Ch.140Chapter 23. Line (3)

No one among us knows how to find the former chairman.

To begin with, none of us have ever even seen this person called the former chairman. Just once, that red-faced man came, made something like a deal with us, and left.

I did think there might be some hint in the device at the orphanage, but I quickly dismissed that thought.

The idea was immediately debunked by the opposite logic: would someone who works so hard to hide their identity deliberately put hints in that device?

Wasn’t it equipment that was temporarily disabled during the battle with Pung Pung? If there was even the slightest concern about hacking threats, I was certain they wouldn’t have included such information.

“But there is someone who knows.”

Cherry cautiously spoke up.

From the way she was watching my reaction, I could guess who she meant.

“…Pang Pang.”

Cherry nodded at my words.

“Pang Pang is the granddaughter of Noir Corporation’s former chairman, right?”

“I don’t think she would know about that.”

I responded sharply without meaning to.

It couldn’t be helped.

Information like Pang Pang being the granddaughter of the Noir Corporation chairman wasn’t particularly important to me. Rather, I only remembered her as someone who unhesitatingly extended a helping hand when I was in the most danger.

I didn’t want her to get involved in this… strange “power struggle.”

“Think about it.”

But Cherry spoke as if trying to convince me.

“She might actually be in danger if you don’t protect her. What Noir Corporation did was inhumane, but it’s also a clear legacy of their work.”

“…”

Legacy.

They modify people… or produce them, and force their circuits to operate. Then they use these people like turbines to generate energy.

One chairman tried to sell such Earth people to be used like fuel rods for some space vessel, while the other seemed to think human research was a system for moving to the “next stage.”

If you call that a legacy—

…Well, it’s not completely wrong. Either way, it’s something that could completely change the energy concept of this universe.

That’s why Pang Pang might be in danger.

Whether the Federation contacts her, or the government, or someone else from Noir Corporation, Pang Pang would end up being “used.”

Though it wouldn’t be much different if we contacted her either.

“Jieun.”

Cherry looked up at Jieun as she spoke.

“…Alright.”

In the end, I nodded at Cherry’s words.

I thought everything was over.

But still, still, nothing has ended. The days of happily living an ordinary life seem so far away.

Just one drop, a single drop of water falling on a lake, and the ripples it creates continue to move without disappearing, trying to create the next wave.

*

“Me, take over Noir Corporation?”

The next day.

When I went to find Pang Pang and brought up the conversation I had with Cherry the day before, Pang Pang reacted with surprise.

“I’m not suggesting we use you.”

Seeing Pang Pang’s expression already showing some resistance, I felt guilty as I spoke.

This was the first time Pang Pang had shown such an expression after hearing me out. She must really dislike being associated with her grandmother.

“I want to completely dissolve that company.”

“Will that solve everything?”

To be honest, I don’t know. How far that legacy might have leaked. How far that person Pung Pung had gone, and to whom they might have passed information.

Pung Pung’s mind was completely broken. While I’d like to say it was self-inflicted, in the current situation, it’s actually of no help at all.

Having become like a five-year-old child, there’s no way to have a proper conversation, and the memories they previously had couldn’t possibly remain intact.

“You’re our only option.”

That’s all I could say.

“And this is the only way.”

At the very least, we need to make sure people understand that tampering with humanity is not an easy thing to do.

The complete dissolution of Noir Corporation. A definitive ban on accessing that “legacy.”

…I don’t know how far we can go, but I intended to do what I could.

*

In the end, barely three days after we said “let’s all go back to where we belong,” we gathered at the orphanage again.

Somewhat strangely, the children seemed to enjoy this fact, but I wasn’t entirely pleased about having so much to think about again.

If only we could gather just as friends.

Every time we got together, either something happened, or we were gathering right before something was about to happen—one of the two.

Coming out of the cramped room, wanting to wash away some of the stuffiness, I sat on a swing in the orphanage playground.

The children cheered at the return of the magical girls.

“I think I might just stay here.”

Rose said that to me, seemingly genuinely fond of the children.

Though she did close her mouth when I stood there with an expression like I’d bitten into something sour.

Am I still not adapted to my position as a magical girl?

Or have their ways of thinking become somewhat twisted after being magical girls for so long? It was impossible to know.

Hayun and Jihye were bickering about something, which was actually a more pleasant sight to see.

I don’t like seeing people trying to sacrifice themselves as if it’s the most natural thing. Even though I was the one who complicated things and caused all this, I still didn’t like seeing Hayun trying to fight as a magical girl of her own accord.

How nice would it be if we could just think everything was resolved, fly around in the sky on dates, and occasionally… well, anyway, just live like that.

“Mind if I sit next to you for a moment?”

As I was staring blankly at the sky, someone approached and spoke to me.

The voice was familiar. It just felt like it had been too long since I’d heard it.

“Sure.”

When I nodded, Pang Pang sat on the empty swing.

I only felt sorry toward Pang Pang. For looking at her with an openly twisted gaze for so long, and for only causing trouble after openly accepting her help.

She did save me… and strictly speaking, what happened wasn’t because she saved me, but still, I can’t help feeling uncomfortable when I recall that memory.

“You look like you have a lot on your mind.”

Pang Pang said that and handed something to me.

It was a can of coffee. And not just any coffee—it was the kind with quite a bit of caffeine, the one Pang Pang often chose when she wanted to get tipsy.

I accepted it with a look of disbelief.

Tssk.

When we both opened our cans at the same time, that sound came from the cold cans.

I took a sip of the coffee as one normally would, but Pang Pang gulped down the contents of her can vigorously, as if drinking beer.

“Ahh!”

Pang Pang exhaled. Indeed, she looked like a model in a beer commercial.

“I really missed this taste.”

“The taste of coffee?”

“Well, that too, but you can buy and drink coffee anytime. There’s no age restriction for buying coffee in this country anyway.”

“…Did you put something in it?”

“No. …This was a new can.”

When I looked at her suspiciously, Pang Pang shrugged with an aggrieved expression.

“What I mean is, I missed drinking coffee with a friend like this.”

Now it was my turn to shrug.

“I’m not getting tipsy at all.”

“Isn’t it reassuring to have someone who handles caffeine well next to you?”

What is this, like someone who gets drunk easily always relying on a friend who doesn’t get drunk?

…Well, in this case, I’m the one who’s relied on her much more.

“Later, when you’re old enough to drink alcohol, let’s really drink together. You drink alcohol, and I’ll drink coffee. How about it?”

“Whatever you say.”

Even though I recognized how much help I’d received, it wasn’t easy to speak kindly to Pang Pang.

I wonder why.

Am I looking down on Pang Pang?

Pang Pang’s face turned slightly red. It’s a bit strange that even though her skin is blue, her blushing cheeks don’t appear purple. Well, if they were purple, it might have been a bit scary, but then again, living organisms don’t always evolve to be purely beautiful.

For a while, the two of us sipped our coffee without saying anything.

“You know, it suits you well.”

Pang Pang suddenly said.

“What suits me well?”

“Yeah, that white dress.”

Pang Pang looked at me with a slightly playful expression as she spoke.

“It’s like a wedding dress. Wear it when you get married. People will probably love it, right? Including the person marrying you, of course.”

I seriously considered whether that was sexual harassment or not. Since she was drunk on… well, not alcohol but caffeine, it probably wouldn’t be strange to say something similar.

But before I could decide whether I was guilty or innocent, Pang Pang continued speaking, cutting off such thoughts.

“I thought you were an amazing magical girl. Actually, I didn’t think that just because of the white clothes. I thought the same when you wore black clothes too.”

“…”

Pang Pang took another sip of coffee.

“Are you okay without any snacks?”

“This much is nothing. It’s not even cafe coffee.”

That comment reminded me of the time Pang Pang made a scene at the cafe, making me snicker a little.

“You said power moves through despair, right? And then hope.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

As I answered while fiddling with the can, Pang Pang looked at me.

“You know what? My love for magical girls isn’t just simple admiration.”

Pang Pang looked straight at me as she spoke.

“I wanted to become one too. A magical girl.”

“…”

Somehow, I think I understand that feeling.

A being I could never become.

But one I admired so much that I wanted to resemble even a little bit.

Trying many times but ultimately failing, and that emotion eventually turns into a sticky feeling of jealousy.

That’s what I felt when looking at Hayun.

At least I was an Earth person, so I was lucky enough to become a magical girl.

But for Pang Pang, it’s impossible. Because she’s not from Earth. Because she can’t operate the circuits.

The combat suit Pang Pang wore was just a simple one with minimal power assist functions. Different from what I, an Earth person, wore.

…Did she feel those emotions while looking at me too?

While watching me move the circuits a little, momentarily standing against a magical girl.

“Earth people are romantic beings. Aren’t they? Of course, there were political reasons too, but they proved they could send people to the moon without magic. They built huge telescopes and put them in orbit to see the universe, and when they broke down, they sent people to fix them. They created Voyagers and sent them on journeys just because they wanted to see far, far away.”

“…”

“Despite not being able to use magic, they insist on transforming in strange ways to fight evil forces.”

Pang Pang looked up at the sky with her reddened face.

Those eyes looking up at the stars seemed to be gazing at something distant.

“Looking up at those stars, what did Earth people think? What were they thinking when they put greetings and songs on golden record plates for recipients they might never meet, with such a slim chance of encounter?”

Even I hadn’t given much thought when hearing that famous story.

“Isn’t it fascinating? I wanted to become an astronaut. Not flying with magic like people from other planets do, but the way Earth people did it. After hearing about it, it seemed much more like an ‘adventure.’ Studying orbits, using planetary gravity to travel far. Isn’t that cool? People strangely treated it as foolish though.”

Pang Pang looked at me.

Her face was red as if drunk on the atmosphere, on caffeine.

But her eyes were sparkling.

They were the eyes of someone who looks straight at what they want to see, so upright.

Eyes I’ve never had.

“So, I want to be part of protecting this. I don’t want to see Earth’s potential end up as just ‘fuel’ or ‘energy’ or something like that. I want to keep seeing that romance of ‘making possible what’s impossible.'”

“…”

“So, I’m not going because you’re forcing me.”

Pang Pang said with a smile.

“I couldn’t transform directly—and I couldn’t become an astronaut, but well. If it means helping magical girls, and going to space with Earth people. Couldn’t we say that’s something similar?”

We might not be able to stay together until the end.

And whether we need to go to space or not is still uncertain.

But somehow, Pang Pang’s words sounded reasonable.

Maybe I’ve gotten a little tipsy too.

Though I’ve never heard of Earth people getting drunk on caffeine.