The Bitter Aftertaste Hidden in Our Promise

That evening.

The class president gathered the unconscious Kim Min-ah in her arms and headed for her house.

Having come back to my senses, I followed behind her in silence.

She laid Kim Min-ah carefully on the bed, was quiet for a moment, then turned toward me.

"...Siwoo. Don't worry."

The class president set a hand gently on Kim Min-ah's forehead, then took her hand.

"There's still a chance. I... I can reverse this. I will, I swear. So don't worry too much."

She offered a bitter smile.

But the anxiety behind her eyes trembled anyway — faint, unmistakable, impossible to hide no matter how hard she tried.

The eyes of Kim Min-ah lying right beside her, eyes that had once sparkled like the sun, were empty now. Stripped of all brilliance and life, they stared out as vacant as a hollow void.

Even so, the situation still refused to feel real. My senses and my thoughts only caught up after a delay.

It wasn't until several tens of minutes had passed — until a few minutes after the class president had already gone — that I finally managed to collect myself.

And then.

"Ugh...!"

An irresistible wave of nausea surged up my throat.

"Uweeeh...!"

I barely held it in long enough not to vomit on the spot. I half-crawled, half-ran to the bathroom, flung the toilet lid open, and emptied my stomach.

Vomit rose through my nose. The rancid stench only made the retching worse.

Those curse-like words that bound me — words I could never resent, never refuse — kept buzzing in my ears.

"Kh, uweh...!"

Tears spilled over and kept falling onto the vomit filling the bowl.

In a pain like coughing up blood, I clenched the toilet seat without meaning to — hard enough to leave marks in the plastic.

"Hah... hah..."

I barely got to my feet, stood before the sink, and soaked my ruined face with water. I cupped water in my palms, rinsed my mouth, and spat it out.

I put the lid down, flushed, and stood in front of Min-ah once more.

Her chest rose and fell, over and over. She was definitely alive.

It ate her consciousness, they'd said.

The moment I followed that thought, something like an auditory hallucination rang through my ears again, and a vicious dizziness crashed over me.

"...Class president."

Before I could even brace myself, the class president's face as she told me not to worry overlapped with the sight of that child devouring people.

I burst out of the class president's house as if fleeing for my life, and I ran. I ran and ran, forcing my feet to keep moving, until I arrived at the place Lee Harin was staying — my house.

I wrenched the front door open with a bang and threw my gaze toward the sofa.

"What the fuck. Why the hell do you look like—"

Lee Harin startled as she took in my appearance, then trailed off, bewildered.

Of course she would. I'd run without rest. My whole body was soaked in sweat, and dark tear-tracks stained the corners of my eyes.

How grotesque must I look. How pathetic.

"...Harin."

I hadn't even remembered to take off my shoes. I walked past the entrance and came to stand in front of her. My voice, roughened from all the vomiting and the running, called her name with care.

Lee Harin seemed to sense something was wrong. She stopped talking and quietly began to listen.

"...Help me. The class president. Min-ah."

"The hell are you talking about."

In a trembling voice, I started explaining to Lee Harin everything that had happened. How we'd been sitting in the park when a little kid walked up. How that kid had eaten the tteokbokki restaurant auntie, and the other civilians with her.

Just recalling it and putting it into words was agony. But I had no choice if I wanted her help.

"And... that Voracious kid... she ate Kim Min-ah's consciousness. The class president — the class president said she could reverse it, but..."

"...You can't just sit still?"

I nodded without a word.

"Haa... you, seriously...!"

Lee Harin raked her fingers through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her hair in irritation, then sank deep into the sofa and answered.

"What?"

The hopeless answer I couldn't believe came back to me.

"She can't win. Not with Pink-Hair's power the way it is now."

"What... are you talking about. She fought you. I still remember her going toe-to-toe with you..."

"For a rookie magical girl, yeah, she's the real deal. I was caught off guard back then too. But that time... my brainwashing had cracked a little because of you. That's why. And besides..."

"Besides... besides what!"

I raised my voice at Lee Harin, who scarcely ever raised hers, and shouted the question at her.

Only then did she discard her hesitation and lay out the honest truth.

"She's fully gorged right now. Including Blue-Hair's consciousness. She's eaten her fill. There's no way Pink-Hair can win..."

"Harin. I'm begging you."

I dropped to my knees.

"Please... please... isn't there a way? Anything. I don't care what..."

"...Tsk."

Lee Harin looked down at me, then flicked her gaze out the window as if the whole thing were a bother.

Of course. Even Lee Harin wouldn't want to help a magical girl.

Then I have to. I have to help the class president myself...!

"Make her throw it up."

"What?"

"The people she's already eaten and killed can't be brought back even if she vomits them out. But if it's only a consciousness she swallowed, you can restore it by making her throw it up. It won't be easy, of course."

"Ha — Harin...!"

I lunged at her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"A-are you insane! Get the hell off me!"

"Thank you. Thank you so much...!"

"Let go of me!!!"

The middle floor of an abandoned building, left to ruin after a Demon King's Army raid.

The concrete was broken through in places, steel rebar exposed and bent or slowly rusting, junk scattered across the floor.

"So this is where you were."

A magical girl in a fluttering pink dress landed and addressed the white-haired girl sitting on a stack of wooden boards as if they were a chair.

She had the lid off a convenience-store lunch box she'd brought from somewhere, and she was devouring it with greedy, single-minded hunger. She wore the same clothes and wore a similar expression as when they'd seen her at the tteokbokki shop.

To think no one had noticed the monster hiding behind that face.

"Hm? Ah! The pink-haired magical girl from before, is it? For what reason hast thou come seeking me?"

"Give me my friend back this instant! Otherwise... I will eliminate you!"

"Kyahaha! What a hilarious joke thou makest!"

Voracious sprang to her feet, toddled across the wooden boards, then hopped down to the floor.

"I showed thee that much mercy only because thou art a friend of Brother Jung Siwoo. Ought thou not give thanks that I even spared thy life?"

"Enough of your nonsense!"

Countless magical orbs bloomed behind Innocent Heart, bathing the building's floor in a soft pink glow.

A chain of detonations tore through the floor.

"Uwaaah! To attack so suddenly! How cruel!"

Startled by the sudden indiscriminate bombardment, Voracious passed through a membrane that rippled in midair.

Her hair and eyes dyed themselves purple. The dress that had fluttered so demurely tore to shreds, laying bare her bestial nature. Sharp claws and fangs turned toward Innocent Heart.

"Hah — kh...!"

Innocent Heart understood it by instinct. She'd definitely landed several Magic Missiles before Voracious revealed her true form. Not a single scratch remained on Voracious's body.

"Even so... I can't give up...!"

Still vivid before her eyes was Purifier Blue, staring into empty air with vacant pupils. And right beside her, the precious friend who'd been driven to the brink of despair.

So.

"I will never give up!"

She forged sharp spears from thin air and loosed them at Voracious in an instant. The air split. The colliding mana spears struck and scattered acrid smoke through the air.

But.

A wet, tearing crunch.

"Mmm! Magical girl mana truly is a delicacy! Being of the purification type, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it doth make my stomach churn a little... but 'tis no matter!"

Voracious reversed the atmosphere around her in an instant, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wearing a wicked smile.

"Kh...!"

In that moment, Innocent Heart realized that no matter how high she raised her Imagination Resolution, her mana would not gather. It was as if every spell had been sealed away — as if she had been reduced to an ordinary civilian.

Sensing the ominous presence, she loosed a mana spear she'd fashioned in haste.

The spear rang off Voracious, then merely flew far off, struck some irrelevant place, and exploded.

"How exciting. I do wonder what a purification-type magical girl tastes like...!"

Voracious licked her lips and approached Innocent Heart one slow step at a time.

When only a few steps remained—

"Hm?"

Voracious glanced toward the place the mana spear had bounced away, then turned her head back toward Innocent Heart.

"Well then... I shall partake with gratitude."

Her jaws unhinged, opening onto a gluttony that would never end.

Gazing at the place where Innocent Heart had been, she bit down.

With the sound of something shattering to pieces, Voracious—

"...Ulp!?"

Her face twisted.

"Mmph — uweeeeeeeh!!!"

She collapsed onto the floor and began to vomit.