Chapter 67: To Be Here

“…That was not what we wanted.”

To be precise, it was a matter of what Saint Jimmy wanted, and as Maryjane listened, she thought that as long as Soda Pop was safe, she couldn’t care less whether Jimmy’s wishes came true or not.

However, since Jimmy considered himself the Apostles’ Council and the Apostles’ Council himself, the word ‘we’ wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Is that so?”

Answering in a listless voice, Maryjane nervously bit her nails, twirling her pink hair with her free fingers and tapping her foot on the floor.

Her gaze was fixed on the sky-blue-haired woman lying on the surgical table, Soda Pop Ritalin.

Only the surgical table was in decent condition; the dark interior, with its old, cracked walls and floor, exuded a sinister atmosphere.

Lying on the table, the woman was as still as an unconscious corpse.

“Weak humanity, even if it rises on its own, can never defeat the malice of the universe, the pus and pathogens that are the demons infiltrating this world to kill it.

That is why a true god is needed to elevate humanity to a higher place, and true apostles… but I cannot help but be disappointed.”

As the large gentleman rambled on in his usual fervent, oratorical tone, Maryjane’s anxiety grew.

In short, Maryjane understood it to mean that he had high expectations for Sanguine Obsidia, but she was not the talent Jimmy had hoped for, and the tumour-like lump attached to her chest was nothing special.

For Maryjane, as long as she and Soda Pop could survive their wretched lives, she had no reason to care what Jimmy wanted or what he planned to do; she would simply do as she was told.

Standing before the surgical table, Jimmy confirmed that the spirit’s corpse Maryjane had secured was well-processed, then placed it on Soda Pop’s chest.

The corpse melted into the form of black sludge, emitting a dark aura as it was absorbed.

“In about two days, the repair of the pseudo-magic organ will be complete, and she will awaken.”

Sensing that the sole audience for his passionate speech was not paying much attention, Jimmy scratched his hat in a rather awkward manner and finished his treatment of Soda Pop on the surgical table.

It was the final stage of repairing the pseudo-magic organ implanted in her chest, and his sudden tirade in the middle of the work naturally made Maryjane show signs of discomfort and impatience.

“…Thanks.”

“Not at all, is she not a precious comrade! It is I who should be thankful.
If not for your brilliant wit, Miss Maryjane, we would have lacked the materials to heal our precious Miss Soda Pop Ritalin.”

Saint Jimmy spoke to Maryjane in a feigned, theatrical tone, spreading his arms wide and gesturing grandly.

“To think you would capture a spirit in that situation, I truly could not have imagined it.”

It was extremely difficult to discern the truth from the lies in the words of this eccentric man named Saint Jimmy, and Maryjane knew from her years of experience that it was becoming harder by the day.

However, she could feel that his last statement, at least, was somewhat true.

Because he genuinely cared for his comrades.

In reality, she was his subordinate and henchman, and the feeling of being cared for was half Maryjane’s own rationalization for managing her stress and digestive health, but the other half was indeed true.

***

That night.

From the moment Glacia Azure confronted Sanguine Obsidia, Maryjane had been watching the two from the top of a building, out of sight of the magical girls, while Saint Jimmy observed the situation through Maryjane’s eyes.

Although the not-so-minor incident of Soda Pop Ritalin falling into critical condition had occurred, the Apostles’ Council, through their cooperation in eliminating the demon and persistent persuasion, had succeeded in obtaining permission from Association President Yu Ji-hye to at least ‘observe’ the capture of Sanguine Obsidia.

It came with the chilling threat of being burned to death the moment they intervened, but Jimmy had no intention of actively intervening anyway.

His purpose was confirmation.

And so,

‘This should be fine. It’s not like I’m intervening in the incident.’

The moment Sanguine Obsidia’s blade pierced Glacia Azure’s chest and the dead Glacia’s head fell, Maryjane spotted a small, whitish form appearing.

A spirit that had lost its contractor, a mascot that had lost its magical girl.

According to widely known information, it must be the spirit named Odette, Glacia Azure’s mascot, who looked like a tiny fairy in a tutu.

“A brilliant idea! We were short one spirit, and that one will be more than enough to treat Miss Soda Pop.
But, will you be able to capture it without the magical girls noticing?”

“Of course.”

A booming voice echoed in her mind, along with the unpleasant sensation of her entire mind being seen.

She sometimes shared senses like sight and hearing through Jimmy’s ability, or perhaps his authority, but the discomfort was still something she couldn’t get used to.

‘It’s easy this way.’

The task was made easier because the magical girls’ attention was on the wailing young magical girl, Rosa Alisa.

She fired a harpoon gun, hitting the fairy that was about to fly away, probably trying to return to the spirit world, and reeled in the harpoon.

It was a simple matter to drag in the small spirit, which was horrified by the dull black weapon that had so easily wounded its body and was struggling to pull the large harpoon from its abdomen.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Spirit.”

The fact that Soda Pop had fallen into a coma during the battle with Glacia Azure due to the pseudo-magic organ’s rampage was entirely Soda Pop’s fault for starting the fight and pushing herself too hard, but Maryjane couldn’t care less.

According to the deal between Jimmy and Yu Ji-hye, all that mattered was that she, who had gone out to eliminate a demon, had returned with severe injuries, and that soon after, the pseudo-magic organ had gone berserk again, causing her to collapse, with Glacia Azure being the cause.

The chance for personal revenge was now gone forever, so it was time to make the mascot atone with its body, literally.

Crack.

She twisted the neck of the spirit, which was pierced by the harpoon and trapped in the material world, unable to return to the spirit realm.

“…Ah.”

The last words of Glacia Azure’s long-time partner were a single, sighed word.

When she pulled the harpoon from the dead spirit’s body, magic power poured out like blood.

Maryjane stuffed the corpse into a black bag she took from her pocket and put it back inside.

A dead spirit would eventually revert to magic power and disappear over time, but with proper storage, its form could be maintained until she returned to use it as material to repair Soda Pop’s magic organ.

Her objective was as good as achieved.

Returning to her original mission, she looked back towards the magical girls.

Sanguine Obsidia was being beaten down one-sidedly by Bistour Blanc.

“To still be emitting such endless magic power in that state of injury, when a normal magical girl would have been depleted long ago… Just as I thought, she must have a fragment in her.

The fragment should have retained its intellect and consciousness.”

A heavy voice echoed in Maryjane’s mind again.

“You mean that thing you talked about before?
The one that failed in Europe?”

What Saint Jimmy had been searching for for so long, his objective.

It was to find a fragment of something like an evil god he served, which was clearly related to the demons.

Since he never told Maryjane, Soda Pop, or the other members the exact details, she could only speculate.

“The ones that failed in France, Russia, and South Africa.
To be precise, I did find the fragments.

But they weren’t the fragments I was looking for, the ones containing His consciousness, but merely lumps of magic similar to, say, a pseudo-magic organ, which is why I said they failed.”

A fragment, to use Jimmy’s term, was literally a small, black piece of flesh that had broken off from a colossal being that the weak and puny language of humans could only describe as a god, and this lump would attach to and parasitize a human.

Since there was no way of knowing where on Earth it would appear, the members of the Apostles’ Council were scattered across the globe under Jimmy’s orders, but…

“…The one found in Europe was a simple lump of magic, and the magical girl found in South Africa unfortunately committed suicide while fleeing, so I couldn’t confirm it.
Sanguine Obsidia seems to have received not only magic power but also some magical knowledge…”

‘If I see it for myself, I will know for sure.’

Jimmy added, and Maryjane looked up at the sky at the rapidly changing situation.

As long as Yu Ji-hye was chasing the spectralized Sanguine Obsidia, she had to run at full speed in the direction of the falling purple trajectory in the sky and quickly find a position from which she could observe the moment the lump on Sanguine Obsidia’s chest was revealed, without being detected by the other magical girls.

“Pant, pant…”

Even after running silently for over 200 meters, her body was fine, but Maryjane felt suffocated by the dense dark magic that had suddenly filled the park.

One by one, the magical girls lost consciousness and collapsed, and she herself was plagued by a dizziness that made her feel like she would pass out, but she couldn’t fall here.

She had to witness what came out of the black mist that seemed to block out the entire outside world, which had appeared right after Yu Ji-hye stabbed Sanguine Obsidia in the chest.

A breathtaking tension,

A constant ringing in her ears that reminded her of the ruins of her childhood, dizziness, and a headache.

It was a desperate time of holding onto her fraying consciousness and forcing her bloodshot eyes wide for Jimmy’s sake,

But the ending was anticlimactic and simple.

“We should… withdraw.

It seems this wasn’t what I was looking for either.

What a shame.”

As the legless Yu Ji-hye collapsed,

And Bistour Blanc ran screaming,

That was Jimmy’s first comment upon seeing the fiercely pulsating tumor in the center of Sanguine Obsidia’s chest as she staggered to her feet in the cleared mist.

“My, my, a fragment that shows no will whatsoever, merely supplying magic semi-permanently according to its host’s will.

I had thought Sanguine Obsidia’s cruelty and aggression were the result of the fragment’s residual consciousness… but it seems I was mistaken.”

A voice that did not hide its disappointment.

Maryjane no longer had any reason to care about Sanguine Obsidia’s true nature, and feeling like she was about to collapse, she, who could not refuse the invasive voice, just wished for Jimmy to shut his mouth.

“She may be charming, but not worth securing… Let’s give up on Sanguine Obsidia.
Whether the Korean magical girls kill her or not, this is just another common mass murder case.”

After a brief pause,

“No, what about the woman who follows Sanguine Obsidia around?
Her name was Ahn Yujin, wasn’t it?
With a soul as black as hers, don’t you think she’s worthy of wielding the Black Holy Relic and becoming one of our brethren?”

Maryjane, having barely escaped the park and caught her breath, had the words, ‘I don’t care about the fragment or a new member of the Apostles’ Council, I wish they would all just die,’ right at the tip of her tongue, but she lacked the energy to even speak them.

***

“I’m home~”

I ran to the front door and stood with my arms open.

My balance was off without my right arm, but my left arm was enough to embrace her as she opened the door and came in.

“There, there.
Were you good?”

“Yeah.”

We greeted each other by rubbing cheeks and shared a short kiss.

“I like the white hair too.”

As our lips parted and I reflexively tried to change my hair and eye color, Yujin spoke.

“But the black is nice too.
Your eye color, you don’t need to worry about it.
It’s pretty, like a jewel.”

A shiver ran through my body from the familiar scent and warm touch of her small hand gently stroking my hair, and a sense of happiness spread, following the afterglow of the pleasure of murder.

“Did you go kill someone again today?”

Was my face too relaxed?

She immediately figured out what I had been doing while she was away.

Her voice wasn’t angry.

“…Just one, like I promised.
I took care of it quietly, from afar, so I wouldn’t get caught.”

I had confessed everything to her, literally all of me, but speaking like this still felt strange.

But, the embrace she gave me after hearing my confession of murder brings me so much joy.

I’m happy that Yujin, a normal, kind person unrelated to murder, violence, and death, accepted even this terrible me, even the part of me that is crazed with the pleasure of killing someone.

“But I’m worried.

Your body isn’t well, and I don’t know what would happen if you went out and ran into a magical girl.
So, please, stay home, where it’s safe.”

“Okay, I will.
It’s just that today was really hard to endure…”

When I told her my whole story as Sanguine Obsidia, Yujin had a rare look of bewilderment, but it seems she’s used to it now.

So I must get used to it too.

[Yes, this is better. Even if you keep killing, at least do it as little as possible.]

I’m already completely ignoring it, but even after I woke up and came to my senses, the nonsense of the little ghost can still be heard from time to time.

I glance once at the black shape in the corner of my vision and bury my face in Yujin’s hair again.

This precious time must not be disturbed any longer, so I have no attention left to give you.

So please, shut up.

You’re drowning out her clear, lovely, precious voice.

“Wait just a moment, I’ll make you dinner.”

Even her back as she enters the kitchen, leaving a lingering scent after our hug, is so lovely.

If I were to, her,

Ah, a time without her, a time where she doesn’t exist, cannot exist even for a fleeting moment.

Without her, I would not be able to live.

But if I were to kill her, the one who has already become my everything, with my own hands.

Before, even imagining it was too frightening, but these days, such thoughts sometimes cross my mind.

The thought that I could obtain an immense pleasure that couldn’t compare to killing some nameless passerby.

And then, I feel fear.

The terror of a cold blizzard after extinguishing the only light.

I caressed the place where my right arm used to be and smiled.

I’m not really going to kill her.

Right now, my murderous impulse is satisfied, and I’m in a normal, peaceful state.

My love for her has only deepened, and she has become even more precious.

The pleasure of murder, the love of Yujin.

Now that I have accepted both of these incompatible desires, I am so very happy.