Chapter 62: The Sea, The Monster, And The Girl (6)

“It was a pleasant conversation, Emerald-sama.”

“I enjoyed it too, Sapphire.”

The conversation with Sapphire was quite enjoyable.

Maybe it was because we were discussing the same topic, but it felt even more special.

[She’s more innocent than I thought…]

“Because she’s Sapphire.”

[This time, too, I don’t know, but Emerald knows someone?]

“What, right?”

There was a limit to trying to cover it up by saying that she knew someone before she became a magical girl.

May also noticed something strange, but she didn’t express her suspicions out loud, perhaps out of consideration for me.

Sorry, May. I’ll explain everything someday.

‘There are still too many things that I’m uneasy about…

For example, Ruby said that.

To be exact, Ruby’s case would be like that.

‘When we first met, she clearly didn’t have any memories of the previous world…

At some point, Ruby regained her memories of the previous world and began to express her hatred toward Apocalypse.

I don’t know where she is right now, but Ruby would definitely be waiting for an opportunity to hurt Akari.

In Ruby’s memories, it was only Apocalypse, not Akari.

[Emerald, you’re not pushing yourself too hard lately, are you?]

“It’s okay. You’ve gotten a lot better than before, right? I’m just worried about Akari.”

What if Sapphire regains her memories?

What if Sapphire and Ruby attack Akari together?

Even though it was just a fleeting thought, my head was spinning.

What on earth should I do?

“May, can I ask you one thing?”

[Of course. I can answer any question Emerald asks.]

“Anything?”

[T- that’s all I know…]

“Pfft, that’s fine.”

I laughed at May, who was hesitating.

I can’t say for sure, but you’ll definitely understand.

“There’s someone who will become a very bad person in the future, and I just met that person.”

[…]

“But now that I look at him, he doesn’t seem like such a bad person, right?

Then what should I do?

Should I stop him now because he’ll become a bad person in the future?

Or should I just watch him a little longer since he’s not bad now?”

In fact, I thought the future had changed the moment I saved Akari from the lab.

No, I wanted to think so.

It was too cruel for someone who was doing so well now to become Apocalypse later.

‘Even when the Halo rose above his head, he was the same as usual…

If he had shown that he was losing his senses, I would have been much more anxious than I was now.

However, Akari looked fine even when the Halo rose above her head.

She was completely different from the Apocalypse in my memories, who was so emotionless that he seemed like the embodiment of destruction.

[If it were me, I think I’d watch him a little longer.

No, wouldn’t I be more careful not to become a bad person?]

“…I see.”

[I don’t think there’s such a thing as a bad person from the beginning.

It’s just the environment and people around you that make you that way.]

Mei was right.

Apocalypse had been in the doctor’s lab until just before his appearance.

But Akari was different.

She had been rescued from the lab before Apocalypse’s appearance, and she was doing well in many ways.

“Thank you for the advice, May. I think I’ve finally made up my mind.”

[I’m glad it helped, Emerald.]

He gently stroked May’s crown as she smiled brightly, lifting the corners of her mouth.

The anxiety that had been lingering in her heart disappeared, and hope filled her heart.

Yes, first, let’s bring Akari back.

And we’ll talk to Ruby and clear up the misunderstanding.

The current Akari isn’t the Apocalypse you knew, she thought.

‘Don’t give up so easily, Emerald!

Because Emerald was an unbreakable magical girl.

No matter what happened, never.

***After breaking up with Emerald.

I didn’t really like crowded places, so I was on my way back to my dorm through a deserted area.

“Is that Emerald person really okay?”

“I think she’ll be okay.”

“It seems suspicious. Not only is it not enough to see monsters positively, but she also recognizes you when you’re un-transformed…”

Her partner, who spoke in a voice full of worry, sighed inwardly at Lumina.

Lumina had too many suspicions, which was the problem.

Sometimes it would be okay to just accept things as they are.

Of course, I somewhat agreed that Emerald-sama was suspicious, but…

‘Right? That’s how Akari is, right?

Really, if she had a cat-like appearance, I would’ve hugged her to my heart’s content…

However, there was no way that someone with such a pure smile could be a villain.

If that smile was fake, it would’ve been polite to be fooled.

“Apart from the suspiciousness, what would you say about Emerald-sama?”

“Well, if you set that aside, I guess you could say she’s great. Magical girls are all just monster-slaying guys.”

“That sounds sarcastic.”

“It’s sarcastic. How can you use such a great resource as hope energy only to slay monsters? Tsk tsk…”

Lumina raised the corners of her lips slightly as she spoke, shaking her head.

Although she was a partner who would whine all the time, she would always give me what I wanted.

This time, too, if I just wanted it, it would probably go my way.

“Then, it seems like what we have to do now has been decided.”

“For example?”

“For example, finding out the identity of the person following us?”

She turned her head slightly at the presence she felt behind her.

Judging from the fact that she had already revealed her presence as soon as she arrived at a place with few people, it seemed like it wasn’t a typical stalking incident.

If that’s the case, then it means that she had a separate purpose in mind…

“It’s been a while, Sapphire.”

“Do you know me?”

“It’s my first time seeing your face…”

I blinked at the sight of the person who suddenly appeared as soon as I turned my head.

A completely new face.

I thought maybe I had forgotten, so I tried to recall it, but there was no way I could remember someone who wasn’t in my memory.

“Of course. We haven’t met ‘yet!’”

“Yet!…”

The content of her words was strange.

Did not meeting yet mean that we would meet at some point in the future?

Maybe she was just a little crazy.

“I’m not very good with words, so I don’t have the confidence to properly persuade her.”

“Your partner’s name is Lumina, right?”

I frowned at the person who casually mentioned Lumina’s name.

How did you know?

Magical girls’ partners weren’t a topic that even magical girls often talked about among themselves.

Apparently, magical girls’ partners could hide themselves from other magical girls if they wanted to.

Lumina was one of the partners who had never shown herself to any other magical girls until now, so it was really strange that she knew her name.

“Damn, could she have been an informant sent by the Queen? Dare to spy on me? That damn guy, I should have noticed when he started doing dirty things!!”

Lumina started shouting in an agitated voice, perhaps shocked by the thought of her own name coming out of a stranger’s mouth.

Most of them were gossip or conspiracy theories about the Queen, though.

“I’m with Ruby.”

“I’ve never heard that name before.”

“Well, that makes sense.”

“If you were trying to gain trust just by knowing my partner’s name—”

“That guy was in the black cloud, right? The monster that spoke human language.”

Someone else who knew Akari?

A sense of discomfort washed over me.

The sense of discomfort I felt from someone who introduced herself as Ruby.

And the sense of discomfort I felt from Emerald-sama, who recognized me while I was undoing my transformation.

Those two feelings of discomfort were surprisingly similar to each other.

“Do you know Emerald-sama?”

“We know each other… You could say we know each other. We were comrades who fought together, entrusting our lives to each other.”

“…Comrades.”

“You were the same, Sapphire.”

It was something I had no recollection of.

In the first place, the person in front of me and Emerald-sama, our first meeting in this city was also our first meeting.

But what if what the other person said was true?

“Then, who on earth did we fight?”

“…Puhaha.”

In response to my question, the other person—Ruby—reflexively burst out laughing.

It wasn’t a laugh of mockery, but a laugh filled with pure surprise.

“Sorry, I never imagined I’d hear something like that from you.”

“Answer my question first.”

“You know it too.”

It was a short answer, but I could clearly see who Ruby was talking about.

That was because I could clearly see the being her red eyes were focused on.

The black cloud, the monster within it.

A monster that spoke human language, had a human appearance, and acted human—

“…Akari.”

There’s a monster named Akari.