Mushi:Vol6 Ragnarok 06

Ragnarok 06: Final God Mode: 3000 Worlds

… Those who had investigated or researched on myths might agree with this query… Don’t we have a significant lack of explanations regarding ‘The End’ in mythologies?

The End. The End of the World. It was often the final chapter in mythologies, recounting vague and unclear events. Amongst the countless myths in this world, perhaps not a single chapter of the End precisely explained that final moment.

For example, the Bible described that God gave the Last Judgment to Humanity after the Earth and mankind speedily faced annihilation and slaughter. At the end, the kind amongst the dead went to Heaven, and the evil men were exiled to Hell. However, there were no records regarding these ‘everafter worlds’ such as Heaven and Hell. We remain unaware of what kind of world the dead would be entering, and what kind of lives they would be leading.

Moreover, the famous mythology that described the end – the” Ragnarök” in Norse mythologies – described an extremely vicious battle that took place between gods. At its conclusion, all of humanity became embroiled in the flames of war and was totally annihilated, and the earth was flooded and destroyed. After that, the world silently prepared for the birth of a peaceful, brand-new world. However, just as we expected, there were no records of that ‘brand-new world’.

Either way, the world would apparently generate a new world after the end of humanity. However, that ‘new world’ would only exist in our imagination while we were still alive. Similar to the world after death, it was something nebulous. Its real form was something we could never ascertain and can only glimpse from conjecture.

Based on the unified existence between God and I, the end of a mythological cycle would be when I die. After that – I can’t claim anything with certainty regarding the worlds after death, those Heavens or Hells. No matter what, a living person could not have seen Heaven and Hell. No human living in this world would have been to the Land of Dead. We cannot change that…

Mmm, this seems like a pointless venture. I am about to give up on this line of thought. However, I’m trying to change the way I’m thinking.

Numerous myths had shown ‘An End of the World when the story was not finished’ and tried to focus on such events. This kind of story is dominated by stories of the world temporarily ‘ending’ early in the myth cycle, exemplified by the story of the Flood of Noah, which I had named ‘God becoming Lost’. In Greek myths, we even have records of the world being destroyed three or four times for unknown reasons. God had been lost for a long time.

An End of the World in that manner was more of a ‘Destruction of the World’ rather than the End. We are only using that destroyed world as a learning experience, and a new world would soon start to operate again. It is comparable to hitting the Reset key in a role-playing game. But a true ‘End of the World’ would mean all the records in the role-playing game were completely wiped clean. In those situations, there would be no further developments, and all would end.

However… this is merely my speculation, but if a game’s records were completely wiped, then were would be no possibility of having a sequel. A sequel that we could not see would be the world after the End of the World in myth cycles. It may be Heaven, or Hell, or a new world that we could not imagine.

It is fun imagining ‘Bible 2’ or ‘Norse Saga 2’. For a myth cycle, their absolute ‘End’ might be no different to the instances of ‘God becoming Lost’ – it might merely be one among the thousands of brief destructions. After this ‘End’, a brand new myth would start once again till the end of time – while it is fun to think about this, a part of my brain also feels weird. However, no matter what, I want to see the myth after the end of myths.

It is as ludicrous as wanting to see Heaven while still alive, but…

… Urk. This is basically a record of my thoughts rather than a proper argument. I was seriously spending every moment of my days researching and presenting this argument, but who is going to take this seriously? This isn’t the kind of research I did in my free time as an elementary student anymore. I have no motivation… well, I’ll wrap up here. I’ll try to keep thinking until I come to a conclusion.

That moment when the unified existence of God and I meet its end… Death is the End. Life will probably be as boring as this till I die. I’ll have to write boring essays like this one to waste time…

“The Unified Structure Between God and Me” by Akutagawa Shirayuki, Class 1-D in Municipal Kanayagi High School

If the Destruction of the World is a myth or a story, then I am definitely not its protagonist.

A protagonist represents justice in their story. The story existed around them and because of them, even if the story itself was full of plot holes – however, in this story, there were no protagonists.

The focus of the story kept changing around. Depending on time and occasion, Our enemies from yesterday might become our friends tomorrow. Even good and evil changed all the time, twisting and turning for all sorts of reasons. It was all chaos, and we had no idea why.

Fundamentally, the protagonist was Rinne… God was the center of this world.

All the characters who showed up were Rinne’s fragments. As the protagonist in this myth about the end of the world, she simplified everything due to the sole reason of delaying the poison’s effects. This world was nothing but the story of a war between God and the Poison.

And I was the Poison.

I was the only exception in this world. I defied the will of God. I was the Poisoned Apple who became a monster.

I had the role of the antagonist. Perhaps I was the manifestation of the poison that was going to kill God in the real world.

But that person –

Rinne had never hated me.

Now that I think about it, I felt she was a weirdo when I first met her.

She was God, but she didn’t realize it at all. She was only stumbling along and trying to escape, but she put up a façade of strength.

I… was confused about everything regarding Rinne.

What was wrong with her? What a weirdo. That was what I thought.

Initially, I had no expectations about her.

For me to behave like a normal person, to have friends and a family, to live peacefully with others – I had laughed as such possibilities back then.

But Rinne called me a friend, even family.

She had hugged me tightly.

“Could I call Guriko my ‘most important person’?”

“Even God and the Monster became such good friends! It’s a miracle that you won’t find in any myth!”

Even if everything else in this world were lies, dreams, or illusions.

The warmth that Rinne gave me must have been real. I started to change because of Rinne. That slightly annoying God had completely taken the role of the Poisoned Apple away from me and turned me into an ordinary girl. I am… no longer powerful, no longer immortal, and I no longer had power to protect her. Perhaps I am only a weak normal human now – but I definitely still want to do something more for Rinne.

For this sole miracle in this world.

The miracle that you won’t find in any myth, where she and I became close friends.

Let’s prove this to them all, Rinne.

Rinne and I became very close. Rinne was the most important person for me, and I want to keep this going for as long as I could. I want to keep this small miracle going and try my best to prevent the world from sinking into another destruction. Just this time, I want to keep this world the same as before.

I want to hurry and end everything, to destroy all the enemies and plots.

I want to show this peaceful world to Rinne.

I also have so much to tell Rinne. Things about my family, my friends, my recent hobbies, my grades at cram school. I want to tell all those boring and mundane things to Rinne.

I will fight once again to achieve that.

Even though I no longer had a spoon in my hand, Gankyū Eguriko – no, now I’m called Itsuwara Kuriko – was heading out to fight now.

I explained the situation to PoisonCatastrophe, Breaksun Hanselmine and Single Room, Nikuyama Kajiri. I quickly got them to promise me their aid and arranged to return the World Institute with them. While on the road, I… I was utterly exhausted, almost ready to faint. I really felt just how powerless I was.

My body was full of a despicable feeling that made me want to vomit.

That feeling corroded my body and completely defeated me. It was painful and bitter at the same time. I was displaying a despicable state to these people where I was in so much pain, I couldn’t even make a sound.

I was kneeling on the ground, and my face was probably a shade of deadly paleness. I can’t even stand up.

Screw fighting again!

Screw destroying all enemies and plots!

I’m already, already –

“… Uwaahhhhh…”

I’m already extremely carsick.

I put my hands on the ground to hold myself up, and forced down the horrible feeling swelling up from my throat. My body started to shake violently, as if it was feeling a strong chill or had a massive urge to vomit.

I had completely collapsed without even fighting anything, and I was making people worry. Breaksun, our leader, looked at me with a careless expression and tilted her head.

“Huh?”

“What do you mean ‘huh’? Idiot, idiot Breako! Kuriko is no longer an immortal like us. She can’t handle your crazy driving… seriously, even I’m feeling a bit sick.”

Kajiri said as he wobbled, as if he was dizzy. He tightly gripped Breaksun’s long green hair.

I just want to mention that Kajiri wasn’t wearing the apron anymore and had put on a set of simple modern clothes. Of course, Breaksun also removed her frog onesie pajamas and put on a set of performing clothes with clashing colours. She even still carried a guitar on her back for some reason.

Also, in order to go to Poison Valley, I didn’t use the car that the Sakaki Organization prepared for me. To save some time, I trusted Breaksun with drive us back when she confidently asked me to rely on her. But… this is so nasty. I don’t have a single word to describe her driving skills except ‘nasty’.

The car was bouncing up and down as if it was alive. It roared like a beast and flew like a bird, essentially ignoring the traffic lights and the opposing traffic. It was really a miracle that such crazy driving didn’t get her into any accidents. Perhaps it was a miracle of God due to PoisonCatastrophe’s ability to twist cause and effect. If an ordinary person drove like this to the World Institute, they would have died countless times.

This unbelievable method was how we successfully and speedily returned to the Institute… but my body was at its limit. I was so weak and carsick that I felt all the blood and organs in my body were wobbling, and I was about to vomit them all out. I couldn’t move a single bone in my body. The human body was certainly unable to ride such a bouncy object.

“Urk – “

I must look very pitiful right now with the way I stumbled and my expression. Even Breaksun couldn’t take it anymore and started to apologize to me with embarrassment.

“I’m sorry… Kuriko, are you okay? Now that I think about it, when my siblings rode my car, they spent some time unable to even laugh – is my car really that bad? Should I buy another one? But I really like its design. It’s got an awesome 70s’ style…”

“No no no. The car isn’t the problem. It’s your driving skills, Breako. Seriously, how bad is your driving that even your innocent kid siblings are unable to even laugh? Hey, Kuriko… don’t move.”

Kajiri gave Breaksun an earful, then he took the crucifix he wore around its neck and stabbed the sharp, knife-like end of it towards his own fingers.

Then, droplets of blood seeped out of his broken skin, glistening with a mysterious light as if it reflected the sunlight.

“Mmm, Welcome to My Room.”

Kajiri evenly spread his blood on my forehead and easily deployed his powers of Genesis Immediately, the anguish I was feeling from the carsickness completely disappeared, as if it was a miracle.

The power of Genesis from Single Room.

If this world was a game, then this was the ability that could change its settings, an ability closest to God. Just like he had said before, nothing was impossible if he willed it. God – Rinne – had also used the power of Single Room to remove my ‘function’ of ‘Poisoned Apple’.

“Huh, so you really became an ordinary human.”

Single Room’s other ability, World Analysis… he could interpret the settings of this particular game and use that information. Kajiri placed his finger on my forehead and looked quite interested.

“Your physique is excellent and have an amazing reflex – but you are still within the parameters of a normal human.”

“Don’t just read other people’s stats like that.”

I didn’t feel any better. Now that my powers were reduced, would I be dragging everyone back in future operations? I’ve been worried about that for a long time. I was pained by this thought, and that was why I was speaking to him rather rudely.

Kajiri shrugged, then he asked with a very serious expression:

“So, now what? If you want, I can increase your battle prowess by magnitudes. Even if you want to become an immortal again… mmm, that’s not impossible either. Frankly, out of all of us, even including Sakaki Ganhō, you are the one person whose strength was expected to be the lowest. I’ve been thinking whether it’d be a bad idea to use the power of Single Room to boost your individual power.”

“Ahh, then, can we make her spew fire when she sneezes? Or emit light streams from her eyes? It’s a girl’s dream to have laser beams coming out of her eyes!”

Breaksun lifted her hand and yelled, as if she thought of a good idea. But I still find such ridiculous people to be annoying.

No matter what, I shook my head and refused Kajiri’s suggestion.

“No… I, I’m fine as it is. If we get into a bad situation, I’m okay with being messed up by the enemy – just treat me as an ordinary human now.”

It sounded a bit wistful, but Rinne gave me this body. This was a body that Rinne had set up to live as a normal human. If I go back to being inhuman again… I don’t think I like that.

“Right, doesn’t your ability require you to spend blood? You’ll get weak when you use your power. Since that’s your weakness, please don’t use your blood on me. You are the omnipotent final weapon. You gotta carefully consider where you want to use your ability.”

“… It’s okay as long as Kuriko feels it’s fine.”

Kajiri waved his hand dismissively and licked his finger to stop the bleeding. This dude was like a puppy. In a way of speaking, he had got a strong self-sacrificing thing going on. Maybe that was why Breaksun adored him so much.

“Then –”

Originally, I had no idea what was going on because of carsickness. However, this wasn’t the problem anymore.

The three of us stayed next to Breaksun’s antique car and stood at the entrance of the grey industrial area. It was the first time Breaksun and Kajiri had come here. They were not sure where the subterranean World Institute was – both of them were looking at me.

“Then, please take us to Ring-bell.”

Breaksun had known Rinne before. She smiled sweetly, as if she was delighted.

“It really has been so long since we last met. But it was fine. People tend to forget my name if we didn’t catch up often. That’s the kind of person I am… Ring-bell probably already forgot about me too.”

She looked rather sad. Kajiri was a bit concerned, and he cut in abruptly:

“Don’t worry about that! People were always forgetting about you because of your ability to corrupt cause and effect, no? Now you are someone nobody can forget, even if they only met you once! Seriously, your piled up hair looks like vegetable soup! Your clothes are disgusting, and that guitar case was the worst! When did you become a hero in a comic book?”

“If I fell in love with you, you would get scorched! Physically scorched!”

“Physically? That’s scary!”

“… You guys get along so well.”

Looking at these carefree people bickering between them, I couldn’t help but feel jealous. Then I cast my eyes forward. Now was not the time to bicker like this. If we don’t meet up with Rinne and the others soon and decide our way onwards –

I was thinking relaxedly.

I was thinking very relaxedly, and then…

There was the sound of an explosion.

“ –“

I was still too naïve.

Should I say I was a peaceful idiot, or I had too little sense of danger? – I was too slow, too naïve.

Things were moving forward much faster than I had thought. Before I realized it… seriously, before I realized it, those despicable people were already moving forward with their plots.

Indeed.

Just a momentary lapse of judgment would lead to death. Even a tiny failure meant something important to me could be taken away mercilessly.

I had understood this better than anyone in the previous world.

However, I had gotten used to this world full of peace. I had forgotten and ignored these previous lessons – those facts that I took for granted in the destroyed world, facts that I hated but had also experienced firsthand.

“… Kuriko, come here.”

Breaksun still looked relaxed. She waved and called me over. I ran up next to her and really felt how exhausted I was and stood behind here.

Breaksun looked around us in a dazed away. As if she detected something, she frowned and put down her guitar case. Then she took out something out of the case and said in a low voice:

“Kajiri, you protect Kuriko. Single Room is a weak Greater Fragment when it comes to physical combat, and your skills aren’t suited for fighting. But at least you are better at dealing with the situation than Kuriko is right now.”

Could it be that Breaksun, who was not involved in the Final Battle, was the most reliable in this chaos? This was really different from the previous world.

Breaksun posed with the guitar, and had an excited and lively expression as if she was going to start singing here. Then, she said with a calm and low voice:

“Hmm, just leave the fighting to me. Kajiri, you should take it easy. Maybe my defence is actually the highest. You should be relatively safe next to me… Sure, I’m worse than Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest in physical defence. I’m also not as agile as Melodia NoiseTear Song in manipulating space and evasion. Of course, I also don’t have convenience powers like Unpleasant Counter-Current, who can twist the direction of an incoming attack –”

Something was suddenly thrown towards us.

My dynamic wasn’t very good anymore and I couldn’t tell what it was… but I soon realized what it could be. If we were not in a battlefield, then we would not see grenades. If it wasn’t a primitive era, then we would not see rocks.

It was probably something dangerous.

“But PoisonCatastrophe’s twist of cause and effect would ultimately divert everything that could harm us – it’s basically an all-powerful and extremely simple ultimate shield.”

There were countless knives.

Sharp kitchen knives.

Those were the most commonly used knife in Japan, the ones used to chop up vegetable and fish and were mass manufactured in factories. Endless sharp knifes flew towards us like rain. I probably won’t get hurt if these knifes were thrown one after the other. However, when so many of them were heading towards me at the same time, that was a different story.

If I was still the person I was before…

… then I would be able to easily dodge this rain of knives, then beat up the idiots who threw those. But the person I am right now… right now…

“Kuriko.”

Breaksun shook her fingers at me and said nonchalantly:

“You tried a little too hard in the previous world. I felt bad watching you from the sidelines… At the very end, you went to fight alone for God and for the entire world. I was so weak, and I couldn’t go after you. I was always remembering this memory. So, this time, I hope you can rest on the sidelines.”

She snickered as if she was trolling. Then she plucked the strings of her guitar and started to sing.

“Trust me with everything!”

Instantly –

The guitar pluck in her hands played at the strings. The sound of her guitar merged with her own song… that was the power that had once twisted all cause and effect, ruined all the languages of the world, and created the tragedy of the Tower of Babel.

The countless sharp knifes flying this way suddenly started to wobble as if they were made of some soft material. They ignored gravity and started to go off in strange trajectories. Then, they flew past Breaksun, Kajiri, and I, not causing any damage. They brushed past the three of us as if we didn’t even exist –

“Hmm – I just gave that a try.”

As if she remembered something, Breaksun made that sing-song sound again.

“Seems like I’m copying Unpleasant Counter-Current… hallelujah?”

The singing she made was like she controlled the magic of witches. The sharp blades that came from different directions changed directions mid-air, then turned and flew back to where they each came from.

Twisting cause and effect… true to its name, it twisted the concept of consequence. The so-called ‘cause and effect’ was an expression of fate that connected events with their future consequences… Perhaps Breaksun had re-written the target of the sharp knifes from ‘us’ to ‘the enemies who threw the knives”. She ignored the process and forcibly changed the consequences of an action. When used this way, it seemed to be a very scary ability.

Shrieks and moans came from all directions around us, but we still didn’t see who threw those knives. Perhaps they were hiding in the depths of the warehouse –

“You noticed that now, didn’t you?”

She didn’t seem interested in unveiling the enemy. Breaksun spoke in a carefree manner, as if she had just performed a miracle with her magical voice.

“PoisonCatastrophe and Single Room lack the terrifying power that can deliver a killing blow, and maybe we don’t even have any means to attack. What should we do then? My ability is basically a reactive defence ability. I can’t initiate any attacks towards others. However, using the ability of the corruption of cause and effect, we can even evade the surveillance of enemies that we are not able to detect. Now, let’s head to the Institute.”

“…”

I was still concerned about who threw those knives at us –

Hmm, Rinne’s safety was of paramount concern. I don’t need to worry about those unknown enemies and should just get rid of them when I can. I don’t know what’s happening, but since we suddenly got attacked, this might be an emergency situation. Joker was there, so there shouldn’t be any major issues, but it was highly likely that fighting had occurred inside the Institute. Now was not the time to stop.

“Guriko!”

As I considered the situation, a familiar voice rang out.

I lifted my head towards the voice and saw something bizarre.

Kajiri, Breaksun, and I all opened our mouths in shock and stared at that thing.

“What is that…”

“Woah…”

“A flying car…? How imaginative… are we inside a sci-fi novel?”

As Breaksun muttered, the mysterious contraption was flying towards us.

A flying car. It was a flying car.

It looked very expensive, painted from head to toe in black. It should be a foreign car owned by the Sakaki Conglomerate. It had no wings, and no jet propeller, and the wheels were not turning. It just levitated in the air. It plummeted to the ground when it reached us.

“Woah…!?”

I hastily turned and was completely shocked by this scene of having a car descend upon us. There was a voice calling out to us. Who was it?

“Guriko!”

The door opened and the person emerging from it were waving at us. It was Rinne. When I looked closely, the driver was Ganhō and Joker was riding shotgun. The first row of the backseats was Sakaki Guryū and Rinne, and the second row had Tatsue, Mitaka, and the Snake.

“Rinne! Thank goodness. Are you alright?!”

I ignored everyone else and ran straight to Rinne and held her hands. She smiled and nodded demurely. Then she suddenly noticed the two people behind me and stared.

“Woah, Breaksun-san! Kajiri-san!”

“……Ring-bell?”

An incredibly brilliant smile suddenly bloomed on Breaksun’s face and she skipped a little as if she was a young child.

“Woah woah, it’s really Ring-bell! Long time no see… woah, I really didn’t think we’d get to see each other again. I’m so happy! Hey, Kajiri… Kajiri, come and say hello too. This is God.”

Breaksun became uncharacteristically excited and waved at Kajiri. Then she suddenly remembered something – she said in a low voice and an excited expression as she posed with a pointed finger as if she was an older sister.

“Ah, Ring-bell… didn’t we go over this before? It’s very weird to call me Breaksun-san.”

“Then, could you please stop calling me God, too?”

These neighbors from the previous world were gently smiling at each other. What a consoling scene – however, I almost forgot now was not the time to leisurely recall past memories.

“Sorry for the interruption… now is not the time to happily chat. The situation is a bit urgent – we need to leave here quickly. Let’s catch up later.”

For some reason, Joker sounded very humble as she talked to Rinne. I asked my questions directly at her.

“Joker, what happened here? Also, I almost forgot, but why is this car flying? Am I hallucinating? There are no mechanisms to make it fly?”

“I was just levitating it using my ability. Don’t be surprised… anyways, it’s a good thing that we met up with PoisonCatastrophe and Single Room. We can recuperate and launch our counter-attack once we hurry and find somewhere safe… someone seems to be preparing to attack Rinne. I’m not clear on who our enemy is, but we won’t let them attack us so easily.

Joker was as confident as ever. Then, she told me something rather cruel…

“Can the three of you keep using our car? My car is almost full. If the three of you go back to your car…”

Of course, I did my uttermost to completely refuse that suggestion.

I’d rather DIE than go back to Breaksun’s driving! I’d rather die RIGHT NOW!!!

“… We should be safe here, right?”

I got out of the car and bought a can of juice from the vending machine nearby and had a rest. We were driving as fast as we could, and now we no longer felt anyone pursuing us. I had lost the capacity to sense foreign presences, so my instincts were no longer as reliable.

Joker was leaning against the car like a true American and saying these words with a loud voice as she drank from her can of Coke. The people milling about in this ordinary small town were looking at us. Thinking that it is safer to be around people than to stay somewhere desolate, we started our war plans in the middle of the road.

“I just searched our surrounding with Melodia NoiseTear Song’s ability… there is nothing suspicious around us. We can settle down and start planning. Hmm, Tatsue and I will be responsible for keeping watch around us – let’s inform each other what we know and plan our next steps.”

“Huh. Am I helping too, Mother?”

Tatsue, who was tasting some premium coffee (even her taste in coffee is a long black… she’s completely unified with the color black), opened her eyes wide.

“But, um, I barely have any Fragments inside me. If I used my abilities too much, I might put myself in danger… um, no, if that’s what Mother wishes, I will do my best.”

“Calm down. Just help me when you can. I’m not planning for you to go all out.”

Joker emptied the Coke can’s contents into her throat and grasped the can tightly, with a smile surfacing on her face. She was dressed in a suit, gloves, and sunglasses, looking very handsome. She seemed to have dressed up deliberately as she knew Rinne was coming. A long skirt and a suit were equally restraining when it comes to physical activities, but this outfit she was wearing now seemed to be her standard battle attire.

A breeze blew past, and the bells tied to the tips of Joker’s hair chimed. She ran her fingers through her hair and narrowed her eyes.

“However, in a way of speaking, this could be the last time for us to use our abilities. Don’t save your abilities for later, Tatsue. How should I say it… it might be instinct, but I feel this really is a bad situation here. Something completely incongruous to this peaceful world, something that gave out a strange feeling, had appeared.”

After some serious consideration, she gave her directions:

“Guryū is my son, so he should have inherited Melodia NoiseTear Song’s power… However, he doesn’t seem to have manifested it yet. We can’t entrust everything to him. Just do your best to defend God against harm. You already got your weapons from Ganhō, haven’t you?”

“Understood, Mother.”

They seemed to be getting along well now. Gradually, Rinne squeezed Sakaki’s hand back as they linked hands. Hmm, please protect Rinne well this time too, Sakaki.

By the way, they were getting along so well that they were drinking the same kind of drinks. They were really made for each other. Just having Rinne and Sakaki together was already the best.

As Joker gave directions to everyone in a brisk manner, Ganhō was busy holding a machine gun under his arm. He looked like he couldn’t wait to start up the gun and spray bullets everywhere as he loudly proclaimed:

“Then, let’s spray our bullets all over our concentrated enemies!”

“Why must you attract attention like this? Idiot. We don’t even know who our enemies are. Who are you going to fire at?”

As Joker coldly told him off, Ganhō nudged her dejectedly as if he was a little kid.

“Alright alright. I always felt that Joker is nastier towards me than other people. Is this an expression of your twisted love? Do you love me? I’m so happy, Joker. I love the most I the world as well!”

“Really. Then go die. I hate this kind of logic of yours the most.”

“… Are you a tsundere?”

“Oh? Do you want to make me a widow? If you’re so keen to lie underneath a tombstone, then I will help you. I will do my best.”

The two of them seemed to be doing a couple’s comedy. Breaksun raised her hand timidly from the sidelines:

“Um, what should we do? We spend a lot of effort to get here as helpers. If there’s something we can do, we will try our best.”

“Hmm, thank you very much.”

Joker replied with Japanese, which she spoke with an accent. She turned her gaze to Breaksun and Kajiri.

“PoisonCatastrophe and Single Room are on standby, preparing for unforeseen circumstances. Ahh, PoisonCatastrophe, since there might be enemy snipers, you can help me keep vigilance as well. I can manage normal attacks with manipulation of space, but if I had no idea an attack was coming –”

“Got it. Then let’s do it. Did you get it, Kajiri?”

“I got it. Stop treating me as a child!”

The two of them were drinking juice together, looking sweet. Joker looked away from them and turned to Mitaka and the Snake.

“To be honest, I have no work for you. You too, Kuriko.”

Her gaze looked at me clearly through her sunglasses, then she spoke kindly and carefully:

“You are no longer immortals. You all need to prioritize your own safety. I heard that the Snake is better at sensing others as he is essentially a ‘monster’, so please let me know if you feel something odd, Snake. Kuriko and Mitaka don’t need to worry. I am protecting us all using my manipulation of space ability. Just help me spot any places where there might be gaps in the defence. But if any fighting breaks out, you need to seek shelter next to PoisonCatastrophe immediately. You aren’t suited to fighting.”

“I’m also not an immortal! I’m so worried, darling.” Ganhō hugged Joker from behind her and yelled. Joker immediately silenced him with a punch.

“… Bastard, you just go off and die somewhere. I would be very happy. Stop coming to annoy me – just stand aside and die.”

“Even if you say that, you would be the first to come and rescue me when I’m in trouble, right?”

“I would be the first to rejoice.”

“I love you, Joker.”

“You wannna die? Shut up.”

“…………”

They get along so well together.

I couldn’t help but think that as I looked around us. It was a quiet suburban street with the occasional passing car and pedestrian. There was nothing suspicious. Just the scenes of an ordinary afternoon. We were probably the most suspicious people in town right now.

Joker’s face was full of spite as she did her best to struggle free of Ganhō’s hold. Then she took off her sunglasses and continued to explain:

“But we are still not clear on the enemy’s identity. Previously, the people who tried to abduct or assassinate Rinne were all employees of the World Institute.”

“… How?”

Employees from the Institution should be Ganhō and Joker’s staff. They should have been friendly – Ganhō soon noticed my confusion and interjected.

“Mmm, honestly, that was a rather bizarre event. All the staff at the World Institute were trained by me from scratch and they were all trustworthy. Even if the world was overturned, they shouldn’t commit acts that would betray me, or go against my orders to attack Rinne. Besides, no one else should have known about Rinne being here.”

“This guy’s so-called concept of ‘trustworthy’ is basically him knowing all the employees’ weaknesses.”

Joker frowned and looked sideways at Ganhō, then sighed heavily.

“Either way, the employees won’t defy Ganhō. He’s the leader of a great conglomerate no matter how you look at it. He is almost above the law. If anyone betrayed us, Ganhō could grind them into dust with just the tip of his fingers. The employees should understand this better than anyone.”

“But they still betrayed us.”

Ganhō naturally reinstated this shocking truth.

“All the employees betrayed us at the same time.”

“…………？”

I didn’t understand what that meant for a second.

I blinked and repeated his words just to make sure.

“Do you mean exactly what you said?”

“Yes. I don’t know how they did it, maybe mass hypnosis or something else. But every staff started to attack Rinne at the same time.”

Joker crossed her arms with a hint of doubt was in her gaze.

“I did my best and defeated them, but the way they moved was not human… were they manipulated, or outright possessed? They were not behaving like usual at all. They felt like they were simply carrying out someone else’s will. I’m afraid someone else is behind the whole plan.”

“We still don’t know who’s behind the attacks, huh.”

Kajiri tossed the empty can into the rubbish bin and scratched his red hair.

“I don’t understand this conversation at all. The people who threw knives at us before also didn’t show themselves… we never seem to be able to see the enemy. The enemy just does not want to face us.”

He said this in a low voice full of spite. Then…

… I saw it.

No one else had sensed it.

Joker and Tatsue were surveying the surrounding area using their ability to manipulate space, trying to spot anyone suspicious. There were also others responsible for our defence. None of them noticed it. I just happened to shift my gaze in that direction – and I happened to see it.

It was an ordinary-looking pedestrian.

It was someone that had passed us a few times and was walking very naturally.

There was nothing odd about him. He looked composed as he walked up to us on his own –

Then, very composedly, he took out a folding knife from his pocket.

Then, very composedly, he stabbed the knife towards Sakaki, who was standing next to Rinne –

“……”

I responded instinctively when I realized what was happening.

I immediately threw the can in my hands towards the person!

Right now, I was not an immortal, a monster, or the Poisoned Apple.

My strength was not too different from that of a normal human, and the can was flying at a normal speed. It just happened to hit the man with the knife. The man toppled backwards from the sudden attack and dropped the dagger in his hands. Sakaki immediately responded and hugged Rinne tightly in his arms, then turn his head to survey the area fearfully.

“——”

Our companions also noticed the man. Some of them became nervous, and some started to respond – but the true horror had only just started.

The housewives who were chatting casually at the roadside started to rush towards us, brandishing kitchen knives. The primary students who were kicking a soccer ball on the street approached us with baseball bats and knifes in their hands. The cars on the road ignored the street signs and sped towards us. The door of every house opened, and the residents walked out of them armed with farming scythes.

What a nightmarish scene.

No way.

No way – that was what I had thought.

As if we were hated by the entire world, everyone had become our enemy. The populace of the entire town was approaching us… I feel a sheen of cold sweat on my skin as I faced this terrifying scene.

“Did everyone in town become our enemy?”

Did they respond to my words? For a brief second, a dark crimson light shone out of the eyes of these people. It was the familiar red eyes that I had seen so many times…

“So, that’s why.”

In a way of speaking, this was an enemy I have known for a long time.

In the previous world, in my fake memories, in my long long lifetime…. I kept battling these creatures in my millennium-long life.

Yes, the enemy this time – were you people.

“Mushi…”

As I murmured, I saw before me a regal girl, standing behind the hoard of Mushi and looking down upon this city coldly as if she was its ruler.

She wore the sharp hat of a clown, donned a thick and luxurious priest’s robe, and held a gold spear that I hated on an instinctive level. She stood there expressionlessly and seemed to be speaking to herself. The strange girl’s eyes sparkled with a crimson light, and she spoke in a low voice as she looked at us.

“This is… Final God Mode: Three Thousand Worlds. Everything in this world will become my servant. Everything in this world will become your enemies – everything around you will try to hunt and kill you. How does it taste to be in such a terrifying world?”

I couldn’t understand those words at all, but she looked like the final boss of a game.

Mmm, perhaps this was the boss of our enemies. Anyways, that much was clear.

It had been a long time since I experienced a real battle. After the world was rebuilt, I haven’t smelt the stench of blood for such a long time. Nor have I often heard those frequent screams, the sound of someone’s life being taken away.

Of course, I was just an ordinary human. I was just peeking at the battlefield under Breaksun’s protection. However, I didn’t feel any distress. In fact, I actually felt refreshing.

From the point of view of a human, I felt just how extraordinary my friends around me were.

Ahh, these people… seriously, seriously.

“This is such a mess –”

Someone threw a pair of large garden scissors at us. Under Breaksun’s voice and the music of her guitar, it instantly lost its aim and plunged into the ground. It was similar to the ability of reflecting attacks owned by Unpleasant Counter-current. It was rather bothersome, and was solely a defensive ability.

Perhaps her guitar was the tool used to control her ability, much like the spray cans Mina had used. Breaksun could now control her power almost perfectly. She was unable to protect the one she loved in the previous world. Now she looked completely nonchalant, but her emotional stress must be worse than she was letting on. This kind of control over her abilities could only have been gained after endless training. And right now, it became a power to protect someone.

Just like the numerous sharp knives tossed at us before, now this enemy had released countless Mushi. Who knows what else she would let out? Those could be completely countered by Breaksun and Tatsue’s manipulation of space, but those were still very intense attacks. My eyes could barely capture the entirety of this hoard.

“Hahaha! This is what it feels like for a couple to fight together! I’m so happy, Joker!”

“… You’re so annoying. Just shut up and fight properly.”

The machinegun in Ganhō’s hands spit out mad strands of fire, while Joker used her manipulation of space to its absolute limit, crushing the hordes of Mushi completely. What a terrifying couple. The attack power exhibited by the combination of PoisonCatastrophe and Single Room was nothing compared to this. If these two could fix some of their own problems, they would be perfect.

However, just that unbelievable conversation they had would be impossible to fix.

Joker destroyed almost all the enemies that appeared before her. The vast army of humans gathered together, as if it was a scene out of the Warring States Period, was terrifying. Joker gritted her teeth as she glared at the enemies with spite. She said in a low voice.

“Seriously. This so loud. Could you be a little bit more quiet right now… I’m trying to think. If you make so much noise, then I can’t concentrate.”

“Like you’re missing someone you love and having trouble sleeping at night, right?”

“Urk. How can I possibly love someone like you? How can a bastard like you have such a high opinion of yourself?”

“Oh? Your tone is always so fierce. Is it because you care about me? Ahahaha, the fighting will be very bad from now on! You’re so cute! You can cry in my arms if you want!”

“…………”

“Ahh, I didn’t really feel you using your manipulation of space, huh? You are wasting your powers… well, then I will demonstrate with my actions! Joker, I love you!”

Ganhō suddenly left the fighting and spread his arms out to hug Joker. Joker elbowed him to calm him down. Seriously, was he a completely hedonistic person, or is he just the kind of carefree person who could still poke a joke under stress? Thanks to him, everyone else’s nerves also calmed down a bit.

“Anyways, this is not a good situation.”

Joker declared loudly with a voice that everyone could hear.

“Frankly, us Greater Fragments are very disadvantaged in a long fight. Our Fragments are expended as we use our abilities, and eventually we will exhaust our own reserves. PoisonCatastrophe and I might be able to bear this and keep going… but if any of us fell, we would be defeated completely.”

I agreed with this assessment.

The Mushi that appeared one after another never stopped. They were still crawling forward even if they lost a leg. They were approaching here no matter what, stretching their hands towards us stubbornly. I couldn’t help but try to think of a way to break out of this – there was no way we could shrink our defensive circle any further.

“Anyways, we need to calm down.”

I lowered by voice and tried to talk with a calm tone.

“The girl over there said everything in this world became her servant. That can’t possibly be true. Even our enemy can’t have a limitless power… she probably meant all the employees in the World Institute and all the residents in this town. Now we need to either run further away, or we need to kill them all. We have to get through this.”

“I refuse to run away.”

Joker narrowed her eyes as she answered.

“It will be problematic not to clean them all up. The enemy had involved normal people as well, making it very problematic… even if we escaped safely this time, we can’t stay on our guard 24 hours a day. Therefore, it’s safer to clean them all up here. I understood what might be happening with the employees at the Institute – perhaps the staff will bring us further trouble even if we kill them.”

“People in the Institute are all my colleagues and friends. But if they became my enemies, I would kill them without hesitation.”

Ganhō lifted the machinegun and sprayed bullets with no hesitation. The Mushis were completely pierced through and turned into a mist of blood. Perhaps, even if it were his children before him, Genhō would still fire without hesitation. Actually, Sakaki usually likes to fire with a gun – was it his father’s influence?

Anyways.

We have roughly understood how the enemy likes to fight.

She could change the psyche of ordinary humans without anyone noticing, then sneaking in attacks from behind our backs. Or, it would be like right now, using sheer strength in numbers to completely crush the enemy. It was a sneaky and nasty way of fighting that held no honor. However, it was an effective way to fight against Greater Fragments.

Since the Greater Fragments lack endurance, they would collapse by themselves if we kept dragging this out.

Then, what should we do…

“Doing this, doing that. So annoying.”

Ganhō lifted his head as if nothing happening and looked at the girl standing on top of the telephone pole, who was completely different from other Mushi.

“That person seems like the leader, right? We’ll capture her and let Kajiri to analyse her, then we immediately kill her, right? If we don’t hurry up, things could change.”

I thought so too, but Joker was completely against it.

“If it were so easy, then she wouldn’t have appeared before us so casually… I keep feeling this is a trap. If this isn’t a trap, then she’s far too stupid. Standing at such an obvious place is asking for others to target her. She should know this.”

Even so, what should we do?

I too understood she was evidently a different species from other Mushi, with evident irregularities. No, it was the spear in her hand – that spear gave off a very strange feeling. At least, we need to separate the girl from the spear. Compared to being backed into a corner, it was better to finish off some enemies.

“Mmm…”

Ganhō had already given up thinking and levelled his gun at the girl.

“She’s such a bother. Why don’t I give her a few shots.”

As he spoke, he pressed on the trigger and bullets poured out.

I don’t know if he was stupid or strange. The man who led the greatest company in the world was also a great shot. The bullet flew directly towards the girl – however, despite its speed, the result was not too far from what Joker had predicted or feared.

The bullet couldn’t hit the girl.

“Um.”

The girl herself only gave out this dumb sound as her body became stiff.

“Gaga!”

But in that instant, the spear completely defied its master’s intention – rather, it was guiding the girl’s wrist to move. Perhaps that was how the bullet was deflected back. It was a bizarre movement. I couldn’t tell if it was the spear moving on its own, or that the girl was manipulating it.

As the sharp metallic sounds echoed back, Ganhō opened his eyes stupidly wide as he kept holding the machinegun.

“She bounced the bullet back? What’s wrong with that spear…?”

Rather than fear, Ganhō’s curiosity was roused. As he looked at the girl, the spear kept moving rapidly. The girl did not have a secure footing from the start and finally lost her balance, falling down from the telephone pole with a long scream.

“Waaah, aaaah, aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh, aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh – !?”

Then, there was a thump.

The spear finally managed to deflect all the bullets, but the girl fell from the pole and suffered a heavy wound. She was lying unmoving in a pool of blood. The spear made ‘ga’ noises as if it were worried for her, but she did not appear to hear it.

Ah, we… won? The enemy’s leader fell?

Maybe people without a good sense of balance should not climb that high…

“…”

Everything briefly fell into silence. Finally, the girl stood up, all wobbly. The thick clothes she wore happened to break her fall well. As an Immortal, she had no obvious wounds on her body, with only a few scratches on her skin to show for it. Her sharp hat also bent down and was looking rather pitiful.

The Mushi looked confused and stopped their attacks. Behind them, the girl picked up the spear from the ground. She coughed as she said in a low voice.

“You don’t seem too bad… You can manage to beat me into this state. Is this your first time… Mmm, doesn’t seem like it. But it’s still commendable. It hurts… ahh, not to the extent of restarting, but it hurts…”

Facing this girl who looked to be in such pain that she was about to cry, Joker asked as the representative of our group:

“What do you want?”

That was something everyone present had wanted to ask. What was she after? She suddenly appeared and acted as if she led the Mushi, but now she fell and injured herself greatly as if she was trying to kill herself.

Joker kept her guard as she assessed her, suddenly seeming to remember something.

“This outfit… you are the Man-Eating Demon, aren’t you? What do you want from this peaceful world? Do you want to kill God?”

“…”

The girl was quiet and did not reply. Now she mentioned it, this sharp and unique hat, as if it was a horn, was very similar to the person we saw in the images in the World Institute this morning. The footage was dark, so it was not very clear. But it was very evident under the daylight.

“That is not my name. I don’t know how others have called me –”

Her voice was emotionless, as if she was a newborn baby.

“My name is Broken Hair, the ravaged Queen of Insects.”

“Queen of… Insects.”

I suddenly figured it out fixed my eyes on her. Queen of Insects. Broken Hair. It was a name I learnt during the chaos created by the Dream-0World Beast. She still looked as she did then. She led the hoard of Mushi and faced her enemies. She had red eyes darker than the other Mushi and an austere expression. Even though she acted like an idiot, she was not someone for us scoff at.

“I ask of you, God –”

The girl calling herself the Queen of Insects ignored everyone else and stared straight at Rinne as she said:

“Why did you appear in this world again? Why did you become related to this world again? If you want to ingest poison and commit suicide again, then I will not forgive you.”

Broken Hair raised her spear threateningly and looked very charismatic. She said in a low voice:

“I am the Beast of the End. The name of my duty is the God Mushi Emperor. I am the queen and progenitor of all Mushi, the Greater Fragment that serves as the priest of the End. Even if you are God, I will never allow you to destroy yourself and disregard my duty.”

Broken Hair walked towards us step by step. As someone who regarded God Mushi Emperor as her duty, she repeated her words softly. Rinne offered no responses. If Rinne didn’t drink poison this time, then she should refute Broken Hair. But somehow, Rinne stayed silent.

Why did Rinne reappear in this world?

After countless iterations, the query once again surfaced in my mind.

“… My duties were taken away. I was the final Fragment that was ravaged by the world and killed in silence. All my rage, sorrow, emptiness – it was all your fault. You are not worthy of being God. You did not wait for the End to arrive – you are a great sinner that betrayed this entire world and destroyed everything.”

Broken Hair reproached Rinne harshly, but Rinne said nothing. She wore a painful expression, but she grasped Sakaki’s hand tightly and took a step forward.

Rinne then smiled. It wasn’t an expression of mockery, but a rather lonely smile.

“I did once give up on my body and drank poison to seek death.”

Rinne pressed down on her own chest with a pained expression. However, she still looked directly at Broken Hair with a genuine gaze.

“I didn’t know… I didn’t know who I am. No, I knew, but I had forgotten. I forgot who I was in this world. I was the God of this world, but I forgot all about it. My body was still alive. Even today, all the cells in my body are still alive. It was such a miracle, but I despised it all. I didn’t want to live anymore. I just wanted to die.”

The God of this world showed a deep remorse to Broken Hair – no, to the entire world. She lowered her head.

“I’m so sorry.”

Tears glimmered in her eyes when she said this. But it was still the sound of Rinne that I loved, and she was still remarkably strong. Even Broken Hair took a few steps back.

Rinne raised her head and repeated softly.

“… I’m so sorry.”

Then, she declared sincerely while gazing at the Queen of Insects:

“But I won’t – I won’t kill myself again. I have already decided. I have made a promise… I’ve made a promise with the most important people I have met in this world.”

“…”

As if Broken Hair was looking for something, she gazed at Rinne then started to smile.

Smile?

What was going on?

“Mm.”

But her smile disappeared in the blink of an eye. The final Fragment, who considered the Apocalypse as her duty, said with a cold tone.

“But you have once again escaped into this world from your reality. That is your cowardice and your sin. This world no longer needs a God.”

Broken Hair raised her spear with an effort and declared:

“You are too weak.”

“Yes.”

Rinne laughed apologetically.

Broken Hair looked at Rinne’s rather scared expression, then yelled rudely with an unsteady voice.

“You are completely unworthy of the title of God.”

“That’s right.”

“The world suffered an annihilated that could have been avoided, all because of you.”

“That’s right.”

“It was all because of you… I didn’t follow through with my duties because of you…!”

She made a painful sound and started to shake her head.

It was a sad movement, as if she wanted to shake something off. Broken Hair had to endure the pain because of Rinne. All this was Rinne’s sin. The God who drank poison on her own without waiting for the End. But now – was Rinne now living happily?

She didn’t manage to say “please forgive me”.

But I – I was the only one who had continued to support Rinne. God was not omnipotent. God had suffered countless defeats even in myths. This was also one of those defeats. However, even God will grow up after endless defeats. She will grow up, become an adult, until the End catched up to her –

She treasured this world.

I always believed in her. I had made a promise with Rinne to keep living. So…

“… this is enough.”

Broken Hair said with a tough but low voice. As if she was a general controlling an army, the Queen waved her arm and declared:

“This world does not need a God like you. I will suck out your brains and simulate everything in it, then become the God of this world. Just like how the Jimmu Emperor conquered the kingdom of Yamato back in the age of myths, destroyed the god of that land, and became the new god. I, God Mushi Emperor, will conquer you. Then, when the End arrives, I will become the new God.”

At that time, all the Mushi posed and prepared to start attacking.

“All your repentance and crafty arguments are useless. God, simply cower before my ambition…”

Then, she uttered an unexpected name.

“Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest, it’s time for you to show up. Wash yourself clean of the dishonor you obtained in the Final Battle.”

Then, the Last Battle begun.

The forgotten girl, the peaceful world, the final battle we experienced.

“Final God Mode, Three Thousand Worlds – I will let you witness its true form.”

But this person… all her words sound like a villain from a B-grade film …

Was she born this way, or was this a show?

That expression was completely incongruous to her movements. She was full of sorrow and very genuine.

It was almost like the Final Battle was here again.

“The infinite multiplication of God Mushi Emperor, and the flesh modification of Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest …”

Broken Hair looked very peaceful and said evenly:

“If our abilities were combined, then there is nothing for us to fear – fitting for the title of ‘The End’, the army of monsters will devor everything, including the Fragments of God.”

“Army of monsters…”

What a despicable name to be mentioned here. The situation had also reached its worst stage. All the normal humans around us instantly turned into disgusting and horrible monsters under Broken Hair’s command. Every one of them looked different. Some looked like beasts, some looked like worms. Some were birds, and some were insects. Confusingly, there were piles of flesh on them.

Amid these monsters, Broken Hair puffed out her chest due to the victory in sight.

“Hehe… the combination between Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest and God Mushi Emperor is the strongest. The Devil and the Beast of the End – you just stay still and turn into ash before the host of performing to its best ability! After you had endured absolute agony, I will suck out your brain stems and fulfilled your respective duties!”

There was a reason why she could strike such a leisurely pose. We were in the worst possible situation right now. The Mushi possessed powers more than just that of the ordinary person, and they would become very difficult to deal with once gathered. It was all because they received the modification of the flesh from Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest. They became monsters with astounding fighting prowess. Overall, we were at an overwhelming disadvantage.

However… Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest …

We completely did not expect that devil to become Broken Hair’s partner. Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest was such a cunning, evil, and untrustworthy person. How did Broken Hair manage to subdue her –

No.

In the next second, I immediately realized the fundamental error in my thinking, and how Broken Hair had made a mistake.

“Erm…?”

Suddenly, Broken Hair’s body, which was clad in a luxurious priestly robe, started to swell up. Pieces of clothes tore apart as her own body started to mutate.

“Wha… what…”

The strange scene made everyone open their eyes wide in shock. Broken Hair stared to roar with a crazed voice.

“Wait – Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest! I don’t need this! My body can reincarnate eternally, and I won’t die! You should know this! I don’t need to change into a monster! Wait… Ah, stop, stop! I… I…”

“…?”

For some reason, the opponent facing us seem to have been dragged into problems we were previously completely unaware of. I wanted to ask her just what happened. The crowds of monsters both close and far were disappearing – but I felt the figure of a woman flash past me.

She was dressed in purple from head to toe and wore a strange mask.

That was –

“Although you said you’ll give me one half of the world…”

Hehehe. That person made out a disgusting laugh.

“The world you promised was one where every single human, every actor in this play, was replaced by God Mushi Emperor, right? Even if I obtained one half of such a world, that would still disgust me.”

As if nothing had happened, that evil person declared without reservation:

“I will control ALL of the world.”

“… what…?”

Broken Hair no longer maintained her previous form, instead turning into a giant monster. The purple-clad woman – probably Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest – waved her hand casually and said:

“You aren’t the only one who can replace God. It’s also possible to get there using my Modification of the Flesh. Even if it’s not viable, I should be able to do it after obtaining Single Room’s power, no? Anyways – all of you just need to die nicely, okay? Then I can manipulate your corpses as I wish. This way, it won’t be God Mushi Emperor who turned into the entire world. It will be me, Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest. I will become the God of this world, okay?”

“Are you going to betray me, Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest!?”

Facing Broken Hair’s angry roar, Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest wore a mocking smile and answered:

“Betray? What? Are you crazy? … I have never trusted anyone. We were never friends, so we won’t have things like betrayal or mockery – hahaha.”

Then she turned around and spread her arms as if she was an actress on a stage.

“You really are like a clown, just like your appearance. Jumping around everywhere… hmm, enjoy yourself while you can still move. I will clap for you when everything is over.”

“… You devil!”

With a desperate scream, Broken Hair tossed the spear in her hands towards Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest.Broken Hair had already lost her human form, and her aim was very off.

The attack didn’t even need to be dodged. Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest snickered, then said something incomprehensible in a low voice.

“… So annoying. This person – she really isn’t my type. Anyways, ladies and gentlemen, please dance with those forgotten children. But I can’t be bothered with this, so please excuse me.”

She then gave one last look at Broken Hair, as if her job was finally over – as if everything she did before was just to appease Broken Hair and do her job and were not out of Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest’s own volition. It was as if she was working hard to achieve Broken Hair’s dreams.

After a small bow, the magician of the devil disappeared with just one sentence.

“You’ve worked hard.”

According to myths, the final enemy were mostly pestilence, beasts, or some catastrophe – all the phenomena that appeared one after the other in the previous world, things that consumed and destroyed humans in a terrifying blood-red light, were mostly diseases and cataclysms.

No one was investigating myths, so we could not be certain of such phenomena, nor could we understand its meaning. We also could not say whether this ‘final enemy’ was one of these three types.

I started fighting the monster without hesitation.

This was the Beast of the End, something akin to the Pale Horse or the Serpent that Consumed the World.

It had a tall body that almost touched the sky. To see its entirety required some time – it was too bizarre, too super-sized. It was much larger than the Dream-World Beast that I had once fought in the previous world, the creature that grew out of sucking on the nutrients of the Apples. It was a giant beast that looked like a quadrupedal wolf. However, there were compound insect eyes protruding out of every inch of its body. A pair of dragon-like wings were on its back, but I didn’t know whether it could fly.

It was like a chimera from multiple animals, something imagined by primordial humans in the darkness of night and of death. It was a monster, a Beast. That was what Broken Hair looked like right now.

She had completely lost herself. She became as savage as the monsters around her, and completely ignored the double boundaries desperately set up by Joker and Breaksun. The front limbs she stretched out easily broke through our defences and crushed everything. It was even easily breaking and rejecting the powers of the barrier of air, and even the denial of cause and effect –

“The situation is very bad.”

Cold sweat seeped out of Joker’s forehead as she muttered in a bitter tone. The bells on the tips of her hair were ringing incessantly, and she was using her manipulation of space to its maximum capacity.

“I’m not clear on the enemy’s situation and I’m not interested… but for God Mushi Emperor and Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest to group up was the worst scenario for us. Endless monsters – we are forced to be on the defence and are already doing our best. All these have been physically modified, and we won’t stop them even if we kill Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest. Nor do we have the power to destroy all of them… this is really troublesome!”

I could only grit my teeth when I heard Joker. I could do nothing. If I were the person I was before, then I could be more useful. But now I was already a normal person. I can’t go back to how I was before.

What should I do? What should I do?

The world had finally become so peaceful. But I couldn’t bring Rinne with me to enjoy such a world – were we going to finish here?”

“Guriko-chan. Guriko-chan?”

I was enveloped by a sense of guilt and felt my body becoming stiff. Rinne reached out next to me and took my hand. She looked very sad, as if she was apologetic.

“I’m sorry.”

“… why are you apologizing, Rinne?”

I asked straightforwardly, and Rinne looked like she was almost crying.

“I really… I brought so much trouble for everyone in this world. That person named Broken Hair was definitely angry because of me. I could tell just from her words. She represented the lives in this world, and that was why she has such a bizarre body… she represented the death that will one day come to us all. It makes sense for her to be upset at my arrival.”

Just like before, Rinne put her head on my chest. Her body seemed particularly small. Then she started to confess even though she was God.

“This time… Mmm, yes. I was facing some problems in real life. It was not as bad as making me want to drink poison, but I just wanted to run away. I’m really a coward now I think about it. I always, always, wanted to run away. I’m always wishing bad things would just disappear, and then I’d run away into the far corners of the world. I’ve already promised you to live properly. However, I’ve ran away to this world again.”

Rinne cried as she spoke, as she was ranting and apologizing at the same time. She was facing this monstrous beast that could almost swallow the entire earth.

“I am so sorry that I am such a God. I am so sorry that I am so weak and want to run away all the time– If I am not worthy of being God, then I will give it to you if that can stop the fighting… everyone is equal. Everyone is a fragment of the world. Please don’t fight anymore…”

God knelt like an ordinary girl and mumbled clumsily:

“Please don’t be so sad –”

I won’ t call it a prayer. It was just a sigh. It was a powerless lament with no means to change the world. However, that was God’s true wish. Even if it was just a soft feeling, that was the gentleness with which I fell in love. Those words displayed her true heart and her care towards this peaceful world.

I was 19 years old and failed my university entrance exam, and my only hobby was playing computer games.

My worst subjects were trigonometry and English grammar, and I like to go play with friends.

I could only laugh helplessly at the parents who spoiled me senseless at home. Even if I just wanted to cut my hair, it would cause a massive catastrophe.

I like this world. No matter what, I want to live normally – I love this current world.

Therefore, no matter how much hatred was harbored inside the heart of my enemy, I will definitely affirm everything. Even if God genuflected and confessed Her sins, I will not agree with that weakness.

Even God was someone who was alive.

She would also feel tired, unhappy, and have thoughts of running away.

If we were to allow her to run away like this – Sakaki, we really should have done this according to our agreement. We should send her back to reality on her own, just as we had agreed.

So, the words of farewell would be – see you later!

She came to this world after suffering from issues. We will welcome her and help her no matter how many times it takes.

Therefore, therefore… no matter what, even in this present situation, it would be alright. It was not a situation that needed us to give up and beg for forgiveness. Rinne didn’t need to cry here.

I will completely destroy Rinne’s enemies in the past and in the present.

No matter how badly others treated her, I will support her till the very end.

Usagawa Rinne had treated me, who was living like a monster, with infinite gentleness.

I will repay her right now.

But… I no longer have my powers.

At least grant me the same amount of power compared to before, or at least half of it. If that was possible –

“Oi.”

There was a sudden sound.

I looked around and my eyes opened wide when I realized a shocking fact.

“Ah….”

It was the golden spear that Broken Hair had thrown impaled on the ground. It was a repulsive thing that emitted an animalistic stench – that thing was calling out to me at a position about twenty meters out of the small circle of safety tightly guarded by Joker and Breaksun.

“Oi.”

It didn’t say anything else, but that was enough for me.

“Guriko?”

Rinne raised her head and called out to me, but by then I was already running outside of the bounded field. Joker and the others didn’t have the time to react, either, so my surprise move wasn’t stopped.

Of course, that was not a good thing. My movement capacities were now just ordinary – I ran as fast as I could, as if I was running for my life, and headed towards the spear.

Of course, with this sudden and stupid bait, the monsters instantly started to gather up and attack me – but I was completely oblivious to it. My life hang on the line and I had already managed to evade countless monsters’ attacks before. Even if those things happened in the previous life, I believe those feelings still remained inside my body.

A strong sense of fear, like that towards a roaring flame, surfaced within me. The claws and tails of the monsters that swept past everything had a horrifying destructive power that could kill me with one hit. Previously, I had treated them like bugs and grinded them to dust and defeated them easily.

But right now, I no longer have the battle prowess of a monster – I don’t need that in this peaceful world. However, in that brief moment, I had wanted that power.

Itsuwara Kuriko. 19 years old.

I had always tried my best. I kept trying in those countless moments because I believed in miracles.

Evading countless attacks and barely managing to evade lightning strikes and some strange fluids flung my way, I continued to run towards the spear even though there were wounds and broken skin everywhere on my body.

My own stamina was almost exhausted, but I did not expect that distant circle of safety to protect me – I was in the middle of monsters and had no help. If this was in the past, I would have destroyed them without hesitation.

But I still believed in some things. I pulled out that spear, then used it to cut down the limbs of those big monsters. I didn’t know how to use the spear, but it came to me with great ease as if it was an extension of my limbs, carving a smooth curve through the air.

The enemy’s wrist immediately evaporated, disappearing mid-air without any signs.

The power that consumed the enemy’s hand was the enemy of all existences in this world.

I was very familiar with the destructive power of that emptiness. As familiar as I was with my own body, in fact.

“You…”

I grabbed the spear and said to it softly:

“Are you the Poisoned Apple this time?”

“…”

The spear was silent for a moment – then it started to mock my words with joy.

“Gaga! Gagaga! Gaga! What a pity! Sorry! You’ve got good leads! But it’s not a-hundred percent correct. Wrong answer!”

A sharp, loud, roaring sound erupted from within his (his?) body.

“I’m the remains of the previous Poisoned Apple! Yes, the function of the Poisoned Apple moved from you to that butterfly – but at the very end, the butterfly squashed in God’s hand still left pieces of its body behind. That residue Poisoned Apple became hosted within me as time went on, and it was re-constructed just like that! This power won’t be enough to destroy the world, but my identity as the Poisoned Apple is the irrefutable truth! Hey… should I say, ‘welcome back’, former Poisoned Apple?”

“…”

The role within my body was removed at the last minute before the end of Ragnarök. The Poisoned Apple, the parable for the poison that God drank to commit suicide, did not disappear at that time. It was re-constructed with the flow of time.

Then, this must have been pre-arranged according to the will of God.

The poison that did not disappear completely at that time – She should have been prepared for it. She would only rest easy when the poison had completely disappeared. It was my mistake for not double checking afterwards. After all, it was the Poisoned Apple that could destroy the world. It shouldn’t have completely disappeared so easily.

That was when I understood the origins of this incident.

The Poisoned Apple, which remained behind after the world was re-constructed, met the ravished Queen of Insects. I don’t know where they met or when they started working together. However, when this coincidental, unfortunate, and unavoidable event suddenly occurred, this story started to move forward once again.

The forgotten girl hating God, and the weapon that could kill God…

Once those two met, the rebellion against God would inevitably occur. Rinne’s reappearance was probably also a consequence of this. As Rinne had already experienced too many painful things, she probably wanted to escape from reality very much, and this escape was to be expected. It was probably just the start of a string of stories, the story of Broken Hair and Poisoned Apple.

Ahh, there was no time to leisurely think about these wild things.

Although I was feeling a bit more used to this after absorbing the power of the Poisoned Apple, I didn’t have the greatest confidence in escaping from the encircling horde of monsters without a scratch. My body was now the same as an ordinary human, and I was not immortal. I only gained more attack power because of the spear. Nothing else had changed in the present situation.

Then, what should I do?

I narrowed my eyes and scanned the surroundings nervously – and then.

“Chu~”

It was like the gospels of hope brought by the angels. The moment I heard this sound, I felt so happy as if I would go mad.

Or should I say… you people are too slow!

It was your duty to protect the world and fight evil!

Maybe there was some special meaning to it? These two also appeared from a tall place just like Broken Hair.

“As long as the Saibara sisters are around, the evils in this world won’t be able to do whatever they want!”

“…”

“This week’s super scary…. Woah!? Sis, I don’t think we have special gear! What should we do? Should we re-do the entrance? Mmm, the duo friends of justice are the Sailor Moons of light…. But why is it a five-person team this time…”

“… Um, could you please communicate with me using words I can understand. Ki-chan, please don’t make me cringe…”

“Huh? Sis is crying… Sis.”

The two people having a weird and loud stand-up comedy skit while standing on empty space (probably made by solidifying space) were none other than the Saibara sisters, Mina and Mitsuki, Sterilization Disinfection and Unpleasant Counter-current. They were the monster from the legend of Noah’s Ark and the angle of retribution mentioned in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. In a way of speaking, they were the strongest sisters on Earth.

They were conversing rapidly as they effortlessly jumped down from a great height. They came straight towards my – huh? Why my direction?

Inside the circle of safety, Tatsue waved her arms as hard as she could and shouted.

“Ki-chan! Mina! That black-haired girl is our friend!”

“… Huh?”

Mina was the first to land and casually blew apart the monsters around her with her spray can. She was still so powerful. She was the merciless destroyer of existences, Sterlization Disinfection – Saibara Mina.

Mitsuki landed in a move far too fast for humans and waved at Mina, who was advancing towards me.

“Mmm, Sis… she has that spear, but it’s different from the Queen of Insects from last time. I can’t feel any malevolence… Ahh, pleased to meet you.”

I had to accept a handshake through her thick gloves. It wasn’t even a proper greeting, but I didn’t know how to manage this.

Broken Hair was the evil existence called a Man-Eating Demon in town, wasn’t she? She also fought the Saibara sisters once. Right now, I am holding her spear. Broken Hair herself had become a huge monster… it can’t be helped that they misunderstood this… right?”

“Broken Hair –”

Since the Saibara sisters met up with us, I was feeling extremely secure. Though their speech and behaviour were eccentric, the sisters’ powers were bona fide incredible.

I was guided back to the circle of safety by Mina and Mitsuki. Sakaki and Rinne ran up to me worriedly.

I was apologetic. I acted rashly, but I needed the power to protect Rinne, so I must obtain this spear no matter what.

But we had finished gathering our troops.

Final God Mode. Three Thousand Worlds. The Beast of the End…

Those were just a pile of monsters. We have beaten back countless such things.

I can understand what Broken Hair had felt. She hated the God who chose to destroy Herself and then who took away Broken Hair’s duty – however, the path Broken Hair chose was to become the God of this world. It was equivalent to killing Rinne. It was a future I cannot accept.

So, I must defeat Broken Hair. I will end everything here, defeat all ambitious, conspiracy, all of it.

How could I allow today to become the Apocalypse?

I still want to live. I still have so much I want to do. I love this world and I love God, so I don’t want to be destroyed yet.

Broken Hair, the Ravaged Queen of Insects.

“…”

Suddenly, for a brief moment, I remembered the sliver of a smile that Broken Hair had shown when she talked with Rinne. Should the enemy of this current world, who used hatred as her reason and vengeance as her motivation, have such an expression?

I kept feeling something repulsive throbbing in my chest.

The expression Broken Hair made at that time felt rather familiar to me.

But I don’t understand. I can’t remember. Those eyes… the emotions in those eyes were…

“Oi, Lost One.”

“… are you talking to me, Poisoned Apple?”

I replied in a small voice to the spear that was trying to chat. Joker and everyone else were immersed in discussing tactics that can break us through the current deadlock and didn’t seem to pay any attention to me.

“Yes, the Lost One of the Poison Apple – the happiest person on earth! Since we had once shared a body, could you please help me with something? Ehehehe!”

The small remnant of the Poison Apple that used to reside within me whispered into my ear.

“I just feel that I know what Broken Hair was really trying to do. I may look like this, but I had spent more time with her than you can imagine! I was with her from her 275th to 317th life – hehe! I got to know plenty of things during that time…”

It was a sad voice that sounded similar to how I had sounded before.

“Say, Lost One, perhaps that person – Broken Hair – didn’t really want to replace God. The reason she positioned herself against the world and made herself an antagonist was –”

PoisonCatastrophe, Single Room, Melodia NoiseTear Song, Sterilization Disinfection, Unpleasant Counter-Current.

There were five Greater Fragments on our side.

In contrast, our enemies were –

Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest and God Mushi Emperor.

However, Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest had disappeared due to her modification of the flesh, and God Mushi Emperor had turned into a monster. We might have been slaughtered by the continued assault of these monsters if it were not for the Saibara sisters, but now the outcome of the battle was clear.

Five Fragments versus two…

The number of Fragments did not always decide everything, but the difference here was indeed decisive.

Almost despicable.

“Then, please bear with me for a bit.”

Kajiri put his crucifix-shaped dagger against his palm and said to Mitsuki, who was next to him.

We were still within the circle of safety created by Joker and Breaksun. Being squashed into such a small space was awkward, but we were safe as long as we stayed inside.

Mitsuki and Kajiri’s memories were also reset during the re-construction of the world. Therefore, this was the first time they had met each other in this world. After some simple greetings, they got together rather well without much trouble. However…

“Eh? What? What? What are you doing?”

Mitsuki’s curly tail decoration shivered in surprise. Kajiri had just flung the drops of blood dripping from his palm onto her innocent and expectant face.

Drip.

“…”

Mitsuki’s eyes opened wide in disbelief. Her fingers reached up and touched the dark red liquid sprayed onto her face and slowly tilted her head. Then, Mitsuki slumped against Mina and started to cry in earnest.

“S-S-Sis! This person is sooooo mean! He suddenly threw dirty stuff on me…”

“Dirty stuff? Sorry… that’s just how this ability works.”

Kajiri smiled, all teeth. He looked at Joker, the one who had started this battle. There was a mischievous smile on her face, but it was not enough to reassure him.

“But… are we really going for it? It’s very dangerous. We’re all gonna die if we don’t coordinate well. After all, I don’t want to lose either –”

“Then pray to God.”

Joker looked like she had made up her mind. She said in a low and calm voice.

“God is on our side, so Her protection should be with us as well. Besides, we are out of options – Sterilization Disinfection, PoisonCatastrophe, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Is it really going to be okay?”

Compared to Breaksun’s calm, Mina looked like she was not convinced. Mina had not seen Single Room since the world was reconstructed, and it was difficult to convince her of his capacities on such short notice. However, we were indeed running out of time, and there wasn’t a better option.

We could only bet everything on this battle.

Five Greater Fragments will combine their powers and end the Great Reckoning descending upon this peaceful world.

“Then, relax a bit. We need to coordinate.”

Kajiri said casually as he cut open the skin on his arm with his knife, letting out copious amounts of blood. The blood flew towards Mitsuki as if it was alive, and drenched her from head to toe.

“Chi-!? Dirty stuff is here again! Dir… Ah.”

Mitsuki tottered and collapsed on the spot. I immediately held Mina back as she tried to rush over to help.

Honestly, I don’t want to rely on Mitsuki’s power. Her power put us through a lot of trouble when she lost control in the previous world. However, we were running out of options, and we have a safety switch in the form of Single Room – so maybe we could control her power.

“Urk… Uh, ahhhh. Wah.”

Mitsuki put her hands on her tummy and writhed on the ground. Her body was actually spasming.

“What – what is this. It feels so, so disgusting… Uh, oh, ugh, urrrrrgh – ”

Her affinity was changing from the angel to the fallen angel – she was being forcibly converted by Single Room’s blood. Single Room’s ability was to re-write the ‘setting’ for any object. It would be a piece of cake for him to change Mitsuki into a fallen angel.

“Urghhhhhhhhahhhhhhh!?”

This was the mixture of flame and sulfur that had once destroyed the two cities of corruption. The only way to control that power, which could pursue and slaughter and destroy everything, was –

“It has finally started. If that little girl can manage it, then I should go all out too.”

Joker lightly tapped the bells tied to the ends of her hair.

Ding… the bell made a clear sound. The air itself was now the medium to channel Melodia NoiseTear Song’s ability.

Melodia NoiseTear Song controlled the overflowing, splattering liquid of destruction that Unpleasant Counter-Current had become, and used her manipulation of space to make the torrent rush towards where she wished. The gathered monsters were all instantly swallowed up and torn apart.

This was veritably a cannon made from the Unpleasant Count-Current.

I felt a bit… sorry for Mitsuki, but she just needed to endure it for a bit longer. Single Room would change her back when all the enemies were dead.

“Then, let me do my thing.”

Mina said in a small voice as she hunched her shoulders and watched her sister’s pitiful state with displeasure.

“Seems like us two sisters are the only ones doing the dirty work… you better pay us well when you’re done. Anyways – I don’t feel good for letting other people aim for me, but it’s time to end this.”

Mina unscrewed the tops of both her spray cans, removed her gas mask, and swallowed the contents. She then said in a small voice:

“TYPE-C – The End.”

Her body immediately became highly concentrated miasma, breaking down everything it touched while swelling up in size… This was the final weapon spoken of in the tales of the Great Flood, Sterilization Disinfection.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Breaksun was still casually plucking the strings on her guitar.

As she played, PoisonCatastrophe altered the the cause and effect of the gluttonous mist that could even break through Melodia NoiseTear Song’s manipulation of space. Travelling along a perfect path that avoided the black torrent of Unpleasant Counter-Current, this white stream was also conducting a one-sided ravage upon the monsters.

This was veritably a cannon made from Sterilization Disinfection.

Seriously, the Saibara sisters were showing all their trump cards. We should all chip in to reward them. When everything was over, we should celebrate and drink with God.

But until then…

There was something else I needed to do.

I smiled softly towards my companions, who were doing their best. Then, I whispered to the spear in my hand:

“Should we get going, Poisoned Apple?’

“Ready when you are, Lost One.”

Once again, I left everyone’s side and ran outside of the circle of safety. I would probably get told off again later. In fact, I had resigned myself to the fate of having to act out of turn all the time.

However, this was something only I could do.

No. No.

It didn’t have to be me.

I was just an ordinary 19-year-old girl. I was not the Poisoned Apple or an immortal, and I just liked playing video games. However, my previous reincarnation was the Poisoned Apple that would kill the world. That was why I had to clean up the remnants of the Poisoned Apple and end my affairs from the previous life.

So, I started to run.

Amidst this apocalyptic scene, where monsters were being tossed left and right in Unpleasant Counter-Current and Sterilization Disinfection’s chaotic attacks, I ran straight towards Broken Hair,

I heard Rinne and Sakaki’s concerned cries.

I’m sorry. An easy Happy End where we just defeat the bad guys and live happily ever after just won’t do.

If we end everything here, then there would still be someone facing an unhappy end.

In this world full of peace and happiness, there were still people who were never blessed.

I just… disliked such circumstances.

Therefore, if I could help her, then I want to help her. I grasped the spear tightly in both hands and once again ran towards the battlefield. I ran towards the Beast of the End, who was shivering on the ground in lament as she was corroded by the black and white currents of destruction.

She was covered in blood and could barely move. However, Broken Hair seemed to have recovered some semblance of consciousness – perhaps it was because of the pain? With that familiar yet unique tone, she muttered:

“I… had lived… for too long.”

It was a soft and twisted sound, like the sound made by a newborn baby.

“Over and over, useless lifetimes – going round and round, repeating over and over. Even so, I didn’t go mad, and I tried my best to survive. Still, I couldn’t complete my duty when the World was on the verge of destruction. My endless lives were meaningless. The eternity I had endured were meaningless. I became an existence that was judged by the world and by God.”

Then, the forgotten Beast of the End made a small sound amidst blood gurgling from her mouth.

“I’m… so tired. I’m… tired of this. I… don’t want to repeat this anymore. I thought… it would be better if I can become God. If there was a world where everything was made from me, a world that could truly face a slow and quiet end, then I would turn myself crazy with no hesitation… Then, I would be able to end the world whenever I wanted to.”

The endless compound eyes of insects looked towards me.

“But if I can’t even achieve that wish…”

Sanguine tears fell from all of her compound eyes.

“Oh, Poisoned Apple, kill me.”

That was –

That was the goal Broken Hair had sought. She was immortal. She kept living and grew tired of everything. How do I say this… this was very very sad, and I can’t feel happy about it at all. These lines sounded like they came from a third-rate villain at the end of a story, yet it was spoken with such sorrow.

She turned herself into a demon and was prepared to be killed. Maybe she even threw the spear of the Poisoned Apple, which could kill her, to a place within our reach – This was a planned, foolish story of attempted suicide, with her being killed by herself.

The ravaged, forgotten, tired Queen of Insects.

Her goal had always been this.

Perhaps Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest had understood this. Perhaps that was why she modified Broken Hair into an evidently villainous and monstrous form, so it would be easier for her to get killed. I might be overthinking this, but I still couldn’t stop this thought. After all, Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest should have been reconstructed as a peaceful personality in this peaceful world. Now that I thought about it, the final words Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest spoke when she left also contained some insinuations.

“The poison that could even kill God should be able to completely destroy me, right?”

Broken Hair was still whispering as I walked towards her along the soaked, blood-covered tarmac road. Yes, I answered her in my heart. This was such a boring wish, but – I understand what you’re feeling. If we live for too long, we will grow tired towards the very act of existence.

Yes, you were just like me before I met Rinne.

In that case.

In that case –

I can’t fulfill your wish just like this.

Once upon a time, I had only wanted to die. I was tired of everything. I was sick of everything. But even such an empty soul could be saved. I was saved, and now I’m living happily.

God exists.

Miracles exist.

This is the world we live in.

So, don’t despair, Broken Hair.

“Guriko is going to gouge your eyes out – but.”

The tip of the spear pointed towards the crying eyes of my opponent, but I won’t go any further.

“If I defeat you, this villain, right here, then we can welcome a Happy End… but I can’t do it.”

A soul in despair was always looking for death, but – that was not true.

In fact, death was not the release.

Just like what Rinne did for me –

“I am no longer Gankyū Eguriko, so I can’t gorge out your eyeballs. I can’t kill you.”

– Instead, I hugged Broken Hair tightly.

Rinne was just an ordinary girl. She was not good in sports, and she didn’t achieve anything special. But when she hugged Gankyū Eguriko, the blood-drenched monster, she brought it salvation. It was a miracle that didn’t sound real, but it did happen.

Since such miracles had already happened once, then it could happen again, and I want to believe in miracles.

Broken Hair shivered weakly as I hugged her tightly.

From now on, I will start searching for a way to stop her tears.

It wasn’t a wish from Gankyū Eguriko –

– but the genuine wish of Itsuwara Guriko.

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