[Part 3/4]
"I don't know! All I set was the passphrase, and mimicking this kind of direct seal...!?"
I interrogated Aoi with a hint of frustration, and she seed just as bewildered. It shattered my hopes. It ant that the possibility of it being her seal was lost.
"Then, then, why... darn it, those guys!"
Confusion washed over , and I finally faced the reality of being trapped. The head of the servants and the dic indeed agreed to exchange the spirit fruit. However, they never specified the conditions. Sowhere along the line after the agreent, they must have attached these seals, didn't they...!?
"Damn it!! I should have killed that scum right in front of !!!!"
Just to let out my anger, I shout. I had no choice but to shout. But then, sohow, my thoughts cooled down, and I was brought back to reality. My mind spins quickly.
(Damn it!! What should I do!? What should I do!? What on earth should I do...!!?)
Should I go back right away and try to undo what he did? No, I don’t even know if he's alive. At worst, I might encounter that arm or other monsters. If I can't be sure that the one I abandoned will follow, Hisa's strength...!! Damn it!? Did I make the wrong choice again!?
"Aoi!? Anything, do you have anything...!!?"
I asked Aoi, who knows much more about Curse Art than I do, for help. I had no sha. Even if she was younger. I was prepared to grovel and even lick her feet if it ant saving Hisa. If that's what it takes...! However, Aoi's expression was stern.
"...It won't work. This seal is powerful. No matter how much you try, you won't be able to break it. If it were in my peak... but, I'm sorry. In the current state, it's still impossible."
Shaking her head, the words spoken were not what I had expected, not even a fragnt of hope. Unwillingly, they were words of apology.
"Ugh! So annoying! I don't want to hear those words at all!"
"Huh!?"
I shouted in anger without thinking. Shouting, I pushed Aoi down and unreasonably threatened her, grabbing her by the nape of her neck.
"Think! You need to think of sothing! You're a genius, you should be able to do it! Co up with sothing quickly! Think of sothing!"
I yelled, yelled, and yelled. I demanded, I pleaded, and I begged. I was desperate. After coming this far, finally, and yet... this, this is just too much, isn't it!?
"No, stop, Tomo..."
"Huh!? No, no, no! This, this is...!?"
Looking up at the terrified expression of the child before , I realized the foolishness of my actions too late. I quickly backed away.
"No, it's not like that. But, but...!?"
Even with that, my rage couldn't be contained. I knew how much my outburst was just lashing out, but I couldn't hold it back. There was no way I could.
"But, but...!!?"
I clutched my head, trying to keep the direction of this emotion from anyone, trying to hold it inside. My face twisted in misery. It felt like my head was completely mixed in a blender. Swamped by self-bla, anger, and despair, I had beco unsure of what to do, what to prioritize. Oh, sh*t! I can't think straight...!!?
...Suddenly, soone tugged at my sleeve. I turned around and saw the figure of a junior who looked up at weakly.
From her darkening eyes, her vitality had definitely receded.
"!? Hisa!? It's okay! I'll heal it, I'll heal it right away! So, just a little more, just a little more wait, okay?"
I moved closer to Hisa. And I encouraged her. I apologized. I spoke words of hope and comforted her relentlessly.
"It's okay..."
I held my breath. Her response sent into endless despair.
"Hisa, don't give up... okay? There's still hope, right? Don't break down, okay...?"
"It's already fine. It's all just karma."
"Karma... What do you an?"
As I pondered her feeble words, baffled, I sensed what she was trying to say. Who could claim that this mission she had undertaken was her first?
Who could say that she hadn't killed anyone before this?
"Even so...!?"
I struggled to reply desperately, but I can't find the words to say and continue to struggle. Her arm, which was cold and covered with blood, touched my cheek.
"Sister's... words... forget them."
Hisa uttered words that tornted , stringing together words in a desperate attempt to console.
"You told to forget... There's no way I can do that, right?"
Desperately, I refused. There was no way I could do such an ungrateful thing. It would be a betrayal, ingratitude, and beyond low. Still, the dying girl quietly shook her head.
"It's okay..."
"Is it really okay, even though it's your sister's dying wish?"
"Maybe... because I wanted it to be that way until the end...?"
She coughed weakly, and I hurriedly held Hisa to prevent her from choking. Her feeble, rough breaths touched my scorched chest, where the skin had been burned by hellfire.
...Her body within my arms felt extrely cold in contrast. I thought it was because of my own body. It was as if she were made of ice.
"Hisa..."
"Please, at least... grant a wish... okay?"
Hisa pleaded weakly. It was a request born out of the desire not to die alone, at the very least. A modest and sincere wish to be bid farewell by soone.
...The sa wish her big sister had made in her final monts.
"Hisa... Hisa..."
"..."
I found myself clutching the crumbling palm of her hand without realizing it. It overlapped with that ti and failure, but I couldn't resist. I kept repeating her na like a delirium, again and again. Not as Hisa, the assassin, but as Hisa, my junior.
I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do. Inwardly, I worried that it might be an act of denying her life. I feared that it might not be the calling she wished for.
...But at the very least, she didn't seem to mind, quietly accepting the na I kept muttering.
And so, I continued to embrace her, the one I could never save, over and over.
"...?"
Completely, I distance myself away from her fragile, ice-cold body. I wiped away the tears that had been flowing like a waterfall without realizing. I muttered softly.
"What's... wrong? What... happened?"
A vast emotion suddenly beca empty. Her na and mories had lted away like the morning mist. I could see, but I couldn't recognize her final expression. I could do nothing but stand there bewildered.
Anger and sadness, just monts ago overflowing within , have now lost their anchor and left feeling empty...
"..."
"...Aoi?"
I turned my gaze towards her. The young child I was supposed to protect continued to stare at with an indescribable look in her eyes...
...
...
...
The Onitsuki family's hidden cursed spear, 'Asatsuyu San (Morning Dew (朝露散)).' The spear that was once kept in the treasure vault of the demons that nested in the valley... its potential effects include... obstructing the recognition of the target.
Those who die from the spear's wound have their mories and existence forgotten by those closest to them. The only one who retains the complete mory of the person they killed is the one who committed the murder.
Truly, it is a cowardly and despicable assassination curse-tool that the Onitsuki family has kept hidden even from the imperial court.
Due to the paucity of examples of its use, there are no docunts that docunt the extent to which feelings of having nowhere to go affect the psyche of those who are particularly strongly affected.
At the very least, it was certain that it would not bring any good influence.
...When you curse soone, there will be two holes. But who is truly cursed?
* * *
"..."
And then, how many hours had passed? Carrying a young child on my back, clad in a coat, I walked.
"..."
I walked, walked, and walked. Relentlessly moving forward, continuing to advance. I placed the bewildering remains of soone I didn't even know to rest. I averted my eyes from the empty hole. Urged on by sothing. Turning away from the nurous sacrifices I had discarded to push forward, all for the sake of doing what I could. At least, to save this young child who could still be saved.
So that I wouldn't be crushed by the "now"...
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