After leaving the cave for the first time in a few days, Lily guided us to a certain location. There we found a student from my world wearing the same uniform. I had informed Lily to report any sightings of students to me as a number one priority.
Lily had properly accomplished her duty. As a result, I was now looking at the first student I had seen since the destruction of the Colony—in the form of a corpse, though.
“...Mizushima Miho, I think.”
You could say I at least knew her, and here she was, having died all alone in the forest. I wasn’t sure how to swallow the reality that someone I knew was dead right in front of me. Before I even realized it, I was biting down hard on my lower lip.
If you asked ten different people, all ten would tell you Mizushima Miho was a beautiful girl. She was a second-year student just like I was, and she was part of the wind instrument club. Her hair was dyed flaxen and went down to her shoulders, which matched her cheerful personality quite well.
The fact she had not yet been eaten by a monster meant it hadn’t been that long since she died and that she wasn’t killed by a monster. She was an attractive girl, and there were students about who had lost their sense of morals. There was no need to even say what happened. In the throes of despair, she had thrust the knife she was hiding right into her own throat. Her hand had stiffened up completely from putting too much strength into it and was still gripping the knife, wet with her own blood. Desperation clearly remained imprinted on her charming face.
“Thank you, Majima. Boys really are reliable for physical work, huh?”
“Sorry. It must be boring to work with someone like me, Mizushima.”
“Nope. I don’t really think so. It must be boring...? You sure are serious, Majima. That’s why I’m helping you out like this. I think that’s a good side of you.”
Mizushima Miho was a member of the home team at the Colony. Ever since coming to this world, I had a single opportunity to speak with her while we were in the middle of constructing the Colony. I was surprised she even remembered the name of a fairly plain schoolboy like me. Back then, she smiled at me cheerfully. Just a few days ago... she was certainly smiling.
“Lily...” I emotionlessly called out. “Eat her.”
She immediately did as I ordered. After reverting back to a giant slime, her gelatinous body fell upon the girl’s corpse. Mizushima Miho’s existence cruelly melted away within Lily’s transparent form. I stared at that scene from beginning to end.
The white of her eyes, the yellow of her fat, the red of her organs, the white of her bones... Such grotesque imagery was something I had to remember.
It took a fair amount of time, but Mizushima Miho’s body completely vanished. By the time I realized it, the sun had begun to set. I couldn’t even see the evening rays through the dense forest. All I could see was the sky turning redder and redder as an eerie mix of black and crimson dyed the scenery around me.
And within that twilight-lit scenery, I saw her naked body rise from the ground. She had beautiful limbs, unstained by anything she had suffered in life. The word rebirth passed through my mind, but I shook that thought away. This was different. It wasn’t rebirth in the least.
“I’m done taking her in, Master.”
Lily’s voice, which I was hearing for the first time, was of course identical to Mizushima Miho’s. The way she spoke was also the same. It resembled what remained in my memories. The only notable difference was she was referring to me as Master. However, that one difference was enormous. This wasn’t Mizushima Miho. It was a monster wearing her skin. Thus, I was surely also a monster wearing the skin of a human. If not, I wouldn’t have been able to do something so cruel without hesitation.
That’s right. I decided to use Mizushima Miho’s corpse.
She was the same as me, a student transported here to this world. That meant she also possessed a cheat. She was simply unaware of what it was, much like I was until a few days ago. Her body should have possessed some sort of outlandish ability. I thought to have Lily mimic that.
It was an unforgivable act driven by villainous intent. However, I resolved myself to do anything for the sake of surviving in this world. I also had a responsibility toward Lily and Rose for having them accompany me on this path.
The best I could do to fulfill that was the worst I could do as a human. That’s all this was. I felt sick to my stomach, but it was necessary for me to swallow that feeling away.
“Do you have a grasp of that body’s specs?”
“Specs?”
“That body should possess some sort of special ability.”
Lily looked puzzled by my question. Well, it was a hidden power that the person in question didn’t know about herself. It was reasonable that a mimic would need time to grasp what it was.
“It’s fine if you don’t know.”
Worst case, there was a possibility my hypothesis was incorrect. Even so, I didn’t really mind. It was convenient for Lily to simply have a human form. It wouldn’t pose a problem in combat either. Lily’s mimicry allowed her to use the abilities of one form while using the appearance of another. For example, she was able to use her original power of magic while mimicking a magical puppet. That was naturally no different when she took on the form of Mizushima Miho, who possessed no combat abilities.
That didn’t apply to abilities which depended on the shape she was assuming, however. She wasn’t able to use her original body’s ability to devour others while in the form of a magical puppet, seeing as she didn’t even possess an oral cavity.
“Put on those clothes.”
Lily had filtered out all of Mizushima Miho’s clothes when she was digesting her. Her blazer was covered in blood, but there was nothing else available. I had no choice but to have her put up with it.
Lily complied with my command and passed her arms through the shirt’s sleeves. I averted my gaze from her defenseless figure.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
“I’m done, Master.”
“Okay, then let’s pull back.” I didn’t want to stay here any longer, so I immediately began leaving.
“Oh, Master. There’s one more thing I need to tell you.” Lily called out to me as I turned around, and I came to a stop. “There are other humans nearby. They’re the ones who killed... who are the reason this girl died.”
I was well aware that I furrowed my brows at this, and I turned around at the waist to look at Lily.
“How do you know that?”
“I can tell. I mean, I have this girl’s memories.”
I was completely overwhelmed by her casual statement. “Is that... true?”
“Mm. Oh, hang on. It might not strictly be true. It might be better to call it a record. It’s all the same in that I can recall them, though.”
“So, that’s also the reason you’re speaking the same way Mizushima Miho did.”
There was likely some level of deterioration or deficit compared to the original—much like how her ability to manufacture magical tools was inferior to Rose’s—but a fair amount of Lily’s mannerisms were inherited from Mizushima Miho.
Lily’s mimicry may have been far more terrifying a power than I thought. A perfect mimicry would pretty much be the same as usurping the original’s existence. It was normal for me to get dizzy from this. I may have done something far crueler than I intended...
“So, what do we do, Master?”
“Let’s see...”
I got my thoughts back in order. It was important to understand the reality before me, but there was something more important to do than worry about that. The survival of the lowly and miserable cowards who caused Mizushima Miho’s death, as well as what they had done to her, was unforgivable.
I thought it over for just a moment. Lily was waiting for my reply amid the melting scenery of black and red that turned the silhouettes of everything around me hazy.
“...I need to take responsibility.”
That was my answer. I had no intention of getting revenge. She was only an acquaintance to begin with. I was in no way close to her. I did find what happened to her pitiful, and I did feel anger and revulsion toward her assailants. But I felt nothing more than that.
That’s why this was just me taking responsibility. It definitely wasn’t revenge. There was no way I could say it was. I was also guilty of desecrating Mizushima Miho’s body, after all.