Chapter 76: Kidnapping (6)

“Director Shin, I brought you here.”

“Good. Thank you for your hard work.”

I flinched at the voice in my ear.

Covered in the veil of darkness, I couldn’t see the other person’s figure.

The voice had also changed into a mechanical sound.

What could it be? A man? Or a woman?

My heart began to pound in the dark atmosphere of the room.

“Dr. Lina, right? I heard that you conducted research on magical girls here.”

“…That’s right.”

“Good. Then you’ll be a great help to my experiments.”

Come closer, Dr. Lina.

I reflexively—no, impulsively—took a step at the words that fell as if they were a sentence.

If that’s the reason, then yes.

Grrrrrrrr—

“…”

The sound of crying coming from behind me sent goosebumps up my spine.

The fear that ran down my spine began to whisper, telling me to follow the voice.

“Take off the veil and check beyond.”

As I took a step, I saw something huge covered in black cloth.

As I blankly stared at it, a corner of my chest felt chills.

Even though I hadn’t checked inside, I felt like I knew what was beyond.

I just turned away, hoping it wasn’t true.

Swish—

“…Ah.”

“You’re the one completing it.”

A voice was heard.

The voice whispered.

The voice, the voice, the voice, over and over, over and over—the voice.

“…Ah?”

Aya in the test tube was looking at me.

With eyes that seemed to ask why I had only come now.

“A lie, right…?”

Her small body was filled with tubes for injecting something unidentified.

Her skin occasionally swelled and her eyes turned bright red.

Aya in the test tube had become a sight that made it impossible to call her Aya any longer.

“You, you…! What on earth, what on earth did you do to Aya!?”

“What did you do?”

The voice asked back at the scream that came out of my throat.

It was a dry tone, as if asking why she was angry.

I should have been angry at that tone, but why was my fear growing more than my anger?

It felt like a giant snake was strangling me.

“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing up until now, Doctor?”

Wooooowung—

That was a sentence.

A sentence that would punish me for everything I’d done up until now.

At the same time, the mechanical device in the test tube began to operate with a heavy noise.

Like the wheels of despair turning.

***

Thump—

“…”

“…”

Just before moving on to the next area.

I stopped in my tracks at the heaviness I felt inside.

A despair that was incomparably heavy compared to the despair that had been floating around here.

I shivered reflexively at the familiar yet unfamiliar sensation.

“I feel like something is going on inside.”

“…Are you okay?”

“Is there anything that wouldn’t be okay? I’m actually humming.”

Akari said that and hummed, “Hehehe~♪.”

…Isn’t she nervous at all in this situation?

Well, judging from her appearance so far, it seemed more awkward for Akari to be nervous.

I couldn’t think of anything in my head, so I thought that was enough for me to say.

“By the way, didn’t you say it was research related to magical girls?”

The despair I felt was too thick to be called research on magical girls.

It was a level of despair that would make a normal person lose their mind immediately.

Even though I hadn’t directly encountered it, my skin was tingling.

“Let’s go, Akari.”

“Okay. I was also curious about what was over there.”

I had to hurry.

I started walking quickly, following the cry of my instincts.

Faster, faster, faster—

“Ah, ah, ahh…”

“…Well, it doesn’t matter.”

Despair that would be burdensome even to a magical girl.

And a monster that would eat up such despair.

I wanted to say something to Akari, who was eating up despair without permission, but when I thought about it again, it seemed surprisingly okay, so I kept my mouth shut.

The combination of a magical girl and a monster that eats despair…

‘…Not bad, right?’

More than anything, Akari humming was cute.

No, no. Why did I think of myself as a senior…

Anyway, the despair that had been squeezing my body was gone, so I had nothing to be afraid of anymore.

Kwaang-!!

“Cursed, this time for sure…”

“It doesn’t seem to be Cursed.”

“Huh? But the despair I felt a little while ago was definitely Cursed.”

I frowned as I stared at the shadows writhing in the darkness.

It wasn’t Cursed despair?

Grrrrrrrrrr-

“Shh…”

Asking a monster to fight another monster is weird, so what can I do?

I turned away from Akari, who was looking at me with excitement, and took a step forward.

“I’ll finish this as quickly as possible, so just watch.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Akari’s eyes sparkled as she watched me right before the battle.

That girl strangely seems to enjoy watching me fight…

***

Here we go, everyone take your seats!

Yes~!

‘Watching magical girls fight is always fun, right?’

It wouldn’t be this fun if those attacks weren’t directed at me.

All the magical girls I’ve met recently have been mean to me.

From ruby to sapphire, they were all making holes in my body and it was chaos.

As expected, watching something like this was the most fun.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

“Huh?!”

Garnet’s fighting style was similar to Ruby’s, but a bit more crude.

I would say that she felt weak in frontal combat.

Thinking about it, her first attack was usually a surprise attack, I guess.

“This kid, this…! Uh-huh?!”

“Careful, careful.”

The tentacles on the ground were slowly trying to reach Garnet’s back, so she gently pulled them away with her shadow.

Even though she was just a bystander, it would be better to help since she was with her.

“Why are you looking so flustered?”

“T-Truthfully, I didn’t think you’d interfere.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to heal humans.”

This side was a monster after all.

It wasn’t a place to heal magical girls, but rather a place to mainly threaten the lives of magical girls.

That’s why she couldn’t have such a convenient ability even if she wanted one.

If I had the ability to heal magical girls, I would have pushed Garnet’s back hard, yeah.

“Thank you, Akari.”

“…Ugh.”

Garnet shivered as she cut off the monster’s tentacles and thanked him.

Instead of thanking him, go fight the monster, monster.

Garnet focused again after receiving my gaze.

‘You still haven’t noticed yet.’

Maybe it was because the lab was dark, but she didn’t seem to notice that the monster looked similar to someone.

Well, that guy originally had a monster head, so it was only natural.

I don’t know how he ended up like that, but for a guy who was supposed to be a mid-boss to end up like that, it would be a lie to say it was heartbreaking, and it was a little funny.

After all, life—no, a monster student can’t see even an inch ahead of them, right?

‘That’s what makes it fun.’

See, he’s still charging at Garnet because his true nature still remains.

It’s much more aggressive than when a normal monster fights a magical girl.

How could he not hesitate even when Garnet’s hope energy blade is right in front of him?

Of course, it could have just been my imagination.

Gulp…?!

“Haaaaaap!!”

Look, even now, it’s flinching as if its tentacles might touch me.

If the memories of the past were engraved on its instincts, it wouldn’t have avoided me like that.

If that had been the case, it would have rushed at me first, not Garnet.

Grrrrrrr…

“Damn, are you running away because it’s at a disadvantage?”

“That’s enough, Garnet. Your goal isn’t that monster, right?”

It was to find the culprit who kidnapped the children.

After hearing what I said, Garnet glared across the hallway and eventually turned her head.

Good job, good job.

“I don’t hate magical girls who listen well.”

“…Don’t pat my head.”

“Why, are you feeling embarrassed because a monster patted your head?”

When I said that with a bright smile, Garnet quickly turned her head away.

How embarrassing.