Interlude: Kiriko and Ulla
On Monday, God created the world.
On Tuesday, God took a fatal blow and died.
On Wednesday, the Devil was victorious, and cursed the world.
On Thursday, the curse spread throughout the world.
On Friday, God perished together with the Devil.
And on Saturday—
"On Saturday, the dying God gave a certain human the power to correct the world."
Kiriko said this in a gentle tone, coaxingly.
"And that person is you, Ulla."
He looked over at her and found that the usual response had indeed made Ulla pout again. She tightened her tiny chin and her white cheeks puffed out. Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Kiriko felt a little calmer at the sight of her cute face.
"If you stay here, you can save the world."
The Princess said she did not do anything herself.
"You don't have to do anything, God didn't give you the power to test you …Ulla, you just need to study, eat, and live your day to day life, and the world will slowly be saved."
Even if I'm just playing? Just eating a snack? Just sleeping?
"Of course. But Ulla, you have to be careful, you can save the world if you live, but not if you die…Think back to the end of that paragraph—on Sunday, the world was saved. You have to hide in the safety of the Palace and just wait for the coming Sundays. Everyone will protect you, and of course I will. So…"
Kiriko let out a long sigh.
"I absolutely forbid you to go out."
This made Ulla rebellious, and she did not say anything all day.
It was evening by the time Kiriko returned to the streets after his work in the City. The already somewhat feeble early spring sun intended to set early, and turned red beyond the outer walls.
"Woah, it's cold."
Once he stood beyond the City walls, Kiriko buttoned up the top button of his shirt. It was so cold that he regretted not putting on a scarf to go out, wearing only a plain white shirt, a dark blue blazer and pants of the same color, and clearly he was not warm enough.
Kiriko rubbed his hands against his exposed cheeks and neck to keep warm, and from time to time, he tidied his light blue hair that had shrunk due to the strong wind.
Then he looked up at the castle he had just walked out of.
Kiriko looked at the spire, smiled slightly, and said.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Princess."
The bus arrived.
The dilapidated bus went through all the ramps of Ortus, and when it braked, it made a puffing sound, as if it was gasping for breath.
Kiriko showed his pass to the driver, and boarded the bus. The steel armrests were so cold that they seemed to suck away body heat.
Kiriko felt the vibration of the engine under the wooden floor and kept his eyes on the spire outside the window. As he began to sleep, the bus finally left.
The bus ferried Kiriko out of the Palace, severing some of the loneliness he felt.
The bus continued to ferry and release people as it drove downhill, and it did not take long to reach the bus stop at Main Street. Usually, Kiriko would have sat all the way to the dormitory near the end of the line, but Keyla had asked him to assist with the shopping on this day, so he disembarked.
The street lights were already on. The long, cold soles of boots could be seen dancing on the stone pavement, along with the alien shadows of the Dead.
Most of the dead had a declining appetite for sleep, and some did not sleep for a whole year. The nights in Ortus were very long, and the people love the moonlight, as befitting of the inhabitants of the land.
Kiriko walked along the road, greeting people he was acquainted with from time to time. When someone asks, "How is Princess doing?" He would reply, "She's doing well, and seems to be getting prettier." When a friend asked, "Do you want to come and play?" He replied, "Maybe next time."
"Brother, you’re sleazy to be able to go into the Palace any tme."
"Sleazy ~~!"
"I-I have work to do …"
The Ugul siblings grabbed Kiriko’s legs and dragged them to the front of the grocery store, and they only let go once they were hit on the head by their mother.
The lady apologized profusely, and Kiriko added a few ingredients to her order and put them in a bag. He declined the lady's offer to help with the delivery and made his way to the end of the street.
Then he turned around and looked at Ortus.
The hazy lights of the Palace were visible beneath the night sky. The Main Street extending from there had its lights lit too, one by one, giving color.
Everyone was smiling in this scene.
Kiriko felt happy too, and then he spotted something amiss, so he had a closer look.
(The mask on the street…is that Belibella? Heh…she’s playing the Princess?)
Once he saw his classmate sit on the palanquin happily, Kiriko also inadvertently leaned over.
Instead, an unexpected voice was heard.
"Ah! It's Mr. Kiriko."
The little golden fox ran across the street and stopped in front of him.
"…Hold on, Ai?"
"What hold on? It's me."
Ai said and quickly quickly lifted the mask, revealing the watery Living face, Kiriko hurried to help her put the mask back on.
"Why are you staying out here so late at night!? You should have someone with you, right!?"
"Don't worry! I'm with Mr. Lion! Look!"
Kiriko was wondering who the lion was, and looked in the direction Ai was pointing, but only saw the alleyway was dark.
The darkness opened its mouth.
(Hey, fox, you go back with this kid, I don't care.)
Kiriko heard this voice.
"…Shad?"
(No, I'm Mr. Lion—I'm leaving then.)
"Ah, Mr. Lion, please wait! We'll see you tomorrow!"
Ai energetically said goodbye to him.
The darkness listened, and came to a sudden stop.
(…Like I’ll be seeing you tomorrow. Don’t come back.)
"I won't listen, I'll come back."
(… Don't joke about it.)
"I'm not joking."
(…)
The darkness seems to have made up its mind.
(…Looks like you’re not going to listen to me …)
—A hand came out of the darkness and slapped Ai.
The fox mask rolled a few times in the alley, revealing a bright face that the dead would never have.
"Hey, Shad! What are you doing!"
(Shut up, you conman.)
Ai slowly teared up and reached out to rub her cheeks.
"…It hurts."
(Get out of this city while you're still in pain … and go back to Living where you belong with happy memories.)
The mask that rolled to the boundary between light and darkness showed a sharp outline and then faded into the darkness.
(You don't know the dark side of Ortus.)
The night said this, and nothing more.
†
Beneath the sporadic electric lights, the two of them chatted while going back to the dormitory. But this so-called conversation was mostly Ai talking. No one asked her anything as she happily told Kiriko about the day's events. How she met the lion, how she was separated and reunited with him, and also there was the troupe of demons and monsters.
"And then Mr. Lion was so scared that he kept apologizing to Mr. Goliath. It was really unbearable! He definitely doesn’t know that the old grandfather hates that kind of attitude."
The two of them trekked down the stone path with the sound of clicking footsteps. This area used to be a school district, but since it closed a year ago, it has been in the middle of the urban renewal area, and the whole street was full of empty houses.
They did not encounter anyone on the way, and they kept passing their shadows under the passing street lamps. Ai's shadow, unlike Kiriko's, was jumping around from time to time, looking very happy.
"I think Mr. Lion should be a little more thorough in being strict. He’ll be cooler."
"… Oh, heh, I see …"
She had been talking about Mr. Lion, or Shad, since the beginning.
Kiriko did not know how to answer, and mumbled vaguely. Incidentally, Ai's maskless face had the little mark of a slap imprinted on it. Ai did not say anything about it, but she did not seem to be pretending that it was not there.
"…Ai, you think Shad is nice?"
"I don't know Shad, but I really like Mr. Lion."
"Uh, but, he hit you …"
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't care, but I really don't… I think he definitely felt he had to do it."
"…………Well, you’re really calm…"
Is that so? Ai said, looking a little embarrassed,
" I've spent some time with someone who uses violence as a bargaining tool. A slap or two isn’t a big deal."
"I-is that so…"
"By the way, that guy is my dad."
What would be the best response?
"Mr. Lion was a little like Dad!"
Kiriko did not know how to answer, but Ai seemed very happy, so he just said, "T-that's nice."
"Yes, I'm glad."
"You're glad!? …You're really weird …"
"W-why do you say that all of a sudden? How rude."
"How so? You’re really a very strange Living. you came to the city of the Dead by yourself and made friends. A normal Living would have a dislike for the Dead."
Kiriko has seen Living in the past, and whether they were businessmen or officials, many of them were particularly insistent. Some would not enter the houses, and insist on doing business outside; some people would not eat Keyla’s food even though they were in the dormitory; some would lecture him haughtily just because they were still alive, thinking that they were the only ones who were right; some people were so bad-mouthed that they would say with a dated ethic that had been expired for more than fifteen years: "When people are dead, they should not wander around, they should go into the grave and not cause trouble for the rest of the people.. You should ask gravekeepers to bury your brains before they rot and start 'acting out'." Kiriko was so used to such habits that he did not bother to get angry.
Ai instantly put away her naive look, looked ahead and said,
"After all, I was raised by the Dead."
The realization and shock came to Kiriko's mind at the same time, and his throat was stuck, rendering him speechless.
"So, that's how it is? Where did you live before?"
"It's destroyed."
Ugh.
"That’s…………sorry, I don’t know what to say…"
"By the way, my dad destroyed it."
"I’ve been trying my best not to retort, but I can't take it anymore! What the hell is your dad up to?"
Ai looked at the third streetlight in front of her and said.
"That can't be helped. Everyone was very nice to me, but there was a side to the village that I didn’t know of, that hides the 'evil' that would kill people…it was a matter of time until everything got revealed…"
"…"
"And then my dad died too."
A bug circled around the lamp alone at this time of year, then fell to the ground and died, almost as if it could not bear the loneliness and committed suicide.
Not wanting to step on the bug's carcass, the duo naturally pulled apart. They then continued to maintain this distance.
"Say, Mr. Kiriko."
"What is it?"
"What is this 'dark side of Ortus' Mr. Lion speaks of?"
Kiriko cursed out at Shad on the stone path before saying,
"… Who knows? Ortus isn’t a perfect city, so of course there are all kinds of problems. If he’s just talking about the dark side, who knows? Like our diplomacy never goes smoothly, and the world situation is changing every minute. If you take a closer look, you will see that there are always Dead who ‘act up’, and on the other hand 'spirited', and on the contrary, the 'Dead who are lifeless' is also a problem. There are a lot of problems when you think about it."
"That's true. I can think of a lot of problems quite easily."
"…"
Kiriko fell silent.
"You’re not telling me …?"
Ai lowered her head sadly and pushed back the hair that had fallen on her cheek.
They came to an old street lamp. Only here was the light was extraordinarily weak, and the color of dusk was rich.
"I …"
Ai opened her mouth naturally.
"I'm a gravekeeper."
"………Huh?"
The light bulb flickered.
"Technically, I'm a hybrid born between a gravekeeper and human, and I'm lying about my age, but I'm actually twelve. Mom's name is Alfa, Dad's name is Kizuna, Julie is Dad's friend, and Miss Scar is the gravekeeper I met."
"Wa-wait! Wait a sec!"
Kiriko stopped in his tracks and looked at every corner of the street. No one else was there.
"…Is it true?"
"It's true."
Ai's eyes remained natural, and there was nary a tinge of deceit.
"… Why are you telling me this…"
"Nothing in particular."
"… You're lying. You’re definitely up to something."
You’re always like this, Mr. Kiriko. Ai was a bit dumbfounded and said.
"I’m not planning anything, I just thought I'd better tell you first."
"…I can't believe that."
"That's not my responsibility."
Please do something about it, so Ai said and started walking towards the bright place.
Kiriko was almost left behind, so she jogged to follow.
"Ortus doesn't allow gravekeepers to exist! If someone tips off the police, you'll be killed and stuck upside down in the grave!"
"You're not going to tell on me?"
Kiriko's footsteps suddenly stopped, and Ai followed suit.
Kiriko scratched the back of his head hard.
Ai looked at it and smiled. Her smile infuriated Kiriko so thoroughly that he just wanted to pull her cheeks.
"Ouch! Bud lar uu dwing!?"
"Shut up, or I'll hit you harder—ouch!"
Ai aimed a kick at Kiriko's shin. The cheek was pinched on the top, but a sharp kick was thrown from the bottom.
"What are you doing…"
Kiriko cursed, flicked her on the forehead, and took a step forward. Ai followed suit, rubbing her cheeks.
Ai said she just wanted to tell Kiriko, and she did not say anything more, but just walked forward in silence.
Kiriko was the one who could not stand the silence at first.
"…Now I know why you say you want to save the world…although I don’t agree with that."
What Ai handed to him was too heavy, and his words contained what seems like a reactionary anger.
"Let me ask you a question…what do you mean by saving the world, specifically?"
Ai stopped rubbing her cheeks.
"Tell me, is there a Dead in the world you want, and is there a place for the Dead?"
"No…"
Ai answered him honestly, without any deception.
"I think the simplest way to save the world is to return the world to 15 years ago, when someone was born and the Dead would die. Although I don't know how to achieve it yet, but I think I just need to move towards this goal."
"Is there a Dead in the world you're talking about? Is there a city that exist for the Dead? Is there a parade of demons and monsters at night, and everyone laughing and having fun?"
"… No."
Ai looked down at the stone road.
"I just hope the Dead can all meet the 'happy ending' …"
"What and what?"
Kiriko did not hide his contemptuous tone.
"Who decides what is a 'happy ending'? The person himself, right? You say you're going to help everyone get a happy ending? Hmph? I'm sorry. If someone's wish is to 'die after destroying the world to be happy', will you also help them?"
"…I won’t."
"That's a strange answer. You’re contradicting yourself. You clearly distinguish between those who you want to help and those who you don't. What do you mean by 'happy ending', when in the end it's just a happy ending 'in your opinion'?"
Ai could not answer.
"Ortus has simply stopped praying for endings."
"…I see."
"You've seen how people live in the city, right? We're already happy."
"…I understand…"
"Hmph, I think you haven’t thought about it. You never even thought there would be such a group of people who died, continued to live and adapted to this world."
"………Yes…"
"It's great to want to save the world, but have you asked the world first? Did the world ever ask you to save it?"
"...……No."
Ai was completely overwhelmed. With her head down and tears in her eyes, she just walked on, not even looking at Kiriko.
Kiriko knew that he went overboard, but the words of reproach kept coming out of his heart.
"…I understand your situation. Your life was so miserable before, and it's no wonder that you have such an exaggerated dream. But, frankly, you can't carry it."
"…………………"
"Why don't you just give up on saving the world?"
Ai sniffled and stopped talking, and Kiriko too fell silent. He said what he wanted to, and there was nary a tinge of spite left.
The dejected girl walked next to Kiriko, her head down to a point where her expression was not visible, and her blonde hair looked lifeless in the weak light of the street lamp.Kiriko scratched the back of his head, wondering why he bothered to rile her like this. He did not understand why he had said those overly harsh words. Usually, even when he met Living who were sarcastic or pretentious, he was able to handle it very well, no matter what they said.
But for some reason, after hearing Ai's words, he could not hold back any longer.
Kiriko sighed deeply and was about to say, "I'm sorry, I went too far."
But Ai was one step ahead.
"… But, Mr. Kiriko, I won't give up."
She lifted her gaze.
"… Why?"
Kiriko asked.
"Because I've decided that I can't give up until I do."
"…I see. Well, whatever makes you happy."
Yes! As I like! Ai said, and then she looked up at at Kiriko with a prying eye, looking coy for some reason.
"Then I’ll do as I please then …I have a little something to ask you, Mr. Kiriko …"
Kiriko had a hunch that it was best to run away on the spot.
"Please don't run."
He had only taken one step forward when his sleeve was grabbed by Ai.
He did not have to turn around to realize that her green eyes were glowing with curiosity.
"Mr. Kiriko, why are you alive?"
Ai wrapped her left and right hands around his arm as though she was climbing a rock, and appeared right in front of him.
Kiriko himself ate, drank, went to the toilet, and slept.
These are the reactions of Living, and this is the city of the dead.
"Say, why?"
Kiriko averted his eyes from the green ones, as if she was too dazzling.
"…What? Are you denying my existence …?"
"Please don't move the goalposts. Why are you the only one who can live in the city of the dead?"
"…"
Kiriko should have hated this. He hated it when someone grabbed his hand like that, came up to him, stared into his eyes, pretended to be familiar with him, imposed her past onto him, and barged into his heart without permission.
However…
At this point, he did not feel the need to nitpick about that.
"I'm a Dead."
"…Hohooo …"
Ai did not refute and accepted the answer.
"…I've never explained it to anyone, so I'm just going to say what they told me, is that okay?"
"? Yes, of course …"
So he said.
—There used to be five people of different genders, ages and upbringing, but they just got along and lived happily together. They also had a very happy vision of the future, imagining that some of them would get married and have children join the circle.
But then the world ended. The five remained as five, and the circle was closed.
The five of them did not like this, so they went to the witch.
They wanted a descendant who would inherit them.
So the witch said.
"If you really wanted children, your wish would have come true already."
They, of course, retorted, saying that they really wanted to have children.
"Is that so? But, unfortunately, since the wish didn't come true, that's all there is to it. So all I can do is to twist your wishes to make them come true."
The five of them said that even so.
The witch immediately took the right eye of Vuella, the left eye of Orius, the heart of Diva, the phallus of Wreck, and the sheath of Pox, and then took a sufficient amount of bones, flesh, and brains from all of them.
The five of them died immediately.
And the parts that were taken out were put together to make the sixth person.
"That's me."
Kiriko took a step forward, as if to emphasize the end of the story.
"And of these five people, you met Wreck and Pox and, right? Together with Diva, Orius and Vuella, the six of us are called the 'Defective Pentagram'."
Ai was so shocked that she closed her mouth that could not stop talking, and followed behind Kiriko, stepping on the new shadow from the new streetlight.
"No one knew what the result of such an attempt would be, but I heard that it was successful. Perhaps the ingredients used were alive, I act like a Living even though I’m a Dead. I have to eat, use the bathroom, and most intriguingly, even the gravekeepers don't seem to recognize me as Dead, so I'm not buried and I can walk outside freely."
"… But doesn't that mean you're a reborn Living?"
"No, it doesn't. I was made thirteen years ago. My appearance back then was already fourteen…but my body has only grown a year or so every ten years since then."
"? Then how old are you Kiriko?"
"…Seventeen or eighteen, I think—it's just that five of them thought I was younger."
It seemed they really thought of Kiriko as their own child, and that child would never grow up in the eyes of his parents.
"…By the way, why did the remaining five, that is, Pox and the others, turn out to be half and half like that?"
"I heard it's to complement the missing parts."
"? Since they’re Dead, it doesn't matter if some parts are missing, right?"
"Well, everyone thinks so too…so they say it's only the witch who wants to do that."
Ai stammered, unable to speak.
"She's going too far …"
"I heard it was too much, and it seemed no one wants to think about the witch, so I don't know the details…hmm?"
"What's wrong?"
Kiriko suddenly frowned and stopped in his tracks.
"Well…you already know, so I won't act anymore. Wreck is contacting me."
"Eh?"
"After all, our brains are blended together. Their brains can connect to me individually."
Ai was dumbfounded.
"He said the Living sent a representative to negotiate."
"…What's going to happen to them?"
"He said they’re going to discuss this next. Well~~ and also conditions like aid and such. Sounds tiring."
Ackk~ Ai gave a rude reaction.
"Don't you feel disgusted by this?…I feel like throwing up just imagining it."
"I got used to it…for thirteen years."
He said and stepped forward again.
There were not many steps left in the road, and the lights of the dormitory could be seen ahead.
"Well, hurry back. Aunty is waiting."
"Ooh, there's something I want to ask …"
"Ueeh? What?"
"Yes, I want to ask you which tea stores you recommend, because I also plan to go shopping tomorrow!"
"…What’s that about?"
"What do you—what are you talking about?"
"That’s what you ask after I just asked?"
"???? Is it weird?"
Kiriko hung her head and glanced at the green eyes that were lower than him.
"You're a weird kid."
Ai kicked him in the shin.
Eagerly waiting for her later in the dormitory were Keyla, who had become a hell jailer, and Julie, who had turned into a beast.
Ai thought she nearly died.
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