Chapter 12 : “Grandmother is Still Alive”

“Hey, are you sleeping?”

“…”

Even after waking up, I was inwardly breaking out in a cold sweat while reviewing the last fight.

The fight at the main entrance was essentially nothing more than desperately holding out with the raw physical specs of a 3-star magical girl and then hastily finishing with illusions.

“From your breathing, it sounds like you’re awake.”

“…”

I should have lured them out of the warehouse or disarmed them through meticulously prepared illusion magic. But being in a hurry, I recklessly charged in relying only on physical specs.

I might have been distracted controlling the clones, but to choose the worst among bad moves.

‘Even after the gun was fired, I couldn’t make any bold moves.’

The preparation was insufficient, the ideas were poor, and above all, it was reckless.

‘Even a 1-star magical girl can rampage on the battlefield if they go all out, what on earth was I doing?’

I was wielding a sword that could cut anything while simultaneously not being prepared to hurt anyone.

‘I should have subdued them immediately even at the risk of causing serious injuries.’

Boldness.

Decisiveness.

These were absent in me.

Ichika subdued more than 6 guard members she encountered in the corridor by herself, using the terrain.

Divide and conquer.

Swift and accurate.

Once Ichika realized she had a clone dedicated to defense attached to her, she broke through by performing her role solely through attacks.

While I was barely grappling with 5 guard members, she had taken care of her comrades and safely come up from tens of meters underground.

‘Let’s be honest, I responded half-heartedly because I was afraid of hurting people.’

No matter how many imaginations and resolutions to fight I made in my mind, it was so different from actually experiencing it.

In the end, we escaped safely, but it was too dangerous and close.

To think I thought I could overcome the apocalypse with such a half-hearted attitude.

“I can’t tell if you’re sleeping with your eyes open or not.”

“I was lying down because I felt pathetic about myself.”

“Oh, so you were awake.”

“How are the others?”

“They’re still sleeping, they’ve only been taking light naps for ten days not knowing when they’d be called.”

They must have been like that because of rapidly conducting experiments for 24 hours to produce immediate results.

The rescued girls were sleeping, making tired breathing sounds around us.

“I see.”

“Why are you so depressed?”

“No matter how chaotic it was, I should have made better decisions when fighting.”

“Anyway, isn’t it fine as long as no one got hurt and it ended well?”

“I had the wrong mindset, I should have done better.”

Heh. Ichika let out a deflated laugh with her husky voice.

She had a sensitive and sharp impression inside the experimental facility, but as soon as she escaped from the dangerous place, she changed to an easygoing personality that gave a relaxed laugh.

“Then can’t you just do better next time?”

“…”

“You act all composed as if you know everything with your terrifying abilities, but you have this cute side too.”

“…”

“Anyway, thank you, really.”

Tap tap

Ichika expressed her gratitude while touching my shoulder.

Rough hands.

I was a bit surprised by Ichika’s hands, which had skin like stones.

‘Was she doing some kind of exercise before being captured?’

In the end, we succeeded in escaping that night.

Taking advantage of the gap left by the security team thrown into confusion by my unique skill, we changed into clothes hidden in the darkness. Then we changed all our appearances with illusion magic and returned to Shibuya.

Haruko and the other 5 girls waiting at the apartment were awake until past 3 AM when we returned, worried about us.

-Boss, welcome back!

-Everyone’s okay!

Because we had a tiring night, we were sprawled out sleeping in my room until 1 PM the next day.

The sight of a 6-tatami one-room apartment packed with 13 girls.

It looked like the aftermath of a university MT where a senior who drinks well had passed through.

Of course, the difference is that then they were all men, and now they’re beautiful girls.

‘It’s fortunate I didn’t buy furniture and such for the past 2 years.’

Haruko, pushed to the opposite wall by the wall of beautiful girls, was groaning in distress.

“Hey, Shirogane.”

“What?”

“Want to go out for a bit?”

“Sure, why not.”

Ichika and I quietly got up and went out, avoiding the girls sleeping in disarray like stepping stones.

As soon as we came out, we washed our faces at the tap and cast disguise magic on our faces.

Ichika was still in the loose-fit t-shirt and blue jeans she had worn all night.

It was an outfit that suited Ichika, who had the impression of a wild girl, very well.

“So what are you going to do now?”

“Is that why you wanted to go out?”

“There’s no need to unnecessarily complicate the feelings of the kids sleeping.”

“My feelings are still complicated though.”

“That’s the leader’s responsibility, you know.”

What leader.

It seemed like Ichika was subtly forcing the role of leader on me, so I changed the subject.

“Let’s eat something first and then talk.”

“That sounds good.”

Tap tap

Ichika, who was grinning while patting my chest, suddenly looked flustered.

Her gaze was fixed on my chest.

They looked particularly prominent in the shade under the hot sun.

Ichika, who had been staring for a while at the two hills she hadn’t noticed in the urgent situation, muttered in a dazed voice.

“They really are big when seen in bright light. What do you eat to make them grow like that?”

“Oh, come on.”

After exchanging these silly words, we went out and had a meal at a family restaurant.

The news playing in the corner of the restaurant mentioned last night’s incident.

The incident at the Fujimoto Heavy Industries logistics center was surprisingly quietly buried.

-It was an accident caused by fireworks that were stacked for rehearsing an event going off.

-I see.

If the spokesperson for the Fujimoto Group says so, then that’s how it is.

Because there were no anti-social reporters who questioned this obvious logic, the news moved on to the next breaking news after the Fujimoto Group spokesperson went back into the headquarters after leaving one statement.

“Wow, it’s really simple.”

“Well, everyone probably knows there’s something more to it.”

“You mean they’re all keeping their heads down, watching the Fujimoto elders’ reactions.”

Ichika poked at the pancakes of the family restaurant with her fork as if displeased.

Seeing that, I drank the black coffee placed in front of me and read the newspaper I had picked up while passing by the subway station earlier.

‘It’s surprisingly quiet.’

Ichika and I were having a late lunch far from Shibuya where the apartment is, just in case.

We had looked at numerous newspapers and news on our way here, but no one mentioned what happened at the Fujimoto Heavy Industries logistics center last night.

“So?”

“Hm?”

“What are you going to do now, leader?”

“Wait, why am I the leader?”

“If you rescued us, take responsibility yourself.”

Ichika spoke in a playful tone, but I could feel the sincerity underneath, which made me perplexed.

“More than that, why did you rescue us and what are we going to do from now on, leader? It’s about time you told us.”

“…”

After staring for a while at Ichika, who was grinning and enjoying my reaction, I sighed.

I started from how Haruko and I got involved, then how I accidentally learned about the inner workings of what the Fujimoto Group was trying to do, and that the Fujimoto Group’s perception of magical girls was fundamentally wrong from the premise.

“Well, I heard it too when I was at the orphanage, but didn’t the ‘Red Broadcast’ tell us to take from each other?”

“That’s true.”

Ichika scratched her head with the fork she had in her mouth, recalling that memory.

“That’s really dirty.”

“What does it matter? Anyway, the researcher at the facility was trying to use us like soldiers or something.”

“Soldiers?”

“Yeah. Because Fujimoto’s daughter is a magical girl, we were supposed to be like textbooks and fertilizer and royal guards for her to get stronger.”

In the original work, they probably used the stars of children who were no longer useful as ‘fertilizer’ with drugs.

“It’s winner-takes-all, isn’t it? Resources are limited, and those who have them, want to take all the good stuff.”

“…”

Ichika looked outside the family restaurant for a moment.

People were all passing by sweating in the hot early summer weather.

People passing by busily, indifferent to each other.

“If they’re going to take, orphans like us with no parents are the easiest targets first.”

“…What I want to say is, that resource isn’t particularly limited.”

Ichika turned back to me, seemingly surprised by my words.

* * *

“Branch Manager Takahashi.”

“Yes! Congressman!”

“Branch Manager Takahashi.”

“Yes! Family Head!”

“Branch Manager Takahashi.”

“…”

Takahashi, the branch manager of Fujimoto Security’s logistics center, was in a miserable state.

‘No, I’ll probably die soon.’

Fujimoto Security, one of the two swords held by the Fujimoto family.

They are composed of those who are loyal only to the family head among the private soldiers loyal to the Fujimoto family in the past.

Those trusted enough to be allowed to stand guard near the family head.

They are a group of loyalists who have left legendary anecdotes, such as standing in front of the door for three days and nights or bravely jumping into a burning mansion with just one order from the family head.

‘In exchange for the honor of being able to assist the family head closely, failures are not forgiven.’

The penthouse on the roof of the Fujimoto headquarters had a Japanese traditional house placed on a vast building and created a park with real soil and a lake.

There was only a chilling silence there.

“It has been an honor to serve you until now.”

“…”

Two women followed behind Takahashi, who bowed while sitting and then left.

One of the two swords owned by the Fujimoto family exists to deal with external threats.

The other exists to deal with traitors.

And a sword that fails to perform its role was a betrayal to its master.

Even if it was an unreasonable order or something beyond one’s ability.

No kind of failure could be tolerated for executives of Fujimoto Security who knew many of Fujimoto’s secrets and weaknesses.

Because what they protected was the ruler of Japan.

“…”

Fujimoto Eiji didn’t even give a glance until the end.

What he was looking at was a single photograph.

A magical girl faintly captured on the body cam of a Fujimoto Security employee.

Fujimoto Eiji wanted to understand the unidentified ability she handled, the power presumed to be supernatural ability.

He was also looking forward to the capabilities of an opponent who had so boldly challenged Fujimoto.

‘There was a talent worth using as a touchstone.’

He spoke while handing the photo to a petite girl standing behind him.

“Kaede.”

“Yes, Elder.”

“If you find this person, cut them down.”

“Yes, Elder.”

The girl Kaede, who answered without a moment’s hesitation.

Inside her deep green glass star, two lights were twinkling.