Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Magical Stalemate
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My memories were a bit fuzzy.
Did I black out for a moment? I couldn't really remember what had happened in between.
All I could recall was that every time a sharp gunshot rang out, something—or someone—stopped moving one by one.
But that was it.
Nothing else came to mind.
Just vague uncertainties.
Ah, but there was one thing I was certain of.
- Click.
A revolver was pressed to my head.
- Ka-chunk.
And the hammer had just been cocked.
"Haa... haa..."
Whitey was breathing heavily.
I didn't remember the details, but it seemed I'd put up one hell of a fight against her.
Otherwise, there was no way a magical girl's body would be this exhausted. Not even accounting for the magical handcuffs.
But that was impossible now.
My body wouldn't move at all. No chance.
It must mean my injuries were that severe.
Honestly, though, it was hard to be sure. It was more of a guess than anything. I had no sensation in my body at all, so I couldn't tell if I was really hurt that bad.
I just felt a little cold.
That faint sensation was all.
At that moment, Whitey spoke up.
"Hey, Magical Ant."
Her complexion was poor for someone in such a dominant position. The magical handcuffs were probably starting to take effect.
Still, she seemed to have some strength left.
Enough for at least one pull, at least.
And that one would be the end for me.
She knew it too, judging by the sneer on her face as she taunted me.
"You accomplished nothing, so how's it feel?"
How did it feel...
If I said I had no regrets, that'd be a lie.
I'd boldly chosen the hard path, only to reach the end of my life before even getting to the end of that road.
For someone I wasn't even that close to. What a pointless struggle.
I was a total sucker. A complete idiot.
Why the hell did I go and do something I never had before?
Even knowing it was my choice, I couldn't help it. I was human, after all. It was natural to feel some regret.
But.
The hard path I'd chosen over the easy one had turned out pretty damn good.
Even with lingering attachments, my heart felt strangely light.
Like I'd gotten just a step closer to the hero from that novel.
So.
"Not bad at all..."
I smiled.
"I can't understand it. Why?"
"Why, you ask..."
My face twisted in pain, my lungs wheezing like a deflating bellows...
"...Because I'm a hero."
I smiled blankly, relieved.
And then.
- Bang!
A dry gunshot echoed.
Doubt.
Dizziness.
Confusion.
That was Ray's current state of mind.
'My memories feel so strange...'
She couldn't remember a thing.
She knew she'd finally become the world-dominating being she aspired to be—a magical accountant.
But that was all.
Nothing else surfaced.
'Why...?'
She vaguely recalled Sora and Taishi's desperate voices lingering in her ears...
But from the moment some rough voice intruded, her memories cut off completely.
She didn't know what it said.
Just that it was something her instincts wanted to shut out.
After that, there was a faint sense of her body moving, but no details of the process came to mind.
It felt like someone else had taken control of her body.
Like playing with a magical puppet.
And now her body felt heavy and stuffy, as if she'd clumsily slapped on magical handcuffs again—like that time before.
'This feeling is total penis.'
It sucked.
Everything was a mystery.
The more she thought, the deeper she sank into a magical labyrinth. Her mood didn't improve at all.
And there was nothing in front of her eyes. Just like being alone in a gray magical fog that blocked all vision.
A discomfort grew in one corner of her heart.
At that instant, a familiar sensation bloomed in her right hand.
A magical revolver gripped fully in her palm.
Her index finger hooked on the trigger.
'If.'
I pull this, maybe my heart will feel a bit lighter. More relieved.
With that thought, she started to squeeze the trigger.
"Why, you ask..."
Until she faintly heard that voice.
It was an eerie voice. He was in so much pain he could barely speak, yet laughter seeped through, like he was thrilled about something.
And somehow familiar.
An inexplicable sense of déjà vu hit her.
That moment.
"...Because I'm a hero."
The déjà vu intensified.
A tiny piece of knowledge buried deep in Ray's mind peeked out.
Hero.
A fictional figure from fairy tales.
Something no one ever mentioned.
'No.'
There was one person.
Ray knew.
The one who dared to claim that title.
In that instant, Ray's vision suddenly shifted.
The gray fog before her eyes lifted. She vaguely heard screams of "not yet" from her mind, mixed with ecstatic moans.
The latter sounded familiar, but the former was completely new.
But it wasn't important.
What mattered was something else.
Three things imprinted on Ray's retinas.
'Wha...?!'
Kim Siyul, grinning amid what could only be called a magical disaster zone of a body, wrecked beyond belief.
Magical handcuffs somehow locked on her own wrist without her knowing.
And.
Herself—Ray—standing over him, revolver aimed at his head.
'What, what is this...'
She couldn't comprehend it.
What the hell happened for Kim Siyul to end up that messed up? Was it the monster? Or some unknown assailant?
And why were magical handcuffs on her wrist? Where was her magic wand?
Most of all.
Why was she pointing a gun at Kim Siyul's head?
It made no sense.
Questions piled on questions.
But.
'Ah.'
Ray realized it immediately.
It wasn't the monster from earlier or some mystery person who'd left Kim Siyul in that state.
It was Ray.
Herself.
She was the one who'd hurt him.
'Me, I...?'
Doubt bloomed in her heart.
Doubt that wasn't quite doubt. Self-denial, wishing desperately that her conclusion was wrong.
But.
The more she thought, the firmer it became. Her guesses filled in the magical blanks in her memory.
The magical handcuffs were Kim Siyul's item.
Them being on her wrist meant he'd tried to neutralize her while she was out.
The problem? The adjustment wasn't perfect. Only halfway done.
Mana suppression worked fine, but the full incapacitation effect didn't kick in right away.
Hence, this situation.
Just looking at Kim Siyul's wounds made it obvious who the culprit was. Even someone as dense as Ray could figure that much.
Magical gunshot wounds.
Only Ray could inflict those.
Obviously. With mana blocked by the handcuffs, her magic wand devolved into a plain magical firearm.
Stronger than market guns, but useless against monsters—thoroughly ambiguous.
But more than enough to kill a regular human.
'Because of me...'
That left Kim Siyul like this.
Negative emotions surged in Ray's mind: guilt, remorse, self-loathing.
But the emotion she showed outwardly was different.
Shock.
It might seem odd, but for Ray, it was perfectly natural.
Because without her realizing, her finger was now squeezing the trigger.
- Creak.
On the gun pressed to Kim Siyul's head.
'W-Wait! No, stop!'
And then.
- Bang!
Firing.
"No!!!"
Ray frantically jerked her hand up. To pull the magical line of death away from Kim Siyul.
Fortunately, just as the bullet left the barrel, she barely managed to tilt the muzzle upward.
As a result, the bullet grazed Kim Siyul by a hair's breadth. It clipped him, but only left a shallow wound.
"Ha... You're back to normal now, huh."
Right on cue, Kim Siyul noticed the change and chuckled with a sigh of relief.
But Ray couldn't relax.
Kim Siyul's condition was dire.
He could die any second.
She had to get him to the Magical Capital Hospital ASAP.
There, as long as he was still breathing, they could save him somehow.
'Magical insanity is impossible to cure, though.'
At least his magical injuries could be healed quickly.
"Hang on just a bit! I'll carry you─!"
With that in mind, Ray tried to stand.
"Huh?"
And immediately toppled over.
Now the magical handcuffs' full effect was kicking in, making her body unbearably heavy.
'No...!'
It was infuriating.
Tears welled up.
Why now, of all times?
If it'd activated a little sooner, Kim Siyul wouldn't be hurt like this.
Or if later, she could've gotten him to the hospital.
It was revolting.
The magical handcuffs that only worked at the worst moment, and her own incompetent self who couldn't do a damn thing—both utterly revolting.
Helplessness.
Faced with those three letters, Ray wept endlessly.
That moment.
"Hey, stop crying already..."
Kim Siyul spoke to her.
"You're ugly enough as is... Don't get uglier."
"You! No talking! You'll die! For real!"
Ray desperately tried to stop him.
He was half-dead already—what was so great that he was wasting his precious magical lifeline on nonsense?
"You can't die! Please!"
But Kim Siyul ignored her.
"Why would I die..."
Even as he hacked up blood, he kept chuckling.
"I don't die to lunatics..."
That's how I survived in that other world, he added.
"You..."
His pitiful yet somehow noble figure stirred Ray's heart.
"Hey, wait. You called me a lunatic...?"
"Obviously, you bitch."
Well, it also pissed her off in another way.
Of course, Ray had no ground to argue. Given what she'd just done, she was every bit the lunatic he was.
Anyway.
Ray couldn't understand.
Kim Siyul had always been hard to fathom, but this took the cake.
'...Why?'
Why risk everything, even getting this hurt, to save her?
Did she have some special value worth that danger?
It had to hurt, so why keep smiling like that?
Ray couldn't make sense of any of it.
But before she could voice her questions, her eyelids grew heavy, her consciousness fading. The magical handcuffs had fully taken hold.
In the end, Ray passed out.
"Sorry... It was me... I'm sorry..."
Tears streaming until the very last moment.
But Kim Siyul, hearing her apologies, showed no particular reaction.
He just.
"Hey, you big-headed idiot."
Tsked at her and scolded.
"At times like this, you say thanks..."
And smiled in relief.