Chapter 95: Black Girl And The Monster (3)

Crack-!!!

“You, you, you, what are you doing!?”

“…Mom, calm down for a moment—”

“Are you serious!? This damn— Phew, this guy pushed our kid out the window!”

Rather than pushing, she more like threw him.

He swung so hard that my neck hurt.

Anyway, that’s nice. For my mother to come find me like this and get angry at me instead.

The person in question was already unconscious after being taken to the hospital.

“You, bring your parents. What are your parents doing in this situation? Oh, this is so ridiculous!”

“They’re both dead.”

“…What?”

For a moment, he looked shocked, but soon his expression turned sour again.

As expected, like daughter, like mother.

Well, who did she learn from?

I looked at him with a slight sneer, and his face turned bright red as if he had noticed.

“I knew it! That’s how all kids without a mom or dad are!”

“Mom, please calm down— she, she wasn’t originally like this… she’s quiet and likes to read books. There must have been some misunderstanding.”

“Are you taking her side right now? There were only two kids who saw my daughter get thrown out the window, two kids!”

Since it had come to this, maybe she should’ve thrown them all out the window.

She was being too harsh when she fell from the third floor.

Someone else has jumped from the roof of a shopping mall before.

She didn’t die from falling into a tree.

“Kuroko, it was a mistake, right? Why, the kids could’ve been playing around and done it—”

“That’s right, teacher.”

“R-right?”

“The kids could’ve been playing around and pushed down the stairs, right?”

It must’ve all been caught on CCTV, so isn’t that too much?

They were all the same people anyway.

The parents of the kid who bullied me, or the teacher who had dismissed all the kids’ bullying as a joke.

Why do people only think physical violence is violence?

Even one wrong word can make someone feel so miserable that they want to die.

“It’s disgusting, so please don’t pretend to care about me, Sensei.”

“Ku, Kuroko… Sensei—”

“If you look back at the CCTV, it’ll be clear. Wouldn’t it be much better for you?”

“Ha, I don’t know what kind of confidence you have, but you said something! Sensei, can you show me?”

“T-that…”

I snorted inwardly as I watched the hesitant Sensei.

It was obvious to anyone that this was the typical reaction of someone who had been told to finish quietly by someone above.

If they had shown me the CCTV from the beginning, it would have been over in no time, but the fact that they didn’t show me the CCTV could be seen as an intentional move.

“The CCTV footage has already been deleted…”

“What?!”

The mother of the guy who had bullied me began to glare at me with a sharp gaze.

What did this person want?

A sincere apology? Financial compensation? If not, did she want me to experience what her own child had experienced?

It seemed like she had no idea what she wanted, even though she was an adult.

‘Maybe she just wants to vent her anger…’

I watched her grumbling and throwing her tantrum for a moment.

I sighed inwardly as I watched the back of the girl who couldn’t control her anger and left the classroom.

The decision was to suspend her from school. The suspension would probably be for around two weeks.

“I’ll be going back now, teacher.”

“Kuroko—”

“And there’s one thing I didn’t tell you. Could you please stop calling me by my name? It makes me uncomfortable to be called by my name.”

“…”

I walked away without saying a word as the teacher closed her mouth as if she had nothing to say.

I wouldn’t have to come to this horrible place for two weeks.

‘Why did I force myself to come to a place like this every single day…?’

Maybe I was trying to somehow achieve the ‘normal school life’ that my parents wanted me to have.

Did I want to prove that I was living well?

I looked up at the dark sky that looked like it was going to rain at any moment and slowly exhaled.

“Mom… Dad…”

Is it okay to live there?

Oh, there are a lot of clouds in the sky, so you won’t be able to see me.

…I hope you won’t be able to see me anymore. I don’t want to be an embarrassing daughter.

*Pitter-patter, patter, patter-patter—*

“Ah…”

The raindrops that had started to fall little by little began to get bigger.

While everyone was taking classes in the classroom, I walked home alone, getting rained on.

This is how it ended up.

I was finally realizing that a person like me could never live an ordinary life.

“Are you going to go in the rain?”

“…You.”

But, I guess I could live another way.

When I turned my head at the voice behind me, a face I’d seen often recently was smiling at me.

How on earth was this place?

I thought I’d only see that face at home, but I never imagined I’d see it here.

“I brought an umbrella. I saw it this morning, but you didn’t bring it.”

“…”

Akari, who was saying that and handing me the umbrella, was speechless for a moment.

It felt really strange.

My chest was ticklish and prickling, as if my heart was broken.

I can’t define exactly what kind of feeling it was, but it wasn’t a bad feeling, was it?

“Thank you.”

“You don’t say thank you to monsters.”

The short guy holding the umbrella looked quite funny.

First of all, since he was a monster, I didn’t think he would struggle to get it, but when I imagined Akari struggling to get the umbrella, it made me laugh again.

“Pfft…”

“What is it, again?”

“No, it’s nothing. I just had a funny thought.”

I took the umbrella that was extended in front of me and opened it up.

The raindrops falling from the sky were falling so fiercely that they seemed to pierce everything below.

If I went in there naked, everything would definitely fade away.

Akari knew that, so she must have come with the umbrella. So that I wouldn’t disappear.

“Here.”

“…What’s that hand?”

“Even monsters don’t like getting rained on, right?”

“Oh my. Just because someone looks human doesn’t mean they should be treated as one, right?”

As I said that, I snickered at Akari, who was holding my outstretched hand.

By the way, it’s cold.

I held my breath for a moment at the chill I felt from her hand.

This is the biggest reason why I dislike Akari.

Her body temperature was not like a living person.

No, she was alive, but she seemed like she might die at any moment—

*squeak—*

“If you have any complaints, just tell me. I know how to speak human language.”

“I-I’m sorry. Did it hurt?”

“It didn’t hurt at all, but your emotions were flowing into me.”

Akari’s black eyes captured my appearance.

A precarious appearance.

It felt similar to the appearance of the losers I’d only seen on TV.

People who’ve given up on everything look so broken.

“Are your eyes okay?”

“Ah… well… it’s a little uncomfortable sometimes, but it doesn’t hurt or anything.”

However, the reason why I couldn’t be broken in the end was right in front of me.

If I just threw everything away like this, Akari’s right eye would become meaningless.

Maybe she left it there so that I would feel guilty every time I looked at it.

If that was true, then I could say that she was really clever.

*Swaaa …*

Especially for someone like me, living under a cloudy sky all day was almost torture.

“I like rainy days.”

“… Really?”

“It’s damp, soggy, humid, and most of all, I like it because there are a lot of depressed people.”

“…”

As I paused for a moment, Akari grabbed her bag and started to playfully take steps.

It didn’t take long for the raindrops to fall on her small body, soaking her completely.

It must have been unpleasant to have the rain soaking her clothes, but Akari’s face was filled with a smile.

And behind her—

*groaning—*

“Akari!!!”—

a monster was looking at me with black liquid dripping from its mouth.

It looked threatening, as if it would attack at any moment.

The sharp teeth visible between its open mouth clanked and let out an ominous sound.

It was literally the natural enemy of humans.

An unidentified thing that no one but a magical girl could ever deal with.

“It’s okay, Kuroko.”

“…Ah.”

“It seems like it saw us as it was passing by.”

“…”

“Would you like to say hello too? Oh, don’t worry, I won’t bite.”

*Grumble, growl, growl…*

The monster that should have been an absolute terror transformed into a well-trained dog at the touch of Akari’s hand.

It sat down and waited for its master’s order.

The distance it felt from the hand reaching out towards it was too far.

‘You should never judge a book by its cover, Kuroko.’

“It seems that monsters are really hard for humans to accept.”

“…”

“Go back. Thank you for taking the time to say hello.”

*Grumble—*

As Akari tapped its body, the monster let out a small cry and ran into the distance.

In the world dyed in black and white, only the girl was dyed in red.