Chapter 27: Uncomfortable Cohabitation (2)

{Despair level Omega. Despair level Omega. Despair level Omega.}

1, I’ve never seen anything like this…

Mei swallowed dry saliva in her mouth at the monster in front of her—no, the pitch black itself.

I thought he was some pitiful person who had been captured by the monster doctor and experimented on, but who would have thought he was this kind of monster?

Mei was trying her best to act calm, but inside, she was already completely burned.

I feel like I’m going to disappear…

If you were exposed to that level of despair any longer, you would die.

She might disappear in the literal sense, not in a figurative sense.

If the other person hadn’t listened to her and calmed down her despair energy, she really would have parted ways with Emerald forever.

“I’ll be counting on you from now on, Mei.”

[Hiccup… Those words were so creepy. Even though her despair energy had disappeared, her trembling didn’t stop.

‘Ugh, is this the end…?’

Mei let out a sigh of relief as she watched Akari slowly get up from her seat and enter the room.

A crimson halo that seemed to declare that it would turn all hope into despair.

And eyes the same color as that halo.

The moment I recalled that gaze that could never be called human, my core trembled.

[What kind of monster have you brought, Emerald…]

This was no different from having my life held as collateral.

It was so horrible that I wondered if Emerald would be able to deal with it even if she became stronger.

Even now, Emerald’s hope circuits were damaged from fighting a Delta-class monster alone.

“No, don’t… Ruby… Sapphire…”

[Emerald…]

My core tingled as I watched Emerald, who had started having nightmares at some point.

Can’t you tell me, your partner, what kind of burden you are carrying?

The sullen Mei slowly stroked Emerald’s cheek as she was soundly sleeping.

Annoying, annoying, annoying, annoying…

I was going crazy because of the guy named Mei who was stuck right next to Emerald.

Whenever I went near Emerald, she would suddenly jump out and glare at me, and when I was stared at by her, I would lose all desire to despair.

“I’m sorry, Akari. You’re going to have to suffer because of me…”

“Don’t worry about me and get better soon, Midori.”

I didn’t really mean it, but I said it anyway.

Although I wish I could just lie there until I die.

‘Anyway, a monster taking care of a magical girl…

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

I was getting used to changing wet towels, so much so that I thought I was an expert.

If the other magical girls who knew about Apocalypse saw this sight, they would probably be shocked.

‘Come to think of it, don’t the other magical girls have any memories of Apocalypse?’

Of course, it would have been much better for me not to have any memories, but since I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I was a bit uneasy…

Even if I somehow managed to boil Emerald, there was no guarantee that the other magical girls would end up like that.

Especially Ruby.

If Ruby had memories of Apocalypse, she would have come straight to me without any hesitation.

“I guess I’m being punished…”

“What kind of punishment?”

“For treating Akari badly…”

What’s wrong with her?

It seemed like her mental state had also deteriorated because her body was sick.

No, if you think about it, it might be better to say that she returned to her original Emerald.

In the original, Emerald was a warm and radiant beauty.

‘Well, is that better than being suspected…?’

If I could just shut Mei’s mouth somehow, I thought I could avoid being caught.

The problem, if there was one, was that Mei wasn’t an ordinary person.

All day long, he would stick to Emerald’s side, his lips moving as if he was going to say something, and every time he did, my heart would flutter and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

“Akari, it’s not because of me that you can’t go out, is it?”

“Someone is sick in bed and can’t go out even if they want to.”

“I’m sorry.”

There are many things I’m sorry about.

And, the ones who should be sorry aren’t me, but other humans.

For example, the humans I couldn’t save in the previous world.

“Really, I’m failing as a magical girl.”

Woof—’I’m lucky today.

Emerald is the type to generate despair energy when she tortures herself.

Although Mei’s gaze was harsh, I wasn’t stupid enough to let the despair that had finally been created flow away.

You can’t sense this level of despair anyway, right?

If you did, you would have sensed it a long time ago when you ate Tamako’s despair.

“By the way, Midori, aren’t you hungry?”

“I’m fine.”

Gulp.

I knew it.

I wanted to tell Emerald about my hunger, but humans are weak creatures, and if they don’t eat on time, their lives are in danger.

Do I have no choice but to feed them?

Even if that weren’t the case, Tamako woke up earlier saying she was hungry.

“…I’m hungry.”

“Should I order you something to eat?”

“…Please.”

Emerald shook her head as she blushed.

See, when you’re sick and trying to endure hunger, your face gets hot like this.

Tsk tsk inwardly and gave a sneaky glance to Mei, who was floating next to Emerald.

‘If you say something weird while I’m on the phone, I won’t let you stay still?’

[…I’ll stay still.]

Huh?

What if I answer there, you idiot?

It was a secret from Emerald that I knew how to see Mei.

You weren’t going to tell her that way?

There’s no way, right?

“I’ll borrow your phone, Midori.”

“Yes.”

Handing her phone over to the monster.

I wondered what was inside the phone, and when I turned it on, it was a bland, dull phone with no background, password, or pattern.

Anyone who looked at it could tell that it was a phone that she had bought for work.

“So… um, there is.

It seems that there is a delivery app in this world.”

Since we are both sick people, ordering enough to kill should be enough, right?

Since I am the type who suffers from despair, I didn’t see the need to order food separately.

Even if I ordered, I would pretend to eat it and just throw it all away.

‘Oh, there’s iTube here too.

Isn’t that too realistic?

It seems like this is my first time accessing the internet in this world.

The doctor was a very Confucian monster, and he never let me put a cell phone in my hand.

And sending those.

Tsk tsk, you should’ve just given me your cell phone and I would’ve behaved.

That’s why I’m no good to monsters.

The reality of magical girls.

Are we really safe?

[About the characteristics and uniqueness of monsters.]

[I was captured by a monster, but I saw a magical girl, so I’m lucky—]

… The world is the same no matter where you go.

Whether it’s filming monsters or filming magical girls…

The battle video between a monster and a magical girl that boasted 10 million views even gave me emotions I’d never felt in an animation.

The reason Ruby escaped in real time…

Hmm?

While I was thinking about it, one video caught my eye.

The content was that Magical Girl Ruby declared that she would leave the association and pursue an individual career.

Now that I think about it, was it around this time that she left the association?

‘I know for sure that she left because she was sick of the association’s corruption…

The reward money she received every time she killed a monster must be pretty good, but she left it all.

Even though she was a magical girl, she thought of living without money.

No matter how much I thought about it, Ruby was an idiot.

That’s why kids who don’t know the ways of the world are no good.

Kids who don’t know the ways of the world to fight monsters is also a problem.

Tsk tsk.

You don’t look happy?

“Oh, yes, uh… More importantly, can you please not talk to me?”

…I can’t not talk to you when you have that kind of expression on your face.

Fortunately, Emerald had fallen asleep, but if she had been awake, things could have been very bad.

No, more importantly, what’s wrong with my expression?

She turned on the camera app on her phone and switched it to self-camera mode.

‘Hmm, she definitely looks scared…;

Her expression was really rotten because she was thinking of a magical girl.

Why did you make me think of a magical girl?

No matter how much I thought about it, it seemed right for Emerald’s partner, Mei, who was the owner of the phone with the iTube video, to take responsibility instead.

Accept the punishment for making me feel bad!

Mei rang.

[Woohak?! Ma, you touched me?!]

“Huh…”

Why can’t I touch it?

Wasn’t the original setting that only magical girls can touch partners?

Mei, whose cheek was pressed against my finger, stepped back in shock.

It was like her whole body had been thrown into radioactive waste.

‘Who would make that expression, tsk.

To me, a life form made up of lumps of hope was more repulsive than a cockroach.

Well, I did sense it.

Even when it was elegantly devouring Emerald’s despair, it ran up to me and slammed its body into me.

‘That means there’s a chance it’ll touch my body in the future, right?

Just get rid of it here?

Mei’s shoulders flinched as she received my gaze.

Hey, what are you shaking your head about—

I was just joking, joking!