Chapter 57: The Sea, The Monster, And The Girl

“…Do you plan on staying here?”

“My place is where my senpai is.”

He sighed inwardly as he looked at Garnet, who was clinging tightly to Tamako.

He had a feeling that something like this might happen, but he never thought it would really turn out like this.

It was Garnet who had suddenly moved next door after reuniting with Tamako.

I never dreamed that he would look like that.

“That’s right…”

Their first meeting was literally the worst.

It was the first time he had mercilessly stabbed and killed someone who seemed to have escaped from an underground lab.

There was an explanation that test subjects who came out of test tubes would die shortly after, but it wasn’t very credible to hear that from someone who had killed a test subject—no, someone who had been experimented on.

“Garnet, I thought you had grown up a bit, but you’re still the same.”

“You’re the same, senpai. You look exactly the same as when I last saw you.”

“…Exactly, la.”

He stared blankly at the two people talking and slowly got up from his seat.

It was a long-awaited conversation with someone he had even thought dead, so it would be better to step aside for a moment.

“I wonder if Akari is doing well! Akari looked like she would be fine no matter where she fell, but it would be a lie if I said I wasn’t worried.

What if she gets lonely?

They say that house cats get lonely easily even if they pretend not to.

Does she eat well?

It was my job to feed her every day—no, she doesn’t eat regular meals.

“I thought of her like a cat.”

[Who? Akari?]

“Maybe it didn’t get to you.”

He patted Mei’s head, who had an expression like she had heard a bad joke.

Certainly, to Mei, Akari looked like a giant tiger.

A tiger of despair as big as a building that swallowed up any hope.

‘Answer me! Why on earth are you doing this!? Why are you attacking people!”

“What do you mean? I said that. It’s because I’m certain.”

[Conviction, what do you mean?]

“Conviction that Akari isn’t a bad monster?”

Akari, who was about to break up, was still the same Akari as always, even though she had a halo over her head.

Maybe it was because of that, she was able to remain unshaken even though she felt despair like trauma in real time.

Because Akari wasn’t Apocalypse.

…I wonder if there can be a monster that isn’t bad.

Mei, who was speaking as if she was lamenting, smiled.

I also didn’t think there could be a monster that isn’t bad.

‘But, I can trust Akari.’

If Akari wanted to kill me, she had plenty of opportunities.

There were several that came to mind right away, so yeah.

Jing Oh.

[It seems like a call from the Association, Emerald.]

“I guess so.”

I thought she would contact me someday, but when she actually did, I became a little anxious.

She must have called me to investigate the place where Akari was.

Of course, going to see Akari wasn’t a problem at all.

However, what I was most worried about was how the other magical girls would react when they saw Akari.

‘Well, it doesn’t really matter if I worry now.’

In the first place, an ordinary magical girl wouldn’t have been able to penetrate the despair spreading around Akari.

The black clouds that stimulated the primal despair of humans had the power to dye any and all hope black.

“Let’s go, Mei. It would be helpful for Akari if we knew more about what plans the Association has.”

[Good.]

Although she only had a negative impression of the Association in this city, it would be better to respond to the call in order to help Akari.

If she knew what the Association was up to, she would be able to prepare for anything that might happen.

Anyway, she left the house and headed to the Association for a while.

It’s a little noisy, Emerald.]

“…That’s right.”

The Association she arrived at was quite noisy.

From the recent underground lab incident to the cloud of despair that appeared on the nearby coast.

If you think about the recent big events, it wouldn’t be strange for the association to be a bit chaotic.

But today’s chaos felt a little different from the chaos before.

It was more of a positive chaos than a negative one.

It felt like they were welcoming new faces—no, not really a feeling, but there was even a banner hanging that said, “Welcome all the magical girls who have been dispatched!”

“Oh, hello, Emerald-sama!”

“Hello, may I ask what the banner says?”

“Oh, that one? It seems like the central government requested assistance from the magical girls to investigate something in the sea.”

“I see…”

Well, it would be difficult to investigate with the magical girls in this city.

For now, the only registered magical girls were Garnet, Peridot, and me.

In that sense, the more people who applied, the easier it would be to investigate.

Of course, the most important thing was whether or not a magical girl who could pass through the clouds of despair would be dispatched.

“I’m Sapphire dispatched from the north. Please take care of me.”

“…Ah.”

However, that thought soon disappeared.

Blue eyes and hair of the same color.

And a familiar voice.

The moment I directly saw the image that was still vivid in my memory, I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.

…Why is Sapphire here?!

Today’s weather was clear.

As I covered the sun floating above my head with my palm and kicked my feet, the cool seawater created small sprays.

Grrrrrrrr—

“Another magical girl came and went, so you’re just going to stay still? Well, there’s no reason to move, right?”

As the number of magical girls coming and going near the uninhabited island increased, the frequency of the monsters becoming nervous also gradually increased.

From the monsters’ perspective, the magical girls’ hopes must be terrifying.

Just touching them would make them vomit from the inside out.

Greak, greak, greak—

“Shall we show you an example of what it means to invade our territory? Oh my, you idiots can’t even come in here anyways.”

That was already the despair of Apocalypse, who was called the magical girl killer.

It would be nearly impossible for anyone other than the original protagonists.

Even if they did come, it would be Emerald or Ruby…

Since neither Emerald nor Ruby had come even once, I began to wonder if they had lost interest in me.

There’s absolutely no way that would happen, but…

The last time I saw Ruby, she was gritting her teeth in order to kill me, and Emerald—well, honestly, I’m not sure about Emerald.

If I were Emerald, I think I would have joined hands with Ruby and come find her and blasted her with magic weapons.

But when I think about how she tried to protect me from Ruby, I don’t think that would happen.

Squeak—!!!

“What, again. Didn’t I tell you not to yell all of a sudden?”

Squeak…

“A member of my own kind got attacked by a magical girl?”

I never imagined that there would be a brave guy attacking a monster around here.

Even without that, there were already a considerable number of monsters that had either newly appeared or had come from other places to settle down.

According to the humans, it was a hell sent down on humanity…

Honestly, I think it was to that extent.

They didn’t raid human cities, and they didn’t really attack unless they got close.

He didn’t even chase after the magical girls who rushed in and attacked the monsters because they were hurt.

“Isn’t she one of those magical girls who often come here? Tell them not to go outside the cloud today.”

Grumble.

“This time, it feels different…”

Certainly, there were magical girls who came to observe this area, but no magical girls had attacked the monsters directly.

Could it be that they were really planning to pierce through the cloud of despair?

I tore my eyes from the book I was reading because of the anxious thoughts that came to my mind.

Seriously, I couldn’t understand why they were going through all that trouble.

“If you can come, tell them to come. If they come here, I’ll deal with them myself.”

Grumble.

“If they look weak, can I eat them? I can eat their despair, but I can’t kill them or eat their bodies.”

I absolutely refused to be misunderstood as someone who had ordered me to do so.

But one thing that was fortunate was that the monsters listened to me well.

Well, it was natural since I fed all the guys who didn’t listen to me to my shadow.

Groan, groan, groan—squeak…

“I didn’t mean to tell you not to attack. Just act like you normally would, as long as you don’t kill them completely, just like you normally do.”

The most important point was to make them act without being too suspicious.

If the magical girls weren’t harmed by the monsters at all, the other humans would think it was strange.

And if the magical girls were killed by the monsters, there was a high chance that Emerald would turn hostile.

It was quite annoying to have to be between the two and watch their every move, but there was nothing I could do if I didn’t want it to be more of a bother later.

‘My biggest worry right now is Ruby, though…’

“Ugh—”

I stretched at the sudden worry that came to mind and emptied my head of everything.

Well, there was no need to worry about something that wasn’t even right in front of me.