I Really Do Look Good in Any Color!
Hot tears streamed down my cheeks.
The drops that gathered at the tip of my chin started to fall—then rose into the air instead of hitting the ground.
Did you know?
It might not work that way in real life, but in manga, a pretty girl often looks even prettier when she cries.
And this place is a manga world.
Which means that right now, with tears rolling down my face, I look absolutely gorgeous.
Maybe that was why the man's face had gone bright red.
His reaction was so pure it was almost cute. A virgin, maybe?
He wheezed roughly as he demanded,
"What did you do to my brothers?"
Speaking casually on first meeting was a bit of a turn-off…
Hey, I'm still older than you…!
…Probably not by much, though.
Looking at his face alone, that joke would be hard to pull off even as a gag.
So I decided to let the casual speech slide.
"Hmm…. I gave them pretty jewels as gifts."
I wasn't lying.
I really had put large jewels inside both of their bodies.
They lost their lives in exchange, but they got to die surrounded by beautiful crystals—so wasn't that a win?
I actually had a rough idea who these people were.
They were among the ones I'd been hunting down to deal with in the first place.
Basically… the local boss of this town, or something like that.
But their quality was pretty terrible.
Well, in a world with superpowers, people who abused their strength were bound to appear.
These guys weren't as thoroughly evil as those types, but…
They were still people who beat others up and killed them freely.
So shouldn't they be grateful to me?
I was giving them an ending far more beautiful than they deserved after living such filthy lives.
Who else gets to become a beautiful jewel when they die?
The man scowled and complained.
"What the hell kind of nonsense is that?"
He made the knife he was holding float up into the air.
"It'd be faster to just kill you and go look myself."
As he swung his fist, the knife shot toward me.
I don't like men who think they can handle a woman with force…
Especially ones who use force against an injured woman—that's the absolute worst.
Look. Right now, blood was streaming from the bright red wound on my wrist, cut open by a box cutter, wasn't it?
"Haa……."
I couldn't help the sigh that escaped.
"Aagh……."
The man groaned and rolled across the floor.
Crystal thorns were embedded all over his body.
Every time he writhed in pain, the wounds tore wider and blood sprayed out in thick jets.
Ugh…. That looked really painful.
Watching him suffer made my own chest ache for no reason, and more tears streamed down.
Being too sensitive is tough too…….
Earlier I'd noticed that if I mixed tears into blood and crystallized them, the crystals turned a pretty blood-red. Should I try it?
If I filled the holes in his body with red jewels so the bleeding stopped, wouldn't the man like that?
No need to worry about excessive blood loss, and the wound sites would get prettier too!
Two birds with one stone—he'd definitely appreciate it.
I turned the thorns that had pierced his body back into tears and pushed them into the wounds.
CRACK!
"AAAAAAAGH!"
Not just the insides of the wounds but the surrounding flesh filled completely with red crystals, which even broke through the skin and rose up.
"It's okay! Just hang on a little longer!"
If a little pain could make you prettier, no one would refuse.
Of course, I'd refuse if I got any prettier than this—it'd be a problem.
"Aagh……. Aaaaaagh…."
His screams lessened a bit, so maybe he was feeling a little better.
"Are you feeling a bit better?"
"Y-You crazy bitch!"
I went out of my way to worry about him and he calls me a crazy bitch… The world is so cold.
The eyes looking at me were colored with fear, unlike before.
By the way, was it because the man's eyes were black?
My hair reflected in his pupils looked black.
I really do look good in any color!
It's a talent the whole world would envy.
"W-Why are you doing this to us!"
"Huh? You came looking for me, mister."
"You've been poking around this neighborhood for a while now, hunting down and killing our family members!"
But your family did things that deserved death, you know—I almost said that but barely held back.
Actually, the reason I killed them wasn't particularly because they committed crimes.
This family was trash that did nothing to help the protagonists grow and only got in the way!
Wouldn't it be better for the protagonists' sake to eliminate such obstacles quickly?
I just wanted our protagonists to walk a path of roses.
And in the process, the villains got a beautiful death inside crystals, so wasn't everyone happy?
Our protagonists didn't suffer, which was good, and the villains got an ending so beautiful it was luxurious for them, which was also good.
Looking at it from any angle, there was no reason for me to be called a crazy bitch?
Ah, is this tsundere? Something like that?
In manga, tsunderes are cute, but in reality they're just annoying.
And since the manga had become reality, maybe this guy was a tsundere and that was why he was so unpleasant?
…But even if I saw it in a manga, a middle-aged guy who looked like that being a tsundere would be a bit unpleasant.
Anyway, they were people I needed to deal with eventually, and they had come to me on their own, so I was actually grateful.
The people I had been planning to deal with today weren't these ones, but… well, they were all more or less the same.
The ones I was originally going to handle today could wait until next time.
The semester was about to start, but I still had some free time.
For reference, I was at the flower-like age of twenty-one.
I was a second-year at the Academy, where the semester was about to begin.
The main protagonists were first-years, but…
The setting was that the protagonists had come near me just before the second-year semester started, happened to subdue some terrorists, had their talents recognized, and received an invitation to enroll.
"Hmm……."
Don't people say that one of the things that most affects relationships between people is first impressions?
I'd like to make a good first impression and become friends if possible!
The protagonists had quite beautiful appearances, as befit protagonists.
Just looking at them was eye-healing!
I wanted to get close if I could…….
Was he anxious because I was staring silently?
The man started yelling at the top of his lungs.
"S-Save me! I'll do anything…!"
Ah, seriously!
I was having a happy moment recalling the fragmentary images of the manga protagonists!
CRACK!
One of the tears floating around hardened and sealed the man's mouth shut.
Looking at it this way, it was like putting a jewel mask on him—pretty.
I thought it would look nice if I decorated myself with crystals made from my tears later.
But the man kept thrashing and convulsing.
"……!"
"Stay still!"
"………! …! ……!"
"I didn't even hurt you—I just stopped you from talking. Why are you acting like this?"
Only after thrashing for a long while did the man gradually calm down.
"……! …! ……. …………."
Hmm?
And only then did I realize my mistake and smack my forehead.
"I blocked his nose too!"
I was dripping tears, feeling a little sorry for the man, when—
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
Suddenly, footsteps sounded from the direction of the door, then rapidly faded away.
"……Ah."
Did someone see?
An old building, creaking streetlights, an aged village.
Siyun was looking around this rundown village, reminiscing about playing here with her childhood friend when she was young.
By the time she finished touring the whole village, lost in sentiment, the sun had long since sunk beyond the horizon.
"I should head back soon……."
Just as Yi Siyun stretched her arms and yawned—
Clang! CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
A familiar sound came from somewhere.
The sharp sound of metal striking metal.
It was a sound you inevitably grew used to living in this world.
A world where fights broke out almost every day.
But if a big fight broke out in a village like this with no one to intervene, someone might actually die.
At that thought, Siyun found herself running toward the sound before she knew it.
And what she saw there—
Inside a building that looked ready to collapse at any moment.
A girl sitting on the floor, tears dripping down.
Silver hair that stood out clearly even in the dark building, pale red eyes shimmering from the tears.
Snow-white skin and refined features.
And tears falling as if she were heartbroken.
Siyun found her gaze stolen by the girl before she knew it.
Judging by her clothes, she seemed to be an Academy student…
What could have made that girl cry so sorrowfully?
Siyun took another step forward out of curiosity, and what she saw next—
Was someone's corpse collapsed on the floor.
"…….!"
Even living in this world, seeing someone's corpse wasn't a common occurrence.
Especially for a girl who was only twenty-one—there was no way she had seen a corpse before.
"Ugh!"
Siyun clapped a hand over her mouth and started running.
She ran and ran and ran some more.
"Haa…! Haa…! Haa……!"
She only stopped when she was too exhausted to run any farther.
What on earth had she just seen?
An unrealistically beautiful girl sitting in front of a corpse, crying?
It was a scene she couldn't understand from just a brief glance.
What kind of situation was that?
No—was that even a corpse in the first place?
It was dark so she couldn't see well, but the shape looked strange for a corpse.
Something like jewels embedded all over it…
…Should I go back and check?
Just go quietly, take a tiny peek, and come back.
But when she returned to the abandoned building where the girl had been crying, there was nothing there.