And so, after somehow safely finishing Sophia's three-party interview.
I exited the classroom with her and rejoined the group that had been waiting for us.
Of course, before that, I had to endure a barrage of questions from Sophia.
"Haah... why did you do something like this?"
"Just know that I had a client."
If I rashly brought up Ravi's name here, I'd only earn needless suspicion. She didn't seem particularly resentful toward me, so I decided to brush it off.
"More than that, I'm more surprised you got Father's permission. He's not someone who cares much about me..."
"I wonder about that."
Even with an introduction from Ravi, who had been a childhood friend since youth, he bit onto my proposal more readily than I'd expected.
Rather, having neglected his daughter for so long, he'd even gone so far as to ask me instead to please participate in the interview if I had the time, so I figured he must be a good parent.
As Amber had said before, the family wasn't particularly strict either.
'Well, that's not what's important right now.'
While conducting the interview, I'd been able to gather all sorts of information about Sophia.
Her school life, relationships with friends, grades, future path, and so on.
As expected, she was an honor student with outstanding grades and seemed to have a decent number of friends, but the problem lay in her future plans.
"Setting that aside, how is it that you're already a second-year and your future aspirations are undecided?"
"Um, I was going to think about it slowly later..."
Sophia began rambling excuses that wouldn't work.
For someone so diligent, it seemed she'd given no thought whatsoever to her own career path.
'She does have her magical girl duties, so I'm not really in a position to scold her too harshly, but...'
She couldn't just stay unemployed forever after retiring.
"Isn't there anything you want to do? You could even become a full-time housewife at this rate."
"Saying that is pointless when I don't have anyone to marry."
An ordinary student would need to get a job after graduation to earn money.
It would be best if it suited one's aptitude; if not, one would have to compromise and find fulfillment in one's own way.
But Sophia's case was different. Caught up in something absurd, she was unable to think about her own future at all.
The greatest worry weighing on her was none other than her family.
Normally, the proper thing would be to consult a friend or another adult, but for some reason, Sophia hadn't done so.
Hadn't Ravi said that no matter how many times she asked, Sophia had feigned ignorance and changed the subject?
'As I thought, she must not want to tell anyone.'
Rather, it was impressive that she'd endured it alone after going through something like that.
However, if she'd refused to open up even to her closest best friend, she would need to overcome this herself here.
Because if she kept it locked inside her heart, it would transform into an irreversible, massive cancer.
"If there's even the slightest thing you want to say, you have to do it right away. After something happens, it'll be too late."
"......."
Without any warning, I was hit by a truck and dropped into another world.
It was already in the past, so there was no use regretting it, but leaving behind what I'd wanted to do most was bound to leave lingering attachments.
Perhaps the only thing I could do was leave advice for someone in a similar situation.
Sophia likely had words she needed to convey to her mother. Turning away wouldn't make the wounds disappear.
"...I don't really know."
"That's enough for now. I'm not telling you to decide anything right this instant."
In the end, the girl seemed uncomfortable staying with me and fled to the other girls, only to be surrounded by Dia and Amber and bombarded with questions.
"Sophia, how did Jade end up as your guardian!"
"I'm curious about that too!"
"No, I don't really know either..."
But I had my own crisis to get through, so—
"When you came here, I wondered what scheme you were up to; to think you'd taken on something like being Magical Girl Sapphire's representative."
"Lady Lapis."
As soon as I sent Sophia off, the boss of the Silver Group spoke to me in a scolding tone.
'As expected, it seems she found out. It's not surprising since I called her here in the first place.'
"You're basically free to do whatever you want, but you could at least contact me at times like this. My heart drops every time."
"Hah..."
For helping an enemy, her reaction was more generous than I'd expected.
It wasn't something that would directly lead to the Silver Group's defeat, but there was no doubt that what I'd done was an act for Sophia's sake.
I'd thought I might at least get slapped in the face...
'Come to think of it, has this lady ever gotten angry?'
I'm sure her subordinate had committed an absurd mistake before, but she didn't seem to raise her voice then either.
Was she someone who rarely got angry by nature? Or perhaps she had low blood pressure.
"Well, I'll be grateful that you let me know about the three-party interview. That kid didn't breathe a word to me."
"She probably made that unnecessary consideration on her own."
"It really was unnecessary. What does she take her one and only older sister for."
With both parents away on overseas business, Lapis was the only one who could attend the interview as her sister.
But Amber, perhaps preoccupied with Silver Group matters, hadn't leaned on her own boss.
'Worrying needlessly despite not being bright.'
I couldn't blame her. It just meant she was good-natured.
As we were gossiping like that, the person in question approached and spoke to us before I knew it.
"Um, Boss?"
"Sigh... I told you to just call me sister outside. What if you get caught doing that."
"Ah, is that so. The mood seemed so serious..."
Amber laughed awkwardly and began scratching her head.
The fact that the two were sisters was basically kept hidden, since if the Silver Group employees found out, they'd surely chatter about nepotism and whatnot.
As far as I knew, only the other executives, Chris and Citrine, and myself knew that fact.
"More importantly, everyone's going out for an afterparty. Dia-chan is saying we should all go to karaoke together."
"Afterparty?"
When I glanced to the side, Dia was grinning energetically and waving at us.
"...Don't tell me I have to go too?"
"Of course you have to go! You came all the way here on purpose!"
Could I really have fun squeezed in between schoolgirls?
Fortunately, President Brilliant, Dia's father, seemed to have stepped out because he had business to attend to.
'Today should be fine. I don't have anything waiting for me at home anyway.'
But I couldn't go right now. The three-party interview wasn't over yet.
"Wait a bit. Ravi is still—"
"Now, for the last one... Ravi! Come in."
Before I could even finish, the homeroom teacher's voice came from the classroom, sounding somewhat weary.
She'd dealt with dozens of students and parents, so she must have been exhausted in many ways.
"Thank you for today, Jade! See you next time!"
Just as everyone was about to leave for the afterparty, Ravi stood alone in front of the classroom and left those words.
"What nonsense. You need to get counseled too."
"...Huh?"
Making an incredulous expression, I grabbed Ravi's hand and opened the classroom door once more.
Creak—
She looked at me with an expression she'd never shown before, as if truly surprised.
There was no one around who seemed to be Ravi's guardian. She must have been planning to attend the three-party interview alone like Sophia.
"Your friend asked me for help, yet you're trying to decline?"
The ship had already sailed. I might as well see it through to the end since I was at it.
"No, I can do it alone— Ah, wait...!"
Forcing the resisting girl along, I faced the homeroom teacher I'd seen earlier again.
"What, Ravi was still left? Shall we wait a little longer?"
"Looks like it~ Ah, Sister, do you want to go to karaoke too?"
"...Why are you dragging me into this."
In the end, Ravi, who finished the interview after that, joined as well, and everyone enjoyed the afterparty together.
Let's take the fact that Lapis's singing skills were catastrophic to the grave.
***
After finishing the afterparty and returning home, Sophia approached the door to her mother's room, which she hadn't entered in a long time.
Until now, she'd left all interactions to the butler or maid, but for some reason, today alone, she wanted to deliver her greetings in person.
"......."
However, despite steeling herself sufficiently, Sophia's hand couldn't move rashly.
All she needed to do was say a brief "I'm back" to the person beyond this door, yet that simple act required tremendous strength—
"Hoo."
Humans attempt to avoid conflicts beyond their capacity to endure through some kind of defense mechanism.
They may vent stress elsewhere to suppress anger, or throw jokes at the other person to block aggressive impulses.
In her case, it was avoiding facing her mother as much as possible despite living in the same house. That was the greatest defense mechanism Sophia was capable of.
"...Shall I go."
Today had been a rare, enjoyable day for Sophia. She'd been able to spend a rowdy time without even a moment to be bored.
Though somewhat forceful, the words and actions Jade had shown her instilled a new way of thinking.
The advice that if there was something she wanted to say, she should say it before something happened.
Indeed, if she kept refusing to talk and putting it off like this, it would become irreversible. Even now, her mother's illness was gradually worsening.
Then she had to reach out here. For her family, and for herself.
Clunk—
Sophia gathered her courage, opened the door, and faced the person beyond it.