She kept seeing the girl’s hands. The burnt palm. The delicate fingers, damaged and red. The peeling skin. It had to be painful.
Suzume turned slightly to glance behind her. The girl’s eyes were filled with powerful determination. Suzume could see her own face reflected in those eyes.
They were serious eyes. When she saw her own face in those eyes, she finally realized the truth. Shizuka was dead. She had jumped from the school roof on a hot summer’s day, just like this.
And Suzume hadn’t been able to bring herself to accept it. That was all.
Of course. What she had really wanted, the thing she had really wanted to do…
“You said my life could change, now that I’ve met you…”
“Yes…”
“You weren’t lying…?”
“No, I meant it.”
Suzume had met plenty of liars before, so she knew this girl wasn’t one of them. Just like she knew…
“Suzume! It’s okay! Come with me!”
…this Shizuka was a liar.
After all, Shizuka was no longer here. Suzume understood that.
She could immerse herself in a sweet dream knowing that it was a lie, or face up to reality knowing that it was cruel. Suzume had been unable to choose either, and had instead selected endless choice.
“Maybe it would be worth finding out, at least for now…whether my life really will change.”
“Of course…,” said the girl, eyes widening.
Suzume pulled back her leg, which was still mid-step, almost as if she were being pulled back by the girl. Instead…
“I’m sorry, but you’re not Shizuka.”
…with the slightest force, almost a tender stroke, she pushed Shizuka from behind. Shizuka gasped, and her face began to transform. It was like an insect’s, bestial and full of malice.
“I can’t accept an impostor like you,” said Suzume.
After all, Shizuka would never make a face like that.
“So—farewell. Even if you were an impostor, even if it was fake, thank you for letting me see her one more time—”
A sudden gust of wind rose up.
A strange wind, powerful, yet gentle. It enveloped her like nothing she had ever felt before… It was like being held for the very first time.
No, not the first time.
After all, if she had never been held before, she wouldn’t know this is what it felt like.
Yes—come to think of it, maybe it didn’t matter now. She had tried not to think about it for so long, but once upon a time, someone had held her. As bad as things were now, there was once a time when she had been embraced. If not for that, how else would she have gotten through life thus far?
“How long has the past and present been eating away at me like this?”
If things were worse now than they had been in the past, then maybe things could also go the other way. She had always assumed things would just keep getting worse. Even now, the possibility seemed likely, but nothing was ever set in stone. That much was true.
“I guess I can at least see for myself whether what you say is true—I can always die later; it’s not like there’s any rush.”
As she was speaking, the wind grew stronger. She was having trouble seeing her surroundings. The string came undone on the bag of ashes she held precariously in her hand, and the ashes inside began to scatter in the wind.
“Before I go, tell me…,” Suzume began, speaking to the scarlet-haired girl, without looking at the swirling ashes.
She didn’t really think it was important, but she still wanted to know.
“…What is your name?”
“Kaguya Shinohara.” Those strong-willed violet eyes stared directly into Suzume. “I like to play at being a saint, but I’m an ordinary person, just like you. The kind of girl you find anywhere.”
Looking into her strong, gentle eyes for the first time, Suzume felt as if she might cry. Her heart had never been touched before, but at that moment it felt like it was melting.
She drifted gently into the air. Not the falling she had experienced so many times already, but this time, up.
She doubted she’d find hope waiting for her out there. Reality wouldn’t change so easily. Maybe once she returned, she would just decide she wanted to die again.
But for now, at least—maybe it was not anything so grand as hope, just a faint ray of light amid the darkness, but she had found something that changed her mind. So maybe things could be different.
Maybe, just maybe, she thought.
“I guess what I really wanted to do was to accept myself the way I am, and to move forward.”
One step—just one step forward. That was all she wanted, the real truth of this world.
At some point, the ashes she had been clutching had disappeared.
“Damn—!!”
Kaguya began to fall toward the ground after having frozen again for the umpteenth time. Azuma did his best to catch her using only his upper body, hitting the back of his head hard. He held on tight, however, and began crawling away using his left arm, trying to put distance between them and the hero.
His left arm had disappeared just a moment ago, but now it was back. Not only that—the sensation in his legs suddenly returned. Once he realized he had his legs again, he began running on autopilot, trying to get as far from that spot as he could. He was holding Kaguya, who remained unconscious.
“Wake up!!” Azuma shouted, but Kaguya, who was lying across his shoulders, was still out cold. “Kaguya!!”
The effects of the fog had weakened. Kaguya’s left arm had returned as well, and Azuma could see the fog growing thinner before his eyes. Everything was still hazy, but he could finally see again.
As things grew clear, he finally realized where they were: near the entrance. Azuma and the other members of Charon had been in the same place this entire time.
“Azuma!”
It was Rindou’s voice. The others were there as well. He saw what looked to be the first responders, too, but Azuma ignored everyone else and continued to shout at Kaguya.
“Kaguya! Wake up, Kaguya!”
She wasn’t coming to. Why was it taking so long? Usually it only took a few moments for her to open her eyes, but twelve seconds had already passed.