I'll Be Villain to Everyone! Except for my Cat...-Chapter 46: Welcome to Concord

"Hehehe..."

Unnoticed by him, Kuronuma started running in circles with her eyes closed.

She stretched her arms out to the sides, as if imitating a bird in flight, and laughed happily.

Periodically, in addition to laughing, she mimicked the sound of a motorcycle engine, making it sound like she wasn’t running in circles, but racing across the desert.

It seemed that she really did not want their wild ride to end.

"Heeheehee!"

"Haah..." sighed Mr. Nobody, watching her antics

Although he called out to her, his voice was ignored. She was still listening to music on his player.

"How can she act so cute while listening to damn rock music?"

"..." The cat sitting next to him didn’t seem ready to answer.

"Hahahaha!" And then something changed in the girl’s behavior, and her laughter began to sound mischievous and cheeky.

She jumped up and turned in the direction from which they had the Dirty Baals they had escaped from.

"Adios, amigos!" the girl shouted cheerfully, flipping the middle finger at the horizon. "Eat dust!"

"Pff..." he chuckled dryly.

The next moment, the girl jumped again and turned directly to him.

"This is so cool!" Kuronuma exclaimed with a radiant smile, pointing at the earphones in her ears. "What is this stuff?!"

"..." he unconsciously held his breath.

In response to the girl’s incredibly happy smile, his chest ached painfully.

’The price of salvation and joy is murder. Why is this world like this...? Or maybe it’s me who’s like this...’

"You shouldn’t have messed with Mrs. Somebody! That was your mistake, you fools! Bang-bang!" Kuronuma laughed mischievously and mimicked shooting with her fingers.

It seemed she had chosen an interesting pseudonym for herself...

"..." The cat looked away, as if it hadn’t seen or heard anything.

"This... this is too much..." whispered Mr. Nobody, getting off the bike.

And although his face was gloomy, and the price of a little girl’s simple joy seemed too high to him...

’How cute can this girl be?!’

He felt that her radiant, happy smile was already affecting him. Of course, he wanted to gain even a little trust from the girl, but if things continued like this...

’This has to stop... Immediately.’

He made up his mind and, approaching her, took her by the shoulder.

"Huh?" replied the girl, smiling innocently at him.

"Kuronuma..."

"Aah... I don’t feel well..." The girl clutched her stomach in pain and sat down on the ground.

All of Mr. Nobody’s resolve went up in smoke.

"Ugh..."

"There, there..." He gently patted her on the back.

Kuronuma had been spinning and having so much fun... that she ended up throwing up.

"..." As usual, the cat just glanced at the scene with mild disinterest.

...

Some time later.

"So, did you remember the six lessons?"

"Yes!"

They stopped the motorcycle again, about five hundred meters from the south gate of Concord.

"Excellent... The Dirty Baals will be afraid to come too close to the city. But, considering that someone is controlling them, they will still patrol the surrounding area for the next few weeks. I don’t know how or where you plan to live, but for these weeks, you should hide in Concord."

"Hmm, just hide, right? It doesn’t seem that difficult..."

"Hah..." He smiled dryly. "It’s not just difficult, girl... It’s literally impossible. Only a few normal people could handle it, and even they would probably go mad."

"But you managed it, señor?"

"Who told you I was in my right mind?" he added with a smile, turning to her.

"W-well..." The girl blushed and couldn’t find anything to say.

"Anyone can enter Concord. Almost no one can leave... or hide. The main reason for that is the Neodeck. They say it’s a great invention by a great scientist... But in Big Brother’s era, it’s definitely not only used for the purposes for which it was developed."

"Ooh..." The girl felt her stomach ache again from these conversations.

"Almost anyone can enter Concord... But you have to pay for it. Every new resident undergoes surgery and gets a Neodeck implanted. Not even babies are spared."

"But you don’t have it! How did you manage to avoid it, señor?"

"You’re right... It’s a long story, in which a kind-hearted old man helped me and, for some reason, believed in me," he replied with a nostalgic smile. "But to tell you the truth, Neodeck is a double-edged sword. And although with it in your head, your life can hardly be called living, without it, you simply cannot live in Concord. It’s impossible."

"Then what should we do?" asked Kuronuma, nervously covering her mouth.

"To tell you the truth, I haven’t found any effective ways around it... Except for one. But out of everyone in Concord, only I can use it."

"W-what?! Are you actually some kind of chosen one?!"

"Chosen one?" He smiled, but not very sincerely. "Not at all. It’s not me who’s special, but this little piece of metal," he said, pointing to his black bracelet.

"Paymax?"

"Yes. It’s only thanks to it that I can live in Concord, pretending I have a Neodeck."

"B-but then what about me..."

"Don’t worry. I think Paymax will have no trouble making something like a simplified version for you. Right, Paymax?"

"Confirmed." A mechanical voice sounded.

"Phew..." Kuronuma exhaled with relief.

’And yet, even my situation isn’t very secure. All of us, even me, will sooner or later be caught by them... or him. It’s simply inevitable,’ he thought with a sigh, looking at the cat. He decided to keep these thoughts to himself because the girl might not share the same fate.

That was about everything. They had to leave, especially since the rain cloud was almost here.

"Never forget the six lessons I told you about, especially the first one. If you don’t want to... disappear without a trace into the shadows, like the others."

"Y-yes!" she replied excitedly, feeling cold sweat running down her cheek.

"One last warning: If you have the chance not to know something — don’t know it. If you already know something... never talk about it out loud."

"U-um, so what does that m...?"

"Let’s go..."

*Vroom!* The engine roared, and the motorcycle sped straight toward the city gates.

"And welcome to Concord."

...

After Marcel called and looked up at the sky, Mr. Nobody tried to ignore the feeling.

However, with every passing second, it grew stronger.

Was it intuition? A premonition? It didn’t feel like that.

"..." Feeling a strange tingling sensation where his heart should be, he stubbornly tried not to look at the approaching cloud.

It was like when you feel someone’s presence next to you... But at the same time, it was a little different.

Had they finally figured him out? Was his fairy tale coming to an end, and had they — those people in suits — come to take him away?

Of course, such thoughts crossed his mind... But he felt that the truth was somewhat different.

He instinctively understood that the reason for the feelings overwhelming him was that he was the Champion of Dream.

Needless to say, he did not like this realization very much.