NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 26
“Hikari-chan! I can’t wait for Ichika’s housewarming party today!”
“Yeah, if Hana-chan comes, Ichika and Kyoko will be happy too.”
“What? Did those freeloaders finally get a house?”
From behind, the Master, who was cleaning the shelf, seemed quite shocked by the news.
I had seen the two of them, Ichika and Kyoko, lounging in the cafe throughout July, and while I was clicking my tongue, it seemed like he had been secretly calling them freeloaders.
“It’s the next room in the apartment where I live.”
“Oh, that filthy, dreary apartment?”
The Master, who has a surprisingly sophisticated taste, seemed unable to understand the practical aesthetics and philosophy of our apartment.
“The location is great since it’s in Shibuya.”
“Ugh, what’s so good about a neighborhood swarming with yankees and loud girls?”
“Unlike other neighborhoods where foreigners get stared at, in Shibuya, you don’t really get looked at, even by actual foreigners.”
“Don’t you have to have an eye-catching appearance for that?”
“Right? Hikari-chan looks like a princess from a movie!”
I recalled the posts from the community that Ichika had shown me last time.
With my unique camouflage mask that I created, they might not have known my appearance, but they mainly mentioned the obvious physical traits (bust, silver hair).
“I didn’t really care since there are lots of actual foreigners.”
While thinking that, I gently ruffled Hana’s hair, and Hana, feeling good, jumped right into my arms.
“What are you doing while working?”
“Just sharing the love of friendship, you know.”
“That’s not what I’m asking, is it?”
“Boo! Bad uncle!”
Hana peeked out of my arms and stuck her tongue out.
“Hana-chan, it’s not bad uncle; it’s bad mister that you should call me!”
“It’s weird to call an old man ‘mister’ when he’s an old man!”
“Being called an old man makes me feel all lonely, but ‘mister’ makes me feel like I’m still a part of society.”
“Gotcha! Hikari-chan is so kind! Bad mister, boo!”
After her brave response, Hana looked up and stuck out her tongue. The Master shook his head in disbelief and left.
“Are you sulking?”
“Cigarettes.”
“I hate the smell of cigarettes; it’s awful, like both Dad and bad mister!”
Hearing that made me feel a little guilty.
I had actually been a smoker in my past life, and if I had smoked here too, how would Hana have viewed me?
At the very least, she probably wouldn’t be acting so cute like a little niece.
“Right, the smell of cigarettes is awful.”
“Right? I have good taste talking to Hikari-chan!”
Mom had also told me to smoke less.
“Hehe, Hikari-chan! Let’s get some delicious cake later!”
“…Yeah, let’s, Hana-chan.”
While I was momentarily stiff, Hana smiled and spoke.
If it wasn’t for this little one, I might have already been in my room on meds from depression.
Now, I was looking forward to the taste of the delivery sushi Ichika had bragged about while going to buy cake with Hana.
＊
“Ichika-chan~ Long time no see!”
“Captain, good to see you!”
“Momo, Yuzuki! Welcome!”
As I was setting plates in the room, Ichika rushed out bare-footed the instant she heard the girls coming and hugged all four of them.
“How have you been?”
“Yep, the boss is really nice, and we all went to the summer festival together this time!”
“Saitama was seriously scorching hot!”
Seeing Ichika go out, I followed but leaned against the railing to avoid being a nuisance.
“We even caught turtles in the river! We’re keeping them at our lodging! Want to see the pics?”
“Huh? A turtle? It’s not as big as I thought.”
“Oh, by the way, who fed Aka-kun?”
“Didn’t A-chan do it?”
“Wasn’t it Momo-chan’s turn?”
The two girls who exclaimed suddenly dashed to call the boss.
“What? You guys forgot that too?”
“Hahaha! That’s right, Momo-chan! A-chan always forgets to bring bread!”
The girls were chatting away when they finally noticed Ichika was barefoot, and they laughed again.
Ichika went to wash up with an awkward smile, and Kyoko brought her some slippers.
“Shirogane-san! Hello!”
“Hi.”
“Wow, it’s been a while since I saw Shirogane-san’s room; it’s totally nostalgic!”
“Should we all sleep together like back in the day with all 13 of us?”
“Hahaha! We can’t do that anymore!”
“Who’s that behind you?”
The girls inquired about Hana, who was hiding behind me.
Hana was peeking out shyly while glancing at the girls.
Hana was always shy, except when giving someone advice.
“Looks like Ichika and Kyoko got used to the cafe business throughout July.”
I gently grasped Hana’s shoulder.
As the warmth touched her shoulder, Hana gradually relaxed.
“This is my friend Sato Hana-chan. I got to know her from where I work, and she came to visit.”
“Wow, Sato-chan, nice to meet you!”
“Is Sato-chan also?”
“Yeah, I’m a magical girl.”
“Wow! Everyone here is a magical girl!”
Hana seemed to have grown a bit accustomed and bowed her head to greet them.
“F-F-Finally, nice to meet you. I’m Sato Hana.”
“Cuteness overload!”
“How old are you, Sato-chan?”
“What grade are you in?”
Hana, who had taken a break from school, seemed frozen at that question.
I hugged the flustered Hana and said,
“Hana-chan is taking a break from school for her own reason, just like us.”
“Ah…”
“I see…”
Due to the sudden shift in the atmosphere, Hana felt bad and grabbed the hem of my shirt.
“Hana-chan.”
“Yeah, Hikari-chan.”
“Those girls over there are the friends I met right after you.”
“Okay.”
“They really want to be friends with you.”
“Okay.”
“We’re friends, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So, everyone here is a friend?”
“Yeah.”
Finally, Hana relaxed and looked at the girls properly.
The girls, feeling a sense of kinship as magical girls, smiled kindly at her.
Hana, seeing that smile, grinned bashfully.
“Hehe.”
“Sato-chan! We brought felt dolls from the factory; do you want to see them?”
“I was worried Ichika wouldn’t like it, but now we have Sato-chan!”
“Dolls… dolls! I want to see!”
I told Hana to go and play slowly with the two girls who were carrying a big bag.
“Gosh, I think the leader really favors only Sato.”
“Shut up.”
After casually responding to Kyoko, who had arrived, I finished setting the plates with Ichika, who had just washed up.
Just as I was taking drinks out from the fridge and pouring them into paper cups, the delivery arrived.
“Whoa, this is better than I expected.”
“Yeah, I’ve been working three shifts for this!”
It was quite a fancy delivery sushi.
The colorful ingredients looked delicious and the sashimi’s glimmer was something you wouldn’t see from discounted sushi at a department store or discount mart.
“Thanks, Ichika-chan!”
“Boss, enjoy!”
“Congrats on the move, boss!”
“Congrats on the move, Kyoko-chan!”
Starting with a few encouraging words as I received drinks and chopsticks, we began to eat the sushi like there’s no tomorrow.
“Ugh, Hikari-chan, I can’t eat wasabi.”
“Yeah, I set aside the ones for you, Hana-chan.”
“Thanks, Hikari-chan!”
To help Hana, who can’t handle wasabi, I removed the wasabi from each sushi one by one and handed it to her.
“Yum! So good!”
“I’m glad, Hana-chan.”
Kyoko, seeing that, whispered to the girls,
“No matter how I see it, that looks more like parent-child than friends.”
“Uh, I can hear you.”
Zing!
I used Blink to appear behind Kyoko, lifted her shirt, gave her a light smack on the back, and returned to sit next to Hana.
“Wah?! Ahahaha!”
“Pfft, Kyoko-chan, are you getting smacked all the time?”
“Can’t help it with Shirogane-san around! Hahaha!”
Laughter filled the room, and as we finished the sushi and shared the cake while chatting, night deepened. The girls all decided to sleep over at Ichika’s room.
“Mom! This place is so much fun!”
“That’s great~ but don’t forget to brush your teeth before bed, okay?”
“Sato-san, I’ll be going with Hana-chan to the cafe tomorrow morning.”
“Hoho, thank you, Shirogane-san!”
As Hana enjoyed her visit, Mr. Sato’s video call ended, and it felt like they had a good time together, wrapping up the day.
“Hikari-chan.”
“Yeah?”
While I heard the girls giggling in the neighboring room, Hana, who had changed into her pajamas, quietly called out to me.
“It’s my first time sleeping over at a friend’s house.”
“Really? I wish it was at a nicer place.”
I felt a bit guilty that this dreary studio was her first pajama party memory. But Hana shook her head.
“No! I like Hikari-chan’s house!”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Yeah, I’m glad.”
We slowly drifted off to sleep to the sounds of laughter from the next room.
＊
[The Magical Girl Alliance is a central organization governing existing small magical girl certified groups…]
[Functioning as a de facto second government dealing separately with the legislation, administration, and judiciary of magical girls…]
[Magical girls representing various corporations and institutions exercise equal rights…]
[The interim representative of the Alliance is Fujimoto Sumire, who serves as the representative of the national magical girl council and the Fujimoto Group.]
“We pledge to carry out our duties with a great sense of responsibility in exercising supernatural abilities.”
“We will faithfully fulfill our obligations as agents protecting the state, society, and, moreover, the people of Japan.”
“And as pioneers of the era of magical girls, we appoint the Magical Girl of [Start]… ”
“…as the chairperson of the Magical Girl Alliance Council.”