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Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

“…I’ve had a hard time.”

Tsugumi muttered tiredly and let out a loud sigh.

After leaving Hitsugi’s hospital room, Tsugumi was taking a rest in the hospital courtyard when he was suddenly surrounded by a group of angry doctors. When asked for more details, they said that Hitsugi had been acting strangely since he left the hospital room.

For a while after that, he was interrogated and reprimanded for what he had said in the hospital room, but he somehow managed to get away with it thanks to Hitsugi’s testimony, who had regained her composure. Am I that untrustworthy, he wondered. The doctors apologized, but he still didn’t get it.

“I know they’re worried about Hitsugi-san, but they didn’t have to get so angry. …Oh, this meat is already cooked.”

Saying so, Tsugumi took a small plate of beef that was being grilled on the griddle pan.

-After getting angry with the doctor, Tsugumi left the hospital and visited a yakiniku restaurant that had private seating. Bell, who had been watching the events in the hospital room from the sidelines, said she wanted to eat something, but above all, Tsugumi was hungry himself.

While cleverly dividing the cooked meat between Bell and his own plate, he grilled additional new meat. The room was a little smoky because of the fast pace, but it couldn’t be helped.

“Even so, I told Hitsugi-san as I was asked, but I wonder if that was really the right thing to do.”

Saying that, Tsugumi sighed in melancholy.

–Things go back to a few days ago.

After neutralizing the nucleus of the Demonic Beast, the battered Tsugumi was retrieved by government staff who arrived shortly after that and taken to the hospital.

Out of the three who fought Hitsugi, Hyuga’s wounds were relatively minor, but the injuries to Tsugumi and Yukino were quite severe. At one point, they were going to be hospitalized, but due to certain circumstances, emergency measures were taken and Magical Girls with healing abilities belonging to the government took care of them.

Well, in Tsugumi’s case, he was grateful not to have to be hospitalized, because he was planning to leave the hospital as soon as possible after getting first aid. If he had to be away from home for days at a time, Chidori would get suspicious.

Just in case, it was necessary to go to the hospital for a while, but that would still be better than being hospitalized.

While he was being treated for his wounds, a government official – Tsugumi didn’t know who he was, but he was probably a very important person – came to talk, as soon as he entered the room, the official made a difficult face and bowed deeply.

Apparently, according to the official, he was going to pretend that the incident was a gas explosion and leave the whole affair in the dark.

Fortunately, the only direct damage was to the government facilities and the Magical Girls, one of them was Tsugumi. As long as the actual victims, i.e., Tsugumi agreed, it would be easy to cover up the fact that Hitsugi went out of control.

A Magical Girl – and one of the Jukka – Hitsugi was manipulated and attacked at a government facility. No matter how unforeseeable it was, if this were to come to light, there was no doubt that it would cause excessive confusion and loss of public trust. …The cover-up itself was not something to be praised, but it was understandable that the government took such measures.

As for Tsugumi, he agreed that the case should not be revealed. It was not for the sake of the government’s appearance, but for the sake of Hitsugi’s honor. Even though the person herself was not responsible, there were a certain number of people who did not speak out. He thought it was too unreasonable for Hitsugi to be hurt by the words of such people.

–And there was still another problem. It was about Hitsugi herself.

The wound itself was almost healed by Hyuga’s healing tag, but her body was damaged more than expected. The most important thing was the vessel of the soul.

The vessel into which she poured her divine power was cracked by the erosion of Demonic Beasts, making it impossible for her to use her skills in the same way as it was before. It could be said that it was her death as a Magical Girl. In all likelihood,retirement was inevitable.

…In addition to that, it seemed Hitsugi’s mental condition was also not very good.

According to Bell, there was a possibility that the wear and tear on her soul from resisting the erosion of the Demonic Beast was having an effect. Since the remnants of the Demonic Beast itself had already been removed, the tear itself was said to be slowly recovering, but it was meaningless unless the person had the will to heal.

–But Hitsugi-san will probably be fine. Because she is a strong person.

Tsugumi thought so and was optimistic about Hitsugi’s condition, but then something happened that made it impossible to say that.

–Midnight, two days after the incident, late at night. Sensing a presence, he slowly opened his eyes in bed.

Large, red eyes came into his sleep-deprived vision. Not just a pair of eyes, but more than a dozen of them, staring at Tsugumi from the ceiling.

“–Hi!”

A choked voice escaped from Tsugumi’s mouth. It was probably a miracle he didn’t scream out loud.

The owner of the red eyes – a giant spider the size of a human being – confirmed that Tsugumi had woken up and approached Tsugumi by walking along a wall. He didn’t feel any sign of evil, so it was probably not a Demonic Beast, but it was scary to look at.

Physiological fear caused goosebumps to appear on his back. It was a different kind of horror than when facing a Demonic Beast.

“Eh, wa-wait… Be-Bell-sama!! We have a guest!!”

Tsugumi shouted in a quiet voice so as not to wake Chidori, who was sleeping in the other room. But Bell never showed up. In desperation, Tsugumi sat up and slid back against the wall, frightened, but not taking his eyes off the giant spider.

The giant spider came up to Tsugumi and opened its mouth, snapping its sharp teeth.

“Never fear, Bell’s Miiko. Tonight, I come for you.”

A high-pitched, machine-like voice echoed through the room. Tsugumi leaned forward slightly in fear, and said, “For me?” in a small voice.

“That’s right. –Please, I want you to help me save my contract child, Airi.”

With these words, the giant spider – Hitsugi Airi’s contract God, Hariti – bowed down to Tsugumi.

To Tsugumi’s dismay, the giant spider made several requests.

One was to go to Hitsugi’s hospital room and give her the letter that Yumeji had given him. The other was to tell a lie in front of Hitsugi that he had dreamed of Yumeji Nadeshiko’s sister, Yumeji Yotsuba. These two things.

Tsugumi wondered how he knew about the letter, but he immediately shook his head and stopped thinking about it. The other party was God. Maybe it was only natural that she knew that much.

–But why go to the trouble of telling such a lie? Tsugumi asked this question, and the giant spider dexterously cowered her shoulders and began to speak.

“What Noah’s child needs now is a wedge to keep her alive. It will take a rough treatment to bring back to this world the spirit that has been lost. There is nothing for you to worry about. –I will take good care of the rest.”

With these words, the giant spider disappeared into the darkness of the night. …He really didn’t know what God was thinking.

Immediately after that, he submitted an application to the hospital directly under the government to visit Hitsugi, but because so many people had applied to visit, it took more than a week before he could see her in person.

…During that time, every night the giant spider came to him every day and night asking, “Have you done it yet?” To be honest, he had been a little sleep-deprived. He wished Gods would understand the procedure of things.

But since Hitsugi’s consciousness returned to normal immediately after that, what Hariti did must have been right. Even if it was a gentle lie.

Bell, who had been listening to Tsugumi as she consumed the burnt meat one after the other, muttered.

“Don’t worry about it. She may have blundered once, but she’s still an old God. –It should be easy enough for her to believe a lie of that magnitude.”

“Hmm? I am not sure, but if Bell-sama says so, it must be true.”

Lies to the truth. There was no way she took the ghost of Yumeji Yotsuba directly under Hitsugi – He didn’t think it was true, but the scary thing was, the God might do that.

“In addition, it seems that Amaterasu’s permission has been properly obtained for this case. …I can’t say that your report to me is an after-the-fact report.”

“Hahaha…”

Bell spat it out in a vexed tone, and Tsugumi smiled wryly.

Interference with a Magical Girl who already had a contract God was forbidden without the mutual consent of the contract Gods. Essentially, contact with Tsugumi was against the rules.

Bell, who came after Hariti had left, was terribly upset about the arbitrary visit, but if the permission of Amaterasu, who controlled the spiritual system of this country, was given, then she couldn’t complain.

…Rather, he wondered how the true identity of Hagakure Sakura was being handled in the God community. From the looks of the Hariti this time around, the word might have spread to some extent on the God’s side.

The Gods probably wouldn’t pass Tsugumi’s information to other Magical Girls, thanks to a rule made by Amaterasu: “Do not reveal personal information about a Magical Girl who has a contract God.”

When Tsugumi asked Bell about that, Bell sipped her tea with a disgruntled look.

“…Well, those who know, know. Gods who have the power to detect true identity are rare but they exist. Besides, we already know from the beginning that we couldn’t hide it completely.”

“About that, is Bell-sama okay with it? The other Gods know that Hagakure Sakura is a man.”

–Before, Bell had blurted out that she would be made fun of if it was discovered that she had made a contract with a man. If so, isn’t this situation unpleasant for Bell?

When Tsugumi asked her apologetically, Bell laughed and said.

“Hmmm. If you were weak when you first signed the contract, there’s no way you could say such a foolish thing about the gender of a contractor who has shown such high aptitude. After all, it’s just the howling of a loser who can’t find a good Magical Girl. There’s nothing to worry about.”

–Bell said that the reason why male contractors were ridiculed by other Gods was because male contractors were very unlikely to mature as Magical Girls. In other words, it seemed that Gods who made contracts with men were seen by those around them as daring to join forces with small fry characters.

In Tsugumi’s case, thanks to the [Gluttony] skill, the growth rate of the vessel was relatively higher than that of an ordinary Magical Girl. But if this had been a normal skill, he might have remained an “inferior male contractor”, as the other Gods put it. …In a way, he guessed he was lucky.

“Oh, we’re out of meat. I’ll order a few more plates for the time being, how much do you want to eat, Bell-sama?”

‘Yes, again, end to end, please. And dessert, too. …By the way.”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

Tsugumi tilted his head with a question mark and Bell looked at him with quizzical eyes.

“No, I just thought you’re eating a lot today.”

“Ah, yeah. I’ve been feeling strangely hungry lately… I asked the doctor about it at one point, and he said it could be the result of a major injury. He said that even though the injury was healed, my brain remembers the fact that I was injured, so it’s trying to get too much nutrition to compensate for it. Well, I don’t really care because it hasn’t affected my body so far.”

Even though he kept eating, he was still somewhat unsatisfied. At first, he thought it might be Bell-sama’s influence, but since the doctor said so, it had to be the case. He tried to refrain when Chidori was around, but if he wasn’t careful, he ended up eating something. …He hoped he could improve before he gained weight in earnest.

With that said, Tsugumi extended his chopsticks to the roasted vegetables. The feast of the gluttonous eaters was far from over.

◆◆◆

There was a girl in a pure white space.

She was about five years old, with white hair, and was sitting on a large box-like object in the middle of the space. It was a transparent box, cloudy white in places – from a distance it looked like a coffin made of ice.

The girl was singing an out-of-tune song in a good mood while swinging her legs on the box.

“Eat lots of food, and grow big.”

The girl continued, giggling and laughing innocently. The doll she once held was no longer in her hand.

“I’ll see you soon, father of mine. –I won’t fail you this time.”

Her red eyes became dark and muddy. It was like a flower blooming in hell.