Two mascots that looked unwell.
In a hurry, I filled a basin in the bathroom with cold water and floated a bunch of ice cubes that I had frozen in the freezer.
“Ugh, I can live.”
“Huaah….”
When I slowly placed them into the water, it didn’t take long for both of them to regain their senses.
I knew that suffering from the heat wasn’t something only humans experience, but I never expected these kids would end up this way.
Considering that there’s only one fan, and it’s usually occupied by either Nana or Shiyeon, I could somewhat understand their suffering.
I let out a long sigh and squatted down, looking sorrowfully into the basin while waiting for that day to come, which hadn’t arrived yet.
“Sigh… Let’s just hold on until the air conditioner arrives, both you and I.”
We were both in the same boat, suffering together.
As I was about to get up from my crouched position, feeling sympathy for their unusual predicament, I caught sight of Gomtaengi raising a hand.
“Mary, I have a question…”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Couldn’t we just ask someone else for help?”
“Should I take three hundred cash, give them the address, and tell them the plumbing structure to request it?”
I rebutted Gomtaengi’s question directly in the shallow water.
There are restrictions on what someone under 14 can do, more than one might imagine.
The card we currently use isn’t even under Nana or Shiyeon’s name for the time being.
It’s just a card under the premise of magical girl activity expenses, meant for checking the balance and making direct payments.
We can’t even transfer money to someone online, and there’s an old rule, for reasons unknown, that prohibits communication using messengers among magical girls.
The only means of communication between magical girls is through mascots.
Thinking that was a sufficient answer to the question, I tried to stand up, but another question followed.
“Also, isn’t this supposed to be a residence provided for magical girls? Why is there no air conditioner…?”
After hearing that question, I let out a short ‘ah’ as an involuntary response.
Considering the perspective of mascots who don’t know the circumstances regarding this house, it wasn’t entirely an out-of-line question.
From the beginning, it was something that the mascots, who are assigned when one becomes a magical girl, might not know.
“There are complicated circumstances only the humans understand.”
The aptitude for becoming a slave… In other words, discovering the aptitude of a magical girl.
Even from this first process, it involves finding a successor as the retirement period of the magical girl who was already in that area approaches, handing it down to them.
Then, comes the second process. This is where it gets complicated.
Some of the unoccupied residences are purchased by humans with ‘connections’ from the government, and they are then gifted to the successor magical girl.
Afterward, the senior magical girl retires and the incoming magical girl is introduced to the public.
Usually, magical girls start at a young age, often as elementary students.
At the latest, it can even include middle school or high school students. It’s not that existing residents move out and unoccupied places are purchased, but rather entirely empty properties are bought.
In other words, it’s a newly built house with no traces of the previous owner.
And the third process.
During the student phase, if meals and living arrangements are roughly taken care of, there’s no need for money to go out.
The people who understand this well managed to move furniture into the house by taking a portion from the activity expenses given later.
However, did they really know what kind of furniture was necessary and how?
We filled the house with a washing machine, bed, wardrobe, TV, and other items while cutting down on activity expenses, only to make a huge mistake of forgetting about the air conditioner.
“No, it couldn’t be helped.”
Recalling the chaotic winter during kindergarten, I justified myself, assuming no one would hear it.
I thought I had been reborn as a girl, but suddenly we’re in a world with magical girls.
Out of nowhere, we were given a house for two elementary students and told to choose furniture, did they think our brains worked that fast?
Moreover…
“At that time, there weren’t many options to choose from compared to the activity expenses.”
The furniture I pondered over, while suffering from cutting down on the activity expenses, is what makes up this house’s furniture, excluding the air conditioner.
Only after going through that chain of processes did I get to the final fourth step, the assignment of mascots.
It’s only natural that those two don’t understand the processes that have gone through at home.
As I recalled that process, I hesitated to explain and simply let it go.
“Explaining is bothersome.”
“Eek.”
With that short conversation leaving only Gomtaengi’s curiosity unanswered, the monster expulsion resumed smoothly.
Not for the monsters, but for myself, I decreased the intensity of torture in the sweltering mid-summer heat to return home even one second faster to enjoy the fan.
Behind those diligent days, the long-awaited air conditioning installation day was approaching.
“Are your parents not around?”
“They told me to install it here!”
With a skillful lie, I deceived the adults to easily receive what I wanted.
The concept of non-existent parents, created virtually, turned out to be far more convenient than expected.
Parents who went out to buy clothes after sending kids to buy electronic appliances.
This time, parents were absent, leaving just the two elementary students at home while they went somewhere.
Neither could really be said to have a clearly established concept, but now I felt infinitely grateful to that imaginary existence.
Of course, the workers who came to install the air conditioner understood everything without needing to ask anything separately.
They dismantled the back of the air conditioner, connected the pipes, and linked it to the outdoor unit.
Once the installation was complete, they handed me the remote control, briefly explaining how to use it and giving me the manual.
“This is for temperature control, and if you want it on for a certain number of hours, just press the clock button.”
Feeling no worry about cold air sickness, the surrounding area felt much cooler than the fan, even without the air blowing.
With eyes sparkling, I felt the once humid room fill with coolness.
I could hardly express my gratitude as the installation workers left coolly after receiving their fare.
As they left through the door, embodying the heroes of summer, I couldn’t help but give a salute.
After the heroes had gone…
“Ugh, this is great!”
“Kyah!”
Immediately, we let out roars of satisfaction, starting to roll around on the floor near the air conditioner, feeling its coolness.
Shiyeon excitedly joined in, unreservedly climbing on top of me in this hot summer day, not hesitating to touch my body.
On a day with such high humidity and heat, holding hands would usually spike our discomfort level.
…It should have done, yet the sweat that had instantly cooled down along with the cool air had already erased the humidity and high temperatures.
The money that quickly vanished in seven-digit amounts felt entirely worth it due to the performance.
Covering my mouth with both hands in almost a sob, I spoke the great name out loud.
“Thank you, Willis Carrier…”
“Will…?”
“No, you don’t have to know yet.”
Though Shiyeon tilted her head at my mumbling, I moved my hand from covering my mouth to gently pat her back.
Ah, the creator of the air conditioner.
When she reaches the age to understand, Shiyeon will surely worship him too.
With life becoming more comfortable, only then did the thought arise.
“Should I start doing my homework soon?”
I opened my schoolbag, which I hadn’t thought about for days, and took out my summer homework.
It was the kind of summer homework for first graders that could be finished in a day or two of effort.
I wrote down dates that hadn’t even come yet and filled in just enough content to finish the diary.
“The reading worksheet is the problem….”
The one thing among the homework that could be considered a stumbling block was that.
The only books in the house were textbooks.
In other words, it became necessary to get my hands on some book other than a comic book.
Something like a book that offers life lessons or recommended reading for kids… that kind of stuff.
“I don’t want to read that either.”
While Mary was rarely troubled over summer homework from elementary school, regular monster training was in progress on the spaceship of the monsters.
The instructor wasn’t a monster seen on the spaceship adjacent to Earth, but renowned monster professor Alteda invited from a planet outside the solar system.
With a body as flawless as metal, he had managed to defeat magical girls ten times throughout history.
Currently, he was no longer in the role of a combatant heading toward Earth, but he was nonetheless a remarkable monster in terms of the standard established by the invading monsters on Earth.
After the usual species-specific combat method explanations had been given, the time for more free questioning than educational time arrived.
“All right, are there any questions about Earth from the monsters?”
Responding to that, Alteda pointed to the monster at the very front of the numerous arms raised.
“Speak up.”
“Why can’t we touch humans other than the magical girls?”
“Aah, that’s an excellent question.”
Along with his response, a harsh metallic clashing sound echoed.
It was merely the sound of Professor Alteda’s body parts colliding with each other.
Having received a good question, he began to explain in detail the reasons why we shouldn’t touch ‘humans other than magical girls’.
“It can seem like a natural event in collisions between planets and planets, but if a civilian monster gets attacked in the process, even if we conquer that planet, they will certainly develop a rebellious attitude. Even the weakest monster can cause a disaster if they band together, as we can see from the case of planet A-7221.”
His first explanation stated that if we harmed civilian monsters during the conquest process, it could lead to serious problems even afterward due to revenge.
And the second explanation that followed was essential for him.
“Of course, we cannot skip explaining about Earth’s magical girls. In fact, there was only one occasion where a human other than a magical girl was harmed. And the price for that was horrific.”
The weakest of Earth’s magical girls swiftly ‘permanently erased’ a higher-ranked monster upon witnessing a civilian’s death.
That incident was recorded in the history of monsters and stood as the first and last case that rendered recovery devices useless.
“We are still studying that incident. Based on accounts, we suspect it was triggered by bloodshed from a fellow kind, hence the nature of the trigger, isn’t that right?”
Such was Professor Alteda’s speculation.
For now, until the reason was uncovered, the orders passed down to the monsters remained clear.
‘Do not ever touch Earth’s civilians.’
It was evaluated as something that should never happen again, using the example of the terrifying magic that could even render recovery devices ineffective and the temporarily explosive power that magical girls could manifest.
“What if we assume that this magic is being developed by Sun, who has been a hot topic on this spaceship?”
“…….”
A chilling hypothesis that might make even monsters who physically reveal their emotions turn pale.
Monsters listening to the discussion momentarily widened their eyes.
The permanent eradication of monsters, from Sun?
It wasn’t nightmares arising from anything else; that was the real nightmare.
“We would all be duly, er, rendered incapable of reproduction, haha.”
Monster Professor Alteda chuckled with a joke typical of Earth.
However, the monsters who actually understood the impact of the Black Zone couldn’t laugh.
Rather, various bodily fluids just swallowed down through their throats.
