Chapter 71: Kidnapping
by Afuhfuihgs[An incident where a man in his 30s shouted that the end of the world was coming and jumped into the road and diedㅡ]
“Tsk tsk, the world is ending, the end of the world.”
I stretched out on the sofa.
It’d already been a few weeks since I returned to Emerald’s house.
My body and mind were melting away from the continuous, uneventful daily routine.
“Benefactor.”
“…Ugh.”
Thanks to Garnet’s devoted nursing, Tamako quickly recovered her health.
This might be good news for the magical girls around her, but it wasn’t so good news for me.
Tamako, who had recovered her health to some extent, tormented me every day.
Like a child who pets her pet roughly.
“If I keep lying down, I’ll turn into a cow?”
“…I don’t care if I turn into a cow, so just leave me alone.”
I weakly replied to Tamako, who put her hand in my armpit and lifted me up.
Maybe it was because Tamako was a skilled former magical girl, but even as she spoke with a smile, I didn’t feel any hope.
If I felt any hope from Tamako, I would have thrown myself into that closet like a cockroach avoiding light.
“Come on, let’s go out together. I’d like you even if you were a cow, but I like you better now.”
“…It’s annoying.”
“Really, if we keep going like this, you’ll really turn into a dirty monster?”
Tamako spoke with a motherly expression reprimanding her.
A stern but kind expression.
It wasn’t the kind of expression a former magical girl would make towards a monster.
More importantly, I don’t know what you mean by dirty monster.
Isn’t it a little strange to use the same word twice?
“Eun~in~niim~”
“Euuuu…”
As Tamako swayed from side to side, my lower body also swayed from side to side.
Even if I told her not to go, she seemed like she’d drag me along on her own, so why did she really need permission?
I sighed inwardly at Tamako, who had acted like an adult until just before, but had now completely become a child.
Tamako, you were the best when you just lay still.
“Okay, okay. Let’s go on an outing.”
“Thank you, benefactor!”
Tamako smiled brightly as I nodded as if I had no choice.
Was going out really something to be happy about?
I wiggled my toes that had touched the floor for the first time in a while and stretched once more.
Ugh… This body also gets sore if I just lie down for too long.
“I’m ready!”
“So, where do you want to go?”
Tamako hesitated for a moment at my question.
You don’t want to go to the Magical Girls Association, do you?
If not, she wouldn’t be embarrassed to talk to me.
It was the first time she had gone out alone with Tamako, so she had no idea where she wanted to go.
“To the cemetery, a little…”
“I don’t mind.”
She was being so quiet, so I wondered where she was going, but that was enough to make me want to go with her.
Maybe I should try some human despair for once.
It was nice to eat Tamako’s despair set meal, but it wasn’t bad to eat cheap human despair every once in a while.
Maybe because I had a memory of being indebted to you when I first came to this city, I didn’t feel any resistance.
“…Thank you, benefactor.”
I could sense a deep sadness from Tamako, who nodded.
It would have been nice if that sadness had been despair.
I turned my head with a short thought.
The sky outside the window was gloomy, as if it was going to rain at any moment.
The cemetery I visited after a long time had a gloomy atmosphere like before.
The scent of despair that I could feel with every breath.
Of course, the scent has become slightly fainter as the number of monsters has decreased, but there is no denying that it is a pleasant scent.
“…Senior, I’m here.”
Tamako muttered softly as she stood in front of the nameless tombstone.
Senior… Rather, if there is a tombstone, it means that she is already dead, right?
I don’t know what kind of magical girl she is, but since she is helping Tamako’s despair, I decided to think of her as a good magical girl.
Of course, I didn’t say it out loud.
“I’m too late, right? But please don’t say anything. I came as quickly as possible.”
With those words, Tamako placed a bouquet of flowers in front of the tombstone.
What followed was a moment of silence for the deceased.
Watching Tamako start to cry quietly, I secretly lifted the corners of my mouth.
‘Should I tell her to come often from now on?’
The despair while asleep was delicious, but the despair while awake was a delicacy.
The feeling of watching various emotions swirl and gradually sink…
Honestly, it was really the best.
“Thank you, my benefactor. For going along with my stubbornness.”
“Please let me know next time if you need anything.”
“…Yes, benefactor.”
I turned my head slightly to Tamako, who was smiling brightly.
A magical girl’s smiling face is always uncomfortable to see.
The magical girl in Apocalypse’s memories was either angry or crying, or one of the two.
Anyway.
“Would you like to go eat? Or maybe go grocery shopping?”
“…I’m not particularly hungry right now.”
Since I had just eaten Tamako’s despair, I didn’t feel hungry or anything.
Even though Tamako wasn’t talking about despair when she said eating.
“Let’s go back.”
“Yes, benefactor.”
Despite my firm rejection, Tamako didn’t lose her smile.
It was to the point where I thought that maybe she just liked spending time with me.
Of course, I also liked spending time with Tamako – especially when she was asleep – so I didn’t plan on saying anything about it.
Pitter-patter, thud-
“Oh, it’s raining.”
Fortunately, I brought an umbrella with me, so I was able to avoid the rain.
After opening the umbrella that Tamako gave me, a moment later, it didn’t take long for the raindrops that had been falling here and there to start making waves.
The weather forecast clearly said that it would be cloudy but not rainy.
I slowly exhaled, feeling the cold sensation of the raindrops that had sprung up.
A thick scent of despair flowed in through the raindrops.
“Please, help me.”
“…”
“Please, help me…”
When I came to my senses, a human woman was kneeling in front of me.
Dark circles filled her eyes and her eyes had lost half their life.
Given that she was in a cemetery, had she lost someone precious?
Or was she about to lose them?
“Do you know her?”
Tamako asked cautiously.
I slowly scanned the woman’s appearance.
For a human I was seeing for the first time, her face seemed strangely familiar.
Where had I seen her before?
There had to be one or two new faces I had recently come to know.
“Oh, I remembered.”
“Lina.”
Was she the mother of a human child named Aya?
In addition, she was also a researcher at the underground laboratory.
I don’t know if she came looking for me or if she found me while wandering around looking for help, but the despair she exuded was quite charming.
If I were a normal monster, I would have immediately chewed my head off.
“W-whatever it takes, I’ll do anything. So please, please save Aya…”
“…”
Did something happen to my daughter?
They say that you have to have a proper attitude when asking for a favor, and the woman in front of me was doing that very well.
I don’t have a hobby of helping humans, but it wouldn’t hurt to at least listen to her story.
“Calm down, and take a deep breath, take a deep breath.”
“Huh, ha… Huh, huh…”
“Are you feeling a little better now?”
“…I’m sorry. I came all of a sudden.”
It was Tamako’s job to calm down the half-panic human.
Unfortunately, I’m not the type to calm humans down, but rather to drive them crazy.
Maybe it’s because I’m a former magical girl, but I was pretty good at calming humans down.
As expected, Tamako is capable.
“Ayaga, she was kidnapped by a monster.”
“She might be dead.”
“T-she’s alive! She couldn’t be dead, she couldn’t be dead, y-you… sob…”
Oh, did I say that too directly?
I took a step back as I watched the human start to sob again.
I had a feeling that this was going to be a bother.
The sight of her crying miserably in the rain was pitiful enough to elicit sympathy from anyone who saw it, but that sight didn’t give me any feelings.
“Benefactor.”
“Yes, Tamako.”
“I know it’s rude to say this, but can I ask you one favor?”
“Please go ahead.”
What do you mean by “request”?
I didn’t really want to grant requests from humans—especially magical girls—but since they’d always given me despair up until now, I decided to grant them one favor.
‘Get rid of the human in front of me? Or should I tell them to go home quickly?’
“Can you help this person? I… I’m sorry if I’ve overstepped…”
… Of course that wouldn’t be the case.
Even though it was a request from someone I had just met today—and it wasn’t even directed at me—I was extending a helping hand out of pure goodwill.
It was an action that a normal human would never do.
As expected, former magical girls were different.
Although I did wonder what it would be like to receive help from a monster to find a child who had been kidnapped by a monster.
0 Comments