LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 309
No matter how sure I am of my guess, in the end, it’s Cherry’s call.
Honestly, I’ve seen the circuit of the Noir Corporation operate like this in the original, but I’ve never seen a generator like this before. So, I could be wrong about that.
Thus, Cherry wanted to inspect it a bit more closely.
“I won’t tell anyone else about this.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I appreciate your guess, but… if it’s truly a device powered by despair, we need to think carefully about getting people involved in the experiment.”
Cherry’s words were extremely reasonable, and I nodded in agreement.
“People from the federation are coming tomorrow morning. So, I hope you’ll stay put until then.”
Surprisingly, it seemed Cherry had genuinely requested that from the kids.
Of course, the initial idea probably came from Seo-hee and the others. And looking at Ji-hye, she probably didn’t think the operation would be too dangerous.
After wrapping up our conversation, we headed out into the hallway.
The magical girls are usually quite perceptive. There’s no way they’d be so oblivious as to talk about what we just did in such an open space.
However, everyone wore a rather serious expression.
“…Ah, I really have no idea.”
The first to speak was Seo-hee.
Seo-hee is smarter than I am. Well, I don’t really know if that’s true. I just know that she always ranks at the top but doesn’t study hard.
So, it’s not that she’s ignoring it out of laziness. She must have truly judged that there was no answer and decided to just set it aside for now.
“No matter how much I think about it, there’s just no answer, so pondering it now seems pointless.”
We, including me, couldn’t help but nod at Seo-hee’s remark.
“Then, we only have one thing left to do.”
Seo-hee said this with a very serious expression, and we all looked at her with wide eyes.
Could it be that we have something we must do?
“What do we have left?”
“What’s left is to enjoy the remaining time as much as possible. They said they’ll arrive tomorrow morning. So today is our last day, right? Let’s stay up late.”
Since I can’t drink alcohol and have to go to school on Monday, it seems a bit ambitious for her to say that.
But, you know.
Yeah. That way of thinking is definitely healthier than my tendency to keep everything bottled up inside.
Don’t worry about things that won’t change no matter how much you fret.
If there’s a chance to enjoy life, then enjoy it.
I thought I really needed to adopt that mindset.
*
We played until late at night, and surprisingly enough, it was fun.
High school students, especially the top students, and even magical girls fighting for justice, should be playing healthily, but it was still enjoyable. It felt like I had returned to my teenage years.
I mean, even if I had been a teenager, all the guys around me would have been my age, so maybe it would have been a bit different.
Still, we lounged around the lounge, eating snacks, watching movies, and chatting. Time flew by without us doing anything particularly special.
Then, evening came, and we went back up to the rooftop.
Isn’t meat delicious no matter when you eat it? Especially at our age, that’s even more true. Ji-hye and I knew we wouldn’t have these chances often, so we decided to eat as much as we could while we could.
“…Ugh, I’m full.”
As a result, I felt like I had eaten a bit too much.
“I’m just okay.”
Seeing Ji-hye lightly holding onto the railing after getting a bit tipsy made me laugh.
“After eating so much!?”
“No, saying it like that makes me a little depressed.”
I did eat a lot, but I had eaten way more than Ji-hye. I seemed determined to put every piece of meat in front of me into my mouth right away.
Well, not that I felt deprived. I could say I ate just the right amount.
Since we always fought, perhaps even if I ate a lot, it would all convert to energy somehow. Not that I couldn’t fight just because I didn’t eat a lot. It’s just that my emotions matter most.
After all, a person can’t feel hopeful when they’re hungry.
“……”
Ji-hye, who had been looking at me as if I were ridiculous, eventually broke into a grin.
“Did you have fun?”
After the meat party wrapped up, we would need to get back to sleep. They said people were coming from the federation tomorrow morning, but by the time we woke up, I imagined the generator would have already left.
Back to everyday life. I felt a little sad.
“……Yeah. Really.”
Ji-hye said that while leaning against the railing, watching the lights that were moving busily in the distance.
“I think this is the first time I’ve had so much fun.”
“That’s good to hear. …Was it awkward or anything?”
“Um, maybe a little at first?”
Ji-hye jokingly said, then added,
“But I got close quickly. Everyone was really eager to keep me included. They quickly brought me in whenever the conversation went on for a bit.”
“Oh, really.”
The kids are nice.
Lately, they’ve been looking at me like there’s something else going on, but still, they are nice.
It’s just that, how should I put this?
I was just a bit dissatisfied that we were all doing something we didn’t want to do.
Still, being able to fight alongside everyone means we haven’t lost hope, which in a way makes us true ‘magical girls’.
“Let’s do this again next time.”
“Can I keep being included?”
I stared at Ji-hye, feeling a bit incredulous.
Then, I reached out and ruffled her hair roughly.
“Ah!?”
The sound didn’t seem to come from Ji-hye, who was being petted.
It was from behind me.
When I turned around, Ha-yoon was looking at me with a horrified expression.
…Why?
But as soon as our eyes met, Ha-yoon quickly composed herself and casually took the seat next to me. Right next to Ji-hye.
“…I had fun, Ji-eun.”
And she said that.
“Uh, yeah.”
That’s good to know.
I was staring blankly because I had no idea why Ha-yoon had screamed, and she slightly lowered her head.
It wasn’t so much that she was putting her feelings aside to lower her head — or rather, if I’m right, she was probably lowering her head to keep her feelings at bay. So it wasn’t because she was too depressed or frustrated that she couldn’t understand what I was saying or hiding her expression.
As proof, she was looking at me with a bright smile on her face.
I raised my hand to ruffle Ha-yoon’s hair. I couldn’t be too rough. It’s Ha-yoon, after all.
“Ah!?”
And then, another scream that sounded just like Ha-yoon’s erupted.
“Me too, me too! Pet me!”
“Are you a cat?”
“Well, what about Ha-yoon!?”
Seeing Yeon-woo rushing over at full speed while saying that made me feel a bit incredulous.
“No, those kids aren’t seniors, so….”
“Always using their names and speaking informally!?”
Yeon-woo seemed to get really fired up. Even the kids following her were the same. Only Jua had a relaxed expression on her face.
“Then, I guess I’m good, huh? Since we’re the same age.”
“Well, I mean, it’s okay, but—”
“Ah!?”
Yeon-woo shouted again.
“……Alright, I’ll pet you all.”
It wasn’t like my hands were wearing out, nor was I against it. It was just strangely amusing.
But still, I have no idea why this was happening.
…How did it end up like this, I wonder?
I let out a slight sigh and pondered.
*
I had expected that by the time we woke up, they would have already taken the generator, but that wasn’t the case.
Since it was such important equipment, they said we had to escort it. So it could reach the spaceship at the airport.
“So… I guess I have to go to school alone in the morning. Is that alright?”
I asked Ji-hye.
“Yeah, I’m fine with it.”
Ji-hye nodded and smiled.
“Okay, then.”
“But really, that outfit is a bit too revealing.”
In response to my answer, Ji-hye brought that up for some reason.
“…No, it’s not that the design is entirely up to me or anything.”
Or maybe it was just too much my own design. Either way, I had failed every attempt to redesign it until now.
“Okay. They said we’d arrive in about 15 minutes, so let’s just wait until then—”
Cherry was saying this as she looked at us gathered together, but…
“……Wait a sec.”
Chae-yeon piped up.
Chae-yeon was looking at her smartphone.
“Yeah? Why—? Ah.”
Cherry also seemed to have received some kind of message, pulling out a smartphone that fit perfectly in her hand.
So did I. The others did too.
And at the same time, we all realized that something weird was happening.
“……Explosion? In the company complex?”
With my mumbling, the kids looked up.
Cherry looked at me.
“…I think we need to go save them.”
Magical girls are essentially ‘fighters’.
But if something happens where our help is crucial, we get deployed there. The federation is very concerned about their image.
“What about the generator?”
“That…”
Cherry seemed to worry a little and thought for a moment but soon shook her head.
“I’ll stay behind.”
I stepped up and said.
“We just have to follow along after ensuring the generator is properly delivered, right? I know where the location is.”
And, it’s not like we could only resolve this situation ourselves. We didn’t have accurate information yet and, in any case, we would have to follow the police and firefighters’ commands.
“I’ll stay too.”
Ha-yoon said.
We looked at each other and nodded, then turned back to Cherry.
“…Okay. Then we’ll do just that.”
Cherry responded with a serious expression as she nodded her head.