episode_0093

Saturday evening at 8:30 p.m.

Yumina got into the elevator with her tired body. The soles of my feet were tingling and my ankles were stiff. My back felt weak and the back of my head hurt. Still, the reason I was able to maintain an upright posture was simply due to the education I received from a young age.

“Ah…, I’m tired.”

The words I mumbled absentmindedly had no meaning, but it felt like they were diluting the dissatisfaction inside.

The elevator stopped and opened. The front door was visible beyond my vision. The good thing about living here was that there were no next-door neighbors because Cha Ha-neul took over the entire floor. The term ‘neighbors and cousins’ has long since lost its meaning, but communities exist around residential spaces, and in such places, rumors tend to spread quickly. It was even more so when a girl from a certain house came home late at night.

It was a world where the media looked down on magical girls, treated them as criminals, and reported them ambivalently. It wasn’t very good when such rumors spread. When a neighbor whom I had met a few times stopped me out of the blue and listened to me give a sermon on life, I would lose the will to live.

I am confident that there was no fundamental mistake, but it seemed to people that such things were not important. In fact, I was questioning whether there was really anything wrong. As I consoled the depressed magical girls, I began to wonder why they were saying that they had done nothing wrong. If you think the world’s definitions are strange, you need to consider whether you are strange. Even if it is considered unconstitutional, if the majority says so, wouldn’t it be correct? If you call running away from home a sin, wouldn’t it be right to call it a sin?

Yumina hoped that this confusion and worry would disappear. But I knew I couldn’t do that. Any logic or concept was just a consolation. Nothing will be resolved unless the world collapses one day, and nothing will change unless the building collapses and our thoughts are cut off.

Meanwhile, a corner of my mind was suggesting various alternatives. It was a broad perspective created by educated knowledge and an affluent environment. How can we find out which group to seek help from, which organization to be wary of, which claims to accept, and what concepts to have, all of these things. Alternatives and ways to create a better situation floated in and out of my mind. I also knew the limitations of those things well. If there were no limits, I would not have run away from home.

As I opened the front door and entered, I could hear faint sounds of conversation. Yumina took a deep breath and shouted loudly.

“I’m here!”

It was a cry for the sake of shouting. The purpose of conveying meaning was secondary. It was just an attempt to break the turmoil in my heart. It worked well.

A response came from inside. Judging by the fact that Do Yu-geon was the only one to respond, it appears that the person he was talking to was not Laplace but Cha Ha-neul.

While organizing her shoes, Yumina suddenly raised the back of her hand and smelled the blood. Even though I took a shower, it felt like it wasn’t washed off properly. Or maybe it was just confusion.

I took a shower again and took a bottle of white wine out of the refrigerator. As I headed to the living room with biscuits and cheese, Cha Ha-neul was talking to Do Yoo-geon about what an international organization is. I don’t know where this topic started, but it may have started for no reason.

The young lady had a proud expression on her face as if she was satisfied after finishing the explanation. He seemed happy to show off his knowledge.

While Yumina was scooping cream cheese with a knife and putting it on a biscuit, she opened her mouth to a question that had passed her by.

“But young lady, don’t you think you talk a lot these days?”

“……I?”

Cha Ha-neul’s eyebrows furrowed as if it was the first time she had seen this. Then, lost in his thoughts, his expression slowly changed to a shocked expression.

Yumina was embarrassed. It was meaningless, but I didn’t know what kind of thinking I was going through. I quickly ate the biscuit I had just put in my mouth and thought about what to say.

“It’s not that it’s bad! I would say I’ve become more sociable. I’d say the unapproachable atmosphere has decreased. It seems like a good change. It’s positive and I like it very much.”

It’s hard to say that his personality has improved, so I keep praising him in circles, but it seems like my words have become meaningless.

The young lady blinked.

“That sounds unpleasant.”

Yumina smiled at those words. I looked at Do Yu-geon. When he gave me a look that asked me if I knew how to get such a reaction, I just shook my head. I didn’t expect to get a plausible answer.

“I’m going to sleep.”

The young lady suddenly got up and went back to the room.

“Did I just slip up?”

“I guess that’s probably not true.”

“yes?”

Yumina thought for a moment and didn’t think the young lady would be angry, so she put cream cheese on the biscuit. It stung a little that the snack I was eating came from the young lady’s purse, but it wasn’t a big problem. Honestly, it tasted even better because it was someone else’s money.

“How’s work going?”

“Nothing is going to happen. They say they will stay still, but I don’t know why they won’t.”

I knew why. It was just a lament about my situation. As the crack development project grows in scale, the conflict between new companies and magical girl organizations is intensifying. This was expected, so the organizations in the Seoul area were integrated from a long time ago to increase the size and organize internally, but it was still difficult to handle the indirect conflict with market power.

Yumina tapped the wine bottle with her finger.

“Would you like a drink?”

“no.”

“You have no mood for letting me drink alone.”

Yumina leaned back on the sofa. Now that I think about it, I was planning to ask the young lady when she would come to see the organization, but I missed the timing.

* * *

I feel distraught. The sun was shining brightly on the way to school and the dusty grains of sand were sparkling, but it wasn’t very comforting. It can’t be because it’s a walk to school that I see every day.

Hormones are so amazing that you go through psychological changes that you may not even be aware of just because you’re a high school student. I remember that in my previous life, I went through puberty without going through puberty, which is a shame. In fact, it is difficult to be certain as there is a high possibility that you will not know whether you really did not have puberty or not until someone else tells you.

I don’t know for sure because I was reincarnated before I got older, but is this like a middle-aged menopause? It is a tragedy that we only heard about in words. Thanks to you, it was a tragic day. Well, it’s not really like that, but whatever.

But if you think about it positively, isn’t this a completely high school girl-like incident? It’s like a high school girl who is a natural. During puberty, you don’t know what to do with your body and you feel anxious. Ah, this is such a difficult problem for a girl who is only 17 years old. It’s a weight that’s too difficult for someone who isn’t even an adult to bear. This may require the care of an adult around you. Specifically, a housekeeper who will take care of food, clothing, shelter, and cleaning. That’s good.

Still, I feel a bit sorry for the situation people go through during puberty. I sincerely regret that it seems to indicate that I am on the same level as Do Yoo-geon and Yumina. Honestly, it’s on a different level from the two. Even though they are like this, they also have past life experiences, so how can they be put in the same class? It’s a life with a second number next to age.

Of course, if necessary, the modifiers attached to the end may be hidden. Is there anyone who would bring back their past life and enjoy the fact that they are older? Doing things like that just makes me want to have fun.

It is said that one’s worth is the average of the friends around you, but the average of Do Yu-geon and Yumina is… … ? I hope Do Yu-gun works hard. Let’s raise the average. If this continues, you may record negative growth in your mental state. There’s no place to brag about breaking a record on the bad side.

We need measures, measures.

There were few people walking to school, thinking seriously. It’s past school and work time, and it’s not an alley with a lot of floating population to begin with.

Instead, all that is there is a black cat lying in the shade. I often see that area around here. He looks arrogantly as if he owns something, but his eyes are arrogant. Do it as if you were watching a passing dog or chicken. Considering that my several attempts at serious conversation were all ignored, I felt like I probably couldn’t talk. There’s no way I was ignored by a cat that can talk.

If you crouch down and look at it, it will flutter its black tail and then yawn. It seems like he has no worries about life. While someone is facing a serious crisis of a lifetime and is trying to come up with a solution, a wild animal is just playing around.

Yes.

As I cautiously took a half step closer, the cat looked at me and gave me an unpleasant look. It’s not very cheap. The cat then yawned again.

Wow. The boundary distance has been reduced. I guess it seemed harmless because I encountered it often. You look like a stupid cat. So you are a cat. When I turned around and looked at the security team leader, the security team leader gave me a small, silent applause. It’s good that the security team leader responds well. Capable.

Good. fun. After all, students are happy when they don’t have to go to school. I think I can spend my time like this and then go to school when it’s appropriate and have lunch. What was lunch today?

oh. A good solution came to mind.

It’s not about how to get closer to a cat, it’s about how to get through puberty. Of course, the latter is more important than the former.

If a person is excited and has become soft-spoken due to puberty, you don’t have to say anything.

I should try to practice silence for a while.