Editing Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi:Volume5 Chapter1 (section)

==Chapter 1 - The Sealed Town==

===Part I===

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Thousands of flower petals fluttered.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Thousands of rubble fell.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The fallen objects glowed in various colors, containing everything that made up this world. Peach-colored fruits, silver utensils, fireplaces at dawn, cold winter villages, a king's chandeliers, gray corpses, flapping books, tens of thousands of flower petals.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">In the middle of it all, Alice laid down, pointed at the tower, and gave a bitter smile.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…I said that when we get down here, there’s something I want you to help with, right…do you remember?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai remembered.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Please save our class 3-4."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Saying that, Alice Color smiled bitterly.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"—We’re sealed in our hometown."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And he led Ai Astin to ‘Ostia’.</span>

&nbsp;

===Part II===

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ostia was already destroyed.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…It's a lonely place."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The bone-like ruins burned in the red of the setting sun before here. Not a single house, street, or lamppost was straight, everything was twisted and silent. The lake, keeper of the water source, was itself twisted and soaked the city below. The bricks on the roofs had fallen to the ground and shattered, leaving only a wide sky.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ostia was a town of tombs.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There were modest grave markers all over the street, and their shadows were terribly long.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Swoosh, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai lowered the shovel, the shards of sandy bricks at her feet spread out like a mosaic.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Come on, let's go."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai snuck a glance at Alice, who was carrying his luggage. She was curious to see how he would react to this place he called ‘hometown’.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"? What's up?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No, it’s nothing at…."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But Alice was quite normal, he did not appear to be hurt or sad in any way.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Let's go then."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Please wait. Before we go, I'd like you to tell me what's going on."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It had been two weeks since Alice had asked for help under the Tower.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">In the meantime, Alice had only repeatedly told them "go to Ostia", and nothing else.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'm sorry, I can't tell you."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">These were the only words he could repeat.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"If you don't like it, you can turn down the offer. I won't force you."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Seriously! That's not what I'm talking about—"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Then Ai fell silent. It was too pointless. They had repeated the same conversation countless times on the way here.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Haa…</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">She sighed.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…What do you think, Mr Julie?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Seeing that she was unable to do so on her own, she turned to Julie.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Hmm? You’re asking what I think about this?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Julie was busy with his task at hand, sometimes, packing up the belongings, and sometimes catching the fleeing Celica.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He had been acting a little strange ever since the incident in the tower.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I mean, you would say something a blockhead would say like ‘you’re so vague about this. We can’t act so carelessly’, or ‘I’m opposed to this, we know too little’.."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Blockhead…and it annoys me as to how bad your imitation is…ah, right. There’s one thing I want to get this clear. Alice. Isn’t this land a little weird?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Weird? How so?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ah, I mentioned in the prior village to someone else that we’re going to Ostia, and there was some strange reaction. It’s said that 100,000 refugees disappeared overnight in the area, and that a destroyed town suddenly appeared like a mirage—"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ah—"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Do you have any idea?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Julie probably did not really believe that story either. He gave Alice an incredulous expression.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">" I do, but it’s fine. There’s nothing dangerous about that."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Is that so? That’s fine."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Eh!? Are you sure?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai shouted, expecting a more thorough questioning.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yeah. No matter what awaits us, I know what I'm going to do. "</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Then Julie glanced back and smiled.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Julie? How do I tie Celica's hugging strap…what is it?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was Scar, holding the baby with a troubled look on her face.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It's nothing."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">So Julie answered and returned to the car, not bothering with this conversation anymore.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was a little change in both Julie and Scar at the top of the tower. Julie became exceptionally confident and prone to smiling, and in contrast, Scar lost all pride as a Gravekeeper, but seemed to have come to terms with it and was being strangely honest.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai felt that she was the only one who did not change.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Let's go then."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai did not complain anymore, and did as told.</span>

&nbsp;

<center>+</center>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Carrying her luggage, Ai walked on looking around her at the ruins that lined the street. The walls had been scorched by the flames, buildings were reduced to heaps of bricks by explosions, and there was a message left on the wall for a stray family member.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…So Class 3-4 is here?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yes and no."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice continued to say things that were difficult to understand.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The road was covered with debris and wreckage, making it difficult to walk, and there were even whole houses that had been turned upside down.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice made his way down the street and climbed in through the window of the house.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Mr. Alice, wouldn't it be better to walk by the side rather than climb in?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai pointed to the land where the house would have originally been located. There was nothing on the other side, and it looked somewhat easier to pass through.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Eh?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Follow where I go. Climb in through the window."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"??? Why?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Just do it."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Again with the ‘just do it’. He did not explain anything, and only said ‘just do it’.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yes yes , I get it."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai said, and deftly entred through the window frame. Julie followed, then Scar passed Celica to him before she too climbed off.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Are you happy now?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yeah."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">For some reason, Alice seemed insistent on following a specific route. He climbed through the window, crawled under tables, jumped from roof to roof, climbed up and down walls, and crossed the street by stepping only on the white part of the crosswalk.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Erm…Mr Alice, what is this about?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Just do it."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Again with ‘just do it’ as he played hopscotch on the moat.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">As they paraded through the long shadowy ruins in the dusk, Ai felt increasingly uneasy, either because of this ridiculous path, or that it was because of the dusk.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">At the end of this path.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It’s here."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They arrived at an open space.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was a large building with a mountain on its back.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">‘Ostia School for Boys and Girls‘</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"……"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The school too had fallen into disrepair. The main gate had lost its fence, the walls of the building were warped and the roof had fallen off. The lawn had lost its territorial battle with wild plants and was relegated to the corner of the garden. Stone statues of outstanding people lost their their heads, their genders no longer recognizable. To top it all off, there was a surprisingly out-of-place charred truck lying on its side in the middle of the field.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They passed by the truck and entered the school building. The school building had been used as an evacuation center, and was relatively clean and well maintained. That only applied to the ground and second floors however. The roof had fallen off the right half of the third floor, and the floor had replaced it.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice trudged down the corridor and stopped in front of ‘Class 3-4’. There was an open wall in front of him , and one could see the dilapidated state within.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"We’re here."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…What’s the situation?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice pointed to a flat surface where a door might have been in the past, and at this point, there was only darkness there.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The ‘black’ was neither a color, nor was it a shadow. It was just a blackness akin to a vacuum, as if rejecting light.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Now then. "</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice said against the dark background.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Class 3-4 is trapped behind 'this boundary that I don’t understand at all’."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…I see."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Oh, you're not scared?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I've gotten used to this kind of thing…not that I ever wanted to."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She blurted out those words with a sigh. This black surface before her was not ordinary, even when compared to the City of the Dead, the School of the Deformed, and the World Tower, but Ai was not going to be shocked just because of this.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She put her face to the black surface. There was no smell, no light.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…There’s no danger?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It’s fine. Here."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice casually scratched the black surface. The arm continued to move freely in and out of the boundary.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"seems like it'll be fine."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yeah…but those who aren’t in Class 3-4 can’t leave this place. Unless everything gets resolved.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You're saying that at the last minute…?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What do we do now? This is the last chance to quit."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'm not going to."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai said firmly.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'm going to help everyone in the world. Of course, that includes Mr. Alice."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"……"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"So I never had the option of not helping you in the first place.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Mmm! She spun the shovel and snorted. The hazy feeling she had over the past few days disappeared. Yes, it did not matter if she had the information. She just had to do what she needed to. That was all.</span>

[[Image:Kamisama v05 Illustration 02.jpg|thumb]]

<span style="font-weight: 400;">This time, Alice seemed to be intimidated by her attitude.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But, you know. You're saying that you want to save everyone—okay, everyone, that is, all of humanity, aren't you? If that's the case, you shouldn't just be concerned with me alone, right? I mean, let's face it, I'm asking you to do something difficult, and you might be stuck in there for the rest of your life. Wouldn't it be better to leave someone like me alone to save ‘everyone’?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Nope, then I’ll be making a choice.."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai said decisively.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"If I’m save someone because it’s easy to save, and prioritizing others later because it’s harder to save them, or saving those I know and ignoring others that I don’t, it’s only a matter of time until there are people I can’t save in time…didn’t I say I want to save ‘everyone’?"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">There's no difference there.</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Ai smiled.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'll get to ‘everyone’ after I save you."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai was proud.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"One by one, I will save the world."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That's impossible."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice cut her off coldly.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Really?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yeah. It’s idiotic to think you’re going to save each and everyone in the world, and that it’s a matter of time until you can do so. I dare say your dream will fail one day."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Who knows?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Hypothetically, if you could save ‘everyone’… you wouldn't be in it. You're the only one who’s not part of the ‘everyone’ you're talking about…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I guess so."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But that's no reason not to do it."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was Alice's turn to be silent this time.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But I'm still going to do it."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Good for you."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice clapped his hands in congratulations.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You're perfect now—sooner or later, you will fall. Your dreams will shatter, you’ll encounter setbacks, your body will rot, and you will fall to the ground. But until then, you are the perfect person to help others."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice smiled.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Maybe you can really help me, us, Ai Astin. Maybe you can destroy this fatigue and loop completely—once again, I’m asking you Ai. Please save us."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yes yes , I get it—so, how many times has it been?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I guess so."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice laughed and looked up at Julie.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What about you, old man?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Since she says she’s going, I have no choice."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What about Scar?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Unlike Julie, Scar was staring at Celica, and was a little lost.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'm …."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Just come along, Scar."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ah…yes, if Julie says so …."</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">"……"</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai and Alice's eyes alternated between Scar's right hand that was held and her reddened cheeks.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What's with that look, you brats?"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Nothing really…"</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They coughed.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Now then, everyone, please hold hands—ah, the old man’s already holding hands?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Shut up. Just explain and don’t say anything unnecessary."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It's rare to see someone get anemia. If you find the person next to you on the verge of passing out, lend a hand.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice said as he reached his right hand out. Ai grabbed it.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"A little tighter."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ah, yes."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice's hands were large, and the soft and hard parts were distinct.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai wondered how he felt while holding her hand. She was a little interested.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She was glad the sunset was red, for perhaps she was blushing just from holding hands with Alice.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And then,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Let's go."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yes."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Their hands held together, they started working. She looked at Alice's back and pulled Julie along and started walking.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ah, feels nice. </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai suddenly thought that it was a nice feeling to go save someone with a group of buddies.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And so the group crossed the black surface.</span>

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