Everything Begins
Haaa...
Early morning, school.
I arrived at school earlier than usual, collapsed into my seat, and let out a sigh so deep it felt like the whole world was vanishing.
Normally I would rise lazily, walk to school in my usual way, and simply attend class like an ordinary person.
Yet because that ordinary life had been shattered, was the ordinary commute itself somehow feeling strange now?
...Probably not. It was clearly because I had slept restlessly for two straight days.
"I'm tired..."
Even my eyes kept closing.
When would this unusual daily life ever end?
Maybe it would end soon, but no matter how I thought about it, it didn't feel like that would happen.
Caught between two magical girls, and one of them was even a former Demon King Army cadre.
Was this... really something that could happen in normal times?
I could swear it was rarer than winning the first prize in the lottery.
I would have been better off resting at least over the weekend.
Especially since I had been bothered by Harin two days in a row...!
Just as I was dozing off at my desk, head nodding over the surface.
"Hey, Siwoo! You came to school early today?"
"...Ah, class president. Nice to see you... Haaaam..."
As expected from the diligent class president, she had also arrived early.
Her greeting cut off midway, probably because she was sleepy.
"What's up, didn't you sleep?"
"Yeah. There were a lot of things going on..."
"Yeah, it makes sense you'd be tired... Your body's okay, right? Any issues since that time?"
"...Yeah, nothing's wrong."
While placing her bag on her desk, the class president kept glancing at me with the corner of her eye.
Of course she would.
She was living a life her friend—a magical girl—would never experience.
I had seen people slaughtered right in front of my eyes.
And even now, just thinking about that time made my stomach twist.
"Ugh..."
"Siwoo!"
She must have heard my small retching sound. She immediately ran over and placed both hands near my head.
At the same time, something soft and warm seemed to enter my head, and my mind grew calm.
"You don't look okay."
"I'm really fine. I was just thinking about something... unpleasant during our conversation. If I didn't think about it, it wouldn't be a problem."
"That's exactly why it's not okay!"
The class president cried out with a squeak.
"You didn't sleep at all! Dark circles appeared! No matter how you look, it's not okay!"
"..."
She had slept poorly, but for a different reason. It was better not to mention it now.
If I told her, it would only cause more trouble in multiple ways.
Even though she was a magical girl, right now she was a Demon King Army cadre.
And if I told her and somehow she helped like a miracle, Harin would never accept it.
She would probably get even more unstable if she felt I was lying to her.
At times, silence was the best answer when neither truth nor lies could be spoken.
"From now on, if anything feels off with your body, tell me right away! You don't need to transform to handle this!"
The class president pulled her hands away and warned me.
"...Got it."
Somehow the tiredness had faded, and perhaps because of the magic, the world felt beautifully clear.
I wished I could live the rest of my life in this state of mind.
But the fleeting high soon vanished, leaving only the refreshing feeling of having slept deeply.
...Yeah. If feelings like this lasted forever, it wouldn't be magic—it would be a drug.
The same letters appeared, but the difference between the two was vast.
"Huuu..."
With my body refreshed, I stretched and looked outside.
Several students arriving early had started appearing.
"By the way, class president."
"Hm?"
She had already hung her bag on the hook beside her desk and was taking out the prepared items from her bag, putting them into the desk drawer.
When I called her name, the class president's face turned around. Her expression was so bright and innocent, it seemed impossible for someone handling both being a model student and a magical girl.
It was as if tiredness didn't touch her body at all.
"You aren't tired?"
"Well, it's hard. I have to study and do magical girl stuff too. I leave late, and by the time my duties end, it's almost night or dawn."
Just as I thought.
Magical girls were clearly living a difficult life.
So how?
Was there a way to maintain condition with just three hours of sleep a day?
"Actually, magical girls don't really need to sleep much. You just use magic to blast things away in a flash!"
"What? Is that how it works?"
That was a lie.
Could she really stay at full condition, moving non-stop for twenty-four hours without rest?
That would mean she spent twice as much time as everyone else.
"Well... you can't stay awake forever. It's kind of like using magic to burn away fatigue! You should try it too... Ah."
"I can't use it."
"...Sorry."
"What are you apologizing for, class president?"
It was strange, this world.
Monsters from the Demon King's Army invaded and mana appeared? That was possible.
The ability to use magic and the magical girls who wielded it? That was possible.
But why couldn't just ordinary boys like me use simple magic?
"Hrm... Anyway. You can remove fatigue by using mana. The downside is you spend mana equal to the amount of fatigue you burn away."
"Oh ho..."
"If you can sleep, it's better to sleep. Usually people mix it with falling asleep quickly from magic. That way you reduce mana consumption."
"Amazing magic, this is."
"If you develop insomnia or something like that, tell me anytime! I'll run over and put you to sleep in one step!"
"..."
Just from hearing the words, it felt like the sentence should have "forever" attached to it.
...But the class president would never do that.
She was the magical girl Innocent Heart.
But the biggest problem was...
*****
"You're back."
-Slither slither...
When I returned home, there was Harin, just like last time, lying on the sofa in a single T-shirt and joggers.
Somehow, her mood was not good at all. Black tentacles were writhing around her.
Clearly she had calmed down and left last night, but now she had come back and was sitting in that state on the sofa.
Then, as I prepared to go to school, she exploded.
"Tch. You came all this way just to go to school?"
She seemed still displeased.
"So don't go?"
"Why would I? Did you see a Demon King Army member going to school?"
"..."
Yeah.
Even if she was a magical girl, she wouldn't see a Demon King Army member going to school.
...No, she had come looking for me after the attack. But that was different.
First, there was something I had to check right now.
"You kept the promise, right?"
"..."
"Harin, answer me."
"...I did."
After Harin’s brainwashing was calmed and we had talked, I learned something.
First, if I pushed her too hard, she couldn't respond.
Our relationship was like tug-of-war, and I could kill her in an instant.
But the reason this was possible was probably because somewhere deep inside her heart, there remained a sincere desire to return.
Second...
"Did you buy what I promised?"
"Yeah. Here it is..."
-Shashashak!
Before I could finish speaking, the tentacles writhing around Harin shot out, snatched the plastic bag from my hand, and pulled it in.
Then, like a sea otter that had received a gift of clams, she hugged it tightly to her chest and began tearing open the chocolate pie box inside.
...Anyway, the second thing was that a lot of my original self seemed to remain.
Why?
I remembered Harin had always eaten all the chocolate pies I had stored in the drawer every time she came to visit our house.
I liked snacks too, but I didn't like them as much as her, to the point of finishing a whole box in an hour.
Snacks were snacks. Why eat them as a substitute for a meal?
But she had been eating a whole chocolate pie box in just an hour since she was young.
Even now...
"Hey! You've already eaten five of them!!"
Just for a moment, I thought, and she had already forgotten five, then started tearing open another bag.
Her appetite was so intense it made me wonder if she would get diabetes from it.
"...That's my heart."
"Even if you get diabetes, I won't pay the hospital bills."
"You said that in kindergarten too, didn't you?"
"Ah."
Thinking about it, that was right.
Every time she came home, the chocolate pies I had left behind vanished in an instant.
"We always fought over that thing."
"You lost."
"..."
This girl...?
"You lost."
"You're crazy."
Harin blew a raspberry, then tore open another plastic bag.
She probably didn't know.
If she wanted, she would have fought with all her strength without holding back, and we would have been close without hesitation.
But the invisible barrier of being a different gender in her heart restricted her unconsciously.
If it weren't for that, she would have done it long ago...
"Sigh, no..."
I swallowed the words and sat down in the corner of the sofa.
The sound of her munching on chocolate pies nonstop came from the right side.
The tentacles writhing around her had also disappeared, probably because her mood improved.
"How's your condition?"
"...Hangry."
-Gulp.
With a mumbled reply.
-Tock.
The empty chocolate pie box fell to the floor.
Even after a long time, her appetite remained the same.
"Then, now..."
Harin stood up from the sofa and did a light stretch.
"It's time to go kill the demons."
"...What?"
What kind of nonsense was that?
"Hey, wait...!"
"Break Up."
-Kwaaaaaang!
A purple flash burst out, and I instinctively covered my eyes.
Eventually the light faded, and in front of my eyes stood Harin, transformed into a Demon King Army cadre.
Her purple hair and eyes glowed menacingly.
And...
"Let's go."
"What?"
With an intensely eerie feeling, she extended one hand.