Chapter 24 : The Big Moving Operation

July 25th

[Interview with Magical Girl Relief Corps Commemorating Full Discharge of A University Hospital ICU]

[Special Team to be Established to Respond to Magical Girl Crimes]

[Special Law on Supernatural Ability Groups Passed Unanimously by Ruling and Opposition Parties]

[Temporary Restriction Measures on Overseas Movement of Magical Girls]

The media seemed to consider it taboo to mention the incident that occurred in Kabukicho, which had been deeply connected with violent groups from the beginning.

News about the Kabukicho incident was reduced to a brief report, overshadowed by an article about a multi-vehicle collision accident that happened the next day.

It was only mentioned as one of the cases where the power possessed by magical girls could be concretely confirmed.

‘They’re hastening changes to actively incorporate magical girls into the social system.’

Unlike the original work where unbloomed magical girls were consumptively used according to the already established social system, now that they had confirmed the potential of magical girls, they were showing a certain level of respect.

“How long are you going to keep staring at the newspaper, Leader!”

“Even if we’re moving, it’s just to the next room, and besides, we don’t have much to move except for phones, chargers, and clothes.”

“Ah! That’s too much! Moving is originally one of the big events in a family, a sacred act performed on an auspicious day!”

“When there are more than three Chinese characters in Kyoko’s sentence, it’s certainly a rare occurrence.”

“Leader! That’s discrimination against Kyoko! Even if Kyoko usually speaks carelessly!”

“…The boss’s words hurt more.”

The owner allowed Ichika and Kyoko to move in.

When we wrote ‘Two females hope to live on 3rd floor’ on the rent envelope, which was the owner’s only communication channel, the next day, the key to the next room was placed in front of the door.

“Heh! I’m now a proper house owner too.”

“That’s right! We now have our own territory!”

“…It’s just a rental. Besides, since we don’t have much stuff, the move is already done, but do you want to go look at some furniture?”

“Hmm~ Well? I don’t need anything right away, but I’d like to get a kotatsu around winter this year.”

“That’s right! Sitting around a kotatsu and having a hot pot party together has been one of my long-time dreams!”

“I want to invite Sato, Busujima, and all the others who are elsewhere, and have a lively gathering.”

“…Yeah, that would be nice.”

Kyoko, who had been chattering about the kotatsu hot pot party to be held in winter for a while, seemed to hesitate for a moment.

“Um, I… would like to have something like a dressing table.”

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

“Ah, well, it doesn’t have to be an expensive one, but I thought it would be nice to have one… hehe.”

“You only ever go to Leader’s cafe or loading and unloading part-time jobs, do you really need one?”

“That’s too much!”

I didn’t particularly do makeup either, but I thought Ichika’s words might sound insensitive to a girl in her prime.

‘Come to think of it, Ichika is also a girl in her prime, how can she be so rough?’

I comforted Kyoko, who seemed slightly intimidated by Ichika’s words, by taking her side.

“Oh really? Then let’s go to a furniture store together and buy one. If we want, we can buy other necessary things on the way too.”

“L-Leader…!”

“Heh, let’s go out and look around at least.”

“Boss…!”

We grabbed our phones and wallets and went out as soon as our action plan was decided.

The streets of Tokyo, where the full-fledged heat wave had begun, were filled with hot sunlight.

We walked through it, searching for shade.

“Ugh, it’s hot even inside, but it feels even hotter when we come out.”

“Spending time in the air conditioning at Leader’s cafe is the best.”

“At this rate, we should probably get a fan on the way back.”

Ding dong

Ding dong

Ding dong

As we waited for the pedestrian signal and could no longer hide in the shade, we closed our mouths and just walked quietly.

“Oh, but Leader.”

“Yeah?”

“Aren’t you hot? Seeing you with your jacket zipper up all this time, it makes me feel even hotter just looking at you.”

“Are you trying to lose weight or something?”

“Ah.”

I slightly lowered the zipper of my tracksuit to show the state of the T-shirt I was wearing inside.

As I lowered the zipper, two hills that had been tightly contained burst out, freed from compression.

The marks where sweat had pooled under my chest were clear, and the T-shirt wet with sweat clung to my skin, blatantly showing the shape of my chest.

It was an extremely embarrassing sight as the shadows emphasized the upper body curves created by my thin waist.

“…”

“…”

“This always happens in summer, so I just keep everything zipped up. It gets wet with sweat anyway.”

Both Ichika and Kyoko were wearing blue shorts and sleeveless tops, so I secretly wished I could dress lightly like that too, but I wore an extra layer to avoid embarrassing situations.

After hearing my words, they both quietly looked at their own tops and fiddled with them.

“…”

“…”

“What’s wrong? Let’s go.”

“…Okay.”

“…Yes.”

After walking in silence for a while, we arrived at a large furniture store nearby.

Inside, the latest pop songs (2011) were playing, and the cool air conditioning breeze pleasantly dried our sweat.

“So what should we buy first?”

“Since the dressing table is the main thing, let’s go look at dressing tables first.”

“Ah! Thank you, Leader!”

I strode up the escalator in the center of the store, following the path of clean white floors. And just as I was about to head up to the third floor.

“Wow, Leader seems more impatient than she looks.”

“Is it because your mother is Russian?”

Far behind me, Ichika and Kyoko were standing in a single file on the left side of the escalator, coming up obediently.

Oops

My kimchi soup soul just…

“…I was just excited to go shopping after a long time.”

“It doesn’t feel real even when you say it with such a haughty face, I say.”

“Leader often keeps her eyes closed, so it’s hard to tell what she’s thinking.”

“…They’re just narrow.”

Anyway, on the 5th floor we reached, there were mainly women’s wardrobes, dressing tables, and decorative antique furniture. After looking around here and there for a while, Kyoko said:

“Hmm… it seems more expensive than I thought.”

As we actually compared with the real items, signs of going over budget were apparent, and Kyoko, who had been excited opening this and that, started muttering in an uncertain voice.

“Is that so? I think it would be fine if we do some intense loading and unloading for about a week?”

“That’s also our living expenses… haah…”

Kyoko quietly put back the dressing tables she had been looking at and opening, not knowing what to do out of guilt.

“I’ll chip in too.”

“Eh, Leader?!”

“Yeah! It’s no big deal, we can just do a few more loading and unloading shifts, so let’s just buy it.”

As Ichika and I added confidence, Kyoko seemed touched and squirmed happily.

“Leader… Boss…!”

Kyoko hesitantly walked towards the very first dressing table she had approached as if enchanted when we arrived, and stroked it.

It was an item with storage spaces on both sides of the dressing table that could be used like a wardrobe with simple assembly.

“Thank you so much, hehe.”

“It’s nothing, I’ll use it occasionally too, so think of it as an investment.”

That’s a lie.

I have no plans to do makeup in the future either.

“Heh, good for you, Kyoko.”

Ichika approached with a grin, and the three of us called a clerk and purchased that dressing table.

After paying, the employee asked us to wait for a moment and then brought a large cardboard box containing the product through the warehouse connected to the first floor.

“Wow, this is going to be tough.”

“Hii…”

After finishing the cushion packaging, a cardboard box of such enormous volume came out that the three of us could have used it as a raft if we got on top. Kyoko bowed her head again as if apologizing for causing trouble.

There’s no need to apologize, as I had already thought of ways to bring bulky items.

“Let’s leave this here for now and go buy the rest of the things.”

“Oh, are you going to request a delivery service?”

“Ugh, I feel too sorry to do any more! I’ll move them one by one…”

“It’s okay, Kyoko.”

After persuading Kyoko, who was stamping her feet, we bought the cheapest fan, tissues, a folding table, cushions, etc. from nearby stores.

“Oh, come to think of it, I forgot we need to buy ramen!”

“Ah, ramen is important.”

Since I already had an electric kettle and rice cooker that I had received from the Master who used them at the shop, finally we stopped by a grocery store to buy some food.

After buying everything we needed to buy, we came back to the furniture store from earlier, and when we gathered everything, the luggage had increased to a level where we really needed to call a small truck.

“Should we call a delivery vehicle, Leader?”

“No, but is everything securely packed in cardboard boxes?”

“We even bought separate cushioning material and wrapped it all up, I say.”

“Okay, then will Ichika and Kyoko both stick close to the luggage while protecting yourselves with psychic power?”

“Eh.”

“Oh, no way.”

Over the past month, I had gotten a sense of how to adjust psychic output with Ichika to avoid injuring people. And I decided to take on the challenge of moving people-plus-luggage for the first time, using the know-how I had gained from transporting goods for the past 2 years in preparation for the apocalypse.

I covered the mountain of luggage, Ichika, and Kyoko with an illusion curtain and slowly levitated them using psychic power.

“Ughh… th-this feels really weird.”

“Wow, wait, this is really pulling on my stomach! I think I might pee!”

“Hikari Express departing.”

“W-Wait a minute, Leader, wait a minute?!”

Whoosh

Uwaaaah!

It was very difficult to adjust the distance while levitating due to Ichika’s screams.

I didn’t know she would be so scared, considering she used to jump fearlessly under high-rise buildings.

* * *

“Why are you really exaggerating so much?”

“Did that look like exaggeration to you?!”

We safely arrived at the apartment and unpacked, and while cooking the ramen we had bought earlier, we were talking about housewarming plans.

“It would be difficult to invite the kids who went to Hokkaido or those at welfare centers in other regions, but I want to see the people living nearby again.”

Among the girls who were captured as test subjects together, those who entered the home handicraft factory in Saitama Prefecture would be like living in Gyeonggi-do if compared to Korea, so it would be reasonable to invite them using the move as an excuse.

“Ahaha, now that the time they’ve worked at the factory is longer than the time they were captured, they’ll be surprised when they see us, I say!”

While we were talking excitedly while eating ramen, we heard the sound of the radio we had left on.

[The government has formed a special task force for the supernatural ability group commonly known as magical girls…]

[A popularity ranking vote event for magical girls on a certain site is causing a buzz…]

[The number of foreign governments paying attention to the actions of the Magical Girl Relief Corps is increasing…]

“Come to think of it, the magical girl of [Beginning] seems to have been forgotten already.”

“Huh?”

“Yes?”

“It’s probably difficult for such a suddenly appearing mysterious person to stay in the spotlight, right? But I’m glad that everyone seems to be following [Beginning]’s words well and acknowledging the power and existence of magical girls as they are.”

“Uh…”

“Hmm…”

“Fufu, even if it’s a bit disappointing, the goal was to help magical girls be naturally accepted as members of society.”

“L-Leader…”

“Let’s work hard to prevent incidents like the Kabukicho incident from happening in the future.”

Ichika and Kyoko cautiously opened their mouths with bewildered looks.

“Leader doesn’t use the internet much, I guess?”

“Well… I don’t have a computer at home, and I don’t use a smartphone. But I do listen to the radio and read newspapers every day?”

“I thought it was strange that the attention-seeking Leader didn’t say much after seeing that.”

In the community site screen on the smartphone Ichika showed me, there was madness.