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Surprisingly, the arrival of a Magical Girl at our dilapidated house turned out to be quite good for us in many ways.

What can I say? It literally means we’ve got more hands on deck.

To put it bluntly, you could say that the Magical Girls are essentially skilled professionals in their own right due to their incredible abilities. Especially their magic, which definitely boosts the livability of this rundown place.

For instance, the food situation has improved a bit.

Of course, it’s only a tiny bit. People need to eat protein and fats, but the types of food we can grow are extremely limited.

James planted some seeds he brought along, just in case, to encourage rapid growth and maximize our food supply.

…Well, it was definitely an improvement over having nothing at all.

Moreover, the physical labor that was tough for just Pang-pang and me was resolved now that we’re working together.

Digging through the junk to find useful stuff.

Wrapping the room in plastic to keep out the cold wind.

And then using any leftover plastic to further wrap a tent so that it could actually accommodate people living inside—well.

…Sure, Pang-pang and I had been fine sharing a tent before, but still.

“…”

However, even though our living conditions improved drastically, my mental state didn’t exactly get better.

That’s because the number of people just increased.

It’s not just because I’m an introvert or anything like that. It felt more like a fundamental issue.

Pang-pang and I know each other, and I know Ha-yoon too. But the two of them are practically strangers to each other.

In fact, with other Magical Girls, it’s straight-up no recognition whatsoever. If I had to say, it’s more like Pang-pang only recognizes them by face.

Plus, Pang-pang used to be my friend when we were both Combatants.

I’m not sure how those two feel about each other, but there’s definitely some awkwardness.

“Um, well….”

I hadn’t said much over the past three days. I had enough wits about me to greet them when needed, but I didn’t know how to handle deeper conversations.

I couldn’t be the tyrant of this place. If I were someone who could be that straightforward, I wouldn’t have any reservations, but with two friends around, I couldn’t quite bring myself to act that way.

“So, you’ve been helping Ji-eun until now, right?”

“…Yeah.”

Pang-pang nodded and responded awkwardly.

True to her style, she answered awkwardly without showing discomfort—just scratching the back of her head a little.

“Right, got it.”

Ha-yoon responded like that, and then silence fell again.

Sick of this awkward silence, the other Magical Girls kept a distance from us. At least they didn’t stay inside during the day, looking for tasks outside or checking fields they really didn’t need to see again.

It wasn’t like the three of us weren’t working, but we had already finished our assigned tasks and come back inside.

Ha-yoon couldn’t even avoid it. She walked in exactly as I finished my work, as if she’d been waiting for me to wrap things up.

I had some sense that she wanted to talk to me, but—every time, there was Pang-pang right beside me.

Looking back, it seemed these two weren’t just shy because they didn’t know each other.

For the past three days, lively Pang-pang hadn’t spoken a word to Ha-yoon or the other Magical Girls, and Ha-yoon, despite being timid, usually liked to chat with me, had now fallen silent.

This was not exactly a situation for jokes. Not that I had any intention of making them either.

Ha-yoon’s wandering gaze landed on the tent. A tent way too small for two people.

What’s she thinking about?

“If it’s about tents, we do have one more.”

I quickly said that.

“Ah?”

Ha-yoon’s eyes widened as she looked at me. It was as if she was asking why we hadn’t used it.

“Just in case we need to communicate in an emergency.”

I explained.

Honestly, it was more because I felt lonely being alone in the tent at night.

Initially, it was Pang-pang who entered this place first, but somehow I had gotten used to us being there together.

In this lonely escapade, having someone next to me to share trivial conversations was soothing for me. Well, at least it was better than sharing it with a cynical Hamster.

But for some reason, I didn’t want to say that…

It felt too personal.

So, before I knew it, I was making excuses as if I had to defend myself.

“The other tent is packed up in that bag. It’s an emergency bag. If we ever need to run, we can grab it and flee.”

Originally, it was a bag prepared for Pang-pang. If we had to escape, it was only logical that Pang-pang should escape with me.

But, now that I said it, it turned out to be a pretty decent excuse.

The smaller the tent, the easier it is to fold and pack it away. It’s good to keep it as an emergency item. Most importantly, it was a size we could both fit in to sleep!

“That makes sense….”

Ha-yoon replied, mouth agape.

Then she blinked and looked back and forth between Pang-pang and me.

“So, what are we going to do? Are we just going to keep sleeping in the same tent?”

“…”

For a brief moment, I was speechless and looked at the ceiling.

I could see the plastic. It wasn’t perfectly flat, but it was certainly wrapped around like a tent inside, and it seemed like it would be warm enough. Most importantly, we had a Generator to pull heat from here.

So, strictly speaking, we might not even need the tent anymore.

But…

For some reason, it became hard to articulate my thoughts.

Why did separating feel so unappealing? Maybe I had just gotten too used to it.

After all, Pang-pang had been waiting for me during my hasty escape. Even when I wasn’t around, she had cleaned up the inside as much as she could and made sure I could rest immediately when I returned.

In other words—she kept me from completely falling apart.

No wonder I felt embarrassed.

Who can’t sleep properly if someone isn’t around? It’s not like I’m some three-year-old.

“Um, well…”

But before I could respond, someone else opened their mouth.

It was Pang-pang.

“I think it might not be bad just to keep sleeping like we have been.”

“Uh?”

“Well, inside the tent is much warmer. Plus, it has a kind of homey feeling.”

“Our, home?”

Ha-yoon’s eyes blinked again.

“Yeah. The place we used to stay.”

“…”

Ha-yoon’s mouth opened wide in surprise.

“And before we got here, Ji-eun was with me too.”

Ha-yoon’s gaze shifted to me.

“Uh… that’s right. I needed a place to hide….”

I felt even more embarrassed.

It wasn’t that I was embarrassed to have shared a room with someone like Pang-pang.

I felt embarrassed because it felt like I was confessing that I had relied on Pang-pang just to get this far.

During the last broadcast, I felt a surge of clarity. It felt like I had expelled the burdens that clung to my chest all at once.

But in the end, nothing was resolved.

We remained in this state of running away, and Pang-pang was still in a situation where we didn’t know if she could return home or not.

Unless the government or the federation suddenly admitted their wrongdoing, it was still a pipe dream.

“I hid in the room for a while, worked while earning money, and prepared to run. Although I ended up escaping earlier than expected.”

As I sighed deeply and spoke, Ha-yoon, who had been opening her mouth wide, slightly lowered her head.

“Got it….”

“So, let’s do this.”

Pang-pang spoke up.

“Now that we have more people, it’s not like we have to rush to escape, right? Even if we do run away, we can at least secure some food, and we can all carry enough supplies to fit into one bag.”

Pang-pang looked at me and said.

“So, how about we set up one more tent? If we have a few rooms, others can take turns resting too. No matter how much we’ve set up tarps, resting in a properly warm place will be more comfortable anyway. We also lack sleeping bags and such.”

“That’s… true.”

I quickly agreed.

Actually, it might be more accurate to say that I had been looking for a way out of this place.

“Alright, then let’s hurry up. No delaying since we’re discussing it.”

Seeing Pang-pang getting up, I stood up as well. Ha-yoon hurriedly got up too.

Setting up the tent didn’t take too long.

But at least, I could focus without speaking for a while, and for that, I felt a little more at ease.

 

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