After exchanging greetings, I took a seat at the table Medea-san had prepared for us and had a cup of tea. With Medea-san's physique, she wouldn't have any use for this table and chairs, so they're clearly sized to fit Pandora-san and me, so I'm grateful that she took the trouble to prepare them for us.
However, even if that's so…… I don't want to nitpick people's hobbies…… but why are the table and chairs "made of bones"?
[……What's with the bad taste in these table and chairs?]
Somehow, while we're greeting the Ten Demons, I feel like Pandora-san has become a decent person. She said exactly what I wanted to say, and I really appreciated it.
[They were gifts. There is an eccentric necromancer living deep in the Dark Forest, and she apparently made these out of a whim, but it was hard to use for me…… Considering the size of Miyama Kaito-san's physique though, these seats were just right, so I used it this time.][So they were just forcing their unused items to you huh……]
Necromancer…… If I remember correctly, Sechs-san was also something like a necromancer. Well, Sechs-san lives in Kuro's mansion, so this necromancer shouldn't be him.
However, I think the atmosphere of the Dark Forest and that necromancer are a perfect match.
We're getting a little off-topic though, so I decided to thank Medea-san again for that incident back then.
[……Errrr, I'm going back to the topic, Medea-san. For helping me in the previous battle in the God Realm, thank you.]
s
[No problem. Fighting is a sorrowful thing, but it's also a fact that fighting will never disappear from the world…… If that's the case, then it is my own wish to go to the battlefield to use my body as a shield for the sake of my friends.][…………………..]
What she's saying sounds like she's thinking of her friends, but Pandora-san looked at her with a doubtful look on her face.
[You just want to satisfy your own desires, don't you?]
[I won't deny that. Sorrow is also a "delightful" thing after all.]
[……U- Unnn?]
Ahh, she's starting to spout outrageous things. Sorrow is a delightful thing? As I was feeling confused with what she's saying, Pandora-san lets out a sigh before explaining.
[……Tiamat is a psycho who finds pleasure in mental pain. In particular, she loves the "sorrow of killing and separating with those close to her with her own hands". When on a mission to dispose of a target, she would regard them as a close friend or a family member, before cruelly torturing them to death.]
[……………..]
Ehh, the heck is this. That's scary…… A- Ahh, I see now…… That's why, earlier, when Medea-san told me that "she thinks we could get along with each other", Pandora-san told her not to involve me with her obsession……
[Ahh, how extremely sorrowful. I've gotten my hands on a lot of people…… and everyone has become invaluable to me. If our relationship had deepened, we could have been lifelong friends and companions. Aaahhhh…… Plucking away such a future that should have happened was heartbreakingly sorrowful.]
The expression on Medea-san's face as she said this was one of ecstasy, and how should I say this…… she looked really happy. I see, it seems like she really is one outrageous person, worthy of being named alongside Phenix-san.
[……Don't you dare release your ultrasonic waves, okay? If you do, I will immediately execute you.]
[I understand. Ahh, Miyama Kaito-san, I'm sorry if I frightened you. Please don't worry, even if I may look like this, I'm able to control myself….. It's just that, when I get close to someone, I have a slightly sinful obsession of wanting to kill them and wallow in grief.]
[H- Huhh……]
All in all, I can't come to any conclusion other than her being an outrageously dangerous person!? I mean, could the frightening gravestones around here be…… L- Let's not think about it.
Listening to the information Pandora-san said to me, she certainly was an outrageous person that I could understand why Pandora-san called her a psycho…… The conversation doesn't seem to be particularly strange for her, as her tone remained polite and calm.
We continued chatting like that for a while, and after a certain amount of time had passed, we decided that it was time to leave, so we got up from our seats. Thereupon, just as we were about to leave, Medea-san came up to talk to me.
[……Miyama Kaito-san, excuse me for a moment.]
[Eh? Whoa!?]
Slipping her hands under my armpit, Medea-san lifted me up like a doll, and I instantly felt as if I had climbed up to a building's second floor.
When I was startled by what she suddenly did, Medea-san silently looked at me, and after a while, she smiled.
[……I like you very much.]
[Eh?]
[Ah, I'm sorry, please don't get the wrong idea. I meant it in a way that has nothing to do with my obsession…… It was just that I like "those who I couldn't kill".]
The expression on Medea-san's face as she smiled at me looked somewhat melancholic and lonely.
[Even if it's not through your own power…… Even if, no matter how much I like you, no matter how much I want to kill you…… Despite everything, I couldn't kill you…… and thus, it feels inexplicably "reassuring".]
[……………………]
I wonder what this feeling is…… Medea-san, who was just as Pandora-san said, feels like killing someone close to her and feels pleasure with tragedies…… I think she's definitely a psycho.
Since she herself confirms that she feels pleasure from mental pain, I think what Pandora-san about her brutal ways of satisfying her own desires when she should be on a mission to eliminate a target is true.
But even if that's so, I feel like she "wasn't evil" at her core. After all……. I think that she herself is aware of her own abnormality.
[If another opportunity comes, please come visit me again.]
As she lowered my body, Medea-san smiled with a look of tenderness on her face.
For her, liking someone and killing someone might just be directly proportional. The more she likes a person, the more she will probably feel the desire to kill that person and separate from them.
I think this is why she lives in the Dark Forest, where few Demons live, and sings for her deceased kin.
At least, I felt that the words she said just now…… the relief of not being able to kill me was unmistakably Medea-san's true intentions.
[……Alright. I'll come visit again when I have the opportunity…… But at that time, I'd like it if you don't have these bone chairs……]
[Bones won't do huh…… I see, I'll study about this matter that time then.]
s
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [……Isn't her thinking saner than I thought?]
? ? ? : [Well, she's one of the few cases where "Alice-chan's guidance has worked".]
Serious-senpai : [……Eh? No, she still is just a psycho though……]
? ? ? : [It's the opposite. In Tiamat's case, unlike the others, she was originally a monster without reason, unable to resist her own desires. But with Alice-chan's guidance, she was able to gain reason…… so in other words, unless she's dealing with someone she should dispatch…… In other words, someone that could be killed, she doesn't indiscriminately reach her hand to others.]
