Editing Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi:Volume7 Chapter3 (section)

===Part II===

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There were three main selling points of the motel described in the pamphlet. One was the scenic location, second was the delicious meals made from local ingredients. Unfortunately, those two were no longer available.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But the last one was still alive.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Steam, steam, steam and more steam.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">On the side of the motel was an open-air bath using natural hot spring water.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Surprisingly, Dee was the first one to yell and jump in. While nobody else was around, she splashed the water everywhere hard.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Well~This hot spring is great~! Awesome!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…That's good to hear."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai showed a serious look the entire time, one that basically screamed ‘I was dragged over here, and if I get scrubbed all over, I’m getting out’.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Here here, Ai, jump in too. It’s your job to act like your character, right? Here! Come on!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…That's enough, Miss Dee!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee sidestepped the water droplets that Dee sprayed her, looking really angry.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What kind of situation do you think you're in? It’s no time to play!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But Dee was having none of it.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ahhh, ahhh. It’s hopeless. Your head is completely stuck. There’s no way to solve anything that can be solved now."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Wh-what did you say?"</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee pulled Ai's towel with all her might. Ai was defenseless the moment this happened, unable to resist, and fell into the pool, causing a large pillar of water.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ahaha. Watch me now"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Y-you did it!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ladylike time was over. Ai was really incensed off at Dee's antics in this situation and tried to take her to task,</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was then that Scar lashed out at them.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Stop it, both of you, Celica will try to imitate! "</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Let me do that too!</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Celica raged away in Scar’s arms, and Scar was livid.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Quite right, you should set an example as big sisters! Come over here and wash yourselves first!"</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The mood did not allow any room for complaints. The two of them obediently crawled out of the pool to wash their bodies. While they wanted to stay far away from the terrifying Scar, the bath buckets were either cracked or moldy. There was only one that could be used, and they started washing each other’s backs as though they were train carriages latched together.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What, Ai? Is that how you wash your hair?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Eh? But I always wash it like this…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"So you 'always' wash it wrong? Come here for a moment."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ahaha~Ai got scolded."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You too Dee. You still have foam on your hair. You have yet to wash it off. Come here."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Eh? N-no need, I’m not a kid..."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She was caught again.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai was dazed by the feeling of the back of her head being squeezed. It felt really good to her, and her tension seemed to melt away.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Her body was all cold by the time Scar released her. Shivering, Ai hurried back to the bathtub.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Splash,</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the hot water escaped from the pool, and . Her body, which was covered with small scratches and bruises, released a soothing pain, and her stiff muscles were relaxed, to the point where even her heart felt relieved.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai was shivering in the warm water up to her nose, sending her soul into space. She wondered if she should be taking a bath at a time like this, but her body could not resist the delight that came with the warm water.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Hmm~ hmm~ hmmm~♪"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">However, she felt that Dee, who was right before her, should put up more resistance against pleasure than that.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Miss Dee is so relaxed in this troublesome moment."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai herself was enjoying this, but she was still reproaching Dee.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Things aren’t going to get much better even if I act serious♪ I should relax like this and think with my softened mind what we should do next~♪ The thing we should do right now is to focus on relaxing♪"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee was as sluggish as her words were, and placed a folded towel on her head, his body fluttering like seaweed, and sang so poorly, it was off tune.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It feels like Bendo is being suspicious♪. I wonder if someone whispered to him without me seeing♪. Ah anyway, let’s call Ai and Scar to the wilderness♪. Should I have the Gravekeepers back down and have them fight♪? Or shall I use Celica as a hostage♪?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The humming was ridiculously off key.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You always do such a thing, it’s only a matter of time until you get backstabbed."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'll take it in stride then."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee continued to float on the hot water, showing no concern.</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thunk.</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> The tub that Scar had placed there made an unexpectedly loud noise.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Celica was laughing and giggling in her special hot tub.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee was floating with her eyelids closed, as though she was back to being the Ghost again.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"This is for the black surface, too."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The retired ghost with her eyes closed.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…I don’t understand. Why are you so obsessed with that black surface, Miss Dee?."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai said, letting drops of water fall from her bangs. She thought she knew Dee’s extremism very well, but even she felt this was too much.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"We don't know if there really is another world, right?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yes, there is another world. Because Isola created it."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Floating between the water and the air, Dee nodded vigorously.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You think that’s not the case because you don’t know her, Ai."</span>

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

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">How can she not be amazing?</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Fifteen years old Isola Edwards was a girl who sought the mystery of the world, but refused to destroy it. She was born with a deadly disease, and was constantly told that she had ‘three more years to live’.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She was the girl who created the black surface, kicking open a world that could exist even after death.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">However, Ai only knew about such superficial information.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"She’s amazing. She really resembles you."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…I'm really bothered by the fact that you’re looking as if this can explain everything…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You know, she's amazingly positive. She knew she might not live until the next day, but she would call us ‘big sis Dee’, ‘big brother Alice’…that’s what she kept calling us even when we were almost the same age…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Suddenly, an image appeared in Ai’s mind. Alice and Dee stood next to Isola's life, just as Ai had watched Madame's life. As Isola grew with every passing moment, there were two ghosts who could never follow the passage of time.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"After I became the Ghost, I was so scared of resetting that I never dared to approach the sealed city. She’s still a good friend of mine, or so I thought…I think you two would have been best friends."</span>

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

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Surely this would be the case. </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai found herself liking Isola a lot more than she thought she would.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…I wish I could be friends with Miss Isola too…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She mumbled softly, as if sighing.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Ghost did not let this slip by her. She floated on the water, flipped over, and sank into the pool, smiling while looking a little sad.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai tilted her head due to the change of mood. The moment Dee spoke, it seemed like she was saying something she wanted to say for a long time, but was unable to.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…But well, it’s great."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That you survived, Ai. I thought there’s no hope. I thought people like you wouldn't give up on their dreams even if they died, but would try to die once they gave up on their dreams."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee laughs like snow melting in the pool.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That's what I thought, too."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Nodding her head, Ai raised her hands and looked through them in the moonlight. It was strange that the blood was still flowing beneath the skin.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">'So, ever since yesterday, I felt it was strange. I couldn’t understand why I’m still alive, why I’m still moving…I don’t have a dream anymore…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Dream? Why are you talking about dreams?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee straightened her knees in surprise, and Ai continued, worried that she was speaking out of turn.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But aren’t dreams the basis for people?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Aren’t actions and decisions taken when you have a dream ‘for things to be like this’? Don’t we work hard because we have dreams, that we move forward? Ultimately, don’t we eat bread for the sake of our dreams?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee stood up and shouted through the window.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Scary! This girl’s scary! Is this what she thinks every time she eats?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That’s what I’m thinking though."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai did not take Dee's joking words as one.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I’ve been thinking, I can eat bread because of my dream, I can breathe because of my dream, and that’s why I want to live. "</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"And now that dream is gone, I'm alive, happy that I’m taking a bath, angry, and laughing."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai wanted to end the battle, to revive the town. She hated the idea of dying, and she wanted to stay alive.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">These feelings were real.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But Ai did not know why she felt that way.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">There was no reason anymore.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Why am I still able to live on…?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai raised her hands out of the pool and stared at them. The blood was burning red under the warm skin.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee leaned closely to Ai, watching over her gently,</span>

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

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Who knows? </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">She said,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You've been living for 13 years without knowing that? You're really an airhead."</span>

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

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Good grief, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee shrugged her shoulders exaggeratedly.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Miss Dee, do you know the reason?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Of course. I mean, everyone knows except you."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Finally, Dee started teasing Ai, shrugging her shoulders and poking Ai's nose.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">'Please tell me, Miss Dee!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yep, sure."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee did not tease her any more.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"In your own words, Ai, it's because you still have other dreams."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Those dreams are what's keeping you alive."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai kept blinking away.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Eh? But I don't have dreams anymore—"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You just haven’t noticed it."</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee pulled her right arm out of the bathtub and reached for the world of stars.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You see, that dream is the first dream that all of us have. It’s one we have since we’re a baby…no, something that we always had long ago, an ancient wish."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee’s words sounded like a bedtime story, one that parents would narrate to their children.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It's the first fragment to create a dream, the reason why living things live."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was the reason why a child would become an adult.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Saying that, Dee showed a tender smile.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">A feeling arose within Ai when she saw that smile. No, she had that a long time ago, one that caused her heart to beat.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Instead of telling her the name of the dream, Dee asked Ai one question.</span>

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

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Yes,</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Ai answered.</span>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What do you want to be now?"</span>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The question slowly melted into the bloodstream.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Putting her hand on her chest, Ai asked herself deep inside.</span>

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

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">What do I want to be?</span></i>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">What did Ai Astin want to be?</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Both Dee and Scar waited patiently for the answer.</span>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I want to be me."</span>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was the first time she had ever said those words.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But the moment she said that wish, it became the most valuable matter to her.</span>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was the dream of the dragon that flew in the sky for the first time, the dream of the fish that stepped on shore for the first time.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was the dream of matter within the primordial cove.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was the reason for human life.</span>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I want to become, Ai Astin…"</span>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She found herself shedding tears.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">How much had she neglected ‘myself’ till this point? How much had she mistreated this precious dream she had from the beginning.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was an important dream that her parents had moored together in their lives.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai cried. She could not raise her voice and cry like a child. She merely regretted her actions and cried through her teeth.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was the tears of an adult who knew her shame, who knew herself.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">So dazzled by her newly acquired dream that was so beautiful, she discarded her old dream.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ku, uuu~"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She trampled her own ego when she dreamed of saving the world.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">And yet, the dream that she had discarded was still there, rooting for Ai.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Her friend picked her up and carried her along.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I was fine too. I’m sure you’ll be fine as well, Ai."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee gently hugged Ai's shoulders, as though she was returning the dream she had safeguarded for Ai.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Henceforth, Ai could no longer be an adult.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The cries of the children were absorbed into the star-filled sky.</span>

&nbsp;

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

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;"> "Alice used to tell me that it's better to have dreams that don't come true."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">When Ai had calmed down, Dee said,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But recently, I think that's wrong."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai asked, thinking that half the water in the pool was probably her tears.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You know what? A dream you work hard to fulfill! Isn’t a dream at all!"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It's just a goal!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Y-yeah, that's true."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Right? When you say you want to become a dressmaker or a beautiful bride, you're really saying you want to ‘open a clothes shop’. Do you understand what I’m saying?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But before people knew it, they lost their ‘self’. They might not be able to open their clothes shop, a grocery store, or a tailor, but that’s not a bad thing. People do forget though…and that’s a little unfortunate."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai knew very well the fate of a dream devoid of a ‘self’.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"A dream without a ‘self’ might come true, but it’ll only be empty…"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"And when they don't come true, people get sharper and sharper. Some even start assuming it’s their own fault."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You’re hitting my sore spots…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That’s the point! Remember this well!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee barked, and then nibbled on Ai's ear.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Saving the world here is the same thing. No matter how difficult that is, it’s just another goal."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yes, that’s right…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was not because Ai would be Ai if she saved the world.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It was because Ai was Ai that she wanted to save the world.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She would be a weirdo if she really could not say such words.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…I must have really worried a lot of people."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She really missed the people she had met so far. She wondered what Ulla and Tanya would think if they were to see her at this point. What would they think? Surely they would not reproach Ai.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai used to think that she was worth less than a piece of trash after her dreams had failed.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But they would not think so at all..</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She really felt completely indebted to Julie.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee let out a sigh of relief.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'm so glad you're back, Ai—I saw so many people who couldn't come back when I was the Ghost. I almost went over there myself. You’re the most extreme of them all, Ai, and I even thought you probably could end up saving the world. To be honest, I didn’t think you’d actually come back, and I thought it might be better for you not to come back."</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Really,</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Dee smiled a lot on this day, as though she was attending her own birthday party or a festival.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But Ai, you’re back."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee smiled, but her heart was increasingly heavy</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"So, please, Ai, save Alice…"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Eh?</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Ai sat up. Dee found herself sinking into the pool, cupping her knees, her smile gradually losing vigor as though she was in an ice bath.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Alice definitely hasn’t come back yet…he lost his goal, but he can’t find himself, and he’s just wandering between dreams and reality…it’s no wonder, since he’s been working hard, for his ‘dream has forsaken him’.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Alice's dream too was supposed to come from Alice himself. He wanted ‘to free his friends even if it met his destruction’, and the origin of it was ultimately a dream only Alice Color could have.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But he harbored this dream for far too long.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">He wished too much for his own disappearance.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"If Alice disappeared like that, his dream would have been dreamed so beautifully…like Hampnie Hambart."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee's white pearly smile quivered as she seemingly chanted.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But fortunately or unfortunately, Alice survived…so Ai, please bring Alice back so that things won’t become unfortunate."</span>

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

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

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee exhaled as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and floated back to the surface as if the water was finally warm again.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I guess I’m done with everything left to do…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Please don’t talk as if you’re done briefing. Mr Alice is very stubborn, and I‘ll need your help, Miss Dee. It’s just starting."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No, I’m done with one of my tasks."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Her face was a mixture of sadness and satisfaction.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Because it’s you, Ai—no, you’re the only one who can do it. My role is over."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Because, you and Alice are connected by a thread of fate, right, Ai?"</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai dipped her disgusted face into the hot water up to the top of her nose. Ahem ahem ahem.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"If we’re talking about a thread of fate, aren’t you more connected, Miss Dee?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"There’s none for me. I cut it myself."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She lifted her right hand out of the water and waved it in the air.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Miss Dee, do you hate Mr. Alice now?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No…I don't think so, not really."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I guess. You like him to the point where you’d destroy the world after all."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"D-Don’t say that out loud! It's embarrassing…but if I have to say it, don’t you like him enough to ‘revive him’?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Erm, I'm not sure about that. I don’t think it’s love though."</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Probably, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai tilted her little head.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"And, what kind of feeling is love?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I am interested in that too."</span>

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">At that moment,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar, who had been listening to their conversation quietly, interrupted the moment she had an opportunity to.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Celica, by the way, was already out of the hot water and was snoozing in a basket on the side.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Dee, what is the feeling of love exactly?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Well, it’s hard for me to explain…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"For example, what kind of feelings do you have for Alice?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Eh? Me? My feelings for Alice…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee stared into the void as if she was remembering something, and her expression suddenly appeared tender.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Well, yeah, you feel gentle in the heart, and even warm here."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She put her hands together, onto her chest.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"And then you’ll really want to see him…you want to be with him…s—no!."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That certainly is meaningful."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Suddenly, Dee stood up with a red face and slapped the surface of the water.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What are you asking me now!? Why am I answering!?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Dee, what is the feeling like when you say you really miss him. How about the frequency and intensity?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Uh, well, it's not measured by distance or anything. If I'm far away, I’ll think that he’s nearby. If I’m near him, I want to touch him. It’s a feeling that the closer I am, the more intense it is…"</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee banged her head against a rock.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Dee, when you say your chest gets warm, do you mean your heart?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No, I don’t think so, Miss Scar. I think you mean the soul or something."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Pl-please stop! What are you doing to my precious love? Don't analyze it! Don't be interested and all! Don't come——!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee tried to resist and retreat from the two Gravekeepers looming in, but Ai aside, there was no stopping Scar the moment she got serious.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Specifically, what is that heart of love you speak of?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…I can only describe it as a throbbing heart…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"When do you feel a throbbing heart? When will you meet someone?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…I feel that even if we don’t meet, like when I'm alone and I think of him…"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai realized it was bad, but it was too late, for Dee had fallen limp by the edge of the pool, becoming a doll that could only answer. She was completely naked, looking into the sky with a vacant look, and the situation seemed perilous.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Pull yourself together, Miss Dee, the wound isn’t so bad."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Ai, seriously…please take care of…Alice…and the black surface..."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Pull yourself together, Miss Dee, you're turning into salted kelp."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar kept asking until the very end, "Hmm" and finally answered with satisfaction as she nodded hard, saying,</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Well, that was not very helpful for reference."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You’re saying that after all this!?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee, revived by the energy of anger, slaps the hot water. The now awake Celica was really happy.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"And what do you mean, ‘reference’? What are you referencing~…"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Miss Dee, calm down."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai stroked Dee's limp head.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar was moving leisurely at her own pace.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"That is, of course, a reference to my mind."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">With a swoon, Dee instantly came back to life and slipped into Scar's arms, as if she had gained more efficient energy than anger.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Are you referring to uncle? Am I right? There’s no one else but him, right?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ohh! And then? Well? What do you think, Scar? Do you feel this way too?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"In conclusion, no."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It seemed Dee had nothing more to say, and she murmured to herself with a bitter expression.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Mr Julie is really pitiful."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai felt deep sympathy for Julie, who was probably doing his best to maintain the car.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It is strange, no? I assumed I like Julie, but given what you said, Dee, it does not seem to be the case.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee was so surprised that she slipped and sank on her bottom.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Do-do you like uncle after all, Scar?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No, I said this might not be the case."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Miss Scar, please save Miss Dee before answering. She can't hear you."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Wait! Wait, wait, wait! What’s going on?"</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It seemed Scar’s head was flushed, for she tilted her head, showing a reddish look.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Hearing your conversation had me wondering. A Gravekeeper is a being without a ‘self’. And so I wondered, what caused me to become who I am now?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">With a human expression, Scar smiled.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"And then I thought of you. It appears that I have a tendency to overthink what makes me. I was wondering if this is what you call love."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee crossed her arms, greatly troubled.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Maybe it's love."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What is the difference between crush and love?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…… Sorry, I don't understand it either. They're similar, but maybe a little different."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Is that so? I shall observe this feeling for a while then."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Scar gave a somewhat happy smile.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…Why do I feel like I've lost?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Miss Dee, it's not about winning or losing, is it?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Yes yes, you’re a good girl, little Ai—no, wait, what about you, Ai?"</span>

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

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai let out a huge sigh. She did not want to remain in the bath any further.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You hate him?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Then do you like him?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"But you do think about him a little, right?"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Pew, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai heard something snap in her heart.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It’s true that I’d be lying if I say I won’t think about him. I was the one who revived Mr Alice after all."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">A battle trumpet was being blown in Ai's mind. Reason and intellect came together to wave the assault flag.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Unbeknownst to her, Dee was smirking,</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Maybe I do like Mr. Alice."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Y-you see? "</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai really felt Dee was an idiot. Since she knew this topic would hurt her, she should not have touched upon it.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I say maybe, but I think it’s rather unlikely—then again, even if I do like him, so what? "</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee seemed to have finally realized.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It doesn't matter who I like, is it?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"It doesn't matter what I do with my feelings."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai’s budding sense of self started to be earnestly angry.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Why does everyone make it sound like an exaggeration? Miss Dee, Mr. Julie, the people in town, they all try to make fun of us and look at us ‘that way’."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They never realized that every time they did so, something between them would break.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Please don’t name whatever feelings I have. What you’re being is a busybody, Miss Dee…shall I tell you here and now why you’re one?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee was quick to apologize.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'm sorry, Ai…."</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Good grief, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai sighed and regained her composure.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I said too much too. I’m sorry…but you should have confessed earlier, Miss Dee."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No, well, when you say that, it just felt like…it’s impossible for me…I believe Alice will have it tougher than you, Ai, because he’s still in the phase where he just lost his dream."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai remembered Alice's burnt right arm, and the manner in which he cried tears of blood.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"He's just a kid, you know. He's not even in love yet, or doesn’t even know how to live. That’s why he’s so reckless."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"—Then why don't you hold him together, Miss Dee?"</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Please don't use me as an excuse.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Hm-hmph. Since you say so, don't cry when Alice falls in love with me then."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Fine by me."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">At that moment, something that had been smoldering in Dee's mind for a long time seemed to disappear.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Surely the feeling that arose within Ai had entrenched itself within Dee as well. Ai was glad that she had been able to return the favor to her dear friend.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Alright! I'll do my best!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">With that, Dee stood up.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Oh, you're finally going to confess?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"No, I'm not going to do that now, because there's a high probability of failure. I’ll start by wearing down his defenses first."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"…That’s really typical of you, Miss Dee. It’s fine."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Okay! Then I'm going!"</span>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Huh?</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Before Ai could show any surprise, Dee had jumped out of the bathtub and lumbered towards the changing room.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Erm, what are you intending to do, Miss Dee?"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"I’ll go conquer Alice!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Calm down. Please stop first."</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Dee's face was flushed, and it was obvious she did not think this through. Apparently, she had taken too long a bath with the two Gravekeepers.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You can’t, Miss Dee. You’ll only regret it tomorrow. You should stop if you don't want to feel awkward, you should stop. Or rather, I'll make you stop!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Ai~let~go~ Don't worry, I've seen what to do in such situations so often when I was the Ghost."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"What do you mean ‘so often’? What’ve you been doing with your invincible body? You’re a peeping tom!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ai tried to stop Dee by clinging to the latter’s flabby stomach, but the floor was too slippery for her to hold on.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Fufufu, coming from you, Ai? Well, of course, in terms of sex appeal, there’s no way you can compare to me. Fufu. Obviously I’ll be the one to snatch Alice~"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">" Please don't say that! I don't think I’ll be able to extend any more kindness by stopping you though!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">On a side note, Scar was in the hot water, being a complete bystander, looking on with a face of morose enjoyment.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"Please come to your senses!"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Finally, Dee reached the changing room and opened the door.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">She felt it was not Alice’s fault.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Naturally, he was not here to peek, and he did knock.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Furthermore, Dee was trying to tempt him with sex appeal. No one could blame him if he saw her naked body.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But such reasons had nothing to do with the euphemism of a girl's heart.</span>

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

<span style="font-weight: 400;">That day, the last remaining bath tub in the motel shattered.</span>

&nbsp;
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