Editing Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi:Volume3 Chapter2 (section)

===Part I===




Ai was most surprised by the incredible attitude of Mageta, no, I should say the teacher, after meeting her.

How could she be so pompous?

No, Ai would not have been so bothered if she had simply been acting pompous. She knew and met people who were great and people who acted great, and she knew very well how to deal with them..

But Mageta's approach was different. She did not give orders, and instead, made others assume it was natural to take such actions.

For example, if she ordered, "Go unpack your luggage." Ai would dare to reply, "Please wait." However, if she were to ask, "Of course you shall bring whatever you have. Do you need a helper?" Ai naturally could not help but answer, "No need." In a sense, she had unwittingly agreed to unpack. Given how honest Ai was by nature, it was after the events that transpired that she would realize she was led on.

Ai tried to ask her questions several times, but Mageta pointed out her poor manners every time, such as "Don't listen to people with your mouth open" and "don't raise the dust with your footsteps". Ai could not say anything whenever she had these irrefutable issues pointed out. Courtesy was the antithesis of Ai. She was reprimanded twice in the exact same intonation, and In the end, she felt as if everything Mageta said was correct.

After a few moments of confusion, Ai unpacked her bags and got into a black car to leave the warehouse.

The car made its way through the walls of Gora Academy without any obstruction.

The large academy had the Lagoon mountain range behind it, and the grounds were large, certainly larger than the town before it.

Once the car went past the walls, they alighted at the rotary. Mageta gave quick instructions, telling Ai to take her luggage and the driver to leave for the day.

At this point, the sun had set and it was dark all around.

Ai watched the black car slowly drive away, and then looked around.

To her right was a schoolhouse swallowed up in darkness, and to her left was a well-kept forest.

"That is the school building. You can’t see it now, but if you go a little further down, the auditorium is beyond here. Down the road, the building near the cliff is the boys' dormitory, and next to it is the girls' dormitory where you will live—"

"E-erm!"

At this point, Ai finally spoke up, but Mageta kept her pace.

"Ai Astin, you can't interrupt a conversation, especially when it's a teacher. If you want to talk, you have to wait for the other person to finish."

"Uuu~~"

She really could not handle such people!

"You aren’t being lady-like at all. Why are you growling like a dog…?"

"A-a dog?"

"Well, a Pomeranian at that."

"Why the breed too…no!"

Ai forcibly interrupted the conversation and asked the question she had all this while, the premonition that it was going to become reality.

"Excuse me! Am I going to be attending this school?

"… I thought I'd said enough about it by now …"

Mageta's arrogant face showed a confused look for the first time.

"You’re not?"

"Ah, no, I’m attending… But, is school starting today?"

"There's nothing to do today, school doesn't start until tomorrow."

"Erm, can I go home?"

"Home?"

Ai murmured again, ‘like a Pomeranian dog’. Mageta gave her a look that clearly said, "What the hell is this kid talking about?" and Ai felt that her words were really lacking in common sense/

"We have a full dormitory system, and your room is already prepared."

"E-erm, that means …"

"What exactly do you think is the problem?"

Mageta looked so impatient that Ai did not know what was wrong and what was not.

"E-erm, may I ask, will I never see Mr. Julie and Ms. Scar again?

Basically, that was the one question she had in mind. She assumed that she had agreed to something so major that she would never see them again.

Mageta retorted simply,

"What are you worried about? Of course you can."

"I-I guess so. I'm sorry, I'm not used to this kind of thing…"

"But they need to ask for a meeting.."

Mageta added, and then her expression softened to a ‘relaxed’ posture.

"Ai Astin, listen to me."

"Y- yes!"

"Calm down. Is this your first time in school?"

"…Yes."

The adults in the village taught her, but it was not school per se..

"Is that? Then I guess there are a lot of things that you are very confused about, and the rules for living in a group must feel confining to you."

"Yes…"

"There are all kinds of school activities, all kinds of school rules, and it can be said that school is established on these rules that bind people. You will most likely reject and hate these rules, but you will certainly learn a lot from them. Do you understand?"

"… I think I do."

Ai assumed she understood.

And thus, she agreed to go to school, and came all the way here.

"That's enough."

Mageta said and reverted to her arrogant expression.

"Let's go."

Ai perked up and followed behind Mageta.




†




It was a spectacular scene.

Blonde hair, silver hair, red hair, black hair, self skin, yellow skin, black skin, blue eyes, green eyes, brown eyes, black eyes, gray eyes.

There were fifty combinations of such characteristics before her. Inside the cafeteria were young girls from the mountains, young men from the seaside, youths from the grasslands, maidens from the desert, all dressed in the same clothes and sitting around the table.

Half of them were boys, the other half were girls, and none of them were adults.

Ai stood with Mageta in front of them, looking at this scene while being astounded.

She had seen the village of the Dead.

She had a city with millions of Dead.

She had encountered an immortal human.

She had also witnessed the Idol of Murder.

However…

It was the first time in her life that she met as many as 50 living children.

[[Image:Kamisama v03 Illustration 03.jpg|thumb]]


Fifty pairs of eyes of different colors looked at each other. Their eyes have a transparency that could not be found in the Dead, as if life itself is glowing.

There was only the scent of life.

Ai suddenly began to feel uneasy, and felt so uncertain about standing before them. Everyone before her was used to this place, and the uniform she found amiss strange felt so relaxed and fitting on them. Some were whispering as they looked at her.

Ai knew it was pointless, but she could not help but use her excellent hearing and eyesight to read their lips.

—What’s with that shovel?

This student probably did not mean any harm, but the moment Ai heard so, she was so embarrassed that she wanted to die right then and there. She was unsure as to why, but even when they were all dressed the same, she felt that they were the real deal, and she was an imposter, just an imposter dragged before the real deal for comparison sake..

She hurriedly put the shovel on the ground, but she was so anxious, and she attracted the attention of the onlookers. She panicked, noticed how frantic she was, and was increasingly flustered. Why did she feel so awkward? Why could she not lift her head up high?

Teehee.

Ai heard someone laugh.

She wanted to cry right then and there.

"Attention!"

At that moment, Mageta shouted,

"You bastards! How many times have I told you that you are not allowed to even put a ● when someone speaks! Now which one of you ● just did that! I’ll personally ●● you! Get ●● to the table now ●● and wait for me to kill you!"

Eh?

"Which one? Which ●● just laughed at the transfer student? Hey! Answer me! Didn't you hear? What a shock! One of my beloved stinky students is ●●●●? Or did you not use your ●● yesterday and used your ears to ●●●●?"

"I was the one who laughed!"

At that moment, a boy sitting in the middle of the cafeteria stood up.

Mageta flashed her right hand and pulled out the revolver on her hip, firing with one hand without taking good aim.

The bullet that flew out of the muzzle of the gun made a soft ‘swoosh’ sound and hit the forehead of the student. The bullet kept spinning, cut an arc, and bounced back to the ground before the boy fell. Upon closer inspection, the bullet was made of chalk.

"You've got a lot of guts, you ●●. Next time I go fishing for ●●, I'll find you a ●● for you to ●."

Mageta had somehow put away her gun and declared to everyone:

"My cute little students! Listen up! I won't allow any discrimination! That's my privilege! If you guys have the time to watch the ●hole next to you! You better grow your own ●●! Grow up! Grow up! Grow up!"

"Grow up! Grow up! Grow up!"

That was all.

After saying this, Mageta stepped back.

"Ai Astin."

"Yes, yes! What can I do for you, please?"

Ai reflexively stood at attention and saluted as she imitated what she saw.

"Hm? What are you doing? Are you kidding?"

Mageta covered her smiling lips with her hand,

"Ai Astin, be a lady and behave properly."

…I was going to ask if you were joking.

"Get along well, you bastards! —Dismissed!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the cafeteria erupted into a ruckus again. The students quickly put away their dishes and lined up to leave.

"E-erm, Miss Mageta…"

"Ai Astin, from now on, you will call me dorm supervisor."

"Oh, erm, dorm supervisor. My dinner …"

Mageta put her hands on her hips and declared,

"No dinner for you!"

"Ehhhh!"

"No matter what the reason is, those who are late for dinner don't get to eat!"

Ai's world collapsed.

"Pl-please wait! I have a special body type, I'll die if I don't eat dinner…"

"That’s not important! Come with me!"

Mageta marched through the cafeteria and approached a line of people.

"Class president."

"Yes."

This female student, simply put, was a pretty girl. Her red hair was tied in a twist in front of her body, and her eyelids were so droopy that one almost wondered if she could see.

"A new person is coming in. She’s joining class Q."

"Understood."

Mageta said these few words and left.

And Ai just stood there.

"Ai Astin. Can I call you Ai?"

"Eh? Ah, yes."

"Ai, let's go."

The girl with her eyes closed said something to the person at the front of the line, and then followed behind the group. The group was divided into two lines according to gender. Standing before Ai was the girl with her eyes closed, and before that girl was a girl with goggly glasses, and then a blue-haired girl with a rather mild personality, and leading the pack was a pair of blonde twins.

Ai was alone as she held the luggage and followed them, and spoke to the girl with closed eyes,

"Erm—"

What's your name?

"Shh!"

The girl did not look at Ai when she spoke.

"Quiet, or the dorm supervisor will yell at you."

"…Yes."

There was no chance to speak.

The group went straight out of the cafeteria and outside. There was a roofed walkway outside, and one could hear the spring insects chirping in the grass on both sides. One by one, the group walked into the girls' dormitory, and everyone except Ai entered their rooms.

"This is your room."

She was pointed to a room with a gold door sign that said Room 125.

"Go and put your luggage away, and take out the dirty laundry ."

Ai rushed into the room. It was so dark that she could not see anything, so she groped her way inside, and put her shovel and straw hat down. This ‘dirty laundry’ probably referred to her clothes, but she decided not to bring Gravekeeper's clothes with her.

As soon as she stepped out of the room, she saw that the others had changed out of their uniforms into plain casual clothes, and were queuing up. Ai had no idea what to do, and looked for the closed-eyed girl in a panic. The girl neither told Ai of her name nor looked at her when they spoke, but even so, Ai needed her badly at this moment. .

"Go to the back."

After stumbling around for a moment, the closed-eyed girl found Ai. Ai really hoped that the girl would hold her hand, but she ultimately resisted the urge, and walked to the end of the line.

After the roll call, the group moved forward in silence, then walked outside and entered another building.

This building was made of brick, and there was a chimney in the back that exhaled smoke.

"Do as everyone does."

The closed-eyed girl said. So Ai nodded.

First, they took off her shoes at the building entrance, and put them in the shoe closet. They removed their socks, walked barefoot inside, and emptied the bags they carried into a huge cage. When Ai's turn came, she took a closer look inside and smelled a strong odor of living people. As expected, the girls had put their loungewear in the basket.

"What are you doing? Over here."

Ai was dragged away by her collar.

She was led to a magical room. The floor was not made of wood, nor was it carpeted; it was made of the same stone as the outer walls of the building's exterior. There were thick towels everywhere, and the walls were packed with countless square cabinets about the size of a hug, with two rows of the same cabinets lined up back to back in the center.

The floor was steamy, and the floor was soaked with water. There was a wooden door on the opposite side that was emitting steam.

What is this place?

"The bathroom is over there—but you'd better clear out before then."

Oh really?

"These cabinets are for clothes."

"Yes."

"You have to wash your own underwear."

"Yes."

"Then, take off your clothes."

"Eh?"

Ai wanted to ask why, but was frozen on the spot.

The closed-eyed girl had reached for the hem of her own dress. No, she was not the only one, for everyone else who entered the room took off their clothes and put them in the cupboard in a matter of seconds.

In front of her eyes were different colors of skin.

"Whoa, whoa!"

"What's the matter?"

Woah.

The closed-eyed girl stood before her, naked and pale skinned.

Ai stared blankly at the surreal sight before her.

The naked body of a living person was right in front of her.

She felt very embarrassed.

In fact, over the past few years, Ai had never seen a naked living person.

That was doubly so for a fellow young naked female. The only one she saw was her mother—the malfunctioning Gravekeeper alfa, and Scar's exposed breasts while feeding Celica. The ‘human body’ Ai knew of referred to the parched, distorted skin of the Dead. She was completely oblivious to the skin of the Living.

Shame.

That emotion attacked Ai. She saw how the closed-eyed girl and other people were naked, and it was no wonder that she was so embarrassed by them. she just felt so shy. She could not stand to look at the feel of their plump, soft skin, the roundness of their fluffy, swollen bodies, the sweaty, moist, dense smell of their flesh. The girls were alive. Faced with such evidence, Ai was left flabbergasted. No one but Ai could understand this emotion called shame.

Her blood rushed to her face, and she took her eyes off the ample breasts of the closed-eyed girl, only to see a small patch of pubic hair between her legs, which made her head drop even lower. Ai was really embarrassed by such sights.

She had the urge to cry again. She did not know why she was doing this.

And then…

"Hurry up and strip."

Ai grabbed the collar hard.

She was ashamed to take off her clothes.

She hated the idea of stripping before them, who were naturally alive.

She really hated it.

"E-erm, I …"

"Come on."

Her eyes were getting moist, and she was in disbelief. Naturally, she knew she was quite a crybaby, but this was too—

She was really too much of a crybaby…

"Hurry up, you can’t bathe if time’s up."

Ai did not move.

The girl with closed eyes had no choice but to put her hand on Ai's collar.

†




It was nothing but steam.

The air was warm and humid, but the white stones underneath were cold in comparison. There were only a few electric lights in the room, the light was very dim, and the visibility in the air and water was very low.

Kabam, tThe sound of a bucket hitting the stone echoed through the room.

It was a large bathhouse.

Ai stood alone in the corner of the bath with a pathetic look. She had wrapped herself in a towel like a wrapping paper from a high-end boutique and built a wall of defense around her body.

The various skin tones in the crowded bathroom looked lucid due to the steam and hot water, and the water, and the moisture that enveloped them depicted a rainbow. Every one of them was three years older than Ai, tall, full-breasted, and very beautiful.

Ai tries her best not to stand out as she inched towards the corner as quietly as possible. But no matter how low-profile she was, everyone would occasionally glance at the mysterious freshman. The person involved did not notice however, for these classmates did not initiate contact with her, so she came to the conclusion that they were not interested in her.




—In fact, she did not know that the people who did not say anything were curious to the point that their eyes were glowing.




While everyone was watching her discreetly, Ai inched towards the wall, took a shower tap, and heaved a sigh of relief. Then, like a nervous herbivore, she kept glancing around. Ai thought to herself that no one was interested in her and let go of the towel she had wrapped around her body.

The water vapor ran on the skin that was covered by the towel before, and the small back was very dazzling.




"Hoaahh…"

[[Image:Kamisama v03 Illustration 04.jpg|thumb]]


"?"

Ai turned to look behind her, and the students immediately looked away.

Was she being overly concerned?

Ai shrank uncomfortably, using her knees to shield her body, and reached her hands to the back of her head to remove the rubber bands and hairpins.

The blonde hair that had been tied was freed and draped over her back.

"Ohhh…!"

"?"

Still no one was looking at her.

While Ai was confused, she continued on. She picked up a bucket of hot water, pinched her nose and doused it over her head.

Splash.

The blonde hair absorbed the water, intensifying the glow.

"Wow, amazing…" "So pretty…" "How does she take care of it …?"

This time, the admiration echoed audibly in the damp air of the bathroom. It so happened that the hot water blocked Ai's ears, and she could not hear anything.

She closed her eyes and shook her head after rinsing, reached up and rubbed the corners of her eyes to wipe away the moisture, blinked, and took a long breath.

There were countless soaps and jars of unknown liquids in front of her eyes.

Every pair of eyes in the room watched Ai's hands to see which bottle she would take and how she would bathe.

Ai did not notice anything, and merely looked at these things, and finally moved her fingers.

She picked up the towel.

And then she got up to leave.




"!?"




"… wait a minute."

"Er-erm? What’s the matter…?"

Ai's shoulder was suddenly grabbed, and found it was the closed-eyed girl who was representiating the crowd.

"Where are you going?"

"Eh, erm, I’m done bathing, so I’ll be going out to wait…"

"…Without soaking in the bath, washing your hair, or scrubbing your body? Is it because you don't like the soap in here, or is it…?"

"Ah, no, I don't use soap…"

For a moment, every pair of eyes immediately showed hostility.

"…Sit down."

"Eh? What did you say?"

"Sit down."

"Huh? B-but, erm, that …"

"Sit down,"

"Yes."

Ai sat down grimly on a wet wooden chair that was before the closed-eyed girl. She had a feeling she was about to be tortured, so she turned her head and begged for mercy with a smile.

"I'll make you nice and shiny."

The closed-eyed girl decided to splash a bucket of water onto that smile,

"Bgayyrrh!"




†




"Uuuuu…I don't want to be all shiny…no more shiny, please."

Ai opened the door of room 125 and fumbled her way through the dark room without even turning on the lights. Fortunately, the moon showed itself, and the little light was enough for her to see where the furniture was. There was a bunk bed and two desks in the room, making it a double room.

Ai dragged the hem of her brand-new pajamas as she trudged towards the bed with heavy steps, her whole body as shiny as she said it was, like a very clean corpse.

She plopped onto the bed without laying out the blanket on the bed, and her left foot made a circle on the other side of the bed, and turned over, looking up towards the base of the upper bed that was very close. In fact, she still had to hang up her uniform and stuff her luggage into the locker, but she was devoid of strength.

The entire room was shrouded in darkness. The addition of a new student did nothing to shake up the school, and it was lights out in Gora Academy, as usual.

Ai however could not sleep, and laid on the bed as she looked at the bed above her..

Earlier in the bathroom, she was cleaned so thoroughly, even her fingernails were scrubbed..

And she did not get to eat on this day.

"This is bullying…they bullied a transfer student …"

She slumped into the bed, her stomach growling, and a sense of loneliness welled inside her heart, bringing her tears to her eyes.

She remembered the unsightliness of her own self-presentation and the bathroom.

She wiped her eyes. This was already the situation on the first day. What would her future be like? Ai did feel she was a bit of a crybaby, but this was too ridiculous. She actually cried on the first day of enrolment. She did not expect herself to be this much of a weakling.

And so Ai fell asleep while wrapped in the blanket, her stomach rumbling.

She cupped her belly, and thus her hands were unavailable to wipe her tears, resulting in them piling up in large droplets. Ai gently buried her face into the blanket, and let the cotton absorb the dew-like tears.

—Dad, school isn’t fun at all.

She visualized an image of her father and complained to him. A mere imagination it might be, but Hampnie mischievously teased her irresponsibility “What does that have to do with me?”Ai felt that it was too much of him.He was the reason why she finally agreed to go to school.

Ai recalled one of the few conversations she had with her father.

One of them was about school.

Hampnie was an albino child with weak skin and kidneys, which made it difficult for him to attend school. Nevertheless, he was able to push through and attend school with the help of his parents and friends.

—Why did you do that? Ai asked. She felt apologetic to be seemingly badmouthing him, but she just could not imagine the devil before her actually being fond of attending school.

And in response, "Well, that’s because everyone’s attending school too, you know?" Hampnie laughed and continued on, "That’s why I had to attend school too. That’s all."

His beaming face looked so proud and overjoyed. In hindsight, he had always been a person who hated loneliness.

And that was how Hampnie met Julie and made a lot of friends.

But...

…Could she be like him too?.

Ai sniffled. She thought of the roommates and classmates whose names she did not know of, the fifty pair of eyes that were clear and sparkling, the dorm supervisor who wouldn’t allow any disagreement, the soft skin of the Living that made her awkward, and their overwhelming scents.

Yes, that was the problem.

"Apparently, I’m…"

Ai said as she exhaled.

"…I’m bad at dealing with living people…"

It was a really shocking fact to her.

She felt she was off her pace ever since she entered this town, and the incident in the bath got her to understand the cause. It seemed she did not know how to deal with groups of Living.

She had assumed it would be fine if she dealt with one or two…but on second thought, she realized immediately that she was very nervous whenever she met a Living person for the first time.

"The Living are pretty, but weird." That was what a girl in Ortus said to her, but she could not laugh at all, for she too was uneased to them. It might be too laughable for her to say that she wanted to save the world—

Her stomach rumbled again, the exhaled breath was exceptionally hot, and a tear rolled down.

…Dad, school is boring…

Ai wiped her face hard with the pillow.

She thought she should just cry. She was already crying, but her heart would allow her to continue to do so..

And the moment she thought so, the tears welled up.

The tears came from deeper within the eyes—somewhere that was definitely connected to her heart. The eyelids were soon at full tide, and the tears were waiting to overflow.

In fact, she was a little fond of crying..

If she actually said so, others would easily assume that she was ‘an annoying child’, or ‘a crybaby who liked to cry over anything’. Thus, she never told anyone about this, but she liked to cry.

After all, ‘crying’ and ‘finished crying’ were definitely two parts of the same set.

So Ai thought.

She felt that people would cry to finish crying. No matter how tragic it was, or no matter how the tears just would not end, it would be a matter of time until they did.

Her mother died, her father died, her dreams were crushed, and she cried. But one day, the tears would stop for no reason.

Surely it was because crying itself was meant to stop the tears, to turn sadness into salt water, to purge them from her body.

That was why she liked to cry.

…That was a way to deal with sadness that Ai figured out in her short life. It was a reason crafted to accept the tears she shed in the past.

However…

However, nobody knew whether it was a good thing. Nobody knew if Ai crying alone at such a place, alone, was a ‘good thing’, let alone ‘good’. Take Julie for example; even if he could understand Ai’s feelings completely, he might say it was a bad thing. If it was Ulla, she might feel sad realizing such was the life that resulted in such thoughts. Hampnie might even praise her, and Scar might feel hesitant. If it was Celica, she would most probably be bawling to a point where Ai had no time to cry.

However, none of them were around. The only one present was the lonely twelve year old Gravekeeper.

The illusion of Hampnie wouldn’t say anything.

The tears were about to be shed in loneliness.

At that moment…

“Are you alright?”

That instance,

It was hard to describe the significance of those words that were said in that instance, at that place.

Such words were not supposed to be here. Ai was supposed to cry alone in this place, finish crying in the theory of solitude, and get stronger as a result. She had to proceed alone by herself , and also to finish so alone..

But that was not the case.

"Hey, stop crying."

Ai jolted in shock and looked over to the owner of the voice. Her voice immediately receded with surprise and turned into mere salt water.

The owner of the voice was a head dropping upside down. No, it only seemed so. In fact, it was actually a female student peeking her face out from the top bunk of the bunk bed.

The student's eyes were like obsidian, glowing darkly in the darkness. Her shoulder-length black hair was reeling and swaying between the top and bottom floors of the double decker bed.

"Have you calmed down?"

Ai nodded.

“That’s good.”

The female student smiled. It was the first time a Living person smiled so gently at Ai ever since the latter entered this school.

And yet, having locked her heart away, Ai remained wary.

"E-erm!"

"Hmm?"

"…Are you going to make me sparkly too?"

What are you talking about? The schoolgirl turned her head upside down, not knowing what Ai was talking about.

"I don't know, but aren’t you all sparkly and such?"

Ai felt embarrassed again to be praised again, but she did not really hate it.

"Dee."

"Eh?"

"Dee Engy. That's my name."

"Ah…I’m Ai! Ai Astin!"

"I know."

[[Image:Kamisama v03 Illustration 05.jpg|thumb]]


Dee smiled. It was the first time a school student here actually smiled at Ai.

"I’ve been wanting to meet you, Ai. Alice and I have been waiting for you."

At this moment, Ai’s brain finally inhaled some oxygen, and rather than be in the mood to sweat the details, she wanted to get up and talk.

"Ah, just lie there."

Dee stopped her.

"There’s a lot of things I want to tell you, but that’s it for today. Just sleep."

"Haa…."

"Well, I’ve been waiting for you, but I’m tired too."

Dee smiled and smacked herself on the forehead.

Ai dug her pillow out from beneath her blanket, and carefully placed her head onto it. She glanced aside, and found Dee smiling at her, which left her strangely relaxed.

"…Miss Dee, are you my roommate?"

"Hmm, well, sorta."

I see, Ai nodded and accepted this.

"I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. But for now, let's go to bed. Okay?"

"Haa…."

"Can you sleep? Are you okay?"

Ai asked herself, staring up into the eyes that were staring at her with concern.

The tears had receded to a faraway place, and a tidal wave of fatigue slowly filled her body instead.

"I'm fine."

Ai said.

"I see."

Dee laughed.

"Well, good night, see you tomorrow."

Dee waved her hand and pulled her head back, Good night, Ai replied so, closed her eyes, and stared at the darkness behind her eyelids.

Drowsiness came from beyond the darkness and gently devoured her consciousness.