“Huh?”
Akito wears a puzzled expression.
He’s blinking and looking around, repeating “ah,” as if confused. It’s only natural to be suspicious.
“Ah, thank you very much…!”
“You’re welcome.”
Good. I managed to gloss over it.
“Alright. If you have the staff, you can use that stagnation magic, right? You were chanting ‘Sloth,’ I think? Can you choose the target to slow down? Like, only slowing down that Chimera?”
“I can. I can, but…”
“Then do it. Let’s combine our strength to defeat it.”
“…I refuse. I’ll do it alone. It’s my role. If I can’t fulfill my role, I’ll become worthless!”
I want to be acknowledged. I don’t want to be abandoned.
“Worthless?”
“Yes, that’s right. You wouldn’t understand…”
The feelings of a doll trying to be acknowledged by a human who died three hundred years ago. Even though it’s impossible to be acknowledged anymore. Because there’s nothing else to cling to.
“I don’t understand. The Chimeras around here, you defeated them all by yourself, right? All of them, big and small. If these guys had gotten close to the village, who knows how much damage they would have caused. You prevented that. No matter how much you say you’re worthless, I acknowledge your value. Misty, you’re strong, and you did something you should be proud of.”
Akito’s tone wasn’t like he was trying to persuade me. He spoke with a surprised look, as if wondering why he was being made to say such things. That’s why I knew it was genuine, that his words came from the bottom of his heart, and they seeped into Misty’s heart.
This is only the second time in Misty’s life that someone has praised me like this.
But, is it okay to be happy about being praised by someone other than my creator, Celine?
Will being acknowledged by him prove my worth?
“What even is this ‘role’ you speak of? Did Celine Dufour assign it to you? Did Celine tell you to do it alone?”
“Alone…”
That’s not what she said.
But, if I borrow someone else’s strength, it won’t prove my own worth—
Is that really true?
Would Celine have measured Misty’s worth in that way? I don’t think she ever even measured worth in the first place.
What even is my role?
To collect the Seven Deadly Sins Cards.
That’s definitely it. But Celine said something more fundamental.
—I don’t want people to die because of my inventions anymore.
The expression on Celine’s face as she muttered those words came to mind.
Celine, filled with such regret, so earnestly, abandoning all her confidence and dignity, pleading with Misty.
That’s right. That’s her true wish.
I have to fulfill her wish.
To do that, whether I prove my worth or do it alone, none of that matters.
I’ve been hung up on something so trivial for so long.
Misty herself also wishes. I don’t want anyone to die because of something Celine made. Absolutely not. I won’t let that happen.
“I’ll stop it. Akito-san. Please finish it off.”
“Leave it to me.”
A carefree smile.
Ah, Misty exhales.
I’ve come to like someone again. This is the second time. But even though it’s the same feeling of liking, is it different from how I feel about Celine?
“Come forth from the depths of hell, Sin—Overflow, Sloth.”
“Go forth, spirits of the dead. Crush the enemy before my eyes.”
Dark magical power spread from Akito, and countless skeletons appeared.
They were materialized spirits of the dead.
They possessed a faint will.
The Sloth Card’s ability is to stagnate the activity of those with a will.
If this continues, even Akito’s spirits of the dead will be stagnated. So, with Misty’s control, the spirits of the dead were excluded from the effect.
The Chimera, which had absorbed the Wrath Card, tried to resist fiercely.
But it couldn’t move properly.
Yet, because it was stubbornly tough, it would suffer for a long time.
Eventually, its limbs were torn off, its entrails were dragged out, and its head was smashed, and it died.
That overwhelming destruction wasn’t Misty’s power. Misty picked up the Wrath Card from the corpse that had been crushed by someone else’s power.
If it had been just a few minutes ago, I would have found this situation hard to accept.
But now, I was honestly relieved that I had successfully retrieved the card.
“Thank you, Akito-san.”
I turned around and thanked him. I was able to say that smoothly.
But.
“Um… that…”
The words that followed didn’t come out well.
But, I have to say it.
If I don’t, today will just end with “that was nice.”
I have to say it to connect today to tomorrow.
“If something like this happens again, and I say ‘help me’ … will you help me? Help… please help me!”
I said it. I think it’s amazing just that I was able to say it.
Even if I’m refused, it’s okay.
If something similar happens next time, I think I’ll be able to properly say “help me” to that person.
But still, I don’t want to be refused. I want to be with Akito. I want to see him many more times.
What is this feeling? Do I want to be friends?
Surely, that’s it.
Misty had never made a friend before.
I want Akito to be my first friend.
“Of course, I’d be happy to.”
Akito smiled and extended his hand.
Misty looked at that hand and grasped it back.
Even though Automata are not supposed to have hearts, I felt a strong pounding.
Is this what it’s like to have a friend?
—No? Is this, perhaps, am I in love?