Chapter 32: Love and Lust

Of course, what Magical Girl Black was spouting was completely, fundamentally wrong.

At least, her dark, cynical, and twisted "adult" philosophy was the polar opposite of the simple, righteous principles Ren Akiyama had diligently, almost stubbornly upheld for so many years. He was that type of person, the kind with an iron-clad willpower. He was someone who wouldn’t, who shouldn’t, be so easily shaken just because a (currently very alluring, very vulnerable, and frankly, very scantily clad) magical girl said some philosophically questionable and morally gray things to him.

He shouldn't...

But...

Then again, as always... there was a "but."

Ren Akiyama was stuck. He had no good solution.

As a smart person, he knew better than anyone that, most of the time, just being eloquent and good at debating was actually meaningless. If you were going to point out a problem, you had to propose a solution to that problem.

Black, in her own desperate and twisted way, had offered a solution for dealing with the current fiend problem. But he, the genius Supporter, didn't have a single viable alternative he could bring to the table to actually fight the fiends.

And that, right there, was the crux of the entire problem.

So, no matter what he said, all his words just seemed to lack any real power. No matter how much logic he had on his side, he couldn't argue with the cold, hard facts.

He didn't possess some kind of protagonist-level cheat ability to "turn fiction into reality" like you read about in novels; he was, at best, just a little eloquent. Bluffing his way through a conversation with a sweet, trusting girl like Hana? That was still no problem. But having a dialogue with a stubborn, jaded, middle-aged person like Magical Girl Black? Against that kind of pragmatic despair, his words... they all seemed as light, as utterly meaningless, as a feather.

Because no matter what kind of principle you spout, if it cannot be supported by an actual "method"—if it can't be realistically implemented—then it's nothing more than a pipe dream, a form of simple wishful thinking.

Maybe other magical girls, the idealistic ones, can draw strength from that kind of baseless hope.

But that... that is not a power Magical Girl Black can ever hope to wield.

After all, Magical Girl Black is a magical girl who can absorb the power of fear.

People often overlook this crucial point. For Magical Girl Black, negative emotions can just as easily become her sustenance; it's not just lofty ideals like "love" and "justice" that are capable of becoming her strength.

From this perspective, Ren Akiyama did have a logical point.

But... was he really supposed to be the one to say it? Was he actually supposed to suggest, "In that case, why don't you just absorb some negative power for support? You might actually be able to defeat The Puppeteer that way"?

Could he really say something like that?

And Ren Akiyama just couldn't bring himself to say it.

Whether it was as her Supporter, or as her future son-in-law, or even—as Black herself had so outrageously suggested—as her "lover," that was a line he just couldn't cross. Those were words he was not allowed to speak.

If he actually said something like that, then he, Ren Akiyama, would truly be no better than scum. He'd no longer be a decent human being.

Those weren't words a human being should ever say. And what's more, he, Ren Akiyama, still prided himself on being a good person.

So, what was he supposed to do?

“Ren-kun, you don't need to get so hung up on what's 'right' or 'wrong.' A person just has to live in the moment, you know?” Magical Girl Black continued, her voice a strange, almost unsettling mix of casualness and... something else. “Although I admit, I’ve never done this kind of thing before, but we’re both adults here, aren’t we? It’s just a trivial physical relationship. Surely we can face something like that with a bit of maturity, right?”

I'm not an adult yet!

Ren Akiyama desperately wanted to shout that. But the moment he saw the look in Magical Girl Black’s eyes, he already understood—that even if he firmly, stubbornly, and with all his might refused, she would probably just, with a single, exasperated punch, knock him unconscious and then… have her way with him.

At this very moment, that was precisely the terrifying, unspoken promise in her eyes.

If he absolutely had to put a name to it… it was that look. The kind of smoldering, hungry gaze so thick with desire, it felt like it was practically, physically pulling him in.

Her eyes were practically overflowing with a thick, syrupy, and deeply unsettling affection. Come to think of it, from the very moment she transformed into a young girl, it seemed as if, without anyone teaching her at all, she instinctively knew every trick on how to seduce a man. It had been just like that before, and now, it was happening again.

Her scalding-hot, petite body was embracing Ren, and the expression on her face could only be described as the absolute pinnacle of feminine allure.

“I am serious this time, Ren-kun,” she whispered, her voice a low, husky purr. “This isn't like before, when I came to you out of some pathetic, self-destructive desperation. This time… I purely, simply want to vent my own carnal desires…”

The girl’s eyes were hazy and unfocused, her cheeks flushed a deep crimson as she exhaled a hot, almost fragrant breath. “Perhaps… perhaps it’s just like those people online say…” she whispered.

“Ren-kun, do you have any idea? After my wife Kaoru passed away… it’s already been over ten years. You kids are already in high school… and I… I’ve been all alone for all these years…”

Her voice was a low, mournful murmur. “This… this is all your fault, Ren-kun. When you held me back then… it made me become infatuated with this feeling. I think… I think this is the kind of comfort I need. My power, right now, it’s coming from this. From you.”

“If you say that Magical Girl Black was in an Inverted state from the very beginning… then it’s precisely this, this feeling, that can allow me to become ‘White.’ I want you to give me your warmth, Ren-kun.”

Yes, that was it. In all of Ren’s past interactions with Black, the one, single problem he had completely, utterly overlooked was the existence known as 'Black' herself, and the profound, crushing loneliness she had felt for all these years!

For a person like her, in a life spanning more than ten long years that she considered a "failure," just how much profound loneliness and desolation must she have truly tasted?

Ren tried to recall Black's life, and even he found it difficult to describe this person's crushing solitude with mere words.

And for this Black, so lonely and vulnerable, Ren had made that declaration—that even if it meant death, he would die together with her. He had held her tightly as they entered that void. The embrace... the kiss...

For Magical Girl Black, all of it, it was as if a critical switch had been flipped. A trigger.

It had thrown a switch deep inside her body. After her last attempt to seduce Ren had failed so spectacularly, after she had been so thoroughly, almost paternally, lectured by him, she had, for the first time, clearly, and with no small amount of terror, recognized her own true desire.

A desire for Ren Akiyama. And an infatuation with that intoxicating, long-forgotten feeling of relying on someone else.

The person that the all-powerful Magical Girl Black could truly rely on… just who in the world was it?

Strawberry Sweetheart has already retired. The strongest magical girl is now Black. She will have to face the most danger, face the people's greatest expectations... Who can she even be vulnerable with?

That, of course, could only be her own Supporter, Ren Akiyama.

As a father, she could not, and would not, ever show that kind of vulnerability to her daughter, Hana. It was unthinkable.

But Ren Akiyama... he was different.

Black’s fragility had already been seen by Ren. Her innermost heart was always, almost effortlessly, seen through by him.

When you are faced with an existence who, in this entire world, possibly understands you better than anyone else… there are only two paths left.

Either you destroy that relationship… or you become hopelessly attached to it.

Obviously, that first option, destroying the relationship, wasn't even a possibility.

She, on a subconscious level, just wanted to rely on Ren Akiyama. To put it even more bluntly, she was just being willful. She was acting spoiled... It was a very human emotion. The more Ren was unwilling, the more she, perversely, wanted to do it.

And every single time Ren did choose to give in to her, she reaped an immense, almost intoxicating happiness from it.

That kind of satisfaction… it was simply indescribable.

For someone like Black, who had always relied on herself, who had raised her daughter all on her own, this new feeling... this realization that someone else would willingly lower their own bottom line, compromise their own rigid principles, just for her sake... it was utterly intoxicating.

To put it more bluntly, if Ren Akiyama had been a bad person, he probably could have easily sent Black spiraling into an inescapable abyss of depravity.

This very temptation, for Black, was like a delicious, beautiful, and utterly irresistible poison.

And so, even though she knew better than anyone, with a soul-crushing clarity, just how utterly shameless this was, how profoundly immoral, and what an unforgivable betrayal it was to her own daughter… her heart still, nonetheless, felt as if it were being tickled and scratched by a playful cat's paws, a feeling that was, all at once, both agonizingly painful... and exquisitely pleasant.

Once a certain line is crossed, a certain boundary shattered, it becomes like a landslide, rushing forward with an unstoppable momentum.

And Magical Girl Black, at this very moment, was exactly like that.

A little while ago, Ren Akiyama had given in to her, had agreed to her "training." And so, when her own daughter, Hana, had called on the phone, they had been in the middle of a kiss. Ever since that moment…

She couldn't stop replaying that feeling in her mind. That strange, new power drilling up from the very bottom of her heart, suffusing her entire body. That warm, almost intoxicatingly sweet sensation… it was a feeling so potent that it was even beginning to gradually, almost blasphemously, cover up... to overwrite... the precious, fading memory of the kisses she had once shared with her own beloved wife, Kaoru Shirakawa.

She knew this was wrong. She knew, on a fundamental level, that this was completely, utterly wrong.

But... just maybe... even if it was wrong, did it really matter?

Ren would figure out a way, wouldn't he? He would face this "wrongness" together with her, wouldn't he? He would shoulder this burden with her, right?

As long as she allowed herself to think that, as long as she clung to that single, desperate thought… she found that she couldn't control herself at all.

She was more clear-headed now than at any other time. She knew, with a chilling, absolute clarity, exactly what she was doing.

She leaned in close to Ren Akiyama. He, in the end, as if completely resigning himself to his inevitable fate, simply closed his eyes.

A small, triumphant, almost wicked smile spread across the girl’s face. See? Just like this. In the end, he will always, always compromise for me. This feeling... it was so, so good.

The girl captured the young man's lips.

……

What is art, truly? At its very core, the meaning of art is beauty. Art is simply humanity's most primal, most fundamental exploration of that beauty.

So then, how does a person even come to recognize what is beautiful?

The Puppeteer had pondered this question over and over again back in his student days...

Humans are repulsed by feces, repulsed by their smell. This, he reasoned, was likely connected to humanity's primal territorial instincts from ancient times. Just like how a dog urinates to mark its territory, a person isn't nearly as repulsed by their own scent, but will often turn their nose up in utter disgust at the scent of others.

"By that same logic, people like flowers, most likely because flowers themselves symbolize things like food. They symbolize a suitable habitat, and so, the perception of beauty is, at its core, nothing more than human 'need.' Things that are beneficial to humanity are what people perceive as beautiful."

And yet—this understanding was incomplete. At the very least, abstract art and other such schools of thought also existed, and they served no practical, beneficial purpose. This suggested that humanity's perception of beauty perhaps had another component, one rooted in the realm of group psychology.

Humanity constructed 'civilization,' and then used that 'civilization' to influence and dictate what people perceived as beautiful...

"What, then, is the ultimate form of art?"

The Puppeteer had been pondering such philosophical questions for a very, very long time. All the way through his university graduation, he still could not find the answer. And so, he embarked on a journey. Occasionally, a different landscape or a striking scene would make him feel a fleeting sense of beauty, but the moment he tried to deeply contemplate that beauty, to grasp what that feeling truly was... the beauty would simply vanish.

This was wrong. The more he obsessively contemplated "ultimate art," the more he dissected the very nature of "beauty," the more he found his own ability to perceive beauty slipping away.

Until, one fateful day, as he was passing through a certain, unremarkable place... he saw a young girl.

A young girl, displayed as if in a crystal coffin. Her life, it seemed, had already reached its end.

And yet... she was so beautiful.

No matter how he looked at her, no matter how he thought about it, no matter how he tried to comprehend it—a deceased young maiden.

What an incredibly beautiful thing this was.

A maiden... what an incredibly beautiful word.

"She is the rising sun, the very picture of burgeoning vitality, the embodiment of all life force! And a 'maiden'… a maiden also signifies the birth of life. The birth of life is precisely the beginning of all art. It is only because life is born that art itself can be born! A maiden is the vessel, the form that exists just before that life is born, and yet she is life itself!”

And a dead maiden…

Death… death is the end of life!

"A dead maiden.That is the one place where life force and death are woven together at the very same time! It is the perfect symbol of a human life! It is the origin and the finale of all art, combined in one perfect form!”

“It is the most beautiful work of art in the entire world!

“There is no art more perfect than this! There is nothing, nothing more beautiful in all of creation!"

From that day on, the fiend known as 'The Puppeteer' was born.

In the past, he had used his Esper ability to help himself create art, but now, he no longer needed it. There was no existence more perfect than a deceased maiden.

He had already completed quite a few “artworks”.

His 'Maiden Who Died in Anger.' His 'Maiden Who Died in Suffering.' His 'Maiden Who Died in Sorrow.' His 'Maiden Who Died in Joy.' His 'Maiden Who Died in Despair.' His 'Maiden Who Died in Peace.'

But, he was still not satisfied. He knew there was still one final, ultimate artwork he had yet to complete.

He had already, long ago, decided on his final masterpiece.

'The Maiden Who Died in Happiness.'

And the subject for this ultimate work of art, of course, was...

Magical Girl Black!...No, her daughter. Hana Tanaka.

"Are you kidding me? Black? She's worthy of being called a 'maiden'? Her very existence is an insult to all maidens, the one existence that I, The Puppeteer, despise the most. That... thing... is defiling the very beauty in my eyes."