Chapter - 19

No matter how much time passes, Maya does not return.

As I wait in the dark, I become very anxious.

It's so quiet, it's deafening.

Sometimes, as if to block it out, I feel like I'm hearing sounds from downstairs....

For a while, I trusted Maya and kept quiet, but eventually my patience ran out.

"Maya? What's going on?"

I call out, running my hand along the wall. She doesn't answer.

"Maya?"

The power is out, so I check near the front door, where the switchboard is, but there's no sign of her.

Instead, I smell something foul. An unpleasantness that invades my nostrils and lungs. What is it, this smell.

"Huh?"

I look up, my eyes accustomed to the darkness, and realize that my breaker has fallen off.

I pick it up with my fingertips, and light returns to my surroundings.

At the same time, she realized the identity of the strange odor.

"Uh... blood?"

Blackened, half-dried blood spread across the floor.

The floor is somehow stained with mud, and there are traces of something that looks like it's been wiping up the blood.

The battery was somehow rolling around in the middle of the road, which made me even more suspicious.

I grope for the trail. I wonder what happened to Maya. Is she okay? I walk away, worried.

"──Maya!"

I finally find her.

She's lying face down under the sink. Half her body is covered in blood.

As I approach, I'm surprised to see a woman in the room, covered in bandages and casts.

A kitchen knife is stuck in her back.

I look over to Maya and see an arrow in her shoulder.

The scene looks like a violent attack that came out of nowhere and left the two of them, but a kitchen knife is one thing, but an arrow?

Plus, it looks like the woman was injured and being treated for her injuries before she was attacked...

I didn't analyze the situation at a glance like a good detective and panicked like a fool.

I didn't know what to do, but I heard Maya moaning, so I left her alone and ran over.

Maya's face was pale, her normally white skin the color of paper.

It reminded me of the phrase, "a prize to die for."

"Good... times..."

She seems to struggle to breathe, let alone speak.

Unable to pick him up, I bend down and ask him.

"What happened! Are you okay?"

I'm so confused that the idea of calling an ambulance doesn't occur to me right away.

After about 30 seconds of calling her name over and over again and repeating nonsensical phrases, I realized I had to call the police.

For some reason, my cell phone was missing, so I used Arakine's landline to gibberish and describe the situation to 911.

That the occupants of the house and another unidentified woman were injured and dying.

I didn't know what to say, so I rambled on, but somehow I got the call out.

I return to the room and sit down next to Maya.

Suddenly, she raises her face and stares at the woman who said "unidentified" earlier.

In my agitation, I didn't notice, but the more I look at her, the more it triggers memories.

Long, waist-length hair──

A body shape that feels familiar to me──

A face that I remembered seeing, even though I couldn't see her eyes because they were covered with bandages.

"Kurumi?"

I stop in my tracks, dumbfounded. I only parted ways with her a few hours ago.

At that time, she seemed to be physically unharmed, though there was a strange pressure on her ears.

To think that it had become a "seriously injured" figure like this.

No..., it's someone who looks like Kurumi. No, it can't be her.

You're looking at the wrong person.

Right now, we need to help Maya first.

But if that's really Kurumi──I raised my waist for a closer look.

My sleeve is tugged with a strong, weak tug.

Maya was looking at me with pursuing eyes.

"Sensei, please, stay with ...."

I begged desperately. Red ivy wraps around her legs.

I stop checking and prioritize her wound.

First, I need to apply hemostasis. I desperately try to recall the first aid measures I learned in health class.

"Open ..., please."

"What?"

As I take my time with the unfamiliar task, I hear a small, indecipherable voice.

Maya pronounces it slowly, as if repeating herself.

"Kill me."

"What...!?"

The hand stopped.

"He's not going to make it."

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"Why don't you kill me with your hands...?"

"You'll survive. You'll survive!"

I don't know much about medicine, so I'm not as confident as I sound.

I was worried that Maya was going to die at this point.

But my rational mind told me that I should deny that thought and encourage her.

However, Maya is not at all relieved, and she says, "Please kill me," in agony.

"It hurts...I'm in pain...Please let me die quickly..."

Her voice is thinning and pleading. My heart felt like it was going to break.

The ivy vines wrapped around his legs and hands, then his entire body.

"If I could die at the hands of my elders..."

The metaphor was that the blood that gushed out of her was trying to flow into me.

Unconsciously, my eyeballs moved and I looked directly at the arrow in my shoulder.

Perhaps if I pulled it out, the stagnant blood would gush out in a horrible, overflowing stream and Maya would die instantly.

If.

What are her chances of survival if she doesn't pull it out and leaves it in?

"I'm satisfied ...."

Takasebune (*Note 1). A novel I read in my Japanese textbook flashes through my mind. I try to erase it.

But Maya, who seems to be suffocating, refuses to let her escape and begs for help.

The ivy grows endlessly out of her body.

The ivy leaves are redder than blood.

"I was so happy to meet you."

It's beautiful.

"I'm glad you accepted my confession."

More beautiful than Maya, who is facing death.

"I'm glad you ate the lunch."

It's irreplaceable, and it's okay to sacrifice something else.

"I mean, I wanted to do more."

If we euthanized her, we could keep her and not let her rot.

"But I'm content."

Am I broken for thinking that way?

Indeed.

Maya is the one I'm fascinated by.

Or maybe it's her ivy.

I can't tell.

I didn't want to know.

Attacked by a headache that only served to make me vomit, I rubbed my fist against my temple.

The pain doesn't ease at all.

You want to defend yourself. I don't want to decide anything.

She wishes she could stop the metaphor, stop time, stop thinking, stop everything.

But the life is draining out of her body.

"No more, don't talk."

I say, but Maya doesn't listen.

Words come out of Maya's mouth.

──Senpai.

It was short.

Thank you.

I know I caused you trouble.

I'd rather thank you than apologize.

Because

I knew a beautiful love.

A love like a flower.

Even a country that shed its skin

I could open up beautifully.

Pretty...pretty.

Ehhh.

I was happy.

It was fun.

So

I don't regret it.

Puffing out my chest.

I don't have boobs to brag about.

But I want to say it from the heart.

...Senpai.

You were──my Okya(*Note 2).

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*Note 1. Takasebune: A short story by Moriogai Nietzsche that centers on the problem of living a life of contentment and deals with the issues of euthanasia and authority.

*Note 2. Okya: A word meaning an oily field.