Ch.153Chapter 25. A Slightly Changed Daily Life (5)

In my past life, I always envied harem protagonists.

Since I never had a girlfriend, I couldn’t relate at all when they complained about being surrounded by too many women.

I thought I’d fall for anyone who showed interest in me, while harem protagonists suffered despite being surrounded by women.

Hmm.

Would I sound like garbage if I said I understand now?

“Sigh.”

Early May mornings are still chilly. But it wasn’t unbearable for me. I’ve endured much colder weather before, surviving in a one-person tent with just a sleeping bag.

There’s no special reason I came outside.

I woke up with a stomachache, went to the bathroom, but when I tried to return to my room, there was no space for me to squeeze in.

Since the sun was about to rise anyway, I decided to just get some fresh air outside.

“…”

I still don’t know anything about the future. Or rather, I’ve come so far that I understand even less about what lies ahead.

I can still be active as a Magical Girl, and in some sense, I’ve caught the attention of heroes worldwide, so it feels awkward to quit now.

But there won’t be any more Kaijin appearances—

“Maybe I’ll just postpone deciding until I graduate.”

“Yes, that sounds good.”

I jumped in surprise when someone answered my muttering and turned around.

“Rose.”

“Are you ever going to call me by my name?”

Rose responded with a somewhat bewildered expression.

There was a reason I called Rose “Rose.” First, she’s a year older than me.

It’s uncommon to call someone from the same high school who’s a year above you “senior.” At least when I was in club activities and became friendly with someone, I just called them “older brother.”

So in this case, it would be “older sister.”

If I met a new third-year student now, I could use honorifics and call them “unni.” It would be a lie to say I have no resistance to using that term, but I recognize that even if I find it embarrassing, it’s not something others would consider embarrassing.

But now?

The reason I consistently spoke informally to the Magical Girls was because I truly thought I was at the end of my life then.

My nerves were extremely on edge, and I felt like even destroying everything in the world wouldn’t be enough to cool my anger, so I think they can understand something as minor as informal speech.

The problem is that speech pattern just stuck with me.

At this point, I don’t want to call Rose, Dalia, or Delphinium “unni.” It just… somehow doesn’t feel right.

But then again, addressing someone a year older than me without any honorific feels a bit off too. Despite how I appear, when I’m thinking rationally, I generally try to follow social conventions. Somehow, I feel like I should give proper respect to someone a year older…

Plus—

“You don’t actually forget my name, do you?”

“…”

…That was also an issue.

“Sigh.”

Seeing me unable to answer, Rose let out a deep sigh.

Then she shrugged and sat down beside me.

She didn’t sit as close as Hayun, Ju-a, or Jihye would. She kept enough distance so neither of us would feel uncomfortable.

“I doubt it, but just in case, let me tell you—my name is Seo-hee. Lim Seo-hee.”

That sounds like a name straight out of a textbook.

…I never expected to become this close with the Magical Girls. I never thought we’d end up living together like this. I assumed they were just doing it for their image.

I’m not sure what she’s thinking from looking at my expression. Rose—no, Seo-hee—seemed very straightforward at first glance, but there were times when her face was strangely difficult to read.

It’s not just because she’s a year older than me. It must be a skill she developed as a Magical Girl.

“No need to overthink things, right? It’s all over now. The experts will handle the rest… Well, you have reasons not to trust those experts, but don’t you think the situation is different now than before?”

“Well, I guess.”

I answered vaguely.

“Despite everything, we’re still students. …Honestly, after everything that happened this year, shouldn’t we be worried about school first?”

Only then did I remember that Seo-hee and the other two were college entrance exam candidates this year.

“…Will you be okay?”

Though my question was brief, it seemed to convey my meaning well enough.

“I have to be. Or, as I said before, I could study for another year. To be honest, I was somewhat prepared for this since becoming a Magical Girl. I just didn’t expect to use that preparation in this way.”

“Because you missed so many school days?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

Sunlight slowly began to shine on Seo-hee’s face. Far away, in the direction we were looking, the sun was slowly rising.

Though it was rare, I liked that sight. It was one of the few magnificent scenes in our humble neighborhood. At some point, I couldn’t just leisurely enjoy it anymore.

“Whatever happens, I need to study hard from now on and go to university. I want to go to university.”

“Do you have something you want to study?”

“Hmm, well. Rather than that.”

Seo-hee looked at me with a grin.

“I’d like to experience campus life, you know?”

“Ah.”

I understand.

Some people go to university to study what they want, but in reality, there are probably more people who don’t.

For future employment.

Or because they don’t know what else to do after graduation and want to delay entering society.

Or simply because they want to experience university.

“What about you?”

Seo-hee asked.

“Let’s say you study hard at school now, but what do you want to do next? Are you planning to start working as soon as you become an adult?”

“Well…”

I’ve never thought about it.

I’ve always only thought about what was right in front of me.

I’ve often been told to look to the future. Whether it was sincere advice or just some moral lesson from the curriculum, I’ve heard it enough times.

But that’s easier said than done.

Even for someone like me who’s had something resembling work experience, finding a new job in this world wouldn’t be easy.

Growing older doesn’t necessarily mean gaining more diverse experiences. Someone who’s worked at the same workplace for decades ultimately only knows that job.

Whether to go to university. Whether to get a job right away. Or whether to try something else. Nothing has been decided yet.

“You still have a whole year ahead of you,” Seo-hee said.

“Take your time to decide during that period. And yes, try dating seriously too.”

“…Why bring up dating all of a sudden?”

“Isn’t that why you’re out here? Because if you go back to the room, you’ll be sandwiched between those girls.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

I like Hayun. Jihye is good too, and I don’t dislike Ju-a.

Indecisively, I didn’t want to hurt any of the three more than I already had. I’d already made them worry and suffer too much.

As a result, I’ve become just like those harem protagonists I used to find so irritating.

Surrounded by so many girls but unable to commit to dating any one of them, just feeling a mix of bewilderment and happiness in that situation.

“…”

When I remained silent, Seo-hee giggled.

“Then, how about this?”

“What do you mean?”

“We have summer vacation, right? Even if we missed a lot of school, vacation is still vacation.”

“Don’t we need to take supplementary classes?”

“Well, we probably will, but that won’t take the entire vacation. And honestly, is there any teacher who would force us to come to school when we want to rest?”

No.

Not just among the teachers, but probably few people in the entire country would want to.

Legally, there might be such people, but right now, no one wants to make enemies of us.

That’s also why I’m trying to be careful.

Even if the other side is being lenient, if we act too threateningly, they’ll try to eliminate that threat.

“So, let’s go on a trip.”

“A trip?”

“Yes.”

Seo-hee looked at me and grinned again.

“How about going to the beach?”

“The beach.”

I have been… before. But we never went just for fun on our own. Unfortunately, that kind of leisure wasn’t easy to come by.

“Actually, we thought about going sometimes, but everyone was either strangely busy or something would happen, so we couldn’t go. Since things have turned out this way, I thought maybe we could try going now.”

“What about college entrance exam preparation?”

“Will a few days of travel ruin the exam? Or rather, I don’t think studying for those few days would dramatically improve our scores either.”

Hmm…

Well, that’s…

When I shrugged, Seo-hee shrugged back.

“Alright then. Let’s do that. I’ll tell the others—”

As she was saying this and getting up, she looked behind us and froze in surprise.

Wondering what she saw, I turned around to find Hayun, Jihye, and Ju-a standing there.

“…”

I ran a hand down my face.

Well, I get that I’m in an enviable situation.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a headache, right?