Chapter 92: The Starting Point Of Hatred

“Ugh…”

I felt like I had a strange dream.

I had a dream about entering an alleyway on my way home from school and making a contract with a strange girl.

I took a deep breath, calming my pounding heart.

It felt like I was breathing deep under the sea.

The moment I lifted my heavy head, what I saw was—

“…”

The words that stabbed my heart left me speechless.

The gaze that seemed to pierce through my mind.

My appearance was reflected in the only remaining eye.

My miserable, miserable appearance.

“…What do you want?”

“Nothing. I already received it from you.”

“If you’re going to say something nonsensical, get out of the house.”

“If I explain it so you can understand, then you don’t have to leave?”

“…”

The child giggled again at my speechless words.

A being that purely finds joy in teasing people—humans.

To be exact, it would be correct to say that he rejoices at seeing humans in trouble.

“You can do whatever you want. I’ll do whatever I want, too.”

I wanted to kick him out right away, but seeing the child’s calm appearance made me feel like I was the only one getting angry, so I forced myself to calm down.

It wouldn’t be a big deal to have another child like that in this big house.

If I could live as if I were there and not there, then it wouldn’t matter if I stayed.

Of course, I wouldn’t treat him like a guest.

“Oh, by the way, do you have what you wanted? It would be a shame to lose it after wanting it so much.”

“That’s what I wanted—”

Ah.

Now that I think about it, this child only had one eye when I first saw them?

I absentmindedly reached out my hand, looking at the bandage wrapped around their right eye.

No. When I first saw them, both eyes were fine—

*Soo-wook—*

“Hyak?!”

“Why are you doing that? You put them in yourself.”

“That, you’re lying…?”

The inside of the bandage was empty.

It was a sensation that a normal human would never feel.

The skin inside the place where the eye had been.

It was moist, soft, sticky, and yet horrible—

a creepy sensation.

“You took it because you wanted it.”

“…”

Even though my finger went into the place where the eye had been, the child’s expression didn’t change at all.

Could he not feel pain?

If not, did he live a life so painful that this kind of pain was nothing to him?

‘But it’s strange. Where the hell would someone gouge out their own eye—no, tell someone to gouge it out?’

The person in front of me was absolutely not a human.

Yes, it couldn’t have been a human.

… It definitely had to be not a human.

And if the child in front of me wasn’t human –

“I’ll give it back even now.”

“Pfft, it’s already too late.”

“Already, too late?”

The child smiled meaningfully at my question and handed me the hand mirror that was next to him.

Why was the mirror suddenly…

The moment I instinctively picked up the mirror that was extended in front of me, I couldn’t help but understand what the child was saying.

“What is this…”

“You said you wanted my eyes, right?”

“…”

My right eye reflected in the mirror had turned red.

I rubbed my eye, wondering if she had secretly put on a red lens, but I didn’t feel any foreign substance.

“Well, if you want to give it back, you can give it back.”

“…Ugh.”

“Should I take it back?”

“…”

I tried to nod, but I couldn’t move because I thought the child would just pluck out my eye if I did.

The child seemed to like my silence, and the corners of his mouth were raised.

I don’t know what he is, but he doesn’t seem to have a cheerful personality.

No matter how I think about it, he has a bad personality, this guy.

“Oh, come to think of it, we didn’t even get to know each other.”

I swallowed dryly as the child clapped his hands and asked me to introduce myself.

I had a feeling that I shouldn’t tell him my name.

It felt like I heard the cult solicitors I sometimes see on the street asking me to tell them my name.

If I said I wouldn’t tell them, I would say that I didn’t have to.

But…

“…Kuroko. My name is Kuroko.”

“Oh. I thought you’d definitely refuse, but that’s unexpected.”

“So, what’s your name?”

The child’s eyes widened slightly, as if he hadn’t expected me to tell him my name.

To be honest, I didn’t want to tell him.

But he told me his name anyway, because he wanted to get a little bit of information about the other person.

Since he didn’t know anything about that person, he wanted to know at least his name.

“Akari.”

“…”

“My name is Akari.”

I couldn’t help but think that it was a completely unsuitable name.

Who on earth was that person who gave that person the name Akari?

He had an appearance and personality that made my name seem much more fitting.

As I frowned at the awkwardness of the name, the child—no, Akari—started giggling.

It was as if she had expected this kind of reaction.

“So, Akari.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“What on earth are you?”

You can gouge out your own eyes without a second thought, change the color of your pupils to red, bring a huge sofa into the house with that small body, and have a name that doesn’t match your actions at all—

There were more than a few things that were strange to simply call him a mentally ill child.

Could he be an alien?

“A partner-like existence that will be with you from now on.”

“Partner, you…?”

“Of course, I’ll mostly just watch.”

Partner, what on earth are you talking about?

Could it be a crime partner?

I bit my lip as I recalled the news about juvenile delinquency that I had recently seen.

I refuse to get involved in strange places.

Especially if it’s related to crime.

“Ah, maybe my explanation was a little lacking.”

Akari cleared her throat and raised her index finger.

Then she hit my forehead—

*woooooooo—*

“Huh?!”

“Shh… Don’t run away and accept it.”

Your past. And, your despair.

I groaned reflexively as my heart thumped along with the small whisper.

It’s hot. It hurts. It’s painful. It’s suffocating.

I curled up against the chills that ran down my spine and the burning pain that cut into my nerves.

‘Mom, Dad…’

A monster attacking people.

Crazy people praying to those monsters.

A magical girl attacking a monster.

And even men swinging their swords, saying they’d sacrifice me.

‘Mom…? Dad…?’

It would’ve been much better if a person had been attacked by a monster and sacrificed rather than a murder case where a person killed another person.

Since I was the only one who survived anyway, they could’ve simply shut my mouth and concluded it as an accident caused by a monster.

‘It wasn’t a monster that killed my parents. The magical girl who was there is a witness!’

‘So, you’re going to hold the dead people accountable?’

‘I’m trying to reveal the truth. Holding them accountable comes later!’

‘I’m sorry, but the report says that everyone there was killed by a monster.’

The humans who killed my parents, and the magical girl who couldn’t protect them from those humans.

No, if it was just that I couldn’t protect them, I wouldn’t have felt this way.

Even though they—I saw the humans kill my parents with my own eyes, what?

Killed by monsters?

…Liar.

“A pitiful human who hates other humans while being human, and who was given despair by a magical girl who spread hope.”

“Ugh, ugh…”

“I’ll give you the strength to fight.”

Despair welled up.

The black emotions that had been flowing through my veins leaked out through my skin, forming a single figure.

Light and airy clothes similar to those of a magical girl.

However, the colors contained within them were by no means the same as theirs.

“So, you give me despair.”

The girl’s voice was heard.

At first, the voice was faint, but it gradually became clearer, and in the end, only one word lingered in my ears.

Defeat the magical girl.

Let them feel the despair you felt.

“You understand? My despair girl.”

“…Ah.”

My vision turned red.

Something that had been vaguely present in my head until now began to take shape.

A desperate revenge against the damned humans and magical girls.

The fact that they came to mind must have meant that I had the power to make them come true.

“Aha, ahahaha… ahahahaha… ahahahahaha…!!”

The joy that welled up from the depths of my chest burst through my throat.

I couldn’t hold it back.

No, it would be more correct to say that I had no intention of holding it back from the beginning.

How could I not be happy when I could personally do what I had only imagined?