Ch.200IF Side Story: Somehow, Everyone Seems to Like Me (1)

# Revenge isn’t empty, they say.

After I got rid of all those who were hostile to me, the gazes of those who once saw me as a thorn in their side changed.

So—well, that’s that.

Now I had no reason to wear the circuit on my wrist 24 hours a day, no need to worry about someone attacking me, no fear that a friend might suddenly be kidnapped, or that a pan-galactic corporation might come looking for me with persuasive intentions.

So, um, well, that’s that.

One of my life’s purposes had disappeared.

With that revenge complete, naturally I should feel empty—

As if.

It wasn’t like that at all. Speaking as someone who truly succeeded in revenge, I can honestly say it felt refreshingly liberating.

It’s not that I have no worries about the future. Next year I’ll be a junior, and it’s about time to start worrying about college entrance exams.

But for now, I have something like a job. I might be able to do that work for quite a while after graduating high school.

Besides, I’m not a junior yet. I’m still a sophomore, and the second semester hasn’t even started.

I was thinking I should enjoy this peace that had come after so long.

I put a CD in the player and decided to leisurely listen to music—though I didn’t really know the title or who performed it.

I tossed a cushion on the floor and was about to lie down with my head on it to relax when—

The door burst open.

This room is shared by me, Jihye, Hayun, and Ju-a. I did sort of steal Hayun away, but for some reason Ju-a also left home and settled down at this orphanage.

I thought I’d have some peace being alone in the room right now, but—

“Oh, girl.”

I have no idea where she picked up that way of speaking, but Rose looked down at me as she spoke.

Behind her were lots of children. All of them from the orphanage.

Rose was really popular with the kids. Maybe it was because of her easygoing personality, but she played with the children very well. While all the magical girls were staying at the orphanage, the children followed her around like she was their leader.

“…Why?”

It’s not the second semester yet, but isn’t Rose a junior? Why is she here?

Hayun had trouble with her parents, and Ju-a was just a girl who followed me to my room because she liked me. So them staying in my room… logically it didn’t make sense, but emotionally I could understand.

“No, why are you here?”

It was a bit rude for talking to a senior, but this was something I found hard to fix. The speech pattern had completely stuck to my tongue.

Though I no longer felt any hostility toward magical girls, unfortunately I wasn’t polite enough to start using formal speech at this point.

“Hm? Isn’t it natural to come visit a friend?”

Rose said, her red hair fluttering.

“…”

A friend.

At first I thought she was referring to me, but looking again, that didn’t seem to be the case.

She had the kind of personality that didn’t mind at all when I spoke informally to her. It wasn’t strange at all that her category of “friends” included “kids about five years younger than her.”

“So, why did you come to this room?”

The music was still playing in the background. It wasn’t upbeat at all, so honestly, it didn’t match the situation at all.

“Ah, well.”

Rose looked at me with a grin.

“I want to play soccer with the kids, but we seem to be short on people.”

“Soccer.”

I repeated the word without thinking.

“Yeah, soccer.”

So she wants to play soccer with the orphanage children. Barging in on my peaceful weekend.

When I was younger—actually, until about last year—I often played with elementary school children. It was just that right before becoming a magical girl, I suddenly got too busy to play with them properly.

Well… now that there was no reason for kaijin to suddenly appear, I did have a lot of time, but after running around so hard until now, I just wanted to rest for a while.

Right now, I was the only one in the room.

Jihye said she was going out for a bit. She probably went to a nearby convenience store. Hayun had been growing flowers since she came here, so she went out to tend to the garden. Ju-a followed her there.

So, I was alone for the first time in a long while.

…

I’m not saying it’s always good to be alone. I want my friends. If possible, I prefer when the room is full at night when we sleep.

But even with people who love me, isn’t it nice to lie down leisurely once in a very rare while?

“…”

Seeing Rose looking at me with somehow sparkling eyes, I finally let out a deep sigh.

“Why, do I have to be there?”

“Well, we need an even number of people.”

I put my hand on my forehead.

Rose wasn’t the only one with sparkling eyes. All the kids around her were looking at me with gleaming eyes too.

Covering my face, I thought for a moment, then got up with a deep sigh.

“Fine, I got it. Let’s go.”

What could I do?

I’ve received a lot here, so I should give back just as much. Playing with the children was part of that.

So I was led outside by Rose, and it wasn’t just children gathered there.

Hayun, Jihye, and Ju-a were there too. Even Dalia and Delphinium.

“…Pang Pang?”

“Hehe.”

Even Pang Pang, who was probably the only person I could proudly introduce as a “friend” to anyone, excluding the magical girls.

So, Rose apparently didn’t really intend to play soccer “just with the children.”

This makes it awkward to drop out in the middle claiming I got injured.

Even as I sighed deeply and obviously, I thought it might be a bit fun, which shows how much my thinking has changed.

Well, revenge isn’t empty after all.

How could removing life’s worst obstacle possibly feel empty?

*

After running around for a while, I realized that my stamina must have improved quite a bit.

Even without the circuit, I could run around much longer than before. Well, it would have been incredibly unfair if I hadn’t built any practical muscle after fighting so hard.

I grabbed one of the drinks Jihye had bought and opened it.

The ion drink with a subtle taste that’s hard to describe moistened my throat. It wasn’t a bad taste. A slightly cloudy blue-labeled drink with a hint of lemon flavor.

Sports drinks taste really good after running around a lot.

While I was absentmindedly watching the children running around, someone plopped down in the seat next to me.

Thanks to the vivid red color I caught in the corner of my vision, I could easily tell it was Rose.

“It’s really nice to see kids running around, isn’t it?”

“…It is.”

I can understand why Rose likes children.

Sometimes they can be frustratingly stubborn, steal my things, or annoyingly enter my room without a care—but if they’re not doing such things and just playing among themselves, there’s hardly a more pleasant sight.

Most of the running children were boys, but there were girls too.

The kids who weren’t running were cheering enthusiastically.

Before I knew it, the soccer match Rose had planned had turned into a strange sport where it was hard to tell who was on which team.

They run freely, go out to rest, and join in freely. Without knowing how many people are on each team, they just kick the ball toward the goal. The goalkeepers try hard to block the ball, and when a goal is scored, somehow all the children cheer together. Even the goalkeeper.

“At this point, it can hardly be called a sport.”

I muttered, watching Jihye celebrating after scoring a goal. She even scored in her own team’s goal. At least I still remember which team the magical girls were on.

“Isn’t that what’s good about it?”

“…”

“Just running around without thinking. Not getting involved in strange incidents, not having to fight scary-looking kaijin.”

I couldn’t answer Rose’s words.

Right. I wasn’t the only one who fought villains. In fact, Rose had been fighting villains much longer than me, even longer than Hayun.

From Rose’s perspective, having fought kaijin since childhood, seeing children just running around excitedly must be a pleasant sight.

“No need to decide who’s on whose side. Isn’t that nice?”

I thought about the times when we were fighting.

The times when I was hostile toward magical girls, and magical girls treated me like an annoying villain.

At some point, there was no such wall between us.

One of those mixing in there was even set to become the president of Noir Corporation.

“…It is.”

I answered, feeling somewhat refreshed.

“It’s much better to just play all mixed up together.”

“Right?”

Rose smiled, and I couldn’t help but smile a little too.