Ch.260IF Side Story: From the Beginning (28)

After that, our training was more or less complete.

In truth, we didn’t really need training. We were each other’s best sparring partners.

No matter how wild the Combatants might be, they weren’t stronger than us.

The Kaijin were problematic, but certainly not beyond our ability to subdue with our current numbers.

“Yes, good.”

Cherry seemed to think so too.

Until Ju-a and I made our own staffs, everyone else had been using staffs created by magic. Cherry examined our two staffs once more in detail before nodding.

“Excellent. They were already good when first completed, but they’ve become even more solid now. It seems Ju-a has made some additional adjustments.”

“Ju-a is quite skilled.”

“Hehe…”

She was definitely not this vicious in the original work, but seeing her scratching her head and twisting her body awkwardly gave me a strange feeling.

Not strange in a bad way. If Ju-a had the same personality as Happy Iris from the original work, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stand her.

“I think you three are ready to participate in actual combat now.”

Cherry looked at each of us in turn as she spoke.

“However, real combat will be different from training in many ways. You three probably won’t get seriously injured if you take a hit, but the Combatants are different. They do protect their bodies with circuits, but their abilities aren’t at your level.”

Only Earth humans can handle circuits. Instead of directly manipulating mana, Earth humans ‘generate’ mana using circuits.

Circuits powered by human emotions.

Incidentally, the Magical Girls don’t yet know what emotions drive the opposing Combatants’ circuits.

Having read the original work, I naturally know. The circuits used by the Combatants—those led by Noir Corporation—are powered by the emotion of ‘despair.’

Of course, I haven’t mentioned this fact yet.

If I claimed to already understand Combatants we haven’t even encountered yet—well, in here, I’m classified as combat-oriented along with Seo-hee.

Sometimes Yeon-woo would shudder after sparring with me, so it would be strange to suddenly claim I was using my brain in here.

…

No, wait, that’s unfair. I actually study really hard. I’m the type who gets depressed all day if my grades drop even a little.

Aren’t the Magical Girls judging me too much by appearances?

“What do you think?”

“Whether it’ll be okay or not—we’ll have to go out and see.”

I spoke up.

That’s right. That’s exactly it.

Just thinking about it here won’t accomplish anything. Sometimes things you think you’ll be good at turn out to be difficult in practice, and conversely, things you think you’ll struggle with turn out to be easy when you try.

Just like me being here now.

“Good. So you all agree to going out?”

Seeing the three of us nod, Cherry’s expression relaxed a bit.

“Then, the next time we deploy, you three will come along.”

We nodded once more.

*

The opportunity came quickly.

Noir Corporation is a relatively new company in this world too.

After all, Earth’s contact with alien civilizations is quite recent. Until that contact, even I had no idea about Hayun’s true role. Until then, I just thought this was a parallel universe with more diverse hair colors.

So Noir Corporation, which had initially shown somewhat ambiguous behavior as it worked on internal cohesion and adapting to this country’s laws, was gradually accelerating its activities.

Their scale is still rather petty. You know, things like driving out citizens who are holding out in redevelopment zones.

Or activities that might not be problematic now but could eventually harm this country.

Since these issues can’t be resolved through legal means, they’re left alone. Instead, opposing groups are allowed to stop them. As a bonus, this country maintains some relationship with the Galactic Federation.

…That was the current stance of this country.

Well, “facilities” haven’t appeared yet. They’re in the middle of building an industrial complex somewhere in Gyeonggi-do, but it’s too early for problems to emerge there.

So our opponents are—

BANG!

“W-what, what the hell is this?!”

“Why is a Magical Girl using that kind of weapon?!”

Well, just small fry.

The kind that makes you wonder if all six Magical Girls really need to deploy—not particularly strong, low-level Combatants.

Come to think of it, both in the original work and in this world, the seniors didn’t always all go out together. They would sometimes leave one person behind on rotation.

There were issues in the early days when they didn’t get along that well, but anyway, it’s combat. If you keep going out, eventually something will go wrong.

With six members now, we have enough people to form teams and send them to different locations.

However, today was the first deployment for the three juniors.

Naturally, someone needed to supervise, so all three seniors and Cherry came along.

I had thought there might be some dangerous situations, but…

“Dressed like some pervert!”

“And what’s with that hammer in the back! Now we have another opponent we can’t get close to!”

The already powerful side had doubled its power.

Yes, even I have to admit this is an overwhelming situation.

It’s overwhelming, but—

“What?! Lily?! What kind of lily looks like that in this world!”

“…”

“Are you just casually naming based on colors?!”

“…”

“How is swinging a hammer like a lily?! It should be White Hammer!”

“…”

“What’s with that ridiculous outfit!”

“…”

“What’s with that ridiculous outfit!”

Alright.

That last guy who repeated himself.

I’m definitely going to kill him.

As I raised my hammer and charged, they all screamed in terror and scattered.

I think this might be a bit much, but then again, I suppose it would be scary if someone you’ve never seen before charged at you while firmly gripping a huge hammer with both hands.

“Well, it’s your first time facing them. And our numbers suddenly increased a lot too.”

Seo-hee spoke as if to comfort me.

No, but I feel like there will always be people who make fun of my outfit.

I’m still growing. I grew taller this year. My figure will probably improve nicely too.

What will they say next year or the year after?

…

Well, I suppose it’s an achievement to win our first battle with barely any fighting.

If we can scare the opponents into running away, there’s nothing better than that—

“…Huh.”

Seo-hee, who was stretching her neck thinking the fight was over, made that sound.

At the end of her gaze stood a single Combatant.

A Combatant standing there, staring blankly at me. With their face hidden behind a helmet, I couldn’t tell what expression they were making.

Were their legs weak from fear? Or was it overconfidence?

“Hey.”

I called out to the Combatant in a slightly louder voice.

“The fight’s over. Why don’t you head back? It’s not like you can take us on alone, right?”

“…”

But somehow, after hearing my words, that Combatant just stared at me again. …It felt like they were looking me up and down from head to toe.

“Ah, right. That one’s back again.”

Before I could make any judgment about that gaze, Seo-hee spoke.

“They’ve been here before?”

Hayun asked.

“There’s always one who stays until the end. They all wear the same outfit, but I can tell roughly who it is. Female Combatants are quite noticeable.”

I see. The body lines did seem feminine.

It could be Earth human bias, though. For aliens, such appearances might be common among males.

I can’t see a circuit on her wrist. So, she’s an alien.

The Combatant stared at my face again.

“…”

Then silently raised a clenched fist.

I stared at that Combatant for a while.

Seo-hee and Hayun looked back and forth between me and the Combatant, and the occasional gunfire from behind also stopped.

“What do you want to do?”

Hayun asked.

“I should accept the challenge.”

I said, gripping my hammer and stepping forward.

I was like that too.

Didn’t I also have times when I charged at Seo-hee and Yeon-woo like that?

I don’t know how skilled an alien Combatant who can’t use circuits can become, but still.

I approached step by step, gripping my hammer.

The Combatant was trembling slightly.

It’s just my own interpretation, but I don’t think it’s from fear.

You know how some people have those romantic notions? Like one-on-one duels.

If the seniors haven’t accepted such duels until now, well.

Besides, I’ve heard that Magical Girls are in positions similar to idols. If a fan came here… ah, that’s a bit unpleasant.

“Well then, let’s do this.”

I smiled as I gripped my hammer and took my stance.

The Combatant was the first to charge.

The fight ended anticlimactically. There’s not even much to explain.

But if I were to say that the Combatant, who had fallen to the ground and then sprung back up, seemed somehow relieved—would that just be my imagination?