Chapter 80: Sin and Curse. (5)

“So, what are you going to do from now on?”

It seemed like the series of events was coming to an end, but there was one important thing left.

That was the future of the Doctor. It was none of my business where the Doctor was or what he was doing, but if he kept hanging around me, it would be a little difficult.

‘…I don’t know, but if Emerald catches my eye, he’ll definitely be killed.’

To be honest, I didn’t really care if the Doctor was killed by Emerald. But it was a matter of duty.

No matter what, I thought it was a bit much to let someone who had created me—a parent—die.

Well, I didn’t think I’d stop him with all my might or anything.

“I would take this child and destroy humanity, but…”

“There’s nothing you can’t do in front of a magical girl.”

“Oh, since you can’t do it anyway, don’t look at me like that! As long as Akari takes your side, humanity won’t be destroyed or anything!”

The Doctor jumped at Garnet’s gaze.

It wasn’t like I was taking the humans’ side or anything.

If I had taken the humans’ side, the monsters would have already dried up.

In the case of the Doctor, I would have been a corpse the moment I opened my eyes in the lab.

“Whew… If only there was that magical girl.”

“That magical girl?”

“You remember that pale girl you took out of the test tube? Her despair was so concentrated and pure that it was perfect for experiments…”

This.

She grimaced at the Doctor’s words.

It wasn’t because she was upset or offended or anything like that, but because she had a premonition that she would be bothered by something in the future.

Of all people to say something like that in front of Garnet, who would have thought of saying something like that?

“What, you say…?”

“Garnet.”

Garnet began to tighten her grip on her staff.

She looked like she was about to pull out her hope energy blade and stab the Doctor with it at any moment. It seemed like she had thought of Tamako when she heard the words ‘magical girl’ and ‘painful’ that the Doctor had said.

‘It’s true that the magical girl I brought for the experiment was Tamako…’

I finally managed to divert Garnet’s attention elsewhere, but I ended up causing trouble by talking wrong.

Still, I should at least try to stop her.

If I wielded a knife here, it would be a hassle in many ways.

“Calm down.”

“…Would you be able to calm down?”

I sighed inwardly as hope began to boil over.

I had thought that something like this would happen someday, but I didn’t think it would be now.

The thought of just leaving it and going back began to bubble up.

“Don’t stop me, Akari.”

“Why, do you want to hold me responsible for using a magical girl for the experiment? Of all people, you?”

Originally, I shouldn’t have backed down at times like this.

As if I hadn’t done anything wrong—I hadn’t done anything in particular, anyway.

If I acted confidently as if I had proven that I hadn’t done anything wrong, normal people would surprisingly easily back down in response to such a reaction.

“A being who acts as Curse’s lackey, who doesn’t save children who are being experimented on, and who kills humans who are still alive simply because they are test subjects.”

“…”

“Is that being, Doctor?”

It was all Garnet’s story.

It was true that she was a magical girl of justice, and that the Doctor had conducted various experiments using Tamako, but that didn’t give Garnet the right to judge the Doctor.

No, rather, because she was a magical girl of justice, she wouldn’t be able to come out strongly even if the things she had done up until now were hurtful.

‘Of course, as soon as I get out of here, I won’t care.’

This was the last time she raised her hand for the Doctor.

It was like a reward for showing him an interesting sight. I thought that this level of consideration was enough.

I didn’t know that Garnet would hate her, but it wasn’t that strange for a monster to be hated by a magical girl, so yeah.

“Next time, talk to you later.”

“Fine. If you want, then do so. And, Doctor.”

“…Uh, huh? Me?”

“…Ha, it’s nothing.”

I wonder if he knows that I just saved his own body from being pierced.

A genius in research, but an idiot in other ways.

I thought that the so-called intelligent person was exactly the doctor.

“Rather than that, please answer my question. What are your plans for the future? Do you plan on staying here?”

“This guy—you made Aya too, so there’s no reason for me to stay here.”

The doctor said that he was leaving. He mentioned that he had an experiment he wanted to try or something.

Garnet’s eyes sharpened once again at the mention of the experiment, but the doctor didn’t seem to notice her gaze at all.

It seems that because of the height difference, he would have to raise his head for a long time to see his face, so there was nothing he could do.

Anyway.

“Then hurry up and go, Hwayi~ Hwayi~”

“…Don’t talk like you’re chasing away pigeons!”

When he said that while waving his hand, the doctor grumbled.

Phew, then I guess we can say that we’ve put out the urgent fire for now.

In fact, it didn’t seem like the problem was solved at all, but good is good.

***

“The children are all alive.”

Honestly, I thought the possibility of them being alive was close to zero, but surprisingly, the human children kidnapped by the doctor were alive and well.

I guess it’s because you can’t extract despair from dead people, but good is good.

Oh, in this respect, is the doctor a better monster than that guy Curse?

In a human sense.

“…”

“Why are you so cold-hearted? If you feel wronged by my stopping you, why don’t you go after me now?”

Garnet had been silent since what happened earlier.

I thought she was angry because of those words, but Garnet’s gaze was not on me, but on something else.

‘She must be thinking of the doctor.’

To Garnet, the doctor could be considered her mortal enemy.

The one who kidnapped her senior, Tamako, and experimented on her.

When they first met, Garnet herself didn’t know Tamako’s name, so she just let it go, but now it was a different story.

Now that I know that the Tamako I mentioned back then was the same person as my senior, it wouldn’t be strange for me to feel revenge toward the Doctor.

‘I didn’t say it on purpose because I thought you’d forgotten halfway, but it’s really no help…’

It was something I said in passing, and at the time, I was desperate to find Curse.

Since Tamako tried not to talk about what happened at the lab as much as possible, my desire for revenge didn’t seem to have diminished.

But when the Doctor himself said it, as if joking, how angry must he have been?

“You were born from that guy’s experiments, right?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you hate that guy?”

Do you hate the Doctor?

I pictured the Doctor in my head, but I didn’t really feel that way.

I still ground my teeth at the fact that he took my despair essence, but my hatred for the Doctor was more valuable than I thought because I hated him for something like that.

I can’t hold hatred for someone like the Doctor, right?

“Not really. I find it more surprising that you, Garnet, hold such hatred towards the Doctor.”

“…What do you mean?”

“It was Curse who sent Tamako to the Doctor, right? It’s ambiguous to say that Curse died by the Doctor’s hands—but that’s what happened anyway.”

She raised the corners of her mouth as she recalled Curse, who was nothing more than a shell with no sense of reason left.

It’s still fun to think about it again, the miserable downfall of the mastermind.

“So, should I be grateful to that guy?”

“Not at all. I wouldn’t have said thank you in the first place.”

Whenever I saw that face, I just felt the urge to hit him in the head.

Why, isn’t that so?

I can pull tears out of the eyes of such a vicious monster. And with my own hands.

Even just imagining it, the corners of my mouth twitched.

“I’m saying that you don’t have to live with so much hate. If you hate every single day, people die too early, so wouldn’t it be better to do something else with that time? For example, spend more time with Tamako.”

“…”

“More than anything, it’s annoying to hate.”

It might be fun to hit the back of the head of someone you hate, but there are so many other fun things to do, so why bother getting involved with someone you hate just for fun?

It was a waste of time.

I’d rather do something else.

“Phew…”

“…”

“Haa… Listening to you, I feel like an idiot. Yes, it’s annoying. I almost died chasing that damn Curse, and now I’m trying to do that annoying thing again…”

Wow, there’s a monster here that makes magical girls grow.

Garnet’s eyes no longer reflected the doctor’s image.

The problem, if there was one, was that Garnet’s inner hope had grown even brighter.

“Thank you, Akari. That was helpful.”

“…Yeah, well.”

Garnet’s gratitude made her shiver reflexively.

As expected, you can’t get used to something no matter how hard you try.