Chapter 91: There's Been a Break-In

Usually, when you think of being stranded and camping in such a situation, there's a certain image that comes to mind.

A blanket made of grass or leather, a campfire. Roughly speaking, that was the image I had in mind when I made our hideout, too.

And... reality was...

"...How did you make this?"

[There was a plant suitable for spinning into thread, so Momo made it.]

"Huh..."

Momo's existence was far more incredible than I'd expected.

A vast database of knowledge beyond what an ordinary human possessed, combined with the ability to put that knowledge into practice, made Momo a versatile all-purpose tool.

"S-Senior? H-How did you make this? The pillow is so soft."

[The more extreme the circumstances, the more important rest for recovery becomes. Momo does her best to regulate everyone's condition.]

"...I understand why Aia sent you, Ms. Momo."

[V.]

I hadn't understood how a wand could have a will of its own in the first place, but Momo's abilities were truly astounding.

Since she was a magical girl's wand with magical abilities of her own, if something was theoretically possible, she could really make it without any of the miscellaneous preparation or facilities normally required.

Thanks to her, our hideout—despite being in a survival situation—had become a place with decent blankets and pillows, lighting, soundproofing, and even measures preventing magical power from leaking out... It was so comfortable that, even if someone made me pay to come all the way from Earth, I'd probably visit several times.

On top of that, besides the carrots we'd hurriedly found yesterday, we'd also found some potatoes and fruit... The quality wasn't exactly great, but we'd at least secured enough nutrition to survive for the next few days.

...It had happened on the evening of our second day stranded.

[You are severely lacking protein and fat. A magical girl's body is hardy enough to endure it, but this is not a good situation in the long term.]

"If this were an uninhabited island, we'd catch an animal or try fishing... The problem is figuring out what to do in the Abyss."

[We could cook them and eliminate simple toxins, but we do not know whether the animals in the Abyss contain simple toxins. Creatures that survive in such extreme conditions are highly likely to carry toxins in their bodies, and they must have absorbed even more of the Abyss's magical power than the plants did.]

"If we can obtain something somehow, we can try washing it with magical power just as we did the plants. Securing it comes first. We'll worry about treatment afterward."

"...This is a surprisingly serious conversation for something Senior Alice would say."

"It's an important conversation about survival. Alice intends to return to Earth alive. Don't you, Miss Black Rose?"

"Y-yes... I have to return alive..."

Black Rose, who often showed a confident demeanor, was different now.

Her voice trembled faintly, her expression lacked confidence, and she kept her eyes on the ground instead of looking at me...

'...Ah.'

It was obvious at a glance.

She had already assigned a low probability to the possibility of returning alive... No, to put it bluntly, she had given up.

"...Miss Black Rose. Listen carefully."

-Clench

"Y-yes? S-Senior, you're too close..."

"It's true that Alice was pulled into the Abyss along with you because of you. But Alice also had business in the Abyss. If you think Alice is suffering right now because she was dragged in with you and is trying to get you home alive, throw that thought away and feed it to an Abyssal One. Alice doesn't think that way."

"Gasp...?!"

Damn rookie. There was a limit to how much she could make light of me.

For the past eight years, while playing hero even though it wasn't suited to me, I'd followed one simple principle.

'Save whoever I can.'

And in our current situation, Black Rose was, at least for now, someone I could save.

Well, if I decided she couldn't be saved, I was confident I could abandon her without hesitation—but that was a matter for then. For now, I intended to save this girl.

But it was a problem if the person in question had given up. The person's will was the most important thing for survival.

"This is the Abyss, we have no idea what might happen or when, you can't undo your transformation, and Alice and Ms. Momo beside you are both incredibly impressive. It's only natural that you'd feel intimidated, Miss Black Rose. No, most people would probably feel that way. If Alice and Miss Black Rose had switched roles, Alice might have felt the same."

"A-Alice, Senior Alice?"

"Alice is a person too, so of course she would. Do I look like some emotionless doll to you?"

"...Ah. Now that you mention it... Hmm..."

...Come to think of it, I'd already broken character in front of her, hadn't I? It was more comfortable, but that didn't mean I intended to drop the act completely and speak freely with her.

"It's true that Alice came in with you to save you. But Alice also had business in the Abyss."

"Business in the Abyss?!"

"...I'm going to explain why now, so listen carefully. Phew... This is a very important secret that you must never tell anyone. Even if we return to Earth, you can't tell anyone."

"...Yes!"

"Good. Then..."

Now that I knew there was a high chance that bastard was in the Abyss, this was something I had to tell her.

A plausible excuse... I'd thought of one a long time ago.

"...I came to hunt down Alice's doppelgänger."

"..."

There was a silence of about three seconds.

"Whaaaat????!!!!!!"

Mm. If we hadn't had a soundproofing barrier, that scream would have caused a serious problem. But we did, so I'd let it slide.

"Shh. This is an important secret. Please keep your voice down."

"Ah, gah! W-what have I done...!"

[The soundproofing barrier is in place. This too must be a blessing from Momo.]

"As expected of you, Ms. Momo. I knew I could count on you."

[Yay-]

"W-wait. A doppelgänger?! Senior Alice's?!"

Black Rose wore an utterly flustered expression. It was completely different from the expression she'd worn moments ago, when she'd seemed to have lost the will to live.

That was how unbelievable the news must have sounded.

"...Phew. About eight years ago... Alice engaged in a desperate battle with an S-rank Abyssal One that emerged from an Abyss Hole that had suddenly formed in Alice's house."

"A-an S-rank Abyssal One in her house?"

"The Abyssal One's ability was probably to create doppelgängers. It could copy Alice's appearance, speech, personality, and abilities almost perfectly. Combined with the Abyssal One's inherent viciousness and power, it was an even stronger, more vicious copy—a formidable enemy. Alice managed to win the fight after a desperate struggle, but... she could only watch as it returned to the Abyss Hole before she could finish it off."

"H-how could that happen...?"

...It seemed the acting skills I'd built up over eight years of living like this hadn't gone anywhere. Black Rose was clenching and unclenching her fists and stamping her feet as if she'd been there herself.

"It never appeared on Earth again after that, but... it returned in Alice's form, saying that it liked Alice's appearance. It may have recovered after returning to the Abyss and now be invading other dimensions in Alice's form. An Abyssal One that strong couldn't possibly have simply disappeared."

"How dare it do such things in Senior's form...!"

[How dare it do such things in Alice's form...!]

...For the record, I was saying that so Momo would hear it, too. Black Rose would see her eventually anyway. Later, I'd try telling Aia not to mention this to anyone. If that didn't work, there was nothing I could do.

"But... that Abyssal One was incredibly strong. Even Alice at the time had barely managed to repel it. Alice now is... It's embarrassing to admit, but compared to her prime, she's weaker. I said I came here to hunt it down, but... in reality, even if that Abyssal One has merely retained the strength it had back then... I'd have to run."

"How could that be...!"

[An Abyssal One equal to Alice in her prime, or perhaps slightly superior... A calamity-level Abyssal One that literally surpasses even an S-rank Abyssal One. If we encounter it now, fleeing is the correct answer.]

"I-I see... Then that's what we should do..."

...Momo had certainly faced reality faster than Black Rose.

"So what Alice means is this: if you encounter something resembling Alice while exploring the Abyss, don't be too surprised. It's probably that doppelgänger. It may have changed its appearance, though."

[If you know such a being exists, establishing a countersign would be effective. We intend to stay together whenever possible, but it may approach you when Alice is absent.]

'...How did it turn into that?'

I knew that thing wasn't the sort to do anything like that, but once I'd introduced it as a doppelgänger, Momo's suspicion was rational.

"...All right. The countersign is... 'lemon' and 'book.'"

"...Do they have some meaning?"

"None at all. They're supposed to be words with absolutely nothing to do with each other."

"Ah... So no one can guess it...?"

"...And I'll tell you one more important fact. You must keep it firmly in mind."

What I'd just said was important too, but this was ultimately more important.

"If you meet that thing—the doppelgänger, or anything resembling Alice—run. No matter what. Don't even think about fighting it, and ignore whatever it says. Just run."

Perhaps she could read the gravity in my words. Black Rose and Momo both nodded with resolute expressions. Momo didn't technically have an expression, though.

* * *

-Creeeak

"E-excuse meee..."

-Click

"Ah..."

I opened the door, despite the discourtesy, to tidy up Senior... Mr. Sejin's house, but the familiar chain was blocking it.

The chain had been there since the first time I'd seen the place. It was always latched, whether Mr. Sejin was going outside or seeing me, his next-door neighbor.

Back then, I'd merely thought he was an extremely security-conscious person... But after learning about the life he led while hiding a huge secret... I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him.

"Y-you didn't happen to have a contract with a security company or anything, did you...?"

Considering Mr. Sejin's usual personality, I wondered if he might even have arranged for the security company to be notified immediately if the door was forced open... But I had no choice. If I didn't do this now, an agency responsible for counting the missing and dead after the Abyssal One incident would come here later.

And if he was listed as missing—or, if we were unlucky, declared dead... in the worst case, the house might be auctioned off as-is. The number of intact homes had fallen sharply after an S-rank Abyssal One appeared.

Unlike the metropolitan areas where public safety was at least somewhat maintained, this had happened in a region with a low population density and insufficient police manpower. If a high-grade Abyssal One appeared there and killed many people, then forget about an auction—once word spread that the home's original owner was dead, people would apparently empty out the belongings and move in to use the house themselves.

"S-so I'll take out any valuables in advance, at least...!"

-Crash!

I was currently transformed. Breaking a basic lock like this with brute force wasn't difficult.

-Silence...

"W-what, nothing's going off? A siren... or something...?"

I had braced myself, but nothing happened, and I was just about to enter in relief.

-Crackle!

"Eek?!"

Suddenly, a magic circle flashed on the door, and a small bolt of lightning jumped out.

The fact that I could feel a fair amount of pain even while transformed meant... an ordinary person would probably have fainted, or come close to it, from this device.

"Ugh... If you had something like this, you could've at least warned me..."

Waving my tingling hand and carefully checking for any more magic circles, I detected one near the entryway floor and pulled back the foot I had been about to set down.

I could see the magic circles because I was a magical girl; if I had been an ordinary person, I might not even have realized that one of them had caused this.

If an ordinary thief had come, the spark just now would have knocked them unconscious or nearly so, and if they endured it through superhuman willpower and stepped forward again... that magic circle would activate.

"M-maybe I should ask you to set some up at my house later, too...?"

-Vrrrr...

I concentrated magical power at my fingertips and tried to dismantle the magic circle.

At least the device had been designed with ordinary thieves in mind...? Apparently, even though Mr. Sejin was my senior, he hadn't imagined that a magical girl would force open the door and enter without permission.

I didn't know whether devices like this had been installed only at the entrance or throughout the house... but I found myself laughing as I imagined Senior... Mr. Sejin struggling to install the magic circles.