Chapter 45
...All right. Condition check.
Today was a day with a lot to do.
It was also a day when Aia would be joining my usual magic lesson, and if I received Mental Cure from Mia today, it would complete seven days.
'...Still, it definitely does have an effect.'
The events of the past few days had given me quite a headache, but at least it felt like the aftereffects of what Nightmare had done to me were being properly treated.
...The problem was that everything that had happened in the meantime had made my headache worse.
Just yesterday...
-Thud thud!
[Calm down! Why are you taking it out on an innocent pillow!]
"I couldn't stand it unless I hit something..."
...I won't mention it.
Nothing happened that day.
Nothing. Had. Happened.
...Maybe I should be grateful I got grabbed at that exact moment?
While receiving Mental Cure from Mia had made my mind go strange, and while I had been forced to use Stellar Shift in a hurry and skimp on the finer calculations, I ended up wedged between Mia and Sapphire, so I did react... but if I hadn't, she would have realized it wasn't a leg.
-Thud thud thud!
[Why! What now!]
"I don't know either!"
[Why don't you know?!]
It was truly hard to survive as a magical girl.
This was why I wanted to retire as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I couldn't see the day when I would finally meet the requirements for retirement.
-Ding-dong!
"Mr. Sejin! Is something wrong?! I heard some loud banging..."
...See? No one would just leave me alone.
They tormented me as Alice, and now they were tormenting me as my true self too. How was I supposed to live like this?
"...I was just organizing some things, and something fell. It's nothing serious."
"You aren't hurt anywhere, are you?! It sounded pretty heavy! Leave it to me! I'm strong!"
"I'm fine... It's all taken care of..."
Both that woman and I were magical girls, so our physical abilities were excellent regardless of our appearances.
Even I, despite never going out of my way to show off my strength, was strong enough that I wouldn't lose in a fight against an ordinary person.
No wonder some magical girls went to work part-time at construction sites when they were really short on money... No, let's stop talking about unnecessary things.
I already had plenty to think about today.
...But hadn't I clearly pushed her away pretty firmly?
I could understand her approaching me as Alice, since she knew Alice was a different person, but as Han Sejin, I clearly remembered pushing her away. So why was she approaching me as if nothing had happened?
'Has she really got her rose-colored glasses on that tightly...?'
I couldn't understand what she liked so much about a jobless middle-aged man seven years older than her that she would come rushing at him like that.
Whenever she wanted to meet someone, couldn't she date a man with much better qualifications than a jobless hikikomori like me?
Was this appearance her type?
If so, it wasn't entirely incomprehensible...
Personally, people who approached someone based solely on their looks, when that person didn't particularly like their own appearance... were the sort I found difficult to open my heart to.
...It wasn't that I hated my appearance altogether... It had been given to me by the people most precious to me, after all...
'Sigh.'
In the end, there was only one thing to say today.
It was truly hard to survive as a magical girl.
* * *
"Oh, Miss Alice. You're early today."
"It's the day our special guest is coming. Alice should show proper courtesy and get ready ahead of time, shouldn't she?"
Even if I fussed around by myself at home, nothing would particularly change. To get used to being Alice, I came about an hour earlier than the usual filming time...
-Suddenly
"To think Miss Alice is treating Aia so specially. Aia is truly delighted."
...She definitely hadn't been in sight when I first arrived.
"You have an expression asking where I appeared from. Aia can tell even without you saying anything. The answer is that I also just arrived."
"I see..."
"Were you expecting some special machine? A concealment machine isn't impossible, but Aia doesn't prefer them. Hiding Aia's pretty, beautiful, cool, and cute appearance from the world would be a loss to humanity."
What a concept-obsessed person she was. She was truly difficult to deal with.
Was this how other people felt when dealing with Alice? Still, I didn't think I was that bad.
"In anticipation of today, Aia was only able to enter power-saving mode for eight hours last night. Were you not looking forward to it, Miss Alice?"
"Alice was looking forward to it too, of course. It's a collaboration with Miss Aia, after all."
"Ah, I was excited too, so I upgraded the camera's performance. I asked Chairwoman Emerald, and she did it in two hours. The chairwoman also seems to be looking forward to today immensely."
...But eight hours of sleep meant she had slept plenty.
-Bang!
"Miss Alice! I heard you had arrived... Oh, Miss Aia is here too? I didn't hear that you had come in."
"I snuck in."
"...What about the access pass I issued you?"
"They said I had to put Aia's lovely picture into an outdated machine to pass through, so I snuck in. Aia cannot tolerate Aia's picture being ravaged from head to toe by such a machine... Eeeek."
-Drag drag
"Even if you are Miss Aia, please follow the entry procedure properly. Even if you're ranked first among the S-ranks, shouldn't you set an example?"
In the meantime, Sapphire came in, heard that Aia had trespassed, grabbed her clothes from behind, and began dragging her away.
-Flail flail
"Please help me, Miss Alice. At this rate, Aia will be defiled."
"Have a nice trip~"
"Aia will not forget this humiliation. One day, Aia will definitely repay..."
-Thud
"Magical girls really are fun. They remind me of old times, and I enjoy it. Ah, though Miss Alice and Miss Aia are much more senior than me."
What a peculiar woman with such a strange concept.
Although I described it as Sapphire dragging Aia away, from any perspective, it only looked like Sapphire was playing along with her.
If Aia had genuinely hated the procedure, there was no reason for her to let Sapphire drag her away.
"It's all right. Alice supports those who have already achieved their goals, retired, and are living their own lives."
This was genuinely true.
I didn't dislike magical girls who had already retired.
I would have to become one someday too. What reason would I have to dislike them? Other than envy, of course.
"Miss Alice, you're so good at saying things that make people feel good. And your voice is lovely too. I guess it's no wonder you have so many fans among your juniors."
"It's nice that the younger girls love Alice. Thanks to them, Alice can shine even brighter, I suppose."
"Mm-hmm, and your concept is always perfect too. Personally, I think it's truly remarkable."
...It was remarkable. I had been doing this for eight years.
"Um... Let's move on to the filming. Since this shoot is a collaboration with Miss Aia, there'll probably be quite a lot of Q&A... discussion between Miss Aia and Miss Alice. Is that all right? The students may not actually learn very much."
"That's fine. Miss Alice is already doing a more than adequate job as an excellent teacher. Taking a break once shouldn't cause any problems... Nor do I think a discussion between Miss Aia and Miss Alice would be unhelpful. Just listening in from the side will be tremendously helpful."
"Then that's a relief."
"You may or may not know this, Miss Alice, but our viewers often post reports on our message board about magical girls successfully improving their magic after watching the program. Magical girls who take the classes in person, of course, and those who study simply from what we broadcast are benefiting in meaningful ways. It isn't even the first time a senior magical girl has filmed magic lectures for younger magical girls, but they say Miss Alice is the most effective, you know?"
...I see?
But even so, I wasn't particularly proud of it.
I had simply done the work I was being paid to do, so how well the results showed up... wasn't something I was concerned about.
If the average level of the younger girls rose, it would reduce my workload somewhat, but how much could it really reduce it?
If they could survive better, save even one more person without dying to Abyss One, and retire without dying themselves, that would be enough.
"Then Alice will prepare for the show. It seems like there will be a lot to prepare for this lesson."
"Yes, please do... Ah, come to think of it, do you need a room to be with Miss Mia today, like last time?"
"...Yes. It would be nice to have one."
I did need a place where I could receive treatment away from other people's eyes after the broadcast.
Mia hadn't even arrived yet, so I couldn't receive it before the broadcast, and after treatment, both Mia and I would be in poor condition. Receiving treatment beforehand was out of the question.
"Um... The room you used before was turned into a storage room this time while we upgraded the cameras and organized the materials. It's been tidied up, and one or two people can fit without trouble, but... would that be all right?"
"It's fine. I don't need much space."
"That's a relief. If you really needed it, I could find another space for you, but this time slot is busy elsewhere as well..."
After that, I sat in a suitable chair and reviewed the magic I had prepared in advance.
I combined the spellcasting footage of Aia available online with my memories of seeing her magic in person, trying to infer as much as possible about how it worked. I boldly left blank anything that couldn't be determined through guesswork, and prepared questions I could ask about Alice's magic system based on Aia's principles of magic.
Although we called it a collaboration, there was a high chance this would turn into a battle of magical knowledge between Alice and Aia, and Alice couldn't lose here.
I always had to appear relaxed, and Alice was the host of this program. If I looked outmatched by Aia, the guest, wouldn't that ruin my image?
Even so, I didn't think Alice could win overwhelmingly. That woman was unpredictable, and as for her magic skills, I didn't think they would be lower than Alic... than mine. If anything, they were probably higher.
Of course, they were probably lower than the real Alice's... But even so, it wouldn't go that far in this lesson.
For one thing, the program itself was a class for beginner magical girls. Even if Aia asked a personal question, if she asked something so advanced that Alice had trouble answering, it would go against the purpose of the program, so I could legitimately call out "NG."
Besides that, I had already gotten Aia to promise not to ask questions that Alice might find difficult, so I thought it would be fine.
-Bang!
"I'm here!"
"Miss Mia has arrived."
-Pitter-patter!
"Senpai! A welcoming hug today too!"
[Stellar Shift]
-Crash!
"Eek!"
What did she mean, 'today too,' acting so naturally? I had never done anything like that for her even once.
"Uu... That's mean."
"...By the way, have you seen Miss Sapphire and Miss Aia? They went toward the entrance earlier."
"Oh, yes, I saw them. Miss Aia seemed to be making something with all sorts of clunking noises?"
...M
'What on earth is that woman up to?'
I managed to swallow the words that had almost jumped out of my mouth.
Anyway, magical girls were all just a bunch of troublesome people.