Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 64

A young boy was standing alone. He stood alone and forlorn in a cold village where snow was falling.

　The boy, whose sealed memories have been arbitrarily opened according to the "contract", stands in front of his family's house that remains in his childhood memories. That's all he can do. He no longer even dares to open the thin, quickly slipping sliding door. With hands clasped around his despair-stricken face, the boy falls to his knees.

　'Truly, poor boy.'

　The voice echoes in the boy's ear. It was sweet, gentle, and reassuring. A voice that is too beautiful and too sweet, like a song that can violate a person's heart...

　'You once said to me, didn't you? That time, when you put the blade in my face, you told me not to tarnish your memory. But are you sure that those memories you hold so dear are real memories?'

　The whispering voice pierces the boy's heart like a formless blade. It makes him feel physiological nausea. Then, with a small smile, she laughs. Her exhalation of warm air tickles the boy's ears.

　'Truly, poor boy. I can see it now. I understand everything about you. How false, how suffering, how sorrowful your life has been. Now I understand. Because I am a part of you.'

　She blurts out in sympathy, in pity, in concern. Her words were clearly made with only good intentions. There was not a shred of malice in them.

　"I... I..."

　'Yes, I know. It must be very sad, isn't it? To be betrayed by something you believed in, to be hurt by something you cared about, to lose something you cared about, that's why you left, isn't it? I understand. Mother understands.'

　She sympathizes with his anguish, with his grief, with his courage, with the fact that he cut himself off, his greatest debt, for the sake of his family. She accompanies and affirms them while hugging him from behind. As if it were natural.

　'Don't worry. Mother is always on your side. I will never, ever, ever turn my back on you.'

　Somehow the place had changed. It was in the house. It was the room where the girl had made her confession. It was the place where the boy had been condemned to despair.

　The boy's appearance also changes. The clothes for the commoners were, on closer inspection, a fine, custom-made item. It was a clear distinction from the rest of the crowd, and it was a sign of the boy's position in the house. The days that seemed to be smooth sailing, the days when he did not have to be afraid of starvation, were shattered by the selfishness of the girl that day. And the boy was made aware of his mistake again.

　'It is not a lowly thing to give in for the sake of living, you know. Since many creatures have a symbiotic relationship and many serve one individual, your choice was not a mistake at all. There is no such thing as a mistake.'

　She strokes the head of the child in her arms. She then caresses the boy who is suffering from the scolding of conscience.

　There is no need to mourn. After all, every living being has the desire for life. It is not something to be ashamed of.