Chapter 46 : Weapons (7) Part-2

She was startled and tried to get up but lay back down.

Her shoulder hurt too much.

The bullet hadn’t penetrated, but she had received a hit that caused her to bleed.

Her circuits were still functioning, but her clothes were no longer her magical girl outfit; they were the clothes she wore when she went outside.

Could it be that she left something behind?

“There’s no need to worry too much. You probably just instinctively left it in the spatial pocket.”

James explained.

“I confirmed that I was holding it until the very end.”

Yeah, he’s thorough.

But she didn’t want to think about that right now.

To be precise, she didn’t want to think about anything.

Everything just seemed awful.

Her current situation.

She really wanted to cry.

She had done her best after all.

From others’ perspectives, it might not seem like it, but she had truly done her best.

Though that choice might have been wrong.

“………………It’s not a good time to talk right now. Let’s continue next time. Today was more productive than I thought.”

When she almost got shot, she swore like that, and now she’s pretending everything’s okay.

“Do you want me to lay out the blanket for you?”

Jiguppa asked.

She couldn’t get angry at that.

She got up from her spot.

Her left shoulder still throbbed painfully, but she couldn’t get into the blanket in this state.

It wasn’t even her blanket.

No, the blanket was hers after all.

She had bought it with her part-time job money.

But she couldn’t sleep with it all dusty.

Groaning, she got up and headed to the bathroom.

Jiguppa looked at her with a somewhat worried expression, but she had things to do, so she decided to go inside and wash up.

After barely managing to wash her body and change out of her tattered clothes, she climbed onto the floor mat and fainted.

The reason she woke up was the delicious smell that tickled her nose.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

Jiguppa said as he put down a spoonful of ramen.

“There’s still water in the pot, so you can boil it right away and eat.”

“…Thank you.”

She was starving.

Looking towards the window that was almost stuck to the ground, it was completely dark.

It seemed she hadn’t slept for as long as she thought.

“How long have you been asleep?”

She glanced around to check her watch, and Jiguppa swallowed his ramen before answering.

“A day and a half.”

“……Huh?”

She looked back at Jiguppa.

“Honestly, I thought it might be a bit dangerous, but when I shook it, he mumbled something in response. So I left it as it was for now.”

“I see.”

After all, she couldn’t go to the hospital.

That’s why she was so hungry.

She touched her left shoulder.

The bandages were still wrapped, but it didn’t hurt as much as when she was injured.

In the meantime, some magical effect might have taken place, healing her body.

She poured water back into the pot and boiled instant noodles on the bubbling pot.

The smell was already delicious.

In the end, she lost her self-control and partially loosened the uncooked noodles before putting them in her mouth.

They were a bit stiff and crunchy, but they tasted good.

She gulped down a bowl of noodles like a fiend and also mixed the cold rice Jiguppa gave her, swallowing every drop of the soup without leaving a single drop.

All done.

She felt a bit like she might survive.

“Phew.”

She couldn’t go against her instincts.

Jiguppa watched her eat the ramen like a fiend with a shrug.

“I’m glad you look safe.”

“Uh?”

“I saw it on the news. It wasn’t live, but the traces of your fight appeared on the news.”

“Ah.”

The happiness of having her stomach full instantly faded away.

“What… what did it say?”

“…It’s not particularly good news for you, but…”

Perhaps thinking it was better for me to know, Jiguppa displayed the content on his smartphone and showed it to me.

I silently took the smartphone and read it.

[Magical Girl Attacks Police]

The article was roughly about that.

In the photo, there was an armored car shattered into pieces, making it hard to recognize its shape, and the rifle I had bent was also visible.

The floor, which had been battered and destroyed from fighting, was shown as well.

Of course, the article wasn’t cursing the term “Magical Girl.”

It was referring to the Magical Girls of the Galactic Federation.

They probably gave it a sensational headline to increase viewership, even a little.

The article was describing me.

It stated that I fought the monster, ignored the police’s attempts to detain me, and instead, threatened them by destroying the armored car.

“Hah.”

Rather, the direction of the article was so clear that I laughed.

So, it means they will chase me until death, labeling me as a criminal.

Unfairly, for a person.

Well, crime is crime.

It was also true that I refused detainment.

I did indeed blow off the police who were blocking me in the middle of Seoul, destroying cars and barricades.

I infiltrated the company, took the most important parts, and escaped.

In the place where I appeared again,

I proudly destroyed urban fixtures, threatened the police, and ran away.

But why I did such things was not written at all. Understandable.

“Maybe I should become a real villain.”

I muttered.

Shall I kill everyone regardless of lives?

Perhaps that’s what the author wishes.

If the world I live in is being serialized in another work, then I would be somewhat away from the main character.

A good protagonist who has to kill a rampaging, corrupted friend— isn’t that the image the author wants?

I imagined Hayoon killing me.

Probably, it would be Hayoon who feels pain, not me.

I would rather be comfortable, but……………

Ha.

A world where you can’t even die at will.

It’s like a dog.

I handed the smartphone back to Jiguppa.

Perhaps listening to me, Jiguppa was looking at me with wide-open eyes.

……

“Don’t worry, it won’t happen.”

I felt so wronged that I wanted to dig into the ground, but if I become a real villain now, that resentment wouldn’t be relieved.

Well, in fact, from their point of view, I was already a villain.

I recalled the magical girls who had run towards me at the end.

Still, it was a relief that Hayoon didn’t charge at me.

“Is that a relief? Honestly, I don’t know.”

Deep in my heart, something was still boiling.

While thinking it was unfair to be in this situation, at the same time, somewhere… I felt as if it was better off this way.

Surprisingly, I thought, in this situation,

I want to cling and smash everything.

It’s absurdly illogical, but isn’t it?

If that guy called the author actually exists, and he was the one who put me here.

Wouldn’t it be natural to think I want to completely destroy and topple the very bottom of the work?

At the same time, I also thought that I shouldn’t do such things.

Hayoon’s face came to mind.

She must be making a very distressed expression while fighting me.

Until now, she could deal with me because I had hidden my face.

If I fought openly, Hayoon would never be able to unleash her power as it is.

And such a fight would be meaningless.

The ‘Blossom’ I want to win against isn’t a being that has a weak heart or weakened power.

Winning in that way has no meaning in this world.

With my power, I must be able to perfectly defeat Blossom who has complete power.

Only then can it be considered proper revenge.

·Revenge against this world, utilizing Hayoon.

“Ha, haha·”

I let out a weak laugh.

Jiguppa looked at me as if he was a bit worried.

I sighed deeply and glanced around again.

“James is over there.”

When I looked there, James was asleep.

If he had slept on the same floor mat as me, he might have been crushed to death when I turned over in my sleep, so I made a separate spot for him.

I roughly shaped a nest with my torn old clothes and placed a hot pack underneath.

One could make it warm for the whole day by peeling one, so it was a reasonably good spot.

James was lying on top, curled up.

Beside him was some kind of half-made mechanical device.

Is that also my weapon? It’s small for such a thing.

Maybe I should ask him when I wake up.

I went through what I had experienced again.

Still, I wasn’t entirely negative.

Although public perception of me kept worsening, there were things I had gained despite that.

My Potential.

Only when I was extremely stressed, but I could create a black hole that could create chaos just by existing.

Ah.

That’s literally a black hole, even distorting light.

I enter it and come out the opposite side, but other objects sucked in haven’t come out yet.

Not even my weapon.

Maybe I could take it out and use it again.

Parts that James could use might be inside.

Let’s utilize all of that as my weapon.

Now, I have to become such a dangerous existence that they can’t ignore me from over there.

So dangerous that they can’t treat me like a cornered rat.

I know there’s no chance of success.

But I can’t give up because I’m too frustrated.

Therefore, my circuits keep running.

Perhaps, that fact itself is the most powerful weapon I have.