Chapter 92

“Gasp…”

It felt like I had a strange dream.

A dream where I entered an alley on my way home from school and made a contract with a strange girl.

I took a deep breath to calm my pounding heart.

It felt like I was breathing from the depths of the ocean.

As I lifted my heavy head, what I saw was—

“Pant… pant…”

“…What the.”

Was it not a dream?

Beside the bed. In a place that was by no means spacious, there was a sofa.

The moment I saw the figure of a girl sleeping soundly on that sofa, I couldn’t help but doubt my own eyes.

The girl I thought I saw in my dream was right in front of me.

“Hey…”

“Uhh…”

“Hey…?”

“…What is it.”

Blink, blink.

The girl slowly opened her eyes and began to look at me with drowsy eyes.

Uh, what should I say?

Should I ask why she’s here? Or, what her identity is?

“Why are you here?”

“You say that as if I shouldn’t be here.”

“Of course! This is—”

“‘The space of memories where you lived happily with your family,’ right?”

“…”

Her words stabbed at my heart, leaving me speechless.

Her gaze seemed to pierce through my entire being.

My reflection was visible in her one remaining eye.

A miserable, wretched reflection of myself.

“…What do you want?”

“Nothing. I’ve already received what I wanted from you.”

“If you’re just going to spout nonsense, get out of my house.”

“If I explain it in a way you can understand, does that mean I can stay?”

“…”

Once again, my words were stuck, and the girl giggled.

A being that finds joy in teasing people—humans.

To be precise, she finds joy in seeing humans in distress.

“You can do as you please. I’ll do as I please too.”

I thought about kicking her out right then, but seeing her calm demeanor made me feel like I was the only one getting worked up, so I forced myself to calm down.

Having one more girl like her in this big house wouldn’t be a big deal.

If she stays as if she’s not even here, it wouldn’t matter.

Of course, I wouldn’t treat her like a guest or anything.

“Ah, by the way, do you still have what you wanted? It’d be a shame to lose something you went through so much trouble to get.”

“What I wanted—”

Ah.

Come to think of it, this girl, did she only have one eye from the beginning?

I absentmindedly reached out to the bandage covering her right eye.

No. I’m sure when I first saw her, both eyes were fine—

“Whoosh—”

“Eek?!”

“What’s wrong? You’re the one who put it in.”

“Y-you’re lying…?”

The inside of the bandage was empty.

It was a sensation that no ordinary human could feel.

The place where the eye used to be, the texture inside.

Moist, smooth, sticky, and horrifying—

A chilling sensation.

“You took it because you wanted it.”

“…”

Even though my finger went into the place where her eye used to be, there was no change in the girl’s expression.

Does she not feel pain?

Or has she lived a life where such pain is nothing?

‘But that’s strange. Who would let someone take their own eye—no, who would tell someone to take their eye?’

The being in front of me was definitely not human.

Yes, she couldn’t be human.

…She definitely shouldn’t be human.

And if the girl in front of me isn’t human—

“I-I’ll give it back now.”

“Pfft, it’s already too late.”

“Already, too late?”

In response to my question, the girl smiled meaningfully and handed me a hand mirror that was lying beside her.

Why a mirror all of a sudden…

The moment I reflexively took the mirror she held out, I had no choice but to understand her words.

“What is this…”

“You said you wanted my eye.”

“…”

My right eye reflected in the mirror had turned red.

I thought maybe she secretly put in a red lens, but when I rubbed my eye, I didn’t feel any foreign sensation.

“Well, if you want to give it back, you can.”

“…Ugh.”

“Shall I take it back?”

“…”

I wanted to nod, but I couldn’t move because it felt like the girl would pluck out my eye if I did.

Perhaps pleased with my silence, the girl curled up the corner of her mouth.

Whatever her identity, she didn’t seem like a being with a cheerful personality.

No matter how I thought about it, she had a bad personality, this one.

“Ah, by the way, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet.”

Clap, clap. The girl clapped her hands and suggested we introduce ourselves. I swallowed dryly.

It felt like I shouldn’t tell her my name.

It felt like those cult recruiters I sometimes see on the street asking me to tell them my name.

If I said I wouldn’t tell, she’d probably say it’s fine not to.

But…

“…Kuroko. I’m Kuroko.”

“Oh. I thought you’d refuse. Unexpected.”

“So, what’s your name?”

The girl seemed surprised that I gave my name, her eyes widening slightly.

Honestly, I didn’t want to tell her.

But I gave my name to get at least some information about her.

I wanted to know at least her name since I knew nothing about her.

“Akari.”

“…”

“I’m Akari.”

It was a name that didn’t suit her at all.

Who named her Akari?

Her appearance and personality would suit my name much better.

Frowning at the dissonance her name brought, the girl—no, Akari—started giggling.

As if she knew this reaction would come.

“So, Akari.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“What exactly are you?”

She casually plucked out her own eye, changed my eye color to red, brought such a large sofa into the house with her small frame, and had a name that didn’t suit her behavior at all—

There were too many strange aspects to simply call her a mentally ill girl.

Could she be an alien or something?

“A partner-like being who will be with you from now on, I suppose.”

“Part, ner…?”

“Of course, I’ll mostly just be watching.”

Partner? What is she talking about?

Could it be a crime partner?

I bit my lip, recalling a recent news story about juvenile crime.

I don’t want to get involved in anything weird.

Especially if it’s related to crime.

“Ah, my explanation might have been a bit lacking.”

Ahem, Akari cleared her throat and raised her index finger.

Then she pointed it at my forehead—

“Whoosh—”

“Gasp?!”

“Shh… Don’t run away, accept it.”

Your past. And, your despair.

With a small whisper, my heart trembled, and I reflexively let out a moan.

Hot. Painful. Agonizing. Suffocating.

A chill ran down my spine, and a burning pain pierced my nerves, making me curl up.

‘Mom, Dad…’

Monsters attacking people.

Insane people praying to those monsters.

Magical girls attacking the monsters.

And, men swinging swords at me, saying they’d offer me as a sacrifice.

‘Mom…? Dad…?’

It would have been much better if they were killed by monsters rather than a murder case where humans killed humans.

Since I was the only survivor, it would have been easy to conclude it as an accident caused by monsters if they just silenced me.

‘It wasn’t a monster that killed my parents. The magical girl there is a witness!’

‘So, you’re going to blame the dead?’

‘I’m trying to reveal the truth. Blaming comes after!’

‘Sorry, but the report says everyone there was killed by monsters.’

The humans who killed my parents and the magical girl who failed to protect them from those humans.

No, if it was just failing to protect, I wouldn’t feel this way.

They—humans killed my parents right before my eyes, and what?

They were killed by monsters?

…Liar.

“A human who hates other humans and received despair from a magical girl who sows hope.”

“Gasp, ugh…”

“I’ll give you the power to fight.”

Despair surged.

The black emotions flowing through my blood vessels seeped out of my skin, forming a shape.

A fluttering outfit similar to that of magical girls.

But the color it held was nothing like theirs.

“So, you give me despair.”

The girl’s voice reached me.

At first, it was faint, but it gradually became clearer, until only one word echoed in my ears.

Defeat the magical girls.

Make them feel the despair you felt.

“Got it? My Despair Girl.”

“…Ah.”

My vision turned red.

Something that had been vaguely in my mind began to take shape.

A desperate revenge against those damn humans and magical girls.

The fact that it came to mind meant that I now had the power to realize it.

“Ahaha, ahahaha… ahahahaha…!!”

Joy surged from deep within my chest and burst out through my throat.

I couldn’t hold it back.

No, I never intended to hold it back in the first place.

How could I not be happy when I could finally do what I had only imagined?