Ch.222IF Side Story: Bad Dream, Part Two

“Ah… Aah.”

What is this on my hands?

Why does it keep welling up from below?

No, not from below.

The place my hand was blocking was Hayun’s stomach.

Dark red blood gushed between my firmly pressed fingers. Am I making it worse by pressing down? I don’t know.

I don’t understand what’s happening right now.

When I came to my senses, there was nothing around us.

As if a massive explosion had occurred, nothing remained in what should have been a city.

It’s my fault. It can only be my fault. When I regained consciousness, everything was already like this.

It seems like there was a huge explosion, but looking closely, something’s different.

The area was carved into a massive circle, but the buildings at the edge of that circle, the streetlights and trees, were all tilting toward us.

Scattered across the empty ground, large objects lay strewn about as if they had been flying toward us before falling midway.

Among them were parts of human bodies.

I could see a pale white arm. Its fingers seemed to be pointing at me.

As if accusing me, saying I did this, saying I wanted to destroy this world.

Whose arm could it be? I don’t know. Maybe just someone who got crushed among all the things flying toward us.

Smoke was rising from the circuit. Hayun’s circuit seemed to no longer be functioning.

Even from that far distance, I could hear people screaming in panic.

Gurk, gurk.

That terrible sound came again.

It was the sound of Hayun coughing up blood. The wound was in her stomach.

No, that can’t be right. Enduring inside such a black hole, she must be injured in more than one place. Her ribs might be broken, piercing her lungs—

“Huk, huk, huk…”

I can’t breathe properly. Even though I’m not badly injured. I was just trying my hardest to press down on Hayun’s stomach.

“Hayun, Hayun…!”

“Ji, Eun…”

Hayun’s eyes were half-closed. She raised one hand, groping in front of her.

“Can’t, see, well. Where are you…?”

Should I take her hand?

I don’t know. If I removed one hand in this situation, Hayun’s blood might overflow.

But, even so, I already knew in my mind. That this was beyond help.

I don’t understand how a magical girl could be injured like this. Isn’t magic supposed to be omnipotent? Isn’t it a power that protects our bodies? Magical girls were nearly invincible because of the power of their circuits. No matter how much I attacked them, no matter how much the kaijin attacked and injured them. In the end, they could always go to school the next day without a single wound.

…

No, that couldn’t be right.

Magic is just magic. If it were a power that could perfectly solve everything, it would have to be something beyond magic.

“…Here.”

I raised my hand and took Hayun’s hand.

It was slippery. From the blood. The metallic smell was overwhelming.

“Ha, hah, so you’re here.”

Hayun said with a smile.

Why? Why are you smiling like that? After ending up like this because of me.

If I hadn’t lost my mind, Hayun wouldn’t have ended up like this. If I had just endured the pain.

No, if I hadn’t thought about fighting Hayun in the first place. If I hadn’t been jealous. If I hadn’t tried to become the protagonist. This wouldn’t have happened.

Hayun wouldn’t be lying here bleeding.

“Ji, Jieun.”

“…Yes.”

My voice was cracked. So much that even Hayun’s dying voice sounded better.

“I, I… have a favor to ask.”

“A favor?”

“Yes. A favor.”

Hayun smiled at me.

“I. Actually, I liked you.”

At those words, it felt like I’d been hit hard on the head.

I stared at Hayun, unable to say anything.

No, surely she didn’t mean it that way.

She couldn’t have. If that’s what she meant, then all my jealousy, all my desire to win just once, fighting for an organization completely opposed to magical girls—it would all be meaningless.

If we had just confirmed our feelings for each other from the beginning.

So, she couldn’t have meant it that way.

If it was just in a friendly way—

“He, hehe… It’s a bit strange, right? We’re both girls.”

“…No.”

No.

That’s absolutely not true.

I’m actually happy.

To hear those words. Much happier than when I was alone, liking you and scared.

But why.

Why did it end up like this?

If only it had been a day earlier. Before I was taken to the hospital. Before I was kidnapped from the hospital to somewhere else. Before they put me on that testing table.

Before I became a kaijin.

…Even if it had been just 5 minutes ago, I would have.

“No. It’s okay. Actually, I also.”

“…You don’t have to, Jieun.”

Hayun’s hand gripped mine a little more firmly.

“You don’t have to force yourself to like me. It was annoying, wasn’t it? Me complaining about how hard things were when I was in a much better situation than you.”

“No.”

“So…”

“No, no, no!”

A buzzing sound was heard. Light appeared behind me, then the world slowly began to darken again.

“No, Hayun, that’s not it!”

I shouted.

“I liked you! I liked you too! I, I…!”

At the very last moment.

Only after everything had been twisted beyond repair could we confirm our feelings for each other.

Why didn’t I have courage? If I hadn’t tried to have everything, if I had just known when to give up.

If I had just closed my eyes once, expected the relationship to end, and just said it.

Before doing anything else. Or even after, I could have said it and then given up on everything else.

What was the protagonist position worth anyway?

Trying to hold onto it until the end, I kept, kept…!

“…Really?”

Hayun smiled.

Her eyes were already closed. The area around her lips glistened with red blood. But I didn’t think it was dirty at all.

“I see.”

Hayun said.

“Then, Jieun. Continuing from just now…”

Hayun pulled my hand. It wasn’t a strong pull. It was the strength of someone already dying. But I had no choice but to follow that pull. Like the law of gravity, that force was too great for me to resist now.

“Just one last gift.”

Our lips overlapped.

The taste, I’m not sure. Just that it was soft… no, actually I’m not even sure about that.

The only thing I know for certain is that Hayun—with that… she probably knew she wouldn’t get up again.

The lightly overlapped lips fell back.

Hayun’s eyes were closed.

The hand holding mine had no more strength. It had been so light before, as if it might disappear at any moment, but now I couldn’t feel even that.

I screamed and hugged Hayun.

But Hayun didn’t move at all.

“Please, please…!”

The circuit didn’t move either.

You said you liked me.

You said you liked me…! Move, circuit! I saw hope in the final moment, but it vanished like an illusion.

I kissed Hayun again.

There was no response. Hayun, who had already gone far away, had no intention of coming back.

Once more, and again.

No matter how many times I shook her body, hugged her, kissed her, Hayun didn’t return.

“Ah, aaaah—!”

Finally, I despaired.

Light began to flow through the world again. The sounds of chaos in the distance grew louder for a moment and then quieted down.

In a state where I couldn’t control anything—now.

What happened to everyone else?

If Hayun was in this state, the other girls, all of them.

…

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

In the end, all I had left was Hayun’s cold corpse.

“…”

The world will probably end soon too.

For some reason, I thought it would.

I looked at Hayun again.

For the last, last time.

I moved my face closer to Hayun—

*

Smooch.

“…”

At that sound, I gently opened my eyes to find a pair of pink eyes staring at me.

As our eyes met, Hayun smiled slightly.

“Well, you were pushing your lips forward while sleeping, so… mmph!?”

But Hayun couldn’t finish her sentence.

“Thank goodness… I’m so relieved…”

“What, what’s wrong, Jieun? Did you have a bad dream?”

“Yes.”

Perhaps because of that dream story Hayun told me last time, it seemed I had a similar dream.

I could feel Hayun tightly hugging my waist.

Hayun’s chest pressed firmly against mine. It was warm.

Hayun’s breath was, above all, warm and soft.

“So, how is it?”

“…Warm.”

“Different from the dream?”

“Yes.”

It was different.

Ah, I see.

When we kissed.

I couldn’t feel it properly. Usually, no matter how many times our lips meet, I feel a burning heat, but in the dream, I couldn’t feel it.

I was relieved that this wasn’t a dream.

That’s right.

Slowly, the sleepiness fades and memories return. We endured all those many events and ended up like this.

What we found was, in the end, a happy ending. No one will be able to change this.

“…It’s the weekend, Jieun.”

Hayun said in a voice slightly drowsy with sleep.

“So let’s sleep in and wake up later.”

“…Okay.”

I lightly kissed Hayun’s head.

I didn’t fall back asleep.

Not because I was scared, but because I was too happy right now.

I couldn’t find a reason to go back into the dream world.