First sight

The day I first met you,

あの日动き出した歯车

The gears started turning.

——Quoted from -One Last Kiss-Utada Hikaru

-1-

It was a banshee as black as ink.

The last and only Banshee.

From the moment it was born... from the moment that world was completely sealed...

-2-

The darkness of countless worlds makes me think all the time about eating its flesh, drinking its blood, and chewing its bones.

Want to kill it, kill it...

Kill it.

No reason needed.

What reason do we need to pursue strength?

What reason is needed to desire birth?

Countless evils, countless shadows, countless twisted worlds—they should have given birth to thousands and thousands of banshees again—

But the banshee devoured all of her kind. Afterwards, she would appear at any place where death was born, devouring those who wanted to devour death—

so.

Be it evil spirits, monsters, or shadows.

No one wants to kill that guy.

-3-

They stretched out their claws toward the pitch-black banshee, like souls from hell opening their throats to scream toward the human world.

Want to be born.

Want to be strong.

Just kill it... kill that crazy, stupid banshee who devours her own kind...

That was a banshee, born to wander only with corpses and death—even after being completely shattered, it was just a dark shadow. No one would care about a stray animal wrapped in a shroud—

So powerful... so terrifying... so... mouth-watering.

-4-

How to kill the Banshee?

The evils of countless worlds began to ask questions.

How to kill the Banshee?

The claws shrank darkly, the monster swallowed its saliva, and the shadowy shadows swayed.

How to kill the Banshee?

——However, perhaps, only the last Banshee knows the answer to this question.

Because she was the only one who truly and completely killed all the banshees.

-5-

……but.

The dark banshee herself couldn't give any answer.

She couldn't even remember how long it took her to completely kill the creatures that tried to pounce on her and bite her.

When he came to his senses, there seemed to be nothing on his body except the bright red blood.

Hands. Feet. Eyeballs. Stomach.

I don't feel anything in these parts. Maybe it's because they've been torn so many times.

She lowered her head, lowered her head, and looked at herself...all she could see was a large amount of blood.

...bright red...glaring...extremely dirty blood.

Maybe some belong to the enemy, maybe some belong to yourself.

...Maybe, she doesn't care.

-6-

The beautiful dress her sister had given her had been torn into pieces like a shroud by those beasts. Now she was only covered in blood and scraps of cloth... so she didn't care about anything.

Then again, a banshee is supposed to be covered in blood and rags.

Why would she care about a pretty dress? She wouldn't care about anything anymore.

-7-

...Except for this.

She has slaughtered her way through countless worlds to find her target.

M slowly raised his head and looked at the strange world in front of him again.

I don't know how long it took, I don't know how many garbage I killed along the way, and I pieced together fragmentary information from the corpses... before I finally found this place.

This is a very unique world.

This place, which once swallowed up several banshees silently, was once a huge cage where the Gray Banshee completely imprisoned and kept the Pure Death.

...Also, today's [Prison of Eternal Life].

-8-

It does not exist in any passage, nor is there a "hole in the wall" for the banshee to enter and exit.

Among billions of worlds, it is closed and silent, its edge falling in the extremely dark angle between the worlds, emitting faint blue light spots.

It's like an isolated island in the sea.

It’s just that in the real ocean, you can still hear the waves and see the birds flying; but this world stays here quietly, completely separated from countless other worlds, and you can hear and see nothing.

-9-

...This is truly a world that is naturally suited to be a prison.

[In the prison of eternal life, a prisoner is imprisoned forever. ]

[As long as you volunteer to serve your sentence there, you can make a bet with the prisoner...]

【It will fulfill your impossible wish. 】

M actually doesn't really believe this rumor.

Why is an existence that can fulfill all impossible wishes imprisoned in this prison?

-10-

However, she knew that in this world, there was a fragmented thing that was powerful enough to drag the Gray Banshee to death bit by bit - such a being must have no shortage of power, and might even be stronger than those of her kind.

By devouring such a being, you will definitely become stronger, right?

As long as she becomes stronger...stronger...time, space, the world, everything can be reversed...

M raised her hands high, and a dark shadow grew larger and larger behind her, and a sickle appeared in her palms.

She tilted her head.

-11-

"Hey, come out. Whatever you are, let me eat you."

-12-

There was a loud bang—like a blow from a natural disaster—

M never waits for a sentence to be finished.

She usually ripped out the other person's heart in the middle of the sentence - she could also say the second half to the corpse, it didn't matter to her.

This time was the same. When "eat" fell gently, the huge black sickle had already split through the world in front of it.

-13-

...Split through?

Huh?

M was stunned for a moment. The azure light spots that suddenly split apart were like water droplets splashing out, jumping into the surrounding darkness. It was so easy, just like pressing open a piece of jelly candy with your fingers.

Gentle, submissive, and without any resistance.

The world opened silently, and M, who didn't have time to put away his knife, suddenly fell in.

-14-

No, rather than falling into it.

It was as if she was welcomed in.

-15-

M was welcomed into this strange prison, and saw neither shackles nor cells.

She fell directly into a sea of ​​soft, white tulips. Before she even looked up, she could smell the overwhelming fragrance.

Is it the scent of flowers?

……No.

That incomparable fragrance, a scent that even she had never smelled before...

-16-

"Really... there are so many."

It is the dark death of countless, countless, countless innocent cubs after being extremely twisted.

These countless deaths were buried under countless flower seeds, and then white tulips bloomed. After accumulating day by day, they emitted an incomparably gorgeous fragrance.

The world is drowned in such a gorgeous fragrance.

...For the Banshee, it truly was an extremely alluring scent.

-17-

M released his palm, and the sickle turned back into a black shadow.

She placed the back of her hand, which had just held the sickle, on her face, and raised her face high, facing the world outside that no one would see.

…Outside the world she had just cut open, there was only empty darkness, with indigo spots of light floating around like curious children poking their heads out.

M stood silently in the sea of ​​flowers for a long time.

After a long time, she put down her hand again, picked up the sickle, and continued to move forward at a very slow pace, even slower than when she had trudged through the corpses.

Because she suddenly felt a little tired.

…She felt a little tired, more than ever before.

You have to try your best to keep moving forward instead of falling down in this sea of ​​flowers.

And this was not because she was bewitched by the fragrance, nor because this sea of ​​flowers exerted some kind of power - it was because of the banshee's instinct that made her clearly perceive something from the fragrance.

Therefore, I belatedly realized that I was tired.

-18-

Because, this place, the countless twisted deaths buried there... are not strong.

Completely different from...my sister's death.

This place... so much twisted death... gathered here at this moment...

All is very peaceful.

-19-

Every flower here is calm and gentle, as if the pain of death is just the result of blooming.

Every flower here still wears its beautiful white dress, without any resentment or despair, just like...

Every flower seed received a funeral of the highest standard when it was planted.

Flowers, silence, hymns, and...

-20-

Not far away, beyond the sea of ​​flowers, the hum of an organ could be heard.

-twenty one-

I see.

In stark contrast to the banshee that devours death, there are people in this place who have been praising death.

It's not a craze, it's not rebellion, and it's not whining.

It is to carefully plant flowers, sing poems, play music, and hold a funeral of the highest standards for each death.

...So, that guy is the prisoner.

Just as a priest must sit in the confessional, that unknown being must be imprisoned here.

-twenty two-

It must remain eternally calm in order to appease the countless roaring and struggling twisted things.

-twenty three-

...M is a little tired.

Because she suddenly realized that she had never smelled such a peaceful death, and realized that she...

I didn't even prepare the highest standard funeral for my sister.

"No," she murmured, "my sister will not die."

No banshee could devour my sister's death.

As long as she is not devoured, her sister's death is only temporary.

...She would never accept it, would never compromise, and would never tolerate herself burying such a body in a grave and engraving her sister's name on the tombstone.

If I did that...my sister would really have died in that city.

My sister would never die in that city.

-twenty four-

Yes, yes, she is still willful.

She was such a bad person. She would rather her sister's twisted death remain than comfort her... repent... provide her with any peace... Yes.

She is extremely bad.

-25-

M slowly approached following the sound of the organ.

...Unlike the pure white sea of ​​flowers, it was a somewhat out-of-place church.

The church was very crowded. There were very few benches for believers to pray. Instead, there were luxuriously decorated soft chairs with red velvet cushions that were so red that they looked black.

Beneath the church's stained glass windows and gilded carved candlelights, there are various simple stages.

They are all small stages, not grand, and are suitable for many young children to perform different performances.

The stages were so numerous that they crowded all the windows and candlesticks, blocking all the angles of light.

...Perhaps it was to gather both candlelight and sunlight onto the stage.

-26-

So, behind the layers of stage, there is no more light.

The scattered silk cushion chairs invisibly formed a passage leading to the deepest part of the stage and the front of the church.

It was narrow, but wide enough for M to walk through.

As she walked by, blood from her clothes dripped onto the ground, and a few pieces of cloth fell on the back of the chair, but she did not show any apology.

Even in a church, the blackish-red silk cushions on the chairs might be dirtier than the sea of ​​blood on her body.

-27-

M walked all the way to the front of the stage.

Behind the crowded stages, behind the stained glass and candlesticks...

There sits a massive pipe organ, the wall least likely to be hit by light in this church.

The organ looked like a raised prison cell from a distance, and the figure in front of the organ, playing the instrument with his head down, was indeed a person in shackles.

-28-

She couldn't see him at all.

M didn't even know whether it was "her" or "him", he just felt that it was a very pale back, and associated it with the pale arms he had glimpsed before.

The figure in front of the organ has always been hidden in the deepest darkness...

That’s right, that thing is serving a sentence.

A crime with an eternal sentence.

-29-

M watched silently for a while, then drew his sickle again.

"Wouldn't it be luckier for you to be eaten by me than to go to jail?"

The prisoner who was playing the organ paused, but the syllables were still smooth. He continued playing without any response.

The peaceful prisoner pays no attention to anything.

-30-

M swung his sickle directly——

The crimson light outside the organ exploded, splashed, and disappeared into the darkness.

"...Oh. There really is a cage here."

-31-

The reflected force left a deep cut on M's cheek, but she didn't react.

The bones in both of her arms were shattered the moment the knife was swung down. She looked down at her arms hanging limply on both sides of her body, feeling a rare sense of novelty.

This was the first time she had been injured so badly before being attacked.

-32-

"This cage... this cell... no, this prison. It's completely repulsed my current strength." She suddenly laughed. "So, if I eat all of this, I'll become super, super strong, right?"

The humming of the organ finally stopped, perhaps because the whole song was over.

-33-

The prisoner at the organ began to speak.

"Aren't you going to eat me?"

——The voice came from the prison cells surrounded by the stage and the organ. It was hoarse and vague, and it was impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman, or the age.

-34-

"I only invited you in because you said you wanted to eat me."

The prisoner spoke calmly, "I heard you were the most powerful banshee alive. I thought that by inviting you here, I would be inviting my own demise."

-35-

oh.

M grinned: "Are you using me as a suicide tool? As it happens, I do need to kill you."

The prisoner seemed to shake his head and struck another key.

He said, "Please go back, guest. I do not welcome 'needs to be killed.'

"...Are you picking on my attitude?"

"Death should be a private and intimate ceremony. I don't want to force it on you."

“…”

-36-

What a strange lunatic.

...After a few seconds, M realized that he was covered in blood, his two boneless arms were dangling, and the few pieces of cloth on his body were still stained with flesh paste. He laughed at his own idea.

She would suddenly think that others were crazy.

Hahaha…hehe…hehe.

-37-

"I kind of believe that rumor."

The deep cut on his face oozed more blood as he laughed. M wiped the blood from his face and said with a smile: "Rumor has it that you can make impossible wishes come true with just a bet, right?"

"...And voluntary service of sentence. You must stay here and serve your sentence."

"Pfft, cough, cough, so all it takes is a bet and a prison sentence, ha, ha ha ha, and you can make an impossible wish come true... How long have you been locked up here? Is your brain completely screwed up?"

The prisoner paused, then gently lifted his finger. He gave up on pressing the key after this one.

-38-

He had been looking forward to seeing this black banshee, which was said to be extremely powerful, for a long time.

But she sounded like a completely broken, crazy fool.

...But... Hmm.

-39-

How could he make such a comment about others?

……strangeness.

It's kind of funny.

-40-

The prisoner retracted his fingers and then opened them again, as if to make sure they could still move and cast a net.

Then he gently stroked the keys in front of him with his fingers, as if he was stroking tulip seeds that were about to be planted.

"Of course. I can grant wishes. Do you have a wish you'd like to see granted?"

"Hahahaha, cough, how funny, can you come back to life from the dead——"

"Yes. Sure. Is this what you wish for?"

“…”

-41-

The smile on M's face disappeared.

She raised her shattered arms, and the black shadow formed a knife shape again.

"Don't joke like that."

"What's the joke?"

“…”

"Resurrection from the dead is difficult, but reversing the world is not difficult. It only requires a few detailed coordinates to operate it."

The figure beneath the organ remained calm. "If you are willing to make a bet with me and serve your sentence in the Eternal Life Prison... I will fulfill your wish to turn back the clock."

"You can save anyone. You can overturn any world. Yes... I will grant any wish of yours."

-42-

M stood still in the dark church, but his heart began to beat violently, more vibrant than the vibrant tulips outside the church.

She suddenly felt her hands. Her feet. Her eyeballs. Her stomach.

These parts, in an instant, were filled with feelings.

The feeling of immense pain and intense vibrations—perhaps it was because she had been torn apart too many times, yes, she had really been torn apart too many times. She had come all the way here, repeating to herself millions of times that she must not hold out any hope for unknown miracles, and must continue to trudge on the bright red road—ah, how many times had she been torn apart, how many times, and how much she longed to find—

After all, last time, after being torn to pieces countless times, she got nothing.

She thought...she thought...

No.

-43-

Any gift comes at a price.

M asked, "What do you want?"

"This isn't a deal, it's a gamble."

The prisoner replied, "A bet never has a clear price tag. Besides, in addition to participating in the bet, you must also volunteer to serve your sentence. Of course, considering your eagerness to redeem someone... I can fulfill your wish first. Once you confirm that your wish has been fulfilled, you can return here to serve your sentence and complete the bet with me."

Just "completing the bet" instead of "winning the bet" - that is to say, she may not be able to win the bet at all and is destined to lose the bet?

...M doesn't understand him.

It's just paying off the bet and voluntarily serving the sentence.

This was the easiest price she had ever heard.

-44-

"good."

"Aren't you going to ask about the bet?"

"Heh, you didn't ask me if I would voluntarily return here to serve my sentence."

"Will you run away?"

“…”

-45-

M squinted his eyes, but still couldn't see the back of the figure sitting in the shadow of the organ in the deepest part.

……never mind.

She didn't care, he was just a weird guy.

She doesn't care what the guy is, what he looks like, what his gender or age is - it doesn't matter.

-46-

M doesn't even care about the content of the bet.

She had nothing to lose.

M tore off his broken arms and threw them far away to the stage along with the blood, knife wounds, scars and flesh paste, just like throwing out two bags of garbage.

-47-

"It's a down payment. My stake is all me, and all I have. Bone, flesh, blood, all of it. Whatever you want—whatever you want."

-48-

The prisoner was stunned for a moment, but after confirming what the other party's bet was, he frowned slightly.

He had never wanted to win this bet from the beginning. His original bet was...

Hmm.

-49-

It's not worthwhile to exchange my original bet for the flesh and blood of this banshee.

…Never mind. It doesn't matter.

He could collect the bets first and then consider a better bet.

Well... he had plenty of time to think...

-50-

What kind of bet should be set to be interesting enough?