IBTMG 08

Chapter 08 The Night of the Full Moon

“So, instead of just standing there, why don’t you come in?”

At Woojin’s words, Unibel’s frozen thoughts finally began to move again.

“First, let me ask you something. That’s not cosplay… is it?”

As Unibel timidly stepped into the faculty office, Woojin looked her up and down.

This was the first time she had ever shown anyone her magical girl form.

And of all people, it was someone she actually knew.

…I don’t look strange, do I?

Embarrassed, she nervously tugged down the hem of her skirt.

Not that it made much difference—the skirt had been far too short from the beginning.

“I-I really am a magical girl.”

“I figured. You don’t look like the type who’d be playing dress-up in the middle of the night at school.”

Leaning back against his desk again, Woojin pressed a hand to his forehead as if he had a headache.

Without realizing it, Unibel found herself staring at him.

…Isn’t he scared?

An empty school in the dead of night.

Unknown shadow monsters closing in from every direction.

Any ordinary person would have panicked with fear in a situation like this.

Yet when she glanced at his face, she saw almost no fear or anxiety.

He looked calm and composed, as though he’d experienced things like this countless times before.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s just… you seem a lot calmer than I expected.”

“Well, things like this have happened around me for years. You could say I’m the type who always gets caught up in trouble.”

Suddenly, she remembered the search history she’d seen on his phone a week ago.

Ghost stories.

Strange phenomena.

Magical girls.

So she hadn’t imagined it after all.

Even before Unibel had become a magical girl, he had already crossed paths with this bizarre world.

At the same time, she recalled something he’d casually said the very first time they met.

He had definitely said—

“So it really was a magical girl. I wasn’t mistaken that time.”

“Were you… there when I was fighting that giant wolf in the park?”

“Yeah. You were in pretty bad shape. Watching it had me on edge the whole time.”

Everything finally made sense.

Why he knew about magical girls.

Why he knew her magical girl name.

Before today’s encounter, before they had ever officially met as magical girl and civilian, he had already known she existed.

…Wait.

As one mystery was solved, another immediately surfaced.

Mungmung had told her that ordinary people couldn’t even perceive the Dimensional Barrier.

And wasn’t Mungmung herself supposed to be invisible to everyone else?

Unibel’s gaze drifted toward the large window at the back of the faculty office.

Beyond it, the crimson sky of the Dimensional Barrier stretched across the glowing golden full moon.

Come to think of it, Woojin had been walking around inside the barrier as though nothing were unusual.

Mungmung?

Only then did she remember her forgotten partner.

She had definitely been with her until they forced their way into the faculty office.

But now that Unibel looked around, Mungmung was nowhere to be seen.

“Looking for something?”

“N-No, it’s just…”

For a moment, she wondered where Mungmung had gone.

Then she remembered what she was supposed to do.

“First things first, it’s dangerous here. I’ll get you outside, so please evacuate.”

She now understood that Woojin was someone unusual—someone who wasn’t affected by the Dimensional Barrier.

But that was all.

At the end of the day, he was still an ordinary human with no special powers.

She, on the other hand, was a magical girl.

It was her responsibility to get him somewhere safe.

Fortunately, unlike the classroom and hallway windows, the faculty office window hadn’t yet been consumed by the shadows.

If they left through there, she could simply fly him out of the school.

“And what about you if I leave?”

“I’ll stay behind and eliminate whoever’s responsible for all of this.”

“Then I’m staying too.”

“…What?”

Just as Unibel was about to open the window and prepare to fly away, his unexpected response made her instinctively turn around.

“Just looking at you tells me everything. You barely managed to escape here, didn’t you? And I’m guessing this is your first time seeing those disgusting things.”

He pointed toward the open faculty office door.

Beyond it, shadows writhed from every direction, creeping closer as though they were waiting for the slightest opening to pounce.

Unibel involuntarily took a step back.

He was right.

Her specialty—light magic—had effectively been sealed away because the shadows instinctively feared and avoided light.

Their numbers continued to increase, and the best she could do was remain in this safe zone and wait for another magical girl to arrive.

She knew it.

She knew she was no better off than the man standing before her.

Even the faculty office being a safe zone was nothing more than her own assumption.

There was no telling how long the shadows lurking outside would remain patient.

They might decide to rush in all at once within the next few minutes.

She imagined herself buried beneath that sticky sea of shadows.

Bound from head to toe, struggling helplessly…

Never able to return to the world above again.

The mere thought sent chills racing through her body, making her legs tremble.

Even so…

“I’m a magical girl.”

“…”

“It’s my duty to protect people from monsters that threaten their lives. I can’t run away just because I’m scared.”

“Then let me throw those words right back at you. Protecting students is a teacher’s duty. You expect me to abandon a kid younger than me and run to safety by myself? If I did something that shameful, I wouldn’t deserve to call myself a teacher.”

Their eyes met in the air.

Neither of them showed the slightest intention of backing down.

“Besides…”

“Yes?”

“I don’t remember ever saying we should run away together.”

“…What?”

“I told you already. I’ve been through things like this plenty of times.”

The next instant, Woojin wrapped an arm around Unibel’s waist.

“W-What are you doing?!”

“Shh!”

The moment he pulled her close, something dropped from the ceiling with a wet thud.

It was far larger than any of the other shadows roaming the hallway.

“Grrrk…?”

The massive blob of black slime began to change shape.

Though it had no eyes, nose, or mouth, it unmistakably took the form of a human being.

…That’s our school uniform?

The creature’s body was nothing but darkness, making it difficult to see clearly.

Even so, the outline of its clothes matched the school uniform she herself had worn that morning.

While Unibel stood frozen in confusion, the humanoid shadow looked around as though searching for something.

Then, apparently losing interest, it walked back toward the hallway where the other shadows gathered.

“…What was that?”

“I don’t know exactly. What I do know is that, unlike the others that move purely on instinct, that thing clearly has its own will. More importantly, keep your voice down.”

Still pressed against Woojin’s chest, Unibel stared up at him in shock.

He answered her in the same calm, composed voice as before.

“…You knew something like that existed?”

“It was already here when I first came into the faculty office. Anyway, we’d better move. I don’t think this place is going to stay a safe zone much longer.”

Letting go of her, Woojin walked over to one of the storage cabinets.

Unlike Unibel, who was still half-panicking after witnessing such a disturbing sight, he remained remarkably composed.

That was what amazed her most.

From what he’d said earlier, it seemed the faculty office hadn’t been the first place he’d taken refuge.

Which meant he had reached the same conclusion she had—that the brightest place in the school would naturally be the safest.

“Here. Put this on for now. You’ll stand out too much dressed like that.”

He tossed something toward her.

It was a large black hoodie.

“What’s this?”

“I keep it here in case my clothes get dirty at school. Go ahead and wear it. I washed it, and I haven’t used it since, so it shouldn’t smell or anything.

Probably.”

Just as he said, a pleasant scent of fabric softener drifted from the hoodie in her hands.

After pulling it over her magical girl outfit, Unibel asked,

“Earlier you said this place won’t stay safe. Why are you so sure?”

She had never believed this room would remain safe forever.

But that had only been her own guess.

Woojin, on the other hand, spoke with absolute certainty.

Could someone really predict all of this simply because they’d experienced something similar before?

Her doubts disappeared with his next explanation.

“Clouds are starting to cover the moon. Look. The shadows are already longer than when we first got here.”

Sure enough, the shadows that had been gathered outside the doorway had quietly stretched across the threshold and into the faculty office.

It was undeniable proof that less moonlight was reaching the room.

“And the moon isn’t going to stay in the same spot forever. Right now it’s directly in front of us, so they can’t charge in easily. But once it moves farther east, that’ll change. We’ll have to fight our way through a hallway crawling with those things—with no moonlight to protect us.”

“But… where do we go?”

The faculty office was the only safe place Unibel had managed to think of.

Aside from escaping the school altogether, she couldn’t imagine anywhere safer.

Without a word, Woojin pointed upward.

Up?

The floor above housed the senior classrooms, the music room, and the science lab.

None of them had windows as large as the faculty office.