Chapter 41: Mom

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…I’m so tired.

Yukina lay slumped on the cushion.

Her chest rose and fell in tiny breaths.

Her body felt as if it had melted away.

She could not muster any strength at all.

Even lifting a single finger had become heavy.

She was not sure what was wrong with her.

She had only been lying there.

She had not done anything.

Yet her body was already exhausted beyond belief.

This tiredness was different from usual.

It came from the inside out.

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It was so strange.

She could not put it into words.

Sweat covered her whole body now.

She was dripping wet.

Her school uniform clung to her skin.

The feeling was terribly uncomfortable.

Her pantyhose were the hardest-hit area.

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Even worse was the area around her waist.

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It felt like she was soaking in a hot spring.

Did I break…?

Yukina muttered the words quietly in her heart.

Ugh, so tired.

Tired enough that she was getting sleepy.

A powerful wave of drowsiness suddenly crashed over her.

Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

Yukina had not slept properly since yesterday.

So many things had happened all at once today.

The fact that she had lasted this long was already a miracle.

The air carried the smell of old padding.

Raindrops sounded in her ears.

A slightly cool wind poured in from outside the hut.

It brushed across her sweat-soaked hair tips and back.

It felt chilly.

I really want to just fall asleep like this…

Yukina felt that if she closed her eyes for three seconds right now, she would pass out.

But she could not.

She still could not rest.

The crisis had not been resolved yet.

Mashiro had been very quiet since earlier.

She did not know how she was doing.

I should go check on her first.

Yukina blinked hard.

She tried to force that drowsiness back down.

The ribbon that had been wound around her hands had come loose at some point.

It lay quietly on the cushion.

Yet she still kept her hands together out of instinct.

Maybe she had gotten used to it.

She turned slightly.

She braced her elbow against the cushion.

She pressed her center of gravity down.

She used her limp waist to push her upper body up.

Her figure swayed unsteadily.

It took a bit of effort.

She managed to hold a duck-sit posture.

On both sides of her skirt hem, her small, flesh-pink soles peeked out, turned upward.

Her toes curled slightly.

Where’s Mashiro…

Yukina slowly lifted her head.

She blinked.

Through the messy pink-white strands of her bangs, she observed her surroundings.

On the other side of the cushion, near the wall, a white figure was curled up in the shadows.

It was Mashiro.

Her shoulders were hunched.

Her whole body was bent downward.

She looked like a bird soaked in a rainy night.

The lines of her shoulder blades rose and fell slowly in the dim light.

Her breathing was heavy and chaotic.

Both hands were raised.

They were clamped tightly over her own face.

Black nails pressed against pale skin.

They sank in slightly.

It looked as if they might tear out red blood at any moment.

The sight was shocking.

“Mashiro…?!”

Yukina’s heart instantly sank to the bottom.

What’s going on?

Has the Blood Moon Disease started to erupt?

Does that mean… all my guesses were wrong?

Was everything I did before completely meaningless…?

Just as those chaotic thoughts were about to swallow her whole.

Drip.

Something fell onto the cushion.

One drop.

Two drops.

At first, she thought it was rainwater leaking from the roof.

But that was not right.

The liquid was too dark.

It was turbid, like ink.

Even stranger, the liquid did not seem to be falling from the roof.

It was coming from skin.

From a person’s skin.

The pair of hands Mashiro was using to cover her face seemed to be melting.

Black liquid kept seeping out.

One drop, two drops, dripped from the shadows.

They landed on the cushion.

They soaked out into dark circles.

It was not sweat.

It was not blood either.

It was some kind of existence that resembled toxin.

What… is this?

Yukina held her breath nervously.

She remembered that this situation had never appeared in the game.

So she could not understand what it meant.

The pool of black was still gradually expanding.

It gave off an unpleasant rust-like smell.

She saw Mashiro’s hands.

The layer of color that had been dyed black after the Blood Moon Disease’s erosion was fading bit by bit.

It was like coal ash washed away by rain.

From her fingertips to her wrists, they slowly, slowly returned to their original paleness.

Mashiro’s trembling was also weakening.

Her shoulders slowly slumped.

Her entire aura felt as if something had smoothed it out from the inside.

The Blood Moon Disease’s erosion… is decreasing?

Does that mean those black liquids are toxins being secreted out of her body?

Yukina suddenly realized.

If that was really the case, it meant… she had succeeded.

Her speculation had not been wrong.

As long as she satisfied the emotions Mashiro had suppressed in the depths of her heart and let part of that desire out, she could lower the “Repression Value” and resist the Blood Moon Disease’s devouring.

The black liquid continued to overflow from between her fingers.

With every drop that fell, Mashiro’s breathing steadied a little more.

The black on the backs of her hands grew a shade lighter.

Gradually, the speed of secretion slowed.

By the time the last drop fell, that hand had already returned to its original snow-white.

Mashiro lowered her hands.

Her face was revealed again.

It was still pale, but it was no longer twisted by pain.

Suddenly, her figure swayed.

Like a snapped kite string, her body tilted to the side.

She collapsed entirely.

“Mashiro!”

Yukina lunged forward.

She did not even know where the strength came from.

She was clearly already spent.

Yet her body still moved.

Her small body leaned in from the front.

She opened her arms and caught Mashiro.

…So heavy.

The difference in their builds was huge.

Mashiro was much taller than her.

The weight pressing down nearly made her fall over as well.

Fortunately, she managed to hold on.

Yukina used up her last bit of strength to hold Mashiro in her arms.

She let Mashiro’s head rest against her thin chest.

“Mashiro, are you okay?” she asked softly.

Mashiro did not answer.

She only breathed shallowly.

Her consciousness was like mist scattered by the wind.

It could not gather together.

The world before her eyes was blurry and flickering.

It was as if she were in a world of nothing but light.

She listened to the faint heartbeat by her ear.

She felt that gentle touch.

In a daze, a human figure appeared at the center of the light.

This figure had appeared in her mind not long ago.

She was bathed in the warm afternoon light.

She smiled faintly.

The wind blew through silver long hair that was the same as her own.

It gave a familiar feeling.

But this time, that figure seemed even clearer.

“…Mashiro, even if Mom isn’t here anymore in the future, you have to grow up into a healthy, well-behaved child, okay?”

Her heart pounded violently.

Mashiro remembered.

That person was her own…

“…Mo…m.”

Two extremely light words slipped from Mashiro’s lips.

Yukina froze for a moment.

She looked down and found that Mashiro was gazing at her in a daze.

Her pale lashes trembled lightly.

In those unfocused eyes, the pupils had already returned to their usual red.

But right now they were gray and hazy, like glass wet from rain.

Is she hallucinating? Yukina thought.

She had played the game, so she knew very well.

Mashiro’s mother was an extremely important existence to her.

Her mother’s sudden disappearance was the shadow of her entire life.

Even after clearing the game, she had never been able to let it go.

…Good grief.

How many times have I been called Mom today?

Once by my sister, once by Ningning, and this is already the third time.

Yukina really could not understand.

How could someone with such a skinny figure, without the slightest mature charm, possibly deserve that kind of address?

But…

Looking at the sadness Mashiro was showing now, an expression that looked as if she might shatter at any moment, she decided to overstep once.

She would first let the other girl get a shallow, good sleep.

“Mm.”

Yukina answered softly.

She held Mashiro a little tighter in her arms.

Her chin gently rested on the top of Mashiro’s head.

It was like sheltering an injured little bird under her own wings.

“Mom is here.”

Her voice was light and soft.

Her small palm pressed against Mashiro’s back.

She patted her gently, again and again.

“It’s okay now. Get some good rest.”

Mashiro moved her lips again.

It looked like she still wanted to say something.

In the end she only let out a puff of breath so faint it was almost inaudible.

Her eyes slowly closed.

Her breathing gradually steadied.

She sank into a very, very deep sleep.

The rain was still falling, but it had already grown lighter.

The tin roof was tapped into a dense sound.

It was like a quiet lullaby.

It echoed softly by their ears.

Mashiro had fallen completely asleep.

But her fingers, at some unknown point, had gently clutched the hem of Yukina’s clothes.

The grip was very loose.

It was like holding onto a tiny sliver of light she had finally managed to find again.