Chapter 400
They were clearly crying, yet their emotions ran deeper than that.
That is...
"I never wanted to..."
This girl could no longer face it with strength.
Seeing the happiness of others caused her immense pain.
She let out a comical sob, choking as she spoke:
"I've never... I've never understood why I have to laugh when I want to cry. I don't want to laugh at all. I feel so sad, so painful. It was the same when I fell and hurt myself, when my parents ignored me, and when my grandmother passed away..."
"It hurts so much, it hurts so much I want to cry, why am I laughing at a time like this? It's so weird..."
From tearfully pouring out her heart to bursting forth like a flood, the girl denied everything she had never questioned before.
Human emotions are truly strange.
It always erupts suddenly, without any warning, and then swings from one extreme to another.
Tachibana just watched quietly.
This room, which holds Sakaki Chika's only beautiful memories of the past, also bears the root of all Sakaki Chika pain and misfortune afterward.
The old man, of course, couldn't hear it.
Because that naive and awful old woman, who was like a little girl, had lived a happy life and passed away contentedly.
All that remained was the young girl whose entire life had been deceived by her words.
"Did I misunderstand something? Did I do something wrong? It's because I'm stupid, I can't do anything well... I can't learn anything, but... where exactly did I go wrong?"
Why didn't you tell me?
"Why did Grandma leave without teaching me anything?"
"Why was she still able to laugh at the end, and even told me to smile too?"
"I don't want to laugh at those times at all, and even if I did, I wouldn't be happy!"
The girl broke down in tears.
Even if the pain is so profound and sharp.
But a gentle kind of happiness can make one unable to endure any more pain.
The girl, who had been numbly enduring everything, was now being consumed by something surging from within.
That was something that had been buried by fake smiles all along.
"Desire" and "Yearning".
Next, Tachibana waited for a long time.
As these emotions surged forth, even the trembling of Sakaki Chika's body gradually subsided.
Time seemed to stand still, leaving only the girl's weeping face behind.
Seeing Sakaki Chika like this, Tachibana finally showed a joyful expression. She gazed at Sakaki Chika with loving, motherly eyes, and then embraced her warmly.
"It must be very painful, right?"
"Now, what emotions are welling up inside you? Think about it carefully."
The woman's melodious and ethereal voice echoed in my ears.
Sakaki Chika's pupils were also engulfed by the surging emotions and everything that had just caused her to break down.
She stopped struggling.
Gradually, I began to feel tired, no longer wanted to resist, and didn't want to think about anything.
She stood there, motionless, as if in a daze, like a puppet.
"It's painful, it's very sad, isn't it?"
As the woman embraced her, she stroked the back of Sakaki Chika's hair.
Sakaki Chika's tearful eyes were gradually obscured and blurred by Tachibana's figure.
"It hurts so much, but there's no one to teach you how to cry..."
The Demon King whispered in her ear—
"Now, don't think about anything."
At this moment, the jet-black Pendulum around Sakaki Chika's neck began to sway on its own, emitting a faint glow.
A black mist, deeper than any nightmare, spread from within.
The dark mist gradually engulfed everything...
"Take a break. Leave the rest to me, to 'Star Flower'."
"Let Magic Power, let 'desire' teach you how to cry."
Sakaki Chika slowly closed her eyes. Deep within her pupils, the fog grew thicker and thicker, blocking out all sources of light.
In this way, someone will cry for the child.
In that case, you wouldn't have to feel anything, you wouldn't have to laugh, and you wouldn't feel any pain anymore.
"No need to see, no need to hear, and no need to speak."
After the child finally lost all expression and became completely silent, Tachibana stopped covering Sakaki Chika's eyes, because she no longer needed her help.
She stepped out of this fragment of a dream about Grandma Sakaki Chika, one step at a time.
Meanwhile, she was still pulling at Sakaki Chika, who wasn't putting up any resistance.
Next, she planned to take Sakaki Chika to do some fun things.
This time, she took Sakaki Chika with her, and it was a familiar scene.
Even before they actually arrived, both of them could hear the girl's cries and screams, sounds that Sakaki Chika and Tachibana were all too familiar with.
It's still in the same "home" that Sakaki Chika used to live in.
But this happened after Sakaki Chika's grandmother passed away.
All of Sakaki Chika's warm memories are no longer related to this family; only pain and nightmares she doesn't want to face remain.
At that moment, the two of them witnessed the following scene.
The girl's pleading voices echoed incessantly. She clung to the man's arm, terrified by the violence yet also facing the drunken, crazed man, as if she wanted something to protect, even if it meant being beaten.
But even if the girl pleads, it only makes the man impatient.
Sakaki Chika had almost forgotten about this day.
This was the day the man finally squandered almost all of the family's savings and valuables.
So, at that time, the only thing left in the house that could be sold was...
Those are --- Sakaki Chika's belongings.
However, although this scene appeared abruptly, it was just another one of Sakaki Chika's many routine days.
Tachibana casually remarked:
What were you thinking at that time?
"What's the point of just weak pleading?"
"After that, you continued... continued to weakly endure, which led to your own misfortune."
Tachibana said calmly.
"So, Chika, go do what you truly want to do."
In reality, there's no need to go to this point.
Tachibana just found it amusing.
Gardeners always want to admire the results of their pruning, don't they?
Just as the drunken man shoved Sakaki Chika, aside, causing her head to hit the wall, he raised his hand again, his fist raised, as if about to deliver a brutal blow—
"---Crunch."
A crisp sound.
This was accompanied by the man's painful howls.
Beside him, clinging tightly to his arm, was no longer the weak Sakaki Chika.
--- Instead, it was Star Flower whose Magic Gear had lost its color, and whose gaze was chillingly cold.
The man seemed completely unaware of what was happening, letting out a pathetic scream from sheer pain, even more humiliating than the middle school girl's cries earlier.
Even so, the faded Star Flower still gazed at the man listlessly.
Her gaze still held a hint of wavering.
The Magic girl's hand wavered between applying force and reducing it, seemingly unable to make a move.
"Chika."
Tachibana called out to Star Flower.
Why not continue?
The woman looked puzzled.
Suddenly, a smile of realization dawned on her face—
"Ah, I hope that will make you feel a little better."
After saying that, Tachibana took out a transparent Magic Power Crystal.
She gently squeezed it, and then simply tossed it into the man's body.
Then, accompanied by the man's screams, his appearance became more and more distorted and grotesque, until he turned into a hideous and deformed Monster.
This Monster was so grotesque that it was unbearable to look at.
"See? This man is Monster."
Tachibana spoke cheerfully, then looked at Star Flower.
This man has now become Monster.
Moreover, it always has been.
It is Monster that Star Flower, as a Magic girl, cannot defeat.
Without a doubt, after becoming Monster, all of the man's emotions and ugly side were exposed without any concealment, and his fear at this moment was magnified to the extreme.
The sound he made was extremely harsh.
[Chika... Chika? Are you Chika? It hurts, it hurts so much... Let go of Daddy...]
But when he saw Star Flower's cold gaze, his dazed mind cleared, and he seemed to finally realize something.
He heard Star Flower's suppressed voice---
"... Apologize."
At first, the Monster was taken aback.
He screamed in agony as Star Flower pressed down harder.
He was in excruciating pain; even in his Monster appearance, one could still hear the unbearable sobs in his voice. He quickly and shamefully begged Star Flower for help because of the pain...
[Wait, wait a minute! Chika, it was my fault... Please forgive me!]
He apologized to his daughter without hesitation.
But is the present truly the problem?
Why must I ask Sakaki Chika to forgive me only now?
The answer is certainly intriguing.
Star Flower's arms were trembling.
At that moment, Tachibana's words ignited and fueled the anger within her.