Mokushiroku Arisu - Volume 03 Page 2

You can call it a miracle for me to be right beside her right now.

  The only time to save her is now.

  The only time to save her is none other than now.

  But,

  "Maybe it's my ego saying that......?"

  She does not reply.

  "Will you go to the extent of risking death to become a normal girl?"

  She does not answer.

  "If you don't want to, please tell me. Please attack me. I don't want to carry the burden of your death."

  But she does not react. Even as I show her the Holy Sword, she does not attack me.

  But her eyes are slightly moist with tears.

  However,

  "I don't get the meaning of those tears......"

  Which is it?

  She doesn't want to die?

  Or she wants to be saved?

  I don't know. I don't know at all.

  Thus it all rests with me.

  I grimace,

  "Damn. How did it become like this? If it were some other girl, I would still be able to bear with it. If I were testing this on another labyrinth diseased girl...... If I never knew the face, it won't matter this much; if it's a girl I don't know, it won't be so painful."

  "............"

  "You are all so cruel. Even when I keep telling you guys that I don't need any friends."

  "............"

  "Why did you all get so close to me?"

  "............"

  Tears flow from the eyes of the expressionless Gunjou.

  But as before, I do not know the meaning behind that.

  --- is she asking me not to kill her?

  Or.

  --- to save her?

  I gripped my Holy Sword tightly.

  I might be able to save Gunjou, or I might just kill her; I gripped my sword tightly.

  And say.

  "I'm afraid, I'm afraid...... of being the one to decide on your fate on my own. But I've decided. Since I'm arrogant...... be it as a friend, as a comrade or a classmate, or whether is it because I want to see that high and mighty angry face of yours again, I want to return you back to normal for these unreasonable selfish reasons......"

  I raise my Holy Sword.

  Gunjou reacts to that.

  She looks up, not at the sword, but at me.

  I look down at her,

  "I shall save you."

  After making such a proclamation, I thrust my Holy Sword switch into her neck.

  ♦

  ♦

  ♦

  In the next instant.

  With the power of the Holy Sword, I enter the depths of her heart.

  The feeling is not much different from the time when I pushed myself into the heart of Asahi Momoka. Up till this point, I still do not know whether the Holy Sword is completed or not.

  "............"

  The inside of Gunjou is also made up of darkness.

  A dark darkness.

  Gunjou is sitting alone in the corner of that dark darkness.

  With her legs folded against her chest.

  The same as Asahi Momoka.

  I grow anxious. Can I really save her? Or will I end up killing her with this sword?

  I move to where Gunjou is, standing before her. And call out to her.

  "Gunjou."

  But she doesn't look up.

  "Gunjou, look at me."

  She then answers.

  "...... I can't."

  "Why?"

  "Because I'm crying right now...... and it's embarrassing."

  "Why're you crying?"

  On hearing that question, Gunjou replies.

  "...... y-your voice......"

  "You heard?"

  "...... yeah."

  "You're damn annoying."

  "What!? You are the one who's annoying right!"

  She then looks up angrily at me. Her face is a little red. She really has been crying. While tears flow from her almond-shaped eyes, she glowers at me.

  Strong-willed, and yet terribly weak.

  That's Mizuiro Gunjou.

  I say.

  "Why did you break out into the disease? It's really bothersome."

  "...... i-it's not like I want to break out into the disease hey! And I don't remember asking you to come save me."

  "I'm not here to save you."

  "Eh!? B-But, just now......"

  "That was a lie. A joke. If you get deceived so easily by a man's words, you can't get away even if you're a slut."

  "What, s-slu...... jeeeeeeez, fine! If you're not here to save me, then what did you come here for! Hurry up and go home!"

  I look down at her angry face. It's the face I want to see most if I manage to save her.

  That moronic face of hers that gets angry when she gets teased.

  Gunjou becomes a little bashful from my gaze, pouts her lips and says.

  "Wh-What...... what are you staring down at?"

  "I was thinking 'oh my, you really are a midget huh'."

  "I'll kill you!"

  I smirk. I then sigh and say.

  "...... kidding. I'm chagrined to say this, but I'm here to save you."

  "Ah......"

  "But let me say this first, I don't know whether I'm able to save you. My magic might not be complete yet and I might end up killing you just like what happened to Asahi Momoka."

  Gunjou looks at the short knife that has the shape of a sword in my hand.

  During the time when I killed Asahi Momoka, she was just right beside me so she should have seen what happened.

  Gunjou says.

  "Shinnosuke, you said you were afraid."

  I did say that.

  "You said you were afraid to kill me."

  I nod honestly.

  "I'm afraid. Frankly, I don't want to be responsible for your life. That's why I've said this before. Don't get close to me. I don't have time to fuss over you in this kind of place."

  "But, you came to save me."

  "It was because Shiro was annoyingly adamant about it."

  That's a lie.

  Shiro was against it.

  Himi too was against it.

  Yousuke too was against it.

  And as for Kiri, she has time and again warned me against entering this labyrinth.

  Aah, that's right...... I remember.

  Kiri didn't want to betray us. She knew something like this would happen. Like I thought, she failed as a traitor.

  But, that doesn't matter right now.

  It started from me. I came here to save Gunjou. The truth is I must save my little sister, but despite that, I made pointless comrades, created weaknesses, and ended up coming here to save Gunjou.

  I failed as a big brother.

  I look hard at Gunjou and say.

  "The amount of time the Holy Sword can remain activated is limited. We don't have much time. So......"

  "Are you going to kill me?"

  "I want to save you. But I might fail."

  "Uhn."

  "The chance of failure is probably higher. Since I have yet to save anyone with this yet."

  "Uhn."

  "But still......"

  However, cutting me off, Gunjou says.

  "It's fine. I'll go with whatever you've decided, Shinnosuke-kun."

  "............"

  I look hard at Gunjou.

  While crying, she smiles bashfully. And she says again.

  "...... I'll go with whatever you've decided. Be it die or saved, it's fine whichever way. But before that, tell me one thing."

  "What?"

  "What are you fighting for? What kind of purpose is the magic of that sword meant for? Why are you risking your life to study in this school?"

  On hearing that question, I reply.

  "I have no obligation to tell you......"

  "Tell me. I might die right?"

  "..............."

  "Besides, you already know everything about me right?"

  She says bashfully.

  She's right, I
know. I took the class. A labyrinth diseased girl loses her privacy and human rights. Be it her height and weight, or her hobbies and interests. Her reason to be alive. Even secrets about herself that she doesn't know get publicized.

  I know even the truth about her being taken from an orphanage by the Mitsutomo group and raised for their own purposes.

  I say.

  "I know even the cup size of your breasts. They are minus G right?"

  Gunjou's eyes become upturned. But she doesn't protest against that. She merely looks intently at me,

  "As the one...... who might kill me, tell me about yourself."

  She says.

  I don't know what is the point to that. It's the end once she dies.

  Then, what if she lives? She'll become even more of a bother. She will probably want to help me. That's the kind of person she is. A good girl. That's why I came to save her. Since unlike me, she's someone who deserves to survive.

  "If I tell you, will you leave me alone after that?"

  "I don't think that's possible."

  "Then I won't say."

  "Shinnosuke."

  "Hn?"

  Gunjou then looks up at me,

  "If I got saved...... if I managed to survive this...... then I'll be the one to save you next, so please tell me!"

  She puffs her minus G cups out as she says that. Those breasts seem like they might very well be C-cups and she may not be the breastless chest that I've stated.

  I look at her and say.

  "The one who's being saved right now is you. Don't get too conceited."

  She then replies.

  "I can say the same to you; it's not a given that you will save me, so don't get too conceited."

  "Hn ~"

  "Besides, I had spent quite a long time protecting you while you were out cold. I was the one who saved you first."

  "Are you calling me to repay my debt?"

  "Precisely."

  "You ain't cute at all."

  "I don't care about whether you find me cute or not!"

  "Aah jeez, your screeching is really irritating."

  I stuff my ears and say.

  But Gunjou takes another step forward, and glares up at me with her small, cute face.

  "Then hurry up and say it! Say it and it'd make you feel better. What are you fighting against!?"

  On hearing that question, I start to answer but hesitate. Then, I remember what Shiro said some time back.

  "You can enter it alone and die by yourself. Or, maybe, it'd be fine for you to put up your solitary airs and achieve your grand ambition. At any rate, it's probably an ambition you can achieve by yourself, right?"

  Conquering my little sister --- Apocalypse Alice, is not something I can achieve by myself.

  But, as the rewards that can be reaped from clearing Apocalypse Alice are way too huge, I've never thought it was impossible to get real allies.

  I thought that the only way to enter Apocalypse Alice was to hire mercenaries without anyone suspecting that my true intent of raiding it was to save my little sister.

  But,

  "............"

  Gunjou will probably become my comrade, I suppose.

  If I am able to save her life here, she will probably be willing to risk her life and raid Apocalypse Alice with me. I already knew that she's that kind of person. No, both of us have already been risking our lives for each other in absurd situations. I already know that, even in the most dangerous of situations, we won't betray each other.

  In that case, it's fine to tell her.

  More like, I should tell her.

  I should pluck up the courage to tell her.

  If I really want to save my little sister.

  "...... ah."

  I say.

  Gunjou looks up at me and nods.

  "Yeah."

  She is looking at me with really earnest eyes. Even though death is before her, she still nestles close to me. Looking straight at me. Her gaze is so forthright that it's dazzling. The place she lives in is different from mine. Way too different.

  But I am probably drawn to that dazzle of hers. That's why I made a mistake and came here. That's probably true for Kiri as well. If she wasn't drawn to it, she wouldn't have cried and apologized.

  Both Kiri and I just can't help but be drawn to Gunjou and Shiro.

  I avert my eyes from that dazzling girl and say.

  "...... I don't really want to say. I have never talked about my own weakness to anyone before."

  "Yeah."

  "Besides, if I can't save you despite telling you......"

  Then I'd probably be really hurt. If there's one thing that's horrible about humans, it's that they won't get hurt if things happen within their expectations. If they set their expectations to take into account that things won't always go well and that the worst could happen, then they won't get hurt.

  Thus, you get hurt when you look upon the light. When you have hopes for the future. And if those hopes are betrayed, you get hurt.

  However, as if she has seen through everything, Gunjou says.

  "Shinnosuke."

  "Yeah."

  "Don't run away."

  But still, I can't say it.

  I merely say,

  "...... if you survive, I'll use you."

  I say.

  But she looks intently at me,

  "Then, does that mean that you'd tell me if I survive?"

  "............"

  "It's a promise okay?"

  "I didn't promise anything."

  "All right! Well then, I'll definitely survive!"

  "I said I never agreed to anything."

  But, ignoring me, she presses her hand against her chest and says.

  "Then, I shall make you tell me your troubles! Yes, I shall do it. I'll do it do it do it ! I won't die! I'll do my best! I shall show the world who I am!"

  "By the way, who are you?"

  "I am Mizuiro......"

  "Minus G-cup vomit girl?"

  "I'll kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilll you!"

  After bellowing, Gunjou smiles. With a pair of happy-looking earnest eyes, and a somewhat fearful, smiling face.

  And she says.

  "I'm afraid of dying, but I shall leave everything to you."

  "What a coward to leave it to someone else."

  "Eh-hehe. If I die, remember me forever got it?"

  "Coward vomit girl."

  I got hit.

  "At least be nice at the very end!"

  She got a point.

  But, she isn't angry. She's smiling.

  She then closes her eyes.

  Her both hands open.

  Her body trembles as if she is a girl who is nervously waiting for her first kiss.

  Then,

  "....... Shinnosuke. I'll leave it to you. Save me."

  She says simply.

  Saving girls is a virgin task for me. That's why if she dies, I'll definitely be hurt and carry the regret for the rest of my life, I suppose. This is really dumb; while thinking about stuff which I should be forgetting, I see a dream. A dream in which I kill a classmate, a student of the same grade, a comrade of my team.

  An unpleasant thing that I will never forget.

  Really a coward. This girl is really a coward. Curse her for doing that to suppress her own distress.

  But I do not say that out.

  Since she told me to be nice at the very end, I have no choice but to do that.

  "If you survive and become my comrade.............................. it'd be a heartening thing for me."

  She then smiles happily.

  "Naturally."

  I nod, and then, I swing my sword at her chest.

  With that, it ends.

  Everything ends.

  I might have killed her.

  I might have saved her.

  Gunjou opens her eyes, looks at me --- in the next instant, she disappears.

  The surrounding darkness disappears.

  I am driven out from the depth
s of her heart ---

  ♦

  ♦

  ♦

  Once again, I return to the labyrinth.

  The labyrinth brought forth by Gunjou.

  "............"

  This is different from the time when I killed Asahi Momoka. Back then, the labyrinth disappeared upon killing her.

  But, the labyrinth remains this time.

  Is is it because I have succeeded in severing the labyrinth disease away from the diseased girl? Or is it because Gunjou had become an eternal labyrinth, and consequently is different from Asahi Momoka who was a time-limited labyrinth?

  I don't know.

  "Gunjou?"

  I call her name.

  And look around me.

  And there she is, lying down at a short distance away.

  Slender legs extend from her skirt. Sailor uniform stained with blood. Blond hair.

  She is deathly still.

  "Gunjou."

  I call her name again. I am too afraid to approach. I might have killed her. Thus,

  "Gunjou!"

  I call her name again with a slightly louder voice, but she still doesn't move.

  I can feel my heart thumping wildly. I feel nauseous. Despair whirls in my head. That's why I said that. That's why I said that I didn't want to get close and familiar with others.

  I approach her. If she's dead, I'll Escape immediately. There's nothing else for me to go on.

  I get right next to Gunjou.

  She still doesn't move. With her eyes closed, there's no sign of life on her face. My hand start towards her pale neck. As I extend my hand to search for a pulse ---

  In that instant.

  "Waah!"

  Gunjou's raises both her hands and shouts at me.

  "............"

  I jerk in surprise and stop moving.

  Gunjou then holds her stomach and laughs.

  "That face! Were you surprised? Did you think I was dead? There's no way that this very Mizuiro Gunjou will die so easily right!"

  Seems like she's alive.

  And to top that, she's strangely animated, in a healthy way.

  I look down at that merry Gunjou and say with half-opened eyes.

  "...... you're really annoying and I'm thinking that it might be better to kill you."

  But in truth, I feel relieved. The tightness in my chest leaves, and I can feel my heartbeat returning back to normal.

  Feeling relieved and accomplished.

  The Holy Sword switch has been completed.

  I can save labyrinth diseased girls.

  I can save my little sister.

  "Are you going to keep your word?"