Kami-sama no Inai Nichiyoubi:Volume5

Novel Illustrations

These are the illustrations used in volume 5:

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  Cover

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  Page 033

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  Page 065

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  Page 077

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  Page 099

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  Page 111

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  Page 131

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  Page 151

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  Page 201

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  Page 239

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  Page 255

The Prologue of a Long Time Ago

And so the world saved Ai.

 

Part I

 

A fly that kept hitting the window.

That was the impression Dee had in her mind whenever she saw Alice.

Bububu. The small fly was hitting the glass with all its might. This silly fly would bash its head against the glass repeatedly, unable to understand the transparent material there.

That was the impression Dee had in her mind whenever she saw Alice.

The fly fluttered around, silently. It would silently bang into the glass window, fall to the floor, and stare towards the window incredulously.

 

"There's glass there, you know."

 

Dee sometimes muttered to the fly.

"You're not talented."

"You're not tall enough."

"You'll never be a regular."

And,

"You're never going to get out of here."

So, stop it, Dee told Alice.

But Alice, like a fly, would show the face of someone who did not understand what Dee said, and suddenly had the urge to fly through the window again in a huff.

Even if his wings were broken.

Even if its eyes were crushed.

Even if its legs were broken.

 

Part II

 

Dee was rather fond of Class 3-4.

Menhim was scary, Mu was a bully, Alice was always getting into trouble, and Dee was still unable to talk with the boys in general.

There were a lot of fights, once a week at least. If there was not, it was usually trouble. For example, Alice made a fool of himself, Zanerick got caught up in his wanderlust, or Gigi caused explosions.

Each time it happened, Dee would hide under her desk, hiii, and get teary-eyed.

Still, Dee loved Class 3-4.

Menhim was scary, but kind. Mu would bully others, but she did not think it was bullying (that might be a bigger problem though). Alice always caused trouble, but he would reflect on his actions (yes, he would reflect on his actions, but only reflect so).

Dee too was the same. She looked down at herself. She was wearing the standard navy blue school that was according to the school's specifications, and was uninteresting. Her appearance was top notching, her studies were half-decent, and her athletic ability was completely zero. To a bystander, someone like her would appear to be a gloomy, withdrawn person.

On one hand, that was true. She did have such a side.

But Dee was probably made up of a lot more than that.

Dee (I) liked this class because she understood this class.

And that was why she really hated the current situation.

 

"I can't take it anymore."

 

Mu, who had been shouting at her earlier, suddenly lowered her voice. She grabbed her long hair and gathered it up with an elastic band, her dark blue eyes glaring into the classroom as though asking "Who's my enemy, who’s my friend?" Dee cried out, hiii and chose the third option, neither friend nor foe, and hid under the table to escape.

"Well, wait a minute, Mu."

Menhim saw that Mu had seriously snapped, and stood up as if he had no choice. The ‘overgrown bean sprout’ was tall, had messy hair, and wore a wrinkled white robe. He was taller, but unathletic, and are no match for Mu, the girl who would write ‘muscle training’ in her hobbies column.

"What is it, bean sprout? You're not taking his side, are you, bean sprout? I'll punch you in the face. Get in line."

"No, , no, I prefer to be on your side, okay?"

"…That's disgusting."

"Hm, really?"

"Yeah, it makes me want to beat you up."

With a heavy thud, Menhim slumped over. It was common to see Mu hit Menhim, she acted too quickly

Mu strode towards Dee—or to be precise, to the seat next to Dee..

"Wait a minute, Mu."

"That's right. At least let's talk about it."

Parrott and Sufia, who had come out to shield me, were flung aside like a door.

"I'm tired of hearing nonsense!"

Mu looked down determinedly at the boy next to Dee.

"This world is a fake? Trapped in space? What the hell are you talking about?"

The boy was grabbed by the collar and lifted.

"Alice!"

It's true.

Alice let her raise him up like a corpse, his eyes glaring back furiously as he said so however..

"We're trapped in this space, and we're not even aware that we're trapped."

"What are you talking about, Alice!? Are you crazy!?"

"I'm not crazy."

"Then you're insane!? Seriously…you’re, you’re!"

Mu was the one grabbing the collar, Mu was the one who was insulting, Mu who the one who could send Alice flying.

And yet, Mu looked as if she wanted to lose, as if she wanted her words to be denied.

 

"Are you even sane!? You burned down the town?"

 

"Yes."

The hand was released and Alice fell back into his chair with a thud.

"Why would you—?"

"It’s an experiment."

"An experiment?"

"Yeah."

Alice stared at his hands that were completely black since he spent all night splashing oil everywhere and setting fire.

"I was trying to see how much this space can ‘last’. I thought if I destroy the entire town, we’ll go back to our original world…but I couldn't."

"You! You’re still at that?"

"…You don’t believe me?"

"Of course not!."

"Then."

Alice lifted his violent eyes up at Mu, and countered,

"Where’s the burned town you speak of?"

Mu was speechless.

Alice slid the windows open, and outside it was the town that Alice had just burned, now completely clean.

There was no such scene present.

The town has been burned, destroyed, and restored.

The sin Mu denounced was nowhere to be found.

"You’d call this a reset."

"W-what did I say? ‘Reset’?"

"Yeah, in this space, everything that is damaged to the point of being unable to recover will be reset to the starting mode…the peaceful initial state where they knew nothing.."

Mu shivered once she heard those words.

"…Let's say I believe every word you say."

"Sure."

"I'd like to ask you one more question. I don't know about this because I got ‘reset’?"

"Yeah."

The next moment, Mu took a step forward and strangled Alice.

Dee did not know the significance of that act, and neither did Alice; perhaps Mu herself did not know either. She did not know what the purpose of strangling Alice was. Maybe she wanted to kill him, or maybe she just could not help it. No one knew for sure.

But the first time it happened, Mu had indeed tried to kill Alice.

So Alice reacted in the same way as back then.

Pew, a small bullet flew into Mu's forehead. The bullet went straight through, ripping through the back of her head and flew out with brain plasma.

Screams filled the classroom as Dee hid under her desk, watching everything.

"Sorry about that."

Alice mumbled, pointing his gun at his rooted classmates, and fired.

He fired.

He fired.

The first who got shot were the ones who tried to deal with him, followed by those who tried to run away. Friends were shot, bad buddies were shot. The bullets that flew out of his hands hit every target he wanted, killing every single target without exception.

Finally, Alice shot those who were only frightened and cowering.

"I'm sorry…"

Ilanya was shaking and shivering.

"No, don't do this Alice… this isn't right!"

"It's okay…you’ll forget too…"

Pew!

The last gunshot rang out, and the classroom fell silent. The only sounds left were Alice's ragged breathing, Dee's sobbing, and Menhim's sighing.

Menhim, who had been grasping his forehead, trying to hold his head together, let go of them and glared at Alice with exhausted eyes.

"…Alice, I never heard of this."

"Because you were opposed."

"Of course…!"

Menhim closed the wide eyes of Mu—his childhood friend.

And then the corpse disappeared into thin air…

"Alice~!"

"Yo."

Beyond the window, at the ground two levels down, the classmates who were killed were standing there with their bags.

‘Reset.’

Mu, leading the pack, was at the front, waving.

"What are you doing there! It's time to leave school!"

"Will be right there!"

After saying this, Alice closed the window.

There was no longer any trace of the tragedy in the classroom.

"All is well in the world—right?"

Menhim said, reaching into the pocket of his lab coat for a cigarette that was forbidden in school, and took a deep drag.

Alice walked forward, cutting through the smoke.

"…Let's go, Menhim, Dee. Now we know that physical destruction is almost impossible. We'll have to think of another way. I hate this, but we have to try the occult. Maybe some curse reversal, boundary destruction—let’s ask Miranshah about that…"

"Ah, about that, Alice."

Menhim said to Alice as the latter was about to leave the classroom.

"I can't do this anymore."

"…Is that so?"

"Yeah…I'm sorry, but I'm not as strong as I think I am. I won’t be able to help you if this keeps up, and I might end up as your enemy, like Mu just now."

"……Is that so?"

"I'm sorry."

"No problem. Thanks for everything…"

With that, Alice shot Menhim, who was immediately ‘reset’, and his body was gone.

Dee stumbled out from under her desk and looked outside. Their classmates were chatting on the field at dusk. Menhim, carrying a flat school bag, ran up to the circle and joked about something.

Dee stared at it, and found it dazzling.

"…Do you want to go back to how it was before?"

"!"

Dee felt a hot presence and turned around to see a dark muzzle there.

The eyes beyond were rotten like a corpse.

"…Do you want to forget the fact that you're trapped and everything? And go back to your peaceful life?"

"That’s—"

"…It’s fine. If you’re afraid of dying…I'll kill you."

The hammer lifted with a click.

"In-in that case…"

Her speaking voice was dry and trembling, as though she had not talked in a hundred years.

"If that's the case, why don't we ‘reset’ together…Alice? Let's stop all this and…just ’reset’, forget about everything and live in peace…"

Alice fumbled with his gun with a troubled look.

 

"No."

 

The fly flew to the window.

That was the impression Dee had in her mind whenever she saw Alice.

"I don't like this. I don't want my beloved Class 3-4 to be stuck in a place like this."

"But we can't do it anymore…even Menhim…gave up too…"

There's glass there, you know. Dee muttered to the fly.

"You're not talented." "You're not tall enough." "You'll never be a regular."

And,

"You're never going to get out of here…"

So, stop it—Dee told Alice.

But Alice, like a fly, would show the face of someone who did not understand what Dee said.

"Even so, I'm still going to do it…nut that doesn't mean you have to go along with it. You should be laughing with them. Until the day of liberation."

"……"

"Don't worry, I'll get it done, even if I have to do it alone. Trust me."

Dee did not believe those words.

"I'm not going to give up."

But Dee believed those words alone. Alice certainly would not be able to break through this space, but he was never going to give up. He would struggle on alone, as though he was in an eternal torment.

"Don’t do it."

That was exactly what Dee did not want.

"I don't care if I die. I don’t want you to be alone, Alice…"

"……"

Dee wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"So I'm…not going to…give up."

"Dee…"

"I won't give up until you do. I'm coming with you, Alice."

"…I see."

The gun was immediately lowered.

"…Got it. Thanks…"

Alice turned his back on Dee.

"No."

Dee shot Alice in the back with a pistol she concealed behind her.

Bang, Alice collapsed In the midst of a roaring sound. There was no astonishment or confusion in his eyes, only quiet conviction.

Thud. The pistol and knees fell to the floor, and Dee grabbed Alice’s body.

"…Sorry,…I'm sorry Alice…but I…I'm…"

"Don't cry… you idiot."

Alice did not seem to begrudge Dee even after being shot.

"I'm sorry…hic…I'm sorry…"

"…It’s fine. It’s my bad…that I made you shoot me…"

Dee shook her head. She hated having Alice kill people, and Alice hated the idea of Dee killing people.

"Actually…I know too…that it’s wrong…no matter the purpose, even though it causes a ‘rest’, it’s not right…"

"……"

"But…now, I can't undo the sins I've done. That's why…I had no choice but to be ‘reset’…I'm not me now…I'm just a monster who’s not afraid…to kill my friends…"

"…Hic, Alice. …"

Alice smiled like he was getting rid of a possessed evil spirit, and stretched out his blood and smoke stained hand to gently pat Dee's head.

"…But Dee, unfortunately…I will definitely be back here again."

"……"

"You know they say…stupidity can't be fixed by…dying, right? Are you going…to kill me… every time I come here…? Are you …ready to become a … monster …?"

Alice seemingly taunted at the last moment.

Dee immediately tried to answer something. She did not know if she wanted to agree or deny, but she tried to say something back to the dying man. She thought hard and looked up to answer him.

But...

"…Ah"

There was nothing but air.

Alice asked the question, but he passed on without waiting for a reply.

All that was left was a painful silence.

Dee sat down and looked up at the sky as if there was a god there.

After a minute or a hundred, the school bell rang. Dee lowered her head weakly, slowly raised her right hand, and put the muzzle of the gun against her temple.

The muzzle that had killed Alice was still slightly warm.

"Hic…"

The trigger was heavier than before.

She was really anguished about that.

"I-I can't do this…"

Dee burst into tears. She was at her wits end. She did not want to be killed by Alice, and she did not want to kill Alice.

Despair won in the tug-of-war against her survival instinct and the trigger sizzled. The cylinder was slowly turning and the hammer was about to fall into place, just a millimeter away from Dee's life.

It was almost time to ‘reset’ Dee. She was going to revert from being a monster to a human being again.

If not for Alice’s arrival.

"What are you doing, Dee!?"

With the words, a gust of wind flew in and kicked the gun away.

"Damn you! That's my dad’s gun! What the hell were you doing with that?"

"…Alice?"

‘Reset’.

The Alice here was the Alice who knew nothing. It was the Alice who had never even dreamed of killing anyone.

"What's wrong with you…why are you doing this…hey, talk to me. Okay?"

"Alice.…"

Dee burst into tears, opened her arms and tried to jump into his chest.

 

(I will definitely be back here again.)

(You know they say…stupidity can't be fixed by…dying, right?)

 

She remembered that Alice’s chest was shot through by her bullet.

"…What's going on?"

Alice asked, and Dee looked up at him.

"………… Nothing."

"But you—"

"I said it's nothing!"

Dee pushed Alice out of the way and started running.

"H-hey!"

Dee heard Alice's voice behind her, but she did not turn around.

She could not cry onto that chest again.

She could not let that hand pat her head again.

 

+

 

And so the loop began again.

In this fake world.

Where Dee was left alone.

 

Part III

 

Tatata—It was an enjoyable sunny afternoon, and Dee carried a basket as she ran with light steps. The relieving summer sun burned the nape of her neck, and the basket contained food that was freshly baked, the heat searing her chest..

—That idiot Alice!

Alice skipped school again on this day. It was one thing if he had merely skipped school, but he did so after stealing shovels, candle lamps, books, and wheelbarrows from all over the school. Thanks to her, Dee got a lot of sarcastic remarks from Mu and Menhim.

According to them—you should at least control your boyfriend.

(He's not my boyfriend!)

With a swoop.

The rhythmic four beats were punctuated by a loud staccato, and the cans that had been lying in the street flew through the air.

Hmph! It made Dee feel slightly better. Dee was slightly distracted by the sound, but her face paled once she saw the empty can fly. The can tumbled through the air with surprising force and crashed into the window of the liquor store..

"Wawawa!"

She crouched down with the basket, waiting for the outburst.

Five seconds.

Dee spent that long with her eyes closed, then looked up fearfully. Then, suddenly realizing that she no longer needed to do that, she started running again.

All that was left was the sound of empty cans rolling around and the sound of running feet.

 

+

 

As expected, Alice was there.

On the outskirts of the city, there was a very tacky archway that said ‘Welcome to Ostia, the city of greenery and lakes. It was an arch that every kid in this city has used at least once for target practice. The lake side of Ostia was crowded with young tourists, but the mountain side of Ostia looks deserted with only temples and hot springs.

Alice was holding a chainsaw, sawing against the wall of a rundown souvenir shop.

"…………....Alice?"

Dee, who had intended to get angry the moment she saw him, was taken aback by her appearance.

She saw someone who was in full gear, feet covered in boots, body covered in uniform and work clothes, and on his head was a helmet with a headlight. On these parts were the words ‘gardening club’, ‘janitor’, ‘Ostia school equipment’ and so on.

Dee approached the figure with trepidation.

"…Erm…Alice…right?"

She could not tell if it was really Alice, for she could barely see his face through the dustproof goggles and mask. But the only person who would do something like this would be Alice.

Over ‘here’, at least.

…Maybe it’s not Alice after all.

As soon as she thought that, Dee shriveled. She should be overjoyed if it was someone she did not know instead, but she was still terrified. She was always shy with strangers.

It was always Alice who helped her out in such situations.

"Say, Alice…"

That Alice (?) was the one who terrified her most, and that contradiction was so frightening. Dee stood behind the chainsaw man, "Hey" and patted him on the back while calling out fearfully.

"Who is it?"

"Kya?"

The man's movement was more of a reflex than a reaction, and he had no intention of turning around or using the chainsaw. However, there was no way anyone would not be terrified of a chainsaw being pointed, and Dee was terrified by the spinning teeth and the man’s growl, collapsing immediately on the spot.

She thought it was Alice's voice. It had to be. But when confronted by a chainsaw mask that looks like something out of a horror movie, she was unable to comprehend, and her thought process was seemingly severed by the silver spinning teeth.

"A-Alice? It’s you right, Alice…do-don’t do this. Your clothes are a joke…"

Ah, speaking of which, it seemed those who said such lines in horror movies would die? A corner of Dee’s mind was mysteriously calm, which confused her. calmly confused. The calm confusion was further compounded by the question, What are you going to do now that you've noticed that?

The chainsaw man crouched down.

His face was obscured by a protective mask that covered his eyes.

"…!"

Dee closed her eyes in horror and called out the name instead of begging for help.

"Al-Alice…"

"What?"

Brrrr….The chainsaw blade slowed to a stop…and the man lifted his goggles.

Appearing there was a familiar face with familiar black eyes.

"What's up Dee, you need something?"

Dee's first thought was to yell at him. She wanted to yell at him for skipping school, for getting her insulted, for making her feel insecure until a moment ago.

She was going to yell at him for everything.

"Alice. …"

"Whoa! What the hell are you crying about!?"

But Dee was so relieved that Alice was there that she decided not to.

"……………Hic…this, is, your lunch."

Instead, she offered him the basket that she had planned to give him a longer while ago.

"… I made it for you. Eat it."

Lunch was long overdue.

Alice's stomach grumbled.

 

+

 

Alice swallowed three baguettes and a liter of milk like a cow, and ate a whole cabbage with salt sprinkled on it for dessert.

"So, what are you doing here Alice? "

Alice did not thank her for the treat at all, and wanted to get back to work. Dee tugged at his hem to get him to sit down, shoved a cup of tea in her hand to keep her from running away.

"Isn’t it obvious."

This stalling lasted for a second.

"We're getting out of here. "

The mug was returned to Dee.

"I’m continuing then. Thanks for the food."

"… Wait. Sit down…."

She patted the space next to her.

"But I've already finished lunch and dessert. I had my tea too."

"…I have cookies."

"Bon appétit!

Dee handed over a paper bag, and Alice munched away happily. Difficult as it might seem, it was actually easy to talk to Alice. One simply needed to give him something to eat.

Then Alice was like a vending machine, spewing out information for every cookie he ate.

"—I mean, if I can't push it, I’ll try pulling it, if I can't pull it, I’ll try raising it, if I can't raise it, I’ll try breaking it. If I can't get out by walking normally, I’ll try walking through the roof, if that doesn't work, I’ll try walking through the white part of the crosswalk, if that doesn't work, try…that’s how it is."

"I don't get it at all."

"I thought so."

Alice spoke as if he was explaining a highly technical fine play in basketball, and Dee merely answered as though she was brushing off this explanation, for she did not understand any of this at all.

"…Alice, do you really think that's going to get us out of here?"

"No."

To her relief, Alice immediately admitted and did not explain further.

"But, well, these are the only things I can try now, and it's free to try, so..."

Then Alice looked at the town, scanning it.

 

"…I'm definitely going to get out of here and break Class 3-4 free."

 

The town, Alice and Dee's town. the town of Ostia where the two of them and Class 3-4 existed. It was their beautiful home, filled with green mountains to the east and the sparkling lake to the west. It was a town where no once spoke, even with Dee breaking a window, and Alice wielding a chainsaw.

It was a town where no one but the members of Class 3-4 lived.

"I'll do anything for that."

And with that, Alice stood up this time.

"Well, that's why I'm not going to school. I don't want to give up everything and live a fake life all over again."

He picked up his chainsaw and headed for the wall. Dee whispered to his back,

"…It’s impossible…we can’t get out of here…"

So stop trying. Dee told Alice.

"Hey Alice, do you know? There's talk in class right now about 'resetting' you…"

"Haaa, that's radical. Did Mu start it?…Well, still."

But Alice still looked as if he did not understand a word Dee said.

 

"But I'll still do it."

 

And with that, he went back to tearing apart other people's houses.

"…Hey, Alice, wait up."

Dee followed his back. There was no big reason for it.

It just felt natural to Dee.

It was enough for her.

"Oh?"

Alice put his arm in to see if he could get through the window of the grocery store that was in his path.

That was when it happened.

 

+

 

Oooh, oooh—…the sands of the wilderness pounded the ruined city. The cobblestones were covered with sand, and the houses were torn to shreds by the glassy wind. There was not a single sign of life, only the wind caressing the trunks of the once splendid stores. The cups of the tea houses, which would have been crowded with students at dusk, were covered with mud.

It was the everyday life of a common ruin that could be seen everywhere these days, and the image of this planet sprawling towards the future.

In a corner of such ruins, there was a broken window of a small general store.

There, an arm stuck out.

As if breaking the surface of the water, the arm emerged out of the window and wandered around as if groping in the dark.

The arm fluttered, appearing to be full of surprise and confusion, picking at the grains of sand hitting the hand, and repeatedly reeling and reaching out. Soon after, he noticed the window frame surrounding him and grabbed it. Another hand popped out of the void. Both hands gathered strength as they seemingly try to pull themselves through, and with a push.

"…………......Oh?"

Alice Color returned to the present world.

His face dug into the sandstorm, and he blinked repeatedly.

"……I did it."

He immediately knew what it meant, and his face relaxed.

"ALRIGHT————————!"

He did a fistpump

"I did it! I did it! I've finally done it!—Wait, woah woah woah!"

As a natural consequence of letting go of his hands, Alice fell.

"Wooarrgh!"

Thud, Alice was unable to control himself, and made a half-turn on his face before lying face up on his back. He was covered in sand from the painful blow, but he was still smiling.

"Hahaha! I did it! I did it! I'm finally out of here!"

He thrusted his hands at the sky, and his victorious cry blended with the sandstorm.

"Deal with it!"

Alice was crying. It was simply because he had sand in his eyes, but he did not to wipe the tears away as they continued to flow.

Until he heard that voice.

"Al…ice ~. W-where…did you go~…I’m…scared… "

Another ripple spread in the window space, and another arm reached out.

"Uuu~~~Alice~~where are you~?"

Alice hastily wiped his tears, and got up.

"Wait, Dee! Be careful! You're going to fall!"

"Heh? —kyaa!!?"

It was too late, Dee leaned forward and fell, just as Alice had.

"Tch!"

Alice crouched down and got into a hugging position.

Dee spread her arms wide and leapt over without looking, firmly convinced that Alice will definitely hold her. Alice gave a wry smile at this situation, while Dee stuck out her tongue.

It was the kind of telepathy unique to those two.

But this time, Alice could not hug Dee.

"Eh?"

They both muttered in unison at the same time, at the same place, and separated.

Dee slipped through Alice and went to the ground.

"Eh? Eh? What is this? A-Alice!!, Alice～～～～～～!"

Neither Alice nor Dee knew what was happening, Alice was supposed to hold Dee, but all he caught was sand. Dee Dee was supposed to be hugged by Alice, but before she knew it, the earth was right in front of her.

"Wh-what’s going on, Alice!"

"Dee!"

Alice turned around in panic, and found an incredulous sight before him. Dee was drowning in the solid earth as if it were a bottomless swamp.

Alice's hand reached out, and so did Dee’s.

However, their hands slip through again, not grabbing each other.

"Ali—"

And then, with a thump,

Dee sank into the black earth as though she was swallowed by a stormy sea. The last face she showed was bewildered wondering why she was not in Alice's arms than any other phenomenon.

"~~~~~~!"

Alice clung into the earth and clawed at it, "Dee! Dee! " he called out with all his might. The black earth easily swallowed up Dee, but naturally rejected Alice’s fingers, and his nails were peeled off..

Alice kept calling. That was all he could do anymore. He shouted out loud, hoping that his clumsy childhood friend could still hear him, on the off-chance that she accidentally went through the planet.

"Dee!"

Come back. And,

He continued to shout until his throat ripped apart. He kept slamming the ground until his fists cracked.

Alice screamed, his thirst quenched by the blood. He kept flailing his fists that were starting to let out a moist, knocking sound.

The passing of time was extremely cruel, as though waiting for Alice to be too injured to move. The earth hid the most precious thing to him like a mischievous child.

But everything seemed to be a nightmare.

For Dee suddenly returned.

"…"

They did not call each other names and rejoice, nor did they sob and hug each other. There was no room for that anymore. They just faced each other like a mirror, reached out to touch each other's hands as if they were touching a mirrored surface.

And this time, they were completely certain that they did not touch each other.

Dee stared dumbly at the hands overlapping in front of her. Their hands moved slowly, seeking each other’s presence, but they never touched each other.

They could not feel anything.

Not even heat.

"What's this …?"

Dee pulled her hand back as if she was fooled.

"Why am I…like this…!"

She hugged herself tightly with her arms, as though affirming her presence.

"What is this…is this…the outside wordl…?"

Then Dee lifted her face.

She looked at the world.

There was a storm of yellow sand blowing before her, the sight of the familiar town after death, herself who could parse through objects for some reason, him who could not do so, the lack of Life in the entire street, and,

The presence of Death lingering in the entire town.

Ohhhhhh, ohhhhhhh—…

"What is this…?"

The city was filled with the Dead. They lost their minds, their bodies rotted, and their throats let out the same cry as the wilderness breezes.

This particular part was called the Dark Age. It occurred between 15 years ago and 13 years ago,before the Gravekeepers were born, and the world was covered with death and despair.

—Such was life of a common ruin that could be seen everywhere these days, and also the image of this planet headed to its future.

"This is the…outside world …."

It was then that Dee saw the dead for the first time in her life. She knew about them, but the world she was in did not have a ‘moving Dead’. It was her first time seeing one.

And at this moment, one of them stumbled towards the two.

"Oh, oh, oh?"

"Hii!"

"Ohhhhh, wwwhhhhaa’s with you? "

It was a yellow mummy wearing shiny glasses and an uncomfortably brand new florist apron.

"Isn't this AliceAlice and DeeDee? It's so late at night how can students students how not go home still not go home still…"

This dead man also had his own set of ethics as he approached them.

"Not good not good not good not good not good—"

"Kyahhh!"

The Dead bared his teeth and reached his right hand out that had bones poking out from it. Dee was so scared that she could not move a finger. The dead man's hand touched her neck without hindrance and then went right through. This made Dee feel an inexplicable shock, and then…

A gunshot.

A low velocity bullet blasted through the dry flesh and bones, preventing the Dead from walking.

"Alice!"

"What?"

Alice did not let his guard down as he raised his gun, watching the remaining Dead.

"Th-that was!? That's Wendy's dad, right…!?"

"So what?"

"Alice, what have you...?"

Dee—with her hand that could not touch anything—tried to deliver a slap at him.

Before her eyes though, Alice kept spitting a sticky, red mess of vomit.

"Even then, so what…say …Dee?

He wiped his blood and tears and vomit away using the hand that was still wielding the gun.

Dee could not say anything as she looked on.

Alice put away his gun and walked on. He stepped on what he had just spat out, and moved into the sandstorm.

"…You're leaving …?"

Dee asked, clutching her arms hard as she turned toward his back, asking.

"Yeah."

Alice's answer was as she expected.

The fly kept hitting the window.

That was the impression Dee had in her mind whenever she saw Alice. This silly fly would bash its head against the glass repeatedly, unable to understand the transparent material there.

"There's glass there, you know." Dee sometimes muttered to the fly.

 

"It's useless to go…"

 

So don't do it anymore, Dee would tell Alice.

 

"Hey, let's go back…I really hate this place. I’m, scared…I’m really scared…really. You think so too, don’t you, Alice? We don’t know how bad the outside world has become…Come on, let's go home, okay? Let's go back to our Class 3-4 world. It may be closed, but it's a much better place than this. It's a good thing we know that. Isn't that right?"

"……"

—But Alice, like a fly, would show the face of someone who did not understand what Dee said—

 

"Hey!"

"You go back."

 

He wanted to fly through the window.

 

"I'm going. I'm going to free us."

 

When Dee heard that, she decided. She was scared, but she decided.

"…Then I'm going too!"

"Oi!"

"I'm coming with you!"

"…Go back, you idiot."

Alice reached out a hand to shove her away. His hand passed through her shoulder though, and he could not do so.

"!!"

Dee squealed and backed away while Alice withdrew his hand with the look of a child who had messed. Dee reached and touched the part of her body that Alice's hand had penetrated to make sure it was still there, and then moved her stiff cheeks to force a smile,

 

"H-hmph! It's not that easy to abandon me! Now you can't push me away or lock me up."

"…Yeah, seems that way."

"…I-I am definitely going with you, Alice!"

"I told you I get it…I get it, so…"

"I’ll definitely…definitely…it's scary… but I definitely…"

Dee could not help but sob.

Alice ruffled his hair hard, and answered reluctantly,

"Do as you please."

Tears flowed from Dee's eyes and dripped down her tiny chin. The tears glistened as they rolled on her skin, but as soon as they left her skin, they immediately lost their presence and disappeared without a trace, leaving no water stains at her feet.

"Stop crying…let’s go."

"I-I'm not crying, stupid Alice! W-Wait! Wait for me!"

And so the two of them started walking.

That was twelve years ago, when the first Gravekeepers had finally started to descend, when Kizuna Astin started calling himself Hampnie Hambart, when Julie was still happy, when Ulla had yet to kill ten thousand people, when Tanya and the others were babies. And,

It happened when Alice was already Alice.

"Let's go…to free ourselves, and Class 3-4."

"Yeah!"

This was before Dee became the ‘Witch of the West’.

 

Part IV

 

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.

 

Chapter 1 - The Sealed Town

Part I

 

Thousands of flower petals fluttered.

Thousands of rubble fell.

The fallen objects glowed in various colors, containing everything that made up this world. Peach-colored fruits, silver utensils, fireplaces at dawn, cold winter villages, a king's chandeliers, gray corpses, flapping books, tens of thousands of flower petals.

In the middle of it all, Alice laid down, pointed at the tower, and gave a bitter smile.

"…I said that when we get down here, there’s something I want you to help with, right…do you remember?"

Ai remembered.

"Please save our class 3-4."

Saying that, Alice Color smiled bitterly.

"—We’re sealed in our hometown."

And he led Ai Astin to ‘Ostia’.

 

Part II

 

Ostia was already destroyed.

"…It's a lonely place."

The bone-like ruins burned in the red of the setting sun before here. Not a single house, street, or lamppost was straight, everything was twisted and silent. The lake, keeper of the water source, was itself twisted and soaked the city below. The bricks on the roofs had fallen to the ground and shattered, leaving only a wide sky.

Ostia was a town of tombs.

There were modest grave markers all over the street, and their shadows were terribly long.

Swoosh, Ai lowered the shovel, the shards of sandy bricks at her feet spread out like a mosaic.

"Come on, let's go."

Ai snuck a glance at Alice, who was carrying his luggage. She was curious to see how he would react to this place he called ‘hometown’.

"? What's up?"

"No, it’s nothing at…."

But Alice was quite normal, he did not appear to be hurt or sad in any way.

"Let's go then."

"Please wait. Before we go, I'd like you to tell me what's going on."

It had been two weeks since Alice had asked for help under the Tower.

In the meantime, Alice had only repeatedly told them "go to Ostia", and nothing else.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

These were the only words he could repeat.

"If you don't like it, you can turn down the offer. I won't force you."

"Seriously! That's not what I'm talking about—"

Then Ai fell silent. It was too pointless. They had repeated the same conversation countless times on the way here.

Haa…She sighed.

"…What do you think, Mr Julie?"

Seeing that she was unable to do so on her own, she turned to Julie.

"Hmm? You’re asking what I think about this?"

Julie was busy with his task at hand, sometimes, packing up the belongings, and sometimes catching the fleeing Celica.

He had been acting a little strange ever since the incident in the tower.

"I mean, you would say something a blockhead would say like ‘you’re so vague about this. We can’t act so carelessly’, or ‘I’m opposed to this, we know too little’.."

"Blockhead…and it annoys me as to how bad your imitation is…ah, right. There’s one thing I want to get this clear. Alice. Isn’t this land a little weird?"

"Weird? How so?"

"Ah, I mentioned in the prior village to someone else that we’re going to Ostia, and there was some strange reaction. It’s said that 100,000 refugees disappeared overnight in the area, and that a destroyed town suddenly appeared like a mirage—"

"Ah—"

"Do you have any idea?"

Julie probably did not really believe that story either. He gave Alice an incredulous expression.

" I do, but it’s fine. There’s nothing dangerous about that."

"Is that so? That’s fine."

"Eh!? Are you sure?"

Ai shouted, expecting a more thorough questioning.

"Yeah. No matter what awaits us, I know what I'm going to do. "

Then Julie glanced back and smiled.

"Julie? How do I tie Celica's hugging strap…what is it?"

There was Scar, holding the baby with a troubled look on her face.

"It's nothing."

So Julie answered and returned to the car, not bothering with this conversation anymore.

There was a little change in both Julie and Scar at the top of the tower. Julie became exceptionally confident and prone to smiling, and in contrast, Scar lost all pride as a Gravekeeper, but seemed to have come to terms with it and was being strangely honest.

Ai felt that she was the only one who did not change.

"Let's go then."

Ai did not complain anymore, and did as told.

 

+

 

Carrying her luggage, Ai walked on looking around her at the ruins that lined the street. The walls had been scorched by the flames, buildings were reduced to heaps of bricks by explosions, and there was a message left on the wall for a stray family member.

"…So Class 3-4 is here?"

"Yes and no."

Alice continued to say things that were difficult to understand.

The road was covered with debris and wreckage, making it difficult to walk, and there were even whole houses that had been turned upside down.

Alice made his way down the street and climbed in through the window of the house.

"Mr. Alice, wouldn't it be better to walk by the side rather than climb in?"

Ai pointed to the land where the house would have originally been located. There was nothing on the other side, and it looked somewhat easier to pass through.

"No."

"Eh?"

"Follow where I go. Climb in through the window."

"??? Why?"

"Just do it."

Again with the ‘just do it’. He did not explain anything, and only said ‘just do it’.

"Yes yes , I get it."

Ai said, and deftly entred through the window frame. Julie followed, then Scar passed Celica to him before she too climbed off.

"Are you happy now?"

"Yeah."

For some reason, Alice seemed insistent on following a specific route. He climbed through the window, crawled under tables, jumped from roof to roof, climbed up and down walls, and crossed the street by stepping only on the white part of the crosswalk.

"Erm…Mr Alice, what is this about?"

"Just do it."

Again with ‘just do it’ as he played hopscotch on the moat.

As they paraded through the long shadowy ruins in the dusk, Ai felt increasingly uneasy, either because of this ridiculous path, or that it was because of the dusk.

At the end of this path.

"It’s here."

They arrived at an open space.

There was a large building with a mountain on its back.

‘Ostia School for Boys and Girls‘

"……"

The school too had fallen into disrepair. The main gate had lost its fence, the walls of the building were warped and the roof had fallen off. The lawn had lost its territorial battle with wild plants and was relegated to the corner of the garden. Stone statues of outstanding people lost their their heads, their genders no longer recognizable. To top it all off, there was a surprisingly out-of-place charred truck lying on its side in the middle of the field.

They passed by the truck and entered the school building. The school building had been used as an evacuation center, and was relatively clean and well maintained. That only applied to the ground and second floors however. The roof had fallen off the right half of the third floor, and the floor had replaced it.

Alice trudged down the corridor and stopped in front of ‘Class 3-4’. There was an open wall in front of him , and one could see the dilapidated state within.

"We’re here."

"…What’s the situation?"

Alice pointed to a flat surface where a door might have been in the past, and at this point, there was only darkness there.

The ‘black’ was neither a color, nor was it a shadow. It was just a blackness akin to a vacuum, as if rejecting light.

"Now then. "

Alice said against the dark background.

"Class 3-4 is trapped behind 'this boundary that I don’t understand at all’."

"…I see."

"Oh, you're not scared?"

"I've gotten used to this kind of thing…not that I ever wanted to."

She blurted out those words with a sigh. This black surface before her was not ordinary, even when compared to the City of the Dead, the School of the Deformed, and the World Tower, but Ai was not going to be shocked just because of this.

She put her face to the black surface. There was no smell, no light.

"…There’s no danger?"

"It’s fine. Here."

Alice casually scratched the black surface. The arm continued to move freely in and out of the boundary.

"seems like it'll be fine."

"Yeah…but those who aren’t in Class 3-4 can’t leave this place. Unless everything gets resolved.

"You're saying that at the last minute…?"

"What do we do now? This is the last chance to quit."

"I'm not going to."

Ai said firmly.

"I'm going to help everyone in the world. Of course, that includes Mr. Alice."

"……"

"So I never had the option of not helping you in the first place.

Mmm! She spun the shovel and snorted. The hazy feeling she had over the past few days disappeared. Yes, it did not matter if she had the information. She just had to do what she needed to. That was all.

This time, Alice seemed to be intimidated by her attitude.

"But, you know. You're saying that you want to save everyone—okay, everyone, that is, all of humanity, aren't you? If that's the case, you shouldn't just be concerned with me alone, right? I mean, let's face it, I'm asking you to do something difficult, and you might be stuck in there for the rest of your life. Wouldn't it be better to leave someone like me alone to save ‘everyone’?"

"Nope, then I’ll be making a choice.."

Ai said decisively.

"If I’m save someone because it’s easy to save, and prioritizing others later because it’s harder to save them, or saving those I know and ignoring others that I don’t, it’s only a matter of time until there are people I can’t save in time…didn’t I say I want to save ‘everyone’?"

There's no difference there. Ai smiled.

"I'll get to ‘everyone’ after I save you."

Ai was proud.

"One by one, I will save the world."

"That's impossible."

Alice cut her off coldly.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It’s idiotic to think you’re going to save each and everyone in the world, and that it’s a matter of time until you can do so. I dare say your dream will fail one day."

"Who knows?"

"Hypothetically, if you could save ‘everyone’… you wouldn't be in it. You're the only one who’s not part of the ‘everyone’ you're talking about…"

"I guess so."

But,

"But that's no reason not to do it."

It was Alice's turn to be silent this time.

"But I'm still going to do it."

"Good for you."

Alice clapped his hands in congratulations.

"You're perfect now—sooner or later, you will fall. Your dreams will shatter, you’ll encounter setbacks, your body will rot, and you will fall to the ground. But until then, you are the perfect person to help others."

Alice smiled.

"Maybe you can really help me, us, Ai Astin. Maybe you can destroy this fatigue and loop completely—once again, I’m asking you Ai. Please save us."

"Yes yes , I get it—so, how many times has it been?"

"I guess so."

Alice laughed and looked up at Julie.

"What about you, old man?"

"Since she says she’s going, I have no choice."

"What about Scar?"

Unlike Julie, Scar was staring at Celica, and was a little lost.

"I'm …."

"Just come along, Scar."

"Ah…yes, if Julie says so …."

"……"

Ai and Alice's eyes alternated between Scar's right hand that was held and her reddened cheeks.

"What's with that look, you brats?"

"Nothing really…"

They coughed.

"Now then, everyone, please hold hands—ah, the old man’s already holding hands?"

"Shut up. Just explain and don’t say anything unnecessary."

"It's rare to see someone get anemia. If you find the person next to you on the verge of passing out, lend a hand.

Alice said as he reached his right hand out. Ai grabbed it.

"A little tighter."

"Ah, yes."

Alice's hands were large, and the soft and hard parts were distinct.

Ai wondered how he felt while holding her hand. She was a little interested.

She was glad the sunset was red, for perhaps she was blushing just from holding hands with Alice.

And then,

"Let's go."

"Yes."

Their hands held together, they started working. She looked at Alice's back and pulled Julie along and started walking.

Ah, feels nice. Ai suddenly thought that it was a nice feeling to go save someone with a group of buddies.

And so the group crossed the black surface.

 

Chapter 2 - The Death Went Somewhere Far Away

Part I

 

"Huh?"

There was nothing—no rainbow lights dancing wildly, no shining doors or dark tunnels appearing, no space crunching and cracking, nothing like that.

Ai merely lifted her right leg, moved it, and lowered it.

Just like that, the world had already changed.

The wreckage of the school building before her had been fixed. Every stone wall extended straight, and the tiles that were once with the gravel were back on the roof. The floors of the classrooms were old but undamaged, and the desks and chairs were neatly arranged as per the number of students, standing still in the setting sun.

The school had regained all its functions. The repairs were perfect, and it looked as natural as if nothing had been broken in the beginning.

And the world,

"Snow…?"

The visual shock was so great that Ai did not feel cold.

Outside the classroom was a snowy landscape.

The crumbling buildings, the mended ruins, the corroded streets, the June air,

Everything was gone. Replacing them was a beautiful winter scene.

The setting sun stained the snow and the town with the color of fire. The frozen lake on the other side glistened like a snowfield. The once collapsed tall buildings stood upright. From the chimneys, smoke from the cooking rose into the sky.

"Oh…"

Julie squealed in surprise, and Ai felt her throat move in the same way. She felt her chest and heart tightening.

Scar stood there listlessly as though her soul was ripped out of her, while Celica bawled as though she was scalded.

The baby’s cry echoed through this world, where the peace was never disturbed, and it remained in slumber, never doubting that tomorrow would come. The earliest star and the red star illuminated the town that was shrouded in smoke from the preparation of dinner..

The entire town had been lost to this world for fifteen years. It was engulfed in a real repose.

"…Welcome to our hometown."

Alice, who was leaning on the opposite wall, said.

"I ask of you again, Ai Astin, please free us, Class 3-4, from this closed world."

That was Alice Color’s wish.

 

+

 

Before anyone could ask a question, tchoo, Celica burst the little bubble on her nose with a sneeze. At that point, all plans to act and doubt were cancelled. The group decided to go to Alice's house.

They walked through the classroom door with some nervousness. However, they did not return to the previous day, "The way to go and come back is different" for Alice said. They did not understand.

"I'm really sorry. I completely forgot about the ‘time difference’. Let's just hurry home."

"It's cold."

The moment they left the school building, the howling winter winds struck them. Ai shivered and rubbed her palms frantically.

Once again, Celica sneezed, and whenever she did so, Scar would panic "her cheeks are red!" "She is making a weird noise!", and started a little ruckus. It seemed Scar herself had never never been in a cold climate before, hchoo, for she too sneezed, and blinked her eyes in surprise.

"Ju-Julie, my teeth are shaking and clicking by themselves! What is this?"

"That's what happens when it's cold. It's an instinct to raise the temperature by moving muscles that aren’t being used. Don't worry about it."

"How can I not be worried—hchoo! This sneeze is—hchoo! Uuu, it is annoying…"

"ACHOO!!"

"Hii! Wh-what was that!?"

"It's a sneeze. "

"Is this one too!? Haa, there are all kinds of them…"

"Achoo."

Ai and Alice too sneezed as well. They sniveled and rubbed their palms to keep warm.

"It’s really bad. Let’s hurry up and leave…"

"We should…"

Now that they were in agreement, they walked down the street in front of the main gate.

Once they did, the crowd suddenly began to grow.

The students still at school hurried home, and the teachers were shooing them out so that the school gates could be closed. The janitors were here to clean up, and there were candy stores aiming to earn money from students.

"Isn’t it Alice!?" "You're back!? When!?" "Come by at my house when you’re free. Aren’t you cold wearing that? I’ll get some clothes for you."

Many people were surprised to see Alice and spoke to him intimately. Alice too looked relieved, but he gently declined their attention and hurried home.

Ai looked up at Alice. But there was no explanation.

Eventually, they passed through the downtown area and entered a dark street. The sun had already set, and they were guided by the distant feeble lights, prying through the darkness and the snow as they moved forward. In the usual season, the street lights would be noisily swarmed by winged insects, but they were only shining on the snow that was falling like dead insects.

One silhouette was on the verge of being buried by them.

Dee Ensy Stratmitos was alone, sinking under the lamppost.

"Miss……Dee……?"

Ai rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was looking at the wrong person.

In the compass-like light, Dee stood in her usual school uniform and coat. Her white throat was exposed to the white snow and orange lights, and she was looking at the sky as if there was something there. The muffler was in her hand, removed, and she looked as if he was tasting the cold air. There was a huge suitcase next to her.

Then Dee turned her gaze back to the earth and said,

"You’re here."

Ai raised her shovel, Julie took a protective position over Scar, and Scar held Celica tightly.

"Whoa, it’s spicy here."

Dee rewrapped her scarf as she said in bemusement.

"…Why are you here…?"

"What kind of greeting is that? I’m a member of Class 3-4 after all."

Ai looked up at Alice in surprise. Of course, he did not mention anything about that.

"Hmm…Alice, you didn't tell them?"

Dee seemed satisfied with what she had just learned. She nodded her head in understanding.

"What, I thought Alice would try to solve this no matter what since he pointedly chose you. Looks like that’s not the case though. I panicked for nothing."

"You're rather reckless, though."

Alice pointed his right hand like a pistol and pointed it at Dee.

"I didn't expect you to come back here. Looks like you rate Ai better than me."

"…Whatever you say."

"You didn't think I was going to reset you?"

Bam. Alice gestured a gunshot. Dee smiled as though she had seen the prank of a neighbor boy.

"Who knows? But first, you have to take this."

With that, Dee opened her suitcase. It was filled with neatly folded winter clothes."

(Huh?)

Alice was strongly disconcerted at the sight.

"…Quite the quick thinker you are."

"I thought that you aren’t very thoughtful anyway, Alice. I brought you guys some winter clothes. Here you go."

"…Ai."

"Yes?"

"Please check them. They could be poisoned."

No way…she could not say so however. The murderous intent that Dee displayed under that Tower was real.

Be my guest. Dee kicked the suitcase at them, and it slid over. Ai took some clothes, sniffed at them and rifled through the pockets.

"Sniff sniff…doesn’t smell bad. Should be fine."

"…So you think poison is 'something like bad food’…I see. …"

Dee raises her hand in surrender.

"No need to be alarmed, You have two Gravekeepers, and I’m not going to physically attack or poison you."

"Hard to tell…but thanks for that anyway."

"You're welcome."

Alice remained wary as he rummaged through the suitcase, pulling out warm clothes and tossing them to the back. Julie was given a long felt coat, and Scar a large man’s cloak, which she wore while wrapping Celica.

Ai too wore one of them, a coat of the same design as Dee's.

Finally, Alice took out a well-worn coat and slipped his arms through the sleeves. It was a similar black coat. Dee was happy to see him wear it.

"—It's been a while since I wore this."

"Same here—welcome home, Alice. "

"I'm home. Welcome back, too."

"Yeah, I'm home too."

This is the first time in recent times that Dee had given a sincere smile, and she helped to dust the snow off Alice’s shoulders..

As soon as she saw it, Ai realized what she was feeling. But before she could point it out,

"Ah, I see you've finally entered..."

With her hands folded behind her back, Dee stood before Ai with a slippery gesture and lowered down to meet her gaze.

"Wh-What is it?"

"Nothing~."

Jiii. They stared at each other for a while.

"Hah!"

"Hyah!"

Dee's palms, cold from the weather, pressed against Ai's cheeks.

"Ahaha, I knew it. Your cheeks are really soft, Ai. I've always wanted to touch them."

"Hyaa! I-It's cold! Let~go~~!"

Without needing to be told, Dee simply released Ai and went to her next target. She put her fingers on Celica’s palm, stroked Julie’s stubble, and Scar’s right eyebrow before pulling her distance.

"Ahahah, it feels just like I imagined. Everyone’s so warm!"

"Miss Dee, you pervert!"

"Exactly, and besides, I’m your enemy."

Dee repositioned her hat and lifted her suitcase, alrighty, waving it in the air as she moved away in a different direction from the group.

"Oi, Dee—"

"I'll be there later. I’ll bring Mama’s stew and some bread."

"… I see. Please do."

"It’s not troublesome at all. See you later."

With a small wave of her hand, Dee left with the large suitcase in hand, and snow falling on her body.

Ai pressed her cheeks as she watched Dee leave. She could still feel the cold hands.

 

Part II

 

"So warm…..."

Ha…Ai let out a hot exhale into the air. Her breath was white even though she was indoors. The fireplace had just been lit, and the temperature was similar to the outside. Thanks to this, the tea tasted very good.

The steam from the tea permeated through the silent room. Ai sipped the tea, which had a lot of sugar in it, and the warm liquid slowly melted under her chest and mixed with her blood.

The others too kept warm in their own ways. Jullie drank the whisky he procured from somewhere in large gulps, mother and daughter embraced each other to keep warm, and Alice was energetically running around to limber up.

"Damn, it’s still hard as always."

Alice was beating on the chimney cap with a fire poker. He managed to poke one off, but the other was tough to remove.

"Do you need help?"

"I’m fine. The guests should sit. This is the landlord's job.

Alice took a piece of burning wood, seared the bolt, and used the thermal expansion to bang it open again. After that, he continued to toil around—removing the cloth shielding the dust from the furniture, shoveling away the snow in front of the back door, and setting the mailbox on fire.

"…I guess I should help after all."

Ai finished her tea and stood up. This time, Alice did not bother to stop her. For starters, Ai took the cup to the sink. The water supply seemed to be working and there was a faucet, but naturally, she could not use it as the water was drained. She put the cup there, returned to the room, peeled off the cloth covering the furniture, cautiously folded it inside to keep the dust out, and took it outside to dust it off.

"Ugh~, it's cold."

It happened when she was brushing off the third piece of cloth.

She saw a silhouette beyond the front door, at a small yard from the entrance.

"Ah, Ai, just in time. Open up."

"Miss Dee?"

Ai wrapped the cloth and laid it on the chair deck. She scamped quickly across the slightly snow-covered ground to open the gate.

"Thanks, you helped me out here. As you can see, my hands are full."

She held up her hands, and there was a pot and a basket.

"You need to heat up the pot again. There’s sandwiches in the basket."

"Eh? Th-thank you so much!"

Ai thanked her and picked up the items . The pot and the basket were both heavy.

"E-erm…"

"Hmm?"

Dee looked at Ai curiously, and must have read the confusion in her eyes.

"Oh, this?"

"It's cold!"

The fingertips, chilled by the outside air, touched both cheeks. Ai was unable to resist as she was confused, and was holding items in both hands..

"Miss Dee…you have…a body."

"What are you so surprised about? Any ordinary person would have one, right?"

Dee giggled. But Ai was not in the mood for that, for her cheeks were being pinched away.

"Erm, Miss Dee, why—"

"Well, I don't know, either."

She said and turned around.

"…Are you going back?"

"Yeah, mama and papa are waiting for me at home."

"Ah…I see…?

"Yeah, see you later."

With that, Dee left.

Ai stood there, alone.

"‘Mama and papa are waiting…’ she said."

Ai had no idea as to why she had mumbled that.

 

+

 

Inside the pot was potato and onion soup, and the ingredients of the sandwiches were sausages and boiled cabbage. There was more. In the innermost section of the basket were two apples as red as Celica's cheeks.

"Here, Mr. Alice."

"Thanks."

Ai peeled the apples, cut them in half, handed them to Alice, and threw the peeled skin and the other waste into the fireplace. The apple peel bubbled and turned into black charcoal in an instant.

A spring clock that was just resuscitated clang away, and next to it, the calendar had remained stuck at September for 14 years. Underneath it was a pile of newspapers and magazines that were bundled together.

Surrounded by these items, Alice looked quite at ease as he munched on the apple

"Actually, I’m sorry about this."

He said abruptly, and took another bite.

"I dragged you guys along without telling you anything, and I’m still unwilling to say anything more. Even I feel it’s awful. I don’t think I can explain much further in the future though."

"……"

Ai did not answer, and prompted him to continue.

"So I'll tell you why I can't explain."

Alice finished the apple, threw the core into the fire, and turned to Ai with a serious face.

"There are two reasons why I can't explain just like this—first of all, I don't trust myself. "

Ai did not know what that meant. But,

"…Please continue."

"Thanks—well, there are a few things I can say though—somehow, this world feels similar to that tower. This place feels like one that’s created by someone’s wish."

"Yep, I can kind of see that."

Ai looked around.

This space is probably a mutation, or if not, an inferior version of the ‘World Tower’. There are many differences, but the atmosphere is very similar. It’s also a space that was created by someone's wish…and like the Tower, I guess there should be some people who created this place?"

"Who do you think it is?"

Alice asked happily, like a teacher who was teaching an intelligent student.

"But first, I have a question—was this world isolated fourteen years ago?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"Of course I can tell. There are so many hints already."

Ai pointed to the calendar she had just seen, and to the newspapers.

The calendar hung on the wall, still showing the month of September. The newspapers that were used to wipe the dust off were dated 14 years back.

"The isolation loops annually, right?"

The reason was the old newspapers. The old newspapers had been stored since July 28, 14 years ago, but the pages were so sharp that one could possibly be cut by them.

The date in this world was the second day of April.

"Oh, I stand corrected. It's probably not exactly one year. To be precise, it should be two weeks shorter than a year."

"Why do you think so?"

"It's this seasonal difference. It's early summer out there, but it's still winter here. Is the date in this newspaper correct? If so, I can calculate it…erm, it's exactly two weeks short."

"60 points. Strictly speaking, it’s exactly one week. The remaining difference is caused by something else."

"Scar. Would you like some more tea?"

"Thank you, Julie, I shall have some."

"Two spoonfuls of sugar, right?"

"Yes."

The adults gave up on thinking and drank their tea to relax. They looked happy.

"One last question. Tell me which other people entered this world from the outside like us."

"Everyone but the members of Class 3-4."

That was the answer Ai had expected.

"It’s obvious who’s the culprit. The one isolating this world and keeping Class 3-4 in it.

"Is it themselves?"

"You're always just slightly off, huh?"

Alice smiled happily.

"Metaphorically speaking, it’s a cage made of people. This is the kind of world it is. Everyone from class 3-4 is a prisoner, a convict, and the cage . It feels like everyone was chained to each other, back to back in this cage. That's how it feels."

"…Hmm."

"But no one knows why we did it. Nobody remembers."

"You all made the wish, and you can’t remember?"

"Yeah, so I was thinking that part of our wish was to forget about this.."

"… Woah, that's troublesome."

"Yeah. We didn’t know we’re trapped. It’s a most terrifying cage."

"But still, it’s the place you wished for, isn't it…?"

"Well, yeah."

Alice nodded begrudgingly.

If this was the same place as that tower, Ai could not do anything. Interfering with other people’s wishes on her own volition could not be considered as saving ‘everyone’.

But,

"I don't like it here."

Alice pouted, his mouth seething with rage along with utmost displeasure.

"Like, this got to be a joke, right? You've got to be kidding me. I love those guys in class 4, and I want to be with them, but I how it’s like here. Why is my life tied to this place? Are you kidding me? I don't know if it's God or whoever did this, but I just want to curse our. Don’t fulfill our wishes just like that, and like, it’s a complete crapshoot, seriously—what's so funny?"

"It’s nothing."

So Ai said, but she could not stop herself from smirking.

"It’s just that you’re the Mr. Alice I know of."

"What's that about?"

Alice suddenly pouted as if he was lowered a peg, and stopped lashing out.

"…Anyway, I'm part of the system here, and I can say I’m the lock that wants to unlock itself. But no matter how much the lock wants to unlock itself, it will try to fulfill its function...that’s why I didn’t give you the information. I'm the least trustworthy person here."

"……"

"That's the first reason. The other reason is that…ahh, I'd appreciate it if you'd hear me out without being unhappy about this."

"W-what now?"

Ai braced herself to see what he would say.

"Well, you know, actually, I don't expect much from you."

"Huh?"

"…No, that's kind of easy to misunderstand…like, I do have expectations. I think you can save us. But it's only as good as the others."

"The others?"

"Yeah."

At that moment, Julie brewed a pot of tea. The adults took a sip..

"Didn't you meet people other than class 3-4 in this world just now? They’re all people that I brought here because I believed in them."

"…I see."

Ai was slowly grasping the situation.

In other words, while it was her first time saving Alice, she was not the first helper Alice sought. For him, it was a common event bringing in outsiders to destroy this space.

Ai sipped her tea, feeling a little gaudy about it. She did not truly understand this feeling. She was not angry, but yet it felt like it, and it was a little different from disappointment. It was a strange feeling.

"—By the way, how many people have you brought in here so far?"

"Thirty-five thousand, six hundred and ninety-five."

"What?"

It was enough to build a town.

"Most of them are just here as an experiment, though."

"…What do you mean?"

"Well, I just wanted to see how many people I could fit in there. If this space has a limited capacity, I thought I could cause it to burst."

Upon those words, Ai remembered the rumors Julie mentioned before they arrived.

"Are all those mysterious disappearances…"

"Yeah, I guess it’s me, though I don't know where the 100,000 number came from—I didn’t force them, of course. I explained it to them and brought them here when I was sure they were fine with it..

"Haha."

Ai was very impressed.

"Mr. Alice, you're really serious, aren't you?"

"Always has been. I’ve been planning seriously the entire time. I’m counting on you, but I won’t rely on you."

"……"

"I've seen thirty-five thousand six hundred ninety-five people fail. I won’t be able to believe that the 35,696th one will succeed…I know it’s harsh, and I’m really sorry about it."

"No…"

Ai could not say she did not understand those feelings. In fact, she would praise his resilience since he could still move forward even after all the setbacks. However, Ai herself,

Was not relied upon by Alice.

This made her a little disappointed and depressed.

"…And I'm so obsessed with information because there’s an 'enemy' in this world."

"Enemy?"

"Yeah—it's Dee."

 

+

 

Dee changed, Alice said.

"She used to be like me, trying her best to destroy the world, but she changed her mind…she didn’t want to go to the outside world. She said she’d rather stay in this world with us class 4 members instead of returning to that hellish world."

It was not difficult to empathize with that sentiment.

""So she's trying to obstruct me…you better watch out too, because she's probably trying to kill us now."

"…Ahh, so that's why you were so wary of Miss Dee just now?"

It was the same with the clothes and this dinner. Fortunately, Ai and Scar determined there was no poison, so they were safe.

"She's really changed…the old her wouldn’t have dreamed about killing anyone…now she's called the ‘Witch of the West’, and trying to destroy humanity."

"……"

"This is why I didn’t give you information. I don’t want Dee to know what I tell you. It’s to save the savior after you."

"…"

"I know it's terrible. I feel bad about it. But I'm desperate, too."

I'm sorry. Alice lowered his head.

Ai too felt it was cruel of him, that he was dishonest and bad.

But...

She could not say such words to a desperate person.

"Please raise your head, Mr. Alice."

Ai called out softly.

"I'm fine. I don't care about that. I can gather the information on my own. You can fight as you like. Regardless of that…"

Ai smiled.

"I'll help you."

 

+

 

"Wake up~ Ai~ It's morning~ Wake up~!"

Klank klank klank. The banging of the frying pan could be heard, and Ai cussed away as though she was cursing all living things, and with the movements of an overweight cat, she rolled her buttocks back under the blanket.

But the sound of the pans never stopped, and in fact, it approached her. The volume increased. A frying pan should stay in the kitchen and cook an egg or something.

"I've already made that."

The frying pan spoke.

"Who's the frying pan? How rude.

And with that, Dee stuck the bottom of the cold steel onto Ai's cheek.

"Hyah!"

She woke up with a jolt.

She flipped the blanket aside, sat upright, and looked around the room. It was a guest room with only a bed and packed luggage lying around.

For a moment, she lost track of where she was.

"…Are you awake?"

Next to her was Dee, holding a frying pan and a ladle, wearing an apron over her uniform.

"M-Miss Dee!?"

Ai sat up and held up the shovel that was propped up next to her.

"Oh, nice reaction. I’ll have it a lot easier if you’re that easy to wake up…"

"Wh-What are you doing here?"

"What…to make fried eggs?"

She flipped the pan around.

"I’m saying that you guys can't do anything on your own anyway. I came to help you. Breakfast is ready."

"…………"

"? Why are you staring at me like that…is there something on my face?"

"…You seem calm for some reason, Miss Dee."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you feel very poised."

"Well, I am."

Dee tapped the floor with the tip of her slipper.

"You're up, right?"

As if to preempt Ai, Dee said.

"Hurry, go wash your face."

And so Dee simply left the room. Ai sat blankly on the bed for a while…

"—It’s going to be worse if you fall asleep again."

"I-I'm up."

Ai said to the head that was glancing aside at her, and hopped off the bed.

She followed Dee down the hallway. To her right was a staircase leading to the first floor, from which she could hear the voices of Julie and the others along with and smell the delicious aroma. Tempted as she was, she looked to the left

"Alice, are you awake?"

She saw Dee knock on the door in annoyance.

"Miss Dee?"

"What? If it's about my body, I’m not answering"

"I’m not talking about that…"

"?"

Ai looked at the ladle, the frying pan and the quizzical face in turn.

"Did you come all the way from home to cook for us? From home?"

"So what? Just so you know, this is something I’ve been doing the entire time…"

"Ah, I see. You've been doing this for a while?"

"………"

There was nothing sarcastic in Ai’s words, and she merely felt that she understood. Dee however straightened up like a cat caught by the tail, and opened the door before her as if to escape.

"Alice, wake up!"

"Woah, it’s messy."

The room was filled with magazines, clothes, balls, bicycle wheels, and the walls were covered with books, posters, and tapestries. Even the ceiling was no exception as it was crammed with plane models, world maps, and there was nary a space.

Well, to put it, it resembled a boy's room.

Alice was lying down in the middle of them, asleep like the rest of the junk around him. Like Ai, he continued with his futile resistance.

"Alice~ wake up~!"

"………Five seconds…"

"Alright, you said it. It’s a promise. One, two, three, four, five! Hey, five seconds up. Wake up."

"I can’t wake up…you idiot…mnya."

"Mmm!"

Bam bam bam! Dee slapped the frying pan with her ladle.

"What’s with the noisy frying pan…why are you here? Your place is in the kitchen. … Go home and make some fried eggs…"

"What are you talking about, Mr. Alice, you idiot?"

"Yeah. You’re right."

Dee gave an indescribable look between Alice and Ai. Why was that so?

"You're~annoying~, Dee, you translucent idiot! Go ahead, make as much noise as you want. That’s all you can do is make noise. I’ll just pretend not to hear you. Ignored. Don't underestimate my desire to sleep. You can never wake me up if you can't physically attack me..."

The frying pan and ladle as a demonstration to show how to make pilaf using his face as a grill.

"Are you awake?"

Dee showed a very radiant smile.

"…………………Yes."

For a moment, Alice had no idea as to where he was. He immediately nodded.

"Go wash your face."

 

+

 

After washing their faces with cold water, they brushed their heads that resembled some bird from paradise. Ai's blond hair was immediately restored after one stroke, but Alice's short hair was still sleepy, and remained curly, only giving up on resistance when it was doused in cold water.

Ai scrubbed her teeth while fighting her sleepiness. In the mirror before her was another face giving the same look while brushing his teeth, albeit with a height difference of 30 centimeters.

"Hurry up, you two!"

A voice echoed from the kitchen, accompanied by the sound of dishes being washed, "bku bku" and the two answered so.

Ai turned around to look at the kitchen, and found Dee washing dishes over there…she had a feeling the latter was just going to stick around and not move. She looked up to Alice, is this fine? wanting to ask him, but it seemed he too could not decide, for he brushed his teeth looking as though ‘he was brushing with glue instead of toothpaste’.

Ai ignored Dee for a moment, gurgled loudly, and spit out the water.

"So Mr Alice…you’re a lot older than me…"

Ai wiped her mouth with a towel, remembering the conversation of yesterday.

"I guess so~"

Alice spat out foam as he answered. As he spoke, a few toothpaste bubbles flew from my mouth and slowly fell.

After that conversation, the group went to bed early to prepare for the next day. At that time, Ai thought a little in bed.

Fourteen years ago, Alice was sixteen years old, which meant that he should have been thirty years old, about the same age as Julie.

And yet, the man before here clearly did not look like anything other than a boy.

Ai had known of another person like that.

The immortal Hampnie Hambart.

"Speaking of which, my memories only last up till three years ago."

"Eh?"

"There's a phenomenon here called 'reset'. If a member of class 4 suffers a fatal wound that can't be recovered from, that person will be reset to the initial state. I’ve died at least three times now."

"That’s—"

"Well, unlike Hampnie Hambart, I don't have any memory after I die, so I don’t know the exact number."

Ai heard something more shocking before she could react.

"!You know my dad!?"

"I've only met him once."

Shocked as she was, it made sense when she thought about it. It was not surprising that they had met, as they were both ageless.

"—No, I don’t think it’s just once. Maybe three times…or four…I don’t know. Maybe more."

"? What do you mean?"

"The current me has only seen him once, but he's seen me many times. He said that whenever I reset, I could look for him if I heard of an immortal like him. We never got to fulfill our objectives, but he’s acting as my backup memory, so it really helped me out a lot."

Ai wanted to know what they had talked about, to see how they were talking to each other.

"So, well, I was very happy to hear that he died. It’s not for me to say this , but thanks."

"No, that’s…"

She really did not do anything to be thanked.

"But I'm surprised…that dad went along with such a troublesome thing. I’d think he'd ignore you after the second time. …"

"Eh, it seemed he killed me once, and did this as an apology."

"Eh?"

"Well, technically it was a half-kill, but the ‘reset’ triggered first, and I disappeared right before him…"

"That's…I'm sorry about that…"

"You got nothing to apologize…speaking of which, he never apologized to me once. He even said ‘you’re the one yapping about being immortal, so I wanted to see if it’s for real. I only caused your heart to stop, and then you disappeared. You cause me trouble’."

"………Once again, I'm really really sorry."

Ai bowed her head and cursed her late father, Dad you idiot!.

So Mr. Alice, you’re now fifteen years old?

"No, I'm sixteen now. Didn't you wish me a happy birthday the other day?"

"Ah."

Ai remembered the birthday party in the wilderness, the one she had persuaded Alice to hold even after Alice rejected, saying ‘it’s not necessary’.

Back then, she did not know that Alice could not age. She did not know how Alice actually felt back then, what he was thinking, to experience his 15th birthday for the third time..

"That made me happy."

Alice simply said.

"You're right. I can't become a monster. If I become a monster, even if I'm released from here, something won’t be right."

"……"

"I can't kill anyone. I can't let anyone kill me either. I can’t have a single reset. I need to free everyone with a correct, decent manner, and then—"

Alice smiled and said,

"I want to be seventeen."

Ai nodded.

"That’s why I’ll have to go to school first."

 

Part III

 

She understood the reason. The fastest way to find out about Class 3-4 was to get into Class 3-4. She felt that since they could, she should.

But she was not convinced by this reason, and she did not want to.

Alice and Dee ignored Ai and quickly put their story together.

Ai merely felt the number of enemies had increased to two.

 

+

 

The buildings and teachers were different, but the creatures known as students appeared to be the same everywhere. They were all young, bored, and hungry for something new.

"I'm Ai Astin. Nice to meet you."

After a brief introduction, she went to her seat, and felt several stares piercing her back. Every one of them were the same as when she was at Gora Academy. They were not hostile in the slightest, but she was utterly feeble.

She was assigned to the seat at the very back, second row from the window. Dee sat next to her, and Alice sat in front of Dee. Both of them looked out of the window indifferently.

"Yes yes, everyone, quiet down. Class is about to start."

The teacher coaxed the students, and began the class that was a good ten minutes late. But the whispers however did not stop, and there were notebook scraps being passed around under the table.

Ai let out a sigh at the thought of the upcoming recess.

 

+

 

"Hey, where are you from?" "I heard you're Alice's cousin" "What are you doing here?" "You moved here?" "Do you have parents?" "Do you have any siblings?" "Wait, how old are you? Did you skip grades?" "Want some candy?" "Hey, hey, you're married, right? What's he like?" "What's the baby's name?"

This sure is tough. Ai thought as though she was the uninvolved party.

The big break at lunchtime was an explosion of frustration.

Ai had it good, since it was her second time transferring schools, and knew what to do in a situation like this. In fact, there was no need to answer the torrent of questions that came at her. She just needed to answer the important ones, correct the obvious mistakes, and then sit back and smile.

But of course, Scar did not have the skills to do so, and she sat there, fidgeting and helpless.

Ai stole a glance at her.

Scar too was wearing the same navy blue blazer as the other girls. She appeared to be more natural compared to Ai, who was wearing the sailor uniform of Gora Academy, but the helplessness she showed was not something that was similar to Ai.

It was no wonder. Scar was a Gravekeeper, and then no longer a Gravekeeper. Her age was listed as 18, but her actual age was 13, and considering the incident that day, she was aged 0, and furthermore, a mother.

The students of Class 3-4, both boys and girls, were equally fascinated by this married high school girl who appeared out of nowhere.

It was thanks to Scar that Ai was now able to live in relative peace.

(I think I should help her out now.)

"Erm, everyone—"

It was at that moment that Ai decided to stand up.

"A- Ai!"

(Woaahh~)

For a moment, Ai thought a flashlight had been pointed at her. Scar broke through her surroundings with a radiant, beaming face as she hugged Ai and patted her head, which got everyone else wondering what was this fawning about. Ai let her be and turned to face her classmates.

"Sorry, Miss Scar has to go downstairs to feed the baby."

"Baby!?"

Ah, maybe she should not have mentioned that.

"I'll show you around. Where do you want to go?"

"Erm…"

Ai looked towards the windowside, giving a pleading look. Alice played along however, and stood up to call this student’s name.

"Then shall we all go together?"

 

+

 

"What's with this big group of people …?"

"Hello there~" The students of class 4 was exceptionally loud only at such a moment, and immediately blitzed the innkeeper’s office. The old staff members, except for Julie, gave a ‘ack, it’s class 3-4 again’ look, and wanted to shoo the students off as though they had seen a cockroach.

"Mr Julie…"

"Hmm?"

Ai slipped away from the noise and stood by the wall with Julie.

"It kind of looks good on you."

Julie was wearing work clothes, with a "Ostia School for Boys and Girls" school badge shining brightly on his chest. He would be working here, starting on this day.

"You too."

Julie said with a grin, looking at Ai's different uniform.

"As I said this morning, it still looks good on you."

"Thanks."

"I'll get you one of these uniforms eventually, maybe when I get paid."

"You don't have to buy this. We’re leaving once we save Mr. Alice."

"……"

Julie paused for a moment, "…yeah," and then nodded.

"Well, you say that, but we don’t know how long that will be."

"…I guess so."

This time, Ai nodded in agreement.

At that moment, a cheer erupted in the middle, and Scar was over there, terrified as she held Celica in her arms. Celica was in the center of it all, poised in her mother's bewildered arms, happily watching the students as they observed her.

Julie silently left Ai and went to Ai. Ai did not dare to approach, and leaned against the wall to watch. Alice approached and stood at where Julie did Dee went to the opposite side and stood there.

In the center of the circle, Celica began to cry. Hearing this, Scar suddenly wiped away all the fear she had been feeling, regained her composure, and gently peeling the clothes around her chest.

All the boys were flabbergasted, and all the girls tried to cover their eyes. .The noise was short-lived however, for everyone forgot their naughty thoughts and were mesmerized.

Celica was suckling the breast, and Scar watched her child with a gentle expression and the humans whose children who were still young. Julie stood by the side, protecting them.

The trio watched the scene from a distance.

 

Part IV

 

"And! Cheers!"

With Gigi leading, "Cheers!" everyone shouted along, and toasted to each other. The drinks ranged from tea, lemonade to fruit juice and and other miscellaneous things, the only thing in common was that ‘they were not alcoholic’.

The Class 3-4 students, who never had a drop of alcohol, were having lots of fun. They placed crackers, played tricks, and chatted loudly like explosions.

Tired of being bombarded with questions, Ai kept a low profile and moved on. Scar remained very popular and still in demand with Celica.

"Ai."

Alice called out from behind her.

"Come here."

Alice deftly slipped through the gaps between the tables and led Ai to the kitchen in the back.

It was a world of magic.

"This place is…"

The kitchen was empty, with only ingredients and dishes dancing in every direction. The kettles flew about, brewing coffee, and the fruits were cut into parfaits all by themselves.

Ai had already seen this scene many times. Newspapers were being dropped into the mailbox on their own, and the snow on the roofs were shoveled. The place Class 3-4 were in had all kinds of supernatural phenomena.

"What are you doing?"

Alice said to Ai, who had stopped trying to move further in.

"Don't look at them too much. Otherwise, everything will be inconsistent."

"Inconsistent?

"Inconsistent, yes…and especially don’t mention it to those guys in class 4. Worst case scenario, the class gets reset."

Ai had no idea what was going on, but she nodded and followed Alice upstairs. They went past a sign ‘night onwards’ and went to the second floor.

He said the second floor was where they served alcohol starting in the evening. On first glane, there was a shockingly fancy bar, and one could smell wine, cigarettes, and perfume.

Alice entered the counter in a familiar motion, pulled out a few bottles from the shelf, and began to pour them in a shaker.

"Is it okay to do that?"

"I used to work part-time here…and the owner of this place isn’t around anymore."

Ai thought it was not a sufficient reason for him to do as he pleased.

"What do you want to drink?"

"…I can't have alcohol."

"Of course not, you idiot—Come on."

Alice mixed a few liquids together, and poured out a yellow steaming liquid. Is this orange, or grape juice?…she had no idea what it was, but it was tasty. Alice too helped himself with a serving, and strode off to the window, unbolting it.

The breeze felt good.

The chill of the place was a welcome relief to the hot body, and made the cocktail taste even better.

"What do you think of class 4?"

Alice asked, not drinking the cocktail, but using it to warm his hands.

"It's fun. Everyone is so nice, and funny. It's just..."

Then Ai paused.

"Just?"

"—No, it's nothing."

"Tell me."

"No, maybe I'm just imagining things."

"You feel distanced, right?"

"You knew?"

Ai looked to her side in shock.

That was right. While Class 4 was friendly to her, she felt disconnected to them, as though there was a thin membrane between them.

It felt as if she had wandered onto a stage accidentally without a script, such a dissonance.

"This world is created as a replica of the world fourteen years ago. I say that, but as you can see, it's pretty flimsy—the establishment is rather weak, and they can’t really accept transfer students. Part of the reason why everyone’s so noisy is because they’re trying to relieve their stress. They’re subconsciously trying to get along with you, but they can’t really accept people like you who don’t exist in this world to begin with."

"…Everyone doesn’t know they’re trapped in this world, right?"

It was one of the points she had heard the previous day. Of the members of class 4, Alice and Dee were the only ones who were aware that this was an abnormal world. The others did not know it was a sealed world."

"You’re not telling them?"

"I’ll tell them when the time to free us comes. Even if I do, it’ll only add on to their stress. It’ll be terrible if we end up killing (resetting) each other again."

"…That happened before…?"

Yeah.

There was a slight pause in the conversation, and Alice, after stirring his cocktail, tapped the floor with his toe before getting to the main point.

"I want to 'destroy' the world. I did mention it before, right?"

Ai nodded her head. She finally understood what he meant.

"I want to destroy this place and save Class 3-4 (everyone)."

Alice picked up a dart that was lying on the table and flicked it. It was obvious without looking, 40 points (Double bull).

"This place will continue to repeat an annual loop that ended on August 27th, thirteen years ago. But there are a few inconsistencies—like say, those who died in this space will simply die."

"!!"

"I guess it’s because there wasn’t any plan for anyone else. I tried to bring some Dead in as an experiment, but it didn't work. They just couldn't get through that entrance. I could bring in Gravekeepers…but…"

"…What happened to them?"

"The moment they entered this world, they looked around in amazement. ‘Our task is finished…’ and they just laid around and didn’t move until they died…maybe that's what will happen to them in the outside world, when they bury all the Dead…I feel sorry for them…"

"……"

Perhaps Ai and Scar did not become so as they were malfunctioned Gravekeepers?...no, it did not matter. Scar and her had already left such a phase.

"Also, there’s the issue of those deformed. Anyone with any ability can’t enter. This includes Hampnie Hambart."

"……"

"The only exception is my Buzzer Beater."

He said, and threw three darts. Each dart hit the circle that was the size of a ring.

"It doesn’t make sense. The awakening of my Buzzer Beater ability happened in the future way after the loop in this world. I felt something’s wrong here, and that’s how I managed to notice the anomaly of this world. I figured it out in the first month after I got reset three years ago, and then things escalated…I read books, rode my motorcycle from one end of the continent to the other, and finally got out of here…"

"Wa-wait, wait! From one end of the continent to the other? How big is this space!?"

"The round-the-world exploration team returned just a while back."

Ai was dumbfounded.

"W-Why is it so uselessly big?"

"Who knows? The exploring scholar I knew said that it was probably created by observation."

"Huh?"

"In other words, this space was originally only as big as it needed to be. When we were the only ones here, it was just this city, and as more people came, more space was observed."

"I don't understand."

"I only found out after seeing the World Tower that this world is the same as that place. It’s ‘a world created by many people’—the more people that form this world, the bigger the world. That finally made sense…when I first rode a bike to try and leave this place, I had a feeling that I just couldn’t reach the end no matter how far I rode…it felt like the goal-line was chasing after me as the same speed…"

Then Alice suddenly noticed something, and shook hishead.

"Uh oh, I talked too much."

"Is that so?"

"Ahh. I beg of you, don’t ask me too many questions. No, please assume that whatever I say is wrong.".

"…Well, I guess it’s better not to ask then."

"Right?"

"Yeah, and there’s someone eavesdropping…"

The moment Ai said this, there were footsteps at the stairs leading to the first floor, followed by a slip, "Owie…" and then a grumble.

"…Feels like she’s been really clumsy ever since she got her actual body back."

"No, that’s how she’s always been."

Alice downed the cocktail he had not sipped, and stood up,

"That's all I can say. Please take care of the rest."

Ai had no shovel, no straw hat, and no Gravekeeper's clothes. "Yes" She could only answer proudly.

 

+

 

A week passed in a flash.

In that amount of time, the group adapted to the world at their own pace.

Celica was the first to take action. This baby appeared to assume that she should not be adapting to the world, but that the world should adapt to her (which, in hindsight, she had been doing the entire time). On the second day, she crawled up to class 4 in search of Scar, and attended class with her. The young teacher was quite bewildered, but the old teacher accepted the situation with an air of calmness, "It's nothing to worry about." Thus, Celica was the only one who would not be reproached for falling asleep in class, and reigned over class 4.

This act seemed to help Scar a lot, and using Celica as a bridge, she slowly blended with crowd. She had a ‘trying’ attitude when she first transferred over, but it seemed she had enjoyed herself somewhat..

Julie rarely remained in a conspicuous place, but it seemed he was working everywhere behind the scenes. Whenever Ai went to the shopping district, people would say, "Are you Julie’s child" and give her great discounts.

The townspeople were basically ‘invited here by Alice to save him’, but in fact, it felt like ‘Alice was saving them when they had nowhere to go’, which was why they were especially kind to Ai and the others. In addition, the autonomous organization seemed to have made some kind of decision and notice, for there was surprisingly little confusion about Celica.

Scar was often begged to go into town to parade her baby.

She’s not for show! Julie was originally angry and opposed, but there was an endless stream of people who wanted to see Celica, and those who actually saw it were moved to tears, and none of them were laughing. Thus, Julie relented. Celica aside, Scar was not opposed to this, and this seemed to be the decisive factor as to why Julie agreed.

The entire town had become much livelier thanks to the baby, and in response, the three of them were doing just fine.

Ai was the only one who was not well.

 

+

 

"Muuugggaaahh!"

Ai shouted and plopped down on a pile of newspapers.

Perhaps as a reaction to having acquired so much information on the first two days, the rest of the week was surprisingly uneventful.

(I wonder if I'm doing this wrong…)

She lifted her face and looked at the materials scattered before her.

Ai's first task was to investigate ‘what happened fourteen years ago?’ and ‘what happened during the fourteen years?’

The yesterday newspapers that were printed fourteen years ago were already complicated and weird on their own, and there were earlier issues. Next to them was a pile of scrapbooks and documents.

Ai thought that Alice’s metaphor was really appropriate, the one about the cage, the key and the treasure.

Class 3-4 was trapped in this world, but it did not mention they were in a cage. Their predicament was akin to having to solve a ridiculous question. They were in a cage, and yet outside the cage. What was the one thing that could never escape a cage? That would be the cage itself.

Ai's role was to break the cage free, and not necessarily to know the treasure inside. She thought one way was to break the cage forcibly without unlocking it, or knowing its secret, and free the contents that was class 4.

But Ai did not want to do that.

Because, after all, it was the place of some people’s wishes.

Though the wish was distorted and thus created a lot of misfortune, the initial emotions were not a lie. Ai did not want to trample upon them.

She wanted to choose a solution that was in line with everyone's ‘wishes’, as much as possible.

However, despite this, the investigation was not progressing.

Alice stopped expressing his own opinions as he had originally declared, and instead of helping Ai, he started attending club activities (he was apparently the manager of the basketball team). He had said so much, but it felt as though he was enjoying this world thoroughly.

And there was also a problem with the material research.

There was only so much material in this world at this point. The most crucial part, the ‘end of the loop’, was completely omitted however, and it was impossible to grasp what happened at that moment.

She had no idea as to ‘what happened 14 years ago’, and ‘What happened during these fourteen years’ remained a bigger mystery.

The reason of it all was the ‘reset’. The ‘reset’ resulted in a breakdown of information, and the footprints during those fourteen years became a black box. Even Alice had no idea as to what happened in the early days.

And and there was Dee.

Ai had a feelt that Dee and her got along really well. Ever since Dee regained her body, she was using it well to help these people who had absolutely no life skills. Seeing her sweep the floor and cook, one would not have imagined her to be the same person as the ‘Ghost’ outside. It seemed she was well suited for this role (Though she was a klutz).

But that did not mean she had lost her ghostly fangs.

(Seriously, she…)

Ai flipped through a stack of documents. It was a lot, but on further thought, it was not much.

Most of the materials was hidden by Dee. She would steal or destroy the information to a point where the rest would not occur. (And she had pretended to be klutzy by spilling tea or slipping, which Ai failed to realize initially). Ai tried to ask her directly, but she turned Ai’s words against the latter. Ai’s mouth was no match against the Ghost’s, and she was at her wits end.

"Muuugggaaahh!"

Tired of the reality where she understood nothing at all, Ai plopped down on her desk, screaming like a dying warthog.

"…Young Astin."

The chief of the newspaper club, Mr. Witz, appeared to have had enough as he reached to nudge his glasses up, grunting in annoyance.

"You have been making noises for a while now. Is there a problem? Don't bother others just because you're stuck."

"I'm sorry…"

Ai looked up. The newspaper that was stuck to her forehead fell down.

They were in the newspaper club room.

There was a huge desk with piles of papers scattered all over it, and the walls were covered with shelves with papers shoved into them. The floor too was dirty, with ink vials that surely had fell to the floor, becoming stuck with the floor. The area around the stove was the only clean part, but she could not lean over, but there were signs of countless scorch marks on them.

Ai had Alice arrange for her to use this place freely, and brazenly occupied a table to work. The chief appeared displeased, and would insult her whenever he had the chance to.

"Goodness…our newspaper club is the bastion of knowledge and conscience. What are you thinking, making such noises that aren’t intellectual in the slightest? If you want to growl so badly, why don't you go to a pig farm?"

"Well, well, chief, that's enough …."

Maki, the male advisor, followed up. Not only that, the other members of the club were generally friendly towards Ai.

They were not Class 3-4 students; Ostia had about 500 students at this point, and they were run so differently from the past. There was no longer an academic year system or class system. The ages of the students range from fifteen to sixty-eight, and the school has become a kind of university where those who were unable to study during the turbulent fifteen years could freely attend. In fact, the chief of the department was nineteen years old.

Alice had said that the act of bringing in 35,000 people was a failure, but that might be hard to say in. The influence of bringing others in was firmly shown in this world.in reality, we still didn't know. The effects of letting others in are clearly visible in this world.

However,

"Ehhh~, is that what you should be saying, chief~~? Don’t you always get impatient and talk to yourself whenever it’s almost the deadline?"

Standing up was Kate Ann, register number seven of class 3-4, vice chief of the newspaper club. Her freckled cheeks flushed, and she pointed her ink-stained fingertip as she turned to wink at Ai. It seemed her desire to protect her classmates took precedence over her club allegiance, and she often defended Ai..

However.

"Wha! Don’t slander me! I would never do such a thing!"

"Oh, you're trying to get away with it? That's not like you, chief Maki. I thought you wouldn’t deny it at least no matter how horrible a person you are…"

"My name is Witz!"

"…? What are you talking about, Chief Maki?"

The air in the room changed drastically. Kate herself did not appear to notice this as she continued to call Witz as Maki.

The name, of course, did not belong to Witz.

It belonged to,

"Okay okay."

In the same tone of voice as before, the teacher Maki Collect said.

"That's enough, both of you."

His voice was stern, gentle, and compassionate. Witz gave him a gaudy look, while Kate looked incredulous at him.

Ai's brow furrowed as she endured the scene in front of her. The same could be said for the other members.

Professor Maki Collect was an alumni of Ostia School. He used to be a member of class 3-2, and was a member and chief of the newspaper club during his tenure.

This world as perceived by the students of Class 4 was quite different from the real one, and the unnatural scenario of ‘not thinking this world as unnatural’ would not be possible. The cognitive adjustments were flexible, and could allow for people who should not have existed back then—like Ai and the other students—and even become friends with them. Even if the loop developed differently, it could continue to run if there was no major dissonance.

However, the really important matters would not change.

For Kate, the head of the newspaper club was Maki Collect, a fact that she could not change and a memory she could not forget.

And it must have been the same for Maki Collect who, after fourteen years, decided to return to this place and stay by her side as a teacher...

Don't think about it any more.

Ai shook her head and just read the material furiously.

They need to be released, no matter what.

So she thought.

 

+

 

"I'm back."

"I’m home~."

Ai brushed the snow off her boots outside the door, took off her coat and scarf, and went inside. The house was warm, and there was a nice fragrance. Dinner was already prepared in the living room, and the lid of the pot was shaking in the fireplace.

"You're late!"

Julie was angry. His face was filled with deep wrinkles, and his legs were quivering, as though he was sick or something.

"You’re so late! Why are you home so late!? Didn’t I tell you to be home by sundown at the very least!?

"I thought I answered that I can’t guarantee that."

I'm back~. After greeting Celica, she reached out to tickle the latter’s belly, and then laid out the her shoes and coat next to the fireplace.

"No! No! No! Ehhh, you too Alice! Why didn't you tell Ai to leave earlier? Didn’t I ask you!?"

Alice, who was also hanging up his clothes next to Ai, was startled.

"Eh, you’re mistaken, old man? You said that if she’s going to come home late, I should at least accompany her—"

"It’s obvious without me telling you that you’re supposed to send her home early!"

"That’s pushing it."

"Shall we go, Mr. Alice?"

Hey, Ai! I’m not done—"

"I'm going to gargle and wash my hands."

Ai glanced aside at Julie, whose words were stuck in his throat, even giving a childish look before closing the door. Alice Alice muttered, "that stubborn dad."

"—Goodness, that old man’s having the time of his life."

"Good grief. Can’t he think about how he’s always late at home because he’s always going out with friends or working."

"That old man definitely never followed a curfew when he was a student. That’s hypocritical of him."

After gargling and washing their hands, they did not want to go to the living room, so they went upstairs through the kitchen. This time, bam! the door was barged open, and Dee, holding the pot, charged out.

"Move, move, move!"

"Whoa."

"Oops."

The contents of the pot were dumped into a colander, and steam kept rising as the glossy pasta appeared. Dee deftly drained the water, lifted the colander, and went back to the kitchen.

"Whoa!"

"Kyaahh!"

"Woooaaaa!"

It was just in the nick of time: Alice caught Dee who was about to fall, and Ai caught the colander before the pasta could fall out.

Phew, The three of them slowly stood up, letting out an unanimous sigh of relief.

"I-I'm sorry, you two, and thanks."

Dee bowed her head while she was still held up by Alice.

"Dee~~~please hurry back soon!"

But she paled the moment she heard a scream from the kitchen.

One had to wonder what project was going on there. The fragrant smell quickly turned into a smell of paint and concrete, and the steam turned to purple smoke.

And Scar's scream came from the other side.

"Dee, the pot, the pot—!"

"Wait, Scar, what are you doing? I'm coming, don't touch it!"

Saying that, Dee gulped and charged into the kitchen with the expression of a fireman headed towards a severe fire.

"Ahhh, it exploded."

"Oh, why does it always happen?

The menu for dinner was pasta with meat sauce and dried salmon soup, along with pickled vegetables salad.

Somehow, it was delicious.

 

+

And so, the the days passed, leisurely for some, and frantically for others.

Ai's room was slowly filled with things. First were cabinets and desks for storing materials, then heaps of stationery and paper.

At night, Ai was lying prostrate on the desk under a light that had been left on. Drool and snoring oozed from her mouth, about to stain the borrowed materials.

Dee speaked at that scene. She did knock and call out to Ai, but since there was no response, she opened the door.

"…I knew you’d fall asleep like this again."

She sighed and entered the room. "Ai, are you asleep?" She walked up to Ai, stole a glance at the material, and heaved a sigh of reief. For some reason, it seemed Ai was researching on something related to water and sewage in Ostia. Dee was relieved to see that there was no progress at all, so she set her hand to the second objective.

Dee picked up Ai, carried her to bed, and tucks her under the blanket. The heating was switched off late at night, and her little body was pitifully cold.

Dee wrapped her hands tightly around Ai to warm her up, then prepared a hot water bottle and put it under her feet before leaving the room.

Suddenly, she noticed a blanket on the floor under the chair Ai had been sitting on.

It appeared someone had draped it over Ai's shoulders, but it had fallen off.

"……"

Dee folded the blanket carefully, held it in her left hand, switched off the light and left the room.

 

Part V

 

Truth be told, Alice was of no use.

In fact, he was more of a hindrance.

He did not give any hints, and on the contrary, interfered with Ai’s work. Whenever there was a break, he would invite her to play ball, or in the holidays, he would drag her out to go skiing, skateboarding, everywhere.

It would be a lie to say that Ai did not enjoy it. In fact, she remembered the night they skied to the other side of the ice field at Ostia Coral and spent the night in a snow hut.

But it would be a bit of a stretch to say that she was really enjoying herself.

"You’re too uptight. You won’t be able to see what you can normally see, right?"

Alice laughed and patted Ai on the head, who brushed it off and went to her desk with a stoic look.

The investigation just did not progress, and no matter how she waited, the inspiration did not come..

And so the season turned to spring.

Ai turned thirteen.

 

Chapter 3 - The Academy Rules

Part I

 

It was the beginning of May, a month after Ai's arrival in this world.

The persistent snow finally began to disappear, and the season turned to spring. The snow slowly melted and was replaced by the lake water of Ostia. The sealed, heavy clouds were reluctantly repatriated to the north as they were by the south wind. The mornings and evenings were still cold, but the middays were warm enough.

It happened on a certain day.

Everyone was acting strange since morning.

They would hastily avert their eyes whenever she saw them, and there were often whispers behind her back.

It was the same at home and at school.

Everyone was shunning Ai, fearful of talking to her. However, they were strangely kind, filling in for her duty, and some cleaned up for her.

She only understood the reason once she got home.

"Happy Birthday!"

There was a chorus of dozens of people, Menhim's homemade crackers, deafening applause, and some really delicious smelling food.

" ………Eh?"

Ai muttered as she pulled the ribbon of the cracker over her head.

"Eh? Ah, i-is it someone’s birthday today? I-I’m so sorry. ! I didn't know anything about it! I'm sorry! Whose is it?"

"Yours, yours."

Julie, Scar, and the entire class 4 retorted.

Me? Ai pointed her index finger back at herself.

"That’s right! Ai! Happy birthday!"

Dee shouted excitedly, hugging her from behind.

"You totally forgot, right?"

Alice, wearing nose glasses, smirked.

"Eh? But my birthday was in the summer, and it's not spring yet..."

In the middle of saying this, Ai realized.

It had been a month since she came to this world.

It was early summer outside, so it should have been summer by now.

However, it was a late spring over here, cold enough to require a fireplace, and there was still snow under the eaves.

She never had a birthday like this before.

"Look at you, you're too uptight, and you have tunnel vision. You don't even know when your own birthday is. Who got the nerve to lecture me now? Huh?"

Alice grinned as though he was the biggest contributor.

"Just for today, I'm going to make you forget everything. Forget about the world, forget about us, just have fun."

Then Alice extended his hand.

"Come on—it's your day today."

There was a huge white cake behind him, thirteen pale colored candles, a chocolate plate celebrating her birth, and smiles, smiles, and more smiles.

"Here, Ai."

Dee took Ai’s other arm, and they dragged Ai to a warm place.

And so Ai turned thirteen.

 

+

 

"Hahhh~!"

It was the time when the date was about to change. Ai sat slumped in her chair in her room and spaced out.

That birthday party became quite a ruckus ever since that. There were lots of party tricks, a whole bunch of ‘congratulations’, and a lot of little present boxes that were never the same.

Scar's training had paid off, and she gifted Ai with many jewel-like baked sweets. Julie gave her a school uniform and a modest hair clip that was definitely not cheap and did not violate school rules. Her classmates gave her a dress as a present.

The clothes were adorned on Ai's body. A simple sky-blue shirt was matched with a flared skirt down to her knees. This dress was very suited for the coming spring and summer, and one that would match Ai's straw hat.

"Alright~ we’re done."

Alice carried the presents in and clapped his hands. Ai said that she would move all her presents, but Alice did not budge. He was still in the midst of cleaning up downstairs, and would not allow Ai to do any work.

"Ah, what are you doing down there? I told you to rest today, right?"

"Yes, yes."

In fact, Ai wanted to continue her research, but she was not in the mood. Thud, she closed the folder she had just opened, and did as Alice commander.

"What now? You look tired."

"Urk! I’m not tired. It's just that I was deeply moved, like—oh, I'm thirteen years old now."

"What? You're unhappy?"

"Yeah, I don't want to be old…"

"Seriously, you’re saying that at thirteen years old? You’ll have blood on your hands. Don’t ever say that to the nearby aunts."

"I don’t mean that…it feels like I’m seeing a fuse of a bomb getting shorter and shorter, and I don’t like that..."

At that point, Ai realized she had misspoke.

The fuse of the person before her had stopped all this while.

Given that she had already noticed so, surely Alice too noticed she misspoke, but he did not show it on his face, "What's wrong?" and smiled-.

I didn’t notice anything. It was a kind lie to emphasize so. Ai took advantage of his kindness and said, "It's nothing," and stood up.

"I'll get changed."

"Oh, my bad. Wait a minute. I’ll be right back.."

Ai nodded without asking why, and Alice left the room once he saw that. He probably went to his room.

Ai only removed the little item on her, the barrette that held her hair up.

The barrette was a simple piece of bent tortoiseshell. Practical as it might be, it was a genuine article.

"Is that Dee’s?"

Alice, who came back really quickly, peered at her hand.

"Yes, it's nice."

The classmates' joint gift was clothes, but there were also quite a few individual gifts: Mu gave her brass knuckles, Menhim gave her a brand new pencil case, and Kate gave Ai her favorite ruling pen.

And Dee gave this hair clip.

"It's kind of fun to give gifts, isn’t it?"

"Sure seems the case for the recipient."

"I don’t mean this. Don’t you think giving presents is like ‘making a wish’?"

Making a wish? Alice asked for an explanation. Ai pondered for a while, and said,

"For example, what do you think everyone in class 4 was thinking when they gave these clothes to me?"

"’Will you please dress like a normal person’?"

"Y-yeah. I guessed it would be something like that—but you’re too blunt about it."

Aside from weekdays, Ai spends all her holidays in Gravekeeper clothes. Surely class 4 had taken her appearance into consideration when they gave her the clothes.

"Mr. Julie gave me the new uniform for the same reason, I guess. He wants me to fit in at school…and doesn’t want me to wear these Gravekeeper clothes too often."

"…I guess so."

"Miss Dee is the same too. ‘You should dress up a little’, that’s what she’s been saying all the time."

"Yeah."

"Of course, that's not the only reason. I think Miss Mu for example just chose what she wanted. It seemed Miss Scar chose something she could do."

"… Ahh, I guess so."

"? What’s the matter, Mr. Alice?"

At this point, Ai noticed that Alice was becoming more and more uncomfortable. His gaze swam and his voice became monotone.

"No, it's nothing."

He seemingly changed expressions forcibly.

"Then I'll give you a present too."

"Woah, great!"

Alice returned with a very large box, ""When’s he giving it to me? When’s he giving it to me?" and Ai had been waiting excitedly. Alice was quite the scoundrel to drag this out for so long, knowing that she was looking forward to it..

When it was time to give it to her, Alice simply presented the box to her. Ai took it to her bed, sat on the bed, and unwrapped it. The wrapping paper was plain and there was no ribbon. At that point. That alone had a vibe that "it was a present from Alice" and she was a little delighted. y.

She opened it.

"Ah…"

Inside the box was a shiny shovel that had been repaired.

Ai lifted the shovel in surprise and slowly stroked its handle and blade. The shiny oak handle looked like it had been just lacquered.

"Woah."

Ai exhaled in admiration as she twirled the shovel and saw the shine on the blade. There were no minor scratches from her travels thus far, and no signs of the bullet holes that were caused.

At the bottom of the box was another set of shiny Gravekeeper's clothes, folded.

"I asked Scar to bring them out. You never noticed, did you?"

"…Yes. Not at all."

She had not touched her shovel or her Gravekeeper outfit for a long time recently, and she did not realize they were maintained.

"Tunnel vision. Didn't I tell you?"

"Mm…well, you’re right."

She had to admit this.

"…It's important to focus on what’s before you, and I think there are times when you need to do that. It allows you to really pull out some power, but the price is that you’ll end up buckling yourself. "

She felt those words stab into her chest.

"Well, it's your birthday, so let's not nag too much."

Happy birthday, Alice wished her so, and left the room.

Ai forgot all about her plans to change her clothes and sat in the bed.

She spun the shovel around and around.

A present contains a wish.

And so, what was the meaning of Alice’s present here?

Ai pondered as she twirled the shovel around and around in the pale light.

 

+

 

That day was seemingly the boundary of seasons, for Ostia instantly became spring thereafter. The red-brick streets were dry and free of snow, and housewives were tending to their potted plants in the streets, their faces tanned as they planted flowers that would bloom in summer.

In the two weeks since then, Ai had changed her ways little by little. She reduced her priority to only investigate the material, and decided to be more involved in Class 3-4.

She started attending classes she had been skipping.

She attended the club activities she had never participated in.

She decided to join the cooking club. This club did not receive any monetary assistance from the school, but instead was the only club allowed to sell for profit. The club was restricted in many ways due to the other vendors, but thanks to the rarity of their products and Dee's outstanding skill, the lunchtime store ‘Afumi’ became one of the most popular in the school.

Ai had been attracting attention since her enrollment as a rising star who suddenly debuted in the hellish lunchtime bread fight, and her existence has been attracting a lot of attention from illegal hustlers (there is an organization that sells to wealthy students at double the price. By the way, Alice was one of the cadres), but they missed out on her.

Ai, with her hands covered in flour on a special table, began to learn how to cook by making instead of eating—though she was a month later than Scar’.

She also started to ‘learn out of interest’. This originally came from Scar's interest in history books and historical novels, which she had been reading intently.

Ai was interested in cultural history, especially in the context of burial and human Gravekeepers, the work of priests, the past customs and the authorities. They were also the ones who saved and protected the world. Though Ai’s world had been greatly different, there was much to take reference.

And something strange happened.

Ai obtained the ‘key’ by chance.

 

+

 

Class 4 was preparing for the cultural festival.

"A cultural festival?"

"That's~right~. We're going to hold it before the summer break~ we should start preparing for it soon."

The laid-back Christine said in a relaxed voice. Her seat was right before Ai, and was someone who liked to care for others. She would immediately explain anything to Ai whenever the latter was confused about anything.

"Ours~is a week-long event~. It's some huge festival, and the whole town is involved~ . Our gardening club grows vegetables and fruits to sell for the festival. They're really delicious!"

Ai was greatly interested in this, but there was something she was more bothered about.

The festival was held for two weeks, the same as the annual difference, starting from July 28th.

That was the end date of the loop, the day this world would be ‘reset’.

"I wonder what our class is going to do this year~."

"I guess. "

Ai answered listlessly as she stared at the blackboard. Mu was laying out a number of events for the class. An exhibition, a play, a restaurant, a contest. All of them were supported, and there was a deadlock.

"…This will be the last one ~"

"Huh?"

"I mean, think about it. We’re 3rd years. We’re about to graduate this year…"

Haa, Christine let out a depressed sigh. This was something Ai did not really understand, but it seemed that graduation was so depressing and sad.

"There's no need to be so depressed, is there? It’s not like we won’t meet again."

"I didn’t think you’d be so cold~"

"Mmm, please call me cool at least."

"I don't think you’re cool~"

She patted Ai’s head and pinched the latter’s cheeks.

"Haa~It's so depressing."

"Feels like everyone’s the same. Everyone looks happy, but looks sad at the same time."

"Yeah, well, Class 4 is usually fun."

"I can see that."

"…If only these days can go on forever."

Right? She asked for Ai’s agreement, and Ai awkwardly tried to pass it off.

Would it be sarcastic of Ai if she said, you guys have been in this loop for a long time now?

"Argggh! We're getting nowhere! Let’s vote!"

Mu finally snapped out of it as they could not come to a consensus. Bam bam! She slammed the table hard to silence the messy opinions.

"Shut up! We’ve raised all our opinions. Let’s leave it to fate! Those for exhibition, raise your hands!"

A few hands were raised, and the voting began. Two suggestions were chosen for the first round, and then there was another vote for the remaining two opinions. It seemed the remaining choices were the play and the restaurant.

So it was said, but the decision was already made. There was a certain level of change permitted, but the ultimate choice was predetermined beforehand. Ai was told by Alice in advance what would be chosen: a play.

"Eight…nine…ten…okay! We’re doing a restaurant this year!"

"Eh?—Yo-you’re kidding!"

Dee was stunned. In prior years, the vote would end up split between nine and nine, followed by a meaningless debate, and then the choice would be a play.

But this year, there was Ai.

Her vote went to the restaurant.

 

+

 

"Mr. Alice, why did you tell me to 'vote for the restaurant'?"

Ai asked Alice while they were at the news club, like always. She did not put much thought into Alice’s words when the latter mentioned so, but after seeing Dee’s reaction, she had a feeling there was a reason for that request.

"The play gets chosen all the time."

"I shouldn’t pick the play?"

"Not that we can’t, but it’s just weird. It’s supposed to be a restaurant in the first place."

"? What do you mean?"

"Unless there’s someone interfering, the event that happens in the loop basically repeats what happened fourteen years ago. The only thing different is the type of stalls at the festival."

"…So you thought there’ll be something if we choose something different?"

"Yeah, that's why I wanted to try it out."

"…What happened back then?"

"……"

Alice was silent.

Hmm, Ai sniffed and headed for the filing cabinet. She pulled out the previous year’s bulletin and festival pamphlet. However, there was no particular purpose when she did so.

She was hoping to find something that would allow her to recognize, but the materials available were too old to be of any use.

"…Mmm, it's expected that the future can’t be predicted, but I can’t think of what we can do if we don’t know what happened during this year's festival…"

"I guess so~."

"Hmm, I guess I'll have to experience this once?"

"……"

Alice was silent again. Their conversations were usually like this.

"…I would like another source of information."

She wanted some absolute information that could not be biased.

But there was no way she could find that in this place...

Hmm?

"…Mr Alice."

"What?"

"You’ve been to the outside world so many times, right?"

Alice mentioned before that he and the other original members of Class 3-4 could leave and return to this space as many times as they wanted.

"Yeah."

Alice replied curtly. Ai however saw the blood drained off his face.

"If that's the case, can I ask for something? Can you please go to the outside world and gather some intel? If you can, please collect newspapers from July 28th onward."

Even if there was no information about July 28th in this world, there should be some in the outside world. Such information might be the future in this world, but it was the past in the outside world.

"You make it sound so easy, but it’s really tough, you know? Even if they’re preserved well, old newspapers from fourteen years ago are tattered. Don’t forget that there had been two wars and a plague outside. You'd be crazy to think there's anything left of that."

"….Then."

"Yeah, I really spent a lot of effort looking."

Then Alice got up, went to the file cabinet and took out a file from there.

"Here."

"Wh-What's this?"

"Ahh, August 29th. It's a piece of newspaper from the day after the reset. Just a piece."

There was only one page in the file. The paper was tanned bright yellow, and more than half of the articles had been burned.

It read.

—Seventeen students of the Ostia School for Boys and Girls are missing. One student died—

 

+

 

Ai had no idea who that one student was. It might have been written on the burned part, or not at all.

But there was something about the incident that struck Ai.

She remembered a female student who claimed to be the ‘Ghost’.

 

+

 

After leaving Alice, Ai went to look for Dee alone.

She bumped into Menhim in the hallway, and asked him where she was. "Isn’t she in the cooking classroom?" he answered, so Ai went there.

"Ah, Ai, just in time! Go ahead, have a taste."

It seemed that though there were no club activities held on this day, Dee stayed behind to come up with a new menu. She was in the midst of making the dough and putting it in the oven when Ai visited the club room.

"Miss Dee—"

"Wait a sec."

Dee turned her butt towards Ai and carefully adjusted the flame. She observed the color of the flame and the outside, and adjusted the dough position accordingly.

"Sorry to make you wait. I’ll have you try out these delicious lemon bars as an apology."

Satisfied, Dee stood up and stuck out her tongue.

"…? What's up?"

She immediately noticed that Ai was acting differently, and hung her apron on the chair and turned around with a confused look.

"Miss Dee…."

"Hmm?"

"Why did you call yourself the ‘Ghost’?"

That question alone got Dee to seemingly realize everything.

Ahhh, she nodded in enlightenment, and immediately became a different person, it seemed—from the friendly Dee of this world she had been getting used to recently, to the Ghost she met in the wilderness—

"Sorry, I have to finish cleaning up—"

Dee began to wash the baking tools. Ai stared at her back silently.

Swoosh, the faucet was turned off, the tools were carefully drained and put back on the rack. Dee wiped her hands and said,

"So? Why do I call myself ‘Ghost’? "

"… Yes."

"Coincidence, I guess."

Ai frowned. In contrast, Dee remained composed and dusted the hem of her apron..

"What’s with that face? If you’re unhappy even after I’m telling the truth, then what else is there to talk about?"

"… That's true, but the way you put it,"

"Well, it was really a coincidence initially at least. You know, unlike Alice, I don’t have a physical body once I go to the outside world, so people started calling me ‘Ghost’. Can’t they spare a thought for me when I hate ghosts and monsters and such."

"……"

Ai did ask both of them before as to why Alice had a physical body in the outside world, but Dee did not.

The answer from both of them was "We don’t know.".

Back then, Dee reeked of a liar.

"I really don't know why. I can guess though."

"…Can you tell me why?"

"Well, if I don't tell you, I won't be able to stop you. Since you made it all the way here, I’ll tell you something…the reason why Alice has a physical body and not me is because…"

Dee smiled.

"Because he's alive and I'm dead."

 

+

 

"Well, it was the day before the school festival. We were so busy preparing that day that we stayed in school to help. The reason for that was that we started taking action only at the last moment, and those guys were helpless. It was a really messy day. We didn't have enough equipment, we misspelled a sign, and we didn't keep our receipts. The teacher even scolded us ‘you guys never requested to stay in school’, but everyone got really rowdy, and said that we should just stay up all night to prepare. Mu and I had a hard time setting up a simple kitchen, and we went about putting the gas canisters and the stove and buying the ingredients. Alice’s Buzzer Beater ability had just awakened, and he was really depressed, but he was too busy to be depressed as he was busy working, and he was smiling. I was really happy when I saw him smile…that’s why I didn’t manage to look forward. It’s all my fault."

"……"

"We were particularly nitpicky about the interior. We even changed the lights, and turned the classroom into something like a palace. I was in charge of taking down the curtains, so I stacked the chair onto the table. It wasn’t stable, but it was fine for me, so I just climbed up. I removed the second, the third, but when I got to the fourth."

"Miss Dee…"

"The fourth window was the only one opened, but I didn't notice it, so I stupidly leaned against it to try and remove the curtain. I was so stupid. All the other windows had been closed, so I thought this one would be the same. I was shocked, like, I thought there was a flight of stairs, but there wasn’t? I didn't know what happened at first, and I guess my eyes were really wide, since Alice was like that. Ah—yeah, Alice was removing the curtains with me, so I was really sorry about that…I didn’t remember what happened back then, but Alice definitely saw everything…I messed up."

"Miss Dee!"

Ai shouted.

Dee widened her eyes, and it appeared as though she had not realized she said something that would necessitate others to stop her. Surely that was the same expression she showed as she fell.

"That's enough…."

"Hmm? Yeah. Well, I mean, it's over now, but …"

Dee held her flushed cheeks lightly, as though checking if they were hot.

"Erm, what were we talking about again? Ah yeah, we’re talking about the ‘Ghost’, part? Actually, I’ve been talking about it for a long time. Let’s see. That’s after I left the outside world along with the first Alice…so that’s the sixth year, I guess? We found a newspaper article about the missing Class 4 students and the death of one of the students, and that's when I remembered. I thought, Oh, that's me. How did you find out about this, Ai?"

"……."

"You don't have to tell me. I see. I had been suspicious about it before, but there’s still some bit of this newspaper? Looks like I have to burn it properly before the next loop…"

Ai realized that she had said too much, and also understood why Alice had kept the information from her. He did not want Dee to notice. Alice felt that he did not need to provide this if there was a need to abandon Ai, and wanted to bet on the next candidate.

And at the same time, she also found out where Dee stood.

"…Miss Dee, you once told me that ending the world is your way of saving it, right…?"

"I did."

"What do you mean by that?"

Dee laughed. She laughed like a witch.

"Fufufu, Ai. You already know. You know that I don’t want to end my world."

"But I still want to hear it from you."

"The world I want to end is the outside world."

Dee continued the conversation as she opened the oven and checked the pastry.

"Hey Ai, what do you think is the biggest obstacle to preventing this world from continuing to exist forever?"

"It's Mr. Alice."

"Pfft, great answer. I can’t get rid of him even though he’s a nuisance. He’s a very important part of this world."

Dee poked a toothpick in the oven to see how it was cooking. It was not done yet.

"And there's nothing Alice can do about it…but he just wants to go beyond the glass, right?"

"Eh?"

The last line was in the form of a question, but it was not a question.

The last line was in the form of a question, and yet not one. Dee suddenly narrated, seemingly to herself

"And then he’ll be battered all over, right? That's when I thought of the other side of the glass. I thought that if I could get rid of the world outside the glass, even Alice would give up."

Their eyes met. At that moment, Dee had reverted to being the Ghost.

"And I’m always scared that just in case, the one who’ll destroy this world will come from the outside…that’s why I went about whispering to others to accelerate the oxidation of the world, let the world end sooner."

"That’s…"

The shock ran from the little toe of her right foot to the ends of her hair.

"You can’t be doing that!"

"You won’t allow that?"

Of course! Ai was about to shout, but she held her breath.

"…Thanks Ai. I know the current you won’t say something like ‘of course!’ that easily now. I knew you would at least listen to me, even if you didn't like it."

Dee said, looking somewhat shy.

"Actually, I didn’t start out thinking this way….It was, well, the time of the third Alice. That's when we believed Alice's words. It was tough, but it was fun. We were all united in our efforts to get out of here. At that time, I really wanted to get back to the real world. I even forgot that I was dead. …"

"……"

"We were able to go outside for the first time, and that's when I started to change my mind. I still remember the first time I went out and saw the Dead, and I thought, 'Are we seriously returning to this place’?"

"……"

"But even then, I tried to hang on, since Alice wouldn’t give up, so I had to. I thought that no matter how bad the world was out there, we should return there, and break free from the bond of this little world. I tried hard, I really did.

…until I realized that I died…"

"……"

"Hey, Ai. Am I a bad kid?"

Dee said, as though she was an abandoned child.

"Of course I’m a bad kid. I just bound everyone because I don’t want to disappear, and I even went to everyone, getting everyone uninvolved to hurry up and die. Of course I’m a bad kid. I’m so bad that I can’t complain if they stone me or chop my head off, right?"

But still,

"But still, is it really my fault?"

Dee spoke plainly, as if she were talking about her own death.

"I can't accept my own death, and that’s why I can't let everyone go. Is it really a bad thing…?"

The Ghost, the monster, did not cry. She had seemingly forgotten how to cry, and merely uttered her words.

"…No."

Ai responded.

"Miss Dee…you aren’t a bad person."

"Haha, that’s a lie. I don't need any consolation."

"It's true. You aren’t a bad person. You’re just weak…"

"Weak?"

Yes, Ai nodded.

"You’re just ‘weak’, and that’s worse than being bad…"

"…Haha, hahaha."

I see, Dee laughed.

"I see I see. So it’s worse than being a bad person…I guess I'm worse than evil then…"

I’m really a monster…Dee sneered as she leaned limply onto the kitchen table.

Ai stood there, not knowing what to say. Dee looked up at her from a lower position.

"…But then, what are you going to do about it, Ai?"

"What am I going to do about…what?"

"Aren’t you trying to fulfill Alice's wish?"

The vibe around Dee slowly changed.

"I don't know how Alice is going to destroy this world. But if the time comes, will you bury me? I’ll cry and say that I don’t want to be buried, but will you still bury me with your shovel?"

Dee Ensy Stratmitos whispered, like an evil spirit.

But that whisper did not work on Ai now.

"No, of course not."

"Eh?"

"Seriously, that’s what you’re thinking about? I thought I told you about this many times before ."

"Wh-what?"

"It's fine to call someone an enemy…actually, it’s not…but please don’t think that just because you think of someone else as an enemy, the other person thinks of you as an enemy. Didn’t I say before that I’m standing on your side?"

"Ah…."

"I want to make everyone's wishes come true. Yes, of course I will grant Mr. Alice's wish, but it doesn’t mean that I’ll trample over yours. The wishes of ‘wanting to be free’ and ‘don't want to disappear’ aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s a really simple problem. I just need to fulfill both."

"Ho-how’s that possi-!"

Possible! Dee almost shouted, but she swallowed her words in the nick of time.

"Fufu, you’re starting to understand me now, Miss Dee—I hate it when people say they can’t do it, that it’s impossible. I like to tell them, so what?"

Dee was dumbstruck, and opened her mouth wide.

Just then, ‘Ring!’ the bell rang.

"Oh, it's baked. We’ll continue later. Let’s find a way to fulfill these two…no, everyone's wishes."

Ai deftly took out her oven gloves and opened the oven. The hot air escaped, causing her bangs to curl up.

'Woah, that looks delicious. Miss Dee…how many can I take?"

"Eh? Ah, erm."

Dee felt a strong sense of daily life, and nearly tumbled over as though intoxicated. Her brain, which had been worrying about the world, was now confused over whether she should allow Ai to eat a few tidbits.

"I'll take about sixteen."

"…Nope, three."

By the time she responded,

Dee was no longer a Ghost or a monster, she was back to being Dee Ensy.

"…Seriously, I can’t get serious about this."

Dee dragged herself up and put on her baking gloves.

"…It won't happen, huh?"

"What?"

"Nope, it’s nothing…hey, Ai."

"What is it?"

"If. What if, what if I just accepted everything?...what would you do if I feel that I can just die?"

"Huh?"

"No, that’s not the case. It’s not like I don’t care that I die. Assuming that I suddenly have the urge to die like the Holy Maiden? What will you do if I say that I’ll happily disappear for everyone’s sake?"

"……"

"Will you bury me happily? With an emotionless face? Or sadly?"

"Why are the answers all to ‘bury’…"

"So you won't bury me?"

Ai took a single deep breath,

"Basically, I think that people are supposed to disappear someday. I think that's right."

"Yes."

"People will disappear. It’s true. But I don’t think ‘humanity’ will disappear. It’s right for a single person to disappear, so I won’t stop anyone who’ll willingly disappear…but if I do, everything will disappear. So—"

"Ah~ahh~ahhh~ahhhh...that's not what I’m asking!"

Dee squeezed Ai's cheeks.

"Will you bury me if I ask you to? Or not?"

"I-I don't want to bury you. But..."

Ai was teary-eyed, as though she was forced to make a decision.

"But I'm sure that when the time comes, I'll bury you Miss Dee…"

"I see."

"Yes…"

"What’s there to be sad about? I already know that. I know that you buried Hampnie Hambart.I know you’re not going to give up on your dream just because of your feelings."

"I'm sorry…"

"But, ahhh, that’s too bad. Now my plan of trying to appeal to you has failed. Dammit, I shouldn’t have taken care of you. Here, return the sweets to me."

"Eh? So you’re planning that…?"

"……Just kidding. Here, for you. You can have four."

"…I want six."

"Damn you…"

Dee gritted her teeth and handed over the basket to Ai, as though implying that the latter could take as many as she wanted "Yay~" Ai immediately cheered, and the crow that had just despaired immediately broke into a smile, munching on the lemon bar that was not too hot at this moment.

"Ah, since we have the chance, let’s eat and chat about the future. There’s something we should explain to Mr. Alice too. Ah, but since he’s working so hard, I guess he definitely knows everything—"

"No!"

The supposedly amicable, joyous mood immediately turned tens again. Dee turned around and grabbed Ai's shoulder as if she were about to burst.

"Please! Don't tell Alice!"

"…M-Miss Dee. It hurts."

Her eyes were filled with despair and fear.

"Wh-Why are you so...?"

"Please…I beg of you, Ai… don’t tell Alice…Alice doesn’t know. He doesn’t know that I’m dead. He doesn’t know about this, and he’s working so hard. No matter how thick the wall is, he’s still not going to give up."

"……"

"Do you think Alice would give up just because I'm dead?"

Ai could not answer.

"No…maybe Alice knows. He might have known that I’m dead, and that destroying this place will cause me to disappear. But even so, it’s fine. Even if that’s the case, I’m fine with this. As long as I don’t know. But—"

"……"

"But if I know, if I realize that ‘I still want to be free even if it means that you’ll disappear’, if I know that’s what he’s thinking, then…"

Dee laughed. She laughed at herself.

"I'm really ridiculous…I'd kill anyone for my own sake…and even destroy the world… I'd do anything for that…But..."

 

"If Alice tells me ‘I don’t need you’—"

 

From that point on, Dee could not say anything.

Her body went limp, her knees buckled, and she and she sagged against Ai's body.

──────. ──────.

Dee was crying as if she was laughing, without making a sound.

Ai hugged her body gently with her right hand.

"Miss Dee."

She slowly stroked Dee’s head with her left hand and said,

"You love Mr. Alice, don't you?"

Dee nodded, trying to hide her tear-stained and snotty face.

 

+

 

Dee rubbed her nose until it turned red, cried so many tears one would wonder if her eyes ran dry, and finally regained her composure.

"…I'm sorry you had to see that, …."

"No, no."

Sniff. She sniveled.

"But I'm surprised that you like Mr. Alice…Miss Dee."

"…Me too."

"No, no, no, no."

The two of them sat side by side on the floor of the home economics room with their legs outstretched. The sun shining through the window in the west went past Dee’s legs, and only heated Ai’s left leg.

"What do you mean, 'me too'?"

"…No, I just realized that I like Alice. …

"Huh?"

What are you talking about? That was the face Ai showed.

"What are you talking about?"

And she actually said so. Dee blew her nose one more time.

"I see…so I like Alice."

"Eh? Does that mean you just fell in love with him?"

"No. Now that I think about it, since elementary school—"

"That’s so late!"

Ai slapped herself on the knee.

"Miss Dee, you're so late to realize it!"

"Y-yeah. But you don't have to say that…"

"I mean, you were annoyed before when Mu and others made fun of you, saying ‘it’s really not’, right?"

"Y-yeah. That’s what I really thought back then. Now that I think about it, I was hiding my own embarrassment, maybe?"

Kyuu, she blushed and pressed her cheeks.

"… What should I do? Miss Dee is being cute …?"

"I-I’m not."

Dee was so embarrassed that her eyes, nose and cheeks were red. Ai sighed.

"…Want some sweets?"

"Yes."

Finally, they chowed down on the lemon bars that were no longer hot. The lemon bars had lemonade soda essence sprayed on it, and was fizzy in the mouth. It tasted really sweet.

The first star. The afternoon home economics room in the western sun. Tears, love, and lemon bars.

It was like a scene from a novel.

"But I see...I like Alice..."

"You're still saying that…"

Ai decided to ignore it and crunched on a lemon bar.

"Ah, then, I’ve been finding fault with you because I was jealous, Ai?"

Soon, Ai could not ignore it anymore.

"………Huh?"

"I see, I see, ah—it all makes sense now. Is that so? Now that I think about it, whichever the girl Alice saved, I just didn’t like that girl. So that’s why."

"Wait, Miss Dee?"

"I see, I see. Jealousy? Ehehe."

"W-waait, stop, Miss Dee, stop."

Ai stopped Dee who was looking blissful for some reason, rubbed her brows, and said,

"Why are you jealous of me, Miss Dee?"

"Eh? Because you like Alice too, don’t you, Ai? "

"Huh?"

What are you talking about?

"What are you talking about?"

"Eh? Huh? That’s weird?"

Dee stuttered at the answer, looking as if she had messed up one plus one. And then she appeared to have understood.

"You just don't know it yet, do you?"

"Wait, wait a minute. Why are you deciding that I like him?"

"Am I wrong here…eh? So you hate Alice, Ai?"

"I don't hate him, but…"

"Then you like him?"

"Please don't make it sound like it’s black or white. It’s not a yes or no question."

"Is that so?"

"Of course not. And I…don’t really understand love relationships."

Dee made a really vexed face. It was the kind of look a novice would give to a younger novice, forgetting that she was at that phase before.

"Well, it can’t be helped at your age. Yep yep."

"……"

"But you know what? If I count backwards, I guess I fell for Alice at your age."

That’s being thirteen, Dee said.

"You just don't know it yet, right? Maybe you’ll only realize it later on."

"…That's not true."

"I told you you won’t notice until later…ugh, if you're that insistent, maybe you’re—"

"Yes, yes."

Ai really would not listen to whatever Dee said, so she just dismissed them and stood up.

But Dee seemed certain to some extent, and she kept leering away.

The school bell rang.

The lemon bars were already finished.

 

+

 

"Fufufu, but Ai, I didn’t think—"

"Seriously, have you had enough? Are you really trying to make me your love rival? An all-out war for love? Is that what makes you happy, Miss Dee?"

"Oh, don’t worry. I’m not your love rival. Relax."

"Eh?"

Ai looked at Dee in surprise.

"…You're not going to confess or anything?

"Haha, you're quite the joker, Ai."

Dee was laughing with her back facing the setting sun.

"The one who loved Alice was the ‘sixteen year old Dee Ensy."

"? Isn’t that you, Miss Dee…?"

The one standing here is just the Ghost."

"…That’s."

The one who loved Alice was just an ordinary sixteen year old girl…who lived on, never doubting that she could live till the next day, heartbroken just because he’s late, more than happy to hear him say that the food she made was delicious…but that girl’s dead now."

The one here is just a hollow husk, Dee laughed.

"The girl who loved him is gone. The one left here is just a monster who only knows how to kill, she killed him, her friends, the world. She’s just a ‘Ghost’…the cute Dee is gone."

"…That's not true, Miss Dee is pretty cute."

"No, that's not what I mean…"

Dee almost felt limp, and looked at Ai.

The resolve in Ai’s stare left her a little gaudy.

"Miss Dee, you’re adorable."

"Th-thanks…."

"Miss Dee, you’re definitely a murderer, a Ghost, a bad person, greedy, clumsy, and a bit of an airhead who says things without thinking much about people's feelings, but..."

"Hey."

"Maybe the old Miss Dee might not have been like that at all. She might have been a perfect young lady…But I'm sure Miss Dee now is still as adorable."

"…Really?"

"Really."

After saying that, Ai stood up and held out her hand to her on the ground.

"I don't care if you're a Ghost, a monster, or just an ordinary girl. I won’t treat you any differently—and I’m sure Mr. Alice is the same."

"……"

Dee stared at the small hand.

"…I guess I'm no match for you after all….

"eh?"

"No, it's nothing."

Dee gently grabbed her hand and pressed her weight onto Ai.

Ai pulled her up easily.

"Alright, let’s hurry home now."

Dee smiled.

"I really want to see everyone’s faces now."

 

 

And again, time passed, and the calendar flipped to the month of June.

 

Part II

 

Tatatata—it was a relieving sunny afternoon, and Ai carried the basket as she ran off with light steps. The early summer sun burned the nape of her neck, and the biscuits in the basket emitted heat after being freshly.

She peeked into the house, and found both Julie and Scar around Celica. She took some warm biscuits to them. "They're good," Julie widened his eyes as he praised her, "not good enough" while Scar gave such an expression. Celica, who had been beginning to abstain from milk, was asking for some too.

It was the first time Ai made sweets on her own.

Ai puffed out her cheeks and held the basket above her head, handing out cookies to everyone she could find on her way here, getting praises like ‘it’s great’, ‘it’s nice’. Menhim in particular tilted his head, saying "You’re giving food and not snatching them? The sky must be falling." So Ai kicked him.

The biscuits were quickly running low.

There were two biscuits left in the basket♪.

Ai sang and went out to the track field. He was not here, not in the classroom, and not in the news club room either. She went to the principal’s office, not hoping for anything, and naturally could not find him either. Thus, Ai guarded the few biscuits left as she went around looking for Alice..

She tried the basketball club room, but they had a game today and were out.

Perhaps Alice was not at school as he was attending the match.

Ai could not find her target, and carried the basket as she walked towards the school building with heavy footsteps. Even she did not expect to be so disappointed about being unable to hand over the freshly baked biscuits to Alice

"You see?"

A hallucination of Dee appeared as she said these words. Ai abandoned it and hurried off. She felt it was unlikely for him to be there, but she scurried off to the basketball court behind the school building.

Well, there he was.

Alice pulled some fancy dribble moves, feinted twice at his imaginary opponent, and shot a fadeaway.

The ball flew through the air with a slow spin, and passed through the net without touching it, bouncing at his feet a few times.

Alice was covered in sweat, as though he had just played a game, and he was panting hard. His face was not red, but rather, cyanotic.

Ai wanted to brag by showing her biscuits, but she was stunned by the sight of him, and hastily hid herself.

"M-Mr. Alice?"

Alice was exhausted, but still picking up the ball. He dribbled the ball through his legs, feinted with his eyes, and made a layup. It was again nothing but net.

Ai felt a little scared. The Alice before her was definitely Alice, but he appeared to be someone else.

Alice played so much that he was tired. His movements were poor, and his skills were amateurish, but the shooting remained absolutely precise. The ball never hit the rim, swished, and every shot landed onto the court perfectly.

Ai thought it was a beautiful sight.

But—

"Damn it!"

"Kya!"

Alice shouted, throwing a tantrum as he grabbed the ball with one hand and threw it into the sky. It was a high arching toss, a moonshot, and was dragged down by gravity.

Swish, the ball fell to the ground.

Nothing but net.

The ball bounced on the court without slowing down, and finally rolled towards Ai’s feet..

Seeing this, Alice finally stopped and looked at Ai, the look of sanity appearing in his eyes once again.

"Yo…"

"……."

Ai was silent.

"…You saw something uncool, didn’t you?"

"No."

Ai pretended not to notice.

"I baked some biscuits."

She held out the basket.

"Let's eat together."

 

+

 

It seemed Alice was more appreciative of the tea Ai brought than the biscuits, for he finished the entire bottle, "Man, this is great".

Please eat this before you praise me! Ai held out a biscuit, and Alice ate in one gulp and simply said, "It's good".

"…Do you really think so?"

"What do you think?"

Alice shoved one of the two biscuits into his mouth. It was still warm, crispy on the outside, and one could taste the sweetness of honey.

"…It’s great."

"Right?"

Alice finished a biscuit in an instance, licked his fingers, "thanks for the treat" and said so..

Ai ate slowly. It was the first time she ate anything aside from tasting anything.

Alice spun the ball around out of boredom, and from time to time, threw it at the wall of the school building, where there was graffiti of a pirate flag. Alice aimed precisely at the right eye of the skull.

Twice, four times, eight times, sixteen times—

Ai finished her biscuit, wiped her hand on a napkin, put aside her plate and the paper beneath, before saying,

"Did something…happen today?"

"…Sorta."

Alice replied tersely. The skull was hit for the forty-seventh time.

They did not say anything after that, and merely stayed together in the spring sunshine.

"I say it’s today…but it’s actually today, fourteen years ago…"

"……"

"I..."

In the sunshine, Alice eventually spoke up.

"I really liked this sport a lot. I've been playing since I was a kid, and my passion for basketball wouldn’t lose to anyone."

"……"

"But you know, liking it or not is completely different from being good at it. I could train my skills to a certain extent, but there’s a cap I could hit. I’m not tall, and I’m not exactly fast. Coach never played me in any official game, and Dee used to make fun of me and say, "Why are you still doing this?" To be honest, I don’t really know the answer, and I’m the one wondering why everyone isn’t playing basketball."

Ai was speechless. She did not make a sound.

"…Until today—today fourteen years ago—coach finally put me in a game for the first time."

Bong bong, the ball bounced a few times on the court..

"He put me in, but it was the second half. To be honest, part of the reason was because we were walloped. Coach put me in because he gave up. I didn’t give up though. My teammates didn’t give up. And that's when it started to get awesome!"

It would be a strange way to describe him—but Alice's face lit up like a boy's, waving his hands in the air and gesturing away.

"I thought, if I don't do it here, then when? So I did all the things I wanted to do in a game. I might be getting carried away, but till now, I felt that I dominated that game. Last ten minutes, coach got greedy and wanted to sub me out. Of course, it’s a normal thought, but I didn’t expect that bastard Ed to got all "I got a stomachache", and even Saffy and Carrick were complaining "My feet hurt" "I twisted my ankle". Like, I wanted to yell at those bastard "what the hell is wrong with you guys? I can’t last the second half, and you guys want me to keep running"…but I’m grateful to them."

Ai stared at Alice as the latter’s eyes glowed. She witnessed the boy who had abandoned all notion of the world or his mission.

"The game was a back and forth. We scored, and then they scored. They scored, and then we scored. There’s no way to get the lead at this rate though, and we had to figure out a breakthrough. It was the last minute, and it was bad. The ball got stolen by them, and they scored. It was a two score game. Thirty seconds left, we managed to score, but it’s their turn on offense. We didn’t care about defending, and just tried to steal the ball whenever we could. They expected our move though, so ten seconds left, they got someone to run to the frontcourt for a long pass, and throw the ball to him. Five seconds left, but I expected them to try that. Three seconds left, just kidding, I just stayed at my own basketball because I couldn’t move, but I intercepted the ball. One second left—I was twenty meters away from the hoop."

I was in despair. Alice suddenly calmed down, as if everything had gone cold.

"It was the first time I had ever felt such despair. I've always loved basketball and never wanted to quit no matter what happened or what people said, but that was the only time I really despaired. One second before the end of the game, down by one, last game of the season, and of all people, the game was going to be lost in my hands…I just felt like, dammit. I hated it, so I just threw the ball…praying that the ball had to go in no matter what."

Alice stood up, and from that spot, he threw the ball wildly at the opponent's hoop. The distance was twenty-five meters. There was no way that would normally go in. No matter how good a player was, a 10% chance of going in would be really amazing.

But...

"Swish."

 

Buzzer Beater.

"We won."

The ball took a really beautiful trajectory and flew into the soft net.

"And I stopped playing basketball."

Alice took his eyes away from the ball and came back and sat down next to Ai, as though disinterested.

"Well, it’s to be expected. How can anyone play a sport when every shot hits the target? Basketball is fun because you can aim and miss…it’s not to be played by someone abnormal like me."

Alice did not look particularly sad.

Ai hated it when he was like it.

"Sorry, no consolation or counselling for me. I’m in no mood to deal with these."

Ai was preemptively stopped by Alice, and the words she was about to say were stuck in her throat..

The ball rolled futilely.

"Actually, I don't think wishes are supposed to come true."

Alice suddenly said so.

"Isn't that…too extreme?"

"I think so too. It’s just my theory."

He kicked the ball away.

"It's a good thing that wishes don't come true…It's because they don't come true that we work hard, and can keep moving forward. But once we fulfill our wishes…won’t we stop moving forward…?"

"……"

"Wishes are beautiful because they don't come true. …"

Ai felt as if Alice was talking about her.

And at the same time, she felt that he was talking about himself too.

 

+

 

Haha, Alice let out a dry laugh, suddenly a little embarrassed.

"It’s kind of embarrassing to say this. Oi, how did we end up on this topic?"

"……"

"Oi, what's up…Ai?

"……"

Alice moved over to look at Ai with a shaken expression, while Ai evasively pressed her head even lower.

"…………...………...Are you crying?"

"I-I'm not crying. …"

She definitely was not crying, until that moment.

But the moment she was asked that question, her vision was already filled with tears.

"….Uu…"

She lowered her face, cupped her knees, and assumed a crying posture.

"Because Mr. Alice…you aren’t crying…"

"Why should I?"

"Because something sad … happened."

Tears rolled down Ai’s face as she looked at the crouching Alice..

"You didn't know? Hic…I cry when I’m sad…"

"…I know "

Alice's hand ruffled her head hard.

"You too, if you’re sad… cry at someone else's place instead of torturing yourself here …."

"…You’re, right."

Alice remained stoic faced.

"I see, so you're crying for my sake…."

"………"

"Haha, I see. Thanks…I feel like I’ve been owing you favors today. I ate your sweets, you heard my complaints…and you cried for me…"

Alice handed her a crumpled handkerchief, and Ai buried her face in it.

"You’re really weird…it’s my first time meeting someone like you……I usually wouldn’t talk about this. Even my birthday, I couldn’t argue against you. Dammit…I’m so weak…why am I like this whenever I meet you. I’m not being me…wait, this complaint too. Get a grip, me…ahh dammit…"

"Eh?"

Alice shook his head head in self-loathing.

He looked like he was trying to hide his embarrassment.

Ai retracted her tears, and her cheeks were red.

"J-just, please don’t say such words only for me to hear, alright? Even I’ll feel embarrassed by this. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, you can just tell everyone, right?"

"…Well, I guess you're right, but..."

Alice slumped.

"But it’s really not easy to say these words."

"……"

"Really, thanks for today."

Alice stood up abruptly, picked up the ball and the bag, and turned away.

He was going to be alone again. He was afraid of hurting others, and wanted to be alone again.

Having said that, he was back at it again.

Ai let out a long, long sigh. What do you mean, I guess you’re right? Alice did not understand at all..

She was telling him not to be alone..

At that moment, Ai ran like a bullet. She crouched low and ran over, stealing the ball from behind Alice.

"Ah, oi—"

"Mr. Alice. "

"Nn? Yeah.

The ball was passed to him.

Alice spun the ball with a bewildered look.

"—What are you doing?"

"Let's play."

"Huh?"

"One on one, you and me."

"…Huh? What are you saying—"

Now? Before he finished saying so, Alice shot the ball. It was a breathtaking feint.

But Ai had anticipated this.

"Hoh!"

With a big jump that would have made any sensible person uncomfortable, Ai snatched the ball from the side just as it was about to hit the rim.

"Heh heh~ ."

"……"

"I guess I probably won't be able to play a game either."

Saying that, she threw the ball at the other hoop, jumped after it, and dunked it in an alley-oop.

"I get a point ahead."

"……"

"What do you think? I think we can have a good match, right?"

"……"

"Mr. Alice?"

Alice gave a deflated look as he sized up Ai, who was hanging from the rim, and said,

"…Goaltending."

"Huh?"

"You can't touch the ball after it's passed its apex."

"Eh? Eh? Eh?"

"And also, if it's one-on-one, it's half-court!"

Alice snatched the ball and dashed beyond the three-point line.

"Oh! P-please wait! You’re being sneaky!"

The brown ball was dancing in the June sky.

 

+

 

"Ahh goodness, that Ai! She ran off without cleaning up…"

As soon as the biscuits were done, Ai snatched them and ran out of the kitchen. It was the first time that she baked by herself, and it was no wonder then that she was so excited. Dee herself had such an experience before..

But still, Ai was late.

"I'll look for her then."

Dee said to the other members of the club and left the room. Now then, where did she go? For the time being, she went around asking passer-sby. Fortunately, many of her acquaintances were holding the biscuits Ai gave, so they remembered well. She went from the classroom to the staff room, then through the newspaper club to the court.

It all happened so fast that the eyewitness accounts stopped.

Dee wanted to ask Alice, and went to the basketball club room, but there was nobody around.

At that point, Dee remembered what day it was.

She rushed out. She had to stop Ai no matter what. This was the one day she could not allow Alice to meet Ai. Alice always lost his composure on this day every year. He would lose control.

It was the only day that Alice would give up on the ‘outside’ world.

That was today.

Surely Ai would encounter a huge setback. This was the one day which they could not meet, that she could not approach Alice. Both the person approaching Alice and Alice himself would end up being so unhappy.

Dee panted as she ran past the track, took a short cut by the water fountain, jumped over the gardening club's flower beds, and headed for the courts. Alice would visit this place every time this day occurred, shooting away while tormenting himself. The best case scenario for her was to arrive before Ai, but even if she was late, she should be fine if she could stop Ai in time. She could be hurt in Ai’s stead instead..

She turned around the corner of the school building.

There was Alice, holding the ball.

Dee stopped there, "Alice!" she was about to call out

Alice, as expected, was pushing himself to the limit and aiming at the basket.

But then, he was not alone.

"Hahaha! Take this! What’s wrong now? The gap’s widening!"

"Mm! It’s just two scores! I’ll catch up immediately!"

It was no longer basketball. The moment Alice got into a ‘shooting position’, he was able to score no matter the angle or position, while Ai would grab the ball form behind to cover the hoop. It was Ai’s turn on offense. She darted between his legs at a speed even he could not react, scurried from the court like a mouse, and jumped out of a cannon. She was just dunking every time, in a peculiar manner at that. She would dunk herself along with the ball through the hoop, not letting go.

"See! I caught up!"

"… No, actually, I want to say that you definitely fouled there…"

"Heh! If there’s such a foul! Then explain it to me! Come on! Come on!"

"Well, there's a rule about ‘not touching the rim or the net unnecessarily’…oh well..."

And so the two continued their contest. Sometimes Ai led, and sometimes Alice led. The scoring gap did not increase as they went on, and it was as though they were playing a game that would never end..

Dee gently leaned her body against the wall, for she would have collapsed on the stop if she did not have anything to lean on.

Her brain refused to comprehend what was going on.

"Mr, Alice, haaa?"

Ai asked, dribbling very low.

"Why do you want to go outside so badly?"

Dee gulped in the shadows.

"Ahh? Do I need to explain again? I don’t want to be trapped in this place. I won’t be able to grow up."

"Then, if, just if, what if you need to sacrifice something to get out? "

Alice's ragged breathing stopped for a moment, and he said with a calm voice,

"…Depends on what I have to sacrifice."

"So, for example..."

Don't say it!

Dee wanted to run out there right now and stop Ai from blabbering further, or to get away as far as possible, but her body just would not allow her to.

"What if that's the most important thing to you?"

Alice's breathing stopped.

"Ai… you…."

"Don't ask for details—please answer me."

Dee’s heart was split in two. One half was telling her to get out of here right now. The other half of her mind yearned for the answer.

Alice’s answer was,

 

"I don't care."

 

"I'll do anything to break free. I'll sacrifice anything."

Dee’s heart died.

"… Is that so?"

"Say, why are you asking that? Where did you hear that from? Did you find out something? Did Dee tell you something? Or—"

"…I can't answer."

The conversation continued, but Dee was no longer interested in what came after.

She was disinterested in everything.

She just did not want to see the two of them together.

 

+

 

It happened before.

It was the day after Alice's birthday, before they arrived at the World Tower.

A small fly was buzzing in the car.

The fly flew over Ai's head, past Julie's humming, circled above Alice's head, and came to Dee's side.

Dee was drifting away, half-awake. Perhaps the celebration over yesterday’s birthday feast caused her to reminscene the past..

Right before her, the fly began to smash against the window pane.

"…stupid fly."

In her slumber, Dee muttered at the fly.

"There's glass blocking you…you can’t break it no matter how you try…"

But the fly paid no heed to her words and kept banging.

"But you won't give up, will you? You're not going to give up.…no matter the cost. …"

After an umpteenth number of attempts, the the fly rolled over and fell. The right eye was slightly dented and a lllte black, probably from the impact, or probably it was always the case. The wings were dented , and the left hind leg was broken at the joint.

Even in this state, the fly did not stop.

Dee whispered to the fly,

"I guess…you just ‘can’t bring yourself to stop’, huh?"

The fly did not answer, and continued to slam into the glass silently.

"Even if it is impossible, even if you’re only hurting yourself, you just can’t stop, right…"

Dee felt sorry for the injured fly.

"So, at least…"

She slowly raised her right hand and gathered her strength, drawing it like a bow and swinging it down like a whip.

Pah. This sound that did not exist echoed, and the fly was pressed between the palm and the glass.

But such an act was futile.

The fly permeated through the palm and nonchalantly flew away again.

"…But I can't finish you off properly."

Dee fluttered after the fly. The injured fly and the ghost's hands clashed several times, but not once did they touch as they danced away.

The dance did not last long.

The fly left her hand again, and flew towards the glass pane. Dee immediately put up a wall with her palm to keep the fly from going that way.

But the fly still managed to slip through the palm, and charged towards the window--

It did not hit the window.

At that moment, a gust blew and the fly was softly carried out of the car.

Dee looks at the window dumbfoundedly. The windows trapping the fly were opened, and the wilderness wind was ushered in.

"Hmm. glad to see it’s doing well."

Ai then closed the window tightly and returned to the passenger seat.

Dee stared at this scene for a long, long time.

Just blankly.

 

She believed this was the story.

She knew it was a matter of time until this happened.

Dee Ensy could not understand Alice Color.

No matter how close they were, they would never be able to be together.

The only ones that could be together were—

Whatever. Nothing else mattered.

Time to end this.

 

Chapter 4 - The Life Leading to the Deadly Disease

Part I

 

Crack. Dee opened the door and entered the classroom.

"What, it’s you, Dee? Seriously, you’re almost late"

The members of class 4 sat at their seats, waiting for the teacher to arrive. There were no latecomers, two absentees, Alice and Ai. Everything remained according to plan.

The footsteps tapped away as she went up the podium, and when the onlookers gathered their stares on her, she spoke up,

"Eh, I’ll begin to explain now. Before that…"

Dee looked around the classroom, deciding her target.

Right, decided.

"Menhim."

"Hm?"

Given that he was usually poised and rational, he would be a very suitable candidate for this occasion.

"I’m sorry."

Dee lowered her head, seemingly in apology for a prank, and shot him.

Bang! A gunshot rang, and Menhim's head burst at the same time.

All the students gasped and sat meekly in their seats, unable to grasp the reality they were in.

Mu was the quickest to react. She had initially seen blood splattering from Menhim, but when her eyes happened to meet the corpse's,

"W-What's this…no…Menhim! Menhim!"

"What happened?"

The students did not know what they were to be surprised and shocked about.

Mu was the most confused of the lot.

What's wrong with you, Mu, you look so pale. Dee, what are you doing? What are you doing? Class is about to start.

"Meh, Menhim?"

The dead guy was worried about her. Mu was about to go crazy.

In the space that straddled between sanity and madness, Dee Ensy Stratmitos whispered.

"Hey, guys, hear me out. You’re curious, right? You find it strange, don’t you? I’ll tell you everything~~ and anything~~."

No special techniques were used. She did not use any hypnosis, temptation, or whisper of any vengeful evil spirit. She could not use them here to begin with..

And yet, at this point, nobody could escape her whispers.

Dee licked her upper lip, Stupid Alice. You’re the one who wants to live upright, and got tripped over by a Ghost like me.

"First of all—"

 

+

 

"I have something important to tell you. Please go to the court behind the school building without anyone noticing."

It was class time, but Ai went there without hesitation. Dee was the one who called her there, but she had no idea what Dee was planning.

"Hmm? Did you get called over too?"

For some reason, Alice was present too. He was spinning the ball, and dribbled a few times. Ai nonchalantly tried to swipe the ball, but Alice anticipated it and turned around to shield the ball.

"You got called out by Miss Dee, too?"

She blocked his course to the sideline. He turned around, switched hands, and dribbled past her..

"Yeah, but I got a feeling I know what she’s planning."

He shot the ball. Alice aimed at the basket without any muscle movement, an extraordinary movement.

At that moment, the world was tinged with twilight.

 

+

 

"Do you…understand?"

Dee asked, but she was certain everyone had understood.

"…Yeah."

"I remember…"

The classroom was quiet, aside from the occasional words that occurred like bubbles from the bottom of a water, rising and bursting on the surface."

"…We…yeah…we couldn’t accept it…"

"We couldn’t believe what we saw from that window…"

"We couldn't…accept that corpse…that was covered in blood and mud…"

"And…we…wished."

 

Dee nodded in satisfaction, phew, and exhaled,

As if possessed, the classmates continued to spit out words.

"At that moment…it was…dusk…we looked down at the dead body…and wished…"

"This isn't true… this isn't right…"

"Please… give us back our everyday life…that was our wish."

"If we had been a little simpler, we could have wished for her resurrection."

Dee was not interested in what they thought when they saw her fall. She was merely a little disappointed.

They did not wish for her to be revived.

They wished for something more.

Death was right before them.

The world before them had changed.

The corpse forced them to face this truth.

And in order to escape all of this, they created a world.

The seventeen of them prayed for eternity.

"Well, I can’t say that you guys are in the wrong now…"

Quickly, Dee raised her hands, pak! She clapped as though it was a gunshot

The stares were gathered on her.

"Everyone, think back…remember what happened that day. "

At that moment, the world was tinged with twilight.

 

+

 

"W-What's going on?"

"That Dee realized what’s going on! She’s trying to reset the entire space!"

It was summer around them. No, it was not all. The sun that had just risen was about to s. It's not only that, but the sun has just risen and is about to set.

Alice ran. Ai hastily gave chase

"W-What's that?"

"Apparently, the past me experimented once ! All the people that stayed inside were chased out, and all those who entered were rest. Dee was the only one safe as she was outside! "

They ran past the court, jumped over the gardening club's flower beds, and took a short cut next to the water fountain.

"We got to stop Dee! I bet she’s undoing the memory limits of everyone in Class 4! The space can’t handle the paradox anymore!"

Ai glanced up at the school building. Before she knew it, the school was adorned with decorations, and the school was in a festive mood. Looking at the third floor window, there was an opened window, and someone was there.

"Hurry up!"

 

+

 

July 28. It was sunny.

Dee checked the date on the side of the blackboard and let out a sigh of relief. Everything was going well so far. It should be.

"Hey! You're missing the middle plate by a digit. "Seriously!?" "Hey, did someone misspell on this board?" "Oh my God! It's true! Who wrote that!?" "Arghh! I forgot to get a receipt! Prez! Can we do something about this?" "Count it as your expense."

The classroom rumbled with excitement.

It looks the same as it did fourteen years ago, but it was not exactly the same.

The backdrop is perfect, the cast is good, but the actors were all acting like they were possessed. No, it was better to be in this state, since they were supposed to act, and not act. It was the truth, and yet not the truth.

It was a ritual.

Yes, that would be the appropriate word, a ritual. Like pulling out the Kingston valve to sink a ship. It was akin to a ritual burying the dead.

Dee fulfills her duty.

It really felt like a ritual. The ritual was similar, yet foreign, strangely uncanny. She was the witch used for the sacrifice, and knew the outline and the process so well that she just recreated it faithfully.

Tesserick shouted, "Someone go remove the curtains". It was evening, and the outside was filled with the sunset. Everyone said they would have to stay at school overnight to catch up on work, and no one noticed their movements.

Dee brought in the table and stacked the chairs on it. She took off her shoes and stood up, reaching for the curtains. She leaned her body against the glass window and slowly removed them one by one.

She moved to the first, second, and third window.

And then the fourth.

Dee looks at the curtain before her. There was no wind, and the window did not seem to be open at all. However, there was nothing but air for fifteen meters beyond.

She gently removed this cloth, as per her action back then.

She believed there was a glass pane blocking her.

She believed there was a sturdy wall beyond it that could shield her.

 

+

 

They jumped up the stairs, kicked aside the mat that was used to brush the mud off. Ai jumped three steps at a time, and arrived at Class 4 well ahead of Alice.

And yet, the door would not open.

"Move! You can't open it!"

Alice, who had caught up with Ai, shoved Ai aside and violently pushed the door open.

 

+

 

The wind began to move. The curtains were lifted to release the red beyond. The streets of Ostia were glowing red, and the surface of the lake was shimmering.

Beneath the window was fifteen meters of air and solid ground.

Dee chuckled. In hindsight, it was the first time she had reset herself. After she died fourteen years ago, she was the only one who had avoided this fate. Given this perspective, she was the one who died the fewest times. How ironic was it?

As time slowed down, her body intuitively reached for the window, trying to save herself. While he body was upside down in the air, she could see the inside of the classroom, where she saw the faces of her friends, and beyond them, Alice and Ai, who had just opened the door.

—I'm sorry, Ai, but I said that I'd disappear if Alice said he doesn’t need me.

That's half true. That's why I'm flying now.

But it's half true. I can die, but I can't disappear.

Reset.

Dee laughed. The white curtain around draped over her body took the red light of the sunset as she gave a tearful smile.

She could no longer live as a monster anymore.

Her heart was finally shattered and broken.

But, even so,

She just could not disappear,

—Take care of me after I reset. I know I'm a pain in the ass, but I'm a good kid at heart. That me never killed anyone, and and never lied much either.

What the two of them will do with her was not within the control of the current Dee.

She was not really interested in what would happen to herself after the reset. She no longer felt like that was herself.

The current ’Ghost’ would die here.

—I'm sorry, Ai, goodbye.

That was the last thing the Ghost thought about.

At the last moment of resistance, the hooks of the curtain popped open, and her body was caught by gravity.

Dee has no memory of what happened next.

(…Huh?)

Supposedly not.

But at this moment, Dee clearly remembered everything.

She remembered everything beyond this moment.

(This isn’t what happened!)

Finally, Dee realized that she was mistaken.

 

+

 

And Ai saved Dee.

 

The moment she saw Dee, , all her hesitation evaporated and her body burst into life. She charged at Dee, almost crushing the floor as she shot out like a firework.

She leapt Into the sky.

Dee's face was right in front of her, and Ai shriveled just as she did when she dunked, reaching her hands out. "You idiot!" those were the words Dee’s lips shouted. Even Ai would not be able to make it, and she would fall at this rate

But Ai believed in Alice. She believed this would not happened.

She held Dee in her left hand and swiped her right hand through the air.

And then, by design, a rope flew into the air.

Ai reached out to grab it. She did not exchange looks. The strength in the rope however conveyed the thoughts with more power.

(Wa-wait a minute, Mr. Alice! Grab me firmly, will you!? Aren’t you a boy!?)

(Don’t be ridiculous! Don't underestimate the gravity pull!)

The rope was instantly extended, and Ai broke out in cold sweat, before she finally stopped.

(You're okay now.)

(Really?)

(Yeah.)

With those words, Ai finally looked up.

There, everyone in Class 4 was working together.

(Everyone caught up.)

 

+

 

"My bad!"

As soon as Dee was on the ground, Alice dropped to his knees.

"I'm sorry! It’s my fault! My bad! This is all my fault!"

Everyone in the class, including Ai, was stunned.

Dee, who was sitting there with the curtain around her, stared at Alice, "…I see, so that’s how it happened?"

"It’s my fault! I'm sorry! I finally figured out what you were thinking just now! You'll have to forgive me for not noticing earlier!"

"Th-that’s not true! You didn’t do anything wrong, Alice! It's my fault…"

"No, I'm..."

"No, I'm the one..."

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. As they continued to insist on being in the wrong, the tension of the classmates slowly eased up. There was laughter everywhere, and one could sense they were about to tease those two.

Ai was also smiling. Alice must have realized now that Dee was her dead classmate, and apologized for not realizing it. Ai breathed a sigh of relief and regained her strength. This is not the end of the story, but rather the beginning. Everything was about to begin. They were about to head towards the end, towards the goal where every single person in Class 3-4 would be released.

And yet...

"Ai."

Dee said.

"It’s enough. Just bury the Ghost."

 

+

 

Ai was very reluctant. She was completely reluctant. She did not want to bury Dee, and cried, saying that she hated the idea.

Still, Dee's attitude did not change. She wanted Ai to bury her, and end everything.

If she really wanted to, Ai would bury her.

That was Ai's rule.

 

+

 

"…but what can I do?"

Ai asked with tears in her eyes.

"Just point at me, tell everyone ‘she’s already dead’. We’ll deal with the rest."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. To be honest, everyone remembers. But we can’t remove this seal ourselves. You have to say it, Ai."

All the classmates in Class 4 appeared to have accepted the situation, even though they were confused.

"…Are you sure about this?"

Ai still persisted in asking.

Dee just nodded her head.

"…Then."

Ai staggered, wandered out of the circle formed by the crowd and stood on the podium. She looked at each of her classmates and made sure that they were ready.

Then Ai quickly lifted her right hand and said,

"…………...……... Really?"

"Really."

The tension drained out of the room and a relaxed smile appeared on everyone's face. In the middle of it all, Ai was the only one standing still and serious.

Dee gave a slight wry smile as she stepped forward to caress Ai's cheek.

"I'm sorry for making you do this uncomfortable task. You’re the only one who can do this however… "

Ai quickly leapt into Dee's chest and squeezed her face against it. The school badge and button were pressed against Ai’s nose, and it really hurt, but she wanted to keep rubbing.

"Don't make a mistake, Ai."

Dee said, sounding a little pained.

"You're going to save everyone, right? Regardless of enemies or allies? Then don't make mistakes here. You can't distinguish between them. You can’t refuse to save others just because you want to be with them."

But...

"Don't be naive."

Dee broke free from the embrace and pinch her cheeks as if to strike it.

"You’re the one who buried Hampnie Hambart. It’s a lie to say that you can’t bring yourself to bury others."

"!"

The words were, in a way, taboo.

"I understand…."

"Yeah. Thanks."

"……."

There were no more words.

 

Ai raised her right hand.

 

She swung it down and pointed it at Dee who was before her.

 

"The Ghost of Class 3-4 is..."

 

That was when she noticed something amiss.

 

No, there was a catch. It was not the case.

Everyone’s face told her so. Dee, whom her index finger was pointing at, was smiling. Her right eye was crying, her left eye was smiling, and giving a mocking smile at others and herself. Her face told Ai it was not the case..

No?

It was not Dee?

Then who was it? Who was the Ghost? Who else but her? Who died on this day, at this time?

The answer was also in everyone's eyes.

Ai slowly turns around. She follows the gaze of the seventeen pairs of eyes and calls out the name, pointing her finger.

"Mr…Alice …?"

Alice, who was leaning alone by the window, slowly unfolded his arms and smiled without the slightest surprise.

"Correct."

 

Part II

 

Ai could not believe it, even though she had pointed at him herself.

"H-huh? That’s not right, is it? Isn’t it weird? Ha, haha, why is Mr. Alice the Ghost? How could that be..."

"Because Dee was about to fall."

He simply answered.

"Dee was about to fall, so I hurriedly pulled her up, and I fell instead. That's all."

"But the Ghost is Miss Dee! You said so yourself..."

"So it seems. Goodness, I didn’t imagine there would be quite a mixup…"

"Alice. It’s because of me..."

Dee stepped forward quickly.

"Ai, I'm sorry, that was my mistake…no. I'm sure I had hoped to be mistaken…I didn’t want to know, I didn’t want to think Alice died in my place…that’s why I suspected myself first…like when I first found that death report…and I became I'm invisible on the outside…and why I called myself the Ghost… "

"Y-yes! That’s it! That’s it! Why is Miss Dee transparent outside? Doesn’t that prove she’s the Ghost!?"

Ai had no idea what she was saying. Did she want to assume Dee was the Ghost, or that Alice was the Ghost.

Alice crushed Ai's point as easily as he would crush an ant.

"No, it's not just Dee. The other classmates end up in the same state. I’m the only one who gets a physical body outside."

"Wh-what—"

"I don't know the details exactly, but I think it's because my corpse is out there."

A wind-like voice escaped from the back of his throat.

"Basically, the tombstones of Class 4 are all outside there, but they’re all empty, of course…with the exception of me alone."

"…So you're already..."

"Yeah, I'm dead."

Alice remained nonchalant as he let the evening breeze graze him. The window devoid of the curtain ushered in a cooling breeze, and felt really refreshing.

"Haha, I finally said it."

Alice was smiling all the way.

"Finally. I've come this far…it's been a long time…"

It was the smile of someone who had aged ten or twenty years immediately. It was the smile of someone who had depleted all his strength and was exhausted.

"But I’m really sorry to say this, Dee. I already figured out a long time ago that I was the one who died. I didn’t imagine that you would have the same thought. Seriously, I’m so sorry."

"No! That's okay!"

Dee was shaking so badly, one would assume she was about to split in halves.

"Alice, there's nothing to apologize for…it's all our fault…we didn't wish to have you back…we stubbornly wished for such days to continue forever, and kept you prisoner…it’s our fault…"

Dee clutched the chest of her shirt, seemingly trying to hold her disintegrating body as she painfully spat these words.

"And yet…you didn't… hold a grudge about it at all…and you even tried to free us…even if it means dying again…and yet…"

Dee finally started to cry. She covered her face with both hands and let the teardrops fall to the floor.

"Again…and again…I… been trying to……!"

"I told you it's okay."

It was a really gentle smile.

It was a smile that could accept whatever tragedy happened in the world.

"So, just one last formality."

"…So soon?"

"Yeah, it doesn't look like this place is going to last much longer… time for everyone to return to the outside world."

"But that’s!"

Ai felt like she was the only one left behind. What happened? What was going on? Why did everyone look so callous? Why did everyone look so happy, as though everything was over?

"But why! Aren’t we just getting started! Let's look together! Let's find a way to free everyone! Aren’t we all on the starting line!"

"No."

Alice shook his head.

"You're wrong. You're the only one who thinks so."

"No! Miss Dee and everyone else feels this way! Everyone doesn’t want you to disappear! "

Ai turned to Dee and grabbed her hand, shaking it hard.

"Isn’t that right, Miss Dee? I’m not wrong, right? You don’t wish for Mr. Alice to disappear, right? Since you like him so much!"

"………Yes."

The careless words stabbed through Dee's heart like a knife, but Dee did not complain about it and looked at Alice, saying,

"…I do like Alice, and I want to be with him all the time."

"Then…"

"But, you know, no matter how much we desire this, no matter how much we wish for Alice to be with us…we can’t force the issue when Alice doesn’t like it…no matter how stupid we are, we can’t repeat this mistake again…"

Dee whispered as she and Ai spilled tears onto the floor.

"Say, Alice…what feelings do you have after making it all the way here? You figured out by yourself that you’re the one who died, and you can’t mention it to anyone…you’re definitely scared, lonely and resentful of us, right? Say, how are you so strong? Why are you still willing to try to save us? You obviously could have become a monster…you could have hated us forever in this eternal prison…and you could have…ended us all..."

"Do I need to say this again?"

Alice continued to smile even at this moment.

"Because I like you guys, of course."

"Nn…"

Dee smiled, seemingly expecting him to answer so. She smiled weakly, not wanting to worry Alice.

"All I want is for you guys to get out of here unharmed."

"I see…then we'll just have to keep ourselves from getting hurt and behave ourselves and get out of here."

Dee said, reaching for the door.

"Goodbye, Alice…Thanks……"

"Bye Dee, take care."

Dee said she did not want to be hurt as she left, but she could not do so as she teared up while walking through the door, disappearing like a phantom.

There was silence.

"Come on, guys, follow me! Watch the backs of those before you and keep going."

The farewell began.

One by one, each person in the class stepped forward to speak with Alice. Alice had different words for each of them, some were apologies, some were encouragement, some were smiles. They all held on to the words with great care,

And they left an apology and thanksgiving before leaving.

With each person who left, the world seemed to break down further. One could see the streets outside the window middle up, the setting sun disappeared instead of setting, and soon the classroom was floating in the darkness.

Alice closed the window, where the wind no longer blew.

Ai was the only other person left in the classroom.

She was sitting in the corner of the podium, her legs cupped together, her face buried in her lap.

"Good work."

Alice sat down next to her and let out a sigh. Only in front of Ai did he release the pented tension that he had been holding until a moment ago.

"Sorry to make you play such a bad role. You played it perfectly though. Thanks to you, my world got destroyed (saved) "

"……"

"Anyway, thanks…for getting me to this point. Thank you."

"……"

"Alright, you’re the only one left. You should be off then. Class 4 members are all gone, and this space won’t last for much longer."

"……"

"Hey, you should lift your head now."

"……"

"…Hey, you don’t have anything to say?"

"You're a terrible person."

Without looking up, Ai suddenly unleashed a verbal barrage.

"You planned for me to play this role, right? You brought me into this world so that I would kill you."

"Grr, well, my bad…I didn’t mention it to you."

"Please don’t mind. I’m fine with it. Yes, that’s right, it’s a cruel act, but it has to be done."

"That's very kind of you to say."

One could sense her exhale slightly, cup her knees tightly, and utter her words through the cramped world as seen in the gap between her arms and knees.

"I'm glad that this role isn’t given to anyone else. Your choice of me is excellent. After all, I'm the one who's going to save the world."

"…Ai?"

"It’s a valuable experience for me. I'm sure it will happen again in the future, and I can use it as reference. I think this experience is really beneficial."

"…Hey, Ai, look at me when you say that."

"Don’t wanna."

"Shut up and look at me! Don’t cover your face and boast like that!"

"Don’t wanna!"

Ai’s arm got grabbed, and her shell was pried apart. She had arm strength comparable to an adult, but she just could not gain any strength in arms.

This guy who was holding her arm down and forcibly observing her expression snorted out a laugh.

 

"Woah, that’s an ugly face."

 

The person who had snatched her arm and watched her intently "Pfft" cackled,

Seeing him like this, Ai's sanity snapped immediately.

"Yo-you!"

Her strength returned, she broke free from the pressure and violently grabbed Alice's collar.

"You! Are! The! Worst! Horrible! You made me do…do this…!"

"I know, that's why I apologized to you."

"What’s with you now? Do you think an apology will cut it? Do I have to forgive you just because you apologized, o great Alice? Is there such a law in this world!? I'm sorry! I just don't have the knowledge! After all, I just don't have enough experience in life!"

"Oi oi, sarcasm doesn’t suit you. Seriously, stop it. See, a pretty face is ruined in tears."

"D-don’t call me pretty …"

When Alice handed out a crumpled handkerchief, Ai put her whole face up and wiped it hard.

"Haha, your face is really ugly."

Ai was no longer angry, and merely pounded his chest weakly.

"…Whose fault is it that I cried like this…whose fault is it…that I’m so sad…"

"Sorry…"

Ai's head was gently patted a few times by Alice, which seemingly triggered a switch that caused tears to drip down from her eyes again.

"But you got to go."

"…"

"You got to go save your world. …"

Alice had a smile on his face the entire time.

He then helped Ai up and gave her a nudge on the shoulder.

"Go on, goodbye."

"…What will happen to you…"

"I’ll just disappear. Ah—I don't need a Gravekeeper to deal with the aftermath. The real me was buried fourteen years ago, and buried by a Gravekeeper twelve years ago…the me standing here is just a fake, to put it mildly, just like the tables and chairs and air here."

The space had reached its limit. The desks and chairs that Alice was pointing at were making a dizzying noise. The same could be said for Alice herself.

As an outsider, Ai could no longer maintain this space alone.

"You're the only one looking at me. Once you leave, I'll disappear."

Alice smiled.

"……"

"Say, I beg of you…let’s just end it here, any more, and it’ll hurt you more…seriously, I really I really want to end this without hurting anyone else. So get going, please."

Alice smiled the whole time.

"…It’s annoying."

"Hm? What?"

"I'm saying your smile is annoying."

Thud, with the sound of footsteps, Ai took a step forward.

"Hey, Mr. Alice, why are you smiling all the time? How can you smile?"

Ai was crying the entire time, Alice was smiling the entire time.

"Of course it’s because I'm happy."

"Even though you're going to disappear?"

"That's what I want."

Alice's smile was perfect.

"’The Ghost of Class 3-4 disappeared without cursing anyone or hurting anyone’. Don’t you think it’s really cool? Like, it’s a brand new style of a ghost story? "

"You think it's cool?"

"Yeah."

"We’ll return to reality, grow older, taller…and forget about you one day as we find our own happiness…is that really going to give you happiness?"

 

"That’s right."

Alice smiled and answered immediately.

"That's a lie."

Ai snickered and answered immediately.

"Hey, Mr. Alice, are you sure you don't hate anyone? You don't want to hurt them? You don’t want to take anyone away?"

"Of course."

"Really…I don’t think so… I'm sure Miss Dee really wanted to be hurt by you,…I guess…she wants to treasure those scars for the rest of her life…"

Ai took another three steps closer.

"…What do you want?"

Alice's voice hardened for the first time, and the closer Ai got, the further he distanced himself.

"Oi, Ai, I'm not sure what you're thinking…"

"……."

"O-oi, enough with the games!"

Ai gave chase, and Alice ran away. The two of them ran around the classroom as if they were playing tag. The one chased was pale as though his life was in danger, while the chaser cried a sad smile.

"Stop! Don't come here! Don't come!"

"Nope. I’m not letting you go."

 

"Ai, stop—"

 

Then Ai hugged Alice.

She jumped up as if to throw her body into him, and landed in his clutches. The foreheads gently tapped each other, and the tears flew..

Ai hugged Alice tightly, her arms wrapped around his stiff school uniform as she transferred her warmth towards his cold, hard body.

"Hey, Mr. Alice, you're lying about wanting to disappear, aren't you?"

Alice looked dumbfounded, as if she had no idea what had happened to him.

"…Yeah."

As if cracking the thick mask, a teardrop fell.

It was the first tear Alice had shed since his death.

"Ah…ah…"

Alice tried to cover his face, seemingly afraid of the cracks spreading, but Ai did not allow that. She brought her face towards Alice, held his head, and whispered by his ear.

"Ah…."

Alice still resisted. He tried to protect Ai even from the double and triple deaths that surrounded her.

But Ai was the one who had offered her life, even if it meant getting hurt.

 

"You want to keep living, don't you?"

 

Then Ai burst into tears, her eyes flooding.

Alice could no longer say no.

"Of course… I want to keep living…"

With each tear, Alice's shell was breaking.

His dangling fingertips scratched the air, and his inner teeth were shaking. Her heart was unbound. Fear broke loose. All the tears flowed.

"Of course I want to keep living…isn’t it…obvious…?"

"Yes."

"I don’t want to disappear! It’s obvious, isn’t it?"

"Yes."

Alice finally crumbled. The smiling mask gradually shattered. The mask of a smile peeled off and the desire underneath flowed.

"I wanted to keep living! Of course I do! I really want to keep living! I wanted to go into the future with everyone! Today and tomorrow! I wanted to keep living with them!"

The desires that were supposed to be locked up in his heart surfaced with the tears, and the fear when he discovered his own death was fully awakened.

"I really want to!………and yet…and yet!"

Alice cried, "Kuu …," and clung to Ai, putting his weight onto her little body to have her hold him up while he was on the verge of falling at any given moment.

"See, I knew it."

Ai hugged Alice even tighter. Alice could not help but hug the warm person before him. The parts touching her were seeming as hot as reality.

"See I said you still want to live, Mr. Alice."

"Goddamn it!"

Alice hugged Ai with a force that resembled murderous intent.

"Dammit…see what you’ve done! I didn’t want this to happen…I didn’t want anyone to be scarred!"

"Ahaha, I won't let you do that."

"You! You're the worst…ever…"

"I'm sorry. But we're even, right?"

"…Aahhhh…what the hell is this…?"

Alice's tears continued to fall.

"I've been trying so hard to act cool, to forget…all my fears and doubts…and you ruined everything at the very end…what are you going to do…?"

Alice finally calmed down a bit after bawling for a while, and spoke in his usual spiteful manner.

"…I'm sorry, but I still want to get hurt…"

"You masochist…"

"Hmmm, maybe I can't really deny it…"

"You idiot, what do you mean, not really? Ack, you’re really stupid. You didn’t have to get yourself hurt…"

"That's not true. Thanks to that, I’m able to talk to you properly."

"…At the last minute, though."

Saying that, Alice looked around.

The world was moving slowly. The disintegration finally reached the classroom and the noise began to fill the space.

"…You should go."

"…Do you really want to go to Heaven …?"

"No, there’s no need. I've already been there. "

"Eh?"

"Isn’t Heaven a happy place for dead people? Then the past fourteen years, the past year, has been that Heaven for me. If I can’t call this year after I died Heaven, what do I call it? So…I can’t go to Heaven. I don’t want to."

"Mr Alice…"

So I'm just gonna disappear. I'm sorry, Ai, but I can't go with you."

Alice finally smiled after all.

He left a little scar (kiss) on Ai's forehead.

"Goodbye."

And the world turned white.

And the Unending Epilogue

A day has passed since then.

Ai felt as though she had a scary dream. However, she could not remember what it was.

She sat upright and looked around. There was the wall of cloth that let the light shine through, and the stiff, hard blanket.

She was in the tent of the car that seemed so nostalgic.

There was a voice.

"Ai, are you awake?"

Hearing that voice made Ai happy. However, she could not show it on her face, even for a moment, and her expression tightened.

"Yes."

She cupped her chest, cautiously ensuring that she would not sound excited.

"I'm awake, Mr. Alice."

Really? So the response, and the person at the entrance left. After a few moments, Ai got up, put on her coat and went outside.

It was the outside world.

There was smoke rising everywhere in the town. The people were quickly repairing their collapsed houses to shelter from the rain and dew, enthusiastically rebuilding their homeland.

 

+

 

The town was full of life. Reconstruction had begun in many places, materials were being brought in, and food was being prepared. Ai was walking with Alice through the city.

Every time Alice caught someone's eye, someone would approach him and ask for his opinion. He had considered plans in case everyone got released, and had prepared for it..

"Hey Alice, Ai!"

"Mr. Julie."

After the chaos yesterday, Julie was thoroughly busy, and it seemed he finally got a chance to rest, for he was heading back to the car with the food rations.

"No, the headquarters had finally calmed down, so I got out. Anyway, I finally get to see you two."

"…I guess so."

"But really, that shocked me. Is this what they call armageddon? I didn't think the sky was going to split."

"……"

"But speaking of which, I'm glad you're both okay."

Julie did not know what was going on, and happily gave Alice and Ai a big hug before saying, "Come back soon!" He went off to accompany Scar and the others.

"……"

The two of them walked off again in silence.

"A-Alice!" "Good morning." "Hey look~ Alice’s here."

"What are you guys doing?"

They unwittingly arrived at school, and found the members of Class 4 gathered together, talking.

From the center of the group, Dee nudged her old friends aside, and walked out.

"… Good morning, Ai, Alice."

"… Good morning."

"Yo."

She looked up at them with a sleep-deprived face.

"…You're both early this morning."

"Miss Dee and everyone too…what are you all doing?"

"Exploratory research."

Come here. Dee took Ai’s hand and dragged her to the center of the circle.

"I found this last night."

"This is…"

"It's still here!?"

The black screen Ai had used to enter Ostia was still there.

"But that’s…why is it still here…?"

"Well, I can guess, but—"

Dee then glanced at Alice.

"…I'm not interested in that though. The question now is what’s inside this black surface."

She said while she continued with her task. The Class 4 members and the adults were shooting ropes, lights and sounds at the black surface, trying to figure out what was inside.

'Menhim, how long has it been since Mu entered?"

"Did you let someone in?"

"Yes we did."

"Are you sure there's no danger?"

"No, but the advance party hasn't been back—for eight hours."

"Th-that’s!"

Ai turned pale and glared at Dee. But Dee seemed to be in no hurry and said to Menhim.

"I guess this thing’s the same after all? If we go in, we can’t get out?"

"Probably…I don’t think it’s any different this time."

"Well, let's get the third group ready. And for now, I want you to recruit volunteers for the sixth group. Try to keep the age range as diverse as possible. And the occupations too."

"Wai-wait a minute!"

Ai tried to stop everyone as she looked at Dee with clear eyes.

"What is it, Ai? I'm busy."

"I-It's too dangerous!"

"Yes, it is. So what?"

Dee answered simply.

"Everyone's already prepared. We could die. It could be worse. But we're still betting on this ‘World’s Egg’."

Then Dee gently stroked his black surface.

"We've decided to rebuild that world again."

"Rebuild…?"

"I call it a rebuild, but we’ll be more cautious this time. We won’t ignore any logic just for our own benefit, and there won’t be any annual loops. People will die, and children will be born."

"Is that...?"

"Yeah."

Dee showed a hearty smile.

"We're going to make the world. The ordinary world of fifteen years ago, where people could live and die properly."

"But that’s…"

"Don't tell me it's impossible. I won't let you say that, Ai. You’re the only one who doesn’t get the right to say that."

She glared at Ai with hawk-like eyes.

"We're going to find the world, just like you found Alice."

"…!"

"And we're going to do it regardless of whether we can or can't. Right?"

"……"

"What…? That's what you said, right?"

"…."

Ai could not answer.

Dee let out a sigh, not even trying to hide her disappointment.

"Alice."

"…What?"

"This time, we're going to do it on our own…"

Alice raised his eyebrows in surprise and nodded deeply.

And after that, Dee—Witch of the West, the Ghost, did not look at them again as she used all the power she had to connect people together.

Ai left the place as if she was running away.

 

+

 

Eventually, with nowhere else to go, Ai ended up in a graveyard.

There, Alice finally walked before her and stopped in front of a small, cozy grave.

The inscription on the grave read "Alice Color" in small letters.

As soon as she saw it, Ai slumped down and opened her mouth in an embarrassed manner,

"………You’re angry… aren't you?

Alice did not say anything.

"You’re angry at me…begrudging me for destroying (saving) your world, aren’t you?"

"…I'm not begrudging anyone."

"You're lying…"

"……"

"That's definitely…a lie…"

And so Ai exploded, clutching the jacket, tearing up, and spitting words heartwrencthing worlds.

"You are begrudging me! You definitely hate me for saving you when you wanted me to destroy you! You definitely hate me!"

"I don't hate anyone."

"You’re lying! You’re lying! You’re lying!"

At that moment,

As she stood alone in the collapsing classroom, Ai had a thought. She looked at Alice alone and had such a thought.

She was able to see Alice, in this world that no longer had a host. The world was starting to decay, yet she was able to support Alice’s existence.

If that was the case,

If she worked a little harder, just a little more, would she be able to bring Alice back?

That was her thought.

She could not help but think so.

Ai wanted to bring him back.

She unwittingly wished for him to be revived.

She revived a deceased person

"What’s wrong with that? Isn’t living fine? You've been saved! It's okay! There’s nothing wrong with that!"

"Yeah, that’s right. I got it's a second life. Yippee ay ay!"

"You’re lying!"

"I’m serious."

"You’re lying!!"

"I’m serious!"

Alice was neither angry nor spiteful.

He just felt sorry for her.

"I don't have any feelings about it. I’m not angry, I don’t hate anyone. I just feel sorry for you."

"Feel…sorry…."

"You failed."

The words stabbed Ai in the chest.

"You couldn't save the world. You didn't save me because you were compassionate. You didn't save me because I was on your side. You were supposed to save everyone, but you’re biased towards those you want to save, and created an exception. You made a distinction in who you were saving."

"Uuu...uuu!"

Ai ruffled her hair messily.

"Because! Because! Because even then, I wanted you to live!…Is that so unforgivable?"

Mr Alice, you idiot…she uttered at the very end, and collapsed weakly. Alice however did not relent.

"If that's the case, you should have made a mistake in the first place…"

"……"

"It’d be fine if you hadn’t saved Hampnie Hambart back then."

"……"

"You should have made a mistake from the start and not saved him, and you would have been happy. "

"…………………………ah … ah … ah"

Alice casually sat down at his own tombstone and looked at Ai. Her eyes were at a loss, like a lost child's.

"Why did you save…someone like me?"

Ai could not answer.

 

And so ­the world saved Ai.

 

Afterword

And so, this is the fifth volume of ‘Sunday Without God’.

I hope the readers enjoyed it.

This time, I wrote the story thinking that ‘I hope the readers will like Alice’. I was the only one who knew about ‘this incident’ since the third volume, and I was in agony, because I couldn’t reveal the details! Alice isn’t just a silly guy! There’s layers to him! That was my thought when writing, but I could only get everyone to understand while writing this core part of the story.

I've finally written it.

Oops, any more and it’ll be a spoiler! My apologies. I’m in the faction of ‘reading the afterword after everything else’, so it’s easy for me to forget. I have to be careful here. I suppose these few words should be fine, right? To those who have yet to read, please start at the beginning!

Now, I did mention that I hoped to deliver the fifth volume before ‘Summer arrives’, and the official release was ‘June’, so I barely managed to keep the promise. At the same time, the manga version of ‘Sunday Without God’ by Abaraheiki-san is also on sale! Please read this version of the ‘Sunday Without God’ world that’s different from Shino-san’s illustrations and the drama CD!

And also! Between volumes 4 and 5, we had a PV and feature produced by Madbox-san! Amazing! To be honest, it's a little scary!

I think this series has been really blessed to have the love of all kinds of people.. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the editor-in-charge, Shino-san, Abaraheiki-san, as well as the salespeople, printers, proofreaders, editors I have not known directly, distributors, and bookstore staff.

And of course, to you.

Thank you very much.

I'll see you in the next volume, Volume 6.

Kimihito Irie

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