Life's Choice
"Ugh!"
Minutes later.
Harin let out a barely audible pained groan from between her lips, one she tried hard to swallow.
I could only stand there helplessly beside her, clutching her hand tightly to offer what little comfort I had.
"Ha... Harin... are you okay...?"
"N-no... not okay... dammit... ugh...!"
Her pained whimpers spilled continuously from her lips, her face twisted with deep, unrelenting agony.
I simply stayed right there, gripping her hand and fighting to ease her suffering, doing nothing else.
Even now, thick waves of pain and heartache still clung to her features.
Of course they did. No matter how little visible damage remained, that sword had been driven straight into her body.
And even if the class president had been gentle, her mind was still poisoned by the Demon King's Army brainwashing.
I couldn't shake the fear that the very healing I'd just performed might have become poison in return.
But then.
"U-uh... haaaah..."
The rough hitch in her breathing was the only comfort left.
I held her hand through it, forcing my racing heart to stay still, for nearly thirty minutes.
"Ha... it's over now. It doesn't hurt anymore."
Harin pushed herself up from the bed, then turned to look at me and the class president with a faint, unfamiliar smile she'd never shown before.
"Even with the brainwashing still in me... I think it'll be okay for a while. For now, anyway."
"Is there anything else wrong? Any lingering power inside me? Any pain...?"
"Hmm..."
Harin hesitantly touched the spot over her heart with her fingertips, then slowly clenched her fist.
"Break Up."
-BOOM!
Mana erupted from her body like a volcano, revealing the full form of a Demon King's Army Executive.
Her hair and eyes stayed the deep purple I'd grown used to, but her suit now left her abdomen and chest half-transparent...
A garment I'd once called hideous, one she'd worn with obvious disgust more times than I could count.
Yet now her lips curved into a gentle, truly peaceful smile instead of the usual sadistic or irritated smirk.
"Hmm. I'm fine. Doesn't feel like any clash. It might already be neutralized."
"Then the Demon King's brainwashing might have been stronger on the mental side. Next time, I'll aim for the head..."
"I won't do that."
Before the class president could finish laughing and offering to drive the sword into Harin's skull, Harin's expression hardened.
Just for a moment. Then the faint smile returned, and she met my eyes with careful caution.
"Siwoo. I need to talk to Pink-Hair for a minute. Can you give us a moment?"
"Eh? Uh, sure. Yeah. I'll wait in the living room when you're done."
I gave her hand one last light pat, stood up, and headed for the living room.
-Creak...
The door clicked shut behind me.
*****
"So..."
The instant Siwoo closed the door and left the room, Harin's voice dropped to a low, rumbling growl that sounded almost feral.
It was like the mask had slipped completely, exposing the raw agony beneath.
Seoyeon shivered at the sudden shift.
"You wanted to ask me something, didn't you?"
"H-how...!?"
"You know the moment you saw it. The way you tried to restrain me, and how you shouted 'Blue-head!' at school last time."
Seoyeon instinctively clenched her fist so hard it was almost invisible.
Her own body had tensed up without her realizing it.
"About your sister?"
"...Yeah."
She'd buried her slightly selfish feelings perfectly. She thought she'd forgotten the words she'd screamed during the school fight.
But Harin remembered them all too clearly and had pieced it together from the start.
Maybe that meant...
"Is there anything... you know? Harin...?"
Harin wouldn't lie if she knew something.
It felt wrong to ask a brainwashed former Executive like her, but Seoyeon couldn't drop it.
Most Demon King's Army members were either mindless or refused to speak for more than a few seconds.
Even when they seemed almost rational, they never gave honest answers.
So this meeting with Harin was crucial.
Seoyeon knew it herself.
Touching Harin's hidden wounds might be exactly what was hurting her most right now.
But there was no choice.
Helping Harin had been predicted the moment Seoyeon decided to ignore Association orders by using Harin as an excuse.
Some might call it pure kindness, and the resolve to save Harin right now was clear.
Still, Seoyeon felt the logic itself was twisted.
She'd been hunting for any thread of hope, any tiny clue.
"Do you know where your sister is? Even a trace would do..."
That had been part of the twisted logic she'd shouted while fighting Harin.
She hadn't expected it to come out so soon...
"...I'm sorry, but I don't know either. About your sister."
"Ah..."
The fragile hope she'd just remembered crashed back down.
"Originally, becoming a Demon King's Army Executive was a fairly recent change. If you'd been one before..."
"Y-yes... I'm sorry. I asked something pointless..."
Guilt gnawed at her. The decision had been born from impure motives.
"But I can say this for certain."
Seoyeon lifted her head.
"Your sister. That is, Lunafall herself or any trace of her."
"..."
-Swallow.
"She's definitely not in the Demon King's Army world."
"That's really true!?"
Seoyeon shot to her feet.
The hope she'd thought was fading flared back to life.
Even if it wasn't the decisive clue she'd been chasing, the fact that Lunafall's trace had vanished from the Demon King's world was deeply encouraging.
It was almost like narrowing two worlds into one.
"But if my memory is correct..."
While Seoyeon was still catching her breath, Harin continued in that low, rumbling voice.
"Lunafall clearly..."
She couldn't have gone missing.
"Correct. She was declared 'killed in action.' According to the Association."
Seoyeon hadn't been wrong after all.
Three years ago.
Near Iran and Afghanistan, the strongest invasion response yet.
Almost every magical girl on the planet had mobilized. Especially the strongest ones.
More than ten, including Lunafall.
But the reports that came back were horrific.
Most first-generation magical girls had been wiped out in the battle against the Demon King.
The only survivors were the last few who held out long enough to deliver the killing blow and force the Demon King to retreat.
Days later came the official announcement.
Magical girls whose bodies left no trace had been officially declared dead, including Lunafall.
Actually, the phrasing had been even harsher.
The site itself was completely destroyed now, turning over seventy percent of Iranian and Afghan territory into rubble.
There had been nothing left to hope survived beneath the debris.
"But I can't believe it. My sister... she couldn't have been there. There was no evidence, and they just announced she was dead."
"Because there was no trace left..."
"Until I saw it with my own eyes."
For a moment, Seoyeon’s voice dropped lower, and Harin’s body stiffened.
"I can't believe it."
"You..."
"I must find her. Evidence. If she's dead, her remains. If she's alive..."
"Find my sister..."
Harin swallowed hard at the wild, almost insane fire in Seoyeon’s words.
"Being twisted... feels like this..."
"Haha, sorry. Disappointed? You called yourself a magical girl who turns despair into hope with words, but now look at you..."
The fading sentence left the room in heavy silence.
Harin stared blankly at Seoyeon, head still lowered.
Then she spoke carefully.
"It's okay. If anything, I'm more twisted. You're... your sister really matters to you, doesn't she?"
"Yes. She's the only family I have."
"Yeah. Well... I get it. You helped me, after all."
"Thank you, Harin."
Seoyeon gave a small, warm smile.
The conversation ended, and they both stood, heading toward the door to tell Siwoo they were finished.
Then.
"Innocent Heart."
Harin stopped her.
"There's one thing I need to ask. Can you promise me?"
"Huh? What? Anything! Harin!"
Seoyeon answered with a bright smile.
"If..."
But Harin's next words were too heavy to accept with a smile.
"If my brainwashing gets worse and I end up trying to hurt you... especially Siwoo."
"Then you must kill me."
"That's..."
An impossible request.
Way too cruel.
Asking her own lonely, wounded friend to kill her with her own hands.
Innocent Heart could never agree to that.
But.
"I trust you."
Seoyeon immediately understood the hidden meaning behind Harin's words.
Only someone who knew her could deliver such a promise, which is why Harin had endured all this pain.
Seoyeon placed her hand over her own heart and nodded firmly.
"...Okay."
I hope that day never comes.
But if it ever does...
"I'll stop her for you."