Ch.180180. Why Is She Acting Like This All of a Sudden

“What are you. Do as you please. Ah, Arin. Will Ellie be training together too?”

If Ellie heard this, she’d be startled and object, but right now she can’t hear anything.

“Yes! Ellie will win in no time! Bine unnie… phew. Go easy at first! Match your skill to mine! Don’t go all out!”

“Yes, well…”

She was really scared when we first trained.

Now… hmm.

“Huh? Why am I avoiding it…?”

“We’re tied right now, aren’t we? 855 wins, 855 losses.”

“No, we’re not! I have more wins! Hey, are you avoiding it because you think you’ll lose?”

“Because I think I’ll lose?”

“Where did that Bine go? The Bine who was always challenging me? And we’re not tied!”

“Are you counting when I was in that brainwashed state too?”

“Of course.”

“Huh? How did the great Blanc end up like this?”

“Hmm? Could it be our Bine is running away because she’s scared?”

“Scared? I’m not scared at all! Rather, wasn’t the reason you started Ragnarok at dawn because you were afraid of me? And bringing 20 magical girls to catch just one of me. Surely you were the one who was frightened?”

“That’s not it?”

“It’s not? Really?”

“Nope. I’m actually quite confident! You can come with even more power. You must be far behind by now, right?”

“What? I could easily beat you with my old strength!”

“Whatever.”

“Fine. Let’s fight. You want to fight? Ha. You, Blanc?”

“Why don’t you fully recover first before talking, Bine?”

“I can beat you even without recovering.”

“I don’t enjoy winning against injured opponents, you know.”

“Isn’t that you? A magical girl about to retire due to age.”

Arin looks surprised at the two of us, while Hyewon watches with a look that says “here we go again.”

“Um, unnies…? W-why are you suddenly saying such scary things…?”

“Sigh… I thought things had calmed down lately. But here we go again.”

“What do you mean ‘here we go again’? Stay out of this, crybaby.”

“That’s right, Hyewon. This is between the two of us.”

Hyewon just sighs and feeds Arin pizza.

Telling her not to worry.

“So, second-rate magical girl Blanc. Let’s fight. Yes, let’s fight! I’ll win!”

“Recovery comes first, I said!”

“I know my own condition. I can fight right now if needed!”

“Pfft. Hey. I know your body better than you do.”

“What? Who are you to know my body so well? Should I inform the world that this magical girl is quite the pervert? So everyone can see and avoid you!”

“I am a pervert though?”

“What?”

…Wait.

Isn’t the usual pattern here to deny it and make a big fuss…?

She’s so confidently admitting to being a pervert that I’m a bit thrown off…

“Since I am a pervert, I should take a bath with Bine again today!”

“W-wait a minute! When you say something like that and then follow it up with that, what do you think it sounds like!”

“Why? That’s exactly how I meant it to sound?”

“What…?”

“There’s a child like Arin here! What are you saying, seriously!”

“Why? Kids these days know everything at this age! Look, even Arin understands now and…”

“You stupid pervert Blanc! Really!”

“Pfft…”

Is this really the time to laugh!

Arin was fanning herself as if she felt hot, putting down her pizza.

And Hyewon, who was watching, had changed to a look of interest!

Of course, Seohyun still seemed busy gnawing on chicken, and Yuri was too absorbed with Ellie to pay attention to us.

Seriously.

“That look in your eyes seems a bit strange…!”

“Hmm? What look?”

“Ugh…! How could my noble and pure rival…!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

And then, Blanc annoyingly tears into a piece of chicken.

Arin…

Oh, she’s completely frozen.

I wonder if the pizza slice in front of Arin will ever make it into her mouth again.

Still, eating is good. I picked it up and put it in Arin’s mouth.

“Eek?!”

“It’ll taste bad if it gets cold?”

“Y-yes…!”

…Maybe I shouldn’t have bothered her.

Was it counterproductive to touch her when she’s this sensitive…?

Right.

And the culprit who made her this sensitive is giving me looks suggesting she wants the same treatment.

“What are you looking at, Blanc?”

“Me too!”

“I have nothing to offer a pervert.”

I cut her off immediately and picked up another slice of pizza.

This bulgogi pizza is really delicious…

I thought the Korean-style pizza I had before was tasty too.

Maybe it’s because it’s from a different brand near the Association.

Hmm.

Was it made this way to specifically target elementary school tastes? It has that kind of addictive pleasure.

So, one bite.

Mmm…

Even though it’s cooled a bit, it still has flavor potential left.

This primal and intense combination of sweet and savory that stimulates the taste buds is so good.

I was eating quietly, trying to minimize the chomping sounds, when…

Just as I put it down to drink some cola, a hyena seized the opportunity.

“Nom.”

“…?”

“Mmm… delicious. Since you won’t feed me when I ask, I have to eat like this.”

“…?!”

Why is Blanc suddenly doing something she never does…?

Blanc…?

Why…?

Isn’t this the kind of thing that people like Yuri usually do…?

“Mmm… delicious. Rather than snatching it like this, it would have been better if you fed me directly…”

“Y-you, what are you doing right now?!”

“Hmm? I just took a bite of the pizza you were eating, Bine?”

“Y-you…! Shameless…!”

“Pfft… That’s why I told you I’m a pervert, right? You called me a pervert first!”

“S-such a childish reason doesn’t excuse this behavior!”

“Well, I like it! Don’t do this kind of thing?”

“Y-you’re acting so differently from how you usually appear! Y-you’re not Blanc…!”

“What are you saying? Of course I am…? Hmm… I guess you’re not used to me suddenly changing like this, Bine… Well, I was also really surprised when Yuri unnie first showed that side of herself.”

“W-what does that have to do with anything! Th-there’s no connection…! No, more importantly, explain yourself first…!”

“Explain? I don’t have much to say. I just wanted to follow my heart for once.”

With such strange explanations.

In the end, I couldn’t get a proper answer until we finished eating all the food in front of us.

While cleaning up, I mustered the courage to ask Blanc again despite my embarrassment.

The answer I got was that she truly just did what she impulsively wanted to do.

And then she suggested we go wash up.

Even though I tried to avoid it, saying how could I trust Blanc, I was caught by her and dragged to the large bath just like yesterday.

The atmosphere in the bath after all that was, naturally…

Well.

You could call it chaotic if you wanted.

Or if not, you could say it was quiet.

Blanc trying to stick right next to me.

Yesterday she avoided me, but now she’s trying to get closer to me, which is really…

Trying to get even closer.

Those floating objects are just…

Just…!

Even when I try to avoid her, she holds me tight so I can’t escape.

Ugh.

And this time, she took the spot next to me when sleeping too.

“How is it?”

“It’s uncomfortable, Blanc.”

“Hmm… I’m fine with it. Let’s sleep like this.”

“Why are you being so stubborn about this…?”

“I just realized, I’m your employer, right? I’m the one paying for you!”

“…I didn’t know you had such tastes.”

Even when I tried to shake her off with comments like this.

“Yes. I discovered I have this taste?”

“W-what are you saying now!”

“A taste for soft, warm things that are always heavenly? Don’t you feel the same? When you see small animals like Jibril, don’t you want to hug them while sleeping?”

“What do I have in common with that noisy, fur-shedding cat…”

“Hmm… I’ll tell you later.”

“Rather than telling me later, could you please let go of me now…?”

“Why?”

“…When you hug me like this, I have to lie on my back because I can’t turn. If I face this way, you’re here, and if I face the other way, Arin is there. I can’t turn over and this is…”

“Why?”

“Let me go…”

“Being like this reminds me of the day we met?”

“Why are you remembering that day…”

“Of course I remember it. How feisty you were… hmm, maybe that was more like the Bine I knew.”

“What do you mean by that, Blanc?”

“I like this version a bit more.”

“I haven’t changed though…”

“Hmm… no. Well, I’m saying this because it’s me. You’ve changed a lot.”

“…Isn’t that because Eden is gone? Too many things have happened, right? To a retired, washed-up villain with a burnt-out name like me.”

“…Retired, just now? Then I win the bet, right?”

“What…? Suddenly what’s that about. Oh.”

“Why, you said ‘retired’ because you’re not going back, right?”

“No…!”

“Then you will go back? As that villain?”

“…I am a villain, after all?”

“You said you retired.”

“…Of course the Association would have recorded it as retirement. Or elimination completed. We could probably find out if we took Arin to the records office later.”

“Hmm… I don’t know?”

“Eden’s Bine is finished now… Sigh. That’s right. What should I do now?”

“How about being hugged for now?”

“What?!”

Blanc hugged me even tighter.

So intensely that I couldn’t even hear Arin’s murmuring beside us.

The suspicious feeling that was trying to ruin me.

She embraced me so powerfully that I couldn’t even think about such things.