Ch.262IF Side Story. From the Beginning (30)

“But I didn’t know where to move her.

First of all, my place was out of the question.

I mean, it’s not possible right now. Once I part ways with Hayun, I could let her sleep in my room or whatever, but it would be awkward with Hayun watching.

I don’t want to mention that I live in an orphanage.

Honestly, since becoming a Magical Girl, I’ve felt my inferiority complex diminish a bit.

But now that I feel that way, there’s this sense that ‘it’s too late to say anything.’ At this point, trying to explain feels like something’s stuck in my throat, creating this resistance.

Fortunately, I suppose, Hayun hasn’t suggested taking me to her home either.

That’s probably because of her home environment. Just as she’s never visited where I live, I’ve never been to her place either.

She probably doesn’t want to show the relationship between her and her parents. I’ve heard about her parents since we were little.

“…Karaoke room?”

“Would that be okay? We don’t know how long it’ll take her to wake up.”

Hayun said with a serious expression.

“Besides, if she’s drunk at such a young age… shouldn’t we take her to the police station?”

Maybe she’s either fearless or the type who enjoys partying too much, drinking alcohol she shouldn’t.

Or maybe she ages slower than Earth people, or… someone forced her to drink.

Her clothes aren’t torn anywhere. She’s just covered in dust and dirt, probably from rolling around on the ground.

“Thinking about it again, whether we take her to a karaoke room or anywhere else, we’ll definitely look suspicious.”

“Yeah.”

“…”

After a moment of silence,

“Should we move her to the park for now?”

I suggested.

There’s a park in this neighborhood that Hayun and I visit occasionally. It’s actually quite small to be called a park, just a place with a pavilion.

On summer nights, elderly people who don’t want to use air conditioning at home come out and stay all night, but when it’s a bit chilly, there aren’t many people around.

We first carried this blue-skinned alien to the pavilion and laid her down.

Hayun took out a knee blanket from her bag and covered her body. It wasn’t very thick, and of course, it wasn’t large enough to cover her completely.

Well, she has her own clothes on anyway.

We placed the alien’s shoes in front of the pavilion and sat down side by side.

“…”

Hmm.

Sitting here, I realized it had been quite a while since Hayun and I sat like this together.

It’s nice to sit side by side just the two of us after so long, but there’s not much to talk about.

We’ve been hanging out quite often lately. Though it hasn’t been just Hayun alone.

Still, since becoming a Magical Girl, Hayun has talked less about her parents. This was actually a good thing. It meant that at least her treatment at home had improved significantly.

She doesn’t really want to study, and she’s not sure what she wants to do, but having escaped from parents who kept telling her to do something—anything—and now having the fulfilling job of being a Magical Girl, it’s natural that she’s become brighter.

But even without much to say, it wasn’t so bad.

“Ahem.”

Hayun cleared her throat slightly and moved closer to me.

“Even though it’s spring, it’s a bit cold.”

Maybe Earth’s temperature is dropping.

It’s not because of abnormal weather, but because they’re using magic to restore the deteriorating ecosystem. You know how beach ecosystems can recover somewhat just from people staying away for a few months, and how the air becomes much clearer when factories stop operating for a few months.

Magic is that convenient. It couldn’t remove human footprints spread all over the Earth, but at least it eliminated the acrid smoke from burning fossil fuels.

They say it’s still far from reaching normal temperatures, but signs of recovery were already beginning to show.

“Um, just a moment.”

I rummaged through my bag and took out a blanket.

Actually, I didn’t use blankets often. Even if it was a bit cold under my skirt, I didn’t think it was unbearable.

But Hayun had bought me a blanket in the same color as hers, so I always carried it in my bag.

I spread the blanket out and placed it over both Hayun’s and my knees. It definitely felt warmer with the blanket on our knees.

We waited like that for a while longer.

Waiting blankly, not knowing what to do, wasn’t really boring. Rather, I thought this might be the kind of rest I had wanted.

About an hour later.

“Kheuk!?”

The blue-skinned alien, who had been snoring, suddenly made a strange sound as if she was choking and jumped up.

After coughing a few more times, she finally came to her senses.

“Haa… huh?”

As if she couldn’t remember what happened before getting drunk, she looked around with a puzzled expression, wondering why she was lying there, and where the blanket on her body came from. Finally, her eyes met ours as we sat at the entrance of the pavilion.

“…”

After staring at us blankly for a moment,

“Eeek!?”

She jumped up with an exaggerated surprise.

Hmm.

I’ve heard that many aliens find Earth’s culture quite interesting. There are actually quite a few tourists walking around the streets.

For such an alien, it’s certainly possible they might drink something like alcohol and pass out.

And when they wake up to find two people who helped them, who are somewhat like celebrities, they’d be even more surprised.

“Are you okay?”

Hayun asked as she stood up, and I stood up too.

“Uh, umm?”

The alien seemed unable to speak properly.

Hayun and I looked at each other, tilting our heads, and approached the alien again.

“Would you like to go to the hospital? We don’t know where your home is, and it seemed a bit awkward to take you to the police station, so we waited.”

“Ah, no, I’m fine!”

The alien jumped up from her seat, then staggered.

We quickly went to support her from both sides.

“…”

Her body stiffened again. She was even sweating.

I hope she’s not sick? If so, we should take her to the hospital.

I thought she was drunk, but thinking about it again, she didn’t really smell of alcohol.

“Maybe we should go to the hospital—”

“No, no! I think I can go home! I was just drunk!”

The alien shouted, trembling.

So she really was drunk after all.

“Then we’ll escort you home. Please tell us where you live.”

Is being a drunk minor that scary?

But we’re minors too.

Unless she committed some serious crime, we could probably just overlook it. To be honest, I had a couple of high school classmates in my past life who smoked since high school.

“I… I didn’t drink alcohol…”

So she was drunk, but didn’t drink alcohol?

Then what was it? Did she eat some chocolate with alcohol in it? That doesn’t seem much different.

When Hayun and I stared at her, the alien closed her mouth. She seemed to realize that what she was saying didn’t make sense.

No, more than that.

I don’t understand why someone would drink to the point of passing out when they know it’s wrong.

*

“…Coffee?”

We eventually took her home.

Seeing that she lived in a semi-basement apartment, I thought she might not actually be a student, and that turned out to be true.

But that didn’t mean she was an adult either.

“Yes, in my home planet, caffeine is like alcohol on this planet.”

We were about to leave her and go, but seeing the alien insisting that what she did wasn’t a serious mistake, as if she felt genuinely wronged, Hayun and I ended up being held at the entrance, listening to her story.

The room was covered with Earth-related posters. There were celebrity posters, but also posters of Earth’s spaceships and rockets, which were technologically far behind those of the Federation.

“I drank coffee, yes. Not alcohol. They wouldn’t even sell alcohol to someone with my face.”

“…”

I rubbed my face.

“So, in this country, they just sell what’s considered off-limits to minors on your planet, and you drank it out of curiosity and felt good?”

The alien nodded her head vigorously.

“Ah, yes, and my name is Pang Pang.”

Pang Pang.

Well, how should I put this?

It’s a bit embarrassing to say out loud. It’s the kind of name that could belong to a side character in a children’s cartoon. Certainly not a human name.

“Well, fine. Since it’s not illegal, I can’t really say anything, but be more careful next time. Don’t sleep on the street.”

“Ah, yes, thank you… Oh, wait!”

As Hayun and I turned to leave quickly, she grabbed us.

“Um, could I get your autographs!?”

“…”

Hayun and I looked at each other, then turned back.

“Ah, well, I guess we have no choice.”

I said, scratching my head.

If a fan wants an autograph, what can we do, right?