Mr. Magical Girl

Chapter: 173. Interlude – The Cogs of the Past.

I dashed through the usual street.

Running until my breath was at my throat.

How did it come to this?

The words that had been dominating my mind since this morning.

Even now, looking around, I can’t see anything significantly different.

The same town scenery as always.

It’s not a particularly wealthy street, but clean enough for everyone to get by.

Typically, the road would be crowded with commuting adults and children heading to school, but today, it was unusually quiet.

There are no cars zooming by, and no friends buzzing about on the road waiting for the school bus.

“! Did you miss the school bus?!”

Breaking that silence was the neighbor aunt I often ran into.

Since she has a cat, I often feel ticklish due to my fur allergy, so I don’t have fond memories of our meetings.

She is a kind aunt who bakes chocolate brownies to share with the neighborhood kids.

I’ve had my share a few times.

But right now, that was not her.

Something wearing the aunt’s face.

“Hey! If you missed the bus, I can give you a ride! I need to go to school to hand out snacks!”

That thing said, waving cheerfully at me.

Just like she usually does, shaking her ample body with a bright smile.

Maybe the aunt hasn’t changed after all.

Maybe she’s just someone who hasn’t been caught by them, like me.

If that’s the case, shouldn’t I warn her?

With that thought, I turned my head.

Auntie! Hurry and run•••

creak

A strange sound echoed.

I can’t let my guard down.

Pretending to be that nice, it aims to catch me.

Thinking that, I dashed away again.

“Caaaawww!”

A scream rang out.

The aunt’s scream.

A sound I’d heard all day.

Startled by the sound, I turned my head.

Knowing something was waiting for me.

A strange machine was embedded in the aunt’s neck.

Shining silver, reflecting the sunlight, a sphere the size of a fist.

The object I’d seen far too much today.

With that attached to her neck, the pale-faced aunt reached toward me.

With trembling eyes that seemed to ask for help.

Nausea rushed in.

At the same time, my vision blurred.

Holding onto my body, which nearly crumbled, I dashed away again.

Trying to forget the aunt’s gaze, I kept running.

creak

How long had I been running? I somehow found myself at school…

creak

I dashed into the large hospital that caught my eye while on the road.

I intended to flee to school, but the moment I saw that hospital, memories of emergency response procedures I’d learned at school popped up. Major institutions have shelters for civilians when monsters invade.

Right, surely soldiers wouldn’t fall for this…

I thought that, but momentarily, today has been an unfortunate day.

Urgently opening the hospital door, I rushed into the lobby, where I found…

Guns lying on the floor.

Seeing that, I realized everything had turned upside down.

It was true that there were soldiers, but…

All those soldier uncles had vanished.

No one could stop it.

So… now there’s nothing to trust except the shelter…?

As that thought crossed my mind, tears suddenly began to pour down like a waterfall.

After enduring so much today, the tears I had been holding back burst forth.

I’m the only one. Really. Just me…

Not my parents, not the aunt, not even the soldier uncles.

Everyone has vanished.

Now, all that’s left is the shelter I learned about in school.

I wiped my flowing tears, keeping my voice down.

Since if they hear me, those things might come.

And that judgment of mine was correct.

clop clop

Footsteps echoed from a distance.

Startled by the sound, I quickly threw myself under the lobby chairs.

At that moment, a nurse appeared.

In a situation where guns were strewn across the lobby, the nurse walked about without a change in her expression, looking utterly calm.

That cannot be a person.

• Am I mistaken? Did I hear something?”

A monotonous voice flowed from the nurse’s lips.

She spoke and acted just like a normal person, but…

That cannot be a person.

“What’s it matter? You might have misheard.”

Unbothered, the nurse vanished down a corridor different from the one she had come from.

But I didn’t dare to step out from under the chairs.

For I was afraid that nurse would return.

Holding back my breath and tears, I quietly hid under the chair, hoping no one would come.

As I got used to the cold tiled floor, and when my body warmed the tiles, I finally confirmed that no one came and slowly slipped out from under the chair.

Quietly. And slowly, I should move.

Surely, the shelter should be underground.

The elevator won’t do. They’ll definitely hear it.

Then I should look for the stairs.

Thinking that, I abandoned the elevator in front of me and silently rushed down the corridor.

Listening carefully in case anyone was around the corners, I crouched whenever a glass window appeared, evading any hidden cameras that might be watching.

How long had it been until I moved on?

Finally, I found the stairs and stepped down, letting out a sigh for the first time.

“Phew.”

I can’t believe I hadn’t taken a proper breath…

It feels like this is the first time today since I’ve had a chance to rest.

How long had it been since I held my breath, pushing myself forward?

Since the morning incident, I had run continuously, and now I could finally take a break.

As I realized that, my legs began to tremble.

The muscles, restrained by fear and tension, were shaking as if they couldn’t endure the fatigue anymore.

But I can’t stop here.

Gritting my teeth, I continued.

One step. Another step.

Downward.

Grabbing onto the stair railing with a trembling left hand and gripping it tightly with my right.

As I went down the stairs, the chilly air pierced my body, but my highly tense body felt oddly refreshed.

Moreover, that chill solidified my belief that I was heading in the right direction toward the shelter.

“Right… I can do this.”

Taking another step down, my confidence blossomed, and I finally let out a whisper to myself.

And soon after, I began to think I shouldn’t have said that.

thud thud

pat pat

The sound of someone moving echoed from above, below, and through every corridor.

With the noise growing louder, they were clearly coming this way.

What should I do?

If I get caught, I’ll surely end up like my parents.

Should I jump into that room?

No, hiding in that corner might keep me out of sight.

As I frantically cycled through thoughts, trying to make any move,

thump

Something settled on my shoulder.

Startled, I jumped, quickly turning my head.

A large hand yanked me somewhere, while someone covered my mouth.

“Shh! You’ll get us caught.”

In a hurried tone, a deep voice tinged with tremors whispered.

“0 0 0 ”

What appeared in my sight was an older middle-aged man, whose trembling eyes gazed toward the monsters roaming in the distance.

“Be quiet. I’m a survivor like you… a survivor? Not a monster?

For a moment, doubt flickered through my mind. But immediately, memories of this morning came back to me.

The aunt’s image started overlapping with the man before me.

Let’s stop doubting now.

“Are you calmed down now? If you’re calm, nod your head.”

Following the man in the white coat’s words, I quietly nodded.

“Phew. What a relief.”

The man released his grip from my mouth and opened up, speaking as he created space between us.

“Are you alone? Parents… No, sorry. It’s not something I should ask a child. I’m a doctor. I just woke up from my on-call shift to find this mess.”

After a quick and simple introduction, the man continued speaking, seemingly trying to gain my trust with an exaggerated demeanor.

…It’s okay. I know what happened to my parents.

Right, they were taken down right in front of me.

Even to the very moment they fell, they were telling me to run, ripping off that machine that tried to latch onto my neck.

…Really, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have started talking first.

The man expressed his apology by rubbing his face with one hand.

“No, it’s all right.

Surely that was… cruel, wasn’t it?”

“Right. So it happened. But do you have anywhere else to go?”

“Uh, no. I blindly ran here.

While I was running, at some point I ended up at the hospital.

I hoped someone, be it a doctor or an Awakened One, would help me against this monster.

That hope shattered into pieces, though.

“Well then, for now, let’s go together. There’s a large shelter in the basement of this hospital. We can stay there for a while.”

The man said that and looked at me intently, as if respecting my decision.

What a strangely kind uncle. Knowing very well that I had nowhere else to go.

“Okay. There should be enough food, right?”

“As long as you ignore how it tastes terrible, it should be enough. At least until the military or the Awakened ones come.”

The man then bent his waist down and extended his hand.

“My name is Lago. What’s your name?”

“I-I’m Li. Nice to meet you.”

I shook the man’s hand.

For the first time today, it felt warm.

“Then let’s go.”

“Where to?”

“Where else? The elevator over there is our way out, right?”

Was it?

Surprised by that, I looked at the space around me.

Since I was suddenly pulled in, I hadn’t had time to check my surroundings.

The man walked towards the elevator as if he no longer felt the need for explanation, and when I followed him, he pressed the button.

As the elevator doors opened without delay.

Surely, I must have come up in this elevator.

“Come on, hop in,”

In a considerate gesture, he stepped aside to let me enter first.

I quietly stepped into the elevator, and he followed, pressing the button afterward.

ding.

The elevator slowly began to descend.

Toward the safe shelter.

Unable to endure the silence any longer.

Or perhaps out of kindness toward me.

“Seriously, these Awakened ones are useless. The government pays them to handle situations like this.”

“What can you do? They should be able to manage at least a few people who have fallen ill with strange conditions…”

It’s not an illness.

I knew that, but I didn’t want to give unnecessary hope to the kind man.

How long has it been since I heard the man’s little complaint and consideration?

Slowly the elevator began to slow and showed signs of stopping.

“By the way, you said your name was Li, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

creak.

A strange gear sound echoed.

And then a noise of the core turning.

“From now on, your name is ‘Library.’”

It was a chilling voice.

The door opened to reveal a room painted in white.

In the center was an operating table soiled with blood.

Surrounded by bizarre machines, a strange white room.

Mechanical arms stretched from the operating table, reaching out…

How many times have I seen this scene before?

Returning to the past, knowing I could not change it, is this how cruel it feels?

creak.

The sound of cogs began.

The conditions for using power have been set.

Alright, let’s return to the present-future.

A price has been paid.

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