Chapter 20
That night.
Yoo Seo-ah and I decided to spend our last night lying in the same bed.
Well… It wasn't anything special, since we normally slept in the same bed anyway.
"Good night."
"Yes, good night."
As usual, we closed our eyes after wishing each other good night.
But for some reason, sleep wouldn't come even as time passed.
Was it because I kept thinking that tomorrow would be the last day?
Or perhaps because I'd slept in and managed to recover from my fatigue?
I had to spend quite some time lying awake, unable to fall asleep.
I needed to sleep now for tomorrow, but my body wouldn't move according to my wishes.
In the end, I spent the time staring blankly at the ceiling until I fell asleep.
And it seemed Yoo Seo-ah was in the same boat.
"Sarah. Are you asleep?"
I slowly raised my head at the voice coming from beside me, and my eyes met Yoo Seo-ah's.
"You're awake."
"You weren't sleeping either, Ms. Seo-ah."
"Maybe it's because today is the last day. I can't seem to fall asleep tonight."
"What a coincidence. I'm the same way."
Since we'd already discussed it during the day, Yoo Seo-ah didn't tell me not to go or ask me to stay for just one more day.
She merely chuckled at my words and nodded.
"Then shall we talk for a little while?"
"Sure. As it happens, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."
Something she wanted to ask? Hadn't we already talked about just about everything?
As I was thinking that, Yoo Seo-ah looked at me and asked,
"Where are you planning to go after you leave this city?"
At that question, I let out an exclamation of realization.
I'd only said that I was leaving; I hadn't said where I was going.
"I'm thinking of going to C City, where Magical Girl Blue is."
As soon as I mentioned Blue, Yoo Seo-ah made a sharp sucking sound like someone who had eaten something spicy, then let out a deep sigh.
"Of all people, you had to go to that bastard Han So-yu…."
Han So-yu (韓昭有).
That was the name of Magical Girl Blue in the original story.
"You know her?"
The two of them hadn't had any notable connection in the original story, so I blinked and asked.
Yoo Seo-ah looked at me, thought for a moment, then let out a deep sigh and pulled me into her arms.
"Of course I do. I've been a magical girl for ten years. How could I not know her?"
Ten years? Even I hadn't known that.
Wasn't it eight years?
'…Ah, right. She said she'd fought the humanoid monster eight years ago.'
That thought occurred to me belatedly, so I shut my mouth again and asked another question.
"If you even know her name, you must be fairly close, right?"
"Close… I suppose you could call us close. We were elementary-school classmates."
"If you went to the same elementary school, doesn't that mean you were friends?"
"We just knew each other's faces and names from crossing paths. Besides, it's already been more than five years since I last saw her…. I wouldn't call that close."
"Five years? You haven't seen her even once during all that time?"
That sharp reaction earlier aside, had the two of them perhaps had a major falling-out?
But what Yoo Seo-ah said was far from what I'd expected.
"It's not that I didn't meet her; she shut herself away and stopped coming out, so I couldn't. Well, even if she hadn't, there wouldn't have been many opportunities to meet her."
"She shut herself away? But from what I've seen, she still defeats monsters and carries out her duties as a magical girl…."
"She only maintains public safety with drones she made herself. It's been a long time since she appeared at any official events. As I said earlier, it's been more than five years since I last saw her…. She's been holed up at home for almost six years now."
I blinked at the figure, which far exceeded my expectations.
Not two or three years, but six years without leaving the house?
"Did something serious happen?"
"Well…. Something like that."
Yoo Seo-ah answered in a reluctant voice.
"Something happened. Something very complicated."
What on earth had happened to turn a magical girl into a shut-in?
Could it have been lingering trauma from an accident? An injury so severe that she couldn't leave the house?
…Damn that author. They scatter hints everywhere without ever properly explaining anything, so there's nothing I can do.
I let out a deep sigh inwardly and opened my mouth.
"May I ask what happened?"
Yoo Seo-ah hesitated for a moment, then sighed and hugged me.
"I don't know the details, either. A major accident happened about six years ago, and she shut herself away after it. That's all I know."
"A major accident…. Do you remember what kind of accident it was?"
Yoo Seo-ah gave a bitter smile and shook her head.
"Honestly, I don't remember. At the time, I was barely managing my own problems and didn't have the time to worry about someone else's. Sorry. I wasn't much help."
"No, it's fine. This is more than enough. Thank you for telling me."
"I'm glad I could help."
Yoo Seo-ah hugged me tightly and gently rubbed her cheek against mine.
"…Be careful. When I last saw her, she looked to be in pretty bad shape."
I blinked at words I could never have imagined coming from Yoo Seo-ah, who had been little more than a walking corpse herself.
For Yoo Seo-ah to say that she had looked 'to be in pretty bad shape.'
How broken did someone have to be to hear something like that from Yoo Seo-ah?
Wasn't I supposed to fly straight to Blue right now and fuss over her—there, there, good job, our magical girl, you're doing so well?
Of course, I merely thought it; I didn't say it aloud.
It would have been rude to bluntly say, 'It's pretty worrying to hear that from someone who was practically dying herself.'
"Yes, I'll be careful."
In the end, that was the only answer I could give.
After both Yoo Seo-ah's and my questions had been answered, we made small talk before falling asleep.
* * *
Time wasn't something we could stop just because we didn't want to say goodbye, so the next day arrived.
Where there is a meeting, there is a parting.
Yes, it was time to say goodbye.
"Take care of yourself. And make sure you contact me if anything happens."
"Yes. But don't we have any way to contact each other?"
"Ah…. Right."
Yoo Seo-ah scratched her head and began rummaging through a drawer, muttering something about whether she should give me whatever spare phone she had left.
After thinking for a moment, I gained a new ability.
"Ms. Seo-ah."
"Hm?"
"Could you come a little closer for a moment?"
Yoo Seo-ah approached with a questioning look, and I gently kissed her forehead.
Peck――
"W-what, wh—what…! What are you doing!?"
I smiled at the sight of her face turning bright red as she hurriedly backed away.
"It's a present!"
"A-a present…."
"From now on, if you think about me and call my name, I'll appear wherever and whenever you want!"
Can't contact me? No way to get in touch?
Then couldn't we just meet in person and talk?
The return trip was another matter, but now that I had a way to contact her, problem solved!
"Hehe, what do you think?"
Yoo Seo-ah absentmindedly rubbed her forehead at my words, then opened her mouth.
"C-could you explain that one more time?"
"If you think about me and call my name, I'll appear wherever and whenever you want. It's not difficult! Just think about me and call my name."
"Sarah."
"Hehe, I'm right in front of you at the moment."
"Ah, right."
She gave a bitter smile, hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth again.
"One more time. Could you do it?"
I blinked at the way she asked so cautiously.
Did she mean that she wanted me to explain it again?
'Was my explanation difficult to understand…?'
Had the chronic brain-muscle problem of a close-combat fighter flared up again?
Had she trained her brain along with her muscles?
No, that couldn't be it.
"If you call my name――…"
"No, not that."
Cutting me off mid-sentence, she grinned mischievously and tapped her forehead.
"Ah, I can do that much for you!"
It wasn't like I was doing this with bad intentions!
I was genderless and had no sex drive, and outwardly, we were both women, so it was fine, wasn't it?
What about the fact that I used to be a man?
The me who used to be a man was in favor of this, too, so what was the problem?
What idiot would refuse when a cute, pretty girl asked for a kiss?
Since the angel, body, and mind all unanimously agreed, I slowly approached her to kiss her forehead.
The moment I moved closer.
"You were the one who seduced me first."
"Huh?"
Yoo Seo-ah gently cupped my cheek with one hand and lifted her face.
Smooch….
Unlike the dry sound of lips touching my forehead, this was a moist sound.
The soft, warm sensation of her lips against mine.
"…!?"
This time, I was the one who was surprised.
I was so shocked that I even forgot I was floating in the air and nearly fell straight to the floor.
In an instant!
Yoo Seo-ah caught me, pulled me tightly into her arms, and kissed me….
No—she kept kissing me.
"Mmph…. Nnh, mmph…."
A tongue slipped between my lips and tapped against my teeth.
I flinched in surprise and instinctively opened my mouth, and her tongue slipped inside.
I twisted my body to get away, but one of her arms was wrapped around my waist while her other hand pressed against the back of my head, leaving me unable to escape.
"Mwah…. Haaah, mmph…."
Tap, tap-tap.
Tiny sparks flew inside my head.
Yoo Seo-ah's desire for me stirred the love inside me.
I wriggled my toes and drew my legs together.
"Pah…."
She was the first to let me go.
A sticky strand of silvery saliva stretched between us.
I shuddered at the cold sensation of saliva touching my chin, and Yoo Seo-ah wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand before wiping my chin with her thumb.
"We won't be able to see each other for a while, so it's okay for me to be this greedy, right?"
After hesitating for a long time, I covered my face with both hands and nodded.
Yoo Seo-ah, you're such a manly woman….
On the last day before we parted, Yoo Seo-ah and I both gained an unforgettable memory.
* * *
After creating that unforgettable memory, I left Yoo Seo-ah's house and headed straight for C City.
And….
[Unknown organic lifeform detected. Surrender immediately.]
[Unknown organic lifeform detected. Surrender immediately.]
[Unknown organic lifeform detected. Surrender immediately.]
[Unknown organic lifeform detected. Surrender immediately.]
"Ehehe…."
I ended up surrounded by hundreds of drones.
…How did things end up like this?