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I do have one certainty: I’m surprisingly good at getting along with people.

Ah, but don’t get it twisted. It doesn’t mean I’m the life of the party. It’s more like I can somewhat vibe with the crowd if there’s a popular kid next to me.

Or maybe that’s just a delusion? Is it just that Seo-hee, Yeon-woo, and Chae-yeon are so nice to me that I think I’m fitting in?

Well, whatever. In the end, all that matters is having fun.

“No, really, it’s fine.”

“……Nope, pick one.”

After dinner, Chae-yeon finally dragged me to a clothing store.

I guess she was genuinely worried after she saw the hole in my short-sleeved shirt.

“Hmm…”

After thinking for a bit, I said, “No, I can’t throw this shirt away anyway, so I can just layer something over it.”

“……Why?”

Chae-yeon asked. Usually, she has a blank expression, so it’s hard to gauge her feelings, but up close like this, I could somewhat see what she was thinking.

Chae-yeon was worried.

I was rejecting her because I was upset about the hole in my shirt, or so she probably thought.

Especially since I was just walking around in that torn shirt. Chae-yeon is from a good family, so it’s not weird that she wouldn’t understand this feeling.

But still, if I said something like, “I can’t throw this shirt away because Ha-yoon gave it to me,” that would only make her feel more guilty. If she only knew it was a slight tear, buying me a new shirt would ease her guilt; but knowing it was a precious gift from a friend makes it something money can’t replace.

“Hey, hey, you’re tough.”

Seo-hee spoke up, a little teasingly.

“Are you going to act all tough? Didn’t expect you to be this spicy.”

While Yeon-woo was mocking me from the side, I shut my eyes and thought for a moment.

“……Well, fine.”

I nodded.

“Just one, right?”

When I asked, Chae-yeon nodded.

I picked a decent t-shirt. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized the shirt was worth a hundred thousand won—

But remembering how relieved Chae-yeon looked in that moment, I couldn’t bring myself to say I wanted a refund after all.

*

Oh, Ha-yoon didn’t get mad about the hole in my shirt. In fact, she’s more the type to worry about what I went through.

That I didn’t get hurt and that the seniors with me didn’t get hurt either. That was the only thing that reassured Ha-yoon.

Also, it’s not like Ha-yoon only gave me this shirt. So I was okay with it—

“…….”

Hmm.

For some reason, Chae-yeon kept glancing at me from a distance.

We often passed by the Magical Girl Center. Cherry worked there, and more importantly, the facilities were pretty nice, plus nobody would disturb us there.

The orphanage teachers were admirable people, and the kids weren’t unpleasant, but sometimes you just crave some alone time in a cool place.

Plus, here I could hang out with the magical girls without worrying about the orphanage staff watching.

Ha-yoon, Ji-hye, and Jua were here too, and for some reason, Pang-pang was sneaking around, but everyone kept a bit of distance. Since we were in a spacious place, we were leisurely occupying a wide personal space we usually couldn’t have.

And I saw Chae-yeon loitering at the edge of that unspoken personal space.

“…….”

Tap.

I closed the book I was reading and looked at Chae-yeon. Our eyes met, but she quickly looked away, pretending to read her book, but honestly, it was too obvious.

Why? She can keep a straight face so well usually.

Bothered by her gaze, which was distracting me, I decided to approach her head-on.

Chae-yeon looked a bit flustered.

As I slowly inched closer, I contemplated what to say, stopping just in front of her, and I slowly opened my mouth.

“Chae-yeon.”

I called her name briefly, just like Jua does.

Chae-yeon flinched and slowly looked up at me.

When you think about it, how many magical girls can actually “save” someone? They can back each other up, but the chances of actually saving a magical girl in real danger are pretty rare.

Doesn’t that often happen in comics? The ordinary protagonist with no power somehow saves a magical girl battling some unknown entity.

It’s not like Chae-yeon feels that way.

“Shall we exercise?”

“…….”

Chae-yeon’s mouth slightly opened at my question.

“Pfft. Hah.”

Was she quietly eavesdropping? The moment I said that, Seo-hee burst out laughing.

“Ha ha ha!”

Eventually, Seo-hee’s loud laughter made Yeon-woo come over and slap her shoulder. But once laughter breaks out, it’s hard to stop it. Seo-hee tried her best to contain her laughter so we wouldn’t feel too embarrassed, but that was about it.

Chae-yeon’s face slowly turned red.

“Come on.”

I grabbed Chae-yeon’s arm.

“……Ah.”

Chae-yeon let out a startled sound but was pulled up by my grip. She couldn’t even resist properly.

Guess she’s out of shape.

“I’m not telling you to enter a competition. We’re gonna have to fight sometimes too, so it would be good to have at least the basic skills.”

I dragged Chae-yeon toward the gym facility.

Seo-hee finally stopped laughing, stood up, and followed us, and soon the other magical girls followed along too.

Uh, I didn’t call you guys though.

Well, to be honest, if I were in their shoes, I would’ve followed along to see this kind of scene too.

*

“You’re impressive.”

Seo-hee said as she came to us at some point.

“Huh? Impressive how?”

“You’re the first to actually get her to exercise.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t have trainer-level skills. In fact, Seo-hee knew way more about exercise than I did, so in the end, it turned into Seo-hee teaching both me and Chae-yeon exercises.

I could manage to follow along. Thankfully, Seo-hee’s workout intensity wasn’t too high, probably considering we were beginners.

But Chae-yeon was a different story.

She had basic stamina that might surprise you, but that didn’t mean she was as conditioned as the rest of us who fought regularly.

Like Seo-hee said, it was the flailing of someone who had never exercised freely before.

“You made it this far too, which is quite something. Usually, when we go to exercise, she never comes down and just reads.”

Chae-yeon’s face turned completely red at those words.

Was it because of the exercise or because of Seo-hee’s words? I couldn’t quite tell. Let’s just assume it was because of the workout for now.

“But you came to exercise with me?”

“Hmm, I’d say that incident from last time had a significant influence… or rather, thinking about it, we’ve never dragged Chae-yeon out like this before.”

“Huh? Really?”

I blinked.

“Yeah.”

Yeon-woo cut in.

Yeon-woo’s skin was also a little shiny. Looking at the tight-fitting leggings and her cropped sportswear, it felt like she might have a bit of an exposure preference. Thinking back, Dalia’s transformation outfit did expose a bit of cleavage.

Not that I was anywhere near as brave.

“In the first place, we weren’t that close.”

“……Ah.”

Right.

In the webtoon, it was totally like that.

Even a small overlap in positions would get growls and opposition. While it may not have gone as far as betrayal, there were definitely scenes where they seemed quite uncooperative.

Ha-yoon was the center among those magical girls. With her round personality, she acted as the anchor for the others, allowing them to unite when fighting.

“We’re a bit surprised too, honestly. Looking back, I think the atmosphere changed a lot while we were staying at that place. And even after finding out about your true identity.”

I turned my head towards Ha-yoon.

Ha-yoon’s face was red as well. It didn’t seem like it was just from the exercise.

The one who was supposed to be the anchor was losing her grip. The magical girls realized that the existence they were fighting against was trying to earn operating funds for the orphanage.

All their mentalities broke down, and then they ended up living isolated in the mountains.

…….

Perhaps it was inevitable that relationships would change.

And somehow, I found myself at the center of it all.

I felt like I had to take some responsibility for this.

 

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