---

After starting to learn various things here, I realized one thing.

Inferiority complex stems from thinking that one hasn’t been able to measure up in the same place as others.

And above all, it doesn’t feel as significant to someone who initially thought they were in a different place altogether.

For example, I have feelings towards Ha-yoon.

At the moment of being reborn into another world, I had expectations. Naturally, I thought I would play an important role in this world, maybe even a role akin to that of the protagonist.

Because that’s how it goes in other stories.

“Wait, you think you know so well? Then you give it a shot,” they throw the protagonist into the story, but in the end, the protagonist from the perspective of that story is essentially the one possessing the body.

The protagonist encounters all the crucial events and items, becomes the strongest being, and after accomplishing everything, they look at the real protagonist and think, “Why can’t this person do that?” I might have had a brief expectation of becoming such a protagonist in my childhood.

But in the end, I was not the protagonist.

It seems that the being who created this world wasn’t so accommodating. Even with Ha-yoon by my side, I would never rise to that position, and I began to think that way.

“…Now that I look back, maybe it wasn’t entirely like that.”

“Hmm? Ji-eun?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

As I murmured to myself, Ha-yoon, who was sitting next to me munching on snacks, responded.

Right. I ended up in this world just to complain, but here I was next to Ha-yoon.

Until I got here, I was internally burning with jealousy. I knew I would never become the protagonist, and I’d have to sit back and watch Ha-yoon thrive.

After coming here, that sensation naturally decreased significantly. I still envied Ha-yoon’s abilities, and I was aware there were others better than me, but it wasn’t as intense as before.

“Hmm?”

Ha-yoon blinked but didn’t pry further into my thoughts.

These days, it’s somewhat delightful that Ha-yoon often sits right next to me. Usually, she seemed to care about the others’ opinions in a strange way. It wasn’t that she didn’t sit with me, but she would often fidget as if she were burdened by the gazes directed towards us.

Now, there’s no need to care about anyone’s opinion. We have our own little hideout.

“Oh, this is delicious.”

It’s not just my hideout; it’s also Seo-hee’s.

And Yeon-woo and Jua are here too.

It seems like my spot is quite popular.

I bought cake for everyone to share, but when Seo-hee saw Ha-yoon and me sitting in the lounge, she confidently took a seat right across from Ha-yoon.

Soon after, Yeon-woo entered, stared at Seo-hee for a moment, and then sat down in front of me, followed by Jua, who, after some thought, sat diagonally across from me.

I guess my reputation here is pretty decent. It seems my mindless enthusiasm and effort made an impression as someone “who works hard with passion.” Maybe that’s why both Seo-hee and Yeon-woo started moving strangely energetic, and Jua, who joined later, ended up with a completely opposite image from what I knew.

I decided to just take the good parts and move on.

“Uh.”

However, looking at the gathering of friends, it struck me that something felt amiss.

Ah, right. Delphinium. Delphinium wasn’t here.

“Oh, she said she wasn’t really in the mood to eat.”

Yeon-woo said while bringing a piece of cake toward her.

“She doesn’t like this kind of thing?”

“Um, I’m not really sure,” Seo-hee replied this time.

“Honestly, we don’t know much about Delphinium. We don’t talk to each other much,” she added.

Realizing a bit late that she hadn’t known Yeon-woo well before, Seo-hee quickly shut her mouth.

“Hmm…”

Even though it’s Christmas Eve and we brought cake, it feels a bit off that Delphinium isn’t eating alone.

Being out here means everyone is here together instead of meeting their friends. I’m not sure if it’s because they came to see me or what, but at least today, it felt like everyone was in a somewhat playful mood.

It’s a bit tricky for minors to stay up all night for various reasons, but we aren’t in some hotel or motel; we’re in a recognized location, sort of. Plus, Cherry, who is like our caretaker, is here too, so we can claim we have some sort of mandatory reasoning for everything.

Seo-hee and Yeon-woo seem to have plenty of friends, but it was noted in the original work that Jua didn’t have that many friends. So it’s not weird that Jua is here.

Then what about Delphinium?

Just like Yeon-woo and Seo-hee don’t really know her well, her story doesn’t often come up in the comics either.

She was always quiet, hiding her presence and suddenly startling Ha-yoon with a random comment, a somewhat awkward character.

“……”

But here, she’s not just a ‘character.’

We’re still not very close, and it seems she doesn’t particularly try to become closer either, but still, I don’t want her to be alone.

That happened to me quite often while sitting next to Ha-yoon. Even while I sat openly next to her, people would talk to Ha-yoon instead of me, and when I was in the middle of a conversation with Ha-yoon, they’d only invite her to go eat.

There was obviously no intention to exclude me, but even if it was unintentional, I didn’t want it to come off that way.

At the very least, I didn’t want to do that to someone else.

“…I’ll go bring her a piece.”

I think I know where she is.

They call it a training center, but it’s more like a comprehensive lounge. Just like how there are accommodations for drivers at highway rest areas, we have our own lodgings here.

Delphinium is probably there.

“Oh, I’ll go too.”

Ha-yoon stood up from her seat and followed me.

I didn’t stop her.

And when I got up from my seat with Ha-yoon, for some reason, everyone else also stood up.

…Well, going together isn’t a bad idea, I guess.

But somehow, it’s a bit embarrassing that my movements seem to set the pace for everyone.

*

“……”

As I entered the room holding a small plate of cake, Delphinium silently looked up at me.

She had an expressionless face but was still kind of pretty. As a magical girl, she naturally has to be pretty, I suppose.

It seemed she had been lying in bed reading a book until just a moment ago; a book lay toppled on her bed. The title was… Kanji. It was completely in Kanji, so the title was unreadable for me.

“It’s almost Christmas, so I bought a cake.”

It felt a bit strange to say, “Let’s hang out.”

I know all too well how uncomfortable it is to hear the words of an extrovert as an introvert. It’s like being invited to drink when you don’t even like alcohol. The other person means well, but it can be painful at times.

So I just handed the cake to Delphinium with the friendliest expression I could muster.

“……”

Delphinium received the cake without a word.

Then she looked back up at me.

“I’ll enjoy it.”

Finally, as if she had finished searching her mental list of things to say, she managed to utter that line.

…Hmm.

I nodded.

Delphinium quietly closed the door.

Scratching my head while looking at the closed door, I turned back, and everyone was watching me with somewhat strange expressions.

“Maybe she only likes pretty girls?”

For some reason, Yeon-woo whispered to Seo-hee like that.

Everyone heard. No, it’s not like my hearing is particularly good; they were just speaking normally while covering their mouths.

“Isn’t it? Maybe she’s out there seducing girls.”

“Seducing? What seducing?”

Rolling my eyes at them in disbelief, both Seo-hee and Yeon-woo burst into laughter.

“Really, that’s just ridiculous.”

As I muttered and looked at Ha-yoon, I noticed that she seemed deep in thought with a serious expression after hearing what the two said.

“…Ha-yoon?”

“Hmm?”

It was only after I called out that Ha-yoon blinked and returned to reality.

“Oh, right. That’s just ridiculous. I think so too.”

Ha-yoon said with a smile.

For some reason, I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. Maybe it’s winter, and the heating isn’t working well? There are certain large buildings that don’t seem to heat up well, no matter how hard they try. It wouldn’t be good if the area around the lodgings is like this.

Jua seemed confused and was switching her gaze back and forth among the people gathered, trying to catch up with the conversation.

“…Let’s finish whatever’s left and go.”

In the end, I gave up saying much and said that as I headed towards the lounge briskly.

The kids followed behind me, chattering excitedly.

Well, at least it feels a bit Christmas-y, I thought.

 

---