Chapter: 36
“Huh? Doctor Eight? Doctor Kuroid? Is there something going on between you two?”
The chairman of the society, who returned late, stared blankly at Doctor Kuroid and me, alternating between us with a puzzled look, tilting his head in confusion. In his hands, he was holding a stack of papers that seemed to require signatures for research funding.
I put on a haha forced smile and accepted the documents from him. The chairman’s expression hardened as though he felt somewhat guilty.
“I’m sorry. Doctor Eight, it’s just that Doctor Kuroid can be a bit arrogant and eccentric, but he’s not a bad person…”
“Oh, it’s fine. We didn’t have a fight or anything.”
“Well, that’s good to hear… But really, you’re okay with this, right? Doctor Kuroid.”
The chairman shot a wary glance at Doctor Kuroid, as if he were saying he didn’t find him trustworthy. Just from that look, it was easy to tell how notoriously arrogant Doctor Kuroid usually was.
However, Doctor Kuroid didn’t seem to have the luxury to care about the chairman’s piercing gaze. He casually waved his hand and headed off somewhere, looking like someone who just got dumped.
“It’s fine, I said it’s fine. Well then, I’ll be going… Doctor Eight. I hope you’re doing well too.”
“Doctor Kuroid…?”
As Doctor Kuroid walked away, the chairman, looking astonished, exclaimed as if he had just witnessed something miraculous.
“That’s astonishing. Doctor Kuroid just used an honorific toward someone.”
“That’s never happened before?”
“Not at all. Even when he was invited to Scholar, he was incredibly arrogant. No one dared to say anything because he’s that skilled…”
However, just as he momentarily reminisced about the past, the chairman quickly turned to instructions on how to fill out the paperwork. After discussing what kind of research I would pursue and what would be required, I handed the papers to him, and after giving it a quick glance, the chairman nodded and replied.
“If it’s research like this, you can expect funding on the order of $100 million.”
“That’s it?”
“If you can prove that all the money was spent on research, there will be a second and third round of funding. Of course, that’s assuming there wasn’t any embezzlement in the process.”
“…Are there really people who do that?”
“Not so far. Everyone here is genuinely devoted to their research.”
The chairman seemed to think I would behave the same way, so he didn’t issue any particular warning. How naive! I could wrap that research up in just a dollar and pocket the remaining 90 million.
Surely, the billionaires of the world would never whine about wanting their leftover research funds back, right? In other words, I now had a new wallet besides Regalia that I could dip into anytime.
Was this what it felt like when a married husband suddenly got a secret pocket to spend money without his wife knowing? My heart began to race a little.
“Do I just wait now?”
“Yes. The research funds will be deposited into your account within a few days.”
“Sounds good.”
As I happily anticipated the influx of cash, a sudden doubt popped into my head and I questioned the chairman.
“By the way, Scholar claimed to be a secret organization, even going as far as to blindfold someone, but Doctor Kuroid brought Lucia along without a hitch?”
“Eh? Well, that’s because Lucia is a robot created by Doctor Kuroid, isn’t it? He can’t control the tools he made himself. While humans can betray, tools can’t do that.”
“…Ah, I see.”
Listening to the chairman’s explanation, I realized that androids had only recently emerged here, and the only one currently recognized as a human was Doctor Kuroid’s Lucia, which never would be acknowledged as such by people.
It was still too early to grant robots human rights. The societal divide between humans and beastfolk wasn’t even healed yet.
It was far too soon to accept that there was a truth that transcended species…
*
Back at the Evilus Corporation HQ, I found Ayle peeking at something while giggling inside my lab. Sneaking up alongside her, I realized she was stalking a magical girl’s social media.
Indeed, Ayle’s love for magical girls showed no sign of fading. As an evil magical girl herself, she could meet magical girls anytime, yet here she was lurking on Instagram?
Honestly, who would believe that this girl, who swings a whip at magical girls every night, would act like a fangirl? Looking at her now, she simply seemed like a magical girl otaku sprawled out on the street.
Sometimes her expression would stiffen slightly when the magical girls would sneakily reveal their identities or when daily life glimpses got unveiled.
For someone like her who dropped out of high school, the youthful lives of those girls must feel incredibly radiant. So, jealousy surely bubbled up every time she saw it.
“Ayle, why don’t you go to school?”
“─Kyaaaahh!?”
As I spoke up, a startled Ayle dropped her phone right on her face. Rubbing her now-red nose cautiously, she looked at me.
Her expression screamed, “When did you get in?” I just beamed and shrugged.
“Eh, since when have you been there…?”
“Well, maybe since you put a heart on that photo of a magical girl in a bathing suit?”
“Kyaaaahh!?”
With a yell that could scare a ghost, Ayle hurriedly pulled out some money, hoping I’d forget the embarrassing moment. The crumpled bills she pulled from her skirt pocket looked to be quite a hefty sum for a kid.
However, that paltry amount couldn’t buy me into silence.
“Hmm, that’s insufficient.”
“P-please… If the money’s short, I’ll do anything…!”
“Did you just say you’ll do anything?”
“Hik—!”
Realizing what she’d said, Ayle wrapped her arms around herself, shaking her head furiously.
“Of course, that’s not to say I don’t want to if the scientist doesn’t want it… I—I just want something romantic in a state of mutual love…!”
“Let’s go to school. Ayle.”
“…Y-yeah?”
“I said, let’s go to school.”
However, Ayle seemed to hate the very mention of ‘going to school’ more than the dark scenario she had imagined. Her expression promptly soured.
“I’d rather strip. Should I do it now?”
“No, you hate it that much? Why?”
“You wouldn’t understand… For someone as socially awkward as me, school feels like hell…!”
“You can start new and fresh at a new school, right?”
“That’s impossible. High school is a wild jungle…! The beastly students sniff out someone like me and tear me apart…!”
Not to mention, she felt incapable, and so the thought of surviving in such a wild world only reinforced her belief that she’d be devoured on the very first day back to school.
Hearing that, I realized her situation was more dire than I thought, but that only strengthened my resolve to send her to school.
“I’ll go with you.”
“…Eh, eh? You’ll come with me, scientist…?”
“Yeah. While we can’t go to high school together… how about college? In college, there won’t be open bullying like in high school, and I can still accompany you.”
I want her to experience more in a slightly broader world. While everyone else goes to college looking for jobs, Ayle really doesn’t need to, does she?
If she doesn’t have to worry about grades or the future after graduating, college could be a great place to meet various races and gain experiences to help her escape the dark cage she built around herself.
Fortunately, upon hearing that I’d accompany her to college, Ayle began to giggle, perhaps imagining something. Maybe she was picturing enjoying campus life while going to school with me.
Honestly, I felt bad, but I never said I’d be attending as a student.
‘If I tell Scholar, they’ll probably set up a professor position for me.’
That seems likely. They wouldn’t bat an eye at arranging a professor’s seat just for submitting a paper, would they?
“At, are you really going to go with me…?”
“Yep. We’ll just breeze through high school as if it were a testing process, and then we’ll take university entrance exams. I’ll teach you well along the way.”
“J-just the two of us for tutoring…!”
Ayle started to imagine something, her lips twitching. Perhaps the idea of studying together thrilled her that much. Seeing her joy made me smile as well.
First off, I should whip up some energy drinks for studying. Something that would last us through at least a week’s worth of sleepless nights. A product that, once consumed, engraves the letters straight into the brain.
*
City H fights the world’s enemies every single day.
The bizarre monsters pouring in from other worlds don’t discriminate between day and night and don’t care if it’s a holiday or a weekend.
Today was no different; as magical girls returned home after battling the enemies of the world, they groaned at the sudden spreading black curtain.
“Not again…!”
“Damn evil magical girl!”
“Let’s take a break!”
Working themselves to exhaustion, they were now forced to head back to the front lines. The magical girls dashed forward, fire in their eyes.
There stood an evil magical girl, mumbling something to herself. Perhaps she was chanting a spell; the magical girls strained to listen, confused at what they heard.
“…Finding the inner value a·b=ab+…”
“What kind of math formula…?”
“Did she eat something wrong?”
“Why is she like this?”
While the magical girls were furrowing their brows, the evil magical girl came to her senses, startled, and slowly raised her wand in front of the magical girls.
“Well, welcome….”
“…Are you feeling unwell? You look really tired.”
“Is that so? If so, then you’re right….”
The evil magical girl waved her wand as if she had no evil intentions at all.
“I’ve been under a lot of stress lately, so I came to take it out on all of you.”
“─Crazy girl! I must be the fool for worrying!”
“Haha! I’ll hit you all to the extreme!”
With that, when she flung her magic forward, the magical girls scattered in all directions. Yet, just as always, they couldn’t avoid the evil magical girl’s wand attack.
The soft moans of the magical girls echoed throughout City H, filled with laughter from the witch accompanying them.
