Ch.115Chapter 19. Longing (4)

Whether I was being honest or not, the gazes directed at us became a bit stranger.

Though they were strange, oddly enough, I didn’t find them as bothersome as before.

I thought about why that might be, and realized that while the jealous stares I received before were ones I had to bear alone, now I had someone beside me sharing the burden.

Above all, that person sharing the burden with me didn’t care about the stares at all. Perhaps that’s why I felt it didn’t matter.

Yes. What if people over there think I’m a girl dating another girl? Even though it’s a misunderstanding, the people beside me are Hayun and Ju-a.

If they’re trying to get on my good side, they ultimately need to get on my good side too. So no one was thinking of openly bullying me.

“Jieun, Jieun.”

Hayun didn’t seem to be conscious of it.

More precisely, she spoke to me naturally and stuck close to me as if completely unaware of people’s stares.

After class ended. Even the homeroom teacher looked somewhat bewildered when looking at us.

I guess they saw the article.

Does this school have rules against inappropriate relationships between students? Even if it did, it’s obvious no one would follow them. I don’t know how many students in this class have partners, but no one would date while worrying about such rules.

As for prohibiting relationships between women… that probably wasn’t in the rules to begin with. Who would have cared?

Besides, as long as we don’t engage in overly sexual behavior, they can’t prohibit every little prank played by kids with sexual curiosity similar to boys of the same age.

In today’s world, if they did that, shameless parents would come out and scold the teacher. That’s probably one reason why the homeroom teacher couldn’t intervene despite knowing how I was treated in this class.

“Jieun?”

Anyway.

Hayun spoke to me naturally as if she didn’t care about the article or people’s stares.

Oh, wait. I think she was always like this. Though she used to whisper a bit when talking to me in class before.

She seems like she’s had one of her brakes released, which is a bit scary.

“Yes?”

“Want to get something to eat before going home today?”

“Eat what?”

“Hmm… a meal would be fine, or a snack.”

I looked at my watch.

Since we rarely did evening self-study sessions anyway, we had plenty of time after school. School ends at 4:30 PM. By office worker standards, that’s incredibly early.

Unless the chairman starts acting up again, I won’t be summoned to the company, and the government is still watching us, and the Federation seems to be fighting among themselves or something because it’s quiet.

So, I have plenty of time.

“Just the two of us?”

“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant. Unless you want to eat just the two of us?”

Hayun said in a strangely subtle voice while brushing her hair back.

Her eyes sparkled, her cheeks turned slightly red, and her voice somehow felt moist, though while the first two might be real, the latter is probably just my imagination.

…It’s my imagination, right? If not, it must be Hayun’s own kind of joke.

Right? That must be it. Maybe she’s playing along with the article.

Hayun might not care about the stares around us, but honestly, I’m a bit conscious of them.

The word “embarrassed” can refer to social shame, but it can also literally mean “feeling embarrassed.”

Even if we were a male-female couple rather than a female-female couple, I would have been a bit embarrassed. Despite appearances, I’m quite a shy person.

“…Let’s invite everyone and go together.”

Hayun showed quite an obvious look of disappointment at my words, but—

“Jihye too.”

When I added that quietly, she made a face that said she couldn’t help it.

There still seems to be a bit of a wall between the magical girls and her, but what can I do?

I’ve already kept Jihye at a distance for too long.

Now that she’s nearby, I have no intention of deliberately extending that time.

“Okay, let’s do that. Jihye too.”

I nodded at Hayun’s words.

*

And so, the place where we met was, surprisingly, in the middle of a busy area.

The school I attend and the school Jihye attends are quite far apart.

I studied like crazy to get into that private high school to follow Hayun, but Jihye, who didn’t have much enthusiasm for school, just entered a school she could reasonably get into in the area.

The so-called “lottery” system.

The reason Jihye didn’t care about going to the same school as me was probably because I was someone who lived in the same place anyway.

Even if we weren’t at the same school, we lived together, so there was no need to worry about being a bit apart.

Jihye was so cute when she whined about forgetting that during our first-year field trip.

“Over here!”

Since the midpoint between our schools was away from home anyway, we met in the middle of a busy area.

The headquarters of the company I used to work for was not far from there, but I decided not to worry about it.

The building was closed anyway, the police were investigating, and the chairman was on the run.

…I have no way of knowing what’s happening with the company. I didn’t specifically ask James either. Seeing that James isn’t too worried, it seems the company is in a state that can be adequately restored when the former chairman returns.

I waved happily as I approached, and Jihye smiled a bit awkwardly when she saw the others following behind me.

Jihye must have seen the article too, right?

She’s the type to be interested in such things. Just the normal interest level of kids her age.

When Jihye was alone, the gazes weren’t focused on her.

Jihye was a pretty girl, but compared to the magical girls, she had a somewhat plain impression. This wasn’t because Jihye’s beauty was particularly inferior to others.

The magical girls have incredibly colorful hair.

Even Hayun’s hair is the color of strawberry bubble gum, Ju-a’s is purple, and Rose’s is red.

Delphinium and Dalia’s hair is relatively subdued. Delphinium’s hair is a blue so dark it’s almost black, but since she cut it neatly into a bob, it wasn’t too eye-catching, and Dalia’s hair was a deep chestnut color.

While such colorful hair might exist naturally in this world, that doesn’t mean these colors don’t stand out.

I’m just glad my hair isn’t “white” or “half white and half black.” If I ran around a bit, those two hair colors would mix and turn gray.

Was she overwhelmed by that parade of colorful hues? Or did she feel the stares following us sticking to her too?

Jihye flinched for a moment and paused.

But soon, with a determined expression on her face, she ran toward me with all her might.

And she almost crashed into me as she ran.

Well, I’m not someone who can’t handle Jihye’s weight. I’ve been trained as a combatant, so even without mana, I could receive her with just a slight stagger.

Feeling playful, I hugged Jihye tightly and spun her around once.

“Why suddenly?”

I looked down at Jihye after stopping.

“Did you miss me that much?”

In the past, if I had played such a joke, Jihye would have trembled and pulled away. Conversely, if Jihye had played such a joke, I would have responded similarly.

But.

“Yes.”

Jihye looked straight up at me and said.

“What?”

I was a bit taken aback by her words and asked again.

“I missed you so much that I regret going to a different school.”

“…”

Um…

That’s a bit… honestly speaking, extremely ticklish.

It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.

I’ve thought this since we were young, but objectively speaking, Jihye is pretty too. She just doesn’t have the flashy impression of the magical girls, but she seems like she’d be popular at school.

Did she actually say she was popular? I think I’ve heard her joke about it.

Of course, we’ve shared a room for too long, and what I feel now is almost like sisterly affection.

But if asked whether I like it or not, I definitely like it. It couldn’t feel bad that the family member I cherish most missed me. It even made my heart flutter a bit when she pressed her body against mine and looked up at me.

“Want to transfer schools?”

“Isn’t it too late already? Even if I tried to enter now, I’d have to study incredibly hard, right? I’d rather not go that far.”

Jihye said that, then buried her face in my chest before pulling back.

Her face was a bit red, probably from running hard.

…I see.

There’s no need for another reason to miss someone. We almost got completely separated anyway.

We almost got separated forever and now we’re finally meeting properly again and living like before, so it’s not strange if she acts a bit unusually.

When I removed my hand from Jihye’s waist, she also took her hands off my body and grinned. Seeing that bright smile made me feel like sunshine was entering my heart.

Yes. No matter how tangled things are, with so many people who care about me by my side.

Somehow, with effort, everything can be resolved.

It was a wonderful smile that made me think that.

In my original world, I would have been certain that my parents would be on my side no matter what situation I was in, but in this world, Jihye is the only one like that for me.

Jihye’s head moved slightly toward the magical girls standing behind me.

I turned around too, and there were Hayun and Ju-a with somewhat dazed expressions.

A few steps behind them, Rose was standing and trying hard not to laugh, while Dalia and Delphinium were blushing.

“What are you doing?”

I said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Let’s get moving. People are gathering.”

No one was directly approaching us, but people were gradually gathering at a distance, as if there was an invisible wall between us. Thinking we should move before more people gathered, I started walking.

The magical girls followed quickly behind me, each lost in their own thoughts.

*

“Jihye, Jihye.”

At school, there was someone calling Jihye like that from the morning.

These days, Jihye was in a great mood. Of course, there were still quite a few things to worry about.

Whether Jieun’s friend would recover or not. How long the magical girls would stay together. How long it would take for that room to become just Jieun and Jihye’s room again.

It was such a sticky feeling that she wondered if she was really that selfish and bad, but still, the fact that Jieun was right beside her was enough to cover all those negative emotions with joy.

Jieun is someone who has been with Jihye for her entire life. And if possible, she’s someone Jihye wants to continue being with.

Some might say she’s still too young to think that way, but at least until now, Jihye had never become close to anyone like Jieun.

“Yes?”

And because Jihye was in such a good mood, she could smile and answer her friend’s call. Even though this was the same friend who had called Jieun a villain in front of Jihye not long ago, Jihye’s mental state was healthy enough to not mind such things.

“Did you see this?”

“See what?”

After asking that, she took the smartphone her friend handed her, then froze.

In the article’s photo was Jieun kissing Hayun.

As if by coincidence, Jieun was wearing a white dress, making the atmosphere seem like a wedding. When Jieun wore white clothes, she had slightly more decorations than when she wore black.

“…”

Jieun had her eyes wide open as if surprised, and Hayun had her eyes tightly closed as if she had prepared for it.

This means that Hayun kissed Jieun.

In Jihye’s mind, their relationship immediately came to mind.

Are they that kind of relationship? Actually, she wasn’t sure. Having never been in a romantic relationship, it was a bit difficult to gauge their relationship.

“The article suggests they might be dating.”

“That’s probably not true.”

Jihye answered like that and was inwardly surprised at herself.

“Really? Even though they’re kissing like this?”

This friend probably doesn’t know what Jihye is thinking, so she’s asking like this.

No, if she knew, would she have asked even more? Not sure. She was a tactless person, so maybe she would have.

“There must be… something related to mana. Even the aliens don’t exactly understand the principles yet.”

“Is that so? Ah, that could be it.”

After hearing Jihye’s seemingly rationalizing words, her friend scrolled through the article.

And showed another photo below.

That photo was of Jieun kissing Ju-a.

“…”

“If they’re not dating, maybe they’re exchanging mana through their mouths? That seems possible. There are movies with settings like that.”

That’s probably just a scene added to create a romantic atmosphere.

But along with that thought, she also thought it could indeed be possible. The latter was a thought that came from Jihye’s brain in the process of rationalization.

“She can’t be two-timing the magical girls.”

“…”

Jihye thought for a moment.

The magical girl’s circuit runs on the hope circuit. That means the more hope they have, the stronger they become. This story had spread almost like common knowledge.

When Jieun wears black clothes, it’s hard to tell what energy she moves with, but at least when she wears white clothes, that energy is hope, based on the image.

…Then, could hope be transmitted through a kiss? No matter how much she likes Jieun, it didn’t seem like she would kiss her just because of emotions in the middle of a fight. Above all, if she had done that, Jieun would have been angry.

But, she could have waited for that situation.

If she seized the opportunity when it came.

“If that’s the case, it’s a bit sad.”

Her friend said.

“Sad?”

“Yes. It means she has to kiss because she has to fight. But don’t you want to kiss someone you like? If it were me, maybe a handsome guy, but another girl is a bit…”

Jihye blinked.

Strangely enough, even when Jihye imagined kissing Jieun, she didn’t feel much resistance.

If the other person were truly a blood-related sister, she might absolutely hate it as people say. Even if it’s not a kiss, she might come to hate just being in close quarters.

With Jieun, she had never felt such emotions. They might have fought occasionally when they were very young due to different thoughts, but they became very close from the upper grades of elementary school.

“…”

Jihye blinked again.

Could it be?

If that period was when her identity was being established…

Someone once said that feelings of liking don’t arise because you want them to, nor do they disappear because you dislike them.

Perhaps Jihye’s feelings were like that.

“I see.”

“Huh?”

Seeing Jihye mumbling to herself, her friend tilted her head.

“Ah, it’s nothing. Nothing at all. Yes. Living together, I think it might indeed be something like that.”

“Ah, you said all the magical girls live together, right? I’m jealous.”

Jealous, really?

Just until recently, she said she was scared.

Jihye didn’t voice that thought and said:

“Yes. It’s fun. Very.”

And it’s also joyful.

Because until now, the only family Jieun thought of was Jihye.

Even if they kissed.

*

Looking up at Jieun who hugged her tightly, Jihye smiled.

Jieun embraced the rushing Jihye as if it was natural and even spun her around once.

There was no hint of bewilderment in that smile.

Jihye could hear Jieun’s heart beating rapidly. Even as her heart raced while blushing and hugging Jihye, her face showed no sign of bewilderment.

Unlike the photo of them kissing.

That emotion might not be romantic.

However, when the two separated.

From the circuit on Jieun’s wrist that had been holding Jihye’s waist, light was flowing out.

How bright was that light? The intensity of light can appear different depending on camera settings.

But in Jihye’s opinion, the level of this light seemed almost identical to when Jieun was being kissed.

For Jieun, Jihye was someone who gave her hope just by being beside her. Meaning she felt that way even without kissing, just by embracing each other.

At least, at this moment, the closest person was still Jihye. The time they had spent together didn’t lie.

That’s why Jihye could smile brightly.

If Jihye had a circuit too, it would surely have been shining very brightly.

Even when she linked arms with Jieun, Jieun accepted it naturally. As if it was the most natural thing.

The smile she showed while looking at Jihye was so bright and beautiful.

Forgetting that there were other children around, the two looked at each other and laughed happily.