c14 4

The smell of excrement or something made him close his mouth. It was a terrible smell, and he wouldn’t have been able to tolerate it if he hadn’t plugged his nose.
The bus’s windows were thoroughly broken, so the boy half-crawled out of the vehicle.
The fog was incredible. He could make out his feet somehow, but he could only see for a meter ahead of him, maybe. He felt like he saw something moving.
“Is someone there?” the boy tried calling out.
There was no response. Had it been a trick of his eyes?
Maybe there was someone else who was uninjured, and they had crawled out of the bus like the boy had. The boy decide to walk around the bus. He wanted someone to be there, but at the same time, he thought it would be a huge pain if that person were hurt badly.
Is anyone there? Is anyone there? Is anyone there? he wanted to shout out loud. He also had an urge to look inside the bus, but he resisted it.
In the end, there was no one in the area around the bus.
Just the boy.
The bus was just surrounded by a nauseating smell that hung in the air, and he felt like he was going to rot, too.
I can’t stay here, the boy sensed strongly. He couldn’t be here.
The fog showed no sign of clearing. If he was going to leave this place, he’d be fumbling around nearly blind. Now was the time when the boy would have to act wisely.
If I’m really clever, the boy thought to himself, I’m sure I can get through this. If I can’t, I may die like everyone else.
No way. Not a chance.
This isn’t funny.
There’s no way I’m gonna die!
 

6. As You Wish [inspire_me]


When he first saw the area from a distance, Haruhiro thought it might be a graveyard.
There was what looked like a promontory rising out of the plain, and innumerable grave markers were lined up atop that hill.
When they approached the hill, it became apparent they were all humanoid statues.
“Statues of a woman...?” Haruhiro mumbled, not really asking Alice the question.
Well, if you pushed him to admit it, he was asking, but he had no expectation that an answer would be forthcoming.
Sure enough, Alice kept on trudging without a word.
While following in silence, Haruhiro thought, It’d be so much easier if I could live only for myself, like Alice does.
Now, as to whether he would actually want to emulate that behavior, that was iffy. He did want to try living the way he wanted, without any concern for what others thought. That said, however, for as long as he remained himself, he’d care what others thought, and be concerned about them. He couldn’t be like Ranta.
—Ranta?
Who’s Ranta again? Ranta. Ran... Ranter? Ranran? No. That feels wrong. Yeah. That’s wrong. It’s Ranta.
Curly hair comes to mind. Right, right, I remember now. I always forget so quickly...
—Quickly? I feel like I haven’t seen him in ages. Has it been months? Years? Or does it just feel that way? No, I really did get separated from Ranta. It was before coming to Parano. Why was it again? When? Where?
Oh, Thousand Valley. That’s right. When we got back from Darunggar, we were in Thousand Valley, and we got caught in a fight between the Typhoon Rocks and Forgan. Stuff happened, and Ranta betrayed us to join Forgan. Wonder if he’s still alive. Well, knowing that idiot, I’m sure he’s somewhere and entirely too healthy.
If I don’t pick up the fragments of memories like this, and engrave them in my mind, they’ll all vanish. Like they never happened.
Sometimes I think I want to see him. Though, if we did meet, I’m sure he’d piss me off. Still, never seeing him again would be a bit much. It’s not like he’s dead.
They’re not dead... right?
Kuzaku.
Shihoru.
Setora and Kiichi.
Merry.
Yume shouldn’t be in Parano, though.
They’re alive, right?
They should be.
Yeah.
They’re alive.
If they are, I can’t be doing this; I have to look for them. I’ll find them.
His sense of urgency turned into a million insects, crawling around under his skin. It felt like those bugs might start coming out from under his nails, the corners of his eyes, and his ears.
Naturally, there were no bugs. There was no way something that didn’t exist could come out, but in Parano, there was no way to be sure that things that weren’t supposed to be able to happen wouldn’t.
Honestly, he didn’t have time for this.
The statues were at the base of the hill. From the look of it, they were indeed of women.
Were they made of stone, iron, wood? Maybe glass? It looked like many materials had been mixed together and combined. There were some that were photorealistic, as if an actual woman had been turned into that form, while others were deformed. If he were to give his frank opinion, they weren’t very good. Or rather, while he wouldn’t call them haphazard, they were pretty clumsily made.
Alice checked over each of them, climbing the hill in a large spiral. If they were going to go up the hill, they could just have gone straight. He wanted to complain, but he’d be ignored, or shut down.
Haruhiro sighed behind his mask for the umpteenth time.
These statues had probably been made by a child with too much time on their hands, and they weren’t worth looking at, but it wasn’t as if anything else caught his eye. That was all he thought at first.
But as they kept on going, it was like... the statues were getting better made... maybe?
No, the fact was, the photorealistic ones were clearly the right shape, and the deformed ones had an artistic intent that even an amateur could discern.
Even the smallest statues were made to scale, while the larger ones could be twice as tall as Haruhiro. Some were clothed, while others were nude.
After some time, it hit him.
The statues all had the same face.
The model for these hundreds, thousands, or maybe more statues was a single young woman.
When they were halfway up the hill, the majority of the statues were of the photorealistic variety, and their precision had really gone up. Though the size, pose, and outfit varied, in a way, you might say they were all the same statue.
The sculptor of them all must have been the same person. Someone had made one statue of that woman after another, going on and on until there were this many.
It seemed obvious that the woman wasn’t a figment of the sculptor’s imagination, but rather existed somewhere, or had at one point. The sculptor must have been quite attached to her. They’d been close. A family member, a friend, or a lover, maybe.
Alice looked around, walking between the statues as if everything was normal.
Chasing after, Haruhiro wondered, Doesn’t Alice find it creepy? He, for his part, was pretty creeped out.
The sculptor must have started making statues at the bottom and worked towards the summit. Their skills had improved as they went.
Haruhiro and Alice were close to the summit now, and the statues looked like a woman who had been petrified by something. The sight of so many of them lined up could only be described as bizarre.
“Ruins No. 5, huh...” he murmured.
This was said to be one of seven numbered ruins, from No 1 to No. 7. Why was it that, despite that, there were no fallen pillars, or anything that looked like the remains of a building? There was hardly even any rubble.
The statues, huh? The sculptor had likely demolished the buildings, or used the stone and metal parts from the collapsed buildings, to make these statues.
Alice laid down the shovel, instead of carrying it on the shoulder.
When the upward slope ended, there was a flat, open area on top of the hill. The statues of the woman only stood on the edge of the hilltop.
No, not multiple statues. There was just one. It was in roughly the middle of the hilltop.
That one statue of the woman was standing there, alone.
Haruhiro gulped.
There was someone here.
Right in front of the statue.
It was a single man, slightly shorter than him, staring at what seemed to be a life-sized statue of the woman.
The man’s hair was longish and wavy. Seen from the side, his face had a short beard, and he looked both young and like he was fairly old. The moss green coat with a fur-trimmed collar that he wore was torn in places, he was a little dirty, and the hard-looking boots he had on looked well-worn.
Haruhiro knew that Alice called the man Ahiru. But that meant duck, so it probably wasn’t his real name.
Neither Alice nor Haruhiro made a lot of noise when they walked, but they weren’t entirely attempting to sneak right now, either.
Ahiru had to be aware of the two of them. Despite that, he didn’t look away from the statue. He didn’t so much as budge.
“Any strange shadows?” Alice looked around, mumbling, “Looks like no.”
The sun didn’t rise and set in the skies of Parano, so no shadows were cast in the opposite direction of it. Haruhiro and Alice’s shadows were just at their feet, looking vaguely appropriate there.
What did Alice mean, strange shadows?
Alice approached the man. “There are a lot more now, Ahiru.”
As if he had only just detected them when his name was called, Ahiru jumped a little and turned their way. “...Princess.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t call me that.” Alice came to a stop and thrust the tip of the shovel into the ground.
Ahiru sighed. “Alice C,” he said, enunciating clearly. “Better now?”
“Anything but ‘princess.’”
“Hmph...” Ahiru slowly wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his coat. After that, it seemed he finally registered Haruhiro’s existence. “How unusual, you taking a servant. The Alice C who ran away from the king to act like a lone wolf.”
“He’s not my servant,” Alice said. “He’s a friend. That’s a lie, though.”
When Alice spoke, it was hard to know what to believe. It was different from listening to a liar; Alice was just constantly contradictory.
Alice laughed wryly, then began undoing the buttons on the front of the coat.
“Here for revenge?” Ahiru asked. “I did trash your house, after all.”
“You sure did. That was harsh.”
Stab, stab, stab.
Alice pulled the shovel from the ground, stabbed it in, pulled it out, and stabbed it in.
“I didn’t think you had the guts, Ahiru. Never thought you’d pull something like that. You know what I mean, right? You knew where I lived, but the same was true for me. I know Ruins No. 5, the place once called Tsukihi, the place you drown in your memories of Yonaki Uguisu.”
“It looks like you’re misunderstanding. I have no need for memories.”
“Then why make so many statues of her, huh?” Alice demanded.
“I just don’t have anything else to do.”
“That’s a strained excuse.”
“You came here because your home was destroyed, right?” Ahiru asked. “Fine. Do it. Smash them all up.”
Ahiru undid the buttons on his coat, putting his hands on his belt. It seemed that was Ahiru’s fetish.
Alice was still stab, stab, stabbing at the ground with the tip of the shovel.
Haruhiro was positioned almost directly behind Alice. He was prepared to move at any moment. Well, even if he moved, he’d just be sticking with Alice.
“Destroy them,” Ahiru repeated with a faint smile. He pulled his belt from his belt loops. It looked like no more than an ordinary black leather belt.
The moment Haruhiro thought that, the belt wrapped around Ahiru’s right fist on its own.
“Destroy them. They’re all fake, anyway. Destroy them all.”
“Oh, yeah?” Alice stopped raising and lowering the shovel, then chuckled. “You can’t destroy them yourself, so you want me to do it for you. Was that why you made me mad? You’re a pain in the butt, same as ever.”
Ahiru’s right leg started to quiver. His expression was unchanged, but he was unnerved. “I don’t think you’re one to talk about being a pain in the butt, princess.”
“Ahiru,” Alice said. “I don’t understand. If you want to take Yonaki Uguisu back, why don’t you?”
“If I could, I would,” Ahiru retorted. “You weren’t exactly playing the silly princess, dancing in the palm of the king’s hand because you wanted to, either.”
“Well, duh. That’s why I ran away. You can lick that piece of shit’s ass and tell him it’s delicious all you want, but she’s not coming back. Or maybe you’re waiting for that piece of shit to get tired of her pretty voice and throw her away? He’s more likely to smash her on the floor than toss her aside, if you ask me. Once he makes something his, he doesn’t give it to anyone. He’s a genuine piece of shit, after all.”
“...Maybe.”
“What exactly do you want, Ahiru?” Alice demanded. “What made you get me angry, and lure me here?”
“Me... lure you out? That... that wasn’t my intent.” “Still, it’s weird, isn’t it?” Alice pointed out.
Haruhiro had no idea what half of anything the two were saying meant. However, Alice was overpowering Ahiru. That much was clear.
Ahiru looked ready to go into a frenzy. His belt-wrapped right fist might swing at Alice any second.
Even if it did, Alice would handle it easily. Ahiru probably knew that, too.
“There’s no way you can beat me,” Alice said. “I thought that was why you harassed me, trying to get me to go to the king. If you just leave me be, I’ll beat down that piece of shit in good time.”
“Yeah. I’ll bet. Not that I think you can.”
“Still, I’ll do it,” Alice went on. “That piece of shit hardly ever leaves his throne. If I’m going to strike him down, I’ll have to go to him.
Once I’m ready, I’ll go take care of him. Ahiru, what are you doing?”
“I... acted under the king’s order...”
“You’re a talentless hack, and that piece of shit knows it, too. No one has any expectations for you. Not even Yonaki Uguisu, I’ll bet. She’s not dreaming of you coming for her on a white horse like some kind of prince.”
I dunno what the situation is, but does Alice have to be so harsh about it? Haruhiro was feeling more and more sympathetic to Ahiru. Alice was foul-mouthed. Without seeming to particularly enjoy it, Alice said things that cut deep with relative ease, no mincing words. Maybe there was no ill will there, but Alice could stand to hold back a little.
“Alice.” Ahiru put on a smile that could only be a bluff. Then, in a strained voice he said, “You’re a real piece of work.”
But, as was to be expected, Alice was unfazed. “Treat me like an ugly duckling all you want. I don’t mind one bit. But here’s the thing: I reckon you don’t want me to hate you.”
“...What?”
“Let me tell you how you really feel. Let me tell you your true feelings and wish, which you couldn’t admit to even if you knew them, and worse yet, can’t even become fully aware of.”
“Why would—”
“You’re not smart. On top of that, with Yonaki Uguisu taken hostage, you’re not thinking straight. You aren’t looking all that well at what you’re after, and what you’re doing. That’s why I’m saying I’ll tell you.”
“I...”
“Before that...” Head cocked to the side, Alice jerked it slightly.
With that little signal, Haruhiro got the message, and it pained him a little that his body responded half-automatically.
Haruhiro moved close to Alice. The moment he did, Alice’s shovel peeled.
That blackish skin formed a mutable shell. It defended Alice, attacking Alice’s enemies. It might be fair to say the shovel’s main body was Alice’s heart. It was exposed, and easily wounded. Even the air hurt.
We... thought Haruhiro, shifting pronouns. When he held Alice from behind like this, he started to think as if he were Alice. He felt the main body of the shovel as if he was touching it himself.
It felt so raw, they both had to wonder why it wasn’t bleeding. It was soft and moist. Meat, tissue, and organ. It had a thudding pulse. The hundreds, no, thousands of strands the skin split into as it spread out were hard and not easy to destroy. Even if the skin broke or shattered, it was no big deal. It would be fine no matter what, but the main body would not. It was dangerously fragile. Honestly, it was painful just holding it like this. They were both enduring it. It was all false bravado.
“Stop!” Ahiru shouted. He wasn’t just raising his voice. With pain on his face, he begged, “Please, stop it!”
I can’t get enough of it, both of them thought. I love that expression. But he can give me better than that.
The skin of the shovel let out a groan, flying out of the plaza and mowing down one statue of Yonaki Uguisu after another.
They laughed. They hadn’t meant to laugh out loud, but they couldn’t help themselves. Laughing, they broke a second, third, fourth, and fifth Yonaki Uguisu.
I might be a sadist. I won’t deny it. I wouldn’t do anything this awful to the real Yonaki Uguisu, though, of course. She’s a bird in a cage, like her name, nightingale. I feel sorry for her. But these statues Ahiru made, they’re not her. I can’t stand the way Ahiru does nothing but make these things. So, I’ll destroy them. Slice them up with the skin. Crush them. Smash them. Destroy, and destroy, and destroy them like mad.
“Ah...!” Ahiru clutched his head as he watched. He looked this way and that, finally falling to his knees.
This is hilarious. What can you do but laugh? For all that he cries, “Stop it, stop it, please!” he’s not doing much to stop me. I know it’s impossible for him to stop me, but he could show some spirit, at least.
But Ahiru won’t. Because this is what he wants. He made them with great care, and they’ve gotten a lot closer than his first efforts, and now he wants to destroy these statues that look like Yonaki Uguisu.
Because, in the end, they’re not her. They can’t replace her. Even so, Ahiru can’t bring himself to destroy them. The statues look like her, so try as he might, he can’t harm them with his own hands. Even though they’re not her. Is he an idiot? He probably is.
Ahiru’s already on his knees crying. That pretentious ass is so confident in his looks, he’s always trying to act cool. Now his beard’s a mess of snot and tears. Serves him right. This is beyond hilarious.
Well, not that I’m gonna smash them all.
I mean, that’s too much effort.
There’s too damn many. Like, how many’d he make? This is Parano, so if the mood took him, he could make an infinite number. There’s a thing called limits, you know. You’re an idiot. A real idiot.
That said, there’s just one statue left on top of the hill.
The masterpiece in the center of the plaza. Ahiru must have decided that one would be the last, making sure every fine detail was perfect. But if it hadn’t come to this, it wouldn’t have been the last. He would never have been satisfied, and he’d have made another.
Making statues is an act of substitution.
He’ll never be able hold her in his arms again, so he consoles himself by constantly making statues.
How pitiful.





“Yeah.” Thrusting the reskinned shovel into the ground, they both nodded. “Oh, that felt good.”
Haruhiro moved away from Alice. He put some distance between them, then slumped to the ground.
He wasn’t part of “they” anymore, but “he.”
“For me, too.” Ahiru was sitting with his legs in a W shape like a girl, staring up at the polka dot sky with a vacant look. He didn’t wipe the tears, snot, and drool. “I see now. I wanted to end it. ...I see.” “You want to lick the king’s asshole again?” Alice queried.
“No. I’ve had enough.”
“Well then, Ahiru. You’re going to be my spy.”
Ahiru looked up at Alice, using the sleeve of his coat to wipe the area around his mouth a bit. He had a look on his face like he was daydreaming. A small flame lit up in the back of those eyes.
“A spy... you say?”
Alice laughed then said, “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”


7. Just Having You There [only_you]


When they came out of a tunnel, it was a castle.
If you said it like that, it might not make a whole lot of sense, but Kuzaku didn’t really understand it, either. Could you blame him?
Damn, that’s a high ceiling! he thought. This is way too wide, this corridor... Is that what it is? Huh? Is it? It’s too wide, so I’m not confident I can call it a corridor. What is it? Like, there’s this hallesque space that goes on forever?
The floor, is it marble? Maybe? It’s made of something hard and glossy that’s probably stone, I think? It’s a brownish color? Light brown? Though, despite that calm color, it’s all glittery and sparkly. Truly gorgeeeeous. Well, not to the point that I needed to stretch that “e.”
Actually, is it gorgeous? There are countless chandelier-like lights hanging from the ceiling, and they’re reflecting off the floor like nobody’s business. It’s like they’re trying to upend the concept of reflection. That’s the kind of super reflection we’ve got going on here.
Imagine, with no prior knowledge, you were asked to tell someone what this place was. For Kuzaku’s part, he could say they were indoors, but not much else.
Io-sama was leading the dread knight Gomi, the paladin Tonbe, and Bossari, who was also known as Kuzaku, across the indoors.
“Where are we?” Kuzaku asked her.
“The castle,” she shot back.
“The castle,” huh? So that was no doubt where they were. He considered he might have misheard her, but it really was a castle. What was there to mishear, anyway?
It took him a while to realize it, but the corridor was filled with shadows that were starting to take three-dimensional form. They were kind of like, well, halfway between human or animal, or something. Also, they were moving.
“What do you think that is...?” Kuzaku asked.
He didn’t mean to ask anyone in particular, just putting it out there in a, Hey, could someone maybe explain it for me? sort of way. “Quit starin’,” Gomi warned him.
Not that it matters, but his trash accent’s way too thick.
“Those things, they’re servants of the king,” Gomi went on. “Ya could say they used to be servants. Nah, that’s not it. Anyway, they’re what’s left of them. Ya make the king mad, ya may end up like that yerself. Be careful, would ya? It’d be a burden on Io-sama.”
“...Huh?” Kuzaku said. “The power of someone called... the king... did that to them? You’re telling me they were originally human?”
“Well, yeah...”
Gomi trailed off. In a way that was uncharacteristic of him, there seemed to be something deeper going on, as if he wanted to say, Don’t ask me any more.
In any case, he wasn’t being very clear. Could it be about that, maybe?
While continuing to walk, Kuzaku turned to look back.
The shadows generally kept their distance from Io-sama’s group, which included Kuzaku. They were all heading in different directions, too. Out of all of them, that one shadow was following the group.
There wasn’t much he knew for sure about Io other than that she was a priest, and that her beauty was out of this world, but as for Gomi and Tonbe, they were fairly skilled. There was no way they hadn’t noticed that shadow. But they were ignoring it.
Was it because it was an insignificant shadow? That could be it, but he didn’t want to think that was all it was.
Even if they were in the Daybreakers, just like Kuzaku and his friends, the two groups had never met before, so Kuzaku had little information on the Io-sama Squad. However, there should have been more than three of them. He didn’t recall any names other than Io’s, but most parties consisted of five or six people, and he felt like there had been a few more than just Tonbe and Gomi.
It might be that the shadow had once been a member of the Io-sama Squad. They’d angered the king, and been turned into a shadow. That might be what had become of Io’s comrades.
How long was this corridor? No matter how extravagant and gorgeous it was, it wasn’t as heart-moving once you got used to it.
While being chased around by Shihoru, running away, trying to talk her around, giving up on that as impossible, deciding, “No, if we talk, she’ll understand,” then nearly getting killed and running away, he’d been desperate. Thanks to that, he hadn’t had the composure to do much careful thinking, but where was Haruhiro, where was Merry, where was Setora, and where was Kiichi right now?
Nah, they’re probably fine, he told himself. I mean, I’m in one piece, so how can everyone else not be?
Shihoru-san ended up like that, though.
Well, she’s alive, at least. And stronger, if anything.
But is that really Shihoru-san?
Like, isn’t it kind of not? I dunno, but she’s totally different. She’s not supposed to be like that. I thought that if we talked, she’d understand. That was what I thought. That was what I tried to think. It’s just, maybe I just wanted to think that, you know? If I calm down and think about it. Thinking it’d work out if we talked? That transformation wasn’t something on a level where that was going to be enough.
Are you gonna be able to get back to normal, Shihoru-san? Can you turn back? Is there a way? I can’t think of one.
What about Haruhiro and the others?
They must be okay... I think. Well, we’ve been through plenty of jams before now. We’ve gotten by. It’ll be the same this time. That’s—Wait, is that all the basis I have?
Perhaps they came up lacking compared to Soma’s party, which everyone said was the strongest, or the legendary Akira-san’s party, or the Typhoon Rocks party, but the Io-sama Squad was famous for being a party of highly capable volunteer soldiers.
Kuzaku didn’t mean to put down himself or his comrades, but in terms of general rating, the Io-sama Squad was a cut above Kuzaku’s own party.
And even the Io-sama Squad had been reduced to three members.
This place is crazy, isn’t it?
It’s dangerous, right? Clearly.
It’s crazy... Yeah.
Now, this is just a maybe, but...
Maybe not everyone is okay.
Maybe they might not even meet the bare minimum of being alive.
“Um...” Kuzaku crouched down where he was.
He couldn’t walk. Not a step. He couldn’t even stay standing. It all hit him at once. The feeling of despondency.
If he thought about it carefully, there was no way he wouldn’t be exhausted. But that wasn’t what this was about, was it? It was more that.
He held his stomach, crouching. It was a type of hunger, maybe.
“I haven’t eaten a thing...”

Chapter end