Teacher, I Am Actually a Villainous Magical Girl

The television was broadcasting the Monster incident that occurred in Maple Plain City today; it was said that two Monsters appeared simultaneously, only to be resolved by an unnamed Magical Girl in the end.

Even if she hadn't shown up, the Monsters were still dealt with quite well.

Kirishima Ai shrank slightly into the corner, pulling her legs together, her teeth gently biting into a croquette, making a soft rubbing sound without actually taking a bite.

"..."

In truth, this city didn't really need her that much, did it?

It wasn't that what she was doing was wrong.

Kirishima Ai bit into the croquette and ate it slowly; the lights in the room were off, leaving her all alone, and the shadows in the room looked just as lonely.

She recalled what Hina had said to her earlier that day.

There was nothing particularly special about it; she was just feeling a bit lost and dejected...

She had school again tomorrow.

If any Monsters appeared after that, she would surely pull herself together quickly.

After slowly finishing the croquette, she remembered what her younger sister had told her earlier, so she picked up the phone and dialed a number.

After waiting for about half a minute, the call connected.

"Mom, yeah, it's me..."

Earlier that day, Hina had asked her about Little Vermilion, the pet bird that she and her sister had been raising together.

"How is Little Vermilion doing now?"

That bird should be under Mom's care right now.

However, she didn't really know what Mom had been up to lately; after all, her parents had divorced long ago, and both of them were very busy.

"...It's the bird Hina was raising, the white one with a bit of red on its head."

For some reason, Kirishima Ai had a bad feeling.

After a while, her mother's reply came through the phone.

Kirishima Ai froze for a moment, thinking she must have misheard.

"Sick... not going to live much longer? Why..."

"No time to take care of it? But, we had an agreement with Hina before..."

After a while, her mother's voice came through the phone again.

The woman explained a great deal.

There were many reasons, and they seemed understandable enough.

Besides, birds were naturally fragile creatures with short lifespans; Hina might not have many more chances to see that little bird anyway.

"..."

She remained silent for a moment, the rising emotions gradually subsiding, and her gaze lowered slightly, shifting from bright to dim.

Kirishima Ai subconsciously shrank her body, her tone sounding somewhat listless as she said:

"...I understand."

"Yeah, there's nothing else. Good night."

She didn't continue the conversation any further.

Besides, the woman on the other end of the line probably didn't want to talk to her much either.

Kirishima Ai said a brief goodbye and hung up the phone.

She set the phone aside and then gently tapped the wall with one hand.

The wall made no sound.

But her hand remained there, as if in silence.

Kirishima Ai lowered her head.

She certainly couldn't tell Hina about this; it would only make Hina feel even worse.

So, she was the only one who knew.

But...

Who was she supposed to tell that she was feeling terrible too?

Lately, it had just been a pile of awful things.

She didn't sigh, nor did she cry because of it; after all, she was the only one in this room, and doing such a thing would be a bit foolish.

Kirishima Ai closed her eyes, deciding not to think about these things anymore.

She had school again tomorrow.

And also...

At some point, she began to feel a bit sleepy.

Sitting in the corner of her cramped rental apartment, she slowly closed her eyes, her head swaying as her consciousness gradually faded away.

Meanwhile, the television was still playing—

"Maple Plain City, moderate to heavy rain is expected to fall continuously over the next few days. Citizens of Maple Plain City, please remember to carry umbrellas..."

In the morning, Kirishima Ai arrived near the school on her bicycle. She found a spot to park it, but felt that the light was a bit dim today.

She looked up and discovered that the sky was covered in overcast clouds.

The weather had been like this for the past few days.

Moreover, the crows had been very noisy lately, often chirping and cawing over the city along with other birds, giving people a bad feeling.

After a while, Kirishima Ai felt raindrops landing on her head; they were a bit chilly.

She realized that it seemed to be raining.

However, she... didn't seem to have brought an umbrella today.

After parking her bike, she discovered that it was already raining outside the shed.

Rain kept dripping onto the ground, dyeing the world before her in a grayish, misty color. In the distance, students at the school gate were running toward the school, while some students who had brought umbrellas walked over slowly.

After thinking for a moment, she held her schoolbag over her head and jogged over.

Of course, quite a bit of rain still landed on her.

It was a little cold.

The rain quickly became very heavy, and since her schoolbag wasn't very large, her hair was soon soaked as well.

By the time she ran to the classroom, the back of her hair and her back were half-soaked.

Kirishima Ai looked around the classroom. She had arrived fairly early today, and quite a few classmates were just as soaked as she was.

She sat down in her seat, and raindrops dripped from her wet hair onto the chair and desk, making her look rather disheveled.

She took some tissues out of her desk and simply wiped her face and hair.

Then, she picked up her national language textbook, preparing to preview the morning's literature lesson.

During the morning study session, the classroom filled up before she knew it, but the teacher still hadn't arrived.

Outside the window, the heavy rain continued to pour down without stopping.

It wasn't until the bell rang for class that the students in the classroom saw their homeroom teacher, Teacher Haihara.

She hadn't been soaked by the rain.

It is worth mentioning that Sakaki Chika walked in with Teacher Haihara.

For the past few days, Sakaki Chika seemed to have been arriving at school around the same time as Teacher Haihara.

Teacher Haihara walked slowly to the podium and said indifferently:

"It's raining very hard today. Is there anyone who didn't bring an umbrella?"

On her way to school, she had walked halfway before feeling like it was going to rain, so she went back home to get an umbrella.

Although she hadn't gotten wet, she was naturally late.

She scanned the classroom and saw Kirishima Ai, whose hair was dripping wet.

She looked like she had been soaked quite badly.

"It seems there are indeed some who didn't bring umbrellas."

Teacher Haihara nodded coldly, then pointed toward the door:

"There is a hairdryer in my office. The female students who got their hair wet should go and dry it."

If long hair stays wet, it's very easy to catch a cold.

Although she didn't mention any names, in reality, the only girl who had been rained on was Kirishima Ai.

Kirishima Ai thanked the teacher and then went to the office alone to use the hairdryer.

Ignoring Kirishima Ai, Teacher Haihara slowly rummaged through her textbooks on the podium, finally managing to find a tattered one that was missing several pages, and then flipped to the page for today's lesson.

"Alright, class begins."

The morning lessons soon started.

It is worth mentioning that, according to statistics, the appearance rate of a Monster is very low on rainy days.

Although there are some aquatic Monsters that are more suited to rainy weather, they generally don't choose to come out and cause destruction on rainy days.

Perhaps even Monsters don't want to cause trouble in the rain.

Fighting while being rained on is a very annoying thing.

Teacher Haihara, however, quite likes working on rainy days.

Even though the sound of the rain is loud, it gives people a very quiet and cozy feeling.

The students don't have to run around everywhere, either.

As the class neared its end, just as Haihara was covering the final paragraph of the text, a sound suddenly came from the front row—

"Achoo..."

It was the sound of a girl sneezing.

Haihara lifted her head and looked toward the source of the sound.

Kirishima Ai's face was slightly flushed, but it didn't look like embarrassment; it looked more like a high body temperature.

I hope she isn't catching a cold.

"Are you alright?"

Haihara asked casually.

"I... I'm fine."

"Oh."

Chapter 43: Today's Professional Ethics

After school, the sky remained shrouded in a gray haze, and the potholes in the road were filled with murky water. As time slowly passed, the sky grew darker and darker, until it became difficult to distinguish the sky from the storm clouds.

Kirishima Ai looked at the gray sky outside the window and did not head home. Although she wasn't on cleaning duty today and had nothing else to do, she didn't leave immediately.

To her, going home didn't really have any meaning; no one cared about her, and home was just a place to sleep.

Driven by some unknown impulse, shortly after everyone else had left, she walked toward the Materials Room.

Her head felt a bit dizzy and her legs lacked strength; Kirishima Ai felt like she wasn't in her right state of mind today.

Today, she wanted to find Lily.

She would be happy to talk about anything at all; she just hoped to hear Lily's voice.

Soon, she found the place she had already visited a few times.