Chapter 61: Song of the Four Seasons (4)

“…So you want me to… teach these girls?”

“Yes. Just as you said.”

Ianna stared up blankly at Hojoon’s face.

Was this some kind of test?

But Hojoon’s expression, as always, was unreadably serious. She gave up trying to decipher it.

“Hey, mister! Does that mean she’s our teacher now!?”

“Where’s my candy?”

 “I can’t believe this is the best they’ve got.”

Spring, Summer, and Winter—standing side by side—burst into chatter.

Feeling dizzy, Ianna looked at Hojoon with trembling eyes.

He calmly clarified again:

“The next-generation artificial girls will undergo a new training program.

That should improve their survival rate, even slightly.

We’d like to entrust them to you, Director—you, a legendary magical girl.”

Hojoon… you’re going to kill them all anyway.

So she thought, narrowing her eyes at him.

Hojoon avoided her gaze, instead shouting over her shoulder to Byeolhwa.

“If you so much as lay a finger on the Director again, you’ll regret it. Same goes for these girls.”

“I told you, I’m not doing that! You’re the one being weird, Han Hojoon!”

Byeolhwa shot her father a look filled with contempt.

Hojoon, burying his emotions, responded with cold indifference.

“We’ll see about that.”

“I said I’m not!!”

For Ianna—who knew the full truth—it was painful to watch.

But she couldn’t reveal it.

“…Will you be alright with this?”

Hojoon asked out of courtesy only.

He had never seriously considered that she might refuse.

Ianna looked into the bright, eager eyes of the three girls and lowered her head, her body trembling slightly.

Just for a moment… she felt a spark of something close to excitement.

To be more precise, it felt like being pulled back to the past—when she had mentored younger magical girls, guiding them from their first wobbly steps to independence with patience and grace.

That version of herself seemed to resurface now, here in this moment.

Destiny.

She felt certain this was fate.

“…Failures.”

“W-We’re not failures…!”

Admittedly, they looked far more unruly than any magical girls she had trained before.

Even so—

It was the first time since becoming like this that she had something to do again, and she was deeply moved.

If she could teach these girls well and earn their trust, maybe she could stop Hojoon’s ridiculous plans before they unfolded.

With that hope, Ianna looked at Hojoon, her dim eyes lighting up slightly, and gave a small nod.

She would accept.

Hojoon gently patted her head—once her student, now her handler—with a hint of fondness.

Byeolhwa, watching from the side, looked unimpressed.

“…When do I start?”

“Right now.”

“Wh-What…?”

Three pairs of sparkling eyes stared straight at her.

Still uneasy around magical girls and overwhelmed by all the attention, Ianna instinctively lowered her head.

And then—

“Oh, I just remembered.”

“Pee-pants…!”

They had struck Ianna’s biggest nerve.

“N-No! It’s not true, I swear…!!!”

Her face burning red, Ianna pushed her wheelchair forward and launched herself at the girls.

But they slipped out of sight with dazzling speed.

She lost her balance and toppled forward.

“Ugh… ngh…”

Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Janwol-nim!”

Byeolhwa rushed to her side, while the girls peeked out from behind Hojoon, giggling and mocking her.

‘…Who’s supposed to be teaching who?’

Soreem, watching it all unfold, pressed a hand to his forehead and leaned back in his chair with a heavy sigh.

***

“Alright… let’s start with introductions… shall we…?”

With a throbbing bump on her head, Ianna spoke in a trembling voice to the three kneeling girls.

Inside her room, the three girls sat on the marble floor with sullen faces, listening obediently.

It was thanks to Byeolhwa that order had been restored.

“You three—don’t ever act up in front of Janwol-nim again. If you do, I’ll fill your heads with lumps.”

“Ugh…”

“…That’s so mean…”

Byeolhwa had already broken the ice with them.

Though still awkward, she was forcing herself to be social—for Ianna’s sake.

A girl who couldn’t even enter a cafeteria was now pushing her limited social battery to its maximum, all for her.

Whatever came of it, she acted on her convictions—for Ianna.

But—

Though the girls didn’t notice, the hands she kept folded behind her back trembled faintly.

Worried that Byeolhwa might collapse if she took on any more, Ianna quickly stepped forward.

“A-Hem… Winter, was it? You’re… a bit taller than me. Right then, why don’t you start us off with your introduction?”

Clearing her throat a few more times, Ianna pointed at the girl with navy-blue hair and the number 9 on her forehead.

“You can call me Winter! I don’t have a real name—I forgot it! I love magical girls…! I want to gain incredible power and change the world, like the legends!”

She was overflowing with energy. Ianna softened slightly and pulled out a candy she had stashed for herself—an orange-flavored piece in shiny silver wrap—and held it out toward Spring.

“Ooh! Candy…!”

The golden-haired girl darted over, snatched it, and popped it into her mouth.

“She’s called Spring! She was born in spring! She thinks her body’s made of sugar, spice, and everything nice! She’s totally addicted to candy!”

“O-Oh… I see…”

“…Actually. When she was little, her parents abandoned her. They gave her one piece of candy, told her to wait, and left her at a highway rest stop. She stayed there until she was near death from malnutrition, waiting endlessly, slowly melting that one piece of candy in her mouth… hoping they’d come back….”

“…”

Now it made sense—why she clung to candy like it was life itself.

Without a word, Ianna handed over the handfuls of candy she secretly took from the infirmary each visit.

Spring filled her cheeks like a squirrel.

Ianna gently stroked her head.

Swallowing her tears, she turned to the girl with black hair tied up high, the number 7 on her forehead.

“I’m Summer. Deneb, Altair, Vega—the Summer Triangle. That’s when I was born. My hobbies are collecting rare books, and my specialty is solving mysteries.”

“R-Right…”

Summer, covering one eye dramatically, struck a pose in front of Ianna.

Flustered, Ianna handed her a candy too.

A token of goodwill.

“Um, Summer—”

“Can we skip the sad stories? What I really want to know is—who are you, miss? What’s your deal?”

Winter’s voice was surprisingly cold.

“…I’m…”

A magical girl of Janwol.

Now just a shell, barely alive.

A puppet of the Bureau, waiting for death.

—But of course, she couldn’t say that.

“I… used to be a magical girl. N-Not that impressive or anything…”

It really wasn’t anything special.

Just something anyone could have done.

“But are you sure? You’re shorter than we are. How old even are you? You didn’t last long, huh?”

Ianna, accounting for her amputated thighs, mentally added to her height.

She thought she matched them in stature—but to the girls, she looked tiny and childlike.

Even more so since her body hadn’t aged a day.

‘…My age…’

Even she had forgotten.

She had lived that long.

Still, she didn’t want to be underestimated by these little brats.

Age was one of the few things she could wield.

“O-One hundred.”

“Liar…! How could our teacher lie to us!? You trying to fight!?”

“Petite frame. Doesn’t look older than ten.”

“She looks like she eats tons of candy.”

Red-faced, Ianna ducked behind Byeolhwa.

“Ack!”

“Ow!”

“Ugh…!”

Byeolhwa, sleeves rolled up, whacked all three of them square on the head.