Is This How You Use a Self-Destruct Switch?!-Chapter 27 : Big Sister?

"You're the one who made the call, why are you asking who I am...?"
Tsuan frowned slightly.
The condescending scrutiny and undisguised hostility in the other party's voice made her instinctively uncomfortable, but she still tried to respond with a peaceful tone.
After all, her phone rarely rang... each time had a bit of commemorative significance.
The person on the other end obviously hadn't expected her to counter-question like this, falling into brief silence. In those few seconds of quiet, the background seemed to faintly carry a weak siren wail, making the atmosphere even more tense.
"This number..."
That cold female voice rang out again, speaking rapidly and urgently, carrying the oppressive feeling of interrogating a criminal.
"Where did you get it from? Who gave it to you? Or..."
Her voice suddenly lowered, each word like an ice-coated blade:
"Whose phone did you 'pick up'?"
Her crimson pupils suddenly contracted. The implication in the other party's words was like steel needles, viciously stabbing into Tsuan's body... that person was suspecting this number came from illegitimate sources... even... accusing her of theft!
This groundless and evidenceless accusation made Tsuan instinctively glance at Reiko beside her.
Although the student council president couldn't hear the specific content, she keenly caught the malicious intent from Tsuan's suddenly tense body and cold expression.
Those violet eyes locked onto her, filled with worry and silent inquiry.
Then she moved close to Tsuan's side, slightly tilting her head against the phone case. While feeling Tsuan's body temperature, she listened to the other party's questioning.
The black-haired girl immediately turned her head away, avoiding Reiko's gaze, refocusing all her attention on the cold receiver.
"Pick up?"
She repeated this word, her voice calm without a trace of ripple, but her fingers gripping the phone turned white from the force.
"I didn't pick it up."
Brief and clear, carrying undeniable certainty.
"Then who are you?!"
The other party's voice suddenly rose, filled with fury from being contradicted and deeper suspicion.
"Don't play tricks! Answer me immediately! Where is the owner of this phone now? What's your relationship with him?"
A barrage of aggressive questions crashed down like hail. Tsuan pressed her lips tightly. The other party's unreasonable arrogance and deep-rooted suspicion scraped at her heart like sandpaper, irritation churning in her chest.
She hated this feeling of being interrogated like a criminal.
"Mine."
Tsuan clearly uttered two words, her voice several degrees colder than before, carrying an inviolable meaning. She paused, seeming to gather strength, then declared word by word with decisive firmness:
"This number is mine. Always has been mine."
At least, in all the memories she possessed, this number had never changed.
"Then who are you?"
The question seemed trapped in an endless loop. But this time, the loop was abruptly severed by Reiko.
The silver-haired girl, with undeniable authority, snatched the phone from Tsuan's ear. Without even looking at the screen, she directly placed the receiver to her lips, issuing a warning to that hostile stranger on the other end.
"You don't even know who she is, so why are you making this call?"
She gave the other party no chance to react or explain, her voice like an ice-coated blade, carrying long-suppressed fury pouring out.
"Who gave you the right to speak to her in that tone of interrogating a criminal?"
Reiko knew full well—this absurd situation was entirely because of Tsuan's 'disappearance'! The other party had forgotten Tsuan's existence, yet remembered this number today and called.
This meant they were formerly acquainted, but so what?
This was absolutely no reason for the other party to wantonly hurt Tsuan-chan!
At this moment, Reiko only wanted to smash all the... helplessness toward that eerie phenomenon and anger over Tsuan's mistreatment onto this unlucky person who had hit the muzzle of her gun.
She took a deep breath, straightened her spine. The student council president's dignity perfectly merged with the burning fury of the moment.
Her voice clearly penetrated the receiver, each word resounding with undeniable declaration:
"I am the student council president of Forest Moon Girls' High School—Enoki Reiko!"
She even raised her volume slightly, carrying a nearly provocative coldness.
"If you have any problems, feel free to come find me!"
The other end maintained suffocating silence, as if truly intimidated by Reiko's presence.
However, reality was quite different...
Magical Girl Azure Star, also known as Hoshino Amane, was currently standing in the somewhat crowded reception area of the police station, embarrassedly bowing and apologizing to a fishing monster carrying a fishing rod, soaking wet and covered in water plants... with a fish head for a brain.
"I'm really sorry! Senior... she didn't mean it! That money, we'll definitely find a way to compensate..."
The fishing monster was currently pitifully hugging its empty fishing basket, its voice heavy with nasal tones.
"Wuu... I fished all day and didn't catch a single fish! Just broken bottles, plastic bags... finally cleaned up the riverway, hoping to use that reward money to buy new bait..."
Its eyes were full of fear, timidly 'glaring' at the black-haired girl still on the phone in the distance.
"But then that magical girl robbed it!"
And the magical girl being accused—that stranger who had called Tsuan—was currently gripping her phone with white knuckles, her cheeks flushed red with anger.
She was rapidly moving her lips at the receiver, her expression fierce, obviously outputting a series of extremely intense words.
But strangely, except for her slightly trembling shoulders from excitement and the bulging veins on her forehead, no one in the entire police station could hear any sound from her.
Those curses, questions, and even profanity that should have been loud were completely filtered and silenced by some invisible barrier.
Only the number belonging to Tsuan that she had just dialed continued flashing silently on her phone screen. While Reiko's angry warning and self-introduction from the other end... echoed clearly in this magical girl's earpiece.
This undoubtedly added fuel to fire, making her even more furious as she madly ranted at the air.
But ultimately everything would become inaudible "beep——"
Hoshino Amane secretly glanced at her senior's silently raging back, performing like a mime, then looked at the still-sobbing fishing monster beside her and the police officer handling the case, feeling even more overwhelmed.
"Enoki Reiko, right... F*** you, I'll F*** your
,
you F***
.
"
The black-haired girl, immersed in her own world and unable to extricate herself, had her phone snatched away by the exasperated Amane, who hung up, ending this farce.
Anyway, this senior was a repeat offender. The police officer was fed up with her but helpless. After Amane paid the compensation from her own pocket and apologized repeatedly, the police station finally let them both go.
Just after stepping out of the police station, Amane couldn't help but grab her senior's sleeve, her brow furrowed, her voice full of exhaustion and confusion:
"Senior! Why do you keep doing this? Those monsters... many of them haven't done anything particularly bad, so why chase and beat them, and rob their things?"
She looked at her senior's clothes stained with dust and unknown substances, completely unable to understand.
The questioned girl suddenly turned around. That face extremely similar to Tsuan's now rarely showed pure incomprehension.
She blinked, seeming to seriously consider Amane's question, then after a few seconds answered in a tone that confused even herself:
"Because they're monsters."
She tilted her head, her eyes somewhat vacant.
"But didn't senior promise me and the other seniors that you wouldn't attack monsters randomly?!"
The black-haired girl nodded proudly.
"That's right! Otherwise I would have *** their *** off and then *** them and ***... how could I have only robbed that little money?"
The more she spoke, the more it seemed reasonable to her, her voice getting louder, as if convincing herself.
"Anyway, they're not human, what use are they in this society? Wouldn't it be better to just hide in sewers and get completely *** by us?"
Amane had no idea what she was talking about, only vaguely sensing that her senior harbored serious instinctive disgust toward all monsters, and would even, if possible, without hesitation...
Seriously injure monsters... this, this isn't allowed!
"Senior?!"
Amane wanted to ask more, but saw the other party had already impatiently shaken off her hand, and with a flicker, directly used magic to teleport and disappear before her eyes.
"Again!"
Amane stamped her foot in frustration, once again helplessly activating tracking magic. The magic threads extended out, finally leading her to a brightly lit convenience store at the street corner.
Through the convenience store's glass window, Amane saw her senior standing at the checkout counter, holding two cans of beer, arguing with the clerk with obvious displeasure.
The young clerk pointed at the ID she handed over, firmly shaking his head.
"Miss, the birth date on your ID shows you're still a minor. We can't sell alcohol to you."
"Huh?!"
The senior's voice came through the glass, full of incredulous anger.
"What kind of joke is this! That date is definitely wrong! I told you I'm an adult! I've drunk countless times!"
She irritably grabbed her hair, seeming completely unable to understand this simple refusal.
"Isn't it enough to just say 'I'm a magical girl'..."
The last sentence was almost an irritated mumble, so quiet that even the nearby clerk didn't hear it clearly.
The black-haired girl, pulled away by Amane, reluctantly looked back at the beer on the shelves. As the store door closed, this last bit of hope was completely severed.
Whatever, not being able to drink doesn't matter... anyway, everything in this damn place is different from her memories!
She irritably tugged hard at her somewhat disheveled long hair. The slight stinging sensation from her hair roots helped her chaotic thoughts barely clear up a bit.
That phone number...
She forcefully closed her eyes, trying to capture a trace in her chaotic memories.
The result was nothing—complete blankness. She couldn't remember who this number belonged to, didn't even remember why she had saved it, much less remember what the person who should have answered looked like or what their name was.
But.
A more primitive, stronger impulse, like an instinct branded into her bone marrow, kept surging from the depths of her heart.
That person was important.
That person... was very important!
This recognition had no reason, no traceable source, yet was as real as a heartbeat, as natural as breathing.
It overcame the frustration of failing to buy alcohol, overcame the resentment of being scolded by police, even overcame the sense of incompatibility with this place.
I have to find her.
The black-haired girl looked up at the faint galaxy in the sky.
"It's getting late... Tsuan-chan, Megumi-chan, and Reiko-san should head home first?"
Amber held up her phone, jumping and waving at the three of them, seeming to have inexhaustible energy.
"Then we'll meet at the movie theater tomorrow afternoon~"
Megumi naturally took Tsuan's left hand, somewhat worriedly adding to Amber:
"Amber must rest early today! Otherwise tomorrow..."
Before she could finish, Amber, who had absorbed who knows how much magical power from Tsuan earlier, immediately nodded in agreement, interrupting her casting preparation.
Really...
Megumi and Reiko each took one of Tsuan's hands. They tacitly decided to take Megumi home first.
Only... the abnormally silent Tsuan and Reiko, who didn't know what she was thinking, together formed a wall of silence that made the blue-haired girl, unable to bear this atmosphere, declare it unbeatable.
"Hey, I say..."
Her lively voice became somewhat pitiful, trying to start a conversation.
"Tsuan-chan and Reiko-san should also rest well."
Tsuan remained silent. Reiko absent-mindedly added that she would too, then continued contemplating, completely crushing Megumi's expectations.
"We'll part ways here. Thank you... Megumi."
Near Tsuan's house, Reiko noticed Megumi's low spirits and proactively dropped the "san" suffix, making their relationship slightly more familiar.
As a reward for cheering Megumi up.
Also...
"Eh? Tsuan-chan lives here?!"
The voice that had become lively again from her initiative to close the distance carried a hint of confusion... as if she had no idea where Megumi lived.
"Megumi doesn't know where Tsuan-chan lives, so why were you leading the way?"
Good thing this girl didn't lead us to some other place...?!
"It's fine, anyway Reiko would help me and Tsuan-chan~ Eh?"
Megumi looked at the girl who had directly collapsed into Reiko's arms and fallen into deep sleep, couldn't help but exclaim. Seeing her slender body slightly tilting from being pulled, she finally released her left hand.
Why did Tsuan-chan... lean in that direction...
"Reiko and Tsuan-chan have such a good relationship~"
Ah, indeed... quite good?
Reiko was already somewhat shy from Tsuan suddenly burrowing into her arms, and being pointed out by Megumi in this tone...
The silver-haired girl's cheeks turned red. She hurriedly said goodbye and picked up Tsuan, who hadn't slept all night and had large amounts of magical power drained, quickly walking toward her residence.
The problem she had just been thinking about—how to prevent Tsuan from silently disappearing—was instantly thrown to the back of her mind.