Ch.318IF Side Story: From the Beginning (86)

My emotions are in turmoil.

Just when I thought I was feeling a bit better after receiving comfort from the children, I suddenly wonder if it’s really okay for me to be alright.

At the Magical Girl headquarters, an executive from Noir Corporation—our enemy, no less—is being detained, and something unknown is happening within Noir Corporation. Something very unsettling.

On top of that, people have died and been injured in the explosion incident. Is it okay for me to think I’m fine despite all this?

I usually listen to classes moderately and study hard at home, but today I was even less focused than usual.

Still, I managed to pretend to concentrate, pretend to be okay, and eventually returned home.

Yes, to the orphanage where I live.

I hadn’t been away for very long. Just a few days at most.

Yet, I felt like I was coming home after a very long time.

Looking at the current situation, it might be better for us to just stay at headquarters. But this decision was tied to political reasons of its own.

Magical Girls are, no matter how you look at it, an armed group. No matter what excuses we make to pretend otherwise, if we wanted to, we could cause a certain degree of damage to police or military forces.

It might not be a big issue if it were just us operating in our country, but… the “headquarters” that is “directly” controlled by the “Federation” exists “all over the world.”

Deliberately avoiding uniformity, some countries call them sentai, some call them magical girls, and others call them heroes. Everyone wears ridiculous costumes that are no different from cosplay, but the higher-ups in each country are too politically minded to be reassured by mere appearances.

Perhaps those beings who strike down enemies in such attire might even appear more bizarre.

Do they think we’re going to overthrow the government? Anyway, that’s why we couldn’t stay too long in the place they created for us to stay. Because of appearances. Especially since we had already gathered for several days, tried to contact the Federation, armed ourselves, and even engaged in combat. Originally, we should have disbanded and gone home Monday morning.

We return home because the registered period has ended. That was the reason.

Besides, James also speculated that the enemy wouldn’t be able to move immediately.

…Well, thanks to that, I was able to return home, so I suppose that’s fortunate.

“Jieun.”

“Jihye.”

When I entered the room, Jihye was already there.

As soon as she saw me, Jihye ran over and hugged me tightly.

“…Why?”

“No reason. Just felt like I should.”

“…”

Jihye’s warmth slowly spread through my body.

I raised my hand and gently stroked Jihye’s head.

Yes. Perhaps the children who hugged me did so for this sensation. To comfort me while reassuring themselves that everything was okay.

After all, we’re all just teenagers. Even I, who am actually much older in real terms, am like this.

“I got a message from Cherry,” Jihye said.

“She asked if I’d fight alongside her as a Magical Girl if I could. She said I could refuse…”

Jihye probably wouldn’t want to refuse.

“I see.”

I nodded.

There’s something I haven’t told Jihye yet.

It’s awkward to say more because it’s just speculation, and the current situation makes it even more difficult. And asking that executive would mean Jihye would accompany me there.

Yes, let’s put it aside for now.

“Will you be okay?”

“I’ll be with you.”

I don’t know if it will be okay or not. That’s something we won’t know until we actually fight. Hitting someone was initially a more repulsive act than I had imagined.

But whatever choice Jihye makes, especially if she chooses the life of a Magical Girl, I’ll be by her side. At least, so she won’t be lonely.

“Thank you.”

Jihye answered like that, burying her face in my chest.

“…”

I’m a bit tired.

I wanted to stop thinking for a while. Jihye must have noticed my expression because she pulled away from me and stepped back.

“Well, let’s wash up… and just have dinner and go to bed early tonight.”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

It’s been a while since I came home. We still sleep on futons on the floor either way, but somehow…

I felt most at ease here. At least for now.

*

As Jihye suggested, I fell asleep early after dinner. Perhaps due to the physical and mental fatigue accumulated over the past few days, I quickly dozed off.

So when I woke up to the sound of a call, I was disoriented.

I fumbled to turn off the loudly ringing pager, and barely awake, I put it to my ear.

[Jieun!]

That cry was Hayun’s.

[Right now, Kaijin—]

I jumped up at the sound of her voice. And stumbled a little. My mind snapped awake at Hayun’s voice, but my body couldn’t keep up.

“Jieun…?”

Jihye, also awakened by my sudden movement, called out to me in a very sleepy voice.

“We need to—”

Go.

My words were cut off.

BOOM. Something exploded.

CRASH. The sound of something breaking followed.

When I came to my senses, glass was showering down on us.

But before I could react.

The room filled with green light.

“…Jihye.”

Jihye was holding a glowing shield. The glass shards that should have flown at me hit the shield and fell to the floor.

“I-I had a feeling, so I slept with my circuit on.”

By the time Jihye turned to me with a grin, I was already lunging forward.

BOOM!

Another loud noise.

Without time to grab my hammer, I was throwing my fist forward. My fist collided with the fist of a Kaijin that had emerged beside Jihye’s shield.

It hurt. But nothing broke. I had also slept with my circuit on.

…Good thing I talked with the kids at school beforehand.

I never thought they would suddenly attack today. We had agreed to wear our circuits to bed just because of the situation, just in case, but it turned out to be the right decision.

That executive, James. He said they wouldn’t be able to move right away.

I didn’t think he had deceived us, but… I needed to meet him and confirm.

Whether he deceived us or not, we needed to have a deeper conversation about what led to this situation.

“…!?”

The Kaijin flinched in surprise, seemingly shocked that a fist so much smaller than its own was pushing it back.

And I was startled too when I got a clear look at the Kaijin.

The Kaijin’s appearance—

“Hyaaah!”

Jihye shouted energetically as she pushed the Kaijin with her shield. Jihye’s physical abilities, enhanced by mana, were at least enough to push the Kaijin sideways and make it stagger.

I punched the Kaijin in the face and then grabbed the hammer I had left standing next to the desk.

Keeng.

White light blazed from the end of the hammer. The mana output device that Ju-a had carefully made and steadily upgraded whenever she had time.

I was just crudely using it to spew out mana, but there was no better method for my fighting style.

CLANG—!

As if playing golf, I swung the hammer upward and sent the Kaijin flying out of the room.

Jihye and I rushed outside.

Only then did I hear the children at the orphanage screaming. And the teachers shouting something.

Is it because of us again?

While wondering if we should have gone outside earlier, I swung my hammer.

Three Kaijin had come for us.

Could Jihye and I handle them?

“J-Jieun.”

Jihye asked in a slightly trembling voice.

The outside we had rushed into was still somewhat dark. Being in the middle of Seoul, it wasn’t completely without light.

And because of that “not completely without” gloomy light, the Kaijin looked even more bizarre.

The Kaijin looked like severely distorted “humans.”

No, would it be racist to refer to Earth people as “humans” here?

Right.

The beings in front of us looked like Earth people. Of course, they might not be. With planets overflowing and all kinds of strangely formed aliens, there might be aliens who look like Earth people with artificially inflated muscles.

But.

If so, what were those circuit-like things on the Kaijin’s chests?

“…For now, let’s just focus on taking down the Kaijin.”

Yes. We can figure out the details later.

Right now, we just need to drive away the Kaijin and keep the children safe. That’s all.

[Jieun.]

A calm voice came from the pager.

“Sorry, I’m a bit busy right now!”

I answered while striking a charging Kaijin with my hammer.

[Then, just listen for now.]

Ju-a spoke calmly.

[There’s a way to send the Kaijin elsewhere. Along with us. There might be a way to resolve this situation all at once.]

“A way?”

Ju-a had told me to just listen, but I couldn’t help asking.

[Yes. Warp magic. Please hold out as best you can while fighting. I’ll try to figure something out.]

Wait, warp?

Is she talking about personal warps?

But in this world, Ju-a—

I stopped my thoughts.

Okay.

Let’s trust her for now. Because it’s Ju-a who said it.

The bond we’ve built over the past few years is not a shallow one.

I looked at Jihye. Having heard the same message, she nodded to me.

If Jihye trusts her that much, I definitely should too. Of course.