Chapter 57

“…Are you planning to stay here forever?”

“Where I belong is where you are.”

Watching Garnet cling tightly to Tamako, I sighed inwardly.

I had a feeling something like this might happen, but I didn’t expect it to actually turn out this way.

After reuniting with Tamako, Garnet had suddenly moved in next door.

[I never would’ve guessed someone like her could exist.]

“Yeah…”

Our first meeting was, to put it simply, the worst.

It was the first time I had mercilessly stabbed someone to death who looked like they had just escaped from an underground laboratory.

There was an explanation that the test subjects from the tubes would die soon after being released, but hearing that from someone who had killed a test subject—no, a person who had been experimented on—didn’t exactly inspire trust.

“Garnet, I thought you’d grown up a bit by now, but you’re still the same.”

“You’re the one who hasn’t changed. You look exactly the same as the last time I saw you.”

“…Exactly the same.”

I quietly got up while watching the two of them talk.

It was a conversation between two people who hadn’t seen each other in a long time—one of whom was thought to be dead—so it was better to give them some space.

‘I wonder how Akari’s doing.’

Akari always gave off the impression that she’d be fine no matter where she ended up, but it would be a lie to say I wasn’t worried.

What if she gets lonely? Even though she acts like she’s not a house cat, I’ve heard she gets really lonely.

Is she eating well? It used to be my job to make sure she ate every day—wait, no, she doesn’t even eat normal meals.

“…I ended up thinking of her like a cat.”

[Who? Akari?]

“Maybe it doesn’t quite resonate with May.”

I gently patted May’s head, who looked like she had just heard a bad joke.

To May, Akari probably seemed more like a giant tiger.

A despair tiger the size of a building, swallowing up any hope in its path.

‘Answer me! Why are you doing this!? Why are you attacking people!?’

“I guess I said that because I felt certain.”

[Certain of what?]

“Certain that Akari isn’t a bad monster?”

Right before we parted, Akari still had a halo above her head, but she was still the same Akari as always.

Thanks to that, even though I felt despair like a trauma in real time, I didn’t falter.

Because Akari wasn’t the Apocalypse.

[…Can there really be a monster that isn’t bad?]

I chuckled softly at May’s lamenting tone.

I didn’t think there could be a monster that wasn’t bad either.

‘But if it’s Akari, I can believe it.’

Akari had plenty of opportunities to hurt me.

Just off the top of my head, there were several, yeah.

Bzzzz—

“…Huh?”

[It seems like a call from the Association, Emerald.]

“Yeah, I guess so.”

I had expected to hear from them eventually, but now that the call had come, I felt a little uneasy.

They were probably summoning me to investigate the place where Akari was.

Of course, going to see Akari wasn’t a problem at all.

I was just worried about how the other magical girls would react when they saw Akari.

‘Well, worrying about it now probably doesn’t mean much.’

In the first place, a normal magical girl wouldn’t even be able to get past the despair surrounding Akari.

The black clouds that stimulated humanity’s primal despair had the power to taint even the strongest hopes.

“Let’s go, May. It’ll be helpful for Akari if we know what the Association is planning.”

[Okay.]

I didn’t have a very good impression of the Association in this city, but it was better to answer their call if it meant helping Akari.

We needed to know what the Association was up to so we could prepare for any unexpected situations.

Anyway, with that, I left the house and headed toward the Association.

[It’s a bit noisy, Emerald.]

“…Yeah.”

When I arrived, the Association was in quite an uproar.

From the recent underground laboratory incident to the despair cloud phenomenon near the coast.

Given the major events that had happened recently, it wasn’t surprising that the Association was in chaos, but today’s chaos felt a little different.

It felt more positive than negative.

It was as if they were welcoming a new face—no, it wasn’t just a feeling. There was even a banner that read, ‘Welcome to all the magical girls who have been dispatched!’

“Ah, hello, Emerald!”

“Hello, could you tell me what’s written on that banner?”

“Ah, that? It seems the central office has requested support from magical girls to investigate something in the sea.”

“I see…”

After all, the magical girls in this city would have a hard time handling the investigation on their own.

The only registered magical girls were Garnet, Peridot, and me.

In that sense, the more support we got, the easier the investigation would be.

Of course, the most important thing was whether the dispatched magical girls could get through the despair clouds.

“I’m Sapphire, dispatched from the north. Nice to meet you.”

“…Ah.”

But that thought disappeared almost immediately.

Blue hair the same color as her eyes. And a familiar voice.

The moment I saw her, a figure that was still vivid in my memories, I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.

…Why is Sapphire here?!

***

Today’s weather is clear.

Shielding my eyes from the sun with my hand, I splashed my feet in the cool seawater, creating small sprays.

Grrr—

“Another magical girl came and went, but you’re just going to sit there? Well, I guess there’s no reason to move.”

As magical girls started coming and going near the uninhabited island, the frequency of monsters getting agitated also gradually increased.

From the monsters’ perspective, the magical girls’ hope must be terrifying.

Just touching it would make them feel nauseous.

Grr, grr, grrr—

“Let’s make an example out of those who’ve invaded our territory. Well, not that those weaklings can even get in here.”

After all, this was the despair of the Apocalypse, known as the magical girl killer.

Unless you were one of the original protagonists, it was nearly impossible.

So if anyone were to come, it would be Emerald or Ruby…

But since neither Emerald nor Ruby have come even once, maybe they’ve given up on me by now.

‘There’s no way that’s true, though…’

The last time I saw Ruby, she was grinding her teeth, ready to kill me, and as for Emerald—well, honestly, I’m not sure about Emerald.

If I were Emerald, I’d probably team up with Ruby and come after me with magic cannons, but thinking about how she tried to protect me from Ruby, maybe not.

Squeak—!!!

“What is it now? Didn’t I tell you not to suddenly scream?”

Squeak…

“One of our kind was attacked by a magical girl?”

I never imagined there’d be a brave soul attacking monsters around here.

The number of monsters that had newly appeared or migrated from other places to settle here was already quite large.

Humans called it hell on earth.

‘…Honestly, it kind of feels like that.’

We didn’t attack human cities, and as long as they didn’t get too close, we didn’t bother them either.

Even if one monster was killed, the others didn’t swarm after the magical girl who did it.

“Probably just one of the magical girls who come by occasionally. Tell everyone not to go outside the clouds today.”

Grrr—

“This time feels different…”

Indeed, while there were magical girls who came to observe this area, none had directly attacked a monster before.

Could they really be planning to break through the despair clouds?

The uneasy thought made me look up from the book I was reading.

Honestly, I don’t understand why they go through so much trouble.

“Tell them to come if they can. If they make it here, I’ll deal with them myself.”

Grrr—

“Can we eat them if they look weak? You can consume their despair, but you can’t kill them or eat their bodies.”

I absolutely didn’t want any misunderstandings about me giving such orders.

Still, one good thing was that the monsters listened to me well.

Well, the ones who didn’t listen ended up as food for my shadows, so it’s only natural.

Grr, grr, grr—

Squeak…

“I didn’t mean not to attack at all. Just don’t kill them completely. Act like you usually do, like usual.”

The most important point was to make them act naturally.

If the magical girls didn’t suffer any damage from the monsters, the other humans would find it suspicious, and if the magical girls started dying to the monsters, Emerald might turn hostile.

Being caught in the middle and having to tread carefully was annoying, but it was necessary to avoid even bigger headaches later.

‘Right now, my biggest worry is Ruby…’

“Ugh—”

I stretched, clearing my mind of all the worries that had popped up.

Well, there’s no need to stress over things that haven’t even happened yet.