Chapter 48: If I Hate You, I Will Do It Again (7)

“Okay, I tied it up just the way you wanted, but what are you going to do with it?”

“Think about it.”

The doctor still seemed to hope that I would hand over the magical girl.

However, he had absolutely no intention of handing her over to me.

Then what should I do with this?

It wouldn’t be cost-effective to just let her go.

“Does that wound hurt?”

The girl, with blood pouring out of her neck, was a sight that made anyone who saw her feel sorry for her.

It was a feeling that my monster-like emotions couldn’t understand.

Yet, the knowledge in my head was telling me to feel pity for her.

Alright, I’ll show some kindness for once.

“I’ll disinfect it. If your wound gets worse, you might die.”

“What—”

“Okay.”

Uh—watching the wound being disinfected with bubbling white foam made me feel good.

I felt like I had done something good.

“Okay, it hurts more if you move? Here, I’ll put a bandage on it.”

“… Ugh.”

He put a large bandage that could cover the entire neck on the wound.

Ta-da, that’s the end of the first aid!

The tattered nape of her neck was now covered, so she looked a little better.

“She’s really vicious. Who does she take after, ugh.”

“What’s so vicious about being vicious? You even treated her wound.”

“And who else would I resemble besides you?”

“It’s as vicious as spraying disinfectant on a wound… Mind your own behavior before you say anything to me, Doctor.”

“Tch, tea, just kill me!”

“That’s such a classic line.”

There’s not a single person who’s said that and actually died, okay?

He was even shaking.

He was saying with his mouth that he’d rather kill me, but his eyes were filled with emotion, so it meant nothing.

“By the way, you’re wearing something annoying.”

“This?”

The doctor clicked his tongue as he looked at the band-like thing wrapped around his chin.

I thought it was just an accessory, but did it have some other function?

For example, a self-destruct device?

“It’s a device that instantly injects despair if you do something stupid.”

“With this amount, you’ll either lose consciousness for the rest of your life or become a wreck.”

“…”

Could this be why he was searching for Curse’s whereabouts?

As he gently touched the magical girl’s neck, her body began to tremble.

It seemed that she was worried that the necklace would break.

“If you handle it carelessly and it breaks, it won’t be usable?”

“I won’t break it, so don’t worry too much.”

“Anyone can see that I’m going to break it!”

Indeed, just as the doctor said, she was thinking about how to break it properly.

Why does the human mind tend to want to do something more when told not to?

“By the way, didn’t you say that there’s despair inside?”

Just how much despair must there be to make a magical girl a wreck?

I looked closely at the string around the magical girl’s neck, but I didn’t really feel any despair.

How on earth did the doctor know that there was despair inside her?

I thought the doctor was really capable in this kind of thing.

“Doctor, would you like to make a bet with me?”

“What kind of bet?”

“A bet on whether or not she’ll become a wreck if I cut this off.”

The doctor made a face as if he found my suggestion bewildering.

His expression seemed to say, “If you’re going to do it, go for it.”

Ah, this is what’s fun.

Making someone feel defeated when they don’t think they’ll lose.

“Fine. If you lose, come back under me, Akari.”

“Fine. But what if I win?”

“I’ll give you whatever you want!”

“Are you sure you’re okay with it?”

“Are you really okay with it?”

A spark flew between the doctor and me for a moment.

In that respect, we might be a bit similar.

But one thing that was different was that I never made a bet.

“Hey, what’s my opinion?”

“You shouldn’t say that when you’re being held captive.”

“Damn it.”

Seeing her pale face, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Even if she was a magical girl, she must be scared of becoming a loser herself, right?

“Don’t worry, I’ll win the bet.”

With confidence, I ignored the magical girl’s words, who was about to say something.

I grabbed the string that was hanging around her neck and ripped it off.

Without any measures, without any caution or anything, it was just a simple grab and tear.

It didn’t take long for the magical girl’s face, which had been blank for a moment at my actions, to turn pale.

“You, you, you…! What the heck are you doing…!!”

It was such an intense reaction that she might have grabbed my collar if she hadn’t been tied up.

Whoa, whoa, really calm down.

It felt like I saw a cat that had been stabbed with a syringe.

Oh my, the master thought of me and gave me the vaccine, but for a moment I was in pain and made a fuss…

Anyway.

“Calm down, calm down. Look, you’re fine, right?”

“Huh?”

“Ta-da—How is it? Are you free?”

“Huh?”

I waved my hand in front of the magical girl, who couldn’t seem to return to reality.

But her condition didn’t get any better.

Could this be what it meant to be a useless person?

“By the way, this despair tastes better than I thought.”

I thought I had tasted this despair somewhere before.

It tasted similar to Tamako’s despair that I often ate.

If Tamako’s despair was fresh despair that had just been pulled out, then the despair contained in the string felt like it had been aged for several years.

“What, what the hell are you eating!”

“Did you notice?”

“If you eat that kind of thing, you won’t be able to exert yourself properly and will just groan! Spit it out right now, spit it out!”

“No, I’m not your mother… What does it matter to me whether I eat the despair that fell to the ground or not?”

The doctor noticed that I had eaten the despair contained in the string and got angry, telling me to spit it out quickly.

When I was leaving, he would always nag me about picking up some despair that had fallen to the ground.

I clicked my tongue internally and pulled the doctor away from my arm.

“It’s already been digested. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had raised me in a slightly more affluent environment?”

“You ran away before I could feed you!!”

“The child ran away because I starved him. That’s all an excuse.”

The doctor’s current appearance was typical of a parent in an abusive household.

That’s why monsters are no good.

They have no human sensibilities, tsk.

“Anyway, I won?”

“Uh-huh.”

The doctor’s face turned pale as he finally understood the situation.

No, I’m not eating anything, so why is my reaction like that?

He didn’t really have a hobby of eating monsters.

He would eat the suicide hopefuls who rushed at him first, but he never found them to eat them first.

“So, what do you want from me? I made a promise, so keep it!”

“Then, can you make her like Tamako?”

He thought that the despair that flowed out of Tamako while she was sleeping was simply because the human experiment the doctor did was horrible.

But what can a human feel despair only while sleeping?

The amount of despair that flowed out was consistent for a person to have nightmares every day.

“Tamako, I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“The magical girl in the test tube when the doctor teased me with the despair essence.”

“Ah, that test subject… Well, it’s possible. More importantly, who the hell teased you!”

“You.”

More importantly, it’s possible.

The magical girl who had been quietly listening to our conversation had a face that didn’t understand the content at all.

Well, that’s right.

Who would think that they would turn themselves into a despair pouch?

“Yes, but there’s one problem.”

“What kind of problem is it?”

“I’m lacking the materials for modification. And I don’t have any equipment.”

“It’s useless.”

“Whose fault is this all!”

In the end, it seems like it can’t be done right now.

It’s disappointing.

“Uh, uh…”

The magical girl made an idiotic expression at my actions of releasing the restraints.

More importantly, I didn’t even know this guy’s name.

He’d made a hole in my stomach, so it was a bit of a waste to send him away without knowing his name.

“What’s your name?”

“…Garnet.”

“That’s a good name.”

Even though it was a name I had never heard of in the original.

Anyway, is this the end of the case?

I caught the guy who broke into my hospital room without permission, and I removed the leash from around the magical girl’s neck, so it’s a happy ending!

“Why are you making such a proud expression?”

“It feels good to be indebted to someone, right? And you wouldn’t repay the favor you received with enmity, right?”

“You were asking me to remodel you just a moment ago—”

“Oh, of course you weren’t joking, right?”

People can joke around a bit while living.

But you wouldn’t stab me again just because I let you go, right?

I was actually more anxious because you were quiet.

I had just told you that I wouldn’t repay the favor you received with enmity, but if you hit me in the head again, it would be really hard to bear.

Really, is this the end?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

After a while, the voice that came out of Magical Girl Garnet’s mouth was one of incomprehension.

Even though it was she who really didn’t understand.

“It might be a little late, but… What’s—”

“He suddenly broke into my hospital room, threatened me, and even attacked me.”

“But he didn’t kill me.”

“All he did was take the leash off my neck?”

“Why, were you really thinking of repaying me for my kindness?”

“But I don’t understand! How on earth could you do that?!”

Could it be that he’s the type of person who can’t live with debt?

…He really is a very annoying person.