Editing Mushi:Vol4 Finale

== '''Finale: Unable to Save Based on Love Alone '''==

An uncomfortable feeling lingered at his fingertips after he killed Long-Armed Demon.

No matter how many times he wiped away the blood, no matter how he altered the form of his hand and wrist, that feeling would not disappear. It was a sticky, unpleasant sensation. Of course, it was not the first time he had killed. He should also feel no guilt towards such acts.

"..."

Zekiguchi Nashinori narrowed his eyes and walked forward as he gauged the darkness before him. He carried Breaksun, who had fainted, on his broad shoulders, together with the girl he had obtained from the apartment complex.

"--"

The girl was silent. She simply fainted and was still alive. She suddenly lost her consciousness when they left that apartment complex, as if she was an electronic toy who suddenly had her battery removed. She completely lost her consciousness all of a sudden, and her face was devoid of all expression.

Her name was Usagawa Rinne.

A girl with pale pink hair, whose face still retained a hint of childish innocence.

She was dressed in plain household clothes, and there was nothing particularly unique about her. She had fainted unconscious and was carried on Zekiguchi Nashinori's shoulder. He attacked the apartment building after he sorted out Long-Armed Demon, all for the sake of obtaining Rinne. She was someone whom Zekiguchi must have in order to fulfil his goal.

A blond human with fast reflexes tried to stop him, but he was no match for Zekiguchi Nashinori at the end.

Zekiguchi was the strongest fighter in terms of physical battles amongst all the Greater Fragments due to his power to alter his flesh. This was also something he was very proud of. It was a piece of cake to dispatch of a human.

But that expression the human showed at the end - 

- Even Zekiguchi was not prepared for that expression full of despair and anguish.

He would see that expression whenever he tried to recall the event, if only a little bit. He must have had that same expression on his own face at the beginning of all things, when he decided to act in order to attain that goal, which he was ready to give up his humanity for.

It was an expression full of hatred for the world, full of vengeance for God, and full of curses towards himself. It was an expression full of tears.

"... Don't cry."

Rinne, whom he carried on his shoulder, suddenly said in a low voice. She was probably saying it to the man whom Zekiguchi had left in the apartment.

Suddenly, Rinne looked at Zekiguchi and said: "You aren't crying."

Zekiguchi's head suddenly twitched. His intestines began to pulse, and his chest felt tight. His breathing was somehow only coming out in short gasps. Why was he feeling so anxious all of a sudden?

This feeling - this memory - was beginning to surface.

This was an anxiety Zekiguchi used to have when he was still a human. This was the feeling he had when he pondered about death, about the future, and about the world after this life. This was exactly like it.

"Ahahaha, haha, hahaha."

Rinne suddenly laughed out loud.

Her laugh was a sharp, piercing, almost metallic noise. It made him instinctively feel cold. He felt an indescribable fear when he saw her expression.

Zekiguchi simply must have her in order to obtain his goal. He must have Usagawa Rinne. But would he be able to control her?

Zekiguchi suddenly felt unsure and uneasy.  

A startlingly pure beauty sparkled in her eyes.

Her eyes were as clear as if they were mirrors of truth. They reflected Zekiguchi's crying face, crying because of his cowardice born out of fear.

"Crying. Living. Everyone. You. Me."

Ahahahahaha. Rinne continued to laugh.






Old memories started to surface in his mind.

Those were the words Tatsue tearfully said to him when they met in the mansion owned by Sakaki Guryū's parents. She was his adopted sister with no blood relations to him.

''- I'm so jealous of big brother.''

''- I really want big brother's talents.''

''- I want to keep living with an inner strength like big brother's.''

"Hahaha. Tatsue... If you're really jealous of me, then find a way to replace me."

He was in a dark room in the old apartment building. It was a room rented under Usagawa Rinne's name. Sakaki Guryū was sitting in there. A man like him with blond hair, green eyes, and beauty rivaling that of an art piece, was now lying on the ground covered in blood and feeling weak all over.

The lights were not on.

The room was dim. Everything appeared fuzzy.

There were two sets of blankets in the room. The phone that Sakaki Guryū bought for Usagawa Rinne was resting on the pillow. Sakaki's face was full of confusion and slowly reached his hand towards the phone. That was something they used to pour out their innocent love to each other many times with endless text messages. As long as there was still power in the battery, all the information stored in the memory card could be read.

<pre>From    ★ Usagawa Rinne
To      ★ Sakaki Guryū-sama
Subject ★ Pleasure to meet you
Body    ★ Good morning, Sakaki-san. Thank you for gifting me with a phone, but I don't really know how to use it. I'm very slow when it comes to 
electronics. I'm very sorry. Why did you give such an expensive thing to me? I feel like I'm being cheated. Ah, no, I'm sorry. Umm, I apologize. It's 
my first time sending a text message. I'm sorry.</pre>

As Sakaki paid for Rinne's phone bills, the two of them sent innumerable messages to each other without hindrance. This was the first message left in her Sent folder from the beginning of everything.

Beep beep. The light of the phone monitor shone on his face. Sakaki Guryū expressionlessly pressed the buttons on the phone.

When they first met, Rinne was always giving out this kind of an impression. She rarely smiled, and she was not good at conversing. As she was discarded by her mother, and her father abused her, Rinne always appeared gloomy and unhappy. No matter how one looked at it, she was a very normal and very unfortunate girl.

<pre>From    ★ Rinne
To      ★ Sakaki Guryū-sama
Subject ★ Please do not call me Milady Usarin
Body    ★ Good morning, Sakaki-san. Please stop calling me by that nickname. Or should I say, please stop calling me 'Milady' out in the public... 
It's very embarrassing. Um, why are you so... Ah, no, um, I'll be very happy if you can just address me as per usual. Also, are you really working as 
a teacher at the high school I am going to attend?? Um - Um - Why did it turn out like this?</pre>

She was really cold emotionally. Sakaki grinned bitterly when he saw Rinne's messages. Or was it him who was always too egotistical and couldn't tell what was going on around him? He worked so hard in vain, and yet Rinne felt troubled because of their relationship. What did Rinne regard him as? Perhaps it would be happier for Rinne if she had died in the sea? No one could protect her. She was always getting hurt. Wasn't it enough for her to suffer through such meaningless pain?

She was in so much hurt after attempting to kill herself in the sea. She was then killed by Guriko. Then Mushi tried to strangle her and hang her. She was then turned into a Meat Doll by Sterilization Disinfection. And now Usagawa Rinne was taken away by a man with wolf-like, savage eyes.

Why must she suffer through such cruelty?

Why can't he even bring happiness to a girl?

<pre>From    ★ Rinne
To      ★ Sakaki-san
Subject ★ Edict
Body    ★ I give up. I finally got it. It doesn't matter what I say to you. You can call me Milady if you want to. You can even call me Queen if you 
want to. Ah, no, sorry, I'm getting a bit full of myself. Sakaki-san, how is work? You seem to be visiting me every day. No, um, I don't feel 
troubled, but I'm a little worried. Why are you so... No - I'm sorry. This is it. I'm deleting this message.</pre>

There was this half-written message in the Recycle folder of the phone. Were these messages originally going to be sent to Sakaki's phone? Why did she stop writing them? Sakaki discovered that there were many more discarded messages in Rinne's phone than those she managed to send.

Rinne always seemed to be afraid of something back then. Was she always considering what she would say to him when she composed messages? Was that why she never managed to talk about many of her feelings and thoughts?

Did he really ever see the true Rinne? Did he ever really understood her?

He just wanted someone to rely on him. He wanted to make her happy. Was that not to fulfil his own ego and satisfaction? Those unsent messagets probably contained her true, happy heart.

<pre>From    ★ Usagawa Rinne
To      ★ Sakaki Guryū-sama
Subject ★ Want to die
Body    ★ I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand anything. I don't understand what you're thinking. Why do you exist? Why are you 
interfering with my life? I don't understand. I really want to die lately. I want to escape somewhere. I want to die.</pre>

He kept pressing on the phone's keyboard. There were many words that he didn't understand after the phrase 'want to die'. If Rinne was an ordinary person, then she must have had times when her mind was unstable. Sakaki just wanted to gently hug Rinne, who was no longer here, and at least comfort her with words such as 'it's going to be alright'. But she was not here.

Why couldn't he stay beside Rinne?

He sunk into deep thought as he manipulated Rinne's phone out of boredom. Gradually, Rinne's messages changed and had more content in them.

<pre>From    ★ Usarin
To      ★ Sakaki-san
Subject ★ Edict
Body    ★ I never used to believe that just chatting with someone can make me so happy. I didn't know I could laugh, either. Now I feel as if I was a 
completely new person. This is very interesting. Ah, I'm a girl after all, so I'm going to try challenge cooking. The information I attached is 
concerning that dish. Thanks to Sensei, I keep buying food to eat, and now my weight is starting to get out of control. I should probably pay 
attention to what I eat. By the way, I still don't know the name of that dish. It was vegetable and meat stir-fried together and sprinkled with salt. 
What about this...</pre>

Rinne would start to cook dishes that both tasted good and looked healthy ever since then. She created many strange-looking dishes. If Sakaki found the flavor to be passable, then she would be very satisfied and conclude that it was a masterpiece.

Sakaki smiled softly when he saw Rinne's message.

When Sakaki met Rinne for the first time, he also realized that just chatting with someone can make him so happy. Was he smiling? Sakaki wasn't sure. They were already like friends with similarities to each other. That was how Sakaki and Rinne were like. They met as if they were destined to be together. She was a woman that he was fated to love.

Rinne.

Why - why were they now separated by monsters they didn't even know, and had to exist apart from each other?

They were so far away from each other. That was what Sakaki felt. They were in such harmony when they sent those messages to each other, and yet right now they existed in worlds incomparably apart. Where did everything start to go wrong?

Guriko's face suddenly surfaced in his mind.

"... Urk." Was that when the oddities started to happen? Did Sakaki and Rinne's ordinary life start to get affected after Guriko's appearance?

Why? He couldn't help but start to shiver.

<pre>From    ★ Rinne
To      ★ Sakaki-san
Subject ★ RE: Confirming
Body    ★ Sakaki-san is so shrewd. You saved me, who didn't believe in anything, and allowed me to slowly recover. I can't dislike you anymore. Um, 
please give me a minute. I'll call you after five minutes. Let me calm down a bit.</pre>

Rinne's stubborn and closed heart gradually started to open up. Her stiff expression started to gradually become gentle, and began to like joking with others. When he brought up the question of getting married, Rinne replied affirmatively with a serious expression contrary to before.

Yes, after he received this short message, Sakaki ignored her words and walked straight to Rinne's apartment and started talking with her. They affirmed their intentions with one other. Sakaki was deeply in love with Rinne, and Rinne was also responding to his love.

From that time onwards, the two of them overcame all the obstacles between them, be it age or anything else, and became lovers who understood each other.

Rinne had some doubts back then. She thought Sakaki was just using her and playing with her. However, after they got to know each other more and made promises to each other, they already established a form of trust and constraint. Rinne trusted in Sakaki, and Sakaki also genuinely loved her. Their trust and promise to each other were tied together tightly in happiness.

Sakaki despised having his life and future planned by others, and to waste his talent on such plans.

This was the first hope he found for himself. This was not a happiness that he obtained through his wealth. Others would probably think him as a fool if they knew about it. He just wanted to stay next to Rinne. He just wanted to listen to her voice and look at her smiles.

That was all Sakaki hoped for, and Rinne agreed to be with him.

But - he failed her promise and her trust.

He failed to protect Rinne.

He could not even fight back against that man.

Sakaki sank into despair and was surrounded by a feeling of powerlessness. ''That's enough'', Sakaki thought. ''I'm tired. Let me rest a bit''.

Sakaki frequently blamed himself because of his small mistakes when he took care of Rinne, who lost her personality and became a Meat Doll. It was a hellish time. Would such a life momentarily pause after Rinne was taken away from him? Such thoughts briefly flashed through his mind and just for a split second, he felt happy about it.

He didn't want to keep feeling this pain. He didn't want to keep getting hurt. That was what Sakaki thought.

"Sorry..." Someone's moaning low voice suddenly came through the open door after Rinne was taken by the man dressed in black.

"Sorry. So...rry."

It was the sound of a young girl. It was the voice of Ume, the girl who lived with their landlord, Nageki Kurukiyo.

Her voice sounded weak, as if it was a mirage about to disappear.

Sakaki could not see anything when he turned his eyes towards the direction of the voice. The man dressed in black knocked him away powerfully and his back whacked against the wall. It felt like all the bones in his entire body were broken.

The best he could do was to move his fingers and use Rinne's phone. Sakaki also had an Apple within him. He should be able to recover soon - but even so, he did not feel any strength coming back.

Sorry.

That voice had the same sentiments as Sakaki’s mind. She was apologizing because of her weakness. She was apologizing because she couldn't protect what she wanted to protect.

He wanted to apologize to Rinne.

Tears were flowing down his cheeks for no reason.

Ume's moaning finally stopped. A silence more unbearable than the pain started to spread out.

<pre>From    ★ Usarin
To      ★ Sensei
Subject ★ Edict
Body    ★ Hi. It's me, Usarin. Sensei is probably still very busy after school, but you did say I can send you a message whenever I want, so I sent 
this without too much anxiety. It's fine if you get upset at me for getting you at a bad time. I'm home right now. Is Sensei still at school? It's 
fine if you ignore me because you aren't feeling well. Please reply if you have time. I will be very happy to receive your reply.</pre>

These good old times. That was a time before they met Guriko - before they knew anything about their destiny. Those messages from Rinne were from that time. As he read through this, someone suddenly appeared at the door.

The man had a rather bent back, and a long fringe covered his face. He was the landlord of this building, a detective in the homicide department - Nageki Kurukiyo.

"Ume-chan died."

"... I see."

Sakaki could only give such a reply at this moment.

He rarely talked with that girl, but he did feel sad for her passing. She was so young. She still had so many opportunities for happiness, and yet she already died. It was really sad.

"Rinne was - taken away."

His own voice sounded like it came from somewhere far away. It was spiritless, as if it came from the bottommost spot of his abdomen. It was full of a powerless, gloomy feeling.

Nagike's lips shook, and answered in a low, ironic voice: "... We're so powerless."

"..."

"But Usagawa Rinne may still be alive. Why are you not doing anything?"

The melancholic detective lowered his head and said this in a low voice as he slowly walked away.

Sakaki was not particularly interested in where he was going - maybe he went to seek out Ume's killer.

Even if he revenged her, his personal world would not change, and his heart would not be saved. Even so, he will still complete this task.

Even though he was powerless and has no ability to change the world, he will still regret it if he did nothing.

He had stretched out his hand before now in order to save the person most important to him.

Although he probably didn't have that kind of a power, he will at least – achieve something before he dies.

It was such a miracle to be born in this world. How can he possibly die in despair like this without fighting back and refusing to be God's toy?

He felt his wounds improving little by little. Sakaki gradually felt strength coming back to his waist and legs.

“Rinne…”

He reached out his hand meaninglessly. It was pitch black before him. Even so, Sakaki Guryū had no other choice.

Ring ring.

“…?”

The phone in his hand suddenly started to ring. Sakaki was startled, and he stared at the screen.

An impossible name appeared there.

<pre>From    ★ Usagawa Rinne
To      ★ Everyone in the world
Subject ★ Mirror mirror, Mr. Mirror
Body    ★ Who is, the most beautiful, of all?</pre>

“What is this?”

This might be someone’s prank. Why would anyone send such a meaningless message?

As Sakaki thought this, many text messages, bearing exactly the same content, kept coming in.

''Mirror mirror, Mr. Mirror. Who is, the most beautiful, of all?''

The phone kept receiving this message over and over until the entire storage capacity of the phone was flooded full.

At the end, with a final ring, a particularly shrill sound rang out, indicating it had received another message. 

This was the final one.

<pre>From    ★ Usagawa Rinne
To      ★ Everyone in the world
Subject ★ Finally, the end is almost here
Body    ★ This is the story about the most beautiful Snow White in the world. There was no need to search for the mirror of truth. The jealous queen – 
the witch - knows this. Ordinary people such as the hunter cannot reach her. The poisoned apple cannot kill her. This is the true identity of the Snow 
White who merely waited for her prince to arrive. God is the one who decides who is the most beautiful of them all, right?</pre>

Why wouldn’t his body stop shaking?

Sakaki held onto the phone in his hand, and kept looking at those ominous words being displayed.

He suddenly noticed that someone’s shadow blocked the moonlight coming through the open door.

Someone was standing at the door.

''Was it Nageki Kurukiyo again?'' Sakaki thought this, but he instantly crossed out that idea.

Ring-ring. There was the crispy sound of bells.

“… Compared to talking to yourself pointlessly, it’s better to work on a little game that requires a bit of brain power.”

This person did not make an introduction, but only made some short and strange comments.

“Humans use their brains to detect the world. The senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch – they use these five senses and the associated sensory organs to feel and to understand this so-called world. But what if all your five senses were empty from the moment you were born? Can’t see or hear anything, not even having a concept of darkness that we can imagine, but instead experiencing utter emptiness. The world would not exist for someone like that.”

It was the sound of a woman. He felt that he had heard her voice somewhere before.

It was a voice that felt nostalgic for him, but Sakaki didn’t understand what she meant at all. He seemed to understand what she said – and yet he didn’t really understand. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t understand anything, but he didn’t understand what she meant to accomplish by coming here and saying these words.

It was a foreign woman with bells attached to her long blonde hair.

She wore a tight black suit set. She looked graceful, and had a pair of sunglasses over her eyes and had gloves on, veritably as if she was a member of the mafia that just walked out of a movie.

The woman was not being distracted by her own appearance, and kept saying more alien words with a serious tone:

“Then, if there were someone who controlled all the sensory organs of the entire human race…”

It was a detached, cold, and yet slightly sad tone.

“That person would probably be the existence that encompassed the existence of every human in the world, isn’t it? Does such a thing really exist? Your sight might be fake, hearing might be fake, scents might be fake, tastes might be fake, and touches might be fake. We paid attention to all this. Yet could it be that, the conception that someone was there was only an illusion?”

She stretched out her arms and spoke more enigmatic words.

“No one doubted that. Everyone believed firmly that some form of existence is definitely out there. Then does an existence like that really exist right there, right now? Does It exist or not? Does It really exist, or was it only a product of our imagination?”

“…”

Sakaki couldn’t understand what she was trying to say, but he was getting a little scared.

“Did you ever ponder about such things?” The woman kept talking about that incredulous concept with a low voice.

“Everyone was living under an illusion. The you over there is not the true you. Your entire existence is the imagination of some other person. Some other person’s five senses were stimulated by illusionary stimuli and created this imagination of you. You only exist because he or she imagined that you are here.”

''What – did that mean?

She was saying that I, Sakaki Guryū, is only an illusion? That my true self does not exist, but I am only an illusion created by someone else? No one knew about this, so everyone shared this hallucination, that of my existence?''

Just thinking about this made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

''I – do not exist here? The person here was only a person from everyone’s collective imagination?'' 

''Hehehe'', the woman began to laugh. She also showed a very lonely expression.

"Rest assured. You do exist right here. You are not a figment of imagination. But do not come to such conclusions so eagerly, Sakaki Guryū. Indeed, no one can completely eliminate their suspicions about whether we truly exist, whether our ordinary daily lives are only a dream or an illusion of someone else's, No one can completely discard such doubts. I, too, am scared of this possibility."

"I..."

Sakaki looked at this woman with uneasiness. It was as if he had once seen her from far away.

She was a woman who couldn't save anyone, who couldn't change the world, who couldn't protect the things and people she loved. She could not affect the world in any way - and therefore she could not confidently conclude that her existence was not an illusion.

"If God really exists, then even He would keep having that kind of fear. If one is incapable of letting others hear him, or if one cannot see, then the perceived reality of existing in this world would completely crumble." 

The woman said in a low voice as if being pitiful of something.

"Everyone more or less know some legends about God. One may be nonchalant about it, or may instinctively find it to be familiar, but we cannot even decide if that was just an imagination. Hey, Guryū, maybe God really doesn't exist."

Everyone had, at least for a split second in their lives, had this doubt.

This woman, who had always firmly believed in God, was very much in doubt of His existence at this instant. She walked up to Sakaki, who was collapsed to the ground, held him up, and caressed his hair.

"Even if God does not exist in this world, your own existence is a reality and not an illusion. Even if you only have a very brief window of opportunity, your existence at this place and at this time may be able to change the world. Therefore, don't give up. Hurry up and start to act, Guryū."

She then turned and prepared to leave, but - who was she?"

"...Ah."

Sakaki opened his mouth. Many questions surfaced in his mind, but he could not clearly articulate them all.

The woman turned her head and smiled at him: "My name is Sakaki Joker."

Yes. Sakaki recalled her now. Little wonder he felt that he had met her before.

"I was born in America, and your father brought me here - I wanted to meet you a few times before, but I was rather scared, and only managed to show myself now."

Her face was more unfamiliar than he remembered because of those glasses. He had heard of her existence from his father a long time ago, and he had seen the few pictures of her accessible to him – this woman had the countenance of Sakaki's mother.

"Guryū, I had just guaranteed your actual existence. Without such a warrant, even I can degrade into a mere illusion. You exist, right here, right now. Therefore, even if you only have a very short amount of time, you need to go and change the world. Don't forget that. Don't give up. Hurry up and start."

The woman then turned back and walked away.

Sakaki looked at her. Her figure seemed so strong, as if she would not accept anyone's feelings, whether benevolent or malevolent. However, just for a brief moment, Sakaki felt a sliver of her nebulous gentleness.

"I did not fulfil the duties of a mother at all, and I did not fulfil the role of a wife towards Ganhō."

Those words were empty. They held no feelings of remorse.

"If only we did not lust after eternity. If only we did not seek Heaven and God. Ganhō sank into madness due to his never-ending greed, and dragged me down with it. You, me, Ganhō, and Tatsue - we discarded our happiness, and did not manage to live together as a family."

"Mother!"

The word tumbled out of his mouth so naturally. He didn't know why she always looked so sad. Joker's back violently shook once, as if she was shocked. She then bent down slightly.

"I don't like this. At end - just like my own mother - I didn't - "

She muttered in a low voice as if speaking to herself as she pushed opened the door.

"I am afraid we won't see each other again. That’s why I wanted to see you now. I've always looked forward to meeting you, but I never came because I was afraid. I'm sorry. Have you been lonely? I didn't learn how to love others, but you and Tatsue found that on your own. Therefore, I - Mom - respects the two of you very much, Guryū."

''I wish you happiness'' - The woman calling herself Joker disappeared at the entrance of the apartment with these muttered words. Sakaki felt lost. He simply watched her walk out as his brain thought in a fuddled way.

He gradually realized that he was encouraging him, her own son, in her own way.

But - why couldn't he feel her presence at all? What if Sakaki himself was an illusion after all? What if his mother, the woman calling herself Joker, was also an illusion? At the end, he still could not completely refute the possibility that even the entire world could be nothing more than illusion.

The night deepened in this ambiguous world.






"... Meat Doll?"

"Mmm, do you know of it, Single Room?"

Gankyū Eguriko, Nikuyama Kajiri, Saibara Mina, and Saibara Mitsuki - these four people with supernatural abilities had completely smashed through the tanks, and had then begun to chase Zekiguchi Nashionori, who took away Breaksun.

However, the damage the tanks dealt to the town was too extreme, and it was hard to pick up Zekiguchi's trail. The once bustling shopping street had sunk into a sea of fire, and scorching flames lit up the sky. Still, Guriko was very adept at detecting the presence of powerful monsters. Apparently, Snake - Takamikado Mitaka - was also very good with this ability. Guriko wasn't sure why. She wondered if the two of them were similar in any way.

Any reason would do.

Either way, it would be somewhat difficult to catch up to Zekiguchi with Guriko’s current abilities and stamina.

Zekiguchi held the Greater Fragment named {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}, and was a very powerful opponent.

It wasn’t hard to track him. However, as {{Furigana|Catastrophe|Poison}}, the piece he took away – Breaksun – periodically activated her ability to corrode cause and effect in her unconscious state due to her natural ability to conceal herself, they often lost track of those two. For Guriko, who was chasing them, this ability was very problematic.

“Meat Doll…? Mmm – I might have heard of that.”

Guriko and her group were helping Single Room in order to return Rinne to normal.

Just like this, this group was united in chasing down Zekiguchi Nashinori, who took away Breaksun.

They were assisting Kajiri, and asked him to use his ability on Rinne as exchange. It was a fair trade.

Kajiri was worrying about Breaksun, and was answering in an off-handed way.

Mina was a bit behind him and muttered lowly: “Really – it’s not surprising that you haven’t heard of it. One just needs to place an Apple into a corpse, and then it will become a puppet that one can freely control. That’s something I invented myself, by accident.”

She said this nonchalantly. Mitsuki clutched Mina's hand and swung their hands back and forth in a playful way, as if she was very happy.

“Ahaha. Big sis won’t ever invent something good. She invented some new net to kill cockroaches, some manual miniature hanging ceilings. They are all super boring inventions.”

“I hate cockroaches. Ah – um, I’m gonna get angry if you keep talking about me like this.”

Mina pulled at Mitsuki’s cheeks while looking sternly at her.

''What is all this about''… Guriko thought in a bored way.

Anyways, they were currently having a serious conversation with Single Room. It was probably better to ignore those two sisters for now.

“Well, what is Single Room’s ability, anyways? Genesis – although that’s what I was told, how can you manage to resurrect the dead or pause the flow of time? If such a thing were possible…”

That was something Mina told Guriko following the event at the Eternity Institute. According to Mina’s words, that was how Single Room’s ability was described in the information given by God Mushi Emperor, an existence that took the ‘role’ of the database of Greater Fragments.

“…Ah?”

Kajiri’s expression appeared somewhat disgusted with this. His lips drew back and he bared his sharp canine-like teeth.

“Ah – you mean to make dead people alive again – I won’t try that. That’s super disgusting.”

That was a really unconvincing answer. However, Guriko was not defeated. She held on to the idea of recovering Rinne to her previous state. No matter what she must do, no matter what was required, she would prepare for it.

He was different from what she had heard about him. It was hard to tell that Kajiri was someone who possessed the power akin to that of God.

He had kept running away in the previous fight. Yet if one were to compare him to Mina and Mitsuki, it would be hard to tell which side was stronger.

Kajiri narrowed his eyes and showed a thoughtful expression.

“Urk? So those Meat Dolls… are they corpses? Are we trying to get a dead person to come back alive?”

“If you want to call them corpses, I admit there are some similarities… what should I say?” Guriko was a little confused while Mina, who was more skilled at explaining these things, started to fill Kajiri in. “A Meat Doll, mm, is basically a living corpse that had a Fragment inserted into it and is being forced to move. That’s what it’s like. Although the body of a human is standing there, there is barely any consciousness left in that. The corpse given the Fragment will become absolutely obedient to the Fragment's previous owner.”

She narrowed her eyebrows and asked in a low voice with a slightly questioning tone.

“I also want to ask you something, Single Room. You saved Ki-chan when she was close to death. Did she really completely recover, with no symptoms left whatsoever?” 

“I’m Ki-chan. My full name is Mitsuki. Thank you so much for that~”

Mitsuki greeted Kajiri casually as her happy-go-lucky self, with an atmosphere completely different from their previous conversation.

Kajiri was not too pleased with her. He waved at her as if he was waving away a fly, then shifted his eyes away from her instantly.

“Mmm – I don’t understand this at all. I’m rather embarrassed to have you people saying words of gratitude towards me. I ran into Mitsuki by accident when I was looking for Breako, and I remembered that I was also imprisoned once upon a time at a place where time had stopped – I felt some pity for her, so I saved her. I didn’t particularly mean to do it.”

Although he spoke rudely, he behaved in a very kind way.

She could tell even from before that this boy was not a bad person. If they asked him to help Rinne, then he would do the best within his ability. That was what Guriko thought as Kajiri looked far into the distance, fingering the crucifix hanging off his neck. “My abilities feel like those that can modify things. They are different from {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}'s, and isn’t limited to modification of the flesh. Hmm – how should I say this – it’s something like playing with concepts.”

It seemed that even he couldn’t explain it properly himself. He tilted his head a little and started to demonstrate, his face full of seriousness.

“Mmm, for example, if you compare the entire world to a video game, then I can change the operating system of this game, change the faces and clothing of the characters, and change the appearances of shops. Not just the details, I can also change the type of the game from a role-playing game to a fighting game, or make the enemy so strong that it becomes impossible to win.”

“…Oh, is that so?”

Kajiri was a little surprised to see that Guriko understood this.

“I’m surprised. Ganko. You know about games too? I feel you are very behind the times. Even I didn’t know stuff like video games existed until Breako told me.”

“How rude. I’m very experienced with games. I’ve played the initial <span id="FC">[[Mushi:Vol4_TLnotes#FC and SFC|FC]]</span> and even the SFC that followed it.”

“… big sis, what’s a FC?”

“A gaming console that was very popular about a decade ago. Surprisingly, the CPU was only 8-bits. The latest is already heading towards 128. Mmm, Guriko-baby is really behind the times.”

“Why do you even care about such things?!”

The topic seemed to have completely deviated from the original direction. Guriko recovered her serious expression and looked at Kajiri.

“That means there is nothing that you cannot do, correct?”

“Theoretically, I am omnipotent. However, there is a lot of preparation I need to do to activate my ability, so it’s impossible to use it during a battle.”

Kajiri complained about this, but Guriko felt she saw hope.

“Although I won’t be able to understand it unless I actually see the Meat Doll, but that Rinne person was just an ordinary human, right? I think it should be fine if I revert her time to a period when she was still human. That’s how I cured Mitsuki, too.”

“Ah? Really?” An expression of surprise surfaced on Mina’s face, and she shifted towards her eyes towards Mitsuki, who was walking next to her. “Ki-chan, do you still remember what happened in the Eternity Institute?”

“Chirp? What’s that?” Mitsuki tilted her head. Mina seemed to understand something as she saw this.

“Ah, your body was cut up in such a way, I thought it was impossible to revert it to its original form. I even neglected the possibility of reverting time. No wonder you are acting even sillier. Indeed – you reverted to the time before we fought Guriko-baby. If that’s the case –”

Mitsuki listened dumbly to Mina saying words that were very hard to understand for her, and showed an uneasy expression. Did she do something wrong to make her big sis like this? Seeing how the two sisters cared for each other, Guriko couldn’t help but feel a warmth welling up in her chest too.

She would return Rinne to normal! She would revert her to how she was before, and live all over again!

Just imagining such a scene made Guriko feel incomparably happy. Reality was indeed full of hope.

Yes – if they did that, then even her guilt of not having protected Rinne and Sakaki could be somewhat ameliorated. She was happy. Even though she felt she shouldn’t feel like this, Guriko felt it was enough to erase her past failures, return to those previous happy days, and go to school with everyone else.

She could return to that quiet and peaceful daily life.

A rare smile surfaced all over Guriko's face, and her finger wiped at the corner of her eyes, which started to be wet with tears. Everyone could get back to how things were before! Everyone could enjoy their previous life!

"Wonderful... Sakaki would definitely be happy too."

Of course, now was not the time to be complacent. They could not be completely sure whether Kajiri would give his all to help them. Such an ultimate ability probably couldn’t be used frequently…

Was there anything else he needed to activate such a powerful ability? The world was equally cruel to everyone. It was impossible to have something so all-powerful while at the same time being easy to use.

"Therefore, um – I believe my ability can change time, cause, effect, and fate according to my goal and desired result. It is a powerful ability."

He sighed and said in a low voice as if mocking himself.

"I don't quite know if that is really the case. According to the Bible, God used a week to create the world. He created the world perfectly in six days, and set aside the seventh day as a day of rest. In other words, even God would feel tired or bothered when conducting Genesis."

As he said this, Mitsuki suddenly lifted up her face, as if she was scared.

"Ah ... Guriko-baby, NikuNiku, big sis, did you hear something?"

"NikuNiku... is that me? Urk..." Kajiri mumbled, his face full of a loathsome expression. He then immediately put himself on guard and inspected their surroundings with a serious expression, as if he was a dog.

The neat rows of mercury lamps emitted a weak light. The entire residential area appeared fuzzy due to the darkness. Indeed, there were sounds of explosions in the far distance if one were to listen carefully.

"... Have those tanks moved on to a different spot?"

"Such an incredible sound."

Guriko sought the source of the sound, her face very stern. It was as if she had heard it somewhere before, a rumbling, rumbling, intermittent sound. She didn't feel it to be a sound of destruction, but - it didn't stop. It rumbled.

"This - this seemed to be coming from Kannonsakazaki High School~" Mitsuki said in an anxious voice as she jumped up on top of a stone wall and looked around.

Indeed - she heard that Mitsuki has also attended that ordinary rural high school where Guriko had attended. Yes, the sound was coming from that direction, and it wasn't too far from here.

"... It seems so. Let's go. I feel that Zekiguchi's aura is also coming from that direction."

As Guriko said this, the rest of them nodded in agreement.






"... Yo. I knew you'd come, Crybaby."

"You dare to look down upon me, you piece of shit? You are a useless monster who hasn't even grown into shape."

The two of them met with the night school as the background. No one walked through the spacious Kannonsakazaki Private High School grounds. Only a dry wind stirred up the sand past them.

"Your words are still so damn cool, {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}. Aren't you the kind of person to take away the souls of human companions who once worked with you? And also - would you like to have a friendly chat?"

"What fake flowery words. Shut up. I've hated jesters like you ever since the start, {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}."

These were the existences which played hosts to Greater Fragments, those seven equal parts of God's role. 

He was a tall man with lupine eyes under his carefully tended fringe - he was {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}, Zekiguchi Nashinori.

She was a woman wearing sunglasses and a suit, and had decorative bells tied onto her braided long hair - she was {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, Sakaki Joker.

The two of them had joined together as comrades once upon a time in order to retrieve the power of Apples that only existed within humans. They acted together in everything they did. However, the relationship between them had ceased to be friendly since the events at the Eternity Institute.

Those two had originally fought for their own, very different goals. It would have worked out better if they continued to cooperate instead of fighting, but their unified front was gradually crumbling.

She was no longer a friend of his – or anything else to him. So Joker had resolved to get rid of him – just as she would to anyone who stood in the way of her goal.

{{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}’s ability is the modification and alternation of the flesh, and can create large amounts of warriors. He also had the most powerful physical combat abilities among the Seven Fragments. For {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, however, who possessed the ability to crush and manipulate space, she could completely dodge {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}’s unblockable attacks. 

Therefore, he wasn’t much of an opponent for her.

Joker reasoned that she could never lose to Zekiguchi Nashinori in a one-on-one fight. She also still had her ultimate trump card left, so there was no reason to fear.

“…”

Though she thought this, her teeth were still clattering and her legs shook slightly.

“Hehehe.” Zekiguchi, with his sharp eyesight, didn’t miss this. He laughed very happily. “What’s wrong, are you scared, {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}? Really, when we fought others before, it was always me and my soldiers who fought for you. Could this be the first time you actually fought with someone for real? Honestly, it’s rare that you, who has always been in hiding out of fear, actually put yourself out here… Ohoho, whatever. You are still an astounding beauty, {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}.”

“{{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}, your frivolous tone makes me disgusted. Besides, I’ve always believed that if it was something important, I should do it myself. I am not someone who’s often scared. I just don’t really trust the things other people do.”

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} made a threatening declaration: “Return Lovesong to me. I don’t know what you want to do with her, but she belongs to me. Return her to me!”

“… Ohoho, ‘Lovesong’?”

Zekiguchi turned around. Usagawa Rinne was laughing for some unknown reason, and Breaksun had her eyes tightly closed and her head was resting on Rinne’s knees. Zekiguchi reached out to Breaksun and took out the golden apple in her blouse, and threw it towards {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}.

“Hey, ‘Lovesong’ is this thing, right? Catch.” The golden apple traced a trajectory in the air with a whoosh and flew towards Joker.

“… Stop kidding.” The object made of pure gold suddenly exploded in the air.

Crushing space.

She had used the maximum power this attacking method was capable of to destroy the giant monster called the Dream World Beast - For {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, who possessed the sensory organ with augmented investigative powers, this was her only means of attack.

The broken gold pieces glittered with reflected moonlight amidst the dust flying through the air. Joker ignored that and simply spat.

"That golden apple was only something ordinary. It was only something that the guy who built the building hid secretly on his own. I don't know why Breaksun was holding on to it. I'm not interested in treasures with actual physical value, such as gold. Things such as the price of gold are only accessory values this capitalistic era endowed upon the object. I have absolutely no interest in such things."

Joke roared with a rude tone towards Zekiguchi, who was standing there with ease: "Then, return 'Lovesong' - return my Breaksun to me!"

Bam, bam - intense impact waves, together with deafening noises, smashed through the air all around Zekiguchi. The ground was broken and scattered. If she gave out all she had into crushing space, then she could easy blow apart the school building behind Zekiguchi, let alone the man himself.

The 'role' of the Greater Fragment {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} within Joker was that of the Savior, or the Prophet.

If she used this ability, then she would be able to accomplish what the Prophet Moses achieved in the Bible. The sea would split in half before him as he lifted his staff. She had the ability of actualizing impossible miracles into reality.

Coldly, she looked sideways at Zekiguchi, and paid attention to Breaksun, who had fainted behind him. Breaksun - 'Lovesong' - was the vital ingredient in ensuring Joker's safety. How could she endure having Breaksun being taken away from her by someone like Zekiguchi?

Powerful vibrations swept through the air. Just as Zekiguchi said, this was the first time Joker had seriously fought with others, and this was a fight she knew she had to win.

However - 

"Making such a loud noise at school at night would bother the people living around here."

A high-pitched and taunting voice suddenly sounded. There was no need for her to check. {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s ability was to manipulate everything within space. Everything around the school was within {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s control. No matter what approached her - she would not miss even an ant coming near.

"... I'm a little busy right now. Kids should hurry home and sleep." Joker said in a low voice.

Yes, a kid - the red-haired boy was coming straight through the main school doors, and smiled while exposing his sharp canine teeth.

“Ha! You are really arrogant. Hmm – crushing space, I saw that. You are {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}. You look like you believe yourself to be really important. There really are people who play the ‘role’ of the Savior everywhere.”

The boy’s red hair moved with the wind in the night, as if he had a ponytail.

The intruders behind him were Gankyū Eguriko, and the Sterilization Disinfection and Unpleasant Counter-Current sisters.

''Even the Pale Horses didn’t manage to finish them off.''

''That was fine. It was not something completely unexpected.''

Joker pondered this. The situation was getting rather troublesome for her. All sorts of things kept happening, and this upset her. Just when would she be able to enjoy a peaceful life where there was no anxiety or dissatisfaction?

“Besides, ‘let her go’ is my line.”

The boy said in a low voice, as if mocking himself, as he looked at Breaksun.

His tone was somewhat joking, but his expression was terrifyingly stern. Zekiguchi still smiled happily, while Joker responded with a very tense expression.

This boy was more than just a simple child.

Her soul – the memories of {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} sleeping within her body – awakened. Her terrifying enemies had brought Breaksun here, got Joker to come out like this, and had created all this. This aura, this atmosphere; could it be…

“You are Single Room?! I heard you disappeared from where you were sealed, but I didn’t expect you to be here! Why are you standing in my way?”

“So you are indeed {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}. Oh, you also have disagreements with {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}? Your previous reincarnation – or the reincarnation before that, I can’t tell - {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, {{Furigana|Catastrophe|Poison}}, {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}; you guys sealed me up. I will never forget that hatred!”

A killing aura permeated throughout Single Room’s body. He held onto the crucifix hanging off his neck tightly, and pulled it outwards as if he was going to pull it off. Its sharp, knife-like end was pointing directed towards them.

“No matter what, let her go! I am going to watch a movie with her. It was a new work from a very famous director after four years. I don’t know what it is about, but apparently it was an excellent piece of work that shook all of America. Do you think that’s boring? It is – but she does not want to use me as Single Room. She was the first one to ever say those silly words to me…”

Single Room continued sincerely.

“… Therefore, return her to me, you bastards! Even if you are unwilling, I will make you willing.”

“I refuse. I must have Breaksun in order to not live in terror.” Joker maintained her cold expression and kept her pose, ready for battle. Zekiguchi Nashinori also kept his delighted smile. His lips were upturned, and his shoulders shook slightly.

Although he looked nonchalant, it increased the pressure he was giving out.

“… Hmm – it seems like we can only take her by force. Let us fight.”

“… I’ll cover you, Single Room. Rinne is also over there. Although I don’t know what happened, I will take her back as well.”

Guriko walked up as she said this. Mina and Mitsuki also took out their respective weapons.

“Yes – hmm, though I’ve achieved my goal, I should probably still help out of a sense of morality. Those really dodgy people are probably superfluous to keep on this earth anyways.

“Hya, I’m helping NikuNiku too~ Yay, no matter who you are, come at me~ Uuu – Mitsuki-chan will do her best –”

Unpleasant Counter-Current held tightly onto her gloves of retribution.

Sterilization Disinfection took out the spray cans that could annihilate everything.

Single Room held onto the crucifix that had the power to create heaven and earth.

The bells tied onto {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}’s long hair kept ringing, sending out hypnotic tones into the air. {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}} also created a shield out of flesh and held it in front of him as a weapon. Guriko, too, held on to a few spoons, her beloved weapon of choice.

“…”

Suddenly, Rinne looked expressionlessly towards them. Guriko felt that.

“… Rinne?”

“– What’s wrong? Will there be fighting?”

She allowed {{Furigana|Catastrophe|Poison}}, who twisted cause and effect, to lie on her knees. She mumbled for some unknown reason, looking idiotic and awkward while at it. No one could tell whether she could hear what was happening, and she mumbled as if it had nothing to do with her. “Isn’t everyone – the same?”

As if they took that as a signal to start, the non-humans with supernatural abilities sprang into battle.

Their goal was Breaksun – the woman called ‘Lovesong’.






An unprecedented change was occurring within the Meat Doll named Usagawa Rinne. This change was destroying the personality Usagawa Rinne had had since now. She was currently being destroyed, with her soul awakening - the Meat Doll herself could not comprehend this.

The so-called near-death experience allowed people to obtain an extraordinary ability during that time, and also prompted an awakening to one's beliefs. It was perhaps a feeling like that. As the soul walked towards the distant shore, it was neither alive nor dead. The ends that the soul of the Meat Doll and the soul of a human gazed upon were ultimately different.

The Meat Doll couldn’t see anything at that instant, but was gazed upon by everything else. She could not hear any sound, but was heard by everything else.

Her senses became sharp, but that was to be expected. There was also no joy or happiness for her. It had perhaps been like this since a long time ago, but she just couldn’t feel it. Rinne's world had always been like this. Tears fell down. The hot liquid rolled down her cheeks and dropped down her chin.

"...?"

Why would she cry? She didn't know. She just - couldn't control it. She felt empty.

In order to forget what she was feeling right now, Rinne pointed to the things around her in order, and called out their names one by one.

As if this was the only way to make herself feel rested, to show that she indeed existed here, and to make her heart feel fulfilled.

The surroundings of the school had already been enveloped by people with red eyes without her realizing it. There seemed to be a few - rather, a few dozens - of these people. They had different expressions, and they stood aside, silently watching this battle to the death between the Greater Fragments. 

No. What they looked at was Usagawa Rinne. As if they were waiting for Snow White to wake up, they simply sat and knelt down around her and watched her.

The Meat Doll began to feel terrified and immediately turned her gaze towards Gankyū Eguriko, who was still fighting.

Guriko was currently engaged in a melee battle with Zekiguchi Nashinori. She had just gouged out his eye ball. "Eyeball!"

There was no change to the fight till the end. Breaksun started to sing incomprehensible songs in Rinne's arms as if she was talking in her sleep. She was sleeping on the Meat Doll's knees, and twisted her body as if she was a baby throwing a fit as she sang a chant wishing for peace all over the world, for people to love each other, a hymn of longing towards God.

"Love... Song."

It was as if they were expecting something to end in this place, in the center of the world.







Gankyū Eguriko's pose that she used to gouged out eyeballs was as accurate as a precise machine.

The spoon in her hand aimed and extended with a lightning fast speed as if it was a thrown marble, and pierced into Zekiguchi Nashinori’s completely undefended eyeballs, the entrance to his brain. It entered the eye socket at an angle and pierced right through, completely disrupting the contents within.

Guriko’s target was Zekiguchi Nashinori.

He was the man who killed her a thousand years ago.

And now he had taken away Rinne for an unknown reason. He was still am obvious and dangerous enemy for her.

“Zekiguchi!”

Zekiguchi looked as if he didn’t feel the fatal damage to his brain at all. He was still terrifying. Zekiguchi Nashinori was the leader of Long-Armed Demon and Berobōchō. He was the Greater Fragment named {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}, one that had the ability to alter and modify the flesh.

Guriko was very aware of the power of a Greater Fragment after having battled them numerous times.

However, it was as if this man could not feel anything after receiving damage. What should she do? If she didn’t know what to do, then she should just kill him.

“If you touch Rinne and Sakaki, then I will chop you into pieces!”

“Hehehehe.”

An eyeball immediately regenerated from the emptied eye socket. Not only that, three or four new eyeballs also inexplicably grew out of Zekiguchi’s face. He did not change at all, still as despicable an opponent as before. She felt like her attacks were not working at all.

“Usagawa Rinne-san is an existence more important than you are ever aware of. That’s why I’m putting her under my care – as for Sakaki-kun, hehehe,” Zekiguchi Nashinori laughed enigmatically, “would you be upset, Yono, if I said that I… killed him?”

Guriko’s sight instantly went red.

No one attacked her, but blood spurted out from her head. Her logic was instantly reduced to ash and an explosive torrent of emotions tore out of her. Guriko suddenly became incredibly excited, as if the current situation had nothing to do with her.

She kept filling up, kept filing up.

Guriko’s left arm creaked and began to change.

Her soft skin metamorphosed into red, carapace-like armor. The sharp claws at her fingertips extended out as if they were knives.

Apart from her arms, her legs, feet, shoulders, face, and even the color of her hair changed their appearance after sensing Guriko’s excitement and rage. Endless threads suddenly grew out from Guriko’s back with a whoosh, and instantly intertwined with each other and formed a pair of wings. As if she was an avenging witch, Guriko revealed her original form, the shape of a devil.

“Oh – ” Zekiguchi opened his mouth as if he was about to make a joke, but he was too late. Guriko’s left arm, which had completed its transformation, instantly pierced his chest right through the middle. Right now, Guriko’s entire body was only full of power and the desire to destroy and to kill. What was left of her humanity had been completely eroded away, and all that was left was the evil parts of full of destruction.

Apples, which immortals such as Guriko use as the source of their supernatural powers, otherwise known as the Fragment, were contained in their hearts.

Of course, if their hearts were destroyed, then the power of the Fragment would flow away and their existence would completely crumble and die.

Even Zekiguchi should die very quickly according to this logic.

“Ohoho, dangerous.”

He laughed casually and jumped backwards, ignoring of the giant wound on his chest, creating some distance between him and Guriko. Although his blood and flesh flew everywhere, Zekiguchi was not dead. The man with wolf-like eyes was so happy for some reason – he showed a happy expression as if he was playing with children.

“Yono, you didn’t change at all. You could kill without any hesitation. But what a pity. My ability was the alteration of the flesh, so the location of my heart could be anywhere.”

“Then – I will completely cut you up.”

Guriko did not stop. If she completely dissected her enemy, then she could return to the happy life with Rinne and Sakaki.  

If she can get rid of all these problems, then she can experience those happy times again.

Guriko fought as she held onto only these expectations. No matter how despairing it is, she should be able to get there as long as she reaches out.

“Hehehehe, how annoying. Don’t get so seriously angry, Yono. No more jokes. Sakaki-kun isn’t dead – oh!”

A pair of black wings similar to Guriko’s began to form on {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}’s back after dodging the spoons that Guriko threw towards him. He flew high into the sky in the pitch-black night.

He flapped his wings and escaped towards the sky. Was he trying to make time to cure his wounds? No, she can’t allow that.

She will chase him and defeat him during his escape, and completely annihilate him.

“How foolish, {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}!”

This was suddenly heard beside them.

It was the astonishing woman who had just dodged a fatal blow as she fought Mina, Mitsuki, and Kajiri at the same time. It was {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}.

She arrived next to Guriko and Zekiguchi in their one-on-one fight, and looked up towards Zekiguchi, who was flying in the sky. She smiled with one side of her mouth tilted.

“This weakling is almost dead. Since he is already wounded, then go completely destroy him. If he falls once, then he will fall again. This is how the world is – fall all the way to Hell!”

With a whoosh, her fingertips, clad in black gloves, moved downwards as if in command.

Zekiguchi instantly lost control of his wings and fell straight down from the sky. His face was full of surprise.

“What’s to be surprised about, fool?”

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} smiled coldly, and the innumerable bells tied to her hair started to ring.

"As long as you're in the sky, whether gliding or flying, you would fall to your death without the support of the wind. Isn't that simple? My ability is, indeed, the manipulation of air."

Zekiguchi fell down as she spoke. The surprise and fear previously on his face passed swiftly, and only a delighted smile surfaced on his face.

It was slightly unsettling - 

"You're not as powerful as you make yourself sound like. You are indeed the weakest, just like your name."

The countless bells in her hair suddenly began to ring, making a chaotic ruckus. That was her signal - the signal for her ability to crush the very space.

"You'll be dismembered!"

Following her words, {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}'s body - Zekiguchi Nashinori's body - exploded.

"Hehehehe."

In the blink of an eye before his demise, Zekiguchi made a laugh as if he could not hold it back anymore.

It was all as he expected, but just a little bit more scary than usual. His wish will soon be fulfilled.

The story of Snow White, where the jealous queen was the final victor.

"Oh."

A confused sound came from the center of the school. It was Rinne, who was confused and had yet to wake up.

At the last moment, before Zekiguchi was blown to smithereens, his right hand extended at an astonishing speed as if it was a snake or a whip, and wrapped tightly around Rinne and Breaksun, who slept on her knees. 

"Wah - " The two of them were wrapped up together and thrown violently towards the school building.

"Now it will be - round two." With this, {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s Crushing Space squashed his body into pieces.

"Breaksun!" The first to respond was Single Room - Nikuyama Kajiri - who had stepped away a little from the battle and was preparing his ability in secret.

He had finally put some distance between himself and the nervousness that came with battle, and managed to look at the entire scene with a clear head and gauged the situation on both sides.

It was a fight that they had the advantage of. They had Sterilization Disinfection, God's Judgment and Digestive Organ. Her {{Furigana|Annihilation Mist|Genocide Justice}} could ignore all defenses and armor and erase them all.

Moreover, no matter what kind of a form {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}} changes into, or what kind of invisible walls of defence {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} could build with her manipulation of space, {{Furigana|Annihilation Mist|Genocide Justice}} could pierce them all and attack the opponent directly.

Due to her ability, even immortals cannot recover from the wounds she deals out.

Sterilization Disinfection was fighting against {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}.

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} determined the positions beneficial to her according to her power to control space, and dodged attacks as she used her ability to impact space to counter attack. Whereas Unpleasant Counter-Current - Mitsuki - was helping by reflecting back {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s Crushing Space through her own powers of retribution, putting {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} into a situation where she could not fight back.

"Rinne!"

But {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, already in such a situation, suddenly joined into the battle between Guriko and Zekiguchi and completely annihilated Zekiguchi.

The situation had changed. The goal behind this battle was not just to kill the opponent, but to take back Rinne and Breaksun.

These two should be of the highest priority.

However, Breaksun and Rinne were wrapped up in {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}'s stretched arm and thrown towards the school building.

Although they were also immortals and probably wouldn't die from it, he can't just leave them alone.

Kajiri walked towards them.

Before Kajiri's eyes, {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, Guriko, Mitsuki, and Mina - who lagged behind somewhat - also hurried that way.

Although {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}} was killed, Kajiri still had a lingering sense of unease. Even though he exploded into smithereens, his heart might even have been in that body, and therefore they could not be sure whether they defeated Zekiguchi.

Compared to that - he must take back Breaksun.

Guriko was roaring out something. A pair of crimson wings grew out of her back, and the skin on her entire body became a carapace. She had completely metamorphosed into the shape of a demon.

Just then, Kajiri felt as if a chill was creeping up his back. What was this feeling - 

He didn't even have time to think about what was happening.

"Get out of my way, brat!"

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, who walked behind him, released invisible waves to crush space. It was not a bullet or an impact wave, both of which would have a form. She used space itself to attack, making it almost impossible to dodge. A heavy blow landed squarely on Kajiri's back and he fell forward, rolling on the ground.

"And next you will die."

It was a cold, emotionless, terrifying voice speaking above Kajiri.

No! He would end up in pieces if he suffered a blow of her Crushing Space, just like Zekiguchi!

" - I won't let you!"

Suddenly, a shimmering silver light sparkled all around {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s body. They were the spoons that Guriko threw out.

Although the high-speed spoons would have been more than enough to pierce {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s body, they did not touch her due to the thin layer of protective membrane made up of air all around her.

However, this attack was enough to give {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} a split second of shock, and worked as expected.

Her body stayed still for just a brief moment, and did not release Crushing Space. Kajiri expected this pause, and stabbed towards her with the crucifix he kept hidden near his body. "You're the careless one for getting so close to me - idiot!"

Blood sprang out of his body and danced in the air. An unbelievable amount of blood rushed towards {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}. These drops of blood, this fountain of Single Room's power, sparkled with a red sheen.

Although a layer of air surrounded {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} and made her untouchable, it was enough to overcome this by initiating an attack right beside her. 

"Welcome to my room - bastard!" As he screamed, Single Room prepared to deliver a heavy blow to {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}.

"Urk, ah - !!"

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} felt threatened in that instant and instinctively turned her body, leaping backwards.

Kajiri's blood rolled off the protective layer of air surrounding her and dripped on the ground before it could release its power, staining the ground red. "Tch, what a shame. You are very good with running away!"

"Are you okay, Single Room?"

Guriko was also chasing {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, who ran into the school building, and she knocked in a wall to get inside. Kajiri waved at her and breathed as if nothing had happened, and stood up with ease.

"I'm fine. Thank you very much for the spoons just then. It was a great help."

"Mmm."

Guriko nodded and turned around to keep chasing {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}. Although he had lost some blood and felt a little dizzy, Kajiri followed her as well.

"Tch. I felt like I got toyed with. I thought it'd be easy to fight her. Did her Crushing Space get temporarily sealed off?"

"Hurry up, Mina, Mitsuki!" Guriko called at the two Greater Fragments who were catching up with them. "Go kill her, kill {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}!"

"Indeed - but we don't need to listen to your commands, Gankyū Eguriko."

"Ah, big sis, who cares about that. Let's just get along~"

This chaotic group of people ran along the night school grounds. 

The school building at night was dark and gloomy. The innumerable tables and chairs were laid out within the empty classrooms as if they were broken pieces of art.

"..."

As she stood there, Guriko suddenly remembered that it was a very long time ago since she had come to this school.

"Guriko-baby? What are you doing, dazing off over there?" She could hear Mina's voice.

She signed. It was too early to stop and have a breather. It had just started. Everything will start to get better from now on - she will definitely make everything better.

... But, for some reason, a despicable sense of foreboding lingered within her.






{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} - Sakaki Joker - galloped in the corridors and rapidly leapt up stairs. Although she had the body of an immortal and should not feel sensations such as tiredness, she suddenly found that her mind would not calm down for some reason, and felt a little exhausted.

But she only needed to strive for a little longer. She could go back to her previous peaceful and quiet time after she retrieved "Lovesong". She was willing to make any kind of sacrifices for that.

"There - "

Breaksun, whom Zekiguchi used the last of his strength to throw away, flew into the third storey of the school building, and rolled into the corridor after breaking through the windows. She was lying in the middle of shattered pieces of glass, an image of a sleeping beauty slumbering in the middle of that sea of glass, which sparkled as if reflected the moonlight.

There should be someone else as well. That other girl, whom no one seemed to recognize, should be here as well, but she was gone.

Did she flew into another storey?

She had always focused her attention on Breaksun and did not notice what happened to the others. If she fully expanded her power to manipulate space, then she should discover the other girl without physically going elsewhere to look for her. However, her enemies were catching up behind her. There was no need to waste the power of her Fragment in this situation. She needed to secure Breaksun first. Joker took the girl up in her arms and sighed deeply.

"---"

Her expression suddenly became terrifying.

Her shoulders shook and she bit her lips hard. She made loud sounds of grinding her teeth, and roared with humiliation and anger.

"Damn it!"

As {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s power was to manipulate space, all the air around her started to shiver, and all the windows and walls started to shake. As she considered that someone plotted against her, Joker roared again: "Damn it! This cunning {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}! Damn him!!" She hugged Breaksun and started to use her body's ability to control space to decipher the situation. Although she immediately understood that this was the worst population - she still had to check if the other was not simply fainted. No her heart was dug out. Breaksun Hanselmine was already dead.

Joker's face and body immediately paled into a waxen color.

The wound at her chest was still fresh and her surroundings were completely drenched by blood. She was already dead. Her life was already over.

Her heart was dug out - in other words, the Greater Fragment within her was already taken away by someone.

"Damn it, damn it! Who was it - just who was it!!"

She threw Breaksun's body on the ground and yelled with rage. This corpse had no use to her.

Joker liked her voice and personality, but their relationship wasn't so close as to mourn for her death.

Moreover, this body, which was completely controlled by rage due to not having fulfilled her goal, absolutely had no place to maintain sorrow.

Joker's goal was only 'Lovesong' - that is, Breaksun's heart. It was the storage facility of Fragments, which was modified by {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}, and could suppress to the ultimate degree the flow of energy.

The previous reincarnation of {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} and the one before him - no, , all the Fragments that {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}} and God Mushi Emperor collected from all over the world were kept within 'Lovesong' all the way from the beginning, and it was a Greater Fragment with an extraordinary density. If that unbelievable source of power can become her own, then she would instantly heal no matter how great a wound she suffered. She should also be able to approach an state of immortality, close to eternity. It would almost be appropriate to call such an existence 'God' - there will be no more fear for her on this world, and she would become an almost omnipotent and undefeatable existence. The problem was that, should she implant a Fragment of such high density into herself, she didn't know if her body would be able to handle that. But she learnt of a method while she was experimenting in the Eternity Institute - 

"Where is it..."

She could not imagine that Breaksun dug her heart out herself.

Then exactly who took it away?

Thanks to {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}}'s manipulation of the flesh, Breaksun's ability to corrode cause and effect could suppress her own aura, and people should not be able to sense.

The killer should be to someone with the Fragment. But who would it be? {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}} was already dead, and Sterilization Disinfection's party had not arrived.

Now that she thought about it, the girl that {{Furigana|The Weakest|Ultimate Shield}} threw here with Breaksun should still be around somewhere.

But she was not here.

"... could it be her? But - no matter what, why would such a girl take 'Lovesong'?"

Joker bit her lips tightly and started {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s ability to control space and searched for that girl - suddenly!

With a whoosh - 

"--- Umm."

She felt something flying rapidly towards her.

It was a circular cutlery sparkling with a silver light - a spoon. The speed was very rapid, and its power was proportional to it.

However, no matter what might be thrown at her, this kind of physical attack was impossible to damage her, who can manipulate the air.

The spoons came into contact with the air around Joker before it touched her, and were bounced off in another direction.

They then flew back towards the direction where they were thrown.

"..."

They caught up with her, and she was being very anxious herself - what a bother.

Some people jumped up from the stairway in the depth of the dim corridor. Her enemies - Gankyū Eguriko, Nikuyama Kajiri, Saibara Mina, and Saibara Mitsuba - appeared before her. It was a four-on-one situation, but she did not feel ill at ease, but only bothersome. It was such a bother - that was what Joker thought.

"{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, return Breaksun to me!"

Kajiri stretched out his hand, but Joker ignored it.

Although Joker wanted to tell him the truth, that Breaksun was already no more than a corpse, she also considered that she could still use Breaksun as a hostage if the others still thought of her as alive.

Anyways, she should annihilate them with her overwhelming power right now, then have a thorough search for that other girl. That was her best bet.

As Joker made her decision, she pressed the sunglasses down her face. She could see the opponents now. She must not have any sensations of fear or confusion. Were they looking down upon her because she was not a Greater Fragment that excelled in fighting? Did they think the best she could do was already shown in the battle just now?

However - {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s 'role' was the Savior, an existence that chronologically paralleled that of God Himself.

Then, as the strongest, she had no excuse to lose to them.

Her feet shook and her throat felt dry. Many parts of her body was showing signs of fear. "Huff - " She took a deep breath to calm herself down. 

" - Ha..." The gap between her and her enemies were getting smaller and smaller. This was very important for her, and the beginning of making everything better. Everything will be decided by the duel that was being initiated.

She had no intentions of losing. She will kill them all.

She grabbed hold of Breaksun's body and discarded all her doubts.

Firstly - right, this one was the most dangerous of all.

"Sterilization Disinfection!" Joker suddenly opened her eyes. "Petrify!"

Suddenly, the white-haired woman - Sterilization Disinfection - Saibara Mina - made no sound and remained standing on the spot.

As if she had been turned to stone, all her movements ceased all at once.

"Mina!?"

"Sis - what's wrong?!"

As everyone bustled about, Joker sneaked silently towards them. She grabbed hold of Mina's jaw and threw the other woman out of the window without hesitation. The glass window shuttered and Mina's body flew out of the school building.

"... Urk?"

She was prepared to use Crushing Space to fight them and prevent them from attacking her, but surprisingly no one attacked her. While she was being puzzled, Mina slammed into the ground and her blood flew everywhere.

Mmm. Even if Mina wasn't dead, she shouldn't be able to move for a while. That way, one of them wouldn't be able to fight. Not bad. As Joker thought this, she looked sideways at the remaining three with her blue eyes, shimmering with a cold light.

"-- Petrify!"

It was Mitsuki's body that stiffened this time. Even her gloves, which could reflect all malicious attacks, had no effect on Joker's ability. Why didn't she attack? She also did not have a posture of defence.

"What - what is this? No way. I don't want this!"

Mitsuki shook her head and stretched her hands out in a panic as she screamed: "I can't see anything! I can't hear anything - I can't even feel anything with my skin. Ahhh. Where am I?"

Mitsuki was shaking badly and sank into a state of panic.

"Where am I!? Where is anybody? Ahhhhhh!"

She was then tossed outside of the building just like her elder sister.

See - it was easy.

Mitsuki's body flew out of the window and landed with a bump. She rolled and bounced off the ground, then remained still in a puddle of blood. 







Medusa, the monster annihilated by the hero Perseus in Greek mythology, apparently had the ability to change things she saw into stone.

Strictly speaking, {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s ability was something else.

It was also an ability that rendered the opponent unable to retaliate, and the condition to trigger it was also locking eyes with the opponent. Through eye contact, she could invade and control her opponent's five senses.

It could be considered as a negative way to use her manipulation of space.

Humans rely on sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, and we move according to those senses.

Even if just one sense was hindered, we would face great obstacles in our daily activities.

If all five senses were to disappear altogether, one would feel as if one was a rock, and would be unable to do anything at all. One would be unable to see, hear, or feel, and so would fall into nothingness as if one was dead.

Blocking off the senses.

That was the supernatural attack of {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} - God's Sensory Organ.

"You guys are hopeless in using your abilities."

Joker looked sadistically at Guriko and Kajiri, the only two left standing, as if she was playing with the other two within her palm.

"You finally attained the power of one-seventh of God - and yet you let all sorts of marvellous abilities go to waste without even using them. Therefore, you are not the kind to battle like me, but only failed Fragments that excel in investigations."

Joker was a coward.

She was born this way, and this trait became even more exaggerated after she received the Greater Fragment named {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, which could feel all the malevolence and danger of the world.

She was scared of everything. She was scared of others. She was scared of the world. She tried her hardest to make herself stronger, and she became like this at the end.

"Damn it -"

Guriko kicked the floor in rage. Although she made all sorts of powerful attacks, they all bounced back uselessly due to the other's protective air membrane.

Her opponent had the ability to control space. No matter how and where she attacked, the attack would be reflected.

Although she understood this, it would be too lame to just escape like this.

No matter what, it would be very difficult to break through that protective wall of air from the front. It was a protective wall with the air compressed to its utmost limit, and was as hard as rock.

Joker laughed when she was sure of her advantage.

"Ahahaha. You should understand that you have no chance of winning now. Now kindly give it up and die. I won't let you keep on living - not after you've seen my true face."

"Tch - "

Kajiri also understood the differences between their powers. He showed a fearful expression, and cold sweat seeped from his brow.

It was somewhat cute that the one with the ultimate power was pushed into this kind of a situation.

He had thought he held the supreme ability, and therefore slacked in studying and perfecting his skill. It was shameful for him to be so unacquainted with his power.

"How did it end up like this!?" 

Kajiri moaned as he stared at her and said in a low voice: “How did it end up like this? How can an ability like this be used continuously? You don’t need to replenish your energy, and you use it over and over without any recovery time. It’s incredible – you should be exhausting your energy reserves quickly if you’re manipulating air around your body and building defensive walls like that.”

Joker smiled, and her blue eyes looked towards Kajiri.

“Lived so carelessly, without even thought – are you any better than a pig? You are a human. You need to try and analyse everything for your own benefit. I do that even if it can only help me a little bit.”

Although she was prepared to finish off the opponent in one move, she also explained herself to the other two out of interest.

She had already finished off Sterilization Disinfection and Unpleasant Counter-Current. With such an overwhelming advantage, she should definitely be able to win. Indeed, she should be able to easily finish off the opponent whenever she wanted.

Joker took off the clothing she was wearing with a whoosh. She took off her jacket, loosened the buttons of her shirt, removed her pantaloons, and even took off her undergarments.

“Hey – ”

Kajiri swallowed uncomfortably. This kind of behavior was too unnatural. Guriko also opened her eyes with surprise. Her huge, transformed body stiffened.

“… What’s wrong with you all? Could it be that it’s the first time you’ve seen a woman’s naked body?” 

Joker was completely naked, and instantly, all over her body – 

“Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! Kill me kill me kill me kill me! Please help me please help me please help me! It hurts so much! It’s so disgusting!”

A tragic wail, like a dying scream, tore out of Joker’s body. It was the sound of people full of vengeance and pain.

She always kept a protective membrane of air around her body using her Manipulation of Space. It wasn’t just to protect her from enemies’ attacks, but also to contain this scream from leaking out.

The cry echoed all over Joker’s body.

Her rather thin body looked as if it was in pain – and innumerable human faces suddenly appeared on her skin.

There were faces of both men and women. The majority of them were young. Many of them were still young girls and boys, looking as if they were still children.

Those were undoubtedly other people’s faces.

There were eyeballs and lips. Some of them were even drooling, and some were crying tears.

There were expressions of madness and expressions of joy. Those countless faces, young and old, were all hiding within Joker’s skin with incredible density. It was a monstrosity. No, she was a monstrosity.

With her entire body covered with faces, the woman smiled all over her body.

“These are the failed ‘Lovesongs’.”

“Love – song?”

Joker nodded and caressed the countless faces lovingly as she shed tears.

“A human body is a sensory vessel – a vessel to contain Fragments. Only one can fit into each body. No matter if it is a huge Fragment, or if it was just a normal human, that stays the same. There is an upper limit to the amount of Fragments that can be stored inside a sensory organ. The holders of Greater Fragments have the highest limit. Although many humans possess Apples, they are far beneath the capacities of the Greater Fragments.”

That was the law.

No one knew who the person that decided this was. All they knew was that it was previously decided.

However, a law will always have a loophole. Everything that was previously decided will always have a deviant path to circumvent it. That was common sense.

“The bodies of humans who obtain Apples or Fragments will gradually change. The roots of the Apple will gradually grow out. Although they will not show any outward signs, the sensory organ that took the weight of the Apple will already create miraculous effects within the body. More importantly, this kind of change to the body can be inherited.”

She pointed at Kajiri and Guriko, then put her hand on her own chest.

“As animals, we are designed to inherit genetic information with our bodies. Therefore, the descendants of those with Fragments or Apples will inherit the unique properties of their bodies. The children of the Fragment holders, who had giant sensory organs, will possess enormous sensory organs from birth.”

“However,” Joker continued, “what they inherit is merely the shape and properties of the body. Of course, the power of a Greater Fragment or an Apple cannot be inherited. Such powers will disappear when their original owners die and their bodies are destroyed, and return to the world itself.”

The girl named Kuroki Tatsue was the child of Joker and Sakaki Ganhō.

However, Joker was registered as dead in the civil records since a long time ago. All mundane hindrances were long gone from her.

The woman who nurtured Tatsue was someone who had nothing to do with the girl and was hired for that purpose. That was why Tatsue had very few emotions towards her, and only desired to gain her father’s praises from obtaining good grades. But Tatsue was Joker’s daughter, {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}’s daughter. As to her body’s properties, she had inherited a huge sensory organ and abilities from {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}. All she had to do was wait for an opportunity to let her ability awaken.

Then all she needed would be power, and she would be able to use the same abilities as Joker.

“One more thing. As the holders of Greater Fragments, we can include others’ sensory organs into our own bodies.”

Sterilization Disinfection, who was thrown outside the building, had two sensory organs in her head and her heart. Thanks to that, she could keep living even if her head became separated from her body.

“Do you understand now? That’s how it works.”

Innumerable imprints of the human face covered her entire body. Joker caressed them with her fingers. Guriko and Kajiri observed this, and just barely managed to hold down their feeling of disgust.

Joker felt very pleased. It was so pleasing to push her opponents into a corner and taunt them with words, then behold the expressions of despair on their faces.

Joker, extremely excited, began to talk unnecessarily again: "These are the children of the previous {{Furigana|Catastrophe|Poison}}, who inherited {{Furigana|Catastrophe|Poison}}'s sensory organ."

Breaksun Hanselmine had seventy-seven younger sisters and sixty-six younger brothers, but no older siblings at all. There were fifty-five women she called 'Mother', but she had only one father.

"The {{Furigana|Catastrophe|Poison}} of the previous generation was a man. In order to increase the number of humans with enormous sensory organs, he copulated with women all over the world, and sired many children. They are all here - one-hundred-and-forty-three humans with huge sensory organs. I used God Mushi Emperor to gather the capacity of all these organs, and transplanted them into my body."

There were girls crying and screaming, boys with smiles on their faces, youths who muttered crazed words under their breath, and babies who rolled their eyes in a comatose state.

They were all Breaksun's siblings - they were humans born and bred with no other purpose but to be storage space for Apples.

"There are also people amongst these humans who can store an incredible amount of energy within them after receiving a Greater Fragment. The eldest daughter of the previous {{Furigana|Catastrophe|Poison}}, Breaksun Hanselmine, was especially named 'Lovesong'. As {{Furigana|Catastrophe|Poison}} is capable of twisting cause and effect and hiding her presence, all the fragments we have ever gathered from all over the world throughout these centuries were all combined together and kept within her body."

"You - "

Kajiri muttered as if moaning. He took a firm hold of his crucifix knife and threatened Joker. A flaming rage dominated Kajiri's eyes. Ahaha - Joker thought as she readjusted her position. Her previously relaxed expression also disappeared. Damn. She liked to talk too much and overdid it this time, and finally caused her enemies to react strongly.

Maybe she was too excited in her first real battle.

Kajiri gritted his teeth and roared angrily: "What are you talking about! Go get Fragments yourself! All this talk about storage space - are you kidding me! Do you think everyone else is an object?"

"You!"

His anger was completely justified. Strictly speaking, it was according to justice. However, that was where it ends. 

There are many, many things that cannot be saved with justice alone.

Why did her chest hurt slightly? She must have talked too much and overexerted her lung capacity.

"You took away everyone else's lives just so you could keep on living - have you never considered whether that was correct? Are you really a human?"

"You are the stupid one. Are you really planning on becoming a human?"

Justice. Morality. Those things that made one get upset for another's sake. Those things were pushing Kajiri to act right now. Those beautiful and brilliant emotions were in fact all foolish and worthless trash. No matter how much of those emotions one possessed, that will never help anyone to achieve their goals, but will instead cause them to lose their lives by putting them in danger.

Foolish. So foolish. So incorrigibly foolish.

A teardrop flew from of Joker's eye.

"...?"

Joker cried often, but she never quite understood why she cried. She should be correct. She should be living in a way more justified than anyone else. 

So why was she so sad?

"Petrify!"

All five of Kajiri's senses should have been robbed from him according to her command, but he did not stop. Instead, he rushed towards her. He should be able to see and hear nothing. Was he not scared? Was he not scared to be placed into that death-like emptiness?

"Grr..."

Kajiri rushed towards her without caring for his own wellbeing. Joker was slightly afraid, and all the human faces on her body started to scream. She had absorbed the power of her Fragment, and her physical power had received an exponential increase. Even if she didn’t use Crushing Space, she could still easily kill somebody. She thought this, and stretched her hand towards the other without defending.

Suddenly, Joker genuinely felt incredulous at the situation, and lowered her head.

“What is this – I am fighting?!”

She could not remember her goals, her reasons, her thoughts, or her desires – ahh, but she felt everything was frustrating.

Why was she in so much pain?

Innumerable lives from others were buried within her body. She had to carry all this with her and keep fighting, and keep living.

Was it because she was afraid? What was she afraid of – 

“… Calm down. I’m just trying to keep living.”

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} murmured in a low voice and struck out with her right arm, covered with human faces, knocking Kajiri’s body away without hesitation.

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}’s attack was as powerful as a cannonball, and hit Kajiri’s body viciously.

His body was smashed like soft tofu from his abdomen to his right shoulder. His blood, mixed with broken bones and flesh, fluttered in the night school grounds.

Kajiri’s body, having suddenly received such a heavy injury, rolled away like a log of corroded wood. His internal organs shattered, and his face was full of blood – but even so, he still smiled.

“Ganko, it’s – up to you know.”

Kajiri didn’t even manage to make a sound. He simply muttered to himself as his body was filled by the power of {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}’s Fragment.






Single Room had the ultimate ability that could remake the world and change everything according to his thoughts.

The extent that ability could reach was everything that Kajiri’s blood could touch or envelope. If his blood had the time to travel around Earth, then he can even change the movement of the planet.

Kajiri originally used his sharp crucifix to stab himself to obtain his blood.

But now he didn’t need to deliberately do that anymore.

He had lost a lot of blood. The blood that spurted out from the wound {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} dealt him was flying in the air, and covered everything.

“… Welcome to my room. Oh well, enjoy yourself.”

The blood that spurted out from his back suddenly turned around mid-flight and Guriko, who was standing behind him, was covered in his blood.

Her entire body was dripping with blood. It was hard to even imagine she was still human. The drops of blood twirled continuously on Guriko’s feet, abdomen, shoulders, and her head, as if they were creatures with independent thought. Kajiri fell heavily on the corridor after he ascertained that.

“Ahh – …”

He saw Breaksun, who was lying on the ground, in his last brief moment. His sight then dimmed rapidly. Kajiri made a low laugh: “Sorry, Breako, I might end up dead. Ganko – you better win. I can’t die before I fulfil your wish… what a bother.”

Kajiri moaned as his consciousness gradually left his body. The woman above her, her body covered with human faces, started a furious encounter with her fellow abomination, the red monster covered with blood.






{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} and Guriko’s battle ruined everything around them.

The school building was full of holes. Bricks and tiles flew in all directions, and the entire school looked like it was ready to collapse.

But Guriko was not worried at all. Her brain was ruled by her bestial, overwhelming desire to kill. Her body moved instinctively and without any thoughts.

“Gah – ahhhhh!”

Guriko roared and the fleshy wings on her back flapped. The storm they stirred up blew up the entire school building, and the corridor collapsed and broke.

“You monster…!”

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} screeched, with the bells tied to her hair started to make a shrill, piercing sound. At the same time, the human faces all over her body started to make sad wails of despair and anguish, and the tears they shed all fluttered away.

“– Petrify!”
 
According to the previous situation, everything should have been finished with that final attack. No matter how powerful Guriko was after her transformation, she couldn’t have absolute confidence with beating {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} once all her five senses were sealed.

However…

“Aren’t you – a monster too?!”

Guriko’s sight was still clear and bright, and her hearing was not affected. She attacked her opponent with no hesitation in her movements. {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} was very surprised at this, and her movement paused briefly due to her confusion.

Of course, Guriko wouldn’t let this opportunity go.

“Die!”

Her hand was covered with armor-like carapace, but was flexible and soft contrary to appearances. The sharp claws that could easily rip apart human flesh swept past rapidly and sank into {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}’s shoulder, severing her right arm from her body without any difficulty.

Her flesh was torn and blood flew everywhere. Her arm fell on the ground and rolled away.

There was a sound of blood spurting out.

"Woahhhh!"

A tragic howl tore out of {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s throat. Why hadn't her senses disappeared? Guriko was somewhat puzzled by this, but she immediately understood this after some thinking. 

It was probably because of Single Room's help.

He exhausted the last of his power not to protect himself, but to protect and modify Guriko. Due to this, even {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s ability had been rendered useless on Guriko. Her Crushing Space was also sealed off. 

Kajiri had done all this to ensure victory.

Then...

"Don't underestimate me - monster!"

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, who had lost her right arm and was bleeding profusely, did not stop moving. 

Her height changed as she became even shorter than Guriko. Her fist easily punched through the wall, and her shriek reverberated through the air, creating a fierce shock wave. The ancient school building finally yielded to strain placed upon it by the fierce battle between the two - the pillars holding up the corridors bent and broke, and the ground cracked beneath them. 

Guriko, {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, and Breaksun, who was lying on the ground - were all tossed outside. The destruction was even worse than they imagined. Behind them, the school building collapsed in the blink of an eye and stirred up an intense dust storm. The school building complex, half-destroyed under the moonlight, looked veritably like a corpse.

"Gah - urk."

Guriko flapped her wings in the air as she slowly touched down upon the ground, her torso upright. She’d flew down from the third floor of the school building. It would be hard to imagine that Kajiri and Breaksun had escaped this unscathed - but the rubble covered everywhere and she could not see either of them.

And {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} - ?

"Idiot!"

An attack suddenly came from behind her back.

She hadn’t anticipated this at all. Guriko immediately turned around and entered a fighting pose.

As opposed to erasing others' senses - {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} had erased her own aura with manipulation of space. Guriko realized this now, but it was too late, as broken pieces of the school building - sharp concrete blocks and sheets of iron continuously flew towards her.

"Uwahhhh!"

They pierced through the thick carapace on Guriko's body. 

Although Guriko could no longer feel pain, she still found it hard to accommodate the feeling of something alien stabbing into her body.

Guriko wobbled and fell down after the attack. {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, appearing right next to her, walked up with her long hair waving and her entire body laughing.

"You dare to…you dare to take off my arm..."

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s eyes, full of rage, began to fill with blood. An ominous aura started to rise with her. Guriko instinctively felt danger. As she was about to move back, {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} grasped her arm in the blink of an eye and tore it from her body before Guriko realized what was going on.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!?"

Following a crunching sound, countless nerves were severed and ligaments and muscles were torn. Guriko's only remaining arm was taken away from her.

Without either arm, Guriko stood like a column, and {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} immediately wrapped around Guriko's body as if the former was a snake.

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} murmured: "First I’ll crush your neck, then I’ll tear apart your limbs before you die. I'll dig out your heart, punch the rest of your body into a pulp... It would be a happy thing for you if you died before I finished with you."

Her hands wrapped around Guriko's head and twisted suddenly. Guriko's neck instantly snapped. However, without her arms and being entangled like this, she was incapable of defending herself.

She flapped her wings, but it was useless.

"Gah, ah, ahhhh! Stop! Get off - !"

Guriko fell into chaos and madness and rolled on the ground. Her enemy did not cease at all, and kept holding on to Guriko's head. Guriko made a loud roar.

"Is this your final struggle... die! Die! Die!"

The muscles on her neck creaked pitifully.

No. It was about to break.

''This is scary. This is - far too scary!''

''Will my head get snapped off?''

''There was Rinne, and Sakaki, and my parents - although we only spent a small amount of time together - and Mina and Mitsuki, whom I just managed to be friends with... would my head, with all these memories, get ripped off? I hate this, hate this! I'll be killed, I'll be killed! My memories and soul are all going to be erased!''

"Woahhhh!" 

Then Guriko instinctively bit down with all her strength.

“ – Urk?”

Even though it was only for a brief second, she forcibly turned her head, which was gripped tight. The movement was too unnatural and she felt her neck was going to break. 

''But only for a moment, if only I can hold on for one more moment...''

This was enough for her. {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} was stunned at this unexpected comeback. Her face, which was right next to Guriko's in order to have a stronger hold on the latter's neck, was bitten by Guriko.

She bit her furiously.

"Waaa - aaaah!"

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s nose was inside Guriko's mouth and her cheek was bleeding. Her beautiful face was covered in blood.

Her power weakened briefly, and Guriko struggled free from her grasp. Guriko was acting out of sheer impulse as she thought of this terrifying tactic and implemented it.

She pushed down {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}, whose eyes seemed to spurt fire in rage and madness. She opened her mouth wide and her teeth bit down tightly. It was a terrifying action that Guriko would never have done previously.

"Ah? What - ah, ah, aaahhhh!?"

She bit her.

She bit down on her arms, shoulders, and throat. She bit down and tore at {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}’s body, chewed her enemy's flesh, and swallowed it.

The numerous unfortunate children swept into this affair, those failed 'Lovesongs' serving as storage space, made vengeful screeches, but Guriko ignored them.

This was the only thing she could do.

This was the only thing she could do in order to win.

"Waahhhhhh - eat, eat, eat me ahhhhhhhhhhhh aaahhhhhh?!"

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} wriggled her body and spasmed from the severe pain, and her body cried out. But Guriko paid this no mind. She bit down on {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s arms, tore at her abdomen, sucked on her organs, greedily devored her soft bosom, gnawed at her blood-covered face, and a smile surfaced on Guriko's countenance. {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s entire body was a storage space keeping the excess power of Fragments. Then she just needed to keep eating and absorbing it, and make that power into her own. It was simple. She didn't even need to think. That was {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s weakness.

"Ahh - uhhhh."

She pierced the protective layer of air and reached out for {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s tender flesh. If the other woman struggled, then she simply exerted more force and pushed her down harder. She ignored the piercing screams, and gave in to the instinctual madness.

She smashed the hand that tried to escape, pulled out the quivering organs, gouged out the eyeballs murky with fear and ate them up.

It was bursting out. This vitality was filling her up until it burst out. With every piece of meat that entered her stomach, more of the unbelievable power swelled up. ''This feels so good.'' Guriko immersed herself in this primeval joy. She was laughing. Somewhere deep in Guriko's heart, she thought this was how it was meant to be, this was what she was made to do. It was as if she finally understood what she was doing. Why did she always use spoons to gouge out others' eyes? That was because spoons are cutlery, and were only aimed towards food. Had she considered all the opponents she had ever faced food? Was that why she felt so satisfied to actually start eating them?

"Ha - ha, hahahaha!"

She laughed. Although it was a senseless way of thinking, it was as if now, she could finally understand. Yes, this was the right thing. She felt great to eat her opponents up like this. 

The chilling moment continued. No one could stop it now. Guriko ceased thinking. She simply ate joyfully and continuously, despite the wailing and cries that were coming out of {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s entire body, a sound akin to a maddened song. The noble action of 'fighting' had long since ended in this place. What had taken its place was predation. The foaming flood flew out under the moonlight, and its shadows kept roiling.

She pulled out her enemy’s bones, bit down on arteries, and tore apart her nerves.

She ravaged her opponent's body as she wished. Guriko was feeling very delighted to watch {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} being torn into pieces of meat.

Victory had already been decided. What she was doing now was merely punishing the loser, with a cruel, delicious feast for the winner.

Joker understood this very much, but she could not stop it. She didn't even have the power to resist, and could only emit pitiful moans.

Guriko tore her apart, dismembered her, and ate her.

"Ah - nom, nom."

A pitiful body was left behind.

"Om - guh, hah, nom!"

All the faces over {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} were chewed up. They completely lost the spark of life, becoming as devoid of expression as the faces of the dead.

She lost both her arms, and all her internal organs were eaten up. Her abdomen was empty now, and her ribs were crushed and broken. And the part that was most nutritious of all - her heart – had also been dug out.

Her previously beautiful face was now displaying the flesh underneath. Her lower body, which was not bitten as badly, was suffering from the reactions of the severe pain, and the nerves were intermittently causing the muscles to spasm strongly.

Victory had been decided.

This supremely tragic battle was finally going to end.

"..."

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} had no more will to fight. Her body was no longer able to move.

Even if she was an immortal, she couldn't last with this kind of damage.

Her heart, her central sensory organ, was already in Guriko's stomach. Her countless supplementary sensory organs were also mostly eaten, falling all over the place. {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} would die. The power of her enormous Fragment would be taken away by Guriko. Even though she stated that the power of Fragments could not build up infinitely within a body, Guriko's sensory organ was as a bottomless pit and swallowed it all, and gluttonously sought for even more.

"Monster..."

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} said brokenly with her remaining voice. 

"Monster... Mon... ster..."

"..."

Guriko did not respond. She knew what was happening even if the other didn't state it.

The arm that she just lost instantly grew out again due to the nutrition she had obtained. She flapped her blood-stained wings and flew in the air, and looked down upon {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}. There were no emotions in her eyes. There was no gratitude from having attained victory, or any sense of guilt. Something deep within those gun-barrel like eyes dimmed even more.

"Rinne... I need to find her."

She suddenly remembered this. Although Guriko faltered, she still moved one small step at a time. She thought {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} would soon die even if she was left alone. She then shook her head. She looked at the other's woman's sole remaining beautiful blue eye. It was as if she had seen that color before.

"Gu...ryū. Ta...tsue. Ganhō..." As if {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}} was murmuring in her dreams, Guriko could not hear what she said clearly, and had no idea what she was talking about.

Guriko thought it was probably meaningless murmurs. She should at least finish the woman off, and end her pains. Guriko lifted up her hand.

{{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s entire body shook.

“I don’t want to die.”

Guriko's hand, clenched into a fist, froze in the air.

For some reason, she felt at a loss, and somewhat tired and empty. Guriko sighed and took her eyes off {{Furigana|Tear Song|Melodia Noise}}'s body and walked forward.

Guriko didn't know where she was going, what she was looking for, or why she was alive.

"...?"

She suddenly looked up. Countless people stood around her. She didn't know any of them, but she could guess.

Those people, who had emerged from the night with their red eyes, were not staring at Guriko. They were only looking confusedly for something in the school building. As if this was the center of the world, as if innumerable things of beauty existed here.

Guriko followed their eyes and slowly looked towards the school building.

Within the only intact classroom in the broken building, Usagawa Rinne's form could be seen.


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