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Defining hope is a very difficult concept.

Aliens referred to human hope as a single “emotion,” but in reality, it can’t simply be defined as just that.

The feelings people associate with the concept of hope are bound to differ from person to person.

Some might think of it as a fleeting dream.

I felt the same way.

Being next to Ha-yoon didn’t seem like an easy thing; no, it might just be impossible. Just look at where I’m living right now.

I live in one of the rooms of an orphanage, not alone but with my friend who happens to be my sister.

When we become adults, we have to leave there, and we can’t just buy a house right away, so we’ll probably barely manage to find a monthly rental and struggle day by day to make ends meet. Living alone in that cramped room might even be a burden, so Ji-hye and I might have to share the costs.

But Ha-yoon lives here. Just the price of the walls surrounding this house is probably as high as an average apartment. A place where people live without feeling at all inconvenienced even if there’s not a decent convenience store nearby. A place where they not only have cars but don’t even have to drive them themselves.

Could I ever live here if I spent my whole life earning money and saving a penny without spending it? Probably not.

So, being beside Ha-yoon is, in some ways, a fleeting dream for me. The only reason I could harbor such hope is simply because I fortuitously met Ha-yoon during my childhood.

…But how could I ever give up on something that fleeting?

I felt Ha-yoon’s heartbeat. We were close enough for that.

To put it more bluntly, I was forcefully pulling Ha-yoon towards me.

With my right hand, I grabbed Ha-yoon’s wrist, and my left arm wrapped around her waist.

Without leaving any gap between our lips.

Yeah. That hope wasn’t fleeting. It was something that I could never truly grasp unless an incredibly fortunate event happened.

But, absurdly enough, I was lucky.

I was always able to be in a place where I could see that faint light of hope. In a place where if I reached out, the light could touch the tips of my fingers.

So I could move forward.

I called that despair. Because, while moving forward, something kept tripping me up. Walking through thick black tar up to my knees wasn’t exactly pleasant.

But what if that wasn’t there?

If there were no hope in front of my eyes, I would have long since sunk into that tar. Into that despair.

“……”

Hmm.

I wondered if it was because my heart brightened, but somehow, that didn’t seem quite right.

While Ha-yoon had become a landmark in my heart, it wasn’t as if there weren’t other lights around me.

There were beings far away lighting the way, and there was also a light right behind me that always helped me not to lose my way.

So I was truly lucky.

Only now could I think like this.

And that thought probably wouldn’t change in the future.

“You, you guys…!”

A voice hit my ears as if it was about to pass out. Given that it was a male voice, it must be Ha-yoon’s father’s voice.

It wasn’t as bad of a voice as I expected. If he weren’t directing that shout at us, I might have even admired his pleasant, deep voice.

In comics, greedy adults always have a bloated villainous appearance, but for some reason, the two people here seemed rather middle-aged.

Ha-yoon’s mother seemed to be causing a commotion as well, but I ignored it.

Ha-yoon’s hand, which had climbed onto my waist, gripped my clothing tightly. In response, I hugged Ha-yoon a bit tighter and relaxed my strength in my arms.

As I gently pulled back, a slightly damp sound escaped from between our lips. To be honest, it was a sound that felt a bit inappropriate to be heard in front of others.

Looking towards Ha-yoon’s parents, her father’s face was turning bright red. He seemed to have shouted something, but I really didn’t care—

At that moment, my body was spun around.

The person who turned me was Ji-hye. With an incredibly furious expression, she roughly grabbed my face and pressed her lips against the very lips that had just touched another girl’s.

And, looking directly at me, she spoke one word at a time.

“…Let’s talk at home.”

….

Ha-yoon’s parents were honestly scarier than Ji-hye. Now that I think about it, we had shared various conversations before coming out today.

Fortunately, Ji-hye easily released my cheek. It seemed like the “let’s go home” was said with genuine intent.

I quickly pulled my expression together and turned to face Ha-yoon’s parents.

“W-what is this?”

They seemed to genuinely not understand the situation.

I thought about what could be so hard to grasp about this situation.

That Ha-yoon has a partner to kiss? Or that the partner is a girl? Or that this girl does that with another girl?

…

Well, it would be shocking for anyone. Especially if it were her father.

“So, uh, here’s the deal. I’m really sorry to show you this on our first meeting.”

Considering it, my outfit was a bit inappropriate for meeting a friend’s parents.

And thinking about what I was about to do next made it even worse.

If I could have just slipped through without the extra fuss, I would have opened the vault and snuck away with Ha-yoon’s circuit. But I’ve been caught like this, and since it had come to this, I decided to just go all out—

“I’ll be taking your daughter, too.”

“Uh!?”

Why were they both shouting like that at my words?

…No, weren’t they both expecting this? I had seriously contemplated this by the Han River.

After all the back-and-forth about cats and whatnot.

I stretched out my hands.

And then, I pulled a weapon from the air.

At this point, it seemed that Ha-yoon’s parents had lost the ability to respond, mouths agape as if they had forgotten how to react.

“And I’ll be taking the circuit, too. I need it to fight against the forces of evil.”

I said this and gripped the hammer tightly with both hands.

Then, I spun around and smashed the safe’s door. The thick steel door, almost the size of my upper body, tore apart like a piece of paper. An alarming noise sounded, and all kinds of glittering items poured out from inside, but I didn’t care about that.

What mattered was the circuit.

Ha-yoon’s circuit was sitting right where it could be easily seen.

Maybe it was just put in today.

I gathered the circuit and handed it to Ha-yoon, saying:

“So, uh, yeah, this is how it went down. You can let the government or the federals know about the damages, as they probably owe me quite a few things.”

I tossed the hammer back into the air and placed my hands on Ha-yoon and Ji-hye’s waist, drawing them close to me.

“And there’s no need to be surprised by the fact that you’re seeing your daughter kissing? You’ve probably seen it a few times in the papers.”

I said that and looked towards Ha-yoon.

“What do you want to say to your parents?”

“Uh? Uh-oh?”

Ha-yoon seemed momentarily at a loss, looking flustered.

It seemed she hadn’t expected me to go this far.

“Uh, um, I-I’ll be back!?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

Well, that could count as a greeting.

“Then I’ll take my leave now. I’ll still send you off for the holidays. If you confine her again, this will happen again.”

As I placed one foot up onto the table, Ha-yoon’s father stretched his hands forward and shouted.

“Wait a moment! What law allows for this!? You barged into our home, broke the safe, stole what was inside, and now you say you’ll abduct my daughter!?”

“I’m sorry for breaking the safe, but it wasn’t stealing; it was recovering what was taken from me, and it’s not abduction—”

I whipped my head towards Ha-yoon.

Her face was already as red as a tomato. She nodded her head vigorously.

“—It’s a rescue. To be honest, it doesn’t look like you two truly care for Ha-yoon.”

I mean, sure, they might love her in their way as a daughter for sure.

But the way they expressed that love was completely off, which was why Ha-yoon grew up being so downcast.

With pink hair styled into curls, she should’ve been a lively character, bouncing around, ideally, and making a lot of friends.

Yet the Ha-yoon I knew was practically an outsider in her personal life.

The reason she approached me when we became friends was probably very calculated, and she had likely been taught by her parents to make friends that way.

It must have been a highly stressful environment.

“If you want to report this to the police, go ahead. But, of course, news might break about your only daughter having run away, which would you be okay with?”

Ha-yoon’s father’s face was turning red as if it could burst. But his expression was still perfectly aligned with the cliché of a “greedy adult.”

Ha-yoon’s mother was already being supported by some security personnel who had come in along with them.

“If you truly want to have an honest conversation, feel free to visit the orphanage any time. You must know where I’m staying, after all. If you genuinely persuade Ha-yoon, then if she herself wants to leave, I’d gladly let her go.”

That was sincere.

No matter what, I couldn’t support my friend’s runaway, could I? If the trouble could be resolved, it would be better for her to go back home.

That’s why I had sent her back today, yet here I was, treated like this from day one.

I hugged Ha-yoon and Ji-hye a little tighter. Both of them nestled a little closer to me, their faces turning red.

“Shall we go then?”

We could head home immediately, or we could stick around a bit longer. The teacher would probably get a little angry, but well, we are magical girls, after all. They might turn a blind eye to something like this.

And, I was someone who had developed the habit of staying out late.

I pushed against the desk with one foot, propelling myself upwards.

The ceiling of this house absurdly high. Thanks to that, I could fly over Ha-yoon’s parents’ heads without any extra effort.

Their hands shot up as if they wanted to catch us, but really, there was no way they could touch someone flying.

As I left the room, I spotted a couple of security guards. I could hear someone shouting for me to stop.

However, I really didn’t care.

I skillfully maneuvered past the crowd, heading back towards Ha-yoon’s room.

I flew into the already open door, soared towards the window, and opened it again.

With my hands occupied, Ha-yoon and Ji-hye helped to open the window.

And this time, we were like Peter Pan and his friends, soaring out the window.

The large house quickly became tiny. Sparkling points filled my vision. The suffocating air turned refreshing in an instant, filling my lungs.

What I felt was a sense of liberation.

With my eyes closed to the cold air drifting by, I gradually opened them to see both Ha-yoon and Ji-hye.

Both were sticking tightly to me, gazing at my face as if to pierce through it.

They seemed to be protesting in some way, or perhaps…

“…”

Hmm.

As I pondered on what to say, I decided to just move forward and quickly flew in another direction.

Seriously, how could I live with children as scary as these?

 

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