Chapter 72: Kidnapping (2)

If it had been a normal human’s request, I would have declined, but since it was Tamako’s request, I decided to accept.

More importantly, that Ayara human child’s despair was quite delicious.

If she were alive, she would have been kidnapped by a monster and would be spewing out delicious despair.

“Thank you, really, thank you…”

The human kept lowering his head, and he sniffed while looking at Lina.

The despair of a grown human was quite bland, but this time, it felt quite good.

Was it because it was the despair of a parent who had lost a child?

It was a taste of despair that I wanted to eat every day as an after-meal snack.

“Benefactor, are you really okay?”

“Is there anything that wouldn’t be okay? It’s nice to go out for the first time in a while, isn’t it?”

Tamako, who had exchanged phone numbers with Lina, asked worriedly.

She seemed to be wondering if I should really go out.

Well, I guess I couldn’t help but think that way since I’ve been staying at home since I got back.

‘Akari, if possible, please refrain from going outside for the time being.’

I shook my head, recalling the green eyes that looked at me with longing eyes.

Why are they so worried? Tsk.

I wasn’t the kind of person who would go and get beaten up, and in the first place, the ones I should be worried about were the guys I would run into.

Ah, now that I think about it, I guess it was because I was worried about the guys I would run into…

Anyway.

“Let’s go back for now.”

“Yes, benefactor.”

I told her to pull out the bull’s horns in one go, but for now, taking Tamako home was the priority.

It was like, “I will absolutely protect my despair.”

“You are so kind, benefactor.”

“One emerald is enough to tease me like that.”

“I’m not teasing you.”

Tamako’s eyes were filled with only seriousness as she spoke.

How could Emerald and Tamako be kind to monsters?

As expected, magical girls’ brains were definitely soft.

Well, it made sense since they were girls who hadn’t even become adults yet.

“Your benefactor resembles someone I know.”

“…”

Tamako said softly.

Resembling a human wasn’t exactly a pleasant thing to hear.

Sniff sniff.

It was a sight that other humans would find strange, but there was nothing more certain than this when looking for a human who exuded despair.

Now, where should we go…

“The end is coming! Everyone, prepare to ask for mercy!”

“The weather is gloomy, tsk! Why don’t you get out of here!?”

“We need to ask for His forgiveness! Please have mercy! Please have mercy! Please have mercy!!”

I never thought I’d see something I’d only seen on TV in real life.

Maybe because the world was going through the end times, there were quite a few people on the streets who seemed to have lost their minds.

The end and all, mercy and all… Are they some kind of prophecy of the end of the world?

Of course, it was quite fun to watch the people going crazy.

The sight of them desperately despairing as the end approached was also quite enjoyable.

“Everyone, forgive him—”

“…Ah.”

As I was walking while avoiding the humans occupying the street, I ended up bumping into a human who was going crazy because I couldn’t avoid him.

Ugh, this is going to be annoying.

I shuddered at the thought of what would happen next and took a step back.

I didn’t really want to associate with humans anyway, but of all people, I ended up bumping into a crazy human.

“Ah, ah, ahhhhhhhh…?!?!!?!”

“…What the heck.”

And as expected.

I slowly moved away from the human who started going crazy as soon as he saw me.

Ugh, I hope I didn’t catch that guy’s mental illness or something.

I hurriedly walked past the human who was drooling and convulsing as if he had rabies.

‘Could it be that those guys are actually some kind of humanoid monster?’

No matter how you look at them, they don’t look like normal humans, seriously.

If I had been bitten, I would have definitely become mentally ill.

It was a pretty strong despair for a normal human being, but for some reason, I didn’t really want to eat it.

That’s madness pretending to be despair, madness.

“I wonder where he is…”

The culprit returned to the crime scene, so I first went to the place where Aya was kidnapped.

Maybe it was because some time had passed, but I couldn’t smell despair or anything.

If I had known this would happen, I should have come yesterday.

I clicked my tongue internally and slowly looked around.

There was no deadline for finding it, and I wasn’t being paid for it, so I decided to take it easy.

“What, Akari. Why are you here? You’re the one who stays home all the time.”

“I come out when I have to go out too.”

I naturally teased the voice behind me.

Is it okay to talk to your benefactor like that?

I clicked my tongue internally at the completely different attitude from my senior, Tamako.

Even seeing her more hopeful than before made my stomach turn.

“I came out for a while because I was asked to find a child.”

“A child? What child?”

Garnet tilted her head as if she didn’t understand my answer.

Her expression seemed to indicate that she couldn’t find a connection between me and her saying that she came out to find a child.

“There was someone I knew, and that person asked me to help find his child.”

“Someone you knew? You?”

“…What’s with that surprised reaction? I know one or two people, too?”

If I found that surprised reaction annoying, was it because I was feeling it?

No, it wasn’t because I was feeling it, I was just annoyed.

How much does this guy underestimate my social skills?

I wondered if monsters would be socially savvy, but…

“So, what’s with kidnapping? Are they trying to extort money by threatening?”

“No, it’s not a human, it’s a monster.”

“…A monster?”

“Why are you staring at me like that? I don’t do anything as petty as kidnapping.”

I answered curtly to Garnet, who was looking at me at the word monster.

I’m someone who can live without the law, right?

I thought I should give them a beating someday, looking at a monster that didn’t do anything like that.

“Well, I suddenly have a bad feeling…”

“Go ahead. I need to borrow a cat’s paw right now.”

“Hey, you’re looking for me more seriously than I thought?”

“I’m not really serious.”

The way she said it teasingly made me feel bad.

What on earth do the magical girls around me think of me?

Anyway, if she had come up with something, it was good news for us.

The search was already slow because there were no clues.

“I can only remember one guy who uses monsters to kidnap children.”

“…”

“Doctor—if you know the name, it’s Curse.”

“Ah.”

Now that I think about it, I missed that guy last time.

I hadn’t really paid attention, so I had forgotten.

Of course, Curse would have kidnapped Aya.

Lina was also one of the researchers at the underground lab, so there must have been some connection.

Aya even seemed to be quite talented in magical girls.

“Actually, there have been more and more cases of children going missing recently, so I was investigating.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, I’ll help you, so why don’t you come with me? If you meet Curse, just let me hit him once. Just once.”

I think it would be more accurate to say stab him with a knife rather than hit him.

Of course, that wasn’t a big deal.

It would be fun to see Curse squirming like a bug after being stabbed by Garnet’s blade, so yeah.

When I nodded in agreement, Garnet smiled refreshingly at me.

“Thank you, Akari.”

“Don’t say thank you to a monster when you’re a magical girl. It’s creepy.”

I shivered from the reflexive feeling of rejection.

Why did Emerald, Tamako, and this guy all like saying thank you to monsters so much?

“So, are you ready, Watson?”

“Why am I Watson? You’re Watson.”

“Oh, you know?”

“…How far are you going to treat me like an idiot, you?”

Do you think I’m some idiot monster who doesn’t know anything?

Garnet was trying to sneakily put me in the position of her assistant.

Annoying, annoying, annoying.

“Whoa, ah, ugh?! Wait a minute! Oh, it hurts?!”

“Since you’re telling me to hurt, isn’t it natural for it to hurt, Magical Girl of Justice?”

I put a little despair in my fingertips and pressed Garnet’s arm hard, and Garnet started to tremble like a person who had been shot by a taser gun.

I should tease her a little.

“So where are you going first, Detective?”

“Uh, um… well, isn’t it obvious?”

Garnet’s gaze turned to me, then to the floor.

The floor—no, even lower than that.

It was a gaze that seemed to be looking at something rough, disgusting, and terrible.

It also seemed like it was looking at filth that she never wanted to touch again.

“You’re going to the underground lab?”

“There are a few suspicious parts. I think there might be some clues there. What do you think?”

“Not bad.”

I nodded to Garnet’s words.

It seemed like the exploration of the underground lab wasn’t over yet.