Remember the End (2)
Reading the room was never really my style.
I casually turned my gaze toward Emerald, who was looking down at me with a gaze gone cold as ice.
"Hey. I saved you, so how about you do something about that magical girl? Looks like she came to rescue you."
"You."
"..."
"Are you ignoring me?"
"...Are you speaking to me?"
It was polite speech on the surface, yet somehow ruder than plain rudeness.
The Emerald I remembered from the original story hadn't felt like this at all.
Had she been this way even before the original timeline?
No. That couldn't be it. The woman they had already been calling the Green Saint long before the original story's time wouldn't wear a face that looked like she had lived through an entire lifetime and pour out a voice that cold.
More than anything else, she called me Apocalypse...
She might be the same kind of person as me.
I would have liked to greet her with something warm, but under a stare like that, even pretending to be glad felt impossible.
Her eyes were cold—far too cold.
It was the kind of look that made you certain the moment you opened your mouth, you would be killed.
"What is your name?"
"My name? A—"
Saying Apocalypse here would be a bad idea, wouldn't it?
The thought hit me that blurting out what I had been about to say could get me into serious trouble.
I had come within a hair of catching a faceful of hope energy.
"—kari. My name is Akari."
"..."
Honestly, even "A-kari" felt a little too close for comfort, but whatever.
The killing intent that had been about to erupt from Emerald began to ease, little by little.
Her hope circuit was still spinning at full tilt, though.
"Hwah..."
"Follow me."
"Yes, ma'am."
Emerald scooped the fallen magical girl into a princess carry and glanced back at me as she spoke.
Cold. So cold.
That kind of cool detachment used to be Sapphire's specialty.
Well, walking isn't exactly a problem for me, but...
Anyone could see the discrimination.
Wasn't the normal thing in situations like this to carry both of them?
Maybe she just didn't want to touch a monster's body—even a suspected one.
"Thank you for saving me."
"..."
Might as well take out a little insurance in advance.
I put on my best I really don't know anything~ expression and offered Emerald my thanks. Her face crumpled spectacularly.
Anyone could tell she found the whole thing disgusting.
The one small mercy was that she didn't open fire with a magical blast.
"..."
"..."
The road back to the city was thick with silence.
This silence was heavy.
If she had at least been cursing me out as we walked, it might have been entertaining. Instead she kept her mouth clamped shut like a child who had been the victim of some nasty prank, and it made everything unbearably awkward.
Not that I'm exactly the sociable type myself.
Part of me wanted to mess with her by putting on an Apocalypse act, but I was fully aware that pulling a mean-spirited stunt in my current condition was a terrible idea.
No point teasing her only to end up with a useless arm or leg.
Or worse—dead.
"Is she going to be all right?"
"..."
Silence again.
If this was the reaction I got for making conversation, I should have just kept my mouth shut the whole way.
Ah, this is exactly why you shouldn't stick two quiet people together.
Couldn't she just fly ahead with that girl first?
Watching a magical girl walk on foot left me with a strange feeling.
If I looked carefully, it almost seemed like she was deliberately matching my pace.
...Well, thinking too hard about it was probably pointless.
Things had already diverged completely from the original story a long time ago.
I dreamed. A nightmare so vicious it choked me.
I woke screaming, curling my body tight against the sensation of something strangling my throat.
You... why would you do something like this...
People vanished like mayflies. Magical girls were slaughtered in the most horrific ways.
How many times had I chewed on despair while watching that sight?
Monster Girl.
Monster Girl, Apocalypse.
That name would become the end of every magical girl.
Emerald, snap out of it! There are still people we can save!
But I...!
There was no way to stand against the monster before my eyes.
A natural disaster, pure and simple.
The personification of calamity that turned every place it walked into hell.
That was the true nature of Apocalypse.
I'll leave the rest to you, Emerald. You have a kinder heart than I do—
"Ugh..."
Nausea surged up my throat.
The memories rising so vividly told me that none of this had been a dream.
"Emerald, are you okay?"
"...Ah."
"Did you have a nightmare? There, there—I'll sing you a song that makes everything feel better!"
"...Thanks, May."
I had been drowning in despair for what felt like forever.
Then a familiar voice cut through the darkness, and for a moment my vision blurred.
Apocalypse's hands should have destroyed her completely.
With trembling hands I pulled May into my arms, and her characteristic fresh scent of green grass filled my lungs.
"Ehehe~ Emerald's hugs really are the best~"
As my heart gradually settled, I began to carefully turn over those final moments in my mind.
What on earth had happened to me—to this world?
I tried to dig through the gaps in my memories for an answer, but the harder I reached for them, the more my mind clouded over.
Even so, one thing stood out with absolute clarity.
I have to find the Doctor and Apocalypse before this world ends up like the one in my memories.
And then the two of them—
"Emerald, your face is getting dark again. You're not feeling sick, are you?"
"...I'm fine, May. Really. I just haven't fully woken up yet."
I forced a gentle smile for May, who was looking up at me with worried eyes.
There was no time left for despair.
From this moment on, it was a timed mission, pure and simple.
July, 2201...
The calendar I looked at without thinking had the year 2201 written on it.
Apocalypse first appeared in November of 2206.
I had five years to find one of the two of them.
No matter what it took. Absolutely.
.
.
.
"Emerald! Gamma Class monster up ahead!"
"I know."
From that day on, it was nothing but continuous combat.
By day I cleared the monsters that invaded the central districts. By night I traveled the outlying cities, hunting for any trace of the Doctor and Apocalypse.
I went first to the places the Doctor had once used as bases, but they were still nothing but empty wasteland.
"Emerald, have you noticed? Your whole vibe has changed."
"You used to feel sort of soft, you know? Lately it's like you've gone completely cold."
"I actually like the new Emerald. Everyone loves a cool beauty, right?"
I never stopped moving while I was awake, so there was no room left for rest.
My contact with other people dwindled. Exhaustion of body and mind left me with fewer and fewer expressions.
The only time I could still smile was when I talked with my partner, May.
It's fine. I can still hold on. Once I find the Doctor, I can rest as much as I want.
I splashed cold water on my face and let out a breath.
Where in the world were they?
Where could I even begin to look?
The longer time stretched, the sharper the anxiety grew.
If I fail to find them like this—
Then everything in my memories would play out exactly the same way.
I clutched my head as the image rose again—of a magical girl seized by both legs and torn cleanly in half.
No. It couldn't end like that.
I needed more time. I had to use every second.
"Emerald, you've been pushing yourself way too hard lately... Wouldn't it be okay to rest properly for just one day?"
"...There's no time to rest."
I had to find them. No matter what.
I slept only about three hours a day and poured every remaining hour into either wiping out monsters or searching for the Doctor's Lab.
I chased the traces of despair from my memories across every direction I could reach.
And those efforts were not wasted. At last I found a lead.
"Emerald, the despair readings are way too high. Shouldn't we call for backup first?"
"This much is fine. I'll handle it quietly, May."
A laboratory buried deep underground.
Just breathing filled my lungs with despair so thick that rage boiled up from somewhere inside my chest.
"Hoo..."
There was no trace of Apocalypse.
But if I could map the pattern of the Despair Energy saturating the lab, someday I would surely reach the laboratory where Apocalypse was being kept.
"Hope Energy fully charged. Ready, Emerald?"
"Yeah. I'm ready, May."
Perhaps because I had lived through more than this version of myself ever had, I was far stronger now than I had been back then.
I gathered the Hope Energy swelling through my body and guided it forward into my staff.
No... maybe it isn't the experience at all.
A magical girl grew stronger the more hope she carried.
So how much stronger had I become after returning from a destroyed world, carrying the hope that I could save everyone?
I looked at the Hope Energy compressed at the tip of my staff and slowly opened my mouth.
...This time, I will save them all.
"Emerald Splash."
⟨ Emerald Splash ⟩
In that instant, green light flooded every direction.
Hope so intense it evaporated the despair filling the entire space in a single breath.
"Despair Energy completely erased! Purification complete, Emerald!"
Listening to May's voice amid the whitened landscape, I looked up at the sky.
A black sky, and between its darkness, a single tiny star was shining faintly.