I Became a New Magical Girl Priest

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“…I did it.”

I muttered, catching my breath.

The aliens in front of us were all sprawled out on the ground. Ha-yoon and I had succeeded in taking them all down by ourselves.

The power of hope is indeed a mysterious thing; it can grow or shrink based on my state of mind.

I still didn’t quite understand what it meant for a person to convert a single thought into energy for the circuit.

I figured that out while reading the original work, but ever since I entered this world, it’s been on my mind.

Cherry had said that, if anything could make sense of that meaning, it wasn’t magic.

“What should I say to Yeon-woo?”

The flowerbed, already smashed to pieces by the aliens, was now truly beyond saving.

Soil was scattered everywhere. The dirt, which had been somewhat damp from Yeon-woo watering it, was now full of craters, exposing the rebar underneath the roof floor. The flowers were all trampled and torn apart, unrecognizable in their shape.

So, my muttering wasn’t just empty words; it was a heartfelt sentiment. I felt that bad for Yeon-woo.

“…Yeon-woo will surely forgive me.”

“Will she?”

I glanced at Ha-yoon, who looked a bit doubtful, but she nodded in agreement.

For some reason, there was a certainty etched on her face. And a hint of hesitation. Those two feelings shouldn’t coexist in a single expression.

Her eyes shone with certainty, yet the tips of her eyebrows dipped slightly. I didn’t quite grasp what she was certain about or what she was hesitating over. Perhaps that expression had flickered just briefly, and I had misinterpreted it.

Above all, there was no time to interpret Ha-yoon’s complex expression right now.

What kind of beings would collect and store aliens like this…? Well, it was obviously the Noir Corporation.

I understood why. To use for battle. Just like now. It was an opponent even magical girls struggled against, so they couldn’t just kill them haphazardly.

But the ‘how’ didn’t come to me at all. I thought of aliens as beings that were perhaps poorly exposed to human emotions due to bad luck. The term “perhaps” meant that it wasn’t entirely certain.

Just like a circuit operating, perhaps the magic inside the alien interacts with human emotions— that was my assumption.

“Ji-eun.”

Oh, I snapped back to reality at that moment.

“Let’s go see Ji-hye.”

“Ah, yeah!”

Only then did I get busy moving. Despite my sudden action, Ha-yoon quickly followed by my side.

It was a relief that there were only four of them…

But could those who could ‘hold’ four aliens not go further?

I don’t know. As of now, there were too few clues.

And when clues are scarce, it’s safer to assume that “there could be more.” So, in that scenario, it meant that Cherry and Ji-hye were the most at risk.

[Ha-yoon! Ji-eun!]

Cherry’s voice echoed through the communicator.

[We’ll be in the safe room!]

I was glad that Cherry seemed to be thinking clearly. Ha-yoon and I nodded to each other.

…The Federal Agency didn’t come. I didn’t know exactly why, but it meant they had considered the worst-case scenario, and even if not, they had judged it wasn’t easy to come down here while observing the situation.

The Federal Agency was a place that had initially gained permission from the government to enter as an ‘unarmed friendly organization.’

While there were places where minimal arms could be acquired, those were all only at warp device locations.

If they were to come down here armed to help us, it would undoubtedly cause problems.

I couldn’t say what it would be like in orbit.

My head was a mess. The ridiculous thing was that even in this situation, I was worried about being late to school.

Not just me, but also Ji-hye and the other kids.

…I never expected that experiencing similar content would lead me to have the same thoughts.

[Ah!?]

But such thoughts were immediately swept away by a sound from the communicator.

“Ji-hye?”

That was definitely Ji-hye’s scream.

But the communicator belonged to Cherry…

[It’s the safe room!]

At the same time as my thought, Cherry’s shout came through. So, the scream I heard was because something happened while Cherry pressed the button to tell us.

There was no time to respond or ask what was going on; the situation was too urgent.

“Let’s go!”

“Yeah!”

As I shouted, Ha-yoon immediately responded.

In truth, my body was aching all over, but… what can you do?

Damn it. This time too, it was the same strategy.

Both sides of the pincer movement knew perfectly well that we could never give up, yet they did the same thing. Using human lives for it.

I grew to hate the Noir Corporation even more.

*

“Ah!?”

Ji-hye screamed. In her arms, she was carrying a generator.

While she was flustered, in the midst of entering the safe room with Cherry, she had somehow grabbed it tightly. I could only assume she did so without realizing it.

Even though it was big, it was about the size that could be lifted with one hand. It wasn’t heavy enough for Ji-hye to struggle with.

“It’s okay, Ji-hye.”

Cherry said something to her, pointedly.

“They’ll come soon, Ji-eun and Ha-yoon.”

Bang!

But just as she said that, the door of the safe room echoed with a loud bang.

Bam.

The thick steel door bent slightly inward from the outside.

“…It’s a door reinforced with magic.”

Cherry muttered as if in disbelief.

“…I’m really sorry. For dragging you into this situation.”

But Cherry quickly realized there was a civilian present, Ji-hye, and quickly added that.

“If I had known it would happen like this, I wouldn’t have allowed it.”

“No.”

It was indeed a strange story, but Ji-hye actually hoped it wouldn’t have turned out this way.

If, if Ji-eun were to say ‘Well then, I’ll call you next week’ and cut off contact there… Ji-hye would have surely been disappointed.

Even so, she wouldn’t come to dislike Ji-eun. That long period would have felt meaningless. Perhaps that disappointment could be read as ‘despair.’

However, that’s how it had turned out.

Ji-hye felt sorry for Cherry. In this situation, Ji-hye was a person who couldn’t offer any help.

“I was genuinely glad you called me. Even now.”

Yeah. Even still, she felt both sorry and glad to be here.

That she was no longer in a different world from Ji-eun.

…Of course, she didn’t want to get hurt. She didn’t want to die. She especially didn’t want to become someone’s hostage. Even while thinking that it was nearly impossible to be by Ji-eun’s side, it felt strangely good that Ji-hye could be ‘by Ji-eun’s side.’

Honestly, at this point, thoughts of school had completely faded away. Missing a day of school would be fine. Ji-eun was struggling, and there was no way she could feel at ease going to school alone.

Being here didn’t change much. Whether it would be of help or not was uncertain.

But still.

It was selfish of her, but Ji-hye preferred being close to Ji-eun—being in a place where she could get the news right away—rather than being far away. It was better to hear Ji-eun’s voice directly than to listen to reports through the news and not know if they were accurate.

That was all.

“…Huh?”

Cherry seemed to realize something and looked at Ji-hye without noticing.

“Ji-hye. Just a second, you…?”

Only after noticing Cherry saying that did Ji-hye respond.

“Ah, ah…! Sorry. This is yours, right?”

I thought Cherry had said that it wasn’t ‘hers’ but Ji-eun’s.

Hastily, Ji-hye handed over the object that was starting to glow a little white to Cherry.

Yeah. Even if it wasn’t helpful, at the very least, it shouldn’t hinder them. Ji-hye thought like that, but—

“Ji-hye, how did you do that?”

Cherry blinked her eyes and spoke.

“…Huh?”

“That’s a device that definitely can’t work just from our emotions… it’s a generator.”

Ji-hye could only blink at Cherry’s words.

“No, um, is that so?”

Cherry fell into her own thoughts.

“…Rather, if it only has a directional difference… then it’s just that it reacts more sensitively by rotating that way, and turning it the other way should just be a little tougher, but if there’s enough emotion…”

“Um, Cherry?”

“Ah, yeah! Sorry, I just had something to think about…!”

“Ah, no. If it’s really important, then I don’t want to interfere—”

“No, no. That’s not it.”

Cherry said. The look in her eyes was completely serious.

“Just a moment.”

Cherry began to bounce around the desk inside the ‘safe room.’ After pressing several buttons, a click sounded, and something somewhere opened.

It was the first drawer of the desk.

Cherry crawled inside quickly and brought out something that was almost her size. It didn’t look easy to carry.

It looked just like a wristwatch.

“Want to try this?”

That was what Ji-eun usually wore.

No, to be exact, it was what all the other magical girls wore.

“While chewing on that emotion from earlier!”

“…Huh?”

Ji-hye could do nothing but stare blankly at Cherry’s sudden remark.

 

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