Ch.290IF Side Story. From the Beginning (58)

# There are many types of aliens.

Really, literally “many types.” Not all aliens look like humans.

Pang Pang was different from us—she got drunk on caffeine, had antennae on her head, and had blue skin—but even that was incredibly close to being human. This galaxy is vast, and planetary environments are diverse, with truly unimaginable numbers of intelligent life forms within them. In reality, cases like Cherry are much more common than cases like Pang Pang.

That’s only natural. On Earth, the only animal that resembles humans is humans themselves.

It’s fortunate if they at least resemble animals. For some reason, there are intelligent beings that are plants, or even intelligent beings that are rocks or metals.

At least the being in front of us wasn’t one of those rocks or metals.

A walking lobster with cracked shells here and there.

That’s what it looked like to me.

Isn’t the red color of lobsters usually after they’re cooked? The remaining shells on this lobster monster’s body are red. I wonder if it’s been cooked somehow.

The police were only now starting to arrive. This… can’t be helped. It hasn’t been long since these incidents started happening.

“All of you, run away!”

I shouted as I stepped down in front of the monsters.

The circuit was spinning powerfully.

The emotion of hope doesn’t arise as consistently as one might think. It’s not a single simple emotion, but rather a complex mixture of various emotions tangled together.

It can completely collapse because of a single fact, or conversely, rise up because of just one thing.

It seems like you can attach anything to it, and while you might think that way intellectually, your heart doesn’t properly accept it, making it uncontrollable.

That’s probably why not just anyone can use it.

The same goes for despair. In that case, feeling it is easy enough, but the flaw is that the time until that emotion shatters is too short.

I felt a strange feeling watching the combatants flee in a hurry.

I’ve lost count of how many combatants have fallen by my hand. Even if I could count them numerically, it doesn’t really matter since they always wear the same uniforms. Even if they wear the same combat uniform, they might have inherited what the previous person wore.

…But now… I received help.

Is it too far-fetched to think this is also part of Noir Corporation’s plan? Does this company actually have some sense of good, believing that children shouldn’t be involved in these matters?

“…Now’s not the time to think about that.”

Right. The complicated matters aren’t what I should be dwelling on right now.

There was an incident. But Jihye is fine. There’s no evidence that other children were hurt. Seeing that the teachers evacuated safely, the children must be safe too. I know they’re not the type to leave first.

So—

“Usually, I think of them as somewhat pitiful people.”

Monsters are aliens who have mutated for some reason due to Earth’s influence.

The cause is unknown, but it’s generally thought to be because of “Earthlings.” Beings who have no mana but, conversely, create energy by moving circuits with emotions.

The opinion is that aliens might have been influenced by these Earthlings’ overflowing emotions, but even that is completely random, so it can’t be clearly defined.

What we can do is subdue them without killing them, preventing others from getting hurt, and hand them over to the Federation.

Once they go outside of space, they supposedly return to normal.

So— until now, they were in a somewhat pitiful position. I thought that subduing them before they killed or hurt people was actually helping them.

“Today, I’m a little angry.”

I muttered.

“Well, I understand.”

Seo-hee said bitterly.

“It’s my first time here, but—this is your home, right?”

I nodded slightly at the careful question.

That house was a bit damaged. Not too severely, though.

If a child had been hit by that attack, they could have died instantly.

“…I didn’t want to visit for the first time like this…”

Hayun muttered regretfully.

Me neither.

I was planning to invite them someday, but time got twisted in various ways, so I hadn’t been able to yet.

“Let’s finish this quickly.”

I said, gripping my hammer tightly.

The magical girls nodded.

*

Monsters… though pitiful, they’re not beings I can like.

There’s a reason attached that “it couldn’t be helped,” but I’m the one getting hit by what was swung unavoidably.

It’s no different from snow falling from the sky or rain coming down. It’s no one’s fault, but I get annoyed when my clothes get wet.

“Haa… haa…”

I exhaled, standing on the ground with my staff.

My arms and legs hurt a bit. Getting punched by claw-like pincers made everything ache terribly.

Still, since the circuit was working well, it wasn’t that dangerous.

While I was tying up the monster tightly, Cherry brought people from the Federation to transport it.

“…I’m sorry things turned out this way… No, I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

“…No. How could this be your fault?”

Hearing Cherry apologize, I couldn’t possibly get annoyed or angry.

To reiterate, the occurrence of monsters is like a natural disaster, so it can’t be helped. If anyone should be blamed, it would be Noir Corporation for making us go elsewhere— Ah.

I see. Today, Noir Corporation’s combatants helped us.

Though no executives were present.

I tilted my head, looking at those combatants standing awkwardly in the distance.

What are they doing standing there? Usually, they all run away when magical girls arrive. Maybe today they think we’re not enemies and are waiting to say something?

Although we did receive help…

I looked toward Hayun.

Hayun was surrounded by children. Among children, magical girls are superstars, aren’t they? The same went for Seo-hee, Ju-a, Yeon-woo, and Chae-yeon. They were all surrounded by children, looking extremely happy.

If I had known this would happen, I should have brought them earlier.

“Jieun.”

“Seems like I’m not popular.”

When Jihye called out to me, I joked in response.

“No, I’m sure everyone is grateful.”

Well, I can see one boy standing awkwardly in the distance.

…I guess so. My outfit is a bit provocative for kids. They pretend to dislike it more because they don’t want to show that they actually like it. I understand. I went through that phase too.

Rather than approaching him and creating more embarrassing memories, I decided to pretend not to notice.

“Well, I’m a face they see every day. Those kids are seeing this for the first time. It’s natural they look like idols.”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

“You’re not denying it, I feel a bit hurt.”

When I said this while rubbing my shoulder, Jihye was startled. I didn’t mean to surprise her that much.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

I said with a smile, then exhaled deeply.

Yes. Jihye is fine, and although the building is a bit damaged, it might not be beyond what I can handle with the money I’ve saved. Or, I could ask the Federation for some help.

…More importantly, right now.

I looked at the combatants again.

They weren’t much help in the “combat.” That’s natural. How can someone with just a club in hand resist against a robber armed with a gun?

But those people with clubs did manage to successfully evacuate the children.

How they knew to come, why Noir Corporation decided to help—many questions remain, but right now there was only one thing I needed to do.

I walked toward those combatants.

Seeing me approach, one combatant panicked. But another, though startled, didn’t run away. He seemed to notice that I didn’t look particularly angry.

“Thank you for your help.”

When I said that, the combatants froze.

Usually, I was the one who hit the combatants most fiercely and powerfully. So it’s natural they’d be shocked by this response.

I try to hit them a bit more gently usually… should I control it more?

Someone seemed to think someone should answer, but faced with just a teenage girl, the combatants were pushing each other forward to respond.

Just looking at their outfits, they don’t seem that dangerous.

…Or rather, does this outfit make me look dangerous? It’s not my intention, but maybe a little…

But before one of those combatants could answer—

“Jieun?”

Cherry, who had approached me, was calling out.

“Ah, this is just, I thought I should thank them—”

“No, no, it’s not about that.”

Cherry didn’t seem to be commenting on my thanking the combatants.

Rather.

“…The research facility.”

If I could see Cherry’s skin under her fur, I probably would have seen a face turned pale blue.

With that atmosphere, Cherry said:

“There’s an intruder at the research facility. I’m sorry to ask right after you just fought…”

I unconsciously looked toward the combatants.

Seeing them frantically waving their hands, they seemed to know nothing about it.

“Combatants?”

“Yes. Right now…”

“I understand.”

I held back a deep sigh.

I should have known.

A company’s policy doesn’t change that easily.

…Combatants who save children, and magical girls who protect illegal research facilities.

Somehow, I can already imagine the content of the next news article.