Ch.151Chapter 25. A Slightly Changed Daily Life (3)

The way students at school looked at me had changed, and so had the way ordinary citizens viewed me.

To be honest, I couldn’t help thinking “Why now of all times?”… but well, I hadn’t really had many opportunities to directly see ‘those kinds of reactions’ from citizens.

Whenever negative articles about me came out, wasn’t I almost always on the run? The reactions I mainly saw were from people chasing after me.

So, well, I don’t really care much about that aspect. It’s not like these people have any significant say in my life anyway.

Though it was a bit embarrassing when citizens cheered as they saw me flying through the sky.

That’s right.

When I escaped from the orphanage, I chose the ‘sky’ as my route. No particular reason—I just thought it would help me escape a little faster.

The problem was that the people chasing me could also fly.

Seeing two Magical Girls flying, people raised their phones toward us and called out my Magical Girl name.

And then—

The pager rang.

There had been talk about integrating the function into our circuits rather than carrying separate devices, and with Cherry’s help, that’s what we did.

Thanks to that, we could receive calls anytime, anywhere while operating as Magical Girls.

So, well.

When I escaped toward the sky, it meant other Magical Girls could naturally find me through calls.

The clock hands temporarily disappeared from the circuit screen, replaced by the name of the person calling me.

[Iris]

It was Ju-a.

I looked back while flying through the sky.

A purple Magical Girl was following closely behind me. She was shouting something at me in anger, but the wind was too strong for me to hear properly.

I ignored the first call. Whatever she had to say, it was probably just telling me to stop or something like that.

But no matter what, I couldn’t completely ignore the persistent calling sound for a long time, so I finally answered the third call.

[Are you crazy?!]

That’s what I heard as soon as I answered the pager.

Hmm, am I crazy? I’m not sure. I probably am. I’m not rejecting any of the three girls who are courting me, so others would definitely see me as crazy.

Honestly, I don’t even understand my own feelings. Whether I just want to live peacefully without dating anyone, or if I want to choose one person I love and spend my life with them.

Or if, like a truly crazy person, I want to be with all of them.

I didn’t have enough time to decide.

[Okay! Let’s land first! Everyone is staring at us!]

“…”

As I hesitated to respond, Ju-a shouted into the pager again.

[If you run away like this, people will misunderstand!]

Would they misunderstand that we’re on bad terms? That wouldn’t be good. Already, rumors about me and the other girls were sweeping through the newspapers, and now articles mentioned that the newly added Magical Girl was someone who had known me for a very long time.

Naturally, Rose, Dalia, and Delphinium, who were staying with me, were starting to get dragged into it too. Though those three didn’t seem to care at all.

But if our flying chase scene appeared in articles, the content would definitely be nothing but a love triangle drama.

[If you transform into a Magical Girl and fly around, people might think a Kaijin has appeared!]

But what Ju-a shouted was even more shocking than that.

Ah, so that’s how it works.

I hadn’t been conscious of it until now because I’d been transforming without caring about laws, but transforming into a Magical Girl isn’t much different from running around with a gun.

After all, I could harm people with that magic if I wanted to.

[Come down quickly! Let’s think after we land! If we’re not careful, the government might send planes or something!]

“Ah, alright!”

In the end, I had no choice but to respond that way to Ju-a’s words.

*

“They’re already being criticized for doing nothing during the last incident!”

After I landed in a park that was deserted at this hour, Ju-a, who followed me down, shouted that.

“If they think something’s happening, they’ll try to get involved somehow. They’re already being criticized for what they were doing while minors went all the way to space to defeat villains.”

That… was true.

Usually, when a major problem occurs, someone needs to take responsibility. Especially if it involves political, economic, or military matters.

And the last incident involved all three.

Perhaps the reason why Hayun’s parents couldn’t openly complain about me kidnapping her and keeping her at our orphanage was because both the Federation and the government were involved.

The investigation seemed to be progressing smoothly, but it wasn’t at a level where all cases could be considered closed yet.

“…Do you think they’ve reacted by now?”

“It’s bound to be on social media by now, so they’ll try to contact us somehow.”

Just as she said that, both our pagers rang simultaneously.

Looking at my wrist, I saw it was from the government agency contact we had received before.

Ju-a and I looked at each other at the same time.

“…What should we do?”

“This is…”

But that contact was suddenly cut off.

“Looks like someone else answered.”

Hayun, or Rose.

If either of them answered, they could probably handle it well enough. Both were quite skilled at leading the team.

“…”

“…”

And then the two of us fell into silence for a moment.

Hmm.

Come to think of it, the others don’t seem to have followed us. I can understand Rose, Dalia, and Delphinium, but what about Hayun and Jihye?

“At least they seem more rational than you.”

As if reading my thoughts, Ju-a snapped at me.

I had nothing to say.

“…”

And as I remained silent, Ju-a slightly bowed her head. For some reason, the girl who had been chasing me in anger just moments ago was now cautiously watching my reaction.

“…What?”

Feeling uneasy in that atmosphere, I ended up asking.

“Um.”

Ju-a put out one word and hesitated again for a moment.

Then, as if she had made up her mind, she swallowed hard and opened her mouth.

“Um, do you dislike someone like me?”

“…Huh?”

I was at a loss for words again at Ju-a’s question.

“I mean, I’m always getting angry, I can’t be honest… I feel like I’m only showing that side of myself.”

“Uh, no, wait.”

I said, covering my forehead with one hand.

Swoosh.

My outfit changed again. It was the casual clothes I had been wearing just moments ago. A slightly oversized short-sleeved T-shirt and pajama pants.

…I usually don’t go outside in this state, which shows how flustered I was earlier.

And Ju-a’s appearance changed too. She was a bit better off than me. Like me, she was in comfortable indoor clothes, but hers was just ‘athletic wear.’

The embarrassment of our outfits was overshadowed by Ju-a’s previous words… which wasn’t really fortunate.

“So… you’re suddenly asking me something like that?”

“…”

When I asked back, Ju-a pouted slightly.

“Is that not allowed?”

“No, it’s not that it’s not allowed.”

I fell into thought for a moment.

Okay. At least my head is cooling down slowly. If Ju-a isn’t that angry, I could say one worry has been reduced.

“Hmm.”

After thinking for a moment, I finally voiced a question I’d been having.

“So, you like me.”

“I-I wouldn’t act this way if I didn’t like you.”

“Why?”

“…”

My words left Ju-a speechless.

But this time, I quickly realized I had misspoken.

With that one word, all composure seemed to have left Ju-a. Fidgeting while grabbing the hem of her clothes, she couldn’t answer right away.

But I still needed to hear her story.

Jihye? I can understand. We’ve been together for so long that feelings built up, and the type of affection changed—I understand that. To be honest, I’m attracted to Jihye too, so I can’t say I don’t understand the reverse.

Hayun is similar. We’ve known each other for a long time, and we were each other’s closest friends. If the direction of that affection changes, I can understand.

But Ju-a?

I still don’t understand. If I don’t know why she likes me, I can’t fully reciprocate.

In the option of ‘choosing one person,’ would it be too much for Ju-a to be left out?

It’s probably excessive arrogance on my part to think I have that right.

“…”

Seeing Ju-a unable to say anything, I let out a long sigh.

“Shall we sit down and talk?”

Ju-a nodded at my words.