Sugar Dark Chapter 3

Hole 3: Grave Robber

The mole had dug a very deep trap hole; and inside Muoru had caught the

helmet, Muoru still tricked them into falling into the trap. He realized that

There was no time.

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And how much more pain can her heart endure?

there were, it would probably be better not to use it.

didn’t need to suffer.

Looking at the Crow he’d captured, Muoru launched his questions.

you showed me back when we first met, a fake?”

expression and once again pulling out the mask from somewhere on their

“This is real. I got it from my “hunter” friends.”

‘hunters’?”

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and mocked Muoru the same way they usually did. Then Crow shrugged. “I

difficult to explain my position.”

scooped up some dirt and held it over the hole.

prepared to bury the lower half of their body.

then…I’m a ‘representative from the victims’ association’ so to speak.”

of the hole.

“Well, you sound like you’re screwing around. But if not, tell me, what type of

“About the devils of course. Could there be anything else?”

others,” Muoru said, intending Crow’s words to be just another joke.

Hole 3

“Yes, there are others. Ten of them,” Crow replied quickly with a thin smile.

“Are you talking about Meria?” Muoru asked right away. He couldn’t think of

association?”

yet”

There was no one who suffered at the hands of those monsters like the

time ago and were probably buried in a grave.

come out into the graveyard except at night, we’ve never met. But, I can’t say

speaking in a roundabout way.

ask another question –

around these days,” Crow said something he couldn’t ignore.

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older sister.

the graveyard well, so it isn’t that strange that they would know it, but still…

bobbed-haired person in the hole and sat down.

“Why do you think Maria died?”

had been in the hole. But now they were standing to his side, their voice

How did you do that?

“She probably burned up in the sun.”

that flew out of Muoru’s mouth. ”Yeah, it’s just as you said. Well, it’s not like

misunderstanding I should clear up.

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death hasn’t applied to them. They certainly hate the light, but if it touches

they would simply start moving again…and resume their killing of humans.

keepers who have stolen their powers will die if touched by it. Don’t you

“I couldn’t care less about that. What I want to hear is…” Muoru had started

say…He was completely confused, unsure how he should try and continue, or

Crow sighed.

although Meria is still human, at the same time a part of her is “The Dark.”

both have an equal effect on her. So if light hits her then her grave keeper’s

Muoru craned his head to the side. “Stopping is death?”

“Can you stop your heart?”

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“Idiot, if I did that…”

“Right. Now it’s not just your heart, but also your breathing, your brain, your

always moving from the time they were in their mother’s womb until the last

their body never stops. In other words, the concept of stopping is precisely

Muoru grabbed his chest. “Hmm, so if the monster’s part becomes unable to

human parts also stop moving. And as a result, they die…is that what you’re

“That’s right.” Crow nodded.

Many thoughts were racing around in his head. But overall he was mostly

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All this doubtful talk was nothing more than guesswork. But then again who

bridge.

to Muoru was to achieve it.

hands…

Muoru. “You may not believe me, but I really like you Muoru. And I have an

far are you willing to go for her?”

Hole 3

Chapter 2

arms.

clouds hung in the dark sky far above, and even father above than that was

The thick mass of leaves blocked the moonlight, preventing it from reaching

he was taking a step outside the human world and entering into the domain

He kicked off his tattered shoes, stuck his fingers into a depression in the tree

weren’t used to the motion, and he clung to the tree like a frog, sluggishly

grip the opposite side of the trunk, but the tree with ‘the strongest monster’

tried to hold it, there wouldn’t be any bend in his elbows.

to do, this could definitely be called the easiest.

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He finally reached one of the branches jutting out from the tree. Though just

the large-statured Muoru rested his entire body weight onto it, his body

dark leaves.

barely see anything. In fact, he felt like trying to find something within the

murky swamp.

Left without a choice, Muoru started to search with just his palms and his

branches could fill the entire mansion in the corner of the graveyard. Plus, he

Determined, Muoru blindly pushed his way through the thick leaves and

randomly about the water. The sharp, pointed branches scratched his cheeks

nothing of the fact that he couldn’t see anything.

“Tch.”

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of his weight onto his left hand. A chill ran through his body. The ground was

a crucial time like this, then he’d be the biggest fool in the world.

Muoru then reached his right hand into the darkness above…and plucked a

He couldn’t see it, but even in the dark he knew that it was the fruit he was

he had caught a living fish.

one arm. Then he jumped down. When he hit the ground, a rush of pain shot

But he pretty much didn’t feel any sense of accomplishment from his first

The next one though…

thing that would change his life.

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The dark fruit.

It was halfway between an apple and a peach in terms of general shape and

something. As for the color, it looked like it had been painted jet black with

like that suddenly sprouted out and attacked him while it was in his hand.

make them unable to stand under the sun?

hands. It felt exactly like the monster’s sack of flesh he’d pushed before; it

organ from a corpse.

blindly in the dark had instinctually made him uncomfortable. And exposing

up inside him was similar to having to vomit something up from deep within

He felt like chucking the fruit away into a random direction. Instead however,

carnivorous animal.

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He imagined it would taste bitter like bad coffee, but it actually had no taste

even feel its texture in his mouth. From the moment it entered his mouth,

something like sticky mud expanding. It was like his mouth was full of

Then a jolt of terror gave him goosebumps.

A strong wave of dizziness assaulted Muoru and his instincts immediately

up the extremely foreign substance, Muoru’s immune system forced his

Desperately, Muoru covered his mouth with his hand to stop the

gradually….gradually the contents of his mouth started to disappear. Yet they

into the walls of his mouth and permeating into his body’s cells.

his feet.

And before he knew it, his legs became terribly heavy.

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tried to walk, his ankles felt like they were shackled with an iron chain, or like

Thinking back on it, Meria had always been the same way. He couldn’t recall

Could this be what having the dark inside you feels like?

The shadow that extended from them seemed like it was strangely getting

ground – rather, through the shadow as a conduit, he seemed to feel a giant

….That’s it.

blindfolded. The terror that he was walking over corpses, and walking over

And now, a part of his body had transformed into a fragment of that. Neither

worse, he even saw a hallucination where his core and his heart were being

torn off and automatically crawled back to her body and reattached

monster beneath the ground.

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undo what he’d done.

No matter how many signs, indications, and so on, if they got in his way he

this wasn’t the time to be afraid.

There didn’t seem to have been any other changes so far, but…he had to

From his pocket he drew out a piece of glass. He’d picked it up from the

been broken from the opposite end of the bottle mouth and was sharp and

Decisively, he swung it across the back of his left hand.

As if he’d nicked a vein, a depressingly thick dark blood spilled out and ran

pulsated with each of his heartbeats.

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to get the feeling that he’d done something extremely stupid to himselfThen

The gash on the back of his hand sealed itself back to normal from the inside,

closed. And other than the sticky blood on the back of his hand, and the

Naturally he felt uncomfortable, but despite the remnants of the pain, his

there.

But of course it was absurd to think a scratch on the back of his hand was

And he absolutely couldn’t fail at what he planned to do next.

Still undecided, he extended a finger, but then he wavered

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about to do than when he had put the part of the monster into his mouth.

suicide. His fingers trembled. His whole hand trembled. He simply couldn’t

Feeling his resolve begin to weaken, Muoru bit his lip and recalled the feeling

Then he thrust his fingers into the inner side of his leather collar, and with all

The right artery attached to “the witch’s thread” ruptured and a flood of

Unexpectedly there was almost no pain.

endless pure red liquid spilled out from a place he couldn’t see. It was

The right half of his body was colored red before he knew it, and without

dim… he was low on blood.

that should have flowing around his brain to stain the right side of his body.

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This was different from all the wounds he’d suffered up till now. He felt like

places he should have been drawing energy from were disappearing. It left

-Whether or not it was true, he felt like he was desperately drowning. And in

one knee.

Slowly his shoulders relaxed and with a lurch, he crumbled to his side with his

…then he realized… his vision had cleared without him even noticing it.

The fountain of blood had stopped.

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He stood up straight, feeling just as strong as he normally did. He simply

But as Muoru stood there, with a body drenched in blood, slowly, a genuine

Hole 3

Chapter 3

At any rate, he was only a mole specializing in the digging of trenches. He

naturally result in limited answers even if he just tried to guess.

think about things as he dug holes. Plus, he’d heard some stories that had

So now he had new questions about his situation, with different hypotheses

First, I’d like to emphasize the fact that I didn’t kill 2nd Lieutenant Hedger

And I swear, my old companion, the shovel labeled ”Case #50357: Dangerous

storage area, which was probably more like a junk room anyway, definitely

Someone else was the killer.

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Somewhere in the world was the person who had removed Muoru’s shovel

bloody companion in the trash pile and then falsely blamed him for the

During his trial no one had even satisfactorily looked into his potential motive

companions for a bit of information, they would have probably gotten

was rebellious so he was often physically punished by the lieutenant” or “The

clean up the horse dung all by himself”.

was the target of his bullying. In fact, there were most likely no ends to the

So, even the true culprit’s motive stemmed from a grudge towards Hedger.

At first Muoru thought that the thought of killing the man had only come to

really true?

resentment?

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was merely thinking ‘hypothetically’, What if the true criminal’s goal was

him come here?

But it went without saying that this graveyard was definitely an abnormal

obscured. So, he could only make a judgment based on what he had

Which brought him to Crow’s first piece of testimony- “That old man is

once they become unable to deal with the devils, they soon become useless.”

there were many cases where the laborers soon became useless, then it was

having physical strength, would be able to keep a secret and cause no further

object to the idea of employing a former mole shackled with a prisoner’s

And…

Dark’s power.

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preparation was definitely important…perhaps, Meria was something like a

So if possible, they found someone who seemed to be able to withstand

tolerate harsh labor then that was probably like killing two birds with one

their body changed to The Dark they wouldn’t be able to leave the graveyard.

In the end that reason was mostly unrelated to his hypothesis.

That was where another piece of Crow’s evidence came in. – “The demons

hunting or luring out humans, they don’t appear before them at all.”

had come to the graveyard. So, in other words the attack had been planned.

people probably had a way to summon the monsters.

the monster was no different than sticking one’s hand intentionally into a

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But in this graveyard…there was a grave keeper.

the monsters, nor did he know if that act exposed the graveyard or the grave

wishful thinking?

that these days. What I do know is that the people who take down the devils

masked companions make their living off that.”

temple organization, but from one human’s wallet. The true identity of that

shrouded in mystery. But some reasons for only one individual to provide the

“a very fair payment” to the person who took down the monster.1

Muoru’s skepticism with the current payment scheme run by Daribedor.

Probably the same as in other countries, but in Japan everyone must register their identity with a so-called

families, basically the author is saying Meria has no family. Which would explain why in Japanese she is

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Even Muoru smiled in sympathy. It was a very easy story to understand.

the awfully extravagant furniture and decorations.

graveyard would generate a large amount of money for the caretaker.

murderous feelings he’d once harbored towards Hedger were now burning in

new companion in his hand was screaming to be used for a far more

However, if he did that then this time around he’d be facing a genuine life

name from the false accusation. And he wouldn’t be able to disclose any

had was his own body and his feelings for Meria.

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Suddenly Muoru felt a shift in the atmosphere. He strained his eyes and

towards the sea of gravestones, then the trees in the dark forest, but again

monster with many legs, or anything that could be called their kin.

Muoru looked down at the hole he’d dug at his feet. It was so comically large

looked more like a ruin excavation site or a large-scale underground trench.

approached, anyone would be able to recognize it no matter how far away it

But did that kind of thing really exist in this world?

“Mr. Prisoner,” a husky voice said.

gripping a black pistol in his shaking right hand, with a finger that looked like

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“Answer me! Where did you hide the grave keeper?”

man’s direction.

smile. “I mean, how many places could there possibly be to hide here?”

”

directly. ”Well in that case, why don’t you hide yourself? I don’t think the

men.”

Though Muoru’s legs were extremely heavy, he took a long stride towards

Daribedor fired two bullets, the first burrowing to the right of Muoru’s navel

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From that point, Muoru felt a cramping sensation, as if bizarrely powerful

Daribedor’s neck, and like he’d managed to do with Crow several days ago,

Daribedor screamed. Maybe it was because of his hatred for the man, but to

something.

face.

A bloody froth came up Muoru’s throat and bubbled out his mouth. The pain

inside of the small opening in his torso, his stomach was ripped open causing

Muoru could hear the man shouting out some profanities from the bottom of

he’d made the hole with a water well in mind, no matter what the old man

him.

This was probably the first time he’d ever experienced pain like this in his life.

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kill him. But before long he became able to stand, and as soon as his legs

Once again the wind seemed to have gotten stronger. And Muoru felt a chill

fast. The wind blew through the trees, stirring up the branches and making

Though Muoru’s time was limited, he couldn’t do anything but wait.

Somewhere far away, Muoru heard Dephen howl. Crow had taken that damn

but when Crow’s childlike hands caressed the animal, it became docile as if it

seemed brighter than usual.

just laughed and jumped atop the dog’s back. If Muoru had done that,

I wonder what Crow is doing now…

If he thought about it rationally, something as absurd as “The victims’

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But in order to steal the power from Meria – and so that she wouldn’t be

All so that he could do…to Meria.

Muoru twisted his head and looked around his surroundings. Suddenly, the

Though at first he thought it was just in his imagination, all of a sudden the

sensation, just like the night when his skin had gotten goosebumps after

when and from where whatever kind of wind came to attack him, he stood

Then a metallic screech quickly touched his ears. It was definitely unclear and

wheel. But it was clearly a terribly unpleasant sound.

his shadow seemed to blur. Then Muoru looked up and saw a darkness

…Far above in the starry sky, a thin rift in the clouds, like smoke, wove its way

horrifically long body from side to side as it flew, wingless, through the air.

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but in defiance he grabbed onto his knees and stared at the existence he

The creature in the sky was a giant serpent made of thousands of swords.

from Muoru’s perspective, watching the creature swim through the air

way down from the heavens was so large it initially seemed to cover the

of a falling arrow. And as the distance between them shrank, the creature’s

Its body was like a magnet dropped into countless, sharp sewing needles - no

hiltless double-edged swords. Though at a glance they certainly looked like

of the blades was so large that Muoru couldn’t possibly wield them, even if

Also the blades were vibrating with the same high speed as a chainsaw, giving

and narrow body. As the monster’s body slithered back and forth through the

high-pitched shrill. At the same time, violent blue sparks, like electricity,

and cut through the night.

thunderous judgment raining down from heaven.

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He was like a mole caught in a tornado or something. And the moment it

giant mixer, scattering his consciousness. But before he lost all sense of

—-It was a maddening pain.

help but smile.

And if the two of them lived in different worlds, then he would go over to her

his entire life. None of that mattered to him… only her.

now and there was no escaping that. But he was sure of one thing: after this

He really was smiling, even though it seemed like all of his methods, his

only reason he had gotten close to her in the first place was to escape from

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His body parts that were flung and scattered about were slowly reattaching

watched the faceless giant serpent use its body of countless blades to turn

The vibrating double-edged swords were terribly sharp and easily able to

seconds Muoru was cut into a thousand pieces of meat. Then as his body

happened again. And again.

organs and the color of blood in the distance. He saw the cross section of his

was grateful he’d put down his helmet before the ordeal.

pure red darkness as time seemed to move slowly. But soon after, the horrific

were leaving his skull in an act of rebellion.

Muoru smiled as he screamed. Most people who tasted that kind of pain

experience too. And so maybe that was one way he could get close to her.

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Then he screamed from the shock of having his body torn to shreds and flung

and if he had the limbs to writhe, then he clawed at the ground like a

thought of the color of her hair, her honest blue eyes, the taste of when he

against him, and the sound of her heart on his back. Those thoughts helped

The instant his face was bisected like an apple, he saw that some of the

sign that maybe the hell wouldn’t go on forever. As his consciousness

right arm and tried to stop one of the swords from attacking him. When he

slipped diagonally down from his right shoulder to his torso.

and tumbled to the ground. Countless of the giant serpent’s swords still

This needs to be settled by dawn. The blood loss was causing his

now, Muoru thought. Until the lower half of his body returned he couldn’t

Muoru opened his eyes and looked up. The clouds had dispersed without him

And the starry sky was beautiful.

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“So tell me…what are you willing to do for her?”

Crow grinned. “Right. Now that’s a good answer…thank you.” Their tone was

seemed….dare he say it, cute. Of course “cute” for Crow had a different

Unconsciously, Muoru’s bent mouth opened to speak. “You’ve never shown

“Well, don’t sulk about it. I think your passionate heart is embarrassing.”

insult, but for some reason he completely missed. He figured if he put all of

sneered as Muoru exhaled in frustration, then jumped back onto the

But their smile soon vanished. “If you’re ready to abandon your life as you

of the girl’s power – half of the curse.”

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There was not even a hint of confusion for Muoru. He was resolved the

conviction that he also felt a bit of hope.

them, if the world thought they weren’t supposed to be together then

this method would grant him his wishes.

“Essentially only one person can be bestowed with the power of the grave

Crow answered as they crossed their thin legs. “But in order to do that, you’ll

Muoru couldn’t believe his ears.

…what was this idiot babbling about? For a moment Muoru was at a loss, but

under the sun or something? … I can’t do that.”

“So, as I thought…”

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The Dark’s power. It may be weaker than exposing her to the light, but it’ll

where the souls of humans sleep. Please… think about it deeply. You should

As Muoru stared at Crow, he bit his lips and started thinking.

He thought about the graveyard that stretched out beneath his feet.

Then the gravestone Crow was sitting on.

“You understand now, don’t you?” Crow asked, reading the change in

Muoru nodded.

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her power, in the end—” Without hiding their large smile, Crow explained the

After hearing it, Muoru turned completely red and spluttered out, “Is that

“It should be all right. And I think you’ll be happy when it happens.”

idea. So, with feelings of uneasiness leaking into his words he asked, “Is it

“It’s okay, it’s okay….well Meria certainly won’t agree in getting you involved

warping as if trying to put up with some kind of pain. “Maria really valued

that- in fact when it comes to that and only that, I’m telling you the absolute

“….However, Maria wasn’t very patient. No, it’s more like she didn’t have

not dying…they all proved to be too much for her to handle. And that’s why

“Sure, it’s easy to think that such a feeling couldn’t be helped, but….in the

horrible fate.

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though they weren’t related by blood.

to grant Maria’s wish. I want Meria to be happy.”

Although he’d went so far as to throw Crow into a trap to try and get

come from were quite different from those governing the monsters and the

nothing about. Even if he tried to think about how to fight those rules, his

could save Meria.

as well.

and suffering?

selfish, he still wished for such a future. And if someone could see him now,

though far from being unable to escape, as a trade-off he would never again

Would I really be happy?

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he wasn’t even trying to think about all the things he’d considered until now.

that he felt he’d passed each day only thinking about how to live longer. But

his mind.

have to go through a lot of terrible suffering.” Crow then lowered their head

“Umm.” Muoru laughed weakly, feeling a bit embarrassed about what he was

unable to do anything is far more painful.”

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The final stars disappeared.

In the pale sky the nearest star, the sun, seemed to be approaching. He could

horizon. And sure enough the first light of morning finally arrived, with his

His body was already sensing his ominous fate. It was a sensation completely

the feeling was a pain which seemed like someone had directly stuck their

cord and brain stem and squeezed them tightly.

double-edged blades had severed Muoru’s body, inflicted fatal wounds, then

throughout the night.

when Muoru realized that the blood spewing out of his mouth was gradually

I made it through.

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And each of the creature’s blades, which were densely packed together like

that the monster had rampaged through not only had sharp gouges in the

graves had been mowed down in the attack.

when the sun rose neither he nor the monster would be able to move within

Hurry…

He ran to the place right beside Maria’s grave, at the feet of the tree where

Well …he tried to run.

dragging a giant steel ball and chain. In fact, no matter how much energy he

body to go a bit faster seemed to exhaust all of his energy. His cumbersome

His surroundings were already so bright that there was no need for an oil

Hole 3

How much longer until sunrise?

his body did not follow suit.

reach his destination. At first glance it didn’t look like there was anything

side of Maria’s final resting place.

Muoru carefully slid the tip of the shovel into the ground.

….Yet on the fifth scoop, as if he could no longer tolerate the wait, he threw

both of his hands to claw at the ground.

Don’t forget. Don’t forget the first time you met Meria.

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burying him in the hole he’d just dug out.

Muoru’s fingers curled around a strand of light brown hair, filthy from all the

filthy strands…but, compared to everything else he’d done, dirtying her hair

Still, she would probably consider all the things he’d done up till now

In the dim light of early dawn, Muoru dug out the girl he’d buried with his

It was all selfish.

He needed the power of the grave keeper and since more than one person

grave keeper, Meria. She was human, but at the same time a part of her was

words, put her in a death-like state. But of course, he couldn’t leave her like

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Once he had dug out her entire body, he rested her back across his lap.

laughing voice.

he wiped them, but no matter how many times he repeated the movement

current situation, painfully repeating the same thing over and over again but

He cupped his left hand under her chin and pulled her unconscious body

Then like a grave robber, Muoru stole a kiss.

felt a bright white light radiate inside his eyelids. He tasted dirt and the rusty

apple.

for her, he unconsciously stayed in that position, in that kiss for a while.

her mouth.

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…

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Burying Meria in the ground that the monsters were sealed within was the

only had to give half of the substance that had dissolved within him back into

he could confirm that Crow hadn’t been lying. But the way he had to return

“Good morning, Meria.”

Muoru’s grasp. The clumps of dirt still attached to the hem of her robe

understood he had done something to her.

was taking everything she had just to say his name.

know what to say. Soon after she turned red, but whether it was due to the

wasn’t sure.

He’d seen her crying, smiling, troubled, and embarrassed, but maybe this was

Why in the world do I think she’s also cute when she’s angry?

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“I’m sorry.”

his right hand.

The first night when he’d seen Meria’s secret, when he’d asked her if they

the one covered in blood.

As Meria looked at his hand, which was stained a deep crimson despite not

disappeared from her face and a look of sadness replaced it.

Even so, an extraordinary relief was spreading in his chest.

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“It wasn’t for you,” Muoru said with a smile. “It was for the money.”

the past that damn old man had embezzled all of the reward that should

Daribedor employed, prisoner 5722 refused to be put in the same position.

could buy his freedom…or maybe have a castle built.

back of his hand, as if to say, “Don’t lie to me!”

Right, it wasn’t that much of a lie. But the fact that his actions had made it so

than enough of a reason for his actions. Of course with her blue eyes staring

“You’re really not an honest mole.”

a nearby gravestone, looking down at them.

meeting one another?”

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“…Y…You…what…?” Meria seemed strangely flustered, and the color

“No, this isn’t the first…your way of speaking and the color of your eyes is

Meria suddenly tried to stand, but because she’d been buried for so long her

off the gravestone with a smile on their face as they reached down towards

With a face mixed with confusion, Meria tried to grab Crow’s small hand. But

running start…making Meria’s hand grasp nothing but air. Their movement

time neither Meria nor Muoru who was standing behind could even pretend

“Sorry, but though I may be Maria, I’m also not Maria—I’m Crow. All the tens

spirit born from the pieces their souls left behind. So again I am Maria, but

“However, not only does it seem like her p

Chapter end

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