Ch.127127. Happily Ever After (2)

“…Arin. What about school?”

“I can just use an experiential learning day…?”

“No… Haven’t you already used them all for magical girl business?”

“Ah… I should still have some left! I mostly used absences…”

“…And these days, do they really approve experiential learning for just going to an amusement park? Won’t it get rejected by the teacher?”

“No…! I can just say it’s a zoo experience! That, that should solve everything…”

“That solves it…? What about a guardian?”

“I can say Sister Yunseul is my guardian. And, and usually when I mention magical girl business in advance, the teachers tend to let it slide… hehe…”

“…Aren’t we just going there to have fun?”

“Ma-managing villains is also a proper duty of magical girls…!”

Arin speaks with such confidence.

Even if she speaks so boldly in the bathhouse…

“Pfft… Yes, that’s right. Magical girls have a duty to protect citizens from villains. So, you’re saying you need to keep an eye on Bine wherever she goes?”

“Ye… Yes! Yes!! That’s, that’s exactly it! Anyway, since that’s the case, the experiential learning Sister Bine mentioned… the school issue is practically solved!”

“Arin… Well, if you insist… But did you notify them in advance? Your teacher?”

“…Ah.”

Even if she’s taking the day off for experiential learning, shouldn’t she notify the school in advance?

If she hasn’t done that…

“Should I cause a scene at the amusement park? Then Arin can come and subdue me.”

“Come on… Sister Bine would never do that.”

Arin firmly believes in me and dismisses it as an impossibility.

But…

I think I might have to do exactly that tomorrow.

An amusement park.

Transmitting the location is Ellie’s job.

An open space like an amusement park.

It’s a good place to operate.

Well… Blanc is coming along.

If it weren’t for this collar, escaping from Blanc’s grasp would be easy.

It’s not like we’re fighting.

Even if I’m not at full strength, I can easily evade.

If I pour all my energy into escape.

Nothing is impossible.

The plan Ellie and I established.

It’s been shortened to one month, but it still has a high chance of success.

Plus, they’re constantly checking our movement direction.

Wherever we are, we just need to escape.

They’re the ones with the method to remove this collar.

So.

I’m sorry, Arin.

I won’t be able to call you Arin anymore.

Tomorrow will be the last day.

“Bine?”

“Yes?”

“Are you that worried about the amusement park?”

“…Ah, yes. Well. I’m a bit concerned about… what might happen at the amusement park.”

“Don’t worry. If people try to do bad things to you, I’ll help you.”

“…That won’t be necessary. I’ll be busy looking after Arin.”

“What? No! I should be the one looking after you, Sister Bine! We’re the ones forcing ourselves into your vacation…”

Arin responds as if she might snort in protest.

She doesn’t need to be considerate of someone like me.

…I need to detach myself.

Arin is the only one in this magical girl dormitory who has no actual combat experience with me.

She’s never been directly harmed by me. That might be why she’s grown attached to me.

The image she has of me is.

Just a kind older sister.

A suspicious older sister.

Or… something else?

She only vaguely knows what happened in the past but hasn’t experienced it firsthand.

So…

If she has feelings for me.

If I have feelings for her.

I need to sever those ties.

“Not at all. Arin taking care of me? I’ve been looking after magical girls for a week now. Don’t worry.”

“Come on… it was the other sisters who took care of you…! I want to take care of you too…!”

“Haha…”

Well… is this like a child’s tantrum?

When they come at you with that tone, it usually doesn’t end there.

They tend to persist until they get what they want.

“…Sigh. Alright, Arin. You can take care of me. But in return, I’ll take care of you too, okay?”

“Yes…! That, that’s good enough!”

Fortunately, Arin isn’t a terribly stubborn child, but a thoughtful and sharp-witted one, so she didn’t push too hard.

“Hehe… Then I should tell the teacher the reason is villain surveillance…”

“No, Arin. I’ll handle it.”

“Really…?”

“Yes. That way, the teacher will… trust it more?”

“Thank you, Sister! Heehee…”

Arin’s happy expression was cute.

Phew…

Let me move a bit deeper into the water…

I stretched my legs, but Arin’s feet.

Ah.

“Sister, you can be comfortable…!”

“No, Arin should be comfortable.”

“…Hmph.”

Then, she grabbed my legs and pulled them down.

And placed her legs on top of mine.

“Then I’ll just rest on your legs?”

It must be hard because of the bones.

“Arin…”

“Hehe… then…”

As Arin gives an indecipherable smile,

“Eek!? Blanc, wait a moment! What did you just…?”

Suddenly, Blanc hugs her tightly from behind with her arms.

Let’s just give up.

I hope today can end peacefully too.

* * *

“Sister! Sisteeer!”

“Yeees…”

Ugh…

I’m losing strength.

No, it would be more accurate to say I’m losing energy.

“Sister, huff…! This, this one!”

“Yeees…”

Excited by the pandas, Arin dragged me here and there.

It’s been a while since she let go of my hand.

Ah, we weren’t stopped or prevented from entering.

Ah, they did give us strange looks when we said three adults and one child.

They just let us in without any issues since I was wearing a hood.

But, they must know magical girls have different hair colors. It’s strange people aren’t flocking to us.

Of course, it being a weekday morning with few people might be a factor.

There aren’t even people at the famous panda enclosure.

The only ones here are a few family groups or just students.

I guess some people really do come to amusement parks for educational experiences.

I also came to this amusement park with friends in my memories.

Of course, the rides I took then are a bit different from now.

The rides I took back then, with my own hands.

No, I destroyed them using the monster’s hands.

It’s somewhat regrettable, but what can I do?

You can’t extract development or energy from these rides.

If anything, they consume energy. But we can take energy from these rides.

So, for efficiency, it was an unavoidable action.

“Sisteeer! Hurry, hurry!”

“Yeees…”

Forcibly pulled to her side by her lead.

Are Blanc and Ellie following properly…?

Don’t abandon me.

Since Arin is an elementary school student, and a higher grade at that.

I thought she’d like riding attractions…

I didn’t expect her to prefer the zoo more.

She seems to especially like cute small animals.

Why does she like that large panda over there…?

Of course, it looks like it’s not yet an adult, so it does have a cute aspect…

But to like it that much…

I need to get out of this panda paradise quickly…

Ah, of course, I’ve already fallen victim to this cruel amusement park’s commercial tactics.

Blanc forcibly removed my hood.

And put on a black cat headband…

Ugh, really.

Wouldn’t wearing something like this attract more attention?

Wouldn’t it be less conspicuous to wear a hood in a gloomy manner rather than looking like someone who’s not in the mood to play at a place like this?

Knowing that the best disguise is to blend in with people, I had no choice but to go along with it.

Really…

And then, she made me carry a cute character popcorn container on the side.

Matching with Arin.

…Anyone can see I’m a child having fun.

A child having a blast…

Blanc taking pictures saying we match well…

Sigh, I thought about hitting her but held back.

I need to conserve my strength today.

“Huh…? It’s already over… That’s too bad…”

“It’s okay, Arin. There are many things to see here. Hmm… Wasn’t there originally a water slide over there, Blanc?”

“You destroyed it… They cleared it and made it into an amphibious animal area or something. The water slide was moved over there.”

“Ah…”

I see.

Well, something Arin likes has been newly created nearby, so isn’t that good?

Yes, let’s look on the bright side.

“We’ll have to wait in line. That’s a ride, isn’t it…?”

“Um… I have passes.”

…Passes?

“No way.”

“Go through the middle.”

“Arin? She says we have passes. We can go through the middle entrance.”

“Huh…? Passes…?”

“How did you get them…?”

“I bought them with money… Well. It’s not like we don’t have money. I thought if we’re going to enjoy ourselves, we might as well do it properly.”

“Indeed… Is this what they mean by sisters taking care of their siblings…?”

“…Well. Arin enjoys it too.”

I head to the front with Arin.

The waiting line is quite long.

Seems like family groups come all the way here to ride.

But we have a legitimate line-cutting privilege.

We pass by people and enter.

I can see the envious gazes of people.

As they try to identify who we are, the moment they see that distinctive snow-white hair and blue hair.

There’s a gasp of “Ah.”

And since children’s interest in magical girls was high.

There was a bit of commotion, but…

We decided to enter anyway.

“Hehe… Sister! You’re sitting next to me, right?”

“Yes. Today is a day for Arin and me to be together.”

Arin seems genuinely happy.

…To think the fatigue I felt at the panda paradise would disappear just from this smile.

This is dangerous…

This is very dangerous.

We entered first and sat in the best seats.

Sitting by the window, looking at me.

“This is so wonderful…! Sister!”

“Yes. It is nice.”

…Yes, it really is nice.

I’m sorry, but today…

Will be the last of this happiness.