Ch.326IF Side Story: From the Beginning (94)

The ways people observe hope are all different.

Some look at their dreams.

Some watch their skills grow.

Some feel hope in gradually approaching their goals.

So, there are those who find hope in the fact that “there is a mother.” Like someone adopted into another family as a child searching for their birth parents, or someone who grew up without a family looking for their own.

While there are people like me who think it’s better not to have one, there are those who want to find and see them no matter what. Thinking they’ll deal with whatever happens afterward when the time comes.

The situation is terrible.

If that person really is Jihye’s mother, then we’ve attacked her.

Though we didn’t know the situation at all, some people might despair just from that fact.

But Jihye wasn’t the type to think that way.

BANG!

“You, what on earth…!?”

When Jihye rushed forward and knocked away Pang Pang’s hammer, Pang Pang stepped back in confusion.

“Jihye.”

“Yes.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

Jihye looked at me as if she truly didn’t understand.

“Well, I actually thought you resembled that person—”

“What’s the problem with that?”

Jihye said as if it was ridiculous.

“You’re not the type to casually bring up such a serious topic just because I look a bit like someone.”

“…”

“You’ve been worrying about it, right? And the reason you couldn’t push it away until the end was probably because of that.”

“…Yes.”

“Then, it’s okay. Just, for now.”

Jihye said while firmly gripping her shield handle.

“Right now, I want to protect my mom. Of course, I haven’t forgotten our goal. So, we just need to subdue that person, right? Then we can save my mom and your friend too.”

Jihye’s face was bright as she looked at me.

Beyond that smile, there must be worry too. After all, Jihye had helped subdue the Kaijin.

But such emotions can be worked through over time. The most important thing is being alive. Jihye would surely think that way.

“So, let’s fight.”

At Jihye’s words, the generator on my back vibrated slightly.

The circuit on my wrist spins powerfully as if responding to that generator. We were finding hope again.

Absurdly, for completely opposite reasons than I had thought.

“…”

Alright.

To be honest, I can’t smile. No matter what, it bothers me that the person I hit was my best friend’s mother.

But at least, one problem could be overcome.

Jihye doesn’t hate me for this. The things I had been so worried about were actually just trivial matters.

I felt relieved.

That my relationship wouldn’t break.

“You, you girls…! How on earth…!”

…As for “how,” isn’t it a bit late to ask that now?

We’ve always been like this.

It’s the fate of magical girls. Especially for those who fight with the vague concept of hope that can’t actually be seen with the eyes, it was literally fate.

Hope is always there, but it sometimes shakes violently. Sometimes it becomes completely invisible, obscured by other things.

But always, a magical girl is someone who moves forward believing that hope is there.

So it can’t be helped if that power fluctuates a bit.

Conversely, that power is something that can be found at any time.

The desire to protect what needs protecting. If that’s Jihye’s power, then now, when there’s someone who needs protection, must be when Jihye is at her strongest.

As Jihye and I stood firm side by side, other children approached from both sides.

Hayun stood beside me.

Hayun looked at Jihye and me, then smiled. She was a mess. There were scratches and bruises all over her. Even with magical protection, she had fought countless Kaijin and then battled a specially created being here.

The other children were the same.

But somehow, they were all smiling while looking at me. The circuits on everyone’s wrists were spinning powerfully.

It’s almost as if I’ve become these children’s hope. When I cry, they cry; when I smile, they smile; when I gather my strength, they all gather theirs too.

“…”

Have I burrowed too deeply into these children’s lives?

But strangely enough, the emotion I felt upon realizing this wasn’t fear.

Rather, my heart raced.

Yes. Maybe I’ve been a messed-up person from the start. From the moment I first came to this world, I was a bundle of inferiority. After learning what kind of world this was, I even fiercely envied the magical girls who had done nothing wrong to me.

I even envied Hayun who depended on me so much.

The me from back then and the me now haven’t changed at all. Just, the number of people I care about has increased a little.

I still wanted to be as brilliant as the magical girls. If these children tried to leave me, I would have felt intense jealousy.

“Ha, haha.”

I see.

Somehow, I had become a central figure for these children.

And somehow, I had come to consider these children my hope.

The hammer glowed.

Pang Pang seemed perplexed by the situation. Her ventilation system was also spinning brilliantly. White light, almost like sparks, was flying out.

But the expression on her face wasn’t one of joy.

Rather, it was fear.

Fear of not knowing what kind of fight would come next.

“Well, you’ve never fought before.”

I took a step forward.

An opponent who always tries to occupy advantageous positions from advantageous places.

Well, that’s not wrong. I would do the same if it meant winning.

Honestly, we who fight with circuits shouldn’t be the ones talking.

But then, what happens when all those means disappear and you have to step up yourself? At least we fought Kaijin. Now that I think about it, even those Kaijin might have been Noir Corporation’s doing.

Getting hit, getting slammed to the ground. Fighting like that, we’ve become somewhat accustomed to pain.

But what about this Pang Pang in front of us now? Someone who didn’t even think of becoming a Kaijin herself, hiding inside armor.

“Want me to teach you something?”

I lowered my body.

And using all the mana overflowing in my body, I shot forward like a bullet and swung my hammer.

The armor rang loudly as if it were a gong. Pang Pang flew back a considerable distance and crashed into the wall. The metal wall dented inward.

“Kuk…!”

Air escaped from her mouth. She probably wasn’t seriously injured. Naturally, that high-tech armor would have protected her.

But it must hurt.

It must hurt incredibly. To a degree that’s hard to imagine for someone who hasn’t experienced it.

“Just holding a weapon doesn’t mean you can win a fight.”

“…You… all.”

Pang Pang still glared with her eyes. Is her pride greater than her pain? I could praise that spirit.

“It’s not over yet.”

Pang Pang said.

“I too am overflowing with power.”

Though it’s not your power.

From the armor, something like water was now flowing, not sparks. Water with an infinitely low boiling point that turns to powder and scatters as soon as it meets the air.

The effect of the ventilation system was truly remarkable.

This time she shot toward me. My body flew backward but—

There were children who caught me.

I saw Hayun’s pink hair. Jihye’s dark brown hair too. And that warmth.

Seo-hee, Yeon-woo, Chae-yeon, and Ju-a too. Everyone.

My heart beat even harder. So strongly that I wondered if it might cause problems. I wasn’t sure what emotion I was feeling. What emotion was making me feel hope.

But that alone was enough. As Jihye said, such things could be thought about later.

What we needed to do now was defeat the opponent.

As always, like proper magical girls.

I raised the hammer Ju-a had made for me above my head.

I could feel the bag on my back gradually decomposing. As if it had reached some singularity, the generator was not just producing energy but creating something.

Of course, Pang Pang didn’t just stand still.

And naturally, neither did the other magical girls.

The first attack was blocked by Seo-hee. Pang Pang’s hammer hit Seo-hee’s gauntlet and bounced off.

The second attack was blocked by Yeon-woo. Thinking the hammer that couldn’t be swung properly was a hindrance, Pang Pang threw it aside and lunged with her body, but countless magical bullets rained down on her. Not shotgun pellets, but each one as heavy as a fist.

For the third attempt, she tried to use the facility itself. With clicking sounds, walls opened all around, and gun-like objects protruded. This was blocked by Chae-yeon. As if she had anticipated this, Chae-yeon had consistently kept the surrounding walls open. The moment they fired their first shot, the guns shattered with a loud noise.

Bang, before the fourth attack could begin, such a sound was heard. Something hit Pang Pang’s head hard, and she fell backward. Ju-a had shot a magical bullet precisely at her head. Blood flowed from her head, but Pang Pang didn’t die.

Hayun and Jihye had their hands on my body.

The mana of both of them—no, the mana of all the other children surrounding us—flowed into me.

“No, no, no!”

Perhaps thinking that her perfect plan had fallen apart at the end, the woman shouted.

And then, grabbing the hammer again, she struck the circuit attached to her armor with it.

Mana engulfed the woman’s body.

In the end, Pang Pang chose to become a Kaijin herself.

But, how should I put it.

Even with such an immense transformation of mana right before my eyes.

I wasn’t afraid at all.