Ch.150Chapter 25. A Slightly Changed Daily Life (2)

Well, fine.

Truthfully, I played a part in how things turned out this way.

No, that’s not right. If we’re being honest, I’m the main cause. To be more precise, each of my actions created a butterfly effect that led to this conclusion.

In the original work, there was never any indication that Hayun might like girls. Since it was a work with fanservice scenes but absolutely no romance depictions, nobody would have known about such a setting, whether before or after the webtoon remake.

Plus, the character “Jeong Jieun” never appeared in the original. I might have been one of the faceless background characters around Hayun, or maybe I wasn’t even included among them. After all, I ended up at the same school as Hayun because I studied hard to follow her.

Yeah, that’s fine.

I did say some nonsense to the author, and there are cases in possession stories where people get possessed without doing anything wrong, so I guess I can let that slide.

And in possession stories, the possessed person often completely changes the plot development… well, without that, there wouldn’t be much point to a possession story anyway.

But here’s the thing.

What did that so-called author want when they put me here?

Maybe they were just obsessed with yuri stories? Or was my reading that work just a coincidence, and my possession in this world just happened to match up perfectly by chance?

Hmm, I still don’t really know.

However.

“Jieun, Jieun.”

“Yeah?”

I responded casually to Jihye’s call as she clung to my back in the room.

No, I was trying my best to think of it casually. Though it was the same with Hayun and Ju-a, whenever I had certain thoughts about Jihye, I felt an enormous sense of guilt.

It’s because we’ve been close for so long. We shared a room, shared a shower. We even occasionally swapped clothes. Well, it was more like Jihye unilaterally borrowing mine. Her clothes didn’t fit me well.

Perhaps because of that, that sisterly bond feels like a barrier when we’re close like this.

It’s not that I don’t get excited. I’ve kissed Jihye, and I didn’t think it was unpleasant. But the guilt I feel is about twice what I feel with the others.

Jihye doesn’t seem to feel that guilt toward me.

“When should we get married?”

If I’d had food in my mouth, I would have spectacularly spat it out. Fortunately, the potato chips were just sitting on the floor, not in my hand. Was it Jihye’s consideration to wait until I’d swallowed before saying anything?

“M-marriage?”

“Yes.”

Jihye spoke in a very, very, perhaps excessively honest tone.

“Since we’ve already kissed, it’s only natural.”

I seriously considered again.

Would it be too trashy to think, ‘Just because we kissed doesn’t mean we need to get married’?

Besides, it would be a lie to say my heart didn’t race when I heard those words. Though that racing was followed by some inexplicable guilt.

“Um… same-sex marriage isn’t legal here yet, is it?”

So I tried to dodge the question.

I’ve heard that some aliens don’t have the same concept of “gender” as humans. Most aliens are divided into male and female, but even among Earth’s creatures, there are cases of “asexual,” “hermaphroditic,” and “self-reproducing without sexual intercourse.”

Plus, there are supposedly cases with more than two genders. Oh, wait, was that about mushrooms, not animals?

But even in this era of alien interaction, the laws of this country haven’t completely caught up. Actually, many other countries are the same, so I can’t say this place is particularly strange.

So my answer was quite cowardly, but—

“We don’t necessarily have to do it institutionally.”

Damn, Jihye knows me too well.

She knows I can’t push her away, knows I care for her, and knows I feel a certain responsibility.

Her arms were still wrapped around my waist. Her body was pressed against my back, which was embarrassing in many ways.

“Like a wedding ceremony.”

“…”

That.

It would be a lie to say I’ve never imagined it.

Moreover, I’ve imagined relationships with all three of them, to an extent I can’t deny is somewhat trashy.

What can I do? I’m only human. When such pretty girls keep coming on to me, I can’t help but think about it.

“That’s…”

I could feel Jihye’s lips near my ear.

The breath flowing between her lips was explicit. Even without her lips touching my ear, I could imagine their shape.

If it had been Hayun clinging to me, I would have dodged the question by kissing her. It’s similar with Jihye. Both of them tend to freeze up when I suddenly push forward.

But Jihye was now holding me from behind. She seemed to have anticipated my actions.

So I found myself in a situation where I had to give a serious answer.

After thinking seriously for a while, I finally opened my mouth.

“…After we become adults.”

And I ran away again.

I heard Jihye giggling by my ear. Somehow, she seemed to have anticipated even this answer of mine.

No, until just recently, she had a childlike personality with no interest in these matters, but it’s amazing how she’s changed in just a few months.

Perhaps she had judged there was no competition before.

“…”

Somehow, hearing her laugh is irritating.

It’s not like Jihye and I never fought while living together. No matter how well I treated her, I could never be called a saint, and in some ways, I was quite narrow-minded.

Even as a child, my adult mind was intact, so my age and behavior didn’t match well. Plus, since I didn’t particularly like children, I would get annoyed when Jihye tried to talk to me, or get angry when she touched my things without permission.

Jihye would stand her ground too. We’ve pulled each other’s hair and pinched each other’s cheeks.

But I guess we grew fond of each other even through those fights. We eventually became close.

More precisely, Jihye was the one who adapted to me first.

What could I say about someone who accommodated my selfish demands and still cared for me like this?

…

…But still.

I suddenly turned my body around.

“Eek!?”

When my face suddenly turned toward hers, Jihye was startled. But she didn’t think to remove her arms from my body. Or perhaps her body just froze?

Since we were both sitting down—in this position, it was natural for our balance to collapse.

And the one more likely to fall was Jihye.

Jihye fell backward onto the blanket we had spread on the floor, and her face filled my vision.

Her hair was still slightly damp. Despite having shorter hair than me, Jihye somehow found drying her hair bothersome.

Some strands of her disheveled hair stuck to her forehead, some to her cheeks.

No, maybe she was sweating a little from being so close to me.

“J-Jieun…?”

Hearing Jihye’s voice like that, a strange satisfaction welled up from deep in my chest.

Yes. We became close, and I even thought of her as a sister. This feeling of affection is different from what I feel for Hayun, but at the same time, I can’t say it’s any less.

And because of my personality, I absolutely hate “losing.”

I’m possessive—no, just plain greedy. Yes. I want to hold my happiness in both arms. Even when I became a magical girl and heard people talk about justice and whatnot, this thought remained the same.

As I brought my face closer, Jihye’s face reddened. My face was probably red too, but not as much as hers.

Just like Hayun had been.

Jihye still had her arms around my back. Was this also because her body had frozen? Well, I don’t think that’s entirely it. She probably doesn’t want to lose even though she’s scared.

We were always like this. Yes. Jihye’s personality was a bit different from Hayun’s.

I pressed my body down on Jihye a little more. I placed both hands right beside her face.

As my face slowly drew closer, Jihye’s breathing became rougher. It seemed she was having trouble containing her embarrassment now that we were in this situation.

As our faces were almost touching, and the arms around my waist were gradually losing strength.

Just as I was beginning to feel a sense of victory—

Bang.

The sound of a door opening.

Not the room door, but the door to the shower.

The shower attached to our shared room.

Jihye and I turned our heads toward it simultaneously.

There stood Hayun, wearing wet clothes. Normally, Hayun would have dried off and gotten fully dressed before coming out, but she seemed to have instinctively sensed what was happening outside the shower.

It was a sense worthy of a “magical girl.”

“…”

Silence fell over the room.

For reference, the other girls had gone outside the room, perhaps bored with waiting for us to shower one by one. They were probably playing with the kids again.

“…What are you doing?”

Hayun’s gaze was directed at me.

I felt a little unfair, though just slightly. After all, it was Jihye who had provoked me first while Hayun was in the shower.

But from Hayun’s perspective, I was on top of Jihye, so well…

I carefully got up.

Jihye’s arms around my waist had already loosened.

Now, what to do.

Well, the answer was simple.

I just ran.

I opened the door and sprinted at full speed.

“Ah!?”

As I suddenly burst out, Ju-a, who was about to enter, was startled and stepped back.

“Ju-a, catch her!” Hayun shouted.

“Huh!? Uh, what!?”

Ju-a stuttered momentarily, seeing Hayun—who had been competing with her over me at school today—shouting such a command.

“She was pouncing on Jihye!”

At those words, Ju-a’s eyes immediately changed. Her gaze shot upward in a frightening way. It reminded me of the feeling I had when I was a combatant.

That feeling was fear.

I changed direction and ran.

I could hear someone following behind me.

While running down the corridor, I made eye contact with Rose, who seemed to find our situation very amusing and started running after me. Dalia and Delphinium followed somewhat bewilderedly, and Jihye, who had emerged a bit later, was also chasing after me.

What is this situation?

It seems I’ve made another strange choice, I thought as I ran down the corridor with all my might.