Chapter 28: The Ever-Positive Angel Is in Charge of the Magical Girl's Mental Care

Machines Don’t Lie

[6 AM. Time to wake up.]

Cyclamen’s voice roused me as I sat up blankly in bed.

Why was it? I had woken up at the usual time, and yet my body felt unusually heavy.

But Cyclamen couldn't have made a mistake.

Machines don’t lie.

They operate according to fixed parameters and follow pre-programmed routines.

They’re built to function that way from the start.

So it can’t be Cyclamen’s fault.

Which means… right.

It’s all the coffee’s fault.

“Hey, Cyclamen… F-For today’s breakfast… no coffee, okay…?”

[Understood.]

Everything else after that proceeded as usual.

Cyclamen led me to the bathroom to wash up, then I had breakfast, and I got to work.

After work, I spent my free time doing what I always do—indulging in my only real hobby.

My hobbies were nothing special other than assembling robots, but so what?

That's all there is to do in the first place.

While briefly thinking about what to build, my mind wandered to the self-proclaimed angel.

It wasn’t anything serious.

The thought just popped up randomly.

Is the surface still safe when such a being casually comes and goes from my cradle?

“Um… hey, Cyclamen. Is everything okay on the surface?”

[Yes. Thanks to Soyu’s efforts, the citizens continue to live happy and safe lives today.]

Cyclamen answered my question with a consistent smile.

And yet, why did that smile feel so different from the angel’s?

‘A lie…?’

I couldn’t explain it.

It was just a gut feeling.

But no matter how much I thought about it, it couldn’t be a lie.

If the citizens weren’t safe, there’s no way they would leave me alone.

And machines don’t lie.

‘Yeah… that can’t be it.’

Still… maybe I should ask the angel when she comes, just in case…

“…”

No. Never mind.

Living people can lie without blinking.

Even if she calls herself an angel, I’ve been through too much to believe anyone completely.

So I’ll just… trust what I can.

I’ll believe only in what I made.

Only in my machines.

And so I passed the time waiting for the angel to arrive.

But strangely…

Hours went by, and there was still no sign of her.

‘Why is she so late…?’

She was late yesterday too, but today was even worse.

Not that we’d ever made plans or agreed on a time, but still, she usually showed up around the same hour.

And today, the angel was really late.

I was already tired and sluggish lately, so it was hard to stay awake for long…

“Cyclamen, do you… have any information on the angel or something?”

[There is no known official information on the self-proclaimed angel.]

“No, I mean, not anything special. Just like… where she is right now…?”

[The last recorded sighting of the self-proclaimed angel was in the center of City C.]

“When, uh, when was that?”

[Approximately two hours ago.]

Two hours ago?

So she hasn’t gone far away.

She is still within the city, but even so, she hasn’t come?

Does she have something urgent to do?

No, even so, being late for two days in a row is a bit much, isn't it?

‘…Did she already get bored of me?’

…No.

No way.

There’s no way it’s that fast.

Right…

It’s just that something came up, and she can’t make it.

That’s what I told myself, and kept waiting.

‘But… she’s an angel.’

Even if she calls herself one,

Even if she’s only a self-proclaimed angel—

An angel is still an angel.

She wouldn’t just leave someone waiting forever, right?

Thinking that, I struggled to keep my heavy eyelids from shutting.

I kept waiting, and waiting.

But no matter how long I waited and waited, the angel never come.

“…”

Why?

Why isn’t she coming?

Is it because I was a little annoyed?

Or is it because I’m just that insignificant?

Did I even get angry at her?

No, I was just tired. All I did was frown a little.

Is that really why she didn’t come?

What is she, Santa Claus? The kind that doesn’t bring gifts if you cry or frown?

That’s what an angel is? Someone who can’t stand annoying kids and leaves the moment you make a single mistake?

Or…

Is it my fault again?

Did I mess something up again?

Is it because I didn’t take care of my health properly?

Because I didn’t welcome her with a smile, even when I was dead tired?

I don’t know.

I don’t even know what I did wrong.

“…Hey, Cyclamen… Is this, uh, my fault…?”

I already knew what the answer would be, more or less.

But still… I had to ask.

No matter how long I waited, the kind of mentor who could tell me what I did wrong didn’t appear.

[The one who failed to keep the promise was the self-proclaimed angel. Soyu did nothing wrong.]

Of course she’d say that.

It was an obvious thing to say, but for some reason, I couldn't nod.

Excuses. Blaming others.

Those words swirled in my head, and I just hung it in silence.

As I stood there, unable to say anything, Cyclamen came over and placed her hand on my shoulder.

The cold, hard touch of metal momentarily snapped the drowsiness from my mind.

[Soyu, if the angel comes, I will wake you up. Why don’t you get some sleep for now?]

I blinked blankly at the voice that sounded clearer than usual.

“Ah… You’ll… wake me up…?”

[Yes. I will wake you up before the self-proclaimed angel comes.]

Can I really use Cyclamen like an alarm clock…?

…No, wait.

I already have been.

What’s there to hesitate about now?

“Then... Please… I’ll leave it to you. I’ll just… sleep for a bit… If the angel comes, please wake me…”

[Understood.]

Smiling faintly at her reassuring answer, I collapsed onto the bed and closed my eyes.

I believed in what Cyclamen said.

Believed that she’d wake me up if the angel came.

Believed in the one thing I could trust—

That machines don’t lie.

I went to sleep.

And when Cyclamen did wake me…

[Soyu, it’s morning.]

It wasn’t the angel.

It was Cyclamen—her tone strangely softer—as she greeted me.

“…Hey, Cyclamen. What about the angel…?”

In response to my question, Cyclamen only gave a bitter smile and shook her head.

So… the angel didn’t come after all.

“…I see.”

[It’s not your fault, Soyu. It's the angel who didn't keep the promise.]

—You’re not bad, Soyu. It couldn’t be helped.

Her words made my whole body shudder.

Déjà vu.

An indescribable sense of déjà vu, and an unfamiliar discomfort, rose through me like a cold wave.

I didn’t know where it came from—

But both sensations were too unpleasant.

[Your expression doesn’t look good, Soyu. Did you have a nightmare?]

Now that I think about it…

Even her tone was different from usual.

Before, I might’ve smiled and said, “Wow, you learned something new!”

But for some reason, I felt no joy at all.

Rather… a strange, almost sickening unease crept over me.

It's an unpleasant feeling that I’d never sensed before, as if she were trying too hard to imitate a human.

“Hey, Cyclamen. That way you’re talking…”

[Do you find it unpleasant to hear?]

She tilted her head with a gentle smile—a gesture that felt oddly familiar.

…No way.

Could it be that she learned it from watching the angel?

The moment that thought crossed my mind, my feelings grew tangled.

It wasn’t good.

It wasn’t bad.

It was literally complicated.

“…No, forget it.”

[If the tone bothers you, please don’t hesitate to let me know anytime.]

I nodded and went on with my usual day.

A bath.

Breakfast.

Work.

And in the remaining time, I did what I always did.

What I wanted to do.

Just like always.

Always, as always.

By the time I came to my senses, I was already sitting at my worktable, assembling something.

A rabbit robot.

A rabbit robot holding a weapon.

I stared blankly at the rabbit soldier on my desk.

Something had changed—

But I couldn’t tell what it is.

My mind was blank.

My head was hot, maybe from leftover caffeine, but my body felt strangely cold.

I just sat there, blankly watching the rabbit soldier.

I reached out and nudged it gently.

The rabbit soldier walked a few steps on two feet before—plop—collapsing forward.

Its center of gravity was off.

Of course it was.

A four-legged creature standing on two legs can never walk properly.

That’s just how nature works.

Clunk, clunk, clunk—

“….”

Perhaps because it had changed so much from its original form, it couldn’t even spin in place anymore.

It just twitched weakly, struggling like a broken toy.

Something, something is off.

Something is definitely wrong somewhere—

But I don’t know what it is.

My head throbbed as if it were going to split open, so I stumbled toward the bed.

I figured… if I took a nap and woke up, like I always did, like Cyclamen always told me to…

…Maybe something would change for the better.

“Just a little… I’ll sleep just a little…”

I collapsed onto the bed and passed out like a person on drugs.

Whether the angel comes, whether it's time to work, whether morning comes or not, whatever.

If anything happened, Cyclamen would wake me up.

That’s what I believed.

I closed my eyes.

And when I opened them again—

“….”

The same morning had arrived, just like any other day.

The room was filled with artificial light.

My body told me it was morning.

The hamster wheel of routine that had built up in my body for 6 years was telling me: this is the start of a new day.

But there was no one in the empty room.

Neither Cyclamen, who said she would wake me up in the morning, nor the angel.

I was alone.

And I had woken up far earlier—or was it far later?—than the time Cyclamen usually wakes me.

I don’t know.

My head is a mess.

My head, my head hurts so much.

“What… time is it now…?”

Is it morning?

Or night?

Dawn? Noon? Afternoon?

How many days have passed?

One day? Two days?

I don’t know.

And I had no way of finding out.

There’s no clock in this room.

There's only one being that can tell me the time.

I rubbed my face with both hands.

Everything is a mess.

‘Something’s wrong.’

Just as I was trying to shake off the drowsiness with a dry wash—

[Soyu.]

The door opened.

Cyclamen walked in.

She looked at me with her usual lifeless smile and said...

[It’s time for bed.]

...in that unnervingly polite voice—

The one she had copied from the angel.

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TL: I really got goosebumps translating these chapters ><

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