TL/Editor: Butter Cat

    Status: 4/week mon-thurs

    Illustrations: none

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    〈 Chapter 60 〉 Chapter 60. The Poet.

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    Can someone who has never broken a bone truly comprehend the pain of a person screaming in agony from a severed limb?

    Can someone who has never been burned by a gas stove truly understand the despair and lament contained within the dying screams and soft cries of a person burning alive in a raging inferno?

    It''s like someone who has lived their whole life in a dark cave claiming to know the lush green fields and the vastness of the sky, or a lonely person who has never experienced love claiming to understand the pain of heartbreak.

    Well.

    Even if they can sympathize with others.

    Even if they can feel compassion for others.

    Never, I swear.

    Could they truly empathize with them.

    Especially if that person is a stranger, someone completely unrelated to them.

    No matter how emotionally intelligent humans are, capable of feeling empathy and compassion.

    No matter how intellectually advanced humans are, capable of uncovering the truths of the world with their innate cognitive abilities.

    It''s impossible for someone who has never experienced something to fully understand the heart and feelings of someone who has gone through it.

    To claim that they can understand.

    Is to be blind to the vast difference in the magnitude of the pain experienced.

    The depth of the despair felt.

    We know all too well how vastly different they are.

    —Crack…

    "...Give her back…"

    ".........."

    "…My little sister… Please…give her back…No, please give her back to me… I beg you…"

    That''s why I would never be able to understand.

    The heart of this person, who is barely supporting their shaking legs by grabbing my collar with a weak hand, devoid of any strength, as if the menacing aura from before had vanished.

    The feelings of Remi Akaia, who is pleading with me, tears streaming down her face, begging me to say something, even though she must know that I’m just as helpless.

    I, who haven’t experienced what she has gone through, will never be able to understand her.

    Because the emotions I''m feeling right now are as light as a feather compared to hers.

    And if the day comes when I truly understand her.

    I will probably choose ignorance.

    Thud.

    "Why…!"

    Thwack, thwack. My chest hurts.

    "Why…"

    Her fists, flailing wildly, strike my chest.

    "Why… why…! Why does Aris… have to... go through this...."

    ".............."

    "I finally… I finally thought we could meet again…! I thought… we could be happy again…"

    The duel that was simply just a thinly veiled attempt at murder, which seemed like it would only end with one of us dead, was abruptly interrupted by a child.

    She, upon seeing Alice, had dropped her sword that was about to kill me, and collapsed to her knees on the dirt floor, her expression like that of a child abandoned by her parents.

    Seeing her weak and vulnerable, a sight that reminded me of my past self, I couldn''t bring myself to unleash the rest of the anger that had been festering in my heart.

    This was futile and meaningless.

    A pointless fight, where everything was in vain.

    ".........Hmm....."

    The child, relieved to see that our fight had come to a standstill, fainted as if falling asleep.

    I rushed toward her, worried that she might have been hurt as she fell to the ground, and my outstretched hand had overlapped with another''s.

    When Remi Akaia''s hand and mine touched, we looked at each other once, and, without a word, checked Alice''s condition and laid her down gently.

    "........"

    "........"

    A single exchange.

    A brief interaction, conveyed through our fingertips, without a single word exchanged.

    No one could have predicted that that brief moment, where our fingers touched, would bring an abrupt end to the fight that had been interrupted.

    But it was a promise made over Alice.

    A promise that held a weight far greater than any written oath on paper.

    Alice is sleeping soundly.

    We, who surrounded Alice, confessed everything to each other, everything about what had happened to the child, and the sins we had committed.

    What I had done to Alice.

    What she had done to Aris.

    And lastly, what had happened to the child.

    We confessed everything.

    It was the moment when the harm (??) named truth was revealed.

    All hope, all possibilities, vanished entirely, and only pure malice filled the glass-enclosed greenhouse.

    "....Aris....Aris…!"

    "............."

    Yes.

    What awaited the older sister, who had been desperately searching and waiting for her lost little sister, was the cruel truth that her sister no longer remembered her.

    Ironically, the child named Alice had forgotten everything, except for the name of the one person who had driven her to that state, ''Anna''.

    Her childhood memories.

    The faces of the parents who gave birth to her. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Even her own name.

    Everything about the child had vanished, lost to the depths of her memory.

    "...Sob... Sniff… A-Aris… answer me, please?"

    "............"

    ".......Please…"

    She covered her mouth with both hands, desperately muttering Alice''s real name, but Alice, already asleep and couldn''t respond.

    The sight of her, crying miserably beside the peacefully sleeping child, was like someone lamenting beside a lifeless corpse.

    Feelings of pity for someone that truly came from the heart were of no help at this moment.

    Even emotions arising purely from the heart, called sympathy and compassion for someone, would seem like nothing but a dirty hypocrisy to her.

    So all I could do was stand there, my head bowed low, like a doctor who had to inform a family of their patient''s death.

    I lowered my body and bowed my head.

    That was all.

    "Why… why did you have to be so cruel to Aris…"

    Her question, asking why Alice had to go through this.

    I, too, had thought about that unanswerable questions dozens of times, and instead of seeking an answer, I looked up at the night sky where darkness had settled.

    I wonder.

    Why, indeed.

    Really, why.

    A door designed never to open.

    A window through which the outside scenery cannot be seen.

    An oxymoron that threw all logic to the dogs.

    I, too, harboring curiosity about the irrationality of this world with its impossible question, simply lifted my head and looked up at the sky.

    No answer came down.

    **

    A momentary delusion, or a momentary mistake.

    Leaving behind the greenhouse where misfortune born from a misunderstanding had occurred, Remi Akaia and I, having cleared up some misunderstandings through an honest conversation, walked forward, matching our steps despite the awkwardness between us.

    Carefully, cautiously, like two people running a three-legged race at a school sports festival, afraid of tripping over each other''s feet.

    We headed towards the dormitory where I was staying.

    "........"

    "........"

    "....Mmm..."

    In our arms was Alice, sleeping peacefully, lying horizontally across our four outstretched arms.

    I held her legs.

    She held her head and chest.

    A pathetic power struggle ensued, each of us trying to claim a larger portion of Alice''s body.

    The fight over who had the right to hold Alice''s upper body, a fight over ownership, started back at the greenhouse and continued even as we walked along a deserted path. But let''s just say that thanks to the kind consideration of a certain mercenary, the princess was able to fully enjoy the feeling of holding her little sister for the first time in a long time.

    Blub blub. (TL Note: Their lips are basically moving like ‘O’)

    ''You suck at rock-paper-scissors.''

    ''Ah, shut up— —''

    I lost on purpose, but you don''t appreciate it.

    Whatever. You were the one getting all red-faced and angry earlier.

    …Want to play again?

    No, not doing it. You''re terrible at it.

    —Bicker, bicker.

    ".......!!"

    ".......!!"

    Let''s skip over that brief pathetic fight.

    "....Hehe…"

    "......Mmmm…"

    She was looking at Alice''s sleeping face, giggling, as if she couldn''t get enough of it.

    It would have been a truly beautiful sight, full of love and a hint of sadness, if it weren''t for the traces of sorrow in her eyes.

    But the endless possibilities contained within that sight were shining brightly, like a streetlight illuminating the night streets.

    Remi Akaia, as if sharing her warmth, pressed her cheek against Alice''s and rubbed it gently, then buried her face in the child''s slender neck and slowly inhaled.

    With her eyes.

    With her skin.

    With her nose.

    With her ears.

    She was reassuring herself once again that this sweet moment where her sister was alive wasn''t a dream.

    And the hand she slipped between her armpits was slowly reaching for Alice''s—

    —Slap!

    ''Get your hand off her.''

    ''.......''

    ''I said take it off.''

    ''…Hmph.''

    Where did the sorrowful person from before go? It was a scene that made me wonder if she was bipolar.

    If it weren''t for her tear-filled eyes, I wouldn''t have believed that she was the same Remi Akaia who had been crying out in despair until her voice gave out just moments ago.

    Smiling, she said.

    That it was heartbreaking, that it felt like her heart was being torn apart, that the memories of their childhood together were gone.

    That she had wanted to bite her tongue and die when she heard that she, Remi, no longer existed in Aris''s memory.

    But memories, even if they crumble, can be rebuilt.

    Rather, she also hoped that Aris wouldn''t regain those horrific memories.

    Drip, tears fell.

    Even as new tears carved paths over her already thoroughly wet face, she was genuinely smiling brightly, I eventually had to admit it.

    That she was truly amazing.

    That she was truly Alice''s real sister.

    —Slap!

    ''Don''t touch my little sister''s butt.''

    ''........''

    ''I''ll kill you.''

    ''…Hngg.''

    Well, their mouths weren''t alike at all, though.

    Hngg.

    **

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