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“Ah… ah.”

What the hell is this smeared on my hands?

Why does it keep bubbling up from below?

No, it’s not below.

The place my hand is blocking is Ha-yoon’s belly.

Crimson blood seeped through my pressed fingers. Am I actually pushing more out by pressing it? I can’t tell.

I don’t understand this situation at all.

As I regained my senses, there was nothing around me.

It looked like a gigantic explosion had occurred; nothing remained where the city once was.

It’s my fault. It can’t be anyone else’s fault. Because when I came to my senses, it was like this.

It seems like there was a massive explosion, but on closer inspection, something felt different.

The area around was dug out in a massive circle, but the buildings at the edge of that circle were all leaning toward us, like the streetlights and trees were tilting in our direction.

Among the barren land, enormous objects were scattered like they had fallen from the sky, as if on their way here.

Among those, there were parts of human bodies, too.

I could see a pure white arm. It looked like the fingers were pointing at me.

As if to accuse me, saying, “You did this, you wanted to destroy the world.”

Whose arm could that be? I can’t tell. It might have been a person crushed among everything that had fallen towards us.

Smoke was rising from the circuit. It seemed that Ha-yoon’s circuit was no longer operational.

Even from that far away, I could hear people screaming in panic.

Grrk, grrk.

That terrible sound returned.

It was the sound of Ha-yoon vomiting blood. The injury was on her belly.

No, that can’t be right. If she was enduring inside that black hole, there would be injuries all over. Her ribs could have broken and pierced her lungs—

“Gah, gah, gah…”

I can’t breathe properly. I don’t have any major injuries on my body. I’m just straining to press on Ha-yoon’s belly.

“Ha-yoon, Ha-yoon…!”

“Ji-eun…”

Ha-yoon’s eyes were half-closed. She raised one hand and groped in front of her.

“I… can’t see well. Where are you…?”

Should I hold that hand?

I don’t know. In this situation, if I let go of one hand, it feels like Ha-yoon’s blood will gush out.

However, nonetheless, I already knew it in my head. There was nothing I could do about this.

How could a magical girl get hurt like this? Magic is supposed to be all-powerful, right? It’s the power that protects our bodies! Among magical girls, the power of the circuit always made me feel invincible. Even if I attacked as hard as I could, even if aliens attacked and hurt me, in the end, I would be able to go to school the next day without a single scratch.

…..

No, that can’t be true.

Magic is just magic. If it were a power that perfectly solves everything, then it would have to be something beyond magic.

“…Here.”

I raised my hand and took Ha-yoon’s hand.

It was slick. Covered in blood. It smelled strongly of iron.

“Ah, ha, you were here.”

Ha-yoon said with a smile.

Why? Why are you smiling like that? After all this because of me.

If I hadn’t lost my mind, this wouldn’t have happened to Ha-yoon. If I had just endured the pain.

No, if I hadn’t even thought about fighting Ha-yoon in the first place. If I hadn’t felt jealous. If I hadn’t tried to be the protagonist. It wouldn’t have ended up like this.

Ha-yoon wouldn’t be lying here bleeding.

“Ji, Ji-eun.”

“…Yes.”

My voice was shaky. Even Ha-yoon’s voice, fading away, sounded much better.

“I… I have a request.”

“A request?”

“Yeah. A request.”

Ha-yoon looked at me and smiled.

“I actually… liked you.”

That statement hit me like a slap to the face.

I couldn’t say a word; I just stared at Ha-yoon.

No, that couldn’t possibly mean that.

It shouldn’t mean that. If it did, then all my jealousy and my desire to win just once against the organization completely opposite to magical girls would be meaningless.

If we had just confirmed our feelings from the beginning.

That’s why it shouldn’t be true.

If it were just a meaning between friends—

“Hehe, hehe… I guess that’s a little strange, right? We’re just two girls.”

“…No.”

No.

It absolutely isn’t true.

On the contrary, I’m happy.

To hear such words. Far more than when I was all alone feeling scared.

But why.

Why did it end up like this?

If only it had been a day earlier. If it had been before I was hospitalized. If it had been before I was kidnapped to another place from the hospital. If I hadn’t been put on trial.

If only I hadn’t been turned into an alien.

…Even if that had been just five minutes earlier, I…

“No, it’s okay. I, actually…”

“…You don’t have to, Ji-eun.”

Ha-yoon’s hand gripped mine a little tighter.

“You don’t have to pretend to like me. It must have been really tiring, right? Even though you’re in a much better situation than me, I kept complaining beside you.”

“No.”

“So…”

“No, no, no!”

A buzzing sound filled the air. I could see light behind me as the world began to slowly darken again.

“No, Ha-yoon, that’s not it!”

I screamed.

“I liked you! I said I liked you too! I, too, I…!”

In the final moments.

After everything twisted, we could finally confirm our feelings for each other.

Why didn’t I have the courage? If I hadn’t been so greedy to have it all, if I had just known how to give it up, I could have simply closed my eyes, expected a broken relationship, and just said it.

Before I did anything else. Even after, I could have just said it and let it all go.

What’s the significance of being the protagonist?

Until the very end, I kept trying, trying…!

“…Really?”

Ha-yoon smiled.

Her eyes were already closed. The area around her lips was glistening with red blood. But I didn’t think it was dirty at all.

“Is that so.”

Ha-yoon said.

“Well then, Ji-eun. About that thing earlier…”

Ha-yoon tugged at my hand. It was a gentle pull. It was the force of someone who was already on the brink of death. But I couldn’t escape that force. Like the law of universal gravitation, that force was too great for me to resist.

“One last gift.”

Our lips met.

I couldn’t taste it well. I only know it was soft… No, actually, I can’t be sure even about that.

The one thing I was sure of, though, was that Ha-yoon—through that, I understood that she probably wouldn’t be coming back.

The faintly touching lips fell away.

Ha-yoon was keeping her eyes closed.

The hand that had been gripping mine had lost all its strength. It had already been too light, feeling like it would disappear at any moment, but now I couldn’t feel it at all.

I screamed and pulled Ha-yoon into my arms.

But Ha-yoon didn’t move at all.

“Please, please…!”

The circuits weren’t moving either.

You said you liked me.

You said you liked me…! Move the circuit! I saw hope in the final moments, but it just vanished like a mirage.

I kissed Ha-yoon again.

There was no response. Ha-yoon, who had already drifted far away, showed no signs of wanting to return.

Once more, and again.

No matter how many times I shook her, hugged her, kissed her, Ha-yoon didn’t come back.

“Ah, aah—!”

In the end, I was left in despair.

The world began to flow with light again. The distant sounds of chaos grew loud for a moment and then fell silent.

In a state where I couldn’t control anything anymore—what happened to everyone?

If Ha-yoon was like this, what about the other kids, everyone…

…

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

In the end, what was left for me was only Ha-yoon’s cold body.

“…”

The world is about to end soon.

Somehow, I thought it would.

I looked at Ha-yoon again.

For the last time.

I brought my face close to Ha-yoon—

*

Peck.

“…”

When I opened my eyes softly at that sound, a pair of pink eyes stared at me.

As our eyes met, Ha-yoon smiled slightly.

“I thought you were pouting your lips even in your sleep… huh!?”

But Ha-yoon’s words didn’t continue.

“I’m so glad… I’m really glad…”

“Why, why is that, Ji-eun? Did you have a bad dream or something?”

“Yes.”

I seemed to have had a similar dream because of the dream story Ha-yoon told me last time.

I felt Ha-yoon hugging my waist tightly.

Her chest pressed down on mine, it felt warm.

Ha-yoon’s breath was the warmest and softest thing above all.

“How is it? Are you okay now?”

“…It’s warm.”

“Is it different from the dream?”

“Yeah.”

It was different.

Ah, I see.

When we kissed.

I didn’t feel it well. Usually, even if we pressed our lips together several times, I could feel a heat rising, but I hadn’t felt it in the dream.

I was relieved that this wasn’t a dream.

That’s right.

Slowly, consciousness came back, and memories returned. We had endured so many things and ended up like this.

What we embraced was, in the end, a happy ending. No one could change this.

“…It’s the weekend, Ji-eun.”

Ha-yoon said in a voice slightly drifting off to sleep.

“So let’s sleep well and wake up.”

“…Yeah.”

I lightly kissed Ha-yoon on the forehead.

I didn’t fall back asleep.

Not because I was scared, but because I was too happy.

I couldn’t find a reason to forcibly enter a dream.

 

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