Mushi:Vol1 Ch3

The Third Night: The Girl Who Died a Thousand Years ago

Original sin, the first sin humans committed, the betrayal of God. The sin that the first humans, Adam and Eve, had committed, are still not forgiven by God. As their children, we also live a life of anguish, carrying that sin. Pain is the way for humans to redeem themselves. It was all the ancestors’ fault. No matter whom it may be: men, women, the elderly, the children, the sick or the healthy, and of course the wealthy or the poor, that pain seems to have been equally laden onto everyone. “You need to believe in religion in order to be released from that pain!” So religion can keep surviving! Flaring up others’ unrest and forcing them to worship a religion is basically underhanded dealing. This is called negative option. Even if you believe in religion you’d only be saved after you died, so there’s no point in believing it while you’re alive anyways.

“Sensei, what exactly is original sin?”

Hmm, asking a question when you don’t understand, Usarin-kakka is quite splendid. Everyone needs to learn from her – as for this, basically there was a God, a mighty being that created many creatures, with humans being the head of them all. God created humans last, using soil and a rib as the material. The work that He gave to those two humans – Adam and Eve – was to farm on the land named the Garden of Eden, reap the crops from the fields, and expel invaders. At the same time He gave a warning. He told them that they could eat any fruit growing in the Garden of Eden except the apple growing in the middle of the garden, because eating it would result in death.

“Was it poisonous?”

“That’s not poison. Do you know ‘Nutgall’? It was a story about a monk in a temple who showed a bottle with stuff in it to the young monks, and warned them the content was nutgall, a poisonous plant, and must not be eaten. Actually it wasn’t nutgall in the bottle at all, but the candies the monk had stored. The young monks solved this quickly and ate all the candies. After the monk knew about it he swore his head off in regret.”

“This is a joke?”

It is a joke, all such mad talks are jokes. You’ll probably be reprimanded if you compare the story of the original sin as a joke, but the basic idea of the story is the same. The apple growing in the center of the Garden of Eden wasn’t poisonous, but a forbidden fruit that only God is allowed to eat. Legend says it is a fruit that enables people to extinguish right and wrong, a fruit that grants wisdom, or a fruit that stops aging and grants immortality. There were too many rumors… all in all, Adam and Eve ate the fruit that only God could eat, and God expelled them from the Garden of Eden in a thunderous rage – that is the original sin, a sin of theft. Because they broke a contract it could probably count as making false testimony too. Anyways, Adam and Eve committed the ultimate sin of betraying God, and that sin is still not forgiven till this day – just what is this “Apple” that God treasured so much? Although it is very interesting, I can’t continue to teach once I start to think about it, so I’ll have to force myself to leave it for today.

The fourth class of the day for Year One, Class B is ethics class. Sakaki Guryuu, who pretty much took over teaching for every subject in this class, briefly recounted the establishment of Judaism. Sakaki almost took over all subjects for Class B from Japanese to Mathematics, because he wanted to spend more time with Usagawa Rinne. The reason Sakaki was able to be so tyrannical and bully his way through was due to his family background. In modern Japan, which practices egalitarianism but also commercialism, you won’t be discriminated based on your family background, but differences in financial ability does still exist so no one would challenge the Sakaki Organization just for the sake of equality. Sakaki Organization has the mighty financial power to easily surpass Japan’s national budget – since Sakaki Guryuu is the organization’s heir, he has the right to use his power without hesitation. Moreover, this high school – Kannonsakazaki Private High School – was run by the Sakaki Organization. Comparing the school to a business, Sakaki would be the CEO’s son. No matter what the school’s strategic plans may be, realistically no fool in the school would want to offend such a person.

It’s the same with teachers and students.

However –

“Oi, don’t sleep, the girl with the savage name over there.”

“Bam”, Sakaki placed the textbook on the table and yelled at the person who was dead asleep in the middle of the classroom, and was even snoring as if she was taunting Sakaki. That person was deeply asleep with her head on her arms; by the way, she’s been like that since the first class. No student had ever slept in his class; Sakaki’s pride was greatly dented. For Sakaki, who didn’t have much patience, this had long ago gone beyond what he could endure.

The class quietened down. Ever since the incident on November 15th, the students have been very interested in the relationship between Sakaki Guryuu and the person sleeping right now – Gankyuu Eguriko. The mundane school life, the peaceful time where nothing happens, was stirred up with the seed of disruption – Gankyuu Eguriko. What would this peerless ultimate teacher do next?

Sitting next to Gankyuu Eguriko – Guriko, Usagawa Rinne pocked Guriko’s head with her finger. It was an uneven and messy head with hair cut like a wolf’s, and with her lying on the table she looked like a lump of hair concealing her true form. In contrast, Rinne was very clean and neat, with short hair that didn’t even go down to her shoulders. These two seemed to be on good terms lately. If Rinne were to say something, Guriko would at least listen to it a bit.

“Guriko, Guriko, get up.”

A clear and carrying voice with a metallic tone like a bell. That was Usagawa Rinne’s beautiful voice.

“Sensei looks like he’s a bit angry, it’s better if you get up!”

“So noisy!”

Guriko maintained her original position, and said coolly without moving: “I sleep when I want to sleep. It doesn’t concern me whether the Sensei is angry or the world gets destroyed, sleep is the greatest happiness I can get. It’s alright; I learnt long ago the skill to get a grasp of the surrounding situation even when sleeping. The last time I found out you were being attacked by Mushi despite being asleep was all because I learnt this skill.”

“Hmm…”

“…Therefore, there is absolutely no problem with me sleeping in the classroom. It should be that I don’t like that teacher with a name like a four-word proverb… who dares to look down upon my name. I don’t even want to see his face, which is why I am sleeping the whole way through. You got a problem?”

“I’ve got a problem. It is extremely impolite to not listen to the teacher lecturing and sleep throughout.”

Ever since when, Sakaki was beside Guriko. With a bam, his fist smacked into the top of Guriko’s head mercilessly. Even Guriko had to get up, nursing her head. Guriko stared at Sakaki.

“What! Why did you hit me? Even if I can’t feel the pain, my head would still wobble when it’s hit. All my sleepiness flew away. How are you gonna pay me back, Sensei?!”

“Add ‘Sakaki’. Anyways, you’re not allowed to sleep during my class.”

Sakaki declared arrogantly. Guriko set her face angrily.

“Didn’t even say sorry – I’m angry. Remember this, Sakaki.”

One day I’m going to gorge out your eyeballs, Guriko muttered quietly to herself.

During lunch break on Friday November the 26th, Sakaki was eating the lunch Rinne made for him when he noticed Rinne, who sat in front of him, looked rather fidgety. He then asked her: “Is Usarin-kakka alright? Does your stomach hurt?”

When asked this, Rinne lifted up her lowered head to look at Sakaki. She wasn’t eating her lunch because of her loss of appetite. Apparently she hadn’t eaten for about ten days. Although she’s been to the doctor, she was chased out because they could find nothing wrong with her. Rinne didn’t get thin at all despite her complete fast, and she continued her energetic life as usual, ignorant of Sakaki’s worries. This was a completely incomprehensible phenomenon. For something that even modern medicine can not solve, Sakaki couldn’t understand it either; all he could do was to regard it as a supernatural phenomenon and give up on searching out the reason behind it.

Rinne suddenly looked away, and showed a rare expression of finding it hard to say something.

Sakaki felt incredulous.

“What’s wrong?”

“Um…”

With the pretty voice that Sakaki likes, Rinne said fearfully: “Sensei, do you dislike Guriko?”

“Hmm?”

What’s the meaning of this question? It looked like a question that can be explained in any way. However, because Sakaki had always answered Rinne’s questions truthfully, so he told her the truth without much thought.

“I don’t like her and I don’t dislike her… honestly, I feel guarded towards her. I still don’t know her true form. In many ways, she’s too unlike a human. Moreover, I’m not clear of her intentions either. She is already unforgivable based on the fact that she once harmed Usarin-kakka, and her personality is so self-centered it always feels like she’s looking down on me, which really gets on my nerves. There’s no way I’d be able to get on well with her.”

“Is it so…”

Rinne’s expression was slightly at a loss.

“Then Sensei, didn’t you once say that Guriko arrived at this school in order to trick me? You said she is acting so she can achieve her purpose, and she plans to trick me –”

“I didn’t say it in that way –”

“Sensei you did say that!”

Rarely, Rinne said angrily: “It’s just that Guriko isn’t good in getting along with people. I think she actually wants to get along peacefully with Sensei. Although she once killed me, and there’s also the business of tipping over the lunch, she must have some helpless reason that we don’t know about. Guriko would never want us to be unhappy! Because we live together, I know Guriko isn’t a bad girl!”

“Usarin-kakka is really taking her side!”

“It’s Sensei who’s too paranoid!”

Rinne said loudly. This was a very extraordinary reaction. Rinne was apparently angry, angry enough to yell at Sakaki. Sakaki’s heart wavered and he couldn’t figure out how he made her angry at all. He just wanted Rinne to be safe; didn’t this thought get through to her? No, it got through; Rinne wasn’t such a stupid girl. Sakaki’s thought got across correctly, but she was so angry with it.

Rinne didn’t lift her head, and continued: “I know Sensei cares about me. I’m glad, and I feel like I own Sensei this, but even so, like this –”

As if she suddenly calmed down, Rinne’s tone became gentle and her hand pressed against her forehead.

“– Aaa, no, I’m confused already… but Sensei, I beg you please stop suspecting Guriko. That child definitely won’t harm me again.”

“How can you know such things?”

How can you come to a conclusion like this? Why are such things believable? That person killed you once, Rinne. Killed you by gorging out your eyeball. How can you still believe such a horrifying demon?

Rinne had her head lowered for a long time, and said quietly: “Sensei, Guriko –”

It was a very sad sound.

“She’d cry at night! Wrapped in her nightmare, yelling very loudly: ‘Sorry, I’m still alive, kill me, kill me! I want to die! I can’t take this any mooore! Kill me, kill me, kill me!’ She’d be in this anguish till dawn. Guriko seems to not have noticed this. I think the reason Guriko sleeps all the time under the sun’s protection during the day must be because she couldn’t sleep peacefully at night… Sensei, do you think such poor child would be a devil that wants to kill me?”

Rinne’s shoulders were shaking. Although she didn’t cry, her heart seemed to be weeping.

Sakaki displayed a painful expression, but even so he couldn’t trust Guriko.

“Because that’s also – acting.”

“It can’t be acted!”

It can’t be acted. Rinne, as if speaking to the empty air, muttered once again.

“… Don’t fight, it would gather Mushi.”

A pure sound, so clear if could always penetrate the air and chase away all noises, untainted with any other substance, reverberated in the classroom.

Rinne turned her head towards where the sound came from, and Sakaki followed Rinne’s gaze. Guriko, who disappeared a while ago, was pulling open the classroom door with a squeak, and walked towards the two.

As she mumbled incomprehensible words.

“Mushi are everywhere, even – in this classroom. Those things will use any means to obtain their goal, so they would immediately move in as soon as you show a crack. Don’t fight; your strong point is that your love is strong, and you should maintain your strong point.”

“You’re the reason of this fight!”

“What?”

Surprise surfaced on Guriko’s face; she then brushed away her fringe and stared at Sakaki with her irises of an incredible colour. Although it wasn’t an important piece of information, but this girl doesn’t suit her sailor uniform a single bit.

“You’re saying – me? Ah, you still can’t get over the thing with the lunch? Forgive me, I had to do that to keep you two alive. Now that I think about it, maybe it’s better for this guy to have died then. Why did I save this kind of a person? He’s clearly useless.”

‘This guy’ and ‘this kind of person’ were all unmistakably referring to Sakaki, because Guriko’s finger was pointing at him at the same time. Why would she only say things that irritate Sakaki’s nerves such as this? It was the first time in Sakaki’s life that he’s been called ‘useless’.

Rinne noticed that Sakaki was displeased, and a helpless expression showed up on her face.

“Guriko, why did you say that? It’s better to be more open – Guriko must also want to get on peacefully with Sensei, so you shouldn’t be saying things like that!”

“Don’t –”

Guriko probably wanted to rebuke her with ‘don’t speak nonsense’, but Rinne was quicker than her and sealed off Guriko’s words with her own angelic smile.

“I like Guriko a lot!”

Rinne said naturally: “I want to become good friends with you, so don’t worry, I won’t hurt you! Sensei must be like me too, and want to get on well with Guriko.”

Sakaki complained with a furrowed brow: “Usarin-kakka, I still want to veto this speech of yours.”

“Sensei is so stubborn. Guriko and Sensei are really similar! Both of you are obviously good people, but became distant from each other since you can’t be open to each other; that’s very sad! In fact, you should be able to get along well, but become distant due to stubbornness and dislike each other; how sad…”

Rinne’s face was still helpless, but she laughed as she said this with a tone that sounded like she’s seen through everything in the world.

“Huh...?” “Aye…?”

Her proclamation made the other two gape at her, and both wearing expressions of thinking about how to rebuke this optimistic girl.

The peerless Rinne noticed the similar expressions on the other two, and thought: “They are definitely similar!” then gently smiled.

They were memories, sad memories.

… We only need you to be the unfortunate one – I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard those words. Yes, Mom, you only need me to be the unfortunate one. Let the gods of plague and poverty possess me alone, and leave out my family. Eat me if you must eat someone. I’m an adopted child anyways. If the family can’t support the children anymore, I’d be discarded immediately.

Since I must die some day, then let me die protecting my family!

It was a year when pestilence ran wild. Everyone was frail and wane, eyes caving in, faces pallid. For the rural countryside, which barely maintained people’s daily needs, its appearance was like a hurricane that would immediately blow the people down and drag them to the afterlife. Once a person gets sick, the land would go barren with it. For a poor village this is a matter of life and death. The people in my family were those of good health. As if it didn’t affect them, they looked apathetically on at the pestilence. Meanwhile I, who can easily catch diseases, was locked up in a small stone-walled room. Don’t come out! You’d get sick! Of course, those words weren’t said due to worry. Mom was afraid that after I caught the disease, I would pass it on to other people in the family. We only need you to be the unfortunate one; Mom did say that. It’s enough if you’re unfortunate; don’t bring us down with you.

I know, Mom, I understand these things. Although people in the family were not kind towards me, they still gave me food to eat and a bed to sleep in. I know if I ask for any more, God would punish me for it. I like the people in this family. If misfortune fell on them because of me, I’d be very sad. Sounding pathetic, but it was truly what I thought.

The stone room was wet, with a mouldy or rotten-wood smell. I sat on the icy cold rock and fought the chill. It’s so dark in here; I can’t even see my own hands. As if to chase away the cold, all I did was hug my knees and cry.

I was so lonely; I didn’t simply fear the dark.

Just how long had it been? I sensed something was amiss. Outside there was a rising ruckus, screams, roars, sounds of things breaking. What’s going on? Because of fear, I knocked on the wood panels blocking the entrance. Dad, Mom, my elder brothers; what happened to everyone?

A deep and gloomy voice that I never heard of responded:

– Oh my oh my, I was wondering where you might be. So you are locked up in this stone room!

It wasn’t a man’s voice, nor was it a woman’s voice. It was a voice that would make the listener feel uneasy.

“Boom” – the upright wood panels were easily broken. I could see the shadow of a person standing between me and the sunshine. My body shook, and I took a few steps backwards, then I tripped on something and lost my balance. So that guy held me up with both hands, and then laughed.

– Alright, time to give it back!

He said this to me. Red light was shimmering in that guy’s eyes, and he didn’t look human. Then my sight went past that demon’s shoulder, and I saw the most tragic scene. Dad with his neck twisted, Mom with her belly opened, my elder brothers piled upon each other on the floor; everyone was dead. I screamed.

Ignorant to my screams, that guy remained gloomily silent.

This guy seemed to be looking for me. In order to find me, he even outright killed my family who happened to be outside the stone room, as if they were in the way of his search. He’s such a – bad guy, he – is so horrible. And right now, this most horrible bad guy was looking at me expressionlessly.

– Let’s confirm it first!

A deep voice sounded beside my ears.

Then that guy grabbed my screaming throat.

My sight darkened.

… It should have been fine with me being the only unfortunate one. Dad, Mom, my elder brothers, I’m sorry.

Opening her eyes, she was met with the endless sky. Narrowing her eyes due to the blinding light, her hand went to her neck unconsciously. The throat that should have been crushed didn’t leave even a scar. Such things had disappeared long ago.

“… So it was a dream.”

Gankyū Eguriko muttered as she laid face-up on the roof of Kannonsakazaki Private High School, watching birds or planes passing above.

Seemed she dreamt of the past while she was dozing. It was an almost maddening event – a distant memory of when Guriko was still human. The memory that still had Mom, Dad, brothers, and the ordinary life of a millennium ago. A vague memory that she’d almost forgotten –

In her sight, three birds flew past with a whoosh. As they had their backs to the sun, all she could see were shadows.

As she immersed in past sentiments, Guriko murmured evenly: “Birds don’t change, maintaining the shape of a bird in the past and present. Humans, on the other hand, changed a lot. What about me – is there anything that’s different from back then? Of course there should be changes. Back then I could easily laugh, I had things that were important to me, and I had a lot of happiness. When did I begin to leave it somewhere, and when did I start to lose it?”

When am I supposed to live until? – Following the birds with her sight, she murmured to herself.

Three birds, a group of birds that lived by pecking worms. Those birds are like the ones now, the same from a millennium ago to this day. I had long ago stopped being a human.

“Even three birds were reduced to two, and now I’m the only one left. It doesn’t matter being alone. I don’t want to bring Rinne into this if possible, but the Apple had already rooted in her, just like me – it’s too late, whatever happens would lead to misfortune. Change into a bird, or die with humans…”

Tottering, Guriko stood up, her eyes fixed on the birds flying away into the distance.

“… It should have been fine with me being the only unfortunate one!”

Guriko evenly said those words she so often said.

“Seeing that person’s crying face – it hurts too much.”

Guriko stretched her hand towards her chest.

But I must tell her the truth.

Knowing that there will be no reward, and also gotten used to being despised.

Time flew by while she was sorting out letters and tidying up the warehouse. Her working time being over at the post office, Usagawa Rinne left the post office after saying goodbye to other workers. Rinne likes this job very much. Although it’s repetitive, it gets pleasant once you get used to it; besides, everyone else are pretty kind. She used her cellphone to check the time: it was 8pm, and the sky was already dark. Rinne got on her bike parked behind the post office, and galloped on the uneven street as she puffed out white vapour with each breath. The time wasn’t early, not was it very late. There were very few people on the street, and most of the shops have closed down. However, there were still the occasional pedestrian, probably just off work and wearing wary expressions on their faces as they wobbled along.

Back then, Rinne was also extremely tired like them when she finished work, but now she has no feelings of tiredness at all. With no appetite, healing wounds automatically, and even losing the feeling of being tired; do I still count as a human? When Rinne thought of this, she couldn’t help but feel sad.

Although she didn’t know what Sakaki thought of this, Rinne was rather puzzled herself. What kind of conspiracy did she get into? What was happening to her? Just who is Guriko? She really wanted to know those answers. Rinne definitely didn’t give this up, nor did she take this lightly; Rinne herself also seriously wanted to know the truth.

But she still didn’t know the answer no matter how hard she thought about it. Although she tried her best to guess from Guriko’s or the Mushi’s words, whether it’s because she lacks imagination or was just plain dumb no ‘definite’ answer emerged from her brain. Rinne was almost out of options.

The ten-minute-long commute was too short to think things through. Before she managed to organize her uneasy questions, Rinne was already home. Is Guriko already back? It’s a happy thing to have someone waiting for her in the house.

“I’m home!”

Rinne spoke as she opened the door and took off her shoes at the entrance. Just as she thought there was some clicking fantasy music coming towards her, she saw that Guriko was sitting in front of the very large television that was incongruous with the room and was playing a video game. Guriko was attentively playing an old game with a 300-yen console that the video game shops sold as auction articles and softwares that cost 100 yen per disk; just 400 yen overall. The software was ‘Obake no Q-tarō'.

The wobbling, cute Q-tarō appeared on the screen, but soon he hit the dog and fell down, displaying GAME OVER. It looked like Guriko doesn’t really know how to play video games. But since she didn’t know that video games existed beforehand, it’s reasonable that she’s not good at it.

Guriko immediately started the game again, and said to Rinne without turning around: “Working today too?”

“Mm, working.”

Rinne hang the coat she was wearing on the clothes hook and sat next to Guriko, watching Q-tarō on the screen who was killed by the dog again. It seems Guriko still hasn’t figured out how to control everything.

Guriko’s face wasn’t happy.

“… Pretty boring, I can’t win against the dog. Basically the problem is that I don’t even have one attack, right? How am I supposed to walk forward; Rinne, do you know?”

”…The instructions said press A twice can make you fly, and press B can make you disappear; just use these two abilities… Aah, right, use that to dodge, ah – what a pity!”

“Ahh…”

Face all serious. Guriko played for a long while afterwards, doing her best, but there were still no signs of improvement. After a while, probably given up, she unplugged the gaming console and looked at Rinne, who as sitting next to her.

“Rinne, I’ve thought about it.”

“…Thought about what?”

“I, who didn’t point out the truth till now, have also reached my limit.”

Guriko said innocently: “Do you have the courage to know the truth?”

Rinne didn’t speak a word.

“Once you know the truth you’d probably despair and curse your fate sadly and painfully. If you think even that wouldn’t bother you, then I’d tell it to you. I’m probably very cowardly and I don't want to ruin your happiness. I don’t want to make you lose the happiness you share with Sakaki by telling you this. But those thoughts are too naive. You’ve already received the Apple and as for knowing the truth, you have the right and also the – duty.”

”Mmm…”

Rinne knew Guriko’s expression was serious. She shouldn’t be lying to her. As long as I say that I want to know the truth, she’d definitely tell me. But – I’m so scared, there’s a feeling of fear without reason, as if Guriko’s words would shatter the peace of this world – Rinne’s heart felt this way.

“Tell me.”

However, Rinne answered without hesitation.

”No mater how cruel the truth is, I hate to keep staying in the dark like this. Tell me, Guriko, what is the truth? Rather than to be scared due to ignorance, I’d rather feel sad after I knew.”

“You’re really tough!”

Guriko smiled softly. It was a very natural smile.

“Will you believe me? No matter how cruel the destiny I tell you turn out to be, Rinne, you wouldn’t yell at me and say that I’m lying to you but listen to it while believing it?”

“I will believe you!”

“Thank you –”

Guriko displayed a serious expression.

“– Then I’ll also believe you, believe that you will defeat fate.”

It was said that once a human dies, he’d start travelling. Some people go to gardens, some people go on a ship and cross rivers, and there are also those who keep walking on a long straight road. That scene is an illusion in the brain, something as ordinary as a dream, and in that dream there will always appear a giant tree.

When Gankyu Egoriko was still called Yono (a thousand years ago, when Guriko left the village behind, she discarded the surname Yono as well), she tripped on a moss-covered rock and fell into the river when she tried to catch a fish in the water. She swallowed a lot of water and hit her head hard; she almost lost her life. Back then, she dreamt that she was walking on a road full of uneven rocks, and at the end discovered a tall tree with fruits.

“Wow, this fruit looks pretty delicious.”

She said this. Those were apples that were incongruous with the dark chaotic scene and appeared very delicious.

“Although I don’t know who this belongs to, I shouldn’t get yelled at if I pick some, right? Dad had been feeling tired due to the hot weather and he needs to eat some fruits to get back his vitality.”

It’s rather unique to use fruits instead of fish, anyways! Yono made up her mind, and then climbed like a monkey onto the large tree and plucked an apple that’s located rather low. She didn’t realize that she was dreaming, despite the fact that in reality she was floating in a pool at the feet of a waterfall, covered in blood, and hovering on the edge of death.

“Hmm – I’ve never seen this kind of fruit; is it edible? Let me try to eat it; it wouldn’t matter if I just eat one, right? My tummy’s hungry anyways.”

”Ka”, Yono bit unreservedly into that red, ripe forbidden fruit. It’s so yummy! Before she knew, Yono had already finished that fruit with a relish. She felt that it was so sweet, so refreshing, so much tastier than all the fruits she’s ever eaten. Yono was overjoyed; this is such a big discovery, she should bring some back to the family! So she stretched out her hand and wanted to pluck four more apples – then she woke from her dream, and returned to life.

As soon as she opened her eyes, the pouring waterfall splattered away right in front of her face. She was floating in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall like a piece of flotsam, wobbling constantly.

“It’s… a dream!”

Yono muttered, the sharp pain on her head making her eyes roll backwards. Fortunately, the pool at the foot of the waterfall was of a depth that she can stand up in, and it wasn’t very difficult to go back on land.

“So – I slipped while catching fish.”

Yono was frightened of the large amount of blood as she wringed her drenched clothes dry, all the time with tears in her eyes.

“I did – have a strange dream. What was that about?”

Yono thought about it for a while, then returned home and her mundane daily life. Soon she had forgotten that incredible dream. It was five years later when she finally thought of that dream again.

That forbidden fruit is called ‘Eden’s Apple” or simply “the Apple”. Actually, it isn’t an apple, but it’s called that because it appears like an apple. Those who ate that Apple would be given the power of immortality, and they wouldn’t die even if their head is crushed, their heart disappeared, or they don’t eat or breathe. Those who ate the Apple wouldn’t age and would live forever, be it hundreds or thousands of years; those who ate the Apple can’t escape the curse of immortality no matter how much time flows past. The fact that Guriko didn’t grow up after a thousand years and remains alive is its testimony.

Guriko – Yono, ate the Apple while she was a child. However, the Apple wouldn’t give the human the power of immortality within a short time. If someone who ate the Apple was killed before the Apple took root, it seems he or she can still die. Actually, in order to gamble on this possibility, Guriko had once tried to kill Usagawa Rinne. Living on forever is even more painful than death. Rather than letting her taste that pain, it’d be better to kill her in an instant! That is the cruel gentleness. Guriko really did attack Rinne based on this benevolent thought. However, her plan failed. Rinne’s Apple had gone into a helpless depth, and even Guriko cannot kill her.

The place the Apple takes root is the soul and not the flesh, so the Apple can not be robbed away no matter how bad the body is damaged. Apples have the ability to twist cause and effect and invoke miracles such as Guriko’s battle abilities, and it was also due to this that she could sneak into the high school without obstacles. It seems the more Apples a person has, the more powerful that ability would be. The reason Guriko has such extraordinary powers is precisely due to the fact that she has three Apples.

Three. That means Guriko had once robbed away the Apple from two other people. However, it’s not exactly robbery, but ‘accepted a gift’. Together with two others, Guriko travelled for a long time. Those two each had an Apple, and seemed to have wandered the world since a long long time ago. They decided to travel with Yono, who saved them from the Mushi. Since all their family members were killed by Mushi, they also wanted to know very much what kind of extraordinary things they were brought into.

But after they travelled for seven hundred years, the mind of the woman of the duo collapsed and she discarded her life. She disappeared into nothingness after entrusting the Apple to Guriko. The man who loved her also lost the hope to live on; he passed the Apple to Guriko and placed a full stop to his eternal journey. After that, Guriko lived for about three hundred years on her own.

Guriko didn’t have anyone she can entrust the Apples to, so she travelled around the world and fought Mushi to revenge her family. The common enemy of all humans with Apples, Mushi – in order to kill the other on time, Guriko searched for new Apple holders at the same time that she slaughtered Mushi. It should have been fine with her being the only unfortunate one. The so-called immortality is the uttermost misery. She shouldn’t have eaten that damned Apple to begin with, Guriko thought. The girl who died a thousand years ago lived till now in this fashion. Having lost what’s important to her, having no reason in her life or anything else, she wandered in this endless time and continued her war with the Mushi.

Usagawa Rinne’s face paled at this truth that exceeded ordinary reason. She brought up a question she’s very concerned about.

“Those Mushi – what are they?”

“I don’t know.”

Guriko replied with sincerity. It was definitely a surprising answer.

Faced with Rinne, who was gobsmacked, Guriko’s face was full of apologies.

“I really don’t know anything about those things. Even the two travellers who guided me seemed not to know everything, only that those things are everywhere and they only move in order to rob away humans’ Apples. You seem to have been under surveillance for a long time too. I started investigating because only this town has a lot of Mushi, then I discovered you. That’s the beginning of this turn of events –”

Guriko roughly clawed at her wolf-like haircut, then said seriously: “But those guys are definite enemy of us Apple-holders, and they’ll do everything they can to rob away the Apples! I also had the chance to discover two people who had Apples in the past. One was killed by the Mushi, the other had been applied with some method – his soul was extracted and he became a corpse. After all, the Apple takes root in the soul. Once the soul is robbed away, everything is over.”

“Is the soul – something that can be robbed away?”

“I don’t know, but I think there must be ways. Mushi definitely use it to rob away many people’s Apples.”

Although she doesn’t know what method it is – Guriko said, uncaring.

Usagawa Rinne thought about this girl sitting in front of her. A solitary soldier who travelled since a millennium ago, Gankyuu Egoriko. She’s so pitiful, and it must be so hard, so painful!

Rinne hugged Guriko tightly.

Although Guriko complained with words, she stopped refusing it when she found that Rinne was crying.

“Guriko…”

“Mmm.”

“You must be very lonely, very painful!”

”Mmm –”

Guriko placed her head on Rinne’s torso as if exasperated. The girl who died a thousand years ago had all her family killed; she couldn’t contact anyone and was parted from her important companions, and even so she didn’t give up and survived until now. Rinne thought this is an amazing feat, one that deserves respect.

And also – very sad.

Why did Guriko have to endure this pain?

Rinne sobbed. This kind girl of sixteen summers gave all her tears to the lonely girl who fought continuously for ten centuries. Rinne thought Guriko is pitiful and wanted to treat her gently. In order to more of less heal Guriko’ scar-ravaged heart, she hoped she could at least hug her tightly at this moment.

Just like what Sakaki did for me last year, I want to give her the hope to keep living, Rnne thought.

Guriko must have understood this too. Silently, she let Rinne hug her.

”… Rinne.”

A short while latter, Guriko murmured softly. Her sentences became a coarse whisper as if she was suppressing her emotions, as if it was too painful to speak those words.

“You also can’t die anymore.”

”Mmm –”

Rinne murmured. Although she still couldn’t accept such a heavy fact, she could comprehend that she could no longer live as calmly as her life has been before yesterday.

The way of the world had changed.

Guriko remained in Rinne’s arms, and said with a quavering voice: “So you have two choices. One is to live with me for ever, and the other is to disappear after you give up your soul to the Mushi. There is no salvation either way, and I can’t tell which one is really happiness. You decide yourself…”

Guriko moved away from Rinne a bit, and looked at her with innocent eyes.

“No matter what you choose, you must leave Sakaki. Your life is endless, but that person’s life is finite. One day, when Sakaki’s time ends with old age, he’ll leave you behind and die.”

Rinne nodded. Her eyes were once again brimming with tears, which slid down her cheek and dripped to the ground at her chin.

Then, a solemn expression appeared on Guriko’s face.

“If you wish, I’ll protect you two until Sakaki dies! No matter which choice you make, this wouldn’t change. You need to create happy memories with Sakaki and you can even stay beside him until he dies of old age. Then be it travel with me or give your soul to Mushi, it’d be up to you to decide. I’ll help you the best I can.”

“Let me think about it – a bit more.”

Rinne replied thus. She still couldn’t get her thoughts together.

Guriko nodded.

“You can think about it for as long as you like… time is really too long to use up.”

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