Chapter 28
"Um... Citizen, have we met somewhere before? Or perhaps have you attended one of Aia's fan meetings?"
"Ah, no, I haven't. Why do you ask...?"
For the record, I found this woman extremely uncomfortable.
It wasn't because she was seeing my true self. Even if I'd met her as Alice, I would have found her uncomfortable.
Even when I met her as Alice, I couldn't openly show my discomfort because I had to maintain the persona. Although I smiled like Alice on the outside, I was extremely uncomfortable inside.
Dealing with a persona fanatic consumed a great deal of mental energy, after all.
...Though it may look like I'm spitting on my own face, strictly speaking, I'm not the one obsessed with a persona. I'm acting like Alice, who was.
If you say that's basically the same thing, I have nothing to say.
So, the decisive reason I found this woman uncomfortable was...
"I've become interested in you, Citizen. If it's all right with you, may I ask for your phone number?"
"...Huh?"
"Oh my."
Even I, who knew at least a fair amount about most magical girls, found her impossible to predict.
"Um... What do you mean, you've become interested...?"
"I can't say who, but there are quite a few things about you that resemble someone Aia once knew. Aia would like to learn more about those aspects."
'...That sounds like Alice.'
Alice and my true self gave off quite different impressions.
More precisely, our faces were almost identical at their core, but the overall atmosphere was completely different.
Alice was an innocent-looking beauty who always smiled brightly, while I had dark circles under my eyes, and years of habitual expressions had made my eyes look sharp and vicious.
But people's perception of someone's appearance changes greatly depending on their expression, makeup, and hairstyle, so almost no one who saw Alice and me thought we looked identical.
On top of that, Alice didn't allow photographs to be taken unless I permitted it, and my true self hardly ever went out except to return after deployments or for basic errands, so there were even fewer samples to compare...
-Grit
'This is why magical girls...'
"Besides resembling someone she knows, your appearance itself is also very close to Aia's type. You could say this fits the commonly used expression 'love at first sight' by approximately seventy percent."
"Well... That's great! Mr. Sejin! You don't have a girlfriend eit..."
'This lunatic!'
-Whoosh!
Naturally, I had no intention of giving this woman my number.
Leave a connection with the most unpredictable magical girl besides Alice, while in my true form rather than as Alice?
Unless I was insane, there was no reason to do such a thing.
Of course, I wasn't interested in her romantically, either.
The part of my life concerned with romantic relationships had already been shattered to pieces ten years ago. In all the years I'd lived as Alice, surrounded by women whom anyone would objectively find attractive, I'd never once felt the sort of emotions one might have for the opposite sex. There was no sign that what had been shattered long ago would ever be repaired.
Whether she knew about my situation or not, I hurriedly grabbed Mia's arm—the one she'd been using to provide covering fire for me—and pulled it toward me, giving her a meaningful look.
'What's wrong?'
If I interpreted the words in Mia's gaze as she caught my look and turned her eyes toward me, they would probably be something like that.
A look that plainly said she truly couldn't understand why I was refusing.
Certainly, if you looked at it normally, a magical girl—an S-rank magical girl ranked first, no less—was making a pass at me. I thought there were very few men who would recoil in horror and reject her.
A man might find it burdensome to take things as far as a romantic relationship, but a man who would refuse even to exchange numbers... let alone one who wasn't already in a relationship, would be extremely hard to find.
That's probably why this woman had been trying to support a relationship between Aia and me.
But I was one of those men who recoiled and refused. What could I do?
'Don't say anything. Help me out.'
Whispering was impossible.
An S-rank magical girl—moreover, the number-one magical girl—was standing right in front of me. Whispering would be little different from saying it plainly to her face. If anything, she'd only listen more intently out of curiosity.
So I simply made some vague gestures and met her eyes, hoping she would understand well enough.
'Aha.'
Fortunately, Mia seemed to understand. With a look of realization, she leaned toward me, then
"No. Mr. Sejin already has a girlfriend."
"???????!!!!!!!!"
suddenly began pretending to be my girlfriend.
"I see. If you are Miss Mia's boyfriend, then it would not be proper for Aia to make a pass at you."
"Yes, our Sejin is a little uncomfortable around other people, so thank you for helping him, but could you keep your distance?"
"Your name is Sejin, then. Understood. Aia will record it in the database."
'Who said you could?!'
I'd seen all kinds of things during my life as Alice, but this development was so utterly beyond my expectations that my brain could only freeze.
The shock was hitting my brain in real time, powerful enough to instantly clear away the hazy exhaustion left by the nightmare.
"Then here is Aia's business card. You should at least take this."
"I believe you said you were refusing her advances?"
"If you do not wish to accept it, Aia will not be hurt if you tear it up in front of her. If you happen to break up with Miss Mia, Aia would be pleased if you contacted her then."
"Even if it's you, Miss Aia, saying something like that right to his face is a little rude!"
"This is also a first for Aia. It is the first time since assembly that Aia's main circuit has operated this hot."
"Hmph. Mr. Sejin, do as you please."
'What... is this... situation... right now...?'
My brain wasn't working.
My brain refused to process the information conveyed by my senses.
Whether I was truly hearing and seeing things correctly.
Whether I wasn't actually having another nightmare because of the Abyss One Nightmare. Ah, if only that were the case. If the information I was perceiving now was reality, it would be even more despairing.
"According to the voice Aia recognized, it seems you wish to restore this convenience store, which was left in a mess by the Abyss One's attack. Is that correct?"
"I supp...ose."
"I see. Then please wait a moment for Aia's special ser-vice in tension-up mode after a pleasant encounter."
-Whirr
Still unable to sort out the words floating through my head, all I could do was watch the scene unfolding before my eyes.
To begin with, both of them were magical girls in their transformed states. I wouldn't have been outmatched by either of them as Alice, but I hadn't transformed, and I had to suppress even my basic magical power as much as possible to avoid revealing that I was a magical girl, leaving me almost nothing I could do.
Even Mia aside, Aia was the kind of magical girl who could detect the magical power I'd accidentally let slip and sense that something was wrong.
Anyway, Aia, who had been talking about the incomprehensible thing called special service, waved her hand, and strange machines emerged and began cleaning up inside the convenience store.
They didn't merely put fallen shelves and damaged goods back in place. Items that had already burst or shattered beyond use were sorted separately according to type, while the damaged shelves were repaired so neatly that it was as if they'd never been broken.
Even the window the Abyss One had smashed through.
"Um... Sej..."
-Pinch
"..."
Perhaps thinking Aia was distracted over there, Mia cautiously tried to whisper to me, but I pinched her arm to stop her.
I still didn't understand how she'd come to that misunderstanding, but what was done was done.
As far as Aia was concerned now, Mia and I were a couple, and because she'd accepted that, that unpredictable woman had stopped making advances for the time being.
If she found out that this was all just an act, there was a high chance she'd start making advances again. At worst, she might cling to me even more fiercely, thinking I'd gone so far as to pretend to date a woman who wasn't even my girlfriend just to shake her off.
For now, I had no choice but to play this act flawlessly until Aia had completely left.
...That said.
'How am I supposed to act...?'
I had no idea how to pretend to be someone's boyfriend.
Should I at least engage in some physical contact? But since we weren't actually dating, would that really be necessary just for a brief act? It might be rude to her, too.
If not physical contact, should we at least have a more lovey-dovey conversation?
...I wasn't confident I could do that.
I'd rather act as Alice than pretend to be romantically involved with someone else in my true form. No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn't think of anything I could do.
In the end, I did nothing. I simply stayed quietly beside Mia with our arms linked and watched Aia repair the convenience store.
And after about ten minutes like that,
"How is it? Aia's special ser-vice in tension-up mode."
"Wow, it's exactly the same. How did you know the layout of the convenience store?"
"Aia referred to the store's CCTV footage from one hour ago through Magical-Hacking."
"Are you allowed to do that?!"
"The convenience store owner will forgive this kind-hearted hacking as well. Then Aia will take her leave. Having an attractive woman like Aia in a space occupied by a close couple might interfere with the birth rate."
"What?!"
'Pfft.'
Having heard something so unexpected in such an unexpected situation, even I, who had been keeping my mouth shut, nearly burst out laughing.
"Aia will be waiting for your call. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. If you wish, calls on Friday evenings are also okay."
"Ah, no, what are you saying..."
"Then, poof."
-Flash!
"..."
"..."
...She disappeared after saying only what she wanted to say.
And all she did was chatter on about things that left the listener's mind reeling.
"Um... Mr. Sejin...? Then..."
"...Just a little."
"Pardon?"
"Just a little. Stay like this for five more minutes. She might be watching from somewhere far away."
"Oh... Yes. I mean... It's not difficult."
"..."
We had our arms linked, but I didn't know what to say, so I was unable to start any meaningful conversation when
"I'd heard Miss Aia had an unusual personality, but meeting her in person, she's beyond anything I imagined. I can't handle her. I've never exactly been called introverted, either. If we use that lady as the standard for extroversion, wouldn't 95% of Earth's population be introverted?"
-Slide
Deciding this was enough, I unlinked our arms and put some ordinary distance between us.
"...You worked hard. And... I'm sorry."
"Huh? No, it's all right. I do have a senior I like... but dating her is impossible... Someone like you? Even if it weren't me, most women probably wouldn't consider this much of an offense. Miss Aia fell in love with you at first sight, after all."
...I knew. At least, I knew my looks were nothing to be ashamed of.
"...No. I'm not interested in having a girlfriend."
"Really? I'm not a man, but even someone like Miss Aia would make a really... um... good girlfriend, even if her personality is... a little strange... Is her personality the problem? I suppose if someone is your girlfriend, her personality has to match yours as well as her looks..."
"I'm not interested in having a girlfriend at all..."
"Eek. That stings a little for me, too... Ah, ahaha! No, it's nothing! Um... Anyway, Miss Aia cleaned up the store before she left! You should go inside and rest now, Mr. Sejin! You look really pale!"
"...Do I look that bad?"
"Extremely. You look like you'd fall asleep within three seconds if you closed your eyes right now."
...She wasn't wrong.
Three seconds was a slight exaggeration, but... I probably would fall asleep within ten.
I was that mentally exhausted.
"Then... goodbye..."
-Stagger
"Oh... I'll walk you to your door. It's right there, anyway. The owner won't say anything if I leave for a moment, not after an Abyss One came barging in, right?"
Before I could refuse, she naturally linked arms with me as she had earlier and began dragging me all the way to my door.
Normally, I would have pulled my arm free immediately, but... I did owe her a debt, after all.
...And I was very tired, too.
"There, you can go in now. I'm leaving, so just unlock the door and go inside."
"...Thank you."
"Oh, if Miss Aia comes back and asks whether we've broken up, then asks you to give her your number, you can sell me out. That's fine."
"............Yes."
"Then good night! Be sure to have a nice dream!"
-Beep-beep...
-Thud!
I went out to buy a cigarette, and what on earth was this ordeal...
Ah, I left it behind.
...I'll just buy one again later.
-Flop
It was just a small commotion that happened in the early morning—not even something that could properly be called "today."
For some reason, when I fell asleep again, I was able to have a peaceful dream for the first time in a while.
Truly, unusually so.