Academy Midterm Test: Facing Class 1's Magical Girl Prodigy?! (2)
These days, it seems the vice-chairwoman has been struggling to focus on her work.
In a sleek office located in Seoul, several staff members were chatting during their break.
“Yeah, I wonder if something happened to her.”
“She was called in as a witness by the Association after being at the gate incident site recently. Could that be why?”
“I doubt it. The vice-chairwoman isn’t the type to let something like that bother her.”
“Ah… I only caught a bit of this, but is it okay to talk about it?”
“What is it? I won’t tell a soul, so just give me the gist.”
“It sounds like one of the vice-chairwoman’s family members is seriously ill.”
“Really? Didn’t she mention having an older brother?”
“From what I heard, he hasn’t been able to get out of bed for three weeks now.”
“No way. That’s serious.”
“And after finally reuniting with him after so many years, it must be hitting her hard. Sigh.”
The employees’ chatter wasn’t loud enough to carry past the door. Thanks to that, Kim Jiah was able to sit undisturbed at her desk in the room labeled Vice-Chairwoman’s Office, processing paperwork with hands that barely moved.
Kim Jiah—otherwise known as the magical girl Blossom—had never been responsible for this kind of administrative work before. She had always led from the front lines, defeating monsters and racing around until her feet burned. In truth, her personality suited that role perfectly. She believed fighting monsters directly to protect citizens brought more satisfaction and meaning than wrestling with numbers and letters at a desk, and it matched her aptitude as well.
She had always pictured herself continuing to work in the field until the day she retired. Unfortunately, that dream never came to pass.
“Haa…”
Jiah leaned her chair back and checked her phone. The lock screen showed an adult man and a high school girl in uniform posing together with V signs. The girl’s face was bright and cheerful, while the man looked slightly shadowed and exhausted. The background was a rest area in an apartment complex bursting with cherry blossoms. Unlike the present, the chairs and facilities looked worn and faded.
Jiah stared at the lock screen until it finally went dark.
…
It was her older brother, Kim Jihoon’s old appearance. Unlike now, he had been tall with a strong build. Even as his little sister, she could admit he had a warm, handsome face. Just looking at him made people instinctively want to rely on him. That person no longer existed. In his place was only a frail, whiny little girl. A girl who seemed like she might shatter if touched too carelessly—that was her new older brother now.
Not only had his appearance changed; his personality had shifted so much that the actions and complaints he never would have made before left Jiah feeling confused. Still, none of that mattered. At his core, he was still her brother, and he was here with her now.
Having built up considerable fame and accomplishments as a magical girl, her bank account had grown quite comfortable. She had decided that, just as she had once received from him, she would now spoil her brother beyond anyone else’s means and live peacefully together. But one single obstacle stood in the way.
Jihye’s excessively long sleeping hours.
At first she thought it was an illness. She had taken her for every kind of detailed examination at multiple hospitals, yet each time only results saying no abnormalities found appeared before her. In the past, her brother Jihoon had never suffered from any sleep disorders like narcolepsy. Just what had happened during those nine lost years?
Speculation and guesses were useless. The evidence was far too scarce. In the end, Jiah resolved to become Jihye’s guardian—not merely in name, but in the truest sense.
Field work meant irregular hours. Monsters could appear anywhere at any time, requiring 365 days of standby readiness and immediate deployment the moment one emerged. That constant tension meant she couldn’t give her brother the attention he needed. So Jiah had requested a transfer to an office position. Thanks to a senior magical girl who understood the situation, she now sat in this role, but…
She gently traced the nameplate that read Deputy Chairperson of the Academy Education Committee, Magical Girl Association.
The accounting knowledge she had studied before the age of magic began proved useful, making the work itself easy to adapt to. The environment, however, was another story. Without physical movement, her body felt restless and heavy. Still, the lighter workload allowed her to leave early, pick Jihye up, bring her home, cook meals, and provide all kinds of care. It also made it possible to help Jihye adjust to the academy. After all, this position gave her direct contact with the academy principal and many of the faculty members.
Jiah examined the document on her desk.
Magical Girl Academy Midterm Test Schedule
Jihye, who still hadn’t woken up, would be unable to attend. “If she misses the midterm, school rules say it means repeating the year.”
She already felt terrible for forcing her sick body to attend the academy at all. The thought of a full year’s repetition was something Jiah could not accept. She kept digging through the academy regulations and bylaws, determined to make things as comfortable as possible for her brother.
I think I slept more than I expected. That was the first thought I had the moment I woke up. But there was no time to linger on it. The clock showed only thirty minutes left until I had to be at school.
“…Jiah? You home?”
Normally she would have scolded me with something like What are you going to do if you keep oversleeping like this, oppa! but the house was strangely quiet. Had she gone to work without me?
I checked her room just to be sure, but there was no sign of her. She wasn’t in the dressing room, the bathroom, or the storage room either.
“This has never happened before. …Well, I should just get ready for school.”
I opened the closet and put on the now-familiar uniform: a white dress shirt and checkered skirt. After pulling on the stockings, I paused, staring blankly.
Did I used to wear something over this?
It felt like my head was wrapped in fog. I didn’t remember having a bad memory, so why couldn’t I recall? Was it even the right weather for an outer layer? I couldn’t even clearly remember what season it was supposed to be.
“I’ll just wear it. If it’s hot, I can take it off…”
I threw on the cardigan I usually wore and roughly shoved my feet into what appeared to be a new pair of shoes before heading out the door.
Leaving the house with determination was all well and good, but that was where I hit a snag.
“How do I even get to the academy?”
Having always ridden in Jiah’s car to and from school, I had no idea which public transportation would take me there. I stood at the bus stop in front of the apartment complex for a moment, staring into space. Luckily, I spotted a taxi with its empty sign lit up in the distance. I waved frantically.
“Where to?”
“The Magical Girl Academy, please.”
“That’s outside the city, so there’ll be a surcharge. That okay?”
“…Yes.”
Jiah had given me a card to use whenever I needed it. A glossy black card. This should cover it.
“Haaaawn.”
The trees lining the road blurred past the window, leaving afterimages. Buildings and people, too. I simply stared at the scenery with a vacant gaze. The taxi driver eventually spoke up.
“…You a student?”
“Huh? …Ah, yes.”
“The Magical Girl Academy is one of the most prestigious of all the magical girl schools. You must be a good student.”
“Ahaha… Yeah, well. I did all right.”
I told the lie in a humble tone. After all, I had never gotten into the academy through studying. The only effort I’d made was scribbling my signature on the application form.
…Or had I?
I had studied hard. I distinctly remembered raising my grades, telling Mom I was going to a better high school, and bragging that I’d been accepted. I’d told Dad, too.
What? That’s strange.
Something felt off. Once I noticed the discrepancy, more things began to stand out. The cardigan bothered me—maybe because it was far too big for my frame, hanging all the way down to my thighs. The shoes weren’t my usual sneakers but rather cute white ones. My hair was a soft cherry-blossom pink, long enough to reach my chest, and it gleamed with careful maintenance. And my hands were tiny and delicate. The kind people called slender jade fingers.
“Hm?”
“Is something wrong, miss?”
“Ah… No, it’s nothing.”
I couldn’t tell what was wrong or what was right. I only felt a strange sense of alienation from my own appearance. I couldn’t think any further than that.
I turned on my phone. The wallpaper showed me and Jiah making V signs together. The image felt oddly unfamiliar.
Did I always look like this?
The widget on the screen told me it was already a little past nine—the start of the school day. I was definitely going to be late. Since I was already late, being a bit later wouldn’t matter. The remaining distance was still fairly far anyway, and it would be terrible if the driver rushed and caused an accident. I might be fine, but the taxi driver could get badly hurt.
I sat silently in the back seat, staring straight ahead for a long while. Why was I fine while the driver wasn’t? Even after arriving at the academy, I still hadn’t figured out the reason.
“We’re here, young lady.”
“Thank you.”
It was already well past nine—around nine thirty—when I reached the academy. And there I received an unexpectedly enthusiastic welcome.
“It’s your turn, Jihye!”
What on earth is going on? What is happening here?