Editing Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi:Volume4 Chapter4 (section)

===Part II===

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Finally, each piece of stone lost its bond, and the tower began to break free from the yoke of gravity. Ai, Alice, and even Julie gave up and no longer complained as they stepped on the fluffy floating stairs.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai shouted. The air was too thin, and even though she had shouted with all her might, her voice was too feeble, it was terrifying.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They were about to reach their limit, the limit no human could break through even with the power of the tower.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The walls loosened. Through the gap, the world begins to show itself.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Billions of tiny stars.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And one big green star.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The spiral staircase had gaps between each step, and while on it, Ai paused for a moment to take in the view. With her right foot up and her left foot down, she pushed up her goggles and looked at the world that appeared to be at night even though it was day.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Lightning flashed in the distance, and the aurora swayed in the polar caps.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And Ai saw it.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There were other towers around the tower, thousands and thousands of towers, stretching out like treetops.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There were lots of people there. People who climbed towers, people who built towers, people who lived in towers.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was that old man. He was giddly chatting with someone, an old woman close to his age.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was that young man. The young man was laughing while surrounded by an old couple and an unfamiliar girl.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was that girl who had fallen in love with the Gravekeeper.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was a woman who wished for heaven.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was a young man who wished for hell.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They all existed in the tower, one by one, fulfilling their wishes.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai had the urge to cry when she saw this scene. She did not envy nor feel jealous, but she felt a little unbearable.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The air was loose. The oxygen was thin. Her vision was shockingly clear. All the sounds were distant, and instead, the sounds inside her body were loud. They had no idea if they were going up or down anymore, and their bodies naturally floated up. Every time they blinked, stars twinkle beneath their eyelids.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">A shooting star passed by before their eyes.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">No matter how clear the night sky was, it was impossible to see a meteor shower at zero distance.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">That was the limit.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The rainbow aurorae. A blanket of stars. Murderous ultraviolet rays flying around in a haphazard manner.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Anything beyond was not a world for the Living.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">At the very least, it was not a place for those who wanted to live on.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But one would suppose they all crossed over..</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">All the people floating around them must have crossed this place.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Those who piled the stones,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And those who ran up the stone steps,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">—And the Gravekeepers who followed them.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The surroundings of the tower showed the fate of those Gravekeepers.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">This tower would grant people's wishes. </span><b>Only</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> people's wishes.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Gravekeepers were not included in this.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There were satellites drifting around the tower. They were the corpses of the Gravekeepers, expressionless and emotionless as they crawled into the world of stars. They, too, had crossed the divide.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">For the sake of burying the Dead.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Without hesitation, they ventured into such a place where it was impossible to go on.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But that should be the case, the way a Gravekeeper should be. Even if Death was before them, that it was self-destructive, meaningless, that there were hundred, two hundred reasons not to go, they would continue on without concern. Such were the Gravekeepers.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai stopped. She could not continue any further..</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">At that moment, she knew that she could not be a Gravekeeper.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And there was Scar, too.</span>

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

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

[[Image:Kamisama v04 Illustration 09.jpg|thumb]]

<span style="font-weight: 400;">In response to Ai’s call, the face buried in Scar’s lap was slowly lifted up. Her messy bangs tumbled down and hit her cheeks.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar sat haggardly on the last step of the stone stairs. The thin air made her pant, but she was not fatigued because of it.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ai…is something the matter…?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She stood up, hobbling to her feet with her shovel acting as a cane.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"We’re here to pick you up."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…That will not be necessary."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar turned her back to Ai and faced the aurora. She looked up at the world of Death with bloodshot eyes.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I am…a Gravekeeper. I am going with them…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Over there were all the dead Gravekeepers.</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Don’t! What about Celica?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar shivered and stared at Julie and Celica, who was at his chest.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Julie went next to Ai. Scar pressed her chest, and said with a voice filled with love and hate,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"P-please do not do this. Do not bring that child close to me! When I am with her…! I feel unbearable…! It is scary!"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Please do not come!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar put his right foot on the top step. Her eyes looked towards the darkness there.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I am…a Gravekeeper! I am a…Gravekeeper, just like them!"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">I have not malfunctioned! Yes!</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Scar shouted.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was not a smile on her face.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was merely anguish, madness, anxiety, hope.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Those were all human expressions.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You can't…"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You can't do this anymore, Miss Scar…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…That is not true…look. I shall die for my mission now!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It’s impossible for you to do this anymore…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Your attempts…at persuasion…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I’m not persuading . I'm just stating the facts."</span>

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

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You only had one chance. You left us, climbed the tower with the other Gravekeepers, came to this place, and the moment you arrived here, you should not have hesitated. You would have moved forward without hesitation, but you couldn’t. You can’t think of yourself as a Gravekeeper anymore…no, that aside."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai lifted her gaze to stare into Scar's eyes and the beads of water between them.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Gravekeepers don't cry."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar stared blankly at the water beads floating before her eyes, and blinked away. </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">This has to be a mistake.</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> She wondered.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Each time she blinked, the tears turned into droplets that drifted through space.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar's face winced.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ah, is that, so? I, see…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Her hands grabbed her delicate chin. The fingernails grazed the old wound on the right eyebrow, and caused blood to .</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Blood and tears. The fluids of two colors floated in the air, blended together, and spun around nearby.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I, cannot, remain, my old self, no matter, what I, do now, I suppose…"</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar's eyes were, strangely enough, clear.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But the skin and flesh surrounding the eyes were severely contorted, showing her mental state.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Henceforth…what am I supposed to do ?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was then that Ai knew she had this expression on her face back then.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Forty-seven Dead, a hill of graves, the end of winter, the taste of nosebleed in her throat after she got kicked away.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Back then, there was Hampnie Hambart's fiendish smile ‘what do you want to do for yourself’.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Perhaps that was the expression she had when she saw his smile.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was only one word to describe it. Lonely.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar was lonely, in pain, and bawling like a child.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Her expression resembled that of a newborn baby bird.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The little bird asked.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"How can I live…in the future?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai was certain of one thing. Scar would probably accept whatever she said.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">If Ai told her to die, she would; if Ai told her to live, she would.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was the same as what Ai did back then.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai closed her eyes and recalled back to that time. She remembered what Hampnie Hambart did for her back when she was in that state.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Like hell I know, you idiot."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"—I don't know anything about that."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He rejected her. He did not say something awful like ‘you should carry that heavy burden yourself’, but said something worse instead..</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You ask me about that, but what can I say?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar showed a look of betrayal.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Please decide on your own. Miss Scar, for yourself."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I do not have such a function!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That’s not true."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Wasn’t it your choice to escape all the way here?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You abandoned Miss Celica, decided on your own, and escaped all the way here, didn't you?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Her face winced in guilt.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"And over here, you have nowhere to escape….didn’t you arrive here because you decided and acted on your own?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai took a handkerchief out of her pocket and used it to wipe away Scar's tears and blood.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was a brand new expression on the freshly wiped face.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Please think about what you want to do. If you wish to go back to being a Gravekeeper, please do what you have to do."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yes, but of course, I think we'll complain ‘please don’t do anything too crazy’."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai combed Scar’s messy bangs and gently stroked the scar on her right eyebrow.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But that’s not important now."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Please decide for yourself. "</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai said, and seemingly abandoned Scar as she turned her back on the latter.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar was still trying to cling to her back.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But the moment she saw Julie’s foot step up, Scar let out a little whimper.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Celica was at his chest.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar's face contorted. She wanted to reach out to her beloved daughter, but she could not. The hand remained there.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She stayed. She did not run away.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Julie hugged Scar together with Celica. Scar froze up, and stared with trepidation at the baby that was forced towards her.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She hugged her daughter.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Celica! Celica! Celica! I am sorry! I am so sorry!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The baby returned to her mother again, basking in the torrent of tears.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Julie shouted again. Scar heard his call for the first time, and this time, turned to look at the platform her daughter was riding on.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ah, Julie…when did you?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That's why I can’t stand these Gravekeepers…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The big man shook his head.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Argh! You know, Scar, Ai said that, but I don’t think that’s the case! Taking responsibility for one's own actions? That’s just talk! It's impossible and meaningless for ordinary people!"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Look at her! She can’t do it either!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai was speechless.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"A person’s happiness has absolutely nothing to do with self-freedom!"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">So!</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Julie stared ferociously at Scar, who was in his arms.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Shut up and follow me!"</span>

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

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">"—"</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Ai and Alice were speechless.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar too widened her eyes and looked up at the big man. "Julie?" She whispered. Perhaps she had expected a different answer.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Julie was gasping for air as a reaction to his vigorous shouting, and Scar was dumbfounded the whole time.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Taking advantage of the pause, Ai and Alice looked at each other.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">"……A love confession…?"</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No!"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">"…How’s it not?"</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It may look like it, but it's not!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I don’t understand adult relationships…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Not at all…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That's not what I'm talking about!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ju-Julie? Erm—"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar finally snapped out of her confusion and tried to say something.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Not listening!"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Julie said, carrying Scar in his arms.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Wa-wait a minute, what are you doing, Mr Julie!? Miss Scar has the right to choose!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Like hell I care about that!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The middle-aged prince charming confidently announced.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Can free will feed you? I don’t care about such things! I'll do my best to make you happy regardless of that! Prepare yourselves! That's what I call the existence of free will!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ugh!? I can't argue with that!"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Gahahahaha, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">the man in his thirties guffawed, his laughter spreading through the thin air. Celica were the only ones directly shaken by his vibrating chest.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Come on! Let's go home!"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar watched her eyes at that fact. She was in no mood to think, and had no time to do so. Julie however wanted her to answer, "Hm" and brought his face closer.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar opened her mouth, unsure as to what answer she had derived.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The answer was—</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Alright! Let's go!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Julie smiled when he heard the answer, and took a step down with Scar in his arms.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar was a little surprised. She did not expect herself to give such an answer.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">(Well, this is fine.)</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar hugged Celica tightly, while Julie hugged her. She curled up, surrounded by people on the inside and outside.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It did not feel bad at all.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She felt that she could survive today, at the very least.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Starting from that moment, the destruction of the tower began.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Wh-what the!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The tower shook. The impact of the explosion traveled through space and up to the sky.</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Well, it’s exactly two days now."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee Ensy Stratmitos, drifting through the mist, raised her chest and gave an undaunted smile.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…This tower sure is unpleasant no matter how many times I look at it."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Before her eyes was the World Tower piercing the sky</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Now then, everyone, cheer after me? Ohhh~"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She turned around and punched her right fist lightly..</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Come on, come on, a little louder please. ‘Ooohh’!"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was a crowd trudging sluggishly out of the mist.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was nothing in common for them. Amongst them were Dead, Living, deformed, ordinary, beautiful, grotesque, independent, and ‘selfish’.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But are you sure, Ghost? Aren’t there some people inside? Like the ones you’re worried about…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">A man with scars and bandages on his hands asked.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yes, they’re in there."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That's troublesome…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">A maiden in a bright red dress said.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You want to save them?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">A young man in a tuxedo and a 10-gallon hat said.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You guys too?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee asked all the members. Most of them nodded.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'm impressed. </span><b>You people who really want to save the world</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Well, why don't some of you go save them?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He shook his head.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"A small sacrifice is to be expected before a great salvation."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"They went in on their own, didn't they? That’s their responsibility."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The others too accepted this argument, but for different reasons.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Teehee," Dee sneered. "Teehee."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Okay. So, please. That's where evil is, heroes of justice."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Ghost rose, and drifted to the side of the 'selfish' Dead.</span>

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

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Now, guys, take it down."</span></i>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She whispered in the ear of a rotten and ‘selfish’ Dead, almost kissing his rotten ear as she spoke up close..</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘Whispers of Evil.’</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She would whisper words directly to the Dead who no longer remembered the words of others. Their rotten brain would accept all the words of the ghost without the ability to discern.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">A hundred rotting Dead charged towards the tower.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Are the lot of them useful?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The man with bandages on his knuckles asked.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"They’re broken, so let them be broken. The world will be a cleaner place."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Enough of this…Broken Fist?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The bandaged man began to run past the slow trudging Dead, swung his fist at them the moment they instinctively leapt at him, and hurried to the tower.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He swung his right hand greatly as though he was lifting something heavy and as he ran forward</span>

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

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Kwaaaannn!</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> There was a sound akin to a battering ram rocking through the mist. The giant tower trembled at the blow from the puny human.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Then I'll go too."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The bright red dress caught fire. Her hair burned, and so did her skin. She was burning. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, and then into ashes, showing white bones.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The white bones broke apart and burst into flames. The skull cackled in the flames. The bones of the flames soared up in a red lotus, drying up the mist that guarded the tower.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"This is for you. That is for you. And this is for you."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The man in tuxedo handed the children tins of chocolates. The children hug them happily.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Now then, goodbye."</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Bye bye!"</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The children ran towards the tower while holding the chocolate tins. They ran through the entrance, picked their favorite spots, and opened the chocolates..</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The man watched it happen, shed three tears from his right eye, and took a deep drag on his cigarette.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. That’s for three people. Next. Next. Next goodbye."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The children stepped forward. There were still more of them. Worry not, for there was enough chocolate tins for every one of them.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Purple Soul Jars."</span>

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

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

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">An army carried a flag of coffins atop a tree, and yelled out loud. They were the Dead soldiers who were starting to enter the selfish phase. The only Living among them, a girl in an obviously ill-fitting military uniform with the Major's emblem, shouted.</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The old corpses charged into the tower with brand new weapons. The military maneuver was so well drilled, it was unlike anything the rotten heads could do..</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Fists, flames, and explosions drilled into the tower and made several large holes in its walls. The tower spewed out its contents from there like a spray of blood. Food, treasure, water, trees, all kinds of treasures spilled out and were consumed by the violence.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Good, good. That's the allies of justice. That's what I'm talking about."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee was alone, drifting through the mist with a smirk on her face, only to show a worried look.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I hope everyone can come down here soon…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was a worried look, unbefitting of the person who had created the disaster.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The stones trembled. The already loose connectors became looser, and the large stones began to spin in the air.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Wh-what the!?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Julie, holding Scar, shouted.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai knew at that moment that it was two days later.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It's Dee, isn't it?"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">That's right,</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Ai nodded.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Impossible! Didn’t she say it’s two days later?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Then it's been two days, isn’t it?"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Right? </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice nodded.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What the hell is that? How’s that possible!? Logically, it hasn’t been a day!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Adults sure are thick-headed. Just accept it, old man."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I wouldn’t be suffering this much if I could do that, you idiots! Don't underestimate us thirty year olds!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai jumped and drifted in the air to escape the tremors , "Not bad" and Alice immediately replied, imitating her. Julie looked at them with even more dismay.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Our children sure have such soft brains…"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai mimicked a certain someone and repeated, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Well, well, well.</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Well, time to put our bets."</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Then I'll stay here by myself. Mr. Alice will bring you all down."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'll stay here alone. Bring everyone else down."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You were thinking about that after all! Please stop messing around!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You’re the one messing around! What other choice next? Do you know what’s going to happen after that?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Julie frowned, looking like he had a headache. Celica patted away at his eyebrows.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What are you talking about? Why are we talking about one of us staying? We're just leaving, right?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No, not yet."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Nope, not yet. ""</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They both look to the heavens above.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They could still see a hallucination of the boy there, still piling stones.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"We can't leave without him."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Our kids sure have guts…I got my hands full."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Julie sighed, holding the weights in his hands tightly.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Speaking of which, how are you going to get there?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice fumbled his hand into the back of the rumbling stone steps.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ahh, there it is. Just as I imagined."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He pulled out a pressure-resistant suit with a gas cylinder that covered his entire body like a diving suit.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this place."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I-I can do that too!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai too put her hand in the same shade "Huh? Huh?" But she could not find what she wanted, and shouted "Why!?" It was then that she noticed the lack of chalk. The graffiti that always appeared coincidentally had vanished.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"W-why!? It's not fair, Mr. Alice! How did you do that!?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You can't do it. Just let me handle it."</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…You may die."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I’ll just die, right?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice said as a matter of fact.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…That’s!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Just joking, just joking. I don’t intend to die at such a place."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I promise you that I </span><b>definitely </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">won’t die."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…If you dare lie, I’ll make you swallow…"</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Eh!?...Are you talking about a fish!? …No, whatever, it’s all the same…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice gave a wry smile and picked up the pressure-resistant helmet.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Wait for me to come back. I got a favor to ask too."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yeah, I need your help with something."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai smiled. It was no exaggeration to say that was her life's work.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Well, I don’t have a choice then. I’ll accept it."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Then Alice smiled and said,</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He said, and was about to cross the divide.</span>

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

&nbsp;

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘You guys don't have to go.’</span></i>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">A somewhat familiar sounding voice rang.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Neither Ai, Alice, Julie nor Celica had heard of this voice, yet it seemed so </span><b>familiar </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">for some reason.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai looked at the wall where the voice came from. There, she saw white chalk writing there, ‘You guys don't have to go’.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The group was stunned as they stared at the white chalk that had suddenly appeared. The white chalk gradually increased its presence before everyone's eyes, and eventually, the white hands, shoulders, waist, legs, and finally the dreamy face of an unrealistically beautiful Dead appeared.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Dead girl beamed and tucked the white chalk in her hand into her pajamas pocket.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">‘You guys don't have to go.’</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was a strange qualia in her voice, and Ai felt a strange familiarity in it.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘Alrighty.’</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The girl moved as immaturely as her age, passed both Ai and Alice, and easily crossed the divide.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘Someone.’</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The girl grinned.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘Someone has to tell him, you know. Like, ‘that’s enough already’.’</span></i>

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

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘But that's not what you're supposed to do.’</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai did not know what the existence of this girl was.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And neither did Alice, nor Julie, nor Scar, nor Celica.</span>

&nbsp;

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘That’s my role.’</span></i>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They only knew that she was in the midst of a very important destiny.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘Thank you. Thank you for coming to this tower, and climbing up it without a wish. Thanks to you, I've finally found my way up here.’</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And with that, the girl bowed her head.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘Thank you—but that’s enough.’</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She lifted her face, showing a smile.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai wanted to save that smile.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Wait! Listen to me..."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She wanted to help the girl.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘It's okay.’</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The girl refused.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘Because these people really aren’t related to you people…’</span></i>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai stopped at those words. She had to.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She really wanted to help the girl,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She wanted to lend the girl a helping hand,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And yet, the girl said </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘it’s okay’</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She said it was fine.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘See you!’</span></i>

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

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘Bye Bye!’</span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">With the same smile on her face, she walked up the stairs.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai just stood there dumbfounded, acting as an outsider as she saw the girl leave. The girl bounced up the floating stone steps one by one.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She had gone to a place where Ai could not go.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And then, eventually, she could not be seen.</span>

&nbsp;

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘Big brother! That's enough!’</span></i>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">With those words, the tower stopped.</span>

&nbsp;