Since my Useless Working Sister and Other Troublemakers Became Magical Girls, I have no Choice but to Support Them.

Chapter 1-18: Haruka’s Modest Wish

After breakfast, I continued banging the frying pan to force my sister to go to work, seeing her off in her suit as she left the house.

“Do you have to do that every morning? It sounds tough,” Rafio commented.

“Yeah, it’s tough for you every morning too,” I replied.

“How so?” Rafio asked.

With Rafio packed in my bag, I left the house at the usual time.

“Good morning, Yuuma!” my neighbor Tsumugi greeted me as she came out at the same time.

“Morning,” I responded.

“Eek!” Rafio yelped from inside my bag, but I don’t think Tsumugi heard it. Not that it would make any difference.

“Hmph, I still feel like you’re hiding something fluffy, Yuuma-san,” Tsumugi said.

“Do you?” I asked.

“Yes! I can tell by the vibe!” she declared.

As we walked to the elevator together, Tsumugi seemed to sense Rafio’s presence and pressed on.

“It doesn’t have to be a living creature! I can enjoy fluffing even a stuffed animal!”

“This apartment has restrictions on pets, you know,” I reminded her.

I had heard before that Tsumugi’s room was filled with stuffed animals. She apparently fluffed them daily.

“A stuffed animal is fine! I’m a universal lover of fluff!” she insisted.

“I don’t think loving only fluffy things qualifies as universal love!” Rafio interjected.

“Hmm? Yuuma-san, did I just hear someone’s voice?” Tsumugi asked.

“Did you?” I played dumb.

“Anyway, don’t be late for school today. Don’t end up like my sister,” I warned her.

“Hmph. Got it! I’m off!” she said, running off towards school with a look of longing still directed at me.

“Do I have to fear that devil every day?” Rafio sighed.

“Bring her into the family. It’ll be easier,” I suggested.

“No way!” Rafio quickly refused.

Yeah, I don’t want to drag elementary schoolers into the fight too. Or my classmates, for that matter.

And yet…

“Good morning, Yuuma! Did you see yesterday’s TV show?” Haruka greeted me at the bus stop.

“Morning. TV? What show?” I asked.

“The rumored magical girl!” she exclaimed.

“Ah…” Yesterday was the first day the magical girl appeared in front of cameras. She even made a public address.

Haruka had seen it. Though it was already news yesterday, she brought it up today for the first time.

“Look at this,” she said, showing me her phone screen from her wheelchair. It was an online article headline: “Who is the mysterious beauty killing monsters? What’s her relationship with the masked man? Are they lovers? What’s their age? We investigated!”

Me and my sister as lovers? What a joke.

“The article concluded with, ‘We couldn’t find out. But we look forward to their future exploits!’” Haruka read aloud.

“They don’t know, huh?” I remarked.

“They didn’t even figure out our school’s uniform!” she laughed.

“Really?” I said, surprised.

I didn’t care who wrote the article. Someone who quickly wrote a clickbait article without even researching the nearby schools’ uniforms didn’t interest me.

But for people around here, they could recognize the uniform. The same for Haruka.

“Who do you think the rumored magical girl is? Do you think she’s one of our students?” she asked, looking at me with a smile.

I couldn’t tell her I knew.

“Who knows? The news said she’s an adult,” I replied.

“Did they? But the boy is definitely a student here. I want to meet him,” she said.

“What would you do if you met him?” I asked.

“I’d ask if I could become a magical girl too!” she said confidently, giving a thumbs up.

“Is that so! You want to become a magical girl, huh?” Rafio started to say before I quickly grabbed him and shoved him back into the bag.

“Did I hear something just now?” Haruka asked.

“Nope. Nothing. Anyway, you want to become a magical girl?” I diverted.

“Yeah! They fight really strong monsters, right? That means they must be strong too, right?” she asked.

“Well, yeah,” I agreed.

“Do you think I could run, even on one leg?” she asked, a bit hopefully.

“Maybe,” I said cautiously.

Rafio had said yesterday that becoming a magical girl would heal her leg. It would restore her body to its optimal state.

“Do you want to run?” I asked.

“Haha, maybe. I just thought about it. I’m not really serious about it, I think?” she said ambiguously.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“If I wanted to run, I could get a prosthetic leg and start training right away, right? You thought that too, right?” she said.

“Well…” I couldn’t deny it.

I knew her reasons for not getting a prosthetic, and it was her choice.

“I know the training would be tough. But I was in the track team, so I’m willing to try. But if there’s an easier way, like becoming a magical girl, I’m interested in that too. It’s a complicated feeling for a girl, you know,” she said with a smile.

“I see,” I replied.

“Yuuma, you might not understand this feeling. Maybe the magical girl would,” she mused.

I doubt it. Putting aside the girlish feelings, I don’t think that idiot could understand such complex emotions.

But she would at least try to understand a disabled person’s feelings.

“I really want to meet her,” Haruka said.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“How can I meet her?” she wondered.

“I don’t know. But if the magical girl appears, it means monsters are rampaging. Isn’t that dangerous?” I pointed out.

“Oh, that’s true. But maybe the magical girl, the masked man, and the fox-like creature will protect us,” she said.

“Do I look like a fox to you?” Rafio grumbled.

“Hey, Yuuma. Do you have any idea who this boy might be? Does he look like anyone you know?” she asked.

“I don’t know him,” I lied.

“Haha, right. Yuuma, you’re smart, so I thought you might know something,” she said.

“It’s not something intelligence can solve,” I said.

“True. But if they appeared two days in a row, they might show up again. Maybe next time, in front of us,” she said hopefully.

“Maybe,” I conceded.

What Haruka said casually was my biggest concern.

It’s fine if they appear in front of me. But I don’t want them to appear in front of Haruka. She’s just getting used to life without her legs. I don’t want that taken from her.

That’s why I don’t want Haruka to become a magical girl.