Chapter 49
"Hmm... I heard it from the PD, but it's a bit cramped. Come in carefully."
"...How about finding somewhere else? There doesn't seem to be much room to sit here."
"Well... A famous magical girl had her birthday this time, so the lounge is practically full. Most of it is still being repaired after the last attack, too... Even if we find an empty place, there'll probably be lots of people around. Aren't you more comfortable somewhere without people, Senpai?"
"That's true... Yes. Let's do it here. Alice doesn't have a lot of free time, either."
"It's cramped, but if we clear things out like this... we can make enough room for about two people to sit. Both you and I are on the small side, after all."
Since we'd already come down here, I'd thought about using a larger room, but the lounge wasn't in usable condition, so we ended up returning to the room we normally used.
Specifically, the one that was temporarily being used as a storage room while they organized the materials.
"Wow... But there sure is a lot of expensive-looking equipment. If we damage this by accident, we'd have to pay for it, right?"
"Probably."
"Hmm... If we're not careful, we might end up handing over everything we earned from filming. We should be careful."
I wasn't familiar enough with broadcasting equipment to say for sure, but it looked expensive at a glance.
Each piece probably cost at least several hundred thousand, if not several million won.
'...Now that I think about it, that's a little intimidating.'
I'd already spent a fortune repairing my house. If I broke all this with one crash...
-Shudder
That was scarier than fighting an Abyss One.
A magical girl can beat an Abyss One, but can't beat money? Come to think of it, maybe money was an Abyss One too. An SSS-rank one, perhaps.
...Of course, that couldn't be true.
"...Shall we hurry up with the treatment and leave?"
"All right. First... let's use that concentrated Mental Cure from earlier again..."
'That really was something different?!'
Even the Mental Cure I was receiving now made me feel quite strange. What on earth was a concentrated Mental Cure?
"Um... How is that different from the usual Mental Cure?"
"What? Oh, it's nothing special. It just makes you a little more honest?"
"...Huh?"
"It's the final Mental Cure, after all. It's a common effect caused by Nightmare Queen's nightmare being washed away. Technically, it happens because of the caster's influence... but you'll become honest about your emotions. I suppose I'm a bit like that myself. Hehe..."
'...Become honest?'
Me, who spent most of my time living a lie?
...This was dangerous.
I didn't know exactly how strong the effect would be, but wouldn't even a tiny effect be disastrous?
"...Alice has suddenly gotten something urgent to do, so I'll be leaving now."
"What?! This is the last one! You've been receiving treatment for a week! If we don't finish this, it'll all revert!"
"Even so, I can't do that! I can't show Alice's true self, even to you, Miss Mia!"
"Putting it that way only makes me more excited!"
-Grab!
"Eeeeeek!!!"
"I'm sorry, Senpai! I don't want to do something you dislike either... but you need the treatment! No matter how much I like you, Senpai, this is one thing I can't compromise on!"
"B-but no means no!"
Mia suddenly pounced at me, sending my back flat against the floor as she ended up on top of me.
I managed to stretch out my arms and stop her before it was too late, but I was in a bad position.
"You're a support-type, so why are you this strong?!"
"Haha! Just give up quietly! It will be over if you count the patterns on the ceiling for a moment!"
"Absolutely... not!"
"I can't compromise either! We spent a whole week on your treatment, and if you don't receive this one, it'll all be wasted! I can't compromise, not when it's for your sake, Senpai!"
Though she was saying I was strong, she meant Alice without maximizing her physical enhancement. No matter how strong Mia was, she was still an S-rank magical girl. She couldn't compare to Alice's maximum output.
But that didn't mean it was an easy situation in which to use my maximum output, either.
Drawing out that much strength just to push one person away would be difficult to control, and Mia might get hurt.
At the moment, we were competing using only the physical abilities that magical girls were naturally granted through basic enhancement. That was why Mia could hold her own to some extent. Her position was also advantageous for putting her strength into it.
"L-let's separate first and talk! Alice has her reasons, okay? Huh? How can you force someone like this when she says she doesn't want it!"
"Because if you're the Senpai I know, you'll obviously run away the moment I let you go!"
Damn it, she'd figured it out.
I'd planned to run away first and, if the nightmare really returned, try finding Miss Kariel then. How did she know me so well?
'It's not like I can use Stellar Shift easily while we're stuck together like this...'
I didn't know whether she'd grabbed me knowing that, or whether she'd simply latched on first and thought about it later, but with us this close, it wasn't easy to use Stellar Shift to move only myself.
On the other hand, if I moved us both, I'd have to prepare myself to overwork my brain with the overwhelming amount of computation, just like last time.
In the end, all my rambling boiled down to the fact that escaping this situation would not be easy.
-Tremble, tremble...
"What's so bad about becoming honest?! I told you, it just means becoming a little more like me! If you keep rejecting it like this, you'll hurt my feelings!"
"Mia has her own charms, and Alice has Alice's own... I told you to stop coming closer!"
-Squish
"Hehe... Miss Aia and Big Sis Sapphire have never seen you like this, have they, Senpai? I've always only seen your perfect side too, but seeing you resist like this has my heart pounding so hard. This is only the second time someone else has made my heart race... so please take responsibility, even if it's you, Senpai!"
"I'm grateful that you like Alice, Miss Mia...! But keeping a reasonable distance would be better for you too, Miss Mia! This is advice!"
Because of gravity, the particularly prominent parts of Mia's body began pressing against my chest.
As if the situation weren't difficult enough already, I now had something else to worry about.
'Think good thoughts, think good thoughts, think good thoughts, think good thoughts.'
"I'm ready to accept everything about you, Senpai! Even if you were secretly foul-mouthed! Or if you smoked heavily on a rooftop after the organization disbanded! I could even accept you if you were a man!"
"As if any of that were true?!"
'Why is everything true?!'
She was just giving examples, right?! Those words only came out because the image of Han Sejin that had unconsciously surfaced in her mind got superimposed, right?!
If she actually knew, it would be a major disaster?!
"I'm saying it hypothetically! I can accept you no matter what you look like, Senpai!"
Saying that, Mia began advancing toward me even farther, as if she'd somehow found more strength from somewhere.
"W-wait..."
In our current position, I was practically lying down with Mia pressing down on top of me.
For that to be the case, Mia's legs had to be wedged between mine.
In other words, Mia's knee, which was slowly moving forward right now...
-Tap
"...!"
-Crash!
"Ow!"
"Haa... haa..."
Just before I was in serious danger, I drew up a little magic power, accepted some minor bleeding, shoved Mia away, and instead took the upper position.
I had knocked Mia onto the floor rather abruptly, so she must have hit herself, but if she'd pushed Alice that far, shouldn't she have been prepared for something like this?
"S-Senpai? Are you all right? Your face is completely red..."
"...You're noisy. It's because of you, Miss Mia."
"Oh my, your face is turning red because of me..."
"Don't be happy about it! It's not a compliment!"
I knew she liked Alice, but wasn't she taking it a little too far?
At this rate, would she even get excited if Alice hit her once, saying, 'Senpai hit me!'
...It seemed plausible enough that I had no intention of testing it.
"Actually, you used to have such a perfect image that it was hard to approach you, Senpai, but these days, you're different, you know?"
"That's because Alice is human too. Are you disappointed?"
"No! I like you even more because you feel more human!"
Now she even liked my unstable side as proof of my humanity. What on earth would it take to lower her opinion of me?
"...Anyway. Alice can't compromise on that either. Sorry to say this, Miss Mia, but your honesty doesn't suit Alice."
"Hmm... I suppose you have your own circumstances too, Senpai. Then I'll look for another way... Look out!"
"Eh... Mmph!"
-Grab!
Mia suddenly pulled my head into her arms and held it against her chest, and I heard the sound of something being caught above me.
"Phew, whew. The camera that had been up there suddenly fell. Are you all right?"
"I-I'm o-okay."
"I'm sorry. I startled you by hugging you so suddenly, didn't I? Hmm... Actually, if it's you, Senpai, even getting hit by a camera probably wouldn't hurt you... But my body moved on its own... Hehe..."
-Phew
"A magical girl might do that. I understand."
"...Uh... Senpai...?"
"What's wrong, Miss Mia?"
"Isn't... your face a little close?"
"I came this close because I wanted you to look at Alice, Miss Mia. I'll stay like this for just a moment."
-Thump, thump
I could feel Mia's heartbeat from this close.
...Mia thought Alice was a woman, so her heart pounding was... well, understandable.
I didn't know what Mia was thinking, but I couldn't let her turn her gaze elsewhere. That would be rather troublesome...
-Knock, knock!
-Startled!
"Miss Alice! We're about to clock out! If you still have a lot left to do, please lock the door with the key when you leave later!"
"O-okay, PD!"
"...N-now that I look at us, aren't we in a somewhat... uncomfortable... position? What if someone else comes in like this..."
"Don't move, Miss Mia."
"E-eh?"
"I'll let you go in a little while... but for now, just keep looking at Alice."
It wasn't as though I wanted to hold someone down by force like this.
It was only because, now that things had ended up this way, it would be difficult to get up and make Mia look elsewhere. And Mia was the one who had caused this situation.
"Uh... Senpai? I feel a little strange right now."
"It's all right. Just stay like this a little longer."
"N-no, Senpai. We're both women... and there's someone I like..."
"..."
What was this? The mood seemed to be taking a rather strange turn.
No, if she was saying things like that, wasn't the atmosphere obviously very strange?
Suddenly, she was saying that they were both women and that she had someone she liked...
-Slide...
Maybe because my mind had cleared, the situation had reached the point where I could safely let Mia go.
"Ahem. Well, get up for now, Miss Mia. We need to continue discussing your treatment..."
"S-sorry! I'll contact you later!"
-Whoosh!
-Bang! Slam!
"...Huh?"
The only thing left in the room was the trace of Mia, who had fled in an instant.
...It felt like the situation was taking a strange turn.