Chapter 6
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: He Seems Really Angry
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So, um. Yeah. It was just an ordinary day, no different from usual.
“Senior.”
“If it’s not urgent, can it wait? I’m focusing here…!”
“…Senior.”
“Ugh… What!?”
I carefully set down the massive weight I’d been holding with all my strength, making sure it didn’t crash to the floor. My eyes met those of my junior Yu-na, who was staring at me with an expression that said even now, after I’d started getting used to this, she still couldn’t adapt to it.
“I’m really, really curious about something.”
“What is it already? What’s so important that you’re interrupting my personal record attempt?”
“…Why do you always work out in your transformed state like this?”
Why? If she asked me that, I didn’t really have a good answer.
“Just because.”
Was she dissatisfied with my baggy training clothes instead of the neatly folded magical girl outfit nearby? Yu-na was glaring at me with her cheeks puffed out. I instinctively lowered the finger I’d been about to poke her cheek with and added,
“Want to try it?”
I knew it too. A magical girl’s body was reconstructed from magic power, so trying to improve physical abilities through exercise like this was pretty stupid.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that. It actually works, surprisingly. See?”
But I’d gotten this far through repeating this idiotic routine. Sure, there was the issue that my magic power was pathetically low for a magical girl, but… in reality, the bad habit of constantly messing up because I couldn’t adapt to my transformed body had disappeared once I started exercising.
…Wouldn’t that sort itself out with time anyway? I don’t know. That’s not my problem.
“Senior… You’re only manly in useless ways like this.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Of course, all I got in return for my sky-high senior wisdom was a cold, contemptuous glare.
“You stink of sweat, so go wash up quick. You didn’t already forget we’re going out today, did you?”
“I didn’t forget. I was just planning to finish this and be done. Anyway, the sweat smell disappears once I transform back…”
“Wash up nicely while I’m asking politely. Ha-yul Senior.”
“…Yes, ma’am.”
This was weird. At first, she’d follow my every word with sparkling eyes. How did things end up like this?
“Seriously… Can’t even understand when I say let’s go on a date. Tch…”
“Huh? What’d you say?”
“Nothing. Just go shower already. If you make me wait any longer, I’ll drag you somewhere expensive to eat.”
Anyway, at this rate, our casual tteokbokki plan would escalate straight to steak, so I fled toward the showers while she grumbled behind me.
“You two should just date already. Kids these days are supposed to be so mature, but this is just embarrassing to watch. Sour, so sour. You punk.”
Maybe because I’d been focusing on Yu-na lately and slacking off at work, the Boss—who seemed even more laid-back than usual—approached me with the sourest expression imaginable.
“What’re you talking about? It’s not like that… Wait, you’re not saying stuff like that to Yu-na too, right? Don’t come crying to me if she reports you.”
“…It’s the same thing I always say, but hearing it from your transformed self kinda stings.”
“No excuses. Move. I’ll be broke if I’m late.”
“Huh? Need money? I keep telling you to just take it from my account.”
“No thanks. It’s money I don’t even use anyway—what’s the point of hoarding it? Use it for whatever you need. Seriously.”
True to form for a forty-something uncle, he started unloading a barrage of nagging, so I openly scowled, plugged my ears, and walked away.
“Hey, Ha-yul! If you need money, just say so! You’ve got tons, you brat!”
Seriously, even when I say I don’t need it and to just take it, he never listens.
Just hang out with me moderately today.
It had been over half a year since I met Yu-na, but this was the first time the girl who’d silently followed my insane schedule had ever asked me like this.
“Haa… The wind’s getting chilly now.”
“Cold?”
“No. Not cold or anything.”
She certainly wasn’t dressed for cold weather. Instead of her usual school uniform skirt and stockings, she wore long jeans, a white knit sweater, and a beige fall coat.
Not only that, but she’d even done light makeup if you looked closely, and her hair—which she usually let hang loose complaining it was a hassle to brush—was curled up neatly like a rice ball.
‘…What’s going on, seriously.’
I might be oblivious because I’m always focused on magical girl work, but even I could tell she’d put a ton of effort into her look.
‘Not her birthday.’
Of course, I wasn’t so clueless that I’d forget a junior’s—especially a sensitive middle schooler’s—birthday. I double-checked my mental schedule for any major events around sunset, but.
“Oh, look over there, Senior! A kitty! So cute…”
No matter how I racked my brain, today had nothing to do with this kid who’d wander off the path, distracted by a cat lounging lazily by the roadside.
Meow~.
And so, watching the cheese-colored cat roll over on its plump belly in front of the unfamiliar Yu-na.
“Ehehe, Senior likes cats too, right? I know everything! Go on, pet it! It’s super chill!”
“Uh, uhh…?”
Yu-na approached with a beaming smile that could warm anyone’s heart and grabbed my hand, plopping it straight onto the soft, fluffy bundle at my feet.
Murr…?
Unlike Yu-na’s gentle touch, maybe my stiff, rigid one felt weird. The cat, who’d been lying there enjoying her pets, looked up at me quizzically as if asking why I wasn’t stroking it. Unfortunately, I had a more pressing issue.
“Ahem, ahem.”
“Huh? Senior, you’re not catching a cold, are you?”
“…No, not that.”
Even with the thick knit and coat, I couldn’t hide the soft sensation. I pulled my arm away with effort, turning my head so Yu-na wouldn’t notice my flushed face, and kept clearing my throat.
It’s only because it’s me that I can stay this calm. If it were any other guy, how reckless could she be? Seriously.
“Heehee, Senior. Thanks for the meal!”
“It was just tteokbokki, no big deal.”
After somehow feeding the hyper puppy-like Yu-na who’d been bouncing everywhere and escorting her home before it got too late.
“Oh, wait. Senior!”
“Yeah, yeah. What now.”
“I have something for you, Senior!”
Standing with her hands behind her back, hiding something against the backdrop of the setting sun in the distance, she grinned brightly at me.
“Happy birthday, Senior!”
Yu-na handed me a small box as a gift.
“……Huh?”
I was stunned. Birthday? Whose? Mine? Was today my birthday?
“Open it quick!”
But before I could even process, Yu-na’s voice rang out… and like I was enchanted, I untied the red ribbon on the cute little box in my hand.
“…A necklace?”
“I’m still a student, so even with activity funds, it goes straight to my mom’s account. It’s not expensive or anything. But I really wanted to give you something, Senior!”
As I lifted it, the silver chain trickled coolly over my fingers, ending in a blue gem—sapphire, September’s birthstone—the same color as Yu-na’s hair in her transformed state.
“I didn’t know what you’d like, so I picked it myself… It’s not lame, right…?”
“…….”
“Senior…?”
I was truly caught off guard. It was a day I’d forgotten myself—a meaningless one that everyone around me would’ve overlooked too. But apparently, not for Yu-na.
“…Sorry. It’s been so long since anyone remembered my birthday. I was a little shocked.”
I was happy. In my exhausting, draining daily life, I’d received a truly precious day after so long.
“Thanks. I’ll treasure it.”
“Ehehe… This is more embarrassing than I thought.”
So when I carefully put on the birthstone necklace she’d given me and showed it off, Yu-na scratched her head with another bashful grin.
“But hold on. It’s my birthday, and I’m the one who bought dinner?”
With my heart settling, I voiced the sudden question and quietly looked at Yu-na.
“Ah— Um, well, y’know… Th-that’s that, and this is this!”
“Who said anything? If I’d known, I would’ve bought something pricier.”
“I like tteokbokki! You ate it all up deliciously!”
After dropping off the excited, hopping kid at her house.
“…….”
I slowly scanned the suddenly quiet surroundings, fiddling absently with the necklace that had been tickling my neck for a while as I headed home.
――.
No sound at all. Even though it was evening, the sun hadn’t fully set on this residential street. Strangely, utterly silent.
――.
Too quiet. Not even a whisper of wind. Just stillness.
――.
No presence, no magic power. Yet my eyes, out of habit, calmly sought out the Crisis Alert Devices around me.
――Thump.
The bulb at the end of the streetlamp-like device was off, as always. No yellow, no red. No blaring siren. Just black… pitch black.
Flicker.
…At first, I doubted my eyes.
Flicker, flicker.
The Crisis Alert Device patterns fall into three main categories.
Flicker, flicker, flicker.
Yellow light: Threats needing magical girl assistance—Amber.
Red light: Threats even magical girls can’t take lightly—Ruby.
And… black light: Immeasurable threats—Blackout.
Flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker.
In all my time as a magical girl, the worst threat I’d faced was Ruby. So I knew. If you didn’t focus, you wouldn’t even notice the light on that Crisis Alert Device. I knew what that black signal meant.
Flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker.
No need for evacuation orders. By the time you notice, everything’s gone. That’s why they call it Blackout.
“—Transform.”
No hesitation. If I didn’t, another magical girl would have to step up.
“Ha…”
And so, I… walked silently down the deceptively peaceful boulevard where nothing could be felt… and at an empty lot at its end, laid eyes on something silently killing the world.
“He seems really angry…”
As if nailed into the air. Inside the black hole slowly devouring everything around it, growing larger, blue pupils flickered like flames.