A Magical Girl Retires by Seolyeon Park

Author:Seolyeon, Park
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2024-04-29T00:00:00+00:00

Awkward Even for a Magical Girl

Roa let go of my hands—my complicated feelings must’ve shown up on my face.

“I don’t expect things to change all of a sudden or anything. I apologize if using a word like ‘destiny’ made you feel uncomfortable.”

“It’s . . .”

It’s not that, I wanted to say, but the traffic jam inside my head made it impossible to know what it was or wasn’t.

“But I am the Clairvoyant Magical Girl, after all. If I felt it wouldn’t work out, I wouldn’t have even mentioned it.”

Setting what she was actually saying aside, her firm—exuberant, really—way of saying it made me think that everything was going to work out all right. I don’t know for sure yet, but I like you too, Roa. Maybe not in the same way as you like me, but I want you to always be by my side. I have no idea how you managed to like me, but well, if that’s how you feel . . .

“Thank you.”

My answer made Roa clench her hands into fists.

“You’ll see! Before long, you’ll be saying you like me too.”

Well, if the Clairvoyant Magical Girl thinks so, then it must be true, I thought as I took her hand. The floating umbrella came down and landed in Roa’s other hand. It was much later when I realized that was the very first time I had reached out to take her hand, rather than the other way around.

“So who was the real Magical Girl of Time?”

I thought this would be an easier question for Roa to answer than whether she had succeeded in making contact with her. Roa glanced at me sideways before giving a knowing smile, as if she understood I was trying to make things less difficult.

“Someone who would be very frightening if she wasn’t going to be on our side.”

Aha, she’s met her. I’m guessing she’s probably younger than me? She must be so powerful she doesn’t even need a talisman to realize her powers.

“Our side?”

“I hope so,” she said.

“Are you saying she isn’t?”

“She’s not on anyone’s side at the moment. But judging by her refusal to join our union and some other issues that have come up, perhaps she’s . . .”

Roa became lost in thought, her words trailing off.

“The thing is,” she continued, “usually there’s an incident that leads to a magical girl coming into her powers. We call them triggers. For example, maybe the only student at a small country school ends up becoming a magical girl of making because she really wanted to ‘make a friend,’ or a girl loses her parents to a car accident, wishes she could predict accidents, and becomes a clairvoyant magical girl . . . That sort of thing.”

Was she talking about herself? I gripped her hand a little harder. If that really is your story, you and I have much more in common than I thought. Maybe we really are destined for each other.

“How did the Magical Girl of Time realize her powers?” I asked.

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