I Became a New Magical Girl Priest

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Of course, Ji-hye was troubled.

How to find Ji-eun who had disappeared, and what to do if she was found.

But there was nothing she could do alone.

She had no intention of reporting Ji-eun to the police, so there was no way to ask for help. The police were probably already on Ji-eun’s tail with full force. After all, she had already been tagged as a ‘terrorist.’

That didn’t mean she could ask others for help either. There was no one around who would do that sort of thing. Even if there were, they wouldn’t do it for free.

Ji-hye had friends, but they were all just kids her age. What could she possibly find out by talking to her classmates?

The room they used was just as it was.

Ji-eun was still logged out, as if she hadn’t left. Even if what Ji-eun had done was caught in pictures and videos, until her court verdict, she wasn’t technically a ‘criminal.’ It seemed the teachers thought so.

No matter the truth, those who knew Ji-eun didn’t believe she could have committed such… terrorism.

It was certain that Ji-eun, dressed as a ‘magical girl,’ was involved in the incident in Gangnam. But at least, they said nobody died that day.

Above all, breaking in and fighting was a completely different matter from planting a bomb to cause death. The latter required much more expertise.

Where did she get the materials for the bomb, and when would she have had the time to sneak in and plant it, especially in such a crucial location?

Even if she was a combatant, Ji-hye never thought the story would spin so easily.

“…….”

Ji-hye stared blankly at Ji-eun’s spot and then stepped outside.

Fortunately, reporters weren’t camping out there. Ever since the news about the orphanage broke, reporters had been a bit more cautious. Or perhaps they figured there was nothing more to ask here.

Even with such gruesome incidents happening back to back, the world didn’t seem to change much.

As usual, the neighborhood was quiet on the weekend. Then again, there wasn’t much around to make it noisy.

She took the bus toward the bookstore Ji-eun frequently visited.

Unlike the quiet neighborhood, this place was packed with people. To be honest, it was a bit too crowded. Even Ji-hye, who loved a bustling noise, found it hard to adapt.

Her idea of ‘rebellion’ was just coming to a place like this. She had very few friends around, and she didn’t know how to commit other bad deeds.

Just as Ji-hye often went out with friends elsewhere on weekends, Ji-eun must have also come here with Ha-yoon now and then. Up until now, there was no reason for the two to hang out with her. Ji-eun never thought to invite Ji-hye, and neither did Ji-hye think to butt in when they played with their own friends.

Last time, when Ji-hye had intruded between the two, it was purely impulsive.

So, even after sharing the same room for so long, Ji-hye didn’t really know that much about Ji-eun. At least, that’s what Ji-hye believed.

She knew a girl named ‘Jeong Ji-eun’ and had a rough idea of her habits and likes, but whether she was a different person at school, how she interacted with friends—it never crossed her mind to find out. The only reason she knew about Ha-yoon was that that was ‘Ha-yoon.’

“…….”

Ji-hye still had Ha-yoon’s number on her phone.

But she couldn’t think of calling her. In this situation, calling would just make both of them feel uncomfortable.

For about an hour, she wandered around the bookstore, getting bumped by people.

Ji-eun was nowhere to be seen. Naturally, this was to be expected. It didn’t make sense for someone in hiding to be in a place like this.

The tip of her nose tingled. If she thought more about Ji-eun here, she would become that strange girl who burst into tears while walking, so Ji-hye tried hard to hold back her tears.

It was the same these days.

At school, kids occasionally asked about Ji-eun. Those who had never known about her existence before were now showing immense interest ever since Ji-eun appeared in the news.

Ji-hye was quite popular at school, so maybe that was why.

And since she had so many friends, she couldn’t bring herself to deny their wild speculations. Both the denials and affirmations lacked proof.

But there was one thing she absolutely disliked.

She hated that Ji-eun became a topic of gossip among the kids.

She disliked those who seemed to know more about Ji-eun than Ji-hye herself, who had been by her side all this time. She loathed those who took everything from the news as the truth and talked about Ji-eun as if she really was a terrorist.

Upon leaving the bookstore, she sat on a bench.

It was early February, so the weather was a bit chilly. But thanks to that, there was no one sitting on the bench, which made her feel at ease.

“Ji-eun….”

She mumbled as she looked up at the sky.

Once a combatant facing magical girls, now she had become a magical girl herself.

She didn’t really grasp what was happening at all.

Whenever Ji-eun came up, she would just awkwardly smile, her throat locked up, perhaps for that reason.

Because she didn’t know anything.

Not knowing how much she truly understood.

Because the current situation felt too unfamiliar.

Right now…

“……I miss you.”

Ji-hye murmured to herself.

No matter what Ji-eun had done, it didn’t really matter. To Ji-hye, Ji-eun was just Ji-eun.

“I can’t even listen to music.”

Since Ji-eun disliked others meddling with her belongings, Ji-hye didn’t touch the items on her desk.

Ji-eun might not have thought much about it, but Ji-hye actually enjoyed listening to music like that. Lying on the floor and wiggling her toes while listening to the music coming from the speakers was a joy.

Would there ever come a day where they could do that again?

“What am I hoping for?”

Maybe she was wishing for Ji-eun to turn herself in. So, if she had committed a crime, to quickly repent and just come back. And then lie down in the same room, spending time chatting about nothing in particular while listening to music.

Was she hoping for her daily life to return?

…Even though she knew that if such a thing happened, things could never go back to the same way, Ji-hye didn’t realize she was thinking that way.

And knowing that thought stemmed from her inability to fully trust Ji-eun, Ji-hye buried her face in her hands.

*

I’m not someone who has massive thickness in my nerves.

Once the pain in my body subsided, the first people that came to mind were Ha-yoon and Ji-hye.

The reason they popped up in my mind was simple. They were the only two people I got close to outside of that insufferable orphanage staff and the other kids. I had acquaintance with the orphanage teacher and had a decent relationship with the other kids, but it was still nothing compared to Ji-hye.

I still saw Ha-yoon occasionally. Although she didn’t look like she was doing great, every time I saw her, I only grew more worried. But at least I knew she was eating and staying alive.

Moreover, even if I couldn’t see her, I could check the news. From what I heard, Ha-yoon was at least ‘safe’. I was relieved to hear there were no major injuries.

The problem was not knowing how Ji-hye was doing.

…I knew one of the reporters had been pestering Ji-hye.

At my school, I had no one backing me up, so that reporter went all the way to the orphanage to bother her.

Even though her face was pixelated, seeing how flustered Ji-hye was boiled my insides.

I felt an urge to barge in and shove that reporter away, but of course, doing something like that would only result in me achieving absolutely nothing and just getting caught—

…….

Yeah.

To be honest, sometimes I wanted to just give up completely.

Even if I stubbornly held on, all that would do is hurt those around me.

Sometimes I thought it might be better to just give up entirely and turn myself in. Wouldn’t that be the better option? But here I was, indecisively lingering in this limbo.

“Here.”

While I was lying around in despair, someone placed a drink on my forehead.

Startled, I reached for it with my hand; it was a can of coffee.

It was Earth Buddy.

Since I rarely had any reason to go outside, it was almost always Earth Buddy who brought these supplies. On days when we worked together, I helped him out a bit, but on non-working days, even the slightest motion to go out would cause James to go haywire. No matter how much I disguised myself, frequent outings could cause problems.

Sitting up, I held the coffee that seemed to have just come out of the fridge.

Earth Buddy crack opened his can and began pouring its contents into his mouth. It seemed like today was a no-work day for him.

“You look really down.”

“……”

I looked down at the can of coffee and eventually opened it.

Mimicking Earth Buddy, I poured it into my mouth, and the thick sweetness felt like a lump of sugar melting in water.

“Yeah, I guess it can’t be helped.”

Earth Buddy left it at that and didn’t continue speaking, simply sipping from his can.

I stared blankly at him, then asked, “……Why do you help me so much?”

At my question, Earth Buddy widened his eyes in surprise.

“I’m grateful, but it’s not like helping me gives you anything in return, does it?”

Honestly, it wasn’t the best time to ask such a question. There are plenty of people in the world who are just too kind to help others without expecting something in return.

“Who knows.”

Earth Buddy tilted his head.

“I’ve just done what I wanted so far, and to be honest, I can’t remember the reason now.”

“……”

I was at a loss for words at that response.

“I like Earthlings… well, that’s not it. Not every Earthling is good to me. I don’t really care about those who are cute like magical girls or anything.”

Hearing him say that about someone who once talked about Voyager seemed to bring me back to reality.

Though he was admittedly tipsy when he said it.

“Are you saying I fit that condition?”

“You are pretty, after all.”

At that, I lost my motivation to ask more questions.

I would have at least taken it seriously if I got a sincere answer back.

No, could it be that he was just being considerate—

“If it were just James here, he would have kicked you out immediately.”

“……”

James, who had been fiddling with something far away, flinched at the mention.

“Well, still, I haven’t only looked at your face. I figured someone like you could be trusted, at least. I’ve never been betrayed by you, nor do I have any reason to betray you.”

I couldn’t know what kind of place his planet was, but maybe this was a cultural characteristic.

Just like how it’s a nearly universal culture on Earth to treat guests with utmost sincerity and for guests to act politely toward their hosts.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the whole planet behaves that way. There would be many countries on that planet, and Earth Buddy probably came from one of those nations.

“You mentioned Voyager a while back.”

I casually changed the topic.

“Was that for real?”

“Of course!”

Earth Buddy said with glee as if it amused him.

“Creatures with a lifespan of less than a hundred years put in so much effort just to shoot a rocket into space for the sole reason of wanting to view the universe. They even left a message saying it could be ‘the last of humans.’ Isn’t that romantic? When you look at it from a cosmic scale, it’s so small that you might not even find it!”

“That’s a misconception. It’s all made up by the Federation.”

“Huh?”

Earth Buddy and I looked toward James at the same time.

James had come closer and sat next to us without us noticing.

Seeing him munch on snacks that Earth Buddy had spread out as a snack made it hard to tell if he should be deemed shameless or adorable.

“Finding a planet is much easier than finding a small spacecraft. It’s ridiculous to think they just happened to stumble upon something so small while randomly scanning for it. Don’t you think?”

“……”

I looked at James with a somewhat deflated expression.

“The Federation likely knew about Earth more than five years ago. They probably even sent people to observe it. Saying finding Voyager was the decisive reason for finding Earth is just a front for diplomacy.”

“……”

“No way.”

While I was feeling deflated, Earth Buddy cut in decisively.

“I know. They found Voyager first.”

“Honestly, it would make more sense to consider that they first found the sun and then decided Earth could be a planet with intelligent life.”

“You think that’s right, huh?”

Earth Buddy chimed in, and James facepalmed.

“……”

And then, silence replaced the conversation as he sipped his coffee.

Drinking coffee at this hour probably wasn’t the best idea. I should be sleeping soon.

…Even if I felt fine now.

I’d probably start thinking about Ha-yoon and Ji-hye again if I couldn’t sleep tonight.

Really.

Next time, I should somehow get my hands on some alcohol.

*

About two days later.

After finishing work with Earth Buddy, I arrived back to find a gigantic hammer in my room.

A giant hammer… or at least it looked huge and heavy. I wondered where those materials came from, only to see it was about half the size of James’ robot.

If half of a machine weighing about as much as an adult man was used, it would undoubtedly be incredibly heavy.

“……Isn’t this too heavy? Can I even swing this around?”

When I asked, James scoffed.

With everything else in the world, it felt like one stomp could flatten it, and I wondered if I should give him a little scare, but I stopped myself because Earth Buddy was behind me.

Despite working at Noir Corporation, he was still sharp. He’d only be doing it for the high pay, though.

He seemed unable to mask his expression whenever ‘racial discrimination’ came up, so I could treat him as a person for now.

I had no intention of becoming a murderer.

With a snort, James said, “What are you saying? If you break down everything you did that day based on the laws of physics, barely anything would even make sense, let alone in a matter of mere seconds.”

His expression was one of absolute bewilderment as he spoke.

“What?”

Why was that relevant now?

As I began to ponder confusedly, James started rambling earnestly as if he were boasting.

“You know that if you throw something upwards, the force acting on you would have to be even stronger than that pull. In other words, the Blossom you threw in the air must have gained much more energy than simply falling down. That’s how it would affect you in that moment.”

“…….”

Oh.

“Did you seriously not think that? I thought you were doing such strange things to perform some magic.”

James’ eyes narrowed.

“Though magic does work in that way. The fact that you could even think ‘that’s possible’ is a miraculous power that defies the laws of physics. It’s absurd that someone who has committed such nonsense could also create something like a ‘black hole with no sun’ and yet can’t perform the simple magic of ‘flying through the air.’”

With a heavy sigh, James then glanced at me with a look that seemed to say, ‘What can you do?’

“Anyway, you’re definitely someone who can disregard the laws of physics. Surely, this should be easy for you to wield, right? At least I think it’s more realistic than flying. After all, you can still watch videos of someone pushing a car with just one hand on streaming sites.”

Not wanting to say anything back, I kept quiet.

“I made this in the form you wanted, so why not give it a try?”

I walked reluctantly towards that hammer.

It resembled a hammer from some American hero movie I once saw. It looked like a brutally simple rectangular block.

However, the handle was quite long. It seemed they had specifically tried to replicate the form of a giant hammer.

“The head is bigger because of the generator, right?”

“Exactly. If you don’t control it, there’s no reason to make it from the core.”

I reached out and grabbed the handle.

The circuit was still working. In truth, it had been running since the moment I first wore the circuit.

So, there was no reason I shouldn’t be able to lift it.

Surprisingly, the hammer felt extraordinarily light in my hands compared to its appearance.

“…….”

I stared at the hammer quietly.

“How does it feel?”

“……I won’t know until I try it out.”

James snorted at my words as if I were simply messing around.

It seemed he figured out that I didn’t want to say something that would please him.

Whatever it was, I didn’t care.

For now, the magical girl was also holding back from moving. I figured that was because Ha-yoon’s hope hadn’t returned yet.

Thus, I assumed it might be a little longer before I had the chance to use it.

Unfortunately, it would be just two days later that I would get to use it.

 

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