Ch.205IF Side Story: Somehow, Everyone Seems to Like Me (6)

Residual mana is a real thing.

It’s not some grand theory from academia or anything—just a concept we’ve been calling that among ourselves.

Unlike aliens who can naturally use small amounts of mana with their bare bodies, Earth humans originally couldn’t utilize mana at all. That’s where circuits came in as a support mechanism. Ironically, it’s precisely because humans can’t naturally use mana that they can harness circuits to produce power beyond the minimal mana that aliens instinctively use.

Well, aliens do have their own ways of using mana. Rather than casting actual spells, it typically manifests as physical abilities far superior to those of Earth humans. There aren’t many cases of aliens using magic like actual wizards.

On the other hand, magical girls’ powers almost entirely manifest in the form of magic—

Whack!

But that magic can be quite effective when used properly.

Even without shooting beams or arrows of light, you can use it to deflect an opponent’s arm or slightly push or support your body.

It’s a fighting style that only those experienced with using circuits in battle can become familiar with.

Oh, so about residual mana—

“Ugh, how on earth…?!”

“What, did you think you could just win if we didn’t have our circuits?”

Well, that is the common sense view. Not just for us, but for almost all heroes. I’ve heard some have actually suffered because of it.

Attention-seekers picking fights, or people who’ve been taught a lesson coming back for more.

That’s why we usually wear our circuits at all times.

“It seems like when you’ve poured out enormous amounts of mana, some of it stays in your body.”

It’s not as much as when you’re actively using a circuit. But it’s enough to subdue ordinary thugs who aren’t even real kaijin.

I stuck out my foot to trip someone rushing at me, then kicked the knife out of their hand, sending it flying far away.

Then I turned my head to look around.

The other magical girls—my seniors—were fighting well too.

I couldn’t tell exactly why residual mana remained in our bodies, but I’d been wearing my circuit almost 24 hours a day for a long time, and during that period, my circuit had been running while I experienced tremendous emotional changes, swinging between despair and hope.

Above all, I suspect there might have been some conceptual change in mana when I gathered the power of other magical girls for a final attack at the end. At least for us.

Seo-hee was fighting well. Since she originally used a strategy of diving into her opponent’s space when fighting with circuits, her opponents had little hope from the moment they faced her.

Yeon-woo was—not using a staff, but swinging her bag around. It looked incredibly threatening. The weapon of the person facing Yeon-woo had already been sent flying far away.

I saw more people rushing toward those two, so I jumped with all my might and delivered a knife-hand strike to the back of each of their heads.

Thud.

They collapsed, and when I looked back—

“…”

Delphinium, or rather Chae-yeon, was about to be attacked.

It wasn’t so much that she had trouble facing two people at once, but rather that Delphinium had originally been the magical girls’ strategic weapon.

Her role was to sweep away large numbers of enemies with wide-area magic at once, and just by chanting magic, she would exude an intimidating pressure that psychologically weakened her opponents.

That’s not to say she couldn’t use magic frequently. If she reduced the range, she could use shorter chants and cast more often.

However, perhaps because she was a magical girl specialized “purely in magic,” her physical movements were somewhat awkward.

A bit clumsy, you might say.

She was using mana and didn’t seem to be injured, but it still made me uneasy.

“Oops.”

Finally, unable to just watch, I leaped to her side and pulled her arm.

“…Ah.”

The tips of Chae-yeon’s hair were slightly cut. A knife had just grazed where the back of her head had been moments ago.

“…!”

The two knife-wielders turned their heads toward me, immediately changed their stance, and swung their knives—

Rip.

“Ah.”

I frowned.

As I tried to dodge sideways, the knife tip caught on my clothes. The blade grazed just past my shoulder, tearing a hole in my short sleeve.

…

This was something Ha-yun bought for me.

Unable to contain the anger that suddenly boiled up, I planted my fist into that guy’s jaw.

“…!”

Then I pulled Chae-yeon behind me again and grabbed the other person’s wrist. When I caught his hand before the knife could even touch me, his face hardened.

Thud.

I heard the sound of others collapsing. It was Seo-hee and Yeon-woo taking down the remaining thugs.

“Are you okay?”

I asked, turning to look at Chae-yeon behind me.

“…Yeah.”

Chae-yeon answered while slightly avoiding my eyes.

“Hmm.”

I gently lifted Chae-yeon’s wrist to examine it. She looked a bit surprised, but she didn’t shake off my hand.

“…There’s no meat at all.”

It was a truly slender wrist and hand.

It was a feminine arm, but—you know how sometimes you look at someone and think this? Arms or legs that look like they might break if you tap them.

Looking at her skinny frame gave me exactly that impression.

“You’re going to keep being a magical girl, right? I think you need to exercise a bit.”

“…I’m fine because I can use magic.”

Perhaps annoyed by my words, Chae-yeon tried to shake off her arm.

More precisely, she tried to shake it off.

But she couldn’t.

“…”

“…Even like this?”

When I asked, Chae-yeon slightly averted her gaze.

“It’s not like we haven’t tried before,” Seo-hee said as she approached. Her expression showed no surprise at having fought knife-wielding opponents. Well, the enemies we usually fought were much more vicious than these guys.

“That’s right. We do have facilities, you know? But even if we take her there, she absolutely won’t exercise. She just sits on the bench press and reads books.”

…Do magical girls even go to the gym?

Well, I guess it wouldn’t be strange if they did.

I never had the time or money to go to places like gyms, so I hadn’t really been to one.

That’s not to say I didn’t exercise at all. I used to jog in the mornings sometimes, and did a few push-ups and squats. Well, not every day, but I did want to win in fights.

I really want to make her exercise somehow.

There’s no particular reason. I just feel like Chae-yeon would make interesting expressions if I made her exercise.

These days, I enjoy teasing Ha-yun a little, tickling Ji-hye, and seeing Pang Pang’s slightly tipsy expression after coffee. It’s fun, right? As long as the other person doesn’t absolutely hate it, I want to keep seeing those expressions.

I’m done with seeing faces grimacing, crying, or screaming in agony.

…Well, exercise naturally makes people grimace.

“Um, I don’t think this is the time to be talking about that,” Yeon-woo said, poking one of the groaning figures on the ground with her foot.

“Let’s call the police first.”

At my words, Seo-hee took out her smartphone.

*

If the police had arrested them as criminals caught in the act right there, we wouldn’t have had to write statements, but since we did fight and throw punches, they said we needed to write them.

After talking about various things at the police station, about an hour had passed by the time we came out.

It was too early for dinner, but an awkward time to go somewhere else.

Those guys had messed up our schedule a bit.

“Well, I don’t think it was an entirely bad experience, right?”

“Aren’t you too into this magical girl thing?”

I frowned at Seo-hee’s words.

No matter how you look at it, getting attacked by thugs while hanging out with friends is just a bad thing, isn’t it? We weren’t hurt, but we could have been.

“…”

Chae-yeon was staring intently at my clothes.

“That outfit.”

“Huh? Oh, this.”

Pointing at the outfit with the hole in the short sleeve, I shrugged.

“It’s fine. I can just sew it up.”

Since it was a gift from Ha-yun, I didn’t particularly want to throw it away, but I could just sew it up for now. I’m past the point of caring about others’ gazes regarding my clothes. The magical girl outfit already looks like that anyway.

However, Chae-yeon seemed concerned and grabbed my clothes, pulling me slightly.

Maybe because it was a short-sleeved shirt, she grabbed the waist… no, the stomach area? And pulled.

Isn’t that a somewhat embarrassing area?

When I turned around with a slightly troubled expression, Seo-hee and Yeon-woo were just smiling.

So, their expressions seemed to say, “Follow her.”

I had a feeling that if I followed, we’d end up eating dinner very late—but well.

Since she seemed to be offering to treat me, I didn’t see any reason to refuse, so I decided to quietly follow along.

…

What should I tell Ha-yun?

If I tell her we were attacked, she’ll worry for a long time.

Ji-hye too. Pang Pang would probably react the same way.

…Hmm, I think I might have received too many blessings.

Isn’t the backlash from my past misfortune coming back too strongly?