Editing Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi:Volume6 Chapter1 (section)

===Part II===
&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ostia town Hall, first floor hall.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The building, formerly a customs house and once a hideout for bandits back when it was abandoned, was at this point full of activity and confusion.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"The bridge! Just get the bridge connected! "Hey, does anyone know how to operate a sailboat?" "Find a demoman!" "Yeah, don’t let it move. No, I say, no move. No, stop." "Oi, I got gas!" "Get it here!!" "Us first!!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">More than two hundred people come and go in and out of the hall, and no one stays in the same place.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It had been six days since that day—when the world created by Class 3-4 had collapsed and 30,000 citizens returned to the real world. The reconstruction phase had gone past the initial turmoil, and the turmoil itself became part and parcel of daily life, starting to be controlled..</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Alice, where's Alice?"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bam!</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> A man shoved the door aside and stormed into the hall. He was followed by his lackeys, who looked like goldfish poop.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The man was in his fifties, so plump  and greasy that he looked as if he would ignite if he was set on fire. His silver hair was trimmed short and neatly bundled , and his gray suit was ironed so tightly that it looked out of place.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He was Bendo Gram, the mayor of Ostia.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It had been six days since their return, and the staff began to show signs of fatigue. Bendo walked briskly among the workers, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bam! Bam!</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> slamming his feet hard as he bellowed, "Alice! Answer me! Alice!" He searched everywhere from the cracks between the bookshelves and under the desks. While everyone wondered </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">"There’s no way he’s in there"</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, nobody, not even his lackeys, pointed it out.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And while doing so, he actually found Alice.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Alice! Ohh there you are!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Bendo plunged his upper body into the gap between the bookshelves and pulled Alice out with a lunge as though he was pulling out a radish. It appeared Alice was rifling through old documents.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice, still upside down, flipped through the documents and glanced at the mayor. Both of them started a conversation without questioning the current situation.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Oh, it’s you, Bendo?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Hey! Don't call me that! Call me mayor!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Don't be so formal. I used to let you change my diapers when I was little."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You’re not the one who should be saying that!"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">This damn brat…</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bendo cursed, and casually tossed Alice aside. Alice adjusted himself in midair like a cat, and landed.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Goodness. Why is such a damn brat—"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"So, what do you want?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Oh, Alice, sign this."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He was presented with a request for passage to Fort Hortology, the main transportation hub in the area.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Bendo shivered with anger.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"The monkeys of Hortorgy! Do you know what they said to me when I paid them a personal visit!? They actually said ‘We never heard of any Bendo Gram. Bring us the signatures of Alice Color or Dee Ensy. The signature of the latter is obviously a fake though. Kukekeke! '!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Well, it’s no wonder. You haven't been here for more than eight years, Bendo. What else can we do about it?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But that doesn't mean you should be okay with it! I’m obviously the mayor! I'm a big shot!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yes, yes, yes, you’re right."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Don't be rude! I'm the one who's taking it out on you! Follow the conversation!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You're such a bother, old geezer."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice finished signing and handed back the documents.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"—And the rest?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Mmm, lads!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">With these words, the attendants rushed to Alice.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Mr. Alice, we need lime! By the truckload!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That’s at the cave in the backwoods."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Alice, do you have electrolytes for the batteries?</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Warehouse 3, Parliament Hall."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Alice, I need some dried building materials—"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice, Alice, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">the voices calling out to him echoed incessantly.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The biggest obstacle to the revival of the town was simply a lack of resources. 30,000 people were suddenly returned to the world, faced with a town that was ruined for at least a decade, along with the harsh cold of mid October. At this rate, it was likely many would become Dead within a month..</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The one solving these issues was Alice, who had spent more than a decade wandering the world, buying supplies and hiding them throughout the city.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">His first priority was to free the sealed world, but he also did consider what to do after he had freed them.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Alice, the guards want some plunger equipment and maintenance kits."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Dig at the lone pine tree in the schoolyard and have a look. There should be some stuff there wrapped in red line greaseproof paper."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice, Dr. Quess wants the medicine on this list."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I don't know anything about medicine. I got two ambulances full of medicine in the pharmacy parking lot, see what you can find."</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Got it! </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The young men ran off.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">When most of the lackeys had left, "Hmmm" Bendo stroked his chin,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Things are getting a little more stabilized now. Alright Alice, once you’re done, go get some rest."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I don't need a break."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Don't get cocky, just go home."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"—You don’t understand what I’m saying?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Bendo slowly brought his face over.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">That girl hasn't eaten or drank all morning either."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He pointed his chin to the other side, beyond the window of the town hall. There was a girl sitting alone in the shade of a tree, denied of her shovel and Gravekeeper's clothes.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Be gentle with the lady—right, now that we got this clear, go take a break."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Oi, old geezer."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Just get some rest. Don't show your face for six hours. I'll tell everyone to kick your ass out if they see you."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Finally, he waved Alice off as though he was shooing a dog, and Alice was whisked out of the town hall.</span>

&nbsp;
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">+</span></p>
&nbsp;

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

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai stood up slowly, stretching her legs. Her legs and feet were numb and stiff from sitting for half a day.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They left the town hall and arrived at the main street, where a market had formed. It was one of barter trade, where the bare minimum variety and quantities of necessities could only be obtained. Alice stops by the commissary to get dinner for five and snacks for two. It was a lunch box filled with stew, a basket of bread, and two ready-to-eat sandwiches.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He handed one to Ai.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">That was all Ai managed to say.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She received the sandwich, brought it to her chest, and trudged on.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Gong on gong on, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">trucks as large as a whale drove by incessantly.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You’re not eating?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">After a while, Alice said,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You won't have any strength if you don’t eat."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"……You too, Mr Alice."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice's sandwich showed no signs of having been eaten.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">As soon as she said that, Alice started munching on his sandwich. It was like a wounded beast forcing itself to consume nourishment.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Would you want mine as well?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai held out the sandwich in her hand.</span>

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

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Intent unknown. </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">That was the expression Alice showed.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That's yours, you know?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Then why are you giving it to me?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I have no appetite."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…You actually have moments when you don’t have an appetite?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What do you mean by that?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ah, it’s nothing. "</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ack, ack, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice faked a cough, and swallowed the rest of his words in a panic.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"We-well. Don’t mind if I do though."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The two of them walked again.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai just hobbled on weakly. She could see nothing but the ground, and could only see Alice's heels on the edge of the road as she followed along.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She was not thinking about anything.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She did not feel anything.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was as if all desire, not just appetite, had vanished.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Say, you..."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">After about five or five hundred minutes or so, Alice suddenly said,</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Unusually, he seemed to be hesitant in his choice of words.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What is it?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ah, no, I mean."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He took two deep breaths.</span>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You know, I was wondering if you'd like to come live at my place from now on."</span>

&nbsp;

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai stared at Alice blankly. Omaesa, korekara saki mo ore no ie de kurasanaika? What language was that? So she wondered what language it was, only for her comprehension to catch up. Clearly, it sounded like,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"How about it?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Wh-when you ask me such a thing. Erm, well,"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You don't like it?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No, I mean, I already live here…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'm not talking about the past. I'm talking about the future."</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">F-future!?</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Her throat let out a weird, melting-like voice, and her eyes were rolling around.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Erm, the future, that, well."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ai, I'm going to take responsibility."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"R-re-re-res-responsibility!? What responsibility do you have, Mr. Alice!?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ever then, why, erm, why does it sound like a pro-proposal!?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">What's that? That was the expression he showed.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">With a skeptical look, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">propose,</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> he mumbled the word repeatedly.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No. No! No! That's not what I meant!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The next moment, he screamed, his ears flushed red.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"When I say my place, I mean if you want to stay in Ostia. It’s not just you too. The old man, Scar, they’re both welcome too! And anyway—"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Seeing the unusual Alice flustered and impatient, Ai immediately understood.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No, you know, how do I put it? It's—"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…………………Ah, I see. So that’s what you mean…"</span>

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

[[Image:Kamisama v06 Illustration 01.jpg|thumb]]

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It's okay, Mr. Alice, I get it now…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai’s heart quickly regained its original temperature, and the rippling emotions subsided heavily.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Do you want to stay here? </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">It was Alice’s fault for being strangely discreet in his choice of words that Ai was mistaken. She had foolishly digested the layers of oblaat that Alice had wrapped around his words and let them melt away.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Within those sweetly wrapped words was a bitter poison-like pill.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Mr. Alice, you’re pretty much asking this right? ‘How long are you going to stay here?’."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice frowned, as if he had tasted the bitterness himself.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Look, I’m not going to say that …If you want to stay in Ostia, you can stay as long as you want, and if you don't want to stay, you're free to leave."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai was silent, silent as death. Alice too was silent, standing next to her like a shadow, waiting for Ai's decision.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Did you give up on your dream? "</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">That was what Alice really wanted to know.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Are you going to spend the rest of your life giving up on your dreams?"</span></i>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Or will you continue to chase them and return to the wilderness?"</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice instead asked discreetly if ‘she wanted to stay here’.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was no choice but to go or leave.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…I don't know."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai had too many things she did not understand anymore. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I don't know, Mr. Alice…I don't know, everything, anything, I just don’t know…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">No tears came out. She had no idea if she was sad or not.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…The things I could do even though I couldn’t understand a while ago, I can’t do them anymore…the dreams only I can see are gone…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She stopped in her tracks.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice called out in frustration.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Say, Mr. Alice."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What do I have here?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai put her palms together and held them out in front of Alice.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"………No, there's nothing."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Yes, you’re right. There’s nothing here…but in the past, I’m the only one who could see that there’s something there. There should be something like a flame, something that definitely exists…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ever since the moment she made that oath on the hill, there should be a flame burning on her hands…</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But I can't see it anymore…It's like it wasn’t there in the first place. I can't see it anymore…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai slowly clenched her fists and stuffed them at her chest, seemingly putting her heart back.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">For six days, Alice had been waiting for her decision. No, it was not only Alice, Julie, Scar, Dee and many others who had been waiting for Ai's decision.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai was depressed, but no tears were spilled. Instead, a series of painful words fell and rolled between them.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Everyone is waiting for me to make a decision, but I can't even do that…"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice scratched the back of his head.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Man, something’s really off with you…to be honest, I'm a little surprised at the way you’re being right now."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Is that so?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yeah, you did fail—you brought me back to life."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai’s heart suddenly shivered.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Like, it's a mistake, yes...but I thought you were the kind of person who would go all ‘so what’ and continue on. I thought you’re the type to say ‘so what’, continue to charge on, and save the world."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…I can't do that anymore, Mr. Alice. I just can’t."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Why not? I've always failed over and over again, but I made amends in the end. That’s how I’ve made it till now.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Goodness, you know what I'm talking about…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice was being kind after all.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You know my dream is unlike yours. My dream has to be perfect. Isn’t it all empty words to say that I want to ‘save everyone’ with the pretext that 'some people will fail and can't be saved'?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I’m right, no?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"……You should've just come up with a reason to explain it…you're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yes, I’m really a bother."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Well, that’s what makes you interesting."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice casually patted Ai’s head a few times. The head without the straw hat was well ventilated, and it seemed he could feel her warmth too.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was warm.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai gently turned her head and chewed her lips so that the idiot next to her would not notice. She covered her cheeks with her bangs to hide the redness. Her heart seemed to beat faster than it had in a long time.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">At the same time, however, Ai's heart was rapidly freezing. She rejected the warmth and put on an armor of ice.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Well, if you can't decide, that's fine. I'll wait. It doesn’t matter whether it’ll take a week, or a month."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…There’s nothing worth waiting for."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Well, don't say that."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She moved her head, breaking free from the warm hand.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I don’t have the right to do that…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Oh, come on, that's really not like you. It's funny hearing you mention 'right'. Are you sick or something?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai gestured a slit chest to reveal her heart.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She put her hands on top of each other, spread her palms and showed Alice the black words on them.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"This morning, I dreamed that you died."</span>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice was immediately taken aback. The expression on his face, along with a certain guilt, became a blade that gouged Ai’s heart deeply. The blade was made of cold steel and froze the blood from the edge of the cut.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But the pain was comforting to Ai. She felt that coldness and pain were more appropriate for her at this moment compared to the world.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"—I dreamed of the moment when I accidentally saved you in the classroom. I turned that scene into a dream in which you died—I don't know why. Maybe I thought everything would go back to normal if I thought this would be the proper development…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was no longer the flame of her dream in her hands, merely dark words.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Do you understand, Mr. Alice? The one wanting to save is just a person…I don’t have the right to save you…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">A painful silence fell upon them, Ai was afraid of what Alice would say, even though she had said it herself.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"So please…leave me…alone …."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice's silence lasted for an eternity, and Ai had a hard time waiting. Her heart was adrift, unbearable as she did not get any response.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She was about to run away when Alice spoke up.</span>

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

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice said, gently pointing to Ai's palm.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"There, I see your fire burning. I can see it."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…………Is that, so …?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">All Ai could see was a heart covered in blood and wounds.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yeah, maybe you can't see it, but now that you mention it, I get it. Your heart is still burning. It's just a little harder to see."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Is that…so …?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yeah, that's right—All right, come here!"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Suddenly, Alice grabbed Ai’s hand and started running through the alleys and the forest formed by drying laundry.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"W-Where are we going!?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"H-how is this a stroll?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">What kind of stroll required them to go at full speed?</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Shut up and let’s go!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice just sprinted off wildly.</span>

&nbsp;