Shelter (5)
"Hmm-hmm~♪ Hmm-hmm-hmm~♬"
Wooooong—
In time with my humming, the despair circuit began to spin taut and furious.
A sensation ordinary humans could never satisfy. Heat bloomed across my chest, thick with the only kind of fulfillment a magical girl's despair could deliver.
Grrrrrraaaaah—!!!
"Someone's excited."
I felt the pure joy packed into the monster's howl and let the corner of my mouth curl up. Fair enough. Even I, who had been completely unbothered a moment ago, was this worked up—how could the monster be any less? To a creature like it, a magical girl's despair was milk and honey from the Garden of Eden itself.
"Aaaaaaaah—!!!"
At this rate she's going to die.
She had somehow dodged the first strike, but with her legs shaking that badly, survival looked impossible. Watching her roll across the floor, smeared head to toe in blood, I almost felt a little sorry for her. She was a magical girl, after all.
Grrrk?
Don't mind me. Just keep doing what you were doing.
One of the monster's eyes snapped toward me as I watched. Fast on the uptake, wasn't it? I smothered a private laugh at the way it tilted its head, as if to ask why I was even here.
Grrk, grrrk, grrruuuuk...
The sound was asking how the humans upstairs were doing, and how I had gotten down. Worried the people on the fifth floor might escape, maybe?
"It's fine. Nothing's going to happen."
After scaring them that thoroughly, anyone who still came outside would have to be something beyond human. I wasn't human myself, and I'd only stepped out to use the bathroom, so it hardly mattered. Though, if I was being honest, the pull of a magical girl's despair had been what dragged me down here on impulse.
"Survi...vors? They're... alive?"
Grrruuuu—
Light began to fill Peridot's empty pupils. To still find hope after seeing all of this... impressive mental strength. Then again, anyone who could shout skill names like Peridot Splash! with a straight face probably wasn't fragile in the head.
Grrk, grrk! Grrruk!
Not my fault.
The monster was giving me looks, accusing me of letting the carefully despair-broken magical girl recover her hope. Was I really low enough on the hierarchy to get side-eyed by a monster? ...Well, counting pure monster tenure, maybe it checked out.
"I'll save them! All of them!"
Funny claim, considering most of them are already dead.
Such convenient hope. It made me want to vomit.
Wooooong—
Output exceeding the level used to fell the giant monster, Peridot! This is—could it be...?!
"With this power, I can save them!"
Resolute will settled into Peridot's eyes. I had thought turning despair back into hope was hard, but apparently it worked the same way as the reverse—hope flipped to despair easily enough, and despair flipped right back. Or maybe magical girls had simply been built to be that convenient.
Grrruk! Grrk!
"Oh..."
The monster seemed to be asking what I planned to do now, but my attention was elsewhere. The wand in Peridot's hand flared with a corona of light and transformed into something that was no longer a wand. I let out a small sound of admiration.
An awakening only possible once a magical girl drew her hope past a certain level—the Hope Threshold.
The only time I'd ever seen it was in an anime when the protagonist powered up.
That said... wasn't this dangerous? There had always been descriptions of a sharp gap in combat power between a magical girl before and after awakening. Even a freshly awakened one might still struggle against a Gamma-class monster.
Grrruk—
It's ready to fight, though.
Even faced with that sight, the monster showed no intention of backing down. If anything, it seemed more excited at the thought of driving an awakened magical girl into despair. What a hot-blooded monster. It could die, you know.
We've gotten a little attached. Maybe I should help out a bit.
It had only been a short meeting, but we had savored despair together. I didn't particularly want to leave it to die. Of course, the monster might still win, but—
"...Why... why did you only come now?"
"Uh...?!"
"You're... too late."
Perfect. It was working. My falling act was a little clumsy, but pouring emptiness into a thin, hollow voice—that I could do cleanly. I shot the monster a subtle look as it tilted its head, clearly failing to understand my behavior.
Just watch.
"If I was going to be the only one left alive... it would have been better to die..."
"..."
The magical girl's face twisted. She looked ready to burst into tears at any second. The hope that had been surging just moments earlier was stained, if only a little, with gray.
See? How's my acting?
Grrk, grrk, grrk!
I met the monster's gaze while pretending to wipe away tears, and it started making little grrking laughs like it had just watched a comedy. The vibe of an uncle watching his niece put on a talent show.
More importantly, stop standing there laughing and run already?
"I'll take the resentment later! Right now, taking down the monster comes first!"
Damn. Too late. Shaking Peridot's spirit had been good, but her recovery speed was faster than expected. This had been the perfect chance—why just stand there, tch.
100% OVER! 200% ready, Peridot!
"Yeah!"
The thing in Peridot's hand—once a wand, now a book—rose into the air and began packing dense masses of hope energy. Anyone could see what this was. That thing from the screen. The one with the cringey name. And at 200% output, no less.
"Peridot Splash!!"
This was bad. I had just remembered I was a monster too. My vision was bleaching white; I tried to scramble up, but the beam of light reached me first.
So this is how Magical Girl Apocalypse ends, huh...
Not even falling to Diamond or Ruby or Sapphire—taken out by some no-name magical girl who never even appeared in the original. Final boss? Not much to it, I guess. Or maybe this version was better for humanity. Honestly, if I was being straight about it, it would probably just hurt a whole lot and stop there.
Grrrrruk—
"Uwah..."
But Peridot's beam never hit me dead-on. Not because I moved to dodge, of course. Ordinary humans weren't supposed to take damage from attacks made of hope energy. I had been planning to tank one hit just to look like a regular person—there was no way I would dodge that beam on purpose.
Grrrrrrruk—!!
That grotesquely twisted body flowed like liquid, slipping past the massive beam while snatching me up at the same time. Wait, it could do that too? I was still quietly impressed when the monster brought the shadow holding me right up to its snout.
Grrk.
Is it... worried?
Maybe. Or maybe not.
"You coward...!"
"But how are we supposed to..."
Now. If you miss this chance too, you know what happens. Watching Peridot panic at the sight of me trapped in the monster's grip, I flicked subtle signals at it. Grab me and run already, idiot. Stay here and you really will die.
Grrrruk...
It didn't look happy about it, but the monster seemed to more or less agree. I could tell from the way it hesitated, reluctant to leave the despair of the humans on the fifth floor, yet still began to move.
"N-no! There's still a person—!!"
Grrrrruk, grrruk!
The world brightened and Peridot's voice dropped away into the distance at once. Fast. Really fast. This was a Gamma-class monster? I brushed hair out of my face as it whipped against me and thoroughly enjoyed the speed the creature generated. This might make a decent ride instead of a vehicle.
Still... what a waste.
The humans gathered on the fifth floor, and especially the magical girl's despair. That flavor had been so incredible it made me feel alive. Yeah.
"Tch."
Grrk?
"I'm disappointed, that's all."
Grrk, grrk, grrk!
"That's what you get for coming down from the upper floor and making this mess in the first place. Hey. Is that any way to talk to the person—sorry, the monster—who just saved your life?"
Despair could always be made and eaten again later. I twisted my head this way and that, thoroughly ignoring the monster as it kept grumbling. Acting all protective when it was a monster itself. We had only met today, hadn't we? No—more importantly.
"...There's one thing I want to ask."
Grrruk—
"Where we're headed right now—w-wait! Put me down for a second?!"
Grrk, grrruk! Grrk!
You damn monster! The instant it heard me, it tightened the shadow around me even harder. I swore a blue streak inside my head. This direction—it was heading for the research lab! After I went through the trouble of saving it, this was how it repaid me?!
"I-I'll get you back for this."
Grrruk!
Even a final boss's declaration of revenge only earned a contemptuous snort. Tragic. Truly tragic. Reduced to being ignored by a monster. Tears of self-pity blurred my vision. Of course, I didn't actually cry.