If Hayoon had known Jieun was there, she could never have fought with sincerity.
But Jieun saw everything—every moment, even when she was being beaten, and the day after.
Did she find it unsettling?
Did she think it was strange that the Hayoon who had brought her to such a state was now in front of her, complaining?
And still, did she smile?
Jieun had never expected anything from Hayoon.
If she had ever wanted information about the Galactic Federation, or the weaknesses of the magical girls, or anything else to give her an advantage in battle,
Hayoon might have felt at ease.
But Jieun had never asked for anything like that.
Hayoon had never mentioned it because Jieun understood her role as a magical girl.
Had that smile Jieun gave been false? Had it been a smile forced by fear and disgust?
Even so, had Jieun still treated Hayoon kindly?
Was she safe now?
When Jieun first became a magical girl, she was already injured.
She had been shot multiple times and fallen, her body weighed down by thick metal cables, unable to move properly.
Hayoon remembered Jieun’s expression in that final moment—completely different from the expressions
Jieun had shown before.
Jieun had tried to hold it in, gritting her teeth, but tears kept flowing.
Even after quickly rubbing her eyes to wipe them away, the tears continued to fall.
Someone handed Hayoon a handkerchief.
When she looked up, it was Rose.
“Sorry.”
Hayoon took the handkerchief and wiped her eyes.
Rose opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but then closed it again, understanding that, in this situation, there was no way to truly empathize with Hayoon.
Hayoon kept crying.
Hayoon didn’t want to go home.
Every time she encountered her parents there, they told her that what she had done was just something she had to do.
How could hurting Jieun ever be something she “had to do”?
Why hadn’t Jieun asked Hayoon for help?
Hayoon knew.
If Jieun had asked, she wouldn’t have been able to see her as a special friend.
She would have started thinking of her like everyone else.
Maybe Jieun knew that, and endured it all.
She had endured Hayoon’s selfishness, bearing all the pain.
Hayoon wanted to meet Jieun again, even if it was just to know if she was safe, no matter what story she would hear.
The next time they met…
How should she approach it?
In the end, Hayoon couldn’t find the answer today.
“Ji-hye.”
Ji-hye flinched at the sound of her name being called.
For the past few days, Ji-hye had been in this state.
She still had the room to herself.
The teacher made sure not to let any other children in, in case Jieun came back.
Ji-hye wished for Jieun’s return.
She had no idea what was going on.
People around her kept probing about the incident.
Especially after a reporter had blocked her way on the way to school and gotten answers from her, reporters had been showing up at her school occasionally.
There was even one who came in the morning and started rummaging through her desk without permission.
After the reporters disappeared, it was the other kids who became the problem.
“What’s this Jieun like?”
The kids, who hadn’t shown any interest before, started asking.
They already knew that Ji-hye had been with Jieun, and they knew where Ji-hye had been and how.
However, up until now, Ji-hye hadn’t been ostracized for talking about Jieun.
Even when she talked about her, she never showed Jieun’s face to the other kids or introduced her.
She knew Jieun’s personality.
And Jieun knew this too.
She seemed to have thought it would be impossible to hide forever, so she had been the one to say it was fine to talk about it, as long as it was just words.
Since Jieun became a magical girl, the kids around Ji-hye suddenly started asking about her.
Why was that?
Did they want to gossip in front of the reporters? Or were they planning to post it online?
Ji-hye became anxious.
She didn’t know anything about what had happened to Jieun.
She understood why Jieun hadn’t spoken about it.
If the teachers had known Jieun was involved in that, they surely would have rejected the donations from Noir Corporation.
…And these kids knew about that too.
Despite knowing—
Kids began saying things like:
“I heard from kids at another school that she wasn’t good at making friends.”
“Yeah, apparently she was really sharp when people tried to talk to her.”
“They say the reason she got close to magical girls was for information.”
“Seems like she got friendly to dig things out.”
Ji-hye was overwhelmed by the chatter around her.
Jieun? That didn’t sound like her at all.
Jieun cherished the CDs on her desk deeply.
While she treasured the CDs she had chosen herself, what
she valued even more were the ones Hayoon had bought for her.
Jieun would carefully open the case and take the CD out as if it might get scratched, and sometimes she would smile brightly when talking about Hayoon.
Whenever Jieun spoke of Hayoon, her face would light up.
She would talk about being a magical girl, but that was all.
Typically, Jieun would only share stories about where they hung out, how they met, and how close they were.
Ji-hye never thought Jieun would do such a thing to Hayoon.
But Ji-hye couldn’t bring herself to argue with the kids’ words.
The news reports and articles online made it clear that the kids were all buying into the stories. So, they felt confident speaking about it in front of Ji-hye.
“At least you’re lucky you didn’t get involved,” one of them had said.
That night, Ji-hye couldn’t help but rush to the scene as soon as she saw it online, but by the time she arrived, the situation was already over.
She had wasted energy running there—after all, the buses had already stopped.
The area was now surrounded by intimidating figures, standing guard, with overturned cars and scattered debris.
Even just seeing that was enough to make her imagine how intense the battle must have been.
Her heart pounded just thinking that Jieun had been there.
Ji-hye’s mind raced with worry.
Was Jieun safe? She had to be.
The report said she had fled—so surely she must be alright, right?
The article, the one Ji-hye had a hard time believing, claimed that Jieun had escaped.
“…Sorry, I need to use the bathroom for a moment.”
Ji-hye said this quickly before bolting out of her seat.
The shock was clear on her face, and a few of the kids, noticing her distress, got up as though they might accompany her.
But Ji-hye quickly waved them off, leaving the classroom in a hurry.
Ji-hye’s body trembled with an overwhelming mix of nausea and helplessness.
The thought of Jieun—of all that had happened—suffocated her, filling her chest with a crushing weight.
Jieun, her close friend, had been fighting a battle that Ji-hye had no way of understanding.
She had heard the rumors, seen the news, but couldn’t bring herself to fully believe them.
She had stayed silent for so long, not wanting to speak out, fearing the judgment of others.
But now, in the quiet of the restroom, with the door closed and the world outside distant and unreachable, she let herself feel the weight of it all.
She was alone here.
Alone with her thoughts.
Alone with her fear.
Her stomach churned, and for a moment, it felt as if she might collapse right there.
But even though the retching didn’t come, the helplessness and confusion still drained all the strength from her body.
She huddled on the floor, pulling her knees to her chest, not sure what to feel, not sure what to do next.
Jieun… where are you? Are you really okay?
Should she have argued back then? Should she have shouted that Jieun would never do something like that, that she was absolutely not that kind of person?
But she was scared.
Yes.
It wasn’t because the teacher said so.
Ji-hye simply chose to run away without saying anything because the situation was so scary.
She felt so pathetic about herself