Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

There were only very soft sobs.

"...Hey? Little Sorrow?" The Abyss Gentleman sensed something was off. He softened his voice and walked towards the direction from which the crying was coming. "Hey, listen to me, your brother didn't mean to leave you alone. We weren't talking about...Little Sorrow?!"

He was so startled that he almost cried out loud, and his top hat flew off, which he grabbed tightly to his chest.

Despite being a strange figure representing fear, he appears somewhat easily startled, suggesting he's less timid than one might expect.

It seems he was just putting on a show in front of the magical girls before, after all, he was the eldest brother of the negative emotions family, and he couldn't help but stand in front of his brothers and sisters.

In a corner of the ruins in the shopping mall with a huge hole, a slender figure was curled up, hugging her knees.

She was a young woman in the prime of her life, wearing an ill-fitting shirt from the mall, yet her slender figure was still evident. Her long, brown curly hair reached her ankles, and she huddled in a corner, looking rather insecure.

Her pupils were a slightly eerie violet color, and her face was exquisite and beautiful.

At first glance, they look no different from humans.

But at that moment, she was silently shedding tears.

It was completely different from the usual childish crying and tantrums.

"Little Sorrow...?" The Abyss Gentleman's eyes widened from oo to 00 in surprise. "When did you...?"

The reason why such strange people attack humans is to obtain their negative emotions.

Fear, sadness, anger, and so on... can all become their strength.

The more powerful a monster is, the more its physical form resembles that of a human.

Compared to his other siblings, the Abyss Gentleman is the one who has evolved most closely to human form. He has the physique of a human youth, but he has no face.

Sadness is always the slowest process, lacking even the power to create a physical body; it merely huddles up a discarded doll from a trash can and possesses it.

But now, the sadness has become human.

What exactly is this...?

“…Brother.” His voice was heavy with sorrow, tinged with a slightly nasal tone, “I have tasted a sorrow I have never experienced before…”

How bitter that must have been.

It's like being all alone, watching over a desolate world.

The night is long, and dawn will never break.

She had never tasted such complex emotions before. She lost consciousness in that instant, and when she came to, she was sitting here, constantly shedding tears for someone she had just met once.

Her vision blurred, and she kept wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, sobbing, "So, so sad... Why am I so sad..."

She has never liked human sadness; it's too bitter and hard to swallow.

Why would someone be so numb that they can no longer taste bitterness and sorrow?

Why does it feel somewhat sweet when you tell yourself, "So you don't bleed after all"?

Main text: Chapter Four: Takajo Yuri

Even magical girls still have to go to school regularly.

Despite having nightmares all night because of her severed arm and not participating in the strange incident last night, which surprised her friends, Hitomi still had to struggle to get up and go to school the next day.

Therefore, the person waiting at the intersection today was Mayumi Haga, and Hitomi Tono, who arrived late, looked unusually listless, unlike her usual energetic self, and even walked unsteadily.

His listless appearance caused his classmates to worry.

Hitomi Tono has a cheerful and outgoing personality and gets along well with everyone.

But if we were to choose the two closest friends among peers, it would be Mayumi Haga, who grew up together, and Yuri Takajo, who is also a magical girl.

Hitomi Tono moved to this city six years ago and met Mayumi Haga; their friendship has lasted to this day.

Yuri Takajo met them three years ago when the eldest daughter of the Takajo family became their classmate. They remained in the same class after entering high school, and the three of them had a very good relationship.

Two of the three were chosen to become magical girls, making the only normal person, Mayumi Haga, seem somewhat out of place.

However, in order to maintain this friendship, Hitomi Tono and Yuri Takajo never talk about these topics in front of Mayumi Haga, and their way of getting along is no different from before they became magical girls.

Of course, part of the reason was that things related to magical girls needed to be kept secret, which is why the two of them were trembling as they kept it from Mayumi Haga.

Although Mayumi Haga herself had completely seen through their identities using the simplest method of hair color identification.

Takajo Yuri's hair color isn't actually that unusual as blue or pink; she's of mixed race, so blonde hair is perfectly normal.

Her golden, wavy hair was smooth and delicate, her smile was gentle and serene, and her sky-blue eyes always evoked beautiful images. Although she had mixed-race features, she gave off the impression of a Yamato Nadeshiko (ideal Japanese woman), with a tolerant and gentle personality.

Judging from appearances alone, Yuri Takajo should be the one with the best personality among the trio.

[Hitomi, what exactly happened yesterday?] After Tono Hitomi entered the telepathic communication range, Takajo Yuri couldn't help but ask Haga Mayumi about what happened yesterday.

After all, Hitomi Tono is known for her boundless energy; she's the kind of idiot who seems to have endless strength. But last night, she unusually took sick leave, and combined with the strange attack at the mall, it's hard not to worry.

[N-nothing's wrong...] Even during a telepathic call, Hitomi Tono's tone was unsteady.

She didn't really want her friends to worry about her, so she forced a nonchalant tone.

Moreover, the reason for his listlessness is hard to explain... Could it be that he was frightened because he saw someone with a missing arm?

It's better not to talk about that kind of thing with Lily.

Thinking of this, Hitomi Tono put on her usual smile.

And Mayumi Haga, who unintentionally overheard the entire conversation: ...

got used to.

Generally speaking, ordinary people cannot hear the telepathic communication between magical girls.

Because this is a special channel established by the magical girl's contracted gem beast, people who haven't made a contract with any random thing can't detect this frequency.

Mayumi Haga had made a contract with her original world, which might be why she could hear the magical girl's thoughts.

It's possible to enter the channel and speak... but she's not that bored.

Just pretend you didn't hear anything.

Mayumi Haga calmly shifted her gaze and returned to her seat.

She pulled out her chair with her left hand, and sure enough, she felt a slight unease when moving her newly grown arm.

There might be a few tenths of a millimeter of error during precision operation, but it does not affect daily use.

Since arriving in this world, Mayumi Haga has never regenerated any limbs. Yesterday, after acting on a whim and losing an old arm, she realized that her body was too relaxed, and its regeneration speed couldn't keep up with its peak.

Of course, her current physical age is only sixteen, and she still needs to develop, so she is naturally not as good as the guardian Mayumi Haga, who is in her youth.

However, the fact that "she has become weaker" still made Mayumi Haga extremely unhappy.

They've really been too lax.

Even in this peaceful and safe world, a weapon should not become dull.

No matter how your guardians or friends try to convince you that you don't have to be so tense after you come into this world, you shouldn't just believe them.

There is still a fight to be fought.

Humans are creatures that can be injured and die.

But I don't know how.

She subconsciously pressed her clenched, trembling left hand under the table, then resumed her calm breathing.

"Mayu?" Sitting next to her, Yuri Takajo keenly noticed her unusual mood and asked with concern, "Were you frightened yesterday?"

The black-haired girl snapped out of her daze, her face showing just the right amount of bewilderment, and she remained as taciturn as ever: "...It's nothing."

In Yuri's memory, her friend was always so ordinary, sometimes aloof, and more often detached.

But he's not a bad person, and it's actually quite comfortable to be around him.

At least Yuri Takajo likes this friend very much.

Judging from Mayumi and Hitomi's reactions, something must have happened yesterday.

—We really need to ask them.

Yuri Takajo's face still held a gentle, watery smile, but for some reason, Hitomi Tono and Mayumi Haga, who were lost in their own thoughts, couldn't help but shiver.

Mayumi Haga was a little annoyed: ...Strange.

I always feel a chill down my spine.

Her intuition was always accurate; sensing that something bad was about to happen, she became extremely vigilant.

After class, he immediately disappeared.

Yuri Takajo watched Mayumi Haga's fleeing figure but made no attempt to give chase.

She shook her head and looked at Hitomi Tono, who had been dozing off due to lack of sleep the night before and had slept on her hands and knees during the break.

Hitomi Tono, unaware of the approaching danger, continued to sleep soundly.

Mayumi Haga, who left the classroom, actually only planned to buy a drink from the vending machine in the hallway. After buying it, she would return to the classroom, arriving just in time for the class bell to ring.

Everything was planned perfectly, but then an unexpected incident occurred.

She inserted the coin into the coin slot and chose iced coffee.

An unfamiliar image popped up on the screen of the vending machine.

"Congratulations on winning! Please take home the complimentary bear keychain!" The image shows a cute little bear dancing in circles.

Along with the coffee can, a teddy bear charm that you would never find in a vending machine also fell out.

Main text: Chapter Five Miss Sadness

Sadness longs to approach the person who always exudes an incomprehensible pain.

Despite the fact that the other party was an enemy, under the influence of that bittersweet sadness, she found it difficult to resist the desire to be close to him.

She had never met anyone like this before. On the surface, he appeared expressionless and nonchalant, but inside, he was always turbulent, like an unstable bomb.

She wanted to get closer to the surging emotion that had driven her rapid evolution, to understand the source of that emotion, and to know more about the other person.

Why am I always unhappy? Why do I always feel like I'm crying inside? What can I do to make the other person happy?

Though sadness feeds on sadness, it doesn't crave bitterness. This is perhaps a contradictory quality born from its worldview; though eccentric, its personality is as straightforward as a child's. It truly prefers seeing smiles on others' faces to suffering itself.

Just like among her siblings, there are very few weirdos who actually enjoy the taste of negative emotions.

Bitter yet sweet, an emotion that gives one a precarious and extreme feeling... Sadness is drawn to such a complex and reserved person, trying every means to get close to them.

It's like a moth drawn to a blinding flame.

So she placed a small, makeshift body of herself in a vending machine near that person's classroom.

The core evolution signifies that her intelligence has surpassed that of a child, and she is now capable of thinking like a normal adult. However, her lack of worldly experience still caught her off guard by Mayumi Haga's next move.

Miss Sadness carefully examined Haga Mayumi, who was slightly frowning, with the two black grape-like eyes of the bear keychain.

Because she evolved through the other person's feelings, Miss Sadness could actually find Mayumi Haga by following her scent. Out of selfishness, she didn't even tell her brothers and sisters, and came alone.

After arriving, I realized... isn't this the headquarters of magical girls?

Miss Sadness was taken aback.

Although it's unknown which magical girl is causing trouble, based on the older brother's previous investigation, Crimson and Iris should be students at this school.

Once, while drinking with a strange guy from another series, he heard that the guy saw red and gold lights flying out of the school.

Miss Sadness sensed something was amiss.

Magical girls are all busybodies; if they are unfortunately discovered, their plans will be completely disrupted.

Please don't get caught...

The brown bear pendant's face surprisingly showed a hint of solemnity.

The next second, when Mayumi Haga's gaze swept over her, her expression returned to normal.

Mayumi Haga stared silently at the unusually suspicious bear keychain, her suspicions reaching their peak.

But the school bell had already rung, and she worried that the keychain might be a dangerous item like a bomb that a weirdo had placed at the school. Without hesitation, she put the bear keychain into the pocket of her pleated skirt.

Then, she put it into her alternate dimension backpack where she stored equipment and materials.

In this way, even if an explosion occurs inside, it will not affect the outside world.

Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I've checked my backpack.