Chapter 86: Those With Memories (4)

One thing I didn’t expect was that Emerald would wake up.

“…Akari?”

“You’re awake.”

She got down from Emerald as if nothing had happened.

If Emerald was fine, she would have been extremely embarrassed.

She wiped the corners of her mouth that still had the aftertaste of despair and smiled, and Emerald smiled back.

What are you laughing at? I don’t even know why I’m laughing.

“…I fainted?”

“It’s overwork. Lack of sleep and nutritional imbalances.”

“…I see.”

It was a reaction that seemed to have been expected to some extent.

Well, Emerald wouldn’t be so stupid as to not know her own physical condition.

‘That’s what’s good about it.’

She knows her own limitations but still doesn’t stop saving people.

That’s how a magical girl should be. Yes, that’s right.

That’s why I couldn’t hate Emerald.

The despair that dwelled in that noble spirit was truly… ecstatic.

“I’m sorry for pushing myself too hard, Akari.”

“It’s okay. Pushing myself too hard isn’t my problem, it’s your problem.”

At that point, it was already as good as an illness.

A pitiful human who kills himself to achieve what he wants.

And yet he himself doesn’t know what the problem is.

“And, I like you pushing yourself too hard.”

“… ”

“Because when you push yourself too hard, your despair grows.”

As the despair of the other humans decreases, Emerald’s despair only grows.

Just that alone was a blessing for me.

The despair that was not worth eating was transformed into a three-star high-class despair.

Just imagining it made my mouth water.

“I should work hard for Akari.”

“… Yes, well. Please work hard for me.”

Isn’t that too positive?

There was no sarcasm or teasing in her smiling face.

Emerald was smiling at me, saying that she would do her best.

… This is monstrously bad.

It’s a good thing that the despair circuit was closed.

If it had been open, it would have been a disaster in many ways.

“And while you’re down, take a break for a while. I’m telling you to work hard, not die from working hard.”

“But…”

You’re thinking too hard again.

If Emerald was the only magical girl in the world, I’d understand, but there were two more in this city alone.

Garnet and Peridot.

I don’t know if it was Peridot, but Garnet, isn’t she someone I can trust and rely on?

“Leave human work to humans. Soldiers, police officers, firefighters, etc… You don’t think magical girls should do all those things, do you?”

“…That’s it.”

“Remember. A magical girl’s job is to deal with monsters. Not fellow humans.”

Monsters were more than enough for a magical girl to deal with.

No, it wasn’t enough, it was more than enough.

What would happen if a magical girl had to deal with a human in that situation?

‘What would happen? I’d end up like this.’

A magical girl being a workaholic.

I could understand wanting to do this and that when she was young, but if she kept working like that, she wouldn’t be able to last long.

They say that even if you work like a dog when you’re young, it all goes to hospital bills when you’re old.

Emerald was exactly that kind of person.

A person who suffered when she was young and regretted it when she got older.

“And what would you do if a monster made a surprise attack when you were weak like this?”

“…Akari?”

“What if I, what if I attack you like this?”

“Wh-?!”

I grabbed Emerald’s two wrists and held them down.

Her confused eyes trembled slightly between the green hair scattered on the bed.

‘Anyway, you’re weak.’

The current Emerald was too weak.

It could be because she hadn’t transformed, but judging from the thickness of her wrists in my grip, it seemed like they would tremble just as much even after she transformed.

It seemed like she was getting weaker and weaker as time went on.

Of course, despair was even more delicious.

“Wake up, Midori. If you’re going to take responsibility for me, you should at least be in good health, right?”

“…That’s right.”

“Well, I don’t think you’ll listen to me even if I tell you.”

I got down from Emerald and jumped down onto the bed.

I thought that it would be a little easier if I got rid of all the humans, but I decided to hold back because if that happened, it would be no different from the original.

I’ll refuse to be bothered. I absolutely will not!

‘And, at that age, you learn by experiencing hardships yourself~’

You learn what’s good and what’s bad by experiencing it yourself, not by saying ‘Ah, this is bad’ just because someone tells you.

There will come a day when you realize that it’s best to leave human problems to humans.

I don’t know when that will be.

**

Of course, it’s obvious, Emerald was discharged the next morning.

When I finally went to see her for breakfast, what was on the hospital TV?

While I was at it, I ended up eating a lot of the despair of the people in the hospital.

If the doctor had seen it, he would have told me to eat that kind of petty despair, but I wondered what it would be like if I ate it anyway when it wasn’t even there.

“Everyone, prepare for the end! The end of the world is coming soon!”

“There’s a huge bunker in the center! Let’s take it away from the dirty politicians and regain our safety!”

“The Angel of Death will descend upon the world! We must prepare to welcome him according to the will of God!”

The collective madness of the humans was gradually reaching its limit.

I advised them to leave human affairs to humans, but seeing this makes me think I should think a little differently…

They even brought in a large monitor with a loudspeaker and a placard to play a video about the end of the world, and even after watching it for a short while, I was annoyed.

‘But that’s on the moderate side…’

Did I only see the human world on TV?

Unlike the fanatics from before, the eyes of the humans now were filled with madness.

It was like a gathering of extreme pessimists who sincerely wished for the end of the world.

At this point, I wondered if there would be no meaning even if there was no apocalypse.

‘…More than that.’

“…”

“…”

“…”

Why is it so quiet around here?

The humans who had been talking until just now were all silent as if they had eaten honey.

It was already noisy, so I thought it was a good thing—it was too suddenly quiet to think about it…

Ah. Now that I think about it, I was just passing through the middle of these lunatics.

“Ugh, ah, ugh…”

“Oh, God… Oh God, God…”

“Save us, save us, save us…”

“Please have mercy…”

The humans who saw me suddenly knelt down.

Some just fell to the ground begging for mercy, some blankly stared at my face and cried out to God, and some grabbed the hem of my clothes and begged for salvation.

A god? I’m not such a noble being.

I slowly walked, pulling away the arms of the humans who were clinging to me noisily.

‘I don’t even intend to destroy this side, tsk…’

It was good to despair at me, but it wasn’t so good to think on your own.

Shouldn’t the main characters be the only ones who regained their memories of the previous world?

I don’t know who turned back time, but their actions were truly horrible.

A world where everyone, magical girls, humans, monsters—even me, to be exact, suffered.

“Those people, they knelt before that kid…”

“What’s wrong with that kid?”

“The atmosphere is a bit strange… Is he a kid from a strange religion?”

I’ll hear another one when I get back.

I already felt stressed out from hearing the gossip of the people around me.

When I get back, Garnet will definitely tease me a lot.

She’ll definitely laugh out loud, asking where the hell I am and what I’ve been doing to become such a famous person.

‘Emerald… I think she’ll make a serious expression.’

Or she’ll get really serious.

The person who would be the most troubled the moment she realized that my pictures or videos were floating around the internet was none other than Emerald.

Recently, a group of people who remember the world where I was active—more precisely, the world where Apocalypse was active—have been appearing, and on top of that, things about me are spreading to other people?

I thought I might really cry.

For some reason, Emerald treated me like I was an incredibly precious object.

‘Let’s think about that later, okay?’

Now that my existence was known, Emerald would have to make a choice, whether she liked it or not.

Either hide me or prove that I was harmless.

Neither of these were very likely, but I could guess which one Emerald would choose.

“You have to realize that there are no harmless monsters in this world…”

Emerald would definitely try to prove my harmlessness to other humans.

She would believe that since she judged me that way, others would judge me that way too.