The Shelter (1)

Inside the shelter, a crowd of people had gathered.

Among them was the kid who'd told me I was wearing weird clothes.

I thought their mom was right next to them. Did they get separated?

I breathed in the despair that rose, thick and crawling, from the people around me, and yet an inexplicable pride filled my chest at the thought that I had become a proper Monster Girl.

Did that make me disqualified as a human being? No—think positive.

Monster pass~!

Kung—! Kung—! Kung—!!

"Eek..."

"It's getting real noisy out there..."

"Still, the monsters can't make it all the way inside here, right? Relax~"

People tried to soothe one another and stay as calm as they could, but honestly? Even as they said those things, the scent of despair only grew thicker.

More importantly... how do I get out of here?

I'd been hauled in on impulse, but leaving was the real problem.

I at least wanted to be gone before the magical girls showed up. I had no desire to get mistaken for a monster and take an energy blast to the face.

...Of course, I was a monster.

"Oh, it's the weird big sister in the weird clothes."

"The weird clothes part is fair, but I'm not a weird person."

I answered on reflex, even though I absolutely was a weird person.

"Where's your mother?"

"Hmm, I don't know!"

"Is that so."

Separated from her mom and still this cheerful.

I stared blankly at the child who came toddling toward me, then simply sank down where I stood.

I was hungry enough that even standing was starting to feel like hard work.

"So why are you wearing those weird clothes, big sister?"

"Hmm. Mom put them on me."

"Looking at them now, they seem cool!"

"...Is that so."

Even a little kid like this knew Talulah. She must have been raised well.

Though, to be fair, the clothes really were weird.

And the Doctor who had dressed me in them was definitely a weird person.

No—beyond weird. She was a full-blown lunatic.

A normal mother wouldn't order a newborn baby to go kill someone.

Is the Doctor disqualified as a human too...? Well, she was a monster to begin with.

We weren't blood-related, but we were both monsters who'd washed out of humanity. Maybe that made us mother and daughter in a rough sort of way.

Anyway.

"Aren't you scared? There's a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠monster out there, and you're separated from your mother."

"I'm fine! Because you're here, big sister!"

The child beamed as she said it, and I felt hope in that smile.

The world was still livable, I thought.

If I'd been a magical girl, that hope would have given me strength. But in a Monster Girl's body, hope felt about as appealing as a plate of bland seasoned cucumber.

"Big sister, are you okay? Your face looks weird."

"...I was just imagining eating something disgusting."

So now my expression was weird on top of the clothes.

I turned away from the child's smile and took in the people who were despairing at full volume.

Despair at its finest.

The thought felt villainous, but I was a villain in name, so it didn't particularly bother me.

Even humans who eat pork would look like villains from the pig's point of view.

In that sense, Apocalypse—who lived solely on the despair of humans, and of magical girls in particular—might have been a fairly gentlemanly monster.

Monsters, after all, literally ate people.

"Will it really be okay? There've been more monster appearances lately, and more magical girls getting hurt..."

"It'll be fine. Has anyone ever seen a magical girl lose to a monster? Once things settle a little, they'll broadcast the situation outside. Just wait."

They even did broadcasts?

Well, without something like that, people would probably spend every day trembling with anxiety. Watching magical girls take down the monsters that could appear anywhere, anytime, was probably the only way to feel even a little safer.

Oh, the screen's on.

Light filled the screen that took up an entire wall of the shelter, and before long the situation outside began to broadcast.

A grotesquely shaped monster rampaged through buildings, and a single pale-green light danced through the sky.

Anyone could see it was a monster and a magical girl locked in combat.

Looking at it like this, it feels weirdly like a live-action adaptation of an anime.

Maybe this was the feeling Japan had been chasing with those live-action anime adaptations.

What I'd seen in videos back then was some half-baked thing with clumsy CG slapped on. This, though, was reality itself, and it looked impossibly natural because of it.

The people here watched this kind of thing almost every day?

I might have been a little jealous.

"Whoa, it's Peridot!"

"Do you know who that magical girl is?"

"Yeah! She's my favorite magical girl!"

There was a grotesque monster the size of a building right there, and her eyes were still sparkling.

I registered again that this was no ordinary kid, then focused on the screen.

She's fighting so flashily.

So this was why people couldn't help going wild for magical girls.

I'd never seen this magical girl in the original, so I had no idea what kind of magic she used—but there were still a few things I could recognize even without knowing.

Things like the distinctive photon rounds and magic cannons magical girls always fired.

Ugh, that naming is awful...

She was a magical girl, so maybe it couldn't be helped.

Remembering the days I'd watched with my toes curling over those uniquely childish skill names, I rubbed both forearms.

Ugh. Goosebumps. In more ways than one.

"Hm? Big sister, are you cold? Here, you can borrow my clothes!"

"...I'm fine. And your clothes are way too small to fit me anyway."

"Then I'll lend them to you once I get bigger!"

"Sure, whatever."

A kindhearted kid—rare in this world lately.

After a pale-green light bright enough to fill the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entire screen faded, what remained was a monster with a hole punched clean through its head.

The thing had been nearly the size of a building, and she'd turned it into that with a single hit.

Wouldn't I get taken out in an instant too?

Come to think of it, when Apocalypse first appeared, she showed up fully charged with Despair Energy...

Right now I had almost no Despair Energy at all.

Huh. If I got unlucky, I might actually be crossing the River Styx.

The moment I realized that the shelter I'd stumbled into might become my grave, I started getting antsy.

"Big sister, where are you going?"

"...I'm just going to the bathroom for a second."

"Oh? Okay!"

Was there any way ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to slip out of here unnoticed?

The entrance would definitely be guarded by soldiers—no, wait.

Did I even need to sneak out? The monster was down and a magical girl had shown up, so outside was basically safe, wasn't it?

"Big sister, that's not the way to the bathroom."

"Ah."

Caught.

...This kid's instincts were way too sharp.

"Are you going to leave me behind too, big sister? Are you?"

"I wasn't trying to leave you behind. It's just... this is my first time in a shelter, so I didn't know where the bathroom was."

"Eeh, liar! Who's never been to a shelter before?"

Me, right here.

She was looking at me with an expression that practically said I was pathetic, and being stared at like that by a little kid left me feeling all kinds of complicated.

Honestly. Did I need to start doing evacuation drills or something?

All right. When I get back, I'll ask the Doctor to put me through evacuation training.

If I couldn't at least reach the level of ordinary common sense in this world...!

Ah. As long as I was with the Doctor, that was probably impossible.

That human—no, that monster—had her sense of ethics completely shattered.

"Can't be helped. I'll go with you!"

"...Thank you very much."

Honestly, I didn't need it at all.

I was the type who preferred forging my own path rather than being guided or following someone.

As proof: the Doctor's Lab currently had so many holes punched through the walls that a remodel was urgently needed.

While we're at it, wider is better. Might as well make the lab even bigger this chance.

Of course, that opinion did not factor in the Doctor's wishes in the slightest.

Anyway, the important thing right now wasn't remodeling the lab.

The most important thing was figuring out how to peel off the child stuck to my side.

"Shouldn't you be looking for your mother?"

"Mom said I have to help anyone who's in trouble!"

"...Is that so."

I was in trouble, sure, but it was a slightly different kind of trouble from what the child imagined.

Maybe I should just ask her to guide me to the exit instead of the bathroom.

Even if a magical girl came charging at me, having a kid next to me would make it hard for her to attack freely.

Yeah, that might have been a little too villainous a thought.

What I'd just considered wasn't much different from taking the child hostage.

Even if the odds of a magical girl appearing in front of me were low, thinking something like that already made me disqualified as a human being.

Even if I was a monster.

Anyway—that was the exact moment I was fretting over how to shake the kid clinging to my side.

KWAANG—!!!!!

"Hyaak?!"

"...Hm?"

A roar, and the door violently opened—no, it blew apart.

From the space where the door had vanished, something revealed itself and began to let out a low, keening cry.

Apparently, a monster had just punched through the front entrance of the shelter.