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About a week of daily practice, and I started getting the hang of it little by little.

To be honest, the trick isn’t all that impressive.

Hope seems to change its scale based on my mindset.

After all, once you fail, there’s no reason to rush back in. Our sparring usually ended with a single round. So really, there’s no reason for me to despair from that spar.

What matters is thinking that I can land a hit at the moment I dodge.

If the circuit runs faster, then the power I can output increases, and the stronger that power becomes, the higher my chances to dodge again. As long as I can keep evading and moving as much as possible, my next moves will be faster than before.

Dalia seemed flustered, probably not expecting me to come at her like this.

That’s right. My strategy is basically just throwing all my strength into evading and hitting back.

It might not mean much in an actual fight, but hey, I decided to think of it as a way to build up my strength.

And just because I was fighting Dalia doesn’t mean I wasn’t sparring with Rose or Ha-yoon. Ha-yoon hesitated to hit me, so we couldn’t go all out, but my fights with Rose and Seo-hee were heating up more and more.

I still wasn’t dominating. But my skills were growing. I’ve decided to think of that as my ‘hope.’

And today, for the first time, I punched Dalia in the face.

Bam!

It didn’t quite connect. Something exploded before my fist could reach Dalia’s face. My advancing fist naturally bounced back, and I fell flat on my back.

“Aww, what a waste!”

As I lay sprawled on the floor shouting, Dalia chuckled in disbelief. But today, her expression wasn’t just mockery.

“Did it move to Seo-hee?”

Dalia reached out her hand to me. Grabbing it, my body shot up.

Sure enough, it seems that even if a magical girl relies on spells primarily for offense, basic physical capabilities are still a given.

Wasn’t there a saying about how gentlemen in the 20th century carried wands for protection? If that’s the case, Dalia’s massive wand could definitely be considered a threatening blunt weapon. Maybe I’ll keep that in mind for next time.

“…Looks like you really want to win.”

“I’ve said it many times already.”

“It seems like you’re enjoying your research.”

At her words, I blinked.

Is that so?

It really hasn’t been boring.

What was I feeling until now?

Oh right, inferiority complex. I was mired in it.

But until I understood what kind of world this was, I didn’t suffer from that severe an inferiority complex. I was jealous of Ha-yoon and didn’t let her know how I lived, but that was a tolerable inferiority complex. After all, not everyone in the world can live well.

However, once I realized what kind of world this was and found out that Ha-yoon was the protagonist, my feelings changed.

If she’s the ‘protagonist,’ shouldn’t I have a right to that too? Didn’t I get reincarnated in another world? In every reincarnation story, the reincarnator is the protagonist. No matter how much the reincarnator might insist they’re not the protagonist, ultimately that reincarnator ends up being the story’s hero, as the original story serves only as a backdrop.

Yet here I was, seemingly positioned as some extra. An unnamed extra that never even appeared in the original.

“Hmm.”

“Huh?”

I nodded to myself and said that out loud, causing one of Dalia’s eyebrows to lift slightly.

“Right. It’s fun.”

That’s the conclusion I came to.

I haven’t completely let go of the inferiority complex weighing on my heart. I’m still a bundle of inferiority complexes. I still felt inferior for not being able to beat Dalia and for not having skills like Ha-yoon, and for not being as strong as Seo-hee.

But at the same time, this inferiority complex was tolerable for now.

After all, I was right next to Ha-yoon.

Not just Ha-yoon—compared to the other magical girls, I was sitting pretty without a care.

Not being able to come in first in here was unavoidable. But at least I had a step to climb up on through effort.

That was the reason my circuit was running.

It’s fun to research how to beat someone. It’s enjoyable to feel myself getting stronger. Coming up with tactics and planning is fun.

“Yeah. I think I’m enjoying this fight.”

“You lose every time, though.”

“Even if I lose, I’m still a magical girl, right?”

Well, I haven’t completely attained the status of a magical girl yet, but it is what it is.

“I mean, I get to mix it up with the most famous people in this country. If that isn’t fun, what is? This isn’t a place anyone can just waltz into.”

Sure, Dalia and Seo-hee might be able to, but at least not me. No matter what anyone says, I was determined to hold my ground here.

Because I’m a bundle of inferiority complexes.

I need something visible to hold on to in order to feel secure.

“…”

Dalia stared at me blankly.

“…Alright. Well, just do your best.”

Did Dalia’s response seem a bit serious? That would be a little strange.

Dalia turned and left the training room. I turned back to Ha-yoon, who had been silently watching our conversation.

Ha-yoon looked a bit lost in thought as well.

Hmm, I didn’t think what we talked about was really that serious.

Still, I felt a little proud.

At least it felt like my efforts were being recognized.

Looking at the circuit on my wrist, I saw it spinning around smoothly.

*

The next Monday.

I entered the break room as always, but this time Dalia was nowhere to be found. I checked the rooftop just like last time and found her there.

Maybe she had finished repotting the flowers already, because Dalia was looking at them. I noticed before, but it’s a well-kept flower garden. Is she tending to it by herself?

Thinking about it, it struck me that Dalia might have been the one who originally planted these flowers.

“Wait a sec.”

As I approached, Dalia said, “Just a moment, let me look at the flowers.”

Well, at least today she didn’t say to go away.

“You like flowers?”

“Don’t you?”

“Not that I dislike them.”

Is there really anyone who dislikes flowers? Doesn’t seem like a creature that anyone could really hate.

“Just not interested most of the time.”

“I’m very interested. They’re pretty, aren’t they?”

“Are they?”

Dalia stared down at the flowers with a distant look.

The weather really had turned chilly. Thinking back, I hardly ever remember seeing flowers blooming beautifully at this time of year. Weeds almost don’t poke through the cracks in the pavement.

“Do you grow these flowers with magic?”

“Yep.”

Dalia nodded.

“It’d be nice to see flowers even in the dead of winter. There are flowers that bloom in winter, but still, there are blooms I want to see all year.”

I mean, I often think it’s a pity that cherry blossoms fall too early when their season comes. The yellow flowers in front of Dalia were certainly being kept vibrant in that sense.

“To be honest, I wanted to be a researcher in that field.”

At Dalia’s words, I blinked.

“Just like you enjoy researching how to fight and win, I enjoyed growing various plants using magic.”

“Oh, I see.”

After a moment of thought, I replied, “You’d suit that.”

“Really?”

Maybe my answer was unexpected, as Dalia turned to look at me. And with a slightly puzzled expression, she asked.

“Suit it?”

“Well, yeah.”

All magical girls have flower names. Rose, Dalia, Delphinium. Even Iris, who isn’t a magical girl yet. Ha-yoon is Blossom.

But… if you think of flowers, one of the first colors that comes to mind is definitely yellow. I can’t say why exactly; that’s just the image that’s stuck in my head.

Plus, Dalia’s outfit as a magical girl is the most flower-like.

“That’s how it seems to me.”

“…Is it?”

Dalia tilted her head in confusion.

“Well, that’s just my opinion. When I first received the circuit, I thought it was just to let me experiment with magic, but I found out later that it meant becoming a magical girl to fight against evil. As a result, I had to put off researching this sort of thing.”

So, it means Dalia didn’t really want to be a magical girl either, similar to how Seo-hee wanted to box.

Perhaps her parents pushed her into it.

“If you want to research, can’t you just do it?”

“…Huh?”

“Since Ha-yoon and I got involved, it’s fine, isn’t it? Well, you’re pretty stubborn about things, but if we divide the roles, then we just need to cover our respective parts. You could just research during the remaining time, right?”

“…Is it really that easy?”

“From watching you fight, it looks easy. You always take me down with ease. You come at me with all that power.”

“…”

Dalia’s expression went blank.

Why?

Was she completely unaware of that until now?

The pressure that magical girls felt eased significantly after Ha-yoon joined. Having Ha-yoon as the central figure connecting everyone, we began fighting more collaboratively, and it became much easier to win.

Once Iris joins, we’ll have someone else providing backup from a distance, and I can protect from the front or even the rear.

Then wouldn’t it be okay to relax a little?

With Dalia’s skill level, I think it’s more than enough.

“…Ha ha.”

Dalia laughed briefly, then took a deep breath.

Huh, after exhaling deeply, Dalia looked at me.

“You came to spar anyway, right? Let’s go. We have to finish it quickly; it’ll be less of a hassle that way.”

Wait, what happened to the conversation we were having?

Well, I was fine with that since it was what I wanted too.

 

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