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The gazes of the school kids looking at me had changed, just as the general public’s perception of me had shifted significantly.

To be honest, I couldn’t help but think, “Now of all times?” but, well, the truth is I haven’t had many chances to see the citizens’ ‘that kind of reaction’ directly.

Whenever there were negative articles about me, I was almost always ducking for cover. The reactions I mainly saw were from the people chasing after me.

So, yeah, I didn’t really care much about that side of things. They weren’t exactly people who’d have a monumental influence on my life, to begin with.

When the citizens cheered as they saw me flying in the sky, it felt a bit embarrassing, though.

Right.

Even as a mischievous kid at the orphanage, I had chosen the path to the ‘sky.’ There wasn’t any particular reason; I just thought it might help me escape a little faster.

The problem was that those chasing after me could fly too.

When the citizens saw the two Magical Girls soaring in the skies, they raised their phones and shouted my Magical Girl name.

And then—

The caller went off.

Instead of carrying a separate one, we decided to integrate the function into the circuit, and with Cherry’s help, we did just that.

Thanks to that, at least while I was moving as a Magical Girl, I could receive calls anytime, anywhere.

So, it meant that when I flew off toward the sky, of course, the other Magical Girls could find me through the call.

The circuit screen flashed, briefly erasing the clock hands, and the name of the one calling me appeared.

[Iris]

It was Jua.

I turned around while flying in the sky.

A purple Magical Girl was closely tailing me. She was shouting something angrily in my direction, but the wind was too strong for me to catch what she was saying properly.

I decided to ignore that first call for now. After all, it was probably just asking me to stop or something along those lines.

But no matter what, I couldn’t completely disregard the persistent call after a long time, so I reluctantly answered the third time.

[Are you crazy!?]

The voice that came through as soon as I picked up the caller was like that.

Well, am I crazy? I don’t really know. I probably am, considering I’m not rejecting the advances of three girls; it might seem pretty crazy to others.

Honestly, I don’t even understand my own feelings. Do I just want to get along peacefully without dating anyone, or do I want to choose just one among them to spend my life with?

Or do I really want to live like a crazy person with all of them?

I didn’t have enough time to decide that.

[Got it! Let’s land for now! People are staring at us!]

“…”

After a brief moment of contemplation regarding that statement, Jua shouted again into the caller.

[If we run away like this, people will misunderstand us!]

Would they misunderstand our relationship? That wouldn’t be good. Already, rumors of me and other girls were sweeping the newspapers, and above all, the fact that a new Magical Girl had been added who had known me for a long time was also reported.

Of course, Rose, Dalia, and Delphinium, with whom I hang out, were slowly getting dragged into it. Although those three didn’t seem to mind one bit.

If news reported us flying away while escaping, it would certainly end up being nothing but scandal.

[If I transform into a Magical Girl and fly away, won’t they think it’s because an Alien showed up!?]

But what Jua shouted next was even more shocking.

Ah, so that’s how it goes.

Until now, I had transformed without considering the law, and I hadn’t realized that transforming into a Magical Girl wasn’t much different from rampaging around with a gun.

If I had the magic to hurt people, I could easily do so.

[Let’s hurry down! Let’s think about this when we land! If we mess up, the government might send out planes or something!]

“Okay, okay!”

In the end, I had no choice but to agree to Jua’s statement.

*

“People are already getting an earful because some just stood by during the last incident!”

As I landed in a sparsely populated park, Jua, who had followed me down, shouted like that.

“They’re going to want to get in on the action no matter what they think happened. People are already complaining about what they were doing while minor citizens were out there hunting down villains!”

That… was true.

Usually, when a big problem arises, someone needs to take responsibility. Especially if it’s related to politics, economy, or military matters.

The last incident involved all three of them.

Maybe the reason why I could keep Ha-yoon kidnapped at our orphanage without her parents making a fuss about it was that the federal and local governments were all involved.

Investigations seemed to be ongoing smoothly enough, but it couldn’t be said that all cases had been resolved yet.

“…I wonder if they have reacted by now?”

“It’s obvious they posted it on social media, so they’ll definitely try to get in touch somehow.”

At that moment, both of our callers rang simultaneously.

Looking at my wrist, it was the contact I had received from a government agency last time.

Jua and I exchanged glances.

“…What should we do?”

“This is…”

But that call was abruptly cut off.

“Looks like someone else answered it.”

Probably Ha-yoon, or Rose.

If either of those two answered, they might have wrapped it up decently enough. Both were experienced in leading a team in their own way.

“…”

“…”

And for a brief moment, we fell into silence.

Hmm.

Now that I think of it, the others don’t seem to be following us. Whether it’s Rose, Dalia, or Delphinium, but Ha-yoon and Ji-hye too.

“At the very least, they seem more rational than you.”

As if she read my thoughts, Jua shot back like that.

I had no words to say.

“…”

And since I wasn’t saying anything, Jua slightly lowered her head. For some reason, the girl who had been furiously chasing after me just moments ago was subtly looking at me now.

“…What’s wrong?”

Feeling uncomfortable in the atmosphere, I ended up asking.

“Um.”

Jua hesitated for a moment before finally mustering the courage to speak.

“Um, do you dislike me?”

“…Huh?”

I was left speechless by Jua’s words.

“I mean, I feel like I’ve only shown you my angry side all the time and that I’m not honest…”

“Wait, hold on.”

I wrapped one hand around my forehead as I said that.

Swish.

My outfit changed back. I was in the casual clothes I had on just a moment ago. A slightly oversized short-sleeve T-shirt and pajama pants.

…This meant I was pretty flustered to the point I wouldn’t usually go out like this.

And Jua’s appearance had also changed. At least she looked a bit better. She was in a comfortable outfit, similar to mine, but she was just in ‘sportswear.’

Feeling the embarrassment of that outfit wasn’t good, but Jua’s earlier words seemed to weigh much more heavily.

“So, uh… are you really asking me that out of the blue?”

“…”

When I asked back, Jua pouted her lips a bit.

“Is that not allowed?”

“No, it’s not like it’s forbidden.”

I went into thought for a moment.

Alright. Still, my mind was beginning to cool down slowly. If Jua wasn’t as angry as I imagined, that would at least reduce one worry I had.

“Hmm.”

After contemplating for a moment, I finally brought up the question I had been holding onto till now.

“But you said you like me.”

“W-Who would do something like that?”

“Why?”

“…”

Jua was lost for words at that.

But this time, I quickly realized I had misspoken.

Just that one sentence seemed to completely drain all the composure from Jua. Fidgeting while gripping the hem of her clothes, she couldn’t bear to answer immediately.

But I knew I had to hear this out.

Ji-hye? I understood. After spending so much time together, emotions formed, and if those feelings changed in nature, I could understand that. I even found Ji-hye charming, so it’s not like I wouldn’t understand that happening in reverse.

As for Ha-yoon, it was similar. We had known each other for a long time, and we were each other’s closest friends. If those feelings shifted, I could get it.

But Jua?

I still didn’t understand. If I didn’t know the reason behind her feelings for me, I couldn’t reciprocate fully.

In a choice of ‘selecting someone,’ it felt a bit too harsh for Jua to be left out alone.

I knew it was a bit arrogant to think I had that right in the first place, but it still felt wrong.

“…”

Seeing Jua unable to say anything, I let out a long sigh.

“Shall we sit down and talk?”

Jua nodded at my suggestion.

 

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