Inside both of Alsuhariya’s eyes, her brand whirled around, and the Magic Eye’s return to the next life was activated.
“Ati… Braun…”
With tears in her eyes, Hizumi smiled, her voice trembling—
“I wonder…if I’ve managed to be like you…”
My left arm was obliterated.
“Huh?”
Drop. Drop. A huge amount of blood fell on Hizumi’s face.
It painted her face dark red. She had smashed her entire body into the plank when I jumped at her and pushed her down.
Having lost my left arm, I stifled the screams that threatened to leak out my mouth and almost fainted from the insane loss. I gouged the wound with my fingers so the intense pain would keep me conscious—and smiled.
“Hey, Hizumi… Are you okay? She hasn’t gotten to you, has she…? I’m sorry…for coloring you with my blood… You’ll be okay now…”
I wiped her tears with my index finger.
“Don’t cry.”
“Why…? Why…?”
I was falling unconscious, my vision was distorted, I was dripping greasy sweat, and I smiled at her.
“Because you’re crying.”
Hizumi opened her eyes—and I wobbled in front of her.
“Go… I’ll buy you time… The boat’s still on the ship… Use it to get away… Go… Go, Hizumi… Go…”
I spilled blood as I wandered to and fro, and my vision was fading.
This looks bad.
I wobbled and swayed from side to side as my thoughts went around and around.
You’ll probably die soon.
Recalling Julie’s words, I looked at myself as my body gradually became colder and colder.
“…So this is it, huh?”
In the original game, Hiiro watched Alsuhariya kill Hizumi at the end of The Lapis Route.
Why don’t you try to change your fate?
Covered in blood, I put force into my muddy feet.
“Yeah… Tsukiori and the others are still on the ship… They might die if this character keeps throwing her weight around… And if God… A mere god calls that fate…”
I grinned.
“I’ll get stuck in between…and crush it to pieces…!!!”
“Hey.”
Alsuhariya looked at me on the verge of death and scoffed.
“Did you put other people’s lives before your own? Somehow, that sounds familiar. Why would you do a thing like that?”
“If you don’t get it…I’ll show you…”
I started walking inside the ship, drawing a line of blood on the floor—and found that someone was supporting me.
With a desperate look on her face.
Dragging her feet due to her sprained leg, Hizumi supported me as she tried to get us away from Alsuhariya.
“Hizumi…”
“I… I’m not going to run anymore… I don’t want to run…flee…be protected…crying… I don’t want that anymore… I… I… I’ll do what I can…here and now…”
A photograph fell out of her breast pocket. It showed her linking arms with a woman I didn’t know, flashing a peace sign—and she smiled.
“I don’t want to be special… I’ll be a hero…!!!”
Watching us as we inched away, Alsuhariya laughed and chased after us.
“Yeah, that’s good. Try to escape me. It’s very nice.”
“Ngh…! Ah…! Aaahhh…!!!”
Alsuhariya popped a smoke bullet from her fingertip and punctured Hizumi’s body as she shielded me. We pressed our bodies against the wall and continued on our path of death.
Taking one step. And another.
The pain was so excruciating that I thought my brain marrow was being scorched. I was on the verge of fainting but continued pushing forward to escape the sound of footsteps echoing behind us. Crawling through my blurring vision, I continued as screams and shouts echoed inside the ship.
The Queen’s Watch swayed violently, and our bodies slammed into a wall.
Blood flowed.
Life, colored red, flowed down the cold walls of the ship’s cabins.
The bright red streaks merged with other streaks and formed a single path that flowed down as if to indicate our predetermined fate.
The pain was so intense that my body begged for comfort. Still, I kept going on sheer willpower.
Leaving a bright red trail of blood, we went deeper and deeper into the bottom of the ship.
Somewhere, a sound rang out.
“……”
It was the sound of a sword fight. Tsukiori and the others were fighting.
I smiled.
“…Hizumi.”
“It’s okay… We’re okay… I swear…I’ll save you… I…I’m not going to let anyone else…die…,” she said, crying.
She continued moving forward, dragging her twisted leg and screaming from the intense pain.
“…Hizumi.”
“It’s okay…okay…okay…”
“…We’ve reached a cabin.”
I hung my head and pointed with a twitching fingertip.
“We’ll hide…there…”
“Y-yeah! O-okay!”
Hizumi slipped her body inside the narrow opening in the door and was about to fling it open—when I pushed her inside.
Caught off guard, Hizumi fell inside, and without a moment’s pause, I pulled my trigger and kicked down the door.
“Hiiro Sanjo?!”
The door now had a dent in it.
There was a small gap on the doorknob side, barely enough space for an arm to pass through. Hizumi twisted her arm into the gap and tried desperately to open the door.
“What do you think you’re doing?! Huh?! Open this door!!! Come on, hurry! Alsuhariya’s coming! Open up!!!”
Her nails peeled off.
Crying, she tried to pry the door open with her crimson fingertips.
“Hizumi…no…”
“Open this door!!! Open it, open it, open it!!!”
She screamed at the top of her lungs and hit the door with her fists.
“Hizumi… You…”
Tears flowed, she had a runny nose, and her face was a mess as she punched and kicked the door over and over, hurting herself more and more—
“Can’t die here.”
She finally stopped moving her hands and feet, and her eyes widened.
“No…”
Huge tears spilled down her cheeks as she reached out to me.
“No… I… I want to be a hero…like her… I want to exist for the sake of others…like Ati… To make someone smile…for the people who made me smile…”
“You’re already a hero.”
I laughed.
“You aren’t the only one… Tsukiori, who’s fighting desperately now… Ophelia, who pushed away her fear and stood up to Alsuhariya… You, who continue to put your life on the line for me… Everyone’s a hero…and that will…will be passed on…”
I held her hand.
“Leave the rest to me.”
Hizumi sobbed and shook her head.
“We can’t win… We can’t… No one can beat Alsuhariya… A miracle won’t happen… We’re always… Our lives are always nothing but a tool to that demon god… We could never resist her… The number of pages is fixed from the beginning…and all we can do is give up…”
“I’m going to win.”
“You can’t!!! Braun couldn’t, and Ati couldn’t. No one could! No one could defeat her! Why do you think you can?!”
“Simple.”
I flashed her a big smile.
“Because I swore I’d give your story a happy ending.”
“Are you…stupid…? How can you laugh…? You’re going to die… You’re going to die here, unable to do anything about it…helplessly…like me… So why…?!”
Huge tears spilled down her cheeks, and Hizumi’s face contorted.
“Why are you laughing…?!”
“Hizumi, trust me. No matter what happens, I’m going to win. I’m ending it here. I’m writing an ending that I can believe in. So have faith in me. You aren’t going to die here. I’ll risk my life to make you smile—if only you’ll believe in me—”
Firmly.
Very firmly, I held Luri Hizumi’s hand—and laughed.
“I’m a hero.”
Hizumi was stunned as I smiled at her and began to walk away.
“Hiiro Sanjo!!!”
I turned around—and with trembling fingers, she passed me a fang through the gap in the door.
It was her trump card, wrapped in a bloody papyrus… Hizumi gave me her coffin and spilled her heart out with tears in her eyes.
“It’s…filled with my magic power…my teacher’s power…Braun’s…the person before her…and those before them… They included regular people…farmers, vagabonds, students… No one’s special…Not everyone…can be a hero who goes down in history…but…but…!”
Hizumi grimaced from the intense pain that came from going against the brand in her eyes. Her face contorted, and she sobbed, but Hizumi held out her coffin.
“Every one of them…with pride and a will…wanted to stop someone from crying…and kept moving forward… So…so…!”