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I said my greetings to everyone, then led Ji-hye to my room.

Though I called it my room, it wasn’t really decorated that nicely in this facility.

It wasn’t like the rooms you’d find in an orphanage, and I usually just sat in the lounge to chat with Ha-yoon or play with the other magical girls.

But still, I kept it clean. It wouldn’t do to show Ji-hye a messy place, right?

“Is that so…?”

Ji-hye spoke in a voice filled with thought as she circled around my room and sat on my bed.

“It’s… so fluffy.”

“Well, it is a bed.”

In response, Ji-hye caressed the bed with her hand and looked up at me.

“…Why?”

Her expression seemed oddly wistful, so I tilted my head and asked back.

“No, it’s just, I feel like you could really become independent if you wanted to.”

“We already talked about this last time.”

I shook my head as I replied.

“I don’t have any plans to move out yet, and just because I become independent doesn’t mean I’m thinking of living alone right away.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

No way, seeing her show this expression makes me trust her less. Did I bring her here for no reason?

It seemed like just being in this room was having a reverse effect, so I took Ji-hye by the wrist and pulled her outside.

“W-What?”

“Not here, let’s go somewhere else.”

Yeah.

Aside from the lounge, there was another place I really liked here.

*

I brought Ji-hye to the building’s rooftop.

Honestly, the view isn’t that great. The building isn’t particularly tall, and since it’s located away from other buildings, it doesn’t offer a lively view of downtown Seoul.

However, the rooftop was nicely decorated in its own way.

Especially since even though spring hadn’t fully arrived yet, flowers were blooming all over the roof.

Originally, Yeon-woo had managed it all by herself, so it was limited to just a couple of flower beds back then, but now it was a different story.

All the magical girls managed it together. We had brought in several much larger flower beds, and with Cherry’s permission, we took some soil to create a small flower garden.

In short, this space was, by all means, a garden. We were really using it as such. There were parasols and a round table where all the magical girls could sit around, along with chairs.

“Wow…”

“Isn’t it nice? Everyone helped to grow it.”

I said with a smile.

I pulled out a chair for her.

I let Ji-hye sit first and took the empty chair next to her.

“I used to think I was quite individualistic, you know? But living here, I’ve realized that I enjoy being around others more than I thought.”

That was my conclusion after the past few months.

The feelings of gloom I once had noticeably improved as I made more friends. I liked poking around here and there.

“So I don’t really want to live alone even if I become independent. I think it’d be nice to at least have someone to chat with when I come home at night. So you have to stick with me. You saw my room, right? It’s clean, but it hardly feels like a place where I live, does it?”

Looking back, I mostly hung out in the lounge or came up here.

Sometimes I want some alone time and huddle up in a corner, but for now, being with the others is better.

So, I want to keep my relationship with Ji-hye going. Unless she doesn’t want that, of course.

“…Heh.”

But seeing that blank expression of hers, it seems like she doesn’t find it unpleasant.

“Do you get it now?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

When I saw Ji-hye scratch her head, looking a bit embarrassed about saying that, I chuckled.

“Alright, then… well, I’ve almost shown you everything.”

I scratched my head and said.

“Should I show you at least my wand?”

“Ooh, I want to see, I want to see!”

Still, I think it’s a bit tricky to bring out my wand anytime since it’s basically a deadly weapon.

Of course, magical girls who transform with their wands wouldn’t have that issue, but I can’t do that.

According to Cherry, I should be able to store it in a pocket dimension, but my skills aren’t quite at that level yet.

The two of us stood up and headed down to the training ground.

Ji-hye looked thoughtfully at my weapon.

Well, it seems that having a magical girl wielding a hammer doesn’t exactly look great visually.

*

Thus, I managed to minimize Ji-hye’s worries—but since there were more people around, I felt like the number of those whose thoughts were deepening in that way was increasing.

This time, the one with worries was Jua.

“What’s wrong?”

When I casually spoke to her,

“Y-Yes!?”

Jua replied like a tense soldier on high alert.

“Do you have something on your mind?”

“Uh…”

It seems I had gotten a bit too close, as Jua pulled back a little, her face reddening. Did I invade her personal space too much? Hm, maybe I should be more careful.

“It’s just…”

Jua rolled her eyes around as she pondered her answer, and eventually let out a sigh.

“Actually, I still can’t transform yet, you know. So that has me a bit worried.”

“…”

If I had my way, I would have liked to tell her that there’s no need to worry about that.

In the original story, Jua became the magical girl Happy Iris and did an amazing job.

Her weapon was the same as it is now.

I also initially thought that it would just happen naturally, that she would transform and fit in among the magical girls at some point.

However, according to the original story timeline, it was about time for Iris to start acting, yet she still didn’t know how to transform.

The method itself was quite simple. You just have to circulate the circuit diligently. Once a sufficient number of circuits were running, the magical energy wraps around your body, turning you into that ideal magical girl form I envision.

…It’s a bit odd to phrase it that way, but that means that what I envision as the ideal magical girl outfit is what she would wear.

Well, the principle is that it’s theoretically possible.

But now, I was starting to worry a little.

If you think about it, Jua looked different from the original. In the original, she wore an outfit similar to Ha-yoon’s and had a ponytail hairstyle, seemingly emulating her.

But now, Jua was different. Her hair cascaded down long like mine, and the wand wasn’t something she created herself but rather something I had suggested she make.

Could it be that I’m affecting Jua’s future?

That would be concerning. Jua might not realize it, and she probably wouldn’t know for her whole life if I don’t say anything—but if Jua is unable to transform in this world, the only reason could be me or other conditions tied to my existence.

“…”

Watching the anxious Jua, I found myself deep in thought.

I contemplated the reason I was able to transform.

“…Jua.”

I’m not sure if this is the right thing to do, but for now, there was only one method I could come up with.

Who had Jua fought with until now? She had fought Yeon-woo.

But Yeon-woo isn’t the type to throw herself into the fray that recklessly. That’s not a bad thing; it just means her fighting style is different.

Ha-yoon helped a bit, but there’s a considerable gap in skill. Only I could properly hold my ground against Ha-yoon, who unleashes her power to the fullest.

Seo-hee and Chae-yeon were around, but both of them had wildly different fighting styles from Jua. From Seo-hee’s perspective, Jua wouldn’t be a particularly interesting opponent, and Chae-yeon’s fighting method is so unconventional that it doesn’t work unless paired with someone else.

“Do you want to train with me once?”

I too had a very different fighting style from Jua.

But one thing was certain: I wouldn’t just settle for a one-off match.

Once we start fighting, I would keep going until at least one side was exhausted.

And Jua’s fighting style is a ranged style.

If I took several tries to charge at her, wouldn’t that offer Jua some sort of hope in her own way?—that was the calculation I had.

For some reason, it felt like Jua was judging me harshly.

*

So that’s how we fought.

Jua’s attacks weren’t easy to withstand. It was still different from how it was in the original. Maybe her training isn’t complete yet; she didn’t think to send me flying far away.

But dodging her projectiles wasn’t easy either.

First off, getting hit hurts like hell.

Bang—

“Ugh!?”

While I charged in hard, I got hit in the leg by one of Jua’s shots.

She must have shot it in a panic while trying to raise her aim; it must have been a fluke.

I rolled dramatically and ended up crashing right into Jua.

“…!?”

Thank goodness we didn’t get hurt badly, but it seems I ended up sprawled over her.

We weren’t that sprawled out, but it was a little weird.

My transformed chest was almost touching Jua’s face.

I quickly got up.

Seeing Jua’s face was completely flushed, I couldn’t help but get embarrassed too.

…Well, it seems this method had some effect.

Maybe because she managed to knock me down this one time, Jua’s circuits were running vigorously.

 

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