Got Boost?
Next day.
With the school vacation ending the next morning, I stepped out briefly to enjoy a rare free day at home, one that had always felt too restless for me to truly relax in.
The air was crisp and clear, the bright sunlight bathing my body in warmth. Even as a human, I felt my cells humming with that familiar photosynthetic surge, a subtle energy flooding my veins.
My heart raced with unexpected vitality. I could almost sprint around the block for hours without tiring.
But that was not the path I chose.
I refused to waste the one rare moment of solitude I had earned in a long time. If I was going to rest alone, I would do so in the comfort of my room, buried under my favorite game.
By the way, Harin had taken it easy since the school rampage. She lounged on the sofa in her usual relaxed pose.
Why she had decided to treat my house like her own personal resort, scratching her belly with the same casual intensity as if she owned the place, was a mystery I had long stopped questioning.
Anyway.
I wandered a little farther down the ordinary street, soaking in the peaceful rhythm of the day. The quiet felt refreshing after weeks of chaos.
“Eh!”
A high-pitched exclamation from across the way.
A ponytail swinging like a banner, one hand gripping a oversized lollipop. Kim Min-ah waved excitedly the moment our eyes locked.
“Siwoo! What brings you here? Did you come to play?”
“Yeah, uh… Min-ah?”
“Of course! Vacation day! When else can I have fun like this? On school days? Never!”
“Haha, true.”
Before I knew it, the distance between us had shrunk to the point where we could have touched noses if we leaned in.
“By the way! I heard from Seoyeon that we were all confused about something?”
“The… oh, right.”
I blinked, momentarily confused by the missing subject. But the puzzle pieces clicked into place.
“That transfer student who left school?”
“Yeah. The ‘Special’ who claimed she was fighting as an ally but actually wanted to kill us.”
“That’s… weird.”
I had known the girl for years. Reuniting felt both right and strange. The emotional gap between us had narrowed, yet the shift still felt surreal.
Former magical girl. Former Demon King Army Executive.
Two identities that should never have been able to coexist. Yet here she was, one of us.
It was like saying light and shadow could share the same space.
Well… turns out they could. Go figure.
“Anyway!” Min-ah pointed a dramatic finger straight at me. “From now on, if you ever see that girl, you stay hidden and don’t scream! Got it?”
“Y-yeah. I… saw her once and almost panicked.”
It was a total lie. I had watched every single second of the fight, from start to finish.
“It’s okay! You couldn’t have known! Anyone would be scared!”
“Haha… yeah. No way I’d do something that stupid.”
Another lie. I had watched her fight too. If I hadn’t stepped in, Harin might have been seriously hurt.
“Oh! Since we ran into each other like this, let’s make it a celebration! Here—try this!”
Min-ah held out a strange cube-shaped treat. Black on the outside, with occasional streaks of yellow or green. When I took it between two fingers, it felt soft and chewy, almost like jelly.
“Jelly?”
“Sort of! It’s a snack I made myself!”
I stared at it. It looked more like dark candy than anything. A bit too firm for jelly, too… ominous.
“Dark Treats!”
“…I’ll eat it with pleasure.”
Third lie of the day. Baseball called it the third strike.
I needed to change the subject fast or guilt would eat me alive.
“Speaking of which… why come all the way out here?”
“Because my favorite comic cafe is right here!”
“A comic cafe? You like comics?”
“Of course! Well, I like other stuff more, but…”
“Hmm…?”
I tilted my head. If it wasn’t comics she was after, what were we doing paying for a fancy VIP room?
It was like throwing money away for fun.
“Ehehe! It feels great! Come on, follow me!”
She grabbed my arm and pulled me along, refusing any resistance. I could have shaken her off, but in this close contact, the wrong move would have been disastrous.
Her strength was absurd. No matter how I tried, my grip slipped.
This… was a magical girl…?
We ended up at a rather old-looking building. The second floor housed the comic cafe.
Inside, the facilities looked surprisingly modern. The owner clearly took pride in maintaining everything.
“Owner! Hi~!”
Min-ah beamed at the counter and dragged me straight to the back.
Further down, a private room labeled VIP Room stood waiting.
We stepped inside. A massive bed, a beanbag chair, a huge TV, a gaming PC, and shelves of comics and DVDs.
Who turned a comic cafe into a luxury gaming lounge with only one room?
Was I supposed to guess?
“Fufu! Just like you thought! I spent so much on activity funds that they gave me a private room!”
“Figures.”
I wasn’t surprised. But one question still lingered.
“Why a comic cafe?”
I knew the atmosphere changed outside the house, but why here?
“Fufu, you don’t know anything, do you, Siwoo.”
Min-ah twirled her index finger, then smiled mysteriously.
“My room doesn’t have soundproofing.”
“Ah.”
No soundproofing? No choice then.
“Heroes are too loud for my walls! Hahaha!”
With that, she leaped onto the bed.
“Sit! Make yourself comfy!”
I dropped into the beanbag instead, half-reclining.
“So… that’s why you asked about the comic cafe. It’s right here!”
The TV flickered on with a remote click.
It wasn’t a drama. Not anime either.
Real actors. Real locations. But suddenly they were battling in bright, colorful suits, fighting creatures that looked suspiciously like Demon King Army monsters.
“Tokusatsu?”
“Whoa! You know about it?”
“I’ve seen a few. Not many, but enough when I was a kid.”
“Then why are we watching it here?”
Even without soundproofing, you could watch tokusatsu at home, right?
“My parents got mad when I said I wanted to watch that stuff.”
“There are magical girls in real life too.”
“Exactly! If you’re gonna watch something weird, watch the real thing on TV. They’d probably say ‘what’s the difference?’ but I don’t know how to explain it.”
Min-ah grumbled, then reached into her Echo Bag and pulled out something strange.
On screen, a bizarre creature froze in front of another masked villain.
[Please! Give me a Dark Treat!]
“Dark Treats?”
I glanced sideways at Min-ah, who was already munching on one of the treats she had given me earlier. She chewed it with the same exaggerated delight as the creature on TV.
Wait… the name and appearance were identical.
And she was actually eating it.
I had thought it was just some weird silicone blob.
“Want some? I put a lot of effort into making these!”
“Uh…”
Whatever.
I popped one in my mouth and bit down hard.
The texture was like chewing on leather. Tough.
The flavor hitting my tongue…
“Gah!”
Sweet. Overly sweet. So intensely sweet that my face scrunched up and sleepiness threatened to overwhelm me the moment I swallowed.
Harin would have left half uneaten, muttering “This is a bit much.”
And that wasn’t even the strangest part. A bitter aftertaste lingered alongside the sugar rush.
Was it delicious? Disgusting? It was supposed to be a snack, yet the word “disgusting” felt oddly appropriate.
“Too sweet?”
“If I eat all of these I’ll get diabetes.”
“Haha! See? I went overboard! I accidentally dumped an entire bag of sugar in!”
Min-ah laughed brightly, then took a massive bite of her own treat.
No frown. She clearly loved the sweetness.
“The chef’s kiss is a total fail!”
She giggled and smiled again.
“But why do you want this so badly?”
“Um… call it an experiment. I wanted to know what it tasted like every time I watched. And since I was eating it anyway, watching made it even better. Why do you think they go crazy for it? Curious?”
“Well…”
It seemed Min-ah loved tokusatsu even more than I thought. Her fighting style was already a little different from the usual magical girl’s, so I had suspected.
Turns out I wasn’t wrong.
“Besides… it’s a dream I can’t reach.”
She gave me a shy smile.
“I want to save people like those heroes. Protect the world. What do you think?”
“It’s an amazing dream. I’ll cheer for you.”
“Thank you, Siwoo!”
Min-ah flashed a thumbs-up.
We watched the episode all the way through, then she turned to me.
“Hey… you liked tokusatsu when you were little too, right? What was your favorite?”
“Uh… I don’t remember exactly. Big robots transforming, mecha combining… that kind of thing.”
“Ah! The Side-by-Side series!”
“Huh? Side-by-Side?”
“Isn’t it the same tokusatsu?”
I turned my head, pure innocence in my eyes.
But her gaze was anything but innocent. It burned with confusion and anger.
“What?”