Reincarnated as the Narrow-Eyed Character in a Magical Girl Battle Story

March 24th

“How is it?”
“It’s pretty.”
“Which one…?”
“That cherry blossom tree beside the telephone pole is the biggest and most beautiful.”
“……”

The cherry blossoms fluttered beautifully in the gentle spring breeze.

Yuki and I were slowly strolling between the cherry blossom trees, which painted the streets pink under the warm spring sun.

Despite Yuki’s hundreds of messages worrying that the spring rain yesterday might wash all the cherry blossoms away, every cherry blossom tree was shaking its entire body, showering pink petals everywhere.

Due to the countless heartwarming stories shared by Laura and Meirin that moved many, there was news that hundreds of high-ranking officials from various European countries and China wanted to visit Elysion.

After hearing Yeonseo’s words that someone dreamed of idolizing me during this surprise visit, I hurriedly escaped. But apart from Elysion, I had nowhere to go, so I ended up at Yuki’s house.

“Wait! I’ll change into my school uniform!”

The new school year was just around the corner.

Yuki insisted on changing into her high school uniform.

I was only taking a walk in front of my house, yet I accommodated Yuki’s feelings, who wanted to show off her high schooler look a day earlier.

‘She will wear it soon anyway.’

At first, Yuki struggled to adapt to her daily life back in this time. However, she began to look forward to her new life after middle school.

The daily life and memories she had lost.

She lived a struggle where she couldn’t even die due to the mission left by the Goddess of [Start] and seemed very dependent on me, who knew everything, because of her compensatory psychology.

Every time I saw Yuki like that, my heart tightened, and I thought that this time, I definitely wanted to save everyone.

I wanted to give her a vast future as big as the happiness that the wonderful protagonist I admired had not received.
“Yuki.”
“Yeah?”
“Is it still hard to see Lee Hua, Natalia, and Yeonseo?”
“…Yeah.”

Yuki’s companions from the original story met each other in different ways and became friends in the reversed time. In that, Yuki was the only one who couldn’t change and remained stuck.

Painful time.
Companions who didn’t empathize.
Yet they fought together and died.

For Yuki, those living in completely changed time became complete strangers and awkward remnants of the past.
“……”
“……”

Amidst the cherry blossom petals dancing in the wind,
I saw the reddish energy swirling in Yuki’s eyes.
She looked into my slender eyes.

Although we hadn’t known each other for long,
we understood each other’s experiences better than anyone else.

We wordlessly responded and rejected things we wanted to say with our eyes.

Thud

Suddenly, a cherry blossom petal fell on Yuki’s head. I removed it, and she quietly looked at me.

In my hand was a petal.

It felt as lonely as I, who fell into this world, so I suddenly thought of a word.
“Yuki.”
“Yeah, Hikari.”
“Actually, I was Korean in my previous life.”

At my sudden outburst, Yuki’s eyes widened slowly.
“Really? I had no idea…”
“Yeah, but it’s a different Korea from here.”
“A different Korea?”
“The president is different, and the history is a little different, but the atmosphere is frighteningly the same.”
“I see. Was it hard?”
“No.”
“Why? There’s no one in that place who wants to see Hikari, nor places you want to return to.”
“Instead, there were Kang Dorim, Leader Oh, Park Saebyeok, Hong Na-yeon, the boss of the Seolleongtang restaurant, and the Supernatural Ability Response Team and Baek Ik Unit.”

So familiar, yet so different.

Another Korea within this world.

A place with no mother,
no father’s grave,
no familiar brands,
and no university I attended.

“When I first arrived in Korea in this world, it felt so familiar and so strange that I was scared.”
“Yeah.”
“But there were also good people I didn’t know about living in an atmosphere I was used to.”
“Yeah.”
“Clearly, the things I cherished are gone, but I found other precious things.”
“Yeah.”

Yuki looked into my eyes, knowing slowly what I wanted to say, and quietly reached out her hand. I slowly took it.

Fingers intertwined starting from our pinkies, gradually wrapping around each other.

Warmth
Heat

Cherry blossom petals mixed in between but didn’t let go.
Sometimes we held hands like this without speaking when we mutually agreed.
“I’ve overcome my weak self, so Yuki can definitely overcome too.”
“No, I’m not that strong.”
“Then what should we do?”
“…You have to hold my other hand.”
“Should I?”

Standing in the middle of the street, our hands clasped together looked so funny that I couldn’t help but laugh.
Holding hands while staring at each other amidst falling cherry blossom petals felt like some strange religious ritual. Even I was about to become a goddess of a cult by doing it.

My mom told me not to join a cult even if she died, so what if I end up going back?
Pfft.
Hoohoo.

After a brief laugh, we continued on our way as we were.
“So then.”
“Yeah?”

Yuki opened her mouth in a slightly trembling voice.
“Then I’ll try meeting them once.”

Lee Hua
Natalia
Jo Yeon-seo

A determination to find something precious again in a familiar atmosphere within the changed time.
“I’ll meet them again, just like Hikari did.”
“Yeah. That’s a good thought.”
“Phew… now that I’ve made the decision, I’m nervous.”
“That’s how it is when you make a decision.”

Yuki didn’t respond to that and quietly smiled, then suddenly pulled the hand she was holding and said,
“Speaking of which, it’s interesting.”
“What is?”
“My dad used to really like Korean dramas back in the day.”
“Ah… I think I get it.”

It must have been a drama about memory loss or something.
“So when I was little, I probably said I wanted to go backpacking to Korea because of my dad.”
“Really?”
“Maybe because there were only Korean dramas on TV every day.”

Yuki awkwardly pronounced “Annyeonghaseyo! Banggasimida.” in Korean.
That was so cute that a smile crept onto my face.
“You’re doing well!”
“Hehe, that was one of my few talents when I was little.”
“What about the other talents?”
“I forgot because I had no friends to show them to.”
“……”

I recalled the tragedy that befell the girl who dreamed of backpacking overseas.
Bullying due to scars.
“……”
“Now that I have friends, I need to practice a lot.”
“Yeah.”
“Ah, we’re at my house now.”

Before we knew it, we had circled the neighborhood.
Beyond that hill is the house where the Shikishima family lives.
“Shall we go around… one more time?”

Yuki peeked at me, but I shook my head since I had something prepared.
“I see.”

Pout

It seemed like words floated above Yuki’s head, but there was nothing I could do.
Her friends who would witness her talent had arrived.

“Whoa! You’re here! Your Majesty!”
“Welcome!”
“Hello, Ms. Shikishima.”

Lee Hua, Natalia, and Jo Yeon-seo arrived in front of the Shikishima residence, carrying their lunch boxes.

Before coming here, I asked Yeonseo to come, and she gladly brought Lee Hua and Natalia with her.

Bringing Natalia, who played an essential role in the ‘Moirai Project’ linking territories around the world, was tough. Taking advantage of the pause from when the goddess collapsed, Yeonseo quickly went and brought her back.
“Thanks. Goddess. But let’s hold on a little longer.”

Having just arrived in Japan, they were dressed comfortably and were taking pictures or exploring, looking around the Shikishima residence. Especially Lee Hua was having fun exploring, constantly touching mailboxes and vending machines, checking the differences from Taiwan.
Yuki stared with wide eyes as she looked at them and mumbled,
“Eh…?! Lee Hua, Natalia, Asha…”
“Whoa! You’re already calling us so familiarly!”
“Uh, how did you get here?!”
“The Queen called us!”

Yuki looked surprised at Lee Hua’s answer and stared at me, but I pretended not to notice.
“Did everyone bring something to eat?”
“Yeah!”
“Alisa baked cookies, so please try them!”

Inside the lunch box Yeonseo gently opened were snacks prepared by the magical girls living in Elysion.
“Yuki.”
“Yeah?”
“Now that everyone’s here, let’s go around once more.”
“…Yeah!”

The main characters of Magical Girl HAZARD.
Sometimes conflicting and sometimes uniting, they had guarded each other’s backs.
They had abandoned their beliefs amid the endless injustices they faced and conformed to reality.

Nevertheless, they didn’t scoff at Yuki’s dream.
Even if Yuki’s dream was absurd and fleeting, it undoubtedly became the hope she could hold onto today.
“If we go around a second time, we should be able to see more beautiful places, right?”

Did she catch the meaning within my question?
Yuki answered in a very loud voice.
“Yeah! We should be able to see better scenery!”

We sat on a bench we found in the cherry blossom tree path we traversed for the second time and enjoyed our snacks while sharing joyful moments.

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