A Magical Girl Retires

the first battle a magical girl must fight is the fight to save herself.

The reason magical girls exist is because they needed their power the most. In other words, before a magical girl awakens her powers, she’s the weakest person in the world.

When is the proper age to shed the moniker 'girl'? Do you stop being one with your first period? Are you an adult once you grow taller than 160 centimeters? When lots of adults don't reach that height anyway? And is it not true that all of our girlhoods are different, not just in terms of physical growth, but in the growth of our hearts and minds?

Staying alive costs money . . . It took me way too long to realize this simple truth.

What did it mean to be nice and capable? Did it mean I couldn’t say no to things?

The person I loved and respected the most in the world called me a genius; therefore, I was a genius.

It was embarrassing, to say the least, that my heart’s truest form was . . . a credit card.

The climate has always been cruel; we’d be naive to expect mercy from something that doesn’t think or feel in the first place.

She had a point. I mean, when did my own girlhood begin and end, exactly? I couldn't quite circle a lasso around it, but I knew, at least, when it had ended. Three years ago, when Grandfather died.

We do not have the power to turn back time, to change the past. But we have the power to change the future. We have the power, in big ways and small, to enact justice, which in turn means every single one of us is capable of becoming a magical girl.

I’m probably going to die without anyone knowing. That’s my hope and also what’s probably going to happen. It’s the one wish in my life that I honestly feel has any chance of coming true.

I think I’ve worked hard enough at life—I wasn’t given much, but I tried my best not to waste any of it, at least. But even as I’ve come this far on my own two feet, I can’t help but feel other people have been pushing me along all the way.

The world is full of people who are worse off than ourselves—so when someone asks for help, you have to help them as much as you can. That's building virtue.

A desperate hope would present a magic girl with a path toward awakening her powers. In an act of balance, the universe conferred power on those who had the least, and that was why magical girls existed.

Doesn’t everyone feel like this at that age?

What’s the best way to die that would create the least amount of annoyance for everyone else?

Staying alive costs money... it took me way too long to realize this simple truth.

This wasn’t a manhwa series; not every magical girl in existence could be good. Doling out love and hope, goodness, and so on; fighting against aliens or evil beings from another world; we were doing none of those things. We were just going through life, getting hurt in body and soul like everyone else. The only thing we had in common with those cartoons was that we couldn’t explain our powers in a scientific way; unfortunately, our world was infinitely messier…

You don't have to look like a girl on the outside to become aware of your gift, and it's not like we don't age after we come into our calling.

I don't think I had many worries when I had a job.

If I were truly unhappy, I would've thought up ways to die much earlier than that.

I think I've worked hard enough at life—I wasn't given much, but I tried my best not to waste any of it, at least. But even as I've come this far on my own two feet, I can't help but feel other people have been pushing me along all the way.

Whereas I may have had the stupidest power awakening in the history of magical girls. I can't do anything right; I don't even know what I'm capable of! Not just as a magical girl but as a person in general.

Wow, I thought, she really has no fear or respect. I mean, the chairperson is an elder, after all... On the one hand, I knew what Mirae was saying wasn't right, but on the other hand, all things considered, I got a strong sense she had been more than respectful about her plan to end humanity. If you really thought about it.

This wasn't a manwha series; not every magical girl in existence could be good.

If I could become a magical girl at twenty-nine, then surely it was never too late to become a watchmaker.

Grandfather, I just love watches. When I look at them, I just... It's like they're a whole universe. The universe itself. Even the smallest watch.

Wait a minute, did you say apocalypse? Like there’s going to be some demon or alien coming to destroy us? Or a huge war? And magical girls already know about this?” “No, everyone knows about it. Absolutely everyone. The real crisis, the real apocalypse, is climate change.

Magical Girl of Time...transform!" "A comma instead of an ellipsis this time!" "Magical Girl of Time, transform!" A light surrounded my talisman and then...stopped. "Look, it's happening! You must be some kind of genius! We might even finish this today!