Chapter 12: Remember The Ending (5)

The meaning behind those five letters was more profound than I could ever imagine.

Right now, it felt like everything to me.

“Hehehe… Hehehehe.”

Is this person next to me really Apocalypse?

She introduced herself as Askari and maintained her own pace throughout our conversation.

To my surprise, she talked more than I expected.

Yes, the problem was that she talked too much.

“Um, then what should I call you? I can’t call you Emerald with so many people around, right?”

“Call me Midori.”

“Oh, it’s the same as ‘167.’”

There was a hint of something else in her tone—no, quite a bit of it.

I had planned to slap her if she acted even slightly suspiciously, but she continued to present herself as harmless, almost innocently.

Still, I reminded myself not to let my guard down.

Despite her outward appearance, she was still a monster.

If I showed any weakness, she could catch me off guard.

I had no doubt that I was right about her.

The arrows in my heart and the echoes of my soul were telling me that she was indeed Apocalypse.

“So, Midori, where are you planning on eating?”

“I’ll be there soon.”

Lait seemed genuinely happy about the prospect of eating.

When I first met him, he had always been expressionless, but now he was smiling brightly.

The contrast was striking.

No, to be precise, I couldn’t believe that Apocalypse was capable of such an expression.

Perhaps it was because I had found him earlier than expected; Apocalypse was supposed to first appear in 2206.

In fact, I had discovered him three years before that.

“I’ve arrived.”

“Is this the place?”

His expression was a stark contrast to the emotionless demeanor he had when he was killing magical girls.

This time, he looked extremely disappointed, as if he didn’t like something about the location.

In truth, his change in expression wasn’t dramatic, but it was noticeable because it was so subtle.

“Can’t you eat fish?”

“No, not really…”

Maybe he just didn’t like regular restaurants.

Apocalypse, with a dark expression and hugging one arm, shook his head dismissively, as if it were nothing.

Perhaps he had a fish allergy or something.

I thought I had chosen the safest place to eat, but it seemed I had picked a dud.

Why was I even being considerate of Apocalypse?

Then a question suddenly struck me: Was there any reason to cater to the tastes of someone who was my enemy and should be torn to pieces right now?

“Then it’s okay if we eat here?” I asked, trying to gauge his reaction.

“Yes, well, I don’t mind,” he replied.

Even though he had expressed his dislike just moments before, he genuinely seemed indifferent now.

He was a person who was hard to read, and the anxiety lurking in the corner of my heart couldn’t be shaken off because of his unpredictable demeanor.

“How strange,” he murmured as soon as we entered the restaurant.

His eyes widened as he began to look around, reaching out as if he had discovered something extraordinary.

He seemed ready to explore every corner of the place, so I quickly found an empty seat and guided him to it.

“Is this your first time coming to a place like this?” I asked.

“Right? Actually, there are a lot of things I’ve never done before,” he admitted.

As he spoke, Apocalypse naturally poured water into a cup and placed it in front of me.

He’s so polite. I was taken aback by how surprised I was by such a simple gesture.

“Here, the grilled salmon set has arrived,” the server announced.

“Thank you,” I replied, and Apocalypse echoed my gratitude.

After a while, I glanced at Apocalypse as I thanked the food that had just arrived.

He was poking the grilled salmon with his chopsticks, wearing an expression that suggested he wasn’t really enjoying it.

Would it be a lie to say he looked like a cat tapping a glass bottle on the table?

“Thank you,” he said again, this time more to himself than anyone else.

His table manners were surprisingly good.

Considering he was poking the grilled salmon with his chopsticks, he was handling it quite well.

If Apocalypse was a creature created by the doctor, such behavior would have been impossible.

There was no way a monster could have learned human behavior.

What if I hadn’t found him here?

What would have happened if I hadn’t stumbled upon this version of Apocalypse?

Just before Apocalypse appeared, there had been a string of incidents involving the kidnapping of magical girls.

For a moment, I felt a flicker of hope.

It was the right instinct to have, but I never imagined that Apocalypse would be there.

Perhaps it was truly different this time; I had saved Apocalypse before he transformed from a normal person into the monster he was destined to become.

What should I do next?

My mind was racing because the situation was already so different from what I remembered.

No, no. Let’s think positively.

If we could just deal with the doctor, everything would be over.

I should consider this the most hopeful situation I had encountered so far.

“Ugh.”

Suddenly, I looked up at the sound of Apocalypse retching.

She covered her mouth with her hand, her pale face suggesting she might collapse at any moment.

Her stomach seemed to have shrunk to the extreme—seriously, how was she even able to walk?

Ah. A thought struck me.

What if the current Apocalypse was just a normal person who had been kidnapped by the doctor and subjected to experiments?

Was I being too harsh on her?

“Let’s go back to the hospital,” I said, concerned.

With tears in the corners of her eyes, Apocalypse grabbed my wrist and lifted me up.

He let out a deep sigh as he watched me follow him without any intention of shaking him off.

He needed time to organize his thoughts.

He had been expecting delicious despair, but instead, I was ordering food at a restaurant meant for humans.

If I were a normal person, I might have enjoyed this meal.

Instead, it felt like I was looking at animal feed or mealworms.

If I had to choose, I would say the food looked delicious: steaming white rice, miso soup, and grilled salmon with soy sauce.

It matched the “delicious meal” in my memory, but unfortunately, I had no appetite at all.

“Hmm…”

I picked up the rice with my chopsticks and put it in my mouth.

It didn’t taste like anything.

I tore off a piece of salmon and shoved it in as well.

It wasn’t the same kind of tastelessness I experienced with mint chocolate or cucumber salad; it was just… bland.

All I could feel was the texture of the rice and fish.

If you asked me if I could enjoy food based solely on texture, I wouldn’t have an answer.

Since I had already convinced myself that what was in my mouth resembled mealworms, I found it quite difficult to enjoy it.

Why was this food even leaking hope energy?

“Ugh.”

What I thought was a mealworm had actually turned into one.

I felt the urge to spit out what was in my mouth immediately, but I didn’t want to show such an ugly sight, so I forced myself to swallow it.

This was food torture.

I took a deep breath, vowing never to eat rice with Apocalypse again.

The hope that a magical girl exuded was on a different level.

It could make a monster vomit in an instant.

I wanted to punch Emerald in the head for giving me hope, but I realized that would be counterproductive, so I decided to stay still.

Someday, I would fill my mouth with despair energy and take my revenge on her.

After being forced to eat this tasteless meal, I managed to choke out, “Let’s go back to the hospital?”

Seriously, it was a very, very excellent choice.

I thought I should eat the despair of ordinary people to rid myself of the unpleasant taste in my mouth, but she insisted we return to the hospital right then and there.

What a person—no, I wasn’t even kidding; what a monster.

I didn’t have the energy to say anything; I didn’t even have the strength to shake off Emerald’s hand gripping my wrist.

I had come here with high hopes, but all I got was the hope of a magical girl.

I was hungry.

I needed despair.

And it had to be the fresh, thick despair of a magical girl.

Ugh, I should have snatched the beaker the doctor was holding back then.

In the end, it was all the doctor’s fault for not feeding me on time.

I would definitely get my revenge.

“This won’t work. If I don’t find a way, I’ll starve to death.”

Even a monster that died from eating despair looked pretty, so even if I were to die someday, I didn’t want to starve to death.

I felt like I should hit Emerald on the back of the head right now, but I lacked the motivation because I was so hungry.

Seriously, I think I finally understood why the original Apocalypse kept killing magical girls.

It must have felt like a food truck that automatically supplied despair, filling my stomach just by breathing.