“You’re so heavy…”
Seika said it to Sakuraraku, who was clinging to her waist.
“Hey! Where am I heavy?”
Sakuraraku pinched Seika’s waist in a huff, and Seika kicked her.
All of them were transformed into magical girls now.
Seika had hung herself from the broom on a thread, Sakuraraku was hugging Seika’s waist, and Mawata and Nadeshiko were sitting on the broom as a matter of course.
The poor broom was bearing a weight it was never meant to bear.
It wobbled through the girls’ scuffling and flew toward Mawata’s house.
“This… is my house.”
Mawata flew in through the window she had left by earlier, into her own room, and said it to the others.
“Wow — so many magical-girl manga!”
The moment Rakuraku’s feet touched the floor, she rushed to the bookshelf and started looking over Mawata’s collection.
“The decorating’s pretty nice.”
Hanaka glanced around and offered the praise.
Nadeshiko quietly shifted over to the computer desk and blocked the unfinished lewd drawing of Fox Mask.
“Um… maybe we should go to the living room.”
Mawata suggested it weakly.
The room was fairly large, but four people pouring in at once still made it a little cramped, so the four of them went down together to the living room, which had not yet been tidied.
“It’s a mess…”
Rakuraku grumbled.
Traces of the broom’s destruction still lingered in the living room.
Rakuraku’s mouth was complaining, but her body was mature enough to sit down on a floor cushion that was still intact.
“Do you live here alone?”
Hanaka asked Mawata.
“Mm… Mom and Dad work overseas.”
Mawata finally managed to find four cups that had not been smashed, and she poured water for everyone.
“Living alone really isn’t easy~”
Nadeshiko felt that deeply.
She asked Mawata, curious, “Mawata, can you cook for yourself?”
The girl in front of her did not look like the sort of person who did housework.
“A little, once in a while, but most of the time I just order takeout…”
Mawata ducked her head, a little embarrassed.
It would have been fine if no one had brought it up.
The moment cooking was mentioned, all four girls felt a rush of hunger.
None of them had had time for dinner, and they had just been through a fierce fight.
Rakuraku especially — her stomach let out a traitorous growl.
Nadeshiko covered her mouth and laughed softly.
“Don’t laugh at me, Nadeshiko… I was exercising really hard just now.”
Rakuraku wheedled in a delicate voice.
Everyone remembered how wild she had been in the fight just now, and for a moment none of them could connect the pink-type gal in front of them with that pink demon.
“Then… Mawata, is there still food in the fridge?”
Mawata nodded.
“You all go shower first~ I’ll cook myself, and it’ll be ready when you come out.”
Nadeshiko waved them off and headed for the kitchen.
“Won’t that be too much trouble for you, Nadeshiko?”
Hanaka asked.
Nadeshiko had had quite a scare just now, too, and she ought to rest properly.
“We can just order takeout…”
When it came to Nadeshiko, Rakuraku and Hanaka were always of one mind, and Mawata nodded as well.
“Nadeshiko… you should rest.”
At the girls’ words, Nadeshiko turned back, leaned against the kitchen door, and smiled at them.
“I’m completely fine. Eating takeout all the time isn’t good for you. Besides…”
She drew a lock of hair forward over her shoulder.
Under the warm light she felt gentle and soft, as if she were wrapped in honey, as if all the warmth in the world had closed in around them.
The three of them watched Nadeshiko in silence, waiting for the rest.
Night in the residential district was quiet and peaceful.
Everything was so lovely that it seemed like a dream.
“Besides… you are the great heroes who saved me~”
Nadeshiko blinked mischievously, slipped into the kitchen like a kitten, and left the three of them a small, cute back.
“Great heroes…”
Rakuraku repeated it blankly.
She felt as if something inside her were about to spill over, urging her to rush over and hug that girl.
She turned to look at Mawata and Hanaka, and she saw the same feeling in both their eyes.
“Um… Mawata, do you have any extra clothes?”
Hanaka gave a light cough, set a hand in front of her mouth, and tried to hide the corner of her mouth, which was curving up like mad.
Mawata dug out a few sets of new clothes.
Without a word spoken between them about what had just happened, the three of them headed for the bathroom.