Chapter 64: Give Me Your Despair (2)

To be honest, I couldn’t say that Emerald and I were that close.

We hadn’t even known each other for very long.

No, no.

In some ways, I didn’t know that we had a deep and long relationship.

If you just think about the relationship between Emerald and Apocalypse in the original, it was already deep and long enough.

‘I’m not Apocalypse.

Emerald didn’t think of me as Apocalypse in the first place.

All we had here was Akari, a poor girl who had become a monster because of the doctor’s experiments.

The current Emerald was just an eccentric magical girl who wanted to take care of that poor girl.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have said that she would take such a lump of disaster to her home.

“Are you really stupid? Where in the world is there a magical girl who would be kind to a monster?”

“You saved Tamako. In that hellish place.”

“…”

No, that’s it.

I tried to say something, but couldn’t bring myself to say it, so I forced myself to swallow it.

How misunderstood is this magical girl?

In Emerald’s head, I was a kind person who saved the girl who was being experimented on at the doctor’s lab.

‘In a way, it was right to save her, and it was also a hellish place, but…’

The other person’s thoughts and the feeling about my actions were too different.

Of course, I didn’t intend to waste time trying to clear up the misunderstanding.

Rather, I only intended to exploit the misunderstanding if I could.

“…Ha, okay.”

“Then…”

“It doesn’t seem like a particularly good method, but if something happens to me, a great magical girl will definitely take responsibility. Right?”

However, this was also a gamble in a way.

The great gamble of putting Emerald’s hope into my despair circuit.

If the despair circuit doesn’t stop even with that, or if it goes wrong and something goes wrong—

… Let’s think about it later.

It’s about time for the other magical girls to come here.

The hopes that I could feel in the dark clouds were getting closer and closer.

If this continued, it was only a matter of time before the other magical girls would see me.

Looking at it this way, I felt like I had been dealt a huge blow by Emerald.

Taking advantage of the fact that I had no choice but to listen to her and acting selfishly…

I will definitely repay this humiliation, Emerald!

“If it’s about giving me hope, I can help.

The hope of two magical girls would be more effective than the hope of one.”

“You’re helping me… Thank you so much, Sapphire.”

“Haa.”

How did the two magical girls end up joining forces to give hope to my despair circuit?

I couldn’t help but sigh at the two of them continuing the conversation as they pleased.

If this goes wrong, what on earth are they planning to do?

Tsk.

‘Even if they’re magical girls, isn’t their heads too full of flowers?’

Oh, or is that it?

If the despair circuit is turned off, it’s good because we’ve achieved our goal, and if I mess up like this, it’s not bad because we’ve completely dealt with Apocalypse?

If that’s the case, then maybe I can understand a little bit.

“Come on.”

“Akari, are you sure you’re okay?”

“What are you asking me if I’m okay after you told me?”

Emerald was asking if I was okay only when it was time to give her hope.

It wasn’t like she was teasing a monster; what the hell was she doing?

“But Akari is a monster, so…”

“She won’t die just like that, so don’t worry.

I was starting to get sick of being alone on an island with nothing.”

When I said this indifferently to Emerald, who was fidgeting, Emerald’s expression relaxed a little.

It seemed like she was relieved because I was reacting the same way as usual.

“Let’s get started.”

“Okay.”

Woohoooong—

I bit my lips as the two lumps of hope slowly approached the despair circuit.

It felt like I was forced to eat food I absolutely did not want to eat.

A feeling of disgust that was dozens of times stronger than what I had felt before stabbed my spine.

Crackle, crackle…

“…!!”

A moment later.

The moment I accepted hope into the despair circuit, I felt as if my whole body was burning.

My insides were so messed up that I reflexively vomited.

No matter what, what was this strong hope that was pouring out?

“Ah, Akari! Are you okay?!”

“Not at all.”

I frowned as I looked at the black blood that I had vomited on the floor.

There was no way I would be okay after being subjected to something worse than torture.

But if there was one thing that was fortunate, it was that I didn’t scream and roll around on the floor.

If I had shown that to Emerald, I might have died of embarrassment.

… Anyway.

The great despair that had engulfed my entire body completely disappeared.

It was an ignorant method, but it seemed that I had succeeded in stopping the despair circuit.

It wasn’t like I was pouring water on fire…

It felt like I knew the heart of the fire being poured with water.

“It seems that the despair around me doesn’t disappear just because the disk above my head disappeared.”

“I guess so.”

The despair that had spread due to the despair circuit’s operation—the black cloud—didn’t disappear right away.

Well, in a way, you could say that it was fortunate.

If the black cloud had suddenly disappeared, the magical girls would have come over without a care.

Then all that’s left is to get out before the other magical girls arrive…

There must be something that would drive the other guys crazy.

Oh, there’s one.

‘Stop just eating and wake up a little!’

He rarely showed himself, but among the monsters, there was one that was particularly large.

He fed on despair all day, and the rest of the time he just slept.

If it was that guy, wouldn’t he be able to attract the attention of the magical girls?

I called him in my head, and soon after, a response came back.

Guggugguggug.

“… What is this?!”

“Whew…”

He slowly exhaled while looking at the two magical girls who were flustered by the sudden shaking.

It was worth the mental education I gave them by kicking the sea every day.

I was half-believing it because it was the laziest of the monsters that hated working.

Swaas.

Sapphire heard Emerald’s shout and began to back away, hugging me who was sitting on the ground.

‘Come on, fight, fight.

It was a pity for the squid guy over there, but the black cloud around here had to be caused by that guy.

If the magical girls entered the black cloud and there was nothing there, everyone would have thought it was strange.

Well, it wouldn’t matter if it remained an unknown cause for the rest of my life, but…

‘That’s more fun.

I’ve had a hard time, so shouldn’t they have a hard time too?

The peculiar bitter taste of blood and the disgusting feeling of hope coexisted in my mouth.

Ugh, I want to rinse my mouth out.

“Are you okay, Akari?”

“I’m okay, y’know…”

My words came out intermittently, perhaps because I was flying around in the sky.

No, to ask if it was okay after giving hope to the monster in the first place…

You guys really have no blood or tears when it comes to monsters.

You guys need to study monster sensitivity, seriously.

No matter what happens, I will protect you.

Look ahead.

Swaaa… Blessings come to those who endure.

Phew.

“Ugh.”

What the heck.

Really, is there another monster as unfortunate as me?