Chapter 7: The Magical Girl’s Unexpected Kiss

To begin, perhaps that’s not the right way to put it.

The process, however, is entirely irrelevant; every single problem stems from that billboard that plummeted from the sky.

I, Aoyama Ren, forcibly kissed the object of Shiraishi Kisa’s secret affection, right there before her eyes.

Yet, none of it was by my own volition.

Let me reiterate: I did not willingly force a kiss upon Watanabe Hayato.

This assertion might cause confusion, so I must stress once more that Aoyama Ren harbors no feelings for Watanabe Hayato that transcend the bounds of friendship.

Throughout my sixteen years of growth, I have consistently harbored an affection for girls.

Naturally, Hayato is no different.

While his striking good looks suggest he would never want for female companionship, I am keenly aware that in all his sixteen years, he has yet to embark on a single romantic relationship with any girl.

Could one, then, definitively conclude that Hayato feels no attraction toward the opposite s*x?

Absolutely not.

Even if Hayato is a radiant, cheerful, and handsome ‘normie’ (TL Note: A Chinese slang term, ‘xianchong,’ referring to a popular person with a fulfilling social life), before he is human, he is, first and foremost, an animal.

Just like me, a complete ‘shut-in’ (TL Note: A Chinese slang term, ‘sizhai,’ referring to an otaku or someone who rarely leaves their home), he will undoubtedly harbor fantasies about adorable girls.

On a side note, I find Shiraishi Kisa utterly charming, a sentiment I doubt Hayato would dispute.

Despite the fact that I now seem to have committed an offense against Shiraishi Kisa.

I must reiterate, I was not acting of my own accord.

Even when one errs, they deserve an opportunity to clarify and rectify their mistake.

I will certainly be more cautious in the future.

Returning to the main point, no matter how adeptly Hayato might have concealed his true self, he could never fully suppress the surging desires of his hormonally charged adolescence, especially not while we spent every waking moment together.

Within his bedroom computer, I predictably uncovered a collection of unshareable films, manga, anime, and games—evidence that he is, in essence, a sixteen-year-old high school boy as fundamentally ‘healthy’ as one could possibly be.

Judging by their themes, the majority depicted adorable archetypes such as childhood friends and younger sisters.

From this, one could readily conclude that he is an exemplary ‘pure love warrior’.

I was immensely pleased that my dearest friend had not strayed onto a path of moral depravity.

Though I myself have irredeemably delved into far too many diverse realms, I nonetheless wished for Hayato to preserve this very innocence and purity.

Perhaps this could be considered my path to atonement, as I deliberately, and sometimes inadvertently, recommended more works of this genre to Hayato.

Yet, in this very instant, a memory resurfaced: Adam and Eve, cast out of Eden by God for tasting the forbidden fruit, were condemned to suffer in the mortal world, burdened by original sin.

Never before had I grasped this truth with such profound clarity.

Shiraishi Kisa’s cheeks were flushed, a vibrant crimson akin to an image captured by a thermal imager.

Now, having transformed into a magical girl, her radiant complexion perfectly complemented her pink attire, rendering her all the more adorable.

That billboard, plummeting down without warning, must surely have been flung by some deranged individual, for there was no other conceivable way it could have so violently intruded upon my vision.

Furthermore, the immediate appearance of Magical Girl Sakura Tsui only served to corroborate my suspicion.

And yet—

At that very moment, Hayato was still facing me, recounting the strange dreams he’d had at midday, and reminiscing about our shared childhood experiences.

In our younger years, Hayato had indeed been quite reticent, and he alone possessed the patience to endure my exuberant, often uncontrollable energy that left even our parents at a loss.

Hayato failed to notice the encroaching shadow from behind him with immediate urgency.

In the span of a single day, he was about to face a life-threatening danger for the second time.

From that angle, in that fleeting instant, Hayato had no conceivable chance to react.

The voice of the Little Black Cat Lingling resonated in my ear almost simultaneously.

“Danger!”

Consequently, there was no longer any room for hesitation.

Clutching the ruby bracelet in my hand, I underwent my transformation into a magical girl.

Immediately afterward, much like Ryu from Street Fighter, I unleashed a powerful Shoryuken!

“Shoryuken!”

My only regret was the girlish pitch of my voice in that moment, yet I had successfully bellowed out the name of the attack!

Perhaps every boy who has ever played a fighting game has secretly yearned to master this very technique.

A magical girl’s body, too, is an embodiment of miracles!

The heavy iron billboard, the immense force of its descent, and the subsequent collision of my fist with its frame—none of it registered as pain.

Indeed, it felt as though I were the runaway truck, barreling recklessly down the street.

CRASH!

Another deep indentation marred the billboard’s surface, and with a tremendous cloud of dust and smoke, it finally crashed onto the asphalt, leaving several new craters in the road.

Fortunately, no other pedestrians were present on this street.

Only a few households, alerted by the unusual commotion outside, cautiously opened their windows and peered out, their faces contorted in shock at the sight of the dust-filled air.

Upon landing, my foremost concern remained Hayato’s well-being.

Though my perspective had suddenly lowered, I felt no significant disorientation.

Thank goodness, Hayato was completely unscathed.

Recalling the individual named ‘Yinyi’ (TL Note: A Chinese term, ‘yinyi,’ meaning gloom or shadow) from midday, whose actions had caused Hayato to suffer a neck injury in reality, a pang of heartache pierced me.

Yet, why had Hayato’s gaze become so utterly vacant?

It was as if his otherwise brilliant mind had suddenly crashed, leaving him in a state of complete disarray.

Then, I understood.

Hayato must have been utterly terrified.

When individuals face mortal danger, such a reaction is indeed common.

As we learned in biology class, animals often freeze when confronted by a predator, a tactic that reduces their chances of detection.

Humans, too, have inherited similar neural responses.

“Ren?”

Hayato uttered, his voice steeped in a daze.

“Hm? What is it?”

The words nearly escaped my lips, and simultaneously, Lingling’s sharp rebuke echoed loudly in my ear—

“Idiot! You’ll break the perception distortion that way!”

Magical girls possess a perception distortion field, a potent force that safeguards their identities from discovery—a fact Lingling had explained to me earlier that afternoon.

As long as they refrain from actively admitting their true identity, even transforming openly in a crowded public space would not lead anyone to perceive anything amiss.

It was a formidable power, a confluence of rules governing existence suppression, memory alteration, and incomprehensibility.

After all, the magical girls tasked with protecting the world were, for the most part, still minors.

The sole vulnerability of this perception distortion—which could also be interpreted as the Fairy Kingdom granting magical girls the freedom of choice—lay in actively admitting and exposing one’s true identity.

‘Strange,’ I mused. ‘I feel no panic whatsoever in this moment.’

As I gazed at Hayato’s face, that particular emotion, which typically faded after I reverted from my magical girl form, surged anew within my heart.

It was scorching.

Viscous.

Sweetly cloying.

It was as if emotions, long sealed away in the deepest recesses of my heart, had, upon my transformation into a magical girl, erupted uncontrollably with a resounding force.

Magical girls represent justice, forge miracles, and, perhaps most significantly, are the very embodiment of love.

“Hayato…”

He seemed to grow taller before my eyes.

I tilted my head back, gazing up at my dearest friend, and extending my hand, I gently intertwined my fingers with his.

“Th-that… Ren, you were incredibly cool just now, that Shoryuken move…”

But why, then, did Hayato’s body instinctively recoil?

My emotions—why can you not perceive them?

“Lingling, are they alright?!”

Sakura Tsui called out, her voice filled with inquiry, as she streaked through the air—a pink arc descending from a distant skyscraper—to land on the ground.

That colossal billboard, it seemed, had once stood atop an overpass.

“They’re fine, but Little Ren’s situation seems to have taken an unusual turn…”

The Little Black Cat Lingling’s eyes widened, its tail twitching.

After countless interactions with magical girls, it had come to understand, to some degree, the intricacies of human girls’ hearts; however, the current predicament was unlike anything he had ever witnessed.

“Watanabe-kun? And… Aoyama-kun?”

Following Lingling’s bewildered gaze, Sakura Tsui momentarily forgot to retract her weapon.

The scene unfolding before her eyes seemed to perfectly overlap with a manga she had just finished reading.

The maiden, her eyes misted with tears, took the hand of her beloved.

It was as if she had been reunited with her true love after a long, arduous separation, and the love she had suppressed for so long could not be fully articulated at once.

Thus, with a tender, aggrieved embrace, she clasped the young man close.

The young man, overwhelmed by the sudden deluge of affection, was utterly flustered.

Yet, what followed was the maiden’s first kiss, delivered as she rose onto her tiptoes…

Shiraishi Kisa, a sixteen-year-old magical girl, stood transfixed.

At this moment, she found herself incapable of articulating her own emotions, her gaze locked unblinkingly upon the conjoined lips of the boy and girl.

A torrent of profound love abruptly surged through her entire being.

For an extended period, she had been unable to confide in anyone, burying her feelings deep within her heart.

The very vision she had sought to depict through her membership in the manga club had, in this astonishing moment, materialized into reality.

‘How utterly sudden,’ she thought.