A Place Where We Both Are
Like someone who had found a hidden treasure, the homeroom teacher's eyes sparkled.
No, it wasn't just a sparkle. It was a gaze brimming with curiosity and a tangle of other emotions.
Harin, what about her name?
"You... you really met Harin!?"
"Th-that...?"
I didn't know what had happened to turn her so aggressive all of a sudden.
A bad feeling crept over me.
There was that saying—one word could repay a thousand gold debts.
Or, put another way, one wrong word could create a thousand gold debt.
This was exactly that situation.
"Th-thank goodness... You were alive..."
The homeroom teacher sank onto the sofa, running both hands over her chest as if checking that she was still there.
"W-what? What happened, homeroom teacher..."
I wanted to know the reason.
There had to be a reason she was making such a fuss before calming down.
Without knowing, the conversation would definitely drift off into parallel lines.
Or cross like a vertical line.
"Actually... I went missing a few months ago."
"Ah."
"We were supposed to go to the same competition, but she disappeared at some point... I worried so much..."
"..."
There wouldn't be any magical girl competition like that.
Probably just some school-organized academic competition for advancement.
Suddenly, I wondered if there were training camps or study trips for magical girls.
...No, damn it. Why was my mind always wandering off like this.
Anyway.
"So...! How is Harin doing!? How's her condition...? Where has she been and how has she been living...!"
The homeroom teacher started unloading questions at me without pause.
Simple greetings, how she was doing, how she'd been living during the disappearance—ordinary questions at first.
Then sharper ones about where she'd been during the missing period and why she hadn't come back to school after returning.
They weren't sharp so much as they made me flinch, as if she was the only one being tested.
"Ho-room teacher... my head hurts..."
"Ah...!"
Plus, the endless questions had me forgetting even the first one after minutes of nonstop talking.
Moreover, for someone like me who rarely had long conversations, the clear, ringing voice right beside my ear made everything feel painfully clear.
It felt exactly like the hollow that Harin always complained about was ringing like this.
"Cr, cruh... Sorry. Anyway, can you tell me?"
"Uh..."
I paused, lost in thought.
I wasn't skilled at lying.
Especially not when fabricating something on the spot that had to be long and detailed.
In the end, I had no choice but to tell the truth while hiding as much as I could.
That I had been friendly with her in the past and had recently reconnected.
Then we made a promise, came here, and a Demon King's Army invasion alarm suddenly rang.
Since the promise was over, I had run off without looking back, but I worried that I might be drawing aggro, so I quietly hid in the alley instead.
"Um... I didn't see who handled it?"
"I didn't see."
About half was true.
It was a brutal sight that twisted my stomach every time I saw it,
and I didn't want to see it if I could avoid it.
Of course, I had seen it a few times unwillingly.
Should I call this adaptation, or...?
"Sigh... Did some civil war break out...? My head hurts..."
"I don't know."
If even the magical girls didn't know, then Lee Harin's actions were truly like that...
Should I be happy that there were more allies now, or not...?
"Well, even if the numbers decrease, isn't that good in its own way...?"
"None of it, Siwoo."
As expected.
"They are beings with only destruction in their heads... The reason they fight is probably something trivial...!"
True.
No matter how much they fought, protecting and saving people was different from suddenly going insane and fighting each other.
Harin was neither, but if you thought about it carefully, she was closer to the latter.
Still, recently she hadn't glowed from brainwashing, and she didn't speak or act recklessly toward me.
Instead, it seemed she was venting that stress by tearing apart the Demon King's Army monsters that invaded.
The target wasn't me, though.
"Sigh... Anyway, I'm glad you're safe, Siwoo. Is Harin safe too?"
"Yeah."
While thinking that, I kept simulating in my head how to handle this situation.
I had to answer, so I simply nodded while saying...
"Sigh... I don't know how to write this in the report... Sigh, anyway. I'm glad you're not hurt. Harin... I haven't seen her face, but since I heard the news..."
"Yeah..."
"By the way, Siwoo. When you have time later, can you call Harin?"
"Yeah."
"Really? Thank you!"
...Wait a second.
I answered a question I shouldn't have at the end.
"Ah, um. Homeroom teacher. About Harin..."
-Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!
"Ah! Siwoo! Sorry! I have to go! See you later!!!"
In the end, I couldn't properly correct the homeroom teacher who rushed out of the cafe.
When I got home, I would be killed.
1000%.
*****
"Ya, this damn..."
I knew this would happen.
When I mentioned the promise I made with the homeroom teacher at home, half willingly, Harin's face immediately soured.
"You went crazy? You want me to meet a magical girl? Huh? What a good promise, tying an executive with a magical girl in one place?"
"No... that..."
I couldn't tell the story of how my thoughts and answers got mixed up and I said something wrong.
Of course, it was 1000% my fault, but I didn't want to be killed because of my mistake.
So, right now, I had to somehow soothe and persuade this sharp childhood friend.
"Uh, I had no choice... I was talking to avoid getting caught..."
"I don't understand at all how I ended up making a promise to meet her."
Every word was filled with murderous intent.
I thought if I said this out loud, I wouldn't die, but...
Since Harin told me honestly too.
"...Sorry. My mistake."
"What?"
"Th-that... While talking to the homeroom teacher, I was worrying about how to respond, so I gave a positive answer to the request to meet you later..."
"Damn."
Harin, who was crouching on the sofa, shot up and came straight toward me.
"By the way, well done. Yes!"
The voice was mixing even more severe anger and irritation.
In front of such Harin, I just lowered my head.
"...Sorry."
"...Hah."
-Tsk.
Harin clicked her tongue briefly, then sat back on the sofa as if tired.
"...Since it's your doing, handle it yourself."
"So, um..."
"What."
...If I pulled out one more word here, I might not be choked to death?
No, I was already choked once.
Twice, it was like stepping on fire.
Three times, it was like almost crossing the three rivers.
With this, four times would be difficult.
"So, if I just meet her once... won't that be okay?"
"No."
"..."
Instant answer without even considering.
"Well, even if magical girls are like trash, no. Originally, I'm not human anymore. Don't you see this?"
-Squirming...
Harin poked the writhing tentacles at the ends of her fingers.
"True, it doesn't look like that."
"What?"
Harin's expression suddenly turned ugly.
What? Why suddenly that expression...
"...Ah."
Wait.
Stop those tentacles that were about to pounce right now.
That's not what I meant.
"That tentacle! It doesn't look like that! Because of that tentacle!"
"...Speak properly."
"Sigh..."
Anyway.
It was time to bring out the story I had thought of on the way.
"You said last time that brainwashing seems to decrease a bit if I'm around you."
"That's right."
"Then, being close to me for as long as possible is better for you, right? Isn't that so?"
"...That's right."
I think I persuaded about 70%.
"You know the homeroom teacher. I heard you went to the same competition."
"...Did we?"
The thought I heard just now is canceled.
If you don't know, how can I know?
"...Hah. Sorry. My memory is all messed up. Like the film is cut, I can't connect properly."
"Ah..."
"If I meet her and she notices something weird about me, what then? Then you won't end up fine either."
"...That's true."
After months of absence, the girl became a delinquent and her memory was incomplete.
The homeroom teacher would definitely feel something's wrong.
"But, Harin. Think about it."
I started explaining the plan that came to mind step by step to Harin.
"After all, what are you going to do without me."
"...Stay home."
"Yeah, you're staying home alone. Instead of that, wouldn't it be better to be together at school even if you don't do anything?"
"...That makes sense."
"When you go to school, there are meals, and... you can just sleep without studying. Sleeping outside would be uncomfortable."
Harin nodded, seeming to understand.
"But magical girls are uncomfortable..."
"If you just sleep, you won't have to bump into anything... right?"
"...Okay. But, there's a condition."
She got up from the sofa and came straight toward me.
Every time I looked at her red eyes, I felt something, but I couldn't grasp what she was thinking.
Is she going to demand a box of choco pies every day?
"...I'll live at your house too."
"What?"
"Otherwise, I won't go to school. I won't meet that homeroom teacher either."
"Ah, no... but that's a bit..."
Different gender.
No matter how childhood friend, you're a bit scary now.
I asked with a sense of impossibility.
But.
"If I don't live at your house, I'll have to live outside. Then a lot of irritation will pile up."
"..."
"Then, I might grab random people passing by and kill them. Is that okay?"
"Live there..."
I couldn't resist the coercion.
Even from a Demon King's Army executive.