Just a Side Job
The day after Aile declared she would take care of the problem, Niverna’s visits abruptly ceased. She must have done something, but I was simply relieved to have my peace restored.
Finally, she’s gone…
Bringing in random junk for repairs was one thing. After all, this was a repair shop for all things. I had opened the place with the intention of fixing whatever came through the door, so the nature of the item never mattered.
But the real issue was that people weren’t coming here to fix precious belongings. They were coming just to strike up a conversation with me—worse, to recruit me into the Hero Association.
Why are they so persistent when I’ve already said no to being a hero?
There were always people like that. Those who treated sacrificing themselves for the world as the highest virtue and tried to force the same on everyone else.
Whatever they valued most was none of my concern. I had no intention of controlling it. As long as it stayed within their own enjoyment, that was fine.
Forcing others to uphold justice, however, was not. Not at all.
Still, if someone who kept coming despite being told not to suddenly stopped, what could have happened?
The question lingered, but I soon shook my head. There was no way Aile had killed the hero. The girl might be gloomy, a bit of a loser, and socially withdrawn, but she wasn’t the type to harm people.
……Probably not.
“Excuse me…… Is the owner here?”
“Ah— Welcome.”
“Could you possibly fix something like this……?”
“—Of course. This is a repair shop for all things, after all.”
And so, the next customer arrived, and Niverna was completely forgotten. I only remembered her again when I saw her on the television news.
A-rank hero Niverna. To be honest, she wasn’t a popular hero. A nondescript suit and unremarkable abilities. She was strong, but not overwhelmingly so—the kind of hero people said was better suited for a supporting role than a lead in movies or dramas.
Of course, just as supporting actors have fans, the minor hero Niverna had her own supporters. Some expressed interest in her, and she had even done interviews with reporters.
Yet even if you combined every fan and reporter she had ever met in her life, their numbers would still fall far short of the attention now focused on her.
“Niverna! Look this way!”
“What do you think was the reason for the attack by the Dark Magical Girl?”
“What did you talk about with her!?”
Countless camera flashes stole her vision. Niverna squeezed her eyes shut against the blinding light, already sensing that this expression would soon circulate online as another humiliating hero meme.
She had no luxury to worry about that. This situation was entirely unfamiliar to her.
H-How did it come to this……?
Niverna recalled why she was holding this press conference. While living her usual routine, she had suddenly been ambushed by a villain.
Heroes being attacked by villains wasn’t rare. The job itself invited resentment from villains, and even as a public hero, she had arrested more than ten of them.
So an attack by a villain wasn’t special, and it shouldn’t have drawn this much attention on its own…… but there was one crucial detail.
The villain who attacked her was the Dark Magical Girl, active only in H City. She was the first hero the girl—who had shown no interest in anything except magical girls—had ever reacted to.
Thanks to that, Niverna was suddenly drowning in attention.
This is so awkward……
This wasn’t the time for this. She needed to hurry to the repair shop and raise the owner’s favorability. She had to recruit him into the Hero Association as quickly as possible……
Even as these thoughts ran through her mind, Niverna answered the reporters’ questions with the kindness and sense of justice expected of a hero.
“Meeting the Dark Magical Girl was a coincidence. She seemed to hold some kind of grudge against me, but since we’d never met before, I couldn’t tell what it was. It’s probably just the incomprehensible ideology typical of villains…… We didn’t exchange any meaningful conversation. There’s no need to talk with villains.”
The reporters jotted down her words and sighed in disappointment. The Dark Magical Girl was someone corporations and nations worldwide were interested in. If they could find any connection between her and Niverna, or uncover any unique traits the girl possessed, it would be the scoop of the century—capable of drawing every view on the planet.
Realizing there was nothing more to squeeze out of Niverna, the reporters twisted their questions maliciously, trying to lead her answers.
“You were attacked by the Dark Magical Girl. Don’t you have any complaints about the Magical Girl Association taking no action?”
“—The Dark Magical Girl is a villain. As far as I know, she isn’t affiliated with the Magical Girl Association…… It’s only natural for a hero to deal with villains.”
She answered only with what she had seen and heard, refusing to fall for their leading questions. It wasn’t because she was accustomed to public opinion or particularly clever—it was simply her excessively honest personality as a hero that helped her.
Seeing they wouldn’t get anything interesting regarding the Dark Magical Girl or Niverna herself, the reporters vanished within hours. Left alone in the hospital room, Niverna let out a hollow laugh at the desolation and sank into the bed.
She wanted nothing more than to return to duty immediately, but she couldn’t. Her suit had been completely destroyed in the fight with the Dark Magical Girl, and the injuries she sustained hadn’t fully healed yet.
At that realization, Niverna smiled bitterly.
Have I gotten too used to this city……? I never thought I’d be caught off guard like this.
In other cities, villains ambushing heroes or taking their families hostage was practically expected. That was why heroes elsewhere always moved in groups, stayed vigilant, and kept their families in safe houses.
But perhaps because she had worked in E City for so long, where such things never happened, the mindset she had when she first became a hero had completely rusted away.
I need to be careful. More careful. So that even if I leave this city someday, I won’t die……
“Niverna.”
While replaying the battle with the Dark Magical Girl in her mind, Niverna opened her eyes at the sound of her name. Then she was startled. Standing before her was someone she had never expected to see here.
“Owner? How did you……?”
“I saw it on the news. You were hospitalized after fighting the Dark Magical Girl.”
“Ah, so you saw it. It’s unusual, isn’t it? The Dark Magical Girl showing interest in someone other than a magical girl……”
“I came to visit after seeing that.”
“How did you know I was here……?”
“I asked the nurse at the entrance, and she told me.”
The repair shop owner who had suddenly appeared muttered something incomprehensible about how he was also responsible for her injury, then placed the fruit basket he had brought on the bedside table.
“So, Owner, the reason you came all the way here……”
“Ah, I didn’t come to become a hero. I still have no intention of doing that.”
“Then why……”
“There’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“……Are you also curious about the Dark Magical Girl, Owner?”
Having been hounded by reporters’ questions, Niverna preemptively guessed his question. Is this man the same as everyone else?
But the owner simply curved his lips slightly and shook his head.
“—I wanted to know why you became a hero.”
“……Why I became a hero?”
“Yes.”
It was a story no one had ever shown interest in before. Niverna felt uneasy at the owner suddenly asking about it, but remembering that she needed to recruit him to the Association no matter what, she carefully opened her mouth.
“Actually…… I was a useless child.”
“……What?”
He probably hadn’t expected the first words to be so heavy. Niverna recalled the moment she decided to become a hero.
“A child no one needed. A child with no talent, no charm, no special skills.”
Niverna had always been a supporting character. Present in the world, but nothing special. Just a cog in the machine that kept the world turning.
An existence no one needed.
“After living like that my whole life…… I suddenly had this thought. If I became a hero, maybe someone would need me. After all, being a hero isn’t a popular job, is it? Low pay, dangerous, no future.”
“Most heroes are like that.”
“But it’s still a necessary job—so someone had to make the sacrifice.”
Coincidentally, Niverna possessed the abilities needed for hero work. Nothing outstanding, but sufficient. Even here, her supporting-character nature showed through.
Thus, she became a hero, somehow survived, and rose to A-rank. Yet the public still didn’t remember her name. A minor, unpopular hero remembered only by a handful of fans.
She was satisfied with that position.
“If sacrificing this one body means the whole world needs me…… Isn’t that wonderful?”
“……Wonderful?”
“Just…… the fact that someone needs me, even like this. The fact that I can be of help to someone…… It feels good.”
The realization that even someone like her could become necessary to others—that was what made Niverna a hero. That was why she continued in a job with low pay, extreme danger, and no future.
Not because of some petty sense of justice, revenge, or righteousness.
Simply for her own satisfaction.
“It’s pathetic, isn’t it? Not something you’d expect from a hero at all……”
“No, I think it’s wonderful.”
“……Do you really mean that?”
“Yes. What’s wrong with being a hero for self-satisfaction? It’s not like you’re a villain.”
“Thank you…… I’ve never heard anyone say that before……”
Niverna realized something was welling up inside her. It was the first time she had explained to someone why she became a hero, and she had never imagined that doing so would bring praise and understanding.
Yet the owner before her acknowledged and praised her. Thanks to that, an indescribable sense of fulfillment spread from her lower abdomen throughout her entire body.
“—Niverna.”
“……Yes.”
“If you became a hero not out of a sense of justice or duty, but for self-satisfaction…… then for greater success, would you be willing to use any means necessary?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If you keep my identity hidden from the Hero Association—I’ll make you the lead of this world.”
The owner said this while pulling out a belt. It resembled the one she wore with her hero suit…… She found herself accepting it and fastening it around her waist without thinking.
> [Transformation Ready]
“……Transform?”
> [HENSHIN]
After a single sound rang out, a wave originating from the belt traveled up her entire body. Moments later, Niverna realized she was wearing her hero suit.
“This is……”
“How about it? With this, can you do as I say?”
“What exactly is this—”
An unbelievable level of technology. Yet Niverna knew instinctively. If she took the hand this man offered, she could truly become the lead of this world.
The protagonist of this world.
The one everyone desperately wished to be.
“I’ll—I will do it—!”
“Good.”
“But…… is it really okay for me to just accept something like this……?”
“It’s fine. I didn’t start this to make a lot of money anyway.”
To the scientist Eight, Niverna was broken. So this was merely an extension of the repair shop he had opened to fix everything.
“It’s just a side job, after all.”