Ignoring her clothes, which were now drenched with red bloodstains, Mahiru stared at him with tears once again streaming profusely down her cheeks. Her shoulders trembled violently amidst her stifled sobs.
"Why... Why did you save me, Charlie-kun?!"
"Why didn't you just let me die...? Charlie-kun should have let me disappear from this world!"
Charlie's heart ached to see the girl who was usually so steadfast and maintained her perfect image now weeping bitterly like a lost child.
Without hesitation, he moved his body forward and placed both of his hands on Mahiru's shoulders, forcing her so that they could look directly into each other's eyes.
"Listen, Mahiru. Calm down and look into my eyes."
"This is not at all what you think it is. The extreme action your mother just took... it was all manipulated by the Abyssal Devourer!"
The horrific scene where Sayo lost her sanity to the point of stabbing Mahiru with a kitchen knife had never existed in the original work at all.
This drastic change stood as undeniable proof that the Abyssal Devourer had intervened to kill the heroine.
Hearing this explanation, the dam in Mahiru's heart seemed to completely collapse.
Instead of calming down, she poured out all the grievances she had been harboring deep inside her heart, revealing her true self and her utter fragility before Charlie.
"But... didn't Charlie-kun tell me that yourself?!"
"You said the Abyssal Devourer's power is limited! That vile creature's primary method is merely manipulating certain individuals and amplifying the darkness that already exists within the human heart!"
"My mother... She really did hate me from the very beginning! I knew... I always knew about it!"
Mahiru tightly gripped Charlie's jacket, unburdening all the weight that had been clogging her chest.
"But all this time, I kept hoping... I kept hoping I could change the way my mother looked at me!"
"That's why I always studied diligently without rest just to become the number one model student. I learned to cook, manage the house, and mastered all the domestic chores just to be recognized as a good woman!"
"In the eyes of others, I am the embodiment of a heavenly 'Angel' descended to earth... but it wasn't that empty title I wanted!"
"I just wanted a tiny bit of recognition from my father and mother!"
"..."
Charlie received all the outpouring of emotion, anger, and grievances accumulating in the girl's heart in silence. He did not cut her off or interrupt a single sentence.
At a moment like this, he knew full well that any form of cliché comforting words would only sound pale, hollow, and utterly meaningless.
Mahiru, whose eyes had now grown swollen and red from continuous crying, took a deep, suffocating breath before continuing to speak with trembling lips.
"Then... what result did I ultimately receive for all the hard work I put in all this time?"
"Even if there truly was an element of manipulation from that vile creature, my mother's amplified negative emotions still led to this outcome!"
"Doesn't that mean... deep down in the absolute depths of her heart, my mother really did want me to just vanish and disappear from this world?!"
Mahiru hung her head, letting her tears drip down onto the wooden floor. Her voice grew faint, filled with a profoundly cold emptiness.
"If my own biological mother has already rejected me and doesn't want my existence... then what else am I supposed to live for in this world?"
"There is no one... there is no one in this world who truly wants and needs the real Shiina Mahiru..."
Mahiru's current psychological state was far too dangerous to be left alone. Charlie knew full well that the emotional wound the girl had suffered had reached absolute rock bottom.
Even if he succeeded in calming her down with words right now, that emptiness would remain, allowing Mahiru to fall back into the abyss of depression at any time and choose to end her own life in secret.
Seeing no other way to reach the soul that was on the verge of drowning, Charlie suddenly moved his body forward. He pulled Mahiru into his warm embrace, holding the fragile, trembling body tightly with both of his arms.
"I need you, Mahiru." He whispered right next to the girl's ear, his voice sounding incredibly gentle. "If the world rejects your existence, then am I alone not enough? I am here for you."
Receiving the sudden embrace, Mahiru gasped.
Her chaotic emotional side instantly revolted. She began to struggle, moving her shoulders in an attempt to break free from the confinement of Charlie's arms, but her efforts were entirely unsuccessful.
"Let go...! Let me go, Charlie-kun!"
Mahiru began to ball her hands into fists and beat against Charlie's back with the remnants of her strength. However, the man remained unmoving, steadfastly refusing to let her go even as the blows landed repeatedly.
"Liar...! You're a liar! You've only cared and been kind to me all this time because of the Quest, right?! Don't pretend!"
Charlie let the girl unleash all her anger upon him. While still holding her tightly, he nodded slowly against Mahiru's shoulder and admitted it honestly without hiding a thing.
"Yes, I can't deny that. The beginning of my approaching you was indeed due to the demands of the Quest."
That answer caused Mahiru's striking movements to gradually weaken as she ran out of energy.
"However, with the passage of time and the togetherness we've shared, my feelings have changed. I truly treasure you, Mahiru."
"My desire to protect you now is no longer just out of obligation, but because it is my own wish as a man. I want to be by your side."
Within Charlie's warm embrace, the man's constant heartbeat and stable breathing gradually subdued the storm inside Mahiru's head.
However, in a mental state so fragile, shattered, and unable to think clearly like this, Mahiru needed something far more concrete than mere soothing words.
Her empty soul yearned for a certainty that could bind her to reality.
Mahiru slowly stopped struggling. Her tear-stained face rested against Charlie's chest, and with a voice that trembled with an intimate despair, she whispered softly:
"Then... Charlie-kun must prove it to me..."
Charlie loosened his embrace slightly, staring straight into Mahiru's eyes, which now appeared listless and wet.
"What must I do so that you can believe in me, Mahiru?"
Staring at Charlie's face from such a close distance, Mahiru's common sense seemed to have completely evaporated, replaced by an impulsive urge to escape from the horrific reality she had just experienced.
"I will give the whole of myself to you."
With her breath panting softly, her fingers gripped the collar of Charlie's clothes tightly as if the man were her sole lifebuoy in the middle of a stormy ocean.
"Make me completely yours, Charlie-kun... Make me forget all these bad memories and this pain. Take my first experience right now..."
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