Editing Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi:Volume4 Chapter2 (section)

===Part I===

It was a town of mist.

"This is…."

They were on a hill just before entering the town, the group stopped the car and looked down. The mist surrounding the city was thick like rain clouds on the ground, and the car had its headlights switched on even though it was daytime.

That was the place where Scar was supposed to be.

"……Alice, look at the map. There’s a town here, right?"

"No, it's not there."Old man—is there a missing page, or did something happen after the map was made…"

"When was this map dated?"

"…Last year."

"……"

Ai did not join the conversation, as she stared at the thick mist that was akin to a waterfall, where the stone buildings could be seen occasionally. The town was dark, even though it was just past noon, and the mist was as cold as the wind in a cemetery.

<i>Pa pa! </i>Julie honked the car horn briefly at the entrance to the town.

<i>"……"</i>

No one came out.

"…Hey Dee, why don't you go and do some recon?"

Alice said as he checked the weapon at his waist. However, Dee grinned,

"Don’t wanna!"

"Huh? Why not?"

"It's scary, it's haunted!"

"…………Hey, listen here youyou rotten ghost …"

Alice shouted at Dee, but the ghost pretended to be deaf and refused to listen. Juliue never trusted them with this to begin with, and stepped on the pedal without question.

The car slowly entered the town at walking speed. The headlights drew a double circle in front of them, and the windows were slowly covered with frost. Ai stuck her forehead to the passenger window, and looked out at the streets.

"…Is there no one around.?"

"No…doesn't look like it…"

Julie said as he pointed aside. On the other side of the street was a table with a chess board, which showed that a game was played.

Ai felt very relieved to find a sign of human presence.

"I think they just left for a little while.."

"Yeah."

Once they noticed this, they then realized there were signs of many people everywhere. There was a truck with its doors open parked in front of a liquor store, road construction materials that looked like they had been ‘left there for a little while’, a peddler's store with small items on display, a yellow wall that was ‘in the midst of being painted’, rather than being freshly painted.

But it so happened that there were no people.

There are so many traces of people in this place, but there were no people.

Ai's precious peace of mind was quickly devoured and erased by the mist.

The car slowly inched forward.

"Is anyone there<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>!!!"

"Ah! Hey!"

She shouted into the mist from the passenger window.

"Is anyone there<nowiki>~~~~~</nowiki>!!!???"

There was nary an echo.

"……"

<i>Thud. </i>The window was shut. Julie remained silent, to the point of forgetting to be angry.

"… Old man, move a little more to the right, please."

"Did you find anything? "

"Maybe."

Following Alice's instructions, the car pulled to the right of the road. There was a nice café terrace with a number of tables and chairs on the side of the road.

The car approached. One by one, the tables were exposed from the mist, and they could see what was on the tables.

There was a half-eaten sandwich and a cup full of tea.

"What is this …?"

A dry voice came out of Ai’s throat, as though it was not her own.

"…Where did the people here go…where did they disappear to, when they couldn’t spare the time to finish their meal…"

Nobody could answer the question.

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"I know a story very similar to this…"

Ai began to talk as she looked out at the mist-filled streets.

"There was an empty ship that happened to arrive at a sea port. It felt as empty as this town, the tea’s freshly brewed, the shower is running, and yet there wasn’t anyone on board. It's that kind of a a ship…the ship was attacked by a mysterious creature of the sea, and everyone got eaten by the monster before they knew it. That monster really gobbled them up quickly…"

Ai said, and started to be a little scared. Her whole body shuddered, and she firmly clutched the shovel with both hands.

But there was someone more scared than her.

"Stop talking about ghosts, Ai, it's scary!"

No one bothered to retort at her.

Ai gazed at the streets that occasionally emerged from the flowing mist from time to time. The buildings continued to appear and disappear in a constant state of disarray, like a ruined city that has collapsed.

"Are there any ghosts…?"

"Why would there be?"

Julie said.

"Mmm, you don't know that, do you?"

"Yeah, Uncle! What are you going to do if it's the work of a ghost!? Woaahh, so scary…"

"How can there be any ghosts in this world…and aren't you a phantom yourself? Like, you’re scared of ghosts, what!?"

"You don't understand."

Dee wagged her index finger and declared proudly.

"I'm not like the average person who doesn't even know if there are ghosts! I know that they exist, so of course I should be more scared of them, okay?"

Ai could not help but be somewhat enlightened.

Julie, on the other hand, looked completely unconcerned.

"Yes yes my bad my bad, maybe there really are ghosts in this world…but at least the people in this town aren’t eaten by ghosts. They walked out on their own feet."

His words were extraordinarily convincing, <i>"?"</i> for everyone else had puzzled looks.

"Don't just look at the side, look at your feet more."

Ai looked down and found her usual boots, a shovel with a hole, and a rubber step mat beneath them that was covered in mud. Ah, a stick of incense had fallen through the door. Lucky.

"I don’t mean that, I mean the ground."

Julie grabbed the back of Ai’s head like a camera and shoved it out the window. While she was displeased with this, she decided to protest later on.

She observed the road, and there were plenty of footprints on the ground.

"They’re all panicking. They’re all at the same pace. They’re all headed in the same direction. I guess that’s where everyone disappeared to."

Ai broke away from Julie's right hand, "Hehhh" and after adjusting her straw hat, someone else blurted out the same remark in unison. She turned around to see Alice and Dee poking their heads out of the car window (and body) to take a closer look at the ground.

"You're amazing, old man! It all looks the same to me."

"That’s amazing! Uncle!"

The crowd showed their respect to Julie, but he stopped them with a look of annoyance,

"You're right to think they're all the same. After all, almost all the footprints on this road are left by <i>them</i>."

"…Them?"

"Yeah. The people with the prettiest walking posture in the world……they’re just ahead …"

Julie slowed the car down even more, so slow that one could hear the tires pressing over the sand. The car traveled through the mist at a speed no different from that of a hike.

Nothing could be seen ahead, and the light from the headlights was absorbed by the mist without catching anything, forming two circular halos.

The halo on the right suddenly broke. Illuminated in the reflected light flashed was another halo.

The thing causing this reflection was a silver shovel that was carried on the shoulder.

"Yo, Gravekeepers."

Julie rolled down the window and called out. The car went alongside Gravekeepers that was moving at walking speed.

<i>"Hello there, Dear Living."</i>

That Gravekeeper was a middle-aged man, about Julie's age. They exchanged greetings comfortably as if they were long-time friends.

<i>"Excuse us for walking while chatting."</i>

"No, it's fine. I don't want to delay you any further."

The car went along with the Gravekeepers in the mist.

"… Are you <i>all</i>, erm, well? Are you going to bury the dead?"

Julie asked in the midst of the mist. There were three other men with the same face as that Gravkeeper. It seemed there were a lot more men in the mist.

<i>"Of course. Dear living."</i>

"…Are they nearby?"

"Yes. Almost there. Here. "

"What?"

The Gravekeepers pointed forward in unison. The direction they pointed at…

"Mr Julie, stop!"

He pulled the emergency brake.

The car leaned forward and everyone was toppled forward. Ai barely managed to avoid hitting her forehead, Alice hastily covered the crib with his body to protect Celica, and Dee, who was following the car at an equal speed, had a dumbfounded look as she wove her way out.

The car made a chilling screech, and barely managed to stop.

A few inches beyond the windshield was a wall of stone.

"Sorry! Is everyone okay?"

"Y-yeah."

"I-I'm fine, thanks!"

"Shit, I let my guard down. There wasn’t any wall on the other side, so I thought—hey! Ai!"

Ai opened the door of the passenger seat and hopped out. Julie was about to say something, but she slammed the door shut.

The smell of mist.

White vision.

And a stone wall before them.

She looked in three directions in order, right, left, and up. The white stones spread out like milk in these directions, and eventually blended into the mist and assimilated into the scenery.

Like the town, the full extent remained unknown.

"…What is this?"

The walls were made of stacked white stones. She touched it, and found that it was wet with mist and cool to the touch.

"The World Tower."

Ai stared at the bearded face of the Gravekeeper next to her, and asked,

"—You know this place?"

"No, it's written on it."

She had a look, and over there,

"Welcome to the World Tower!"

These were the words written in white chalk.

And next to it was the entrance to the tower with a black opening.

"The World Tower…"

Ai looked away from the entrance and looked up, left, and right in the opposite direction.

"Is this the… tower?"

The wall was not round enough to be a tower, but was flat and endless like the surface of a planet.
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The Gravekeepers simply disappeared into the hole, <i>so long,</i> leaving behind a greeting. There was no hesitation, no anxiety, just the will to move forward.

"…What do we do now?"

Julie asked. Ai stared at the dark hole in front of her. The hole was in the shape of an ascending staircase, and there was nothing to be seen beyond a few steps.

"It clearly looks suspicious…"

Dee floated lightly in the mist and looked up at the tower with a doubtful look.

"These Gravekeepers guys definitely got issues with their heads, going into such a strange place without thinking. What’s wrong with them? I guess these creatures definitely have problems with their heads, to split into this kind of inexplicable place, what in the end is going on? I think they probably don't have the so-called imagination, right?"

"…I'm a Gravekeeper."

<i>Ah. </i>Dee showed a startled face.

"Bu-but you’re different, Ai! You’re a little boarish sometimes, but aren’t you stopping now?"

"That's the problem though…"

"Heh?"

Ai hesitated to enter the tower. The sudden appearance of something unfamiliar made her hesitate and stop in her tracks. It was a normal reaction for a normal human.

But a Gravekeeper would have kept going.

"……"

Ai gazed at the darkness of the entrance for a moment.

"Mr Julie."

Then she turned around.

"How's Miss Celica doing?"

"…As you can see."

The big man got down, and Ai saw that the Scar sensor (Celica) was flailing her fists upwards.

"Then there’s noting to hesitate for."

Ai decided.

"Let’s head up too."

The two men had already made their preparations, and were waiting for her words. "Got it." They answered.

"Here's your stuff."

Alice put Ai’s backpack at her feet, and she then checked her gear.

"Let's go."

Julie, who was also carrying luggage on his back, lit the candle stand. A cord hung from his chest. Within it was Celica, who was staring at the tower.

"Ehh~ Don’t do this. It's creepy."

Dee was the only one whining.

"Let's go."

Ai retied her shoes, put on her backpack, and spun the shovel around to carry it over her shoulder.

She then took the first step forward.