The Magical Girl Prodigy from the Next Class Boldly Came to Befriend Me (7)
Cha Seoyeon paused mid-feedback and glanced toward a corner of the training hall. A familiar group of students had gathered there, chatting among themselves. “Look over there, Seoyeon. When did those kids get so close?” “…Good question.”
The three students formed a very familiar combination. From classroom to training hall, they had been inseparable ever since entering the academy. But as Eun Chaekyung, homeroom teacher of Class 1, pointed out, one of them was a new face. Cha Seoyeon was quietly surprised to see a student who wasn’t even in her class blending so naturally into the group.
She had already heard the rumors. More than that, she had witnessed the truth with her own eyes during the sparring exam. This was the Class 1 ace Eun Chaekyung never stopped praising—the young magical girl who had even made the newspapers and earned the nickname “prodigy,” Yun Yuri.
Despite her outstanding skills, Eun Chaekyung often grumbled that the girl was mentally immature and quite a handful. “Looks like kids really do need to fight and clash to grow close.” It felt odd saying that about girls instead of rowdy teenage boys, but Cha Seoyeon agreed with the sentiment and offered no objection.
Sparring had a way of forging understanding. For the lonely Yun Yuri, her match against Kim Jihye must have been both salvation and recognition. That was how Cha Seoyeon saw it.
Her guess seemed to hold true beyond mere speculation. From a distance, Yun Yuri could often be seen sticking close to Kim Jihye. Given Kim Jihye’s usual personality, it was safe to assume she would never be the one initiating such closeness, so Cha Seoyeon felt her theory was confirmed.
“I was a little worried, to be honest.” “About Yun Yuri?” “Yeah. Our Yuri’s skill as a magical girl is top-notch, but her interpersonal relationships have been shaky. She’s such a training fanatic, and her pride is so strong that even as class president she struggled to connect with her classmates.” “Sounds like things worked out for the best.” “It does. Just like you said, Seoyeon.”
Eun Chaekyung spoke with a noticeably more relaxed expression as she watched the group that included Yun Yuri. There, Yun Yuri was laughing brightly like any other girl her age. Chaekyung had only ever seen her looking restless, as if constantly chased by something, so this new sight felt strange. Still, it wasn’t a bad change.
Training hard as a magical girl was admirable, but at the end of the day she was still a girl in her prime—especially Yun Yuri, who was two years younger than her peers. Watching her already act so mature and push herself excessively had been painful for a teacher to witness. Even so, she had once told herself that raising an outstanding magical girl required such sacrifices. Now, seeing this, she felt a small measure of forgiveness toward her past self.
“By the way, Seoyeon, what exactly is that kid?” “…If you mean Kim Jihye, I don’t really know either. She’s had a mysterious side ever since enrollment.” “I took you at your word when you said she was a pure-blood mage type, but that final match proved otherwise. She handled artifacts at a high level and was even exceptional in hand-to-hand combat. She never once showed any magic during the fight.”
Cha Seoyeon merely shrugged at Eun Chaekyung’s pointed questions. “She claims to be a pure-blood mage type herself. Says she has no interest in martial arts or equipment.” “And still performed at that level? That doesn’t make sense.” “On the day of the entrance exam, no matter how much she held back, she still read and dodged my Ki Palm Strike completely.” “Your signature technique?”
Eun Chaekyung looked genuinely shocked. During Cha Seoyeon’s active days as a magical girl, her Ki Palm Strike had been so famous that almost no one was unaware of it. The punch, launched at speeds difficult to react to, was something mage-type magical girls could never hope to dodge, and even among martial artists only a tiny handful had ever succeeded. Even at her own peak, Eun Chaekyung would have counted herself lucky to avoid it. For a mere academy freshman to dodge it so casually was absurd.
Teachers tended to boast about their own students more than others, but this claim crossed the line. Eun Chaekyung stared steadily at Cha Seoyeon, suspecting exaggeration, yet Cha Seoyeon maintained her usual blunt expression. Slightly annoyed, Eun Chaekyung received only Cha Seoyeon’s quiet thought in return: Why is she looking at me like that all of a sudden? Does Chaekyung also find Kim Jihye intriguing?
Cha Seoyeon was a far simpler person than she appeared. “All right, I understand. It’s clear you have a special fondness for that child.” “Mm.” “I hope they continue to be good rivals for each other from now on.”
At those words, Cha Seoyeon nearly let out a dry laugh. There was no mockery intended, but if she had laughed it would surely have been taken that way. She congratulated herself on her self-control. How could a wolf in sheep’s clothing ever become rivals with a sheep? Their relationship was that of a fully seasoned veteran and a chick that had only just learned to walk. They could never be rivals. It would be an insult to the veteran who had walked such a grueling path.
Of course, Eun Chaekyung had no idea about Kim Jihye’s true identity, but even so Cha Seoyeon found the suggestion excessive. Had she really not sensed the dissonance in Kim Jihye? That sly, veteran-like aura unique to top-tier magical girls? That strange atmosphere reminiscent of the academy principal could never be hidden simply by trying to hide it.
Cha Seoyeon didn’t know the details of Kim Jihye’s past, but she could guess through the peculiar air that clung to her. The information obtained through Kim Jiah wasn’t particularly important. She trusted her own intuition. That was simply how martial-artist magical girls operated.
I had never felt this completely drained even during my old special lecture tours. Every muscle in my body was loudly protesting its exhaustion. On top of that, my mind was begging me to sleep right away. After running an impromptu tutoring session while already an hour short on sleep, drowsiness hit me a full two hours earlier than usual.
Of course, today’s session had been especially grueling for another reason—the two new faces who had joined us. Once we reached the latter half, the kid started bombarding me with questions about concepts and knowledge Salbyeol had never taught her. Ever since ending up in this body, I could no longer keep up with a child’s boundless energy. Dealing with someone whose constitution was the exact opposite of my own, while half-asleep and completely drained, was no easy task.
According to the class president, she had never shown this side of herself before. I couldn’t imagine how she had managed to suppress such a lively personality all this time. Then there was the plump little long-tailed tit—wait, was it a titmouse? I couldn’t quite remember. Either way, the bird had always been the excitable, fussy type, so I had found it a little awkward to deal with even back in the day.
Every time I explained magic to Yun Yuri, it would chirp things like, “I didn’t teach her this part! Please focus on explaining this!” or “You can skip this section. Yuri already understands it perfectly!” and generally make a noisy fuss. It was fortunate that no one else could see it; if they could, someone would have slapped it for being so loud. Even back in Magica, if it hadn’t been for Gaenari I probably would have cut ties with it long ago. Gaenari… how did you put up with a mascot like this for years? That remains my greatest mystery.
In that regard, my own mascot had been extremely competent and reliable. …I suddenly wanted to see it again.
“Anyway, that’s it for today. I’m completely out of battery. Tell Jiah… I mean, tell my sister I passed out first.”
I announced this to the kids and collapsed right there. The floor was cold, but the cushioning from my neck pillow felt nice enough that lying down was tolerable. “What? Unni, why are you lying down all of a sudden?”
I had no energy left to answer the kid’s question. I couldn’t even twitch a finger, let alone move my lips. Fortunately, the class president and Miju, who understood the situation, answered for me.
“Jihye’s energy is completely drained right now, so she needs to rest.” “She can rest after we get home, can’t she?” “W-well… Jihye has a somewhat special constitution, so she can’t hold out any longer…”
Despite their explanations, the kid still looked confused. In a way, that was natural—she had never been told about my condition before. To her, I probably just looked lazy. “You say it’s hard to hold out, but we sparred way more intensely than this.” “Um… well, that’s…” “She’s not wrong, but… there’s actually a deeper reason behind it.”
The class president’s gaze turned toward me. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel the attention gathering sharply. But I couldn’t respond. My body had already begun preparing for sleep, and my consciousness was gradually growing hazy.
From the voices reaching my ears, it seemed the class president and Miju were debating whether it was all right to explain my condition freely. I had never really tried to hide it, so they could just tell her. Watching the two of them hesitate, the kid sounded increasingly frustrated. Her voice rose in pitch.
“She can sleep after she’s dead. No point wasting time.”
Hey, kid. I used to think the same way. Try living in a body like this. Your mind won’t change until you do. That was what I thought, but the kid was diligent. She had sacrificed playtime, free time, and hobbies to achieve accomplishments far beyond her age. No matter how good Salbyeol’s coaching was, it would have been useless without her own effort. She must have poured in an enormous amount of time and hard work, which was probably why that kind of mindset came so naturally to her.
With my sluggish mind, I could only vaguely grasp the thought, and it left me feeling a little sorry for her. A girl who had never been able to play like other children because she had been training magic since she was young. A girl who, thanks to her exceptional talent, attended school with classmates older than herself and endured the resulting loneliness. Yet she never gave up and continued to polish herself for the top.
…Maybe there was something that made it impossible for her to abandon this path. With that final thought, which I would probably forget upon waking, I once again lost consciousness at school.