I Became a New Magical Girl Priest

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My heart may have shrunk to the size of a walnut, but the situation was getting increasingly serious.

At least according to my standards.

With Ha-yoon right beside me, there was only one thought floating in my head.

…Does that reporter know anything about me?

Noir Corporation doesn’t really explain the situation to me. The other combatants are the same. We basically have the vibe of lowly day laborers.

But what about the reporter?

If he’s a wanted criminal in the Galactic Federation, he might be treated similarly. No, he had to be.

If Ha-yoon and I posed well, we might figure out where the photo was taken, so we shifted our positions accordingly.

In front of us were Ji-hye and Iris walking. If we block their line just right, Ha-yoon being with a guy would be hard to notice.

Plus, since Iris was a magical girl, she was somewhat recognizable. Isn’t her goal to catch moments of a date with her boyfriend?

It would be obvious enough that it looks like we’re out with friends, so naturally, they’d exclude Iris from their angles.

From behind or the side. With a zoom shot, they could follow from a distance while filming.

I thought it was more likely they’d shoot from behind. If they shot from the side, my face wouldn’t do much to hide the fact that I was a guy.

Iris was ahead, looking at her smartphone. Probably checking if the article was getting any updates.

Ha-yoon drew a little closer to me, even resting her head on my shoulder.

“……”

Surprisingly, Ha-yoon didn’t seem to mind that position at all.

Does she do this with her other friends too?

I tried to think back briefly, but it didn’t seem like it. The last time we ran into Earth Buddy, she wasn’t like this.

It’s not like I had romantic feelings for Ha-yoon. She’s pretty and sweet, and I get that it’s natural to feel some fondness—she’s an old friend from childhood, after all.

Moreover, she’s quite a bit younger than me. So that thought never crossed my mind.

But even so, my heart wasn’t completely unaffected.

Honestly, it’s hard for a guy not to get flustered when a pretty girl is right next to him. Unless he’s into same-gender relationships, of course.

What’s up with this feeling?

I’ve never seen Ha-yoon look this cheerful.

No, in the webtoon, she had a somewhat cute personality, so maybe that’s just her showing through a bit—

—Ah, I get it now.

Maybe she’s acting. For now, I need to get her picture taken by the stalker to see where she is.

Just as I was quietly piecing it together, Iris suddenly stopped walking.

“…Found it.”

“Uh? Wait, Jua—”

As Ha-yoon reached out to Iris, sensing something, Iris was already holding a gun in her hand.

…Huh?

Ah, of course, it wasn’t the long rifle she usually uses to shoot me. Since she hadn’t transformed yet, it would be too heavy to carry something like that.

Plus, there were a lot of people around. If she transformed and started fighting, it could turn into a huge problem.

So, what she had in hand was a handgun. Not one of those large police-looking ones, but a compact one that could fit in the palm of her hand.

Phew.

Iris slipped her hand between Ha-yoon and me and immediately pulled the trigger.

“Eek!?”

The gunshot rang out, and simultaneously, a strange noise echoed from a distance behind us.

“Jua!”

Ha-yoon shouted at Iris.

Was she angry? With her brow furrowed, it seemed like she was giving Iris a fierce glare.

“…Don’t worry. I memorized their faces properly.”

Not that, but how can you shoot like that and still aim properly?

Well, to be fair, she usually doesn’t aim accurately, rather just pointing the gun and shooting. Maybe the bullet had some kind of homing function? It looked just like a laser at first glance.

“Excuse me?”

That voice came from behind us.

Following the sound, we turned to see a couple approaching a man lying on the ground.

It seemed like some guy passing by suddenly collapsed, and they were trying to help—

Whack!

The man swatted away the hands reaching out to him and got up.

Then, he locked eyes with me.

“…Ah.”

Normally, I wouldn’t have noticed, but maybe it was because I was aware of the situation.

The man’s right eye twinkled for no apparent reason. Despite not wearing glasses, it looked like sunlight was reflecting off a lens.

Noticing the situation, the man quickly turned and took off running.

And Ha-yoon’s expression changed when she saw him flee.

The arm she had looped through mine had already been released. The hint of satisfaction on her face was completely wiped away, replaced by one I’d seen countless times while fighting.

It was different from the excited expression Iris had, looking forward to the fight.

Blossom always wore a ‘determined’ expression. While Ha-yoon seemed clueless about how to show anger, her rigid expression was still somewhat serious.

Ha-yoon took off running.

“Gah!?”

“Sorry!”

As the man pushed through the crowd, Ha-yoon shouted after him.

“…This isn’t going to be easy.”

Iris remarked.

It’s too ambiguous to transform. There are too many people around, and more importantly, this isn’t really a combat situation. The Galactic Federation does some image management too. If we respond too aggressively, it could lead to repercussions.

Even though we operate outside of the law, public opinion is something we can’t ignore.

“Uh.”

Not transforming doesn’t mean I can’t catch him, but still, Iris seemed to be contemplating a different method, looking up at the buildings.

“Alright. I’ll go from up top.”

Without saying anything else, Iris dashed off toward a nearby building.

“…”

Left standing there, Ji-hye and I exchanged brief glances.

Then we hurriedly started running after those two.

 

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