Editing Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi:Volume5 Prologue (section)

===Part II===
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Dee was rather fond of Class 3-4.

Menhim was scary, Mu was a bully, Alice was always getting into trouble, and Dee was still unable to talk with the boys in general.

There were a lot of fights, once a week at least. If there was not, it was usually trouble. For example, Alice made a fool of himself, Zanerick got caught up in his wanderlust, or Gigi caused explosions.

Each time it happened, Dee would hide under her desk, <i>hiii, </i>and get teary-eyed.

Still, Dee loved Class 3-4.

Menhim was scary, but kind. Mu would bully others, but she did not think it was bullying (that might be a bigger problem though). Alice always caused trouble, but he would reflect on his actions (yes, he would reflect on his actions, but only reflect so).

Dee too was the same. She looked down at herself. She was wearing the standard navy blue school that was according to the school's specifications, and was uninteresting. Her appearance was top notching, her studies were half-decent, and her athletic ability was completely zero. To a bystander, someone like her would appear to be a gloomy, withdrawn person.

On one hand, that was true. She did have such a side.

But Dee was probably made up of a lot more than that.

Dee (I) liked this class because she understood this class.

And that was why she really hated the current situation.

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"I can't take it anymore."

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Mu, who had been shouting at her earlier, suddenly lowered her voice. She grabbed her long hair and gathered it up with an elastic band, her dark blue eyes glaring into the classroom as though asking "Who's my enemy, who’s my friend?" Dee cried out, <i>hiii</i> and chose the third option, neither friend nor foe, and hid under the table to escape.

"Well, wait a minute, Mu."

Menhim saw that Mu had seriously snapped, and stood up as if he had no choice. The ‘overgrown bean sprout’ was tall, had messy hair, and wore a wrinkled white robe. He was taller, but unathletic, and are no match for Mu, the girl who would write ‘muscle training’ in her hobbies column.

"What is it, bean sprout? You're not taking his side, are you, bean sprout? I'll punch you in the face. Get in line."

"No, , no, I prefer to be on your side, okay?"

"…That's disgusting."

"Hm, really?"

"Yeah, it makes me want to beat you up."

With a heavy thud, Menhim slumped over. It was common to see Mu hit Menhim, she acted too quickly

Mu strode towards Dee—or to be precise, to the seat next to Dee..

"Wait a minute, Mu."

"That's right. At least let's talk about it."

Parrott and Sufia, who had come out to shield me, were flung aside like a door.

"I'm tired of hearing nonsense!"

Mu looked down determinedly at the boy next to Dee.

"<b>This world is a fake? Trapped in space? </b>What the hell are you talking about?"

The boy was grabbed by the collar and lifted.

"Alice!"

It's true.

Alice let her raise him up like a corpse, his eyes glaring back furiously as he said so however..

"We're trapped in this space, and we're not even aware that we're trapped."

"What are you talking about, Alice!? Are you crazy!?"

"I'm not crazy."

"Then you're insane!? Seriously…you’re, you’re!"

Mu was the one grabbing the collar, Mu was the one who was insulting, Mu who the one who could send Alice flying.

And yet, Mu looked as if she wanted to lose, as if she wanted her words to be denied.

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"Are you even sane!? You burned down the town?"

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"Yes."

The hand was released and Alice fell back into his chair with a thud.

"Why would you—?"

"It’s an experiment."

"An experiment?"

"Yeah."

Alice stared at his hands that were completely black since he spent all night splashing oil everywhere and setting fire.

"I was trying to see how much this space can ‘last’. I thought if I destroy the entire town, we’ll go back to our original world…but I couldn't."

"You! You’re still at that?"

"…You don’t believe me?"

"Of course not!."

"Then."

Alice lifted his violent eyes up at Mu, and countered,

"Where’s the burned town you speak of?"

Mu was speechless.

Alice slid the windows open, and outside it was the town that Alice had just burned, now completely clean.

There was no such scene present.

The town has been burned, destroyed, <b>and restored</b>.

The sin Mu denounced was nowhere to be found.

"You’d call this a reset."

"W-what did I say? ‘Reset’?"

"Yeah, in this space, everything that is damaged to the point of being unable to recover will be reset to the starting mode…the peaceful initial state where they knew nothing.."

Mu shivered once she heard those words.

"…Let's say I believe every word you say."

"Sure."

"I'd like to ask you one more question. I don't know about this because I got ‘reset’?"

"Yeah."

The next moment, Mu took a step forward and strangled Alice.

Dee did not know the significance of that act, and neither did Alice; perhaps Mu herself did not know either. She did not know what the purpose of strangling Alice was. Maybe she wanted to kill him, or maybe she just could not help it. No one knew for sure.

But the first time it happened, Mu had indeed tried to kill Alice.

So Alice reacted in the same way as back then.

<i>Pew, </i>a small bullet flew into Mu's forehead. The bullet went straight through, ripping through the back of her head and flew out with brain plasma.

Screams filled the classroom as Dee hid under her desk, watching everything.

"Sorry about that."

Alice mumbled, pointing his gun at his rooted classmates, and fired.

He fired.

He fired.

The first who got shot were the ones who tried to deal with him, followed by those who tried to run away. Friends were shot, bad buddies were shot. The bullets that flew out of his hands hit every target he wanted, killing every single target without exception.

Finally, Alice shot those who were only frightened and cowering.

"I'm sorry…"

Ilanya was shaking and shivering.

"No, don't do this Alice… this isn't right!"

"It's okay…you’ll forget too…"

<i>Pew!</i>

The last gunshot rang out, and the classroom fell silent. The only sounds left were Alice's ragged breathing, Dee's sobbing, and Menhim's sighing.

Menhim, who had been grasping his forehead, trying to hold his head together, let go of them and glared at Alice with exhausted eyes.

"…Alice, I never heard of this."

"Because you were opposed."

"Of course…!"

Menhim closed the wide eyes of Mu—his childhood friend.

And then the corpse disappeared into thin air…

"Alice~!"

"Yo."

Beyond the window, at the ground two levels down, <b>the classmates who were killed were standing there</b> with their bags.

‘Reset.’

Mu, leading the pack, was at the front, waving.

"What are you doing there! It's time to leave school!"

"Will be right there!"

After saying this, Alice closed the window.

There was no longer any trace of the tragedy in the classroom.

"All is well in the world—right?"

Menhim said, reaching into the pocket of his lab coat for a cigarette that was forbidden in school, and took a deep drag.

Alice walked forward, cutting through the smoke.

"…Let's go, Menhim, Dee. Now we know that physical destruction is almost impossible. We'll have to think of another way. I hate this, but we have to try the occult. Maybe some curse reversal, boundary destruction—let’s ask Miranshah about that…"

"Ah, about that, Alice."

Menhim said to Alice as the latter was about to leave the classroom.

"I can't do this anymore."

"…Is that so?"

"Yeah…I'm sorry, but I'm not as strong as I think I am. I won’t be able to help you if this keeps up, and I might end up as your enemy, like Mu just now."

"……Is that so?"

"I'm sorry."

"No problem. Thanks for everything…"

With that, Alice shot Menhim, who was immediately ‘reset’, and his body was gone.

Dee stumbled out from under her desk and looked outside. Their classmates were chatting on the field at dusk. Menhim, carrying a flat school bag, ran up to the circle and joked about something.

Dee stared at it, and found it dazzling.

"…Do you want to go back to how it was before?"

"!"

Dee felt a hot presence and turned around to see a dark muzzle there.

The eyes beyond were rotten like a corpse.

"…Do you want to forget the fact that you're trapped and everything? And go back to your peaceful life?"

"That’s—"

"…It’s fine. If you’re afraid of dying…I'll kill you."

The hammer lifted with a click.

"In-in that case…"

Her speaking voice was dry and trembling, as though she had not talked in a hundred years.

"If that's the case, why don't we ‘reset’ together…Alice? Let's stop all this and…just ’reset’, forget about everything and live in peace…"

Alice fumbled with his gun with a troubled look.

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"No."

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The fly flew to the window.

That was the impression Dee had in her mind whenever she saw Alice.

"I don't like this. I don't want my beloved Class 3-4 to be stuck in a place like this."

"But we can't do it anymore…even Menhim…gave up too…"

<i>There's glass there, you know. </i>Dee muttered to the fly.

"You're not talented." "You're not tall enough." "You'll never be a regular."

And,

"You're never going to get out of here…"

So, stop it—Dee told Alice.

But Alice, like a fly, would show the face of someone who did not understand what Dee said.

"Even so, I'm still going to do it…nut that doesn't mean you have to go along with it. You should be laughing with them. Until the day of liberation."

"……"

"Don't worry, I'll get it done, even if I have to do it alone. Trust me."

Dee did not believe those words.

"I'm not going to give up."

But Dee believed those words alone. Alice certainly would not be able to break through this space, but he was never going to give up. He would struggle on alone, as though he was in an eternal torment.

"Don’t do it."

That was exactly what Dee did not want.

"I don't care if I die. I don’t want you to be alone, Alice…"

"……"

Dee wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"So I'm…not going to…give up."

"Dee…"

"I won't give up until you do. I'm coming with you, Alice."

"…I see."

The gun was immediately lowered.

"…Got it. Thanks…"

Alice turned his back on Dee.

"No."

Dee shot Alice in the back with a pistol she concealed behind her.

<i>Bang, </i>Alice collapsed In the midst of a roaring sound. There was no astonishment or confusion in his eyes, only quiet conviction.

Thud. The pistol and knees fell to the floor, and Dee grabbed Alice’s body.

"…Sorry,…I'm sorry Alice…but I…I'm…"

"Don't cry… you idiot."

Alice did not seem to begrudge Dee even after being shot.

"I'm sorry…hic…I'm sorry…"

"…It’s fine. It’s my bad…that I made you shoot me…"

Dee shook her head. She hated having Alice kill people, and Alice hated the idea of Dee killing people.

"Actually…I know too…that it’s wrong…no matter the purpose, even though it causes a ‘rest’, it’s not right…"

"……"

"But…now, I can't undo the sins I've done. That's why…I had no choice but to be ‘reset’…I'm not me now…I'm just a monster who’s not afraid…to kill my friends…"

"…Hic, Alice. …"

Alice smiled like he was getting rid of a possessed evil spirit, and stretched out his blood and smoke stained hand to gently pat Dee's head.

"…But Dee, unfortunately…I will definitely be back here again."

"……"

"You know they say…stupidity can't be fixed by…dying, right? Are you going…to kill me… every time I come here…? Are you …ready to become a … monster …?"

Alice seemingly taunted at the last moment.

Dee immediately tried to answer something. She did not know if she wanted to agree or deny, but she tried to say something back to the dying man. She thought hard and looked up to answer him.

But...

"…Ah"

There was nothing but air.

Alice asked the question, but he passed on without waiting for a reply.

All that was left was a painful silence.

Dee sat down and looked up at the sky as if there was a god there.

After a minute or a hundred, the school bell rang. Dee lowered her head weakly, slowly raised her right hand, and put the muzzle of the gun against her temple.

The muzzle that had killed Alice was still slightly warm.

"Hic…"

The trigger was heavier than before.

She was really anguished about that.

"I-I can't do this…"

Dee burst into tears. She was at her wits end. She did not want to be killed by Alice, and she did not want to kill Alice.

Despair won in the tug-of-war against her survival instinct and the trigger sizzled. The cylinder was slowly turning and the hammer was about to fall into place, just a millimeter away from Dee's life.

It was almost time to ‘reset’ Dee. She was going to revert from being a monster to a human being again.

If not for Alice’s arrival.

"What are you doing, Dee!?"

With the words, a gust of wind flew in and kicked the gun away.

"Damn you! That's my dad’s gun! What the hell were you doing with that?"

"…Alice?"

‘Reset’.

The Alice here was the Alice who knew nothing. It was the Alice who had never even dreamed of killing anyone.

"What's wrong with you…why are you doing this…hey, talk to me. Okay?"

"Alice.…"

Dee burst into tears, opened her arms and tried to jump into his chest.

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(I will definitely be back here again.)

(You know they say…stupidity can't be fixed by…dying, right?)

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She remembered that Alice’s chest was shot through by her bullet.

"…What's going on?"

Alice asked, and Dee looked up at him.

"………… Nothing."

"But you—"

"I said it's nothing!"

Dee pushed Alice out of the way and started running.

"H-hey!"

Dee heard Alice's voice behind her, but she did not turn around.

She could not cry onto that chest again.

She could not let that hand pat her head again.

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And so the loop began again.

In this fake world.

Where Dee was left alone.

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