Chapter 15: 15

Dissonance

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

“It’s not a big deal. It seems that there is a Magical Girl who looks like me, and they made a bit of a fuss about it. …Akiyama, just to confirm, that’s real, right?”

“Still skeptical, aren’t you? Sakura Hagakure is real. By the way, I looked her up and she’s popular in some circles as a cool Magical Girl.”

…What do you mean by “some circles”? But it seemed that the existence of “Hagakure Sakura” was more famous among the public than Tsugumi thought.

“Maybe that’s why I feel some stares on my face recently? Damn, I thought I was just getting popular…”

The other day, a high school girl from another school stared at him intently, probably because she knew about “Hagakure Sakura”. Perhaps it was about time to start thinking about a serious disguise. Should he buy some glasses?

As he and Akiyama were having such an exchange, Yukitaka said to Akiyama.

“Hmmm. Show me your cell phone for a moment.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to.”

Without a pause, Akiyama declared his refusal. …He felt the temperature around him drop.

–Ah. It started again.

Tsugumi gently pressed his forehead, which suddenly began to ache. He knew this was going to happen, but it’s hard to be the one who was caught between the boards.

“What? What do you mean?”

“No, because I don’t want you to put some weird app here. I don’t want you to touch my stuff in the first place.”

First of all, the premise is that Yukitaka and Akiyama – or rather, his classmates as a whole – did not get along. Since 90% of the fault was on Yukitaka’s side, he couldn’t blame his classmates.

What Akiyama was saying in the first place was actually one of the things that Yukitaka did. To a greater or lesser extent, the classmates understood Yukitaka’s viciousness. Even Tsugumi often received well-meaning advice, “Why don’t you stop associating with him?” but so far he had no plans to do so just yet.

Yukitaka was also a bit obsessed with Tsugumi, but it was just in the category of friendship. Perhaps he was like a child who did not want to let go of his favorite toy.

With that in mind, Tsurugi set out to help the two from arguing.

“You two should leave it at that. Here, you can use my phone.”

“Hmm, thank you.”

“He can use his own. Nanase spoils him like that, so he takes advantage of you. Why is a guy like you on his side? Does he grasp your weakness?”

“That’s not the case…”

He searched video sites and handed his cell phone directly to Yukitaka. However, Akiyama, who was watching, lightly chided him. Tsugumi himself was not particularly threatened, and it’s not nice to be called out like that.

On the other hand, Yukitaka was not taking any notice of Akiyama’s words, as if he was blowing in the wind. Perhaps that’s what made him so antagonistic.

“Hagakure Sakura, hey… It’s certainly similar to Tsugumi-chan.”

“It’s too similar for me and it’s creepy.”

Tsugumi said this with a nonchalant look on his face. At least, for Nanase Tsugumi, “Hagakure Sakura” had to be a stranger.

But Yukitaka’s instincts were sharp. Could he be deceived by Tsugumi’s poor acting? That was his only worry.

Without knowing such anxiety, Yukitaka looked at Tsugumi and smiled.

“But after all, it’s still someone else. It’s crazy to make a fuss over something like this. I’ve lost interest in it.”

“You need to think a little more about how you say things…”

Feeling the murderous stares from the whole class, Tsugumi gently held his stomach. Why does Yukitaka want to make enemies in all directions?

—But his words probably didn’t mean anything.

He did what he did because he wanted to. He didn’t care what others think. He just did whatever he wanted. Tsugumi didn’t know if it could be called strength, but he sometimes envied that way of life.

Well, he had no intention of imitating him.

“Don’t agitate people too much. If you go too far, I’ll call Mebuki-senpai.”

When Tsugumi said so, Yukitaka glared at him with a blatantly sullen expression on his face

Mebuki-senpai was a kind and caring senior to Tsugumi, but it seemed that she and Yukitaka were a deadly bad match. He apparently still held a grudge over the tongue-lashing he lost the other day. He made a really disgusted face.

“…Don’t talk about her in front of me. It makes me nauseous.”

“Yes, yes, if that’s how you feel, shut up and take your seat. –I’m sorry everyone. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”

Tsugumi bowed his head lightly as he said this. He didn’t have to apologize, but it all started with “Hagakure Sakura”. He felt a little responsible.

The classmates looked dissatisfied, but they couldn’t say anything strong to Tsugumi. This made their stare at Yukitaka nastier but it was to be expected.

The conversation ended in a rather awkward atmosphere after that. Well, he was generally bad at this.

He was also saved. Although he wasn’t aiming for it, the story became off-topic because Yukitaka got involved in the conversation.

–Perhaps Yukitaka knew everything and acted that way.

…No way.

Tsugumi hadn’t told anyone about the Magical Girl, nor had he made any pretense of doing so. He lived his daily life as usual, and his relationship shouldn’t have gotten worse. There wasn’t anything wrong to be noticed.

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Tsugumi-chan?”

“No, nothing.”

Yukitaka, sitting quietly in his seat, showed no signs of suspicion.

I’m sure I am just thinking too much… Tsugumi thought so.

◆◆◆

“-And that’s what happened at school.”

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“Hmmm, becoming popular amongst people. That’s somewhat troublesome.”

After he got home, he told Bell what happened today, and he said with a bitter face.

“As long as I’m active in the public, it’s unavoidable that my name will gradually spread, but I agree that it’s troublesome.”

Originally, Tsugumi didn’t like to be the center of attention. But just he said in class, it seemed that lately, people were starting to look at Tsugumi, who was similar to Hagakure Sakura. It was embarrassing that he thought he was getting popular.

Maybe because he was always with Yukitaka, Tsugumi wasn’t very popular. If they were together, it would be natural for people to be more attracted to a prettier face. He didn’t regret it, but he felt a little empty.

“But it makes me happy to think that my abilities are being appreciated. You know, it makes me feel like my efforts have been recognized.”

There was no greater honor than this. The life of a Magical Girl began by chance, but even Tsugumi had some patriotic feelings.

“You’re happy with just something like that? You’re a cheap man.”

“Well, I think Bell-sama can praise me a little more…”

As usual, Bell was harsh on Tsugumi. He could count her praises on one hand. She had an overwhelmingly strange ratio of carrot and stick. If he were a normal girl, his heart would have been broken long ago.

To Tsugumi’s words, Belle snickered and replied.

“Nonsense. If you spoil a human being, they will take advantage of you. It’s just right to give them a good smack on the butts.”

It’s an extreme theory no matter how you look at it. However, he believed that Bell had her own feelings about human beings. He could guess the traumatic nature of their relationship over the past three months. It’d be better that she didn’t hate humans. Such a strong reaction couldn’t be helped.

“I think it depends on the person. Well, that’s fine for me.”

Tsugumi was a rather forgiving person. As long as he wasn’t treated in a way that caused harm, he didn’t mind being verbally abused. This isn’t because he was kind, but because he was just plain slow.

“By the way, it seems that the Magical Girl who has become popular to some extent will be asked to cover magazines and appear on TV. I don’t think that will happen to ‘Hagakure Sakura’ yet, though.”

“Ah, I do get requests from time to time. I refuse all of them.”

“What, are you kidding me?”

Tsugumi exclaimed in surprise. Did such requests go through Bell first? He didn’t even know that.

He didn’t know about the system, but he wondered if Bell was contacted via the government. Bell didn’t talk about that kind of thing in detail, so he couldn’t really understand it.

“There is nothing special about it. Stray Magical Girls are not well informed to the public. I think the government would like to know what’s going on inside.”

“Ah, so that’s how it is.”

It wasn’t purely an interest in the “Hagakure Sakura”, but in this case, it would be an interest in Bell the contractor.

From the way Bell talked, it seemed that Bell herself was a God of some power, so it might be natural for the government to be concerned.

“Anyway, your friend-was it Yukitaka?”

Uncharacteristically, Bell asked about Tsugumi’s friendships. Curiously, he opened his mouth.

“Yes, that’s right. What’s wrong with Yukitaka?”

“That kind of person will betray you one day. You’d better get rid of him quickly.”

Suddenly, Tsugumi couldn’t speak. What kind of a windfall could have suddenly brought this up?

“I saw you before when I went to check on you. Your soul is clouded. In this day and age, you could have been killed for your vices.”

“Is it so dangerous that God talks about him that way…”

It might be a little exaggerated, but it was undeniable that Yukitaka’s personality was fundamentally distorted.

Tsugumi was somehow getting along for now, but if Yukitaka changed his mind, he would be cut off in a heartbeat. That much was easy to predict.

–But still, Yukitaka was an important friend.

“I’m grateful for the advice, but Yukitaka is still my friend.”

There was no particularly grand encounter between the two of them. They just kind of hung out together, became friends somehow, and here they were.

–But that’s how friends are, isn’t it? There should be no need for a reason to become friends.

Everyone who knew Yukitaka said that Tsugumi’s thinking was naive. Yes, they were right. But he couldn’t cut Yukitaka out of his life.

“If, as Bell-sama said, one day the time comes when I get betrayed, I will think about it then… I just can’t hate that guy that much.”

“…Do whatever you want. I don’t care what will happen.”

“Yes. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“I’m not worried about you. I just thought I would be in trouble if something happened to you.”

Bell said with a click of her tongue, frustrated. Her black tail was banging against the desk, so her feeling was easy to understand.

“…I’ll ask you just in case, you don’t happen to be a man-crazy kind of guy, do you?”

–Bell added that the man had a beautiful face, too.

“There’s no way that’s possible, right?!”

At Bell’s words, Tsugumi shook his head with a seriously disgusted look on his face. It just never going to happen. He usually liked pretty girls.

“I really hope you don’t make that kind of mistake. I’m straight…!”

No matter how beautiful his face was, it was impossible to look at him that way when he was a man. At least, for Tsugumi.

“I wish that were the case. –But I’m going to take this opportunity to ask you, what kind of woman do you like?”

“That’s right. If I have to mention someone-“

Then, with a hand on his chin, Tsugumi pondered. If he had to give a specific example, there would be only one.

“–A person like Mebuki-senpai, maybe?”

–That person was Yukitakai’s natural enemy. She was a senior, a pretty girl with glasses.

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