Humanity's Extinction Actually Happens This Time With the Evil God's Revival?!

by Tsuyoshi Fujitaka

  Apparently there would be twelve psychopaths attending Wakana’s new high school. Wakana’s world was about to change from a love story to a psycho thriller.

  Monika wanted to save Wakana. To do that, she had to get her back to her original world, and put her best friend’s destiny back on track.

  Even if she could do something about the guys coming after Wakana, if the world Wakana was involved in had fundamentally changed, someone else still might come after her.

  Besides, an Outer could not interfere in their own original world in any way. She could get someone else to act as an intermediary, but there was no guarantee that that would work out. Therefore, she had no choice but to assemble the Divine Vessels to make that wish.

  As a host to one of the Evil God’s body parts, she could use the resonance to hunt down the other parts. When all the parts came to dwell within one person, the Evil God would be revived, and then he would grant that person’s wish. That was what Ende had told her, at least.

  Of course, Evil God is just something we call him for expedience, Ende had explained. In actuality, he’s a Worldview Holder with a powerful influence. If we let him roam free, he might destroy the world. And miscreants though we may be, we can’t let the world itself and the intelligent beings who live there be destroyed. We want to enjoy the world and the stories within it. That means we are, in essence, fundamentally opposed to the Evil God. So apparently, a long time ago, we all worked together to destroy the Evil God, but someone decided it would be a shame to eliminate his power entirely. Letting him revive partly or fully every now and then, to rampage and then get defeated again... it adds a little spice to life, don’t you think?

  Her words had made it all the more clear that neither the Evil God nor the Outers were anyone she wanted to associate with.

  In other words, they had orchestrated the entire thing. Outers loved stories about worlds getting destroyed.

  But no matter how rotten the story behind it might be, it was Monika’s only option.

  She had a vague feeling that Ende was manipulating her, but she couldn’t think of any other way to do what she needed to. So Monika went out into town, searching for someone to be a host to a Divine Vessel.

  Ende and her fellow Outers likened the rules that governed worlds to stories. Monika could think about things that way too, and like all Outers, she had the ability to view trends in stories and identify roles and key items. She did this via an ability that Mutsuko Sakaki would later call Soul Reader, though at this point in time it was just a basic ability all Outers had, and no one had given it a name.

  At this time, Monika’s eyes could still see labels. They hovered over a person’s head and explained their role in their affiliated story.

  Things like “High School Student” “Office Worker” or “Housewife” didn’t mean much. Those labels meant that they didn’t play any significant role in their story.

  These ordinary people — these “extras” — were out of bounds. She had to find someone special instead, but this was proving difficult.

  The first issue was getting others to believe her story, although this had proven surprisingly simple.

  Many of those she had talked to had already known the story about Divine Vessels, and those that didn’t had readily believed in the idea of getting a wish granted. The problem lay in the compensation that Monika could offer them.

  Only one wish could be granted, and Monika intended to use that wish herself, which meant there was nothing in it for the host. Monika wasn’t good at lying, so she hadn’t been able to spin the offer in a convincing way.

  Monika had certain powers as an Outer, but those were limited to helping people in love. It was possible there was someone out there who would risk their life to get a bit closer to someone they cared about, but so far, none of the people she had talked to were terribly passionate romantics.

  That meant all that Monika had to offer was the Divine Vessel itself.

  It was the Evil God’s right eye, also known as the Eye of Red Cords. It offered its host the ability to see threads of romantic destiny, the result of the eye being influenced by Monika’s powers the moment she had “observed” it.

  Who would even want this ability? she thought.

  It would be hard for her to ask someone to go into combat under these conditions.

  That left only combat junkies interested in the fight itself as an option, but she had yet to meet anyone like that. Every negotiation Monika had tried so far had ended in failure.

  I need to figure out something...

  Panicked and restless, she was walking her patrol of the city around noon.

  It would have looked suspicious for an apparent elementary school student like Monika to be wandering around in public during the day, but fortunately, Outers were fundamentally inconspicuous.

  Unfortunately, few of the sorts of powerful beings that could be of use to Monika would be just wandering around in public during the day, either.

  Perhaps she needed a more efficient way of searching.

  Maybe I should go somewhere a little shiftier...

  Walking around at night might increase her chances, and she could try visiting the sorts of abandoned buildings and graveyards where yokai and monsters tended to lurk. But there was a simple reason she hadn’t gone to places like that already: she was scared.

  Her Outer status made her effectively impossible to kill, but she still only had the life experience of a fifth grader. No matter how mature she might claim to be, she remained childish in many ways.

  Okay! If today proves to be a bust, I’ll expand my range tomorrow...

  Just as Monika was coming to her decision, her eyes fell upon a label.

  “Serial God Killer.”

  It was a label she’d never seen before. She decided to investigate further.

  “Serial God Killer” seemed to be a young woman dressed in the uniform of an employee of a prestigious bank. Her uniform was unadorned and her makeup was natural. Her hair was tied into a prim ponytail. It was probably the way bank employees usually dressed, but her plain mode of dress couldn’t hide the bewitching aura behind it.

  It was around noon, so Monika assumed she must be out for lunch. Since there was no bank in the direction she was heading, she must not have eaten yet.

  Monika tailed the Serial God Killer, keeping her distance as she pondered how best to approach her. She shouldn’t just address the woman on the street. She still looked like a child, after all, and the woman might just brush her off if she tried.

  Which meant she’d just have to wait for her to arrive at her destination. Then she could sit down and focus her energies on trying to convince her.

  There was no particular reason to be fixated on this woman. It was just that she hadn’t found any other suitable person to deal with, and if this woman killed gods, Monika assumed she must be strong. The thought of whether or not she could control her hadn’t even entered her mind.

  If the woman said no, she’d just ask someone else, and as an Outer, Monika was nearly unkillable. No matter how strong this woman was, she could probably get away from her.

  Besides, unlike the yokai and monsters who inhabited the world’s darker half, this woman seemed to have integrated into human society. That might make her more likely to listen.

  The woman she was tailing eventually turned onto a side street. She turned again and again through the winding alleys until they wound up at a cul-de-sac.

  Maybe this was a mistake... Monika wondered if she’d been led into a trap.

  While she stewed over whether or not to run away, the woman kept walking forward, eventually descending a staircase at the end of the street.

  Monika walked up to the staircase and peered down it. The woman was gone.

  There was a door at the bottom of the staircase — a cafe, judging by the sign.

  “Well, no point in turning back now...” Monika steeled her nerve and began to descend.

  The cafe had dim lighting
and a dingy sort of feel to it. It didn’t seem like the sort of place where a bank employee would eat lunch.

  Just inside the entrance was a corridor that extended straight in front of her. To her left was bar seating. The kitchen lay beyond. Across from it, to her right, were five tables with seats.

  The Serial God Killer woman was the cafe’s only customer, sitting at the rearmost table. The only other person there was an old man dressed in an apron who was standing behind the counter.

  The label above the apparent barkeep’s head read “Serial Killer,” suggesting that the two likely knew each other. Serial God Killer and Serial Killer — it would be odd for such similar labels to end up in the same place purely by coincidence.

  Maybe it really was a trap.

  Despite that, though, Monika remained fairly calm. She really wasn’t very worried about the chance that they might hurt her. To put it simply, Outers were extremely lucky. They tended not to end up in situations that might prove fatal.

  The woman and the old man looked at Monika standing in the entrance. But of course, a young girl coming alone to a seedy old cafe in the back alleys would attract attention.

  “Welcome,” the man said softly, as if nothing at all were amiss.

  “Did you want something from me?” the woman asked. “Please, do stop standing there and come over.”

  It was a reasonable request; Monika had tailed her into the deserted back alleys, after all. She had been trying to be inconspicuous, but perhaps the woman had known she was there from the start.

  Despite all of her preparation, though, Monika hadn’t actually thought through what she should do when they finally met. At the same time, she also couldn’t just remain standing there forever. Monika walked up to the woman’s table and took a seat across from her.

  “All right,” the woman said. “I have to say, I found this all quite strange. I couldn’t think of any reason why a little girl like you might be following me.” The woman had her head tilted in an elegant way. She probably found it genuinely baffling.

  Most people wouldn’t know she was a “Serial God Killer,” and even if they did, it would probably be hard to imagine anyone going out of their way to address someone so dangerous.

  “I want you to join me,” Monika said.

  She decided to charge right into the main subject. It was all about impact. If she could pique her interest from the start, that might make everything go more smoothly.

  Snip.

  There was a sudden sound near Monika’s ear. The woman was leaning over the table, her right hand close to Monika’s head. Monika hadn’t even seen her move. One moment the woman was sitting back; the next moment she was right beside her.

  Monika slowly turned her head.

  There was a pair of sewing shears in the woman’s hand, closed.

  A moment later, Monika’s heart began to pound.

  She couldn’t die. She knew that, but it was hard to remain calm while on the receiving end of this sort of open threat.

  “Oh? I missed.” The woman looked genuinely surprised. “I wonder why...”

  She hadn’t missed on purpose, then. She seemed extremely perplexed about the result, which suggested she had tremendous confidence in her skills.

  There had been no room for discussion; this woman had tried to kill Monika right off the bat, acting with a terrifying degree of decisiveness.

  “Th-That was pretty out of nowhere. But it won’t work, you know!” Monika said loudly, to try to cover the trembling in her voice.

  “You see, there were all these questions going through my mind,” the woman said. “Why would an elementary school girl be following me? Why would she want me to join her? What benefit would it be to me? Did she know these are my hunting grounds? Does she know I’m a killer? Is she in the same profession? It was growing tiresome, so I decided I’d just kill you. Then I wouldn’t have to think about it anymore.”

  “Didn’t you consider any of the consequences, ma’am?” Monika was starting to think she’d acted too hastily. There was no way she could keep such a short-tempered partner in line. Though decisiveness and speed like that could come in handy...

  People could die in the Divine Vessels War. The event’s bloodthirsty nature demanded a strong playing piece.

  To save Wakana, she’d have to look the other way about some terrible things. Monika decided to force herself to accept that.

  “Don’t worry about that,” the woman said dismissively. “This area is my hunting grounds; I can dispose of a corpse or two easily enough. The fact that you called me ‘ma’am’ is making me want to kill you even more, but it seems that won’t be very easy, so I suppose I’ll hear you out.” The woman sat back in her seat.

  Monika rubbed her chest to calm herself down. “Ma’am, are you human?”

  “That’s a good question. I’m certainly called inhuman often enough.” Her words suggested that she was human.

  “Okay, I’ll explain everything,” Monika said. “But will you please hear me out to the end? No trying to kill me halfway through?”

  “Your name.”

  “Huh?”

  “Mine is Aki Takizawa. And yours?”

  “Monika Sakurazaki.”

  “All right, Monika dear. I’ll hear you out. But as you can see, I’m a bit impatient. Keep it brief.”

  Monika found her more than a bit impatient, but she decided to keep that opinion to herself. She didn’t know what else she might try. “I’m a being that exists outside of destiny. Attacks from people who exist within destiny, like you, won’t hurt me. People like me can also see information about people who exist within destiny. That’s how I knew you were a Serial God Killer.”

  “I’d like to dismiss you as just a crazy girl, but my attacks genuinely don’t work on you, so I’ll trust you there,” said the woman. “So, what would I get out of joining you?”

  “I’ve been thinking about taking part in a game, and I need a piece to act on my behalf. As for what you get out of it... whoever wins this game will gain tremendous power. You’ll get a part of that, and I’d also be in a position to guarantee you a happy and full life. In addition—” Monika was hesitant to tell her about the wish, so instead, she was keeping it vague. Observing love connections could be helpful, and it wasn’t a lie to say that it might help you lead a happy life.

  “A happy and full life? What does that include, exactly?” Aki seemed absolutely baffled by the concept.

  “Well, you’d be able to marry a good man, have children, live comfortably, and die with contentment... more or less?” Monika said hesitantly. She could manipulate destiny to a certain degree even without the Evil God’s help, after all.

  While Monika was thinking about that, a quiet smile appeared on Aki’s face.

  Huh?! Monika suddenly realized she had misunderstood something.

  “Marrying, having children, and living out a comfortable life... you call that happiness?!” Aki suddenly cried out, and Monika felt a chill rush down her spine.

  It was a little frightening; she had no idea what she had done wrong.

  “Huh? Why are you so mad?” Monika stuttered. “You don’t want a comfortable and happy family life?”

  The woman shook her head. She didn’t seem terribly angry, but her expression was that of someone dealing with an unbelievably stupid child. “All right. I dislike misunderstandings, so allow me to explain. Happiness, to me... must be built on the happiness of others.”

  “Um... you mean like, ‘If you’re happy, I’m happy’?” Monika was a bit surprised. This woman certainly didn’t seem like the deeply empathetic type.

  The woman instantly dashed that. “Isn’t tormenting happy people just the most ecstatic feeling?”

  “Oh, I see. People’s unhappiness is like ambrosia to you.” In her shock, Monika found herself resorting to politeness.

  “You knew I killed people, didn’t you?” the woman asked. “But I particularly specialize in people who look happy. Flirting couples are
a particular specialty of mine.”

  “Um, my sight told me you were a Serial God Killer, so I assumed you only killed gods...”

  “If I saw gods flirting, I’d kill them, too.”

  If gods were flirting, she’d kill them. Monika suddenly realized she was dealing with a “normie” killer.

  “You can’t be jealous, though, right?” Monika asked. “You’re beautiful. You could get any man you wanted.”

  “Happiness is like a balloon. I’m the kind of person who delights in popping balloons. Happiness breaks so easily, after all. Why would I seek out something so fleeting? Why should I be dependent on something so easily destroyed?”

  Her system of values was clearly an alien one. Monika was starting to think this wouldn’t work at all. It was hard to see how she could ever get along with someone like this.

  “Um, maybe we really should just—” —call this off, she tried to say, but Aki interrupted.

  “Earlier, you suggested that I would get something else out of this.”

  “No, it was really nothing...” Monika tried to defer and leave, but Aki wouldn’t be dissuaded.

  “I’ll be the judge of that.” It felt like the woman had taken total control of the conversation at this point.

  Well, if she still wants to hear me out... Monika decided to continue.

  “In order to participate in the game, you’ll need to become a host to a thing called a Divine Vessel. It’ll let you use a certain superpower, though the one I have to offer isn’t very good...”

  “A superpower? If it would let me explode people’s heads with a thought, or set them on fire, I’d love it.”

  Monika didn’t even want to think about how she intended to use such things. Even if she did have a power like that, she would never give it to someone like her. “It’s not like that. It’s called magic sight. The only ability I can give you is the ability to see red cords.”

  Red cords: threads that indicated that two people would be together in the future. The magic sight had, for some reason, morphed into that ability.

  “Oh? If that’s what it is, I’ll happily work with you. That’s all the reward I want, as well.”