Chapter 54: Unwelcomed Guests (5)

“…Get out of the way, Emerald.”

“No.”

“No matter how much you are, I can’t tolerate you blocking that guy’s path.”

Although I was watching with a light heart, the situation was literally on the brink of collapse.

Ruby’s expression, which had just recovered from the shock of my words, was the very definition of a vicious murder.

Her face seemed to say that she would deal with Apocalypse right here and now, no matter what…

Huh, am I in danger right now?

“It’s okay, Akari. I’ll protect you no matter what.”

Emerald, the more you said that, the worse Ruby’s expression became.

It was to the point where I was worried, not someone else.

You didn’t eat something wrong or anything, right?

Huh?

It was to the point where I thought I had brainwashed Emerald without even realizing it.

“Get out of the way right now!!”

“Huh?!”

The red energy blade shooting at me was blocked by the green hope energy.

As I slowly retreated from the battle that seemed to be about to begin in earnest, Garnet, who was next to me, quietly approached me.

“…Let’s run away.”

“…I guess that’s the best?”

After whispering and talking, I finished preparing to run away with all my might.

More importantly, I think I should turn off the despair circuit before running away, but it wouldn’t turn off at all.

I reached out to the halo floating above my head, but the halo didn’t disappear or anything.

Oh, really.

How can I make it disappear!

“Hey, Akari. It’s hard to breathe, but you can’t really get rid of that thing above my head?”

“…I told you, it wasn’t something I wanted to happen.”

I didn’t lie.

I never wanted the despair circuit to appear on me.

Garnet sighed at my grumbling answer and started running with all her might, saying she had no choice.

Of course, I also started running after Garnet.

“Apocalypse! Where are you running to!!”

“I’m your opponent, Ruby!”

Kwaang-!!!!

Wow, it’s scary to look back, scary.

The hot hope energy I felt behind my back was so strong that it gave me goosebumps all over my body.

Was that how much hope was trying to pierce my body right now?

…I’m so glad Emerald is on my side.

If Emerald had been hostile to me, I really wouldn’t have been able to bear it.

For me—especially for me who had activated the despair circuit—hope energy was like feeding a person with a peach allergy a lot of peaches.

…I think I understand a little why Apocalypse was killing magical girls.

If you burst a peach, another fruit that suits your taste will come out, so why wouldn’t you burst the peach and leave?

“Whew…”

“…Haah.”

I ran away, but I couldn’t return to the city.

If I went to the city in this state, all the normal people could have become ruined.

Really, life—no, being a monster student is hard, it’s hard.

I shook my head as I watched Garnet gasping for breath next to me.

‘It seems impossible for me to cling to Emerald’s house in this condition!

Since Ruby knew Emerald’s house address, it was obvious that she would come by and stab me whenever she wanted.

I just wanted to comfortably suck up despair, not live with my life threatened every day.

I’m sorry, but Emerald, it seems like our relationship ends here.

“So, what are you going to do from now on? I can’t go back to the city like that.”

…Well, I guess I’ll have to live in a place where there are no humans for the time being.

Living in a place where there are no humans meant not encountering the despair of humans.

Could I, a monster, live in a place where there is no despair of humans?

Well, of course I could.

It was difficult to say that I had lived a very affluent life up until now.

‘But, the future is the problem…!

Maybe because I was born a human, it seemed like there was still some human thinking left in me.

Seeing the monster, which was only focused on devouring the despair right in front of it, think about the future.

“You should go back, Garnet.”

“What about you?”

“I’m not human, so I guess something will work out.”

“…What is that?”

Unlike humans who would groan if they didn’t eat, it seemed like they wouldn’t starve to death if they didn’t have any despair.

Of course, it was like that now, and I don’t know what would happen later.

Maybe I’d continue to be so hungry that I could die.

I couldn’t imagine what would happen, though.

“It’ll be okay since the doctor is here. And, right now, wouldn’t it be better to worry about you first?”

“Me? Why me?”

“I’m Ruby, the magical girl you saw earlier.”

“Oh, she wasn’t really famous, was she?”

“Ruby, Ruby… What?! That Ruby!? That girl?!!!?”

Garnet asked, her eyes widening as she pondered the name Ruby for a moment.

What on earth did you hear just now?

Well, you must have been caught between the despair of Apocalypse and the hope of Emerald and Ruby.

“You caught the eye of such a great magical girl? And in a bad way.”

“I don’t care.”

“Why, magical girl, why don’t you quit?”

“How did you know?”

“I don’t feel any hope from you right now.”

Garnet looked fine on the outside, but her body had already completely lost its functions as a magical girl.

She was a completely ordinary human being who didn’t feel any hope.

If she regained hope someday, she might regain her strength, but for now, that was how it was.

“This is a level of despair that would be hard for a normal person to endure, are you okay?”

“…I can endure it.”

Perhaps because she had experience as a magical girl, fortunately, she didn’t seem to despair or anything even when my despair was right in front of her.

In the original, Apocalypse would automatically make any random person despair if they came near her.

It certainly seemed much weaker than the original Apocalypse.

Or maybe I was unconsciously controlling it.

“Go ahead, Garnet. You’ll only be affected by bad things if you stay next to me.”

“Are you really okay?”

“Why wouldn’t you be okay? I’ve been eating a lot of despair all day.”

The problem, if anything, was that the despair circuit wouldn’t turn off.

Garnet’s gaze wasn’t one that looked at a monster, but rather one that looked at humans who were treated as monsters.

Even so, it was a gaze full of pity.

I don’t think I’m in a position to receive sympathy.

Since the doctor was here, I thought that the despair I was eating would somehow be resolved.

Of course, even if that wasn’t the case, I could ask about how to turn off the despair circuit.

“But more than that, I have one question.”

“What is it? Since you’re my benefactor, I’ll answer everything.”

“Ugh, it’s so creepy to hear a magical girl call you my benefactor.”

“Is that really all…”

It’s awkward for an ordinary person to receive thanks, but to have the other person be a magical girl?

From a monster’s perspective, there’s no greater shame.

After all, monsters were enemies of magical girls, not beings who helped them.

“Now that you’re a former magical girl, isn’t it okay to take it easy?”

“…Well, to be honest, it’s the same whether I hear thanks from a magical girl or a normal person.”

Well, the thanks are too hopeful a story.

I prefer hopeless stories.

No, maybe the story went too far.

At that moment, I asked the question I wanted to ask.

A question that any fan of the original work couldn’t help but ask.

That was, “When you did the Hope Threshold, what moment came to mind?”

“…What?”

The Hope Threshold, which could be seen as the awakening of a magical girl.

I knew that usually, the trigger was to think of the happiest moment for a magical girl.

Emerald—what was it?

Was it a moment shared with everyone?

Anyway, I couldn’t help but be curious.

The magical girl named Garnet was a magical girl who didn’t appear at all in the original work.

“If it’s uncomfortable, you don’t have to say anything. I was just asking out of pure curiosity.”

After catching my breath for a moment, I waited for her response.

“It doesn’t matter if you tell me. It wasn’t really a secret worth hiding. It wasn’t even a secret to begin with.”

I couldn’t help it if you didn’t tell me—just as I was thinking that, a surprisingly refreshing answer came back.

Oh, originally I thought you wouldn’t tell me because it was a trade secret.

It might seem a bit ironic that I’m a monster listening to hopeful stories, but right now, satisfying my intellectual curiosity was the top priority.

Goosebumps caused by hope—well, it’s not like I can get goosebumps more than once.

“I had a senior. I thought about the moment I was with that senior.”

“Your senior?”

“Yes. Opal, someone with white hair and rainbow-colored eyes. She went away to a place I’ll never see again.”

“…”

Garnet had a rather wistful expression as she spoke.

It was as if she was thinking of a friend or family member who had passed away.

“More than that, it’s familiar… No, it was so familiar that it was almost affectionate.”

It wouldn’t be a lie if I said that someone came to mind the moment I heard Garnet’s words.

“If she had white hair and rainbow-colored eyes, then of course she would be… Tamako, the despair potion that gave me despair every day.”

It seemed like she was Garnet’s senior.