"C-сould you please take off your mask? It's really scary…" the girl said, without raising her head.
There was no particular need for it, so Mr. Nobody calmly complied with her request.
The girl, who was about five feet tall, got out of the car, still clutching the cat.
Given its size, the dark cat almost completely hid the girl, and it looked quite funny...
If you didn't pay attention to the girl's appearance.
"..." The storm was over, and, stepping out into the light, Mr. Nobody was able to see both the girl and the cat in detail.
The strange feeling of fear was likely an instinct that awakened in many creatures at the sight of her. The girl definitely belonged to the Dirty Baals... But there was something else strange.
Just above her forehead, on the left side, a small red horn grew from her head. In addition to this, her eyes were also crimson red.
The girl's skin was quite pale. Her dull white hair fell to her shoulders, and its shade vaguely resembled Mr. Nobody's hair.
Of course, no one but him could have known that.
The girl also had the distinctive features of all Dirty Baals—a small snub nose and pointed, long ears. But at the same time, she lacked the other distinctive features of this species.
Overall, judging by her appearance, Mr. Nobody could say with confidence that he had never seen anyone cuter in his life.
'Unbelievable. No wonder someone would want to kidnap her.'
"Hm..." Under his scrutinizing gaze, the girl became frightened and cowered even more.
"..." Seeing the girl's condition, the cat looked at him.
And although a slight feeling of horror at the sight of the girl prevented him from fully appreciating her appearance, the cat's gaze still helped him pull himself together.
"Ahem... So, who are you?"
"I-I...?"
"Yes."
"I'm... K-Kuronuma!" the girl squealed, finally raising her head.
"..." As he met her crimson gaze, he only smiled incredulously.
Of course, the girl introduced herself and gave her name, but that didn't help him understand the situation very much.
"Paymax..." he addressed his constant assistant. "Explain to me who she is… in a way I can understand. If necessary, you can switch the friendly mode back to its previous setting."
"With pleasure!"
The hologram of the planet immediately popped out of the bracelet and began openly examining the girl.
Apparently, the girl really liked his charismatic assistant, and she stared at him with interest, without the slightest shyness.
A hint of a smile even appeared on her tearful and frightened face.
"Mr. Nobody... I have an answer based on an assumption. But I want to warn you right away that you may not like it very much."
"Mr. Nobody?" the girl repeated in surprise.
"Too many shocks for one gig... Well, go ahead."
"If you remember, a long time ago, you asked me about the Dirty Baals. Back then, I told you the legend of the birth of two twins, their connection to the Peak of Havoc, and how Big Brother was involved in..."
"I remember. I remember perfectly well."
"...Then I told you only about one of the twins — the weakest and most pitiful one, from whom the Dirty Baals subsequently descended. But you never asked me about the older twin... a far more terrifying creature."
"Go on..." he replied, not too optimistically, guessing what was coming.
The girl listened to their conversation, blinking in amazement. At the same time, the cat didn't seem particularly interested and simply rested in the girl's arms.
"Given the urgency, I won't go into detail. Just know that the creature was truly terrifying. It ended up simply eating its own twin brother, and its descendants lived up to its terrifying reputation. The people of Concord know about both species, but only the Dirty Baals are mentioned aloud."
After living in Concord for two years, Mr. Nobody learned one important rule, and it went like this:
"It's better not to mention the one you fear aloud... It's better not to know about him at all."
"That's right. And returning to our situation... Apparently, this girl is the offspring of one of these creatures. And the only reason you can maintain normal contact with such a creature is that her other parent is a Dirty Baal, and such a relationship is considered not only forbidden, but also..."
"Paymax!" exclaimed Mr. Nobody and hastily shut the advanced intelligence up.
A brutal mass murder had taken place in front of the little girl's eyes, and now someone was going to insult her parents...
This was beyond the bounds of child abuse.
"I'm sorry about that... Are you okay?"
"Huh?"
"Kuronuma, you're crying again... If it's because of what Paymax said, don't take it to heart." He looked anxiously at her face. "You know, even during the operation, when they replaced my arm with a steel one, he made some… pretty nasty jokes. Just think of him as a stupid tin can created by some fool full of insecurities. I'm sure that whoever your parents were, you must have been born from their great love."
His words were unlikely to smooth things over even a little. He had made a mistake when he started talking to Paymax without covering the girl's ears.
After all, she was a child, and at that age, such words could hurt deeply....
"N-no, no, it didn't hurt me, it's just..." The girl tried to wipe away the tears that kept coming back.
"...?"
"It's just... I think this is the first time I've learned anything about my real parents."
Through her tears, the girl smiled awkwardly.
It was a very sweet sight.
However, when he saw it, Mr. Nobody felt a palpable heaviness in his heart.
"How did you grow up like this… How did it come to this…" he whispered.
This girl... And also this situation, in which she was locked in a cage and sent to someone unknown in a rather presentable form, looked, felt, and was truly terrible.
"Haah..." He sighed heavily and put his hand on her shoulder. "Relax. You don't need to be afraid anymore.... No one will take you away, even if Big Brother himself comes here."
"..." After these words, the cat opened her eyes and looked at him.
How absurd and fairy-tale-like was this phrase? An ordinary insect would have a better chance of stopping a meteorite the size of a planet — that's how absurd it was.
Anyone, even a child, would understand that such absurd nonsense was intended only as empty comfort.
And yet now these words, spoken especially for her...
"Um... thank you," Kuronuma said shyly, feeling a strange but pleasant warmth in her chest.
'I don't need to be afraid anymore.... No one will take me away, even if Big Brother himself comes here,' she repeated to herself.