Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi:Volume4

Novel Illustrations

These are the illustrations used in volume 4:

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  Cover

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  Page 009

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  Page 027

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  Page 039

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  Page 069

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  Page 101

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  Page 109

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  Page 193

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  Page 211

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  Page 241

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  Page 295

Chapter 1 - Living By

Part I

 

There was Ai, showing a really stupid face.

The hem of her pajamas was rolled up to her navel. The blanket that was supposed to conceal her had been kicked aside, and was by her legs. Her mouth was agape to the point where one could see her throat, her nasty drool was dripping from the edge of her mouth. Aside from that, leaking from her mouth was transparent sleep talk that was as valuable as her drool.

"…………So sleepy."

Saying such a simple yet perplexing sleep talk, Ai rolled onto the floor..

Thud, and,

She had landed completely face down, and after remaining so for a full second, she fell to the floor..

She did not move. One would think she was dead.

Ai laid in the same position for a while, fidgeting away. She seemingly got cold, for she shivered ‘brr’, and got up.

She opened her eyes slightly.

It was morning, the sun had just risen, the air was cool, and the dust that usually fluttered away remained on the floor. The sunlight shone through the sloppy shutters that formed a prism, splitting into the colors of a rainbow. It was May, but the cold morning was frosty.

She was in the house of Tanya Swedgewood's parents.

One had to wonder if her eyes were actually looking, as Ai stared at this scene, and finally, at the place where she fell. It was a simple bed formed out of a wooden frame resembling a bathtub, covered with straw. A maiden was sleeping within, becoming one with the pillow, blanket and straw scraps.

She was Ai's former classmate and current friend.

"…Un...nnn…"Tanya groaned and shivered before reaching out. "Chirp...chirp", she started looking for her warming bag (Ai) through echo-location (bird chirping). The manner in which that sound blended with the birds was truly adorable.

Ai hopped onto the bed, and Tanya hugged her without hesitation, beaming away. This blind friend of Ai had issues befriending others, and looked so innocent only while subconscious, which made her adorable.

She went back to sleep again, and her consciousness sank into dreamland…

Ai quickly began to snore. Of the whole warehouse, only a little bird, strayed from its echelons, chirped away.

— And then, thud, thud.

The door knock shook the air, breaking the silence.

"Oiii, Ai, are you awake~?"

It was Alice.

"…Looks like she’s still sleeping. Dee, check her out for me."

"Sure~~…hmm…"

Just as these words were said, a head popped out near the door handle. She had black hair that reached her shoulders, and black eyes that showed her curiosity.

The ghost (Dee) looked around for a while, and then towards the bed.

"Yep, she’s still sleeping."

"Goodness gracious."

Ggggiiii. The door was opened with a shrieking creak, bringing in fresh air and sunlight. The two girls on the bed were like woodlice that were flipped over, snuggling further under the blankets while groaning without much enthusiasm.

"Stop sleeping and wake up already! "

Alice stormed into the room, and pulled aside the windows and curtains. The two girls shared a blanket that was not big enough, and ended up having to endure this cruel act by clinging together.

"Oi! How long are you two going to sleep!? Time to wake up!!!!"

Alice grabbed the middle of the blanket, and the duo instinctively shriveled while tugging at that blanket.

"Oi Ai! Wake up! It’s morning!"

"…Nu?"

Ai was rolled over, and finally opened her sleepy eyes, blinking a few times.

"Nu your head. Are you awake now?"

"Unyu…"

Ai lazily reached her hands to the sky.

"??? Whatcha doing?"

"She wants you to pull her up?"

"…She can’t get up on her own?"

Good grief, Alice muttered and pulled her hands. Ai’s head tilted back like a very soft body, but she barely managed to sit by the side of the bed, somehow.

She then raised her hands up to the sky.

"??? Dee, what is this?"

"She wants you to get her changed?"

"…She can’t change her own clothes?"

Alice said as he—

"Are you kidding me, you idiot!?"

Dee started hitting at Alice’s black pupils.

"Ugyaakk!? Wh-what’s wrong with you!? Alright alright!!"

"I’m the one who should say that! You idiot! You actually wanted to change her clothes!? You pervert!!"

"Yo-You’re the one who said that! And nobody’s interested in seeing this brat naked…"

"This is for Ai!"

"Gyaaaa!!!"

Alice spotted a very creepy sight of someone else's thumb growing out of his own eyes.

"And this one for Ai! And this! And this! And this too!"

"Woaarggh!? Gross, gross, gross, gross!"

Perhaps this ruckus finally reached the dream world.

"…Nyu…?"

For Ai finally woke up.

"…Ahhh…good morning, Mr. Alice …."

"Get out of here, you pervert! From my body!!!"

"…What are you being so noisy about early in the morning?"

"Ah, good morning, Ai—"

"?"

Ai could only see Alice flailing about. And yet, she could hear Dee's voice. Where was Dee hiding?

"Over here."

"?……Hiii!"

That immediately shook her awake. The voice came from Alice’s mouth, and one could see Dee's glittering eyes peeking out from there.

"Get out of here, you idiot!"

"Ah, Alice, you didn’t brush your back right tooth enough. There’s still plaque."

"D-Don't look! Don't you look at such places~!"

Guaahhh~!! Alice cupped his head in his hands, and Dee finally crawled out of his belly.

"…Woah."

It was a terrible scene, resembling that of a rotting marsupial.

"Anyway, good morning Ai. Do get dressed quickly."

"Yes~"

"And next, prez…goodness me, she’s fallen so far… "

"Mr. Alice, you can’t call her that. She’ll get angry."

"Oops, that's right."

Ai reminded Alice, and then gazed at Tanya's sleeping face. The latter’s expression was serene and gerene, and the ‘class rep’ look she used to have back in school was gone. Ai looked at her with endearment, and combed her bangs away from her.

Tanya said that after that day that she was willing to be a ‘good-for-nothing’. Not only did she end up oversleeping, she would argue with others, and learned to rely on others. At this point, she was snoring away, reaching her right hand out, "Chirp...chirp" seeking the hot bag that was missing.

Ai catches his hand and calls out to him.

"Miss Tanya."

"…Nn?"

Wiping the corners of her eyes, Tanya woke up.

"Ah, good morning, Ai…"

"Yes, good morning."

Pfft. The two of them exchanged morning greetings as they lay there laughing. Somehow, they were embarrassed and yet overjoyed. Recently, they were either waking each other up, or being woken up by the other.

Yes, this had been the case recently—

But that would end on this day.

"Ah…"

Ai remembered this fact, and glanced aside to look at the table. There was a neatly ironed white shirt there, along with the similarly well-kept Gravkeeper garb.

These were the travelling clothes she did not wear recently.

"…Ai, are you really going?…To search for Miss Scar?"

Tanya's expression looked grim, and she gently hugged Ai gently from behind.

"You do not really need to, right? You don’t have to go look for her…"

"……"

"This place is fine, you know. We can live and spend time together. It'll be fun."

"Sounds like the devil’s tempting me…"

"Sure, why not?"

"Yes, it is. I'm sure it'll be fun and happy for us, forever. "

Despite her words, Ai unhooked her arm from Tanya, and retreated away. She landed with both arms outstretched, and turned her face behind.

"But I'm going to keep trying, just a little more."

"Until you give up?"

"Until I give up."

Yes, Tanya nodded her head slightly, took out a brush and patted the space next to her. Seeing this, Ai hopped over with all the energy of a puppy invited to stroll.

"Stretch your back."

"Yes."

"Turn over there."

"Yes."

Tanya slowly began to comb Ai's hair.

The brush gently stroked her head. Each strand of hair was tugged at.

It was Ai's favorite feeling.

"…You can come back anytime, you know."

Tanya braided Ai’s hair into a finer bun. She turned Ai’s hair into a canvas, creating a hairstyle the latter could not do on her journey. Ai lowered her hair, remembering the feel of the brush pulling her hair back and the warmth of the hands swimming through, yes, and nodded.

The journey was about to begin again.

 

+

 

The gasoline filled the blue car, the bread and soup filled the human bellies, and the milk filled the baby, before the group boarded the car.

It was late in the morning, and the dew had already evaporated. The maintained engine let out the noises of an exhaust pipe. Julie was in the driver seat, in the middle were Celica and Alice, and Dee was camped on the roof, looking at the others who had remained behind.

Ai popped her head out from the passenger seat, and greeted the trio of the Swedgewood family.

"Goodbye everyone."

"Yes…"

Tanya wiped her eyes with the apron, tugging at her parents by the side.

"Young Ai, our daughter has said that we are willing to let you stay forever…"

Tanya’s parents held up their daughter, as though wanting to make up for all the time they were separated from each other, showing concern for the group that was about to depart. The mature looking Zerady Swedgewood had a fine mustache, while Polka Swedgewood was a little overweight. Tanya’s parents were so kind and gentle, and it was because of those parents that Tanya herself was kind and gentle.

Ai beamed as she gently refused Zerady’s goodwill.

"Thank you uncle, but I have to go. I want to."

"…Is that so?"

Zerady did not force the issue any further, and turned to Julie, who was at the driver’s seat.

"Young Julie."

"Yes."

"We’ll leave them to you."

"…Yes."

That reply caused Zerady to ask worriedly,

"Do take care of yourself too, you know?"

"…Yes"

Julie shriveled. While Ai felt that Julie looked adult-like, it seemed Zerady deemed him as still a child.

"Now then…"

Julie lifted the side brake, as though to escape from this predicament, and stepped on the pedal.

 

The car drove away.

"Ai!"

The cat moved away, and so did the sight of her friend. Tanya was crying ten meters away, and it was truly a heartbreaking sight. The friend that was by her side moments ago was twenty meters away. The next moment, they were thirty meters away. A warm landscape drifted away without question, giving rise to a sense of frustration that had her wondering if she committed something that was irreversible.

Her precious friend was crying in the distance. And yet, for some reason, she was not there. She knew that she should be there to comfort Tanya as her friend, she knew she should have wiped her tears away and told Tanya not to cry, she knew that she should not be the reason for Tanya’s tears

And yet,

Ai grabbed the window frame of the passenger seat.

And yet, Ai was going. She made her friend cry, she declined the offer from a kind person, and she was headed back to the wilderness.

The scent that had been missing over the past few days caused her nostrils to be parched, one of dry sunlight and sand.. The cold wind caresses the nape of her neck, overwhelming the warmth of the city and the house in an instant, causing Ai to no longer remember the smell of Tanya. The cold caused her to put on the cloak she had removed due to the heat, and her yearning sharpened her heart that had relaxed due to the gentleness afforded.

The feeling she first had awoke in her once again, the feeling she had when she swore an oath at the peak of that hill.

She was going to save the world.

"…Oooonne day!"

Ai cried out, her guts burned by her ‘helplessness’. Despite it being tragic, despite her causing sadness in her friend, her soul just could not stop, and she eked out the words of farewell from her soul.

"One day! I promise!"

I'll see you again! She could not utter those words.

Ai did not have enough confidence in herself to make such a promise.

And yet, Tanya did not care about any of that.

"Yes! I'll see you again!"

Tanya shouted.

So Ai had no choice but to shout back with a big smile on her face, but with tears streaming down her face.

"Yes!"

Even though they might never meet again, even though it might be a lie.

"Absolutely! I promise! We will meet again!"

Someday, they will be reunited.

Ai waved my hand strongly, completely emotional.

She could see Tanya respond similarly in the distance.

Ai kept watching, until Tanya blended into the landscape.

"Let's go…"

She sat properly in the passenger seat and looked ahead.

"Let's find Miss Scar first."

And continue onward.

 

On Monday, God created the world.

On Tuesday, God distinguished the order and chaos.

On Wednesday, God honed the numerical values.

On Thursday, God allowed the Time to flow.

On Friday, God overlooked every corner of the world.

On Saturday, God rested.

And so, on Sunday, God abandoned the world.

 

15 years ago, God suddenly appeared before humanity, and told them.

“That world is overflowing with people. This world will come to an end. Ahh, I have failed.”

Leaving only these words behind, God vanished, and back then, while humans were lavishing hymns on this world of Spring, they were left quaking. Their species existed for less than a hundred million years before they finally met God. However, those first words from Him, were words of farewell.

 

From that day on, Man could no longer die.

 

Their hearts ceased to beat, their flesh rotting. The Dead could continue to act.

 

From that day on, Man could no longer be born.

 

The flames of the factories had extinguished, and new humans were no longer built.

After God no longer inhabited this world, humans screamed in agony. Millions shrieked to the point of vomiting blood. The Living quickly whittled down in numbers, and then the entire world was filled with the Dead.

And so, the gravekeepers appeared.

These gravekeepers were the final miracles that God had granted for the sake of Man.

Gravekeepers would never age, and never know fatigue. God gave them the most ideal of bodies humans could ever think of, had them build graves, and bury the wandering Dead, their work being ensuring the peace of the Living. At this point, Man could finally rest.

Children were no longer born, the Dead roamed, and the Gravekeepers ran.

Such were the End Times.

 

Part II

 

A week passed since they departed from Tanya’s house and went on their journey.

"……Should be soon, I guess?"

Julie, who was driving, looked back at the middle row and whispered.

"I guess."

Ai replied from the middle row.

"Miss Celica is almost at her limit."

"Understood."

Julie slowed down once Ai said so.

At this moment, Ai was sitting in the middle row, watching Celica.

As stated, Celica was literally at her limit. Her cheeks were flushed and puffy, and her hands were flailing irritably as she patted the objects near her. She was a baby, but she was showing a childish gleam in her eyes.

Finally, her lips opened and "Waaaahhh!" she cried out,

"Mr Julie, stop!"

The blue car stopped in the wilderness.

And at the same time, Celica's crying stopped immediately.

"0.3…."

Alice, who was in the passenger seat, looked at the sky with binoculars. Dee was the size of a bird, floating at where he was looking, arching forward as though measuring her height.

"How's it going?"

"Calculating."

Alice removed the binoculars off his eyelids and began to calculate the numbers that were read in his notebook.

At this moment, they were attempting to determine Scar's current location.

 

It all started three weeks ago.

Immediately after escaping Gora Academy, the day Scar disappeared, Ai had planned to go look for Scar as soon as possible, but that was impossible.

First of all, they had no idea as to where Scar had gone, and furthermore, there were nine of them. It was difficult to move with so many people, so the group first decided to visit the city where Tanya's parents lived.

Mr. and Mrs. Swedgewood lived in a large city at the intersection of the continental highways, and it seemed they had been looking for their daughter ever since they moved there.

One day, their wish was suddenly fulfilled in a completely unexpected way, for their daughter returned with eight other companions.

Ai and the others suddenly appeared, but the Swedgewoods gladly welcomed them, and even had them stay in the warehouse. The group spent their days cramped in there, kicking their feet away from each other. Tanya had her own room, but she spent most of her time in the warehouse "It is so cramped" complaining so.

Such days lasted for about a week, and ended.

First, Rune the mermaid and Gigi the winter frog found jobs in the city and moved out. They had to make special preparations to reach the ‘Underwater City’ and the ‘Mountains of Elha’: Gigi had to store fat to enter the frigid Elha, and Rune had to raise money and contacts to enter the closed city. Gigi had to save her fat to enter the frigid Elha, and Rune had to find the money and contacts to enter the closed city.

The couple of Hardy and Volrath also left soon afterwards. It was said that Volrath's hometown, ‘The Corpse King and His People’, was a group with a special migration route, and they had to leave soon to catch up with them.

After her companions had all decided on where to go, Ai was the only one left. With Scar's whereabouts unknown, time seemed to pass in vain.

Information was found from an unexpected source however.

Dee was the first one to notice.

"Huh? Does Celica like the northwest?"

Those words were the key.

 

"Are we there yet?"

"A little more."

Scribble scribble scribble, Alice did his math in the passenger seat. Ai peeked over his back "Not yet?" "Not yet?" and continued to ask away. "Just sit down." Alice retorted, and Ai finally sat down next to Celica.

"Does Celica like the northwest?"

Dee explained the meaning behind her words, that the baby would be happy whenever they moved northwest, and grumpy in any other direction.

Ai patted Celica's forehead as the latter laid in the crib, teary.

"Sorry…it’s for the sake of finding your mother though."

I don’t care, so Celica seemingly implied as she started hitting Ai

This Scar radar (Celica) would indicate the location of the target (Scar) through it’s ‘mood’. It would start from ‘delighted’ and end at ‘unhappy’. The further they got from Scar, the worse her mood was, and finally, she would bawl. The group used this to triangulate the direction and distance of Scar twice a day.

"…Not yet?"

"I told you we’re almost there."

And then, after a little while more.

"Done."

Ai and Julie brought their faces over the paper in Alice’s hand.

There were formulas and tables scribbled in messy handwriting, along with the answers.

"…Looks like there’s no doubt."

Ai looked up from the paper and tilted her head.

"…Miss Scar hasn’t moved at all…"

It had been eight days since they started calculating Scar's position, and she had been moving in a constant velocity, until the previous day, when she suddenly stopped.

This had never happened before.

"Well, it’s not like she’s not moving at all. Look at this number here."

His fingertips that were stained in pencil lead tapped at the equally dirty paper.

"What's this?"

"Vertical axis shift of the object with surface correction… Scar is probably moving up."

"… Up?"

Julie took out a white map and unfolded it with a ruffling sound. Scar’s movement records were marked with red circles.

"…You mean this?"

He pointed at a certain spot on the map. There was a spot indicating a little settlement, and a name.

"World Tower."

"What’s going on? Is there a tower?"

"No, it's just a small village indicated on the map, and probably has such a name. Maybe it’s because there’s an abandoned tower as a landmark?"

"…That’s quite vague…"

Question marks appeared above the trio’s heads, and they racked their brains, but they just could not get an answer.

"…Well, we'll find out when we get there. Looking at this distance, we’ll catch up to her tomorrow.."

"Tomorrow…"

It had been less than a month since they last met Scar, and while it seemed long, it also seemed short..

Ai herself had changed a little during that time.

One had to wonder if Scar had changed during that time. Or did she remain the same?

"Let's go."

Julie pulled the side brake, and stepped on the gas pedal and accelerated . The blue car hopped through the wilderness and returned to the road.

At the same time, Alice poked his head out of the passenger seat and shouted into the sky.

"Oiii~ Dee, that's enough. Come back here."

Dee, who had been asked to be the reference point, was standing straight above them, as though she was having her height measured.

"——"

It seemed she did not hear Alice, who then waved his hand in the air. She finally noticed, and floated down towards the car with her feet towards the ground.

"—!—!"

"Eh~? What~?"

Dee cupped her hands over her ears and said.

"Eh~? What~?"

"I can’t hear you! "

The distance closed in an instant

"I can see your panties!"

"No looking!!"

Dee hurriedly clutched the hem of her skirt, flipped over, and stomped at him with her heels.

"You're disgusting! You're the worst!"

She continued with her signature rapid attacks on the eyeballs.

"Hahaha, those attacks don't work anymore! Hahahahaha!"

It won’t look creepy if you don’t look, right? After Ai taught Alice, Alice was completely invincible.

"Hahahahaha! It's not creepy, it's not creepy!"

After looking down at Alice, Dee snapped her fingers.

"Ai."

"Yes."

Ai then smacked Alice on the back of the head.

"Ouch! What the hell are you doing? It's none of your business anyway!"

"It does. We're friends."

Right? The two girls nodded to each other.

Alice rubbed his head and complained.

"Dammit, you two are in cahoots. Aren’t you two being too close?"

"Of course we are. We're friends."

Right?

"I can’t stand you two," Alice said, looking forward. The wise Julie never joined the conversation from the beginning.

"So, Miss Dee, did you see anything?"

Ai tried to ask for a report, but Dee then frowned.

"Ai, I won’t answer your ‘question’, because you are an ‘enemy’."

"Uuu…"

The mood between them became heavy.

"………You two are on poor terms, oi.."

Alice retorted.

Dee Ensy Stratmitos, Witch of the West. A ghost.

She yearned to end the world, and was at odds with Ai's dreams. Just days ago, she had declared that "You and I are enemies."

There was an awkward atmosphere in the car.

"If you're enemies, why are you tagging along…"

Julie muttered to himself. Obviously, it was no wonder that Julie was not too fond of this suspicious pair. Usually, he would have wished to dump them aside, and he did say so outright, but this ghost was truly an enigma, and it was impossible to shoo her.

"Nobody asked you to stay. Why don't you go somewhere else?"

Don’t wanna, Dee replied frivolously, and flew off to join Celica. The ghost had been fond of the baby recently.

Seeing that, Julie rubbed his eyebrows hard. Alice patted him on the shoulder with a sympathetic motion.

"Look, old man…you should give up on trying to talk that idiot through. I’ve given up at least. Your chiseled face is going to wrinkle even harder…"

"……Why are you acting like it got nothing to do with you? You’re reason number two."

"Eh? Me too?"

"What the hell are you planning, tagging along with us? What do you want?"

"No, there’s nothing really. If I have to say, tagging along is my objective…eh? Wait a minute, old man. You’re trying to group me with that idiot ghost in the same category?"

"Still trying to play dumb…!"

"No! I’m not compromising on this! "

"Both of you, please stop."

Ai let out a sigh and declared firmly.

"Mr Julie, I was the one who allowed Mr Alice and Miss Dee to come along."

"…Tch…You’re going to suffer one day…goodness me, you’re letting such shady people tag along…"

Hmph, Julie snorted in annoyance, but said nothing more and went back to driving.

"…So? Dee. Did you see anything?"

Alice asked on Ai's behalf, while Dee did a real ‘peek-a-boo’.

"Nothing."

"Are you sure? I’m not letting you bullshit me like the last time. You sure you didn’t see any quicksand or willful people?"

"No, no—ah, but, now that you mention this."

She turned around with an annoyed look.

"There's some weird terrain up ahead."

"Weird?"

"I’m not answering Ai’s question?"

Ai fell silent, dejected. Dee's face became a little pained as well once she saw this. Alice in turn gave a frustrated look as he asked in Ai’s stead,

"What do you mean, weird?"

"Well, you know, the ground's full of potholes…"

Potholes? A question mark appeared above everyone's head. She said it was full of potholes, but there was no place in the wilderness where that was not the case.

"I don’t mean that…ah, we can see it now, more or less."

Everyone looked forward.

There was a strange landscape there.

There was dry land, rocks eroded under winds and temperature differences that almost returned to being sand. There were shrubs with hard trunks and leaves growing atop them. Everything was normal till this point.

But the ground was abnormal. The land formed by rocks and sand…

Had many perfectly hemispheric potholes all over oit.

"…The Gravekeepers’ birthplace…"

Alice muttered in an absent-minded voice.

"It’s my first time seeing it…"

The hemispheres made of either rock or sand were gouged out cleanly, leaving gaping holes. It seemed like they were dug specifically to avoid living creatures, and did not harm the little bit of greenery at all.

 

That was when Ai saw the moment a Gravekeeper was born.

 

It was silent. The air seemingly stood still, and the sounds had disappeared to a point where it seemed the heartbeat stopped too. All tremors vanished from this space, and the world became silent as if it was filled with vacuum.

The scent of the air changed, and the scent of water, which should not exist, instantly engulfed the wilderness as though a mirage arose. The dry wind became humid and sticky, clinging to their foreheads.

And then, the sky grew bluer. The blue sky intensified in color, as if the bottom had fallen out, becoming blue like the deep sea, and a phantom ocean appeared there.

Suddenly, lightning struck.

The lightning seemingly scaled up the deep blue bottom, and descended with a deceptive sense of distance, striking the sand at the speed of light.

It was unusually silent.

The white thunderbolt did not burn or destroy anything, but struck the earth just large enough for a single person, and let out a rumbling sound. The lightning hovered like mercury and eventually began to blend with the sand beneath. The glowing mercury diminished in intensity with each passing moment, changing color and energy into something more humble in place of it.

That object initially resembled a wax doll.

The wax doll looked solid, and no matter how much it resembled a person, Ai could not imagine that it would be able to move.

It did not seem like a living thing.

However, the doll stood up, not caring that it had not been in this world until a moment ago. Steam rose from its hair and clothes, it moved its limbs as if to check its bodily functions, and finally opened its eyes.

Their eyes met.

It was only then that Ai realized that Gravekeeper was in the form of a boy.

The Gravekeeper smiled at her for the first time in his life,

 

Hello there.

 

 

No one responded.

The boy did not seem particularly offended. He picked up the shovel that lay at his feet, bowed, and walked away.

The boy was born with clothes, a shovel, and the Dead that were waiting for him to be buried. To Ai, he appeared exceptionally complete.

The Gravekeeper left. Slowly but surely.

Then, with a flop, the first raindrop landed on the hood. They looked up, and before they knew it, the rain clouds were rolling in.

And after that, it was a downpour.

The parked car remained still, as though it had sunk to the bottom of the sea.

It was said that when it rains whenever a Gravekeeper is born…Julie muttered while the rain could be heard. It was most likely Julie, or if not, Alice. Delving over such unimportant matters, Ai looked at the rain. She stared at the downpour that acted as though it was trying to be coherent with the lightning that had landed.

The rain poured down on everything, swallowing up the figure of the Gravekeeper and the sandy ground where he was born, leaving nothing behind.

 

Then, suddenly, the rain stopped.

 

"Oi, you’re kidding…"

Someone muttered.

The sky was blue, pale blue, azure, and blue again, and the air was as clear as a vacuum.

Then it turned pure white.

A roar struck the earth in the form of lightning, and their hearing complemented the loud noise that should have been present, delivering a cranial-splitting bombardment to their cochleas.

But the reality was a thin, chilling silence.

The white skies devolved into ten thousand thunderbolts that scattered across in the wilderness, becoming mercury. There the mercury mingled with the ground beneath their feet,

Ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru, ruru ruru.

There were rumbles.

And they stood up.

None of the wax dolls were defective, they all wore the same clothes, wielded the same shovel, had the same face, and gave the same smiling expression.

 

"Hello there."

 

Julie stepped on the gas pedal without saying a word.

"W-What the hell is this?"

Alice shouted. No one answered his question, for everyone was stiffened by near panic. Ai remained rooted as she saw the Gravekeepers pass behind her.

A hundred faces tilted their heads quizzically at the escaping Living, and took their first step.

Towards them.

Heading in the direction where Scar was supposed to be.

Part III

"Ah."

Ai let out a little cry.

"Another one."

There was a silhouette to the right side of the road, in front of them. This silhouette was of medium height and size, a black-haired boy carrying a shovel over his left shoulder.

It was a Gravekeeper.

The car slowed down just a bit and drove next to the Gravekeeper. For a moment, Ai faced the Gravekeeper at a distance of three meters, and they went their separate ways the next moment.

The Gravekeeper that was increasingly distanced looked at her and waved his right hand in a friendly manner.

Ai was in no mood to wave back, and merely looked at him for just a while. She then closed the window of the passenger seat and sat back without further ado.

The Gravekeeper had blue eyes.

And he had his usual smile.

And—

"The same face…"

Ai hugged one knee in an uncouth manner and thought.

Earlier, the group fled as fast as they could, but on second thought, there was no way the Gravekeepers would ever harm the Living. It was a waste of gasoline when Julie reacted by slamming the pedal, but Ai was in no mood to blame him for that…after all, it would be a natural reaction for a human. The sight was as revolting as seeing a swarm of overwintering ladybugs, how hundreds of crabs swarming around dead river fish…

Such objects looked very normal in isolated cases, pretty even, but in crowds, there was a fundamental fear.

"What’s there beyond this…?"

Ai asked a rhetorical question. The answer was obvious. There was only one thing the Gravekeepers would be headed for.

The Dead.

Ai stared ahead. What lay ahead was an ordinary wilderness that showed no change, and there was no sign of anything.

However, surely there was something mysterious ahead.

"Found it."

Alice said. Ai did not know what the former was talking about, and turned around to see him flip the pages of a thick book. The book was so close, one could practically smell the ink, and there were countless mug shots on the pages.

"It's probably this one—‘The Bazel Family’, circulation, directive, low chances of berserking…they aren’t a major family, huh?"

"W-What are you talking about?"

Alice did not explain as he tossed the book at Ai, who flipped it over and looked at the cover. Written on it was, ‘Gravekeeper Compendium - 48th Edition’.

She then flipped back to the original page, and saw a beaming boy in the photo.

It was the same face of the hundred Gravekeepers they had seen in the wilderness.

She was stunned.

She continued reading, and found a checklist of height, age, skin, hair color and other characteristics. Their movements were ‘circular’, and their burial directive was to ‘prioritize those in close proximity’.

Ai kept flipping through the pages.

"…What is this?"

"As you can see, it's a Gravekeeper catalog."

"So there’s such a thing?"

Ai was surprised and glared at Julie for hiding such a thing. The middle-aged man turned his head in the opposite direction, "Ah, it’s the 48th edition already?" playing dumb. Ai swore to herself that vengeance would be hers in a boring manner, and then looked back at the book.

"There are so many Gravekeepers here…."

"But most of them are basically the last generation of families that have only been confirmed once."

"? What do you mean?"

"You’re asking me that…eh? You're a Gravekeeper and you don't know that?"

"…Not really, actually."

"Hmm. I guess so."

Alice found it incredulous, but he reached out for the book in Ai’s hand, deftly skipped past the first half of the book that was filled with the preface and explanations, the aged pages giving off a scent of cheap ink. He then opened the chapter with the data.

"Ever since the mysterious beings known as Gravekeepers suddenly appeared, humanity naturally wanted to research them. And then, well, there have been a number of discoveries."

He tapped on a row of Gravekeeper photos.

"One of them is the Gravekeeper taxonomy. For some reason, they are mainly classified as ‘same face’ and ‘different face’."

Ai thought back to the Gravekeepers she had met so far. She, Scar, and the boy they met were ‘different faces’, while the hundreds of teenagers were ‘same faces’.

"The researchers lumped all of them together and gave them names. In other words, ‘family names’."

Alice's hand reached up and flipped through the catalog, before reaching the page of the boy they had seen earlier in the wilderness. Written on the page was ‘Bazel Family’.

"Of course, the Gravekeepers didn't call themselves that. The researchers just named them so out of convenience. My guess is that they’re either discovered at Bazel, or there was a person called Bazel who found them, so that’s how they’re named."

Ai was barely listening. While the conversation continued, she noticed two things and began to furiously flip through the catalog.

One was easy to find.

Silver hair, white skin, and a beautiful right eyebrow without a scar.

"The Heartstone family."

The mug shot showed her, but it was not her. The familiar, unblemished face seemed amiss, and Ai did not feel any familiarity at all.

She flipped the page, and the next page introduced a different Gravekeeper, so she returned to the previous one. The section involving this girl took up half a page—and only half of that.

At that moment, Ai felt a little weird.

"Circulation: random direction, chances of berserking= low, confirmed population= tens. " Ai read the checklist that she did not really understand, and did not really pay heed to. No matter how many times she read it, it kept slipping away and just would not stay in her memory.

"The 48th edition has Scar? Now this is troublesome…"

"Oh, so this is Scar? —well, it’s the latest edition, and she's from a minor family, so I don't think many people know about her."

While the two men discussed, their conversation did not enter Ai’s mind either.

She stared at the cover intently.

Then Ai suddenly realized that there was no smile on the Gravekeeper’s.

There was no such no such thing as a Gravekeeper who did not smile.

In other words.

This photo was taken after she died—or perhaps after she was killed.

She continued to flip through the pages, and found that most of them did not have smiling faces.

A chill ran down her spine.

A chill ran from beneath her feet, up to her thighs, and then to her heart. She did not think that Julie, Alice, or anyone else would feel this kind of fear. It was a fear only she knew of.

No one else would feel terrified seeing an illustrated book of insect specimens. No one else would feel fear, much less empathy.

But Ai felt it. She could not help but project herself onto these Gravekeepers after she saw they were killed and annotated like insects.

For some reason, Ai pretended to be absorbed in the catalog, trying not to let anyone know about it. She was afraid that Alice and Julie would find out about the fear she felt.

She continued her search for something else she noticed.

She flipped through the catalog of dead Gravekeepers, sought the search items, and defined the characteristics. Her own characteristics. Hair color, skin color, and gender—she started looking through them. Not this, not this, not this either..

"If it’s your family, they’re not here."

Alice said.

"…I told you there are lots of families that are only seen once, right? Most of such Gravekepers are born, and just disappear without anyone knowing…"

This was what Alice meant by family. Ai heard him loud and clear, but she could not resist the urge to check it out for herself.

She flipped through the pages.

Eventually, she arrived at the last page, and the search was over. As Alice had said, Ai and her mother's family were not there.

Not at all.

Ai slumped back down into the seat with a thud. Her body just could not move as her heart willed it to be. The strange feeling of finding Scar's family and not finding her own slowly shook her body.

Why? She wondered to herself as she stared at the opened pages laid on her stomach. Why did she feel this way? Why did she have to feel this way?

Silence reigned in the car.

Julie, Alice, Dee, and Celica too were all silent, not disturbing Ai's silence.

Outside the car, the weather was as dry as ever; the unusual rain caused by the Gravekeeper had vanished like an illusion.

"…It’s not a good photo."

Dee said, as thought she had enough of the heavy atmosphere. The weight of the air was something this ghost was extremely sensitive to, for it was her field. She looked towards the monochrome pages, and saw the photo of Scar that was not Scar.

Ai automatically nodded away. This reaction left Dee’s expression increasingly bitter.

"Anyway...!"

She glared at Julie in the driver's seat.

"Why did Scar just disappear?"

"…I don't know…"

Julie said with a grim look.

"Ehhh~that's irresponsible of you, Uncle. You were with her the whole time."

"Yeah…so all the blame falls on me..."

"Ahh seriously! I’m not talking about that. I want you to explain clearly!"

Julie had accepted all blame for Scar's abandonment of the baby, and was willing to be reproached. However, he was using it to conceal the details of what had happened, and was unwilling to reveal more. Dee wanted to expose this, Mfufu, so she teased him.

"What what, uncle? Seriously, what did you do? Did you knock her over?"

"Maybe I should have done that…"

"!?"

Dee, who said it, and Alice, who was listening in the background, both looked towards Julie once again in shock.

"T-that’s lewd of you! You're lewd, Uncle! You already have me! You idiot! Idiot!"

"O-old man. I-I don't know if I'm ready for the subtleties of adult men and women yet…well, you know…"

"What do you mean, knock her over?"

"Ahh goodness! Don’t revive only at such moments!"

Alice and Dee were screeching in the background, while Julie remained oblivious to them, lost in his own world.

"…Uncle, isn't there a sign or something?"

"A sign…?"

Julie basically hugged the steering wheel as he gripped it.

"There’s a lot of such signs. After being away from Ai, Scar became more and more unsteady. Back then, she used hug Celica tightly, but she then ignored Celica, and she also lost a bit of weight…it felt like she’s a girI who had a teenage pregnancy, and didn’t know what to do…"

"If you knew that much…you should have followed up with her, old man. Aren’t you a grown man?"

"Yeah, you're right. I should have helped her out. And I probably could have…but I failed to do so…"

I'm not so sure about that, Ai thought absentmindedly.

Julie said that he could have done something to get Scar to relax, and should have, but he carelessly neglected to do so. That was what he claimed.

That's a lie, Ai thought. It was not that he did not do it, but that he could not.

Scar, carrying Celica about, was increasingly mentally stable with each passing day..

But what about Julie? So Ai wondered. Was Julie mentally stable to begin with?

How could he remain calm when surrounded by a young girl who just had a baby?

Julie had lost his wife seven years ago. Back then, the societal norm was that ‘the Dead should just die’, but Julie refused to accept this, and wandered in the wilderness with his dead wife and remaining daughter. In the end, he lived in seclusion, hiding in the mountains. There was no way his wife could have received any postorterm treatment, and became increasingly ‘selfish’. Initial, her wish was basically ‘I’m fine with being buried, you two should return to the city’, and her soul slowly rotted, until she could only make noises like ‘kyarararara’ or ‘urererere’.""

Was Julie truly stable? Could he really remain mentally stable by living in the mountains, hiding with a woman whose spirit was gradually weakening?

On top of that, the woman had a baby. A newborn baby.

At this point, Julie was thirty two years old, the same age as Hampnie. His daughter, who died last year, was fifteen. In other words, he became a parent when he was also sixteen or seven years old. It was said his wife was also a classmate of his, and their marriage was not completely out of their own volition. Ai knew about it. She heard about this from Hampnie Hambart, who told her this amongst many others on that last night, on the hill under the full moon.

So Ai never imagined that someone like Julie could have been stable, living hidden in the mountains with a young girl who had just had a cute baby.

I should be able to do it, Julie’s insistence looked so gaudy to Ai. He claimed he could do it even though he could not. He was just like a child.

"…Well, don't be so hard on yourself. Old man."

"Yeah…."

Alice consoled Julie, who went silent. Ai could not say anything as she herself was too depressed to chime in.

The mood in the car hung so heavy that it felt like a solid matter, and no one could move.

"…Uuu, it shouldn’t have ended up like this."

The ghost seemingly drowned in the air. She fell onto the chair and slumped down. Celica looked at it curiously and cackled in amusement.

The only thing that remained healthy was this baby.

Part IV

The sun was setting, and the group began to pitch their night camp.

"Ai, it's getting dark! Come back!"

A huge, strange rock suddenly appeared in the wilderness, like a landmark.

Ai climbed to the top of it and watched the sun set. To the west was a sea of wilderness, and behind her was a shadow that was elongated, causing the night to make an early appearance on the red earth.

"Ai? Uncle’s calling."

Dee, the only one who accompanied her to such a high place, called out with concern.

"Ai?"

"……"

"Ah! Wait!"

With a huff, Ai suddenly jumped off the ledge as if to throw herself down. She landed one level below, ran down the slope of another two levels, plop! And landed onto the ground again.

"…………What's up?"

Julie asked, letting out a sigh instead of grumbling.

"Nothing."

Ai muttered to herself.

"Really, it’s nothing."

"……"

The big man looked at Dee, what's going on? The ghost shook her head, who knows?

Ai sat down in front of the fire and raised her hands towards it. It was the midst of spring, but dusk remained a little chilly at dusk. The flames burning in the red light seemed strangely surreal, and did not seem very hot, to the point where she felt she should be fine if she grabbed it.

"Don't."

Alice was seated opposite Ai as he said. One had to wonder what insight he had to realize something was amiss. Ai looked at him for a moment and then replied honestly, Yes.

Julie stoked the firewood in silence, and the three of them fell silent, as though blending in with the wilderness around them.

Soon, the cans were spouting steam. Julie brewed some tea, and filled everyone’s cup.

Julie had been working on the car, Alice had been making the fire, and Ai had been slacking off. This was the break everyone had after they were done.

Nobody said anything. Only the tea dwindled.

"The air is…heavy."

Dee drifted around looking like a deep-sea fish that had been washed ashore. Unlike her usually flighty movements, she was moving as heavily as a cumulonimbus cloud.

However, no one retorted. Dee had no choice but to start cleaning up her own mess.

"…Hey, Ai, are you that concerned about Gravekeepers?"

The topic that the two men had cautiously avoided, the ghost simply said.

Ai, immersed in a sea of thoughts, just looked up and answered flatly, "Not really."

Dee was not pleased with that answer. If it was not that dire, why did Dee have to mention that the mood was heavy? Dee was not going to let this slide, depending on the answer.

"I'm thinking about Miss Scar."

Ai said.

"I was thinking about Miss Scar, and why she left Miss Celica behind."

"…There’s no way you’d know why. Who knows what a Gravekeeper is thinking."

"Not really."

"Eh?"

The three of them looked up in confusion.

"I'm sure Miss Scar wants to become a Gravekeeper… just like I used to be. …"

Scar disappeared because she wanted to return to being a Gravekeeper again. This reasoning was almost absolute in Ai's mind.

Scar had been uncomfortable with herself ever since she obtained Celica. She was worried about her changed mind and body.

Ai remembered her old self. When she was in the village, she had to insist every second "I’m a Gravekeeper", lest she be suffocated. Her old self was such that she wanted to be a Gravekeeper so badly.

Scar was just the opposite; she loved Celica and was soothed by the weight in her arms, but there were times when she would look at the baby with fear in her eyes, with bewilderment, towards the being that had inexplicably changed her.

Perhaps it was a matter of time. So Ai thought to herself. Just like how her village was destroyed. It was a matter of time until Scar’s emotions would be split into two. No matter how well Julie did, no matter how much she loved her baby, Scar would have exploded like this someday.

Just like Ai did at that moment.

Ai gazed out into the wilderness, and imagined the sight of Scar who was ahead of them. She thought of the group of Gravekeepers with identical faces carrying shovels. Among them, Scar was alone, with a worried look on her face. She was concerned about the wound she had on her right eyebrow, which nobody else had, and doubted if she was a fake.

Just like Ai did at that moment.

"…………………"

Ai eventually fell silent again, and reverted back to staring at the flickering fire.

"…I don't understand you at all…"

Since Ai was unwilling to talk, Dee said with a pouting look on her face.

"This is stupid…."

She gestured a kick at a stone in the air.

"Say, Ai."

"Yes? …Is there anything else…?"

"Let's have a chat."

"We have something to discuss?"

"Not discuss. Chat. Chat."

"? What's the difference?"

It’s completely different! Dee raised her index finger like a teacher and clicked her tongue profusely.

"Why why, isn’t this Miss Ai? Can I sit next to you?"

"H-huh. Thank you Miss Dee… What's with the little skit?"

Dee, in a gentlemanly motion, swooped down, sat on the stone,

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"

"It's almost night…"

"Non, non, non."

Dee waved her finger in front of her and clicked her tongue repeatedly.

"Ai, this is a 'chat'. No serious retorts allowed. Don't worry about whether this conversation makes sense, or whether it’s right or wrong. Even if it’s raining, you have to say ‘I guess so’, or elseIf you can't say 'yes' even when it's raining, you won't survive, will you?"

"I-Isn’t that strict?"

"It's fun once you get used to it—It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"

"You’re asking again!?"

"It's a, beautiful day, isn't it?"

"So-so demanding…yeah, it is. Nice weather…to the point where Gravekeepers are raining."

"No no no. No need for sarcasm or anything."

"Th-This is tough…"

The futile conversation continued for a while. It seemed Dee was completely enthused about chatting, her questions and answers were all inappropriate. Ai, who was serious by nature, answered earnestly at every single turn, but every single line was nitpicked. It was thanks to the conversation that the mood eased slightly. Dee got increasingly enthused, and began to drag Alice and Julie in. It was then that Ai first learned that Alice and Julie had the same favorite food. Hamburger.

It was during this time.

"When's your birthday, Ai?"

Dee asked.

"Birthday?"

"Yes."

"Not yet. It's in the summer."

"Oh, really…………………………………"

Dee became very quiet.

"Ah—erm, when's your birthday, Miss Dee?"

"Me? It's New Year's for me. Exactly that day."

"Woah! That's nice."

"It's not nice at all. Everyone celebrates everything at once. I've never had a proper birthday party."

"I see. Well, that's definitely annoying…"

"Isn’t it? That's what I envy Alice for. It’s nice how he doesn’t have anything near his birthday. But because of this, I always…almost…forget…"

Midway through, Dee's face gradually turned pale, and then eerily white. "?" Ai wondered what was going on, but followed Dee's lead and directed the topic to Alice..

"When is your birthday, Mr. Alice?"

"Me?"

"Yes."

"Yesterday."

"Yes?"

Ai's mouth dropped open, I must have misheard something, so she thought.

"Eh?"

"I said, yesterday."

Snap, the sound of the firewood snapping could be heard.

"Huh?"

The sun had set.

Night had come.

"Huuuhhh~~~~~~~~~~~~!?"

And Ai exploded.

"Eh? Wait, eh? What's that about!? I never heard about that. I! Never! Heard! Anything! About! That!!!!"

That~~~That~~~That~~~…the word echoed through the wilderness.

"W-why!? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well, nobody asked."

"Ababababababa."

"Miss Dee!"

Abababababa. Ai glared at Dee who was on a random spiel. It seemed the latter had forgotten about it.

"But still! You should at least hint a little!"

"Who cares about that anyway?"

Alice gulped down the rest of his tea in disgust and stood up.

"Old man. Is there some work to be done? I'll help out."

"Please wait! I'm not done with you yet!"

"We’re already done."

Alice waved off Ai’s hand that was tugging at his hem.

"I said it’s fine. What's the problem?"

"B-but it's your birthday, right?"

"So?"

"Shouldn’t you be like, Happy Birthday? It's an important annual festival, you know?"

"Maybe, but who got the time for that?"

Alice said it rather brazenly, with no offense intended to anyone in particular.

"I don’t really care about my birthday. I mean, I’d have forgotten about it if I hadn’t been asked."

"What did you say?"

The shock erupted through her head. Back when she was in the village, Ai would casually mention this a month before her birthday, to the point where others would even say, That's annoying!

"Ahhh~! Dammit~! Just shut up!"

Alice finally snapped back, as though in defiance.

"You know, it's not that I don't want others to celebrate it for me, too! I want presents! I want cake! But now’s not the time for that!"

Alice waved his arm and pointed at the wilderness. Celica was there, looking for her mother, and Scar was beyond there. The car was always running low on food, and they had nothing to waste on.

"I'm going to save the world!"

Alice declared, his eyes reflecting the flames of the bonfire.

"I'll do whatever it takes to do that.

……What's my birthday got to do with it?"

Muttering, Alice checked the gun on his hip and ventured into the wilderness. It seemed he assumed that if he had nothing to do, he should at least go hunting.

Ai grabbed the hem of the departing school uniform.

"Let go."

" …No."

"Let me go."

"Don’t wanna…."

Alice crudely shook off Ai's hand, who stumbled for a moment, took a step back, and then,

"……… Oi."

She clung to Alice's back.

"You can’t…Mr Alice…, you can't do that."

"Ah?"

"You can't cut that kind of thing off. …

Ai knew. She knew of someone who became a shockingly sharp blade by disposing of all these vague things one after another. Cursed with an immortal body, the only dream he pursued was death. She knew that Hampnie Hambart admired the will of monsters…and tried to become one.

Alice's current attitude was exactly like him. It was the attitude of a monster who would discard everything for his own ends. It was the attitude of a monster.

"You can't do that. You can’t just discard them…let’s celebrate your birthday together."

Ai hugged the black school uniform tightly, and the already tattered clothes were like the skin or an unknown beast. Her tears wetted it, and she hoped those words would turn the monster back into a person, just like in the fairy tales.

"How old are you, Mr. Alice?"

"…Six…teen."

"I see. Mr Alice, it's your sixteenth birthday. Congratulations."

"………"

Ai whispered her congratulations word to Alice's back and moved away.

Alice did not run away anymore.

"Please let us celebrate with you. We shall bake a cake, arrange candles, and celebrate your sixteenth birthday."

Ai went before Alice, whose face was obscured by his bangs, unable to be seen. Ai did not mind however, and beamed at him,

"Okay?"

"……"

He did not reply, but he did not refuse either. Ai's face lit up.

"Mr. Julie!"

"Hmm?"

"Can you make a cake?"

"Of course.."

Julie gave a wry smile as he took out flour from the food bag,

"The eggs and vegetables are about to expire. Let's have a feast today."

"I-I’ll help too!!"

Dee was teary-eyed for some strange reason as she flailed about, as if to say, I can't remain like this.

"… Even so, you can't touch any object, right?"

"But I want to help! Let me help!"

"Okay okay okay…babysit Celica for me, then."

"Yes!"

Everyone was suddenly busy. Julie checked their groceries load, apupu, and Dee caused Celica to laugh with a serious face.

Ai tried to hurry over, and on her way, she took Alice's hand, who was still in the darkness of the wilderness,

"Mr. Alice, come here."

She sat him down on the birthday seat, the warmest part of the fire.

"Please wait a moment. We’ll be right back!"

"……"

"Hmm? What is it?"

Ai put her ear to Alice's mouth. It seemed like his voice was quaking, and he was misty-eyed. But Ai pretended not to notice.

"Thanks…" Alice muttered quietly.

"Yes!" Ai replied.

 

+

 

The cake did not expand at all, and there was not much cream or decoration, which made it seem like a failure. In addition, the candles used were thick ones for emergency use, thirteen of them, burning on the cake. It did not look like food in any case.

There was meat, vegetables, and fish on the menu, but they were all on the verge of spoiling or dried out, and thus not particularly tasty.

Still, the evening was wonderful.

It was as good as any birthday party Ai had ever seen.

Alice was initially reluctant, but after seeing the dishes being served one after another, as well as Ai and Dee causing a ruckus while celebrating, his expression gradually softened.

Julie played the harmonica, which he rarely did, Dee showed off her crystal-clear voice, which she also rarely let people hear, Ai was frustrated that she was the only one who did not have such skill, so she sang loudly anyway. Celica appeared to enjoy such a joyous atmosphere as she fooled around while holding up the milk-filled bottle. Alice toasted his cup with Celica’s bottle, and finally sat down in front of the cake.

His face was smiling In the candlelight.

Then the candle went out.

Ai had a vision there. She saw her father, her mother, the villagers, and all the people she had met on her journey. Living, Dead.

Julie lit a lantern, and the vision disappeared, leaving only four people.

But that did not diminish anything.

Ai clapped her hands and congratulated Alice for the umpteenth time.

 

+

 

The party ended quickly.

The flames were extinguished, the dishes were wiped down with bread, the last bit of tea was downed, and the group went to bed at an almost normal time. It was Alice's condition for holding the party.

Ai was wrapped up in a blanket next to Celica. She looks at the passenger seat, where Alice was, reclined to the max, looking east. He looked as though he was waiting for the sun.

(…It’s the same as yesterday…)

Ai thought.

(…I wonder if he was waiting for the sun last night as well? He’s anxious about the stillness of the night, waiting for the sun to show…just waiting along on his birthday …)

Ai looked at his sidelong face, and firmly believed her intuition was correct.

He was really just like her.

He truly was someone who wanted to save the world.

"…Mr Alice…"

"…Hm?"

She whispered to him.

"…Why do you want to end the world?"

"……"

Alice did not answer, and Ai stared at the passenger seat for some time, remaining in an uncomfortable position.

"…I can't say right now …"

"…I understand…"

"…Sorry…"

"…it’s fine…"

Just hearing the words ‘for now’ was enough for her.

"… Good night…."

"………Goodnight."

Ai buried her face into the blanket and did not wake up until morning.

They would finally catch up with Scar the next day.

 

Chapter 2 - The World Tower

Part I

It was a town of mist.

"This is…."

They were on a hill just before entering the town, the group stopped the car and looked down. The mist surrounding the city was thick like rain clouds on the ground, and the car had its headlights switched on even though it was daytime.

That was the place where Scar was supposed to be.

"……Alice, look at the map. There’s a town here, right?"

"No, it's not there."Old man—is there a missing page, or did something happen after the map was made…"

"When was this map dated?"

"…Last year."

"……"

Ai did not join the conversation, as she stared at the thick mist that was akin to a waterfall, where the stone buildings could be seen occasionally. The town was dark, even though it was just past noon, and the mist was as cold as the wind in a cemetery.

Pa pa! Julie honked the car horn briefly at the entrance to the town.

"……"

No one came out.

"…Hey Dee, why don't you go and do some recon?"

Alice said as he checked the weapon at his waist. However, Dee grinned,

"Don’t wanna!"

"Huh? Why not?"

"It's scary, it's haunted!"

"…………Hey, listen here youyou rotten ghost …"

Alice shouted at Dee, but the ghost pretended to be deaf and refused to listen. Juliue never trusted them with this to begin with, and stepped on the pedal without question.

The car slowly entered the town at walking speed. The headlights drew a double circle in front of them, and the windows were slowly covered with frost. Ai stuck her forehead to the passenger window, and looked out at the streets.

"…Is there no one around.?"

"No…doesn't look like it…"

Julie said as he pointed aside. On the other side of the street was a table with a chess board, which showed that a game was played.

Ai felt very relieved to find a sign of human presence.

"I think they just left for a little while.."

"Yeah."

Once they noticed this, they then realized there were signs of many people everywhere. There was a truck with its doors open parked in front of a liquor store, road construction materials that looked like they had been ‘left there for a little while’, a peddler's store with small items on display, a yellow wall that was ‘in the midst of being painted’, rather than being freshly painted.

But it so happened that there were no people.

There are so many traces of people in this place, but there were no people.

Ai's precious peace of mind was quickly devoured and erased by the mist.

The car slowly inched forward.

"Is anyone there~~~~!!!"

"Ah! Hey!"

She shouted into the mist from the passenger window.

"Is anyone there~~~~~!!!???"

There was nary an echo.

"……"

Thud. The window was shut. Julie remained silent, to the point of forgetting to be angry.

"… Old man, move a little more to the right, please."

"Did you find anything? "

"Maybe."

Following Alice's instructions, the car pulled to the right of the road. There was a nice café terrace with a number of tables and chairs on the side of the road.

The car approached. One by one, the tables were exposed from the mist, and they could see what was on the tables.

There was a half-eaten sandwich and a cup full of tea.

"What is this …?"

A dry voice came out of Ai’s throat, as though it was not her own.

"…Where did the people here go…where did they disappear to, when they couldn’t spare the time to finish their meal…"

Nobody could answer the question.

 

+

 

"I know a story very similar to this…"

Ai began to talk as she looked out at the mist-filled streets.

"There was an empty ship that happened to arrive at a sea port. It felt as empty as this town, the tea’s freshly brewed, the shower is running, and yet there wasn’t anyone on board. It's that kind of a a ship…the ship was attacked by a mysterious creature of the sea, and everyone got eaten by the monster before they knew it. That monster really gobbled them up quickly…"

Ai said, and started to be a little scared. Her whole body shuddered, and she firmly clutched the shovel with both hands.

But there was someone more scared than her.

"Stop talking about ghosts, Ai, it's scary!"

No one bothered to retort at her.

Ai gazed at the streets that occasionally emerged from the flowing mist from time to time. The buildings continued to appear and disappear in a constant state of disarray, like a ruined city that has collapsed.

"Are there any ghosts…?"

"Why would there be?"

Julie said.

"Mmm, you don't know that, do you?"

"Yeah, Uncle! What are you going to do if it's the work of a ghost!? Woaahh, so scary…"

"How can there be any ghosts in this world…and aren't you a phantom yourself? Like, you’re scared of ghosts, what!?"

"You don't understand."

Dee wagged her index finger and declared proudly.

"I'm not like the average person who doesn't even know if there are ghosts! I know that they exist, so of course I should be more scared of them, okay?"

Ai could not help but be somewhat enlightened.

Julie, on the other hand, looked completely unconcerned.

"Yes yes my bad my bad, maybe there really are ghosts in this world…but at least the people in this town aren’t eaten by ghosts. They walked out on their own feet."

His words were extraordinarily convincing, "?" for everyone else had puzzled looks.

"Don't just look at the side, look at your feet more."

Ai looked down and found her usual boots, a shovel with a hole, and a rubber step mat beneath them that was covered in mud. Ah, a stick of incense had fallen through the door. Lucky.

"I don’t mean that, I mean the ground."

Julie grabbed the back of Ai’s head like a camera and shoved it out the window. While she was displeased with this, she decided to protest later on.

She observed the road, and there were plenty of footprints on the ground.

"They’re all panicking. They’re all at the same pace. They’re all headed in the same direction. I guess that’s where everyone disappeared to."

Ai broke away from Julie's right hand, "Hehhh" and after adjusting her straw hat, someone else blurted out the same remark in unison. She turned around to see Alice and Dee poking their heads out of the car window (and body) to take a closer look at the ground.

"You're amazing, old man! It all looks the same to me."

"That’s amazing! Uncle!"

The crowd showed their respect to Julie, but he stopped them with a look of annoyance,

"You're right to think they're all the same. After all, almost all the footprints on this road are left by them."

"…Them?"

"Yeah. The people with the prettiest walking posture in the world……they’re just ahead …"

Julie slowed the car down even more, so slow that one could hear the tires pressing over the sand. The car traveled through the mist at a speed no different from that of a hike.

Nothing could be seen ahead, and the light from the headlights was absorbed by the mist without catching anything, forming two circular halos.

The halo on the right suddenly broke. Illuminated in the reflected light flashed was another halo.

The thing causing this reflection was a silver shovel that was carried on the shoulder.

"Yo, Gravekeepers."

Julie rolled down the window and called out. The car went alongside Gravekeepers that was moving at walking speed.

"Hello there, Dear Living."

That Gravekeeper was a middle-aged man, about Julie's age. They exchanged greetings comfortably as if they were long-time friends.

"Excuse us for walking while chatting."

"No, it's fine. I don't want to delay you any further."

The car went along with the Gravekeepers in the mist.

"… Are you all, erm, well? Are you going to bury the dead?"

Julie asked in the midst of the mist. There were three other men with the same face as that Gravkeeper. It seemed there were a lot more men in the mist.

"Of course. Dear living."

"…Are they nearby?"

"Yes. Almost there. Here. "

"What?"

The Gravekeepers pointed forward in unison. The direction they pointed at…

"Mr Julie, stop!"

He pulled the emergency brake.

The car leaned forward and everyone was toppled forward. Ai barely managed to avoid hitting her forehead, Alice hastily covered the crib with his body to protect Celica, and Dee, who was following the car at an equal speed, had a dumbfounded look as she wove her way out.

The car made a chilling screech, and barely managed to stop.

A few inches beyond the windshield was a wall of stone.

"Sorry! Is everyone okay?"

"Y-yeah."

"I-I'm fine, thanks!"

"Shit, I let my guard down. There wasn’t any wall on the other side, so I thought—hey! Ai!"

Ai opened the door of the passenger seat and hopped out. Julie was about to say something, but she slammed the door shut.

The smell of mist.

White vision.

And a stone wall before them.

She looked in three directions in order, right, left, and up. The white stones spread out like milk in these directions, and eventually blended into the mist and assimilated into the scenery.

Like the town, the full extent remained unknown.

"…What is this?"

The walls were made of stacked white stones. She touched it, and found that it was wet with mist and cool to the touch.

"The World Tower."

Ai stared at the bearded face of the Gravekeeper next to her, and asked,

"—You know this place?"

"No, it's written on it."

She had a look, and over there,

"Welcome to the World Tower!"

These were the words written in white chalk.

And next to it was the entrance to the tower with a black opening.

"The World Tower…"

Ai looked away from the entrance and looked up, left, and right in the opposite direction.

"Is this the… tower?"

The wall was not round enough to be a tower, but was flat and endless like the surface of a planet.

+

 

The Gravekeepers simply disappeared into the hole, so long, leaving behind a greeting. There was no hesitation, no anxiety, just the will to move forward.

"…What do we do now?"

Julie asked. Ai stared at the dark hole in front of her. The hole was in the shape of an ascending staircase, and there was nothing to be seen beyond a few steps.

"It clearly looks suspicious…"

Dee floated lightly in the mist and looked up at the tower with a doubtful look.

"These Gravekeepers guys definitely got issues with their heads, going into such a strange place without thinking. What’s wrong with them? I guess these creatures definitely have problems with their heads, to split into this kind of inexplicable place, what in the end is going on? I think they probably don't have the so-called imagination, right?"

"…I'm a Gravekeeper."

Ah. Dee showed a startled face.

"Bu-but you’re different, Ai! You’re a little boarish sometimes, but aren’t you stopping now?"

"That's the problem though…"

"Heh?"

Ai hesitated to enter the tower. The sudden appearance of something unfamiliar made her hesitate and stop in her tracks. It was a normal reaction for a normal human.

But a Gravekeeper would have kept going.

"……"

Ai gazed at the darkness of the entrance for a moment.

"Mr Julie."

Then she turned around.

"How's Miss Celica doing?"

"…As you can see."

The big man got down, and Ai saw that the Scar sensor (Celica) was flailing her fists upwards.

"Then there’s noting to hesitate for."

Ai decided.

"Let’s head up too."

The two men had already made their preparations, and were waiting for her words. "Got it." They answered.

"Here's your stuff."

Alice put Ai’s backpack at her feet, and she then checked her gear.

"Let's go."

Julie, who was also carrying luggage on his back, lit the candle stand. A cord hung from his chest. Within it was Celica, who was staring at the tower.

"Ehh~ Don’t do this. It's creepy."

Dee was the only one whining.

"Let's go."

Ai retied her shoes, put on her backpack, and spun the shovel around to carry it over her shoulder.

She then took the first step forward.

Part II

The carpeted staircase was as dark as night, and the light from the candle stand only repelled the darkness slightly. Ai stood at the edge of the light and carefully ascended the stairs, one by one. It was strangely warm. The mist disappeared, the excessive dampness disappeared, and the stone walls became a dull white. The occasional breeze blew in from outside occasionally, tingling the nape of her , causing a creeping sensation on the nape of her neck.

She soon saw a light ahead. Not that of the sun, but the orange glow of an indoor light.

She exited the stairs, and saw a street spread out before her.

"Wow…"

Ai could help but blurt out and put her hands over her eyelids. The exit of the stairs was a small hill and she could see the town below her.

The inside of the tower was like a cave, surrounded by walls on all sides. The constructs resembling buildings lined the walls and bordered the next. Thus, the main street and small streets all gave the atmosphere of back alleys. There were no windows. Instead, there were street lights everywhere, jijiji, chirping, and soft, circular lights that were cast in the darkness.

The place where Ai and the others exited was also surrounded by one of these lights.

"…Is there no one around after all?"

The town was quiet and silent, and no one answered the question.

"Let's go.—first of all, let's explore."

"Ehh~ don’t do that~…"

With a complaining Dee in tow like a balloon, the group entered the town.

There were inns, stores, banks, and houses. They were like the ones in the town outside, and at first glance, the two places seemed interlinked.

And yet, Ai felt something strange. The inside and outside were made of the same materials and similar manner of construction, but the atmosphere was slightly different.

Julie explained the reason,

"The place doesn’t look alive."

Ah. Ai blurted. Julie was right in that there was no scent of life around here. It was unlike the town outside the tower, there was no scent of life. There was no trash on the streets, and all the tools were neatly put away.

A brand-new town.

A clean town that had the impression of a sample.

The towns outside and inside were both empty, but they gave different impressions.

"If the outside is a Ghost Town, this would be a Necropolis."

It seemed Alice felt that way.

Ai stopped and looked around. It was in the middle of a shopping street, with cafés and stalls on either side. Each shop was clean and new, giving a sense of contradiction, as though they were life-sized miniatures.

And still, there was no one around.

At this point, Ai gradually began to regain her composure. She had never been good at maintaining fear or caution for long. Her natural curiosity kicked in, and her nose started twitching.

The group remained wary while their eyes glittered, and amongst them was a child with a sparkling curiosity. While the group is checking out a flower bed and raising their eyebrows, saying, "These are artificial flowers…", "What are these people thinking…?" and Ai thought to herself that the fruit was delicious, that they were hopeless to call them artificial. While checking out a store, she went to the cash register, found the owner’s mistake (he forgot to put change in the register!). ), and paused to make a little guts pose. There was even a mailbox along the way, "why not" and Ai thought to drop off the letter she had written to Ulla. Dee was the only one who saw her act with an annoying look, but she did not know how to retort in an entertaining manner "Ah, whatever" so she ignored them.

The group arrived at a fresh fruit and vegetable shop. It was supposed to have fresh fruit and vegetables, but instead, it was full of dried goods. The butcher's shop too, only had smoked, dried meat, hard as a rock, and nothing that would have moulded over time. Ai felt the 'human touch' in the food and was very happy. She could feel the hard work faced by the makers, trying to conceal them but exposing everything else instead.

"It’s beally fun."

"Ai, don't talk with food in your mouth……wait, what are you eating? "

Busted.

Despite two feints and a dash, Julie easily catches her and dangled her like a kitten.

"Ai, where did you get those cookies?"

"Eh? Erm, I-I forgot."

"The bakery over there."

"Miss Dee, you traitor!"

"Traitro?….No, I'm your enemy."

Hohohhhh…Julie’s eyes glowed, and he slammed a fist onto Ai’s head.

"What are you doing!?"

"Y-You don’t have to worry about money. It says over there ‘please take whatever you want’."

"That's not the point! What if it's poisoned?"

"Ehh~, that’s not possible."

"…Like you know that’s true. The guys who created such a weird place…"

Julie remained as wary as ever while he lectured her, and Ai, swinging like a pendulum, found it odd.

"Not that I'm defending her, but—"

Alice walked over with a bag of cookies, just like Ai.

"Ah!"

"Hey, Alice!

"Yeah, they're good—I don't think this tower has any intention of harming anyone."

"…How do you know that?"

"Because this tower is 'peaceful'."

Ai nodded away while being grabbed by Julie, "That’s right."and nodded her head. It might be strange to call this empty town ‘peaceful’, but it was the closest description. The buildings were pretty, there were flowers in the flowerbeds, and sweets were sold. At the very least, this town was modeled after a peaceful one.

Ai did not think the people who created all this stuff would mix in something as ‘unnecessary’ as poison.

"…I’m asking why you assume this is the case."

"Do you want some?" Ai handed over her bag of sweets. "Nope" and Julie refused her as he put her onto the ground again. It seemed he was furious as he led the way.

Celica, dangling from her chest, was completely disinterested in the town, and merely looked at the upper levels of the tower.

"…Let's look for the stairs"

Julie said.

"We're here to find Scar…this tower isn’t important to us.."

Ai did not think so, but did not voice her opinion, and silently began to walk forward.

Not long after that.

"This way to the second level!"

They found these words.

"……"

They found the guide they had hoped for, but everyone looked on grimly. The words indicating the second floor were written in white chalk, like a child's prank. It was probably the same as the one at the entrance.

"…Well, let's just go up there and have a look…it’s fine, right?"

Ai glanced behind. Julie was annoyed but did not object.

"Ehh~, let's not. It might be haunted."

Dee was the only one who still complained.

They advanced in the direction that said ‘this way!’, went through the alley, and found a shoe store. At the wall were words in chalk ‘that way!’, a right turn, and they kept walking. ‘this way!’ another five minutes. ‘That way!’ that way this way that way where is the second floor?

Ai started to have a bad feeling.

"… Say, Ai, is this …?"

"……I'm starting to get that feeling too…"

Then, after turning a number of corners, ‘Look up!’ they looked up, ‘Look to the right!’ they looked right, ‘Look to the left!’ they looked left.

‘Where are you looking at?’ These were the words written.

And there was also a doddle of the prankster cackling away.

Bam! Ai punched the wall…a few cracks appeared in the doodle.

"…You've got some nerve…"

A bit below that,

"Sorry, sorry. The real stairs are behind here."

Ai ignored it. She raised her shovel again, and turned back.

"Ahh! Wait a minute, Ai, I'm serious!"

Alice, who had been checking just in case, called out. Still skeptical, Ai peeked up and saw that there was indeed a staircase leading up.

And the words ‘See, I wasn’t lying, right?’.

"……"

Ai was already beginning to feel annoyed with the one who drew the graffiti, and by extension, with the builders of this tower. However, she felt it would be what the prankster ‘wanted’, so she continued on her way without stopping.

The group I began to ascend the spiral staircase leading to the second floor.

As soon as they began to climb, they noticed it was not the only way to the second floor. The darkness of the first floor appeared between them, and there were countless staircases leading up. They varied in height and thickness and quality. Ai looked at the stairs they were taking. It was a simple staircase made of the same stone as the tower walls. They were quite steep, but they felt safe.

"Thanks for that."

Except for the occasional graffiti.

She looked up at the second floor. The ceiling was kind of uneven, and each staircase entered into the second floor at a different height. It seemed there was no distinct clear hierarchical structure in this tower, and was grouped together by independent floors such as floor 2-A and floor 2-B..

Ai looks at the destination of their stairs.

Awaiting them at the end of the stairs was another doorless entrance.

 

+

 

They went through the entrance and into the land of snow.

"Eh? Sn-snow?"

There was a snowy village along with a forest.

"…Strange? It's not cold. …"

Ai knelt down and grabbed the snow at her feet. The snow immediately peeled away, glittering in her hands like candy floss.

Nom.

"—Hm. Anyway, it feels like this snow is made of cotton. It’s not nice."

"……Oi, why did you eat it?"

"It could have been candyfloss though?"

"No, it's not, you idiot."

It felt like New Year's Eve in the village. All of the doors were decorated with cedar logs and congratulatory words. The windows and walls were no exception, and every place that could be decorated was decorated, making the houses look bigger than they were.

'Third floor is through this house!(↓)'

One of the eaves of the houses had these words written in white chalk.

"……".

Ai frowned at these words..

She looked at the white chalk, then at the arrow pointing to the house, and back at the chalk again.

"What do we do? To go or not to go? "

"Don't do it, Ai~! It takes courage to pull back~."

"…Let’s go."

Ai opened the door.

Inside the house was a party mood to celebrate the New Year. A whole roasted turkey, baked dried sweets, a very sweet cake covered with cream. Everything looked delicious, but alas, they were clay models. Too bad.

"…Seriously…don’t stuff anything into your mouth…"

They went upwards. This house was large, and had a second and third floor. Ai walked up the stairs, feeling uncomfortable as though she was intruding upon someone else's home. Each step creaked away, and there was someone’s photo hanging on the wall. It was an imagery of summer when it was always winter in this village.

On the second floor was the children's room, the third floor was the storage room and the workroom. And on the fourth floor—

There was a wooden staircase that should have led to the attic. Halfway up though, they were replaced by stone steps.

'After this is the third floor!'

 

+

 

Night had arrived when they arrived at the third floor.

It must have been past 8pm, but the tower was dark inside, and there was nary any difference. The builders of the tower seemed to have noted this, for when the time came, all the lights on the ceiling went out and were replaced by street lamps to represent the night.

The third floor was a port town in August, with many bars and shops. The sea was actually filled with salt water, and there was actually fish raised in some places.

After watching the crisp ripples leave on the dark water, Ai stood up and looked behind.

There was the guide.

‘This way (↓), please!’

"What do we do? Do we keep going?"

Alice asked.

"No, let’s rest on this floor for today. I think we should look for a hotel after our trip up. Is that fine?"

"Yes."

"Ehhh~! I don't want to stay in a hotel here! What if it's haunted?"

"Well, I'm sure there’s at least a ghost."

"Hiii! D-don’t say such scary things, alice!!"

"….Remember what you call yourself…."

Ai ignored the foolish duo..

"Is this fine, Mr Julie?"

"……"

Julie showed a wry face, but he did not say anything. Seeing him in this state, Ai turned towards the town behind her.

"Is there a good hotel around here?"

She thought of returning to the main street, and turned around the corner of the harbor. And over there,

""Here's a hotel!"

While chatting as they turned the corner, they saw this graffiti.

"…. …. …. …."

Everything stared at these words.

"What do you think?"

"You gotta be kidding…".

"…It’s too suspicious."

See? Dee proudly boasted. On the other hand, the remaining trio crouched down to look at the graffiti from different angles. There were some parts that were wiped by the finger, and after rubbing some words, the chalk on the fingers was scattered. These words were written in common white chalk.

"I guess a kid wrote them."

Julie concluded.

"The pressure isn’t consistent, and the height of the letters is always low."

"The handwriting is very round. It looks like a girl's handwriting."

Ai listened to their words and imagined the implication of those words. A girl had arrived earlier than them, heard their whisper, and was giggling away, having expected how troubled they were.

"……?"

Somehow, it felt like…?

"Ueehh~ what is this? No way, it’s disgusting~."

"…Ah!"

"? What's wrong, Ai?"

Ai pointed at Dee.

"This graffiti really resembles Miss Dee."

One was a shape-shifting ghost, and the other is an unidentified graffiti. They were two very different phenomena, but they were remarkably similar in the way they appeared. They would appear out of nowhere, act as mysterious benefactors, and were equally trollish.

"Don't be silly!"

Dee snapped.

"What's that about? What part of me resembles this messy handwriting?"

"I didn't say both are the same though? Anyway, the first person pronouns are different."

"That’s the only difference!? No way! There's more!"

Hiii~. Alice~ Uncle~ Dee faked her tears as she pleaded with the duo.

"We’re definitely different, right? I’m nowhere similar to this messy white handwriting that has little information, right?"

"Eh, now that she mentions it, I guess you two have a similar style. "

"That's true."

"Don't say it’s a style~~~~~~~!!"

Woarrrghh!!? Dee went crazy and kicked at the white chalk, but of course it had no effect.

After a brief bout of outrage, she wheezed for a while, and then finally turned around,

"Get this clear~! Even if I compare myself with this one! There’s no way we’re similar! That’s a second-rate ghost!"

"? What do you mean?"

"This guy! I mean, he's leading us here for a reason, isn't he? It’s such a poor method!!"

Ai did not understand why Dee was so upset, but Dee was further incensed by Ai's attitude. Grr! She grabbed her head.

"I'm talking about the style of a ghost!"

Ai had no idea what was going on, and merely gave a vague smile. Seeing Ai like this, Dee, slumped her shoulders and said,

"…You know. I've done a lot of things in my life. I've whispered to a lot of people just to end the world…"

Ai reeled over and listened to Dee intently. It was Dee's 'ghost' story, something that would be impossible to ask, usually.

"But you know what? Even if you tell the truth, it doesn't work the way you want it to. People will only believe what they want to believe. They don't believe what the truth really is."

"…I get that."

Ai nodded. People would blindly believe in a lie and doubt the truth. She knew exactly what what Dee meant.

"Isn’t that so!?"

Image:Kamisama v04 Illustration 06.jpg|thumb]]

But Ai had no idea where this conversation was going.

"That's why I really put in lots of effort to think! Before I tell other people the news, I’ll simulate it over and over again! I’ll find a way to figure out the most appropriate words! If I want a certain person to ‘come here!’, I can’t just tell him to ‘come here!’. I should be saying ‘don’t come here!’!"

That's the aesthetic of being a ghost. Dee thrusted her right hand up to the sky and swung it down, pointing at the white ink.

"So you don’t have to worry about it! In society, direct words like ‘come here’ and ‘go there’ won’t work!"

Then, for some reason, she looked a little worried.

"…There aren't many straightforward deviants like you. You need to think how to choose your words, okay? At least I'll tolerate the fact that you and I have the same characters…"

"Let's go."

"Yeah!"

"Ah, wait, hey! Stop!"

The group followed the lead of the graffiti and walked through the streets.

They could smell the tide. As the sun went down, they were once again reminded of the reality created in this tower.

‘Yes! This is the hotel!’

With these words, the hotel appeared, and it was the most luxurious one in town. Apparently, the one who wrote the graffiti really welcomed them.

They checked in at an empty counter, and wrote their names. They looked around, wondering how to pay as they looked around, only to see a signboard saying ‘hotel is free’. Ai seized the opportunity and chose the largest room..

"Hoho~!"

"Ohhh!"

"Whoa!"

Amazing! The beds were big, and not made of straw! They were like Ulla's bed! And there were three rooms! And a fridge!

Ai dived into the bed anyway.

"Amazing! It's so soft! The sheets are too new! Hahaha, it’s so creepy!"

"Have a look! They’ve got Celton's tea leaves. This is free too!? Alright, I’m talking them!"

"Hey, hey, you two, the bath’s great! There’s a sauna!"

The trio searched every nook and cranny of the hotel suite like it was a treasure hunt.

"……"

Julie sat down at a corner of the bed and let out a long sigh. He noticed he should not be acting like this, and bucked up again. It was too early for him to be relaxed, and he should check the room first. The trio appeared to be having fun, but they were thorough while checking the room. Julie got up too, and scanned the floor and walls for anything suspicious.

‘Good work! Good night!’

"……"

The only thing suspicious were the words written under the bed. Julie finally let do his guard, and slumped onto the bed.

"Mr Julie, are you tired?"

Ai munched onto something again, and handled over some brewed tea. Julie gave up on reprimanding her, and received it.

"No, I’m—"

He tried to deny it on instinct, only to stop himself. Who was the one who stopped scolding because it was a hassle?

"…I guess I’m tired for some reason. Probably age …"

Ai looked up at Julie.

"Ah, well, I'll go find something to relieve the fatigue! I'm sure there's something, yeah, I'll be right…"

"Wait a minute, that reason—"

Julie said, grabbing Ai with his right hand and rubbing his furrowed brow with his left.

"…What is it?"

Ai swayed aside as she asked. Julie's face instantly changed to his usual angry expression,

"it’s nothing …"

But then, he removed his right hand from her.

"…Don't be too late…Alice, please go with her …"

Alright. Alice answered in a relaxed manner, and Ai led him out of the room.

 

+

 

"Looks like Mr. Julie's pretty upset."

Ai said as she walked into the nearby shop, following the directions of 'this way for souvenirs!’

"… I think the situation might be quite serious."

"It's that bad?"

Alice, holding the shopping basket, was slightly shocked to hear it.

"Normally, if Mr Julie had been in that situation, he would have cursed a bit and then followed reluctantly."

"I didn't think you would be so mean at such little things, Ai."

Dee giggled.

"Mean?"

"Hmm~ hmm~ I didn't say anything, did I? Ah, dried strawberries... I think these would be good, right?"

Dee found a shelf with dried fruit, and Ai took some from there and put them in a paper bag, lining them up neatly in Alice’s basket. The price said 'free', but she was not going to pile lots of them out of greed. She would take as much as needed.

"Mr Julie said 'tired', but I don't think he means physically. I guess he's mentally tired."

"Hmm~ well, he’s at that age now, so the common sense he has is probably solidified. Of course he’d find it unacceptable after being thrown into such a ridiculous place.

"You're really saying it like you empathize with him …"

Ai said, picking up two slices of dried figs.

"But you only get about thirty points for that answer."

If that was the only reason, that tough man would not admit defeat this easily. ""

It was Scar and Celica, and Ai herself, who had pushed Julie to this point.

It was because of Ai’s presence that he had to follow her, that he was this cornered. He was like a bear with a cub, on guard everywhere, twenty-four hours a day, resulting in his nerves being worn out. Ai caused Julie to be on the verge of danger.

Just because Ai was his best friend's child.

"Oi."

"Ow!"

Ai got flicked in the forehead.

"You’ve been thinking about something weird, right?"

"…I wasn't."

"Really?"

"Really…"

"That's good…to me …"

Ai said, holding up the shopping basket.

"You've had a hard enough time too."

"…"

Ai did not answer, and rummaged through the dried fruit.

"Ah."

"Oh, they're dried grapes. Do you like them?"

"N-not me—Miss Scar…likes them …"

She bought some for Scar back in Ortus…and while the latter did not say so outright, she looked so blissful when she chewed on the dried grapes.

"Then bring some for her."

Alice took some more from the flat-topped jar and put them in a paper bag.

"So that you can give them to her when we meet her again."

Ai took it and clutched it to her chest, yes, and replied.

At their foot was a line that read: 'do your best tomorrow too!’

 

+

 

It was the next morning, but since they were in the dimly lit tower, Ai and the others actually woke up, ate and left according to the hands on their watches. It was so dark, yet they had to wake up, and Ai felt it was so unreasonable, for she resisted in bed for a while.

The group moved on without incident. They did not search around on this day, and focused on moving towards the stairs by following the white chalk directions.

The fourth floor was a lakeside style with rows of wooden cottages, and Celica said to go up.

The fifth floor was a downtown area with rows of pubs and shops, and Celica indicated said to go up.

Luckily, they found some brand new powdered milk in the downtown area. Celica would usually be resistant against milk powder that had been left for long. ‘Well, that’s decent’, this was the face she showed however, and she was more willing to drink it.

The group could not find any clues to Scar, and the graffiti was the only thing waiting for them without fail. Most of the graffiti was just directions, but occasionally it was interspersed with inscrutable paragraphs.

It all started on the stairs leading to the sixth floor.

 

The Interlude of a Certain Brother and Sister A.

There was an older brother, and a younger sister.

They were twelve and five years old .

They were walking in the wilderness, their faces stained with soot and mud, and the buttons on their pajamas were all off, except for one. Their hair was covered with ash and dust like lice, and their soft bare feet were cut by stones and stained reddish black.

The others were all the same. Everyone, from adults to children, walked through the dark wilderness in burnt-out clothes. The older brother did not know how it happened. He was certain that the adults around him did not know either.

The little sister cried the entire time, "Where's Daddy? Where's Mommy?" She kept on crying.

To which the older brother replied, "They’re in heaven."

"Heaven?"

—That's right.

"I see. Heaven, huh?"

The little sister immediately believed. It seemed she was so young that she did not know the significance of death. The older brother saw her innocent smile, and wanted to say something, but failed to,

For suddenly, he collapsed.

He was dying.

"Hey, big brother, are you okay? Do you want me to get you some water?"

His sister was fine. The sight of her brother's collapsed body seemed to inspire her to do something about it, and so she bucked up.

"I'm all better now, you know! I'm not hungry, I'm not thirsty, my hands and feet don't hurt anymore! I’m not going to say that I'm tired anymore. Really."

The little sister was already dead.

She had already gone to a distant world where there was no hunger or thirst.

The older brother stood up—exerting the last of his strength. The little sister was happy to see this, and grabbed his little fingers, her eyes suddenly looking uneasy as she recalled what she had just forgotten.

"…But where is everyone going?"

The procession before them was half-dead, half-alive. Like the siblings, half were Living, and half were Dead.

I don't know. He did not want to answer, so he asked.

—Where do you want to go?

"Can I decide?" The sister asked. The brother nodded.

Let’s do as she says. So he thought.

He would do whatever she wanted. Perhaps they should go wherever they wanted to, rather than get involved with the adults, without knowing where they were going. If it was the ocean, they would go to the ocean; if it were the mountains, they would go to the mountains; if it was a memorable place, they would go to that place; even if they could not get there, they wanted to start walking toward that place.

So he thought.

"Anywhere is fine?" The sister asked.

—Anywhere is fine. The brother replied.

 

"Then I want to go to heaven!"

 

Said the younger sister.

—Heaven?

"Yes! The land beyond the sky! I want to meet daddy and mommy! I want to go there!"

The brother,

Felt completely helpless after hearing it this time.

For humans could no longer go to heaven.

It was a place where people could not go after death.

Just like his sister.

The brother knew that he had made a great lie. Their parents were no longer in such a place. Like the siblings, they were wandering around in the wilderness somewhere.

Or perhaps they were already—

 

The Gravekeepers!

 

People screamed and ran. The brother grabbed his sister's wrist and ran. "What? What?", The cold body at the end of his right hand asked timidly.

They did not escape for long.

The malnourished legs soon lost their precision, for they were tripped by pebbles, and he slipped.

Run! The brother shouted, gnawing the gravel.

"No! No! No! Why? Why?"

The sister did not run away. She did not understand anything.

"Nice to meet you, Master XX YYYY. And the Living One."

Then the voice caught the siblings.

A young man with a fresh smile stood before them with his hand on his chest.

Hold on, said the brother.

"Yes, I shall."

Surprisingly, the Gravekeeper did as he was told. The smile remained plastered on his face as he put the shovel down and assumed a ‘resting’ position.

—You’ll…wait?

"Yes. It is a very important time to bid farewell to the Living…how long shall it be?"

The brother nodded, and gulped down the little bit of spit he had left.

—If possible, forever—

"I can't do that."

The shovel was quickly drawn out. The Gravekeeper took a step forward. There were no questions asked.

—Run! Get away from here!

The brother pushed the sister away. But the sister did not try to escape. On the contrary, she tried to return to her brother, seemingly clinging to him.

"No! Big brother. You're coming with me! Together—"

Those were her last words. Everything passed slowly. The younger sister reached her hands towards the brother, her eyes teary, the last vestiges of moisture eked from her dead body.

Then, a handful of dirt flew. The dirt slowly scattered in the air, onto the chest of the sister that was almost exposed beneath the pajamas, onto her white skin that still showed some sign of life.

The sister’s lips seemed to be fixed on the ‘ther’ part of the word ‘together’, and her expression melted apart like blood in water. Her limbs went limp, she lost strength, and finally, the emotions were erased from her eyes, cloudy like very stale milk.

Thud,

With a light, really light, sound, the sister fell onto the ground, the sound only a five years old would make.

A cloud of earth flew.

Dig dig. The Gravekeeper shook his shovel silently, and the ground of the wilderness continued to fall relentlessly, concealing his sister's body deep within the earth.

The brother was frozen in place, listening to the regular, clockwork sound of the shovel.

Soon after, the shoveling stopped. The Gravekeeper finally found a handful of round stones, and placed them above the mound as a tomb, craving her name with a knife. This grave was thus finished. Satisfied with his work, the Gravekeeper swung the shovel over his shoulder.

"Wait."

The brother stopped the Gravekeeper as the latter tried to walk away.

"What is it?"

The Gravekeeper replied.

What is it indeed? The brother thought.

What did I want to do by stopping this Gravekeeper?

The brother remained silent. The Gravekeeper waited exactly fifteen seconds.

"Is it revenge?"

"Revenge?"

"Yes, I've heard that some Living people seek it."

The Gravekeeper waved his hand. At the same time, a light thud rang by the side of the brother’s right hand. The brother turned behind, and found a knife stabbed there.

The brother pulled out the knife that was planted into the ground.

It was a sharp, blue blade that seemed to cut through even the moonlight.

"If it makes you feel better, Living—go ahead."

The Gravekeeper knelt down, and showed his heart. The blade pressed on the heart could feel the pulse of life throbbing.

The Gravekeeper waited exactly three minutes.

"Now, if you'll excuse me."

He took a step back, put his heels together, and turned back to face the wilderness.

"Wait!"

"I shall not. I have given all my time a Gravekeeper can spare to the Living. I shall give the rest of my time to the Dead.."

The Gravekeeper stared beyond the dark night, and strode toward it.

"Wait!"

The brother threw a knife. The blade spun around and struck the Gravekeeper, ripping his earlobe which fell to the ground.

"Wait!"

The Gravekeeper did not wait.

"……Wait…wait…."

The brother crawled across the ground and clutched the knife. The Gravekeeper continued to walk farther and farther away.

"……Wait…wait…."

The palm that grasped the blade was cut, and the proof of life slowly flowed to the ground.

"……Wait…"

The bloodied palm and knife were pressed into the earth like a blood seal. The brother turned his hazy gaze to the Gravekeeper as he crawled with all his might.

(…Wai…t…)

The brother lost consciousness, and collapsed.

 

The Interlude of a Certain Brother and Sister A.

 

The story began abruptly in the middle of the stairs leading from the fifth to the sixth floor, and ended abruptly.

"…What is…this?"

The story was called ‘The Interlude of a Certain Brother and Sister A’. Ai poked at the handwriting of white chalk that was written onto the stone wall with her finger.

"Somehow, it doesn’t seem ‘fitting’…yet it does seem ‘fitting…"

The story had her feeling that it was not the character of the white chalk author, and yet a little fitting.

"I don’t understand at all."

"…I guess."

This was the only conclusion.

"…Shall we keep going?"

Ai gave up on deducing and climbed the stairs.

And it was then,

"Oh. My my."

A perfect voice resounded.

Everyone turned around. Three Gravekeepers stood there.

They did not recognize these faces, but the trio were all from the same family.

"Mighty Joe…." Alice muttered. Ai was reminded that they were part of the ‘common’ family listed in the Gravekeeper catalog.

"Hello, Dear Living. What a coincidence."

"Hello!"

Ai was the only one who answered. The others remained silent, their attitudes lukewarm.

"Do you have business to attend to, Gravekeepers?"

"Yes, the Dead are waiting for us."

One of the Gravekeepers smiled back, and it was a smile that showed a certain love and passion for his work.

"Do you mind if you can let us pass?"

"Yes. But why don’t we walk together? We’re on the same path too."

"I have no objection to that. But are the others all right?"

"Of course!"

Ai deliberately raised her voice loudly. She had consciously tried to link these Gravekeepers with her companions.

At that time, she did not know why she had such a tone.

"Ai!"

The large man called out. There was a tinge of reproach in his voice.

"Ah, Mr. Julie, it’s fine, isn’t it? I've made up my mind."

"No, but…"

"It’s fine, isn’t it?"

The big man's blue eyes wavered, "It's decided!" Ai took advantage of this and shouted so.

Ai loudly asked the Gravekeepers about Scar's whereabouts and the tower, trying to emphasize that there was an advantage to them walking together. Unfortunately, the Gravekeepers knew nothing at all, so Ai barely managed with her enthusiasm.

The group arrived at the sixth floor.

The place was a wilderness.

For a moment, Ai wondered if they were outside. There was sand everywhere, and there were a lot of light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. It was a man-made wilderness filled with dazzling lights and a dry, sandy landscape.

Unusually, there was not a single building in the tower.

"…I feel like their sanities were already at their limits …"

"Yeah. There’s lots of such things outside. What’s the point of making one inside the tower?"

The wilderness was really well done. There was cacti on the ground, and leather lizards. There was also a picture drawn on the wall far away, showing a horizon.

"Miss Scar is further up there…"

Celica remained interested in the top.

"Is the Dead you are looking for still up there too?"

"Yes." "Yes." "No."

"Eh?"

One of the trio replied differently and stared into the distance.

"The Dead I shall bury is over there."

The next moment, his jaw was shattered. Pew, a bullet pierced through the Gravekeeper's jaw and neck, vanishing into the wilderness.

He collapsed.

"Eh?"

The Gravekeeper fell as though it tried to spin but fell instead.

The red stain slowly spread across the yellow wilderness.

"Oh, is he broken?" "It matters not, let us find our Dead."

The remaining Gravekeepers recognized the situation much quicker than Ai did, but they remained unperturbed, and strode off to leave.

Please wait! Ai instinctively tried to call out to them, but she knew that such words would not stop them. Words alone would not stop them. The only thing that would stop them was destruction.

And it came quickly.

The Gravekeeper on the right twisted to dodge the first bullet, but the next bullet was placed right where he was moving to. The Gravekeeper basically jumped into the air and slammed his forehead into the bullet.

The last Gravekeeper lasted a little longer. Learning from the experiences of the prior two, he used the shovel to parry away the second bullet that tracked his motion. He ducked, parried, ducked, parried. The enemy’s bullets were finished, and at the same time, the Gravekeeper ran to the stairs leading to the seventh floor. 30 meters or so, another bully flew. The Gravekeeper deftly avoided it, and was about to parry the next shot…

The shovel was shot through. The bullet was fired at the same time and at the same speed, but it weighed twice as much. The bullet was shot through the shovel, hitting the center of the Gravekeeper's brow like it was a mushroom.

Ai was stunned, and instinctively looked at where the bullet was fired from.

There, someone laid prone in the shade of a rock, watching Ai with a glittering scope, looking at her,

He's looking at her shovel!

And then a single bullet struck Ai.

Bam! Sparks burst into the air. Bam! There was another shot as Alice shot down the bullet with the gun in his right hand, while using the gun in his left to aim behind the rock forty meters away.

It would be impossible for a handgun to precisely hit at such a far distance, but the lead bullet cleanly shattered the scope. Seeing this godlike fear, the assassin did not falter and simply discarded his sniper rifle, charging forth as though he had turned himself into a bullet, and swirling sand behind him!

It was obvious at first glance this was a skilled Dead. Most of his muscles were slender and thin, the easily decayed internal organs were already scraped out, and his torso looked flat. He wore a leather suit that seemed to be a part of his body, chaining his disintegrating body together tightly. The leather fabric extended to his face, maintaining a perfect poker face as he looked at the trio.

Alice fired two shots to suppress, while the Dead parried them with both hands. Clearly this Dead had something on his hands. From five meters away, he spread his arms wide as though he was flapping his wings. Whoosh, and with that, two blades flew out, forming two claws.

Alice took a few steps back and simultaneously squeezed the left trigger. The Dead did not dodge. He believed in Alice’s abnormal accuracy and took all the bullets in his chest. It seemed he had something to protect himself there, for none of the bullets went in as they bounced into the wilderness.

Not good!. Alice's expression changed for the first time.

Two claws aimed at her neck.

In the nick of time, the silver shovel reached out to parry the claws. Ai swung her shovel, and the Dead flipped backwards to avoid this cleave that could hack apart a steel pipe. Julie threw a smokescreen at that moment, and the Dead continued to evade. Dee seized the chance to cover the Dead with mist, obscuring the latter’s vision.

"W-Why?"

Dee exclaimed. The Dead should have been blinded, but he took advantage to kick up more sand and weave about like a snake. You’re in the way! Alice shouted. Causing a mist like this would only be beneficial to the enemy..

The Dead loomed in.

"P-Please wait!"

Ai shouted, still holding her shovel with her numb hands, but the Dead ignored her words. Like a shark in the desert, it created a sandstorm, waiting for the right moment to strike.

"S-Stop! Please stop!"

The Dead did not stop. He continued to race through the sandstorm and finally closed in on the trio. He parried all of Alice's bullets, sealed off Julie's gunfire, and finally stabbed his claws at Ai's neck—

"I surrender!"

Ai raised both hands.

The shovel flew in a whirl.

The wind blew evenly through the four of them.

The two claws stopped just short of the skin of her neck.

A long time passed, and the shovel finally fell into the sand pile far away.

"…Surrender?"

The Dead spoke up for the first time. Ai nodded while her hands were still raised, and if possible, she wanted to wave the white flag.

"I've killed a lot of Gravekeepers, but…"

The claws were withdrawn.

"It’s my first time hearing someone surrender."

Ai fell to her knees with a thud, and finally began to tremble, her lips smiling on her own accord.

"Do you have a name?"

" Ai Astin. …"

Her teeth clattered as she said her name.

"I see. I'm Raki Shielo."

That was the first human Ai had met in the tower.

"As you can see, I'm a Dead."

 

+

 

The Gravekeeper was crudely buried.

They were somehow buried by a Dead.

Ai sat with her knees tucked together. Holding her knees and shovel together, she saw the Gravekeepers graves be formed.

The Dead silently dug a hole, filled it with the corpses, and flattened them.

The Gravekeeper was crudely buried.

"…Have you ever heard of a Gravekeeper called Scar—one with a scar on her right brow? From the Heartstone family?"

Julie asked, and the Dead paused his work to stare into space for a moment.

"…No, don’t know about that…probably took some other route up there."

"I see."

Julie sighed in seemingly relief. Celica continued to flail her fists upwards, as though saying, ‘She’s still up there!’ Ai glanced over there.

Alice was lying at her feet, sprawled wide, and it seemed he was rattled to have lost to Raki. Dee continued to tease him happily. She did not appear to be concerned about winning or losing at all.

One Gravekeeper was crudely buried, buried, buried….

Finally, the work was done. The Dead thrust the shovel into the grave of its owner.

It served as a tombstone.

Three shovels were stuck in the ground in front of Ai.

Beyond them, there were twenty more.

It really was a Gravekeepers’ graveyard.

Raki Shielo offered a silent prayer. Those watching—Julie, Alice, and Dee, were also influenced by the atmosphere, for they offered their prayers to mourn their deaths.

Then, the atmosphere of ‘it is done’ somehow lingered and spread amongst them.

"…Why?"

But Ai had no intention of letting the matter rest.

"Why are you killing Gravekeepers?"

She stared into the Dead's sunken eyes.

"Because I don't want it to be over yet. …"

Raki answered honestly. It was the honesty only the strong would have.

"…So you killed them?"

"Yeah..what else can I do? Is there any other way to stop a Gravekeeper without hurting?"

"Yes, there is. Gravekeepers will stop if I speak…at the very least, Miss Scar does."

Julie was flustered. Ai paid no heed.

Heh, the Dead simply answered and believed so, or so he appeared.

"…But I don't think you should do that. Those poor Gravekeepers…"

Poor Gravekeepers?

"I know a little bit about them because I hunt Gravekeepers for a living. They take real pride in burying the Dead—leaving aside the matter of whether it’s a good or bad thing—I don’t think it’s good for me to take their work away from them."

"……"

Ai thought of Scar, the Gravekeeper who held a baby instead of the shovel.

"And what you’re doing is a waste of time. They'll be born faster than you going around, telling them ‘don’t bury the Dead’."

"…Then."

Ai looked up and the hordes of shovels, her eyes wide opened like a lid removed from a boiling pot.

"…So, you can’t help it?"

He could not do anything when the Gravekeeper buried the sister, and the brother killed the Gravekeepers?"

"Is it really…something that can’t be helped …?"

"I think so."

The Dead said.

"But if you don't think so, do your best."

"……"

"Go get some answers."

"…Yes."

"Go on then."

The Dead pointed to the stairs in the distance. There, in the usual white chalk, was a sign that read, ‘7th floor this way!’.

"……"

Ai took one last look at the graves that were lined up.

Those shovels were like hers, but each was a little different.

What had she decided now? Did she just allow Gravekeepers to be killed?

Did she think such cruelty ‘couldn’t be helped’?

The answer field remained blank, and time was running out. Still, Ai could not answer the question.

No matter what answer she wrote now, and even if she wrote the right answer, she felt that it would be wrong.

She looked back.

"Goodbye."

"Yes, goodbye."

It seemed the Dead really had no interest in them. He went back to watching the wilderness.

"………Please tell me one last thing…"

"Hmm?"

"When I asked you why you were killing Gravekeepers, you said ‘I don’t want it to be over yet’, right…?"

"I did."

Raki confessed.

"You don't want it to end yet. That's why you’re going to kill Gravekeepers… what do you mean, yet…"not yet"? … Why is that?"

"That's because they’re not that Gravekeeper."

The Dead answered. He said with binoculars in hand as he stared into the wilderness.

"I shot at them because they’re not him. I can’t let myself be buried until I meet him."

"?Mr…Raki…?"

Ai peered suspiciously into the Dead's face. His face was taut due to the leather, and his sunken eyes merely looked into the horizon. Ai felt as if she had heard the voice of this Dead for the first time. The voice of this Dead, made of leather and guns, resembled a boy's.

"………Someone’s coming."

Alice said, and Ai hurriedly looked over..

A silhouette appeared from the stairs. The brightness of the room caused this person to narrow his eyes, look around, notice them, and bow deeply.

On his back, a shovel glinted.

The Dead pulled out a gun, and aimed with his scope while standing. Ai's face twisted in anticipation of the roar that would follow a moment later.

"…Ahh, you’re…"

But the Dead did not shoot. On the contrary, he lowered his gun to the ground.

"M-Mr Raki!"

"It's fine."

Though she was told it was fine, Ai did not understand. She did not understand her feelings, and did not understand what she wanted him to do.

And then,

The gravekeeper approached.

"It has been a while, Raki Shielo—and nice to meet you, Dear Living."

"It’s been a while, Gravekeeper."

The Dead said.

"Goodbye."

"Yes, goodbye."

It seemed the Dead really had no interest in them. He went back to watching the wilderness.

"………Please tell me one last thing…"

"Hmm?"

"When I asked you why you were killing Gravekeepers, you said ‘I don’t want it to be over yet’, right…?"

"I did."

Raki confessed.

"You don't want it to end yet. That's why you’re going to kill Gravekeepers… what do you mean, yet…"not yet"? … Why is that?"

"That's because they’re not that Gravekeeper."

The Dead answered. He said with binoculars in hand as he stared into the wilderness.

"I shot at them because they’re not him. I can’t let myself be buried until I meet him."

"? Mr…Raki…?"

Ai peered suspiciously into the Dead's face. His face was taut due to the leather, and his sunken eyes merely looked into the horizon. Ai felt as if she had heard the voice of this Dead for the first time. The voice of this Dead, made of leather and guns, resembled a boy's.

"………Someone’s coming."

Alice said, and Ai hurriedly looked over..

A silhouette appeared from the stairs. The brightness of the room caused this person to narrow his eyes. He looked around, noticed them, and bowed deeply.

On his back, a shovel glinted.

The Dead pulled out a gun, and aimed with his scope while standing. Ai's face twisted in anticipation of the roar that would follow a moment later.

"…Ahh, you’re…"

But the Dead did not shoot. On the contrary, he lowered his gun to the ground.

"M-Mr Raki!"

"It's fine."

Though she was told it was fine, Ai did not understand. She did not understand her feelings, and did not understand what she wanted him to do.

And then,

The gravekeeper approached.

"It has been a while, Raki Shielo—and nice to meet you, Dear Living."

"It’s been a while, Gravekeeper."

The Dead said.

"Do you remember me?"

"Yes, of course I do."

"…Do you remember her?"

Of course, the Gravekeeper replied. Hearing this, Raki heaved a sigh of relief and said,

"So, you came to bury me?"

"Yes."

"—Wait a bit."

"How long shall it be?"

"If possible, forever—but that’s impossible, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, as long as it takes then."

"Three minutes it shall be."

"Three minutes again?"

─Is that a rule? The Dead gave a wry smile.

Ai stared at the Dead, dumbfounded.

"That’s how it is."

The Dead smirked, smiling only at the atmosphere.

"Bye then. Everyone."

"A-Are you going to die? "

I'm already dead. The Dead laughed.

"W-Why? Why are you suddenly—?"

"Because of this guy."

"What?"

The Dead sounded like he was a hundred years younger than he actually was.

"I regretted it right after."

The Dead said calmly, as though leaving a will behind.

"…I didn’t regret keeping the knife. I regretted why I couldn't have been buried there too. The only little reason why I survived was because I was alive. That's all I regret."

The Dead narrated the past as though he was talking to Ai, and also talking to the Gravekeeper, and also talking to no one at all.

"And yet I lived, I survived…and then I died, and I remained dead."

The Dead looked at the Gravekeeper, the smile of the Gravekeeper through his leather skin..

"It’s you. I want you here—I don’t want anyone else. I just don’t want any other Gravekeeper to bury me than you."

With that, the Dead sat down, and tore a hole in the chest of his suit with his fingers, pulled out a steel plate, and threw it into the wilderness. Through the gap in the suit, there was a dried corpse held in place by wires. The dry body crumbled and fell to the wind with just that much stimulation.

"…Are you fine with that?"

"Yes."

The Dead proudly lifted his chest undaunting.

"I'm fine with this."

"Is that so…"

Ai stared at the leather skin unflinchingly, exhaled, and raised her head to look up at the sky.

"Actually, I have a lot of regrets."

The sky was a fake, neither that of her hometown, nor that of the wilderness.

"One of them is a group of people who kill for fun, led by a man called Mr Hiko..

Ai remembered the killers who had targeted her father, Kizuna Astin.

"I saved my father's life by beating them up. And they were buried by Miss Scar…another Gravekeeper."

She still remembered all too well. She remembered that her father, who should have revived immediately, remained pale until the very end, paler than any Albino. She still remembered how shaken she was to see the white skin of such Dead.

Back then, she was so caught up in her despair that she completely ignored the fact that Scar buried those thugs. No, even if she was not in despair, she would have ignored it as a matter of course.

"But surely, I shouldn't have left them behind…"

Everyone listened to Ai's words in silence, each with their own expression.

"If I'm really going to save everyone, I shouldn't have abandoned anyone."

Ai hugged her knees tightly and felt the hard bones of her feet against her cheeks.

"I shouldn’t make the decision. I can only suggest. I can only help them think, and reach out to them."

Ai looked down at an old corpse that had refused her aid.

"So I can't stop you from dying.…I can't help someone who doesn't want to be saved."

"I see," replied the Dead.

"But then, please."

Ai crouched down and took the Dead's hand, which slumped back.

"Please, don't disappear."

"……"

"I don't want you to disappear."

She did not cry, for that would be cowardly.

Ai merely held the Dead's hand, and felt her body warm the other, wishing that she could convey her feelings in that way, even if only a little.

"…I'm sure I'm going to catch hell if I don’t die now. "

"I shall accompany you."

I see. The Dead was silent. On the surface, nothing had changed, but underneath the armored leather, the Dead was indeed shaking.

And yet,

"I'm sorry."

He never gave up on his dream.

"…Is that so?"

Ai stood up, and slapped her knees to dust off the dirt.

"It is time."

The Gravekeeper began to move. The blade crudely dug into the earth, and the silver shovel lifted a handful of dry dirt.

"Bye."

That was the last thing he said.

The shovel was swung, and a handful of dirt slowly flew through the air, onto the chest of the Dead

The brother fell to the ground, unable to bear the really, really heavy weight—of ten years worth.

The dirt flew again.

The Gravekeeper worked in silence, the soil of the wilderness literally pouring like a downpour, burying the Dead's body deep into the earth.

Neither Ai nor anyone else was able to move.

And after a while—

The Dead was buried. The Gravekeeper simply heaped a mound of dirt onto the Dead, forming a grave.

"Where and who are you going to bury next?"

Alice asked.

The Gravekeeper stared blankly at the heavens at the question,, as if hearing something from there.

About three seconds or so passed.

"Master Barjot Wands, I suppose."

The Gravekeeper said, and almost immediately, pointed almost straight down.

"In this direction."

"Woah, on the other side of the planet?"

Dee asked. Yes, the Gravekeeper affirmed without any hesitation.

"Are you sure about going to such a far place?"

Yes, The Gravekeeper answered without hesitation, and simply smiled.

"Because the Dead is waiting for me."

"Maybe so."

Alice affirmed.

"Maybe you might be right."

With that, the Gravekeeper bowed politely, carried the shovel, and descended the tower.

Ai picked up the sniper rifle that had lost its owner, and stabbed it into the grave.

Before her were lots of shovels and only one gun lined up.

The clods of earth that lined the graves would soon dry up and become a thing of the past.

Ai hugged her arms tightly, as if to withstand the cold. She felt her heart cool down.

"Is this, well, the end of that story?"

She looked at the stairs leading upward, saw the words ‘7th floor this way!’, and remained silent.

 

The Interlude of a Certain Brother and Sister B.

 

And so the brother was left alone.

Before him was a small grave where his little sister was buried. He collapsed onto it, grabbing it, unwilling to let go, waiting for his moment of death to come. He wanted to be buried next to the grave.

But it was not to be.

By chance, the brother was picked up by passing travelers. They were an elderly couple who saw their own deceased child in the brother, and gave him bread and water.

In a daze, the brother received that aid. His mind was hurting, but his young body healed quickly and regained its color as soon as it received nourishment.

When he was completely healthy again, he finally realized that he had survived. The death that had been so close to him was now far away.

The brother survived. But by that time, there was nothing left to keep him alive. The dreams and joys of the future that had driven him when he was living in the city were of no use at this point. His body was getting healthier with each passing day, but his spirit was stagnating and rotting away.

The brother wanted to die.

But he did not die.

He found it weird, and wondered why he could not kill himself. He wondered, is there anything I have left to do?

He thought about it. Usually, what came to mind was the last night he spent with his sister. She said she wanted to eat her mother's stew, and then she said she did want to eat anymore. She said she wanted to see her father, she said she wanted to see her friends.

He remembered that her sister said she wanted to go to heaven.

Remembering this, the brother got up and went to the couple.

Thank you for caring for me. He said.

Aren't you coming with us? the couple asked.

The brother shook his head. He had a place he had to go.

Where is it? the couple asked.

Heaven. The brother answered. He decided to go to the place where his sister wanted to go.

That's great. The couple replied, Then you shall not follow us, but we shall follow you instead.

And so they set out for heaven.

 

The Interlude of a Certain Brother and Sister B.

 

"There’s a sequel?"

They were on their way from the sixth floor to the seventh floor when they found the continuation of the story, and Ai muttered so,

"Eh? Wait, wasn’t this story describing Mr Raki…"

Ai hopped three steps down, and went up and down the stairs, reading the story again.

"…What’s going on?"

"Who knows…?"

The white chalk that had always tried to remain before they did not answer anything.

Ai had assumed the entire time that the white chalk was written by the story, that the brought in the story was raki, and the sister wrote the continuation, but there was more.

"……… Who are you?"

Ai asked, placing her hand on the cool, damp wall. The white chalk between the palm and the cold wall did not answer, naturally, and merely stuck to her fingers. Ai dusted it off.

"Well, whatever. Since the ‘story’ isn’t over yet, I guess there will be other people after this…"

Alice’s words got Ai to recover, and she noticed the entrance that was a few steps away.

"…, I'll lead, Ai's backup, Old Man Julie at the back. Let's go."

"…Yes."

"Alright…"

"Don't be intimidated by anyone or anything. Be prepared for anything. …"

The group ascended to the seventh floor with a lot of tension.

 

+

 

There were a hundred of them.

Ai's mouth dropped open, and her anticipation fell in an instant. Julie, who covered the back, dragged her back into the shadows.

Dee, Julie, Alice, and Ai, in that order, peeked out from around the corner and looked out at the city from the seventh floor.

The seventh floor was a beautiful blend of city and nature, with more than a hundred people passing through as a matter of course. Their minds, already accustomed to uninhabited cities, deemed such scenery as strange.

There were Living, and there were Dead.

Ai stared at them, trying to grasp the atmosphere.

"… Who are they …?"

"Well, let's just find out."

"…… Okay. I'll go."

Julie was about to put down Celica. Ai saw the opportunity and gave Alice a glance, and they nodded at each other.

"Mr Julie, please wait here."

She dropped her shovel and luggage and ran out into the street.

"Hey, Ai!"

"We'll go check it out, Dee! Anything happens, please tell us! "

Alice unbuckled his weapons from his waistband, and followed after Ai

"Leave it to me."

"Hey! Wait, you guys!"

The shout that could not be heard by any passer-by soon fell on deaf ears.

As expected, the people of the city paid no attention to them as they mingled with the crowd.

"…They completely ignore strangers here. Feels like a city alright."

"Yes, and there's also Dead."

"…There aren’t any prejudices against the Dead here?"

Ai recalled the downtown area of the town they visited with Tanya and the others. Everyone there did not recognize each other, and did not pay heed.

Whether they were alive, or dead,

Or even Gravekeeper.

"Hmm?"

Something seemed amiss…

Ai turned around to check the crowd.

She spotted a Gravekeepers hanging out with shovels.

"Th-thi-thi-this! "

"Shh! C-Calm down. Please, don't stand out!"

"But, but, but that!"

The Dead naturally passed by the Gravekeepers, and when the Gravekeepers looked at the Dead, they did not do anything. There was a rare look of confusion and fatigue on their faces.

"…We'll get to that later."

"B-But."

"It’s fine. I'll take care of it."

Alice looked around the street and set his sights on one of the stores.

"Yo bro~~!"

He brazenly walked to the pastry shop, and picked up a bag of cookies from the store. Then a mild-mannered young man wearing an apron came out from the back of the store and said, "Yessir~"

"I'd like one of these."

"Can I have one?"

"Yes. How much?

"…That's a funny thing to say."

The young man looked puzzled.

"Of course it's free, right?"

"I see."

Okay. Alice opened the bag and tossed one cookie into his mouth, another into Ai’s

"…By any chance, did you just meet up here?"

"Sorta."

"Ahh, I see…."

The young man seemed emphatic, and his nose sniveled once he heard these words.

"So young…you must have suffered lots of hardship…"

He even wiped his eyes profusely.

"Take this with you then! No need to pay for it!"

"No, it's free, right?"

"Don't sweat the details!"

The young man laughed and slapped Alice on the back.

"Ow—sa-say, bro. Why is it that this floor alone has so many people?"

"Kid. Look over there."

The hand holding the pastry pointed to the far wall. There was a staircase that led to the eighth floor, where many craftsmen were currently working.

"The stairs have collapsed. We're all stranded here."

"Stranded…?"

Ai quickly assembled the information she had gathered.

"So you don't live here, do you?"

"That's right, Missy. We heard the tower was finished, so we're going up."

"Going up…with everyone?"

"Yeah. Of course, that doesn’t just include the people here, since this tower has many routes. In fact, there should be lots of people climbing this tower."

"W-Why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you all going up this tower?"

"Hmm? You don't know that much, do you?"

The young man gave an incredulous look."

"It's because this tower leads to heaven."

So he said.

"…She’s waiting for me there, so I want to look for her."

 

+

 

The young man gave them a bag full of sweets and said, "Take them and go find grandpa!"

"Grandpa?"

"He’s the old man who knows more about this tower than I do! You should go ask him!"

Ai bowed deeply, Alice gave a brief thank, and they ate the snack as they went on.

"That person…"

She could not say anything. He, and them, Raki Shielo, the young man in the pastry shop, the brother in the story. White chalk.

"Those people are…."

"Ai…let’s think about it later…""

"Ah, are we there yet?"

"Yeah…look…"

Alice quickly pointed to a wall.

It was a house on the outskirts of town, just outside the city center.

On the wall, ‘The Interlude of a Certain Brother and Sister C’ was written.

 

The Interlude of a Certain Brother and Sister C.

 

The brother decided to go to heaven.

 

He did not know to go there, and no matter who he asked, it was the same.

When he heard that it was at the top of the sky, he climbed all the sacred peaks of the world.

When he heard that it was at the bottom of the earth, he dove into all the depths of the world.

However, there was no heaven in such a place.

He wandered the world, and wandered, and wandered, and after circling the world for the umpteenth time, he came to his sister's grave again.

And so he came to the first conclusion again.

He could no longer go to heaven.

It was a place that nobody could reach, even in death.

Realizing this, the boy crouched in the wilderness, clinging to his sister's grave.

The round stones of the grave were completely dirty and worn out.

The brother spent his days in disappointment.

One day, the brother suddenly picked up the first stone and piled it onto the grave.

He piled the second.

Three or four more stones began to be piled up.

Seeing the boy silently piling up the stones, the people around him began to help. Hands were used, shovels were used, trucks were used, and the number of people stacking the stones increased.

Eventually, the pile of stones rose to the sky.

 

The brother decided to create heaven.

 

The Interlude of a Certain Brother and Sister C.

 

"……"

Ai and Alice passed the story by, no longer commenting on it.

There was a house where the story was written.

That was the house of the person called grandpa.

"—Can’t you leave it to that kid Jarg? What, he's not around? Look in the tavern, if you don't find him there, go to the dry cleaner's daughter. If she's not there, it's the baker's daughter…if not there, I don't know anymore."

An old man is sitting in a comfortable rocking chair in front of the house. There were many people around him, asking him lots of things.

"Come on! Go, go, go! Use your legs!"

Ai waited until all those instructed people were gone before she said,

"Are you the grandpa?"

There was an imposing old man with a bald head and white beard, holding an oak pipe in his mouth. He spotted.

"Hmm? What do ya want?"

"Uh, the big brother at the sweets store told us to ask here…"

"Ah, …, another newcomer. Goodness me, everyone shoves the trouble onto me."

"Are we bothering you?"

"No, no, not at all. Sit down now, both of you."

You sure are an elderly killer… Alice chuckled. Ai kicked him in the shin and sat down in the chair.

"Now then, what do you want to know?"

Ai and Alice looked at each other, and turned to look forward.

"Well, first of all. What's going on?"

That, Ai pointed to a corner of the city.

There was another group of gravekeepers gathered there.

There were no smiles on their faces, and they all stood there with anxious looks.

"Why don't they just bury you guys?"

She pointed at those Gravekeepers, and then at the old man before her.

The old man before them looked feeble, his body parched, his bones protruding.

He, too, was a Dead man.

The old man laughed and replied simply,

"They have malfunctioned."

"Malfunctioned?"

"Yes, those Gravekeepers have come up to this tower in search of the Dead, and have found them, but there is no soil here."

"Isn’t there soil everywhere?"

Ai looked around. This city had so much greenery, and there were trees were planted everywhere.N Naturally, there should be shiny black soil underneath—

"Huh?"

There was none.

On a closer look, there were waterways at the roots of the plants.

"Hohoho. All the plants on this floor were planted hydroponically—Look at that."

The old man pointed to a window—one that was unusually there. There were layers of cloth stretching across the outer wall of the tower.

"The water above the fifth floor absorbs the mist from outside through this method, and that’s how the water flows in this tower."

The old man proudly explained the mechanism.

"The Gravekeepers need a handful of earth at least to bury the Dead. But there's no soil here, and that’s why they’re malfunctioning. Of course, some smart ‘families’ try to smuggle them in from other floors, but they can't get to this route in the first place. That's how it's designed."

"How do you do that?"

"Oops, I'll get to that later. Look at this…."

The pipe was pointed at a group of Gravekeepers.

"You're in for a treat…"

At this moment, a Dead girl scampered over. She was earnest, and if she was still alive, surely she would be blushing. She ran to one of the Gravekeepers and offered him a basket.

"Mike! I made you some sweets! Eat it!"

A Gravekeeper looked like a puppy that had been given an order it could not do.

"… Lady Milanshah. I should not be accepting these things—I should be burying you."

"Goodness! You’re still saying such things again!"

"But burial is very important. It is unfortunate. You may not agree, but I have been forced to do so."

The girl put her hands on her hips, looking displeased,

"Is work more important than me…?"

"Lady Milanshah …"

"Yes, yes, I understand…Do what you want—so? What am I supposed to do?"

"You simply need to maintain a healthy mindset. I shall handle the rest."

With that, the young man sat her down, lowered the shovel and pointed it at the ground.

Then, the young man froze there. There is no earth for the silver blade. He looked to the right, to the left, up and down. There was no soil there either.

"…Ahaha. I'm sorry for being mean. Come on, let’s go over there. There's a nice cafe."

"Ah! Lady Milanshah!"

The young girl ran off, leading the Gravekeeper by hand.

"…It seems she's in love with that Gravekeeper."

Hohoho, The old man chortled.

"Huh?"

Ai heard his words and looked at them again. The young man had a troubled expression, while the girl smiled happily. As a bystander, they certainly looked like lovers.

"Love, a Gravekeeper?"

"Yes."

"That's—"

"Well, it’s not permissible."

Hohoho.

"It’s utterly foolish to fall in love with a Gravekeeper. Surely those around her will be opposed to this, especially since the young man was here to bury her. If they were on the ground, it is a certainty that either she will be buried, or that he will be shot."

"……"

"But such a scenario is permissible here."

The old man let out an exhale of contentment and put his weight deeply on the rocking chair. It was the breath of satisfaction of one who had accomplished a great task.

At the place he was looking at were a couple who had taken their first steps to love. The old man looked at them with satisfaction.

"…It was worth building this tower."

"You built this place?"

Ai asked, startled.

"Yes. We built this tower."

Combing his white beard, the old man narrowed his eyes with pride.

"…Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Certainly."

"… Someone once said this place was heaven. …"

"Hohoho, now that’s interesting."

"Did you guys want to create a heaven when you built this tower?"

"Who knows?"

He puffed at his pipe.

"Maybe we did, maybe we didn't."

"Please don't be vague."

"I’m not being vague. We were united in building this mountain of stone, but we didn’t share the same purpose. We built the pile of stones for different reasons…You called it a tower, but it just happened to form one. Initially, we didn’t realize we were building a tower."

"What, then, were you building at…?"

The old man was silent. The silence lasted for seven puffs.

Then he opened his mouth.

"Look at him."

He pointed to a young man carrying a stone with a pipe. The young man looked as dark and thin as a Dead.

"It’s said he’s building Hell."

"Hell?"

Ai squirms and sits up.

That’s right, the old man nodded deeply.

"I don't know much about him, but I’ve heard he committed a crime in the past. It is a solitary sin, for which there is no one to judge but him. To atone for it, he wishes to labor forever. …"

The pipe moved.

"Look at her."

The pipe was now pointed to a woman cheerfully sewing clothes.

"They say she's making heaven. She yearns to create a place where everyone won’t have to be buried by Gravekeepers after death, and where everyone can live happily ever after…"

"Look at them"—at the end of the pipe are a stonemason, a painter, and a metal carver. "These artists wish to create their masterpieces. They decorate and adorn the towers in the hope of creating their masterpieces. "

"Look at them."—at the end of the pipe were those who go about their daily lives. "They wish to find peace after death. That's why they're building a city in the tower."

"Look at them."—at the end of the pipe were those fighting to climb the stairs. "They see hope. They are praying and running, believing that their destination lies beyond the tower."

Look at him—look at her—

The old man then pointed to all the people in the place.

"You've seen the towns below, haven't you?… They are all utopias that they have created, … homelands, altars, promised lands, places where their wishes come true."

"…Is that why they are uninhabited?"

"Uninhabited? Hmm. Is that what it looks like to you? Oh, yeah, uninhabited? Hohoho."

The old man laughed for a moment, then suddenly returned to a straight face.

"…The people here all gathered with different wishes and took action to make those wishes come true. Each one of these wishes happened to intertwine to form the tower…This tower is a place where wishes come true."

The old man smiled with satisfaction, and looked towards the young girl who was in love with the Gravekeeper.

"And now the tower has begun to grant everyone's wishes. "

"……"

"I see—you too have such a wish to fulfill, no?"

"Yes…"

"Then you'll get your wish."

"I'm not so sure about that."

Ai laughed sarcastically.

"Even if we do find Miss Scar, my own dreams most likely won’t come true."

"Oh?"

The old man lifted his wrinkled eyes. It was the first time he had shown interest in Ai.

"Hohoh. By the way, what do you wish for?"

"I want to save the world."

"What, that’s it?"

The old man simply answered.

"That's what everyone here is thinking. 'I want to save my world,' and that's why they piled up the stones."

"…How can that save the world?"

"Hohoh ?I shall ask you the opposite then. What else can you do, what other feats, what other foolishness, can you do to save the world?"

"……"

"Will you save the world if you run around the world with that shovel?"

Ai was silent.

"It's the same thing. What you're doing, what we're doing. We do what we do because we believe it will make our wishes come true. They are identical in that one respect."

The old man let out a long puff of smoke, and chuckled.

"The only way to make unfulfilled dreams come true is to pile up stones, and nothing else…"

Within the words were years of loneliness that Ai could not fathom.

"We believed! We believed that if we piled up stones, our wishes would come true! We believed in that folly! You remained silent just now, didn't you? When I asked you if you could save the world with that shovel, you didn’t say anything, right? What? Are you doubting your own dreams?"

"Yes."

"Do not doubt…don’t doubt. Believe, and the tower will grant your wish …."

That's how we built this tower…

Then the old man fell silent.

The old man, the Dead, seemed to have aged a bit again, as if he had revealed all of his inner thoughts, and was closer to death than ever.

"I..."

Ai said to the old man.

"I do believe in my wish…but at the same time, I have my doubts."

She looked up at the old man.

"I believe in myself. That’s why I doubt myself."

The old man closed his eyes and asked,

"…Isn't that a contradiction?"

"No."

Ai shook her head firmly.

"I think that's what it means to truly believe. If I really believe in myself, there will be things I have to doubt…otherwise, it's blind faith."

The old man laughed and opened his eyes, sneering at Ai.

"Would you call our wishes blind faith?"

"…Are you angry?"

"No, not at all."

The old man did not seem angry at all. He just smiled and smoked happily.

"We already knew this more than anyone. Anyone who is offended by being called a blind believer isn’t a blind believer. Those who have such an objective point of view are still naive."

The old man smoked his pipe with relish and puffed smoke as he spoke,

"A real blind believer, even when told this, will just answer ‘so what?’"

A puff of smoke.

The old man closed his eyes again and relaxed. He muttered with hollow eyes, as though exhaling his soul out. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I think it's a good idea.

"…How else would we have built such a thing…it was for the sake of fulfilling a dream that wasn't supposed to come true.

Mere lind faith.

Mere fanaticism.

…If we ordinary people aren’t able to go this far, what else is enough… "

The old man put his pipe down on the side table.

It signaled the end of the conversation.

"It's a pity. I thought you were qualified to be a blind follower. Shall we go our separate ways?"

"Yes."

"Well, I hope your wish will come true as you wish it to be."

Waoaahhh~!

At that moment, there was a cheer. The stairs were repaired. People swirled over like a tsunami, and the people on the streets were immediately attracted to the stairs, leaving aside whether they were eating or washing clothes. The repair of the stairs was finished. People were pouring in like a tsunami. This was how the town outside became so empty.

Ai and the old man stared at the scene. The people lined up at the stairs all had the smiles of children visiting a festival.

"You're not going up?"

"No. I'm fine with this level. My wish has already been granted."

Ai slowly stood up, carried her shovel and dusted her hem.

"…Thank you very much for the talk."

She bowed deeply to the old man.

"See you then…."

"Hmm. I don't think we will meet again, but these words are most appropriate for a goodbye. See you then."

"Oi, old man."

It was Alice.

He had been silent for so long that Ai assumed he was not going to talk until they left. Unexpectedly though, he unleashed her blade-like tongue at the very end.

"I got two questions for you to answer."

"Hmm. What is it?"

"Well, the part about your wish coming true only matters in the tower?"

"Hoho? You're a quick learner, aren't you?"

"Enough for the courtesy. So, what is it?"

"You are right."

Tch, Alice clicked his tongue loudly,

"Hohohoh, but that reality doesn't make any difference to you, does it?"

"Like hell it is. It’s a big difference."

"Hohohoh! You're young, but you've managed to escape the allure of blind faith!"

The old man laughed heartily.

"…One last question."

"What is it?"

"…What have you been wishing for yourself?"

"Hmm?"

"What's this tower to you?"

"A tomb."

The old man answered immediately.

"…I piled the stones to wrap my sister in warmth. I wanted her to be at peace. If possible, I hope she’d be able to say ‘thanks’. I piled these stones, built this city, brought everyone here…"

"…Did you get your wish?

"Hm."

The brother nodded confidently.

"I'm ashamed to admit this, and she did scold me ‘you’re doing something stupid’, but she’s satisfied at the end. "

He then sent a friendly glance into the air next to the rocking chair.

"Really? I don't see anything…"

Ai too could not feel anything either.

But the old blind believer did not care about the opinions of such a young man, and merely puffed out smoke.

"…Bye then."

Alice did not say 'see you then’, and instead bade farewell and walked off. Ai bowed and followed. Dee, who had sensed something was wrong, met them from the other side, "Oiii~" waving her hand and calling for them.

Hm, the old man nodded his head and began to pedal his rocking chair again.

Chapter 4 - An Episode Concerning a Certain Big Brother & Little Sister

Part I

 

The brother and his friends piled up the stones. Living and Dead, they all carved out pieces of the earth and placed them gently on the top of the mountain.

They had different dreams, and moved the stones to achieve them.

In time, the masonry gradually became more sophisticated.

More and more people got involved, and more people joined to manage these people.

There were people who designed plans to ensure the stones were stacked efficiently and functionally.

Joining them were people who fed them, carpenters, Dead, and hunters protecting the Dead.

Eventually, the pile of stones became a tower.

Different people, different dreams, nurtured the tower.

Many of them found heaven there. Fathers piled stones, mothers cooked meals, and the children would gather and play. They wished for such days, and the tower was the first to fulfill their wishes.

The tower then fulfilled the dreams of many engineers. They had dreams to create wonderful arts, and the tower granted them the grand task of ‘building heaven’, gathering their great talents.

The tower greedily swallowed their dreams and grew taller. It began to realize new dreams.

The tower was a tomb.

It was heaven, it was hell,

It was the everyday, it was the extraordinary,

It was the past, it was the future.

It was now the world itself.

And so the World Tower became a place to dream.

 

The brother and his friends continued to pile stones on this day.

 

+

 

The story was written on the empty main street nobody passed by again.

Ai and Alice returned to Julie and the others, stepping over the white chalk.

"This place is weird."

Ai said as she walked to the luggage, ignoring Julie who was waiting at the entrance.

"We've known that from the beginning."

"No, you don't understand. This place is weird. It's really not normal."

She gently moved the luggage and found Celica hidden inside. Celica was in a good mood and gave a ‘dawww’ cry as she offered her hands to Ai. Ai carried the baby, and felt her soft warm touch on her cheek.

"… What did you find out?"

"…I'm not sure, what exactly did I hear…"

After that, Ai fell silent, lost in her own thoughts, while Celica slapped at Ai’s cheek, feeling ticklish.

What happened? Julie shot Alice a look, but Alice too was in a similar state, looking down, pondering, and did not look up. What’s wrong with you two? Dee waved her hands in the air above them.

"Mr. Alice."

Suddenly, Ai looked up and asked,

"Are you okay?"

"…Yeah, I'm fine…what about you?"

Ai stared into Alice's eyes.

"I'm fine too."

"…What are you guys talking about?"

Ai quickly emerged from her sea of thoughts and looked at Julie.

"The tower is said to grant wishes."

"…What do you mean?"

"I don’t know the specifics…and I don’t know what’s going to happen."

Ai chewed her nails anxiously.

"But they believe. There’s a group of people in this tower who really believe that their wishes will come true."

"Are they ability users?"

"No."

Alice took over,

"An ability user doesn’t need such a tower. If their wish is that powerful, they could have fulfilled their wish a long time ago without needing such a thing."

Alice said as he holstered his guns back on his belt.

"There are only rather ordinary people here, you know. They have the same desires as those with ability users, but the world wouldn’t grant them that. There are hundreds, thousands of them…this tower is a cushion for them. They can’t have a ridiculous dream like ‘I want to go to heaven!’, so they have this dream, ‘this tower will lead to heaven!’, to ease their hopes, and that’s how they believe. It’s such a place."

"…To summarize, what is it?"

"What I’m trying to say is…maybe your dream can come true, Mr Julie."

Ai took over. She concluded so.

…My dream?

Julie thought she had said it out loud. The words however did not come out of her mouth.

"………Say, if it's that dangerous..."

Dee raised her hand tentatively and spoke up.

"Shouldn't we just go down? No, I don’t mean giving up now, I’m just saying we should go down for now. A strategic retreat. …"

"We can't do that."

"…Is that so?"

"If that's what you want, Miss Dee. Go ahead."

"No, I can’t do that now, you know? I just heard that we can fulfill our wishes here. "

"I’m not taking responsibility…"

Ai said, but Dee herself did not seem too worried.

"—Anyway, Mr. Julie, are you okay?"

Ai raised her head as though she was hit.

"……I mean, what situation will be considered dangerous?"

"It’s not dangerous at all. It’s just to fulfill a wish. "

Ai said, took a single breath, and hesitated.

"Mr Julie, there’s something I haven't asked you before on purpose, right?"

"…Who knows?"

Julie tried to play dumb even at this moment.

"…It’s about that incident on that hill, when I decided to save the world."

It was the moment when they buried Hampnie Hambart. That moment at dawn when it all began.

"When I swore back then, you said you would help me, right?"

"…Yeah."

"Why?"

"…There's no why. You're my friend's daughter. I'm supposed to help you—"

"Enough with these words."

Ai cut off the idle chat.

"I'm sorry. I didn't really believe it when you said that you’ll help me achieve what I vowed to do."

Ai smiled.

"I knew there was a catch in your vow, like ‘until we get down the hill’, ‘until we find a town’, ‘until I get stubborn’, ‘until I start to act a little dangerous’, I thought there would be a time when you would abandon me."

"…That’s what you thought?"

"Yes. I always thought so…"

Tahaha, she laughed, trying to misdirect.

"At Ortus, at Gora Academy, and now, I'm thinking, 'How far will this person go to accompany me’."

"……"

"How far will you follow me?"

"…Until you give up on your dreams."

"Ahhh, I knew it."

She giggled.

"I see. You never believed that I could save the world after all, Mr. Julie. I guess. You never did, I guess?"

"…Ai"

"You thought I would give up on my dream at some point, didn't you?"

"…Ai, listen to me."

"You came along not because you agree with my 'dream to save the world'. You’re following me so that the moment I give up, you’ll be with me and help me through my disappointment, aren’t you?"

"……"

"You didn't care about my dreams, you just wanted me to be happy."

"……"

"You're really an adult…"

"…That's harsh."

"I'm sorry…but I have to get this clear—"

"No, I wasn't talking about the question."

Julie gave the usual, bitter smile.

"It’s harsh to be told by a kid ‘you’re really an adult’. Really harsh."

"What? I don’t know if I understand…"

"Of course you don’t."

The big man tried to give an enlightened smile.

"Erm, I don't want you to misunderstand me. I'm not accusing you of anything, okay? I just wanted to ask—"

"I understand."

Julie said.

And he suddenly hugged Ai.

Ai was frozen in the embrace of the big man.

"………Heh? Eh? Eh? Wh-what’s with you all of a sudden?"

"I thought I understood you very well…but it doesn’t seem to be the case…"

Ai finally cowered.

"E-erm, Mr Julie? Erm, that’s not it. I'm not done asking yet. If ‘saving the world’ isn’t a dream for you, then there’s something else you wish for, right?"

"Another wish?"

Ai cowered even more, as though she was about to be thrown out.

"You helped us, because you think of us as your daughters, right?"

Ai hugged Celica tightly.

"… You're really still reeling from the loss of your wife and daughter, aren't you?"

"……"

"You still want to meet them, right?"

Ai was sandwiched between the two heat bags in Celica and Julie, but she was stiff and cold, unable to trust the temperature.

"I'm sure that's the specialty of this tower. I'm sure this tower will grant it to you."

"…Ai."

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It's just that I don't know what will happen if this wish is granted. That’s why—"

"Ai."

Julie’s rugged arms patted Ai’s head delicately.

"I'm not leaving."

"—But."

"I'm not going to leave you."

Julie repeated the words again and again, as though to make up for all the times he did not say so and caused her worry.

But Ai said,

"—I don't believe you."

With those words, the tears finally spilled over.

"I-I still, can't believe, those words, after all……sorry, I'm really, a helpless kid. I really can’t, believe, those words…"

The green eyes sank into tears. The tears fell onto Celica’s face. The glittering tears landed on the cheeks, and the baby narrowed her eyes incredulously.

"Because!"

She lifted her. The teardrops scattered quickly.

"Because you! You’re! Always! Hiding things from me!"

"Hiding?"

This came as a surprise to Julie.

In turn, Ai was driven further to despair.

"Ah, I guess…you never thought about it at all…I’m like a fool…I was the only one worried…troubled…"

"Ai…?"

"Mr Julie… how many Gravekeepers have you killed?"

Julie’s throat rumbled. Ai looked up at him with a dark stare

"…When you escaped with your dead wife, you definitely encountered a few Gravekeepers…you killed those Gravekeepers, didn’t you…"

"Ai…that's…"

"What's with that look? It looks like you forgot about it? Did you forget about it?"

"……"

"If…I had met you back then …"

Ai glanced up at Julie.

"Would you still have killed me?"

As for Julie.

He did not remember the expression he showed back then.

But surely it looked hideous.

Ai took one glance, I made a big mistake, and lowered her face.

"…………………………I'm sorry."

And then tears spilled down her face.

"……I’m sorry…that’s how……I, am…"

She covered her face and shivered.

"Argh! Goodness! Dammit!"

Julie started shouting out of a sudden. Both Ai and Celica widened their wet eyes in shock.

"My bad! I've killed Gravekeepers before! I didn't think anything about it! I just thought of it as murder! I never thought that you would be bothered by it! I'm sorry! I confess! I did kill Gravekeepers!"

Julie stared firmly into Ai's eyes.

'If I had met you back then, I might have killed you. I admit that."

"…I see…aha…I'm rather relieved to hear that, I guess…?"

"You're way too practical a woman. You try to be prettier, and I guarantee you'll have a hard time in the future."

He got down on one knee, pointed at her and admonished her, almost exactly the same as when he used to speak to his daughter.

The old him was often a little resistant to do so, yet this time, he did so on purpose.

"Dammit! You brats are really weird! What’s with the quick thinking!? Is this what it means to be young!?"

"M-Mr. Julie?"

"You guys are living too fast dammit! You don’t need to worry about such problems that quickly! You can spend five years, or ten! Take it slow! I won't be able to keep up otherwise! Do you understand!?"

"Eh? Erm? Ermmm?"

"You know, adults take a long time to come to terms with things! And yet, you guys come to conclusions quickly, quickly, quickly, without caring whether it’s convenient to others!"

You brats! Julie patted Ai on the head.

"E-erm, what are you trying to say…?"

"Ai."

Julie looked into Ai's wet eyes.

"I’ll be your father."

"…………...……………………………...Yes?"

"Goodness me…we should be taking such things slowly, and speak up when we're in such a mood. But you guys are always so anxious and charging forward…"

"E-erm, Mr. Julie."

"Not Mr Julie."

He patted his chest.

"Call me dad."

"………………………………………… No, thank you."

"Don't be shy."

"I’m not being shy. I refuse."

Ai's wet eyes were completely frozen, emitting a cold glimmer.

"I see…well, whatever, I'm going to consider you to be my daughter. Noemi, you and Celica are my three daughters, my pride and joy."

"......What about Celica's older sister, Ulla?"

"Mmm. Right. That makes four sisters then."

"……Are you serious about this?"

"Yeah."

"......Please don't be silly."

"I'm not kidding. You wouldn't believe whatever I say anyway."

"……Yes."

"Then it's your turn to be defeated."

Julie laughed. The sadness was gone from his smile.

"You'll see. I'm not going to abandon you. I don't care if you don't believe me. I don't care what you think. But I’m doing this. Just like you'll never give up on your dreams."

"......!"

When Ai heard the words, she raised her head vigorously. Her tears scattered in the air with a rainbow glow.

"You won’t?"

"............................................................How can you ask such a thing......?"

Ai slumped, and Celica looked up at her with concern, What's wrong? As though asking so. Ai shoved with her right hand, breaking free from the grasp of the big man, turned her back away from him, and looked back slightly.

"…………...………………………....Not that I don’t want to."

"Really? Then you’re going to call me dad, starting today—"

"Don’t wanna."

Ai rubbed her tear-stained face against Celica's nightgown, to the latter’s disgust.

"So? I don't know what the situation is, but will something happen if I climb this tower?"

"…I don't know."

"I see. But even if it's dangerous. I'm coming with you."

"……"

Ai was silent.

"Are you embarrassed?"

"Wha! H-How can you ask such a thing, Mr Julie? You’re not delicate at all! You're the worst!"

"Sorry, sorry."

Julie picked up the straw hat, put it on Ai's head. And lifted up Celica instead.

Ai pulled on the straw hat with both hands, and hid her face.

"Let's hurry."

She spun the shovel around and carried it on her shoulder.

Got it. Julie replied, and carried Celica again.

"The one in most danger should be Miss Scar."

The tower remained tall, and the stairs remained endless.

 

+

 

They kept climbing.

Ai climbed the stone steps before her, one by one. She kept climbing, occasionally stepping on the guiding white chalk that appeared before her.

The eighth floor contained a treasure trove of gold, silver, and treasures, just like an ancient king would have wanted. No one was interested, and they kept climbing up.

The ninth floor contained an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. Julie and Alice drag Ai away from there.

The tenth floor contained a beautiful palace resembling the private chambers of the gods. The graffiti showed no concern for where it was, for an arrow was left on the king’s portrait.

The peak of the tower did not appear to be coming soon, and the stairs just went on and on. The white graffiti continued to appear, with no end in sight.

The eleventh floor was a city of all kinds of weapons.

The twelfth floor was a city that was exposed to all kinds of weapons.

The thirteenth floor was filled with the smell of gunpowder, the pattern of bullet holes, and a burning city.

They went up.

Fourteenth floor, a sky habitat. Fifteenth floor, a palace of the earth. Sixteenth floor, a thousand year city. Seventeenth floor, the foundation of the nation.

They went up. Up. They kept going up.

Each level began to twist and turn in bizarre ways, and eventually they gradually took on a kind of ‘warmth’. The artificial atmosphere eased, and there was an increasing scent of these floors being used by humans..

But there was no one there.

The eighteenth floor was a forest, with its unbelievable amount of greenery and loud animal noises that would stun anyone.

The nineteenth floor was a pile of rocks, where Ai’s foot blister burst.

The twentieth floor was a doctor's office, right on cue, where Ai got treated here.

The twenty-first floor was a laboratory, where Celica's milk powder ran out.

The twenty second floor was a pasture. Julie was given fresh milk from a goat with children.

All of this was accompanied by a sign of white chalk ‘This way to XXX!’.

Twenty third, twenty fourth, twenty fifth, twenty sixth, twenty seventh…

They kept moving their feet up the tower. Whenever they felt tired, there would be a peaceful path lined with trees, along with words of chalk ‘do your best! It gets a lot easier on the next floor!’. Whenever they thought they were dirty, ‘Next floor is the hot springs!’ the sign would appear. The moment they thought they were running out of food, the words ‘Next stop, the shopping district!’ and it would become reality.

The group went up, focused on moving their legs, hoping for the day when Celica would turn her head to the side. They climbed up, praying that the day would come sooner.

"~~!"

"…!"

They kept climbing

"~~! ~~!"

"…! …! ~~!"

They kept climbing."

"…!"

They kept climbing.

"Ai!"

"Woah!"

Suddenly, Dee appeared before Ai, and shouted something.

They then found that Celica was bawling.

"Heh? Huh?—Sorry Miss Dee, I think I got carried away…"

"No need for that! Wake up the other two!"

"Heh? Why are you panicking so much…"

"Just do it!"

Ai looked behind her in surprise. Alice and Julie too appeared to be groggy and just climbed up the stairs. It was then that Ai realized that this was what had happened to her.

"Mr Alice, Mr Alice, Mr Julie, Mr Julie."

She said as she slapped them back and forth, twice for Alice, three times for Julie. Celica was still crying.

"…Oh?"

"Good morning, Mr. Alice, Mr. Julie."

"No, I'm not sleeping—wait, woah!"

Alice~! Dee clung to Alice, looking teary.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry Celica, I didn't notice. What's wrong? Are you hungry?"

Julie began to coax Celica. The baby finally stopped crying.

"…Somehow, it feels like we were in a daze, huh?"

"Yeah. We have to be careful."

"Just ‘be careful’!?"

Dee angrily lashed out.

"What floor do you think we're on?"

"No, we don’t."

"Ah, it says so right there."

They were just about to reach the next floor, and the number written in chalk on the side said, as usual.

"Eh?"

"…What’s going on?"

‘Welcome to the eight hundred and twenty eighth floor!’

Eight hundred and twenty-eighth floor?

"T-That can't be right, right? Hahaha, what is this…another prank …?"

"Y-yeah, it is. Hahaha. There's no way…this guy has been serious lately, but now he's starting to play pranks again. Hahaha…haha…haha…"

Following that were the words ‘it’s true!’

"……"

‘You can have a look from there.’

There?

Right after they saw those words, a strong wind blew with a 'roar'.

"You guys, look here!"

Julie shouted. There was a window on the other side of the graffiti, and the wind was blowing in through it.

Was there a window there to begin with?

Ai suppressed her doubts and rushed to the window, pushing her face into the narrow space filled with Alice and Julie.

The sun was shining brightly.

The mist was clear. No, it was not just the mist—

The clouds were far below them.

"This is impossible…"

Julie muttered, stunned.

"We didn’t climb this high— "

They merely hoped.

They kept going, hoping to be faster.

Realizing this, the group shut their mouths.

Ai realized then that she still underestimated this tower.

 

+

 

Countless wishes gathered and intertwined.

The tip of the tower continued to grow.

The brother and the others no longer needed materials, and the wish to ‘pile up stones’ alone got the tower to grow taller. They each had their unique dream, and piled up stones to make them come true.

At some point, the tip of the towers began to branch out and scatter. The tower builders began to see different scenery based on their own dreams.

For those who desired the tip, they saw the spearhead.

For those who desired eternity, a closed circle.

For those who desired the end, the end as they wished it to be.

People continued to rise up the tall tower. The tower swallowed them up and formed more branches. People wished to decorate their own branches, and made their dreams come true as if they were flowers.

The tower grew thicker and thicker, and became a huge tree with ten thousand branches and leaves.

And the tower became a tree.

The world tree blossomed at the time of flowering. The branches and leaves were filled with the dreams of the people. Hundreds of flowers bloomed.

The flowers fulfilled these dreams, and granted rest to those hands that moved the stones, those feet that ran, and those souls that yearned.

However, at the top of the tower, there were still those who piled up stones.

Those who, even with the power of the tower, still had unfulfilled dreams.

The brother's wish remained unfulfilled.

 

+

 

Dee was strongly opposed to this, but the group went further up the tower.

Since that level, even though they were tired and sleepy, they tried not to eat anything from the tower. In particular, they avoided anything that appeared 'too good to be true'.

‘There's spring water over here!’ there were words in chalk next to the morning dew they drank from. ‘There's a hot spring over here!’ They washed their towels in the drain. Every time they did so, the chalk waters looked a little dejected. Like ‘the water’s so good…’ or ‘the hot spring feels so good…’ they could not let themselves enjoy such luxuries however.

This tower would grant wishes.

Ai and the others thoroughly realized so, and they resisted with all their might. They spent the night on the cobblestones beside the feather quilt and washed their faces in the drainage of the bathtub.

Still, the tower greedily began to grant wishes. Ai and the others ignored them and climbed up the tower, ‘hurry, hurry’…so they chanted in their hearts and climbed up the stone stairs before them.

And the tower began to grant that wish too.

Before they knew it, the blackboard in their minds was being marked with lots of X. There were at least a thousand of them, but Ai ignored them and moved her feet, staring at the stairs in front of her. Fatigue and thirst overtook her. Each time, the tower placed a safe, modest meal and clear well water before them.

The group ignored them all.

However, as if to mock the group's efforts, the tower began to grant more wishes.

Their bellies, which were supposed to be hungry, were filling up before they knew it.

Their throats, which were supposed to be thirsty, were quenched before they knew it.

No matter how vigilant and careful they were, the tower was always ready to swallow their wishes and make them come true. It started granting wishes, starting with the smallest of them, as if trying to swallow them all.

And then, finally, the tower began to grant Ai's wishes.

One thousand, two hundred and thirteenth floor.

There was a village there.

"…Ah."

The village was surrounded by slopes on three sides, and had a plateau to the north. It was a peaceful village with small fields and houses. A hidden village where forty-seven residents live peacefully.

A village that no longer existed.

Her village.

"Every…one…"

Ai had a hallucination of forty-seven people there.

Anna was there, Yoki was there, so were Joanna, Dora, Yuki, Zel, Manuetta.

And there was even someone who was not present back then.

"Mom…"

Amidst the ears of wheat, her mother of the past was standing there, smiling. Ai ran through the street of the village where she had spent twelve years. She ran to a place that had become a memory in just a few months.

Next to the mother was her father.Not Hampnie Hambart, just Kizuna Astin.

"Dad!"

A few more steps. Just a few more steps, and she could get to their side, to the place they could not achieve no matter how they prayed or did. Just three more steps and I'll be there. After that thought, another two steps. One step.

Zero.

"Dad! Mom!"

She thought it was some kind of cruel trap. What she saw was a fake, and the moment she immersed herself in it like this, this trap would ensnare her and shatter.

She thought that was fine.

And yet, the people in front of her were real.

"Ai, it's been a long time! You've grown so big!"

"Mom!"

Hana Astin hugged Ai. She had the same golden hair and green eyes as Ai, but the expression on her face was completely different. She had the smile of a mischievous child.

"Yo, you’re still the same old self. Looky look!"

"D-Dad! Please stop!"

Kizuna Astin patted Ai’s head roughly, and she got angry. The exchange was too nostalgic for one that only existed in dreams.

"Dad…"

"Oh?"

"Mom…"

"Yes yes, what now?"

The two of them answered, and Ai was very elated.

"～～～～～～～～!"

"Oops." "W-What's wrong, Ai?"

Ai cried as they wrapped her in their arms. They had everything. Her mother’s fine scent, the smell of her father's cigarettes, the warmth of her mother, the coldness of her father. The response when she called for her parents, one warm, another harsh.

They were all before her at this point.

"…Have you calmed down?"

"… No."

"Pfft—You're such an honest girl."

The mother smiled happily, overjoyed.

"Are you two…real?"

"Who knows?"

The father cackled mischievously.

" What about you, Ai? Are you real? Or are you a fake?"

"……"

"You can't say it. But I can. I'm real."

"That’s right. I can answer that too. I’m real. "

"So..."

"!"

And so, Ai was shoved away.

"Dad! Mom! What are you doing!?"

"Don’t what us, you idiot? What the hell are you? Are you really Ai's imposter? Look, I'll tell you something, the real Ai Astin wouldn’t come to such a place, because she is the person who’s going to save the world."

Kizuna Astin smirked as he placed the hand that had pushed her away on his hip.

"That’s cruel of you."

Following up, Hana Astin took her husband's arm and tugged at him.

"You don't understand, do you? Ai-Astin is the kind of girl who gives in to temptation. The truth is that she is a very ordinary, tearful and vulnerable girl…She's the kind of girl who cries whether she's happy, joyful, or sad…"

The mother crouched down and wiped Ai’s face. The latter sniveled into the handkerchief.

"But then she'll definitely stand up for herself."

"……"

" Go on, my daughter. You're a little young for heaven."

Ai wiped away her tears.

"Yes."

"Good answer, my daughter."

Kizuna Astin chuckled.

"Live well in hell."

"Yes!"

And Ai returned.

She ran down the village streets in the opposite direction, in the opposite direction of her memories, of time, and she could not allow herself to look back. Absolutely not.

"Goodbye…."

She said without looking at their faces. She ran off, leaving teardrops behind instead of herself.

Eventually, a mist envelops the area and concealed the reality. Ai did not stop however, and kept moving forward.

One had to wonder how long she ran, and in this mist where she nearly lost her sense of self, she heard a voice.

Somewhere in there, someone was bawling, waah, waahhh.

Somewhere in there, someone was shouting, Ai! Ai!

Ai focused on running to the direction of the voice, and then,

She woke up.

"Ai!"

Before her were everyone else’s faces.

"Woah."

Julie, Alice, Dee and Celica were calling away, trying to get Ai back.

"Thank goodness! Really!"

Julie hugged her violently and stroked her head. Ai widened her eyes in bewilderment.

"I-Is everyone fine?"

Everyone looked away awkwardly in unison.

"…No, we all got swallowed up by this—we only recovered thanks to Celica’s crying."

"I nearly got swallowed. Thanks Celica."

Celica finally stopped crying, and exhaled with a relieved, "Daw…".

"But this little pipsqueak is really the only one who's stable."

"…She’s definitely not unhappy with her life.""

"I'm jealous…"

"Daw!" The baby shouted, as though she was going all ‘goodness, you lot’

"Thank you for your help …."

Ai rubbed her cheek and gently kissed her forehead.

"…………………Well then."

There was someone staring at the scene.

"….What’s going to happen? It seems like it works, and yet it doesn’t…does it, or does it not?"

"Miss Dee?"

Dee muttered to herself, feeling frustrated. She shriveled in the air, tapping her forehead, ignoring everyone else’s voice as she was absorbed in his thoughts. And then,

"Okay, I've decided."

"Huh… what is it?"

"I decided my plan—now then, sorry about this, but can we all just get out of here and give up on Scar, please?

"Are you talking about that again…"

"Oh, my bad. Sorry again, but I'm serious this time."

Ai stared at Dee with startled eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"The tower is going to collapse."

"Eh? Wh- Why!?"

"Hm? With explosives and, uh, various powers."

"I'm not asking you how! What's the reason? Why!?"

That's because, Dee replied matter-of-factly,

"I want to destroy it."

The ghost laughed.

"…Why…?"

Ai's flustered mind sobered instantly to deal with the situation at hand. So too did her body.

"Hmm? You don't understand, Ai?"

"I don't!"

"What other reason can there be?"

Dee spread her arms wide like she was an actress..

"It's because this place is violating the world. This tower is pregnant with eternity. I can't allow such a thing as a tower that grants wishes to exist. The world will never end. It will go on and on in vain."

The dark eyes stared at the top.

"That’s why I want to blow up this place."

Dee Ensy shot a hostile look at the sky.

"Actually, I wanted you all to do this."

She floated up and stared at the group.

"The way I see it, there’s no way you can keep going. So it's plan B."

"You were going to have us do it?"

"Yes, I was going to ask Ai to save those at the top of this tower, just as she did with the Idol of Murder at Ortus, and her speech at Gora Academy. I wanted you to save them and turn this tower into a meaningless piece of junk."

The ghost's body softly blurred and drifted to the ceiling, reflecting a place somewhere far away.

It was the top of a tower, where some boys and girls were still piling stones.

"That’s what you like, don’t you, Ai?"

Dee, the ghost, the Witch of the West, laughed.

Ai was speechless.

"…Is that why you've been following us—?"

"That's a lot of reasons, and they also involve Alice."

"In other words, you've been manipulating us?"

"You didn't see it coming, did you? It's the ghost style. If I ‘want someone to come here’, I won’t be all childish and tell him ‘come here’. That’s my ultimate."

Dee stared sarcastically at the white chalk on the wall and spat at it.

The Ghost would ‘whisper’.

"Ideally, the subject would think ‘I thought of this idea by myself’. It’s great if I can get that person to think he decided and acted on his own."

"That’s.."

In hindsight, who suggested the connection between Celica's crying and Scar's direction in the first place? Who was the one who took the scouting route at every turn? Who was to blame for not being able to catch up with Scar the day before Scar entered the tower?

"Truth be told, why did Scar come to the tower in the first place? Probably because someone whispered to her that she could go there and revert to being a Gravekeeper. Taking a step further back, why did Scar have the chance to be whispered to? Wasn’t it because Ai was trapped in the Gora Academy. Now, why is that?"

Dee Ensy Stratmitos whispered. Whispered. Whispered.

"So, you did all of it…?"

"Nope. Ninety percent of it was you."

But that last ten percent extended like a spider's web, tangling around the whole thing.

"The truth is, I was going to keep quiet about it if it all worked out. It failed though, so I’m telling you now. Are you mad at me? That makes me a little happy."

"…It doesn’t matter. Please stop..'

"Hmm?"

Boom! The shovel was pointed at the Ghost.

"This is the place of people’s dreams. I won’t allow you to destroy it."

"… Hmm."

"Please do not destroy this tower."

"I’m doing it."

"…Oi, Dee."

Alice looked at the duo, and voiced out,

"I’m asking you too…"

"For what?"

"At least wait till we get back Scar…please don’t, for my sake."

"Why do I have to give leeway to the enemy?"

The ghost did a quick somersault into the distance.

"'You know what? Don't get me wrong. I already decided on this. I’m just giving you advice. This is not negotiation.."

Dee looked at Ai rather worriedly.

"Once they arrive at the tower, they’ll destroy it."

"Miss Dee!"

"Don't make that face."

Dee sneered. The corners of her mouth were lifted up. She grinned like a vengeful spirit, a grudge, a demon.

"It’s pointless to plead or appeal to me now. Ai, I’m telling you that I’m destroying this tower no matter what happens. Give up on Scar and leave this tower."

I don't care if you die, so she uttered, showing worry for Ai this time.

"I’m fond of you guys."

"…Same here."

"Woah. Yay. Great minds think alike."

It was an innocent smile. Dee showed the same smile as when they celebrated Alice's birthday in the wilderness.

"Miss Dee…please…don't do this…"

"I told you I can't."

"Miss Dee!"

"Nope. I'm not listening."

Dee covered her ears in annoyance, put her feet on the stone steps, and sank down.

"See you in two days. I'll see you under the tower, I hope."

And with that.,

The ghost sank into the stone pavement.

+

 

There were still dozens of branches growing at the top of the world tree. There were no flowers at the end of them, for their dreams were unfulfilled, and they were still piling up stones.

There was no anxiety in their eyes. The people at the forefront were those who were really driven by blind belief, and they believed that their wishes would come true if they kept piling stones.

—You still haven’t fulfilled your wishes?

One of the brothers said to his companions.

—What kind of arrogant thing did you wish for?

—I wish for my little sister’s revival. So, what did you wish for?

They laughed at each other and answered each other's questions.

—The resurrection of all the Dead.

—The fulfillment of an unfulfilled love.

—For death to be gone.

All of them were impossible wishes, like a childish tantrum.

—And you?

The question went to the last one.

It was a boy who was stacking stones without rest even at this moment.

It was the boy who started piling up stones to begin with.

"For me."

The brother answered.

 

+

 

They could not be bothered anymore.

Dee had said she would act two days later, but the concept of time remained unreliable in the tower. Ai felt that it would not be strange for two days to become two seconds, or two years, for it was just a tower.

They kept climbing.

The air got thinner. And thus, their equipment felt heavier and heavier.

This time, the group wore these equipment obediently. Before they knew it, they realized that the most dangerous thing was to be made to wish. Oxygen tanks, air pressure suits, and fluffy innerwear, they all appeared at the most convenient moment, and each time, the white chalk guided them all ‘the thing is here!’ Convenient as it might be but when they saw that there was a full set of equipment for baby use ‘this air pressure suit can be worn by babies too!’ they were no longer dumbfounded by such words, and instead, were bemused.

They went up. Their legs were light. No, it was more than that. They had to be careful with every step, for fear that they would bounce.

Gravity was weak.

It was daytime, but they could see stars outside. The stars glittered in the black night sky. It was the starry sky of autumn, the complete opposite of the current season.

Ai, however, was no longer moved by such things.

The tower was a place of myths at this point.

 

—You still haven’t fulfilled your wishes?

 

And so, Ai started to hear the words of the gods.

Reality began to converge with the paranormal.

Ai ignored them and focused on moving her legs up the stairs before her.

 

—What kind of arrogant thing did you wish for?

—I wish for my little sister’s revival. So, what did you wish for?

—I want to die with everyone.

—I want to be with him.

 

They laughed at each other, making jokes. They talked about their dreams, like children.

—And you?

The question went to the last one.

It was a boy who was stacking stones without rest even at this moment.

It was the boy who started piling up stones to begin with.

"For me."

The brother answered.

"Me?"

—Yeah, what did you wish for?

And then the words went out to the last one.

"……"

—What's wrong? Tell us what you wished for. You’re the one to put the first stone. What’s your wish?

—Yeah, let's hear it.

The gods were chanting.

The imagery of another place overlapped with Ai’s vision.

It was a space with many towers lined together. Each tower had a boy sitting on them. Their towers formed a circle around the boy in the middle.

—Let us hear it. Let us hear it.

—We started after seeing you, you know.

—Yeah, I thought of giving up several times, but I got the courage to continue every time I saw that you didn’t give up.

—Tell us your dream. Your dream must be grand and laughable, right?

"I…"

Despite being surrounded by everyone, the boy remained unfazed and continued to pile stones. He swung his fingers that were dyed black all the way down to his fingernails, naturally grabbed a block of stone, and gently placed it at a higher place..

Then the boy replied.

"I'm not wishing for anything."

The gods were silent. It was a silence that seemingly lasted for a thousand years.

—What did you say?

"I just piled up a bunch of rocks, that's all."

He piled another one.

"I didn't wish for anything, I didn't have a purpose. I just decided to pile up the stones until I disappear"

—Chatter chatter.

The gods whispered amongst each other, and one of them asked, representing the others.

—Why did you do that then?

"I had nothing else to do."

A stone, and another.

—Then, you were just acting like a kid, ‘you piled stones because there are stones’?

"That’s right."

—Are you saying that we put our dreams into your image and were encouraged by you?

"Well…I'm sorry, I’m not really sure."

—How did it happen?

The surrounding chatter got increasingly louder.

—We didn’t think that the one who piled stones more earnestly than anyone else didn’t have any wish at all…

"…Are you angry?"

—No.

—Nobody’s going to be angry about such a thing.

—Nobody of that little mettle would be at the front like this.

The chatter stopped.

—We just feel sorry for you.

"Sorry?"

—That's right.

One could hear sobbing. The crying struck the towers like a storm, and the tears flooded and coated them.

—Our stones are finished. Ahh, look—

The indigo cherry blossoms bloomed on the tower of the boy who said this, and flew out from their circle.

—It doesn't matter how impossible the task is. If you stay in this tower, it will come true one day—

The jet-black hazel grass bloomed abruptly.

—But you have no dreams to begin with, and none to be fulfilled—

Steel roses bloomed abruptly.

—Even this amazing tower can't make a wish come true if there’s no wish—

Caramel tulips bloomed abruptly.

—So you will never stop to pile on stones—

The poppies of flesh bloomed abruptly.

—But we’re too far away from the ground to give up—

Twin Rafflesias bloomed abruptly.

The extremely vibrant flowers of dream bloomed as if to celebrate the boy, and then left, leaving behind a single petal.

The petals wrapped the boy's tower, forming thousands and thousands of flurries. They rained down on the master of the tower.

But there were no flowers in his tower.

—I thought we should pray together, but we can’t escape the dream that’s scorching our bodies—

The flaming Casablancas bloomed abruptly.

—'You will be the only one after this'—

The World tree bloomed abruptly.

The tree was adorned with thousands and thousands of flowers of dreams, and Its majesty towered over the sea of the human world.

However, the world tree lacked perfection. It stretched to its peak, but the oldest branch had no flower.

"……"

But, again, it did not matter to the boy.

He just piles up the stones.

With his pitch black hands,

With a wishless heart,

On top of a tower, with petals flying,

Alone.

Part II

Finally, each piece of stone lost its bond, and the tower began to break free from the yoke of gravity. Ai, Alice, and even Julie gave up and no longer complained as they stepped on the fluffy floating stairs.

"Miss Scar!"

Ai shouted. The air was too thin, and even though she had shouted with all her might, her voice was too feeble, it was terrifying.

"Miss Scar!"

They were about to reach their limit, the limit no human could break through even with the power of the tower.

The walls loosened. Through the gap, the world begins to show itself.

Billions of tiny stars.

And one big green star.

The spiral staircase had gaps between each step, and while on it, Ai paused for a moment to take in the view. With her right foot up and her left foot down, she pushed up her goggles and looked at the world that appeared to be at night even though it was day.

Lightning flashed in the distance, and the aurora swayed in the polar caps.

And Ai saw it.

There were other towers around the tower, thousands and thousands of towers, stretching out like treetops.

There were lots of people there. People who climbed towers, people who built towers, people who lived in towers.

There was that old man. He was giddly chatting with someone, an old woman close to his age.

There was that young man. The young man was laughing while surrounded by an old couple and an unfamiliar girl.

There was that girl who had fallen in love with the Gravekeeper.

There was a woman who wished for heaven.

There was a young man who wished for hell.

They all existed in the tower, one by one, fulfilling their wishes.

Ai had the urge to cry when she saw this scene. She did not envy nor feel jealous, but she felt a little unbearable.

The air was loose. The oxygen was thin. Her vision was shockingly clear. All the sounds were distant, and instead, the sounds inside her body were loud. They had no idea if they were going up or down anymore, and their bodies naturally floated up. Every time they blinked, stars twinkle beneath their eyelids.

A shooting star passed by before their eyes.

No matter how clear the night sky was, it was impossible to see a meteor shower at zero distance.

That was the limit.

The rainbow aurorae. A blanket of stars. Murderous ultraviolet rays flying around in a haphazard manner.

Anything beyond was not a world for the Living.

At the very least, it was not a place for those who wanted to live on.

But one would suppose they all crossed over..

All the people floating around them must have crossed this place.

Those who piled the stones,

And those who ran up the stone steps,

—And the Gravekeepers who followed them.

The surroundings of the tower showed the fate of those Gravekeepers.

This tower would grant people's wishes. Only people's wishes.

The Gravekeepers were not included in this.

There were satellites drifting around the tower. They were the corpses of the Gravekeepers, expressionless and emotionless as they crawled into the world of stars. They, too, had crossed the divide.

For the sake of burying the Dead.

Without hesitation, they ventured into such a place where it was impossible to go on.

But that should be the case, the way a Gravekeeper should be. Even if Death was before them, that it was self-destructive, meaningless, that there were hundred, two hundred reasons not to go, they would continue on without concern. Such were the Gravekeepers.

Ai stopped. She could not continue any further..

At that moment, she knew that she could not be a Gravekeeper.

And there was Scar, too.

"…Miss Scar."

"…Ai."

In response to Ai’s call, the face buried in Scar’s lap was slowly lifted up. Her messy bangs tumbled down and hit her cheeks.

Scar sat haggardly on the last step of the stone stairs. The thin air made her pant, but she was not fatigued because of it.

"Ai…is something the matter…?"

She stood up, hobbling to her feet with her shovel acting as a cane.

"We’re here to pick you up."

"…That will not be necessary."

Scar turned her back to Ai and faced the aurora. She looked up at the world of Death with bloodshot eyes.

"I am…a Gravekeeper. I am going with them…"

Over there were all the dead Gravekeepers.

"Scar!"

Julie shouted.

"Don’t! What about Celica?"

Scar shivered and stared at Julie and Celica, who was at his chest.

"Scar!"

Julie went next to Ai. Scar pressed her chest, and said with a voice filled with love and hate,

"P-please do not do this. Do not bring that child close to me! When I am with her…! I feel unbearable…! It is scary!"

"Scar!"

"Please do not come!"

Scar put his right foot on the top step. Her eyes looked towards the darkness there.

"I am…a Gravekeeper! I am a…Gravekeeper, just like them!"

I have not malfunctioned! Yes! Scar shouted.

There was not a smile on her face.

There was merely anguish, madness, anxiety, hope.

Those were all human expressions.

"You can't…"

Ai said.

"You can't do this anymore, Miss Scar…"

"…That is not true…look. I shall die for my mission now!"

"It’s impossible for you to do this anymore…"

"Your attempts…at persuasion…"

"I’m not persuading . I'm just stating the facts."

"Nonsense!"

"You hesitated."

Ai said.

"You only had one chance. You left us, climbed the tower with the other Gravekeepers, came to this place, and the moment you arrived here, you should not have hesitated. You would have moved forward without hesitation, but you couldn’t. You can’t think of yourself as a Gravekeeper anymore…no, that aside."

Ai lifted her gaze to stare into Scar's eyes and the beads of water between them.

"Gravekeepers don't cry."

"…"

Scar stared blankly at the water beads floating before her eyes, and blinked away. This has to be a mistake. She wondered.

Each time she blinked, the tears turned into droplets that drifted through space.

"Ah…"

Scar's face winced.

"Ah, is that, so? I, see…"

Her hands grabbed her delicate chin. The fingernails grazed the old wound on the right eyebrow, and caused blood to .

Blood and tears. The fluids of two colors floated in the air, blended together, and spun around nearby.

"I, cannot, remain, my old self, no matter, what I, do now, I suppose…"

"Yes."

"…ten."

Scar's eyes were, strangely enough, clear.

But the skin and flesh surrounding the eyes were severely contorted, showing her mental state.

"Henceforth…what am I supposed to do ?"

Ahhh.

It was then that Ai knew she had this expression on her face back then.

Forty-seven Dead, a hill of graves, the end of winter, the taste of nosebleed in her throat after she got kicked away.

Back then, there was Hampnie Hambart's fiendish smile ‘what do you want to do for yourself’.

Perhaps that was the expression she had when she saw his smile.

There was only one word to describe it. Lonely.

Scar was lonely, in pain, and bawling like a child.

Her expression resembled that of a newborn baby bird.

"…Ai."

The little bird asked.

"How can I live…in the future?"

Ai was certain of one thing. Scar would probably accept whatever she said.

If Ai told her to die, she would; if Ai told her to live, she would.

It was the same as what Ai did back then.

Ai closed her eyes and recalled back to that time. She remembered what Hampnie Hambart did for her back when she was in that state.

"Like hell I know, you idiot."

He said.

"—I don't know anything about that."

He rejected her. He did not say something awful like ‘you should carry that heavy burden yourself’, but said something worse instead..

"You ask me about that, but what can I say?"

"…"

Scar showed a look of betrayal.

"Please decide on your own. Miss Scar, for yourself."

"I do not have such a function!"

"That’s not true."

Ai said.

"Wasn’t it your choice to escape all the way here?"

"Ah—"

"You abandoned Miss Celica, decided on your own, and escaped all the way here, didn't you?"

"!!"

Her face winced in guilt.

"And over here, you have nowhere to escape….didn’t you arrive here because you decided and acted on your own?"

Ai took a handkerchief out of her pocket and used it to wipe away Scar's tears and blood.

There was a brand new expression on the freshly wiped face.

"Please think about what you want to do. If you wish to go back to being a Gravekeeper, please do what you have to do."

"Can…I?"

"Yes, but of course, I think we'll complain ‘please don’t do anything too crazy’."

Ai combed Scar’s messy bangs and gently stroked the scar on her right eyebrow.

"But that’s not important now."

"……"

"Please decide for yourself. "

Ai said, and seemingly abandoned Scar as she turned her back on the latter.

Scar was still trying to cling to her back.

"Scar!"

But the moment she saw Julie’s foot step up, Scar let out a little whimper.

Celica was at his chest.

"Celi…ca…!"

Scar's face contorted. She wanted to reach out to her beloved daughter, but she could not. The hand remained there.

She stayed. She did not run away.

"Scar!"

Julie hugged Scar together with Celica. Scar froze up, and stared with trepidation at the baby that was forced towards her.

But her hands betrayed her,

She hugged her daughter.

"Celica! Celica! Celica! I am sorry! I am so sorry!"

The baby returned to her mother again, basking in the torrent of tears.

"Scar!"

Julie shouted again. Scar heard his call for the first time, and this time, turned to look at the platform her daughter was riding on.

"Ah, Julie…when did you?"

"That's why I can’t stand these Gravekeepers…"

The big man shook his head.

"Argh! You know, Scar, Ai said that, but I don’t think that’s the case! Taking responsibility for one's own actions? That’s just talk! It's impossible and meaningless for ordinary people!"

"Wait!"

"Look at her! She can’t do it either!"

Ai was speechless.

"A person’s happiness has absolutely nothing to do with self-freedom!"

So! Julie stared ferociously at Scar, who was in his arms.

"Shut up and follow me!"

"—" Ai and Alice were speechless.

Scar too widened her eyes and looked up at the big man. "Julie?" She whispered. Perhaps she had expected a different answer.

Julie was gasping for air as a reaction to his vigorous shouting, and Scar was dumbfounded the whole time.

Taking advantage of the pause, Ai and Alice looked at each other.

"……A love confession…?"

"No!"

"…How’s it not?"

"It may look like it, but it's not!"

"I don’t understand adult relationships…"

"Not at all…"

"That's not what I'm talking about!"

"Ju-Julie? Erm—"

Scar finally snapped out of her confusion and tried to say something.

"Not listening!"

"Kyaah!"

Julie said, carrying Scar in his arms.

"Wa-wait a minute, what are you doing, Mr Julie!? Miss Scar has the right to choose!"

"Like hell I care about that!"

The middle-aged prince charming confidently announced.

"Can free will feed you? I don’t care about such things! I'll do my best to make you happy regardless of that! Prepare yourselves! That's what I call the existence of free will!"

"Ugh!? I can't argue with that!"

Gahahahaha, the man in his thirties guffawed, his laughter spreading through the thin air. Celica were the only ones directly shaken by his vibrating chest.

"Come on! Let's go home!"

Julie shouted.

Scar watched her eyes at that fact. She was in no mood to think, and had no time to do so. Julie however wanted her to answer, "Hm" and brought his face closer.

Scar opened her mouth, unsure as to what answer she had derived.

The answer was—

"…Yes."

She affirmed.

"Alright! Let's go!"

Julie smiled when he heard the answer, and took a step down with Scar in his arms.

Scar was a little surprised. She did not expect herself to give such an answer.

But,

(Well, this is fine.)

Scar hugged Celica tightly, while Julie hugged her. She curled up, surrounded by people on the inside and outside.

It did not feel bad at all.

She felt that she could survive today, at the very least.

 

+

 

Starting from that moment, the destruction of the tower began.

"Wh-what the!"

The tower shook. The impact of the explosion traveled through space and up to the sky.

It was two days later.

 

+

 

"Well, it’s exactly two days now."

Dee Ensy Stratmitos, drifting through the mist, raised her chest and gave an undaunted smile.

"…This tower sure is unpleasant no matter how many times I look at it."

Before her eyes was the World Tower piercing the sky

"Now then, everyone, cheer after me? Ohhh~"

She turned around and punched her right fist lightly..

"Oh…oh…"

"Come on, come on, a little louder please. ‘Ooohh’!"

"Ohhh…oh…ohhhh …"

There was a crowd trudging sluggishly out of the mist.

There was nothing in common for them. Amongst them were Dead, Living, deformed, ordinary, beautiful, grotesque, independent, and ‘selfish’.

"But are you sure, Ghost? Aren’t there some people inside? Like the ones you’re worried about…"

A man with scars and bandages on his hands asked.

"Yes, they’re in there."

"That's troublesome…"

A maiden in a bright red dress said.

"You want to save them?"

"Of course…"

A young man in a tuxedo and a 10-gallon hat said.

"You guys too?"

Dee asked all the members. Most of them nodded.

"I'm impressed. You people who really want to save the world."

Dee giggled.

"Well, why don't some of you go save them?"

"No."

He shook his head.

"A small sacrifice is to be expected before a great salvation."

"Hmm? What about you?"

"They went in on their own, didn't they? That’s their responsibility."

"What about you?"

The others too accepted this argument, but for different reasons.

"Teehee," Dee sneered. "Teehee."

"Okay. So, please. That's where evil is, heroes of justice."

The Ghost rose, and drifted to the side of the 'selfish' Dead.

She whispered.

"Now, guys, take it down."

"Ahhhh…ahhhhhhhhhh!"

She whispered in the ear of a rotten and ‘selfish’ Dead, almost kissing his rotten ear as she spoke up close..

‘Whispers of Evil.’

She would whisper words directly to the Dead who no longer remembered the words of others. Their rotten brain would accept all the words of the ghost without the ability to discern.

"Ahhhhhh!"

A hundred rotting Dead charged towards the tower.

"…Are the lot of them useful?"

The man with bandages on his knuckles asked.

"They’re broken, so let them be broken. The world will be a cleaner place."

"…I see…"

"Enough of this…Broken Fist?"

"Got it."

The bandaged man began to run past the slow trudging Dead, swung his fist at them the moment they instinctively leapt at him, and hurried to the tower.

"Crumble—!"

He swung his right hand greatly as though he was lifting something heavy and as he ran forward

"Down!"

Kwaaaannn! There was a sound akin to a battering ram rocking through the mist. The giant tower trembled at the blow from the puny human.

"Dust Believer."

"Then I'll go too."

The bright red dress caught fire. Her hair burned, and so did her skin. She was burning. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, and then into ashes, showing white bones.

"Kerakerakerakerakerakerakerakera!"

The white bones broke apart and burst into flames. The skull cackled in the flames. The bones of the flames soared up in a red lotus, drying up the mist that guarded the tower.

"BBB."

"This is for you. That is for you. And this is for you."

"Yes." "Yes." "Yes."

The man in tuxedo handed the children tins of chocolates. The children hug them happily.

"Now then, goodbye."

"Bye bye!"

The children ran towards the tower while holding the chocolate tins. They ran through the entrance, picked their favorite spots, and opened the chocolates..

Explosions.

Ignition..

The man watched it happen, shed three tears from his right eye, and took a deep drag on his cigarette.

"Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. That’s for three people. Next. Next. Next goodbye."

The children stepped forward. There were still more of them. Worry not, for there was enough chocolate tins for every one of them.

"Purple Soul Jars."

"Kuararara!"

"Kuwaba!"

"Rarakuara!"

"Bakuwa!"

An army carried a flag of coffins atop a tree, and yelled out loud. They were the Dead soldiers who were starting to enter the selfish phase. The only Living among them, a girl in an obviously ill-fitting military uniform with the Major's emblem, shouted.

"Rairararararara!"

"Rairararararara!"

The old corpses charged into the tower with brand new weapons. The military maneuver was so well drilled, it was unlike anything the rotten heads could do..

Fists, flames, and explosions drilled into the tower and made several large holes in its walls. The tower spewed out its contents from there like a spray of blood. Food, treasure, water, trees, all kinds of treasures spilled out and were consumed by the violence.

"Good, good. That's the allies of justice. That's what I'm talking about."

Dee was alone, drifting through the mist with a smirk on her face, only to show a worried look.

"I hope everyone can come down here soon…"

It was a worried look, unbefitting of the person who had created the disaster.

 

+

 

The stones trembled. The already loose connectors became looser, and the large stones began to spin in the air.

"Wh-what the!?"

Julie, holding Scar, shouted.

Ai knew at that moment that it was two days later.

"It's Dee, isn't it?"

That's right, Ai nodded.

"Impossible! Didn’t she say it’s two days later?"

"Then it's been two days, isn’t it?"

Right? Alice nodded.

"What the hell is that? How’s that possible!? Logically, it hasn’t been a day!"

"Adults sure are thick-headed. Just accept it, old man."

"I wouldn’t be suffering this much if I could do that, you idiots! Don't underestimate us thirty year olds!"

Ai jumped and drifted in the air to escape the tremors , "Not bad" and Alice immediately replied, imitating her. Julie looked at them with even more dismay.

"Our children sure have such soft brains…"

"Well..."

Ai mimicked a certain someone and repeated, Well, well, well.

"Well, time to put our bets."

"Right."

The two of them exchanged looks.

"Then I'll stay here by myself. Mr. Alice will bring you all down."

"I'll stay here alone. Bring everyone else down."

Sparks flew.

"You were thinking about that after all! Please stop messing around!"

"You’re the one messing around! What other choice next? Do you know what’s going to happen after that?"

"Wait, wait, wait, you two."

Julie frowned, looking like he had a headache. Celica patted away at his eyebrows.

"What are you talking about? Why are we talking about one of us staying? We're just leaving, right?"

"No, not yet."

"Nope, not yet. ""

They both look to the heavens above.

They could still see a hallucination of the boy there, still piling stones.

"We can't leave without him."

"Yeah."

"…Our kids sure have guts…I got my hands full."

Julie sighed, holding the weights in his hands tightly.

"Speaking of which, how are you going to get there?"

"Like this."

Alice fumbled his hand into the back of the rumbling stone steps.

"Ahh, there it is. Just as I imagined."

He pulled out a pressure-resistant suit with a gas cylinder that covered his entire body like a diving suit.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this place."

"I-I can do that too!"

Ai too put her hand in the same shade "Huh? Huh?" But she could not find what she wanted, and shouted "Why!?" It was then that she noticed the lack of chalk. The graffiti that always appeared coincidentally had vanished.

"W-why!? It's not fair, Mr. Alice! How did you do that!?"

"You can't do it. Just let me handle it."

"B-but!"

"Enough already."

"…You may die."

"I’ll just die, right?"

Alice said as a matter of fact.

"…That’s!"

"Just joking, just joking. I don’t intend to die at such a place."

"…But."

"I promise you that I definitely won’t die."

"…If you dare lie, I’ll make you swallow…"

"Sure."

"A whole…"

"Eh!?...Are you talking about a fish!? …No, whatever, it’s all the same…"

Alice gave a wry smile and picked up the pressure-resistant helmet.

"Wait for me to come back. I got a favor to ask too."

"A favor?"

"Yeah, I need your help with something."

Ai smiled. It was no exaggeration to say that was her life's work.

"Well, I don’t have a choice then. I’ll accept it."

"Thanks."

Then Alice smiled and said,

"See ya!"

He said, and was about to cross the divide.

Then,

 

‘You guys don't have to go.’

 

A somewhat familiar sounding voice rang.

Neither Ai, Alice, Julie nor Celica had heard of this voice, yet it seemed so familiar for some reason.

Ai looked at the wall where the voice came from. There, she saw white chalk writing there, ‘You guys don't have to go’.

The group was stunned as they stared at the white chalk that had suddenly appeared. The white chalk gradually increased its presence before everyone's eyes, and eventually, the white hands, shoulders, waist, legs, and finally the dreamy face of an unrealistically beautiful Dead appeared.

The Dead girl beamed and tucked the white chalk in her hand into her pajamas pocket.

‘You guys don't have to go.’

There was a strange qualia in her voice, and Ai felt a strange familiarity in it.

‘Alrighty.’

The girl moved as immaturely as her age, passed both Ai and Alice, and easily crossed the divide.

‘Someone.’

The girl grinned.

‘Someone has to tell him, you know. Like, ‘that’s enough already’.’

"You..."

‘But that's not what you're supposed to do.’

Ai did not know what the existence of this girl was.

And neither did Alice, nor Julie, nor Scar, nor Celica.

 

‘That’s my role.’

 

They only knew that she was in the midst of a very important destiny.

‘Thank you. Thank you for coming to this tower, and climbing up it without a wish. Thanks to you, I've finally found my way up here.’

And with that, the girl bowed her head.

‘Thank you—but that’s enough.’

She lifted her face, showing a smile.

"Please wait!"

Ai wanted to save that smile.

"Wait! Listen to me..."

She wanted to help the girl.

‘It's okay.’

The girl refused.

‘Because these people really aren’t related to you people…’

"!"

Ai stopped at those words. She had to.

She really wanted to help the girl,

She wanted to lend the girl a helping hand,

And yet, the girl said ‘it’s okay’.

She said it was fine.

‘See you!’

And she left.

‘Bye Bye!’

With the same smile on her face, she walked up the stairs.

Ai just stood there dumbfounded, acting as an outsider as she saw the girl leave. The girl bounced up the floating stone steps one by one.

She had gone to a place where Ai could not go.

And then, eventually, she could not be seen.

 

‘Big brother! That's enough!’

 

With those words, the tower stopped.

 

Part III

 

Gogogogogo, the tower was about to collapse. The tremors were so violent, and the walls started to collapse, the ceilings were starting to be caught by the weak gravity, and collapsed one after another.

"Wawawawawawawah!!"

"Hurry hurry hurry hurry~hurryTeh Ping (talk)!"

The group hastily dashed down the stairs. Ai and Alice jumped down the stairs two steps at a time, while Julie jumped down in three steps. Scar hugged Celica tightly in her arms, while Julie held Scar tightly so that she would not fall.

"I-I-It’s impossible! We’ll never make it!"

"You idiot! Don't say it's impossible! If you think you can, you can! If you think you can't, you can't!"

"T-that's right!"

"Yeah! You get it? Keep it to heart once you understand! Keep repeating it!"

"Yes!…If you think you can't, you can't. If you think you can't, you can't. If you think you can't, you can't. If you think you can't…"

"Don't repeat that partTeh Ping (talk)!"

The tower seemed to be collapsing faster than before.

"It-it’s really impossible!"

Ai burst into tears. The stairs were no longer in the shape of stairs, and they did not feel like stone steps at all.

"Tch! No choice here…"

Alice came to an abrupt stop on the place which appeared to be either falling or landed.

"D-Do you have a plan?"

"Yeah. It's a last resort. Old man! Take care of that!"

What is he going to do? The moment Ai stopped in her tracks.

Alice gently carried Ai.

"Alright!"

"Huh?"

He approached the window.

Ai had a bad feeling about this.

"LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

"WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYY!!!?"

 

+

 

"Oh?"

Dee puts her hands over her eyelids and stares at the tower.

"Looks like a critical hit. Is it gone?"

The tower, which had simply withstood the attacks of her friends with its own mass, began to collapse. The overly huge chiseled stone blocks appeared to be falling really slowly.

"Did Ai and the others make it in time…"

Haa…Dee let out a sigh. She looked up at the tower, thinking of offering a silent prayer.

"Hmm?"

And at the far end of her sight, she saw something.

 

+

 

"Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!"

"Woaaaarrrggghhh!!"

We’re falling! We’re falling!

Wind! Cold! Rocks! Windows! Rocks! Scary! Scary Scary Scary!

There's nothing under my feet! There's nowhere to put my hands! Nothing but thin air to hold me up, and I don't feel like doing much about that!

The wreckage of the tower fell in a very helpful manner. There was rubble, tables, tea sets, a bunch of colorful magazines, a private car with its parking lights flashing, a house they would like for themselves in the future…and there were three neighboring houses falling opposite!

They were definitely falling really fast, but the ground in the distance did not seem to be getting any closer.

There were beautiful stars shining green before them.

"Wow, so pretty."

Ai beamed.

"This is no time to be escaping reality!"

"Of course I’d want to escape reality now!"

She twisted her body dexterously, and escaped from Alice's armpit.

"You idiot, Mr. Alice! You’re the worst! You don’t think at all! You stupid! How can we possibly survive from such a high place!?"

"Woargh, it hurts! Stop it, you idiot!"

Ai quickly learned how to glide. She spread her limbs wide and adjusted her angles accordingly to control her descent, and then began to tangle with Alice in the air.

"Idiot! Idiot idiot idiot! Mr. Alice's an idiot!

"Hey! Idiot! Listen to me! Come here!"

"Don’t wanna!…I'm at least going to crash in peace where this idiot doesn't exist…"

"Enough already! Just get over here!"

Alice waved over in a breaststroke, and ignored Ai's flailing as he took her hands.

They held hands and spun in a circle as they fell. Ai was relentless as her face remained blank as ice.

"I~diot i~diot, Mr Alice you i~idiot. Fool, Dumbo, you mother anteater"

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA………you're really the worst."

"…So that’s how you are when you’re so stressed out?"

Ai looked at the stars below her.

"…The only thing better is the view."

"Sure is one hell of a final view."

A karate Chop.

"…Well, it's a good last view, isn't it…?"

It was windy, and they were talking with their faces upside down.

"…I’ll probably die, right?"

Ai chuckled weakly.

"I’ll, probably, die~♪"

Alice, who heard the "I’ll, probably, die~ song’, asked,

"What will you do after you die?"

"……That’s a weird question."

"No, no, isn’t it a normal question nowadays? It’s almost no different from ‘what are your future plans’."

Ai looked at the ground that was still far away though inevitable, and said what was on her mind,

"…Well, I don’t know what’ll happen to me…?"

"Oh? That’s surprising. Someone like you didn’t think of this before? "

"Because…"

Ai looked at the distant ground in the distance. It felt so surreal.

"I'm half Gravekeeper, half human."

"So?"

"Do you think there's any afterlife for me?"

"—Ah."

Alice looked away awkwardly once the possibility occurred to him.

There was no ‘afterlife’ for the Gravekeepers. Once broken, they would never wake up again. They would just return to the earth.

"I used to think, ‘That's better’. I thought it’d be better to return to the earth without struggling to live."

"……"

"But now…I have a dream."

Surprisingly, she was actually not scared at all.

"I don't want…to die."

It however did not mean that she wanted to live that badly.

She just did not want to die at this moment.

Ai inhaled a breath of air high up in the air.

"Wooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!"

She shouted.

"…I really wish to live a little longer…."

But they were at an altitude of 1,000 meters, where the temperature was eight degrees Celsius, the wind was blowing from the east at a speed of 20 meters per second.

There was no way she could survive.

"…All the more reason to think of what you want to do after death."

"…Haa, there’s not much time for that…it’s coming."

"Nope."

Then Alice chuckled.

"Not necessarily!"

 

+

 

"OhhhhTeh Ping (talk)!?! OhhhhhTeh Ping (talk) 15:08, 21 December 2021 (CET)!!!"

"What's the matter, Ghost?"

"Hey hey! Look at that!"

Dee spun around and pointed in the air, and everyone around her looked up into the sky.

"What is it?" ""A bird?" "A plane?" "No, I don't hear any propellers."

Dee pointed.

"It’s Alice and Ai!"

 

+

 

First, Alice found a torn rope in the junk floating around him—something that was part of the tower’s structure, and tied himself tightly to Ai (Ai resisted, of course). He dug his hands into the junk again, and pulled out the item he wanted with great ease.

"Yes! This is it! This is what I wanted! "

"What's with the ragged cloth…?"

"Don’t call it ragged! It’s more valuable than any silk right now! It's an angel's wing!"

With that, Alice put the bag on his back and immediately pulled on the cord that extended from his side.

 

+

 

"It’s a parachute!"

Dee shouted, jumping up and down and waving her hands. The wings of yellow cloth fell softly through the mist, and she could see Alice and Ai beneath. Not too far behind them was another blue parachute, where Julie, Scar, and Celica were attached to it like a monkey carrying its family.

"Oi~! Ai~! Alice~! It's me!"

Dee waved her hand, then realized that she should just fly over, and tried to go.

But before that.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"Gyaah!"

"Rakra! Kura Kura!!"

"Kuwaa!"

The wreckage of the tower rained down on the comrades in the area.

"Hey, Ghost! Where are you! Find shelter...for us..."

"Ahhh, that’s so troublesome! Figure it out for yourself!"

She said as she circled the tower, and it so happened that there were no fallen rocks near where Ai and the others were planning to land.

"Okay. Just right. Everyone, let's go!"

 

+

 

Alice stumbled at the last moment.

Ai, unable to move, sneered,

"You're horrible! And I had a different opinion of you just now! Correction! You're the worst!"

"Like, what can I do? I've only used a parachute once before!"

"Woahhh~~! Another thing I don’t want to hear! You risked our lives for that!?"

"It's fine, right!? I saved you anyway! What the hell! You should be a little more grateful!"

"Thank you very much!"

"You're welcome!"

While the two of them bickered away, Julie landed on the ground without any trouble. He ran gently across the ground to kill the inertia, cut the rope before the sail got tangled, and stood on the ground.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes."

And then he lowered Scar, who was in a princess carry.

"…Huh? Why’s Mr. Julie being so cool…"

"Enough already, just stay where you are! Ahh goodness! It’s all tangled together!"

The two of them continued to bicker and argue until Julie cut their ropes.

When Ai was finally released, she badmouthed Alice and stood up, looking around.

Dust was flying in the air.

There was a smell of gunpowder.

And the world was spilling out of the tower.

Every possible item that made up the tower was being thrown out like a cracker. Stone, bricks, water, food, creatures, buildings, furniture, guns, and corpses.

One could see the ruffians who had caused this phenomenon In the distance, crying out as they were pelted by the rubble. On the other hand, no debris was falling upon them. It was no wonder, for they were of different status. The tower would never hurt those involved with it.

But that was only the beginning.

The mist was about to clear.

"Oiii~! AiiTeh Ping (talk)! AliceTeh Ping (talk) 15:08, 21 December 2021 (CET)!"

The hordes of ruffians charged towards them, pew, and Dee, leading the way, was the first to drift over, circling them happily.

"I was so worried! You guys didn't come out for a long time. I thought you were doomed, but—"

"Please don't come near."

The angry glare was fixed on the ghost. Dee stopped four meters away.

"Oh my…Ai, are you still mad at me?"

"Of course I am!

"I'm sorry…but what else can I do? My priorities are different. My first priority is to ‘end the world’. And you're my ‘enemy’."

Dee smiled, and simply surmized.

The result left Ai speechless.

"You're useful enemies, but your importance can’t be compared to my dreams."

Dee laughed, whistled, and looked up at the tower.

"….Phew. I guess we managed to save the world today."

I've done my job, that was the face shown.

Dee was immediately hit by debris. But this ghost remained unconcerned, tch, and clicked her tongue.

She looked at the debris of the tower with hatred in her eyes.

The once magnificent murals were reduced to garbage. All the gourmet food were soaked in mud. Beams that were perfectly balanced were in flames. Revolutionary design structures fell apart.

And there were corpses.

It was raining corpses.

The Living corpses, the Dead corpses, the Gravekeeper corpses.

All of them fall to the earth.

Dee let the entire tower shine through her body, and mocked it with an icy expression.

"…What World Tower? What miracle? Aren’t you like this inside after your belly got cut up? It’s all just filthy rotten guts, a pile of wreckage. a pile of garbage, a waste of time, a waste of bones."

Dee Ensy Stratmitos sneered.

"Suck it up. There is no heaven."

"—!"

Pak! A slap echoed in the wilderness.

Everyone heard such an auditory hallucination.

In reality, it was just a small hand flailing through a white porcelain cheek.

"I dare you to say that again."

Her green eyes blazed.

"Tell me where those people have gone. Tell me! Tell me what this tower is! Tell me!"

"They're not going anywhere."

Dee said.

"And this is just a bunch of junk."

She stared into the eyes of the ghost, hoping for a single trace of lie within them.

But she could not find any.

"This place was heaven…a heaven they created, a heaven they built with their own hands…can't you just believe in that…?""

"If that's what you want to believe, sure. Don’t force it on me."

Dee said with a disgusted look and floated about fifty meters away. Her comrades too had caught up with her.

"Miss Dee!"

"I’m not listening."

Alone in this hell, Dee drifted, unaffected.

"Now then, what shall I do next? How about a fight? It does seem to be trending this way."

"Miss Dee…"

"Say, Ai, you know what I mean…"

Dee Ensy Stratmitos sneered.

"I'm such an existence, you know? I can't help it. I'm your enemy. …"

Dee laughed with sadness, contempt, and a little bit of pity.

"Just give up on me…"

Maybe, Ai thought. Even if it might seem ridiculous, she wondered if Dee put so much effort planning this for this moment.

Perhaps Dee had planned all of this just to break Ai’s heart.

If that was the case, all the more she could not succumb.

"Miss Dee…"

"Begging for your life? Okay, I'm listening."

"No, that’s not it. I’m just declaring something.

"?" Dee prompted with a glance.

 

"Miss Dee, I will still save you."

 

Ai carried the shovel and took a bow with her hand on her chest.

"No matter how much you hate the world, no matter how much you try to destroy me, no matter how much you try to be my enemy. I will stand by you."

Dee froze on the spot.

"I refuse…"

She shuddered.

"Don't be silly. What do you mean 'save'? It's none of your business. …"

"I know."

"Huh, like hell you do!"

The Ghost approached. She smiled and leaned towards Ai like an intimate friend.

"Ahh, deary me, you’re so cute, Ai. So cute it’s infuriating. You’re smart, straightforward, and you’ll climb up even after falling. How cute. But it’s so infuriating."

The Ghost's face winced in agitation.

"Ahh, I've decided now. Let's fight after all. Let's kill each other. No, our side here is already dead, so I don’t think it’s a fight till death? Should this be called Dead killing Living? Revenge? Vengeance? I don't know. Anyway, it’s just to maintain balance."

The Ghost's hand caressed her cheek.my cheek. There was neither feeling nor warmth.

"I'll kill you, Ai-Astin. I’ll gouge out your heart and cut off your head. Then I'll listen to you again. Do you still want to save the world after all that? I'll ask the head after I cut it off."

"…I’ll refuse that."

"Aha, you're not sure? If you're not sure, then your dream is a fake."

In fact, Ai was not worried about whether she could harbor such dreams, but whether she could move after she died.

Dee softly floated back about fifteen meters. Just then, the deformed caught up with her.

"Everyone, that’s the enemy."

Enemy? Enemy, you say? Where’s the enemy? Is that the enemy?

The ghost whispered, telling them the way to save the world was to defeat that enemy.

"Do it."

"Uooooooooooahhhhh!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!! Gyagyagyagya!!!"

Bullets flew, blades, flames, explosions, attacks loomed like a maelstrom.

Ai braced herself, grabbed her shovel as she readied herself to intercept. She shouted and stomped her foot.

But before then, someone jumped before her.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang! And thus echoed the sound of an explosion akin to firecrackers.

All the bullets lost their power and fell to the earth.

"Alice?"

Dee asked incredulously.

"What are you doing?"

"What am I doing, you ask? When you're shot at, you fight back."

"They’re not even aiming at you. Don’t get in the way"

"No can do."

He ejected the casing. He reloaded.

"I’ve decided on this one."

When Dee heard those words, she froze.

"You’re lying …"

"It's true. So I guess you'll have to let me off the hook here."

"I don't believe you …."

Dee whispered.

" I don't believe it! Do it, everyone!"

The murderous will loomed ago, and Alice met it with his will to live. With that will to save, he shot down the murderous will.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!

Equal numbers of bullets were fired from both camps. They collided at the center point and formed a mountain. The flaming skeleton tried a sneak attack, but was shot precisely at its sacrum and was blasted away. The tendons of the groaning Dead were severed and they fell to the ground. The bloodied fists collided with the bullets, and were immobilized.

But the stalemate lasted only a moment.

He ran out of ammo.

Alice finished reloading almost instantaneously and began firing again, but this one moment of delay was enough to cause the colliding bullets to loom towards him. It was miniscule, but certainly starting to tilt.

The second time.

The third time, and each time he reloaded, the killzone loomed towards the two of them.

"That’s too little bullets! Pomson! Are you saving ammo!? Focus on them!"

In addition, Dee knew Alice's abilities well, and gave appropriate instructions.

"Alice's ability can't hold them off for long! her mass! Use your anti-material weapons!"

"Woah. That’s bad."

Boom! A cannon-like gunshot sounded, and a bullet was fired like a cannonball.

Alice aligned the firing lines of his right and left hands, redirecting the trajectory of the shell just a little bit.

But even that was too late.

Ai tackled him in the side.

"Mr Alice!"

Shocking, even though he was out of position, Alice was still firing. He took advantage of the gap created by the blow to push the killzone further away..

However,

"Okay~ everyone, don’t panic. Just focus on what's in front of you. They’re almost out of ammo. Ten, nine…"

Dee was not talking about the gun, but the total ammunition Alice had. He was able to run out of bullets.

"Five, four…"

"Probably! Not! Though!"

"Hmmm, some tough talk from you…. Two, one…"

The count reached zero.

The hammer of the revolver In Alice's hand hit a blank. The slide of the automatic gun slid and di not retract..

There was a pile of empty shell casings at their feet, and a group of warriors licking their tongues out of the corner of their eyes. The Ghost saw that their demise was near, and showed a tragic face. Scar hugged Celica to protect her, while Julie protected Scar.

The surroundings contained a mixture of the remaining mist and dust. There was tower debris that fell slowly, along with debris of dreams, and Vinyl sheets flying like a kite.

Alice's hands released his beloved guns. The overheated guns fell onto the casing as though they were dead.

"Kill them."

"Woooooooohhhh!"

And then, his hand plunged into the wreckage of the tower that was still raining down around him. There was a mug full of fluid, a blizzard of thousand bandages. He weaved his hands through the scattered junk.

The warriors fired in unison.

The bullets were closing in. There was no place to escape, the barrage was like a wall.

There was no place to escape.

"Alrrriiiigggghhhhtttt!"

At the same time, his hands burst into flames, knocking all the bullets out of the air.

In his right hand was an assault rifle with thirty-two rounds of ammunition.

And in his left hand was a submachine gun with sixty-four rounds of ammunition.

"Huh?"

Everyone present was stunned.

There was no way Alice was going to miss that opportunity. He finally broke through the wall of bullets and shot down the firearms of the enemies.

"Wh-What the hell is that? I've never heard of Alice having such an ability!"

"Of course! I just! So happened! To pick them! Up!"

Once the guns ran out of bullets, Alice immediately discarded them, swung his hands in the air again, and guns fell into his grasp again.

"Th-that’s a foul! That's cheating! It's just a coincidence! There's no such thing as coincidence!"

"There is! That's what this place is for!"

The panicking Dead resumed shooting, and fired double the bullets they did.

"You guys~! I knew you guys were saving your bullets! You should have done so from the beginning15:08, 21 December 2021 (CET)!!!"

Alice did not bother to grab the gun anymore. He merely reached his hands into the storm of guns raining down of him, and stroked the trigger. The bullets fired in such a way all reach their intended targets however.

‘Buzzer Beater’ and "The Tower".

Their powers were truly on display

A pile of guns began to build up at his feet. The empty machine guns fell to the ground, and the automatic ones unable to escape the recoil were jammed and flew away after just one shot.

Alice gritted his teeth and let his arms flail like two snakes. His muscles stretched and contracted incessantly, heating up and causing steam to rise from his back.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang.

He fired.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang.

He kept firing.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang.

And after a while.

The gunfire ceased.

"Wh- Why are you stopping? You're one step away!"

The Ghost whispered hurriedly to her comrades.

"It’s impossible."

"It's not impossible. Look!"

At where she pointed, Alice was completely battered. The fingernails of his hands were completely cracked, and his fingertips were peeling and dripping blood. His eyes were hollow, and he had probably passed out.

But he just would not let go of the guns.

"It’s impossible. Ghost."

The Dead packed up their gear. The Purple Soldiers started their roll call. The fists were sheathed in the bandages again, the flames were extinguished and the bones were covered in clothes.

"That's a war god."

"So what!?"

"Actually, we really wanted to seize this chance to slaughter such a guy, but,"

One of the Dead raised and showed his gun.

It was out of ammo.

"I didn't think we’d be the ones out of ammo…"

"You still do! There’s more there!!"

That’s the minimum for dealing with Gravekeepers. I can pay you the toll down the river Styx, but not these bullets."

At that moment, the sky turned white.

Silent thunder struck the tower.

Many, many strikes.

"Hiii, the Gravekeepers!"

"Damn it. What the hell is this place? Is this reality?"

"Dear Ghost! I'm sorry, but we're going to have to leave you here! Kuraba!"

"Ah! Hey, come on! You guys!"

The Dead began to escape. Dee looked at both sides, twice,

"Ah goodness!"

Eventually, she left the tower.

She did not bother to insult.

Lightning struck the tower. Many Gravekeepers emerge from the pile of rubble and begin to bury the corpses scattered around as naturally as attending someone’s deathbed.

But Ai did not bother to look at them.

"Mr. Alice, Mr. Alice!"

She kept yelling the entire time, but Alice continued to grab the guns and did not let go. Ai tried to wrestle them away from him, but they were stuck to him, as though they were ingrained as part of him.

"Mr Alice! "

"…………Ah?"

Finally, there was a reply. A weak fire lit up in his hazy eyes.

"It's over! You can let go now!"

"…Heh? What………wait, ahhhoh …?"

Alice looked around, looking completely dehydrated, and seemingly realized his predicament as he immediately let go of the guns in his hands.

And then he collapsed.

"Mr Ali—"

"I'm exhausted———————"

He pointed his bloody hands to the sky "I'm dying—" and yelled.

"……I want to drink beer……"

"You can't do that. You're underage."

"Just kidding. I don't want to drink it. It's too bitter."

Alice seemed to be really agitated, laughing and making jokes that were not funny at all.

Ai sat down next to him, relieved.

She was really worried that Alice had died.

"Where's Dee?"

"She ran away with her tail between her legs."

"Hahaha, serves her right—what about old man and the others?"

"They went to find the car."

Buh buh! I a horn could be heard in the distance. They looked over and saw that the blue car was running with all its parts intact.

"Wow! Amazing! How did you find us?"

"Oh, you're good, old man. You're surprisingly soft-headed. "

"? What does a soft head or a hard head have to do with finding a car?"

"It does now."

Then Alice thrust his hand into the air and grabbed a leaf that had fallen into the air, bringing it to his mouth.

The sound of a grass flute echoed in the area.

It was a somehow sad song.

Ai stared at the tower as she listened to it.

There, the tower was collapsing. The thunder of the Gravekeeper danced wildly.

And it was about to end.

And then,

"Ah."

"…— ♪.."

Petals.

Thousands and thousands of various of petals began to fly out of nowhere.

Indigo cherry blossoms, jet-black hazel, steel roses, caramel tulips, flesh poppies, twin Rafflesias.

They were all blooming and falling.

"So pretty…"

"Yeah…"

All kinds of flowers were in bloom.

But Ai was a little dissatisfied.

"…There’s no mountain lilies…"

"Do you like them?"

"Yes."

"I see—no water lilies either."

"Do you like them?"

"Yeah."

Besides those flowers mentioned, there were all kinds of other petals dancing together.

And at the end of it all, softly.

A twin-cornered cherry blossom flower gently fell.

The two of them were lying on top of those petals.

They looked at the tower.

It had almost collapsed, and lost its power.

"When we were on the tower…."

Alice pointed at the tower with his fingertip that was stained reddish-black with blood.

"I said that when we get down here, there’s something I want you to help with, right?"

Alice said, blowing his bloody grass flute.

"Do you remember?"

Ai just nodded her head.

I see, Alice confirmed, but did not say further, and remained silent for a while.

Ai sat down and waited without prompting.

"Say, Ai—can you help us?"

Alice said.

"Us?"

"Yeah."

Alice said. There was an ashamed look on his face.

"Please save our class 3-4."

Saying that, Alice Color smiled bitterly.

Afterword

My stiff shoulders are cured.

Eh, well, I guess you readers are probably wondering what kind of metaphor that is, but it's actually literal. I'm cured of stiff shoulders. That's it.

In fact, after the last time I changed to a fancy chair, the stiff shoulders seemed to calm down, but when I got busy, I would have problems again. It’s quite troubling..

Now I’m cured.

Well, yes. Well, I feel that the postscript is more trivial than before, but I was just so surprised.

It’s shocking to the extent that it shocked me.

That's why I'm taking up so much space to let you readers know how to cure it(*that’s not true).

The method is very simple!

1) First, clasp your hands behind your back.

2) Raise your fists forcefully in the same direction.

…Everyone should be fine till this point, right? should be all right up to here, right? I can attach an illustration if you need it (*there won’t be).

The rest is easy.

3) Hold & repeat the same movement.

End!

See, it's easy, right? Wait, don’t stone me! I didn’t believe it at first (since I heard it from mom), but I realized it actually works after trying it out!!

If you are worried about stiff shoulders, please try it out!

By the way, this is the easiest of the ‘shoulder treatment’ methods (you can do it even while sitting). In addition, I’ll like to introduce another ‘waist treatment’, which requires a little space (actually, you only need to be able to stand up).

1) Stretch

—D-Don’t stone me bro! (Speaking of which, when I typed this part out and chose the words, the computer autocorrected it to ‘will me’. I was a little amazed by them—stoning others means exerting my will as well—well, I guess everyone understands, right? Ahem).

Strictly speaking, It’s not about getting the legs to bend and straighten repeatedly, but to focus on ‘stretching’ the femoral joints. Imagine what a frog looks like, and with that in mind, it will look very different. Please try croaking.

But I didn't notice it until now that all I have to do is move my shoulders and femur joints…we-well, let’s pretend that I didn’t notice it.

Now it’s done (Looking like someone who had finished a project).

And so, this is the fourth volume of “Sunday Without God’. (The order is weird).

Let's continue with the announcements. The drama CD of "Sunday Without God ", which I briefly mentioned in volume 3, is now on sale from Marine Entertainment. (http://www.marine-e.co.jp/sakuhin/fujimi/sunday/)

To summarize, oh man.

I only heard the audio in the sound booth at the time (and that alone gave me goosebumps), has been further enhanced with sound effects and music! In particular, the interplay of the music was wonderful, so I urge everyone to give it a listen.

Of course, the live performance at the booth was great, but the work as a finished product in a package like this was also wonderful….’why don’t I try my hand at sound effects?’ I was I was almost tempted to think about it.

And there’s more! The comic version of ‘Sunday Without God’ is currently being serialized in ‘Dragon Age’ magazine. Please enjoy another version of ‘Sunday Without God’ by Abaraheiki-sensei. I think we can get another announcement about the next manga volume in the next afterword? Let’s wait until then.

With the support of many people, ‘Sunday Without God’ made it to quite an amazing place (a long distance’. Thank you all very much.

What a tumultuous year 2010 has been (It is a mild first anniversary for the series, and for me too).

One year has passed, and I think it should be a comprehensive story (*It’s not the final volume at all). The story moves on to the next place…

The next volume will be ‘Sunday Without God’ Volume 5. I hope to deliver it to you before the summer.

Let us meet again in the next volume.

Kimihito Irie

 

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