Chapter 94: Black Girl And The Monster (2)

“Hey, hey. Say something~”

“Have you always been this quiet?”

“I guess you thought I’d let it go if I kept quiet.”

I could hear laughter.

And, the hands that were patting me on the back.

There was no particular reason for them to harass me.

The sole survivor of that incident.

I guess that fact piqued their interest.

‘Hold on. Hold on, just like always.’

It was the same last time, and the time before that.

At first, they’d harass me as if they were going to kill me, but if there was no response, they’d quickly get tired and leave.

Reasonless malice was like a midsummer night’s fire.

It would burn brightly, but it would quickly cool down.

If there was no wood to start the fire, the fire would no longer burn.

Ding-dong-daeng-dong-

“…Haa.”

It’s finally over.

I don’t know how long they’ll keep going, but this time they were more persistent than usual.

I was already tired, but these guys made me even more tired.

‘…I’m going to go to bed early today.’

I got up from my seat and walked down the hallway a little faster as I heard the bell ring.

Then I arrived at the stairs.

I felt dizzy for a moment as I looked down at the stairs that continued downward.

They say that going up stairs is difficult, but going down is easy.

However, going down was also quite difficult for me.

‘I feel like I’m going to fall at any moment—’

*thud—*

“Ah…”

My vision plummeted.

Did I miss my step? No, I don’t think so.

I fell down the stairs while hearing a faint laughter.

At the same time as a loud noise, I heard a beeping sound in my ear.

“Hey, is this really okay?”

“I told you it’s okay? Who cares about an orphan?”

“But you fell so spectacularly. I thought it was some kind of action movie, haha.”

In the midst of all that, those voices were so clear.

My creaking body didn’t listen to my brain’s commands.

It was getting colder and duller as if it was going to cool down and disappear.

But.

‘What did I do so wrong?’

The hatred in my heart exceeded its limit.

If this was the first bullying I’d been through, I would’ve just laid down and gone home.

If it weren’t for the exhaustion from all the things I’d been through and the nights I’d been out and about, but.

“Haa…”

As if lying down until just before was a lie, I touched the floor and immediately stood up.

The laughter coming from up the stairs seemed to have stopped for a moment, but it didn’t matter.

“See, I told you it was nothing?”

“That’s right.”

“…Hey, isn’t that bleeding from your head?”

My vision was red.

Was it because of the blood, or was it because of the eyes that the suspicious girl gave me?

It didn’t matter.

My life was now only good things.

‘Why did I put up with it until now…’

Did I want to be a good kid that much?

Or was it because I didn’t want to be hated any more?

I don’t know.

Now, everything was good.

*Thud, thud, thud—*

“What, he’s coming here…”

“What can he do anyway?”

“No…”

I climbed the stairs and stood in front of them.

They were nervous.

It seemed like they were scared too.

Of course, I didn’t intend to end it with just scaring them.

Today, I was quite—no, extremely angry.

“Hey.”

“Huh, huh… Are you trying to scare me? I’m not scared at all— Whew, Whew!?”

He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up.

I don’t know where I got this strength, but I was able to lift her up more easily than I thought.

Was it because of the strength Akari gave me?

It felt like I could break his neck if I just put a little more strength into it.

“Thank you for being considerate and letting me get down quickly.”

“Ugh, kehek, keke?!”

“Now that I think about it, you’re home too, right? Then I should get home quickly.”

“Ugh, kekeke, keke…”

“Since you helped me, I’ll help you too.”

I smiled brightly at the guy whose face was pale, perhaps because he was out of breath.

The dark, sticky emotion I felt from the other person—despair—was vivid.

Ah, I see. So this is what human despair feels like.

I slowly released my grip, and I felt a faint sense of hope.

It seemed like he thought I was letting him go.

*Crunch!!!!!*

“To, Tomoe…!!”

“Gyaaaaaaa?!!?!”

The sound of glass breaking accompanied the trash I was holding in my hand falling out the window.

The intense despair felt at the moment of falling was so stimulating…

It was good to be alive.

I felt like I had found the reason why I was still holding on to life.

***

“Welcome, Kuroko.”

“…Yeah.”

“You seem to be in a good mood today?”

In fact, I knew it all.

The fall of a human who was barely holding on would accelerate in proportion to the time he had been holding on.

The more kind he was, the more extreme it would become.

I never imagined that he would throw another human being out the window, though.

“The saying that I can do anything was true.”

“I don’t lie like humans do.”

He lifted his leg that was on the armrest of the sofa and lowered it to the floor with a thud.

Was he starting to feel like moving properly?

The small despair that came in wasn’t bad, but the more despair there was, the better.

“Okay, I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Well… I guess it would be good to practice with small revenge before taking full revenge.”

For example, revenge on those who have bullied you so far, and things like that.

“Ah, if I may give you a piece of advice, don’t kill.”

“Why?”

“Because something you can’t handle might come.”

For some reason, the recent murder cases have been handled more by magical girls.

It would be okay if one or two random people came, but if several people came, it would be quite dangerous, even for Kuroko.

Kuroko’s current state was exactly like that of a strong child.

It was better to avoid taking on many people until he learned how to fight properly.

“Of course, the choice is yours, so if you can handle it, do whatever you want.”

“…Fine. If you say that, there must be a reason.”

Kuroko nodded, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

He listened well. Well, maybe he hadn’t despaired enough to kill another human.

“Then now… Ah.”

It was good to have the motivation, but pushing himself to his limits was not going to work out.

I helped Kuroko, who was staggering as if he was feeling very dizzy, to lie down on the bed.

“…I was planning to rest today, so this is a good opportunity.”

“Humans are creatures that would die if they didn’t rest.”

When I placed my hand on Kuroko’s forehead, it was much hotter than the body temperature of a normal human.

Kuroko closed his eyes, groaning pleasantly, perhaps because he liked the coldness unique to my body temperature.

‘I think it’s because I’m relaxed…’

At school, I’m nervous about everything around me, and when I return home, I can’t calm down because of my existence.

But the fact that I was able to calm down at home might be a sign that I had some faith.

Well, it could be the exhaustion from the success of my revenge.

“Your body is cold.”

“You’re hot.”

Since our skins were touching, Kuroko’s thoughts flowed in little by little.

It seemed like he was thinking about his parents who died from my body temperature—no, the moment when his parents were dying.

Flowing blood. A body that was cooling down. A soul that was leaving. A self that couldn’t be held.

“As much as the hatred inside it.”

Although I liked pure despair more than despair mixed with other emotions, this despair was quite delicious.

The guilt of having done something like that myself, mixed with the sadness of having broken a promise to my deceased parents, was a real treat.

But that would also dull over time.

So it would be best to just enjoy it to my heart’s content for now.

“What about the hatred inside you?”

“…”

“Don’t you want to kill all the magical girls?”

Not really.

But it’s not like I didn’t have any inklings of it.

‘You?’

[You liked being free from magical girls, so you ended up making something similar to magical girls… It’s disgusting.]

‘Why, isn’t it good for you too?’

[I feel like I’m going to throw up.]

Apocalypse’s hatred for magical girls was still there.

He would make a fuss and tell me to hurry up and kill them whenever he felt the slightest hint of hope from magical girls.

But I could feel him being happy whenever I felt despair, and I wonder if he knew it was all thanks to me.

“I don’t really want to kill them.”

“…Didn’t you say you wouldn’t lie?”

“Humans are like that too. When there’s someone they don’t like, they might think something like, ‘Ah, I want to kill that person.’ But they don’t actually put those thoughts into action, right? It’s the same thing.”

The difference was that this one had another guy hidden inside them, so if he tried, it could actually happen.

Well, humans sometimes take action too, so it might be similar.

Anyway.

“Go to sleep first. You need to get plenty of rest if you want to have a good day tomorrow.”

“…You talk as if something’s going to happen tomorrow.”

“Aren’t you? I think you’d know best.”

“…Ah.”

Kuroko let out a short final remark.

“…I don’t want to go to school.”

He was saying the same thing I said back in my school days.

Well, I’ve never thrown a student out the window, though.