Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 156

 Everywhere in my hometown was a deserted village. The village is filled with cold colors, and rundown huts are sparsely scattered. The plants are withered from the cold, and the sky is always cloudy. The ground is covered with frost, making a crunchy sound with every step. Even the rice in the fields is small and thin.

 Abandoned by the spiritual energy, the frozen ground makes it difficult to even drive a hoe into it...

 "..."

 I was in such a place. I stood in front of an abandoned old hut, and something was left on the ground.

 "...Fish?"

 It was fish. Five dying ayu sweetfish. Two adult fish and three young ones. They wriggled on the ground, crushing the frost, gasping for breath, opening their mouths, with an unreadable expression on their faces, only their eyes wide open as if they were about to pop out...

 "..."

 It made me uncomfortable, so I hurriedly passed by. The foul stench was also a reason. The indescribable air made me choose to leave this place.

 I want to go home as soon as possible...

 'Ah, ahh... where, where are you going?'

 "!!?"

 In the cursed, eerie voice leaking from a single ayu fish, I involuntarily stopped in my tracks as the curse called out me. I stopped, and slowly turned my gaze towards the ayu.

 'Wh-what are you doing? Are you trying to deceive me?'

 The gaze of the adult ayu's eyes met mine. No, it was more like a stare. It was oppressive. No, more than that...

 "Home?"

 In response to the ayu's plea, I looked at the abandoned shack. Indeed, its structure seemed familiar. It was the rundown shack that had been rebuilt and repaired countless times, full of gaps... the end result of its existence.

 "Why..."

 'Why, you say!? It's because of your selfishness, isn't it!?'

 In response to my muttering, the ayu shouted angrily. Perhaps due to forcibly speaking human language, the pitch and scale of its voice were like the discordant notes of a broken instrument... it began to curse me.

 '■■...!? How the hell are you still alive...!!?'

 A gruesome voice pursues, interrogates me.

 "Well, that's because..."

 'How the hell did you survive!? How the hell are you still standing...!? It's because of you!! It's because of you!! How the hell are you still alive!!?'

 Before answering, the furious voice of a woman resonates in a frenzy. Like scratching glass, like shattering glass, the deranged screams of a woman filled with madness. Rage and madness take over.

 'How are you still alive...? Why are you, of all people, unscathed? You should be dead...'

 Another grudge-filled Ayu resents. The tailless Ayu wriggles. With lifeless eyes, she relentlessly spews cursed words at me.

 "Why, you say..."

 'It's because of you, isn't it? Are you some kind of plague like you? We, us, we...!'

 'We should have been better off without giving birth to you! But you... you ruined everything!! It's all your fault!!'

 'Even though we wanted to die!! Why couldn't we, huh?!'