Chapter 193

Although she wasn't in a great mood, there was a hint of surprise in her voice.

This girl is Haihara, a student of Kirishima Ai.

She is a top student in her class, but she is also a troublesome Problem Child often skips classes and is harassed by school leaders.

Furthermore, she has another identity: Silver Feather, a Magic girl who saves the city.

When Haihara was the homeroom teacher, her relationship with Kirishima Ai wasn't very good. Among all the Magic girls, Kirishima Ai was always the most eager to fight, which is why she had the highest truancy rate.

For a long time last semester, the atmosphere between Haihara and this Problem Child was very tense. If it weren't for the teacher-student relationship, they probably would have disliked each other.

However, one day, while she was drunk, she was accidentally seen by this young girl in this equipment room.

"Haven't seen you for a long time."

A drunken smile appeared on the woman's melancholy and cold face.

She shook the bottle of wine in her hand, beckoning Kirishima Ai over.

This little girl, who rarely speaks to anyone and is usually all alone, walked over with a mixture of shyness and happiness, skillfully put down her schoolbag, and sat down next to Miss Lily.

As before, Miss Lily smelled of alcohol, along with a faint scent of perfume, all of which was masked by the smell of the alcohol.

The perfume smells somewhat familiar.

However, Kirishima Ai wasn't particularly sensitive to these scents; it was just a gut feeling.

"It seems like... it's been a long time since I've seen Miss Lily."

After sitting down, Kirishima Ai leaned against the wall, gazing at the scene in the equipment room.

An alcohol lamp was heating the liquor through a wire mesh; to be honest, the scene was as bizarre as a dream, but she often saw similar scenes at Miss Lily's place.

By now, she's gotten used to it.

Ever since Miss Lily bit her finger, she had rarely seen Miss Lily, to the point that several times she wondered if Miss Lily was just a dream.

Or perhaps, Miss Lily will disappear forever.

Only after seeing her again today did Kirishima Ai feel at ease.

"Whenever you come here, you always seem to be in a bad mood. Tell me, what's bothering you?"

Miss Lily's tone was low and gentle, giving one a feeling of cold, dry desolation like a late winter wasteland.

When Kirishima Ai hears that voice, she feels a sense of ease, as if she were alone.

"Recently, a lot of things have happened... It's hard to say all at once. There are family matters, things about being Magic girl, and things at school, so I'm feeling a bit down."

In fact, during the day in the classroom, as the homeroom teacher, she also noticed that Kirishima Ai's mood had not been very high lately, and she was in a rather low and gloomy state.

Teacher Haihara, whose reputation has always been poor, certainly wouldn't pay attention to any student's psychological problems.

She's preoccupied with her own failed life every day; she has no time to care about her students.

"Tell me slowly, there's still plenty of wine, I can't finish it all at once."

But Miss Lily is very understanding.

She is particularly concerned about the inner world of the Yu Ke little JK.

Kirishima Ai, of course, couldn't drink alcohol, but every time she saw Miss Lily gulping down her drink, she became increasingly curious about its taste.

It looks quite delicious, after all.

To be honest, the scent actually gets quite pleasant after a while.

Next, Kirishima Ai, surrounded by the aroma of alcohol in the room, recounted her recent experiences, and perhaps unknowingly became a little drunk herself.

Unsurprisingly, Kirishima Ai first told her about the battle with the Chameleon Monster some time ago. In that nightmare, Kirishima Ai experienced a battle that was even more arduous and exhausting than when she fought the Demon King.

In that nightmare, Kirishima Ai encountered many unpleasant things, but after the culprit was dealt with, these feelings subsided considerably, and what remained more was the aftermath of the battle.

For a long time after that battle, she was still extremely tired, even after transforming, because of the severity of her injuries.

As a result, she ended up living alone in the rented room, lying in bed for two and a half days.

When she got to this part of her story, the gray-haired woman paused, even stopping the bottle in her hand from shaking.

"... Were you living alone in your rented apartment for those two days?"

"And no one will take care of you?"

This gray-haired woman, Miss Lily, also known as Haihara, finally realized a problem.

In the days following the end of the battle, she had a day off and took the opportunity to visit all those Problem Child, including her neighbor Kuroki Yuka and her eldest daughter.

The only thing I haven't paid attention to is the situation of this extremely Problem Child.

"No..."

Kirishima Ai seems a bit down.

She touched her hands together, her fingers occasionally poking at her palms in disappointment.

"It's just that I was being willful. I didn't tell my parents and kept putting up with it on my own, so I can't blame anyone else."

If she had said something, her parents would have taken care of her no matter what, but for some reason, she said nothing.

Although the relationship between her parents improved after her younger sister recovered, Kirishima Ai still retained some of her own willfulness and stubbornness.

Miss Lily, however, was staring at the wine bottle, and because she was drunk, she spoke slowly:

"Such a Monster incident happened, and it happened at the child's school. If it were me, I would come and pick you up."

This woman rarely said anything serious.

Ai Kirishima Ai was also unable to respond immediately to what Miss Lily had said.

"..."

After a while, the only sound in the equipment room was the burning of an alcohol lamp.

Seeing Kirishima Ai fall silent, the drunken gray-haired woman was now unsure of her own thoughts.

Yes, she hadn't paid any attention to Kirishima Ai's situation.

There's nothing wrong with that.

On one hand, this Problem Child is different from other Magic girls. Although her family situation is not very happy, she still has parents who can fulfill their guardianship responsibilities.

On the other hand...

Haihara didn't really know what reason she should give to see Kirishima Ai.

She couldn't explain what special connection she had with this Problem Child, nor did she know what she meant to Kirishima Ai. Normally, she wouldn't be interested in what the child thought of her.

As the homeroom teacher, Haihara's only relationship with Kirishima Ai was that one rainy day when Problem Child had a fever and no one to take care of her, so Haihara had no choice but to take Kirishima Ai to her house.

As for the two accidental kisses that happened later... they were just accidents.

Therefore, Haihara probably wouldn't think that way.

Haihara had no reason to object.

She would only do something like that once; she would never do it a second time.

"Miss Lily?"

Looking at the gray-haired woman's expression, Kirishima Ai suddenly called out to her.

"Um."

You look a little... sad.

Kirishima Ai said something that she couldn't understand.

The gray-haired woman didn't react; she just subconsciously wanted to see her own expression, but there was only a reflection in the bottle, and doing so would be rather foolish.

She quickly returned to her normal self.

Then, the gray-haired woman said calmly:

"Drinking makes me very sad."

Some people say that when you drink, you forget everything, your mind goes blank, and you're happy doing anything. That's nonsense.

I only feel sad when I'm drunk.

Only when drunk do people realize how bad things are and how much pain they are in reality, and these previously suppressed emotions are released when they are drunk.

Haihara figured she was probably just drunk.

Is there anything else that's making you sad?

Besides family, there must be other things.

Next, Kirishima Ai talked about her experiences at school.

As usual, she had to skip school to fight because of her Magic girl duties, which resulted in her being scolded by Teacher Haihara again.

And lately, she's been feeling a little lonely at school.

Like any ordinary girl her age, she sometimes longs for communication and wants friends to talk to, but to be honest, perhaps because of her own personality, she still doesn't have any friends.

Often, when she sees her peers having fun together, she probably feels a little envious.

"Have you never had any friends growing up?"

Miss Lily suddenly asked this question.

After a moment of silence, Kirishima Ai said somewhat awkwardly:

"... No."

If it were just high school, she could explain it away with excuses like not being able to adapt or other various reasons.

But she simply has no friends.

She didn't know how to approach others to talk to, and no one would come to her.

Generally speaking, such people have terrible personalities.

However, she soon heard Miss Lily's reply.

"Me too."

"Huh?"

"I've never had any friends other than my childhood sweetheart throughout my life."

Miss Lily seemed to be recalling her experiences when she was younger, feeling a sorrow that she couldn't confide in others, and picked up the wine bottle again, continuously pouring wine into her mouth.

Kirishima Ai saw that Miss Lily's slender neck was undulating and trembling with a gurgling sound, which was very pleasing to the eye.

"If Miss Lily and I were the same age, we might get along very well..."

Kirishima Ai lowered her head and said shyly.

Just imagining it is quite interesting, and if Miss Lily were a high school girl, she would definitely be very cute, or perhaps the kind of prince that girls would find very popular?

But I think she looks best as she does now.

"Perhaps you won't be interested."

Miss Lily shook her head.

After chatting like this for a while, it must have been getting dark outside.

Kirishima Ai also talked about her final worries.

"Miss Lily."

She said.

"Uh-huh."

"Yes, I have a friend."

Miss Lily tapped the bottle with her fingernail, making a crisp sound, and said calmly:

You have no friends.

After a brief silence, Kirishima Ai lowered her head, her face slightly flushed, as if she felt a little ashamed to express her thoughts so directly.

Even if I told Miss Lily, she would feel embarrassed.

"Well... I used to have someone I didn't really like. Because I was immature and had some misunderstandings about her, I had a very bad opinion of her, and our relationship became very strained."