reluctant to forcibly take his granddaughter somewhere.

Whatever the case, in the end, it’s still Noir Corporation’s fault.

“Now that we’ve caught that guy, I’ll interrogate him as you suggested. Don’t worry. ‘Cherry’ will be with me too. I probably won’t kill him.”

“…Alright, do as you see fit.”

“I’ll let you know if any information comes out.”

By the way, that executive was housed in a nearby vacant house.

These slums often have empty houses. There’s almost no talk of redevelopment, but quite a few houses were speculatively purchased decades ago based on rumors of future redevelopment and then left abandoned. The police seem to have borrowed one of those houses.

I heard that the Federation is also taking action after the warp point was nearly exploited, but I’m not sure exactly what kind of moves they’re planning to make. To be honest, I don’t even care to know as long as they don’t bother me or the people around me.

I wish they would just dismantle Noir Corporation while they’re at it.

“…Jieun.”

“…I’m going to get some fresh air.”

Hayun called out to me, but I got up from my seat saying that.

This time, Hayun didn’t follow me. Perhaps because my mood was very different from when I was at the abandoned house.

I went outside to face the still chilly night breeze.

Still, quite a few police officers had left the orphanage area. Well, they can’t just station all the police here when they have local security to maintain.

There were still two officers at the orphanage entrance and others patrolling the area, but that didn’t really bother me.

The orphanage, though small, has its own playground. A pair of swings, a slide, a pair of seesaws, and… what should I call it, a rocking horse? Anyway, a horse and a dog fixed to the ground with thick springs below that children can sit on and play.

I sat on a swing.

It must have been for small children, as it was difficult to sit properly unless I stretched my legs out.

This looked big when I was young.

As I sat there in a gloomy mood, another child came out of the orphanage building.

It wasn’t Hayun or Ju-a.

“Jieun.”

It was Jihye.

Jihye approached somewhat cautiously and sat on the empty swing next to me. With her legs stretched out just like mine.

For a while, we just looked up at the sky without saying anything.

Despite it being spring, there were hardly any clouds, but being Seoul, not many stars were visible.

If you looked at the sky carefully, you could see lights peeking out little by little, but I wasn’t sure if they were stars or spaceships. Even living in a world that could be called a space opera, I wasn’t particularly interested in stars.

“That person called Pang Pang.”

Jihye said carefully.

“She must have been a good person.”

“…She is a good person.”

That’s how I answered.

I never actually thought about learning more about her for a long time.

I just thought she was an eccentric who strangely liked caffeine and was obsessed with Earth culture, but I never thought about what kind of life she lived, or what worries she had and what choices she made before coming to Earth.

Even though I received so much help from her.

Come to think of it, she was one of the few friends I had in this world.

“Later.”

Jihye said.

“When everything is okay, let’s talk then.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve known you for so long, but there’s still so much I don’t know about you.”

“…”

“And I don’t think I’ve told you much about myself either. It’s like we’re living in different worlds.”

I nodded quietly at Jihye’s words.

“…Yes, when things get better.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Jihye just said that and didn’t say anything more.

She was just looking up at the sky with me, like I was doing.

…I.

I wonder what feelings I had for this world.

Even while thinking I dislike it, I develop things I like. Even while thinking I hate school and the situation, I come to cherish Jihye whom I met at the orphanage, and Hayun whom I met at school.

If I truly only hated this world, if I only thought I was tired of it all, could I have had such feelings?

Could I leave without regrets if told to leave this world?

I’ve never had any kind of conversation with the author. I haven’t even fought with them in comments and replies.

So, I don’t really know what the author was thinking when they put me here.

Is it to test if I could still hate this world even after coming here?

“…”

If there were no aliens in this world, I might have thought the author was watching me from beyond.

But in reality, there are too many intelligent beings beyond the sky in this world, making it difficult to think that way.

I belonged nowhere properly, neither here nor there. Perhaps that too was because I couldn’t make a definite decision.

Maybe that’s why the children ended up in such a difficult situation.

If I’m going to despair, I should despair completely, and if I’m going to have hope, I should move forward stubbornly with conviction, but I couldn’t be either.

What feelings should I have about this world?

It seemed there was no one in this world who could answer that.

*

“…”

“…”

After Jieun and Jihye left, an awkward silence filled the room.

It wasn’t a sharp atmosphere that felt like it could cut flesh, nor was it a freezing cold atmosphere that could chill to the bone. Rather, it was precisely because of that that the atmosphere was ‘awkward’.

This awkward current was especially felt around Hayun and Ju-a.

If it were normal times, Rose would have made a comment teasing one or both of them. Although magical girls aren’t particularly close to each other, they don’t viciously hate each other either, and moreover, they had gotten along reasonably well during the time they spent together.

Besides, while Ju-a might not be, Hayun was on good terms with Rose.

But now didn’t seem like the time for that.

The ‘atmosphere’ itself was almost similar. But Rose, Dalia, and Delphinium had all seen the situation with their own eyes today.

The sight of Hayun and Jieun kissing.

Hayun said she kissed Jieun ‘for Jieun’s power,’ but the only person among the magical girls—and even including Jihye—who didn’t know the exact reason was probably Jieun herself.

It seemed like they had built a wall against the concept of romance.

No, perhaps this is a bit unfair to say. Magical girls basically have no prejudice in that direction, so they can immediately think of it, but among people in the world, there are quite a few who can’t imagine romance between the same sex. More precisely, there are many people who don’t realize that they themselves could be the subject of such romance, even if they acknowledge its existence.

Even if they themselves are interested in that direction.

That’s why Hayun is more pitiful. Because she’s not even considered a romantic prospect to begin with.

Still, it’s like Hayun to make an effort in her own way.

The problem is.

Rose glanced at Ju-a.

Ju-a had a somewhat dazed expression. Her face was red, as if she was recalling some event that happened today.

That is, the ‘kiss’.

Yes.

One person liking someone? It can happen. No, it could even be called normal.

Two people liking one person? It can also happen. Whether it’s normal or not, Rose doesn’t know well since she has no dating experience, but it’s not ‘non-existent’.

Then, what about that person kissing both women who like them?

…It’s not impossible, but hmm.

The relationship between Hayun and Ju-a doesn’t seem likely to change immediately. But one can’t hope for no changes at all.

And if you add Jihye, who seems to be showing that kind of atmosphere little by little, though her feelings aren’t clear yet…

Rose decided to step back from this matter as much as possible. Judging by their behavior, Dalia and Delphinium seemed to feel the same way.

She just quietly cheered for Jieun in her heart.