The Brighter the Light, the Deeper the Shadow
Hidden in a quiet corner of an empty café, the pair who should have looked like star-crossed lovers gave off anything but a romantic atmosphere. No, "ominous" didn't even begin to cover it. They looked like they wanted someone dead.
"You son of a bitch! Shit! That's insane! It's a lie, right?! Huh?! Say it's a lie! Does that even make sense?! Why— why the hell— why does it have to be you out of all the billions of people?! Why?!"
"Ugh! Ahgh—?! Wait, senpai! Hold on…! Hold on, kek! Kehehk! Let go of my collar! Let go of my damn collar…!"
Park Sora had climbed onto the table and was gripping Kang Ihyun's collar with both hands, shaking him like she was trying to rip his soul out. Since there was no one else around, the café staff probably figured it was just a couple having a lovers' quarrel. The owner gave them a fond look before heading inside to tidy up, leaving the two of them to their shouting and chaos.
"Die! I'll kill you! If you die, someone else becomes my Care Supporter, right?! That's what you want? Fine. Senpai. Don't worry. I'll snap your neck nice and clean. I'll beat the shit out of you before you can blink. So close your eyes and count to ten."
Park Sora was either genuinely losing it or putting on the most convincing act imaginable, because she started drawing on her magical power. Her sun-bright blonde hair was gradually swallowed by a red tint as she scattered particles of light made from her magic, and her bloodshot eyes blazed with an unholy glow. The grip on my collar was tightening, the fabric of my shirt stretching with an ominous creak—like the ticking of a bomb's fuse.
"Senpai! Wait! Stop?! You're pulling out your magic too— you're not joking around anymore?!"
"Does this look like a joke to you?! You're the Care Supporter who has to share your biggest weakness—the Defect—with a magical girl, and you're the one who tricked me once before. And you expect me to trust you? Huh?"
"……I wouldn't know what to say even if I had ten mouths."
Park Sora trembled with her hands hovering near my neck, clearly wanting to twist it, before letting out a long, heavy sigh and retreating to her seat. The light in her hair and eyes, which had been burning red like a lamp switched off, faded as the residual particles of magic drifted into the air. The sight of magical energy scattering into the void was beautiful in a way that was also terribly unsettling—like something that made your chest flutter in a confusing way.
"Huuuuuuu…"
Park Sora, sitting across from me, leaned back against the sofa as if she'd collapsed, her hands covering her head, clearly at a loss for how to process any of this. I, too, was running out of breath from the tension around my neck, so I took a long sip of coffee to catch my breath.
It was clear we'd be stuck on parallel lines forever if I didn't say something first, so I told her what had happened.
Long or short, that was the story. "……That's how it happened. I didn't plan it, but I ended up becoming your Care Supporter."
"Senpai… I know you'd want to request a change of Care Supporter, but that's not really possible right now, is it?"
"No, it's not."
The two of us had the same thought—Hunter. That uniquely named monster, the one that targeted Care Supporters. An intelligent, cunning little creature small enough to slip through cracks, capable of killing a Care Supporter and extracting information about retired magical girls. It was the kind of monster that could have pushed even a veteran like Cha Yerin's Care Supporter back into the field. That a total rookie like me was assigned to Park Sora, whose Defect severity was rated High, spoke volumes about how desperately understaffed they were.
"Haaah…"
Park Sora sighed deeply, her expression caught between wanting to be grateful that at least she had a face she could work with, and the worry of how to treat the person sitting right in front of her.
"Fine. I'll consider it a blessing that you're someone I can actually talk to. But the moment a Care Supporter change becomes possible, I'm filing a request right away."
"Sure. The client's opinion matters most."
Park Sora seemed to have lost her appetite—she shoved a protein-packed bento into her mouth and chewed noisily before finally getting to the point.
"So you came all the way here today for a greeting and to check on my Defect, right?"
"Yeah. I came to see retired magical girl Solavite, not Park Sora. And hey—I'm your first Care Supporter, so I'll do my best."
"Don't toss around a magical girl's title so casually. It's embarrassing."
Solavite. She'd been famous for hunting large-scale monsters, a magical girl whose reputation preceded her. Among magical girls, if you were being kind you'd say her firepower was overwhelming; if you were being mean, you'd say she was too strong for her own good—a living artillery piece who couldn't be bothered with small fry. Her weakest spell could cause explosions on par with tank shells, which was why she rarely showed her face on the front lines, but her clean, devastating firepower had earned her a massive fanbase.
Her debut was truly overwhelming.
Solavite's debut battle still generated plenty of buzz on the internet. The footage of her using her maximum-power railgun to launch a massive sea monster skyward was so satisfying it was practically obscene—once you saw it, it just wouldn't leave your head. Her railgun, slicing through the ocean as it soared, looked like a miniature sun, befitting the "Sol" in her magical girl name. The overwhelming, chest-clearing spectacle of her monster-slaying drew countless hearts, and she had quite the devoted following.
"So… can you tell me about the Defect?"
I glanced around again to make sure no one was eavesdropping, then asked quietly. Park Sora, who was normally so cheerful and full of energy, looked completely different. Her eyes were half-lidded, and she carried a heavy, serious air.
"The Defect… sigh… I guess I have to explain it, don't I."
Her listless attitude made my tension spike. She was rated High in Defect severity. Even Yoon Se-ah and Han Minjung, both rated Low, had given her headaches, and Cha Yerin, rated Medium, had essentially become a different person. But High? My heart was hammering with worry about what kind of bomb was waiting to detonate.
"My Defect is… hmm… how do I even explain this. Well, if I had to sum it up in one word—personality change."
"Personality change?"
The common thread among every magical girl I'd been assigned to was that their personality changed. That part I could understand. The question was how they changed.
"Senpai. What do you think of me?"
"Huh? Suddenly? Um, let me think… you're cheerful, bold, surprisingly polite, straight-shooting, into sports, and have an extroverted personality?"
"There are a few things I could nitpick, but yeah, basically."
Park Sora stirred her coffee with her spoon, sweeping it around and then stopping abruptly, and then laid out the symptoms of her Defect in detail.
"It's the complete opposite. The polar opposite of the image you have of me."
"Huh? The opposite?"
So she changed into someone meek, reserved, and quiet? I tried picturing not the Park Sora who was pumping iron at the gym, drenched in sweat, but a version of her holding an art book, drifting through libraries, smiling delicately like a proper lady. No. I can't picture that. Actually, it was creepy. The moment I imagined that Park Sora, I'd be screaming that she was a monster wearing a human skin suit while emptying a gun.
"……Senpai. Whatever you're thinking, it's all over your face."
"Is it really that obvious?" I sipped my coffee, still puzzled by how "peaceful" her Defect symptoms sounded.
"But you said the Defect severity is High?"
"Yes. After the Defect manifests and my personality changes, I have no memory at all."
"That's…"
I thought about the other magical girls I'd met. In most cases, even when the Defect took hold and they couldn't control themselves, and they couldn't remember their actions immediately, they would slowly piece together what they'd done once the Defect settled. The closest case would be Cha Yerin, whose severity was Medium.
What's the difference?
Just as I was mentally comparing Cha Yerin and Park Sora, the girl sitting across from me answered my unspoken question.
"When I become introverted, the effect also reaches my actual self."
"……What? Wait. My actual self? So that means my personality gradually changes without me even realizing it?"
"Yes. That's the creepy part."
Park Sora's face was going pale, sweat pouring down her temples. The fingers gripping her spoon were trembling, as if she were being chased by something invisible. The spoon had gone still in her hand.
"Senpai. Do you know what I mean? It's the fear that hits you after the Defect calms down—the question of whether 'I' am really me. The things I used to love become irritating. I just want to stay home and do nothing."
Park Sora's blood-red eyes were brimming with heavy tears as she looked at me with desperate intensity, squeezing out her words like toothpaste from a tube.
"I can't remember what I liked and what I hated. Everything becomes suspicious—whether any of it was ever real. Senpai, is the person you see really Park Sora?"
"……"
I could clearly feel the difference between Cha Yerin and Park Sora. Both underwent extreme personality changes. But Cha Yerin's childish behavior didn't seem to reach her actual self. The Park Sora sitting in front of me, however, was something that was slowly, incrementally warping the very things I could call "me." I'm going to lose it. A chill ran down my spine. Without my knowledge, my thoughts, my emotions—everything was changing. Like a somnambulist, the version of me that was asleep was doing something, and the residue of that was bleeding into who I was. The love I had for Se-ah Sister—that love slowly fading away until I couldn't even remember why I liked her in the first place—that was the same principle.
"Have you found a way to alleviate the Defect?"
"No. I already told you. You're my first Care Supporter. Besides, I have no memory of what happened when the Defect manifested. I don't know what I did, and I don't know what would make it calm down."
I wanted to scream at whoever decided to assign such a harsh, severe magical girl to a total rookie. Sweat ran down my spine. A fear and dread washed over me, like standing face to face with a life hanging by a thread.
"The only thing I've desperately thought of so far is one thing. Even if it's by force, keep me moving. Keep me active."
"Like your normal self?"
"Yes. Even if I hate it, even if I refuse—drag me around and make me do outgoing activities, anything, constantly. I think the aftereffects will be less that way."
That made sense. If the personality that manifests during a Defect episode also affects the real self, then making her move like her normal self—active, cheerful, athletic Park Sora—would be the way to go. If you make her enjoy outgoing activities the way the real Park Sora does, there shouldn't be any residual effect.
"If your theory is right, then someone who knows the real you might actually be a better fit as a Care Supporter."
"That's true. The saying 'a blessing in disguise' fits this situation perfectly. Anyway—keep me from going too far inward. Don't let the introverted side of me show, not even for a second."
"That sounds a little… suggestive? Are you saying I can manhandle that well-built body of yours while your Defect is active?"
I tried to lighten the heavy atmosphere with a bit of off-color banter. But Park Sora's blood-red eyes flared even brighter, more menacing than before.
Did I go too far?
The burden and tension were heavier than I'd expected, and I'd crossed a line I shouldn't have. Just as I was about to apologize, Park Sora beat me to the punch.
"Yes. If it's necessary, you can use that kind of method too. Use whatever means necessary—do whatever it takes to fix me to my true self."
"……Huh?"
The words that came out of the mouth of the girl who had been my girlfriend, if only briefly, left me frozen. No matter how I looked at it, retired magical girls clearly just wanted to hand me explosives and watch me go insane.