Volume 2 – The World Sneered
Yueri relaxed her body, leaned back on the couch, and continued speaking.
“If that thing didn’t exist, I could still be with my sister. If only she wasn’t born.”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one who created her!”
Ami mustered her courage and shouted.
Then, Yueri dropped her gaze from the ceiling to her, and laughed with her mouth only.
“Sister and I got married.”
“Huuh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“When we were little, we promised to become each other’s brides when we grew up. We grew up. So it’s only normal that we’d get married, right?”
“What does that have to do with Calaria’s birth?”
“Because when two people get married, they have children. That’s why I created that kid…… but sister ran away.”
Unlike when she was talking about it before, Yueri used the words ‘ran away’.
Then what was she talking about before? Cutie warily glared at her.
“I knew it. I knew. I didn’t know, but I knew. Yes, I noticed it. When my sister realized that Calaria was our child, she felt a deep despair.”
She thought that it was mutual love.
She thought they had a love that was more than one between sisters.
That was why she was ready to consent to marriage.
But the truth was cruel.
Yueri was still young, but when she looked at her sister’s face, she saw an emotion other than ‘love’ for the first time.
“But I loved her.”
Yueri reached out with both hands as she looked at the ceiling.
As if looking for her sister who was in the world of the dead now.
As if strangling her neck.
Indeed, on that day, her dream was broken.
It cracked.
“I thought we loved each other, but she rejected having a child with me.”
Something thick and stale poured out from that.
It filled herself up when she was still young.
“So…… that’s right, ever since that time…… my love that burned hotter than any other emotion, and my boiling hatred both continued. Ah, I see. It might be the same for Calaria! These emotions, these feelings! Are they the same ones I hold for my sister!? If so, if so, then it’s revolting! Don’t disgrace my sister, Calariaaaaaa!”
A light and darkness that could not normally exist together.
Now, however, they both dwelled within her.
12 years. The heart of the person named Yueri, who lived in this crooked state for many years and months, may have already changed into something that was inhuman.
“There’s a paper-thin difference between love and an urge to kill.”
She tilted her head.
Her hair swayed and caressed her cheeks.
Lightless eyes turned towards Cutie and Ami.
“Did you know?”
She laughed and showed her teeth.
After a second, Cutie spoke without hiding her hostility.
“I almost thought I could be wrong after hearing you out, but you are on
World
’s side, after all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t bother. I can tell from your eyes that you’re insane. That’s the face of someone who will destroy the world for her own ego. Did you think you could beat us two after Mary and Calaria left?”
This time, Yueri’s shoulders shook, and she laughed.
“Eheh, hehe, hehehehehe!…… You’re very mean. But, yeah, you get it.”
Cutie and Ami would attack her immediately.
Yueri also knew this.
But she kept sitting on the couch, not moving.
“Cutie, she’s an enemy, right?”
“Yes…… I wanted to make the first move and kill her fast, but……”
“I’ll use
Wheel of Fortune
!”
Ami bravely stood up and tried to shoot wheels from her body.
However, no matter how much power she tried to use, she could not create wheels.
“……Huh? Why? My powers aren’t working!”
“Yeah, same here.”
“If we can’t use sorcery…… then!”
Ami went over the table and tried to hit Yueri.
But a punch from a young, skinny 12 year old girl could be stopped with one hand.
“People…… are fleeting.”
“What…… is she an arcana user!?”
Yueri pushed Ami’s hand away without an answer.
“Just a little intervention, and they crumble this easily.”
Yueri clapped her hands together.
Then, Cutie and Ami twitched, and exhaustedly sat on the couch.
“Love, life, people’s hearts – it’s all the same. Yes, even I understand. Everyone says it. They say that I’ve changed. How old was I……? It was so long ago. But I remember it well. The day my mind lost the source of its life and suffocated. Indeed, I may have changed. Whose fault is it, I wonder? It’s my sister’s fault. But I don’t want to think that way.”
Yueri seemed lonely as she scratched her neck while talking to herself.
Her nails almost gouged her flesh, and blood seeped out.
A large amount of blood stained her white robe, and she kept gouging the wound.
Eventually, Yueri’s body melted away.
Her hair fell out, her eyes dropped, and her teeth dissolved. And when everything vanished, the next moment, a new Yueri was
born
.
“Who am I, I wonder? Where am I wandering after losing my sister? I’ve always been searching, all these 12 years. Always, always.”
Cutie and Ami were still sitting like lifeless dolls.
But light slowly returned to their eyes, and they woke up.
Yueri’s facial expression now looked like it did before Mary and Calaria left, and she opened her mouth.
“Aaah, it’s a shame. Calaria ran away.”
The gap naturally closed.
Cutie and Ami did not notice this, and continued the conversation.
“It’s only natural. After what we talked about.”
“My sis and Calaria were both really hurt.”
When this was pointed out……
“Scary, I don’t have any bad intentions. I just wanted to tell the truth.”
Yueri foolishly laughed as she spoke.
◇◇◇
Mary and Calaria were guided by the worker to the underground of the facility.
The thick door ahead of the stairs they went down opened, and they entered a wide space.
The air was dusty, and it was clear that no one had used this place in a long time.
When the worker turned the lights on, a room with a lineup of large-scale equipment was revealed.
“Is this…… the room where World Destruction was conducted?”
“Was this place built 16 years ago? I see, it looks like a lot of money was spent on this.”
There was another transparent room inside.
It was built in order to allow observation from the outside.
In particular, there was a lot of complex equipment set up on the ‘inside’.
A bed big enough for an adult to lay on, and a space where a baby could fit into. And it was all deformed, torn to pieces, and broken.
Right after her birth, Mary was supposed to lose her life here in exchange for
World
’s destruction.
(……I know. But I was only just born, so how? No, but these memories……)
Mary held her face with her hands and looked down.
Then, Calaria worriedly looked at her face.
“What’s wrong, Mary?”
“……It’s nothing.”
She thought there was no need to speak these vague feelings out now.
Unless things were more concrete, it would only confuse Calaria.
“But…… it’s just a big space now. Why does it still remain?”
After Mary’s question, the researcher answered in an emotionless voice.
“It’s like a commemoration. It may have failed, but it’s the reason for this facility’s birth.”
“Who made that decision?”
“I heard it was someone from the executive staff. I don’t know all the details.”
It was apparent that Mary could not get anything more even if she asked more questions.
Calaria and Mary exchanged a glance, nodded, and left the room after saying, ‘That’s enough.’
They returned to the stairs, and Calaria stopped after they walked a little.
“Where does this door lead to?”
“That’s the research building. For security reasons, only registered researchers are allowed access.”
“This…… is an automatic mana register door, right?”
“Yes. Ugh!?”
Calaria nimbly stepped in next to the researcher, and buried her fist in the researcher’s abdomen with minimal movement.
The man groaned in pain, collapsed, and lost consciousness.
“……Did that creep you out?”
Calaria worriedly asked Mary while holding the man’s body.
Mary could not help but laugh when she saw her miserable facial expression.
“Hehe! No, I was thinking about doing that as well.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Are you worried about this being called a date?”
“N-No! That’s not it!”
Calaria frantically tried to explain herself, which looked cute to Mary.
She was an older woman, but Mary also learned about this side of Calaria as they travelled together.
Calaria sighed, regained her composure and continued speaking.
“I don’t trust that Yueri Turquoise at all.”
“Me neither. Pupa created Magrat 2 years ago. But she did not talk about that at all.”
“There’s no way she doesn’t know. That means she’s still hiding something.”
“Yes, because he was a new type of homunculus. I don’t think a specialist involved in the research ever since she was little would be unrelated to him.”
Yueri lied.
Naturally, without any ill will.
The credibility of her story went to zero at that very moment.
They had to use forceful means to get the information they really wanted.
But attacking Yueri would make them definite enemies.
And this was the enemy’s stronghold.
They had to finish things as quickly as possible.
Calaria carried the unconscious man’s body to the door and put his hand on the device.
The door opened. They quickly entered inside.
There were many branching paths inside, including a corridor that led all the way back, and countless doors.
“It’s going to be hard to find Yueri’s room here.”
Calaria spoke after sighing.
Mary, on the other hand, stared at the man they left next to the door.
“Are you worried?”
“……
Star
is warning me.”
“About that man!? Wait-”
The man’s body started to convulse while he was still unconscious.
He stopped shaking after a while, and strange squishing sounds started coming out from under his robe.
Right then, the door automatically closed.
“An angel……!”
“Over here, Mary!”
Calaria pulled Mary by the hand and escaped into a nearby lab before their foe could see them.