Malice. (4)
[Emerald, what's going on all of a sudden? Why the outskirts of the city...?]
"Something's wrong. There should be a signaler that detects monsters' despair signals, but—"
There wasn't one.
The core sealed inside a signaler was always a magical girl's hope. When a magical girl drew near, it would resonate and make her location easy to pinpoint. This city simply had no such device at all.
...I'm certain the sirens went off every time a monster appeared.
Without a signaler, how had they known a monster had invaded and managed to sound the alarm?
The doubt taking shape in her mind only kept swelling. Even a magical girl with excellent detection abilities couldn't cover an entire city. More than that, detection required being transformed—and no one could stay transformed around the clock.
"May, we need to go to the Association."
[This city's Association, right? I'll guide you!]
The suspicious points weren't limited to one or two. Headquarters should have provided the outer cities with all sorts of support for defending against monster invasions. Yet even the most basic signaler hadn't been prepared.
Even rural villages with fewer than a hundred residents get at least one signaler installed...
Corruption, or something else. Even on the timeline where Apocalypse had once destroyed the world, things like this had occasionally happened. She had never witnessed them firsthand—only heard about them through rumors.
If this city's upper ranks truly never installed a signaler, then the safety of the people living here can never be guaranteed.
Having a signaler didn't mean monsters wouldn't invade, of course, but it would at least buy citizens time to reach the shelters. And they hadn't even installed something that simple?
Anger boiled up inside her. She had only come to this city looking for Apocalypse; she never imagined it would be harboring darkness like this.
[The building's... huge...]
They arrived at the Association. Given the city's small scale, she had expected a modest branch as well. What stood before her eyes, however, was a structure scarcely smaller than the central Association headquarters.
"Hello, may I ask what brings you here?"
"...I would like to meet the Association president."
"The president? The president's schedule today is—"
"Schedule? What kind of schedule, exactly?"
The irritable snap made the receptionist's expression stiffen slightly.
Haa... take it slow. Slowly.
Snapping at the receptionist in front of her wouldn't make anything go more smoothly.
"I-I'll need to verify your identity first..."
"I'm Emerald, a magical girl affiliated with Central."
"C-Central affiliated..."
She didn't want to throw her weight around just because she was from Central, but right now she had no choice. An Association that was supposed to put people's safety first had already committed this kind of corruption; she felt no desire to treat them gently.
Emerald, I haven't lived that long, but there are people in this world more dangerous than monsters.
...People more dangerous than monsters? Do you mean criminals?
Criminals... in a way, you could call them that. But the real reason they're so dangerous is that they hold higher positions than you'd expect. They're not easy to throw in prison.
She slowly exhaled, recalling a conversation she had once overheard.
People more dangerous than monsters. Those who never thought of others and only looked out for their own interests.
They embezzle materials meant for shelters, reduce the number of signalers, refuse to replace a magical girl's worn-out equipment...
...
Monsters are scary, but people are scary too. If only everyone in the world were as kind as you, Emerald.
The senior who had spoken those words with a deathly pale face took her own life a week later. The reason: the media had savaged her for "being a magical girl yet failing to protect people from the monsters!"
It had never been her senior's fault. When that senior had begged for more personnel, the ones who answered, "You're getting overtime pay, so working alone should be fine, right?" had been none other than the Association's upper ranks.
"You're aware that magical girls from Central hold inspection authority over regional Associations, correct?"
"Y-yes, I am!"
"Then would it be better if I exercised that authority and summoned the Central Association Inspection Department, or would it be better if the president canceled his schedule and met with me?"
"I-I'll contact him right away! P-please wait just a moment!"
It looked like blackmail, and it wasn't a choice she particularly liked, but she had learned long ago that this approach worked far better. The her of the past would have danced around the issue and only created more victims.
...It was already strange that no alarm sounded when a Gamma Class monster appeared.
According to the reports, a Gamma Class monster had invaded the shelter and the sirens still hadn't gone off. The sirens had sounded for the initial Beta Class appearance, yet when a Gamma Class monster joined the fray, the alarm never rang again?
Monster ranks each had distinct alarm tones; there was no chance people had simply misheard.
"Yes, yes... I understand. I'll relay that. Yes, President."
"Well?"
The call with the president finished. The receptionist wiped cold sweat from her brow with a bloodless face. Emerald felt a twinge of guilt for putting an innocent person through this, but it was necessary work, so she steeled herself.
"He says he's coming right now..."
"Good. I'll wait."
Watching the receptionist heave heavy sighs, she claimed a nearby chair. There were far too many things she wanted to interrogate him about regarding this city's defenses. They might end up talking all day.
[Emerald, look over there.]
"...Hm?"
While waiting for the president, May pointed somewhere. Emerald turned her gaze that way.
Garnet... Peridot...
Nameplates listing the magical girls active in this city. Peridot was someone she had taken a personal interest in after hearing how the girl had driven off a Gamma Class monster this time.
The Association building is this enormous, yet only two magical girls are actually stationed here.
Even granting that Central had more magical girls than the regions, this number was far too low. Only two magical girls assigned to a city where monsters appeared this frequently?
Alpha and Beta Class invasions might make up the bulk of incidents, but two magical girls was still critically insufficient manpower.
Don't tell me they even put their hands on the magical girl budget...
Signalers merely announced whether a monster had invaded; she could force herself to overlook those. But having fewer magical girls than the city's scale warranted was something she absolutely could not accept. No magical girls meant there was no way to eliminate the monsters.
I was too focused on Apocalypse—no, on Akari...
If she had known it would be like this, she would have come to the Association first. At this very moment, the Association's corruption threatened people's safety far more than Akari before she became Apocalypse.
[This doesn't look like something we can brush off lightly, Emerald.]
"Yeah. I was thinking the same thing, May."
She had a feeling something was about to get big. Something born of uniquely human, utterly vicious selfishness and malice.
But that thought didn't last long.
Wiiiiiiing————!!!!!!
Warning, warning. Despair Energy: Delta Class. Delta Class monster invasion. Warning, warning—
The sirens flooding every direction yanked her out of her seat. Saving people took priority over the president; in that sense, it was the only natural choice.
I am terrified of pure human malice.
I glared at the soft-serve ice cream in my hand and swallowed dryly.
Can I just... stop eating this already?
"Unnie, it's good, right?"
"Yeees... well, it's tasty."
The kid sparkling at me while I ate the ice cream made me sigh inwardly. I was the idiot for saying I'd try it just because it seemed interesting. Soft-serve ice cream was somehow even worse than the porridge they fed me in the hospital.
It feels soft, then sticky, clinging to everything, and it melts on top of that...
And it was cold, which made the whole experience even more disgusting. Eating hospital porridge might actually have been better. At least there I could take the edge off with a little of Tamako's despair.
Ugh, for me, human despair is candy and ice cream...
Humans! Guarantee my monster rights! Guarantee them!
Not this tasteless human food—guarantee me delicious monster food! Guarantee it!
"Thank you for the meal."
"Eeh... Unnie, you have to finish the cone too or it doesn't count!"
"...Is that so?"
Someone please save me.
Just as I was desperately praying under the kid's not-quite-forceful insistence—
Wiiiiiiing————!!!!!
"Kyaa?!"
Out of nowhere, the sirens began to wail. Louder and far more menacing than the ones I had first heard.