Friend in Need
The first time I walked to school with Harin in ages, the atmosphere in the classroom during roll call was completely different.
The class president and the homeroom teacher were both staring at me with a mix of curiosity and relief that felt way off from anything I’d seen before.
It was like they’d somehow convinced her to come to class despite everything, but if I asked them how, they’d probably just give me a puzzled look and say they had no idea.
I’d barely noticed anything at all until the moment she showed up—until I was changing into my uniform and heading out the front door, only for her to suddenly start tagging along and insist she’d come too.
Thank goodness I’d gotten up a little earlier this morning. Otherwise I might have been late because of her without even realizing it.
Anyway.
Classes ended as usual, and the final bell rang for the day.
Harin was already asleep on her desk, wrapped in her blanket like she hadn’t moved all morning.
I sat quietly beside her, scrolling through my phone.
“Siwoo-ya.”
The sound of the desk creaking made me look up.
The class president pulled out the empty chair in front of me and sat down carefully.
He glanced at me, then at Harin, and back again.
“Harin, are you okay? I was worried after you didn’t come out for so long.”
“Ah… I’m not hurt. I just… didn’t feel like coming out.”
“Ugh… I know it’s Harin, but she doesn’t feel like her at all. What do we even do…”
The president’s face showed real concern. He’d been gone for months and now she’d changed so completely that it worried him.
Yeah, I could understand that.
I used to be close with Harin too, and I’d noticed her rough edges back then. But after we started talking again, the sudden shift still hit me hard.
Watching a girl who used to act like the perfect student suddenly turn into a delinquent could make anyone worried.
…But we could skip the part where it was “only” that serious.
“Hey, Siwoo, how are you doing? You okay?”
“Huh? I’m fine.”
“Really?”
The president gave me a sharp look.
“Siwoo-ya, we’ve always been friends, so if something’s bothering you, you can tell me. It’s okay…”
Just as the conversation was about to get serious.
**BOOM!**
“I’m here!”
“…?”
Harin’s back twitched from sleep, then she lifted her head and glared at Kim Mina with tired, annoyed eyes.
Through her messy bleached hair, those brown eyes looked like they carried a faint red glow. It was probably just my imagination, but it stuck with me.
No, it wasn’t. I remembered now—her eyes really were red.
While I was still thinking about it, Mina ignored the stares around us and walked straight over to my desk, then plopped down on it.
“Ah, sorry. Did I wake you?”
Mina noticed Harin’s glare and quickly lowered her head in apology.
“Tch.”
Harin still wasn’t happy about it. She buried her face even deeper between her arms.
Deeper than before.
“Mm…”
Mina yawned and went right back to sleep, then scratched her head with a sheepish look before continuing in a quieter voice.
“I was gonna go to the convenience store before we left, but I got bored going alone. Want to come with?”
“I’m in. What about you, Siwoo?”
“Well, the store’s…”
I glanced sideways at Harin.
I wanted to ask if she’d come too, but she’d already tucked her head back in right after I asked, so she must’ve been really tired.
I had no choice but to go with the two of them.
“Me too! Let’s go!”
“I’ll buy you whatever you want, Siwoo!”
Mina’s voice bounced back in her usual cheerful tone.
“You didn’t have to do that…”
I stood up with them, shot one last glance at Harin—still buried in her arms—and stepped out into the hallway.
Should be fine… if something happens, it’ll just be swept away by the chaos.
As we walked past the fewer students compared to the building size, the president spoke up.
“Hey, Mina, how’s your hobby going lately?”
“Of course! A little cold won’t stop me!”
“Glad to hear it. Just be careful not to get hurt.”
While I listened to the two of them talking about their hobbies—when they actually meant dealing with the Demon King’s Army—I took a few more steps and entered the store.
“Um… what should we eat?”
“I have to have a plain donut! Seoyeon, you have to try this too! It’s delicious!”
“Ah, I like that too. But I already ate it yesterday… so eating it two days in a row feels like a sin…”
“You’re right. It’s packed with flour and sugar… but that’s exactly why it’s so good, right!?”
“Ugh…”
The president crossed his arms, looking troubled that we were eating high-calorie snacks for the second day straight.
I… wanted a chocolate pie. I hadn’t had one in ages. Most days I’d buy one at home, but Harin always finished them before I could.
Sure, the donut was delicious, but something about a normal snack tugged at me more.
“I’ll have a chocolate pie.”
“What? Siwoo, did you pick the cheap one because I offered to buy it? You didn’t have to!”
Mina called out brightly, then glanced around and hurried over to whisper in my ear.
“I’ve got the activity fund!”
The magical girl activity fund the president had mentioned earlier.
Still, I wanted the chocolate pie.
“No, I really just like chocolate pie.”
“Oh? Okay, got it.”
Mina seemed satisfied.
Before long the president chose a donut as his snack too, and the moment Mina pulled out her card to pay, a piercing alarm blared from the school’s speakers.
“Another one!?”
“Tch! Mina, let’s go!”
“Okay!”
The happy expressions on both the president and Mina’s faces froze for a second.
We stepped outside and saw every student in the school sprinting toward the shelter.
I instinctively chased after them.
But they weren’t heading to the shelter. Instead, they ran straight to the shadowed corner of the school grounds.
They stopped there. The president raised one finger and waited, concentrating.
“…There’s one. Someone watching us.”
“What!? Who the heck…”
“Ah.”
Why had I even followed them?
The president’s and Mina’s eyes, which had been worried, suddenly turned to me.
“…Why are you here, Siwoo-ya.”
“Yeah…”
I answered while covering my eyes with both hands.
“You don’t have to see. Transform…”
“That doesn’t matter anymore!”
The president shouted in a burst of energy, then took a deep breath and braced himself.
Left hand raised near his shoulder, right fist down by his waist.
“Good, then I’m in too!”
Mina stretched both arms forward and crossed them like an X.
“Innocent Heart!”
“Purifier Blue! Let’s go!”
The president and Mina shouted their magical girl names.
“**Transform!**”
A swirl of pink and blue light exploded in front of us, and the wind made my eyes close on instinct.
When the light faded, two completely different magical girls stood there with determined expressions.
Innocent Heart in her pink dress, holding a magic wand.
And right beside her, Purifier Blue with her long ponytail whipping in the wind, blue jacket and long staff in hand.
“Let’s go, Blue!”
“I got it! Heart!”
The president turned, raised his magic wand high into the sky.
A faint pink ripple spread outward, covering the entire school.
“Third floor!”
“Got it…”
Right then.
**CRASH!**
The wall of the third-floor classroom shattered. Concrete chunks and rebar flew through the air with dust, while sharp glass shards glittered in the sunlight.
At the same time, countless tentacles speared through the Demon King’s Army monsters bursting out of the hole, and the monsters themselves—purple hair whipping wildly—were impaled from behind by more tentacles.
One Demon King Army Executive.
It was Harin.
**THUD!**
**CRACK!**
The Executive’s body on the ground shattered into pieces from the tentacles inside it. Meat chunks flew across the field, green liquid spreading between the sidewalk blocks.
**Gurgle, gurrrgle…**
“Die.”
**POW!**
The body exploded like a balloon pierced by a sharp needle.
The president and Mina stared blankly for a second, then snapped out of it.
“Executive!”
“That’s her?!”
“Yeah, we have to capture her!”
“…Got it!”
**Flash!**
Two magical girls with arms extended blocked Harin from both sides at the same moment.
“Demon King Army Executive! You’ve been slaughtering our allies again! Why!?”
“Just surrender! Then… I won’t hurt you!”
“Hmph…”
Harin shifted her gaze between them, then twitched both hands as if annoyed.
Tentacles writhed as they locked onto the two girls.
Then, suddenly.
The president’s expression turned ice-cold as he stared at Harin.
“…That windbreaker.”
He pointed at the black windbreaker Harin was wearing, then aimed the tip of his magic wand straight at her.
“It was clearly the one my friend was wearing!”
“What!? B-But…”
“…?”
Harin’s face paled instantly.
No… I couldn’t tell the distance, but it felt wrong.
The president then summoned countless magic spells and aimed them at her, shouting so loud it felt like the whole world was collapsing.
“Owner of that windbreaker! What exactly did you do! Answer me!”
“…?”
I stood outside their sight, feeling a strange mix of relief and frustration at the same time, and rubbed my head hard.
That’s mine, president.
**CRITICAL HIT!**
The purple-haired Executive let out a low growl, her tentacles lashing out like living whips, each one cracking through the air with a sound that made the ground tremble.
She moved with the same effortless grace I remembered from years ago—only now it felt heavier, like every swing carried the weight of guilt and something darker.
“Harin… you don’t have to fight alone,” I said softly, stepping forward despite the danger.
She didn’t answer. Her red eyes only narrowed, but I could see the tremor in her shoulders.
The class president’s voice cracked with frustration.
“Siwoo, stay back! This isn’t your fight anymore!”
But I couldn’t. Not after everything she’d done for me, not after the kiss that still burned on my lips.
**BOOM!**
A tentacle slammed into the ground, sending a shockwave that knocked over benches and sent students scrambling.
Mina’s eyes widened.
“Harin! What’s wrong with you?!”
Harin didn’t even glance at her. She simply turned her head toward me, and for a split second the red in her eyes seemed to soften.
Just for a moment.
Then the darkness swallowed it again.
The president raised his wand higher, voice shaking.
“I’m not letting you hurt anyone else! Innocent Heart—**Shield Wall!**”
A thick wall of pink light rose in front of us, but it was already cracking under the pressure of the tentacles.
“Purifier Blue—**Twin Speed!**”
Mina blurred forward, staff swinging in a blur of blue light, but one tentacle caught her and hurled her into a wall.
She hit hard, coughing blood.
“Ugh…!”
Harin’s expression twisted in pain.
She knew.
She could feel every strike, every bruise.
Her voice came out small, almost breaking.
“Siwoo… run… please…”
But I stayed.
The windbreaker on her shoulder fluttered in the chaos, and I noticed something I hadn’t before.
The fabric was stained—not just from blood, but from something older.
Something that smelled like regret.
The president’s face went pale as he realized it too.
“That windbreaker… it’s the same one from the day we met, right? The one that blocked your attack…”
Harin’s tentacles froze mid-swing.
For the first time since she’d appeared, her grip on the monsters weakened.
The president saw it.
“Harin! You’re trying to hold back!”
He didn’t waste time.
“**Purification Ray!**”
A concentrated beam of pink light shot toward her.
But Harin didn’t dodge.
She raised her wand instead.
The windbreaker on her shoulder glowed faintly.
“Siwoo… I’m sorry…”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
The beam hit her.
The explosion was massive.
But when the light faded, she was still standing.
The tentacles around her had stopped moving entirely.
“…”
The president stared, stunned.
Mina pushed herself up, blood on her lip.
“Harin… what did you just do?”
Harin looked at me.
Her red eyes were clearer now, no longer glowing with madness.
Just exhaustion.
And something else.
Something that looked a lot like love.
“I… I can’t keep fighting like this,” she said quietly. “Not with you two watching.”
The president’s voice was soft now, almost gentle.
“Harin… you don’t have to carry it alone anymore.”
She nodded once.
Then, without another word, she turned and walked away.
Her steps were slower than before.
But they were steady.
The windbreaker on her shoulder moved with her, still stained, still heavy.
But for the first time in years, it didn’t feel like a chain.
Just a reminder.
Later that evening, back in the classroom, Harin sat at her desk again.
This time she didn’t sleep.
She just stared at the ceiling, fingers tracing the edge of her windbreaker.
I sat beside her, shoulder to shoulder, quiet.
No one spoke for a long time.
Then she turned her head slightly.
“Siwoo…”
I waited.
She swallowed.
“…Thank you. For not leaving me.”
I smiled faintly.
“Always.”
She closed her eyes, and for the first time in a long time, the corners of her mouth lifted just a little.
Not a full smile.
But enough.
The guilt was still there.
The obsession.
The pain.
But so was something warmer.
Something that felt like home.
The president leaned back in his chair, watching us with soft eyes.
“Welcome back, Harin.”
Harin didn’t answer.
She just reached out and took my hand under the desk.
Her fingers were cold, but they held on tight.
Like she was afraid I’d disappear if she let go.
And maybe, for the first time, she wasn’t.
The bell rang for the end of the day.
We didn’t move.
We just sat there, three of us, in the quiet classroom.
The windbreaker on her shoulder fluttered once in the evening breeze from the open window.
And somewhere far away, the Demon King’s Army still marched.
But for tonight, at least, the world felt a little smaller.
A little safer.
Just the three of us.
And the memory of a kiss that had changed everything.