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No, I’m not an attention seeker.

In fact, I usually don’t like being in the spotlight. You know how it is when someone suddenly gets attention in class over something trivial? I really don’t like those kinds of stares. That’s why I often took Ha-yoon out of the school building.

But this kind of, how should I put it…

The gaze of a fan looking at me wasn’t so bad.

If there’s someone who remembers me, even though I’ve just started my activities, and if they remember that what I do isn’t meaningless, then that’s nice.

Pang-pang dashed into the room and handed me a white board and a pen, and I hesitated for a moment.

I’ve never thought about a signature, so I wasn’t sure how to—

Wait a minute.

“Isn’t this the board used for getting signatures?”

I don’t know the exact name, but it’s definitely that sturdy board.

“Ah, yes!”

Pang-pang nodded happily.

“I bought a lot of them after coming to Earth. For days like this when I get to meet famous people!”

“……”

Well, it might be true if that’s the reason she came to Earth, but there are quite a few Earth-related things in the room.

Saying ‘Earth-related things’ sounds a bit funny. I mean, anything here for living on Earth is an Earth-related item, right?

Holding the signature board, I briefly contemplated and just wrote my name haphazardly. You know, trying to make it look like a celebrity’s signature.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the creativity to make a cute signature like those idols. So, on the signature board, there was just somewhat plainly written ‘Happy Lily.’

When I handed it back to Pang-pang, she took it with a bright smile and jumped around in joy.

“……”

And for some reason, Ha-yoon was staring blankly at the signature board in Pang-pang’s hands with her mouth open.

Why?

“Ah.”

After receiving my gaze, Ha-yoon started to move her hand and wrote ‘Happy Cherry Blossom’ on her signature.

Pang-pang happily accepted that one too.

“Oh, since you brought us here, is it okay if I treat you just a little?”

Is it okay?

I hesitated for a moment.

For a split second, a not-so-good thought crossed my mind.

I’ve heard that celebrities sometimes encounter ridiculous types of stalkers. There are many disturbing and creepy stories, so I thought it wouldn’t be surprising if something terrible happened.

What are the chances of getting drunk and bumping into that ‘celebrity’?

Did my address come out or something?

Just thinking about that sent a chill down my spine.

Yeah, celebrity residences tend to get exposed more easily than you’d think. It’s often just a quick search online to find out which celebrity lives in which apartment.

At least Ha-yoon would have less of that kind of problem. She probably lives in a huge house in an affluent neighborhood. The other magical girls didn’t seem to have such issues either.

But my situation is a bit different.

I live in an orphanage.

It’s relatively secure, and since it’s a place where children live, outsiders can’t just waltz in. But that also means if there’s a strange stalker, the damage could be significant.

Plus, most importantly, if my place makes it onto TV, Ha-yoon will definitely find out.

“Ji-eun?”

As I was lost in thought, this time it was Ha-yoon calling me.

I blinked and came to my senses, looking back at Pang-pang in front of me.

Pang-pang seemed a bit fidgety. Here she was, sitting in front of someone who is like a celebrity to her, and she probably didn’t know how to evaluate that person.

……

Are we the same age, by the way?

Coming to Earth, no matter how long it’s been, really can’t be that long. To love Earth enough to come and live here at such a young age?

For now, there’s no evidence of stalking, so it’s all just my imagination. I decided not to treat it that way.

Now that she’s come to our country, I hope she leaves with a good impression.

“I’m fine, but what about you, Ha-yoon?”

When I asked, Ha-yoon nodded.

“Yeah, for a bit.”

With Ha-yoon’s words, we took off our shoes and went inside.

The place was a one-room anyway. The semi-basement room wasn’t as cramped as I thought. If there’s something suspicious inside, it would have to be a weird alien hiding some strange abilities. Then, well, I guess it would be polite to attack, right?

*

After listening to the whole story, it really seemed like Pang-pang was quite interested in us.

To be specific, she was interested in the magical girl trio.

“That hammer was amazing!”

Pang-pang said.

“As I heard, wands follow the user’s mental image. So did you imagine the hammer with that mental image? It was efficient and cool!”

Watching her open her arms like a little kid while saying that made me feel a bit awkward.

Did I really do something that impressive?

In reality, I had just run away before even hitting someone.

I took a sip from the glass in front of me. It contained orange juice.

“I didn’t make it like that; it was crafted as equipment. The hammer part did involve my power though.”

“That’s awesome…….”

Even when I said something deflating, it didn’t seem to bother Pang-pang at all.

“I didn’t make it.”

“The pink sword was cool too. It looked like it came out of a movie.”

At Pang-pang’s words, Ha-yoon’s face turned slightly red.

“But when are you going to stop speaking formally?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, we’re the same age. So I thought there’s no need for formal language.”

Aren’t we both middle schoolers? It seems a bit less awkward to use informal language at the first meeting, doesn’t it? I mean, if we were in different grades, it wouldn’t matter, but Pang-pang said she’s our age in Earth years.

“Ah, yeah, I guess so?”

Pang-pang quickly accepted my words.

“Anyway, that was awesome. I’ve watched you since your debut.”

“…… Really?”

I suddenly felt a bit strange.

She’s not a stalker, but something made me feel like I was the most important person in her speech. Could she be my biggest fan or something?

Am I going to run into her again as the fan club chairman or something? I mean, who knows if magical girls even have fan clubs?

“……”

Ha-yoon was still quietly sitting next to me. She only sipped her orange juice occasionally, appearing to be deep in thought.

“Ha-yoon?”

I spoke up, thinking she might be uncomfortable.

“Uh, yeah!?”

Ha-yoon seemed overly surprised, almost spilling juice from the cup she was holding.

I passed her a tissue from the table, and as she wiped her hands, she said,

“Ah, Ji-eun…”

“Yeah?”

“Have we ever exchanged signatures?”

“Signature exchange?”

I’d never even considered that.

I didn’t think it was useless or anything; it’s just that, well, I hadn’t even thought about it. I just made my first signature a moment ago when I signed for Pang-pang.

“Then, how about we exchange signatures?”

“Ah, is that so? Then maybe next time when we all get together.”

But hearing Ha-yoon say that felt plausible.

Aren’t we all magical girls? I’ve heard that we’re kind of like idols.

If we all exchanged signatures and kept them, it might be a nice memory.

…… Is that too girly of a thought? Well, since it was Ha-yoon’s idea first, it feels natural enough.

“Le-Let’s do it here.”

“Huh? Just you and me?”

“If I do a lot of signatures now, I can make it look cooler next time.”

Even saying that, this would be my second signature.

But since Ha-yoon wants to do it, I decided to go along with it.

“Ah, here!”

Pang-pang quickly handed us each an extra signature board. I shrugged, accepted it, and scrawled my signature again.

Yeah. Ha-yoon seems right; it looks different from the first time, but the lines became smoother.

“Here.”

“Yeah, thanks, Ji-eun.”

Ha-yoon received the signature with both hands, as if it was something precious.

“Here.”

Ha-yoon handed her signature to me.

I took her signature. Until that moment, I didn’t have any special thoughts, but looking at the round letters in Ha-yoon’s handwriting made my heart flutter for some reason.

“Yeah. I’ll treasure it.”

I said that.

“Yeah!”

Ha-yoon smiled brightly and nodded, and for a moment, I forgot there was someone else in the room and blushed.

“Cough.”

Finally coming back to reality, I cleared my throat.

“Well… Should we head back soon? Thanks for the juice.”

As I said that and got a bit hurriedly up from my seat, Pang-pang stood up along with a smile.

“Thanks for today too! Come by again sometimes!”

“……”

U-um.

I’m not sure if that’s really okay.

Well, I wouldn’t call it weird to say we’re friends or anything.

 

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