Chapter 87: Those With Memories (5)

Ding-dongㅡ

“There’s no one~ There’s no one~”

Ding-dongㅡ Ding-dong-ding-dong-ding-dong-ding-dong-ding-dongㅡ

The next day.

I frowned at the onslaught of doorbells that continued from morning to evening.

It seemed like something was going on, as if humans had started ringing the doorbell all day long.

Thinking back to the humans who had been kicking the front door, this was pretty mild, but still.

‘Tamako was taken by Garnet for now…’

Tamako had said she would help her if she could, but the only thing she could do was get as far away from me as possible.

She didn’t want to be around me and get hurt.

She didn’t want to see her desperate flower pot ruined even if she died.

“Please open the door! We’re on your side! Please!”

“You don’t belong here!”

Why should a monster like me get out of human society?

I didn’t want to hear it that way, but when I saw her making such a fuss, I couldn’t hear anything nice.

Right now, I should just pretend no one’s home.

“Humans really don’t have anything to do…”

[Currently investigating the residence of a being believed to be followed by doomsday theorists]

“…Haa.”

Instead of going around looking for me, why don’t you take care of your own business?

I sighed deeply and pressed down on the TV remote control.

No matter which channel I turned on, it was the same story, and no matter what channel I looked at, the only thing that appeared was my house.

“…Even if there’s nothing to do, there should be nothing to doㅡ”

[Currently, the magical girls are in the sky above the house where the problematic person isㅡ]

The moment I was about to collapse on the sofa, I suddenly stood up from the discomfort that ran down my spine.

I wondered why the other guys were just sitting there while the humans who recognized me were making a scene, but…

Kkwangㅡ!!!!!

Isn’t this too much?

“Hey, do you realize that this is trespassing?”

“…”

“…”

Behind the falling magic bottles, there were magical girls who had broken the window and come in.

Their expressions were all stiff, and their hands holding their staffs were trembling, but the hatred in their eyes was burning fiercely.

It was as if they were going to kill someone.

Ah, maybe they were going to kill someone.

“Apo, Calypse…!!”

“Apocalypse!!”

“…Haa.”

I sighed at the magical girls who were shouting Apocalypse.

When they saw me, they all said Apocalypse, Apocalypse. It wasn’t like I was possessed by some kind of Apocalypse ghost.

The hope that was starting to boil over was closer to red than white like an emerald.

Seriously, even in hope, hatred was so vivid.

‘Haven’t you bought too much resentment, seriously?’

Even if I shouted that I was harmless now, nothing would change.

From the moment I was hurt by the hope energy, I would have been Apocalypse in their memories.

Then, should I embarrass them by saying that I can talk like I always do?

Oh, I said it just now, but there was no reaction. This is dismissed.

“There’s still 10 years left on the loan, and if you’re going to destroy it like this—”

“Don’t be a jerk!”

“…Ugh.”

What should I say?

By the way, isn’t that a bit too harsh for a magical girl to speak?

It’s like the way one—no, two—of red-haired magical girls speak.

No, that’s not important right now.

“So, what are you planning to do? Are you going to attack me?”

“…Okay.”

“Wow—”

You’re too decisive.

I twisted my body to dodge the ray of hope shot at me.

Even if I got hit, it wouldn’t hurt much, but it was disgusting to have something like that touch my skin…

Anyway, because I was dodging the attack, the magical girls’ momentum started to get sharper.

It wasn’t like, ‘How dare you?’ but something a little different—

“It seems that the information that Apocalypse is weak right now is correct.”

“…I wouldn’t have even cared about attacks like this.”

“If I keep pushing like this, I could kill you…!!”

As expected, just by looking at your words, you’re disqualified as a magical girl?

Killing or whatever, that’s not something a standard-issue magical girl would say.

The magical girls were slowly moving and surrounding me, forming a formation.

They were going to surround me and then attack me all at once.

“Excuse me. If you go back now, I won’t harm you, so why don’t you go back?”

“…”

“…”

Even though the person—no, the monster—was trying to talk things out…

I wanted to activate the despair circuit, but I held off on that.

If Apocalypse were to take the initiative, there would be no situation more troublesome than that, right?

If that happened, there would definitely be a headline like ‘Shock! Many Magical Girls Die!’ on the front page of the news.

“Haa… I was definitely going to say it out loud. You guys, you know I shouldn’t say anything later?”

How many times have I sighed?

I lifted my hunched shoulders and slightly crooked my posture.

When I bring up despair, I feel like I become arrogant for some reason.

I wonder if that’s why Apocalypse has such an arrogant personality.

“I won’t kill you, I won’t kill you.”

If it weren’t for the main characters, the three protagonists, I think I could easily subdue them without having to activate the despair circuit.

If they resisted strongly, they’d probably break in one or two places—well, there are magical girls with healing abilities, so it’d be okay.

“Light, shoot an arrow to defeat the enemy—!”

“You’re too slow to prepare.”

“Huh?!”

Even though the magical girls were stronger because of their hatred for Apocalypse, they weren’t a threat at all if they were this clumsy.

If the opponent was Emerald, they would have attacked long ago.

They were preparing their light arrows, and even the speed at which they were shot was so slow that they couldn’t hit me even if they wanted to.

You guys are weak.

When I looked at them with that meaning in mind, it was really funny how they clenched their teeth.

“Kyaa?!”

“Keuheup?!”

I grabbed them by the collar and slammed them to the ground, then kicked them into the wall.

Considering how confident they were that they had broken into the house, their skills were poor.

Well, if they were in their right mind, they wouldn’t have rushed in like this without thinking.

‘She’s… about the same age as Peridot.’

Well, that’s what it was.

Even though they’d only been hit once each, they were already like this.

Maybe they weren’t used to pain, as they were groaning and watching each other’s reactions.

“You guys.”

“Tch, retreat for now!”

“Next time, I’ll definitely…!!”

“…This kind of thing.”

I was going to tell them to clean up the house before they go.

I could have chased after them and caught them, but I didn’t really want to catch the humans’ eyes any longer, so I decided to give up.

…Anyway, when will I ever clean up this?

From the shards of glass to the shattered walls and shattered floors.

It wasn’t a problem of cleaning up, it was just chaos, this.

“Maybe it would have been better to cut off at least one limb…”

I slowly swept up the pieces of concrete scattered on the floor with regret that was not regret.

What the hell am I doing?

Only after roughly shoving everything into the shadows did the scenery inside the house change a little.

‘That’s right, except that the one room that was there is gone, and the living room floor is a total mess.’

“Ah, maybe this will be a little better.”

I dragged the carpet that had been laid out in the room and placed it gently on the broken living room floor.

Hmm, hmm… hmm?

When I stepped on it with my foot, there was only a slight difference in level, but it didn’t seem to be a major problem for living.

Anyway, it’s more or less hidden, so it’s fine!

[Why didn’t you kill me? Why on earth did you?]

“…That sound again. Aren’t you sick of it?”

I used despair, but why on earth didn’t it come out?

I sighed deeply at the voice ringing in my head.

If you were going to give me my body, I’d give you my body, but why did you leave my mind behind?

[Weren’t those three the only magical girls who couldn’t live without you?]

“It’s not that bad.”

Who on earth would die without living because of a magical girl?

You like the despair of magical girls so much, but you don’t know why I’m with those three?

It’s a new feeling that I resent the doctor for not giving Apocalypse basic education.

[If you find it hard to kill magical girls, hand them over to me. I can kill them without any problem.]

“You say that as if you’re being kind. You just want to get out of there.”

And what kind of kindness is a monster?

Anyone can see that it’s full of thoughts of destroying the world after handing over its body.

It’s really, really hard to think that others are simple because it’s simple.

“You’re so young, so young. If you were here, I’d want to teach you a lot.”

[…I have nothing to learn from the likes of you.]

“I don’t intend to teach a student with a bad attitude like you either.”

I sniffed and lay down on the sofa.

Ah, when I’m feeling this down, I should be eating Tamako’s despair.

I tapped my feet on the armrests of the sofa and stretched both arms up toward the ceiling.

It wasn’t really a meaningful action.

It was an action that I did reflexively because I couldn’t handle boredom.

‘If I had known this would happen, I should have played with the magical girls a little longer…’

But regret always comes early.

The toys that had already left—no, it didn’t seem like the magical girls would come back today.

It was really unfortunate.