Chapter 41

“Akari, are you okay? Akari…!”

“Ugh, cough, cough, cough!!”

I could feel despair. The warm despair of a magical girl.

As I spat out the blood stuck in my throat at Emerald’s cry, Emerald wiped my cheek with a pale face.

Her hand, it’s hot.

Maybe because my body temperature was low, the magical girl’s uniquely warm hand felt a bit too hot.

[It seems like there are no major injuries. There’s a possibility of internal damage, but…]

“I’m sorry. I thought that place would be safe from monsters…”

Looking at her expression, it felt like she might die soon.

Emerald’s face, buried in guilt, was quite a sight, but I was a bit worried she might make an extreme choice.

No, my despair generator!

Grip—

“You came to save me…”

“…Ah.”

Grabbing Emerald’s sleeve, I weakly pulled it. Then, with a voice that kept breaking, I finished.

Seeing me like that, Emerald’s eyes momentarily lost focus.

Huh, what? Did I do something wrong?

Emerald, with the highlights in her pupils gone in the dark, wasn’t a sight to be taken lightly.

Whoosh—

“Ah, Akari… thank you, thank you… sob… haa…”

But contrary to my worries, soon after, the light returned to Emerald’s eyes.

And then, tears poured out like a waterfall from her round eyes.

‘What, what’s this? Why is she like this?’

When she suddenly wanted to be friends after hating me, I honestly thought she was teasing me.

But seeing her cry like this, it’s kind of embarrassing.

‘At least it seems like I haven’t been found out, so that’s a relief…’

If I had activated the Despair Circuit without knowing Emerald was coming—

Ugh, just imagining it is terrifying.

Thinking that the magic cannon aimed at Curs could have been directed at me made my body tremble.

Anyway, is this the end of the underground exploration? It was fun, but a bit disappointing.

[Let’s go back for now, Emerald. This matter seems too difficult for us to handle alone.]

“…Alright, May.”

Emerald carefully lifted me up.

This kind of treatment is new to me, so it feels strange.

It’s also a bit funny to be treated like a patient when there’s nothing wrong with me.

“Let’s go back, Akari.”

Emerald smiles softly at me.

Yeah, let’s go back. Going back is good, but can you add a bit of hope to that?

As I cough out at the hope piercing my skin, Emerald’s arm turns red.

“…! Just wait a bit, Akari! I’ll take you to the hospital right away!”

“…Cough.”

Hospital, huh? That’s good. There won’t be any Curs there now.

So, I’ll have to stay in the hospital for a while and suck up the humans’ despair…

Wait, I feel like I’m forgetting something—

“Emerald.”

“Don’t talk, Akari. It might be dangerous if you strain yourself.”

“But, um…”

It was a hassle to pretend to be in pain, but I managed to do it to gain Emerald’s trust.

With trembling arms, I pointed to the laboratory door where Curs had come from.

“There are children in there…”

The humans who were chased and taken by Curs.

If they were dead, I would have left them, but focusing, I could feel a faint despair from inside.

Since despair can’t arise from corpses, they must still be alive, right?

‘Well, I did a good deed… case solved!’

Though it’s more like I caused the case rather than solved it, but if I hadn’t come underground, Curs would have backstabbed much more spectacularly, so all the humans in this city owe me.

If Emerald finds out, maybe she’ll go easy on me even if my identity is revealed someday.

Anyway, I want to go back and rest now.

‘Pretending to get hit by Curs is exhausting—’

Crash—!!!

“Emerald.”

But as if mocking my thoughts, the sound of a wall collapsing and another voice echoed from behind Emerald.

Who is it? No, more importantly… it’s a voice I feel like I’ve heard before—

As I peeked out from Emerald’s embrace to see who it was, I immediately realized who the voice belonged to.

‘No way, Ruby?’

Ruby. As soon as I thought of those two words, I naturally shrunk back.

If I’m caught, I’m dead. Well, not dead, but I’ll be minced.

Emerald, knowing this, didn’t turn around while holding me.

She seemed to know what would happen if Ruby saw me in her arms.

“Ruby, there are children trapped in the side laboratory.”

“Yeah? More importantly, did you save your friend?”

“…Yes, for now.”

Emerald’s eyes, looking down at me, were trembling.

Her rough breathing and the cold sweat on her forehead clearly showed how nervous she was.

“Then, I’ll go ahead.”

“Wait.”

As Emerald hurriedly tried to move, Ruby called her to a halt.

Emerald bit her lip.

Like a child caught doing something wrong, she tightly closed her mouth and swallowed hard.

“The one here, it was Curs, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Damn, it would have been better to catch it now… Anyway, good job.”

“Ruby, you did well too.”

Luckily, it didn’t seem like I was found out.

As I exhaled the breath I was holding, matching Emerald’s movements, she also sighed.

It seemed like almost being caught by Ruby was more nerve-wracking than dealing with Curs.

Growl—

‘Ah, I’m hungry for despair.’

I wanted to go back and bury my face in Tamako’s embrace.

I had eaten some of Emerald’s despair, so I was somewhat full, but— why, it’s like eating delivery food and then having homemade food. Anyway, that’s how it felt.

“Pfft, ahaha…!”

“…What?”

“No, nothing. It’s just that Akari is Akari, you know.”

What does it mean that I’m me?

Someone who can’t read the mood and keeps saying they’re hungry?

If that’s the case, it’s not a compliment at all.

“Let’s eat something really delicious when we get back.”

The hope emanating from Emerald pricked my skin.

Yeah, whatever. Do as you please.

***

“…No matter how I think about it, it’s strange.”

[Huh, what’s strange? I think the strangest thing is that Ruby came back fine!]

“Hey.”

Ruby sighed at Chromie’s random complaint.

Well, to Chromie, that might be the strangest thing.

But right now, the important thing isn’t whether I’m fine or not.

‘How could no one notice while staying underground like this?’

In the previous world, the first place I saw Curs was underground, but it definitely wasn’t under a city where people lived.

But for such a monster to build a research lab rivaling the entire city underground without anyone noticing.

That point is hard to understand.

“Could it be that it was originally human…”

[Wh-what do you mean, originally human…?]

“Never mind. It’s not certain yet, I’ll tell you when I figure it out.”

Ruby, who had been stroking Chromie’s head as she started whining, stretched her legs to relieve the stiffness.

I should have caught it then.

I don’t know if it’s because it was earlier than the first time I saw Curs in the previous world, but the despair I felt from Curs was weaker than I remembered.

“Uh, sis…!”

“What, did someone fight again?”

Ruby turned her head at the voice from beside her.

The children trapped in the laboratory Emerald mentioned.

Though they were suffering from despair, they quickly recovered with a bit of hope energy.

The problem was that they became too lively and started fighting.

“Th-there’s one more person we need to save!”

“…There’s one more person to save?”

There were definitely four children in the laboratory.

Just to be sure, I checked again before leaving, so Ruby couldn’t help but tilt her head reflexively.

“There was a magical girl who saved us!”

“…A person with green hair and green eyes?”

Since Emerald told me, it could have been Emerald.

But Emerald went back fine, so there’s no need to save her.

“W-well, it was dark so I couldn’t see well, but… it was a girl with black hair and black eyes.”

“Black hair and black eyes— what?”

Trauma.

Ruby, who hated black, reflexively raised her voice.

Oops, I showed too much of a disgrace in front of the kids.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to erase the image from her mind.

No, just as she was about to erase it.

“Ah, when I first saw her, her eyes might have been red— eek?!”

“…”

At the child’s words, Ruby stood up abruptly.

Black hair and black eyes. But eyes that could turn red.

It wasn’t certain, but only one— no, only one thing came to mind.

‘Apocalypse, huh?’

A fleeting thought crossed her mind.

But that didn’t make sense.

If it was Apocalypse, Emerald, who is much more sensitive to despair, would have noticed immediately.

Moreover, Apocalypse wouldn’t save humans.

‘Yeah, it can’t be. There’s no way Apocalypse is here.’

If she were here, the city would have been in ruins by now.

Ruby muttered softly, patting the child’s head.

Trying hard to ignore the inexplicable unease in her chest.