Chapter 7: Intermission

[Peridot, are you okay?]

She was suddenly receiving attention to the point that she was even on the news, but Peridot’s expression didn’t change.

In the gloomy and oppressive atmosphere, the mascot next to her called her name restlessly.

“Yeah, it’s okay.”

A faint smile formed. But how much sincerity was in that smile?

The saying that she couldn’t cry and laughed might have been the perfect expression for her right now.

“You said you saved people, but there were a lot more people you couldn’t save than you did.”

Peridot wasn’t young enough to be cheered up by a few words of praise from the media.

Even the sight she saw back then—how could she possibly forget that?

“…Shio.”

[Yeah, Peridot!]

“Is that big sister okay?”

[…]

Peridot closed her eyes.

In the black landscape where she couldn’t see anything, the face she had seen last began to come to mind clearly.

Resentment, resignation, and despair.

Those dark and sad emotions that stabbed her heart, which used hope as strength, pierced Peridot’s heart like thorns.

[…]

“I can’t say I’m safe.”

“As expected, right?”

A monster taking a human hostage was a sight she had never seen before.

If he had continued to attack, would it have been different?

‘If I had come to my senses then… I could have saved him.’

As she bit her lips and leaned down, a small sob escaped through the gap.

It’s my fault. I was stupidly standing still, and that person—

Ding-dong.

“Hey! Are you inside?! I’m coming in!!”

“… Huh?”

But a sound broke the gloomy atmosphere.

The doorbell rang once neatly, but the voice coming from outside was far from calm.

Peridot quickly locked the door at the sound of the door lock opening, got up from her seat, and ran to it, but the door opened.

“Hey, youngest!!”

“Hyak?!”

Right before she arrived, the door opened with a sudden bang, and Peridot fell on her butt.

As she looked at her opponent with tears in her eyes, her eyebrows, which had been raised as if she was angry, began to twitch.

“What’s with all that effort, that despair!”

“S-senpai… that…”

“You were the one who said ‘I’ll try to save as many people as I can!’ when I told you I might not be able to save everyone!”

“But…”

But, she might have been able to save that person.

If she had been a little more skilled.

If she had, then definitely…!

Clap-!!

“Ahhh?! Senpai!?”

Peridot’s tears welled up as she saw the palm of her hand slap her back.

T-this is the power of a mid-level magical girl?

She must have swung it lightly, but the power contained within was not ordinary.

“Youngest.”

“Yes, senpai.”

“You just have to save more people than you couldn’t save this time.”

“… What if there were people you couldn’t save then?”

“Then you just have to save more people than you couldn’t save then.”

Peridot let out a hollow laugh as she watched her opponent smirk.

Those are words worthy of a senior.

However, Peridot knew how much agony was hidden in those seemingly calm words.

And how sad she was when she couldn’t save people.

“… Really, I can’t handle it, Senior.”

“Right?”

The person who snickered and placed a hand on the top of her head began to ruffle Peridot’s hair.

She somehow managed to raise the corners of her mouth at his actions, as if telling her to just shake off this gloomy atmosphere.

That’s right, I’m a magical girl.

She smiled, defeating monsters, protecting people, and spreading hope to the world—

‘It’s too late. Can I become that kind of magical girl?’

A question about herself that she didn’t even realize.

In that fleeting moment, a faint gray line was added to Peridot’s mind.

One day, in the distant future, the gray named Obsession would eat her.

“Oh, by the way, there’s a magical girl you like, right? What is she?”

“Emerald-sama?”

“You, right? Tsk, you call me ‘senpai’ and not even ‘senpai,’ but you call a magical girl you don’t know ‘sama’?”

“Emerald-sama is the magical girl I admire! I think it’s natural to use honorifics!”

But a girl is still a girl.

When the topic of the person she admired the most came up, Peridot’s eyes began to sparkle light green.

Literally pure emotions.

How many people in the world could possibly say something unpleasant when those emotions are right in front of them?

“Anyway, that girl Emerald, she came here all of a sudden.”

“Huh?”

“Did your ears get blocked? That girl Emerald, who you can’t live without, is coming to this city.”

“Huh?!!?! Now, tell me more! Why on earth is that Emerald-sama here!? This is a remote city where only Beta-class monsters appear at best!”

A bombshell statement—it wasn’t a bombshell statement to the person who made the statement, but anyway.

Peridot’s eyes widened as if they were going to explode at her bombshell statement.

At the same time, she grabbed the hem of her clothes and started tugging on them.

She could feel her intention to rip these clothes off if she didn’t tell her why, so she decided to explain properly despite the inconvenience.

“Because something worse than a Beta-class monster came out, right?”

“Don’t worry. They wouldn’t come here to harm you.”

Haha, her senior said with a laugh, but despite his laughter, the silence that had permeated Peridot showed no signs of disappearing.

Emerald-sama is, after all, a central magical girl.

How could someone who deals with monsters worse than Gamma-class suddenly come to a remote city like this?

And all because a Gamma-class monster appeared on top of that?

‘I’d rather die than survive alone… Grumble, grouse, grouse!’

The girl’s voice came into her head.

At the same time, the monster’s mocking cries filled her mind.

‘A monster that takes humans hostage… Was that really a Gamma-class monster?’

If it wasn’t just a Gamma-class monster, but a monster worse than that, why on earth would such a monster appear in a remote city like this?

Amidst the questions that were rising up in confusion, a scene suddenly flashed through her head.

Grunt—

Peridot slowly closed her eyes, recalling the girl who had faintly smiled the moment she was captured by the monster.

What was that smile?

Was it a mockery directed at Peridot, who she had failed to save, or a detached smile that came out at the thought of meeting her family?

If it wasn’t either of those, then what on earth did that smile mean?

“You made me kill a magical girl, but if she doesn’t listen, then it’s meaningless, meaningless!”

“”

“Monster girl! Are you listening!? Heh, you made me like this, and you’re acting so calm…!”

I could hear the familiar nagging of my mother from the doctor who was screaming.

Even though I had barely turned on a single fluorescent light, bandages were wrapped all over the doctor’s body.

Haa, turn it on again?

As I slowly moved my hand toward the switch, the doctor began to flinch.

“Ugh, ugh! As expected, this is the masterpiece of my life! It’s just as evil as any other monster! No, it’s even worse!”

“That doesn’t seem like much of a compliment.”

“It’s not a compliment, so it’s normal to feel that way.”

I wasn’t teasing anyone, this disqualified doctor.

Since it had come to this, I decided to press the switch to test how long I had to keep the light on before the doctor would turn to ash and disappear.

Yes. If the doctor hadn’t clung to my arm with all his might, it would have happened.

“T-stop it! If you expose yourself to any more light, you’ll burn to death!”

“That’s why I’m turning it on.”

“That’s….”

Perhaps sensing sincerity in my indifference, the doctor began to gain strength in his arms.

Was this the doctor I knew?

Or did he regress to childhood after being hit by light?

He had been a crazy monster to begin with, but now he looked even more unusual.

Groan, grunt, grunt!

“Don’t laugh at me as a test subject! The guy who sent me to find this guy secretly is happily indulging in despair and being lazy, what did he do well! Oh, you’re one of those who don’t listen to the doctor?!”

He smiled brightly, feeling that his intimacy with monsters was increasing.

No, rather.

‘I thought it felt a little different from ordinary monsters, but it seems that this monster was also handmade by the doctor. After all, it’s handmade. If it’s handmade by the doctor, is it like we’re siblings? Oh, that strange familiarity I had been thinking was actually real?’

“Anyway! The guy who doesn’t listen needs to be punished. Test subject! Catch the monster girl!”

Groan!

“Quickly!”

The monster, unable to withstand the Doctor’s temper, wiggled its shadow and grabbed me.

I felt it before, but this sensation is strangely addictive.

It was a little dissatisfying that I couldn’t touch it as I wanted because I couldn’t move my arm properly.

Anyway.

“It’s a total mess because I configured the despair circuit based on a magical girl, a total mess! I’ll reform that rotten mind into a monster-like one!”

The Doctor started walking with a mad scientist’s signature smile.

How much more monster-like did he have to become to be recognized as a real monster?

Sighing inwardly, I resolved to turn on the fire again and fry the Doctor until he was golden brown.

It was literally an unfilial son.

In other words, it was filial piety in the monster way.