Is This How You Use a Self-Destruct Switch?!-Chapter 14 : Reiko Understood Everything

Tsuan's footsteps were unusually hurried. To Reiko, it seemed like she was afraid... whether coming late would make her good friend angry.
So she quickly replaced the trace of disdain for the money-grubbing shrine maiden on her face with a kind smile for her good friend.
The door lock made a turning sound, and the door opened outward to show her the interior space.
"Reiko~ Welcome home!"
The somewhat shiny sweat beads on Tsuan's neck didn't attract her friend's attention. After placing the shampoo, toothbrush, and towel in the bathroom, Reiko collapsed on the sofa, forcing herself to suppress the urge to yawn so as not to worry Tsuan.
Her silver hair was somewhat matted, seemingly from having just run... the sweat-dampened clothes gradually transmitted a cold, sticky sensation through her skin...
Her slightly closed purple eyes looked toward the black-haired girl sitting restlessly beside her.
"Tsuan?"
Tsuan was still thinking about how to distract Reiko so she could continue hiding things. Caught off guard and already feeling guilty, she couldn't help but shrink her neck.
"I... I'm here! Reiko~? What's the matter?"
A bit strange...
But she couldn't worry about that now.
"I need to borrow the bathroom first... is that convenient?"
The bathroom...?
"Convenient! Very convenient! Please use it as you like, Reiko. No matter how many hours you want to use it, it's all fine~"
Reiko instinctively sensed something off from Tsuan's excessive enthusiasm, but she still gave up on thinking deeply about it.
After all, how could Tsuan harm her?
She reached out and touched Tsuan's head.
Tsuan is so cute, so much better than that tomato magical girl.
"Then, excuse me~"
Reiko opened the bathroom door, and Tsuan went to find a set of her own clean clothes. Fortunately, although their figures didn't differ much... at most it would just make Reiko feel a bit tight in the chest.
The silver-haired girl stood under the showerhead, feeling hot water gradually flow over her skin, washing away the exhaustion covering her body and mind. She couldn't help but stretch contentedly, moving her waist that had become stiff from sitting for more than ten minutes at the place across the way.
Mm...
Foam covered her entire body's fair skin. Reiko completely buried her head in the hot water, seeking that trace of warmth and relaxation... and Tsuan's matters.
Although somewhat exhausted, she still wanted to help this fool live well.
That meant she couldn't escape from that disappeared guardian...
Reiko cupped a handful of hot water.
Who was that girl? Tsuan's mother? But she looked very young... age-wise... should be Tsuan's sister.
So what was Tsuan's sister doing three years ago? And why did Tsuan's sister leave her?
Questions emerged one after another, but Reiko didn't have the ability to find answers for them.
What she could do now was select the most important question for the present from among these questions—where is Tsuan's sister now?
She gently washed her wrists.
If Tsuan no longer had any relatives, what should she do?
The companionship of family... is incomparable to friends... Tsuan.
The pattering sound of water gradually became distant. Reiko looked at the glass door that had developed a layer of white fog due to the indoor heat and couldn't help but reach out to slide gently on it, drawing some meaningless patterns.
Circles, squares, triangles...
Whatever was easy to draw, she drew, since for her this was just entertainment.
Mm...
First draw a big circle, then draw two small circles on top... then a line... a triangle for a nose...
A sound of metal colliding with the floor pulled her out of her creative space.
Maybe something fell to the ground?
The girl who had wanted to continue bathing heard Tsuan's cry of pain. Worry spread like wildfire to Reiko's heart in an instant. Too late to prepare properly, she wrapped herself in a bath towel, opened the bathroom door, and walked barefoot quickly toward the kitchen that was still continuously emitting sounds.
"Tsuan? What happened... you? What's wrong with you?!"
The black-haired girl was collapsed under the dining table, one hand supporting herself on the floor, the other holding her head, with her back to Reiko so she couldn't see her expression at all.
But none of this was enough to make Reiko react like this.
What really made her voice tremble and almost unable to stand steady was the tomato soup can she had used for cooking that still had half remaining—more precisely, the can that was still rolling on the ground, and the viscous red liquid staining every strand of Tsuan's black hair.
"Are you okay?!"
The black-haired girl, still thinking about how to handle the tomato soup on her body, felt herself being embraced in a warm but wet hug.
Her attempt to answer that she was fine was blocked by Reiko covering her mouth.
The familiar tomato fragrance that made Reiko's whole body tremble slightly, combined with this scene of red all over the floor, successfully made her cover her mouth.
The scene she had worked so hard to forget appeared before her eyes once again, and so... vividly?
"Reiko? I'm fine, you know? I can clean this up myself~ No need to trouble..."
No need to trouble...
Tsuan was directly pulled up from the ground by the dark-faced Reiko and forcibly brought into the bathroom without any explanation.
"Take off all your clothes and put them outside to be cleaned later!"
Reiko could only barely hide the fact that her calves were trembling by acting strong, but fortunately Tsuan didn't notice these things.
She undressed without any inhibition in front of her friend, threw the clothes into the plastic basin for dirty laundry, and was pushed under the showerhead by Reiko.
Seemingly aware that her behavior was a bit forceful, the silver-haired girl tried to suppress her trembling voice and asked in a calm tone:
"How could you be so careless?"
If seeing that scene at first glance made Reiko fearful because it reminded her of that bastard magical girl, then after she realized that what was on Tsuan was just tomato soup...
Her fear turned to anger—unclear, inexplicable anger, just like her action of directly embracing Tsuan tightly—unclear, inexplicable.
"Do you know how dangerous can edges are? What if your carelessness caused them to hurt you?"
Tsuan obediently curled up in Reiko's embrace, gently nodding in response.
"If you get cut, you must first clean the wound and then go to the hospital, understand?"
No, saying it like this won't work...
Reiko buried her head in Tsuan's neck, inhaling Tsuan's hair fragrance mixed with plant aroma.
When someone feels fear, a warm, soft embrace can always provide enough comfort.
Especially an embrace that's not only cute to look at, but also fragrant and soft...
Mm...
Her trembling calves gradually returned to calm. The sense of security from holding Tsuan in her arms dispelled the gloom shrouding the depths of her memory.
And... holding Tsuan really feels so comfortable...
Tsuan heard the breathing by her ear gradually become relaxed, holding back...
"Reiko...?"
The silver-haired girl's closed eyelashes trembled slightly, then opened a small crack.
"Too tight... a bit... can't breathe..."
The arms around Tsuan's neck suddenly contracted, then quickly released her.
"Sorry! I, I..."
Reiko bit her lower lip, looking at Tsuan in front of her who, although breathing painfully, was still trying to smile at her...
At this point, saying something like "I was actually holding you because I was scared" was already impossible to say.
"Let me help you clean your body first, okay?"
Skipping the part that needed explanation and directly doing what originally needed to be done—maybe this counted as being cunning?
But... whether cunning or shy.
Her fingertips traced over Tsuan's delicate collarbone, applying slight pressure to wipe away the remaining stickiness, returning the fair skin stained by crimson to its original color.
Mm... fortunately, no wounds appeared. Otherwise...
"If..."
Tsuan tilted her head slightly, her beautiful clear red eyes looking toward Reiko whose tone had suddenly changed.
"If Tsuan gets hurt at any time, please be sure to immediately..."
Go to the hospital.
But when the words reached her lips, they once again became...
"Contact me immediately."
Reiko gently swallowed to relieve her nervous mood. This kind of confession-like statement not only made her feel ashamed but also made her worry about Tsuan's reaction.
The two girls embraced closely, feeling each other's body temperature. The sound of water and faint heartbeats temporarily occupied this bathroom and the two girls who remained silent.
Indeed... am I still being too inattentive to distance?
In a blind spot where Tsuan couldn't see, Reiko self-mockingly curved her lips, gently twisted a strand of long hair, and placed it in her palm to gradually wash away the stains on it.
Because she wanted to care for Tsuan too much, she ended up saying such things... it must be very troubling for her...
"Tsuan, I'm sor..."
"I'm sorry! Reiko!"
Both spoke almost simultaneously.
The more cunning silver-haired girl patted Tsuan's head, indicating she should speak first.
The fool who had never suspected her friend turned her head to look seriously at her best friend.
"I don't have Reiko's contact information, so... so I can't do it at all..."
Don't have... contact information...?
"Huh?"
So she was silent because of something like this?
Tsuan, you fool...
"I'll exchange Line with Tsuan later. For now, let's finish cleaning your body, okay?"
Because she had turned her head, Tsuan and Reiko's noses lightly touched.
"Okay~"
Really... fool.
The showerhead was aimed at the head covered with soup, then Reiko adjusted the water flow to maximum.
She thought this would quickly wash away the sticky tomato soup clinging to Tsuan's hair, but she hadn't considered that this soup was originally cooking ingredient meant to be added to hot water, so...
The white tiles were constantly polluted by the flowing waves of bright red liquid. The slightly raised patterns on the tiles, under this rendering, looked like...
Reiko shook the showerhead up and down, controlling her gaze to avoid looking at the floor.
Feeling like vomiting again.
But no, Tsuan is here.
Reiko's free palm explored between Tsuan's hair strands, continuously gently scratching her scalp. This not only accelerated the washing speed but also made her comfortably close her eyes.
"Reiko..."
The smell of tomatoes permeated the bathroom. Reiko was certain that the tomatoes she had seen today were almost exceeding the total amount of tomatoes she had seen in this entire year.
"What is it?"
The black hair strands gradually revealed their original luster. Reiko blinked with some relief.
"Thank you..."
She raised her head, looking at her own reflection in the purple eyes.
"Thank you for seeing me!"
Fool.
"No need to thank me. Tsuan who can finally be seen by me..."
Reiko's somewhat dismissive answer made Tsuan feel some dissatisfaction. She puffed up her cheeks and stared up at Reiko's eyes.
Completely unaware that this action, combined with the hand washing her long hair on top of her head... from a certain angle looked exactly like she was being grabbed by the head by Reiko.
Very unfortunately, Reiko was positioned at this mysterious angle.
At first, the executive miss only felt this scene had a chilling familiarity to her.
So familiar that she couldn't help but keep recalling... when exactly this scene had occurred.
Was it some childhood dream, or some period of childhood memory?
"Alright, alright, I understand~"
When exactly had she had such a dream? It was so hard to guess...??!
The showerhead slipped from her palm and, with the help of the water pipe, traced an arc and crashed hard into the wall. The sound echoing in the small bathroom passed through her eardrums repeatedly but received no response.
She finally knew why she always had that vague feeling that Tsuan looked familiar.
The girl who had helped Tsuan wash her hair clean changed into Tsuan's clothes and, after barely comforting Tsuan that she wasn't feeling unwell, followed behind Tsuan into the bedroom that had been "cleaned up with absolutely no contraband."
"Tsuan..."
The black-haired girl, thinking her friend was angry because she hadn't hidden something well, instinctively stood at attention.
But she only heard a somewhat comical question.
"Are you a magical girl?"
I...
Tsuan wanted to nod and admit it, because she thought this was something glorious.
But Tsuan didn't want to lose her Reiko because of this.
"I..."
Should I lie?
Tsuan looked down at her feet. The guilt of deceiving her friend and the fear of losing her friend entangled her heart that wasn't very strong to begin with.
"I..."
Reiko cupped her cheeks and carefully examined her facial features.
"Very cute."
This was one necessary conclusion. Besides that, there was also...
Reiko forced herself to endure the nausea and gradually recall the scene of "making eye contact" with that magical girl, struggling to find commonalities between that head in her hands and Tsuan.
"It's okay, I know you're not a magical girl..."
Reiko gently pinched her wonderfully soft cheek.
How could a magical girl possibly live like this? They probably live in praise all the time.
"Also..."
Reiko forced herself to endure the churning feeling in her stomach to confirm that Tsuan's face had ninety-nine percent similarity to that magical girl.
And the fundamental reason she was willing to make her face pale and force herself not to vomit by biting her lower lip...
Was precisely to confirm this matter.
"..."
Reiko drank two mouthfuls of water to suppress the liquid churning in her throat.
Found it.
Everything made sense now.
Being a magical girl really could turn people into this ghostly state.
How disgusting.
She turned her head away and pointed Tsuan toward the living room. Then, when she went out, she hugged the trash can and vomited all the food churning in her stomach into it.