I wasn't sure if Ryuunosuke had noticed us, but he kept changing directions and trying to flee. Tiamat and I didn't lose him.
The problem was Tiamat's presence. Despite her supportive underwear, her bouncing chest drew the eyes of every man we passed. They could only stare dumbfounded as she moved further away.
For some reason, I felt a pit in my stomach.
I felt safe because it was Tiamat, but the stares were quite burdensome.
You'd think I'd be used to it by now.
But I just couldn't get used to it.
By the time the sky was dyed in the colors of sunset, we arrived at an abandoned, deserted building.
"Hah, hah... I haven't done anything to you. I never thought you'd chase me this far. Are you some kind of secret detective?"
I shook my head at Ryuunosuke's words. Frankly, with Tiamat around, we were far too conspicuous to be secret detectives.
"Tiamat."
Tiamat nodded and activated her Mystic Eyes.
Her red Mystic Eyes.
"Keuk!?"
Under the gaze of her red eyes, Ryuunosuke fell to his knees.
Tiamat's red eyes are a curse.
They inflict a curse on everyone who enters her line of sight, which is why I was standing beside her, not in front.
"Hahaha, are you kidding me? To think a real demon actually existed..."
Without stopping at the curse, Tiamat fired a small laser from her mouth, piercing through Ryuunosuke's chest.
"Cough..."
The laser hit him right where his heart should be. Blood gurgled and poured out of the small hole.
"Ah, that hurts."
Ryuunosuke touched his chest, from which blood was gushing...
"Ah, it's so beautiful... I see. Of course, I wouldn't have noticed... 'It's darkest under the lamp,' they say. Cough... What a well-made phrase. Cough, cough, what I was searching for was not in anyone else, but inside my own organs..."
Thud.
And with that, the last flame of Ryuunosuke's life seemed to have been completely extinguished.
His hands dropped limply, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
"He was twisted."
"He was... A hard person to understand."
I felt nothing about having killed him.
How should I put it?
Maybe it was because it felt like watching a puppet whose strings were cut.
In any case, the place where Ryuunosuke fell became a pool of blood, but we just had to go on our way.
By the way, he was still smiling, even in death...
The sight of him smiling as he died was so creepy that I just wanted to rest as soon as possible.
"Well then, shall we go back?"
"Yes. Would you like Mama to give you a piggyback ride?"
"No, just hold my hand."
It seemed I wasn't completely unaffected by seeing someone die right in front of me after all.
My hand was trembling slightly, but my heart felt calm.
Was it because I knew the future?
Or was it because he was destined to become Gilles de Rais's Master?
I couldn't hear the right answer from anyone.
Because the answer was always within me.
But I didn't know what that answer was.
It felt like something in me had changed by acting alongside a god (Tiamat) as a normal person, but I decided not to think about it.
It could be arrogance, or it could be deceit.
Or maybe it was just a voice I had created myself.
"Let's go."
"Yes."
I briefly stroked Tiamat's horns.
The small horns felt nice, but Tiamat looked like she was enduring something, so I let go. Afterward, we headed back to the motel we had been staying at.
Later, as we washed up with warm water at the motel, Tiamat spoke.
"Are you afraid of me?"
"..."
Afraid?
Hmm... maybe I was.
The being known as Tiamat was one of the Evils of Humanity, a catastrophe in her own right.
I didn't quite know the reason, but her strength was more than enough to be feared.
I was just an ordinary person, and that sight was frightening enough to make me think, so this is Fate.
A human life disappears so easily.
And in the Holy Grail War, human lives were far too cheap.
As light as pulling the trigger of a gun.
People were killed for witnessing mystery, dissected and killed for the sake of research, killed for being designated for sealing... There were even those who didn't care what happened to humanity for the sake of love.
There was also the bleaching of the world, but anyway, this was a world where a person's life could be taken as if it were nothing.
"What I'm afraid of might not be when or how I'll die, but the fear that human life can vanish so insignificantly."
"...I see. What would you like me to do?"
"Will you stay with me?"
"Mama decided to be with you from the very day we met."
And then I felt a question arise.
"Can you tell me why?"
"It's only natural for a mother, isn't it?"
She—no, Tiamat—was an Evil of Humanity, but conversely, she was a god who belonged to all the mothers of the world.
I didn't know if that was accurate, but Tiamat's maternity was incredible.
No, I didn't even know if it was maternity in the first place.
"Only natural, huh..."
If someone was in danger right in front of you, what would you do?
Just watch.
Save them.
Other.
If I had the choice, what would I do?
Would I just watch?
Or would I save them?
Both watching and saving are things that only the courageous can do.
Or a psychopath, one of the two. Anyway, what did I want to do?
I was no hero, nor was I someone with a hero complex.
And yet, why did I go so far as to kill Ryuunosuke?
Was it just for self-satisfaction? Or to prevent a future tragedy?
I didn't know.
Squish~
"Akira, you seem to be thinking too much."
I felt a soft sensation behind my back.
"That's true. What do I want... I don't really know."
"It's not too late to think about such things slowly. Do you regret killing that child, Akira?"
I didn't regret the death of a guy who had piled up so much bad karma.
"No, I don't regret it."
"In that case, it's alright."
And Tiamat hugged me.
Like she was holding a child.
Tiamat's embrace was warm.
"For now, why don't we finish washing up and then think?"
Frankly, the embarrassment was all mine.
We weren't related, yet washing each other's backs created a strange feeling, so we decided to end the bath there.
Afterward, we got into bed and fell asleep in each other's arms, greeting the next day.
"Aaaaa."
"LaLaLa~"
When morning came, Tiamat said "Aaaaa," so I said "LaLaLa" out of boredom.
At that, Tiamat blushed slightly as if embarrassed, but she smiled brightly and said:
"Are you awake?"
"Yeah..."
We woke up facing each other.
It could be described as a strange feeling.
And I didn't have anything particular to say.
Just enough to answer.
"Well then, let's eat the sushi rolls we have left."
"Alright. Let's go summon a Servant later."
She nodded.
Tiamat simply accepted with a bright smile.
Afterward, we split the leftover sushi rolls, roughly filled our stomachs, and I had a conversation with Tiamat.
"Hey, Tiamat, do you know of a place rich in magical energy?"
"I do. But what are you worried about when Mama is here?"
"...That's true, isn't it?"
Tiamat herself was a living being overflowing with magical energy.
A living being, not a Heroic Spirit.
"Can you use your abilities from when you were a Beast?"
"No, I cannot use them."
"I see..."
So, she couldn't use the power of a Beast, but it seemed she could still use her Mystic Eyes.
The reason she was so rich in magical energy might be due to her nature, but it seemed creating life was impossible for her.
"But I can still conceive life."
"Cough, cough...?"
Did I hear that right?
I remembered "conceive" meaning to get pregnant. Wondering if it had another meaning, I checked on my smartphone, but it seemed it was the "conceive" I knew.
"Ah, because you have a living body?"
She nodded.
"But is it possible between a human and a god?"
"It is."
Ah, right. Thinking about Olympus, there were more demigods than one would expect.
Zeus, who spread his seed everywhere, was a prime example.
"..."
She answered so purely, but from my perspective, it was too dangerous a statement to take purely.
"Creating life may be impossible, but isn't it a relief that I can still conceive life?"
"..."
Did she have no shame? Or was I the abnormal one?
My brain couldn't accept reality and fell into confusion.
And I came to a conclusion.
"Shall we go look for a place to summon a Servant?"
I changed the subject.
"Yes."
We were looking for a quiet place and ended up entering a supermarket.
"Welcome."
"Huh!?"
"Monster boobs!?"
Tiamat's figure drew everyone's attention, and the burden on me began to grow.
"Is the guy next to her her boyfriend?"
"This damn world!"
The people who curse at me every time they see Tiamat... should I say their pattern never changes? Or that it's just too predictable?
In that respect, I couldn't help but understand.
Even if there was just one beautiful Heroic Spirit, that person would get cursed at.
Why? Because they are all beautiful. On a national level, even...
I took a piece of chalk and went to the counter.
"Wow, she's so pretty..."
The part-timer working at the counter was staring blankly at Tiamat.
"Excuse me, checkout?"
"Ah, yes!"
He scanned the barcode on the chalk, and I paid with my card.
Supermarket: -200 JPY
Remaining Balance: 947,433 JPY.
Now, it was time to summon a Heroic Spirit.