Chapter 36: Your Gentle Despair (2)

“Hmm…”

Just now, I smelled something incredibly delicious coming from somewhere.

Well, it must be my imagination.

Grumble-

“Shall I bring you some humans?”

You say? No, I don’t really like humans.”

I shivered at the sweet monster’s words.

No matter what, I’m not a cannibal, a cannibal.

How pathetic would it look if you ate a human like this?

“Well, then-“

Crackle, crackle, crackle-

[You’re really acting wild.]

Let’s take care of that guy.

The cross-eyed doctor’s voice flowed out from the speaker that was making a crackling sound.

I knew this would happen.

Guys with normal jobs like doctors who are cross-eyed are all black people.

This time was no different.

[You declined when I politely invited you, but you suddenly changed your mind?]

“I just came to play. I guess I got invited.”

I tapped the leg of the monster standing next to me, and the monster snorted.

As if that squinty-eyed guy would have split his head open if he was in front of him.

[A significant portion of the plan went awry because of you. How do you plan to take responsibility?]

“Should I take responsibility for something like that? In the first place, the one who brought me here was a monster you created.”

[…]

“It’s funny that someone who can’t even control a single monster he created is talking about a plan or something.”

He scratched the inside of Squinty’s eyes in a flat tone.

To me, these things—this lab is nothing.

Well, it really wasn’t much.

[…]

[…Okay. Okay. I’ll take it this time.]

“As if there’s another chance,”

[There is, of course there is. The underground lab is just a small device I prepared to achieve my goal.]

Small?

This?

That’s a little surprising.

I don’t know what kind of person he is, but he must be quite capable because he’s calling a lab like this a small device.

Otherwise, he might be bluffing because he’s been annoyed by my words.

“Is it like telling someone who teases you by asking if you’re angry while telling them you’re not angry?”

[It must have been a mutually cooperative relationship, but how can you hit them in the back of the head like this…]

“Mutually cooperative relationship? You and me?”

[To be exact, your creator. It’s not widely known, but those who know call it that—Doctor Apocalypse.]

Huh?

I tilted my head at the sudden story.

So, that person I know—that monster, right? Dr. Apocalypse?

Who? The Doctor?

“Aha, ahahahahahahahahaha!!!”

[“Heh, heh… Seriously, this is the funniest story in a long time.”

She gave her own nickname to her creation?

Seriously?

Even imagining it made me laugh, thinking about it.

Oh, right. I should have figured it out the moment I saw her run away without taking responsibility.

The Doctor is closer to immaturity than maturity.

“By the way, are you the only one who knows that?”

[There’s no way anyone else would know. Especially if you choose to act quietly in secret.]

Acting in secret, me?

Where do you think I am?

Maybe because she overestimates the Doctor, but no matter what I, her creation, do, it seems suspicious.

…Why on earth.

“Well, that means if you disappear, all the humans who know my identity will disappear?”

[…]

“I’ll go see you right now.”

I don’t know where it is, but it’s definitely somewhere in this underground research lab.

Since the entire lab was filled with monsters, I wouldn’t be able to leave quietly.

To be honest, I wanted to tease it, but I didn’t plan on getting rid of it.

“If you knew that I was a monster, it would be better to get rid of it.

Yeah, that’s right.

From now on, I would have to enjoy a life where I would stick close to Emerald and Tamako and suck out their despair.

---

‘That reminds me of that time.

The blade made of hope energy cut the monster’s body in half.

The output was lower than in the previous world, but since there were fewer accumulated wounds on my body, my movements were much lighter.

Dodge, cut, dodge, cut—

For Magical Girl Ruby, monsters were no different from paper in front of scissors.

[Ru, Ruby… There are so, so many monsters! If this keeps up, I’ll get hurt..!]

“You really haven’t changed.”

Ruby shook her head as she looked at her partner, Chromie, who was trembling.

This girl has always been like that.

No matter how much Ruby herself became stronger, stronger, stronger, she was always anxious.

I thought she would cheer her on at least at the last moment.

“Ruby, don’t get hurt… Okay? If a monster you can’t deal with appears, run away.

Ruby, because she’s fast…”

The blade of hope energy slightly blurred as Chromie’s powerless appearance came to mind.

Even though their personalities were opposites, Chromie was her one and only partner.

The death of such a partner—the disappearance—was bound to be a huge blow to her hope.

“Apocalypse…”

However, the magical girl was the one who stood up even then.

She stood up, overcoming despair, and reaching out for a brighter hope.

The moment she reached out to Ruby, who had lost her partner and turned to ashes, was what made her burn again.

The hope that if they just defeat Apocalypse, everything will end.

That hope is what brought her here.

[Behind, behind!]

“I know!”

Wherever monsters gather, there’s always Apocalypse.

No, it would be more correct to say that the monsters followed Apocalypse wherever he walked.

‘Curs…

A monster named Curse.

He had the head of a monster, wore a suit on his human-like body, and wore a pure white lab coat over it.

I’m just a researcher.

I’m just a small, insignificant being who studies how far our god is headed.

Apocalypse was Apocalypse, but that guy was the most terrifying.

Apocalypse alone could have taken on all the magical girls, but there was also a being who dragged monsters around, so she couldn’t dare do anything.

The dangerous beast-like monsters started to act in groups and show intelligence after Curse appeared.

[This is weird, Ruby! The monsters keep appearing. No, they’re coming up…!!]

“…Coming up?”

Ruby frowned at Chromie’s words.

This city’s foundation is weak, so it’s impossible to even dig underground.

Ruby frowned slightly as she recalled what she had investigated beforehand.

It doesn’t make sense.

“Chromie, you’re saying that…”

[…A large amount of despair energy is, uh, being generated underground! It’s so strange that no one noticed it until now!]

Okay, back to the beginning.

The sight was familiar, too familiar.

Monsters pouring out like I’ve never seen before in my life.

And the underground.

That guy—the place I first saw Curse was none other than the underground.

‘But it’s too early.

Curse will definitely appear a few years from now…

Ruby landed nearby and stared at the long asphalt road, lost in thought.

Maybe it wasn’t Curse.

It might not have been, but in order to dispel this sense of foreboding, she had to see it with her own eyes.

“I’m going underground, Chromie.”

[You’re too dangerous! And most of all, you don’t even know the way!]

“I know the way. Those guys are telling me.”

Ruby pointed to the monsters crawling out of the building, the corners of her mouth turning up.

If you don’t know the way, you can just go back to where the guys who know the way came out.

It was dangerous, but it was the simplest and most reliable way.

[No. Absolutely not! I can’t just watch Ruby go to her death!]

Chromie flew in and clung to Ruby’s arm.

No, absolutely not!

I won’t let you do something reckless like that!

Chromie struggled and tried to stop Ruby from going underground, but her small body wasn’t enough to stop her.

“You just have to come back safe, safe.”

[You said that, but you’ve never come back unscathed, you idiot Ruby!]

“Definitely…”

[W-what do you mean by definitely!]

At this time, did I feel like that kind of reckless idiot?

Hmm, I guess so.

Ruby, who felt that she had returned to the past once again due to that simple fact, gripped the hilt of her sword tightly.

Now that she was back, she absolutely did not want to fail.

“Then shall we make a bet, Chromie?”

[A, a bet?]

“If I return to the surface unscathed, then grant me one wish.”

A body close to its prime before its scars accumulated, and the experiences accumulated in the previous world.

With both of those in her possession, the word ‘impossible’ no longer existed for Ruby.