Ch.276IF Side Story: From the Beginning (44)

I feel disgusting.

Things were going so well.

I had found something I could do. I no longer needed to resent being dropped into this world.

Just one thing—just the fact that people found out I live in an orphanage—and suddenly there’s too much to think about.

Logically speaking, maybe this isn’t something to despair over.

After all, it just means I have a “mother,” right?

She didn’t seem like a terrible person. At least she didn’t immediately ask how much money I’d made, and she didn’t seem overly concerned about me being a magical girl.

Well, if it hadn’t been in the newspaper that I’m a magical girl who lives in an orphanage, we wouldn’t have met in the first place.

So maybe I should actually be happy—

WHAM.

I swung my hammer. As the kaijin’s head stretched out like a tentacle, whipping toward me, I smashed it directly. With a squish, the tip was crushed under my hammer. It tore open cleanly, spraying blood.

Much more blood than what was flowing from my shoulder.

“———!”

The kaijin’s scream was miserable.

That person was surely normal before coming here. I don’t know what they were doing on Earth. Maybe they ran a business, or were a tourist, or perhaps even one of the combatants I’d fought before.

But I don’t need to know everything.

…Right, I don’t. What matters right now is somehow pinning down this kaijin and knocking it unconscious.

We probably couldn’t kill it even if we went all out. Its physical recovery speed has increased to ridiculous levels. Even if it gets injured, the technology in this world can handle it.

…Actually, I’m not sure. Experiencing pain probably isn’t okay in any situation.

“…!”

Distracting thoughts keep jumping into my head. Until just recently, I wouldn’t have worried about these kinds of things.

I had people standing beside me, and no matter how I fought, people cheered me on.

“Lily!”

Someone called my magical girl name. Bullets flew near me and exploded with a bang in mid-air. The consecutive attacks heading toward me were intercepted.

I saw Seo-hee rushing to my side, blocking a tentacle with her fist.

The other girls were doing the same. Hayun, Yeonwoo, Chaeyeon. Everyone was doing their best in their positions.

“Haa, haa.”

Meanwhile, I was somehow a little out of breath.

The staff in my hand was slowly getting heavier.

It felt like when you first pick up something heavy and think it’s manageable, but then gradually feel the strength draining from your fingertips.

No, not yet.

I have my role. The girls probably wouldn’t lose if I dropped out, but still.

I gripped my staff again and checked the circuit. It was running much slower than usual. Not slow enough for my transformation to break, and the hammer head was still maintained, but thoughts kept swirling in my head.

Is that person really my “mother”?

Either way feels like a dead end. If she’s real, I’ll have to care about her from now on. Others might laugh, but thinking about a mother—someone who still feels like a stranger—entering the personal space I’ve built for myself… I hate it.

I’d finally found my path and figured out how to maintain relationships with my friends, but this one thing threatens to ruin everything. I hate it. Call me selfish if you want.

I felt the same way when I crossed over from my past life to this one.

People might laugh at what I’d built up, but it was something. I’d established some relationships, earned certifications and licenses, found employment, and saved a little money.

Then, just because I left one wrong comment, I lost everything and fell into this world alone.

And after struggling to climb back up again…

“Lily!”

I heard someone calling me.

I ran. With all my might. I rejoined the magical girls in battle, striking down the ever-increasing tentacles. Now that I looked closer, the kaijin’s head resembled a sea anemone. It had fewer tentacles than any sea anemone I knew, but they were longer, thicker, and moved in a disgusting way.

“Lily!”

“Got it!”

I brought my hammer down once more.

The tentacle was firmly pinned to the ground under my hammer. This time, instead of cutting off the tip, I managed to immobilize it.

For a brief moment, I exhaled. Setting the heavy hammer on the ground made me feel a bit better.

The girls didn’t cut the tentacle either, but pushed forward with all their might. Confused by one tentacle being pinned down, the monster stretched its remaining tentacles toward me.

Creating an opening—

Slash!

“Lily?!”

I heard Hayun shouting at me.

An attack I would normally have blocked easily added another wound to my body. It’s fine. Still fine. It hurt, but these were wounds that would heal anyway.

As long as I didn’t die instantly.

The girls seemed to understand this and focused on dealing with the kaijin.

Yeonwoo used magic to keep other tentacles from reaching me. Ju-a shot the tentacles Yeonwoo couldn’t block. The magic bullets exploded in mid-air, becoming shields for a moment.

Soon the magic bullets flew in different directions, hitting the kaijin’s body. It didn’t knock out the kaijin immediately; instead, it seemed to enrage it further.

“Lily!”

More wounds appeared all over my body. They weren’t serious wounds. It’s fine. This much is…

Chaeyeon was freezing the surroundings, especially around the kaijin’s feet. Like something from a manga or game, ice slowly rose up and bound the kaijin’s legs.

That didn’t just stop its legs from moving.

Since its head was like a sea anemone, was its body similar too? Well, tentacles were coming from its arms too, so it wouldn’t be strange.

With the sudden drop in temperature, its movement speed decreased.

“Haa.”

Steam came out of my mouth. No matter how focused she was, Chaeyeon’s magic was fundamentally area-based.

Hayun and Seo-hee reached the kaijin’s body. Both of them swung their magic-imbued sword and fist at the kaijin.

Crack! Part of the frozen kaijin’s body shattered. That wouldn’t be enough to kill it. Both of them knew how to control their strength.

“Lily?!”

I heard someone calling me.

Even while being beaten by Hayun and Seo-hee, the kaijin was still targeting me.

It must be incredibly angry. Does it want to finish me off no matter what—

Slash!

Blood sprayed.

A deep wound opened on my arm. My white magical girl outfit was stained red.

When I came to my senses, I had caught a tentacle that had shot incredibly fast toward my neck. The tentacle was wrapped around my arm.

Like being hit by a whip studded with broken glass and metal fragments, wounds opened all over my arm, bleeding.

“Lily!”

The girls called out to me simultaneously.

I tried to answer.

But.

“Jieun?!”

I heard someone calling me that way.

From far behind. Probably from among the crowd beyond the police.

I turned around without thinking.

And my eyes met with a woman who had climbed somewhere high to look at me.

A familiar face. Someone I’d met very few times in my life.

But there was no way I could forget her. I’d just seen her recently.

The person who claimed to be—my mother.

“Ah.”

I unconsciously muttered.

The vibration from my bleeding left wrist stopped.

And then, as if all the pain came rushing at once, an intense agony washed over me. My teeth clattered—

Someone called my name, but with the circuit stopped, I couldn’t even lift my hammer anymore.

I heard gunshots and the sound of magic scattering.

But everyone was trying to finish the kaijin at once, and they were a little late.

Normally, that wouldn’t have mattered.

Thud. There was a sound from somewhere around my waist.

After that, I don’t remember anything.

*

When I came to, I was in a hospital room.

Not a hospital. We must have come to the magical girl headquarters.

Maybe we stopped at a hospital first.

I blinked, staring at the ceiling.

When I raised my hand, it was completely healed without a single wound. My waist was probably fine too.

But my body still hurt.

…In that final moment, my circuit stopped as soon as I saw that person.

Am I despairing over that person’s existence?

So… if, if…

Even if that person is my birth mother, isn’t she just being used by Noir Corporation?

If not, then she’s approaching me pretending to be my mother to deceive me.

Either way, it’s the worst. Really.

And it’s all because of me.

“Jieun?!”

Since I’d only opened my eyes silently, it took Hayun about a minute to notice.

“Jieun, are you okay?!”

Her voice was somewhat reassuring.

“The kaijin?”

“Is that what you’re worried about right now?”

Hayun shook me while crying. Ouch.

“…”

She’s right.

There’s something else I should really be worried about.

The circuit—what should I do?