Chapter 98 : Unspoken Words

March 24

“How is it?”

“It’s pretty.”

“Which… which one?”

“That cherry blossom tree next to the utility pole over there is the biggest and most impressive.”

“…”

The cherry blossoms fluttering in the gentle spring breeze were beautiful.

Yuki and I were slowly walking among the cherry blossom trees that had dyed the streets pink in the warm spring sunlight.

Despite Yuki’s hundreds of messages worrying that yesterday’s spring rain might have washed away all the cherry blossoms, all the cherry blossom trees were swaying their entire bodies, showering pink petals.

News came that hundreds of high-ranking officials from various European countries and China wanted to visit Elysion due to the numerous touching stories that Laura and Li Meilin couldn’t help but convey out of emotion.

I hastily fled after hearing from Yeonseo that there were people among these surprise visitors who dreamed of idolizing me, but having nowhere else to go except Elysion, I came to where Yuki’s house was.

-Wait a moment! I’ll, I’ll change into my school uniform and come!

Even though the start of school was just around the corner.

Yuki insisted on changing into her high school uniform and coming out.

Although we were just going for a walk in front of the house, I went along with Yuki’s desire to show a more grown-up appearance by wearing her high school uniform even a day earlier.

‘She’ll wear it plenty when the time comes anyway.’

At first, Yuki struggled with the daily life in the returned time. But she gradually started to look forward to the daily life beyond middle school that she was experiencing for the first time.

The lost daily life and memories.

She seemed to depend a lot on me, who knew everything, as compensation psychology for the fights she had endured, unable to die due to the mission left by the goddess of [Beginning].

Whenever I saw Yuki like that, I felt a tightness in one corner of my heart and thought that this time I really wanted to save everyone.

I wanted to give a future as big as the unrewarded happiness to the wonderful protagonist I had admired.

“Yuki.”

“Yes?”

“Is it still hard for you to see Lihua, Natalia, and Yeonseo?”

“…Yes.”

Yuki’s companions from the original work were getting along like friends after meeting each other in different ways in the changed time. Among them, only Yuki remained unchanged and stuck.

Painful times.

Unsympathetic companions.

Yet they fought together and died.

For Yuki, they who were living in a completely changed time were complete strangers and uncomfortable remnants of the past.

“…”

“…”

In the wind blowing cherry blossom petals.

I looked at Yuki’s eyes tinged with red.

Yuki looked at my narrow eyes.

Although we haven’t known each other for long.

Because we know better than anyone else what each other has gone through.

We were silently answering and refusing each other’s words with our eyes.

Plop

Suddenly, a cherry blossom petal fell on Yuki’s head. I removed it for her, and Yuki quietly looked at me.

The petal in my hand.

That petal looked lonely, like me who had fallen into this world, and suddenly I had something to say.

“Yuki.”

“Yes, Hikari.”

“Actually, I was Korean in my previous life.”

Yuki’s eyes slowly widened at my sudden words.

“Really? I had no idea…”

“Yes, but it’s a different Korea from the one here in this world.”

“A different Korea?”

“The president is different, and the history is a bit different, but the atmosphere is frighteningly the same.”

“I see. Was it hard for you?”

“No.”

“Why? There’s no one you want to see there, and no place you want to return to.”

“Instead, there were Kang Dorim, Team Leader Oh, Park Saebyeok, Hong Nayeon, the beef bone soup restaurant owner, and the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team and White Wing Unit.”

A place so familiar yet…

So different.

A different Korea in this world.

Where there’s no mother.

No father’s grave.

No familiar brands.

No university I attended.

“When I first arrived in Korea in this world, I was scared because it was so familiar yet strange.”

“Yes.”

“But there were good people I didn’t know living in a familiar atmosphere.”

“Yes.”

“Although the things I cherished weren’t there, I found other precious things.”

“Yes.”

Yuki quietly held out her hand, realizing what I wanted to say as she looked into my eyes. And I slowly took that hand.

Fingers intertwining from the pinky, gradually wrapping around each other.

Warmth

Heat

A cherry blossom petal mixed in between our palms, but we didn’t let go.

Sometimes when we agreed with each other without speaking, we held hands like this.

“Even weak me overcame it, so Yuki can definitely overcome it too.”

“No, I’m not that strong.”

“Then what should we do?”

“…You should hold my other hand too.”

“Shall I?”

I laughed because our appearance, standing in the middle of the road holding both hands, looked so funny.

It seemed like some suspicious religious ritual, staring intently at each other while holding hands amidst falling cherry blossom petals. What’s more, I, who was performing it, was about to become the goddess of a pseudo-religion.

My mother said not to join a pseudo-religion even if she died, so what should I do if I end up becoming one.

“Pfft.”

“Hehe.”

We laughed for a moment and then started moving forward on the path we were on.

“Then.”

“Yes?”

Yuki opened her mouth with a slightly trembling voice.

“Then I’ll try meeting them too.”

Chen Lihua, Natalia, Cho Yeonseo.

A determination to find other precious things in a familiar atmosphere in the changed time.

“Like you did, Hikari. I’ll try meeting them again too.”

“Yes. You thought well.”

“Phew… now that I’ve decided, I’m nervous.”

“That’s how it usually is when you make a decision.”

Yuki didn’t answer that, quietly smiling, and then suddenly pulled the hand she was holding and said:

“Come to think of it, it’s strange.”

“What is?”

“My dad used to love Korean dramas a lot in the past.”

“Ah… I think I know what you mean.”

It must have been a drama about amnesia or something.

“So when I was young, I apparently said I wanted to go backpacking in Korea when I grew up because of my dad.”

“Really?”

“Maybe it’s because Korean dramas were always on TV.”

Yuki spoke Korean with an awkward pronunciation, saying ‘Annyeongha-se-yo! Ban-ga-seu-mi-da.’ (Hello! Nice to meet you.)

I smiled slightly because it was so cute.

“You’re doing well.”

“Hehe, it was one of my few party tricks when I was young.”

“What are the other tricks?”

“I forgot because I had no friends to show them to.”

“…”

I recalled the tragedy that befell the girl who had dreamed of going backpacking abroad.

Bullying due to burns.

“…”

“Now that I have a friend, I should practice a lot.”

“Yes.”

“Ah, we’re in front of the house now.”

Before we knew it, we had come back after going around the neighborhood once.

Just over that hill is where the Shikishima father and daughter live.

“Want to… go around once more?”

Yuki asked, glancing at me, but I shook my head because I had something prepared.

“I see.”

Dejected

It seemed like letters appeared above Yuki’s head, but it couldn’t be helped.

Because the friends she could show her party tricks to had arrived.

“Oh! They’re here! Your Majesty!”

“Welcome!”

“Hello, Miss Shikishima.”

Chen Lihua, Natalia, and Cho Yeonseo arrived in front of the Shikishima house carrying lunch boxes.

I had asked Yeonseo to come here, and she gladly brought Chen Lihua and Natalia with her.

It was difficult to bring Natalia, the transport manager who played an important role in the ‘Moirai Plan’ of connecting the network of domains across the world. Yeonseo quickly went and brought her during the pause caused by the Divine Maiden’s collapse.

‘Thank you, Divine Maiden. But let’s hang in there a bit more.’

The girls, visiting Japan for the first time, came in comfortable clothes and were taking pictures or looking around near the Shikishima house. Especially Chen Lihua enjoyed exploring here and there, constantly touching things like mailboxes and vending machines, observing the differences from Taiwan.

Yuki muttered with wide eyes as she watched them.

“Eh…?! Lihua, Natasha, Asya…”

“Oh! You’re already calling us so familiarly!”

“H-how did you come all the way here?!”

“Because Her Majesty called us!”

Yuki looked at me in surprise at Chen Lihua’s answer, but I pretended not to notice.

“Did everyone bring something to eat?”

“Yes!”

“Alisa baked some cookies, please try them!”

Inside the lunchbox that Yeonseo gently opened were snacks that the magical girls living in Elysion had packed for us.

“Yuki.”

“Yes?”

“Now that everyone’s here, let’s go around once more.”

“…Okay!”

The main characters of <Magical Girl HAZARD>.

Comrades who sometimes conflicted and cooperated, watching each other’s backs.

They abandoned even their beliefs and conformed to reality in the face of endless irrationality.

Nevertheless, they didn’t mock Yuki’s dream.

Even if Yuki’s dream was absurd and fleeting, they didn’t deny that it had clearly become a hope to endure today.

“We might see more good places if we go around a second time, right?”

Perhaps understanding the meaning in my question,

Yuki answered in a very loud voice.

“Yes! We’ll be able to see even better scenery!”

We sat on a bench we discovered in a corner of the cherry blossom tree path we went around for the second time, sharing snacks and enjoying a pleasant time together.