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

===Part III===
　　　　




Dee was alone in her room, waiting for Ai. The sun had set, and the room was dark. She was sitting on the bunk bed, her legs dangling in the air.

" I wonder if Ai is okay…"

If she had been that worried, she could have gone out to look for Ai, but she did not really want to. She did not want to see such a little girl like her get hurt by hard labor and be emotionally traumatized. Open-pit mining used to be the work of slaves, and it was tiring. Surely Ai must be battered all over by now.

"If only Alice is helping her in class…"

She could not hope for that, for Alice too was digging, and was unavailable. And given his personality, he wouldn’t help out with something as unimportant as this.

Phew…Dee let out a gloomy sigh. The sense of guilt gripped her chest. She thought she should not return to this room after all, so that she would not be able to see Ai anyway.

But then, Ai would be crying alone in this room again.

"I got no choice then," Dee despondently resolved herself to continue waiting. She felt she was not one who could console others, but she had no choice. She gave up. She would stay with her.

So she made up her mind and started to think of words to comfort Ai, when—

"I'm back!"

Boom! Ai came back with a voice so loud, one assumed that she opened the door with just her voice. She then walked in..

"We-welcome back Ai. Are you okay? Are you tired?"

"Very tired!"

"R-Really?"

Dee replied, her eyes widened at the very vigorous response. On a closer look, Ai had some black rings on her face, and her voice was hoarse, but her face showed no despair that Dee fearedThere was just a healthy attitude of exhaustion.

Dee cautiously approached the matter by asking,

"H-How was it? Ai, your first class…?"

"We were digging!"

"Yes, of course. You’ve been digging—I’m not talking about this. Erm, like, isn’t it tough…"

"Very tough!"

That's right. It had to be.

"Yeah, yeah. It was tough, wasn't it? I guess you cried after all…s-so Ai, do you want to leave this school?"

"Nope."

"Yep, I know. It's been tough. But don't worry, Alice is actually..."

Hm?

"—Eh? Ai, what did you say?"

"Nope. I don’t think it’s tough at all."

"What? Did you just?" Dee tilted her head with her mouth agape.

"Well, you’ve been scaring me about how class is scary at all, but it’s nothing much. Mr Alice really underestimated me. I'm a little tired, but I'm still fine with this little bit~"

I'm very good at digging holes!" Ai said, exhausted as she beamed like a lightbulb.

"E-erm, but…"

"…Are you worried about me, Miss Dee?"

"No, I mean, I'm worried, but…"

"But don't worry."

Ai thumped her chest and took on an air of early maturity that those her age would sometimes show.

"I'm not going to lose."

Woah.

"I've promised myself three things. I promised myself that ‘I would save the world’ and that ‘I won’t be fooled again’, and also…"

A natural smile appeared on her tired, relaxed cheeks.

"’I'm not going to give up until I do’. These are what I promised myself."

Dee really hoped that she would give up at this moment.

"Erm, but, but…"

"Fuuuaa—fuuu~~"

Ai let out a big yawn and sat on the bed.

"… Sorry, that’s it for now. I have to work hard tomorrow, so we'll talk in the morning."

"But Ai, you’ll oversleep again, it’s impossible…"

Ai hopped onto the bed and snuggled beneath her blanket.

"…Good night."

"…Ahh I give up—Good night. Good work."

Ah whatever, so Dee thought, and left the room.

She would leave the rest to Alice.




　　　　




Dig, dig.

It was at night, somewhere underground.

"Hey."

Dee called out.

"Yeah?"

Alice answered.

"What are you going to do about Ai?"

Alice silently dug into the wall. Dee got impatient and called out again,

"Hey."

"Wait."

Alice put the dirt in a basket and shouted towards the end of the corridor.

Oiii Gigi, pull the string~.

Got it!

Hardy, how’s your stomach? Able to fill some more?

Still good~

I'm counting on you.

Dee got even more impatient.

"Hey!"

"It’s nothing to worry about."

Dig, dig, dig.

"That pipsqueak’s going to understand tomorrow that it’s not normal here, and she'll beg me to save her or something. I’m not lending a hand until then."

"Uh, well, about that..."

Dee slipped into the small cave and put her index fingers together.

"She hadn’t found out yet."

"Huh?"

"Well, somehow, it seems she thinks this is a normal school."

"eh?"

Alice stabbed the shovel down and leaned against it.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"…Eh? How? What caused her to have such a misunderstanding? The digging? When the school said that it’s supposed to be a ‘lesson’? She should have found it weird when the dorm supervisor was shooting her gun for no good reason!"

"Don't be mad at me!"

Dee covered her ears and ran away.

"I mean, wasn't she pretty sharp in Ortus?"

"Well, Ai’s very unbalanced in her development. She’s not bad in terms of ability, but I guess it’s because of her upbringing that she lost all the common sense that we take for granted."

Seriously? Alice asked again.

"Seriously," Dee answered in a different intonation.

"…Are you going to tell Ai about this place tomorrow??"

The shovel chewed the soil again.

"…Yes."

Dee let out a melancholic sigh.

"…I just find this uncomfortable."

"How so?

"We’re showing such a little kid ‘reality’, and driving her to despair."

"Huh? Coming from you?"

Dee fell silent as she cupped her knees. Alice glanced over at her.

"Don't worry about it."

He patted the tip of his nose with his muddy hand.

"Despair is like bait to people like her. They’ll cry and yell and get hurt and fall over and be full of despair after that…but for them, that’s not the end of it all. When people feel that they won’t be able to continue any more, this is when it starts for them."

"…That's very detailed."

"Nope. It’s just that if she doesn’t have this level of sturdiness, she won’t be able to have the same kind of dream as us."

"…You may be like that, Alice, but that doesn't mean Ai is."

"Who knows? I'm not in the least bit worried about it."

The shovel chewed the soil again.

"Well, we'll see about that tomorrow."

Dig.




　　　　




The next morning was spent finishing up the previous day's work. The ores that were dug out of the deposit were dropped into the crusher, and the roughly crushed gravel was spread out on sheets. Some of the gravel was transparent, and some was not. They had to pick out the transparent rocks, and the rest was dumped into the gravel pile. The girls sorted the gravel while the boys carried it.

The transparent ones were gems.

Most would have assumed these gemstones were just broken glass if nobody had said so. Once they handed these stones over to the teacher, the morning ‘class’ was over. There were not more than a handful of gems from ten wheelbarrows of earth and sand.

At noon, it was time for lunch. A sandwich with bacon, sliced onions and lettuce. Ai ordered three sandwiches, which she got at the cafeteria in the morning.

"Ai, come here, come here."

Just when Ai wondered where she should eat, she heard Dee call for her. What? She wondered why Dee would appear here. After all, Ai did not see her the entire day, so she assumed Dee was in a different class…

"What is it?"

"Alice wants to talk to you."

Ai realized.

She nodded firmly and followed behind Dee. She felt her hands would feel lonely if she went empty-handed, so she carried the shovel that was lent to her, and entered the quarry filled with gravel. The soil in this area was barren with sand for a long time, was devoid of grass and had the appearance of a dry stream.

Alice was sitting on one of the gravel piles, about to have his lunch.

"Yo."

He opened his mouth right when he was about to munch onto the sandwich as he greeted Ai. Ai assumed he would continue talking, but he did not. Instead, Alice prioritized his meal and munched at it.

This incensed Ai, who found a slope that was suitable to sit on, unwrapped her package, grabbed the sandwich that was about to spill out, and munched at it. The taste of smoked meat, fresh vegetables, and spices burst into her mouth.

She continued to devour it, being in no mood to savor.

She easily finished the first serving, exhaled and gulped down the water from her bottle, glancing sideways at Alice.

"What? Are we doing it?"

Seeing this, Alice accepted the challenge. He opened his mouth and flashed his canine teeth, biting the second one like a shredder. Om nom nom nom! Ai too would not lose as she started munching as well.

There was a stark contrast in their styles. Alice moved quickly to pick out the parts he wanted to eat first, while Ai chowed down, as though emphasizing "It’s the stomach’s job to chew." There was no difference in speed between them, and they both finished the second piece in the blink of an eye and took the third piece at the same time.

Om nom nom!

They ate at the same time, chewed at the same time, swallowed at the same time.

They gulped down the last bite.

At that moment, ha! They looked back at Dee.

""Who won!?""

"Ehh? When did I become the judge? Ehhh, erm, I didn't really pay attention…can't we just call it a draw?"

Both of them accepted the result and bumped their fists in praise of each other's good fight.

"Woah, we have idiots, two of them!"

Dee insulted them with a hearty smile. Ai was indeed a little embarrassed, coughed and deliberately went back to the issue at hand.

"So, Mr. Alice, what do you want?"

"Oh, that's…."

Alice’s face turned gloomy as he said,

"Actually, I owe you an apology…"

Here it comes.

Ai smiled.

"That's right. I know."

"Yeah, I'm so sorry. I underestimated you."

"Hmph . That's right. What do you mean, "I'm going to cry"? I was able to follow the ‘class’ just fine!"

She boasted as she carried the shovel over my shoulder. While it was a pity that she was not carrying her favorite tool, she felt she looked cool."

"I'm confident in my shovel skills. I was even praised by the supervisor yesterday! Hmph! It’s nothing! You underestimate me too much, Mr Alice!"

"Yeah, I really did…I didn't think you'd be so oblivious after that…"

"Eh?"

"E-erm, what are you talking about? "

"I'm talking about you."

Alice and Dee made bitter faces and crossed their arms, groaning.

"Well, whatever. Go ahead."

"What's with this out of a sudden…?"

"Well~, I'm sorry, Miss Ai. I really can’t bring myself to do this when you’re enjoying your school life so much, but,"

"What's going on?"

Alice looked really apologetic as he said so, which left Ai terrified as she put down the shovel.

"Well, to put it bluntly, this is not a proper school."

"Huh?"

"This place is, well, it's like a prison camp for freaks like us. Once you're in here, you can't get out again, you can't meet anyone again. It’s the Goran Youth Correctional Institute."

"Eh?"

There were a lot of questions appearing on Ai’s mind.

"What are you talking about?"

"It is what it is~ It’s like, everyone in the country knows about this other than you…"

"No, wait, but there's no way Mr Julie would let me in such a place, right?"

"Hey, Dee, can you explain that to her?"

"Yes yes."

Alice calls out his partner's name, who understood the situation, and nudged her nonexisting glasses while acting like a ‘capable secretary’.

"Eh, this Mr Julie you speak of has already visited here twice, obviously to ask whether Ai Astin is here. The academy insisted it didn't, and when he visited the second time, it seemed the town police took action. After that, he and his companion went into hiding. He is quite a cautious person."

Ai was curious as to how Dee knew that, but she ignored that for now.

"Eh?"

"Did that old man Julie put you in here?"

Ai wanted to say yes, but she stopped herself.

"…Now that you mention it, Mr Julie wasn't here at the time, and I thought I wouldn’t be enrolled until much later, and it’s too fast…"

"See?"

"B-but I can't believe I can't see anyone. The dorm supervisor promised that I’ll see Mr Julie next week..."

"I'd bet that when the time comes, she’ll just tell you ‘he couldn’t be contacted’."

"…Sh-she even said I could go out as long as I submit an application beforehand."

"You can ask around if anyone actually managed to apply for one."

"Y-you said this is a Corrective Institute, but I never really did anything…"

"You did corrective labor yesterday and today! How much energy do you have!?"

"Eh? Eh? Eh?"

"Argh, this is infuriating…why do you have that 'shocked' look on your face…?"

"In other words—"

She gulped.

"In other words, I’ve been had?"

Alice affirmed as a matter of fact.

"That’s right."

Ai chewed on those words slowly, swallowed them, and screamed.




"I’ve been had!"