Weekend Date with Friends? Maybe I'm Popular Now?(4)
The ones who approached us were two women. One of them wore what looked like a uniform: slim-fit suit trousers, a silk blouse, and pristine pumps, all coordinated in white. At first glance, she might have passed for an office worker with peculiar fashion sense, but the beige jacket draped over her shoulders, the jeweled headband, and the long curved sword at her waist made it clear she was no ordinary employee. Her companion was dressed similarly. The navy-blue dress with its distinctive collar reached her knees and gave off the air of a girl from an old film, yet the shield strapped to her back and the long magic staff ruined the illusion entirely. Their mismatched outfits and weapons left no doubt—they were magical girls. The badges hanging from their necks only confirmed it.
They were not academy students like the class president, Miju’s friend, or the kid. These were fully licensed magical girls, recognized by both the Association and the nation after completing every required course.
“S-sorry!” the class president blurted out the moment she recognized them.
“My friend got too curious and must have missed the warning sign. I should’ve stopped her as her friend…”
“Haa… If you’re her friend, you should’ve kept a proper eye on her. What were you thinking? What if the memorial got damaged because of this? Were you planning to take responsibility in her place?”
“Hey… Mireumdal, they’re still kids.”
“Kids or not, they need to own up to their mistakes, Knight. You can’t just coddle them. Even if they didn’t mean it, what if touching the stone left a crack?”
While the class president apologized, I was about to offer a half-hearted one of my own when a sharp voice cut through the air.
Mireumdal, the magical girl, glared at us with obvious displeasure, her posture radiating disapproval. She spoke as though we were hardened criminals. The pressure she exerted made my mood sour instantly. So what if I touched the stone for a second? Even if it was my fault for missing the sign, being treated like this felt unfair. What really annoyed me, though, was how aggressively she was coming at the class president and Miju’s friend.
I muttered loud enough for them to hear.
“…Huaaam. Is all this fuss really necessary?”
“J-Jihye!”
“Do you really need to scare kids over something as small as touching a stone for a moment? Pfft.”
It was a blatant provocation. As expected, Mireumdal took the bait. Her expression twisted in anger as she stepped toward me.
“Now that I think about it, you’re the one who did wrong. What’s the point of your friend apologizing for you? You should be the one saying sorry, so why are you acting so shameless? Do you think being young excuses everything?”
Her hand gripping the sword at her waist was clearly meant to intimidate, but I was immune to such cheap tactics. Instead, I met her gaze with even more arrogance.
“Being young doesn’t excuse everything. But I don’t think a grown adult should be intimidating children either—especially not a professional magical girl.”
“How dare you talk back to an adult?”
“Don’t take the bait, Mireumdal. They’re just kids!”
Mireumdal seemed hot-tempered and overly sensitive. Her partner, Knight, on the other hand, was calm and rational. I might have complimented their compatibility if the situation had been different, but right now I had no patience for it. Knight skillfully reined Mireumdal in and spoke evenly.
“Student, we were the ones who applied pressure first, so we’ll apologize. But you made a mistake too, didn’t you?”
“You’re right. That was my fault. I’m sorry. But I still expect an apology for scaring my friends.”
“…Are kids these days all this bold?”
“Hey, which school do you go to? What kind of dump produces someone this rude?”
Even while being held back by her colleague, Mireumdal kept pressing me. Seriously… Did I really deserve this kind of treatment? A twinge of self-loathing crept in. Just as I was running a hand through my bangs to steady myself, I felt tugs on both sleeves. The class president and Miju’s friend.
“J-Jihye. Let’s just say sorry and end it.”
“Y-yeah. We were the ones who… messed up first.”
Their anxious faces made my resolve waver. Normally I would have let it go, chalking it up to bad luck and walking away. My head knew that was the right move, yet instead of calming down, irritation only grew stronger. The image of her berating the class president kept replaying in my mind.
“Even if I don’t care much about the world, I can’t stand watching my friends get treated like that.”
I decided to push back despite the annoyance and fatigue.
“That dump you’re talking about is the Magical Girl Academy. Now that you know my school, what are you going to do? Planning to use your connections for payback?”
“…The Magical Girl Academy?”
“Even if you want to bluff, you shouldn’t lie so shamelessly.”
“Bluff? With this? What would I even gain by lying about my school? If you don’t believe me, want to spar right here?”
“Kid… Do you want to get scolded by your big sister?”
I was genuinely ready to transform and fight. Even if I ended up bedridden for weeks, even if my brain got fried and I forgot everything, I was determined to get an apology from her. With that resolve, I stared her down.
The tension was about to snap when Knight, sensing the danger, immediately intervened.
“Mireumdal. This is your last chance. Stop it with the kids. If you actually draw your sword, you’re getting discharged on the spot.”
“But…!”
“You know that even academy students are treated as civilians until they receive their official licenses. And you know what happens to a magical girl who threatens civilians.”
Mireumdal looked like she couldn’t accept it, but Knight’s presence forced her to back down. Once Knight confirmed she had relented, she bowed to me and the others.
“…I’m sorry. We didn’t act like adults. Or like proper Guardians.”
“N-no, it’s fine. We were at fault too…”
“We Guardians are supposed to protect citizens, but we’re not always like this. Mireumdal reacted so strongly because people have been mishandling this memorial for a long time. It’s been damaged and defaced repeatedly, leading to countless complaints. That’s why we’ve become a bit sensitive about its condition.”
Indeed, cracks and chips were visible across the stone.
“No matter how many fences or warning signs we put up, the damage keeps happening, so we had no choice but to be strict. That doesn’t mean we were right, though. From now on, please don’t touch the memorial like you did earlier. Could you grant this request from your seniors?”
I hadn’t expected her to lower herself so much, but it eased the tension considerably. Mireumdal’s arrogant glare from behind still grated on me, but a crowd was starting to gather, and I didn’t want any more attention. The most important thing was the relieved expressions on the kids’ faces. This apology was enough.
“I will. I was the one at fault this time. I’m sorry. I’ll just look from now on.”
“…Thank you, junior. Could you also forget about what just happened?”
Knight’s earnest request was clearly asking me not to report the incident. If word got out, her partner might lose her position.
…I’ll let it slide.
“I got worked up too, so let’s just call it even and not hold anything against each other.”
“You’re a very clever and level-headed junior. If we meet again after you graduate, I’ll treat you well.”
“If the chance comes up. Huaaam.”
Of course, I had no intention of becoming a professional magical girl again.
Though we’d nearly come to blows, the situation resolved smoothly. After finishing my talk with Knight, the class president and Miju’s friend were still calming their racing hearts.
“You went too far, Jihye. You didn’t have to go that far.”
“R-right… We were fine.”
I looked at them and said, “Still, I couldn’t hold back. How could I just stand there while someone openly threatened my friends?”
“…That makes me feel good, but don’t do it again, okay?”
“Yeah. I won’t.”
Even as I answered, I knew that if a similar situation arose, I would act the same way. Even though so much about me had changed, this part of me remained the same. It felt oddly comforting to recognize my old self in who I was now.
✮✮✮
After the commotion with the city’s Guardians, we headed straight to our original destination: the arcade.
“What should we play first?” the class president asked, but it had been over a decade since I last visited an arcade. I had no idea which games were popular or fun these days. Still, a quick glance was enough to figure out the general lineup.
“This one’s a rhythm game, that’s basketball, and this is racing.”
No matter how flashy the graphics got or how complicated the mechanics became, the core of games never really changed.
“That’s a spot-the-difference, and this one’s a shooter?”
As I looked around, I noticed something else. Every machine was either single-player or two-player. If there had been four of us, we could have split into pairs, but with only three people, someone would always be left out no matter how we divided things. If the kid had been here, we wouldn’t have had this problem. Too late for regrets now—she wasn’t coming.
While we were passing machines, Miju’s friend suddenly shouted.
“Oh…! That one. Th-that’s it!”
“What is?”
“Ah… this? I’ve heard of it, but it’s my first time seeing it in person.”
The machine Miju’s friend was staring at like she was entranced had its title written in large letters.
“‘Magical Girl Super Battle’? Is it a fighting game?”
“Yeah, it’s a fighting game.”
“This game features real magical girls as characters. All portrait and copyright issues were cleared through contracts with the World Magical Girl Organization. It’s an official game! You can control magical girls from all over the world, not just Korea, and fight with them. That’s what makes it so appealing.”
“…Is this Miju’s area of expertise too?”
I glanced at the class president, who nodded weakly in confirmation.
“Yeah… Unfortunately, it seems that way.”
“So, continuing from there, the balance is really well done. Aside from hidden characters, there aren’t any broken ones. Of course, every season they push certain characters, so people suspect some connection between the developers and those magical girls, but since the game itself is fun, the overall reception isn’t that bad. Also…”
As always, I wondered how she managed to hold all this in normally. Right now, Miju’s friend showed no trace of her usual stutter or timid voice—only confident, flowing speech.
The class president whispered to me, just loud enough for me to hear over Miju’s explanation.
“…Since Miju likes it this much, let’s play it.”
“Got it.”
Even though it was a two-player game, we could take turns. The spectator wouldn’t get bored—watching fighting games had its own appeal. And so, we sat down in front of the “Magical Girl Super Battle” machine.