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Chapter 92
Chapter 3 — Dry scrape, burn and perforate! • Episode 3–3 — Little Sister ⑤
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
Chisaki, who was packing her bag with a set of textbooks, notebooks, and other study materials to go home after a day of classes, suddenly let out a loud sigh.
Unable to give a clear answer to the words thrown at her by Shadow, time flew by, and she was left with no clear answer to Shadow’s words, and before she knew it, there were only a few days left in September. Chisaki didn’t understand what the difference was between the feeling that everyone was important and the strong feeling of love for Sylph. She continued to watch Shadow fight, but she was sure she won’t stop fighting alone unless she gets the answer. Knowing this, she can’t say anything, and the situation has stagnated.
There doesn’t seem to be much progress with Blade and Press, who are in regular contact with each other, recently, the Witch Cup, the main competition in which only Witches compete, has been approaching, and she had been using this as a reason, Chisaki has heard that Sylph have been running away from them in a good way.
Chisaki and her friends’ goal is to not leave Shadow alone and to make friends other than Chisaki in Sylph. So even if Chisaki can successfully persuade Shadow, she cannot return without progress on the part of Blade and Press.
Chisaki’s mood was heavy because neither of them were getting along, but at the same time, she felt relieved that Blade and Press and Sylph hadn’t become friends instantly, and she felt even more self-loathing when she realized this.
「Chisaki-chan, are you alright? You don’t seem to be doing so well these days.」
As if concerned about Chisaki’s gloomy face, Shirayuki Miho, a girl sitting in front of Chisaki who was also getting ready to leave, turns around in her chair and calls out to Chisaki. She’s the chairperson of Chisaki’s class and a very close friend to Chisaki.
Chisaki, who is usually full of energy and seems to have no worries, has been somewhat preoccupied lately, she was worried that something may have happened to her because she’s clearly acting strangely, failing in PE, not noticing when the teacher hits her, and sighing like she is now.
「Ah, no. I’m sorry. It’s nothing.」
「I see. Oh, by the way, club activities are off during test week, right? How about we have a study session at my place from now on?」
「Is it alright?」
It couldn’t have been nothing, but Miho dared not mention it and changed the subject.
Chisaki’s middle school has a three-semester system, and since the second semester’s mid-term exams are held at the end of September, club activities are not in session, as Miho said. Therefore, although she can participate in the study group itself, Chisaki isn’t that good at studying. It was obvious that this was a study session and that Chisaki was only going to be taught one-sidedly what she didn’t understand, so Chisaki asked back with a somewhat apologetic expression on her face.
「Not at all! Teaching someone else is a good review for me too, so I make more progress than studying alone. Well then, let’s hurry!」
Miho, who had almost finished getting ready to leave, urges Chisaki to hurry up and hurry up, and the two of them head home side by side.
They have been friends since the first grade of middle school, but they’re close enough to have visited each other’s homes many times, sometimes staying over, sometimes treating each other to meals, and they have a good relationship with each other’s parents.
Miho’s mother welcomed Chisaki with a cheerful smile, without saying anything to Miho who had brought Chisaki without prior notice or appointment.
「Ahhh, I feel like I’ve studied for about a week～!」
「It’s only been about an hour. But you look tired, so I think it’s time for a break.」
It has been an hour since she started studying in Miho’s room. Chisaki, who had been solving problems on her own as much as possible and asking Miho to help her with the parts she couldn’t understand, threw herself onto the desk as if to say, “I can’t do this anymore after one subject.”
Seeing Chisaki, Miho laughs and clears off her desk, then opens a large bag of snacks and arranges them on the desk.
「Whoa, thanks, Miho-chan.」
「Never mind that, it’s payback for the other day.」
The two then engage in idle chitchat over sweet treats, but occasionally Chisaki’s expression turns dark and somber. She would quickly mend it like it was nothing, but her close friend who wasn’t oblivious to it.
「Hey, Chisaki-chan. I knew there was something troubling you, didn’t I? If it’s something you don’t feel comfortable saying, I won’t force you to ask, but I’m your friend, right? If there’s anything I can do, I’d like to help.」
Miho worries about Chisaki with a different kind of seriousness than when they are having their usual Magical Girl talk. Once at school, they wandered away from the subject because they were concerned that it might be difficult to talk about it in a classroom where people were still in the room.
「Miho-chan…」
Chisaki is happy that Miho cares about her in this way, and she would like to confide everything to her and ask for advice if she could, but Miho, who is not a Magical Girl, cannot recognize most of Chisaki’s stories. Blade and Press would naturally not suffer any cognitive inhibitions, but there’s no way she could tell them that she was relieved that the two of them and Sylph are not getting along better.
「Even if there’s nothing I can do, maybe just talking to someone can lighten the load.」
Miho speaks softly to Chisaki as if to unburden her shoulders.
Although she has noble aspirations and is fighting for her life, Chisaki is still a middle school student. Pushed by Miho’s words, Chisaki, as if unable to bear the pressure of what she could not handle on her own, began to speak, choosing her words carefully.
「I… I love everyone. My father and mother, Miho-chan and Yuri-chan, even my teachers and classmates, if I could reach them, I would protect them all, more and more.」
「Y–Yes, aren’t you very kind, Chisaki-chan?」
Sensing that the story Chisaki was about to tell was something grand and far removed from what she had expected, Miho choked on her words for a moment, but soon looked straight back at Chisaki with serious eyes. Because they are best friends, she understand that Chisaki isn’t a girl to mess around with at a time like this.
「However, a little while ago, there was a girl whom I wanted to protect even more, even more, even if I had to put my whole self into it. Everyone is supposed to be important, but when I was asked who was the most important, I thought of that girl… It’s terrible, isn’t it…」
「It’s not terrible. I think it’s normal. Everyone has someone special they care about.」
Miho, who had been a little apprehensive about whether she could be of any help by listening to Chisaki’s very serious and serious attitude, was relieved by Chisaki’s subsequent words and strongly affirmed Chisaki. She understood that this meant that Chisaki had found a girl she liked, as she had peculiarly put it.
In any age, young ladies in their prime always like to talk about their love. Miho was deeply moved by the thought that Chisaki, who had never been involved in such a conversation before, had finally found someone like that, and urged her to continue the conversation.
「But, but you know, If she is happy, I should be happy too, and if she is glad, I should be glad too, but I don’t like the thought that she might be friends with someone other than me. I’m glad to hear that my friend and this girl don’t get along very well. I felt disgusted on myself…」
「Chisaki-chan…」
Miho knew immediately that it was jealousy.
It’s not strange for a girl to be bothered by the fact that the person she loves is getting along with someone else, and every envious maiden has experienced such a thing.
However, the pure Chisaki doesn’t know what those feelings are. No, of course she knows it as knowledge, but she doesn’t know what that feeling is in her heart.
Miho was ashamed that she had been so excited to be able to talk about love with Chisaki in an instant. For Chisaki, it’s really serious, and she’s so trapped that even bystanders can tell that something is troubling her.
「At worst, I treated her as if she were an object…! I can’t believe I didn’t want to give it to anyone… I thought…」
Surprised that even a girl like Chisaki-chan could be jealous or possessive like that, Miho was silently listening to the conversation and thinking about how she could cheer Chisaki-chan up.
For Miho, Chisaki is an irreplaceable best friend. She is a pure girl who is kind to everyone and truly believes in the rightness of others. More than once she was saved by the warmth and dazzling radiance of such Chisaki.
Chisaki is in trouble right in front of her eyes. She’s letting her unknown feelings get the best of her, and she’s putting herself down as the worst, even though there’s nothing to blame, not a single thing wrong with her. If she can’t help you now, what is the meaning of being her best friend?
Miho was determined to correct Chisaki’s perception, no matter how embarrassing the words may be.
「Chisaki-chan, how do you feel when you are with that girl?」
「It’s a lot of fun. I haven’t been able to see her much lately, but I’d like to hang out with her more. But I don’t know, but for a while now I’ve been getting a tightness in my chest, or a pounding in my heart when I’m with her. Sometimes it’s a blur, but…」
「Okay, I see now.」
「Am I, am I going crazy…?」
Miho felt so sad that her chest tightened at the sight of Chisaki, who was anxious and looked as if she was about to start crying. I’m not crazy. I wanted to shout right now that Chisaki-chan was not crazy.
However, if I responded incorrectly here, Chisaki’s faint feelings might end tragically. Understanding this, Miho took a small deep breath to calm herself and began to speak back to Chisaki with a serious expression.
「Chisaki-chan has not gone crazy. That feeling is very precious and important.」
「Precious… and, important…?」
「Chisaki-chan, that’s love.」
「L–Love…!?」
As if struck by lightning, Chisaki straightened her back and opened her eyes to reveal her surprise.
「That’s right. You like that girl, Chisaki-chan.」
「That is, I like the girl, but love is such…」
As Miho had expected, even Chisaki knows what love is. However, she thought it would be a long time before she would actually feel that way. She said that it doesn’t matter to her now, that she’ll have to wait until she’s more mature.
And moreover, the other person is physically a girl of about 10 years old. No matter how much she knows that she used to be an adult man, Chisaki’s image of her as a little girl still precedes her perception of her. She had unconsciously put on the brakes, thinking that it would be strange for her to fall in love with such a girl.
「I get nervous when I’m with that girl, my heart aches when I look at her, I get jealous when we get along with other things, and I want to monopolize her. If it’s not love, then there’s no such thing as love in this world.」
In her normal self, under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have been able to say these words seriously. If it were true, she couldn’t have uttered such embarrassing words as in a passage from a story, as an ordinary person. Miho is aware of this, but she doesn’t blush with shame, and continues to gaze into Chisaki’s eyes with extremely serious eyes.
She doesn’t want to make Chisaki feel uneasy. She doesn’t want Chisaki to think that it is wrong or embarrassing, not even a little bit.
「You may be confused at first, but let’s accept it. That’s your heart, too, Chisaki-chan. Chisaki-chan is in love with that girl. If you are in love with her, she is the most special one. No, rather, she has to be the most special. She have to be more important than anyone else.」
Chisaki was overwhelmed by Miho’s vigor, but every time she received her powerful words, the fever that had been troubling her for so long and that even she could not control, began to rise, it felt as if an unfamiliar blur, a feeling of being special, was gathering in the palm of her hand and converging into a single form.
「Miho-chan… I see, I, I was…」
Chisaki herself doesn’t know what triggered it or when it became so big. But it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t know. Chisaki held it in her heart as if to accept it in her palm, which she finally became aware of at this moment. It was no longer something she could not control, something she did not understand.
「I love Ryō-chan.」
It was love.
Chisaki was aware of her love and affirmed it.
There is no more hesitation there ever. There is no more anguish.
The Magical Girl stood up for that special someone.