Editing Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi:Volume7 Chapter2 (section)

===Part III===

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Ultimately, she was sidelined again.

Scar sighed as she held Celica in her arms.

Scar and Celica were locked inside a tent close to the lakeside, far away from the hills lakeside, giving off an unhappy vibe. The other squad members were terrified of Scar and served her tea and sweets to coax them, but they turned away without even looking at them.

"Don't use the radio, the iron bugs may have intercepted us. Just watch them with your eyes—no, no, good work, both of you."

<i>Please do something about your wife!</i> The young soldier jostled Juliie, wanting him to coddle Scar. <i>‘I’m busy and I have to show up now?’</i> such was the demeanor Julie showed as he came over, but it was unable to please Scar at all, and she felt it was unfair, for she was bored to tears.

Scar puffed her cheeks, mimicking the way Ai used to do it, and it certainly fit the mood she was in.

Julie immediately started to fidget and tickle Celica's face to get Scar’s attention.

"Alrighty~. Miss Dee is about to take a break~"

Just then, Dee lifted the tent flap and entered. She looked very tired, probably because she had been up all night.

And once she looked over at them, her face was filled with delight.

"Oro? Everyone’s here? Nice timing. I’ll have some sweets~."

Dee grinned away, and was revitalized for some reason as she seemingly discarded her fatigue, showing a demonic smile as she snatched Celica from Scar's hands.

"Don't mind me~!"

With the icebreaker snatched away, Julie had no choice but to attack from up front.

"…Am I inconveniencing you in any way?"

Scar looked up at the big man.

"Everything."

"Hmm? What do you—?

"I am saying this whole situation is quite an inconvenience."

Scar tried to express her anger as accurately as possible, through her body, with Ai as reference. She raised her eyebrows and lowered her voice as much as possible to convey this ‘I am angry’ sentiment.

"I cannot do the laundry, I cannot cook, I cannot bring Celica out to see the grandmothers and the mothers, and I have no idea what Ai and Alice are doing now. You said you would be there for me, but you have been gone for a long time."

"No, that's…sorry—But it's for Celica."

<i>Hmph.</i> Scar puffed her cheeks, looking even more frustrated. She did not think this was a fair take. Celica appeared to have the same sentiment as she flailed in the arms of the leering Dee, <i>‘enough fooling’</i>, Mother and child were thus united in sentiment.

And then.

Scar picked up Celica from Dee's hands and thrust her out to Julie.

<i>"I am, fine."</i>

She dubbed over for Celica.

"I want, to, go out."

Julie was initially slack jawe, but he then lowered his head, his shoulders shivering, as though moved by the heartfelt voice of his daughter..

"Pfft… ahem…why are you only saying a few words?"

<i>"…It is, difficult, to talk."</i>

"I see. Well, come to think of it, it’s your first time talking. That's great, my daughter!"

Celica was always happy to receive praise, and so she snorted proudly. Julie continued to lavish praise on Celica <i>"You're a genius!" "A prodigy!"</i> Celica looked gleeful, <i>daww</i>, and she cooed away as though she was proud to be the one talking.

It was Scar who was troubled. The two of them were chatting happily, leaving her out of the conversation. <i>"Daw daw," "I see," "Aw aw" "I didn't notice that"</i>.

"E-erm, Julie?"

"Yes, Scar, I'm having a secret conversation with Celica."

"Wh-what is that!? That is not fair!"

Dee was lying on the desk, shaking. She probably choked on a candy bar. A warm fuzzy feeling spread through the tent as one of the soldiers tried to use the radio without permission to call the others.

That was when it happened—

"? What's wrong, Celica?"

Celica, who was in Julie’s arms, suddenly froze, and her smile instantly faded.

"What is it? Need a diaper?"

Luckily, Julie tried to shift the conversation, but he soon changed his attitude.

Celica reeled in her limbs , as if her life was about to be compromised.

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Waaah—!

A baby's cry echoed through the tent.

It was not a normal cry. It was not a cry for food or diapers, but a desperate cry for life.

There was silence.

Immediately, Scar moved. She consoled Celica with deft movements that were as natural as breathing, and looked beyond the tent.

"…Dee, please have all people south of block three flee east immediately. Put out a warning to those on Continental Road and downtown."

"Roger that."

Dee obeyed without asking.

"Julie, please get the blue car ready."

Julie too nodded without asking why.

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"The enemy is most probably after us."

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"SHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUNNNNN!!"

The ashworm that had been clinging to the top of the hill mowed down the hill like caramel sauce on pudding.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUNNNNN!!"

It sloshed along, eating up everything in its path like a tsunami or magma.

"Miss Madame!"

At the tip of the spear, a group of shadows were running at the same speed.

"Miss Madame, please listen!! Please stop!"

A 500 HP off-road motorbike specialized for rough terrain strode through the abandoned town at falling speed. The bike was an amazing three-seater, with Alice in the driver's seat, Shaun in the tandem seat, and Ai standing on the cowl behind them, relying only on her sense of balance.

"Miss Madame!"

Ai called out frantically, her hair blowing in the wind. Madame completely ignored her. Her main body just rolled along, eating up the ruins like a snowball.

Meanwhile, the wreckage of an overturned bus appeared before the bike.

"! Ai, we’re jumping!"

Alice raised his hips, lifted the front wheel, and

Buzzer Beater.

The bike used the slight incline to leap through the air, through a window frame with less than five centimeters to spare, and landed forward.

It was too much of a force to be called a throw. One could see veins showing on his forehead, as though he was enduring the tremendous migraine.

"Mr. Alice, don't be reckless!"

"I don’t have a choice!—Here we go again!"

"Ah! Come on!"

The next moment, the bike barged into a worn down house. This building that appeared no different from any other abandoned building had a secret role that only Alice knows about.

The bike flew into the children's room from the living room and kicked over a pile of dolls. Somehow, a large number of grenades tumbled out of the dolls that tumbled over .

They exploded.

"GIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!"

The grenades miraculously exploded at the perfect distance.

Alice had stocked his supplies all over the place for the reconstruction of the town, and remembered where they all were. This bike and the prior grenades were some of them. He then kicked a log that he had stacked for building materials and hit it directly, spraying it with gasoline that he had hidden in the liquor store.

He then sprayed bullets over them and ignited the gasoline.

"Hey! I told you to stop!"

"I'm sorry! I'll buy you sweets later!"

"That's not the point!"

Ai had never seen such uses of the ability before. Alice had a grim look on her face as though he was "enduring torture.

All right! She’s off course!"

Everything was done to draw the ashworm away from the town.

They had no idea what caused it, but the three of them were trying their best to redirect Madame who had gotten serious, and worked hard till this point.

Their hard work was not for naught, for Madame, who was on her way to the lake, tilted her body to the side and went towards the hills.

"Thank Goodness…we're safe for now."

"Is that so? Glad to hear that. … Now, Mr. Alice, I'd like to have a talk with you…"

"I-I'll listen when we get back! We’ll talk, so spare me now!"

Right when the atmosphere on the bike seemingly relaxed.

"…Say, isn’t it weird?"

Shaun, who had been sitting in his seat and watching on, , said in an emotionless voice,

"…She’s changing course again. It’s like she’s led to a place without people."

Ai immediately stopped her lecture and stared at where Madame was headed.

<i>"SHHHAAUUNNN!! MY!! BBBBAAABBBBYYYYY!!!"</i>

The angle Madame took was increasingly acute, towards the hill where nobody was at.

Ahead of her was a blue car conjuring a sandstorm.

<i> </i>

<i>"I see yoooooooouuuuuuu!!"</i>

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"South! Hurry!"

Scar jumped into the blue car with Celica in her arms, and Julie answered as he stepped on the gas. Bendo barely missed the car, and his grumbles were far behind them.

Celica was still crying.

"It is fine."

Scar smiled, suppressing her own anxiety.

"You have your mother, father, brother and sister with you."

She looked out of the window. There was an avalanche of ash on the hillside and a group of children fighting desperately at the head of it.

"What are our kids doing—!?"

Julie screamed half-crazedly and slammed the steering wheel.

"Watch out! Run, you idiots! Why are you headed towards us?"

"Uncle! Uncle! I'm sure they're screaming the same thing, right?"

Dee popped her head forward and retorted. Julie was so startled that one had to worry if his blood vessels would burst.

"Dee!? Why are you in this car too!?"

Dee pouted.

"Because I don't want to be left out."

"Of course."

"Now is not the time for that!! Arrrgh! Goodness! Our family’s like that!"

<i>Geh!</i> Julie shouted like an animal. Celica was momentarily startled and stopped crying.

Madame was looming closer every second.

"…I do not think we can escape."

Scar calculated calmly, Ai and the others had bought lots of time, but the opponent was too strong.

"We shall be caught in fifty seconds…"

"Is that so…"

Still, Julie did not give up. He kept spinning the steering wheel, minimized his braking, and tried to extend the time from 50 to 51.

A Gravekeeper would have thought it was a foolish thing to do, and even be troubled, wondering the significance of this act.

But Scar could only smile at Julie's clumsy effort.

"Your parents are kind of nice these days, isn't it?"

Dee smiled and poked Celica.

"See, you're a girl, aren't you? Don't cry for nothing."

Scar held the baby, tying her tightly with a cloth and gripping the silver blade with her other hand.

She intended to fight until the end.

She was still half and half, either as a living creature or a phenomenon, but she did not mind and intended to fight for herself and for family, swinging her blade until her last moment.

But then, with a poof.

<i>"Hmm?"</i>

"Waah!"

Scar's calculations and Julie's efforts were overturned. A dull sound echoed in the car.
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<i>"What in the world!?"</i>

Both of them were desperately trying to change Madame's path, but were flabbergasted by the blue car's behavior.

"It must have stalled…"

Shaun blurted out calmly.

The blue car was once again immobile, probably due to daily overuse.

"No! Mr. Julie, you idiot! It’s your fault for not maintaining the car properly! "

"That stupid junk! I'll scrap it when we get back!"

"Now’s not the time to be talking about this, both of you…young Alice, go around. "

"I don't need you to tell me!"

The bike accelerated further to a speed that could cause necks to snap arriving before the blue car. Three people along with four others hopped off. Alice, Julie, Scar, Dee...

"Old man! Use this to get us all out of here! Ai and I will figure out a way to stop it!"

"Are you kidding me, you idiot!? I’ll stay, you guys run!"

"Ai, please take Celica and run. I shall take her on."

"I'll try to talk to her, you guys—"

It was impossible to keep the conversation coherent. Everyone was thinking for the others’ sake, and could not move. <i>"I’ll take care of this, everyone, please run away,"</i> Ai swallowed back the words she was going to say

"Ah! Hey, Ai!"

Holding the shovel like a sword, Ai stood at the front to face off against Madame.

"! She’s here!"

It was impossible to decide who would run away and who would stay behind with this group.

"SHHHHAAAAAUUUUUNNNN!!!"

A wave of ashes loomed at once, devouring the group.

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Ai felt like she was in a dream, falling, climbing up the stairs, and then realizing there was no final step.

But the shock she had expected did not come.

There was a lot of wailing and crying.

"…It stopped?"

Tired of waiting for the shock that never came, Ai gently opened her closed eyelids.

The sudden change in air pressure had created a fog in the area. In the pure white darkness, Celica's cries were the only sounds that echoed.

The fog was lifted.

"……Ah…Ah…"

Madame stopped dead in front of Scar, who was holding Celica.

"…Ahhh…ahhh…"

No one was able to move. Even Scar was looking a little terrified, and froze as if he had been struck by lightning.

Ai gripped the hilt of the shovel firmly.

"Aaahh…aaahh…."

Amidst the tense atmosphere, time remained still and did not move at all..

Madame merely staggered before a crying Celica.

"……?"

Ai was mystified and relaxed her stance slightly.

"Ahh…do not cry…aahhh…"

"Waaaaahhhh!!"

"Ahh, ahh."

The monster's face was flushed with bewilderment.

"Do not cry…ahh, do not cry…"

At that moment, Ai suddenly realized.

Could it be that Madame was simply—

"…Everyone, please don't do anything."

Scar too appeared to have noticed something, and whispered with a determined expression.

"Leave this to me…"

Her eyes had the glint of someone who was ready to move time. Ai had no idea as to what Scar was going to do, but she was willing to defer.

Reality however would not let her.

<b>With a thud.</b>

"Eh?"

A spear was stabbed into Madame's face.

Ai slowly turned around. There, despair had taken shape and swept over her.

<i>"Ohhhh!"</i>

There was a rumbling that shook the earth, and a beastly cry.

Just as the ashes of death seemingly rolled down from the top of the hill, a crowd of citizens were attacking from the bottom of it. The Dead vanguard led by Guard Captain were followed by the main force of the Living."

There were three thousand of them.

"Hey Alice~! We’re here to help~!"

The guard Captain shouted.

"Miss Scar, We’re here to save you!"

The boy soldier, dressed in full plate, held up a new spear.

"…No…"

Ai felt her soles chill.

The blood was drained from her. The squeal beneath her feet reached out to her hands, to the point where her shovel almost fell off.

People ran up, hand in hand, legs together. The weapons were in short supply. Only a hundred or so people were armed with guns. Some of them were even bare-handed. It was as if they were going to die.

But they still attacked.

Why? Why?

Ai stared at the reality before her in confusion. Why did they launch a suicidal attack? Why were they risking their lives?

It was obvious.

It was to save them.

Bendo, leaning his upper body out from his Cadillac, laughed sarcastically when he spotted Dee, and shouted,

"Everyone! Attack!"

"NOOOOOO!!!"

Ai screamed, but the citizens did not stop as they attacked the wave of ash. Grenades exploded, machine guns spewed bullets, machetes sliced through bookshelves, and rusty choppers hacked at cutting boards.

The ashworms were initially slow to react as they let themselves be attacked. Eventually, however, they waved their arms in annoyance. Their movements were weak and appropriate, far from the desire to ‘attack’.

But even such a move would easily rob their lives.

"Ah! Ahhhhh!"

The scene from afar resembled a puppet show..

The first one died.

The young soldier died.

Bendo died.

Ai covered her face like she was going crazy.

"Run! Everyone, please run———!"

And that was where it all began.

The man who had been stabbed through the heart grinned and snapped the spear that had stabbed through him. The woman whose left arm was severed was attacked with that severed left arm. The old soldiers whose heads were decapitated grabbed his head with his left hand and sprayed the machine gun with his right hand.

The battle against the iron bugs that had spilled down the hill was fought by thirty Dead.

Then, how many Dead would be able to fight against these ash bugs that spread out like the earth? Fifty? A hundred? Or one thousand? Ten thousand?

"Run! I beg of you! Run!"

Alice let out a blood spitting scream, his eyes stained with blood and tears. For the first time in his life, he knew what he had been doing. He had risked his life for the sake of others. It was only when he became that other person that he understood the pain of that position.

"…Everyone, please run before Madame's body reacts."

Only one person, Dee, was disgustingly calm. Shaking off her tears, Ai shouted,

"Miss Dee! You!"

"Stop taking it out on me, I told you from the beginning that I wanted this."

Only Dee, this ‘Witch’, kept staring at reality so calmly.

<i>"Ga…chi…ga…chi…gachi…?"</i>

Madame's body, which had been looking curiously at the metal spear stabbed at her face, finally began to move. She looked around in bewilderment "??", not understanding why she was at such a place.

<i>"!?"</i>

Her gaze froze when she saw the top of the hill. The ashworms that were spreading out beneath her feet buzzed in fear, causing goosebumps on the ground as if they were frightened.

"What…?""

The tide of the battle quickly favored the Living…or rather, the Dead. The iron bugs which had little motivation to attack stopped chasing mosquitoes and began to escape sluggishly.

Seeing this, Ai realized that there was something missing. There was something here. Something that had been with the ash bugs since yesterday, something that was now a pair, a flame that would burn the ash back to ash!

<i>"Bachibachibachi!"</i>

"Look!"

Someone shouted happily.

"It's Alice's flames!"

A second wave was dredging its way down the hillside that was purified completely by the ash.

"They’re here to burn iron bugs!"

But Alice paled and shouted.

"Run! That thing is no longer under my control! I don't know what's going to happen!"

The fiery tsunami reached the end of the line, slowly burning down the hill like flowing lava.

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<i>"Gachigachigachigachigachigachigachigachigachigachigachigachigachi!!"</i>

<i>"Bachibachibachibachibachibachibachibachibachibachibachibachibachi!!"</i>

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The flames swarmed the ashes, causing noises akin to water poured into boiling oil.

It was no longer Alice's Buzzer Beater or Madame's bugs.

The flames devoured away. The ashes devoured away.

It was akin to a snake biting its own tail.

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| Back to [[Kami-sama_no_Inai_Nichiyoubi:Volume7_Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
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| Forward to [[Kami-sama_no_Inai_Nichiyoubi:Volume7_Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
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