Cosplay Magical Girl (1): Miracle Morning

The alarm blared, jolting me awake at 7 a.m.

I threw on my training clothes and headed out for a jog right away.

"Ugh… feels refreshing."

After that last fight, my condition had been worse than expected, so I'd decided to start exercising from today. Even I had to admit I hadn't moved much lately except when ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠messing around. My body felt stiff as hell.

Thud thud.

I did some light jabs in the nearby park to loosen up. Making sure no one was around, I was about to put some real power into my fist when—

Whispers whispers.

"Hey, hey, check that out… That kid's exercising alone, huh?"

"Whoa, for real. Super cute. Isn't she an elementary kid? No school today?"

"They start an hour later than us, right?"

"Maybe? Ah, man, if it weren't for school, I'd go say hi."

A group of high school girls who looked like they'd crush some tteokbokki and ramen passed by, tossing out comments. Luckily, they were on their way to school and didn't come over.

To everyone else, I must've looked like some pint-sized elementary girl doing stretches.

It was embarrassing as hell—my face burned hot.

I'll avoid jogging at this time from now on.

"Focus, focus again."

I slapped my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cheeks with both hands.

Checked for people around once more.

I took a deep breath.

Then channeled power into my fist and threw a hard punch.

The air tore as my fist sliced through it. The grass swayed a beat later.

"Hm… weaker than I thought."

Not satisfying at all.

Maybe because I hadn't fought untransformed lately. It fell short of expectations. Sure, transforming was as vital as life itself for a magical girl, but…

Now that Keter had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠humanized, there might come a time I'd have to fight solo without it. I trained regularly just in case.

But I hadn't kept it up lately, and it showed—I wasn't up to my old level.

"Maybe I should hit the Gwangwon training room for real."

I'd wondered if I even needed their fancy setup, but at this rate, loosening up there wouldn't hurt. Next time, I'd ask Seoyeon for a private room.

For now, I just kept exercising as best I could.

Bubble bubble.

Back home, a delicious smell wafted from the kitchen.

Peeking in, I saw Keter bustling around in an apron, prepping breakfast.

Our eyes met as I poked my head in.

"Welcome back from your outing, miss?"

"Yeah. Just a quick jog."

"Breakfast is nearly ready. Shall I serve it right away?"

"I'll wash up and eat."

"Understood, miss. I've laid out fresh clothes for you outside."

"Thanks."

I stripped off my sweaty training gear and hopped in the shower.

Hot water hit my body, unknotting the tension in my muscles.

With breakfast waiting, I rinsed off quick, dried up, and changed into loungewear.

"Munch munch— nom nom—"

Drying my hair on the sofa, I spotted Ar dead asleep right next to me.

Keter must've given up on training Ar to be a maid.

Tell it to clean, and it just makes a mess. Tell it to do dishes, and it shatters them gleefully. No helping it.

Honestly, the way it acted, it was less mascot and more pet.

I poked Ar's cheek.

"Hya! The enemy appears!"

Ar bounced up, scanning around wildly.

Spotting me, it cleared its throat and tried to play it cool.

"Y-Yuri? Good morning."

Too late, you little punk.

"Quit sleeping and come eat breakfast."

I grabbed Ar by the scruff and dragged it to the kitchen.

Keter saw Ar dangling from my hand and let out a deep sigh. He rubbed his forehead and shook his head.

"We'll deal with Ar later."

"Eek, my apologies!"

Ar trembled pitifully.

You need a good scolding.

Keter works his butt off, and you nap like that? No respect.

Anyway, after a hearty breakfast, I flopped onto the sofa.

A rare sense of peace washed over me.

I rolled around, scrolling through Magigal.

Something weird caught my eye at the end, but it had been ages since Magigal had real magical girl buzz. Aside from that brief spike thanks to Kim Dohee's cosplay, yeah.

Seemed like the trigger was Seoyeon's post about finally meeting an old teammate at Esostar and having a blast.

Magibros were full of energy this morning.

Burning healthy bait right from the start.

Good thing Seoyeon didn't know Magigal existed. She'd sue the whole thing into oblivion.

"Sigh."

A sigh escaped me.

Was this really the one and only awakener community?

At least they weren't obsessed with magical girls from that era.

Stuff like this made me think setting Seoyeon up as the face was smart.

Poor her getting surprise-worshipped every time she popped up, though.

At least it wasn't body praise like before.

"Ah."

Did not need to know that.

Imagining Eom Taewoong flexing with his gear soured my mood.

But unless you're a special case like Seoyeon needing the publicity, why bother with SNS? Guilds are for fighting, not idol shit.

"Hm…"

As I scrolled, the magical girl bait started heating up.

The usual suspects flipped out whenever magical girl bait cycled back.

Looks like it devolved into fights today too.

"From afar, it's straight-up comedy."

I didn't care how they talked about it now, but dissing fights from that era still pissed me off.

Hong Jia must know better since she fought me—S-rank and still yapping like that.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, magical girl posts started getting nuked one by one.

Deletions piled up, then the mod posted.

Fair point.

"Maybe I should log off for a bit."

Do I, who's been grinding hard, need to see that crap?

Hadn't seen any yet, so no upvote from me.

"Huh, true."

Even if I'm the exception, Hong Jia's there, and I spotted Inarin last time.

True to its rep as the top awakener spot, gender ratio ain't bad.

Still, with money on the line, would anyone actually do it?

No way a guild master mods a dump like this.

Get real.

Anyway, steering clear of the gal for a while.

"Who'd do that? Even censored, you'd look like a kid."

"Ha… like this? Will it look good? Something's off."

"Y-Yuri, what are you doing?"

"…Cosplay."

"…?"

How'd it come to this?