Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume4 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 9===

Bivorio found her eyelids heavy. Her field of view narrowed. Everything had become akin to rotten mud. Guilt, memories, the fact that Abyss was no longer, love. All this was excessively jumbled together, a world where she had nothing to rely on. Amidst this, there existed certain solid sensations, only the corridor she could feel as she lay on the floor as well as the cross' remains that she embraced in her bosom. However, even the issue of whether embracing this thing could be considered good or bad, she could not understand. She did not understand. How she wished to silence her thoughts.

Her body was tied up and immobile. Hence, she could no go anywhere or escape. Neither could she escape from the world of her inner mind. This was prison.

"Sob... Sob sob... Sob sob sob..."

Outside the school building, the roaring of the announcer could be heard in the distance. How annoying. Her mind became several times more agitated. How she wished to silence everything but all she could do was weep.

Just at this moment&mdash;she sensed the presence of someone standing before her.

"I was really worried for a moment there, but luckily, things concluded with relatively few losses. After all, that girl was not going to live long anyway... Were you aware of it? The organ of mercy: Euthanasia."<!--Official Taiwanese version uses "Youthanasia" for the furigana ユースアネイジア, but I see no reason to use the portmanteau of Youth + Euthanasia-->

Who was this? Unable to widen her eyes, she could not see clearly. All she could hear was a voice.

"It's a function included with the device that connects the Indulgence Disk. A sort of insurance policy the Knights Dominion imposes on self-aware Wathes. To prevent Wathes from killing their own kind, resisting, running away&mdash;If they don't return to the Knights Dominion headquarters for treatment or uninstall it on their own, the device will automatically fulfill its function... Destroying the Wathe that is connected to it."

"..."

"Even equipped with such a device, why would she kill her owner? We'll never know now. Was it because she wished to act freely under her own will, no matter how little time she had left? Or was she unaware of the Euthanasia device? &mdash;The possibility of the latter might be substantial, yes? In any case, it is truly stimulating in various ways to observe the philosophy of living in the moment, taboo curses and the reasons for redefining one's own existence. Oh dear, how interesting, what excellent food for thought."

What on earth was this man talking about? No idea. Bivorio could only get the sense that "he sounds just like a researcher." The talkative man suddenly fell silent, seemingly shrugging&mdash;That was the feeling she got.

"Anyway, that's a bit of a tangent. Being too talkative is my bad habit&mdash;Very well, Alice Bivorio Basskreigh. I never thought you'd suddenly go that far. Once you decided on war, you went as far as to send virtually all of your members on suicide bombing missions. The effectiveness of preemptive first strikes cannot be denied, history is proof of that&mdash;But it was truly troublesome. Although not to the level of crippling, almost all of our branches suffered serious damage."

"...?"

Understanding, language, thought. Given the current chaotic state of her mind, she could process none of that. Nevertheless, she was struck by an instinctive sense of fear. Bivorio wanted to flee, but bound by something, her body could not move. Even standing was impossible. As her field of view gradually dimmed, all she could hear was the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Why would you instigate such violence? Aggregating all the information and deductions at my disposal, the answer is simple... Very clearly, you were mistaken. You people really should verify your facts more accurately. Verifying the reliability of facts is the first step in data analysis. However, if facts were provided with the intent to deceive, it is true that the difficulty of verification increases correspondingly."

His next words sounded a little aghast.

"Seriously, it's all the doing of my unworthy little sister. It's fine for her to believe that this could act as a deterrent, but she did not understand how the situation could have developed from there. Clearly, the world does not revolve around her... That girl is not as clever as she thinks she is. A little more self-awareness would do her good."

Unworthy little sister. Ahhh, Bivorio felt like she thought of something. A name. A name somehow related to herself, very related.

Unable to get up, her consciousness hazy, Bivorio could only see an expanse of darkness as she looked up at the source of the voice. The man's approaching figure entered her view. Then the figure proceeded to extend a shadow resembling an arm towards her&mdash;

"To be frank, all I intended to do today was check out my sister's situation and visit my subordinate at the hospital. My original plan was quite modest, but luckily, you happened to appear before me like this right now. Given that you are the head of the organization that did so much to us, I can't really turn a blind eye to this&mdash;"

Name. Name. The enemy's... name.

The circuitry in Bivorio's chaotic mind suddenly connected and words slipped out of her mouth.

"You are... Y-Yamimagari&mdash;"

In the middle of her sentence, her view went completely dark and Bivorio's thoughts were interrupted there.



&mdash;Right outside the school, in a desolate back alley.

Sitting collapsed on the wet ground, ''she'' opened her eyes. Swiveling her neck slowly, she looked towards the other end of the alley... Whose face was that? A chance passerby? The person vanished from view in an instant.
[[image:C3 04-277.jpg|thumb]]

Even if that was a certain person's face, even if anything had happened, she had no memory of it.

What she recognized were only the tears on that face whose eyes were closed...

Not a smile but traces of tears.

The same. It was the same as her own face, reflected in the puddle on the ground.

Hence&mdash;Surely&mdash;

That person was surely the same as her. This was the only fact she was certain.

A mother, but not a mother. Different from her, but the same.

For some reason, she was suddenly overcome with the urge to laugh.

"Aha!"

Kururi laughed emptily. While laughing, something fell at the same time, creating ripples in the puddle below her face. These were the last droplets of rain to fall here.

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