Chapter 135 - ■■ (3)

3

The world grows narrower, little by little.

First outside the city. Then within it.

[The trauma’s recreation fidelity is decreasing.]

[Unable to restore the data.]

The darkness eating away at the outskirts slowly encroached on the streets. Wriggling, squirming. The darkness was like a living, moving tentacle. I decided to call that ominous, dark fog the void.

“... I’m going to school a little early today.”

Many things had disappeared from sight. People’s faces. The church steeple. The signs packed onto the shops like tree bark.

The world was stained with void.

“I have to go feed the rabbits in the animal pens.”

But there were also things I could finally see.

“Animal pens?”

“Yeah. Behind the school... Well, I guess...”

The Heaven-Slaying Star sighed.

“No reason someone like you would know. Anyway, there’s a place where they keep rabbits and chickens. I have to feed them.”

‘There’s a place like that?’

Thinking back, the orphanage had also had somewhere they kept animals. It hadn’t lasted long, though. Had middle and high schools had animal pens in the past, too?

“Why do you have to feed them? Isn’t there someone in charge of that?”

“... There used to be an animal care club. You know how a foreign woman broke into the school at night last year and jumped off with her newborn? The baby landed in the animal pens, of all places. Apparently, nobody applied to join the club after that.”

This was news to me. But the Heaven-Slaying Star spoke as though recounting a very well-known incident. Apparently, all sorts of things had happened at this school.

“Why would a foreign woman come to a school in another country with her baby...?”

“They say one of the teachers here got her pregnant while on a business trip overseas.”

“...”

“It happened in the middle school division, not the high school, though,” the Heaven-Slaying Star muttered.

“Anyway, there’s no animal care club anymore. The middle school class presidents take turns looking after the pens... But you can’t expect middle schoolers to be diligent about something like that, right? The security guard, me, and some kid in the middle school division. The three of us do almost all the feeding.”

That was...

A tucked-away corner of the world I had never known existed.

The animal pens.

There, rabbits and chickens were confined in cramped enclosures, the little space they had constituting the entirety of the world allotted to them.

Were they not being cared for properly? The place reeked of chicken droppings and rabbit urine. Feed carelessly dumped out in large quantities had repeatedly soaked in the rain and dried again, and it, too, gave off a foul smell.

“Oh, seriously. Someone’s just pretended to do their job and left again.”

The Heaven-Slaying Star frowned.

“If they’re going to do this, they might as well skip their turn. This is worse than doing nothing.”

“Want some help?”

“Forget it. I’d have to finish everything myself anyway.”

The Heaven-Slaying Star rolled up his sleeves.

“Just stand there. Or go on ahead to class, if you please.”

The Heaven-Slaying Star cleared out the old, matted heaps that smelled of rot. He threw the straw into a large sack. He brought a broom and rake from the storage shed and cleaned.

As though this were a very familiar task.

Then he picked up a rubber hose and sprayed water over the pens.

SHHHHHH

In a world where so much had vanished from sight, a world rusted by void and grown narrow, water sprayed by a high school student at around 6:40 scattered behind Sinseo Middle and High. It was quiet. The water resembled the color of dawn.

“...”

I was peering at a scene unfolding in a gap in the world.

[“You’re seriously filthy.”]

[“Somehow, you’re even filthier than the math teacher.”]

[“You really stink.”]

The world.

Grows narrower, little by little.

[The trauma’s recreation fidelity is decreasing.]

Starting with the things meaningless to the Heaven-Slaying Star—no, to ■■. One by one.

[Unable to restore the data.]

The mountains surrounding the city sank into dark fog. This world was besieged. With each passing day, the void tightened its grip.

Roads were severed from other roads.

“■■, ■■ ■!”

“■■■.”

On the severed roads, wraiths endlessly appeared and disappeared. Flickered in and out. Where people came from and where they went did not matter in the slightest in [the Heaven-Slaying Star’s world].

In this world, humans were not characters.

Weeds coiled in the gaps between the paving blocks beside the road.

[The trauma’s recreation fidelity is decreasing.]

In one corner of the garbage dump, a lone ginkgo tree that had yet to be cut down stooped with a hunched back.

[The trauma’s recreation fidelity is decreasing.]

When evening came, the sunset glowed red.

[The trauma’s recreation fidelity is decreasing.]

At last, the void completely surrounded the school.

“...”

Raviel stood at the school gate.

Beyond the gate was pitch-black darkness.

“Raviel.”

School was out.

Raviel stood quietly before the void into which the wraiths walked and were absorbed. She did not turn her head even when I called her.

“Yes. I did feel that something was wrong.”

She merely whispered softly.

“Thinking about it, asking to be called by a foreign name was itself peculiar. Bansia. That is the name I was given. Yet, for some reason, I was seized by something like an obsession, a feeling that I must be called [Raviel].”

“...”

“More importantly, I cannot recall how I came to meet you. No, saying I cannot recall may be misleading. You confessed your love to me at last year’s school festival. I had already felt affection and attraction toward you. We became a couple easily.”

Raviel turned to look at me.

“But I question whether that is truly what happened. Gongja, our love is not like that. We never love easily.”

“...”

“Kiss me. Now.”

I carefully placed a hand on Raviel’s shoulder. Taking her chin in my left hand, I lowered my head slightly and pressed my lips to hers.

“Mm. Just as I thought.”

Raviel smiled.

“My heart races.”

She caressed my earlobe.

“There is not the slightest falsehood in my love. I could hardly love you this much merely because you are somewhat handsome and have a way with words. Yet we are only the couple of the century in the history of Sinseo Middle and High...? Tell them to forget that. You and I are the greatest in the entire universe of all existence.”

“... Yes.”

“If my love is not false, then surely my memories have been distorted. This must be a hallucination or a dream. Gongja, am I dreaming of you, or are you dreaming of me?”

“I’m dreaming of you, Raviel.”

“Oh. How very curious.”

Raviel curled her fingers and stroked a chin.

Not hers, but mine.

“I must be the only lover you love.”

“Yes.”

“Even if you dream, even in a fleeting moment of sleep, I must always occupy the place of the one you adore. Only I have the right to that place.”

“That’s right.”

“I commend you, my love. How well you love me.”

Raviel laughed softly.

“Now, close your eyes for me.”

“...”

“Do not open your eyes under any circumstances, and speak my name with your lips. Do you understand? You must not open your eyes. If you open them without my permission, I shall scold you.”

I closed my eyes.

“Raviel.”

“Yes.”

“Raviel... Ivansia. That is the name of the person I love.”

And then.

The touch stroking my chin vanished.

“...”

I opened my eyes.

Raviel was gone.

“...”

She had kept me from seeing her crumble into a shadow.

Until the very last moment.

That was the Ivansia way.

[The trauma’s recreation fidelity is decreasing.]

[Unable to restore the data.]

Raviel’s breath is no longer here.

The world grew that much narrower.

DING, DONG, DANG, DONG

The speakers installed on the school grounds rang out.

A broadcasting club member whose name I did not know, and whose form was lost, spoke.

“■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■■■■.”

An announcement from the broadcasting club to all students still on campus.

“■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■■.”

All students except those participating in evening self-study are asked to leave school now.

At that moment.

The void lurking beyond the school gate surged and overflowed.

Like a river swelling in a sudden flood and bursting its banks.

“Mm.”

I backed away. Tendril-like strands of fog reached out from the void. In an instant, they wrapped around the school gate. The plaque reading [Sinseo High School] was eaten away, and soon the entire gate was devoured by darkness.

‘It’s finally collapsing.’

The world of trauma had begun to crumble.

“... What are you doing there?”

Someone spoke behind me. It was the Heaven-Slaying Star. With his worn bag on his back, he stood staring at me as though puzzled.

“Aren’t you going home? Well, if you’re not, whatever. I was starting to feel uncomfortable eating at your house while worrying about what your parents thought anyway. I understand that you genuinely want to apologize to me, so let’s stop this now. This whole thing. It just makes us both feel weird.”

The Heaven-Slaying Star walked toward where the school gate had been. As he was about to pass me, I caught his wrist. Then I yanked him back.

“Ah, hey! Ow! What? What is it!”

By a hair’s breadth, the Heaven-Slaying Star avoided stepping into the void. Even now, black fog flowed ceaselessly over the gate, over the wall, and onto the school field. If [that thing] swallowed him, everything would end.

“Come with me for a moment.”

“Again? Where are we going this time?”

“Somewhere you can live a little longer. Somewhere you can breathe.”

“... What?”

“It’s already dangerous here. Let’s move, now.”

I pulled the Heaven-Slaying Star across the school grounds.

The void encroached on the school as though chasing us.

“... I don’t understand what you’re saying. Kim Gongja. Do you know how strange you’ve been this past month? Why are you so scared? What are you trying so hard to do? You were never that kind of person.”

“I promised to fight desperately to live, no matter what happened. My Master kept swinging her sword even when the world was destroyed. My lover protected her country even when the world repeated itself. There are people like that in this world. I’m trying because I want to be with people like them.”

“Seriously, honestly, I don’t understand a single thing you’re saying.”

“There was also someone who devoted himself to what he believed was right, even at the cost of endlessly discarding pieces of himself.”

We entered the school building.

Still, the void surged in without stopping.

“...”

Monstrous spirits roamed the halls. But one of them, the [class president] wearing the Black Dragon leader’s face, stood blankly in front of the girls’ bathroom. She was someone I had not yet stripped of her form.

Because.

When the Heaven-Slaying Star had jumped in the previous trauma, she had been the only student to lower her head.

“... How strange. Why do I feel oddly guilty about going into the girls’ bathroom?”

The Black Dragon leader seemed to be questioning her gender identity out of nowhere. This was an age full of worries, after all. Still holding the Heaven-Slaying Star’s wrist, I approached and caught hers with my free hand.

“Hm?”

“You’re coming too. You can’t stay here right now.”

“Huh? Ah, wait. What? What is this? Kim Gongja? Ah, what are you...!”

The Black Dragon leader resisted in confusion, then suddenly noticed the Heaven-Slaying Star. Her startled expression instantly stiffened. She furrowed her brow, bowed her head low, and let me pull her along.

[Warning!]

[The trauma’s recreation fidelity is decreasing.]

[Unable to restore the data.]

[Unable to maintain the trauma.]

The void submerged the school’s first floor.

I dragged the two of them up the stairs. Quickly. Beyond the first floor, up the second, past the third, across the fourth, and onto the fifth. Behind me, the Heaven-Slaying Star and the Black Dragon leader gasped for breath, but there was no other choice.

The void was rising at a terrifying pace.

[■■■ ■■■♪]

[■■■ ■■■♪]

[■■■ ■■■■♪]

The slogans posted along the stairway sank. The black fog became a dark surface of water, swallowing the first floor, the second, the third, the fourth, and the fifth.

Only one place remained in this world.

“Huff, hah... haaah...”

“Ugh. Urk, I... I feel sick...”

I stood before the metal door to the rooftop. Four layers of locks encircled its handles. Presumably, no one but teachers could enter. But I sent aura blooming from my fingers and easily sliced through the chains.

“Let’s go out.”

“Huh...?”

Still panting, the Heaven-Slaying Star stared blankly at the metal door.

“It’s open...?”

“W-wait. We’re not allowed on the rooftop! It’s against school rules!”

The Black Dragon leader shouted in alarm. Had the void not been surging toward us over her shoulder, I might have shown the school rules a little more respect. I half-forced the Heaven-Slaying Star and the Black Dragon leader onto the rooftop, then...

THUD

Closed the metal door.

“...”

I stared silently at it. All was quiet. Fortunately, the void had not invaded the rooftop. This was probably no more than a very brief respite, but for now, we had escaped the flood of void.

“Good. We should be all right for a while.”

“What do you mean, all right!”

The Black Dragon leader flew into a frenzy.

“Don’t you know how touchy our school is about rooftop access? After that whole disaster in the middle school division last year! My God!”

“I told you, it’s fine.”

“Ahhh, if the teachers find out I came here... My school record... You bastard! You’d better take responsibility for my college admission!”

The world was completely enveloped in void.

Looking down past the rooftop fence, the school field was nowhere to be seen. Only pitch-black darkness spread below. The school grounds, too, and the middle school’s main building directly opposite.

Only three people remained in this trauma.

“Class president.”

“What!”

“You knew what was happening in our class, didn’t you?”

“...”

Three survivors.

The perpetrator.

The victim.

“... So?”

And finally, the bystander.

The class president wearing the Black Dragon leader’s face glared at me.

“Have you got something to say to me?”