Editing Kaze no Stigma:Volume3 Chapter 6 (section)

=== Part 5 ===


Ayumi felt the fast approaching <<Death>> closing in with each second. As if she were a drained water tank, the power was flowing out of her at an alarming rate.

Even though she understood that she will die the moment this power will have run out, she didn't try to ''save'' it.

It wasn't out of despair. She didn't plan on risking her life. For the sake of living with Ren, it was necessarily to do so, so she did it.

''Just a bit more, just a bit more.''

But that wasn't an infinite power. Enduring it with great effort, compensating for it with fighting spirit, she did it to the limit. Her breathing was severed, she couldn't help but to inhale.

''Just.... a bit....more......''

As if she was turned off, she suddenly lost all her senses. The consciousness that sunk into the darkness, no matter how much she called out to it, her body already doesn't have enough force to respond to it. She slowly collapsed forward - 

"What are you doing?"

On the verge of collapsing front-faced on the ground a stretched out hand from the back sized the nape of her neck and pulled back Ayumi's body. Her awaken consciousness recognized the silhouette of her savior.

"Mayumi.......sama......?"

"You talk big but is this it? If you, the one that should be protected dies first what will happen?"

Folding her arms arrogantly, Mayumi sneered at the foolish doll.

"Though you're my imperfect clone I don't want you to lose from such a thing."

"..........."

In blank amazement Ayumi looked up at Mayumi. In other words, this is -

" - Hmm."

Making an entirely arrogant facial expression Mayumi raised Ayumi's chin.

"I don't want to be told that by Mayumi-sama who deserted under the enemy's fire."

Making such a provocative declaration with all her strength, a huge vein popped on Mayumi's temple.

"....you can talk back now, huh?"

"Of course. That's because I'm nothing but Mayumi-sama's duplicate. Besides, no matter who it is, the performance of the one that is born after is obviously excellent."

"......very good......"

While her temples were violently convulsing, Mayumi murmured in a low voice.

"Should I teach you what the original's power is like? Prostrate yourself in front of the overwhelming power difference Ayumi!"

Together with a sonorous shout, Mayumi released her power. The ripple that paused when Ayumi used all her strength started binding the demon beast for a second time.

''Mayumi-sama, thank you very much.''

Expressing words of gratitude inside her heart, she bowed deeply at Mayumi's back. And once again she adjusted her breathing and gave her own power to Mayumi. The doubled effort tied Zenon much more powerfully.

''With this we can win - No, we <<will>> win. And then, together - ''

While mustering all her strength, Ayumi addressed Ren. 

'' - we will become happy, right?''



"Woooooooohhh!!"

The wind blade released by Kazuma cut all four of Zenon's legs. Not letting the moment it was disconected from the earth escape, he pushed up the limbless body into the sky.

As long as Zenon comes in contact with the ground it has an infinite amount of power. So, in order to defeat it, all its links with the earth must be severed, attack it with the greatest amount of power while in that state, and before it can regenerate destroy it so that not even a fragment of its existence is left behind. 

That chance, doesn't appear very often. There was only this moment.

"We finish it off right now!", Kazuma shouted, while forcibly throwing away Ren body, found near-by.

Surprised for just one moment he quickly understood Kazuma's plan and he converged all his power at one point.

"Match it from below!"

"Ok!"

In accordance with Kazuma's instruction, Ayano slipped right under Zenon. While in the Hassō-no-kamae stance, she put all her remaining power on the single stroke and swung it with all her strength.

The plasma whose caloric value rivaled that of the sun sank inside Zenon's shell. And then, from overhead, the descending Ren released all his power.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

The calorific value Ren emitted at that time may have exceeded Ayano's holding Enraiha. The gushing out golden plasma simply went through the impenetrable shell, broke it and burned it to nothing. 

Broken pieces of Zenon were scattering and exploding in all directions - but Kazuma didn't permit the existence of such delicate splinters.

"Vanish!!"

A hard wind exceeding the speed of sound - no, the intent to kill carried by the wind annihilated the countless fragments until none remained.

Literally annihilated. Without even leaving dust, all traces of Zenon's existence disappeared.

"Aahh - shit!", spit out Kazuma, tired.

That was the limit. His brain was about to start burning off. With the last of his power making Ren, about to crash, land softly, right away the seal placed on his eyes was resumed. He couldn't move, not even a step. If he were to release his consciousness he would continue sleeping for at least three days.

''But.....I can't do that.''

He had the obligation to see the end with his own eyes. Because although he knew he did everything he could he didn't stop it.

''We can't save can we? Me and you too....''

''We.........we woooooooooooooonn!!''

While flying down on the wind, Ren was overjoyed inside.

He quickly wanted to meet Ayumi. He wanted to see Ayumi's delighted face. That thought was overflowing his consciousness. 

A few more meters remained before reaching the ground but he hurriedly destroyed the wind barrier and jumped out. 

Coincident with his landing, he started running. Aiming for the girl he loved more than anyone else.

"Ayumi-chan!"

To Ren waving his hand with a fully smiling face Ayumi returned a blank smile,and then - she collapsed.

"Ayumi-chan?"

Ren stood still opening his eyes wide in surprise but when he calmed down he immediately ran to her. 

He held the senseless girl in his arms and shouted.

"Ayumi-chan! Ayumi-chan......!?"

"What happened......!?"

Ayano too tried to run over when she realized the disaster that befallen Ayumi. But, Kazuma's hand restrained her.

Gripping her hand firmly, Kazuma said:

"You're not needed."

"What are you saying? She needs treatment quickly - "

"I said it's not needed", Kazuma repeated, not looking her in the eyes.

Just hearing that serious tone, Ayano's face, elated from victory became stiff.

"What the heck...is that?"

Standing in front of Kazuma, Ayano asked with a cracked voice.

"What are you trying to say? Answer me! Look into my eyes!"

".........."

With a sigh turned to the sky, he pointed an emotionless glance to Ayano. And then - he suddenly started a story that apparently didn't have any connection to this one.

"..........Ayumi, Mayumi's clone, said she grew up this much in just one month, right?"

"Yeah, that's what I heard."

"You can't do such a thing."

".....eh?"

At Ayano's involuntary question, Kazuma repeated plainly.

"With the contemporary science human clones can be made but you can't accelerate their growth. If you want to create a twelve years old clone you need twelve years."

"Just- just wait a second."

Not really understanding, Ayano hastily interrupted Kazuma's words.

"But, isn't Ayumi actually here? Are you trying to say Ayumi is not really a clone?"

".......wouldn't that be nice?"

At the convenient guess, Kazuma was really cynical. He showed a wasted smile.

"Mayumi's father managed to accomplish something that the science can't. What I mean - "

''"Jya jya jya jyan!"''

Interrupting Kazuma's explanation, with a sky-rocketing high tension, without understanding the situation, blurting out her thoughts.

''"They used something that for us fairies is more important that anything else, the egg from which the next Patriarch will be born!"''

At those two's blank stare, Tiana stuck out her chest with an <<ahem>>.

".......egg?"

Noticing Kazuma's isolated murmur, Tiana pressed her mouth noticing the verbal slip. But, she immediately started talking non-stop.

''"Actually - that is right. Ah, that doesn't necessarily mean we reproduce by eggs you know! Is this what you call a <<metaphorical expression>>?"''

"You, where have you been until now?", Ayano interrupted the stream of words with a indistinct expression and cross-examined the fairy that appeared out of nowhere.

"Eh? It was scary so I took refuge. But it seems everything's over so I thought to come back to carry out the request. Hey, hey, can you hurry up? So you must wait until that kid dies? At any rate that's two or three minutes more - Ugyaaa?"

Without saying anything, mercilessly, Kazuma grabbed Tiana tightly.

"You...You can't talk until I say so."

There was no need to continue with ''or else...''. Coerced by the overflowing, naked thirst for blood, Tiana voicelessly fainted.

"Well, that's how it is. That way Ayumi was forcibly grown to the age where she can endure the ceremony."

Throwing away the fainted fairy, Kazuma continued as if he didn't do anything.

"Using such a excessive method will naturally burden the body. That's why her life span was so short. Yesterday, her cells already began to crumble. And she squeezed out that much power with her body in such a state. There's nothing to be done."

"No way......." 

Ayano murmured in a daze and - unexpectedly scowled at Kazuma with angry eyes.

"Why....if you knew such a thing, why didn't you stop Ayumi?"

"And then what would have happened?", Kazuma asked back coldly.

"Stop her and then we all die together - would that have been better?"

"That's....."

Becoming speechless, Ayano hanged her head heartbroken.

"Then, what did we fight for? Wanting to save her, didn't we just shorten that girl's life span!?"

"........"

Kazuma looked up at the sky for a second time. And then, while on that posture, standing alone, he muttered.

" - I'm sorry for being so weak."

"!!"

''That's wrong...''

She understood. This was not Kazuma's fault. It's not only Kazuma's fault. She doesn't deserve to condemn others.

Not meeting his eyes, hanging her hand in shame, Ayano apologized.

"Sorry...I took it out on you......"

"That's right."

Although blunt Kazuma embraced Ayano tenderly. While brushing her head gently the way as if comforting a child, he said close to her ears. 

"You can do at least that much. Because this time I really couldn't do anything."

"I was even more....."

"Aaah. Let's get stronger. So that we can protect next time."

"Fuuu......"

Pressing her head on Kazuma's chest, Ayano cried.

While feeling unbearably comfortable. The warmth of the wide chest, the feeling of Kazuma gently brushing her head.




"Ayumi-chan! Ayumi-chan! Pull yourself together!"

Holding Ayumi's completely limp body, Ren called out to her with a frantic expression.

Maybe because that feeling was transmitted, Ayumi's closed eyelids slowly opened.

"......Ren?"

"Ayumi....chan....."

"I'm so glad - I meet you again..."

Softly and tenderly, Ayumi smiled. Just by watching that clear facial expression, Ren realized. 

That she was beyond his help. Unable to bear it, tears were flooding.

"....Ayumi-chan...."

".......I used too much power.....I'm already......no good......"

I couldn't protect - At that regretful thought scorching Ren's body Ayumi showed an absurd smile, as if she lost something petty.

"I'm sorry.....I....I wanted more......"

Ayumi slowly shook her head. As if saying ''it's not Ren's fault''.

"Listen, Ren......in the end, I have only one wish........"

"In the end....!"

Beginning to speak, Ren opened and closed his mouth soundlessly. At this point, words of consolation have no meaning.

"......what is is?"

''No matter what wish, I'll grant it'', Ren decided strongly in his heart. It doesn't matter if it takes him all his life.

If she will say she wants both to leave together, he will gladly die.

Ren brought hie ear closer to listen to Ayumi's faint murmur.

"Don't.....pity me....."

"!!"

Unintentionally Ren opened his eyes and watched Ayumi.

Without regret or attachment, there it was the pupil that calmly accepted death.

Different from the same way she was when he first met her, she doesn't think it's fine to die because she has no reason to live. Having finished what she had to do, dying with that satisfaction, her eyes were full of that pride.

"I....don't regret it.....you see, I decided it by myself. Just like Ren said, by my own will, I chose what to do. That's why.....that's why.....understand. I'm not a ''pitiable child''. I can stick out my chest against anyone, I lived, that kind of life...."

"Yes....yes."

While endlessly shedding tears, Ren nodded many times over.

"That's true...Ayumi-chan was, splendid.....so much stronger, than I am....."

"Really....? If you really think so, I'm happy......"

Ayumi laughed gently. Feeling as if that silhouette was growing hazy, Ren blinked.

"!!"

It wasn't an optical illusion.

She collapsed like trash. Her hair, her hands, her feet. From the extremities of her body, like sand, Ayumi's body mercilessly started crumbling and the life made of trash turned to trash, incapable of leaving a corpse.

"A....yumi.....chan......"

His face crumbled by the overflowing tears, Ren called out the girl's name. Ayumi's face pouted, looking up at Ren.

"No, Ren. Smile - "

"Ayumi-chan....."

"The last time I see Ren's face I don't want it to be a crying face. I want you to see me off smiling. That's why, please?"

"Ayumi-chan - "

The face distorted by grief, Ren forcibly turned it into a smiling one. One that no matter how you look at it strangely smiles while crying but Ayumi, looking happy, returned a content smile.

That perfectly clear smiling face was showing that the end is near. A human being cannot smile in such a pure way.

That was an angel or maybe the smile of martyrdom from a holy woman. 

''Not yet!''

He could not yet believe that it was over. Ren has yet to say the most important thing. He came all this way for the sake of telling her that important thing.

"Ayumi-chan!"

There have been only two days since they met. But even so, inside Ren's heart the girl's existence became more important than anyone else's.  

He couldn't protect her.

He couldn't save her.

They couldn't be together.

More important than anyone and anything, Ren's only one. Even if she changed to rubbish, that thought doesn't change.

"I love Ayumi-chan!"

It was obvious even without the words but he never said it before.

He just wanted to say this. He had to say this. Not out of compassion, not out of a sense of obligation, he had to convey the feeling that got him this far.

"I love Ayumi-chan more than anyone else in the world!"

Opening her eyes, her pupils were clouded with tears. Her face was tinged with red, and the transcendent, heavenly smile returned to one appropriate to a girl her age.

"..........., ...................."

Looking up at Ren, Ayumi quietly murmured. But that whisper already couldn't make the atmosphere vibrate and disappeared inside her mouth.

"Eh? What - ", Ren asked back, but at that moment - 

''Zaaaaahh''

with a dry sound, Ayumi's full body changed to trash.

From the gaps between his arms, the substance that was Ayumi spilled and dissipated.

The shrine maiden costume that lost its master was strongly, strongly embraced by the boy.

"................."

The only proof that the girl existed was the lingering warmth that has yet to disappear from the clothes.

Swept away by the wind, Ayumi disappeared from this world.

"What are you doing? Do you have a miko fetish at such a young age?"

Ren, frantically clinging to the white robe, teeth bared, heard such a sober voice.

Ren raised his face as if flipping.

"......nii-sama......."

" - Aaah"

"......couldn't protect......I couldn't protect......"

"It's not like that."

" - eh?"

To Ren's blank face, Kazuma trivially replied.

"She had a short life but she died well. She died while smiling. She'll have no regrets."

"But........"

"No buts. Do you want to look down on her last request? Don't pity her. That's insulting."

"But.....but....."

Grasping his hands tightly, shedding tears for his own powerlessness, Ren forced the words out.

"I couldn't be together with her.......I couldn't make her happy....."

"......I think she was happy enough as it was......" 

Overlooking Ren with a troubled face, Kazuma murmured.

"If not for you, Ayumi would have died in ignorance, without understanding the meaning of happiness or that of despair. You rescued her from that. Isn't that enough?"

Without saying anything he shook his completely crumpled, tear-stained face. Many, many times over.

Kazuma gave up on persuading him and let out a small breath.

" - Well a man who would take the death of the woman he fell in love in a very rational way would be very eerie. If you want to cry then cry. You don't have hold back."

He beckoned him as if saying ''come!'' and Ren jumped into his brother's chest with force enough for a body blow. And then, he started crying in a large voice.

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Hardly grasping his fists, he hit Kazuma's chest many times over. Without even moving his body an inch, taking it all in, Kazuma gently brushed Ren's head.

"Ayumi-chan! Ayumi-chan! Ayumi-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaann!"

The boy's sobs resounded over and over again at night in the sea of trees.



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