Vol 2 Chapter 121: Your Special Place
Veronica gave an answer that, in her view, was close to deflecting responsibility.
Surprisingly, Mohe didn’t seem emotionally affected at all after hearing it.
“So it really is like that, huh.”
She rely muttered to herself calmly, leaning back slightly until she was fully resting against the driver’s seat.
“That’s why I didn’t think it was worth bringing up... Because I had a feeling the captain wasn’t going to say yes today.”
“Sorry.”
Veronica repeated herself, “I really appreciate how much you value .”
“No, this isn’t your fault, Captain. I didn’t do a good job.”
Mohe stared at the road ahead, but her gaze was sowhat unfocused. “I did terribly today—kept ssing things up. I even made you cover the tab when I offered to treat you. With a performance like this, no one would think I’m reliable enough to recruit.”
Since they left the restaurant, aside from talking about her team and ideals, Mohe had mostly stayed downcast. To her, she’d completely ruined the day.
Not only did she fail to show herself as dependable, she kept bringing up topics that put the captain in a bad mood—and she kept breaking things, making mistakes. No doubt, she failed to leave a good impression on the captain, either for herself or her team.
“This was my failure,” Mohe judged herself.
—“I don’t think you did anything wrong. My decision has nothing to do with your performance.”
But Veronica didn’t agree with Mohe’s self-assessnt.
“I’m not indifferent to your ideals. It’s just... there’s already a lot on my shoulders in my current life. I’m not sure I still have the energy to make new promises.”
“So, I need to think about it more.”
Veronica sumd up her thoughts this way: “Maybe you could describe your plan in more detail, or tell more about those ‘friends’ you ntioned. That way, I’d have more to consider.”
“Talk about my ‘friends,’ huh…”
Mohe murmured, easing off the gas pedal a bit, slowing the car. “Captain, would you really want to hear about all that?”
“Yeah, I’m actually curious.”
Veronica didn’t hide it—she was direct with her reason for bringing it up. “I want to know what you’ve been through these past years, what kind of people you’ve been with, and what you’ve done together.”
“Is this... an interrogation from an Inspector of the Investigation Bureau?” Mohe glanced over at her.
“For now, it’s just a forr teammate being curious. You seem to know a lot about what I’ve been up to these years, but I know almost nothing about who you are now.”
Veronica t her gaze. “If I were questioning you as an inspector, I’d probably say sothing like, ‘Hey you, how dare you set up a base behind the Kingdom’s back? Spit out your hideout and list all your team mbers!’”
She was clearly mimicking the tone of the law officer they’d t earlier in the mana-free zone. Her voice still lacked much variation, but it was enough for Mohe to recognize the impersonation.
That line actually made Mohe, who had been sulking, curl the corner of her lips slightly.
“But you didn’t ask, Captain.”
She sounded a bit surprised at her own realization. “I was the one doing all the talking, but you never interrupted.”
“Because there’s no need.”
Veronica spoke with a calm tone, as if she were discussing sothing unrelated to either of them. “If I asked now, would you even be willing to answer?”
Mohe froze.
“I… if it’s you, Captain…”
She opened her mouth, wanting to say she had nothing to hide—but then rembered the nature of her team and organization. The words stuck in her throat and never ca out.
The car had slowed to a crawl. There was no longer any background noise to interfere with their conversation or thoughts. Yet Mohe’s mind was more tangled than ever.
“…If you ever decide to join us, Captain, then I’ll tell you.”
After a long silence, she spoke haltingly, like every word weighed a ton. “But right now… maybe I can’t…”
—“You can’t because saying anything could betray your teammates.”
Veronica finished the thought for her seriously. “From what you’ve said, what you’re doing might just be in a gray area—but the Kingdom definitely wouldn’t accept it if they found out. This isn’t sothing you can talk about openly.”
“For example, I assu you’ve heard of the group ‘Claw Marks.’ They betrayed the Kingdom. They’re wanted across the Kingdom and the material world.”
She continued to point out things Mohe had likely thought of—but maybe not in detail. “Does your team have a na like Claw Marks? Or... do you have ties with them?”
In Veronica’s mind, the “ho” Mohe described didn’t sound anything like the things Claw Marks had done. But if there really were magical girls trying to build a base out in the wilderness of the material world, there was no way Claw Marks wouldn’t want to get involved.
So, even if Mohe wasn’t one of them, it was unlikely she had no connection with them at all.
And her silence confird it.
She said nothing—but that was enough.
“…I think I get what you were thinking about earlier, Captain.”
Her next sentence ca after a long pause, but it was clear she’d been mulling it over all along. “You really did want to tell everything… and you really wanted to know what I thought of you... But I never realized it’d be this hard.”
“I never intended to doubt you.”
Veronica leaned back, gazing at the scenery outside the window. “A Magical Girl shouldn’t trust others too easily—but she should never doubt her companions. So I don’t need the answers to those questions.”
“…Yeah. You’re right.” Mohe let out a soft sigh, as if she suddenly understood everything.
“To you, Captain, I’m still soone special.”
She wasn’t sure why—but she said this with absolute certainty, even a hint of relief. “But at the sa ti, to you... I’m no longer as special as I used to be.”
“Because I’ve changed.”
Veronica turned away from the window to face forward alongside Mohe. “Now, you have to believe that much.”
Mohe kept her eyes on the road. She didn’t respond right away.
After a while, her expression settled. And when she finally spoke again, it was no longer about earlier—but about herself, and the trivial bits of her past few years.
She talked about how she once wanted to open a magic-item shop after the war, how she dread of working part-ti and saving up.
She talked about how she searched for a ho after leaving the Kingdom, and the hardships she went through.
She talked about how, by chance, she ended up in a school in the material world—because she needed to learn, to gather knowledge to build sothing on the desolate land she’d chosen. Magic tools alone weren’t enough.
She kept talking... and talking…
Even when they left the mana-free zone, passed through the Erald District, and arrived back at the Colorful Cloud Wetlands—she hadn’t finished.
And when the car finally stopped, they both knew—it was ti to wrap things up.
Today, the Colorful Cloud Wetlands looked the sa as ever: soft grassy fields, gentle trickling streams, warm and dreamy air that could lull anyone into peace.
—“Happy birthday, Captain.”
As she stepped out of the car, Mohe suddenly said this.
“This isn’t sothing I looked up. If you still rember, you told back when we were still special to each other.”
She bent slightly, reached to lock the car door, then looked up. Her amber vertical pupils reflected the blue moon above.
“Maybe I’m not soone special to you anymore. But to , this is a truly special blessing.”
She pulled her hand away from the car, adjusted her knitted cardigan, and then bowed deeply to Veronica before turning to leave.
Her ponytail swayed like a tail behind her, the ribbon at its base standing up like ears. With steps that looked casual but felt graceful and deft, Mohe walked off. Her black clothes seed to lt into the wetland’s nightti shadows. Her light steps made no sound, like a black cat slipping into the dark.
“Goodnight, Captain.”
And just like a cat, her final words ca only after she’d nearly walked away—yet suddenly turned back to say them, leaving her as elusive as ever.
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