I quietly admired the boss’s skill and took a sip of milk.
In a world where milk costs 7,000 to 8,000 won for 2.3 liters, buying it can feel burdensome. Often, while munching on bread, I wonder if I should buy some.
I spent an hour putting bread and milk in my mouth while waiting for the other magical girls to arrive.
“What do Sun and Mun want to drink?”
As the time for the promised meetup arrived, I was already full from the snacks provided by the boss.
Since the bread was warm, I recklessly stuffed it in, making it hard to control my intake.
Slightly rubbing my round belly, I muttered short thoughts to myself.
“I’m full…”
I had already eaten quite a lot of the sweet bread. The thought of ordering a hot chocolate that comes in a large mug made me feel like I would get sick from it, so I turned my head and ordered a fruitade instead.
“Green grape ade, please.”
“I’ll have hot chocolate!”
Even though I considered her a senior, our age difference was only four grades.
There were also older high schoolers and adults around.
Shiyeon and I were still in a position where we were getting free food, far removed from the calculations.
Being young is the best.
Then, there was a table with the new magical girl, the reason we gathered today.
Turning my head toward them, I saw that, as expected, several girls with plenty of experience as magical girls were asking numerous questions.
“How did Mercury come up with her transformation phrase?”
Mercury, who is the youngest in reality, had become the center of attention.
The question was something every magical girl gets on their first meetup.
Although she was in sixth grade, she was still at an age where she couldn’t escape the elementary school mindset.
Just like Shiyeon, she cheerfully recited her transformation phrase.
“In the name of love and justice, I shall not forgive! Magical Girl Mercury appears!”
“Uh…”
The unexpectedly long transformation phrase caused the faces of the senior magical girls at the same table to stiffen.
“Wow, that’s bad…”
Even from my relatively distant table, I felt my expression hardening due to the intense impression left by the transformation phrase.
I let out an internal sigh of regret and threw some sympathy toward the future Mercury.
By the way, once you choose a transformation phrase, you can’t change it.
One of the reasons several senior magical girls retire is, ‘It’s embarrassing to memorize a transformation phrase at that age.’
If they started being magical girls in middle or high school, it might be a little better, but the ones who began in middle school around the age when they still look like elementary school students often find their transformation phrases embarrassing.
“In that regard, Shiyeon and I are on the safer side.”
While it’s something to be careful about in everyday conversation, my transformation phrase consisting of just one character, ‘Sun,’ is relatively simple.
As I shifted my gaze to Shiyeon, who also had a concise transformation phrase, I stared at her, resting my chin in my hand.
“What’s wrong?”
Noticing the hot gaze directed toward her, Shiyeon paused her hot chocolate and asked what was up.
“Oh, nothing.”
I replied that it was nothing and turned my gaze to the air.
Shiyeon had also tried to come up with a transformation phrase inspired by magical girl animations, but I managed to prevent her from creating a lengthy one.
She insisted that it must include ‘Moon Power,’ which was something we compromised on.
I wondered if she would remember that later, but by the time she becomes aware of embarrassment and shame, she’ll have to thank me.
The snacks at this meetup were famous breads from Daejeon.
Perhaps that’s why, after the boss provided a plethora of bread, she focused on serving coffee and drinks.
‘At least she doesn’t have to make anything separately, so she must be less busy.’
Thinking that, I took a sip of the sweet and sour green grape ade and swallowed it without letting it linger in my mouth.
With my stomach sufficiently full, this drink went down better than sweet hot chocolate.
“I really envy those with short transformation phrases.”
Around the time I was just sipping on ade without even thinking about the bread, seniors started a conversation.
“Who doesn’t? I shouldn’t have watched Japanese animations…”
“What was your transformation phrase again?”
“It’s short, but… I don’t want to say it.”
“Pluto, Transformation! Brace yourself! Wasn’t it?”
“Ugh…!”
Hearing her own transformation phrase come out of someone else’s mouth, Pluto, a magical girl, tangled her carefully styled hair in distress.
Though she does it every day, and it could be familiar, the resistance and embarrassment about that will only increase as she grows older.
If she were an adult, she could at least resign herself with money, but for middle and high school students learning about the shame, it’s a serious mental toll.
I think most here are regretting their childhood selves.
“Speaking of which, Sun and Mun have super short transformation phrases, right?”
“Sun’s is just one character, her magical girl name…”
“We have to be careful not to say it.”
While both of them were venting their individual difficulties despite believing only in the good sides, I took another sip of my ade.
Thinking simply, I had set a brief transformation phrase, thinking ‘short is good.’
If I accidentally call out the word ‘sun’ during English class, I would just end up revealing myself as a magical girl.
The government doesn’t exactly say you mustn’t let your identity be discovered, but…
“There’s no good in revealing it…”
Of course, not getting caught is natural, and even before adulthood, just being a magical girl out in the open is shameful.
What if everyone around knew I was a magical girl?
In elementary school, I might receive looks of admiration.
After all, there are innocent little girls who genuinely dream of becoming magical girls.
But if, during middle school’s break time, someone says, “Hey, you’re a magical girl, right?” and starts shouting the transformation phrase?
I’d have no choice but to smash the classroom along with the teasing students, ensuring I’d make the front page of the news.
This is not just a casual joke.
“Ah, I get it… having a short transformation phrase isn’t all good.”
“I realized that too after I decided on mine.”
The senior girl acknowledged that too short isn’t necessarily good, and she let out a sigh of understanding, getting where I was coming from.
Feeling comforted by this shared sentiment, I expressed that I only realized that after deciding and took another sip of my ade.
The struggle with transformation phrases for magical girls ended there, and the flow of conversation naturally shifted toward students on the brink of adulthood.
“So, after taking the college entrance exam this year, you’re turning twenty, right? Have you thought about where you want to go to university?”
“Hmm, well, even if I attend for just a year like others, I want to experience it.”
“If you go, be really careful with alcohol, it can get messy…”
College entrance exams lead to university, university leads to MT (membership training), MT leads to drinking.
A chain of interconnected topics—alcohol.
“Do they really force you to drink?”
“It depends, you know about that incident…”
Their conversation shifted to questions about college life.
The ‘that’ and ‘that incident’ referred to something mentioned among magical girls.
What happened was an issue that stirred up discussion around two years ago.
During a university MT, a drunken magical girl revealed she was a magical girl and, right after transforming, sobered up and quickly vanished from the scene.
I felt this truth before when I was sick; the body after transformation only shares memories with the pre-transformed body.
It’s not strange to think of it as an entirely different body.
Eventually, the girl, having completely sobered up right after transforming, fled from the building where the MT was happening, leaving it as a legend at that university…
Well, that’s the story.
Anyway, due to such incidents occurring now and then…
Some women who are magical girls tend not to drink at all, even if they’re smoking from the stress of life.
I even heard conversations about some casual drinkers who hide their smartphones in hard-to-reach places to keep them from getting involved in an alcohol-fueled blunder.
“Thanks to everyone for your hard work at this meetup, let’s meet again next time.”
As we just ate and drank, a voice casually announced the end of the gathering.
I picked up my smartphone to check the time and saw it was three in the afternoon.
This was relatively early to finish.
Those who lived nearby continued their meeting, while those who had to return to other areas made short farewells to the crowd before heading out.
I booked a seat on the soon-to-depart express train and mixed in with the other passengers in the subway on my way back.
“Yawn…”
“Are you sleepy? You shouldn’t sleep now.”
Shiyeon, sitting in the corner, yawned widely.
That hour spent sleeping on the express train was woefully insufficient, and I found myself dozing off.
The problem was that I was also comfortably seated in the corner, so I kept gradually closing my eyes.
‘I shouldn’t sleep…’
