Ch.289IF Side Story. From the Beginning (57)

That doesn’t mean we need to move somewhere else right now.

If we carelessly move to another location and fail to protect this place, that would create its own set of problems.

In the end, we spent the day until evening in a daze.

For meals… we ate at that house.

Even though we tried to decline, they insisted they couldn’t let us leave without eating, so we ended up sitting at their dining table having quite a luxurious meal.

It wasn’t that the food tasted bad.

Watching them try to establish connections by talking to each of us one by one, I couldn’t help but wonder if they had deliberately set this up to get us here.

That girl also got autographs from the other girls.

Except from me.

I’m not particularly disappointed. Actually, if she had asked me for an autograph, I would have been the one feeling uncomfortable. I would have disliked not being able to refuse.

And so, we continued to idle away until evening—

“Um, excuse me.”

She suddenly spoke to me.

That girl who supposedly made the report. At school, she was someone who hardly ever spoke to me. It wasn’t simply shyness. She had no problem talking to Hayun and laughed excessively in front of her. Today too, she tried her best to please the others.

For reference, this was the first time she’d spoken to me today.

“What?”

I answered while trying to figure out how to not appear too friendly, yet also not come across as too unfriendly.

Keeping my response short might help convey less emotion.

Or wait, would such a brief reply make an even worse impression?

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“Go ahead.”

“How did you become friends with the other Magical Girls?”

“Huh?”

Not fully understanding the intent behind her question, I turned my head as I asked for clarification.

“…”

The question seemed genuine.

The girl stared at me silently, as if evaluating me.

Right, I understand what she’s thinking.

Being a Magical Girl isn’t exactly the most stable position. The pay was decent, and the work itself wasn’t particularly difficult, but if you asked how long or how consistently one could do this job, that’s a different story.

We’re a temporary organization created due to the subtle relationship between the Federation and the government.

Plus, we’re all young. That’s why we’re called “Magical Girls.” I’ve heard that in other countries, not only are there Magical Girls, but adults also work under the name of heroes, but in this country, Magical Girls are closer to idols in status.

And at that, idols consisting only of people who qualify as “girls.”

Things will change as we get older. The relationship between the Federation and the government will eventually be sorted out one way or another.

So I somewhat understand why she might look down on me. The others might secure positions for themselves even as they age, but as someone from an orphanage, I’ll just end up alone with a bit of capital.

“Every time people talk, your name comes up. I understand Hayun who’s always with you, but even the seniors and Iris all talk about you. They even seem to be a bit cautious around you.”

“…And?”

The girl just shrugged.

“I was just curious. From what I can see, you don’t exactly have the best personality.”

But I think I’m fairly sociable at school.

If anything, she was the one who disliked me. I normally respond normally when someone speaks to me normally. I only ignored her because I sensed her dismissive attitude first.

“So, what if I tell you?”

I don’t actually know the answer. I just tried hard to talk to them and somehow we became friends.

But I was curious, so I asked.

“If you tell me, would you become friends with me?”

“That’s part of it.”

The girl said.

“It would benefit you too, wouldn’t it?”

“…Benefit?”

“Yes, benefit. As you can see, we’re quite cooperative. If you consider our support for research facilities, our foundation is actually much more solid than that of Magical Girls.”

Well, that might be true. Magical Girls are glamorous and famous, but if you ask whether they truly play a crucial role in the Federation, there’s some room for doubt.

Corporations are legal entities, so they can use money to buy land and build complexes or factories. The government would likely welcome it because it creates jobs. It might be different if they asked for money, but Noir Corporation tends to fund everything themselves when building such facilities.

On the other hand, the Federation hasn’t completely joined hands with the government yet. Obviously, they can’t buy land and build massive research complexes. So they borrow land from collaborators to build various facilities and conduct research.

I’ve heard they might be buying up abandoned houses or facilities.

So, entrusting such an important facility means that regardless of personality, they must truly trust the person.

She’s probably implying that their position would remain secure even if Magical Girls disappeared.

“If you’re so great, why bother becoming friends with Magical Girls?”

I asked, even though I knew the answer.

…Except for me, all the Magical Girls come from wealthy families with parents working in Federation-related jobs.

And it satisfies personal vanity too. Knowing celebrities impresses friends more than having an uncle who’s a director at some company.

“…You don’t want to tell me?”

The girl said.

“I could tell you, but I’m not sure if you could do it.”

I said, deliberately trying to provoke her.

She might be able to become friends for calculated reasons. But I don’t like the idea that my friendship with them is viewed that way.

She seems to think I became friends with the Magical Girls because I dreamed of becoming Cinderella.

The girl stared at me intently, as if telling me to just say it.

“We fought.”

“What?”

“We fought. Bloody fights.”

“…”

“We fought, and fought, and fought… until we became friends. There were no conditions. We just naturally became friends.”

It’s just like becoming friends at school.

Just sitting next to each other, in front or behind. Being friends of friends. Fighting and making up a few times.

I’m not sure why we became friends, but we just clicked and bonded at some point.

That’s what I consider a “friend.”

Friends you make because they’re rich, or because their parents are successful… unfortunately, my past self was just an ordinary person. I never had such friends, so I naturally don’t know those conditions.

This was all I could tell her.

“…Hah.”

After hearing my story, she said.

“So you’re saying you were just lucky?”

“That’s a nice way to put it.”

I said with a grin.

“That’s right. I was lucky.”

Truly, I was lucky.

I’m still not sure what the person who put me in this world was thinking, but at least meeting Hayun was due to good luck.

Hayun asking me to become a Magical Girl with her, becoming a Magical Girl and befriending all the other Magical Girls.

All because of good luck.

How else could I express it?

“…”

The girl looked as if she had wasted her time—

But before either of us could say anything more to the other, my communicator at my waist went off.

“Oh, what’s—”

[Jieun, it’s an emergency!]

The voice through the communicator was Cherry’s.

“Emergency?”

[Yes, at your home, something terrible has happened!]

I didn’t understand immediately when I first heard those words.

Our home?

She must be referring to the orphanage, but why would there suddenly be an emergency there?

Leaving the girl behind, I quickly ran toward where the others were and shouted.

“What? What happened?”

[A Kaijin, a Kaijin…!]

“A Kaijin?”

[And Noir Corporation is there too! I heard the Combatants are trying to stop the Kaijin somehow!]

“What are you—”

Before I could say anything more, I met the other Magical Girls in the yard.

“Jieun!”

Hayun shouted.

Her face had turned pale.

Without anyone needing to say anything, we immediately moved.

“Wait a moment!”

The mother of that girl came running and said.

“If you leave like this, what about this place?!”

“Something more important has come up!”

I answered.

It wasn’t a lie.

Only Magical Girls can face Kaijin.

So we had to go.

In fact, we had already been here for several hours. There was no sign of Combatants coming.

Besides, if we’re prioritizing urgency, saving lives is more urgent, and they said Combatants were already there too.

…Though I don’t understand why.

We’ll find out when we get there.

With that thought, we flew toward the orphanage without looking back.

*

It didn’t take long. The area where we had been operating was in Hayun’s neighborhood.

In terms of distance, it would take less than 30 minutes on foot, and naturally just a few minutes flying like this.

And what I saw was—a Kaijin destroying a building.

And strangely enough, Combatants doing what we should be doing.

They were Combatants, but they weren’t fighting. If Combatants fought a Kaijin, they’d probably be torn apart instantly.

But still, they were busy helping the children and teachers escape.

My heart was racing wildly.

I tried desperately to find Jihye.

“Jieun!”

I heard Jihye’s voice. In the distance, Jihye was waving her hand, standing with the children.

I let out a small sigh.

At least, it wasn’t the worst-case scenario.