Ch.88Chapter 15. Difference in Direction (3)

After the government official continued to speak and I kept making sour expressions, he eventually seemed to realize he couldn’t persuade me right away. He left, saying only that we should take a break for now.

“…”

After the door closed, I deliberately waited a few seconds before speaking.

“So, what do you all think? Do you want to go back? Being third-years, don’t you want to return to school soon?”

At my words, all the magical girls’ gazes suddenly turned toward me.

Rose fell into thought for a moment before speaking.

Would going to college a year late really make such a big difference in life?

Usually, it might cause some inconvenience.

Of course, men and women might think differently about this. Male students often have to take a two-year break from school for military service or civil service.

Besides, even if people enter university at the same time, they don’t always graduate together. Some deliberately postpone graduation to job hunt, or take classes again to build a stronger transcript… In extreme cases, some just don’t attend classes properly and fail to earn enough credits to graduate.

However, these are things you only really understand after entering university. For high school students to immediately grasp this—

Ah, right.

These kids are all from wealthy families.

Maybe I don’t need to worry about them since they won’t starve if their employment is delayed by two years. Among everyone sitting here, I’m the only one who would go hungry if I don’t start earning money as soon as I become an adult.

“There’s something else we should be worried about,” said Iris, who had been deep in thought.

“If those people really want to persuade us, they might bring our parents.”

At those words, the children’s expressions subtly changed.

Well…

In the original webtoon, the relationships between the magical girls and their parents weren’t described in detail, except for Hayun.

In the webtoon, characters who weren’t “main characters” were drawn without faces. Like extras in the background, they occasionally had dialogue but no clear descriptions.

So my assumptions are based solely on contextual clues.

First, Iris and Hayun are portrayed as having somewhat similar family situations. While Iris’s relationship with her parents wasn’t precisely depicted, the few flashback panels showing her parents gave the impression they used Iris to maintain their political connections.

And that’s why Iris often seemed to feel both jealousy and admiration toward Hayun.

Delphinium and Dahlia’s relationships with their parents were never shown, while Rose’s was portrayed as relatively positive.

So among them, except for Hayun and Iris, the other children might be heavily influenced by their parents.

Even Iris might end up obeying if her parents came and pressured her directly.

They’re still just teenagers in their mid-teens after all. Though they’re only a few years away from becoming adults, it’s still difficult to become independent right after turning twenty in modern society.

In a way, maybe they’ve all been putting things off until today when they finally realized it.

To be frank, aren’t we all runaway teenagers here?

“…”

The atmosphere grew heavy after Iris’s comment.

Even Hayun, who seemed like she would ignore her parents even if they came to persuade her, looked gloomy as if she dreaded seeing them face-to-face.

Am I the only one immune to that kind of pressure?

I pondered more deeply.

I don’t want to become a complete villain. I don’t like the idea of these kids’ lives being ruined because of their involvement with me.

But I wasn’t in a position to say anything easily, so I just sat there with my arms crossed, keeping quiet.

A long time seemed to pass after that.

Perhaps deliberately, there was no clock in this room. Judging by the marks on the wall, it seemed like a clock had been removed on purpose.

Were they trying to pressure us? Or had the clock broken and been removed just before we happened to be here?

I was seriously wondering if the circuit had a clock function when—

The door swung open.

And the person standing there was—

“Jieun!”

It was Jihye, with a bright smile.

My brain, which had been working hard until now, suddenly froze.

Ah, I see.

I kept acting like I had no weaknesses unlike these kids, but I actually did have one—Jihye, whom I’d been close with all this time.

Jihye entered the room with rustling sounds.

She was carrying large plastic bags in both hands, which seemed to be filled with many things. After placing the heavy bags on the floor with effort, she closed the door again.

The government official didn’t follow her in.

Did they think this would be more effective in persuading me?

“What’s… going on?”

I found myself asking before I knew it.

Jihye, who had been smiling while picking up the plastic bags again, paused.

Then she looked at me with a slightly awkward expression.

“Ah… sorry, should I not have come?”

No, I never thought that.

Haven’t we shared a room since childhood? Though it was partly unavoidable, we’ve been in a “your room is my room” situation for a long time.

“…No, that’s not it.”

It’s been so long since we met.

This is only the second time we’ve been able to talk since I ended up in this situation, but I can’t even freely express my joy in front of her.

Because I think I know why those people brought Jihye here.

…Did they want to emphasize that just as the other children have parents, I have Jihye?

I think I understand why they’ve been making us wait all this time.

Maybe they were stalling for time on the bus to go get Jihye.

Come to think of it, bringing “parents” would be a double-edged sword for the government too.

The magical girls’ parents are all inevitably connected to the Federation. The Federation would want to reclaim the magical girls they created with their technology, and naturally, they would try to use the parents as well.

In contrast, I have no connection to the Federation.

Yet at the same time, the magical girls left the Federation’s embrace because of me.

So logically, persuading me would be most efficient.

And they had an effective means of communication with me.

…Here, I needed to think about the people lurking behind our conversation while talking to Jihye.

“Here.”

Responding to my answer with an innocent smile, Jihye quickly picked up the bags and came toward us.

Belatedly getting up from my seat, I quickly took one of the bags from her hand.

“Ah, I could have brought it myself.”

“…How could I let you do that?”

I followed Jihye and placed the bag on the large round table we had claimed.

As the bag tipped over, some of its contents spilled out.

Snacks, ramen, canned food, underwear, socks, and some fresh food items…

Did she buy all this with her own money again?

Was the reason it took time to get here because she went shopping for all these things?

Because she thought we would want these things.

No, she probably thought that “I” would want them, since all the snacks inside were only ones that I liked.

“Over there, um.”

Jihye thought for a moment.

“You can grow plants and such on your own, right? But things like these can’t be obtained without going through factories, so I thought you might need them. You can’t make things like ramen or snacks yourself, right?”

For some reason, her words made my nose tingle with emotion.

Even while being half-dragged to a place like this, was that the first thing she thought about?

Did she ask for some time so she could buy these things?

The magical girls’ expressions were somewhat dazed.

“You…”

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

I had forgotten what I should have said first. I’d been so focused on why we came here that I kept thinking about why Jihye came.

What I should have said first was:

“…Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine.”

At my question, Jihye stepped back half a step, then straightened her shoulders with her hands on her waist as if to show me.

She was right. At least from what I could see, Jihye looked quite different from the last time I saw her.

“I saw what happened today on the internet. Your outfit was pretty. It suited you really well.”

“Th-that’s not really anything special.”

I’m not sure what she meant by that.

“…”

After silently watching me blush with embarrassment for a moment, Jihye let out a small sigh.

“…I was at the orphanage when police officers suddenly came looking for me. They said they were there to pick me up.”

I see.

If I was still fighting at that time, were they really planning to bring Jihye to the scene?

Thinking about that made me want to curse, but I held back since Jihye would be the one hurt if I did.

“While we were moving, the fight ended, and they stopped the car on the road for a while before starting again. When I asked where we were going, they hesitated for a long time, reported to someone, and finally told me. They said they were going to find you all.”

Jihye grinned.

Then, as if she’d done something incredibly praiseworthy, she stretched out both arms toward the bag on the table.

“So I asked them to stop in the middle and bought all this. What do you think? Did I do well?”

“…”

I stared blankly at her for a moment, then nodded.

“…Yeah, thank you.”

“Oh.”

When I thanked her so readily, Jihye looked a bit surprised.

“Aren’t you going to say something like ‘Did you come to visit me in the army?'”

“I’m not going to say that.”

I shook my head as I spoke.

Of course, if the situation had been lighter, I might have said something similar.

“…”

At my response, Jihye silently stared at me for a while.

The magical girls, Cherry, and James didn’t say anything either.

Perhaps they thought they’d get hammered on the head if they said something unnecessary here.

“Do you know why I came here?” Jihye suddenly asked.

I silently nodded.

“They told me to persuade you. Then both of us could live comfortably. They said they’d legally take care of everything you’ve been through. They even said they could give you benefits if you wanted to become a civil servant later.”

Jihye chattered away as if it was really no big deal.

So that’s how it was.

They sent Jihye to persuade me.

I don’t even know who to be angry at anymore.

No, maybe I should just give up on everything. Honestly, I’m sick of people who keep bringing up those around me no matter what I do. I don’t need any of it; I just wish I could be done with all of it.

“But, you know?”

Jihye, who had been chattering away, pursed her lips and fell into thought for a moment.

Then she looked straight at me and said:

“I… I didn’t want to tell you that.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t want to persuade you.”

“Oh…”

“Why should I? Those people who told me to say those things to you are the ones who put you in this situation. They’re forcing you to apologize for something that wasn’t even your fault.”

At Jihye’s words, I couldn’t say anything.

“Haven’t I known you forever? Be honest. You don’t want to quit, right? Don’t you want to get back at the people who made you like this somehow?”

That was true. I definitely did, but—

“How could I tell you to work under those people and just take their money?”

“Jihye.”

“If you want to fight, then fight.”

Jihye said.

“If you want to run away, then just run away. You don’t owe those people anything. There’s no reason you should do what they say.”

Now I noticed.

Tears were welling up slightly in Jihye’s eyes.

“You fought today because you wanted to fight, because you thought you had to, right?”

“I’m not…”

After listening to Jihye’s words, I finally opened my mouth and said:

“I’m not fighting for such grand reasons.”

“I know.”

Jihye replied to my words.

“I know very well that you’re not trying to be on the side of justice. You’re not trying to save the world or anything like that, I know.”

Jihye spoke as if she was reading my mind.

“You’re just fighting the people who made you miserable and hurt you because it was too painful and hard.”

Jihye took a deep breath.

“So, what do you want to do? If you want to reconcile with those people, that can’t be helped. If you want to go back to school, that can’t be helped either. They say they’ll make everything right. But… are you really here because that’s what you want?”

“…”

“If you really wanted that, there would have been no need for me to be here, right?”

That’s right.

They brought Jihye here because they thought they couldn’t persuade me.

Because of me.

To persuade her best friend to go under the people her friend had been fiercely fighting against.

“Aren’t those people ridiculous?”

Jihye said, raising one corner of her mouth.

“I don’t understand why they thought they could persuade me when they couldn’t persuade you.”

“…”

It might not have been “persuasion” at all.

It might have been “intimidation.”

Saying they could help me get a civil service job actually means they could prevent me from ever getting such a position if I don’t comply.

Saying they could let me attend school properly means, conversely, that they could prevent me from attending school.

Did they really speak so gently to Jihye?

Maybe she’s telling me this way because she’s worried about me?

“Jihye, you…”

“I’m fine.”

Jihye said.

“I’m really fine, so do whatever you want.”

Hearing those words, I clenched my fist.

What emotion should I feel about those words?

Despair?

Should I feel despair about having to leave Jihye alone? Despair about possibly ruining this child’s life?

Maybe I should. Perhaps the emotion I should feel at this moment is guilt.

But strangely enough, I seemed to be feeling the exact opposite emotion in response to Jihye’s words.

“Oh, that’s glowing,” Jihye said, pointing at the circuit on my wrist.

The circuit was shining brightly.

“Looks like my words had some effect.”

“…You knew?”

“No. I just felt it intuitively.”

She said with a smile.

Thud.

A sound came from beyond the door.

Someone seems to be trying to come in. Were they watching us through CCTV or something?

“…”

As if sensing something from my circuit, Jihye suddenly rushed toward me.

And hugged me tightly.

“…Jihye.”

“It’s been a while since I hugged you like this.”

“…”

That’s… true, but.

Not knowing what to do, I patted Jihye’s back.

“You’re still awkward as ever.”

“Hey.”

I couldn’t help but respond to Jihye’s playful comment.

“I’ll be doing fine, so don’t worry.”

Jihye said once more.

“What can those people do to me? You’re my friend, right?”

“…If you need help, I’ll come.”

Somehow, listening to Jihye made me feel like I could really do anything. There was no basis for it. But isn’t that always how encouragement between friends works?

Listening, empathizing, saying “that’s too bad,” and telling them that better days will surely come.

There’s no basis or logic to it. The situation doesn’t get resolved just by hearing those words.

But still, it provides comfort.

Perhaps that’s what hope really is.

Maybe it’s the form of hope that I’ve been rejecting with all sorts of reasons until now.

Jihye let go of me and quickly grabbed the bag from the table, hastily putting it in my hands. I took it without being able to refuse.

Seeing me staring blankly at her face, Jihye smiled once more, one last time.

As if she believed I could do it.

“You probably won’t hear me, but I’ll be cheering for you. You… can do it. Whatever you want, definitely.”

When I started turning the Hope Circuit, I couldn’t create a black hole.

So I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it.

…Honestly, I still think that way.

But at the same time, without any basis…

Somehow, I felt like I could do it.

Looking at Jihye’s bright smile made me feel like I could do anything.

Feeling as if my body was floating slightly, I said to Jihye:

“…I’ll definitely come find you again.”

Jihye nodded.