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It’s a strange feeling.

I’m neither completely full nor running out of energy as time goes on. I’m still not thinking of giving up, but in a situation like this, it’s not unusual to think about the option of eventually throwing in the towel.

However, strangely enough, Pang-pang, who really had nothing to do with my issues, seemed unwilling to give up on me.

If that’s the case, isn’t it only right for me to absolutely not give up as well?

We crawled into the same tent as usual.

Once I got into my sleeping bag, exhaustion flooded over me all of a sudden. It was an unstoppable wave of fatigue.

My body, worn out, wanted nothing more than to sleep like that.

Maybe it meant I should take a proper rest since I had already started to unwind.

“Pang-pang.”

But before I fell asleep, I thought I needed to say something to Pang-pang, who was lying next to me in the tight tent.

“Uh-huh?”

Pang-pang replied.

What should I tell her?

But once I opened my mouth, the words wouldn’t come out. To be honest, even in my previous life and now, I wasn’t particularly good at speaking.

I didn’t know how to comfort Ha-yoon, so I would just sit quietly beside her and feed her something sweet.

If I couldn’t even comfort her, what could I possibly say to a girl who risked her life to be with me?

I stayed silent for a moment.

“Ji-eun?”

Pang-pang called me again. Just as I was drifting off again, I snapped back to reality and managed to move my lips, speaking in a dazed voice.

“Still, I’m glad to be with you…”

I wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to say. From Pang-pang’s perspective, it might not have been great to hear, but unfortunately, I was too exhausted to think any deeper.

*

Ji-eun fell asleep like that.

From the moment she entered the bathtub, she had been exhausted, and after coming out, she swayed as if she might collapse at any moment.

Pang-pang thought she looked a bit unsteady, so she prepared to step in and catch her if she fell.

Fortunately, Ji-eun quietly entered the tent and hurriedly lay down in her sleeping bag.

And she closed her eyes right away.

Just when it seemed like she would fall asleep at once, she suddenly opened her mouth to say she felt okay being with Pang-pang.

“……”

Before Pang-pang could respond to that, Ji-eun began to breathe evenly and drifted off.

It was true that today, she had prepared and waited for me.

Seeing her come back exhausted and fall asleep as if dead, I just hoped she could clean up in warm water at least for a day.

So I looked for a place to fetch water and brought it back to heat while waiting.

That wish was at least fulfilled, but—

My feelings for Ji-eun didn’t easily resolve.

It was the feeling of guilt.

In fact, back when Ji-eun was at home, I hadn’t paid much attention to this guilt. The ties with my family felt more or less severed, and rather, I thought it was fortunate that I could help her in that way.

But—

“…That might be because of me.”

Pang-pang quietly mumbled.

I heard that the chairman has changed.

I don’t really know if the previous chairman ran away or was just exiled; there was no information. But according to James, he must have fled.

If that’s true, can the current chairman be said to have perfect control over the company?

……I thought my grandma might have left something behind for Pang-pang, just in case she was wrong.

And that something she left behind must be some kind of power that could sway the company.

……If the current chairman knew that fact…

I thought he might have come looking for Pang-pang.

Perhaps he might have come looking for Ji-eun, just like Ji-eun thought. The existence of Ji-eun had already become too important.

But if that was the case, would he just leave without finding any people at home?

If he came to capture Ji-eun, who had a way to properly resist, he would probably have tried his best to fight back as well, right?

Then they would have tried to capture her before she transformed.

“…I’m sorry.”

Lying on my side facing the deeply asleep Ji-eun, Pang-pang said that.

Once again today, I couldn’t say it.

The more I drag it out, the harder it will be to speak. After I say it, the betrayal she feels will only grow.

Pang-pang still couldn’t bring herself to speak.

She simply wanted to say something positive and do her best while trying to forget her guilt.

One day, when she finds out all these facts.

How will Ji-eun take the story? Will she get angry, saying it was the worst choice to come together?

I sincerely hope that won’t happen.

“……”

I saw a bruise on Ji-eun’s back. According to her, that injury disappears quickly. It’s the power of magic.

But still, it couldn’t have not hurt.

How painful it must have been to get hit here and there, to fall over, to be thrown around.

Would it be better if they gave up? Once the current chairman took full control of the company.

…….

I really don’t know.

Perhaps, it wasn’t just Pang-pang who had lost the ability to think normally.

In the end, once again today, the two of them fell into a deep sleep without finding exactly what to do next.

*

For the first time in a while, I had a good sleep.

Even though I was in a sleeping bag, the tent floor was hard. It was a little better since we set up the tent inside the house, but when we pitched it on the mountain, my back hurt so much.

Today, my back did still hurt, but that only meant I had been lying down for quite a while.

I crawled out of the tent and stretched, looking up at the ceiling, and I heard a crack from my back.

“Ji-eun!”

Pang-pang was already preparing breakfast.

Well, it was breakfast, but in the end, we were having only canned food. I bought some fruit cans while thinking of our health and taste, but, hmm.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure if this was a healthy diet.

…But still.

“Well, it might get a little better.”

I murmured like that.

“Uh-huh…”

Hearing that, Pang-pang’s voice became a bit smaller.

James and I hurried with our preparations.

The objective was revenge.

To at least deal them a blow.

It would be great if we could find the chairman directly, but that seemed difficult. If he had any common sense, he would have run far away.

However, what James and I were after was something completely different.

There was broadcasting equipment at Noir Corporation’s headquarters. James is going to use it to live broadcast my grievances to the nation.

I don’t really know how effective that will be.

But at least, something will be revealed.

That was all I wanted.

Pang-pang looked like she was lost in thought, opening and closing her mouth several times. I could roughly guess what she wanted to say.

She probably wanted to say not to do that. Maybe she wanted to say we should just run far away instead.

Or perhaps she would cheer me on not to give up… Regardless, thinking of Pang-pang, who had always stayed by my side, it felt like both were possibilities, and I didn’t know which was more plausible.

But that couldn’t be the case.

I still had things I couldn’t completely give up.

Ha, it’s a strange thing.

Every time I thought I had given up on everything, there were relationships I kept thinking of. In the end, I was still hanging on that thin line.

Whether it was painful because it was my arm or whether it was strangling my neck and slowly suffocating me, I wasn’t sure.

“…Do you remember what I told you?”

So, I opened my mouth quickly before Pang-pang could say anything.

“Uh-huh.”

Pang-pang, who had only been fluttering her lips, finally nodded while answering.

The escape plan I had mentioned.

In fact, I didn’t think much about returning. I only hoped that even if it were just Pang-pang, she would be able to escape safely.

If it’s Pang-pang, she would surely adapt well wherever she goes.

She would fit in with people while smiling, and she could make friends. Even though Pang-pang said I was one of her few friends, it was just because that happened by chance.

…

I knew I was rationalizing this.

But there was no other way than this.

“I will definitely return.”

The odds were low.

I might get captured, die there, or fall into a critical condition… and all sorts of unpleasant thoughts flooded my mind. Ironically, I had to see this as an opportunity.

“When I return, I’ll find you first, so don’t worry too much.”

Among all the many lies I told Pang-pang, this was the only truth.

Ji-hye was in the orphanage, and the magical girls… um, since they’re magical girls. They all somehow manage to get by, so there’s something to lean on.

Pang-pang was the only one truly alone.

Like me.

So—at least as a way to repay the help I received, I thought I would find Pang-pang first if I survived and got out.

“…Yeah.”

“Hey, it’s not like we’re going today or anything.”

Pang-pang nodded, looking unusually gloomy, so I said.

“We’ll rest for a few more days, and once our condition gets better and James prepares his equipment, we’ll go then. Until then, let’s just rest well.”

At my words, Pang-pang nodded again.

This time, her expression was a bit more relaxed, and I felt a little brighter too.

 

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