I Am Actually a Villainous Magical Girl

It wasn't that Haihara was snobbish; she was simply lazy.

Perhaps she was in a better mood today because she was drunk?

Yes, Haihara was actually still in a drunken state right now.

The reason she still looked like her usual self was that she had used magic to alter her appearance.

Of course, while they called it chatting, there wasn't really much for the two of them to talk about.

It was nothing more than Sakaki Chika asking Haihara how to study or what to do about the upcoming midterm exams.

Unexpectedly, Sakaki Chika actually cared quite a bit about her studies.

As a teacher, Haihara could only think seriously and provide an answer.

Whenever this happened, Sakaki Chika would pull out a small notebook from who knows where to jot things down.

"Are you getting along well with your classmates?"

Ever since Sakaki Chika returned to her class, Haihara felt that the classroom hallways had become much noisier; every day, there were many people surrounding Sakaki Chika, talking to her about all sorts of things.

Of course, there were also students from other classes, and even upperclassmen, who came to confess their feelings to Sakaki Chika.

Whenever Sakaki Chika didn't know how to turn them down, Kirishima Ai would step in and chase those who came to confess away.

"I feel... everyone is very kind. Although sometimes I don't know how to respond, I am very grateful for how the other students take care of me..."

Sakaki Chika clasped her hands together, her fingers gently intertwining. In the past, she would have painted them with different colors of nail polish, but she didn't need to do that anymore since returning to school.

During these few days of interaction, Haihara had also watched Sakaki Chika's performances as an idol; aside from her appearance, it was almost impossible to tell they were the same person.

For someone who usually found it difficult to even say a complete sentence to others, how could she be like that on stage?

The person on stage seemed more like the magical girl Star Flower than Sakaki Chika herself...

At this moment, Haihara suddenly realized that she, too, was currently using magic to change her appearance.

"Are you not good at communicating with people?"

Seeming to realize something, Haihara asked casually.

"Yeah... even when I want to talk to someone, I get nervous, and then I don't know what to say."

She had been like this since she was a child, which was why she had never made any friends.

"Then why did you think about becoming an idol?"

This question was actually outside the scope of a teacher's duties, but it was just idle chatter anyway.

"Because..." Sakaki Chika was about to answer, but her face suddenly turned pale as if she had thought of something unpleasant. She stammered out some words that Haihara couldn't quite hear clearly.

"At that time... something happened... at home."

Sakaki Chika didn't go into the specific details.

"Also... I... really like seeing other people's smiles."

When she said this, Sakaki Chika's expression improved a little, and she revealed a faint smile.

Haihara was somewhat confused.

Smiles?

"My grandmother told me... that a smile is a wonderful thing."

"If someone else is smiling, I don't feel as nervous. I gain some courage and feel happy, so I thought, if I could do something to bring smiles to others, that would be great."

"So, I became an idol..."

A smile was a wonderful thing; it was proof of happiness, which was why Sakaki Chika loved to see the smiles of others.

Haihara looked at her with an expressionless face.

It didn't sound like a lie.

While interacting with Sakaki Chika, Haihara was actually quietly observing her body.

It wasn't because of any special fetish.

It was just that, once again, she saw some discordant bruises on Sakaki Chika's body, looking as if they had been left there over the past few days.

Just as she wanted to take a closer look, the girl's voice interrupted her thoughts—

"Then, Teacher, why did you become a teacher?"

Sakaki Chika looked up, revealing a curious expression like a young deer.

Haihara was stunned for a moment.

This was the first time someone had asked her such a question.

In truth, as an educator, perhaps she should have given some sort of positive, inspiring answer—something about how she loved children, or how she wanted to contribute to society.

But she really didn't like children that much, nor was she particularly keen on dedicating herself to society.

Haihara looked out the window at the sky that had already turned dark. Her eyes were as hollow as she felt, both dull and indifferent:

"...I didn't notice it at the time, but by the time I realized it, I was already a teacher."

This answer left Sakaki Chika feeling somewhat confused.

"How should I put it..." Teacher Haihara pondered for a moment. "My life has been very ordinary; I've always just gone with the flow, pushed along by circumstances."

"Because my university classmates were all becoming teachers, I followed suit and became one too. There wasn't any special reason for it."

It was just that simple, ordinary reason.

That was why she had no passion for this job, nor any sense of belonging.

She didn't feel that she had to be a teacher, either.

Although this profession is highly respected in this country, it isn't that respectable people become teachers, but rather that one becomes respectable only after becoming a teacher.

Back in university, there were many people with mediocre morals and unpleasant personalities who ended up becoming teachers later on.

This just goes to show that the profession isn't actually anything special.

Perhaps one day, while sitting in her rented apartment, she suddenly realized that her life was already set in stone: she was a plain person doing a plain job.

Even if her soul yearned for the extraordinary, in the end, it was confined within this most ordinary of shells.

Sometimes, Teacher Haihara would feel that such a life didn't belong to her.

But that was just an illusion.

By nightfall, Sakaki Chika walked alone along the deserted streets, leaving only a lonely shadow behind. Even though it was so late, she didn't want to go home.

Although going home was a terrible thing, something even more frightening would happen if she didn't.

However, today, her mood was better than usual.

Teacher Haihara seemed much gentler than she had imagined.

In the past, she thought Teacher Haihara was a bit scary, but after chatting for a while, she discovered that Teacher Haihara was actually a very kind person.

Gentle... she liked that.

Moreover, Teacher Haihara's lectures were quite good. Although everyone else thought they were a bit boring, if you listened carefully, you would find that the knowledge was organized very clearly, and the important parts were very well-defined.

If only she could get to know Teacher Haihara a little better in the future.

However, she had actually lied to Teacher Haihara today.

Becoming an idol wasn't for some noble reason like wanting to bring smiles to others; that was just her deceiving herself.

She simply had to do it.

Because her family was short on money, or rather... in debt.

At the time, the only path left for her family was an agency they were introduced to. If she hadn't gone, Sakaki Chika didn't know if she would have ended up doing something even more terrifying.

But with her personality—having never had a single friend she could talk to since she was a child, and being too afraid to dance or sing in front of others—she almost couldn't keep going.

The other colleagues in the idol group also hated her and often ostracized her, such as hiding her shoes during practice or tampering with her clothes.

Just when she was about to despair, perhaps it was a miracle, or perhaps it was luck after a long period of misfortune, an incredible thing happened to her.

She became a magical girl.

It was a memento left behind by her grandmother.

When she was in a state of extreme distress, the Pendulum her grandmother had left her began to shine, turning her into a magical girl.

Her magic tool, the Magician, possessed all sorts of miraculous abilities, one of which was the power to change her appearance.

After putting on the disguise known as "Tachibana Aeruru," she could become like the magical girl Star Flower: confident and courageous.

After that, her path as an idol began to go smoothly.

The family's debts were paid off, she no longer had to deal with debt collectors every day, and many people started to like her. After becoming a magical girl, everything seemed to be getting better.

However, that was just an illusion...

Chapter 21: Teacher Haihara's Home Visit

At night, the clouds in the sky were somewhat gray and thin, causing the moonlight to dim along with them. Those rays shone onto the empty streets, with only the streetlights illuminating the drifting dust.

Before she knew it, Sakaki Chika had reached her front door.

Although she was a popular idol, her living conditions were not as good as others imagined; the house was barely enough for two people to live in.

Because in the idol profession, the money she received wasn't much, and most of it was taken to pay off debts. Now, Sakaki Chika didn't have much money of her own, barely enough for her daily living expenses.

Even when she reached the door, Sakaki Chika hesitated for a long time before knocking gently.

After a while, the door opened.

A middle-aged man who looked to be in a terrible state of mind stood at the doorway. He was holding a liquor bottle, looking like a drunken, failed middle-aged man, and he didn't even seem able to stand steadily.

"I... I'm home."

Sakaki Chika said in a low voice, keeping her head down.

As soon as she entered, she smelled a very strong odor of alcohol.

At that moment, she suddenly and inexplicably thought that Teacher Haihara had also smelled of alcohol today, because she was very familiar with that scent.

The man said nothing, simply letting her inside.

Just after stepping through the door and taking off her shoes, Sakaki Chika felt herself step on a piece of paper; she lowered her head and discovered the floor was covered in many scraps of paper, some still bearing traces of tape, all with writing on them.

Upon seeing those scraps, Sakaki Chika's body stiffened.

She didn't need to look closely at the characters to know they were more IOUs.

She kept her head low, her voice trembling:

"Why are there IOUs again... didn't... didn't we pay them all off last time?"

Fear welled up in Sakaki Chika's eyes.

To her, these IOUs were like a nightmare.

Even though she had paid them off and thrown them away every single time, they would return to her home at some unknown point, as if cursed.

That was the reason she didn't want to come home...

Faced with Sakaki Chika's questioning, the drunken man didn't seem to hear her at all; he just swayed unsteadily, still muttering something about money.

This drunken man was her father, a person who made her feel both fear and loathing.

Ever since she started middle school, he hadn't held a job, spending every day gambling, drinking, and staying out all night; Pachinko was just the beginning, and things only got worse from there.

Later, because of the family's debts, her mother abandoned her and ran off to who knows where.

Back in middle school, every time she returned home from school, she would see IOUs at the door, and at night, she might even have her windows smashed by gangsters.

During that time, she would always cry in fear while covering her head with a blanket to sleep, trying to tell herself that it was all a nightmare and that she would be fine once she woke up.

But reality had always been this way.

From childhood to adulthood, the only person who was truly kind to her was her grandmother, but her grandmother had long since passed away.

Later, because the family owed so much money, she tried working as an idol at an agency with the help of a relative, and only then did she slowly begin to fill the hole in the family's finances.