Chapter 28: Uncomfortable Cohabitation (3)

The night everyone was asleep.

I was in a deep sleep, blissfully feeling the despair of the two magical girls next to me.

Kkeuk, keuk-keuk… Here it comes again.

I slowly opened my eyes to the faint sound of the monster’s cries and turned my gaze outside the window.

Then I saw the red moon—no, to be exact, the monster’s eyes.

“How on earth did this city come to be that there are monsters roaming around every night?”

I felt like running to the top of this city and grabbing them by the collar.

Anyway, since I wasn’t turning on the despair circuit, the monster didn’t notice me and tried to get in through the window.

It was like knocking on the window with something like a bird’s beak and trying to find a way to get in, really…

‘It looks like a cockroach looking for food.’

I canceled the fact that the magical girl looked like a cockroach.

Looking at it this way, the monster looked even more like a cockroach.

Even though they were the same monster, it was still disgusting to see such a horribly twisted pelican-like appearance.

More than anything, I was happily consuming despair right now, but tsk.

“Hey.”

Squeak?

“Aren’t you going to go away?”

I miss the monster I first met at the shelter.

That guy was a guy I could communicate with quite well.

If the others felt like cockroaches, that guy felt like a giant puppy, yeah.

Anyway, I hurled a lot of threats at the monster stuck to the window.

Huh, huh, all the despair here is mine, so don’t even think about it.

Squeak, squeak, squeak… Are you laughing?

The monster started laughing as if he found my actions ridiculous.

I was really offended by that sight, so even though I was consuming despair, my expression crumpled involuntarily.

What on earth do you believe in to act like that?

Didn’t the monster get any parenting these days?

No, you wouldn’t call it parenting…

Crunch squeak?

When I sneakily opened the window, the guy tilted his head as if he didn’t know what I meant.

Don’t most animals unconsciously realize that they’re a threat and run away?

You don’t know what will happen to you in the future and you’re just sitting there dumbly.

Kkiiiiiik?!??!!?!

“I told you to get out.”

Looking at the open window, I thought, “That’s right.”

I instinctively reached out my hand at the sight of the guy trying to come in.

Then I slapped his neck.

He looked like a chicken with his neck about to get twisted.

He flapped his wings and struggled his short legs to escape my grasp, but I’m not a monster that can be easily overcome.

“If the monster warns you, you should listen to it.”

Squeak…!!!

No, I was going to give him some life advice and you’re kicking him here?

The monster’s sharp claws ripped off the shoulder part of his clothes.

I was already in a bad mood, and now the only piece of clothing I had is ruined, what should I say…

“This won’t do.”

You take a loss.

Slowly, very slowly, I started to tighten my grip.

The monster realized that something was wrong and stopped moving, but the ship had already sailed away a long time ago.

Squeak, squeak, squeak…

Listen to me.

With a weak final cry, the monster with its broken neck fell limply.

When I threw the monster, which was obviously dead, a black liquid clung to me.

‘Still, it’s better than eating hope.’

The shadow began to move slowly and eat the monster’s corpse.

It didn’t feel like eating the despair of a magical girl, but the despair accumulated in the monster’s body seemed to be at least as much as several humans.

It’s enough to eat, hmm.

If I were a normal monster, I would have enjoyed eating this, but this part was a little disappointing.

[Akari…]

“Shit. Do you want to make some noise?”

[S, sorry…]

Why is she suddenly so timid?

Mei, who approached me hesitantly, looked up at me with a very unpleasant expression.

Tsk, I didn’t notice this lump of hope coming near.

I almost swatted it away like a fly.

“By the way, did you see it? Where did you start?”

[T-T from the part where Akari said, “Hey, get out of here?”]

That means I saw it from the beginning.

For a magical girl’s partner, this guy has a sinister side.

Are you saying you just watched him without making a sound?

“Why, is this the first time you’ve seen a monster that kills monsters?”

[No, that…]

As he brushed his hands away with a rude attitude, the byproduct that had been on his hands disappeared into the shadows.

He narrowed his eyes at Mei, who was rolling her eyes here and there.

This guy isn’t thinking, ‘Can’t I use this as a monster processor or something?’ right?

[Thanks for protecting Emerald.]

“Huh?”

What the hell are you talking about?

Who protected whom? Me? Emerald?

Hearing those horrible words, goosebumps appeared on his arms.

Ugh, my stomach… feels nauseous…

“Hey, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it’s not like that?”

[Th, is it?]

“That’s it. Uh, I was wondering what you were talking about… Ugh..!”

It felt similar to when I swallowed hope.

My body temperature dropped, my head felt cold as if it had been hit with a hammer, and my stomach felt uneasy.

In order to cleanse my tainted heart, I licked up the monster’s byproducts on the floor.

Of course, not with my mouth, but with my shadow.

[Isn’t that a little too unpleasant? The more I receive thanks, the better it feels.]

“Ugh.”

[You threw up!? You threw up like a cat throwing up a ball of thread?!]

Do you think I’d feel good just because I was complimented by a lump of hope?

As I felt disgusted and gagged, a lump of despair that hadn’t been digested fell down.

Mei was terrified and avoided that lump of despair, but she was still saying what she wanted to say.

“Go away, lump of hope. It’s making me sick.”

This is too much, you’re talking too much!]

“Get out, you magical girl’s lackey. It’s disgusting.”

[It’s gotten worse!?]

How much more do you expect to hear such nice things?

A creature that makes me feel bad just by looking at it—no, is it even a creature?

Anyway, that creature kept talking to me as if it was friendly, so no matter how much I tried to control myself, I couldn’t.

[Anyway, thank you! For protecting Emerald!]

“No…”

She said what she wanted to say and left.

I sighed as I watched Mei fly to Emerald with a “Pororoong” sound effect.

If I have despair, I don’t have to sleep, so I should just stay awake a little longer.

The moon is really bright, bright.

It was a night when I thought of the eyeballs of the bird-type monster I had just killed.

“Hmm…”

Woofwoof—[How is it, Emerald?]

“I think it’s gotten a lot better.”

I slowly let out a breath as the hope circuit slowly started to move, although it was creaking a little.

Not long ago, she had a high fever, but she seemed to have recovered quite quickly, perhaps because she had slept well.

She had also been nursed all day.

‘Akari—she doesn’t look too well.’

Her expression was dark, perhaps because she had suffered a lot while I was sick.

It was only natural, since she hadn’t eaten properly and had been nursing me until late at night.

“Why did I suspect someone like that…

She was a difficult person to grasp, but she wasn’t a bad person at all.

If Akari had been a monster, she would have had enough time to do something while I was down.

I should treat Akari better from now on.

[Emerald, what do you think about Akari?]

“Akari? Why Akari?”

[No, that… I wonder if it’s the same as what I thought last time.]

When I first met Akari, and now, there was literally a world-wide difference.

Even if I thought of Apocalypse now, I wouldn’t think of Akari.

The opposite was also true.

“It’s okay now. You seem different from the person I knew.”

[…I see.]

Mei’s eyes were slightly wet.

Really, a partner who is touched by such trivial things.

I felt embarrassed at the thought of making such a partner suffer, so I patted Mei’s head with my fingers.

Come on, don’t cry.

Huh?

“You’re finally awake, Midori.”

“Yes, thank you for everything. If it weren’t for Akari, I might have been sick for longer.”

“Of course I would have.”

Akari turned her head with a huff.

Was she upset?

Well, it would be stranger if she wasn’t upset since she suffered so much because of me.

‘Even Tamako was taken care of together…’

When there was one sick person, two people could take care of one person, but when there were two sick people, she had to take care of both by herself.

Maybe it would be better to buy her something delicious.

Even though she didn’t look like it, Akari had a pretty good appetite.

I’ve never seen anyone whose belly clock rang that often, so yeah.

“Akari.”

“Yes, Midori.”

“Is there anything you want? Just ask me anything.”

That was all I could give her in return.

Since she had plenty of money, she could buy her most things.

In the first place, she didn’t have any use for the money because she was always going around dealing with monsters, so it might have been better to use it this way.

Akari, who hesitated as if she was worried about my words, was really cute.