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“Um, so…”

Rose, who had been watching the children play for a while, said softly.

“I was thinking of going somewhere during the summer vacation. What do you think?”

“Going somewhere?”

“Um… but it’s not camping. Don’t worry.”

At that, I burst into laughter. It had been so long since I could laugh freely like that. Maybe because of my laughter, Ha-yoon quickly turned to me and collided with an oncoming child. I laughed again at that.

“Why? I thought you’d hate it since you’ve been through that kind of thing.”

Well.

When I was in the military, I had thought while shivering in a tent that I would never camp again.

But upon reflecting after my discharge, I realized that camping in the military was different from camping outside, so later I just went on some trips with friends.

“Setting up a tent somewhere like that and sleeping in it is different from sleeping in a campsite tent.”

I said that while taking a sip of my drink.

“Really?”

“Yeah. At least there’ll be plenty of food, right? You won’t have to worry about malnutrition or anything.”

“Well, I was thinking of bringing a lot of meat.”

“I like sausages too.”

“Sausages are meat, you know.”

“Is that so?”

After that conversation, I felt a bit strange.

The person sitting next to me was none other than Rose herself. Even after we had repelled Noir Corporation, she still remained a magical girl. Even if not a monster, she had the ability to clean up various little problems.

Rose was the one who had been a magical girl the longest. The weight of the name “Rose” wasn’t exactly light.

How did I manage to have such an easy conversation with Happy Rose?

….Thinking back, it seems it was mostly due to my reckless behavior.

“…Hey, Rose.”

“Seriously, are you calling me that?”

At my call, Rose tapped my arm and replied.

“Call me Seo-hee, not Rose.”

“Seo-hee.”

Calling her that felt even weirder. When I called her “Rose,” it felt like I was addressing a colleague in the magical girl job, but calling her “Seo-hee” strangely felt like I was using informal speech with a senior.

There’s no rule against addressing seniors informally, though.

“Is my tone alright when I call you?”

“Huh? What do you mean it’s alright?”

Just as I was about to take a sip of my drink, Seo-hee looked at me and asked.

“No, I just wondered if it’s okay to use informal language with someone older than me.”

“Now that you mention it?”

Seo-hee looked at me as if I was ridiculous. Somehow, under that gaze, my face turned slightly red.

Yeah, now that I think about it.

“We were fighting for our lives together, right? In the end, we delivered that awesome blow together. Besides, if you didn’t like it, you would’ve said something back then.”

Seo-hee replied like that.

“…And we have some reflecting to do since we attacked so fiercely without distinguishing between good and evil.”

I had been on the wrong side.

Well, it may not have been wrong in itself, but conversing with someone I had fought so hard against might feel a little uncomfortable. Just like how I felt slightly awkward speaking to Seo-hee informally.

“Then we can just consider it a tie and move on.”

When I said that, Seo-hee let out a laugh.

“I thought about it again,”

Then Seo-hee continued.

“Camping sounds a bit weird. We just did that not long ago, right? Honestly, it was pretty cold. I guess in summer, it would be even hotter. Plus, there’ll be so many bugs.”

That’s true.

I couldn’t help but agree with that.

*

Summer vacation.

So, the place we decided to go was not a campsite but a pension.

We decided to pool our money together. After all, I didn’t want to feel like I was tagging along with everyone else on their trips.

It was a little more than pocket money, but fortunately, it wasn’t so much that I couldn’t afford it.

Since no one could drive, we set out with our bags and plastic bags filled to the brim. After about an hour and a half on the bus, we bought a lot of meat and drinks at a nearby mart—

“All right, let’s fly!”

Having been overwhelmed by all that luggage, I seriously suggested it, and the magical girls nodded earnestly.

Since Pang-pang couldn’t fly, I decided to carry her on my back while the others split up the baggage and headed to the pension.

“This feels kind of weird.”

Pang-pang said, laughing.

It’s not like we were flying in a personal helicopter; it was bizarre to be flying with someone carrying us.

It was also weird to transform into a magical girl just to play at a pension.

The pension owner seemed to know that magical girls were coming, but I guessed they didn’t expect us to fly in like this, as they stared at us with their mouth agape.

“…”

For some reason, the kids stepped up and blocked my way.

…Well, my outfit certainly looked a bit embarrassing from the front. I accepted that in my mind.

After briefly dropping off our luggage, we sat inside the pension building to rest.

There wasn’t much conversation going on. To be honest, it felt a bit awkward.

Ha-yoon, Ji-hye, and I had many stories we could share. But those were memories that only we shared among ourselves.

Furthermore, if we were to classify the kinds of memories we had, the fun memories would only be between Ji-hye and me. My memories with Ha-yoon were… a bit more personal and heavier.

Not that I knew the pasts of the other magical girls, and we weren’t exactly close enough to share joys.

Squeak.

While I was awkwardly choosing what to say, I heard that sound from beside me.

I turned to look, and Pang-pang was opening an energy drink can.

“Wait a second.”

I grabbed Pang-pang’s arm and barely managed to stop that drink from going into her mouth.

“Are you going to drink it already?”

“Hmm? Is that a problem?”

“Of course it is. If you drink that all, you’ll get drunk.”

“Eh, a single can won’t be enough.”

No matter how I looked at it, that drink seemed like one where you’d get drunk after just one can.

“Drunk?”

Hearing our conversation, Seo-hee asked curiously.

“Did you sneak in some alcohol? I heard the can pop open. Or is it beer from an energy drink company?”

“…No,”

I shook my head.

“Pang-pang gets drunk when she drinks caffeine.”

“Drunk on caffeine?”

Even magical girls can’t know everything about aliens. There were countless types of aliens in this galaxy.

“She usually drinks it instead of alcohol.”

“Is that really okay? Won’t her body fall apart or something?”

I was doubtful too, but Pang-pang claimed medically it wasn’t a significant issue. Of course, on her planet, caffeine was a substance that minors couldn’t consume.

“Wow.”

Seo-hee seemed a bit surprised and said that.

“I’m a bit envious. We can’t drink alcohol.”

“No, she actually shouldn’t either. It’s just that there’s no law against minors drinking caffeine in this country.”

“…You’re evading the law in other countries, huh?”

Ha-yoon cautiously mentioned.

“That’s about right.”

Rose said that while smoothly bringing the drink to her mouth again, so I grabbed her arm once more.

The kids chuckled a bit.

It felt like the atmosphere had lightened up a little, which was a relief.

Ah, but that didn’t mean I’d let Pang-pang drink her beverage. I eventually took it from her hands and set it on the table.

“If you leave it too long, the carbonation will go away…”

Pang-pang looked at me with those pitiful eyes, making it a bit tough, but no means no.

If we came here to have fun, at least we should actually play around.

Moreover, I found out only after we arrived that the atmosphere between us was much more awkward than I had thought.

I hoped at least one person I knew would stay awake for as long as possible.

No matter who you are, I dislike that kind of awkwardness.

*

The smell of grilled meat filled the air.

Still, talking while eating made the time fly by.

Even if we weren’t sharing memories, simply talking about things that happened was enough to form a bond.

Honestly, I had been quite sulky during that period, so in a way, it was like a parade of my dark history… but, well, that probably didn’t matter. It was all in the past now.

The time ahead of us knowing each other would be much longer than the time we had spent so far. So, I just had to adapt.

After all, I didn’t want to narrow my circle of acquaintances here, especially since I didn’t have many friends as it was.

But even so, it was inevitable that close friends would huddle together.

Me, Ha-yoon, Ji-hye, Pang-pang, and Jua.

And Seo-hee, Dalia, and Delphinium.

Hmm.

Looking at the numbers, it seemed huge unfair.

Seo-hee and the other two were gazing up at the stars a bit away from us.

Seeing them quietly chatting, I stood up from my spot.

“Ji-eun?”

“I’m going to check out that way.”

Saying that, I felt a slight smile on Ha-yoon’s face as she nodded in agreement.

With a soda in hand, I pondered what to say as I walked towards them.

 

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