Mushi:Vol6 Ragnarok 01

Ragnarok 01: 19-year-old Useless Repeat-year-student, Hobby is video gaming

I like old, but outstanding RPGs. The kind of games where you protect the princess and save the world. I mean the kind of games that were often found on the FC… specifically, my first love was the likes of Dragon Quest.

Even though recent games all have animated cutscenes, dazzling 3D CGs, and blinding special effects, they lack a soul and only possess beautiful exteriors. They are so shallow no matter how you look at them. Overall, their stories are more stale than games from the FC era. They are rubbish games full of complicated, difficult, and boring content, and just about as nourishing as carbonated soft drinks.

I hate these things very much.

I’m happier with plainer entertainment.

This is why I don’t buy the latest consoles.

It is definitely not because I don’t have the money. I just don’t want to play those soulless games.

Definitely.

“Ahh… seriously, it’s this time of the day already?”

I confirm the time using the clock on the wall and sigh, stopping my pointless musings. FC games make my head feel sluggish. I save my progress in this RPG, quickly press the restart button, and cut the power. This story about saving the world, unfolding within the ancient TV sitting in the corner of a messy and chaotic room, finally reach a momentary checkpoint.

I have to go to prep school now.

I lift the leather bag next to my bed and open it to check its contents. It is full of the textbooks that will be used in today’s session, my notes, my stationary, and other reference books. These are now my weapons. Even though they can’t save the world, I can go to university if I use them properly for my studies.

I’ve got to pass this year.

Prep school isn’t free.

“… Er.”

What to wear... err, I don’t care. I’m just going to prep school. No need to dress up. The best clothes are those that allow you to move easily. Dressing up in useless ways will only make me feel depressed. I’m happy with just being plain.

I hoist the bag onto my shoulders and peek surreptitiously at my appearance while standing next to the door. I am very repulsed by things like mirrors and hate them very much. But no matter how many times I threw them away, Mom would always buy more of them and put them in my room.

“I grew taller…”

I’m dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. My lean body grew up for no reason, and I look rather lanky. People could mistake me for a boy. But that’s fine. I don’t care.

“My hair grew longer too…”

I felt that cutting my hair would be a bother, so I let it grow out. Now it’s almost reaching my shoulders and it looks thick and heavy. The fringe is also too long; it almost covers my eyes entirely. It’s almost summer, and the weather is getting hot. Hmm, why don’t I just cut it right now.

I take my stationary case out of my bag and grabbed the scissors, ready to cut my hair.

If I don’t do it now, I’m going to be late.

“Kuri-chan, stop!”

I snatch up my fringe and am about to cut it when the door of my room is suddenly kicked open. I’m startled and look over to see my Mom, dressed in an apron, standing there with tears in her eyes.

“Kuri-chan Kuri-chan Kuri-chan! Is there something you are having problems with? Tell Mom! Let Mom help! Aren’t I your mother? How can a woman cut her hair so easily like this? Hair is a woman’s life! But Mom’s life isn’t my hair; it’s Kuri-chan… huh? I don’t even know what I want to say anymore!”

“…”

I’ve always wondered why my parents were so easily excitable.

While Mom and I look at each other, my Dad also appears at the doorway. He obviously just came home from work, and is still wearing his suit.

“Kuriko Kuriko Kuriko!”

Even though he just came back, he sprinted from the porch to this room and is trying to catch his breath.

“What happened here?! What happened with Kuriko?! Ahh! Why are you holding such a sharp object! What is making you so sad, Kuriko?! I’m so sorry that Dad didn’t notice your mood! I’m a failure of a father! … Hino-san.”

“Kio-san!”

My parents feel like the kind of gentle parents you would see in a TV drama. They are holding each other’s hands, but they are not performing at all. Terrifyingly, they are genuinely crying and wailing in despair.

“We are such bad parents!”

“We have committed an irrevocable sin!”

“I’m so sorry Kuri-chan!”

“I’m so sorry Kuriko!”

Urk. They are so annoying.

The papers and magazines often lament the collapse of family relationships, which lead to cases of child abuse or uncaring parents. But my parents have always had an excess of emotions. It wasn’t that I don’t like them, or that I feel I have to stop them, but it is really a bother.

“It’s nothing… I just wanted to cut my hair."

I sighed and put the small scissors back into the stationary case.

My parents, who are hugging each other and bawling their eyes out, looked at me in confusion.

“… You aren’t throwing the towel from being turned down by a date?”

“… And you aren’t trying to use pain to feel that you’re alive, and want to slit your wrist?”

“You two honestly watch way too much TV drama.”

I’m just an ordinary person.

I’m a useless repeat-year student whose hobby is video games, a nineteen-year-old who is trying over and over to get into university. I don’t have money, and I’m as lanky as a boy, and I’m bothered by this every day. I’m such an ordinary girl.

So Hino and Kio don’t need to be this concerned.

"... Guriko is very happy right now."

Almost unconsciously, I speak these words softly. Then I say them again:

"I'm very happy."

My parents should know this without any explanation. I say this quietly as I placed the bag on my shoulders and smile at my parents. They are still hugging each other stupidly as they cried tears of joy and relief. I wave at them and walk towards the door.

I’m not leaving to save the world.

And I’m not heading out to fight anyone in particular.

I’m only trying not to be late for prep school.

"I'm heading out."

I say this softly as I put on shoes and tie my shoelaces on the porch. These things that I could never accomplish before are now very simple tasks.

"Kuri-chan Kuri-chan Kuri-chan!"

My parents run up to me and wave over and over, as if they are sending their child off to the army or the battlefield.

"Stay safe, Kuri-chan! You cut yourself a boyish hairstyle again. Let's go to a hairdresser's after you come back, and we'll make your hair cute and pretty... here, this is a present from Mom."

Mom folds a ten-thousand Yen bill into a plane and throws it towards me. The paper plane wobbles as it makes its way across. Mom is the same as always, not caring about money at all, while I remain as stingy as ever… woah, Fukuzawa Yukichi’s twisted and bent face looks so funny.

“Kuriko, be careful when you are walking back! Don’t get careless when you’re on the road! There are perverts and stray dogs to look out for, and thunder and meteorites can hit you on the head too!”

Dad’s reminders, which are precautions as well as concerns, are somewhat reasonable for the first half, but sound like complete nonsense in the second half. If I were the same as before, I might not get hurt even if I was struck directly by lightning. But now… I’m only an ordinary human.

I casually reply, “I’ll come back safe and sound” and push open the door, scuttling out of the home.

Once I get onto the bicycle, it is a straight line from here to the prep school.

The weather is astonishingly good today as well.

This is a world without God.

However, God also exists within every corner of this world.

God is within my heart, within Dad’s heart, within Mom’s heart, within a puppy’s heart – everything in this world contains a fragment of God. All these existences influence each other, and keep up the eternal cycle. The world is endless, and will keep on going one ordinary day after another, just like right now.

The God whom I liked messed up the entire world. She was a bit terrifying, but She was very gentle. She broke apart the entire world, but at the very end, She re-created and restored the world to its original form.

Rinne.

Thank you so much for not allowing the world to shatter back then.

I feel… very happy.

Itsuwara Kuriko. The probability of her being accepted by her preferred university is 15%. Grade E.

“Urk…”

Since I was thirsty, I bought a packet of coffee milk from the vending machine when I got to prep school, and drank it while waiting for time to pass. There were about five minutes before classes started, so I snuck into the teacher’s office to look at the results of my mock exams, only to sigh.

Studying is such a pain.

My university entrance exam last year was a failure too.

But I can’t help it. I’ve never been educated or went to class before. Even though I had rushed through school once upon a time in a spectacular way, starting my education with the first year of high school, I still didn’t have any kind of fundamental knowledge like reading or simple arithmetic. It was so hard playing catch up with all my classmates.

Japan’s education system is way too advanced.

Even though Sakaki was my private tutor, and I ended up knowing just about as much as your average person, I still didn’t manage to squeeze through the entrance exam last year. Now I had to become this kind of a good-for-nothing repeat-year student. Even though I didn’t consider getting into university a super-hard challenge…it is already summer, and I’m already getting numbers like a 15% chance of acceptance. That is just too much.

I’m probably not gonna make it into university anyways…

I do like school somewhat… I am interested in things like folklore and myths, and these kinds of unorthodox disciplines. I thought it was very fun to study those things a bit before the world was destroyed, and that was the trigger that made me discover my interests – which later became the basis I'm using to choose my university…. Life is full of surprises. How can anyone predict any outcomes? Who knows what kind of changes will happen, once an opportunity presents itself?

All in all, I can’t study at the place I used to attend anymore. Even if I can’t pass the exam this year, I still need to try my best to study. I take out my vocabulary book and leaf through it, the pages making a crisp noise as I do. I start to study in a really unsteady manner, looking really depressed, just as I did back in the classroom. I calm down by putting on an expression that looks like I have given up on a lot of things, and have had my soul taken away.

As I suck on the coffee milk with a straw and memorized English vocabulary with unusual gusto, a girl sits down next to me.

Her name is Echizen Mitsuki. She is nineteen years old, and I usually call her Echi for short. She was my classmate back in high school, but we hardly talked back then. When we caught up in prep school again, the relationship between us improved. Other people always observe that it is very difficult for me to be with people I'm not familiar with. I look very awkward and am always on the edge of my seat. But if I meet friends who are like me... then everything becomes very strange and incredulous. I mean, I would talk and behave in a way that actually expresses my personality.

This girl is very similar to Rinne, be it her expressions, movements, or her slightly metallic voice.

"Morning."

"Morning... I'm gonna start eating now. Omm."

We greet each other casually, then Echi takes out the sandwich she bought at the convenience store and starts to chew on it enthusiastically. For some reason, I feel that I’ve seen her eat like this before.

I continue memorizing my English vocabulary. I look sideways at her, before saying with a displeased tone: "... If you eat too much, you are going to get fat."

"Mmm. I overslept, so I didn't have breakfast."

Echi shrugs awkwardly and grabs the milk from my hands in a natural way, and starts to suck on the straw. Then she smiles angelically.

“Ahaha – this is an indirect kiss, no?”

“…”

She’s such a confusing girl.

She keeps eating with a happy expression. Then, as if she suddenly remembered something, she asks a strange question.

“Right. Right. Kuri-chan, have you heard of the rumors about the man-eating demon?”

“Man-eating demon? Not Long-Armed Demon?”

Echi looks very confused, but it is to be expected.

The world was re-constructed after it was destroyed. But how was it created as a new world…? This is a question that Sakaki Guryū and Nageki Kurukiyo are trying their best to investigate, with the former doing it in secret and the latter conducting searches in the open. However, they still have very few clues.

Just what events are considered as ‘having occurred’, and which ones are treated as ‘having never happened’? What events are left in history and in the memories of mankind, and what events have been forgotten, treated as if they never took place?

What kind of a world was this made into?

We still don’t know anything about that at all.

Therefore, maybe I should always be on my guard. Perhaps I should be investigating this world together with Sakaki and Nageki, and destroy whatever abnormalities I may discover.

But Sakaki said I should live as a normal person.

I’m no longer an immortal monster. My body is that of a normal human. I am registered as a child of my parents, and I was also linked to them through my DNA… probably. I am no longer Gankyū Eguriko, but exist as Itsuwara Kuriko.

I was accepted by this world.

So I just need to live as a normal person.

Sakaki said that I should live as a normal person, too.

Even though I didn’t accept everything Sakaki said – I decided that if I could, I would like to try living like an ordinary person. I had always wanted to live like that. I decided to try that kind of a life style, the life of an ordinary person, which I thought I would never be able to have.

I want to live every day as a human.

I am no longer the Poisoned Apple, which killed Snow White.

I am no longer the enemy of God, or the enemy of the world.

I am no longer an immortal monster, but a useless repeat-year student you can find anywhere.

No matter what…

“What... is that thing then? Man-eating demon? What is that? It’s a pretty disgusting name…”

I begin to feel anxious, and a bad feeling swells up in my chest – but when I look around, Echi is still rambling about demons and monsters as she eats.

“Um, err, I don’t know the details either… it was reported on TV as well. Sounds like some people got eaten. Munch munch.”

Breadcrumbs from the sandwich are stuck all over her face, but she is still talking about these disgusting topics with ease. I don’t understand this young girl’s feelings and emotions at all…

I suddenly feel tired and allow my eyelids to droop. Echi then starts to laugh.

“Kuriko-chan, you don’t know this because you don’t watch TV, right? It’s a big ruckus right now.”

“I just use the TV to game. …Eh? It’s already making a big fuss? Well, that’s to be expected – after all, people got eaten.”

This is very bad.

Echi and I have a similar numbness towards this, even though we probably got that numbness for different reasons. But we understand that this was a horrible business at the very least. I was a monster as well, once upon a time. I once lived as a monster. Perhaps I didn’t have much in the way of feelings back then. Yet, ever since I became human, I naturally feel disturbed when I hear my brethren have been eaten.

A man-eating demon.

That would be a true… monster.

That is impossible. Monsters should have been completely destroyed in this world. Even if one or two of them pop up, Sterilization Disinfection and Unpleasant Counter-Current - the two entities responsible for tidying up monsters - would have destroyed them before they created a mess.

Sterilization Disinfection and Unpleasant Counter-Current…

The Saibara sisters are still the ones who inherited these duties, right?

Or…are they living as normal humans, just like me?

Or maybe…were their very existences erased?

In the end, I don’t want to think about this anymore. I believe that they must have been reconstructed too.

Even though it was a short period of time, they were my weird neighbors who lived in the same apartment as me, and were once my companions.

“But…”

I started to think about irrelevant stuff without intending to, so I try my best to bring the conversation back on track.

“Isn’t this a peaceful era right now? Why are we talking about demons and ghosts…? If you want to regard a ghost as the criminal, it simply can’t be true. It must be a wanted man or something. As for eating humans… that was probably done by a wild animal.”

“But there are no animals that naturally prey on men.” Echi concludes with great confidence.

But those animals exist. Bears would be an example. They probably aren’t any around here, but even a fierce domestic dog can manage to eat a human body.

Mmm. This era is very safe, so people don’t understand the terror of wild animals at all.

“Mm.”

Echi takes a second sandwich from her bag, puts her hands on top of her head, and waves her hands.

“How do I say this… witnesses say that the criminal has a sharp head like this.”

“A sharp head?”

I can’t imagine that clearly.

Echi is still chewing her sandwich with a happy expression. Am I dreaming, or is this reality? I suddenly feel confused, and reply accordingly.

“Maybe they were wearing a hat on their head, like those sharp hats clowns wear during parties. If they had a sharp head, then it should mean they had a horn on their head. Compared to that, isn’t it more believable for them to be wearing a hat? It would have been dark, so the witness could have thought the hat was a horn on the culprit’s head… so if we are trying to find a name for the culprit, I think it would be more accurate to call them a man-eating clown, rather than a man-eating demon.”

“A horrifying man-eating clown does sound more realistic.”

I try to imagine a manically grinning clown covered in blood.

While we are continuing this stupid and meaningless conversation, our teacher for today swaggers arrogantly into the room. There is a very snobby expression on that person’s face.

“Ah, the Ant-Eater is here. I need to hurry up and finish eating.”

Echi begins to wolf down the sandwich, only to have breathing difficulties due to having too much food stuffed into her mouth. I pat her back tenderly and sigh heavily.

I don’t care about things like man-eating demons anymore. Mmm. Now they have little to do with me.

It should be something that Nageki took care of. It should be a normal crime committed by humans. In other words, even if it is a real monster, I have no incentive to try and look for it, or desire to find it or capture it. Those kinds of work should be the duties of those corresponding Greater Fragments. That’s how the world should operate. Those kinds of things have nothing to do with me right now.

And if that demon threatens my daily life… then I would also know what to do.

“Then let us start class! Hey, Echizen, don’t eat in the classroom! The scent of food is gonna end up in this room!”

“Yesh! I’ma sowwy!”

The teacher who we call ‘Ant-Eater’ starts to tell Echi off, and his spit flies everywhere as he went on his tirade. Meanwhile, Echi is respectfully apologizing to him – though she sticks out her tongue at me and secretly laughs the moment he looks away. This is a very ordinary day for me. Man-eating monsters, Greater Fragments, the destiny of the world – all those things are just stories left behind in a distant world.

And the greatest enemy in front of me these days… are trigonometric functions and English grammar (they are so hard!).

The boring class is finally over, and it was about time for dinner when I got home.

My family still carries out the act of ‘gathering together for dinner’, which has long become non-ritualized and an empty slogan in this era. In my family, dinner is only served after everyone has gathered together, and we only eat once Dad, usually the last person to get home, has returned. As always, Mom sends me a text message, reminding me to come home for dinner.

It’s not as if I’m embarrassed to let my friends see such caring texts from my parents, but I still try my best to read messages and reply inconspicuously.

“Then I’ll stroll around and get home after I’ve wasted some time outside – Kuriko”. That’s my reply.

After I leave prep school, I go to the arcade with Echi since it is on the way. I rest a little bit when I get tired of gaming, and take a bit of time to reply to Mom’s message. Just like always, Mom replies in about ten seconds. The message is full of symbols such as emojis. It is impressive that she could type something like this in such a short period of time.

Both my parents are the kind that are a bit…overemotional.

It isn’t bad. I don’t mind.

By the way, Dad will come back really late tonight due to work, so it seems that dinner will only start at around 9pm. Since Mom gave me money in the morning, I don’t have to worry at all and can spend money without concern. But even so, I don’t manage to waste much time.

I close my phone with a click and start to fiddle with the small arcade steel beads in my palm.

The machines in the arcade are very simple. Most games can be conquered easily as long as your reflexes and sight are a bit advanced. If I’m smart about the kind of games I choose, I can play for a long time with just a few hundred Yen. Even though I no longer have an immortal body, my stamina and mental focus still far surpass that of normal humans. Even if I’m exhausted, my experience and capabilities with video games don’t diminish at all. My body can clearly feel that.

Echi, who is drinking oolong tea next to me, can also be considered as a pro gamer. However, I’m better than her at everything that requires puzzles and brain work, except games. Still, even though I’m good at games, I don’t think there’s much to be proud of.

“Huh… Kuriko-chan, your phone is pretty crappy.”

Echi swings her legs in a bored way as she sits on the bench on the corner of the gaming arcade. Looking over, she sees the phone in my hand.

Mmm. Yeah. My phone is a model that was a few years old already. I’m pretty careful with it… but the small scratches and spots of dirt are getting obvious. Other people would have already bought another phone to replace it.

“But this phone is very important to me.”

I hold the phone tightly and smile, as if I’m embracing someone. What kind of expression would Echi wear, if I tell her this phone was once owned by God?

Shock? Anger? Or a simple smile?

But Echi, this really was God’s mobile phone.

Everything was finished after we experienced the final battle that destroyed the world. Since we were temporarily confused, we basically split up Rinne’s possessions. We weren’t saying Rinne was dead; it just felt a little like it.

I got this phone from Sakaki back then. A lot of messages that were passed between Sakaki and Rinne, which were full of their thoughts towards each other, were saved in there. I originally thought it would be better for Sakaki to keep something like this. However, Sakaki said if he held on to it, he would stare at it all day long and wouldn’t be able to do anything else. Using these excuses, he more or less forced this phone onto me.

There probably wasn’t any need to keep the messages in the phone. However, as the current owner of the phone, I didn’t erase them. Holding on to something that contained Rinne’s information made me feel that she was always with me, and was still protecting me.

How can I explain something like this to Echi?

If I tried to explain everything, then it would become very long.

“…?”

My phone suddenly starts to ring.

It is the tone for a text message.

A strange, unsettled feeling suddenly wells up in my chest. I don’t unlock my phone immediately, and look at the sender first.

It’s a name I have never heard of before.

FROM★Yume-chan

TO★Mother

… What is this?

My phone displays the names of the sender and the receiver, but I have never entered such a contact. So who is this ‘Yume-chan’? I have no idea. Do I know anyone with this name?

The receiver information is also puzzling. Mother?

Did someone accidentally put in the wrong number and sent her message to me…?

Or is this a prank? Or one of those very annoying spam callers?

As these thoughts whirl about my mind, I lower my head and start to read the contents of the text message.

“What is this…?”

Subject★Play with Yume-chan

Message Body★Walk forward?

“Forward?”

I move forward unconsciously. I don’t feel any kind of defensive emotion, but reflectively step out. Echi looks at me rather incredulously.

“What’s wrong, Kuriko-chan?”

“…”

I tell her to wait for a bit, before standing up and slowly walking forward. I see it now. This looks a bit familiar… but I don’t remember seeing this before.

This is the game arcade.

Mmm, this is probably the only place where you will appear.

There is a puzzle game in front of me that requires 50 Yen per try. A shining picture is presented on the screen, with incongruously massive arrows.

→

I walk according to the directions.

“→”“↓”“→”

I pay close attention to my surroundings, and am eventually led to a shooting arcade game.

The player sits in a closed space that looks like a car, holds onto the trigger of the gun, looks at the massive images on the screen in front of them, and shoots enemies to kill them. That’s it. It’s a very common enclosed game space. There’s no one inside the curtained carriage, but there’s a very cute voice coming from inside.

“Come in.”

“…”

I lower my head and duck inside the dim interior, then quickly put down the curtains.

I sit down on the seat, then quietly stare at the image in front of me.

“Aha.”

Inside the monitor, with countless eyeballs serving as the background, a girl stands there.

It isn’t the same image as I saw before, the image created by the humanoid Mushi. This girl was controlled by the Mushi back then. Was this her real form?

She is naked and covered by layers and layers of bandages. It is an outfit even more embarrassing than nudity. If I stare closely, I can see that the bandages are entwined with her hair, and that they are spiraling around her body in complex patterns. She would be better off wearing normal clothing.

Her head looks like that of a goat’s… or rather, was horned like a Western devil’s. Her eyes are red and completely devoid of emotions, making them look totally inhuman. She is hugging a ragged teddy bear before her curvaceous bosom, as if she wanted to hide herself behind the toy.

The girl and I gaze at each other silently, before I sigh, deeply.

“Are you… the Dream World Beast?”

“Call me Yume-chan!!”

No! No! Although the girl looks like an adult, she starts to cry and throw a tantrum in a most immature and incongruous way.

“If you don’t call me Yume-chan, then I won’t talk to you anymore, Mother!”

“…”

Is this her actual personality? No… er, the last time we met, she was essentially controlled by others the whole time – this is the first time we actually had a chance to talk properly.

I clasp my hands together as I think about this and feel somewhat at a loss. This thing was manipulated and controlled by that Snake, who pretended to be a Mushi. It was later killed by Melodia NoiseTear Song’s space-crushing abilities, which was camouflaged as incendiary bombs. This world was reconstructed when it ended, and plenty of people who were supposed to be dead were also resurrected. Yet even though I knew that to be true… did this thing get resurrected as well?!

Anyways, I don’t know what is going on. Is this thing an enemy or a friend? According to normal logic, I should definitely regard her as a very dangerous opponent, and be very cautious when interacting with her. However, right now I can’t feel any traces of enmity from this thing.

But – why was this thing calling me Mother?

No. It was Rinne and I who gave this thing nutrients, and that was how she was hatched – she did call me Mother before, once upon a time. But how did this thing remember it?

The world suffered tremendous amounts of damage, and was only re-constructed at the last minute – everyone’s memories of the Apocalypse were erased except for survivors such as me, Sakaki, Nageki Kurukiyo, Breaksun, Tatsue, and Mitaka.

Many people lost their memories regarding the Last Battle, and appeared as brand new characters. However, the functions they shouldered were like before… and they kept living in this world. For example, Kajiri still had the power of Genesis as Single Room. However, when he met Breaksun again, he had forgotten everything about her… Meanwhile, Joker was still Melodia NoiseTear Song, but she had not inserted Breaksun’s siblings into her body, and she appeared unable to exert the same amount of power she showed when we fought.

Just how did Rinne re-construct the world? I had no idea. All I understood was that the only people who remembered events from the world before were the people who survived the Final Battle. The others have more or less forgotten about everything, and the world was re-constructed in a very peaceful setting.

Sakaki Ganhō did not establish the Eternity Institute either. Instead, he is investigating the details regarding the Last Battle and this re-constructed world with Sakaki Guryū. Joker, meanwhile, is also seriously taking on the task of being Tatsue and Sakaki’s mother. Perhaps many others have been recreated somewhere in this world – such as the likes of Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest, Long-Armed Demon, Berobōchō, and the Mushi. They are probably not scheming or slaughtering each other, but living peacefully.

God once desired death. God once swallowed the Poisoned Apple in anguish and faced annihilation.

This world, which was once destroyed, mirrored the moods of that God. The bloody battlefield, with monsters swarming everywhere, once filled the entire world. People died one after the other. It was a depressing world –

But now, God isn’t not dead, and is recovering little by little… She has probably completely recovered by now. The peace this world now experiences is the proof.

Everyone is living warm and peaceful lives with little stress.

It is a world without strife or slaughter. It is a peaceful world.

This is the world right now, a mirror that reflects the mind of God at this moment.

Then, is this Dream World Beast also… a friend? A companion? It isn’t an opponent I need to protect myself from? No, no. What is wrong with this thing? It shouldn’t remember any of those events, but why is it calling me Mother? Maybe I should start investigating there.

“Dream World Beast…”

“…”

"Ah. I mean, um... what's wrong, Yu... Yume-chan?"

"Ahaha."

A very cute smile surfaces on her face as the Dream World Beast hugs the teddy bear in her arms and raises her eyes towards me.

"What's the matter, Mother? Do you want to play with Yume-chan?"

"No... well, I can, but can we put play aside for a bit? Yume-chan, why would you call me Mom? No - was everything reconstructed deliberately, so she can call me that - huh? I don't understand... what was I trying to say, I don't even know myself..."

"?"

The Dream World Beast tilts her head and her eyeballs turn in their sockets. She then starts the conversation with a few terrible words.

"Mmm, actually, Mother, Yume-chan is here to warn you."

"Warn me...?"

"Yes."

The Dream World Beast smiles sweetly and looks at me with her dark red eyes. It’s weird - I haven't experienced something like this for a long time, but since my body has seen this before, my defensive instincts rear up, as if an alarm starts to ring with a loud and shrill sound.

I look at the Dream World Beast and our eyes meet.

“Um, Yume-chan doesn’t understand yet whether I should tell you – but I keep having this bad feeling, and I feel I must tell you, Mother. Um, there is someone who told Yume-chan – and other people – things that happened in the previous world.”

“…”

The previous world.

That world full of slaughter, the world from the legend of Mushi and eyeballs.

This world finally gained its peace, and we got to keep living our lives in such a carefree manner. Someone told her of that world – a world that many would consider to be a previous life.

“Um, Yume-chan heard a lot of things from that person… and that was how I got to know you, Mother. You are my Mother, aren’t you? Yume-chan’s… mother.”

The Dream World Beast is seeking her answers in a fearful way, but a guess surfaced in my mind. That person may have indeed told everything about the previous world to her. However, the goal for doing that wasn’t for her to regain her previous memories, for her to remember how she was created, what she did, or how she died – it wasn’t to allow her to take back these memories.

I once hurt the Dream World Beast. I rejected its existence and killed it. That is an undeniable truth.

But I stretch my hand out towards the image in front of me, even though I knew I cannot erase the past.

Even though I cannot touch her, I still pat the Dream World Beast’s head. The Dream World Beast shows a very happy smile.

“Ahhh, Yume-chan’s Mother…”

Her cheeks flush, and tears well up in her eyes.

“I’m so lonely. I’ve always been by myself. So… I’m so lonely.”

“I’m sorry, Yume-chan.”

You won’t suffer from any misfortunes anymore, my child.

I make this resolve in my mind, and once again gaze at the Dream World Beast.

“Yume-chan… no, other people too – you shouldn’t remember these things. That bastard was instilling the memories of that painful world into your brain… just where did they came from? Not many people still have the memories from that time….”

I’m very concerned about that person’s purpose.

Why would they still want to dig out the memories of that world? Just who would do something so silly? And for what…

“Mm. Yes. Even though I told her to stop chattering to Yume-chan and others, the person who kept talking about the memories of our previous lives – “

She says slowly and in a low voice.

“Is behind you right now, Mother…!”

“_”

I snap my head back. There is no one there. Rather, there is only the back of the seat and the walls of the enclosure. I can’t see anything else. I turn my head back, and the Dream World Beast starts to roll on the floor in laughter while hugging her belly.

She has tears of laughter in her eyes (those tears are completely different to the previous ones – I’m starting to get upset). She puffs and huffs, and provides an annoying answer.

“Nope. I was joking.”

“I’m going to punch you.”

I originally wanted to talk to her properly, but the Dream World Beast doesn’t seem to have any plans for that at all. Mmm, I have her figured out. This thing is still pretty much a child… If I treat everything she said seriously, I’ll become exhausted.

I remain silent for a while, then put a serious expression on my face, while continuing to gaze at her.

“Mmm – err… no, Yume-chan doesn’t understand this very well either. It was my first time seeing that person – but that person could see Yume-chan. My body is hidden in the air. Ordinary people can’t see it. But she was able to keep chatting to me, so she shouldn’t be an ordinary human…”

This explanation didn't explain anything at all. At the very end, she adds.

"That person told me her name. She said she was 'a ravished Queen of Insects'..."

"Queen of... Insects?"

"Her name was 'Damaged Hair'."

" - Damaged... Hair."

As expected, it was a name I have never heard of before.

But - Queen of Insects?

By insects, she must have meant the Mushi... Was there a queen among them? Even though lots of insect colonies, such as ants and bees, have a queen among them, the hoard of Mushi should have little to do with real insects.

The ravished Queen of Insects, Damaged Hair... huh.

I’ll remember this name anyways. For some reason, I have an annoying kind of premonition...

"That's all I wanted to say. I originally wanted to play together with you - "

The Dream World Beast says in a regretful tone. She mutters as she furrows her brows.

"Because of the secret activities of that Queen of Insects, Sterilization Disinfection also seemed to have started reacting to her and sprang into action... Killing Yume-chan is also one of Sterilization Disinfection’s goals, so now I have to escape to somewhere further away."

"Sterilization Disinfection started to act..."

Then I can probably let Sterilization Disinfection handle it. I experienced the power of Sterilization Disinfection firsthand, so I understand what she can do. Even if she fought the Queen of the Mushi, she would not slip up at all.

While I consider those things, the Dream World Beast starts to wave at me cutely.

"Then farewell, Mother. We will meet again once everything is over... you've gotta play with Yume-chan when that happens, okay? We need to play together for a long long time. You will definitely play with me, right?"

"Yes. I promise."

Next time I will definitely meet a Yume-chan who doesn’t wish to kill me and will play with me for a long time.

I smile and wave at her as well. Then she blinks as if she suddenly remembers something.

"Yes, yes. Mother, there is another Mother for me, right?"

"Rinne? Ah, Rinne isn't around anymore... we can't see her any longer."

I thought I already understood what the Dream World Beast wanted to say, so I said it myself first. But she looks confused.

"No. I've already seen my other Mother before I got here to meet you... she asked me to send a message to you."

"... Huh?"

What did you say?

I stare at the Dream World Beast in shock. She smiles sweetly, and speaks the 'message' she was meant to deliver.

"She said 'I'm sorry, Guriko... I'm coming'."

I split up with Echi in front of the arcade building.

She’s very unhappy that I’m dumping her and running off somewhere else, but instantly forgets about it after I promise to treat her to a meal. Even though I don’t mean to increase her weight by getting her to eat more... well, it can’t be helped.

I look up at the sky. Echi is making some bubbling noises and wobbling her head. Then she grasps my hand tightly and says loudly:

"It's okay, Kuriko-chan! Even if your prep exam results are horrible, you shouldn't give up! Something good must happen!"

"No... um, it's not because of that. And... Echi, how did you know my results for the prep exam?"

"Honestly, I can't let you run off on your own for even a second! Show me your exam paper!!"

"No! I won't show it to you!"

The two of us starts yelling 'no' at each other. Indeed, friends are totally worth it. We are holding hands as we yell at each other next to the bicycle rack outside the arcade center. We are two carefree nineteen-year-old repeat-year students. We don't feel embarrassed about that fact, nor do we feel proud.

"Mm, it's okay it's okay! We'll definitely pass! Definitely pass this year!"

"Yep... this year."

Echi nods with a hum, then suddenly starts to sing out loud.

"Lalala~ Test~ Whatever? It can't go on like this! Failed?"

"Fail?"

"Hoy hoy!"

It is a song and lyrics I recognize, and I start to hum with her unconsciously - but I suddenly remember why I recognize it, and mumble in a low voice.

"Isn't this a nursery rhyme for playing Paper, Scissors, Rocks?"

“So now we are playing exams! It’s the new version of playing Paper, Scissors, Rocks! If you do this once every day, you will definitely pass the exam. Mino-san said this on the TV!”

“Mino-san… who? I’ve never heard of someone like that.”

Because I never watch TV.

Anyways, even though this song is very silly, it boosts my courage. After meeting the Dream World Beast again with no forewarning, I was feeling very confused because I heard something very important, but now I’ve calmed down somewhat.

Friends… are definitely worth having.

I wave as I watch Echi head further and further away on her bicycle. The town into which she disappeared is as peaceful as ever, and I’m a bit more settled.

Yes. This is it.

The world has become very peaceful. No one will never experience anything dangerous or spiteful again.

Yes… Rinne, you must have become very happy, right? That is why this world is so peaceful – it will continue into tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and all the way into the future. It will stay peaceful like this forever, right?

We once made a promise to do our best.

Hmm? Or was that a… slightly different promise?

“Er…”

I try to remember just what kind of promise that was. It should be.... 'if she feels painful again, then...'?

"Oh well, it doesn't matter."

I can’t remember it no matter what, and play with the ends of my hair. I think about what I still need to do. There’s a lot of time after dinner. It should be enough for me to cut my hair at the small hairdresser's near my house. If I still have money left... then I should go hang out at Kannonsakazaki. It has been a while since I've been to that place.

The center of the world.

A place full of our memories.

"... Guess who?"

Suddenly, someone covers up my eyes from behind. Together with that, I heard a voice that sounds like falling bells. Everything in my sight becomes black. The touch on my back is so gentle. It is a warm body that I had once felt before.

My heart starts to beat vigorously.

No way.

Can it be?

It would be a lie to say that I was not expecting... no, that I was not hoping for this. I didn't know whether the Dream World Beast was lying, or if she made a mistake. However, since I was told that She indeed existed - then it would be impossible for me not to expect meeting Her or hoping to meet Her.

But - but –

"... You don't remember me anymore? It has been a long while."

There’s a trace of regret in Her voice. Her hands move away from my eyes.

I cannot move my body. My entire being is stiff - I cannot even turn around.

"You grew taller. I almost didn't recognize you there."

It is that slightly metallic voice, which I liked and Sakaki loved. It is a light and tilting kind of chatter. It is a voice that I have been so anxious about, and would have paid anything in the world to hear again. It is the voice of someone very important to me.

"Don't be scared, Guriko. Look here."

She gently takes my hand, and I can finally see clearly what was going on behind me.

It isn't a dream, and it isn't a mirage.

It isn't a false hope, and it’s not a mistake.

"Ahaha, I feel a bit embarrassed..."

The person smiling there is the God of this world - the girl named Usagawa Rinne.

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