CH 142

Yukino's Plea

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

Fufu, in response to Yukino Shizuku, who puffed out her thin chest, Tsugumi covered his mouth with his hand to prevent himself from shouting out loud.

The shocking truth aside, he was also rather shocked to see that the girl he was reasonably friendly with was a man he knew. Frankly, it was still hard to believe even though he saw the transformation right in front of his eyes.

“You have a weaker reaction than I expected.”

Higoromo murmured, saying that Tsugumi’s reaction was boring, and sat down in a chair in Yukino’s form. It seemed that he had no intention of unraveling his transformation yet. …His clothes were about to slip off his shoulders, but he didn’t seem to care.

“No, I am too shocked. I see, Higoromo-san is …That’s, yeah…”

Tsugumi replied with stuttered words. To be honest, he wanted to spit out his feelings of disappointment, but he was in a similar situation, so he was reluctant to put it into words.

Then, feeling somewhat more at ease, Tsugumi gazed intently at Higoromo’s figure.

He had a preconceived notion that Higoromo’s face wouldn’t look so different when he transformed into a girl because of the precedent of his own life. But while Higoromo’s and Yukino’s faces were a bit similar, it wasn’t exactly the same as Tsugumi and Hagakure Sakura.

He never thought that Yukino was actually Higoromo inside. …He thought that even if Yukino was a man, he would be a cute little boy inside. The mental damage would be less.

Then, Tsugumi suddenly remembered Hyuga who was also close to Yukino, and felt a little dreary.

They had been reasonably close among Jukka since the incident with Hitsugi, but what would Hyuga think if she knew that two of them were men?

He could see her getting angry and fired up. He had a feeling it wouldn’t end with just an insult if she found out.

While thinking like that, Tsugumi opened his mouth to regain his composure.

“Umm, why did you become a Magical Girl, Higoromo-san? Did you intend to use yourself as a test subject…?”

Higoromo-Yukino Shizuku was originally a stray Magical Girl. This meant that God offered him the chance to become a Magical Girl, and he accepted.

But he had no idea why he accepted the offer.

Higoromo was a talented researcher. He had everything: position, power, and money. That’s why Tsugumi couldn’t find any reason other than research for him to become a Magical Girl.

…If that was really the case, he had such an amazing scholarly spirit. Tsugumi didn’t want to imitate him.

When Tsugumi asked him about it, Higoromo shook his head in plain disgust.

“No, that’s not possible. I’m not going to put my body on the line like that. The deal was just an accident.”

“Just an accident?”

When Tsugumi asked back, Higoromo nodded with a disgusted face.

“When I was dazed after an all-nighter, I responded to my auditory hallucination partner and we had a contract. …I didn’t expect a God to speak to me at that time. I was caught off guard. …Hey, don’t look at me with those pitiful eyes.”

…Tsugumi didn’t know what to say because the reason was more trivial than he had imagined. At the very least, he couldn’t let children with dreams of becoming Magical Girls hear it.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

When Tsugumi told him this while averting his eyes, Higoromo opened his mouth, crossing his arms in frustration.

“Well, I know I did something stupid, too. But there’s no point in saying that now, is there? The only saving grace is that the bounty has given me plenty of money for my research. I’ve learned the hard way that you shouldn’t act when your judgment is impaired.”

Saying this, Higoromo gave a small yawn. …As Tsugumi talked to him face to face, it seemed to him that Higoromo was also in a state where his judgment was impaired right now. He wondered if he was really okay.

“So, why did you become a Magical Girl?”

“Eh?”

“I told you, so now it’s your turn. Or what, are you still going to fall in love with me after all this?”

When Higoromo said this with a look of dismay, Tsugumi let out a small sigh as if he had given up.

–The other party had been so open and honest with him. Not facing him would be insincere. Thinking so, Tsugumi opened his mouth.

“I became a Magical Girl because–”

After hearing all about his situation, Higoromo said, “I see. That’s a very common reason for being a stray. But it’s still better than mine.”

According to Higoromo, there were many cases where people got involved in barrier accidents and receive contracts without warning, although they didn’t nearly die like Tsugumi. 

…God’s side was probably also aiming for the timing when they had the upper hand. It was unfair, but it couldn’t be helped because even Gods weren’t doing charity work.

The government was taking measures to prevent barrier accidents from occurring, but apparently, it was difficult because each person was different for each barrier.

“Hmmm. I thought you became a Magical Girl is the result of some kind of intentional work. But from the looks of it, it seems to be a coincidence. From what I’ve heard, I don’t think your contract God is the type that does a lot of tricks. That’s too bad, I was hoping we’d make some progress.”

“…Higoromo-san, did you doubt Bell-sama?”

When Tsugumi said this with an annoyed look, Higoromo replied with a wry smile.

“To be honest, I’m still a little skeptical. Ah, don’t look so scared. Talking with you has cleared up a lot of my doubts, but I can’t give you an answer unless I actually talk to your contract God. I’m sorry, but that’s just my nature. I try not to judge things that I haven’t seen or heard myself. Information changes when there are people in it.”

Higoromo shrugged his shoulders as he said this. When he said it like that, Tsugumi couldn’t refute it. He let out a small sigh and lowered his eyes.

“Well, I don’t really care that much. Putting aside Bell-sama, it can’t be helped if there are various suspicions in my case.”

The fact that Tsugumi became a Magical Girl was just a coincidence, but in his case, there were too many dark pasts behind him, so he couldn’t complain if he was being suspected. Rather, from the perspective of those who know Tsugumi’s past, it would be more correct to think, “What are you going to do next time?”

Because he was dealing with Higoromo, this level of suspicion was probably mild enough. He shuddered to think what would have happened if it had been someone else–someone who thought that a suspicious person should be punished.

“Your upbringing is quite unusual, to say the least. You should do your own research and clear your suspicions. I’ll take care of the transfer procedure, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Ah, so that’s already been decided…”

“Of course it is. Do you want me to die from overwork? If that happens, it will be to the detriment of humanity.”

Despite the light joke, Higoromo rubbed his eyes sleepily from time to time. Although he appeared to be speaking fluently, his drowsiness might be reaching its limit.

“I don’t know if it’s right for me to say this, but shouldn’t you be taking more proper rest, Higoromo-san? You’re doing research at the university and attending Jukka’s shift, right? You work too much.”

It felt like this person wouldn’t be able to do well if he didn’t get enough sleep. Wouldn’t it be better for him to hire someone to support his life?

When Tsugumi said this in concern, Higoromo began to speak with a face that looked like he was chewing up a bug.

“If I could do that, I would have done it by now. I blame the government and Toono who know how busy I am and yet they keep giving me work to do. –Honestly, I want to retire from being a Magical Girl right now, but even though I’m with the government now, I signed my contract when  I was a stray. It’s frustrating that I can’t quit until I get permission from the contract God.”

Saying this, Higoromo tapped his desk hard with an irritated thud. He seemed very angry.

Just as Tsugumi was beginning to wonder if he had been summoned here to hear him complain about his day-to-day life, Higoromo said.

“–Now you know how busy I am, what do you think?”

“No, even if you ask me…”

Not understanding the question, Tsugumi tilted his head. …He had a bad feeling about this.

Then, Hogoromo took out a white envelope from the pocket of his white coat, which was crumpled up as if it had been squeezed by a strong force.

“What is this? Is it a letter?”

“Earlier this morning, before I contacted you, Toono brought this letter of command to [Yukino Shizuku]. Yes–while I was frantically working on a government case, that woman was pushing additional troublesome matters on me.”

Saying this in a voice filled with deep anger and vindictiveness, Higoromo tapped the envelope with his finger.

Hearing this, Tsugumi thought that Toono-san was a bad person after all, and voiced a drawn-out “Wow…”.

Higoromo silently stared at Tsugumi and smiled beautifully. Then, with a smooth and natural motion, he took Tsugumi’s hand and looked at him with clinging eyes, and spoke in a thin, pity-inducing voice.

“Do you feel the least bit sorry for me? Of course, you do. If you have feelings, you wouldn’t have abandoned me, a poor pitiful thing.”

“Huh, no, why are you holding my hand?”

“Hagakure Sakura doesn’t have any plans for tomorrow, right? –Nanase-kun. I have a favor to ask you. I’m begging you as your comrade, no, a friend.”

“Ah, I don’t want it. I don’t want to listen to it. –Damn, this guy isn’t letting go at all!! No way, that’s the main issue you want to talk about?!”

Sensing the presence of trouble, Tsugumi tried to shake off his hand, but the grip was stronger than he expected. Higoromo clung to him like a beast trying to catch its prey.

Then Higoromo said in a stern voice like an angel announcing his death.

“Please. Tomorrow at twelve o’clock–fly with Toono to England instead of me.”