Malice. (3)
The battle between Peridot and the monster wrapped up far more anticlimactically than expected.
She gathered the hope of everyone nearby and fired a magic blast that dealt a fatal wound. The monster, a gaping hole punched clean through its body like a donut, let out one last agonized groan—and that was the end of it.
Grrrrrrr…
Yeah, I get how that feels.
Taking a direct hit from hope that concentrated was bound to hurt like hell. That was exactly why I made a point of never going head-to-head with magical girls. So why couldn’t this one just quietly suck up some despair and leave? Why go and show itself only to eat a magic blast for its trouble?
I clicked my tongue inwardly at the amateur move.
"Waaaah, Peridot!!"
"Thank you, Peridot!"
"I believed in you! You’re our hero!"
That much, huh? I was pretty sure I’d seen articles trash-talking Peridot not long ago. The image of a certain ninja village flashed through my mind and I had to fight down a laugh. Well, if someone saves your life, you thank them. Fair enough.
Alright, time to head back…
Stick around any longer and I’d choke on all this Hope Energy. A monster dying of asphyxiation—what a joke.
I heaved a long internal sigh and stood up—
"…Ah."
Crap. Eye contact.
I’d been sitting too close; the second I rose, my gaze locked with Peridot’s. Up until a moment ago her mental state had been so fried I might’ve slipped past, but right now she was perfectly lucid. And she was practically leaking Hope Energy.
"W-wait a second! Just a moment…!!"
Thirty-six stratagems—run like hell!
While the crowd still had her surrounded I hurried away. God, if only I could dive into shadows like the other monsters. Still, Peridot didn’t come after me, so whatever.
Ahh, I could really go for some of Tamako’s fresh despair right about now…
If someone asked which despair tasted best, I’d say Emerald’s without hesitation. Peridot’s came in second. The problem with both of them was that they’d suddenly dump a load of hope right in the middle of the meal. Better a plain bowl of kimchi stew than a fine steak drowned in tar, you know?
"So, toward the hospital—"
Which way was it again?
I looked right, then left, then tilted my head.
…Where did I even come from?
I hadn’t followed streets; I’d followed the scent of despair. I had no idea where I was. A phone might’ve helped, but oh well. With a soft hum I decided it didn’t matter and started walking at a leisurely pace.
The city’s not that big. If I just keep walking I’ll get there eventually.
If Tamako hadn’t been waiting I probably wouldn’t have bothered going back to the hospital at all. They say the most dangerous thing is when your stomach takes you hostage—and I was living proof. Despair that delicious bubbled up fresh every single day. How was anyone supposed to resist?
Just imagining it made my mouth water.
"Oh! It’s the weird unnie!"
"You’re…"
The little kid from the Shelter? Small world, running into her again like this.
She looked happy to see me. I blinked.
"You’re not wearing weird clothes today?"
"I think it’s because these aren’t the ones my mother picked out."
"A-actually, last time’s clothes were cool too!"
Learning white lies already at that age? Kids these days grew up fast. Still, she wasn’t wrong that the previous outfit had been weird. Even for a test subject, those rags were a bit much…
"Oh yeah—Mom said she wanted to thank you!"
"Thank me?"
I didn’t remember doing anything worth thanking. I tilted my head, but the kid grabbed my sleeve and started tugging me along like she knew exactly where she was going.
Right—I could just ask her the way to the hospital.
"Um, do you happen to know the way to the hospital?"
"Hospital? Which one?"
"Uh… well… I’m not sure."
"Ehehe, if unnie doesn’t know, then I don’t know either!"
Come to think of it, I didn’t even know the hospital’s name. A despair-chasing monster like me wasn’t exactly going to memorize hospital directories. If my belly had been full I might’ve paid attention to little details like that. So really, this was all the Doctor’s fault for not feeding a newborn’s empty stomach.
"Oh, by the way… where is this place again…"
"…Are you lost too?"
"I just temporarily lost my way!"
In common parlance that is called being lost, kid.
I’d thought she was a well-raised child, but maybe not so much. My supposed savior who would lead me to the hospital turned out to be another lost child.
"Still, I bet I can find the way better than unnie!"
"I’ll trust you."
"Saying it with a face that clearly doesn’t believe me isn’t very convincing, you know?"
Logically speaking, how could I? No wonder she was wandering around without her mom. Just like that I’d grown a human lost-kid like a barnacle.
"So, where did you last see your mother?"
"Umm… I think it was inside the mart!"
Inside the mart, inside the mart…
"You got separated inside the mart, so why are you outside…?"
"I looked everywhere inside and Mom wasn’t there, so I came out to check if maybe she was out here."
"Is that so."
"That’s so!"
I’d heard that when a child gets lost, staying put actually makes them easier to find. It might still be better to take her back to the mart. I had no real obligation to help, but we’d crossed paths at the Shelter, so I figured I could lend a hand once.
"You remember the way back to the mart, right?"
"Yep, I know it!"
At least she knew that much. Good.
And so we walked hand in hand for a while. In the distance the letters “M Mart” seemed to shout for us to hurry over.
"Is that it over there?"
"Yeah, that’s it!"
The kid nodded and called out. Alright—search once, and if we didn’t find her mother I’d leave her at the customer service desk or something. I could ask for directions to the hospital while I was at it.
Come to think of it, does this place not even have an underground parking garage?
A big mart with only surface parking—first time I’d seen that. Then again, this wasn’t the world I used to know. No point clinging to old assumptions.
Anyway, the lot was so huge that walking to the main entrance took a while.
"Where exactly did you get separated?"
"Um, so… the place that sells fish?"
The fish section—usually that meant the basement. Food markets were almost always underground. I glanced at the directory board and spotted “Ingredients Corner” listed on the second floor.
Huh. Not the basement. Wait—there was no basement at all.
Do people in this world die if they put anything underground?
Come to think of it, the Shelter had also been built upward instead of down. Maybe the ground here was weaker than I thought. Not my problem either way. A monster only needed to care about human despair.
"Let’s check the second floor first. If we still can’t find your mother, we’ll go to customer service."
"Okay!"
Was she happy just being with me, or simply relieved to be back? Either way, the smile blooming on her face was pretty nice to look at. Kids really were cutest when they smiled.
Of course, from a monster’s perspective the crying ones made for far better dining…
Especially the moment a smiling face twists into despair—
No, no no no. Calm down. I didn’t come here for that.
I sighed inwardly at the innocent face peering up at me. The second she reunited with her mom she’d start gushing Hope Energy all over again.
"How about it? Do you see her?"
"Umm… nope!"
And so began the great mother-finding expedition. From the second-floor ingredients section to the third-floor clothing section, the fourth-floor appliances section, and even the first floor just in case—we covered the whole place. No sign of the kid’s mother.
Where on earth did she go…
Even at the Shelter she’d left the kid on her own. They looked like a close mother-daughter pair on the surface, but maybe there was more going on underneath.
"Ah, unnie! Want some ice cream? I’ll buy it for you!"
"No, I don’t really—"
"I’ll buy it!"
"…Alright. If you insist."
She clearly just wanted some herself. Honestly I had zero interest. Human food was about as appealing to a monster as roadside weeds.
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to find out what it feels like.
I could sense hot and cold, so eating ice cream would probably just feel like putting something cold in my mouth. Imagining the sensation, I walked on slowly. Checking whether my guess matched reality was a small pleasure in its own right.