Chapter 69: To Be Here

A piece of the diagonally severed head fell, its contents spilling out with blood.

“No, it wasn’t me.”

The thing that had been a living human just moments before collapsed, its form crumpling as it stained the floor red.

Dark red, soaked hair scattered haphazardly, and a floor spattered with crimson blood, brain matter, and pieces of flesh.

A trembling hand, tears falling to mingle with the blood.

“I, I, it wasn’t me. I didn’t mean to.”

Snip, snip, snip.

Opening and closing the large scissors, the girl who couldn’t accept her own actions and their consequences trembled.

Snip, snip, snip.

“Because this person, wouldn’t, wouldn’t, wouldn’t, listen to me.”

The rabbit with the monocle, clutching its falling hat, trembled with its fur on end, a look of horror on its face.

Blame, criticism, horror, comfort—the rabbit couldn’t bring itself to utter any of those words.

What could a mere mascot say to this fragile child who had already committed a sin, to a fallen magical girl who could no longer hear its voice?

“Unni…”

The panicked vermilion eyes contracted and dilated repeatedly, and the girl in the dress, now redder with bloodstains from her haphazardly moving legs, paced the room.

After pacing for a long time, she suddenly collapsed, and with a dull thud, the large scissors fell into the pool of blood.

“Glacia unni, unni, unni.”

The girl called the name of her most precious unni, the only one she could trust. She herself didn’t know what she was hoping for by calling that name.

Whether she wanted to escape the sin she had committed, whether she wanted anyone to help her, or whether she just wanted someone to comfort her.

Maybe it was all of those things, or none of them, just a word of escapism, but calling the name of a dead person wouldn’t change anything.

The rabbit’s expression gradually grew somber.

“Unni. Unni. Unni. Unni.”

The girl continued to mutter the same word.

How many hours had passed?

When the fishy, suffocating scent of blood that filled the room had settled, and the pool of blood had coagulated into a dark red, dried mass, and the corpse, like the girl’s body cooled by the cold night air, had lost even its slight remaining warmth and become a cold lump of flesh,

The girl’s sobbing voice also stopped.

“Alisa, please.”

And Rosa Alisa stood up.

Turning her back on the mascot rabbit who had squeezed out a single word of courage, she moved as if she couldn’t hear him.

“Alisa…”

She firmly gripped the handle of the scissors, sticky with half-congealed blood, pulled them out of the pool of blood and slung them on her back.

She opened a file marked with dark red handprints and flipped through a few blood-stained pages.

She drew a bright red X on a document with a person’s photo attached.

That photo was of the owner of the severed head in front of her.

“One person. I’ve only killed one person now. This is just the beginning.”

She no longer cried or trembled. Because something precious that made up a sound mind, something that made her legs tremble in the face of a person’s death, had been severed.

In her vermilion eyes, which had lost their focus and vitality and were tinged with a blood-clot-like color, a resolute will named madness had taken root.

“Unni, I’m going to kill Sanguine Obsidia,”

She turned to the next page of the list, memorized the name, the face, the place of residence, and Rosa Alisa opened the door.

Leaving behind the corpse she had no more business with, and the precious partner who now didn’t matter what happened to him, she kicked off the ground and began to accelerate into the air, flying away.

“After I kill them all, just once more… pat my head.”

***

They say people grow through meeting and parting.

The first parting is usually with people one has always known, like grandparents or parents, and through such partings, one prepares for the next, coming to understand the dignity of parting and the preciousness of meeting.

It’s the same for everyone, and even more so for a magical girl, a being for whom parting and loss have become a part of daily life.

But the girl named Rosa Alisa had never fully experienced either meeting or parting.

Her other family and relatives had already been swallowed up by monsters, war, and chaos before she was born.

And her parents were so consumed by the mere act of living that they couldn’t give the young Alisa even a little attention.

It had reached the point where she was called by the name Rosa Alisa more often than her original name.

That was more comfortable for her too. Unlike her original self, a mere teenage girl who couldn’t find a reason to live, the magical girl Rosa Alisa had the noble purpose of protecting people and was loved by many.

…At least she could feel a sense of being loved and cared for.

If Alisa had been a little older, if she had grown up after experiencing a complete childhood and meetings and partings, she might have guessed how great her parents’ sacrifice was just to be able to live in Seoul and attend middle school in this miserable world, and she might have had the possibility of choosing a different way of life.

But unfortunately, what Rosa Alisa could experience and understand was only the pain of being an outsider at school, on the street, and at home, the loneliness of having no siblings or friends, the solitude of spending late nights alone, and the constant shouts and screams of her fighting parents.

Therefore, the gentlemanly rabbit she met by chance, a mascot named Lapin, was a hope for Alisa, but he could be nothing more.

He spoke like Alisa’s parents, acted like a teacher, gave birth to the magical girl Rosa Alisa, and gave her the first real attention and teaching she had ever received.

But he could never be Alisa’s real parent or teacher.

He was just a mascot, so he couldn’t have paternal or maternal feelings, nor could he share the weight of a girl’s life.

“Miss Alisa, let’s work hard again today.”

She had met her with the motivation to confront and capture Sanguine Obsidia, but at some point, Glacia Azure had become Rosa Alisa’s parent, sister, and teacher.

“Here, say ah~.”

“Ah~”

The sensation of the sweet ice cream Glacia feeds her, coming into her mouth, revives.

It is a precious memory of a sweet and precious time after training and patrol.

“Alisa.”

On a certain gloomy day.

She couldn’t remember why she had become gloomy.

It was probably due to family matters, teenage worries, or the fear of battle and death that was inevitable as a magical girl, Rosa Alisa thought.

“Come here.”

As always, Glacia gently hugged Alisa.

Under the sunset light shining on the outdoor training ground, a cool evening breeze swept over the grass, but Alisa was not cold because of the warmth of Glacia’s embrace.

That day, Glacia Azure accepted all of Alisa’s tears, complaints, fragments of painful memories, and shards of loneliness until the night was over.

She soothed her wounds.

Just as she had done for another wounded child, Materia, later on.

Through Glacia, Alisa was also able to gain a friend named Materia.

He was a lovely and precious partner who taught her many things, but unlike the mascot Lapin, who was just that, Glacia gave Alisa a family and a friend.

Glacia Azure was the only person who filled the void of maternal love.

And, Glacia Azure died.

In front of Rosa Alisa’s eyes, she was stabbed by Sanguine Obsidia’s blade, lost her life, and her head was severed.

That head said nothing.

It would have been easier if she had heard even a single word of unreasonable blame, like

‘Why did I die?’, ‘Why did I die instead of you?’, ‘Why didn’t you help me?’, ‘Why are you the only one alive?’.

It would have been easier to go mad comfortably if she had heard a hallucination of Glacia’s voice, blaming, hating, and raging.

But even in her nightmares, her severed, bloody head said nothing.

Only her half-closed eyes, with a faint smile and having lost their life, just looked at Alisa.

In yesterday’s nightmare, and in the nightmare the day before.

…Rosa Alisa couldn’t move her body at all.

Because since she entered this room, memories and recollections had been constantly awakening and reviving, rummaging through her mind.

It certainly wasn’t a long time, but a time that was carved deep in her heart and unforgettable, the only warm but irretrievable time was coming to mind.

She could hear the sound of people moving busily around her.

Gloved hands move, and clothes are put into cardboard boxes. Clothes and towels that belonged to a woman, which were neatly arranged and stacked in a closet reflecting the owner’s character, are put in.

The trinkets that were in the drawers go into the box one by one, and when the person holding the box goes out, another person comes in with a broom.

The room that belonged to Glacia Azure.

Rosa Alisa had asked to help clean her room and sort her belongings, no, she had begged to be allowed to help, but from the moment she entered the room, she couldn’t move at all.

She just watched blankly as people she didn’t know sorted the belongings of a precious person, shoved them into suitable boxes, and took them away.

Tap.

A clean, empty desk.

A worker placed something on it.

Alisa unconsciously turned her gaze in that direction.

On the desk was an old file folder.

The worker, thinking it was probably a file containing some important documents, couldn’t decide whether to take it out or dispose of it, so he had placed it on the desk for the time being.

As if possessed by something, Rosa Alisa grabbed the file folder and turned the cover.

If Rosa Alisa had not lost Glacia Azure,

If she had talked more with the mascot Lapin Mercurius who was by her side and discovered maternal or paternal feelings in him, there might have been another way.

If she had approached and relied on Lapin or other magical girls more before reading that document, and talked with them,

No, if at least one trustworthy adult had approached Rosa Alisa, who had been neglected and left to fester in the chaos of the Magical Girl Association for a long time, she might have been able to overcome her loss someday.

But, Alisa had found it.

The file.

A bundle of documents that Glacia Azure had meticulously compiled, collecting the names, photos, and personal information of people she once suspected of being Sanguine Obsidia, and had put in a corner of her drawer, thinking it was a meaningless act.

The days she spent on patrol with Glacia Azure come to mind. Materia joined later, but the route was similar.

As she flipped through the file, familiar faces appeared. Residents she had encountered during patrol.

The recorded places of residence are also on the patrol route.

“She tricked me.”

Below the address and personal information, the basis for Glacia’s belief that they were related to Sanguine Obsidia, the refutations, and hard-to-read sentences were mixed together in a disorderly manner.

She tricked me. She tricked Glacia unni. She tricked us and cooperated in hiding Sanguine Obsidia’s identity.

All these people are accomplices.

“…No, that’s not it.”

She barely managed to rein in her straying thoughts. She wanted to believe that there was a reason Glacia hadn’t told her and had hidden this file.

Logically, it was impossible for all of the dozens, nearly a hundred people, to be Sanguine Obsidia herself or her accomplices.

“Still, this is all I have now.”

Alisa doesn’t know much about adult matters.

But she could tell that the operation to capture Sanguine Obsidia had failed, and that the Magical Girl Association, no, the entire country was in chaos.

Neither the other senior magical girls nor the committee members paid any attention to her.

Therefore, Rosa Alisa thought that this file was the only means to make Sanguine Obsidia pay for stabbing her in the back and killing Glacia Azure, the only means to find her.

***

The first murder was accidental.

Alisa just wanted to ask.

She wanted to engage in conversation with the minimal amount of reason she had learned from Glacia and get a clue, no matter how small.

‘I don’t think you, whose name is in this file, are Sanguine Obsidia. But if you know anything about Sanguine Obsidia, I hope you’ll tell me.’

That’s what she was going to say.

Glacia’s patrol route covered the area where Sanguine Obsidia was presumed to be hiding, so from the perspective of meeting people directly and gathering information, it was a pretty good method.

The unfortunate thing for both Alisa and the female resident she confronted was that the mentally confused Rosa Alisa was not good at talking, and the woman was in a sensitive state for various reasons and felt that the young magical girl who had suddenly appeared was accusing her of being a criminal.

“Get out, get out of my house right now!”

“I just want to hear your story! Please!”

It was impossible to tell who had gotten excited and raised their voice first.

As is often the case in residential areas in the vicinity, it was a rundown old apartment, and it was inevitable for the homeowner to be wary of a magical girl who suddenly appeared when no monster had appeared.

Especially now, not long after the clash between the worst murderer magical girl and the Magical Girl Association was widely reported.

But the important thing was that Rosa Alisa had a large pair of scissors.

A sharp weapon with a red glow, very suitable for threatening people, capable of easily cutting a small monster in two.

After a few scream-like shouts were exchanged, Alisa, who had started to cry, gripped the scissors, and the woman, in a state of panic, pulled out a kitchen knife from the kitchen.

At the glint of the shining blade, Rosa Alisa’s last thread of reason snapped, and before Lapin could stop her,

The woman’s head was severed by the scissors, which were moved haphazardly as if a child were swinging a fist.

A piece of the diagonally severed head fell, its contents spilling out with blood.

***

The second murder was intentional.

In the vortex of emotions brought on by the shock of murder, which an ordinary girl could not handle, what Alisa clung to was the extremely simple yet clear logic that anyone who did not cooperate with a magical girl capturing a heinous murderer was an accomplice.

The file folder had now become a perfect guide.

A guide that provides the personal information and locations of Sanguine Obsidia’s dozens of accomplices, and tells her to kill them all in this order.

As she swung the dripping scissors to shake off the blood, a relatively clean part of the wallpaper in the second victim’s house was stained with a red smudge.

The second victim also had her head severed, spilling her contents onto the floor.

“If I kill them all, I’ll be able to meet the real one too.”

Alisa thrilled with a sense of omnipotence, as if she could easily kill a fallen magical girl who had lost an arm and was in a tattered state.

No, she could actually feel the power overflowing.

Her mascot, Lapin, couldn’t tell whether it was her original talent or if she had awakened to the most powerful and pure will of hatred.

But now that she had abandoned being a magical girl, Alisa had grown.

That growth had no meaning, but it was certainly useful to the current Alisa.

Because she could run through the alleys of the entire city without feeling a bit of fatigue even after the night passed, the dawn broke, and the sun rose, and reduce the list in the file one by one.

“Unni, Glacia unni.”

An unbearable smile was now on her face after she killed the fifth ‘accomplice’.

“Just wait a little longer. I’m coming to save you.”

At some point, she was in the middle of an adventure to save her precious sister who had been captured by a villain.