Chapter 86

One thing I didn’t expect was that Emerald might wake up.

“…Akari?”

“You’re awake.”

She casually got off Emerald as if nothing had happened.

If Emerald had been fine, she would have been super embarrassed by that position, you know.

Wiping the lingering despair from the corner of her mouth, she smiled, and Emerald smiled back.

What’s so funny? You don’t even know why you’re laughing.

“…Did I pass out?”

“Overwork. Lack of sleep, and nutritional imbalance on top of that.”

“…I see.”

Her reaction seemed like she had expected it to some extent.

Well, Emerald isn’t so clueless that she wouldn’t know her own physical condition.

‘That’s what I like about her.’

Even though she knows her limits, she never stops saving people.

That’s what a Magical Girl should be like. Yeah, absolutely.

That’s why I couldn’t hate Emerald.

The despair that dwells in her noble spirit was truly… mesmerizing.

“Sorry for overdoing it, Akari.”

“It’s fine. Overdoing it is your problem, not mine.”

At this point, it was practically a disease.

A pitiful human who kills herself to achieve her goals.

And yet, she doesn’t even know what the problem is.

“Besides, I like it when you overdo it.”

“…”

“The more you push yourself, the greater your despair becomes.”

As the despair of other humans decreases, Emerald’s despair only grows.

For me, that alone was a huge advantage.

Despair that wasn’t worth consuming transforms into premium despair with three stars.

Just thinking about it made my mouth water.

“I guess I’ll have to work hard for Akari’s sake too.”

“…Yeah, sure. Work hard for me.”

Isn’t that a bit too positive?

Her smiling face held no sarcasm or mockery.

Emerald was genuinely smiling at me, determined to do her best.

…This is dangerously good.

Good thing I had the Despair Circuit turned off; if it were on, I’d be in big trouble.

“And since you’ve collapsed, take a break for a while. I told you to work hard, not to work yourself to death.”

“But…”

She’s already thinking about overdoing it again.

If Emerald were the only Magical Girl in the world, I’d understand, but there are two others in this city alone.

Garnet and Peridot.

I don’t know about Peridot, but Garnet is reliable enough, right?

“Leave human matters to humans. Soldiers, police, firefighters, etc… You don’t think Magical Girls should handle all that, do you?”

“…That’s.”

“Remember. What Magical Girls should do is fight monsters, not other humans.”

Magical Girls already have enough enemies with just monsters.

No, more than enough, you could say.

If Magical Girls had to deal with humans on top of that, what do you think would happen?

‘What do you think would happen? They’d end up like her.’

A Magical Girl workaholic.

I get that she’s young and wants to do everything, but if she keeps pushing herself like this, she won’t last long.

They say if you work like a dog when you’re young, you’ll end up spending it all on hospital bills when you’re old.

Emerald is exactly that type of person.

The kind who works hard when young and regrets it when older.

“And what if a monster attacks while you’re this weak?”

“…Akari?”

“What if I attacked you like this?”

“Eek?!”

I grabbed Emerald’s wrists and pinned her down.

Her green hair scattered across the bed, her eyes trembling in panic.

‘By the way, she’s weak.’

Emerald was way too weak right now.

Maybe it’s because she’s not transformed, but judging by the thinness of her wrists, she’d probably struggle even if she were transformed.

It feels like she’s getting weaker and weaker as time goes on.

Though her despair has become more delicious.

“Get a grip, Midori. If you’re going to take responsibility for me, you should at least be healthy, right?”

“…You’re right.”

“Not that I think you’ll listen.”

I jumped off Emerald and landed on the floor.

I thought about wiping out all the humans to reduce her workload, but that would just make things the same as the original, so I decided to hold back.

I don’t want to deal with the hassle. Absolutely not!

‘And at that age, you learn by suffering through it yourself~’

You learn what’s good and bad by experiencing it yourself, not by someone telling you, “Oh, this is bad.”

The day will come when she realizes that human problems are best left to humans.

Though I don’t know when that will be.

**

Of course, as expected, Emerald was discharged from the hospital the very next morning.

I went to bring her breakfast, only to find her already gone, and the hospital TV was showing something else.

Since I was already there, I ended up devouring the despair of the humans in the hospital.

If the Doctor had seen me, he would have gone ballistic, telling me to stop eating such trivial despair, but since he wasn’t around, I figured why not?

“Prepare for the apocalypse! The end of the world is coming soon!”

“There’s a huge bunker in the center! Let’s take it back from those dirty politicians and reclaim our safety!”

“The Angel of Death will descend upon this world! We must prepare to welcome them according to God’s will!”

The collective madness of humans was reaching its limit.

I had advised leaving human matters to humans, but seeing this, I might need to rethink that…

They were blasting apocalyptic videos on loudspeakers and huge monitors, and just watching for a moment made me incredibly annoyed.

‘And this is the milder version…’

Have I been watching the human world too much on TV?

Unlike the fanatics from before, these humans were filled with madness in their eyes.

It was like a gathering of extreme pessimists who genuinely wished for the world’s end.

At this rate, even without the Apocalypse, it’s meaningless.

‘…More importantly.’

“…”

“…”

“…”

Why is it so quiet all of a sudden?

The humans who were making noise just moments ago had all fallen silent, as if they’d been struck dumb.

It was too sudden to think, “Good, it’s quiet now,” but…

Ah. Now that I think about it, I’m walking right through the middle of these lunatics.

“Uh, ah, uh…”

“Go, God… God, God…”

“Save us, save us, save us…”

“Please have mercy…”

The humans suddenly knelt when they saw me.

Some prostrated themselves, begging for mercy, some stared at my face in awe, calling out to God, and others clung to my clothes, pleading for salvation.

God? I’m not that noble.

I slowly moved forward, peeling off the arms of the humans clinging to me.

‘I don’t even plan to bring about the apocalypse, tsk…’

I liked seeing them despair over me, but them making assumptions wasn’t great.

Shouldn’t regaining memories of the previous world be limited to the main characters?

Whoever turned back time did a terrible job.

A world where Magical Girls, humans, monsters—and even me—are all suffering.

“That person, they knelt before that kid…”

“What’s up with that kid?”

“The atmosphere is weird… Could she be some kind of child worshipped by a strange religion?”

I’m going to get an earful when I get back.

Hearing the humans whispering around me, I already felt stressed.

Garnet will definitely tease me when I get back.

She’ll laugh and ask, “Where have you been and what have you been doing to become so famous?”

‘Emerald, though… She’ll probably make a serious face.’

Or maybe she’ll really get serious.

The moment she realizes my photos or videos are circulating online, the one who’ll have the biggest headache is Emerald.

Lately, humans who remember me—or rather, the world where the Apocalypse was active—have been appearing in groups, and now my existence is spreading to other humans?

I think she might actually cry.

For some reason, Emerald treats me like some precious artifact.

‘I’ll think about that when the time comes.’

Now that my existence is known, Emerald will have to make a choice, whether she likes it or not.

Hide me, or prove that I’m harmless.

Neither is very likely, but I can roughly guess which one Emerald will choose.

“She needs to realize that there’s no such thing as a harmless monster in this world…”

Emerald would definitely try to prove to others that I’m harmless.

Believing that since she thinks so, others will too.