Get Out
"..."
"..."
Did I hear that wrong?
"What did you say?"
The Demon King looked as if she'd poured every last drop of her mana into the words she'd just spat out. Strength had gone out of her whole body. I could probably beat her right now.
"...out."
"What?"
"G-g-get out. If you don't leave, you'll die..."
...
What are you doing... you.
The Demon King's voice trembled worse than I had ever heard it. It didn't match the weight of I'll kill you in the slightest.
"... I-I packed your stuff too."
With trembling fingertips, she pointed at a bag in the corner of the kitchen.
"... Get out. Now."
This was the Demon King who used to snort at even the highest-tier magic and bat it aside. And now she looked so terribly fragile—like a glass bowl teetering half-off the edge of the table, one nudge from falling and shattering.
"... Can I hear the reason?"
At my question, the Demon King drew in another deep breath, then opened her mouth without even thinking. She'd been expecting this one too.
"... I'm not gonna play with you anymore."
...
A reason so very like her. It reeked of something she'd cooked up on the spot.
"... Hah, never mind. Never mind. Scared me for nothing. Just tell me the truth..."
I stepped closer, reaching for her hand the way I always did.
A crackling snap tore through the air.
Chain Lightning ripped past my ear. The bolt slammed into the wall, missing the picture frame she'd hung there by a hair.
...
"G-get out. You're an intruder now too. Get out."
...
You think my time surviving in the Demon King's Castle is a joke?
Like I haven't almost gotten hit by that lightning a hundred times. Get out? Yeah, right. She's just sulking about something again, snapping at me like always.
Beginners usually fold right here. They cave to whatever the Demon King demands—something like, I'll do whatever you say, just don't kill me, fuck!
Doesn't work on me.
"Got it. This is because I skipped today, right? I'll sit still in the Golden Candy room in Bubble Bobble later. Night session of Little Farm, three glasses of golden carrot juice, plus two golden calf statues..."
Another crackling snap, then a sizzle.
...!
Lightning grazed past me again. The thick smell of scorched air filled the kitchen.
"N-next one won't miss..."
"..."
She's not kidding.
"... G-get out. I said get out."
The Demon King's eyes were swollen from crying all day, and her face looked ready to crumple into tears all over again as she told me once more.
...
"... Are you serious?"
At that last confirmation, her already-poor complexion went dark. Even so, she seemed to feel she had to say it, and she forced her heavy lips apart.
"... Yeah."
...
...
...
My head was a mess.
...
How was I supposed to react to this.
Get out?
...
Right. There was a time I'd wanted exactly this. I'd even drawn blood from my own hands once, trying to get out of this place.
So.
So what about now?
Now... well.
If I put this tower on one side of the scale and going back to Earth on the other, I might pick Earth without hesitation.
But if I put this tower against this world...
...
Not at all.
I don't want to leave at all.
This place, where she is, is so much better. Just like she said—the sunlight barely reaches here, there's no doctor, no medicine, and there's a hole in the pot.
But I still like it here more than outside.
...
But.
If that's what she wants, then leaving is the right thing to do.
Just like how being trapped here wasn't my choice back then.
Leaving this place now isn't my choice either.
...
I don't have the right to say I want to stay. I've already committed too many sins against the Demon King. I don't have the power to gather spilled water back into the cup.
Still, if I could stay by her side the way she wanted... I couldn't scoop the water up off the floor, but maybe I could at least wipe some of it away. That's how I arbitrarily sentenced myself for my own crimes. Thinking that way, the weight of my guilt lightened a little.
But.
If she doesn't want me anymore, me saying I want to stay would be a convict making demands on top of everything else. I'd just be bothering her now, when a future full of suffering is already coming for her.
...
And besides that, there must be a reason I shouldn't stay.
...
Thud, thud.
I walked toward the bag she'd packed. My feet felt as heavy as if iron weights were chained to my ankles.
I grabbed it.
...
I slung the bag over my shoulder.
I turned my head to look at the Demon King's face.
...!
For some reason, she was still sitting in her chair, reaching a hand toward me. The moment our eyes met, she hurriedly pulled her trembling hand back and looked the other way.
...
"Will you see me off?"
"..."
The chair scraped. The Demon King stood. Her pale bare feet dragged even more than the chair she'd just pulled across the floor, until she was standing beside me.
...
...
Neither of us moved first. The Demon King and I just silently looked around the kitchen.
...
Maybe she'd change her mind if we just stayed like this.
That flicker of hope vanished the moment the Demon King started walking ahead. Pad, pad. Thud, thud.
...
The hallway we passed through was filled with things that held memories of living with the Demon King.
...
I felt like I shouldn't look at them. If I let myself get swept up in all those memories, I was afraid that the me who'd started acting spoiled lately would snap like a little kid and tell her I wanted to stay.
The Demon King's back as she walked without looking behind her. Her steps were so much slower than usual.
We arrived at the entrance.
The Demon King dispelled the barrier.
And yet we stood in front of the now-unwarded door, blocked by something I couldn't name.
"..."
"..."
A long time passed.
...
Back in the kitchen, the Demon King had been the one to move first. Now, standing in front of the door, the one hesitating was entirely me. Because I was the only one leaving.
Why?
My feet, which had been growing heavier, now refused to move at all.
...
How many months has it been. I've hesitated for so long. And I don't just mean this moment. Always. I think I've always been like this.
...
Time to go. After I say goodbye.
I turned my head to look at the Demon King. She'd turned her back on me completely, facing the wall.
"... Thanks for seeing me off."
"......"
"... You're not gonna look at me?"
"......"
"... Okay... Ah. About Little Farm—there's two hundred and twenty golden potatoes in warehouse six. Just in case you can't find them. And the vegetables for the next village fair are in warehouse two. Don't forget. And there are four paper dinosaurs folded under my bed. I was gonna give them to you once I had eight, to match the empty rooms in the paper house... uh..."
...
I wanted to at least look her in the face and say goodbye. But the Demon King didn't seem to want that—no matter how long I stretched out what I was saying, she wouldn't turn around.
...
I really should go now...
Ah. Right.
The Demon King who can't even sleep at night from anxiety. Of course I'm her friend, and I have no intention of saying a word once I'm outside—but how she decides to deal with me is a different matter, isn't it.
"... You don't have to erase my memories?"
At my question, the Demon King—still facing away—trembled hard.
"Hhk—!!"
For some reason, she let out a sound like her breath had been punched out of her.
...
"... You okay?"
"....."
Is she not going by the book this time. Because she trusts me?
... Well.
I don't want my memories erased either, as long as she's okay with that.
Of course, not every memory from my time here was a good one. In the beginning, I'd definitely trembled in fear, wondering when I'd die. It wasn't much different from outside. I was terrified of the Demon King, I wanted to live, and I desperately hoped the people who came to raid would kill her.
... Not anymore. Not at all.
The memories of playing games with her until dawn. Of splitting the little meat we had. Of collecting coins from the invaders' bags. Of comforting the Demon King, who turned out to be such a crybaby. Even that fun trip we took.
All of it had become memories I could recall forever without ever getting tired of them.
...
"Demon King."
"......."
"Thank you. For everything."
Drip, drip.
...
Onto the insteps of her feet, still turned away from me.
Drip, drip-drip-drip, drip, drip.
A torrential downpour was falling.
"... Are you oka—"
"Go. Get out already...!"
She shouted, her pronunciation a complete wreck.
It was like she'd cast a telekinesis spell on me—my body flew backward, dragged out through the wide-open doors of the Demon King's Castle.
The doors slammed shut with a boom, as if to hide the sight of the Demon King crying.
...
...
I started walking. I walked for a long time.
...
...
Then I stopped. There was nowhere I wanted to go.
Thud, thud.
I came back to the closed doors of the Demon King's Castle.
I slumped down against the wall beside the door. It wasn't that I wanted to go back inside so much as I just wanted to be here. This was the closest place in this world to the Demon King.
....
The Demon King had definitely cried at the end. She'd cried so hard. If it had been like when the picture book burned, or Deoldeori, or Leviathan—if it hadn't been something that involved me—I could have comforted her.
...
What was the real reason the Demon King drove me out with that ridiculous excuse.
Had she gotten sick of the deadweight who'd blown through all the money we'd saved just to buy medicine? Or had she decided, late as it was, to make me the target of her hatred for humans.
... No. That couldn't be it.
I tried to come up with reasons, but none of them sat right.
I pulled out the things the Demon King had packed for me.
Cans of beans stacked full. Kimchi. A scarf. The rice bowl and spoon I'd been using. And clothes I'd never seen before.
I picked up the letter lying underneath. It was soaked through, the writing all smeared.
This is an early birthday present. Thank you for the gifts you gave me. Take c—
████████████████████████
The rest of the writing had been scribbled over in black ink, impossible to read.
... A present?
... Right.
She'll wait a whole year by herself. Looking at a Paper Crane that never changes, and a camera that never produces photos.
...
All alone.
Forever alone.
That's too much.
"Huuuuh."
Something boiled up inside me like mad. I let out a long breath, like a rattling kettle lid, like I had to spit something out.
...
If I'm going to leave, I have to say something first.
I grunted, shoving the closed door with my whole body.
That crazy girl.
Nine came to mind, the way she'd pushed this door open with one hand. Then again, everyone who shoved their way through this door was a world-class monster, so it made sense.
"Nngh."
After a long struggle, the stone door finally budged with a groan. I threw my weight into it and shoved it wide open.
WEE-OO! WEE-OO!
A familiar warning. I'd heard it plenty of times from the inside, but this was the first time I'd set it off myself. If the Demon King slapped me as an intruder now, I wouldn't have a word to say about it.
... Still.
I have to tell her.
And.
I want to see her just one more time.
!
When I came through the door, the Demon King was lying face-down in the same spot as before.
...
I walked closer to her.
"... There's something I didn't get to say earlier..."
But no answer came. The same silence as before. But something was different.
...
I carefully touched the Demon King. I gently turned her over from where she'd been lying face-down, careful not to let her hair—which fell all the way to her waist—get pulled painfully against the floor.
"... Hah... uugh..."
...!
She was letting out labored, struggling breaths.
... No way.
It couldn't be.
I laid my palm on the Demon King's forehead. It was burning—hot as a lump of fire.