I Became a New Magical Girl Priest

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It’s been a long time since I’ve slept without dreaming.

Probably since the day I applied for a duel with the magical girls and got my butt kicked.

My body was tired, but what drained me more was my mind and heart. I had no clue what to solve first or how to approach anything.

“……”

I woke up to no alarm ringing and no sounds of the kids milling about outside. As the season slowly approached summer, the lengthening days were already brightening the sky.

Maybe I had gone into a sort of faint from sleeping, because even though I hadn’t been asleep that long, my body strangely felt light. Sometimes, sleeping while completely exhausted doesn’t seem like such a bad thing.

Outside the window, I could hear the faint chirping of birds. In the distance, there were sounds of cars passing by, but they weren’t too loud. After all, this orphanage was nearly at the top of a steep neighborhood.

The view here was nice, but that was all. During summer, sweating buckets while climbing up and down was a given. In winter, the snow created quite the slip hazard.

There was a wide enough road in the alley for a truck to barely make it up, but that didn’t mean buses could get through. Every morning, we had to walk about ten minutes to the nearest bus stop.

That’s probably how I got to meet Ha-yoon.

The bus stop was located along the main road. Facing that main road was a wealthy neighborhood that mirrored ours. Buildings were stacked like steps on the similarly steep hill, and the width of the roads wasn’t too expansive either.

But that neighborhood was home to important foreign diplomats, high-ranking officials, and company owners. Near the expensive apartments, commercial areas thrived with busy foot traffic, unlike that quiet neighborhood where only residences existed apart from people.

It was a high neighborhood, but the residents were also well-off, so there was no need to worry about the elevation. Ironically, Ha-yoon lived there, which was how we crossed paths.

So, I thought… maybe that was a stroke of luck.

I got out of bed. My mind felt awake, but my body still felt slightly worn out. I stretched out, feeling a bit sluggish, and threw on some appropriate clothes, leaving Ji-hye as she was.

Thank goodness today was a weekend. Otherwise, I would’ve been worrying about going to school.

Stepping outside, I headed to the cleaning supplies shed.

I took out a broom and dustpan. Then, looking down at the brightly sunlit hallway, I walked slowly.

I was hoping to possibly find the glass shards we hadn’t picked up yesterday.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to use that kind of practical magic. Some aliens were especially gifted with magic to create everyday tools, but for some reason, they weren’t exported to Earth. Could it be the usage environment or conditions were different?

I thought I had done a decent job cleaning before sleeping, but as I looked around, I still spotted a few small pieces. Thankfully, I had put the kids to bed first.

Strolling through the deserted hallway while focusing on one task made my mind wander. Yes. This felt good.

The simple way for me to not lose hope was to think of Ha-yoon. To remember that Ji-hye was still by my side. To think about how other friends liked me.

The circuit was still running. I could still operate as a magical girl.

I seriously pondered the reason behind it. Maybe I didn’t value Pang-pang as much as I thought? If Ha-yoon couldn’t be a magical girl, or if Ji-hye got hurt badly, I would definitely be heartbroken and unable to continue with this.

“…No.”

That didn’t seem right.

To be honest, yes. I wasn’t as close to her as I was to Ha-yoon. I didn’t see her as family like I did Ji-hye. But still, Pang-pang was my friend.

This is how I thought of Pang-pang.

I wanted to talk to her.

Yes.

That was my goal.

I knew nothing about Pang-pang’s backstory. All I knew was that she was cheerful, loved Earth culture, was a fan of magical girls, and occasionally brought back caffeine, which she shouldn’t have consumed on her home planet, and got all hyper from it.

Just because a friend hid some parts of themselves, I didn’t think that what they hid was their true self.

The part they showed me, that candid side, was undoubtedly real too.

Even if it wasn’t truly real, that didn’t matter. I needed to question things.

Noir Corporation had hidden Pang-pang away. The reason was unknown. They even decided to deploy her in the operation at that specific timing.

I would hear it all.

Thus, I set a short-term goal.

With that alone, my hope wouldn’t be extinguished.

*

Whether it was the sound of me cleaning that caught their attention or Ji-hye waking up a bit later and realizing I wasn’t around, Ji-hye quickly grabbed a broom and dustpan and began sweeping around.

By the time we finished cleaning thoroughly, my back was drenched in sweat. Bending down and straightening up repeatedly, the sunlight streaming in from the window started to feel quite warm.

“Phew.”

When I made a slightly refreshed expression, Ji-hye finally smiled as if relieved.

By that time, kids were starting to peek out of their rooms. A few slightly older kids, even more younger ones, and, most notably, a bunch of toddlers who made up more than half of our orphanage’s population.

Some of them would stay here until they grew up, while others would get adopted and leave. Every once in a blue moon, parents would come to pick up their kids.

Maybe Ji-hye would end up like that too?

Not yet, though.

By the time I was putting the broom and dustpan back in the cleaning supplies shed, breakfast time had arrived.

While eating, I checked the news.

Oldest articles first, the very first one was rather brief. Just one photo with a line of text below it.

It was a picture of me fighting a monster. And there was Noir Corporation’s achievements that came next, showcasing the kids being hastily prepared by combatants.

Though it was fairly chaotic when I witnessed it firsthand, the still image captured it as if they were performing wonderfully, like firefighters. Of course, that made sense. In a photo rather than on video, you couldn’t capture fear or flinching at loud noises.

Moreover, it was the right thing to do. If helping others got you scolded, nobody would help anyone at all.

However.

Scrolling down further, this time it included a detailed article alongside photos of me defeating combatants. They cleverly included photos from previous battles as “reference material” too.

The combatant’s outfit was pretty generic. While it could certainly resemble something from a special-effects show, one could also argue that it simply looked like riding gear.

On the other hand, the appearance of the magical girl was difficult to see as anything beyond cosplay. Swinging a hammer in such a silly outfit to take down a combatant.

It’s a common occurrence, isn’t it? People rooting for the villains instead of the protagonists when watching special effects shows or comics. Perhaps this piece was for them.

“After receiving assistance from the magical girl, she attacked the combatant. Though it was a different situation.” Naturally, they provided little detail about the whole “different situation.” Even if they did elaborate, it would put us at a disadvantage, wouldn’t it? Were they trying to hide their cards?

“…Ji-eun.”

“I don’t care about stuff like this.” I spoke while scrolling up and down on my phone, reviewing the content.

Yeah. I wasn’t worried. After all, the initial article probably wasn’t funded by Noir Corporation anyway. I expected that yesterday when we fought.

Were they trying to strip away public support? Too bad for Noir Corporation, but the federation isn’t as easygoing as they think. While the perception of those who didn’t understand the situation could’ve worsened, at least they couldn’t shake the bonds around me.

What do you think is the reason the federation maintains friendly relations with the more influential people in this country? And why would they place the children of such individuals in positions as magical girls?

We had enough bond to not crumble under something like this. In fact, the blow we received last time from that fake mother was far stronger.

Rather than that.

“I found it.”

I muttered without realizing it.

There was a picture of Pang-pang. It was captured just as she briefly removed her helmet among the combatants.

Even though it’s a subsidiary of Noir Corporation, that doesn’t mean they know all the operations of the headquarters. They probably miss a lot of things too.

What mattered was that I was swinging a hammer against numerous combatants.

“……”

A shaky photo.

Yet that action showed her embarrassment. Although it was a still image, Pang-pang alone was facing a different direction than the combatants, looking as if she were just trying to escape right in front of me.

And in that shaky photo, Pang-pang was merely staring at the ground. It looked like she couldn’t lift her head up out of embarrassment.

When the evil officer appears, they might say something like, “Playing friends was fun.”

Pang-pang couldn’t muster the words to say that to me before running away. Right up until she disappeared, even when I couldn’t properly confirm the situation, Pang-pang exhibited confusion and embarrassment.

That was enough.

If it wasn’t just a game and was truly friendship, then that itself gave me a reason to seek her out.

 

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