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Chapter 23
Chapter 1 — Blow all of heaven and earth to smithereens! • Episode 1-6 • Date ④ ☆
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
When Red Ball was out of sight, Elephant came rushing back from the opposite direction.
「Sorry for waiting, Sylph-chan! The snacks, which do you prefer?」
When she returned, Sylph had two soft serve ice creams, one vanilla and one chocolate.
「Umm, either one is fine. Sorry, I just kept getting paid earlier…」
「I told you it’s my treat! Don’t worry about it! If you don’t mind either way, let’s split it in half!」
「Thank you very much. Itadakimasu.」
After receiving a vanilla soft serve ice cream from Elephant, Sylph thanked her and took a mouthful without thinking too much about it. Immediately after that, she realizes the meaning of the word “half” and stiffens.
「D–Did you just say half…?」
「Nhn–! So cold and yummy! I’ll take a bite of the vanilla then!」
「Wait–!」
Before Sylph could restrain her, Elephant had a mouthful of the soft-serve ice cream Sylph was holding, which she was about to eat. Sylph sees this and starts to look blue and panicky.
「Y–You can’t do that, that, that’s indirect!」
「Huh? Maybe I shouldn’t have passed it around, Sylph-chan? I’m sorry I didn’t realize. I know it’s messy.」
Elephant looks dejected rather than excited by Sylph’s overreaction.
Sylph, mistakenly believing that he has hurt Elephant, can’t think of a good excuse and ends up revealing his true feelings in order to comfort Elephant.
「It’s not—! It’s because I’m dirty! Don’t eat my food! You will regret it!」
「What the, I seem alright though.」
Where did her dejected look go, the suddenly cheerful Elephant, who seemed to be at ease, dared to take another bite and lick the part that Sylph had been mouthing.
「It’s not dirty. Here, Sylph-chan, I’ll lick it off.」
「No, you can’t do that. That’s, that’s bad.」
Tyrant Sylph shakes her head from side to side in fright in front of the soft ice cream offered by Elephant. Sensing that she could go no further with her unusual appearance, Elephant maturely withdrew the soft serve ice cream she was offering and began to lick it herself.
「Sorry, I’m sorry if I overstepped the mark. I think I’ll stop halfway.」
「…I apologize, I can’t read the air. But I’ll still refuse.」
「Don’t worry about it. Everyone has things they can’t tell others. Here, eat and eat before it melts.」
「…Okay.」
The air of fun they had had up to that point had completely fizzled out, and there was an awkward atmosphere between the two of them.
But Elephant did not regret that. During the course of the conversation, she knew that this half of the duration was a landmine for Sylph. Still, she stepped through it without pulling it because she wanted to help Sylph by doing so.
Through this series of conversations, Elephant felt as if she understood, albeit dimly, what Sylph was going through.
（Maybe it’s bullying. Sylph-chan seems to know that her looks are out of character, but she doesn’t seem proud or happy about it. Maybe she has a complex about being different. She said she was dirty, so maybe she was treated like a fungus or something…!）
Elephant bites her back teeth just barely to keep Sylph from noticing.
To bully such a lovely girl, to hurt her until she felt dirty herself, was something that even the mild-mannered Elephant could not tolerate.
Is it for self-preservation that she don’t engage with herself, or to protect those who try to engage with her?
She suppose it was both. A kind girl who is afraid of others but does not want to hurt them.
She was filled with a desire to hug Sylph right now and spoil her as much as she could. However, she fear that doing so now may only scare her away.
Besides, everything up to this point is just Elephant’s guess. If there was a little more certainty, or if the Sylph could ask for help directly, even Elephant would be able to move without hesitation.
At this point, she cannot rule out the possibility that it is just a misunderstanding.
In fact, it was all Elephant’s mistake.
Elephant’s heart was about to burst with frustration. She was aware of her usual pushiness, but she was unable to step forward at the right moment, and she was unreliable.
Elephant suppresses her passion and continues the conversation calmly.
「What do you usually do on your days off, Sylph-chan?」
To break the awkward atmosphere, she lick her soft serve ice cream and start a small talk.
「Eh? I usually play games… Ah, no, I’m playing at a friend’s house, I suppose.」
Caught off guard by the break in the conversation, Sylph accidentally speaks the truth, but she hurriedly corrects her course when she realizes that it is not in the taste of a girl of her age.
「I see, friends are important.～」
「Y–Yes, you’re right.」
Sylph looks at Elephant, who smiles calmly, and takes a breath to see that he managed to fool her.
In contrast, Elephant’s feelings were beyond description.
There is no way she could have fooled her. Of course she know that she usually play games.
Elephant’s answer only served to further the misunderstanding.
If it’s a game, she can play it alone, even if she don’t have any friends. However, she went out of her way to reiterate that she would play at a friend’s house so as not to worry her.
Elephant interpreted it that way.
「Was school fun?」
「…Enough, I don’t want to talk about myself anymore, can I? Are we still going somewhere? Or do you want to return?」
Hearing the answer, Elephant was convinced.
She didn’t even want to remember the school. She said that it was so hard and painful that she could not even fool around with it.
In fact, it’s just that Sylph didn’t want to get into it any more and rag on her.
「You’re right… Lastly, let’s go over there.」
Elephant pointed to a Ferris wheel outside the mall.
•
「It was my first time to ride a Ferris wheel. It was quite a bumpy ride.」
「Ahahaha, maybe they’ll fall off.」
「Eh!? …Ah, then you’re lying again! I won’t be fooled again!」
「Sorry, sorry, it’s funny because Sylph-chan is so easily fooled.」
「Good grief!」
Tyrant Sylph looks somewhat amused despite her pouty and angry appearance. Her appearance was completely different from the cold magical girl she have seen in battle, and she looked like a girl of her age.
「Umm, Sylph-chan?」
「Yes? What is it?」
「I had a great time today. Thanks for hanging out with me.」
「What’s with the sudden change? You’re welcome…」
「How was it, Sylph-chan?」
「Eh?」
「Did you have fun today?」
The only sound was the creaking and swaying of the Ferris wheel as it slowly climbed.
The expression on Elephant’s face as she waited for an answer was the most serious of the day, and she didn’t seem to be listening to her in a very joking or teasing way.
「I–I’m not trying to get along with magical girls. I’m not trying to have fun…」
「Sylph-chan…」
「Uhh…」
「I hope this answer is the last you’ll ever have to thank me for.」
To Sylph, who blushed and turned away as if to hide her embarrassment, Elephant told her quietly, straightforwardly, and honestly to answer the question.
Sylph already knows that the exaggerated pain she showed in front of her this morning was a lie. So there’s no need to obediently comply just because she brought up the thank-you thing.
But even so, Sylph had a desire not to betray Elephant’s feelings just for today.
「Uhh, uhm, I’m not sure if we can be friends but… Today was fun for me.」
「I see. I’m glad then. Sylph-chan, can you come here?」
As if to praise her for her slurred but still honest answer, Elephant sat down next to Sylph and patted her on the head.
「U–Uhh, what does this mean?」
「Hey, Sylph-chan. It was scary right?」
「…Eh?」
Sylph’s body, which had been left to its own devices, stiffens. It was as if she had been hit by the bull’s-eye.
Elephant continues stroking her head without caring.
「Sylph-chan has just become a Magical Girl, and yet she is so strong that she has never lost a battle before.」
「…Yes.」
「So when you suddenly lost to some incomprehensible Diest and could have died, you got scared, didn’t you?」
「…!」
Elephant was aware of the possibility that Sylph was being bullied after today’s series of events, but that shouldn’t have been the first time it happened yesterday or today.
Nevertheless, Tyrant Sylph, who had been acting normally as a magical girl, suddenly began to act strangely. It didn’t take long to realize that the impetus for this was not routine bullying, but a recent defeat.
「I understand. At first I was scared too. I lost, I couldn’t move, and I thought I was going to lose, I was going to die. I still managed to save myself, but I was afraid to fight, and I was afraid of being able to fight.」
「Then why…?」
Earlier today, Sylph heard from Elephant that magical girls are supposed to help each other. These words, which would be easy enough to say, were uttered by a girl who actually confronted a superior enemy in order to save herself.
Elephant could have died. Once the fight starts, even that fear will disappear and you will be able to fight.
Sylph understood that a real magical girl must be the one who can fight for the world without even feeling such fear, and Elephant is such a being.
It would have been strange otherwise.
「Why did you help me? I said terrible things to you. Yet you spoke to me kindly, and I have the audacity to tell you not to get involved again. I knew full well how painful it would be to be cut off. No one will blame you for abandoning me. I’m not the kind of person you would risk your life to save. It is not a matter of course to help me. And yet, you even lied and said you weren’t seriously injured, why is that…?」
If she could fight without fear, she would be convinced.
It would have made sense if Elephant were as merciful as saints and could help anyone without regard for herself.
But if not, why?
「Because I wanted to help you.」
Elephant didn’t need any hard logic.
「I couldn’t say I was scared, I couldn’t sit still, I wanted to help Sylph-chan so much. It doesn’t matter if there is fear or not, because the feeling is real.」
「Even though I was deprived of fear, I wanted to help you, Sylph-chan, and my feelings are real. Maybe I’m rather lucky because I don’t cower in the middle of a fight.」
Elephant laughs jokingly.
「I became a Magical Girl because I wanted to protect someone or something. So I can fight for it.」
「…That’s amazing.」
It was sincere, genuine admiration.
Sylph did not know if she could continue to fight.
「You don’t have to do it, Sylph-chan.」
「Eh?」
「If you don’t like it, you don’t have to fight anymore.」
Sylph did not understand for a moment what Elephant was saying.
Yes, Sylph lost to a Baron-class Diest, but that was a matter of chemistry, not that Elephant, who had defeated the two-headed sheep, was stronger than Sylph.
If she was not there, she will have trouble dealing with the high rank Diests that occurs. So she thought Elephant was telling her this conversation to get her back on her feet.
「Who decided that running away is a bad thing? If it’s hard, you can run away, if it’s sad, you can cry. If you can’t get back on your feet, I think you need to take some time off. Not just in your magical life, but in your personal life as well.」
「I… I… Is it okay if I run away…?」
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Sylph, who had surrendered herself to Elephant and was being stroked as it was done to her, squirmed as if seeking relief.
「It was scary… uuh, I’m afraid of fighting, of being deprived of fear, of dying, sniff, I’m really afraid…! The truth is, I don’t want to fight!」
Tears, which she had been holding back for so long, begin to overflow.
She had been holding back the tears for so long because she felt that if she shed them, she would break down and not be able to fight anymore.
Because she have to fight. Because she have to fight to return to her original form, to protect this city, to protect the world.
「That’s enough, Sylph-chan. You’ve done your best. You don’t have to fight anymore.」
With Sylph on her back, who continued to cry as the Ferris wheel returned to the ground, Elephant began the transition to the hospital.
「Sylph-chan, call me if you have a hard time. I’m sure the Diests isn’t the only enemy.」
「Sniff… Yes…」
Sylph nodded, interpreting Elephant’s words to mean something, even though she didn’t quite understand them.
「I’ve got my contact information in the bag.」
If Sylph does not enter and leave the Deception World in the future, there will be no way to contact her.
Elephant would like to solve Sylph’s bullying with her own hands if possible, but what happens in a school community is not something that can be handled by outsiders.
Even if the bullying subsides on the surface with attention, it may resume or worsen over time.
Besides, Sylph is a magical girl to begin with. If she wanted to solve the problem by force, she could easily do it by herself.
If she was not doing that, she was fighting. Not as a magical girl, but as a human being.
What a strong girl. While there are those who would misuse the power of magical girls, a girl of only about 10 years old is still disciplining herself and putting herself in the fight.
Perhaps there is no curtain for her to come out from the beginning.
That’s why, Elephant chose to be Sylph’s escape.
She decided that if Sylph was helpless and wanted to escape, she would be the one to provide that escape.
「If you feel like running away from reality, no, please feel free to contact me for any help.」
Of course, Sylph, who had never been bullied, did not understand Elephant’s intentions, but she still sensed the kindness there and gave a small, honest nod.